124 



" Le b-acb cat* no comI<x;n 

 ^1; «m pal* too cu;mne<3im." > 



" At the breast of battle or conflict 

 It is no time to remember injury." 



That Other arts besides poetry had made some advances, may be 

 learned from incidental notices. Medicine and surgery must have 

 been subjects of great interest and attention, as we may infer from 

 the establishment of an infirmary, west of the Shannon, to which 

 Goll-Mac-Morne retired to be cured of the effects of the blow which 

 he received from Luaidh-Laidir. A similar establishment existed at 

 Carlow, to which Luaidh went for medical advice. Commerce must 

 also have been an object of great importance, for among the conces- 

 sions demanded of Fionn, when being on a visit to Teamor, he was 

 treacherously seized, was the custom of all imported goods ; and one 

 of the rewards promised by king Cormac to Goll Mac-Morne, for 

 overcoming Dearg Mac-Dreithil, was one-third of the harbour profits. 

 Ship-building and navigation were studied of course, and these imply 

 the manufacture of canvas, and a knowledge of metallurgy and work- 

 ing in iron. Nor were the heroes of the age strangers to magnifi- 

 cence in their entertainments, nor to the " pomp, pride, and circum- 

 stances of glorious war," for we read in their poems, of jewels and 

 cups of gold ; of polished reins and golden shields. In the poem of 

 "the Sixteen Men," their banners are described as composed of crim- 

 son satin, variously and richly ornamented with emblematical blazonry. 



Ireland, from the earliest ages, was addicted to the study of 

 music and poetry ; and at no period was she destitute of bards to 

 celebrate the virtues of her kings and nobles. The deeds of the 

 Fenian heroes were handed down in their strains from one generation 

 to another, as the various tales of " Troy divine," among the poets of 



