The Scottish Celtic review

'176 Tir-fa-Tonn.—" TIR-FA-TONN."The following uote on "Tir-fa-tonn" occurs at page 408 of Dr.Joyce's " Old Celtic Romances ":" The Gaelic tales abound in allusions to a beautiful countrj'situated under the sea—an enchanted land sunk at some remotetime, and still held under spell. In some romantic writings it iscalled T\r-fa-tonn, the land beneath the wave ; and occasionallyone or more of the heroes find their way to it, and meet withmany strange adventures. Sometimes it is 0' Brasil, that dimland which appears over the water once every seven years— " onthe verge of the azure sea " —and which would be freed from thespell, and would remain permanently over water, if any one couldsucceed in throwing tire on it. (See Gerald Griffin's beautifulballad, " 0' Brasil, the Isle of the Blest.") The Island of Tincaraand the beautiful country seen beneath the waves by Maildun,are remnants of the same superstition.This very old Celtic tradition is obviously the same as thelegend of the continent of Atlantis, mentioned by Plato, which atsome remote time was overwhelmed and sunk under the AtlanticOcean. And it would seem that they have the same .shadowytradition in the East ; for in " Lalla Rookh " Moore makes thePeri say, in her soliloquy :" I know where the Isles of Perfume areMany a fathom down in the sea,To the south of sun-bright Araby.'—FIN MAC COUL.This Celtic hero has been unfortunate in the manner in whichhe has come before the literary world. At one time he wasrepresented as a giant of portentous dimensions :" His mouth was twelve miles broad,His teeth were ten miles square ;at another time as a powerful ruler ia a state of society comparativelycivilized. The authentieity of the poems for which thislatter view is responsible is questioned, and has led to a heatedcontroversy sufficient (to say the least) to create a prejudice againsthim.