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from the first of February until the first of August. (Dicuil's 

 work was found in Paris, and published there in the years 1807 

 and 1814). The Norsemen called monks " Pc/xs," and 

 thence they called the islands, where they found monks, 

 "Pope?/" and " Papeyar." In the western isles of Scotland, 

 in Orkney and Shetland, several islands bear that name; 

 thus shewing, that monks had resided there at an early 

 period. It is also curious to observe, that in Iceland there 

 existed in the olden time a church which had been built 

 in honour of St. Columba; and mention is made of an Ice- 

 lander who was said to have been educated by an abbot 

 named Patrick, in the western isles of Scotland or Ireland. 

 The King of Norway, Olaf Tryggveson, who first tried to 

 introduce Christianity there, was converted and baptized on 

 an island near Ireland, or, as some sagas say, " west over in 

 Ireland." Be that as it may, he was married to a sister 

 of king Olaf Kvaran in Dublin, where he stopped for some 

 time, and where, undoubtedly, the Christianity of Ireland must 

 have influenced him. An Irish princess named Sunnifva is 

 also said to have come to Norway, where she died, being per- 

 secuted by the Pagans. Her body, according to the legend, 

 being afterwards found in a perfect state of preservation, she 

 was canonized ; and on the 8th of July the Norsemen after- 

 M'ards had a mass in honour of her. 



Such is the testimony borne by the Icelandic sagas to the 

 fact of there having been an early Christian civilization in Ire- 

 land. But the question remains, whether this civilization 

 was not limited, for the most part, to the clergy, and whether 

 the mass of the people were not still very rude. From all the 

 accounts in the Irish annals, it appears, as Mr. Worsaae 

 thinks, that the people of Ireland, with the exception of the 

 clergy, were at that time really not more civilized than the 

 Northmen, perhaps even less so. It is true that the North- 

 men robbed and plundered, burned and killed ; but the people 

 of that remote period ought not to be judged according to 



