187 



The Ollamhs of Acs Dana, or Professors of Poetry, he states belonged 

 chiefly to the following families : — 



O'Dalys, 



O'Donnellans, 



O'Higgins, 



Mac a Wards, 



O'Hancairty, 



Mac Convey, 



O'Hussey, 



O'Eooney, 



O'Coffey, 



O'Gearan, 



O'Cloomhan, 



O'Cronga, 



Mac Graith, 

 O'Cillen, 

 O'Moran, 

 M'Casserly, 

 O'Phelan, 

 O'Heffernan, 

 Mac Keogh, 

 O'Hayden, 

 O'Gneev, 

 O'Lorcan, 

 Mac Murray, 

 and many others. 



And amongst the Professors of the Art of Healing he mentions, in 

 addition to those enumerated in Sir William E. Wilde's learned Essay, 

 prefixed to the Table of Deaths, " Census Eeport," 1851, the names of 



Mac Neagh, qr. TTlac Nia&, 



Olann Multeely, 



OTennelly, 



O'Eonan, 



OTeely, 



O'Cuhin, 



O'Meledy, 



O'Connell, 

 O'Leyne, 

 O'Eeglan, 

 Clan an Deasy, 

 Mac Gilmartin, 

 O'Heneys, 

 &c, &c. 



Then the author proceeds to describe the nature of the writen re- 

 mains of Irish literature, and observes that the knowledge ofPeneachas 

 or the laws was confined to three or four sons of the Ollamh of Con- 

 naught, including himself, I presume. 



" Woe is me !" he says, " the little regard Erin has for the preser- 

 vation of knowledge or superiority." 



The subject of the formation and development of the Celtic lan- 

 guage under Eeninsa Earsaidh and his disciples, and the invention of the 

 Ogham alphabet, is discussed in detail, and with much ingenuity of 

 argument. This chapter is illustrated by a sketch of what he calls the 

 most usual Ogham character, corresponding with the third alphabet in 

 the "Book of Ballymote," except thatM'Eirbis has by mistake omitted 

 the vowel signs. At page 7 of the original text, but page 28 of the pre- 

 sent volume, reference is made to a volume of laws, called O&geb 

 (Edghedh), attributed to Luigne mc Eremhon, of which I am not 

 aware that any fragments have been preserved. 



The treatise ends with a notice of the celebrated Naente Nae-Bre- 

 thach, or "of the 9 judgements," who is alleged to have lived 200 

 years before the Christian era; and although this notice is unfortu- 

 nately incomplete, it is curious, as attributing to him the famous judg- 

 ment of " To every cow belongs its calf," which is asserted to have been 



