heir mantles [_leanna_] or
shirts of white wool or deep purple, their fair beautiful matals, and
their cloaks of every colour. If we add to this costume the magnificent
ornaments which still remain to attest the truth of the bardic accounts
of Erinn's ancient greatness, we may form a correct picture of the
Celtic noble as he stood in Tara's ancient palace; and we must coincide
in the opinion of the learned editor of the Catalogue of the Royal Irish
Academy, that "the variegated and glowing colours, as well as the
gorgeous decorations of the different articles of dress enumerated in
the Book of Rights, added to the brilliancy of the arms, must have
rendered the Irish costume of the eighth and ninth centuries very
attractive."

With a passing glance at our ancient _Fauna_ and _Flora_, and the
physical state of the country at this period, we must conclude briefly.

It is probable that the province of Ulster, which was styled by statute,
in Queen Elizabeth's time, "the most perilous place in all the isle,"
was much in the same state as to its physical characteristics in the
century of which we write. It was densely wooded, and strong in
fortresses, mostly placed on lakes, natural or artificial. Two great
roads led to this part of Ireland--the "Gap of the North," by
Carrickmacross, and the historically famous pass by Magh-Rath. From the
former place to Belturbet the country was nearly impassable, from its
network of bogs, lakes, and mountains. We shall find at a later period
what trouble these natural defences gave to the English settlers.

Munster so abounded in woods, that it was proposed, in 1579, to employ
4,000 soldiers for the sole purpose of hewing them down. Indeed, its
five great forests were the strongholds of the Earls of Desmond; and
enough evidence still remains at Glengariff and Killarney, to manifest
the value of their sylvan possessions. The cold and withering blasts of
the great Atlantic, appear to have stunted or hindered the growth of
trees in Connaught. In 1210 the Four Masters mention the wilderness of
Cinel-Dorfa, its principal forest; but it was amply provided with other
resources for the protection of native princes. In 1529 Chief Baron
Finglas gave a list of dangerous passes, with the recommendation that
the "Lord Deputy be eight days in every summer cutting passes into the
woods next adjoining the king's subjects."

[Illustration: HEAD OF OX.]

In Leinster the forests had been cleared at an ear