102 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Cearbhall (Buidhe)^ whom we find pardoned in 1597 and 1601 or (more 

 probably) a son of his, Cearbhall 'Og. 



The Cearbhall '() Dalaigh who flourished in the first half of the seventeenth 

 century seems to have been a man of great notoriety in his day. The story 

 of his elopement with Eleanor Cavanagh spread far and wide. In every 

 Irish-speaking district there are probably even to-day old people who have 

 learned traditionally the outlines of the story. From P. Haiceud's poem, to 

 v/hieh I have referred above, it seems clear that in his own day Cearbhall was 

 widely known as the possessor of much the same accomplishments as have 

 clung to his memory in popular tradition ever since — that is to say, love- 

 making,- witty speech, versifying, and ingenious craftsmanship of many kinds. 

 In some parts of Munster his remarkable doings and sayings have been so 

 vividly handed down by tradition that those who tell them take it for granted 

 that he belonged to their own district.'' On the other hand, it may be well 

 to point out that another Cearbhall '0 Dalaigh would seem to have been 

 invested with love-making and harping attributes even before the seventeenth 

 century, as we see in the romance (probably sixteenth-century) of " Tochmharc 

 Fhearbhlaidhe,"^ which has for its theme the mutual love of Fearbhlaidh and 

 Cearbhall '0 Dalaigh, the latter being represented as the son of Donnchadh 

 Mor '0 Dalaigh, of Finny vara, Co. Clare." 



33. (ft) " Owin M'^Crahe, of Ballilomasine, husbandman, John m^Owen 

 M Crahie, of same," 6 Oct., 1585 [no. 4764]. (b) " Owen m'Donogh M'Cragh, 

 of Ballylomasne," llApl.,1601 [no. 6495]. (c) "FlanlfOwen.of Ballelomasne, 

 and Eorie m'^Thomas, of same, farmers, John M'Owen, of same, gent.," 



' For the epithet buidhe cf. the rime preserved in Munster : 

 Cearbhall Buidhe na n-abhrdn 

 do sheinneadh streanncan ar theadaibh, 

 — J. O'Daly in Oss. Soc, iv, p. 64. See also O'Leary's '"Ar uDoithin Araon," pp. 6 ff. 



2 Cearbhall, like Diarmaid 6 Duibhne, is popularly supposed to have possessed the ball 

 scare, by means of which he could compel any woman he wished to fall in love with him. 



^ Needless to say, Cearbhall's name has, in course of time, become (as was inevitable) 

 a convenient peg on which to hang many things he never did or never said. So in the 

 South one may notice how some storytellers will try to fasten an anecdote on to 

 Aogan 'O Raithile, or Eoghan lluadh, or some other poet who happens to be well known 

 locally. The authenticity of some of the poems and quatrains attributed to Cearbhall 

 in late Mss. is similarly open to question. 



* Published in '"Eriu," iv, 47 ff. 



5 According to the same romance, Donnchadh Mor had a brother known as Macaomh 

 Inse Crearnha, who was endowed with the power of knowing secrets. (Cormac Common, 

 quoted siipra, p. 100 n., also makes the Macaomh brother of Donnchadh Mor, but he is, 

 of course, wrong in identifying him with Cearbhall). According to O'Flaherty, the 

 Macaomh was " a memorable antient magician," who got his name from the island 

 of Inishcrafl', in Lough Corrib (Description of H-Iar Connaught, ed. Hardiman, p. 25). 



