The fair of Tailten (Teltown) continued down to the time of Roderick O'Connor, the last monarch of Ireland, and was held annually on the 1st of August, which month derives its name, in the Irish language, from this very circumstance, being called Lugh-nasadh or Lugh's fair—the Lammas day—to which many ancient rites and ceremonies still attach throughout Ireland.
"Upon the occasion of the fair of Tailten," says Sir William Wilde ("Beauties of the Boyne and Blackwater," p. 150), "various sports and pastimes, a description of Olympic games, were celebrated, consisting of feats of strength and agility in wrestling, boxing, running, and athletic manly sports, as well as horse-races and chariot-races. Besides these, the people were entertained with shows and rude theatrical exhibitions. Among these latter are enumerated sham battles, and also aquatic fights, which were exhibited upon the artificial lakes, the sites of which are still pointed out."
The most satisfactory account preserved of these meetings, is that of the fair of Carman. This account is preserved in the fragments of poems in the precious old "Book of Leinster" (a work known to have been compiled from ancient MSS. in the year 1150), which is one of the treasures of the library of Trinity College, Dublin. The
