AN GAODHAL.
389
In the libraries of Ireland and England, as well as
in Continental libraries, there are numerous Irish
MSS. To obtain even an imperfect knowledge of
the more useful portions of Irish literature de¬
mands a large expenditure of time and pains. A¬
mong the many industrious and able and patriotic
Irish scholars of this century, there is one in par¬
ticular whose name is to be mentioned with every
respect — one whose memory is to be gratefully
cherished by every student of Irish literature, —
one who brought to bear on the literature of his
country an extraordinary amount of industry and
patience as well as ability, — one who has con¬
structed by his indefatigable exertions, an easy
path for all who may desire to have some know¬
edge of the literary treasures of Ireland — one who
was as modest as he was scholarly and patriotic.
I refer to the late Eugene O'Curry, the first pro¬
fessor of Irish History and Archaeology in the
Catholic University of Ireland. Matthew Arnold
pays this beautiful tribute to the great and mod¬
est Irish scholar: "Obscure Scaliger of a despised
literature, he deserves some weightier voice to
praise him than the voice of an unlearned belle¬
tristic triflier like me; he belongs to the race of
the giants in literary research and industry, — a race
now almost extinct. Without a literary education
and impeded too, it appears, by much trouble of
mind and infirmity of body, he has accomplished
such a thorough work of classification and descrip¬
tion for the chaotic mass of Irish literature, that
the student has now half his labor saved and needs
only to use his materials as Eugene O'Curry hands
them to him." It was in 1860, that O'Curry's
Lectures on the MSS. Materials of ancient Irish
History were published. Mr. Skene, one of the a¬
blest Celtic scholars of our day, thus praises
O'Curry's Lectures : "They are most interesting
and instructive, and for the mastery and complete
survey taken of the subject as well as for accurate
and minute detail, they are almost unexampled in
the annals of literature." The student reads with
unmingled admiration for the modesty, the pa¬
tience and the ability of O'Curry, his Lectures to
which I have just referred as well as his Lectures
on the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish.
The latter lectures he was not not allowed to pub¬
lish, for his career came to a sudden end. Dr.
Sullivan, another Irish scholar of reputation, has
performed the duties of editor with remarkable
faithfulness, and with commendable reverence for
the worth of O'Curry. O'Curry was an Irish Gael
of whom every Celt has reason to be pardonably
proud. In his preface to the Lectures which he
himself was able to edit, he says; "When the
Catholic University of Ireland was established
and its staff of professors, from day to day, an¬
nounced in the public papers, I felt the deepest
anxiety as to who the professor of Irish History
should be, if there should be one. *** At this
time, however, I can honestly declare that it nev¬
er entered my mind that I should, or ought to be,
called to fill this important situation, simply be¬
cause the course of my life in Irish History and
Antiquities had always been of a silent kind. No
person knows my bitterly felt deficiencies better
than myself. And it never occurred to me that I
should have been deemed worthy of an honour
which, for these reasons, I should not have pre¬
sumed to seek." Such are the modest terms in
which O'Curry speaks of himself; though a casual
glance at his Lectures will suffice to convince any
intelligent reader that his labors were enormous,
that his ability for deciphering old MSS. was re¬
markable, and that, not only his fellow country¬
men, but all lovers of Celtie learning, owe him a
very deep debt of gratitude indeed. William Liv¬
ingstone, perhaps the most talented Gaelic bard of
this country, thus extols O'Curry:
"Eirinn uaine tog do cheann,
'S na bi' nis mo fo ghlasaibh teann,
Do chainnt oirdheirc oil do'd chlainn
A thogas cliu le gloir neo fhann,
Air Eoghan gu buaidh
Tha tir nam beann 's nan tuil an gaol ort,
Sean Albainn chruaidh na morachd aosta,
Toirt furain duit le lamhan sgaolte,
A dh'aineoin co their nach faod i
Eoghain gu buaidh."
Leabhar na h-uidhre, The Book of Leinster, The
Book of Ballymote, The Leabhar breac, The Yel¬
low Book of Lecan, The Book of Lecan, The Book
of Lismore — such are the principal books of ancient
date that pertain to Irish literature.
Leabhar na h-uidhre, or the book of the dun,
(dark grey, is said to have received its name from
the fact that Fergus MacRigh, who was an Ulster
prince of great fame, appeared after his death and
recited the Tain Bo Cuailgne, or the cattle prey
of Cooley in Louth — a tale which is, by common
consent, allowed to form the Iliad of Iris litera¬
ture. St. Ciaran, thereupon wrote down the tale
at the dictation of Fergus in a book which he made
from the hide of his pet cow. The cow, from its
color, was called the odhar or dun cow, and from
that circumstance the book was ever afterwards
known as Leabhar na h-uidhre.
2. — Of the Book of Leinster, which was compo¬
sed in the early part of the 12th century by Finn,
Bishop of Kildare, O'Curry writes in warmest terms
of praise, maintaining that there was not in Europe
any nation save the Irish, that would not long since
have made a literary fortune out of such a volume.
3. — The Book of Ballymote was written in the
County of Sligo, about the close of the 14th cent¬
ury. It is said, that there scarcely exists an O' or
a Mac at the present day who may not find in the
Book of Ballymote the name of that particular re¬
mote ancestor whose name he bears as a surname,
as well as the time at which he lived, what he was,
and from what more ancient time he again was de-
