of them went abroad-to Britain and elsewhere-to teach and to preach the Gospel to the people. The professors from Ireland were held in such estimation that they were employed to teach in most of the schools and colleges of Great Britain and the Continent.

The Northern Picts of Scotland were converted by St. Columkille and his monks from Iona: and a large proportion of the people of England became Christians through the preaching of Irish monks before the arrival of St. Augustine.

The Irish missionaries who went to the Continent, in their eagerness to spread knowledge and religion, penetrated to all parts of Europe: they even found their way to Iceland. Few people have any idea of the trials and dangers they encountered. Most of them were persons in good positions, who might have lived in plenty and comfort at home. They knew well, when setting out, that they were leaving country and friends probably forever: for of those that went very few ever returned. Once on the Continent, they had to make their way, poor and friendless, through people whose language they did not understand, and who were in many places ten times more rude and dangerous in those ages than the inhabitants of the British Islands: and we know, as a matter of history, that many were killed on the way. Then these earnest men had, of course, to learn the language of the people among whom they took up their abode: for until they did this they had to employ an interpreter, which was a very troublesome and slow way of preaching. But the noble-hearted missionaries went forth to do their

work; and no labors, hardships, or dangers could turn them from their purpose.

More than three hundred years ago the great English poet, Edmund Spenser, lived some time in Ireland, and made himself very well acquainted with its history. He knew what kind of country it was in past ages; so that in one of his poems he speaks of the time.

"When Ireland florished in fame

Of wealth and goodnesse, far above the rest
Of all that beare the British Islands' name."

V

ANCIENT IRISH SCRIBES AND BOOKS

P. W. JOYCE

In old times all books were hand written, printing being a late invention. There were persons called Scribes, many of whom made writing the chief business of their lives. From constant practice they became very expert; and the penmanship of many of them was extremely beautiful and highly ornamented, much more so than any writing executed by the very best penmen of the present day.

In Ireland most of these scribes were monks, inmates of monasteries; but many were laymen. These good and industrious men wrote into their books all the learning of every kind that they could collect; so that although the work of writing was slow, the number of books rapidly increased; and very often libraries grew

up, especially in the monasteries. The leaves of these books were not paper like those of our books, but parchment or vellum, which was generally made from sheepskin, but often from the skins of other animals.

Sometimes the scribes wrote down what had never been written before, that is, matters composed at the time, or preserved in memory: but more commonly they copied from other volumes. If an old book began to be worn, ragged, or dim with age, so as to be hard to make out and read, some scribe was sure to copy it, so as to have a new book easy to read and well bound. Most of the books written out in this manner related to Ireland; and the language of these was almost always Irish. For in those times the Irish language was spoken by all the people of Ireland.

A favorite occupation was copying portions of the Holy Scriptures, nearly always in the Latin language; and in this good work some monks spent nearly all their time, in order to multiply copies of the sacred books. Some of the greatest saints of the ancient Irish Church employed themselves in copying the Gospels and other portions of the Bible, whenever they could get the opportunity.

Copies of the Scriptures, and also prayer books, were generally ornamented in the most beautiful way: for those accomplished and devoted old scribes loved to beautify the sacred writings. Many of the lovely books they wrote are still preserved, of which the most splendid is the Book of Kells, now kept in the Library of Trinity College in Dublin. It is a copy of the Four Gospels, and the language is Latin, though the letters

are Irish. It was written by an Irish scribe eleven or twelve hundred years ago, but who he was is not known.

There is no old book in any part of the world so skillfully ornamented as this. The capital letters are very large one of them fills an entire page-and are illuminated, that is, painted in brilliant colors; and after the lapse of so many centuries the colors are still very fresh though not so bright as when they were first laid on.

In this Book of Kells, and in others like it, the capitals are ornamented in every part with a kind of interlaced work, all done with the pen, in which bands and ribbons are carved and plaited and woven in the most wonderful way. These plaits and folds are so small and so close together that one must sometimes use a magnifying glass in order to see them plainly; in one space, the size of a half penny, in a page of a splendid old volume, called the Book of Armagh, the ribbons appear woven in and out more than three hundred times. The Irish used this sort of ornamentation also in metal work and stone work.

Very often large volumes were kept, in which were written compositions of all kinds, both prose and poetry, such as were thought worth preserving, copied from older books, and written in one after another, till the volume was filled.

Of all these old bocks of mixed composition, the largest that remains to us is the Book of Leinster, which is kept in Trinity College, in Dublin. It is an immense volume, all in the Irish language, written more than seven hundred and fifty years ago: and many of

the pages are now almost black with age and very hard to make out. It contains a great number of pieces, some in prose and some in verse and nearly all of them about Ireland-histories, accounts of battles and sieges, lives and adventures of great men, with many tales and stories of things that happened in that country in far-distant ages.

The Book of the Dun Cow is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. It is fifty years older than the Book of Leinster, but not so large; and it, also, contains a great number of tales, adventures, and histories, nearly all relating to Ireland, and all written in the Irish language. Its name was derived from the following circumstance: St. Kieran of Clonmacnoise had a favorite brown cow, whose skin when she died he caused to be turned into parchment, of which a book was made. But this old book no longer exists: it was lost ages ago; and the present "Book of the Dun Cow" is only a copy of it.

Three other great Irish books kept in Dublin are the Book of Lecan (Leckan), the Yellow Book of Lecan, and the Book of Balleymote. These contain much the same kind of matter as the Book of Leinster-with pieces very different however—but they are not nearly so old. The Speckled Book, which is also in Dublin, is nearly as large as the Book of Leinster, but not so old. It is mostly on religious matters, and contains a great number of lives of saints, hymns, sermons, portions of the Scriptures, and other such pieces. All these books are written with the greatest care, and in the most beautiful penmanship.