CHAPTER XXII.

HOW THE CHARACTER OF THE OLD IRISH PEOPLE SHOWED ITSELF IN VARIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES AND ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS.

Some of the modes of salutation and of showing respect practised by the ancient Irish indicate much gentleness and refinement of feeling. When a distinguished visitor arrived it was usual to stand up as a mark of respect. Giving a kiss, or more generally three kisses, on the cheek, was a very usual form of respectful and affectionate salutation: it was indeed the most general of all. When St. Columba approached the assembly at Drum-ketta, “King Domnall rose immediately before him, and bade him welcome, and kissed his cheek, and set him down in his own place.”

A very pleasing way of showing respect and affection, which we often find noticed, was laying the head gently on the person’s bosom. When Erc, King Concobar’s grandson, came to him, “he placed his head on the breast of his grandfather.” Sometimes persons bent the head and went on one knee to salute a superior.

Although there were no such institutions in ancient Ireland as pawn-offices, pledging articles as security for a temporary loan and its interest, was common enough. The practice was such a general feature of society that the Brehon Law stepped in to prevent abuses, just as our law now contains provisions to safeguard poor people from being wronged in their dealings with pawn-offices. A person might pledge any movable article--a horse, a brooch, a mantle, etc.--and the person holding the pledge might put it to its proper use while it remained with him. He was obliged to return it on receiving a day’s notice, provided the borrower tendered the sum borrowed, with its interest: and if he failed to do so he was liable to fine. Borrowing or lending, on pledge, was a very common transaction among neighbours; and it was not looked upon as in any sense a thing to be ashamed of, as pawning articles is at the present day.

There were distinct terms for all the parts of these transactions--a loan for kindness merely, a loan for interest, a loan in general: and interest was designated by two distinct words. The existence in ancient Ireland of the practice of pledging and lending for interest, the designation of the several functions by different terms, and the recognition of all by the Brehon Law, may be classed, among numerous other customs and institutions noticed throughout this book, as indicating a very advanced stage of civilisation. At what an early period this stage--of lending for interest--was reached may be seen from the fact that it is mentioned in an Irish gloss of twelve hundred years ago.

* * * * *

Old age was greatly honoured, and provision was made for the maintenance of old persons who were not able to support themselves. As to old persons who had no means, the duty of maintaining them fell of course on the children; and a son or daughter who was able to support parents but who evaded the duty was punished. If an old person who had no children became destitute the tribe was bound to take care of him. A usual plan was to send him (or her) to live with some family willing to undertake the duty, who had an allowance from the tribe for the cost of support.

In some cases destitute persons dependent on the tribe, who did not choose to live with a strange family, but preferred to have their own little house, received what we now call outdoor relief. There was a special officer whose business it was to look after them: or, in the words of the law tract, to “oversee the wretched and the poor,” and make sure that they received the proper allowance: like the relieving officer of our present poor laws. He was paid for this duty; and the law specially warned him not to take offence at the abuse he was likely to receive from the poor cross peevish old people he had in charge.

Care was taken that the separate little house in which a destitute old person lived should be a fit and proper one; and its dimensions and furniture, as well as the dimensions of the little kitchen-garden, are set forth in the law. The law also specifies three items of maintenance--food, milk, and attendance; and it adds that the old person was to have a bath at regular intervals, and his head was to be washed every Saturday.

From the arrangements here described it will be seen that there was a kindly spirit in the provisions for old age and destitution, and that the most important features of our modern poor-laws were anticipated in Ireland a thousand years ago.

* * * * *

“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.” So says the English poet, Keats, in his poem of Endymion, and he enumerates various natural features and artificial creations as things of beauty; among many others, the sun, the moon, “trees old and new,” clear rills, “the mid-forest brake,” “all lovely tales that we have heard or read.” If he had been in Ireland in old times, he would have come across delightful proofs of the truth of his saying everywhere among the people. They loved and had an intense appreciation of all things of beauty, whether natural or artificial; and they were remarkable for their close observation of the natural features of the world around them.

We know all this from their poetry, their tales, and their writings in general, which strongly reflect this pleasing aspect of their character. Everywhere we meet with passages in which are noticed, with loving admiration, not only those features mentioned by Keats, but many others, such as the boom and clash of the waves, the cry of the sea-birds, the murmur of the wind among the trees, the howling of the storm, the sad desolation of the landscape in winter, the ever-varying beauty of Irish clouds, the cry of the hounds in full career among the glens, the beauty of the native music, tender, sad, or joyous, and so forth in endless variety.

The few examples that follow here, as the reader will at once perceive, exhibit vividly this very fine and very attractive characteristic.

The singing of birds had a special charm for the old Irish people. Comgan, a poet of the seventh century, standing on the great rath of Knockgraffon in Tipperary--one of the old Munster royal residences--which was in his time surrounded with woods, uttered the following verse:--

“This great rath on which I stand Wherein is a little well with a bright silver drinking-cup: Sweet was the voice of the wood of blackbirds Round this rath of King Fiacha.”

Among the examples of metre given in an old Irish treatise on prosody is the following verse, selected merely for a grammatical purpose:--

“The bird that calls within the sallow-tree, Beautiful his beak and clear his voice; The tip of the bill of the glossy jet-black bird is a lovely yellow; The note that the merle warbles is a trilling lay.”

It would be hard to find a more striking or a prettier conception of the power of music in the shape of a bird-song, than the account of Queen Blanid’s three cows with their three little birds which used to sing to them during milking. These cows were always milked into a caldron, but submitted reluctantly and gave little milk till the birds came to their usual perch--on the cows’ ears--and sang for them: then they gave their milk freely till the caldron was filled. This corresponds with the effect of the milking-songs described at p. 89. (See also for bird-songs, p. 83.)

Many students of our ancient literature have noticed these characteristics of the old Irish and their writings. “Another poem,” writes Mr. Alfred Nutt, “strikes a note which remains dominant throughout the entire range of Ossianic Literature: the note of keen and vivid feeling for certain natural conditions. It is a brief description of winter:--

“A tale here for you: oxen lowing: winter snowing: summer passed away: wind from the north, high and cold: low the sun and short his course: wildly tossing the wave of the sea. The fern burns deep red. Men wrap themselves closely: the wild goose raises her wonted cry: cold seizes the wing of the bird: ’tis the season of ice: sad my tale.”

In a certain plain, simple prose narrative in one of our old books, where there is not the least effort at fine writing, it is related how, in the noon of a summer day, a little child fell over a cliff into the sea. The mother ran down shrieking expecting he was dashed to pieces: but she found him quite safe “sitting in the trough of the sea”--to quote the lovely words of the old writer--“playing with the waves. For the waves would reach up to him and laugh round him; and he was laughing at the waves, and putting the palm of his hand to the foam of the crest, and he used to lick it like the foam of new milk.”

In the Life of St. Columkille it is stated that, while residing in Iona, he wrote a poem in Irish, a tender reminiscence of his beloved native land, in which he expresses himself in this manner:--

ST. COLUMKILLE’S REMEMBRANCE OF ERIN.

“How delightful to be on Ben-Edar before embarking on the foam-white sea; how pleasant to row one’s little curragh round it, to look upward at its bare steep border, and to hear the waves dashing against its rocky cliffs.

“A grey eye looks back towards Erin; a grey eye full of tears.

“While I traverse Alban of the ravens, I think on my little oak grove in Derry. If the tributes and the riches of Alban were mine, from the centre to the uttermost borders, I would prefer to them all one little house in Derry. The reason I love Derry is for its quietness, for its purity, for its crowds of white angels.

“How sweet it is to think of Durrow: how delightful would it be to hear the music of the breeze rustling through its groves.

“Plentiful is the fruit in the Western Island--beloved Erin of many waterfalls: plentiful her noble groves of oak. Many are her kings and princes; sweet-voiced her clerics; her birds warble joyously in the woods: gentle are her youths; wise her seniors; comely and graceful her women, of spotless virtue; illustrious her men, of noble aspect.

“There is a grey eye that fills with tears when it looks back towards Erin. While I stand on the oaken deck of my bark I stretch my vision westwards over the briny sea towards Erin.”

Even the place-names scattered over the country--names that remain in hundreds to this day--bear testimony to this pleasing feature of the Irish character: for we have numerous places still called by names with such significations as “delightful wood,” “silvery stream,” “cluster of nuts” (for a hazel wood), “prattling rivulet,” “crystal well,” “the recess of the bird-warbling,” “melodious little hill,” “the fragrant bush-cluster,” and so forth in endless variety.[7]

* * * * *

There is a very old legend that Ailill Inbanna, king of Connaught in the sixth century, earned heaven by his noble self-sacrifice in order to save his people. A bitter war was waged between him and the two princes Donall and Fergus, sons of the king of Ireland, till at last a decisive battle was fought between them at a place called Cúil-Conari, in the present county Mayo, in which Ailill was defeated. And at the end of the day, when he and his army were in full retreat, the king, sitting in his chariot in the midst of the flying multitude, said to his charioteer:--“Cast thine eyes back, I pray thee, and tell me if there is much killing of my people, and if the slayers are near us.” The charioteer did so, and said:--“The slaughter that is made on thy people is intolerable.” Then said the king:--“Not their own guilt, but my pride and unrighteousness it is that they are suffering for. Turn now the chariot and let me face the pursuers; for as their enmity is against me only, if I am slain it will be the redemption of many.” The chariot was accordingly turned round, and the king plunged amidst his foemen and was slain; on which the pursuit and slaughter ceased. That man, says the old legend, by giving up his life, in his repentance, to save his people, attained to the Lord’s peace.

* * * * *

In the old Irish Canon Law, there was a merciful provision to save the family of a dead man from destitution if he died in debt; namely, that certain specified valuable articles--such as a cow, a horse, a garment, a bed, etc.--belonged to the family, and could not be claimed by a creditor.

* * * * *

The yellow plague wrought dreadful havoc in Ireland--and indeed desolated all Europe--in the seventh century. In Ireland at least it appears to have attacked adults more than children, so that everywhere through the country numbers of little children, whose mothers and fathers had been carried off, were left helpless and starving. At this same time lived Ultan, the kindly bishop of Ardbraccan in Meath. It wrung his heart to witness these piteous scenes of human suffering all round him; and he took steps, so far as he was able, to relieve and save the little children. He collected all the orphan babes he could find, and brought them to his monastery; and procuring a great number of cows’ teats, and filling them with milk, he put them into the children’s mouths with his own hands, and thus contrived to feed the little creatures. The number increased daily, so that at last he had as many as 150; and as he was not able to do all the work himself, he had to call in others to assist him in his noble labour of love.

It is proper to remark here that we find other examples in history of the use of a cow’s teat for milk-feeding, and that in Russia infants are often fed in this way.

All this is remembered to St. Ultan down to the present day; for he is often mentioned in old Irish histories, almost always with a remark something like this:--“Little children are always playing round Ultan of Ardbraccan.”

It would be difficult to find an instance where charity is presented in greater beauty and tenderness than it is in this simple story of the good bishop Ultan.

INDEX.

Adam and Eve, 83.

Adze, 136.

Aenach, a fair, chap. xxi.

Aghaboe, in Queen’s County, 49.

Agriculture, 35, chap. xvii.

Agricultural implements, 130.

Aidan, St., 52, 53.

Ailech, palace in Donegal, 7.

Ailell Inbanna, king of Connaught, 166.

Aillenn, palace of, 8.

Ainnle, son of Usna, 77.

Airmeda, daughter of Dianket, 98, 99.

Alban, Scotland, 11, 165.

Albinus, and Clement, 58, 59, 60.

Ale, 115.

Alloys, 132.

Alum, 140.

American Universities, 44, 45.

Anglo-Normans, 10, 15, 64.

Anglo-Saxons, 52.

Angus Mac-an-oge, 28.

Animals belonging to farm, 130.

Annals, the Irish, chap. ix.

Annals of the Four Masters, 73.

Antrim, 12.

Anvil, the smith’s, 134.

Apprenticeship, 138.

Architects, 131.

Ardagh Chalice, 97.

Ardan, son of Usna, 77.

Ardbraccan in Meath, 168.

Ard-ri, the over-king of Ireland, 1.

Aristocracy, marks of, 121.

Armagh, 42.

Army doctors, 99, 100.

Art, chap. xii.

Art the Solitary, king of Ireland, 23.

Artificers: see Handicrafts and Art.

Assemblies, Sports, and Pastimes, chap. xxi.

Assyrian beards, 123.

Augustine, St., 52.

Augurs, 26.

Bagpipes, 86.

Baking, 117.

Bangor, Co. Down, 42, 43, 49.

Banqueting Hall at Tara, 106, 111, 112, 150.

Barbers, 123.

Barm, 117.

Baths and bathing, 122, 124.

Beard, 123.

Beauty of Nature and Art admired, 161 to 164.

Bede, the Venerable, 11, 50, 69, 72.

Bees, 117.

Beeswax, 118.

Beetagh, a public hosteller, 119.

Bell of the Will, the, 39.

Bellows, described, 134.

Bells, 38, 39, 88.

Ben-Edar, now the Hill of Howth, near Dublin, 165.

Bir, a spit, 115.

Birds and Bird-net Laws, 155.

Bird-singing, 162, 163.

Black in dyeing, 140.

Blacksmith, 39, 113, 132, 133, 134.

Blanid, Queen, 163.

Blower, a sort of bellows, 134.

Blue, in dyeing, 141.

Boats, 110, 145, 146, 147.

Bobbio in Italy, 49.

Book of Kells, 93, 94, 95, 122, 140.

Book of Lecan, 66.

Book of Lecan, Yellow, 65.

Book of Leinster, 65.

Book of Mac Durnan, 140.

Book of the Dun Cow, 65, 74.

Books and Literature, chap. viii.

Borrowing, 159.

Boundaries of territories, 129.

Bracelets, 128.

Brasiers and their work, 97, 98, 128, 132, 133.

Brass, 132.

Brathlang, a covering for a deer-trap, 155.

Bread, 117.

Brehon, a judge, 17.

Brehon Laws, the, chap. iii., 148.

Brendan the Navigator, St., 43.

Brewing, 117.

Brewy, a public hospitaller, 116, 119.

Bridges, 144.

Bridles, 145.

Brigit, St., 36.

Brigit, the goddesses so named, 28.

Britain, 50, 52.

Britannia, 14.

Britons, 141, 145.

Bronze, 116, 132, 133, 141.

Brooch, 126, 128.

Brugh, now Newgrange on the Boyne, 28.

Bruree, palace of, 8.

Builders, 131, 132.

Bunnĕ-do-at, a kind of gold ornament, 128.

Butter, 117.

Buttons, 126, 128.

Caher in Tipperary, 8.

Caird, a brasier or silversmith, 132, 133.

Caldron, 116.

Candles, 118.

Canon Law, old Irish, 167.

Cape for shoulders, 125, 141.

Car in common use, 144.

Carding wool, 139.

Carlingford peninsula, 78.

Carntierna near Fermoy, 28.

Carpenters, 132.

Carrigcleena near Mallow, 28.

Carthage, 56.

Carving and carvers, 135.

Cashel, Rock of, 8.

Castletown Fort, near Dundalk, 77.

Celts (people), 114.

Champion, a king’s, 4.

Charcoal, 118.

Chariot, 144.

Charioteer, 113, 144, 145.

Charlemagne, 58, 59, 60.

Cheese, 117.

Chess and chess-playing, 156.

Christian Ireland, chap. v.

Churches, 36, 37, 136, 137.

Churn, 117.

Cleena the fairy queen, 28.

Clement and Albinus, 58, 59, 60.

Cloak, 125, 126.

Clonard in Meath, 35, 42, 43.

Clonfert in Galway, 43 (twice).

Clonmacnoise in King’s County, 42.

Clontarf, Battle of, 69 to 72.

Clothes and clothing industries, chap. xix.

Clowns, 153, 156.

Coats, 125, 126.

Cogwheels, 134.

Cóir Anmann, the, 73.

Colman, abbot of Lindisfarne, 53.

Colours of dress, 124, 125, 126, 152: see Dyeing.

Columba, St.: see Columkille.

Columbanus, St., 49.

Columkille, St., 29, 52.

Combs and combing, 122, 124.

Comgall, St., 43.

Commerce, 147.

Commons (land), 131.

Compasses (for circles), 136.

Conall Kernagh, 77, 122.

Conari, king of Ireland, 156, 157.

Concobar or Conor mac Nessa, 7, 76, 78, 158.

Congal, Prince, 125.

Conn the Hundred Fighter, king of Ireland, 30.

Connla of the Golden Hair, Prince, 30, 31, 32.

Convents, 36.

Cooks and cooking, 115, 116, 154.

Cooley or Quelnĕ, 78.

Coopers, 136.

Copper, 130, 131, 132.

Copyists, 63.

Cormac Mac Art, king of Ireland, 23, 24, 77, 111.

Cormac’s Glossary, written by archbishop Cormac Mac Cullenan, king of Munster, died A.D. 807, 16.

Corn, 130.

Coursing and coursing hounds, 155.

Courts of justice, 17, 18.

Cows, 130.

Cow’s teat as feeding-bottle, 168.

Craebh-ciuil, 88.

Craglea near Killaloe, 28.

Crannoge, a lake-dwelling, 110.

Creeveroe at Emain, 77.

Crescents for the neck, 96, 128.

Criffan the Great, king of Ireland, 14.

Crimson in dyeing, 140, 141.

Crochet-work, 139.

Croghan, palace of, 8, 78, 137, 149, 150.

Crops, 130.

Cross of Cong, the, 97.

Crossans, gleemen, 157.

Cuculainn, 77, 78.

Cúil-Conari in Connaught, 166.

Curath-mir, the hero’s morsel, 113.

Curds, 117.

Curragh, a wicker-boat, a coracle, 10, 143, 145, 146, 147.

Curragh of Kildare, 153.

Cycles of Irish Tales, 76, 77, 78.

Danes, the, 37, 57, 64, 69, 72.

Dark Ages, 51.

Decies in Waterford, 15.

Dedannans, the colony preceding the Milesians. The Irish gods and fairies were mostly Dedannans; 76: see chap. iv.

Deece baronies near Tara, 15.

Deirdre, 121.

Dermot O’Dyna, 79.

Derry, 43, 165.

Desii, the tribe of, 15.

Dianket, the Irish god of medicine, 98, 99.

Dinner, 111, 115.

Dinnree in Carlow, 8.

Dinnsenchus, the, 73.

Diseases, 104.

Distaff and spindle, 139.

Divination, 25.

Divinity taught in schools, 48.

Domnall, king of Ireland, 125, 158.

Donall, Prince, 166.

Donegal, 52.

Donegal, Monastery of, 73.

Donn, the fairy king, 28.

Dress, chap. xvi.

Drink, 115.

Druids, 24, 25, 26, 40.

Drum Ketta, 158. (See this in Index of History of Ireland.)

Drunkenness, 115.

Dundalgan, Dundalk, 77.

Dunlavin in Wicklow, 8.

Dunstan, St., 57.

Durrow in King’s County, 43.

Dyeing, 139, 140, 141.

Dyeing the face, hair, etc., 121, 122, 123.

Dyfed in Wales, 15.

Ecclesiastical Schools, chap. vi.

Eclipses, 68, 69.

Education, 75, 81, 82.

Eevin or Eevil the fairy queen, 28.

Egypt, 50, 55.

Election of kings, 2.

Elements, worship of, 29.

Emain or Emania, 7, 76, 137, 149, 150.

Embroidery, 142, 153.

Endymion, poem of, 161.

England, 52, 53, 57, 62.

Engravers, 135.

Erc, Concobar’s grandson, 158.

Eric of Auxerre, 53.

Ethicus of Istria, 61.

Eyebrows dyed black, 121.

Eyelids, dyed black, 54, 121.

Fairies, 27 to 32, 109.

Fairs, chap. xxi.

Farm animals, 130.

Farm fences, 129.

Farming implements, 130.

Faroe Islands, 55.

Feis, a festival, a great meeting of delegates, 149.

Fena of Erin, the, 77, 79.

Fences, 129.

Fergil the Geometer, 49.

Fergus, Angus, and Lorne, 12.

Fergus, Prince, 166.

Fergus Mac Roy, 77.

Fer-leginn, the principal of a college, 46.

Ferryboats, 110, 144.

Fiacha Mullehan, king of Ireland, 163.

Finan, abbot of Lindisfarne, 53.

Finger-nails, 121.

Finn mac Coole, or Finn, son of Cumal, 77, 79.

Finnen or Finnian, St., 35.

Fish and Fishing, 155.

Fishing weirs, 155.

Flageolets, 86.

Flax, 139, 140.

Fleshfork, 117.

Flint and steel, 118.

Food, chap. xv.

Fools (for amusement), 156.

Fords, 144.

Foreign conquests, chap. ii.

Foreign merchants, 147, 153.

Foreign missions, chap. vii.

Forge, a blacksmith’s, tools in, 134.

Forks and knives, 114.

Forts, or lisses, or raths, 16, 109.

Fortune-tellers, 26.

Founders (in metals), 118, 132, 133.

Four Masters, the, 73.

France, 21, 50, 57, 58, 120.

Free circuit of kings, 5.

Frieze, 125.

Frith of Clyde, 11.

Frock-coat, 125.

Fuel, 118, 134.

Fulling cloth, 138, 139.

Furnace, 134.

Furs of animals, 124.

Game, different kinds of, 154, 155.

Ganntree, mirth-music, 88.

Garters, 127.

Gauls, the, 9, 109, 113, 145.

Germany, 50, 57, 120.

Gildas, the British writer, 147.

Giraldus Cambrensis, 84.

Girdle, 118, 125, 126, 127.

Glasheen, the woad-plant, 22, 23, 141.

Glastonbury, 57.

Gleemen, 157.

Gloves, 127.

Goad for horses, 145.

Goaling or hurling, 155.

Gobha, a smith, 132, 133, 134.

Gods, the pagan Irish, 27 to 30.

Goibniu, the Irish smith-god, 134.

Gold-plate ornament, 128.

Goldsmiths and their work, 97, 98, 128, 132.

Goll-tree, sorrow music, 88.

Gorgets, 96, 128.

Gospels, 93, 94.

Great Britain, 50, 52, 57.

Greece, 51, 151.

Greek language, 48.

Greeks, the, 81, 113, 114, 122, 139, 144, 152.

Greenan, a summer-house, the women’s apartment, 108.

Greenan Ely, 7.

Greyhounds, 155.

Griffith ap Conan, king of Wales, 84.

Grindstone, 136.

Guests, 4.

Hair, 122, 123, 127.

Handbag for ladies, 127, 142.

Handicrafts, chap. xviii.

Harp, the, and harpers, 83, 85, 86.

Hat, 127.

Haughton, the Rev. Dr., 70, 71.

Head covering, 127.

Heads of pigs and oxen, for smiths, 113.

Heaven, the pagan Irish, 30, 31, 32.

Heptarchy, the, 52.

Hermits, 36.

Hero’s morsel, 113.

Historical and Romantic Tales, 41, chap. x.

Holyhead, 16.

Holy wells, 38.

Honey, 116, 117, 118.

Hood, 125, 127.

Horns (blowing), 87.

Horses, and horsemanship, 130, 145, 153.

Horse-rod, 145.

Hospitality, 119, 120.

Hospitals, 104, 105.

Hostels, free, 119, 120.

House, the, chap. xiv.

Household of king, 3, 4, 5.

House-steward, 3.

Hunting, 154.

Hurling or goaling, 155.

I-Brassil, the pagan Irish heaven, 30.

Iceland, 55.

Idols, the Irish, 27, 29.

Inauguration of kings, 2.

Insanity, 25.

Interest on loans, 159.

Intoxicating drink, 115.

Iona, 52.

Irishmen’s cottages in Wales, 16.

Iron, 130, 131.

Island of Saints and Scholars, the, chap. vi., 51.

Isle of Man, 12, 13.

Isthmian games of Greece, 151.

Italy, 50, 57, 60.

Jesters, 156.

John Macananty, the fairy king, 28.

John Scotus Erigena, 49.

Joints for special persons, 113.

Joseph’s coat of many colours, 125.

Josina, king of Scotland, 99.

Jugglers, 153, 156, 157.

Julius Cæsar, 9, 146.

Keats the poet, 161.

Keens or laments, 89.

Kehern, 100.

Keltar of the Battles, 77.

Kent, 52.

Kildare, 36, 42, 95.

Kilmallock Abbey, 47, note.

Kilt, 126.

Kincora, palace of, 8.

Kings, chap. i.

Kiss on cheek as salutation, 158.

Kitchen garden, 110.

Kitchen, a relish or condiment, 117.

Kitchen utensils, 116.

Knives and forks, 114.

Knockaulin fort, 8.

Knockfierna in Limerick, 28.

Laeghaire, king of Ireland, 19, 26.

Laery the Victorious, 77.

Lambrat, a napkin, 114.

Lathes, 136.

Latin, 48.

Law books, 19, 20.

Law to be obeyed by kings, 6.

Lay schools, 40, 41, 42, 43.

Lead, 131.

Learning, chap. vi.

Leather and leather-work, 142, 143.

Leaven, 117.

Leggings, 126.

Letters of English alphabet, 62.

Lichen for dyeing, 141.

Liffey, the river, 72.

Light, 118.

Linen, 124, 139.

Lis or Liss, a circular fort, 16, 109.

Lismore in Waterford, 42.

Locomotion, chap. xx.

Louth, Co. of, 78.

Luncheon, 111.

Mac Con, king of Ireland, 22, 23.

Madness, 25.

Maive, queen of Connaught, 78.

Man, Isle of, 12, 13.

Mannanan Mac Lir, the Irish sea-god, 27, 28.

Mantle, 125.

Manure, 130.

Manuscripts, 63.

Manx language, 13.

Markets in fairs, 153.

Marriages and Marriage Hollow at Tailltenn, 151.

Marshal, the, 112.

Masons, 132.

Mead or metheglin, 115, 118.

Meals, 111.

Medical books, 101, 102.

Medicinal herbs, 98, 99, 100, 104.

Medicine and medical doctors, chap. xiii.

Metal-work and metal-workers, 95, 132, 134. See Brasiers, and Goldsmiths.

Meyer, Dr. Kuno, 80.

Midac, son of Dianket, 98.

Migrations of Irish to Scotland, 11, 12, 72.

Migrations of Irish to Wales, 13.

Milesian colony, 76.

Milk, 115, 117.

Milking, 131.

Milking-songs, 89.

Mills, 117, 130.

Mine on a farm, 130.

Mines and mining, 131.

Mirth-music, 88.

Missionaries, chap. vii., 120, 121.

Monasterboice near Drogheda, 43.

Monasteries, 34, 35, 36, 120.

Monastic schools, 40 to 51.

Monks, 34.

Montalembert, 55.

Moore, Thomas, 90.

Mortar, 136.

Moulds for metal-casting, 133.

Moy Mell, the pagan Irish heaven, 30.

Munster, 11, 140.

Music, chap. xi., 115, 152.

Musical Branch, 88.

Mythological period of Irish Tales, 76.

Naas in Kildare, 8.

Nails (of fingers), 121.

Naisi, son of Usna, 77.

Names of Places, 165, 166.

Napkins, 114.

Nature closely observed, 162.

Necklaces, 128.

Necklets, 96.

Needle and needlework, 141, 142.

Niall of the Nine Hostages, 14, 15.

Nobles, 2.

Norsemen, 12.

Northumberland, Northumbria, and Northumbrians, 52, 53.

Nuns, 36.

O’Cassidys, the, 101.

O’Clerys, the, 73.

O’Curry, Professor Eugene, 20.

O’Donovan, Dr. John, 20, 73.

Ogham writing, 61, 62.

O’Hickeys, the, 101.

Old age and destitution, provision for, 160.

O’Lees, the, 101.

Ollam Fodla, king of Ireland, 149.

Ollave, a doctor of any profession, 3, 112, 113, 132, 149.

O’Loghlin, Donall, king of Ireland, 39.

Olympian games of Greece, 151.

O’Mulconry, Ferfesa, 73.

Orkney Islands, 55.

Ornaments, personal, 128.

Oscar, son of Ossian, 79.

O’Shiels, the, 101.

Ossian, son of Finn, 79.

Oswald, king of Northumbria, 53.

Outdoor relief, 160.

Oxen, 130.

Pagan Ireland, chap. iv.

Pagan schools, 40.

Painters, 135.

Painting or dyeing the face, 121, 122.

Palaces, 6, 7, 8.

Paris, 49, 59.

Pasturage and tillage, chap. xvii.

Patrick, St., 15, 19, 26, 29, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 61, 96.

Pavia in Italy, 60.

Peat, 118.

Penal Laws, 85.

Penwork, 92.

Periods or cycles of Irish Tales, 76, 77, 78.

Picts and Scots, 10, 13, 14.

Pigs, 130.

Pillar-stones as boundaries, 129.

Pillar-stones as idols, 29.

Pins, 126.

Place-names, 165, 166.

Planes (carpentry), 136.

Pledging for loan, 159.

Plough whistles, 90.

Poets and poetry, 41, 81, 82.

Pond for cattle, 130.

Poor-laws, 160, 161.

Poor scholars, 44, 45.

Pope, the, 56.

Porridge, 117.

Potters wheel, 136.

Printing, 60.

Professions, 3, 41, 101.

Provinces, the five, 1.

Purple in dyeing, 141.

Quelnĕ or Cooley, 78.

Querns, 117.

Races, 153.

Ramparts as boundaries, 129.

Rath or lis, a circular fort, 16, 109.

Razors, 123.

Recitation of stories and poems, 81, 152.

Red in dyeing, 140.

Red Branch Knights, 7, 76 to 79, 113.

Relieving officer, 161.

Rélta na bh-filedh, the meeting-house for the ollaves at Tara, 150.

Residences of kings, 6, 7, 8.

Retinue of kings, 3, 4.

Revenue of kings, 5.

Rhapsodists of Greece, 152.

Rings, 128.

Rivers as boundaries, 129.

Road through or by farm, 130.

Roads, 143, 144.

Roads as boundaries between territories, 129.

Rock of Cashel, 8.

Roman classical writers, 10, 11.

Roman walls between England and Scotland, 11.

Romans, 114, 115, 122, 144, 145.

Rome, 51, 56.

Rosscarbery in Cork, 43.

Round Towers, 37, 136, 137.

Rushlight, 118.

Ruskin, 125.

Sacred groves round monasteries, 39.

Sacred armistice of the Greeks, 152.

Saer, a mason or carpenter, 133.

Sai-re-caird, a head craftsman, 137.

Salmon, 117.

Salt, 116.

Saltair, of Tara, 150.

Salutation, modes of, 158.

Samain, 1st November, 149.

Satin, 124, 126.

Schools and colleges, chap. vi.

Science, various branches of, taught in Irish schools, 48.

Scotland, 10, 11, 12, 52, 72, 82, 86, 89, 90, 91, 112, 113, 126, 150.

Scots, _i.e._, the Irish, 9, 10, 58.

Scottish harpers and music, 84.

Scrabo near Newtownards, 28.

Scribes, 63.

Scriptures, the Holy, 48.

Sedulius, 49.

Senchus Mór, Great Law Book, 19, 20.

Sewing, 141.

Shanachie, a storyteller, a historian, 74, 81, 112.

Shears, 138.

Shee, fairies and fairy-dwellings, 27, 28, 29.

Sheep, 130.

Shellfish in dyeing, 141.

Shield, 112.

Ships, 146.

Shirt, 126.

Shoes, 127.

Shoes taken off at meals, 115.

Showmen, 153.

Shrine of St. Patrick’s Bell, 39.

Silversmiths: see Goldsmiths.

Sick maintenance in a hospital, 105.

Sieves, 117.

Silk, 124, 126.

Singing, 115, 152.

Singing of birds, 162.

Skewers, 115.

Slaan, a turf-spade, 118.

Sleeping accommodation, 108.

Sleep-music, 89.

Smiths, 39, 113, 132, 133, 134.

Soap, 124.

Solway Frith, 11.

Soothsayers, 26.

Sorrow-music, 88.

Spear-heads, 133.

Speckled Book, 65.

Spinning, spindles, and wheel, 139, 140.

Spinning-wheel songs, 89.

Spit for cooking, 115, 116.

Spunk, tinder, 118.

Spurs, none used, 145.

Squire or shield-bearer, 112.

Steel, 141.

Stilicho, 14.

Stirabout, 117.

Stokes, Miss Margaret, 93.

Stokes, Dr. Whitley, 80.

Stone-building, 107, 132, 136.

Stuarts, the, 12.

Styles of Irish music, 88.

Suantree, sleep-music, 89.

Swimming, 144.

Tables, 114.

Tailltenn, fair of, 150.

Táin bo Quelnĕ, story of the, 78, 79.

Tales, the Irish Historical and Romantic, 41, chap. x.

Tanning, 142, 143.

Tara, 1, 7, 26, 111, 143, 146, 149.

Tara, Plan of, _Frontispiece_.

Tara Brooch, 97.

Teernanoge or Tirnanoge, the pagan Irish heaven, 30.

Teltown in Meath: see Tailltenn.

Theodosius, 13.

Theology, 48.

Things of beauty, 161, 162.

Three Orders of Irish Saints, 34 to 36.

Tierna, the fairy king, 28.

Tillage and pasturage, chap. xvii.

Timpan and timpanists, 85, 86.

Tin, 131, 132.

Tinder, 118.

Tinnĕ-crassa, fire from flint and steel, 118.

Tirconnell, now Donegal, 52.

Tlachtga, fair of, 150, 151.

Todd, the Rev. Dr., 70, 71.

Tools of various handicraftsmen, 136.

Torques for the neck, 128.

Towns, 106.

Trades, how learned, 138.

Tradesmen of the various crafts, 135: see Handicrafts.

Traps for wild animals, 154, 155.

Travelling, 143.

Trousers, 126.

Trumpets and trumpeters, 87, 112, 133.

Turf for firing, 118.

Tyrian purple, 141.

Ulster, 76, 78, 139.

Ultan, St., 167, 168.

Universities, the Irish, 48.

Ushnagh, fair of, 150, 151.

Usna, sons of, 77.

Van Helmont, the physician, 103.

Various customs, chap. xxii.

Veil, 127.

Verse, 81, 82.

Vessels, makers of, 136.

Vulcan, 133.

Wales, 10, 15, 16.

War of the Irish with the Danes, 69, 70.

Warfare, chap. ii.

War-marches (music), 90.

Water, digging for, 130.

Watermills, 117.

Wax candles, 118.

Weaving, 139.

Weirs for fishing, 155.

Wells, 29, 37, 38.

Welsh, 84, 141.

Westwood, Professor, 94.

Whistles, 86.

Wickerwork building, 107, 144.

Wine, 115.

Wolfdog, 154.

Wolves, 154.

Wood, a, on a farm, 130.

Wood cleared off the land, 129.

Wood for working, 131.

Wood-building, 107, 132.

Wood-workers, 135: see Carpenters.

Wool and woollens, 124, 126, 138, 139, 141.

Writing, art of, 60, 61.

Yeast, 117.

Yellow Book of Lecan, 65.

Yellow Plague, the, 167.

Yew-tree and wood, 135.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Many of the provisions of the Brehon Laws, such as those relating to Land, to Offences, Compensations, and Punishments; to Professions, Trades, and Industries; to the mutual duties of the various classes of people, from the king down to the slave; to the modes of summoning wrong-doers before the brehons’ courts, with a description of the manner in which trials were conducted; and various other details, will be found in my two Social Histories of Ancient Iceland.

[2] Freely translated (in “Old Celtic Romances”) by Dr. Joyce, from the old poem in the original Irish version.

[3] I saw the same custom in full swing in some of the lay schools before 1847. Many a time I prepared my lesson--with some companions--sitting on the grass beside the old abbey in Kilmallock, or perched on the top of the ivy-mantled wall.

[4] The Irishmen who went to the Continent in those times always took Latin names, which were generally translations of their Irish names.

[5] Translated in my “Reading Book in Irish History.”

[6] Translated in my “Old Celtic Romances.”

[7] For the originals of all the above names, and for numerous others of a like kind, see Irish Names of Places, vol. II., chap. IV., on “Poetical and Fancy Names.”

WORKS BY P. W. JOYCE, M.A., LL.D., T.C.D.; M.R.I.A.

ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE ANCIENT LAWS OF IRELAND; PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, IRELAND; LATE PRINCIPAL, MARLBOROUGH STREET TRAINING COLLEGE, DUBLIN.

_Two Splendid Volumes, richly gilt, both cover and top._

_With 361 Illustrations. Price £1 1s. net._

A SOCIAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT IRELAND.

A Complete Survey of the Social Life and Institutions of Ancient Ireland. All the important Statements are proved home by references to authorities and by quotations from ancient documents.

Of the 31 Chapter headings, 27 are the same as those given below for the Smaller Social History.

_One Vol., Cloth gilt. 598 pages, 213 Illustrations. Price 3s. 6d. net._

A SMALLER SOCIAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT IRELAND,

Treating Of the Government, Military System, and Law; Religion, Learning, and Art; Trades, Industries, and Commerce; Manners, Customs, and Domestic Life of the Ancient Irish People.

Traverses the same ground as the larger work above; but besides condensation, most of the quotations and nearly all the references to authorities are omitted in this book.