52 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



" I do not know what design the learned Doctor may have had in falsifying the Annals ; but 

 that he has done so, in this instance, is incontrovertible, and that he may have done so in others 

 there is strong reason to suspect. The translation of the text of the MS. is literally thus: 



" Cosgrach of whom is said (called) the Miserable, Recluse (or Anchorite) of Inis Cealtra, died." 

 " That this is the true translation of the MS. will hardly be disputed, and that my MS. agrees 

 with the College copy I am positive, and that it is agreeable to the original I am convinced. There 

 would be no sense in calling a man an Anchorite Tower, but a man totally given up to fasting, mor- 

 tification, and retirement from the company of man, as Cosgrach was, might very fairly be called a 

 Truaghan, or a miserable creature." 



From another accomplished Irish scholar, my friend Mr. O'Donovan, I sub- 

 sequently obtained the following remarks on the above passage, from which it 

 will appear that, even granting the text in Dr. O'Conor's work to be untouched 

 and accurate, still the translation could not be so : 



" Dr. O'Conor's translation of this passage in the Annals is very incorrect, viz. 



" A. D. 898. Cosccrach fris a raite Turaghan Angcoire Insi Cealtra, d'ecc." 



" A. D. 898. Coscrachus a quo dicitur Turris anachoretica Insula? Celtras obiit." 



" The original Irish cannot at all bear this translation. FPT a P aice cupajan cannot express 

 a quo dicitur turris, because the preposition ppip being the ancient form of the modern leir or pip 

 does not signify from but with or to. If the Four Masters had intended to convey the idea expressed 

 in Dr. O'Conor's translation, they would have writen 6 a paiceap, &c., not ppip a paice, &c. 



" This shows that Doctor O'Conor is wrong in making Onjjcoipe an adjective, qualifying 

 Turaghan, instead of making it a noun placed in grammatical apposition to Coscrach. The follow- 

 ing is the literal and indisputable translation of the passage as printed by Dr. O'Conor : 



" Coscrachus, cui dicebatur Turaghan, Anachoreta Insulte Celtrse, obiit. 



" Coscrach, who was called TURAGHAN, Anchorite of Iniskeltra, died. 



" But why he was so called cannot be traced from the text as thus printed, without reference 

 to the original MS. Dr. O'Conor translates the passage as if the original Irish stood thus : 



" Copccpac 6 a paiceap Cup-Qn^coipe Inpi Cealcpn, o'ecc." 



In fairness, however, to Dr. O'Conor, whom I am extremely unwilling even 

 to suspect of a wilful falsification of the text of the Annals, I am happy to add 

 that, on referring to the copy of the Annals of the Four Masters, in the library 

 of the Royal Irish Academy, I find the disputed passage so contracted that 

 he may have possibly made an unintentional mistake in deciphering the word: 

 and, as the volume in which it occurs was transcribed from the original work 

 now at Stowe, I have little doubt that the contraction is the same in both, the 

 Doctor having, in the printed work, changed the text from its abbreviated form, 

 as was frequently his custom. It runs thus : 



