this singular penalty. It will be observed besides of
the _Tanist_, that the habit of appointing him seems to
have been less a law than a custom; that it was not
universal in all the Provinces; that in some tribes the
succession alternated between a double line of Princes;
and that sometimes when the reigning Prince obtained the
nomination of a _Tanist_, to please himself, the choice
was set aside by the public voice of the clansmen. The
successor to the Ard-Righ, or Monarch, instead of being
simply called _Tanist_, had the more sounding title of
_Roydamna_, or King-successor.

The chief offices about the Kings, in the first ages,
were all filled by the Druids, or Pagan Priests; the
_Brehons_, or Judges, were usually Druids, as were also
the _Bards_, the historians of their patrons. Then came
the Physicians; the Chiefs who paid tribute or received
annual gifts from the Sovereigns, or Princes; the royal
stewards; and the military leaders or Champions, who,
like the knights of the middle ages, held their lands
and their rank at court, by the tenure of the sword. Like
the feudal _Dukes_ of Prance, and _Barons_ of England,
these military nobles often proved too powerful for their
nominal patrons, and made them experience all the
uncertainty of reciprocal dependence. The Champions play
an important part in all the early legends. Wherever
there is trouble you are sure to find them. Their most
celebrated divisions were the warriors of the _Red
Branch_--that is to say, the Militia of Ulster; the
_Fiann_, or Militia of Leinster, sometimes the royal