200 



manners of the new priesthood, the charities with which they insinu- 

 ated their doctrine into the heart of the country, founding their semi- 

 naries where tlie Magi had taught, enclosing their casiols in the 

 groves of the ancient rites, carving the sign of Christianity on the 

 pillar stones* of heathenism, consecrating as stations for prayer those 

 wells which had been invested with immemorial superstitions ;-f" kind- 

 ling the bel-tinne for purposes of innocent diversion, perpetuating the 

 sacred fire on the altar of the Most High, J and, above all, construct- 

 ing the simple models of their churches in the shadow of the round 

 towers : thus imperceptibly " succeeding to the veneration and au- 

 thority of their pagan predecessors. "§ 



The Christian ecclesiastics were, however, not the less firm, where 

 firmness was essential. They diligently expounded the Scriptures to 

 the people, as Jonas relatesll of Columba. The enemy were met in 

 controversy at their strongest holds, and piles of heathen learning, 

 the spoils of victory, were consigned to unrelenting destruction. 

 Saint Patrick sanctioned the policy of this despoliation, and is said 

 to have destroyed with his own hand two hundred volumes of the 

 writings of the Magi. His successors, no less zealous in the cause of 

 truth, well merited these praises which Camden so liberally bestows 

 upon them,** enlarging their schools, multiplying their churches, 

 fixing themselves as beacons of salvation in the wildest districts, every 

 where edifying by their example, they drew to their schools the 



* See Anth. Hib, vol. 1. p. 285. f See Tripait. Vita S. Patricii. c. 70. 



: See post, p. 232. 



§ Grose's Antiquities of Ireland, Introduction, p. v. 



II "Tantum in ejuspectore divinarum thesauri scripturarum conditi tenebantur, ut intra 

 adolesceutiae aetatem detentus, psalmorum librum elimato sermone exponeret, multaqjie alia, 

 quae ad canlum. sunt digna vel ad docendum utilia, condidit dicta." — Jonas Vit. Columb. c. 2. 



** Britannia, p. 730. 



