Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities ofTara Hill. 217 



one distinguished female of the name appears in Irish history. This was Graine, 

 the wife of the celebrated Finn Mac Cumhaill — the Fingal of Macpherson. 

 She Was a daughter of the king Cormac, with whose time almost all the monu- 

 ments at Tara are identified. 



The infidelity of this lady to her puissant husband is remembered tradition- 

 ally in most parts of Ireland, and has been made the subject of a celebrated prose 

 romance among the Irish, and of a poem attributed to Ossian, which has been 

 equally current throughout Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. 



O'Flaherty, from the ancient Irish bardic histories, states, somewhat bombas- 

 tically, that Cormac had a son-in-law, Finn, married to his daughter Graine, but 

 she having eloped with Dermot, the grandson of Duibhne, he gave his other 

 daughter, Abbea, to him in marriage. Finn was the son of Cubhal, by Mornea, 

 daughter to the Druid Tadg, of the family of Hy-Baisgne, the descendants of 

 Nuada the White, monarch of Ireland. He was generalissimo of the Irish 

 militia, highly distinguished for his jurisprudence, — dissertations on which, written 

 by him, are extant, — for his poetical compositions in his native language, and, 

 as some write, for his prophecies. His noble military exploits have afforded a 

 vast field of panegyric to the poets. He was reconciled to his wife, after she 

 had, by an illicit connexion with Dermot, four sons, namely, Dunchad, lUand, 

 Ruchlad, and lorruadh. 



The infidelity of Graine Is referred to in Cormac's Glossary, under the word 

 Ope, and the death of Finn is thus recorded by Tighearnach : 



A. D. 270. F'"° Vi-Ua 6aifcne, decoUatus A. D. 270. Finn, the grandson of Baiscne, was 



o Qicleach Dlac tJuibopenn, ocup o macaiB beheaded by Aicleach, the son of Duibhdrenn, and 



UipjpenD, DO CuaijniD Cempach, oc Cfrh- by the sons of Uirgrend, of the Luaighnians of 



bpea pop 6oino. Temur, at Athbrea on the Boyne. 



To the south of Rath Graine a smaller Rath Is found, which is not noticed 

 in the verse, but which, as it would otherwise be an unnoticed feature, there is 

 every reason to believe must be the monument called Fothath Ratha Graine^ 

 and which Is described as situated to the north, or In the vicinity, of Fan na 

 g-Carbad, or the Slope of the Chariots, near the northern Claenfeart to the east. 

 It must, however, be confessed that the description given of its situation does not 

 appear to apply so accurately as those given of the other monuments. This Rath 



VOL. xviii. 2 e 



