THE BOOK OF LISMORE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 123, 3 September 1875, Page 13

THE BOOK OF LISMORE.

A singular story, i's told of the " Book of Lisinore,V an 'lrish; chronicle of the fourteenth century, belonging to the , Duke of Devonshire, and recently lent by his Grace to the Ordinance Survey Office ' authorities at Southampton for reproduction in fac-3im|!.e by the process of photozincography. This manuscript was-dis-covered in the year 1814 inclosed in- a wooden box, together withfa , fine old crozier, built into the masonry of a. closed-up -doorway, which w,as Reopened while the old Castle of Lisniore xinderwent repair. Great interest was naturally excited among the antiquaries of the'time, and among them was a certain Mr. Dennis O'Flinn, of Shandon street, Cork, a " professed" Irish scholar, but, as O'Curry said of him, " a very indifferent" one. • O'Flinn, however, on the - strength of such rep citation* induced the duke's agent to lend the manuscript to him. It was detained, for a year, and during part of that time, according to the borrower's account, was in the naiads of a copyist. From the time of its return imtil 1839, the precious volume remained locked up and unexamined ; it was then lent by its noble owner to the Royal Irish Academy, to be copied by O'CurryT The discovery was now made that the book- had been mutilated, and in such a way as to render what remained of the original almost valueless. Every search was made, but no trust- - worthy clue was got until the manuscripts of Sir William Bethani, bought for the library of the Royal Irish Academy, were found to include co pies of the missing portions. By means of a note attached to these copies, the holders of the originals were traced, and were induced to part with their somewhat doubtfully acquired property for the sum of fifty pounds. " The whole volume has since been excellently repaired and handsomely bound by the present Duke of Devonshire. The contents of it include — lives of ancient Irish saints, written in very pure G-aelic ; the conquests of Charlemagne, translated from Archbishop Turpin's celebrated romance of the eighth century; the story of St. Peter's daughter, Petronilla, and the discovery of the Sibilline Oracle ; an account of St. Gregory the Great ; the Empress Justina's. heresy ; accounts of Charlemagne's successors, and the corresijondence between Lanfranc' and the clergy of Rome ; extracts from Marco Polo's travels ; accounts of Irish battles and sieges ; and a dialogue between St. Patrick, Caolits, Mac-Ronain, and Oisin, the sou of Fionn MacCumhaill, in^ which many Mils, rivers, caverns, &c, in Ireland are_deseribed and the etymology of their names recorded. — ' Athenseuru.'