266 



the Appendix to the Report, p. 291, and there the Enghsh reader 

 will at once see that the tract which he calls the Tom," was written in 

 Ireland and by an Irishman. The Doctor's error, where he says that 

 "the sound of Muredachhus is much the same as that of Muirchius," 

 is so apparent to every Gaelic scholar, that it is almost unnecessary 

 to notice it here. It may, however, be necessary for the benefit of the 

 English reader, to observe that no Irishman, or ancient Scot, was 

 ever called Muredachus in his own language. The name Muiread- 

 hach was common among the Irish, and the person mentioned by 

 Colgan was of that name ; but Colgan, as he wrote in Latin, gave 

 the name a Latin termination, and called the man Muredachus, and 

 in that case the d could not become quiescent, so that the sound 

 could not be "much the same," or at all the same, "as Muirchius." 

 It is wonderful that the Doctor's own good sense did not point out to 

 him the impropriety of concealing the real Irish name of Muiread- 

 liach, and of making his Latin name of the same sound of Muir- 

 chius, which are totally different from each other. 



It is not easy to guess what the Doctor means by calling the two 

 or three Irish lines prefixed to the " Tain bo Cuailgne, a Critical 

 Exposition." It is in fact no Exposition at all ; it merely tells 

 where the Tale was written, the time it was written, the name of the 

 person who was its author, and the cause of its being written. If we 

 must call this a " Critical Exposition," it must be acknowledged that 

 it is not one of a very lucid description. The Doctor, however, draws 

 a very curious conclusion from the circumstance that neither Rode- 

 rick O'Flaherty nor his friends the Mac Firbis's notice this Critical 

 Exposition. He says, " O'Flaherty considers the Tale of the Tain 

 as a composition of the age to which it relates ; so that the Critical 

 Exposition prefixed to this ancient copy, must have escaped the dih- 

 gent and successful search which he made for materials for his Ogygia. 



