With the exception of the immortal Brian Bor¬
oime, no monarch ever welded the sceptre, which
was the sword, of Erinn with more vigor, than
this truly brave prince. His battles with the fierce
and cruel Danes were incessant and bloody, and
victories many and glorious, and himself and his
brave father Aedh were the only monarchs who
ever attempted to relieve Munster of the presence
of these cruel foes, before Brian. Having, in fine,
hemmed in so closely the Danes of Meath, Dublin
and all Leinster, that they dare not move from the
immediate vicinity of Dublin, he determined at
last to attack them even there in their very strong¬
hold. With this resolve, therefore, on Wednesday,
17th day of October, in the year 917, he marched
on Dublin with a large force and attended by sev¬
eral of the chiefs and princes of Meath and Oriell;
but the Danes went out and met him at Cill Mos¬
omog (a place not yet identified) in the neighbor¬
hood of the city and a furious battle ensued, in
which unfortunately, the army of Erinn was de¬
feated and all himself was killed, with most of
his attendant chiefs and an emmense number of
their men. And thus was the unfortunate queen
Gormlaith for the third time left a widow. Her
elder brother Conor was killed in the battle and
her younger brother, Donnchadh, succeeded her
husband in the sovereignty, which he enjoyed till
his death in the year 942.
Of Queen Gormlaith's history during the reign
of her brother we know nothing, but on his death
the sceptre passed away from the houses of her fa¬
ther and her husband: and it is possible or rather
probable that it was then that commenced that
poverty and neglect of which she speaks so feeling¬
ly in her poems as well as in many stray verses
which have come to us. Her misfortunes continu¬
ed during the remaining five years of her life —
namely from the death of her brother the monarch
Donnchadh in the year 942 to her own death in
the year 947.
I should not perhaps have dwelt so long on the
short but eventful history of the unfortunate queen
Gormlaith but that the translator of these annals
of Clonmacnois, as they are called, falls into sever¬
al mistakes about her; but whether they be part
of his original text or only traditionary notes of
his own I cannot determine; I believe the latter
to be the more probable explanation. He says at
the year 936 (which should be the year 943), that
after the death of Niall Glundubh she was mar¬
ried to Cearbhall, King of Leinster; but I have
taken the proper order of her marriages and the
present sketch of her history, from the Book of
Leinster (a MS. of the middle of the 12th century)
as well as from an ancient copy of a most curious
poem written during her long last illness, by
Gormlaith herself, on her own life and misfortunes.
In this poem she datails the death of her son who
was accidentally drowned in the county Galway
during his fosterage and the subsequent death of
her husband; and in it is also preserved an inter¬
esting account of her mode of living; a sketch of
the more fortunate or happy part of her life; a cha¬
racter of Niall of Cearbhall, and of Cormac; a des¬
cription of the place and mode of sepulture of
Niall; and on the whole a greater variety of ref¬
rences to habits, customs, and manners than I
have found in any other piece of its kind. I have
beside this, which is a long poem, collected a few
of those stray verses which Gormlaith composed
under a variety of impulses and circumstances.
(To be continued)
THE SENTIMENTS of our SUBSCRIBERS.
Ala — Mrs. Letady, G McQuillan, F S M'Cosker
per Mr M'Cosker.
Cal — San Francisco, J Deasy, M O'Mahoney,
Martin P Ward, per Mr Ward, who sends a beau¬
tiful photo, with an eagle's quill pen in hand shot
by him on the mountains.
Conn — Williamantic, Daniel J Moran.
D C — Washington, Wm F Molloy.
Ind — Notre Dame, Rev J J French, per Martin
J Henehan, Providence, R I — Peru, Counsellor J
W O'Hara.
Idaho — Idaho City. P Moriarty, $5 for the cause
Ill — Chicago, Rev John J Carroll, another dona¬
tion to help the cause; P Ahern, an earnest work¬
er.
Ia — Vail, John B Costeloe, per Thos. M Power.
La — Mayer, Henry Durnin.
Mass — Abington. J Lynch, $5 to help preserve
the Irish race and Nation — Wollaston Heights, P
Danovan — Worcester Thomas Henneberry.
Minn — St Paul, Rev John Molloy.
Mo — Byrneville, Rev F P Gallagher, $5, his
sentiments in the cause — Kansas City, M White.
Mrs D Vaughan, Thos. Hogan. J Delahunty, D V
Kent. Thos. Houlihan, per P McEniry. Our Mo.
friends, cleric and lay, would seem to have contrac¬
ted the patriotic infection from their beloved bish¬
op, and Father Cleary.
N H — Manchester, M O'Dowd, J McGuire, per
Mr O'Dowd.
N Y — City, Dr. William O'Meagher, T Shee¬
han (2). J Shea, per Mr Sheehan, J Brown.
Pa — Centralia, Rev M J Power — Phila. C Toner
M O'Neill, A P Ward — St Vincent's Abbey, Rev.
P Killoran.
R I — Providence, Martin J Henehan, Mortimer
O'Donoghue, per T Sheenen, New York.
Tex — Houston, Bottler Bros.
Ireland. Ah, friends, you are accountable for the
state of your children all over the world. Uducate
them in the language of your land as other sover¬
eign peoples educate their children, and they will
not renague you: educate them in a foreign ton¬
gue, and the sentiments it inspires, and you ulti¬
mately reap of that crop. Don't take our word for
it — take the tabulated proof which stares you in
the face.
Donegal — Keadue, J Ward, P Ward, per A P
Ward, Phila. Pa.
Dublin, R. McS Gordon, E C Cuming, per Mr
Gordon.
Galway — Trean, M Henehan — Maamgowna, P
Walsh, both per Martin J Henehan, Providence
R I.
Mayo — Mt Partry, the Rev Brothers.
Roscommon — Clooncagh, Miss Tessie Gormly,
both of the latter, also, per M J Henehan, as above
Waterford — Lower Dromore, Mrs Wm Fitzger¬
ald — Modeligs N School, Miss Johanna Hannigan
— Mt Mellerary Abbey, Rev. Fr. Marus. All to co.
Waterford per Rev. Thos. J Fitzgerald, Brooklyn.
The Chicago Gaels are pushing matters energet¬
ically under the inspiration of president Raleigh
and secretary Crean.
Every promoter of English influence is an enemy
to Ireland and to the Irish race,
