imagination which perceives definitely and realises
vividly will not tolerate that obscurity so dear to all those who
worship the eidola of the cave. Of each of these ages, the primary
impressions were made in the bardic mind during the life-time of the
heroes who gave to the epoch its character; and a strong impression made
in such a mind could not have been easily dissipated or obscured. For it
must be remembered, that the bardic literature of Ireland was committed
to the custody of guardians whose character we ought not to forget. The
bards were not the people, but a class. They were not so much a class
as an organisation and fraternity acknowledging the authority of one
elected chief. They were not loose wanderers, but a power in the State,
having duties and privileges. The ard-ollav ranked next to the king, and
his eric was kingly. Thus there was an educated body of public opinion
entrusted with the preservation of the literature and history of the
country, and capable of repressing the aberrations of individuals.

But the question arises, Did they so repress such perversions of history
as their wandering undisciplined members might commit? Too much, of
course, must not reasonably be expected. It was an age of creative
thought, and such thought is difficult to control; but that one of the
prime objects and prime works of the bards, as an organisation, was to
preserve a record of a certain class of historical facts is certain. The
succession of the kings and of the great princely families was one of
these. The tribal system, with the necessity of affinity as a ground of
citizenship, demanded such a preservation of pedigrees in every family,
and particularly in the kingly houses. One of the chief objects of the
triennial feis of Tara was the revision of such records by the general
assembly of the bards, under the presidency of the Ard-Ollav of Ireland.
In the more ancient times, such records were rhymed and alliterated, and
committed to memory--a practice which, we may believe on the authority
of Caesar, treating of the Gauls, continued long after the introduction
of letters. Even at those local assemblies also, which corresponded to
great central and national feis of Tara, the bards were accustomed to
meet for that purpose. In a poem [Note: O'Curry's Manners and Customs,
Vol. I., page 543.], descriptive of the fair [Note: On the full meaning
of this word "fair," see Chap. xiii., Vol. I.] of Garman, we see this--