298 Beowulf and Widsith 



In the second extract, it is noticeable that singing is accompanied 

 by an instrument, and that definite rules appear to be observed^: 



As the saint was sitting one day with the brothers beside the lake 

 Ce (Lough Key, in Roscommon) at the mouth of the river . . . 

 Boyle, a certain Irish poet came to them, and when he retired after a 

 short interview, the brothers said to the saint, 'Why didst thou not 

 ask the poet Cronan, before he went away, to sing us a song with 

 accompaniment, according to the rules of his profession' ['aHquod ex 

 more suae artis canticum non postulasti modulabihter decantari'] ? 



With reference to the prosodical system of the ancient Irish, 

 we are told by a recent authority-: 'Irish metre presents curious 

 peculiarities. It probably originated in the Latin rhythmic versi- 

 tication, from which, however, it is distinguished by original char- 

 acters. It is based on a mixture of the use of rhyme, alliteration, 

 stress, number of syllables, and length of words.' Another 

 writes^ : "The classification and the laws of Irish versification 

 were probably the most complicated that were ever invented. . . . 

 In Irish poetry of all kinds the rhymes were very frequent, occur- 

 ring not only at the ends of the lines, but also within them — 

 once, twice, or even three times. . . . No poetry of any 

 European language, ancient or modern, could compare with that 

 of Irish for richness of melody.' And still another*: 'In order 

 to see beauty in the most ancient Irish verse, it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to read it in the original, so as to perceive and appreciate the 

 alliteration and other tours de force which appear in every 

 line. . . . Here are . . . two verses done into the exact versifica- 

 tion of the original, in which interlinear vowel-rhymes, allitera- 

 tions, and all the other requirements of the Irish are preserved and 

 marked : — 



Mochorb's son of Fiercest Fame, 



Knowh his Name for bloody toil. 

 To his Gory Grave is Gone, 



He who Shone o'er Snouting Moyle. 



'Reeves, pp. 30-31 (i. 34); Joyce i. 445. For Columba's hymn, 'Altus 

 Prosator,' see Plummer 2. 131 ; Hyde, pp. 180-1 ; for his Irish poems, 

 Reeves, p. xl ; Joyce 2. 503. 



" Dottin, p. 47. 



■' Joyce 2. 497-8. 



' Hyde, pp. 273-4. 



