Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/324

312 CELTIC L I T E B A T U B E Miscella- The sixth or miscellaneous class of legends do not ? eous d require special notice, the more so as we have already included among the mythological tales some that might come under this head. Nor do the limits of this article permit us to say anything on the subject of lyric poetry. We have spoken of the incantations in verse of the File, and of the satirical poetry which originated in them, and which for a long time was endowed by the popular mind with baneful powers. This belief was the source of the Fill s influence in Christian times, and encouraged him to indulge in satirical compositions. Some of these possess considerable merit, and two of them deserve to be specially mentioned as early examples of a form of satire which was used by the French writers of fabliaux, and which in the hands of Rabelais and Swift gave rise to great works. The first is the Aislingc or Phantasy of a certain Anier, the son of Conglinn, who lived at the end of the 8th century. lie was at first a theological student, but soon relinquished divinity for satire and the free life of a Fill. He betook himself to Cork, to Cathal, king of Munster, who happened to suffer at the time from the disease of a voracious appetite, for which he sought everywhere a cure. Anier undertakes it and succeeds. The piece opens with a kind of prelude in which a northern hag boasts that Maeldun, king of Ailech in Ulster, Cathal s rival for the paramount sovereignty of Ireland, is about to go to the south and carry off its spoils ; a southern hag defies him, and says lie will stop on the way. The poet, as if to raise his own importance, gives in a short poem the names, tribes, and places of eight scholars of repute, among whom is of course the poet himself, who had studied together at the school of Armagh. Having thus given himself the necessary importance, he describes his preparation for his journey to Cork, and the journey itself. On his arrival there he goes to the guest-house of the Cenobium, but not finding it an agreeable place, and the food being not to his liking, he writes a severe satire on the place, for which he is treated badly by the abbot. Anier revenges himself by writing a singular genealogy of Manchan, the abbot, whose ancestors up to Adam he represents to be various forms of luxurious viands. He then acquaints the abbot with his object in visiting Cork, and relates a vision which he had of an island of wheaten bread in the midst of a lake of new milk, on which was a housa of butter and other articles of food. He fancies himself ferried over to this island in a boat of beef, and finds at the house a singular doorkeeper dressed in clothes of beef, curds, fish, butter, <fcc., and ornamented with garlands of sausages. Here he learns how to cure his voracious appetite, which he feigns to be the object of his search. The result of this account of his vision is that Manchan sends him to the house of a certain Pichan, where he has an interview with king Cathal, and relates to him another vision of a mansion made of the most delicious viands, with the object of enticing the Lonchraes, or voracious demon, with which the king was sup posed to be possessed, to come forth. By such stratagems he ultimately succeeds in enticing the demon out, and curing the king. The personification of viands in this curious piece forcibly reminds us of the French fabliau of the Bataille de Karesme et de Charflage, 1 in which the combatants on one side are fish and the various dishes permitted in Lent per sonified, and on the other the various kinds of flesh meats. The Dream or Phantasy of Anier Mac Conglinne. is in a manuscript, of about the year 1400, called Leabkar Brcac, the Speckled Book, but the language of the piece even in its present state proves that it is much older. There seems, indeed, no reason to doubt that it really was written in the 8th or 9th century, and that the orthography has been 1 Fabliaux et conte.t dr.s / oetes Francois des XI <Lc. Siecles, pul>H6 par B:irl>azan, Paris, 1808, ,ol. iv. p. 80. only a little changed by the scribes who copied it. The contrast between the dishes, the mere recital of which it was hoped would entice the demon from Cathal s stomach, and those mentioned in the French fabliau are very instruc tive as regards the kinds of food in use, and the relative degree of skill in the culinary art, and the general culture of Ireland and France at the periods when the Aislinge and the fabliau were respectively written. The second piece referred to above is the Plunder of the Cathair of Mad Milscothach, or Mael " of the honeyed words," written by Erard Mac, Coise, who died about the year 1023. The poet had a Cathair, or residence, at Clartha, now Clara in Westmeath, which was plundered and demolished in his absence by some of the O Neills, and his furniture, ornaments, and cattle carried off. Mac Coise not being in a position to demand redress directly, had recourse to his art. Going to the Dun of Domnal O Neill at Ailech, near Deny, the king, as was customary, asked him what tales he could recite ; the poet names those he knows, all of which the king has heard before save one called the Plunder of Mael Milscothach s Cathair, which he desires to hear. Mac Coise then describes the attack and destruction of his house, using allegorical names for all the actors in the outrage. He first gives the pedigree of Mael "of the honeyed words," from the god Dayda. As the hostile party approach the Cathair the nymph of poetry ascends to the top, and asks who they are, and what they seek. The spokesman of the enemy gives a number of allegorical names, which when interpreted mean the O Neills themselves. The nymph asks would they not prefer the jewels of poetic eloquence and eulogy to the torturing lash of satire, for she possessed abundance of both, from the panegyrics of Mac Londin, the satires of Mordn, the eloquence of Laidech, the stories of Leach Liathmhuim, the proverbs of Fithal, the wisdom of the Ferceirtnes, the intellect of the poetess Etain, the brilliancy of Xera, the clear truths of the princess Mbr Mumhaii. The marauders heed not the question, but burst into the house and plunder it. On going to the cellar they are met by the guardian Dathyhd, who enumerates the male and female defenders of the place ; these are no other than the various household articles personified, such as " Bellows, son of constant Fire-place ; " " Blanket, son of Women s Work ; " " Broom, daughter of Tidiness," and so on. The result of this clever piece of satire was the restoration of the poet s property, and compensation for his loss. The subject of law and its literature will be found fully Law. treated under the heading BKEHON LAW, vol. iv. p. 252. Among the gods of the Irish pantheon mentioned above Medicine, was Diancccht, that is, Dia na Cicht, the god of the powers (of healing). In the Tain Bb Cuailnge, a Fdth-Liay, or prophet-leech, heals the wounds of Cuchulaind after his fight with Ferdiad. It is probable, therefore, that in pagan times the Liay, leech, belonged to the order which may be conventionally called Druidic, and that charms and incantations formed part of the means of cure, like those of the Gallo-Roman physician Marcellus Burdi- gallensis. The position assigned to the leech by the laws in the Middle Ages was a very high one. He ranked with the smith and the Cerd, or artist in gold and silver ; and the Ollamh, or doctor in leechcraft, ranked with an Aire Ard, that is, one of the highest grades of lord, who had ten free- stock tenants and ten base-stock tenants. He had also a distinguished place at assemblies, and at the table of the king. Leech-craft became hereditary in certain families, some of whose names indicate their profession, as O Lee, that is O 1 Liaiyh, the descendant of the leech; and O Hickey, O Hiceadha, the descendant of the healer. The heads of these families kept schools of leechcraft, as the Breitheams

kept schools of law. many of which were in existence in the