This evidence proves that the treatise is older than A.D. 700, and strongly suggests that its origin is Irish, that it was ascribed in Ireland to Patrick, and travelled to Gaul under his name. The twelfth Abuse, _populus sine lege_, is consonant with the origin of the work outside the Roman Empire. 5. _Irish Hymn ascribed to Patrick_ The LORICA of St. Patrick is an unmetrical quasi-poetical composition of great antiquity. It is called the _Faeth Fiada_, interpreted the “Deer’s Cry,” and hence the Preface in the _Liber Hymnorum_ connects the hymn with the story of the deer metamorphosis in Muirchu (p. 282). But it seems (cp. Atkinson, _Lib. Hymn._ ii. 209) that the phrase really meant a spell or charm which had the power of rendering invisible, and that the story of the deer arose from a popular etymology. We need not hesitate to identify this work with the _canticum Scotticum_ which was current before the ninth century under Patrick’s name, as we learn from a note in the _Liber Armachanus_ (p. 333₁₀). Whether Patrick was really the author was another question. The verdict of Professor Atkinson is as follows:— “It is probably a genuine relic of St. Patrick. Its uncouthness of grammatical forms is in favour of its antiquity. We know that Patrick used very strange Irish, some of which has been preserved; and the historians who handed down _mudebroth_ as an ejaculation of his would probably take care to copy as faithfully as they could the other curious Irish forms which the saint had consecrated by his use” (_Lib. Hymn._ ii. p. lviii). If it can be proved that some of the forms in the _Lorica_ could not have been used by a native Irish writer, this would be a very strong argument for its composition by Patrick. It seems possible that Patrick’s expression _mudebroth_ was remembered as the solecism of a foreigner. “The oath _dar mo De broth_ is mere jargon; _De broth_ ought to mean something like ‘God’s doom-day’; but even then there would be a difficulty, because the genitive _Dé_ could not precede its governing noun” (Atkinson, _ib._ ii. 179). It may be said, then, that the Lorica _may_ have been composed by Patrick; but in any case it is an interesting document for the spirit of early Christianity in Ireland. The latest editions are Atkinson’s in the _Liber Hymnorum_ (i. 133 _sqq._) with translation (ii. 49 _sqq._), and that of Stokes and Strachan in _Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus_, vol. ii. 353 _sqq._ 6. _Hymn of St. Sechnall_