This may suffice for the history of the Library: I now proceed to speak of its contents. If precedence is given to antiquity, the first objects to claim our attention are the Egyptian papyri. These were presented by Lord Kingsborough about 1838, and a catalogue of them was published by Dr. Edward Hincks. One of these is very finely embellished with pictures representing the history of a departed soul; several resemble the corresponding pictures in the papyrus of Ani, of which a fac-simile was recently published by the British Museum. Some of the pictures wanting in this (our) papyrus are supplied in others of the collection, such as the weighing of the soul, the ploughing, sowing, and reaping in the fields of Elysium.

It is, chronologically, a great step from these Egyptian MSS. to the oldest of our Greek and Latin MSS. Of Greek Biblical MSS. we have indeed few, but two of these are of considerable importance. One is the celebrated palimpsest codex of St. Matthew’s Gospel, known amongst Biblical critics as Z. The original text of this, in a beautiful large uncial character, was written not later than the sixth century. But at a later date (about the 13th century) this ancient writing was partially erased, and extracts from some of the Greek Fathers written over it. The old writing was detected by Dr. John Barrett, formerly Librarian, who published the text in what was called “engraved fac-simile,” which gives a very correct idea of the original writing, although the form of each individual letter may not always be exactly represented. Dr. Barrett added a learned dissertation on both the more ancient and the later contents of the MS. Dr. Tregelles, with the help of chemical applications, was enabled to read some letters which had escaped Dr. Barrett, and he published an account of his discoveries in a quarto tract. He also entered his new readings in a copy of Barrett’s work. Strange to say, these two records of Tregelles differed considerably, and accordingly, when the present writer undertook to re-edit Barrett’s text with Tregelles’ additions, he found it necessary to examine the MS. throughout. In so doing, he was able to read several hundred letters and marks (such as marks of quotation, numbers of sections and canons, etc.) which had escaped both Barrett and Tregelles, besides correcting a few errors. The additions and corrections were made on Barrett’s plates, and the new edition was published in 1880.[118]

There is also a palimpsest fragment of Isaiah, apparently of somewhat earlier date, of which a lithographed fac-simile was included in the volume just mentioned. This fac-simile enabled Dr. Ceriani, of Milan, to identify the recension to which a certain group of MSS. of the Septuagint belongs.[119]

Of the Gospels, there is a copy (63) in a cursive hand of the tenth century with scholia. Under a portrait of St. Matthew is traceable a palimpsest fragment of a Greek Evangelistarium. There was anciently another copy of the Gospels (64), which, however, was reported missing in 1742. Most probably it had been lent to Bulkeley (a Fellow), who in fact collated it for Mill. It is now in the library of the Marquis of Bute.

Another important though not very ancient MS. of the New Testament is the celebrated Codex Montfortianus, historically notable as being pretty certainly the actual MS. on whose authority the verse I John v. 7 was admitted into Erasmus’ third edition, and thence into the received text. It is not older than the fifteenth century. A collation of the text of the Epistles is given by Barrett in his volume, Codex Rescriptus S. MatthÆi. Dr. Orlando Dobbin in 1854 devoted a volume to the MS., giving a complete collation of the Gospels and Acts. According to his researches, the text of the Epistles is copied from a MS. in Lincoln College, Oxford, the verse I John v. 7 being interpolated by the copyist.

This manuscript has the distinction that we know the names of nearly every person through whose hands it passed. On folio 56 is the note, “Sum Thomae Clementis, olim fratris Froyhe,” and on a leaf at the end is “Mayster Wyllams, of Corpus Christi....” After Clement it came into the possession of William Chark, from him to Dr. Thomas Montfort, and then to Ussher. Professor Rendel Harris, in his book on “The Origin of the Leicester Codex,” has discussed the history of the Montfort Codex. He makes the suggestion that Froyhe is an error for Roye, the accidental repetition of a letter changing “fratris Roye” into “fratris Froye” or “Froyhe.” There is proof that the MS. was in Franciscan hands (the names ??s???, ?a??a, ?????????, are scribbled in it more than once). Barrett, for example, shows that Williams was a Franciscan, and frater Froyhe, or Roye, was probably of the same order. Now there was a very remarkable member of the Franciscan order, named William Roye, educated at Cambridge, who, however, in 1524, forsook the order, and joined Tyndale at Hamburg. It is not impossible that the codex in question was actually written by him. These, with a fragment (14th century) of the Epistle to the Romans, and a small Psalter dated 1533, exhaust our Greek Biblical manuscripts.

Of Latin Biblical manuscripts we have a considerable number, including several remarkable either for their text or their artistic execution. The most important for its text is that classed A. 4, 15, and called Codex Usserianus; a manuscript of the Gospels written probably in the sixth century, and exhibiting an old Latin text of the Hiberno-British Recension. It is defective at the beginning and the end; every leaf also is mutilated, so that no line remains complete. With the exception of a rude cross at the end of St. Luke’s Gospel, there is no attempt at ornament. Here and there are interlinear glosses scratched as with a needle point—as, for example, in reference to the paralytic who was “borne of four,” the four are interpreted as the four evangelists. It is remarkable that the pericopa de adultera is given in a text agreeing with the Vulgate. From this we may conclude—first, that the passage was not in the archetype; secondly, that the scribe had a copy of the Vulgate at hand; and thirdly, that it was from choice, not from necessity, that he copied the old Latin. The full text of this manuscript was published in Evangelia Ante-hieronymiana. Its history is unknown.

Another MS., called The Garland of Howth, exhibits in St. Matthew’s Gospel a similar text, but elsewhere the Vulgate, or, in some parts, a mixed text. It is probably not earlier than the ninth century, or perhaps the tenth. Pictures of two of the evangelists remain—the others are lost. The MS. is coarsely written, and on very coarse parchment. The omissions in it, chiefly from homoeoteleuton, are frequent and instructive. Some of the scribe’s blunders are curious. Thus, Matthew xxii. 42, “quid vobis videtur de operibus fidelis,” for “de ??? cuius filius;” Mark ii. 3, “qui iiii rotis portabatur;” xi. 12, “a bethania cum x essurivit ii;” xiv. 50, “discipuli omnes relinquentes eum cruci[fi]xerunt.” In Matthew xxvii. 5, an Irish gloss has got into the text—“proiectis arcadgabuth c.,” for “argenteis.” In Luke xxiii. 12 another gloss appears in the text—“opus malum malos in unum coniungunt.”

Remarkable both for text and ornament is the Book of Durrow (so called from Durrow, in King’s County, where St. Columba founded a monastery), a MS. of the Gospels (with the prologues, &c.), written perhaps in the seventh century. The text is a tolerably pure Vulgate. The colophon contains a prayer that whoever shall hold the book in his hand may remember the writer, Columba, who wrote this Gospel in the space of twelve days. There were many Columbas besides the Saint, and it is pretty certain that the present book was not written by Saint Columba. It is morally certain also that it was not written in twelve days. But there is good reason to believe that the scribe has merely copied the colophon from the book he was transcribing,[120] and if so, the archetype may have been written by Saint Columba, who has the reputation of being a scribe.

Except at the beginning of each Gospel, the only attempt at ornament is a series of red dots round the initial letters; but the letters of the first words of each Gospel are elaborately embellished in the characteristic Celtic style. Prefixed also to each Gospel is a page covered with interlaced ornament of great beauty, as well as another page with the symbol of the Evangelist. These pages have been represented in fac-simile (admirably as regards the tracing, but not with accurate reproduction of the colours) in Prof. Westwood’s Fac-similes of Irish and Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts. The volume was formerly enclosed in a silver cover, which has long since disappeared; but a note in the book (written in 1677) gives the inscription, which stated that the cover was made by Flann, son of Mailsechnal, King of Ireland (who died in the year 916).[121]

This MS. was presented to the Library by Henry Jones, Bishop of Meath, Vice-Chancellor (1646 to 1660), the same whose gift of stairs, etc., to the Library in 1651 is commemorated on a brass plate just inside the door.

Conall MacGeoghegan relates of Saint Columba, “hee wrote 300 bookes with his one [own] hand, they were all new testaments, left a book to each of his churches in the kingdome w^ch Bookes sunck to the bottom of the Deepest waters, they would not lose one letter signe or character of them, w^ch I have seen partly my selfe of that book of them w^ch is at Dorow, in the K^s County, for I did see the Ignorant man that hath the same in his custody, when sickness came upon cattle, for their Remedi putt water on the booke and suffered it to rest there a while and saw alsoe cattle returne thereby to their former or pristinate and the book to receave noe loss.”[122] In earlier times, indeed, even in England, the scrapings of these Celtic manuscripts were believed to have medicinal virtues.

The Book of Durrow is far surpassed in beauty by the Book of Kells, so called from Kells in Co. Meath, in which monastery it had been preserved and doubtless written. This is also a MS. of the Gospels containing a mixed text, i.e., the Vulgate modified by additions, etc., from the old Latin. No words can convey an adequate idea of the beauty of this MS. This does not consist, as in some Oriental MSS., in a profusion of gilding—there is no gold whatever—nor in the addition of paintings independent of the text, but in the lavish variety of artistic adornment applied to the letters of the text, which justifies Professor Westwood in calling it “the most beautiful book in the world.” The ornament consists largely of ever-varying interlacing of serpents and of simple bands, with countless spirals alternately expanding and contracting in the peculiar “trumpet-shaped pattern.” The initial of every sentence throughout the Gospels is an artistic product, some of them exquisite, and no two precisely the same. In addition to this decoration, which adorns every page, there are many pages (about thirty) entirely full of ornament, showing the utmost skill and accuracy in almost microscopic detail. In fact, the detail is so minute that it often requires a lens to trace it; yet these minute lines are as firm as if drawn by a machine, and as free as if they[161]
[162] were the growth of nature. The exquisite harmony of the colouring is as admirable as the elegance of the tracery. Little wonder that it was said to have been written at the dictation of an angel. “If you look closely,” says Giraldus Cambrensis, “and penetrate to the secrets of the art, you will discover such delicate and subtile lines, so closely wrought, so twisted and interwoven, and adorned with colours still so fresh, that you will acknowledge that all this is the work rather of angelic than of human skill. The more frequently and carefully I examine it, I am always amazed with new beauties, and always discover things more and more admirable.”[123] Some pages originally left blank contain charters in the Irish language, conveying grants of lands to the Abbey of Kells, the Bishop of Meath, the Monastery of Ardbraccan, by Melaghlyn, King of Meath, and other monarchs in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

There are fine examples of the same school of Art in English Libraries, especially the Book of Lindisfarne, in the British Museum; the Book of St. Chad, in Lichfield, the writing in which is extremely like that in the Book of Kells; the Gospels of MacRegol, in the Bodleian; and the Gospels of MacDurnan, in Lambeth. Of these Irish and Hiberno-Saxon works Dr. Wangen says:—“The ornamental pages, borders, and initial letters exhibit such a rich variety of beautiful and peculiar designs, so admirable a taste in the arrangement of the colours, and such an uncommon perfection of finish, that one feels absolutely struck with amazement.” None of these, however, equals the Book of Kells in the number, the fulness, or the perfection of detail of the great pictorial pages, while the prodigality with which ornament is bestowed on every page and every paragraph is a feature peculiar to it.

There is nothing in the Book of Kells itself to indicate its date, the last leaf—which may have contained the name of the scribe—being lost. The Book of Lindisfarne contains a note (of the tenth century) naming the scribe and the illuminator, the former being Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne (died 721), and the latter his successor in the See, Aethelwald (died 737 or 740). MacRiagoil, scribe, and Abbot of Birr (King’s County), died in 820. The Gospels of MacDurnan appear from the character of the writing to be coeval with the Book of Armagh, which is known to have been written in 807. From a comparison of the Book of Kells with these MSS., it may be inferred that it belongs to the eighth century.

The volume was anciently enclosed in a golden cover, and the Annals of the Four Masters record, under the year 1006, that in that year it was stolen from the Church of Kells, and was found after twenty nights and two months with its gold stolen off and a sod over it. It is in that passage called the great Gospel of Columbkille—i.e., St. Columba. It owes that name, probably, to its connection with Columba’s Monastery at Kells, where, no doubt, it was written, and where it remained until the dissolution of the monasteries. From Richard Plunket, the last Abbot, it passed to one Gerald Plunket, and from him to Ussher.

A very interesting and important MS. is the Book of Armagh, containing the entire New Testament (in Latin), being the only complete copy which has come down to us from the ancient Irish Church. In it the Gospels are followed immediately by St. Paul’s Epistles, including the fictitious Epistle to the Laodiceans. It contains also memoirs of St. Patrick, with his Confession, and a Life of St. Martin of Tours, by Sulpicius Severus. The name of the scribe was written in several places, but in every instance has been more or less effectually erased. However, the Bishop of Limerick (Dr. Charles Graves) succeeded in deciphering it sufficiently to identify the name as Ferdomnach. But there were several scribes of that name, and how to decide which was the one in question? Dr. Graves found another note, only partly legible, and that with extreme difficulty, which appeared to have contained the name Ferdomnach, with the words, “dictante herede Patricii ——bach.” “Heres Patricii” was the title of the Archbishop of Armagh. The only one who satisfied the conditions of time, and whose name ended in “bach,” was Torbach, who only occupied the See for one year. In this way the actual year in which the MS. was written was determined—viz., A.D. 807.[124] Prof. Westwood thinks the same scribe wrote the Gospels of MacDurnan, now at Lambeth. There is a note of later date in the volume relating to certain privileges of the Church of Armagh, and written “in the presence of Brian, imperator Scotorum”—i.e., Brian Boru, who visited Armagh in 1004 and 1006, and died 1014. The writer of this note calls himself Calvus Perennis—a Latin rendering of his name, Maolsuthain.[125] He was Brian’s private confessor. The book was in high esteem, being regarded as the actual writing of St. Patrick, and called the Canon of Patrick. Oaths taken upon it were considered peculiarly obligatory, and the violation of such an oath brought on him the vengeance of the Saint, as well as extreme civil penalties. The book was entrusted to the care of a hereditary keeper, whose family derived their name, “Maor” or “Moyre,” from the office, to which, moreover, an endowment of land was attached. The book remained in the possession of this family until the end of the seventeenth century, when, having been pawned by the keeper, it came by purchase into the hands of Arthur Brownlow, from whose lineal representative it was bought, as above related, by Rev. Dr. Reeves.[126] An interesting object connected with the Book of Armagh is its leather satchel, finely embossed with figures of animals and interlaced work. It is formed of a single piece of leather, 36 in. long and 12½ broad, folded so as to make a flat-sided pouch, 12 in. high, 12¾ broad, and 2¼ deep. Part of it is doubled over to make a flap, in which are eight brass-bound slits, corresponding to as many brass loops projecting from the case, in which ran two rods, meeting in the middle, where they were secured by a lock. In early times, in Irish monastic libraries, books were kept in such satchels, which were suspended by straps from hooks in the wall. Thus it is related in an old legend that “on the night of Longaradh’s death all the book satchels in Ireland fell down.”

Few of these ancient satchels have come down to us. When Dr. Reeves wrote, he knew of only one other, namely, that now in Dublin, in the Franciscan Monastery, whither it has come from the Monastery of St. Isidore in Rome. A third, however, much ruder, is in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, enclosing an Irish Missal (illustrated in Gilbert’s Irish Historical MSS.); a fourth is described and illustrated by Miss Stokes in ArchÆologia, vol. xliii., No. xiv.; a fifth is at Milan, containing a Syro-hexaplar codex, and a full-size illustration of it is given in Dr. Ceriani’s reproduction of that codex. A similar satchel, containing an Ethiopic book, is in St. John’s College, Oxford. In Abyssinia, indeed, they are frequent; all the books in the Monastery of Suriani are so enclosed.[127] A figure of monks with their satchels, as represented on an ancient sculptured stone, is given in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, New Series, vol. iii., 1881.

The Annals record that in the year 937 a cover was made for the Canon of Patrick by Donnchadh, son of Flann. This was doubtless a metal case. The satchel was clearly not made for it.

We have seen that the ancient cases of the Books of Kells and Durrow were lost long since. Two such shrines (“cumdachs”) are in our Library—one enclosing the Book of Dimma, the other the Book of Mulling or Moling. These books are named from their scribes, who, according to the Annals, lived in the seventh century. Both these are copies of the Gospels; both, however, contain also a Missa Infirmorum of later date.[128] The case of the Book of Dimma is of silver, beautifully wrought with Celtic tracery. It bears an inscription which runs as follows:—“Tatheus O’Kearbuill beideev meipsum deauravit, dominus domnaldus O Cuanain converbius ultimo meipsum restauravit, Tomas Ceard dachorig in mindsa.” Thady O’Carroll Boy was Prince of Ely in the middle of the twelfth century; Donald O’Cuanain was Bishop of Killaloe from 1230 to 1260.

The ends of the case are obviously more ancient, apparently much more ancient, than the sides. It will be observed that the inscription says nothing about the original maker of the case.

This book, long kept in the monastery at Roscrea, disappeared at the dissolution of the monasteries, and is said to have been found again in 1789 by boys hunting rabbits in Devil’s Bit Mountains in Tipperary. The boys tore off part of the silver plate, and picked out some of the lapis lazuli.[129] The MS. was purchased from Sir W. Betham by the College for £200.

The case or shrine of the Book of Mulling appears to have been originally plain, except for some small pieces of crystal and lapis lazuli inserted on one side. In 1402, however, a very large crystal set in fine niello work was inserted in the same side. In 1891, thinking I saw trace of a letter under this crystal, I raised it, and thereby revealed a brass plate hitherto concealed by dust, and bearing the inscription: “Artturus " ver domin " us & lageniae " rinsdabe " tilia & baroni " anno & dni " millio " quadrin " gentesi " mo sedo ".” This Arthur was Arthur or Art MacMurrough Kavanagh, who opposed Richard II. This inscription, no doubt, has reference to the insertion of the crystal and the niello work, not to the original construction of the case. This MS. also contains a Missa Infirmorum (published by Bishop Forbes with that in the Book of Dimma).

Another beautiful Latin MS. of Irish origin is the Psalter of Ricemarch, so called because it was formerly in the possession of that prelate (Bishop of St. David’s, d. 1099), who has written in it some Latin verses. It is perhaps not much older than his time. The book was the property of Bishop Bedell, whose autograph it bears, and was lent by him to Archbishop Ussher, and to this circumstance it owes its preservation, Bedell’s library having been destroyed in the troubles of the time.

The last of these Latin Biblical MSS. which I shall mention is not Irish, but is somewhat of a curiosity. It is a single leaf of the Codex Palatinus, a fifth-century MS. of the old Latin version of the Gospels written in silver letters on purple vellum. The rest of the MS. (so far as it has been preserved) is in the Imperial Library at Vienna, which acquired it at some unknown period between 1800 and 1829. Our leaf was purchased by Dr. Todd in 1843. It is not improbable that the MS. was abstracted from some monastic library during the Napoleonic wars, and that this leaf, becoming separated from the rest, came into the hands of an Irish soldier. This dispersion of a MS. is less unusual than might be supposed. The Book of Leinster, to be presently mentioned, furnishes a notable example.[130] I recently received from a correspondent two leaves of a Syriac MS., which, by the help of Wright’s catalogue, Dr. Gwynn identified as two of the missing leaves of a MS. in the British Museum, the MS. having been imperfect when purchased for that Library.

The Book of Hymns (11th century) deserves mention both for the beauty of its initial letters and for the interest of its contents. Some of the hymns are Latin, some GÆlic; the greater part of both has been published by the Irish ArchÆological Society, with learned notes by Dr. Todd, and with reproductions of the initial letters. The remainder of the GÆlic hymns has been published by Dr. Whitley Stokes in his Goidilica.

I may appropriately mention here a remarkable Pontifical formerly belonging to the Church of Canterbury, and, as Bishop Reeves remarked to me, probably “contrectatus manibus S. Thomae de Becket.” In this the sentence of ordination of priests is in the old form, and in the margin is added, in a much later hand, the new form as adopted by the Church of Rome before the Reformation, and retained in our Ordinal.[131]

In Celtic literature we are tolerably rich. Part of our collection came to us, as already mentioned, by gift from Sir John Sebright, who had purchased the books at Edward Lhuyd’s sale. Amongst these is the Book of Leinster, a large folio of about the twelfth century, of very varied contents—historical, romantic, genealogical, and hagiological. The entire text has been published in lithographed fac-simile at the joint expense of Trinity College and the Royal Irish Academy, with a preface by Professor R. Atkinson. When this MS. was presented to our Library, eleven leaves were missing. These were found, however, and identified by Dr. Todd, in the Monastery of St. Isidore in Rome, whither they had gone from the Irish College in Louvain. They are now deposited in the Franciscan Monastery in Dublin.

The history of the Book of Lecain or Leacan, another important Irish MS., forms a curious counterpart to that of the Book of Leinster. The former was included in Ussher’s collection, and was in our Library in 1688 when the catalogue was compiled. It is there recorded, however, that nine leaves were wanting. It is stated by Nicolson (Irish Historical Library, p. 39), on the authority of Dr. Raymond, that the book was lodged in Paris by Sir John Fitzgerald in the time of James II. If so, this must have been very soon after the catalogue was compiled. In 1787, through the AbbÉ Kearney of Paris, it was sent to the Royal Irish Academy, then recently founded, and in their Library it is now preserved. The nine missing folios were found by O’Curry in one of the Sebright volumes (H. 2, 17). Although the original Book of Lecain has thus passed from us, we possess a beautiful copy (on vellum) written by Eugene O’Curry in the old Irish hand. It is worth noting that the professional scribe still exists in Ireland, and writes a hand undistinguishable from that of his predecessors many centuries ago.

In connection with the history of these two volumes, it is not inappropriate to mention that of another important volume, the Book of Ballymote. This was formerly in Trinity College Library, but was lent in 1720 to Dr. Raymond, and for a time disappeared. In 1769 it turned up at Drogheda, and being purchased by Chevalier O’Gorman, was by him presented to the Royal Irish Academy in 1785. We possess a paper copy of a portion of it, including one folio which is now missing from the original volume.

Here is preserved the MS. already mentioned from which Jebb published Roger Bacon’s Opus Majus, also the two MSS. from which Howard published the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester; the original MS., as prepared for press, of Spottiswoode’s History of the Church of Scotland; the original draft of Berkeley’s Principles of Human Knowledge; also the originals of Sir Thomas Roe’s Correspondence (Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte, 1621-8, published London, 1740).

Of MSS. bearing on Irish history we have a fair collection. First may be mentioned a volume of Letters of Queen Elisabeth on Public Affairs in Ireland, 1565 to 1570, each letter having her sign-manual. There is also a volume of Correspondence of Sir Arthur Chichester, Lord Deputy, with the English Government, 1612-1614; the thirty-two volumes already mentioned of the Depositions relative to the Rising of 1641; thirteen volumes of the Correspondence of Geo. Clarke, Secretary of War, 1690-1694; as many of Archbishop King’s Correspondence, 1696-1729; Irish Treasury Accounts, 1714-1719; and twelve volumes of Major Sirr’s papers, letters, etc., chiefly connected with the Rebellion in 1798. We have also Dr. R. R. Madden’s large collection of papers relating to the United Irishmen.

There are several important volumes of Waldensian literature, which have been catalogued and described by Todd in his Books of the Vaudois. With Wyclif literature also we are well supplied, and we have one of the two known copies of the first complete English Prose Psalter, recently published by Dr. Karl BÜlbring for the Early English Text Society. We have two MSS. of Piers Plowman, five of Rolle’s Pricke of Conscience, and several hymns by Rolle (published by Todd in the British Magazine, vol. ix.). Dr. Ingram, a few years ago, identified the earliest English translation of the De Imitatione, disguised under the title the book occasionally bore—Musica Ecclesiastica.

Nor must I omit to mention the Life of St. Alban in Norman-French, probably in the handwriting of Matthew Paris, the text of which has been published, with glossary, etc., by Professor Atkinson. The original MS. is adorned with pictures on nearly every page.

Illustrative of French history we possess statistical accounts of the French provinces and cities of about the year 1698, filling thirty-two volumes; also a collection, in twenty-five volumes, of Memoirs (some called “Secret”) of the Foreign and the Financial Affairs of France in the Reign of Louis XV. These formed part of the Fagel Library. The same library contains a large collection of maps, printed and MS., some of great rarity. Copies of two or three of these have lately been made for the Colonial Office, as of value with respect to a question of the boundary of British Guiana.

Our Oriental manuscripts include a magnificent Koran from the Library of Tippoo, presented by the East India Company; also a very fine copy of the ShÂh NÂmeh from the same library, likewise presented by the Company; some beautiful books from the Royal Library at Shiraz, presented, with other Oriental MSS., by W. Digges Latouche; and many fine Persian MSS., purchased from Sir W. Ouseley. An interesting and important Syriac MS. has been lately identified by Prof. Gwynn. It contains, besides a treatise of Ephraim Syrus, those parts of the New Testament which are not found in the Peshitto or Syriac Vulgate; and Dr. Gwynn has demonstrated that it is the actual MS. referred to by De Dieu and Walton as belonging to Ussher, and usually described erroneously as containing the whole New Testament. This is the MS. from which De Dieu, and subsequently Walton, printed the Pericopa de Adultera.[132]

To come to printed books. We have but one example of a block book—the Ars Moriendi—and that imperfect. So far as it goes, it agrees with the British Museum copy published by Mr. Rylands. We have a copy of the first German Bible [1466]; a single leaf (on vellum) of the famous Mazarin Bible; and a copy of the Latin Bible printed at Cologne by Nic. Goetz de Schletzstadt [1474].

The Quin collection includes the first edition of Petrarch: Sonetti e Trionfi (1470); the first of the Divina Commedia (1472), and the first of Boccaccio’s Theseide (1475), very rare; also a splendid copy, on vellum, of the second edition of Virgil (Venice: Vindelin de Spira, 1470); also, Ystoria de re Karlo Imperatore (1473), exceedingly rare; the only known vellum Elsevir (Heinsius: De Contemptu Mortis, 1621); Dita Mundi, by Fazio degl’ Uberti; and the Adventures of Tewerdanck, on vellum (Nuremberg, 1517), a magnificent specimen of printing. In the Fagel Library is an extremely fine Latin Plutarch, also on vellum (Jenson, 1478). We have only one Caxton: Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers (1477); unless we reckon a single leaf (an Indulgence), which Mr. Bradshaw considered to be from Caxton’s press.

Amongst rare books may be enumerated—a Sarum Horae (Paris: Poitevin, about 1498, unique); a Sarum Breviary (Paris: Levet. 1494, unique), which seems to have been in early times mistaken for a manuscript, and is consequently kept and catalogued among the MSS. We have a copy of Werner Rolevinck’s Fasciculus Temporum in Dutch, printed at Utrecht by Veldener, 1480—one of the earliest books with woodcuts in the text (coloured).

A book of some interest exhibited in the glass case is Theseus Ambrosius: Introductio in Chaldaicam Linguam (1539). It is of interest as being the first book in which Syriac types were used, and next as containing a specimen of spirit-writing dating from the sixteenth century. It seems that a question having arisen about some property of a deceased lady which was supposed to be concealed, it was resolved to evoke a demon to answer the question. A sheet of paper and a pen were placed on the table, and the proper incantation being gone through, the pen rose up, without anyone seeing the hand that held it, and wrote the characters of which Ambrosius gives a fac-simile, and which, unfortunately, no one has been able to decipher. I am informed that in the copy of this book in the Bodleian Library this particular leaf is pasted down, the “devil’s autograph,” no doubt, being deemed uncanny.

But to enumerate our rare books, or even our fifteenth-century books, would be tedious, if it were possible. I must not, however, omit to refer to some fine specimens of binding, most of which are in the Quin collection. We have six of Grolier’s books[133]—namely, Erasmus: Pacis Querella; Palladius: Coryciana; Greek Psalter (Aldus); Il Nuovo Cortegiano; Cynthio degli Fabritii; Della Origine delli Volgari Proverbi; and (perhaps the finest) Guilelmus Tyrius: Belli Sacri Historia (folio). Of Maioli we have—Ori Apollinis de Sacris Notis et Sculpturis, Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius; one by Monnier—Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante; and last, but not least, a copy of Quintus Calaber, which belonged to Henry II. of France and Diane de Poitiers.

There are in the Library a few interesting objects other than books which deserve notice. The satchel of the Book of Armagh, and the shrines of the Books of Dimma and Mulling, have been already noticed. A very remarkable object is a Mosque Staff, presented by Dr. Jolliffe Tufnell, who professionally attended Omar Pasha’s army in 1854. Such a staff is used where there are no mosques, and being set up on a temporary structure, as a heap of stones, it represents a mosque. On each of the four sides is carved a sentence from the Koran. “I am in the house of the Lord.” “Evil and good are sent by God; be content with your lot.” “Every day we offer our prayers to Thee.” “Forgive us all our sins.” “With heart and soul we believe in Thee.”

An ancient Irish harp attracts the attention of visitors from the repute attaching to it, of being the harp of Brian Boroimhe (pron. Boru, d. 1014). It is elegantly carved, and in form much resembles the harp of Queen Mary, an engraving of which is exhibited beside it. It had thirty strings. The following is the tradition respecting this harp, as quoted in the Ulster Journal of ArchÆology, vol. vii., p. 99, from a MS. by Ralph Ouseley, 1783.[134] “It had been taken to Rome, and remained there until Innocent XI. sent it as a token of good will to Charles II., who deposited it in the Tower. Soon afterwards, the Earl of Clanricarde, seeing it, assured the King that he knew an Irish nobleman (meaning O’Brien, Earl of Thomond) who would probably give a limb of his estate for this relic of his great ancestor; on which his Majesty made him a present of it. Lord Clanricarde brought the instrument to Ireland; but Lord Thomond, being abroad, never became possessed of it. Some years after, a Lady Henley purchased it by barter, in exchange for twenty rams and as many ewes of English breed, in order to give it to her son-in-law, Henry M‘Mahon, Esq., of Clunagh, County Clare; from whom it passed through other hands to an accomplished gentleman, the Right Hon. William Conyngham,” who presented it to Trinity College. Conyngham seems to have been given the harp by Chevalier O’Gorman, who gave a history of it (published in Vallancey’s Collectanea, vol. iv. 7) differing from that just quoted. According to O’Gorman’s story, Brian’s son Donogh, on being deposed, took the harp (with the crown and regalia) to Rome, and gave them to the Pope.[135] He adds the fiction that it was on the ground of possessing these regalia that Pope Adrian claimed the right to dispose of the lordship of Ireland. The story goes on to say that a later Pope gave the harp to Henry VIII., who presented it to the first Earl of Clanricarde.[136] The celebrated antiquary, Dr. George Petrie, considered that our harp dated from about A.D. 1400, and was a portable instrument used for ecclesiastical purposes. One strong objection to the earlier date he based on the fact that it bore a silver badge with the arms of O’Neill, armorial bearings not having been in use much earlier than the date he assigned. This badge disappeared for some time, and fortunately came into the possession of a distinguished antiquary, Mr. Robert Day, of Cork, affixed to a piece of armour found in some recent excavations in the Phoenix Park. As soon as Mr. Day learned the history of the badge, he promptly presented it to the Library. In its absence it was easy to observe that the carving was continuous, so that the badge must have been a later addition. Petrie’s first argument, therefore, fell to the ground. It is true, however, that the figures of two wolf-dogs are carved on the harp itself. His second objection was founded on the occurrence of the letters IHC, which may be traced in a peculiar angular form near the top of the front arm. But this also, in the opinion of good judges, is later than the rest of the carving. The harp, therefore, may possibly be older than Petrie’s date. The sound-board is of oak (as ascertained by microscopical examination), but very much decayed.

The same case which contains the harp contains also a few gold and silver ornaments of elegant workmanship, and a large spear brooch, which, however, has none of the characteristic Irish work, and is in fact very similar to a Scandinavian brooch figured in M. Du Chaillu’s Viking Age, vol. ii., p. 329, but has more ornament. It is 13¾ in. long, 5½ wide across the circle, and weighs 18 oz. It is figured in Vallancey’s Collectanea, vol. i., where it is stated that it had recently (1786) been found near Cashel.

In the Librarian’s room is the largest of the gold ornaments yet found in Ireland. It is in form like the small fibulae, but weighs 33 oz. 4 dwt. It is adorned with groups of concentric circles and a series of acute angles, with no trace of the spirals so characteristic of Celtic art in Christian times. From this it is inferred that it is of older date. This ornament was found at Clones in 1820, and purchased by the College. The Charter horn of the Kavanaghs, after being in the Library for a century, was a few years ago surrendered to the family. A cast of it is exhibited.

A small bas-relief which hangs on one of the pillars calls for some notice. It represents Demosthenes at the altar of Calaureia, where he took the fatal poison. The whole posture, but especially the head, expresses the utmost dejection. The position of the right hand also should be observed; instead of clasping the knee, it hangs idly on one side. There is an engraving of this work in Winckelmann’s History of Art, but the engraver, by raising the chin, has quite lost the aspect of dejection, and rather gives the impression that the orator is meditating a speech. It is also engraved in Allen’s Demosthenes and in Stock’s Demosthenes. This relief belonged to Dr. Richard Mead, and is said to have been found in the ruins of Hadrian’s Villa. After Mead’s sale in 1755, where it was purchased by a London dealer, it disappeared from view until about 1885, when I had the good fortune to identify it in the centre ornament of a mantelpiece in the room which formerly contained the Museum (now the Front Hall), and which was built in 1759. Certain errors in the arrangement of the drapery have suggested doubts as to its genuineness.[137] On the other hand, in its favour is the fact that the features resemble those of the bust found in Herculaneum in 1753; but it was known in 1737, before the discovery of that bust, and at a time when a wholly different type of face was accepted as that of Demosthenes. Possibly even ancient artists may have erred sometimes.

Another objection is the misspelling of the name—viz., ???OST???S. But would not a modern sculptor, who would presumably be too ignorant of Greek to substitute O for ?, be less likely to commit this error than a Roman sculptor of Hadrian’s time, who would probably know a little Greek?

Just inside the entrance to the building are two Medallion Busts which were brought from Smyrna in 1707. They are mentioned by Gudius and Boeckh.[138] They were made the subject of a learned dissertation by Dr. Kennedy Bailie (Transactions, Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxii.). He concludes that the larger medallion represents Plautilla, wife of Caracella, deified under the title ??? ???, but afterwards deposed and banished.

Our collection of Coins is not very large. Of Roman coins, silver and copper, we have a fairly good collection—about 1,300 silver and a couple of thousand copper. A selection of these is exhibited. The collection ought to be better, but unfortunately, about a hundred years ago (viz., in 1788), the room where the coins were then kept (now the Fagel) was burglariously entered, and the most valuable coins and medals stolen. Recently, the late Rev. Dr. R. F. Littledale bequeathed a small collection of English coins and medals.

An old Minute Book of the Library, chiefly in the handwriting of Dr. Barrett, contains occasional items of interest. Here we read of a ship with books for the Library cast away, the books, however, being recovered, but damaged, some irrecoverably. Again, we find some books which had been stolen restored through the Roman Catholic priest to whom the thief had made confession. On another occasion a parcel of stolen books is thrown into the Provost’s courtyard. An amusing entry occurs, in which Dr. Barrett states his intention to ask permission to lock up a certain Narrative of a Residence in Ireland, by Mrs. Anne. Plumptre (1815), stating that it is too silly and too ill-mannered for a public library. “Hospitably entertained by the good-natured, blundering Irish, and introduced (perhaps for the first time in her life) into good company, she takes care to let [the] world know it by publishing all the little tea-table talk they had indulged in to amuse her, and many of whom are probably now blushing at seeing it embodied in a pompous quarto, illustrated with engravings. Travel in savage countries, Mrs. Anne, and publish their conversations if you can, but spare the feelings of those who are accustomed to the rules and decencies of civilised life.”

An account of the Library would be incomplete if the Catalogue were left unnoticed. The first printed Catalogue was issued about 1710 in one thin volume, folio. We have now a printed Catalogue in nine folio volumes, which includes all the printed books in the Library at the end of the year 1872. The first volume of this Catalogue (A and B) was prepared under the direction of Dr. Todd, and issued in 1864. The work was then suspended, and not resumed until 1872, when a special editor, Mr. H. Dix. Hutton, was appointed, the time of the Library staff being fully employed otherwise. The Catalogue was completed Jan. 1, 1887, the expense of printing and paper alone having been £4,500. Since that time Mr. Hutton has been engaged in preparing a Supplementary Catalogue, to contain the subsequent accessions. When this has been completed up to the present time, it is intended to make it a Desk Catalogue, in which all new accessions will be inserted on printed slips. The Catalogue is primarily an author’s catalogue—that is to say, books are arranged under the names of their authors, where known. But by the liberal use of cross references and secondary entries, some of the advantages of a subject catalogue are obtained. In the Desk Catalogue now in preparation, the method adopted by the editor, Mr. Hutton, is as follows:—One copy of the printed slip is taken, and in the upper left-hand corner the proper subject heading is type-written by him, and this slip is then inserted in alphabetical order, according to this heading. This saves the expense of printing a fresh title for the secondary entry.

Of our MSS. the earliest existing catalogue is that of 1688, which was compiled with great care. This is also the only catalogue at present accessible to readers at a distance, having been printed in Bernard’s Catalogus Manuscriptorum AngliÆ et HiberniÆ. In the Library itself the catalogue most commonly used is one drawn up by Dr. John Lyon about 1745, which, however, only extends to Classis G. A more complete catalogue, extending to Classis M, was prepared by Dr. Henry J. Monck Mason, about the year 1814, for the Irish Commissioners of Public Records, with a view to publication. The terms proposed by Dr. Monck Mason and his specimen of the work were approved, and when the rough copy (in five volumes) was finished he was required to hand it over to the Board. Then the question of remuneration was raised, and it was discovered that no minute had been entered of the original engagement; and as some of the members of the Board had been changed, the engagement, in the absence of a written vote, was not held to be sufficient to outweigh considerations of public economy.

Dr. Monck Mason devoted much conscientious labour and intelligence to the work. He was assisted in the department of Irish MSS. by Edward O’Reilly; in that of Oriental MSS. by Edward Hincks, then sub-librarian; and in the Icelandic MSS. by George Cash. It is much to be lamented that the work was not published as designed. The MSS. in the Irish language have been catalogued by Dr. O’Donovan in one thick folio volume. There exists also a card catalogue, consisting of about 20,000 cards, prepared under the direction of Dr. Benjamin Dickson, assistant librarian. He employed, at his own expense, a person acquainted with the Irish vernacular, but otherwise not as well qualified as might be wished (the inevitable result of want of means to pay a qualified scholar).

It is in contemplation to print a summary catalogue much briefer than Dr. Monck Mason’s, but containing sufficient information about each volume to indicate to students at a distance what they may expect to look for in it. A catalogue of this kind need not occupy more than one volume, and might be sold at such a price as would make it generally accessible.

It may interest librarians to learn how the accommodation has been from time to time enlarged. Up to the end of the eighteenth century, the room in the east wing, now occupied by the Fagel Library, was set apart as the MSS. Room. In the stalls in the Long Room, where the short bookcases are at present, there were seats like settles, the ends of which still remain. From the high cases projected sloping desks, below which there were no books. The engraving in Malton’s Views of Dublin represents this state of things. These seats and desks were removed in 1817. The Reading Room was the upper room in the west wing, now the Clerks’ Room. The whole of the ground floor, except in the wings, was an open ambulatory, divided length-wise by a central wall, the south side being used by the Fellows. The rooms on the ground floor in both wings were Lecture Rooms—that at the west for Law, that at the east end for Divinity. The Law Lecture Room also contained the Lending Library. There were no bookcases in the gallery.

Only graduates (of Dublin, Oxford, or Cambridge) have the right of admission to the Library; but the privilege has always been freely granted to persons properly introduced, whether graduates of a university or not, so that it is, in fact, a public library. In 1856 it was resolved by the Board and Visitors to grant admission to students who have entered on their third year, that being the usual period for commencing professional studies; but admission is always granted at an earlier period to a student whose studies are such as to make it desirable.

Previously to 1843, readers were allowed to take books from the shelves themselves, but in that year this privilege was limited to the Fellows and Professors, except in the Reading Room, where books of reference and other books in frequent demand are accessible to all readers. This change caused a considerable diminution in the number of readers. A similar resolution had been passed in 1817, but rescinded a few months after, it being thought to be contrary to the Statutes, which forbade readers to replace a book anywhere except in its place on the shelves. The Provost (Elrington) protested against the rescission, alleging, inter alia, that free access to the shelves led to the reading of indecent books, and he had even known books of magic to be read.

The hours during which the Library was open were formerly eight to ten, and eleven to one. We read once or twice of permission being given to readers to remain locked in between ten and eleven. The hour of closing was afterwards postponed to two o’clock. At present, the Reading Room is open from ten to six; the Library itself is closed at three in winter, and four in summer.