had that pride of race, of clan, and of family, which results from familiarity with their great achievements. Their marvellously organised methods of recording and transmitting history signalises the Gael among the peoples of ancient time-just as their ancient Parliament signalised them. As from the great heart and centre of the Irish kingdom, five great arteries or roads radiated from Tara to the various parts of the country-the Slighe Cualann, which ran toward the present County Wicklow; the Slighe Mor, the great Western road, which ran via Dublin to Galway; the Slighe Asail which ran near the present Mullingar; the Slighe Dala which ran Southwest; and the Slighe Midluachra, the Northern road. Great, noble and beautiful truly was our Tara of the Kings.2 2 Another much storied, very ancient royal residence was Ailech in Inishowen, said to have been founded by the Dagda, and where, long afterwards, but still in very ancient times, a wonderful, beautiful residence was said to have been erected by a famous builder, Frigrind, who had eloped with Ailech, the daughter of the King of Alba. It was for her that he built within the great stone fort of Ailech (which fort still stands a monument to the pre-historic builders) this beautiful house which a poet of the far-off days says was of red hue, carved and emblazoned with gold and bronze, and so thick-set with shining gems that day and night were equally bright within it. It was in the beginning of the fourth century the legend days, that Frigrind erected this notable structure. Two centuries earlier Ptolemy, the Egyptian geographer, had properly located this royal residence upon his map of Ireland. At the famous Western royal residence of Rath-Cruachain, the house of Medb and Ailill is poetically pictured by another of the ancients, in the very old tale of the Tain Bo Fraich:-"The manner of that house was this: There were seven companies in it; seven compartments from the fire to the wall, all round the house. Every compartment had a front of bronze. The whole was composed of beautifully carved red yew. Three strips of bronze were in the front of each compartment. Seven strips of bronze from the foundation of the house to the ridge. The house from this out was built of pine. A covering of oak shingles was what was upon it on the outside. Sixteen windows was the number that were in it, for the purpose of looking out of it and for admitting light into it. A shutter of bronze to each window. A bar of bronze across each shutter; four times seven ungas of bronze was what each bar contained. Ailill and Medb's compartment was made altogether of bronze; and it was situated in the middle of the house, with a front of silver and gold around it. There was a silver band at one side of it, which rose to the ridge of the house, and reached all round it from the one door to the other. The arms of the guests were hung up above the arms of all other persons in that house; and they sat themselves down, and were bade welcome." This Rath was a circular stone fort of dry masonry, with wall thirteen feet thick at the base, and surrounded by five concentric ramparts, traces of three of which are still to be seen. CHAPTER XII THE FAIRS THE holding of the Feis of Tara was the occasion also for holding a great Aonach or fair. Almost all the great periodic assemblages of ancient Ireland had fairs in their train. After that of Tara the most famous of these periodic assemblies were those held at Tlachtga, Uisnech, Cruachan and Taillte -the three royal residences in those three portions of the royal domain of Meath, which had been annexed from Leinster, Munster. Connaught and Ulster, respectively. Also the Fair of Emain Macha (in the present county of Armagh), the Fair of Colmain on the Curragh of Kildare, and the famous Fair of Carman (Wexford). As mentioned, some of the fairs originated as accompaniment to serious state or provincial representative assemblages. Many fairs, however, had their beginning in commemorative funeral games, at the grave of some notable-as the Fair of Emain Macha was instituted in memory of the great Ulster queen. In the case of a fair which was not instituted as the accompaniment of a Feis, a Feis usually developed as an accompaniment of the fair. For at all such fairs the chiefs, the judges, the scholars, and other leading ones held deliberative assemblies, on a certain day or days, during the fair's progress. Also it was an invariable part of the pleasure and the profit of the fair gathering, that the best seanachies, poets, and genealogists in attendance should gather the crowds, and recite to them portions of the history of the country, province, or tuath (district); the deeds of the great ones gone before; the praises of the great ones who still walked the land; the legends and traditions; and the genealogies of the principal families. There were certain two of these gatherings, those of Emain Macha and Cruachan, whereat an important concern was the selection and examination of candidates for the various crafts, and the certificating the successful ones. As described by Keating, the candidates presented themselves before a board constituted of the King, the Ollams, chiefs and nobles, who examined and passed upon each, giving him the right to practise the craft or trade that he ambitioned. At Emain and Cruachan, as well as at Tara, the assemblages were primarily political. They were conventions of representatives from all parts, for the purpose of discussing national affairsand were presided over by the king. The yearly Fair of Taillte (now Telltown) in Meath, was mainly for athletic contests-and for this this was long famous throughout Eirinn, Alba, and Britain. In the course of time, toc, Taillte acquired new fame as a marriage mart. Boys and girls, in thousands, were brought there by their parents, who matched them, and bargained about their tinnscra (dowry)—in a place set apart for the purpose, whose Gaelic name, signifying marriagehollow, still commemorates its purpose. The games of Taillte were Ireland's Olympics, and, we may be sure, caused as keen competition and high excitement as ever did the Grecian. These Tailltin games took place during the first week of August-and the first of August, to this day, is commonly called Lugnasad-the games of the De Danann Lugh, who first instituted this gathering in memory of his foster-mother, Taillte. Another great assemblage for games and sports was held by the Ulstermen during the three days of Samain on the plain of Muiremne (in Louth). The last Fair of Taillte was celebrated in the year in which the first English invaders came into Ireland-in 1169. It was held by order of the High-King, Roderic O'Connor-and is recorded by The Four Masters, who state that the horses and chariots, alone, carrying people to this Fair, extended from Taillte to near Kells, a distance of six miles. The great fairs and Feisanna were regarded as of such overwhelming national importance that special and exceptional laws and ordinances were instituted to insure their proper carrying out. For such occasion the king's peace was proclaimed for all. During its continuance all fugitives from justice walked free men amongst free men. At the fair, going to it, and returning from it, no oppressed debtor could be molested, arrested, or distrained for his debt. On the eve of a feis or fair all personal ornaments, rings, bracelets, or brooches, that had been pawned to relieve financial distress, or impounded for debts overdue, must, for the time of the assemblage, be released to their owners. The creditor who refused to release them was heavily fined for the mental suffering caused those who were forced to the disgrace of appearing without adornment at the great festive gatherings, whereat all the nation appeared in its richest, most beautiful, and best. Another wise law provided for the peace of gatherings where mingled friend and foe, where heads and hearts were light, and where blood ran high. Any man royal or simple, who broke the king's peace, was to be punished with death. In the days of Colm Cille, even the saint's privilege of sanctuary failed to save a king's son who had disturbed the peace of the Fair. The law of the Fair was inflexible. Says an ancient writer, "They were carried out without breach of law, without crime, without violence, without dishonour. There was one universal Fair truce." Surely, highly commendable was the spirit, and highly creditable the prudence, of the ancient lawmakers, which hedged with wise precautions these beautiful days of jubilee provided for a highly sociable and gregarious, but clannish and quick-tempered people, who equally loved sporting and battling, the matching of power in games, civil or warlike. Joyce points out that there were three objects fulfilled by these great gatherings. Here the people learnt their laws, their rights, the past history of their country, the warlike deeds of their ancestors. Here also they got their relaxation and enjoyment, in the music, the poetry, the fun, the games, and the sports, provided for them. And here, likewise, were their markets1 for buying, selling and exchanging. It should be added that a fourth most important function of the fairs was the opportunity they provided for mating and marrying the young, and thereby drawing closer the relationship of families and clans who had been distant, or at enmity. Studying the account of "the fun at the fair" in those faraway days one is struck by the slightness of the change which the lapse of a couple of thousand years has effected. Besides athletic feats and racing of horses and chariots they had there we quote from the poem on the Fair of Carman: "Trumpets, harps, wide-mouthed horns; Cruisechs, timpanists, without fail, Poets, ballad singers and groups of agile jugglers, Bow-men and flute players, The host of chattering bird-like fliers, Shouters and loud bellowers, These all exert themselves to the utmost." 1 They had three different markets there "A market for food, a market for live cattle, The fame of the great fair of Carman is perpetuated by an ancient poem, preserved in the Book of Ballymote and in the Book of Leinster. The description of the Carman fair given in this poem may well convey to us a general picture of all those ancient Irish fairs. Here are set down some excerpts from the version given in the Appendix to O'Curry: "Listen, O Lagenians of the monuments! Ye truth-upholding hosts! Until you get from me, from every source, "Carman, the field of a splendid fair, With a widespread unobstructed green "The renowned field is the cemetery of kings, "To mourn for queens and for kings, To denounce aggression and tyranny, "Heaven, earth, sun, moon, and sea, Fruits, fire, and riches, Mouths, ears, alluring eyes, "Steeds, swords, beautiful chariots, Dew, fruits, blossoms, and foliage, "These in fulness all were there, The tribes of Banba without lasting grief,- "The gentiles of the Gaedhil did celebrate, A fair without (breach of) law, without crime, |