Mr, Petrie on the Book of Mac Firbis. 13 



In the calamities of the civil wars of 1641 this family lost their hereditary 

 possessions ; but the ruins of their castle, bearing their name, still survive, and 

 give melancholy interest to a dreary landscape. 



The year of his birth is not recorded, but it is known that, in order to perfect 

 his education as an antiquary, he was placed at an early age under the tuition 

 of the Mac Egans, hereditary Brehons or judges in Ormond, from whom he 

 acquired a profound knowledge of the Brehon laws. In subsequent years he 

 employed himself in several works which he considered essential to the preser- 

 vation of Irish literature ; and after the loss of his hereditary property he was 

 employed as a translator and assistant by the celebrated Sir James Ware. Some 

 oi the translations made for the latter are to be found in the library of the 

 British Museum. To these meagre facts I can only add that of his death, which, 

 as wq learn from Charles O' Conor, was tragical, — for this last of the Mac Fir- 

 bises was unfortunately murdered at Dunflin in the county of Sligo in the 

 year 1670. The circumstances connected with this event were known to that 

 gentleman, but a proper respect for the feelings of the descendants of the mur- 

 derer, who was a gentleman of the country, prevented him from detailing them. 

 They are, however, still remembered in the district in which it occurred, but I 

 will not depart from the example set me, by exposing them to public light. 



Of the other works of Mac Firbis, the only satisfactory knowledge which we 

 possess is derived from himself. He states, in the preface to the work now before 

 us, that he had written a dictionary of the Brehon laws, in which he had explained 

 them extensively ; and also a catalogue of the manuscripts and writers of ancient 

 Ireland. Neither of these works has as yet been discovered. But there is some 

 reason to believe that the former at least may still exist, as an Irish scholar, 

 O'Flanagan, quoted from it about twenty years since. The discovery of this 

 work, which Charles O' Conor has characterized as "the great desideratum of 

 the present age," would be of the highest importance, as its loss would be an .^ 



irreparable injury to Irish literature. In conclusion, I have only to add a con- 

 gratulation to the Academy on their acquisition of so important an addition 

 to their manuscript library, and on their having, by their liberality, rendered 

 available to the public this valuable remain of the last hereditary antiquary of 

 Ireland. 



