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II. An Account 'of an ancient Irish Reliquary/, called the Domnach-Airgid. 

 By George Petrie, Esq., R.H.A., M.R.I.A. 



Read 22nd October, 1832 ; and 9th January, 1837. 



1 HE ancient cumdachs, or ornamental cases, in which the Irish were accustomed 

 to preserve their early religious manuscripts and other relics, have been within a 

 few years elaborately illustrated and familiarized to the learned by the Rev. Dr. 

 O'Conor, and still more recently by Sir William Betham. Till that period the 

 present existence of those interesting monuments of our ancient literature and 

 art was scarcely known to the literary world, as they were generally concealed in 

 the hands of poor and illiterate persons, by whom they were preserved, and 

 transmitted from generation to generation, either from a veneration for their 

 supposed sanctity, or as a means of support, derived from their frequent applica- 

 tion among the vulgar to superstitious purposes. In this manner, and from both 

 the considerations alluded to, the very singular piece of antiquity, which I have 

 now the honor of exhibiting to the Academy, has been long preserved and 

 employed, as, while its safe keeping was considered by its possessors to be a reli- 

 gious duty, it was nevertheless hired out into the surrounding district on a 

 sufficient deposit, and for a small consideration ; sometimes that persons suspected 

 or accused of crime might exonerate themselves from the imputation by an oath 

 taken on its contents — a practice apparently derived from the ancient use of the 

 sacred volume which it contains ; at other times for the application of its sup- 

 posed miraculous power in removing diseases both from men and cattle — a 

 superstition probably originating in the use of the relics which it was supposed 

 to enshrine. From such uses, and the great probability of ultimate destruction, 

 it has fortunately been rescued by the enterprising spirit of its present possessor, 

 Mr. Smith of College-green, the bookseller, by whom it was recently purchased 

 in the neighbourhood of Clones in the county of Monaghan, its original locality, 

 from one of the Maguire family, descended of the ancient lords of Fermanagh. 



