Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Ancient Irish Literature, 307
of the antiquity of these Fenian poems " ;
but, he adds, " the
language is so obsolete that it cannot be understood
without a gloss ;
and even the gloss itself is frequently so
obscure as to be equally difficult with the text." The
mixture of barbarous and abbreviated Latin increases the
embarrassment. English readers of such translations have
to take much upon faith. The Fenian poems are by far
the finest extant. The Pursuit of Diarimtid, or Dermot,
has been translated into many languages. The Battte of
GabJira and the Lamentations of Oisin relate to the final
destruction of the Fenian warriors by the Milesians.
The Irish Academy and other literary institutions have
done excellent service in translations. Walker's IrisJi
Bards and Miss Brooke's Reliques of Irish Poetry may be
consulted with advantage, as well as Hardiman's IrisJi
Minstrelsy. The collection of Erin's ancient poets would
not by any means approach in size that of the Finnish
Kalevala, which were much greater in extent than the
Iliad, if not equalling it in quality.
It has been well remarked that " Ireland would have
been the richer had not the fears or bigotry of the priests
discouraged the reading of pagan poems and romances,
and thrown thousands of MSS. into the flames." St.
Patrick is declared the destroyer of some hundreds of
them. Though a number, yet preserved, are in Irish letter,
the language is but Latin. The ancient Dontnagh Airgid,
in the Dublin Museum, is in Irish character, having
portions of the Gospels in uncial Latin. That copy was
said to have belonged to St. Patrick.
The reported ages of MSS. may be considered doubtful.
Zeuss, the German philologist, puts the oldest at the ninth
century ;
but many are clearly copies of earlier ones, now
lost. The fifth century has been claimed for some, and a
pre-Christian period for a number of lost originals.