THE president's ADDRESS. 21 



poet his liberty to compose lampoons in the service of the chief 

 or the elan to which he was attached. When a satire was to be 

 pronounced, the poet with six companions ascended a hill at the 

 rising of the sun, and each turned his face in an opposite direc- 

 tion ; but the poet looked towards the land of him he was about 

 to satirize ; and the backs of all seven were set against a haw- 

 thorn. Each man provided himself with a thorn from the tree 

 and a perforated stone. He then repeated one verse of the 

 satire, after which each buried his stone and thorn under the 

 tree.* 



How profoundly dreaded was the satire, or " ill- wish " of a 

 bard may be judged by the case recorded in the " Colloquy of 

 Ancients," where it is said that Airmelach, son of the King of 

 Leinster, died of sheer fright when threatened by the bard.f 



In the story of the death of Fergus Mac Leide, King of 

 Ulidh, the bard of a fairy king is represented as pronouncing a 

 curse on a monarch, which must inevitably be accomplished. ;[: 

 Indeed, it was held that a curse once launched could not be re- 

 called, it must fall and blight ; if it did not strike him at whom it 

 was directed, it recoiled and smote the saint or bard who had 

 pronounced it. For instance, St. Kieran of Clonmacnois 

 encountered King Diarmid Mac Cearboil, who had offended 

 him, and he cried out against him, "I will not deprive thee of 

 heaven and earth, but a violent death I wish thee, by wound, 

 by water, and by fire." The king at once offered to pay any 

 price desired by the saint to escape such a fate. " Nay," said 

 St. Kieran, " the missile that I have delivered, by that same I 

 myself would be hurt to my death, if it fell not on thee."§ 



Perhaps the most extraordinary and instructive instance of 

 the fear caused by a curse, and of its results, is that of the 

 abandonment of Tara, which took place in 554. 



* Book of Ballymote, quoted in O'Curry's " Manner's and Customs," &c,, 

 ii, p. 217. 



t " Silva GadeUca," ii, 128. 



J Ibid, ii, 271. 



§ Ibid ii, 78. Even a woman, a Pagan, unbaptised, could pronounce blessings 

 and curses that must fulfil themselves. See the Story of Muirghen, in " The 

 Death of Eochaid," Ibid p. 208. 



