175 



" Be it known to the readers of this Life, that it was Manus, 

 the son of Hugh, son of Hugh Roe, son of Niall Garve, son 

 of Torlogh of the Wine, O'Donnell, that ordered the part of 

 this Life which was in Latin to be put into Gaedhlic ; and 

 who ordered the part that was in difficult Gaedhlic to be modi- 

 fied, so that it might be clear and comprehensible to every one ; 

 and who gathered and collected the parts of it that were scat- 

 tered through the old Books of Erinn ; and who dictated it out 

 of his own mouth (in his own words) with great labour, and a 

 great expense of time in studying how he should place all the 

 parts of it in their proper places, as they are written here after 

 us ; and in love and friendship for his illustrious Saint, relative, 

 and Patron, to whom he was devoutly attached. 



" It was in the Castle of Port-na-tri-Namad (now Lifford 

 Castle, county Donegal) this Life was indited, when were 

 fulfilled twelve years and twenty and five hundred and a 

 thousand of the age of the Lord" [A.D. 1532].* 



This distinguished chieftain and historian died in the same 

 year that he finished the compilation of this work. 



The Life of Colum-Cille is followed, in this volume, by 

 valuable poems on the O'Donnells and other northern chiefs, 

 by Flann Mac Lonan, a Munster poet, who was killed about 

 the year 920, and Flann the Professor, of Monaster Boice, 

 who died in 1050. 



Laud, 610. — This volume is already described in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Irish Academy for the year 1842. 

 VqI. II. p. 336. 



Laud, 6 15. Vellum. — From folio 5 to folio 139, this volume 

 contains about 160 religious poems, ascribed chiefly to Saint 

 Colum-Cille. There are a few of them ascribed to Saint 

 Patrick, and a few to other early Irish Saints. This is a most 

 curious collection of ancient Irish poems, exhibiting various 

 shades of theology and doctrine. They are evidently not in 



Colgan says 1520. Trias, p. 446. 



