V.- THE DEATH OF KING CONOR MAC NESSA. HAVE alluded to doubts suggested in my mind by the facts of authentic history, as to whether King Conor Mac Nessa was likely to have played the foul part attributed to him in this celebrated bardic story, and for which, certainly, the "sureties" Fergus, Duthach, and Cormac, held him to a terrible account. All that can be said is, that no other incident recorded of him would warrant such an estimate of his character; and it is certain he was a man of many brave and noble parts. He met his death under truly singular circumstances. The ancient bardic version of the event is almost literally given in the following poem, by Mr. T. D. Sullivan: DEATH OF KING CONOR MAC NESSA. 'Twas a day full of sorrow for Ulster when Conor Mac Nessa went forth To punish the clansman of Connaught who dared to take spoil from the North; II. "Yet long midst the people who love him King Conor Mac Nessa may reign, * The pagan Irish warriors sometimes took the brains out of champions whom they had slain in single combat, mixed them up with lime, and rolled them into balls, which hardened with time, and which they preserved as trophies. It was with one of these balls, which had been abstracted from his armory, that Conor Mac Nessa was wounded as described in the text. III. Oh! woe for the valiant King Conor, struck down from the summit of life, IV. The princes, the chieftains, the nobles, who met to consult at his board, Whispered low when their talk was of combats, and wielding the spear and the sword: The bards from their harps feared to waken the full-pealing sweetness of song, V. He knew it, he felt it, and sorrow sunk daily more deep in his heart; VI. So years had passed over, when, sitting midst silence like that of the tomb, He heard the rocks bursting asunder, the trees tearing up by the roots, VII. And as soon as the sudden commotion that shuddered through nature had ceased. What magical arts have created this scene of wild horror and dread? Are the gods that we worship offended? what crime or what wrong has been done? VIII. “O king,” said the white-bearded druid, “the truth unto me has been shown, morn, When wicked men seized Him, fast bound Him with nails to a cross, lanced his side, And that moment of gloom and confusion was earth's cry of dread when He died. IX. "O King, He was gracious and gentle, His heart was all pity and love, And for men he was ever beseeching the grace of his Father above; He helped them, He healed them, He blessed them, He labored that all might attain To the true God's high kingdom of glory, where never comes sorrow or pain; X. With a bound from his seat rose King Conor, the red flush of rage on his face, VI. THE "GOLDEN AGE" OF PRE-CHRISTIAN ERINN. S early as the reign of Ard-ri Cormac the First-the first years of the third century-the Christian faith. had penetrated into Ireland. Probably in the commercial intercourse between the Irish and continental ports, some Christian converts had been made amongst the Irish navigators or merchants. Some historians think the monarch himself, Cormac, towards the close of life adored the true God, and attempted to put down druidism. "His reign," says Mr. Haverty, the historian, "is generally looked upon as the brightest epoch in the entire history of pagan Ireland. He established three colleges; one for War, one for History, and the third for Jurisprudence. He collected and remodelled the laws, and published the code which remained in force until the English invasion (a period extending beyond nine hundred years), and outside the English Pale for many centuries after! He assembled the bards and chroniclers at Tara, and directed them to collect the annals of Ireland, and to write. out the records of the country from year to year, making them synchronize with the history of other countries, by collating events with the reigns of contemporary foreign potentates, Cormac himself having been the inventor of this kind of chronology. These annals formed what is called the 'Psalter of Tara,' which also contained full details of the bounderics. of provinces, districts, and small divisions of land throughout Ireland; but unfortunately this great record has been lost, no vestige of it being now, it is believed, in existence. The magnificence of Cormac's palace at Tara was commensurate with the greatness of his power and the brilliancy of his actions; and he fitted out a fleet which he sent to harass the shores of Alba or Scotland, until that country also was compelled to acknowledge him as sovereign. He wrote a book or tract called Teaguscna-Ri, or the Institutions of a Prince,' which is still in existence, and which contains admirable maxims on manners, morals, and government." This illustrious sovereign died A. D. 266, at Cleitach, on the Boyne, a salmon bone, it is said, having fastened in his throat while dining, and defied all efforts of extrication. He was buried at Ross-na-ri, the first of the pagan monarchs for many generations who was not interred at Brugh, the famous burial place of the preChristian kings. A vivid tradition relating the circumstances of his burial has been very beautifully versified by Dr. Ferguson in his poem, “The Burial of King Cormac": "Crom Cruach and his sub-gods twelve." Said Cormac "are but craven treene; But He who made the tree to grow, The druids hear of this fearful speech and are horrified: Anon to priests of Crom was brought They loosed their curse against the king, They turned the maledictive stones. At length one day comes the news to them that the king is dead, "choked upon the food he ate," and they exultantly sound "the praise of their avenging God." Cormac, before he dies, however, leaves as his last behest a direction that he shall not be interred in the old pagan cemetery of the kings at Brugh, but at Ross-na-ri : But ere the voice was wholly spent That priest and prince should still obey, To awed attendants o'er him bent Great Cormac gathered breath to say: |