163 



He had ascertained, secondly, that the original of O'Don- 

 nell's Life of St. Columba was, beyond all doubt, preserved in 

 the Bodleian. 



He then handed in to the President, for insertion in the 

 Proceedings, the following list of the Irish MSS. examined 

 by him and by Mr. Curry, during their visit to Oxford. 



Rawlinson, 406. — Contains a curious ancient poem on the 

 clans and tribes buried at Clonmacnois. As many inscriptions, 

 from the sixth to the eleventh century, are still extant on the 

 tombstones at Clonmacnois, it would be very desirable to pro- 

 cure a correct copy of this poem. 



Rawl. 486. — A book of historical poems and pedigrees. 



Raid. 487. — A very valuable collection of historical docu- 

 ments on vellum. This volume contains an ancient tract 

 entitled Cat pmncnaja, the Battle of Ventry Harbour, in 

 Kerry. 



The Library of the Academy, and Trinity College Li- 

 brary, contain several modern corrupted copies of this work, 

 which are so bad that Irish scholars have hitherto considered 

 it a modern production. But this copy in the Bodleian proves 

 it to have been older than the fifteenth century, as the MS. 

 in which it occurs is of that date. Its antiquity, however, 

 was suspected from the fact, that "the Battle of Ventry" is 

 quoted in the Book of Lismore, a MS. of the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, in a tract which has been transcribed into that collec- 

 tion. This tract is a dialogue, in which the speakers are St. 

 Patrick, Oisin, the son of Finn Mac Cumhall, and Cailte, 

 Finn's cousin and counsellor. The two latter personages are 

 represented as relating to St. Patrick the most remarkable of 

 Finn's exploits, and amongst the rest, a short sketch of the 

 Battle of Ventry is given, with a reference to the ancient his- 

 torical tale so entitled, of which the only authentic copy as yet 

 known is that preserved in the Bodleian MS. under considera- 

 tion. 



" The Battle of Ventry" throws considerable and very 

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