24 



Mr. O'Donovan's opinion. The consideration of it, however, 

 led Mr. Todd to conjecture, that the Book of Kilronan, from 

 which Charles O'Conor made the extracts in question, could 

 not be the Annals of Kilronan, which were in the hands of 

 the Four Masters. Mr. O'Conor describes it as the book of 

 the church of Kilronan, and from the extracts he has made 

 from it, it appears to have begun at least with the times of St. 

 Patrick, whereas the Annals of Kilronan, as described by the 

 Four Masters, began with the year 900, and are expressly 

 called by them the Book of the O'Duigenans. The one, there- 

 fore, was a church book, or chronicle kept by the ecclesiastics 

 connected with the church of Kilronan, whereas the other was 

 the family chronicle of the Mac Dermots, compiled by their 

 family bards, the O'Duigenans, of Kilronan. This conclu- 

 sion is interesting, as acquainting us with the fact, that the 

 Book of the Church of Kilronan existed so lately as the year 

 1728, when O'Conor made the extract from it, which is now 

 in the Stowe Libi'ary, and that it may perhaps exist to this 

 day unknown, or under some other name. 



The discovery of the Book of the O'Duigenans, or An- 

 nals of Kilronan, will be of great importance, if ever the 

 liberality of government, or the contributions of individuals, 

 should supply the means of printing the ancient historical 

 records of this country. To a complete edition of the Annals 

 of the Four Masters, it is essential that as many as possible 

 of the original documents from which they drew their ma- 

 terials should be in our hands. And this discovery supplies 

 us with one of these documents, whose existence was hitherto 

 unknown to Irish antiquarians. Of the ancient annalists, 

 whose works formed the basis of the Annals of the Four 

 Masters, there are now not more than two or three that are 

 not to be found in the Library of the Academy, or in that of 

 Trinity College. 



