ANCIENT IRISH HISTORY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 118, 14 November 1925, Page 17

ANCIENT IRISH HISTORY

■V 4 ' ~~ • ' t'Quehulainn, an Epio Drama of the s 3 Gael." By Terence Gray. Cam- " bridge: W. Heffer and Sons.

Ireland,, had its culture no less than Greece, and lacked nothing essential and worthy of respect that characterised- Wo tciiltureof Egypt and Greece: Moreover, that culture owed nothing to any-nation bordering the Mediterranean, \ftnd was not later in point of time. "Incidents in early Irish history, wore, the subjects of songs and poems andjtales, first, handed down.by word of mouth and very much later put into;writing. Yet place-names and ruinß testify to-day to the truth of much that was and i 9 still regarded as legendary or apocryphal. Mr. Gray thinks that there is,,no reason why the grave of the\national hero Cuchulainn should not: some day be discovered. He believes "we have the ruins of nearly all the forts and duns of our heroes, whose names are still perpetuated in the locality, and I doubt not that if ever'- archaeology is practised in Ireland with the same scientific thoroughness I aAd enthusiasm that it ia in the East) many more personal remains will come to light." As it is, he deplores the,fact that the Nation-" al Museun In Dublin too jealously, guards the grqat wealth of Irish antiquitiesnrepuied to be in its keeping, but not accessible to the public.

The author states: In this work I have taken the whole body of legend that makes-up "what is called the Cuehuliann Cycle, and from,.the immense mass of inter-reisjtecl stories . I have selected and combined those that have most cohesion and significance in such a way that they form a connected whole!'' There will be. no: doubt of that- left on the reader's .mind. This "literary ''joinery," Qf Mr." Gray's is 'excellent; the wtfjk of a master craftsman. There ar,« four plays: ."The Young Cuchulainn," "The Tragedy of Deidre," "Maeve of Corinacht," and "The Only Son of, Apife."; Tlu> exact time of the plays it ;ia] impossible to give. |)he'Bcette of the : firstnamed is laid in Emain ,Macha> (the modern Armagh)) which, according;to tradition, 'was 'founded 877 B;C. and .destroyed and;abandoned in. 335..A.D. Mr. 'Gray,';iten^ fixes qn the ; year 1 A.D,.. In'anyVgase, the period'of the plays coincide'dfwith the? early years of the ■ Chris|ian Era.' Ireland was then, of courje, pagan/and .the Druid was, all-powerful., The .ruling King in Ulda' (modern Ulster) was Coac;hubhar MacNessa.;; The 'plays are of his reign, and follow in arbitrary; chronological order, "Deidre" being .in 15 A.8.,"" Maeve of Corinacht" in 40 A.D., and "The Only Son of Aoife" in 42 A.D. So much for the approximate periods of the plays. Hera it would be well to> quote the ,'remafSs 'on the great antiquity of 'Irish civilisation by Piofeiaor Eoin 'MaeNeill, as the author hai done:—

■v Ancient Ireland hai * iinjfular place 'i\ in th» history d Europe. All the , • Mediterranean land* are' permeated even in their prehistoric times by '/ the influence of the East. Britain ' and Gaul and Spain are little known r to history until their tradition! fall 1 ' under the .transforming effects, first j of the Eoraan conquest, and after- - ward* of Christianity. The Germanic ' and Slavonic lands from the Danube '• and the Black: Sea. to' the Northern ' Ocean; are »ell-nigh without : record . until they" are ."already changing "into medieval Europe. ' .In ancient; Ireland alone we find the autobiography of a people of European ■white;men who , came into history not moulded into the complex East nor forced to accept the law of. Imperial Rome. This quotation give* to the reader the starting point of his interest in the four plays which will be found of absorbing interest to English readers, and, incidentally, shed for them some light iipon the character of the Irish people. On no account should the remarks upon the plays made.by Mr.' Gray.be missed; indeed, ..they should, be .read before and after reading the plays. The labour will be found so pleasant, go enlightening, that .the reader will; feel fully rewarded for the effort. ; , Mr. Gray has an original and candid style of. writing, -especially in criticising' the commercial aspect of theatrical management, .arid in dealing with what he calls the "two necklaces of the English"—the • London County ; Council and its regulations and bylaws as relating to theatres;, and the Lord Chamberlain in so far as his, office: relates to the staging pi plays. These views are breezily expressed and make entertaining reading. The plays' themselves have chiefly to do With strenuous fighting and love-making. The heroes and heroines of those"'days did nothing; by halve), nor did %ey know any of tho restraints and '•'•'r'epressiOns of our . times. . There ia , something of the myth about the paternity of'the hero Cuchulainn, but as he is disclosed in the play he is, mainly of flesh and blood/ btave. but human. •So is the ill-fated Deidre, the restless woman. The tragedy shows her to be human too, and responsible for war and disruption from which Ulster never recovered. Maeve of Connacht was a fighter, a woman of 'great practical ability and nothing loth to tell her husband how littlo sho. cared for him or thought of. him if {he crossed her path. Nor did she hold herself bound at all by.marital ties; when sho took ~ fancy to a lover. Virtue, as we regard it, •had no restraint on- Macvo er Warier-her in trading away her daughter Ja honour to servo liqr. own ends. Aoife, Queen in Alba (modern Scotland), -was. tho warrior-mother of a eon .by Cuehulainn, whom she had defeated in..combat. Jealousy prompted her:to'send the lad to Ireland to his father," •■■who unwittingly iights trith and, kills Ms son;- ■ ..

There;'is-; plenty of humour in the tragedies, for all ..that they have so jmuch $ do'with loving, fighting, anil slaying; There is delicious comedy in the very opening sceno of "Maoye of Connacht," .where,the queen- is in bed .with her sppiipe • and gives him ja leeturo wpr.thy of Mts. Caudle. . .' So far as the acting of these plays J3 concerned, some stage directions are given -and suggestions made for their production with an "exprcssionistic" mis-epTScene. It is extremely doubtful, however, if plays ■would have largo public appreciation produced in tho sim'plo but effectivo settings illustrated, in tho hook from krrangemejits by." Miss G. M.-Stoek-<!lale.