O'Looney — On the Book of Leinster and its Contents. 369 



Of the contents of the Book of Leinster, a general description was 

 ;given by the late Professor 0' Curry in his Lectures on the Manuscript 

 Materials of Irish History. 



After having described Leabhar na h-Uidhri, since published in 

 lithographic facsimile by the Academy, he proceeds (pp. 186-8) : — 



The next ancient book which I shall treat of is that at present known under the 

 title of the Book of Leinster. It can be shown from various internal evidences, that 

 this volume was either compiled or transcribed in the first half of the twelfth cen- 

 tury, by Finn Mac Gorman, Bishop of Kildare, who died in the year 1160 ; and 

 that it was compiled by order of Aodh Mac Crimthainn, the tutor of the notorious 

 Dermod Mac Murroch, the king of Leinster, who first invited Earl Strongbow and 

 the Anglo-Xormans into Ireland, in the year 1169. 



The book was evidently compiled for Dermod, under the superintendence of hia 

 tutor, by Mac Gorman, who had probably been a fellow-pupil of the king. In 

 support of this assertion, I need only transcribe the following entry, which occurs 

 in the original hand at the end of folio 202, page b (now p. [288]) of the book : — 



"becA ocu-p flAinue 6 put) epfcop (.1. Citti T)aj\a)* -do AeortiAc Cpirrt- 

 CAin, •oo pip teijinT) Aijvo pij techi TtloJA (.1. TIuatjau),-)- ocur "do com- 

 Apbu ColAitn true CjvmicAiiro, ocur •oo pfmri-fenchA-ro LAigen aj\ JAep 

 ocur eotuf , ocur cpebAipe tebup, ocur perfA ocur po jtomniA ocur rcpib- 

 CAp •OAtn -oeipeo in -pceoib bicre co cuince ■duiu a Aeo ArnnAir, Apip cor in 

 riAobott-mAif ; CiAn po picem t>oo[?] h-inpiAip, i miAn ■OAm oo bic cum 

 oomgnAO. CuccAp "OArn TDUAnAipe THic boriAin con pAiccrmr a ciaVIa ha 

 ti-ouau piLeu Ann. ec UAte in Chpifco, ecc. 



" Benediction and health from Finn, the Bishop of Kildare, to Aedh Hugh 



Mac Crimthainn,ike tutor of the chief king of Leth Mogha, Nuadat [or of Leinster 



■and Munster], successor of Colum, the son of Crimthann, and chief historian of 



Leinster in wisdom, intelligence, and the cultivation of books, knowledge, and 



learning. And I write the conclusion of this little tale for thee, acute 



Aedh ! [Hugh] thou possessor of the sparkling intellect. May it be long before 



we are without thee. It is my desire that thou shouldst be always with us. 



Let Mac Lonan's book of poems be given to me, that I may understand the 



sense of the poems that are in it ; and farewell in Christ," &c. 



This note must be received as sufficient evidence to bring the date of this valu- 



-able manuscript within the period of a man's life, whose death, as a Catholic bishop, 



happened in the year 1160, and who was, I believe, consecrated to the ancient see 



of Kildare, in the year 1148, long before which period, of course, he must have 



been employed to write out this book. 



Notes by Pkofessok U'Looney. 



* (.1. C1LL1 TJApA) i.e., " of Kildare." This explanatory parenthesis is written. 

 in the original as a gloss over the word epfcop — "bishop," in the same hand- 

 writing as the note itself. 



t tIuaoac.— This explanation is also in the original, as a gloss over the word 

 TtlogriA. Diarmait claimed to be king of Munster, or Leath Mogha, i.e., Mogh's 

 half, the southern half of Ireland, so called from Eogan Tahlhlech, surnamed Mogh 

 Nuadat, or Nuadat's slave. See O'Curry's Battle of Magh Lena, p. 3. 



% Ciau po picem 'oo'o [?] h-mjnAip This passage is obscure in original. Dr. 

 Todd, while declaring his belief that O'Curry's reading of these words was wrong, 

 and admitting his own inability to correct it, suggested that the proper reading 

 should be Ciati gAp ; ceip Lien 1c h-ingnAir, of which he says he can "make no 

 sense." The present state of the original manuscript suggests the following read- 

 ing : — C1A11 5Ap ic inplic 1c hnij;nAir , which may be rendered : "The short [time] 

 becomes long at ... in thy absence." 



