Ag Joseph Cooper Walker atá fianaise againn gur mhair an duine seo. Tá dán leis, ‘Marbhna Sheáin De Búrc’ i gcló ag Walker agus ag Charlotte Brooke. Ag Coill an Stócaigh, Baile an Daingin, Co. Mhaigh Eo, a rugadh é. In Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards deir Walker: ‘Perhaps the subject of this memoir is the last of that order of Minstrels, called Tale-tellers or Finnscéalaithe.’ D’fhág an bholgach dall é nuair a bhí sé bliain d’aois. Bhí sé ag foghlaim ceird an chruitire ach nuair a d’éag a phátrún níor fhéad sé leanúint leis. Deir Walker: ‘He was now employed in relating legendary tales and reciting genealogies at rural wakes or in the hospitable halls of country squires. He has often been heard to recite some of those Irish tales which Mr Macpherson has so artfully interwoven with the texture of the epic poems which he does Oisin the honour to attribute to him . . . . I have been assured that no singer ever did Carolan’s airs, or Oisin’s celebrated hunting-song, more justice than Cormac.’ Chum sé féin dánta agus caointe. Bhí sé pósta faoi dhó agus bhí sliocht air. Nuair a bhuail Walker leis bhí sé ina chónaí lena iníon ag Baile an tSamhaidh, in aice leis an Dún Mór i gContae na Gaillimhe. ‘Though his utterance is materially injured by dental loss, and though his voice is impaired by age yet he continues to practice his profession . . . . It is probable that where he was once admired, he is now only endured.’ Bhí sé beo fós in 1818.

Diarmuid Breathnach

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