Chapter I: IRISH LITERATURE.--In the absence of a native coinage it is extremely (3)

AUTHORITIES.--In the absence of a comprehensive history, the best
manual is Eleanor Hull's _Text Book of Irish Literature_ (2 parts,
London, 1904-1908; vol. 2 contains a bibliographical appendix). D.
Hyde's larger _History of Irish Literature_ (London, 1899) is only
trustworthy as regards the more _modern_ period. A full bibliography
of all published material is contained in G. Dottin's article "La
litterature gaelique de l'Irlande" (_Revue de synthese historique_,
vol. iii. pp. 1 ff.). Dottin's article has been translated into
English and supplemented by Joseph Dunn under the title of _The Gaelic
Literature of Ireland_ (Washington, 1906, privately printed). The
following are important works:--W. Stokes and J. Strachan, _Thesaurus
Palaeohibernicus_ (2 vols., Cambridge, 1901-1903); J.H. Bernard and R.
Atkinson, _Liber Hymnorum_ (London, 1895); E. O'Curry, _Lectures on
the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_ (Dublin, 1873) and
_Lectures on the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish_ (3 vols.,
Dublin, 1873); P.W. Joyce, _A Social History of Ancient Ireland_ (2
vols., London, 1903); E. O'Reilly, _Irish Writers_ (Dublin, 1820);
S.H. O'Grady, _Catalogue of Irish MSS. in the British Museum_ (London,
1901); H. d'Arbois de Jubainville, _Introduction a l'etude de la
litterature celtique_ (Paris, 1883), _Essai d'un catalogue de la
litterature epique de l'Irlande_ (Paris, 1883), _L'Epopee celtique en
Irlande_ (Paris, 1892), _La Civilisation des Celtes et celle de
l'epopee homerique_ (Paris, 1899); E. Windisch, _Tain Bo Cualnge_, ed.
with an introd. and German trans. (Leipzig, 1905); L. Winifred
Faraday, _The Cattle-Raid of Cualnge_ (London, 1904); the Irish text
according to LU. and YBL. has been published as a supplement to
_Eriu_; Eleanor Hull, _The Cuchulinn-saga_ (London, 1899); W.
Ridgeway, "The Date of the First Shaping of the Cuchulinn Cycle,"
_Proceedings of the British Academy_, vol. ii. (London, 1907); A.
Nutt, _Cuchulin, the Irish Achilles_ (London, 1899); H. Zimmer,
"Keltische Beitrage" in _Zeitschrift f. deutsches Altertum_, vols. 32,
33 and 35, and "Uber den compilatorischen Charakter der irischen
Sagentexte in sogenannten Lebor na hUidre," Kuhn's _Zeitschr._ xxviii.
pp. 417-689. We cannot here enumerate the numerous heroic texts which
have been edited. For texts published before 1883 see d'Arbois's
_Catalogue_, and the same writer gives a complete list in _Revue
Celtique_, vol. xxiv. pp. 237 ff. The series of _Irische Texte_, vols.
i.-iv. (Leipzig, 1880-1901), by E. Windisch (vols. ii.-iv. in
conjunction with W. Stokes), contains a number of important texts.
Others, more particularly those belonging to the Ossianic cycle, are
to be found in S.H. O'Grady's _Silva Gadelica_ (2 vols. London, 1892).
See also R. Thurneysen, _Sagen aus dem alten Irland_ (Berlin, 1901);
P.W. Joyce, _Old Celtic Romances_ (London[2], 1901).

For the Ossianic cycle see H. Zimmer, "Keltische Beitrage III." in
vol. 35 of the _Zeitschr. f. deutsches Altertum_, also _Gottinger
Gelehrte Anzeigen_, 1887, pp. 153-199; A. Nutt, _Ossian and the
Ossianic Literature_ (London, 1899); L.C. Stern, "Die ossianischen
Heldenlieder," in _Zeitschr. f. vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte_
for 1895, trans. by J.L. Robertson in _Transactions of the Inverness
Gaelic Society_, vol. xxii.; J. MacNeill, _Duanaire Finn_ (London,
1908); _Book of the Dean of Lismore_, ed. by T. Maclauchlan
(Edinburgh, 1862), and in vol. i. of A. Cameron's _Reliquiae Celticae_
(Edinburgh, 1892); _Transactions of the Ossianic Society_ (6 vols.,
Dublin, 1854-1861); Miss Brooke, _Reliques of Ancient Irish Poetry_
(Dublin, 1789).

Keating's _History_ was translated by John O'Mahony (New York, 1866).
The first part was edited with Eng. trans. by W. Halliday
(Dublin,1811) and the whole work in 3 vols. for the Irish Texts
Society by D. Comyn and P. Dinneen (London, 1901-1908). Comparatively
few specimens have been published of the older bards. Several from a
Copenhagen MS. were printed by Stern in the _Zeitschr. f. celt. Phil._
vol. ii.; J. Hardiman, _Irish Minstrelsy_ (2 vols., Dublin, 1831);
J.C. Mangan, _The Poets and Poetry of Munster_ (Dublin^4, no date); G.
Sigerson, _The Bards of the Gael and Gall_ (Dublin, 1906). Editions of
the poems of Ferriter, Geoffrey O'Donoghue, O'Rahilly, John O'Tuomy,
Andrew Magrath, John Claragh MacDonnell, Tadhg Gaolach and Owen Roe
O'Sullivan by Dinneen, Gaelic League, Dublin, and Irish Texts Society,
London, 1900-1903. (E. C. Q.)