AN GAODHAL.
311
cestors to be a chronicler, that it would be a char¬
ity for some one of the men of Erinn to purify,
compile, and write the ancient honoured Chroni¬
cles which is called the Book of Invasions, for
these reasons. The first reason. My superiors
having charged me to collect the Lives and Gen¬
ealogies of the Saints of Erinn from all places in
which I could find them throughout Erinn, after
having done this, I selected associate chroniclers
to adjust, purify, and write as much as I could
find of this history of the saints, as well as the
succession of the monarch of Erinn, to whom the
pedigrees of the saints are carried up, as may be
seen in the book in which they are written. After
that it occurred to me that work of which I have
spoken was incomplete without correcting and
writing the Book of Invasions already mentioned,
because it is the original fountain of the history
of the saints and kings of Erin, of her nobles and
her people.
"Another reason too; I was aware that men,
learned in Latin and in English, had commenced
to translate this Chronicle of Erinn from the Gae¬
dhlic into these languages that we have spoken of
and that they had not so profound a knowledge of
the Gaedhlic as that they could put the hard and
the soft parts of the said book together without
ignorance or error; and I felt that the translation
which they would make must (for want of a know¬
ledge of the Gaedhlic) become an eternal reproach
and disgrace to all Erinn, and particularly so to
her chroniclers. It was for these reasons that
I undertook, with the permission of my superiors
to purify and compile this book, and to collect for
it, from all other books, all that was wanting to it
in history and in other learning, as much as we
could, according to the space of time which we
had to write it.
"The chroniclers who were with us for this pur¬
pose, and for purifying the book, were, Fearfasa
O'Mulconry, from the County of Roscommon; Cu¬
coigry O'Clery, from Bally Clery, in the County
of Donegall; Cucoigry O'Duigenann, from Bally-
Coilltifoghair, in the County of Leitrim; and Giol¬
lapatrick O'Luinin, from Ard Ui Luinin, in the
County of Fermanagh.
"It is right that you should know that it was an¬
cient writers of remote times, and commemorating
elders of great age, that preserved the history of
Erinn in chronicles and books in succession, from
the period of the Deluge to the time of Saint Pat¬
rick, who came in the fourth year of the reign of
Laeghaire mac Neill, monarch of Erinn, to plant
religion and devotion in her: when he blessed E¬
rinn, men and boys, women and girls, and built
numerous churches and town throughout the land
"Saint Patrick, after all this, invited unto him
the most illustrious authors of that period, to pre¬
serve the chronicles, synchronisms, and genealo¬
gies of every colony that had taken possession of
Erinn, down to that period. Those that he invited
unto him, at that time, were, Ros; Dubhthach,
the son of Ua Lughair; Ferghus, etc. These were
the sustaining pillars of the History of Erinn, in
the time of Saint Patrick.
"St. Colum Cill, St. Finnen of Cluain Iorard
[Clonard], and St. Comgall, of Beannchuir [Ban¬
gor, in the County Down], and the other saints of
Erinn, induced the authors of their time to perpe¬
tuate and amplify the history and synchronisms
existing in their day. It was so done at their re¬
quest. The authors of the period of these saints,
as is manifest in the latter part of Eochaid O'
Flinn's poem, were, Fiontain the son of Bochna;
Tuan, the son of Cairell, son of Muiredhach Muin¬
derg, of the Dal Fiatach; and Dallan Forgaill,
the illustrious author and saint.
"The histories and synchronisms of Erinn were
written and tested in the presence of these illus¬
trious saints, as is manifest in the great books
which were named after the saints themselves, and
from their great churches; for there was not an
illustrious church in Erinn that had not a great
book of history named after it, or from the saint
who sanctified it. It would be easy, too, to know,
from the books which the saints wrote, and the
songs of praise which they composed in Gaedhlic,
that they themselves, and their churches, were
the centres of the true knowledge, and the archives
and homes of manuscripts of the authors of Erin,
in the olden times.
"Sad evil! short was the time until dispersion
and decay overtook the churches of the saints their
relics, and their books for there is not to be
found of them now, but a small remnant, that has
not been carried away so that their fate is not
known from that time hither.
"The books of Invasions which were present [i.e
which we had by us], at the writing of these Con¬
quests of Erinn, were, the Book of Bally Mulcon¬
ry, which Maurice, the son of Paidin O'Mulconry.
transcribed out of Leabhar-na-h-Uidhre. which
was written at Cluainmicnois in St. Ciaran's time:
the Book of Bally Clery, which was written in the
time of Melsheachlinn Mor, the son of Domnall
[king of Ireland, who began his reign in the year
979]; the Book of the O'Duigenanns, from Sean¬
chua in Tirconnell, and which is called the Book
of Glenn-da-locha; and the Book of the Ua Chon¬
ghail; together with other Books of Invasions and
history, beside them.
"The sum of the matters to be found in the fol¬
lowing book is the taking of Erinn by [the Lady]
Ceasair; the taking by Partholan; the taking by
Nemedh; the taking by Firbolgs: the taking by
the Tuatha De Danann; the taking by the sons
of Miledh [or Miletius]; and their succession
down to the monarch Melsheachlainn, or Malachy
the Great [who died in 1022].
"We have declined to speak of the Creator's or¬
der, the created things, the heavens, the angels,
time, and the great uncreated mass out of which
the four elements were formed, by the Divine will
alone, in the six days work, with all the animals
that inhabit the land, the water, and the air; be¬
cause it is to divines that it belongs to speak of
these things, and because we did not deem any of
these things to have been necessary to our work,
with God's help. It is with men and time only
that we deem it proper to begin our work, that is
to say, from the creation of the first man, Adam,
whose descendants, our ancestors, we shall follow
in the direct line, generation after generation, to
the concluding of this undertaking,
O'Faherty Siamsa an Gheimhridh, re¬
viewed in the Gaodhal recently, is for
sale by Mr P. O'Brien, 46 Cuffe St.
Dublin. The price in cloth is 2s: in
wrapper, 1s 6d.
T. F. WYNNE,
PAPER STOCK,
13 & 15 Columbia St.
Brooklyn.
