Matheson Collection > Measgra dánta

86 NOTES
In F the order of qq. is 2, 3, i, 4, and a quatrain (which evidently
does not belong to the poem) beginning Searbh re mnáibh maidin áliiinn
follows immediately. In N the order is i, 3, 2, 4. A version which
(mce existed in O'Conor Don's MS. began as here.
The poem is anonymous in the earliest MSS., F (17th cent.) and N
(written by Mícheál, mac Peadair, Ó Longáin). In F. vi. 2, p. 366,
written by Mícheál Óg Ó Longáin, the poem is ascribed to Maoldomh-
na[igh] Ó Muirgheasá[i]n ; whereas in 3 B 39, p. 292, the same scribe
attributes the authorship to " Mac Dáire." These latter versions are
nearly identical with each other, and with N, from which it is probable
they ultimately derive. Both ascriptions may safely be disregarded.
MS. Readings, i as gnathach na dhunadh M ; is gnath na dhunaidh
F ; ba gnathach ad dhunadh N, as amended by a later hand (originally
the line read Tri gárthadha d (?) dúnadh. 2 an dun árd N. 3 a ndail
M ; ar dháil F ; a ndail N. 4 gair thed is gair gheimheal M ; gdir théud
is geimhel F ; gair téad is gair ngiomall N. 6 cobhlach N ; teaghlach F.
8 gheag F. ; géag is N. 10 lamh /e N. 11 san mtiir da maoigheadh N.
12 gul F. 14 daithle éirge dféachaint li N. 15 uaill N ; gair F. na
ttglanghreigh N ; an glainghreaigh F. 16 do tharrang N.
Our poets loved to dwell on the varied sounds of bustle and merri-
ment that characterized the residences of the Irish nobiUty in the old
days, so different from the silence and desolation that afterwards fell
upon them. Compare poem 57, 11. 17-28, of this collection, and also
Keating's Poems, 11. 1545-60, UiUiam Rua Mac Coitir's elegy on Sir
James Cotter (23 G 24, p. 400), and Séamas Mac Cuarta's San Achruim
an air (Duanaire na Midhe, pp. 92-93). Sometimes, with the Irish
fondness for triads, the sounds are grouped in threes, as in the present
poem. Compare the poem in Ac. Sen., 11. 446 sq. (including Tri gdire
bidh ann . . . gdir ceathnata, . . . gair graifni ocus gair
erca) ; and also the following description of the house of a flathbrugaid,
or wealthy landowner, in ' lomramh Churraig Hua gCorra' (cf. RC,
xiv, 26) : Nior frith a theach riamh gan tri gdire ann, .i. gair na sgagadóire
ag sgagadh leanna, agus gdir na n-athach os na coireadhaibh ag Itich-
taireacht do na sluaghaibh, agus gdir na n-óglaoch os cionn na bhfithcheall
ag breith cluicheadh ar a chéile.
37
Oisín extols the blackbird of Doire-an-chairn, and tells of the sounds
which the Fiana loved to hear in their open-air life.