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MISS ELEANOR H. HULL, ON THE 



That architect came to a bad end. The Welsh builders were so 

 jealous of his superior skill that one dark night they beheaded 

 him, and tying a stone round his body sank it in a pond. 

 St. Cadoc is said to have all his life continued to wear the " thick 

 Irish mantle, rough and hairy," which he had been accustomed 

 to wear at Lismore, and one of the two treasures that he prized 

 most dearly was a small bell of peculiar sweetness which St. 

 Gildas had brought back with him out of Ireland, intending to 

 make a present of it to the Pope. On the way he showed it to 

 St. Cadoc, who was so much delighted with it that he implored 

 Gildas to sell it to him instead. This Gildas would not do, but, 

 fortunately for Cadoc, the Pope on iiearing of his desire, for 

 it, determined to send it Ijack to him. He said " that he had 

 heard much of the incredulity and rebellious perverseness of the 

 British nation, but on receiving this bell that he had blessed, he 

 trusted that they would cordially agree and make peace " among 

 themselves {Lives of the Canihro-British Sai/its, ed. W. J. Rees, 

 1853). 



Let me tell one story on the other side. Both the famous 

 Irish saints of the name of Pinnian came across the Channel to 

 complete their education. St. Pinnian of Moville was brought 

 up at the monastery of St. Ninian at Withern in Galloway, and 

 St. Pinnian of Clonard studied in South Wales. He was so much 

 esteemed in Wales that it is said that it was through his choice 

 that the Welsh people got their patron saint. While he was 

 there, a great meeting was held to decide whether Gildas the 

 Historian or David the famous preacher should have the 

 " Priority and Headship " of the Churches of Wales. Between 

 two such men they found it impossible to decide, and they 

 referred the question to St. Cadoc, a man who was himself of 

 hardly less eminence than the two selected. He was in an 

 awkward position, as both Gildas and David were his personal 

 friends, and it would have been both unpleasant and unwise to 

 make enemies either of themselves or their followers. Chancing 

 to notice young Pinnian in the crowd, he declared that he, not 

 being a Welshman, was more likely to be uninfluenced l)y personal 

 considerations, and that he therefore should decide. St. ])avid 

 appears to have been very much surprised at this, but he said 

 that if Pinnian could give his decision in good Welsh, he would 

 be willing to submit to it. Whereupon St. Pinwian is said to 

 have awarded priority to J)avid in such good Welsh " that it 

 might have been his mother-tongue." (Lives of the Saints 

 from the BooJx' of Lisviore, ed. Whitley Stokes, p. 223.) 



I might continue these tales for hours, but they are, after all, 



