Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/477

 ii s. XL JUNK 19, 1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

46T

80. 9, si audias, Sab. 166. 10, nee, Blanch. 144.

16, sceculo. 17, mellis, cf. Sab. 166n.

17, illos, Bianch. 144.

81. 3, cegemim et pupillum, cf. Sab. I67n.

88. 21, linui, cf. Sab. 178n.

89. 16, et repice, Sab. 183.

90. 4, in scapulis, Sab. 183. 4, obumbrauit te,

cf. Sab. 183, Bianch. 162. 15, clarificabo.

94. 4, fines (for sunt omnes fines of Vulg.), Bianch. 168. 5, firmauerunt 6, procedamus. 7, dens (for Dominus Deus, Vulg.), Sab. 189. 10, semper errant, Sab. 190. 11, intrabunt, cf. Sab. 190n.

95. 2, benediciie (for et benedicite, Vulg.), Sab. 190, Bianch. 169. 2, diem de die, Sab. 190, Bianch. 169. 5, at uero dominus (Dominus autem, Vulg.). 10, regnabit, cf. Sab. 191n.

102. 15, florebit, Bianch. 179.

103. 3, in aquis, Sab. 202, Bianch. 180. 10, inmittis.

104. 30, penetrabilibus. 31, cynomia, Bianch. 185. 31, scnyfes.

The MS. is written in a careful Irish semi-uncial handwriting, which bears a close general resemblance to that of the Codex Usserianus, which the leading experts place in the latter part of the seventh century.* It would seem, then, that our fragment is to be assigned to the same period, i.e., about a century later than St. Columba. Several facsimiles of the script have been pub- lished,f but the only ones of value are the reproductions of ff. 4 la, 48a, 50b, 5 la, given by Gilbert (' Facs. Nat. MSS.,' i. plates iii., iv.).

Assuming the volume to have once con- tained the whole Psalter, it must have consisted originally of at least 110 folios written in single columns, with 25 lines to the page. The length of the line of writing varies from about 12 centimetres with about 50 letters to 7 centimetres with 28 letters. The ruling of the parchment, which is thick, consists of 25 horizontal lines three-quarters of a centimetre apart, and two vertical guiding lines in the margins, done on the recto of the leaf (cf. especially fol. 49). There is little attempt at punctuation, the end of a line generally marking the end of a sentence. Words are frequently run to- gether. At the end and in the middle of lines we find a number of ornamental signs used here and there, thus :

-f- 44 "-

and Thompson, ' Introd. to Greek and Latin Pal.,' 1912, p. 372.
 * Pal. Soc., Second Series, ii., 1885, plate 33,

t Cf. Gougaud, loc. cit., p. 35.

In certain places erasures have been made- in the text and marginal corrections in- serted* with two inclined strokes //, as a signe de renvoi.

Illumination and artistic work are on the simplest possible scale, being represented only by large capitals at the beginning of each Psalm, drawn in a black or brownish i ink, with the outline marked by a series of" red dots. The body of the letter usually terminates in plain spiral coils. In one case only (f. 48a) has this termination developed into a beast's head. Crosses are three timea seen inserted in or appended to the letter (ff. 6a, 48a, 50b). Of the complicated' interlaced work of other Irish MSS. there is . no trace here.

The number of each Psalm is prefixed just above the ornamental capital with which it commences, and immediately following the number is a rubric varying in length from one to four lines, e.g., f. 54b to Ps. 102 : ip& (sic !) dauid vox ecclesice ad popuhim suum.. Many of these rubrics are quite illegible ; f the best preserved are on ff. 21a, 22a, 32b, 39b, 40a, 42ab, 43b, 46ab.

On some of the pages (e.g., 39a, 48b) the writing would appear to have been retraced, and it may also be remarked that some of the marginal ornaments are more faded than the body of the text. They may have been later additions.

With regard to textual peculiarities other than those noted above, we find many blunders which show that the scribe was a very careless or ignorant man. Some of the most striking are : ueriae tuae for varietate, in pinguine for et pinguedine, princibus for principibus, tribus for tribubus, gremia for cremium. There are also many of the orthographic errors common to Hiberno- Latin MSS. generally,

As is natural in so ancient a volume, compendia scribendi are but sparingly em- ployed. The majority of those found belong to the nomina sacra class.

29a, 30a, 41b, 46a, 56b. An omitted word has been added in the margin of f. 4b, possibly in a later hand.
 * Cf. especially ff. 14a, 15b, 17a, 21b, 22b, 28a,

t In Gilbert's reproductions of ff. 41a and 48a ('Facsimiles,' i. plate iii.) the rubrics have beea very much improved upon.