of the Druids, and afterwards adopted and enforced by
the authority of the Bishops. The tributes were paid in
kind, and consisted of cattle, horses, foreign-born
slaves, hounds, oxen, scarlet mantles, coats of mail,
chess-boards and chess-men, drinking cups, and other
portable articles of value. The quantity in every case
due from a King to his subordinate, or from a subordinate
to his King--for the gifts and grants were often
reciprocal--is precisely stated in every instance. Besides
these rights, this constitution defines the "prerogatives"
of the five Kings on their journeys through each other's
territory, their accession to power, or when present in
the General Assemblies of the Kingdom. It contains,
besides, a very numerous array of "prohibitions"--acts
which neither the Ard-Righ nor any other Potentate may
lawfully do. Most of these have reference to old local
Pagan ceremonies in which the Kings once bore a leading
part, but which were now strictly prohibited; others are
of inter-Provincial significance, and others, again, are
rules of personal conduct. Among the prohibitions of the
monarch the first is, that the sun must never rise on
him in his bed at Tara; among his prerogatives he was
entitled to banquet on the first of August, on the fish
of the Boyne, fruit from the Isle of Man, cresses from
the Brosna river, venison from Naas, and to drink the
water of the well of Talla: in other words, he was entitled
to eat on that day, of the produce, whether of earth or
water, of the remotest bounds, as well as of the very
heart of his mensal domain. The King of Leinster was
"prohibited" from upholding the Pagan ceremonies within