956
AN GAOḊAL
as they came, first leaving a blessing with him,
and receiving a blessing from him.
"On the day of his death the three came in the
same forms and they saluted him, and he returned
their salutations, and said to them: "Is my life the
same before God that it was on the former day
that ye came to talk to me'? 'It is not, indeed, the
same', said they, 'for we were shown your place
in Heaven, and we are satisfied with its goodness.
We have come, as we promised, for you, and come
now you with us to the place which is prepared for
you, that you may be in the presence of God, and
in the unity of the Trinity, and of the hosts of
Heaven till the day Judgment'.
"There were then assembled about him many
priests and ecclesiastics, and he was anointed, and
his pupils parted not from him until they all went
to Heaven together. And it is this good man's
manuscript ("screptra") that are in lnisfallen, in
the church still."
This singular, and, undoubtedly, very old leg¬
end offers to our minds many interesting subjects
of consideration. amongst which, not the least
remarkable is that of his early pilgrimage from
Ireland to the Holy Land. On these points, how¬
ever, we shall not dwell at present, farther than to
observe that the story furnishes evidence of the re¬
putation to learning enjoyed by Maelsuthain, and
also of the belief that manuscripts compiled by his
hand were to be found in Inisfallen at his death.
Whether by the word "Sceptra”, thus mention¬
ed, is meant a single volume, or a collection of wri¬
tings constituting a library, it is not easy to deter¬
mine. We find the word used in the account of the
burning of the Teach Screptra, or house of writ¬
ing, of Armagh (A.D. 1020), and in that of the
collection of MSS. of O'Cuirnin, the largest known
to exist in Ireland in the fifteenth century (1416).
There has always existed in the south of Ireland
a tradition that the Annals of Inisfallen were ori¬
ginally composed by Maelsuthain, and a similar
statement is made by Edward O'Reilly in his Irish
writers.
Taking into account the acknowledged learning
of O'Carroll, character of his mind, his own sta¬
tion, and the opportunities afforded him by his
association with the chief monarch of Erinn, the
is certainly no improbability in connecting him
with the composition of these annals; and, for my
own part, I have no doubt that he was the origin¬
al projector of them, or that he enlarged the more
meagre outlines of ecclesiastical events kept in
the Monastery of Inisfallen, as probably in most
others, into a general historic work.
Of the continuation of these annals, in the two
centuries subsequent to Maelsuthain, down to the
year 1215, very litte is known. Unfortunately no
genuine copy of this important body of annals is
now to be found in Ireland, and we must therefore
draw from the description of Dr. O'Conor,
A compilation of the latter half of the last centu¬
ry by John O'Mulconry, has also received the
name of Annals of Inisfallen. Why they have been
thus named is not sufficiently clear, but any notice
that we shall take of them must be reserved for
another occasion.
The Bodleian Library copy of the Annals of In¬
isfallen is a quarto MS. on parchment. It is thus
described by Dr. O'Conor, under No. 64, in the
Stowe Catalogue [Vol. 1., p. 202].
It contains fifty seven leaves, of which the
three first are considerably damaged, and the 4th
partly obliterated. Some leaves are missing at the
beginning also. In its present state, the first treats
of Abraham and the Patriarchs down to the sixth
where the title is — 'Hic incipit Regnum Græcor¬
um'. At the end of this leaf another chapter be¬
gins thus — 'Hic incipit Sexta ӕtas Mundi'. The
leaves follow in due order from folio nine to the
end of folio thirty six, but, unfortunately, there
are several blanks after this. On the fortieth
leaf two lines occur in Ogham characters, which
have been thus decipered [by Dr. O'Conor] —
'Nemo honoratur sine nummo, nullus amatur'.
Toward the end the writing varies considerably,
and is unquestionably more recent and barbarous.
"Indeed", adds Dr. O'Conor, "the latter part of
this valuable manuscript, from folio thirty-six,
where the division of each page into three columns
ceases, and where a leaf is missing, appears to be
written by a more recent hand, so that from ins¬
pection it might be argued, that the real original
ended with the year 1130, and that the remainder
has been added to it by different Abbots of Inis¬
fallen afterwards.
(To be continued.)
Every one should attend the annual
entertainment of the N. Y. P. Society,
which comes off in a few days. Call to
263 Bowery and get tickets.
Friends of the Gaelic Society, N. Y.
what are you doing? Do you know
that no enterprise can be successful
without being brought prominently be¬
fore the public? Now, where is your
Journal, after all the money you are
collecting? Why don't you take part
in running the Dublin Journal when
you have none of your own? Friends,
are you supporting any journal, even
by an ordinary subscription? Ah, my
friends, I fear you weigh very light in
the balance. The little Gael, single
handed, has accomplished more in a
year than you will ever do if you con¬
tinue in your present listlessness.
The issue of Father Nolan's Prayer-book pub¬
lished by the Rev. Mr. Cleaver is not for sale. It
has been distributed among the children of the Gae¬
lic classes in Ireland.
By the way, it is a singular fact that one of the
opponents to the continuance of the French lang¬
uage in Canada is a nominal Irishman — we are
glad he did not succeed.
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