322 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



valuable note by Mr. Burchett (who, alas ! will contribute no further 

 to our pursuits), under date of 26th January, 1875: — 



" When I visited Callan mountain in July of last year, I there met a very old 

 man, of quick wit and good memory, whose evidence as to the real antiquity of 

 the stone I thought at the time well worth recording. I send you a transcript of 

 the note I made at the time in my note-book from his own lips : — Francis Egan, 

 age 76, son of Francis Egan, who died twelve or thirteen years ago, aged 103, 

 states that he was born and had always lived on the mountain. Always knew the 

 stone as ' Leac-Conain ;' always knew it as the ' grave of Conan.' He said that his 

 father had told him as a boy the known tradition of the grave, and expressed very 

 great surprise that it had ever been supposed to be a forgery, by the late Dr. 

 0' Donovan, who, he said, could easily have learned better. 



" Francis Egan was a man with very clear intellect and good memory. He had 

 a considerable knowledge of Ossianic traditions, and appeared to me to be a very 

 good specimen of his age and class. He spoke with great simplicity and confi- 

 dence, and, remembering that his father's age carried the tradition he testified to 

 back to the middle of the last century, it appeared to me well worth recording." 



This, it will be remembered, is exactly the same story told by the 

 old men of the neighbourhood to Mr. Burton ninety years ago. These 

 traditions do not grow up in a day. The most I can concede to the 

 supposition of a modern growth for the existing popular conviction, is, 

 that on the discovery of the Ogham-inscribed stone, probably by Dr. 

 0' Gorman, it was accepted as that of Conan from the general currency 

 of the tradition embodying his name, and from the belief that the 

 Ogham characters also contained it ; but that, whether it be the 

 monument pointed at in the verses or not, these verses are not spu- 

 rious, in the sense of being a wanton imposture, but are the vehicle of 

 a tradition resting on old observances derived from ancient times, and 

 savouring of pagan belief. 



