FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72  
73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   >>   >|  
cknowledge that it is possible to bring the genealogies of the Gaedhils to their origin, to Noah and to Adam; and if he does not believe that, may he not believe that he himself is the son of his own father. For there is no error in the genealogical history, but as it was left from father to son in succession, one after another. "Surely every one believes the Divine Scriptures, which give a similar genealogy to the men of the world, from Adam down to Noah;[22] and the genealogy of Christ and of the holy fathers, as may be seen in the Church [writings]. Let him believe this, or let him deny God. And if he does believe this, why should he not believe another history, of which there has been truthful preservation, like the history of Erinn? I say truthful preservation, for it is not only that they [the preservers of it] were very numerous, as we said, preserving the same, but there was an order and a law with them and upon them, out of which they could not, without great injury, tell lies or falsehoods, as may be seen in the Books of _Fenechas_ [Law], of _Fodhla_ [Erinn], and in the degrees of the poets themselves, their order, and their laws."[23] [Illustration: BEREHAVEN] FOOTNOTES: [15] _Erinn_.--O'Curry, page 57. It has also been remarked, that there is no nation in possession of such ancient chronicles written in what is still the language of its people. [16] _Years_.--See O'Curry, _passim_. [17] _Erinn_.--_Eire_ is the correct form for the nominative. Erinn is the genitive, but too long in use to admit of alteration. The ordinary name of Ireland, in the oldest Irish MSS., is (h)Erin, gen. (h)Erenn, dat. (h)Erinn; but the initial _h_ is often omitted. See Max Mueller's Lectures for an interesting note on this subject, to which we shall again refer. [18] _Poets_.--The _Book of Lecain_ was written in 1416, by an ancestor of Mac Firbis. Usher had it for some time in his possession; James II. carried it to Paris, and deposited it in the Irish College in the presence of a notary and witnesses. In 1787, the Chevalier O'Reilly procured its restoration to Ireland; and it passed eventually from Vallancey to the Royal Irish Academy, where it is now carefully preserved. [19] _Murdered_.--The circumstances of the murder are unhappily characteristic of the times. The Celtic race was under the ban of penal laws for adherence to th
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72  
73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
history
 

genealogy

 

written

 

Ireland

 
possession
 
preservation
 

truthful

 
father
 

subject

 

Lectures


interesting

 

ancestor

 
Lecain
 

nominative

 
genitive
 
Mueller
 

genealogies

 

alteration

 
cknowledge
 

ordinary


oldest

 

omitted

 

initial

 
Murdered
 

circumstances

 
murder
 

preserved

 

carefully

 

Academy

 

unhappily


adherence

 

characteristic

 
Celtic
 

Vallancey

 

eventually

 

carried

 
deposited
 
College
 

presence

 

Reilly


procured

 

restoration

 

passed

 

Chevalier

 
notary
 

witnesses

 
Firbis
 

genealogical

 
succession
 

preservers