t to the nation by which they have been produced.
Unless they are founded on fact, so far as customs, localities, and mode
of life are concerned, they would possess no interest; and their
principal object is to interest. Without some degree of poetic
improbabilities as to events, they could scarcely amuse; and their
object is also to amuse. Hence, the element of truth is easily separated
from the element of fiction, and each is available in its measure for
historic research. The most ancient of this class of writings are the
Fenian Poems and Tales, ascribed to Finn Mac Cumhaill, to his sons,
Oisin and Fergus Finnbheoill (the Eloquent), and to his kinsman,
Caeilite. There are also many tales and poems of more recent date. Mr.
O'Curry estimates, that if all MSS. known to be in existence, and
composed before the year 1000, were published, they would form at least
8,000 printed pages of the same size as O'Donovan's Annals of the Four
Masters.

[Illustration: FROM SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]

[Illustration: ROUND TOWER OF DYSART, NEAR CROOM, LIMERICK.]

FOOTNOTES:

[57] _Scota_.--The grave is still pointed out in the valley of Gleann
Scoithin, county Kerry.

[58] _Taillten_.--Now Telltown, county Meath.

[59] _Amhergen_.--Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 25.

[60] _Also_.--This tale bears a simple and obvious interpretation. The
druids were the most learned and experienced in physical science of
their respective nations; hence the advice they gave appeared magical to
those who were less instructed.

[61] _Geisill_.--The scene of the battle was at a place called _Tochar
eter dha mhagh_, or "the causeway between two plains," and on the bank
of the river _Bri Damh_, which runs through the town of Tullamore. The
name of the battle-field is still preserved in the name of the townland
of Ballintogher, in the parish and barony of _Geisill_. At the time of
the composition of the ancient topographical tract called the
Dinnseanchus, the mounds and graves of the slain were still to be
seen.--See O'Curry, page 449. The author of this tract, Amergin Mac
Amalgaidh, wrote about the sixth century. A copy of his work is
preserved in the Book of Ballymote, which was compiled in the year 1391.
There is certainly evidence enough to prove the fact of the _melee_, and
that this was not a "legend invented from the tenth to the twelfth
centuries." It is almost amusing to hear the criticisms of persons
utterly ignorant of our literature