THE EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.

The reason for the composition of the Amra original: "Amra"; an Old Irish term for a song of praise or elegy, or Elegy of Columb Cille Saint Columba, is fully stated in the ancient preface; it is therefore unnecessary to repeat what is already given there. In order, however, that the reader may be able to carry with him from the outset a fair idea of both the author and the poem, I shall here quote a few passages from Colgan's Life of St. Dallan (Acts of the Saints original: "Acta Sanctorum", p. 203, and following).

“In the times of Aed,¹ son of Ainmere, monarch of Ireland, about the year of Christ 580,² there flourished in the same kingdom a man of illustrious ancestry, named Eochaid, and by the surname Dallan, who splendidly adorned his noble birth with great beauty of virtue. He was born in a district of Connacht bordering on Ulster,

The following notes are Colgan's own: anything I add will be enclosed in brackets and marked “Ed.” Colgan introduces his notes with the remark, “Because the records of this saint's life have not come into my hands, I have taken these things which have presented themselves as worthy of remark chiefly from the history of the Acts of the Synod of Druimm Ceta, and from the Life of St. Columb.”

¹ In the times of Aed, Monarch of Ireland. This is expressly maintained in the Preface to the Acts of the aforementioned synod of Druimm Ceta, and in the Life of St. Columb, chapter 218.

² About the Year of Christ, 580. King Aed, according to the common catalogue of the kings of Ireland and the Annals of Donegal [The Four Masters], began to reign in the year 571, or, according to others, 576, and he reigned 27 years. St. Dallan flourished during his time, and specifically in the year 580, especially since he lived after the death of St. Columb, who died, according to Ussher, in the year 597, or at least after the year 590. [The year 597 is the true date. See Dr. Reeves's Introduction to his edition of Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, p. 78].—Ed.