THE BOKE OF ST. ALBANS— TllE CELTS 57 



or Scotland. A passage in Bede (probably used by Henry of 

 Huntingdon), which has, I think, escaped the many-eyed net 

 of our fishing authors, testifies to its absence in the former, 



St. Wilfrid (born 634) on his return from Friesland, where 

 fishing yielded the staple of food, met with such success in his 

 mission to the South Saxons that he not only converted them, 

 " with all the priests of the Idols," but also — " which was a 

 great relief unto them " — taught them the craft of fishing, of 

 which, save eeling, they wotted naught. Collecting under the 

 Saint's order eel-nets where they could, the first adventurers 

 mentis sui patris Divina largitate adjuti ^ enmeshed three hundred 

 fishes, which they equally divided between the poor, the net- 

 owners, and themselves. 



The Celtae, with some exceptions such as the scomber- 

 catching Celtiberi, eschewed fish, probably from religious 

 prejudices, which owing to their adoration of the springs, 

 rivers, and waters prevented the eating of their denizens. 



Whatever the cause, Dion Cassius expressly comments on 

 the abstinence of the Caledonians, although their seas and 

 rivers abounded with food. 2 In time the example of the 

 clergy and the ordinance of fast days gradually overcame — 

 save in the case of Eels, which still remain to the Highlander 

 an abomination — their obstinate antipathy. Across St. George's 

 Channel the Irish two centuries ago " had little skill in 

 catching fish." 3 



But when the Western Highlanders did go a-fishing, their 

 prayers and promises — prompted by the same principle of 

 gratitude being a sense of favours to come — echo the prayers 

 and promises, Dis mutatis, of the Anthologia Palatina. 



The seas differ, but the gods precated are the same. If in 

 the following verses you substitute for " Christ, King of the 

 Elements" Poseidon, King of the Waters, for " brave Peter " 

 ruseful Hermes, and for "Mary fair" Aphrodite, you have the 

 tutelary deities of fishing. The spirit of the prayer and promise 

 of the firstling remain unchanged. 



^ In Bede, " Et divina se innante gratia." 



* 76, 12. tHiv yap lx6vuv, aireipoov Kal anXeraiv ovrdiv, ov yevovrat. 

 ' James Logan, The Scottish Gael (Inverness, 1876), vol. ii. p. 130 f. 



