one.

It is not imaginative strength that produces confusion, but
imaginative weakness. The strong imagination which perceives
definitely and realises vividly will not tolerate that obscurity so
dear to all those who worship the eidola of the cave. Of each of
these ages, the primary impressions were made in the bardic mind
during the life-time of the heroes who gave to the epoch its
character; and a strong impression made in such a mind could not
have been easily dissipated or obscured. For it must be remembered,
that the bardic literature of Ireland was committed to the custody
of guardians whose character we ought not to forget. The bards were
not the people, but a class. They were not so much a class as an
organisation and fraternity acknowledging the authority of one
elected chief. They were not loose wanderers, but a power in the
State, having duties and privileges. The ard-ollav ranked next to
the king, and his eric was kingly. Thus there was an educated body
of public opinion entrusted with the preservation of the literature
and history of the country, and capable of repressing the
aberrations of individuals.

But the question arises, Did they so repress such perversions of
history as their wandering undisciplined members might commit?
Too much, of course, must not reasonably be expected. It was an
age of creative thought, and such thought is difficult to control;
but that one of the prime objects and prime works of the bards, as
an organisation, was to preserve a record of a certain class of
historical facts is certain. The succession of the kings and of the
great princely families was one of these. The tribal system, with
the necessity of affinity as a ground of citizenship, demanded such