[11] One of his pieces, quoted by the "Four Masters," shows he was a true poet. It is on the death of the king, Aedh Finnliath, who died in 877, and runs thus:—
"Long is the wintry night,
With fierce gusts of wind,
Under pressing grief we have to encounter it,
Since the red-speared king of the noble house lives no longer.
It is awful to observe
The waves from the bottom heaving,
To these may be compared
All those who with us lament him."
See O'Curry's "Manners and Customs," vol. ii. p. 96, and "Four Masters" sub anno.
[12] Published by the Irish Archæological Society in the "Irish Nennius," in 1847.
[13] Na gcochal croicinn.
[14] "O Muircheartach, son of noble Niall,
Thou hast taken hostages of Inisfail."
[15] The "Four Masters" thought so highly of Mac Liag's poetry that they actually go out of their way to record both the first verse he ever composed and the last. An extraordinary compliment!
[16] Or Kancora, in Irish Ceann Coradh—i.e., "the head of the weir."
[17] In Irish "Maelsheachlainn," often contracted into the sound of "M'louglinn," and now always Anglicised Malachy.