[ 77 ] 



conventions by fevcral fcards, each bard afTurring and fupporting 

 a charatSlcr in the piece*: but no producflion in a regular Drama- 

 tic form is extant in the Irifli language f, nor even alluded to by 

 any of our ancienf, writers. So that if the Stage ever exifted in 

 Ireland previous to the middle ages, like the " bafelefs fabric 

 " of a vifion" it has melted into air, leaving not a trace be- 

 hind. 



Yet in the Dances of the vulgar Irifli we may difcover the 

 features of a rude Ballet, performed in honor of fome Pagan 

 deity, and accompanied, it may be prefumed, by hymnick verfes $ 

 and in an ancient defcription of Tamer Hall, !Z^|tulcJ) T^jghe-cfol?, 

 or Royal Mimics or Comedians, are exprefsly mentioned J. All 

 this, however, only ferves to open a field to conjedure, affording 



no 



* Some of the Poems to which I allude will be fhortly given to the public, 

 tranflated with elegance, fpirit and fidelity, in The Reliques of Irijh Poetry, now in 

 the prefs. 



f Mr. Macpherfon has indeed given, as a tranflation from our Oifin, a little dra- 

 matic poem called Comala, of which the Abbate Cessarotti, his elegant Italian 

 tranflatoT, thus fpeaks : " La fua picciolezza non pregiudica alia regolarita. Si 

 « ravvifano in effa tutti i lineanienti a le proporzioni della Tragedia. C e il fuo 

 « picclolo viluppo, i fuoi colpi di teatro, e la fua cataftrofe inafpettata : gran varieta 

 *• d' afFetti, ftile femplice e paffionato : in fomma quefta poefia ha quelle virtii che ^\ 

 " ammirano tanto nei Greci." Poefte di OJfian, torn. I. page i8l. But as the original 

 of this poem has never been produced to the public, we cannot fafely number it with 

 the produftions of our immortal bard. 



-% ColkB. de Ret. Hit. vol. III. page 531. 



