mposition contains many ideas peculiar to the land of its origin.
Later specimens of this kind of literature tend to develop into
grotesque buffoonery. We may mention the _Vision of Fursae_, the _Vision
of Tundale_ (Tnugdal), published by V. Friedel and K. Meyer (Paris,
1907), Laisren's _Vision of Hell_ and the _Vision of Merlino_. A further
vision attributed to Adamnan contains a stern denunciation of the Irish
of the 11th century. Another form of religious composition, which was
very popular in medieval Ireland, was the prophecy in verse, but
scarcely any specimens have as yet been published. Kuno Meyer edited a
tract on the Psalter in his _Hibernica Minora_ from a 15th century
Oxford MS., but he holds that the text goes back to 750. A number of
collections of monastic rules both in prose and verse have been edited
in _Eriu_, and the MSS. contain numerous prayers, litanies and religious
poems.

In LU. are preserved two sermons, _Scela na esergi_ (Tidings of
Resurrection) and _Scela lai bratha_ (Tidings of Doomsday); and a number
of other homilies have been published, such as the "Two Sorrows of the
Kingdom of Heaven," "The Penance of Adam," the "Ever-new Tongue," and
one on "Mortals' Sins." All the homilies contained in LB. have been
published by R. Atkinson in his _Legends and Homilies from Leabhar
Breac_ (Dublin, 1887), and E. Hogan, _The Irish Nennius_ (Dublin, 1895).
The popular "Debate of the Body and the Soul" appears in Ireland in the
form of a homily. A collection of maxims and a short moral treatise have
been published by K. Meyer.

For the religious literature in general the reader may refer to
O'Curry, _Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_ (pp.
339-434), and G. Dottin, "Notes bibliographiques sur l'ancienne
litterature chretienne de l'Irlande," in _Revue d'histoire et de
litterature religieuses_, v. 162-167. See also _Revue celtique_, xi.
391-404. ib. xv. 79-91.

Here we may perhaps mention an extraordinary production entitled
_Aisling Meic Conglinne_, the Vision of Mac Conglinne, found in LB. and
ascribed to the twelfth century (ed. K. Meyer, London, 1892). Cathal
MacFinguine, king of Munster (d. 737), was possessed by a demon of
gluttony and is cured by the recital of a strange vision by a vagrant
scholar named MacConglinne. The composition seems to be intended as a
satire on the monks, and in particular as a travesty of medieval
hagiology. Another famous satire, entitled