general. Each head of a family had a farm for the time being; but every three or four years there was a new distribution of the sept-land (without disturbing that of the neighbouring septs), when the people had to give up their farms and take others which generally happened on the death of one of the householders who had land. This custom was called Gavelkind: but it was not a good plan: it prevented improvements; for no man will drain, or fence, or subsoil land that he may have to give up in a few years. A somewhat different sort of Gavelkind prevailed in Wales and England, and exists in a modified form at the present time in Kent. Another part of the land occupied by the sept was Commons, that is, waste land, such as mountain, bog, or wood, which was not assigned to any individuals in particular, but which every householder of the sept had a right to use for grazing, fuel, hunting, and such like purposes.

The ancient law of Ireland, which grew up gradually in the course of ages, is now commonly called the Brehon Law; and the judges who tried and decided cases were called Brehons. To become a brehon a person had to undergo a long and carefully arranged course of training, under masters who were themselves skilled brehons. Injuries of all kinds as between man and man were atoned for by a compensation payment. Homicide, or bodily injury of any kind, whether by intent or by misadventure, was atoned for by a money fine, called an eric [er'rick]: the amount was adjudged by a brehon. The brehons had collections of laws in volumes, in the Irish language, by which they regulated their judgments. Many of these old volumes, all in beautiful handwriting, are still preserved, and several of them have lately been published with English

translations.

The Brehon Law came down from a time beyond the reach of history; and it continued to be used pretty generally till the beginning of the seventeenth century, when it was abolished by act of parliament, and English law was extended to the whole of Ireland.

CHAPTER VII.

THE LEGENDS.

E have no means of finding out for a certainty how Ireland was first peopled. It is highly probable that part at least of its earliest colonists came across the narrow sea from Great Britain, which had been itself colonised by some of the Celtic tribes that in those days occupied a large part of the west of

Europe. There is good reason to believe that other colonies came hither direct from the Continent, some from Spain and some from Greece. All these movements however took place long before the time when our regular history began. But, though those far distant ages are beyond the ken of History, we have in our old books-the manuscript books already spoken of plenty of legends about them, that is to say, stories partly or wholly fabulous, handed down by word of mouth in the beginning for many generations, and at last committed to writing. It is more than a thousand years ago since these old stories began to be written down, though all are not so old as that. Some of them have doubtless a foundation of truth at bottom; for in most of the places where they tell us that battles were fought, or that other remarkable events took place, there are to this day old graves, cairns, pillar-stones, burial mounds, raths, and other monuments of earth and stone just such marks and tokens as might be expected.

The Legends relate at great length how Five successive Colonies arrived in Ireland many centuries before the Christian Era; and in the Book of Leinster and other ancient manuscripts there are great numbers of beautiful stories about the people of these colonies, their wanderings and adventures before their arrival in Ireland, and the mighty deeds of their heroes. No person can understand ancient Irish literature who does not know something of these legends.

The First Colony. The leader of the first was Parthalon, who came hither from Greece with a thousand followers. He took up his abode at first on the little island of Inish-Samer in the river Erne, just below the waterfall of Assaroe at Ballyshannon (see p. 57). But

E

after some time he and his people left this place and made their way south-east through forest and bog till they reached the east coast. At that time the plain on which Dublin now stands, extending from Tallaght to Ben-Edar or Howth, was open and free from the dense forests that clothed the country all round. And it was so sunny and pleasant that immense flocks of birds used to come every day from the neighbouring forests to bask in the bright warm sunshine; so that it came to be known by the name of Moy-Elta, the Plain of the Bird-flocks. On this plain the Parthalonians took up their abode; and here they increased and multiplied; till at the end of three hundred years they were all carried off in one week by a plague.

The legend goes on to tell that they were buried at Tallaght; and here we come upon some solid facts that seem to lend an air of reality to parts of this shadowy old story. We know that the name Tallaght, or, as it is written in Irish, Tamlacht, signifies plague-grave; and on the slope of Tallaght Hill there are still to be seen a number of rude stone graves and burial mounds.

The Second Colony.-After the destruction of Parthalon's people Ireland remained a solitude for thirty years, till the Nemedians came hither from Scythia, under the leadership of Nemed. These people were harassed by a race of fierce sea-robbers from Scandinavia called Fomorians; and so many battles were fought between them that very few of either party survived. One ship's crew of Nemedians fled over the sea to Greece, whence after a lapse of several hundred years, their descendants under the names of Firbolgs and Dedannans, made their way back to Ireland.

The Third Colony.-The Firbolgs, who sprang from one branch of the Nemedians, came first, fleeing from

the oppression of the Greeks in a number of the king's ships they had seized: and having landed in Ireland, their leaders, the five sons of Dela, partitioned the country into five provinces.* This ancient division has survived with some alterations to the present day. The Firbolgs held sway for only thirty-six years, when they were conquered by the next colony. After their defeat at Moytura, as described on next page, they retreated to the remote parts of Connaught, where they erected

Dun-Aengus on the Great Island of Aran, on the edge of a cliff overhanging the sea circular Firbolg caher: without mortar: the standing stones were intended to prevent a rush of a body of enemies. Drawn for Dr. Wilde: published in "Arch. Cambr.," 1858: and subsequently in Wilde's "Lough Corrib."

those immense stone forts, some on the Aran Islands and some on the adjacent mainland, many of which still remain and excite the wonder of all that see them. The descendants of these Firbolgs, who are described as a small, dark-haired, swarthy race, were distinguishable in Connaught down to comparatively recent times.

* These five were, Leinster, Ulster, Connaught, and the two Munsters (East and West: meeting at Cork). The two Munsters soon merged into one; and in the second century the province of Meath was created, still making five (see pages 41, 58). A better known subdivision of Munster was into Thomond or North Munster (roughly including Limerick, Clare, and Tipperary), and Desmond or South Munster (Kerry, Cork, and Waterford).