VIII. Then Conan cried-" Sweet friends, should I Of Monia, and its shores beyond, E'en to the warrior's broad high-way, But all should die-and ne'er, I vow, Should by Leigh Con the boast be made, That on our gallant Illan's* brow Momonian hand was rudely laid." Should I thee pay requital due Thy heart's blood I would spill. Hence, if thou canst, just vengeance flee; But here to Tara's throne, And all its clans of wide-spread fame, * Illan-a name of Gaul, Till safe with pride again he stand IX. O'er Shannon's broad majestic tide, To the leache's and the sick-man's hall; Five hundred spears in dense array And ere the moon twice filled her round, X. To the house of the sick by Cathair's wave,† For pangs his vitals tore Cruachan, now Croghan, a fair town in the county of Roscommon, province of Connaught. This was a royal residence of the ancient capital of that province, founded, as we learn from Keating, by Eochaidh, monarch of Ireland, prior to the commencement of the Christian era, with the view of confirming his authority in that part of his dominion. Having consulted the Druids, as was customary on all important occasions, they agreed that Druim-na-Druidh, which had long been celebrated for its cave and its mysteries, should be selected as the site of the intended edifice. The plan was drawn by the most eminent architects, and the work prosecuted with such expedition, that the ditch, which was very large and surrounded the whole pile, was finished in the space of one day. The palace, when completed, was named Rath Eochaidh. Meev, his queen, on the death of her husband, bestowed it on her mother, who was named Cruachan Crodhearg, and thence it obtained the name of Rath Cruachan, which name, says our venerable authority, it retains to this day. Seward, in his Topographia Hibernica, Dub. 1795, states that the only remains of the ancient city are "the celebrated Rath, the Naasteaghan, where the states of Connaught assembled, and the sacred cave. Near Croghan stands Relig-na-Riagh, or the resting place of the kings. * * It consists of a circular area of about 200 feet in diameter, surrounded with a stone ditch greatly defaced. The body of Dathias, the last of the heathen kings, was brought from the Alps, where he fell by the stroke of a thunderbolt, and was interred here, A.D. 429. The Fenians, as well as the warriors of Homer, could boast of chiefs like Podalirius and Machaon, of whom the muse might affirm that "To these his skill their parent-god imparts, Finn himself was well skilled in the arts of surgery and medicine. 150 THE LAY OF GAUL MACMORNI AND LUGAIDH LAGA. Strong Luay went; and many a day a Cran-Tubal, or sling, and of which wound he recovered by the operation of the trepan, performed by his chief surgeon, Fighnin, called Feathach, or the Skilful. This, he continues, is not the only testimony our history bears, of the eminence of our ancient physicians and surgeons. In the bloody battle of Criona, fought in the beginning of the third century, Teige, the son of Cein, the son of Oilioll, of the house of Heber, being deeply wounded, and the barbs of some spears lodged in different parts of his body, producing exquisite pain, he sent to Munster for the celebrated surgeon Finighn, called Feath-glic, or the Learned and Dextrous, who with his three Daltadh, or eleves, soon relieved him by removing these extraneous bodies. appears that physic, like the other learned professions, was hereditary in families; and that the most celebrated of this body attended the army. So much superior in knowledge to the rest of their brethren were these military surgeons deemed, that to this day, to express an incurable, we say, Ni thogfiodh leagha na bhifionn, e! The physicians of the royal militia could not raise him."-O'Halloran's History of Ireland, 4to, vol. I., p. 188. It One of the three principal edifices in Ulster was "The Royal Hospital of Broinbhearg, which signifies the house of sorrow and affliction; for here the sick and wounded were provided for and supported till they were perfectly cured."-Keating, I., 218. THE LAY OF BEANN GULBAN. THE mountain of Beann Gulban (corrupted to Ben Bulbin), from which the following Lay takes its title, is situated near the town of Sligo, the City of Shells, in the county of the same name. It forms one of those lofty and commanding elevations on which the Fenians were wont to assemble, and in which the lovers of mountain scenery delight. In the survey of that county, we are told that the traveller from Ballyshannon to Sligo by the sea coast, sees "the beautiful mountains of Ben Bulbin" rising before him to a lofty height, and looking, "in every variety of figure and aspect, though in the end of October, green as a new billiard table." Miss Owenson (Lady Morgan), in her "Patriotic Sketches," W. Bennet, in his "Six Weeks' Tour," and the " Angler in Ireland," speak of Ben Bulbin and its magnificent scenery in terms of high admiration. Inglis also expatiates on the rich and varied picturesque beauties of the prospect from the "Cairns" which top the hill; and the enchanting views round Loch Gilly; but none expresses his feelings of delight more warmly than an accomplished tourist, whose familiarity with the lakes and mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland, stamps superior value on his judgment, and peculiarly qualifies him to speak of the beauties and sublimities of nature. Mr. Curwen, describing a scene in which Ben Bulbin is particularly conspicuous, says, "The declining rays of the sun, irradiating the surface of the sea, presented to our view an extensive sheet of burnished gold; and, in reflecting its warm and glowing tints over the nearer objects, completed the magic of a scene which would have kindled enthusiasm and rapture in the coldest and most insensible individual. The first sensation with which I became affected was astonishment this was succeeded by the inspiration of unbounded admiration! The effects of both can never be effaced from my recollection. Reluctantly did I bid this delightful prospect farewell; and nothing but the rapid approach of night could have compelled us to quit a scene of such novelty and fascination." Again, when speaking of the "highly picturesque beauty" of Hazlewood and the "beautiful islands of Lough Gilly," he adds-" Impressive, however as are the several views of the lake, the magnificence of Benbulb made stronger impressions of admiration on my mind. The singular grandeur of so stupendous a mountain, springing upright and majestically from an humble plain, in the midst of a valley highly cultivated and tolerably well wooded, was like nothing I had seen before, and most probably shall never again behold.”—Observations on the State of Ireland, &c., by J. C. Curwen, Esq., M.P., Lond. 1818. The Penny Cyclopædia, article Sligo, says that "Knock-na-righ (the king's hill) is 1,057 feet high, and Ben Bulbin, one of the loftiest of the group, rises to the height of 1,722 feet. The northern face of this mountain is nearly perpendicular, while on the south side, a more gradual slope leads to the summit, which is a table-land of some extent." The "GOLBUN of Green-hills," mentioned in Smith's Erse legend of Dermid, p. 132, is no other, it is presumed, than our Irish BEANN GULBAN. ARGUMENT. In an address to Patrick in the opening of this poem, is a description of rural scenes and occupations, whieh once afforded no small delight to the bard-the remembrance of which fills him, in his forlorn old age, with melancholy. He then proceeds to relate that, in days gone by, when the Fenians were pursuing their various sports on the hill, Conan and MacLuay were engaged in the game of chess, and 'the chiefs standing by, in silence, watching the progress of the game, when they were startled by the sudden sound of a blow inflicted on the ear of Conan by the iron fist of his antagonist. Conan immediately sprang up to seize his arms, and ceased not from his rage till he was bound. Little Hugh, indignant at the insult offered to his friend, told Mac Luagh that he should repent it; and Mac Luagh, in consequence of being under a vow, refuses to give “satisfaction." The chiefs espouse different sides, and a general conflict ensues; the progress of which is interrupted by the appearance of a gigantic warrior bearing in his hand a harp, at the sound of which their swords drop harmless to the ground. Conan interrogates the giant, asking his name and country. The giant boldly replies, and then, by the sound of his magical harp, throws the whole Fenian host into a profound sleep (mesmeric?) from which they awoke after the lapse of a moon, and resolved to march in battle array to the cold regions from which the giant had come. They meet the giant advancing and glaring on them, like a Cyclops, with his solitary eye. Little Hugh and the other warriors make a gallant charge. Oscar acts nobly; but Gaul, the hero of the field, when the Fenians are nearly vanquished, has recourse to his harp, and, by its magical power, surrounds them with a sudden darkness, which saves them from the foe. At last they obtain a complete victory, and quit the field without the loss of a single man. NOTE.-The only copy which the author has seen of this Lay was lent to him by Mr Hardiman, accompanied by a verbal translation into English. The original was taken, as Mr. Hardiman informs us, "from the recital of a mountain shepherd, at Partry, in the county of Mayo. Metrical fragments, to the number of several thousand verses, had been committed to memory by the reciter in his early youth, amidst his native hills, where they have been transmitted from sire to son, through countless generations.”—Irish Minstrelsy, 11., p. 385. |