IRELAND. 897 



take a delight in the past, and deify its heroes. The descendants of these ancient 

 Irish still celebrate the glories of other days, and sing with enthusiasm the high 

 deeds of their warrior ancestors, as if a share of the distinction achieved belonged 

 to themselves. Fin MacCurahal, the legendary king, whose name has been 

 changed into Fingal by the Ossianic muse, is ever present to the mind of the 

 children of Erin. To him they dedicate the most beauteous sites of their island, 

 and everywhere they see the remains of his castles. Quite recently those Irishmen 

 who leagued together in order to free their country from English rule assumed 

 the name of " Fenians," in memory of Fin, or Fion, who commanded the national 

 militia seventeen centuries ago.* 



The similarity between Erse, or ancient Irish, and the Gaelic of the Scotch 

 Highlands justifies us in the belief that at the dawn of history the inhabitants of 

 lerne, Igbernia, or Hibernia were the kinsmen of the Caledonians of Scotland. But 

 quite irrespective of the Spaniards in Galway and Kinsale, many strange elements 

 have since those early days become fused with the Celtic population of the island. 

 Danes, or " Northmen," have frequently invaded the country. It is they who 

 gave a name to Dan-na-n-gall, or Donegal, and for over two centuries they were 

 the masters of Dublin. Wexford and Waterford were likewise Danish towns. 

 The geographical nomenclature of the country furnishes a rough guide to the 

 relative importance of the constituent elements of the population. More than three- 

 fourths of the names are Celtic,t but there are many whose origin is evidently 

 Scandinavian. As a matter of course the largest bodies of invaders and colonists 

 arrived from the neighbouring island of Great Britain, and not only the English and 

 Scotch took possession of a part of the country, but the Welsh had their share 

 likewise. The barony of Forth, at the south-eastern point of Ireland, is said to 

 be inhabited by the descendants of Welshmen who came into the country with 

 Strongbow, about seven centuries ago. Welsh was spoken there up to the close 

 of last century, and the manners of the people conclusively prove that they are 

 the kin of the English Cymry. They are said to be more orderly and peaceable 

 than the native Irish around them, and also more happy, which may arise in 

 a large measure from their being the owners of the land they cultivate. If 

 Thackeray + may be believed, they took the most energetic measures for keeping 

 possession of their land, for they killed every stranger whom they suspected of an 

 intention of acquiring seignorial rights. Until recently there was not in these 

 " Welsh Mountains" of Wexford a single large estate. 



The English, no less than the Welsh, and others who preceded them, came 

 into Ireland as conquerors. According to an old legend, the first invader, in his 

 ardour to take possession, cut off his right hand before he landed, in order that it 

 might seize upon the country a little earlier : hence the " bloody hand " which 

 figures in the coats of arms of many noble families of Ireland. Arriving during 

 the latter half of the twelfth century, the English had to fight for more than four 



* Sullivan, "New Ireland." 

 t Chalmers, " Caledonia." 

 X " The Irish Sketch-Book." 



