hundred pounds (one thousand dollars) which, though by no means an
exorbitant price, was again a very fair profit for Messrs. Waterhouse.
[Illustration: THE TARA BROOCH.]
The form and workmanship of the Brooch are of an early Celtic type, and
it is believed by competent authorities to be extremely ancient, dating
probably from before the eighth century. At any rate, it may with
confidence be placed before the eleventh century, for a certain
design known as the divergent-spiral or trumpet-pattern, which though
common before disappeared from Irish art about that period, is to be
seen among its intricate ornamentation. The groundwork of the jewel is
not silver, as was at first supposed, but white metal, a compound of tin
and copper. It is however the beautiful gold tracery laid upon this
white metal which renders it so famous. No description can give an idea
of what it is. The Tara Brooch must be seen to be understood.
If the Tara Brooch appeals to our imagination by reason of the mystery
of its past, Saint Patrick's Bell has a contrary but even stronger hold
upon us. It seems really to be an authentic relic of the Saint to whom
it is ascribed, and at any rate it can be shown to have undergone a long
and varied career. In the course of these narratives we have met with
many kings and queens; it is now our intention to introduce the reader
to a saint. As it seems to be decreed by inscrutable destiny that no
statement concerning Ireland shall ever be made without its being at
once contradicted, we shall endeavor to shelter ourselves behind the
wisdom of competent authorities. As Saint Patrick was an Irish saint it
would be in the usual course of things for his very existence to be
vehemently denied. It is thus denied by some writers who have been at
pains to indite learned books upon the subject.
The following details concerning him are taken in the main from Dr.
Todd's _Life of Saint Patrick_, and from the Saint's own works as edited
and translated by the Reverend George Stokes, Professor of
Ecclesiastical History in Dublin. Not being learned in Irish nor yet in
Latin, we accept the translations of these able scholars.
As in the case of many great men the honor of being the birthplace of
Saint Patrick is claimed on behalf of several places in England,
Ireland, Scotland and France. The reader may choose which country he
likes and he will find clever and ingenious arguments to support his
theory. The Saint himself says that his father's name was Calpornius and
that he dwelt in the village of Bannaven Tabernia, and the learned, if
agreed upon no other point, are at least at one upon this--that they
don't know where that village was. Saint Patrick's father had a small
farm and seems to have been of noble birth, but the Saint invariably
speaks of himself as the rudest of men, and deplores his want of
learning. "I, Patrick a sinner, the rudest and the least of all the
faithful and most contemptible to very many," is the beginning of his
Confession, a work written by himself and containing most of the few
facts known about his life.
At the age of sixteen he was taken captive, whether from Armorica in
Brittany, or from Dumbarton on the Clyde, it is impossible to say, and
carried "along with many thousands of others" into barbarous Ireland.
This evidently occurred in one of those predatory expeditions of the
Irish, or Scots as they were then called, which under the chieftainship
of Niall of the Nine Hostages extended to all the neighboring coasts.
Dumbarton suffered repeatedly in this manner, a fact evidenced by the
numbers of Roman coins found all along the coast of Antrim in Ireland.
Dumbarton, an important military position, was the western limit of the
Roman Wall constructed by Agricola, A. D. 80, to cut off the ravaging
Picts from the rest of Britain, but the Romans, although so near, never
set foot in Ireland.
Having been thus carried off to Ireland Saint Patrick became the slave
of Milchu who dwelt in Dalaradia in a place now identified with the
valley of the Braid, in the very heart of the county Antrim. As a slave
the Saint's duty was to tend sheep, and six years he spent in this
humble occupation. The fervent zeal and burning piety which were
destined to exalt him among men began to show themselves even in his
youth. He used to pray both day and night, he tells us, even in the
frost and snow never feeling any laziness.
At the end of six years he escaped, made his way to the seacoast, and
finding a vessel ready to start was at length suffered to embark. They
sailed for three days and then wandered twenty days in a desert. This
item does not help us as to the locality, for the coasts either of
Brittany or Scotland, suffering as they did from the frequent visits of
the Irish, were likely enough to be deserts. Patrick's first converts
seem to have been the crew of this ship, for being on the point of
starvation they appealed to the Christian to help them, and the Saint
prayed, whereupon a drove of swine appeared, the grateful sailors "gave
great thanks to God, and I" [Patrick writes] "was honored in their
eyes."
After a brief stay with his parents the young man impelled by his zeal
set out again for Ireland, determined to bring its pagan inhabitants
into the light of Christianity. There is some variety of opinion as to
the date of the Saint's arrival in the home of his choice, but 432 is
the date commonly received, at which time he appears to have been
something under twenty-five years of age. He first went to the north
with the intention of seeking out Milchu his master. But this individual
burnt up both himself and his house on the approach of the Saint in
order not to be converted. So at least ancient annals declare. It must
be confessed that this paganism was of the most robust type.
Having failed in this quarter he then proceeded to the Boyne. This is
one of the most picturesque of rivers winding about among its wooded
banks. Both sides of the river are now dotted with handsome and
carefully-kept parks where ornamental trees and cows stand in pleasing
and picturesque groups, while the smoothly-mown grass rolls like green
velvet down to the water's edge. The water itself is limpid and clear as
crystal, and in the deep pools the silvery salmon leap high into the air
after heedless flies who come within reach. It looks very different
from the days when Saint Patrick paddled up in his wicker and
bull's-hide canoe. Probably the holy man himself would not recognize it;
nothing is the same except the salmon, the flies, the limpid, clear
water.
At Slane, a hill on the riverside about eight miles from its mouth,
Saint Patrick built a beacon-fire. He was in consequence of this
immediately summoned to appear before King Laoghaire who held his court
on the neighboring height of Tara to answer how he dared light a fire,
when according to ancient custom as well as by royal mandate all fires
were to be extinguished. The interview between the Saint and the King
ended if not in the latter's conversion at least in his tolerating the
new comer, and eventually this occasioned the change in the religion of
the whole tribe.
Thus began the apostleship of Saint Patrick, who in the course of his
long ministry traversed most parts of Ireland undeterred by the dread of
starvation or the fear of murder. He baptized many thousands of the
natives, planted churches in numerous places, founded schools and
established monasteries.
His most famous foundation is undoubtedly that of Armagh, the legend
about which is preserved in a celebrated old Irish manuscript known as
the Book of Armagh. The Saint begged of a certain rich man some high
land upon which to build him a church, but the rich man refused him the
hill, offering in its stead a lower piece of ground near Ardd-Machæ, and
"there Saint Patrick dwelt with his followers."
Upon all the churches which he founded Saint Patrick is said to have
bestowed bells, several of which under distinctive names have become
famous in history. One of these venerable relics, a small hand-bell made
of two iron plates, something over seven inches high and three pounds
ten ounces in weight, is known especially as the Bell of the Will of
Saint Patrick. It is with this small rude object, not unlike the
sheep-bell of to-day, that we have to deal.
Sixty years after the death of Saint Patrick another Irish saint,
Columkill, obtained this bell from the tomb of the former where it had
ever since lain on the Saint's breast, and by Columkill it was bestowed
on Armagh as a most precious relic. This bell is mentioned under the
date 552 by the compiler of the Annals of Ulster. A poem of a later
date, though still far back in the Dark Ages, speaks fondly of the bell,
saying "there shall be red gold round its borders," and many shall be
the kings who will treasure it, while woe is to be the portion of the
person or house or tribe that hides it away.
Armagh suffered much and frequently from fires, as was indeed natural in
a village built entirely of wood as seems to have been the case during
the first centuries of its existence. In 1020 it was burnt to the
ground, all except the library alone. The steeple or round tower was
burned with its bells. And again in 1074, on the Tuesday after May Day,
it was burnt with all its churches and all its bells. But among these
bells was not the Clog-Phadriug (the Bell of Saint Patrick). That was
confided to the custody of a maer (keeper) whose honor and emolument
depended upon the safety of the trust reposed in him. The keeper of the
Bell was the head of the O'Maelchallans. The ancient poem already quoted
refers thus to the elected keepers:
"I command for the safe keeping of my bell
Eight who shall be noble illustrious:
A priest and a deacon among them,
That my bell may not deteriorate."
The Bell of Saint Patrick was regarded as more and more holy as the
centuries rolled on, and by the middle of the eleventh century any
profanation of its sanctity was visited with the severest penalties.
Under the date 1044 there stands this emphatic entry in the Annals of
Ulster:
"A predatory expedition of Niull son of Maelsechlainn, king of
Ailech, against Ui-Meith and against Cuailgne in which he carried
off twelve hundred cows and a multitude of captives in revenge for
the violation of the Bell of the Will."
Besides the extraordinary high price set upon the bell as evidenced by
the number of cattle taken in revenge for the slight offered it, the
record is interesting as showing the relative values of cows and men. It
will be remarked that the horned cattle are carefully numbered as being
precious, while the human cattle are roughly lumped together as a
"multitude." This raid was followed later on by another in which
"cattle-spoil and prisoners" were carried off in revenge for another
violation.
During the episcopacy of Donell MacAulay who occupied the see of Armagh
from 1091 to 1105, the sacred bell was inclosed in the gorgeous shrine
which, though mutilated, still excites our admiration and envy. An
inscription runs around the shrine; it has been managed with such skill
that the letters seem to form an ornamentation rather than a break in
the general design. The illustration which we offer our readers is that
of the front of the shrine, showing also a portion of the side. The
framework is of bronze fastened at the corners with copper fluting, and
the gold and silver work is fixed to this foundation by means of rivets.
The front is divided into thirty-one compartments, several of which have
lost their ornamentations. A central decoration comprises an oval
crystal while a little lower down appears another and a larger crystal.
This latter object has been unaccountably introduced by some ignorant
person, for it is manifestly out of place. It occurred to the present
writer when inspecting the shrine last summer that it belonged to the
center of a neighboring shrine with which its setting agrees, and where
its shape would enable it to fit exactly. On the side, below the knot
and ring by which it is suspended, there are eight of those quaint Irish
serpents, whose elegant tails curve and infold each other so intricately
that it is almost as difficult to make out each particular snake as if
they were in very truth alive and wriggling. Their eyes are of blue
glass. The stones which still remain in their setting are of little or
no value; glass, crystal and amber appear to have been the only objects
used.
[Illustration: ST. PATRICK'S BELL.]
But the beauty of the gold tracery is beyond expression. The photograph
but poorly represents it, and the engraving falls still further below
the original. It must be seen to be understood, and as the shrine may be
examined in its case at the Royal Irish Academy any day, we can only
hope that no visitor will ever leave Dublin without seeing it, no matter
what else he may leave unseen.
We return now to the history of the shrine.
The inscription according to the general usage of Irish inscriptions
begs a prayer first for Domhnall O'Lachlainn, lord of Ailech (King of
Ulster), secondly, for Domhnall the Bishop of Armagh, and thirdly for
Chathalan O'Maelchallan the keeper of the shrine, and finally a prayer
is also asked for Cudulig O'Inmauien the artificer who did the work. As
long as the shrine lasts and as human beings possess a love of the
beautiful the request of Cudulig will be answered in the admiration
which all beholders will freely give to the work of his hands.
Domhnall the King is famous in the Annals as being "the most
distinguished of the Irish for personal form, family, sense, prowess,
prosperity and happiness, for bestowing of jewels and food upon the
mighty and the needy." He died after a reign of twenty-seven years--a
splendid personage evidently, and one who might have caused the
beautiful shrine to be made.
The O'Maelchallans appear to have kept their trust for generations; but
from some reason now undiscoverable in 1356 the Bell of Saint Patrick
was kept by Solomon O'Mellan after whose death it again reverted to the
former keepers. These enjoyed certain lands by right of their charge
which were situate in the county of Tyrone near Stewartstown and were
called Ballyelog, _i.e._, the town of the Bell. In 1365 the
O'Mulchallans were exempted from an interdict laid upon their diocese by
the Primate, and this was done out of veneration for the sacred bell of
which they were the custodians. Once more the bell migrated into the
family of the O'Mellans and once again came back to the O'Mulchallans,
whose name was undergoing a softening process, it will be observed.
In 1455 the keepers having become powerful and wealthy began naturally
to be arrogant. They usurped the "firstlings of flocks," and got into
trouble with the Primate in consequence. And now there comes a great gap
in the history of the bell. From 1466 to 1758 there are no annals in
Ireland which deal with it. Perhaps the inhabitants were too busy with
their newly-arrived English neighbors and all their advent entailed to
remember the bell. It continued, however, during all those generations
in the same family of keepers whose name had become further toned down
and was now Mulhollan. In 1758 Bernard Mulhollan died and Edmond his
son kept the bell in his stead. His son Henry was destined for the
priesthood but became a schoolmaster instead. His school at
Edenduffcarrick was attended by Adam MacClean, a boy for whom he felt a
great tenderness, and who returned his affection with gratitude. In the
disastrous rebellion of 1798 Henry Mulhollan became implicated, and when
that rising was put down he would have suffered for his rashness had it
not been for the interference of his former pupil now become a wealthy
Belfast merchant. All through life Mr. MacClean showed kindness and gave
assistance to his old schoolmaster. When the latter came to die he
accordingly left to his benefactor what he held most precious in the
world. We give Mr. MacClean's own account of what Henry Mulhollan said
to him on his death-bed:
"My dear friend, you were an old and valued scholar of mine: on
one occasion you were the means of saving my life, and on many
subsequent occasions of providing for its comforts. I am now going
to die. I have no child to whom I might leave the little I possess,
nor have I any near of kin who might prefer any claim to it; in
either case the treasure I possess and which I hold dear as life
should not have left the family of Mulholland, in which it has been
for ages and generations handed down. But I am the last of my race
and you are the best friend I have. I therefore give it to you, and
when I am gone, dig in the garden at a certain spot, and you will
find a box there: take it up and treasure its contents for my
sake."
Mr. MacClean dug in the place indicated and found an oak box within
which lay the bell and its shrine and beside them a worn copy of
Bedell's quarto Irish Bible. Mr. MacClean had the precious relic in his
possession for a number of years, but unhappily he did not at first keep
it under lock and key. The result was what might have been foretold by
any one acquainted with the depredations committed by the enlightened
vermin known as "relic-hunters." Priceless bits of gold tracery were
stolen by the servants and visitors until the cruelly denuded panels
aroused Mr. MacClean to a sense of his danger. He then locked up the
shrine.
Mr. MacClean willed the bell and its shrine to Dr. Todd, the great Irish
authority on Saint Patrick, and by him in turn it was bequeathed back to
the nation at large, who leave it to the care of the Royal Irish Academy
as its keepers.
We have now traced the history of this bell back through the long vista
of fourteen centuries. During most of that time it was venerated as a
relic of great sanctity and the humanizing influence of this feeling
must have helped these poor benighted savages of Ireland whom Saint
Patrick came to teach and save. The religious sanctity of the bell is
gone, but its mission is not thereby ended. The worship of the beautiful
has also its humanizing and elevating influence.
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.
2. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest
paragraph break.
3. Footnotes have been renumbered and moved from the end of the page to
the end of the paragraph in which they appear.
4. The phrase "Oeil de Boeuf" uses oe ligature in the original.
5. Macron over a vowel is indicated using equality sign followed by the
vowel itself within square brackets. For instance, vowel i with macron
is represented by [=i].