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hood by their profession. At every festive gathering, among the lowest as well as the highest, one of these story-tellers was sure to be present, who was now and then called upon to repeat a tale or a poem for the amusement of the company. And as soon as he stood up, these rough men ceased their noisy revels, and listened with rapt delight to some tale of the heroes of old. A harper was also present, who charmed the company with his beautiful Irish airs: or if it was a gathering of the lower classes, more likely a piper.

Bone Chessman, Klng, full size; found in a bog in Meath about 1817. Drawn by Petrie : Rights," page lxii.

Chess-playing

was a favourite pastime of kings and chiefs; and in every great house there were sure to be a chessboard and a set of chessmen for the amusement of the family and their guests. The chessmen were kept in a bag often of woven brass wire. Chess is mentioned in the very oldest of the Irish romantic tales; and it was considered a neces

"Book of Sary accomplishment of every hero

[graphic]

to be a good player. In the National Museum in Dublin there is one chessman, which is figured here; but many have been found in Scotland.

Fosterage prevailed from the remotest period, and was practised by persons of all classes, but more especially by those of the higher ranks. A man sent his child to be reared and educated in the home and with the family of another member of the tribe, who then became foster-father, and his sons and daughters the foster-brothers and foster-sisters of the child. Fosterage, which was the closest tie between families, was subject to strict regulations, which were carefully set forth in the Brehon Law.

When a man stood sponsor for a child at baptism, he became the child's godfather, and gossip to the parents this was called gossipred. It was regarded as a sort of religious relationship between families, and created mutual obligations of regard and friendship.

as those we have at the

There were five great highways leading in five different directions through Ireland from Tara: and besides these there were numerous others; so that the country seems to have been very fairly provided with roads. The Brehon Law laid down arrangements for keeping them in repair; and every man whose land lay for any distance next a road had to help in cleaning and repairing that part of it. But the roads then were not near so smooth and good present time. When the road came to a bog or marsh, a causeway of bushes and clay was constructed across. Stone bridges were not then used in Ireland; but there were many constructed of timber planks or rough treetrunks. Rivers however were very generally crossed by wading through fords where the stream spread out broad and shallow, and often by swimming; for most young persons were taught to swim as a regular part of their education.

D

Chariots were used both in private life and in war. The early Irish saints commonly travelled in chariots when on their long missionary journeys. Chariots were

[graphic]

Ancient Irish Chariots on base of Cross at Clonmacnoise: 9th century. Wood-Martin, "Pagan Ireland," page 247, who copied from Miss Stokes' "Christian Inscriptions," I., Pl. xxxiii. Drawn by Petrie,

often covered in; and those used by persons of high rank were luxuriously furnished with cushions and furs. It was usual to yoke two horses; but sometimes there were four. The battle chariots were open, and were furnished with spikes and scythe-blades for driving through the ranks of the enemy.

Horses were used a good deal by the higher classes. The men rode without saddle or stirrup; and were trained to vault into their seat from either side, right or left.. Mac Murrogh Kavanagh rode down hill in this manner. when coming to confer with the Earl of Gloucester (chapter XXIV.). Low benches were common on the roadsides to enable old or infirm persons to mount.

The Irish had three kinds of boats:-small sailing vessels, with which oars were employed when the wind failed; canoes of one piece hollowed out from the trunks of trees, which were chiefly used on lakes; and currachs, that is, wickerwork boats covered with hides.

The single-piece canoes are now often found deep down in bogs, where there were, or are, lakes or crannoges. Currachs are still used on the western coast, as for instance at Kilkee in Co. Clare; but instead of hides, they are now covered with a cheaper material, tarred canvas.

[graphic]

Group on ancient engraved book-cover of bone, showing costume: one with cymbals; and all engaged in some kind of dance: 14th or 15th century. From Wilde's Catalogue.

CHAPTER V.

IRISH PAGANISM.

T is commonly understood that the religion of the pagan Irish was Druidism. But although our old books speak very often of this Druidism, they do not give us any clear idea of what sort of religion it was. There were persons called Druids, who were learned men, the only men of those times that had any learning and as all learned professions were then usually combined in the one per son, every druid was also a physician, a poet, a historian,

and a brehon. But later on, after the people had become Christian, and there were no longer any druids, the professions became divided, and one man was a brehon, another a poet, another a physician, and so on.

The druids had the reputation of being great magicians, and this indeed is the character in which they principally figure in old Irish writings. The people believed that they could do many wonderful things by their spells-that they could raise clouds and mists, and bring down showers of snow, of fire, or of blood; that they could give a person a "cloak of darkness" to make him invisible; that they could drive a man mad or make him an idiot by flinging in his face a "magic wisp" of straw over which they had pronounced some dreadful words; with many other marvellous things. They professed also to be able to foretell future events by casting lots, by dreams, by listening to the croaking of ravens or the chirping of wrens, or by looking at the clouds or stars. The druids were employed to educate the children of kings and chiefs; so that they were persons of high position and great influence, held in respect by all, and much dreaded by the common people. Some writers think that they were also a sort of pagan priests like those of Greece and Rome. No doubt the druidic systems of Gaul, Britain, and Ireland were originally one and the same, as being derived from some common Eastern source; but druidism seems to have become greatly modified in Ireland: and the descriptions of the Gaulish and British druids by Cæsar and others, give us no information regarding those of Ireland. The short account of Irish druids given here is derived from purely native sources, beyond which we cannot go, as we have no information from outside.

The pagan Irish had gods and goddesses, many of

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