Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/237

211 The poem specifies the positions allotted to the kings and the great chiefs, to witness the games and exercises of the fair.

From the poem contained in the ancient "Book of Leinster" (Prof. O'Curry's translation) is the following description of the fair of Tailten : —

"The Leinstermen held this, the fair,
 * Both as tribes and householders.
 * Here they proclaimed, boldly and loudly,
 * The privileges of every law, and their restraints.

"To sue, to levy, to controvert debts.
 * To abuse steeds in their career
 * Is not allowed here by contending racers,
 * Nor elopement, oppression, or arrest.