ward, we have an almost
unbroken series of hundreds of MSS. in which all that had escaped
destruction was collected and arranged. Many of the tales and poems thus
preserved were undoubtedly originally composed in the eighth century; some
few perhaps in the seventh; and as Irish scholarship advances, it is not
unlikely that fragments of poetry will be found which, from linguistic or
internal evidence, may be claimed for the sixth century.

The Celtic nations stand almost alone in this, that they did not employ
poetry for epical narrative. There are no ancient Irish epics or ballads.
So much was prose the natural vehicle of expression for Gaelic narrative,
that when in later centuries the Arthurian epics were done into Gaelic,
they were all turned from poetry into prose. At the same time, most Irish
tales and stories are interspersed with lyrics put into the mouth of the
principal heroes, after the manner of the _cante fable_, most familiar to
modern readers from the French story of _Aucassin et Nicolete_. My
collection begins with a few specimens of such poems.

The purely lyrical poetry of ancient Ireland may be roughly divided into
two sections--that of the professional bard attached to the court and
person of a chief; and that of the unattached poet, whether monk or
itinerant bard.

From the earliest times we know the names of many famous bards of ancient
Ireland and Scotland. Their songs are interwoven with the history of the
dynasties and the great houses of the country whose retainers they were,
and whose joys and sorrows they shared and expressed. Thus they became the
chroniclers of many historical events. Of the oldest bardic poetry very
little has as yet been published, and less translated. But many fine
examples of a later age will be found in Standish Hayes O'Grady's
_Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the British Museum_, a book which
makes one realise more clearly than any other that the true history of
Ireland has never yet been written. My own specimens from the earlier
centuries include several laments and a sword-song, a species of bardic
composition which the Gaels share with the Norse.

Religious poetry ranges from single quatrains to lengthy compositions
dealing with all the varied aspects of religious life. Many of them give
us a fascinating insight into the peculiar character of the early Irish
Church, which differed in so many ways from the rest of the Christian
world. We see the hermit in his lo