496 
Vol. XXII., containing Nos. 7672, 7673, and 7674, is 
perhaps one of the most valuable Irish MSS. in existence, be- 
ing the second volume of a collection of lives of Irish saints, 
in the Latin language, and written in the fifteenth century. 
It consists of 177 large folios of parchment; the first is num- 
tions towards illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English, and Irish 
Members of the Society of Jesus.” Quoting from page 269, of this very in- 
teresting work, I find a confirmation of the opinions upon the merits of this 
MS. which I have just ventured to express. 
«Stephen White. This Irish Father deserves a fuller eulogium than I 
am able to supply. He was the author of some historical pieces relating to 
Ireland, in confutation of the assertions of Giraldus Cambrensis. The Rev. 
John Lynch, who had the custody of this valuable MS., mentions it in chapters 
i. and xiv. of his Cambrensis Eversus, printed in 1662, and expresses his deep 
regret that a considerable part of it was lost during the civil wars. Arch- 
bishop Ussher, an excellent judge of these matters, in page 400 of his Pri- 
mordia, gives F. White the character of being ‘ a man of exquisite knowledge 
in the antiquities, not only of Ireland, but also of other nations.’ In aletter 
of Robert Nugent, superior of his brethren in Ireland, and addressed from 
Kilkenny, January 10, 1646, to F. Charles Sangri, I read what follows: 
«¢*«T have given the commission to four of our fathers diligently to exa- 
mine the works of F. Stephen White, and to forward their judgment to your 
paternity, conformably to the directions you have recently sent us. His 
works are various, and as our fathers live in places very distant from each 
other ; and notwithstanding the most Reverend Bishops (who are ready to 
defray the expenses of the printing), as also the supreme council, very ear- 
nestly insist, that a certain work of his ‘“‘ De Sanctis et Antiquitate Iberniz,” 
be instantly sent to the press, I find it difficult, and next to impossible, to 
resist their reasonable demand, since the MS. itself has been perused by seve- 
ral amongst them, and has been pronounced not only worthy of being printed, 
but highly necessary for the credit and advantage of this kingdom. There- 
fore, Ihave written again to the examiners, that each would privately report 
their opinions on this work as soon as possible to your paternity; though all 
in their letters to me greatly extol it, and declare it most worthy to issue 
from the press. But Iam unwilling to allow any work to be printed that 
can give just cause of offence to any person: and yet here is less cause of 
apprehension in this case, as this book merely treats on the Saints and An- 
tiquity of the Kingdom of Ireland.’ ” 
Dr. Nicholson, in his Irish Historical Library, p. 90, calls Stephen White 
the friend of Archbishop Ussher ; and the passage referred to in Cambrensis 
