249 



period ;* while it is too evident from the biography of that saint, and 

 from the human spoil taken by Leifus, (" deeem servos,")-!- that 

 bondsmen and slaves formed no small article of traffic. In the ad- 

 vance of the Christian religion, however, many attempts seem to have 

 been made to supersede this horrible practice, the efforts of charity 

 were directed towards the redemption of captives, and in the synod 

 attributed to Saint Patrick, two canons (the 1st. and 32nd.) were pro- 

 mulgated.]: with this laudable object. A custom was likewise intro- 

 duced, agreeably to the Mosaic institution,§ that a bondsman should, 

 as of right, be manumitted in the seventh year. 1| 



• tr Relative to money and coins, it is to be observed, that while 

 Leifus is said to have carried off "ingentes opes" in his expedition,** 

 Saint Patrick is recorded to have redeemed at his own charges (" suis 

 propriis sumptibus,")-^ f captives of both sexes, and these evidently 

 captives in bondage in Ireland ; and a far more inferential testimony is 

 furnished in a canon, preserved by D'Achery, (Spicil. tom. ix. p. 35,) 

 and attributed to Saint Patrick's time. " Si quis acceTpent permissionem 

 Po7itiJicis, et collectum sit pretium captivi non plus exigens quam ne- 

 cessitas poscit, si quid supra remanserit, ponat super altare et indi- 

 gentibus detur et captivis." 



As to the dress of this period, the reader will find much satisfac- 

 tory information in the fourth volume of Lanigan's Ecclesiastical 

 History of Ireland, an author of great research and rare accuracy, 

 but whose opinions and conclusions are unfortunately delivered with 

 too little forbearance or respect for those of others. 



* See post, Period 4. sect. 6. t -^w'*' P- 234, 



I Spelman's Concilia, vol. 1. pp. 51, 53. 



§ Exod. xxi. 2. — Levit. xxv. 40 Deuteron. xv. 12. — Jerem. xxxiv. 14. 



II See Trias Thaumat pp. 12, 37, 120, &c. ** Ante, p. 234. 

 ft Jnie, p. 182. 



VOL. XVI. K K 



