212 



broad misrepresentation, of Bede having repeatedly mentioned them in 

 his Ecclesiastical History, and whole passages are actually cited from 

 Bede, lib. .3 c. 4. — lib. 4. c. 4. — lib. 3. c. 5, &c., as characterising this 

 priesthood of the imagination ; but when the passages are examined, 

 it will be found that all the descriptions, which Jamieson would con- ■ 

 verge to the one focus, are referrible to totally distinct persons, to 

 Columba, to Colman, to Aidan, and other different Irish priests, all 

 of whom must become Culdees under the auspices of the Doctor, who 

 crushes every flower of Bede's classic eulogy into an ill-assorted gar- 

 land for lona, and this, although Bede never in all his works — never 

 in any one of the passages cited by Jamieson, mentions the name of 

 Culdee, or any thing at all tantamount to it. Ledwich also upholds 

 them as established by Saint Columba, but instead of representing 

 them as presbyters, he would shew* them to have been Episcopalians. 

 He had with equal confidence referred to Bede, and in similar error ad- 

 duces Lloyd and Usher, as if they had Avritten highly in favour of 

 the Culdees; while the fact is, that Lloyd, though he often mentions 

 yet never praises them, laughs at the Scotch stories concerning them, 

 observes he could find no notice of them till A. D. 900, and expressly 

 distinguishes them from the Columbian and old Irish monks ; and 

 Usher, while he is wholly neutral as to their merits, never confounds 

 them with the followers of Columba. 



Thus it is, that these gentlemen would conjure " spirits from the 

 vasty deep," " most willing spirits, that promise noble service." Yet 

 Doctor O'Conor seems to favour their antiquity in Ireland, and ha- 

 zards an opinion-f- that they were originally a heathen commu- 

 nity, who having abjured Paganism, and embraced Christianity, 

 mingling Pagan frauds and miracles with the austerity of the new 

 faith, imposed a great opinion of their sanctity on their credulous 



^ * Antiq. p. 106. f O'Conor's Rer. Hib. Script, vol. 3.p. 315. n. 



