are assigned on linguistic grounds to
the beginning of the 9th century. The lines going by the name of
"Sanctan's Hymn" probably belong to the same century, whilst the
metrical catalogue of marvels performed by St Brigit contains such a
medley of older and later forms, probably due to interpolation, that it
is impossible to determine its age. The few lines entitled "Mael-Isu's
Hymn" are the most recent of all and probably belong to the 11th century
(Mael-Isu d. 1086). The Patrician documents by Muirchu Maccu Machtheni,
who professed to write at the command of Bishop Aed of Sletty (d. 698),
and by Tirechan, who is said to have received his information from
Bishop Ultan (d. 656), are contained in the Book of Armagh, a MS.
compiled by Ferdomnach in 807. These documents, like the _Life of St
Columba_ by Adamnan, the MS. of which was written by Dorbbene, abbot of
Hi (d. 713), contain a number of names and forms of great importance for
the study of the language.

Earliest prose.

The earliest pieces of connected prose in Irish are three:--(1) the
Cambray Homily, contained in an 8th-century codex at Cambray copied by a
continental hand from a MS. in the Irish character; the language is very
archaic and dates from the second half of the 7th or the beginning of
the 8th century; (2) the additions to the notes of Tirechan on the life
of St Patrick in the Book of Armagh; these seem to go back to the early
8th century; (3) the tract on the Mass in the Stowe Missal, which is in
all probability nearly as old as the Cambray Homily, though contained in
a 10th or 11th century MS. Of especial interest are the spells and poems
found in the Stowe Missal and two continental MSS. The Stowe MS. (now
deposited in the Royal Irish Academy) contains three rather badly
preserved spells for a sore eye, a thorn and disease of the urine. A St
Gall codex has preserved four Irish incantations of the 8th and 9th
centuries. These are respectively against a thorn, urinary disease,
headache and various ailments. Another charm, which is partly obscure,
occurs in the 9th-century codex preserved at the monastery of St Paul in
Carinthia. The same MS. also contains (1) a humorous poem treating of
the doings of a bookish writer and his favourite cat Pangur Ban; (2) a
riddling poem ascribed to Suibne Geilt, a king who is said to have lost
his reason at the battle of Moira (A.D. 637); (3) verses extracted from
a poem ascribed to St Moling (d. 697), who may ve