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ancient customs were preserved even till their times, and that until 

 the reign of James the First, little change had taken place except in 

 religion. And here we do not contend for an extravagant antiquity, 

 of which no vestiges remain. The manuscripts yet extant, the form 

 of the letters, the antiquity of the style, the genius of the Hibernian 

 tongue, the infinite variety of events which all mutually accord, the 

 ancient names of places, with the chronological adjuncts of persons 

 and things, leave no room for doubt as to their historic truth. 



Some affirm from the Uraiceacht of Fortchern, that there were an- 

 ciently one hundred varieties of verse among the Hibernian bards. 

 But in all the more ancient specimens which have reached our times, 

 there is great simplicity and uniformity. The rhythm consists in an 

 equal distance of intervals, and similar terminations, each line being 

 divisible into two, that it may be more easily accommodated to the 

 voice and the music of the bards : it is not formed by the nice collo- 

 cation of long and short syllables, but by a certain harmonic rhythm, 

 adjusted to the voice of song by the position of words which touch 

 the heart and assist the memor3\ In every ancient Irish verse a 

 pause in the very middle of it may be discerned, from which the suc- 

 ceeding clause of the same verse commences, and making harmony 

 with the preceding, is completed in the same space of time, and with 

 a similar termination. Hence, each verse consists of two times, ter- 

 minating with a like cantilena, and making two verses as to sound. 



The quantity of a syllable was in no manner affected either by 

 the number or kind of consonants preceding a vowel, provided the 

 same time were occupied, and the final sound observed from pause to 

 pause : and though neither the same nttmber of syllables occurred, 

 nor the same sound were observed in the finals, the art itself, and the 

 skill of the musician in lengthening or shortening the time, claimed 

 the privilege of producing what was short, and abbreviating what 



