and the errors of those who make such assertions, as, for instance,
that there were no stone buildings in Erin before the coming of the
Danes and Anglo-Normans.

"Thus saith an ancient authority: `The first doctor, the first
builder, and the first fisherman, that were ever in Erin were--

Capa, for the healing of the sick,
In his time was all-powerful;
And Luasad, the cunning builder,
And Laighne, the fisherman.'"

So speaks McFirbis in his quaint and picturesque style.

The literature of the Celts was, therefore, impressed with the
character of realistic universality, which has been the great boast
of the romantic school. It did not concern itself merely with the
great and powerful, but comprised all classes of people, and tried
to elevate what is of itself undignified and common in human
society. This is no doubt the meaning of the quotation just cited.

Among the Celts, then, each clan had his historian to record the
most minute details of every-day history, as well as every fact
of importance to the whole clan, and even to the nation at large;
and thus we may see how literature with them grew naturally out
of their social system. The same may not appear to hold good at
first sight with the other classes of literary men; yet it would
be easy to discover the link connecting them all, and which was
always traditional or matter-of-fact, if we may use that expression.