1884-1885.] 349 



was swept with fire and sword from one end to the other. 

 Regarding this Dr. Petrie writes : — " How prophetic were the 

 just apprehensions of that chief compiler ' that, if the work 

 were then neglected, or consigned to a future time, a risk might 

 be run that the materials for it should never again be brought 

 together.' Such, indeed, would have been the sad result. 

 Those fearful predictions were made on the very eve of that 

 awful rebellion which caused a revolution of property and an 

 extent of human affliction such, perhaps, as no other country 

 ever experienced. In that unhappy period nearly all the 

 original materials of this compilation probably perished, for one 

 or two of them only have survived to our times. Even this 

 careful transcript was supposed to have shared the same fate, 

 and its recent discovery may be considered as the result of a 

 chance almost miraculous. What a solemn lesson, then, is 

 here given us of the necessity of giving durability, while yet in 

 our power, to the surviving historical remains of our country, 

 and thereby placing them beyond the reach of a fate other- 

 wise almost inevitable ! To me it appears a sacred duty on 

 cultivated minds to do so. Had this compilation been 

 neglected, or had it, as was supposed, shared the fate of its pre- 

 decessors, what a large portion of our history would have been 

 lost to the world for ever !" As to the period of time covered 

 by the Annals of the Four Masters, we find that they com- 

 mence with the year of the world 2242, and continue to the 

 year of the world 5194 — that is, the seventh year before the 

 Christian era — this portion thus covering a period of 2,952 

 years. The Annals then go on with the year i of the Christian 

 era, and terminate with a.d. 1616. The whole period covered 

 is about 4,500 years. There are not entries for every year ; in 

 the earlier portions especially there are long gaps. The trans- 

 lation of the Annals by O'Donovan is printed, including index, 

 in seven large quarto volumes, containing 4,21 5 pages of closely- 

 printed matter. The Irish text and the translation are printed 

 in opposite pages. This gives to Irish scholars the power of 

 verifying O'Donovan's translation, which in the main, how- 



