the earth is glad when it beholdeth thy rays, the peoples that have been long dead come forth with cries of joy to see thy beauties every day. The souls of the East follow thee, the souls of the West praise thee. Thou art the ruler of all the gods and thou hast joy of heart within thy shrine; for the serpent-fiend Nak hath been condemned to the fire, and thy heart shall be joyful for ever.” It is likely that hymns were chanted in honour of Lugh, though now we are ignorant of them, for Lugh was worshipped extensively on the Continent as well as in Ireland and Britain. An inscription to Lugh has been found in the ancient Spanish town of Uxamo, now Osma, and one at Avenches in Switzerland. Four important town in Gaulnow Lyons, Saint Bertrand le Comminges, Leyden, and Laon-were known anciently each one as Lugudunum, or the Fortress of Lugh. There was a town near Adrian's Wall called Luguvallum, and Ptolomy mentions a Lugidunum, founded by the Gauls, in Germania. In Ptolomy's time (beginning of the second century) it was in the hands of Germanic conquerors. The month of August is called in Irish the Lugnasad, and the great feast of Lugh was held annually fifteen days be'fore the 1st of August and fifteen days after it. This feast was the marriage feast of Lugh, and, according to an old MS., he was wedded to the Sovereignty of Ireland for ever. It was the festival of the harvest, the thanksgiving for the sun-ripened fruits of the earth, and it is significant that the chief festival was held at Tailtiu's grave. Tailtiu was the foster-mother of Lugh. She was the daughter of the Great Plain, but she had wedded a lord of the Fomor, so that she is connected with the Dark Powers, and it is easy to see why this is so. She represents the kindly, sheltering darkness of the earth in which the seed springs to life and all growing things are nourished. She is the darkness, too, that comes over the sky before it whitens for dawnTailtiu, the foster-mother of Lugh. Her name remains till this day on the place where the great feast was held, Teltown, in Meath. As the sun, by going and coming, measures off the nights and days, he takes to himself the lordship of light and darkness, and this is expressed in the legends by the statement that Lugh is sprung from a de Danaanan father and a Fomo rian mother. The sun is also the dispeller of darkness, and Lugh was pre-destined to bring death to Balor. The slaying of Balor came about in this wise: When Lugh had broken the battle on the Fomor, the de Danaanans were greatly heartened and they came together and consulted as to how they should drive the Fomor out of Ireland. The Dagda and Ogma and Nuada and Macha and Bodbh and the Mor Rigan, the Battle-Crow, and Gobinu the Smith, and Credne and Luchta and Diancecht and Airmid and Bove Dearg and Midir and all that were high in power among the de Danaanans promised help for the battle, and the rivers and lakes and mountains of Ireland promised help, and Lugh had a spear of victory and three golden apples of healing and other treasures that the three gods, the sons of Brigit, had brought him from over seas. These three gods were Brian, Incharba, and Inchair; they were gods of wisdom and learning. The Fomor also gathered themselves for battle. Their chiefs were Indech, Bress, Balor of the Evil Eye, Kethlinn of the Crooked Teeth, and others. When the hosts were come together the battle began. It was the time of Samhain. The fight lasted for three days, and from the first the de Danaanans had the upper hand, for such of their people as were wounded were placed in a fountain of healing and Airmid said over them a chaunt of healing and their strength and spirit came again, so that they were stronger than before. The Fomor had no well of healing but they had mighty weapons and chiefs that were strong in battle, and Balor's Evil Eye dealt destruction everywhere. Then came Lugh the Long-Armed, the Mighty Slinger, and cast a stone at Balor, and it struck him full in the midst of his eye and brought death to him. The de Danaanans had the victory after that, and the Fomor were destroyed with a great destruction. The Mor Rigan cried out to the hills and plains and rivers of Ireland the news of victory. She said: "Peace up to Heaven, It was thus the Celt figured to himself the making of the earth and the war between gods and demons; his imagination, however, did not rest between the borders of the world, it travelled to the islands that lay in the country of Manaanan, the unknown country where the sun went at night and from whence he returned renewed in vigor each morning, the Land of Perpetual Youth whither too went men and heroes to refresh themselves in the pauses of their earth-lives. Between this world and the Earth-World lay the World of the Waters-a world that must be crossed to reach the other. Ossian crossed with Niav on the white horse of Manaanan, Connla crossed with the Fairy Maiden ir the Crystal Boat. The Red Indians have a story of a chief of theirs who, like Connla, followed one he loved to the Deathless Land. He, too, crossed the waters in a crystal boat. The boat was called the Boat of the Soul, the waters the Waters of Judgment. The Indian warrior was bidden to return and tell his people of the wonderful land. Even so, Loegaire Liban, son of Crimthann Cas, who had gone to the Pleasant Plain with fifty warrior comrades, returned tɔ say farewell to his kinsfolk. Before the assembly of the people of Connacht he chaunted a lay of the wonderful country. His father said to him: "Stay with us, Loegaire, and I will give you the kingship of the three Connachts, their gold and silver, their bridled steeds, their beautiful women; do not leave them." Loegaire answered: "O, Crimthann Cas! I was Master of the Blue Sword. One night of the nights of the gods I would not exchange for all thy kingdom. It is from chaunts like Loegaire's, from adventures like those of Bran the Voyager, from fragments of broken altars, and the names of gods whose godhead has been forgotten that one strives to understand Celtic mythology, piecing it together as men piece together tenderly, broken carvings from the palaces of Babylon and Ninevah. When much time and thought have been expended little seems to have been done, but the importance of the work justifies it for it is chiefly through their mythology that one comes to understand the soul of a people. One learns from it what things they prize most, what ideas they had, what thoughts and feelings prompted them to actions which history has recorded, what dreams nourished their poetry and art. The way in which the Celts of Holland met death when the sea burst in on them excited the admiration of the ancient world. Euphorus and Aristotle took note of it in Greece in the fourth century B.C. When the Celts found that escape was impossible the warriors put on their armour, took their weapons, and met the inrush of water as they would meet the ridge of battle, without fear or weakness. It behoved men who called themselves the children of gods to meet death in such a fashion. They were well assured of a welcome in the Pleasant Plain, the Land of Avalon, beautiful with apple trees, from whence had come their ancestor, Mile, son of Bile, and all the gods the makers of the world. Authorities:-"Celtic Mythology," Rhys; "The Mythological Cycle," De Jubainville; O'Curry "MSS. Materials" An Irish Consular Service The question of an Irish Consular Service has for some time been discussed in the columns of the Irish Press, or rather of those journals in Ireland which stand for progress and reality as distinguished from party spirit and catchcries. Sinn Fein has brought to the discussion of Irish subjects a spirit of self-help and self-investigation; let us then in a spirit of Sinn Fein investigate this demand for an Irish Consular Service and see where it will lead us. "Irish Consular Service!" the Unionist "Irishman" cries out "why what on earth do you mean Haven't we got the British Consular Service, some of the most distinguished Oinaments of which are Irishmen, just as they are in the Army and Navy, and what more can you want? Besides Ireland has no foreign trade, except linen with the United States, and you surely don't want Irish Consuls in America, do you? The whole thing is sedition-you only want to create further friction between Ireland and England." So far and in this wise the "Irish" Unionist, or nominal Home Ruler. Let us see what the demand now first put forward by the advanced section of Irish national life involves to the well being of our countrymen. We all know that Ireland once had flourishing industries; so flourishing indeed, that they excited the jealousy of the "Sister" country, and that so far back as the reign of William III. both houses of the English Parliament addressed the king, requiring the "discouragement" of the Irish woollen industry. The policy so boldly outlined in 1698 has never been abandoned. What industries Ireland to-day has are centered in that part of Ireland which, being of kindred race, religion, and speech England feared less, although hating and dreading all things Irish, than she did Gaelic Ireland. She has, therefore, permitted the linen and other Ulster industries to grow up in a subordinate peace, realising that she could always divert their profits to her own shore and for her own ends. Hence the "prosperity," such as it is, of north F |