Matheson Collection > Irische Texte

X Preface.
episodes, such as the escape and recognition of the prince who
had been carried off by elves (pp. 125, 134), and the love-tale
of Aillenn and the king of Connaught (pp. 176, 219), which
have nothing to do with Find and his warhke hunters.
The mss. upon which the present edition is based are
four in number, three of the fifteenth century, one of the six-
teenth, all on parchment*), and all more or less imperfect.
I. Laud 610. This ms. belongs to the Bodleian library.
It has been described by Todd ^), 0' Donovan ^) and Zimmer^).
The fragments of the Acallam which it contains begin at
fo. 123 and end with fo. 146. The first firagment corresponds
with Hues 2044 — 2235 of the following text: the second with
11. 2400—3520: the third with 11. 3723-3909: the fourth with
11. 4078—7356: the fifth with 11. 7398—7546: the sixth with
11. 7597 — 7986, where it ends imperfectly. The Laud fragments,
being older and better than the others, are here printed in
extenso. But all the important various readings of the other
mss. are given in the notes.
II. RawHnson B. 487 also belongs to the Bodleian. This
ms. has been described by Macray and d'Arbois de Jubainville.
It contains four fragments of the Acallam. The first page
is illegible. The first legible fragment begins at fo. 13*", and
con-esponds with 11. 187—680 of the following text. The second
fragment corresponds with 11. 780—1361: the third with 11.
1659—4139: the four with 11. 4519—6579, where this copy ends
imperfectly. It omits many of the poems.
III. The Book of Lismore. This ms., now in the possession
*) Proceedings of the Royal Irisb Academy II, 33G— 345.
*) Boole of Rights, Dublin, pp. XXVIII— XXXIII.
a) Gott. Gel. Anz. 1887, ss. 190—193.
*) The fragmentary paper mss. of the Acallam wliich I have exa-
mined in the British Museum are worthless, meo quidem iudicio. The
six folios in the Bibliotheque Mazarine {Bev. Celt. XI 427), numbered
3075, and written in 1760, may possibly deserve attention. I have not
seen them.