Mr. Peteie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 39 



cha coicceo co cuaich, o chuairh co baile, was in it also were [described] the bounds and meres 

 ajup o baile CO cpaijio do cip. Oipoepc of Ireland from shore to shore, from the province 

 na neicifi i leabap na h-Uiopi. dp poLlup to the territory, from the territory to the bally, 

 lacr I leaBap 'Oinnpenchupa. " (townland,) and from the bally to the traigid of 



land. These things are conspicuous in Leabhar 

 na h- Uidhri. They are also evident in the Lea- 

 bhar Dinnshenchusa. 



This detail, it must be confessed, has but little agreement with the meagre 

 and unsuspicious account given by Tighearnach. On every thing stated by the 

 Four Masters the earlier annalist is silent, except the notice of the cause of his 

 death, and even in this what is doubtfully put by the one, is made positive by the 

 others. Whether, however, those details be true or false, or in whatever degree 

 they may be so, it is due to the character for veracity of the Four Masters to 

 mention, that they found what at least appeared to them sufficient evidence upon 

 which to ground their statements, in very ancient documents. The additional 

 facts of importance stated by the Four Masters are three : — 1. That Cormac was 

 the author of the ancient tract called Teagasc na Riogh, or Instruction of the 

 Kings. 2. That he was the author or compiler of laws which remained in force 

 among the Irish down to the seventeenth century. And 3. That he caused the 

 ancient chronicles of the country to be compiled in one volume, which was after- 

 wards called the Psalter of Tara. On each of these facts a few remarks may be 

 permitted. 



1. The work called the Teagasc Riogh has been ascribed to Cormac by the 

 Irish universally from a very remote period, and whether it be his or not, it is 

 certainly one of the most ancient and valuable documents preserved in the lan- 

 guage. The following verse of an ancient poet is a good authority for this 

 statement : 



Copmac 6peireiTi na mbper p'P) Cormac Brehon of true judgments, 



e DO cpacc Uecapc na Ris ; Composed the Instruction of Kings ; 



N 1 pajcap uJDap ip p^pp No better author is found 



Qip olijcib aepoa Gipenn. Upon the aged laws of Erin. 



In an ancient manuscript in Trinity College library (Class H. 1. 15. p. 149.) 

 it is stated, that it was the custom at the inauguration of the Irish chiefs to read 

 the Teagasc Riogh and the Laws of Cormac ; and this statement is corroborated 

 by a passage in the Annals of the Four Masters recording the death of an Irish 



