[CLX.] Clogher in Tyrone where there was a monastery.
[CLXI.] Tuam-da-Gualann, where was formerly a celebrated ecclesiastical establishment: now Tuam in Galway.
[CLXII.] Greenan: original grianan, literally a sunny place: a summer-house: the most lightsome, airy, and pleasant apartment of a house. See this word discussed in my "Irish Names of Places," vol. i. p. 291.
[CLXIII.] For St. Finnen of Clonard in the County Meath, see my "Short History of Ireland," p. 175
[CLXIV.] Kenn-Mara, now Kinvarra on Galway bay.
[CLXV.] Curragh, [see note 17] at end. Some curraghs were made with two—some with three—hides, one outside another, for the better security.
[CLXVI.] Crossans: travelling gleemen: the clothes, musical instruments, &c., were the property of the company. This word is the origin of the Scotch and Irish family name MacCrossan, now often changed to Crosbie. A company of crossans had always among them a fuirseoir, i.e. a juggler or buffoon.
[CLXVII.] According to very ancient legends, which are still vividly remembered and recounted all over the country, almost every lake in Ireland has a tremendous hairy reptile in its waters. Some say they are demons, sent by St. Patrick to reside at the bottom of the lakes to the Day of Judgment.
[CLXVIII.] St. Ailbe, the patron of Munster, was a contemporary of St. Patrick. He founded his great monastery and school at Emly in the County Limerick.
[CLXIX.] The translation that follows is my own, and is of course copyright, like all the other translations in this book. On this fine story is founded the epic poem of "Deirdre," by Robert Dwyer Joyce, M.D.