Maoatjster — Temair firry : Remains and Traditions of Tarn. 263 



versions nf a remarkable ground-plan of this structure: the short trad 

 Sv/idiugudl'aigi Midchuarta: and some scattered references in [rish literature, 

 all of which supplement the evidence afforded by the actual remains. 



The two ancient plans will be found in the Bonk of Leinster i p. 29 of the 

 facsimile), and in the Yellow Book of Lecan (facsimile, p. 418). These have 

 been reproduced with sufficient, but not absolute, accuracy, in Tara ;' as they 

 are thus easily accessible, it is unnecessary to repeat them here. The Lecan 

 plan is the fuller, and is much the more carefully drawn ; the Leinster plan 

 is careless, and though older in date is on the whole less likely to be 

 accurate. Both plans show a rectangular building : no attempt is made to 

 preserve the proportions of the actual structure, which is drawn as though 

 nearly square. It is divided into five aisles, and the single entrance door is 

 shown at the lower end of the central aisle. The two outer aisles are divided 

 into a succession of what I may call "pews," each of them set apart for the 

 use of members of the different trades, professions, or ranks of society. The 

 names of these, with the joints of meat to which their representatives were 

 entitled at the feasts, are written in each of the divisions. The pews are 

 carefully marked off from each other in the Lecan plan, but not in the 

 Leinster plan ; and the scribe of the latter MS. has been careless in the 

 spacing of his words, so that he has had to carry the two lower pews in the 

 outer side aisles into the inner side aisles. The effect of this has been to 

 displace the doorkeepers from their proper place beside the door; one of 

 the obvious faults which prejudice the student against the plan in the 

 older MS. 



The inner side aisles are similarly divided. The Lecan plan shows a com- 

 partment at each side of the door, that on the left for the doorkeepers, that on 

 the right for the buffoons. Then there comes a space where width is obtained 

 by the omission of two pews on each side, making a Common Hall erldr 

 caich). The Leinster plan omits this very probable feature. Inwards from 

 the Common Hall the Lecan plan shows a succession of eight pews on each 

 side, similar to those in the outer aisles, and similarly assigned, after which 

 there is another open space, likewise obtained by omitting the last pew on 

 each side. This open space is apportioned to the table attendants and the 

 stewards ; and as it would evidently be an advantage for these officers that 

 they should be in an open space, for the convenient performance of their 

 duties, we once more accept the Lecan plan, which shows this arrangement, 

 rather than the Leinster plan, which merely writes a catalogue of trades, &c, 



1 In these reproductions the lines of the plan are drawn correctly after the model of 

 the MSS., though with a mechanical rigidity. The conventional "print" lettering has 

 been substituted for any attempt to reproduce the handwriting of the mss. 



R.I. A. PBOC, VOL. XXXIV., SECT. C. [87] 



