taken alive unless they came to relieve them at once. Fiacha immediately commanded a number of his friends whom he could rely on to go to them, one man bearing food, another ale and mead. They accordingly proceeded, and arrived at the place where the men were; but, alas! unhappy and uncomfortable were they on their arrival, for the manner in which they were was that their bodies were covered as it were in beds of white hailstone, like blankets, which were frozen about them, and congealed their thin light dresses, and their thin shirts of fine linen to their skins, and their moistened shoes and leathern coverings to their legs and feet, so that they appeared to the people who came as if they were not actually human beings, having been completely

to direct them; they then proceeded through the streets of the city indiscriminately with others, and no one took notice of them more than of any other person, for the people of the town did not stop to make their acquaintance that time, and the gates of the city were open. They afterwards passed through every intricate and difficult place until they arrived on the open plain of Slieve Piol (the Red Mountain, on the borders of Dublin and Wicklow), by which Hugh in his first escape had passed. The darkness of the night and the swiftness of their flight, through dread of being pursued, separated the oldest of them from the others, namely, Henry O'Neill. Hugh was the youngest of them in age, although he was not so in noble deeds. They were much grieved at Henry's separation from them; but, how-covered with the snow, for they found no life ever, they continued their progress, led on by their own man. The night was dropping snow, so that it was not easy for them to walk, for they were without clothes or outside coats, having left their upper garments in the privy through which they had come. Art (O'Neill) became more exhausted by the hasty journey than Hugh, for it was a long time since he had been incarcerated, and he became very corpulent from the length of his residence in the prison; it was not so with Hugh; he did not exceed the age of boyhood, neither did he cease in growth or become corpulent, and his pace and progress were quick and active. When he perceived that Art became exhausted, and that his pace was slow and tardy, he requested him to put his hand on his own shoulder, and the other hand on the shoulder of the servant, and they proceeded in that manner until they crossed the Red Mountain; after which they were fatigued and wearied, and they could not bring Art farther with them; and since they could not convey him with them they stopped there, and stayed under the shelter of a high projecting rock which stood before them. Having remained there they sent the servant with word to Glenmalure (in Wicklow), where dwelt Fiacha Mac Hugh (O'Byrne), who was then at war with the English; that glen was an impregnable stronghold, and a great number of the prisoners of Dublin, when they made their escape, were in the habit of proceeding to that glen, for they considered themselves secure there until they returned to their countries. When the servant arrived at the place of Fiacha he related to him his message, and the condition he left the persons in who had fled from the city, and they would not be over

in their members, but they were as if dead;
they took them up from where they lay, and
requested them to take some of the food and
ale, but they were not able to do so, for every
drink they took they cast it up immediately,
so that Art at length died and was buried in
that place. As to Hugh, he afterwards took
some of the mead, and his faculties were
restored after drinking it, except the use of
his feet alone, for they became dead members,
without feeling, having been swelled and
blistered by the frost and snow.
The men
then carried him to the glen which we have
mentioned, and he remained in a private house,
in the hidden recesses of a wood, under cure,
until a messenger came privately to inquire
after him from his brother-in-law the Earl
O'Neill. After the messenger had come to
him he prepared to depart, and it was difficult
for him to go on that journey, for his feet
could not be cured, so that another person
should raise him on his horse, and take him
between his two hands again when alighting.
Fiacha sent a large troop of horse with him
by night, until he should cross the river
Liffey, to defend him against the guards who
were looking out for him; for the English of
Dublin received intelligence that Hugh was
in Glenmalure, so that it was therefore they
placed sentinels at the shallow fords of the
river, to prevent Hugh and the prisoners who
had fled along with him from crossing thence
into the province of Ulster. The men who
were along with Hugh were obliged to cross a
difficult deep ford on the river Liffey, near the
city of Dublin, which they passed unnoticed
by the English, until they arrived on the plain
of the fortress. He was accompanied by the
persons who had on a former occasion forsaken

him after his first escape, namely, Felim | it, and they proceeded through it on their horses until they arrived on the other side, and they were cheerful and rejoiced for having got over all the dangers which lay before them till then. They then proceeded to the Fiodh (the wood) where lived Torlogh, the son of Henry, son of Felim Piol O'Neill, to rest themselves, and there they were secure, for Torlogh was a friend and connection of his, and he and the Earl O'Neill were born of the same mother; they remained there till the following day and then proceeded across Slieve Fuaid (the Fews Mountains in Armagh), and arrived at Armagh, where they arrived privately that night; they went on the following day to Dungannon, where the earl, Hugh O'Neill, lived, and he was rejoiced at their arrival, and they were led to a retired apartment, without the knowledge of any excepting a few of his trusty people who were attending them, and Hugh remained there for the space of four nights, recovering himself from the fatigue of his journey and troubles, after which he prepared to depart, and took leave of the earl, who sent a troop of horse with him until he arrived at the eastern side of Lough Erne. The lord of the country was a friend of his and a kinsman by the mother's side, namely, Hugh Maguire, for Nualadh, the daughter of Manus O'Donnell, was his mother. Maguire was rejoiced at his coming, and a boat having been brought to them, into which they went, they then rowed from thence until they arrived at a narrow creek of the lake, where they landed. A number of his faithful people having gone to meet him, they conveyed him to the castle Ath-Seanaigh (Ballyshannon), in which were the guards of O'Donnell his father; he remained there until all those in their neighbourhood in the country came thither to pay their respects to him. His faithful people were rejoiced at the arrival of the heir to the chieftaincy, and although they owed him sincere affection on account of his family, they had motives which made him no less welcome to them, for the country up to that time had been plundered a hundred times over between the English and the Irish.

O'Toole and his brother, in conjunction with the troops who were escorting him to that place, and they ratified their good faith and friendship with each other; after bidding him farewell, and giving him their blessing, they then parted with him there. As to Hugh O'Donnell, he had none along with him but the one young man of the people of Hugh O'Neill who went for him to the celebrated glen, and who spoke the language of the foreigners (the English), and who was also in the habit of accompanying the earl, i.e. Hugh O'Neill, whenever he went among the English, so that he knew and was familiar with every place through which they passed. They proceeded on their two very swift steeds along the direct course of the roads of Meath, until they arrived on the banks of the Boyne before morning, a short distance to the west of Drogheda; but they were in dread to go to that city, so that what they did was to go along the bank of the river to a place where a poor fisherman usually waited, and who had a small ferrying curach (cot or small boat). Hugh having gone into the curach, the ferryman left him on the opposite side after he had given him his full payment; Hugh's servant having returned took the horses with him through the city, and brought them to Hugh on the other side of the river. They then mounted their horses, and proceeded until they were two miles from the river, where they saw a thick bushy grove before them on the way in which they went, surrounded by a very great fosse, as if it were a strongly-fenced garden; there was a fine residence belonging to an excellent gentleman of the English near the wood, and he was a trusty friend of Hugh O'Neill. When they had arrived at the ramparts they left their horses and went into the wood within the fosse, for Hugh's faithful guide was well acquainted with that place; having left Hugh there he went into the fortress and was well received; having obtained a private apartment for Hugh O'Donnell he brought him with him, and he was served and entertained to his satisfaction. They remained there until the night of the following day, and their horses having been got ready for them in the beginning of the night, they proceeded across Sliabh Breagh and through Machaire Conaill (both in the county of Louth) until they arrived at Traigh-Baile Mic-Buain (Dundalk) before the morning; as the gates of the town were opened in the morning early they resolved to pass through

THE STORY OF AN ERAIC.

[According to the laws of the ancient Irish a fine or compensation was required either in value or person as a reparation for crimes or injuries. This fine was called an eraic or eric.]

Felim, son of Cathal Crovdearg, marched

with his forces eastward into Brefney against | but the flood so overflowed its banks that they O'Reilly, to be revenged for his ward and could not cross it; and in order to pass over kinsman Teige O'Conor; they remained a night they broke up the chapel house of St. John encamped at Fiodhuach, of Moy Rein. The the Baptist, which was adjacent to the ford, abbot was not at home on that night, and the and placed the timber across the river. Manus, church of Fiodhuach being unroofed, a party son of Murtogh Muimnagh, went into the of the soldiers burned the tents and huts which house, accompanied by Conor, son of Cormack were erected in the inside without the permis- Mac Dermott, and while Manus was giving sion of their leaders, and the alumnus of the directions to the man that was on the top of abbot was smothered. The abbot himself came the house stripping the roof, he pointed up his the following day, very much incensed and sword and said, "There is the nail which preenraged at the death of his alumnus, and de- vents the beam from falling;" and on saying manded his eraic from O'Conor, who answered so, the top rafter of the house fell on his head, that he would grant him his own demand. which it smashed, and killed him on the spot. "My demand," said the abbot, "is that the He was buried on the outside of the door of best man among you be given up as an eraic for the church of Fiodhuach, and three times the my alumnus." "That person," said O'Conor, full of the king's bell of money were given as "is Manus, son of Murtogh Muimnagh." "I an offering for his soul, and also thirty steeds, am not indeed," replied Manus, "but the chief so it was thus that the abbot of St. Caillin commander is." "I shall not part with you," obtained an eraic for his alumnus. A monusaid the abbot, "until I obtain my eraic." ment of cut stone and a handsome carved cross The party after that marched out of town, and were raised over the body of Manus, but after the abbot having followed them, they pro- some time they were broken by the people of ceeded to Ath-na-Cuire, on the river Geircthign, O'Rourke.

OWEN WARD.

FLOURISHED ABOUT 1600-1610.

[Of Owen Roe Mac an Bhaird, or Red Owen | ties by James I., may not be immediately in Ward, little is known beyond the fact that he was the bard of the O'Donnells, and accompanied the princes of Tyrconnell and Tyrone when they fled from Ireland in 1607. In O'Reilly's Irish Writers the names of nine lengthy and still extant poems of his are given. The elegy which we give here is addressed to Nuala, sister of O'Donnell, the prince of Tyrconnell, who died in Rome, and was interred in the same grave with O'Neill, prince of Tyrone. Ward was the descendant of a long line of bards and poets of the same name.]

LAMENT

FOR THE TYRONIAN AND TYRCONNELLIAN PRINCES
BURIED AT ROME.1

["As the circumstances connected with the flight of the northern earls, which led to the subsequent confiscation of the six Ulster coun

'Translated from the Irish by James Clarence Mangan.

the recollection of many of our readers, it may be proper briefly to state that it was caused by the discovery of a letter directed to Sir William Ussher, clerk of the council, dropped in the council chamber on the 7th of May, and which accused the northern chieftains generally of a conspiracy to overthrow the government. The charge is now totally disbelieved. As an illustration of the poem, and as an interesting piece of hitherto unpublished literature, we extract the account of the flight as recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, and translated by Mr. O'Donovan :

"Maguire (Cuconnaught) and Donogh, son of Mahon, who was son of the Bishop O'Brien, sailed in a ship to Ireland, and put in at the harbour of Swilly. They then took with them from Ireland the Earl O'Neill (Hugh, son of Fedoragh) and the Earl O'Donnell (Rory, son of Hugh, who was son of Magnus), and many others of the nobles of the province of Ulster. These are the persons who went with O'Neill -namely, his countess, Catherina, daughter of Magennis, and her three sons, Hugh the