The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-01-05
The Early Kings.

I believe, upon a good deal OF evl-
dence, that ancientKings were ltlnerant,
travelling, or ambulatory personages.
When they became stationary they gen.
orally persisted. The primitive Kings OF
communities confined within the walls,
like the old Athenian and the old Roman
Kings, soon dropped out of sight. Per
haps, as Mr.. Grote has suggested, they
lived too much In full view of their sub
jects for their humble state to command
much respect when the belief In their
sacredness had been lost. But the more
barbarous King of communities spread
over wide territory was constantly NOV
ing about it; or, if he did not, he, too,
perished, as did the Kings called the
rois foineants of the Franks.
If I were called upon to furnish the
oldest evidence of these habits of the
ancient King, I should refer to those
Irish records, OF which the value is only
beginning to be discerned, for, whatever
may be said by the theorists who explain
all national characteristics by something
in the race or the blood, themost ancient
Irish laws and institutions are nothing
more than the most ancient Germanlc
laws and institutions at an eaclier stage
of barbarism.
Now, when Englishmen like Edmund
Spencer first began to put their observa-
tions of Ireland into writing-at the end
of the sixteenth century-there was one
Irish practice of which they spoke with
the keenest indignation. This was what
they called the Cuttings" and "cosher-
ings" of the Irish Chiefs-that is, their
periodical circuits among their tenantry
for the purpose of feasting with their
company at the tenants expense. 1t
was, in fact, only late survival of COM
mon incidents in the daily life OF the
barbarous Chief or King, who had no
tax-gatherers to collect his dues, but
went himself to exact them, living
as matter of right, while he moved, at
the cost of his subjects. The theory OF
the Irish law was, though it is impossi-
BILE to say how far it corresponded with
the facts, that the Chief had earned his
right by stocking the clansman's land
| with cattle or sheep.
We find a highly glorified account OF
the same practice in ancient records OF
the life and state of those Irish Chiefs,
who called themselves Kings. The
King of Munster" says the "Book oi
Rights" 'attended by the CHIEF
| IhCSb O1 LID OCSot AAS '1'AeH
to the King of Connaught, and presented
to him one hundred steeds, one hundred
suits of military array, one hundred
swords, and one hundred caps, in return
for which the King was to entertain hin
for two months at his palace at Anachan
and then escort him to the terri
tories of Tyroonnell. He presented t.
the King of Tyrconnell twenty steeds
twenty complete armor, and twent.
cloaks, for which the King supported
him and the nobility of Munster for ont
month, and afterward escorted him Il
the Principality of Tyrone"
The King of Munster is then described
as proceeding through Tyrone, Ulster
Meath, Leinster, and Ossory, every
where bestowing gifts ON the rulers, AM
receiving entertainment in return. I sus
pect the entertainment is of NOR
historical reality than the royal gifts
The practice, however, described wit
this splendor by the chronicler @
bard is plainly the same as the cut
ting and coshering which Spencer an
others denounce as one of the curses G
Ireland.-SSr Henry S. Maine in tn
F0rtnightly RepieD.