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AN GAODHAL.
leag air an bh-fabhra air an m-bord as
a g-comhair é & abair leo gur b'shin bus¬
ca bricneadh chuir liaigh Righ na Fraince
chuig d'athair chum do léigheas, & gur or¬
duigh sé dhuit ceann acu do chaitheadh trí
h-uaire sa ló, air maidin, tráthnóna & i
meádhon an lae, & tar éis sin a rádh air
do bheatha ná labhair focal eile ach suidh
síos air an suidhiste as a g-comhair, &
má shoilsigheann siad gnéthe na m-bric¬
neadh déarfad go bh-fuil inntleacht acu.
Béidh mise in seo san am ceudna, agus
fanfaidh mé mar fheadhmánach le d'aice."
Lá 'r na mhárach chruinnigh na leagha ag
an deich a chlog, & do bhí ar g-cara, an
liaigh óg, i láthair mar an g-ceudna. Do
leag an óigbhean an busca-bricne air an
bh-fabhra air an m-bord as a g-comhair
& dubhairt leo mar d'orduigh an liaigh óg
di an lá roimhe sin, & in sin shuidh sí síos
air an suidhiste, & sheas an t-ógánach go
módhamhuil, múinte air a h-aghaidh in aice
an doruis. Chruinnigh na leagha timchioll
an bhoird; d'fhoscail ceann acu an bus¬
ca-bricne, bholaigh sé na bricnidh & chas
thart do na leaghaibh eile é. Nuair a
bholaidh na leagha go h-uile na brichnidh, do
labhradar le chéile i Laidin — gach liaigh a¬
cu mar labhair sé, crathadh a chinn. In sin
rug an chéad liaigh do labhair arís air
an m-busca, & ag blaiseadh ceann de na
bricnibh dhó, & ag chathadh a chinn air leith
i smuaintibh dhoimhne, dubhairt rud éigin
mar seo: "Digitalis purpurea et alba."
D'fheuch an liaigh óg air an óig-mhnaoi, &
ag feicsint dhó go rabh sí i riochd pléas¬
ga le gáire, bhagair sé a cheann uirri a
bheith 'n-a sosd Sheachad an liaigh a labh¬
air an bricne do 'n liaigh budh ghoire dhó,
ach sul do roith sé beul an dara liaigh le
n-a bhlaiseadh, níor bh'fhéidir leis an óig-
mhnaoi í féin do chosgadh ni b' fhuide, do
bhris sí 'mach a gáire, & le teann a díth¬
chill ag iarruidh an gáire sin a mhúcha,
bhris an neascóid iona h-ucht, agus bhí sí
léigheasta; agus ní amháin gur bh-fuair
an liaigh óg a meádhachan de ór bhuidhe, ach
fuair sé í féin le pósadh, & oighrigheacht
a h athar.
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.
