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its occasion. At all events, it supplies another illustration of the early use of some of the pieces in the Liber Hymnorum.

Were these pieces only used in occasional offices, or did they form part of the regular choir services? This is a question not easy to answer with confidence. Dr. Lawlor thinks that the Mulling office was said daily, and probably both at bed-time (like Compline) and at early morning (like Mattins). However the context in which it appears in the Visio Adamnani, as it proves that the office, at the date of that piece, was used at special seasons with a special motive, suggests that it did not form part of the ordinary rule. And it seems to me that the facts adduced by Dr. Lawlor prove, not that the office as a rule was in daily use, but, that several of the pieces named in it were considered as suitable for daily recitation. This, indeed, is beyond question, as we shall see in the sequel. We proceed to collect the facts which suggest that a book of hymns like T and F was used at the Celtic daily offices. It will be borne in mind that only the first twenty-six pieces in T are to be considered as belonging to the book in its original

form.

1. The presence of Magnificat, Benedictus, and Te Deum, and (in F) of Benedicite, Cantemus domino, Quicunque uult, and the well-known evening hymn Christe qui lux es, suggest prima facie that the volume which contain them was used in choir. Of Gloria in excelsis the scholiast notes (p. 49): "at night it is due to be sung." Of Audite omnes, the hymn of St. Sechnall, we know (see vol. ii, p. 97) that it was directed to be sung in monastic houses throughout the Three-day festival of St. Patrick. The Irish scholiasts, indeed, say (vol. ii, p. 6): "Whoever shall recite it on lying down and on rising up shall go to heaven," which would seem to point to private recitation only; but the former quotation establishes its

1 Book of Mulling, p. 157.

(at least) occasional use in common worship. Our notes on St. Hilary's Hymnum dicat (vol. ii, p. 127) show that this piece also was sung by the members of religious houses at the early morning hours. And the antiphon appended to the hymn In te Christe (p. 85 infra). . . dum sibi ymnos canimus decim statutis uicibus. . is conclusive as to the singing of hymns, of which In te Christe was one, at the services of the canonical hours. When we couple these facts with what Adamnan tells us (see above, p. xxi) of books of hymns, it is natural to think that the books before us (T and F) were employed in the Divine Office. 2. It has been said above (p. ix) that Latin notes are written in the margins of T all through the older part of the book. Of these, some are etymological (see pp. 48, 52, 106, 143); but for the most part they are extracts from Augustine and Gregory of a homiletic sort, such as would provide suitable lectiones for the canonical hours. And in three instances (pp. 45, 95, 142), the passages are in actual use at the present day in the Breviary. I am inclined to think, therefore, that these extracts (or most of them) may have been written in the margin, with the view of recording lections in common use. This, if true, confirms the connexion of T with the choir services.

"

3. A note on fol. 21 of T (p. 143 infra) seems to be of the nature of a rubric. "Uespere psalmus cotidie cantatur post prandium uel ballenium." This does not appear (see vol. ii, p. 213) to have any connexion with the text of fol. 21; but its presence in T may indicate that the book was in common use in choir.

These indications are, it is true, by no means conclusive; but they confirm to some extent what is primâ facie probable For we know that books of hymns were in daily use; and here is a Liber Hymnorum. But we have yet to reckon with the

remaining pieces in T and F, for only a few-and those not the most remarkable-have yet been mentioned.

The Irish hymns (Nos. 19-24) were probably sung on the festivals of St. Patrick and St. Brigid. They could hardly have been in daily use. Perhaps, too, No. 9 belonged to the feast of St. Martin. Again, Nos. 4, 5, and (perhaps) 16, are suitable rather for use in time of pestilence or sudden danger, than as part of the regular rule (see vol. ii, p. 172). In some cases our hymns were used privately. Nos. 1, 9, 14, 17, and 24 seem to have been said as charms, the recitation of which was efficacious against hurt and danger (see vol. ii, p. 210). The piece in praise of hymnody (No. 41) prefixed to the F manuscript shows how highly esteemed hymns were in this regard. Nos. 25 and 26 also seem to be better adapted for private penitence and prayer than for the public worship of the community.

The conclusion is thus suggested that the Liber Hymnorum may have served a double purpose. It contains a number of hymns and canticles which are associated with the monastic offices of Western Christendom, and it also contains pieces which seem suitable for private and occasional recitation, rather than for daily use in choir.

But I am not sure that the collections in their present form were originally made for the purposes of the Divine Office at all. It seems not impossible that the various pieces may have been gathered into one book at a time when the Celtic services had given place to the English use, with the pious motive of preserving a record of an older state of things. The copious glosses which elucidate (or obscure) the meaning of the phrases employed indicate rather the book of an antiquary than a service book for devotional use. Among the older Celtic monks there must have been many in the eleventh and twelfth centuries who resented the introduction of a new order of worship, and who would fain preserve the memories of their past. Our principal manuscript (T) might well have been written with this The fact that the handwriting changes

laudable intention.

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towards its close, and that later pieces are added, would harmonise with the supposition that the book served as a kind of repertory of ecclesiastical pieces, of interest to a son of the Celtic Church at a time when its distinctive features were being obliterated.' I do not put this forward as more than a plausible hypothesis; but I cannot otherwise satisfactorily explain the heterogeneous character of the collection, and the absence of order which the arrangement of the Liber Hymnorum seems to display. The other alternative is simply, that we have before us a book of hymns used in choir services in the Celtic Church, but how and when we know not.

§ 6. CONCLUSION.

It remains to express our obligations to the many correspondents whose help has been given during the tedious progress of these volumes through the press. We have mentioned in § 4 the names of some who have aided us in the collation of manuscripts which were out of our reach. But special thanks are due from me to Rev. H. A. Wilson for much kind criticism, and to Rev. E. S. Dewick for his unfailing courtesy and valuable advice as the sheets passed through his hands. The book has been delayed for some months beyond the time that we had fixed for its issue; but the transcription of the manuscripts, which are in many places difficult to read, proved to be a very laborious task. Errors, no doubt, remain-of eyesight, and of judgement; but we have hope that their number does not greatly exceed what scholars who have experience of similar work will recognise as pardonable. The errors are, at least, our own; where we differ in our readings of the MSS. from previous

1 The Leabhar Breac is a Bibliotheca of this kind; as, indeed, are all the great Irish manuscript volumes preserved in the Dublin libraries. The scribes of the 12th and following centuries seem to have been more anxious to preserve the traditions, religious and romantic, of their past, than to arrange them in any systematic orde

editors we have done so deliberately, but for the most part, without comment. Criticism has been unavoidable, but it has

been no part of our purpose to disparage the labours of the great Celtic scholars, from Colgan down to our own time, who have done so much to preserve the memory of Celtic antiquity. This book will have fulfilled its purpose, if it be found of service to students of the history of the Irish language and the Irish Church,

J. H. BERNARD.

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