with historical and critical notes, and a comprehensive glossary

I NT HO DUCT I OX.
Bay, " I scorn tlicm, yet they awe me." Under the awful shade of his oak. he finds him,
leaning on his own trembling staff. His head of age stoops to the ground, his grey beard
hangs down on his breast, and his dim eyes are fixed on the earth. But his soul is mixed
with the spirits of air, and his converse is with ghosts. ' What seest thou of my love,'
said Ronan, ' what seest thou of Sulmina :'" The figure was that of a solitary and pro-
scribed anchorite, who submitted to his evil destiny, doubtless for his conscience' sake,
like many fellow devotees. In the original, the description is singularly striking.
" An crith-thaice ri luirg fein,
Fui' gheug dhoilleir dliaraicli,
Lan ogluidheachd :—a chrom aomadh,
'S fheasag aosda sios mu lihrollach.
-air lar tha slmil a dearcadh
Ai-h anam aim co' radii thaildise."
The figurative and laconic reply is very characteristic.
" Macao an fas criiaidli,
Barca, thar cuan, na dean ;
Slmihnliinc ! 's cruaidh leam do glaodh,
A 'taomadh air tiunn gun flmrtachd !"*
In happier ages, the raiment was an object of careful attention among the Celtic peo-
ple, with whom every thing was precisely regulated ; even the colours of the robes were
apportioned by invariable law. In Wales, the bards wore a dress of sky-blue, the emblem
of peace and fidelity, and that of the Ovydd was a vivid green, the prevailing colour of
verdant nature. The Awenydd, or disciple, showed in his vestment, as an escutcheon of
pretence, the three colours, white, blue, and green. When officiating at religious cere-
monies, the bard had a cowl attached to the cloak, like that worn by the Capuchin friars;
it was called Barddgwccwll, and is the bardo-cucullus of the Romans. The Druidesses
are described by Strabo, as arrayed in white garments, fastened with girdles and brazen
clasps. Among the Gael, a very remarkable difference prevailed with respect to the
vesture. A variety of colours was introduced, and the number which the gradations in
society were permitted to display, was regulated by a prevailing rule. It was a striking
mark of the estimation in which the bards were held, that they were allowed six colours,
being two more than the nobility, and only one less than royalty itself. This was the
well known law in Ireland, and there can be no doubt it was equally observed by the
Gael of Albion. In Mcyrick's splendid work on British Costume, coloured prints of the
various classes are given, among which we remark the two figures found near Autun, one
of which carries the "slat an drui' achd," or ensign of authority, and the other bears the
" cornan," or crescent, emblematic of the " cead rai re ;" the first quarter of the moon.f
The robe is fastened by a brooch on the left .shoulder.
Sumptuary laws were not forgotten in the Brehon code. In A. D. 192, as Irish
Annals inform us, such enactments settled among other matters, the value of a budt:m
* (iallic Ant. .".:!.">, from the Druid's appearance, it is generally called "the song of the grey man."
f Pliny says of the ('cits, 'ante omnia sezta hum.'