Mr. Petrie on the Domnach-Airgid. 21 



I also avail myself of this opportunity to add, that, having been favored, 

 recently, by Mr. Westenra, with a loan of the Domnach for further examination, 

 I requested my friend, the Rev. Mr. Todd, to examine the detached membranes 

 of the manuscript, and to give me his opinion respecting the antiquity of the 

 version and age of the writing, as far as the fragments would permit such 

 opinion to be formed. I now add his transcript of what was legible, together 

 with his remarks ; and I am authorized by him to state, that although he at first 

 thought the contractions used in the fragment, — and especially the (;) in the con- 

 traction usq; — to argue a later date than the historical evidences indicated, he has 

 since seen reason to change his opinion. While this sheet was passing through 

 the press, he took the opportunity of re-considering the subject, by a careful 

 examination of the valuable manuscripts of the Gospels preserved in the Library 

 of Trinity College ; and he now thinks that the contractions of the Domnach 

 manuscript might have been in use in the fourth or fifth centuries. 



It should be observed, that the type in which the following fragments are 

 printed is not to be considered as a fac-simile of the MS., in which the letters are 

 larger, but it will give a very good general idea of the character, having been 

 cast from the best specimens of Irish MSS. of the sixth and seventh centuries. 



COLLATION OF TWO LEAVES OF THE DOMNACH-AIRGID MANUSCRIPT. 



Fol. \, facie. 



Mat. i. 

 1 



CIOMIS Ih 1 



t>auit) YMu ahXid 



am a6Racham 



sewuic issac issac ir sewuic la 

 C06 iaco6 fr seNUic iut)ani ec pwct 



eius-]ut>as ir ^..uic pRcr 



CRes .... IS ec zaRam 



Ver. 1. A space is left for an illuminated L, of which some faint traces still remain. 

 Ver. 2. Isaac autem — Vulg. The Versio Antiqua (ap. Sabatier) omits autem. 

 Ver. 3. A stop between ejus and Judas in the middle of the line. The reading appears to 

 have been " Judas autem genuit fratres pharis et zaram," a reading altogether peculiar. 



