130 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
they are, I believe, of very great interest. They appear to be quite 
unknown to—they are at least entirely unnoticed by—writers on this 
branch of Medieval Literature. Sir Frederic Madden, in the very full 
account he has given of compilations of this kind, makes no mention 
of either, nor are they referred to by Mr. Wright, who brought out a 
selection of stories of the same kind as they contain, gathered from 
several different sources, under the auspices of the Percy Society, in 
1842. I have sent a description of these collections to Mr. Herrtage, 
who has had occasion to examine the various extant MSS. containing 
similar matter, in preparing his edition of the English Gesta, and he 
has informed me that he is quite unacquainted with them, and has 
never met with, or heard of, a copy of either. 
Both the volumes which le on the table were placed in my hands 
by my friend the Very Rev. John Gwynn, Dean of Raphoe, formerly 
Fellow of Trinity College. They belong to the Diocesan Library, 
Derry. They were submitted to the late Rev. J. H. Todd in 1849, 
and he wrote descriptive notes on them, which have been preserved, 
and which I proceed to give in full. 
His description of the larger volume is as follows :-— 
«This is a very curious and valuable MS., written about the middle 
of the fourteenth century. It is divided into two parts. Part I. ends 
on fol. xci., and is followed, fol. xcii., by an index of the chapters. 
The second part begins on the next leaf, and has the following head- 
ing :— 
‘‘<«Terminata prima parte exemplorum in moralibus per narra- 
tiones et materias diversas. Sequitur secunda pars exemplorum in 
moralibus naturalibus et artificialibus secundum alphabetum prout in 
literis et vocalibus in concordantiis fieri solet et conscribi.’ 
“‘ Under which, in a different and somewhat later hand, is the fol- 
lowing interesting historical note :— 
‘“«Memorandum est et firmiter memorize tradendum de quadam 
strage patrata per Donaldum Mathgnis prope castrum viride quinto 
die mensis Julii Anno Domini millesimo quadrincentesimo nonagesimo 
septimo ac cicli solaris anno quinto, necnon et cicli xix" sexto decimo. 
Qua quidem strage mortem subierunt nobilis Tebaldus Verdon ac 
famosus Bernardus Magmawne tune temporis suae nationis capi- 
taneus.’ 
“The Annals of Ulster mention this event under the same day 
and year, 1497. But they represent Brian Mac Mahon, who was 
killed in the conflict, as the aggressor. They say he was instigated 
by Seffin Fait [Geoffry White] to attack Magenis, and drive him and 
his sons from the Castle of Oirenach. The predecessor of this Brian 
[or Bernardus ] Mac Mahon was the first chief of the Mac Mahons who 
joined the English. See O'Donovan, Hour Masters, p. 1225. | 
“The author of this curious work is not (as far as I have dis- 
covered) named in any part of it, and I am not aware that it has ever 
been printed. The first part is divided into chapters, under heads 
such as the following :-— 
