story of the Sons of Usna; the death of Cuchullin (a
counterpart of the Persian tale of Roostam and Sohrab);
the story of Fergus, son of the king; of Connor of Ulster;
of the sons of Dari; and many more. We next meet with
the first king who led an expedition abroad against the
Romans in Crimthan, surnamed _Neea-Naari_, or Nair's
Hero, from the good genius who accompanied him on his
foray. A well-planned insurrection of the conquered
Belgae, cut off one of Crimthan's immediate successors,
with all his chiefs and nobles, at a banquet given on
the Belgian-plain (Moybolgue, in Cavan); and arrested
for a century thereafter Irish expeditions abroad. A
revolution and a restoration followed, in which Moran the
Just Judge played the part of Monk to _his_ Charles II.,
Tuathal surnamed "the Legitimate." It was Tuathal
who imposed the special tax on Leinster, of which, we
shall often hear--under the title of _Borooa_, or Tribute.
"The Legitimate" was succeeded by his son, who introduced
the Roman _Lex Talionis_ ("an eye for an eye and a tooth,
for a tooth") into the Brehon code; soon after, the
Eugenian families of the south, strong in numbers, and
led by a second Owen More, again halved the Island with
the ruling race, the boundary this time being the _esker_,
or ridge of land which can be easily traced from Dublin
west to Galway. Olild, a brave and able Prince, succeeded
in time to the southern half-kingdom, and planted his
own kindred deep and firm in its soil, though the unity
of the monarchy was again restored under Cormac Ulla, or
_Longbeard_. This Cormac, according to the legend, was
in secret a Christian, and was done to death by the