poem had been commenced, either at Clonenagh or Coolbanagher, and that it had been revised at Tallaght. From the relation already given, we feel inclined rather to suppose, as the stay of Engus at Coolbanagher appears to have been of no great duration, when about to pursue his way towards Tallaght, that his idea of writing the Feilire had been conceived only at the former place, and matured at the latter, where it would seem to have been solely written. It was most probably composed' after the year 797, the date for the death of Donogh, or Donnchadh, son to Donall. Such conjecture agrees with the Irish poets rinn aird, in which every verse ends with a word of two syllables, contains six syllables in the verse, and the entire rann twenty-four. It begins, "A copy of the Felire, beautifully written on vellum, is in the collection of the Assistant Secretary [O'Reilly.] From its orthography, and other internal marks of antiquity, it may be concluded that this MS. was written at least as early as the eleventh century, and is, perhaps, the oldest copy of that work now in existence. There is an entire copy in the Leabhar Breac Mac Aedhagain, or Speckled book of Mac Egan, in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, and an imperfect copy on vellum in the same library". During the progress of the late Ordnance Survey of Ireland the Felire or Festology of Angus came first to be noticed, as a topographical tract of great value. Under the able superintendence of Sir Thomas Larcom and Dr. George Petrie, Eugene O'Curry brought it to bear, with important results, on our local topography, in every part of Ireland. The Rev. Dr. Todd suggested to the Board of Trinity College the engagement of Eugene O'Curry to make a fac-simile copy, for its library, of the Leabhar Mor Dûna Doighré or Leabhar Breac, in which the Festology is contained. On the Ordnance Survey Archaeological Department being dispensed with, Mr. George Smith, an eminent Dublin publisher, engaged Mr. O'Curry to transcribe the Festology, once more, with a view to its publication. "This, however, was not a fac-simile copy, which indeed it would be practically useless to print, even if such a thing were possible, because the tract consists, properly, of three parts; namely, the text of the poem, the interlined gloss, and the interlined marginal, topographical, and other notes". These three parts were distinctly copied, all the contractions were lengthened out, and the whole disposed and arranged in such a manner as to merit the approval of our most distinguished Irish scholars. This copy was afterwards collated with other MS. in London and Oxford. Yet, the copy thus prepared has not been published; the transcript and translation into English remained in the possession of Mr. Smith, who, we believe, has since transferred this copy to the Royal Irish Academicians. 2 O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. n. (r.), p. 399, where we read: "O'Flaherty places the accession of Donnchadh in the year 770, and his death in 797, which is the true chronology. He adds: "Quo rege, Anno 795, Dani Scotiae, et Hiberniae oras infestare coparunt".-Ogygia, p. 433". The that of Colgan, that the scholia on the Festilogy of Engus had been composed at Tallagh in the time of Malruan.' V.-Description and analysis of St. Engus' Festology.-He resided at Dysart Bethach at the period of its completion.-Its first circulation in the reign of Aidus the Sixth.-The Martyrology of Tallagh, and interesting particulars regarding this composition. We are indebted to the late distinguished Irish scholar, Professor Eugene O'Curry, for a particular description and analysis of Engus' metrical Festology or Féliré. This composition consists of three distinct parts. The first part, known as the Invocation, contains five quatrains, which ask grace and sanctification from Christ on the poet's work. It is written in the ancient Conachlann, or what modern Gaelic scholars call "chainverse", in English. By such metrical arrangement, the last words of each quatrain are identical, or nearly so, with the first words of that succeeding. The second part, as we are told, is 3 Annals of Ulster, however, assign the death of this monarch to A.D. 796, and the Four Masters to A.D. 792. I am unable to discover any notice regarding Conor, Son of Aodh Oirdnighe, mentioned by the scholiast on Angus' poem, in any of our early Annals. 1 Of this Feliré or Festology-sometimes called the Martyrology of Aengus Ceilé Dé, six copies, at least, are known to be extant, and four of these are on vellum. Two copies are preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford; one, if not two, at St. Isidore's College, Rome; one in the Burgundian Library, Brussels; one, a transcript, made for Dr. Todd, by Professor O'Curry; and one, found in the celebrated Leabhar Mór Dûna Doighré-commonly called the Leabhar Breac-compiled about the year 1400, and now in possession of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. "There is a short history of the author, and the tract prefixed to this copy, which commenced, as such Gaedhlic documents usually do, with giving the name of the author, the time, the place, and the object of the composition. There is, then, a short disquisition on this arrangement, in which the usages of the philosophers and the order of the creation are referred to as precedents". See Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Lect. xvii. p. 363. 2 In O'Reilly's Chronological Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers, p. liii., it receives the designation of a Hierology. * An illustration, in the Irish language and character, will be found in Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Appendix No. cxiii. p. 610, and which has been published from the original, contained in the Leabhar Breac-a MS. belonging to the Royal Irish Academy. The five stanzas in Irish have been thus rendered into English, by Mr. O'Curry :— VOL. V. "Sanctify, O Christ! my words :— O Lord of the seven heavens ! O bright sun, who dost illumine 2 a poem, by way of preface, and it consists of two hundred and twenty quatrains. But of these only eighty are found prefixed to the main poem, or chief subject matter. The remaining one hundred and forty quatrains are postfixed to the main poem, and these are called the post or second preface, by Mr. O'Curry. We may rather, perhaps, consider them in the light of those verses, which many of our medieval and modern poets designate the "L'Envoy", as the conclusion of a poem. The verses are in a similar character, and follow the like measure, as they are indeed a continuation of the Invocation. The eighty stanzas, prefixed to the main poem, in very beautiful and forcible language give us a very glowing account regarding the sufferings and tortures of the early Christian martyrs; how their persecutors' names have been forgotten, while those of their victims were remembered with honour, veneration, and affection; how Pilate's wife sinks into oblivion, while the Blessed Virgin Mary has been remembered and venerated from earth's uttermost bounds to its centre. Even in Ireland, the enduring supremacy of Christ's Church had been manifested. Tara had been abandoned and become a desert, because its kings were vain-glorious, while Armagh remains the populous seat of dignity, piety, and learning. Cruachain, a former royal residence of the Connaught kings, is deserted, while Clonmacnois resounds with the dashing of chariots and tramp of multitudes to honour St. Ciaran's shrine. Aillinn's royal palace had passed away, while St. Brigid's church at Kildare retained its dazzling splendour. Ul O Lord of the people! O King all righteous and good! Thy royal hosts I praise, Because Thou art my Sovereign; To be constantly beseeching Thee. I beseech a favour from Thee, That I be purified from my sins, Through the peaceful bright-shining flock, We are informed, that General Vallancey and Theophilus O'Flanagan, having met with this poem-which is rather a conspicuous one-in the Leabhar Breac, and finding the name of Christ contractedly written CR, with a horizontal dash over these two letters, considered they had found an address to the sun. This was a supposed proof of the former worship of that luminary by the ancient Irish. The letters C R were presumed to have been a contraction for Creas, which, from the books of Indian Brahmins and the Sanscrit, Vallancey conjectured to be a name for the sun, common both to Ireland and India. These views of General Vallancey, with a highly poetical translation of Aengus' poem, were embodied in a small printed pamphlet. This was addressed "To the President and Members of the Royal Irish Academy, as a proof of the Ancient History of Ireland", by General Vallancey. ster's royal palace at Emania had disappeared, while the holy Coemghen's church at Gleann-da-locha remains in full glory. The monarch Leaghaire's pomp and pride were extinguished, while St. Patrick's name continues to shine with undiminished lustre. Thus, the poet continues to contrast fleeting and forgotten names and reputations of great men and establishments, belonging to the pagan and secular world, with the stability, freshness, and splendour of Christian Churches, and the everflourishing names of their illustrious, although often humble founders. The third part is properly the Féliré, or Festological Poem itself, and it is comprised within three hundred and sixtyfive quatrains, which, the reader will observe, forms a stanza for each day in the year. The Circumcision of our Lord is placed at the head of the Festivals, and with it the Féliré begins. This poem is not wholly confined to notices of the Irish saints. Our great national Apostle, St. Patrick, is commemorated at the 17th of March.2 And again, at the 13th of April, Bishop Tassagh, one of St. Patrick's favourite companions, is recorded. Bishop Tassagh was chief manufacturer and ornamenter of croziers, crosses, bells, and shrines, and attended St. Patrick at his death. The whole of this, which is the chief poem, as also the first preface, is thickly interlined with an ancient gloss and commentary. These explain difficult or obsolete words and passages. Sometimes, notes may be found on the sites of ancient churches, connected with our Irish saints, who lived to the time of our author. Occasional passages from their Lives and Miracles will be seen. These notes are interspersed over the margin, and In the Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Appendix No. cxiv. p. 611, may be seen the first stanza of this part of the poem in the Irish language and character, as extracted from the original found in the Leabhar Breac, R. I. A. It has been thus rendered into English by Mr. O'Curry: "At the head of the congregated saints, Unto the noble dispensation did submit 2 See Ibid., Appendix, No. cxv., for the Irish stanza, thus rendered into English: "The blaze of a splendid sun, The apostle of stainless Erinn, Patrick with his countless thousands, May he shelter our wretchedness". See Ibid., Appendix, No. cxvi. for the Irish stanza, thus rendered into English : they require close and accurate study to connect them with their appropriate textual passages. The three parts, or cantos, into which the entire poem has been divided, may be treated, indeed, as one continuous composition. The last words of the Invocation are the first words to the first preface of eighty stanzas; while the last words of this preface are the first words of the main poem; and again, the last words of this chief are the first words of the post or second preface, which consists of one hundred and forty stanzas.' (To be concluded in our next.) poem THE LATE ABBÈ LE HÌR ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF I. JOHN, v. 7. On the verse TRES SUNT, etc., considered in the context, and with reference to the teaching of St. John. FIRST PART.2 I REDUCE to three propositions the entire matter of which I undertake to treat in this paper. I. The seventh verse, which is the subject of the controversy, contains nothing that is not thoroughly in keeping with the ordinary current of St. John's thoughts. II. Although, absolutely speaking, the sixth verse may be connected with the eighth without the intervention of the seventh verse, such an arrangement would interfere considerably with the harmony of the discourse, the full development of the doctrine, and the depth of the meaning. III. The seventh verse is necessary to explain the ninth and tenth verses, which, without the seventh, have no support on which to rest. The Felire or Festologies are closely connected with lives of the saints. That of Aengus especially receives the praise of M. de la Villemarque in the November number of the French periodical, Le Correspondant, for 1863. 2 We translate from the Etudes Religieuses, etc., (Sept. 1868, pag. 378, seq.) this dissertation of the learned Sulpician, Le Hir, on the authenticity of the text of the Three Heavenly Witnesses, I. John, v. 7. The editors of the periodical to which we are indebted for this valuable paper remark that, although M. Le Hir had composed this dissertation some years ago, he never considered it as a finished production. On the contrary, the MS. exhibits on the margin of each page a great many notes, references, and corrections, which show that the author had it in view to return upon and complete his work. Notwithstanding this drawback, the editors of the Etudes consider the dissertation to be of inestimable value. We are of opinion that our readers will concur in the opinion. |