Note 31 — Chapter III

See Father Hogan's preface to his admirable edition of St. Patrick's life from the Book of Armagh edited by him for the Bolandists, where he says of the MS. that though beautifully coloured it is "tamen difficilis lectu, tum quod quaedam voces aut etiam paginæ plus minus injuria temporum deletæ sunt, tum quod ipsum exemplar unde exscriptus est jam videtur talem injuriam passum: quod indicant rursus notæ subinde ad marginem appositæ, præsertim vero signum h (vel in i.e. incertum?) et Z (ζήτει) quæ dubitationem circa aliquot vocum scriptionem prodere videntur." The words incertus liber hic, "the book is not clear here," occur twice, and the zeta of inquiry eight times. See Dr. Reeves' paper, "Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy." August, 1891.