CAOINAN: or fome Account of th ANTIENT IRISH 
LAMENTATIONS. By WILLIAM BEAUFORD, 4. M. 
Tue modes of lamentation, and the expreflions of grief by 
_ founds, geftures and ceremonies, admit of an almoft infinite 
variety: fo far as thefe are common to moft people, they 
have very little to attract attention; but where they confti- 
tute a part of national character, they then become objects 
of no incurious fpeculation. 
Tue Irifh have been always remarkable for their funeral 
lamentations, and this peculiarity has been noticed by almoft 
every traveller who vifited them, and it feems derived from 
their Celtic anceftors, the primeval inhabitants of this ifle. 
Thefe were a timorous and unwarlike race, as their military 
weapons, and every veftige of their cuftoms and manners 
ftrongly indicate: their religion was fpiritual, and unftained with 
human blood. Such a religion and fuch manners imply a 
Vo. IV. [FI fufceptibility 
Read Dee. 
175 1791s 
