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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878 Excerpt: ...case presents convex ornamented bosses, ornamented with figures of grotesque animals and traceries enamelled with a blue paste, and in the centre of each cup there is an uncut crystal, covering relics like those at the top. The figures of four horsemen, clad in the Irish costume of the fourteenth century, are represented on this side. The ornaments contained within the rim on the opposite side are lost, and their place has been supplied with figures which were on their right and left sides. The back of the case is divided into three compartments. In the central one stands the figure of St. Catherine, in relief, with a monk in the attitude of prayer, and the figure of a boy is engraved on the field of the tablet. In the compartment to the left of St. Catherine, the figure of an ecclesiastic may be seen seated on a throne, with a cross in his left hand, and his right raised in benediction, probably representing St. Mac Carthen or St. Tighernach. In the other compartment stands the figure of St. John the Baptist, holding in his left hand a round medallion or picture of the Lamb, and in his right a scroll, on which is inscribed "Ecce Agnus Dei." A figure of the daughter of Hcrodias, with the head of St. John the Baptist on a salver, appears engraved on the field of this tablet. Within the shrine were found three ancient parchments, one of them being double; each of these membranes consists of a parchment skin, folded into the shape of a book, and are believed to be copies of the Gospels. The representation on the upper side of the box, of a bishop presenting a Cumdach or box to another ecclesiastic, illustrates an event recorded in a fragment of an ancient life of St. Mac Carthen, preserved byColgan:--" Et addidit Patricius, Accipe, inquit, bacul...