446 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



possibly no carved stones, at best undated hearths and the sites of timber 

 houses ; perhaps a few more ornaments and weapons, notliing by wliich we 

 could test the tales of Ailill 01am or Cormac Cass. Were such objects found, 

 could the spectral line of princes in our legends become more tangible tlian 

 the forms shown iu the mirror of Banquo ? 



We are thrown back on the legends themselves, at best mere skeletons of 

 traditional sagas,' and these probably altered and expurgated to an unknown 

 extent. " Shadows ! would ye question darkness ? " might be quoted against 

 us, yet the subject is well worth the quest, and many problems apparently as 

 hopeless have been set on firm ground in the last half century. At least, 

 as in my corresponding study of the later royal forts of the Dal Cais' in 

 Co. Clare, the later " Thomond," 1 hope to bring together the chief legendary 

 material for abler workers, and to bring it into touch with the existing 

 remains, which has never been attempted heretofore. 



I wish to guard against any mistake as to the standpoint of this paper. 

 Irish antiquaries are frequently accused by their English brethren of holding 

 as certain historic truth these early legends — nay, we can hardly use the term 

 " royal forts " without being sneered at, though we only imply the residence 

 of a local king, not anything architecturally magnificent.' We use, very 

 properly, that early tradition, so entirely lost elsewliere; for a legend is 

 not necessarily a lie, but usually contains an instructive fragment of truth 

 in its foundations.* We are not always bound to discuss every time wliat 

 degree of truth is embedded, unless where it is evidently a pure myth, and 

 even in that case it may preserve valuable mythology, folk-lore, and topo- 

 graphy. Thus we may use it without (as our critics at times seem to believe, 

 or at least state) asserting it in the least degree to be an absolute record 

 of fact. "Very different are the natural legends preserved by a guild whose 

 importance and support depended on their elaborate mnemonic training,* and 

 such fictions as tell of Brute and Lud or of the knights of Arthur. Our critics 



' Compare the dry bones of the Book of Leinster (Ulster) version of the Tain B6 

 Flidhais with the life and motion and local topography of the Glenmassan MS. (Mayo 

 version, possibly as old as A. D. 900) in a M.s. of 1238. 



- Supra, vol. xxix, pp. 186-212. 



■* It is amusing to read articles, even in the daily press, where English antiquaries 

 claim that the discovery of wooden huts (e.g. at Rathcroghan) is a triumphant overthrow 

 of the position of present-day Irish students I Much of this unhappy misunderstanding 

 may be laid to the blame of O'Curry's works (so credulous, and yet so valuable when used 

 critically). An elementary acquaintance with more scientific Irish publications could 

 correct it. 



^ Very old forms of legends are sometimes found in late manuscripts, evidently copied 

 from some early source now lost. For example, Elcm.iir (not the Dagda) inhabits the 

 Brugh in the oldest, and in one very late, manuscript. 



^ The " branch " of druids near Kilfinnan and the bards of Cashel and the Dal Cais. 



