THE MOUNTAIN FLAX. 311 



linen worn by the Irish peasantry, is not only not 

 Phoenician, but " has no cognate term in any lan- 

 guage " with which he is acquainted."* Such are 

 the opinions of men who have studied the subject. 



At a very early period the culture of flax became 

 of such importance in the internal economy of Ire- 

 land, that the " Brehon laws" that " rule of right/' 

 unwritten but delivered by tradition from one to 

 another/' as Spenser terms it, declared that every 

 brughaidh or farmer, should be legally obliged to 

 acquire a full acquaintance with the best mode of 

 dressing and working it. 



Intimately as the progress of the manufacture of 

 linen and cotton is connected with civilization in 

 every part of the world, it is not a little curious to 

 find writers, even after the close of the middle ages, 

 inveighing, and lawgivers legislating, against the 

 over-luxurious use of linen amongst the " bar- 

 barous Irish/' as they were pleased to designate 

 them. The gentle Edward Campion, the Jesuit, 

 who was executed on charge of high treason in the 

 year 1581, declares of the "meere Irish" that 

 linen shirts the rich do weare for wantoness and 

 bravery, with wide hanging sleeves, play ted ;" and 

 adds, "thirtie yards are little enough for one of 

 them/' Spenser, the poet, too, declaring the in- 

 efficiency of the laws against the " wearing of Irish 

 apparel/' enumerates, amongst other enormities, 

 " the greate linen roll which the women weare to 



* See a paper on the composition and economy of the flax- 

 plant by Professor Hodges, M.D., in the "Report of the 

 British Association," 1852. 



