Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/374

 366 lasting interest in all that related to the legendary past of the Celt. It was but the other day (, 1890, p. 255, note) that I noticed the last work of the veteran, a contribution to that elucidation of Wolfram's great Grail poem which he had begun sixty years previously, and which engaged his best energies throughout his life. In addition to his work on Wolfram, he first made the Mabinogion known on the Continent; he edited Gildas, Nennius, and Geoffrey of Monmouth; he collected and edited the texts relating to or connected with Merlin; he was one of the first to systematically investigate the origin and development of the Arthur romantic cycle. His works, outgrown in many respects as they are by the progress of study, will always remain landmarks in the history of Celtic scholarship, and even if they cease to be consulted, will be kept alive by the generous and lofty enthusiasm which inspires them.

The important text edited by Father Hogan raises afresh the question of the origin, date, and development of the Irish epic romances. It should be premised that the tale in question, the Battle of Ruis na Rig, is obviously a sequel to the Tain bo Cuailgne, intended to satisfy the curiosity, felt at all times and in all countries, concerning the after history of the heroes of a famous story. The existence of a considerable mass of heroic saga, as well as that of a school of epic narrators, are thus presupposed by our text, and any results which legitimately arise from a consideration of the way in which it has come down to us apply with far greater force to the older stratum of storytelling. Two versions are known, that of the Book of Leinster (the redaction of which cannot be later than 1150) and that of a number of modern MSS. belonging to the 17th-18th centuries. These latter represent a form of the saga differing from that in the Book of Leinster, a form which, as shown by the details of life and customs, must have