430.)] [Illustration: (B) MS.

in the "_Cathach_," (6th century MS attributed to St.Colum Cille)] Happily, however, a valuable collection of ancient MSS.

are still preserved, despite the "drowning" of the Danes, and the "burning" of the Saxon.

The researches of continental scholars are adding daily to our store; and the hundreds of Celtic MSS., so long entombed in the libraries of Belgium and Italy, will, when published, throw additional light upon the brightness of the past, and, it may be, enhance the glories of the future, which we must believe are still in reserve for the island of saints and sages.[11] The list of works given above are supposed by O'Curry to have existed anterior to the year 1100.

Of the books which Keating refers to in his History, written about 1630, only one is known to be extant--the _Saltair-na-Rann_, written by Aengus Ceile De.
The principal Celtic MSS.