Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 379 



unquestionable antiquity, namely, a poem addressed to Aedh Oirdiiighc, 

 monarch of Ireland from 799 to 819, by the celebrated poet Fothadh, usually 

 called Fothadh na Canoine, or of the Canon, and who obtained from that 

 monarch the exemption of the clergy from military service. Copies of this 

 poem are preserved in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, and in the 

 valuable manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, called the Book of Lein- 

 ster ; and it would appear to have been addressed to Aedh Oirdnighe on the 

 occasion of his inauguration. The passage, as found in the Book of Leinster, 

 is as follows : 



" Cipe bo ne in rijaic 

 6iD mop a mela DUIC, 

 FDao Dia pagba a om 

 1 cij pij no cluic." H. 2, 18, fol. 106, b, b. 



" He who commits a theft, 

 It will be grievous to thee, 

 If he obtains his protection 

 In the house of a king or of a bell." 



Thus again, in a tract of the Brehon Laws, called Seanchus beag, preserved 

 in the Book of Lecan, on the duties and rewards of the seven ecclesiastical 

 degrees, the following account of the duties of the aistreoir, or aistire, occxtrs : 



" Qipcpeoip, .1. uap aitpeoip, .1. uapal acpeoip, in can ip cloc cloiccije; no, aipcpeoip, 

 .1. ipil aicpeoip, in can ip lam-cloc," &c Fol. 168, p. 4, col. 2, line 32. 



"Aistreoir, i. e. uas aitreoir, i. e. noble his work, when it is the bell of a doictheach; or, aistreoir, 

 i. e. tail aithreoir, (i. e. humble or low his work) when it is a hand-bell." 



A different reading of this commentary is quoted in O'Reilly's Irish Dic- 

 tionary under the word aipcjieoip, which he explains, "an officer whose duty 

 it was to ring the bell in the steeple of the church. The lowest of the seven 

 degrees of ecclesiastical officers." And as it more clearly defines the duties of 

 this officer, and identifies the name with Ostiarius, I avail myself of it here. 



"Qipcpeoip, i. e. aipcpeac a cpeoip, i. e. betm cluic, no eacpopacc ; no, uaipcpeoip in can 

 apcloc cloigcije ; no ipcpeoip, i.e. ippeall aicpeoip, in can ip lamcloc." 



" Aistreoir, i. e. changeable his work, i. e. to ring the bell, or use the keys ; or, uaistreoir (high 

 his work) when the bell is that of a doictheach; or istreoir, i. e. low his work, when it is a hand-bell." 



Thus also, in another version of this commentary, in a vellum MS. in the 

 Library of Trinity College, Dublin : 



3 c 2 



