O'Hanlon — On the Book of Clonenagh. 11 



letter, that from his earliest days he had a perfect knowledge of the 

 contents of Ballyfin library, to which he had constant access ; nor 

 did he ever recollect the late Sir Charles Henry Coote, Bart., with 

 whom he had been intimate, make any mention of the old MS. in 

 question. This, however, did not prevent his further searching in- 

 quiries ; and he subsequently informed me, that he felt certain the 

 ancient " Book of Clonenagh" had never been in the Coote library, 

 the books of which had been purchased or procured by the late and 

 present Baronet at various times. 



Meantime the Bev. James Graves, to whom I had also written, 

 entered into correspondence with General Dunne, and regularly com- 

 municated to me the results of local inquiries prosecuted. General 

 Dunne, likewise, forwarded several letters to me on the matter ; and in 

 one of these, dated March 4th, 1869, an important fact was elicited, 

 viz., that he was present at the only * e which took place in his own 

 time at Ballyfin House, but that no book was then burned. The 

 Bev.Mr. Graves thinks this fire occurred about twenty years back ; and 

 hence, we may reasonably infer, the " Book of Clonenagh" could not 

 have been destroyed by it. The other relics of St. Eintan — tradition- 

 ally said to have perished by fire — must have been lost in one already 

 noticed, and which broke out there in the latter part of the seven- 

 teenth or in the beginning of the eighteenth century. 



The late Baronet, Sir Charles Henry Coote, was purchaser of the 

 extensive Ballyfin estates from the Earl of Mornington, who died in 

 1845. I wrote to his son and successor, the present Sir Charles 

 Henry Coote ; and in answer he stated, that he did not think the MS. 

 sought for could then have been at Ballyfin, nor did he even recollect 

 hearing of an old MS. called the " Book of Clonenagh" having been in 

 its library. He kindly promised, furthermore, that search should be 

 made for it ; and if such a relic were discovered, he said I might rest 

 assured he would not fail to forward information regarding it. 



It seems not at all likely that Lord Mornington sold his books at 

 Ballyfin to the late Sir Charles Coote, when parting with the estate. 

 If he did, a bill of sale may possibly exist among the Coote family 

 papers. At this distant time, although local inquiries have been pro- 

 secuted, the writer has not been able to ascertain if any former resi- 

 dents or servants are now living, and who might furnish information 

 respecting a sale of Lord Mornington' s effects by auction on the pre- 

 mises. The probability, however, is, that his books had been removed 

 to the place of his subsequent residence, and that they remained in his 

 possession to the time of his decease, in 1845. A London bookseller's 

 or auctioneer's catalogue might furnish the most authentic clue, while 

 prosecuting further inquiries, in the course of our search for the miss- 

 ing " Book of Clonenagh." 



The third Lord Mornington was succeeded by his son, known aa 

 William Pole Tilney Long "Wellesley, the fourth Earl of Mornington. 

 If this nobleman were the inheritor of that valuable MS., "The Book 

 of Clonenagh," it was almost certain to have been sold during his life- 



