241 



Bede adds that even vines were cultivated in Ireland, (" nee vine- 

 arum expers;") undoubtedly it is said that a small part of the garden 

 of every monastery was appropriated to the vineyard, and that in an 

 Irish almanack of the fourteenth century, the time of gathering grapes 

 and drinking musd, or new wine, is noticed,* while the circumstance of 

 several Irish words relating to vines, fion-abhal, a grape ; fion-dlos, a 

 wine press ; fion-chaor, a grape ; fion-duille, a vine-leaf ; fion-ghort, 

 a vineyard, &c., (especially if they are found in ancient authors,) 

 would seem to support what might otherwise appear improbable. 

 There is also an ancient canon extant, which imposes penalties on the 

 owner of any hens that damage grain, or vines, or gardens properly 

 fenced. "I* The gavel system and the law of tanistry, which still con- 

 tinued to prevail, must, however, have operated as a great check on 

 any permanent improvements, and the feudal pride, (which even to this 

 day paralyzes the exertions of the Irish gentry,) by consigning the 

 management of the land to outcasts and slaves, severed that identity of 

 interest, which should ever subsist between the lord and the labourer. 

 That such was the class by which the work of agriculture was carried 

 on, will be more aptly shewn in the following section. 



In reference to internal communication, Tigernach mentions a bat- 

 tle fought at the road of Dathy, in 587, at the road of the rock in 

 726, and another in 76I, 



Of the mines and minerals then known in Ireland, the ancient 

 verses of Nennius, on Lough Lene, (now Killarney,) are a remarkable 

 testimony : 



• See Anthol. Hibem. vol. 1. p. 130. 



f "Hibemenses dicunt, gallinae si devastaverint messem aut vlneam, aut horlulum in 

 civitate sepe circumdatum, qua; altitudinem habet usque ad mentum viri et coronam spinarum 

 habuerit, reddet dominus earum, &c." — Dacherii Spicil. torn. ix. p. 46. 



VOL. XVI. II 



