and Italy, during this and the following century. But that these Hibernians were the first teachers of the scholastic theology in Europe, and so early as the eighth century illustrated the doctrines of religion by the principles of philosophy, I learned but lately from the testimony of Benedict Abbot of Ariane, in the province of Languedoc, who lived in this period, and some of whose productions are published by Baliesius in the 5th volume of his Miscellanies.' Of the chief of these brilliant Irish lights Mosheim speaks farther on in his History:- Johannes Scotus Erigena, the friend and companion of Charles the Bald, an eminent philosopher and a learned divine, whose erudition was accompanied with uncommon marks of sagacity and genius, and whose various performances, as well as his translations from the Greek, gained him a shining and lasting reputation.' The same historian, again referring to the state of the Church early in the ninth century, remarks:- The Irish doctors alone, and particularly Johannes Scotus, had the courage to spurn the ignominious fetters of authority, and to explain the sublime doctrines of Christianity in a manner conformable to the dictates of reason and the principles of truth. But this noble attempt drew upon them the malignant fury of a superstitious age; and exposed them to the hatred of the Latin theologians, who would not permit either reason or philosophy to meddle in religious matters.1 Such prophets, however, had little honour in their own country; they left it then, as they leave it now for the same reason, because they refused to have their reason bound in the fetters of authority; and it is to prevent the existence of such thinkers among the Roman Catholics that the study of philosophy was to be, if possible, interdicted in the new national University. There never was so little freedom of thought among Catholics as at the present time. If the ecclesiastical authority had not extinguished the native spirit of freedom which shone so brightly in Johannes Scotus and Duns Scotus, could the nation have remained For an account of the persecution and hatred that Johannes Scotus suffered in the cause of reason and liberty, Mosheim refers to Du Boulay, 'Hist. Académ.' Paris, tom. i. p. 182. Also Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Bened. Sacr.' vol. v. p. 392, and Hist. Littér. de la France,' tom. v. p. 416. " slavishly silent on the dogma of Papal Infallibility? The foreign testimonies in favour of the learning of the early Irish Christians are very numerous, and very strong. In addition to those already quoted, I give the following, which I collected many years ago. Sir James Mackintosh, yielding to the force of ancient authorities on this subject, says: The Irish nation possesses genuine history several centuries more ancient than any other European nation possesses, in its present spoken language.' Thierry, a historian of greater research, if not of more philosophic genius, thus refers to the ancient Celts: The major part of the Irish were men with dark hair, with strong passions, loving and hating with vehemence, irascible, yet of a social temper. In many things, especially in religion, they were enthusiasts, and willingly intermingled the Christian worship with their poetry and literature, which was perhaps the most cultivated in all western Europe. Their island possessed a multitude of saints and learned men, venerated alike in England and in Gaul; for no country had furnished a greater number of Christian missionaries, animated by no other motive than pure zeal, and an ardent desire of communicating to foreign nations the opinions and the faith of their native country. The Irish were great travellers, and always gained the hearts of those whom they visited, by the extreme ease with which they conformed to their customs and ways of life.' Camden says:- No men came up to the Irish monks in Ireland and in Britain for sanctity and learning; and they sent forth swarms of holy men all over Europe: to whom the monasteries of Luxueil in Burgundy, Pavia in Italy, Wurtzburgh in Franconia, St. Gall in Switzerland, &c. &c., owe their origin. . Why should I mention almost all Ireland, with its crowd of philosophers, despising the dangers of the sea, flocking to our shores? The Saxons also at that time flocked to Ireland from all quarters, as to a mart of literature. Whence we frequently meet, in our writers of the lives of the saints, " such an one was sent over to Ireland for education;" and in the Life of Fulgenis Exemplo patrum commotus, amore legendi, Yet the French historian remarks: The old Celtic races, seated on their native rocks, and in the solitude of their isles, will remain faithful to the poetic independence of barbarous life, until surprised in their fastnesses by the tyranny of the stranger. Centuries have elapsed since England surprised and struck them down; and her blows incessantly rain upon them, as the wave dashes on the promontory of Brittany or of Cornwall. The sad and patient Judea, who counted her years by her captivities, was not more rudely stricken by Asia. But there is such a virtue in the Celtic genius, such a tenacity of life in this people, that they subsist under outrage, and preserve their manners and their language. 'Whatever has been the result (of the law of gavelkind) it is honourable to our Celts to have established in the west the law of equality. The feeling of personal right, the vigorous assumption of the I, which we have already remarked in Pelagius and in religious philosophy, is still more apparent here; and, in great part, lets us into the secret of the destiny of the Celtic races. While the German families converted movable into immovable property, handed it down in perpetuity, and successively added to it by inheritance, the Celtic families went on dividing and subdividing, and weakening themselves a weakness chiefly owing to the law of equality and equitable division. As this law of precocious equality has been the ruin of these races, let it be their glory also, and secure to them at least the pity and respect of the nations to whom they so early showed so fine an ideal.'1 It was in reference to this period,' says O'Driscoll, 'that Ireland, by the unanimous consent of the European nations, was placed in the rank of a third empire; the Roman, the Constantinopolitan, and the Irish. Is this any evidence of her worth and her renown? It was not surely her extent, or her conquests in the world, that gave her this high place. Hers was not an empire purchased by the tears and sufferings of other nations, but by benefits conferred upon them. Her triumphs were peaceful triumphs, and such as in comparison with which Cressy, Agincourt, and Waterloo, fade into nothing. It is a vulgar thing to subdue a nation. Have not the Goths, and the Huns, and the Turks, and the Tartars, done this? But to give refuge ''Hist. France,' b. i. c. iv. to many people, to instruct many nations-these are triumphs worthy of empire. The claim of Ireland to a third empire was established at the Council of Constance; and it was more glorious than the other two, for it was the empire of intellect and benevolence.' Camden informs us, that the whole nation of the Irish were strong in their persons, peculiarly active, possessing a brave and elevated mind, sharp in their intellects, and warlike.' They were besides,' says Stanihurst, extremely hospitable, goodnatured, and beneficent—of all men the most patient in suffering, and rarely overcome with difficulties.' Champion, and other Englishmen, describe them as religious, sincere, compassionate, full of energy in misfortune, good horsemen, passionately fond of war, charitable and hospitable beyond expression. And Hanmer tells us, that when Robert Fitzstephen and the brave knights of Britain invaded Ireland, they did not find cowards but valiant men, brave both as horse and foot.' The learning of the ancient Irish schools was unquestionably superior for those ages; but how miserably dark they must have been! The whole circle of the sciences was composed of what the scholastic philosophers called The Seven Liberal Arts,' viz., grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The three former were designated by the title of "Trivium' and the four latter by Quadrivium.' In the greater part of the schools the public teachers ventured no farther than the first division. 'Nothing,' says Mosheim, 'could be conceived more wretchedly barbarous than the manner in which these sciences were taught, as may be easily seen from Alcuin's treatise concerning them, and the dissertations of St. Augustin on the same subject, which were in the highest repute at this time.' I am indebted to the late Mr. Darcy Magee for the following notes on this subject sent me when I was writing the History of Irish education : In the sixth century were founded the three great schools of Bangor in Down, Clonard in Meath, and Cluanmacnoise on the Shannon: St. Comgall founded the first, the monarch Dermidh the second, and St. Kiaran, called the Artificer,' the last. Their respective dates are fixed at A.D. 516, 549, and 548. They were governed each by its own set of rules. In 603 St. Carthagh founded the great school of Lismore on the Blackwater. See Usher's Antiq., Lannigan's Ecc. Hist., Colgan's Acta Sanctorum, Bede's Annals, Mabillon, the Bolandists, &c. Guizot, Hallam, Muratori, Brucker, and Mosheim, have all spoken of these institutions as most important agencies in advancing civilisation and revelation. 6 There is no complete account of their system or systems extant in print, as far as I can learn. Harris, in his History of Dublin, refers to a manuscript by Florence McCarthy in the College library, containing some information respecting them. This much I have gathered from various expressions in the lives of their most distinguished scholars : The Scriptures were much studied in them all. St. Jerome, next after the Scriptures. That the students transcribed with their own hands some particular portions of the two Testaments. Most frequent mention is made of David's Psalms, St. Paul's Epistles, and St. Matthew's and St. John's Gospels. That singing of Psalms was a part of each day's exercise. Hence the name of Banchor or White-choir is derived by Harris: Muratori thinks that the Antiphonarium Banchorense, which he published from a copy in the Imperial Library at Milan, is a composition of the sixth century. That presidents of the schools were in most cases called Regents. That they were much frequented by natives of all the countries and islands of western Europe. That Latin versification was in high estimation with the students from the first, and that they had some knowledge of the Latin profane classics. That they studied much in the open air, in the fields and woods, where their teachers usually accompanied them. The Danish wars, which commenced in 807, and did not terminate until Brian's victory in 1014, ruined the four schools I have named, each being near the sea coast, and greatly injured the Irish literature which they had fostered. The most considerable students of Clonard were Columbcille, Eleran the Wise, Erigena (perhaps), and Marianus Scotus the Chronicler. 'Of Bangor, Columbianus, the founder of the continental semi |