Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis

114
THE FORAY OF CON O'DONNELL.
A.D. 1495.
[Con, the son of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, with his small-powerful force,--and
the reason Con's force was called the small-powerful force was, because
he was always in the habit of mustering a force which did not exceed
twelve score of well-equipped and experienced battle-axe-men, and sixty
chosen active horsemen, fit for battle,--marched with the forementioned
force to the residence of MacJohn of the Glynnes (in the county of
Antrim); for Con had been informed that MacJohn had in possession the
finest woman, steed, and hound, of any other person in his
neighbourhood. He sent a messenger for the steed before that time, and
was refused, although Con had, at the same time, promised it to one of
his own people. Con did not delay, and got over every difficult pass
with his small-powerful force, without battle or obstruction, until he
arrived in the night at the house of MacJohn, whom he, in the first
place, took prisoner, and his wife, steed, and hound, and all his
property, were under Con's control, for he found the same steed, with
sixteen others, in the town on that occasion. All the Glynnes were
plundered on the following day by Con's people, but he afterwards,
however, made perfect restitution of all property, to whomsoever it
belonged, to MacJohn's wife, and he set her husband free to her after he
had passed the Bann westward. He brought with him the steed and great
booty and spoils, into Tirhugh, and ordered the cattle-prey to be let
out on the pasturage.--"Annals of the Four Masters," translated by Owen
Connellan, Esq., p. 331-2. This poem, founded upon the foregoing
passage (and in which the hero acts with more generosity than the Annals
warrant) was written and published in the Dublin University Magazine
before the appearance of Mr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Kingdom of
Ireland,"--the magnificent work published in 1848 by Messrs. Hodges and
Smith, of this city. For Mr. O'Donovan's version of this passage, which
differs from that of the former translator in two or three important
particulars, see the second volume of his work, p. 1219. The principal
castle of the O'Donnell's was at Donegal. The building, of which some
portions still exist, was erected in the twelfth century. The
banqueting-hall, which is the scene of the opening portion of this
ballad, is still preserved, and commands some beautiful views.]
The evening shadows sweetly fall
Along the hills of Donegal,