-some in Latin, some in Irish-composed by the primitive saints of Ireland.

23. There are manuscripts on various other ecclesiastical subjects, scattered through our libraries; canons and rules of monastic life, prayers and litanies, hymns, sermons, explanations of the Christian mysteries, commentaries on the Scriptures, &c.—many very ancient.

CHAPTER IV.

ANNALS, HISTORIES, GENEALOGIES.

24. Annals. The Irish chroniclers were very careful to record in their annals remarkable occurrences of their own time, or past events as handed down to them by former chroniclers. The annals are among the most important of the ancient manuscript writings for the study of Irish history.

The following are the principal books of Irish Annals remaining. The Synchronisms of Flann, who was a layman, Ferleginn or chief professor of the school of Monasterboice; died in 1056. He compares the chronology of Ireland with that of other countries, and gives the names of the monarchs that reigned in them, with lists of the Irish kings who reigned contemporaneously. Copies of this tract are preserved in the Books of Lecan and Ballymote.

25. The Annals of Tighernach [Teerna]. Tighernach O'Breen, the compiler of these annals, one of the greatest scholars of his time, was abbot of the two monasteries of Clonmacnoise and Roscommon. He was acquainted with the chief historical writers of the world known in his day, and made use of Flann's Synchronisms, and of most other ancient Irish historical writings of importance. He states that authentic Irish history begins at the foundation of

B

Emania, and that all preceding accounts are uncertain (100). He died 1088.

26. The Annals of Innisfallen were compiled about the year 1215 by some scholars of the monastery of Innisfallen in the Lower Lake of Killarney.

The Annals of Ulster, also called the Annals of Senait Mac Manus, now called Belle Isle, in upper Lough Erne. The original compiler was Cathal [Cahal] Maguire, who died of small-pox in 1498. They have been published with translation.

The Annals of Loch Ce [Key] were copied in 1588 for Brian Mac Dermot, who had his residence in an island in Lough Key, in Roscommon. They have been translated and edited in two volumes

The Annals of Connaught from 1224 to 1562.

27. The Chronicon Scotorum (Chronicle of the Scots or Irish), down to A.D. 1135, was compiled about 1650 by the great Irish antiquary Duald Mac Firbis. These annals have been printed with translation.

The Annals of Boyle, from the earliest time to 1253, are written in Irish mixed with Latin; and the entries throughout are very meagre.

The Annals of Clonmacnoise from the earliest period to 1408. The original Irish of these is lost; but we have an English translation by Connell Mac Geoghegan of Westmeath, which he completed in 1627.

28. The Annals of the Four Masters, also called the Annals of Donegal, are the most important of all. They were compiled in the Franciscan monastery of Donegal, by three of the O'Clerys, Michael, Conary, and Cucogry, and by Ferfesa O'Mulconry, who are now commonly known as the Four Masters. They began in 1632, and completed the work in 1636. "The Annals of the Four Masters" was translated with most elaborate and learned annotations by Dr. John O'Donovan; and it was publishedIrish text, translation, and notes-in seven large volumes.

A book of annals called the Psalter of Cashel was compiled by Cormac Mac Cullenan, but this has been lost.

He also wrote "Cormac's Glossary," an explanation of many old Irish words. This work still exists and has been translated and printed. Besides annals in the Irish language, there are also Annals of Ireland in Latin; such as those of Clyn, Dowling, Pembridge, of Multifarnham, &c., most of which have been published.

29. Histories. None of the writers of old times conceived the plan of writing a general history of Ireland. The first history of the whole country was the Forus Feasa ar Erinn, or History of Ireland, from the most ancient times to the Anglo-Norman invasion, written by Dr. Geoffrey Keating of Tubbrid in Tipperary, who died in 1644. Keating was deeply versed in the ancient language and literature of Ireland; and his history, though containing much that is legendary, is very interesting and valuable.

30. Genealogies. The genealogies of the principal families were most faithfully preserved in ancient Ireland. Each king and chief had in his household a Shanachy of historian, whose duty it was to keep a written record or all the ancestors and of the several branches of the family.

Many of the ancient genealogies are preserved in the Books of Leinster, Lecan, Ballymote, &c. But the most important collection of all is the great Book of Genealo gies compiled in the years 1650 to 1666 in the College St. Nicholas in Galway, by Duald Mac Firbis.

31. In this place may be mentioned the Dinnsenchu [Din-Shan'ahus], a topographical tract giving the legendáry history and the etymology of the names of remarkable hills, mounds, caves, cairns, cromlechs, raths, duns, and so forth. Copies of this tract are found in several of the old Irish books of miscellaneous literature, as already mentioned in Chapter II. The Coir Anmann ("Fitness of Names") is another work explaining the names of remarkable Irish historical persons. It has been published with translation.

CHAPTER V.

HISTORICAL AND ROMANTIC TALES.

32. Of all our manuscript remains, romantic literature is the most abundant. In course of time a great body of such literature accumulated, consisting chiefly of prose tales. In the Book of Leinster there is a very interesting list of ancient historical tales, to the number of 187, which are classified into Battles, Voyages, Tragedies, Military Expeditions, Cattle-raids, Courtships, Pursuits, Adventures, Caves (i.e. adventures in caves), Visions, Sieges, Feasts, Slaughters, Exiles, and Lake eruptions. We have in our old books stories belonging to every one of these classes.

Some of the tales are historical, i.e. founded on historical events-history embellished with fiction; while others are altogether fictitious. But it is to be observed that even in the fictitious tales, the main characters are nearly always historical, or such as were considered so. The greater number of the tales are in prose, but some are in verse; and in many of the prose tales the leading characters are often made to express themselves in verse or some striking incident of the story is related in a poetical form."*

33. A large proportion of the tales fall under two main cycles of ancient Irish history, which in all the Irish poetical and romantic literature were kept perfectly distinct : -the cycle of Conor Mac Nessa and his Red Branch Knights, and the cycle of Finn, the son of Cumal and his Fianna [Feena]. Conor Mac Nessa was king of Ulster in the first century, and lived in the palace of Emain or Emania. Under him flourished the Red Branch Knights, a sort of militia for the defence of the throne.

The sto

ries of this period form by far the finest part of our ancient romantic literature.

The most celebrated of all the tales is the Tain-boCuailnge [Quel'ne], the epic of Ireland; which celebrates a cattle-raiding invasion of Ulster by Maive queen of Connaught in the first century (100). In connexion with it there are about thirty minor tales.

34. Of the cycle of Finn and the Fena of Erin we have a vast collection of tales: commonly known as the Ossianic Tales. Finn the son of Cumal lived in the third century, and had his chief residence on the Hill of Allen in Kildare. He was killed on the Boyne when an old man, A.D. 283; and of all the heroes of ancient Ireland he is most vividly remembered in popular tradition. He was son-in-law of Cormac Mac Art, king of Ireland; and under that monarch he commanded a militia or standing army called the Fianna of Erin (104).

The tales of the Fena are neither so ancient nor so fine as those of the Red Branch Knights: the greater number are contained in manuscripts not more than 100 or 150 years old. Six volumes of tales, chiefly of the cycle of Finn, have been published with translations. The best of them is "The Pursuit of Dermot and Grania," of which I have given a free English translation in my "Old Celtic Romances."

35. The battle of Moylena and the battle of Moyrath are the subjects of two historic tales, both of which have been published, the former edited by Eugene O'Curry and the latter by O'Donovan. What are called the "Three Tragic Stories of Erin," viz., the Fate of the Children of Lir, the Fate of the Sons of Turenn, and the Fate of the Children of Usna, have been translated and edited by O'Curry. I have myself published in my Old Celtic Romances free translations, without texts, of thirteen ancient tales; among them the Three Tragic Stories of Erin.

The great majority of those old tales still remain unpublished and untranslated.