which is not spoken as—
"Ní meis / gé is / míste liom,"
but as—
"Ni / méisge / is míste / liom."
[31] "Do chuadar as rinn mo ruisg
Do tholcha is áluinn éaguisg,
Is tuar orcra dá n-éisi
Dromla fhuar na h-aibheisi."
From a manuscript of my own.
[32] "Ni fuath d'ealadhain m' aithreach
Thug fúm aigneadh aithrigheach,
No an ghlóir do gheibhthí dá chionn
Ar neimhuidh ó phór Eirionn."
From a manuscript of my own. This poem appears not to have been known to O'Reilly.
[33] "Iomdha eiric nach í sin
Agad a oighre Fhinghin,
Gan séana ar garbh-amhsaibh Gall
Méala an t-amhgar-soin d'fhulang."
I.e., "Many an eric that is not that, [be] to thee, O heir of Finneen, without refusing [to inflict loss] on the coarse-monsters of Galls: a grief to endure that affliction!" From a manuscript of my own. This poem was also unknown to O'Reilly. It consists of 180 lines, and begins Leó féin cuirid clann Iotha, i.e. "By themselves go the children of the Ithians," of whom the O'Driscolls were the chief tribe. For an account of the little band of Ithians, the fourth division of the Gaelic family see above, p. [67].
[34] Since writing the above a German Celticist, Ludwig Christian Stern, has written a most interesting account of a collection of bardic poems, chiefly of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, now preserved in the Royal Library at Copenhagen. This interesting collection is chiefly dedicated to the praises of the Maguires of Fermanagh, and is the work of a number of accomplished poets, most of whom are unknown to O'Reilly, even by name. The whole collection contains 5,576 lines, of which Herr Julius Stern has printed about a thousand, thus having the honour of being the first to render accessible a fair specimen of the work of the current poetry of the schools in the sixteenth century. The characteristics of this poetry he appraises, very justly as I think, in the following words, "The language is choice and difficult, the poetry is of the traditional type, poor in facts, but elevated, stately, learned, and very artistic." See for this interesting article the "Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie," II. Band, 2 Heft., pp. 323-373, "Eine Sammlung irischer Gedichte in Kopenhagen."