367 



been handed down to us, we have no proof remaining of 

 the existence of any older Ogham. The monuments, whose 

 antiquity is so much boasted, bear inscriptions in the com- 

 monly received Ogham. The most ancient manuscript trea- 

 tises on grammar describe it, and no other. These being 

 the only evidences which we possess, bearing upon the ques- 

 tion before us, if they be set aside, we are abandoned to 

 mere conjecture. The truth is, that nearly all the assertions 

 which have been put forward by Irish antiquaries, respecting 

 the origin and use of letters amongst the ancient Irish, rest 

 upon the authority either of the Tract on Ogham, so often 

 alluded to, or of the Uraicept: and, on this account, an ana- 

 lysis of these treatises ought long since to have been given 

 to the world. When critically examined, they will be found 

 to be compositions of a much later date than is commonly 

 assigned to them ; nay, even devoid of peculiar ancient ele- 

 ments which we might suppose to have been wrought up by 

 later writers, interpolating and commenting upon them. The 

 Uraicept, in its present form, cannot have been written before 

 the latter part of the ninth century ; and its authors, whoever 

 they may have been, were persons whose notions of grammar 

 were derived from Priscian and Donatus. 



We may, indeed, be reminded that the most ancient Irish 

 tales contain allusions to the use of the Ogham character in 

 remote pagan times. A tale in the Leabhar na hUidhri men- 

 tions a monument erected in memory of Fothadh Airgthech, 

 whose death is referred to the third century. The story of 

 Deirdre, published by the Gaelic Society, contains a similar 

 allusion (p. 127). The Book of Ballymote preserves an an- 

 cient tract, which mentions the Ogham monument of Fiach- 

 rach, who is said to have died A. D. 380. 



Before we can estimate the value of this testimony, we 

 must approximate to the date of the composition of these 

 tales. Their evidence will be of little weight if it should ap- 



