quished the siege of Tyre, unhappily reserved for the cruel destruction accomplished by Alexander, a few centuries later. The prophecies of Isaiah were still resounding in the ears of an ungrateful people. He had spoken of the coming Christ and His all-peaceful mission in mystic imagery, and had given miraculous evidences of his predictions. But suffering should be the precursor of that marvellous advent. The Assyrian dashed in resistless torrent upon the fold. Israel was led captive. Hosea was in chains. Samaria and the kingdom of Israel were added to the conquests of Sennacherib; and the kingdom of Judah, harassed but not destroyed, waited the accomplishment of prophecy, and the measure of her crimes, ere the most ancient of peoples should for ever cease to be a nation.

Ugainé Môr is the next monarch who demands notice. His obituary record is thus given by the Four Masters :-" At the end of this year, A.M. 4606, Ugainé Môr, after he had been full forty years King of Ireland, and of the whole of the west of Europe, as far as Muir-Toirrian, was slain by Badhbhchad at Tealach-anChoisgair, in Bregia. This Ugainé was he who exacted oaths by all the elements, visible and invisible, from the men of Ireland in general, that they would never contend for the sovereignty of Ireland with his children or his race."

Ugainé was succeeded by his son, Laeghairé Lorc, who was cruelly and treacherously killed by his brother, Cobhthach Cael. Indeed, few monarchs lived out their time in peace during this and the succeeding centuries. The day is darkest before the dawn, in the social and political as well as in the physical world. The Eternal Light was already at hand; the powers of darkness were aroused for the coming conflict; and deeds of evil were being accomplished, which make men shudder as they read. The assassination of Laeghairé was another manifestation of the old-world story of envy. The treacherous Cobhthach feigned sickness, which he knew would obtain a visit from his brother. When the monarch stooped to embrace him, he plunged a dagger into his heart. His next act was to kill his nephew, Ailill Ainé; and his ill-treatment of Aine's son, Maen, was the consummation of his cruelty. The fratricide was at last slain by this very youth, who had now obtained the appellation of Labhraidh-Loingseach, or Lowry of the Ships. We have special evidence here of the importance of our Historic Tales, and also that the blending of fiction and fact by no means deteriorates from their value.

THE HISTORY OF THE EXILE.

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Love affairs form a staple ground for fiction, with a very substantial under-strata of facts, even in the nineteenth century; and the anrals of pre-Christian Erinn are by no means deficient in the same fertile source of human interest. The History of the Exile is still preserved in the Leabhar Buidhé Lecain, now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. It is a highly romantic story, but evidently founded on fact, and full of interest as descriptive of public and private life in the fifth century before Christ. It tells how Maen, though supposed to be deaf and dumb, was, nevertheless, given in charge of two officers of the court to be educated; that he recovered or rather obtained speech suddenly, in a quarrel with another youth; and that he was as symmetrical of form and noble of bearing as all heroes of romance are bound to be. His uncle expelled him from the kingdom, and he took refuge at the court of King Scoriath. King Scoriath had a daughter, who was beautiful; and Maen, of course, acted as a knight was bound to do under such circumstances, and fell desperately in love with the princess. The Lady Moriath's beauty had bewildered more heads than that of the knight-errant; but the Lady Moriath's father and mother were determined their daughter should not marry.

The harper Craftiné came to the rescue, and at last, by his allentrancing skill, so ravished the whole party of knights and nobles, that the lovers were able to enjoy a tête-a-tête, and pledged mutual vows. As usual, the parents yielded when they found it was useless to resist; and, no doubt, the poet Craftiné, who, poet and all as he was, nearly lost his head in the adventure, was the most welcome of all welcome guests at the nuptial feast. Indeed, he appears to have been retained as comptroller of the house and confidential adviser long after; for when Labhraidh Maen was obliged to fly the country, he confided his wife to the care of Craftiné. On his return from France, he obtained possession of the kingdom, to which he was the rightful heir, and reigned over the men of Erinn for eighteen years.

Another Historic Tale gives an account of the destruction of the court of Dá Derga, but we have not space for details. The Four Masters merely relate the fact in the following entry :

♦ France. It is said that foreigners who came with him from Gaul were armed with broad-headed lances (called in Irish laighne), whence the province of Leinster has derived its name. Another derivation of the name, from coige a fifth part, is attributed to the Firbols.

"Conairé, the son of Ederscél, after having been seventy years in the sovereignty of Erinn, was slain at Bruighean Dá Dhearga by insurgents." Another prince, Eochaidh Feidhlech, was famous for sighing. He rescinded the division of Ireland into twenty-five parts, which had been made by Ugainé Môr, and divided the island into five provinces, over each of which he appointed a provincial king, under his obedience. The famous Meadhbh, or Mab, was his daughter; and though unquestionably a lady of rather strong physical and mental capabilities, the lapse of ages has thrown an obscuring halo of romance round her belligerent qualifications, and metamorphosed her into the gentle "Faery Queen" of the poet Spenser. One of Méav's exploits is recorded in the famous Táin bó Chuailgné, which is to Celtic history what the Argonautic Expedition, or the Seven against Thebes, is to Grecian. Méav was married first to Conor, the celebrated provincial king of Ulster; but the marriage was not a happy one, and was dissolved, in modern parlance, on the ground of incompatibility. In the meanwhile, Méav's three brothers had rebelled against their father; and though his arms were victorious, the victory did not secure peace. The men of Connacht revolted against him, and to retain their allegiance he made his daughter Queen of Connacht, and gave her in marriage to Ailill, a powerful chief of that province. This prince, however, died soon after; and Méav, determined for once, at least, to choose a husband for her self, made a royal progress to Leinster, where Ross Ruadb held his court at Naas. She selected the younger son of this monarch, who bore the same name as her former husband, and they lived together happily as queen and king consort for many years. On one occasion, however, a dispute arose about their respective treasures, and this dispute led to a comparison of their property. The account of this, and the subsequent comparison, is given at length in the Táin, and is a valuable repertory of archæological information. They counted their vessels, metal and wooden; they counted their finger rings, their clasps, their thumb rings, their diadems, and their gorgets of gold. They examined their many-coloured garments of crimson and blue, of black and green, yellow and mottled, white and streaked. All were equal. They then inspected their flocks and herds, swine from the forests, sheep from the pasture lands, and cows-here the first differIt was one to excite Méav's haughty temper. There

ence arose.

THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE.

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was a young bull found among Ailill's bovine wealth: it had been calved by one of Méav's cows; but "not deeming it honorable to be under a woman's control," it had attached itself to Ailill's herds. Méav was not a lady who could remain quiet under such provocation. She summoned her chief courier, and asked him could he find a match for Finnbheannach

(the white-horned). The courier declared that he could find even a superior animal; and at once set forth on his mission, suitably attended. Méav had offered the most liberal rewards for the prize she so much coveted; and the courier soon arranged with Daré, a noble of large estates, who possessed one of the valuable breed. A drunken quarrel, however, disarranged his plans. One of the men boasted that if Daré had not given the bull for payment, he should have been compelled to give it by force. Daré's steward heard the ill-timed and uncourteous boast. He flung down the meat and drink which he had brought for their entertainment, and went to tell his master the contemptuous speech. The result may be anticipated. Daré refused the much-coveted animal, and Méav proceeded to make good her claim by force of arms. the drama; the details would fill a volume. It must suffice to say, that the bulls had a battle of their own. Finnbheannach and Donn Chuailgné (the Leinster bull) engaged in deadly combat, which is described with the wildest flights of poetic diction.

FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE
COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.

But this is only the prologue of

The

6 Diction. This tract contains a description of arms and ornaments which might well pass for a poetic flight of fancy, had we not articles of such exquisite workmanship in the Royal Irish Academy, which prove incontrovertibly the skill of the ancient artists of Erinn. This is the description of a cham

poor "white horn" was killed, and Donn Chuailgné, who had lashed himself to madness, dashed out his brains.

According to

Méav lived to the venerable age of a hundred. Tighernach, she died A.D. 70, but the chronology of the Four Masters places her demise a hundred years earlier. This difference of calculation also makes it questionable what monarch reigned in Ireland at the birth of Christ. The following passage is from the Book of Ballymote, and is supposed to be taken from the synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice: "In the fourteenth year of the reign of Conairé and of Conchobar, Mary was born; and in the fourth year after the birth of Mary, the expedition of the Táin bó Chuailgné took place. Eight years after the expedition of the Táin, Christ was born."

The Four Masters have the following entry after the age of the world 5194:

THE AGE OF CHRIST.

"The first year of the age of Christ, and the eighth year of the reign of Crimhthann Niadhnair." Under the heading of the age

pion's attire:-"A red and white cloak flutters about him; a golden brooch in that cloak, at his breast; a shirt of white, kingly linen, with gold embroidery at his skin; a white shield, with gold fastenings at his shoulder; a gold-hilted long sword at his left side; a long, sharp, dark green spear, together with a short, sharp spear, with a rich band and carved silver rivets in his hand.”—O'Curry, p. 38. We give an illustration on previous page of a flint weapon of a ruder kind.

"Brains. My friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, Esq., M. R.I.A., our poet par excellence, is occupied at this moment in versifying some portions of this romantic story. I believe he has some intention of publishing the work in America, as American publishers are urgent in their applications to him for a complete and uniform edition of his poems, including his exquisite translations from the dramatic and ballad literature of Spain. We hope Irish publishers and the Irish people will not disgrace their country by allowing such a work to be published abroad. We are too often and too justly accused of deficiency in cultivated taste, which unfortunately makes trashy poems, and verbose and weakly-written prose, more acceptable to the majority than works produced by highly-educated minds. Irishmen are by no means inferior to Englishmen in natural gifts, yet, in many instances, unquestionably they have not or do not cultivate the same taste for reading, and have not the same appreciation of works of a higher class than the lightest literature. Much of the fault, no doubt, lies in the present system of education: however, as some of the professors in our schools and colleges appear to be aware of the deficiency, we may hope for better things,