G 231

Beatha Chríost

18th cent. Paper. 19 × 15 cms. 184 pp. ([iii] + scribal 1 [four times], 2- 178). SCribe: Tomás O Hóidh (Thomas Hoy), 1747 (pp. iii, 62, 79); some variation in script; p. i (a) a similar hand, presumably that of a pupil of the main scribe, who may have been responsible for the rubrication in p. 1-25. The manuscript is of Northern provenance. A later scribe, probably [Nicho]las Reid, acknowledges on p. ii (see below) the loan of the manuscript from ó Hóidh in 1778; he also wrote p. i. (b). On the last page (p. 178), originally blank, is some prose and verse (?) in English, now mostly illegible, `written by Mr. Patrick McGuire', and a promissory note, in the same hand, to `Mr. John (...)' dated `25th day of January 17(5)6'. Subsequent owners include Ioseph Mac Alaoir (`Leabhar Ioseph Mic Alaoir', p. ii) and Mathew Carty (`Mathew Carty's Book', p. 54).

Other names and jottings in the manuscript include: arithmetical calculation, inside front cover; `Many a ragged colt makes a good horse and a(...)', p. 37; `Command you may your mind', p. 44; `(...)ium Sancte evangelis secundum Joanes glo(...)', p. 48; `Thomas O Hoidh gan phein gan fheoil', p. 67; `thomas', p. 93; `438', p. 102; other scribblings throughout.

Bound in leather, cover now loose. Cropping of margins has caused loss of letters and numberings in places; part of the last leaf torn away. Purchased from William H. Robinson, Bookseller, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Oct. 1928 for 30 shillings.

Page

i (a) `Beannacht Dia agus Muire Eoin Baiste et Phádruig do chuideachta gach conair a ngéabhthar dhuine úasail theaiseamhuil do thaisgeadh na mbrathar thug dhamhsa an leabhar da ngoirthear deth Beatha [Ch]riosda na grasda no go ndearnsa athnúadhughadh le peann ar pháipeir is bheirim dhut buidheachas a mhaighstir Hóidh na raibhe diomdha an Righ ata os ar gcionn a náirde leats no lioms no leana gcáirde' (see introductory remarks). (b) `Chum meadughadh onair et glaore De tinsgnum an obarsa' (see introductory remarks).

ii `Aig so beatha agus bas air Slannaightheora Iosa Criost / Bannacht air thannamh Thomas I Hoidh air shon tamalt don lamhransa thabhairt damh fein a mblian daois a Tigharna et a mí dar binnim / [Sep]tember 1778 / [Nicho]las Reid' (see introductory remarks).

iii Title-page: `Aig so beatha agus bás agus bás agus páis air Slánaightheora Íosa Críosd; airna sgriobha le Tomas O Hóidh an bhlíadhain daois an Tighearna .i. 1747. An chéad chaibidil don adhbharsi thráchtas air chruthadh an domhuin air úabhar a naingil, air bhriseadh na haithne; air chuir Adhamh a bpárrthas, air aimsir na ngrás; air ghuidhe na naingiol air dhiadhairfhiosrughadh Elizabeth air fheoilghabhail an bhreithre ┐c'. `December the 11th 1747 written by me Thos. Hoy' (repeated).

1 Beatha Chríost. `Aig so beatha agus bás agas páis air Slánaightheora Íosa Críosd; airna sgríobha an bhliadhain daoís an Tighearna .i. 1747. / An Chead Chaibidil.' Sé lá bhí Dia na bhríathra caoíne. 3824 lines arranged in four- line stt. `Aig sin Fínit.' There are seven chapters with seven subdivisions in chap. I, four in chap. II and two in chap. III. The following scribal entries occur: `May 2th 1747 written by me Thos. Hoy', p. 62; `June the sixteenth 1747 written by me Thos. Hoy', p. 79; `Mistake' (reference to cancelling of lines), p. 148; `Vacancy in the authors Book' (reference to a missing line), p. 173. This manuscript was not used in ed. Áine Ní Chróinín, Beatha Chríost, Leabhair ó Láimhsgríbhnibh xvii (1952).