50 As (note 3). 51 b with a dash across the top of it. 52 F with an over it. 3 As (note 52). 54 T with an o over it. 55 As (note 3). 56 n with a dash 58 As (note 7). 59 A dash over the e. 61 An 1 over this t.

63 As (note 3). 64 A dash over the p, to indicate the termination; (as note). 65 As (note 3), 66 A dash across the top of the b; (as note 51).

)note 3). 68 A running a over the t.

71 Written "m (with a double turn over it) ead”.
m represented by a dash over the preceding a.
(note 56).

77 For co heirinn.

78 Written ong, with an o over the o. 79 A dash over the n, and another across the top of the b. 80 As (note 47). 81 Written ib; a dash over the 1, and another out of the top of the b.

83 As (note 51). 84 As (note 12). 85 As (note 13). 87 This with an e over it. 88 As (note 26). 89 As (note 3). 90 As (note 46). 91 As (note 56). 92 Then represented by a dash over the i 94 A dash over the in. 95 As (note 13).

93 As (note 26).
(note 40). 97 Written ce, with dash over the e.
"c" written over this m.

This I believe to be a very ancient poem. The island referred to must be the Inis Cairé Cennfinné of the Book of Lecain, or some such mythological island believed to lie under the waters between Erinn and Scotland; or probably this story of Ruadh, son of Righdonn, is the foundation of the other, with the addition of the proper name and implied history of the island. This piece in prose and verse contains a curious topographical fact; that of the more ancient name of the tract of country lying along the sea, it may be presumed from Howth to the Boyne. It appears from one authority that that district, which, in the third century, got the name of Cianachta, was, in more ancient times, called Fera Muiridh, or Fera Muiredha, that is, the [land of the] Men of Muiridh, or Men of Muiredhach; from Muiredhach, the son of Cormac, founder of the race; or from Muiriath, the wife of the monarch Labhraidh Loingsech, (or Labhraidh the Exile,) who ruled over Erinn, from A.M. 4659 to 4677, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. His wife was Moriath, or Muiriath, daughter to Scoriath, a king or chief of West Munster, and he obtained the sovereignty of Ireland by the slaughter of Cobhthach Cael, his granduncle, the murderer of his father and grandfather. Who the Muiredhach, son of Cormac, to whom the name is ascribed in the second instance, was, it would be difficult to ascertain from the mere statement of his name here, which is the only mention of him I know of.

ART. V.-On the supposed Latin origin of the Arabic Version of the Gospels. By P. LE PAGE RENOUF.

THE Antuanstations of Scripture, which it has lately become

Arabic version of the four Gospels is one of those

fashionable among English Biblical scholars to set aside as valueless for the purposes of criticism or exegesis. One of the earliest indications of this tendency is to be found in an article of the Edinburgh Review of July, 1851, on the editions of the Greek Testament recently published by Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Alford. Dean Alford, who, in the first three editions of his Greek Testament, had noticed the various readings of the Arabic version, has, in his last edition, followed the advice of the Edinburgh Reviewer, and suppressed these readings as belonging to "a comparatively recent translation" from another version, "and not from the original Greek". The meaning of these words will become more clear from the following extract taken from Dr. Davidson's Treatise on Biblical Criticism, p. 668 and following:

"The Arabic version of the Gospels must be discarded as useless, for it was not made from the original, but from the Vulgate. We should, therefore, consistently omit all mention of the version in question.

"John, bishop of Seville in the eighth century, translated the Scriptures into Arabic from the Vulgate, or Jerome's Latin version. Now, the Roman edition of the Gospels, which was the first printed, was not from the Greek original, but was taken from a MS. containing the version made in Spain from the Latin itself. Professor Juynboll has proved this from an examination of an Arabic MS. at Franeker, which contains the same Arabic version. Hence, the evidences adduced by Hug and others, for the purpose of demonstrating a Greek original, are nugatory. They merely serve to show that it has been interpolated from the Greek, and that too in a very bungling and ignorant way. It has also suffered interpolation from the Syriac and Coptic. This was natural, and almost unavoidable, from the way in which it was used. When the Syrians began to feel the want, they adopted the Arabic as their church version, and altered it to a certain degree of conformity with their old church version, the Peschito.

66

So, too, the Copts adopted the Arabic to their ancient church version. When the Syrians and Copts did so, they wrote both together in MSS. side by side, so as to have a Syro-Arabic and an Arabico-Coptic text respectively; and it is easy to see that the Arabic would not be kept pure in such circumstances. The procedure of the Arabic copyists, and the way in which they confounded texts, may be seen from a MS. at Vienna, No. 43, which in the Gospels has numerous various readings between the lines and in the margin, with the sources indicated, such as the Peschito, the Memphitic version, and the Greek text".

Dr. Davidson dismisses the subject with these contemptuous words:

"But we have dwelt too long on a version which is only mediate. Henceforth let it be entirely banished from the region of criticism as useless".

in

וויון

bo сри

Mar do Fiadar a firu. [a.f.

Or if you prefer more illustration still,
Look to flattering conjecture,

It will say the charming land of lowly
mansions,

[Is named] from Muiriath, the wife of Labhraidh.

Labhraidh Loingseach, terrific, noble, Obtained a territory, extensive, flowery, strong,

As the blood-acquired property of men of battle,

His wife was the youthful Muiriath,—

Muriath the great, who owned servants,
With hosts cut down its forests;
When this was attempted they were
not poor,

As is well evidenced, O Men! [Ye
Men, etc.]

This I believe to be a very ancient poem. The island referred to must be the Inis Cairé Cennfinné of the Book of Lecain, or some such mythological island believed to lie under the waters between Erinn and Scotland; or probably this story of Ruadh, son of Righdonn, is the foundation of the other, with the addition of the proper name and implied history of the island. This piece prose and verse contains a curious topographical fact; that of the more ancient name of the tract of country lying along the sea, it may be presumed from Howth to the Boyne. It appears from one authority that that district, which, in the third century, got the name of Cianachta, was, in more ancient times, called Fera Muiridh, or Fera Muiredha, that is, the [land of the] Men of Muiridh, or Men of Muiredhach; from Muiredhach, the son of Cormac, founder of the race; or from Muiriath, the_wife of the monarch Labhraidh Loingsech, (or Labhraidh the Exile,) who ruled over Erinn, from A.M. 4659 to 4677, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. His wife was Moriath, or Muiriath, daughter to Scoriath, a king or chief of West Munster, and he obtained the sovereignty of Ireland by the slaughter of Cobhthach Cael, his granduncle, the murderer of his father and grandfather. Who the Muiredhach, son of Cormac, to whom the name is ascribed in the second instance, was, it would be difficult to ascertain from the mere statement of his name here, which is the only mention of him I know of.

100 As (note 87). 103 As (note 40). 107 As (note 26).

101 As (note 52).

104 As (note 46). 108 As (note 60).

102

Muiriat; (a double turn over the m). 105 As (note 13). 106 As (note). 109 As (note 3).

110 As (note 1).