B6 Mr. Petbie on the History and Antiquities of Tara HiU. 



Nep ainm Do'n Beim, ocup do, n cpdcc, ut Nes is the name of the blow and of the wound, 



€St ip in c-Senchap TTlap : as is in the Senchus Mor : 



Q jpainib cec comap, a p^niB cec popap. From grains every measure, from the Feni each 



science. 



Q moeniB cec mepa, a oipib cuipp oume, From moeni each mes. The fines for man's body 



Cio ac lie puile, po opoaijeo nep. Are various according to the situation of the 



wound.* 



.1. CTriiail bep upjnarap in Baill ipin That is, the eric is according to the exposure 



Dume a puipmicep in cpecc, ip pai oon bic of the part of a man's body on which the wound 



an epaic : verhi gratid, mao in a jaio, no in is inflicted ; for example, if the blemish be on the 



eoan, no in pmeic, puipmirep mo araip, ip face, or on the forehead or chin, the eric is greater 



moioe an dpaic, ariiail po ^oB ipin Sencup according to the Senchus Mor ; but if the wound 



mdp ; mao po drac bep in cneo, no in ainem, or blemish be under the clothes the eric is less, 



ip luja pon, &c. &c. 



Hence also it would appear that the Senchus Mor Is the work described by 

 Jocelyn in the following words : " Magnum etiam volumen, quod dicitur 

 Canoin Phadruig, id est, Canones Patricii scripsit ; quod cuilibet persons, seu 

 saeculari, seu etiam Ecclesiasticae, ad justitiam exercendam, et salutem animae 

 obtinendam, satis congrue convenit." — Trias Thawn. p. 214, col. 1. 



On the whole, then, it may be safely concluded from the preceding evidences, 

 that the Seanchus Mor was not, as Colgan and the subsequent writers supposed, a 

 mixed compilation of history and law, but a body of laws solely; and though perhaps 

 there is not sufficient evidence to satisfy an unprejudiced inquirer that the Apostle 

 of Ireland had any share in its composition, or even that its origin can be traced 

 to his time, little doubt can be entertained that such a work was compiled within 

 a short period after the full establishment of Christianity in the country. It is 

 even highly probable that St. Patrick, assisted by one of the bards, converted to 

 Christianity, may have laid the foundation of a revision of such of the pagan 

 laws and usages of the country as were inconsistent with the doctrines of the 

 Gospel ; and that such a work, when completed by the labour of his successors, 

 was ascribed to him to give it greater authority with the people. And this con- 



• From these ancient verses, the sense of which is exceedingly obscure, it may be gathered that the laws of the 

 Seanchus Mor were, at least in part, preserved in the form of Bardic rhymes ; and this inference will appear the more 

 reasonable from a passage in the account given of the Seanchus Mor, in which it is stated that that work was in part 

 composed of the Dichedal Filedh, or Lyrical Poems of the Fileaa or Bards, who, previously to the reign of Conchubhar 

 Mac Nessa, in the 6rst century, were, according to the Irish historians, the only Brehons or Judges. For an explanation 

 of the above verse see manuscript Lib, Trin. Col. H. 4. 22, p. 19, and H. 2. 15, pp. 130, 131, 



