but it seems nevertheless to have worked well in Ireland. Strange
to say, however, these various classes formed no castes as in
Egypt or in India, because no one was prevented from embracing
those professions, even when not born to them; and, in the end,
success in study was the only requisite for reaching the highest
round of the literary or professional ladder, as in China.

But a stranger and more dangerous feature of the system was that
in political offices the dignities were hereditary as to the
family, elective as to the person. Hence the title of Ard-Righ
or supreme monarch did not necessarily pass to the eldest son of
the former king, but another member of the same family might be
elected to the office, and was even designated to it during the
lifetime of the actual holder, thus becoming _Tanist_ or heir-apparent.
Every one sees at a glance the numberless disadvantages resulting
from such an institution, and it must be said that most of the
bloody crimes recorded in Irish history sprang from it.

At first sight, the dignity of supreme monarch would almost seem
to be a sinecure under the clan system, as the authority attached
to it was extremely limited, and is generally compared in its
relations to the subordinate kings, as that of metropolitan to
suffragan bishops in the Church. Nevertheless, all Celtic nations
appear to have attached a great importance to it, and the real
misfortunes of Ireland began when contention ran so high for the
office that the people were divided in their supreme allegiance,
and no Ard-Righ was acknowledged at the same time by all; which
happened precisely at the period of the invasion under Strongbow.

Some few facts lately brought to light in the vicissitudes of