THEIR HEIGHT, FORM, AND STRENGTH. 35 



Irish were remarkable for tall and handsome bodies 

 and pleasing countenances." 



2. An old foreign writer, quoted by Ussher, says 

 the Irish are a gigantic race, of powerful frame and 

 brave men of war. 



3. About 1332, Angus Oge MacDonnell, Lord of 

 the Isles (son of Angus Mor, who fought at Ban- 

 nockburn), married a daughter of O'Cathain, and 

 she by way of marriage portion brought with her 

 a number of very handsome young men, whose pos- 

 terity are yet in the Isles, and are known by the 

 difference of their names to belong to that race 

 which has never undergone any alterations. 



4. In 1339, a French writer, who was in Ireland, 

 in his " Histoire du Hoi d'Angleterre, Richard," says 

 that Art MacMurrough's army consisted of 3,000 

 stout men, such as, it appeared to him, the English 

 marvelled to behold ; " they assailed us often both 

 in van and rear, casting their darts with such might, 

 that no harbergeon or coat of mail was of sufficient 

 proof to resist their force, their darts piercing them 

 through both sides. Our foragers that strayed 

 from their fellows were often cut off by the Irish, 

 who are so nimble and swift of foot, that, like unto 

 stags, they run over mountains and valleys. From 

 a, mountain between two woods not far from the 

 sea, we saw Macqueniore (MacMorrough) descending 



