282 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 



comperimus esse TJentre." This last clause is quoted by Probiis, 

 (Vita V. 1 ), with the change of TJentre into Neutriae prouinciae. Muirchu 

 has previously stated that Patrick was "in Britannis natus." It is 

 not unreasonable to suppose that Muii'chu's Ventre is another form or 

 a corruption of the name Nemthur, which is stated to have been 

 Patrick's birthplace in the Hymn of St. Piacc : " Patrick was born in 

 jN'emthur ; this is what is narrated in stories." 



A note on this opening line of the hymn explains ^^emthur as 

 " a city which is among Britons of the North, viz. Ail-cluade " ; and 

 with this agrees the Preface (B) to the Hymn of St. Seclmall, quoted 

 above, " As to Patrick, his origin was of the Britons of Her-cluaide.'' 

 Ail-cluade, or Her-cluaide, is Dumbarton on the Clyde. Hogan 

 {Analect. Boll, i., p. 549), following Ussher {op, cit., p. 819), identifies 

 Baunauem with Killpatrick, near Dumbarton. Todd [St. Patrich^ 

 p. 357) quotes Lanigan as having suggested that Bonauem, as they 

 spell it, might, as a Celtic word, be possibly translated river^s mouth. 

 There is a full discussion of the subject in an article by Bishop 

 P. P. Moran in The Duhlin Review, April, 1880. See also Irish Liher 

 Hymnorum, ii., p. 176. 



It is right to mention that Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson published in 

 The Academy of 11th May, 1895, a very ingenious conjecture that 

 lannauem Taherniae (last word written tamie in Eg) is a mistake for 

 hannauetahrniae^ i.e., Bannauenta Britminiae^ which he identifies 

 with Borough Hill, near Daventry in Northamptonshire. Similarly 

 P. Haverfield in Eng. Hist. Review^ Oct. 1895. Daventry is in the 

 very centre of England ; and this certainly does not agree with 

 Muirchu's description of Ventre as "haut procul a mari nostro." It 

 is, perhaps, worth noting too that the intense dislike which Patrick 

 displays towards the Picts ("prassertim indignissimorum pessimorum 

 apostatarumque Pictorum," Ep. §§ 2, 15) is most naturally accounted 

 for if we suppose him to have lived near them. Besides, he would 

 have written Britaymiarmi. 



P. 235, 1. 6. Capturam dedi. — This peculiar phrase occurs again, 

 Conf. §§ 10, 21. B has the emendation r/«V/^Vi here and in § 10. Denis 

 has the following note on his own reading, in capturam decidi : " Ita 

 haec verba citat auctor Vitae iv. apud Colganum : ecgraphum nostrum 

 habebat capt. dedi: Usserus, pag. 832, capt. didici.'''' A reference to 

 TJssher's work, Brit. Eccles. Ant., I.e., shows that Denis has here made 

 a slip. Ussher gives the reading dedi. It is possible that Patrick coined 

 the phrase on the analogy of Ps. Ixvii. 18, Cepisti captiuitatem." 



P. 235, 1. 7. Annorum — xui, — The reading of B, quindecim, is 



