226 



suae artis/' shews that singing was subjected to some regular rules; 

 while the fact of Gertrude bringing persons from Ireland to teach 

 psalm-singing in France,* is equally conclusive as to the excellence 

 of Church music in the former country. -f- It may be worth adding, 

 that the psaltery used by the Irish was different from that in use with 

 the Roman See, as appears from a passage in Eddius's Life of Wil- 

 frid,!, which is echoed by William of Malmsbury.§ 



The knowledge of navigation already alleged, receives additional 

 evidences in the numerous voyages spoken of in the Irish annals dur- 

 ing this interval, particularly these, alleged to have been accomplished 

 by Saint Brendan, || to islands never till then heard of.** It is confi- 

 dently stated in the native records, that this saint discovered Iceland, 

 a circumstance brought nearer to certainty by the account given of 

 Irish books being found there, as mentioned, ante^ p. 215; — by Van 

 Troil, in his letters on Iceland, and more fully and satisfactorily by 

 Arngrymus Jonas, in his History of Iceland. -f-f- The curious reader 



* Ante, p. 216. f See al?o;>os<, sect. 6. of this Period. 



J See O'Conor, Rer. Hib. Script, vol. 4. p. 159. 



§ " Wilfridus, Cantiam adveniens, Romanas consuetudines, quae Scottorum scientiam 

 vincebant, gnarus addidicit ; psalterium denique, quod a Scotis juxta translationem Beati 

 Hieronymi acceperat pro Romano more juxta quintam editionem, lectitavit et tenuit."— De 

 Gest. Pontif. lib. 3. ad init. 



II See O'Conor, Rer. Hib. Script, vol. 2. p. 316. and Catal. Stow. vol. 1. p. 161. 

 ** Even Gibbon, with all his scepticism, considers that every thing was not to be rejected 

 which was related in the lives of saints. — (Gibbon's Decline and Fall, cited O'Conor, Rer. 

 Hib. Script, p. 129.) We adduce them to evidence historical occurrences and customs, and 

 little more; 



ff " Nautas nescio quos, Islandiae litora aliquando attigisse, quorum nolas, cruces ligneas, 

 aliaque opere et arte Irlandica et Britannica facta deprehendit Ingulfus ; unde verisimUe est, 

 piscatores Irlandos, vel Scotos, ut et hodie Anglos, juxta Islandiam piscari solitos, in terram 

 descendisse, atque ita Christianas religionis utensilia reliquisse, etenim Irlandi jam turn Chris- 

 tianismo imbuti erant."— Hist. Island, c. 2. cited O'Conor, Rer. Hib. Script, vol. 4. p. 141. 



