Verse 6. 1. 7. Or Beal fires for your jubilee. The month of May is to this day called Mi Beal tiennie, i. e. the month of Beal's fire, in the original language of Ireland. These fires were lighted on the summits of mountains (the Irish antiquaries say) in honour of the sun; and are supposed, by those conjecturing gentlemen, to prove the origin of the Irish from some nation who worshipped Baal or Belus. Many hills in Ireland still retain the name of Cnoc Greine, i. e. the hill of the sun; and on all are to be seen the ruins of druidical altars. Verse 8. 1. 12. And play my clarshech by thy side. The clarshech, or harp, the principal musical instrument of the Hibernian bards, does not appear to be of Irish origin, nor indigenous to any of the British islands. -The Britons undoubtedly were not acquainted with it during the residence of the Romans in their country, as in all their coins, on which musical instruments are represented, we see only the Roman lyre, and not the British teylin or harp. Verse 9. 1. 3 and 4. And saw at dawn the lofty bawn. Bawn, from the Teutonic Bawen-to construct and secure with branches of trees, was so called because the primitive Celtic fortification was made by digging a ditch, throwing up a rampart, and on the latter fixing stakes, which were interlaced with boughs of trees. This word is used by Spenser; but it is inaccurately called by Mr. Todd, his anno tator, an eminence. Verse 9. 1. 5. And go to Athunree, I cried In the reign of Edward the Second, the Irish presented to Pope John the Twenty-second a memorial of their sufferings under the English, of which the language exhibits all the strength of despair." Ever since the English (say they) first appeared " upon our coasts, they entered our territories under "a certain specious pretence of charity, and ex" ternal hypocritical shew of religion, endeavouring " at the same time, by every artifice malice could " suggest, to extirpate us root and branch, and with " out any other right than that of the strongest, they " have so far succeeded by base fraudulence, and " cunning, that they have forced us to quit our fair " and ample habitations and inheritances, and to " take refuge like wild beasts in the mountains, the "woods, and the morasses of the country;-nor " even can the caverns and dens protect us against " their insatiable avarice. They pursue us even into " these frightful abodes; endeavouring to dispossess " us of the wild uncultivated rocks, and arrogate to "themselves the PROPERTY OF EVERY PLACE on " which we can stamp the figure of our feet." The greatest effort ever made by the ancient Irish to regain their native independence was made at the time when they called over the brother of Robert Bruce from Scotland.--William de Bourgo, brother to the Earl of Ulster, and Richard de Bermingham were sent against the main body of the native insurgents, who were headed rather than commanded by Felim O'Connor. The important battle, which decided the subjection of Ireland, took place on the 10th of August, 1315. It was the bloodiest that ever was fought between the two nations, and continued throughout the whole day, from the rising to the setting sun. The Irish fought with inferior discipline, but with great enthusiasm. They lost ten thousand men, among whom were twenty-nine chiefs of Connaught.-Tradition states that after this terrible day, the O'Connor family, like the Fabian, were so nearly exterminated, that throughout all Connaught not one of the name re |