Note 270 — THE BOOK OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE. (continued 2)

Who this blind poet was the Editor cannot say. He can find no notice of him anywhere, nor of the attack on Castle Sween, which he describes. He was an Irish bard, and composes in the Irish dialect, making use, like the later Irish poets, of language much more difficult to understand than the older composers. The Editor encountered more difficulty in reading this piece, than in reading any other in the Dean’s MS. “Broin” is an ancient word for a troop or band, and “cleath,” “comhlan,” “nòs,” are words for a warrior; but these words are entirely obsolete; so “glantair,” as the comparison of “glan,” is unknown in the modern language. There is a manifest attempt in the composition to use obsolete words; but the Editor trusts the meaning has been correctly rendered.