At page 190 a ‘Pot’ watermark (passim) indicates dating in first half of 17th century; the variety of it which occurs up to page 28 belongs notably to period 1608-1621. The chronology at page 171 points more precisely to 1618. Other watermarks appear at pages 49 and following (‘horn’) and 59 and following.

Four principal scribes contributed to the work:

A. Pages 5-28, 47-114, 117-142, 155-170, 175-192. Formal, slightly pointed. Charles O’Conor of Belanagare (1710-1791).

B. Pages 29 and following, 193. The hand of Adv.MS.72.1.43 etc.

C. Pages 31-46, 143-154, 171-174.

D. Pages 115 and following.

The titles of most of the tales were added by a different hand, now scarcely legible. A further hand wrote ‘Cath Cnaca go nuighe sin’ at page 5 and ‘Ag so an lebhar as liomsa an leabharsa’ at page 116. Another inscribed ‘Ag so leabhar Mhanus mhic Muirish’ at page 5, and yet another scribbled on page [194]. On page 115 in the upper margin are traces of what appears to be a couplet of English verse in a rough 17th-century script. Once received by the Highland Society of Scotland in 1803, the minutes show that it had already been paginated, and that the inscription ‘J. Everitt for J. Mackenzie Esq. Secrety. of the Highland Society’ appeared on both page 1 and page 193, and that the front cover was then loose. Pages 1-4 came adrift with the front cover between then and 1809 (Ingliston MS. A.iv.4) and are still missing. The pagination appears to be in Everitt’s hand. Lewis Gordon, Deputy Secretary of the Highland Society of Scotland, wrote ‘No.2. of Invy. / L.G.’ on page 5. It was one of the first manuscripts to be examined by Ewen MacLachlan, who left notes on pages 5 and [194]. His description of it is in Adv.MS.72.3.4, and his transcripts of the contents are in MS.3281 and Adv.MS.72.3.5.

The contents are as follows.

(i) End of tale ‘Cath Chnuca’, being merely last 2 quatrains of concluding lay “Calma do chaithréim, a Chuinn”: beginning here “[Do] béruidh mhnaói bus glan gus”. Concluding echo ‘Ca’, then ‘Finit don sgeal’. (Page 5.)

(ii) (Page 6 blank.)

(iii) ‘Oidheadh chon culainn & deargruathar conaill chearnaigh’. Beginning “Feachd n-aon día ttángador Ulaidh go hEmhain mhíonalainn Mhacha”. Composite tale. Unfinished (lacking concluding lay). Cf. Adv.MS.72.1.45. (Page 7.)

(iv) (Page 70 blank.)

(v) Title here (legible under ultra violet) is ‘Cath Muidhe Mucrime an so sios’ overwritten in yet another hand ‘Cath Muighe Mucroime’.

(vi) ‘Cath Muighe Mucroime’. Beginning “Airdri cródha cruithniamhdha calma ciaillbhreathach ro ghabhusdar cennas Éirend gan uireasbhuigh”. (Page 71.)

(vii) ‘Mallocht ort, a chinneamhuin’, 7 quatrains. (§1 repeated in lower margin). (Page 115.)

(viii) Scribblings. (Page 116.)

(ix) ‘Oilemhuin Chuchulin; ⁊ Oigheadhe Conlaoidh’. Beginning “Dia raibhe Cuchuluind ‘na mhacaomh og aluinn”. (Page 117.)

(x) Vocabulary entitled ‘Coir anmann’, in 3 columns, beginning “Annoid .i. eagluis and ending úath .i. úir”. (Page 143.)

(xi) “Tuilsither mo dherca súain”, 5 quatrains (heavily glossed by same hand). “Oisín ro chan ann sin a ttráigh Mara Tallann ar nia na muice”. (Page 154.)

(xii) ‘Oigheadh Chloinne Lir’. Beginning. “Iomthús Thúath Dé Danann andso ó Chath Táilten anúas”. (Page 155.)

(xiii) Chronology of 6 notable events. Number 4 (“Ón aimsir fa ttainig an dara Hannri a nÉirinn – 447”) indicates that the list was compiled in 1618. Number 6 (‘On aimsir fa ttainig an priont – 159’) supports this. Scored out. (Page 171, line 1.)

(xiv) ‘Aoibhinn sin, a Eire ard’, 42½ quatrains. (Page 171, line 7.)

(xv) ‘An Bhraoghan Caorrthin’. Beginning, ‘Airdri uasal oiregha ro ghabh flaithes & forlamhas’. (Page 175.)[This leaf should follow Adv.MS.72.1.42, folio 26] Final 11 quatrains of “Beannacht Dé gom dhaingensa”. (Page 193.)

(xvi) [Page 194] no text. The beginning of this manuscript is the continuation of Royal Irish Academy E.iv.1 (751) folios 54 recto-58 verso) allowing for a chasm of about 4 folios + the chasm of 4 pages caused by the loss between 1803-1809 noted above. (Page-size, style and watermark are identical, as well as hand.) The remainder of the old cover (vellum leaves from a Medieval Latin noted service book fastened with thongs and stitched formal book-hand to a leather spine) is preserved in a special inset at the end of the volume.