Maelruain, whom he assisted to compile a Calendar of saints, which is well known as the Martyrology of Tallaght. He was the author of a still more celebrated work, which is now commonly known as the Felire of Aengus, a metrical calendar, in which the saints of each day are commemorated in a stanza of four lines. He died, according to the most probable accounts, about the year 824.*

He built a cell for himself in a lonely spot near Clonenagh, to which he frequently retired for meditation and prayer. It was called from him DisertAengusa, Aengus's hermitage, now modernized to Dysartenos; and it is the only place I know that commemorates the name of this venerable man.

CHAPTER IV,

LEGENDS.

MANY of the legends with which the early history of our country abounds are no doubt purely fabulous, the inventions of the old shanachies or story tellers. Great numbers, on the other hand, are obviously founded on historical events; but they have been so distorted and exaggerated by successive generations of romancers, so interwoven with strange or supernatural circumstances, or so far removed from their true date into the regions of antiquity, that they have in many cases quite lost the look of probability. It is impossible to draw an exact line of demarcation

See the Life of St. Aengus the Culdee, by the Rev. John O'Hanlon.

between what is partly real and what is wholly fietitious; but some of these shadowy relations possess certain marks, and are corroborated by independent circumstances, which render it extremely probable that they have a foundation of truth.

It must be carefully borne in mind that the correctness of the interpretations given in this chapter is not at all affected by the truth or falsehood of the legends connected with the names. It is related in the Dinnsenchus, that Conall Cearnach, one of the most renowned of the Red Branch knights of Ulster in the first century, lived in his old age at Cruachan, the royal palace of Maev, queen of Connaught. Olioll More, Maev's husband, was slain by the old warrior with a cast of a javelin; and the men of Connaught pursued and overtook him at a ford over a river in the present county of Cavan, where the village of Ballyconnel now stands. There they slew him, so that the place was ever after called Bel-atha-Chonaill [Bellaconnell]; and this event is still remembered in the traditions of the neighbourhood.

The reader may or may not believe this story; nevertheless the name signifies Conall's ford-mouth, for we find it always written in Irish authorities, and pronounced at this day by the natives, Bel-athaChonaill; and it is certain that it took its name from some man named Conall, whether it be Conall Cearnach or not.

The accounts handed down to us of the early colonies belong to the class of historical legends. I have included some of them in the chapter on historical events, and others I shall bring in here; but in this case too it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to determine the line of separation. They have been transmitted from several ancient authorities, and

always with remarkable consistency; many of them. are reflected in the traditions of the peasantry; and the truth of several is confirmed by present existing monuments. But to most of them the old historians have assigned an antiquity so incredible or absurd, that many reject them on this account as a mass of fables.

The first who led a colony to Ireland, according to our bardic histories, was a woman named Ceasair or Casar, who came forty days before the deluge, with fifty young women and three men-Bith [Bih], Ladhra [Lara], and Fintan. Ceasair and the three men died soon after their arrival, and gave names to four different places; but they are all now forgotten, with one exception. Bith was buried on a mountain, which was called from him Sliabh Beatha [Slievebaha]. It is well known and retains the very same name in Irish; but it is called in English Slieve Beagh-a range situated on the confines of Monaghan, Fermanagh, and Tyrone. Bith's carn still exists, and is a large and conspicuous monument on the top of a hill, in the townland of Carnmore (to which it gives name), parish of Clones, Fermanagh; and it may be seen from the top of the moat of Clones, distant about seven miles north west.*

The first leader of a colony after the flood was Parthalon, who, with his followers, ultimately took up his residence on the plain anciently called Seanmhagh-Ealta-Edair [Shan-va-alta-edar], the old plain of the flocks of Edar, which stretched along the coast by Dublin, from Tallaght to Edar, or Howth. The legend-which is given in several very ancient authorities-relates that after the people of this colony

* See O'Donovan's Four Masters, Vol. I., p. 3.

had lived there for 300 years, they were destroyed by a plague, which in one week carried off 5,000 men and 4,000 women; and they were buried in a place called, from this circumstance, Taimhleacht-Mhuintire-Parthaloin (Four Mast.), the Tavlaght or plaguegrave of Parthalon's people. This place, which lies about five miles from Dublin, still retains the name Taimhleacht, modernized to Tallaght; and on the hill, lying beyond the village, there is to be seen at this day a remarkable collection of ancient sepulchral tumuli, in which cinerary urns are found in great numbers.

The word Taimhleacht, a plague-monument-a place where people who died of an epidemic were buried-is pretty common as a local appellative in various parts of Ireland, under different forms: it is of pagan origin, and so far as I know is not applied to a Christian cemetery, except by adoption, like other pagan terms. In the northern counties it is generally made Tamlaght and Tamlat, while in other places it takes the forms of Tawlaght, Towlaght, and Toulett.

In combination with other words, the first t is often aspirated, which softens it down still more. Thus Derryhowlaght and Derryhawlagh in Fermanagh, is the oak grove of the plague-grave; Doohamlat in Monaghan, and Doohallat in Cavan, black grave. Magherahamlet in Down, is called on the Down Survey, Magherehowlett, and in a patent of James I., Magherhamlaght, both of which point to the Irish Machaire-thaimhleachta [Mahera-havlaghta], the field of the plague-grave.

The Fomorians-a race of pirates who infested the coasts of Ireland, and oppressed the inhabitants are much celebrated in our histories. They came

to Ireland in the time of Nevvy (who led another colony, thirty years after the destruction of Parthalon's people); and their principal stronghold was Tory island. Balor of the great blows was their chief, and two of the tower-like rocks on the east side of Tory are still called Balor's castle and Balor's prison.

His wife, Cethlenn (Kehlen), seems to have been worthy of her husband. She fought at the second battle of Moyturey, and inflicted a wound on the Dagda, the king of the Tuatha De Dananns, of which he afterwards died. It is stated in the Annals of Clanmacnoise, that Enniskillen received its name from her in the Irish authorities it is always called Inis-Cethlenn, Cethlenn's island.

At this time there lived on the mainland, opposite Tory, a chieftain named Mac Kineely, who was the owner of the Glasgavlen, a celebrated cow, remembered in tradition all over Ireland. Balor possessed himself of the Glas by a stratagem, and carried her off to Tory; and then Mac Kineely, acting on the directions of a fairy called Biroge of the mountain, concerted a plan of revenge, which many years after led to the death of Balor. When Balor became aware of this, he landed with his band on the mainland coast, and seized on Mac Kineely; and, placing his head on a large white stone, he cut it clean off with one blow of his sword.

Hence the place was called Cloch-Chinnfhaelaidh, which is the name used by the Four Masters and other authorities, signifying Kinfaela's or Kineely's stone; and the pronunciation is well preserved in the present name of the place, Cloghineely. The stone. is still to be seen, and is very carefully preserved; it is veined with red, which is the stain of Mac Kineely's