from the water; but as soon as his feet had touched the dry land, he
lost all his strength, and fell on the brink, a withered, grey old man,
shrunken up and trembling all over with weakness. He sat him down in
woful plight; and soon his hounds came up. They looked at him wistfully
and sniffed and whined around him; but they knew him not, and, passing
on, they ran round the lake, searching in vain for their master.
On that day we and the Fena in general were assembled in the banquet
hall of the palace of Allen; some feasting, some playing chess, and
others listening to the sweet music of the harpers. While all were in
this wise pleasantly engaged, we suddenly missed our chief, and when we
searched for him he was nowhere to be found: whereupon we became
alarmed. Inquiring now from the lesser people about the palace, we found
that the chief and his two dogs had chased a doe northwards. So, having
mustered a strong party of the Fena, we started in pursuit, and
following the track, never slackened speed till we reached Slieve
Cullinn.
We began to search round the hill, and after wandering among brakes and
rough, rocky places, we at last espied a grey-headed old man sitting on
the brink of a lake. I went up to him, followed by the rest of the Fena,
and asked him if he had seen a noble-looking hero pass that way, with
two hounds, chasing a doe. He never answered a word, neither did he stir
from where he sat, or even look up; but at the question, his head sank
on his breast, and his limbs shook all over as with palsy. Then he fell
into a sudden fit of grief, wringing his hands and uttering feeble cries
of woe.
We soothed him and used him gently, hoping he might speak at last; but
to no purpose, for he only lamented the more, and still answered
nothing.
At last, after this had gone on for some time, and when we were about
to leave him, he told us in a whisper the dreadful secret; and then we
all came to know the truth. When we found that the withered old man was
no other than our beloved king, Finn himself, we uttered three shouts of
lamentation and anger, so loud and prolonged that the foxes and badgers
rushed affrighted from their dens in the hollows of the mountain.
When quietness was restored, we asked Finn how this dread evil had
befallen him; and he told us that it was the daughter of Culann the
smith who had transformed him by her spells. And then he recounted how
she had lured him to swim in the lake, and how, when he came forth, he
was turned into a withered old man.
We now made a framework litter of slender poles, and, placing our king
on it, we lifted him tenderly on our shoulders. And, turning from the
lake, we marched slowly up-hill till we came to the fairy palace of
Slieve Cullinn, where we knew the daughter of Culann had her dwelling
deep under ground. Here we set him down, and the whole troop began at
once to dig, determined to find the enchantress in her cave-palace, and
force her to restore our chief.
For three days and three nights we dug, without a moment's rest or
pause, till at length we reached her hollow dwelling; when she,
affrighted at the tumult and at the vengeful look of the heroes,
suddenly started forth from the cave and stood before us. She held in
her hand a drinking-horn of red gold, which she handed to the king and
told him to drink. No sooner had he drunk from it, than his own shape
and features returned, save only that his hair remained of a silvery
grey.
When we gazed on our chief in his own graceful and manly form, we were
all pleased with the soft, silvery hue of the grey hairs. And, though
the enchantress appeared ready to restore this also, Finn himself told
her that it pleased him as it pleased the others, and that he chose to
remain grey for the rest of his life.
[Illustration: Ancient Irish bracelet for the wrist. This is of bronze;
but many Irish bracelets were of gold, like that shown at page 100.]
XXIII.
SAINT BRIGIT: PART I.
Of all the Irish saints, Brigit and Columkille are, next after St.
Patrick, the most loved and revered by the people of Ireland.
Like many others of our early saints, Brigit came of a noble family. Her
father Dubthach [Duffa] was a distinguished Leinster chief, descended
from the kings of Ireland. For some reason, which we do not know, he and
his wife lived for a time in Faughart near Dundalk, which was then a
part of Ulster: and at Faughart Brigit was born about the year 455. The
family must have soon returned however to their own district, for we
know that Brigit passed her childhood with her parents in the
neighbourhood of Kildare. She was baptised, and carefully instructed and
trained, both in general education and in religion: for her father and
mother were Christians. As she grew up, her quiet, gentle, modest ways
pleased all that knew her. At the time of her birth, St. Patrick was in
the midst of his glorious career; and some say that while she was still
a child she knew him, and that when he died she made with her own hands
a winding sheet in which his body was laid in the grave; which may have
happened, as she was ten or twelve years of age at the time of his
death.
When Brigit came of an age to choose her way of life, she resolved to be
a nun, to which her parents made no objection. After due preparation she
went to a holy bishop of the neighbourhood, who, at her request,
received her, and placed a white robe on her shoulders and a white veil
over her head. Here she remained for some time in companionship with
eight other maidens who had been received with her, and who placed
themselves under her guidance. As time went on, she became so beloved
for her piety and sweetness of disposition, that many young women asked
to be admitted; so that though she by no means desired that people
should be speaking in her praise, the fame of her little community began
to spread through the country.
This first establishment was conducted strictly under a set of Rules
drawn up by Brigit herself: and now, bishops in various parts of Ireland
began to apply to her to establish convents in their several districts
under the same rules. She was glad of this, and she did what she could
to meet their wishes. She visited Longford, Tipperary, Limerick, South
Leinster, and Roscommon, one after another; and in all these places she
founded convents.
At last the people of her own province of Leinster, considering that
they had the best right to her services, sent a number of leading
persons to request that she would fix her permanent residence among
them. She was probably pleased to go back to live in the place where she
had spent her childhood; and she returned to Leinster, where she was
welcomed with great joy. The Leinster people gave her a piece of land
chosen by herself, on the edge of a beautiful level grassy plain, well
known as the Curragh of Kildare. Here, on a low ridge over-looking the
plain, she built a little church, under the shade of a wide-spreading
oak tree, whence it got the name of Kill-dara, the Church of the Oak, or
as we now call it, Kildare. This tree continued to flourish long after
Brigit's death, and it was regarded with great veneration by the people
of the place. A writer of the tenth century--four hundred years after
the foundation of the church--tells us that in his time it was a mere
branchless, withered trunk; but the people had such reverence for it
that no one dared to cut or chip it.
We are not quite sure of the exact year of Brigit's settlement here; but
it probably occurred about 485, when she was thirty years of age. Hard
by the church she also built a dwelling for herself and her community.
We are told, in the Irish Life of St. Brigit, that this first house was
built of wood, like the houses of the people in general: and the little
church under the oak was probably of wood also, like most churches of
the time. As the number of applicants for admission continued to
increase, both church and dwelling had to be enlarged from time to time;
and the wood was replaced by stone and mortar. Such was the respect in
which the good abbess was held, that visitors came from all parts of the
country to see her and ask her advice and blessing: and many of them
settled down in the place, so that a town gradually grew up near the
convent, which was the beginning of the town of Kildare.
XXIV.
SAINT BRIGIT: PART II.
Brigit, although now at the head of a great community, and very strict
in carrying out her Rules, still retained all her humility and
gentleness of disposition. With such a large family, there was plenty of
work to do; and it was all done by the nuns, as they kept no servants
and called in no outsiders. The abbess herself, so far as she was able
to withdraw from the cares of governing the establishment, took her part
like the rest in most of the domestic occupations. In some of the old
accounts of her life we are told that she often, with some companions,
herded and tended her flocks of sheep that grazed on the level sward
round the convent. And sometimes she was caught by the heavy
rain-squalls that occasionally sweep across that shelterless plain, so
that her clothes were wet through by the time she returned to the
convent: showing that she took her own share of the rough work.
Not far from the convent, another establishment was founded, later on,
for men, which afterwards became one of the great Colleges of Ireland.
As the two communities and the population of the town continued to grow,
it was Brigit's earnest desire that a bishop should be there to take
spiritual charge of the whole place. A holy man named Conleth, who had
hitherto spent his life as a hermit in the neighbourhood, was appointed
bishop by the heads of the Church. He was the first bishop of Kildare,
and he took up his residence in the monastery. The name of that good
bishop is to this day held in affectionate remembrance, with that of St.
Brigit, by the people of Kildare and of the country all round.
[Illustration: Ruins of Kilcrea Abbey, on the river Bride, ten miles
from Cork city. Built in honour of St. Brigit.]
While the parent convent at Kildare continued to grow, branch houses
under Brigit's Rule, and subject to her authority, were established all
over Ireland; and many establishments for monks were also founded in
honour of her.
Brigit had such a reputation for wisdom and prudence, that the most
eminent of the saints, and many kings and chiefs of her day, visited
Kildare or corresponded with her, to obtain her advice in doubtful or
difficult matters. Visitors were constantly coming and going, all of
whom she received kindly and treated hospitably. All this, with daily
alms to the needy, and the support of a large community, kept her poor:
for the produce of her land was not nearly sufficient to supply her
wants. For a long time in the beginning she and her community suffered
from downright poverty, so that she had often to call on the charity of
her friends and neighbours to assist her. But as time went on, and as
the reputation of the place spread abroad, she received many presents
from rich people, which generally came in the right time, and enabled
her to carry on her establishment without any danger of want.
Among Brigit's virtues none is more marked than her charity and kindness
of heart towards poor, needy, and helpless people. She never could look
on distress of any kind without trying to relieve it at whatever cost.
Even when a mere girl living with her parents, her father was often
displeased with her for giving away necessary things belonging to the
house to poor people who came in their misery to beg from her. It
happened on one occasion that her father drove her in his chariot to
Naas (in Kildare), where then lived Dunlang king of Leinster; and
dismounting, he entered the palace, leaving his sword behind--a
beautiful and valuable one--while Brigit remained in charge of horse and
chariot. A wretched looking poor man with sickness and want in his face
came up and begged for some relief. Overcome with pity she looked about
for something to give him, and finding nothing but the sword, she handed
it to him. On her father's return he fell into a passion at the loss of
his sword: and when King Dunlang questioned her reproachfully, she
replied:--"If I had all thy wealth I would give it to the poor; for
giving to the poor is giving to the Lord of the Universe." And the king
turning to the father said:--"It is not meet that either you or I should
chide this maiden, for her merit is greater before God than before men":
on which the matter ended: and Brigit returned home with her father.
Her overflowing kindness of heart was not confined to human beings: it
extended even to the lower animals. Once while she lived in her father's
house, a party of guests were invited, and she was given some pieces of
meat to cook for dinner. And a poor miserable half-starved hound limped
into the house and looked longingly at the meat: whereupon the girl,
quite unable to overcome her feeling of pity, threw him one of the
pieces. And when the poor animal, in his hungry greediness, had
devoured that in a moment, she gave him another, which satisfied him.
And to the last day of her life she retained her tenderness of heart and
her kindness and charity towards the poor.
XXV.
SAINT BRIGIT: PART III.
Late in life Brigit's influence over young people was unbounded: for her
very gentleness gave tenfold power to her words. Once, seeing a young
man, a student of the neighbouring college, running very violently and
in an unbecoming manner, in presence of some of her nuns, she sent for
him on the spot and asked him why he was running in such haste. He
replied thoughtlessly, and half in jest, that he was running to heaven:
on which she said quietly: "I wish to God, my dear son, that I was
worthy to run with you to-day to the same place: I beg you will pray for
me to help me to arrive there." And when he heard these words, and
looked on her grave kind face, he was greatly moved; and telling her
with tears in his eyes, that he would surely pray for her and for many
others besides, he besought her to offer up her prayers for him, that he
might continue his journey steadily towards heaven, and arrive there in
the end. That young man, whose name was Ninnius, became in after-life
one of the most revered of the Irish saints.
But with all her gentle unassuming ways, St. Brigit was a woman of
strong mind and great talents. She not only governed her various
establishments in strict accordance with her own Rules and forms of
discipline, but she was a powerful aid in forwarding the mighty
religious movement that had been commenced by St. Patrick half a century
before. She set an illustrious example to those Irish women who, during
and after her time, entered on a religious life; and though many of them
became distinguished saints, she stands far above them all. No writer
has left us a detailed account of her last hours, as Adamnan has done
for St. Columkille. (See page 150, note, farther on.) We only know that
she died at Kildare on the first of February, in or about the year 523,
and that she received the last consolations of religion from the
grateful hand of that same Ninnius whom she had turned to a religious
life many years before.
She was buried in Kildare, where her body was entombed in a magnificent
shrine, ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones. We may be
sure it was a very beautiful work of art, for we know that there was a
noted school of metal workers in Kildare under the direction of St.
Conleth, who was himself a most skilful artist; but this tomb was
plundered by the Danes three hundred years afterwards, and not a trace
of it now remains.
According to some accounts, the bones of St. Brigit and St. Columkille
were brought to Downpatrick many centuries after the death of both, and
buried in the same tomb with the remains of St. Patrick. Whether this
was so or not, the matter has been commemorated in a Latin verse, of
which the following is a translation:--
"Interred beneath one tomb in Down, a single vault doth hold
Patrick and Brigit and Columkille, three holy saints of old."
A well known Welshman, Gerald Barry (Giraldus Cambrensis), who was in
Ireland in 1185, and who wrote an account of it, says that he found "at
Kildare in Leinster, celebrated for the glorious Brigit, the 'Fire of
St. Brigit' which is reported never to go out." This fire was kept up
day and night by the nuns in his time, and for centuries before--how
long no one can tell--probably from the time of the saint herself--and
was continued for centuries after: but it was finally extinguished when
the monasteries were closed up by Henry VIII. in the year 1536. Thomas
Moore, in one of his songs, refers to it in the following words:--
"Like the bright lamp that shone in Kildare's holy fane,
And burned through long ages of darkness and storm."
St. Brigit is venerated in England and Scotland as well as in Ireland:
for in both these countries churches were built in her honour, and many
convents were established under her name and rule. She was also well
known and honoured on the Continent. We need not wonder that her life
has been written by many Irishmen: but English, Scotch, French, Italian,
and German writers have also written about her and have commemorated her
as one of the most eminent saints of the West.
Convents and monasteries were maintained in Kildare for hundreds of
years after the time of St. Brigit; and "Kildare's holy fane" is still
venerated as much as ever. On the very ridge where the humble little
church was erected fourteen hundred years ago, there is a group of fine
old church buildings, with a tall round tower that overlooks the
splendid plain of Kildare.
XXVI.
IRISH SCRIBES AND BOOKS.
In old times all books were handwritten, 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 numbers of books rapidly
increased; and very large 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 up. Most of the books written out in this manner related
to Ireland, as will be described presently; 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 favourite 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, as we shall see in the case of
St. Columkille.
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 skilfully ornamented as
this. The capital letters are very large--one of them fills an entire
page--and are all illuminated, that is, painted in brilliant colours;
and after the lapse of so many centuries the colours 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 curved 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.
A specimen of this interwoven ornamental work is seen at the head of the
first page of this book; but it gives only a poor idea of the beauty of
the Book of Kells. The frontispiece of the "Child's History of Ireland"
is a perfect copy, in full colours, of a complete page of the Book of
Mac Durnan, which is almost as beautiful as the Book of Kells. The Irish
used this sort of ornamentation also in metal-work and stone-work, of
which an example is given here.
[Illustration: Ancient Irish Ornamental Sculpture on a Stone Monument.]
Very often, large volumes were kept, into 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 books of mixed
compositions, 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 750 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 this 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 contains also 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 favourite 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 Ballymote. These
contain much the same kind of matter as the Book of Leinster--with
pieces mostly 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 most beautiful penmanship.
The six old books described above have been lately printed, in such a
way as that the print resembles exactly the writing of the old books
themselves. The printed volumes are now to be found in libraries in
several parts of Ireland, as well as in England and the Continent; so
that those desirous of studying them need not come to Dublin, as people
had to do formerly.
Many people are now eagerly studying these books and men often come to
Ireland from France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Sweden, Russia, and
other countries, in order to learn the Irish language so as to be able
to read them. But this requires much study, even from those who know the
Irish of the present day; for the language of those books is old and
difficult.
In many National and Intermediate schools the Irish language is now
taught, and no doubt some of the pupils who attend the Irish classes
will continue their studies after they leave school, till they come to
be able to read our old books.
A great many old Irish tales and histories have been printed and
translated, and some of them are very beautiful and instructive. Several
of the stories in this book are from the Book of the Dun Cow and the
Book of Leinster.