tion lost or destroyed. Yet we have remaining-rescued by good fortune from the general wreck-a great body of manuscript literature. The two most important_collections are those in Trinity College and in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, where there are manuscripts of various ages, from the fifth down to the present century. In the Franciscan monastery of Adam and Eve in Dublin are a number of valuable manuscripts which were sent from Rome a few years ago. There are also many important manuscripts in Maynooth College, in the British Museum in London, and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

6. Before the invention of printing it was customary in Ireland for individuals, or families, or religious communities, to keep large manuscript books of miscellaneous literature. In these were written such literary pieces as were considered worthy of being preserved in writing-tales, poems, biographies, genealogies, histories, annals, and so forth-all mixed up in one volume, and almost always copied from older books. The value set on these books may be estimated from the fact that one of them was sometimes given as ransom for a captive chief.

7. The oldest of all these books of miscellaneous literature is the Lebar-na-Heera, or the Book of the Dun Cow, now in the Royal Irish Academy. It was written by Mailmurri Mac Kelleher, a learned scribe, who died in Clonmacnoise in the year 1106. As it now stands it consists of only 134 folio pages, a mere fragment of the original work. It contains 65 pieces of various kinds, several of which are imperfect on account of missing leaves. There are a number of romantic tales in prose; a copy of the celebrated Amra or elegy on St. Columkille, composed by Dallan Forgaill about the year 592, which no one can yet wholly understand, the language is so ancient and difficult; an imperfect copy of the Voyage of Maildun; and an imperfect copy of the Tain-bo-Quelna with several of the minor tales connected with it.

8. The Book of Leinster, the next in order of age, now in

Trinity College, Dublin, was written in 1160 and in the years before and after. The part of the original book remaining for it is only a part-consists of 410 folio pages, and contains nearly 1,000 pieces of various kinds-prose and poetry-historical sketches, romantic tales (among which is a perfect copy of the Tain-bo-Quelna), topographical tracts, genealogies, etc.-a vast collection of ancient Irish lore.

9. The Lebar Brecc, or Speckled Book of Mac Egan, also called the Great Book of Duniry, is in the Royal Irish Academy. It is a large folio volume, now consisting of 280 pages, but originally containing many more, written in a small, uniform, beautiful hand, toward the end of the fourteenth century, by the Mac Egans, a family of learned professors and teachers. The book, which contains 226 pieces, was copied from various older books, most of them now lost. All, both text and notes, with a few exceptions, are on religious subjects; there is a good deal of Latin mixed with the Irish.

10. The Book of Ballymote, in the Royal Irish Academy, is a large folio volume of 501 pages. It was written by several scribes about the year 1391, at Ballymote in Sligo, from older books; and contains a great number of pieces in prose and verse. Among them is a copy of the Book of Invasions, i.e., a history of the Conquests of Ireland by the several ancient colonists. There are genealogies of almost all the principal Irish families; several historical and romantic tales of the early Irish kings; a copy of the Dinnsenchus; a translation of the Argonautic Expedition and of the War of Troy.

11. The Yellow Book of Lecan [Leckan] in Trinity College, is a large quarto volume of about 500 pages. It was written at Lecan in the County Sligo in and about the year 1390, and contains a great number of pieces in prose and verse, historical, biographical, topographical, &c.

12. The five books above described have been published in fac-simile without translations by the Royal Irish Academy, page for page, line for line, letter for letter, so that

scholars in all parts of the world can now study them without coming to Dublin.

13. The Book of Lecan, in the Royal Irish Academy, about 600 pages, was written in 1416, chiefly by Gilla Isa More Mac Firbis. The contents resemble in a general way those of the Book of Ballymote.

There are many other books of miscellaneous Gaelic literature in the Royal Irish Academy and in Trinity College, such as the Book of Lismore, the Book of Fermoy, the Book of Hy Many; besides numerous volumes without special names.

Ancient Irish literature, so far as it has been preserved, may be classed as follows:

I. Ecclesiastical and Religious writings.

II. Annals, History, and Genealogy.

III. Tales, historical and romantic.

IV. Law, Medicine, and Science.

V. Translations of Pieces from other languages.

CHAPTER III.

ECCLESIASTICAL WRITINGS.

14. Copies of the Gospels or of other portions of Scripture, that were either written or owned by eminent saints of the early Irish Church, were treasured with great veneration by succeeding generations; and it became a common practice to enclose them, for better preservation, in ornamental boxes or shrines, which are generally of exquisite workmanship in gold, silver, or other metals, precious stones, and enamel. Books of this kind are the oldest we possess.

15. The Domnach Airgid, or Silver Shrine, which is in the National Museum, Dublin, is a box containing a Latin copy of the Gospels written on vellum. It was once thought that the enclosed book was the identical copy of the Gospels

presented by St. Patrick to his disciple St. Mac Carthenn, the founder of the see of Clogher: but recent investigations go to show that it is not so old as the time of the great apostle.

16. The Book of Kells is the most remarkable book of this class, though not the oldest. It is a Latin copy in vellum, of the four Gospels, now in Trinity College, Dublin, and received its name from having been kept for many centuries at Kells in Meath. Its exact age is unknown, but it was probably written in the seventh or eighth century. At the present day this is the best known of all the old Irish books, on account of its elaborate and beautiful ornamentation, of which a description will be found in the Chapter on Art.

17. The Cathach [Caha] of the O'Donnells. According to a very old tradition this book was written by St. Columkille; and at any rate it has been in the family of his kindred, the O'Donnells, since his time. They always brought it with them to battle; and it was their custom to have it carried three times round their army before fighting, in the belief that this would insure victory; hence it name, Cathach, which means Battle-book. This venerable relic, covered with a beautifully wrought case of silver gilt and precious stones, may be seen in the National Museum, Dublin.

18. In Trinity College, Dublin, are two beautiful shrines enclosing two illuminated Gospel manuscripts, the Book of Dimma and the Book of St. Moling, both written in the seventh or eighth century.

19. The Book of Armagh, now in Trinity College, is almost as beautifully written as the Book of Kells. The accomplished scribe was Ferdomnach of Armagh, who finished the book in 807. It is chiefly in Latin, with a good deal of Old Irish interspersed. It contains a life of St. Patrick; a number of Notes on his life, by Bishop Tirechan ; a complete copy of the New Testament; and St. Patrick's Confession, in which the saint gives a brief account, in simple, unaffected Latin, of his mission in Ireland.

The Confession was copied by Ferdomnach from the very handwriting of St. Patrick.

In the year 1004, a highly interesting and important entry was made in this book. In that year the great king Brian Boru, arriving at Armagh, made an offering of twenty ounces of gold on the altar of St. Patrick. He confirmed the ancient ecclesiastical supremacy of Armagh, and caused his secretary, Mailsuthain, to enter in the Book of Armagh this decree, which is as plain now as the day it was written.

20. We have a vast body of original ecclesiastical and religious writings. Among them are the Lives of a great many of the most distinguished Irish saints, mostly in Irish, some few in Latin; of various ages, from the eighth century, the period of the Book of Armagh, down to the last century. The Lives of Saints Patrick, Brigit, and Columkille are more numerous than those of the others. Of these the best known is the "Tripartite Life of St. Patrick," so called because it is divided into three parts.

Besides the Irish Lives of St. Columkille, there is one in Latin, written by Adamnan, who died in the year 703. He was a native of Donegal, and ninth abbot of Iona; and his memoir is one of the most graceful pieces of Latin composition of the Middle Ages. It has been published.

21. Another class of Irish ecclesiastical writings are the Calendars or Martyrologies, or Festilogies-Irish Feilire [Fail'ira], a festival list. The Feilire is a catalogue of saints arranged according to their festival days, with usually a few facts about each, briefly stated. There are several of these Martyrologies. One is the Calendar or Martyrology of Donegal, written by Michael O'Clery the chief of the Four Masters, which has been published. The only other one I will notice is the Feilire of Aengus the Culdee, which is in verse, and which has been translated and printed.

22. The Book of Hymns is one of the manuscripts of Trinity College, Dublin, copied at some time not later than the ninth or tenth century. It consists of a number of hymns