The sun., 1899-07-23

region. fOurteen UlTeTent DOCKS or civil law
are mentioned by namo in the CLOSES on the
Seanchus, and Cormac mac Cunan in his
glossary gives quotations from five such works.
only one OF which is among the fourteen mem
toned in the CLOSES on the Seanohus Nor
III.
Although. during the eighteenth century
the Catholic Irish were. by law almost wholly
deprived of possibilities OF self-education or
OF bettering their condition. there seems to
have been much literary activity among
them. The poets they produced were count
less. and it was at this period. which. for
them. was exceptionally dark that the Irish
seem to have translated many books from
French and Latin into Irish From one point
OF view, the work OF the eighteenth century is
particularly interesting because 1t expresses
the thoughts and feelings OF men who. being
less removed from ourselves in point OF time
have probably transmitted more fully than
their predecessors their own nature to the
Irish Of the present day. OF the Irish poets
belonging to what may be termed the new
school. the most notable example is David
O'Bruadar. or Broder. whose POEMS still
extant would fill a volume. They are in
modern metres. but their vocabulary and word
forms are to 40 large an extent archaic that
they are by no means easy OF translation
David O'Bruadar seems to have been the bard
par excellence Of tho Wiliamite wars. and bit
ter is his cry OF woe after the Boyne and
AuRhrim. Those battles seem to have nut an
end to tho dream that the Irish would ever
again bear sway In their own land. and the
carefully devised penal laws seem to have
crushed all remaining Independence and spirit
out Of them. Once more their poets fell back
into lamentations over former prophecies Of
the return OF the Stuarts and the resurrection
OF Erin. The Irish watched with real enthusi-
asm the gallant attempt OF Charles Edward to
regain his Grnndfathers throne. and the jacob
ite poems Of Ireland would. IL collected All a
large volume. They were too exhausted and
too thoroughly broken. however. to stir. even
In the eventfu As.
One Of the earliest writer's OF Jacobite poetry
and perhaps the most prolific man Of letters Of
his day among the native Irish was John
O'NeaRhtan OF the county Meath who was
still alive in 1715. Between forty and fifty Of
his pieces are enum Grated they include a long
poem OF the Ossianic type and a tale written
in imitation Of the so-called Fenian atories an
amusing allegorv called the Adventures OF
Edmund O'Cleary." Torlough O'Carolan born
in 1870. and usually called THE Last OF the
Bards. was ono Of tho bsst-known Irish poets
in the first half OF the eighteenth century. He
was really musician, not a bard. and his ad-
want mark ed the complete breakdown OF tho
old Gaelic custom, according to which bard
and harper were different persons. Hav-
ing become blind from smallpox in his
twenty-second year. Carolan was educated as
n harper. and achieved in his day much re-
nown. He composed over 200 airs, many OF
them very lively they were usually addressed
TO his patrons. mem bers OF the old Irish fam
lilies. The words which he made to suit his
music have given him the reputation Of poet
They are mostly OF a Pindaric nature ad-
dressed to fair ladies': there are some excep-
tions. however such as his ode to whiskey.
which. according to Mr.. HYDE Ia ono Of tho
finest bacchanalian songs in any language and
his inferior. though better known. RECENT
for Drinking" Another poet OF this period
was Teig O'NaRhten. who lived In Dublin.
Some twenty or thirty OF his poems remain.
but he is better known for a vouminous Eng
lish-lrish dictionary which he published in
Paris 10 1872. Four years previously he had
brought out small grammar at Louvain.
Among Southern Irishmen John "Clarach"
O'Donnell is considered the finest poet OF the
first half OF the eighteenth century. but his
pieces have never been collected 1t was In his
house near Charleville in the county Of Cork
that the poets OF the South used to meet In
hardlc session. he wrote part OF history Of
Ireland In Irish. and translated part Of Homer
into Irish verse hut these comp9ssitions ar"
b.''h'IS iPIIhll Huc 'IlDlIh M''llnrp. or
Merrm9p; ot The COUNTY, Clare; was the author
q thousand lines with four rhymes in each
line. This amusing poem. which was
written in 1881, and. evidently, was not in
tended yirgnibus pucrisIu"." IL vision
Of Aoihhill. Queen Of the Fairies Of Munster
holding a court where, when the poet sees H.
a handsome girl is in th" act Cf complaining TO
III" Queen that. in spit" of her beautiful face
fine figure and accomplishments she is in dan
ger OF dying unwed. She prays for relief hut
Is opposed 10y an old man, who argues against
her. Sh" answers him again. aud the Court
inaly pronounrcs Judgment TeiG CaoaGh
O'Sull llivan Of the county Cork was another
popular poet in his day. In his earlier poems
which. in later life. Ike Chaucer he mndc
ample amends by devoting himself solely To
religious poetry and attempting to turn thn
force OF public opinion against vice in every
shane. PERHAPS III" hest known at the prasnnt
day of all the Munster verse writer's ia owen
Roe O'Sullivan, from Sieve Iuachra in Kerry
whose savings and songs have been pr0yrrhiai
for three generations. He was originally n
worknRman and labored hard with plough
and spade As he was self educated his rX-
PLANTATION OF Greek passage which puzzled
his employers son, fresh from a French col
leg". brought him into rcpute and he opened
school in the neighhorhood OF ChnrlcvillS as
with very many OF the Munster bards his ms
sion for the fra'l sex was the undoing Of rim.
He was denounced from the altar ana his
about LIZA. " -'
In Connacht. during the eighteenth century.
the conditions Of life for the native Irish were
even less favorable 70 poetry than they were