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HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF THE
IRISH BARDS. INTERSPERSED WITH
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CS.P
BI8U07V1ECA
j
Cormac .k taeis
Common, fus
83.
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF THE
IRISH BARDS. INTERSPERSED WITH
ANECDOTES
OF,
AND OCCASIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON, THE
MUSIC
IRELAND.
OF
ALSO, AN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE
ANCIENT
IRISH.
AND AN
APPENDIX, CONTAINING SEVERAL
BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER PAPERS, WITH SELECT IRISH MELODIES.
BY
JOSE MEMBER
Let us
now
praife famous
Men
:
P~H
OF THE
O
ROYAL
WALKER, IRISH
ACADEMY.
fuch as found out mufical Tunes, and recited Verfes
in
Writing.
All thefe -were honored in their Generations, and -were the Glory of their Times.
ECCLESIASTICUS, chap. 44. Mujica
e
Poefia fan
due
forelle.
MARINO.
DUBLIN: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
BT L U KE W H I T E, MDCCLXXXVI.
No, 86,
DAME-JTE*ET.
v.
i.
5. 7.
C.SP
T O
THE RIQHT HONORABLE
HENRY THEOPHILUS CLEMENTS, DEPUTY
VIC
E-T R E A
S
U R E
R,
AND ONE OF
HIS
MAJESTY
S
MOST HONORABLE PRIVY-COUNCIL
OF THE
KINGDOM OF IRELAND. THE FOLLOWING SHEETS
ARE INSCRIBED, IN
RESPECTFUL ADMIRATION OF THE
MANY AMIABLE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN
AND
HIS PRIVATE LIFE
AS A TRIBUTE OF LIVELY GRATITUDE FOR UNMERITED FAVOURS BESTOWED ON
THE AUTHOR.
;
(v)
PREFACE. TRUST prefent
Though
I
am
offering to-
my Countrymen
the gift has novelty, at
;
leaft,
Ireland has been long famed for
its
an acceptable
recommend
to
it.
Poetry and Mafic,
thefe fubje&s have never yet been treated of hiftorically.
I
do not pretend to have done completely, what has lain fo long undone no doubt many fources of information ftill remain :
unopened, and many documents unconfulted. have marked out a path which may thofe
who
fhall hereafter follow
However,
I
facilitate the
purfuit of
have arranged
my
me. f
It rials
was
my
original intention to
in a ftricl chronological
feries
;
but
I
mate
foon difcovered the
R
VI
E
A
F
C
E.
the impra&icablenefs of adhering fcrupuloufly to this plan.
Notices
of
illuftrativc
of fuch a
me
impatient ftep
I
;
order
obtrude proceeded, cafually
to avail myfelf
and then deviated into to
but out of the
fubjecl,
as
would,
feries,
themfelves upon
my
of thefe,
A
digrefllon.
traveller
I
who
is
Having taken up
my
or pluck a fruit.
fubject at an early period,
I
necefTitated to explore the dark regions of antiquity.
a few rays of light darted on me, the
O
darknefs
O
HALLORAN,
panions
;
vifible.
Le
De
may
This part of confiderably,
I
find
the
dudar."
Antiquary and the Lover of
fomething to
the kind
fall.
mas feguras
rnas fegura es
my Work by
I
Here
which only ferved to was not difmayed :
was content to ftand or
las cofas
my APPENDIX,
Anecdote,
But
was
CoNOR and VALLANCEY were my com
and with them "
In
not
reach the end of his journey, will fometimes
afide to gather a flower,
render
now
have
fuit
fwelled fo
their feveral taftes.
unexpeftedly, and fo
partiality of
my
literary friends,
that
R
E
was obliged
that I
would
to exclude from
not have difgraced
the Reverend Mr.
A
F
EVANS
it
;
I
to
lay
before
the
tlemen,
my
my
OUSLEY,
by
Trinity
a future
day,
I
my
feelings, omit this
thofe
to
their
Gen
countenance
of Dublin, and
RALPH
Efq; of Limerick, exerted themfelves with zeal in
my
The Reverend
directed
fpirit
of
refearchcs.
the promotion of
Strings-)
at
acknowledgments
The Reverend Mr. ARCHDALL,
Enquiry
a Student
who have honoured me with
and aid in
Tranflation of
Public.
cannot, without doing violence to
opportunity of making
a
vn
EfTay which
elegance and
This Tranflation,
Dublin.
little
mean
I
my requeft, and executed with my Brother SAMUEL WALKER, late hope
a
it
E.
Dtffertatio de Bardis, undertaken
at
College,
C
into
Dr.
YOUNG, Author
of the
the principal Phosnomena of Sounds
admirable
and
mufical
me
with feveral of our native Melodies,
enquiries,
and prevailed with the Heads of the
furnifhed
my
defign.
learned
REPACK.
Vlll
learned
Seminary
free accefs
to their
my
perufed
had
faults
which he belongs, to indulge me with He did more he valuable Library.
to
:
Manufcript,
and lefTened the number of
its
work
this
not his delicacy retrained his pen,
might have met the public eye with more confidence.
Should the mufical reader receive any edification from the perufal of to
WM.
thefe fheets,
he muft
BEAUFORD, A. M. of Athy.
fpeak fcientifically of mufic,
To
rally dictates.
pen,
I
Had
O
Ne I
work were
pour tous
have had reafon that
les
:
When
S
my
who gene
fome of the defigns which
the effufions of his tafte.
emplois,
il
a tous les
of Trinity College, Dublin, to regret,
happen to
I
pencil, as well as his
not been favoured with the kid of Mr.
FLANNAGAN,
ries,
Mr. BEAUFORD
indebted
himfelf
that gentleman
it is
have many obligations
embellifh this
"
hold
talens."
THEOPHILUS I
fhould often
in the profecution of
knowledge of the
Irifh
language
my is
enqui fo
very
confined.
SYLV.
R
E
A
F
C
SYLV. -O HALLORAN, Efq; Author of of Ireland, ufeful
information.
BURNEY The
to
IX
A General
learned
with feveral Letters replete with
Nor
did Sir
can
bell;
JOHN HAWKINS, nor Dr.
my
appreciate
EDWARD LEDWICH,
Colonel
to
obligations to the
CHARLES
O
CoNOR, Efq;
VALLANCEY.
Let me now befpeak the indulgence of the Public.
work would probably have had fewer
;
it
and by one unpraclifed
but
it
in the art of competition.
life,
Had
he kept the Manufcript by him a
perhaps, by frequent revifions,
But he wifhed that
;
it
was written amidft the diffracting fcenes of a
bufy
clofet,
This
imperfections, had
been produced beneath the calm fhade of retirement
was not
Hift
me
refufe their aid.
Reverend and
favoured
E.
his
to difmifs
it.
as well
thoughts, thus
their Bardic thraldom,
little
longer, he might,
have rendered
it
more
correct.
from his mind as his
releafed,
as
it
were, from
might freely range, once more, through
the fields of Literature, or lofe themfelves again amongft the lefs
pleafmg fcenes of public Bufmefs. DUBLIN,
TREASURY-CHAMBERS,
May
15,
1786.
\
T
R
R
E
Page. Line. Note. nad Amergin. 3, 3, (d; for Amhergin, (h) or m r. on 5, 6, 10, /or of ftudy of meditation, r. of ftudy
f
3>
-
or meditation. 9,
M.
(k) for
Macpherfon,
r.
Mr. Mac
pherfon. 9,
i,
i6^
4,
18,
3,
for Ofin,
(0 // (0 (y)
3,
7,
8,
*4
3,
28, 34,
3,
37>
4*
(>),
(
/or dwell,
n)
(0 f
r. in
60,
3
164,
2,
r.
congratulatory. *4>
-
6, 5
(p)
far
Mr. Macpherfon
kept, r. Macpherfon has kept,
Mr.
/<""
30,
1
3*
*4
33. 35.
14.
42,
1
61, 68,
7,
<&k
(>)
10,
/or
ferv-, r. ferved.
7,
/or
Morres,
r.
Hift.
8l, too,
Morris.
(m) for Modern Univ.
r.
Modern Univ,
6,
">
o,
60,
69,
for recomending, r. recommending. for unwiling, r. unwilling. for nitch, r. niche. (h) for rchzol, r. Archaeol. for mind, (n) r, mind (n)." (u) dele charac. (b) for feftivity, r. feftivity. (m) for atatched, r. attached. for brok, r. brook. (t)
for armirable, r. admirable. nimbly as, dele as.
APPENDIX.
for ground, r. grounds. for Celtic, r. Celtic of. (m) for Litteraria, r, Literaria. for were, r. was. (s) /or
20,
r e 9- r - c - 9-
catch word, for like, r. When. for St. Patrick (e), dele (e). 5, 4, Crigal s, r. Crigall s. C) 5*. r. Tiege. 61, 11, (i) /or Teige, 68, ii, for no, r. on. ( ) fir moutains, r. mountains. 77, 3 Criutb. 88, i, 9*>
6,
10,
163,
mufic.
4S
104, 109,
s
12, 4,
r. dwells.
r. Gentry. (b) for Genry, for the hands, r. the hand. for Fiann, r. Fian.
25,
7 i,
20,
.
/or congragulatory, for thole, r. thefe. /or FEA, r. FES.
4,
21,
i?4 136, 141, 146, 14*. 152, 1S 6 1
r. (f).
companions, r. companion. for fuperftitition, r. fuperftition. for werer egulated, r. were regulated. for inmufic,
( )
Page. Line. Note.
/or /<"
17, ,
r. Oifin.
A.
15,
12, 14, 4, 14, S2, 30,
Wharten,
r,
Warton.
(y) for licentius, r. licentius. for difcordia, r. concordia. for Aedceol, r. Ardceol. fecond fecond, dele fecond.
for Queeu,
r.
Queen,
after paragrah r. a period (.) (h) for vulgo, r, vulgo. r. Jugleur. (i) for Jugluer, rnufcular reflius mufculous.
the the, dele the.
for bears his name, r. bears her name. for via, r. vita. for Tomorrow, r. the morrow, Jor Chieftan, r. Chieftain. for in, r. in(s) for for Comedy, r. for Comedy. for Offpring, r. offspring.
CONTENTS. Hijlorical
Memoirs of
the Irijh Bards,
&c.
Page
APPENDIX. [
No.
Ancient Irijh Inquiries concerning the Author.
By
the Rev.
I.
]
In a Letter
Harp.
to the
Edward Ledwich, L. L. B. Vicar of
London. Aghaboe, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, [
A
Letter to
Academy the Rev.
;
Jofeph C. Walker,
No.
II.
]
Member of
the Royal Irijh
on the Style of the Ancient Irijh Muftc.
From
Edward Ledwich, L. L. B. Vicar of Aghaboe, and
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London. [
An E/ay
on
No. HI.
]
the Poetical Accents of the Irijh.
Beauford, A.
M.
Soaet. Antiq. Hib. Soc.
By William Page
27
[No. IV.]
CONTENTS.
xii
No. IV.
[
di
Sopra uri antica Statuetta Suonator di Cornamufa
Mar cello
;
del
]
Orazio Maccari di Cor tor. a,
Canonico Di/ertazione del Signer
Marmo,
Mufeo
rapprefentante
del Sign.
Marchefe
un
D. 37
Venuti.
No. V.
[
]
Memoirs of Cormac Common.
53
No. VI.
[
]
63
The Life of furlough GCarolan. .
No. VII.
[
]
Account of Three Brafs Trumpets, found near Cork
An
Remarks
:
with
IO 7
thereon.
No. VIII.
[
]
*
An
and Capability of the Irijh Harp, Effay on the ConflrucJion
in
its
A. M.
priftine Societ.
and prefent
Jlate.
Antiq. Hib. Soc.
[
Stlefl
Irijh Melodies.
By William Beauford,
In a Letter
No. IX.
to the
Author.
1 1
3
]
125
MEMOIRS HISTORICAL OF THE IRISH BARDS, &c.
"
I.
BARDS, (fays a celebrated npHE HISTORY OF THEOFIRISH 1 Writer) IS PERHAPS ALL OTHERS THE MOST
EXTRAORDINARY." (a) The following MEMOIRS, both illuftrate and eftablifh this pofition.
The
early
will,
we
truft,
are enveloped in dark clouds, ages of every nation
im
An
trace the rays of hifloric light. attempt, therefore, to pervious to or in any in this, their to and Mufic fource, the arts of Poetry (a)
Dr.
DROWN.
Dl/ert. en Poet,
B
and Mufic,
p. i/o.
quart, ed.
country,
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
J5
country, muft be unfuccefsful they are coeval with its original in habitants for man is both a But poet and a mufician by nature. our bufmefs with thofe arts does not commence till an order of :
;
men who
for
fome time united both
characters, appears in the annals
of Ireland.
Every event recorded
have happened in this kingdom during the of queftionable authority; yet they are not to be paiTed over The voice of entirely unnoticed by the hiftorian. the fongs of of tradition, often early Bards, and the firft,
or fabulous age,
to
is
glimmering
bewilder their followers
;
lights
but they fometimes lead them to truth.
In the tenth year of the
laft Belgic monarch, a colony called by the Tuatha-de-Danan, of the pofterity of Nemedius, invaded, and, foon after, fettled themfelves in Ireland. This name, according to fome antiquaries, they owed to their divided into three Irifli
being
the nobility,
who were
fo called
tribes
from Tuatha, a Lord
;
:
the Priefts
from Dee,
God, as being devoted to the fervice of God and the Danans, poets or Bards, from Dan, a poem, who compofed hymns, and fung the praifes of the Supreme (b). Here mention of the Bardic profeflion occurs for the firft time in the Hiftory of Ireland. ;
But tion of ther.
comes but weakly fupported, and as the deriva on conjedure, little reliance is to be had on ei Let us then proceed to that period in which hiftory wears the
as this its
relation
name
refts
femblance of truth
;
we mean
the invafion of the Milefians.
The princes Heremon and Heber, were the who landed in Ireland with an hoftile intent.
(b)
WARNER
S
Hlft.
of
Ire!,
firft
vol.
of the Milefian race
Their arms
having pre-
i.
vailed
THE IRISH BARDS, and
vailed over the Danonians, (c)
&c.
3
their
power being firmly eftablifhed, themfelves to cultivate the arts of peace. They made an equal they cleared the lands of the woods with partition of the kingdom fet
they
;
which they were over-run they erected palaces, rude indeed in their conftrudion, and their chiefs raifed duns or artlefs fortifications. Their brother Amergin afTumed the dignity of Arch-Druid, and the rank of ;
ARD-FILEA,
or Chief Bard
(d) a
;
and
feveral offices of poet, hiftorian,
and
true sera of the orders of Druids
An
(c)
ancient
prefer ved by
is
"
(d) "
poem on
Vide
Hiji.
Amhergin, brother to Heber, the
"
It
BARDS
in this
kingdom.
was fought between the Milefians and the Danonians,
of Ireland.
were conveyed in verfe ; and in the bard was comprehended and the philofopher, according to a very old rann or verfe on firft monarch of Ireland, and who was hiinfelf Arch-Druid.
In early days all the fciences
the hiftorian, the judge, the poet
"
that
the- firft battle
KEATING.
rank which impofed on him the This was probably the
legiflator.
O FIaherty
has been thus latinized by Mr.
:
Primus Amerginus, Genu Candidus, author lerne Hiftoricus, index lege, poeta, fophus. "
the early Greeks adopted, and
The fame cuftom
*f Ire/an^, vol.
Mr.
i
See
.
O Halloran poem on
beautiful
In this
Amergin. becaufe
it
as
PH
i
L
I
P
Si D N E Y
informs me, that there
is
S
philofopher."
poem
preferred
in the
much
terrified,
oRAN
S
HiJl.
Liabhar Lican, or Book of Sligo, a
there appears a boldnefs of metaphor
The
i.
Defence of Pot/ie.
offends againft the rules of Ariftotle, tho the ftagyrite
being fo
O HA L
the ftorm that arofe on the fecond landing of the Milefians, which
the language of Nature. fifli
alfo Sir
and Mufzsus
Orpheus, Amphion, Linus,
united under the fame heads, the poet, the legiflator, and the
"
which a cold
was not then born
is
attributed to
would
critic :
defpife,
however,
it is
theauthor, in order to heighten the horrors of the ftorm, reprefents
that they quit their element for dry land
Infeach Muir, Ttrnaid/iein
Re
taibh
mollach Tir
eifc
:
;
lafc do thuind,
na Fairce ruadh
:
Cas air find, &C. is unqueftionably much older poem may not have been written by Amergin, yet it He laments that he had able to find. poem Mr. ASTLE, with all his induftry, was than the icth century. not been fo fortunate in his refearches, as to difcover an Irifli MS. older
Though
than any
this
Irifti
Origin andProgrefs of Writing, p. Irifli
116.
But
it
is
the fafliion of the
day
to queftion the antiquity of
MSS.
B
2
Mute
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
4
Mute
till then was every plain, Save where the flood o er mountains rude,
Tumbled
And
his tide
amain
:
impending wood
echo from th
Refounded the hoarfe ftrain While from the north the
With hollow
;
fullen gale
whiftlings fhook the vale
j
Difmal notes, and anfwer d foon By favage howl the heaths among,
What time the wolf doth bay the And thin the bleating throng,
trembling moon, (e)
the opinion of that elegant antiquary, Dr. T. Warton, that the Bardic inftitution was introduced from the Eaft. (f) And it now begins to appear, from the refearches of Colonel Vallancey, that It
is
we owe
every thing
That the
to the Milefians has
an Oriental
origin, (g)
of poetry and mufic obtained amongfl the Milefians, both before and after their arrival in this kingdom, is evident from the arts
following tradition. Cir
them
mac
and Onna Ceanfinn, an harper, accompanied They were both eminent in their different
Cis, a poet,
in their expedition.
and in fuch high eflimation with the two princes, that was an amicable conteft, to which of them the tuneful artifts fhould belong. It was at length agreed that they fliould be feparated and the divifion be determined by lot. The poet fell to Heremon the mufician to Heber. As the fouthern divifion of the ifland was Heber s territory, fome of our writers have
profeffions,
there
hence obfervcd, that thofe
(e)
MA
s
oN
s
Carafiacus.
(f|)
Hift. of Eng.
($
Ctlba. de rebut Hib. v.
Poet.
DiT. 3,
i.
Arcftmlogia.
v.
),
numb. $7.
parts
THE IRISH BARDS, parts are is
more
delighted with, and
particularly
Yet
problematical.
is
it
poffible, as Dr.
between the princes
conteft
have given
among
5
Warner remarks, it
this
might
did, to that
the Irifh of treating their Poets,
and Literati with honor and
This
that
in the infancy of their fettlement,
birth, as the old Chronicles exprefsly tell us
laudable cuftom
Our
&c.
{killed in mufic.
Hiftorians
(h)
liberality,
hiftorians obferve a
profound filence with refpecl to the bards, monarchy, (a. m. 281 5). This prince, not lefs glorious in arms, than wife in council, being defirous of con fining every rank of his people within its proper fphere, ordained a till
Tighernmas fucceeded
fumptuary law
to the
called Ilbreachta,
for
that purpofe.
law, the
this
By
and lower order of the people, were to have their garments of but one colour military officers and private gentlemen, peafantry,
foldiers,
;
two
commanders of
j
battalions, three
of houfes of hofpitality, four
beatachs, brughnibbs, or keep
the principal nobility and knights, which was only one five; and the Ollamhs, or dignified Bards, six ers
;
;
than was worn by the royal family, (i) Can that nation be deemed barbarous in which learning fhared the next honors to royalty ?
colour
lefs
Warlike
as the Irifh
amongft them, than earth, and blufh
were
even arms were
in thofe days,
Read
letters.
this,
lefs
refpecled
ye polifhed nations of tha
!
HAVING
thus brought the Bards forward to notice in fo ho we will arreft the courfe of this little hiftory, in order to dilate on the mode of their education, on their offices, and II.
nourable a manner,
their privileges. (h)
KEATING, WARNER, O HALLOR AN.
memorate
this conteft,
decreed an
Harp
for the Enfign of that province,
aflumptioa of the harp in the arms of Ireland,
on our coins (i)
till
Tradition further informs us, that
which was held near Tamar
the reign of
Henry
8th.
Vide
in the
(or
Tara)
The
in
reader
may
Appendix, No.
SIMON
on
in
order to
the province of Leinfter,
Irt/h Cains,
find i .
p.
a curious
The
memoir
com
Heber in
the
harp does not appear
33.
Ibid,
At
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
6
At an immemorial
period, Seminaries or Colleges
were
inftituted in
of the kingdom for the education of the Bards, (k) Thefe inftitutions, intended for the quiet retreat of learning; were of day" was funk in the bofom of deep woods of oak the garifh eye excluded from them, and their members ftudied by the light of tapers different parts
"
:
and lamps.
Though
immunities were confiderable, the diet and
their
drefs of the ftudents
were regulated by the moft rigid rules of pru dence the lures of pleafure were profcribed by the nature of the inftitution and the ftate turned the foot of rapine from thofe academic :
;
Thus
fhades.
the attention, in the hour of ftudy of meditation, was the voice of falfe of external objects, by
never diverted by the the
charmer,"
peaceful
filent
;
"
glare
or by the dread of the fpoiler
:
all
was gloomy and
Here the heart-corroding cares of life foftered, and the foul fublimed. (1)
and awful.
found no admiflion :~Here genius was
was
It
in thofe feminaries that the
inftilled into the
Druids
minds of
the Bards, the rudiments of hiftory, oratory,
and laws, through the me
dium of poetry,
knowledge of thofe ages.fm)
The
(k)
Tainar
and
j
in
which was wrapped
the
all
moft celebrated of thofi colleges were founded at Clogher, Armagh, Lifmore and in general, all the eminent fchools deleclably ficuated, which were eftablilhed by the
Chriilian clergy in the 5th century, were erected on the ruins of thofe colleges.
To LAND
Origin and Learning of the Druids. vulgarly called Enis-owen, in
whofe ifthmus ftands the
grove and fchool of the Druids.
which
in Iri/h
fignifies
into a college for
note in Iri/h
p.
and
(1)
(m)
6.
of
Hence comes
St.
Columba.
A
u
F
o
RD on
city of
Londonderry, was originally
a
it
is
famous
name Doric, corruptly pronounced Deny,
This Druidical feminary, he adds, was changed Lord Mtlefivorth on Hijl. of Druids. See alfo a
Examination of the Arguments contained in M. Macfherfon
s
Intro,
to
Hijl.
of anc.
Scots.
O HALLORAN. BEAUFORD. In the book entitled Uiraiceacht
fpecies of Irilh poetry are defcribed.
various
Lett, to
Vide BE
that the peninfula of Inis-Eogain, or as
the very
a grove, particularly of oak.
monks by
An
tells us,
modes of
verification, fee the
tia
Neagir, or rules for the poet, above an hundred different
O HALL.
Int. to Hi/I,
Grammars of
of Ire.
O MULLOY
and
For
rules
and fpecimens of our
VALLANCEY. "
Their
THE IRISH BARDS, Their
"
their
laws,
of
fyftems
phyfic
&c.
7
and other fciences
(fays
Keating) were poetical competitions, and fet to muflc, which was always efteemed the moft polite part of learning amongft them." (n) As it was the policy of the times, to confine the ufe of letters (fo long
known
in this
deemed
it
(o) to the profeflbrs
kingdom)
of learning, the Druids
neceffary to imprint on the minds of their Bardic pupils, all the knowledge they inculcated verbum verbo as they delivered it, (p) at the enjoining them to diffufe it orally ; but teaching them, however, fame time, the Ogham-beith.(c(] Hence the courfe of a Bard s education
was feldom completed
in lefs than twelve years, (r)
Sometimes the young Bard, in order to relieve his mind from the feefTay d the artlefs tale," as he wandered
verity of academic duties,
"
own
through obeying the dictates of his ing from the rude fcenes around him. his groves,
Whate er
Too in
chance, or fearch, was ofTer d to
He
fcann d with curious and romantic eye. (s)
either difguifed
difregarded.
(n)
Pivf.
(o)
The
feems to fupport
(p)
Pythagoras conveyed,
(q)
VALLANcEY BE
The
Au F o RD
in
like
manner, p.
by
poets ufed for invention
this aflertion.
s/r/$ Gramm.
view,
under the mafk of
to Hi/1, of Ireland. Milefiant brought the Punic Letter into Ireland.
LYTTLETON
(r)
his
often credulous hiftorians have been deceived
"
tirely
or iky,
fea,
By
which Truth was
9.
Hijl. of
his
Ed.
Hen.
2.
and paint
new
of beautiful, or
Sublime, or dreadful, in earth,
feelings,
thefe tales, in fiction, or
fake
(fays
Effay on the Celtic Language. v.
3.
b.
en the
Lord
4.
diflates to his difciples. 2.
Origin and Learning of the Druids. .
voluminous
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
8
voluminous Holinfhead) to faine fuch dreaming fables for exerciie of their ftiles and wits afterwards, through error and l?cke of knowledge, :
they have been taken with the ignorant for verie true and moft afTured hiftories." But it is not neceflary to confult them as hiftoric guides, (s)
many volumes
fince fo
of well-authenticated records have efcaped the
ravages of time and of foreign fpoilers.
Soon
as the ftudent
Barred,
had finifhed his courfe, an honorary cap called and the degree of OLLAMH or Dodor, (u) were conferred Then he was fuppofed fufficiently qualified to fill any office
(t)
on him.
And
of his Order.
the moft learned of thefe Ollamhs
were fometimes
admitted into the order of the Druids, (w)
Youth,
it is
were received indifcriminately into thofe feminawho were intended for the Bardic order
true,
education
ries for
but thofe
;
muft be peculiarly qualified. As every profeffion was hereditary, the candidates for the Barred neceflarily belonged to certain families befides, it was required that they fhould have a genius turned for :
try
and mufic
poe
their
j
and
retentive,
underftandings
their perfons
"
made
muft be vigorous, in the
their
prodigality of
memories
nature."
(x)
In the education of the Bards, Mufic, as we have already hinted, was not forgotten nor were they allowed to be unacquainted with the :
Chron.
(s)
From
(t)
But
I
w,!l
It
Cut. Differ t.
The
(u)
No.
i*.
word
the
not
larred,
pule my
,,
.die,
p.
jgo.
reader
(fays
Mr.
readers
O HA L L o R * N as
I
thinks
have puzzled
MACPHEKSOK)
to
mav
n.yfelf,
attempt to
be derived bard
inveftigate the
Dub. ed.
may
find
/,.
with the various
fome learned remarks on the word Ollamh,
to
etymon of
in
Hift
of Irel
etymologies of bard"
CilM. Ae re^s
this
See
HA
522.
p.
(w)
BE
(x)
Ibid.
A
u FORD,
Origin and Learning of th; Irijh Druidt
ufe
THE
I
R
S
I
H BARD
S,
&c.
9
like Ofm (y), boaft their prowefs in many not improbable that the ufe of arms was made one of their academic exercifes of the recreative kind, upon the fame principle that
ufe of arms
battle.
hence
j
of them,
It is
Milton recommends "
exercife, fays he,
it
in his celebrated
which
I
commend
LETTER ON EDUCATION. firft,
is
"The
the exa6l ufe of their
wea-
pon, to guard and to ftrike fafely with edge, or point this will keep them healthy, nimble, ftrong, and well in breath ; is alfo the likelieft ;
"
means
to
1
make them grow
and
gallant
ledures and precepts to into a native
and tall, and to infpire them with a which being tempered with feafonable them, of true fortitude and patience, will turn large
fearlefs courage,
and heroic
valour,
and make them hate the cowardice of
"
doing
wrong."
When the young Bard had received the degree of the choice of his profeffiori was determined by that of the family to which he belonged he was either a Filea, a Breitheamh, or a Seanacha
OLLAMH,
:
birth
about
by fame perfon, but were time difunited, being found too complex for one man.
which had long met
(z) offices
;
this
in the
The OLLAMHAIN-RE-DAN, orFILIDHE were ly implies) poets.
They turned
as the
name
literal-
the tenets of religion (a) into verfe
;
they
animated the troops before and during an engagement with Rofga-Catha, or martial odes, and raifed the war-fong They celebrated the valorous deeds, and wrote the birth-day odes and epithalamiums of the chieftans and princes who entertained them the feaft of the and, at :
;
(y)
Bands.
And As
like I
am
the
Welch
Bard, Aneurin.
not in pofTeflion
of
this
Vide
work
hill,"
SAMUEL WALKER
in the
original,
I
am
S
tranf. of Di/ertatio de
under the
.neceflity
of
re
ferring to the Tranflation.
our Hiftorians.
(z)
See
(a)
Vide note
all
in Colleff. de rebus
HA.
No.
12. p.
C
512,
amufed
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
io
the tales of other times," which they modulated an infirument which every member of the Bardic order could touch with a mafter hand. But the Filidhe had other offices align and conftant attendants in the field of were the ed them.
amufed them with
to the harp
"
;
They
heralds,
at the head of their they ferved, marching in their hands, arrayed in white flowing robes, harps glittering and their perfons furrounded with Orfidigh, or inftrumental muficians. While the battle raged, they flood apart, and watched in fecurity (for
battle of the chiefs
whom
armies,
were held facred) glean fubjecls for their lays, (b)
their perfons
to every aclion of the chief, in order
The mufe her piercing glances throws around, And quick difcovers every worthy deed (c). But
it
was not
"
"
"
"
behoved every man
mark the
the field alone that the Filea was to
in
actions of his chief; he
was
to
watch over him
in private.
an old
to inftrucl his prince, (fings
"
Irifh
Altho
Bard)
it
it is
the particular office of the Filea, for to him the prince gives the greatHow arduous then the Filea s tafk for it behoveth him
eft attention.
to
!
mark each
backfliding,
and not
to overlook
even a tendency to
"
evil."
(d)
Some of our Bards were prophets
Mr,
too.
O Conor
exprefsly fays,
many of our old Druids and Bards pretended to the gift of prophecy. They often impofed (he continues) on the credulity of our
that
(b)
"
DRAYTON
thus
fums up the multifarious
offices
Mufician, herald, bard, thrice
And (c)
(d)
WEST
S
Leffons for
Prince.
ft
Britifli
Bard
:
thou be renown d,
with three feveral wreaths immortally be crown d.
Odes of Pindar.
a
of the
may
Vide
Od.
7.
VALLANCE Y
S
Iri/h
Gramm.
ift
Ed.
great
THE IRISH BARDS, great, as well as our little vulgar
we cannot wonder
that
5
&c.
n
and fome forefeeing
effects in their
of their predictions were verified, and that they obtained credit on that account Indeed, the (e)." poetical remains of the latter, like thofe of the ancient Welch Bards, (f) caufes,
teem with
many
But probably
predictions.
to the order of Bards
it is
now
before us, (that of the Filidhe) that we are to confine thofe who affected to be infpired for the nature of the other orders precluded the indul :
gence of poetic enthufiafm which begets infpiration. Here we will gratify the reader of tafte with Mr. Mafon s glowing defcription of a
Bard
moment of infpiration :~
in the
He
The
entranc d.
is
His
liberal locks
j
his
fillet
bound
burfts, that
fnowy veftments
fall
In ampler folds and all his floating form Doth feem to gliften with divinity (g). ;
Thus we
fee that
it
was the bufinefs of the
Filidhe, like the Scalds
of old, to
Applaud the
valiant,
and the bafe controul,
Difturb, exalt, enchant the
Lett, to
(e)
phet.-
I
fancy
Auth.
According
to
(f)
Vide SAM.
the Celtic
foul (h).
word bardJ
fignifies
a poet
or
pro
venture to furmife, that of the ancient, as well as of the modern Bards,
we may
For one .
MAIT LAND,
human
WALKER make
S
MS.
infpir d, ten
thoufand were
tranf. of Dijf. de Eardis.
It
pofleft.
was the policy of the
Britiili
prince?,
the Bards foretell their fuccefs in war, in order to fpirit
up their people to brave aftions. Spec, of vulgar fuppofed them to be real prophets. Upon BY were Irifli Bards too fometimes COMMAND. the infpired Weljh Poet. (Note in No. 8.) Perhaps a charming writer) who were our philofophers and poets, pretended to As the bards fays
Mr. EVANS,
to
which account, the
<
(fays
be pofTeffed of the dark fecrets of magic divination, they certainly encouraged the ignorant credulity, and anxious fears, to which fuch impoftures owe their fuccefs and credit. Mrs. MONTAGUE S Ejfny on the Writings
-
and Genius of Shakefpeare.
(g)
Caraftacus.
(h)
JERNINGHAM
S
Scandinavian Poetry. Rife anil Progress of the
C
2
The
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
12
BREITHEAMHAIN, (BREHONS;,
The
or legiflative Bards, pro
feated mulgated the laws in a kind of recitative, or monotonous chant, on an eminence in the open air (i). It is likely that their voices on
were fuftained with a kind of
this occaiion
orators
and
legiflators
and
they difpenfed juftice,
:
BREITHNIMHE .
bajje
continue,
it
(ftruck,
by themfelves on the harp) like the Grecian and Roman The Brehons aded alfo in the double capacity of judges (k).
be,
might
or
in framing
affifted
the
Laws.
SEANACHAIDHE
The
They
rians.
were (1) antiquaries, genealogies and hiftorecorded remarkable events, and preferred the genealo
Each province,
kind of unpoetical ftanza (m).
their patrons in a gies of
had a Seanacha (n). And we will venture to conjec prince and chief, ture, that in each province there was a repofitory for the collections of the different Seanachaidhe belonging to
Vide
(i)
Hen.
II.
3.
b.
In
4.
Greek, the fame word
Genius of Homer, p. 218. SE (k)
Vide
Arts. vol. (1)
(m)
le Peint. e
Reflex, fur p.
LDE N
S
S
Britt.
fignifies
p.
a fong
1042. and
LYTTLE TON
WOOD
and a kw.
S
S
of
Life
Eff. on orig.
Trafts. ch. 8.
Poet,
par
I
Abbe du Bos,
ROBE RTS o N
vol. i.
Inquiry into the Fine
S
302.
This very common word, fays Col.
Hib. No.
fwered
I.
CAMDEN
de rebus Hib. v. 2.
Colleft.
vol.
with the care of which an
it,
12. p. 532.
The whole
to the Iriih Seanacha.
pafiage
Vide
S.
VALLANCEY, is
is
WALKER
S
v.
i.
p. 142.
The Welfh Arwyddfeirdd
an-
tranf. of DiJJ. de Bardis.
This was the bufinefs of the French and Englifh herald?
Obferv. on the Fairy Queen of Spenfer.
peculiar to Ireland. Colled, de rebus
curious and learned.
in the
middle age.
Vide WAR. TO N
S
a work in which the author has difplayed an
almoft boundlefs erudition. (n)
Dr.ald
Mac
Firbis
(who was murdered
at Dunflin,
in
the county
clofed the line of the hereditary antiquaries of Lecan, in TirPacraon the reports
and
hiftoric^il collections,
Ogygia vindicated,
of Sligo, A. D.
Moy
have derived great credit to the country.
;
a family
1670)
whofe laws,
O CONNOR
S
Pref.
to
p. 9.
OLLAMH-
THE IRISH BARDS, OLLAMH-RE-SEANACHA arms of Ulfter
is
ftill
The
was charged.
maintained
&c.
13
ancient college of
(o).
i
Befides thefe three orders of Bards, there
kind, which
we will
arbitrarily call the
was another of an
Order of the
inferior
OIRFIDIGH.
In
CLEANANAIGH, CRUTAIRIGH, CIOTAIRIGH, TIOMPANACH, and CUILLEANNACH, all of this
order were comprifed the
whom
took their feveral names from the instruments on which they The head of this order was entitled
OLLAMH-
profeffedly played.
RE-CEOL. of their
art,
Where
thefe muficians were
will appear elfe where
their profeflion,
as
but
;
intruded
we
rudiments
in the
here obferve,
will
that
well as thofe of the higher claiTes of the Bards,
was likewife hereditary
(p).
Our refearches concerning the drefs of the ancient Bards of Ireland, having been more fedulous than fuccefsful, (q) we determined to conTHE fult, on this head, the learned author of the DifTertation on, "
ORIGIN AND LANGUAGE OF THE IRISH, AND OF THE LEARNING OF THE DRUIDS." His anfwer (which difplays much erudition and In refpecl: to the drefs of the ingenuity) we will give at large (r). "
"
ancient
(o) fireet,
(p) p.
Irifli
This college
Bards, the fubjecl
is
now (1785)
held by Sir
is
Our
very obfcure.
Wm.
Hawkins, Ulfter King
at
hiftorians
Arms,
in
and
Chatham-
Dublin. In Scotland the office of piper
was hereditary. Vide
J o
HNsoN
r
s
Journey
to
the
H eftern I/lands.
165. Dublin ed. (q)
Since writing the above
I
have received much fatisfaftory information on the
fubjecT:
of the
from the perufal of an elegant, learned and ingenious paper of the prefent IRA, which appeared in Archeeologia. vol. 7. No. 10.
drefs of the ancient Irifh,
COUNTESS ..
(r)
of
Mo
Thefe remarks on
"filftoAiJL
defign.ior
the drefs of the Bards,
Mr.
BEAUFORD
afterwards
illuftr.ited
by a capital
1
my
frontispiece,
which he accompanied with
a letter,
that
I
fliall
infert
in
another
place. "
antiquaries
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF "
"
"
"
antiquaries have been very remifs in delivering age, the drefs of the ancient inhabitants of this
down ifle
are the only ailiftants they have furnifhed us with.
:
to the prefent
imperfect hints I
have,
howe-
been at confiderable trouble in endeavouring to develope this part of our antiquities and think, at laft, I have been able to define, with fome precifion, moft of the ancient drefs of the old Irifh. ver,
c
;
"
parts
have been but of little affiftance to me; was from ancient fculptures, feals, &c. found in feveral parts of the kingdom, that I have been enabled to throw any light on the Books, in
this
inveftigation,
it
By
fubjecl.
collating thefe with the hints given in books, Britifli
coins, fculptures, &c.
"
it
appears that the old Iriih drefs was the fame Britifh, and was univerfal in all the
with the ancient
in all ages
Celtic nations.
According to
M Curtin
(s)
the 6th century wore long flowing garments,
the
Irifli
Bards in
fringed and orna-
mented with needle-work and from the Brehon laws (t), the Bards in feveral inftances were of the order of the NobleJ/e ; from whence we may prefume, their drefs was, in moft refpeds, con;
"
1
formable thereto, which principally confifted in the Truife y long Crta Cannatbas and Barrad (or Bairead.} But from a baffo relievo found in the ruins of New Abbey, near Kilcullen, it appears, that the drefs of the Bards confifted of the Truife or long Cotaigb, and Cocbal. The Truife, or ftrait Bracca, was made of weft, covering the feet, legs and thighs, as far as the loins, fitting fo clofe to the limb as to difcover every mufcle and motion of the parts covercd y and was ftriped with feveral colours, according to the order or rank of the wearer. The long Cot a, or Cotaigh, (the Camifiam of the Latin writers) was a kind of a fliirt made of plaided fluff, or linen dyed -
"
:
yellow, and ornamented with needle-work, according alfo to the rank
of the wearer. 1
mid-thigh c
(
)
(t)
Vide his Vide
}
This fhirt was open before, and came as low as the the trunk being thus open, was folded round the body,
Antiq.
C-jlkfl.
de
nlus Hit. "
and
THE IRISH BARDS, and made
"
"
fhort,
down
*
round the
loins
15
the flieves of fome were
by but in the figure before mentioned, they were long, coming to the wrift, and turned up with a kind of military cuff. The :
hofom was cut round, leaving the neck and upper part of the The Cochal was the upper garment, a kind of a
:
"
a girdle
faft
&c.
fhoulders bare.
as the ankles, and fringed at the borders the neck pendant on the back and fhoul a ders, was a large cap or hood, ornamented with curious needlework, after the manner of thofe on the Britifh coins. His beard was "
as
long cloak, reaching
cc
low
From
like fhagged hair.
"
and
"
long,
his hair
flowed on his neck and fhoulders
his
;
head was
covered with the Barrad, or conical cap and his Harp in good 1 have not been able to grace was pendent before him. fpecify ;
"
(C c
"
which ornamented the Bard
the colours
s
drefs.
Keating
fays,
perfons of learning had colours the fame as the Kings ; but by the Brehon laws (u) it appears, that the Bards were not of that
the
firft
order
of nobility, and therefore, perhaps only wore five But of this I am blue, green, black and red.
colours, viz. white,
Thefe colours were
"
not certain, (v)
"
into the texture of the
mantle."
The
laid
on
in ftripes, or
latter conjecture
is
wrought
confonant
with the idea of the anonymous author of an ode publifhed in 1783, THE ORDER OF ST. PATRICK. Thus he clothes Hiber"
entitled,
nia
s
Guardian Genius
:
Her mantle green, inwrought with gold, As wore by Kings and Bards of old. But perhaps, Irifh Bards,
in order to acquire
we muft
(u)
Called, de rebus
(v)
A
an idea of the drefs of the ancient
look on the party-coloured mantles of our modern
HA. No.
3.
garment of many colours was confidered
as a
mark of diftinftion amongft
the early Jews.
Genefti. ch. 37. v. 3.
heralds.
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
16
the Minftrels of each noble houfe wore a diftinIn England O
heralds. guilhins;
badge
inftance,
wore
on
The
Northumberland family,
to the
thofe belonging
;
filver crefcents
for
their arms.
Minftrels of thy noble houfe
All clad in robes of blue,
With
filver crefcents
Attend
This cuftom,
their arms,
very probable, prevailed, if not in the early, at in this kingdom. Perhaps the colours in
is
in the middle ages,
leaft
mantles varied according to the family to which they be
the Bards
longed
(x).
As the it
it
on
due (w).
in order
feveral claffes of the Bards
were concerned in the CAOINE(y), account of that folemn ceremo
will be neceffary to give a particular
ny. (w)
Hermit of Warkimrth.
(x)
Servants were fo diftinguifhed in England,
In Shakefpeare nobility
wore
entitled (y)
Time
The
badges on their
of Shakefpearis works,
By
CAO1NE
companions of Cuchullin, ftrength
the battle wa. terrible
was
i.
the order of the Minftrels
MALONE,
became
extinct.
the fervants of the
all
on which the arms of their mafters were engraved.
p. 534.
:
at the
Thou had
This cuftom
is
alluded
bow, perceive
it.
by Mr.
tomb, as tranflated
Le"go,
they raifed the hero
chace
Bleft
the fteps of death
to
in
an old ballad
s
tomb.
MACPHERSON,
will give
Luath,
be thy foul, fon of Semo
of a ftream
:
;
thy fpeed like the eagle
were behind thy fword.
at a diftance, lies, the
thou wert mighty in s
w ing
Thy
Bleft be thy foul, fon of
path in
Semo
;
!"
net fallen by the
The arrow came,
s
:
like the ftrength
car-borne chief of Dunfcaick "
v.
fong of the Bards over Cucullin
the dark rolling waves of
Thy
liveries,
when
and ingenious Mr.
s Alteration.
the reader an idea of the
battle.
zd.
time, according to the learned
s
filver
to laft ed.
Supp.
Fit.
like the
fword of
the mighty, neither
fting of death
Peace to thy foul
in
in a blaft
:
was thy blood on the fpear of the
valiant.
nor did the feeble hand, which drew the
thy cave, chief of the
ifle
of Mift
!"
"
Tke
THE IRISH BARDS, When
ny.
the ftones of his
"
nature,
On
a prince or a chief
were
fame"
&c.
17
or died by the courfe of
fell in battle,
raifed amidfl the voices of Bards.
the Druid having performed the rites prefcribed by aloud by his Seareligion, and the pedigree of the deceafed being recited nacha the Caione, (or funeral fong), which was compofed by the Filea of the departed, and fet to mulic by one of his Oirfidigh, was fung in this occafion
recitativo over his grave
by a
RACARAIDE
cafionally fuflained his voice with arpeggio his
Harp
the fymphonic
:
chaunted a chorus
fwept over the
oc-
firings
in
of
who
being performed by Minftrels,
parts
at intervals,
who
(or Rhapfodift,)
s
which they were joined refponfively
by attending Bards and Oirfidigh (z) the relations and friends of the deceafed mingling their fighs and tears. Thus Heclor was lamented ;
:
A
melancholy choir attend around, found plaintive fighs, and mufic s folemn
With -
While deeper forrows groan from each
And Nature "
The
mighty are difperfed
at
fpeaks at every paufe of
Oemora
there
:
Soft be thy reft in thy cave, chief of Erin
s
wars
Bragela will not hope thy return, or fee thy fliore ; nor her ear open to the voice of thy rowers. "
of him that
is
foul in death,
no more.
O
Thine eyes are
chief of fliady
(z) at
Surv. of South
-of
Ireland,
in
modern
p.
206. 207.
O Co NOR, O HA LL o R A N.
funerals, to play
certain
full
of
days, vide
Cormac
ocean
fits
traly inftrinnent
ceafed
The ;
Her
foam
s
in the hall
king mourns
his foes are
in his
gathering
of
are not on the
ftepi
fliells,
and
fees the
arms
Bleft be thy daughter of car-borne Sorglars Th: Death ofCuchullin. !"
PENNAMT
sTsur
in Scotland, v. I. p. 100.
and
ed.
In Scotland pipers (but no other muficians) attended formerly
tunes connected with the Corranach.
funerals of the Scots could not be fwclled by inftrumental mufic
be die
hall.
s
fliieid is
full heart,
art.
!"
She
tears,
Dub.
in
of thy
fails in
Cromla."
For an account of the Caoine Phil.
none
is
The found
youth, for he does not behold thy coming.
round.
;
Alternately they fing, alternate flow Th obedient tears, melodious in their woe,
ufed on the occafion,
is
;
The
chorus, therefore, at the
for the bagpipe,
which appears to
fo unfociable as to exclude the voice.
D
A
fcene
-
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
i8
A
fcene,
how
how affeding But the cuftom was founded The Bards were direded to feize this favourable op
folemn
in found policy.
!
!
when the mind was foftened by fympathetic forrow, and every tumultuous pafTion foothed to peace by the plaintivenefs of the mufic to imprefs on the minds of their auditors, a reverence and imi
portunity
tation of virtue, or of what, (as Mr. O Conor obferves) in thofe days of Heathenifm, was deemed virtue, (a) This, they endeavoured to firft lamenting, in pathetic ftrains, the lofs they fuftained in the death of their patron (thus they grappled the attention of their
effed, by
:
hearers,
and awoke
all
their finer feelings)
and heroifm, recounting
virtues
then they dwelt on his
:
ads of humanity and all his valorous atchievements, doling every ftanza with fome remarkable This ceremony was considered of fuch moment, epithet of their hero. that the man to whom it was denied, was deemed accurfed, and his all his
ghoft fuppofed to wander through the country, bewailing his miferable fate. Thus the woods and wilds became peopled with fhadowy beings, whofe cries were fancied to be heard in the piping winds, or in the roar of Such apprehenfions (as an foaming catarads. elegant critic re marks) (b) muft indeed "
Deepen the murmur of the falling floods, breathe a browner horror on the woods
And
Di/.
(a)
(b) in the
Mrs.
6n
HiJI. of I, -el.
MONTAGUE.
p/
i J
4
E/ay
.
on Genius
dead of night, were fuppofed
in the days of fuperftitition.
Fletcher
s
Virgin
They
Shphvdefi"
is
are
among
the Jews.
Shakefpeare.
deprecated at Fidelia
told by
found, very different from the natural s
and Writing, of
to be thofe of the unlaid
her virginity will protect her from them.
Notes on Ifaiah. p. 153.
5
ghotts
The
who were
voices heard
calling
fo very troublefome
grave. Cymb. aft. 4. fc 2 her mother, as an encouragement to be chafte
That
human
This notion took
s
.
And that
the fouls of the dead uttered a feeble ftrid ulous
voice, its rife
was
a popular notion
from
the, arts
among
the Heathens
of Necromancer
s.
as
Lout
s
154^
and
.
THE IRISH BARDS, and give fadder accents creation."
mony became
to every
&c.
whifper of the animate
19 or.
inanimate,
In procefs of time, as luxury advanced, the funeral cere fo coftly, that the expences attending it wcrcr egulated
by the Brehon
laws, (c)
Did our purpofe require but it does not we would trace this cere mony thr.ough different countries, and to the remoteft antiquity. However we will obferve, that David s lamentation for Jonathan,
(d)
and the
conclamatio over the Phoenician Dido, as defcribed
by
Virgil,
coincide with the Caoine, or Irifli Cry. Dr. Campbell is of opinion, that the word ululate, or hullaloo, the choral burden of the Caoine, and the
Greek word of the fame import, have
all
a ftrong affinity to each
other, (e)
We cannot find that
the
Irifli had female Bards, or BARDESSES, pro melting fweetnefs of the female voice was indeed deemed neceffary in the chorus of the funeral fong. Women, therefore,
The
perly fo called.
whofe life(f),
recommended them, were taken from the lower claffes of and inftrucled inmufic and the cur fios (or elegiac meafure,)
voices
that they might
in heightening the melancholy to infpire. This cuftom
aflift
ceremony was calculated
.
(c)
Colled, de rebus Hib.
(d)
Sam.
(e)
PE N
ch.
Phil. Surv.
NANT
(f)
z.
S
No.
13. p.
that folemn
prevailed amongft
580.
i.
of South of
Tour in Scotland,
O HALLORAN.
yond comparifon the
Ire/.
v.
i.
Lett. p.
Lett, to Author.
fweeteft
23.
100. "
See feveral
clafllcal obfervations
A
fine
and moft melting found
feventh band of mafic amongft the
on the Caoine
in
101. and 102.
female voice, modulated by in art or nature."
BE A T T i E
The
which
Hebrews was
that of the
s
fenfibility,
Effaj on Poetry
young women.
is
be
and Mufic.
Vide CA LM E T
S
Difl. of the Bible.
D
2
the
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
so the
Hebrews
On
diately.
from
(g),
whom
it
is
not improbable
we had
it
me
the abolition of the order of the Bards, the bufmefs of
la
menting over the dead, was entirely performed by mercenary female mourners. This is ftill the cafe in almoft every part of Ireland j but when a perfon of particularly in Munfter. and Connaught, where, diftinclion dies, a certain number of female mourners attend the fune ral,
dreffed fometimes in white
in black, finging, as
and fometimes
they flowly proceed after the hearfe, extempore odes, in which they extol, in fulfome panegyric, every private and every public virtue of the deceafed, and earneftly expoftulate with the cold corfe, for
the
relinquishing
many
bleffings
this
world
The
affords.
female chorus (fays the venerable O Conor) is continued to this day at our funerals in Ireland, and in the Highlands of Scotland ; but foj-emotely from the original inftitution, fo debafed by extemporaneous is compofition, and fb difagreeable from unequal tones, that no paflion excited.
ftom
It
is
prefent a
at
truly barbarous,
but an innocent cuf-
(h)."
But though women, during the heroic order of Bards,
yet
it
ages, held
no rank
appears that they cultivated mufic
in the (i)
and
poetry Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord s houfe, which was towards the North, and behold there fat women weeping far Tammez. Ezek. c. 8. v. 14. The tafk of bewail "
Cg"
ing the defundl, likewife ////?.
falls to
the lot of the
women
in
the ifland of Sumatra.
Vide
MARSDEN
S
of Sumatra-
(h)
D "
(i)
on Hift. of Ire!, p. 114.
iff.
The
daughter of Moran feized the Harp, and her voice of mufic praifed the Grangers.
Their fouls melted
Mr. Smith, mufician.
in *
at the fong, like a
another of
The fpoufe
locks, about her knees.
his
weath of fnow before the eye of the fun.
SMITH
"
S
Cathluina"
Gaelic poems, has given us a moft pifturefque defcription of a female
of Trathal had remained in her houfe.
They bend
their ears above the
Harp, as
Two flie
children rofe, with their fair
touched, with her white hand,
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c,
whofe divine powers they often employed
21
in foftening the
poetry (k), manners of a people rendered ferocious by domeftic hoftilities, What an unbounded influence nruft thofe arts, united with the irrefiftible
fway of female beauty, have given- the women of thofe ages Accord helm of the ftate, and ingly, we often find them guiding in fecret the While embattled proving the primary caufe of great revolutions. !
ranks waited the arrival of expeded invaders, women often walked fuitable war-fongs, ac through the lines, animating the foldiery with their voices, at the
companying
fame time, with Cruits
(1)
or portable
danced before the ark (rn). Harps, fuch as the Hebrews bore when they On this occafion, if the danger was imminent, probably they were and like them too, aiTumed arrayed in black like the Britifh BardefTes, a-
air-
frantic
Thro our ranks
Our facred fitters rufti d in With hair difhevell d, and
fable robes,
funereal brands,
Hurl d round with menacing fury
its
trembling
firings.
they admired.
Why,
She
flops.
They
they faid, does
She bids them fearch for
it till
take the
it
Harp
themfelves
not anfwer us?
Their
fhe returns.
but cannot find the found which
j
us the firing wherein dwell the fong.
Shew
little fingers
(1).
wander among
the
wires."
Tuathal. I
his
have taken thofe paflages from Mr. Smith s poems, to are known to be tranflations from the IrifK in many
poems
(k)
A
YOUNG, p. 163. (1)
beautiful Elegy F.
182.
The
C. D.
T.
on Cuchullin, by
For extraordinary
According to Cruiteoga were
his
effects
To LAND, women women who
illuftrate
my
pofition
in the
tt,
becaufe
inftances.
wife Eimker,
.it
in the
of female poefy, fee
ftudied under the Druids.
played on the Harp.
7
\ ide
colleaion of the Rev. Dr.
CTHALL. HiJI.
O BR IBM
Hijt.
of Ifel.
v.
i.
of Druids. S
Iri/h Ditf.
Our
to the Cithadiiftre of the Romans. Cruiteoga, anfwered
(m) (n)
Chron.
MA
s
oN
\. S
ch.
13. v. 8.
Caraflacus.
When
H
2s
When
1
b
O K
i
1
C A L
MEMOIRS
O
K
armies returned in
triumph from foreign wars or domeftic contentions, troops of virgins clad in white, each bearing a fmall Harp in her hand, advanced, with a tripping ftep, to meet them with con"
gragulatory fongs (o) will hail their lour,
all
the Celtic nations during the infancy
(p).
THE
III.
now
with the voice of fongs and the Harp they
This cuftom proved a ftrong incentive to va
and was pradifed by
of fociety
.
:
heroes."
brighteft
our
folicits
notice.
luminary that appeared in thofe dark ages, In the year of the world 3236, Ollam
Fodla was raifed to the throne of Ireland.
This monarch, the Irifh Lycurgus, was brave, wife and learned equally capable of fliining in the field, or in the cabinet. Sparing of the blood of his fubjecls, yet ;
let it flow when .the fafety or honor of his kingdom re But peace was his fupreme delight for peace is the nurfe and from her, fprings the happinefs of the people.
ever ready to quired
it.
;
of fcience,
This reign makes
remarkable epocha in the hiftory of Ireland, and upon but it is our bufinefs
a
therefore deferves to be particularly dilated to dwell only
One of the
on fuch
inftitutes
of Ollam had an happy
effect, in tempering the emerging from barbarifm we mean This was an aflemby of the States to be held
manners of the people then the^
;
parts of it as concern the purpofe of this eiTay.
TEAMORIAN FE.
juft
:
triennially for the purpofe of revifmg the records of the kingdom, promulgating laws, and repreffmg the crimes which are naturally pro-
(o)
Of this
(p)
KAIM
nature were the fongs of Miriam. S
Sketches,
b.
i.
(k.
ExoJ. ch. 15. and of Deborah,
Judges ch.
5.
7.
duced
THE
R
I
I
S
H BARD
&c.
S,
23
duced by civil inftitutions on the firft correction of the evils of favage As the Bards made a diftinguifhed figure in this aflembly, a par
life.
account of
ticular
may,
it,
be introduced in this
with propriety,
place.
This auguft Convention met three days before the (that
is,
the
On
(or Tara).
feaft
of Samhuin,
of November), in the hall of the palace of Teamor an elevated throne, in the centre of the hall, fat the
firft
Monarch with
his face to the weft.
The King
of Leinfter
s
throne was
placed at a certain diftance, but lower, and fronting the Monarch The King of Munfter fat on his left hand, the King of Ulfter on his :
right,
and the King of Connaught behind him.
feated Druids
Long extended feats firft row were
In the
for the other orders in the ftate.
were difpofed
and
Filidhe,
which rank the Chriftian Bifhops afterwards i
held.
Behind
thefe, the hereditary Marfhal, the Senachaide, Oirfidigh,
Standard-Bearer, Treasurer and other ftate officers had places alloted the principal Nobility, at the head of whom were them. Next
appeared
placed the Knights
towns and
j
and
after thefe the Beatachs
and Reprefentatives of
cities (q).
The two
firft
days were employed in
vifits
and friendly intercourfe
;
the third day in celebrating the feaft of Samhuin, or the Moon, in the of Tiachta. Then the opening of the Affembly was announced
Temple
by facred odes
recited
by the Ard Fhilidhe, with fymphonic accompa The Druids having finished their rites and
niments by the Oirfidigh. myfteries,
the great
folemnly invoked to
fire
of Samhuin was lighted up, and the deities
blefs the national councils.
(q)
Me. CURTIN.
The
three fucceeding
O HALLCPAN. days
.
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS
24
were employed
days
national bufmefs
in
entertainments and feftivals
commenced
in
all
its
;
"OF
after
which the
The order and when w-e confider
departments.
on this occafion is aflonifhing, regularity obferved Firft, the the infantine ftate of fociety at that period in this kingdom. corna (or trumpet) being founded, the Efquiresof the nobility and thofe of the other military orders, prefented themfelves at the hall, and gave in the fhields and different infignia of their feveral matters, to the grand Marfhal, who, under the direction -of the Royal Seanacha, fufpended fecond blaft of the them according to the rank of their owners (r).
A
trumpet gave noJce to the target-bearers of the general officers, to And on the third found, the princes, deliver in their infignia alfo.
and general officers appeared, and immediately feated them under their different banners without the leaft confufion (s).
nobility felves
The Feaft being ended, and the tables cleared, the Seanachaidhe ftepped forward, and laid their records before a committee of the literati, who carefully examined them, expunging what feemed apocryphal, and re The records having patted this fads. taining only well authenticated ordeal, were recommended to the approbation of the Aflembly at large.
This was never denied them and they were immediately ordered to be turned into verfe, and inferted in the Regitter or PSALTER OF TARA. Thus poetry became the vehicle of truth and the voice of hiftory ;
:
hence the adage, haoi no
liter
cothuras
If in the courfe of this
profe(t).
that
verfe
is
as
the
Lord s Hall
good proof as awful fcrutiny, any of the Seanachaide ;
is,
were (r)
In ^he
day* of
Cunt. Tul. 753 ) c.
9.
ii.
in
CHAUCE
England
R,
this
was the
at public feftivals.
bafinefs of the Marshall in
SPE NSE R
alludes to this officer.
(Prof,
to
Fairie .Quet-n, 8.5.
23.
CUR TIM. O HALLORAN. WARNER. O CoNOR. NICHOLSON cnMs the genealogical poems of our
(s)
Me.
(t)
Ciftiop
whereon our old
hiftory
is
founded.
Pref. to Irijh Hift. Lib.
ancient Bards, the chief pillars
Mr. HARRIS makes a
fiaiilar
obfervat:on.
THE IRISH BARD
&c.
S,
25
were convided of the
fmalleft deviation from truth, they were de graded from the honor of fitting in this Affembly, and fined in pro
portion to their delinquency.
The
examination of the records being finifhed, the AfTembly pro
ceeded to the bufinefs of the
State.
In the interval between the feflions of the Teamorian Fes, the pro vincial and family Seanchaidhe were required to colled, with diligence
and
fidelity, for the infpedion of the States, whatever was worthy to be recorded in their feveral diftrids, in order that no event, which could
either benefit or inform pofterity, fhould be
PSALTERS
;
or
The
and
of the Argum. contained in a
tradition,
he
is
read with caution
been ufual to give him the direft
treats of events
his lie,
;
if
made
in difguife
Hift. of the
beyond ufe
his
If
of.
he profefles to have learned
it
mean
I
ancient
the
Irl/fi
anony
and Scots.
own knowledge, muft he derives
it
rife
from hearfay
from the records of the
accounts are generally admitted as authentic
;
and
it
has not
in his time. flatly denying the exiftence of any fuch records
by
foreign writer fhould differ with him in the accounts he gives of the fame matters, the error
commonly charged
rather upon the ftranger, than on the native.
determing the credit due to
other writers, links of his
I
profefs I cannot
analifts,
in particular,
extant (as they affert) in their times
ftill
and
all hiftorians
of Ireland, and the Pfalter of Cafhel
But
CHIEF PILLARS
This regulation juftifies Dean
(u)
doing
:
The
more ancient records of to be
old writers
the country,
judged by the fame laws as author to give only a few
from the old national ballads
:
profefles to
have com-
yet are thefe
commen
of the Peruvian hiftory.
SWIFT
S
obfervation, that
"
as barbarous
and ignorant
as
former centuries, there was more effeftual care taken by our anceftors, to preferve the
were
in
mory
of times and perfons, than
we
is
rules for
injuftice to the
GARCILASSO DE LA VEGA,
admirable chain of reafoning.
taries confidered as the
it is
Thefe are the general
whether ancient or modern
refer to the
and why they are not
;
difcover."
piled great part of his Riyal Commentaries of Peru
call
late Intro, to the
proportion to the means of information he has
country whofe hiftory he writes,
If a
who
credit of every hiftorian, (fays he)
fall in
feverat
pains have been taken of late to fap this foundation of
but the affailants have been beaten off by a champion
mous author of An Exam, 1
Much
Hilernica. p. 264. Oft. Ed.
vation.
our hiftory
Hence our
loft.
(u),
find in this
age of learning and politenefs, as
we
we me
are pleafed to
it."
Lett, to the
E
Earl of Oxford.
This
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
26
This wife Monarch feems
He
peculiar care.
have made the Order of the Bards his
to
young men of genius and That the profefBard died, his eftate was to
ordained, that none but
noble defcent, fhould be admitted into the order fion fhould be hereditary
;
but
when
a
:
devolve, not to his eldeft fon, but to fuch of his family as difcovered the moft diftinguiftied talents for poetry and mufic That every ArdFilea might retain thirty inferior Bards as His attendants ; and a Bard :
That the perfon of the fecond clafs be allowed a retinue of fifteen of each individual belonging to the order, fhould be considered as facred and inviolable That the eftates of the Ollaimh were to be unaliena;
:
ble,
and, in the time of civil difTenfion, their houfes to be afylums,
and
their lands
and
from depredation
flocks to be free
And
:
finally,
number of Ollaimh in different fciences fhould not exceed two hundred. Thus by reviving and confirming old laws, and fram that the
new
ing
fame
ones, he opened a
direcT:
road for
abilities
to
notice
and
he increafed the dignity, fecured the privileges, protected the perfons and eftates of the Bards, and prevented their order from be coming a burthen to the ftate (w).
He
;
Teamor, called MUR-OL LAwhich the youth of the nation were to receive their education under the Filidhe. Here they were taught the powers of verfe and fong, by being initiated in the myfteries of metrical cadence, vocal harmony, and graceful adion. Thefe branches of knowledge were deemed indifpenfably neceffary to young to candidates
VAN,
likewife founded an univerfity at in
princes,
for
magiftracy,
and
to
the Ollavain.
higheft degree in this feminary
was conferred, preceded
the fame rank in every part of the
(w) (*)
Me. CURTIN, O HALLORAW, CXCouoR. O HAH.OXAN.
Thofe Bards, on
kingdom
whom
all
the
others of
(x).
O CoNOR, WARNER. Jt
THE It
I
R
too often
S
I
H
ARD
B
that thofe
who
&c.
S,
affift
in
27
framing laws are
happens, amongft the firft violators of them. In the reign of Achay the Third, feveral of the OUaimli abufmg the truft repofed in them, took occafion,
in their judicial capacity as Brehons, or legiflative Bards,
to
in
vade private property, and to commit feveral flagrant ads of injufiice. The people of Munfter and Leinfter, roufed and exafperated by this conduct, loudly demanded of the ftate, the banifhment of the order of the Bards, forgetting in their wrath, to make that juft difcrimination of character,
which
a
little
cool reflection
would have
fuggefted,
but confounded the guilty with the innocent. The Bards obferved with dread the gathering ftorm, and determined unanimoully (in a for the
meeting held by them,
purpofe of deliberating on the means of
efcaping the prefent danger,) to fly for fhelter to the heathy moun tains, the rocky caverns, and the romantic forefts of Scotland, rather
than wait the chance of being ignominioufly banifhed. But the mu nificent and accomplished Concovar Mac Nefla, King of Munfter (y), (let
us fling a veil over his vices)
a friend to the learned in general,
but to the Bards in particular, (feveral of whom at that time, fought, and found an afylum in his court) interpofed his mediation, and mo
He prevailed on them to take the derated the rage of the people. Brehons again into favour on trial, limiting the time of their proba
He
tion to the fpace of feven years.
whole Bardic order lize.
two hundred,
alfopropofed the reduction of the having fwelled to an enormous
it
This prince wifely confidered, that
to expel the
(y)
to
The
kingdom
fo large a
character of Concovar
Mac
it
It
was
to
Micro
s
King of
Sicily, are
their courts an
palace Efchylus withdrew,
impolitic,
amongft
literati,
Nefla, and that of Hiero,
Both friends, and occafionally votaries of the mufes, they made or difcontented poets.
would be very
body of the
when he
whom
very fmiilar.
afylum for bani/hed
loft the poetical prize
to Sophocles.
E
2
there
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
28
many men of profound
there were fo
and fplendid
On
abilities.
erudition,
this principle,
unfhaken integrity
and not from a weak par
the order, he protected the Bards (z).
tiality for
But he did not
He
flop here.
invited to his noble palace of
Eama-
nia (a), (the feat of the fine arts,) Forchern, Neid and Atharne of BenHedar (b), three eminent Ollaimh; and with their aid reduced the
laws into axioms, which were thought to be compiled with fo much wifdom and equity, as to receive the approbation of Heaven hence they acquired the appellation of BEATHE-NIMHE or celeftial judg :
And for many fucceeding ages, fays Dr. Warner (c), no nation was happier in the compiling or execution of laws than this. For the better preferving thefe Beathe-Nimhe, they were committed ments.
"
"
to the
or wood-tables of the learned (d).
TAIBHLE-FIDEA,
(z)
O CONOR- O HALLORAN.
(a)
The remains
(b)
Ben-Hedar was
the
Mona
views of
of
of Ireland. "
Seals
this
palace, which
the ancient
was defigned by the Emprefs Macha, may yet be traced. the Hill of Howth, which I am inclined to confider as
name for
This idea the reader may
and Dtmcfnes
la
belonging
find
the
confiderably expanded
N
and Genry of
jbility
in
MILTON See
Ireland."
S
elegant
Defc.
of
Ho voth. Hi ft.
(c)
"
(d)
oflrel.
the nation had
That
fome public Talllhe Feneachui (or law
have re*fon to believe, from the regulations
Whatever they were,
Qllainh, and others. to
make way
for the arbitrary decifion of the Fileas.
order of men, and their expulfion into Ulfter,
new
Nefla,
owed
Hence
the great national
until, through- the
and
to himfelf,
Primmer of
the BardsJ
as
an
copy of
this
no.
curious
Coll. Dublin.
Neigeas (or
work
Vide
is
in the pofleffion
VALLANCE Y
S
Irijh
we
clamour a^ainft that
made
Di/. on Hi/, of Ire/,
was written by Forchern in of Col. Vallancey, and another in the
Gramm.
eh.,
i
Mac
Concovar
a judge of what he
individual."
O CoNoVs Urnicoach
before this time,
interpofition of
law-tables were publifhed, and every man, in fome degree,
to the public, as a fellow-fubjeft,
The
tables)
made by Ollamh-Fodla, Royney-Rofgadhach, An-ms certain, that they grew obfolete, and were fet afide
it is
this
p.
I22
reign.
.
One
library of Trin.
u It
THE IRISH BARDS, was
It
&c.
29
meeting of the Bards at Eamania, according to the Conor (e), that the feveral Filean Gradations were infti-
in this
venerable
O
tuted (f),.viz. ift. the FOCHLUCAN ; 2d. the MAC-FUIRMIDH j 3d. the Doss ; 4th. the CANAITH j 5th. the CLI 6th. the ANSTRUTH ;
and
;
OLLAMH.
In no Filean college, from this period, could a Bard obtain the diploma of Ollamh or Dodtor, till he had patted through the firft fix of thofe degrees ; but foon as this honour was yth. the
conferred upon him, he was confidered as qualified for any office in the ftate, and frequently became the minifter, the friend and confidant
In days of old (fays Faid y mac Dair) (g) each King chofe and again although it behoveth every to inftrucl his prince, it is the particular office of the Ollamh Filea,
of princes.
"
a Filea for his companion,"
man
"
But every colle for to him the prince gives the greater! attention." at this day) to giate did not arrive, in a ftated time (as in our colleges the higheft, or yth degree abilities or application
;
he only advanced fo
far
towards
it
as his
would bear him*
We
will now proceed to give fome account of the nature of thofe Filean gradations ; and of the manner in which the Bards during their for enjoyment of thofe degrees, were attended, protected and rewarded
(e)
Mr.
Lett, to the Author.
O ConoR
a conjecture, than gives this, rather as
a
pofuive
aflertion.
bore the fame (f) Every order of the Filidhe
No.
12. p.
Lett, to
533-
TOLAND
Lord Molefworth on "
will
Hijl. of
Where your
name
in the
order of the Druids.
Collet. J? re) us Hil,
not allow that the Bards belonged to the order of the the Druids.
Mi LT o K
confounds the Bards and Druids
old Bards/^the famous Druids
Druids.
:
lie."
Ly dila !.
Count AT.GAKO-TTI feems antictu Druidi.
Vide
his
to have fallen into the
Lett,
al Signer G. T.
fame error
Hawe,
in
;
he
MASON
calls the S
Bards
i
fucce/ori degli
Memoirs of Gray.
The
Bards
the offices of the Druids. furvived, but did not fucceed to (g)
In his
Lfms for
a Prince.
Mac
Daire was
Olkmh
Filea to Donough,
the
2d fon of Brien
Boirmhe.
their
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
30
their productions, either while ftationary, or
when they
chofe to pere
In doing this, we fhall take for our guide a Treatife grinate (h). the Br-ehon laws, entitled, Seacht ngraidb Fileadh.
i.
FOCHLUCAN
The
(i)
was
to be able to repeat thirty, (or accord
ing to the Breith-Neimhe, twenty) tales, or
feftivals
He was
large cow.
kinds of neceiTaries
two men
and
for five days.
required,
upon any of or
heifers,
the
one
one day, and fupplied with
to be attended for
;
if
His reward was two
public meetings.
on
all
on a journey, he was to be attended by He was alfo to be furnifhed with an horfe if
and a greyhound.
MAC-FUIRMIDH
The
2.
and
was
to repeat forty tales,
He was
reward was three milch cows.
his
if required be attended for
alfo to
;
three days, and fupplied with all kinds of necefTaries ; and on by three attendants, on all feftivals and public meetings.
was thus with
It
(h)
but almoft
"
refided in their families,
Thefedomeftic
and even attended them
fions
of
feftivity,
And
who
for their
amufement.
When
I
may
and wages, which they received from their monafteries and in the caftles of the Barons, upon occa-
were handfomely
add,
SHAKESPEARE
(H E N RY
rewarded."
calls
them
"
S
Hi/I,
Feaft finding
ef Great Brit.
Minftrels,"
in his
the Irim Filidhe
during their peregrinations, compofed panegyrics for thofe entertained them, they were obliged, by an ordinance of their order, to devote one ftanza
at leaft, to their (i)
for which they
for which,
RapetfLucrecei
in their journies,
minflrels, befides their board, cloathing
matters, were permitted to perform in ric
vol. 5.)
waited
th Not only all our Kings, Englifli Minftrcls during the middle ages. our nobility and men of fortune, had bands of fecular muficians or minftrels in their
all
who
fervice,
to be
own
tribe.
The Fochlucan
Vide
confined to their grammatica.
Ollaimh.
O CouoR.
O HALL.
Hi/I, of Irel. v. i. p.
200.
required only to be mafter of the elements of knowledge, fuch as the
The Mac-Fuirmidb
arofe to
an higher
clafs
,
Greeb
and fo on to the
3-
The
THE IRISH BARD The DOSS
3.
was
(k)
to repeat fifty
&c.
S,
if
ftories,
31
required
:
And
his
rewards were variable, according to the nature of the poems or comThus, one cow was his reward for that fpecies of pofitions he recited. compofition called EOMHAN ; a chariot of the value of three cows, for the fpecies of poem denominated ANUMHNACH j and five cows for that
which was
He was
his attendants fupplied
CANAITH (1)
The
4.
and
NAT HA.
ftiled
men, and he and
was to repeat a
to be attended
with
certain
by four learned
kinds of necefTaries.
all
number of ftories
alfo
i
reward was in fome meafure regulated by the nature of the He was competitions he recited, as was before mentioned of the Dofs. his
to be attended
by
fix
men on
all
public occafions, and fupplied with all accufa;
kinds of aeceffaries for eight days and prote&ed from tions on account of debts or any other charge. all
of the CLI (m) was five cows and ten heifers. He be attended by eight ftudents in poetry, or in the fcience he and he and his atten himfelf profeffed, and entertained for ten days
The reward
5.
was
to.
;
dants fupplied with all
all necefTaries.
He was
alfo to be protected
from
accufations of every kind.. 6.
The
ANSTRUTH
ftories
many
The
(k)
was to repeat
for the
AiTembly half as ftories
on
Doff,, in the order of the Druids, were operators or executioners of a facrifice, whence
derived the Latin Sacer-dos, a
prieft.
The
Filean-Dofs were probably
fomehow concerned
is
in thir
VALLANCEY.
office. (I)
(n)
of times paft, as an Ollarnhj two-fevenths of
The
(m) (n)
modern
Canaich or Cana,
Cli
were probably kind of Chorifters,
Anftruth was fo named tram/ruth, knowing, difcerning, Irifli,
Carnidh and Cauuim, to
fing.
.
hence Clerk.
is
a
man
in reJigious orders.
and"
good, great.
Sruth injthf
VAJLLAXCEY.
other
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
32
His reward was twen other fubjeds, and five-fevenlhs of prime ftories be attended by twelve ftudents in his own fcience } ty kine. He was to from all accufato be entertained for fifteen days, and to be proteded and he and his attendants fupplied with all tions during that time :
;
manner of
7.
The
neceffaries.
OLLAMH,
or Chief
Dodor of the Seven Degrees
in all the
branches of poetry, Sciences, was to be {killed in the four principal and to ftudy in each of them for three years. He was to have in me His reward feven times ftories, to entertain the Affembly.
mory
fifty
was twenty milch cows, and he was to be attended by twenty-four men on all occafions, either at home or abroad who were alfo to proted And he and his attendants were to be fup him, if occafion required. ;
plied with
all
kinds of neceffaries for a month. *
At
period there flourished
this
a
Bard named Feircheirtne,
who
evinced in the manner of his death, a ftrength of affedion for his of foul, unparalleled in the hiftory of any na patron, and a fublimity Feircheirtne was Ollamh-Filea to Conrigh, a celebrated chieftion. in the tan, who lived in fplendour on the banks of the Fionnglaife, This warrior was married to Blanaid, a lady of tranof
county
Kerry.
fcendent beauty, who had been the meed of his prowefs in fingle com But the lady bat with Congculionne, a Knight of the Red Branch.
was fecretly attached to the Knight and in an accidental interview which fhe had with him, from the battlements of her caftle, offered to follow his fortunes, if he would at a certain time, and on receiving a certain fignal, (both of which fhe mentioned,) ftorm the caftle, and put ;
her hufband and his attendants to the fword. to obferve her diredions
blood of
its
inhabitants.
j
and did
fo,
Congculionne promifed caftle with the
inundating the
However, Feircheirtne efcaped the
flaughter,
and
THE IRISH and purfued,
at
a diftance,
B A RD
Blanaid and her
S,
&c.
33
raviflier to the
court of
miftrefs to Neffa, determined to facrifice his perfidious at Eamania, he found arrived Bard the When of his the manes patron. Concovar and his court, together with the amorous fugitives, walking
Concovar
Mac
extenfive on the top of a rock called Rincbin Beara, enjoying the Blanaid happening to detach herfel profped which it commanded. that part of from the reft of the company, flood wrapt in meditation on Bard flopping up to The a precipice. which deep the cliff overhung for
then fuddenly fpringing converfation began an adulatory himfelf with her head and his in throwing arms, her feized he ward, to pieces (o). dafhed were both down the ;
her,
precipice,
long
The condud
the death of the Bards continued irreprehenfible from and Ulfter. of Then, throne the mounted Fiachodh
of Concovar until who governed the fame province once in the reign of Maolchabba, but they were raifed to chaftife them was monarch the of hand the :
thofe generous princes, fhieided from the impending ftroke by received them into their dominions (p). invited and
who
kindly
revolution was occafioned in Ireland by 3649, a great and mufic. Cobthaigh haying united powers of female poefy of his brother Leoghaire, and blood the waded to the throne through the life of his grand-nephew Maon, his nephew Oilliol-Aine, only fpared a fpeedy of his frame feemed to indicate weaknefs natural the becaufe the mftrument of be to the deftined Deity by diflblution. But Maon was
Anno Mundi
the
conveyed to His vengeance on the barbarous ufurper. Being privately he continued there in fecret Munfter, South of the court of the King eftabliihed, while he im was for
fome time.
Here
his health
gradually
with unremitted diligence. proved his mind (o)
KEATING.
(p)
Ibid.
During
his
continuance
in
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
34
in this court
he became enamoured of the beauteous Moriat,
Nor was
King s daughter.
perfonal attractions
the princefs infenfible of his
but fhe carefully concealed her pafTion.
;
the
merit and
His
friends
growing anxious for his fafety, he went, at their felicitations, to France, where he was honourably received, and promifed protection by the then reigning King. Averfe from a life of inactivity, he led fome of his protector s forces into the field, and himfelf in fignalized
The fame of his
feveral actions.
ed her paffion
for
him.
valour reached Moriat, and
Love, which has been often
Spirero nobil fenfi a rozzi petti
Raddolciro delle
made a
poetefs of the princefs.
extolled
the valorous exploits
murder of
his father
lor
lingue
il
awaken
known
;
fuono
She compofed an ode, in which (he of
Maon, urged him to revenge the and grandfather, and exhorted him to make aa
effort to recover
the throne of his anceftors. With this ode, and pro per directions, Craftine, a celebrated Harper, was difpatched to the French court. Seizing a favourable opportunity, he began to fing it in the prefence of the Prince, whofe attention was foon the fweetnefs of the numbers, and the melodious the mufician
enquired the fied.
It
caught by accompaniment of
but when he heard the fubject mentioned, he eagerly name of the author, and had his curiofity as foon grati :
was now
his
turn to obey the
refiftlefs
power of
love.
Im
mediately and fuccefsfully foliciting the aid of the French King, to fupport his pretenfions to the Irifli he fet fail for
Monarchy, Ireland, and wrefted the fceptre from the hands of Soon as he Cobthaigh. was fecurely feated on the throne, he adorned it with the lovely Moriat (q). (q)
KEATING.
O HALLORAN. WARNER.
Cormac
T HE
I
R
S
I
H BARD
&c.
S,
35
Cormac O Conn, who was proclaimed Monarch Ann. Dom. 254, demands our particular notice not as a brave and victorious Prince but as a friend and patron of the fine
he eftablifhed three academies
Tara
at
arts.
the
:
Soon firft,
after his acceffion,
a military academy,
young nobility in the ufe of arms ; the fecond, an where the Seanachaidhe affembled from time to time, to
for inftrucling the hiftoric one,
examine the public records; the hain (or Brehons) to meet
and
juftice compatible
Though Cormac
an academy, for the Breitheam-
third,
fuperintend, explain and render law
in, to
(r).
lived in all the fplendour of
an Afiatic prince, his
domeftic regulations were deemed fo excellent, that they were uni a Prince formly adopted by feveral of his fucccflbrs. Thefe were, (ift.)
companion. (2dly.) A Brehon, to confult in all A Druid, to direct his confcience. (4thly.) A chief his health, to (jthly.) An Ollamh-re-Seanacha, fuperintend Phyfician to confult in points of hiftory and chronology. (6thly.) An Ard-Filea, to
of the blood
for a
critical cafes,
(sdly.)
own
rehearfe his
re-Ceol, with a
praifes,
times of relaxation
hold
The
(t).
elegantly
and thofe of his
band of mufic
And
(s).
anceftors. (7thly.)
to foften his pillow,
(Sthly.)
and
An Ollamhhim
folace
in
three Stewards of the Houfe-
nature of each department of thefe different officers a very ancient Iriih poem, beginning thus,
is
fet forth in
Teamhair na riogh, rath Cormac, &c. (u) (r)
KEATING, O HALLORAN, WARNER. "
(s)
The
ancient ufe of mufic
was
to
cares of empire, compofe monarchs, when by reafon of the WAHBURTON S Notes on Love s Labour Lafl.
in reftlefs inquietude." they ufed to pafs whole nights no When the Cham of Tartary is feated at dinner, "
be muficians to folace the (t)
O
feftivals.
Vide (u)
l
L. L L
We
STOWE
o
n. :. ii
find S
.
Emperour."
-
fuck an
Sir J.
man
is
MANDE VILLE
fo hardy as to fpeak to him, except S
Pcrhi p- thofe ftewards of the houfliold afted as Senefchalls officer in the houfliold
Survey, p. 315. ed.
This poem may be found
in
it
Travels, ch. 48. at
public
of the Engliili nobility in the reign of Henry 8th.
1599.
KE A T
i
NG
s
HIft. of Ire!,
F
2
Cormac
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
36
Cormac having loft an eye, in an hoftile invafion of the province of for no Connaught, was obliged to refign the reins of government j Monarch who had either a perfonal or a mental defect, was allowed to fill the throne of Ireland (v). From the fummit of human glory, little rural retreat at Anacoil, in the neighbourhood Here he called forth the powers of his mind, and exerAND OBE fupervifing A TREATISE ON THE LAWS
he defcended to a
of Teamora. cifed
them
in
DIENCE DUE TO PRINCES and in writing ADVICE TO A KING, a work in which he treats of the Laws of Poets, Philofophers, Antiqua j
In this peaceful retirement he learned to defpife of Kings, and difcovered, by deep reflection, the abfurdity of Druidifm (x), And here too he died. The character of this Prince
ries
and Druids (w).
the
pomp
has been thus laconically pbaidb, budbjlle
,
budh
e
drawn by an
Irifh writer
:
Budh
righ>
budgh
cean a caoimb-Jim.
In the reign of this Monarch, fuch of the Filidhe as had pafled the feven gradations of their order, and received by diploma the degree of Ollamh Filea, were raifed to a diftinguifhed place in the legiflative
Fes of Teamor, which was re-eftablifhed by Cormac. For this ho nourable fituation they were well qualified j for every Ollamh Filea was obliged to learn by rote the Breith-nimhe, in order to be able to
(v)
This was the cafe
the father of Llywelyn,
right, on account of that
(w)
in
"
Wales.
was the
eldeft
blemim."
Jonveth, furnamed
Drwydwn,
affift
or with the broken nofe,
fon;of Owain Groynedd, but was not fuffered to enjoy his
EVANS
S^/W.
of H eljh
Poet.
p.
31. note.
O HALLORAN.
The opinions which Cormac had formed in his retirement of Druidifm (x) being divulged, leffened confiderably the influence which the Druids, thofe Jefuits of antiquity, had over the minds of the people.
the
THE IRISH BARDS, the
memory
whom
of the Brehon, on
&c.
37
he ufually attended
fo that they muft have been poffeffed of
much
legal
in
knowledge
court
;
(y).
Let us now turn to Fin, the brighteft ornament of Cormac s court, and the pride of Irifh heroes (z). This great commander was fon of Cumhal, who was lineally defcended from Niah Neacht, King of His exploits, and the victories obtained by the Fiann (or Leinfter (a).
which he commanded, are recorded by fo many of our hiftoit is not neceffary we rians, and fo often fung by our Bards, that Howe fhould, nor indeed is it our bufinefs, to enlarge on them here. Militia)
ver, there
is
one circumftance in
his life
which we
will take leave to
head of the Fian, and attended by our hero, failed into that part of North Britain which lies oppofite to Ireland, where he planted a colony of Scots, (the name which the Jriih then mention.
at the
Cormac,
his coufin-german (b). bore) as an eftablifhment for Carbry Riada, This infant colony, which the Irifh Monarch foftered with the folicitude
of a parent, was often protected from the oppreiTive power of the Romans by detachments from the Fian, under the command of Fin,
Hence
occafionally Rationed in the circumjacent country.
Called, de rebut Hib.
(y)
Bard had feparated talk of
(7)
has
in the
No.
After the complex cliaraaer of Legiilator and
IO. pref. to p. 13.
Grecian
ftates,
the claim of
was employed Poet, and Mufit.
the Bard
to
afiift
the magiftrate in the high
B R o w N S Di/. on p. 99. governing the people. before the reign of Cormac, Mr. Macpherfon Though Cucullin flounlhed about 200 years
made him cotemporary with
(a)
Vide
Letters on
the
Fin;
P.erns of
whom he calls Oifm, .by
Fmgal.
Mr.
O HALLORAN,
in
the Dub.
M*g.
for Jan.
1763. (b)
In procefs of time this colony gave
this day over the reign at
Britifli
Monarch*
empire.
alludes to this circumftance in his Love a la
Why, peopled
little
all
Terence Flaherty
Scotland wiJi his
O Brallaghan
own
to the
O CoNOR.
kingdom of Scotland, Mr. MACK.LIN, with
Moa e, where he makes
Sir Call.
and his
their pofterity
ufual
humous
O Brallaghan
fay,
was the man who went over from Carrickfergus,. and
hand?."
the
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
38
whom
the Scots to Fin,
of
one of their writers has dignified with the
title
and hence the many traditional tales King of woody Morven concerning him and his militia, which are ftill current on the weftern "
:"
coaft of Scotland (c). i
The ceremony, which (if Mr. Macpherfon is to be credited) was ufed by Fin when he prepared for an expedition, ftrongly marks the times. A Filea, at midnight, went to the (where the tribes feafted on folemn occafions,) raifed the
manners of thefe gloomy halloffhells,"
"
war-fong, and thrice called the
come
on
"
their
clouds"
fpirits
of their deceafed anceftors to
to behold the adions of their children.
He
then hung a fhield on a tree, ftriking it, at times, with the blunt end of a fpear, and Thus he did for three finging the war-fong between. In the
fucceflive nights.
fummon
mean
time, meffengers
were difpatched to
together the feveral tribes, (d)
Fin fell, A. D. 294, in an engagement at Rathbrea, on the banks of the River Boyne, near Duleek In confequence of this event, (e).
the (c)
therefore,
If,
we may
reafon from a part to the whole,
juft to conclude, that all the fongs prefcrved in the Highlands relative to the Fingalianj, are alfo Iriih. They are wholly confined to .the Weftern coaft of the Highlands.oppofite Ireland, and the very traditions of the country themfelves acknowledge ^he Fingalians to be HILL S Ancient Erfe Poems. originally Irifli." See alfo Mr. PINKERTON S elegant and ingenious Effay on tk Origin of Scotti/k faty. (p. 43. j prefixed to his valuable collection of Ancient Scotti/h Poems.
id)
Note on Temora. B.
poem of
*p.c
o&avo, publiftied (e) it is
in
faid,
he was
This poem Ojjlarf,
in
a few years fwelled from a fmall fragment into a large
Poems, in quarto, (publi/hed in
1762) and
in
two
vols.
1773.
O Co N o R.
Dubdrcm, a
4.
Vide
books.
fix
it is
The manner
flain at
fi/herman.
of Fin
s
death
is
varioufly related.
In the Annals of Innh-falhn,
Rathbrea (to which place he had retired) by the ftroke of the gaff of Athlach On this occafion an ancient wrote the lines poet
Refolv d
in
following
:
to
peace fpend his future days, Jteir d from labour, and in tranquil cafe :
No
THE IRISH BARDS, name ofRathbrea was changed
the that
the burying-place of Fin. Fin lowed by the diffolution of the Fian. is,
Our hero was fometimes
&c.
39
into that of Killeen, or
Cill-Fhin,
death was immediately
s
fol
called Fin
Almhain, from his palace whicl flood at Almhain, (or Allen) in the county of Kildare (f). He was not deficient in any accomplishment of his time but he was pre i
:
eminent in poetry and mufic
;
of which none of the Fiann were
arts
allowed to be ignorant. St.
In a poetical dialogue between Oifin and was probably the production of a Bard of the
Patrick, (which
we
middle ages) father
find Oifin thus extolling the vocal powers of his Fin fat upon a hill, and fung a tune to our heroes, enchant the multitude to fleep how much fweeter
When
"
:
which would
was
it
Graine
:
than thy (h), a
more with more
for
toils
war h
the foreft to befet, s
heroic arms to whet.
But thus intent a quiet
life
Falfe Athleach Duddrein
Thus
fell
lines
s
to lead,
fon did him behead.
the famous, warlike hero Fion,
His mother Murin foregoing
s
darling, fav rite fon.
are preferved in the Annafs of Innis-falien.
of them, was taken from a tranflation of that valuable work
gentleman of (f)
Mr.
this
!
His firft wife daughter of Cormac, intrigued with Dermid (i), one of No No
The
O
Fin was twice married.
hymns."
now
The
verfion
which
I
have
preparing for the prefs by
"a
gtveir
younjf
city.
MACPHERSON
always changes Almhain into Albaln, that
is,
Scotland: for m. and b
are commutable in the Gaelic or Iberno-Celtfc language, a cfrcumftance of which he takes advan tage.
(g)
Mr.
O Coii o R
our weddings.
The
informs
paflage
I
me
(in
Mr. HILL among the Mr. MACPHERSON, who
exerts an arbitrary
Rofcrana, in the tranflation of an elegant
which he (i)
attributes to Colgan, chief
Mr. SMITH has
Mar mhavb Diarmod ar
freely and
Ternt nemhe*
his letters) that
in the text, I
he heard
this
dialogue recited atone o
took from one of thofe poems which were
Scottish Highlands, p. 23.
collected by
(h)
one of
have inferted
little
power over names, has changed Graine into the loves of that amorous lady and Fin,
poem on
Bard to Cormac. a elegantly tranflated
Vide
poem on
the death of
Dermid,
entitled,
Gatlic Antiq.
his
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
40
he repudiated her, confequence of which Aibbhe. By thefe wives he had feveral chil
his fubordinate officers, in
and wedded her
fitter
was dren, the moft celebrated of whom the OISIN, an intrepid hero, and one of his
age.
To
man
this great
moft eminent poets of and Erfe
feveral fugitive. pieces of Irilh
but only a few fragments of his attributed (k) poetry have been have- come works, and thofe much mutilated and ill-authenticated, reached us in a ftate of ori down to us. Indeed had his :
productions
beft Irifh fcholars would have found much difficul ginal perfedion, our For there are many paffages in Irifh poems, of them. in ty tranflating
the
fifth
and
fixth
centuries,
ever will remain, inexplicable
which feem (1).
Yet,
we
at prefent,
and probably
are told, that the
poems
of Oifm are recited and fung, at this day, by ignorant Scottifh hinds, in which they were compofed, though the characters of the language to the modern Scots, as the hierogliphics of ^the are as unintelligible
Egyptians. the time of Oifm s it is impoflible to afcertain or the part of Ireland in which he was born : and it is equally of his refidence, for the life of a mili impoflible to afcertain the place But it is certain, that in the county of Donegal tary man is erratic. there is tc a cloud capt" mountain called Alt OfToin, around which (ac .
At
this diftant period
birth,
cording to a learned writer)
by Mr. Macpherfon
"
(k)
(1)
is
the whole fcenery fo finely defcribed And to the northward of s Poems
Oifm
Since the order of the Bards has Ceafed, fays
re afcribed to
Spec.
in his
Offian."
O CoNOR. ofWdJh
Poetry.
:
Mr. Smith, almoft
all
the ancient Gaelic
poems
Ibid.
See a curious note on
Nate on No.
this fubjeft in
Ogygia vindicate J. p; 20.
See alfo
EVANS
9.
Lough-
THE IRISH
BA RD and
are the mountains, caverns
Lough-Derg
&c.
S,
41
lakes of Fin (m).
Here
the images imprefTed on his youth the peafant as he hies to his field hums to ful mind, being awakened by the fcenes around him "
and, fhould he unexpectedly hear foot, or a ruftling amidft the bufhes,
himfelf the tale of other times
j"
the foft tread of an approaching
he
and tremblingly turns around, expecting to behold the airy In an extract made by Camden, from an
ftarts,
form of fome Finian hero.
ACCOUNT OF THE MANNERS OF THE NATIVE
IRISH, in the i6th fouls of the deceafed are the the think author) (fays they Century, in communion with the famous men of thofe places, of whom "
"
"
many
they retain
ftories
and fonnets
as
j
Ofkcr-Mac-Ofshin, or Ofshin-Mac
through
illufion, that
"
Oifm
Mac-
of the Giants Fin
Huyle,
"
they often fee them
Owin
and they fay
;
(n)."
lived to lament the death of his fon Ofcar, (the child of his
who was
beloved wife Evarallin,)
killed
by the hand of the
A. D. 296. narch, Cairbre Liffecar, in the battle of Guara,
Irifh
Nor
Mo is it
that the venerable Bard continued after this melancholy
improbable, of event, to advance in the vale
upon
his light
lament the
(o)."
lofs
of Carthon (p)
How
life,
until
beautifully has
"
the mift of years clofed
Mr. Macpherfon made him
of his fight, in an apoftrophe to the Sun, in the l<
!
O thou
that rolleft above,
round
as
G (m)
Coilea. Je rebut
Bb. No.
12.
the will take leave to obferve, that
around Alt-Oflbin, (n)
(o)
(p)
had flie
a
GIBSON
S
as the fcenes of
p.
pref.
96.
With
all
due
s
my
learned friend,
poems cannot be immediately
in his Chronology,
in
1695.
makes Oifm
p.
flourifti
1048.
about A. D. 300.
whofe veracity I have the firmeft reliance, informed me, of two volumes of Irifli MS. Poems, which, labourer, who was in poffeilion
A
young
!
I
of his heroes battles lay in Scotland.
Ed. of Camclots Brit, published
Mr. PLAYFAIR,
fathers deference to
whole fcenery of Macpherfon
many
poem
the fhicld of my
lady, on
audience in her father often heard hia. read to a ruftic
s
fields.
that her father in
her infancy,
The bold imagery, and marvellous air
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
42
Thou
Whence are thy beams, O Sun thy everlafting light comeft forth, in thy awful beauty, and the ftars hide themfelves in the But thou the moon, cold, and pale, finks in the weftern wave. fky fathers
?
!
!
;
thyfelf moveft alone
who can
:
oaks of the mountain years in
fall
be a companion of thy courfe
the ocean fhrinks and grows again
:
!
:
the
moon
herfelf
The with
the mountains themfelves decay
:
loft
is
but thou art for ever the fame, rejoicing in the brightnefs ; When the world is dark with tempefts ; when thunder courfe.
Heaven
of thy rolls,
and lightning
and laugheft
flies
;
at the ftorm.
thou lookeft in thy beauty, from the clouds, But to Offian, thou lookeft in vain for he j
whether thy yellow hair flows on the But thou eaftern clouds, or thou trembleft at the gates of the weft. art, perhaps, like me, for a feafon, and thy years will have an end. beholds thy beams no more
Thou
;
fhalt fleep in thy clouds, carelefs of the voice of the
O
Exult then, unlovely
it
;
morning.
Age is dark and when it fhines
Sun, in the ftrength of thy youth is like the glimmering of the moon, !
the blaft of the through broken clouds, and the mift is on the hills north is on the plain, the traveller fhrinks in the midft of his jour ;
ney."
But Oifm was not Fin nourable ftation was
s
by Fergus Fihbheoil (of the fweet
air ofthefe poem?, fo captivated her youthful fancy, that they
prefled on her
memory.
When Mr. Macpherfon s
furprifed to find in them, her favourite Irifh
blu
tales,
Offian
s
lips)
remained for fome years ftrongly im-
Poems were put
into her hands, ihe
decked with meretricious ornaments
heroes Fin, Con, Cuchullin, &c. fo polifhed in their manners. .tering
(.with the original of
This ho
chief Bard, or Ollamh-re-Dan.
filled
In the
poem
;
was
and her
of Carthon,
which fhe had been particularly delighted) fhe thinks Mr. Macpherfon kept ; but ihe can only difcover faint traces of the other tales here and there in
very clofe to his original .
his
Epic Poems.
kingdom.
What
pity
that thofe
Since the literary curiofity of
enquiries for them.
precious volumes are irrecoverably
my
fair
for fuch perfons have been feen in this
loft
!
informant was awakened, fhe has
Perhaps they were picked up by fome
SCOTCH GLE A NE R
at leaft to
made
this
feveral vain
of Irifh Poems,
kingdom.
another
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
43
another fon of the great Finian commander ; a Bard on ceeding poets have beftowed almoft as many epithets, as given to (the
In fevcral poems
his Jupiter.
truly
(till
extant he
is
whom
fuc-
Homer
has
called, fir-gHe
fathach (fuperior in knowledge) ; focal-geur of words) &c. &c. So perfuafive was his elo united with his rank, it acquired him an almoft univerfal
ingenious)
;
(fkilled in the choice
quence, that, afcendency.
But
it
was
in the field of battle that
In a fine ancient heroic
real utility.
eloquence proved of
Fergus
poem
called
CATH-FIN-TR AGHA,
(The Battle of Fintry) Fin is often reprefented as calling on Fergus to animate the drooping valour of his officers, which the Bard never fails to do effectually. In this battle Oifin was beginning to yield in a -fmgle
combat
encouraging Oifin,
and
;
which being obferved by Fergus, he addreffed fome Thefe were heard by him in a loud voice.
ftrains to
his foe fell
Several admirable
beneath his fword
poems attributed
(q).
to Fergus are
ftill
extant.
We
a poem, written on occafion of a foreign Prince of that name, invading Ireland. Dargo encoun CATHtered the Fenii, and was flain by Goll, the fon of Morni. will
enumerate them here.
DARGO,
GABHRA (The Battle of Gabhra). This battle was fought by the Fenii againft Cairbre, the Monarch of Ireland, whofe aim in provoking the formidable power of that Legion. Cairbre s life it, was to fupprefs fell
a
facrifice to
the imagery, juftify
fire
the praifes
Thefe poems abound with all this bold attempt. and glowing defcription of the ancient Gaelic, and beftowed on Fergus. Each poem concludes with
his being the author. Fergus atteftation of
(q)
O 1-lALLORAN.
Hijl.
G
of
2
Ire!,
Befides thefe, there are a
vol.
I.
p.
275.
PANE-
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
44
PANEGYRIC on the latter, hero,
who
In Goll, the fon of Morni, and another on Ufgar. the poet has interwoven an animating harangue to the is the fubjed of it, in the battle of Gabhra. The didion
of thefe panegyrics is pure, nervous and perfuafive. And to each, the name of Fergus, the Poet, fon of Fin, is prefixed as author (r).
The number of Bards that flourifhed at this period muft have been: for each Cath of the Fenii, had not only a band very confiderable of mufic attendant on it, but alfo a certain, number of Filidhe to re;
them
hearfe their deeds, and excite
to feats of glory (s).
Diod. Siculus informs us, in his account of the Gauls, that armies were ready to engage,
if their
when
Bards but came between them,
they immediately put an end to the battle ; as if their warriors were fomany wild beafts, which they had charmed by the power of their fongs. This extraordinary power was poflefTed in an eminent degree by the Irifh Bards.
We will feled one
inftance from
many.
In the celebrated
contention for precedence between Fin and Goll, near Fin s Almhain, the attending Bards obferving the engagement to fharp,
were apprehenfive of the confequence,
poffible,
to caufe a ceffation
of
hoftilities.
To
palace>
and determined,
effed
this,
at
grow very if
they fhook
the Chain of Silence, and flung themfelves amongfl the ranks, extollingthe fweets of peace, and the achievements of the combatants anceftors.
Immediately both parties laying down their arms, liftened with at tention to the harmonious lays of their Bards ; and in the end, re-,
warded them with precious
gifts,
This, circumftance has
been cele-
For thefe obfervations on Fergus Productions I am indebted to Mr. T. (r) FLANWAGAM, (a Student of Trinity College, Dublin), the brilliancy of whofe genius will, I predift, flied a luftre on feme of our Bardic Remains, which he is now about to tranCate.
O
(s)
O HALLORAN. brated
THE IRISH BARDS, brated. in an ancient
in the following
Legend
words
&c.
45
BRUIGAN BEAG NA H ALMUINE,
called,
Is an Jin do eirgbe an Fill fir-glie jatfoeal-geur, agus an deagh-fhear-duafmhar-Dana, ioghion FE ARGUS, Fili Mac Fin, agus aos Ealaidheana na Feine mar aonfris, agus do ghab(t)
:
hach>
hadar Duaine, agus Dreacht, agus deagh-Dbana dona Laochra Jin, cum a ceofg, agus a cceannfaidbe j agus an Jin do fguireadar dan oir leach agus
dan Athchuma
re cheile, agus re cantain na Filidhe do leagadar na b*
ar lar agus do thogbhadar agus reitigh eat or4
HAVING
IV".
Paganifm,
we
fident air,
which
Fjlidhe tad, agus do ghabhadar
no.
thus groped our
way through
the dark ages of
and con
will henceforth proceed with that fteady ftep a benighted traveller affumes,
airm
Greim Sithe
on obferving the
mifts
of the morning tinged with the glowing radiance of the riling fun.
(t)
A
copy of
this
poem
is
Bard
YOUNG, DRAYTON^ in
thus related by
is
reft) in fo
fimilar
:
great reverence had
Bards, which fung your deeds, that
With lifted hands to ftrike One Bard but comming in,
A
F. T. C. D. his Poljolbion
you were moft drad,
as
And, So yee (before the
Your
of the Rev. Dr.
in the pofleflion
inftance of the influence of a British
(in
whe
fterne hofts
have ftood
their inflamed blood)
their
murd
rous fwords had ftaid
j
In his moft dreadful voice as thundring Heaven had faid,
Stay Britans
:
when he fpake,
his
words fo powreful were. Song
We
find
the
O HALLORAN (u)
Biihop
Irifli S
Through
PERCY
Clergy
Hijl. this
of
in the
Irtl.
Legend,
v.
i
2.
ith century pofleffing the p.
to illuftrate
6.
influence on contending armies.
297.
(like Hi/I.,
ile
in his deleftable Reliques,
poems are interfperfed,
fame
and
las civiles
v.
i.
p.
guerras Je Granada, fo honourably notked by
337) a great number of heroic fongs and Ihort
diverfify the narrative.
hiftovic narratives in the Irifli language, conftrufted in the
There are
ftill
extant, feveral
fame manner.
like
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
4-6
When the light of the gofpel firft dawned on this ifland, the dark and their whole order melted, myfteries of the Druids were revealed, But the order of the Bards continued for like a vifion, into air (w). with
fucceeding ages, invariably the fame (x)
many
this difference,
however, that inftead of raifmg pssans to falfe Gods, they oftentimes attuned their Harps to the praifes of the Moft High. Dubthach Mac Ire Lughair, an eminent Bard, and Ard-Filea to Leogaire(y), Monarch of land, who was converted to Chriftianity from the errors of Heathenifm, "
"
"
"
turned (fays Jocelyn) (z) his poetry, which in his youth he had employed in the praifes of falfe Gods, to a better ufe, and now changing his the honour opinion and language, compofed more elegant poems, to of the Omnipotent God, and the praifes of his Saints." Feich, or
who had flourifhed at the fame period, (and had been Dubthach) was appointed Bifhop over the church of Sletty, Patrick, in whofe praife he wrote an hymn in Irifh, which has
Fiach, a Bard, difciple of
a
by
St.
In been publifhed with a literal tranflation into latin, by Colgan. an ancient MS. called the ROMANCE OF CE ARE HALL (a), we find "
(w) "
"
The
laft
they continued
place
in
we read
of them (the Druids) in the
full pofieflion
of
ail their
Patrick undertook the converfion of that
ancient
Britifti
till
power
BUCHANAN,
"
fpeaking of the Bards, fays,
there isalmoft nothing changed of them
in Ireland,
many of
in the
It
HARRIS
(a)
S
prefence of Leogaire that
Ed. of
WARES
In thepofleflion of Col.
Grecian
Agamemnon
St.
v. 2.
VALLANCEY.
as well as the Irirh. heroes,
legates fent by
Works,
S
Ant. of Cornwall, p.
where
when
St.
but only ceremonies and
rites
155.
remain
;
yea,
of religion. of
Scot/.
B.
2.
Patrick difputed with ihe Druids. p. 126.
Vide
Collefl.
de
re
ms. Hib. No.
13.
p.
fometimes folaced their private hours with the Harp.
to Achilles found
Amus d
Ireland,
their ancient cuftoms yet
Hijl.
was
(y) (z)
is
after Chrift,
432
ifland."
BOULASE (x)
dominions,
the year
him playing on that inftrument
at cafe, the godlike
Pleas d with the folemn
Harp
man s
37.
The
The de
:
they found,
harmonious found.
With
Th
this he foothes his angry foul, and fings immortal deeds of heroes and of kings.
POPE. this
THE IRISH
B A R
D
&c.
S,
47
agus ro boi Cearbhall an tan fin ag orphideadh Aofar cumthaidir anda codhlai \ that is, and at that time Cearbhall was playing
this -
"
"
paffage,
on
his
Nor
a"
Harp, to the Almighty Aofar (God)
is
to be
it
wondered
at,
after his firft
fleep."
that the order of the Bards fhould ef-
efcape the fate of that of the Druids, on this great revolution in re For, it was through the means of the Bards only that the ligion.
Prince or Chieftan could hope for immortality to his fame Without them too, the feaft, however luxuriously fpread, would prove inSo ftrong was the attachment of the Celtic nations to fipid (b). :
"
"
:c
"
"
"
tc
"
"
"
"
their poetry
their Bards (fays the elegant Blair) (c), that amidft
the Bards continued to flourifh; not as a fet of ftrolling fongfters, Greek Aoj/ or Rhapfodifts, in Homer s time, but as an
like the
order of
men
highly refpecled in the
eftablifhment.
lie
We
ftate,
and fupported by a pub-
find them, according to the teftimonies of
Strabo and Diodorus, before the age of Auguftus Caefar
j
and we
them remaining under the fame name, and exercifmg the fame functions as of old, in Ireland, and in the north of Scotland, almoft find
down
It
(b) a.
and
the changes of their governments and manners, even long after the order of the Druids was extinct, and the national religion altered,
all
Bard
to our
own
time.s."
was thus with the Greeks.
Amongft
that people there
was no convivial aflembly without
:
I
fee the finoke of facrifice afpire,
And
hear,
what graces
f
ecl
e
ft,
&?
lyre.
Odyf. b. Jn ancient times, RJitjues. (c)
v.
2.
Dijf. on
p. i/ie
no grand fcene of
feftivity
in
17.
England was complete without a Minftrel.
PE RCY
S
170.
Poems of OJJlan.
After
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
48
aded in After the introduction of Chriftianity, fomc of our Bards So late as the I3th the double capacity of Bards and Clergymen (d). O Daly, Abbot of Boyle, excelling all the century we find Donchad other Bards of his time in the hymnal fpecies of poetry (e). Soon
after St. Patrick (e)
had eftablifhed Chriftianity and
his
own
celebrated Bards, kingdom, Dubthach and Rofa, two him the examination and correction of the Irilh Chro
in this
Supremacy recommended nicles fingly,
to
and Genealogies (f). But he modeftly declined undertaking, this arduous and honourable office, alledging in excufe, his
of the ignorance of the antiquities of the ifland, and the pedigrees different families however, he deemed a revifion of the national re :
At his defire, there cords abfolutely neceffary, and offered his aid. confore, Leogaire convened a committee for this purpofe at Teamor, the Senachaidhe fifting of three Kings, three Prelates, and three ConKings were, the Monarch himfelf, Daire King of Ulfter and naught, and the King of Munfter the Prelates, St. Patrick, the pious Binen, and the judicious Cairnach and the Seanachaidhe, Dubthach, :
;
;
Feargus, and Rofa. national
records,
This refpectable committee expunged from the whatever feemed improbable and doubtful, and
purged them of their corrupt connections with Paganifm. The records, thus purified and authenticated, were tranfcribed into theSEANACHAS
(d)
Hence (according
from the Latin
Clericus.
to
MACPHERS ON)
Note on Temora.
b.
they had the
The
6.
of the inferior honors of the clerical character. Alinift. p.
(e) (p.
of b.
Mr.
Irel. v.
4.
Chlfre,
which
PERCY
S
ARCHDALL
S
Vide Notes on
is
probably derived
were admitted to fome Eff.
on the anc.
Eng.
40.
O Co NCR
S
Diff. on Hijl. of Irel
p.
73. and fee
602.) a late valuable acceffion to the ftock of
(f)
name
Englifli Minftrels too
2.
The
O HALLORAN Lord
LYTTLETON
Irifh character
Irifli
alfo
feems to be of the fame opinion.
now, for a time,
fell
Mmajlicon Hilernicum
literature.
thinks that St. Patrick introduced amongft us the
Roman
Hift. of the Life
alphabet. Hijl.
of Hun.
^.
v.
3.
into difufe.
MORE,
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
49
MORE, (or great Book of Antiquity). Of this venerable volume many copies were taken, and by the unanimous confent of the committee, intruded to the care of the Bifhops, to be by them depofited in their feveral churches
thefe
and monafteries,
for the benefit
of pofterity.
Moft of
were deftroyed, during the ravages of the Danes and but ftill, feveral ineftimable fragments of them are to be found
copies
Englifh
j
in public libraries,
and
in the
hands of the curious.
Amongft
thefe frag
PSALTAIR CHAISIL, LEABHAR GHLIN-DA-LOCH, LEABHAR-!RSE CnLUANA-Mrc-Nois, LEABHAR FIONTAIN CHLUANA H AIGHNIGH, LEABHAR DUBH MHOLAIGE, -LEABHAR GABALA, and LEABHAR NA HUAIDHOHANments
LEABHAR-ARDAMACHA,
are,
GABTHALA
(g).
But the wifdom of our Apoftle records of the kingdom.
Neithme.
It
was probably
He
was- not merely exercifed
alfo revifcd
at this period
on the
and correded the Breitb-
they were turned into profe.
Several of thefe laws, with tranflations and
illuftrations,
have been
given to the public, by a gentleman, to whom the literary world in general, but the Iriih antiquaries in particular, have many and great In a fumptuary code of thofe laws (which had been con obligations. lately
firmed by Mogha Nuadh^d, who was killed at the battle of Moylean A. D. 192) I find the following curious articles refpe&ing the Bards (h). "
The
lawful value of a filver bodkin to a King, or ProfefTor, is heifers, if the fame be made of refined
(a Bard, or
Qllamh)
thirty
filver."
(g)
St;
to the flames feveral Patrick, in the excef* of his zeal, committed
the Druids in particular, and the kingdom ing to the offers of
h
general.
hundred volumes,
This
relat
literary conflagration
occasioned a wide chafm in our annals. (h)
CtlUa. de rebus Rib. vol.
i.
H
"
The
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
50 "
The
febes,
lawful
and they
price
of deaths
for holydays,
fame
are to pay for the
is
alike to all Airech
in three gales
:
but
if
(kir-
any
mifh or difpute /hall happen on this payment, on the Convention days of the States, or holydays of the Ollamhs, the perfon found guilty of fuch a fray
fliall
forfeit his
Eric."
The lawful value of cloathing to a Poetefs, or to the Wife of a If he be of long (landing in the tribe, Bard, according to the old law. Three milch cows is the value of it is proper he fhould be made free. "
a free Poet
s
cloathing and of his
Wife
s
:
it is
the fame from the Chief
Bard of a Flaith (petty Prince) to the Ollamh, or Poet Laureat the value of their wives cloathing is the fame. "
The
;
and
lawful price of the cloathing of an Ollainh, or Poet Laureat, is five milch cows."
and of the Anra^ or fecond Poet,
Dr. Keating, after dwelling fome time on the happy efYeds of St. Patrick s Million, and the miracles performed by him, takes a retrof-
pedive view of the Pagan
ages,
and collecting the moft celebrated
Bards of thofe times into a body, thus enumerates them chronologi cally, but without marking the asra in which each Bard flourifhed :
Amergin Glungeal Sean Macaighe Brigh Banughdar, (from whom the word Brighe in the Irifh language is become proverbial) Conla Caoin j
;
;
Bhreathach, the famous Antiquary of the province of Connaught; Seanchan Mac Cuil Chlaoins and the learned Faethna his fon Seanchan, the ;
fon of Oiliolla
j
j
Moran, the fon of Maoin; Feargus Fianaidhe
Luachra Feircheairtine, a celebrated Poet Aitherne, the fon of Aithirne
;
Amhnas
;
in
Neidrie, the fon of
Kerry
Aidhna
j
;
Feargus, a Poet of note, the fon of Neara, the fon of Fionnchuil from Sioduibh j Seadamus, the ;
fon of Moruinn, Fearadhach Fionnfathach, the principal author of the
WISDOM
THE IRISH BARD WISDOM OF THE KING OF IRELAND Rofa, the fon of Tirchin
The
j
;
&c,
S,
51
Fithall Feargus, a good Poet;
and Dubthach o Lugair.
fourth century was adorned with Torna Egeas, Olamh-Filea Several of this Bard s productions are extant, viz.
to Nial the Great.
a
Poem
beginning thus,
Dail Catha,
idtr Cere,
an Niall ; &c.
another poem afTerting the pre-eminence of the Northern Line and a few fweet lines on Relic-na-Riogh, near Cruachain, a royal ceme ;
tery CO-
A negative proof of the great reverence in which the order of the Bards was held, and of the facrednefs of their perfons, even in the midft of (laughter, occurs in this century. Eochaidth, the then Monarch, was defeated by Eana, King of Leinfter,
at the battle of
Cruachan.
engagement, Eana killed Cetmathch, Laureat Bard to the Mo narch, although he fled for refuge under the fhields of the Leinfter For this bafe deed, fo fingular and fo abhorred, as to be deemed troops. In
this
almoft
"
a deed without a
name,"
the ruthlefs
King was ftigmatized
with the epithet Cinfealach^ (the foul or reproachful head) which name defcended to his pofterity (k).
This refpefl
for the perfon
Homer, whofe works written,
exemplifies
of the Bard
we difcover
it
in
which they were the following addrefs of Phemius to the
vengeful UlyrTes, in order to deprecate his wrath
(i)
KEATING.
in Grecian ftory.
are the mirror of the age in
O Co-NOR. O HAL LO RAN. KE ATIN c
has
:
preferved his
poem on RJic-
na-Riogh. (k)
O HALLORAN.
H
2
O
King,
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
52
O
inclin d, King, to mercy be thy foul the Poet s ever gentle kind
And
A
:
fpare
deed like
For dear
to
Self-taught
this,
thy future fame would wrong,
Gods and men, is facred fong. I fmg, by Heav n and Heav n alone feeds of poefy are fown
The genuine
;
And, what the Gods beftow, the lofty lay To Gods alone, and God-like worth, we pay. Save then the Poet, and thyfelf reward, Tis thine to merit, mine
The
Irifh
Bards were deemed of fo
is
to record (1).
much confequence in the State, Of this, an inftance
that they were fometimes accepted of as hoftages.
: Aodh-Dubh, King of Munprefents itfelf to us in the next century would not confent to the invefliture of Aodh-Caomh, till he
fter,
to fecure to himfelf his own hoftages to him, in order his after his fon of or that s, (Caomh s) deceafe. This fucceflion,
delivered
up
was agreed to; and Breanuin, Abbot of Clonfert, and Mac Lenin, Caomh s favourite Filea, the father of St. Colman, were delivered up as fureties to
Aodh Dubh,
for the
performance of the covenant.
Invefted with honors, wealth and power j endowed with extraordi nary privileges, which no other fubjects prefumed to claim ; pofTeffed of an art, which, by foothing the mind, acquires an afcendency over it j refpeded by the Great for their learning, and reverenced, almoft .
(!)
ODYSS. book
SMITH "
"
"
with
Fall ofTura,
S
his
22.
We find a
beautiful inftance of refpeft for the perfon of a
which may have a foundation
Harp, goes, trembling, to the door.
His fteps are
bears, mournful, to the tomb, the fon of his fon.
blood
"
tells,
;
acrofs
// is the
it
the aged
falls.
The
in truth,
The
or at
;
like the
threshold
is
fpear of Duarma, over him
Bard
leaft in tradition.
warrior of many years
flippery with Crigal is
lifted
;
s
in
Mr.
The Bard when he
wandering
but the dying Crigall
Bard."
to
THE IRISH BARDS,
&C.
53
by the Vulgar, for their knowledge of the fecret compofiand hidden harmony of the univerfe, the Bards became, in
to adoration, tion,
the reign of Hugh, intolerably infolent and corrupted, and their order a national grievance (m). They arrogantly demanded the golden buckle and pin, which fattened the royal robes upon the Monarch s
and had
breaft,
Crown
been
for
many
the
generations
of the
aflbciate
they lampooned the Nobility, and were guilty of feveral immoralities ; and not only grew burthenfome to the State, which (n)
*
munificently fupported the different foundations to which they be longed, but increafed fo prodigioufly, (the order at that time confifting of one-third of the men of Ireland !) thaf the mechanic arts languished from want of artificers, and agriculture from want of hufbandmen.
Hence
the
Monarch convened an AfTembly of the
States at Drom-Chille,
in the county of Donegal, (A. D. 580) principally to expel the Bards from the kingdom, and to abolifh totally the whole order. But at the interceflion of St.
Columba, who was fummoned from Scotland
to at
Affembly, he fpared the Order ; but reduced its numbers, al lowing only to each Provincial Prince, and to each Lord of a Cantred, one regiftered Ollaimh, who was fworn to employ his talents to no
tend
this
other purpofe but the glory of the Deity, its heroes of its females and of his
the honor of his country
own
patron
On
(o).
of
thefe
Ollaimh, Mr. SMITH fuppofes that the Bards did not become order of Druids. It was not till after the Druids became (m)
licentious extinfi:,
check under which they were held by that fuperior order, forfeited praife or cenfure where
it
was not due,
as either iatereft
till
after the extinction of the
that the Bards, furviving every this
high efteem, by conferring
fwayed, or paflion influenced them, Hijt. of the Druids,
(n)
The Welch
requefts, that in
Bards alfo grew fo infolent
in
the time of Griffudd ap Cynan,
their it
manner, and fo unreafonable
became
neceflary to controul
which retrained them from alking for the Prince s horfe, hawk, or greyhound. curious work. Muf. and Poet, Relicks of the Wel/h Bards t a
p. 7.
in
their
them by a law
Vide JONES
S
very
(o)
Curtin,
The names
Mac
of the principal families which fupplied thofe hereditary Bar.ls were, O Donoghue, Fitz-Gerald and Q Dfdy.-*- The latter were the
Carthy,
viz.
Mac
hereditary Bards
of
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
54
Ollaimh, he ordained, that their patrons fhould fettle an hereditary revenue (p). He alfo, by the advice of the Saint, creeled new Filean in
Seminaries,
the nature of Univerfities, liberally
Of
but limiting the number of ftudents in each.
Monarch
reigning
s
endowing them,
thefe Seminaries, the
chief Bard, was always, in future, to be Principal,
or Prefident (q), and to be authorized to appoint Infpedors, to examine into their ftate at certain periods, and to make what reforms in them
he judged neceffary
he
:
alfo
had the right of nominating the Ollaimh
entertained by the Princes and Lords. Thefe ordinances were religioufly obferved till the dllTolution of the Monarchy (r).
Soon
of
as thofe wife regulations
O Leighlin,
and power
head of
this
family a
"
poet and faid, a
"
of fubfiftence
About
Dan
Early
will give
the clofe of the laft century, a
:
relinquish
it,
therefore, for a
in the Chriftian
alluded to by the
sera, Oliol in the
"
gently warbling
After lamenting
it
more
profitable one.
Ollunij
ourfelves,
DE LA
King of Munfter,
COUR"
in his
(meaning
his
own
emolument."
fettled,
on Carbre Mufe,
county of Cork, fo called from him.
the great
and
Epiltle to
his
This circumftance
all
Lord Shannon on
Poefy t er
poetic
pow
rs.
proceeds,
Where no encouragement Such
When
WARNER,
Mufe,
pens unflatt ring royaliz d regard, a Province for their reward.
And met
Colleges of Poets were early eftabli/hed in rder of men. SE LDE N J Hwors.
KEATING
attends the
of old imperial Patrons ufe,
as
(q)
ir)
We,
was attended with any
being obliged to remain in Ireland,
his
Far from
He
Bards, and wcfe
wandering mufician prefented
I admire your compofition, and thank you for the honor you do me. As you fome advice. The profeflion of a Bard is now but a very precarious means
Ollamh-Filea, the barony of Carbre,
the fine arti.
Dalian Forgail,
newly acquired
or panegyric, which the old gentleman having read, turned to the
family) purfued the profeflion only while (p)
his
Friend,
"
I
to exercife
inftead of being retainers themfelves, they entertained domeftic
by itinerant Minftrels.
ro the
reward
pafl ed into laws,
ofBurrin: but by means of a train of fortunate circumftances, they rate to affluence
and
;
vifited
J5
had
Monarch s Ollamh-Filea, began
the
MAC CURTIN.
juft
Germany
;
and the Arch-Pc^t prefided over
this
O HALLORAN. power.
THE IRISH BARDS, power.
He recommended Hugh
&c.
55
Brearg, and ap
Eigeas to Crioch
pointed Meath Urmaol the Ard-Ollamh in the two provinces of Leinand Munfter Seanchan he allotted to the province of Connaught,
fter
;
and Firb
the province of Ulfter
to
and nominated an Ollamh
;
every Prince and Chief in the kingdom
to
(s).
St. Columba having thus faved the Bards from the royal vengeance, and procured falutary and honourable regulations, and noble eftablifliments for their order, might have addrefled them in the following
well-known
lines
You
of Lucan
too, ye Bards,
whom
facred raptures fire
To
chaunt your heroes to your country s Who confecrate in your immortal ftrain,
Brave
patriot fouls in righteous battle (lain,
Securely
And It
has been
lyre,
now
the tuneful talk renew,
nobler themes in deathlefs fongs purfue aiTerted
by fome
(t).
writers, that the Bards
were adual-
ly banifhed at this period, by a refolution of the Ailembly of
where they difTeminated
Chill, to Scotland,
which have been
fince adopted
by the
Drom-
of their poems, But this was not the
feveral
Scots.
Hugh, indeed, threatened to expel the whole order from the kingdom but he only exiled fome to Dalraida, in Ulfter. Now part of
cafe.
;
the weftern coaft of Scotland
bably, the miftake. "
"
in a Letter to the author)
(-}
KEATING.
(t)
Pftarfalia.
B.
is
denominated Dalraida.
That many
Irifh
poems
have been preferved
(fays
Hence, pro
Mr.
O Halloran
in Scotland,
cannot be
I.
doubted
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
56 "
"
"
"
"
doubted
j
banifhed
but by no means from a fuppofition that our Bards were The Highlanders were defcended from the great
there.
houfes of Ireland
they tranfmittcd the
thither
;
manners and language of the mother country
The
preferve at this day.
;
laws,
cuftoms,
moft of which they
exploits of Cucullin, Connal, Cearnach,
Morni, Fin, Oifin, and Ofgar, were as dear to them, as to the mother country, fince they were the exploits of their own anceftors, "
as well as thofe
We
are
of lerne, that they
warranted by reafon to
recorded."
afTert, that
the national mufic of
Ireland began to fmell of the Church in the early ages of Chriftianity. In the fixth century the famous monaftery of Benchoir or Bangor (u),
was founded, in which a perpetual full choir was kept up for many It was probably about this period that choirs, and with them, the plain chant of the Greek church, were introduced into all the ages.
abbies, monafteries as in thofe
their
muft
ear
and churches of note
(u)
is
And
The national mufic of a country (fays a good or bad, in proportion to that of its church
Beanchoir, fo called, fays
This gentleman
/weet mufic.
kingdom (w).
Irifh
was conftantly imbibing. great mafter) (x)
in the
were remarkably obfervant of religious duties, have been formed by the church mufic which it
days the
"
O HALLORAN,
Mr.
that
aflerts,
when
from the melody of
its
mufic: Bein-Chor,
Abbey of Niville, in France, was founded, Church difcipline, and for Muftcians
the
the wife of Pepin fent to Ireland for Doctors to inftruft in
and Charters for the Church mufic. contained at
whom 500
were- flitted in pfulmady,
(w)
The
reader will
and ingenious (x)
Dr.
friend,
to
of Ire 1.
v.
2.
92.
p.
i-oth
The Abbey
century)
ferve continually in the choir.
find the fubjeft
Dr.
BURNEY.
////?.
one periou (fometime in the
Limerick,
LEDWICH,
1500
of Mungret,
ARCHDALL S Mm.
of our Church mufic moil ably treated of by in
No
II.
near
religious perfons, of
my
Hib. very learned
of the Appendix..
State of Mufic in Germany, vol.
I.
p.
227. fervice."
THE IRISH BARDS, Hence we may conclude,
fervice."
began to
lofe its
To
for
church mufic has
it
warms, and opens
the vault of Heaven.
to the religious enthufiaft,
There
;
Devotion, indeed,
:
57
that at this time the Irifh mufic
influence over the paffions
nothing to do with them (y)
&c.
the pealing organ blow,
let
the full-voic d Quire below,
In fervice high, and anthems clear,
As may with fweetnefs, through mine
me
Diflblve
And The
and
fciences
fection in Ireland,
bring
Heav n
all
polite arts
till
ear
into extacies,
before mine eyes (z).
continued to
move
progreflively
the invafion of the Danes, at
to per
which time,
ac
feat of learning in cording to Dr. Prideaux (a), it was the prime While the kingdom Chriftendom. This event checked their progrefs.
was torn with "
the light of
languished. cultivation
intefline broils,
fong"
was
and our
eclipfed,
feas
were dyed with blood,
and learning, and
the liberal arts,
all
the Amongft a people felicitous about their perfonal fafety, of the mind is negleded. But during the ufurpation of
A
were compelled into ignorance. profefTed them to have their children learning himfelf, he forbade enemy book that could be found, to be either taught to read j ordered every torn or burned allowed none but Danes, admiffion into the chapels, Turgeius,
the
Irifti
to
;
churches, and monafteries to
the
devouring flames,
(v)
Vide, an elegant
(z)
M
i
LTo N
s
j
and either razed to the ground, or devoted our Theological and Filean colleges.
all
biff, on Scotti/h Mufic,
Remains of Janes prefixed to the P*tfical
Cow/ex. In an original Letter from Dr.
PRIDEAUX (a) mn, CHARLEsO CoNOR, (now "
-
hU
I.
p.
230.
Penferofo.
late hiftory too
;
the ages
SAM.
JOHNSON
to our venerable hifto-
I find the following paflage lying before me) which deferve an exaft enquiry, are thofe times :
"Dr.
(for
fchool of the Well, the quiet habitation of fanftity and were) when Ireland was the
I
Leland be 3
:
n^
fuch times there literature."
Againft
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
S9
his Goth-like fury Againft the profcflbrs of learning and of mufic too,
was
Driven from
directed.
their feminaries,
and the
caftles
of their
fome in wilds and amongft lay concealed in woods, mountains, while others were led into captivity ; and the harps of the
patrons,
fome
Ifraelites on a fimilar occafion (b), perfecuted Bards, like thofe of the were unftrung, or ftruck to a lamentable ftrain in a filent valley, or
beneath the fhelter of a rocky cavern ..
(c).
begun to breathe, after the perfecution of the and the heroic Cormac was This Prince united the pontifical and proclaimed King of Munfter. he was at the fame time, Archbifhop of Cafhel and regal dignities
The
Danes,
Irifh
had
when
juft
the pious, the learned,
:
King of Munfter
He was
(d).
like wife a Poet,
knew
he Himfelf to
To
fing,
and buil d the
lofty rhime.
and genius, we owe the completion of the Pfalter of Cafhel, of which he thus difpofes in his poetical Will his induftry
:
My
Pfalter which preferves the ancient Records
And Monuments
of this my native Country ,
Which are transcribed with great fidelity ^
I leave
to
Ronal
Cajhell, to be
To after times and ages yet (b) "
By "
"
Pfalm 137.
The
exquifite
the waters of Babylon
we
to
preferred come (e).
charms of the pafiage alluded to, tempt me to tranfcribe it here. down and wepr, when we remembered thee, Sion. As for our
O
fat
Harps we hanged them up, upon the trees that are therein. For they that had led us away captivej, How required of us then a fong, and melody in our Heavinefs Sing us one of the fongs of Sion. ihall we fing the Lord s fong, in a ftrange land ? If I let hand forget thee, O :
"
my
Jerufalem,
*
iorget her "
k
right
cunning."
Caverns of rocks, as well natural as
tefuge in the time of perfecution
j
bat
mod
artificial,
have been from time immemorial, places of
particularly in the
Eaft."
LOVTH
O HALLORAN.
(4)
WARNER.
(e)
This Will may be found
at full length in
KE A T no i
s
S
Nttei
m
Ifaiah.
p.
27.
Hiji. of Irtl.
Cormac
THE IRISH BARDS, Cormac had
two centuries
flept almoft
in
"
&c.
the narrow
$9 houfe,"
when
Malachy the Second, became Monarch of Ireland. It is conjectured by Mr. O Conor, that fome time before the diffolution of the mo narchy, which followed the death of this Prince, a feparation took The learned writer place between the arts of poetry and mufic. this conjecture on the difufe of the ancient lyric meafure, and the multiplication of rythmical numbers in the remains of that age. They form a mufic of themfelves, (he obferves) independent of the
grounds "
inftrumental accompaniment ; fuch as a definitive number of harmonized by a variety of concords, correfpondencies,
air or
fyllables,
unions and other attributes, which, being peculiar to Irifh verfe, can not be expreffed in any modern language. It feems to me, (he con
be confined in his art, had he been tinues) that the mufician muft conftrained to adapt his competitions to fome of the invariable mea-
This variation in the genius of the For we have mufic, indicates a change in the manners of the people. feen (to borrow the words of Dr. Brown) that mufic was the efta-
fures of the latter Bards
blifhed vehicle of
change
in
all
(f)."
the great principles of education
mufic muft bring a change in thefe
:
therefore a
(g).
But the fun of fcience, which had been fb long fet, arofe with added fplendor on the accelfion of Brien Boiromh to the throne of This great Prince repaired the ravages of the Danes, and Ireland. kingdom. He re-edified the Theological opened new Academies ; erected public Libraries for the ufe of indigent Students ; animated timid merit by well -rounded hopes and patronized with fteady zeal all ProfefTors of the reftored tranquility to the
and Filean Colleges
;
;
liberal Arts (h).
(f)
Di/. on
Hijl.
(g)
Di/. on
Poetrji
(h)
KEATING.
of Ire/,
and
p.
73.
Mufic. p. 45, quarto ed.
MAC
Cm TIN. O HALLORAN. I
*
WAKNt*.
To
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
6o
To
much
mufic he was
but he honoured this divine
addicted
art.
This
Bu-t he not
(i).
in
is
only loved,
fome degree evident, from
the exquifite workmanfhip of his Harp, (delineated below), which, having pafTed through a variety of hands (j), came into the polfef-
after
fion
of that munificent and truly patriotic Irishman, the Right Hon.
WILLIAM CONYNGHAM, who, in the year 1782, it in the Mufeum of Trinity College, Dublin.
This instrument in the
i
3 th
This Harp
"
is
Number
generoufly depofited
thus accurately defcribed by Colonel Vallancey,
of
COLLECTANEA DE REBUS HIBERNICIS
:
is
thirty-two inches high, and of extraordinary good the arms of founding board is of oak red-fally the extremity of the uppermoft arm in front, is with filver,
workmanfhip
:
the
:
:
capped
extremely (i) it is
VALLANCEY.
Brien
is
generally depifted in the attitude of leaning on an Harp, in allufion, faid, to his fondnefs for mufic.
(j)
The
antiquity of this
the age of Brien.
It
Harp
was prefented
is
certainly very high
to Col.
j
but
I
cannot think that
Conyngham by my worthy
friend
It is
fo high as
Ralph Ouflej, Efq; of
THE
I
R
H BARD
S
I
&c.
S,
61
extremely well wrought and chiffelled it contains a large chryftal, and under it was another ftone, now loft the buttons, or ornamental knobs at the fides of this arm, are of filver. On the
"
:
"
fet in filver,
"
:
front arm, are the arms of the
"
O Brien
within two
two
family, chafed in filver, viz.
On
the bloody hand fupported by lions.
the fides of the front arm,
the wolf-dogs, cut in the wood .holes of the founding board, where the ftrings entered, are neatly
1
brafs,
carved and
confequently there were
as
many ftring holes, The foot-piece, or reft
**
1
the large
:
gilt
p.
3-2. "
The
broken
Brien Boiromh being
tarf,
near Dublin, on
"
wife, viz.
ftrings.
this
inftrument, which appear in the Colleflanea,
O Gorman.
jn the eighty-ninth year of his age, at the clofe of the moft memorable
-flatn
and renowned victory he had gained, over
"
many
off,
following anecdotes concerning
-were furnifhed by Chevalier
as
and the parts to which it was The whole bears evidence of an expert artift."
is
joined, are very rotten.
of Limerick.
"
:
founding holes have been ornamented probably with filver, as they have been the object of theft. This Harp has twenty-eight keys, and
"
"
Irifh
ornamented with fcutcheons of
:
"
circles, are
Good
Friday,
all
in the
Trege and Donogh, fucceeded
the united powers of the Danes, on the plain of Clon-
year of our Lord 1014
to their father as
his
;
two fons by
his
fecond
Coregnants on the throne of the two
Muufters
{Thomond -and De fniond). Tiege being treacherously flain at the inftigation of his brother Donogh, anno 1023, Donogh took upon himfelf the fole government of Leth-Mogha, and foon after became chief King of all Ireland ; but, after great lofles and humiliations, he was dethroned his by
"
"
nephew Turrlogh, fon f Teige, anno 1064. He then went to Rome, to crave the remifTion of fins, munder of his brother Tiege, and carried with him theCrown, Harp, and other
particularly -of the "
"
"
regalia of Brien Boiromh, which he laid at the feet of the Pope.
cipal titles he claimed to this "
"
were depofited
Henry "
"
in the
Monarch, with the
"
"
The
holy Father took thefe pre-
fents as a demonftration of a full fubmiflion of the kingdom of Ireland, and one of his fucceffors Adrian IV. (by name Brakfpeare and an Englishman) alledged this circumftance as one of the prin-
mained of
kingdom,
Vatican
till
in his Bull
the reign of
of transferment to King
Henry VIII. when
the
Henry
II.
Thefe regalia
Pope fent the Harp
to that
of Defender of the Faith, but kept the Crown, which was of maffive gold. fetting no value on the Harp, gave it to the fir ft Earl of Clanricknrde, in vvhofe family it retill
title
the beginning of this century,
Mac Mahon
of Clonr.gh,
Counfellor Macnamara, of
in the
when
it
came by a lady of
the
county of Clare, after whofe death
it
De Burgh
family, into that
parted into the roffemon of
Limerick.""
Mac
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF was a very eminent Poet. Leig, our Monarch s Ollamh-Filea, or Poem of his, on the Twelve Sons of Kennedy, Son of
Mac
A DAN Lorcan,
is ftill
and allowed by a very competent judge
extant,
to
(k),
have much merit.
HERE
V.
which we
will
THE STATE OF Music amongft
the
there occurs an hiatus in our hiftory,
occupy with AN ACCOUNT OF ANCIENT IRISH.
A
mufical tafle, (fo early do we difcover it), feems to have been in nate in the original inhabitants of this ifland, and to have gradually can ilrengthened and refined with the progrefs of fociety. This we only attribute to the early introduction of the Bardic order amongft
But the ftudy of the fcience of mufic was not long confined
them.
; every hero, every virgin could touch the Harp, long ere the ufeful arts got foot in this country. At the feaft of fhells"
to that order
"
inftrument was handed xound, and each of the company fung to not -to be capable of fweeping it in a mafterly manner, in turn
this it,
:
was deemed a
difgrace even to royalty
(1).
This attention to the
cultivation of the mufical art, evinces a degree of refinement of
ners and of foul amongft the
of a
man
and even thofe
that foreign writers,
Irifli,
If a man, natural country, are unwilling to allow them. ly rough, (obferves a lively writer) becomes foftined for tbe time, by Lett,
to Auth.
See alfo
O HALLO RAM
S
Hift.
ef
Ire/,
v.
2,
304. (I)
This was
Eng. Minf. and as
O FLANNAGAN.
Mr. T.
(k) p. .
"
fitter
the cafe amongft the Anglo-Saxons S.
WALKER S
tranf. of I)!/. de
an accomplishment, but as an
Cicero t
down
E/ay his
on
Old Age. "
Lyre
p. 185.
from the
glitt
eflential part
Dub. ring
ed. nail,"
and the Welch.
Vide PE
RcY
EarJis.ln Greece, mufic was
of manly education.
Pindar, in his
to play on
it
Vide
S
E/ay
on the anc.
confidered not only
MELMOTH
S
Remarks on
defcribes Hiero taking
ift
Olymp. Ode,
at
an entertainment,
WEST S
Odes of
Pindar.
mufic
}
THfc IRISH BARDS,
63
&c>
thofe times are continually renewed, habit will take place of nature, and that man s character will, to a certain degree, change (m)." So well convinced were the Grecian legiflators of the foftening power mtrfic
if
j
of mufic, that they employed foil, in it
(.C
41
Tous
"
it
to counteraxSl the effects
of a
fteril
Arcadiens (fays the learned Winckelde mann) etoient obliges par leurs loix d apprendre la Mufique 1 exercer conftamment jufqu a leur trentieme a-nnee. Le but de cette les
&
"
"
their people.
de rendre
ames plus humalnes G?
loi
etoit
Le
legiflateur avoit juge que, fans cette precaution, la duret
d un
les
les
mteurs plus douces.
natu-
montagneux auroit paffe jufques dans les ames. Le fucces prouva la bonte du remede. Les Arcadiens etoient les plus rel le
fol
&
les plus finceres de tous les Grecs (n)." In the temples of polis adouthe Egyptians and the Chinefe, mufic was ufed pour modirer "
&
"
a cuftom condemned imagination dereglee de leur peuple (o) by Diod. Siculus, becaufe it ferved (in his opinion) to enervate the foul, as wreftling enervates the body (p). But the heroifm of the Irifh, "
cir
1
j"
through every period of their hiflory, fbften, without enervating the
is
an
mufi
illuftrious proof, that
may
Now,
in order to give the reader the beft idea of the
ft ate
of mufic
amongft the ancient Irifh, that our fcanty materials will be neceffary to confider it under the following heads j
afford,
Genius of the
2d. Notation.
Itifh
Language
for mufical modulation.
viz.
it
ift.
will
The
The chara&eriftio features and the Genera of the Irifh Mufic. 4th. The mufical Inftruments of the Irifh, with their progreflive im provements marked out. 5th. Where and by whom the fcience of 3d.
(m)
SHERLOCK
S
Letters on feverul Suljefls. vol. ^. lett. 9.
Mr. SMITH,
in
a
train
fine
of
the manners of a barbarous people being gradually foftened by the reasoning, proves the pofiibility of
of the practice of mufic. prevalence (n)
L HiJlirie
(o)
Recherches
( P)
de f Art. vol. phtlofntfi.
fur
i.
Ifs
Vide
p. 44..
Dlff. on Auth.
See alfo
Egypticns and
of Chan
VEffrh
Jts
s
Puems.
ici>de
MOMTESOJJH u,
1.
4. c. 8.
Chinris.
Ibid.
mufie
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
64
6th.
mufic was originally taught in Ireland. Contefts. 7th. Mufical
THE GENIUS OF THE
ift.
The War-Song.
And
LANGUAGE FOR MUSICAL
IRISH
MODULATION. The
fubfervient to
its
Now
language.
Raynal, muft
fays the eloquent
of every nation,
rmific
it
is
the opinion of Vallancey,
be that
modulated to mufic than any other language can be better conin Europe; becaufe, it not only poflefTes all the qualities lea plus
the
Irifli
attributes to the Italian language (q),
which Roffeau
venable au chant,
but, by a peculiarity of
its
own, the ad.
harfli
NOT AT
confonsnts can be ellrpfed.
ION.
The ancient Irifli had certainly no mufical much addided to the ftudy of mufic but it is like
Bards,
the
which ferved their
Chinefe
early
to regulate
(r),
the tones of the voice,
However, foon
art.
muficians
notation,
after
their
tho
fo
probable that their had fome charaders
;
converfion
while exercifmg
from
Paganifm,
introduced the poetical accents of the Greeks which they modulated the choral part of the
the Chriftian clergy
.
and
by
Latins,
church
fervice.
Thefe
accents
were foon
after
adopted by
our
fubfeBards, as appears from feveral of their poetical compofitions, About the eleventh century, it is thought, to that period (s).
quent
..
(q)
.
Lettre
fur
la.
Mttftque francoife.
(r)
VideZfc/. Geograph. Je
(s)
This fubjcft
is
/
This gentleman informs me, he
fmg the
Empire Je
lately
la Chine
far
D u HALDE.
by Mr. BE AUF b
F.D in No. III. of the Appendix. met with a perfon from Connaught who underftoodahd could
handled with great
ability
accents,
that
THE IRISH
B A R
D
&c.
S,
65
that the Iriihhad a mufical notation, which they derived from the fame
quarter
(t).
THE
3d.
CHARACTERISTIC
AND GENERA OF THE
FEATURES
IRISH Music.
The
wildnefs of
the ancient Irifh mufic, carrying it beyond precludes the poflibility of diftinguifhing it from the Yet an ear formed in Ireland, would early mufic of other nations.
the reach of
art,
inftantly recognize the native compofed in the Chromatic
from
its
is
fimplicity,
To
mufic of the country.
it
fay
was
giving little fatisfaclion, as that, the genus in which the early fongs of the Greeks
genus,
is
and of feveral other nations, were compofed (u). We muft therefore only endeavour to defcribe it, as we do the Sun, by its effects.
The Irifh mufic is, in fome degree, diftinguifhed from the mufic of every other nation, by an infinuating fweetnefs, which forces its way, irrefiftibly, to the heart, and there diffufes an extatic delight, that thrills
through every fibre of the frame, awakens
Whatever
tat^s or tranquillizes the foul.
to excite,
(t)
Mr.
it
O Halloran
could not furniih notes for
never
the
me
to effect
informed me, that the
with any of them. viz.
Harp,
fails
Van
fuaig/iel, "
FuaiJghilbfuag,
(little
harmony).
relate to the notes anfwering to our
Andante, and Allegro, or
have
little
(u)
am
Irifii
and
agi-
may be intended is
the
voice of
had technical terms for the Notes, but be I
obtained the Irifh names
of.
the
harmony) Fuaidhghel mor, (great harmony) and
not certain (fays
Minum,
it
It
purpofe.
But from Mr. Beauford (fmgle
fenfibility,
Crotchet, and
my
kind informant) whether thefe terms
Quaver
to different fpecies of Counterpoint
;
;
to the
but the
movements as Adagio,
Iriflv
Harp could of
itfelf
Counterpoint."
The melody
that pleafes in one country does not equally pleafe in another,
certain general principles tries."
I
its
pafllon
GREGORY s
which univerfally regulate
it,
the fcale of mufic being the
though there are fame in a coun l
Comfarative View.
K
Nature,
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
66
We
the ancient fpeak of the mufic of mufic, like language, the nearer we remount to its rife aa natural expreflion. mongft men, the more it will be found to partake of And though mufical notation was not known amongft the Aborigines Remains of their mufic have been handed down to us by of this
Nature, and will be heard (w). Iriih
for
j
illand,
tradition, in
of the
its
This
original fimplicity (x).
Irifh for their national peculiarities
we owe
to the fondnefs
for the great Irifh families,
:
laft century, entertained in their houfes Harpers, who were Thefe remains, which the depofitaries of their beft pieces of mufic. we confider as claffics, have obtained for Ireland the honourable title
even to the
of
A SCHOOL FOR MUSIC. Perhaps the
is
CEANAN,
(or
IRISH CRY,
as
it is
commonly
called)
the moft ancient of thofe remains extant, as from frequency of ufe,
had the beft chance of prefervation. Indeed its high antiquity is the circumflance of its obftinately refuting the tmqueftionable, from No kind of bafe accompaniment (fays accompaniment of a bafe.
it
"
"
(w)
and the
Moft of the modern
Irifli
a greater
mufic reaches the
infenfibility
Italian competitions only trifle
ARMSTRONG
heart."
a very fine one, but believe
it
to be of
"
I
know
known by modern
mired only amongft the Canaille, in England.
ages,
This, to a fceptic in
Irifli
hiftory,
of no
Irifli airs
the vulgar
the
The
may be
Yet,
inimitable it
to a
much
fo
name of
compofition."
a ragged ballad-finger fqualling (Plate 3) introduces
is
;
Welch, the Scotch Nothing can argue
153.
p.
:
as the Scotch have been, excepting that
when ho
v. 2.
melody in the Englifli, than their difreliili for Irifh mufic amongft admired by foreigners, are hardly known. Sir JOHN HAWKINS, in
a letter with which he honored me, fays,
ceafe
with the ear
Works,
to pure
that people our beft airs, fo
(x)
S
celebrated in England
the Black Joke,
fine
an air as
HOGARTH,
company of
which
this
in his
is,
it
I
:
but his aftonilhment muft
reminded, that the Chinefe preferved feveral of their ancient melodies for
without the aid of mufical notation
;
and
that
fome of thofe
marks) dt quoi pluire mime aux
oreilles
Europeans.
airs
I
many
which were taken down by
Du HALDE,
Defc. Geog. de
ad
harlots.
a matter of furprize
Father Pereira while a mufician fang them, and are given by
think
is
Rakes Progrefi,
ont (as that
Emf. de
author re
la Chine par
Du
HALDE.
Dr.
T HE
I
R
I
H BARD
S
was known to the
Dr. Burney)
&c.
S,
67
Each province had
ancients."
Ceanan, differing from thofe of the other provinces according genius of the people inhabiting each (y).
The
to
a
the
ancient Irifh cultivated three fpecies of mufical compofition,
anfwering to the three mufical modes (z) which the Greeks bor rowed from the Egyptians. Thefe were, the Gollttraidheacht, the Geanttraidheacht and the Suanttraidheacht.
The GOLLTTRAIDHEACHT was either to elevate the foul
more humane
action,
calls
were wholly inclined
Irifh
The GEANTTRAIDHEACHT
feftive entertainments,
or excite therein the
and Dance.
This is pro the fprightly Phrygian, to which,
difpofitions to Love, Mirth,
bably the fpecies which Selden
he fays, the
adapted to
martial
to
(a).
wherein was
included the dolorous,
of active virtue, in the deceafe of great men, or the bad fortune of unfuccefsful heroes, once the ornaments of fociety.
lamented, the
lofs
After the invafion of the Englifh, the Irifh were very much con fined to this fpecies of mufic, for reafons which will appear elfewhere.
The SUANTTRAIDHEACHT was reft,
corporal
(y)
intended for compofing the foul to
and fufpending the mental labours which might fucceed the of the day.
toils
Mr.
BEAUFORD
century, which
is
thinks that the Ceanan (perhaps
probably too modern an
sera for
it.
land Scots pretend to give their moft ancient mufic. the Scottish popular airs Rcnttifh Rallads.
(2)
The
v.
is
fo ancient as
anno
i
548.
more properly
Yet
it
is
an
sera,
the G.I)
much
Mr. PINK.ERTON fcems
Vide
the Diff. an
is
fo old as the gth
earlier than the
Low
to think, that not one
Comic BulluJ, prefixed to
of
Sfletf
2.
Scots too have three fpecies of mufic, viz. Marchal, Pajioral,
and
Fejlive.
Vide Ency-
chp. Brit. Art. Mufic. {a)
Notes on
DRAYT o N
Polyilb.
Song
6.
K
2
Mr.
.
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
68
O Conor
Mr.
(in a letter
now
me
before
(b),
which
I
have followed
above explanation of the nature of our mufical modes) obferves, In every concert the ABHRAM or fong, accompanied the inftrumen-
in the "
"
;
"
"
mental mufic, and the Ode was invariably adapted to the fpecies whether the heroic, the dolorous, or the fomnife-
intended rous.
"
this loofe
.C
effects, on^
"
cur
that
u and modified, It
learned Hiftorian)
defcription, (continues the
far from being Grangers to the powers of harmonized found, in direding, as well as exciting, the human Sounds were therefore cultivated paffions.
find
you "
;
By
fo
ancients
in
Ireland
were
to
produce extraordinary
the minds of
men whom we account
as
civil
and
political
barbarous, becaufe,
they held no intellectual commerce with the more polifhed people of Greece and Rome."
4th.
THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE
IRISH,
WITH THEIR
PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENTS.
HARP
The
had four
deferves the
fpecies, viz.
nar Cruit.
4.
i.
ISH
HARP,
place.
Of
this
inftrument the Irifh 2.
Keirnine.
3.
Cio-
Creamhtine Cruit.
The CLAR-SEH
ift.
firft
Clar-feh, or Clar-feach.
or
CLAR-SEACH, commonly denominated
the
of fo remote antiquity in this country, that Vin. Gallilei (c) does Jubal (d) the injuftice to afcribethe invention of it to the Irifh.
(b) (c)
(dj
is
But though the
To the Rev. Mr. Archdall. HAWKINS ^, of Mufic. v.
A
Irifh
did not invent this inftrument, they
3.
grave writer, ludicroufly enough, calls Jubal, Father of the Fidlers. to tell us, that he was the inventor of mufkal inaruments, as the harp T. ELL wo CDS Sacred ffifl. p. 8.
Then he and
proceeds
organ.
Vide
enjoyed
THE IRISH BARDS, enjoyed the ufe of
much
&c.
69
than any of the other weftern na tions. The Clar-feach (fays Mr. O Conor) was introduced hither by the Celto-Phosnician colony called Milefians, which arrived from it
earlier
"
"
"
This affertion of the venera Spain before the Chriftian ^Era hiftorian it would not be fafe to controvert j nor do we mean to (e)."
ble
attempt to controvert
,
it
:
to his authority
we
are ever willing to yield.
However, having no fyftem to fupport, and being deflrous to let in light on my fubject from any quarter whence I think a pure ftream might proceed, I received moil thankfully from my learned friend Dr. Ledwich, INQUIRIES CONCERNING THE ANCIENT IRISH HARP, in which he brings down the introduction of this inftrument into
much
Ireland, to a period
thefe Inquiries I
later
than the invafion of the Milefians.
affigned a place
I
No.
will refer the mufical antiquary.
I.
in
my Appendix
At the fame
time,
I
;
and
to
To them
will promife the
much fatisfadion, from the pernfal of an ESSAY ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND CAPABILITY OF THE IRISH HARP, IN ITS PRISTINE AND PRESENT STATE, by the ingenious Mr. Beauford, mathematical reader
which ftands No. VIII.
in
my
Appendix.
difcuiTion of the antiquity
Committing the
to thofe gentlemen,
I
will
and powers of our Harp it paiTed from this
proceed to Ihew, that
kingdomjnto the neighbouring nations. Caradoc
affirms,
that
the
Welch had
this
inftrument from the
This fome writers will not admit, becaufe the Welch do not, But the Welch the Irifh, firing their Harp with brafs chords.
Irifh (f;.
like
Auth.
Lett,
(f)
WYNNE S H
Ireland.
A
to
(e)
tjl.
A
late
Gent. Tour in
of Wales,
p.
159.
The Harp
traveller fays, that the only
Wain.
p.
1
has fallen into difufe in Wales, as well as in
Harp he heard
in the
principality,
was
at
Conway.
60.
Harp
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
70
Harp has not been always ftrung with gut. It appears from the firft Book of THE INTRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE, publifhed by Borde, a Welch poet, A. D. 1542, that the Welch Harp, at that period, was ftrung with horfe-hair.
For
my Harp
is
made of a good mare s ikyn horfe heare, it maketh a good dyn.
Thejlrynges be of
Now
it is
very probable, that the firft innovation which the Welch made of the Harp, on their receiving it from this country,
in the ftringing
was the fubftituting "
doubt. "
hair for wire.
But Vallancey brings an argument
muft bear down every rifing pronounced Tealoin or Telin, is cera word I can find tainly the etymon of the Welfh Teylin, a Harp no derivation of, in that language ; and I think, proves from whence
in fupport of
Caradoc
The
Irifh
affertion, that
s
Teadhloin,
:
"
"
.
they borrowed both the inftrument, and If
it
nians,
its
name
(g)."
be allowed that the Harp was in ufe among the ancient Caledo can hardly be denied that they borrowed it from the Irifh.
it
The fame
paflion for harfti warlike-mufic
which induced them
to adopt
the bagpipe of the Romans, would urge them to reject with fcorn, the the melting Cythara of that adventurous people. "
Probably
mufic, (fays Mr. Robertfon) (h) was at firft, as in chiefly of a warlike kind ; and the Harp may have
duced
in
the courfe of a barbarous
fupported by Maitland among the Gael if ever
"
:
;
Je rehis Hib.
(g)
Coiled.
(h)
Inquiry into the
fm
No.
Arts. v.
1
it
3.
civilization."
all
Highland rude nations,
only been intro This conjecture is
The Harp, it is faid, was anciently in ufe was, I am of opinion it could not be long j
p.
36.
i.
for
THE IRISH BARDS, for
that being an inftrument only
were
ill
fit
for the
adapted to the martial genius of
&c.
chamber,
its
foft ftrains
people as our anceftors j whofe delight being in war, (continues the hiftorian) they would naturally chufe the bagpipe (i), as more fuitable to the field, and their warlike inclinations for the mufic of the was an en fo fierce a
Harp
;
tertainment only fit for the effeminate and voluptuous (k)." Let us then fuppofe, and furely there are good grounds for the fuppofition, that the Harp, an inftrument always found in the armies of the ancient Irifh,
was introduced amongft the Gael (or ancient two nations
intercourfe took place between the ferocity of the latter,
was a
j
Scots) foon after an
when
at leaft,
the
tempered by their connexion with In fad, the Scots have never affe&ed extraordinary {kill
the former.
on the Harp
:
in the practical
fo fenfible
little
were they of their
knowledge of
inferiority to the Irifh, in
this inftrument, that their Princes
and
Nobility were content to invite Harpers from this kingdom, to ferve them in the capacity of chief Mufician (1). Thefe
Harpers generally
repofed in the chambers of their patrons, in order, we prefume, to tranquilize their minds, when difturbed with the vifions of the night ; or to lull
them
to reft
with their melting
ftrains,
That
opiate
charm which
corporeal fenfe (m).
lulls
for they beft
knew,
2d.
KEIR-
very extraordinary, that the bagpipe, the favourite martial inftrument of the Scots, neither mentioned nor alluded to in the Erfe Poeius published by Mr. Macpherfon. (i)
(k)
It
is
H-ft.
is
of Scotland.
Ethodius, the twenty-fifth King of Scotland, was killed by an
Irifli Harper, who lav in hi? BUCHANAN. Even in modern days, Irifli Harpers are favourably received, ard the Scots. rewarded Vide of Anec. O Kane, the famous Irilh Harper, in Bo SWELL S munificently by entertaining Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, p. 393. Dub. ed. (m) MA s o M S Caraflacuf. We find the Caliph s Minftrel s fimilarly employed in TH o M P o N .
(1)
bed-chamber.
Cajlle of Indolenct
:
When
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
72
KEIRMNE.
is tranflated by Vallancey, a fmail inftrument was facred to Karneios or Apollo, (whence Granneus, an Irifh name for our favourite Deity) and borne In by the Dancers at the Kearnaire, or facrifice to that Deity (n)
2d.
Harp.
This word
this
Perhaps
Arabic, keren implies the rays of the Sun, with which the
was always ftrung.
lute
us, Apollo
s
in poetry,
Apollo
s
Thefe rays
or
Thus Shakefpeare
golden hair.
Poets
beams are
tell
called
:
As fweet and mufical As
The
bright Apollo
s
with his
lute ftrung
hair, (o)
Keirnine, according to Vallancey, was the Kanun of the Perfpecies of Dulcimer, Harp or Sackbut, the firings of which,
fians, a
from
fifty
to fixty in
number,
reft
upon two
bridges,
and are touched
with both hands, without making ufe of any kind of plectrum or bow.
As
this conjecture refts folely on etymological authority, pretend to fay how far it is to be depended on.
When
flecp
was coy, the Bards
in
BifliopGRQSTHEAD
mufic lends
new
fhall
not
waiting there,
Cheer d the lone midnight with the mufe s Competing mufic bade his dreams be fair,
And
we
gladnefs to the morning
lore
;
air.
informs us, that
Next hys chamber, befyde hys ftudy, s chamber was faft the by
Hys Harper
:
Becaufe
The Wyll de relus Hib.
(n)
Colletf.
(o)
Loves Labour Lofl.
No.
virtue of the
Harp, through
(kill
and
righr,
deftrye the feruiys might.
12. p.
528.
Aft. 4.
3d.
The
THE IRISH 3.
The CIONAR CRUIT had
ten
B AR D firings,
S,
&c.
73
and was played on with a
bow or plectrum (p). As no drawing of this inftrument has reached us, we can only fuppofe it refembled the Hafhur of the Hebrews, of which in the Pfalms by the name of the tengood thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to fing praifes unto thy name, O moft High upon an inftrument According to Don Calmet, the of ten firings, and upon the pfaltery." of the Hafhur was pretty nearly that of the capital Delta [A] of
fuch frequent mention
"
ftringed inftrurnent.
is
made
It is
a
figure
the Greeks (q), which bears fome refemblance to the form of our ClarIn the Cionar Cruit, we have the Canora Cythara of the Latins
feh.
of the middle Ages, and the origin of the modern Guitar.
4,
The CREAMTHINE CRUIT was
the
Crwth of the Welch.
con
It
four only, however, could be termed fymphonic, and thefe were ftretched over a flat bridge, on a finger board the
tained fix
firings,
:
beyond the finger board, and were not touched by the bow or plectrum, but occafionally with the thumb, as a bafe accompaniment to the notes founded on the other firings (r). of the violin was ufed as a tenor accom This inftrument the
two lower
firings projected
parent
Creamhtine paniment to the Harp at feafts and convivial meetings Crut or Cream Crutin, by the name (fays Vallancey) imports the Harp or caroufals whence Creamh-nual anoify (or Cruit) ufed at potations "
:
;
The Viol in the times of early mufic drunken company Poet France, was fimilarly employed. Thus an old French
in
(s)".
(p)
BEAUFORD.
(q)
Did. of the
Lett, to
Auth.
Bible.
(r)
BEAUFORD.
(s)
Collet!,
derebm
Lett,
Hib.
tt
Auth.
No.
IJ, p. 35.
L
Quand
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
74
tables otees furent
les
Quand
Cil jugleour in pies efturent
S ont viols
&
harpes prifes
Chanfons, fons, vers et reprifes Et de geftes, chante nos ont (t). Colonel Vallancey difputes with Mr. Barrington and Mr. Evans, Welch to the origin of the Crwth (u) ; in fad, two
.
the claim of the
of their
own
confefs, that
hiftorians
Gruffydh ap Conan brought
it
The Colonel is even inclined to over into Wales from this kingdom. rob them of the invention of playing on this inftrument with the bow. "
"
I believe the only honour they can have, (fays he) is the invention of playing on this inftrument with the bow yet this feems to have been known to the Iriih alfo, for in our common Lexicons we find :
"
Cruit, a Harp, a Fiddle, a
"
Crowder
(w).."
But the Welch were not the only people who, we imagine, bor rowed the Crwth from the Irifh Our neighbours the Scots were in all :
under the fame obligation to us, though a trace of that inftrument cannot be found in any of their hiftorians (x). The in probability
genious and learned Mr. Barrington informs us, that there is a reprefentation of an inftrument, which bears an exact refemblance to the
Welfh Crwth, amongft the outfide ornaments of the Abbey of Melrofs (t)
(u)
BuRNE Y
S
Hiji. of
v.
M"fic.
Cdlea. de rebus Hib. No.
As
(x)
it i:
in
fuch general ufe
of Lewis, fays,. 4
2.
j,
not denied that the Creamhtine Cruirwas the parent of the violin,
admitted, that the Scots borrowed
being
I
Ibid.
(w)
of eighteen
;
They
he
p.
Weft,ern Ifks.
14.
it
only remains to be
ftrument from the Irifhj in order to account for the Violin
MARTYJJ, fpeaking of the ; and when I was there,
are great lovers of mafic
men who could play on
Wijlern I/lands of Scotland, every iik
in the
this in
the violin pretty well, without being
This entertaining
inhabitants of the
taught."
traveller found players
Me
they gave an account
on the
Defcript.
of the
violin in alinoft
vifjted,
in
THE IRISH BARD in Scotland,
been tion
built
on
which, to the beft of
&c.
S,
his recollection,
about the time of Edward the Second
is
(y).
7S fuppofcd to have
From an
infcrip-
Abbey, (which was founded A. D. 1136) it appears that the archited was a Parifian who, it is natural to fuppofe, borrowed his ornaments from his own Mr. Barcountry (z). this
;
.Perhaps, then, rington has miftaken a French Viol for a Crwth ? As a French Viol is not unlike a Crwth, it might beguile the fudden view of a Welchman. But however that may be, as the Scots had little intercourfe
with the Welch, but frequent with the Irifh, it is more confonant with reafon to fuppofe, they derived the Crwth from the latter than from the former.
There
fome old
are
been conftrucled
for the
Irifh airs
ftill
extant,
which appear
to
have
Creamthine Cruit.
The BAGPIPE
is certainly an inftrument of high antiquity in Ire and mentioned by feveral of our hiftorians under different names. Mr. O Conor informs us, that one of the inftruments in ufe
land,
amongft the Scots or ancient Irifh, was the ADHARCAIDH CUIL is, a collection of pipes with a bag, or rather, a mufical
that
bag.
(a),
He
alfo informs us, that the
Rinkey or field dance, of the ancient Irifh, was governed by the CUISLET CIUIL (b), perhaps a more fimple kind of Bagpipe than the former; which he confiders as having been mofl it was a loud inftrument, and confined to a bare In the defcription of the Hall of Tamar, (tranflated from an ancient MS. and publifhed in the I2th No. of COLLECT. DE fit
for the purpofe, as
octave.
(y)
Arch.
(z)
P NN ANT
(a)
Diff. on Hift. of Ire!, p. 71.
(b)
Lett, to
v.
3. S
Tour
in Scotland,
v. 3.
p.
266.
Auth.
L
2
-REBUS
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
^6
REBUS HID.) we
find a
for
allotted
place
the Cuifiinnaigh
a
;
word
At etymologically confidered, evidently implies Bagpipers. na Cuijli, the bellows of this day the Pipers call their bellows, bollog and as the firft joint the Cuifli, or veins of the arm on the infide, at
which,
;
on the outfide
this joint
is
Elbow), one and the
denominated Ullan or Uilean
(i.
e.
and Cuifli Pipes are Vallancey concludes that Ullan Pipes of In Ullan Pipes we have, perhaps, the woollen Bagpipe fame. attributes an extraordinary effed (c). he which to Shakefpear,
But let us endeavour the
Irifli
Danes
The
:
(d).
to in veftigate the antiquity of the
This opinion
fafely controvert
of
invention
it,
civilized people (e),
we
Bagpipe amongft
inftrument has been given to the nor can we affent to cannot this
j
implicitly
an un Bagpipe has been lately found amongft never had any connexion with the Europeans,
for the
who
muft be an original inftrument and why confequently with them it relievo of not with the Danes ? But there appears on a fine baffo now in Rome, a man playing on an inftrument exGrecian fculpture
the ancient Highland Bagpipe, which feems Grecian origin (f). Now Mr. Pennant has determined, by means of an antique found at Richborough in Kent (g), the iniroducto
adly refembling evince
(t)
its
And
when
others,
Cannot contain
A late MASON S
it
is
:
if
PENNANT
(e)
M. SONNERAT
Ju buffon. fait feffet
(g)
th nofe
Mersh. ef Ven. Act 4. Sc,
does not, therefore, preclude conjecture.
Remarks on Text nxd Notes of
(d)
(f)
i<
I-.
Vide learned and ingenious commentator on Shakefpear, reads fwol n for woollen bagpipe. Comm. on the laft Ed. of Shake/pear s Plays. This may be the right reading, but we are
not certain that
rending.
the bagpipe fings
their urine.
BUR KEY. Tcur
S
Tour
v.
2.
p.
reftores
the- original
302.
informs us, that the Tourti of the Eaft Indians
Vide Voyage aux
is
a fpecies of Bagpipe,
$i
Indus orientates et a la Chine;
PENNANT.
in Scotland,
Bagpipe, and feems
in Scot.
Mr. Ritfon
the Infl Edition of Shakejpear. p. 54.
v.
3.
to think
Sufplemt. fAntiq. expliquee.
Additions,
ir is
p.
33.
MONTFAU^ON
fpeaks of the
alluded to in fome verfes attributed to Virgil.
antiquity of the
Tom.
3,
p.
188.
See alfo Appendix No. IV.
tion
THE
I
tion of the Bagpipe
R
I
S
by the
H
B ARD
&c.
S,
77
Romans (who owed every
trTing
to the
into Britain, at a very early, but at an uncertain period. therefore very probable, as the ingenious traveller obferves, that
Grecians) It
is
the
they
Danes borrowed the Bagpipe from the Caledonians, with whom had fuch frequent intercourfe. The ancient writers indeed
prove, that the Northern nations were animated by the Clangor tuba-
rum
but are profoundly
(h),
filent
with refped
to the inftrument in
queftion.
We
cannot find that the Bagpipe was indigenous to the we believe, they muft be content to owe it.
the Caledonians, as it were, in
exchange
The early
for the Harp.
Irifh.
To>
We got
it,
hiftory of this inftru
ment
in Scotland, is inveloped in the mift that hangs over the dark ages. According to Ariftides Quintilianus, it prevailed in the very firft times in the Highlands of Scotland. The genius of the Highlanders feems
to favour this opinion.
Ever a warlike people, ardent
in the
field
of battle, and impatient of control in times of peace, the found of the Bagpipe muft have been peculiarly grateful to their ear, Hence their hafty adoption of it, on its introdu&ion amongft them by the Romans.
A Scottish
writer fpeaking of this inftrument, fays,
"
it
is
the voice of
tproar and mifrule, and the mufic calculated for it, feems to be that of Even in very late times, the Scots real nature and of rudepaffion (j)."
ufed (h)
thinks (i)
tells "
"
"
"
"
Sir
WILLIAM HAMILTON
was intended
to
defcribes an inftrument found in the ruins of Pompeii, which he
produce a fpirited Clangor Tubarum.
ROBERTSON.
Inquiry into the Fine Arts. v.
an humorous ftory of a Scotch Piper, which refleds
As a Scotch Bagpiper was hunger-ftarv d
Iriili
wolf.
Arch. v. 4.
The
i.
little
161.
honor on the mufic of
he traverfing the moutains of Ulfter, In this diftrefs, the poor
p.
learned author of the Divine Legation his
inflruwent.
was one evening encountered by
man could
a
think of nothing better than to
and the favage fwallowed all that open was thrown him with fo improving a voracity, as if his apetite was but juft coming to him. The his only recourfe was to whole flock of provifion, you may be fiire, was foon fpent, and his wallet,
and
his hofpitality try the effefts of
:
he did
fo,
now>
"
tie.
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
78
ufed the Bagpipe to roufe their courage to
and
fecure,
them when
to alarm
battle,
to which purpofes, mufic of the Irifh Kerns, in the
them when
to colled
fcattered (k)
;
they taught the Irifh to apply it. The which, as Aulus Gellius reign of Edward the Third, was the Bagpipe, informs us, was alfo that of the Lacedemonians
(1).
the Bagpipe was the folace of the Scotch Chieftain (m), and
Though
education in a College though the Scotch Piper received his mufical of Pipers (n), yet this inftrument never received any confiderable for the Irifh to It was referved from the Scots.
improvements it from the mouth
take
and to give
(o),
its
it
prefent complicated
form "
"
"
the virtue of the Bagpipe the
fame
precipitation
;
which the monfter no fooner heard, than he took
that he
The poor
had come down.
Piper could not fo perfectly enjoy his
deliverance, but that, with an angry look at parting, he {hook his head, and faid,
"
your
Had I known jour
?
tricks
PENNANT
regiment
On
his trial
that
S
Tour
in the rebellion
in
Scot.
v.
i.
in his defence,
York on
the I5th of
(1)
SMITH
S
Hift. of Cork.
are thefe,
!
Scots v. 2.
as
occajion.
Reflefl.
Piper to a rebel as a rebel.
November, 1746, But the Court obferved,
that he had not carried arms.
a Highland regiment never marched without a Piper , and therefore
law, was an inftrument of war,
fe
James Reid, who had afted
p. 195.
174$, fuffered death at
was alledged
it
Aj
humour, ytufhould have had your mufic before /upper"
Remarks en (k)
j
mountains with
to the
Mag.
p. 43.
v. 8. p.
his
Bagpipe, in the eye of the
543.
See alfo
HORN
i
us
Geo.
Every morning, in peaceable times, the Piper played under the Chieftain s window, (touting, with (lately ftep, backwards and forwards ; and at meal-times, he regaled him and his guefts. Vide (m)
Effay cm
Dab. (n)
Irtflu.
of Poet, and Muf.
m the
"
(o)
The
wind-mufic v. i.
Vide
alfo
JOHNSON
S
to
Journ.
George Mackie, the reformer of the Lowland Bagpipes,
Ibid.
years in a College of Bagpipers in Skie.
.
High.
the Weft. If.
p.
165.
ed.
;
p. 195.
Ency. Brit. Art.
oldeft (Bagpipes) are played with the
by
BAGPIPE.
STRUTT,
Having
Bu RNE Y on fome
origin."
there
the fiioulders of a man, playing on the Bagpipe with his mouth.
confulted Dr.
faid to have attended feven
mod
mouth, the loudeft and
the others, played with the fingers only, are of Irifh In an ancient painting difcorered
is
is
ear-piercing of any
PE N N A N T
S
Tour
in Scot.
a pofture mafter (landing
Man. and
Cufl. of the
upon
Eng.
mufical points, that gentleman, with the libsrality of fen-
timent which ever characterises the finifhed fcholar, moft politely afforded
me
his aid,
though
in
tending
THE form
two
IRISH B A R D S,
&c.
79
drones and a long one, with a chanter, all of which are filled by a pair of fmall bellows, inflated by a comprefTive motion of the arm the chanter has eight holes, beginning with the that
j
is,
fliort
:
D
lower
in the treble
damental
),
and the
did not long retain
the fhort drones found in unifon to the fun
;
it. The Bagpipe amongfl the Irifh, for the chord of fuppofed to have been the chorus of
an odave below
large drone
original form
its
drones which they gave
is
it,
Cambrenfis.
Being conftrucled in the chromatic fyftem, it is the only initrument fince the difufe of the Harp, on which the native Irifh
nrufie (all of
which
in that fyftem) can be played to advantage.
is
The Bagpipe has been always obliged to yield,, in point of confebut it has ever been a favou quence, amongft the Irilh, to the Harp Nor has it been held in more thanrite instrument of the vulgar (p). ;
ordinary tending to treat of
our Bagpipe
is
my
That
his General Hijlory of Muftc. fubjeft in
and fo curious,
fo appofite,
that
I
muft beg
part of his letter which relates to
excufe for prefu.ning
his
to tranfcribe it
little evidence. There is a drawing in my firft vol. copied from a piece of ancient Greek fculpture, which fhews the common kind of Scots Bagpipe an in is in ufe that at to be of very high antiquity: but Ireland, improved Bagpipe, on which prefent "
here.
I
Of
the antiquity of your Bagpipe
and
in
German
Flute
continues to be
ftill
An anonymous
(Vide Gent. Mag. after
traveller, in his
vol. 21.
p.
of one
fcale,
dance
mod
cheerfully
Letters tells
;
and
all
it is
nature, to
I
the
I
heard
have yet
"
Every village has
young men and maids
a-
in
"
i"he
anfwered,
the
as they
woman grow
(fays he)
up,
is
fhall
was very well
lately,
this
in the
and
how
flie
year 1751,
fine
the village about him,
fex."
go out to fervice, and one or two help me,
though
DERRICK
Mr.
his fellow traveller
intended to fupport her family,
evening,
where they
to fee the expreflive,
to the oppofite
He
country
Bagpiper, who, every
entertainment really a very pleafing
recommend themfelves
a ftory to our purpofe. (Lett. 12. vol. i)-
We afked
believe
heard."
rain into a hut near Killarney, entered into converfation with their by a fhower of
couple
I
favourite inftrment with the lower clafs of people in Ire
a
account of an excurfion through
466.) fays,
working hours, co llefts
aukward attempts of
his
two parts without the drone, which
and the whole
;
"
"
in
tone of the lower notes refembles that of a Hautbois and Clarinet,
which has never been the cafe of any Scots Bagpipe that
The Bagpipe
(p)
land.
The
Scotland.
the high notes that of a
in tune,
"
have
have heard fome of the natives play very well
never attempted
"
I
in
being driven
hofts, a poor-old
Some of them, in
and about
my
"
grounds-
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
80
Grecian nations. Pan, the meaneft of the ordinary eftimation by other It rofe into fafhion as playing on it (q). is often Deities, reprefented an admirable performer in Italy in the days of Nero (r), who was himfelf handsof the vul on it but after his deceafe, it was again committed to the in his Boccaccio, fmce. ever in that it has continued ;
where
country admirable account of the Plague of Florence, (A.D. 1348) (s), acquaints who retired from the city, and are the ladies and
gar,
us, that the
gentlemen
tales in the
of the
relaters
DECAMERONE, among
other recreations in
feveral of them the intervals of their difcourfes, intermixed mufic, he gives the but viol (or Bagpipe) Cornamufa lute and 4 playing on the Dove con frefchiflimi a domeftic of one of the ladies. to "
Tindarus,
who was blinded by the fmall-pox, we have as Tor Donough, my eldeft bov, is no fear, under God, but him the Bagpipes, with which and begging, there at any rate, it is better than being : he may get an honeft livelihood, and live very comfortably grounds
"
"
"
a forry
tradefman."
A Bagpipe,
(s)
Two
figure
in his
On my
Giorn
Sicilies,
puts an
Lady
At
i.
It
is
this
s
et
Robin,
makes mention of the
of preferved on one
is
hands, while he
is
Nero
s
Coins.
mufette
of
Inftead of a
of Rome. enjoying the conflagration
on the Lute.
Ifabella playing
play at Chriftmas
vol.
Nero
into
Harp
Novel. 10.
7.
who
lemmsJe Pan Eglogueau royfouz
of the Utricularius or Bagpipe
WALLE R
Verfes
formers
:
to teach
MA ROT,
(q)
"Vide
home
at
man
got a
day
it
is
in ufe
in the ftreets of
and the itinerant per amongft the Abruzzefe, Siv i K B u R * E S Travels in the
Rome and
Naples.
alfo found in feveral of the Italian
and Grecian Ifles.-Shakefpear (with
of Bagpipers, playing, by Caflio s direction, to cojiume) introduces a company his ufual attention clown exercife his wit on them and in the Ifle of Cyprus j and makes his before Othello s palace, their inftruments
Clown.
Muf. ,How, Clown. Are Muf. Clown.
Muf. Clown.
(Othello.
Aft. 3- Sc.
mafters,
haveyour inftruments been
:
Why,
Sir,
thefe, I
inftruments pray you, wind
Whereby hangs a Sir,
?
they, Sir.
a thereby hangs
Marry,
in Naples, that they fpes
how!
are Ay, marry
O
i.)
tail.
tail,
Sir
?
inftrument that by many a wind
I
know, &c. "
vini,
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
81
con confetti
vim, e
la fatica del picciol cammin cacciata via, intorno della bella fontana di prefente furono in ful danzare, quando al fuono
della cornamufa di Tindaro, e quando d Chaucer, in charaderifmg his Miller, fays,
A The
fuoni
altri
Baggepipe well couth he blowe and foune
HUDIBRAS
author of
feems
ble opinion of this inftrument
to
carolando."
(t).
have entertained a very defpica-
:
Then Bagpipes of the loudeft drones, With fnuffling, broken winded tones, Whofe blafts of air in pockets fhut Sound
than from the gut, a viler noife than fwine
filthier
And make
when they whine
In windy weather,
(u).
However
the Bagpipe, in the hands of a good performer, is not un have found the refined Camworthy the ear of royalty (w).
We
(t)
Miller
Tale.
s
Hudib. Part.
(u)
Bagpipe
in his
Fal.
Cant.
P.
Sblood,
Hen.
2.
BUTLER
feems, in this pafiage, to have had the Lincoln/Kir-
SHAKE SPEAR makes ludicrous mention, in the Firji I am as melancholy as a gib-cat, or a lugg d bear.
Or an
old lion, or a lover
Bagpipe was formerly a paftoral inftrument
in difguife, declares,
s lute.
in
England.
praife of his
"
renowned
played on that inftrument B. 6. ch. 10.
(w) Irifli
I
f.
The Shepherd whom
Alfred
vifits
that his
Bagpipes
in
Part of Hen. 4th.
Yea, or the drone of a Lincoln/hire Bagpipe.
Fal.
The
z.
mind, of which
;
King."
fliall
Sound fweetly once a year EVANS Old Ballads, v. i. No.
(Shepherd s Calendar
:
Auguft)
3.
as did alfo his
and
SPENSER
Colin Clout.
S
Fairy
Perigot <^ueen.
18.
have been informed that George
II.
was fo much delighted with the performance of an
gentleman on the Bagpipes, that he ordered a medal to be ftruck for him.
M
brenfis
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
8^
brenfis admiring
mention
to mufic, though neglecling, or purpofely avoiding,
its
name.
its
Mr. Pegge) is an horn, but in the Irifli, of But, with all due deference to the opinion or the that we muft obferve, that learned gentleman, of the Irifh, was held by them in a more refpeclaHe light. It was
KORN
in the Britifli, (fays
a drinking cup (x).
CORN
CEARN
to ufed as a mark of religion and fanctity, and was often dedicated the creann naomhtha, or holy trees of the and hung;
upon
certain Deities,
groves
As
(y).
infirument was facred to Ana, or Anu, an infe
this
who prefided over the produce of the Earth and and wfrofe name it fometimes bore, it was ufually, in the be found chained to a ftone at almoft every fpring. days of Paganifm, to Each Sub-Druid conftantly wore an ANU, of which, it is probable, rior
Irifh Deity,
Waters
(z),
he made a mufical ufe
moning,
ceremonies
in religious
In the early ages of Chriftianity, a
more elegant form and
Arch. v. Co/left,
(z)
Our Anu, and of a Tour
Amongft
(a)
of
Heman,
.
the
Hebrews
It
"
to
the lift
Vide
as a pledge
Of this nature was
(b).
the
up the
this relation
Archtrol. vol. 3.
in
religious ceremonies
Chr.
Horn."
itifli
i. ch.
25.
v.
Druids, either to
This cuftom probably paffed
appears from a paflage
Vide Bo
fame Deity.
SWELL
S
Dub. ed.
Horn was ufed
wore an Horn, which was deemed
has accompanied
Corn received
likely, that the
England
to 268.
263
the martial fury of the troops.
Patrick
fum-
13.
p.
in the field of battle by the Bi
Chriftian Clergy.
(b)
No.
the Hebrides,
to
it is
the Anaitis of the Scots, fecm to be one andthe
the Levite,
always blown
awake
for a
3.
p.
3.
de rebus Eib.
(7)
"Journal
it
and was fometimes ufed
finifhing,
in transferring inheritances, as in
(x)
or carried
;
or perhaps, a martial purpofe (a).
in
:
It
5.
was only
office
down from
to be
of the ions
facred trumpet was
collect the fcattered
GiRAt. CAMERENSIS
facred, and
was the
The
Top.
blown by
forces, or
the Druids to the (p.
74.7)
himfelf.
that St.
Giraldus
with a tals rather too ludicrous for infertion.
Nos.
i.
z.
3.
4.
5
and
7,
Charter
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
Charter Horn, lately preferred to Trinity College, Dublin, by Kavanagh, Efq; of Ballyborris, in the county of Carlow
now
Thomas ;
and
is
Mufeum
of that learned Seminary. A defcription and a fine engraving of this Horn, may be found in the thirteenth Number of COLLECTANEA DE REBUS HIBERNICIS, page 26. depofited in the
The
ancient Irifh had various kinds of
Stoc, Buabhall,
The STUIC one
TRUMPETS,
viz. Stuic
or
Beann, Adharc, Dudag, Corna and Gall-trompa. or
STOC, was
a brazen tube, with a mouth-hole
on
no mufical note could be produced from it. This inftrument was ufed as a Speaking Trumpet on the tops of our fide, fo large, that
round towers, to afTemble congregations, Nor is quarters, and all other feftivals (c).
was performed by the Sub-Druids.
to proclaim
new moons,
unlikely, that this office the Hebrews we find the
it
Amongft
Levites, (an inferior order of the priefthood) alone employed to blow the
Trumpets, whether in peace or in war blow with the Trumpets
Priefts, fhall
"
:
:
And
the fons of Aaron, the
and they
fhall
be to you for an
ordinance for ever, throughout your generations (d)." The inftrument in queftion, is thus defcri bed by Mr. O Halloran, in one of his Letters to the Author. It is formed fomewhat like a cow s horn, but feveral "
"
"
"
"
much
In its concave part is an opening from end to end. larger. never faw a mouth-piece to any of them fo that how they could divide found, now remains a myftery probably there might have I
j
found." This conjedure but fuppofmg the Stoc to have is not neceflary to fupply it with the Several Stocs have been lately found in our bogs
been fome
flider to
confine and colled the
equally fpecious and ingenious been only a Speaking Trumpet, it is
a
flider.
j
:
(c)
Colleff. lie rehis
(d)
Numb. Ch.
Mb. No.
10. v.
1
3.
8.
M
2
figure
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
84.
from one in Tri Trophy, was takea
figure of that reprefented in the
nity College, Dublin,
.
(e)
BEANN
and the Exacl defections of the BUABHALL, the to fuppofe, venture we found he not to are however, may ADHARC, the CORNA, that refembled, or were rather different names for -
y
they
or
which was winded
BUGLE-HORN,
^ancient
Irifli,
at the
hunting matches of the
animate the troops
or founded in the field of battle, to
and drown the
cries
of the found of this
of the dying (f). Dante has given us a fublime idea inftrument in the jift Canto of his INFERNO.
Ma
io fenti fonare
un
alto Corno,
Tanto ch avrebbe ogni tuon fatto fioco, Che contra fe la fua via feguitando Dirizzo gli occhi miei tutti ad un loco :
la
Dopo Carlo
Non Dr.
(c)
MOLTKE ux,
dolorofa
Magno
fono
si
10
hold
rsbus (f)
Drogheda has one with four faft
Mr. in
la fanta gefta,
terribilmente Orlando.
two
fmall rings near the
1
3.
p.
of a Stoc, which
to fufpend
it
differs
The
by.
O ConoR
brafs pins or fpikes within the mouth, or greateft end, feemingly Collefi. tie
informs me, that the ancient
armies had battle Horns, a kind of domeftic
IrilTi
to the different battalions for the more precife every battalion, with notes peculiar
This was formerly the cafe
between Percy and Douglai, ing the battle of Otterburn,
which they blew
from
prefent
47.
ledge of the duty required of each.
in different notes.
before the ufe of Trumpets was
had
end
a fecond joint, that terminated, probably, in the form of our fpenking trumpets.
HA. No.
Trumpet
quando
in his Nat. Hijt. of Irel. has given the figure
.he one mentioned in the text, in having
Earl of
perde
rotta>
It
known
in
tells us,
Scotland. that the
Scotchmen had
is
no wild conjecture, that with
in
our armies,
Stentoric lun^s, to found with the voice, the alarm,
This, as well as making
proclamations at tournaments,
amongft the Normans.
BURKE v
s Hijt.
it
FROISSART us, as
know
in defcrib-
their
Horns,
with the Greeks,
was the bufmefs of thofe herald Bards
and
call the
fquadrons together.
was one of the
offices
who
Iliad, b. 5.
of the herald Minftrcls
of Muf. v. 2.
But
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
85
But now the Trumpet, terrible afar, Pour d thro the Stygian world the blaft of war
Not Roland
;
horn in Roncefvalles field,
s
Startled the air with half fo loud a ftrain,
When
Gallia
Heroes prefs d the bloody plain,
s
Anfl Charlemagne refign d the
lijied fhield (g).
B The
conftrudion of the Corna was extremely fimple.
well as that of the Stoc,
offered us in the
is
cow
It s
O Y D.
form, as
horn, of which
s
it
was formerly made (h) latterly, when the mechanic arts got foot in this country, it was conftruded of brafs, but the original form was Our Corna and the crooked Cornet of Pliny, were perhaps preferved. qne and the fame inftrument (i). ;
But the
Irifh
Corna was not entirely devoted
In the heroic ages, our anceftors quaffed
This wonderful Horn
(g)
is
The Corna which
(h)
cow
s
horn,
Horn.
s
the
in
appears with a wooden mouth-piece.
HOLLAND
Trophy, and which
S
Pliny,
p,
The
189.
is
them Nectar,
liquor.
high
No.
lefs
celebrated
In the houfeho d of the
o.lire.
Vide
12. p. 53.
WelJhPvet.
The
MioJh or Mzadh;
called -it
in
NSL
R.
-
my
pofieffion,
BACON
FLETCHER
faryr- in
thcfe
allured, that
S-
fimply a
is
and was
Boys,
horns have been often
fait/iful
S/i
has
phtrdsfs,
a
Fairies,.
remarkable, fays Dr. (Dif. i. Hifl. of Etig. Poet.) that Mead, the Noror favourite liquor of the Goths, who feem to have,ftamped it with the charufter of
a poetical drink, was no
who
now
WART ON,
"
(k)
is
formerly belonged to the White
It
wreathed horn, with which, when necefiary, he fummons It
SPF.
Nat. Hi/1. cent. 2. p. 37.
blown on many a mutinous occaficu. I am confidently heard of a dill night, at the difrance of fix miles. (i)
to martial purpofes. (k) out of them, as
ARIOSTO, CERVA-N-TES, and
noticed by
accounts for the loudnefs of the Hunter
Meadh
>Io.
CAMDEN
He i.
S
Irifii,
Brit.
p.
held the Bachla at
among
the Welch"-^-and,
I
may
add,
among
the
Iriili,
fongs of our Bards are replete with the praifes of the
1043. fealis,
BACGHAL, BACHLAMHAL fo. ed.
as
of 1695, and Def.
was cuftomary
in
Wales.
this
or
Cup Bearer, was an ofTamar Hall in Called. Vide
EVANS
S
Sfec. of
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
86
the Danifh hunters do their beverage at this day their s in the time of Chaucer
Janus
And In order to
make
fit
by the
fire
y
and the Englifh did
with double berde,
drinketh of his bugle horn the wine
thefe
(1).
inftruments retentive of liquor,
a lid
muft
have been fattened by an hinge to the embouchere^ to open and clofe at Mr. Pennant defcribes one of thofe ox-horn-cups, (as he pleafure. terms
which he faw
it,)
When
at
Dunvegan
(m).
the Bugle-horn ceafed to be ufed in the armies of the Irilh
and the other European powers, it was either flung, as an ornament, at the fide of domeftics, or employed at hunting matches, to call toge ther a fcattered pack of hounds. While Ariofto s Angelica is cheering the vanquilhed Sacripant, the attendant of Bradamant appears with a crooked horn at his fide.
Mentre coftei conforta il Saracino Ecco col corno e con la tafca al fianco ;
Galoppando venir fopra un ronzino
Un In Shakefpear tell
renzo,
with
(J)
we
s
MefTaggier, che parea afHitto e ftanco (n).
MERCHANT OF VENICE,
him
his horn full
(i. e.
of good news
Frank. Tale, v. 2809.
find
Lorenzo) ther
him bequeathing
(o)"
s
blind Lancelot fays to
a poft
The
come from my
elegant author of
In the will of Prince ^Ethelftan, the eldeft fon of
his
Lo
matter, "
THE
King Etheldrcd
drinking horn, along with his martial accoutrements.
See
II.
GROSE
S
Treat, an anc. Jirmour.
(m)
Tour in
Scot.
v. 2.
p.
296.
See alfo Dr.
JOHNSON
S
Journey
to the
Wejlern IJlands.
p. 108.
Dub. ed. (n)
Orl. Fttriofo. Canto,
(o)
Aft
5.
S,
i.
i.
HERMIT
HERMIT OF
THE IRISH
B A R D
WARK WORTH"
is
&c.
87
remarkably faithful to the man Henry in an hunter s garb, and gives
(who
ners of the times) difguifes his
him
S,
a horn
The youth was clad in foreft green With bugle horn fo bright (p). In Ireland fome few centuries fince, Cuthcaire and Cracoire no Cornaire
(huntfmen and horn-blowers) were united characters In the Gothic Romances,
we
(q).
fometimes find the Bugle-horn break
Sometimes we difcover it ing an enchantment with a fingle blaft (r). hanging over the entrance of caftles, on the blowing of which, by an hafty courier or a wandering Knight, the porter appears on the battle errand and the nature ments, and enquires, whence the ftranger >his
of his bufinefs.
He
hies him inftant to the gate, And, as the horn did found, Lord Gal van s porters us d their fpeed,
And
inftant gather
d round.
Soon to the courteous queflion they An anfwer courteous gave, &c. (s).
May we
was fometimes fuffuppofe that the Bugle-horn the entrances of thofe ftately caftles which are now
not
pended over
(p)
Fit the Firft.
(q)
Collefl.
(r)
Farie Queen. B.
Jt rebus Hil. No. i.
12. p.
533.
ch. 8.
the Rev. Mr. (s) Ed-wy and Edilda, a beautiful Gothic tale, by See alfo DOUGLAS Poem of King Hart. C. i. St. 33.
WHALLEY,
of Briftol.
Part. 2.
"
nodding
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
SS Ci
to
nodding
their
in
fall"
many
parts of this
kingdom? For
the
fidions of romantic chivalry, have for their bafis, the real manners of and fuch times undoubtedly there were in the feudal times (t), Ireland.
The DUDAG, Vallancey fuppofes from its name, Was a very fhrill the Trumpet of brafs, dud fignifying the tingling of the ear, whence the noife of Horns and Trumpets (n). poetical compound dudatreachd, called Perhaps the Dudag was a fpecies of Clarion or odave Trumpet, is all very by the Latins, Lituus, and ufed by the cavalry (w). This But the want of a reprefentation of this inftrument, leaves fpecious.
wide room a
Now, O
for conjecture.
Trumpet, or Horn Pipe
the Pibgorn, or
Brien tranflates the word Dudag, then not fuppofe it to have been
Why
(x).
ufed in the ifland of Pipe, once fo generally
Horn
?
Anglefey (y)
GALL-TROMPA
the foreigners
implies
Trumpet, probably the
fhould properly, therefore, be placed in a which We had later period in this work ; as fhould alfo the either from the Englifh, or from the Holy Land, by means of fome of
Englifh
Trumpet
It
(z).
DRUM,
Quixote-like adventurers, who turned their arms againfl the was an Oriental invention ; Pagans. The Drum, according to le Clerc, a circumftance which feems to make for the latter conjedure.
our
(r)
Europ. (u)
Vide Seft.
Left, on Chival.
Colha.
tie
rebus
(w)
BURNEY
(x)
Iri/h Difl.
(y)
Vide BAR RI
Hit.
S //(/?.
Colic 8.
d
No
.
R.OBE RT so N
S
Hift. of
Char. yh.
View cf
the State of
13.
of Mu/ic. v.
NOT o N
Relics of the Welch, p. 4 (z)
and Romance.
i.
S
Memoir
i.
p.
on the
518.
CKWTH
Crtuth in Arch.
v. 3.
JONE s
Muf. znd Poet.
1 .
rebus Hib.
No.
13.
The
THE The CIBBUAL
R
I
S
I
H
BARD
S,
&c.
89
CORABAS, was compofed of feveral fmail plates of brafs, or fhingles of wood, faftened with a thong, that was held in one hand, and ftruck on the palm of the other now vulgarly or
;
a
called
Clapper or Rattle.
Syftra of the Egyptians,
the
"
named
This
(fays Vallancey)
was the ancient
in
Scripture menahnabim, agreeable to idiom, CignifymgtheJhakittg-Jbafa ng mRruments, tranflated
Hebrew
This inftrument, among others, was by LXX xi/XxAa, Cymbals founded by order of David, before the ark of the Lord, when he fetched it from Keriath Jearim And David, and all the houfe of (a)."
"
:
played before the Lord,
Ifrael,
y.i all
manner of inftruments made of
even on Harps, and on Pfalteries, and on Timbrels, and on Cornets, and on Cymbals (b)." The Cibbual was ufed by the Irifh
fir-wood,
in their choruffes, fions; as
at feftivals, at
was the bafe inftrument
CORN AN anan a bafe
CRONAN,
or
They had
(c).
a
funerals,
and on other public occa-
called,
word formed of
cor
mufic, and an or
alfo another inftrument of a fimilar
na
ture named,
IACHDAR-CHANNUS, (a)
Colka. de rebus Hib.
(b)
Sam.
facrifices
;
2. ch. 6.
(SANDYS
by the
v. i.)
Travailes. p. 186. Farad. Loft. b.
(c)
alfo fo to
named. laft
to
drown
the cries of
(BARON DE TOTT
human S
Mem.
No.
1
3.
v.
At
7. p. this
!
facrifices
were offered
in
this
kingdom, during the
91. and 317.
day, a tune
hummed
in
a low key,
is
called a Cronan
and the monotonous purr murmurred by a cat, while watching for her prey, The Iriih Cronan feems to anfwer to the Englilli Drumble. Vide MALONE S
parts of Ireland
is
Supple,
Vide Archxobg.
Colled, de rebus Hib.
many
Hebrews
by the Turks,
(Bo RL A SB S Hijt. of the Druids] and, I fear I muft add (and I write it Both Lady MOIRA and Mr. LEDWICH Druids, for a fimilar purpofe
Druidic hierarchy.
in
the
i.)
Britifh Druid?,
!) by the Irifh be decidedly of opinion, that human
to
Baflus.
13.
Cymbals were employed by
v. 5.
with horror
feem
No.
which was the Latin Cantus
:
Ed. of Shakefpear
s
Works.
V. Z-
p.
687.
N
The
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
90
The CORABASNAS
.
likewife,
was
a
inflrument of the
chorus
It confided of two circular plates of a complex form. of brafs, connected by a wire of the fame metal twitted in a wormlike manner, which jingled round the ftianks, when the plates were
ancient
Irifh,
of keeping upon by the ringers. It was ufed for the purpofe The word Corabafnas is compounded of cor mufic, b&fnas of i. e. an inftrument exact, keeping time, and nafc a ring, a circle,
ftruck time. 6es,
wherewith
.
to
mark the time
When ORGANS firft
in
mufic
(d).
this country, we have not learned friend thinks they were introduced
found their way into
been able to difcover.
A
foon after their invention.
They were
certainly in general ufe
in
and 8th centuries, about which time the Italy had frequent intercourfe. Religious of Ireland and of thofe countries, Yet we find no mention of an Organ in our Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, till the year 1641 i at that time, indeed, we are informed, there was an and France,
in the 7th
Organ and a Choir in the Friary of Multifernan, in the county of Weftmeath (e). According to Maitland, Organs were hardly known in Scotland before the reign of James I. who introduced them into the churches of that
It
is
kingdom
(f).
not recorded that the Flute was
known
to the ancient Irifh,
though an inflrument, with the model of which we are prefented in Yet it is highly probable, that this inftrument, the fhepherd s reed. or one of the fame nature, was in ufe amongft them. For in no na-
Ibid.
(d)
Six of thofe inftruments
the feat of the Right
Mufeum
were found (1781,)
Hon. Mr. Conyngham
j
in
digging up part of the Park of Slane,
one of them (reprefented
in the
Trophy)
is
in the
of Trinity College, Dublin.
ARCHDALL
(e)
Vide
(f)
Hift. of Scot.
S
Mwafl. Hib.
p.
737.
tion
THE IRISH BARD tion did mufic
how
could
on the
fway the
more
paflions
&c.
S,
that placid fucceffion of lengthened tones,
and infmuate themfelves
fenfe,
9
defpotically, than in this
into
our inmoft
:
and
which fwell feelings
(g),"
be
produced, but by means of the human voice, or fuch an inftrument ? This could not have been wholly effected by the Harp, the Horn, or the Bagpipe. Befides, the was always a favou
TABOUR
inftrument amongft the Irifh, of which the Flute, or an inftrument of the fame fpecies, has ever been the affociate. Perhaps then the rite
Irifh
READAN, FIDEOG
rather
which
Recorders,
LONLO1NGEAN
or
are
more fimple
ftill
were Flutes
in
(h), or
the conftruclion,
We
but extremely foft and fweet (i). find Hamlet calling Recorder, and thus encouraging Guildenftern to play on it
for "
:
;
"
"
a
Tis
Govern thefe ventages with your fingers breath with your mouth, and it will difcourfe moft eloquent mufic (k)." As Shakefpear was a religious obferver
as eafy (fays he) as lying.
and thumb, give
it
of coftume, it may be conjectured from the foregoing quotation, that And as the Danes remained the Recorder was a Danifh inftrument. awhile in
this country,
we may
infer
from thence, that they intro is unnoticed (at leaft
duced the Recorder here, though that inftrument under that name) by our hiftorians, and though amongft It
is
however more probable,
(g)
WEBB
now
in ufe
on Poetry and Mufic.
p.
16.
to
We
Dub.
them the
BLAOSG,
or
Concha
are inclined to think, that
the
ed.
VALLANCEY. "
(i)
not
that the Irifh had the Recorder from
the Danes, than that they owed Marina, as has been advanced.
(h)
it is
us.
Flutes
and
foft
Recorders."
MILTON. (k)
Hamltt.
Aft.
3.
N
2
Concha
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF as well as the Bagpipe, came to Ireland from the bleak regions of Scotland, where the Romans might have left it in
Concha Marina, fome of
their
hoftile
The
vifits (1).
Buccina, which,
according
to
Cafaubon, was the fhell of the Murex, was certainly one of the martial inftruments of the Romans for many ages (m) and as Virgil gives this ;
inftrumentto
his Triton,
to the Italian feas or in
our
j
not unlikely that the it is
indubitably
Now
feas.
it is
Murex was
peculiar
never found either in the Northern,
our Concha Marina, and that of the Scots, anfwer made of the fame
and appear to be exactly to the form of the Buccina, kind of
fhell.
Both
and in Ireland, Mead was formerly ferv-
in Scotland
hence, probably, the frequent and the feaft of Shells the Erfe and Irifh poems, of the Hall of Shells." This cuftom is not yet entirely exploded in Scot When Mr. Bofwell and Dr. Johnfon were at Mr. land. Sweyn s,
round
at
in this inftrument
feafts,
:
"
"
epithets in "
M
whifkey was ferved round in a Some of thofe Blaofgs ftill remain in Ireland one of them {hell (n). feen in the hand of a exaclly refembling a Triton s ihell (o), was lately
in the Ifle of Col, in the year 1773,
:
If Virgil does not exaggerate Waterford. peafant in the county of too much, the found of this inftrument muft be terrific :
ccerula Concha
Exterrens
freta.
^n.
10.
1.
209.
Frowning he fcems his crooked fiell to found, And, at the blaft, the billows dance around.
DRYDEN. (1)
Mr.
after the
BARE TT
i
makes
manner of Dante
;<
Charon,
made
Italian Library.
in the
the following "
:
remark on the word Cocca
form of that
Hift. of the Ita.
fliell-filli
Tong.
(o)
Vide
<.f
a umenti
s
epic
which the Latins and
Italians call
poem, written is,
the bark of
Concha and
Conca."
p. 45.
KE N NE T S Roman Antiq. p. 208. Bo SWELL S Journal a Tour to the Anticfu
FRE zzi
Cocca, vicioufly pronounced inftead of Concha, that
(n)
(m)
in
Heb, p. 359.
di Ercolur.t. a fplendid
Dub.
ed.
and curious work
in
6 Tom. publiflied by
order of the prelent King of Naples.
Small
THE IRISH BARDS, BELLS
Small
(fuch,
we mean,
as
&c.
were appended
93 to the tunic
of
the Jewifli High-Prieft (p), and afterwards employed by the Greeks and Romans for various religious purpofes(q), but particularly to fright en ghofts and demons from their were intro temples)
undoubtedly duced with Chriftianity into this kingdom, being univerfally then, as now, tingled occafionally at the altars of the Roman Catholics, by the Their ufe amongft the Chriftian officiating Prieft. Clergy, is fuppofed to have been coeval with their and the Miffionaries who religion were ferit to convert the Pagan Irifli, would not omit bringing with them, an appendage of. their profeffion, which is ftill thought fo ;
neceffary
(r).
But the period at which Large Bells, for Belfries, were firft ufed here, not fo eafily determined. Primate Uiher informs us, that Bells were ufed in the Churchesof Ireland in. the latter end oftheyth century. But as he does not. afcertain the ilze of the Bells, nor fpeak of Belfries, we may conclude, he only means the fmall Bells alluded to above. Sir John Hawkins, on the authority of Polyd. Virgil, afcribes the inven is
tion of fuch Bells, as are fufpended in the towers
orfteeplesof churches of Nola, about the year 400 but W. Strabo allures (s) that large fufpended Bells were in his time (the Qth century) but
to Paulinus us,
j
a late invention.
the
Now
as the perfecuted Chriflians,
Church, dared not openly
to
avow
their
in the
profeffion,
infancy of
much
lefs
fummon
a Congregation by the found of a Bell, we are in So that we cannot venture clined to lean to Strabo s affurance. to publicly
(p)
ExsJ.
(q)
Vide P o T T E R s Grecian
(r) bells,
(s)
ch.
28.
verfes 33. 34.
In Laoi na Stilge, an
Irifli
Antiq.
poem which was
written at a very earl/- period,
-m/iite
Iwh and
are mentioned as appendages of the priefthood. flift.
of Mufic. v. 4. p. 153.
ive
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
94
Bells in this kingdom, give an higher antiquity to large fufpended than the calm which immediately fucceeded the expulfion of the
Danes
which time, according to Walfh, the Chriftian Clergy from Round Towers into fteeple-houfes, or belfries
at
;
converted the
which
"
"
and
or bell-houies; doc
"
that language
it
is,
that ever fince, to
they are called in Irifh Clogbteachs, that
this prefent time,
"
.
j
ufe of them, (continues he)
latter
clog fignifying
a Bell,
and
belfries
is,
teach a houfe, in
(t)."
The
is faid to haveT>riginated in pradice of ringing Bells in change, for fome time, to that country (u). been have and to peculiar, England,
This practice was unknown in Ireland, till the clofe of the reign of King William III. when PEALS w ere firft brought over from England by Mr. r
John Dodfon, an eminent Brewer of Dublin, and a Captain of the Mi This gentleman (w) litia, which was raifed in the fucceeding reign. (I have been told) bequeathed a confiderable legacy to St. Patrick s
To
the purpofe of purchafing a large Bell (x). as he was a celebrated Ringer, we ought
Dublin, for
Cathedral,
Mr. Dodfon, probably,
to afcribe the inftitution of Societies of Ringers, in
were feveral
Societies there
of
fifting
men
of the
firft
(t)
Prsfpefl of the State of Irs!, p.
HA WK
(w)
Capt. Dodfon was
NS
Hijl. of Mufic.
London,
rank
(u)
i
in
v.
Dublin
at the time
he
for
;
vifited
of fuch it,
con-
(y).
416. 417. 4.
p.
153.
interred in St. Patrick
s
Church-yard, Dublin.
Doubting the authenticity of this information, though not the veracity of my informant, I begged of the Rev. Mr. James Verfchoyls, Librarian to the Cathedral, to have the Records of the (x)
Chapter feduloufly feavched
Though
this
proof of Mr. Verfchoyle (y)
was, in a
According his
for
fuch a bequeft.
The
fearch was carefully,
enquiry was not attended with the expeded fuccefs,
to
s
pol tenefs, and of his willingnefs to
Biftiop Burnet, Sir
youthful days, a
neceffary accomplifhment
it
afforded
but vainly made.
me
a convincing
;
member of a in
the
promote any
Mathew Hale, Lord Chief Society of Ringers.
education of a Jougleur.
literary undertaking.
Juftice of the
King
s
Bench,
-To found the Bells, was confidered as
Vide Mrs.
DOESON
S
Hi/I,
of the
Troubadours, p. 201.
5.
WHERE
THE 5.
I
R
I
H
S
B A R D
S,
&c
95
.
WHERE, AND BY WHOM, THE SCIENCE OF Music WAS GINALLY TAUGHT IN IRELAND.
ORI
Colonel Vallancey, in the refearches he kindly made for the author, difcovered traces of a OF CHORISTERS aniongft the ancient Irifh. It is probable, there were feveral of thefe mulical femi naries in the venture to kingdom each of which, we
COLLEGE
, may conjedture, a kind of Hall, belonging to the different Colleges of the Bards (z). Here, it is natural to fuppofe, the Bards and Oirfidigh were in truded in the fcience of mufic. Nor is it that the
was
improbable, Minftrels or vagrant Muficians, fo often mentioned by our hiftorians, were mufical geniuiTes, difcovered by difcerning people, amongft the lower claffes of fociety, and recommended by them to the Principals
of thofe Colleges, who admitted them, and had them maintained and educated (like the poor Scholars in the Jefuits mufic fchools in Ger The Principal of the many) (a) at the expence of the foundation (b) College of Chorifters was called explained, an re-Ceol.
It
ti bhios is
reSe ir;
i.
SEIR-TONN, a term which is thus who is over the mufic, of Ollamh-
he
e.
worthy of remark, that the Song of Solomon
the Seiri of Seirs
is
called
(c).
In thefe feminaries, the different fpecies of mufic were taught by
means of a mufical "
(z)
circle
called
DRAIEACHT
In the reign of James VI. (fays the elaborate
the inftrucYmg youth in the art of mufic and fmging
;
MAITLAND)
or
an aft
DROCHAID,
to
v/as paffed, relating to
ordaining, that the Magiftrates of Boroughs
and Patrons of Colleges, where fong-fchools were founded, do forthwith appoint proper mafters for that purpofe," Hift, of Scot, By this paflage we are taught, that fong-fchools were fornetimes appendages of learned feminaries (a)
BURNEY
(b)
This conjecture,
S
in
Scotland
State of Mufic in if
Germany,
;
an ufage analogous to the conjectural one
in the text.
v. i. p. 147.
admitted, will account for the
number of vagrant
muficians,
with which
Ireland formerly abounded. (c)
VALLANCEY.
Lett, to the
Author,
diftinguifh.
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
96
means
hence Dratocht from Ogham, the Profodiacal Circle poem, or fong. And hence our mufical modes were
it
diftinguiih
:
a tune, a
denominated, Go\\ttraidheachi, Geanttraidbeacht But we will wave any further account of thefe ableft
eye
preparing a
is
antiquaries
Treatife
and Swaadtraidheacbt. circles, as
on them
one of our the
for
public
(d).
THE WAR-SONG.
6th.
Selden in fpeaking of the War-Songs of different nations, fays, that ufe amongft the Irifh Kerns was called (e).
PHARROH
the one in
(of the nature of the
This fong
ROLAND
the
PAIN
(h)
of the
Normans
Welch
of the
ORTHIAN SONG (g)
and the
(recited the actions of
of the Greeks)
(f),
UNBENJAETH PRYan ancient hero called
Pharroh or Pharrogh (i), and was probably fet to that kind of mufic denominated Phrygian, which, according to Ariftotle, had a mad dening
(d)
While an army was preparing
effect.
The
for the onfet, this
fong
Scotch Pipers were originally taught the rudiments of mufic by means of flakes ftuck in
the ground.
(BEAUFORD.)
Hence,
I
prefume, Car, a mark, or bar in mufic.
Vide
SHAW
S
Gaelic
Difl.
DRAYTON
(e)
Notes on
(f)
Iliad.
(g)
Hijl.
(h)
BARRINGTON
(i)
The
B.
M.
v.
Univ. far
vulgar
S
Song. 6.
Polyolb.
13.
VOLTAIRE, S
Irifli
p.
fuppofe the fubjeft of
corruption of Pharroh) a terrible Gianr, of
was another Orlando.
BURNEY
69.
S
Hijl. of Mufic.
v. a.
Obferv. upon the Statutes, p. 292.
Vide
this
fong to have been Forroch, or Ferragh, (an eafy tell many a marvellous tale. Perhaps Pharroh
whom they
Oil. Innam. del
BOYARDO,
and Or/.
Furia. del
ARIOSTO.
SPENSER was
writing his Fairy Queen in the romantic caftle of Kilcoleman, (on his county of Cork), the fame of Forroch reached his ears, and he determined to find a his
poem.
While
eftate in the
place for him in
Accordingly we difcover "
figuring in B. IV. It is
own
c. 2.
f.
4-
rather extraordinary, that
the bold Sir
Ferragh
we
is
Ferraugh
hight,"
elfewhere noticed by Spenfer.
fhould find a Sir Ferragh
among
Ariofto
Vide s
his State of
I eland.
Knights.
was
THE IRISH BARDS, was fung
&c.
head by a Filea, to the harfh, but accompaniment of the different martial inftruments at the
97 "
"
fpirit-ftirring
a cuftom well
;
calculated to kindle valour in the breafts of the The fubfoldiery. ftance of the Pharroh may be found fcattered feveral Irifh
through
manufcripts for
but the mufic to which
;
Latterly, the
ages.
name of
was adapted has been
it
loft
WAR-WHOQP
this fong, like the
of
the Indians, was fhouted by armies as they rufhed to an aflault.
We find, a
that after the invafion of the Englifh, each Chieftain had
which was probably the name of an become mottoes to the
peculiar to his Tribe,
War-Cry
obfolete war-fong.
Several of thefe cries are
arms of the ennobled Defcendants of thofe brave warriours for inftance,
HARRIS
(k)
now
is
Ed. of
Duke of Leinfter
the motto of the
WARE
S
Works,
v. 2.
p.
The
163.
Scots boaft
s
CROM-ABU, Arms (k).
:
much of their
Pibrach, or
Cruineachodh, a fpecies of martial mufic, peculiar to the Highlands, which is faid to have a moft extraordinary effeft, even at this day, on the native Highlanders, in the time of aflion. The viftory
at
Quebec
in
the Highl. "
There
1
by them
Allifdrum
s
to the effeft of this mufic.
March
is
Irifh mufick, (fays
Effay on Influ. of Poet, and Muf. on of the nature of the Cruineachohd of the Scots.
Dr.
SMITH)
March, being a wild raapfody, made
s
efteemed by the
Irifli
attributed
Mac
odd kind of
a very
is
Mac-Allifdrum "
is
780,
Perhaps
Irifli."
Hi/I,
General of great bravery,
of Cork.
v. 2.
who was
in
bafely murdered s
known
Mac-Allifdrum,
p. 159.
Mallow, by a detachment of Lord Inchiquin
well
forces,
in
Munfter by the name of this day much Mac-Donell, was an
honor of this commander, to
in
alias
cold blood, at Knockrinofs, near
during the persecution
of the Englifti in
1646-7"
The
troops being aflembled together by this means, as foon as they came within fight of the
"
enemy, they "
chiromubau
"
Catha,
the
up
the war-cry, the
firft
particular
Abu
;
CRIOM-ABU, two words
fignifying, bellum, internecio
Chaldee H/llfUH.
"
44
fet
j
See Job xxxviii.
but the ancient general term
is
;
of Chaldee origin lyil
the fecond, exultare,
23.
In latter ages,
OHTI
and then rufhed on, to each tribe had their
preferved in the Leinftcr family, by
the motto,
CROM-ABU." Colleft.
O
dt rebus Hib.
No.
13. p. 50.
7th.
Mu-
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF MUSICAL CONTESTS.
^th,
We
have good reafon
MUSICAL CONTESTS to fupport us,
we
;
to
we want
ancient
the
that
believe,
but, as
Irifh
had
the authority of hiftory
they had.
will not venture to affert that
Yet
it
muft appear very extraordinary to our readers, that in a nation were ufually employed to abounding with muficians, many of whom occafion (1), there fhould be no tryal of fkill affift on :
every public
there was. According to Keating, indeed, gives us room to think this hiftorian, the Bards were obliged to afTemble annually at Tamar, in order to exhibit their mufical, as well
as poetical
compofitions
;
and thofe approved by the Aflembly, were ordered to be taught in This implies a Conteft (m). the Schools.
While (1)
It
is
bited at the
unnoticed.
extraordinary, that amongft the
Aonache or meeting on the Vide Hijt. of Irel. v. i.
In the Dublin Evening
(m)
which was re-publifhed
TO encourage Monday
the
ift
in July,
ift
Games
faid by
Mr.
O HALLORAN
to
have been exhi
of Auguft, on the Plain of Tailtean in Meath, mufic
1784, there appeared
Pojt of July,
the
is
following advertifement,
1785.
IRISH HARP.
mufic of Ireland, the following prizes will be given at Granard, OQ of Auguft next, to Performers on the Irifh Harp, under the decifion of Judges to be
the national
appointed by the company then prefent.
Seven Guineas to the beft Performer. the Second.
Five
to
Three
to
the
Two
to
the Fourth.
Third.
Mr. A. BURROUGHS,-^ Mr. CONNEL,
>
Stewards.
Mr EDGEWORTH, This Advertifement naturally awakened
was a
revival of an ancient one
able event.
But
my
;
my
curiofity.
then, I concluded that
curiofity at length inciting
me
it
At
firft, I
thought that
was intended
to
to write, for information
of Granard, ingenious gentlemen in the neighbourhood
I
this
mufical conteft
commemorate fome remark on the
fubjeft, to
two
received from them ample fatisfaction.
Mr.
THE IRISH BARDS, While
treating of the mufic of the ancient
SUPERNATURAL SOUNDS,
the
were
heard
often
fo
&c.
Irifh,
not forget
Poets
inform us,
their
which,
99
we muft
Thefe founds were emitted
amongft them.
in plaintive cries or loud fhrieks, by Spirits conjured up by fuperftition, in the darknefs of Paganifm. Sometimes thofe Spirits were heard foftly fighing along vallies fometimes roaring through
either
;
Now
they were feen in the fancied forms of departed Bards or fallen Heroes, failing on clouds j at another time, they were obforefts
:
ferved, riding on tempefts.
from natural
But
as thefe airy Beings were generated only confult for fatisfadion on this SEASONS, whofe eye not only glanced from
we need
caufes,
THE
head, the Author of
Earth to Heaven, but penetrated into the inmoft
Along the woods, along the moorifh
reccfles
fens,
Sighs the fad Genius of the coming ftorm And up among the loofe disjointed cliffs,
And And
fical
;
fraftur d mountains wild, the brawling brook cave prefageful, fend a hollow moan,
Refounding long
To
of Nature.
in liftening
a mind weak from ignorance, and
and melancholy found,
Fancy filled
s
ear (n).
with
idle tales, this
fo like the fwell of an
mu-
^Eolian Harp,
Mr. Dungan, a native of Granard, fettled in Denmark ibme years ago, where he realized a large which he determined to employ, annually, in charities to the country which gave him
fortune, part of birth, or
in
fome other way
that
might contribute to
its
welfare.
About two years
fince,
he
an Engli/h paper, an account of a prize having been offered in Scotland to the bed He was pleafed with the idea, and immediately wrote to a friend Player on the Highland Bagpipe. him to offer the prizes fpecified in the above Advertifement, to the bed in obferved
in
Ireland,
empowering
Performer on the large and (ri)
brilliant
Irifti
j
Harp.
The
conteft
was held
at the appointed
time.
The company was
but the performers were only mediacres, and the mufic common, and
ill
felefted.
Winter,
O
2
might
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
ico
might feem to be the voice of a Spirit, to which the creative ima gination would foon give a form (o). Spirits of a lefs gentle nature, were likewife often fuppofed to be heard, when
round the rocking dome, For entrance eager, howls the favage blaft, Then too, they fay, thro all the burthen d
Long groans
are heard, Jhrill founds
and
air,
diftant Jigbs,
That, utter d by the Demon of the night, Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death,
On
the deceafe of an Hera,
mournful founds
it
This
was
faid, the
Harps of
(p.).
his
Bards emitted
for the
Bards, while forrowing for their Patron, ufually fufpcnded to trees their negleded Harps, from whofe loofened firings, the patting gales might brafh foft (q).
plaintive tones.
very probable
Here we have the
which
vifible Being,
is
alledged to be
;
origin of the
BENSHI, an
in-
heard in this country, and in the Highlands of Scotland, crying moft piteoufly, on the death of the Defcendant of an ancient Houfe (r).
(o)
SANDYS
Sirens took
its
of the billows
his Notes on OvitPs Metam.) tells us, from Archippus, that the fable of the from the delightful harmony caufed by the finging of the winds and the beating
in a certain
Winter.
(q)
OVJD
ftill
(Vide
rife
(p)
is
feigns that
Bay.
the
Harp of Orpheus, after he had been it floated down the Hebrus :
torn to pieces by the female
Bacchanals, founded mournfully as
A
doleful tune founds
from the
floating lyre.
GARTH * OoW. (r)
PENNANT
S
Tour in
Sett. v. i.
p.
vol.
2. p.
162*
186.
VI.
BUT
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
BUT
VI.
101
to refume the thread of our little From the Hiftory death of that great Monarch Brien Boiromh to the invafion of the Englifli, the page of Irifh hiftory is defiled with domeftic blood. The dogs of war were let flip in every part of the kingdom. Chieftains re belled againft their Princes, or quarrelled amongft themfelves ; and hoftilities were carried on with The favage ferocity on both fides. :
Sun of Science again withdrew
his beams, the darknefs of ignorance over the face of the country, and the people once more relapfed into barbarifm. During this period, the pious intention of refcuing Jerufalem from the hands of the Infidels, was conceived in
fpread
itfelf
The Irifh not lefs fuperftitious, nor lefs adventurous than the other European nations, crofled for this wild expedition feveral of their Princes and Chieftains, who failed for the Land at
Chriftendom.
Holy
We
the head of their fubjedls and vafTals (s). find TafTo enume rating them with the forces of Goffredo, but in a manner not very flattering to
their country
:
Quefti de
1
La
alte felve irfuti
divifa dal
mondo
manda
ultima Irlanda
(t).
Yet Fuller fpeaks doubtfully of the Irifh having been concerned in the War but endeavours, at the fame time, to do away his doubts, by an inference very honourable to the mufic of Ireland Yea,
Holy
;
"
:
we may
"
(fays he) "
"
in this
well think, that
all
the concert of Chriftendom
Warre could have made no muiick,
been wanting
(s)
CARTE
(r)
Geru. Lib. Canto,
(u)
Hift. of the
S
if
the Irijh
Harp had
(u)".
Hifi. of
Ing. vol.
i.
i.
K/j Warre.
B. 5. ch. 23.
Amidft
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
io2
Amidft
this
were drowned.
voices of poetry and mufic clang of arms, the fwect The fhrill tones of the Corna, alone, were heard, to
reverberate from
hill to
hill,
and from rock
to rock,
through every
However, the Mufes were courted in fecret. part of the kingdom. The votaries of mufic, in particular, were affiduoufly attentive to this attention, fhe fometimes ventured to warble Soothed her. by
Thus, though fhe made no refponfive to her Harp. her voice and hand retained their fkill (w). proficiency in her art, This is evinced by the ftate of mufic in Ireland, when Giraldus
foft
ftrains,
Cambrenfis vifited
it
in the train of
Henry
II.
He
fpeaks with rap
and fcruples not to His words are too re
ture of the inftrumental mufic of this country, prefer
it
to that of
invenio
"
**
quam
iftius
all
other nations around.
omitted
markable to be
gentis
"
:
In muficis inftrumentis, commendabilem in quibus, prae omni natione ;
diligentiam
vidimus, incomparabiliter
eft
inftruda.
Non enim
in
his,
fumus) inftrumentis, tarda & verum velox et praeceps, fuavis tamen et morofa eft modulatio tam praecipiti digitorum jucunda fonoritas. Mirum, quod in tanta ficut in
"
"
Britannicis (quibus
afifueti
;
"
mufica fervatur proportio,
"
rapacitate,
inter crifpatos modulos,
"
tam
"
velocitate, "
"
cc
difpari
et
arte
organaque multipliciter paritate,
tam
difcordi
per omnia indemni, intricata, tam fuavi concordia,
confona
redditur et completur melodia, feu DiatefTeron, feu Diapente chordae in idem redeunt, concrepent, femper tamen ab molli incipiunt, et Tam ut cunda fub jucundse fonoritatis dulcedine compleantur. et exeunt ficque fub obtufo groffioris degracilium tinnitus licentius ludunt, latentixis ledant, laffiviufque demulcent, ut pars artis maxima videatur^ artem fubtiliter
modulos intrant
:
chordae fonitu,
(w)
Brompton
in
the reign of Hen.
II.
fays, that the Iriih
Harpers taught
in fecret,
and com
mitted their leflons to memory. "
velare,
THE IRISH BARDS, "
;
all
;
;
It
It
It
"
*
"
"
"
"
"
"
103
attention of this people to mufical inftruments
worthy of commendation ; in which their fkill is, beyond comparifon, fuperior to that of any nation I have feen For in :
thefe, the
modulation
of Britain, to which and precipitate, yet
wonderful U
&c.
I find
:
"
The
velare (x).
fical
out,
how
not flow and folemn, as in the inftruments
is
we
are accuftomed
at the
but the founds are rapid
It pleafing. in fuch precipitate rapidity of the fingers, the
is
mu
proportions are preferved
the midft of
in
;
fame time, fweet and
j
their
and by
their art, faultlefs through
complicated
modulations,
and moft
arrangement of notes, by a rapidity fo fweet, a regularity fo irregular, a concord fo difcordant, the melody is rendered harintricate
monious and
perfect,
whether the chords of the Diatefieron or
Diapente are ftruck together, yet they always begin in a
and end
in the fame, that all
may be
foft
mood,
perfecled in the fweetnefs of
They enter on, and again leave their modulamuch fubtilty, and the tinglings of the fmall firings fport with fo much freedom under the deep notes of the bafe, delight with fo much delicacy, and footh fo foftly, that the excellence delicious founds.
tions with fo.
of their
art
feems to
But fuch was the
lie
in concealing
it."
celebrity of the Irifh mufic in the century preceding
the arrival of Cambrenfis, that the
Welch Bards condefcended
ceive inftru&ions in their mufical art, from thofe of Ireland.
to re
Gruf-
fydhap Conan, King of North Wales, when he determined to regulate and reform the Welch Bards, brought over with him from Ireland
many "
4C
Irifh
Bards for
"
this purpofe.
Gruffydh ap Conan, fays Powel,
brought over with him from Ireland divers cunning muficians into Wales, whoj (he boldly afferts) devifed in a manner all the inftru-
(x)
Tefwg. Hit. diftinel. 3.
c.
n. "
mental
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
104
mental mufic that
"
now
is
there ufed
as
:
the apneareth, as well by
bookes written of the fame, as alfo by the names of the tunes and This affertion of meafures ufed among them to this daie (y
"
"
.."
Their Powell receives fupport from the learned and amiable Selden came mufique (fays he, fpeaking of the Welch) for the moft part (C out of Ireland with Gruffydh ap Conan, Prince of North Wales, "
:
"
ct
about King Stephen
The
Irifh
s
time
(z)."
Bards had not been long in Wales,
an opportunity of difplaying their
was made
when
there occurred
At Chriftmas,
fkill.
in the year
of Cardigan by Rhys ap Gruffydh, to which all the Poets, or Bards of Wales, were invited. Here poetical contefts were held, in which the Bards of North Wales 1176, a great
feaft
(amongft
whom
eminent)
won
It
was
it
is
in the Caftle
natural to fuppofe our
countrymen were pre
the prizes (a).
in a
Congrefs of Matters of Mufic, held by Gruffydh ap
the reformation of abufes amongft the Welch Minflrels, that the Welch tunes in the collection of the late Mr. Morres, of
Conan, the
for
Tower, (London), were
this
Congrefs
we may
fettled in their prefent notation (b). As conclude, confifted principally of the cunning
we may hence
Muficians brought over from Ireland into Wales,
the notation of the mufic then fettled, was afforded cians, they time,
having been already faid
all the
to
have devifed in a manner at
injlrumental mufic of the Welch.
have arrived gradually, even to the rude
191. edit.
(y)
HiJltfCatob.
(z)
Notes on
DRAYT.
(a)
WYNNE
S
(b)
Bu RNEY
p.
Palyolb.
Hi/f. of Wales,
S Hiji.
of Mufic.
infer, that
by thofe Mufi-
As
this
fiate in
this
notation muft
which we
find
it,
1584.
Song.
p.
LYTTIETON
200.
v.
2.
S
Hijl.
of Hen.
II.
p.
and
THE IRISH BARDS, and
as the tunes
which
it
&c.
105
has been the means of preferving, are fet
in full harmony for the Harp (c), we may venture to affert, that the Irifh had been long in pofTeffion of mufical characters, and of a flight
knowledge of Counterpoint
;
for
both of which,
it
will appear
elfewhere, they were probably indebted to the Greeks (d).
But we are in poffeflion of an irrefragable proof of our claim to the notation of the Welfh tunes above-mentioned that is, a Pfalm tune ; in the fame notation, which we will here exhibit.
PIfilm
ii
in 31 1 s 3
v
dirt f
-
^N H *
i
i
v
M M j
>
/
)
77
5
J
-* j
^-,
This mufical curiofity was given to Mr. Beauford, (the kind commu nicator) by a Popifh Prieft, who took it from a MS. perhaps a MifTal,
which had been
for
many
generations in one of the
families of the
Cavanaghs. Mr, Beauford accompanied this communication with the This is evidently fet for the Cruit (or Pfaltery, following remarks : "
"
ct
name
as the ters in
"
ages, (c)
(d)
The characimports), and appears to be a pfalm tune. it is written, are the Latin or Etrufcan of the middle
which
found
BUR KEY
S
at this
day on a number of fepulchral monuments in
Hift. of Muftc.
See Appendix. No.
v.
2.
II. "
Britain
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
io6
and were ufed in this ifland in the i6th from a variety of inscriptions on tombs, &c. The century, anmufical notation therefore before us, can probably claim no higher be a fpeand or i6th the centuries, than perhaps, might, ijth tiquity Nor doth cies of notation ufed by fome Monk in his private hymns. and the WelSh notation given by Dr. Burney appear to be older neither of them are the aboriginal characters of the Bards." Perhaps
Britain and
<e
"
"
1C
"
"
"
Ireland
;
as appears
;
Mr. Beauford brings the ^Era of this notation a little too much ward ; yet Dr. Burney feems to favour this opinion. But we
mufical anti
leave this controversial point to the difcuifion of future quaries,
and
"
d purfue our purpos
THOUGH
VII.
for
will
theme."
the Englifh during the Middle Ages (the period to
which we have now brought down our enquiries) kept the natives in a ftate of abfolute anarchy, refufed them the privileges of fubjeds, and only left them the lands they could not fubdue yet did our mufic and poetry ftill flourish. So deeply rooted in the minds of the Iriih was the paffion for thofe arts, that even the iron hand of tyranny :
could not eradicate lofs
it
:
the defpondency, indeed, occafioned by the its ardour.
of their liberty, damped, in fome degree,
On fion
the revival of Literature in the iith century, after the conver-
Norman
of our
reftore things
eftablifhed
;
(e)
O CoicoR.
(f)
The
Duald Mac v.
Jail
former
Iriih
attempted, ineffectually, to Filean Colleges were re-
The
ftate.
but their endowments were not
pline ftrid (e) Charles II. (f).
of Eo -tius
enemies, the
their
to
however they
:
of thefe Schools was kept in
Mac Egan,
in
Firbit ftudied.
the reign
were
the
of Charles
Remarks on Ejfay
I.
liberal,
fupported
nor their difci-
till
the
reign
of
county of Tipperary, under the Profeflbrfliip
and
on the
it
was
in that
Ant. of the Jr.
Seminary that the celebrated
Langu, in CollcS
de
rebus
a-
The
THE IRISH BARDS, The
order of the Bards was
OLLAMH RE SEANACHAS
now and
107
divided into two
viz.
claffes,
OLLAMH RE DAN
OLLAMHAIN RE SEANACHAIDHE
The
&c
(g).
were Hiftorians and
Their office was confined to certain families and Antiquaries. ; they held their properties Of this clafs were by. hereditary right. Maul-
O
conry and
Mac
The former wrote a chronological Liag. with the Monarch Logaire A. D. 428, and
mencing 1014: the latter was author of the EIRON, which clofes with the abdication of year
The
OLLAMHAIN RE DAN (whom
we
Poem, com
ending in the
ANALA
CHOGAIBH
or
Donogh A. D. 1064 (hall in
(h).
future diftinguifh
by the fimple appellation of BARDS) were Panegyrifts or Rhapfodifts, in whom the characters of the Troubadour and Jougleur of Proven$e (i) feem to have been united. Each Chieftain entertained in his Caftle one of thefe Rhapfodifts, who, while he, his family and guefts were afM fembled in the great Hall, around the recited in groaning board verfe, to the accompaniment of his Harp, the praifes of his Patrons "
whom
Anceftors, or the compofitions of the ancient Bards from
he
was himfelf defcended.
many
(g)
of *
of
Homer s
Sometimes the fubjecls of his fongs, like narrations, were founded in hints taken from ex-
O CoNOR. STANIHURST
this period, (vide
HOLIN SHED
S
in
his
Defcriptioti
of Ireland compiled
Ch.onicle} fpeaks thus of our language
from feveral Authors
and Bards
"
:
The toong
ftiarpe and fententious, and offereth great occafion to quicke apophthegms and proper allufions. Wherefore their common jefters and rimers, whom they terme Bards, are faid to delight paffinglie thefe that conceive the But the true Irifh indeed differeth fo grace and propertie of the toong. is
"
"
"
much from
that they
or underftand
if.
commonlie fpeake, that fcarfe one
Therefore
it
is
preferved
Ire.
v.
2.
among
in
five
hundred can either read, write,
certeine of their
poets
and antiquaries.
"
p.
(h) (i)
12."
O HALLO RAM Vide Mrs.
S
HiJI. of
DOB SON
S
deleftable Hift. of the Troubadours.
P
2
travagant
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
io8
fometimes they were before his time travagant tales propagated long and often extemporaneous effufions of wit and founded in fads It was the mirth which from him flowed ,
:
humour,
abundantly
prevailed
adage
on the
latter
(k).
occafion, that
to this
rife
gave
well-known
:
In
Hall
the
Beards
wag
all.
fome
deemed
facred, thefe Rhapfodifts, whofe perfbns were ftill Nobles in times indulged in fatire and invedive, they held the
As
awe (1) and gifts were occafionally beftowed on them mufe in good humour."
to
;
much
keep their
"
The influence we will illuftrate
:
of their rhymes too was aftonifhing. This pofition When the Earl of Kildare, while Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, was fummoned by the King (Henry VIII.) to England, to anfwer certain charges brought a^inft him, he entrufted the AdmiA rumour, foon after the Earl s niftration to his Son, Lord Thomas. departure, being fpread,
Mr.
(k)
MA CP HERS ON "
not reaching us "
follies
it
:
The
reprehends
Grecian Bards at
accounts very plaufibly for the ludicrous competitions
ludicrous
is
local
are loft in length
feftivals
had been executed in the Tower,
that he
of
and temporary time."
were often extempore
The Bard
;
and
panegyric, turned libeller immediately
dm ck
he
V.-.
commanded .f
my
filence in the
prince the
moon
;
mo ft
us,
and
that the
if his
Irifh.
the
fong.
Bard,
if
b.
8.
he was not well paid for his
audience was not attentive to his mufic and poetry,
imperious manner.
as a prefent,
when
fongs of the
:
advancing, meditates the
fomewhere informs
The
Great Brit.
.
HOLING SHED
(1)
of the Bards
ceafes to pleafe,
fatire
Intro, to H,ft. of
A
Welfli Bard boafts that
he would certainly bellow
it
on
me."
"
fhould
EVANS
I
Spec.
of Wtlfli Poet.
and
THE IRISH BARDS, and
&c.
109
whole family were threatened with the royal vengeance, this raih young Man, by the advice of his affociates, determined on re venging the injuries of his family. While Cromer, who was both Primate and Chancellor, was pathetically to him the that his
reprefenting
weaknefs and iniquity of
intended enterprize, in a Council aflembled in St. Mary s Abbey, (Dublin), Nelan, a Bard who waited in his train, inftantly began to chant forth the praifes of Lord
rafhnefs,
his
Thomas, in his country rhymes extolling his greatnefs, chiding his delay, and calling upon him to take immediate revenge in the field for the The effufions of this ignorant and heated injuries of his family. ;
"
"
"
Rhapfodift (continue my Authors) had unhappily a greater influence than the fage Counfels of the Prelate, and the
young
"
Geraldine rufhed forth
But Nelan too.
s
at the
head of
his Irifh train
powers lay not merely in perfuafion
He prefumed
beftow on the
:
(m)."
he was a
jefter
to interrupt the Chancellor in his exhortation, to
young Nobleman the
appellation of Silken Tbomas> were embroidered with iilk (n). Perhaps the Irifh Bards in thofe days were privileged to jeft with their Patrons ; and occafionally aflumed, like the French and Englifh Minftrels, the At an early period, indeed, the CLEASAMHcharacter of Buffoon.
becaufe his domeftics
NAIGH
or Jefters,
liveries
muft have conflituted
a diftind clafs of the officers
belonging to the State in this Kingdom, for in the Hall of Tamar (o). place for them -
Several of the
exploits of
Poems
Fin and
his
Hift. of Irel.
attributed
by the Authors of the Modern Univ*Y\
(n)
HOLINGSHED.
(o)
Celled, de rsbus Hib.
No.
difcover a particular
to Oifin, in which the feigned fubordinate officers are celebrated, were the
productions of the Bards of this period,
(m)
we
few of them being more *
12. p. 529.
ancient
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
no
ancient than the
nth
or I2th centuries, as
may
eafily
be proved from
fome terms of language, unknown to the Iriih in the earlier times. Thefe poets, in general, gave to their Finian Heroes, a ftature and mufcular ftrength more than human. In this, however, they have been furpaffed by the Erfe Poets, who have made Fin the fon of cubits ! Many of thefe compofitions were Cumhal, a Giant of fifteen
intended for the amufement of the vulgar, (who delight in the mar at entertainments, weddings vellous) and were recited, or rather fung And on fuch weak foundations, fays the venerable and wakes (p).
O Conor,
TEMORA
and
they are, in
(q).
general,
that
in
fliort
Vide Tale of
Englifli Minftrcls.
by the
feveral other old Englifli Ballads
;
to be fung to the accompaniment of the Harp; meafure which was formerly fung to that instrument
Ode
on the
Grave of Arthur.
Sir Topas, Sir Eevis of Southampton,
of which, according
all
Of
to the Harp. they were compofed, in his
FIN GAL
Thefe poems were evidently calculated
(p)
for
has Mr. Macpherfon ereded his gorgeous Fabrics of
this
Many
meafure
of thefe too,
to
Guy of Warwick, and
^r. Warton, were fung, at the time
Doctor has given us a fpirited imitation
the
like the
old Engli/h Ballads juft mentioned,
Another proof that they were intended to be were of the nature of the Romance Perhaps the Irifh poems in queftion fung or recited in public. and his Squire, in the of Roncefvalles, which the peafant was fmging as he pafled Don Quixote Eftando los dos en eftas platicas vieron, que venia a paflar por donde eftavan of Tobofo.
an introductory addrefs begin with
to
an auditory
:
"
ftreets "
"
"
el ruydo que hazia el arado, que arraftrava por el fuelo, juzgaron atria madrugado antes del dia a yr a fu labranca, y affi fue que devia de fer labrador, que mala la huviftes Francefes en venia el labrador cantando aquel Romance, que dizen la verdad
uno con dos mulas, que por
:
:
"
effa
de
Rocnefvalles."
SHAKESPEAR Englifli.
p.
a. lib. 5. c. 9.
alludes to the cuftom of fmging to
In the Fir/I Part of Hen. IV.
Glen.
I
the
Owen Glendowcr
Harp
amongft the
:
can fpeak Englifh, lord, as well as you,
For
I
was
train
d up
in the
Englifli court
Where, being young, / framed
Many an (q)
at a very early period
thus addrefles Hotfpur
Englifh
ditty.
to
the
;
harp
Aft. 3. Se. i.
Lett, to the Author.
In
THE IRISH BARD In the LAOI
.
NA SEILGE,
alluded to above, tranfcribe to
;
ferve as
fictions
there
is
S,
m
&c.
one of the moft celebrated of the poems which we will here
a beautiful epifode
not only for the gratification of the Irifh reader, but alfo a fpecimen of the metre, di&ion, and prevailing poetical
of thefe ages.
Frivolous as
fuch Reliques of ancient poetry may appear to the faftidious antiquary, it is by means of them, alone, that we can trace the rife and progrefs of national poetry or illuftrate the hiftory of the human mind. ,.
The POEM
opens with an exclamatory interrogation from Oifin to concerning a Chace performed by Fin, unaccompanied by any of the Fenii. The Saint declares he never heard of this chace, and requefts that Oifin will narrate the particulars of it. Oifin wanders from St. Patrick,
the fubjecl, to dilate on the bravery of the Fenii, the poetic powers of Fergus, and the prowefs and munificence of Fin. A kind of reli gious controverfy then enfues. in which the venerable Bard fpeaks ra
At
ther too irreverently of the Deity. to
commence
his tale,
and he proceeds
APHADRUIG Dhamh
length
da
Patrick urges
manner
him
:
gidh adbbhur caol
bbeith riomh ancachtatbh
Auhreofad,
St,
in the following
ard ;
taolm fo bhron,
donnas arinneadh
leo
an
tfealg.
La
ii2
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF La da Ar
ralbh Finn Flaith,
an ffalcV an Alnihaln utrt
Co ffacaldh
An
chuige fo ro,
Ellld og, ar aleim luth.
Glaodhas air Sgeolan agus air Bran.,
Sdo
Can
leig
Gur
lean
Nt ralbh
A Ar
lorg
san
fa Toir an
leis
dha
Go
Ar
fead orra araon
fhlos do chach
;
61,
Eilid mhaol.
ach
chain, agus e fein ;
na h Eilide go dian,
Sliabh Guilinn na rlan reidh.
n dol don Elid an fa
/
Sliabh,
{Finn na diaigh fa dha chain, )
Nir ffios
do
da
Do ghabh an Do gabh
folr no fiar,
Fia an fa chnoc,
Finn fair fan
Sa dha
chain fiar,
/
Sa Phadruig na r Vole
Mar
hug an
Chualaigh Finn,
triar
Sliabh
ar luth le
;
Dia,
a dha
ccul !
Snior chian uadh y
Gul ar bhruach Locha Sheimh
;
San do bhi ann macaoimh mna
Bo fearr
call
da ffacaidh
fe.
Do
THE IRISH BARDS, Do
Agus a Beol ar dhath na ccaor
Do
bhi acnels
Sa
Ar
leaca
mar am
;
blatb
do bhi a Folt,
oir
realt aeir
Sa Phadruig da
Do
113
bhdn mar an Aol.
dhatb an
Mar
&c.
mar an R6s,
bhi agruaidh
arofg do bhi;
a dreach
ffeiceadb
bhearfa do Shearc don rnhnaoi !
Druideas Fin aigiarradh
Sgeil,
Air mhnaoi Sheimh na ccuach n
oir ;
dubhairt, a Rioguin na ngruaidgh ngil,
Is
An An
do Jheilg ni ni
Is
A
bhfaca tu mo chain fa
l
mo
tolr ?
fpeis,
fhacaidh me do dha choin
;
Ri na Feine gan Tar,
As meafa
An
ghoil.
bhean bhlaith, no do mhac
No da
?
he an neach fa bhfuil do chaoi ?
Ainnir mhfn as
No
fath mo
do cheile fuair bas,
e
A
learn
cadas
fa
aille
dreach.
bhuil do bhron ?
Ainnir og na mbos min,
No an
feidlr ffurtacht
As dubhach
(ar Finn}
Horn thu bheith
mar
chim.
Fail
ii
4
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF Fail oir do bbi fo
Do Do
mo
gblaic,
raidh ainnir na mbos reidb
;
,
uaim an fa tfreabh,
thuit
Sin adhbbar mo bheith abpein.
As
geafa nar
fh idling Laoch fa a Ri na
Cbiiirim do cheann
Mar Do
m fainne
dtugair huit
Cur na
caoin
heas na fruth
le
ngeas ni
,
6
n dian.
cbneis chaoimh
bruach an Locha Jhndmh
Le furall mna na mbos
Do
Ffian ;
ais
/hulling Finn,
Tra bhain Eadach da
Go ndeacha
ar
;
;
reidh.
chuartaigh an Loch fo chuig,
Snior /haig ann cluld no cearn,
bh/uair an fainne caoin ar ais,
Go
Do
huit o Rioguin
na ngruaidb ndearg.
fuair Fin an Fainne caoin,
Ni
An
rainig
Do Ri
Do
athabhairt go
no,
bhian ge taoim truagb.
bhimairne Fiana Finn,
An Ag
leis
tra do rinneadh Seanoir Hath,
Almhain Jhlim, na Jluagh feimh,
imirt ar eunlaigh, ag
A
cloi/iean ceoil,
61,
fo bronnadh fead ! Eirghios
THE IRISH BARDS, Eirgbios Caoilte
As
An
diafraigh
&c.
ameafg chdicb,
drd do gacb Fear,
os
bhfaca ftbh mac-Cubhail fbeil ?
Abhuidhean feimh na Jleagb feang.
Detrghe Conan-mac-Morna, Sni chuala riamb
Ma
ceol dob* aoibbne,
ata Finn ar iarraidgb,
Go
Mac
raibh ambliadbna a chaoilte.
Cubhaill,
ma
theajiaigb
Abbaoilte chruaidb na ccos ccaoil;
Gabbaim cbugam do laimb, Os ceann cbaich abheith mo Ri.
Do
bbimalrne an Fhian fa bhr6n,
Fa cheann ar Jioigh do
bheitb da r n ditb
;
No gur mhaoith oruinn gion ghdir, As dhuinne Vadhbhar bheith a caol.
Gluai/lear linn as Almbain amacb,
Buidhean cbalma na ccatb critadb
;
Andeigb adbd chain agus Finn, Triur grinn
le
am
bearthaidhe buadh. *
Bhi mlfe
is
Caoilte air ttuis,
San Fbian
idle
Go JJiabb Guilinn
Mar
go dlutb o
nar ndall
;
huaigb,
a rugamar buadb ar cbdcb.
n
2
Ambarc
ii
6
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF Amharc
beg da
dugamar uainn,
Andelgh na tuag, cead chi an Fhian,
Ar
bhruach an Locha fa bhron,
Acb
Seanoir
Do chuadhmar Is
nile
e crien?
na dhall,
chuireadh fe grain ar gach fear
Cnamha loma
Ar
M6r, agus
air ceileamh gnaol agus gean,
Do mhearfamarne gur dith Do thug ar an Laoch a No gur an
Bt, bheith
gan chruth
iafgalre do bhi fe,
Thairiig accein
an fa ? Smith.
Fiafralghim do nfhear chrion fgeul,
An Is
j
do bki crion,
bhfaca tu laecb an-ghoil,
iad ro tmhe ar Eilid
og-,
is
feoil,
dim
chain ?
Nior raidh Finn ar bhagbail na fgeul,
Gurab
No gur
e fern
lelg le
An fear
Ri na
e
\
ar luth fdo bhi dian.
Tra d aithnamairne, an Gurab
Ffian
Caoilte arun,
fin,
Finn feln do bhi ann,
Do kigeamar tri gdrtha go bruid, Do chuiread Buic as gach gleann.
;
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
117
Dcirghe Conan maol go garg y Sdo nocht acholg go dian,
Do
mhallaigh fe go bcacht
Da
mbeltb fhios
Do Os
tu
Mo
y
d Fhlnn
mballaigh fo feacht don Fheln.
Is
agam gur
lu Finn,
bhaimfinn an fean chknn Hath Jin diof,
nar mboidh
no riamb,
anois,
ghoil ariamh, no
mo ghniomh*
Se mo aon-locbt air do chruith,
Can an Fhian wle Go n
do bheith martair
deargain orra mo gbaltb
is
Sgo ttigidb Horn bbur leactht
Eirghios
Ofcar, fear fa
;
mo Lann,
is
bhur
la.
1eann>
Sgnir dod cbaint ni fa mo,
A
Chonain mhaoil ata gan
Nach rug
Mar am As gur
A
cbeill,
beim anagbaidh gleoidh.
bladb okas ata Finn ditbbach Horn e bheith
Chonain mhaoil ata gan
mur
taoi
5
cheill,
Bhrisfinn do bheal go di an frnaois,
Js
ii8
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF As
beag mo fpeis an do ghlbr,
Amhic
Oi/in,
ba mor baois
;
Snacb rajbh do neart an Fhionn fein,
Ach acagnomh amheir
O
go di an S?naois.
n la far torchradh Cubhall na cellar, Sgiath n oir
Le Mac-Moirne na
Ta fibh
o
fholn aig ar
Sa Maircan d inne
rfdibirt ni
;
;
da bhur
n
deoin.
As fmne fcln do niodh an gniomb,
As
ni fibhfe clanna
Baoifgne bog
;
Beidh do mhac Oiftn ad dhiaigh,
Ag
iomchar leabhar ban agus
Ach fguirmuid dar
O
"
Is
nglor fann,
nach caint do dhearbhas ach gniomb
feach am
anois
a
ffioch.
thug Ofcar fitheadh prap, do theith Conan ameafg chahh
Is
Do
;"
lath air cbdich,
Neart ar lamb as ar
Do
clog.
j
ghlac Comairce ag an hhfein,
Fuafgailt do as pein bhais.
D eirghidear Do Idir
an Fhian, go garg,
chofg Ofcair
nan arm
n aigh
;
mo mhac agus Conan Maol
Cur cheangladar fith
agus Pairt. Fiafraigheas
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c
.
jj
Fiafraigheas Caoilte an dara feacht,
Do
da
mhac-Cubhaill nar chleacht
tar,
haca do thuathaibh de
Abbeir do ghne ariocht mar ata
?
Gluilinn, do raidh Finn,
hghean
Geafa mo cheann gur chuir
si,
Dhol do Jhndmb ar an Loch iarraidh an fhainne do fgar
Ag Nar
thigeamaoid ne Jlan on ccnoc,
Do Go
raidh Conan nar bholc mein,
niocfaidh Guillin
Mar
a
D eirgbe ->
Go
ji.
mhoill,
an fhian anoir fa nidr,
rhuireamar ar fgiathe faoi go deas
;
Gulllnn o huaidh,
-:>h
Ar feadb No
gan
cculrfidh ft Fionn ina cbruth fein.
Go rugamar
A
le.
Fionn ar ghuailllbh fear.
chuig naoidhche, ar fcadb ccuig /,
tocbailt
an chnuic, gan
tlds
dar Jluagb,
go dtainig chugnmn, do pbreib,
Guilleann amach as an uairnh,
Cuach chearnach do bhi Se bhi
Do mhac Gur
i
Idn,
laimh Ghiillinn
coir,
Cubhaill na lann ngear,
thoirbhir si
an tofgar
oir.
Ar
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
120
Ar
dighe dbo as an cconi,
61
na luighe ar fhod go fann
e
Is
Cur jhas na Rigb na
Feine,
;
na gbne,
is
cbriitb,
fna rfeach feang.
(r)
Oifin concludes his relation with an acccount of the extravagant
joy of the
Fenii,
on
their
Fin
beholding
to
reftored
his
priftinc
form.
But It
is
prevail, to
return from this excurfion
to
obferved by the elegant Percy,
and Hiftory affumed a more
plain
fimple profe
more amufing than bufmefs chiefly
;
the fairy fields of poefy
that after Letters began
ftable form,
by being committed
ufeful.
and
And and
in
proportion as
it
delight, they gave
became
off their recitals with fuch
fet
marvellous
were calculated to captivate grofs and ignorant minds This, we find, was precifely the cafe in Ireland at the period For verfe ceafed to be ufed in our
before us.
2th or
1
1
3th century, and confequently
their
more and more
fictions, as
about the
:
to
the fongs of the Scalds or Bards began to be
to entertain
into embellifhment,
to "
hiftorical it
(")."
now
writings
was no longer
fubfervient to truth.
(r)
In page
was certainly
"
57 of the Appendix, (note framed
to the
harp
:"
it is
e,)
in the
I
have given an epitome of
common
this epifode.
ballad-meafure, and fung at
this
This poem
day by our
Fin-Sgealaighthe. (s)
Ejfry on anc. metric. Romances.
Rtliques.
v.
2.
We
THE IRISH BARDS, We Ages
have
faid that
;
121
Mufic flourished
in Ireland during the Middle affertion, a cloud of authorities could
In fupport of this
(t).
be adduced
&c.
we will make a few fuffice. John de Fordun, a who was fent over to this kingdom in the I4th cen
but
Scottifh Prieft,
tury to colled materials for an Hiftory of Scotland (u), exprefsly fays, was the fountain of mufic in his time, whence it then in his began to flow into Scotland and Wales. John that Ireland
Major,
ric
on James
I.
of Scotland,
touched the Harp
While mufic and poetry were
(t)
in
flourifhing
Ireland, indelicate Ballads fet to rude mufic,
were the delight of the Nobility and Gentry of England.
John Baldwin,
of Solomon, phraftly declared in Engli/h
A. D.
to the reader, "
"
Would God
of lecherous love, that
Vide
houfes."
AMES
panegy
Prince another Orpheus, who more exquifitely than either the Highlanders, or calls that
metre,
that fuch
published
The
in
Canticles or Balades
1549, thus concludes
Songes might once drive out of
his
addrefs
the
baudy balades commonly are indited and fung of idle courtyers in princes and noblemens This depravity of Typ. ant. v. i. p. 55z. fee alfo p. 636 and 666. office
which Mr. Baldwin fo coarfely reprobates, muft have been gradually dealing on his coun Henry Lawes, (if we may take a Poet s word for it), was the firft improver of the fecular trymen. tafte,
mufic of the Engli/h.
MILTON
S
elegant Sonnet to this favourite mufician, begins thus
:
Harry, whofe tuneful and well-meafur d fong Firft taught our Englifh mufic how to fpan
Words with juft note arid accent, not to With Midas ears, committing ihort and So much for the Secular Mufic of the Mufic, which
we
ftiall find in
Englifli.
Now we
a very fimple, unimproved
will turn for a
ftate.
A. D. 1550, which contains fo publifhed by John Marbecke, to be fung in Churches, but three or four forts of notes are ufed, viz.
The whole
red
lines only.
But
their
filled
(U)
the
to their
Church
In The Booke of common praier, noted,
much of
the
Common
Prayer, as
is
with chanting notes on four
p. 531 knowledge of harmony quickly encreafed "which
may
be
fung
to all
in proportion as their practical (kill encreafed calls
&c.
moment
Ibid.
in foure parts,
Pfalmes
is
fcan long,
Church Mufic of
his
day the
:
;
for in the year
mufical inflruments.
For Prinn
in
his
1 563 was printed The whole Yet their tafte did not refine
Hijtrio-maftix,
publimed
in
1663,
bleating of brute Beajts.
O CONOR.
R
the
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
122 the
who were the moft eminent Harpers then knoivn (w). Such are men who never difcovered an inclination to flatter
lrifi>
the praifes of
Let us
Ireland.
now
hear our countryman John Clynn, the Annalift,
O Carrol, the Harper, and his pupils, not only ihews the flourifhing ftate of mufic in this kingdom at the time he wrote (A. D. 1340), but gives us ground to believe the exwho
the merits of
in extolling
of a School of Harpers.
iftence
&
"
Tympaniftam
&
praerogativa citer
viginti
virtute
cum
etfi
non
omnium tamen
inventor, "
Camum O
Carvill,
famofum
Cythariftam, in arte fua Phcenicem
qui
$
"
aliis
fuifTe
ea pollens
;
Tympaniftis, difcipulis ejus, cirartis muficag chordalis primus
fuerit
&
praecedentium ipfe ac praedecefforum et Director extitit."
contemporaneorum Corrector, Doctor
On
this
That
1.
His
me
with the following
:
O Carrol,
this
allowed to be the 2.
a learned friend favoured
pafTage
obfervations
abilities
Carolan of more modern days,
like
was
mufical performer of his age.
firft
were difplayed on two inftruments, the
Tympanum
This feems the obvious meaning and yet what great execution could be expected on the Tabour, fo as to merit fo high an
and the Harp. eulogium (x)
"
Jate
Even
?
Le Comte de
(w) 3.
;
day
HOGHENSKI
inftrument,"
among
Mr. PE
(the
L art.
Harp)
NNANT,
and to be, univerfally held. beggars by finging, both get faftiioned
like
bourines
but our traveller
;
fives."
Tabour
Harfe en
fpeaking of the
the ignoble performers.
Pipe and
fpeaks thus of the practical knowledge of the
Les Irlandois font ertre tous
:
"
(x)
he played on Tabours of different
if
Tour
in
les 1
Ency
Welfo
Wain.
SANDYS,
peuples ceux qui palfent pour jouer
in
v.
his
and comfort
fizes,
Irifli
le
of
Harpers at
inieux de cet
lop.
Muficians, fays, that the Tabourers were reckoned i .
p.
440.
In
this light
they feem to have been,
account of the Egyptian Moores, fays,
that"
the
their poverty
; playing withal upon drums, which are Thefe drums, from their form, feem to have been tarnp. 85. knew not how to name them. Amongft the Continental the
relief,
Travails,
Peafants,
are the favourite inftrument
,
and are confined to that happy
clafs
of people.
which
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
which we have no intimation, the merit muft come praife.
3.
I
am
123 fhort
of the
therefore inclined to think
That by Tympanifta, Clynn would underftand a mafter of who beats time with a baton, which in Latin
mufic, or the perfon could not be more
concifely exprefled than by Tympanifta, the baton
and the board making a drumming 4.
This interpretation
Cangc, voc.
Tympanum
is
noife.
fupported by GlofTographers, (fee Du and by the context, where ;)
and Medius
we find though his twenty fcholars were Tympanifts, that is, matters of the fcience, yet they were his inferiors he excelled his predeceffors and contemporaries in touching the mufical chords. He does not :
fay thofe fcholars were Harpers, for that they were in perfection ; they were more, they were Compofers and Matters of mufic, or
Tympanifts.
The mentioning the number of his difciples, calls to mind the 5. Welfh School of Bards, in Pennants Wales. There the Teachers and Students are accurately diftinguifhed, and feem to confirm what is
advanced
(y).
Of poor O Carrol and his pupils the fate was melancholy. We are informed by our Annalift, that they, together with their patron, Lord Bellingham, were cruelly mafTacred by an armed multitude, which rofe to oppofe the oppreffive meafures of the Nobles.
While mufic was pofe,
flourishing in Ireland,
(y)
Tour in Wales,
R
its
profefTors,
we may
fup-
This appears to have been the
were honoured and refpecled.
v.
2
i.
p.
441. Ciife
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
124 cafe from a
paffage in
As the paiTage in
the
Hiftorian
L HISTOIRE ET CRONIQUE
own
s
de FroiiTart (z).
unabridged, and Richard Seury, an ancient
we
extremely curious,
is
fhall give
iimple didion.
it
who had accompanied Richard II. to Ireland, and was fent by that Prince to ftudy the cuftoms and manners of the four Irifh Quand Kings who had fubmitted to him, informed FroifTart, that Knight
"
"
"
"
ces
Roys eftoyent
afis
a
&
"
referue
eftoyent tous
"
faire trois iours
"
"
"
le
ordonner
&
licl,
ils
:
tables,
1
communs.
& (continues the & courrir en la
"
Ie leur foufFri tout ce
falle,
"
:
&
quatre Roys feoir a haute table, les varlets d autre part dont une table (a), bien enfus d eux, regardoyent 1 un 1 autre par femblant ils furent tous courrouces fei les
&
&
ne vouloyent manger
:
:
&
difoyent
&
:
qu on
leur vouloit ofter leur
bon ufage auquel ils auoyont efte nourris. tout en fouriant, pour les appaifer, que leur honnefte, n honnorable, a eftre ainfi
tC
Ie
fait,
&
qu
il
le
comme
leur conuenoit laifler,
&
eftat
:
fouffrirent (pourtant
(z)
Tom.
4.
p.
202. of SA
WAGE
nominates FroifTart a faithful Chronicler.
The Duke
(a)
was
as little
by him
Vide
que mis
S^
/.
V ide
s
Mr.
eftoyent en
HAYLEY,
"
&
1
refpondy,
eftoit ils
me ils
1
it
was penal,
to entertain
Difcoverie. p. 214. qu. ed.
1
ufage
auoit le
ou irent
the darling
of the
ce,
Roy
Mufes,"
de
EJJay on HiJIory. Ep. 2.
of Clarence, while Lord Lieutenant of this kingdom, in the reign of
at Kilkenny,
point
auoyent
obeifance du
inclined to treat our Minftrels with refpeft as Chevalier Seury.
DA VIES
n
eux mettre a
Angleterre, car de ce faire i eftoye charge Roy et fon Confeil bailie par ordonnance. Quand ils
leur
au-deuant
d
,
ie fei
comme il appartenoit les MENESTRIERS a
ainfi
:
4t
&
qu en toutes chofes,
hoary Knight) au quatrieme
:
"
fai-
ils
:
&
ufage du pai s,
eftoit
"
du premier mets,
feruis
foyent feoir deuant eux leurs MENESTRIERS et leurs prochains me boire a leurs hanaps varlets, et manger a leur efcuelle, difoyent que bel
"
&
la table,
any of the
Irifti
Edward
III.
In a Parliament held
Minftrels, Rimers or News-tellers.
161 2. "
d An-
THE IRISH BARD d
&
Angleterre)
"
fu auecques
ie
que
Thus we even
perfeuererent en celuy
after
&c.
125
doucement,
tant
eux."
mufic maintained
that
fee
the
S,
eflat afTez
its
of the Englifh.
invafion
ground But its
in this ftyle
country,
fuffered
a
For the fprightly Phrygian (to which, fays Selden, the change Irifh were wholly inclined) gave place to the grave Doric, or foft Lydian meafure. Such was the nice fenfibility of the Bards, fuch was :
tender affection for their country, that the fubjeclion to which
their
kingdom was reduced, affeded them with the
the
heavieft fadnefs.
Sinking beneath this weight of fympathetic forrow, they became a For prey to melancholy. Hence the plaintivenefs of their mufic (b) :
the ideas that arife in the
mind
are always congenial to,
tindure from the influencing paflion. concurred with the one juft mentioned, of our mufic.
ftyle
The
Bards,
and receive a
Another caufe might have in
promoting a change in the together with their
often driven,
the bufy haunts of men, patrons, by the fword of Oppreflion from were obliged to lie concealed in marfhes, in gloomy forefts, amongft rugged mountains, and in glyns and vallies refounding with the
of falling waters, or filled with portentous echoes (c). Such fcenes as thefe, by throwing a gloom over the fancy, muft have conSo that when they fiderably increafed their fettled melancholy. it was not to be wondered, that their voices, thus to noife
fmg,
attempted
weakened by rife
(b)
rather
Mufic too being "
lancholy
Nat. (c)
ftruggling
by Minor
;
for
mufic
at
(fays
this
an heavy mental depretfion, (hould which confift but of four femitones,
againft thirds,
time their only folace, muft have ferved to increafe their
BACON)
feedeth
that
difpofition
of the
fpirits,
which
it
me
findeth."
Hift.
Vide
Sir
JOHN DA VIES
Difcrjent.
p.
160.
than
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
126
than by Major thirds, which confift of five (d). Now almoft all the of this period are found to be fet in the Minor third (e), and to
airs
be of the fage and folemn nature of the mufic, which Milton requires in his Penferofo :
Vide BE ATT
(d)
That
(e)
IE
have over the Greeks
in
much refemble
of the native caufe of
Effay on Poet,
this
our minor fc ale
,
the advantage we Jo NE 5, felicitates the prefent age on which enables us to adapt our mufic fo admirably to fuhjefts
ElTay 2. prefixed to Tranf. from the Aftatic Lang.
to
my
refemblance,
ALEXANDER MARS DEN,
I
them, a
like
confulted Mr.
Efq; of Lincoln
It is
s
Sharp or Major key
is
art.
it
Accordingly, if
ever,
all
The Sumatran
tunei
of Sumatra)
thofe
Hifl.
Being very defirous to difcover the by means of his brother,
third."
on the fubjedt,
friend.
The
refult
of
this
permitted (and proud) to infert.
in the
leifure to the
Minor
key.
doubtlefs the will
See
Hifl,
of Sumatra.
HA LH ED
more obvious, and muft prefent
be found that people
in
a very favage
Bengal Grammar, &c.
S
itfelf to ftate,
is
The
the rude eflayers of the
as the negroes
of Africa,
Their fhort fongs, or modu and footh the irkfomenefs of their labor,
demonftrate any acquaintance with the former.
Major key, which likewife accords
In countries where,
better with the natural vivacity of their difpofition.
from incidental circumftanees, the inhabitants are encouraged to devote their
improvement of their mufical flcill, they catch at length the fucceflion of tones with and finding this more expreflive of paflion, and more calculated to awake the
a Flat interval feelings,
am
in his
my much efteemed
by which thej regulate the motions,
lated fentences,
are
Inn, I
MAR SDK N
obferved that the popular mufic of moft nations, within certain limits of civilization,
confined to the Flat or
feldom,
flat
MARSDEN
enquiry was the following curious paper which "
Mr.
ear (fays the ingenious
and have ufually,
Irifh,
and Mufc.
WILLIAM
"
of grief and affliftion.
very
s
great Orientalift, Sir
which
;
is
the great end
and objeft of mufic, amongft people whofe genuine fenfations are it ; and the other key, being
not blunted by the poli/h of refinement, they attach themfelves to
comparatively deficient perfection, as variety,
in
pathos, falls into
difufe.
Where
the art
is
carried to
it
laft
ftage of
the
European nations, and where the objea of the mufician ii to entertain by and furprize by brilliancy of execution to captivate the ear, rather than the hearts of
among
his auditors there, both keys are indifferently employed, or fo managed as to produce that fpecies of jjleafurc which arifes from fudden tranfitions and contrafts." :<
Since writing the above, I met an obfervation by a French author, thztjSnging birds always Major key, and that alike? it has been frequently attempted to teach tlafe birds
tune their fong in the
which I
pojfefs imitative faculties,
to
pipe airs
have not had opportunities of afcertaining
with a Flat this
third,
curious faft by
it
has never in any degree fucceeded.
my own
experience."
W. M. bid
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
127
bid the foul of Orpheus fmg Such notes, as warbled to the firing,
Drew
down
iron tears
And made
Pluto
Hell grant what
s
cheek,
Love
did feek. f
Here in
we
prefume to violate the laws of hiftoric compofition, order to introduce an anecdote, rather too recent for this place,
which
will
ferve to fupport and illuftrate the foregoing train of reaAbout the year 1730, one Maguire, a vintner, refided near
will
foning.
Gharing-Crofs, London.
uncommon {kill, even the Duke
His houfe was much frequented and his on the harp, was an additional incentive j
in playing
:
of Newcaftle and feveral of the Miniftry fometimes condefcended to vifit it. He was one night called upon to play fome Irifh tunes.
He
demanded the
did
fo.
reafon.
They were
He
and folemn.
plaintive
His guefts
told them, that the native compofers,
were
too deeply diftrefTed at the fituation of their country and her gallant but, added he, take off the reftraints fons, to compofe otherwife :
which they labour under, and you fufions
:
his
have reafon
houfe became gradually negleded
of a broken heart
(f).
An
of Maguire, and, like him, this diftich
will not
Offence was taken
the plaintivenefs of their notes.
engraven on
his
Irifh felt for
harp
Harper
;
to
complain of
warm
at thefe
and he died foon
who was
a
ef-
after
contemporary
the fufferings of his country,
had
:
Cur Lyra funeftas edit percuffa fonores Sicut amiflum fors Diadema gemit
?
!
.
which breathes through the poetry fpirit be attributed to another caufe a caufe
But perhaps the melancholy
and mufic of the
Irifh,
(f)
may
Commu.
j
of
Mr O HALLORAK. which
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
128
which operated of love
a
;
and fubfequent to, the invafion of the Engremarkable fufceptibility of the Irifli of the paflion which the munificent eflablifhments of the Bards
anterior
We mean the
lilh.
paifion,
While the mind is enduring the torments of hope, fear, or defpair, its effufions cannot be gay. The of thofe amorous poets, Tibullus, greater number of the productions
left
them
at liberty freely to indulge.
Catullus, Petrarch, and veller
whom we
love
and they feem
Hammond,
are elegiac.
The anonymous
tra
have already had occafion to mention, after fpeaking of the amorous difpofition of the Irifli, purfues the fubjecl in his ac The fubjed of thefe (their fongs) is always count of their poetry. "
;
purpofe than to
to underftand poetry to be defigned for
ftir
up
that paffion in the
mind,"
no other
Then he
(g)
pre-
unworthy the mufe of Shenftone (h), compofed by a defponding lover, which we will in troduce here to corroborate what we have jufl advanced.
fents his readers with an Irifh paftoral fonnet, (not
(g)
Gent. Mtig. v. 21. p. 467.
(h)
Mr. Ritfon obferves,
that this fong has
elegance and merit.
uncommon
Vide
Hijl. Effay
on
In truth, the Irifh language abounds in lyric compofitions that
would do honour
to the
moft polifhed nation of ancient or modern times; and, did the nature of
plan admit of
fe-
Nat. Song.
veral of
them fhould
bring to light,
committed when he robbed
Virgil
them
find a place in this
his
work.
on the information of
my Homer
While
Mr.
friend
am on
my
it,
the fubjeft of our lyric poetry I will a literary theft ; fuch a theft as
of fome of his beauties, for the purpofe of adorning with
The charming fong
own immortal poem.
I
O Flannagan, in the
jd
aft of
Mr. SHERIDAN
S
Duenna, be
ginning thus,
How is
clofely
ftanza
oft,
Louifa, haft thou (aid, &c,
and elegantly tranflated from an old Irifh fong, of which
I will
here tranfcribe the
firft
:
Anna Man, a
A Riuin
mo
Ihlaith mhin
chleibh,
tabhtiir fcesiobh
don
t
fuairc,
na dein ni duaire
;
Pheinsi taoi dhonf bhuairt
Sda ma, liomfa Eirin ad dheig, fme n
To
the original air of this fong (which
is
generally
deemed
Scottifh)
Mr. Sheridan
s
fong
is
adapted.
AN
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
IRISH SONNET.
AN
Ma villc
Slane
m oughth
g
BLEST were the days, Join d hand in hand,
when
my Love
&c.
-chegb khunt,
in the lonely rtiade,
and
I
have
ftray d,
Where I
apple-blofToms fcent the fragrant air, ve fnatch d fort kifles from the wanton fair.
Then
How The
did the feather d choir in fongs rejoice, cuckoo tun d her foothing voice,
foft the
gentle thrufh with pride difplay d his throat, in fweetnefs with the blackbird s note.
Vying
But now,
My
Penfive
The
my
Love^
how
health exhaufted and I
roam the
wretched
my
am
I
made,
bloom decay d
1
folitary grove,
grove delights not
for I mifs
my
Love.
Once more, Sweet Maid,
And
in foft dalliance
hazel-groves, where cluft ring nuts invite, blufhing apples charm the tempted fight.
Through
And
together let us ftray, wafte the fleeting day j
I2Q
i
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS
3o
In awful charms fecure,
May
me
with
truft
Oh! how, with Till
my
heart
s
my
Maid
lovely
her beauty in the fhade
ning fond
fick
till
wifh,
OF,
:
defire, I pine,
Love, are mine.
my
you,
thefe virgin fears, this cold delay,
Hence with
Let love advife; take courage and away.
To
this
be true,
for ever fhall
Your conftant fwain
O er all
the plain, fhall ne er love one, but you.
fpecimen of
tinent to our purpofe
Irifli
poetry
we
will
add another, equally per
:
IRISH SONNET,
AN
Vurneen
THOU
deelijh
vaal
ma
dear feducer pf
chree,
my
&c.
heart
!
Fond
caufe of ev ry ftruggling iigh more can I conceal love s fmart.
No No
more
What, tho
To
My
(i)
text,
Europ.
Mag.
was made by
my
eyes
v. 2.
p.
this
thee
tell
Alvina
reftrain the
!
471.
look
The
EDWARD NOLAN,
>
!
ardent eye.
tongue did never move,
all its
fhall
(i)
matter
s
pain
have fpoke
;
my
they fpeak in vain
love, ?"
elegant tranflation of this fonnet, which
I
have given in the
Efq. of this city.
For,
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
131
imagination warm Prefents thee at the noontide beam,
For,
ftill
And fleep gives back thy angel form, To clafp thee in the midnight dream. Alvina, tho no fplendid ftore Of riches more than merit move Yet, Charmer
For
I
Pulfe of
!
I
am more
am
far
from poor,
than rich in love.
my
beating heart lhall all feducive hopes be fled ? Unheeded wilt thou hear my fall, !
My gay
Unpitied wilt thou fee I
make
ll
Thy
me
dead
?
a cradle of this breaft,
image
all it s
child
fliall
be
My
throbbing heart fhall rock to reft The cares that wafte thy life and me.
To
recur
An
:
ingenious Scottish Writer obferves, that there
is
a
ftrong likenefs between the Irifh Songs and the Highland LUINIGS. (k) This obfervation is founded in fad;. For a comparifon been
having
made between
Melodies and
fome of the Highland Airs (1) lately publifhed by the Rev. Mr. Mac Donald, it was difccvered, that they were conftrucled on the fame principle) that is, the
CO (1)
%Qay
Dtt
infi u
-
feveral
Irifh
f
This coruparifon was made
at
my
requeft by
s 2
my
learned friend, Mr. Bcauford.
Chro-
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF Chromatic or rather the ancient Diatonic, founded in an union of the The caufe of feveral fpecies of the Chromatic united in one fyftem. this affinity
between the
which we
are
airs
of the two nations, we
Thefe writers inform
Scottifh hiftorians.
now
lands of Scotland.
us, that
may
find In
the
about the period of
many Irifh Harpers travelled into the High Here, while they diffufed feveral of their native
treating,
they undoubtedly occasioned a revolution in the muficat of the country for the excellence of their performance (they Handing at this time unrivalled in their profeflion) muft have excited
melodies, tafte
;
admiration
j
and whatever
we admire we
are ambitious to imitate,
(m)
Our author
men
at the
further obferves, that the Luinigs are fung by the wo quern, and the hind at his labour, in order to beguile the
fo make them forget their toil. We have alfo feveral airs and fung for a fimilar purpofe. While the Irifh ploughman drives his team, and the female peafant milks her cow, they warble a fucceffion of wild notes, which bid defiance to the rules of
time,
and
calculated
eompofi-
tion, yet
are inexpreffibly fweet (n).
lofopher, finely accounts (in his
ing an antidote to fatigue
.
Shakefpear, that intuitive phi-
MERCH. OF VENICE)
for
mufic be
:
(m) Dr. CAMPBEIL confidently aflerts, th at tfie honour of inventing the Scots mufic mull beto Ireland. Phil. left. 44. Here I will take leave to obferve, that much Spven pains have been, taken by the Scots to prove, that their national mufic owes nothing to the unfortunate David Rizzio k is very probable it- does not. But I dare fay it is under great and many obligitions to the foreign niuficians that belonged to that numerous choir which King James I. eftablirtied in the chapel of theCaftle of Stirling, and who returned into their own country after the death of their royal patron carrying with them the knowledge of the Scotch mufic. S Hifl. of Great Brit: v. In or Sur
HENRT
der to acquire a knowledge of the Seotti/h mufic, they muft have ftudied they were probably improving it. (n)
and
Thefe were fuch
notes as
ADD SON i
irregujar, they filled eveiy heart with
S
Amyntor warbled
delight."
Guard.
No
5;
it;
and, while ftudyin gi
though they were a
,
32.
little
wild
THE IRISH BARD S,&c. I
JESICA.
m
LORENZO. In the
never weary,
The
reafon
is,
when
I
J33
hear fvveet mufic.
fpirits are attentive.
your
5th century our Harp received confiderable improvements from the ingenuity of Robert Nugent, a Jefuit, who refided for fome 1
time in this kingdom. He enclofed the open fpace between the trunk and upper part (or arm) of this inftrument, with little pieces of wood ; and clofed it up after the manner of a box and the bored or part,
;
found-hole, on the right fide, which was formerly open, he covered with a lattice-work of wood, as in the clavichord, and then placed a double row of chords on each fide. But we will let our authority, Dean
Noftra memorial Lynch, defcribe this innovation in his own words Rev. admodum Pater Robertus Nugent, qui focietate Jefu Hi"
:
per
"
berniam plures annos, fumma cum laude, prasfuit, nova, acceflione, ab ipfo excogitata, non modice Lyram ornavit: fpatium enim,, inter
"
"
"
truncum
ciftulas
et fuperiores
morern efformatis,
patulum, aflerculis in foramen in dextro ciftas latere po-
Lyras partes,
claufit, et
fitum r exiguo tantum ligneo clathro obftruxit> ut in clavichordiis vidimus turn hinc et illinc, duplici chordarum ordine collocato, :
"
Lyram
was
fuaviflimae modulation!
accommodatiflimum
fecit (o)
:"
this
For in cenfequence of this, which were ftretched along each fide of the trunk,
certainly a valuable improvement.
double row of
firings
two
Ib that two parts might be played firings to each tone on the inftrument at the fame time, the treble with the right hand,, and the bafe with the left befides the tones, were rendered more fulfr
there were
:
i
and
fonorous..
Henry
VIII.
ftill
continued to play the tyrant in England,
Finglafs propofed, in his to
BR EVI ATE, fome
the Irifh Bards and Minftrels. (p)
"
Item,
when Baron
fevere regulations in relation
That noo
Irifh
Minjlralh,
Grat. Lucius,, p.. 3 7.. "
Rymers,
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
34
i
"
Rymers, Sbannagbs, (i. fire goods of any
"
any
be Meffingers to deGenealogifts) ne Bards, dwelling wythin the Englifh pale, upon ther goods, and ther bodys to be imprifoned
e.
man
of all pain of forfeitur at the King s will." (p)
tc
"
the ha In the 28th year of this reign, an ad was made refpeding were reand drefs in general of the Irifh, whereby all perfons and from wearing ftrained from being Ihorn or (haven above the ears, bits
on the upper lip Glibbes or Coulins (long locks) on their heads, or hair On this occafion a fong was written by one of our called a Crommeal. Bards, in which an Irifh Virgin
is
made
to give the preference to
COULIN, (or the youth with the flowing locks), the Englifh were meant) or thofe who wore which (by
dear
this
fong the
The
air
alone has reached us, and
is
fallen ftate,
"
Bardes,
In this defcription at the
We
There which
amongft the
is
are to
we
which
are
had
them
in
fhall find
fame time, doing Irifh,
fo
the poet lafhing
juftice to
their
a certain kind of people called whofe profeffion is to
of
men
in their
poems or rithmes
eflimation high regard and
(r)
HARRIS
(q)
BEAUFORD.
(r)
Sir
Ireland "
Hihrnica.
p.
PHILIP SIDNEY
about the
s
them,
98. Oft. Ed.
the Bards bears evidence to the high eftimation in which
commencement of Elizabeth
v/here truly learning goe
j
amongft "
(p)
them
produc
inflead of Poets,
fet forth the praifes or difpraifes
the
Of
s
without mercy, yet,
*<
their habit.
animated defcription of this order of men in their he fets forth his reafons for recomending their which in
extirpation.
"
her
Grangers,
to fmk character of Bard, once fo reverenced in Ireland, began will, in this place,
tranfcribe Spenfer
"
all
univerfally admired, (q)
into contempt in the reign of Elizabeth.
tions.
to
s
rei g n
"
:
In
our Neighbor-Countrie Irelande,
are their Poch held in a devout very bare, yet
reverence."
Defence of Poefie.
THE IRISH BARDS, "
"
&c.
135
them, that none dare difpleafe them, for fear to run into reproach in the mouths of thorough their offence, and to be made infamous
For their verfes are taken up with a general applaufe, all men. and ufually fung at all feafts and meetings by certain other perfons (s), whofe proper function that is, who alfo receive for the fame, great Thefe Irijh Bardes rewards and reputation amongft them."
CC
1C
"
"
young men
are for the moft part fo far from inftruding
(.1.
in moral
themfelves do more deferve to be fharply difcidifcipline, that they for they feldom ufe to choofe unto themfelves the doings plined
1C
"
:
"
"
"
"
"
men
of good
the arguments of their poems
for
;
but whomfoever
licentious of life, moft bold and lawlefs in his they find to be moft and defperate in all parts of difobedience moft dangerous doings,
and
rebellious difpofition
;
him they
fet
up and
glorifie
in
their
young men make an evil things being decked and attired Thus of goodly words, may eafily deceive and carry
Rithmes, him they praife to the people, and
to
"
"
example to follow." with the gay attire
"
away
"
firous
"
the affedion of a young
"
"
"
"
"
all be) (as they without precepts of mafters,
not well ftayed, but de-
and without
fear
of
offence
;
not
:
:
bufy
Likewife the elegant
were much
in the ftate
HURD:
"
Even fo
late
and Romance,
M
as Elizabeth
s
reign, the favage Iri/h
(who
rather than government, of the ancient Greeks, living under the anarchy,
of their numberlefs puny Chiefs) had their Rhymers f<
is
to
nor imployed in any courfe of life which may carry being direded, will eafily be drawn to follow fuch as any fliall fet to vertue them ; if he be not ftill bufied for a young mind cannot reft before them fuch himfelf find bufmefs, as lhall foon will he fome in goodnefs, In which, if he (hall find any to praife him, all about him.
Pujie. "
that
make proof of himfelf. For without awe of parents, brought up idely
being 41
mind
by fome bold adventures,
in
principal
eftimation."
Letters on
Chivalry
p. 37.
Called Racaraide.
O CoNOR*s
Diff. on Hi/, offal, p. 74"
and
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
136 "
and
to give
"
for little
"
infolent
him encouragement,
as thofe
Bardes and Rithmers do
reward, or a fhare of a ftoln cow, then
waxeth he moft his own lewd
and half mad with the love of himfelf, and
deeds. And as for words to fet forth fuch lewdnefe, it is not hard u for them to fhew thereunto, borrowed give a goodly and painted cc even from the praifes which are proper to Virtue itfelf as of a moft "
:
"
notorious thief and wicked out-law, which had lived
all his
life-time
of fpoils and robberies, one of their Bardes in his praife will fay, that he was none of the idle milk-fops that was brought up by the fire-fide;
but that moft of his days he fpent in arms and valiant enterprifes never eat his meat, before he had wone it with bis :
*
that he did
"
"
{,(.
fword
lives
lead ic
c
""
4<
:
mantle ;
he lay not all night flugging in a cabin under his but ufed commonly to keep others waking to defend their and did light his candle at the flames of their houfes, to that
;
him
in the darknefs
night his day yield to
other
him
mens
:
;
the day was his night, and the
that
:
not to be long wooing of wenches to but where he came, he took by force the fpoil of
that he loved
love,
and
left
but lamentation to their lovers
:
that
mufic was not the Harp, nor lays of love, but the cries of and finally, that he died, not people, and clafhing of armour his
:
"
"
"
bewailed of many, but made many wail when he died, that dearly 1 have caufed divers of thefe bought his death." poems to be tranflated unto me (he concludes) that I might underftand them and furely they favoured of fweet wit and good invention but fkilled not of the goodly ornaments of poetry (t) yet were they fprinkled :
"
;
*
:
"
(t)
The Commentators on
the Fairy Queen, unwiling to allow
have taken much pains to trace
all
its
Legends through the
the French, the Italian, and the old Englifh. Poets.
But
its
Greek and Roman
as thefe
with
author the praife of originality, Claffics,
and through
gentlemens learned refearches have
not been always attended with fuccefs, I will take leave to fugged to them (and furely the fuggeftion will
THE IRISH BARDS, ;
&c.
137
with fome pretty flowers of their natural device, which gave good grace and comelinefs unto them the which it is great pity to fee fo .
"
"
abufed, to the gracing of wlckednefs and vice, which with good ufage would ferve to adorn and beautifie vertue (u)".
But the
Irifh
Bards, in this period, fo glorious in the annals of
Great Britain, were not wholly employed in offering incenfe to the unworthy they frequently exercifed their talents with zeal, to preferve :
country from the chains which were forging for it. They flung themfelves into the midft of the armies of their much-injured countrymen, ftriking their Harps with their
cc
a louder yet, and yet a louder ftrain (v),
1
they raifed the martial fury of the foldiery to fuch an elevated that they often rufhed on their enemies with the impetuofity of a mountain torrent, fweeping all before them, till they reached the till
pitch,
ftandard of Vidory.
more jealous of the eloquence of DemoftPhilip of Macedon was not henes, than was Elizabeth of the influence which the Irifh Bards had, and exercifed over their Chieftains. Her jealoufy quickening into revenge,
will comfort
had ads of Parliament pafled againft them, and (w)
fhe
them under
vet untraced fiftions,
their
difappoimment) that
from fome of the
which he was fo much delighted.
ARIOSTO andCHAUCSR, may be
found.
"
le
Irifh
For
Donni,
Here Spenfer might
found him adopting one of our Heroes. (u)
Vie-w of
(v)
DRYDEN
(w)
l/if
S
in i
pilfer
it is
very probable Spenfer borrowed feveral of his
Poems, which he caufed thofe
Poems, as well
Cavallier,
1
Arnie,
to be tranflated to as in the
gli Amori,"
him, and with
Works of BOYARDO,
nay Giants and Fairies too,
without fear of immediate detefi on.
We
have
a!rc:
dj
(Pag. 96. fupr.)
State of Ireland.
Ode
fur Si. Cecilia
s-D ay.
A. D. 1563.
even
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
138
even againft thofe who entertained them (x). The following arti collected from thofe ads, were afTented to by the Earl of
cles,
Defmond, "
"
be obferved in the State.
to
"
Item,
forafmuche
as
no
fmale enormyties doo growe within thofe Shires, (i. e. the Counties of Cork, Limerick and Kerry) by the continuall recourfe of certen
men
of lewde demeanor,
"
Idle
"
players, called Carroghs,
Rymors, Bards, and dyce pretence of their travaill doo the malefadors inhabitynge in
called,
who undyr
"
bring privy intellygence betwene
"
thefe feveral Shires, to the grete diftrudion of true Subjeds, that ordres be taken with the faid Lordes and Gentlemen (his followers)
;
none of thofe feds, nor outhere
"
that
"
to travaill
;
within there Rules,
as
like evil
the
Statuts
perfons be fuffride of Irelande doo
and that proclamation be made accordinglie, and that after the proclamation fhall maynteine or fuffre any fuche Idlemen wythin there feveral terrytories, that he or they fhall paye
appoint, "
"
whofoever
fuche fines
as to the difcretion
of the faid CommilTioners or Prefi-
of Munfter) for the time being fhall be thoughte goode. Item, for that thofe Rymors do by their ditties and Rhymes made to dyvers. Lords and Gentlemen in Irelande in the commendacion dents
(i. e.
and hieghe praife of extorfion, "
"
Rebellyon, Rape, Raven, and outhere Injuftice, encourage thofe Lords and Gentlemen rathere to followe thofe Vices then to leve them, and for making of fuch Rhymes rewards are gyven by the faide Lords and that
Gentlemen,
fore abolifhinge
The Welfh
(x) flie
of foo heynoufe an Abufe ordres be taken with the
Bards likewife gave offence to Elizabeth.
granted a Commiffion for holding an Eifteddfod at Caewys
For the reformation of
their order,
1 568. PENNANT s Tour in Wales. Dr. Percy (now Bifliop of Dromore) is of opinion, that an aft made in the 39 th year of the reign of this Princefs, put an end to the profeflion of Minftrels in
v.
i.
p. 434.
England.
EVANS
EiJ>ij
^
of Welfh
Poet
.
on anc. Eng. Minjt.
The
Bards and Minftrels of Scotland, henfion of Government at certain
as well as thofe of
periods.
Macbeth, aMinftrel p.
294.
What
in
is
to
draw
Vide
a degrading fentence
Wales and
BUCHANAN
the plough inftead of the ox.
S
Hiji.
Ireland, incurred the repre-
of Scotland.
HARRINGTON
S
By
the laws of
Obfer. on the Statutes.
p
faide
THE IRISH BARDS, "
"
Earle,
Lordes,
Quenes Majefte double the value of
"
"
foo paye,
fhall
and
fhall
make fyne according
to the diferetianee of the faid Commiflioners,
and that Proclamation be made accordinglie
Of
inftances remain
one of which
j
O Gnive,
Oh the condition
how
(y)
or ditties fhall
(y)."
the animated manner in which the Bards addrefled their Chiefs,
of Fearflatha
"
he
that
make any fuche Rhymes
that the Rymer that
many
"
139
and Gentlemen, that none of them from hencefourthe doo give any manner of Rewarde for any fuch lewde Rhymes, and he that fhall offend the Ordres to pay for a fine to the faide
"
"
&c.
Rot. pat. de
Anna 6.
O
Neills of
Poem
Clanna-boy
:
of our dear Countrymen how languid their joys the wrecks of a party ruined their !
prefling their forrows
in the County of
here infert from a
I will
to the
family-Olamh
ELIZ.
and makes the romantic fcene of
!
Mr.
Dorfo.
Wicklow takes occafion
Prefton, in his elegant Verfes
exhibit in
to
Poem an afylum
his
For here,
The
He
She
"written
in the
Dargle
true light, this bafe policy of Elizabeth
;
for perfecuted Bards,
wak d
his lofty
rhymes
;
the Harp, he bade them flow,
Attemper d
When
its
in old heroic times,
Minftrel
tun d
!
!
to the ftreams below.
England would a land the Mufes Sons
doom d
Left Virtue
s
hand fhould
enthrall, to fall,
firing the
lyre,
And feed with fong the patriot s fire. Lo Cambria s Bards her fury feel ; !
See Erin mourns the bloody
To
Condemn
The
To And
A
fteel.
fuch a fcene, to fuch a fliade, d, profcrib d the Poet ftray d
}
warrior rais d his buckler high ftiade the fon of
harmony
while he fung with
grove of lances
T
flull
;
profound,
briftled round.
2
"
wounds
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
ro wounds
rankling! the wretched crew of a veflel toffed long about
ftill
?
away. Are we not the prifoners of the Saxon (z) nation r the captives of remorfelefs tyranny? Is not our fen tence therefore
finally caft
and our dcftruction inevitable
pronounced,
Power exchanged
?
Frightful, grinding
beauty for deformity the exultations of a great and liberty for the pangs of flavery brave people, for a fervile How came this trans defponding race. thought
!
formation
?
Shrouded
for fervitude
which
in a mift,
j
j
burfts
down on you
like a
deluge ; which covers you with fucceflive inundations of evil ; ye are not the fame people Need I appeal to your fenfes ? But what fenfations have you left ? In moft parts of the ifland, how hath !
every kind of
u 1C
and extrajudicial proceeding taken the pay of and what muft that iituation be, wherein our only fecurity (the fufpenfion of our excifion) muft depend upon an intolerable fubfervience to lawlefs law ? In truth, our miferies were law and equity
illegal
?
predicted a long time, in the change thefe ftrangers face of our have hemmed in our country.
They
wrought
in the
fporting lawns,
the former theatres of glory and virtue.
They have wounded the and they have disfigured with towers and ramparts thofe fair fields which Nature beftowed for the fupport of God s animal creation that Nature which we fee defrauded, and whofe laws
earth,
:
.,
.(
II
"
"
are fo wantonly counteracted, that this late free Ireland is metamorphofed into a fecond Saxony. The flaves of Ireland no
longer
recognife their
common Mother
fhe equally difowns us for her
children we both have loft our forms and what do we fee, but infulting Saxon natives, and native Irifli aliens ? Haplefs land ? thou art a bark, through which the fea hath burft its way we hardly difcover any part of you, in the hands of the plunderer.
(z)
Saxony.
The C>
Irifli,
as
M p B E L.L
well as the Welch, to this day, call S
Survey.
SA M.
WAL K E R
S
the Englifli,
Saxnut and England
Tranf. of Diff. de Eardis.
Yes?
THE IRISH BARDS, Yes
we
the plunderer hath refitted you for his
!
new-molded
are
for his
wretched inhabitants of
this
-Ye
p-urpofes.-
foreign land
!
is
&c
141
.
own habitationand
Ifraelites
there
no
of Egypt relief for
ye
you
?
there no Hedtor left for the defence, or rather for the recovery, of Troy is thine, my God to fend us a fecond Mofes : Thy and unlefs the children of the difpenfations are juft Scythian Eber Scot, return to thee, old Ireland is not doomed to ante Is
?It
;
;
O
!
!
out
of the
;
Of the
aflies
of modern Saxony
Bards
who
(a);"
flourifhed at this time, a
have been preferved by Mr. O Conor. Teige Mac Bruodin of Thuomond Teige O Gnive of Clannaboy ; Teige Mac dotes,
;
few names, but no anec "
In latter times (fays he}-
dall
O Higgin
of Leyney
Dary of Thuomond
;
;
Lugad
O Clery of Tyrconnell, and O Heofy of Origall, had noble talents ; but diverted, in moft inftances, from the ancient moral and political ufes, to the barren fubjetfs of perfonal panegyric Some of the (b)."
fongs of thofe Bards, favouring offweet wit and good invention, but often clothed in a ferocity of language, are ftill extant (c) j the reft are loft in
"
the dark flood of
But Mr.
who Mac
is
O Conor
time."
has omitted,
in the foregoing
well entitled to a nich in the
lift
of Bards, one,
Temple of Fame
;
we mean
Ollamh of North Munfter, and Filea to Donough Earl of Thomond and Prefident of Munfter. This Noblemart, was amongft thofe who were prevailed upon to jom Elizabeth s forces, Curtin,
hereditary
(a)
O Co N o R
(b)
Ibid. p. 73.
(c)
Mr.
S
Dif. en
O Halloran
Hi/},
of Irel. p. 92.
informs me, that he lately got,
the moft eminent Bards of the two
laft
centuries.
fearched, perhaps feveral of our records and
in
a collection from
Were
much of our
Rome,
feveral
poems of
the archives of the Vatican feduloufly
poetry would be found in them.
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
J4.2
Soon
as
it
was known
that he had bafely
abandoned the
Mac
Curtin prefented an adulatory country, Chief of South Munfter, and of the Eugenian
O Donnel,
Lacy and
Mac Carthy, who with O Neil,
were deeply engaged in protecting
others,
violated country. In this
poem line,
interefts of his
to
their
poem he dwells with rapture on the courage and
Mac Carthy but the verfe that fhould (according to an efpatriotifm of Brien, tablifhed law of the Order of the Bards) be introduced in praife of am I afflicted (fays he) that the dehe turns into fevere fatire. :
O
"
How
fcendant of the great Brien Boiromh cannot furnifh
worthy the honour and glory of his on the ing this, vowed vengeance
exalted
race!"
me with
a theme
Lord Thomond hear
to fpirited Bard, who fled for refuge the county of Cork. One day, obferving the exafperated Nobleman and his equipage at a fmall diftance, he thought it was in vain to fly, and feized with the pangs of death ; directing his pretended to be fuddenly wife to lament over him, and tell his Lordfhip, that the fight of him, awakening the fenfe of his ingratitude, had fo much affected
by
him, that he could not fupport it and defired her, at the fame time, to tell his Lordfhip, that he entreated, as a dying requeft, his for;
Soon
givenefs. related to him.
Lord Thomond arrived, the The Nobleman was moved to
as
well-feigned tale was
compaflion, and not only declared he moft heartily forgave him, but opening his purfe, pre This inftance fented the fair mourner with fome pieces to inter him.
of
his
Bard, praife
more
s pity and generofity, gave courage to the trembling fuddenly fpringing up, recited an extemporaneous Ode in
Lordfhip
who
of Donough, and,
re-entering into his fervice,
became once
his favourite, (d)
Under the prefent
reign
we
find Bards of an inferior rank, or rather
Minftrels, ftrolling in large companies amongft the Nobility
(d)
Comm.
of Mr.
and Gen-
O HALLORAN. try.
THE IRISH BARDS, probable that
It is
try.
to
it is
&c.
143
thofe itinerant Minftrels, Spencer al
ludes, in his account of our Bards
"
:
Their verfes
up with a general applaufe, and ufually fung
(fays he) are
at all feafts
by certain other perfons, whofe proper function that
who
,
taken
and meetings
alfo receive for
the fame, great rewards and reputation amongft them." When this order of mufical vagrants arofe, we cannot determine ; however, it
muft certainly have had an
earlier origin
than the reign of Elizabeth j it In Cithara, Hi-
John Major, who died A. D. 1525, notices
for
bernenfes &itjfoe/lres Scoti, qui in
ilia arte
"
:
funt."
prascipui
(e)
To a company of thofe itinerant Muficians, an invitation was given, by Turlogh Luineach O Neill, chieftain of Tyrone in the prefent reign, On their arrival he fent to enquire what they brought him. The query was odd, and new to them. After fome hefitation, one flood We aflure our up, and anfwered in the name of his brethren "
:
Prince, that
we have brought him
honour on him
Poems,
:
to
O Neill,
which fhew his defcent from anThis being kingdom ever produced
(fays he)
ceftors, the worthieft that this
reported
a prefent that muft fhed the highefl
!"
he exclaimed,
u
What
!
fo
much
faid
of
my
and nothing of myfelf. Acquaint thofe gentlemen, that not want any accommodation that Tyrone can afford while
forefathers, fhall
they
Strolling Muficians of this
(e)
Mem.
Je Liu. torn 15.
Our
kind abounded
notes annually difturb our repose in this great city.
them
tion of
Drama. Paris, I
in
in
France fo early as the time of Charlemagne.
vagrant Minftrels were the forerunners of the
WAITS, whofe
Waits are very ancient
in
England.
HAWKINS Origin Vide MERCIER French.
an old comedy entitled The Return from Parnaffus.
Our Waits anfwer
to the Miifique ambulante of the
difcordant
See
men
of the Englijk S
Tableau Je
torn, 5.
ihould have obferved, that our Waits are always attended by a
man who
bears about with them
on a long pole, a fpherical Lantern, which they call their MOON ; as if they were to fay withFalftaff,, It is Hen. 4. p. i. a. i. f. 2. let us be gentlemen of the fliade, minions of the moon." probable
"
that thiscuftom,
which
is
certainly very ancient,
had originally
a mythological allufion..
they
i
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
44
and afTure them, they remain here. Me, however, they fhall not fee I fhould rather throw luftre back on my family, than receive any from ;
This was no doubt a high
it."
ftrain of pride, obferves
(the communicator of the anecdote)
noble in
it
O Conor,
Mr.
but furely there was fomething
!
While that puiillanimous and pedantic Monarch, James I. filled the throne of England, two eminent Bards of this country entered into a PA PER WAR, in order to determine, whether the race of Heber or that of
Heremon
cha to the
power and fplendour of
excelled moft in
Milefian ^Economy (f). behalf of the fouthern
action,
during the
The queftion was ftarted, and ably fupported in line, by Tiege Mac Bruodin, hereditary Seana-
O Briens, and of North Munfter Luagha O Clery, O Neal and of South Munfter, oppofed Mac :
heredita
Broudin.
ry Annalift to
The
was long and fharp wit and invective were liberally dealt by each party. Poem followed Poem, till the refult was an huge volume in which, fome fads are admitted that cannot be fupported, and fome contefl
:
;
will be
found
to contradict the beft
documents we have
probably each champion, obflinately partial to
his
own
So that
left.
opinion, retired
unconquered from the
field, glorying in his ftrength, and a few lau At this intellectual combat, the whole nation fhading his brow. Florence Conery, titular were not idle fpectators Archbifhop of
rels
:
Tuam, and
O Donall s
fon, both
celebrated poets^ but not
profefTed
Bards, took each a decided part.
Barnaby Rich, a gentleman
who
vifited Ireland
during
has the following paffage in his "NEW DESCRIPTION refpecting the ftate of our Mufic and Poetry at that time. Irifh) have Harpers, and thofe are fo reverenced
"
among
that in
the
this reign,
OF IRELAND,
They
(the the Irifh,
time of rebellion, they will forbear to hurt either their (f)
O CONOR. "
perfons
THE IRISH BARDS, 1C
1C
perfons or their goods,
cVc.
but are rather inclined to give
they are very bountiful either to Rhymers or
145 them-, and
Fools."
Stanihurft thus celebrates the praifes of Crufius, an eminent Harper 1 6th Vivit hac noflra century, refiding within the pale.
of the
"
ad
astate Crufius, "
ab
Lyram
poft
incondite ftrepitu, qui incontentis, fecumque difcordantibus fidibus fit, plurimum abhorret contraque eo modoinfignis
"
hominum memoriam, quam maxime
:
is,
illo
:
"
"
"
rum
fonorum compofitione, muficum obfervat concenturn, quo auditorum aures mirabiliter ferit, ut enim citius folum, quam fummum Cythariftam judicares ex quo intelligi poteft, non muficis ordine,
;
"
"
Lyram, fed Lyras muficos haclenus
In thefe days defuiffe moft remarkable Harper within the memory of carefully avoids that jarring found which arifes from un-
He
man.
"
(g)."
the
lives Crufius,
and untuned firings ; and on the contrary, by a certain re gulation of modes, and feleclion of tones, he preferves an harmo nious concord which has a furprifing effect upon the ears of his auditors, fo that you would confider him rather as the only, than ftretched
"
"
the
greateft
Hence we may conclude,
Harper.
that performers
have not hitherto wanted the Harp, but the Harp performers." The Mufic of this century has received a rude eulogium from John Good, a popifh prieft, (who had been educated at Oxford, and was "
mafter, for
many
at Limerick, years, of a fchool
and) who,
Cambden, wrote
celebrated William queft of the
a
at
the re-
DESCRIPTION OF
THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE WILD IRISH jc66 "
"
"
They
and of
love mufic mightily,
cularly taken with the Harp,
and beaten with crooked
(g)
in the year inftruments are parti-
which being ftrung up with
nails,
De
all
is
very
rebus geft
U
s
in
brafs wire,
melodious."
Hil.
Before
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS
146
O,F
4
Before
we
leave the i6th century,
we muft
take notice of an extra
to prove, that the fongs of the ordinary mufical incident, which ferves The Irifh Harpers, in latter times, were fometimes founded in fad.
whofe words we will borrow. is given by Bifhop Gibfon, Near Ballyfliannon (fays his Lordfhip) were, not many years ago, a method very remarkable. dug up two pieces of Gold, difcovered by
relation "
there came in an Irifh Bifhop of Derry happening to be at dinner, his harp ; his Lordfhip, not underHarper, and fung an old fong to know the meaning of the fong. But ftanding Irifh, was at a lofs to That in fuch a of it to be this fubftance the found he upon inquiry a man of a gigantic ftature lay buried ; and place, naming the very fpot, that over his breaft and back were plates of pure gold, and on his fingers
The
:
that an ordinary man might creep through them. rings of gold, fo large, that two perfons there prefent, place was fo exactly defcribed,
The
were tempted to go in queft of the golden prize, which the Harper s had dug for fome time, they fong had pointed out to them. After they found two thin pieces of gold." (h) It was thus the grave of Arthur was difcovered lucid
Of
(h)
}
which ^JrJTWarton and in glowing lines
a circumftance
amber of
his
(i)":
has enfhrined in the
"
this
manner was the
thefe pieces of gold his Lordfhip gives an engraving exaftly of the
fame form and
publiflied \vhichthereadermay find in the folio edition of CAMDEN There wns a recent inftance (in 1785) of the grave of an Irifh hero being difcovered S
Britannia
in
fize,
1695, p. 1022.
in a
manner fome-
It is related in the poem of Caih Ga^hra, (the battle of Gabhra) that Canan, while fa-. Sun on one of the mountains of Clare, was treacheroufly murdered ; and that his body interred near a Druids altar, under a ftone, infcribecl with an epitaph in Ogham characters. So mi
wbat
fimilar.
the CTificing to v/as
O
T. is the Flannagin, (already mentioned) was tempted, fpot defcribed in the poem, that Mr. on reading the paflage, to propofe to the Royal Iriih Academy to feek for the monumental ftone un \Ade his Memoir given His propofal was acceded to. He went and fucceeded.
nutely
der their aufpices. into the
(i)
Academy. OJe
on the
the Alphabet of Obfer*u. on
tti;
Pagan
Irijh^
in ,\rchaeal.
V.
7.
No.
31.
grave of Arthur.
fliame
THE IRISH BARDS, fhame of the of a
Donalds of Glengay brought
to
&c
i
47
light in the prefcnce
learned Traveller, (k)
late
Still
Mac
does the i6th century detain us.
Sir
William Temple informs us t
that in this century each Irifh Noble entertained in his family a Poet, (or Bard) and alfo a Tale-Teller or (an order of
DRESBHEARTACH,
Minftrels anfwering to the Conteours (1) or Story-tellers of the French) an officer of whom we find no mention before. The Great Men of "
their Septs,
among
the
many
officers
of their family, which continued
always in the fame races, had not only a Phyfician, a Huntfman, a Smith, and fuch-like, but a Poet and a Tale-Teller : The firft, recorded
and fung the adions of their anceftors, and entertained the company at feafts the latter, amufed them with tales when they were melancholy ;
and could not
fleep
:
and a very gallant gentleman of the North of
land has told me, of his
own
Ire
experience, (continues this elegant writer)
that in his Wolf- huntings there,
when he
ufed to be abroad in the
mountains three or four days together, and lay very ill a-nights, fo as he could not well fleep, they would bring him one of thefe Tale-Tellers,
when he lay down, would begin a ftory of a King, or a Gyant, Dwarf and a Damfel, and fuch rambling fluff, and continue it all
that,
a
night long in fuch an even tone, that you heard it going on whenever you awaked ; and he believed nothing any phyficians give, could have
(k) (1)
Dr.
JOHNSON
Vide Notes on
Neivs-Tellers,
by
Sir
S
yowrwj
PERCY
S
to
the Weftern Ijlands
P.
76.
the anc. Eng. Mins. Effay on
JOHN DA VIES,
(in his Difcovery,
p.
Dub. Edit.
Our
Dreifbheartaigh are denominated
214) from
Z>/,
(news)
I
fuppofe.
The
have feveral appellations fer Tale-Tellers, viz. SGEALAIGHE, FIN-SGE ALAICHE, SCEAMr. O Conor thus men LAIGHE, SGEALAICHE, SCEALAICHE, and DRESBHEARTACH.
Irifh
tions this order of Minftrels in
one of
"
his letters to
of Finn, Oifin, Ofcar, Goll, Conan, &c. vulgar at wakes and
I
me,
Of
Irifh Story-Tellers,
have known many
in
my
youth.
n the
exploits
They amufe
the
wedtiings."
U
2
fo
i
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
48
make men fleep, in any pains or good and fo innocent effeft (m), to This rambling fluff, as Sir William or mind, (n) diftempers of body fo
calls
it,
is
fo happily ridiculed
that
PERI-NESO-GRAPHIA,
THE Not
I
Guefts,
in
an humorous poem, entitled HES-
am tempted perceiving
like to their
s,
to tranfcribe the pafTage
GILLO
S
:
mind
to mirth inclin d
;
And
finding that his penfive breaft, With grief and care was much oppreft,
(For he by intervals
And
and
figh,
fob,
Struck up with
To
drive
away
all
wou
d groan,
and cry O-hone !) their Harps and Trumps^
his doleful
dumps
Which,
in great meafure,
And
thofe paffions to afTuage,
:
might deftroy Their dancing, mufick, and their joy i And us d all means they could invent, T incline him to fome merriment j all
Which in his troubled foul did rage, And play*d the cruel tyrant there, As forrow, difcontent and
fear,
And hope
fucceeded by defpair.
Romantic
tales
they to him told,
Of giants in the days of old, Whofe legs by much are longer, than The height even of the talleft man.
(m) ture >.
(n)
Mijccllanea, EfTay 4.
The
even tone of which Sir William fpeaks, was probably of the na
of the monotonous chant of the Church
For Memoirs of
a
Tale-Teller
ftill
in the
living, fee
infancy of
its
mufic.
Append. No. V.
Whofe
THE IRISH BARD
&c.
S,
Whofe monftrous teeth, with which Were long as tufks of any boar.
How one With
And on
them did break the
of
of a robuflious bull
s fift,
149
they tore,
fkull, :
his fhoulders bore the beaft,
Twice fourteen furlongs at the leait, Unto his cave, and as fome fay, Did
eat
him ev
ry bit that day.
The
next flrange ftory, which his ears Receiv d, was of fome wolves and bears,
Who once were men of worth
and
fame,,
But, by enchantment, brutes became;. And wou d (if tales fing truth) obtain
Their former human fhape again.
That then through all the Weftern ground^ The crooked Harp with joy fhould found And that a monarch of their own ;
Should
And
fit
upon the Weflern throne,
drive from thence, by force,
That would
his
all
powerful arms oppofe.
As Giants, Dwarfs, and Damfels
are topics in
thofe (o)
which the Runic Poetry
faidto be very converfant, the learned *B^TWarton concludes, that the Irifh Bards owed their fictions to the Scandinavian Scalds, whofe
is
an Oriental tincture from the followers of Odin (p). poetry received frefh game is ftarted for the Antiquary ; but we confefs our-
Here
felves neither capable nor
(o)
Canto
4.
This admirable
Right Hon. Theo. Jones, (p)
Wft.
/E
"g-
Poet.
fatire fell
now (1786) Difl".
inclined, to
purfue
from the pen of the
it.
late
Howeve_r
we
will
Jones, Efq; father of
tl-C
Collector of the Port of Dublin,
i.
obferve,
1
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
50
obferve, without
p
oetry, like
new
acquired a
our
s opinion, that have Englifh Minftrels, might Land, by means of thofe
to oppofe the Doctor
meaning
metrical tales of the
the
of fidion from the Holy
caft
who joined the army of Godfrey. not indeed improbable, that the Scalds who accompanied the Danes to this kingdom, might have tinctured our poetry with their Chieftains, or their followers,
Irifh
Yet
it is
own
We
fictions.
find
HawlifTe,
a
while he wore an Irifh
Dane,
Crown, affuming the character of Minftrel, in order to explore the his camp of Athelftan, King of the Anglo-Saxons, againil whom We father-in-law, Conftantius, King of the Scots, had waged war. therefore fuppofe, that in Hawlife
may
at poetry, mufl,
like
Every nation,
s
Court
whofe inhabitants
Ireland,
has a Dance, as well as a fong, peculiar to
are ftriclly natives,
The
(q)
is
ftory
Briemftuire on
related by
to Adelftane
went
money the
s
tent,
ground, and went
(Chron. of Irel.) in his fimple manner.
the
Humber with
Hawliffe (or Anliffe)
away."
faved from the confequence of
Our author proceeds this
POWELL
on the anc. Eng. Minft.
which he was, Dublin.
Elf.
in faft,
(////?.
when he aided
on Iri/h Coins,
p, 9.
a ftrong navy,
Conftantine and
encamped themfelves
took a Harper, and in Harper
their diet,
to
inform
us,
ftratagem by one of his foldiers,
The foldier happened to efpy him in the adl A difcovery enfued. The Biftiop of DR o M o RE
Hawliffe. fon.
"
difpofition
calls
money
that Adelftane (Athelftan)
who had ferved
in the
in
was
army of
Hawliffe (Anliffe) a Danifh King.
of Wales, p. 48.) and
DUANE
at
attire,
of burying the money, and recognifed his per-
HAMMER
Conftantine againft Arhelftan.
Mr.
s
and behaviour, took
he difdayned, he fecretly, as he thought, hid the
in heart
fo
*
where he harped and viewed
which
for his muficke,
HAN ME R
mouth of
Then
banks.
its
Thefe are
itfelf (r),
*
Hawliffe, having entered the
Scandinavian
(q), the
have been in fafhion.
leaft,
informed Mr.
ftile
SIMON
AST LE,
Effay
him, King of Ireland, calls Anlaffe,
that he
King of
faw Coins ftmck
in
Writ, and Mr. Simon defcribes one of thofe Coins. Ireland by Anlaffe. Orig. arJProg. of and native tafle for This muft have been peculiarly the cafe in Ireland, for fuch a natural "
( r)
mufic
as
I
includes in
of the one the Effay on
Les
have fpoken of it
a fimilar
(to
borrow an ingenious writers words)
one for Dancing
:
They
are kindred arts
;
is
ufually accompanied by, or
the tender
and harmonious accents
and produce the agreeable and expreflive motions of the othei-." NOVERRES See the origin of the Dance prettily traced in a poem entitled Art of T)<:ndng. Lett. 20. excite
SaifonsL Hwer.
v.
439.
clofely
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
jr, j
the hiftory of the one feems naturally to in volve that of the other. It muft therefore appear extraordinary, that in the courfe of a work which profeffes to treat of the mufic of
clofely connecled, that
Ireland,
moft
no notice has been taken of the IRISH-DANCE. But the alof the Irim Hiftorians on this head, occafioned ours.
total filence
Here, indeed, Tradition fteps in with a defcription of the RINCEADHFADA (s), which fhe affirms was the dance of the ancient Irifh. When that unfortunate Prince, James II. (t;, landed at Kinfale, his friends,
who
waited his arrival on the fea-fhore, received him with
the Rinceadh-fada, the figure and execution of which delighted him Three perfons- abreaft, each exceedingly. This was the figure :
holding the ends of a white handkerchief, firft moved forward a few paces to (low mufic, the reft of the Dancers followed two and two, a
white Handkerchief between each.
Then the Dance began. The mufic fuddenly changing to brifk time, the Dancers patted with a quick ftep under the handkerchiefs of the three in front, wheeled round
in femi-circles,
formed a variety of pleafing, animating evolu with entre chants or cuts, united and fell
tions, interfperfed at intervals
(s)
Communic. of Mr.
O HALLOEAN.
Before
we adopted
the French ftyle of Dancing, our
balls ufed always to conclude with the Rinceadh-fada. public and p-ivate
(t)
It is
an extraordinary truth, (fee
were owing,
PERCY
S
in
a
Reliqua.
HUME
v.
2.,
p.
He
has immortalized
Opinims ofTriJl.
BURNET)
that the
Lilli
This Ballad has been noticed by
367*
misfortunes of James
Bml.ru.
GAY
in his
II.
For the Ballad, fee 6th
Pti/loral
:
fung of Taffey Welch and Sawney Scot,
Lilly Biiltero,
But STE RNE
and
great meafure, to a merry Ballad called
it
and the
by making
it
Irifli
Trot.
the favourite tune of his
Uncle Toby.
See Life and
S/ianify.
again
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
152
This was again into their original places behind, and paufed (u). feflivals on the firft their Irifh of the the Dance during Pagan probably of Mr.
(n)
rick
This throws new
on a May-Eve, particularly by the Butchers.
now
May-Dance of
appears to be the
Lime
informs me, that he has often feen the Punceadh-fada danced in
O HALLORAN
However
Romans.
the
our Dance
light on
will not
I
infilt
on
;
and
it
but
this point,
of celebrating the ift of May amongft the Romans, was exaclly proceed to obferve thai the cuftom funilar to ours. On that day in Rome, and all over Italy, young perfons of both fexes repaired to the country at break of
day
Thefe they brought back
to the
way
them, by
women
joined
in
,
order to cut
towns or
But
in
ftill
the ftreets,
in
will
him, that
tell
the dance which our young
Memoir on
have
this
Vide
Pref.
defcription of the
find in the
green boughs.
they went our, and placed
Then
S/ief.
A.
the
Every Irifhman
Works.
Floralia anfwers precifely
all
Juftly, therefore,
to
TOLLETTS
Vide Mr. T.
The
5.
Irifh
of which were originally the fo-werer fort
may
t
ours.
of thofe charac-
this occafion, feveral
Ed. of The Plays of Shake/pear.
Harveft-Home, Sheep-Shearing, &c.
at
Sad
MOVE RUES
Roman
Morris -Dance of the Englifh.
REEDS
honor of certain Deities no longer known to them. Pagan."
to
men and women perform on
we
the Morris-Dance in
ruftic celebrities
our Paftimes,
when
as
young men and where they danced, adorned with Garlands, and crowned with Wreaths
charafters are concerned, which
curious
provide themfelves with
fame order
of ornament, about the doors of their friends and relations.
of flowers, and were afterwards regaled. obfervation
down and
cities in the
"
m
call
Sc. 3.
I.
MOMME
as. Thefe But before we difpatch the Paflimes of the Irifh, let us take fome notice of their are (trolling Companies of young Men and Maidens, who, like the Englifli Waflaileri, go about caroufing from houfe "merry
Irifh
note"
to houfe,
during the Chriftroas holydays, attended by rude muficians, to
had no Dramatic Entertainments amongft them
Drama,
We
they dance in the prefence of their Entertainers,
(at leaft
of an infant
Each
quity in this kingdom.
Andrew, another
in the
Drama)
Mummer
ceremony
themfelves into a circle, and each,
Yet,
I
which
is
one
;
difcover
traits
is
Sr.
turn,
fteps forward, declaring, at
George, another
the
fame
time,
and other circumftances, in a kind of doggerel rhyme. feigned name, country, qualifications, a mock-fight (or joufte) commences, which parties.
Now,
Dr.
HAWKINS,
Eaft by their finging or geftures. fpecies of
Mummers,
Plays.
The Dialogue
;
(fee
Drama,
city to city,
Pref. to The Origin of the Eng.
Doftor
Mummers were
of our
Mirrour for Magijlrates
foon terminated without
tracing the origin of the
exhibiting, as the
decidedly of opinion, that .
in
is
and Dancers who ramble from
India, there are Minftrels
Mummers
PERCY
S
of the
undoubtedly, of high anti St.
Before the dance begins, thefe different characters form
his
in
we may
think ;
perfonates an eminent Saint
Dennis, and fo on.
St.
:
in queftion
whofe
are told, that the ancient
infinuates,
the true original
lofs of tells
us,
that in Perfia
and reprefent the
Drama.
his
Then
blood to any of the
ftories
and
of the
Thefe were evidently a Mr. DODSLEY is
in infant Drama.
Comedians of England.
Pref.
to
Old
bears a ftrong refemblance to the poetical Narratives in The Eff. on the Orig.
of the Eng.
Sttige) a book which, as
Mr.
WALPOLE
THE
IRISH BARDS,
of May. (Eeil-Tinne), and the
were
and
lighted,
&c.
I53
of Auguft (Lughnafa), when fires offered on the moft lofty eminences in
facrifices
firft
every
WA L t o L E
remarks, might have
its
influence in
producing Hiftoric Plays. Cat. of Roy. and Nob. Auth. Tradition does not furnifli us with any hiftory of the Irifli Mummers however, we may conclude, that they are the defcendants of the Druith Righeadh, or royal Mimics or Comedians, whom we find amongft the appendages of royalty in the Defcription of Tamar Hall ; (CoUeS. de rebus Hib. No. 1 2.) :
and who were probably of the lower order of the Bards.
German Theatre from the ancient Bards. I
had proceeded thus
Theat,
in Europe,
far in this prolix note,
p.
keen and learned Remarker on the s
Court
"
my 5.)
Worthies"
he fays,
^
me
the
on.
Text andNoteiof
In a note of this
prepared for the amufement of
This fort of proceflion was the ufual
"
recreation of our anceftors at Chriftmas, and our feftive feafons. "
Remarks en
S
hands, and tempted
Pageant of the nine
(fee Loves Labour Lojt. Aft.
deduces the origin of the
who were defcended from
201. 302. and 20-.
when Mr. RITSON
the lajl Ed. of Skakefpcar, fell, accidentally, into
Ferdinand
RICCOBONI
Mafter-Langers, itinerant Muficians and Buffoon;,
Account of
Such
things, being chiefly plotted
and compofed by ignorant people, were feldom committed to writing, at leaft with a view of prefervation, and are, ofcourfe, rarely difcovered in the refearches of even the moft induftrious
Antiquaries.
And
were intended
it is
certain, that nothing of the kind (except the fpecches in this fcene, whicli
to burlefque
them) ever appeared
The
in print.
fore, be difpleafed to fee a genuine fpecimen of the poetry
Drama from an
Edw. the Fourth s
original manufcript of
curious reader, will not, there
and manner of
this
rude and ancient
(MSS. Tanner. 407.)
time."
IX. Wurthy.
Eclor de troy,
Thow
achylles in
bauly me flow
Of my
wurthynes
men
Alifander.
And
Julius Cefar,
Thow my
fpeken ] now.
romaunce often am ] leyt AJ conquerour gret thow I feyt. in
cenatoures
me
flow in
Fele londes byfore by conqueft
Jofue.
In holy
Of my Aftyr
Chyrche ze
wurthynes and of
"y*
By me
mowen
flayn
collory
wan
J.
here and rede
my
dede.
was golyas
the fawter than
made
was.
Judas
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
154
every part of the kingdom, to Bael or the Sun. Nor is it unlikely, that the Dancers were a kind of chorus who fung, as they danced, an hymn praife of the
whom
Perhaps the they were honouring. and we think he may, a fimilarity be tween our Rinceadh-fada and the feftal Dance of the Greeks (w). in
claflical reader
We
Deity
will find,
Mr. O Conor having purfue the fubject a little farther mentioned, in his admirable DISSERTATIONS ON THE HIS
will
flightly
:
TORY OF IRELAND, themfelves
I
ing matches,
Dance,
applied
and was
RINKEY,
a Dance, in
which the ancient
fpaces of their forefts
void
the
in
him
to
for
favoured
kindly
fome
particulars
with
Irifh
during
exercifed
hunt
their
reflecting this
the following
"
:
Their
was generally performed in circles. Great agility, as well as great fldll, was required of the performers, whe ther they broke or clofed the circle. The action was governed by or field-dance,
Judas Macabeus.
Of my
Arthour..
The round
wurthynefle zyf ze wyll wete Seche the byble for ther it is wrete.
Zyt
fliall
tabyle I fette
wyth knyghtes
come azen thow
With me dwellyd rouland
Charles.
In
Godfrey de Boloyn.
all
my
it
ftrong.
be long.
olyvere
Conqueft fer and nere.
And I was Kyng of Jherufalem The crewne of thorn J wan fro
henji.
Now if the
reader will take the trouble to compare this fpecimen of the rude and ancient Englifl, with the above account of the Pageant of the Irift. he will find a
Mummers,
between them, and perhaps be induced ,tfon
(w)
to trace
with
me
in that
Pageant, an infant
Drana of the
ftriking fimilarity
Drama
Mr
concludes his curious note with obferving, that the Pageants in queftion, ufually concluded the Enghm (as we find they did amongft the Irifli) with a Mock-Combar.
Vide
Pref. to
WE ST
S
Trim, of the Odes of Pindar, tt
mufic
:.
THE IRISH BARDS, Each evolution had
mufic.
ftated
its
time,
their Allegro,
called for a change of adtion
teration of the
DANCING-PORT
;
cer,
and
(as
till
a
and
fo
they termed
in their turn called out different
to have been of the nature of THE and with which the Grecian
j
&c.
it)
155
new change on,
a
till
relieved the
afters."
-This
ARMED DANCE
which
in
rei
Dan-
Dance feems is
fo ancient,
youth amufed themfelves during the Rinkey was certainly an emblem of war.
The Siege of Troy (x). For, in the infancy of fociety, dancing is an imitative art j and as the Infh were anciently fo warlike a people, it is natural to fuppofe, that they imitated military evolutions in their fports, to indulge their for arms. As well as a Rinkey, or Martial Dance, the Irifh,
paflion
no doubt, had a Sacred Dance, which was performed by
their Priefts
,
for in all the ancient religions the Priefts were Dancers by ProfefTion. In fact, we find that our Druids obferved the revolutions of the year, feftivals,
&c. by dancing around our
Round Towers
(y).
The
feudal fyftem which had prevailed from time immemorial (z) in Ireland, received a fevere ftroke from Elizabeth, which was repeated
by Cromwell, and fatally reiterated by William III. The pride of the was humbled, and many of their caftles razed. Some of
Chieftains
thofe unfortunate
men
fled to the
Continent
;
others patiently waited to
In their halls which formerly refounded with the voice of Minftrelfey and Song, and glittered with barbarous to receive the Englifh yoke.
magnificence, there reigned
A (x) p.
Vide
Pref. to
death-like filence and a dread repofe
No VE RUES
Works, and
RITSONS
Remarks on
;
the Lift Edition
of Shake/pear.
149. (y) (z)
Celled, de reiui Hil. It (the
No.
12.
482.
p.
feodal fyftem) continued
the middle of the
laft
age."
O HA L L o
in
ft
Thomond, and
AN
S
Hift. of Ire/.
X
2
in parts
of
Connaught and Ulfter,
fo near
Pref. Difc.
naught,
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
K6
fave
naught,
the
flapping of the drowfy
(hrieking of the
Bat, or
moping Owl, could now be heard within them.
To
the clumfy Dutch,
or light Grecian, the gloomy ftyle of Gothic Architecture gave place.
The Englifh Cuftoms and Manners were univerfally adopted, Agricul ture was introduced, and the face of the Country began to fmile. But thefe happy innovations came fraught with deftrudion to the Their properties were forfeited with the eftates of which they
Bards.
compofed a
part.
They were no
itinerant Muficians,
longer entertained in
wonted
the Great, nor treated with
the. families
of
into
They degenerated
refpecl.
wandering from houfe to houfe, their Harp flung and offering to play for hire (a).
at their back, foliciting admiflion,
they were to be found exciting the fprightly Dance a Patron ; fometimes raifing the folemn Dirge at a Country Wake (b). The laft of this Order of Men, whofe Name deferves to
Sometimes at
O Carolan
be recorded, was Turlough died in the year 1738.
To
(c),
a fine natural Genius,
Man we owe
this
who
feveral of our beft airs.
His melodies, though extremely fimple, give pleafure even to the moft refined tafte j and his poetry is not always below mediocrity. The
(a)
Thus
the
irv
Hermit of Warkivortk Sir Porter
To
may I Wkhout
An
relations
the
Irifh
Wake
is
thy Lord at Home-
hear a Minftrel
Or,
(b)
.
is
s
fong
offence or
ftrongly tinftured
with
wrong
Young
fing
feftivity, doleful lamentations.
tell ftories,
But when
it is
?
barbarifm.
and friends of the deceafed meet around the Corfe, and dance, and the Old
?;
crave a lodging here
in order,
intermingling,
time to give the
Soon
as
a
Peafant
(inhuman people
now and its
!)
dies,
to be
the
merry
.
then, with the general
laft
their mirth
Body remove, fuddenly changes to mourning, and they follow the Bier to the Grave with repeated burfts of vocife rous grief. (c)
Ste kis Lift in the Appendix. No. VI.
genial
THE IRISH BARDS, genial current of his foul, "
chill
Minftrels,
it is
true,
d by penury
but he neither played offered with delicacy. erratic
:"
for
;
The
was
&c.
i
57
not, like that of his brother
like
them,
hire,
nor refufed a reward
indeed,
his
life
was
when
of our Harp-Mufic was Its declenequally deplorable. fall of the Order of the Bards. HarpMufic, (fays an ingenious Scottish writer) (d) was once the favouriteMufic in the Highlands of Scotland, as it has continued to be in fion
frate
kept pace with the
"
long has experienced in the two In Ireland, the Countries, has been very different. Harpers, the original Compofers, and the chief Depofitaries of that Mufic, have,
The
Ireland.
till
lately,
fate,
however, which
it
been uniformly cherifhed, and fupported by the Nobility They endeavoured to outdo one another in playing the
and Gentry. airs that
were moft efteemed, with corrednefs, and with their proper Such of them as were men of abilities, attempted to adorn
cxpreffion.
them with fets
graces
and
variations, or to produce
Thefe were communicated
of them.
them tranfmitted with ferved pers,
:
and
additions.
By
this
fo long as they continued in
we may fuppofe
what were
called
good and by were pr-
to their fuccefTors,
means, the pieces
the hands of the native
Har
that they were gradually improved, as whatever
added to them, were confident with, and graces and variations they tending to heighten and difplay the genuine fpirit and expreflion of The tafte for that ftyle of performance, feems now, how the Mufic. ever, to be declining..
A
number of
who
their Airs
The native Harpers are not much encouraged. have come into the hands of foreign Muficians,
have attempted to fafhion them according to the model of the and thefe Sets are confidered in the Country as capi ;
modern mufic
tal Improvements." (d)
Pref. to
Me.
DONALD
S
vocal Highl. Airs.
TOIL
WR
i
5
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF now conclude with a few Obfervations WE
8
will
VIII.
Mufic
State of
in
Kingdom, during the
this
laft,
and
on the
in the prefent
Century.
Soon as the Hanoverian Succeflion was firmly eftablifhed, the Gates Parties, of the Temple of Janus were clofed in both kingdoms. but the fword had returned into its indeed, for a while, ran high The Englifh now purfued with ardour the cultivation of fcabbard. :
the fine Arts
the
:
Irifii
crept flowly after.
mental Muficians were brought,
London
to
fway
and the
;
in that
Italian
great City (e).
reached thefe
fhores.
Our
Its influence fpread fo wide, that it mufical tafte became refined, and our
fweet melodies and native Muficians "
Both vocal and inftru-
an enormous expence, from Italy mufic began to reign with defpotic at
fell
into difrepute.
fe rectifie a mefure que gout, (fays Marmontel)
1
art
1
"
Ainfi
eclaire,
en
le
lui
des modeles age en age, pour objets de comparifon, This is a juft and an elegant obfervation. But plus accomplis (f)." in proportion as our mufical tafte is rectified, the pleafure we alas "
prefentant d
"
!
This refinement may be faid to derive from pure melody is leflened. remove the ear fo far from the heart (g), that the eflence of mufic
which melody deferves to be diftinguifhed) cannot (an appellation by Nor is it neceflary in this age, that the ear and heart fhould reach it. For modern mufic is calculated only to difplay clofely connected. the brilliant execution of the performer, and to occafion a gentle Here let us paufe to lament with a titillation in the organ of hearing.
be
that this wonderful charm of melody, properly fo with the whole merit of expreflion, fhould be facri"
worthy Divine, called, together (c) (f)
Spefl.
Effai "
(g)
No. 29. fur
les
L oreille
Rev. de la Mujiq. en France. eft
tellcment eloigne du ^Coeur, que
"
&c.
Du
Bos.
ficed,
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
159
we
ficed, as
frequently find, to the proud, but poor affedation of trick and execution ; that, inftead of rendering the various com
mere
binations of founds, a powerful inftrument of touching the heart, ex citing agreeable emotions, or allaying uneafy fenfations, as in the days of old, it fliould be generally degraded into an idle amufement, devoid
of dignity, devoid of meaning, abfolutely devoid of any one ingredient that can infpire delightful ideas, or engage unaffecled applaufe (h)." In the year 1740, the fuhlime Genius of Handel roufed our feelings from the lethargy into which they had fallen. Banifhed from London the of he by fpirit party, Here he fought protection in Dublin (i). was kindly received, and due regard was to his me paid
Soon
rit.
after his arrival, he
MESSIAH,
for the
ftroke
by means of
and
}
for
eftabliflied his
aflbciate,
benefit of the City it
extraordinary
performed that matchlefs Oratorio,
The
This was a mafter-
Prifon.
he conciliated the affedions of the People,
Fame on
Mathew Dubourg
a
permanent foundation. Aflifted by his whofe powers on the Violin are ftill
(k),
the (h)
FORDYCE
S
Sermons
to
fome
Mifcellany, page 18. there are (i)
Handel
Vide Mem. of
the
young Women.
Life
juft,
Serm.
In
6.
SK
t
LToN
s
An Old Mans
or
Senilia,
but peevifh obfervations on modern mufic.
of Handel. Oft. and
Dr.
BURNEY
bani/hment to Ireknd will not be forgotten fo long Genius of the Italian Opera thus exprefles her apprehenfions, and s
as
S
mafterly Sketch of his Life,
POPE
inftrufts
S
Dunciad
Dulnefs
is
read
The
:
But foon, ah foon, Rebellion will commence, If Mufic meanly borrows aid from Senfe :
Strong in new arms, lo giant HANDEL {lands, Like bold Briareus with a hundred hands ; .
To ,
And
ftir,
to roufe, to fhake the foul he comes,
Jove
s
own
thunders follow Mars
Arreft him, Emprefs
She heard
;
-and drove
or you fleep no
him
to
s
drums.
more
Hibernian
th
ftiore.
E.
(k)
To
Anecdote.
Sir J.
HAWKINS
Dubourg
Memoirs of Dulourg, (fee
H
-fl.
of Mufic. vol.
5.)
line
4. I
63.
will
often wifhed to enjoy, unobferved, the fports of an Irilh Fair.
add one
An oppor tunity
HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF
160
the theme of many a tongue
he diverted the thoughts of the people
from every other purfuit. the Italian Singers were invited over, and In the education learned to expire at an Opera. of both Sexes, a knowledge of fome mufical inftrument
Mufic was now fair
the rage.
Dames of Ireland
of the Youth Concerts deemed an accomplishment indifpenfably neceflary. were the favourite amufements in the houfes of the Nobility and were formed in all the great towns Gentry and mufical Societies In a word, every knee was bowed to St. in the kingdom (1).
-was
;
^Cecilia (m),
But unity
a Mr. Lindfey s, in the town of of gratifying this wifh occurred, while he was on a vifit at of the kingdom is annually held. Having greateft Fairs
one of the Dunboyne, (near Dublin) where difguifed
He
another Crowdero. himfelf as a country Fidler, he fallied forth amongft the tents,
exerted himfelf to play in was foon engaged, and a company of Dancers ftood up. But though he his audience ftill a fecret charm in his playing that fixed charader, that is difcordantly, there was
with rapture.
At
m
An
i
r e.
Philip Hufley,
is
length the
crowd
prefled
and gazed fo upon him, that he thought
unfinifhed portrait, but efteemed a ftrong likenefs of
in
my
it
but wife to
Dubonrg, by the
late
Mr.
pofieflion.
Town s End
on Lazer
s-Hill, (now In the year 1753 the Incurable Hofpital It was built by means of fubfcriptions to Concerts fet on foot were, by the power of mufic at that time, and fupported by the Philarmonic Society. ftreet) rofc^
(1)
as
:
it
At
(in)
this
harmonious period the Mufical Glaffes,
invented by Richard Pockrich, Efqj a
the lovers of harmony.
name which,
as
fince
improved
Harmonica, were
into the
Dr. Campbell obferves, ought not to be
loft to
the celeftial tones of this inftrument (the fweeteft within the compafs
With
that they became incapable of melody) Mr. Pockrich once fo charmed two Bailiffs fent to arreft him, What pity he couH not exercife this fafcinating power at pleafure Too office.
of executing their often
I
fear,
foon outlived the
was
!
he had occafion for pofleflion
it 1
of a good
at length compelled to
Imprudent by nature, and too warmly atatched to mufic, he eftate in the county of Monaghan, to which he was born ; and
make out
a precarious fubfiftence
But our Harmonift was not always confined Helicon
upon
s brok."
In the year 1755, he published his
feveral occafions, Songs
and Epigrams,
by the exercife of
to the mufical art,
the
his favourite art.
he fometimes dabbled
"
Mifctllmeous
Wtrks"
very fweepings of ParnafTus
1740 he loft his miferable life in an accidental fire on Cornhill, Lett. 44. Phil. Surv. of the South of Ireland. Art. Harmnica.
in
London.
in
"
confuting of !
About
Vide
fam d
Poems
the year
Encyclop. B.
it,
THE IRISH BARDS,
&c.
161
But the Saint was not
to enjoy this homage long. In the Rotun da (n), indeed, her Votaries facrificed to her for a few But Po years. litics, Gaming, and every fpecies of Diflipation have fo blunted the finer feelings of their fouls, that their warm Devotion has at length degene.rated into cold Negled. Concerts, it is true, are held there every Summer but they are little attended to. Music, however, is fomej
times the fubjecl of converfation amongft us, and is ftill cultivated by a few ; but it is no longer a favourite topic, nor a favourite ftudy.
A
circular Room adjoining the Lying-in-Hofpital, in which Concerts are held during the Seafon, twice a week, for. the benefit of that Charity. Before the ereftion of this Room, Concerts were held for the fame purpofe in along Room in Granby Row, now (1785) occupied by Anthing s Club. Here the Concerts were firft conduced by Caftrucci, (the laft of Pupil Corelli) who had been invited over to this kingdom by Dr. Mofs. Caftrucci died (1752) in poverty, in Dublin. He has often been feen gathering chips to make his fire, drefTed in the fuit of black velvet^ (n)
Summer
which he ufually wore when he appeared could relieve him, affiftance.
fome
the
was fo
firft
till
in public.
But
his
poverty was not
known
to thofe
who
after his deceafe
j his proud fpirit would not permit him to folicit pecuniary due honors were paid ; his Funeral was memory fuperb, and graced with Characters in the Nation j and the concourfe of that attended on the occafion
To
his
indeed
all
people
confiderable, that the Parifli Beadle
Remains were interred
in the
was crumed
Church-yard of
St.
Mary
to death in the execution of his office. s,
His
Dublin
ADDI-
ADDITIONAL NOTES. was
my
ITDefign, But
I
original intention to have embellimed this
by Mr. Beauford,
was obliged
to
in
abandon
Work
with a Frontifpiece, from an elegant in the ancient Drefs of his Order.
which he has introduced a Bard this plan,
as that armirable artift,
undertaken to execute the engraving, was prevented by
Mr. T. Milton, who had kindly
his various avocations
from
finifliing
before
it
thefe fheets were ejected by the Prefs.
r.
Page
mufical inftruments of the ancient
In the Trophy are thrown together fuch of come down to us, excepting the Bagpipe, which refts on the
a cloud at the end of the
as
have in
of one in the
of
William
Irifti,
The Harp
Work.
Limerick, pofleflion Oufley, Efq ; Trophy is a faithful delineation, by contains thirty-three firings, u five feet high, of Mr. Jonathan Hehir, of that City. This Inftrument find the fo llowing infcripand feems to be made of red fally. But its antiquity is not remote, for we View which retires to the right of the Made tionon it: John Kelly 1726." The diftant
the
"
by It was taken from Nature with great fidelity, in the County of Kildare. Harp, is Old Kilcullen, With refpeft to my Engravings in general, 1 will only obferve, that the by Mr. Beauford. bid fair to raife the Graphic art to an high if properly encouraged, young Men who executed them,
1 cannot difmifs this note, without acknowledging my in this Country. degree of excellence on the prefent occafion, with that degree to my Brother s pencil, which was exercifed
obligations
of zeal which can only proceed from the warmth of
P. According to Mr.
5.
Note
O Halloran,
(h). the
affeftion.
The Harp
Harp was affumed
does not appear, &c.
in the
Arms of
Ireland,
by order of Henry
II.
i
Y
2
P. 33-
An ~
1
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
64
Anno Mundi
P. 33.
.
This
made
ftory has been
the
As one high in the literary world. is withheld from the public.
anecdotes which appear
who
The
P. 60.
The
3649, a great revolution, &c.
ground-work of an
adm rable Tragedy, by a gentleman who ranks Drama alluded to, 1 cannot but lament that it
has read the
antiquity of this Harp, &c.
in the Col/eflanea
concerning Brien
But
can hardly prevail on ones felf to queltion their authenticity.
s
Harp, are fo
it
fliould be
that one
plaufible,
remembered, that they
were originally furnifhed by Tradition, who is not apt to adhere ftrictly to truth. This however is faid with all due defererce to the veiacitv of the communicator of the anecdotes.
Whatever
P. 65. This
Thurfday April
paflion
"
the 27th,
1786.
as to the effect of na:imal mufic, focial
inquiry
who had mother. Fryer, houfe.
utmoft
quitted the ftage fince In the bills
who
it
The
"
:
;
any wench of
the
who
Freemais Journal, for known, and fingular,
little
declares himfelf fonder of
In 1720, Charles Molloy, Efq; wrote a Farce, called
was mentioned,
"
in
The
part of fifty
Lady Richlove to be performed by Peg which accordingly drew a great
years
;"
character in the farce was fuppofed to be a very old
abilities
in
anecdote being very
Drury-lane, and to Mrs. Fryer, (an Irishwoman, the reign of Charles II.) was afligned the part of an old grand-
woman, and Peg exerted her
but the Farce being ended, fhe was brought again upon the ftage to dance a :
She came tottering
fadden, the mufic linking up the IRISH as
intended to excite, &c.
furnilhed by a correfpondent,
has not appeared on the ftage thefe
jig at the age of eighty-five "
is
was brought out
It
may be
The following
than political difcuflion
the Half-pay Officers.
it
from a paragraph which appeared
alFertion receives fupport
TROT,
in, flie
and feemingly much fatigued danced and footed it almoft
but
;
as
all
on a
nimbly as
five-and-twenty."
P. 77.
The Danes borrowed
the Bagpipe from, &c.
his ftay in London laft winter, Colonel Vallancey, (whofe attention to the promotion of my Undertaking, never (lumbered even for a moment) extracted from the Minutes of the Antiq. Society
During
of London, for loth
"
May,
Mr. Harrington further
a Laplander by birth,
1
770,
fays,
the following curious notices concerning the
Bagpipe
:
he enquired of Mr. Forugt, the Inventor of the new mufical types,
and a good Mufician, whether they had any Pipes
in
Lapland.
On which "
he
mentioned
ADDITIONAL NOTES. mentioned two the
the Suk-Pipe
and the Wal-Pif-e, which he defcribes
Bagpipes."
Should the Scots difpute the invention of full as
probable that they borrowed
the Bagpipe from
"
The U
make
To "
165
exadly the fame with
to be
al-Pif>e
at
is
ufed by the Lapland Shepherds, and
thefe notices
my
learned friend added,"
Ceila-Whala,
Bagpipe.
as that the
confifts
proper diftances, fo as to produce mufical
the Cala-Mnlti of the Zingari of Swinburne,
"
ancient Inftrument,
this
from the Norwegians,
Mr. Harrington Swedes learned
thinks
it
is
the ufe of
them."
r
apertures
it
the mufical
The
of a
Mala
in
s
horn, in which they
Wal-Pip3 of the Finns, feems
and Mala-Pioba of the
Bag.
Cow
intervals."
its
Irifli.
inflexions
Mala
is
to
me, to be
a bag,
makes Mkala,
i.
e.
the
pronounced
"
Wala."
P. 90. It
is
not recorded that the Flute was known, &c.
the notes, appear to be calculated Several of our moft ancient melodies, from the length of fome of
rather for the Flute than the Harp.
See No. VIII. of SeieS lri/k Melodies.
&c. P. 93. Small Bells were undoubtedly introduced with Chriftianity, There
is
from my Father s pofleflion, a fmall Bell, curioufly embofled, which appears have belonged originally to a Romifh Chapel, and to have been made fo early
at prefent in
infcriptions
on
it,
to
as the year 1543.
P. 97.
Each Chieftain had a War-Cry
were diverted from In procefs of time thefe War-cries
&c. peculiar to his Tribe,
their original purpofe
by the VafTals and
To this evil the State to ferve as alarums to feditious Meetings. Followers of the Chieftains, In the ioth year of the reign of Henry VII. an aft to apply a radical cure. at length determined of the words CaoM-ABU and BurLER-ABU.-" Item, prayen was pafled prohibiting the ufe that forafmuch as there hath been great variances, Parl. affembled "
"
the
Commons
in this prefent
:
of this land, which hath and comparifons between divers lords and Gentlemen ill difpofed perfons, utterly taking upon feditious means of diverfe idle and daily increafed by for that they would be borne in their faid them to be fervants to fuch Lords and Gentlemen, and nothing for any favour or entirely good love or idlenefs and their other unlawfull demeaning, and Gentlemen Therfore it be enafted and eftab .iflied by malices, debates,
"
"
lords will that they bear unto fuch
:
"
the
1
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
66
"
"
"
fame authority, That no perfon ne perfons of whatfoever eftate, condition, or degree, he or or companions they be of, take part with any Lord or Gentleman, or uphold any fuch variances in word or as in the re CR.OM-ABO, BUTLER-ABO, or other words like, or the
deed,
words,
ufeing
otherwife contrary to the King "
St
"
if "
"
s
Law s,
his
Crown, and dignity, and peace, but
to
call
only on
And for the time being. George, or the name of his Sovereign Lord the King of England he or they be of, do conany perfon or perfons of whatfoever Eftate, condition, or degree,
trary fo offending in the premiiTes, or any of them, be taken
remain without bayle
"
King
s
or mainprife,
deputy of Ireland,
till
and the King
and committed to Ward, there
he or they have
made
fine after
counfail of the
fame
for the
s
to
the difcretion of the
time
being."
Rot.
Par/, cap. 38.
As
it is
not generally known,
I
motto to the Duke of Leinfter principal
miles
W.
s
will here take occafion
arms,
is
refidence of that branch of the
1
"
5th century our
"
powers of the
IriJH
Harp drew
hath the concave not along the
melting and fo prolonged as the Iri/h
CROM
in the
Crom-Caftle ftands about fourteen
Harp received
confiderable improve
Sec.
a panegyric from the pen of Bacon
firings,
word
which was for many years the
O Donovans.
ments, The
Caftle
Fit7gerald family.
of Limerick, and was founded by the
P. 133. In the
to mention, that the
name of a
the
"
:
The
harpe (fays he)
but acrofs the firings; and no Harpe hath the found fo
Harfe."
Vide Sj/u. Sylvar.
APPENDIX.
[
No.
I.
]
INQUIRIES CONCERNING THE
ANCIENT IRISH HARP. IN A
By THE REV.
LETTER TO THE AUTHOR.
EDWARD LEDWiCH,
VICAR OF AGHABOE, AND FELLOW OF THE
SOT);.
.
V OF
L. L. B.
ANTIQUARIES, LONDON.
N
E
D
INQUIRIES,
A
VERY learned
were
like
X.
I
&c
.
and ingenious writer (a) is of opinion, that the Harp was an inftrumcnt ufed by the Gallic Bards, and from its conftruclion, of Barbaric origin Diodorus Siculus is his authority, who their inflruments :
only fays,
Such words,
Lyres (b).
in
Diodorus
at leaft,
time, might convey a precife the Cithara, or Chelys j
we know not the figure of the Lyre, Montfau9on, who examined above fix hundred
idea, but in ours,
ments, could not venture to
affix
names
to
of thefe ancient inflru
any of them, or afcertain
their fpe-
On
fuch precarious ground, then, Vofiius feems to have been too precipitate in his inference ; nor can his authority be of weight in this cafe. Befides, we fhall hereafter fee reafon to believe the Harp derived rather cific (c)
differences.
from the Scythic or Teutonic branch, that peopled Europe, than the which latter the (d) Gauls were a part.
The Harp was unknown
Greeks and Romans, as its name does Martianus Capella, a man of great curiofity and in thofe northern nations who poffeffed themfelves of the to the ancient
not occur in their writings. formation, found
it
Celtic,
among
Roman
empire in the 5th century ; he mentions it with other inftruments, whofe (e) deep, grave, and harfh founds were fitted to alarm female timidity.
(a)
Voss. Defoemat.
(b)
Ta?f See
(d)
The
5.
(e)
cantu,
This
Apud
& virilus Rjthmi.
lib.
o^oiwv.
Doctor BURN EY
(c)
Lib.
Ai5fai>
S
5.
conje&ures on
different people inhabiting is
more
pag.
1 1
8.
pag. 308. this fubjeft:
Hiflory of Mujic. vol. i. pag. 308.
Gaul were early remarked
;
fully opened by the learned Tranflator of MALLET
Du CANGE.
Voce
by Diodorus S
Sic.
particularly,
Northern Antiquities. Preface.
Hat-pa.
Eucherius,
APPENDIX.
6
Eucherius, Bifliop of Lyons, in the fame age, informs us, that the(f) Nablium This is the like the barbarian Cithara, and fliaped like the Greek Delta.
was
we have
only defcription
barian (g) inftrument
and refided
diftinguiming
;
Venantius Fortunatus,
of the ancient Harp.
flourifhed in the 6th century,
it
alfo in
who
France, makes the Harp a bar
Roman
from the Greek and
Lyres, and
France was then poffefied by Romans, Goths, Burand Armoricans; fome of them Celtic, but moft Teutonic na gundians, Franks, the Teutonic The national inftrument of each is accurately marked tions.
from the
Crwth.
Britifli
;
This their Crwth, and the Romans their Lyre. people had their Harp, the Celtic uifcrimination is decifive evidence of the difference between the Harp and the
warm
deceived by a Lyre, and of VoiTms being
The Teutonic
tribes
of the Sannatians
were noted
for
imagination.
harm and brutim
voices
Ovid thus fpeaks
:
:
Omnia Omnia
barbaricas loca funt, vocifque ferinre, funt Getici plena timore foni.
The affefted hoarfe enunciation of the Germans is mentioned by Tacitus (h), and the croaking German fmging by the Emperor Julian (i). The Harp, in its primitive ftate, was not calculated to correct fuch harm and difagreeable melo dies
;
was incapable of a pleafmg fucceffton of founds, or agreeable confonance,
it
Du GAUGE.
(f)
Voce Nablium.
Romanufque Lyra, plaudet
(g)
tibi,
barbarus Harpa,
Graecus Achilliaca, Crotta Britanna canat. Lib. 7, carta. S. It
the
add
is
aftonifliing
Romans
how BARNES, it
calling
by the
Prologom. in Anacreon. could fay, the
latter,
the Barbarians
Harp
by the former name.
Nonnulli putent, Venantium Fortunatum inter
"
:
Harpam & Lyram
arid
He
Lyre were the fame
diftinguere."
Eucherius could not be miftaken, but our modern Editor, totally ignorant of the fubjeft, (h)
Affeftatur prsecipue afperitas foni,
barbarians (i;
a,puHx.o?
A>pia
(MEAH
*j
*-
Mifopag.
p. 56. Edit.
by crows
;
and
it
t.ftiyjytyum,
& fra&um murmur.
3.
Diod.
Capella and eafily
might,
Sic. calls the
lib. 5.
Trewoin^if* Trapa-nrA^ffiK TO,?? KM*
Pttwii.
Germ. cap.
:
has candour enough to
Inftead of
Ct??
-ruv
xwwls fome MSS.
rpA^J CwvT&iy
read
xp^o?f,
opviOav
cl
iTovTrtf.
or that found emitted
feems the beft reading,
fo
A
P
P
N
E
D
X.
I
? fo that
it
ar
produced neither melody nor harmony.
T^f ^ ^^
C
H"^ and had the ,
,
effeft
ICON
;
a concert of fuch bar-
UndS
already noticed by Capella.
That the Harp was confined from the
f
Hence
filence of Ifidore
to particular northern
Hifpalenfis in his
had us ufe been general,
it
O R ic INES
tribes,
may be
and Suidas in
,
would not have been
inferred
his
Lsx-
parTed over by them.
From m
the Teutonic derivation of the Harp, it is eafy to account for the national inftrumcnt of the The Englifh.
and introduced the Harp
:e,
eager to poffefs alone that
and admirers: ca
m the laft
j
becom-
into Britain. fertile Ifle,
Inflamed with a third of conqueft, they almoft exterminated the natives
:otally erafed every veftige of Roman and Britiih Nations and fofter harmony of the Crwth were s
its
Anglo-Saxons were of German
civility.
The
gentler
equally defpifed with
its
mo-
perfor-
this
inftrumcnt was banimed to Wales, Cornwall, and Arcounty Venantius found it in the 6th century.
The Roman 1
Miffioners kept alive and augmented the enmity between the BriAnglo-Saxons : the former would not adopt Popery or its fuperflitions, the latter were devoted : every temporal and fpiritual motive which
logical malignity could invent,
was conjured up to make the refentment of and perpetual, and with too good fuccefs. Hence the triumph of the Harp over the Crvvth, and hence its ufe all ranks th people implacable
of people until the
general
Norman
among
invafion.
This reafoning may perhaps account for the introduftion and practice of the in England, but willnot The apply, it may be faid, to Ireland. I
Harp
Irifli,
think, received
in the
4 th and 5 th centuries from their clofe connexion with the Saxons, and other rovers from the Baltic mores, who conjunftly ravaged the coafts of Britain and Gaul in thofe I know Mr. ages. Macpherfon (k) has ingenioufly combatted the opinion of this connedion ; but it is impoffible to inva lidate
all
it
the arguments fupplied
by antiquity in
its
favour.
Giraldus
Cambren-
I
(k)
In his Introduction
ti
the
Hijlory of Great Britain
and Ireland flS
E
P
P
8
N
D
X.
I
on Legends, fpeaks of St. Patrick s Harp, which, if any faith is to be placed he might have brought from Tours, where he ftudied ; and where, no doubt, it was cultivated by the Barbarians. The Harp is mentioned by Ifo (1), in the he was a monk of St. Gall. The founder of this abbey being an
fis
pth century
;
Irimman (m), and the monks, for the moft part, of the fame nation, who from the Danifh tyranny, they could be no ftrangers to this inftrument. It
may be no improbable
conjecture,
and
will
certainly
fled
meet the ideas of
Crwth was primarily ufed by the Irifh, but gave on the eftablifhment of the Danifti power in this kingdom. place to the Harp The Harp was the delight of the northern nations, and their Princes and Scalds
many,
to fay, that the Celtic
eminent performers on it. The monument at Nieg, exhibited by Mr. Cordiner, (n) The bird at top was their fa has every appearance of being a Danifh work. vourite raven, of which their fagas and fcaldic poetry are full, as may be feen in Wormius, Bartholine, and Mallet. The obliterated figure, taken by Mr. Cordiner for an angel, may or may not be one ; it is obvious, there are no concomi Mr. Cordiner tant fymbols to evince the fculpture to be by a chriftian ardft. obferves, that this monument, which gives an Irifh Harp, belongs to the nth
century confirm
;
in this
I
perfectly agree with him,
and was
this
the place, could fully
it.
From fome drawings
of the Davidic Lyre in Montfaucon, Calmet, and others, Harp, it has been fuppofed our inftrument is derived. It has been (hewn from Eucherius, that the Barbaric Cithara, or Harp, was a tri
which
referable our
What the origi gonal figure, and fimilar to what was then called the Nablium. nal Nablium, or Jewifh Nebalius, mentioned in the Pfalms were, or what the Chinnor, Neginot, and other inftruments occuring in Scripture, were to the Septuagint
tranflators, as
(m)
Du CANGE, in Harpa. WARE Writers. CAVE
(n)
Remarkable Ruins
(o)
Prologom. in Pfalmos. pag.
(1)
S
Bifhop Hare (o) has fully proved.
unknown Of what
tiifioria Litteratia.
in Scotland.
75.
No.
I.
They
1784. did not
know how
to
tranflate the titles
of the Pfalms,
but gave the moft abfurd and incongruous interpretation of them,
weight
APPENDIX.
9
weight then can the dreams of modern Rabbins, or the fanciful drawings of Kircher (p), their blind follower, be on this Eucherius makes the Nafubjeft ?
blium a triangle, in Kircher it is a fquare. Bifhop Lowth, who has with great elegance and learning treated of Hebrew poetry, never touches on the mufical inftruments of the Jewifh people, nor contefts Bifhop Hare s fentiments, though he criticifes him on other points (q). An argument much in favour of what is advanced.
Whether affumed
Harp was an
the
imitation of the ancient Lyre (r), or at what time
form or number of
The firings, is not eafy to determine. monument at Nieg, if of the age before allowed it, mews what it was in the nth century, and therefore I mufl decline from the opinion of Lord Pembroke and Bifhop Nicolfon (s), who imagined the triangles on fome of our old
it
its
prefent
An
coins, referred to the Irifh Harp.
indeed
it is
moft probable
it
obfolete figure
was buried in
would
total oblivion.
fcarcely be revived
;
The heads of our Kings
Church, and its recipro by the French coins of Philip IV. Lewis X.
infcribed in triangles exprefled their attachments to the cal fupport of
them
this
:
is
verified
Philip V. Charles IV. and John. (*) object of this Inquiry is, at what time the Harp became the armo Though coats armorial were not unknown to moft of bearing of Ireland. the nations of antiquity, yet gentilitial arms undoubtedly were until the middle
The fecond
rial
of the
ith century
i
A learned
;
the latter were hereditary, the former (t) perfonal or cafual.
German (u)
writer fays, the romantic expeditions to the
introduced the diflin&ions of armories and the jargon of blazonry
(p)
(q)
MARTIN
(s)
Irlfh Hiftorical Library,
As
1
1
cap. 4.
Lexic. Philolog. in Lyra.
is
this triangle
pofuig the triangle
lib. 2.
Holy-Land the faltiers,
Sub finem.
Proeleft. Poet.
(r)
(t)
torn. i.
In his Mufurgia Uniruerf.
;
to
EDMONDSON
pag. 158
159.
feen in the coin of our
King John,
I
adopt
this
opinion
in
preference to fup-
be a fhield. S
Body of Heraldry.
word IhvTfovut. lib. 5. pag. 307. BIEL FIELD, UErudition Comflette. (u)
DIODORUS torn.
B
3.
Sic. with
much
propriety applies to thefe the
pag. 291.
the
APPENDIX.
10 the
fufils,
the girons, and lozenges of this fcicnce being parts of the harnefs arof the Chevaliers. Bifhop Kennet agrees, that armorial
mour and ornaments
The arms, bearings were not fo early as the reign of Edward the Confeflbr (w). therefore, on the Harp of Brien Boiromh, and the Harp itfelf, can neither be of the age, nor belong to the perfon, that an anecdote delivered in the i3th
COLLECTANEA DE REBUS HIBERNICIS, would
of
perfuade us.
than pofitive proof will convince the heraldic antiquary, that the
neighbours in
their
He&or and the
Number
Nothing Irifh
lefs
preceded
gentilitial armories.
Boethius (x) relates, that on a treaty concluded between Charlemagne
A. D. 791, it was granted, that the latter prince counter-charged border of fleurs-de-lis. As the Irifh were equally favourites with that great Monarch, he might have conferred the fame honour on our Kings ; though, from what has been advanced, there Scottifh
mould bear
not the
is
King
.Achaius,
a red lion in a
probability of this being fo. Befides, had the tafle for heral been then fafhionable, fome fpecimens would have been difplayed coins, whereas they exhibit nothing but fimple monograms. leaft
dic pageantry
on
his
An gives
ancient roll of arms, preferved by Leland (y), of the age of Henry the bearings of moft of the European Princes, and of moft of the
III.
En-
glim and French Nobility. Among thefe we find the arms of Wales, of Scot and the little Ifle of Man, but not a word of Ireland. It is a
land,
flrong prefumption, that Ireland then had no arms : Quartering, it may be faid, was not introduced till the (z) reign of Edward III. half a century later ; but when it was introduced, no notice was taken of Ireland. Harold, King of Man, came to this
Henry, did homage
was dubbed a Knight, and received arms, which Maurice Fitzgerald, an anceftor of the Duke of Leinreceived Knighthood and arms, and they are alfo in the roll.
are recorded in the fter,
(w)
(a),
roll.
Parochial Antiquities,
(x)
Pag.
i
(y) (z)
CAMBDEN
(a)
CARADOC.
pag. 52.
NICOLSON
88.
Colleftanea.
vol. 2. S
S
Scottijh Hljl. Library,
pag. 46.
pag. 616.
Remains,
pag. 163.
pag. 318.
It
APPENDIX. .
ii
was Henry VIII. who, on being proclaimed King of Ireland, firft gave us The Englifli allowed us eminence in Harp. nothing but mufic, as I have elfewhere fhewn He therefore felecled this inftrument as being our favourite one, and to perpetuate the celebrity of our performance on it in former times. Such a bearing was a judicious compliment ; it neither reminded us of our prefent dependance, nor upbraided us with our former rebellions. James I. quartercd it with the arms of France and England ; and may it long continue the orna ment and fupport of the Britifh Crown will You, It
:
!
equal patriotifm and loyalty in the words of Horace
Dii
Commoda
tibi,
my
friend,
anfwer with
:
qua^cunque preceris,
dent.
Aghaboe, i ft
February, 1786,
B
a
[ No.
II.
3
[No.
E
T
II.]
T
R
E
T
JOSEPH
C.
WALKER, MEMBER
OF THE
ROYAL
IRISH
ACADEMY
;
ON THE
STYLE
OF
THE
ANCIENT
IRISH
MUSIC.
FROM THE REV. VICAR OF
AGHABOE>
EDWARD
W
I C H, L. L. B. L E D AND FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, LONDON.
APPENDIX.
LETTER,
A
S
IW
I
&c.
R,
H
my reading or knowledge enabled me to affift your ingenious en or elucidate the curious fubject which fo laudably engages your atten Your patriotifm is eminent in recovering from oblivion the veftiges and
I
S
quiries,
tion.
fragments of our ancient Mufical Art exhibited of
it,
no
;
demonftrate your
Icfs
and the valuable fpecimens you have and judgment.
tafle
In treating of the hiftory of the Church of Ireland in the examine and refute an aflertion of St. Bernard,
neceflary to
we were
the primacy of Malachy, this
gave
rife to
How plain from and
its
foever
in Ireland.
2th century, that
to
ignorant of Pfalmody and Church MufiC
it
may yet
Bifhop
appear, that Mufic exifted in
fome induftry
is
Stillingfleet (a) has
requifite
been able
the Gallican or Britifh offices,
to to
the Chriftian difcover collect
it
in
:
Church England
but few mufi-
contra-diftinguimed from the paucity of records, and the bare hints of writers as
Gregorian or Roman the forming very uncertain data from whence to deduce pofitive conclufions. fame obfcurity clouds the remote periods of Mufical Hiftory in Ireland. muft be an apology for the imperfection of the hints now offered on this :
(a)
was
it
antecedent
the following notices and conjectures.
foundation,
cal traits of
1
In his Antiquities of the Eritt/h Churches,
chap. 4, pag.
The This topic,
237.
which
APPENDIX.
i6
which however
lies
improvement from fuperior
to future
open
abilities
and more
extenfive erudition.
It
was
in the year
pal chair of
1
1
Armagh.
deceafe, the latter,
other particulars
O
Morgan (b) afcended the archiepifco34, that Malachy He was the beloved friend of St. Bernard, after whofe
in a high (train of panegyric,
he informs
there recorded,
compofed that
us,
his life, (c)
Among
the Irifh, through
the
were brought to a conformity with the Apoflolic conftitutions and the decrees of the Fathers, but efpecially with the cuftoms of the Holy Church of
Primate
s
Rome.
They then began to chant and fmg the canonical hours, which before was not done even in the metropolitical city of Ar in his Malachy had learned fong in his youth, and enjoined fmging
zeal,
as
places,
magh own monaflery, when ;
or
Thus
diocefe.
as
far St.
it
yet
was unknown,
in other
or not pradifed in the city
Bernard.
This citation fuggefls two fads ; the firft incredible and certainly far from that the Irifli Church had fubfifted for feven hundred years without
truth,
Mufic or Pfalmody
:
the other
more probable,
that
Malachy exerted the
influ
ence of his ftation to oblige the Irifh to relinquifti their old ritual, and adopt His efforts were in vain, the Roman manner of celebrating divine offices.
even allowing a temporary acquiefcence ; for, in thirty years after, we find, the Council of Camel decreeing an uniformity of public worlhip, according to the
model of the Englifh Church. The Irifh received, very reluctantly, in nor was it before their princes were in dodrine and difcipline
novations
;
that they embraced foreign expatriated and the people reduced to extreme mifery, and obeyed the dictates of the Sovereign Pontiff. fuperflition,
That the Chriftian Fathers adapted notation and modes, admits
(b)
WARE
(c)
Inter S.
(d)
The
Mif:t:ll.
Sac.
S
Bifhops.
BERNARDI
ufe of thefe
of the
their (d)
Pfalms and
fulleft proof.
Hymns
to
the
Greek
Accuflomed from infancy
page 54. Opera, in
cap. 16.
the earlieft ages
is
clearly proved
byHoRNBECK,
Je Pfalmtdia t inter
cap. 2.
to
APPEND to the Choral Service
mufical ideas, but
X,
I
j;
of Paganifm, the convert naturally retained his former
applied
them
more
to
fanftified
compolitions, and a purer determine of what kind the Ecclefiaftical Modes were, or what the difcipline of the Singers, I cannot believe the whole fervice (e) of the Primitive Church was irregular ; or that the people fang as their inclination led them, with fcarce any other reflridion than that it fhould be to. the praife of God. For early in the third century, Origen (f ) informs us, that chriftians fang in rhyme, that is, with nice regard to the length and fhortnefs of the fyllables of the and in tune
Though
objeft.
it
impoflible to
is
and harmony. The poetry, good terms he ufes are taken from the Greek Mufic, and evince that Chriftians in
their church-performances, were fcientific and correft. The definition of a Pfalm (g) by Gregory Nazienzen, by St. Bafil and Chryfoftom,. in the 4 th cen tury, is an additional proof of what is advanced. I have infifted on this point the more, in order to fubvert the groundlefs affertion of St. Bernard ;
and
to
made
dernonflrate, that fmging
a part of the chriftian fervice,
where-
ever the gofpel was eftablifhed.
About the year 386, Pfaltns and Hymns were ordered to be fung after the Eaftern manner ; and about 384, the Ambrofian Chant was formed of the Do Lydian, Mixolydian and Phrygian tones, which were called authentic modes, and to which Pope Gregory in 599, added four Weftern plagal. Europe had been evangelized antecedent to Gregory s Pontificate, and the Am brofian Chant admitted into churches I be-
rian,
many
caufe
there
reafon
is,
to
principal
many
believe,
:
fay
principal,
and diocefes
preferved the the (h) offices and fmging introduced by the firft miflionaries, and which more clofely adhered to the eaflern, that is, the ancient Greek Mufic,, than the Chant of the Cathedral of Milan. And this feems countenanced a,
Curfus,
that
biftiops
is,
by
very curious M.S.
fuppofed to have been written by an
{e)
HAWKINS
(f )
Evfufyu; % tnntwf,
(g)
faA^.o:,-
S
Hijlory of Mu/ic. KJ
Vol.
iw.we
K,
i.
HASIL. (h)
in pfalm 29.
USHER
S
y
Tf? bp-yoiyv
T
CHRYSOST. ad pfalm.
about 90 r,
pag. 288.
ui^wVaV-
De
Oral,
V
tsiv,
Irifh fehcJar
fj.ijcnuS
yUeAw^/tt.
page
GREG,
7.
intratf.
z.
in
f>Mi.
cap.-
a,
35. ver. 3.
Religion of the Ancient Irijh.
G
chap. 4.
and
APPENDIX.
iS
of Henry Spehnan. In this it is faid, that the Curfus was the appellation of the Irifli in thofe days) was compofed by St. Mark, and ufed by St. Gregory Naz, St. Bafil, St. Patrick, and com municated to the Continent by Columbanus. No notice is taken of St. Am-
and printed
Sir
by
(i)
(for fuch
the Scots
brofe and Pope Gregory but juft mentioned.
as the monaflic rule of
Now,
our
countryman, Columbanus, (k) has been published, and as this rule made part of the Irifli Curfus, we fhall fee how great a part of it was made up of Pfal-
mody and Anthems, The Monks and
or alternate Tinging.
are to affemble thrice every night,
and
In each office of the day, they were to
fing.
as often in the day, to pray
ufe prayers
and fmg three
of the night, from October to February, they are to fmg thirty-fix pfalms and twelve anthems, at three feveral times ; in the reft of the year, twenty-one pfalms and eight anthems j but on Saturday and In each
pfalms.
office
Sunday
pfalms
nights, twenty-five
and twenty-five anthems.
Here was
a
perpetual
pfalmody or of Nifmes,
laus perennis, like that praftifed in Pfalmody Ifle (1) in the diocefe founded by Corbilla, a Syrian Monk, about the end of the i4th Thefe may be added to the other numerous inftances of the orientaliftn
century. of our church, and practife,
many ly
its
fymbolizing with the eaflern in moft articles of faith and
and which created
ages
;
fo
much
the fedu&ions of flattery
ineffe&ual to fhake our principles
might calumniate, but was unable to
uneafinefs
to
Rome
and her emiflaries for
and the thunders of the Vatican were equal the mellifluous eloquence of St. Bernard ; fubjeft us to the domination of the Roman
See.
The Canons Chrifti College,
antiquary,
(i)
Con/il.
afcribed to St. Patrick, Auxilius and Iferninus, extant in Corpus
Cambridge, were tranfcribed, according
in the
Vol.
i.
i
oth century
;
to an (m) excellent Dachery (n) fuppofes they were made in the
USSER. PrimorJ. page 916
917.
Romas, 1661, by Luc. HOLSTEIN DEEPIN, BURNEY S Hijtoty of Muftc. vol. 2. page 9. (1) (m) ASTLE S Origin of Writing, pag. 120. (k)
(n)
Sfid/eg. torn. 9.
O.fufc. S.
PATRIC.
edit.
fiecle 7.
Ware, pag. 42. 8th,
APPENDIX. 8th,
and
I
have elfewhere fhewn
this
readers to remain in the church
be probable.
to
Ip
The fecond
which they are appointed
in
direfts
to flag
(o)
the this
;
feemstobe the meaning, but whatever
it is, it teaches us that the Reader and Singer had the fame office. Many of our Primates, as may be feen in Ware s BISHOPS, and moil of our learned men, other
among
called
On
Readers.
this
remarked (p)
it is
frequently found among the conceal nothing, fome by
"
literary
that the
hiflorians than that of
Irifti
name,
are
diftinftions,
Leflor,
Scribe;
more
is
neverthelefs, to
the
ancient Scribes underftand Writers this throws no light on the Ledor. By the i 5 th canon of the Laodicean Council, no one is to fing in the church but the canonical Singers, who are to afcend the ;"
defk and read from the book.
In the anfwers of John,
bifhop of Citri,
to
Con-
ftantine Cabafilas, archbifhop of
on each
Dyrrachium, we find the Readers were placed of the choir, (q) and like the precentor and fuccentor, led the
fide
At
choriflers.
day we read each verfe of the pfalm before it is fung in we retained the ufage of the Eaflern church. On the whole, now produced is fufficient to convift St. Bernard of error, and vin this
;
this inftance alfo
the evidence
dicate our practice of mufic and pfalmody.
Giraldus Cambrenfis gives a fplendid account of the perfection of in the i2th Century, and Caradoc of Lhancarvan agrees with him. their praife to fecular
fine
Such excellence was not muft have been the fervations
may
performances,
among
efteft
elucidate this point.
the Welfh.
illiberal all
Cambrenfis
is
even more copious in
(o)
Leftores denique cognofcant unufquifque ecclefiam
\V ARE
(q)
right
Antiquities,
Ava.}vci!Suv fide
St
o(f,(f/x/
by HARRIS, a
TOII/TIX,
of the Choir, was a mufical
o
common
fo
partiality
with national
the inftruments, tunes and meafures in
(p)
S
ecclefiaftical.
by any fudden or fafliionable application ; it of long practice and habit. Perhaps the following ob-
writers, affures us, the Irifh devifed
ufe
Mufic
They con
attainable
without any of that
Caradoc,
and fpeak nothing of
Irifli
in
qua
his praife,
when he
pfallat.
pag. 236. o
/j.1
officer
^
s i x.os
iz lifyS XP^;
and dignitary.
&c
-
Du CHESNE
Here
the Domeilicus of the
in voce.
2
premptorily
APPENDIX.
23
is incomparably Irifli (r), above any other nation, Such unequivocal teftimony of our fuperior tafte the mufical art, naturally calls for fome inquiries into fo
premptorily declares, that the fkilled in
fymphonal mufic.
and improvement curious a
fac~t,
in
more
who
efpecially as the perfons,
deliver
lived in a
it,
polimed
age, (s) both in refpedt of literature and manners.
The words
..
of Cambrenfis are clearly expreflive of attainments in the fcience
of mufic far beyond the miniftrelfy of England and France, or any other country The richnefs of our invention ; the vivacity, beauty, and .he had travelled (t). of our melodies extorted applaufe from him
-variety
I
:
he
fay extorted, becaufe
takes care to inform us, there was fcarce (u) any thing elfe to
commend among
the Irim.
.
This incomparable
ous, Bardic airs
It
:
of the harmonic
fkill
could never be predicated of unlearned, extemporane
implies a
intervals
knowledge of the diagram, and an exad divifion of the tones, and in the quickeft
a juft expreflion
;
.movements, an unity of melody. Cambrenfis (w) obferves thefe particulars of He accurately diftinguifhes the Irifli and Englifli flyles the latter of our mufic. :
was i
the diatonic genus (x)
made up of concords heavy the intervals The former was the enharmonic genus (y) ;
flow and
;
pacious, as in ecclefiaflical chant.
full
:
of minute divifions, with every diefis
dies (z) lively
and rapid
marked
our modulations
Prse
(s)
See the ingenious Mr.
WHARTON
vidimus, fupra.
Quam
He
S
refided
the fucceflion of our melo
:
and fweet.
full
omni natione quam vidimus, incomparabiliter
(r)
(t)
j
;
eft
inflru&a.
Hi/lory of English Poetry.
fome years on the
fopog. cap.
n.
pag, 739.
Diflertation II.
continent.
Bicgrapkia Brit.
Article
BARRY. (u)
In muficisyo/
(w)
Mirum quod
omnia indemni
inftrumentis
inter crifpatOo
(x)
Tarda & morofa
(y)
Tarn
fubtiliter
tinnitus licentius ludunt.
eft
invenio gentis
iftius
Tofog. fupra,
diligentiam.
digitorum rapacitate mufica fervatur proportio,
et arte
per
modulos, organaque multipliciter intricata, tarn fuavi velocitate, tarn im-
pari paritate, tarn difcordi difcordi
(z)
commendabilem
in tanta tain praecipiti
i
confona reddatur,
modulatio.
modulos
intrant
&
compleatur melodia.
fupra.
fupra.
&
exeunt
;
ficque fub obtufo groffioris
chords
fonicu, gracilium
fupra.
Modulatio verum velox
&
prsceps, fuavis tamen
&
jucunda
fonoritas.
fupra.
He
APPENDIX. He
alone
who had
2l
the marpeft faculties, and was the moft
profoundly verfed the mufical art, felt ineffable It i s then pleafure (a). evident, that all this tranfcendcnt excellence in mufic could be derived but from two fources ; a perknowledge of it as a fcience and
m
We
praS-ice.
are not,
it
is
true, able to
oduce our ancient tablature, or tunes from M.S.S. hitherto difcovered ; but a, from Caradoc, it appears we communicated both to the Welfli, and as they exifl in Mr. Morris s Collections (b), we may fairly afTume them as our own, and deri vatives from this Ifle. Thefe colleftions are of the 12th century, the very time in which Caradoc and Cambrenfis flourifhed fo that
;
gether, that
we had mufic
extraordinary,
mod
in fcore, can hardly be
of the pieces for the
Harp
connecting the evidence to-
difputed,
are in full
and what
is
more
harmony and counter-
point.
From thefe fads a miftake of Cambrenfis unfolds irfelf to view. The him, he informs MS, ufed but the Tabor and Harp. Here then could not he a varied combination of founds ; a multiplicity of parts, or fuch an artificial competition as to conftitute a fingle counterpoint melody, and that confined within a fmall compafs, was all that could be executed. The Welfli, he tells had three in:
us,
inftruments, confequently they could play counterpoint; fo that Cambrenfis muft have been ignorant of the art he was defcribing, or extremely inadvertent, as no fuch effeds, as he fuggefts, could be produced by fuch inftruments. Nor can any reafon be affigned, why we mould not have an number of mufical
equal
inftruments with the Welfh, who confeffedly adopted them from of a tranfcriber very probably gives rife to the error.
The
us.
An
omiffioa
tenor of our ecclefiaftical hiftory very explicitly mews the propagation of among us by Helleniftic Miffioners ; our doftrine and difcipline were
the gofpel
the fame as pradifed
(a)
Hint
ineffabiles
(b)
accidit,
ut ea qua: fubtilius inraemibus
comparant animi
BURNEY S
in the primitive church during the four
delicias.
Hijiorj of Mufic.
&
artis
firft
centuries.
archana acute difcernentibus, internas
&
fupra. vol. 2. pag,
109-312.
Thefe
APPENDIX.
22
Thefe points are amply detailed in another place (c). Each Bifliop appointed fuch an order for the celebration of divine offices, as he judged mod eligible and
bed
"
So various were
fuited to his refpe&ive diocefe.
What
"
fays he,
(d),"
Clergyman who
and a Laic in thofe of another
Roman
quainted with the
Chant, and that to us.
Bimop
1090, that
in
of one Church, fhould be ignorant
offices
This
?"
Irifli
a new proof that we were unac with the Ambrofian and Gregorian
is
fervice, as well as
retained the forms of the Eaftern Church, originally delivered
we
as cited
Stillingfleet,
by Doctor Burney
Roman and
between the
difference
prefles the
very learned in the
is
thefe offices
Roman. Clergy to adopt the can be more indecent, or fchifmatical, than that a
Gillebert, Bifliop of Limerick,
makes the
(e),
principal
Gallican ritual to confift in their Church,
Mufic.
Paul (f) defires the Ephefians to fpeak to each other in pfalms and hymns He here feems to make ufe of a harm expreffion to avoid
St.
and
fpiritual fongs.
With what propriety could Chriftians be faid introducing a heathen term (g). But to fpeak to each other in hymns, which celebrated the divine perfections ? exercife themfelves in the they might, as in the Pagan Dithyrambics and Pceans, the Hijlory of the Church of Ireland, from tbe 5th to the
Iii
(c)
Letter, and of
which
this
Eflay
1
this 3th century, by the Writer of
an extraft.
is
Quid enim magis indecens aut fchifmaticum dici potent, quam doctiflimum unius laicum fieri ? USSER. Syll. Epift. Hit. pag. 77.
(d)
ordinis in al-
terius ecclefi; idiotam (e)
Hijlory of Mafic,
(f)
EPHES. chap.
LOSS,
iii.
1
6.
were frequently
The
thing
but
Ephefians and Coloflians
The
claflical
the"
pag. 124.
HAMMOND
AaxsWfi
;
lav-roTf YdA/uoi;
ij
Odes from Pfalms and
vp.\olc
K)
CO-
a (Ta/V mtv^a.rma ii.
joins the latter to
Hymns.
The
latter
SGALIG. Poet., former were accompanied with inftrumental mufic. LE CLERC will have Odes, Hymns, and Pfalms to mean the fame
makes them
certain they are different
(g)
pag. 56.
19.
apoftle diftinguiflies
recited, but
pafs. Catikeri Cinn. ;
vol. 2. 5. ver.
refer to three different kinds
but
would
is
a^eTSoyT-r
St.
Paul have any refpeft
of canticles to
among
the Jews.
Jewilh mufic when writing
It is
to
the
?
word
which referred
to the antiphonial or alternate iinging of the
heathen hymns.
Macrae 5
The
practice
is
,
a"
i s/ lov, XjUCiS^^vai
not of Chriftian origin.
SUID,
o-ri
v.oU}j.
& MEARS.
HOM. Gloff. yoce
Avr/ipaifa.
antiphonial
APPENDIX, antiphonial Tinging, and fucceed or anfwer each other. s
Apoflle
23
And
this
is
clearly the
meaning.
However, he difliked the pradifes of idolatry ; the permiffion he here gives the Ephefians, a gay and luxurious people, of ufmg pfalms, hymns, and odes, was
new
abfolutely neceffary for keeping eafily forget the raptures of
and
Apoflles (h), rious metres
th
at leaft,
:
They could not
:
j
their difciples,
and melodies
converts in the faith
and choral hymns and it is probable the formed fpiritual fongs, on their model, in va feftil
the early fathers of the church, as Clemens
of Alexandria, Eufebius, Chryfoflorn,
Bafil, and Gregory Nazienzen did fo. of their imitations are poetical, but no merit of this kind could compenfate a Grecian ear for the negligent, injudicious, and offenfive ufe of improper mea-
Some
which the Chriftian compofitions abounded.
fures (i), with
Dionifius Hallicar-
nafiaeus, in his beautiful treatife laft cited (ii), gives inftances of the
moft favourite performers being biffed on the ftage, for the fmalleft want of rythm or accent ; fuch were the delicacy of Grecian organs, and the correftnefs of Grecian tafte.
The more
zealous Catholics digefted thefe but the infipid productions j public were very far from acquiefcing in fuch unlearned and barbarous poe St. Bafil (k) try and mufic. complains that his flock neglecled his pfalms and hymns for their old Pagan fongs. The Arrians, (1) Apollinarians, and other
EUSEBIUS
(h) (itrfuv
5
whom
this
more
224. (ii)
is
informs us the early Chriftians compofed and fang
pJ Jfto??
faid,
o-s^urirspoif.
Thefe were the
s-<srA<w
(k)
usvct
/
edit.
j
cap. 17.
"A^*
VALESIUS
$ Suwfiiai ira.nnSi
thinks the Therapeutx, of
but confidering the ages of the Father and Critic, the latter
"fjlrfa,
K,
O!TAX.TIS
f^^-
of
DIONYS. HAL. Je
is
Strufl. Orat.
Upton.
Pag. 72.
UPTON
illuftrates this
vior aut longior, exfibilatur
(1)
Hift. Ecc. lib. 2.
were not Chriftians
liable to miftake.
(i)
p.
jueA<,
Serm. de
ebriet.
For ARRIUS
confefles Apollinaris
S
&
&
was
Si verfus
;
pronunciatus
eft
fyllaba Una bre-
exploditur Hiftrio.
lux.
fee
Hymns,
Philoforg.
fully inftru&ed in
preffit pfalmos ut celeritate
from CICERO
cum
lib. 2.
human
pag. 470.
learning
;
SOCRATES
the ecclefiaftical hiftorian
and an excellent judge declares
propheta regio certare videatur.
HE INS.
:
Sic ex-
Extrc. in Nonnum. p. 256.
heretics
APPENDIX.
24
heretics taking
Greek
ftyle,
of the popular difgufl formed
advantage
and
in captivating melodies
verfe were too powerful
for
orthodoxy
;
poems
the union and charms of the
;
number
the
in
true
harmony and
of fectaries foon exceeded
triumph with terror and amaze She reformed her ment, {he law her danger and endeavoured to avert it. nor was John, the oecumenic bifhop and embraced the Greek modes
that of true
believers.
The church beheld
hymns
this
;
of Conftantinople afhamed to urge (m) his people (n) to imitate the Arrian comthat Britain was infected with Arrianifm, and Gildas and Bcde agree,
pofitions. St.
Jerom complains,
that the chriilian world
groaned under
this herefy.
Thefe notices, hitherto unconnected, may perhaps throw fome light on the
We
mufic. peculiar ftyle of our ancient
received the
knowledge of the gofpel
about the end of the 4th century, and with it the Greek or Eaftern harmony, From an expreffion of St. Auftin, it is evident, the then univerfally in ufe.
enharmonic genus was then adopted and cultivated, as it alone was calculated to exhilarate the fpirits, revive pleafmg hopes, and banifh melancholy and defpair ; nor can there be any doubt but our primitive miffioners
trine
fvrft
conciliated the af
harmony before they opened to them the doc Bede makes Auguftine (o) approach Ethelbert and his
of their hearers by
fections
of redemption.
court fmging litanies.
Before the Ambrofian and Gregorian chants were generally introduced, we were grown ftrong in religion and learning, and for a long time ftrangers to, We had an independent hierarchy, as well as averfe from Romifh innovations. in 900 nor in 1090, as has been feen, yielded fubjection to St. Pope Gregory ; it therefore was not poffible for us to have any other mufic but on the Greek model, the character of which, as may be collected
which neither
Ambrofe
or
from
Auftin and Cambrenfis,
(ni)
(n)
St.
Ew! TO/
frov
rpo flrov
Tune hymni & BED.
lib. i.
"i
tta/uWiTicir
pfalmi, ut canerentur
roris tzdio contabefceret,
(o)
TH>
was enharmonic.
inftitutum
eft.
TOV
aura
AO.OV TrpeTptwti.
SozoM.
lib.
8.
cap. 8.
fecundum morem Orientalium partium, ne populus nwe-
AUGUST.
Confeff. lib. 9,
cap. 7.
cap. 25.
The
APPENDIX. The
25
of fociety here at our converfion a precife and ; energetic language ; the paucity of our inftruments and the admirable eflefts of our harmony, clearly point out the fimple ftyle of our melodies ; how exadly they coincided with the Greek ; how well to adapted delight our national vivacity and amufe our indolence. Topics thefe, capable of much curious and entertaining amplification, but exceeding the limits of this epiftle and fuperfluous to fo excellent a maftcr of this fubjecl. ftate
As ing
the feeds of chriftianrty and learning were coeval in this ifle, notwithftandthe vain and groundlefs pretenfions of fome Antiquaries, fo they found
a
foil wherein they vegetated with uncommon ftrength and foundations, the fchools of literature in thofe ages,
greatly
rapidity
:
multiplied,
mpnaftic
and
let-
foon flourifhed in every corner. I have (p) elfe where alledged many circumftances to induce a belief that the Greek language was particularly cultivated in thofe femmarles, and I have (q) already produced an inilance or two of natives ters
Can it then feem flrange that we mould have the mufical eminently {killed in it. diagram of the Greeks, or that we praftifed fcientifically their beft melodies ? This notation, it is true, appears corrupted in Mr. Morris s M.S.S. but it deinvincibly
monftrates that the Welfh had a notation, and that
among
the
The
Irifh.
(r)
mud
have exifted previoufly Northumbrians and Albanian Scots, both converted by ir
the Irifh, excelled in harmony.
The
Engliih
mufic on the contrary was of the diatonic It was the genus. Rome, from the firft entrance of her mnTionaries into
policy of the church of Britain, 16 decry tives
and
and depreciate the ancient rites and ceremonies of the na and perfection of her own. Arguments how
to exalt the efficacy
vain, (s) power foon decided the controverfy in favour of the are informed by Bede, that James, the deacon, inftrucled the clergy in finging after the Roman manner, as Stephen did the Northern ec-
ever were in latter.
of
We
York
(p)
In the Literary Hiftory of Ireland, preparing for the public eye.
(q)
Colledanea de Rebus Hibernicus.
(r)
Dr.
(s)
BED.
BURNEY. lib. 2.
vol. 2.
cap. 2.
No.
pag. 108,
6.
pag. iiz,
113.
109.
D
cbfiaftics.
APPENDIX.
26
clefiaftics.
eftablifhment of the Gregorian chant Pope Agatho thought the
portant an
affair,
Thefe
efforts
fo
im
that purpofe. he fent John, his precentor, hither for the Britifli princes, of the Papal See, feconded by the favour of of our ancient mufic, and confirmed the flow, fpa-
that
foon extinguifhed every fpark cious and unifonous melody of plain fong
t).
The
of it to both perpetual ufe a commutation
fecured by canons, and when it became the pradice of it muft have been univerfal.
was clergy and laity
and fading (u), xvonder that the tafte of the nation accommodated
for fins
well fitted to heavy modulation fucceeded, of minftrelfy. exprefs the difm a l tales I
am,
Sir,
a ftate
Tis then no
chant
itfelf to this
;
a dull
and
of fpiritual thraldom, and to
with truth and efteem,
Your very obedient and humble
fervant,
EDWARD LEDWICH. Aghaboe, loth Oclober, 1785.
(t)
The
diftinflion infifted
Charlemagne
Ravenna fays
:
:
s
on of Greek and
book againft the Greeks
;
Roman
both Princes hefitated long, before they embraced the Greek or
Celebrata fun! coramnobis facra miflarum
politano.
mufic, receives the higheft confirmation from
and, his grandfon, Charles the Bald
But he preferred the Roman
:
officia,
s
Letter to the Clergy of
Roman harmony.
more Hierofolimitano,
the fevereft pxmifhments alone
made
&
Charles
more Conftantino-
his national clergy relin-
quifh the Eaftern manner. (u)
JOHNSON
S
Saxon Councilt.
[
No.
III.
]
[No.
III.]
A N
ESSAY THE
ON
POETICAL ACCENTS
BY
of the
WILLIAM BEAUFORD, SOCIET. ANTICL HIB. SOC.
D
2
IRISH;
A. M.
APPENDIX.
AN
ESSAY,
&c.
N the decline of the Roman Empire,
and the ancient feat of that government being in the poffeffion of the various tribes of Barbarians, who, like a
deluge, overfpread the fouthern and weftern parts of Europe j the Latin tongue, in a fhort time, became corrupted with foreign words, and its true pronuncia about the beginning of the fixth tion, century, nearly loft; few could read, and fewer write. And what rendered the attainment of literature more difficult and
perplexing, to a people jufl emerging from a ftate of barbarity, the few books then extant, or which had efcaped the rage of war, were written in Roman or Etrufcan capitals, without the leaft diftindion of words or fentences.
To render the art of reading therefore more eafy, and, as much as poffible, to preferve the ancient pronunciation of the Latin language ; the Chriftian clergy, from the beginning of the 6th to the clofe of the 9th century, invented a number of points and marks, not only to diftinguifh and point out to the reader, the true
meaning of the
parts of a written difcourfe or compofition, but alfo to exprefs the feveral toneb and inflexions of the voice, in which fuch compofitions different
ought to be pronounced. Thefe marks they divided into three fpecies j that is, Grammatical, Rhetori and Mufical. (a) From the two firft fpecies, are derived the feveral
cal,
flops
(a)
Punftus
eft
fignum, quod vel figura, vel morafiia, claufulas feparat, fenfus diftinguir,
recreat, fpatiumque cogitandi. five
MS.
in
cantando,
five
in
GUARINUS
Veronenfis Arte pundnnJi.
legendo aliquid impedimentum inveniant.
Pun&are.
L. Ord. S.
cfficio
VICTORIS
animmn Ecclefise
Parifienfis
cap. 19.
and
APPENDIX.
3
and marks
at
Europe: The
prefcnt ufed in reading and writing, throughout the greater part of third, that is the Mufical, were, by the Clergy and other* religious,
during the middle ages, ufed in the Latin Pfalms and other divine hymns, to render the fmging of them more eafy, and to regulate the modulation of the voice, (b) Any line of a pfalm or hymn thus marked with the mufical accents
were denominated
Sulcos, or
marked
lines (c)
;
whence we
find
it
was common,
and mark with mufical notes or accents, of pfalms and hymns and fongs. Which mufical
in thofe ages, to correft, point,
or under the fyllables cents,
denominated
over,
ac
by the Latins Traflim, Punflatim, and Punftatim cawere divided into two fpecies, that is, Torii, or founds, and Pneumata,
nere (d),
alfo
or breaths.
The Ton us
.
directed the elevation and depreffion of the voice in Tinging, and is, the Acutus, Modicus, Gravis, and Circumfextts. Modicus denoted the natural pitch of the voice according to the key of the
confifted of four fpecies, that
The
and was nearly the fame as that we denominate the key note, its ) was made by a perdendicular line over the fyllable on which it was to be founded. The Acutits raifed the voice a 3d above the Modicus, and was denoted ( } by an inclining line over the fyllable on which it was The
ftrain fung,
character (
I
placed.
Gravis deprefled the voice a 3d below the Modicus, and a 5th below the Acutus, and was denoted by a reclining line (^) over the A point over any fyllable. of thefe characters raifed the voice a tone above that which they reprefented ; but being placed under the character thus (\) the voice a tone below deprefied the character, and the femitones were generally denoted by thefe characters writ The Circuniflexus, denoted ten in different colours. a curve line over
(~)
by
Mo
the fyllable, contained three founds in one, beginning with a 3d above the dicus, and defcending to a third below, paffing through a fifth, comprehending
(b)
PunSum,
fraftio
eft
&
in
pfalmodia, fyllaba.
inundatio vocis,
ad fimplicem cantuni. (c
liotavit
(d)
libat,
ea
qus cantando deleftationem
Ord. CARTUSIENS.
fulcifque intexere fulcos.
i
part. cap. 39.
PRUDENTIUS
i
CAROLI
II.
&
L.
propria manufonnavit, purgavit, punxit, fulcavit,
fyllabatim, &c.
Chart.
Si
afferunt amputentur, ut
geminatio punfli, &fimi]ia, quse potius ad curiofitatem attinent
Star. anqr.
Pungere puntta
And-Graduale-unum que
&
ercf<
quam
4. f{(p
fcripfit,
inS. Caffiano. illuminavit muficl-
Chronicon Trudorienfe, L. S. p. 441.
Regis
Sicilize
an.
1304.
the
APPENDIX. the three fpecies of the Acutus, Modicus, and Gravis.
31
This Circumflex was of
two kinds, that which fell in the fcale marked thus (^), and that which rofe from a 3d below to a 3d above the Modicus, palling through a rifmg 5th, as the other did through a falling 5th, and was denoted by an acute ( A ) angle placed over the fyllable (e). The Pneuma, or Neama, fpecified the length or the fpace of time the Tonus was to be founded, and anfwered in fome refpect to our mo
and were generally made under the vowel,
dern notes
(f ),
ing to
length, and, like the Tonus, confided of four fpecies
its
to be
founded accord ;
that
is,
the
Largus, Longus, Breve and Semibreve. The Largus was the longefl note, and frequently founded nearly a minute, being denoted by (=) a double line under the vowel of the fyllableThe Longus founded half the time of the Largus, and
was denoted by
(
)
a fingle line under the
Longus, and was denoted by The Semibreve was the mortefl of
kngth of
a
fyllable.
)
(
The Breve was
half the
a curved line under the accented
all the pneitmata or notes, being nearly of the length of our modern femibreve, and was expreffed by (^_) a point over the curve, or (o) a circle under the fyllable, being half the length of a breve (g). In the ancient mufic every fyllable of a pfalm or hymn had its proper tone and
vowel.
note, except in the circumflex,
and notes
as
it
tones confequently each line contained as many infer, that as each note depend-
Whence we may
did fyllables.
ed upon the length of the correfpondent fyllable, and the tone on the proper or natural cadence of the language, the ancient mufic was well adapted to the fubjeft of every poetical compofition.
The
Romans, not only
old
in
their fongs
and dramatic exhibitions, regula ted the voice according to mufical cadence and harmonic principles, after the manner fpoken of; but it is not certain that they ufed characters to exprefs it,
and hymns, but
alfo in
their public orations
It is certain however, that if they did, they were the fame we have defcribed. the chriftian clergy of the middle ages conftantjy ufed them in marking their and hymns, until the introduction of the Greek mufical notes, which
or
pfalms confided of the letters of the alphabet fulcated or marked with lines and points
Veronenfis Arte PunSandi.
(c)
GUAR.
(f)
ATitiphonarium
Sacerdotis in
(g)
JN.
& Graduale
collegit, diftavit,
&
pneumavir, feu notavit.
HUGON.
RutXngenfis
Mufic
MONACHUM
in libris dt
Mufca. to
.
APPENDIX.
32
to exprefs the different tones
and notes
from which period, that
;
is,
about the
beginning of the 8th century, we may probably deduce the feparation of poetry and mufic in the Weftern parts of Europe, and in which flate it remained, until the invention of the modern mufical fcale and gamut, by Guido, in the isth, and from which has originated the various mufical characters in ufe the during-
latter ages.
The Hibernian as their
fuccefs
feveral fpecies
who cultivated the harmonic art with as much on the Continent (h), were well acquainted with the of mufical notation, and mod probably inflructed the Irifh Bards Chriftian Clergy
brethren
and Fileas therein
for,
;
during the
latter ages,
we
find feveral of the Irifh
poems
and fongs marked with mufical accents, which accents were the fame as thofe of the Latins, as appears from an Irifh MS. now before me, of which the follow ing
"
"
is
a tranflation
:
The ancient Irifh poems, as fung by the Fileas, Harpers, &c. were frequently accented to render the fmging of them more The characters thus made. eafy. ufe of were the fame as thofe of the Latins, differing only in power according to the genius of the language. line of poetry thus marked, was denominated Car, or a marked line, (being the fame as the Latin Sulcos) (i) ; and the characters ufed
A
"
"
therein confided of two fpecies, that
6
tins), "
"
c
"
:
"
"
is,
the Ceol or found, (the
and Annalor Breath, from whence in the
a bar or line in mufic, or mufic in general j Ceol properly fignifies found, and the marks
But
elevation and depreffion of the voice
of three fpecies, that
marked
Tonus of the La-
tongue, Car came to fignify and Ceol or Chieol a mufical note. Irifh
is,
on any
under that name expreffed the
fyllable in mufical
Ceol Aedceol, Bafceol,
and
the middle tone or pitch of the voice, (being the
concord, and was
The
Circeol.
fame
Ceol in this cafe
as the Latin
Mo-
dicus) and in our language was feldom denoted by any charader, the fyllables in this pitch being left without an accent. The Ardceol (the fame as the Latin Acutus) thus ( ) marked over a denoted that the voice was
raifed a
fyllable,
(h)
Epifcopi
&
Abbates,
leftari confueverint.
(i)
The words
CAMB.
included
&
fanfti in
Hibernii
viri
Cytharas circumferre
&
in eis
modulando
pie de-
Top. Hib. Dijl. cap. 12.
in the
parenthefes are not in the original.
third
N
E
third above the ceo! or middle pitch, and vated the tone to the oftave. The
cc
D
when
X.
I
Uafceolthus marked (N
CC cc ec CC
a third below the
and a
fifth
ceo/,
power of our dipthongs and triphthongs
CC
light in the harfh
cc IW
deprefled the voice
founds of confonants, there
is
power and
variety in the found of the vowels are circeol
The ling fifth
or
Irifli
length
language does not de
no tongue perhaps where the
fo great, in confequence of po,wer according to the different inflexions of the thus marked (-), denoted the fpecies, falling voice from a
varied
ift
third above the
entirely
for as the
j
which, the it
cc
),
below the
Ardceol, (being the fame as the labut where marked double, felt a fixth below the ceol and an oclave below the Ardceol The Circeol (the fame as the latin Circumflexus; denoted the turning or modulation of the voice, and on the and tin Gravis)
depended
it
33
the character was doubled, ele
ceol,
its
to a third
and fometimes a fourth below, making the
and properly belongs to the diphthongs, The fecond fecond fpecies, thus marked (A), denoted the fixth,
fal
and 7.
7,,
,
rifing voice in the or fixth, parting through the intermediate third, and was generally placed over the dipthongs and &c. The third fpecies elevated tripthongs, a the voice a third, and fell a third / over and was marked thus
cc
fifth
If
i,
,
,
alternately,
-c
the accented vowel, as this
(
,
but
) for the rifing note
examples of
all
when
(
the voice only
and (-1
)
)
or rofe a fingle note, for the falling, as in the following fell
the Ceol. (k)
Ardceol.
Circeol
.
(k) no;
;
The examples
5%~
of the words here given are
in the original,
but the modern mufical notes are
they are here inferted as an explanation of the accents.
E
"As
APPENDIX.
34
As for the femi-tones they were feldom marked, being left to the ear of the And in the Irifli lanmufician, according to the key he fung or played in. guage, all vowels meeting in one word, without a confonant between them, "
"
"
*
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
1C
"
"
"
"
"
make but one
fyllable
and however they may be accented, the different it be long or
;
tones are founded in the time or length of the fyllable, whether
but an afpirated confonant between two vowels makes them feparate fylThis property of the Irifh language renders it exceedingly harmonious, and well calculated for poetical and mufical compofitions ; far fuperior either fhort
;
lables.
any of the modern tongues, (a circumflance that confirms the Cambrenfis, who, fpeaking of the Irifli mufic, fays, it was in his
to the Latin or affertion of
time
much
fuperior to the
Welfh
was
being of a grave and folemn nature,
theirs
;
and melodious, their fingers moving of the harp, preferving a true mufical proportion, nor rapidly over the firings whereas that of the
in
Irifli
any part injuring the
of intricate
art
mufical founds
foft,
lively,
among ;
the
fuch as,
makes of the foft
notes,
and a multiplicity
and pleafant notes, divided
-by juft
proportion into concords and difcords, making a complete melody (1); all of which depended upon the power and variety of the founds and length of the Irifli vowels, and to which the Welfh language is a flranger.) The Anntil or Breath or, as they were fometimes called, Annal-Ceol, or continued found, ,
"
*
"
"
"
*
"
(anfwering to our modern notes, and the fame as the Latin Pneuma} deter* mined the length of the vowels and fyllables, being divided into four fpecies ; is, very long (the Largus of the Latins) thus marked ( ) ; the long (H) being half the other (and the fame as the Latin Longus) ; the fhort, half the length of the long, unaccented j the very fhort thus (/*) expreffed, being half
that
a breve.
All of thefe in a great meafure depended upon the natural length of
the vowfels, dipthongs,
(1)
and tripthongs,
Top. Hib. Diftinfi.
as
3. cap.
n.
p.
739.
a,
o,
APPENDIX. a, o, u,
naturally long.
e, i,
naturally fhort.
ao,
long
N. B. The accent
.
eft
.X
C^Ofb
y
long or fhort
to,
long
1p
^
t"WecV
W>.
long or fhort
long
ie,
long or fhort
/^,
long or fhort
ivi,
long
^^a-
long
^efriJ *^^
-
A, long O or Ihort
"
"
"
Ceol above,
fyllable
;
and the
-A^
u^rr n\U
1
-
^
is
in P lain
Ceo/; then the Bafceol
placed
is
over the fhorteft
vowel.
.
.
k
/
^
/^1
tfii/iyL i* W/
*j\ -^ i-
-
* J
h.
"
V,^,
^
-
1
fX
olHO<^
,
vowel of a
lon S efl vowe1
v
/
/,
ge-
Annal beneath, except the
.
Ceu
lon S
/a-,.
the
t
M?C
Ofl
fa
v-i>VV
ea,
is
nerally placed to the long.
-
ai,
35
Though thefe examples point out the nature of our accents, and the. power of our vowels in general, yet much depended on the Mufician, in fetting any poetical compofition to mufic ; and, indeed, the Poet exercifed his art) in varying the length and
power of the
Here the Author propofes the remainder of the M.S.
taken care of
;
it is
rs
fyllables,
to give
wanting,
according to his
fubjecl."
examples of accented or Car poetry; but having been long kept in cabins and not
it
written on paper, part in
Irilh
and part
in
bad old Englifh,
and appears to have been compofed about the reign of Queeu Elizabeth, to inTrifh mufic and language: What an ftrucl fome of the Englifh fettlers in the have our mufical antiquaries fudained in the mutilation of this irreparable lofs Neither is it certain, that the characters here given are all that manufcript
!
were ufed by the old Bards.
As
to the time of their introduction
E
2.
from the Latin, it:
APPENDIX.
36
was probably about the 9th century from which time, to the I ith, they were much increafed ; but whether the Irifh, after the manner of the Welfh and the
it
;
inhabitants of the Continent, ufed the eaftern notation, or any other, tain.
There
is
a probability, that about the
i
ith
is
not cer
and i2th centuries, they had a
mufical notation, independent of their poetical accents
;
for
we
are informed,
about the time of the death of Malachy 2d, in 1048, the Irifh Mufic feparated from their poetry, and in confequence, their mufic and poetical compofithat
tions took a
Brompton,
new
turn, and the accents
were greatly multiplied (m).
However,
Henry II. fays, the Irifh Bards taught in fecret, com memory, (latenter /udenfes, in idem redeunt.) Where
in the time of
mitting their leflbns to fore, if they
had mufical notes independent of their poetry, it mufl have been The Clergy moft probably had them in their pfalms and hymns,
after that period.
but the Bards might not have admitted them, after the manner of the Erfe, never had any mufical notes.
(m)
jr
he
Since Mr.
fent
him
M CuRTiNV
Ant.
O Connor s
Divert.
who
2d Ed.
BEAUFORD favoured
the following
the Author with the above curious EfTay, modern names of the different lengths of the fyl-
lables, viz.
SHORT, MIDDLE,
Gearr.
LONG,
Sineadhfada.
Meudhonach.
No. IV.
[No. IV.]
DISSERTAZION
E
DEL SIGN OR
CANONICO ORAZIO MACCARI
S
Un
antica Statuetta di
Marmo,
Mufeo
del
O
F
DI
COR TON A,
R A
rapprefentante
un SUONATOR DI
Sign. Marchefe D. Marcello Venuti.
CORNAMUSA
;
del
ADVERTISEMENT. /
a
HA D
put the
Bagpiper,
to
my
account of the Bagpipe, ivhen I received, from
by Signer Canonico Orazio Maccari of Cortona.
ivith the notices -which
a
hand
loft
friend, the following very curious Differtation on an ancient marble Jiatue of a
tolerably complete, but defultory hiftory of the
giving
it
a place
in
my Appendix,
The
vol.
not thank
me for a
tranflation.
(p. 14.) our
dell
Author
antichiffima Citta is
together
to conjlitute
a language now univerfally un-
This Differtation
of Saggi di Difiertazioni Accademiche,
Accademia Etrufca work
this,
Bagpipe, I Jhall make no apology for
Italian being
derftood, I determined to give this Differtation in the original
would
As
I have given in the body of my work, willferve
di
honourably mentioned.
is
:
perhaps,
pubblicamente Cortona.
my Readers
the feventh, in the lette
jth
nella Nobilc
In the preface
to
this
APPENDIX.
DISSERTAZIONE,
&c.
monumento che imprendo a fpiegare, CHIARISSIMI COLLEGHI, e un antlca di marmo bianco alta circa due terzi di braccio, comprefavi la che ad un pentagono irregolare molto fi accofla. Rapprefenta un Paftore
ILStatuetta bafe, di
eta.
giovanile,
flante,
col pileo Frigio in capo, veftito con
dell altra piu lunga, arrivando la
meta le
dello cofcie.
gambe,
Nudi fono
i
la fmiftra dellc quali
due tuniche,
1
una
prima interiore fino a* fianchi, e 1 altra fino alia piedi, ma due rozze calighe paftorali cuoprono fla
piegata fopra
F
la deftra.
Softiene egli colla fmiflra
A
4i
N
E
P
P
D
I
mano una TIBIA OTRICOLARE, volgarmcnte FAGOTTO o PIVA da noi, CORNEMUSE dai Francefi chiamata. Molto ben rilevata fi fcorge la figura dell di fotto un Tubo con tre fori, verfo del otre, ed a quefta attaccato dalla parte
finiftra
e
quale tiene
il
Paftore la deftra mano,
dee dalla compreflione
che indi efcir 1 aria per regolare con quella nella noftra Statua le due Tibie Infla-
Mancano
Otre.
dell
di quegli accidenti, a quali per 1 ingiurie apparifce per alcuno e per la barbaric o inavvertenza degli uomini, ftati fon fottoaltri monumenti della venerabile Antichita. pofti molti
come
torie rotte,
degli elementi,
fi,
Diflertazione in tre paragraPerprocedere con qualche ordine dividero quefta Parlero nel primo della relazione che ha la TIBIA OTRICOLARE di quefta Sta con un fimile ftromento muficale che fi vede cfpreffo in altri monumenti, o
tua,
defcritto ci viene
da
della Statua
parlare
Efporro nel fecondo
varj Autori.
e da chi, e in
COLARE,
1
ufo della
TIBIA OTRI-
Nel terzo ritornando a
quali occafioni foleva fuonarfi.
andero ricercando con qualche congettura
perfona che
la
puo
fupporfi da efla rapprefentata.
Delle TIBIE
I.
Pochi fono
COLARE
monumenti dell* ft vedono in altri pochi i medefim cbe i PYTHAVLES degli Antichi.
c he
OTRICOLARI,
efegli
OTRICOLARI/
gli antichi
(Utricolarit)
fi
Monumenti, ne
vedano
vede nel Mufeo Albani fonando LA fe
non che due fono
le
fi
al
DI
TIBIA OTRI
Paftore del tutto fimile al noftro
CORNAMUSA
Tibie attaccate
di faltare col Tirfo nella deftra,
SUONATORI
i
quali
Un
efpreffi.
fondo
oflerva apprefib
ne
;
altra differenzavi
dell Otre. il
Un
fi
fi
fcorge,
Baccante in atto
Ficoroni (a) incifo in corniola,
mano certa TIBIA OTRICOLARE, della quale parleremo Monfignor Bianchini nella fua Diflertazione poftuma, fopra la mufica organica degli Antichi (b), riporta un fimile ftromento mufi
che tiene nella fmiftra in appreflb. triplice
cale,
cavato
da un
baflb rilievo,
antico
dc* Principi di Santa Croce.
luogo
la
noftra Statuetta,
A
quefti
non ritrovandofene
dagli illuftratori delle Greche, e (a)
Trail,
che
ddle MASCHERE.
Romane
tav. 33,
confervafi in
Roma
Monumenti puo aggiungerfi altri
nella
Cafa
in quarto
per quanto io fappia riportati
antichita.
(b)
Tav.
a.
num. ix.
Varic
APPENDIX.
4J
Varie nondimeno in qualche loro parte fono le fopraccennate TIBIE Or RICOLARI, perche una fola e la Tibia Inflatoria, che ticne il Baccante del Ficoroni, benche di figura diverfa fieno le Tibie aria ftrepitando n efciva. per le quali Due fono le Tibie per dir cosi che ft nella 1
Sonatrici,
dal Bianchini, e molto lunghe,
onde
non poflbno
nandofi
dall
Otre,
eflere
veggono
figura riportata
veggendofi in ciafcheduna di
prefe per Inflatorie.
Di
piu
1
efie
una
e
i
fori lateral!,
1
altra allonta
va allargando e termina appunto in forma di tromba, o
fi
Tibia Sonatrice.
Onde
pare piuttofte che in quefta figura fi efprima una nuova fpecie di Ti con due Tibie Sonatrici, probabilmente di diverfo tuono, come le* varie canne di Organo, ficche il Sonatore tafteg giafle ora 1 una ora 1 altra, o bia, o Otre
tutte
due con diverfe mani.
Se noi crediamo la
mo
attribuita,
autore
all
"due
dell* Epiftola
folamente erano
Otricolare ftrumento adoperavanfi. :
"
autore) fuit Chorus quoque infpiratur, fecunda
primam
le
a Dardano, volgarmente a S. GiroTibie, e quefte
Bronzo, che
Antiquis temporibus, (fcrive
fimplex, pellis
vocem
di
"
emittit."
cum duabus
Ma
egli
1
&
cicutis sereis,
parla de
nell
Anonimo per
Cori, ed Otri
femplici, e di tempi piu antichi vicini a quelli, ne quali le Tibie erano formate degli ofli delle gambe, dalle quali furono propriamente dette Tibie.
In quanto alia quantita dei fori delle Tibie, benche apparifca eguale nel noftro ftrumento ed in quello del Bianchini, non fi puo nulla decidere con fondamento, non eflendo ftati gli fcultori eflattiflimi in fimili minuzie, come non lo fono nep-
pure in oggi, fervendofi troppo amplamente
della
nota licenza data da Orazio
a fimil forta di gente. Meglio fara, che noi paffiamo ad un altra piu difficile queftione da efaminarfi, la quale mi do a credere che fara molto onore a noftri
OTRICOLARJ,
i
quali
fi
confoleranno della poca fiima che incontrano
a* noflri
tempi nel Hondo. Si trovano negli Antichi Scrittori nominati ccrti Suonatori di Tibie,
nome
di
noftri
OTRICULARII
Pythaulei, che j
da alcuni moderni Eruditi fono creduti
benche da
altri
fieno flimati
F
2
del
diftinti col
differenti
medefimo genere.
da*
Ma
jirima
APPENDIX.
44
prima
meglio fara
di paffare a quefto,
iK7)tttu*/ r,
colla quale
il
premettere
OTRICOLARJ, venivano
gli
etimlogia della voce greca tanto piu che dara j
1
difegnati
Ao-wr & fono due voci che figqualche lume a quella della voce Pythaules. e Tibia, e additano un Piffero unlto coW Otre, ovvero attaccato air t
nificanb Otre
Ancora
Qtre.
cui
i
Latini
fono
fi
ferviti
di quefta voce,
Ora per
a baflb riferiro.
le
d fragli altri Marziale,
ritornare ai Pythaules,
1
Etimologie che danno di quefta voce gli Eruditi fono diverfe, come fi puo vedere diffufamente preflb il Pitifco nel fuo Dizionario. Quefto autore rigetta la fentenza dello Scaligero (c), che confondendo 1 Otre col Dolio, fa i Pythaules in certa maparole
piu
niera del tutto fimili a noftri Afcaules, o fieno e fuppone, che 1
quelli
Suonatori
tal forta di
aria colle Tibie,
a tale effetto dell
Otre.
fi
Il
dalla
voce
cotta,
in
quella guifa appunto che gli Otricolarj
Ma
niuno degli Antichi ha
fatto
T/9",
Botte
;
fpingendo in fi
fervivano
mai menzione dei
A
cio s aggiunga, che quefti di verun ufo potevano, dovendo trovarfi grandi ed incomodi a trafportarfi altrovc.
fopra accennati Suonatori di Dolii. cfler
OTRICOLARJ
ferviffe di vafi di terra
Bartolini (d) ed
Bulengero (e) fu tal propofito credono, che i fuonatori di Otre fi fervifiero di un barile de legno, chiamato
il
cui parliamo, in vece dell
Cadus, nel quale fatti
rifce
fe la
bene
fi
come
loro opinione.
riportata da
Augufto
Otre ifpiraffero 1 aria per una o piu Tibie. feguenti verfi di Properzio, molto probabile
nell*
oflervano
i
.
Cosl fcrive quel Poeta, celebrando
la
vittoria
Ed
in
compaAziaca
:
me lymphis, carmenque recentibus Tibia mygdoniis libet eburna Cadis, (f )
Spargite
aris,
Pare che Properzio faccia qui menzione di un certo ftrumento muficalej che molto fimile a quello imaginato da 5 citati autori.
foffc
fopra
(c)
In Cat alei.
(d)
De
Tibiis Veler. lib. 3.
(e)
De
Theatris. lib. xi.
(f)
Ekg.
lib.
pag.
iv>
1
1
8.
cap.
13..
6.
Per
APPENDIX. Per verita
mi indurrei
io
vecchio manofcritto, a cambiare
non
le
autorita di qualchc
Ma
voce Cadis in quella di Modi,.
onde per dar qualche apparcnza di giuftezza lafciando da parte i barili del Bartolini, non trovo ofo
45
volentieri, fe foffi affiflito dall
;
al
buon
tanto
fenfo del Poeta,
ripugnanza veruna, che Pro voce generica Cadus in fignificazione di Otre, avenpigliata Virgilio dicendo :
perzio non potefle dola cosi
fervirfi della
Vina bonus qua deinde Cadis onerarat Aceftes.
E
vero che Plinio ed
altri
autori intendono per Cadus
un vafo
di
legno
;
ma
era ancora
un nome generico
anche per
Otre, nella maniera appunto che il de Greci e voce comune all : ed in tal cafo il Pythaules e un SUONATORE di OTRE TIBIA,
1
di
e
vafo,
percio Properzio poteva adoperarlo
Otre, Dolio, Cado
cioe TIBIA OTRICULARIA Onde il Voffio (g)-il Ducangio (h) e il Bianchini ; (i) hanno ragione di ftimare, che i Pitauli degli antichi fieno la ftefla cofa, che gli OTRICOLARI. -Ed in fatti io torno a dire, che fe bene fi oflervi la differenza,
che pafla
fralle d-ue difcordanti
opinioni de fopra mentovati autori,
facil
cofa
fi
e
Poiche quantunque fia cofa non impoffibile, che gli antichi fuonatori di fimili ftrumenti da fiato fi poteflero qualche volta fervire di bariletti di legno, di avorio, o di altra materia, ne quali per mezzo di alcunjl il
conciliate fra di loro.
Pifferi fpingeffero
fpecie di Barile
ano
(j) fragli altri
beri
dico."
Paria;
nientedimeno
era ancora
1
ce Io
:
Onde
attejfta
egli
Otre, nel quale "
Vino legato
e
altrefi il
utres
vino
incontraftabile, fi
confervava,
non debebuntur, nee
che una
come Ulpiculleos de-
per la fimiglianza dell ufo, e della mole pote ufaiT: Cadus
per Otre.
Ne mi flia a rammentare il Bartolini fu quel verfo di Properzio, che la voce Cadis potrebbe aver rapporto ad una Citta della Frigia, o dell India rammentata da Strabone, per Citta non cofa
fia
"
quel
Tolomeo, Plinio, &c. Poiche egli e certiffimo, che Cadis non potendofi intendere fe non da un Edipo, che carmen eburna tibia mygdoniis cadis."
lerocle,
fa fenfo alcuno, libet
(g)
(h)
In Ethimohgie. GlofTar. Voc. Utricularius.
(i)
In
cit.
(j)
L.
fi
In
Diflert.
cui Digeft. de Tritic. leg.
cit.
DiJ/ert.
APPENDIX.
46
Termmero dunque e del
>ual
quefto Paragrafo inerendo fempre
all
opinione del Voflio,
Ducangio.
I
foffe
TIBIA OTRICOLARE prejfo
ufo della
gli Antichi,
e in
quali occafioni
adoperala.
II.
Stabilita
fomiglianza, o per meglio dire
la
dunque
non
fuonatori,
fara cofa inutile
il
1
identita fra
fare qualche offervazione fopra
I
i
fopradetti
ufo, che della
TIBIA OTRICOLARE facevano
gli antichi.
che
fe
molto
ne
tempi pofteriori addivenuta divertimento di rozzi Paftori, e d incolti abitatori
i
delle
ne fa a giorni
Nel Regno
Campagne.
reftata
molto
noftri,
alia
moda, ed
vile
di Napoli,
Se
altre Citta
LA CORNAMUSA,
ed in alcuni luoghi della
in particolare fra
a Roma, e poi girano per
ne dovefle giudicare da quello
fe
ftimerebbe
fi
col frutto miferabile di
fuonando
ftrumento.
tale
Sicilia,
ella e
popoli della Calabria, che portanfi
i
la
CORNAMUSA
per
e piazze per divertimento del baflb popolo, vivendo cosl
ftrade,
eflcndo
Ma
non
cosl
le
pubbliche
qualche mefe
certamente fu preflb agli
molto pregio erano i SUONATORI DELLA TIBIA OTRICOLARE, ed ammefli venivano a fuonare ne publici giuochi e nelle fefle Teatrali. Suetonio (k) in
antichi; poich
nella vita di
Dei, che
Nerone
fonato la Cornamufa flatus permanfiflet,
UTRICULARIAM." di fopra
fcrive, chequel forfennato Auguflo, avea fatto voto agli da una pericolofa infermita, avrebbe ne publici giuochi
fe rifanava
fi
"
:
Sub
Che
fe gli
Pythaules bonus
ed
Parafiti,
giuochi.
Pfalpiftas
quidem
vitae
palam voverat,
parte vi&oriae ludis
fi
fibi
incolumis
Hydraulam Choraulam
Utriculari fono la ftefla cofa con
i
Pythaules,
&
come
"
Cento fuonatori
judicatur."
Iftrioni
1
Imperator Carino,
nel Teatro ancora fuonaflero, fcenici
fe
e oflervato, avevano quefti al riferir di Seneca (1), il loro luogo nel : Et hie, (id eft in Theatro,) ingenti ftudio, quis fit
publico Napoletano Teatro
Mimi,
exitu
proditurum
uno
eflendo quell
ed e cofa molto probabile, che
Augufto fuor
Flavio Vopifco cosl fcrive nella fua vita.
crepitu concinentes,
(k)
di tal forta avea fragli altri fuoi
Cap. 54.
&
di
modo "
dedito agli
Et item centum
centum Camptaulas, etiam Pythaulat cen-
(1)
Lib. 10. Epift. 77.
turn,
APPENDIX. turn,
Afcaulas
;
forfe
Codice, da
Ne
lui
giuchi
Pythaules.
Gymnicos mille. Pegma prsterea cujus flammis fcena Turnebo ia vece di Camptaulas, ftima che debbafi leggerc
II
conflagravit."
con piu ragion del Salmafio, il quale fondato full autorita di un creduto antichiffimo, legge in quefto luogo Gerateulcu. ancora avevano luogo i SUONATORI di TIBIA OTRICOLARE ; arte Poetica, ed Igino alia Favola dugentefima cinquanteatteftano ; c parlando queft ultimo di fimili fuonatori di Tibic,
Pitii,
Orazio
fima terza, ce
47
&
Pantomimes,
lo
nell
"
fcriffe
:
Pytbaules qui Pythia cantaverat, feptem habuit palliatos unde poftea apDalle quali parole d pellatus eft Choraules." Igino apparifce che i Choraules erano la ftefla cofa che i Pytbaules, benche il Voflio penfi che foflcro diverfi e diftinti fuonatori.
Che che ne
fia,
compofto di fette uomini dava fiato alia fua Tibia.
e cofa certa, che i
palliati,
i
noftri
OTRICOLARJ avevano un coro tempo che I OTRICOLARIO
quali cantavano nel
Queft ufo
di cantar palliato
fi
deduce ancora da varj
Monumenti, e fragli altri da, un antica belliffima Gemma del Mufeo del Signer Medina di Livorno, nella quale fi vede un Amorino fcdente e fonante la Lira, ed un altro ritto, che fuona le Tihie difpari, dietro al fta una
antichi
con breve tunica, ammantellata
di Pallio,
quale che modeftamente canta..
giovinc
Ofiervero in ultimo, che nel fopra accennato pafib d Igino, quelle parole qui ftate intrufe dal margine nel Tefto, come accortamente giudi-
Pythia cantaverat fono
co
il
dotto
fapendo
Munkero,
altro,
Qualche grammatica, che lefle nel Tefto Pythaules, non fofle uno qui Pythia cantaverat; e fc rifle nel margine
penfo che
quefta fua erronea fpiegazione, inferita nel Tefto
come
la
quale poi da chi ricopio quel manofcritto fu In fatti nei giuochi Nedi Igino.
fe foflero ftate parole
mei, quando furono
iftituiti (de quali parla ivi Igino) non ci aveva punto che E qu\ Py~ Pythia cantare^ perche non ci entrava n Apollo ne Pithone. thaules non ha veruna conneflione con e Otre e Pythia, ma viene da ^
fare
il
5>
AVM<
Tibia.
Oltre queft autore, e da^ confultarfi di nuovo
dano
attribuita a S.
Girolamo,
OTRJCOLARJJ come odto
la
fin dal
la
fopra citata epiftola a Dar-
quale pare che denoti anch*
tempo
dell antica finagoga
j
efla
il
ove dice
coro degli "
j
Syna-
APPENDIX.
48 gogse
antiquis temporlbus fuit Chorus quoque fimplex,
areis,
6
per primam inffiratur, fecunda vocem
cum duabus
fcllis
cicutls
emittit."
Salmafio nelle note a Flavio Vopifco penso, che la parola Chorus di quefto debba mutarfi in Dorus j poiche Aopi,- puo qualche volta nella greca favella uche Pelle. Ma chi non vede, che inutile fi rende la repetizione fignificare II
paffo
della ftefia voce, fe la materia Pellis nel
NATORI
medefimo periodo
DI
CORNAMUSA
?
degli
Otri dovefle chiamarfi ora Dorus, ed ora
Che che
avevano
il
fia di
loro
cio gia
Coro
di
fi
e veduto che
cantori, e
i
noftri
Suo-
paffo di Igino e
il
f troppo formale per poterne dubitare. In tutti poi i Codici manofcritti, due de quali da me veduti confervanfi nella libreria Laurenziana Imperiale del Secolo XL e XIII. contenenti Topere di S. Girolamo, fi legge conftantemente Cbcrus, c non Dorus.
LA
TIBIA OTRICOLARE ebbe pero varie vicende
un tempo, dell
in cui ella
non fu
ftimata
meno
di flima e di difprezzo.
della Tibia femplice
;
ma
nel
Fu
Regno
Imperatore Sergio Galba, peggioro molto di condizione, poiche Marziale che un certo Cano celebre fuonator di Tibie, fi farebbe vergognato di
ci avverte,
diventare
OTRICQLARIO.
........ Vocem
credis hoc, Prifce,
ut loquatur Pfittacus cothurnicis,
Et concupifcat
effe
Canus Afcaules.
In progreflb di tempo fempre piu vile fi refe queflo ftrumento, talmente che: folamente preffo i Paftori e la gente di baffa eftrazione ne refto 1* ufo. II Mantovano in una fua Egloga cosi elegantementc defcrive Tonic Paftore fuonatore di
Cornamufa
:
Et cum multifori Tonius cui Tibia buxo
Tandem
poft epulas,
&
pocula multicolorem
Ventriculum fumpfit, buccafque
inflare rubentes
Incipiens, oculos aperit, ciliifque levatis
Mul-
APPENDIX.
49
Multoticfquc alto flatum e pulmonibus hauftuw Utrem implet, cubito vocem dat Tibia prefib,
Nunc due ultimi
i
o
di
qualunque
un
telligenza di fflb
fi
fiafi
hue, nunc
verfi 1
iliuc, digito faliente.
mi fanno forvvcnire
di cert
autore di quell opufcolo.
verfo fin
altri
fifla 1
in
Cosi in
legge:
Ebria formofa
Ad So che in queft
adattar
non
j"
ma
ultimo le
ftudiose
faltat lafciva
oltre fi
cubitum raucos excutiens calamos.
che eflendo
faccia
parole
ad
il
menzione
il
Poeta nel verfo ultimo
parli
Crotalo nominate nel verfo di fopra, pare che
uno ftrumento
di
differente,
non potendofi
cubitum raucos excutitns calamos al Crotalo, mentre quefto
era, fecondo Suida,
ed
il
medefimo 8almafio, che
"
calamus fixus
&
comparatus, ut fonet, fi quis eum manu pulfet, quafi plaufum effi(m) Perci6 colle mani e non ad cubitum doveva fonarfi ; cofa che e natuOtre, ove
il
braccio preme T aria, e
golano e modulano
il
fuono.
rale nell
:
taberna,
alcuni autori col Salmafio penfano, che
del Crotalo,
ciens
gia detto
ora malamcnte dagli Eruditi interpretato.
Cofla fyrifca caput graja redimita mitella Crifpum fub crotalo doda movere latus
altro
di Virgilio in
Quanto ho
le
mani a
i
fori delle
Tibie ne re-
fecondo paragrafo, non fara fuori di propofito il dir Collegio degli Ultricularj confufi dal Pidfco con una fupE noto il coftume degli DI CORNAMUSA. pofla focieta de* noftri SUONATORI Antichi de fabbricare barche con Otri di cuojo, per paflare con quelle i fiumi.
Prima
di terminare quefto
qualche cofa fopra
il
Chriftiano Schwart compofe Antichi.
(m) titnr.
"
un elegante DhTertazione
fopra gli Utricularj degli
Solevano, (die* egli) unirfi due Otri infieme, fopra de quali faliva
V. SPON. Mifctll. EruJit.
Antiqttit.
fct.
G
i.
art. 7. yag. 22.
BIARCHIKI
in
Cit.
Di/erla-
ua
APPENDIX.
50
un uomo,
e fe
erano piu,
per paflare diotti alia
dall
Otri vi
altri
Di cuojo
Frontino, e Saluftio.
e
univano,
fi
come
ce lo attefta Floro,
d Otri congiunti fabbricavanfi ancora
i
Ponti
armate, e Senofonte parla di uno, che infegno a fabbricarne ai RoTutto quefto e notiflimo agli eruditi ; onde non so come il Pitifco
le
(n)."
voce Utricularii potefle fcrivere Utricularii funt fabri utricularis Tibia, mentre Ifcrizione del Grutero da lui riportata, dovea dedurne tutti altro ; efsen-
efla flata dedicata ai Dei Mani di un certo Gajo Pafquio Optato PATRONO. FABRORUM. NAVALIUM. UTRICULARIORUM. ET. CENTONARIORUM. (o) La qua!
do
razza di gente non ha che fare in verun conto co* Suonatori di
Pifferi di
Montagna.
II in non Signer Muratori parlando del Collegio degli Utricularj fcrifle, che paucis Gruterianis marmoribus Utricularii occurrunt. Sponius quoque infcripti "
onem
protulit, in
Nautarum unfe
"
:
qua vifitur Collegium Utriculariorum. Fuerunt Utricularii fpecies
nempe, navibus exiguis utentes (p)." E poco fotto foggiquoque funt Utricularii qui Tibia Utri juncta utebantur. De
utriculis
appellati
Nautis tantum hie fermo
Che III.
cofa pofla rapprefentare la Statuetta
Difficil cofa,
perfona, o
la
efL"
come ben
vedete, far!
il
di culfi tratta.
poter con certezza determinare la
Divinita rapprefentata da quefta ftatuetta
mentre niun fegno, ne Laonde andero efponendo folamente afpettandone dal voflro giudizio T approvazione. ;
infcrizione, ne fimbolo in effa apparifce.
qualche congettura probabile,
Rozza babilita
fi
puo
o da poveri ovvero
OTRICOLARIO
e la Scultura del Roftro
penfare, che
fia ftato fatto
:
talmente
ne tempi piu
bafli,
che non molta pro-
o in luogo mefchino,
Paflori per
rapprefentare qualrhe loro congiunto, o amico defonto, Forfc alcuni fi figureranno di ritrovarvi qualche divinita bofchereccia.
,quel Paftorello
Ati cotanto da Cibele amato, e dalla medefima pofcia cangiato in
Pino, come fu fcritto da Ovidio. (q)
(n) (o)
De
Q7,
lib. iii.
Jnfcnift.
34^.
expcJitione
THESAUR.
(p)
Infer
(q)
Melam,
if>t.
torn. i. lib.
5.
pag. 71. 4.
10.
Et
APPENDIX, Et fuocinfta comas, hirfutoque Grata Deum Matri, fiquidem
5
i
vertice Pinus,
Cybeleius Atys,
Exuit hac hominem, truncoque induruit Poiche febbene non
fia
illo.
certo, che nelle Fefte, e Sagrifizj di Cibele
TIBIA OTRICOLARE, nondimcno cio puo dedurfi dal racconto, che del diffoluto Collegio de Sacerdoti della le flrade delle Citta e Caflelli circumfsrentes di
;
quelli
dice,
poiche come
romore
far
quidam Juvenis gli
OTRICOLARJ
n
oflervo
fatis
&
corpulentus
Choraula doctiffimus
j"
Sacerdoti Galli aveflero luogo ; Choraules fono chiamati da Igino i Pythaules,.
ancora, fra
i
i noftri OTRICOLARJ. Si potrebbe adunque con qualche probabilita che qualche devoto della Gran Madre Cibele abbia fatto nella noilra
il
Paftorello Ati in atto di fuonare
nelle di lei Fefte.
antichi
monumend
Potrebbe ancora quale
Di piu Apulejo poteva molto ben comparire. condotto all alloggiamento di quefti Sacerdoti, vide
"
di fopra
ftatuetta effigiare rarfi
Apulejo
quefti per
quali,
da
che eflendo ftato
aflerire,
Andavano
Crotalis perfonantes, Cymbalu, Deamqiie Syrian laonde puo pcnfarfi, che fra Suonatori de fopradetti ftromenti aveflero ancora luogo gli OTRICOLARJ, lo ftromento de
che fra quelli vi era dal che deduce, che
che fono
degli Dei.
&
1
flrepito,
fra
Madre
ufafle la
fi
ci fa
come a
Paftori del
Non
uno ftromento
folito
diffimulero pertanto, che le veftitura di
adope-
Ati negli
e molto differente da quefta^
noftro Paftore, da qualcheduno denominarfi
it
e
tutti
monte Ida
noto benche
Priamo ultimo Re
figlio di
allevato, e in abito paftorale vifle fino al
Grecia, per fare quella famofa e bella rapina.
Ed
in
fatti
di
un Paride,
tempo che il
il
Troja, fu dai paffb in
Pileo Frigio, che
vedefi in capo al noftro Paftorelle, e lo ftromento paftorale, che tiene nelle mani,
ce ne fomminiftrerebbero qualche probabile argomento
;
ma
nulla ardifco
fopra
cio di aflerire con ficurezza.
Nemmcno puo dirfi, che la medefima rapprefenti un Baccante, benche la TIBIA OTRICOLARE entrafle negli equipaggi di Bacco, come dalla pietra arnica del Ficoroni di
fopra citata
Baccante nel noftro
marmo
fi
puo dedurre
fi
fcorge.
;
Onde
G
2
mentre niun fegno, o attribute di tralafciate cotali deboli
congetture crederei.
APPENDIX.
52
ercdcrei, che piu al vero
che
detto,
il
OTRICOLARE, amiei
fi
accoftafie,
medefimo rapprefenti la di
defonto,
Che
cui effigie in grata
la
mcdefima rapprefenti un Paftore non tutto a
Fiorentino, ed ai lavoratori di portati dal
Si
penfafle
fimplicemente come, fopra fi & SUONATOR DI TIBIA
infigne
memoria da
fuoi congiunti
ed"
fofle ftata fatta fcolpire.
lui veftitura e funile in
fiato
chi
un Paftore
Padre Montfaucon.
fe
ne puo dubitarc, mentre
Gcmme
quella dei Paftori incifi nelle
Campagna, che vedonfi
in
mold
Concorre ancora a dichiararlo
bafli
tale lo
del
la di
Mufeo
Rilievi rf-
ftromento da
che tiene nelle mani, da noi drchiarato rufticano, e bofchereccio.
aggiunga in ultimo
colle Ifcrizioni gl
il
ce lo atteftano moltiffimi
coftume degli Antlchi di celebrare
si
colle ftatuc,
e famofi Suonatori di qualche ftrumento Muficale,
illuftri
Monumenti
rarj Suonatori di Tibie e
di
e Ifcrizioni, ovc
Trombe, che
fi
nominad ed
io
mi
fono
poffbno vedere net Bartolini, nrf
Boiflard, e nei Tefori del Grutero, e del Muratori.
Quefto e quanto
effigiati
che
come
era prefiflb di dirvi ful prefente argomcnto.
[No. V.]
MEMOIRS O F
CORMAC COMMON.
ADVERTISEMENT. THE
materials for the following
kindnefs of
my learned and
Memoir
ingenious friend,
of
Cormac Common, / ewe
to
Ralph Oufley, Efq. of Limerick.
the
APPENDIX.
55
MEMOIR O F
CORMAC COMMON. "
the
PERHAPS Minftrels called of
whom
Sir
Song was
his favourite,
fubjeft
of thefe Memoirs,
and
TALE-TELLERS,
William Temple fpeaks
firft
or
BEATTIE.
purfuit."
is
the lafl of that
Order of
FIN-SGEALAIGHTHE (a),
fo fully in his
ESSAY ON POETRY, (b)
Cormac Common (or Cormac Ball, that is, Blind Cormac) was born in May 1703, at Woodftock, near Ballindangan, in the county of Mayo. His parents were poor and honeft j remarkable for nothing but the innocence and firnplicity of their lives.
of
Before he had completed the firft year of his life, the fmall-pox deprived him his fight. This circumftance, together with the indigence of his parents, pre-
(a)
Irijh
Our
Fin-Sgealaighthe anfwer to the Colours of the French. Vide foregoing Hijl. Mem. of tht Bards, and PERCY S Relict, vol. i. Since writing the above, I have been informed that a
few Fin-Sgealaighthe (or Dreis-bheartaighe) (b)
fiill
remain
in
Connaught.
Page 44, 45. Oft. Ed.
eluded
APPENDIX.
56
eluded him from receiving any of the advantages of education. But he was not, a barbarian among barbarians (c) like the Highland Bards of old, though "
:"
he could not read himfelf, he could converfe with thofe if he wants learning, he is not without knowledge.
who had
read
,
therefore,
determined Shewing an early fondnefs for Mufic, a neighbouring Gentleman him taught to play on the Harp. A profeflbr of that inftrument was ac few lefibns, which he practifed con cordingly provided, and Cormac received a the Harp dropped from his hand, and But his amore. to have
patron dying fuddenly,
was never
after taken
It is
up :
Bat Poetry was the Mufe of
probable he could not afford to firing
whom
he was moft enamoured.
it.
This made him
and recited eagerly to the Irifti fongs and metrical tales which he heard fung Thefe, by around the crackling faggots" of his father and his neighbours. liften
"
frequent recitation, became ftrongly imprefled on his memory. thus ftored, and .having no other avocation, he commenced a
or a lifh
TALE-TELLER.
"
He
left
no
His mind being
MAN OF TALK
calling for the idle trade/
as
our Eng-
Montaigne obferves of Pope, (d)
He
was now employed in relating legendary
tales, and reciting genealogies at He has been often or in the hofpitable halls of Country-fquircs. heard to recite fome of thofe Irifh tales which Mr. Macpherfon has fo artfully in
rural wakes,
terwoven with the texture of the Epic poems which he does Oifm the honour to attribute to him.
Endowed with a fweet
voice and a
good
ear, his
narrations were generally
his age (I fay were generally graced, for at graced with the charms of melody. nature finks in years," and we fpeak of the man, with refpect to his powers, as He did not, like the Tale-teller mentioned by if actually a tenant of the grave.) "
Sir William Temple, chant his tales in an uninterrupted even-tone : the monotony of his modulation was frequently broken by cadences introduced with tafte at the clofe of each flanza.
In rehearfmg any of Oflian
s
(c)
A
Dub. Ed.
(d)
Hi/}.
"
to "Journey
the Wtjl.
RAaf. tn Pofe.p.
Ifi. 1
p. 107.
poems, or any compofition in
1. "
verfe,
N
D
x
I
57
he chants
But
it
was in Tinging fome of our native
airs that
he
dioi
occafion hsauditors Airs>
Cormac
s
muftal power, were no. confined
A,, ,, one of
,o his voice.
wh , ch Mr . Oufl e y thinks e, y fw eet. thofe mufical effuuons will die with their author.
.But
ere m
He compofed It
is ,o
a few
L
be feared
was
in Poetry CormK delighted to exereife his He has comgenius. pofed evera, fong.and e egies which have me, with appljfe. As his Mufe generally awakened by the call of his gratitude, poetical productions are moAl panegynca! or eleguc : they exto. the living, or lament the dead. S om e,i n !es
(e)
-
it
r ors^,
whom
^
This fong,
I
(a
produaion of the middle ages) called Laai or
A:::,
ha,c made mention
in
,,,
y
alK
As .
.
H,.
^4:
M,,n. ,,/,,!,;
?
7
t;
-.
here
by threats and entreaties,
to
reuor e him
to his
former fhn
T
he
APPENDIX.
5S in
he indulged
dangerous
fatire,
of that but not often, though endued with a rich vein
gift.
the death of Here I will gratify the Irifh Reader with an Elegy of our Bard on This gentleman was of his warmeft patrons. John Burke Carrentryle, Efq; one and in his private charafter there were preeminent in his day as a fportfman ;
many amiable
traits.
M
A
R
B
H
N
A.
SHEAIN DE BURG CHARRAN-TRIAIL.
IN
Breattain
is
in Eirin do
Shaerthaidh an
t
ard Fblalth Clu,
Bacchus gon eafeacbt, is gear thu a tracbt air ccull. charad na h Eigsi do riaraidh daimh go h ur,
A
Nior bhain-treabhach an Fbeile gur eag tu a Shean
De Bun.
dubhacb do dbeigsi taid Tiagharnaidhe Ian da chudb, Pblur na ttreabh ba gaolmhar call agas clu ; Bo fugach fial an fard Fhlaith Sean De Burc, Is
A
S go Dun-mor
o tbrial se ta
n Fiacb fa Ras air ccul
An
D
N An fal-fbcar famh
A
rlar gach
Fiacb
damb ba
is
X.
I
fear r ad ihigcadb gacb Cuis
gnaith
eineacb
leis
clu
is
59
;
:
y
cbrichefail, fna Rais ad imgbidb air end, tbnal an has air Shean mbac Cborneal Bun.
A An
Leac ata d ghear-chluid air gbe tg
a
bhi feim-amhail,
Id
Is leaf
S gur
uir,
cbombmalfigh bbrcagb,
Fear-game Club-Fiaigagas Rais
a bbeith pleadh-amhail, ceim-amhail, mar air do
Ce do
tbaifge go laeth-ambail ta pleafiir
is
;
foilas do cbacb ;
Chonnacht arlar.
cbuirfeas chiitbmhidbe no Rais air Siit/f
Ce bbearfas buadh an Churaigh go Connacbta, na bar gacb Clu Ce bhearfas cbugain le cumas an Plata on Mumbain f
O
deag uain Colnneall na Cuideacbtaigbe Sean
De
?
Burc.
Ard-Fblaitb mboir bheir Ceannas a cclu fa Sporf, an do Ian balla bo gnaith Aiteas, is nuadbalcht Cecil Aon ni I an ait acu ach gair Screadaigh fmuit is bron. Is
Se mo cbradh deacrach an ftaid mbarcacb a
Mo ghear-cbumha
blcilb
;
na Inigbe n Dun-mor
!
an fe ud cbnir an bas air cdl, Clar na Mumban :
V leig uir go celn cludb go Mar Ni
acbt gur eag uain an Fear earn amh ail Sean
f
Ta
cead aig gacb
Mar each
b
cblar na
Burc,
Mumhan,
na Eacbraibh gan Gearranfuin Ta Alrglod gan ollas le fagball a Ttualm : fheacht
N}
De
bcarfach Sir Eadbhaird(t*) cboim-reig ud an Plata air full.
le
Ifear a bbacadb,
niiair
Edward
O Brien,
(f)
Sir
;
nacb maircan again Sean
De
Euro.
father to the prefent Sir Lucius.
H
2
Seacbt
APPENDIX. Go
Scacbf cccad deag gan bbreig, is dafhichiod air ceart a se, do reir an Data nuadb ;
V
tbcacbt
Go
teacht
Is
Mhic De d ar faora d chain an an Lafuair eag tbu Sheain De Burc.
W,
dubbacb an Green-Club (g) aig cao ine
o
Agasfeidh na Tire cboldbcbe nfbafach cbuin an Fiagaidbefir-ghlicfo Hog, mo chradh
T
bafaigh
A
fan Dun.
man
of Cormac
s
mufic and poetry of
the
him,
pleafes
tbu>
:
Agasfin cuimbniughadb Miofa do nlmfe air Sfcan
..
tfttis,
his
Burc.
turn of mind muft be his
country.
memory teems
the juftly celebrated fong of
be difpleafed
De
much gratified with anecdotes of As he feldom forgets any relation that
with fuch anecdotes.
EIBHLIN A RUIN
(h), the
One Reader
of thefe, refpefting
find here.
Carroll
am
fure,
Mac-caomh
Infi-
will not,
O Daly (commonly called Donough More O Daly, a man of much
to
I
Cneamba) brother to confequence in Connaught about two centuries ago, paid his addrefies to Mifs Elinor Kavanagh. The Lady received him favourably, and at him length was induced to promife
her hand.
But the match, for fome reafon now forgotten, was broken and another gentleman was chofen as an huiband for the fair Elinor. Of Carroll, as
who was
ftill
the fond lover, received information.
a Jugleitr or Glee-man., (i) he haftened to her father
filled with guefts, who were invited to the wedding. a while with fome tricks of legerdemain, he took
fung the fong of EIBHLIN A
and a private
fign,
(g)
(i)
Difguifing himfelf
houfe, which he found
s
Having amufed the company his harp, and played and
up
RUIN which he had compofed for the occafion. This, him to his ir.iftrefs. The flame which he had
difcovered
lighted in her breaft, and which her friends
(h)
had
in vain
endeavoured
to Another,
A Hunting-Club, of which Mr. Buike was a member. Vulgo Eleen na roon. For remarks on the charafter of Jugluer or Glee-man, vide Notes on PERCY
Ancient Engl[/h Minjlrels.
Glee-men feem
to
off,
this,
p. 52. 72.
jd Ed. and
have conftituted a
S
Effay on the
The Jugleurs and Anthakgie Fran ? p. 17. of the order of the Minftrels amongft the Englifh
Pref.
diftinft clafs
.
and French.
now
APPENDIX. now glowed
me
afrem, and
determined to reward
fu faithful
6l
To do
Lover.
a
but one method
this
now remained, and that was an immediate elopement with This fhe effefted by contriving to inebriate her father and all his guefts.
him.
But
to return
Cormac was
from
this
digreffion.
twice married, but
feveral children.
He now
is
now
a \vidower.
By both
refides at Sorrell-town, near
his
wives he had in the county
Dunmore,
of Galway, with one of his daughters, who is happily married. Though his ut terance is materially injured by dental loffes, and though his voice is impaired
by
age, yet he continues to praftife his profeffion imperfections.
It is
fo
feldom are we fenfible of our
probable, that where he was once admired, he
Mr. Oufley informs me,
dured.
:
that
"
the houfes of the neighbouring Gentry,
one of
who
his
give
is now only en grandfons leads him about to
him money,
His apparel is commonly decent and comfortable rich, nor does he feem folicitous about wealth."
diet,
times clothes.
His moral character face
is
is
His perfon
unftained.
faithfully delineated in the
is
and fome-
but he
j
large and mufcular.
is
And
not
his
engraving which ftands at the front of thefe
Memoirs, (k)
(k)
tleman
This portrait was taken from the
who
life,
by William Oufley, Efqj of Limerick
;
a your.g
Gen
unites every elegant accomplishment.
[No. VI.]
[No. VI.]
THE E O F
TURLOUGH
O
CAROLAN.
ADVERTISEMENT. SEVERAL
of the circumftances in the following Life, or rather Rhapfody, fupplied by the loquacity of common fame. Some I owe to the kindnefs of a learned friend ; to I would be to name, -were I at
we re
The
proclaim.
whofe with which
notices,
terfperfed through
But my letters
my
little
moft valuable
liberty
and
moji authentic materials,
with which the celebrated Mr.
and honoured
me.
As
frond
it,
difclofe
gentleman furnijhed me, I have occafionally inwork in the drefs in which I received them. this
O
were
Conor favoured
collected
the
which I have extractedfrom
the paj/ages
not written with an eye to publication,
it is
poj/ible,
the diclion
is
from federal
Rev, Mr. Archdall, thofe letters,
not fo
were
correct as
it
I muft therefore beg Mr. O Conor j might otherwife have been. excufe, for prefenting them to the Public as I found them. This apology I thought due to him ; yet I am
convinced
from Mr.
my Readers will not deem it necejjary. Nothing ever fell, even O Conor j pen, that could tend to difgrace it.
hajlily,
From Mrs. Mulvey, a grand-daughter of Carolan, I obtained much fatisfaclory in This poor woman, perhaps the laji of our fa formation refpecling his private life. is married to an vourite Bard s immediate defendants, indigent tradefman, -whofe him above want. Should our mufical focieties, at any near period commemorate Carolan, I fincerely hope that Mrs. Mulvey, or her lie per children, will be permitted to partake of the profits which may arifi from indiiftry jujl keeps
of time, unite
to
formance. / will objlrvc, Having thus fuggefted a public tribute to the memory of Carolan, that his Countrymen- were called upon by an anonymous writer in the year 1784*, to I will quote the p affage at large. a Concert in commemoration of him. injlitute
Vide
MACE E
S
Weekly Packet far June jrh, 1784. "
I
//
ADVERTISEMENT. It ?
"
has been acknowledged by every nation }n Europe, that mufic was cultivated in
Ireland,
when
melody
mojl diftinvuificd characleriflic,
in
its
were
arms.
Lord Kaims
had adapted
"
to
the
when
pofitive,
in it
other countries
;
took the harp, as
mufic miift have been the confpicuous figure
that thofe airs, called the old Scots tunes,
which James the church-fervice.
Fir/}
Pope
himfelf a fine Ireland the mother of
(who was
calls
Carolan, though a modern minjlrel, has been admired as a an untaught phenomenon ,n the cultivation of harmony.
fweet fingers.
"
is
original Irijh compcfitions,
muftcian)
"
was fcarcely known
Its
rate mufical Genius
firft-
Why
commemorate Carolan here, as well as Handel on the other fide of the water? a s hands, and in the highcft is in His degree popular ; therefore fenot
every body be brought forward, and performed in the Rotunda of his beji pieces might the relitf of the manufacturers, at which performance all the mufical cognofccnti mufic
"
leflion
"for "
would be proud
to
contribute their
aj/iftance"
Nations flowly wife,
To buried
exclaims
and meanly juj},
merit raife the tardy
the indignant mufc of
Dr. Johnfon.
buft."
Would my Countrymen wijh to efcape they muft make hajie to
the application of this fevere cenfure on ungrateful nations,
^ juftice
to
the
memory
C/
TURLOUGH O CAROLAN.
THE
APPENDIX.
67
THE
E O F
TURLOUGH Thee
And
Revifit
To
ft
I revifit fafe,
thy fov reign vital lamp
feel
CAROLAN.
O
but thou
;
not thefe eyes, that roll in vain
and
find thy piercing ray,
find
no dawn
;
So thick a drop ferene hath quench d their orbs, Or dim fuffufion veil d. Yet not the more Ceafe
I to
wander, where the Mufes haunt.
MILTON
feveral
ASmoment
of Carolan
"
contemporaries are
;
therefore
I
feized
on
cellence to biography are of a volatile
the
Addrefs
to
Light, Par. Loft, B. 3.
dill alive, I
thought the prefent
the moft favourable, for colle&ing fuch Anecdotes of
merit prefervation
"
s
S
memory, and
:
For
by
him
as
the incidents which give ex-
and evanefcent kind, fuch
are rarely tranfmitted
(a)
it
"
tradition
as
foon efcape
(a)."
Rambler, No. 60. I
2
Carolan
APPENDIX.
68
Carolan was born in the year 1670, in the village of Nobber, in the county of Weftmeath, on the lands of Carolan s-town, (b) which were wrefted from his anceftors by the family of the Nugents, on their arrival in this kingdom with Henry the Second. His Father was a poor farmer, the humble proprietor of
few acres, which yielded him a fcanty fubfiftence. Of his Mother, I have not to collect any particulars (he was probably the blooming daughter of a neighbouring peafant, in choofmg of whom, his father was directed rather by
a
been able
:
Nature than by Prudence.
The Cabin in which our Bard was born, is (till pointed out to the inquifitive As it is in a ruinous flate, it muft foon become a prey to all-devour but the fpot on which it flood, will, I predict, be vifited at a future ing Time day with as much true devotion, by the the lovers of natural mufic, as Stratfordtraveller.
:
upon-Avon and
He
Binfield are,
by the admirers of Shakefpeare and of Pope.
muft have been deprived of
remembered no impreflion of
a very early period of his
fight at
colours, (c)
Thus was
life
"
knowledge
at
;
for
he
one en
trance quite {hut out," before he had taken even a curfory view of the creation. From this misfortune he felt no uneafmefs : My eyes, he ufed merrily to fay, are transplanted into
ears,
(d)
have been told that thirty acres of thefe lands were given
I
(b)
my
to
eur Bard by the father of Earl
Nugent, the prefent proprietor. (c)
It
Such of
was
my
to
the fmall-pox, that foe to vifual pleafure, he
Readers
as are
greedy of anecdote,
mention, that Carolan, though blind, was eminently fldlled "
(d) "
"
"
"
Mufic, (fays Mr.
BEW)
owed
the privation of his fight.
would not perhaps forgive me in
the
almoft without exception, appean
if
I
omitted to
game of Backgammon. to
be the favourite amufement of the
There is no other employment of the mind, religious contemplation excepted, that feems fo well adapted to foothe the foul, and difiipate the melancholy ideas, which, it may naturally be exwill fometimes the ofthofe who are utterly bereft of fight. This, together petted, pervade difpofitions with the beneficial influence that refults from the and practice of this art, blind.
delightful
by quickening
perfecting thefenfe of hea-ing, is a matter that deferves the mod ferious attention." Obfervations en BKnJntfe, in Memoirs of the Literary and Phllofophual Society tf Manthtfier ; a work abounding in cu and rious elegant Eflays. "
His
APPENDIX. His mufical genius was foon difcovered, and
his friends
69
determined to cultivate
About the age of twelve, a proper mafter was engaged, to inftrufi him in praftice of the harp ; but though fond of that inftrument, he never ftruck it with a mafter-hand. Genius and diligence are feldom united and it is ; practice alone can perfed us in any art. Yet his harp was rarely unftrung : but in geicral he only ufed it to affift him in compofition ; his fingers wandered amongfl the firings in queft of the fweets of it.
s
melody.
Love does
not, as
Archer teaches Cherry
to believe (e), always enter at
the
eyes j for Carolan the county of
became enamoured of Mifs Bridget Cruife (of Cruife-town in Longford) feveral years after he had loft his fight. His harp now, like the lute of Anacreon (f), would only found of love. Though this Lady did not give him her hand, it is imagined {he did not deny him her heart. But, like Apollo, when he caught at the nymph, he filled his arms with bays." The fong which bears his name is his chef d oeuvre : it came warm from his heart, while his genius was in full I have often liftened to Carolan vigour. "
"
O
Mr.
(fays
Conor) fmging
his
ode
to
Mifs Cruife.
but neglected to preferve
thufiaftic,
I
thought the ftanza
s
wildly en-
them."
A
very extraordinary inftance of the effeft of Carolan s paffion for this Lady, Conor. He went once on a by Mr. pilgrimage to St. Patrick s Pur gatory (g), a cave in an ifland in Lough-Dearg, (in the county of Donegal) of which more wonders are told, than even of the cave of On his re Triphonius. turn to more, he found feveral Pilgrims waiting the arrival of the boat which had conveyed him to the object of his devotion. In fome of thofe devout is
O
related
aflifting
travellers to get
claimed
;
on board, he chanced
dar lamha mo chardais
crioft,
to take a (I. e.
hand of Bridget Cruife ! His fenfe of the hand of her whom he once adored.
the
(e)
Beaux
(f)
Vide Ode
(g)
Vide
SON
S
Lady s hand, and inftantly ex by the hand of my goffip), this is
feeling did not deceive "
I
had the
relation
him from
;
it
his
was
own
Strat. i.
ColleS. de
Rebus Hib. No. 12.
Folly of Pilgrimage, p. 4.
pref. p. 7.
ARCHD AIL
S
Monaji.
p.
102.
RICHARD
Orlando Furiof. B. 10.
mouth,
APPENDIX.
70
mouth, (fays Mr. O Conor) and in terms which gave me a ftrong impreflion of the emotions he felt on meeting the Carolan, at object of his early affections." the time of this event, was
Nel mezEO del cammin
di noftra via. (h)
Our Bard folaced himfelf for the lofs of Mifs Cruife, in the arms of Mary Mac Guire, a young lady of a good family in the county of Fermanagh. Mifs Mac Guire proved a proud and an extravagant dame but me was the wife of :
his
choice
It is
on
and lived harmonioufly with her.
he loved her tenderly,
;
probable that on his marriage with Mifs Mac Guire, he fixed his refidencc farm near Mofhill in the county of Leitrim. Here he built a neat little
a fmall
houfe, in which he gave his friends,
If not a
"
fumptuous welcome, yet a
kind."
(i)
confumed the produce of his little farm he ate, drank and was This fometimes merry, and improvidently left to-morrow to provide for itfelf. occafioned embarraffments in his domeftic affairs j but he had no friend to re
Hofpitality
mind him, and
"
:
"
that nothing will fupply the
irregularity, long continued, will
and genius contemptible
"
At what period of
Nor
known.
is it
want of prudence, and
make knowledge
that negligence
ufelefs, wit ridiculous,
(k)."
his life,
Carolan commenced an itinerant mufician,
confidently told whether, like
Arnaud Daniel, he n
eiit
is
not
abord
autre Afollon que k befoin (1) ; or whether his fondnefs for mufic induced him to betake himfelf to that profeffion ; Dr. Campbell indeed feems to attribute his choice of it, to an early difappointment in love, (m) But we will leave thcfe
d
points (h)
Inferno del
(i)
DR YD EN
(k) (1)
.(m) fur hire
Jo
HN
Mem. Phil, :"
it
s
DANTE. S
oN
lift,
Virgil. .-
L ff
fur
la
Cant. B.
I.
i.
of fat- age.
p.
Chanfon, par
i
85.
M. DE
Survey of South of Ireland. i?
therefore probable he
QUIRLN. Lett. 44.
became an
(Anth. Franc.)
Mr.
O Cou OR
itinerant mufician
from
"
fays,
He was
inclination.
above playing
We
find that the
character
APPENDIX. points
and follow our Bard
unfcttled,
in his
him mounted on
71
peregrinations.
Methinks lice
a good horfe, and attended by an Harper in the charafter of a domeftic (n), fetting forth on his journey, and directing his courfe towards Connaught. Wherever he goes, the gates of the nobility and gentry are thrown open to him. Like the Demodocus of Homer, he is received with refpect, and a diftinguimed him at the
place
Near him
table.
affigned
is
feated
his
ready to accompany his voice, and fupply his want of {kill in practical Carolan (fays Mr. Ritfon) feems, from the defcription we have of him,
Harper,
mafic.-"
to
be a genuine reprefentative of the ancient Bard
On
(o)."
from one of thofe excurfions, Mr. O Conor afked him, had he No, (replied the Bard emphatically), but lotted a Thus intimating the hofpitable reception this gentleman had given him.
his return
Colonel Archdall (p).
vifited
prince !
But he had not more reafon he had that of
to extol the hofpitality
of Colonel Archdall, than
Jones, Efq; of Money-Glafs in the county of Leitrim.
Nor was he wanting
in gratitude to this gentleman, for the civilities he experi enced during his flay at his manfion he has enfhrined his convivial character (q) in one of his bed PLANXTIES. Yet of this the air is now remembered :
; Planxty only the poetry, though one of Carolan s moft brilliant effufions, is loft in the fplendour of the facetious Baron Dawfon s (r) It was to the Baron s paraphrafe. pen, Mr. Jones character was to owe its celebrity. This paraphrafe is fo excellent, that I cannot in jufticc to my readers, with-hold it from them.
character of Troubadour
middle
"
(n) him."
He
The
(or wandering Rhapfodift)
Vide Mrs. DOBSON
ages.
at all times,
(fays
S
Mr.
"
O CoNOR.)
Bifhop of DROMORE informs
to have a fervant to carry his
harp."
us, that
often
aflumed even by the Nobility
in the
kept a good pair of horfes, and a fervant to wait of "
in the
early times,
it
was not unufual
for a minftrel
EJJay on Anc. Eng. Minjl. p. 25.
(o)
Nat. Song. p. 37. Ed. 1730. Hijf. P./ay on
(p)
Of
(q)
was
Hift. of the Troubadours."
Caftle- Archdall in the county of
Fermanagh.
73-
ARTHUR DAWSON,
Efq. late third Baron of his Majefly
s Exchequer of Ireland ; in which His father was principal Secretary to one of our Lord Lieutenants, during the of the Tory-intereft. reign of Queen Anne, and partook of the difgrace
(r)
kingdom he was born.
BUMPERS,
APPENDIX.
72
BUMPERS,
IRE JONES.
Q^U
S
IMITATED FROM CAROLAN. YE Who
Good-fellows
all,
love to be told where there
Attend to the
Of one who .
s
claret
good
{lore,
call s
ne er frighted,
But greatly delighted, With fix bottles more :
Be
fure
you don
t
pafs
The good houfe Money-Glafs,
Which the jolly red god Twill well
fo peculiarly
owns
;
your humour, For pray what would you more,
Than
mirth, with good claret, and bumpers,
Ye For
who pine prove as cruel as
fair
j
whimper and whine
For
lillies
With
Or
Squire Jones.
lovers
lafles that oft
Who
tip
and
rofes,
eyes, lips,
of an ear
Come
How
No
fuit
and nofes,
:
hither, Pll
mow
you,
and Chloe, more fhall occafion fuch fighs and fuch groans For what mortal fo ftupid .As
When
call
Phillis
;
not to quit Cupid,
d by good
claret,
and bumpers,
Squire Jones.
Ye
APPENDIX. Ye
And brag
Poets
who
write,
of your drinking fam d Helicon
Though Is
all
73
you get by
s
brook,
t
a dinner oft-times,
In reward of your rhimes
With Humphry
Forfake
all
duke
the
Learn Bacchus
:
to follow
And quit your Apollo, the Mufes, thofe fenfelcfs old crones
:
Our jingling of glafles Your rhiming furpafles,
When
crown d with good
Ye With
claret,
and bumpers,
Squire Jones.
foldiers fo flout,
tho no plenty of coin, plenty of oaths, make fuch a rout
Who
Of all your commanders
Who
ferv
d us in Flanders,
And eke at the Boyne Come leave off your rattling Of fieging and battling, And know you d much better to fleep in whole Were you fent to Gibraltar, :
Your
And
notes
you d foon
j
alter,
wifh for good claret, and bumpers,
Ye
bones
Squire Jones.
clergy fo wife,
Who myft ries profound can demonftrate moll clear, How worthy to rife !
You
preach once a week, But your tithes never feek
Above once
in a year
K
:
Ye
APPENDIX.
74
Come here without failing, And leave off your railing Gainft bifhops providing for dull flupid drones
Says the text fo divine, What is life without wine
Then away with
Ye Be
the claret, a
it
?
bumper, Squire Jones.
fo juft
lawyers
the caufe what
;
who
will,
How worthy
fo learnedly plead,
of trufl
You know
!
black from white
Yet prefer wrong to right, As you chanc d to be fee d :
Leave mufty reports,
And Where
forfake the king
dulnefs and difcord have
Burn Salkeld and
With
And away
all
your
s
courts,
fet
up
damn d
Squire Jones.
phyfical tribe,
Whofe knowledge
Whene
confifts in
hard words and grimace s
er
you prefcribe
at
your devotion,
Have
Pills, bolus,
Be what
or potion,
will the cafe
:
Pray where is the need To purge, blifter, and bleed
When
;
entries,
with the claret, a bumper,
Ye
their thrones
Ventris,
?
whole faculty owns, That the forms of old Galen
ailing yourfelves
Are not
As mirth with good
the
fo prevailing
claret,
and bumpers,
Squire Jones.
Ye
APPENDIX. Ye
75
foxhunters eke,
That follow the
of the horn and the hound,
call
Who
your ladies forfake, Before they re awake
To
beat up the brake
the vermin
"Where
is
found
:
Leave Piper and Blueman, Shrill Duchefs and Trueman
No
mufic
is
found in fuch diflbnant tones
Would you
was during
It
to the claret, a
the fpheres,
bumper,
his peregrinations, that
ftill
Squire Jones.
Carolan compofed all thofe airs which Thefe airs anfwer to the PORT (t)
the delight of his countrymen (s). amongft the Scots. He thought the tribute
are
:
your ears
ravifh
With the fongs of
Hark away
j
of a fong due to every houfe, in
which he was entertained, and he never failed to pay it ; choofing either the head of the family, or the lovelieft of its branches.
But wit and beauty were ever
MHs Gracey Nugent to
do them
juftice
friend has enabled
(s)
A
"
to
beg Carolan
s
me
whom
fo
to exhibit in
I
fent a
an elegant Engliih
few of Carolan
pardon for the opinion
claim any merit
;
Thefe he found united in
eminent a degree, that he exerted all his powers in the following fong, which the kindnefs of an ingenious in
s
I
s
drefs.
thus (in a letter to me] makes famenJe ho
fongs,
for having thought unfavourably of our Bard
norable,
"
friend,
fure to infpire him.
tot his fubjeft
poetical talents
hitherto held of him.
but on a clofer view of his compofitions,
I
1
"
:
I
muft very reverentially
thought that as a poet he could fcarce find
they are matter-pieces in their
"
kind."
(t)
Vide
Dijf. on the Scottish Muftc,
prefixed to Poetical
K
2
Remains of James
I.
p.
223.
GRACEY
APPENDIX.
76
N U G
G R A C E Y
N
E
&c.
T,
(u)
i.
IS mian Horn tracht ar bhlaith na Finne,
Gracey an Ainnir is sugaidhe ; S gurab I rug barr, a ccail sa Huigfi, Air mhnaibh breadh glice na Ccuigeadh. Cia be bhiadh na h aice, d Oidhche sdo Lo, athtuirfe choidhche, na bron j
Nl baoghal do
Aig an Riogan 1 feimh is aoibhne mein 9 SI leul na ccraebh fna fFalmghe.
II.
A taoibh
mur
fa
CE1,
piob
mur Ghreis,
Sa gnaoi mur Ghrein an t Samhraidh ; Nach tapaidh do n te d ar gealladh mar fpre Bheith aicife, Geug na ccam-dhlaoi.
As As
fuaire
fas
samh do
Se chluinim gach
Gur famneach
(u)
From
this
ralte
geanamhail,
alainn deas do Shuil-ghlas
fong the Reader
cas
la,
do
;
aig each d a aithris, chul-tais.
may form fome judgment
of our blind Poet
s
i
ea of beauty.
III.
Sind
APPENDI
X.
III.
Suid mar a deirim
leis
Ffuil a glor nios binne
Ni
l
an aig-mhnaoi fheimh, no ceol na n Ean j
Sians no greann, d ar fmuinigh ceann, ffuighthear go cinnte aig
Nach
A Lub na fead, A chul na ccraebh
is
Gracey.
dluith-dheas dead, fna j
ffahmighe
Gidh ionmhuin Horn Acht d olfainn
fern tu, ftadaim
gan bhreig do
dom fg&I
j
fhlalnte.
GRACEY NUGENT.
A
Song.
FROM CAROLAN. WITH
delight
I
will
fing
of the maid,
Who in beauty and wit doth excel My Gracey, the faireft, fhall lead, And from
Beauties
fhall
;
bear off the belle,
Befide her, by day and by night, No care and no forrow I ll know,
But
I ll
And
think on her form with delight,
her ringlets that beauteoufly flow..
Her neck to the fwan s I ll compare,. Her face to the brightnefs of day
And
is
he not
bleft
who
j
mall mare
In the beauties her bofom difplay
?
Your
APPENDIX.
7?
Your
wit
Your
is
uncommonly
But what Is that
and
I like,
bofom which
Whofe words blifs
fliines
But
can on
beauties
my
commend, more fweet
I
woman
mould
The
fair fubjeft
that
be
I it
j
attend,
Gracey, we meet.
ftill
glafs I devote
May the health And if fick,
thro your hair.
are than mufic
But with thee, dearefl
Your
;
the beft,
all like
Tis thus the fair maid
No
dreft,
eyes Ihed a luftre moft rare
be
now
my
fong,
to thee
:
wifh thee be long, love fick for me.
of this fong was fifler to the late John Nugent, Efq. of CaflleShe lived with her fifter, Mrs. Conmee, near Belanagar in
Nugent, Culambre. the county of
The
O
Rofcommon,
at the
incident which gave birth
time
me
infpired our Bard.
to Carolan s
DEVOTION,
I
had from Mr.
A
Mifs Fetherfton of the county of amufing, I will relate it. one Sunday to church in the town of Granard (w), acci Longford, on her way and began, in the following manner, a converfation with dentally met our Bard, gay impertinence." him, which he fupported with a
Conor
:
as
it is
"
(w)
Either in
1720 or 1721.
DIALOGUE.
APPENDIX.
79
DIALOGUE. MISS FETHERSTON.
YOUR
Mifs Fetberflon. fervant,
CAROLAN,
.
Mr. Carolan.
Carolan* I
Who
thank you.
It is I Sir,
fpeaks to
me
?
Mifs one Mifs Fetherfton,
Fetherfton.-,
Carolan.
ve heard of you, Madam a young Lady of great beauty and much wit. The lofs of one fenfe prevents my beholding your beauty ; and I believe it is an happy circumflance for me, for I am allured it has made many Captives. But I dread it. your wit, Madam I
:
!
Mifs
Had
I
wit,
Mr. Carolan,
this
place to the duty of prayer.
go
one
way and
I
another.
I
I
Fetherjlon.
not a day for difplaying any. apprehend, that in complying with is
wifh
I
It
mould give duty, you
this
could prevail with you, to quit your
way
for
mine.
Carolan.
Should ject
of
my
I
go your way, Madam,
I
dread .you yourfelf would be the chief ob
devotion.
Mifs
APPENDIX.
8
And what
if I
Mifs Fetherjlon. go your way, Carolan ?
fliould
Carolan.
danger in being near you. I well know, power which fome men have in making females, converts to their Your own inherent in regard to you, Madam. religion, can have no effecl powers would conquer every thing. In a church, or in a mafs-houfe, you would I
already declared the fenfe of
that
the
draw take
my
all
my
devotion to yourfelf Adieu.
:
and
fo,
in
Madam,
my own
defence,
I
muft
now
flight.
Mifs Fetherjlon. muft not quit fo abruptly. with your compofitions in mufic, I could wifh to your vifit would be as fpeedy as poffible.
Hold, Carolan
:
We
As fee
I
have been long charmed
you in our houfe, and that
Carolan.
Could you, Madam, fufpend
mands
the mufic of
pur
wit,
I
mould obey your com
cheerfully.
Mifs Fetherjlon. with your mockery of wit and danger In Hftening to your notes, the -Come fpeedily, however. danger will be on my fide.
Away
!
Carolan.
To
pleafe you, I ll
propofed,
You
ll
Madam,
is
the utmoft that
I
can cxpecl
;
and on the terms
I/
wait on you.
affuredly be
welcome
Mifs Fetherflon. but pray for me where you are going.
Carolan.
Could
I
withdraw
the beft effort
I
can.
my
Devotion from yourfelf,
I
would obey
j
but
I will
make
Adieu, adieu.
Mifs
P Adieu
The
N
E
D
X.
I
Mifs Fetberjton. but remember
to you, Carolan
event
Inftead of juflified his fears. praying for Mifs Fetherflon, as fhe requefted, he neglected his religious duties to compofe a fong on her, which, Mr. Conor obferves, is humouroufly fentimental, but in bad
O
"
Englifh."
In
this
fong he complains, with more gallantry than piety, that the Mafs is no longer his devotion, but that now his devotion is Jhe for, amorous from na :"
ture, his gallantry did not forfake
which Voltaire amongfl
calls
1
his mufical
age des
him even
after
The
paffions."
compofitions
:
he had paffed that feafon of life air of this fong is pre-eminent
indeed, rich in melody.
it is,
One of Carolan s earlieft friends was Hugh Mac Gauran, a gentleman of the county of Leitrim, who had a happy poetical talent, and excelled particularly in the ludicrous fpecies of This gentleman was author of the ce poetry (x). juftly
lebrated fong of
"
PLERACA NA
prevailed on our Bard to
fame of
fet to
RUARCACH," (or
And
mufic.
the air
is
O
Rourke
s
Feaft) which he
worthy of the words.
The
fong having reached the immortal Dean Swift, he requefted of Mac Gauran a literal tranflation of it, and was fo charmed with its beauties, that he honoured it with an excellent verfion. faithful tranflation of PI.ERAthis
A
poetical
CA NA RUARCACH genius,
now
has been fmce published by Charles Wilfon(y), a neglected flruggling with adverfity, in London.
A
wild ftory concerning O Rourke wanders about the county of Leitrim. Rourke was a powerful and turbulent Chieftan of this country in the reign of Elizabeth. The Queen invited him to London making him, at the fame time,
O
;
warm on
profefiions of
to lead
ous
O
ix)
(y)
him
honours and
though {he only intended by
fervice,
into a kind of exile, in order to fecure his obedience.
Rourke, duped by the Queen
Mac Gauran was
s
arts,
promifed to comply.
a great favourite with Lord Chancellor Cox.
See his Irijh Poems, publiihed
in the
year
i
He
died
in
this invitati
The ingenu Before his
1710.
782.
departure,
APPENDIX.
82
he aflembled his
departure,
and neighbours
vaflals
and entertained them with
Caftle (z),
the great hall
in
the fplendour of the times.
all
of his
(This
the
is
humouroufly defcribed by Mac Gauran.) On O Rourke s arrival at White-Hall, the Queen was ready to receive him. The elegant fymmetry of his perlbn, and his noble afpecr., ftruck her Majefly, and fhe fecretly determined to feaft
fo
rank him with her in the palace,
A
choice/I favourites.
and a
train of domeftics
fumptuous apartment was allotted him was ordered to attend him. One night a
a female tapped at his door, and was readily admitted ; but fhe retired before the morning broke. The lady continued her vifits for feveral nights, always re tiring
O
about the fame hour.
urged her, but in vain, to
Rourke
difclofe her
s
curiofity
name.
was awakened, and he often
At length he
difcovered, by the moon, a ring on one of her fingers, which he obferved with ftrid care, in the hope that it would lead to a difcovery. Next day efpying the iden tical ring on her Majefty s finger, he unfortunately infinuated to her that he had light of the
difcovered his fair Vifitor.
him
The
following night an
aflaffin
was employed to punifh
for his idle curiofity.
Credat Judaiu Apella. (a)
But fail,
to return to Carolan
I will
lies
before me,
moft conducive to which, in truth,
"
"
(z)
flock of oral information
which
I
I
I will feleft as I
now
begins to
from a learned friend, From this letter, which
lately received
proceed, fuch paflages as
may appear
to
be
defign (b), without any regard to the order of time, to have not fcrupuloufly attended in the courfe of this narrative.
my
fomewhat remarkable, that Corolan, in his gayeft mood, and even * genius was moft elevated by the flowing bowl, never could com-
It is
when
As my letter
curious notices concerning Carolan.
many
containing
now
:
have recourfe to a
his
The
ruins of this caftle
ftill
remain, fublimely fituated on a rock that hangs and frowns over a
rapid river near Manor-Hamilton in the county of Leitrim.
about the
caftle,
(a)
HOT.
(b)
Thefe
lib.
and around are heathy mountains i.
A
few
trees are fcattered
immediately
rifing to the clouds.
fat. 5.
paflages
I fliall
uniformly diftinguifh by inverted
comma *. "
pofe
APPENDIX. |
1
and mental endowments.
One
day, after an unfuccefsful attempt to compofe
fomething in a fprightly flrain for mixture of rage and grief; and
this lady,
he threw afide
addrefling himfelf in
4
pleafmg and eloquent fpeaker)
"from
my great
*
daughter 6
f
s
*
to her
mother
:
Irifli
Madam,
harp with a
his
(of which he was a
faid he, /
have
often,
your family, attempted a planxty, in order to celebrate your Some evil genius hovers over me ; there perfections, but to no purpofe. refpeft to
is not a firing in about this tafk.
when I fet remain long amongft us ; nay, faid he The event verified the preemphatically, Jhe will not furvive twelve months. my harp,
Ifearjhe
*
83
pofe a planxty for a Mifs Brett in the county of Sligo, whofe father s houfe he frequented, and where he always met with a reception due to his exquifite tafte
is
that does not vibrate a melancholy found,
not
doomed
to
didion, as feveral of the family can atteft. By relating this circumftance, it is not my wifh to infmuate that Carolan was endowed with the gift of prophecy ; but fcepticifm muft be at a ftand, when we confider that individuals,
many
"
"
"
who
mankind,
"
"
have, at certain periods
womb
of their
of time than the ordinary mafs of life,
From an
error in his education,
if
the
manner
name, Carolan, at an early period of his for fpirituous liquors, which he retained even to the
ferves that
exempt from
unlefs he corrected this vicious habit, a fcurvey,
this
general impofition.
"
his intemperance,
would foon put an end
"
with reluctance,
and
"
"
"
"
"
"
which he was reared de-
life,
laft
contracted a fondnefs ftage of
ferioufly
though (to him) delicious cup.
common, was
at
;
it.
But
in-
nor was Caro-
His phyficians allured him, that which was the confequence of
Ian
"
"
in
ordinate gratifications carry their punifhment along with them
"
"
foretold events in as extraor-
dinary a manner.
"
"
could look no farther into the
to his
mortal career.
He obeyed
upon never lading that forbidden, The town of Boyle, in the county of Roi-
refolved
that time his principal place of refidence.
There, while un-
der fo fevere a regimen, he walked, or rather wandered about like a Riwtr ; no fallies of a lively imagination efcapcd his ufual gayety forfook him ; him ; every moment was marked with a dejection of fpirits, approaching to
and his harp, his favourite harp, lay in Come obthe deepeft melancholy ; Icure corner of his habitation, neglected and unftrung. Faffing one day by a grocer
s
mop
in the town, (where a Mr. Currifteenc
L
2
at
prefcnt
refides)
ov.r
"
Irifli
APPENDIX.
84 "
Irifh
weeks quarantine, was tempted to ftep in ; undeterhis late refolution, or whether he mould
after a fix
Orpheus,
mined whether he fhould abide by
"
"
yield to the impulfe
"
he to the young
which he
man who
felt at
the
moment.
my dear Friend, cried
Well,
flood behind the compter, you fee I
am a man
of con-
weeks I have refrained from whijkey : was there ever fo great an inftance offelf-denial ? but a thought Jlrikes me, and furely you will not be cruel
"
ftancy "
-for fix long
;
"
enough
to
refufe one gratification
which I Jhall
fure of my favourite liquor, which IJhallfmell
"
earnejlly folicit. to,
Bring hither a mea-
The
but indeed fo all not tafte.
lad
indulged him on that condition ; and no fooner did the fumes afcend to his His countenance brain, than every latent fpark within him was rekindled.
"
"
and the foliloquy which he repeated over glowed with an unufual brightnefs the cup, was the effufions of an heart newly animated, and the ramblings of a genius which a Sterne would have purfued with raptures of delight. At length,
"
;
"
"
"
to the
great peril of his health, and contrary to the advice of his medical
"
friends, c
he once more quaffed the forbidden draught, and renewed the brimhis fpirits were fufficiently exhilarated, and until his mind had fully
mer, until
its former tone. He immediately fet about compofjng that muchadmired fong which goes by the name of CAROLAN S (and fometimes STAF FORD S) RECEIPT. For fprightlinefs of fentiment, and harmony of numbers,
refumed
"
it
flands unrivalled in the
lift
critics will readily allow.
"
the air, in the evening at
"=
and played
this
of our beft
modern drinking. fongs, as our niceft the words, and began to modulate
He commended
"
Boyle, and before the following morning he fung noble offspring of his imagination in Mr. Stafford s parlour at
"
Elfin."
(c)
Carolan
s
inordinate fondnefs for Irirn wine (as Pierre
le
Grand ufed
to call
whifkey) will not admit of an excufe it was a vice of habit, and might therefore have been corrected. But let me fay fomething in extenuation. He feldom drank to excefs befides, he feemed to think, nay, was convinced from :
:
rience, that the fpirit of whifkey
(c)
This
ftory
good authority.
is
Mr.
was grateful
to his
expe Mufe, and for that reafon
; but I am willing to fuppofe that my correfpondent had it from was an eminent apothecary; a man of an amiable character, and a
varioufly related Stafford
friend to merit. His fecond
for)
is
now
principal of a college in Paris.
generally
APPENDIX. generally offered
when he intended
it
to
85
invoke her.
me, fays They in his (Carolan s) latter days, he never compofed without the infpiration of whifkey, of which, at that critical hour, he always took care to have a bottle befide him Nor was Carolan the only Bard who drew (d)." infpiration from the bottle there have been feveral that planets in the poetical tell
D>.
Campbell, that
:
hemifphere
feldom fhone, but when illumined by the rays of rofy wine. wrote his bed paftorals after he had made a moderate facrifice It
is
faid,
amiable Addifon
that the
s
wit fparkled
moft,
when
Cunninghame to
Bacchus
his pulfe
(e).
beat
And the goblet always flows with wines unmixt" for Demodoquick (f J. cus, (in whofe perfon Homer reprefents himfelf) before he tunes his vocal "
"
(g)
lay."
When Homer And Was To is
Carolan
excellent
j
(e)
TON
;
plain,
;
Father Ennius,
till with drinking fir d, never to the martial fong infpir d. (h)
Receipt praife cannot be denied, particularly to the air, which my correfpondent has been rather too prodigal of hi*
s
it.
Let the reader judge for himfelf of
Lett. 44. Survey of South of Ireland. had this anecdote of CUNNINGHAME
I
to
tis
not of a fober ftrain
but, perhaps,
encomiums on
(d)
fmgs the joys of wine,
Homer was
Great
whofe memory
I
HiJI.
(g)
OJy/ey. B.
(h)
Hor.
lib.
i.
8.
his
and
my
poetical merit.
unfortunate friend,
JOHN COUL-
purpofe, in another place, to pay a public tribute.
Rhap. on Pope.
(f)
from
its
POPE
p. 74. S
Effay on Homer.
Ep. 19.
OL-REIE
APPENDIX.
86
CHEARBHALLAIN.
OL-REIE MA S
linn nojlan atharlaigheas fiin,
Do ghludis me Air
cuairt
tra, agus bfheirde
an Seoin
le
An STAFARTACHy2M/,
Is
me
sbcal dfhdghail
nack gnath gan
cheill.
Adfhaca an mheodhon bidhche, do bhibdh a cordial
se
ag
bl Horn
air maidin arifd
As fe thuig se
o
na
Le Toirdbealbhach
cheill,
gur bhejiudagleiis,
caech do bhebdhudh.
Seal air meifge, feal air buileadh,
Reubadb
teud,
fa
dol air mire
A faifiumfm a chleachtais, Deirim anft
Mas
maith
e,
leat
a bheitbfaoghalach,
CAROLAN
s
the manfion of Stafford
His advice or his cordial n er
To
relieve
go
fbill
;
me
bi chaoidcbe
ag
o/.
RECEIPT,
WHEN by iicknefs or forrow To
lets
nafgar
agus innfim don fir et
I
aflaii d,
hied;
fail
d
nor e er was denied.
At
APPENDIX. At midnight our
glafles
87
went round
In the morning a cup he would fend the force of his wit he had found,
By
That
With
my
life
did on drinking depend.
the fpirit of Whifkey infpir d
By my Harp Tis then
that
Tis then
I
e
en the pow
my fmg
r is confefs
is fir
genius
fweeteft
and
d
d
:
beft.
Ye
friends and ye neighbours draw near Attend to the clofe of my fong
;
:
if life you hold dear, That drinking your life will prolong,
Remember,
(i)
To (i)
The
following beautiful verfion of Carolan
s
Receipt, which
fell
from the pen of the elegant
Monody, is excluded from the text as being rather too paraphraftical. deprive my work of fo bright an ornament, I have given it a place here.
tranflator of his
to
CAROLAN
RECEIPT.
s
TO
my
Hope
points relief in Stafford near
faint health
Kind Leech In Stafford
I
!
s
corns
come
I
ache,
;
I
and Mind no
his twofold art I try
:
No more
and drooping cheer
home,
Senfe feels no pain,
I
But unwilling
no more
I
care.
;
figh
:
While wit abounds,
And
mirth refounds,
All griefs the
"
"
feftive table fly.
Thus
(cry d
I ftill
prefcribe ethereal bowls
he) to ethereal fouls, :
"
Behold
A
S3
To deny fatire.
D
N
E
P
P
X.
I
was a certain method of roufmg his fparkling fometime in the houfe of a parfimonious lady, he happened
Carolan the
"
bowl"
Refiding for as he fat playing on his harp, to hear the
one day,
Butler unlocking the cellar
man, requefled a cup of beer. But the fellow thrufl him rudely out of the cellar, declaring he would give him no In a rage the infulted Bard compofed thing unlefs by orders from his miflrefs.
door.
Inftantly he arofe, and, following the
the following bitter epigram
Mo Nach *0s tu
:
Dhiarmuid
chreach a
ui
Fhloinn (k)
tu ta ur
Dhoras Ifrinn nach leigfeadh nedch dod choir
In ait a mbetheadh do Dborfoir.
,
What So
pity Hell s gates are not kept
furly
a
Dog wou d
let
by
O
Flinn
!
in.
nobody
Let fancy for a moment, while our Bard is peregrinating, follow his Wife into Faithful and fond as Penelope, fhe repels with fcorn every attack
retirement.
"
"
"
Behold their aid In you difplay d,
While
clear in age
"
Prolong
its
courfe
life s
current
rolls.
quaff while you can
"
Repeat "
"
"
"
"
Dermid
O Flinn,
improve your plan
charm d
Of future
.
guefts
feafts
man
f
For more than health thy bowl fupplics, It bids thy notes, thy numbers rife.
"
(k)
the
Shall blefs the wonderful old
"
"
purfue
And
And
Sweet frenzy
s fire
Enchants thy lyre rapture
the butler
s
s
plaudits rend the
Ikies."
name.
on
APPENDIX. on her her
chaftity
;
and prays
wandering hufband.
fport her
little
children,
for
Around on
whom
89
the fafety, her, as
and fondly wifhes the return, of fhe fits employed in fome female tafk,
ever and anon cafts a glance of delight,
fhe
then heaves the figh of apprehenfion for their abfent father.
But
to return
Mufic was in fome meafure
:
identified with Carolan.
It
was
an
1
!
active principle interwoven in his nature, which gave fuch life and energy to all his own produdions ; and which enabled him to difcover the merit of others in the fame line, with fuch wonderful
from a
full
convidion of
his great
accuracy of judgment. It was powers, that the Italians have dignified him
name of CAROLONIUS. And it is a fad well fame of Carolan having reached the ears of an eminent in Dublin, he put his abilities to a fevere teft, and the with the
;
;
:
;
"
"
"
"
;
"
critical
He
"
the
con-
trial
advanced in follows
the
:
He
country
all
moment was
declared
it
at hand, which was to determine his reputation for ever. was an admirable piece of mufic ; but, to the aftonimment of
own language, limps and ftumbles.
prefent, faid, very humouroufly, in his
bacalghe
"
ftyle
the
mufic-maftcr
which gave him birth ; here and there he either altered or mutilated the piece, but in fuch a manner, as that no one but a real judge could make a difcovery. Carolan beftowed the deepeft attention upon the performer while he played it, not knowing however that it was intended as a trial of his fkill and that the ;
K
u
Italian
iffue of vinced him, how well founded every thing had been, which was favour of our Irifh Bard. The method he made ufe of was as in the fmgled out an excellent piece of mufic, and of
highly
;
afcertained, that
;
that
is,
here and there
it
redify the errors, which he accordingly did.
ta fe air cbois
He was
air
prayed to
In this flate the piece was fent
from Connaught to Dublin } and the Italian no fooner faw than he pronounced Carolan to be a true mufical genius."
the
amendments,
This flory reminds me of a relation fomewhat fimilar, and not lefs honourable which I had from my worthy and O Halfriend,
to Carolan,
ingenious
Sylv.
loran, Efq. of Limerick,
In the beginning of the lafl century, the then Lord Mayo brought from Dublin a celebrated Italian performer, to fpend fome time with him at his feat in the
M
country.
APPENDIX.
90 Carolan,
country.
who was
at that
time on a
vifit
at his
lordfhip
found him-
s,
one day in the prefence of tiie fo When you play in as mafterly a manner as he does, (replies his lordreigner, Carolan wagered with the mufician, that fhip) you (hall not be overlooked." he would follow him in though he was almoft a total flranger to Italian mufic, yet any piece he played ; and that he himfelf would afterwards play a voluntary, in
fclf greatly
negle&ed
j
and complained of
it
"
which the
The propofal was acceded
mould not follow him.
Italian
to
;
and Caro
lan was victorious.
The
Italian alluded to in the
firft
of thefe relations, was the celebrated Ge-
miniani.
It is well known, (proceeds my Correfpondent) and feveral refpectable perfons have vouched for the truth of the fad, that he often heard the JNEID of Virread with uncommon delight, though he did not underftand a word of
"
"
"
gil "
u "
"
"
Latin
fo true
it is,
that
one genius
will catch the fire
from another by a
fort
of
for the Roman poet induced him to imitate fympathy Nay, his admiration Latin words, which though mere founds, he has fhaped into lofty hexameters, of them with as according to the ftri&eft rules of profody. I have heard fome !
much admiration
as
laughter."
How far his foul was expanded by religion, what deep impreffions it made was to its doctrines, may be deduupon his mind, and how firmly attached he ced from feveral fublime paflages in his compofitions. The admirable one for
"
*
"
"
"
Doftor Harte,
late titular
the moft fervent piety
of bifhop of Achonry, has often excited fentiments
:
Stiobhard cearf do "
is
no
"
It is
"
to
4<
a
all
him
lefs
Mhac
na Ghire
I,
an idea of the moft exalted devotion, than of the moft elevated genius.
lofs to
the public, that this truly virtuous dignitary had been fo infenfible
emotions of entirely
felf-love, as to
have the
firft
of Carolan
s
compofitions for
fuppreffed."
But Carolan s mufe was not always employed in deifying the great, in praifing the mirth of the convivial hour j fometimes it was de beauty, or in heightening voted
A
p
P He
harp at the elevation of the Hoft
j
rnufic,
whicn are deemed
N
E
voted to the fcrvicc of his God.
X.
I
9,
frequently affifted with his voice and his and has compofed feveral pieces of church-
Mr.
excellent.
honourable mention of a piece of amiable old man) I heard him play
D
has
his it
O
Conor, in a
facred mufic. at mafs.
He
letter to a friend,
makes
On
Eafter-day (fays the called the piece GLORIA IN
DEO, and he fung that hymn in Irifh verfes as he At the played. Prayer he flopped ; and after the Fried ended it, he fang again, and played a pl ece, which he denominated the RESURRECTION. His enthufiafm of devotion affected the whole I
*
congregation."
Univers entier a fon Art.
Charles >ur,
Le Genie du
mufician foumet
(1)
Mac Cabe, the favourite friend and companion of our Bard, had fome which he ufed to exercife on
frequently himfelf on fuch occafions of his blindnefs.
Carolan, generally availing
Of this I will give one inftance Mac Cabe, after an abfence of fome months from his friend, met him riding one day near his own houfe attended by a boy j immediately winking at the boy, and tohis he tally altering accofled Carolan as a voice, In the courfe of conftranger. :
verfation, the diflembler infmuated, that he had
come from Mac Cabe s neighbourhood; on which Carolan eagerly enquired did he know one Charles Mac Cabe ? I once knew him, replied Mac Cabe. How, once ! what do you mean by I mean, anfwered the that, fays Caloran. Wag, that this day s ennight I was at his funeral, and few there were more grieved than I was, for he was mofl intimate friend.
my
mocked and
moved by this melancholy news, burft but foon recovering from this paroxyfm of grief, he be gan to lament that there was no friend near him to commit to a few Carolan,
into a flood of tears
:
writing
thoughts which had cnfis,
juft entered his
on which Carolan
mind.
diftated the
(I)
Mac Cabe
offered to
following quibbling Epitaph
ROUSSEAU,
Ma
fons le
mot
be
his
Amanu-
:
genie.
FEAR
T
APPENDIX,
92
LAOL
FEART
75 truaghfin mife, agus me atuirfeach andlagh mo chuily Air Liog mo charrad agus do mharbh fin raidre me Jhult Sefuair me agum, agus me folca na ndeor go hur Caoil-leac dhaingean agus leaba
Ni
trean
me a
labhalrt^ agus
ean bocbtfcolte me
Is
Nfl piane
o chaill
ni l peanaid, ni l
dhun chre bhi
ciing.
m
mheafaim gur cuts Naire^ me mochul Baire.
galra chomh tromm chraite,
L
head na ccarad nofcaradb na ccompanach, Ni Cathaoir mur gach Cathaoir ata mife do chaome
Acbt Cathaoir go maifidhe, no Cathaoir na Righe Chathaoir na diachta Samhail mo Chathaoir ni raibb bu
e
mo Chathaoir, Cathaoir a
taoibfe.
(m)
this impromptu, Mac Cabe affumed his proper good-natured Bard, on his giving fuch a fincere proof of his affection for one whom he had fo often made the butt of his wit.
As foon
voice,
Carolan had finifhed
as
and
rallied the
But the period was now approaching, ceive a violent fhock.
him by
the
which Carolan
s feelings
This melancholy event threw a gloom over his mind, As foon as the tranfports of his grief For the benefit of fubfided, he compofed the following Monody.
little
I
(hall
here give, with the original, an elegant paraphrafe to conceal with
young Lady, whofe name I am enjoined the modefty ever attendant on true merit, and with the fweet her fex, me {brinks from the public eye*
(m) Inion,
Monody by
As
to re
after entirely diffipated.
the Englifh reader,
of this
were
hand of Death.
which was never were a
at
In the year 1733, the wife of his bofom was torn from
a
the greater part of this Elegy
is
:
timidity natural to
a play upon words, the fpirit would evaporate in a tranfr
DUAN
APPENDIX. DUAN MHARBHNA
93
A
MHNA,
MAIRE NI-MHEIC.GUIDHIR LE TOIRDHE ALB H ACH
UA-CEARBHALLAIN SIOSANA, (Tothelrifh Air of
INNTLEACHT Biodb
a
uile
CONCOVAR MAC CURELY.)
na Hereann, na Greige fna RSmba, a naen bheirtin
neinfheacht,
rombamfa, Ghlacfuinn murfheirin, tar an mbeidfm donafeoda,
Maire
on Eirne, as
me
bhsith
dha pogadh.
Sturfacb iinn treth/ag, me feln gacb truth nona
Sar maldin ageirgbe, mar d
eg uaim
mo Nochar
Dha
bfhaghainn anos trida^ fgach faibhreas ddr nofadb* Nt ghacfumn do dbeidbfe, aen bhean le pofadh,
Fuair me fed in Erinn, gohaerach, as go S6dhamhailt
Ag
61 le
gach trenfbear, bhi efeachtacb, ceolmhar,
Fagbbadh na
dbeidhftn, learn fiin
me go bronach,
A ndeireadh mo-Jhaeghail, fgan mo cheile bhetb beo agom.
M M
inntleacht mhaith aeraih nifhedahn a
intinn
na dheidhfin,
Go deimhln
A
is
leir
cumhdach y
go bfhuil fmuiteach>
ni fhedaim do dbeidh bheithgofugacb,
Mhaire na
ceille,
an fa
f Jhaeghal
bhi go diuteach,*
CAROL AN
APPENDIX.
94
N
C A R O L A
MONODY
s
ON THE DEATH OF
MARY MAC GUIRE. TRANSLATED BY
A LADY.
WERE mine the choice of intelle&ual fame, Of fpelful Painting
s
fong, and eloquence divine, fweet power, Philofophy s pure flame,
And Homer In All
s lyre,
and Offian
s
harp were mine
and fplendid arts of Erin, Greece,
The
MARY
would
lofe their
wonted grace,
the tomb, give to fnatch her from to fold her in my fond embrace.
wou d
Again
loft,
;
Rome,
I
Defponding, fick, exhaufted with my grief, Awhile the founts of forrow ceafe to flow, In vain
I reft
!
not
no relief wake to woe.
fleep brings
Cheerlefs, companionlefs,
I
;
Nor birth nor beauty mall again allure, Nor fortune win me to another Bride Alone
I
ll
j
wander, and alone endure,
Till death reftore
me
to
my
dear-one
Once every thought, and every
s fide.
fcene was gay,
my hours employ Now doom d to mourn my laft fad years away, My life a folitude my heart a void Friends, mirth and mufic
!
all
d
!
Alas
APPENDIX. Alas the change ! to change again no more For every comfort is with MARY fled :
And
ceafelefs anguifh fhall
Adieu each That
The
her
lofs
deplore,
and forrow join me with
Till age
gift
the dead*
of nature and of art r
adorn d
erfl
95
1
me
in
life s
early
prime
temper, and the focial heart, foul ethereal and the flights fublime
!
-
cloudlefs
The
!
Thy lofs, my MARY, chac d them from my breaft Thy fweetnefs cheers, thy judgment aids no more The mufe deferts an heart with grief opprefl !
And
loft is
every joy that charm d before*
Carolan did not continue long in
While
beloved wife.
He was
year of his age (n).
this vale
ort a vifit at the
Rofcommon, he
in the county of
:
of forrow after the departure of his
houfe of Mrs.
died in the
Mac Dermot
month of March,
of Alderford,
738, in the 68th
1
interred in the parifli church of Killronan, in the diocefe
(n)
The manner
Which appeared and
is
of Carolan
in the Europ.
afcribed to the late Dr. I
ter.
lament that
I
s
death
Mag.
is
for
related with feveral degrading circumftances,
October, 1785, and the Hib. Mag.
GOLDSMITH,
in
a
life
November
of him,
following,
the pen of that elegant wri though every way unworthy in wit and humour, which I received
cannot give a place to a letter abounding
on from the anonymous friend fo often mentioned in this memoir, however there is one paflage in it which I cannot, in
alluded to
for
:
his reading the life juftice
to
my
of Carolan
juft
mufical readers, fup-
edition of all his compofitions will If the life of Garolan be a national acquifition, a con-eft And if ever the public fliould teftify a defire to be in pofieflion of fo enhance the value of it. L. Hunt, of Boyle, in the county of a treafure, you may, without hefitation, point out Mr.
"
prefs.
much great
Rofcommon,
as a
this particular.
fociety,
of choice, and as the proper objeft
At an early period of
of an gave fpecimens
cultivate
under the
beft
his life,
uncommon
tafte
fitted
univerfal fatisfaftion in pevfon to give
this refpeftable
for mufic,
member
character and valuable
which has been ever
care and afliduity. matters, with all poflible
A
of
after his chief ftudy to
corneft education, and a "
congenial
APPENDIX.
y6 diocefe of /till
Ardagh; but
known
fkull
is
"
not a Hone
tells
where he
lies
:"
His grave, indeed,
is
few furviving friends, and the neighbouring hinds ; and his diftinguiihed from the other fkulls which are fcattered promifcuoufly about to his
the church-yard, by a perforation in the forehead, through which a fmall piece of riband is drawn.
Mr.
O
Conor, when in the neighbourhood of Killronan
laft
Summer, indulged
himfelf in the melancholy pleafure of vifiting the grave of his departed friend. I laft Sunday (fays he) paid a vifit to poor Carolan s grave at Killronan. It ;
excited fome melancholy feelings, and reminded tion.
My
feeble ftate convincing
fheers (o).
May
I
make
me,
me
of
my approaching diflblumy life is between the
that the thread of
the proper ufe of this merciful fufpenfion of the cut
And
!"
In my penfive mood at Killronan, I flood again in another letter over poor Carolan s grave, covered with an heap of ftones ; and I found his flcull "
in a nitch near the grave, perforated a
known by
that
little
in the forehead, that
it
might be
mark."
Though Carolan
died univerfally lamented, he would have flied unfung, had Mac Cabe poured a few elegiac drains over his cold re-
not the humble mufe of
This faithful friend compofed a fhort remains. Elegy on his death, which is It is unadorned with meretricious orna evidently an effufion of unfeigned grief. ments. It is the picture of a mind torn with anguifh. Though this Elegy will afford little pleafure to the faftidious reader, it will the reader of fenfibiligratify
ty to find
it
here.
congenial turn of mind, qualify
^
him
in
an eminent degree to found the depth of Carolan and his peculiar excellencies."
s
genius,
to difcover his real beauties, his native vigour,
(o)
Comes
And
the blind fury with th abhorred fhears,
flits
the thin fpun
life.
MILTON S
LyciJas.
MARBHNA.
APPENDIX, M
A R
H N
B
A.
R INEA
Is
S Imaointe, ad mheafas nar chuis noire ^ mlntinfuaighte o cbailleas mo chul Balre ;
N?I plan,
m
ntlpeanaid, lgol riios tromm chraite eag na cearad, nofcarradh na ccommpanatgb ; Mile agusfeacht ccead bliadbain bhan,
Na
Hocht deag agusfche,an Siomlan, theacht Chriqfta
dhar faoradb Jlan,
Go Bas Thoirdhealbhaigh Ui
Chearbhallain.
now
remains to draw the character of Carolan. But this has been already done Conor with his ufual elegance and energy ; and I (hall here prefent the It would be an pifture as executed by his mafterly hand. unpardonable aft of It
by Mr.
O
prefumption and temerity, to alter a feature in a portrait by a Lely or a Vandycke, a Rubens or a Reynolds, Very few have I ever known, who had a more vigorous mind, but a mind undifciplined, through the defect or rather abfence of cultiva tion. Abfolutely the Child of Nature, he was governed by the indulgences, and, at times, by the caprices of that mother. His imagination, ever on the "
wing, was eccentric in
its
poetic flights
:
yet, as far as that faculty
can be
em
ployed in the harmonic art, it was fteady and collected. In the variety of his mufical numbers, he knew how to make a fele&ion, and fcldom was contented
with mediocrity. So happy, fo elevated was he, in fome of his compofitions, that he excited the wonder, and obtained the approbation, of a Matter,
who
never faw him
;
I
mean
He
Geminiani.
great outftripped his predeceflbrs
in the
three fpecies of compofition ufed among the Irifh but he never omitted giving due praife to feveral of his countrymen, who excelled before him in his art.-^:
The
Italian
compofitions he preferred to
N
all
others: Vivaldi charmed him, and
with
APPENDIX.
98
with Corelli he was enraptured.
He
but fpoke elegantly in his maternal language, he delivered himfelf but indif ;
had advanced in years before he learned Englifh ferently in that language, and yet he did not like
to
be corrected in
his folecifms.
need not be concealed, that he indulged in the ufe of fpirituous liquors this habit he thought, or pretended to think, added ftrength to the flights of his ge It
:
nius
but in juftice
;
cation.
it
muft be obferved, that he was feldotn furprized by intoxi he never omitted daily prayer (p), and fondly
Conflitutionally pious,
imagined himfelf infpired, when he compofed fome pieces of church mufic. This idea contributed to his devotion and thankfgivings ; and, in this refpect, his enthufiafm was harmlefs, and perhaps ufeful.
Gay by
he was a pleafmg member of fociety. And procured him efteem and friends every where."
habit,
Carolan had feven children by his wife
who had
;
fix
nature, and cheerful from
his talents
and
his
daughters and one fon.
morality
His fon,
ftudied Mufic, went to
London, where he taught the Irim harp(q). But before his departure he publimed, by fubfcription, (A. D. 1747) a collection of his father s Mufic, omitting, from mercenary motives, fome of his beft pieces.
To.
this collection a fhort
preface
is
prefixed, in
which ~much fulfome
praife
is
la-
on our Bard, and a parallel drawn between him and Horace. This collec tion was republiftied in Dublin by John Lee, in the year 1780, but without the vifhed
preface.
Before
I
clofe
and extract from
this biographical /ketch, I will it
an account of Carolan
riched with fome ingenious remarks of time.
s
turn again to
my
friend
s letter,
contemporaries, which he has en
on intellectual
illumination, at certain periods
To trace the progrefs of the human understanding, and to obferve how remarkably certain periods of time exceed others in illumination of intellect, affords a "
"
"
moft pleafmg entertainment to thofe
(p) (q)
man
s
He was a Roman Catholic. On enquiry, I find that he
who
delight in philofophical fpeculations.
brought his father s harp with him to London,
and
alfo another
wife. "The
A
P
N
E
D
X.
I
99
The age of Auguftus feems to have been that, which was to mew how far the powers of the human mind were
c
defigned by Providence capable of extending ; and the reign of Louis XIV. has convinced the world, that the fun of fcience reafcend the may firmament, when the Author of nature calls it forth j and mine in its full meridian fplendour, when he difpells the gloom which obfcured
c-;
But
its luftre.
more *
it
muft be obferved, that
univerfal than
this intelledual illumination is
much
Favourable circumftances and generally attended to. cafual advantages, often accelerate the progrefs of fome, to the temple of Fame, while others move but flowly, and muft patiently wait to remove every obftruction in their paflage. An Addifon, a Swift, and the other luminaries of the in is
age
which they
flourifhed,
had an academical education
the
;
firft
dawnings of
their
II
(C <
1
"
"
"
"
genius prejudiced a difcerning public in their favour ; they obtained the patronage of the Great ; and printing-preffes were at all moments ready to fpread Far different was the fate of Carolan. reputations fo fufceptible of an increafe. His firft entrance into the world was marked by poverty (r) ; that poverty, to gether with a total privation of fight, with which he was ftruck at an early age,
precluded many opportunities of improvement ; the firft dawnings of his genius were fcarcely attended to j nay, the prejudices againft a poor blind harper, muft be fubdued and foftened only by thofe fuperior powers, which, late in
he manifefted, and which broke forth with fuch forcible
life,
The language Carolan
name, "
"
"
**
"
"
If
it,
of,
was
refiftance.
fo unfafhionable, that,
was deemed a mark of
among
Thus was
vulgarity.
merit, during his lifetime, confined within the narrow circle of his ac-
s
quaintance
"
which he made ufe
the Great, to fpeak or ftudy
"
"
too,
;
without the enlivening profped, or fmgle ray of hope, that his mould be held in veneration."
after his deceafe,
fome particular circumftances, then, prevent our obferving the great profame obfervation will equally apply to the
grefs of intellectual illumination, the Jtella minores
which generally accompany that illumination.
to affign too high a nitch in the
Temple of Fame
to
my
It is
not
favourite
my
Bard
defire ;
but
from the fpecimens he has exhibited, I prefume to give him the rank, which, with the advantages of due cultivation, it is to be fuppofed he would have held, rather than that which he really occupied. (r)
Here
I
am
fiuent or indigent.
to correct forry to be obliged
N
2
my
I
fay,
therefore, that great lumina-
Correfpondcnt
:
Carolan was never cither
"
af-
ries
APPENDIX.
JOO "
"
"
"
"
*
"
"
"
never appear in the literary hemisphere without their fatellites, at an humJames Whyte, ble diftance, and in a much lower degree, to grace their train. late Mr. Patrick Whyte of Ballymote) holds the fame rank (natural fon to the
ries
with refpedt to his contemporary Carolan, that the minor poets hold with regard to the fuperior ones. Born with a rich vein of comic humour (s), he poffeffed powers fufficient to turn (if poffible) things the moft ferious, into downright ridicule j but his talent never having received a
in the line of genius s,
of his imagination proper direction, he abandoned himfelf to the luxuriancy
j
and the man of wit degenerated too often into the buffoon. Yet in that character it was eafily perceived, how much he was the child and favourite of Nature r and how fufceptible of much better impreffions he was, than thofe which the -
"
"
"illegitimacy "
*
"
"
many
"which "
"
"
**
"
**
"
"
"
"
of his birth,
and the want of a regular education, prevented
him from having received. About twenty years ago, his memory was frefh in The (lory the minds of many in the barony of Corran, in the county of Sligo. of a poor homely man (Cruighure bui O Gallaghure) who was witnefs to the calamities of Ireland,
Whyte (who
him
Boyne and Aghrim, and mare of vanity of
boaft, with a great
the wonders he had feen during the civil wars) has framed,
humour
an entertainment, and council held
tions of
may be
is
a mafter-piece of
His defcrip-
not to be equalled perhaps by a Farquhar or a Sheridan.
confidered as the ne-plus-ultra of
all
at
Temple-houfe in Connaught,
the fubjects that the wit of
man
A
Genhas ever devifed, to excite and continue the loudeft peals of laughter. tleman, in. whofe hands the fait of real humour has never loft an atom of its original flavour, has often repeated
it
to
me
;
I
never,
muft confefs, without
leaving the ftrongeft defire upon my mind, that he would, for my entertainment, renew the comic fcene, and hold again and again fo faithful and true a mirror up to nature.^ Fit Feighny was another of the Jlella ndnores^ who
O
lived in the time of Carolan
odes
j
and Whyte,
He feemed
but growing confcious too foon of whatever
fometimes ftretched **
after the battles of the
has often heard
his
firings
beyond
Mr.
O Conor,
fpeaking of White,
and, had he been bred
in the
Have you heard
with a ferious
could be more happy,
his funeral
he
poffeffed,
he
other
in.
Many
hypothecs."
He had a genius for comedy ; would have been one of the moft celebrated comic
a letter to a friend, fays,
fchool of Moliere,
poets of the age. air,
in
abilities
their natural tone.
fiances could be produced in fupport of this (s)
to have a talent for Irifh
"
Elegy on the death of Cagtain Bofwell
?
No
.
ridicule
To.
-
APPENDIX. To
let
mimret,
thofe>//
when brought
head"
me add
a
twinkling
flar,
that
lot
muft
hide
into competition with the luftre of Carolan
its
dimi-
I
mean
;
Lmin, of the county of Fermanagh.
This gentleman, the contemporary (and has left a few poetical pieces in Irim, which feldom to One of thefe I will infert for its mediocrity, never above it. fmgularity ; indeed an unique.
believe friend) of Carolan, rife it is
DAN DIARMHAIR. ANGELICAL Your Your
Maid , do dbeigb ni fada me beo ; virtues fo rare, ambeaduigheas maicid gacb excellent features, adheanamh acceo ;.
HaspowVtoraifefromgrovestftt/fwW gan
RANT m e
Vjr
r
JNEIGHB RING
cdil-y
an cborcair accail,
indeed, na meelte duine cunn bdis
I
fhake,
le
if
it will break,/w you forfake me, as
H/ARLY flill
and
curfing
;
mo dheor
;,
;
fiidir fhurtaght go deoigk., trelag mife do dheoigh
Iate,y2z meadughadh
my
tullte
from ofna broin
heart
My
//
ftreams, go meadaigheann
the very earth
And
!
ar
bright ivory teeth ,fdo pbiob ar an Lile rug bdrr,.
Have conquered And
gho..
e 1 i e f , a Rioguin as macanta
Your beautiful cheeks, Your
to;.
folus
j
bhiom
atuirft
;,
fate, o ghsrghuin dairte dol triom;
1 cannot fuftain my pain fl/ww bhfurtaighir And ifyou my death occafion, as ortfa bbias ioc ,
gan
fgit b.
:
OlNCE
it
is
my
fate,
fgurab
eigin tuitim le
grddh
;,
my death will (lain, dolheijie go brath But ifyou vouchfafe to heal me o bbiar gaethe bdis,
I
fear that
You
Who my
this
Readers
:.
will merit great
"
Angelical will
be very
Maid"
fame, fas
was,
folicitous to
I
liaighe
bufa tar chdch..
have in vain enquired
j
nor do
I
think
know. Before
APPENDIX.
102 Before
my
of cor Correfpondent difmifTes Carolan, he takes an opportunity It is fomeCampbell s little memoir of him (t). "
recting an error in Dr. *
"
what remarkable (fays he) that the learned Dr. Campbell mould, upon mere hearfay, affert that the ode of TIAGHARNA MHAIGHE-EO was the compo-
*
hereafter, his excellent work fhould go through a be hoped he will, like a true philofopher, acknowledge TIAGHARNA MHAIGHE-EO had error, and retract the above affertion. It was exiflence perhaps long before Carolan was born. compofed
fition
"
"
"
c<
cc
of Carolan.
fecond edition, his its
If,
is
it
to
by a poor dependent of a former Lord Mayo, whom he had taken, from motives of benevolence, under his roof and protection ; and whom the fear
ic
of continuing in his
cc
productions, for fentiment and have no other memorial harmony, that ever did honour to any country. of that compofer s genius. Perhaps he was not confcious of the powers he pof-
"
"
feffedj cc
wifhes, carelefs
"
Certain
"
the
"
"
it is,
that the
TIAGHARNA MHAIGHE-EO,
means of
the
"
"
"
or,
more properly fpeaking,
reconciliation with his offended patron.
"
l
difplea-
it,
compofitions that pleafe
"
his
finefl
were planned in the houfe of a refpectable gentleman of the name of Finn, near Boyle, who ferved in the late wars of Ireland in the commillion of a captain ; and who propofed an attempt of this nature as the mofl {ketches of
firfl
effectual
*
having incurred
difgrace, after
many other eminent men, having attained the object of his and feeing himfelf in the enjoyment of competence and cafe, he grew about fame, and neglected all the means of perpetuating his memory.
"
"
s
one of the
or, like
"
"
to
We
"
It
Lordmip
fure, incited to give birth
firfl
time, played in
Bard had concealed himfelf
after nightfal,
humble advances would not
him by
It is
one of thofc
men, of whatever age or condition ; and was for Lord Mayo s hall, on Chriftmas eve, where our penitent all
foften his
from an apprehenfion, that the mofl
Lordmip
s
refentment.
him
the birth of the Prince of Peace, to grant
He
conjured
forgivenefs, in a flrain of
the finefl and mofl natural pathos (which he accompanied with his harp) that To enumerate the many beauties of this ever diflilled from the pen of man. excellent production,
anecdote
I
is
to
enumerate the words
;
and to form a true idea of
handled by the befl and ablefl performers. had from a defcendant of one of the family already alluded to
the mufic of
it,
is
to hear
(t)
This
it
See Phil. Surv. of South of Irel
j
and
Lett. 44. "
I
have
APPENDIX. have entered into
I
*
fo
minute a
detail
from
my
103
rcfped to Dr, Campbell, as
he mould be contradicted only on the ftrongeft grounds, and from the *
beft
authority.
The
manner
flattering
which
in
my Correfpondent has mentioned the TIAGundoubtedly have awakened the Reader s literary curiofity to look round for gratification, it would
HARNA MHAIGHE-EO, mud But, were
curiofity.
his
bably be difappointed
O
Mr.
Conor,
I
can
;
pro(which, on the indifputable authority of was compofed by David Murphy, a retainer of the
for
affert,
Mayo-family) has never yet, tranfcribe lan s
it
Ode
this
I
believe,
met the public
eye.
here(u); and fubjoin a verfion, by the elegant
I
will
TRANSLATED IN S P I R IN G Once more Help me
Having
(u) I
will
pofition
of
;
A
I
O-,
LADY,
fount of cheering wine
!
:
to raife the lay divine
Mayo.
vainly fought (fince I wrote the above) for a genuine copy of this
give none.
on the Public
BY
I fee thee flow
Propitiate thy
nal,
Caro-
Monody,
TIAGHARNA MHAIGHE-E
.
therefore
tranflator of
have two mutilated and incorrect copies of
it,
they muft be content, at prefent, to poflefs the tranflation.
Thady Keenan, with whom Mr.
O Conor
Ode
in
the origi
but I will not obtrude either
The
air
was the com-
wai acquainted,
Mayo,
APPENDIX.
104
>
Mayo, whofe valour fweeps
And
fwells the
the field,
trump of Fame
;
May Heav n s high pow r the champion And deathlefs be his name
fhield
!
!
Of Glory s fons, thou glorious heir, Thou branch of Honor s root Defert me not, but bend thine ear, !
Propitious to
O
!
my
fuit.
bid thy exil d Bard return,
Too
No more
long from fafety fled
;
him mourn,
in abfence let
Till earth mall hide his
head!
Shield of defence, and princely fway.!
May He, who
rules the iky,
Prolong on earth thy glorious day,
And
every good fupply
O Judith
!
fair Sufanna fweet (v) Mild eye, and bounteous hand With Pity s prayer the Lion (w) meet, !
!
!
With Beauty
(w) hisage.
Children of Lord Mayo. The epithet of Coeur de
]yon-port"
on Queen Elizabeth
her Majefty had Come claim.
power command
was beftowed on Richard
VidePERCY s/i/^^.^.Mm.
the epithet of credited,
Lion"
s
,
p. 30.
-Mr. GRAY,
an epithet
Vide SPEED
S
to
which,
CAron. and
!
I.
of England, by the poets of
in his if
ode of The B*rJ. beftows
Speed and Hentzner are
KENT ZNER
J
Travels
p
to
be
40 Straw-
berry-Hill Ed.
John,
APPENDIX.
I05
John, Bridget, and Eliza (x), come, With locks of flowing gold ; O may your charms for ever bloom, !
Each
O
captive heart to hold
interpofe your gentle pray r
To
And
!
bend your Sire may Heaven s preventing care
pity
ftill
!
Outftrip your heart
Maria
!
(y), fair
s defire
!
and noble Dame,
Whom
O
power and beauty arms : by thy fpoufe s laurel d fame *
!
!
By
O
thy
Goddefs
own
!
to
matchlefs charms
my
fuit attend
O grant my fole Thy own
!
!
thy Lion
by
chill
!
thy haplefs Bard
this feafon (z),
Be now my peace
(x)
s ire
bid the clouds of abfence ceafe
To
O
!
!
relenting grace extend,
And calm
O
defire
!
Children, alfo, of Lord
Mayo.
to peace,
reftor
d
(y)
O
!
vow d
!
Lady Mayo.
(z)
Chriftmas.
Of
io6
APPENDIX. Of
Britain, as of Erin, thou
The champion and
O may !
the pride
Extend me near thy
Thy
fide.
death his days would quickly clofe,
Who And ne
lives
er
Till
Having thus
!
the ftroke that lays thee low,
but in thy grace,
on earth can
thou
tafte repofe
(halt feal his
defultorily detailed the Life of
peace
!
CAROLAN, and flopped
his
brow of
the laurel which was due to the author of the foregoing Ode, I will here take my leave of him, committing him to the protection of a kind, an indulgent, and a generous Public.
[ No. VII. ]
[No. VII.]
AN
ACCOUNT
OF
THREE BRASS TRUMPETS, FOUND NEAR CORK:
WITH REMARKS THEREON.
O
2
ADVERTISEMENT. HAD
I feen the Vetufta
Monumenta
Muftcttl Inftrumenta of the L-i/h, the
before
I drew up my account of the
Trumpets, which are
the fubjett of the fol
lowing Memoir, Jhould have been noticed under their proper head.
APPENDIX.
ICO
)
AN
ACCOUNT
OF
THREE BRASS TRUMPETS, the thirty years fmce,
&c.
Trumpets delineated above, were found ia a They were bought by a brazier in Cork,
Mallow. ABOUT bog between Cork and
them down, when they were refcued from his hands by going to melt Being afterwards expofed to fale, they of Meath, were purchafed by the Rev. Mr. Archdall, for Dr. Pococke, Bifhop On the Bifhop s deceafe, his valuable collection to whom he was then chaplain.
who was
juft
the Rev. Mr. Somerville of Caftlehaven.
of curiofities was fold by auction in London.
The trumpets
fortunately getting into
A
no
P
D
N
E
P
I
London, engravings of them apwork which was conducted by that
into the poffeffion of the Antiquarian Society of
peared in the learned body.
VETUSTA MONUMENTA The engravings were
a
;
with the following obfervations:
illuftrated
I. II. III. Three brafs trumpets, found (with ten or a dozen more) bog between Cork and Mallow, in the kingdom of Ireland. They are imagined to be fome of thofe inftruments, which the Northern nations made "
Fig.
"
"
"
in a
ufe of in
"
battle."
SCIA-ITI!"/-*?
y
s
lioyvt i?
[Galli]
x,scm
*j
(IctfSxpiJtaV.
Diodor
"
-ra.vTa.itf
BTpofialAAao iv
j
K^OV
They have among/I them (fays our peculiar, as well to themfehes, as
found, wellfuited "
"
01?
.
/ncc
to
-rS vravTof rpct^oTrsJK
tri
T0.p
"
^tTrctittv/ ^ov /
T*
:
TMADtttilrMV
,
V.
y&f 30."
an hoarfe
emit thefe, by inflation,
WMV
Si
l^vrcafft Sic.
fpeaking of the Gauls) trumpets,
Author,
other nations
the din of battle.
to
oiV.;?oK.
noM/uutif
KJ
Tpa,-/_vv
JTV ^ ^ O f ^g(g
Koa^r
6
TOULVTM
*$
j-EvsaSaj
V
ware /i ^o xoc r,V
o-(tATrir>
reif fwaifttts,
*S
*AAci H
TS
?
lib. II. And the parade and tumult of the army of For there ivas amongji them an infinite number of horns and trumpets, which, with the Jhouts of the whole army in concert, made a clamour fo terrible and fo loud, that every furrounding echo ivas awakened, and all "
ai;"li
^OK?V
^^V.
-arpoiWe*/
Polyb.
the Celts, terrified the Romans.
the adjacent country
and 39. p.
404,
p.
197."
cc
Of thefe,
fig.
III. confifts
end, near which
it
German
it
it
fmall flrait
(a)
rhat brafs
It
Append,
219.
to
Boat
Smith s
s
Add
Liv.
v. 37.
HIST. OF CORK,
fin.
v. 2.
NAT. HIST. OF IRELAND,
of one entire piece of fine brafs, (a) clofed at the fmall
The two
manner of the
rings were probably defigned to receive a
was to be carried or fupported. they confift, of two pieces,
Fig.
I.
and
II.
are of a
a curve pipe, and a Thefe were tube, fitted exactly to enter into the fmatl end of it.
different conflruction cc
s
s.
has a large oval hole, for founding, in the
Flute at this day.
by which
"
join in the horrible din.
to
Homer. ILIAD,
Molineux
405.
It
firing,
feemed
Euftath. ad
appears from the
was a metal
;
many military and
in early
viz.
other inftruments found in different parts of this kingdom,
and frequent ufe amongft the
Irifli.
"
not
APPENDIX. c
m
not founded as the former, but from the end, in the manner of a The mouth-piece to both feems trumpet. wanting, (b)"
common
More of this fort were found fome years ago, near Carrickfergus, in the north of Ireland: two of which were brought into England, and are poiJibly the fame which are now repofited in the Britim Mufeum," Colonel
Vallancey having confulted Dr. Burney refpetling thefe trumpets, the Doctor and he concurred in opinion, that I. II. fig. might have been a kind of mufical trumpet. But the drawing does not mew the inftrument there complete
was certainly another poffefles
joints,
Fig.
OF
III. is
perfect mouth-piece.
This trumpet was found in England,
the Stoc or Stuic of the Irifh, defcribed in the foregoing HIST. and in COLLECT. DE REBUS HIB. No. pag. 83.
THE IRISH BARDS,
(b) "
a trumpet very
and a
;
One Mr. Rawle, a curious gentleman, of London, much refembling the one in queftion, but with two
joint.
Dr. Smith, fpeaking of thefe trumpets,
MEM.
13. p. 46.
"
fays,
their being found in one of their intrenchments."
They undoubtedly belonged Hift. of Cork,
v.
1
1.
p.
to the
Danes, from
435.
POST-
APPENDIX,
112
OSTSCRIPT. I
DID
not learn,
till
this
meet was prepared for the
prefs, that
a defcription
and delineation of the trumpet mentioned above, as being in the poffeflion of Mr. Rawle, (military accoutrement-maker in the Strand, London) has been the ingenious Mr. Grofe, in his very curious TREATISE ON given to the Public by I will here quote his words Plate 1 3, and Defcrip.) ANCIENT ARMOU R. :
(See
"
"
"
"
A Roman Lituus, firft
Ode.
then
filled
It
or military trumpet, fuch as
was found in digging a
with fmall
(hells.
It is
well,
mentioned by Horace in his near Battle, in Suffex, and was
is
of caft brafs, and bears the fame proportion
to the cuirafs as delineated in the plate.
It
is
now
the property of
Mr. Rawle.
This engraved in Montfaugon s Roman Antiquities." to explain the ufe of our trumpets, and the drawing which it is quotation ferves intended to illuftrate, evinces their mutilation.
"
A fimilar
trumpet
is
[
No.
VIII. ]
.
in.
S
[No. VIII.] A N
E ON
THE
CONSTRUCTION AND CAPABILITY
O
F
THE IRISH HARP, IN
ITS
BY
PRISTINE AND PRESENT STATE.
WILLIAM BEAUFORD, SOCIET.
IN
ANTIQ^
HIB.
SOC.
A LETTER TO THE AUTHOR.
A.
M.
ADVERTISEMENT. Mr. BEAUFORD did them
the
to
On
Mufic. "
"
"
not confine his enquiries to the
Theban Harp, which appears this
Theban Harp,
he obfervcs, in a former as given by
BRUCE
;
Irijh
in the ift vol. of "
letter,
Harp
Dr.
he extended
Nor do I make any
S
Hift.
of
account of the
for, if the drawing be correft, firings on fuch
principles cannot bear the leafi mufical relation to each other, or produce founds in any
mufical fyftem whatever.
tt
thor,
But I am informed that
for that no fuch painting of a
Harp
the whole
is
c
reafonally fuppofe,
would
BRUCE
J
certainly
if the ancient Egyptians
have adopted
Harp, (as well as the
offpring of his
warm
imagination.
it."
refi
had fuch an
Mr. BEAUFORD was
Au-
ajidion of the
either does, or ever did exift in
indeed thefgures of all the Greek Harps are widely different from
tf
;
BURNEY
it,
Egypt
-
;
and we may
.
inftrument, the Greeks rightly
informed: Mr.
of his boafted collection of drawings,)
was
the
..
N
*
A
I
X.
II5
ESSAY,
AN
IN
D
&c
.
LETTER TO THE AUTHOR.
DEAR
SIR,
CANNOT
but think the Clarfacb or Irifh Harp, one of the mod ancient we have amongfl us, and had perhaps its origin in re mote periods of antiquity but from whence the ancient inhabitants of this ifland received it, is entirely problematic. There is indeed fome that it mufical inftruments
:
is
probability
indigenous, and from the moft early periods, in common among the Irifh, Britons, Gauls, ancient Germans, and all the Celtic nations. Some of the Welfli writers the Welfli
affert,
that
think,
if it is
What was
is
of
Iriih origin
the ftate of the Harp,
cannot be determined its
Harp
not of Britifh, they had
;
and
it
it
on
;
its
contained four firings
;
to
ineffectual,
The
Erfe
2
inclined to
endeavour
to trace
affert that their
and from Mr. Pennant
P
is
Romans.
introduction into Ireland and Britain,
would be equally
progrefs through the feveral Celtic nations.
originally,
but Mr. Pennant
from, the
s
TOURS
IN
Harp,
NORTH WALES,
APPENDIX. WALTS,
the old Welfli liarp appears to have contained nine The oldefl firings. come down to us, is probably that in Trinity College, called the of Brien Boiromh : this contains twenty-eight firings ; and from the ac
Irifh
>
Harp,
Harp
count Cambrenfis gives of the Irifh Mufic in his time, twenty-eight were then he number of the firings of the Harp, which in fubfequent periods were inI
creafed to thirty-three.
reign of
in the
Henry
During the latter ages, the had two kinds of Harps
II,
according to Brompton, Hibernici in duobus mufici
Irifh, "
;
.
inftrumentis, quamvis prgecipitem et velocem, fuavem tamen et jucunthe one greatly bold and quick, the other foft and pleafmg ; thefe were probably the fmall and large Harp, called by the natives Croitb and Conar
generis dam,"
mod
The word
Critb.
Croith, or Crith, fignifies to tremble
Fiddle) was
fignifies a
fmgle chords
it
;
other Ecclefiaflics,
that
is,
the
(which
flrung with
was principally ufed by Ladies, by Bifhops, Abbots, and who fung their hymns and fongs to it. Hinc accidit, ut "
viri,
delectari confueverint" (a).
\
of fedition, was the large
Harp
the firings
as
Croith, fometimes erroneoufly written Cruit, the fmall Harp, fuch as that of Boimmh s, and
Epifcopi et Abbates et Sanfti in Hibernia
dulando pie
and make,
The
of this inftrument.
Cytharas circumferre et in
eis
mo-
he Connair Crlth or Ceannairc Croitb, Harp ufed by the Bards and Harpers
in the public aflemblies, &c.
double chords uncertain "
<;
"
"
"
5
at
This, during the later periods, was flrung with what period thefe double chords were firft introduced, is
Carville,
ea
pollens
famofum
fuiffe
et
pnerogativa
viginti
;
qui
etfi
tamen prsedecefforum Doctor
Camus
probably by
O
citer
but
;
et Director
non
O Carrol,
tympaniflam virtute
cum
fuerit
artis
Now
am
it
is
lafl
firft
whom
"
Joh. Clynn fays,
cythariflam, in arte fua
aliis
Camum
phsnicem,
tympaniflis, difcipulis ejus,
cir-
chordalis primus inventor, omnium et prsecedentium ipfe ac contemporaneorum Corrector
extitit."
I
the chords of the harp or the chords in
probably the
of et
not certain whether Chordalis refers to
harmony
who introduced double
:
if
the former,
firings in the
Harp
;
proof that the old Irifh underflood counterpoint; and of the improvers of Hibernian Mufic. For a
Lynch
(a)
Caml. Top.
(b)
Grati. Ltfci,
Hijl. Diftinc. 3.
O
but
O
Carrol was
if
the latter,
Carrol was the
fays (b), Stanihurft does
cap. 13.
pag. 36.
not
*
APPENDIX.
1,7
not fpeak fo warmly of Irifli Mufic as Cambrenfis, becaufe our Kings, in the time of the latter, preferved their power and fplendour, which they had loft in ihc age of Stanihurft ; and Mufic attended their fate.
As
the fcience
changed
of Mufic advanced
form.
its
Its
among
the European nations, the
original figure was, moft probably,
like the
Harp Harp of the
Phrygians, a right-angled plain triangle ; but as this form was not capable of re ceiving, with convenience, a number of firings, it was found more proper to alter the right angle to an oblique one, and to a curvature to the arm. The Irifh give
.
Bards in particular feem, from experience derived from practice, to have difcovered the true mufical figure of the Harp, a form which will, on examination, be found to have been conftructed on true harmonic principles, and to bear the mathematical and philofophic fcrutiny ; as I fhall endeavour to demonBut not having an opportunity of examining a following pages. number of thefe instruments, have taken that in Trinity College, called Brien
ftrideft flrate
in the
Boiromh
Under
s
Harp,
this
of the Harp.
as the
the Greeks.
who
Irifh
AB
Harp
in
general.
ABC
let the (Fig I.) reprefent the fection triangle the axis of the arm, which divide into 4 equal parts AF, according to the ancient divifion of the Chromatic Scale of
confideration,
El, IF, and FB, gians,
model of the
Thefe people, and I believe mofl of the ancients, except the Phry confidered the 5th, made the 4th, and not the octave, the fundamen
; wherefore, if A B represents a monochord, A I will and AB *7th or ^Sth t El, IF, and FB, each minor 3ds by a quarter tone. By this divifion, however, none of the chords are perfect,
tal
of their mufical fcale
be a 4th, and
A E,
;
according to the prefent Diatonic fyflem. In afcending, the 3d wants nearly ^ of and the jth about T o of being a perfect 5th, and the yth is
a tone in being a 3d,
r
too low by TV: yet thefe diflbnants are agreeable to the natural cadence of the it The Mufrequently falls into, when unaffifled by art. by fuch a fyftem muft have been of a wild and irregular but much refembling fome of nature, and greatly different from the modern the vocal airs, at prefent fung in the Highland? of Scotland, and in feveral parts
human fie
voice, and what
therefore performed
;
of
.
APPENDIX. Eu pecics of mufic that appears to have been univerfal throughout rope during the early and middle ages, and on which the Greeks conflrudted But the old Irifh Bards feem to their triangular Harps of 3, 4, 5, and 6 firings. of Ireland
:
a
i
have improved upon
this
fyftem
by making the plane of
for,
;
their
Harp an
that is, oblique-angled Triangle, they fell into the true proportion of their firings, For the learned Dr. Young, in as the diameter of a Circle to its Circumference.
accurate ENQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPAL PHENOMENA OF SOUNDS AND MUSICAL STRINGS, has proved, that the latitude of the pulfe of any mufical his
firing,
the inflecting
and tending forces being given, will be in direct pro and the greater fpace the middle point of
portion to the length of the firing
;
uch a firing vibrates, will be in direct ratio to the radius of a Circle, whofe cir cumference is equal to the latitude of the pulfe ; whence we may reafonably in i
that if a fyftem of firings be fo tended, that their refpective lengths are to each on the axis of fufpenfion, as the radius of a Circle to its circumference,
fer,
to
they will be difpofed in the befl
though perhaps unknown
BC
to
IB
~
22 to
7,
we
fhall
Wherefore, make Diameter, or
as
Harp of twenty-eight BC draw EG, which
BC, by
fim
:
cute octave to firings
many
AS;
poflible
hit
;
and which the old Bards,
upon.
the Circumference
as
BC
have
for
of a
the longefl
arm
of whofe
the length
firings,
is
Circle firing
AB.
In
to
its
of
E
the II
to
Rr~*
will
be
equal to
4
,
or
between El
as
to ;
EG.
for,
But
the
double acute octave to
TC
1
and for the fame reafon
BC, and grave
would be inconvenient firings
manner
to themfelves,
it is
Iq-^
which
will
to complete the fyftem, there
betxveen
I
and B,
be the
a-
evident, that this pofition of the
ought
to
be as
in confequence of which, thofe
would be too much crowded, or thefe too far afunder it would be much better the diflances were equal bifect therefore EB in O, and from it draw OD to ;
:
II
BC, and thereon
fet
Dn
Iq
!^ s then
will
GD^DC,
and the points E, n, B,
of the 3 firings founding odaves to each other, and their intermediate firings, In order to determine the fpecies of this Curve, it will be necef-
be in a Curve.
!ary to obferve, that writers on founds have demonftrated, that the parts of found ing bodies, vibrate according to the laws of a Cycloidal pendulum (d) ; whence we may prefume, -if a fyftem of firings be fo difpofed, that their lengths and re fpective diflances have fome relation to the vibrating motion of their fonorous (d)
HEI.SHAM,
p.
270.
parts,
APPENDIX. they will be ranged to the beft advantage.
parts, is
a Cycloid,
IB
BC
:
:
AB BC as
Now
:
AO OD,
a
:
b
T
IB
:
:
:
:
^
^-, :
S6
:
as
as follows
FB
is
n, z,
On, and
B,
will
119 curve, E,
OF (=IO) EG.
Alfo by fim
:
,
as 7
circle,
t,
n, z, B,
the property of fimilar circles, as
By
:
:
AO^z^, =OD, but nD=-~=
therefore :
22
:
fhall
OD nD= ^=4=On. ?
~
:
AS, as
:
BC=b, we
-
:
b
=
B
C,
..
as
the ordinate of a Cycloid, the diameter of whofe
bafe
and whofe P omts of
Curve AEt,
:
this
whence making AB=a,
but
~^ = = ir= tz,
generating Circle
nD
:
whence by the
-
^
: 7"
nD, and
:
:
:
have
may be proved
FB
:
That
EB
:
whence by
the cycloid (e)
retrogreflion will be in
t
and
z.
s
e
-!?J1L7 ^B Whence
be the Curvature of the arm, for two octaves.
But
the if
another octave be required defcending in the fcale, the line AB mufl be continued to M, making BM=EB, and AC continued to L ; then BC draw through LP=2BC and LP will be the grave octave to BC, and will be the diameter
M
||
PM
of a Circle, by which the femicycloid
of the arm, according to
this
be generated, whence the Curve ByPM procefs, will confifl of a feries of Cycloids recurwill
vating on the contrary fides of the axis, and whofe bafes will be equal to the diftance of the double octaves, and the diameters of the generating Circles as thefe
PM=2On=4dc. Whence the curve A, d, E, t, n, z, B, y, P, refemble the curve of the arm of the Theban Harp, as given by Bruce; but if the figure of fuch a Harp doth really exift in Egypt, it points out to us double octaves, for
will
the endeavours the ancient Egyptians made, though ineffectual, to diicover the For no fyftem of mufical firings, whofe diameters are equal, can be
truth.
tended on the aforefaid curve. The truth
is,
the real
Curve of
(he arm, will not
number of
cycloids, recurvating on contrary fides of the axis, but a a feries of Epicycloids, whofe Bafes will be the convex Cycloidal curve, formed by whofe femidiameters will be equal to the radii of Circles peripheries of Circles, from whofe circumferences are reprefented by the length of the refpective confifl of a
firings
Arm. Or,
Curve
be Cycloidal, formed by a feries of Epicycloids, whofe Bafes will be as the convex circumferences of the axis of the
in other words, the
will
Circles equal to the latitude of the pulfe of each firing, and the Diameters of the
(e)
HARRIS
Lexicon, vol.
a.
generating
N
120 generating as
1
of
all
more
(hall
D
X.
1
of Pendulums vibrating through thofe latitudes ; hereafter. I have hitherto confidered the Diameters
Circles, as the lengths fully explain
the firings equal
;
and though
this
was not the cafe
in the
Welfh Harp, nor
the true power of perhaps in the Irifh, yet it is the only method of inveftigating muiical Strings, when formed in a fyflem. If the ancient Irifli encreafed the dia
meters of the firings of the Harp, according to their tones, the twenty-eight firings contained 4 octaves in the fpace EB, a compafs nearly equal to our Harpfichords ; but 2
if
they had not this method, their
octaves and a
k^d above, and
Whence we may
Harp of twenty-eight
firings,
contained only
and a 5th above. Mufic was performed in
that of thirty-three firings, 2 oftaves
conclude, that either the ancient
natural keys, without Semitones, attended with
Irifh
Accompaniments, or they had
in
it
the femitones, and confequently performed in various keys, without harmony. An examination of the modern Irifli harp, of thirty-three firings, reflecting the determine this. For if the Semitones are found Tones, would all
perhaps decifively
twenty-eight had them
at prefent in the the thirty -three firings,
;
but
if
they are not
were they contained in the latter. However, let this be as it may, we find from the above procefs, that every octave is formed of two Ge nera, and every double octave of a new Syflem, agreeable to the doctrine of the found
in the former, neither
A
ancients.
circumflance which the Greeks fo well underflood, that they gave names from thofe of the firft. For as,
the tones of the fecond octave different
by the
divifion
of the ancient Chromatic fcale, the octave
fundamentals, each containing a 4th
thefe
;
4ths will
is
two
conflituted of
each defcribe a curve
EnB, by a generant fimilar to On, whence the generant of the octave be double the fundamental, as PM is double On, and the generants in a
fimilar to will feries i, 2,
of octaves will be in geometrical progreffion to the firfl fundamental, as &c. Whence we are led to the folution of the following Problems :
4, 8,
PR OB.
I.
Having
the Length of the
Arm
of the Iri/h Harp,
to
find the Length of
the longeft String.
We
have feen that, according to the triangular form of the Harp, the longefl be to half the length of the arm, as the Diameter to the circumference
firing will
of a Circle
=a, then
;
let this
~=to
proportion be as
r
:
s,
and the
length"
of the axis of the
arm
the length of the longefl firing.
PROB.
II.
APPENDIX, PROB.
121
the Longefl String and Number of Strings^ vature of the Arm,
II.
Having
evident, from the above procefs and conftru&ion, that -
It is
certain
number of
fee
how many
find tie Cur
muft contain a
Examine
octaves complete, as, 1,2, 3, or 4.
number of firings, and
to
therefore the
octaves they contain, counted either as tones
or femitones. Thus, fuppofe thirty-three firings, which, if we count only by tone.% 4 octaves and a 5th above ; thefe 4 octaves will contain twenty-nine firings, which mufl occupy the fpace EB (Fig. II.) anfwering to EB (Fig. I.) will contain
which
bifect in
O
and draw
nD
as before
which
(in Fig. I.)
will
reprefent the
5th firing or double octave to BC (in Fig. I.) from which proceed to find the diameter of its generant On (Fig. II.) as before. Then, in order to conflruct 1
the curve, through the bifecting point k, of the line
ing to
AZ
EB
O, draw
in
in Fig. I.) and continue the longed firing to
M
;
AM
C, O, D, E, of the feveral oftaves, draw the lines CG, OH, BM, and thereon fet ET, DS, On, CR and BQ^, the diameters of tive generants
;
likewife,
on the other
fide
of the axis,
T>
thence draw the
lines,
||
their refpec-
fet off the radii
Ba=BF, Ce=BC, Of BL and Dg=^ aN=aQ, ez=eR, fy fn, and gE=gS, being
titude of each firing, that
is,
(anfwer
from the points DK, and EP to
alfo
of the
la-
/^ ,
and from
refpectively
the fums of the Diameters of their generating Circles, and the Radii of Circles whofe circumferences are equal to the length of the firings from the axis of the
arm, and are the Diameters of the Vertixes of Epicycloids, the Radii of whofc r equal to the femidiameters of circles which have fo their circumfe
bafes are
rences the lengths of the refpective firings, and the generating circles propor tionate to the octaves, as before
:
which Epicycloids
will
have for their Volutas,
be equal to the radii of the lati tude of the pulfes of each, and the diameters of whofe generating Circles, will be equal to the lengths of pendulums, vibrating through thofe latitudes. But, as the fimilar Epicycloids, the radii of
whofe bafes
will
all the generants are greater than the radii of their refpective bafes, the vertixes of their Epicycloids will be negative, that is, will fall on the contrary fide of the quadrant to the axis of the arm ; wherefore the points N, y, z, E, will
diameters of
be
APPENDIX.
J22
be the points where the arcs of the epicycloids
EB.
the axis
NmB, zmC,
ylO, and EsD, cut
through a fyftem of firings, neceflary to complete the above 4 o&aves, Epicycloids be drawn by this method, their vertixes, in re-
Wherefore,
if
in the Cycloidal curve E s 1 m p B. But at E, and the diameter of the generant the Epicy -^forming the curve Ex, where the remaining firings are placed, will lye
fpecl to the axis
EB,
be
will
cloids
on the contrary
all
-
the radius of the bafe being
fide of the
Wherefore the entire Curve of the arm for
axis.
or 4 o&aves and a 5th, will be
thirty -three firings,
x E
contains only 2 octaves, the curvature will be fomewhat
only one octave, the curve will vanifh, and the
s 1
m
lefs,
arm become
p B. as
But
Ev
if
EB
B, and
if
a right line.
we fee the reafon of the generation of mufical founds j being flruck, generates its i2th or 5th above the octave ; thus the tone generated by C, mufl be produced by a firing on a correfpondent part of an Epicycloid to p, but not one will anfwer, except that drawn from I, which an-
By
for
thefe Epicycloids
any
firing,
fwers to the 5th above O, or the
i
In the fame manner Dl will be ge
ath to C.
nerated by F, as found cannot generate downwards, but conftantly afcends in the fcale.
PROB.
III.
the
Having
Curvature of the Arm, and Number ofjlrings,
to
find their
Lengths.
The for as
arm may be found by fim : AS, &c. but thefe fo found will be too long, be Dl, &c. (Fig. II.) To find which let
length of the firings from the axis of the
AB BC :
:
(Fig. I.)
AO OD,
:
:
by the cycloidal ordinates Cp,
Om,
Om
EOmB
the diameter of the greatefl circle contained in the cycloidal fpace ; then, by the nature of cycloids, Cp, Dl, &c. will be the chords to a circle of which
Om
the diameter, or the chord to half the circle, taken in parts of the bafe OB, CP will be thus if BC be to the chord of I of the circle Orn. Wherefore if , is
~
=
n reprefents the parts of
OB
~
ence of Orn,
we fhall have
as in the lafl
PROB. -f, and
for the
from B, or
3
length of any firing
EO
from E, and p equal to the circumfer any ordinate, and putting a AB
for the quantity of
as
r
from
:
s
:
O to
:
^^ B, and
8 :
-^=^,
!-^i
wherefore
8as ^" as Sir
.
.
J 2
s
^
from
to
Q.
But
APPENDIX. But p may be thus found
AB
Let
:
AD
(Fig. III.;
12
be the fum of the diameters of
DB=BC
the greateft and the Radius of the generant Circle greatefl bafe of a feries of Aa the radius of the Epicycloids generated by a fyftem of firings. generant, the ^ACB=:to the Comp. of the z. which the longefl makes firing
with the axis of the arm to 180.
and
in
Then
AB
per Trig, as
:
s.^C
:
:
BC
:
s.^A.
the
right-angled triangle Aab, are given the angles and bafe Aa, to find ab ; v as s.z.b Aa s.z.A ab, which taken from ad=Aa, gives bd, the greateft ordinate of the cycloidal curve E s 1 to the diameter of p B (Fig. II.) a Circle whofe circumference is reprefented by p. :
:
:
:
= Om =
m
PROB. IV.
The
Having
the Length of the Strings,
to
find their Diameters.
diameters of mufical firings are, to each other, as the tones which they
produce, provided their lengths and tenfion are the fame
let this ; proportion be - for the diame p to q, and the lengths of the firings as a to b, we have ter of any firing founding a given tone, according to its length. Thus, if the tone be an octave, and the length of the firings as 2 to 3, we (hall have | of the
as
-
diameter of the lower firing for that of the upper.
By
a fimilar procedure, the proper Curve for the Bridge of an Harpfichord
might be found, which would be only the reverfe of the Harp, where the arm would become flreight, and the curve lie along the hypothenufe AC I.) (Fig.
But
this
being a fubject foreign to our purpofe,
From what
has been faid,
we
fee
how
I fhall
near the
Irifh
wave
it
for the prefent.
Bards, in the conflruclion
of their Harp, came to mathematical correctnefs ; for we are not to imagine that thefe old Muficians had the leafl acquaintance with either the mathematical or philofophical fciences it
in a curve, which,
:
arm inconvenient, they conflruded probably, they determined by the length of the firings ;
finding the flreight
mod
and the length of the firings by their ear, which led them naturally to the pro portion of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and femidiameter, from a method of the beginning of the axis of the arm or tenfion dividing the mufical fcale, introduced by the late Mr. Harrifon, author of the time-piece, as a ;
new
APPEMD
I
x.
new
difcovery; but 1 am not certain that he completed it before hia death. Little did that ingenious mechanic think, that it was difcovered by men inhabit
ing woods, bogs, and morafles, and intirely unacquainted with the truths of
geometry.
I might, from the above Datas, proceed to confider the nature and pragrefs of the Ancient Mufic, and from thence the extent and perfection of that of the Old
Irifh
;
but
properly,
vou, that
this
would carry
me
too far
would require a volume T am.
DEAR
and, indeed, to treat of thefe fubjecls
:
1
(hall
therefore conclude with afluring
SIR,
<*
Your
sj
very fincerely.
WM.
BEAUFORD.
loth April, 1786.
C No. IX.
]
[No.
IX.)
ELECT IRISH
E L
I
E
S,
ADVERTISEMENT. HA VING that part of .
occafwnally treated of
Irifli
Mufic
Bards, I will here fubjoin a few fpecimens of
Irifli
my
The remote
in the Hiftorical
Memoirs of the
for the purpofe of
it,
illuflrating
fubjeft.
NA GUIL
antiquity of
(a),
or
Cries, entitle them
Irifli
to
precedency
;
modern Muficians having determined to give this extraordinary piece of Mufic a dramatic form, united it with a wild air of their own days called CATH EA-
but
Aghrim, which femes
or Battle of
CHROMA,
as
/ have therefore given the Cath Eachroma the After
air
this
a kind of prologue
in firft place
flayed, the Provincial Cries (Nos.
is
II,
III,
this
to
The
Cries.
collection.
little
IV, and V.) are per
or dump (which is faid formed in fuccejjion : then (No. VI.) a melancholy tune, to have been fttng by the Irifi women, while fearching for their JJaughtered hufbands, after a bloody engagement between the Irijh and Cromwel s troops} fol
lows
;
and
meliorated by
the
whole
is
fuppofed
to
conclude with a loud Jhout
of the auditors,
affliction;
Nos. VII, VIII, and IX. are melodies of a period beyond the reach of memory. Several
yhe ara of No. X. I have already determined, (b) kingdom have certain appellations for airs which Seoach,
the
SPEIC,
Humours of Joyce
or
s
in
originated
Of
Country.
diftricls
them,
tbefe I
as
of this
Speic
have given
two fpecimens in Nos. XI. and XII. which were pricked from the voice by the Rev. Dr. Young, while on a vifit laft winter in the county of Rofcommon. I will here obferve, en paffant, that in no part of Ireland do our old melodies fo that province may be faid to be vocal with them. as in ;
Connaught
noticed in
page 132 of the Hift.
are modern,
/ cannot
and mentioned clofe
this
Hift.
Irifh ;
Bards.
;
Nos. XIV. and
fee pag. 78
of
XV.
and 103.
without acknowledging my obligations to Mr. my friend R. Oufley, Efq; of Limerick. This young
his mufical /kill in committing to notation
Gentleman exercifed
(a)
of the
of Carolan
advertifement
Gore Oufley, fecondfon of our old melodies
Mem,
in the Life
much abound, No. XIII. is
to
Mem.
him I of the
am
Iriili
for my purpofe, feveral
indebted for the Provincial Cries.
Bards, p. 6
(b)
Ibid. p.
i
34.
Cath Eachroma
Gair Ghonnachntach
IRISH Gair Olltach
N?IV.
.
P
Gair Laighneach
eala Mairi liomfa N..
y?yii.V^Sj /gt ? H i
^m
MELODIES
iMSH Ailleacan
Dubho!
Speic Seoach
X. XII.
-2^3
MELODIES
fc
IRISH Plough tune.
CAROL AN NT XIV.:
m
s
Devqtion Jr.
^"l
Tiagharna Mhaighe
eo
-
MELODIES
*
3* 003
^%
