Art Murphy and Gaelic Literary Activity in the Dundalk Area in the 1820s

County Louth Archaeological and History Society

Art Murphy and Gaelic Literary Activity in the Dundalk Area in the 1820sAuthor(s): Seán DuffySource: Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 21, No. 3(1987), pp. 231-256Published by: County Louth Archaeological and History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27729631 .

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Art Murphy and Gaelic Literary

Activity in the Dundalk

Area in the 1820s By Sean Duffy

In the early years of this century Henry Morris travelled out from Dundalk along the

Carrickmacross road, through Donaghmore as far as Thomastown, and on to Kilkerley. He was

seeking information among the old people of the neighbourhood about one Art Murphy who

had lived and died in the parish perhaps some sixty or seventy years earlier. But he failed to find

anyone who could remember him or knew anything of him.1 Yet for perhaps a generation in the

early nineteenth century this man had been not merely a hedge schoolmaster in the area, but a

Gaelic poet and satirist of some notoriety, a teacher of his craft to many local enthusiasts, and

the central figure in an organisation devoted to the cultivation and preservation of Gaelic

learning. The neglect which had befallen his memory in the interval is perhaps indicative of the

decline in the fortunes of the Irish language in the area. But it is a neglect which may be said to

have continued, in spite of a revival in interest in the language in the present century. It must be admitted that one of the reasons for the neglect of Art's movement has been the

intractability of the evidence for its origins and actions. Quite frankly, we know very little about

its inception and not a great deal about its activities over a great many years, and what evidence

we have tends to be scattered about in a mass of confusing and often conflicting manuscript remnants. Nevertheless, it is worth trying to piece them together to see the light they throw on

the lives and preoccupations of some of the ordinary people of the Dundalk area in the period

leading up to the Great Famine.

Dundalk might be thought of as an area favourable to a revival in interest in things Gaelic in

this period. Even as far back as 1717 a school was apparently set up in Dundalk to teach Irish to

Presbyterian ministers, for whom an Irish catechism was printed in the town, probably by the

Rev Patrick Simpson, from Islay, who was ordained in Dundalk in 1713, who habitually

preached in Irish, and was the source also of an Irish grammar produced in Dundalk.2 In the

period 1780-1816, another Scot, the Rev William Laing, from Perth, preached in Scots Gaelicto. a Presbyterian community originally from Ayrshire who were settled about Ballymascanlon.3

The London Hibernian Society,4 set up in 1806, 'for the diffusion of Religious Knowledge in Ireland'?and which at its peak in 1825 claimed to run 1147 schools in the country with 94,262

pupils?had a strong Dundalk connection: the earl of Roden was patron to the society and in

1837 its Dundalk auxiliary was still functioning.5 In 1809, the society asked the classical scholar

Dr William Neilson, a native of County Down, to prepare an Irish spelling-book (it was printed in Roman and later in Gaelic characters)6 for use in their schools. Dr Neilson was at this time,

1. ?nr? ? Muirgheasa, Dh? Ch?ad de Cheoltaibh Uladh (Dublin, 1934), p. 423: 'Nil cuimhne d? laighead ag an

choitchionntacht air thart fa'n tSr?id Bhaile anois, acht oiread a's bh?adh aca ar dhuine nach rugadh ariamh ann.'

2. J. and S. G. McConnell, Fasti of the Irish Presbyterian Church, 1613-1840 (Belfast, 1951), p. 121.

3. Padraig Mac Con Midhe, "Gaeilge an Duin, II" An tUltach, VL, no. 12, (Dec. 1968), p. 7.

4. See Thomas Webster, A Brief View of the London Hibernian Society (London, 1828), pp 3, 5, 20.

5. Edward B. Cooper, The Dundalk Almanack and Directory, for the year 1837 (Dundalk, 1837), p. 85.

6. S?amus ? Casaide, The Irish Language in Belfast and County Down A.D. 1601-1850 (Dublin, 1930), p. 64.

231



232 County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal

and for many years, based in Dundalk, where he was ordained in 17997 and where he ran an

interdenominational school in which Irish was taught.8 He is best remembered for his Irish

grammar which was subscribed to by over fifty people from County Louth,9 and he provided John Donaldson, the author of A Historical & Statistical Account of the Barony of Upper Fews10

with his opinions contained therein as to the Irish origin of local place-names. John O'Donovan later claimed that Neilson was helped in his Irish grammar by the County

Down Gaelic scribe Patrick Lynch11 and, sure enough, Lynch spent some time in Dundalk in the

year 1800, when he transcribed at least two manuscripts for Samuel Coulter of Carnbeg near

Kilcurry.12 The Coulters were another local Presbyterian13 family with a strong interest in things Gaelic. Samuel Coulter had two other manuscripts transcribed, by Donncha Mac Oireachtaigh, in 1792 and 1796,14 and the family library contained several works of Irish interest. These

included, among the printed books in Irish, two bibles, a collection of psalms, and a volume

containing the 'Confession of Faith &c in Irish', a printed collection of poems in Irish,15 a

volume containing Irish and English vocabulary,16 Aodh Buidh Mac Cruitin's Irish dictionary,17 a duodecimo 'Old History of Ireland', Roderick O'Flaherty's Ogygia,18 five volumes of

Vallancey's Collectanea, and Wright's Louthiana.19 There exists also a copy of Vallancey's Irish

Grammar, in the Royal Irish Academy, which was apparently bought in Dundalk for eleven

shillings and four pence halfpenny, on 28 May 1774, by 'Sam. Coulter' whose name is impressed on the title page with a metal stamp.20 The Carnbeg library contained also a manuscript copy of

Keating's History of Ireland,21 a manuscript 'Irish grammar stitch'd' and 'one large bundle

consisting of three packages of Irish manuscripts in sheets'.22

The most famous member of the Coulter family was Samuel's son Thomas, the well-known

7. Fasti of the Irish Presbyterian Church, p. 225.

8. See Breand?n ? Buachalla, / mB?al Feirste Cois Cuain (Dublin, 1968), pp 59-64 and p. 59, n. 1, for further references.

9. Rev William Neilson, D.D., An Introduction to the Irish Language, (Dublin, 1808) pp v-viii. 10. First published, from a manuscript dated 1838, at Dundalk, 1923; see p. 1. 11. John O'Donovan, A Grammar of the Irish Language (Dublin, 1845), p. lx ; cf. S?amus ? Casai de, Patrick Lynch of

County Down: Irish Scholar (Dublin, 1927). 12. British Library Additional MSS 18747, 18748; Robin Flower, Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the British

Museum, ii, (London, 1926), pp 379, 326: Dr Flower states (ibid, p. 326) that they were transcribed at Lynch's native place, Loughinisland, County Down, but the colophon at Addit. MS 18747 (ibid, p. 383) clearly states: 'isin

mbliadhain 1800 do s[g]riobhadh an macleabhar so san tSradbhaile le Padruic o Luingsigh'. 13. Samuel Coulter was an elder of Dundalk Presbyterian Church, see James Moody, Dundalk Presbyterian Church:

Historical Sketch of the Congregation from 1655 to 1939 (n.p., n.d.), p. 5; Miss Coulter, Dowdalls Hill, was a

collector in Dundalk in 1837 for the Presbyterian Missionary Association, an auxiliary of the Home Mission, see

Cooper, Dundalk Almanack, p. 85. 14. B. L. Addit. MSS 18749, 18746; Flower, BM Cat. Ir. MSS, ii, pp 123, 383. 15. Almost certainly Charlotte Brooke, Reliques of Irish Poetry (Dublin, 1789) or perhaps Joseph C. Walker,

Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards (Dublin, 1786). 16. Possibly Bolg an Tsolair: or Gaelic Magazine published in Belfast in 1795 under the auspices of the United

Irishmen's Northern Star but which was largely the work of Samuel's acquaintance, Patrick Lynch. 17. An Focloir Bearla Gaodheilge ar na chur a neagar le Conchobhar O Beaglaoich mar aon le congnamh Aodh

Bhuidhe Mac Cuirtin. The English-Irish Dictionary (Paris, 1732). 18. Ogygia, seu Rerum Hibernicarum Chronologia (London, 1685). 19. Charles Vallancey, Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, 6 vols, (Dublin, 1786-1804); Thomas Wright, Louthiana: or,

an Introduction to the Antiquities of Ireland . . . Representing, with Explanations, the Principal Ruins . . . in the

County of Louth . . . (London, 1748). 20. ? Casaide, Irish Language in Belfast, p. 20.

21. There seems no reason to equate this with the copy of Keating in B. L. Addit. MS 18745 ; only Addit. MSS 18746-9

passed to the British Museum out of the Coulter library (see Flower, BM Cat. Ir. MSS, ii, p. 326). 22. The size or extent of the latter is uncertain, but if it had three separate packages of unbound manuscripts, it must

have been quite voluminous: the details are obtained from a catalogue of the library drawn up after Samuel Coulter's death and still among the family papers.



Art Murphy and Gaelic Literary Activity in the Dundalk Area in the 1820's 233

botanist, who was born at Carnbeg in 1793, reared, after the deaths in quick succession of his

father, in 1801, and his mother, in 1803, by his uncle Joseph Coulter, and taught by Dr Neilson, from whom 'he derived that intense interest in the antiquities of our native land which

characterized him to the last'.23

When in Geneva in 1822-3 he employed a remarkable family heirloom in sealing his

personal correspondence home, viz. a three-faced seal, still in the possession of a member of the

family, with motifs such as the harp, shamrock, a plough (of which, of course, the 'coulter' is a

part) and an outstretched arm with a cudgel or shillelagh clenched in the fist; most importantly, it has a motto in Irish on each face: Cultran Abuad, Eire go br?t and ttuigeann tu Gaoidhilge.

Thomas's biographer, Dr E. Charles Nelson (to whom I am indebted for these and other family

details), is of the opinion that since these, at least quasi-political, motifs indicate the seal may

belong to the period of the 1790s, this suggests that Samuel Coulter had considerable sympathy with the ideals, if not involvement in the activities, of the United Irishmen.

Samuel's brother, Joseph Coulter, Dowdallshill, subscribed to Neilson's Irish Grammar in

1808, and, when, after he left Dundalk, Neilson began an Irish class at the Belfast Academical

Institution, there was another 'Sam. Coulter' in attendance in 1819,24 though one presumes he

was not related. When Dundalk man Matthew Graham, of whom we shall hear more, published The Giantess, from the Irish of Oisin in 1833, there were two Samuel Coulters among the

subscribers, one of them a medical doctor,25 and Robert Coulter (son of the earlier Samuel of

Carnbeg), an attorney with an office at 14 Roden Place in Dundalk.26 The latter had charge,

during Thomas's absences abroad, of the manuscripts bequeathed to him by their father and we

find, some time in or after 1834, that Matthew Graham described himself as 'Favoured by R.

Coulter Esq . . . with MSS.'.27 This presumably means that Robert loaned the Carnbeg

manuscripts to Graham, since they were still there at Thomas's death in 1843, and later sold by his executor, Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, to the British Museum. But the exemplar of one of

the manuscripts copied by Patrick Lynch for Samuel Coulter in 180028?originally transcribed

by Padraig ? Prontaigh in 1732-3?later came into the possession of Matthew Graham,29 which

might lead one to conclude that he was either 'favoured' with it by Robert Coulter, or more

likely, since the Coulters would hardly have possessed both exemplar and transcript, that he

obtained it from whatever third party originally loaned it to Samuel Coulter so that Patrick

Lynch might make his copy. Graham was closely associated with another local Gaelic

enthusiast, Dr James Woods (see below), who may have been the third party in question, since a

translation in English of the Oidheadh Chloinne Uisnigh, 'by Jas Woods, Dundalk', has recently been found among the Coulter family papers. The translation is on paper watermarked 1818, so

that, all these years after Samuel's death, there were still members of the family interested in

Gaelic literature. It is worth emphasizing, though, that the original Samuel Coulter of Carnbeg would not have been dependent on translations since he almost certainly spoke and read Irish,

23. See a biographical sketch by Dr Thomas Romney Robinson in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, ii, (1844),

pp 553-7.

24. O Buachalia, / mB?al Feirste Cois Cuain, p. 59, n. 2; the Institution was attended by pupils from all over the

country, ibid, p. 47.

25. It was probably the other who, employed as a turnkey in Dundalk gaol, applied unsuccessfully in 1837 to have his

wife allowed reside in the building: "Extracts from the Dundalk Gaol Journal, 1837-40", Tempest's Annual,

(1921), p. 35.

26. See, for example, Cooper, Dundalk Almanack, p. 69.

27. On the title-page of a manuscript now in the possession of Aibhistin Mac Amhlaigh, to whom I am very grateful for

allowing me access to it.

28. B. L. Addit. MS 18747.

29. Henry Morris obtained it from Graham's daughter; now U.C.D. MSS Morris 7 and 8.




and the manuscripts transcribed for him were done 'chum usaide Shamhairle Ui Choldran'.30

Also in Dundalk in the same period was Rev William Hamilton Drummond, who was tutor

to a family at Ravensdale in 1798;31 he contributed English translations to Hardiman's Irish

Minstrelsy, later published his own Ancient Irish Minstrelsy, and in 1835 he claimed to be

'anxiously looking forward' to a Gaelic revival.32 And Dr Neilson's immediate predecessor as

Presbyterian minister in the town was Andrew Bryson (brother of Samuel Bryson),33 described

at the time as 'a person well versed in the language and antiquities of the nation'?incidentally, Neilson replaced him 'because it was considered essential that the minister of this [Dundalk]

congregation should be able to speak Irish'.34 Rev Bryson ministered further afield, at Fochart

for example, and in the Belfast Public Library is preserved a copy of a sermon delivered by 'Aindrias Brison a bhFachaird Dia Sathairn 9u 16 don ladh mhi 1786'.35 When he died in 1797 he

was buried at Ballymascanlon.36 Yet it was not from among these enlightened Protestant gentlemen that the impetus for a

Gaelic literary movement in Dundalk appears to have sprung. It came instead from a group of

poor, rural, and, to a great extent, unpropertied men who lacked much formal education?the

very people, in fact, one would have felt least able to abstract themselves from the

precariousness of their situation, and devote their energies to literary pursuits, and the

unrewarding task of preserving local traditions rapidly approaching evanescence. Who were

these men? And what do we know of the valuable work in which they were engaged? The central

figure around whom the movement revolved was one Arthur Murphy (Art Mor Ua Murchadh or

'An Murchadh Mor'). Art lived at Thomastown, a small townland not much more than a mile west of Dundalk, sandwiched between the larger townlands of Donaghmore, to the east, and

Kilkerley, to the west. Henry Morris tells us that his house, 'a small cabin', was situated by the

roadside, about a hundred yards west of Thomastown (or Larkins') Cross.37 Writing in 1913, Father Murray reports that the old people in the area identified the field to the rear of where the

house must have stood as the 'Grot[te]field',38 which may explain the origin of Murphy's

pretentiously or facetiously named dwelling 'Grottoplace (Castle)' and the appellation 'Grottoman' sometimes applied to him by his cohorts.39

Of his circumstances we know little; one of his colleagues later referred to Grotto Castle as

'a wretched hole where Murphy dwelt',40 and he and his family?he had at least one son, as we

shall see?were obviously far from comfortable, if we may j udge from the following lines out of a

little piece of his in imitation of Burns, in which he claims to be

30. Flower, BM Cat. Ir. MSS, ii, pp 128, 328, 383.

31. Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee (eds.), Dictionary of National Biography, vi, (London, 1908), p. 52.

32. James Hardiman, Irish Minstrelsy, ii, (Dublin and London, 1831), pp 95,203,209,223,227,245,253,259,387; W.

H. Drummond, Ancient Irish Minstrelsy (Dublin, 1852) at which, incidentally, he was assisted by Louthman

Nicholas Kearney (see pp 59, 64, 88,174 and RIA MS 12/0/7, p. 38); ? Casaide, Irish Language in Belfast, p. 47.

33. See J. F. Bigger, "Samuel Bryson?a Belfast Gaelic Scholar", Louth Archaeological Society Journal, V, 1, (1921),

61-2; ? Buachalla, / mB?al Feirste Cois Cuain, pp 53-5.

34. Ibid, pp 22, 61; for further references for Andrew Bryson, see ibid, p. 60, n. 5.

35. MS xxxvii, I, pp 1-32; B. ? Buachalla, Cl?r na L?mhscr?bhinn? Gaeilge in Leabharlann Phoibl? Bh?al Feirste

(Dublin, 1962), p. 43.

36. Fasti of the Irish Presbyterian Church, p. 192.

37. ?nr? ? Muirgheasa, Abhr?in Airt Mhic Chubhthaigh agus Abhr?in eile (Dundalk, 1916), p. 179.

38. L. P. Murray, "Old Times in Dundalk and its Neighbourhood", Louth Arch. Soc. Journ., Ill, 2, (1913), p. 185, n.

3.

39. See, for example, U.C.D. MSS Morris 6, p. [27], and Morris 17, p. 262; this field once contained an

eighteenth-century ornamental garden or orchard, formerly in the possession of the Mac Dermott family (Murray, 'Old Times in Dundalk', loc. cit., p. 185, n. 3 ; its location is identified on the O.S. 6-inch map of the area, published

1836) which may have featured the ornamental grotto from which the name of Murphy's house was presumably derived.

40. Nicholas Kearney in R.I.A. MS 12/BV5, p. 41.




. . . daily hard at irksome warkie, Afencin' trimmin' roun' my parkie.

. . . woe upon the men of statie,

That keeps me to it soon an' latie, Full oftentime I curse my fatie,

But gies na gain.

Much better I were sold a slavie, In India, where all wants I'd havie

Would be relieved, nor would I cravie

My food in vain.

I have aen son, tho' I'm his daddie, I wish he were a sodger laddie,

Rolled in his kilt an' Highland pladdie, Than break his heart.

I canna be in spirits friskie, Nor can my senses be but diskie; E'en tho' I were well soaked in whiskie

Yet still I'd smart.41

Whatever about this feeble effort, Murphy was more famous as a Gaelic poet, and at least fifteen

of his compositions survive,42 the bulk of which have never been published. What makes him of

interest to us is that he was not working in isolation, but was actually tutor to other aspiring young poets and leader of a group of Gaelic enthusiasts in the Dundalk area.

It is largely through the dedication of Henry Morris that a considerable body of material has

survived in which Murphy and his associates were engaged,43 and this helps to colour in

somewhat our very nebulous picture of their activities. Murphy may have eked out a living of

sorts from subsistence farming (if the verses quoted above are any clue), but he also kept a

school of some type: there are references in the surviving material to 'Grottoman and his

pupils' ,44 and to 'Maighistir MurchadK,45 and one of his pupils has left the following testimony:

We saw Mr Murphy of Grottoplace Castle take a young man, who agreed with him as

clerk, under his tuition, and that the said young man became a bard, although previous

41. Morris MS. 17 at p. 447; printed by ? Muirgheasa, Abhr?in Airt Mhic Chubhthaigh, p. 180; the poem was written

in October 1831. The baptismal register of the parish of Haggardstown records the birth to Art Murphy and Aly

(n?e Savage) on 10 November 1816 of a son, also Art?this is presumably the 'aen son' mentioned in the poem,

who would then be approaching fifteen (I wish to record'my gratitude to Cardinal ? Fiaich for his help in

facilitating my search of the registers). 42. See Appendix A. I print five hitherto unpublished pieces in Appendix B. We also have at least one other poem of

his in English, his 'Epithalamium Extempore' for Matthew Graham, in Morris Additional MS 1 (formerly Morris

16), pp 9-10.

43. For our purposes, the main manuscripts with relevant material for the group's early period are?as near to

chronological order as possible?U.CD. MS Morris 6; Morris 5; R.I. A. MS3/C/8, II; N.L.I. MS G200; R.I. A. MS

23/B/19; Morris 3; Morris 18; Morris Additional 1 (formerly Morris 16); Morris 2; Morris 1; R.I.A. MS 24/L/25;

and Morris 17.

44. Morris MS 17, p. 262.

45. R.I.A. MS 23/B/19, p. 114.




to his agreement with Squire Murphy he was ignorant of all the qualifications requisite to become a bard, and ignorant even of the Irish language.46

The young man in question may have been Matthew Graham, and the comment was almost

certainly made by Nicholas Kearney. The Kearney family were near neighbours of Murphy,47 and perhaps the earliest surviving

of the manuscripts of this Dundalk school, Morris 6 in U.C.D., compiled in and after 1817,48 is

typical of the sort of work in which Murphy was instructing his students: it has transcripts of various Fenian lays, of verse by Murphy himself, and others such as An Dall Mac Cuarta and Fr

Paul O'Brien and, for example, a list of contractions?372 in all?found in Gaelic manuscripts, 'collected by N. O'Kearney, February 24th 1823'. There is the Ogham alphabet, something

Nicholas continued to show an interest in throughout his later work, and a poem on Ogham which appeared in Aodh Buidh MacCruitin's Irish grammar, published in Louvain in 1728.49

They were familiar as well with the grammar text of Paul O'Brien, published in 1809, and we are

told that the poem of his transcribed in his manuscript, Morris 6, was written

as a prolocutio to his Irish Grammar to exhort all to the study of their native vernacular

language.50

And there are numerous notes on the origins of various place-names and on Milesian

pseudo-history, with the acknowledgement:

These authorities were extracted from Revd Dr Keating's work.

The bulk of the book was probably written by Art Murphy himself?we are told it is 'N.

Kearney's Book written by Artr. Murphy commonly call'd Murchadh na ndan'?but Nicholas

actually paid him for it, it seems: 'Nicholas Kearney purchased from Art Murphy commonly called the Whimsical bard or Juvenal GaodhghalacW, which perhaps explains what he meant

when he wrote Tt was Arthur Murphy of Grottoplace Esqr that wrote this book for my amusement, and his own benefit'. Nicholas intended to circulate it around:

A leghtheoir ionmhuin bidhiomh afhios seo agad gur dorn shealbhaibh se an leabhairin

seo, agus do bhrigh sin tabhair aire fhiudach dho. N. Ua Cearnaidh.

and, indeed, there are various names apparently signed throughout, such as Thomas Dunboyne

Esqr. Drogheda', Thomas O'Connor Esqr.',51 4 James Saunders Esqr.',

* James Gore Esqr.',

and other members of the Kearney family?Nicholas's siblings no doubt?Mary, who wrote the note:

Maria Ni Cearneidh a labhar [i]sa lamh an dar? la don Marta [an bhliain] dyaois ar

dtigearna 1822

46. Morris MS 17, p. 264.

47. Nicholas Kearney claimed to have been reared in Thomastown House (R.I.A. MS 23/E/12, p. 423) which was

located in the same 'Grot[te]field' in which Murphy's house stood (Murray, "Old Times in Dundalk", loc. cit., p.

185, n. 3). 48. The date 3 July 1817(?) is given after 'Luoidh Choinn Mhic an Deirg' (unpaginated); 21 August 1819 appears after

(Laoidh an Deirg Mhor Fein'; 27 January 1820 after 'Dan Phegidh Deiri; 9 November 1820 after 'Tuireamh na

Heirionn'.

49. H. Mac Curtin, The Elements of the Irish Language, Grammatically explained in English (Louvain, 1728), pp

89-90; a manuscript copy of this, written in Dundalk partly in 1800 and partly in 1811 was at a later date in the

possession of another prot?g? of Murphy's mentioned above, Matthew Graham (Morris MS 10, see p. 106). 50. See Paul O'Brien, A Practical Grammar of the Irish Language (Dublin, 1809), pp ix-x; Fr O'Brien has also the

verses on Ogham with an English translation (ibid, pp 194-6), which appear in Morris MS 6.

51. ? Muirgheasa, Abhr?in Airt Mhic Chubhthaigh, p. 102 and idem, "Thomas O'Connor of the Ordnance Survey", The Irish Book Lover, XXV, nos 4-6, (Jul-Dec, 1937), pp 81-4.




and James, who obviously vied with Nicholas for possession of it and left the following note,

evidently when he was quite young, though it is in a mature hand:

James Kearney's book and the aforesaid Mr Kearney is the real proprietor of it and if

any person shall dispute his title to the same he denounces a curse upon the disputant with a black foot a grey belly a red head, a bald face and green back, unless the

undisturbed possession of it be given to him instantly.

Nicholas himself was obviously quite young at the time since he supplies us with a miniature

autographed sketch of his own profile. In any case, the manuscript, if we accept it as a fairly typical example of Murphy's work as a

teacher, shows his pupils studying Gaelic poetry, particularly that of the south-east Ulster school and with a strong (post-MacPherson) interest in Ossianic verse, learning the intricacies of Irish

grammar by means of published treatises (albeit perhaps a manuscript version thereof) delving ? la Vallancey into the murky waters of Irish origin-myths, with a strong predilection for the work of Keating.

But Murphy appears to have been more than a mere hedge schoolmaster. Whatever about

the realities of their organization, he and his colleagues certainly adopted all the trappings of a

formal literary or antiquarian society. In one of the earliest of their surviving manuscripts, probably compiled in the early- to mid-1820s, we find, appended to transcripts of verse, notes

such as

Given from our office at Grotto Place Castle, by order of Arthur Murphy Esqr. Licencium(?) General to the Muses, Governor and Chief Patron to the Literati, Hibernian and Oriental Antiquary, Postor [Pastor?] of our Gaelic Society &c &c.52

This appears to be the first mention of an actual organization. We do not know when, if

ever, it was formally launched53?and this manuscript is virtually our only source for it?but formal it certainly was. It operated out of Murphy's house, which was styled, as we have just seen, the 'office', and it employed its own 'Public Secretary', a role played variously by Patrick

Dullaghan and Patrick English (O Gall?glaigh) ,54

Dullaghan we do not know much about, but he was obviously a local man?a Thomas

O'Dullaghan' figures strongly in Art Murphy's long poem / mBailethom?is i chois Dhuineachm?ir or The War of Donomore', whom Nicholas Kearney, in notes which he wrote to accompany one copy of it, tells us was 'a young farmer... residing at Donaghmore'.55 Patrick

English is, however, better known to us. He, or a member of his family, also features in The War of Donomore',56 and he gives his residence as Donomore in one early manuscript and as

52. R.I.A. MS 23/B/19, p. 172; the portion in italics has been deliberately erased, to save embarrassment no doubt!

53. Neither do we know when it lapsed. In the early 1840s it was superseded by a Drogheda-based body and in "Peadar

? Doirn?n agus Lucht Scrite a Bheatha", Studia Hibernica, 5, (1965), p. 139, n. 25, Professor ? Buachalla gives the

date 1818 for the latter's establishment, but he is apparently confusing Nicholas Kearney's use (in 1844) of the title

'Hib. Celtic Society' to describe this newly-formed organisation (usually called the Drogheda Bardic (or Celtic)

Society) with the Dublin-based 'Iberno-Celtic Society', which was, indeed, founded in 1818, but lapsed soon

afterwards.

54. R.I.A. MS 23/B/19, pp 103,167,171,172; in S?amas Mac Giolla Choille Circa 1759-1828 (Dublin, 1972), p. 66, n.

4, Seosamh ? Duibhginn suggests that both are the same man, and 'English' simply the name Dullaghan uses when

dealing with matter in English, but this is plainly not the case.

55. R.I.A. MS 12/BV5, p. 49.

56. Ibid, p. 52, where Nicholas Kearney in a note refers to him as 'a very ignorant clown'.




Kilkerley at a later date.57 He was in possession at one stage of U.C.D. MS Morris 5?a

collection of poems by Mac Cuarta, Mac 'a Liondain, Art Mac Cooey, Fr Paul O'Brien, and the

fictional Bishop O'Connell of Kerry?which may have been transcribed in 1819,58 though by 1828 it was in the hands of the Kearneys and bears the signatures of Nicholas, James and Mary.

He had possession also of RIA MS 3 C 8 (section II), written in 182259?which has several of

Murphy's own poems?before it too passed to Nicholas Kearney. But he himself was largely

responsible for transcribing the contents of NLI MS G200?again a verse collection?and his link with the Kearneys is reinforced by the fact that this manuscript too ended up in their

ownership.60 As with the society itself and its pedantic style, English displays a strong

imagination in concluding the book

re sgriobhadh an leabhairin se re Padruic O'Galloglaith an bhliaghain d'aois ar

ttighearna 1822. Patrick English M.R.I.A. &c, &c.

He not only transcribed verse but he took lessons from Art Murphy in the technique of

versification, who described him as one of his 'disciples'61 and he has left one stanza of his own

which he evidently entered as part of a bardic contention (or iomarbh?) organized by the society in the 1820s.62

But where Dullaghan and English came into their own was in the grandiloquence of their

and Art Murphy's pronouncements on behalf of the society. Here are some examples:

Issued from our office at Grottoplace Castle, Thomastown, Nov. 3rd 1826(?) . . .

Tugtha uaimse o'm Chaislean Thalmhan Didein [Grottoplace] an Cuigeadh la ar

fhidchiad do Mhi Mheadoin an TSamhraidh an bhliaghain d'aois ar ttighearna 1822 o

lamhaibhmo r?nr?idhtheora Phadraig Ui Gall?glaigh. An tansafa mo churamsa. Bhur

searbfoghantuigh [searbh?nta] uile, Art Mor Ua Mur cha

Given from our office at Grottoplace Castle this 21st day of July A.D. 1828 by order of Arthur Murphy, Esqr, by me, Pat Dullaghan, Public Secretary

Tugtha uaimse o'm Chaislean Thalmhan Didein an dar a l? do mina Marta an bhliaghain d'aois ar ttighearna 1828. bhur shearbhfoghantudhe dileas go huile. Art Mor Ua Murcha

Given from our office at Grotto Place Castle, by order of Arthur Murphy Esqr ... by me, Patrick English, Public Secretary63

57. N.L.I. MS G200, p. 55; R.I. A. MS 23/B/19, p. 101; the Haggardstown registers record the birth of a son Patt to

Matt English and Catherine (n?e Guggerty) of 'Carrefeipog' (Carrick Philip in the townland of Dunbin? See P.

Corcoran, "Townland Survey of County Louth: Townland of Dunbin, "Louth A rch. Soc.Journ., VII, 4, (1932), p.

497) on 15 March 1799, who may be our Patrick.

58. See pp 22, 33.

59. See p. 26.

60. James's signature on p. 1, Mary's p. 15, Nicholas's p. 16 (not T. J.(?) Kearney' as in Nessa Ni Sheaghdha,

Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the National Library of Ireland, Fase. 5, (Dublin, 1979), p. 85; at a later date it

seems to have passed into the possession of the well-known scribe Patrick McGahan (Professor ? Buachalla in

Peadar ? Doir?n: Amhr?in (Dublin, 1969), p. 26 ranks him among the four most prolific scribes of Oirialla in the

nineteenth century) who signed his name and the date 28 December 1842 at p. 59; the latter was at this period

supplying materials to Robert Mac Adam of Belfast (see ? Buachalla, J mB?al Feirste Cois Cuain, p. 117) and in

Belfast Public Library MS xxvi, pp 41-4 are some pieces of his of identical date, signed 'Padruicc Mac Gathan a

ndungole a bparaiste Fhachairt is a ccuitaidh Luigh December 28th 1842' (? Buachalla, Cl?r na LSS Gaeilge i

Leabharlann Phoibl? Bh?al Feirste, p. 21). 61. R.I.A. MS 23/B/19, pp 101.

62. Ibid.

63. Ibid, pp 101, 103, 173, 170, 172.




Given by permission by an ex off icio secretary of mine, in case of need64

Given under my hand at Grottoplace Jan 21 1827 Art Murphy65

When work was submitted to the society, for inspection, as it were, by Murphy, it would

re-emerge

Corrected and revised by Arthur Murphy Esquire of Grottoplace Castle

As transcribed by the learned sage and celebrated Irishian and Antiquarian, Arthur

Murphy Esqr. of Grotto Place Castle and Park

As corrected by Arthur Murphy of Grottoplace Castle & Park. Given from our office

Grottoplace P Dullaghan P Sec.66

The work of the society appears to have been confined in this period?let us say, the

1820s?to this sort of work: members (if such they would have been styled) were encouraged to

compose verse in Irish, having been taught the craft by Art Murphy, and had their work later corrected or revised by him. The work was largely organized, we are led to believe, around the

concept of an iomarbh? or bardic contention. In the 'Bardic Remains of Louth', a manuscript work compiled by two members of the society, Nicholas Kearney and Matthew Graham, we are

told:

Bardic Contentions were the very seeds and germs of true poetic knowledge, and were continued from time immemorial, even down to the present day . . .

With a view to settle the knowledge of the venerable vernacular tongue on a firm

basis, and that their own exertions would not be confined to a few, they [the society],

agreeable to the old customs existing among the bards from time immemorial, instituted bardic contentions. As a subject for those contentions or trials of skill they selected such personages as would naturally lead the least informed, to a desire to

participate in giving their mite of praise or thanks for their zeal or privations in the cause

of afflicted Ireland.67

In effect, it appears that some person would propose a theme and each contender who

volunteered would compose a poem on that subject: a judge (perhaps the original proposer,

perhaps the entire society in assembly) would select the winner. At least that is the impression one gets from the surviving accounts. Many will have heard of

the iomarbh? said to have been held by the society in 1827, famed for being the last of its kind

held in Ireland,68 though one wonders (if indeed it was ever held) whether its importance has not

been exaggerated. We are dependent for our knowledge of the iomarbh? on the word of one

person, Nicholas Kearney, and unfortunately Nicholas cannot be trusted in everything that he

says and does.69 Henry Morris hit the nail on the head when he said of him that 'he saw

64. Morris MS 17, inside back cover.

65. Morris MS 6 (unpaginated). 66. R.I.A. MS 23/B/19, pp 163, 167-8, 171.

67. Morris MS 17, pp 262, 425-6.

68. L. P. Murray, "Dundealgain in the Eighteenth Century", Louth Arch. Soe. Journ., Ill, 2, (1913), pp 154-5; H.

Morris, "F?ilte Maighistir Io Pluinceat," Louth Arch. Soe. Journ., Ill, 4, (1915), p. 390; L. ? Muireadhaigh, "O'Kearney, O'Daly and Bennett", Eigse, II, pt. 2, (Summer 1940), p. 79; Elizabeth Fitzpatrick in R.I.A. Cat. Ir.

MSS, Fase, xii, (Dublin, 1934), p. 1425; ? Duibhginn, S?amas Mac Giolla Choille, p. 49; Tom?s ? Fiaich, "The Ulster Poetic Tradition in the Nineteenth Century," L?achta? Cholm Cille, III, (1972), p. 24; J. E. Caerwyn Williams and M?ir?n Ni Mhuir?osa, Traidisi?n Liteartha na nGael (Dublin, 1979), pp 293, 333-4.

69. See, for example, Sean Duffy, "The Gaelic Account of the Bruce Invasion Cath Fhochairte Brighite: Medieval Romance or Modern Forgery?' Seanchas Ard Mhacha, 13, 1, (1988), 59-121.




everything he described through the magnifying lens of a fantastic imagination'.70 So, it is not

surprising that Nicholas's account of the event alters and inflates with the passing of the years.

According to him the iomarbh? had two themes, poems of welcome to Daniel O'Connell and to local United Irishman, Bartholomew Callan, then returning from exile, and the two contenders were Art Murphy and Dr James Woods. If we look at the two 'themes' separately, both men's Welcomes to Bartholomew Callan71 survive together in five different manuscripts, but four of these are in Kearney's own hand;72 the exemplar of each that Kearney used is in RIA

MS 23/B/19, pp 167-70. Wood's poem is described here as 'corrected by Arthur Murphy Esqr.' and is immediately followed by the latter's own poem on the same subject. This is issued on 2

March 1828?two months after Woods's death?and may even have been written at that stage; certainly, there is not so much as a passing reference to the poem having been written as part of an iomarbh?.

Furthermore, the poems on the other theme, the Welcomes to O'Connell, were almost

certainly not part of any 1827 contention. Far from having been composed in 1827, Dr Woods's

poem, which comes near the end of U.C.D. MS Morris 18 (the earlier part, at least, of which is dated 1821-2), since it refers to O'Connell's return from 'uais-bhruin Bhreatairi, was

presumably written upon O'Connell's famous visit to London in the spring of 1825 to lobby against Goulburn's Unlawful Societies Bill. It was transcribed by Art Murphy in RIA MS

23/B/19, again after Woods's death, and it precedes Art's own attempt at a poem on the same

theme. At this stage it was appended by a note from the society's public secretary, who seems to have been unaware of its composition for an iomarbh? and a little uncertain as to when or why it was written:

This was no doubt written by the learned Doctor Woods on the Counsellor's return to Dublin after being to London to make some Depositions to Parliament. P. Dullaghan P. Secretary.

Now, undoubtedly Nicholas Kearney could throw little further light on the matter, but this

manuscript later came into his possession, and when he was collaborating on the 'Bardic Remains of Louth', in the early 1830s, he transcribed the poems, adding the following introduction, based essentially, as can be seen, on Dullaghan's note:

Among those men upon whom the eyes of the afflicted people of Ireland were fixed was

the talented and steady patriot and honest-hearted friend of Ireland and other liberties, Daniel O'Connell Esqr. The faute or welcome home to Mr O'Connell after he had been in London on some business of importance to Ireland, was made a subject of bardic contention. The competitors were the late learned and much to be lamented James

Woods Esqr MD of Dundalk and Mr Murphy. We give the contention for the reader's

satisfaction, and leave him to determine who was best worthy of the prize.73

He makes no mention of the date of the supposed contention or of its significance in being the last of its kind ever held. This comes later.

About 1840, Nicholas copied the poems again, this time into a small book he gave to 'Dr' Brian O'Roddy, another member of the group, under the heading

The last Contention of the Bards of Ireland, between the late Arthur Murphy Esqr. of

70. Abhr?in Airt Mhic Chubhthaigh, p. 179.

71. Edited by ? Duibhginn in S?amas Mac Giolla Choille, pp 49-57.

72. Morris MS 17; R.I.A. MSS 12/BV5, 23/0/47, and 23/E/12.

73. Morris MS 17, p. 426; it is clear from this that Kearney has lost sight, or was never aware, of the precise occasion of

O'ConnelPs career that inspired the composition.




Grottoplace Castle and Park, and the late lamented James Woods Esqr. MD Dundalk.

Let the reader judge for himself from the following specimens . . .

The poems are followed by the note:

I constitute the learned Dr Brian O'Roddy, Honorary Member of the Botanic Society, the Judge of the foregoing Bardic Contention being the last held in Ireland and

probably the last that may be held. N. Kearney74

His detail is only very vague here since O'Roddy might have been in a position to query some of

the specifics, but within a few years Nicholas had found himself several wealthy patrons in

Dublin and elsewhere, and in a volume produced for one of these, he again provided a copy of

the poems.

Twenty years after the event Nicholas's recollection is at last bearing forth detail. On this

occasion, the date, or rather dates, make an appearance:

Dr Woods was a very learned man, a judicious antiquarian, and an eminent bard; he

held the last Iomarbhaigh, or Bardic Contention, we have known to be held in Ireland, in 1825 and 1826, with Mr Murphy of Grotto Castle, both of which shall be inserted in

this volume . . .75

But when it comes to quoting the poems we get a different date still (the one usually given by

commentators), and for the first time, the location?the romantic surroundings of Castletown mount?as well as the assertion that Murphy and Woods were far from being the only original contestants:

The latest Iomarbhaigh or Bardic Contention for Precedence, known to be held in

Ireland, took place in 1827 in Dundealgan, the ancient residence of princes, chieftains

and bards. There were several competitors for bardic honours, but the efforts of their

genius not coming up to the mark, they dropped off one by one, and left the prize to be

contended for by Arthur O'Murphy of Grotto Castle, and James Woods, M.D. Esqrs. It remains with the reader to form his own judgement concerning the merits of the

compositions of both. . . . Daniel O'Connell Esqr. was selected as the hero for the next poem; by a marginal

note in the manuscript whence this is taken [RIA MS 23 B 19], I find that the learned

gentleman's return to Dublin after being to the House of Commons to undergo an

examination relative to the state of Ireland, is made the occasion of the Faute.

The foregoing were the only pieces produced on occasion of the Iombarbhaigh . . ,76

As to the outcome, he tells us

Though the victory was conceded by universal consent to the former gentleman

[Murphy], there remains a doubt that the urbanity and modesty of the latter was the

principal cause of coming to the decision, since he gave his acknowledgement to that

effect in his hand-writing to his opponent . . .

... In the following Ranns the Worthy Doctor bears testimony to the bardic skill of his

learned antagonist, and conceded to him the victory. This is taken from Doctor Woods'

letter on the occasion [RIA MS 23 B 19, p. 106] directed to Mr Murphy and now in

possession of the Transcriber . . .

74. R.I.A. MS 12/BV5, pp 144-57. 75. R.I.A. MS 23/E/12, p. 353. 76. R.I.A. MS 23/E/12, pp 392, 395, 396.




and he proceeds to quote Woods's tribute to Murphy, 'A Mhurchaidh Mh?ir nachfann bri',11 which makes no reference whatever to an iomarbh? between them and is more than likely

written, as I shall describe later, for another purpose on another occasion.

Thus, while there may have been some form of contention between Murphy and

Woods?they both at least, presumably not coincidentally, composed two poems each on

similar themes?we are probably wrong to think in terms of a formal iomarbh?, held in the

presence of an assembled multitude, either on Castletown mount or any other such idyllic

setting, and the date 1827 is out of the question, since one of the poems by Woods had already been in circulation for two years by that stage. However, Kearney was a member of the society, intimate with Murphy, and a great admirer of Woods: there must have been some basis to his

albeit hyperbolized account. And the basis lies in the same manuscript from which he originally

copied the 'Welcomes'.

When he and Matthew Graham were compiling the 'Bardic Remains', they follow this

remark on the so-called iomarbh?:

We, in our days, saw Grottoman [Murphy] contend with the learned Doctor

Woods . . .

with the statement:

. . . and we saw Grottoman and his pupils contend with two persons called Coleman and

Lennon.

Now, these were also members of the society. We do not know anything of the contention waged with Lennon, but some information regarding that with Coleman survives. In the original

manuscript, RIA 23 B 19, a stanza is preserved, by Joseph O Colmain, on a religious theme

(Protestantism and its hoped-for demise), beginning 'Seacht seirce mo chraoidhe an creidiomh

d'faig Criost air ball', which was certainly intended to provoke a competitive response from

other members of the society?and we do not have to rely on Kearney's word for it?because it

follows Art's own note:

The following theme was proposed by Joseph Coleman Esr.

And it immediately precedes six other compositions, all of them on a similar theme: one stanza

by Eoin a Leannan (presumably the Lennon78 involved in the other contention), a stanza by

poetess Mairia Ni Cearnaidh, Bhaile Thomais (probably, as already mentioned, Nicholas's

sister), two stanzas by the master himself, Art Mor Ua Murchadh, Chaislean Talmhain Didein,19 one stanza by English, P?draig O Gallogluidh, Chillechuirle, one stanza by Brian O Roduig,

and finally, two stanzas by someone whose name is unfortunately deliberately erased, though I

think it is just about possible to make out the name Nioclas Ua Cearnaidh (since the manuscript, of course, later fell into his possession, Nicholas may have been embarrassed by this rather

feeble early attempt). At the foot of the page is the note:

Mr Murphy requests, if the gentleman who proposed the theme [Joseph Coleman] finds

any error in the foregoing verses sent under his inspection, he will obligingly communicate the same to him: for whatever is found erroneous in his or his disciples'

77. Edited by ? Duibhginn, S?amas Mac Giolla Choille, pp 65-8.

78. The Haggardstown baptismal register has an Owen son of Matthew Lannen of Belrobin, born 12 October 1797.

79. R.I. A. MS 23/B/19, pp 100-1 ; I print Art's less than inspiring contribution in Appendix B (i)?well might Cardinal

? Fiaich say of his poems that 'one gets the impression from them that his talents were not on a par with his

enthusiasm' ('Ulster Poetic Tradition in 19th Century', loc. cit., p. 25).




work he is accountable for, and will thank him for making such remarks. Issued from our office at Grottoplace Castle, Thomastown, Nov 3 1826(?) . . .

The rest of the note is again deliberately deleted at this point, and it is a pity that the year itself is too faint to identify with certainty: though the Academy's cataloguer has opted for 1835,80 I

think it may read 1826?the rest of the manuscript was compiled in this earlier period, and

Nicholas Kearney, who, I have suggested, may be one of the contenders, tells us that the other

contention, held obviously before Woods's death in January 1828, was the last ever held.81 This does at least prove that contentions, or some sort of concerted versification on a

chosen theme, did form a part of the society's activities, whatever about the organizing of public assemblies to adjudicate the entries. And what a curious glimpse the episode gives at the

preoccupations of this group of rustic enthusiasts. What appears to us as a series of stray verses, of inferior quality, randomly preserved, was by all accounts the product of some sort of literary altercation taken very seriously by those involved, serious enough to be commented on, perhaps a decade later, in the collection of 'Bardic Remains of Louth', a volume intended for

publication.

Murphy and Woods were the shining lights of the society, Woods perhaps because of his status as an apothecary and of his advanced years, and Murphy because of his role as teacher

and, as it were, master of ceremonies. The authors of the 'Bardic Remains' pay them this tribute:

The bardic celebrity of the present day is not confined to the talent of the aforesaid

individuals, although to do justice to their name, we are bound to confess that all the

energies displayed by others of later years are altogether owing to their exertions, and to the examples set by them, as well as to the encouragement they from time to time afforded to such as were desirous of studying, or transcribing the M.S.S. of old Ireland.

To these gentlemen we may also trace the origin of the independent spirit lately evinced in our County, and which reflects everlasting honours upon their name, and shall, remain a monument of imperishable fame to their memory for ever.82

It was between these two that, as mentioned, a contest was allegedly waged to compose poems of welcome to Daniel O'Connell and Bartholomew Callan, but there was another curious

disputation between them, which may have soured somewhat their relations towards the end, though the various stages are difficult to interpret with ease. Murphy composed a poem on the Irish language entitled 'Murcha Mor'?a strange title one would have thought, but then the

poem was intended to demonstrate his own prowess therein?and, as seems normal, the work was intended to elicit a response. The 'Bardic Remains' tells us:

. . . and we also saw Grottoman challenge the whole world by his learned poem on the Irish language, entitled 'Murcha Mor', to which we think he never got a satisfactory answer.83

The work has never previously been printed but at least two copies of it survive, one on a slip of

paper added (it would appear, at a later date) to RIA MS 3 C 8 (Section II), a work compiled circa 1822,84 and the other in U.C.D. MS Morris 1, a somewhat later work, written perhaps

80. R.I.A. Cat. Ir. MSS, p. 1424. 81. Morris MS 17, p. 425. 82. Ibid, p. 441. 83. Ibid, p. 263. 84. See p. 35.




about 1830.85 In it Murphy poses a series of questions on points of Irish grammar (five questions in one version, six in the other), to which the poet calls for answers,86 and to it is appended in one

of the recensions the benediction 'Detur Dignissimo' ('May it [i.e. a satisfactory answer] be

granted to the most worthy [i.e. Murphy]'). Now, if Murphy 'never got a satisfactory answer', quite some time later he heard that Dr

Woods had written a satirical piece in reply, though he did not receive a copy of the work from

Woods. This is the explanation of his:

Litir do sgriobhadh le Art Mor Ua Murcadh, chun a liaigh oirdherc S?amus Mac

iolchoilleadh, iar chlosan go ndearna s? [Woods] ceol c?inte dh?. Ar th?ille rann do cur

s? [Murphy] chuige cian ? shoin darb ainm Murcha Mor87

which precedes his short poem addressed to Woods, beginning 'Thusa sgriobh mo th?inse', in

which he castigates Woods for spurning their friendship, for, as he hears it, criticising his verse

before the neighbours, and for failing to understand the point of the poem, in spite of his great

learning, and warns him to answer his poem sensibly and in a generous spirit, 'or there's no

branch on your treetop/that my sickle won't chop'! If this appears half-joking, the poem is

appended by a rather more ominous note which, one senses, is wholly in earnest:

Mu na ndeanfar ni bhidhiom feste gaghta leat.88

It was surely in response to this threat and in an effort to heal the rift between them that Woods composed his eulogistic tri rann agus amhr?n, beginning 'A Mhurchaidh M hoir nach

fann bri'89 which he made sure to send to Murphy, along with the note:

Shaoil m? go bhfuair t? a ch?ip-sgribhinn so bfad ? shoin ?ir do chuir m? chugad ?.

Chum Art Mor Mac Murchadh. S?amus Mac Iolchoilleadh.

Whether the poem did in fact heal the rift remains in doubt since the 'Bardic Remains' refers to

'the testimony [A Mhurchaidh Mh?ir nach fann br?] the deceased bard [Woods] bore to the

surviving one, although we do not hear that Mr Murphy has written a single stanza to the

memory of his friend and colleague in the bardic fame, a circumstance much to be regretted by the friends of the deceased, and of Irish literature in general',90 and much later Nicholas

Kearney claimed that Woods's elegy was written instead by Matthew Graham.91

The incident gives us a good glimpse of the character of Art Murphy, and it should not

surprise us if he and Woods parted on bad terms. It was not without reason that Kearney dubbed

him 'the Whimsical Bard', for he appears to have been a very testy fellow indeed. It is a curious

thing that, like Dr Woods, most of his verse is preoccupied with comment ? in his case, often

derogatory ? on his fellow Gaelic scholars and on his unfortunate neighbours.

His magnum opus is a piece I have already mentioned, The War of Donomore', a long

piece of doggerel, with an enormous cast of characters, drawn from Thomastown, nearby

Kilkerley and Donaghmore, the parishes of Dunbin and Louth, Inniskeen, Dundalk, the

85. Tract II, item 3.

86. See Appendix B (ii). 87. ? Duibhginn in S?amas Mac Giolla Choille, p. 67 interprets this to mean that Murphy was replying to the poem

called 'Murcha Mor sent by Woods, but we know from the 'Bardic Remains' and the two surviving copies of it that

Murphy was the author; it is, of course, easily confused with Woods's lA Mhurchaidh Mh?ir nach fann bri .

88. R.I.A. MS 23/B/19, p. 119; printed by ? Duibhginn, pp 67-8.

89. R.I.A. MS 23/B/19 p. 106; O Duibhginn, pp 66-7.

90. Morris MS 17, pp 441-2; Art did address another poem to (one presumes) Dr Woods, beginning A liaigh mo sp?is tabhair dhamhsa leighios' which probably pertains to the same episode: I print it in Appendix B (iii) (see Morris MS

D 91. R.I.A. MS 23/E/12, p. 353 (though the elegy appears to have perished with the elegist).




Cooley mountains and the bog of Federnagh in County Armagh. To my knowledge, only one

entire copy of it?252 lines in all?has been preserved (RIA MS 12 Bx5) ; there is an acephalous copy in RIA MS 3 C 8, II, which wants for the first 52 lines, and we are evidently fortunate to

have even these: before bemoaning the loss of manuscripts down through the years, it is worth

noting that, when a member of the society and doting pupil of Art Murphy, Matthew Graham, was asked to provide a translation of the poem in a collection of his own work published in 1833, he could only lay hands on the first of the poem's four parts. He tells us:

The following translation (being but part of the poem) was not intended for publication. However, I am prevailed upon, by the solicitations of my friends, to give it a place in this

collection.

The possessor92 lent the MS to a gentleman now in Germany, who is expected to

return home in a short time. The copy cannot be found in his absence.93

Who the gentleman in Germany was (if he ever existed) we do not know,94 but he did

presumably return the manuscript, since we have what Graham did not?the full text of the

poem.

Not alone that, but this rambling discourse (of which Henry Morris rightly stated:

'Whatever element of humour it ever had is all or nearly all lost now to readers to whom the

dramatis personae and their characters are unknown')95 has had some of its cryptic humour

restored by Nicholas Kearney's personal notes on many of the participants.96 Local memory even in the present century ascribed the origin of the 'War' to a quarrel arising out of a trespass

by hens97 and, sure enough, the leader of the enemy forces was 'Sir John Higler' which is, o?

course, a name for a dealer, usually of fowl and eggs. As to the identity of 'Higler', the poem is

subtitled 'SiorchogadhAirt M hoir lena chomharsna Crilly' and Nicholas in his notes, on a couple of occasions,98 explains that 'Jack Crilly' was a nickname applied to James Kearney Jr., which

may imply that the quarrel was caused by the straying of the latter's hens into 'Grottoplace Park'.

Matthew Graham lists the dramatis personae of the first part:

Patrick Hughes, Lord of Thomastown, Commander-in-chief, upon whose account the

War is proclaimed.

92. i.e. 'Mr Murphy' according to R.I.A. MS 12/B2/12, p. 47.

93. Matthew Graham, The Giantess, from the Irish ofOisin (Belfast 1833) p. 33; reprinted in Tempest's Annual, 1918,

pp 106-15.

94. One might hazard a guess that he may be identified with the 'Chevalier Sir Dudley O'Roddy, Stutdgardt', a Gaelic

scholar listed in 1853 among 'the stars of the Irish hemisphere' (in a letter of Patrick O'Farrell, Balbriggan, to the

Dublin Weekly Telegraph, 9 April 1853, reprinted in Irish Book Lover, XXVII, no. 5, (Nov 1940), pp 256-8), who

could possibly have been related to the group's own Brian O'Roddy?an enigmatic character deserving of fuller

treatment than I have room to give here. The society did have some foreign connections: Matthew Graham had a

brother James who was in Spain in the mid-1830s 'embarked in a bad cause which cannot be long successful' (letter to Graham from Dundalk circa 1836, writer unknown, Mac Amhlaigh MS, between pp 255-6 (on reverse)),

presumably connected with the civil war then raging in that country. And he had a sister, a poetess, who translated

Irish songs into Italian and Spanish, who lived in Exeter in Devon, and allegedly married a son of a General Sir

John Campbell of Argyll in 1844 (letter of Nicholas Kearney to John O'Daly, 19 September 1844, in N.L.I. MS

G389, pp 259-61). Matthew himself married 'a French-bred lady' (ibid, pp 285-8). And then, of course, there was

the famous 'H. Stueb Knt.' whose name is added in die-stamp in the group's manuscripts (R.I.A. MSS 23/B/19, p. 143 and 24/L/25, pp 1,147); he is, no doubt, a fictional character invented to lend something of a cosmopolitan aura

to their work.

95. Henry Morris, "Matthew Moore Graham", Louth Arch. Soe. Journ., IX, 2, (1938), p. 122.

96. R.I.A. MS 12/BV5, pp 40-57.

97. Morris, "Matthew Moore Graham", loc. cit., p. 122.

98. R.I.A. MS 12/BV5, pp 48, 51.




General Arthur O'Murphy, of Grottoplace Castle, second in command.

General O'Kearney, a neighbouring Gentleman.

Colonel Sir Brian O'Roddy, of the Enniskeen Horse.

Marshal M'Keowne, a neighbouring Gentleman.

Captain John O'Hanlon, a neighbouring Gentleman.

Captain James M'Kenna, Aid-de-camp to General O'Murphy. Colonel Big James Garvey, Aid-de-camp to the Commander-in-chief.

Captain James M'Kenna, Aid-de-camp to General O'Murphy.

Lady Cecelia M'Keowne, Lord McKeowne's Mother.

Thomas O'Dullaghan, Higler [the enemy]'s Plenipotentiary.99

but Kearney provides notes on some of these and a great many more besides. Take the following

examples:

Basleoir Mhailigh

S?amus O hAodh

Cinedy Tom Buigh Conainn

Silver the Drawer

Larry Mhiceail

Jemmy the Hackler

Others do not fare so well:

John Fada

Jinty Bacach

An Turraineach

Sleibhteoir

'Molly's Batchelor, a young farmer named Thos. Dullaghan

residing at Donaghmore: he was famed for his gallantry and habits

of courtship, his mother's name was Molly' 'Jas. Hughes of Donomore a respectable farmer'

'Kennedy the petty sessions clerk of Dundalk, a shoemaker'

'Thos. O'Connell Esqr. of Kilcurly near Dundalk'

'a hedge schoolmaster named John Silver who lived in the parish of

Louth'

'Laurence Cunningham Esqr. of Donomore near Dundalk,

commonly called Larry the Juror; the family came into the country

begging from some part of Connaught' 'Jas. Brennan a rag-gatherer, formerly

a soldier'

Paidigh Timins

An tath-lothar

Gall?glaigh

Paidigh the Gull

Buckey Mholl

Cineac?n bacach

Peadar O N?ill

Doct?r

Killbuck

Mata O hAnluain

Eoghan MacAongusa

'an idle lump of a clown named Finegan' 'MacCormick, he was supposed to be a person of bad character'

'a purblind poetaster named Lynch nicknamed Turreen'

'a term of contempt because he was originally from the Cooley mountains, his real name was Thos. Carr?n, he held a small farm in

the parish of Dunbin'

'Pat Timmins prided himself in his wisdom'

'a deranged tailor named Traynor'

'English was a very ignorant clown'

'Mac Cormick, almost blind'

'Jas. Brennan a common clown noted for his love of talking nonsense, he was called Buckey Moll from his mother whose name

was Moll or Mary' 'a lame cobbler named Kinahan'

'O Neill was a parish dandy' 'a man named Finegan so called on account of his effeminate habits'

'a dwarfish man'

'Hanlon was a noli me tangere'

'a very talkative person'

99. The Giantess, p. 35.




Jack Crilly O Cearnaigh 'James Kearney Junr. Esqr. Sean Phluc soil Tluc soil was a man named Lochran pimp to the last mentioned'

Inghin Bheiti mh?r 'A herring-cadger's daughter named Bridget McCormick. Betty Mh?r her mother was usually called Moll Rosin, both Billingsgate

characters'

Ceallaigh 'another Federnagh man' an Cod Thos. Brannan, a heckler, nicknamed Cod'

Go-Deck Ui Gugarsaigh 'a lazy scoundrel' an bucks weep 'a drunken chimney sweep named Connor'

There are many others besides these in the poem (for whom Kearney does not,

unfortunately, supply a note), so that one imagines few if any of Murphy's neighbours escaped mention: and what a strange collection of curiosities they are?with occupations running all the

way from respectable farmer to petty sessions clerk and shoemaker, rag-gatherer and former

soldier, a hedge schoolmaster and a couple of hacklers (flax-dressers), a purblind poetaster and a pimp, a herring-cadger [or street-seller]'s daughter, a lame cobbler, a deranged tailor, and a

drunken chimney sweep?and personalities of every sort?a parish dandy, a very talkative man, a 'noli me l?ngere' (who obviously liked to be left alone), a lazy scoundrel, a person of bad

character, a self-conscious sage, a man of effeminate habits, and lots of clowns, a common

clown, a very ignorant clown, and an idle lump of a clown! Even without Kearney's pejorative annotations, Murphy's poem must have been the talk of the entire neighbourhood, and not just of Kilkerley and Donaghmore: others are mentioned from further afield?there was even a

contingent from Featherbed Lane, about which Kearney comments, 'A place of ill-fame in Dundalk'.

But Art was not a man to shy away from controversy, and not a man to let by unchallenged behaviour which did not meet with his approval. Let us take the case of his neighbour Thomas

Hughes. He features as a minor character in The War of Donomore', but Art actually

composed a separate poem in praise of him entitled 'Dan Thaimine UiAodh' which was released from his office on 25 June 1822 'o labhaidh mo runraidhtheora Phadraig Ui Galloglaigh'?five quatrains, complete with an English translation. I give here the first verse:

A Thaimine Ui Aodh a phlanda don tsiol A bhfe?rr a bhi s'tir le c?ad bliaghain Le huaisle do shiubhail is le crodhacht do ghnioimh Go bhfuair tu buaigh air oig laoch na hEirionn

In Curranstown by name there dwells a rambling blade He is called Thomas Hughes the breaver

He is the best of the seed that grew of the breed He is conqueror of said generation

. . .10?

and so it goes on. Very complimentary stuff, and no doubt fully sincere. But Art obviously did not write such tributes to while away the time?he must have expected some recompense, because at the end of the poem is the note:

Tugaidh f?sf? dheara n?rchuirMac UiAodh le mh?id dhamhsa danidheoin go ndearna mise rann fi?dach don arcan ghortach

100. R.I.A. MS 23/B/19, pp 102-3; see Appendix B (iv).




which must mean that Hughes had not sent what he promised despite the fact that Art composed a worthy poem 'for the stingy little pig'!101

Another of Art's poems, 'Laoi an Ghiosdaire MhaoiV (Morris 6), is just the sort of thing that earned him his reputation as the 'Juvenal Gaodhghalach' (in honour of the great Roman

satirist). Henry Morris edited it along with the main part of the introductory remarks which

accompany it (written, of course, either by Art or for Art):

These lines were composed by Poet Murphy in consequence of a straggling fellow

named Daly who pretended to be a great scholar and decent man, but in fact was

not . . .

but he left out the sting in the tail:

. . . and fouled his nest at night.

The poem is printed in Dh? Ch?ad de Cheoltaibh Uladh, where Morris rightly points out:

Is deacair an t-amhr?n seo a thuigsint go cruinn, n? mar is gn?thach ni innseann s? a sg?al

f?in.

The story appears to be that Daly arrived in Murphy's neighbourhood, in the company of

somebody called William. Morris suggests that the Daly in question may have been Peadar

Dubh ? D?laigh, a schoolmaster, poet and scribe, from County Meath (whose grandfather was

named William and may have had a son of the same name), and the poem recounts his once great skill at versification and how he "received a very hospitable reception: but Daly abused his

hospitality, he 'fouled the nest', by virtue of something that he said that night:

Gur dhubhairt s? f? dheireadh 'san o?dhce nuair bh? s? ?r-mhall, Is r?-mhairg duit-se m? scriosann t? mise le feall.

The import of what he said may be lost to us, but it did not please Art. After Daly departed, he 4

tells us, the good weather returned, it is to be hoped that he will not come back to us too soon; he

was the worst in the world, the dregs of the earth, the unblessed old wretch, 'an giosdaire maol':

Ach d'imthaigh s? uainn 's go raibh an turadh 'na dh?idh, T? d?il agam nach dtilleann s? chugainn go r?idh, 'S b? d?oga an domhain is droch-earradh an tsaoghail,

An giosdaire gan choisreacadh, an giosdaire maol.102

To some extent, Murchadh na nd?n (as Kearney tells us he was commonly called) seems to

have considered himself the watchdog of the locality, guardian of public morality. Art lived at

Larkin's Cross, on the road from Dundalk to Carrickmacross. Only about half a kilometre

westwards along the same road is what was then known as Rice's Cross (or Rice's Bridge after

the advent of the railway), and apparently on Sundays the Rice family held dances at the

crossroads, about which Murphy wrote a poem, 'Dan ar Dhamhsai an Risigh'. He objected to

the breaking of the Sabbath:

Is cian Horn an greann ata againn is tir,

Ag briseadh m?r-shaoire an DomhnaigJi,

101. It is interesting to note that the word 'acaran' is still in use in the English of the neighbourhood to mean 'the smallest

piglet in the litter': Etienne Rynne, "A Word-List from the Neighbourhood of Kilkerley, Co Louth" Louth Arch. Soe. Journ., XIX, 4, (1980), p. 288.

102. Dh? Ch?ad de Cheoltaibh Uladh, pp 424-5.




not only by dancing reels and listening to the pipes, but by drinking as well:

Ag 61, is le piob ag ?isteacht s? a mian, 'S ag damhs' a gcuid reels i gcomhnuidhe.

He tells us that a 'heretic businessman', perhaps a Protestant shopkeeper or merchant, spoke to

him about it, chastising the people for their folly, and wondering whether their behaviour had

the sanction of the clergy:

Is ?iriceach gn? gur dhubhairt Horn f? dh?

Nach ar baos 'ar nd?igh bh? go l?ir iad;

Thug tarcuisne is n?ire damh ar a' th?ille, Is d'fhiafruigh an ar sh?samh na cl?if ?.

Art replied that they knew nothing about it, and that it was only harmless fun, but the Protestant

gentleman's response was to threaten vengeance upon them. Art concludes therefore by giving his everlasting blessing to all his neighbours who avoid such foolish behaviour, and imploring

everyone to do likewise:

B'fhearr liom-sa f?in n? c?os Ch?ige Laighean Go stadfaidhe a dtr?artha baothmhar,

'S mo bheannacht go h?ag don chomharsain go l?ir

Ar sheachaint a gcaithr?ime craosaigh.103

This is an interesting poem because for once we see Art in serious mood, with a serious

complaint, and we gain some little insight into the social conditions in the neighbourhood: the

Protestant gentleman, for example, is a heretic, the Catholic clergy meanwhile are uninformed, and while the piper at the crossroads plays his reels, around him an exceedingly ugly

drinking-bout ('p?it r?-ghr?namhaiV) is taking place. But one would be wrong to see Art Murphy as an old ogre, the terror of his poor

neighbours. If anything, his work is characterised by an impish sense of fun, from which, of

course, nobody was exempt. One such was Edward Carolan, 'the Turk'. We do not know where

he lived, but he was a schoolmaster and teacher of Irish. As appears quite a regular occurrence,

Art heard that Carolan had satirized him and so he sent him a poem in the form of a letter, a copy of which survives, prefaced by the note:

Rann a sgriobhadh i litir leis a tSaoi eolach foghlamtha Art Mor O Mur cha Chaislean

Thalmhan Didein Bhailethomais, chuige Eadbhart Ua Cearbhallan air bhforainm

Turcach, maighistir sgoile, oide m?inte Gaoidheilge, is duine eolach glic, iar celosain gur c?in an Turcach an duine uasal ceadna.

The poem itself, which I print in Appendix B (y), is almost as polite. After complimenting 'an

Turcach' for his intellect and his slight regard for the new age, Carolan is asked why he should

dislike Art, when he knows nothing about him. T am Murcha of the Race of Sages', he says, 'who once ruled in pleasant Eamhahr, and he threatens to cut short Carolan's career for so

maligning his reputation; unless, that is, it was drunkenness that caused him to do so, in which

case he is prepared to forgive him! And he concludes the letter with the salutation:

Beannacht dhuit a Thurcaigh, uadh do shearbhoghantuidhe cl?ibh,

Art Mor Ua Murchadh

103. Ibid, pp 421-2; R.I.A. MS 3/C/8, II, p. 36 verso.




Chaisleain Thalmhan D?d?in, Bhailethomais.104

The poem is interesting because of the mention of it having been sent by letter to Edward

Carolan, and much of the society's activity appears to take that form. In fact, we may be quite

wrong to think in terms of a congregational organization. The slight evidence surviving suggests that communication was largely by correspondence. Art Murphy's composition 'Murcha Mor'

was described as 'a poem that he sent to' Dr Woods, but when Murphy heard that Woods had

circulated a poem critical of him, he composed 'Tusa scr?obh mo th?inse' and sent it in the form

of 'a letter written by Art Mor O Murchadh to the eminent doctor James Woods', and Woods

responded with A Mhurchaigh Mh?irnachfann bn and the claim that he thought that Murphy 'had received this transcript a long time ago, because I sent it to you'. One might explain this by the fact that Dr Woods was an elderly man living in the town of Dundalk and unable to take part in person in the society's activities, but then, in the other instance of the contention with his

neighbour Joseph Coleman, Art referred to 'the foregoing verses sent under my inspection' and

it seems that neither was this a contention held before an assembled congregation, but rather a

form of social exchange conducted over a period by means of literary communication. Of

course, one wonders how far the resources of such an impoverished group would extend in a

protracted correspondence and, all the more so, at the need for such an approach, since, with

the exception of Dr Woods, its members were all near neighbours. This is one of the more curious aspects of the group, the fact that, apart from Dr Woods, all

of its members appear to be drawn from an area centring on Thomastown, and including the

townlands to east and west, Donaghmore and Kilkerley. The doctor stands out by virtue not

only of his location, but by his social status, being a qualified pharmacist registered at the

Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland,105 and by his advanced age, approaching seventy when his

surviving work with the society was composed. The fact that Woods was presumably writing for

a great many years previous, indicates what must have been the dearth of contact for this Gaelic

enthusiast in Dundalk until he met up, and became involved, with Murphy and his 'disciples'. But Dr Woods was no mere casual correspondent of the group. Art Murphy's poem 'The War of

Donomore' features a Thomas McKeowne, and his mother, 'Lady Cecelia McKeowne': they must have had a relative, a young woman by the name of Ellen McKeowne, who lived in

Kilkerley,106 and in Morris 18, a manuscript he wrote in 1821-2, Woods has a 'ceolnuadh, chum

a Doctuir, do Ellenn Ni Ceoin a ccillachoirle', a poem in four verses, which he wrote in praise of

her beauty.107 The implication is that he was a regular visitor to the neighbourhood108 and in

close contact with at least some of Murphy's neighbours, with whom he appears to have been on

very friendly terms.

So, we have here a society of some sort or other, with its centre of gravity (at this early stage, in any case) firmly fixed in Thomastown, but attracting the attention of Gaelic enthusiasts from

104. R.I.A. MS 23/B/19, p. 118; two other members of Art's society copied the poem from this manuscript: Nicholas

Kearney into R.I.A. MS 12/BV5, pp 118-9 (complete with the introduction and conclusion) and Matthew Graham

into the Mac Amhiaigh MS, p. 268, who entitles it 'TheAmadan Mor' and changes line 5 to 'Mise Mathamh o treibh na saoidh'.

105. I hope to deal with Dr Woods's career elsewhere; cf. ? Duibhginn, S?amas Mac Giolla Choille, p. 8.

106. The family were obviously Gaelic enthusiasts, perhaps descended from the Catholic gentry family, the McKeowns

of Belrobin: a 'Mr Owen McKone, Jun., Kilcurley' subscribed to Neilson's Irish Grammar in 1808 {Introduction to

the Irish Language, p. vii). The Ellen in question may have been the 'Else' born to Hugh McKeone and Ann (n?e

Duffy) on 6 March 1780 according to the Haggardstown registers, though this would put her in her forties by the

time Woods's encomium was penned. 107. Edited by ? Duibhginn, S?amas Mac Giolla Choille, pp 72-3.

108. Many years later Nicholas Kearney stated that, as a child, Woods had been the Kearney family doctor: Nicholas

O'Kearney, "Folk-Lore", Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society, II, (1852-3), p. 38.




further afield. And it is worth emphasising that the work of Woods and Murphy was not simply a

pleasant form of amusement on their part: these two men were making a conscious effort, in the

only means at their disposal, to conserve?and perhaps more importantly?to foster Gaelic

learning in their area. If Art's Gaelic society did not amount to much it was not for want of

dedication. Art, though no doubt considerably younger than Woods, was not himself enjoying

very good health by this stage. Although the 'Bardic Remains' described him as still 'ready to

contend with any other bard who may lay claim to a share of merit in the literary world',109

nevertheless, in October 1831, he begged Matthew Graham to excuse him for 'forgetting to

write to you this long time past. I have been but in very bad spirits'. On the occasion he enclosed

his poem (see above) complaining of being 'daily hard at irksome work'; he curses his fate,

saying he would be better off sold as a slave in India where at least he would not have to crave his

food in vain! As for his only son, then turning fifteen, he says he wishes he were 'a sodger laddie'

than to stay at home and have his heart broken, through hardship presumably. He concludes:

I canna be in spirits friskie, Nor can my senses be but diskie; E'en tho' I were well soaked in whiskie

Yet still I'd smart.110

For all its deficiencies, it is a sad little poem. One has a feeling that when Doctor Woods died in

January 1828 Art's society lost a conscious living link with the eighteenth-century bardic school

of south-east Ulster, the tradition that produced in the previous century the Mac 'a Liondains, O

Doirn?n and Art MacCooey. In a sense, Doctor Woods had outlived his time. He was a bridge between the generations, and with his passing, a phase had ended in the activity of Art's Gaelic

society. After him, all that was left were the 'bardic remains', and it was to the collection and

preservation of these that the new generation of members of the society was to turn.

APPENDIX A

THE GAELIC VERSE OF ART MURPHY

(a) FIRST LINE: A Fhlaith ta brioghmhar gluais go sitheach

SUBTITLE: Cuireadh 7 Faute Oi Chonuill go Caislean Talmhan Didein

Bhailethomais, faras Mhurchadh Mh?ir

SOURCE: RIA MS 23/B/19 LENGTH: 6 stanzas

(b) FIRST LINE: A liaigh mo speis tabhair dhamhsa l?ighios SOURCE: U.C.D. MS Morris 1

LENGTH: 12 lines

EDITIONS: See Appendix B, item (iii)

(c) FIRST LINE: A shaoithe Eirionn uile aird

SUBTITLE: Mur cha Mor

SOURCE: U.C.D. MS Morris 1; RIA MS 3/C/8, II

LENGTH: 24 lines

109. Morris MS 17, p. 263.

110. Ibid, p. 447.



252

(d)

EDITIONS:

FIRST LINE: SUBTITLE: SOURCE: LENGTH: EDITIONS:

(e) FIRST LINE: SOURCE: LENGTH: EDITIONS:

(f) FIRST LINE: SUBTITLE: SOURCE: LENGTH:

(g)

GO



(i) FIRST LINE: SUBTITLE: SOURCE: LENGTH:

County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal

See Appendix B, item (ii)

A Thaimine Ui Aodh a phlanda don tsfol Dan Thaimine Ui Aodh

RIA MS 23/B/19 5 quatrains and an English verse translation See Appendix B, item (iv)

A Thurcaigh mh?ir nach eadtrom ceand RIA MS 23/B/19 3 quatrains See Appendix B, item (v)

Bhi cailleach phisreog a teacht go Cillechurle Laoidh na Sealga (athcomta le Art Mor O Murca) National Library of Ireland MS G200; RIA MS 3/C/8, II 44 stanzas

C?ad faute nail don Ion laoch fios-shaoi Faute an tSaoi e?lghaigh fhoghlamtha O? Chonoill go hEirinn RIA MSS 23/B/19, 12/BV5, 23/E/12, 23/0/47; U.C.D. MS Morris 17 3 quatrains and 1 stanza

? Duibhginn, S?amas Mac Giolla Choille, pp 62-4

C?ad f?ilte chum tire don tsarmhac aniar

Faute Bheartamoin Ui Chathalain RIA MSS 23/B/19, 12/BV5, 23/E/12, 23/0/47; U.C.D. MS Morris 17 6 stanzas

? Duibhginn, S?amas Mac Giolla Choille, pp 54-7

Ceud faute duit, a Bhriainin bhain F?ilte Mhaighistir Mhurchaidh do Bhrian O hAghartuigh RIA MSS 23/B/19, 12/BV5 1 stanza

(j) FIRST LINE: / mBailethomais i chois Dhuineachmoir

(k)

SUBTITLE: SOURCE: LENGTH: EDITIONS:


Cogadh Bhailethomais ('The War of Donomore') RIA MSS 3/C/8, II; 12/BV5 144 lines and 2 stanzas

Matthew Graham's English translation of part is in The Giantess (Belfast, 1833); reprinted Tempest's Annual, 1918

Is cian Horn an greann ata againn a stir

Dan ar dhamsa an Risigh RIA MS 3/C/8, II 7 stanzas

? Muirgheasa, Dh? Ch?ad de Cheoltaibh Uladh, p. 421



Art Murphy and Gaelic Literary Activity in the Dundalk Area in the 1820's

(1) FIRST LINE: Mus treus 'naghaidh Neimh do neach bheith sgriobh d?in

SUBTITLE: Teagra Airt Mh?ir U? Mhurcaidh fa comadh ceoil

SOURCE: RIA MS 23/B/19 LENGTH: 1 stanza

253

(m) FIRST LINE: R?ir thuairisg gach cl?ire a leighios a soibhsg?al go binn

SOURCE: RIAMS23/B/19 LENGTH: 2 stanzas

EDITIONS: See Appendix B, item (i)

(n) FIRST LINE: Thusa sgriobh mo thainse

SOURCE: RIA MS 23/B/19 LENGTH: 3 quatrains EDITIONS: ? Duibhginn, Seamos Mac Giolla Choille, pp 67-8

(o) FIRST LINE: Trath da raibh mise i gcuideachta le gisdera maol

SUBTITLE: Luoi an Ghisdera Mhuoil

SOURCE: U.C.D. MS Morris 6

LENGTH: 6 stanzas

EDITIONS: ? Muirgheasa, Dh? Ch?ad de Cheoltaibh Uladh, p. 424

APPENDIX B

I give the poems as they appear in the manuscripts, with minimal normalization. We have

two copies of items (ii) and (v) and I have collated them to get a better reading. There are still

some ambiguities throughout, caused in part by a fading text, in part by Art's deliberate

intention on occasion to be abstruse, and my own deficiencies for the task.

(i) R?ir thuairisg gach cl?ire a leighios a soibhsg?al go binn

Tiocfa mor s?oghabtas air eiricidh o' fhlaitheas gan mhuill

Beidh pobal na nGall lag fann gan theampoll gan chri

Is creidiomh gach am 'sgach ball da theagasg mar bhi.

'Snach anbh?s an sg?al do Ghaodhlaibh bheith ttuirse m't?id

Gan theampoll gan dhuithche acht ruagthaidh sgapthaidh gach ?it

I seilbh Chloinn Luiteir nach truagh 'snach mairg a nd?n

Ata taita ttir s?thchais is cl?ain da chur air a tt?in.

(ii) Murcha Mor

A shaoithe Eirionn uile ?ird

A dhraoithe damha f?s 's a bh?ird

D'ar dual 'n Eirind carm as c?im

A mor thuigse 'sa ccaithreim

Aithrise dhamh a mbriathra mbinn

m-B?arla uas ?gh Eireind.




Cread ta eidir cailep 's caoi Fhoircheinn 'leabhar Valiancy? Eidir iolra slointe yn-a 7 iolra chaol gan chl??

Creid a bheir a bhr?g m?shnuadh Air bh?arla Shacsan, can'mhain cruadh? An bhfuil si nois gan chlaon a sti Air bh?arla f?ine mar a bhi?

Bhfuil br?gh na ngotaidhe caola can

Mar do bh? ? n-allod ann?

Aig na coinsinnidh f?s a neart Mar budh dual a bheith o cheart? Is tuilleadh f?s a thabhairt dhamh cian

Mhilleas guth fir-bhind na bh-fian Air bhur reimh-fheuch air an rann

Mionnfaidh moid go bhfuil an cann

Acht chum eolais ta go leor Is sin a bhfuighir ? Mhurcha Mor

Detur Dignissimo

(iii) A liaigh mo speis Tabhair dhamhsa l?ighios

Air ghalra ghuth Edge Goinnte le ceilge Chlann Mhairtin a bh?arla A rinn orinn ?arlach

Eadhon leabhairin binn Do bhearla Chloinn Fhionn O maith dhamh go beachd Is dh?anfaid roit achd

A bheith feasta bp?in Do shearbhfoghantaigh f?in

(iv) Dan Thaimine Ui Aodh. Art Mor Ua Murchadh Chaislean Thalmhan Didein Bhailethomais cet.

A Thaimine Ui Aodh a phlanda don tsiol A bhfearr a bh? s't?r le c?ad bliaghain Le hua?sle do shiubhail is le cr?dhacht do ghnioimh Go bhfuair tu buaigh air oig laoch na hEirionn.

In Curranstown by name there dwells a rambling blade He is called Thomas Hughes the breaver He is the best of the seed that grew of the breed He is conqueror of said generation.

/ mbriseadh Chlontarf sa ccasgoirt na Traoi




Fuair buaidh air bhoneb Chriocha F?dla

'S do shiubhail se than an Fhrainc 7 taita na Spain Sa riamh nar chaill buaidh re haoinne.

In the battle of Clontarf & destruction of Troy He bore off the prize from each hero

In his travels through Spain & France o'er again He never was engaged by a braver.

Bh? se go cr?dhach air thoiseach a tsloigh I nEachroim tra chaill siadsan Samhairle

'S le faodhbhar a loinn do chuir a l?n faoi shloinn

Nach ndearna och no srann is nar ?irghidh.

He was leading the van on Achrim green plain When his comrade Mac Donnell did fall

Void of sighs or groans he cut their flesh & bones

And thousands with fear did appal.

Bh? a gh?na buidh mu or 'sa claoideimh ina dhoirn

A casgairt 'sa strocadh sliocht Mhairtin

'Sa Loimneach gach bhr?n go raibh se chois boird

Air braicfeast le Padruic Sear seal.

In his armour gilt with gold with his golden hilted sword

Cutting Lutheran disbelievers

And in Limerick they say he took a cup of tea

With Sarsfield the noble achiever.

'Sa Hector na mbuaidh cuimhnigh air a tsluaigh Do Ghaoghail bhochta da r?agadh le Gaill

Glas a ris do lonn 7 dibir iad air toinn

7 caith amach a nam iad os Eirinn.

Like Hector of Troy be not annoyed When you look upon the Irish oppressed Take up your arms & defend us from harms

And banish those that cause our distress.

(v) Rann a sgriobhadh i litir leis a tSaoi eolach

foghlamtha Art Mor O Mur cha Chais lean Thalmhan D?dein

Bhailethomais, chuige Eadbhart Ua Cearbhallan air

bhforainm Turcach, maighistir sgoile, oide m?inte

Gaoidheilge, is duine eolach glic. lar cclosain gur c?in an Turcach an duine uasal ceadna.

A Thurcaigh mh?ir nach eadtrom ceand

Nach mb?dhionn air beanna fam nuadh rae




Nach tusa or am do chuir grain Gan fios mo th?in no cia me.

Mise Murcha do threibh na Saoi

Bhi a nEamhuin aoibhinn seal ? cc?im

Nach leigeann leatsa a Dhaoi na Locht

Is chuirfeas tocht ar do r?im.

Ach mas meisge rug ort buaint rem chli?

's nar bhfi? Horn b?aint leat

Maitheam dhuit acht munab e

Cuirfead f?in do chiall as riocht.

Beannacht dhuit a Thurcaigh, uadh do shearbhfoghantuidhe cl?ibh,

Art Mor Ua Murchadh

Chaisleain Thalmhan Didein, Bhailethomais.



Documents

Art Murphy and Gaelic Literary Activity in the Dundalk Area in the 1820s