of his own country. The premiums he provided for the best players were disbursed by Michael Dungan (most likely his brother) who was secretary in Granard of the patriot Volunteer corps. Among the harpists engaged were Arthur O'Neill and Charles Fanning who were to feature in the later Belfast assembly. Harpers As at Granard, the express objective of the festival in Belfast was to assemble the remaining traditional harp players to compete for prizes, and preserve/notate the dying Irish harp tradition and its pieces. It was attended by ten Irish harpers and one Welsh harper, and many tunes were played. They were notated by Edward Bunting, and published under his name as A General Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland in 1796. Donnchadh Ó Hámsaigh (Denis Hampson), blind (County Londonderry), aged 96, played with long, crooked fingernails. Arthur O'Neill, blind (County Tyrone), winner of second prize for "The green woods of Truagh". Charles Fanning (County Cavan), winner of first prize for "The coulin, or Cúilfhionn". Dan Black, blind (Derry) Charles Byrne (County Leitrim) Hugh Higgins, blind (County Mayo) Patrick Quinn, blind (County Armagh) William Caer (Armagh) James Duncan (County Down) Rose Mooney, blind (County Meath) Williams, first name unknown (Wales) William Caer was 15 years of age while all of the others were over 45 years old. Three winners were selected (Fanning took first place) and each was awarded a yearly stipend of £10. Edward Bunting subsequently visited each winner, one after the other, to collate all of the available contemporary harp music. He did not publish all this material until 1796, 1809, and 1840. Songs saved through this effort include: Feaghan Gealeash, Deirdre's Lament for the Sons of Usneach (thought to be the oldest extant piece of Irish music), Scott's Lamentation, The Battle of Argan More, Ossianic Air, Blackheaded Deary, Open the Door Softly (played by Arthur O'Neill), The Lament for Limerick, and Chorus Jig (a jig in name only). The Rev. George Vaughan Sampson wrote of Denis Hampson that: he played at the famous meeting of harpers at Belfast, under the patronage of some amateurs of Irish music. Mr Bunton, the celebrated musician of that town, was here the year before, at Hampson's, noting his tunes and his manner of playing, which is in the best old style. He said, with the honest feeling of self love, "When I played the old tunes, not another of the