Written c.1690 or later (cf. folio 31 recto) by an unknown scribe in practised Gaelic hand with ornamented capitals. Scribal probationes pennae (pen trials) at folios 22 recto, 23 recto, 32 recto (‘cionnus sin pinn na fion’; ‘amen’). There remain here only the last 4 of the 15 or so tales of which the international romance of the “Seven Wise Masters” is comprised, and we may conclude from this that the present manuscript is the end portion of an original of over 80 folios. The sole foliation is modern, pencilled.

The contents are as follows:

(i) 'The Seven Wise Masters'. Extant text commences soon after beginning of fourth-last tale of the cycle. (Tales identified below by the Latin titles conventionally applied to them, cf. Killis Campbell, The Seven Sages of Rome, p.xxxv.) Ed. Greene, Béaloideas 14 (1944) p. 219. (Folio 1 r)

(Folio 1r1) ‘Vidua’, beg. (acephalous) 'A bainntighearna, ar said, gabh inntinne maith chugad oir is ben og uasal thu'.

(Folio 5r5) ‘Roma’, beg. 'Do bhi cathair an Roimh uair eigin gan a díol a lucht coimhéada innti'.

(Folio 8v2) ‘Inclusa’, beg. 'Ro baci ridire andso tighearnusa so fein uair eigin darb comhainm Munbersier'.

(Folio 16r15) ‘Vaticinium’, beg. 'Do bi ridire uasal neartmhar andso tirsi 7 do bhi mac glic aigi'.

(ii) 'Tug ar ceim ar gcul', 4½ qq. Elegy on Aonghus, evidently a Clanranald cleric. There is an erasure in the first line. The scribe breaks off with another erasure at §4c, and the page is completed in Alexander McDonald’s hand with the following bill of exchange: ‘Sir against the term of mertimas next / ‘Sir, Fionart Janr. 20(?) 5 1739 / Against the term of mertimas next to come plase pay to me Duncan Kenedy son to Donald oge Kennedy in wester Finard or my order within the House of George Small Writter in Dull the sume of twenty merks Scots money the value Recived of mine in your hand hands make thankfull paymt and obli’. (Folio 22 verso line 1)

(iii) [Ó Dubhagáin.] 'Bliaghuin so solus dath', 87 qq. (Folio 23 recto line 1)

(iv) Tadhg Óg [Ó Huiginn]. 'Ata an saogal ag seirmoir', 23 qq. Incomplete. See MS.14872, folio 123v. (Folio 27 recto line 5)

(v) 'O gur mich gho dusgadh', 2½ stt. Vernacular love poem written semi-phonetically in Alexander McDonald’s hand, corresponding to Glasgow University Library MacLagan MS Gen 1042 no.75 'Gur mithich dhamh dusga' §§la la-h, 2a-d, 3a-h. (Folio 28 recto line 10)

(vi) Folio 28 verso is blank.

(vii) 'Meisneach mileadh a mac Eóin', 26 qq. (possibly acephalous). On the return from exile of Domhnall, son of Eoin of Clanranald, c.1650. In the lower half of f.30r the scribe wrote ‘Fan’. On top of this McDonald scribbled ‘Alexander McDonald aught this Book / the grace of God upon him Look / to make him wise and understand / to keep the Holy Lords Comands / Finnard in Ranock / Janr 15 1738 years’ (the rhyme appears also at ff.13r, 20r, 29r). In the space remaining above this McDonald inserted ‘Sir Fionart January the twenty forth 1739 years Recived from Duncan Cameron the sume of twenty [pounds] Scots money the value recived of mine in your [hand] make thankfull paymt and oblidge your Most [humble] Servant Alexander McDonald’. (Folio 29 recto)

(viii) [Tadhg Óg Ó Huiginn]. 'Iomdha ród direch ag Dia', 10 qq. (Folio 30 verso line 1)

(ix) 'Dual freasdal air bfeirg flatha', 22 qq. Poem of conciliation to Eoin, chief of MacLeod, c.1690. (Folio 31 recto line 1)

(x) Alexander McDonald’s hand. ‘[ ] Book belongs to me Alexander [ ] and is the Laufully ouner of it. ‘Alexander McDonald aught this Book and if this Book being be amissing Send it home with god and if you do no [as] I say Remember on the Letter days and if you do not as I say Remember on the pains of hell / Remember man as thow goes by / to see the Dead as they do lay / as thow art now so once was I / as I am now so must thow be / Remember man that thow most Die (these 5 lines repeated) / and so most I’. (Folio 32 verso)

(The following folios are fragmentary.)

(xi) Traces of an ornamental initial. (Folio [33] recto)

(xii) Traces of (a) a bardic poem in hand of chief scribe; (b) material similar to that on folio 32 verso. (Folio [33] verso)

(xiii) Fragment of English sermon in Alexander McDonald’s hand. (Folio [34] recto)

(xiv) Bill of exchange in Alexander McDonald’s hand: ‘[ ] please pay to me Alexr [ ] my order within the House [ ] Dull the of ten [ ] yow in ready Cash your thankfull [ ]an Kenndy’. (Folio [34] verso)