Matheson Collection > Aislinge Meic Conglinne

Notes. 131
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Iburni mac Dádoss dia n-idnacul do Fhind, ocus atbert
fris a teinm "j a tomailt."
4 26 Charm.^. In the Ancient Laws, i, p. 202, we read of
such charms made out of the marrow of dead men's
bones.
5 18 Bíasénadfair, wrongly translated by Henn. " for hid-
ing it from him".
6 3 Little creatures. The Irish viil is used as a general
name for any animal, e.g., mil maige, lit. " beast of the
plain", i.e., the hare, now corrupted into miol bhuidhc,
recte miol mhuighe. But the word is specially used
of insects (cf. corrmil, miltóg'), and particularly of the
louse, as on p. 13, 2.
15 Hennessy does not translate this poem. Most of the
eight persons, who are here said to have lived together
at Armagh in the eighth century, are known else-
where in Irish literature or legend. On Mac Da
Cherda, see Conn. Transl., p. 7. He is the reputed
author of several quatrains, one of which is quoted by
Cormac, and in LL., p. 201b, another in LBr., p. 92,
marg. sup.
Mac Rastaing, according to a note in the LBr. com-
mentary on the Felire (Stokes' ed., p. cxlv), was a
brother of St. Coemán Brecc. But this cannot have
been the case, for Coemán died in G15. In the same
note it is stated that Mac Rustaing lies buried at Ross
Ech (now Russagh, near the village of Street, in the
north of co. West Meath), and that no woman can
look at his grave without breaking wind or uttering
a loud foolish laugh. This is also mentioned as one
of the wonders of Erin in Todd's Irish JVennius, p. 201,
and a similar story is told in the Old-Norwegian
Speculum Regale about the skull of an Irish jester
called Clefsan. It would seem, then, that Mac Rus-
taing was a famous jester in his time.
Dub Da Thiiath may have been the bishop and
abbot of Rath Aeda of that name, who died in 783
according to the Four Piasters.
25 Caillech Bérre, " the nun of Beare", still figures in Irish L ^&