Page:Irish minstrelsy, vol 2 - Hardiman.djvu/153

Rh from whom, when a boy, I learned the rudiments of our language, constantly kept up this custom, (i. e. public sessions of the poets, at stated times, to exercise their genius.) He had made valuable collections, and was writing in his native tongue a history of Ireland; but a long sickness prevented his finishing this work. He proposed to some gentlemen in the County of Clare, to translate Homer into Irish; and, from the specimen he gave, it would seem, that this prince of poets would appear as respectable in a Gathelian as a Greek dress. But the death of the late Mac Namara put a stop to this attempt. This learned and worthy man died in the year 1751, near Charleville, and I have never since been able to find how his papers were disposed of, though I am told he left them to me."—Though grateful to Mr. O'Halloran for preserving even these few particulars, yet the feeling would be greater, had he saved the papers to which he has alluded. They could not have been confided to better hands, and there can be no doubt, but they were well worthy of preservation.

The Bard was interred at the old church yard of Ballyslough, near Charleville, where the following inscription may be read on the humble flag that covers his remains.—

In a subsequent part of this volume will be found an Elegy written on his death. Many excellent productions of his, are