Reviews, 109
the 'Red Lake' (Loch Derg), in which the cave of St. Patrick's Purgatory is found? The tale of the combat of a Fenian hero with this monster, finally destroyed by St. Patrick, no doubt gave rise to the belief that the waters were inhabited by super- natural beings (always called ' demons ' by the Christian monks), and the further story that St. Patrick combated there with the 'demons' which he had driven out from all the rest of Ireland and which had made a final home in Loch Derg was a natural sequel to the pagan tale. Yet it would seem from the record on an ancient inscribed stone, now embedded in the walls of the church on Station Island, that the lake was already a place of pilgrimage in or before the date of the Apostle of Ireland.
Mr. Boswell indulges in some eccentricities of spelling in Irish words and names. To our mind nothing is gained by changing the actual spelling unless a phonetic system is frankly adopted and carried out systematically; this, however irritating to a reader of Gaelic, offers some advantages to the English reader. But the dropping of aspirates, as in Neid for Neidhe (p. 126), filid for filidh (p. 117), claideb for claidheamh (p. 128), etc., assists neither the eye nor the ear. They are mere barbarisms, no more admissible in Irish than in Scotch Gaelic. The whole meaning of the aspirate, and the change of sound it brings about, is lost. These and similar variations should be avoided.
The author has taken a wide sweep in his treatment of his subject. He passes in review in turn the classical, oriental, and ecclesiastical tradition, leading up to his central subject by a sketch of the growth of the idea of these visions of the unseen in Irish pagan and Christian literature. He concludes by a mention of the later developments found in such Christian productions as the Voyage of St. Brefidan, the Vision of Tundale, and the Vision of Drihthelm preserved by Bseda. The whole is preceded by a brief account of the Life of Adamnan. Although the scope of the work does not permit of an extended enquiry into special branches of the subject, such, for instance, as is afforded by the several incidents in the Voyage of St. Brendafi, the salient features are well brought out, and the book forms a useful compendium on a large and fruitful subject.
Eleanor Hull.
