357 
The passage to which Swift has alluded occurs in Sir 
Philip Sidney’s Defence of Poesie :—‘* Though I will not wish 
unto you to be driven by a poet’s verses, as Bubonax was, to 
hang himself, nor to be rhymed to death, as is said to be done 
in Ireland,” &c. 
Dr. Todd stated, that having met with these passages, he 
called the attention of Mr. Eugene Curry to them, and re- 
quested him to make search in our ancient Irish manuscripts 
for such notices of the alleged powers of Irish rhymers as 
might throw light on this superstition. ‘The following paper 
contains the substance of what Mr. Curry has collected on the 
subject. 
The antiquity of satire in Ireland is, according to our 
ancient writings, of a very remote date. In the early ages 
of Christianity it appears to have been so frequent and so 
much dreaded, that the ‘‘ Brehon Laws” contain severe en- 
actments against it, and strict regulations regarding its kind, 
quality, and justice, something like the law of libel of more 
modern times. 
Several references to ancient satires and satirists will be 
found in the Preface, by Dr. John O’ Donovan, to a low, 
scurrilous poem on the native and Anglo-Norman noblemen 
of Ireland, written at the close of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and 
lately published by John O'Daly, of Dublin. The most in- 
teresting in its results, and perhaps the most authentic, of 
these satires mentioned by Dr. O’Donovan is that composed 
by the poet Laidginn (not Athairne of Binn Edair, as Dr. 
O'Donovan by an oversight has stated). The story is pre- 
served in the Book of Ballimote, in the Library of the Royal 
7 _ Trish Academy, and the following is a literal translation of it: 
‘** Eochaidh, the son of Enna, king of Leinster [having 
been for some time at Tara, as an hostage from his father to 
Niall of the nine hostages, monarch of all Erinn], absconded 
and repaired to the south to his own country. He decided on 
2n2 
