S: OBARRDAN: FABRICAVIT.

"The second--

"JOHS: OKARBRI: COMORBANVS: S. TIGNACH: PMISIT."

"'_John O'Barrdan made this box by the permission of John O'Carbry,
successor of St. Tigermach_.'

"St. Tierny, or St. Tigernach was third Bishop of Clogher, having
succeeded St. Maccartin in the year 506. In the list of bishops, St.
Patrick is reckoned the first, and founder of the see. Tigernach died
the 4th of April, 548.

"John O'Carbry was abbott of Clones, or Clounish, in the County of
Monoghan, and as such was _comorb_, or _corb_*--i. e., successor--of
Tigernach, who was founder of the abbey and removed the episcopal seat
from Clogher to Clounish. Many of the abbots Were also bishops of the
see. He died in 1353. How long he was abbot does not appear; but the age
of the outside covering of the Dona is fixed to the 14th century.

* All the successors of the founder saints were called
by the Irish _comorbs_ or _corbs_. The reader Will perceive
that O'Carbry was a distant but not we immediate successor
of St. Tigernach.

"Since the foregoing was written I have seen the Dona, which was
exhibited at the last meeting of the Royal Irish Academy. it has been
put together at a guess, but different from the drawing. There is inside
O'Barrdan's case another of silver plates some centuries older, and
inside that the yew box, which originally contained the manuscripts, now
so united by damp as to be apparently inseparable, and nearly illegible;
for they have lost the color of vellum, and are quite black, and very
much decayed. The old Irish version of the New Testament is well worthy
of being edited; it is, I conceive, the oldest Latin version extant, and
varies much from the Vulgate or Jerome's.

"The MS. inclosed in the yew box appears from the two membranes handed
me by your friend Mr. ------, to be a copy of the Gospels--at least
those membranes were part of the two first membranes of the Gospel of
St. Matthew, and, I would say, written in the 5th or 6th century; were,
probably, the property of St. Tigernach himself, and passed most likely
to the abbots of Clounish, his successors, as an heirloom, until it fell
into the hands of the Maguires, the most powerful of the princes of the
country now comprising the diocese of Clogher. Dr. O'Beirne's letter I
trust you will publish. I feel much indebted to the gentleman for his
courteous expressions towards me, and shall be most happy to have the
pleasure of b