work, was Mailisa Mac Braddan O'Hechan. The Chalice was found a few years ago buried in the ground under a stone in an old lis, at Ardagh in the county Limerick. It is elaborately ornamented with designs in metal and enamel; and was probably made some time before the tenth century. The Tara Brooch is ornamented all over with amber, glass, enamel, and with the Irish interlaced work in metal. Many old brooches are preserved (one of which is shown here); but the Tara Brooch is the most beautiful and perfect of all.

No. 1.-Ancient Ornamented Brooch. Nos. 2 and 3.-Ancient Ornamental Patterns engraved on bone. All in National Museum, Dublin. From Wilde's Catalogue.

From very early times the Irish were celebrated for their skill in music; and Irish professors and teachers of music were almost as much in request in foreign countries as those of literature. In the middle of the

seventh century, Gertrude, abbess of Nivelle in France, daughter of Pepin mayor of the palace, engaged saints Foillan and Ultan, brothers of the Irish saint Fursa, to instruct her nuns in psalmody. In the latter half of the ninth century the cloister schools of St. Gall in Switzerland, were conducted by an Irishman, Maengal or Marcellus, under whose teaching the music school there attained its highest fame. Giraldus Cambrensis, who seldom had a good word for anything Irish, speaks of the Irish harpers of his time-the twelfth century— as follows:-"They are incomparably more skilful than any other nation I have ever seen. It is astonishing that in so complex and rapid a movement of the fingers the musical proportions [as to time] can be preserved; and that the harmony is completed with such a sweet rapidity." For centuries after the time of Giraldus music continued to be cultivated uninterruptedly; and there was an unbroken succession of great professional harpers, who maintained their ancient pre-eminence till a comparatively recent time. Down to the middle of the last century, Ireland continued to be the school for Welsh and Scotch harpers, who were never considered finished players till they had spent some time under the instruction of the great Irish harpers. We still possess great numbers of the lovely airs composed by the old Irish musicians; and many songs have been written to them, the best of which are those by Thomas Moore.

We know the authors of many of the airs composed within the last 200 years: but these form the smallest portion of the whole body of Irish music. All the rest have come down from old times, scattered fragments of exquisite beauty, that remind us of the refined musical culture of our forefathers. Of about 120 Irish airs in

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all Moore's Melodies, we know the authors of less than a dozen : as to the rest, nothing is known either of the persons who composed them or of the times of their composition.

The harp was the favourite instrument among the higher classes of people, many of whom played on it, merely for pleasure. But the lower classes loved the bagpipes better. Soldiers commonly marched to battle inspirited by the martial strains of one or more pipers marching at their head, a custom retained to this day, especially among the Scotch.

CHAPTER III.

DWELLINGS, FORTRESSES, AND TOMBS.

WELLING HOUSES were mostly of a round shape, generally made of wood, very seldom of stone. The wall was very high, and was formed of long peeled poles standing pretty near each other, with their ends fixed deep in the

ground; and the spaces between were closed in with wickerwork of peeled rods and twigs. The whole was smoothly plastered and made brilliantly white with lime on the outside: though some houses

were fancifully painted all over in bands of bright colours; and in some again the white wickerwork was left uncovered on the outside. The top was cone-shaped, and, like English houses of corresponding periods, thatched with straw or rushes, with an opening to serve as chimney. The fire was kept burning in the middle of the floor: but in all large houses there was a special kitchen for cooking. When Henry II. was in Dublin in 1171, he had a splendid house of this kind erected, in which he spent the Christmas in great state (chapter XVIII.). Families in good circumstances had two or three of these round structures beside each other, forming several rooms: but the poorer people had only one. In large houses, the door-jambs, bed-posts, &c., were often of yewwood, curiously carved. The family commonly lived, ate, and slept in one large apartment, the beds being placed round the wall, and separated by boarded partitions; but we often find mention of separate bedrooms for different members of the family, and for guests. A bath in a special bath-room was quite usual. In houses of the better class the women had one apartment for themselves called a greenan, that is, a "sunny-house," in the most lightsome part of the building.

As a defence against wild beasts or robbers, each house was surrounded with a high embankment of earth, having a strong close hedge of thorns or a palisade of stakes on top, outside of which was a deep trench often filled with water. This enclosure with its surrounding rampart was called a rath or lis. Sometimes a whole group of houses stood within one large rath. For greater security, dwellings were often constructed on artificial islands made with stakes,

trees, and bushes, in shallow lakes: these were called crannoges. Communication with the shore was carried on by means of a small boat kept on the island. Crannoge dwellings were in pretty general use in the time of Queen Elizabeth; and the remains of many of them are still to be seen in our lakes.

The dwelling of a king, which was commonly called a Dun [doon], was fortified with two or three sets of surrounding ramparts and trenches, and there was often a high mound in the centre, flat on top for the house

The great " Moat of Kilfinnane," Co. Limerick, believed to be Treda-na-Ree, the triple-fossed fort of the kings, one of the seats of the kings of Munster. Total diameter 320 feet. From a drawing by the author, 1854.

or fortress of the king. The remains of these old palaces may still be seen at most of the ancient royal residences; as for instance at Tara, Emain, and Rathcroghan.*

Sometimes the rampart surrounding the dwellings was a wall of stone without mortar: for the use of

* The following are the most important of the ancient royal residences of Ireland :

Of the kings of Ireland (before the abandonment of Tara): Tara in Meath: Tailltenn on the river Blackwater, midway between Navan and Kells: Tlachtga, now the Hill of Ward, near Athboy in Meath: Ushnagh in Westmeath.

Of the kings of Ulster: Emain near Armagh: Greenan-Ely: Dun-Keltair beside Downpatrick.

Of the kings of Leinster: Naas: Dunlavin in Wicklow : Dinnree, now Bally knockan Fort near Leighlin-Bridge (page 59).