the British Museum. It was written on
vellum, about the year 1460, by Gilla-Riabhach O'Clery; but there is
unquestionable authority for its having existed at a much earlier
period. It is quoted by Cormac Mac Cullinan in his Glossary, in
illustration of the word _Nes_, and Cormac was King of Munster in the
year of grace 885, while his Glossary was compiled to explain words
which had then become obsolete. This narrative must, therefore, be of
great antiquity. If we cannot accept it as a picture of the period, in
the main authentic, let us give up all ancient history as a myth; if we
do accept it, let us acknowledge that a people who possessed such
officials had attained a high state of intellectual culture, and that
their memory demands at least the homage of our respect.

The plain on which this battle was fought, retains the name of the Plain
of the Towers (or Pillars) of the Fomorians, and some very curious
sepulchral monuments may still be seen on the ancient field.

In those days, as in the so-called middle ages, ladies exercised their
skill in the healing art; and we find honorable mention made of the Lady
Ochtriuil, who assisted the chief physician (her father) and his sons in
healing the wounds of the Tuatha De Danann heroes. These warriors have
also left many evidences of their existence in raths and monumental
pillars.[41] It is probable, also, that much that has been attributed to
the Danes, of right belongs to the Dananns, and that a confusion of
names has promoted a confusion of appropriation. Before we turn to the
Milesian immigration, the last colonization of the old country, let us
inquire what was known and said of it, and of its people, by foreign
writers.

[Illustration: CAVITY, CONTAINING OVAL BASIN. NEW GRANGE.]

[Illustration: THE SEVEN CASTLES OF CLONMINES]

FOOTNOTES:

[24] _Hibernia_.--Chronicum Scotorum, p. 3.

[25] _Tradition_.--O'Curry, p. 13.

[26] _Names_.--Four Masters, O'Donovan, p. 3.

[27] _Abraham.--_Chronicum Scotorum, p. 5.

[28] _Years_.--Four Masters, p. 5.

[29] _Inver.--Inver_ and _A[=b] er_ have been used as test words in
discriminating between the Gaedhilic and Cymric Celts. The etymology and
meaning is the same--a meeting of waters. Inver, the Erse and Gaedhilic
form, is common in Ireland, and in those parts of Scotland where the
Gael encroached on the Cymry. See _Words and Places_, p. 259, for
interesting observations on this subject.

[30] _Year_.--Annals, p. 7.