[Illustration: HOLY ISLAND LOUGH DERG. (_From a painting by Watkins._)] The Story of the Nations THE STORY OF IRELAND BY THE HON. EMILY LAWLESS AUTHOR OF "HURRISH: A STUDY," ETC WITH SOME ADDITIONS BY MRS. ARTHUR BRONSON NEW YORK LONDON 1896 To THE EARL OF DUFFERIN, K.P., G.C.B., F.R.S., &c., VICEROY OF INDIA. * * * * * SGEUL NA H-ÉIREANN DON ÉIREANNACH AS FIÚ. PREFACE. Irish history is a long, dark road, with many blind alleys, many sudden turnings, many unaccountably crooked portions; a road which, if it has a few sign-posts to guide us, bristles with threatening notices, now upon the one side and now upon the other, the very ground underfoot being often full of unsuspected perils threatening to hurt the unwary. To the genuine explorer, flushed with justified self-confidence, well equipped for the journey, and indifferent to scratches or bruises, one may suppose this to be rather an allurement than otherwise, as he spurs along, lance at rest, and sword on side. To the less well-equipped traveller, who has no pretensions to the name of explorer at all, no particular courage to boast of, and whose only ambition is to make the way a little plainer for some one travelling along it for the first time, it is decidedly a serious impediment, so much so as almost to scare such a one from attempting the _rôle_ of guide even in the slightest and least responsible capacity. Another and perhaps even more formidable objection occurs. A history beset with such distracting problems, bristling with such thorny controversies, a history, above all, which has so much bearing upon that portion of history which has still to be born, ought, it may be said, to be approached in the gravest and most authoritative fashion possible, or else not approached at all. This is too true, and that so slight a summary as this can put forward no claim to authority of any sort is evident enough. National "stories," however, no less than histories, gain a gravity, it must be remembered, and even at times a solemnity from their subject apart altogether from their treatment. A good reader will read a great deal more into them than the mere bald words convey. The lights and shadows of a great or a tragic past play over their easy surface, giving it a depth and solidity to which it could otherwise lay no claim. If the present attempt disposes any one to study at first hand one of the strangest and most perplexing chapters of human history and national destiny, its author for one will be more than content. CONTENTS. I. PRIMEVAL IRELAND Early migrations--The great ice age--Northern character of the fauna and flora of Ireland--First inhabitants--Formorian, Firbolgs, Tuatha-da-Dannans--Battle of Moytura Cong--The Scoto-Celtic invasion--Annals and annalists, how far credible? II. THE LEGENDS AND LEGEND-MAKERS