732 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



conficitur, cujus rubor pulcherrimus nuUo unquam solis ardore, nulla 

 valet pluviarum injuria pallescere ; sed quo vetustior est eo solet esse 

 Tenustior." 



Lib. I., c. 1, § 5, p. 8, Stevenson's edition (tlie best), London, 1838, 

 published by the English Historical Society ; or, p. 26-27, Chifflet's 

 edition, Paris, 1681. 



Literally. 



" Britain is an island rich in grain and trees, &c. . . . There 

 are also shells in superabundant quantities, from which a dye of a 

 purple colour is made, the most lovely ruddiness of which, neither by 

 heat of the sun, nor from injury by rain, is ever apt to pale, but the 

 older it is the more beautiful it is." 



JS'OTE ADDED IN PeESS. 



Since the above paper was read, my friend. Professor E. P. Wright, 

 M.D., has brought under my notice some references to the Tyrian 

 dye that I was unaware of, written by the late Sir William Wilde 

 in his "Narrative of a Yoyage to Madeira, Tenerife, and along the 

 shores of the Mediterranean." Dublin, 1852. At page 629, the 

 writer gives the substance of a paper on the subject, read before this 

 Academy in May, 1839, which, however, was not printed in the 

 Proceedings. This paper deals exhaustively with the references in 

 the classics and ancient historians to the Tyrian or purple dye, its 

 collection and uses, the investigation of which was incited by his dis- 

 covery of some ancient dyeing-pots at Tyre. There is, however, 

 little of Irish application in the remarks given. He quotes Walker, 

 in his "Irish Bards" (vol. ii., p. 261), where that writer states 



" There is a beautiful crimson obtained from the periwinkle 



The fish is laid with its mouth downward on some solid body, and 

 the shell broke, but so as not to bruise the fish." .... A valuable 

 reference from the " Philosophical Transactions," vol. ii., page 823, 

 is given, having been communicated by W. Code, of Bristol, to the 

 Eoyal Society of London, in 1664, in which it is stated " that at that 

 time a trade was carried on in Ireland by persons who went about 

 marking handkerchiefs and linen with a dye obtained, likewise, from 

 the Buccinum lapillus. The writer then states that "this art is 

 still known to some of the people on the Wicklow coast." In 

 studying the question of ancient dyes this whole article is well worth 

 perusal. 



