36.  “The belief that a ‘ferb’ or ulcer could be produced,” says Mr. Stokes, in his preface to ‘Cormac’s Glossary,’ “forms the groundwork of the tale of Nede mac Adnae and his uncle, Caier.”  The names of the three blisters (Stain, Blemish, and Defect) are almost identical with those Ferdiah is threatened with in the present poem.

37.  A ‘cumal’ was three cows, or their value.  On the use of chariots, see “The Sick Bed of Cuchullin,” Atlantis, i., p. 375.

38.  “The plains of Aie” (son of Allghuba the Druid), in Roscommon.  Here stood the palace of Cruachain (O’Curry’s “Lectures,” p. 35; “Battle of Magh Leana,” p. 61).

39.  “Fair-brow” (O’Curry, “Exile of the Children of Uisnech,” Atlantis, ii., p. 386).

40.  Here in the original there is a sudden change from prose to verse.  “It is generally supposed that these stories were recited by the ancient Irish poets for the amusement of their chieftains at their public feasts, and that the portions given in metre were sung” ("Battle of Magh Rath,” p. 12).  The prose portions of this tale are represented in the translation by blank verse, and the lyrical portions by rhymed verse.

41.  “Ugaine Mor exacted oaths by the sun and moon, the sea, the dew, and colours . . . that the sovereignty of Erin should be invested in his descendants for ever” (Ib. p. 3).

42.  The high dignity of Domnal may be inferred from the following
lines, quoted from MacLenini, in the preface to “Cormac’s Glossary,”
p. 51:—­
  “As blackbirds to swans, as an ounce to a mass of gold,
   As the forms of peasant women to the forms of queens,
   As a king to Domnal . . . 
   As a taper to a candle, so is a sword to my sword.”

43.  She was the wife of Ned, the war-god.  See O’Donovan’s “Annals of the Four Masters,” vol. i., p. 24.

44.  Etan is said to have been ‘muime na filed,’ nurse of the poets ("Three Irish Glossaries,” preface, p. 33).

45.  At Rathcroghan was the palace of the Kings of Connacht.

46.  A name of Ireland ("Battle of Magh Leana,” p. 79).

47.  So the night before the battle of Magh Rath, “the monarch, grandson of Ainmire, slept not, in consequence of the weight of the battle and the anxiety of the conflict pressing on his mind; for he was certain that his own beloved foster-son would, on the morrow, meet his last fate.”

48.  In the “Battle of Magh Leana” these mysterious beings are called “the Women of the Valley” (p. 120).

49.  For this line and for many valuable suggestions throughout the poem I am indebted to the deep poetical insight and correct judgment of my friend, Aubrey de Vere.

50.  “Derg Dian Scothach saw this order, and he put his forefinger into the string of the spear.”  “Fate of the Children of Tuireann,” by O’Curry, Atlantis, iv., p. 233.  See also “Battle of Magh Rath,” pp. 140, 141, 152.