of the ancient dame who pressed it into
its present shape.

Specimens of cheese of great antiquity have also been discovered. It was
generally made in the shape of bricks,[261] probably for greater
convenience of carriage and pressure in making. Wax has also been
discovered, which is evidently very ancient. A specimen may be seen in
the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. According to the Book of
Rights, the use of wax candles was a royal prerogative:--

"A hero who possesses five prerogatives,
Is the King of Laighlin of the fort of Labhraidh:
The fruit of Almhain [to be brought to him] to his house;
And the deer of Gleann Searraigh;
To drink by [the light of] fair wax candles,
At Din Riogh, is very customary to the king."[262]

In this matter, at least, the Irish kings and princes were considerably
in advance of their Anglo-Saxon neighbours. Wright informs us[263] that
their candle was a mere mass of fat, plastered round a wick, and stuck
upon an upright stick: hence the name candlestick.

It is probable that fire-light was, however, the principal means of
assisting the visual organs after dark in both countries. Until
comparatively recent times, fires were generally made on square, flat
stones, and these could be placed, as appears to have been the case at
Tara, in different parts of any large hall or apartment. There was
sometimes a "back stone" to support the pile of wood and turf. The smoke
got out how best it might, unless where there was a special provision
made for its exit, in the shape of a round hole in the roof. At a later
period a "brace" was sometimes made for conducting it. The brace was
formed of upright stakes, interlaced with twigs, and plastered over,
inside and outside, with prepared clay--the earliest idea of the modern
chimney.

Macaulay[264] gives us a picture of an ancient Roman fire-side, and the
occupations of those who sat round it. We can, perhaps, form a more
accurate and reliable idea of the dress, amusements, and occupations of
those who surrounded the hall-fires of ancient Tara, or the humble,
domestic hearths of the crannoges or wattled houses.

The amusements of the pre-Christian Celt were, undeniably, intellectual.
Chess has already been mentioned more than once in this work as a
constant occupation of princes and chieftains. Indeed, they appear to
have sat down to a game with all the zest of a modern amateur. A few
specimens of chessmen have been di