Aumstkong and Lawlor — The Domnach Airgid. 97 



St. Patrick to St. Mac Cairfchinn : it was published nearly eighty years ago ; 

 and in view of the fresh evidence discovered by Dr. Lawlor, it has been 

 considered desirable to re-describe and re-examine the shrine. 



Petrie 1 stated that recently someone had been employed to repair the case, 

 and that certain of the ornamental plates had been replaced in an order 

 different from their original one. The illustrations which accompanied his 

 paper included views of the front, top, sides, and back, of the shrine ; they 

 were made from drawings by Mr. George Du Noyer, and show the mediaeval 

 plates on the front and base differently arranged from their present position. 

 Petrie 2 stated that the figures were " restored to their proper places in the 

 accompanying plates, on the authority of Sir W. Betham's drawings." From 

 the letters printed by Carleton it would seem that these included the drawing 

 referred to by Dr. O'Beirne ; whether they represented the Domnach as it 

 originally was, or are merely based upon the artist's suppositions, is impossible 

 to determine. 



The panel drawn by Du Noyer as occupying the first quarter of the front 

 of the shrine is now in the fourth ; his second panel is in its present position ; 

 his third is now in the first quarter; while his fourth panel is the third of 

 the present reconstruction. The small reversed inscription on the top edge 

 of his fourth panel is omitted, while the large one on the upper rim is shown 

 detached from the shrine. The drawing of the top of the shrine shows a 

 crystal in the sinister setting, which is now empty : the sides are ornamented 

 with the plates at present fastened to the base, St. Ratherine being on the 

 sinister, and the two others on the dexter side ; the rim is also differently 

 arranged. The drawing of the back omits the ornamentation on the upper 

 limb of the cross and the inscription on the cross-piece. 



A small sketch of the Domnach, stated to have been drawn by Petrie, is 

 appended to Carleton's notes about the shrine; in this, the panel with 

 St. Michael and the dragon is placed in the fourth quarter, and that with 

 the bishop handing the case to an ecclesiastic in the third. 



In the short account of the shrine, printed in the Academy's Celtic. Christian 

 G-uidc, the front and top were illustrated from photographs : it is proposed to 

 include these two views in the present paper, and to illustrate the other 

 parts of the case from photographs taken by Mr. A. McGoogan, and made 

 use of by the permission of the Acting-Director of the National Museum, 

 Dr. E. F. Scharff, M.E.I.A. 



To avoid confusion, the heraldic terms " dexter" and "sinister" are used 

 throughout the following description : — the dexter is the right side of the 



1 Op. tit., p. 15. - Op. i-il.. p. Hi. 



[16»] 



