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AN GAOḊAL.
leag air an ḃ-faḃra air an m-bord as
a g-coṁair é & abair leo gur b'ṡin bus¬
ca bricneaḋ ċuir liaiġ Riġ na Fraince
ċuig d'aṫair ċum do léiġeas, & gur or¬
duiġ sé ḋuit ceann acu do ċaiṫeaḋ trí
h-uaire sa ló, air maidin, tráṫnóna & i
meáḋon an lae, & tar éis sin a ráḋ air
do ḃeaṫa ná laḃair focal eile aċ suiḋ
síos air an suiḋiste as a g-coṁair, &
má ṡoilsiġeann siad gnéṫe na m-bric¬
neaḋ déarfad go ḃ-fuil inntleaċt acu.
Béiḋ mise in seo san am ceudna, agus
fanfaiḋ mé mar ḟeaḋmánaċ le d'aice."
Lá 'r na ṁáraċ ċruinniġ na leaġa ag
an deiċ a ċlog, & do ḃí ar g-cara, an
liaiġ óg, i láṫair mar an g-ceudna. Do
leag an óigḃean an busca-bricne air an
ḃ-faḃra air an m-bord as a g-coṁair
& duḃairt leo mar d'orduiġ an liaiġ óg
di an lá roiṁe sin, & in sin ṡuiḋ sí síos
air an suiḋiste, & ṡeas an t-ógánaċ go
móḋaṁuil, múinte air a h-aġaiḋ in aice
an doruis. Ċruinniġ na leaġa timċioll
an ḃoird; d'ḟoscail ceann acu an bus¬
ca-bricne, ḃolaiġ sé na bricniḋ & ċas
ṫart do na leaġaiḃ eile é. Nuair a
ḃolaiḋ na leaġa go h-uile na briċniḋ, do
laḃradar le ċéile i Laidin — gaċ liaiġ a¬
cu mar laḃair sé, craṫaḋ a ċinn. In sin
rug an ċéad liaiġ do laḃair arís air
an m-busca, & ag blaiseaḋ ceann de na
bricniḃ ḋó, & ag ċaṫaḋ a ċinn air leiṫ
i smuaintiḃ ḋoiṁne, duḃairt rud éigin
mar seo: "Digitalis purpurea et alba."
D'ḟeuċ an liaiġ óg air an óig-ṁnaoi, &
ag feicsint ḋó go raḃ sí i rioċd pléas¬
ga le gáire, ḃagair sé a ċeann uirri a
ḃeiṫ 'n-a sosd Ṡeaċad an liaiġ a laḃ¬
air an bricne do 'n liaiġ buḋ ġoire ḋó,
aċ sul do roiṫ sé beul an dara liaiġ le
n-a ḃlaiseaḋ, níor ḃ'ḟéidir leis an óig-
ṁnaoi í féin do ċosgaḋ ni b' ḟuide, do
ḃris sí 'maċ a gáire, & le teann a díṫ¬
ċill ag iarruiḋ an gáire sin a ṁúċa,
ḃris an neascóid iona h-uċt, agus ḃí sí
léiġeasta; agus ní aṁáin gur ḃ-fuair
an liaiġ óg a meáḋaċan de ór ḃuiḋe, aċ
fuair sé í féin le pósaḋ, & oiġriġeaċt
a h aṫar.
Bricne, a pill.
As we go to press the postman hands us a bun¬
dle of poems from an Gabhar Donn.
O'Curry's Lectures,
ON THE
MANUSCRIFT MATERIAL OF ANCIENT IRISH HIS¬
TORY.
(Continued.)
LECTURE VIII.
[Delivered July 7, 1856.]
The autograph of this valuable work is in the
College of St. Isidore at Rome. There is, howe¬
ver, a copy of it in the library of Trinity College,
Dublin, made by Maurice O'Gorman, about the
year 1760; and another copy in the Royal Irish
Academy, made by Richard Tipper, in the year
1716 ; but neither of them contains the Book of
Rights, spoken of above. The list of saints is con¬
fined to the saints mentioned in the poem before
referred to, which begins “The Sacred History of
the Saints of Inisfail"; and is different from the
Martyrology of Donegal, compiled by the same
learned friar and his associates.
The plan of this book, as you will have already
seen, was first, to give the succession of the mon¬
archs of Erinn, from the remotest times down to
the death of Turlogh O'Connor, in A.D. 1136, un¬
der their respective years of the age of the world
and of our Lord, according to the chronology of
the Septuagint. And, second, to carry back to,
and connect with, the kings of this long line the
generations of such of the primitive and chief
saints of Ireland as decsended from them, down to
the eighth century.
The list of pedigrees of the saints extends only
to the names of those found in the poem already
mentioned, which begins, “The Sacred History of
the Saints of Inis Fail.” Nor are these given pro¬
miscuously, but in classes; such as all the saints
that descend from Conall Gulban, in one class ;
all the saints that descend from Eoghan, his bro¬
ther, in another class ; all the saints that descend
from Colla Uais, in another class; all the saints
that descend from Oilioll Oluim, in another class :
all the saints that descend from Cathair Mor, King
of Leinster, in another class ; and so on through¬
out the four provinces Festival days, and a few
historical notes, are added to some of them.
The poem from which this list of saints has been
drawn is ascribed, in the preface, to Aengus Ceile
De (or the Culdee); but this must be a mistake, as
the composition of this poem is totally inferior in
style, vigour, and purity of diction, to any other
piece or fragment of the metrical compositions of
that remarkable man that has come down to our
time. It is remarkable, however, that although
Michael O'Clery in the preface ascribes this poem
to Aengus, yet, when we come to where it commen¬
ces in the book, we find Eochaidh O'Cleircin set
down as the author of it. This writer flourished
in A D. 1000, or two hundred years later than Aen¬
gus. The poem certainly belongs to this period,
and appears to have been founded on Aengus's
prose tract on the pedigrees of the Irish saints;
and whether O'Clery fell into a mistake in ascrib¬
ing it to Aengus, or whether Maurice O'Gorman,
the transcriber of the present copy, committed a
blunder, we have here now no means of ascertain¬
ing.
The book in Trinity College, Dublin, is a small
octavo, of 370 pages, in two volumes, and would
make about 200 pages of O'Donovan's Annals of
the Four Masters.
