ame size, whilst the innumerable paper MSS. belonging
chiefly to the early 18th century would cover no less than 30,000 pages.
The well-known French scholar, D'Arbois de Jubainville, published in
1883 a tentative catalogue of Irish epic literature. His work is by no
means complete, but his figures are instructive. He mentions 953 Irish
MSS. containing epic matter preserved in Irish and English libraries. To
these have to be added another 56 in continental libraries. Of this mass
of material 133 Irish and British MSS. and 35 continental MSS. were
written before 1600. It should, however, be stated that the same subject
is treated over and over again, and much of the later material is
absolutely valueless.

Character of Middle Irish.

Before we pass on to the consideration of the literature itself, it will
be well to make a few preliminary observations on the nature of the
language in which the pieces are written and on the status of the poet
in medieval Ireland. The language in which the huge miscellaneous
codices enumerated above are contained is called by the general name of
Middle Irish, which is a very wide term. Irish scribes often copied
their original somewhat mechanically, without being tempted to change
the language to that of their own time. Thus in many parts of LU. we
find a thin Middle Irish veneer on what is largely Old Irish of the 8th
or 9th century. Hence such a MS. often preserves forms which had been
current several centuries before, and it may even happen that a 14th or
15th century MS. such as YBL. contains much older forms than a
corresponding passage in LL. Of recent years several scholars--notably
Strachan--have devoted much attention to the Old Irish verb-forms, so
that we have now safe criteria for establishing with some degree of
certainty the age of recensions of stories and poems preserved in late
MSS. In this way a number of compositions have been assigned to the 9th,
10th and 11th centuries, though actual written documents belonging to
this period are comparatively rare.

The "fili."

It remains for us to say a few words about the _fili_, the professional
literary man in Ireland. The _fili_ (from the stem _vel-_, "to see,"
Welsh, Breton, _gwelet_, "to see") appears to have been originally a
diviner and magician, and corresponds to the _vates_, [Greek: ouateis],
of the ancient Gauls mentioned by classical writers. In Ireland he is
represented as sole possessor of three methods of