204 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 



Patrick are concerned — intheEollandist Acta Sanctorum Martii, torn, ii.^ 

 Antwerpiae, 1668. The title is given as follows : Confessio S. Patricii 

 de vita et conversatione sua. Quam ex vetustissimo Nohiliacensis S. 

 Vedasti monasterii codice eruit Andreas Penis, Atrehas, e Societate Jesu, 

 The MS. is a large folio measuring 44 x 31 centimetres, written 

 in a very clear twelfth-century hand, in two columns of forty-eight 

 lines. It belonged originally to the Benedictine establishment of Saint 

 Yaast, Arras, and with the rest of that library became the property of 

 the State at the Revolution. It is now in the Public Library of Arras, 

 and classed " Ko. 450. Bibliothecae Monasterii Sancti Vedasti Atre- 

 batensis, 1 628, F. 2." Unfortunately, since its first and only publication, 

 two folios have been lost — in all probability in the unsettled times 

 that followed the spoliation of the Monastery of St. Vaast. In a letter 

 which I received from M. Wicquot, Conservateur de la Pibliotheque 

 d'AiTas, he says : " Plusieurs manuscrits de la bibliotheque d' Arras 

 ont ete malheureusement mutiles, il y a une centaine d'annees. Les 

 deux feuillets entre folio 51 et 52 et entre 52 et 53 ont ete dechires, 

 et par consequence aujourd'hui perdus, sans esperer pouvoir les 

 retrouver." 



The proportion of B which we have at first hand may be calculated 

 thus. If we take the line space in Dr. "Whitley Stokes's edition as a 

 measure of length, the Confessio occupies 571 lines, and the Epistola 

 178, more or less. The manuscript of B is available for 345 lines of 

 the Confessio, and 57 of the Epistola. The Confessio begins in tlie 

 middle of the first column of fol. 50, verso, and fol. 51 completes 

 185^ lines, or to the beginning of section 20 in the present edition. 

 Fol. 52 covers 159^ lines, or from near the end of section 40 to the 

 beginning of section 59 ; and, for the Epistola we have 1^ columns of 

 fol. 53, recto, covering 57 lines, or from the middle of section 15 to the 

 end. The two gaps amount respectively to 191 and 155|- lines. This 

 disparity in the amount of matter contained in the two lost folios can 

 be easily accounted for. Two scribes at least were employed on the 

 Confessio, and one of them wrote the first 24 lines of fol. 52, recto. 

 The writing of this scribe is so much smaller than that of his colleague 

 that his half column covers 26f lines against 20^ covered by the other 

 half column. Something, too, must be allowed for the space occupied 

 by the initial letter of the Epistola (the initial P of the Confessio 

 covers 7 half lines), and the interval between it and the Confessio. 



For this edition I have used a first-rate photograph prepared by 

 J. Gonsseaume, of Arras. A careful collation of these plates with the 

 Bollandist edition demonstrates the necessity of distinguishing between 



