successions and battles of kings; the victories of saints of Leinster.
Then follows this impressive outline of the field and the fair of Carman:—
"O Leinstermen of the tombs, pray listen!
Twenty-one raths of lasting fame,
In which hosts are laid under ground;
A psalm-singing cemetery of renown
Is there by the side of noble Carman.
"Seven mounds without touching each other,
For the oft-lamenting of the dead;
Seven plains, sacred, without a house,
For the sports of joyous Carman were reserved.
"Three markets were held within its borders:
A market for food; a market for live cattle;
The great market of the foreign Greeks,
In which are gold and costly clothes.
"The slope of the steeds; the slope of the cooking;
The slope of the assembly of embroidering women.
.........
"There comes of not celebrating this feast,
Baldness, cowardice, early grayness;
A king without wisdom, without wealth,
Without hospitality, without truthfulness."
This remarkable poem, coming down to us from remote antiquity, is one of the many proofs Ireland has to offer of the early civilization and refinement of her people. There are invaluable stores of ancient Gaelic learning and poetry still concealed in the museums and libraries of Europe. "These old poems show," says Prof. O'Curry,
