poems in her praise — one relating an anec- dote connected with her pilgrimage to Compostella, in Spain. She died of cancer in 1451. Her two sons survived her but a short time; and her daughter, Finola, after being twice married — to Niall Garv O'DonneU and Hugh Boy O'Neill — ended her days in a convent, 25 th July 1493. '^ 196!
O'Clery, Michael and Conary, bro- thers, and Cucogry (Peregrine), their cousin, were three of the annalists known as the FoTXr Masters, the fourth being Ferfeasa O'Mtilconry. Michael, origi- nally known as " Teige-an-Tsleibhe"—(Teige of the Mountain), was born about 1575, at Kilbarron Castle, the ruins of which over- hang Donegal Bay. His ancestors had for generations been historians and lawyers. Early in the 1 7th century, through confis- cations, the family were reduced to poverty, and Teige entered the order of St. Francis as a lay brother, assuming the cognomen of Michael. Soon after joining his order at Louvain he was sent back to Ireland by Hugh "Ward, Guardian of the monastery, to collect materials for a work upon the lives of the Irish saints. Michael O'Clery was eminently qualified for this task, and pursued his enquiries for about eighteen years, visiting distinguished scholars and antiquaries, and transcribing ancient ma- nuscripts. Ward did not live to avail him- self of these materials, but they were of essential service to the Eev. John Colgan in the compilation of his great work. Acta Sanctorum. During O'Clery's stay in Ire- land he compiled the following works : Reim Rioghraidhe, a list of the Irish kings, and genealogies and festivals of Irish saints : finished in the Franciscan convent at Ath- lone, 4th November 1630 ; the autogi-aph original is in the Burgundian Library at Brussels, and a copy in the Eoyal Irish Academy. Leahhar-Gahhala, or Book of Conquests: completed 31st August 1631 ; a copy in the writing of Cucogry O'Clery is in the Eoyal Irish Academy. Annala Rioghachta Eireann,th.e Annals of Ireland, hereafter mentioned. He also wrote, and printed at Louvain in 1643, Sanas an Nuadh, a dictionary or glossary of difficult or obsolete Irish words, which Lhwyd transcribed into his Irish Dictionary. He is supposed to have died in 1643. Concern- ing Conary O'Clery very little is known. He was not a member of any religious order, and appears to have acted simply as scribe or copyist. Cucogry O'Clery was the head of the Tirconnell sept of the O' Clerys. He wrote in Irish a life of Hugh Eoe O'DonneU, afterwards transcribed into the Annals of the Four Masters. In 1632, "being a mere Irishman, and not of English or British descent or surname," he was deprived of the small remaining por- tions of his lands in Donegal, and removed to Bally croy, in the barony of Erris, and County of Mayo. In his will, dated 1664 (preserved in the Eoyal Irish Academy), he says : " I bequeath the property most dear to me that ever I possessed in this world, namely, my books, to my two sons, Dermot and John, Let them copy from them without injuring them, whatever may be necessary for their purpose, and let them be equadly seen and used by the children of my brother Carbry as by them- selves." John O'Clery, fifth in line of descent from Cucogry, removed to Dublin in 1 8 17, carrying with him a number of valuable manuscripts in the handwriting of his ancestor. Concerning the fourth annalist, Ferfeasa O'Mdlconry, nothing is known but that he was a hereditary antiquary, and a native of the County of Eoscommon. The A nnals of the Four Mas- ters were written in Irish by these four men in the monastery of Donegal, be- tween 22nd January 1632 and 10th August 1636. We are told that the brotherhood supplied the annalists with food and atten- dance, and the work was carried on under the pati'onage of Ferral O'Gara, Prince of Coolavin, to whom it is dedicated. Many of the materials from which the u4?i?iaZ« were compiled are no longer in existence. No perfect copy of the autogi'aph is now known to exist, though portions scattered through Europe would make one perfect copy and almost another. Of the First Part, from A.M. 2242 to A.D. 1 171, there is a copy in Michael O'Clery's writing in the library of the Franciscans in Dublin — removed thither with other valuable manuscripts relating to Ireland, from St. Isidore's in Eome, in 1872. There is another auto- graph copy of this part in Lord Ashburn- ham's library. Of the Second Part, from 1 172 to 1616, there is a copy in the library of the Eoyal Irish Academy. The first translation of the Annals was of the First Part, by Eev. Charles O'Conor in 1826. The Irish is given in Eoman-Italic charac- ters, and the translation and occasional notes are in Latin. It fills the third volume of his Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores — a quarto of 840 pp. O'Curry says "this edition is certainly valuable, but it is very inaccurate." No one being allowed access to the original of the First Part at Stowe, O'Donovan was obliged to take the text for his translation from O'Conor. An Eng- lish translation of the Second Part, made by Owen Connellan from a copy of the autograph in the Eoyal Irish Academy, 373
