10. A. 97

English History, Old English Chronicles, &c.

972 ARCHIVES DES COMTES DE FLANDRES DE L'AN 706, A L'AN 1270. 2 vol. folio. Press II, No. 96, 97 The first of these volumes contains 683 pages: the second 634. They were purchased by Mr. Astle in 1793, at the sale of M. de Calonne, the French Minister.

20. A.973

The work is entitled "INVENTAIRE CHRONOLOGIQUE ET
"DETAILLE DE TOUTES LES CHARTES QUI SE TROUVENT
66 DANS LES ARCHIVES DES COMTES DE FLANDRES, DE-
"POSÉES DANS L'ANCIENNE CHAMBRE DES COMPTES DU
"ROI À LILLE."

Is was compiled by M. Godefroy, Keeper of the Records at
Lille, chiefly at the expense of Louis XVI.

973 GESTA BRITANNICA.
folio. Press II, No. 54
The written pages are 719. It is in Latin. The title, at full
length, is "GESTA BRITANNICA PRÆSERTIM ANGLORUM,
66 ADJECTIS ALIQUOT OBSERVATIONIBUS, MAXIME IN IIS
66 QUÆ AD ECCLESIAM SPECTANT, A TEMPORIBUS RETRO
ACTIS AD AN. D. 1648."

21. D.974

21. D.

The history is divided into ten books, all in one hand. It is written in an easy flowing style, and with great moderation. At the end of the Index, some leaves of which are torn away, the author writes, "Ffinis Deo Gratias, April 28, 1664, anno ætatis 70."

974 STEPHANI REGIS VITA.

folio.

Press II, No. 51
The title on the

The volume consists of 484 written pages.

first is "Gesta Stephani Regis, incerto Auctore, apud Histor. Norman, fol. 927."

It is all in one hand, of the reign of Charles I, and ends in 1154; and whatever has been said of King Stephen, or of his reign, by any author antecedent to the reign of Henry VIII, all seems to have been, with the greatest diligence,

collected into this MS.

975 JOHANNIS REGIS VITA.

folio. Press II, No. 52 The pages are 658. It begins from 1199, leaving an hiatus of 45 years between it and the preceding volume, which seems to indicate that there is somewhere an intermediate volume, especially as this is bound exactly to match the former, and written in the same land.

The last page of this volume ends with 1216, the year of
King John's death.

English History, Old English Chronicles, &c.

19.G.

976 POLYCHRONICON RANULPHI HYGDENI. ON VELLUM.
bound in russia, folio. Press II, No. 53

The written leaves are 240. The writing is of the year 1397.
With the exception of part of an index and the preface,
which are comparatively recent, the whole volume is in one
hand, terminating with the reign of Edward III, 1376-7,
and with an account of John Wickliff, which engrosses the
last page. An account of the king's concubine, Alice Per-
rers, occupies the preceding page. The first leaf next after
the preface has been cut out.

At the head of the first page of this fine copy of Higden is the
name and autograph of ETHELBERT BURDETT, in writing
of the reign of Henry VII.

977 HIGDENI POLYCHRONICON.

ON VELLUM.

folio, half bound russia

This is a contemporary translation into English. It consists
of 442 pages, a few of them having been supplied by mo-
dern facsimile.

The initial letter and the margins of the first page are illumi-
nated in gold and colours.

978 HISTORIA ANGLIÆ, MAXIME IN IIS QUÆ AD ECCLE

SIAM SPECTANT.

folio.

Press II, No. 50

The written leaves are 357. It was formerly the property of
Anstis.

The author seems to have read all the ancient chronicles with
great diligence. No clue, however, remains by which his
name may be discovered.

979 SCUTUM BEDÆ, ET ANTIQUA ALIA MISCELLANEA.

ON VELLUM.

folio. Press II, No. 49

The written leaves are 172. The writing is of the thirteenth
or fourteenth century. The title at the head of the first
page, in an ancient hand, is " SCUTUM BEDE, COLLECTIONS
GAUFRIDI DE UFFORD." It successively belonged to Sir
Henry Spelman and Thomas Martin, whose autographs it
contains.

The collections are miscellaneous; all in one hand, with the
exception of marginal glosses and interlineations explana-
tory of the text.

19.G.

20.A.

14.E.

24. D.

23.F

MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ANCIENT IRISH LAN

GUAGE: THE BREHON LAWS: LEABHAR GABHALTAS: ANCIENT RITUAL AND MISSAL, &c. &c.

Continued from page 214.

980 KEATING'S HISTORY OF IRELAND.

folio, bound in russia. Press I, No. 18 This manuscript is nearly coeval with its author, who finished his History in 1627, and it is much to be regretted that the first 35 leaves are missing. It ends at page 246, and is followed by the Poetical Collections of Maguire.

The poems are chiefly eulogies of the Maguires of Fermanagh, and of particular families and persons who distinguished themselves in Ireland in the seventeenth century, with their pedigrees in Irish verse. They contain many allusions to ancient Irish history, and many events of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. When compared with the poems of O'Clery and O'Bruodin, they are valuable for shewing the differences between the three idioms of Ulster, Munster, and Connacht.

The genealogies at the end of the volume are chiefly of Ulster families, and the O'Ruarcs, of Brefni, transcribed in 1714. 981 PHARMACOPEIA HIBERNICA. ON VELLUM.

8vo. bound in ancient Irish oak. Press I, No. 38 The written pages are 88.

Thirteen pages, containing a calendar, precede this work, in which the days of the year are connected with the sun's stations in the different constellations of the Zodiac; after which the months are enumerated, and the distempers which are generally to prevail in those months; next follows the Pharmacopeia, in which the names of various drugs are given in Latin, and their uses are explained in Irish. The transcriber mentions his own name at p. 31: "I, "Neal O'Quin, wrote this, the fast of the eve of St. Patrick "being this day, and in Cargins, Anno D. 1535."

Ancient Erish, &c.

982 THE MAGUIRE COLLECTION OF ANCIENT IRISH COMPOSITIONS, IN PROSE AND Verse.

2 vol. 4to. Press I, No. 30 and 31

These valuable collections appear to have been chiefly tran-
scribed in 1715, by James Maguire, from a book compiled
by DUALD MAC FIRBIS, of Lecan, in 1650, who states
that he collected them from the ancient MSS. of the Monas-
teries of S. Columba, S. Comgal, of Benchor, S. Finan, of
Cluan-Irard, and from the "Book of Conquests."

Each volume contains more than 500 pages.

983 O'DUBHEGANI LEABHAR GABHALTAS, ET VITA HIBERNICA
S. S. PATRICII ET CALIENI, CUM CARMINIBUS NONULLIS
S. COLUMBÆ.
folio. Press I, No. 22
Two leaves are missing at the beginning; the remaining
written leaves are 492. This large volume is entirely in
the Irish language and characters; and though but a recent
transcript of the reign of Charles I, it is yet very valuable,
not only as a transcript from the work of so learned an Irish
antiquary as O'Duvegan, but also because it contains the
parts of the Leabhar Gabhaltas, or Book of Conquests,
which are missing in the most ancient copy of that book,
described in the present Catalogue. Several words also of
doubtful meaning in that copy are explained by a glossary
of more recent Irish words interlined; and besides, the
work is carried down from the twelfth to the fourteenth
century, when the compiler flourished, and his additions
are the more valuable, as he collected them from the Library
of Glendaloch, and concluded the whole from his own me-
trical History of Ireland, composed before the year 1372,
when he died. The transcriber of this copy was David
O'Duigenan, who was one of the best Irish scholars and
most diligent transcribers of his age.

A marginal note, in the handwriting of Mr. O'Conor, of Bela-
nagare, and in the Irish language and characters, states
that this manuscript belonged to Aod, the head of the
O'Ruarc family of Breifne, in 1684, and that said Aodh was
his grandfather, by his mother Mary O'Ruarc. This MS.
descended to him by that connection. S. Callin was the
Patron Saint of the O'Ruarcs, as S. Columba was of the
O'Donnels.

22. C.

24.D.

24. D.

32. F.

24.D.

Ancient Erish, &c.

984 THE TEAN BO CUAILGNE WAR, BETWEEN CONNACHT AND
ULSTER.
folio. Press I, No. 32
This MS. consists of 77 leaves, closely written on both sides,
but imperfect at the beginning and end. The writing is
O'Duigenan's, of the reign of James II, and it is transcribed
from an ancient MS. on vellum, of a work supposed to have
been written in the reign of Diarmait Mac Cearbhuil,
King of Ireland, A.D. 544.

985 RIAGHAIL AR MATHAIR NAOMHTHA S. CLARA AR NA TIONN-
TUADH IN GAOIDHLCC AS BERLA LA TOIL AN UACHTARAIN,

1636, i. e. "The rule of our Holy Mother, S. Clara, translated from English into Irish, with the goodwill of the ordinary, 1636." Press I, No. 60 This is a 12mo. volume of 323 pages, in the Irish language and characters. It is neatly written by the hand of Michael O'Clery, the best Irish scholar of his age, and may be considered (says Dr. O'Conor) as a standard for the purity of the Irish language.

986 REIMH RIOGHRAIDHE. PARTLY ON VELLUM.

folio, bound in russia. Press I, No. 4 The written pages are 139, containing the "Reimh Rioghraidhe," or a Chronicle in prose and verse, of which the first and some of the last leaves are missing.

The first poem in this fragment is Tanud's, of the year 1136, on the first Belgian Colonization of Ireland, the most valuable poem on the subject.

An excellent copy also is here preserved of Gildas Coeman's Metrical List of the Kings of Ireland, one of the most complete narratives of the kind extant in the Irish language, and written in 1072. A distich added by a coeval poet at the end, mentions Gildas thus: literally translated from the Irish.

Gildas Coeman of illustrious fame,

The descendant of noble Gildas of Samthan,

Carried the prize in sweet poetry,

From the bards of Albania and Erin.

Some other poems follow, in the handwriting of Mr. O'Conor, of Belanagare.