the peasant's fireside, numberless are the tales told of her power, her wisdom, and — truth compels us to add — her oppres- sions." '55t 202
Ormond, Sir James, known as " Black James," illegitimate and only son of the 5 th Earl of Ormond, was a valiant but quarrelsome man. In 1492 he was made Lord-Treasurer. In June of the same year a dispute with the Earl of Kildare, result- ing in a skirmish, may be said to have com- menced the feuds between the Butlers and the FitzGeralds. A striking incident in Sir James's life was his interview with his op- ponent, the Earl of Kildare, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, in 15 12. It was thought the sanctity of the place would ensure deco- rum ; but ere long their retainers came to blows, and several arrows and darts struck the images. [In expiation of this insult to the Church, occurring within the limits of their jurisdiction, the Lord-Mayors of Dublin for many years walked bare-footed through the streets of the city on the anni- versary of the tumult.] In the confusion. Sir James took refuge in the chapter-house. Matters were finally adjusted by the Earl of Kildare and Sir James shaking hands through a hole, cut for the purpose, in the chapter-house door. Sir James was killed in a skirmish near Kilkenny, 17th March 15 18. =7'
Orr, William, a United Irishman, was born in 1766, at Farranshane, in the Parish and County of Antrim, where his father was a farmer and bleach-green pro- prietor in comfortable circumstances. Wil- liam Orr was a member of the Society of United Irishmen, and in 1 79 7 was arraigned, tried, and convicted at Carrickfergus, on the charge of having sworn in a soldier. Although the only witness against him was proved to have perjured himself, and several members of the jury were drunk when they brought in their verdict, he was con- demned to die, and his execution was hur- ried forward with a view to deter others from joining the organization. His speech before sentence contained the words : " I trust that all my virtuous countrymen will bear me in their kind remembrance, and continue true and faithful to each other, as I have been to aU of them." He was hanged at Carrickfergus on the 14th October 1797, in his thirty- first year, most of the inhabitants leaving town on the day of execution, to show their detest- ation of the judicial murder. Orr is de- scribed as having been a perfect model of symmetry, strength, and grace — his coun- tenance open, frank, and manly. " Re- member Orr," became a watchword during the insurrection ; and the " Wake of
William Orr," by Drennan, was one of the most popular revolutionary songs. ^^ ^^' Ossian, or Oisin, a renowned bard, son of Finn MacCumhaUl, was born in Ireland in the 3rd century. The locality of his birth-place, " Cluain lochtair," has not been identified. Although his name is constantly to be met in the legends of the time, there is very little definitely knowTi concerning him. Eugene O'Curry writes : " The first class [of Fenian poems and tales] is ascribed directly, in ancient manuscripts, to Finn Mac Cumhaill ; to his sons Oisin and Fergus Finnbheoill (the eloquent) ; and to his kinsman Caeilte. . . The poems ascribed upon anything like respectable authority to Finn Mac- Cumhaill are few indeed, amounting only to five, as far as I have been able to dis- cover ; but these are found in manuscripts of considerable antiquity. . . The only poems of Oisin with which I am acquaint- ed, that can be positively traced back so far as the 12 th century, are two, which are foimd in the Book of Leimter. . . One of these is valuable as a record of the great battle of Gabhra [Skreen, near Tara], which was fought A.D. [281 or] 284, and in which Oscar, the brave son of Oisin, and Cairbre Lifeachaii-, the Monarch of Erinn, fell by each others' hands. . . Aperfect and very accurate copy of this poem was published in the year 1854 by . . the Ossianic Society. . . The second poem of Oisin, preserved in the Book of Leinster, is of much greater extent than the first." (A free metrical translation of the latter, by Dr. Anster, appeared in the University/ Maga- zine for 1852.) O'Curry says that but one genuine piece by Fergus remains and one by Cailte MacRonain. Ossian him- self fought at Gabhra, where the Fenian power was entirely broken. He is fabled after the battle to have been spirited away to Tir na Og (the land of perpetual youth), and not to have appeared again on earth until the days of St. Patrick. One of the Fenian lays (published with a translation by the Ossianic Society in 1857)— ^Ae Lamentation of Oisin after the Fenians — gives an account of his interview with the Saint, his longings for the great pagan past, his grief at the loss of his heroic Fenian companions, and his contempt for Christianity and its professors. In 1 760 Dr. James Macpherson, a Scotch writer, published the first of a series of poems purporting to be translations from Ossian, which were enthusiastically received by the public. The question as to whether they were translations from ancient manu- scrips, or literary forgeries, has been scarce- ly yet decided, but the balance of opinion
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