110 



from the practice of Cronan, whom the whole context of Adam- 

 nanus declares to have been a heathen. That this art passed from 

 the Irish to the Anglo-Saxons, is demonstrated by Adhelm, who was 

 himself educated by Maildulph, an Irishman, from whom he learned 

 the Latin tongue. He was the first of the Anglo-Saxons who wrote 

 Latin, in which language he composed a rhyming poem, De Virgin- 

 itate, as Turner remarks, while he iniquitously (inique) conceals 

 where he received his education. 



Doctor O'Conor notices several other authors who wrote in rhyme, 

 and makes particular mention of a poem on the Trinity, composed by 

 Columbanus, sent to Saint Gregory at Rome, and published in the 

 Triad, p. 473. In this poem the peculiar Irish rhythmical structure 

 is conspicuous, namely, the syllable in the middle of the line, rhymes 

 with the syllable at the end ; an equal space of time being preserved 

 between the first and second division ; whence it is apparent, that 

 though written in Latin, it is constructed on an Hibernian model. 



Turner says, he was led to examine Adhelm, by observing that 

 three lines, which Simeon, of Durham, quotes from him, rhyme in 

 the middle. " Here then is an example of rhyme in an author who 

 lived before the year 700, and he was an Anglo-Saxon. Whence 

 did he derive it ? Not from the Arabs : they had not yet reached 

 Europe. I would rather refer it to the popular songs in his own lan- 

 guage, or in the language of his neighbours." He must have known, 

 and he ought to have informed his readers, that Adhelm borrowed it 

 from the Irish, among whom he was educated. 



The Hibernian words rann, rimh, riomh^ rinn, have no other sig- 

 nification than rhyme. Columbanus, as Turner admits, had written 

 verses of the same kind as those which Adhelm composed in rhyme, 

 and, consequently, also admits that it was from Columbanus, Adhelm 

 learned or adopted the practice. Columbanus himself learned it from 



