residence was Dundalgan, now called the Fort of Castletown near Dundalk. They were in the service of Concobar or Conor Mac Nessa, king of Ulster, who feasted the leading heroes every day in his own palace. The finest of the Romantic Stories in the Book of the Dun Cow, the Book of Leinster, and other old manu-scripts, are about those Red Branch Knights.

LTHOUGH our narrative is not yet free from legend, the matters related in this chapter may for the most part be taken as fact.

Several very important events took place during the reign of Tuathal [Too'hal] the Legitimate, a powerful king of Ireland, who reigned from A.D. 130 to 160.

About twenty years before his accession, the plebeian races, consisting chiefly of the people of the older colonies who had been reduced to slavery by the Milesians, rose up in rebellion and seized the throne, murdering or banishing the members of the reigning family, and a great part of the nobles of the country, But the Milesian monarchy was restored in the person of Tuathal, who from this circumstance was surnamed "the Legitimate." Hitherto the Ard-ri had for his land allowance only a small tract round Tara; but Tuathal formed the province of Meath (pages 41, 51)

Aill-na-meeran the Stone of the Divisions. Now often called the Cat's Rock.
Photograph.

to be the special estate or mensal land of the kings of Ireland for ever. At that time the four older provinces, Leinster, Ulster, Connaught, and Munster, met at a great stone called the "Stone of the Divisions,"

which was considered the centre of Ireland, and which is still to be seen on the side of the hill of Ushnagh in Westmeath: and the new province was made by cutting off a portion of each of the other four round this stone.

One of Tuathal's daughters was married to the king of Leinster, who, however, growing tired of her, hid her in a remote part of his palace and gave out that she was dead. And after due time he went to Tara and obtained from the king his other daughter in marriage. But one day, soon after the return of the newly married

..Dinnree, the most ancient residence of the kings of Leinster. Now Bally-
knockan Fort on the west bank of the Barrow, half a mile below Leighlin-
bridge, Carlow. From Mrs. Hall's "Ireland."

couple, the two sisters met by accident, and were so overwhelmed with astonishment, grief, and shame, that they both died immediately. To punish this wicked crime, Tuathal imposed on Leinster a heavy tribute to be paid every second year-many times heavier than

the ordinary tribute due from a provincial king (p. 42). Whether we believe this half-legendary account of its origin or not, one thing is certain beyond all doubt: that from a very remote period the kings of Ireland claimed from Leinster an enormous tribute called the Boruma or Boru, consisting of cows, sheep, hogs, mantles, brazen caldrons, and ounces of silver: a tribute that brought great disaster on the country, and in the end indeed helped to break up the monarchy. Every householder in the province had to contribute; and the tax was so distressing on all, that it was hardly ever paid without a battle: so that the kings of Leinster were always at enmity with the kings of Ireland, and were ever ready to takes sides against them. We know that one of them joined the Danes and was the chief agent in bringing on the battle of Clontarf (chapter XV.); and it is notorious how another Dermot Mac Murrogh-brought over the Anglo-Normans to invade Ireland (chapter XVIII.).

A.D. 177

Conn the Hundred-Fighter, or as he is often called, Conn of the Hundred Battles, who became king, a.d. 177, was a great, warlike, and active king, as may be judged from his name. But he had a formidable antagonist, a man just as able and as fond of fighting as himself: Owen-More king of Munster, otherwise called Mogh-Nuadat [MowNooat]. Between these two there was constant warfare for many years: and Owen defeated his great rival in ten battles, till at last he forced him to divide Ireland equally between them. The boundary line agreed on was a low slender ridge of natural sandhills called Esker-Riada [Reeda], which still remains, running across Ireland from Dublin to Galway. This division very often referred to in Irish writings: the northern

is

half was called Leth-Conn [Leh Conn], that is, Conn's half; and the southern Leth-Mow, Mow's half. But Owen, becoming discontented with his share, renewed the quarrel; and a decisive battle was fought between them at a place called Moylena, near Tullamore in the present King's County, in which the Munster king was defeated and slain.

Conn was succeeded by his son Conary II., A.D. 212, whose son Riada [Reeda] led a colony to Scotland, as will be related in chapter XIII.

The most illustrious of all the pagan kings of Ireland was Cormac Mac Art, grandson of Conn the HundredFighter. He was a great warrior, scholar, A.D. 254 and lawmaker, as well as an encourager of learning and the legendary accounts describe him as a model of majesty, magnificence, and manly beauty. We are told that he founded three colleges at Tara; one for the teaching of law; one for history and literature; and the third for military science. After a prosperous reign he retired from the throne on account of the accidental loss of an eye (page 44), and took up his residence in a beautiful cottage called Cletta on the south bank of the Boyne near Newgrange, where for the rest of his life he devoted himself to learning. Here he composed a number of law-books, of some of which we still have copies in the old Brehon Law volumes (page 47). The legend says that Cormac became a Christian; and that his death was brought about by the druids, who practised their wicked spells against him, and caused him to be choked by the bone of a salmon.

In the time of Cormac flourished the "Fena of Erin," a body of militia kept for the defence of the throne, very like the Red Branch Knights of an earlier