Publisher's Synopsis
From the INTRODUCTION.
Where and how Eg. was Written.
The note, which appears with its translation on pages xxii and xxiii, was placed by the scribe of the MS., Egerton 1781, British Museum, hereinafter written Eg., immediately after the Finit Amen of the text. It lets in a flood of light upon the circumstances under which the MS. was written. The scribe did not maintain himself, or pay for his food and lodging; but like the old poets on a free circuit -- saorchuairt -- he passed from house to house an honoured guest of the patrons of learning. No doubt the monasteries were at this period the great publishing houses of MS. literature; but proof is found here that side by side with the ecclesiastical system the old educational methods represented by the filidh still retained a hold upon the population.....
