180 



jectiire that the inscription was continued round upon the plate 

 which was torn from the other side ; and that, with it, we have 

 to lament the loss of the date. 



There are, in our College, among the MSS. the book of Kells, 

 and the book of St. Columb, undoubtedly original ; but the fine 

 cover, in which tlie latter was anciently preserved, is now lost. 

 Many other such books are still extant, but no where one preserved 

 in a box so antique as this. 



I shall refer here t() Usher's Britan. Eccl. Antiq. Lend, 

 16S7, p. 361, wherein he mentions two books of St. Columb, the 

 first of which is that which Mr. O'Conor has described in 

 his Rerum Hibern. Scriptores, Epis. Nuncup. p. clxxx, and which I 

 conceive he should have called the book of Durrow ; the latter, 

 which is the venerable volume of Kells, is probably the greatest 

 literary curiosity of this description in the United Kingdom, and 

 is perhaps justly called by Mr. O'Conor, (Proleg. part 2d. p. 

 clxxvi._) " Totius Europae facile princeps :" but Mr. O'Conor 

 has fallen into an error, in his " Epistola Nuncupatoria," by con- 

 fouiiding this book with the book of Durrow. 



It may not be amiss to announce here a fact, which will be 

 gratifying to the learned, that the Codex Hymnorum of Primate 

 Usher, so often mentioned by Mr. O'Conor, is not lost, as has been 

 supposed, but is to be found among the MSS. in the Libraiy of our 

 College. See much interesting matter respecting this valuable re- 

 lic in Mr. O'Conor's Epis. Nuncup. in the places refered to, under 

 the title " Hymnus," in the Index. 



