CHAP.  XI]  LEARNING  AND  EDUCATION  453

which  raised  three  bolga,  or  '  blisters,'  on  her  face  ;  a  black
blister  which  was  called  on,  or  '  stain  '  ;  a  red  one  called
ainim,  or  '  blemish  '  ;  and  a  white  one  called  aithis,  or
'  defect  '  :  on  which  the  poor  young  queen  died  of  grief
for  the  disgrace.  This  was  the  crowning  and  last  iniquity
of  Aithirne  and  his  family  ;  for  the  Ulstermen,  urged  on
by  Concobar,  rose  up  in  a  rage  and  slew  the  whole
three,  and  destroyed  their  dun.  So  also  the  satire
made  by  Mac  Adnai  on  his  uncle  Caeir  is  called  in  one
p*ace  der,  in  another  gldm-dichcnn,  and  in  a  different  copy
gldm  simply.*

Sometimes  the  pronouncement  by  a  poet  of  a  gldm-
dichenn  against  a  king  or  chief  who  refused  to  pay  him
the  just  reward  of  his  poetry  was  attended  with  curious
and  elaborate  formalities  :  different  indeed  from  those
used  by  professed  sorcerers,  but  hardly  less  pagan.  It
was  a  solemn  excommunication,  or  rather  curse,  pro-
nounced from  the  top  of  a  hill  by  a  company  of  seven,
namely,  one  of  each  of  the  seven  orders  of  poets  (as
named  at  p.  428,  supra),  of  whom  the  aggrieved  poet
was  one.  The  whole  wicked  process,  as  described  in
the  Book  of  Ballymote,  may  be  seen  in  O'Curry's
Lectures,  and  a  literal  translation  by  Stokes  in  Revue
Celtique.f  According  to  a  statement  in  an  ancient  MS.
