310
AN GAOḊAL.
THE SENTIMENTS of our SUBSCRIBERS
Ariz — Clifton, E Whelan
Cal — Hollister, J Gleeson
Conn — Stamford, M Daly
D C , Washington, Wm F Molloy
Ill — IApple River, E Sweeney — Chicago, Wm
Raleigh
Ia — Burlington, J E Casey, per J Hagerty.
Mass — Boston, J Riordan — Lynn, F McHugh,
T Donovan
Mich — Sagolia, J Bailey, per M Downey. Mon¬
tague
Mo — St. Louis, Ursuline Convent Rev. Mother
Antonia, per J Hagerty, Burlington, Ia — Spring¬
field, P Mahan
N Y — Brooklyn, P Crane, M Nolan, J Dunne
O — Cleveland, P Dever — Columbus, P Devine
Pa — Lansford, C C McHugh — Irwin, Rev. A J
Gallagher, per Mr. McHugh
W Va — Wheeling, Miss Lacy, O McCann, John
Travers (Renwood, omitted in last issue), all per
A Lally
S A. Brazil — Pilar de Alagoas, Dr. Manoel
Ramos
Ireland —
Cork — Ballinora, N. S., M O'Brien
Dublin, M O'Flanagan, Esq. per J Cogan, Esq
We have often urged subscribers to try to get
at least one aditional subscriber each, and we are
sure all would do so if they seriously studied the
matter. — That slight individual exertion would
just double the circulation. Irishmen chuckle
pleasingly (as they ought) when they hear of the
Gael being sent for from some far-off country, like
Brazil, yet how few of them give a passing thought
to the fact that such pleasing incidents are due to
the patriotic men and women whose names grace
the above column from month to month ? Let all,
then, make a patriotic effort to circulate the Gael.
All admit that it is a patriotic thing to preserve
the "Old Tongue of Erinn." Let them put the
admission into practice and it will be done.
It is said that President Cleveland is greatly
depressed by the business distress which his ad¬
vent to power has brought on the country. But
he can remedy the evil by issuing a proclamation
declaring his tariff ideas untenable, and that there¬
fore, he will veto any and all bills which reduce
the tariff on any article manufactured in the Uni¬
ted States. Let him do this and there will be no
closing of mills or factories, nor no suspension of
banks — nor no idle men parading the streets no
more than have been for the last twenty years.
This would accord with the material welfare of the
"Plain People" whom his Excellency so often and
so plausibly addressed during his candidacy.
We saw this news item in the Connecticut Ca¬
tholic of July 29. —
"In ten years the descendants of two rabbits
will number 70,000,000."
We as our mathematical readers to tell us how of¬
ten do rabbits breed, and how many at a birth?
O'Curry's Lectures.
ON THE
MANUSCRIPT MATERIAL OF ANCIENT IRISH HIS¬
TORY.
(Continued from p. 288)
LECTURE VIII.
[Delivered July 7, 1856.]
It contains an ample record of those traditions of
the successive early colonizations of Ireland,
which, in the most ancient times, appear to have
been regarded as true history, but which were not
inserted at length in the Annals of Donegal. Up¬
on the authenticity of these traditions, or ancient
records (if indeed, they have come down to us in
the form in which they really were believed two
thousand years ago), this is not the place to enter
into any discussion. The object of the O'Clerys
appears, however, to have been simply to collect
and put in order the statements they found in the
ancient books, and, as before, I shall let the Pre¬
face and the Address of the author of the "Book of
Invasions" explain that object in his own words.
The following is the Dedication, prefixed to his
Leabhar Gabhala. —
"I, Friar Michael O'Cleary, have, by permiss¬
ion of my superiors, undertaken to purge of err¬
or, rectify, and transcribe this old Chronicle call¬
ed Leabhar Gabhala, that it may be to the glory
of God, to the honour of the saints of the king¬
dom of Erinn, and to the welfare of my own soul.
This undertaking I could not perform without the
assistance of other chroniclers at some fixed ab¬
ode. Upon communicating my intention to thee,
O! Brien Roe Maguire, Lord of Enniskillen, the
first of the race of Odhar who received that title
(which thou didst from his Majesty Charles, King
of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, on the
21st of January, in the year of our Lord Christ
1627, and the third year of the king's reign), thou
didst take in hand to assist me to commence and
conclude my undertaking, because thou didst
deem it a pity to leave in oblivion and unencour¬
aged a work which would exalt the honour of
thine own ancestors, as well as of the saints, no¬
bles, and history of Erinn in general. After hav¬
ing, then, received thine assistance, I myself, and
the chroniclers whom, by the permission of the
Church, I selected as assistants, viz., Fearfasa O'
Mulconry, Cucoigry O'Clery, Cucoigry O'Duige¬
nan, and thine own chief chronicler, Gillapatrick
O'Luinin, went, a fortnight before Allhallow-tide
to the convent of Lisgoole, in the diocese of Clo¬
gher, in Fermanagh, and we remained there toge¬
ther until the following Christmas, under thy as¬
sistance, Lord Maguire.
"On the 22nd day of October, the corrections
and completion of this Book of Invasions were
commenced, and on the 22nd of December the
transcription was completed in the convent of the
friars aforesaid, in the sixth year of the reign of
King Charles over England, France, Scotland and
Ireland, and in the year of our Lord 1631.
"Thine affectionate friend, Brother Michael O'¬
Clery."
The Preface, or Address to the Reader follows,-
"It appeared to certain of the people, and to
me, the poor simple friar, Michael O'Clery from
Tirconnell, one of the native friars of the convent
of Donegal, whose inheritance it is from my an-
