478 



Cross," in the forest of Soigny. There are no notes in the 

 Irish character or language, nor do any figures of animals, 

 which are so commonly found in Irish MSS., form any part 

 of the illuminations. The MS. is in good preservation, and 

 the text commences thus: "Joannes qui ex literali." The name 

 of the scribe has not been discovered in any part of the volume. 

 Vol. II. containing the Nos. 1160, 1161, 1162, and 1163, 

 is a middle-sized folio also in the Latin language, bound in 

 wood covered with calf-skin, and ornamented with brass clasps. 

 This volume is entitled, in the classing of the old library, to 

 which it belonged, as follows : " Navigatio S. Brendani ad va- 

 rias Insulas cum aliis Beth. Louv. 48 F." At the com- 

 mencement and also at the end of the MS. may be found the 

 following note: " Pertinet Mosterio Canonor. Reglarm. in 

 Bethleem j5pe. Lovanium." The contents of the volume are 

 given upon the first fly-leaf, and are as follows : 



1160. It navigatio S. Brendani abbatis ad diversas insulas. 



1161. It visio Tungdoli militis valde admirabilis.* 



1162. It epistola Presbiteri Joannis imperatoris majoris. 



1 163. It itinerarium Joannis de Mandeville militis. 



The initial letters of the four different pieces are about 

 two inches in diameter, and ornamented in vermilion and pink 

 colours, but not very neatly executed, and the same observation 

 applies to the penmanship. The first leaf of this MS. is vel- 

 lum, then follow four of paper, and then two of vellum, and so 

 on until the eightieth, which is of vellum also, and which is the 

 last in the volume. Mandeville and Tungdolus are in the text 

 styled " milites." The date, or the name of the scribe, could 

 not be found in the MS.; but, by comparison with MSS. of 

 a known date, it appears as old as the " Inventaire" states, 

 namely, the close of the fifteenth century .f No note in the 



* There are three copies of this tract in the Library of Trinity College, 

 Dublin. They are marked as follows : C. 4. 23. ; E. 1. 29. ; and E. 4. 12. 



t Nos. 1161 and 1163 have short prologues; for other copies of these 

 MSS. see Nos. 4531 ct 7960. 



