J. F. Campbell Collection > Loss of the crown of Loegaire Lurc from the Dindsenchas in the Book of Leinster

PEEPACE.
Miss Stokes, in an interesting essay, has lately described a
piece of gold-work, which she believes to be a fragment of an
ancient Irish crown. In reading the text of Dindsenchas, con-
tained in the recently published facsimile of the ' Book of Lein-
ster,' I came across this short tale, which tells of the loss of a
crown perhaps as magnificent as that on which Miss Stokes has
shown so much artistic skill and antiquarian research.
The precise date of the text is undetermined. It is probably
not later than a.d., 1200. The ' Dindsenchas ' is an ancient collec-
tion of tales about Irish localities ; and this part of it has not been
printed before. Laeghaire Lore, as is told by Keating, was slain
by his brother at Dinn-rigb, on the banks of the river Barrow.
The brother, by advice of a Druid, feigned illness and lay in a
litter. Laeghaire Lore came unarmed, and was stabbed while
bending over him. Cobthach, the murderer, slew other members
of the king's family, and compelled his nephew to eat parts of
the hearts of his father and grandfather. In the midst of such
ferocity it may easily be imagined that the ornaments of the
murdered king were flung into a lake to save them from falling
into the hands of the usurper. I do not know the source of
Keating's story, but it seems to be part of the same romance as
the somewhat bald statement in the ' Dindsenchas.'
The text is taken from p. 168, col. 2, of the facsimile, of which
it occupies the last seven lines. Tbe mark of aspiration, and
tbe well known characters for air and ar, are printed without
note, but all other interpretations of contractions are marked by
italics.
I was unable to construe the two words which end the first
line of the verse, and I owe their explanation to the kindness of
Mr. W. M. Hennessy. With his usual courtesy he took the
trouble to collate the line with the original, and wrote me the
valuable note which I have printed in the vocabulary.
In the vocabulary I have added a few illustrations. Those
without a reference are from notes of my own of expressions in
use at the present day. Every alphabetically arranged collection
of words has its use, and my excuse for printing so small a
fragment is that it is an illustration of tbe elaborate paper which
is the latest of Miss Stokes's numerous contributions to the
study of Irish art.
The College, St. BAiiTnoLOMEw's Hospital.
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