AN GAOḊAL.
215
Eochaidh, the learned, O'Kerin, that compiled
this tract from the books of Eochaidh O'Flanna¬
gain at Armagh, and the books of Monasterboice,
and other books at both places, which had disap¬
pered at the time of making this note.
Of the books of Gillananaemh mac Conn-na-m¬
bocht, Archbishop of Clonmanois, I have never
heard anything more than MacEchagan's reference
to them. Of Ceileachair Mac Conn na-mBocht, I
know nothing more than that the death of his son
is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, at
the year 1106, in the following words. — "Mael¬
muire, son of the son of Conn-na-mBocht, was kill¬
ed at Clonmacnois by a party of plunderers." —
This Maelmuire was the compiler or transcriber of
the above mentioned Leabhar na h-Uidhre, in
which he is set down as Maelmuire, son of the son
of Conn-na-mBocht.
The two O'Mulconrys, of whom he speaks, be¬
longed to the fourteenth century, and were poets
and historians of Connacht; but it is not easy to
distinguish their works now from the compositions
of other members of that talented family, of the
same Christian names, but of a later period.
It is to be regretted that the original of the cu¬
rious book of which I am now speaking, and which
certainly existed in the early part of the last cen¬
tury, should be lost to us; and, consequently, that
we have no means of ascertaining to what extent
Mac Echagan's translation is a faithful one. He
appears to have drawn a little on his imagination,
in his address to Mac Cochlan, where he states
that it was Brian Boroimhe that ordered the com¬
pilation of the Saltair of Cashel. This certainly
cannot be the truth, for we have the Saltair of Ca¬
shel repeatedly quoted in the Books of Ballymote
and Lecan, and its authorship as repeatedly ascri¬
bed to the Holy King, Cormac Mac Cullennan, who
flourished more than one hundred years before the
time ascribed to that work by Mac Echagan.
It is true that Brian Boromhe, after the expul¬
sion and subjugation of the Danes, did rebuild the
churches and other ecclesiastical edifices which
had been ruined and desecrated by the Danes;
that he restored the native princes, chiefs, and
people, to their ancient inheritances; established
schools and colleges; caused all the ancient books
that had survived the desolation and desecration
of the two preceding centuries to be transcribed
and multiplied; and that he fixed and established
permanent family names; but although we have
an account of this from various sources, some of
the nearly contemporary with himself, we have
no mention whatever of his having directed the
writing of the Saltair of Cashel, or any work of its
kind.
There are three copies of Mac Echagan's trans¬
lation known to me to be in existence: one in the
library of Trinity College, Dublin (class F. 3, 19),
one in the British Meseum, and one in Sir Thom¬
as Phillips's large collection, in Worcestershire.
They are all written in the hand of Teige O'Daly,
and they are all dated (the Dublin one at least) in
the year 1684. O'Daly has prefixed some strict¬
ures on the translator, charging him with partiali¬
ty for the Hermonians or northern race of Ireland,
one of whom he was himself, to the prejudice of
the Heberian or southern race. But O'Daly's re¬
marks are couched in language of such a charac¬
ter that I do not think it necessary to allude to
them farther here.
I have now completed for you a short examina¬
tion of all the principal collections of Annals
which may be depended on as forming the solid
foundation of Iris history, with the exception of
the last and greatest work of this kind, the Annals
of the Four Masters of the Monastery of Donegal.
That magnificent compilation shall form the sub¬
ject of our next meeting, after which I shall pro¬
ceed to the consideration of the other classes of
historical authorities to which I have so frequent¬
ly alluded in the course of the lectures I have al¬
ready addressed to you.
LECTURE VII.
[Delivered July 3, 1856.]
The Annals (continued). 10. The Annals of the
Four Masters. The "Contention of the Bards."
Of Michael O'Clery. Of the Chronology of the
Four Masters.
In the last lecture we examined the "Chronicum
Scotorum," and the Annals of Clonmacnois. The
next on the list, in point of compilation, and the
most important of all in point of interest and his¬
toric value, are the Annals of the Four Masters.
In whatever point of view we regard these An¬
als, they must awaken feelings of deep interest and
respect; not only as the largest collection of nation¬
al, civil, military, and family history ever brought
together in this or perhaps any other country, but
also as the final winding up of the affairs of a peo¬
ple who had preserved their nationality and inde¬
pendence for a space of over two thousand years,
till their complete overthrow about the time this
work was compiled. It is no easy matter for an
Irishman to suppress feelings of deep emotion
when speaking of the compilers of this great work,
and especially when he considers the circumstan¬
ces under which, and the objects for which, it was
undertaken.
It was no mercenary or ignoble sentiment that
prompted one of the last of Erinn's native princes,
while the utter destruction of his property, the per¬
secution and oppression of his creed and race, and
even the general ruin of his country, were not only
staring him in the face, but actually upon him, —
those were not, I say, any man or mercenary,
motives that induced this nobleman to determine,
that, although himself and his country might sink
for ever under the impending tempest, the history
of that country, at least, should not be altogether
lost.
In a former lecture I have observed that, after
the termination of the Elizabethen was, all, or
nearly all, the Irish nobles had sunk into poverty
and obscurity, had found untimely graves in their
native land, or had sought another home over the
seas. It has been shown that, with the decline of
these nobles and chiefs, our national literature had
become paralysed, and even all but totally dead.
And this was absolutely the case during more than
the first quarter of the seventeenth century, and
even for some time afterwards: for, although the
Rev Geofry Keting compiled in the native language
his History of Erinn, his "Three Shafts of Death"
and his "Key and Shield to the Mass," between
1628 and 1640, yet so far was he from receiving
countenance or patronage, that it was among the
in accessible crags and caverns of the Gailte, or
Galtee, mountains, and among the fastnesses of
his native county of Tipperary, that he wrote these
works, while in close concealment to escape the
wanton vengeance of a local tyrant.
Still, though the fostering care of the chief or
