AN GAODHAL.
821
is quoted for the first time in the Annals of Ulster
at the year 468, and repeatedly afterward down to
610. The death of a person named Cuana, a
scribe of Teroit, (now Trevit, in Meath), is record¬
ed in the same annals (of Ulster) at the year 738,
after which year no quotation from Cuana's Book
occurs in these Annals; hence it may be inferred
that this Cuana was the compiler of the work
known as the Book of Cuana, or Cuanach.
The same Annals of Ulster quote, as we have al¬
ready said, the BOOK OF DUBHDALEITHE, at the
year 962, and 1021, but not after. There were two
persons of this name ; one of them an Abbot, and
the other a Bishop (of Armagh; the former from
the year 965 to the year 998, and the latter from
1049 to 1964: so that the latter must be presumed
to have been the compiler of the Book of Dubh¬
daleithe.
Next after these, because of the certainty of its
author's time, I would class the SALTAIR OF CASH¬
EL, compiled by the learned and venerable Cormac
MacCullinan, King of Munster and Archbishop of
Cashel, who was killed in the year 903.
When this was lost we have no precise know¬
ledge, but that it existed, though in a dilap¬
idated state, in the year 1454, is evident from the
fact, that there is in the Bodleian Library in Ox¬
ford (Laud 610,) a copy of such portions of it as
could be decipered at the time, made by Seaan, or
Shane, O'Clery for Mac Richard Butler. From the
contents of this copy, and from the frequent refer¬
ences to the original, for history and genealogies,
found in the Books of Ballymote, Lecan, and oth¬
ers, it must have been a historical and genealogical
compilation of large size and great diversity.
If, as there is every reason to believe, the an¬
cient compilation, so well known as Cormac's Glos¬
sary, as compiled from the interlined gloss to the
Saltair, we may well feel that its loss is the great¬
est we have suffered so numerous are the referen¬
ces and citations of history, law, romance, druid¬
ism, mythology, and other subjects in which this
Glossary abounds. It is besides invaluable in the
study of Gaedhlic comparative philology, as the au¬
thor traces many of the words either by derivation
from, or comparison with, the Hebrew, the Greek,
the Latin, the British, and, as he terms it, the
Northmantic language. And it contains at least
one Pictish word almost the only word of the Pic¬
tish language that we possess. There is a small
fragment of this Glossary remaining in the ancient
Book of Leinster (which is as old as the year 1150)
and a perfect copy made about the year 1400 is
is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, besides
two fragments of it in O'Clery's copy of the Sal¬
tair already mentioned, the volume in the Bodleian
Library, at Oxford (Land, 610)
Besides the several books enumerated above
and the probable dates of which we have attempt¬
ed to fix we find in several existing MSS. refer¬
ence to many other lost books, whose exact ages
and the relative order of time in which they were
composed are quite uncertain. But the reference,
to them are so numerous, and occur in MSS. of
such different dates, that we may believe them
to have embraced a tolerably extensive period in
our history. And it is highly probable that they
connected the most ancient periods with those
which we find so well illustrated in the oldest
manuscript records which have come down to us.
I do not profess to give here a complate enum¬
ration of all the books mentioned in our records
and of which we have now no further knowledge
but the following it will be found to contain the
names of those which are more frequently referr¬
ed to.
In the first place must be enumerated again the
Cuilmenn, the Saltair of Tara, the Cin Droma
Snechta, the Book of St. Mochta, the Book of
Cuana, the Book of Dubhdaleithe, and the Saltair
of Cashel. Besides these we find mention of the
Leabhar buidhe Slaine, or the Yellow Book of
Slane, the original Leabhar na h-Uidhre, the
Books of Eochaidh O'Flannagain, a certain book
known as the Book eaten by the poor people in
the desert, the Book of Inis an Duin, the Short
Book of St. Buithe's Monastery (or Monasterboice),
the Book of Flann, of the same monastery, the
Book of Flann of Dungeimhin (Dungiven, Co.
Derry), the Book of Dunda Leth Ghlas (or Down¬
patrick), the Book of Doire, (or Derry), the Book
of Sabhall Phatraic (or Saull, Co. Down), the Book
of the Uachongbhail (Navan, probably), the Lea¬
bhar dubh Molaga, or Black Book of St. Molaga,
the Leabhar buidhe Moling, or Yellow Book of St.
Moling, the Leabhar buidhe Mhic Murchadha, or
Yellow Book of MacMurrach, the Leabhar Arda
Macha, or the Book of Armagh, (quoted by Keat¬
ing, the Leabhar ruadh Mhic Aedhagain, or Red
Book of Mac Aedhagan, or Aegan, the Leabhar
breac Mhic Aedhagain or Speckled Book of Mac
Aegan, the Leabhar fada Leithhlinnene, or Long
Book of Leithghlinn, or Leithlin, the Books of
O'Scoba of Cluain Mic Nois (or Clonnmacnois) the
Duil Droma Ceata, or Book of Drom Ceat, and
the Leabhar Chluana Sost, or Book of Clonsost
(in Leix, in the Queen's County.)
TO BE CONTINUED.
THE FOLLOWING LINES WERE SUGGESTED WHILE
READING T. D. SULLIVAN'S POEM, ENTITLED
"A VISION OF TULLAMORE."
Unite my friends for Ireland, unite for ever more
Let "Every class and every creed" remember Tull¬
amore;
The best men and the bravest of the Irish race,
Are thrown into prison and made to feel disgrace.
But Parnell, Dillon and others equally true,
Will live in Irish history in letters of golden hue;
Freedom yet will smile on Sullivan the gentle, O'¬
Brien the bold and brave,
When Salisbury and Balfour are mould'ring in the
grave.
Balfour is a mean man, despotic to the core,
But Erin true he'll ne'er subdue with his threats
of Tullamore.
Ireland has many sons scattered the world o'er,
Let all unite in a gallant fight against the boss of
Tullamore.
And why should we be idle while our brothers by
the score,
Are cast into prison in jails like Tullamore?
Let us dare, and do, and die for Ireland as our
fathers did of yore,
And heaven will send us victory in spite of Tulla¬
more.
BERNARD MARTIN.
"The language of the conqueror in
the mouth of the conquered is the lang¬
uage of the slave," and more degrading,
being voluntary, than the prison garb.
