experience) It pleased your Lordship to impose vpon my selfe, the burden of translating the Booke of common prayer, (the liturgy of the Famous Church of England) into the mother tongue (for the comfort of the meere Irish Churches) to the end that the ignorant may vnderstand, how grosely they are abused by their blind malitious guides, which beare them in hand that our diuine seruice is nothing else, but the seruice of the Deuill. My good Lord I was as willing to vndergoe this burden, for the good of the Church, as your Lordship was zealous to commaund the same: And hauing translated the Booke, I followed it to the Presse with ielousy, and daiely attendance, to see it perfected, payned as a woman in trauell desirous to be deliuered. Being now perfected with much difficulty, I present and dedicate the same to your honorable Lordship, as to the lawful Father thereof: a better pledge of mine intire affection I cannot present, and could I present a better, I would in bounden duty present it to your Lordship. Beseeching the same that you will be pleased to accept thereof as of your little Beniamin, the sonne of your right hand, the rather because it hath been to the mother (for the space of two yeares) Benony, the sonne of her sorow. And hauing imbraced it, I humbly pray your honorable Lordship to send it abroad into the Country Churches, together with the elder brother the new Testament, to be fostered & fomented; Gods blessing & mine be with them. If any ignorant or malicious malecontent will barke at them as dogges at the mooneshine, this shalbe my preface to them for the present, Hominibus scribimus non canibus. Thus with mine earnest prayers vnto the throne of grace, for all increase & supply of grace in your Lordships honorable heart, & for Gods best blessings to accompany all your worthy indeuours to the good of this poore Church and common-wealth, & to the euerlasting comfort & peace of your own Soule, I humbly take leaue. From my House in Sainct Patricks Close Dublin, the xx. of October. 1609. Your most honorable Lordships to commaund WILL. TUAMENSIS. "The title-page is in an ornamented frame; the larger C capitals are in English letters, (evidently from a want of the proper sized Irish type), the smaller letters are Irish. The principal part of the title is in a circular space in the centre of the page-the imprint in a rectangular frame at the bottom. "The title is as follows: LEABHAR NA NVR MHEINISDALDACHDа na Sacramenteach MAILLE LE GNA THаIGHTHJBH agus Le hordaighthibh oile, do réir eagalse na Sagsan ata SO aR Na CHUR a 5CLO Mbaile atha Cliath, adtigh Sheon Francke alias Franckton, Prjoñtojr an Rjog an Eirin. 1608. Cum Privilegio Regia Maieftatis "On the back of the title are the King's arms. "Then the Act of Uniformity of Elizabeth in Irish. 4 pages sign. C and ¶¶ "The King's Proclamation authorizing the Book of Common Prayer. [This is also in Irish, and is dated at our palace of Westminster, 5th March, 5th year of our reign over England, France and Ireland; and 17th of Scotland.] 4 pages [last page of sign. CC, and three pages of ¶¶¶.] "Next page follows, " Tabula festorum mobilium pro xx. iii. annos. "Then follow the Calendar and Table of Lessons, in Latin. 12 pages sign. a. [which seems to be in six leaves.] This Calendar gives the 2nd Lessons only at Morning and Evening Prayer, omitting the 1st Lessons-the Old Testament not having been at that time printed in Irish. There are no festivals except those for which the English Liturgy has special services. "The Table of Proper Lessons, the Preface, Order how the Scripture is to be read, &c., are all omitted. [Whether this omission arises from a defect in the copy preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, (the only copy to which I have access,) or whether it is an original omission in the book, I do not know.] "Morning Prayer, sign. A, B, and C 1 (10 pages). 66 'Evening Prayer, sign. C 2, and D 1 p. 1. (3 pages). "The Litany, sign. e to 3 (including the Prayers and Thanksgivings; all being headed on the upper margin "Na Liodain', i.e. The Litany). (9 pages.) "Collects, Epistles and Gospels, 51 p. 2 to CCc 2 p. 1. (35 pages.) "[It is curious that the translator in this part of the Prayer Book retains the old Irish names of some of the Festivals, as being those in common use among the people; for instance "The Purification of S. Mary the Virgin" is called La fheile Murre na ferle Brighde, "St. Mary's Day after the Feast of Brigid," the Feast of St. Brigid being the 1st, and the Purification the 2nd of February. But the Annunciation is called La fherle Muire na fejle Padraig, i. e. "St. Mary's Day after St. Patrick's Day," i. e. after the 17th of March, although neither of these Irish festivals has been marked in the Calendar. In like manner the Feast of St. Philip and St. James is called by the old Irish Pagan name for May Day, la bealltaine, a word whose meaning is still disputed by Irish scholars, but is supposed to have reference to the custom of bon-fires on the 1st of May, a custom evidently of Pagan origin. The Feast of St. John Baptist, is called simply St. John's Day, La fheile sajn Sean. And All Saints' Day is called by its old name of Samhain (supposed to be also heathen), with the addition however of "or feast of all saints," la Samhna no ferle na nujle naomh.] "The Communion, sign. CCc 2 p. 1 to HHh p. 2. (20 pages.) "The office of public Baptism, HHh p. 2 to kkk p. 1. (8 pages.) "Private Baptism, kkk p. 1 to LLI p. 1. (4 pages.) "Visitation of the Sick, PPp p. 2 to QQq p. 4. (4 pages.) "Communion of the Sick, QQq p. 4 to RRμ p. 1. (3 pages.) "Churching of Women, SSS p. 2 to SSS p. 4. (2 pages.) "Commination, SSs p. 4 to UUu p. 2. (7 pages.) "At the end of the Commination service are these words: Esai. 40 31 Expectantes Iehovam mutant vires, ascendunt pennis velut aquila: Currunt, neque defatigantur, pergunt, nec defitescuntur. William Daniel. "On the next page is a large wood cut, representing the arms of Sir Arthur Chichester: and the next page, which concludes the volume, is blank. "There is no numbering of the pages or leaves in any part of the volume, so that I have been forced to make references by means of the signatures. And it is also to be observed that the signatures, although often expressed by Roman and Italic letters, follow the order of the Irish alphabet. "I may add, that the word priest does not occur in any part of the book, but is every where throughout the rubrics translated by the word minister. "I remain, my dear Sir, "Trinity College, Dublin, "May 14th, 1849." "Faithfully yours, "JAS. H. TODD. In 1615, a convocation of the Irish clergy, formed after the model of the English Convocation, assembled in Dublin. This seems to have been the first convocation ever held in |