The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-03-01
Glimpses of Ancient Ireland.
HOW AND ON WHAT OUR ANCESTORS LIVED

HOW AND ON WHAT OUR ANCESTORS Lived
From the Dublin Irishman.l
Our forefathers were more pastoral
than an agricultural people. Their prln
cipal wealth consisted like that OF the
Hebrew patriarchs in focks and herds.
habit of paying taxes or tributes to their
kings, and they often made them me-
dunn of exchange in their bargains with
each other. Every man, however, was
obliged to cultivate at least as much
ground as would supply food sufficient for
notato-the source of Ireland's weakness
and Ireland's streugth-was unknown,
and the staple production of the former
was oats. Wheat was also largely cultl-
waited, but it was only used by the wealth.
Ter and higher classes as an article OF food.
| The food of the people resembled very
much in kind that of the Scottish High
| landers of to-day. Ireland was OF one
time as much the land of oatmeal and
milk as it is now the land of potatoes.
an early date, but many thrifty housewives
we're in the habit of using the quern In
| their own houses for that purpose. 1t may
appear strange that the mode of living of
| the people of Ulster-supposcd to be the
least Irish province in 1reland-is much
more like that of our ancestors in many
respects than that of the Inhabitants of the
other provinces. The various preparations
of oatmeal used by our ancestors two thou
sand years ago, and which, in the preva-
lence of the potato, have been nearly quite
forgotten south of the Boynr, are still
largely in use among them. The English
and Scotch colonists who settled in Ulster
appeared to have adopted many OF the
social ard domestic habits of those among
whom they came, and in their adherence
to them are often more Irish than the
Irish themselves. In Ulster the potato
never became the monopolser of the pea
SAINTS table that it became elsewhere, a
circumstance that may probably be &C
counted for by the fact that tho condition
of the Ulster population was generally such
as to enable them to vary 1t with the pre-
sence of something better.
An interesting subject of inquiry in these
times of Permissive Bill agitations and
Licensing Act is the kind of drinks most
used and relished by our ancestors. The
name of Ireland all the world over is as
sociated with that of whiskey, but the
: oripip of whiskey is comparatively modern,
and the general use of it much more so.
The principal drink of ancient Ireland was
cuirn, or beer. This article was held in
|; the highest esteem, and was largely manu-
featured in different parts of the country
Some of the places anciently eminent for
making it still preserve their former re-
mutation The beer of the modern Castle
bellipgham, in the county Louth, was
known and highly priced in ancient Ire
land under tue name CT the peer Oh MUTT
: themme. Ale was not long ago made neal
Bray, in the county Wicklow, which wat
known and celebrated hundreds of years
ago as the ale of Cualand, the name of the
, district where it was made: Tho antiquity
of breweries and beer in Ireland may o.
, learned from poem still extant, and sup
l nosed to have been written as early as the
, seventh century, in which several kind
D of ale are enumerated and their virtue
duly recorded. We give few Rtanzas =
Tho he drink of the beverages OF Flaths dords)il
Tho a Flath may drink strong liquors ~
e He shall not be Kiag over ErIn