THE RAVEN. 65 



Occasionally, among those old remnants of the bardic min- 

 strelsy of our island, we find many curious allusions to this 

 bird. We might instance that of the bard Benean, who lived 

 about the year 400. In singing of the rights of the kings of 

 Cashel, he mentions one tributary province which should pre- 

 sent the king yearly " a thousand goodly cows, not cows of 

 ravens,"* the implied meaning being, that they should be in 

 good condition, and not weak or sickly, or in any way liable 

 to be attacked by those birds ; which occurs to us as being a 

 very original method of indicating the merits of cattle. 



Held in veneration in most countries, the raven was seldom 

 injured. Legend and tradition had surrounded it with a kind 

 of halo, which was but rarely infringed upon. Cervantes has 

 told us the unwillingness of the English to injure a raven, for 

 centuries after the death of King Arthur, from the tradition 

 of his transformation into a bird of this species. 



After having attracted so much notice at an early age, we 

 find, as the world became more enlightened, that the few good 

 graces possessed by the raven had retrograded, so much so, 

 that he appears before us " black as Erebus," on the title-page 

 of the u Mirakel Buch" of the celebrated Faust. And in a 

 short time the author's name was forgotten, and the book 

 was only known by the name of " Die Schwartze Rabe," 

 The Black Raven. 



Gracing the poet's song from an early age, all have selected 

 the " infausta comix" as the most fitting mark on which to 

 heap their obloquy. It is, perhaps, Shakspere who makes 

 most frequent mention of the raven. In " The Tempest" 

 Caliban says : 



" As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush' d, 

 With raven's feather, from unwholesome fen, 

 Drop on you both !" 



And in the " Moor of Venice," Othello : 



" It comes o'er my memory, 

 As doth the raven o'er the infected house, 

 Boding to all!" 



And Lady Macbeth, thus : 



" The raven himself is hoarse 



That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 

 Under my battlements!" 



* Leabhap na g-Ceapc, The Book of Rights. 



