The Great Book-Collectors | Page 5

the old country-houses must have been completely
destroyed. Some faint light of learning remained while Boethius
'trimmed the lamp with his skilful hand'; some knowledge of the
classics survived during the lives of Cassiodorus and Isidore of Seville.
Some of the original splendour may have lingered at Rome, and
perhaps in Ravenna. When Boethius was awaiting his doom in the
tower at Pavia, his mind reverted to the lettered ease of his life before
he had offended the fierce Theodoric. His philosophy found comfort in
thinking that all the valuable part of his books was firmly imprinted on
his soul; but he never ceased regretting the walls inlaid with ivory and
the shining painted windows in his old library at Rome.
CHAPTER II.
IRELAND--NORTHUMBRIA.
The knowledge of books might almost have disappeared in the seventh
century, when the cloud of ignorance was darkest, but for a new and
remarkable development of learning in the Irish monasteries.
This development is of special interest to ourselves from the fact that
the church of Northumbria was long dependent on the Irish settlement
at Iona. The Anglians taught by Paulinus very soon relapsed into
paganism, and the second conversion of the North was due to the
missionaries of the school of St. Columba. The power of Rome was
established at the Council of Whitby; but in the days when Aidan
preached at Lindisfarne the Northumbrians were still in obedience to an
Irish rule, and were instructed and edified by the acts and lives of St.
Patrick, of St. Brigit, and the mighty Columba.
We shall quote some of the incidents recorded about the Irish books, a
few legends of Patrick and dim traditions from the days of Columba,
before noticing the rise of the English school.
The first mention of the Irish books seems to be contained in a passage
of Æthicus. The cosmography ascribed to that name has been traced to
very early times. It was long believed to have been written by St.

Jerome; but in its present form, at least, the work contains entries of a
much later date. The passage in which Ireland is mentioned may be
even as late as the age of Columbanus, when Irish monks set up their
churches at Würzburg and on the shores of the Lake of Constance, or
illuminated their manuscripts at Bobbio under the protection of
Theodolind and her successors in Lombardy. A wandering philosopher
is represented as visiting the northern regions: he remained for a while
in the Isle of Saints and turned over the painted volumes; but he
despised the native churchmen and called them 'Doctors of Ignorance.'
'Here am I in Ireland, at the world's end, with much toil and little ease;
with such unskilled labourers in the field the place is too doleful, and is
absolutely of no good to me.'
Palladius came with twelve men to preach to the Gael, and we are told
that he 'left his books' at Cellfine. The legendary St. Patrick is made to
pass into Ulster, and he finds a King who burns himself and his home
'that he may not believe in Patrick.' The Saint proceeds to Tara with
eight men and a little page carrying the book-wallet; 'it was like eight
deer with one fawn following, and a white bird on its shoulder.'
The King and his chief Druid proposed a trial by ordeal. The King said,
'Put your books into the water.' 'I am ready for that,' said Patrick. But
the Druid said, 'A god of water this man adores, and I will not take part
in the ordeal.' The King said, 'Put your books into the fire.' 'I am ready
for that,' said Patrick. 'A god of fire once in two years this man adores,
and I will not do that,' said the Druid.
In the church by the oak-tree at Kildare St. Brigit had a marvellous
book, or so her nuns supposed. The Kildare Gospels may have been
illuminated as early as Columba's time. Gerard de Barri saw the book
in the year 1185, and said that it was so brilliant in colouring, so
delicate and finely drawn, and with such enlacements of intertwining
lines that it seemed to be a work beyond the powers of mortal man, and
to be worthy of an angel's skill; and, indeed, there was a strong belief
that miraculous help had been given to the artist in his dreams.
The 'Book of Durrow' called The Gospels of St. Columba, almost rivals
the famous 'Book of Kells' with which Mr. Madan will doubtless deal

in his forthcoming volume on Manuscripts. A native poet declared that
when the Saint died in 597 he had illuminated 'three hundred bright
noble books'; and he added that 'however long under water any book of
the Saint's writing should be,