mi6 



the chief of Fearcall, " to spend his wrath upon the English, the 

 plunderers of his country ;" and in 1380 Mahon O'Reilly, Lord of 

 Clan Mahon, " was the author of a poem, in praise of the mighty 

 actions of his son Thomas, who, in a short period, levelled eighteen 

 castles belonging to the English of the Pale, and laid the country, from 

 Drogheda to Dublin, under contribution. The poem begins, as trans- 

 lated; The cry of an English sprite over Englishmen ." Another poem 

 in a similar strain is attributed to this O'Reilly by some writers, and 

 by others to his chief poet Maurice O'Daly, beginning " A cry of an 

 English hag over Englishmen ; that is a cry that I lament not." 



But amidst all the distractions of a rent and bleeding land, the 

 poems of the more celebrated Fileas were carefully preserved, in 

 various volumes which obtained names from the compilers, or their 

 proprietors, or the places where the compilations were made or depo- 

 sited. Thus we have the books of Leacan, of Ballimote, of Howth, 

 and of Glendaloch. 



The book of the O'Kellys, a valuable Irish manuscript, in the 

 possession of Sir William Betham, contains, with a vast variety of 

 miscellaneous matter, " several poems of our earliest and most 

 esteemed Fileas. Some of these are authentic history, and others 

 are mixed with fable. Of this latter description are the poems on the 

 Knights of the Red Branch ; such as Cuchullin, Connal Cearnach, 

 Curaidh Mac-Daire, Fergus Mac-Riogh ; and of the Fianna Eirionn, 

 or famous Irish militia, commanded by Fionn Mac-Cubhail, the Fin- 

 .gal of Macpherson, such as Goll Mac-Moirne, Dermod O'Duibhne, 

 Caoilte Mac-Ronan, Conan Maol, Oisin, the poet, Oscar, son of 

 Oisin."* This book was transcribed by Faelan Mac-a-Gohhan, a 

 learned historian, A. D. 1423. 



* See O'Reilly's Chronological Account, p. cxxiv. Sir William Betham would render 

 a service to the cause of ancient Irish literature by having these poems translated. 



