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THE BREIFNY ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY'S JOURNAL, 1921. " Sing to me the History of my Country, It is sweet to my soul to hear it." -Mac Lonain, tin Irish Poet of the Ninth Century. Translation by Hyde. Vor,. I. No. 11. CAVAN : THE AXCLO-CELT,IA1'l).,PRIKTIKGWOR.I<S. Vestry Door Kilmore Cathedral, Bedell's Memorial Church, rescued from the Ruins on Trinity Island. Probably served as the Main Entrance to the Thirteenth Century Church. CONTENTS. Page Report of Meetings ... ... 89 Idioms of Expression in Cavan and Leitrim ... 91 By Rev. John Y . McICeon. Cavan Members in the Irish Parliament ... I1. Eighteenth Century . 13y T. S. Srnytli. Histor~calNotices of Mullagh and District J3y Philip O'Co~tnell.M.Sc., Y.H.S.A.1. .Ogham Stcnes in Cavan ... ... I. The Mullagh Ogham . I3y Philip O'Connell. M.Sc., F.R.8.A.I. I1. The Dungimmin Ogham . 13y Itev . J . 13 . Jleehan . Exh~bitsat Third Meeting ... ... The Monastery of Slanore ... ... By Rev . Martin Coincy. D.D., C.C. Some Peculiarities of Speech Heard. in Breifny I3y Peter Martin . Exh~bitsat Fourth Meeting ... A Cavan Find of Gold Objects in 1919 ... JJy Rev . J . I3 . Meehan. Breifnian References ... ... Birth Place 3f St. ~ogue ... Old Land Measures in Cavan ... Conveyance cf Iron Ore at Arigna. 1788-1808 The Glenfarne Tower of 1236 ... ... The Oldcastle " Speaking Stones " ... The Author of " St. Kilian " ... 'Termon or Hospital Lands in Cavan. 1590 ... Book Review ... ... ... 'Literary Notes ... ... .Obituary Notices ... ... ... Statement of Accounts. 1921 ... ANNUAL MEETING, 1921. 'rho 4nnual Meeting of the Society was held in the Town Hall, Cavau, on Thursday, 17th illarch, 1921, at 4 p.m. The Chairman presided, and the following were also present :- Hev. E. D. Crowe, MA. (Vice-chairman) ; Rev. J. P,McKeon, S.D. ; Rev. 31. Dolan, C.C. ; Rev. R. J. Walker, B.A- ; Rev. F. B, Worrall, AIessrs R.. A. McCay, T. O'Reilly, Lougduff; J. O'Cal- laghan, J. Neery, H. O'Reilly, B.E ; T. Fogarty, S. NcGoveru, Y. O'Rourlte, R. Hamilton, D. O'Reilly, P. Martin, W. H. Hal- pin, J. Halpin, R. Hogan, T. S. Sniyth, Wm. Reid, A1.B.E . ; S . Duke, 1'. J. Brady, C.E.; and the Hon. Secretary, J. A. Cole, M.A. Apologies were received from Xt. Rev. W. H. Moore, D.D., Blsl~opof Xilmore; Very Rev Al. Canon Corcoran, P.P., V.F. ; Gonma ; Dr. Alfred Smith, Dublin ; Alessrs Downe~, Walker, O'Connell, E. T. O'Hanlon, and 31. V. Conlon. Before proceeding to the business of the meeting the Cliuirnian referred with regret to the recent death of two members. A rote of sympatl~ywith his confr8res and relatives on the cleat11 of Brother Justin, proposed by Rev. Mr Crowe, and seconclecl by hlr Cole, mas passed unanim6uslp; as was one, proposed by AIr IlcCay, and econded by Mr H~lpin,with tlie relatives of Air Henry Kennedy, B.L., also lately deceased. Brief obituary notices of both will be found in the last pages of this Journal. The business of the meeting, as laid down in Rule 24, was then gone tllrough. The Hon. Secretary read the Report on the Society's work dur- ing the past year. The Balance Sheet was submitted and mas considered satisfac- tory. It is printed as an Appandis to the last Journal. , Alr Joseph P. Gannon was re-named Hon. Auditor for 1921 ; and on a motion, proposed by Father Dolan, seconded by 3Ir Ilalpin, and passed, tlie out-going officers and members of the Commitke were re-appointed. Rule 32 having been cluly complied with, it mas proposed to add to Rule 2 the words " and Honorary Members." The addi- tion was approved of. Dr. Cullen, Wesley Street, Chvan, and 31r J. Whipeside Dane, Straffan, Xildare, were elected members. 90. THIRD GENERAL MEETING. Immediately after the termination of the business of the An- riual Meeting a General Meeting was held. Tlie same persous were present. Three papers were read and discussed. They are giveu in the succeeding pages. A few stone Celt,s ad a Cinerary Urn-a11 come upon in the neighbourhood of the town-were exhibited. A description of the TJrn is to be found in a hter page. FOURTH GENERAL MEETING. This meeting took place in the usual place o'n 17th October at 8 p.m. There was a good attendance of members and their friends. Th:+ following twenty-one new members were elected : Life Members-Right Rev. James O'Reilly, D.D., Fargo; Rev. Stephen J. Brady, St. Louis; W. P. Reynolds, Moy-Rein House, Andersonstown. Nembers-Rev. W. Caldwell, Cavan; Rev. Pete.r Finnegan, l'erth, W. Australia; Dr Louis Pinnega.n, Wiclrlow; Bev. F. Ger- rard, P.P., Mountnugelit; P. Ha.milton, Cavan; J. McNamara, Cavan ; Owen M'Govern, liilnaleclr ; Rev. P, Meehan, P.P., Keadue; Wm. L. Micks, Dublin; Rev. 1'. O'Donohoe, C.C., Kil- leshandra ;H. Fitzgerald R.eynolds, Cardiff ;R.ev. John P. Rehill, C.C., Crosskeys; D. Carolan R-ushe, B.A., Monaghan; D. J. Hyan, Bailieboro'; J. J. O'Sullivan, A.R.C.S., Manorhamilton ; Hev H. R. Swanev, M.A., M.R.I.A, Newry ;Very Rev P . Yorlre, D.D., San Francisco; R.ev. &I.Young, C.C., Redhills : Two papers were read, and a third, a List of Officers' names, passed as read The reading of the second, " Peculiarities of Speech Heard in Breifny," was followed by a lengthened discus- sion In it Col. Story, Rev. Mr Walker, Dr. F. Smith, Mr TI]. O'Heilly and i'lr Aidan MacCabe, took part, and added much both to the informa.tion in the paper and the interest of tlie pro- ceedings. Later, Father Finnegan, of W. Australia, mentioned Illat lie had heard and recognised some of the " l'eculiarities " referred to ten thousand miles from Cavan. The third paper, on a mi1ita.r~subject, was introduced by the Chairman with some observations on the Garrison towns of Cavan in the 17t,h century. Arising out of them there was a friendly debate. The first two of the papers, as usual, appeared in full in the " Anglo-Celt " in successive issues. They and one-half of the third are printed in this Journal. The second half will a.ppear in the next. At t,heir end will be found a description of the Ex- hibits. 91. IDIOMS OF EXPRESSION IN CAVAN AND --LEITRIM - By Rcv. Jolm l?. i\iI'Keon. ~\ccord.~~gto an alicieni quatrain whicl~,sollle years ago, was innny tirnes quoted :- "The Illslermari's Irish is corrcct, but 11c has not the Iruc accent; the i\Iunstermuri's has the true. acccnt but his lrisl~ i.; not correct ; the Leinstertnan has iieitl~er nccurncy nor trui: accent; while the Connaughtn~anhas botl~." Tli ceart gan bias ug an IJltacl~, 'l'J blds gall wart ag an Muirnlm,:ac~~, Ki'l blds nJ wirt ag an Luigliueacl~, Agus td blJs agus cc:~rbug :In gConnaclitt~cll. If this be true, as some grarr~mnria~iuwould 11avc us bclieve, I lliinlr this Society is to be congi~atulutedon tlio fact that as far a; its researches in tlrc direction of larigrtuge go, it has tlie advan- tags ol [being in u central position bct~wnthe lands ot correct diction and corrcct accent. In 1584, Sir John l'wrol, by ailding this counLy to whatj \\.us nl~wdyrecognised as Ulster, crea-Led new geographjcal boun- il:u.ic-s. But his action had no further result tlmn that of effecting wllat was, from his point of view, :L convel~ier~tlegal division. He did not, and could not, touch the unitJy of language-tlle csl'ernul work of the essential u~~it~wl~icl~ 1)ound togetlier the Gaelic- speaking populution of Breffni. And this, to some 'extent, es- plains the fact that the idioms of cspression, wl~icliwxe olwc clothed in our own language, but wl~icltwe can now only tljmlg rrv:cgnige in tlle- garb of the stranger, are, with few exceptions, lie same in our modern Cavan and Leitrim. AIanifest,ly, it would he idle to pretend that all idiomatic, or even a,ll onusl1:11 espres- :;ions, in tlile area with wliic11 this paper de:.tls are. derived from (:aelic sources, wl~et~llcrNorth or West. hIany of tJlicm--late n~odernexpressions especially-are nothing more or I';.ss than imported slang, but the inquirer will be always a.ble to distinguish. 1;ctween those expressions, which are part of th0erlational legacy, nnrl those wl~iol~have reached us from otlier sources. I should like to say that this paper is merely s~lggestivc.. It is ~,ot,iwd does not clain~to be, esht>ust.ive. Atid my filv:;t s~~gp- t'on would be that those ititeresteil in the work of this Soclety during the famine years. They are honestly ard boldly written, and brightened by many peak quotations. No one is obliged to accept the theoritas and speculations; but there is no reason, that we know of, against accepting the facts as far a.s they go. They were carefully gathered and throw much light ou Cavan. If all books are good, though some bether than others; then there can be no gainsaying but the " Highlands " is the best historica,l work dealirg with Breifny. It is now not easy to get. But twenty ycars ago it sold as a " remainder " in Smitlifield Market, Bel- fast, for a very small sum. A correspondent in The I~ish,Book Iiove; (Aug.-Sept., 1921, p. 18) in a reply to one of our members ("P.J.B.") states that Rev.