320 



occupied by the name, there is not room for more than seven 

 or eight letters. On these grounds Mr. Graves concludes 

 that the name was that of Torbach, whose death is thus 

 recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters : 



a. C. 807. Uopbach mac ^op- j A. D. 808. Torbach, son of Gor- 



main ScpiBnio, Cejroip, -| man, Scribe, Lecturer, and 



abb Qpoa maca epioe, &o Abbot of Armagh was he, of 



cenel Uopbai^, eaoon, O the Kinel Torbaigh, i. e. of 



Ceallai5 6pea5. I Hy-Kelly of Bregia. 



Introducing then the name of Torbach, Mr. Graves pro- 

 poses to restore the whole passage thus : 



r DOMNACH • HVNC • LIB 

 E RVM • E DICTANTE 



K Torbach • herede • pat 



RICH • SCRIPSIT 



Torbach held the primacy, according to the catalogues of 

 the Psalter of Cashel and the Leabhar Breac, for a single year; 

 and his death took place on the 16th of July ; " colitur 16° 

 Julii," says Colgan, T. T. p. 294. Since, then, the writing of 

 the Gospel of St. Matthew in the Book of Armagh was 

 finished on St. Matthew's festival day, the 21st of September, 

 and during Torbach's primacy, it must have been in the year 

 807. 



If we could be quite sure that the half-erased name ter- 

 minated in bach, there would remain no reasonable ground for 

 doubting the conclusion at which Mr. Graves has arrived. 

 For the satisfaction, however, of those who may not partici- 

 pate in the certainty which he feels as regards this point, he 

 thinks it right to notice the following circumstances, which, 

 although not deserving the name of proofs, tend in some de- 

 gree to confirm the probability of his conjecture. 



The Torbach abovementioned having been himself a scribe 

 of Armagh, the copying of the precious manuscripts of the 



