it may interest the Academy to see. The first, which is in my own collection, exhibits the figure of an animal, which I must leave to the zoologists of the Academy to describe, with the legend Sigillum Mac Craith Mac I Dafid.

The O'Dafys were an ancient family in Thomond, and are still very numerous in the county of Clare.

The next and last is from the cabinet of the Dean, and is very remarkable in having the head of a helmeted warrior cut on a cornelian within the legend, which reads, Sigillum Brian O'Harny.

The O'Harnys are a very ancient and still numerous family in Kerry, descendants of the ancient lords of that country, and remarkable in history as poets and musicians. I have only to add, that it will be observed that these seals are all of a round form, which characterises the seals of secular persons, while those belonging to ecclesiastics were usually oval.

ORIGIN AND MEANINGS OF IRISH FAMILY NAMES.

BY JOHN O'DONOVAN. Fourth Article.

HAVING in the last article spoken of the origin of surnames in Ireland, and of the popular errors now prevailing respecting them, I shall next proceed to notice certain epithets, sobriquets, &c, by which the Irish chieftains and others of inferior rank were distinguished.

Besides the surnames, or hereditary family names, which the Irish people assumed from their ancestors, it appears from the authentic annals that most, if not all, of their chieftains had attached to their Christian names, and sometimes to their surnames, certain cognomens by which they were distinguished from each other. These cognomens, or, as they may in many instances be called, sobriquets, were given them from some perfection or imperfection of the body, or some disposition or quality of the mind, from the place of birth, or the place of fosterage, and very frequently from the place of their deaths. Of the greater number of these cognomens, the pedigree of the regal family of O'Neill furnishes examples, as Niall Roe, i. e. Niall the Red, who flourished about the year 1225, so called from his having red hair; Hugh Toinlease (a name which requires no explanation), who died in 1230; Niall More, i. e. Niall the Great, who died in 1397; Con Bacach, i. e. Con the Lame, who was created Earl of Tyrone in 1542. Among the same family we meet Henry Avrey, i. e. Henry the Contentious, Shane an Dimais, i. e. John the Proud. Of the cognomens derived from the places in which and the families by whom they were fostered, the pedigree of the same family affords several instances, as Turlogh Luineach, so called from his having been fostered by O'Luney, chief of Munterluney in Tyrone; Niall Conallach, so called from his having been fostered by O'Donnell, chief of Tirconnell; Shane Donnellach, so called from his having been fostered by O'Donnelly (An Four Masters, 1531 and 1567); and Felim Devlinach, so called from his foster-father O'Devlin, chief of MunterDevlin, near Lough Neagh, in the present county of Londonderry. Various examples of cognomens given to chief

tains from the place or territory in which they were fostered, are to be met with in other families, as, in that of O'Brien, Donogh Cair-breach, who was so called from his having been fostered by O'Donovan, chief of Carbery Aeva, the ancient name of the plains of the county of Limerick. In the regal family of Mac Murrough of Leinster, Donnell Cavanagh was so called from having been fostered by the Coarb of St Cavan, at Kilcavan, near Gorey, in Hy-Dea, in the present county of Wexford. This cognomen of Donnell has been adopted for the last two centuries as a surname by his descendants, a thing very unusual among Irish families. In the family of Mac Donnell of Scotland, John Cahanach was so called from his having been fostered by O'Cahan or O'Kane, in the present county of Londonderry.

In the pedigrees of other families, various instances are on record of cognomens having been applied by posterity to chieftains from the place of their deaths; in the family of O'Neill, for example, Brian Chatha an Duin, or "of the battle of Down," was so called by posterity from his having been killed in a battle fought at Downpatrick in the year 1260; in the family of O'Brien, Conor na Siudaine, from the wood of Siudain in Burren, in which he was killed in the year 1267; and in the family of Mac Carthy, the celebrated Fineen Reanna Roin, from his having been killed at the castle of Rinn Roin in the year 1261, after a brilliant career of victory over the English.

On this subject of cognomens and sobriquets among the Irish, Sir Henry Piers wrote as follows in the year 1682, in a description of the county of Westmeath, written in the form of a letter to Anthony Lord Bishop of Meath, and published in the first volume of Vallancey's Collectanea :

"Every Irish surname or family name hath either O or Mac prefixed, concerning which I have found some make this observation, but I dare not undertake that it shall hold universally true, that such as have O prefixed were of old superior lords or princes, as O'Neal, O'Donnell, O'Melaghlin, &c, and such as have Mac were only great men, viz, lords, thanes, as Mac Gennis, Mac Loghlin, Mac Doncho, &c. But however this observation [may] hold, it is certain they take much liberty, and seem to do it with delight, in giving of nicknames; and if a man have any imperfection or evil habit, he shall be sure to hear of it in the nickname. Thus, if he be blind, lame, squint-eyed, grey-eyed, be a stammerer in speech, be lefthanded, to be sure he shall have one of these added to his name; so also from his colour of hair, as black, red, yellow, brown, &c; and from his age, as young, old; or from what he addicts himself to, or much delights in, as in draining, building, fencing, or the like; so that no man whatever can escape a nickname who lives among them, or converseth with them; and sometimes so libidinous are they in this kind of raillery, they will give nicknames per antiphrasim, or contrariety of speech. Thus a man of excellent parts, and beloved of all men, shall be called grana, that is, naughty or fit to be complained of; if a man have a beautiful countenance or lovely eyes, they will call him Cueegh, that is, squint -eyed; if a great housekeeper, he shall be called Ackerisagh, that is, greedy." (Collectanea, vol. I. p. 113.)

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when the Irish families increased, and their territories were divided into two and three parts among rival chieftains of the same family, each of the chieftains adopted some addition to the family surname for the sake of distinction. Thus, among the O'Conors of Connaught we find O'Conor Don, i. e. O'Conor the brown-haired, and O'Conor Roe, or the red-haired. This distinction was first made in the year 1384, when Torlogh Don and Torlogh Roe, who had been for some time in emulation for the chieftainship of the territory of Shilmurry, agreed to have it divided equally between them; on which occasion the former was to be called O'Conor Don, and the latter O'Conor Roe. (See Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Charles O'Conor). It is now supposed by many of the Irish that the epithet Don postfixed to the name of the chief of the O'Conors is a Spanish title! while those who are acquainted with the history of the name think that he should reject it as being a useless sobriquet, and more particularly now, as there is no O'Conor Roe from whom he needs to be distinguished. It is true that the O'Conor Don might now very lawfully be called the O'Conor, as there is no O'Conor Roe or O'Conor Sligo, at least none who take the name; but as he had borne it before O'Conor Roe disappeared, we would not advise it to be rejected for another generation, as we think that an O'Conor Roe will in the meantime make his appearance, for we are acquainted with an individual of that name who knows his pe

he lived, also by Gratianus Lucius, and by the learned Roderic O'Flaherty, who has devoted a chapter of his Ogygia to prove that Spenser, though a distinguished poet, can have no claim to credit as a historian. Spenser's purpose in fabricating this story about the Mac Mahons was to hold them up as objects of hatred to the Irish and English people, as being descended from the murderer of Thomas à Becket. He never succeeded, however, in convincing Ever Mac Cooley, or any other of the rebels of the Farney, that they were descended from the Beares of England! Spenser also asserts that it was said that most of the surnames ending in an, though then considered Irish, were in reality English, such as Hernan, Shinan, Mungan, &c. I do not, however, believe a word of this latter assertion of the great English poet, but conclude, with the simple and honest Keating, that," as being a poet, he gave himself, as was usual with the profession, licence to revel in poetic fictions, which he dressed in flowery language to decoy his reader." For we know that there is not a single instance on record of any Anglo-Norman family having taken any Irish names except such as they formed from the names or titles of their own ancestors by prefixing Mac, which they considered equivalent to the Norman Fitz, as Mac Maurice, Mac Gibbon, Mac Gerald, Mac William, which are equivalent to Fitz-Maurice, Fitz-Gibbon, Fitz-Gerald, Fitz-William. In this manner, however, the great Anglo-Norman families of the south and west of Ireland, who were after all more French and Irish than they were English (their ancestors having dwelt scarcely a century in England), nearly all hibernicised their names. It seems rather curious that Spenser has not furnished any list of those Anglo-Norman families who really hibernicised their names, while he was so minute in naming those who were not English, but whom he wished to make appear as such, in order to be enabled to censure them the more harshly for their treasons and rebellions. He contents himself by stating that there were great English families in Ireland who, he regretted to say, had become Irish in name and feeling. The manner in which he states this fact is worthy of consideration, and I shall therefore insert his very words here as they appear in the Dublin edition:-" Other great houses there bee of the English in Ireland, which thorough licentious conversing with the Irish or marrying or fostering with them, or lacke of meet nurture [i. e. education or rearing], or such other unhappy occasions, have degendred from their auncient dignities, and are now growne as Irish as O'Hanlon's breech,' as the proverbe there is.

Sir Henry Piers of Tristernagh, in the county of Westmeath, complains of the same custom among the families of English descent, in about a century after Spenser's period.

In the next place, I rank the degeneracy of many English families as a great hindrance of the reducing this people to civility, occasioned not only by fostering, that is, having their children nursed and bred during their tender years by the Irish, but much more by marriages with them, by means whereof our English in too many great families became in a few generations one both in manners and interest with the Irish, insomuch as many of them have not doubted [i e. hesitated] to assume even Irish names and appellations: instances whereof are but too many even to this day: thus a Bermingham is called by them Mac Yoris, Fitz-Simmons, Mac Kuddery [recte Mac-Ruddery], Wesley [i. e. Wellesley], Mac Falrene, &c, and from men thus metamorphosed what could be expected?"-Collectanea, vol. I. p. 105.

On the other hand, the Irish families who lived within the English pale and in its vicinity gradually conformed to the English customs, and assumed English surnames; and their doing so was deemed to be of such political importance that it was thought worthy the consideration of parliament: accordingly it was enacted by the statute of 5 Edward IV (1465), that every Irishman dwelling within the English pale, then comprising the counties of Dublin, Meath, Louth, and Kildare, should take an English surname. This act is so curious as illustrating the history of Irish family names, that it demands insertion in this place.

"An act, that the Irish men dwelling in the counties of Dublin, Myeth, Uriell, and Kildare, shall goe apparelled like English men, and weare theire beards after the English maner, sweare allegeance, and take English surname."-Rot. Parl.

ca. 16.

to one Englishman in apparell, and shaveing off his beard above the mouth, and shal be within one yeare sworne the liege man of the king in the hands of the lieutenant or deputy, or such as he will assigne to receive this oath for the multitude that is to be sworne, and shall take to him an English surname of one towne, as Sutton, Chester, Trym, Skryne, Corke, Kinsale; or colour, as white, blacke, browne; or arte or science, as smith or carpenter; or office, as cooke, butler; and that he and his issue shall use this name under payne of forfeyting of his goods yearely till the premises be done, to be levied two times by the yeare to the king's warres, according to the discretion of the lieutenant of the king or his deputy." 3. cap.

- 5 Edward IV.

"In obedience to this law," observes Harris, in his additions to Ware, the Shanachs took the name of Foxes, the Mac Gabhans of Smiths, Geals of Whites, the Branachs of Walshes, and many others; the said words being only literal translations from the Irish into the English language." Harris, however, I may remark, is very much mistaken when he supposes that the Branachs (Breażnajž, i. e. Britones) of the English pale in Ireland are an Irish family, or that any ancient Irish family had borne that name before the Anglo-Norman and Welsh families settled in Ireland towards the latter end of the twelfth century; and he is also wrong in assuming that the Irish word for Geal, white, was by itself ever used as the name of any family in Ireland. In the other two instances he is correct; for the head of the O'Caharnys of Teffia, who was usually styled the Shinnagh, translated his name into Fox, and the Mac-an-Gowans and O'Gowans translated their name into Smith.

The importance thus attached by this act to the bearing of an English surname soon induced many of the less distinguished Irish families of the English pale and its vicinity to translate or disguise their Irish names, so as to make them appear English ones, as Mac Intire to Carpenter, Mac Spallane to Spenser, Mac Cogry to L'Estrange, &c. ; but the more distinguished families of the pale and its vicinity, as Mac Murrogh, O'Brennan, O'Kayly, and others, retained with pride their original Irish names unaltered; for while they could look back with pride on a long line of ancestors, they could not bear the idea of being considered as the descendants of tradesmen and petty artizans, a feeling which prevails at the present day, and will prevail for ever; for though a man has himself sunk into poverty, he still feels a pride in believing that he is of respectable origin. It is certain, however, that the translation and assimilation of Irish surnames to English ones was carried to a great extent in the vicinity of Dublin and throughout Leinster; and hence it may at this day be safely concluded that many families bearing English surnames throughout the English pale are undoubtedly of Milesian or Danish origin. It appears, however that this statute had not the intended effect; for, about a century after its having passed, we find Spenser recommending a renewal of it, inasmuch as the Irish had then become as Irish as ever. His words on this point are highly interesting, as throwing great light on the history of Irish surnames towards the close of the sixteenth century, and we shall therefore lay them before the reader :

"Moreover, for the better breaking of these heads and [of?] septs which (I told you) was one of the greatest strengthes of the Irish, methinkes it should be very well to renewe that ould statute which was made in the reigne of Edward the Fourth in Ireland, by which it was commanded, that whereas all men used to be called by the name of their septs, accord. ing to the severall nations, and had no surnames at all, that from henceforth each one should take upon himself a severall surname, either of his trade and faculty, or of some quality of his body or minde, or of the place where he dwels, so as every one should be distinguished from the other, or from the most part, whereby they shall not only not depend upon the head of their sept, as now they do, but also in time learne quite to forget his [their] Irish nation. And herewithal would I also wish all the O's and the Mac's which the heads of septs have taken to their names, to be utterly forbidden and extinguished. For, that the same being an ordinance (as some say) first made by O'Brien for the strengthening of the Irish, the abrogating thereof will as much enfeeble them."

These, I suppose, may be reckoned among the causes of the slow progress this nation hath made towards civility and

accommodation to our English laws and customs; yet these notwithstanding, this people, especially in this and the adjoining counties, are in our days become more polite and civil [civilized] than in former ages, and some very forward to accommodate themselves to the English modes, particularly in their habit, language, and surnames, which by all manner of ways they strive to make English or English like; this I speak of the inferior rank of them. Thus you have Mac Gowan surname himself Smith; Mac Killy, Cock; Mac Spallane, Spenser; Mac Kegry, L'Estrange, &c, herein making small amends for our degenerate English before spoken of.'

But I have exceeded the space which the Journal allows for this article, and I must defer the remainder to a future number, promising the reader that I shall make every effort to bring the subject of Irish surnames to a conclusion in two additional articles.

ARISTOCRATIC TRAVELLING.-Mr Theobald was at that instant speaking to Lord Bolsover. "Listen," said the Earl of Rochdale to Arlington, "and you will hear some of the uses and advantages of travel." Arlington accordingly directed his attention to the speakers. I will just tell you what I did," said Mr Theobald. "Brussels, Frankfort, Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Milan, Naples, and Paris, and all that in two months. No man has ever done it in less.' "That's a fast thing; but I think I could have done it," said Lord Bolsover, "with a good courier. I had a fellow once who could ride a hundred miles a-day for a fortnight." "I came from Vienna to Calais," said young Leighton, "in less time than the government courier. No other Englishman ever did that." "Hem! I am not sure of that," said Lord Bolsover. "But I'll just tell you what I have done from Rome to Naples in nineteen hours; a fact, upon my honour; and from Naples to Paris in six days." "Partly by sea?" interrogated Leighton. "No! all by land," replied Lord Bolsover, with a look of proud satisfaction. “I'll just tell you what I did," Mr Leighton chimed in again, "and I think it is a good plan-it shows what one can do. I went straight on end, as fast as I could, to what was to be the end of my journey. This was Sicily. So straight away I went there at the devil's own rate, and never stopped anywhere by the way; changed horses at Rome and all those places, and landed in safety inI forget exactly how long from the time of starting, but I have got it down to an odd minute. As for the places I left behind, I saw them all on my way back, except the Rhine, and I steamed down that in the night-time." "I have travelled a good deal by night," said Theobald. "With a dormeuse and travelling lamp I think it is pleasant, and a good plan of getting on." And you can honestly say, I suppose," said Denbigh, "that you have slept successfully through as much fine country as any man living?" "Oh, I did see the country," replied Theobald, "that is, all that was worth seeing. My courier knew all about that, and used to stop and waken me whenever we came to anything remarkable. Gad! I have reason to remember it, too, for I caught an infernal bad cold one night when I turned out by lamp-light to look at a waterfall. I never looked at another." There was a pause in the conversation, and the group moved onwards to another room.-Arlington, a Tale, by the Hon. Mr Lister. Truth will never be palatable to those who are determined not to relinquish error, but can never give offence to the honest and well-meaning; for the plain-dealing remonstrances of a friend differ as widely from the rancour of an enemy as the friendly probe of a physician from the dagger of an assassin. -E. W. Montague.

PARENTAL DUTIES.-Bring thy children up in learning and obedience, yet without outward austerity. Praise them openly reprehend them secretly. Give them good countenance and convenient maintenance, otherwise thy life will seem their bondage, and what portion thou shalt leave them at thy death they will thank death for it, and not thee. And I am per. suaded that the foolish cockering of some parents, and the overstern carriage of others, cause more men and women to take ill courses than their own vicious inclinations. Marry thy daughters in time, lest they marry themselves; and train not up thy sons in the wars, for he that sets up his rest to live by that profession can hardly be an honest man or a good Christian; besides, it is a science no longer in request than use, for soldiers in peace are like chimneys in summer.--Lord Burleigh's Maxims,

HALF AN HOUR IN IRELAND.
(From Charles O'Malley.)

WHEN the Bermuda transport sailed from Portsmouth for Lisbon, I happened to make one of some four hundred interesting individuals, who, before they became food for powder, were destined to try their constitutions on pickled pork. The second day after our sailing, the winds became adverse; it blew a hurricane from every corner of the compass but the one it ought; and the good ship, that should have been standing straight for the Bay of Biscay, was scudding away with a double-reefed topsail towards the coast of Labrador. For six days we experienced every sea-manoeuvre that usually preludes a shipwreck; and at length, when, what from sea sickness and fear, we had become utterly indifferent to the result, the storm abated, the sea went down, and we found ourselves lying comfortably in the harbour of Cork, we had a strange suspicion on our minds that the frightful scenes of the past week had been nothing but a dream.

66

Come, Mr Medlicot," said the skipper to me, "we shall be here for a couple of days to refit; had you not better go ashore and see the country?"

I sprung to my legs with delight; visions of cowslips, larks, daisies, and mutton chops, floated before my excited imagination, and in ten minutes I found myself standing at that pleasant little inn at Cove, which, opposite Spike Island, rejoices in the name of the Goat and Garters.

Breakfast, waiter," said I; "a beefsteak-fresh beef, mark ye; fresh eggs, bread, milk, and butter, all fresh." No more hard tack, thought I, no salt butter, but a genuine land breakfast.

“Up stairs, No. 4, sir," said the waiter, as he flourished a dirty napkin, indicating the way.

Up stairs I went, and in due time the appetizing little dejeune made its appearance. Never did a miser's eye revel over his broad acres with more complacent enjoyment than did mine skim over the mutton and the muffin, the teapot, the trout, and the devilled kidney, so invitingly spread out before me. Yes, thought I. as I smacked my lips, this is the reward of virtue; pickled pork is a probationary state that admirably fits us for future enjoyments. I arranged my napkin upon my knee, I seized my knife and fork, and proceeded with most critical acumen to bisect a beefsteak. Scarcely, however, had I touched it, when with a loud crash the plate smashed beneath it, and the gravy ran piteously across the cloth. Before I had time to account for the phenomenon, the door opened hastily, and the waiter rushed into the room, his face redolent with smiles, while he rubbed his hands in an ecstacy of delight. "It's all over, sir;' said he, "glory be to God, its' all done." "What's over? what's done?" said I with impatience. "M'Mahon is satisfied," replied he, "and so is the other gentleman." "Who and what the devil do you mean?"

It's over, sir, I say," replied the waiter again; "he fired the air."

"Fired in the air," said I. "Did they fight in the room below stairs?"

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Yes, sir," said the waiter with a benign smile.

"That will do," said I, as seizing my hat I rushed out of the house, and hurrying to the beach took a boat for the ship. Exactly half an hour had elapsed since my landing, but even those short thirty minutes had fully as many reasons, that although there may be few more amusing, there are some safer places to live in than the green island.'

All men are masked; the world is one universal disguise, each individual endeavouring to fathom his neighbour's intentions, at the same time wishing to hide his own, and, above all, striving to secure a reputable character rather by words than deeds.

Persons who are always innocently cheerful and goodhumoured are very useful in the world; they maintain peace and happiness, and spread a thankful temper amongst all who live around them.-Miss Talbot.

Printed and published very Saturday by GUNN and CAMERON, at the Office

of the General Advertiser, No. 6, Church Lane, College Green, Dublin.— Agents:-R. GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row, London; SIMMS and DINHAM, Exchange Street, Manchester; C. DAVIES, North John Street, Liverpool; JoHN MENZIES, Prince's Street, Edinburgh; and DAVID ROBERTSON, Trongate, Glasgow.