348 



known testament called the " Will of Cathair-M6r, King of Leinster," 

 and subsequently Monarch of Ireland, who died about the year 1 74, 

 who bequeaths to his son Crimthann, amongst other bequests, " the 

 leadership of the games of the Province of Leinster," which I take to 

 include the games of the Curragh. This remarkable document has been 

 published in the " Book of Eights," by Dr. O'Donovan, who observes, in 

 the preface, that it must have been written some centuries after Ca- 

 thair's time ; but O'Flaherty treats it as a document contemporaneous 

 with the testator ; and it is evident that the copy which the learned 

 author of "Ogygia" possessed was more ancient than O'Donovan' s texts, 

 as the clause in which Cathair bequeaths to his son Crimthann, " Po- 

 testas, qua ludorum praefectus per Lageniam erat constitutus," is not 

 found in the later copies. 



There is another very ancient poem contained in the " Book of Lein- 

 ster," in praise of St. Brigid, the various Kings of Leinster, and the 

 more important places in it, including the Curragh. The author's name 

 is unfortunately not given ; but I have little doubt that it is the com- 

 position of one Orthanach, another of whose productions is also pre- 

 served in the same MS., although in vol. v. of the Academy's " Proceed- 

 ings," page 171, it is stated that no mention of this writer occurs in any 

 known document except in an Irish MS. in the Bodleian Library. 

 There are two persons of the name mentioned in the " Annals of the 

 Four Masters" — Orthanach of Cill-Eoibrich, or Kilbrew, in Meath, 

 whose obit is given at the year 809 ; and Orthanach, Bishop of Kildare, 

 who died in 839. I think the latter, who in the Bodleian MS., is called 

 " Orthanach of the Curragh of Kildare," was certainly the author of 

 of this poem, as it manifestly appears to be the production of an eccle- 

 siastic, and to have been written before the year 835, when St. Brigid' s 

 remains were transferred for safety to Downpatrick, as the writer ex- 

 pressly refers to Kildare as her ruaim, or place of sepulture. 



The author apostrophizes St. Brigid, salutes her as the princess of 

 the men of Leinster, and states that, although to her then belonged the 

 plain of the Liifey, which he afterwards refers to as the Curragh, yet 

 hefore her time it belonged to all in succession — 



" Indiu cid latt Liphe Lit; 

 Ro bo thir caich ar nuair" 



which I understand as signifying that it was a common before the 

 time that the people of Kildare came to regard it as the appanage of 

 their patroness, from which period it has undoubtedly continued to be 

 so. 



After enumerating some of the kings who reigned over the Curragh, 

 i. e., over Leinster, the poet adds — 



" Marid Cuirrech cona li, 

 Ni mair nach Ri ro boifoir. u 



" The Curragh, with its beautj r , remains ; 

 But there lives no king who was over it." 



