Aideen, daughter of Angus of Ben-Edar (now the Hill of Howth), died of
grief for the loss of her husband, Oscar, son of Ossian, who was slain
at the battle of Gavra (_Gowra_, near Tara in Meath), A.D. 284. Oscar
was entombed in the rath or earthen fortress that occupied part of the
field of battle, the rest of the slain being cast in a pit outside.
Aideen is said to have been buried on Howth, near the mansion of her
father, and poetical tradition represents the Fenian heroes as present
at her obsequies. The Cromlech in Howth Park has been supposed to be her
sepulchre. It stands under the summits from which the poet Atharne is
said to have launched his invectives against the people of Leinster,
until, by the blighting effect of his satires, they were compelled to
make him atonement for the death of his son.
Page 99. 'There was then no man in the host of Ulster that could be
found who would put the sons of Usnach to death, so loved were they of
the people and nobles. But in the house of Conor was one called Maine
Rough Hand, son of the king of Lochlen, and Naesi had slain his father
and two brothers, and he undertook to be their executioners. So the sons
of Usnach were then slain, and the men of Ulster, when they beheld their
death, sent forth their heavy shouts of sorrow and lamentation. Then
Deirdre fell down beside their bodies wailing and weeping, and she tore
her hair and garments and bestowed kisses on their lifeless lips and
bitterly bemoaned them. And a grave was opened for them, and Deirdre,
standing by it, with her hair dishevelled and shedding tears abundantly,
chanted their funeral song.' (_Hibernian Nights' Entertainment_.)
Page 102. _Uileacan Dubh O_', pronounced _Uileacaun Doov O_, is a phrase
of lamentation.
Page 108, line 16. 'Anna Grace' is the heroine of another ballad by
Ferguson. She also was stolen by the Fairies.
Page 112, line 6. Thomas Davis had an Irish father and a Welsh mother,
and Emily Bronte an Irish father and a Cornish mother, and there seems
no reason for including the first and excluding the second. I find,
perhaps fancifully, an Irish vehemence in 'Remembrance.' Several of the
Irish poets have been of mixed Irish-Celtic and British-Celtic blood.
William Blake has been recently claimed as of Irish descent, upon the
evidence of Dr. Carter Blake; and if, in the course of years, that claim
becomes generally accepted, he should be included also in Irish
anthologies.
Page 119, line 13. 'The little Black Rose' is but another form of 'Dark
Rosaleen,' and has a like significance. 'The Silk of the Kine' is also
an old name for Ireland.
Page 138. _Maire Bhan Astor_ is pronounced _Mauria vaun a-stor_, and
means 'Fair Mary, my treasure.'