es of this
epic cycle number about thirty, and give in detail the lives of hero
and heroine from birth to death, besides introducing many legends from
Celtic mythology. The oldest MS. version of these tales, in mingled
prose and verse, dates back to the twelfth century, and is hence about
as venerable as the Edda.

The Fennian or Oisianic poems and tales form another famous Irish
cycle, Finn, or Fingal, their hero, having acted as commander for a
body of mercenaries in the third century. His poet son, Oisin (the
Ossian of later Romance), is said to have composed at least one of the
poems in the famous Book of Leinster. Between the twelfth century and
the middle of the fifteenth, this Fennian epos took on new life, and
it continued to grow until the eighteenth century, when a new tale was
added to the cycle.

The names of a few of the early Irish poets have been preserved in
Irish annals, where we note, for instance, Bishop Fiance, author of a
still extant metrical life of St. Patrick, and Dallan Frogaell, one of
whose poems is in the "Book of the Dun Cow," compiled before 1106. Up
to the thirteenth century most of the poets and harpers used to
include Scotland in their circuit, and one of them, Muiredhach, is
said to have received the surname of "the Scotchman," because he
tarried so long in that country.

When, after the fifteenth century, Irish literature began to decline,
Irish poems were recast in the native Scotch dialect, thus giving rise
to what is known as Gaelic literature, which continued to flourish
until the Reformation. Samples of this old Gaelic or Erse poetry were
discovered by James Macpherson in the Highlands, taken down from
recitation, and used for the English compilation known as the Poems of
Ossian. Lacking sufficient talent and learning to remodel these
fragments so as to produce a real masterpiece, Macpherson--who
erroneously termed his work a translation--not only incurred the
sharpest criticism, but was branded as a plagiarist.

The Welsh, a poetic race too, boast of four great poets,--Taliessin,
Aneurin, Llywarch Hen, and Myrden (Merlin). These composed poems
possessing epic qualities, wherein mention is made of some of the
characters of the Arthurian Cycle. One of the five Welsh MSS., which
seem of sufficient antiquity and importance to deserve attention, is
the Book of Taliessin, written probably during the fourteenth century.
The Welsh also possess tales in verse, either historical or r