Dublin College; that not it, but the Book of Durrow, is that which is inscribed as you have mentioned by O'Flaherty; and that the Book of Kells stands, and has stood for much more than a century, in its place in the depository of MSS. in the Library of that college; and has been for perhaps eighty years entered most legibly into the catalogue of these MSS. which has always lain quite accessible upon the table. Now, there is no excuse whatever for your neglect in not looking farther into this matter than you have done; the hint that was given you, and which is mentioned in your note, you should have followed up; you are sufficiently alive to the great value of the document itself, and how it was appreciated; you should, therefore, have searched for and examined it, at least before you ventured upon that page of error on the

* This catalogue has been enlarged, or rather has been embodied in one of this most extensive and interesting collection which I was engaged to form, and which is now deposited in the MS. room of the library. The Book of Kells is in the press A. 1. 5, the Book of Durrow in A. 4. 5, where they have both lain for upwards of a century. While compiling this catalogue I have sat with Dr. O'Connor in the Library; I have frequently conversed, and have since corresponded with him, on Irish subjects; and I never suspected the extraordinary fact, that he was entirely ignorant of the existence of the Book of Kells, although it was displayed in the same press with that of Durrow, of which he has given good facsimiles in his Rer. Hib. Scrip. and of which, as well as of the Book of Kells, he has written so much. I think it no excuse to you, that you had such a leader in your ignorance, for it is manifest that you made no research whatever; and since the Doctor wrote, and before you commenced your history, the Book of Kells has been put forward to notice in a new binding, and with an inscription, which makes it impossible that it should escape unnoticed now.

subject of our ancient books, your 309th. You should indeed not only have known of these books, and seen them, but have collated, or caused to be collated, some of their peculiar versions; exhibiting as they do variances from St. Jerome's Latin translation, although written in that language themselves, and thus affording a collateral proof of the independent character of the early Irish church; and not, when you are so very vulnerable on this head yourself, have put forward the "zealous and amiable scholar," as you style him— Dr. O'Conor-as one who " on most points connected "with that theme," his country's antiquities, "adopts

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as proved what has only been boldly asserted;" so as to "render him, with all his real candour and learning, "not always a trustworthy witness." You should at least have taken some more fortunate opportunity* than this for making the observation; from the injury of which I am the more anxious to rescue† the memory

* Ille qui deridet, caudam trahit.

+ You take much pains in that passage to sink the authority of O'Conor, by bearing down upon him with the weight of that of Mr. Astle; but, however, the fact is, that they are giving opinions which are perfectly reconcileable with each other. The MS. of the four Gospels to which " Dr. O'Conor triumphantly "refers," is written in the Latin language; and the assertion of Mr. Astle is, " that the oldest Irish MS." or MS. in the Irish tongue, "which has been discovered, is the Psalter of Cashel, "written in the tenth century."

It must here be observed, that Mr. Astle is not authority on this subject-besides that he did not understand Irish, he writes from the accounts of others, citing only Ware. He does not seem even to have seen the Irish MS. of which he speaks; but had he, for example, examined the copies of Brehon laws deposited in the Library of T.C.D. he must have formed a different judg. ment. Had he also seen the Books of Kells and Durrow, he

of this most learned and honest and laborious antiquarian, because that I know that, on account of his faithfulness in his accounts given, in his letters of Columbanus, of the real history of the ancient Irish church, he was prevented from officiating in Dublin, as a priest of the Roman Catholic* communion; and although he never quitted it, was every where aspersed by his brethren, and is in no very good odour with any Romanist. As a specimen also of what you should not have neglected, in the seeking for and examining our ancient books, I shall mention our famed book of Armagh; which is accessible, and which we have often had occasion to notice; you should, either of yourself or through others, have become better acquainted with it, containing as it does a remarkable life of St. Patrick, and various readings of the New Testament. Finally, in this and other such instances of neglect, you have failed in your duty as an historian.

But, still more than the circumstances which I have already mentioned, you are precluded from being the proper historian of the religion of Ireland, by your not having yourself very clear ideas upon that inte

must also have given an opinion of their greater antiquity. Dr. O'Conor was more competent than he to determine upon books that were merely Irish; and I feel myself justified, upon his testimony and that of other skilful judges, to assert, that with respect to them Mr. Astle was mistaken in his judgment.

* See his correspondence with Dr. Troy, upon the subject, in the letters of Columbanus, No. VII. What this really liberal Romanist says of Archbishop Usher, and his arguments, in No. III. p. 50, of these letters, demonstrates at once his candour and good sense.

resting subject. Without entering into a controversial consideration of certain passages in other parts of your history; or dwelling again upon your naming that doctrine a heresy, which "maintained, that saints

ought not to be honoured, nor any reverence paid to "IMAGES" or referring to errors which a Roman Catholic will hold to be not such; I must repeat and urge the instance of your argument in 'page 305, respecting the real presence. You there represent the pure and spiritual doctrine of the Protestant church, as being your own, and claim it for the ancient Irish also; while it is clear from the entire tenor of your argument, that you nevertheless suppose it not to be the Protestant, but the modern Roman Catholic tenet on that subject.

With your manner of treating other subjects I have no business here-save only to give deserved credit to your industry and to your talents; and to make one short and necessary comment respecting your politics as a writer, upon a point inseparable from the subject before us. I must introduce it by observing, that I do not condemn your nationality, but would only wish that you had exhibited it with a more truly national feeling; and not, when whatever of severity or impolicy had formerly marked the English dominancy had vanished away, have agitated the settling minds of the people, roused with your martial music the slumbering rancour of the Irish against the Saxon name, and fanned the dying embers of national and religious jealousy to a devastating flame. But you have yet an opportunity, when you are entering upon

the later centuries of your history, to take off a portion of the combustible material from the raging fire; by assuring the poor Irishman of the fact that it is not to the Saxon invasion that he is to attribute the establishment of Protestantism in this island; that with the British conquest first came a full acquiescence in a subjection to the see of Rome; and that, although you will still perhaps continue to deny that the Roman Catholic was an innovation on the primitive church in Ireland, it was not until about the period of Henry the Second's invasion, that the Pope sent over his palls, and his legates, or assumed any thing like the authority which he has since laid claim to. At this period, Adrian IV. and Alexander III. committed, by bulls, this "barbarous nation," as they pleased to call it, into the King's hands; with a full commission to subdue it—to spill the blood of its inhabitants, under the pretence of spreading the gospel of peace; and on the condition of transmitting to Rome the tax of Peter's pence, for the promoting of His religion, whose kingdom is not of this world. Tell them the following fact; and if you tell it in poesy, I am sure it will be much better than the chronicler's, that

The King Henry then conquered all Ireland,

By Papall dome

For errour which agayn the spiritualtee

They held full long-(HARDYNG'S CHRON. c. 132.)

and, disuniting Protestantism from the hated name of Saxon, let simple truth have fair play.

With the department of theology, however, you should not interfere, until you have given your mind