AN GAOḊAL.
437
son went to Great Britain to acquire knowledge
and poetic skill, under Eochaidh Echbel, He re¬
mained with his master until he became, himself,
a great scholar and an accomplished poet. One
day, while Nede was still in Great Britain, he took
a walk on the shore of the sea. There he, all at
once, heard mysterious sounds coming from the
distance, and traveling over the waves till the
reached his ear. They were deep sounds of dis¬
tress and mournful lamentations, — so that they
roused his soul and terrified him. Then Nede pro¬
nounced solemn words of incantation, whereby a
charm was thrown over the waves. They spoke
to Nede and revealed to him the death of his fath¬
er, which had recently occurred, and had been the
cause of their pitiful complaints and lamentable
cries. His father's richly ornamented garment the
poet's own of three colors, made altogether of
the plumage of the choicest birds, had become the
inheritance of Fercertne, who had, meanwhile, been
raised to the dignity and honor of an Ollamh in
the place of Adne. Nede went to his master, Eoch¬
aidh, and told him all that he heard by the side of
the sea. Eochaidh persuaded him to return to his
home in Ireland. He went to Emain Macha, the
capital of Ulster, where he entered the palace, took
his seat in the "honor-chair" of the Ollamh, and
put on the poet's gown, with all the insignia of
the high office. Fercertne, however, having been
informed before hand, was prepared for the occa¬
sion, and challenged Nede to a literary combat, —
a scholarly competition — before King Conchobhar
by a display of erudition, eloquence and science
to have it thereby decided to whom of the two the
honor of succession to the lamented Adne should
rightfully belong.
Other important literary works in Irish are the
touching legend of the "Children of Usneach,"
their banishment, and their being carried off by
Derdrin
(Longes ṁac n-Usnġi; aiṫed Derdrenn
re macaiḃ Uisnig) the Beaṫa Ṗátruic
("Life of St. Pttrick"] the "Book of Conquest',
Leabhar Gabhala of the Eleventh Century, where
however, history seems to be mixed with fiction;
imaginary names of rulers and wholly fictitious
dynasties being introduced when needed. the
"Book of Taliesin," which is of the Fourteenth
Century, — and many others.
As we have seen, the Irish epic literature is par¬
ticularly important and full of interest. The au¬
thors of the epic literature of Ireland were a pecu¬
liar class of people, called file, who formed but a
branch of a far-extending, well organized commu¬
nity of scholars, the other branches of the same be¬
ing the Druids [pagan priests], and the Bards mere
natural poets, of an inferior range, — songsters,
and authors of the bairtne — two persons, in con¬
tradistinction to the production of the file, the an¬
amain of the ollaimh, etc. The Irish language
is rich in folk-lore, songs, legends and stories,
though different in style and contents from the
Kymbric Mabinogion. Arthur and his knights
seem to have no great share in the Irish literature:
and the Aigideicht Artuir (Hospitality of Arth¬
ur," which appears to be lost, must have been ei¬
ther spurious, or was, perhaps, caused by some
confusion or erroneous transcription of names.
Many of the Irish stories date very far back.
They were mostly copied from older books, or ga¬
thered, as ancient oral traditions, from the mouths
of the people, in long by-gone times. To the an¬
tiquarian, the oldest monuments, — such as the
sepulchral inscriptions, and Irish glosses, — will
prove of peculiar interest.
The Irish letters, variously modified in the course
of time were constantly used in the literary prod¬
uctions of Ireland. English type was not thought
of [ to print Irish, before 1730 A.D., when a "Ca¬
tachism for the Island of Rathlin" was issued, in
the English character. Although there are sever¬
al dialects of the Irish, it is a fact that the written,
and especially, the literary, language, has been,
comparatively little affected by it, and has remain¬
ed almost uniform and everywhere the same, Man¬
y works exist, but only in manuscript. The prin¬
cipal collections of Irish manuscripts are to be
found in the Royal Irish Academy and in Trinity
College, Dublin. The British Museum, the Bod¬
leian Library, and several of the Continental libra¬
ries of Europe, also, contain numerous old and va¬
luable Irish manuscripts. Others are the private
property of scholars and antiquarians; but we
know, in many instances, in whose hands they are
or where, if necessary, they may be seen and con¬
sulted. There are very many Irish manuscripts —
all of ancient date and, in most cases, thoroughly
genuine, — that ought to be published, thus render¬
ed accessible to scholars generally, as well as to
the native Irish reader; and it has been ascertain¬
ed that, for the elucidation of Irish history there are,
without any comparison, a greater number of valu¬
able ancient documents, extant manuscripts, than
either English, or French, or any Europan nation
can boast of. It is reported that some scholar in
Germany made an estimate by calculation, showing
that it would take about one thousand volumes, in
octavo form, to publish the Irish literature alone
which is contained in the extant manuscripts, from
the Eleventh to the Sixteenth Century.
Now, if there remains so much to do to bring all
the ancient literature of Ireland to light, — to sift
it critically and make it the common property of
the learned world, — there also remain, on the oth¬
er hand, — if we pass from the literature to the Ir¬
ish language itself, — a great many things in gram¬
mar to be explained, — forms, rules, constructions,
idioms and other pecliarities to be rationally acc¬
ounted for. and it seems to underlie no doubt that,
with the advanced state of philological science, at
the present day, this will be thoroughly, though
perhaps gradually, accomplished. We know, — to
