The Washington times., 1922-05-07

made one of the largest collections
Of Irish songs. ballads. fairy tales.
folk lore. and traditions known.
which he recites as readily as a
true Irish bard. and. in fact. he
may be considered one. 1t Is prob
able that he will some day publish
q selection Of tho most interesting.
The source Of many Of the Irish
manuscripts IL doubtful. for II was
often dangerous for the authors. or
the copyists. TO sign their names.
but Douglas Hyde tells of one case
where the Identity was established.
II was the important manuscript
Of Saint Patrick's Confession"
as II IL called. Of which DR.. Hyde
writes, How this exquisite manu-
script. consisting Of 216 velum
leaves. written In double columns.
has happily been preserved to US.
we shall lose no time in inquiring;
but how its exact date has been
ascertained through what DR..
Reeves has characterized as one of
the most elegant and recondite
demonstrations which any learned
society has on record is worth
mentioning"
He then explains that the late
Rev. Charles Graves, Bishop OF
Limerick. made a thorough exami-
nation OF the whole codex when.
after many vicissitudes and hair
breadth escapes from destruction
It had been temporarily deposited
in the Royal Irish Academy.
Knowing. as O'Curry pointed ouf.
that II was the custom for Irist
scribes to sign their own names.
with usually some particulars
about their writing. at the end Of
each piece they copied. he made a
careful search and discovered that
this had actually been done IN the
Book of Armagh. and In no less
than eight places, but that on
every spot where It had occur ed
II had been erased for some appar-
entity inscrutable reason. with the
greatest pains. In the last place
but one. however. where the colo
phon occurred. the process Of
erasure had been less thorough
than in the others. and after long
consideration, and treatment OF the
erasure with gallic acid and spirits
Of wine. DR.. Graves discovered that
the words 80 carefully rubbed out
were PRO Ferdomnacho ores"
Pray for Ferdomnach."
FOUND ERASED WORDS.
Turning to the other pages.
he found that the erased words in
at least one other place were
evidently the same. This settled
the name of the scribe; he was
Ferdomnach.
The next step was to search
the -Four Masters" who record
the existence Of two scribes OF
that name who died at Armagh,
one in 726 and the other in S44.
One Of these it must have been
who wrote the Book Of Armagh"
but which? This DR.. Graves
also discovered, with the greatest
ingenuity. And we learn that
"Ferdomnach wrote this book at
the dictation. or command. OF
Torbach, Patrick's heir tsuccessor).
Torbach became archbishop in
SOC. died s07. He wrote after
copying II thus far the volume
which Patrick wrote with his
own hand. On the 18th day OF
March was Patrick translated to
the heavens"
The illumination Of the Irish
manuscript in color was also a
highly developed art. We learn
from A. p. Laurie, in THE Pig
ments and Mediums Of the Old
Masters" that "the brilliant
Tyrian purple Of the Byzantine
Manuscripts is not in itself a
beautiful color. and Is neither so
fine as lac lake which is used
on the Western 18th Century
manuscripts. nor the purple pre-
pared in the Irish monasteries."
THE DUN COW.
DR.. Laurie writes further OF
the Lindisfarne Gospels OF the
British Museum. an Irish manu-
script OF the Eighth century.
most priceless possession, where
the pigments resemble those Of tho
Byzantine manuscripts. Tho
medium is heavily used. 30 that
the surface 10 shiny. The pig
ments are in excellent condition.
and are adhering well to the
parchment, which appears. under