1884-1885.] 345 



an idea of the amount of detail contained, I may tell you that 

 the whole of one volume is filled with causes or reasons for 

 what lawyers call '* stay of execution " in specified cases. This 

 means that when a person had by law forfeited something, 

 usually a certain number of cattle, as a recompense to some one 

 he had wronged, he could in a great number of cases claim an 

 extension of the time within which the fine should be paid, for 

 the purpose of having the case retried, or for some other reason. 

 There are still preserved many ancient Irish manuscripts deal- 

 ing with our early history, and throwing much light on our 

 early topography, and on the manners and customs, ways of 

 living, and modes of thought of the people of this country in 

 old times. Some of these have been translated by such scholars 

 as O'Donovan, O'Curry, Dr. Todd, Dr. Reeves, and others, and 

 these translations have been published by the Irish Archaeolo- 

 gical and Celtic Society, and in other ways. By far the most 

 important of these translated works is that known as the 

 "Annals of the Four Masters." This wonderful compilation 

 contains a mass of historical information, arranged year by 

 year, with a fullness that gives to us Irish a history older and 

 more complete than that possessed by any other nation in 

 Europe. O'Curry, in speaking of this work, says — " In what- 

 ever point of view we regard these Annals, they must awaken 

 feelings of deep interest and respect, not only as the largest 

 collection of national, civil, military, and family history ever 

 brought together in this, or perhaps any other country, but 

 also as the final winding-up of the affairs of a people, who had 

 preserved their nationality and independence for a space of 

 over two thousand years, till their complete overthrow about 

 the time at which this work was compiled. It is no easy 

 matter for an Irishman to suppress feelings of deep emotion 

 when speaking of the compilers of this great work, and espe- 

 cially when he considers the circumstances under which, and 

 the objects for which, it was undertaken. It was no mercenary 

 or ignoble sentiment that prompted one of the last of Erinn's 

 native princes, while the utter destruction of his property, the 



