494 



The preface, or rather the address to the reader, which com- 

 mences thus : " Frons operis futuri Vindicias pro Patria pree- 

 terat," &c. &c., occupies about six pages, and ends as follows : 

 " si tibi lector ero. Vale, Fave, et fruere labore nostro." 

 Next follow " Generales Censurse variorum Authorum defide 

 Catholica et Libris Hectoris Boetii atque asseclarum ipsius ;" 

 including those of Polydore Virgil, Carolus Sigenijus, Tho- 

 mas Boygus, Joannes Lelandus Londinensis, Luidyus, Cam- 

 denus, Petrus Berteyus Belgeus, Buccananus, Richard Stanir 

 hurst. x\fter these Censurce there follows something like 

 a table of contents, divided into eleven chapters, and headed 

 thus : " Referuntur capita potissima historicorum errorum 

 qui in Vindiciis nostris refutantur." 



The body of the work commences at page 14, and to it 

 there is a short heading, thus : " Brevis deseriptio Iberniae 

 Insulse," &c. &c., and then a little prologue commencing : 

 " Inter multos exteros nostri sseculi qui geographiam," &c., 

 which occupies half a page; at the end of this, cap, i. com- 

 mences, and is entitled : " Situs, magnitudo, caelum, solum, 

 salubritas, fpecunditas aliaque commoda, ac dotes Ibernise In- 

 sulae." And the text of the work begins thus : " Vernaculo 

 vocabulo Erin," which is then continued in 202 folios written 

 upon both sides, when a different character of hand appears, 

 which continues until page 309, written very closely, and also 

 upon both sides. 



After this a second part commences, with different paging, 

 headed thus : " Ihesus Maria Deo gratias. Apologia pro 

 Ibernia ad versus Cambri calumnias, sive Fabularum et Famo- 

 sorum libellorum Silvestri Gyraldi Cambrensis, sub vocabu- 

 lis, Topographia sive de mirabilibus Ibernise, et Historia Vati- 

 cinalis sive expugnationis ejusdem insulse, refutatio." With 

 an address to the reader commencing — " Benevo. lectori S. 

 In contumeliam multorum cum Sanctorum." After this, and 

 a table of contents, follows cap. i. headed thus : " Quid Sta- 

 nihurst et alii senserint universim de intempcrie et mordaci- 



