STUDIES IN ENGLISH NUMBER 7 University of Texas Bulletin No. 2743: November 15, 1927 PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN Publications of the University of Texas Publications Committees: GENERAL: FREDERIC DUNCALF H. J. MULLER D. G. COOKE G. W. STUMBERG J. L. HENDERSON HAL C WEAVER A. P. WINSTON OFFICIAL: E. J. MATHEWS R. A. LAW W. J. BATTLE F. B. MARSH C. D. SIMMONS The University publishes bulletins four times a month, so numbered that the first two digits of the number show the year of issue, the last two the position in the yearly series. (For example, No. 2201 is the first bulletin of the year 1922.) These comprise the official publications of the University, publications on humanistic and scientific sub­jects, bulletins prepared by the Division of Extension, by the Bureau of Economic Geology, and other bulletins of general educational interest. With the exception of special num­bers, any bulletin will be sent to a citizen of Texas free on request. All communications about University publication1 should be addressed to University Publications, University of Texas, Austin. 8•11'1Uln eP TllU Pll81, &91TI• STUDIES IN ENGLISH NUMBER 7 University of Texas Bulletin No. 2743: November 15, 1927 PUBUSHBD BY THE UNIVERSITY FOUR TIMBS A MONTH, AND BNTERBD AS SBCOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POSTOFPICBAT AUSTIN, TBXAS, UNDER THB ACT OP AUGUST 2i. 1912 The bene6ta of education -• of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are e..ential to the preservation of a free goTena• ment. Sam Houston Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. • • • It is the only dictator that freemen acknowl­edge and the only security that free­men desire. Mirabeau B. Lamar CONTENTS PAGES EARLY LITERARY CHANNELS BETWEEN IRELAND AND BRITAIN, by Clark Harris Slover____________________________________ 5 SHAKESPEARE AND ELYOT'S "GOVERNOUR," by D. T. Starnes -----------------------------------------_______________________________________ l 12 AN UNNOTED ANALOGUE TO THE IMOGEN STORY, by Robert Adger Law____________________________ --------------------------------133 "OTHELLO" AS A MODEL FOR DRYDEN IN "ALL FOR LOVE," by T. P. Harrison, Jr.____________________________________ ________________ 136 MILTON'S EARLIER "SAMSON," by Evert Mordecai Clark --------------------------------------------------------------------------------144 BROCKDEN BROWNJS FIRST ATTEMPT AT JOURNALISM, by David Lee Clark_______ -------------------------------·------------------------155 POE'S READING: ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA, by Killis Campbell ---------------------------------------__ --------------------------------175 EARLY LITERARY CHANNELS BETWEEN IRELAND AND BRITAIN* BY CLARK HARRIS SLOVER We have seen how the Irish and British maintained com­munication with each other through the planting of colonies, through military operations, through the setting up of trade routes, and through intermarriage. It is now our duty to investigate the channels of communication maintained through contact between Irish and British-particularly South British-monastic centers. In our treatment of this phase of Irish-British relations we shall take account of the following features: (A) com­munication between Irish and British ecclesiastical centers, including (1) those Irish monasteries which preserve tradi­tions connecting them with definite places in Britain and (2) those which show connection with Britain in general with no indication of the exact British territory; (B) the inter-relation between Irish monasteries which communi­cated with Britain; (C) the literary importance of Irish monasteries of the British circle ( 1) in their production of literature and (2) in their relations with other monasteries producing literature; and (D) the use of intermonastic channels for the transmission of literary material (1) in Ireland and (2) between Ireland and Britain. As we approach the subject of Irish-British ecclesiastical relations, we are immediately attracted by the life stories of two very famous missionaries, Patrick, the British apostle to the Irish, and Columba, the Irish apostle to the North Britons. To our present purpose, however, the careers of these two men are not strictly essential. Patrick, although born in Britain, did not go to Ireland as a representative of the British church. His most famous companions, Aux­ilius, Secundinus, and Auserninus, were probably Gauls, *A continuation of an article published in Studies in English, No. 6, pp. 5-52 (December, 1926). and as far as we are able to discover, Patrick made every effort to introduce Christianity as it was practiced on the Continent. The rise of so-called Celtic Christianity took place at a later time. Even the long lists of British rela­tives who were supposed to have accompanied Patrick to Ireland are of little use to us as evidence of British influ­ence in Patrick's actual ministry, for they appear only in late documents of doubtful authority for the period in question. At the same time it must be admitted that although Patrick's actual ministry was probably of no great importance to the establishment of permanent Irish-British ecclesiastical channels, the later traditions which grew up around his name afford valuable evidence of British in­fluence in Ireland in subsequent periods. This evidence will be considered in its proper place. Columba by his missionary efforts established relations between the Irish church and the church of North Britain. The literary channels thus established, however, fall within a different category from those in which we are interested here. We shall therefore leave them out of consideration for the present. The earliest clear and unmistakable reference to ecclesias­tical communication between Britain and Ireland occurs in the Catalogus Sanctorum Hiberniae (ca. 750). This list divides the principal saints of Ireland into three classes or orders: the first includes Patrick and his companions (428-544); the second includes the saints from 544 to 599; and the third, the saints from 599 to 665.1 Although the classification is almost entirely artificial and exhibits funda­mental errors in chronology, it is of primary importance to our investigation, for it states that the second order of Irish saints received a mass from the Britons, David, Gildas, 1Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, edited after Spelman and Wilkins by A. W. Haddan and William Stubbs, Oxford, 1869, II, 292 ff. Hereafter referred to as H&S. and Doco.2 This statement makes a convenient point of departure. Such a clue as this clearly lays upon us the obligation to investigate more fully the Irish connections of the British clerics mentioned . .1. St. David's and Ireland David according to common tradition was the founder of the monastery of St. David's (formerly known as Menevia) in South Britain. The early history of this foundation is obscure, but if we may judge from the fact that David's name appears prominently in the life of Paul de Leon3 it must have been a place of some importance as early as the eighth century. Among the famous men later associated with this monastery were Asser, reputed biographer of Alfred,4 Ricemarch, the teacher and author, who composed a life of St. David, and Giraldus Cambrensis, the well­known historian. By the middle of the twelfth century it was the leading church of Wales, although some of its claims 2There seems little doubt that Doco is a variant of Cadoc, a person about whom we shall have more to say in due time. (See the discus­sion by E. Phillimore in Y Cymmrodor XI (1890-91), 92, note 6.) Another variant of the same name is Catmail. The Catalogus itself looks like the beginning of a scheme to organ­ize the hagiographical material which had been piling up since the great missionary movement of the sixth century. We have other traces of such a scheme in the Latin lives of Patrick, Brigit, and Columba. It is especially noteworthy that one of the earliest attempts to put in order the facts of Irish ecclesiastical history should make such a direct and specific reference to British clerics. aEdited by C. Cuissard, Revue celtique, V (1881-83), 43 ff. This life, composed in its present form by Wrmonoc of Landevennec, is probably based on much older documents. We may infer, therefore, that although Wrmonoc the author lived in the ninth century, a good share of the material may date from the eighth. The passage in which David is mentioned states that he was a pupil of Iltud and that he was called Aquaticus because he lived on bread and water (p. 413). 4See W. H. Stevenson in his Asser's Life of King Alfred, etc., Oxford, 1904, p. lxxi. were sharply disputed by Llandaff, the principal church of Glamorganshire.5 The geographical situation of St. David's invited com­munication with Ireland. The neighboring harbor of Fish­guard is, even to the present day, one of the principal ports for ships from Ireland, and the distance across the Irish Sea from there to Rosslare Harbor is almost exactly the same as that from Holyhead to Kingston, the most commonly used commercial route. As we have seen, a good share of the commercial traffic across Britain to the Continent must have passed by the doors of St. David's. We have also seen that the territory of Dyfed (roughly modern Pem­brokeshire) was occupied for many years by a branch of the southern Irish family of the Dessi and by other Irish colo­nists who undoubtedly maintained relations with the mother country.6 With this in mind we do not find it surprising that St. David should be known and reverenced in Ireland. The general esteem in which David was held in Ireland may be inferred from the fact that his death is recorded in the Annals of Tigernach7 compiled at Clonmacnoise iSee H&S, I. 390 ff., for full details of the controversy. sStudies in English (University of Texas), No. 6, pp. 14-21. 1Rev. celt., XVII, p. 158. Although the Annals of Tigernach are valuable as an indication of what was considered history by the eleventh and twelfth-century Irish, they are no longer regarded ss the most trustworthy and dependable of the Irish annals. MacNeill's study of these annals reveals the fact that the text as we now have it is the result of a series of accretions, interpolations, and transposi­tions extending over a period of five or six centuries (see his summary Eriu, VII [1913-14] , 106-8). The Annals of Ulster, on the other hand, are regarded as containing some genuine material of great antiquity and of unusual authority. The Annals of the Four Masters are a compilation made by the O'Clerys in the first half of the seventeenth century. The O'Clerys had access to a great body of Irish historical material that has since been lost, but the annals are so padded out with heroic and pseudo-historical material that it is extremely difficult for the reader to distinguish between the genuinely ancient and the modern. When properly controlled, however, they are valuable to the student of Irish history in that the compilers apparently had access to annals no longer extant which dealt with the affairs of South Ireland, thus supplying a serious deficiency in the Annals of Ulstm-and the Em·ly Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 9 and in another set of annals preserved in the Book of Leinster.8 The David tradition, moreover, seems to be specially local­ized in certain important Irish monastic centers. TALLAGHT (Tamlacht Mrelruain). The monastery is a comparatively late foundation, dating only from the middle of the eighth century,0 but it is notable as the residence of Oengus the Culdee, one of the few writers of ancient Ireland whose identity seems to be definitely established. His Felire or Martyrology, which was begun at Clonenagh, and completed at Tallaght in 804, 10 is still extant in nearly the same form in which it was originally composed. Although this martyrology includes for the most part the names of Irish and continental saints, David is duly commemorated on March 1. It is especially worthy of note that the name of the saint is accompanied by the name of his British home, Menevia, in the Irish form Cill Muine, a fact that implies that the place was well known in Ireland. Another Tallaght document composed about 100 years later,11 the so-called Martyrology of Tallaght, from which Annals of Tigernach. The Chronicon Scotorum is an abridgement of the Annals of Tigernach made by Dudley MacFirbis. It is valuable to us chiefly because it supplies material dealing with the fifth century which is absent in the extant copies of the Annals of Tigernach; see the discussion by M. Maccarthy, The Codex Palatino-Vaticanus No. 830 (Royal Irish Academy, Todd Lecture Series, III), Dublin, 1892, pp. 247-251. The Annals of lnisfallen were written down in the early thirteenth century, but they of course contain a good deal of earlier material. BThe Book of Leinster, sometime called the Book of Glendalough ... published by the Royal Irish Academy, with introduction, analy­ sis of contents, and index by Robert Atkinson, Dublin, 1880. Here­ after referred to as LL (facs.) DThe founder Mrelruan died A.D. 787. The monastery gave its name to the modern town of Tallaght, about five miles southwest of Dublin. 10Felire Oengusso Celi De. The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee, ed. Whitley Stokes (Henry Bradshaw Soc. Publ.), London, 1905, p. xxvi. Hereafter referred to as Fel. 11The last person named therein died A.D. 899. practically all but Irish saints are excluded, retains the name of David at March 1.12 12See the edition by Matthew Kelly, Dublin (1857). The date· is discussed by the editor, Introduction, p. iv. The reverence in which the name of David was held at Tallaght gives additional interest to some of the evidence regarding the origin of the customs of the Culdees. The Culdees were monks who practiced a more simple, and at the same time less violently ascetic mode of life than their prede­cessors in Ireland. In the ninth century they were established in several of the principal monasteries of Ireland, including Tallaght, Clondalkin, Clonmacnoise, Scattery Island, Armagh, Devenish, Clones, and Pubble. (See Wm. Reeves, The Culdees of the British Islands as they appear in History, Dublin, 1886, pp. 7 ff., for a general dis­cussion of the Culdees.) There seem to have been Culdees also at Terryglass, Bangor, and Lismore. (See "The Monastery of Tallaght," edited by E. J. Gwynn and W. J. Purton, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, XXIX (1911-12), 121-2.) Their practices are em­bodied in two extant documents, both dating ultimately from the ninth century. One of these is printed by Reeves (op. cit.), and the other by Gwynn and Purton (op. cit.). An entry in the Chronicon Scotorurm [A Chronicle of Irish Affairs for thJe Earliest Times to A.D. 1195, edited with a translation by Wm. Hennessy, London, 1866 (Rolls Series)], under the year 811 would lead us to suspect that the Rule of the Culdees was brought from Britain. The entry is as follows: "It was in it (this year) the Celi De came over the sea from the south dry-footed without a boat; and a written roll used to be given to him from Heaven, out of which he would give instruction to the Greidhel, and it used to be taken up again when the instruction was delivered; and the Celi De was wont to go each day across the sea, southwards, after imparting the instruction." There are two other entries re­ferring to the Culdees in the same document. One of them at the year 919 states that Maonac the Culdee came from the west (proba­bly a mistake for westward, since there was no place west of Ireland for him to come from) ; and the other at 946 tells of a Culdee coming from the south. It may be that the Maonac referred to is the same as the scholar Maonac, who died at Armagh in 955 (Annala Uladh, An­nals of Ulster, otherwise Annala Senait, Annals of Senait: A Chron­icle of Irish Affairs from A.D. 481 to 1540, ed. W. M. Hennessey (vols. 2-4 by B. Maccarthy) , Dublin, 1887-1901. Hereafter referred to as AU). To these we should add Malach the British Culdee who appears in the ninth-century Tripartite Life of Patrick. See The Tripartite Life of Patrick with other Documents Relating to that Saint, ed. Whitley Stokes, London, 1887 (Rolls Series), p. 198. Anyone who has difficulty in accepting clerics from the south as British needs only to glance at a map of the British Isles. There Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 11 CLONFERTMULLOE (Cluan Ferta Molua) 18 had for its patron Molua (otherwise known as Lugaid). According to the commentaries on the Martyrology of Oengus, Molua was confessor to David of Menevia.14 This statement, of course, cannot be accepted as evidence that David and Molua were personally acquainted in the sixth century, but it shows clearly that the monastery of which Molua was patron entertained feelings of friendliness toward St. David's at the time when the tradition took shape. In the Tripartite Li/e of Patrick there is a Molua whom the writer connects with Imliuch Sescainn. He also refers to him as a Briton.15 If this be Molua of Clonfertmulloe, he will see that visitors from South Britain to any ports in the north­ern half of Ireland would naturally be thought of as coming from the south. The case for the British origin of the Culdees is strengthened somewhat by the fact that Giraldus Cambrensis found Culdees firmly established in Wales in the twelfth century (see his Itinerarium Kambriae (Opera, vol. VI), ed. J. F. Dimock, London, 1868 (Rolls Series, p. 124). 13A parish in the barony of Clandonagh two miles west of Borris-in­ Ossory, Queen's County, modern Kyle. HFel., p. 182; also the commentaries in LL, p. 361 (lower margin). The date of these commentaries is doubtful. They appear variously in LL (twelfth century), Leabhar Breac (fourteenth century), and Laud 610 (fifteenth century). Some of them may have been com­posed shortly after the original martyrology; others must be at least as late as the eleventh or twelfth century. An interesting, though possibly unreliable statement regarding the date of the commen­taries is found in the Leabhar Breac and Laud 610 scolia. The commentator offering an alternative explanation of the text prefaces it by the remark that it is found thus "in the· commentary on the Calendar which has been in Armagh since the time of the saints (ar i8 ed fil issin trachtad ind Felire ata o remus no n6em a n-Ardmacha)." (see Fel., p. 152.) From this we may conclude that although the commentaries taken as a whole are of various date, certain parts of them must depend upon material at least as old as the early ninth century, the end of the period generally regarded as the "age of the saints." 16Molue ailithir di Bretnaib domuintir Patraic indlmliuch Ses­cainn fri tech Laisrend indes for ur Locha Ainninne (p. 78). The place is, so far, unidentified. It seems to have lain somewhere on we may explain the epithet Briton by the British associa­tions of Molua in Irish ecclesiastical tradition. If, however, as seems likely, we are dealing here with a different char­acter we must add another independent British tradition to our list. The importance of the British connections of Molua's monastery lies in the fact that Molua was one of the better known saints of the "second order"-who, be it remembered, received their custom of celebrating the mass from the Britons-and hence his monastery exerted a strong influence upon a number of subordinate monasteries which claimed the patron.16 Among these were DRUMS- Lough Ennel near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. See also Liber Ardma­chus. The Book of Armagh, ed. John Gwynn (published by the Royal Irish Academy), Dublin and London, 1913, p. 19a. 16The attachment of Killaloe to the Molua tradition is apparently the work of ecclesiastics under the direction of Brian Borumha. Kil­laloe is not mentioned in the annals until the eleventh century, when it appears as Cill Da Lua (the Da-prefix was often substituted for the Mo-or Ma-prefix). The church, which was near Kincora, Brian's manor house (see O'Donovan's Ordnance Letters (in Roy. Ir. Acad.), "Clare," p. 346), was built by Brian himself [Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, or the Invasions of Ireland by the Danes and 0th.er Norse­men, ed. J. H. Todd, London, 1867 (Rolls Series), pp. 138-141], and one of the first abbots was his brother Marean. The latter seems the only logical inference from the two following entries in the Annals of the Four Masters [Annala riogachta Eireann. Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, ed. John O'Donovan, Dublin, 1856 (hereafter referred to as Four Masters)] under the year 1009: Marean mac Cinneittig, cend Clereac Muman, decc. Comarba Coluim mic Criomtainn, .i. Tir da glas, Innsi Cealtra, Gille Dalua do ecc.­Marcan son of Cinnetig head of the clergy of Munster died. The successor of Colum Mac Crimthann, i.e. of Terryglass, Iniscealtra, and Killaloe died." As these entries now stand they leave the brother of Brian without any habitation, and the illustrious ecclesiastical ruler of three monasteries without a name. Such an oversight rarely occurs, even in the briefest entries. It seems probable, therefore, that the first "decc" should be omitted, and the entries combined. (See AU. A.D. 1110.) The various lives of Molua make no reference to Killaloe. He appears as founder first in the lives of Flannan, the traditional successor of Molua at Killaloe. For further discussion see below, pp. 106-108. NAT (Drom Snechta) 11 and SLIEVE BLOOM (Sleibhe 18 Bladhma) . FERNS (Ferna Mor Maedoc) in Co. Wexfc>rd, which for many years was the most powerful church of Leinster, is brought into contact with St. David's through the traditions of its founder Maedoc.1 9 One account of Maedoc's connec­tion with St. David's is in the life of David by Ricemarch (late eleventh century), and another is in a still earlier Latin life of Maedoc.20 Both of these lives state that Maedoc came to David as a pupil and after a sojourn marked by many wonders returned to Ireland, where he founded the monastery of Ferns.21 Here again we should observe that the story is of little value as proof of personal relations between David and Maedoc. It is valuable, however, as evidence of the attitude of Ferns toward St. David's at the time when the Vita Maedoc was composed. It would take strong British influence to make an Irish cleric assert that the patron saint of his monastery was the pupil of a Briton. The connection between Ferns and St. David's appears again in a rather interesting story in the commentaries on the Felire, telling how fifty clerics came from St. David's to visit Maedoc because he had been a pupil of David.22 The point of the story is concerned with the fact that Maedoc, because of his training under David, would not eat meat or allow it to be served at Ferns. The knowledge of this fact argues familiarity with the tradition related of David in the Life of Paul of Leon that he lived on bread and water.23 The tradition of the British connections of Ferns is fur­ther reflected in the life of Colman Elo. The writer of the 11Fel., p. 180; Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae, ed. Charles Plummer, Oxford, 1910 (hereafter referred to as VSH) II, p. 213. isFel., p. 180. t9The name appears variously at Aedan, Edan, Mogue, etc. 20For a further discussion of these lives, see below, pp. 93-106. 21Vita David, ed. A. W. Wade-Evans, Y Cymmrodor, XXIV (1913), p. 16; Vita Maedoc, VSH, JI, p. 297. 22££, p. 285b. See also the version from MS Rawl. B. 512' in Fel., p. 54. 2asee note 3, above. Life, in relating a visit of his patron to the founder of Ferns, describes Maedoc as accompanied by a British cleric.24 CORK. Findbarr, or Bairre, the patron of Cork, is an­other South Irish saint who is brought into connection with David in Irish and British hagiographical tradition. Ac­cording to the Vita David, Bairre became desirous of seeing the relics of Peter and Paul, and therefore undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. On his return he stopped to visit St. David, but remained only a short time because he was uneasy over the condition of his monastery. David fur­nished him with a miraculous horse which carried him safely and quickly over the sea to his destination.25 The same story, with only slight modifications, appears in one of the lives of Bairre.26 Here it is accompanied by the statement that an image of the horse was preserved at Cork down to the time of writing, a fact which makes it impos­sible to doubt that the purpose of the story was to explain the origin of one of the monastery's treasured relics. The significance of the story, of course, lies in the writer's choice of a journey from St. David's to Cork as a suitable expla­nation. The author must have felt that a legend of connec­tion between Bairre and David was entirely in accord with the sentiments of his monastery and that it would be ac­ceptable to his readers. TASCOFFIN (Tech Scuithin). A similar story is re­lated of Scuithin (Scutinus) who was sent by Maedoc to warn David of a plot against his life.21 Since he was unable to find a boat, he was taken over the sea on the back of a 24Acta sanctorum Hibe.rniae ex codice Salmanticense, ed. C. de Smedt and J. de Backer, Edinburgh and London, 1888 (hereafter CS,) col. 438. The section which contains the reference is omitted from the other (and probably later) recension printed by Plummer, VSH, I, pp. 258 ff., probably not because of the Briton, who enters the story very casually, but because the writer for some reason-possibly political--did not wish to use the main incident, namely, Maedoc's resuscitation of King Brandubh of Leinster. 25Vita David, pp. 17-18. 26VSH, I, p. 69, note 8. For further discussion of the Vita Bair.re, see below, pp. 108-109. 21Vita David, p. 17. sea monster. This story is probably adapted to the needs of hagiography from the older tradition of the meeting of Scuithin and Bairre in the sea.28 It is rather doubtful whether we are justified in ascribing to Tascoffin clerics the introduction of Scuithin into Irish-British hagiographical tradition. Since there is no Irish life of Scuithin, one can­not be sure whether his connection with Britain was a British or an Irish tradition. It may be that here we have a story adapted to hagiographical uses by British clerics who knew Irish material. If so, we cannot safely assume that Tascoffin claimed connection with Britain as did Ferns, Cork, and others. We cannot escape the inference, how­ever, that St. David's claimed connection with the patron of Tascoffin. EMLY (lmblech Ibair). Ailbe, the patron of Emly, is represented in Irish tradition as being in Britain at the time of David's birth. The story runs that he saw a priest who was trying to celebrate mass before his congregation, but was unable to speak. Ailbe explained the priest's pre­dicament to the audience by pointing out in the congrega­tion a pregnant woman who was to be the mother of David, a bishop. It was not lawful, he said, for a priest to say mass in the presence of a bishop unless commanded to do so.29 When David was born, he was given to Ailbe to be educated.30 2eFel., p. 40; The Martyrology of Donegal. A Calendar of the Saints of Jre"land, translated by John O'Donovan, ed. J. H. Todd and Wm. Reeves, Dublin, 1864, January 2. Compare the secular tale of the meeting of Mannanan and Bran, The Voyage of Bran, Son of Febal, etc., by Kuno Meyer and Alfred Nutt, London, 1897, I, 16 ff. 29Vita Albei (CS), Par. 21; see also Vita Albei (VSH), I, p. 53. This story appears also in the Vita DavUl (Par. 5), where the priest is no less a person than Gildas. For a full discussion of this incident and of the date of the Vita Albei, see below, pp. 91-93. 30According to the Vita David (p. 8), Ailbe (or Elve), bishop of Munster, baptized David. The text makes him bishop of Menevia, an inconsistency too violent even for a saint's life, for the main point of the narrative, of course, is the foundation of Menevia by David. An interlinear gloss supplies uel Muminensium. See also the life by Giraldus Cambrensis, Opera III, p. 383. J. E. Lloyd (History of Another tradition of British contact is related in the birth story of Ailbe himself. He was adopted by a family of Britons living in slavery in East Cliach (the northeast corner of modern Limerick). When they had an oppor­tunity to return home they departed, leaving Ailbe behind. 31 ARDMORE. There is little to be learned of the connec­tion of Declan, patron of Ardmore, with David beyond the statement in Declan's life that he made a journey to Rome and, on his return, visited David at Menevia, where the two saints exchanged vows of eternal friendship.32 We cannot regard this statement as any more than a formulation of a feeling of amity between the South Irish and the British foundation. If it is merely an echo of similar stories in the lives of other Munster saints, we must admit nevertheless that it is a voluntary and premeditated echo, which springs from a consciousness of some sort of affinity with Menevia. SCATTERY ISLAND (lnis Cathaig). The church of Iniscathaig, on a small island at the mouth of the Shannon, ascribed its foundation to Senan. The relations between Senan and David are described in one of the later lives of the Irish saint. The story is that Senan made the usual pilgrimage to Rome, visited St. Martin, and stopped for a time at Menevia with David. When he departed, David gave him his own crozier as a pledge of friendship and fraternity,33 This account, in its general outlines, resembles Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, London, 1911, p. 154) suggests that the place of Ailbe in the Vita David is due to the name of a neighboring community, Llaneilfyw. This sug­ gestion, however, does not militate against the assumption of con­ nection between Emly and St. David's, an assumption based on the fact that the story was known and consciously preserved at both monasteries. It seems only fair, moreover, to call attention to the fact that a place name may arise from a legend as easily as a legend from a place name. 31VSH, I, p. 47. 32VSH, II, p. 41. 33Lives of Saints from the Book of Li,smore, ed. Whitley Stokes, Oxford, (Anecdota Oxoniensia), 1890 (hereafter LismSS), lines 2056 ff. See also the account in the metrical life (CS, col. 755). David and Senan were such good friends that neither wished to live after the death of the other. Senan died when he was told by an angelic messenger of the death of David. that of Declan. It seems to represent the writer's desire to provide an historical background for relations which existed at the time of writing, and possibly for relics in the possession of the monastery. David is connected in a curious way with Tralee, Co. Kerry, by a statement in a tract relating to the mothers of Irish saints. The assertion is made that Magna (otherwise Mor), a sister of David of Menevia, was mother of Setna of Tralee.34 She is also said to be the mother of Eltin (Moeltoc) of Kinsale, Co. Cork.35 Thus two more Munster saints are brought into connection with David by Irish hagiographical tradition. TIMOLEAGUE (Tech Molagga). Molagga, patron of Timoleague, according to an Irish life of doubtful date, visited David and brought back to Ireland a bell and a swarm of bees. He landed at Lann Beachaire (later Lam­beeker) north of Dublin, and from there proceeded to Cork, where he founded Tech Molagga.36 Molagga's association with Lann Beachaire,37 and possibly a misunderstanding of the place name Templeogue38 seem to have attracted to him a tradition that belongs rightly to Modomnoc of Tiper­aghny (Co. Kilkenny), the person generally supposed to have introduced bees into Ireland.39 It is well worth noting that both are supposed to have brought the bees from the same place-St. David's in South Britain,-but that the 34££, 373a. "Magna siur dabida cille mune mathair setna maic £iren do artragib cliac." For the identification of Artraighe Cliach with Tralee, see D. O'Donoghue, in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 5th Ser., I (1890-91), 703 ff. :rnFel., December 11. 36See the life edited from R.I.A. MS A. IV.1 by Fainne Fionn in The Irish Rosary, XV (1911), 515-6. Another version (Brussels, MS Bibl. Roy. 2542-3) is available only in Colgan's Latin translation, AASSHib, January 20. 37This connection has the authority of the commentaries on the Felire; see p. 48. 88See E. Hogan, Onomasticon Goedelicum, Dublin, 1910, s.v. "tech molaca." 39Fel., pp. 74, 112, 464. Vita David mentions only Modomnoc.40 Molagga's bell seems to have been purloined from the traditions relating to Maedoc, who, according to both Irish and British tra­dition, received a bell from David.41 This manipulation of tradition offers additional testimony to the strong desire on the part of South Irish hagiographers to bring their saints into relation with David. It was probably Irish interest in St. David's that led the commentators on the Felire to say that Brig and Duthracht, two unequivocally Irish saints, belonged to Menevia.42 It may be in recognition of this interest, fur­thermore, that the British attached a Patrick tradition to St. David's. The writer of the Vita David asserts that Patrick visited St. David's thirty years before the birth of David. He was told by an angel that his ministry was not to be in Britain, for that country was reserved for one yet to be born. 43 This story looks very much like an attempt to explain the origin of certain Patrician place names in South Britain without impairing the prestige of David. Such place names point to the presence in Britain of clerics inter­ested in Irish ecclesiastical tradition. There is clear evi­dence, moreover, that there was a life of Patrick redacted in South Wales.44 The foregoing evidence, combined with the prominence given to David in the Catalogue of Irish Saints, leads us to conclude that there may have been some truth behind the statement made by his biographer that nearly a third or a fourth part of Ireland served David.45 Some further record of his popularity may be seen in certain early church dedications in Ireland. A list of the churches in the diocese 40Ed. cit., pp. 18-19. 4 1VSH, II, p. 300; Vita David, p. 19. 42 The Martyrology of Gorm.an, ed. Whitley Stokes, London (Henry Bradshaw Society Puhl.), 1895 (hereafter Mart. Gorrn). op. 5. 44J. B. Bury, "A Life of St. Patrick (Colgan's Tertia Vita)," Trans. Royal Irish Academy, XXXII (1903), 221. 45Vita David, p. 19: "Verum pene tercia vel quarta Hibernie servit David Aquilento . ..." Aquilento seems to be an error for aquatico, of Ossory which invoke David as a patron are given in a manuscript of James Phelan, Bishop of Ossory (ob. 1693), copied by his successor, and edited by P. F. Moran.46 In this list David is patron of Ullid in Iverk, Dungarvan in Claragh, Inchivologhan in Siller, Knocktopher in Kells, and Listerling in Obercorn. CLONARD (Cluan Iraird), one of the chief seats of Irish learning, was founded by Finnian, who, like Maedoc, was a friend of David. The Irish life of Finnian relates his visit to Menevia, where he found David, Gildas, and Cathmael47 contending for the supremacy in Britain. They called upon Finnian to arbitrate, and he gave judgment in favor of David because of his seniority.48 2. Llancarvan and Ireland The material dealing with Finnian of Clonard brings us to a consideration of another of the three British saints mentioned in the Catalogue, for the traditions of Finnian link him not only with David but with Cadoc (Doco) and, consequently, with Llancarvan. This monastery, situated in the south of Glamorgan, was at one time a place of some importance. It is probably best known to students of mediaeval literature as the residence of Caradoc, to whom is ascribed a Vita Gildae and a Chronicle of the Welsh Princes. Its early traditions are preserved in the Vita the epithet often applied to David because he lived on bread and water. See the notes on this passage by the editor of the Vita. Lloyd (History of Wales, p. 155) suggests that Aquilento here means marsh, and refers to Ferns, the Welsh equivalent of which would be Guernin (cf. gwern, "a swamp"). 46Spicilegium Ossoriensis, Dublin, 1874-1884, I, pp. 6 ff. 47 Another form of the name Cadoc. See E. Phillimore, Y Gym., XI (1891), p. 92, note 6. Phillimore explains that Cadfael (OW Catmail) was his proper name, and that the diminutive suffix -oc was substituted for the final element. 4B£ismSS, lines 2537-2510; see also CS, coll. 191 ff. Cadoci composed about 1075 by Lifris49 magister of Llan­carvan and son of Herwald, Bishop of Llandaff (1056-1104) .50 If the Doco mentioned in the Catalogus and in the Annals of Ulster (A.D. 473) be the same as Cadoc, the founder of Llancarvan must have been well known in Irish tradition.51 The specific connection between Llancarvan and the Finnian tradition is effected by a story in the Irish life of Finnian, which relates his founding of a church at that place.52 A visit of Finnian to Llancarvan is described in the Vita Cadoci, but the British writer bestows the honor of found­ing the church upon Cadoc. Apparently the distinction of having founded such a famous abbey was too rich a prize to give an Irish cleric. At the same time the writer in­cludes a number of details that seem to be based on Irish tradition, and which betray an interest in Irish ecclesias­tical characters. He mentions two companions of Finnian, MacMoil and Gavran (also called Gnavan and Guaran) .53 In honor of MacMoil, Cadoc founded a church now known as Mamhole in Bedwelty.54 Gavran's name seems to be preserved in Nant Garbayn (the Irish equivalent of Nant Garfan [later Llancarvan]) 55 and may be the same as the 411 See his subscription, MS Cott, Vesp. XIV, fol. 37ro; W. J. Rees, Lives of the Cambro-Saints, etc., Llandovery, 1853 (hereafter CBSS), p. 80. soLloyd, History of Wales, p. 158. 51The name of Cadoc seems to have been used in Ireland. Alcuin mentions an Irish priest named Caidoc, who visited the Continent (Mon. Germ. Hist., SS. Rer. Mer., IV, 390). See also Caidoc's epitaph written by Angilbert (Mon. Germ. Hist., Poetae, I, 366). 52LismSS, lines 2540-2550. Here the name is given as Nant Gabran. In the Latin version (CS, col. 194) it is Nant Garbayn. This corre­sponds with the earlier form of the name as preserved in British records, Nant Garfan. For a discussion of the dates of the various lives, see below. 53CBSS, p. 36. 54/bid., pp. 88, 385-386. It is likely that the story of MacMoil is introduced to explain the name of the place. This, of course, does not alter the fact that the explanation is based on Irish tradition. 55The variant Gnavan (see above) may be the name which enters into the compound Manornowen (formerly Manernavan) in Dewisland Early Literary CM.nnels Between Ireland and Britain 21 Garban referred to in the Book of Leinster tract on the mothers of Irish saints as son of Finnian's sister.56 Cadoc, moreover, is provided by his biographer with an Irish tutor, a certain Meuthi0' about whom very little is known. The few traditional acts of this tutor have been made the subject of a separate life, which is preserved in the same manuscript with Vita Cadoci.58 Here he appears as Tathan, which seems to be only a variant of the same name with the Da-prefix substituted for Ma-. Another Irish detail in the Vita Cadoci is the incident of the Irish carpenter Liuguri (Loegaire?) who came to Britain with his children in search of work and was mur­dered by his jealous fellow-laborers.•• This tale may be intended to explain the place name Landlyigri; on the other hand, it is just as likely that the legend gave rise to the name. Returning to the tradition of Finnian's visit to Britain, we observe that when he returned to Ireland he was accom­ panied by two Britons, Bite and Genoc.60 Of Bite we hear nothing further, but Genoc seems to have won a fairly prominent place in Irish tradition. He appears in the list of Finnian's pupils preserved in the Codex Salmanticensis collection of saints' lives ;61 he is included in the fictitious list of fifteen bishops who were sons of Patrick's sister Hundred, Pembrokeshire. There is also a Kilnawan in the parish of Llanboidy. See The DescriptWn. of Penbrokshire by Grorge Owen of Henllys, edited by Henry Owen, London, 1892, etc. (Cymmrodorion Record Series, No. 1), I, 290-291, note 3. HGarban appears in Irish ecclesiastical tradition also as occupant of Cell Garban, Vita, Coemgeni, VSH, I, p. 249. 57CBSS, pp. 25 ff. sscott. V esp. A. XIV. It is difficult to see why this life should have been written, for it explains nothing, and apparently glorifies no one. It seems to be based on some such set of incidents as are related in the Vita Cadoci, but the variation in the name Meuthi/Tathan must have taken place under Irish linguistic influence. 59CBSS, pp. 46-48. socs, col. 195. s1Jbid., col 200. Here he is called Mugenoch of Kylli Cumli. Hogan suggests (Ornnn. Goed.) Kilcooley. Darerca ;62 and he is mentioned as patron of Cill Dumai Gluind in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick.63 Perhaps we may be permitted to speculate that Genoc was known to Irish ecclesiastical tradition as a Briton and that material relating to him was attracted to the traditions of Finnian and Patrick by the British connections of these two saints.64 Two other passages in the Vita Cadoci define Llancar­van's relations with Ireland still more clearly. One refers to a tract of land somewhere on the River Liff ey in east­central Ireland. This tract was the property of Llancar­van, and the steward refused to yield up its produce to the secular authorities. He was attacked and killed, but later by a miracle was restored to life. The king then, in recognition of the holiness of the church, granted further privileges and enlarged domains.65 This anecdote no doubt has a familiar ring to readers of saints' lives, and it will be immediately recognized as the usual formula for the substantiation of a claim for land and immunities. Taken, therefore, at its minimum significance for our subject, we must allow that it reveals the fact that Llancarvan in the eleventh century (when the Vita Cadoci was composed) felt that it had a claim to certain lands on the River Liffey. The other passage is still more decisive. It bears such unequivocal testimony to the relations between Llancarvan and Clonard that it should be quoted in full: Testificantur etiam periti Hibernensium qui clunererunt [qui apud Clunererd MS] 66 in monasterio discipuli sui [Cadoci] beati Finiani degerunt, quod si quis ex clericis Sancti Cadoci iverit ad illos, honori­fice eum suscipiunt; et ipsum velut unum ex illis heredem faciunt. 6~See the version of the list in LL, 372a21 ff.; see also Mart. Don., Dec. 26, where he appears as son of Tigris, another sister of Patrick. ssp. 68. The place referred to is modern Kilglin, bar. Upper Deece, par. Balfeaghan, Co. Meath, near Knocknatulla. Mart. Gorm. also mentions Mogenoc at Dec. 26 (p. 246). 64Cadoc himself seems to have been drawn into the Patrick tra­dition in much the same way. In Trip. Life (pp. 190, 192) there is mentioned a Mochat6c who was a member of Patrick's community. sscBSS, pp. 78--79. 66This is only one of many errors in Rees's text. Et hoc fertur esse prognosticon justicie eorum, et priscum si seram monasterii tangendo, sine clave reseravit.61 In this passage we see the record, not only of continued relations between the two monasteries, but also the con­sciousness on the part of the monks of Clonard of an obligation to Llancarvan. Clonard is still further linked with Britain (although not necessarily with Llancarvan) by the tradition of Sanctan and Matoc. The scoliast's preface to the Hymn of Sanctan in the Irish Liber Hymnorum68 contains the statement that the author made the hymn as he was going from Clonard westward to Inis Matoc. He was a brother to Matoc and had followed him to Ireland, and they were both Britons. Sanctan did not have the knowledge of the Irish language up to that hour, but God gave it to him quickly. Con­firmation of the British origin of Sanctan and Matoc is afforded by the LL tract on the mothers of Irish saints, where we find that Dechtire, daughter of Muiredach Muinderg, king of Ulster, was wife of Samuel Chendisil, and had two sons, Sanctan and Matoc.69 Samuel Chendisil is the same as the Samuel Pennissel10 of Welsh tradition. The name means "low-head." He is men­tioned in the tenth-century genealogies attached to the Historia Britonum in MS Harleian 3859 as son of Pappo Post Priten.71 He appears also in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Brittaniae (III, 19) 72 as successor of Ryd­derch in the kingship. The relation between him and Samuel Bennuchel ("high-head") is interesting. Samuel Bennuchel is mentioned in the Welsh Triads as one of the three haughty men of Britain,73 and also as a member of King Arthur's court in the romance of Kulwch and Olwein.u 67CBSS, p. 79. &BEd. Bernard and Atkinson, London, 1898 (Henry Bradshaw So­ciety Publications), I, 129. 69LL, 372d. 1owelsh p is equivalent to Irish c in this position. nJn J. Loth Les Mabinogion, Paris, 1913, II, 341-342. 12Ed. San Marte, pp. 43-44. raLoth, Mab. II, 259. UJbid., I, 282. There is no doubt that they are one and the same person, for the genealogies from MS Hengwrt 536 (14th cent.) substi­tute Sawyl Penuche! for Samuel Pennissel as son of Pappo Post Priten,75 and the Brut Tyssilio, a Welsh redaction of Geoffrey's Historia, makes a similar substitution.76 J. Loth thinks that the substitution first occurred in the Triads; that the writer, feeling that "low-head" was a poor name for a haughty man, changed the original name Pennissel to Pen­nuchel ("high-head") .77 Various Irish references to Sanctan show that the same confusion obtained in Ireland. The passage in the Book of Leinster already quoted says he was son of Cendissel ("low-head"). Another reference to Sanctan is glossed cendmar ("great head") .78 Still another refers to bishops Santan, Sanctan, and Lethan as sons of the British king Cantoin.79 Whatever this last name may mean, it falls in with the others in this tradition, for it contains the cenn ("head") element. All together this set of facts illustrates quite clearly the community of ecclesiastical tradition be­tween Britain and Ireland. It is especially noteworthy, moreover, that in Ireland this tradition should have been associated with Clonard, a monastery which we know, on other grounds, to have been closely connected with Llan­carvan. LISMORE. By including among the acts of Cadoc a visit to lVIochutu ( Carthag), the writer of the Vita Cadoci claims for Llancarvan a direct connection with Lismore.80 It is interesting to observe that according to this tradition Cadoc goes to Mochutu as a pupil, whereas Finnian, who occupies a far more important place in Irish ecclesiastical history than Mochutu, appears in turn as a pupil of Cadoc. This arrangement makes Mochutu older than Finnian and places 1sAfab. (ed. Loth), II, 349. 1aEd. San Marte, p. 508. 11Mab., II, 259, note 2. 78LL, 360c. 19LL, 353b; see also BB quoted by Hogan (Onom. Goed., s.v. "cell espiscopi sanctani"), where Laebtin is substituted for Santan. BOCBSS, pp. 35-36. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 25 him in a position of greater prestige. It is tempting to suspect that in making this statement the writer of the Vita Cadoci was inspired by some such piece of Lismore propaganda as the Vita Carthagi, which contains the asser­tion that students came to Lismore from all parts of Ireland and also from Anglia and Britain."1 AGHABOE (Achad Bo Cainnich). Cainnich, the founder of Aghaboe and patron of Kilkenny, appears in Irish tradition as a pupil of Cadoc. After he had com­pleted his schooling, he went to Rome, and from there he returned to Ireland. Later he made another journey to Britain, where for a time he led a hermit's life "at the foot of a certain mountain."82 This account, like others we have examined, fails to inspire us with any great confidence in the reality of the events which it relates; but it bears clear testimony to the desire of the author to show that his patron was on friendly terms with the founder of Llancarvan. CLONFERT (Cluan Ferta Brennain). Brendan, the famous navigator and traditional founder of Clonfert, is clearly associated with Llancarvan in hagiographical liter­ ature. The ninth-century life of St. Malo even goes so far as to make him abbot of Llancarvan.83 Irish hagiographi­ cal tradition also conceives of Brendan as a visitor to Britain. Both Hiberno-Latin and Irish lives describe his meeting with Gildas in Britain and his victory over the British saint in a thaumaturgical contest.84 On this same visit he is supposed to have founded Ailech or Auerech. Plummer suggests that these two names are in reality cor­ ruptions of the names of two separate places, Reoric and Relic (now Flatholme and Steepholme), two islands in the 81VSH, I, 187. s2vsH, I, 155-158. sacap. I, in the text as edited by F. Lot, Mel,anges d'kistoire bre­ tonne, Paris, 1907, p. 295. For the date, see Lot, ibid., pp. 166 ff. Lot thinks that the Vita was composed at Llancarvan, where the author had access to a version redacted by a Briton who had tried to make Brendan a Welsh saint. s•VSH, I, 141; Bethada Naem nErenn (Uves of tke Irish Saints), Oxford, 1922, I, 83-84. Hereafter referred to as BNE. Severn estuary.85 Irish tradition, moreover, has endowed Brendan with two British companions, Senan, 86 a young boy, and Moneu (or Monenn), a priest.87 According to one tradition this priest was at the bedside of Brendan when the famous saint died,Rs and he is frequently mentioned as Bren­dan's successor in the abbacy.89 3. Llan lltud and Ireland The third member of the British triad mentioned in the Catalogue of Irish Saints is Gildas. Although his actual existence is undeniable, the passage of time has allowed to accumulate about his name such a tangled growth of tra­dition that it is extremely difficult to separate the Gildas of history from the Gildas of legend. One thing may cer­tainly be said without hesitation, however,-Gildas was known and revered by the Irish. How much of the Gildas whom they revered was a man and how much a myth ssvsH (Index Top.), II, 315-316. The contact between Irish and British ecclesiastical tradition is here again illustrated, for according to Plummer (loc. cit.) these two islands are to be further identified with Echni. The latter place appears in the Welsh records as the residence of Gildas (see The Text of the Book of Llan Dav, edited by J. G. Evans and J. Rhys, Oxford, 1893, p. 131; also the Vita Gildae ascribed to Caradoc of Llancarvan, Mon. Germ. Hist., Chronica Minora, III, 109). The Vita Cadoci states that it was here that Gildas made his copy of the Gospels (CBSS, p. 66). Further evidence of the acquaintance of Irish hagiographers with this island appears in the life of Finnian of Clonard. See CS, col. 193, for a description of Finnian's visit to the island. 86Vita prima S. Brendani, in VSH, I, 145. This incident is taken over by the writer of the Vita Ruadani, VSH, II, 244. s1vsH, I, 145; see also the Irish life, BNE, I, 87. 88££, p. 371a. s9See the various Irish martyrologies under March 1; also AU, under the year 571. The conception of this man as a Briton may have arisen from the fact that commentators were in the habit of identifying another person of the same name (see the martyrologies under September 16) with Nynian, founder of the Martinist monastery of Candida Casa in North Britain. For a discussion of this identifi­cation, see C. Plummer in his edition of Bede, II, 128. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 27 is not particularly essential to this discusison. The im­portant point is that this Briton is mentioned in the Irish martyrologies,90 and his death is recorded in the most trust­worthy of the Irish annals.91 The Breton biographer of Gildas, Vitalis of Ruys, at­tempted about 106092 to supply the details of Gildas' connec­tion with Ireland. He asserted that Gildas had journeyed to Ireland to complete his education, and then returned to Britain to combat heresy. In response to Brigit of Kildare's request for a memento, he made a bell and sent it to her in Ireland. In the reign of King Ainmire he was asked to return to Ireland and restore the church, which had fallen into error.93 There is little here to help us in recovering the actual life record of Gildas. Even the coincidence that Ainmire was an actual Irish king contemporary with Gildas hardly indicates anything more than that the compiler of the Vita had access to Irish annals. For the mingling of Irish and British hagiographical tradition, however, it is of primary importance. In the reference to Brigit we see a reflection of an interest in Kildare. Since Brigit has gained rather an important position in the general body of hagio­graphical lore in Britain,94 we may be justified in supposing 90Fel., Jan. 29. See also Mart. Tall. under the same date: "Gil,de Eps et Sapiens." This martyrology is devoted almost exclusively to native Irish saints. 91AU, under the year 569. The duplicate record at A.D. 576 is due to the fact that the compilers have conflated two previous sets of annals. For full discussion see Eoin MacNeill, op. cit. s2For the date see F. Lot, Mel.anges d'histoire bretonne, p. 260. 93Vita Gildae, MGH, Chron. Min., III, 93-94. 94There are a score of church dedications to her in Wales (see Baring-Gould and Fischer, Lives of the British Saints, etc., London, 1907-1913, s.v. "Brigit"). Note especially the two twelfth-century dedications at Erchenfield and Schenvrit, Calendar of Documents Preserved in France Illustrative of the History of Great Britain and Ireland, edited by J. G. Round, London, 1899 (Record Commission), I (918-1206), p. 413. Her name is included in the genealogies of British saints (CBSS, p. 270), and she was invoked as a guardian of travellers in the twelfth century (see W. F. Skene, Four Ancient Books of Wales, etc., Edinburg, 1868, II, 44). that monks and nuns from Kildare helped to spread her fame through South Britain. Brigit's tradition in Ireland shows an interest in Britain. The later lives of Brigit state that she was consecrated by the Bishop Mel, who had just come from Britain.95 Per­haps it would be hazardous to ascribe this incident to a consciousness of British influence in the affairs of Brigit and her successor at Kildare. It may be due only to a desire to establish a connection with the Patrick tradition, for Mel appears in the Tripartite Life as one of the sons of Darerca, Patrick's sister,96 and it is further stated there that he and Rioc came from Britain with Patrick. The episode of Brigit's encounter with a group of Britons who insisted on being healed on Sunday seems to be a genuine reflection of the presence of Welsh clerics in Ire­ land.97 The foregoing traditions of British contact, though scattered and somewhat indefinite, find support in the un­equivocal statement of the annals that a certain Briton, Aedgen, was Bishop of Kildare in the ninth century.98 Returning to the tradition of Brigit included in the Vita Gildae, then, we have no difficulty in seeing why it should have been included in the life of a South British saint. At what monastery this tradition became attached to the life of Gildas it is difficult to say. It seems certain that Vitalis of Ruys, the author, received a good part of his material from Britain, and we should naturally conclude that it came from one of the places which claimed Gildas as a patron. The problem is complicated somewhat by the fact that Gildas is connected in British tradition with Glastonbury,99 &5CS, col. 3; LismSS, lines 1175-1178. In these lives, Mel is her guide and confidant throughout. 96P. 82. &rTkree Homilies on tke Lives of Saints Patrick, Brigit, and Columba, ed. Whitley Stokes, Calcutta, 1877, p. 72. &BAU, s.a. 863. &&See the Vita ascribed to Caradoc of Llancarvan, MGH, Ckron. Min., Ill, 109-110. Llancarvan,100 and Lian Iltud.101 Since it is the Ruys life which connects him with Lian Iltud, one is inclined to feel that it was here that the tradition connecting him with Brigit was found. If there were to be discovered in the material concerning Brigit in Ireland any mention of Gildas or Lian Iltud, we should feel justified in assuming that there existed direct relations between Kildare and the British monastery. In the absence of such evidence, however, the traditions at our disposal point merely to a noteworthy inter-penetration of hagiographical material. About the connection of Gildas with the religious and intellectual life of Ireland we shall have more to say later. BEN EDAIR. Samson of Dol, whose tradition in Britain connects him with the monastery of Llan Iltud, is said by his biographer to have founded a monastery in Ireland. While the account of Samson's visit to Ireland is rather bare of details, it is of unusual value as evidence, for the life in which it appears seems to be based on the testimony of Samson's immediate successors at Lian Iltud.102 According to the earliest redactions of this life, Samson made a journey to Ireland, where he founded a monastery on the Hill of Howth (Ben Edair) . When he departed he left his uncle in charge of it.103 The account of Samson preserved in the twelfth-century Book of Llan 100His evangelium was used as a swearing relic at Llancarvan (CBSS, p. 66), and his bell was presented to Cadoc (ibid., pp. 58-60). 101AJong with Samson, Magloire, Paul, and others he is said to have been a pupil of Iltud, the Armorican patron of Lian Iltud. MGH, Chron. Min., III, 92. 102The actual date of composition of the earliest extant version is placed by R. Fawtier in the late eighth century (La vie de Saint Samson," Bibli.otheque de l'ecole des hautes etudes (Sciences hist. et phil.), CXCVII fasc, Paris, 1912, pp. 76-77), and by J. Loth (sup­porting F. Duine) at the beginning of the seventh century ("La vie la, plus ancienne de Saint Samson," Rev. celt., XL, 1923, 47). 1oasee the text edited by Fawtier (op. cit.), pp. 134-136. The name of the place is variously given as Arce Etri, Arce Etride, Arcea, Area, Arte Etri, Arte Aetri. The identification with Ben or Dun Edair is made by R. I. Best, quoted by J. Loth, Rev. celt., XXXIX (1922), 329. Dav states that his father came from Ireland,104 and another version contains the statement that Samson himself went to school in Ireland.105 On the basis of the foregoing evidence we may conclude that the traditions of St. David's, Llancarvan, and Llan Iltud reflect, in numerous instances, a consciousness of direct contact with important Irish monasteries. Investi­gation of other Irish-British hagiographical material re­veals still further connections. 4. Cybi in Ireland ARAN. Cybi, a monk of St. David's is credited in British tradition with adventures which took him to the Island of Aran. Accompanied by Maelauc,106 Libiau, Peulan, and Kengair (Cyngar) ,1°7 he went from St. David's 8 to Aran, where he built a church.10'Here he came into conflict with Fintan, a peppery character who seems to be well established in later Irish hagiographical litera­ture.109 Fintan expelled Cybi and his community and forced them to move on to the eastern part of Meath, where they established the church of Mochop110 (probably modern Kill­more, near Artaine.) m When Fintan heard of this set­tlement he came and drove the British saints away again. lO•Ed. cit., p. 6, "de regione methiana." l05Analecta Bollandiana, VI (1887), 124. 106The name Maelach or Malach for a British cleric entered early into the hagiographical lore of Ireland (see the reference to the com­panion of St. Patrick, 'Trip. Life, p. 198). 10 7J. A. Robinson describes a life of Cungar, which he thinks was probably written in the twelfth century by Caradoc of Llancarvan. An earlier form of this life he considers to have been the basis of the lives of Cadoc and Iltud in MS Cott. Vesp. A. XIV, Journal of Theo­logical Studies, XX (1918-1919), 97-108; XXII (1921-1922), 15-22. 108Vita Kebii, MS Cott. Vesp. A. XIV, 86 ff. (CBSS, 184-185). There is another Vita Cybi in the same manuscript, 94 ff., whieh is not essentially different from the one quoted. l09Mart. Don., p. 192; Mart. Gorm., July 13. His irritability may have been grafted upon him from another Fintan (otherwise known as Munnu) of Taghmon, who has a similar reputation. HOMS Cott. Vesp. . A. XIV, loc. cit. 111J. F. Shearman, Loca Patriciana, Dublin, 1882, p. 262, note 2. This time they went to the territory of Breg. Here, too, they were followed by Fintan, who not only drove them off the land, but insisted on their embarking in skinless coracles to prove their piety.11~ They survived this ordeal and landed on the shores of Anglesey at Caer Gybi (Holyhead), where they were at last successful in establishing a perma­nent settlement. We dare not assume on the basis of so late a document as this life that the things related actually happened to Cybi. One cannot read the narrative, however, without feeling that they must have happened to some British cleric. The story is plain and sober, and, except for the introduction of occasional miracles, generally credible. If we leave out of account such uncontrollable elements as the actual identity of the hero and the very early date at which the events are supposed to have occurred, we may accept the narrative at least as fairly typical of what might happen. The setting out from St. David's is quite in accord with what we have learned of the connection between Menevia and Irish mon­asteries, and the attempt to found an ecclesiastical colony in Aran and the consequent persecution by a vindictive rival are compact of the harsh material of life. An entry in one of the Welsh chronicles has an interesting bearing on the probable origin of the story. We are told that when the Irish invaded the island of Anglesey in 961 they carried off the coffin of Cybi, and that they kept it for 100 years.113 The recovery of Cybi's relics, then, must have occurred in 1061. Here would have been a golden opportunity for the compilation of the life of the saint. 112when Cybi was thus driven off, he uttered a curse upon Fintan to the effect that his churches would be deserted, and not three of them would be found in all Ireland. This statement, inspired, of course, by the unfiourishing state of the Fintan churches at the time of writing, would be of great value in dating the Vita if we could find out more about the history of the Fintan foundations. 113Brut y Tywysogion. The Gwentian Chronicle of Caradoc of Llancarvan, ed. with a translation by Aneurin Owen, Archalologia Cwmbrensis, Supplement, 1863 (referred to hereafter as Gwentian Brut), pp. 28-29. The elements that should naturally enter into such a life would be a legend of the way in which a well-known place came to bear his name (Caer Gybi), a story showing his connection with some important monastic center in Wales, and some sort of narrative to provide the background for the feeling of resentment toward the Irish. All these things are duly included in the narrative and seem to be drawn from fairly authoritative tradition.114 5. The Sons of Bracan in Ireland A passage in the Book of Leinster gives a list of the "ten [in reality eleven] sons of Dina, daughter of the Saxon king, and Bracan, son of Brachameoc of Britain."115 To each son's name is added the name of the monastery or church of which he was founder or patron. The Bracan here mentioned is undoubtedly the same as the Brachan Brecheiniauc of British tradition. According to the tract De situ Brecheiniauc,116 preserved in a manuscript of the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, he was son of Marchel, daughter of Teudor, who had married an Irish prince Anlach. He was father of ten sons and many daugh­ters, from whom were descended a large number of the saints of Brecknock. There is obviously some relation between the Bracan of the British and of the Irish document, but the relation is con­fused. According to the Irish document he is son of Braca­meoc; the Welsh makes him son of Anlach. It seems fairly clear, however, that the Irish account derives directly or in­directly from the Welsh. Brecheiniauc is undoubtedly the proper form, being the name from which is derived the mod­ern Brecknock. The Irish writer must have had before him 114The traditions of Cybi's founding of the church at Holyhead and of the preservation of his relics in Anglesey point unmistakably to North Wales as the scene of the authorship of the life. mp. 372d. usMS Cott. Vesp. A . XIV, fol. 10vo ff.; edited by Rees, CBSS, pp. 272 ff.; a better edition in Y Cymnnrodor, XIX (1906), 24-27. a document in which there appeared the words Brachan Breckainiauc (i.e., Bracan of Brecknock). Being accus­tomed to the Irish habit of setting down a son's name followed by the father's name (in the genitive case) with­out the word mac, he naturally assumed that Bracan was the son and Brecheiniauc the father. The Book of Bally­mote, although it is a much later manuscript, preserves a more nearly accurate version :111 "Bracan ri Bracineoc do Bretnaib,-Bracan king of Brecknock of the Britons." The Bracan of the Irish document, therefore, is the same as the Brachan of the Welsh. As we proceed to examine the names of the sons of Bracan named in the British and Irish lists, it is most dis­concerting to observe that, even allowing for linguistic differences, it is only possible to equate two or three names in the Irish list with corresponding ones in the British list, and even these are doubtful. The problem presented by this difficulty is susceptible of two solutions. First, we may assume that it is literally true that Bracan was the ancestor of a long line of saints and princes. If we accept this hypothesis, there is nothing to prevent our going still further and assuming that the lists represent two sets of sons, ten of whom remained in Wales, and ten migrated to Ireland. This solution places too great a strain upon our credulity. In the light of the fact that much, if not most, 111Facs., pp. 213b39-214a5. In other respects it is less accurate. The name Dergne, a foundation of Mogoroc, which in LL is an inter­linear gloss, is incorporated into the text as "ocus draigne" to the detriment of sense, for it produces the reading: Mogoroc ocus draigne 8ruthra; whereas LL reads: Mogoroc (.i. dergne) sruthra. These divergences make it clear that neither of these accounts is derived from the other. The addition of an eleventh son to a list which avowedly consists of ten shows, moreover, that neither is the original. We may safely conclude, therefore, that before the compilation of the Book of Leinster in the middle of the twelfth century there was in existence an Irish document which contained this list of Bracan saints; and that this document was in turn based upon a still earlier British document resembling the De situ Brecheiniauc. Hence the whole tradition falls easily within the time limits set for our investi­gation. of the Irish and British genealogical data now at our dis­posal were manufactured for political purposes, it seems more reasonable to adopt a second solution: that the tradi­tion of Brachan Brecheiniauc was merely a stock device to accountfor the beginnings of a powerful ecclesiastical family in Brecknock, and that the Irish sons of Bracan are in­tended to represent a group of Brecknock clerics who settled in Ireland, chiefly along the southeast coast opposite South Wales. It is not at all unlikely that a group of Brecknock clerics should be called "sons of Bracan"; and nothing is more natural than that Irish clerics who learned the British tradition of the "sons of Bracan" should adapt it to their own purposes. As for the settlement of Brecknock clerics in South Ireland, it is only what we should expect in view of the prevalence of Irish in Brecknock and in South Wales generally .113 We may now examine the locations of the various founda­tions associated with these clerics in Irish hagiographical tradition. L Mochonoc the Pilgrim of Cell Muccraisse and of Gallen in Delbhna Ethra. Cell Muccraisse is now the townland and parish of Kilmuckridge, Co. Wexford. Gallen, in the barony of Gerrycastle, King's Co, was called "Gallen of the Britons" in the ninth century.119 The British asso­ciations of Mochonoc's name may have been the cause of the appearance of a saint by this name in the train of St. Patrick.120 The contact of Gallen with British tradition is further exemplified by the fact that another Briton, Colman Britt, is mentioned as residing there.121 As for Mochonoc's original habitat in Ireland, one feels inclined to agree with Shearman's suggestion that it was the parish now called Kilmacanig in northeast Wicklow.122 118See my discussion of the Irish secular contact with Britain, Studies in English, No. 6, 1926, pp. 14-26. 119AU, A.D. 822, "Galline na m.Bretan exustum est o Feidlimidh, cum totie habitatione et cum oratorio." 120See Mochonoc of Inis Fail, Trip. Life, p. 192. 121££ (facs.), p. 367. 122£oca Patriciana, p. 156. Shearman !ilSo sees in Mochonoc the equivalent of Cynon in the Welsh list of the sons of Bracan. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 35 2. Cairinne of Cell Cairinne. Cairinne's church is placed by Lanigan in the parish of Carn, near Carnsore Point in southeast Wexford.123 3. Cairpre the Pilgrim of Cell Chairpre in Sil Fhoran­nam. Although Hogan suggests a place in Wexford,m he does not attempt an exact identification. Shearman, how­ever, places it at Kilcarbry near the place where the Bro empties into the Slaney.125 4. Mogoroc of Sruthair. In the list his place is glossed as Dergne (modern Delgany in Co. Wicklow). This gloss is probably influenced by the tract on Irish saints of the same names, where Mogorocs are given for Sruthair, Dergne, and Land Leri.126 Sruthair and Dergne, there­fore, are not the same. Hogan (Onom. Goed.) suggests Shrule in Co. Dublin as the possible location of Sruthair. Land Leri, the other place associated with the name of Mogoroc, seems to be modern Dunleer, Co. Louth.121 Like Gallen, Land Leri seems to have been regarded as a center of British influence, for a passage in LL refers to the fifty Britons with the sons of Moinan at Land Leri.128 5. Duban of Rind Dubain of the Pilgrims. Rind Dubhain is unquestionably Hook Point on the coast of Wex­ford.129 It may be possible to find a place for Dubhan in 123An Ecclesiast-ical History of Ireland, from the First Introduction of Christianity a11W11.g the Irish to the Beginning of the Thirteenth Century, by John Lanigan, Dublin, 1829, I, p. 468. 12•0nomast-icon Goedelicum, s.v. "Cell Chairpre." 12s£oca Patr-iciana, p. 157. 126££, 368. See also Fel., p. 168. 1 21This is the identification made by Reeves in Todd's Wars of the G&G, p. xl. Hogan, Onmn. Goed., mentions the earlier opinion held by O'Donovan and Colgan that the place referred to is Lynn, near Lough Ennel, Westmeath, but inclines to the location given by Reeves. 12sFacs., p. 373d. For the two sons of Moinan see the martyrologies under June 18. Note the persistence of British tradition in connection with this name. Cf. Monenn, the follower of Brendan. 129see J. Graves, "Notes on the Topography and History of the Parish of Hook, County of Wexford," Kilkenny and S.E. of Ireland Archa3ological Society, Proceedings, III (1854-1855), pp. 194 ff. The modern name owes its origin to the fact that dubhan as a common noun means fishlwok. British tradition. Rhys sees in the name the equivalent of Dyfan, who appears in a later recension of the Welsh list of the sons of Bracan,130 and possibly also of the Dobagni which appears on an inscribed stone in J ordanstown, Pem­brokeshire.181 6. Elloc of Cell Moelloc of Loch Garman. This church is probably the one referred to in a charter of 1172 as St. Aloch's near Wexford. There is also a St. Tullogue parish in the town of Wexford.132 7. Coeman the Pilgrim of Cell Chemain in Gesill "and other places." The place most clearly associated with Coeman is Kilcavan parish about three miles northwest by north of Gorey and twelve miles northeast of Ferns, Co. Wexford.U3 There is another Kilcavan parish in the south of Co. Wexford.m Colgan locates the place mentioned in the list as somewhere near modern Geisill, King's Co.135 Shearman calls attention to the entry in the Martyrology of Donegal (June 12) which refers to Coemhan of Ard Caemhan by the side of Loch Garman in Leinster. This, he thinks, must mean Dairinis in Wexford Haven.136 8. Mobeoc of Glinne Gerg. This saint is known also as Dabeoc. The place mentioned here is probably Loch Derg, for in the commentaries on the Felire for December 16 he is mentioned as MoBeoc of Loch Gerg. It should be no­ticed that there is also a commentary which places him at 137 Loch Garman (Wexford Harbor) .Further trace of him seems to remain in the parish of Carn, Co. W exford.188 1a0The list is printed in Myverian Archaiology, II ,p. 29. For Rhys's conjecture, see Arch. Cwmb., 5th Ser., XV (1898), 58. 181Arch. Camb., loc cit.; also Arch. Cwmb., 5th Ser., XIV (1897), 324-325. 132Hogan, Onom. Geod., s.v. "Cell Moelloc." Loch Garman is Wexford Harbor. 1asHogan, Onom. Goed., s.v. "Cell Chaemain." 134Loe. cit. 1asAASSHib., p. 493. is6£oca Pat., p. 160. 131Fel., p. 260. 138A stone church, cashel, cemetery, and holy well are ascribed to his foundation at Carn, by Margaret Stokes, Jowrnal of the Royal 9. last of Slemnach Alban. This place is so far uniden­tified, although Shearman thinks that Jast may be the saint who is patron of Fuerty (Roscommon) and Ardbraccan. 10. Paan of Cell Phaain. Kilfane (town and parish) in the central part of Kilkenny seems clearly to be the modern representative of Cell Phaain. Paan is venerated there on December 16.139 Rhys calls attention to the fact that at Llandrudian in the parish of St. Nicholas in Pem­brokeshire there is a stone bearing the inscription "paan."140 This is not far from the place where occurs the inscription Dobagni, which he suggests as the equivalent of Dubhan. While this coincidence proves nothing definitely, it is at least noteworthy that the two names of the "sons of Bracan" should appear in neighboring localities in two sep­arate countries accompanied by a tradition of emigration. 11. Diraidh of Etardruim. This is possibly the parish of Drum, barony of Athlone, Co. Roscommon.141 Beyond this there is little to be said. It should be added, however, that since most of the churches connected with the "sons of Bracan" are in the southeast of Ireland, it is likely that sooner or later we shall locate Diraidh more definitely in that section of the country. As we have already observed, it seems likely that the Irish tradition which gathers together this group of clerics as "sons of Bracan" is a reflection of the British tradition of the descent of an important group of ecclesiastical per­sonages from a common ancestor. In British hagiograph­ical tradition, nearly every saint of any importance is held to be the descendant either of Bracan, Cunedda, Bran, or Caw. It is not difficult to see, therefore, that in the Bracan tradition we have to do with certain great families who had secular and ecclesiastical control over most of the monas­teries of South Britain. The genealogies were composed Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, XXIII (1893), 382-385. Shearman, op. cit., p. 157, thinks that the name of the saint may be preserved in St. Vakes, a church at the extreme end of Carnsore Point. 139Shearman, op. cit., p. 155. HoArch.. Camb., 5th Ser., XV (1898), pp. 54-57. 1usee Hogan, Onom. Goed., s.v. "etardrium." to provide documentary support for this control, and there­fore, as regards detail, must be treated with extreme caution. On the other hand, the very existence of these genealogies shows that the ancient British church was very largely a family affair, as it was in Ireland, and was under the domination of a few powerful groups, who, whatever their actual ancestry may have been, had achieved such a degree of unified organization as to merit the name "sons of Caw" or "sons of Bracan." It was one of these groups -the one which controlled the church in the territory now known as Brecknock-that came to Ireland and began to make settlements along the southeast coast. It is further worthy of note that the epithet Pilgrim ( ailithir) is applied to some of the sons of Bracan in Ire­land.m While it was not necessary for a monk to go out of his own country to win this epithet, it is applied rather more commonly to British clerics than to others in Ire­land.143 In concluding our survey of the traditions concerning the "sons of Bracan" we should observe that the cults of these saints have been carried from the settlements along the coast to places further inland ; and if Gallen of the Britons is a fair example we must conclude that they carried their British identity with them. 6. British Influence of Uncertain Provenience So far we have dealt with Irish monasteries connected in ecclesiastical tradition with some definite locality in Britain. There are other important Irish monastic centers whose tra­ditions show unmistakable evidence of British influence, but do not give any indication of the exact channel through which that influence came. 142Coeman, Dubhain, Mochonoc, Cairpre. 143Note especially Molue, the British founder of Imliuch Sescainn, Matoc brother of Sanctan, the Britones peregrini mentioned CS. col. 229, and Colman, founder of Clonkeen. DURROW (Dermagh) was the chief church of Columba in Ireland. In the ninth century when it was first at­tacked by the Vikings, it was known as "Durrow of the Britons."1 H LYNALLY (Land Elo), about four miles south of Dur­row, preserves a tradition of the presence of British clerics in the life of the patron, Colman Elo. One of the Britons living there became angered with Colman and would have killed him but for the saint's use of his miraculous powers.145 KELLS (Cenanna). The commentaries on the Felire for October 26 mention a "house of the Britons" at Kells.146 SLAINE. The annals in recording the death of Colman, son of Faelan, abbot of Slaine, call him "Colman of the Britons."147 TULACH BENNAIN. Traces of British influence at another foundation near Kells are to be found in a tradition concerning Fintan of Duleng. When he came to Tulach Bennain to take up his residence there, he found the place occupied by seven British pilgrims, who expelled him.148 GLENDALOUGH. One of the lives of Coemgen, patron of Glendalough, comes to us from the hand of a British biographer, Selyf (Solomon) .149 The heading of this life states that the writer is a pupil of Coemgen, and a subse­quent passage tells us that he was in danger in "the eastern land" when his tutor came to his rescue.15° The "eastern land" here as elsewhere in Irish hagiographical tradition lHAU, A.D. 835. H5VSH, I, p. 264. usFel., p. 22s. lHAU, A.D. 750. HBCS, col. 229. This place has not been definitely located by topographers, but Hogan (Onom. Goed., s.v. "tulach bennian") thinks it is near Dulane in Meath. Note the recurrence of the theme of the churlish Briton who refuses to be dislodged in the story of Daniel, the British monk of Hare Island, L'ismSS, lines 4344 ff. H9BNE, I, p. 131. Selyf is a well-established Welsh name. It is borne by several Welsh princes as well as by a Welsh cantrev. 1soBNE, I, p. 145. appears to mean Britain. Hence the passage implies a tra­dition that Coemgen had visited Britain and brought back a pupil with him. At Coemgen's death the sacrament was administered by Mochorog the Briton, whose cell was in the eastern part of Coemgen's domain.151 This, of course, refers to Mogoroc the "son of Bracan," who is supposed to have founded a church at Delgany.152 The climax of Glen­dalough's claims to British contact is the assertion in the Irish life of Coemgen that many kings, both of Ireland and Britain, chose to be buried in the cemetery at Glendalough "for the love of God and Coemgen."153 TAGHMON. In the life of Fintan (Munnu) of Tech Munnu (Taghmon) there is a passing reference to a solitary Briton who lived near Fintan.154 The place cannot be defi­nitely located, for the name is not given. LEAMOKEAVOGUE (Liath Mochoemog). Mochoemog, traditional founder of the church of modern Leighmore in Borris, Co. Tipperary, seems indirectly to have been as­signed British descent. Three of his genealogies run as follows: pss u1ss In1s1 1. Mochoemoc 1. Mochaomoc 2. Beoan 1. Beoan 2. Beoan 3. Mellan 3. Mellan 4. Nessan 2. Nessan 4. Nessan 5. Ere 3. Ere 5. Ere 6. Caireda 4 Aedh 6 Cunnedda Here we observe that I and III agree in making Mochoemog's immediate ancestors Beoan, Mellan, and Nessan. II differs from these two in omitting Mellan. Keeping this in mind for future reference we may proceed to the next document. In the commentaries on the Felire 151VSH, I, 257. 152See above, p. 34. lsaBNE, I, p. 128. 154VSH, II, p. 237. mFel. p. 96 (from MS Rawl. B. 512) 1sa££, p. 352a. 1s1vSH, II, p. 164, note 1 (from Marsh V. 3. 4). of Oengus as preserved in MS Laud 610 is the following passage: Nassan, Beoan, Mellan .i. a Tamlachtu a farrud Locha Bricrenn .i. Nassan 7 Beoan 7 Mellan .i. tres sancti d-0 Bretnaib in una eclesia in Huaib E chach Ulad iuxta Tamlachtan mic Ua Caill ilLoch Bricrenn.158 Since these three persons are named as direct ancestors of Mochoemog, we assume that the compiler of the genealogy intended it to be understood that he was of British descent. There is one question, however, that must be answered before this assumption is fully accepted. Were these men known as Britons before the genealogy was compiled? There is good reason to believe that these three names were first grouped together in the documents which proclaim them Britons. The names Nassan, Beoan, and Mellan, as we have seen, appear in the commentaries as they are preserved in Laud 610. The version according to Rawlinson B. 512 and Raw­linson B. 505 give the first name as Nasad or Nassad.159 So also does the basic passage in the main body of the Felire, upon which the commentaries are based. Nasad, therefore, seems to have the better authority. Now, Nasad is not at all common as a proper name, but it is pretty well known as a common noun meaning festival. This fact immediately arouses our suspicion that the original entry must have indicated the feast of Beoan and Mellan, and that Nasad as a proper name is a mistake. As we turn back to the text of the Felire we observe that Stokes has chosen the following reading: Nassad, Be6an, Mellan.160 This, of course, could not mean, "The festival of Beoan and Mellan," for all the words are in the nominative case. The variant readings, however, reveal the fact that the Leabhar Breac and several other important manuscripts read Be6ain and Mellain, both genitive. The Martyrology of Tallaght sup­ports this reading with "Nasad Beoain Mellain (the festival of Beoan and Mellan."161 The misunderstanding 158Fel., p. 226. 159Fel., pp. 206, 208. 1s0Fel., p. 218. Cf. Leabhar Breac (facs.), p. 98. 161££, p. 364f. of Nasad as a proper name is due, no doubt, to the fact that Beoan was well known to ecclesiastical tradition as the son of Nessan,162 and that the common noun nasad, which resembled Nessan slightly, stood next to Beoan in the text. In the light of the foregoing facts we should reconstruct the growth of the tradition somewhat as follows: 1. The tradition that Beoan was son of Nessan. This tradition is embodied in the Felire entry (see above, note 162) and in the LL genealogy (see above, p. 40, No. II). 2. Beoan and Mellan are brought together in the main text of the Felire, probably because of some traditional similarity between them. 3. A commentator mistakes the word nasad for a proper name, assumes that there are three saints in this entry, and brands them all as Britons. This process must have taken place at least as early as the first part of the twelfth century, for the statement about the Britons seems to form an integral part of the text in LL. 4. A hagiologist tries to compile a genealogy of Mochoemog. He uses as a basis some genealogy analogous to No. II, but corrects it by reference to the list of "three British saints" which appears in the Felire. Regardless of the accuracy of the foregoing suggestion re­garding the growth of the tradition, it remains sufficiently clear that to the writer of the commentary on the Felire the Beoan-Mellan-Nessan combination represented a British group. This impression has a good basis in hagiographical tradition. Be6an mac Nessain was patron of a church in Hy Faelain,163 and Nesa,164 mother of Mochoemog, was a daugh­ 162Fel., p. 175, "Feil Be6ain maicc Nessain." 163The church of Fid CuiUind (see Fil., p. 184; LL, p. 361b), which, according to Hogan (Onom. Goed.), may be one of two places: (1) Feighcullen parish, partly in the barony of Offaly and partly in the barony of Connel, near the Hill of Allen, or (2) Fith Colin in the diocese of Kildare. 164Note the kinship of this name with that of Mochoemog's great­grandfather, Nessan. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 43 ter of Faelain, king of the Desi.16' One branch of the Desi, as we have already seen, had settled in South Britain at a very early date,166 and quite naturally kept up their relations with the mother country. To recapitulate, Mochoemog is regarded in hagiographical tradition as the descendant of a line of ancestors who were supposed to be British, and he is held, furthermore, to have come from a part of Ireland inhabited by people who had sent a colony to Britain. If Nessan, the great-grandfather of Mochoemog, is the same Nessan who is known as the pupil and successor of Bairre of Cork, we have here another link with South Britain.167 RAHEN. We have already noticed the relations between Llancarvan and Lismore as revealed by the traditions of connection between Cadoc of Llancarvan and Mochuda of Lismore. There is likewise a tradition of British clerics at Mochuda's earlier foundation, Rahen, near Tullamore in King's Co. The general statement of this tradition ap­pears in two statements in the life of Mochuda. The first one is the statement that monks from various parts, not only of Ireland, but also of Britain, came to Rahen to take up their residence under the rule of Mochuda.168 The second is a story of how two British clerics tried to drown Mochuda and how, in consequence of their being caught in the act, British clerics were to be held in contempt at Rahen from that day forward.169 16sVSH, II, 164, note 1. t66Studies in English, No. 6, pp. 14-20. 161See the traditional connection between Cork and St. David's, above, p. 14. It is also worthy of note that Mochoemog is named along with Maedoc, Comgall, and the Welsh David as one of those to whom Molua of Clonfertmulloe was confessor (LL, p. 361, lower margin). m vSH, I, 177-178. 169/bid., I, 187-188. There is a touch of personal feeling in this passage, which, taken with others of the same tone, seems to indicate that at the time when the saints' lives were being written the relations between Irish and British clerics in Irelan~ were not always smooth. See the incidents described above, p. 27 f. (concerning Brigit), 13, 30 (concerning Colman Elo and Fintan); also LismSS, lines 4344 ff. (concerning Ciaran) . Another link between Rahen and South Britain is the legend of Constantine. In the Felire of Oengus for March 11 is the simple entry, "King Constantine of Rahen." In the Felire of Gorman he is "Constantine the Briton." In the basic texts of these martyrologies there is no further indication of who he was, or of where he came from. The commentaries on the Felire, however, yield more informa­tion. He was abbot of Rahen after the death of Mochuda; he was son of Fergus; and he gave up his kingdom to come on a pilgrimage to Rahen.110 To these main facts, the com­mentator adds a number of mad folk-tales that offer us no particular assistance in identifying the royal monk. These few facts, however, provide us with a point of departure in the process of identifying him. Constantine, son of Fergus, king of North Britain, flourished about 800 A.D., a date which, even allowing for the extreme elasticity of Irish hagiographical chronology, is manifestly too late. It seems certain, therefore, that the Irish writer must have confused him with some other Constantine. When we turn to the traditions of South Britain we find the explanation. First, "Constantinus of Damnonia [roughly, modern Devon]" ap­pears in the De excidio of Gildas as one of the bad kings of Britain. Second, the Annales Cambriae111 (under the year 589) record the "conversion" of Constantine. "Conver­sion," be it noted is a term which may apply either to the acceptance of the Christian faith or to the adoption of monastic life. Out of these two facts plus the confusion between Emperor Constantine and his son, Constans, the monk, subsequent writers built up the legend of the British king Constantine who gave up his kingdom and entered a monastery.112 The rapprochement of this legend with Irish tradition seems to have been effected through the version which appears in the Vita David. Here we find 170Fel., p. 92; see a similar account in a tract dealing with the ex­pulsion of Mochuda from Rahen, BNE, I, 300. my Cymunrodor, IX (1888), p. 156. 172See the interesting note by Herbert in The Irish Version of the Historia Britonwm of Nennius, edited by J. H. Todd, Dublin Archreo­logical Society, 1848, pp. 186-187, notes. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 45 that Constantine, under the persuasion of David, gave up his kingdom and became a monk at Menevia. He stayed there for a short time and then went away to a monastery in a distant country.173 To the Irish cleric who saw this statement, the country referred to could be none other than Ireland, and if this cleric happened to live at Rahen, the monastery could be none but Rahen. Adopting the story without any knowledge of its origin and growth, it is not surprising that the Irish cleric who brought it from Britain should confuse Constantine of South Britain with Constan­tine mac Fergusa of North Britain. Constantine entered the Irish tradition also through sec­ular channels. In our examination of the traditions con­cerning the flight of Irish princes to Britain we saw that one of the most famous refugees was Muircheartach mac Erca.174 The Irish redactor of the Historia Britonu.m makes Muircheartach mac Erca father of Gaedeal Fict, and of Constantine of Cornwall. The strange tangle of family relationships with which the Irish writer surrounds the origin of Constantine illus­trates the mingling of Irish-British traditions, not only regarding Constantine, but also of another important Irish ecclesiastical personage. The following diagrams may prove helpful: A Ere Niall I I Loarn (k. of Alba) Eoghan I I I I Babona==Saran11s==Erc (later eloped with)==Muiredach11s I ~~'~~~~~~~ I I I I I I I Lw·rig Cairnech111 Dallan Coemlach Muircheartach Maian Fearadach Tigernac 113Ed. cit., p. 15. 1HStudies in English, No. 6, pp. 30 ff. t75King of Britain. 11sKing of Ireland. 177This relationship is also stated in LL, p. 372a. B Muircheartach==Wife of Luirig (his cousin) I I I I I Constantine Gaedeal Fict Nellan Scannal The story in which these relationships appears is, as we have already noticed, a strange concoction. It seems to be based ultimately on more or less fundamental traditions, but it is so deformed and distorted as to be of little value historically. Nevertheless it has a certain interest for us in that it preserves the tradition of a royal Constantine. We find, moreover, a reflection of the tradition of the British origin of Cairnech, patron of Dulane in Meath. Cairnech appears in another story of Muircheartach mac Erca, the scene of which is laid in Ireland.178 Here Cairnech appears merely as an ecclesiastic of the Hy Neill, and there is no reference to his British origin. There seems to have been a definite element of British influence in the Irish traditions about Cairnech, however, for in the com­mentaries on the Felire he is said to be of the Cornish Britons.119 It is quite clear, moreover, that the writer of the twelfth-century British Vita Carantoci180 had the Irish Cairnech in mind, for he tells of his hero's going to Ireland, of his being called Carnech by the Irish, and of his death and burial in Ireland. There is nothing in this Vita to connect Cairnech with Cornwall. He seems to have come from Cardigan originally and to have carried on most of his work there. Apparently no Irish life of Cairnech has been preserved, and the Vita Carantoci exhibits no visible influence of such a document. It seems fairly certain, how­ever, that Cairnech of Dulane, who was regarded by the Irish commentators as a Briton, is the same as the Caran­tocus of the British life, and the latter is the same as the 178"The Death of Muirchertach mac Erca," ed. by Whitley Stokes, Revue celtique, XXIII (1902), 395--437. 119Fel., p. 132. "Cairnig .i. a Tuilen. Cairnech d-0 Bretnaib Corrnn d6." 1socBSS, pp. 97-101. famous Cairnech that was associated in Irish tradition with Patrick. KILLEIGH (Cill Achad Droma Fota). The feeling of irritation toward British clerics revealed by the writer of the life of Mochuda181 may have arisen from his recollection of a tradition to the effect that the expulsion of that saint from Rahen was carried out by the clerics of a church dependent upon Killeigh, 182 a monastery which seems to have been frequented by British ecclesiastics. The prin­cipal evidence for the British tradition at Killeigh is a passage in the Book of Leinster which commemorates "a hundred and fifty holy bishops and twelve pilgrims with Sinchell younger the priest and with Sinchell elder bishop and twelve bishops who inhabited Killeigh in Hy Falge." A marginal note states, "These are the names of the bishops of Killeigh," and then the list is given as follows: "Budoci (tres), Conoci (tres), Morgini (tres), Uedgoni (vi), Beuani (vi), Bibi (vi), Glomali (ix), Ercocini (ix), Grucinni (ix), Uennoci (xii), Contumani (xii), Anoci (xii). Senchilli, Britanni 6 Britania; Cerrui (ab Armenia)." Here the Sinchells are proclaimed British ; but the other persons are also interesting. It is hardly necessary to say that they bear names which are not usual in Middle Irish nomen­clature. On the other hand, some of them seem to be definitely British. Budoc is the name of a well-known Cornish saint; Conoc we have already met as Mochonoc, one of the sons of Bracan reverenced at "Gallen of the Britons," which is not far from Killeigh; Beoan is called a Briton in the Martyrology of Tallaght (October 26) ; Vennoc is the name of a Cornish saint for whom is named the parish of St. Winnow and the church of St. Winnocus near the mouth of the River Fowey. These twelve must have been the "twelve pilgrims" referred to. We have already observed the Irish tendency to label British clerics "pilgrims." is1See above, p. 43. 1s2BNE, I, 304. HARE ISLAND (in Lough Ree). In the life of Ciaran, patron of Clonmacnoise, there is a British tradition attached to a neighboring island in Lough Ree. When Ciaran tried to establish a church there he was opposed by Daniel, a British monk, who apparently felt that he had a prior right to the island.183 GAEL. Another isolated, but no less important, example of the residence of British monks in Ireland is provided by an incident in the life of Mochua of Balla. Mochua, when he was leaving Ulster, stopped at Gael, a monastery in Fir Rois (in Ulster), where he found a British bishop named Gabrin. He surrendered his church to Mochua because they had been foster-brothers.184 We should probably inter­pret this incident as an attempt to explain the claims of Balla to a dependency which bore a tradition of contact with Britain. DRONG F AECHNIG, a place which has not yet been identified, but which seems to have been near Clonard, is assigned a British patron by the writer of the life of Colman mac Luachan. When King Domhnall mac Murchad granted this place to Colman, it was left in charge of one of Colman's followers, Baetan the Briton.185 The name occurs elsewhere in connection with the British tradition in Ireland. For example, Baithin, son of Moenan, was reverenced at Land Luachar and Land Leri. Moenan is a name with British associations, as we have seen in our consideration of Brendan of Clonfert.186 Land Leri, moreover, is one of the places at which there is preserved a tradition of the presence of British clerics.181 As for Land Luachar, it is related in lssvsH, I, 210 and note 2. 184LismSS, lines 4670 ff. Gabrin is commemorated in Irish churches on June 25 (Mart. Don). It may be worth recalling that Finnian of Clonard was supposed to have founded Llancarvan in honor of a companion named Gabran. On this and on the place of this name in Irish hagiographical tradition, see above, p. 20. lsssee the life edited by K. Meyer, Proc. R.I.A., Todd Lecture Series, XVII (1911), par. 79-80. 1S6See above, p. 26. 1~1see above, p. 35. the Vita Maedoc that the patron, Mochua, was selected to be Maedoc's successor as abbot of Ferns.188 This statement seems clearly to reflect an impression of close relationship between the two monasteries-a relationship which would afford ample opportunity for the strong British influence at Ferns to be communicated to Land Luachar. The name ap­pears again in connection with Cluan Andobair,189 which Stokes places at Killeigh, in Kings Co., 190 another strong­hold of British influence.191 7. British-Irish Relations in the Patrick Tradition The actual historical activities of Patrick are little known and are of no great consequence to the establishment of Irish-British literary channels during the later period.192 On the other hand, the prominence given to Patrick's British associations by later tradition is clear indication that Irish clerics were conscious of a strong British influence at certain institutions which claimed Patrick or followers of Patrick as founders. CLONKEEN (Cluan Cain). In the notes added by Fer­ domnach to Tirechan's commentaries on the life of Patrick there is mentioned a Colman of the Britons, who bought a horse from a certain nun, Cummen. Another passage states that Colman offered to Patrick his church of Cluan Cain,193 and in the Tripartite Life Patrick is made to prophesy that Cluan Cain will be founded by a pilgrim of the Britons.m 1s8VSH, II, 154. 189Fel., p. 251 (Dec. 13), and commentary, p. 258. 19oFel., (Index of Places), p. 378. rnisee above, p. 47. 192See above, pp. 5-6. 193The Book of Armagh, pp. 33, 34. These notes were written in the eighth century (see the discussion of the date in Gwynn's intro­ duction, p. lxx). 19•Pp. 226-227. Note again the use of the epithet "pilgrim" as ap­ plied to a British cleric in Ireland. Cf. the "sons of Bracan" and others, above, p. 38. These three statements obviously refer to the same person, and demonstrate clearly that in the eighth and ninth cen­turies Cluan Cain was regarded as a church founded by Britons. KILLMOR. Mochta, to whom is attributed the founding of Killmore, a parish church three miles east of Armagh,194a appears in the life of Columba195 and in the Tripartite Life196 as a Briton converted by Patrick. His own life states that he was born in Britain,197 educated by the druid Hoan and brought by him to Ireland, where he built the church of Killmor "in Metheorum nemoribus."198 We may see clearly enough here that Mochta is not a mere hanger-on of Patrick tradition. The writer of the life was using ma­terials which showed that Mochta was a Briton who came to Ireland on his own account.199 TRIM (Ath Truim). Although we dare not accept as real persons the host of legendary characters who have been presented to us as relatives and disciples of Patrick by succeeding generations of hagiographers, it is difficult to deny the genuineness of the British symptoms in the anec­dote of Loman. In the commentaries of Tirechan there is a story that when Patrick arrived at the mouth of the Boyne he left his boat in charge of Loman and went on inland. Loman, with the boat, proceeded up the Boyne to Ath Truim. There he made the acquaintance of Fort­chernn, son of King Feidhlimidh, and converted him. Fortchernn's mother came out looking for her son, and when she found that Loman was British she was overjoyed, because she was a Briton also. She went back and told 194aSee Hogan, Onom. Goed., s.v. "cell more idan." 195 The Life of St. Colwmba, Founder of Hy; written by Adamnan, ed. William Reeves, Dublin (Irish Archreological and Celtic Society), 1857, p. 6. 196Pp. 226-228. 197CS, col. 903. 198/bid., col. 905. 199See the entry in AU, A.D. 534 and 536. On his identification with the historical Bacharius, see M. H. Maclnerny, in I.risk Ecclesiastical Record, 5th Ser., XXI (1923), 468 ff., 618 ff.; XXII (1823), 158 ff., 573 ff. her husband, and he, likewise, was delighted, since his mother Scoth Noe was a British princess. He welcomed Loman, and greeted him in the British tongue.20° Fort­chernn, who later became a prominent figure in the Irish church, must have been well known to Irish hagiographers for his British connections. It is therefore especially sig­nificant that the writer of the life of Finnian of Clonard should have made him fosterer of Finnian, patron of Clonard, a place distinguished for its relations with Britain.201 The churches assigned to Rioc, son of Patrick's sister, Lupait202 are hardly to be regarded as points of British con­tact merely because Rioc is supposed to have been a Briton. The tradition of Rioc shows no interest in British tradition beyond the connection with Patrick. The story in the Tripartite Life, told of Malach the Briton, a companion of Patrick for whom no relationship is claimed, seems to rest on a surer basis. Patrick was about to resus­citate the son of Aillil. He requested one of his company, Malach the Briton, to assist him. The Briton refused, for it seemed to him that the act was against the will of God. Patrick turned upon him and denounced him, saying that his "house" would be the dwelling-place of only nine men and that it would never have more than enough property to support two cows.208 It is clear that this story is invented to explain the impoverished state of some monastery known to the author of the life. Colgan20suggests that the • church referred to may be one of two townlands called Kilmaloo in the Barony of Decies-within-Drum. Shearman, however, calls attention to places which seem to preserve the name more clearly.206 One is a ford near Kilkenny 200Book of Armagh, ed. Gwynn, pp. 31~2. 201cs, coll. 189-190. 202LL, 372a (as Darioc, son of Darerca, another sister) ; see also the tradition of Rioc of Inisboffin (ibid,, 373b) . 208Tripartite Life, p. 198. It may be worth remembering that a British Maelog is again brought into contact with Irish monks in the British Latin life of Cybi. See above, p. 30. 204AASSHib., pp. 156, 272. 205Loca Patriciana, p. 154. called Aghmalog ;206 another is a neglected church site near Kilkenny which formerly was called Kilmalog ;207 and the third is Kilmaloque in Co. Carlow.208 8. Summary Although the evidence so far examined reveals a very large number of single instances of Irish-British inter­monastic communication, we have as yet seen nothing that would serve as a general statement of the movement. Such a statement, however, does exist. In an eighth-century canon, once ascribed to the Synod of Patrick, there appears the following passage: Clericus qui de Britanis ad nos venit sine epistola, etsi habitat in plebe, non licitum min­istrare.209 If British clerics were so common in Ireland in the eighth century that official notice had to be taken of them in church councils, it is small wonder that by the eleventh we have what amounts almost to community of ecclesiastical tradition between Britain and Ireland. A review of the facts presented reveals conclusively the fact that contact between Irish and British clerics from 750 to 1150 was close and continuous. The evidence, like any other collection of evidence, is not all of the same value. Narratives in saints' lives telling of the legendary journeys of Irish saints to Britain, though indicative of the writer's desire to show the friendly relations between his patron and a British saint, are not as conclusive proof of inter­national contact as, for example, the plain statement in the annals that a British bishop died at Kildare. But the general effect is undeniable. For contact between British 206It crosses a stream joining the Nore at Purcell's Inch. 207 Northeast of the Dublin road. It is now called Leggetsrath, but it appears in the Patent Rolls (1572) as Kilmalog. 208This appears on Mercator's map as Kilmoppaloque. 209Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, etc., II, 330. For the date, see ibid., 331, note 2. Early Literary Channels Between /rel.and and Britain 53 and Irish clerics during the eighth, ninth, and tenth cen­turies we have the testimony of early annals, of martyrolo­gies, of the Catalogue of Irish Saints, and other contem­porary documents. For the eleventh and twelfth have a great mass of hagiographical material, which, though not trustworthy as a record of the events of the sixth and seventh centuries-the period with which it ostensibly deals-is still exceedingly valuable for the light it throws upon the traditions, sentiments, and beliefs of the time in which it was prepared. B. lnter-Rel.ations between Irish .Monasteries in Comrnu­nication with Britain We have seen that there were more than fifty monastic foundations in Ireland which were associated in ecclesiasti­cal tradition with Britain or with Britons. Being conscious of a common tradition, it is only natural that the various foundations connected with Britain should preserve rather close relations with each other. An examination of the evidence reveals a network of intermonastic relations which served to bind together the institutions which claimed con­nection with Britain and to conserve consciousness of British affiliations. We should hardly feel justified in asserting that inter-relations between institutions exhibiting British influence is, in every instance, due to consciousness of British contact, but the association between the members of this circle of monasteries is too close to be fortuitous. 1. Ferns.-Ferns, which through the traditions of its founder was closely connected with St. David's, was also associated with monasteries in Ireland which bore British traditions. Maedoc, after he returned to Ireland, wanted to go back again to Wales to ask David whom he should have for father confessor. He was dissuaded by an angel, who informed him that he should have Molua of Clonfertmulloe as confessor.2 10 Such a story can hardly be interpreted as anything but an attempt to furnish a background for the 21ovsH, II, p. 219. See also another version, ibid., p. 148. relations between Clonf ertmulloe and Ferns. Another side of this interesting three-cornered relationship is revealed in the statement in the commentaries on the Felire that Molua of Clonfertmulloe was confessor to David.211 It may have been the British connections of Killeigh that led the erenagh212 of Ferns, Ugaire Ua Laidhgnen, to go there on his last pilgrimage in 1085.213 The commentaries on the Felire connect Ferns and Kil­dare in an anecdote which tells of the visit paid to Brigit of Kildare by her foster-son, who was a monk of Ferns.214 This incident by itself is useful only to illustrate the writer's general impression of friendly relations between Ferns and Kildare. More direct implication of these relations is to be seen in the record of the death of Lachtnan mac Mochti­gern, bishop of Kildare and superior of Ferns (AU, 874). It is especially interesting to observe that he must have been acquainted with Aedgen, the British bishop of Kildare, who died A.D. 863. The establishment of literary channels between Ferns, Kildare, and Britain then follows as a matter of course. About fifty years later Ferns was on intimate terms with Tallaght, for the annals state (Four Masters, 937) that Laid.gene was abbot of both. It is difficult to tell from such entries whether the abbot mentioned ruled both monasteries at once, or was transferred from one to the other. There is nothing inherently improbable in either assumption, and both are of equal force for the establishment of literary channels. The writer of the life of Colman Elo of Lynally seems to be interested in furnishing an historical background for some sort of relations between his monastery and Ferns, for he has his hero come to the assistance of Maedoc of 211see above, note 14. 212The secular steward of the monastic domains. 213See the notice of his death, Four Masters, sub anno. 214Fel., p. 64. Ferns when he is attempting to resuscitate King Bran­dubh.215 2. Kildare.-Kildare, as we have seen, was connected with Ferns. It was also connected with Clonard. Theim­plications of the legendary visit of Finnian, patron of Clonard, to Brigit of Kildare216 are fully borne out by the fact that in 7 48 Dodimoc was abbot of both Clonard and Kildare.211 Like Ferns, Kildare was also related to Killeigh, for we find in the annals the statement that Robartach mac na cerda was bishop of Kildare and abbot of Killeigh.218 The persistence of this relationship down to the eleventh century is revealed by the statement in the annals that Find mac Gussain, bishop of Kildare, died at Killeigh in 1085.219 3. Glendalough.-The relations between Glendalough and Tallaght are revealed by the statement in the annals that a certain Daniel (died 868, see AU, 867) was abbot of both monasteries. Some sort of relations between Clonard and Glendalough are no doubt to be inferred from the fact that Comghall, a learned man of Clonard, chose Glendalough as the place in which to end his days.220 The connections of Glendalough with Killeigh are clearly established by the fact that there was a church at Glendalough called the "church of the two Sinchells."221 4. Clonfertmulloe.-The record of Clonfertmulloe's con­nections with other Irish monasteries of the British circle survives principally in hagiographical tradition. We have already noticed how the patron Molua was connected with Maedoc of Ferns.222 The verse in the commentaries on the Felire which makes this statement says that he was con­fessor also to Comgall of Bangor. This looks as if the 21scs, col. 438. 216£ismSS, lines 2613-2616. 211Au, under the year 747. 218AU, 874. 219Four Masters, sub anno. 220Four Masters, 1122. 221See the record of its burning, AU, 1163. The Sinchells were the patrons of Killeigh. 222See above, p. 53. compiler had misunderstood the tradition. The lives of both Comgall and Molua agree in making Molua a pupil of Comgall.223 The same verse includes Mochoemog, a saint whose British connections have already been mentioned. 224 5. Killeigh.-Killeigh was connected not only with Glen­dalough, Ferns, and Kildare, but with Emly. A story is told in the life of Ailbe that when Ailbe was living at Cluain Damh (probably Clane, near the River Liffey in Kildare) Sinchell came to him and asked him for a place of residence. Ailbe and his monks immediately departed, leaving every­thing for Sinchell.225 This tale is almost certainly intended to explain the ceding of certain properties to Killeigh by Emly. A hagiographical tradition of doubtful value con­nects Killeigh with Aghaboe. Cainnich, patron of Aghaboe is supposed to have visited Killeigh and resuscitated the head of the monastery.226 6. Tallaght.-Tallaght, in addition to the relations al­ready mentioned, had some connection with Lismore and Ardmore. In a ninth-century tract now known as The Monastery of Tallaght, and composed at that monastery, Suadal mac Testa of Ardmore and MacOige of Lismore are cited as authorities221 for certain views regarding monastic discipline. MacOige became superior of Tallaght and died there in 87 4.228 7. Lismore.-Lismore in turn was on close terms with Cork. Notices in the annals show that the same man was abbot of all three in 812,229 849,230 and 958.231 Flaind mac Faircellach, who died in 812, was abbot also of Emly. 223For further treatment of the connection between Molua and Comgall, see the discussion of the lives in a subsequent chapter. 224lt is worth observing at this point that David, Maedoc, Molua, and Mocheomog are all brought together in this verse. See LL, p. 361, margin infra. 22svSH, I, 56-57; CS, col. 249. 22avsH, I, 164, and note 4. 221Proceedings, RIA, XXIX (1911-1912) , p. 142. 22BAU. 229Annals of lnisfallen, edited by Charles O'Conor in his Rerwm hibernicarum scriptores veteres, Buckingham, 1814-1826, II, sub anno. 2aofbid., sub anno. 231Chron. Scot., sub anno. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 57 Lismore and Iniscathy were also related by having the same abbot in 942.232 After the period of church reform in Ireland, Lismore seems to have been favored by connections also with the northern churches. In 1123233 Oengus O'Gorman, abbot of Bangor, died on a pilgrimage to Lis­more, and in 112923Cellach, a famous abbot of Armagh, • was, by his own request, transferred to Lismore for burial. 8. Iniscathy.-In the later lives of Senan of Iniscathy this saint is brought into connection with Maedoc of Ferns as well as with David of Menevia, and he is said to have made about the same vows of friendship with Maedoc as with David.235 Iniscathy is grouped with a number of other monasteries of the British tradition in a curious story of the arrival of fifty Roman bishops. These bishops were divided between Senan of Iniscathy, Finnian of Clonard, Brendan of Clonfert, Bairre of Cork, and Ciaran of Clon­macnoise.236 It is well worth noticing that all but one of these is directly connected with Britain in ecclesiastical tra­dition. 9. Clonard.-Most important and enlightening of all are the connections of Clonard. The persistent and unvarying tradition which makes Clonard the great training school of the early church, must be given consideration. There can be little doubt that the constantly recurring statement in various lives that the patron received his education at Clonard is due, to a certain extent, to the fact that educa­tion at Clonard had become a stock hagiographical motif. 2a2Annals Inwf., sub anno. naFour Masters. 234Jbid. 2asLismSS, lines 2044 ff. He set up a church at Eniscorthy, and he and Maedoc made a union. Later Maedoc bequeathed his crozier to Senan, and Senan took the abbacy of Ferns. The assigning of the abbacy of Ferns to Senan is so contrary to all other tradition concerning this establishment that one is inclined to see here a special attempt to formulate a historical background for relations of con­fraternity between Iniscathy and Ferns, existing at the time of writing. 2a6Jbid., lines 2069 ff. On the other hand, we must recognize the fact that every author had a choice of educational traditions for his hero. There was said to have been an important school at Bangor, conducted by Comgall, who had been an associate of Co­lumba. There was also a strong tradition of a school at Lismore. It is difficult to escape the conclusion, therefore, that a writer who chose Clonard was influenced to a certain degree by his knowledge of a connection between Clonard and his patron's monastery, or by the real reputation of Clonard as an educational center. The ecclesiastical position of Clonard must have exerted a potent influence upon the writers of saints' lives. As early as 858 Suairleach, abbot of Clonard, took a prominent part in a congress held for the purpose of establishing peace between Ossory, North Ireland, and Munster.237 As we come on down to the reform movement of the eleventh and twelfth centuries and ecclesiastical documents be­come more numerous and more detailed, it is impossible not to be impressed with the irresistible growth of this famous foundation. Before the era of reform it was a central or "mother" church with a large number of sub­sidiary institutions connected with it by bonds of com­mon origin and similar practice. The growth of small dioceses within its sphere of influence, which might, in time, have destroyed its power, was checked by the action of the leaders of the reform movement, who suppressed these dioceses, or rather converted them into rural dean­eries under the control of the Bishop of Meath, who was also Bishop of Clonard. Clonard itself as a diocese never grew to very large proportions, but through its bishop it gained control of a great territory. Even before the crea­tion of authoritative territorial dioceses it controlled, as a monastic church, half of the churches of Meath, the other half being controlled by Clonmacnoise. By the terms of the Synod of Rathbreasil (1111) Clonard, as seat of the Bishop of Meath, became the predominant church of central Ireland. The channels of communication with Britain 2a1AU. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 59 maintained at Clonard are therefore of the utmost im­portance to the transmission of literary documents and ideas. The testimony of the annals regarding the succession of learned men who lived within the walls of Clonard is abund­ant evidence of the importance of this monastery as a center of literary culture. Most of these persons are mere names to us now; their works are either lost or shrouded in anonymity. One, however, whose writings and identity have survived, may serve as an example. The sage Aileran, whose death is recorded in the annals at A.D. 664, is said by the Leabhar Breac commentator on the Felire to have been a resident of Clonard.238 He is undoubtedly an historical character,239 and seems to have enjoyed some reputation as a man of letters, for he is invoked as an authority on the life of Patrick240 and the life of Fechin of Fore.241 C. The Literary Importance of Irish Monasteries of the British Circle Unfortunately we have no complete record of the literary activities of the institutions which we have studied, but as we glance back over the list we observe that many of them were important in Irish literary history. 1. Clonfert.-As the traditional home and foundation of Brendan, it is entirely likely that Clonfert was the starting place for the body of material that became famous through­out Western Europe as the Voyage of Brendan. It is sig­nificant to observe here that the earliest text in which the story of Brendan appears is an ecclesiastical document,242 2asMartyrology of Oengus, ed. Whitley Stokes, Roy. Ir. Acad., Ir. MSS Ser., I (1880), cxxx. 2a9Pat. Lat., LXXX, coll. 327 ff. 240Pat. Lat., coll. 327-328. 2 nVSH, II, 80. 242Brit. Mus., Add. MS 96,786 (tenth century). Flower in his Catalogue of !risk Manuscripts in tke British Museum, London, 1926, II, 301, states that even this very early version is clearly not an original. and it seems very probable that it was through such chan­nels that the story made its way to Britain and to the con­tinent. We have already noticed the tradition which links Brendan with South Britain, especially with Llancarvan. 2. Kells.-Kells is well known for the beautiful book which bears its name. It was also one of the important centers of learning in Ireland. The Britons who lived there243 may have been North Britons who were attracted thither by the tradition of Columba. If so, we may accept their presence there as evidence only of indirect connection with South Britain. At the same time, it is well to remem­ber that at least in the later years of the period under discussion, it was subject to Clonard, a monastery of un­doubted South British traditions. 3. Durrow.-Another Columbite monastery, Durrow, was known as "Durrow of the Britons." It may owe this descriptive epithet to the presence of North Britons. If this be true, we have no right to assume as yet that its compilations such as the famous Book of Durrow were known directly to the South Britons. 4. Clonf ertmulloe.-Clonfertmulloe as the home of Laidcend, a poet of considerable reputation at home and on the continent.m Drumsnat, a place affiliated with Clon­fertmulloe by the possession of a common patron, produced the Gin Droma Snechta (now lost), an eighth-century col­lection which was used by the compilers of the Leabhar na hUidhre.245 5. Slane.-Slane is the place at which was compiled the Yellow Book of Slane (now lost), another collection used by the compilers of the Leabhar na hUidhre. 246 6. Kildare.-Another important intellectual center in Ireland is Kildare. As far as we now know, this monastery u asee above, p. 39. 244This writer will be discussed in more detail later. 24sR. Thurneysen, Die iriscke Helden-und Konig-sage bi.s zum sieb­ zehnten Jahrhundert, Halle, 1921, pp. 15 ff. 2HThurneysen, op. cit., p. 30; see also LU (facs.), 43al. The tale "The Sick-bed of Cuchullain" as given in LU is based on the version in·the Yellow Book of Slane. produced no great compilations, but Finn, the Bishop of Kildare, was undoubtedly in close touch with the compilation of the Book of Leinster, for we have a note written by him to Aedh mac Crimthann, compiler of the book.m 7. Tallaght.-During the eighth and ninth centuries, Tallaght seems to have fostered a significant movement in the compilation of ecclesiastical collections. It is prob­ably to this movement that we owe The Felire of Oengus, The Martyrology of Tallaght, The Stowe Missal, and various tracts relating to the Culdees.2*8 8. Timoleague.-At Timoleague was produced the Black Book of Molagga (now lost), an historical compendium which was used by Keating in the sixteenth century. We have now observed the literary importance of some of the Irish monasteries directly connected with Britain. There are other great Irish literary centers, however, which we have not yet taken into account. Clonmacnoise, Mon­asterboice, Armagh, Clonenagh, Terryglass,-what did they possess of importance to Irish-British literary relations? And how could Britons have had access to their treasures? 9. Clonmacnoise.-Clonmacnoise is most famous prob­ably as home of the Leabhar na hUidhre, a great collection of Irish literature made in the late eleventh century. It is also known as one of the great seats of learning in ancient Ireland and as a gathering place for saints and scholars. The surviving records of Clonmacnoise reveal little of its connection with the Britons. An Irish life of Ciaran, founder of Clonmacnoise, includes a story of a churlish Briton, Daniel, who occupied a cell on Hare Island (in Lough Ree) and was induced by gifts to give it up to Ciaran.29 In the hagiographical section of the Book of • Leinster there is a curious tradition which shows that at least one of the hagiologists was inclined to connect Ciaran with Britain. This note states that his father was at first 2HLL (facs.), p. 288, lower margin. 2•ssee the discussion by E. J. Gwynn, Irish Church Quarterly, IX (1916), 115-180. 2•DLismSS, lines 4344 ff. among the Cornish Britons, but left to avoid the heavy taxes, and came to Cinel Conaill in Ireland. 250 Although the evidence for direct contact between Clon­macnoise and the British is meager, there can be no doubt of the existence of channels which connected Clonmacnoise ultimately with the Britons. One of these channels was the close connection with Clonard, whose British affiliations are clearly established. As early as 758 the annals reveal the existence at Clon­macnoise of a Well of St. Finnian. 251 In 787 Dubhdabhairenn, abbot of Clonard, visited the subsidiary parochia of Mun­ster, and in 805 Dubhdabhairenn, abbot of Clonmacnoise, died.252 In 924 we find the record of the death of Colman mac Aillel, abbot of Clonmacnoise and Clonard, with the added note that it was by him that the stone church was built at Clonmacnoise.253 In 953 Celechair was abbot of Clonmacnoise and Clonard.254 In 1014 Flaithbertach mac Domnaill, a member of the Hy Neill, was abbot of both mon­asteries.255 In 1050 Echtigern hua Egrain, abbot of Clon­macnoise, died on his pilgrimage to Clonard. :rno Thus we see a series of records extending over a period of three centuries which testify to the intimate relations be­tween Clonmacnoise and Clonard.257 The rapid simulta- 25°LL, 348h. Text and translation VSH, I, Ii, note 3. This tra­dition was not generally accepted. The Latin life states that he came from Meath. 2 51Annals of Tigernach, the version from MS Rawlinson 488, in O'Conor, Rrn-. hib. script. vet., II, Part 1, 254. Finnian was the founder of Clonard. 2s2chron. Scot. and An. Tig., sub annis. 2ssFour Masters, 924; AU, 925. mAU; An. lnisf. record it at 938. 255Chron. Scot., 1012; AU, 1014. 2sachron. Scot. 251Jt is interesting to note the influence of this association on the hagiographical traditions of the two founders, Ciaran and Finnian. In the Vita Oiarani there are three sections (xv-xvii) (VSH, I, 205-206) devoted to Ciaran's sojourn at the school of Finnian at Clonard. This incident is mentioned also in the life of Finnian (CS, col. 201) but is not developed. Here Ciaran is simply mentioned in the list of pupils. See also the reference to Ciaran as a pupil of Finnian, FeL, pp. 202-204. neous growth of these two monasteries made it inevitable that their interests should cross at times and that readjust­ments should be necessary. An interesting example of their business dealings is preserved in the Tripartite Life of Patrick, where we find that Clonmacnoise traded one of her dependencies to Clonard for two others.258 In the course of time it became necessary to have some sort of permanent understanding with regard to the distribution of power in central Ireland. Accordingly the Synod of Usneach con­tained a provision for the division of Meath into two parts, the churches in the west going to Clonmacnoise and those in the east to Clonard. 259 The reports in the annals show, furthermore, that Clon­macnoise must have been on close terms with Aghaboe, another monastery whose patron is traditionally connected with Britain. At 1040 and 1096 are recorded the deaths of men who had been abbots of both places. 260 In 1093261 we see that Kilmacduagh262 had been brought into this combi­nation. Such an arrangement must have brought Clonmac­noise into contact with the traditions of Ferns, for the life of Maedoc of Ferns credits him with the foundation of Kilmacduagh. 263 Killeigh, a foundation of unquestionable British connec­tions, was one of the churches dependent upon Clonmac­noise.264 2G8Trip. Li/e, p. 76. 2sechron. Scot., 1107. This should be 1111. 260Chron. Scot. 261Au. 262Cell meic Duach, southwest of Gort in the barony of Kiltartan in Galway. 26SBNE, I, 227; VSH, II, 306. Although this is merely mentioned in the Latin lives of Maedoc, it occupies an important place in the later Irish lives. In fact the general extension of the influence of Ferns to foundations in the west, such as Drumlane, Rossinver, and others, is particularly stressed in the life called II in Plummer's col­lection. Since we find no record before the eleventh century in which the same man appears as abbot of Ferns and of one of these western monasteries, we should naturally conclude that the move­ment began at a fairly late date. 264BNE, I, 304. Another member of the British circle in Ireland with which Clonmacnoise was connected was Glendalough. In 1030 Fiann O'Kelly, abbot of Clonmacnoise, died at Glen­dalough.265 Among the surviving antiquities of Glen­dalough, moreover, is a site known as that of St. Ciaran's Church. When O'Donovan examined the antiquities of Glendalough, the church had already disappeared, but various artists had seen and mentioned it at earlier times. It may be the place referred to in the annals at 1167 as Cro Ciaran.266 This relationship enters into the written lives of the two patrons in the form of an anecdote of a visit paid by Coemgen of Glendalough to Ciaran of Clonmacnoise after the death of Ciaran. Ciaran came to life and passed the night in conversation with Coemgen, and at their parting the two saints made vows of eternal friendship between them and theirs.26' Reports of relations between Clonmacnoise and Iniscathy (Scattery Island) have not found their way into the annals. They appear, however, in the lives of both Ciaran and Senan. There was apparently a cassula at Iniscathy which was preserved as a relic of Ciaran, for there are stories in the lives of both patrons to account for the miraculous manner of its arrival.268 Ciaran is represented in his lives as visiting Ende of Aran, and the lives of both saints contain the prophecy of Ende concerning the future greatness of Clonmacnoise.269 We should infer, therefore, that connection between these two monasteries was sufficient to bring about the inter­change of hagiographical material. In examining the opportunities for contact between Clon­macnoise and British clerics we should not forget that 2asFour Masters. 266See the Ordnance Letters (in Roy. Ir. Acad.), "Wicklow," p. 477. 2a1vita Ciarani in VSH, I, 215; Vita Coemgeni, ibid., pp. 248-249. The writer of the life of Ciaran says that he found the incident in the life of Coemgen. 2sS£ism.sS, lines 2388 ff. ; CS, coll. 750-753; VSH, I, 208-209; LismSS, lines 4305 ff. 269VSH, I, 208; II, 72. one of the most important facts to be considered is the geographical proximity of a number of monasteries which preserved traditions of relations with Britain. Chief among these were Clonfert, Gallen, and Hare Island. A little farther east, in the middle of King's Co., were Land Elo (Lynally), Rahen, and Killeigh. 10. Monasterboice.-At Monasterboice was compiled the Book of Monasterboice (now lost), another collection used by the compilers of the Leabhar na hUidhre.210 Here also lived Fiann of Monasterboice ( d. 1056), one of the leaders in the systematization of Irish history211 and possibly one of the redactors of the great Irish heroic tale Tain B6 Cualgne.212 Monasterboice, like Clonmacnoise, seems to reveal little evidence of direct connection with Britain, but it would be strange indeed if the community at Clonard did not learn of the work at Monasterboice through Cormac, a contemporary of Fiann, who died in Clonard about 1075.273 11. Armagh.-Of the importance of Armagh to the re­ligious and intellectual life of Ireland it is hardly necessary to speak. As the center of the Patrick tradition, it pro­duced a great body of material dealing with the Apostle of Ireland and his companions. The Tripartite Life of Pat­rick, the Hymn of Patrick, the large and diverse collection of documents incorporated into the Book of Armagh--all these, if not actually put together at Armagh, were at least composed under the influence of Armagh clerics. Secular literature was represented by the Book of Dubhdaleithe (now lost), from which the heroic tale "The Wooing of Erner" was copied in the fifteenth century.274 210Lu (facs), 39a17. 271See the edition of his chronological poems by Eoin MacNeill, Archivium Hibernicum, II (1913), 37 ff. 212Thurneysen, op. cit., p. 25. 21aAn. Inisf., sub anno. See also Eogan of Monasterboice, who was abbot of Clonard, Four Masters, 833. 2HSee K. Meyer, Rev. celt., XI (1890), 437. The book is referred to here as the Book of "Dubhdaleithi .i. comarpa Patraic." This is clear indication that he was abbot of Armagh. See also the entry Armagh maintained friendly relations with Clonard during the ninth and tenth centuries, as we may infer from the fact that the same man was abbot of both in 833 ;275 that Suairleach of Clonard assisted Fethgna of Armagh at a meeting called in 857 by Maelsechlainn to establish peace ;276 and that in 955 Moenach, abbot of Clonard, was a teacher at Clonard.211 One is naturally led to infer that relations with a monastery so strongly affected by British influence as Clonard would lead to direct con­nection with Britain itself. The inference in this instance is fully substantiated. In a Welsh manuscript of the ninth century there appear two Irish names, Nuadu and Fethgna. The position of the names in the manuscript is such as to indicate that these men were authors or redactors of the material, much of which is now illegible. 218 The two best­known Irishmen in that period who bore those names were Nuadu, bishop of Armagh, who died in 811, and Fethgna (d. 874), who was likewise bishop, and who, as we have just seen, was associated with Suairleach of Clonard in the attempt to restore peace in 857. In the light of this docu­ment and the known connection between Llancarvan and Clonard and between Clonard and Armagh, one is inclined to connect with this interchange the expedition of six learned men sent to Ireland by Cydivor, abbot of Llanveithin (at Llancarvan) in 883.279 And certainly it gives us the motive which prompted Caradoc of Llancarvan in his Vita Gildae to assert that Gildas, when in Ireland, taught at Armagh.280 12. Clonenagh.-At Clonenagh was compiled a set of annals known as the Annals of Clonenagh. These annals of his death, AU, 1064. The book is referred to in the annals cited at 962, 1003, and 1020. 215Four Masters. 216/bid. 211AU. Later, in 1055 (AU) the rising power of Clonard clashed with that of Armagh so strongly as to produce actual warfare. 278For a full description of the material, see W. F. Skene, Four Ancient Books of Wales, II, 311 ff. 219Gwentian Brut, pp. 16-17. 280Mon. Germ. Hist., Auct. Ant., Ckron. Min., III, 108. were known and used by Keating in the sixteenth century, but they are no longer extant. We may gain some idea of them, however, from an examination of another set known as Three Fragments,281 which, it appears, is indirectly de­rived from them.282 These annals contain a number of very full entries which include heroic material of considerable literary interest. The channels which would be likely to make the Clonenagh material accessible to Britons are best considered together with those of Terryglass. 14. Te'rryglass.-A little after the middle of the twelfth century Aed mac Crimthann compiled at Terryglass the celebrated Book of Leinster. As a compendium of heroic and historical material this book is hardly less famous than the Leabhar na hUidhre. The relations between Terryglass and monasteries with British connections are close enough to allow of our assum­ing that Britons could have had access to the material assembled for the compilation of the Book of Leinster. Clonfert and Terryglass were sharing the same vice-abbot in 884282 a and the same abbot in 896.283 The connection with Clonard is attested by the not unusual statement in the life of Finnian that Columb mac Crim­thann, patron of Terryglass, was one of Finnian's pupils. This claim, however, is somewhat different from most in that is it accompanied by Finnian's prophecy that he will receive the last sacrament from Columb.284 This would make it appear that the writer, presumably a monk of Clonard, wished to pay a special honor to Terryglass. 281Three Fr:agments of Irish Annals copied from the Sources by Dubhaltach MacFirb-isigh, ed. and transl. by John O'Donovan, Dublin, 1860. 282See the remarks of Robin Flower in his Catalogue of Irish MSS, II, 284-285. 2112aAU. 283An. In-is/., A.D. 881. These annals are about fifteen years behind during this period. 28•L-ismSS, lines 2646 ff.; see also the life of Colurnb, CS, coll. 445 ff. A certain community of tradition with Glendalough seems to be implied in the tradition that Nethcoem, a later abbot of Terryglass, was brother to Coemgen of Glendalough.285 Perhaps most interesting for literary history is the three­cornered relation between Terryglass, Clonenagh, and Tallaght. According to the Annals of Ulster, Aedh mac Dubhdacrich, who was killed at Dun Masc in 845, was abbot of Terryglass and Clonenagh.286 Another abbot who is common to both is mentioned by the Four Masters at 898. The usual hagiographical reflection of these relations is found in the life of Fintan of Clonenagh, where the state­ment is made that Fintan was a pupil of Columb of Terry­glass.28 7 Connections between Terryglass and Tallaght are re­vealed by the frequent appeal to the authority of Mael­dithruib in the ninth-century tract The Monastery of Tallaght. Maeldithruib appears later in the Book of Leinster list of Maelruain's community as an anchorite of Terryglass.288 Since it is apparent, moreover, that he came from Terryglass to Tallaght, whatever literary influence he may have exerted was the influence of Terryglass.289 The bishop Carthach, another authority invoked by the writer of the tract,290 may be the same one that is mentioned as abbot of Terryglass by the Four Masters under the year 851. The triangular association of Terryglass, Clonenagh, and Tallaght is completed by the movements of Oengus the Culdee, to whom is ascribed the compiling of the Felire. He began his work at Clonenagh, where he was a member of the monastic community, and finished it at Tallaght in the early ninth century. 285F el., pp. 128, 144, 240; LL, 374c, 351e, 375a. 2s6A .D. 844; Wars of G. with G., pp. 18-19. 2s 1VSH, II, 97. 288Proc. R.I.A., XXIX (1911-1912), 122. 289/bid., pp. 135-137. 290/bid., p. 122. D. The Use of Inter-Monastic Channels for the Trans­mission of Literary Material 1. The Use of Intermonastic Channels in Ireland.-So far we have examined the channels between Ireland and Britain and the inter-relations between Irish monasteries connected directly or indirectly with Britain. We have seen that many of the Irish monasteries considered were reposi­tories and producers of literary documents. The question we must now answer is, How were the channels of com­munication used for the interchange of literary material? First, let us examine the Irish intermonastic channels. Although it is not possible to produce examples of inter­change of material for all of the connections mentioned in the foregoing survey, we have a number sufficient to show that such interchange was a usual feature of intermonastic relations. One of the most noteworthy instances of literary inter­communication survives in a note included in the Book of Leinster. It is written by Finn, Bishop of Kildare, to Aedh mac Crimthann, abbot of Terryglass, who was compiling the book. Referring to one of the pieces included in the compilation, he asks Aedh to finish it and to send him a copy of the poems of Flann mac Lonain.291 We must infer from this that the Book of Leinster traveled from Terryglass to Kildare while work on it was in progress, and that Finn of Kildare was in sufficiently close touch with the work to allow of his making suggestions to the compiler. We may not, strictly speaking, assume that the manuscript could have been seen by Britons at Terryglass, for we have no evidence that Terryglass was in direct communication with Britain. At Kildare, however, the traces of definite British influence, combined with Kildare's close connections with Clonard, Killeigh, and other foundations where British contact is clearly established, make it almost un­avoidable that British clerics should have seen this compila­tion. We should also remember that there must have been 291££, p. 288, lower margin. a great collection of documents used as a basis for the Book of Leinster. If the request made by Finn, Bishop of Kil­dare, was granted, at least one of these--the poems of Flann mac Lonain-was sent from Terryglass to Kildare. Unfor­tunately very few of these memoranda are now preserved, but even this one is sufficient to remind us that, then as now, books were exchanged between monasteries, and that compilers called upon their friends for assistance in the gathering of material. The channels available for communication between Clon­macnoise and Roscommon were utilized in much the same way.29 2 The Gin Droma Snechta, a famous eighth-century collection of heroic tales, was used by one scribe at Clon­macnoise about 1106, and by another at Roscommon about 1135. This instance of interchange does not belong definitely to the circle of monasteries specially subject to British contact. It is offered, however, in support of the assumption that relations between monasteries imply inter­change of documents. If Roscommon and Clonmacnoise interchanged material, it is only natural to infer that Clon­macnoise and Clonard did likewise. The surviving examples of the transmission of secular collections from one monastery to another are necessarily few, for it is only by accident that successive redactions of stories bear definite memoranda in9,icating the monasteries at which redactions were made. The case of ecclesiastical literature, however, is different. The life of a saint, and in many instances the traditions relating to this saint can usually be definitely assigned to the monastery or group of monasteries of which he is patron. When the same story is told of two different saints, or when the same story about the same saint occurs in two different lives, we may there­fore be sure of one of two things: (1) one writer borrowed it from the other, or (2) both found it in some compendium 292The kind of evidence which establishes the relations between these two monasteries comes to us in a form that should be familiar to the readers of the foregoing pages. Four Masters at 979, AU at 1052, and Chron. Scot. at 1084 record deaths of men who were abbots of both. of hagiographical lore. Either would be indicative of inter­monastic communication. Making all due allowance for oral transmission, we must recognize that the compiling of martyrologies, of monastic rules, ond saints' lives was not a popular, but a learned occupation, to which the use of written documents was indispensable. A great part of the evidence drawn from saints' lives so far considered as evidence of political or administrative relations between monasteries, may now be considered also as evidence of literary intercourse, for the borrowing of incidents from one life to pad out another, although it is, secondarily, evidence of some sort of friendly relations between the monasteries of the patrons concerned, it is, primarily, evidence of literary intercommunication. The writer who borrowed for the life of Maedoc certain incidents from the life of Molua must have had a life of Molua before him, and we have no choice but to infer that through some channel, direct or indirect, a life of Molua found its way from Clonfertmulloe to Ferns. Again, Suadal mac Testa of Ardmore, who is invoked as authority for certain passages in the tract known as The Monastery of Tallaght, may have communicated his ideas orally, but the natural assumption is that he wrote down his ideas at his monastery and that these writings were taken up to Tallaght by some cleric interested in both monasteries. Readers of Irish hagiographical tradition must observe that, in spite of its contradictions, false chronology, and prodigality of miracles, it has a surprising unity of its kind -a unity which is artificial, the result of a learned tradition striving for uniformity. The systematized lists of saints in the hagiographical section of the Book of Leinster reveal the passion for standardization and symmetry. This passion was indulged to the detriment of genuine history. Just as all historical facts had to yield to the preconceived plan of the the tenth-and eleventh-century synchronizers, so had all ecclesiastical facts to conform to the pattern of the hagiologist. In discussing the transfer of hagiographical material from one monastery to another, we must keep clearly in mind the difference between incidents and mere motifs. Miraculous resuscitations, discomfiture of enemies, produc­ing of wells and the like are often mere bits of lore drawn from a common stock and possessing no individual traits that would make them useful for purposes of comparison. On the other hand, fully formed incidents consisting of a series of events, which can be transposed, augmented, or diminished, off er a definite basis of calculation. In the life of Finnian of Clonard there is a story of a tyrannical sub-prior, who ordered the young Finnian to go out after a load of supplies under very unreasonable con­ditions.293 This story, although simple, is too complicated to have occurred to any two writers independently. We must therefore conclude that its transmission was entirely literary. When we find it repeated with certain modifica­tions in the lives of the patrons of Ferns, Aghaboe, and Clonard, it remains only to remark the importance of this community of tradition as evidence of literary intercom­munication between three monasteries already shown by other evidence to be connected with Britain and with each other. The lives of Maedoc of Ferns and of Molua of Clonfert­mulloe both contain the story of a young monk who, after being rebuked by his superior, prostrated himself on the seashore and remained there until the tide came in.294 Each writer, of course, tells the story with his own patron as hero. Both lives also tell the story of Maedoc's decision to consult David of Menevia concerning the choice of a father-con­fessor. A similar borrowing process is discernible in the lives of Senan of Iniscathy and Ciaran of Clonmacnoise. A visit paid by Ciaran of Clonmacnoise to Senan of Iniscathy is related in the various lives of both saints with similarity of detail that makes literary transmission practically certain.296 293We shall examine this story in more detail later. 294The relations between the Uves of Maedoc and Molua will be treated in more detail later. 296£ismSS, lines 2388 ff.; CS, coll. 750-753; VSH, I, 208-209; LismSS, lines 4305 ff. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 73 Another incident in the life of Ciaran, which relates a visit paid by Coemgen of Glendalough to Clonmacnoise, is avow­edly taken from the life of Coemgen. w i; The assertion of the writer is borne out by the presence of the incident in the extant life of Coemgen.297 Examples of this sort of borrowing are endless and they furnish the most convincing proof of interchange of docu­ments between related monasteries. If any further evi­dence were necessary, we should find it in the frankly expressed debt of great compilations like the Book of Lein­ster and the Book of the Dun to the materials of various monasteries. We may therefore summarize somewhat as follows: 1. Intermonastic relations are accompanied by inter­change of documents. Of the documents which we know were transmitted, some were secular and some ecclesiastical, but all show that intermonastic channels were utilized. 2. Many monasteries in contact with Britain were within the circle of this interchange. It may therefore be justi­fiable to assume that in many instances contact between Britons and one Irish monastery was equivalent to contact with other related monasteries. 2. The Use of the Channels between Britain and Ireland. The channels in which we are chiefly interested, of course, are those which connect Britain with Ireland. There is abundant evidence that these channels were used for the transmission of literary documents and ideas. Some of the material which we have considered as evi­ dence for British-Irish communication is itself evidence for the interchange of documents. The tradition of the "sons of Bracan" in Ireland298 is clearly the result of such literary interchange. The character of Sawyl Bennuchel, father of Sanctan,299 is another example of the communication of genealogical tradition. The curious duplication of the Irish z9svsH, I, 215. 297/bi.d., pp. 248-249. 298 See above, p. 32 ff. 299See above, pp. 23-24. genealogy of the Dessi by the Welsh is a still further exam­ple of this process.300 The appearance of the Constantine legend301 at Rahen in Ireland is again an indication of the use, for literary purposes, of lines of communication estab­lished between an Irish monastery and Britain. The strongest piece of direct evidence so far examined is the presence in South Britain of a manuscript which had appar­ently passed through the hands of two ninth-century bishops of Armagh.302 We may proceed to the examination of some other evi­dence that these channels were utilized for literary pur­poses. Some of the most clearly authenticated examples of inter­change are attributed to the agency of Gildas. We have the authority of Columbanus for the statement that Gildas carried on correspondence with Finnian. Columbanus, in a letter to Gregory I (written 595-600), speaks of the problem arising from the action of certain monks who left the cloister and retired to desert places. He says that Finnian wrote to Gildas, asking his opinion, and Gildas replied to him.303 It is probable that Finnian was at that time making investigation in preparation for his collection of penitentials.304 It is unfortunate that Columbanus has left us no more information on this point, for he himself used the Penitentials of Finnian in the preparation of his own series, 305 and probably was acquainted with the circum­stances of their composition. A word or two would have obviated the controversy over the identity of Finnian­whether he was Finnian of Clonard or Finnian of Magh aoostudies in English, No. 6, pp. 14 ff. 301see above, pp. 44-45. 302see above, pp. 65-66. 303Afon. Germ. Hist., Epp. Mer. et Kar. a.evi, I, 159. 304This set of penitentials, which still survives in a manuscript of the eighth century, is published by F. W. H. Wasserschleben in his Die Bussordnungen der abendUindischen Kirche, Halle, 1851, under the name Vennianus. 305J. T. McN eill, "The Celtic Penitentials," Rev. celt., XXXIX (1922)' 280-282. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 75 Bile (Moville) . 306 The evidence already presented for the connections of Clonard with South Britain, however, makes it probable that he was the one intended. Finnian of Magh Bile is not connected with South Britain in any extant tradi­tion. The only reasons advanced for making him the author of these penitentials are that he is said to have brought a copy of the "law" to Ireland,307 and that according to the accepted chronology, Finnian of Clonard and Gildas could not have been contemporaries. The first of these argu­ments has nothing apparent to do with the case. The word "law" is glossed by the commentators as "the gospels" or "the Law of Moses,"308 meaning probably, that he brought a copy of the New or of the Old Testament. The second argument, based on chronology, is even less convincing. The chronology of early Irish ecclesiastical affairs is an extremely insecure basis upon which to rest an argument. But even admitting these traditional dates into the discus­sion, there seems to be no reason why Gildas (b. 493) 309 should not have been contemporary with Finnian (d. 549) . 310 Whatever may have been the exact channels through which the opinions of Gildas were conveyed to Ireland, it is obvious that he was regarded as a high authority. The withdrawal of monks to solitary places, about which Finnian consulted him, was not the only point upon which his advice was valued. We find him invoked as an authority for an Irish canon which expresses disapproval of the Celtic (spe­cifically, British) tonsure.311 Gildas seems also to have played a part in the transmis­sion of poetic material. In the Irish Liber Hymnorum, a 306For a summary of evidence, see McNeill, op. cit., pp. 266 ff. 30•Jn the main text of the Felire (ed. Stokes, p. 193). 308Felire, p. 204. 309Lloyd, Hist. of Wales, p. 136. a10AU, 548 (recte 549). snsee F. W. H. Wasserschleben, Die irische Kanonensammlung, Giessen, 1885, p. 212. This document was composed at the end of the seventh or the beginning of the eighth century. Such an opinion is just what we should expect from the Romanized author of the De excidio. document which contains Latin and Irish hymns of various dates, there is a poem known as the Lorica of Gildas.3i2 It belongs to a fairly well established class of hymns in­tended to ward off sickness or injury.sis It is composed in a kind of Latin similar to the Hisperica Famina.314 The hymn occurs in a number of other manuscripts ranging in date from the eighth to the fourteenth century.sis In the eighth-and ninth-century mauscripts the poem is simply ascribed to Laidcend. In the Leabhar Breac316 version, however, there appears a superscription which gives addi­tional information. The heading reads: Gillas hanc loricam f ecit ad demones expellendos eos qui adversaverunt illi. Then follows a statement of what the hymn is expected to accomplish. After this statement the explanation con­tinues: Laidcend mac Buith Banrwig uenit ab eo in insolam Hiberniani: transtulit et portauit superaltare sancti Patricii episcopi sauos nos facere, amen.si7 Laidcend was well known in Irish ecclesiastical and secular history as abbot of Clonfertmulloe after Molua and as chief poet to Niall of the Nine Hostages.sis The literary si2Ed. Bernard and Atkinson, I, 206--210. sissee the full account by Dom Louis Gougaud, Bull. d'anc. litt. et d'arch. chret., I (1911); II (1912). susee the edition by F. J. H. Jenkinson, Cambridge, 1908. The editor in discussing the Hisperica Famina (p. ix) says that "the scene is laid in a country where the language of the inhabitants is Irish." si6See Gougaud, Rev. celt., XXX (1909), 37. sisThe Leadbhar Breac, although not compiled until the fourteenth century, contains much old material. si10ld Irish Glosses, ed. Whitley Stokes (Ir. Arch. and Celtic Soc.), Dublin, 1860, p. 136. sisFel., p. 35; AU, 600. He appears in secular tradition as the chief poet of Niall of the Nine Hostages (see "How Niall of the Nine Hostages was Slain," Otia Merseiana, II, 90-1. Niall's quarrel with Eochu is ascribed to the killing of Laidcend hy Eochu. See also the various tracts assigned to Laidcend by continental authors, Rev. celt., XXX (1909), 37 ff. On the channels between Clonfertmulloe and Britain, see above, pp. 11-12. Of course, if Laidcend lived during the period usually assigned to him, it is impossible that he should have been chief poet to Niall. We are concerned here, however, only with his traditional fame as a literary and ecclesiastical figure. fame of this man, combined with the absence of the name of Gildas from the earlier of the surviving manuscripts of the Lorica, has led some scholars to the conclusion that Laidcend, rather than Gildas, was the composer of this poem. Neither of these reasons seems sufficient for reject­ing Gildas' authorship. Laidcend's ability as a man of letters should be no obstacle to his importing a piece of verse; it should rather render it more likely. The absence of the ascription to Gildas, though more important than the first reason, is not decisive, and there is evidence on the other side which more than balances it. Whitley Stokes, in his edition of the poem, states that the Latinity points to a Welsh origin.3' 9 Latin learning of the kind reflected in the Hisperica Famina may easily have found a place in the British centers described in the earlier and more authentic Breton saints' lives. The tradition that makes Samson as well as Paul of Leon, David, and Gildas students under Iltud, a pupil of St. Germaine, at Lian Iltud, is clear, direct, and free from exaggeration. There is no reason to doubt the mission of Germaine to Britain, and, considering the organization and purpose of monastic life in that period, it seems inevitable that he should have had pupils in Britain. The general outline of the tradition of a school at Lian Iltud, therefore, bears all the earmarks of genuineness.320 As for the products of this school, we have nothing by which to judge them except the work of Gildas.321 This work, however, and the Juvencus glosses, the Lorica of Gildas, and another hymn known as the Altus Prosator all contain words characteristic of the Hisperica Famina. In this community of Latinity M. Roger sees the product of a British-Irish school which must have been active during 3190fd Irish Glosses, p. 134. 320See the discussion by H. Zimmer in his Nennius Vindicatus, Berlin, 1893, pp. 306 ff., 325 ff. Zimmer is possibly a little too positive in his assertions, in view of the comparative lateness of the documents to which he refers. 321That is, the De excidio. the sixth century.322 In view of the foregoing evidence and the previously mentioned connections of Gildas with Ireland, I can see no reason for rejecting the superscription which states that Laidcend brought to Ireland a hymn com­posed by Gildas in the sixth century. Unfortunately we have no record of what Laidcend brought from Ireland when he went to Britain. For the specific purposes of our present inquiry, however, the Gildas-Laidcend incident stands as an excellent example of literary interchange at a very early date. The channels between Britain and Ireland were used also for the interchange of historical material. The Annales Cambriae, which in their present form, were probably com­piled in the ninth century, are based on much older material, and seem quite certainly to have undergone redac­tion at St. David's,323 for the affairs and bishops of St. David's are mentioned almost to the exclusion of all others. It is interesting, therefore, to observe that evidences of Irish influence in their composition. Although the annals are very meager (many years are entirely blank), separate notice is taken of the death dates of Patrick, Brigit, Benignus, Columba, Ciaran, and Brendan and of the plague in Ireland. There are only five entries before the year 516, and four of these refer to Irish matters; and of twenty-one entries before 600, ten refer to Ireland. If, as Nicholson suggests,324 these annals are merely a copy of marginal entries made on a paschal cycle of Victorius of Aquitaine, it must be clear that these marginal entries are in turn based to a certain extent upon Irish sources. The opinion has been put forward that the earlier portion was actually based upon an Irish chronicle which was also used by the compilers of the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Tiger­nach.325 There have also been observed certain affinities a22L'enseignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone a Alcuin, Paris, 1905, p. 225. a2aLloyd, History of Wales, p. 160. 324Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie, VI (1908), 443. a2sT. D. Hardy in Mon. Hist. Brit., Introd., pp. 92-93; see especially A. G. van Hamel, Rev. celt., XXXVI (1915-1916), 1 ff. between the Annales Cambraie and a set of Irish annal~ known as Three Fragments. 326 Irish material enters prominently into another early British historical compilation, known as the Historia Britonurn. The date, origin, and authorship of the various tracts which make up this compilation, in spite of the study that has been lavished upon them, are still uncertain. It may be regarded as fairly well established, however, that the compilation in its present form must have been put together during the ninth century. The relation of this collection to various Irish documents has been thoroughly discussed by Zimmer,827 and, though some of his contentions regarding the identity of the compiler and the age of certain parts of the document have not met with complete accept­ance, the ultimate Irish source of certain portions is no longer seriously questioned. Some of these must be obvious even to the most casual reader. For example, there is a section on the life of St. Patrick,328 which must certainly have come from Ireland. There is also included the set of legends regarding the successive colonizations of Ireland. 329 The compiler, after outlining these legends, acknowledges his indebtedness to Irish material in the following words: "Si quis autem scire voluerit, quando vel quo tempore fuit inhabitabuis et deserta Hibernia, sic mihi peritissimi Scottorum nuntiaverunt." It seems probable, moreover, that the compiler learned from the Irish the famous story of the original settling of Britain by Brut. About 1070 the Historia Britonum was translated into Irish by Gilla Coemgen. This translator, after setting down the genealogy of the British monarchs descended from Brut, appends the note: "Thus our noble elder Guanach collected the genealogy of the Britons from a2sThis is especially noteworthy, for, as we have already seen, these Three Fragments are very similar to the lost Annals of Clonenagh. On the affiliations of Clonenagh and its indirect connections with Britain, see above, pp. 66--67. a21Nennius Vindicatus, Berlin, 1893. s2sMon. Germ. Hist., Auct. Ant., Chron. Min. 8, pp. 194-198. 329Jbid., pp. 156-158. the chronicles of the Romans."330 Zimmer thinks Guanach is the Cuan who is invoked as historical authority by the Annals of Ulster many times before 628. He thinks, more­over, that he is the same as Cuana mac Ailcene, king of Fermoy, who died 640.331 Whether Zimmer's speculations be true or false, it appears clear that at least in the eleventh century the story of Brut was regarded as having come into the Historia Britonum from an Irish source. Here we have the most striking proof of interchange of documents. First, Irish material comes to Britain to be incorporated into the Historia Britonum; then the whole compilation is shipped back to Ireland, 3s2 and later trans­lated into the vernacular. Turning our attention now to one of the most important South British points of contact with Ireland, we observe that at St. David's the communication with Ireland reached its height in the eleventh century.ass About 1057 Sulien, a native of Cardigan, went to Ireland to study. He remained there for thirteen years. On his return he established a school at Llanbadarn Fawr in Cardigan, but soon after he went to St. David's to take the place left vacant by the 330/bid., p. 152. aa1Nenn. Vind., pp. 250-251. sa2 rt seems to have been taken to Ireland some time before 908. Keating (History of Ireland, I [ed. D. Comyn for Irish Texts Society], p. 158) tells the names of the people who accompanied Parthol6n, one of the early traditional colonizers of Ireland, and says that he is giving these names according to Nennius (reputed compiler of the Hist. Brit.) "as is read in the Saltair of Caiseal." The Saltair re­ferred to is no longer extant, but we know that it was compiled by Cormac, who died 908. One scribe attributes the compilation of the Historia to one Marcus, a Briton educated in Ireland, apparently basing his ascriptfon on a legend related by Heric of Auxerre, the biographer of St. Germaine. See the discussion of this ascription by J. Stevenson in his N ennii historia Britonum, London, 1838, pp. xiii-xiv. 3asAn interesting reflection of Irish influence at St. David's is to be seen in the Goedelic names of some of the bishops. See the study by E. W. B. Nicholson, Zeitsch. f. celt. Phil., VIII (1910-1912), 123. death of the bishop Beudydd.884 Some of the results of Sulien's sojourn in Ireland are revealed in the work of his sons. One son, Ricemarch, composed a martyrology and psalter, which is still extant in its original form. The script,385 which is the work of Ithael, a member of the monastic community, and the illumination, which was done by Ricemarch's brother, Jean, are clearly of Irish type. The martyrology itself, which contains a number of Irish names,386 seems to be based on an Irish original. It seems likely that if these names had been inserted by the author, they would correspond more closely with the Irish names in the Vita David. 887 Since the traditions of St. David's are summed up in the Vita David, an examination of this life in comparison with Irish hagiographical tradition should provide us with still further information about the use of intermonastic channels for the interchange of literary material. We have a fair idea of the date of the Vita David, for the author, Rice­march, son of Sulien, died in 1098. Unfortunately for our purposes, however, most of the Irish lives with which we have to deal are, so far, undated. It is necessary there­fore, that we pay some attention to their age before pro­ceeding further. 3. The Dates of the Irish Saints' Lives.-Most of the undated lives with which we have to deal are preserved in manuscripts dating from the thirteenth, fourteenth, and 834A considerable amount of biographical detail is included in the poem by Sulien's son Jean (Haddan and Stubbs, I, 665). See also the entry for 1070 in Brut y Tywysogion, or Chronicle of the Princes, ed. John Williams ap lthel, London, 1860 (Rolls Series). 385See the photographic reproduction accompanying the edition by H. J. Lawlor, The Psalter and Martyrology of Ricemarch, London, 1914 (Puhl. of the Henry Bradshaw Soc.), II. Wt M. Lindsay finds, moreover, that in abbreviation and spelling the Welsh and Irish sys­tems are practically identical. See his Early Welsh Script, Oxford, 1912, p. 40. 836Manchein, Fursa, Lasrean, Columcille, Failbhe, Colman, Brigit, and Patrick. 3S7See Lawlor's discussion of this point, op. cit., I, p. xxxiv, note 2. fifteenth centuries. The principal collections are as fol­lows: 1. Bodleian Rawlinson B. 485 (R1), a collection dated by Madan 1200-1250.338 2. Bodleian Rawlinson B. 505 (R2), Latin, ca. 1350. 3. Book of Lismore, Irish, fifteenth century.339 4. Codex Salmanticensis (now Bihl. Roy., Brussels), 7672-767 4, Latin, fourteenth century.3<10 5. Primate Marsh's Library (Dublin), V.3.4 (M), Latin, 1400-1450. 6. Trinity College (Dublin), E.3.11 (T), 1400-1450. 7. Dublin Franciscans (F), Latin, 1627. The principal work on the relations between these various collections has been done by Charles Plummer in the preface to his Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae. It is to be hoped that the accompanying diagram, which attempts very tentatively to illustrate the general outlines of his conclusions, will not do his work great injustice. IRt I Cod. Sal. IM' I I IR 2 x I M I T I I F or F It is not intended that the foregoing diagram should indi­cate that R1, Cod. Sal., and M' are all based on one collection, but rather that, for a given individual life, we have in each collection an independent recension based ultimately or im­mediately upon a common original. It naturally follows, therefore, that any life which appears in two or more of these dependent recensions is, in its original form, older than either recension. We may then take our first step in the da~ ing of these lives with the inference that a life appearing in R1 and one of the other collections must have already been R1 written when was compiled (1200-1250). The next question to be considered is, How long before 1200-1250 33SVSH, I, p. xxii. 339Ed. Whitley Stokes, LismSS. 340Ed. De Smedt and De Backer, AASSHib. were these lives in existence? In our attempt to answer this question, we shall first examine the structure and purpose of the lives; then we shall try to discover what period exhibits the literary and political characteristics most likely to have produced them. The lives, with the exception of certain versions which have been extensively reworked and interpolated at a very late date, are surprisingly similar. Of course we should naturally expect a certain amount of uniformity in struc­ture, for we are dealing with a group of biographies, and there are certain events that happen in about the same order in the life of every human being. Outside these main events, however, we are justified in expecting a considerable amount of variation, and these lives resemble each other so closely in structure and content that we are inclined to suspect the existence of a definite set of prescriptions for their composition. The standardization of incident and character is carried to a degree where the individuality of the hero is practically destroyed. When we read the life of Martin of Tours, of Germaine of Auxerre, or even of Samson of Dol, we feel, in spite of all the marvels and miracles, that we have to do with a real person and a real career; but when we read the later lives of Irish saints, we feel almost inclined to doubt whether such persons ever really existed. To appreciate to the full the effect of suc­cessive generations of hagiographers even upon a real person, one should read in chronological order the various documents dealing with the life of Patrick, and see how that rugged and forceful personality, so strikingly revealed in the Confessi0-and even in Muirchu's tract-gradually loses color and animation, drops its individual characteris­tics one by one until, in the twelfth century, it becomes a mere thaumaturgic automaton. Patrick, by that time has ceased to be a man and has become an institution-and this institutionalized Patrick is used as a stalking horse for all manner of schemes in the contests of ecclesiastical politics. A similar process seems to have affected the biographical tradition of most of the saints with whom we have to deal. The actual existence of Ciaran, Finnian, Laisren, Brendan, Comgall, and others of the same period is attested by docu­ments of unquestioned validity. 841 These men, moreover, must have been possessed of strong character and marked personality. Nevertheless practically no individual person­ality survives in the lives of these men as they have come down to us. The saints were nearly all born under miracu­lous circumstances ; their birth was attended by portents of their future greatness; as children they performed miracles to assist themselves in their childish tasks ; they went to school at Clonard or Bangor; they then journeyed out through the land performing miracle after miracle, until they died. If the reader is alert, he may catch here and there some such individual touch as the irritability of Fintan or the vivacity of Moling, but nothing more. In short, the life was not biographical. The writer chose a conventional framework, gathered together a few anecdotes of his hero, and let that suffice for biographical purposes. The true object of the life lay in a far different direction. It was the furthering of the interests of the monastery of which the saint was patron, or traditional founder. The writer of the life of Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, for example, was only incidentally interested in Ciaran as a character. His real interest was in Clonmacnoise. Ciaran's miracles, his jour­neys, his visits, his friendships, his strifes and enmities are simply devices to explain the traditions, to support the claims, and to exalt the prestige of Clonmacnoise. In gen­eral, the presence of the material which makes up most Irish (and Welsh) saints' lives may be ascribed to the fol­lowing purposes : 1. To exalt the patron (and hence the monastery). a. His noble descent. b. His miraculous birth. a41See the names mentioned by Alcuin, Mon. Germ. Hist., Poetae latinae aevi Carolini, p. 342; also the Paschal epistle of Cummian (written before 669), Pat. Lat., LXXXVII, col. 977; and the list of kings and saints appended to the tract Cain Adamnain, ed. K. Meyer, Oxford, 1905. All the kings in the list seem to have lived before 697. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 85 c. His piety. d. His thaumaturgic powers. e. His priority in point of time. 2. To explain the origin and provenience of relics. 3. To account for place names. 4. To account for relations with other monasteries. a. Claims to jurisdiction. b. Release and acquisition of subordinate monasteries. c. Confraternity and federation. d. Rivalries and disputes. 5. To press claims to connections with great foundations, such as Armagh, Durrow, Kildare, and others. 6. To present claims for lands awarded by princes.a42 It naturally follows that there should be certain political or ecclesiastical events which are likely to produce such narratives. Special occasions such as the building of a church, the translation of a saint's relics, or a dispute over priority or possession would call into existence some kind of document setting forth a foundation's claims to rever­ence. An examination of some of the outstanding events in the history of the Irish church may therefore give us a hint as to the time most favorable to the production of lives. It is hardly necessary to consider the period before the Norse invasion. None of the lives under consideration shows any convincing evidence of having been composed at such an early period, and many of them are demonstrably later. There are no clearly marked political movements within the period of invasion, which seem likely to have pro­duced them. The rebuilding of the country after the Norse invasion, however, was a signal for renewed activity. Hardly a monastery had escaped destruction and plundering, and the problem of maintaining traditions, reorganizing, and rebuilding was pressing and difficult. If some docu­ment were not on hand to remind people of the ancient glories of each monastery, they would forget. The general disorganization of the country during the Norse raids, more­over, had thrown land rights and ecclesiastical dues into 342See Plumrner's admirable statement of this tendency in the intro­duction to his edition of the Latin lives, VSH, I, xci-xcii. such a state of confusion that a monastery which had no document upon which to base its claims for rehabilitation was in a desperate situation. Nothing could have been better calculated to fulfill the requirements than a saint's life of the kind which we are now considering.343 The church itself was undergoing a gradual development in organization. At first each monastery was a law unto itself. It had been established by a cleric who received lands from some noble, and it was regarded as the rightful heritage of the families of the founder and the endower. In the course of time, monasteries so established sent out members who founded others, which were to be subsidiary to the main house. Sometimes these were in the territory of the original endower, and sometimes in that of a neigh­boring family. Little by little the monasteries endowed and supported by the most powerful rulers came to control large numbers of subsidiary institutions, generally in surround­ing territory, but sometimes a considerable distance away. The abbot of the parent monastery was the spiritual head of the whole system, and though he could not strictly be called head of a diocese, he occupied a position which was rapidly approaching that of the regular Roman diocesan bishop. The growth of these larger organizations was bound to bring them into conflict with each other, and it is not un­common to find in the Annals of Ulster accounts of battles fought between the respective supporters of two powerful head monasteries. The competition between these mon­asteries, their disputes over jurisdiction and land all come out in the saints' lives, not in the form of open statement, but in stories of monasteries voluntarily surrendered by their founders and of lands granted by grateful monarchs. In the eleventh century, as the church reforms pro­gressed under the impetus furnished by Norman ecclesi­astics, the trend toward the division of the country into regularly constituted dioceses became more and more pow­erful. The movement came to a climax in the Synod of 343See the comment by Eugene O'Curry in his Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Dublin, 1861, pp. 343-344. Rathbreasil (1111), which put into definite form the sug­gestions offered by Gilbert of Limerick, the papal legate. The result of this synod was the dividing of Ireland into a definite number of dioceses, each to be under the jurisdic­tion of a bishop. The bishops of the south were to be under the Archbishop of Cashel, and those of the north under the Archbishop of Armagh, who was virtual, although not yet actual, primate. This arrangement was not thrust upon the country as a surprise. It was a long time in prepara­tion, and during that time we may be sure that the various leading monasteries of the country were not idle. It must have been clear to any observant eye that the tendency was toward diocesan bishops. It was therefore incumbent upon every ambitious monastery to do its utmost toward becoming an episcopal see. It follows as a natural consequence that the claims of the foundation should be duly arranged and set forth in orderly form. In the whole history of the Irish church there was never an occasion more likely to produce the particular kind of ecclesiastical propaganda that we find in these Latin saints' lives. As we look back at the diocesan divisions provided for by the Synod of Rathbreasil we find that nearly every one is represented by a saint's life still extant. It would, of course, be unwise to infer that all the lives in the collec­tions under consideration were composed in preparation for the division of the country into territorial dioceses, but it seems more than likely that the developments which led up to that process furnished a strong impetus toward all kinds of ecclesiastical advertising. As we examine the events of the reformation in greater detail, we observe that there were certain monasteries which had special reasons for exploiting their antiquity and sanc­tity. In a note appended to the Synod of Kells (1152) there is a statement that there are two churches under the Arch­bishop of Cashel that said they ought to have bishops.3H aHSee the discussion by H. J. Lawlor, Proc. R.l.A., XXXVI (1925), p. 18. They were Mungret and Ardmore. With Mungret we are not particularly concerned, but Ardmore, whose founder, Declan, is credited with a visit to St. David's comes more directly within the scope of our inquiry. First, we may take it for granted that Ardmore was rebelling against Cashel. Second, it was rebelling against Lismore, for it was in the territory allotted to the Bishop of Lismore. Cashel was a southern arm of Armagh, and so, in a smaller way, was Lismore. It is not improbable, therefore, that the life of Declan, which pictures the patron of Ardmore as a predecessor of Patrick in Ireland, is intended to press the claims of Ardmore against those of Armagh and the north­ern tradition as represented by its tributary archbishopric of Cashel. The intrusion of the power of Armagh into Munster may have led other churches to formulate their claims. The church of Emly had had occasion to protest against it as early as 955.345 Now the special diocese created for the Archbishop of Cashel included a good share of the territory occupied by foundations dependent upon Emly. On the east, the churches under the patronage of Ciaran of Saighir had to suffer in similar fashion. It is surely more than a coincidence, then, that along with Declan, Ailbhe of Emly and Ciaran of Saighir were described by their biographers as predecessors of Patrick. This is offered as an example of the direct reflection in the saints' lives of events in the ecclesiastical history of Ireland between the Norse invasion and the Synod of Rathbreasil. Let us now turn to the literary conditions. It is fairly generally known that the eleventh and twelfth centuries in Ireland were distinguished by a great literary and scholarly renaissance. The heroic tales were gathered up and placed in great collections; the number of teachers was increased; and poets and scholars were hard at work codifying and sys­tematizing the history of the country. One of the pre­dominating characteristics of the whole movement was the 345See the Bodleian version of the An. Inisf., O'Conor's Rer. Hib. Script., II, sub anno. Early Literary Channels Between Ireland and Britain 89 spirit of antiquarianism. This antiquarianism was natur­ally subject to the limitations of the age. It began with a fixed purpose, which was not to be altered by the facts discovered. Facts had to be moulded to fit the purpose. Native literature, the old chronicles, genealogies, saints' lives and lyric poetry were all ransacked for material with which to build a systematic history. The lives which we are considering bear every evidence, in structure, material, and purpose, of having been produced by the same impetus during the same period. On the whole, we may say that the general effect of the external evidence is to place the composition of the special type of life with which we are dealing somewhere between the years 1000 and 1150. As we return to a more detailed examination of the community of hagiographical tradition between Ireland and Britain, we may be able to provide some of the individual lives at least with a fairly definite terminus ad quem. 4. Irish Hagiographical Tradition, the Vita David, and the Vita Cadoci.-We shall examine first the evidence for community of hagiographical tradition between Britain and Ireland as it is revealed in the Vita David. Although this life is preserved in several manuscripts, the version in Cotton Vespasian A. XIV is probably the best and most complete.346 The first use of Irish material with which we are concerned in this life comes from no identifiable literary source, but it offers decisive evidence for the presence of Irish tradition in South Britain. It cannot, therefore, be neglected. The statement is made in the life347 that Patrick visited South Britain thirty years before the birth of David. He intended to stay there as a teacher and missionary, but he was told by an angel that he must leave, for that country was reserved for David. After predicting the birth of 346The manuscripts are as follows: Brit. Mus. Cotton Nero E.I.; Bodleian Digby 112; Cambridge Corpus Christi 161; Bodleian 793;' Bodl. RawL B.485; Rawl. B. 505; Bodl. 285; Bodl. 836; Cambridge Univ. Lib. Ff. 1, 27, 28. a41Ed. cit., pp. 5-6. David, he departed for Ireland. In this story it seems that we have an echo of a clash between the reputation of David and Patrick. It is only natural that in a country containing as many Irish people as Dyfed there should be preserved strong traditions of Patrick. The independent existence of the Patrick tradition in South Britain is clearly indicated by the fact that a version of his life is known to have undergone redaction in South Britain.348 The tradi­tion is also preserved in various topographical legends and place names. It is probable that this incident was included in the Vita David to account for the persistence of the Patrick tradition in some parts of South Britain without detracting from the prestige of David himself. The blind monk who held the infant David at the time of his baptism was miraculously healed. The Vespasian version adds that this monk was born without eyes or nose.349 This motif, which is common in Irish hagiograph­ical literature, appears first in the Muirchu version of the life of Patrick,350 where as in the Vita David it is accom­panied by the miracle of the fountain springing up at the place of baptism. The monk is sometimes deaf and dumb, sometimes blind, and sometimes "table-faced." While we may not infer definitely that Ricemarch used a life of Patrick as a basis for this incident, we may safely look upon it as a characteristically Irish feature. The impression of borrowing from the Irish is strengthened by the name of the monk. Both Vespasian and Nero text give his name as Moui, which immediately suggests a phonetic equivalent of the Irish Mobi, a person known to Irish ecclesiastical tra­dition as M6bi Clarainech (Mobi the Tablefaced) .351 Another name that has caused some confusion appears in the first paragraph of the life. There it is stated that Sant, father of David, made a grant to the monastery of 34SSee the discussion by J. B. Bury, "A Life of St. Patrick (Colgan's Tertia Vita)," Trans. Rvernour Wherefore to conclude, it is onely a publike weale, where, like as god hath disposed the saide in­fluence of understanding, is also apoynted degrees and places accordynge to the excellencie thereof; and therto also would be substance convenient and neces­sarye for the ornament of the same, which, also impresseth a reverence and due obedience to the vulgar people or commun­altie.... For who can denie but that all thynge in heven and erthe is gov­erned by one god by one perpet­uall order, by one providence? One sonne ruleth over the day, and one Moon over the nyghte (pp. 6-7, 8). 8The Governour, 1883, 2 vols., 12. A comparison of the various texts shows that Shakespeare in the figure of the bees is nearer to Virgil than he is to Pliny. Henry V ... for so work the honey-bees, Creatures that by a rule in nature teach The act of order to peopled. king­dom. They kave a king, etc. (I, ii, 183-187.) ... Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds, Which pi.llage they with merry march bring home To the tent royal of their em­peror; Who, busied in his majesty, sur­veys The singing masons building roofs of gold, The civil citizens kneading up the honey, The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum, Delivering o'er to executors pale The lazy yawning drone. (I, ii, 193-204.) ... They [the bees] have a king and officers of sort; Where some, like magistrates, correct at home, Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad. (I, ii, 190 fl.) The Governour IIninediately after his dis­course on "order," Elyot writes, . . . the Bee is lefte to man by nature, as it seemeth a perpetuall figure of just governaunce or rule; who hath amonge them one princi1JQ,ll Bee for theyr gov­ernour (p. 9). The Capi.tayne hym selfe la­boureth nat for his sustinan~, but all the other for hym; he only seeth that if any drone or other unprofitable bee entreth in to the hyve and consumeth the honey, gathered by other, that he be immediately expelled from that com1J(J,ny (p. 9). That in a publike weale ought to be inferior governours called Magistrates: Whiche shall be ap­poynted or chosen by the sov­eraigne governour (Cr. III, head· ing). It is expedient and also nede­full that under the capitoll gov­ernour be sondry meane authori­ties, as it were aydyng hym in the distribution of iustice in sondry partes of a huge multitude (p. 16). Henry V The Governour ... For Government though high, Yet, notwithstanding, he shall and low and lower, commende the perfect und.erstand­Put into parts doth keepe in one ynge of musike, declaring howe consente necessary it is for the better at­Congreeing9 in a full and natural taynge the knowledge of a publike close wea.le whiche, as I before have Like Musicke. saide is made of an order of (I, ii, 180-183.) io astates and degrees and, by rea­son thereof, conteineth in it a perfect harmony (p. 28). That Shakespeare was strongly impressed by Elyot's figure of the bees is, I think, evidenced by another passage in Henry V, rather widely separated from the lines I have already cited. In the fourth act, the king, like the captain bee in The Governour, has risen early and is greet­ing and encouraging his soldiers. Reminded by Gloucester that he is in danger of losing his life, the king replies: Gloucester, 'tis true that we are in great danger; The greater therefore should our courage be, There is some soul of goodness in things evil, Would men observingly distil it out. Thus may we gather honey from the weed, And make a moral of the devil himself. (IV, i, 4-12.) 9''Congreeing" (I, ii, 182). Apparently coined by Shakespeare. G. C. M. Smith (loc. cit., 133 n.) suggests that it is a combination of "congrue and agree." It is interesting to note that the 1600 Qto. has "congrueth" in slightly modified context. Did Shakespeare remember the word "congruent" in the first chapter of The Governour, from which he probably drew other suggestions? ioAnders (loc. cit., 278) notes that Theobald pointed out a parallel to these lines in the fragmentary Republic of Cicero. He thinks Cicero was indebted to Plato's Republic (IV, 432) for the idea. Anders holds that the passage was known to the Elizabethans only from St. Augustine's De Civitate Dei, II, 21, ten lines of which he quotes. Kurt Schroeder (Platonismus in der englischen Renaissance vor und bei Thomas Eliot, Palaestra, LXXXIII, 92) shows that Elyot's treat­ment of music with the idea of harmony and order derives from Plato's Republic (III, 8, passim). And the Elizabethans' knowledge of Elyot is well established. Shakespeare would have found in Elyot just the combination of ideas and figures employed in Henry V and elsewhere. These lines seem to indicate that Shakespeare had still in mind the figure of the bees, and especially the following passage in The Governour: ... in the mornyng erely he [the captain bee] calleth them, makyng a noyse as it were the sowne of a borne or a trumpet; and with that all residue prepare them to labour, and fleeth abrode, gatheryng nothyng but that shall be Swete and profitable, all though they sitte often tymes on herbes and other things that be venomous and stynk­inge (p. 9). Not only are the situations of the bees described by Elyot and the soldiers by Shakespeare analogous, but the common idea of distilling honey from weeds or "other things that may be venomous and stynkinge" is in no other description in the sources suggested. It seems to me extremely likely that Shakespeare was writing with Elyot's description in mind. To sum up the work in connection with Henry V and Elyot, we may say that in The Governour are found ideas of degree, order, harmony, adapted from Plato, in combina­tion with the old figure of the bee-hive as a commonwealth. This combination does not appear in other sources (Pliny, Lyly, etc.) to which Shakespeare might have had access; but it does recur in Henry V. This recurrence, together with certain similarities in phraseology and words, seems to point strongly to The Governour as a source for several lines in Henry V. And it should be added that the whole context in The Governour, the exposition of a common­wealth with one sovereign ruler and subordinate magis­trates, is in harmony with Shakespeare's political ideals, if we can judge from the plays themselves. Troilus and Cressida The figure of the bee-hive and the principle of order and degree as a law of nature that should obtain in gov­ernment, we meet again in a long speech by Ulysses in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (1601-2). There is a difference in emphasis. In Henry V, the dramatist expands the simile of the bees busily laboring for their king ; in Troilus and Cressida, though he uses exactly this figure, he drops it after three lines, and dwells upon the necessity of observing degree and order-a specialty of rule-even as the principle is illustrated in Nature. But the two speeches in Henry V and Troilus and Cressida, of practically contem­porary composition, have a definite relationship, and, possibly a common source in The Governour. The passage in Troilus and Cressida is as follows : The specialty of rule hath been neglected; And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions. When that the general is not like the hive To whom the foragers. shall repair, What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded, The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask. The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre Observe degree, priority, and• place, Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, Office and custom, in all line of order; And therefore is the glorious planet Sol In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd Amidst the other; whose medicinable eye Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil, And posts like the commandment of a king Sans check to good and bad. . . . Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows! Each thi-ng meets In mere oppugnancy. The bounded waters Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores And make a sop of all this solid globe. Strength should be lord of imbecility, And the rude son should strike his father dead. Force should be right; or rather, right and wrong, Between whose endless jar justice resides, Should lose their names, and so should justice too. Then everything includes itself in power, Power into will, will into appetite; And appetite, an universal wolf, So doubly seconded with will and power Must make perforce an universal prey, And last eat up himself, Great Agamemnon, This chaos, when degree11 is suffocate, Follows the choking. And this neglected degree is it That by a pace goes backward, in a purpose It hath to climb. (I, iii, 78-129.) 12 Before considering Elyot as a source, I wish briefly to give attention to another author as a claimant for the honor, Verplanck (quoted and endorsed in Rolfe's edition of Troilus and Cressida) writes: It is possible that the poet had the thought suggested by an analogous passage, of equal eloquence, in his contemporary, Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity of which the first parts were pub­lished in 1594 ( p. 200) . He then quotes the passage from Hooker, without, how­ever, insisting upon it as a source. In a study by C. M. Gayley (Shakespeare and the Founders of Liberty in America, 1917), the relation of Hooker to Shakespeare, especially as regards the passage under consideration, is discussed at length. Although Gayley's evidence is not conclusive, he does establish a strong presumption in favor of Shakespeare's knowledge of the Ecclesiastical Polity. He takes note also of The Governour as a suggested source, and admits that Shakespeare may possibly have known Elyot's work. In his concern with the Shakespeare­Hooker relationship, however, Gayley, I think, overlooks some of the evidence of Shakespeare's knowledge of Elyot's work.13 11From about 1595 the idea of degree is of frequent recurrence in Shakespeare's plays. See the Merchant of Venice, II, ix, 39-49; Henry V, I, ii, 180 ff.; All's Well, I, ii, 41-45; Timon of Athens, IV, i, 19 ff.; The Winter's Tale, II, i, 82-87. 12For similarities of a part of this passage to Florio's Montaigne, see G. C. Taylor's Shakespeare's Debt to Montaigne, 17-18. My own opinion is that the case for Elyot, if we consider the context, is the stronger one. 1aGayley takes no notice of Elyot's emphasis upon the specialty of rule (Ch. 11) and his illustration in this connection of the Greek situation before Troy; he pays no heed to agreements between The Governour and other Shakespearean plays, such as 2 Henry IV, Now I am willing to concede that Shakespeare may possi­bly have read Hooker. The idea of order, as well as certain words and phrases in the Ecclesiastical Polity, seems to indicate the poet's knowledge of the great church­man's work. At the same time there is in Ulysses' speech (Troilus and Cressida) much in common with the first two chapters in The Governour, and lacking in the Ecclesiastical Polity.14 For example, we have once again the combination of the bee-hive commonwealth and the idea of "degree, priority, and place" in government. Hooker does not employ the much-used figure. Furthermore, after a discourse on degree and rank among the four elements, and in the vege­table and animal kingdoms, Elyot concludes that the prin­ciple is applicable to man. Men are not born equal; "God gyveth not to every man like gyfts of grace, or of nature, but to some more, some lesse, as it liketh his divine ma­iestie." He of greatest intelligence should "be advanced Henry V, and Coriolanus. And his assertion that "Shakespeare's conception of degree is not, like ... Elyot's, based upon the tradition of aristocratic caste, but, like that of Hooker, upon merit and func­tion" (p. 183) deserves, I think, to be qualified. It is possible to show slight inconsistency in Elyot's own statements; but there is ample evidence to prove that the trend of his thought in The Governour is that, though nobility may be enhanced by ancient lineage and great possessions, essentially virtue is the basis of nobility (pp. 126--128) ; that the responsibility of governing carries with it the greater responsibility of being worthy of governing (pp. 202, 203, 204). The purpose of Elyot's book indeed is primarily to suggest a program of training that would improve the merit and efficiency of those who are to be governors. HFor the part of this passage not explained by Shakespeare's use of Hooker, Gayley advanced the theory that Ulysses' speech on the neglect of specialty of rule and the figure of the bees may be ac­counted for by the dramatist's manipulation of Chapman's Homer; and that certain other ideas and phrases find explanation in an ingenious juggling of Chaucer's Troilus and Cresyde and Chaucer's translation of Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae. I reject this theory because it seems (1) improbable per se, and (2) Shakespeape's use of The Governour, in which he could have found in combination the bee-hive-commonwealth figure, the discourse on specialty of rule, etc., is a simpler explanation. Shakespeare and Elyot's "Governour" in degree or place where understandynge may profite" (p. 5). "Wherefore," he says at the end of Chapter One, "it is onely a publike weale, where, like as god hath disposed the saide influence of understandynge is also appoynted degrees and places accordynge to the excellencie thereof." The conclusion is that one man, presumably, the most intelligent and virtuous, should be the chief ruler. Then Elyot uses the whole of Chapter Two to show the necessity of concentrating authority and responsibility in one sover­eign head of the nation; and he points out examples of good government under a single ruler and unsuccessful govern­ment when responsibility has been distributed. The head­ing of this chapter is, That one soveraigne ought to be in a publike weale. And what damage hath happened where a multitude hath had equal authoritie without any soveraigne. The beginning of Ulysses' speech has the following line, which serves, not only as Ulysses' thesis, but would make an admirable title for Chapter Two of The Governour: The specialty of rule hath been neglected. It is at the beginning of this chapter that the bee is used as an example of a just governaunce; then two or three pages further on occurs (what seems to me very significant in this discussion) an exposition of the situation of the Greeks before Troy under the leadership of Agamemnon, and of the trouble that was brought about by Achilles' ob­stinacy and refusal to obey Agamemnon. The Greeks are commended for their sound sense in choosing one man as leader and endowing him with authority; and Achilles' re­calcitrancy is cited as a warning against disobedience to the chosen leader. Here, then, we find in Elyot a setting forth of the very situation with which Shakespeare is dealing-it is this situation that is the center of Shakespeare's play. All other action in the play revolves about it. Many of the names of leading characters are employed by Elyot. The excerpt from The Governour reads as follows: The Grekes, which were assembled to reuenge the reproche of Menelaus, that he toke of the Troians by the rauisshing of Helene, his wyfe, dyd nat they by one assent electe Agamemnon to be their emperour or captain: obeinge him as theyr soueraine duryng the siege of Troy? All though that they had all diuers excellent princes, nat onely equall to him, but also excelling hym : as in prowes, Achilles, and Aiax Thelemonius: in wisdome, Nestor and Ulisses, and his oune brother Menelaus, to whom they mought haue giuen equall authoritie with Agammemnon: but those wise princes considered that, without a generall capitayne, so many persones as were there of diuers realmes gathered together, shulde be by no meanes well gouerned: wherfore Homere calleth Agamemnon the Shepherde of people. They rather were contented to be under. one mannes obedience, than seuerally to use theyr authorities or to ioyne in one power and dignitie; wherby at the last shuld have sourded discention amonge the people, they being seperately enclined towarde theyr naturall souerayne lorde, as it appered in the particuler contention that was betwene Achilles and Agamemnon for theyr concubines, where Achilles, renouncynge the obedience that he with all other princes had before promised, at the bataile fyrst enterprised agaynst the Troians. For at that tyme no litell murmur and sedition was meued in the hoste of the Grekes, which nat withstandyng was wonderfully pacified, and the armie un­scatered by the maiestie of Agamemnon ioynynge to hym counsailours Nestor and the witty Ulisses (pp. 11-12) .is Neither Gayley, nor any one else, as far as I know, has noted these lines in connection with this discussion. And yet they seem to me too important to be neglected. Taken in their context (the first two chapters of The Governour) with the figure of the bees and discourse on degree, these lines seem to establish a strong presumption of Shakes­peare's knowledge of The Governour. Compare the following: 15It is interesting to note that in at least three other passages in The Governour Elyot refers to this situation and the Greek leaders (pp. 25, 102, 284). He tells how Nestor pointed out to Agamemnon the ill results that would come from the contention (102); and he mentions the "subtile persuasions of Ulisses" (284). Shakespeare and Elyot's "Governour" Troilus and Cressida The heavens themselves, the planets and this cent1'.6 Observe degree, priority and place Insisture, course, proportion, sea­ son, form, Office and custom in all line of order; And therefore is the glorious planet Sol In noble eminence enthroned and spher'd Amidst the other. ( 1, iii, 85-90.) Take but degree away,16 untune that string, And hark what discord fol­lows! ... Strength should be lord of im­becility, And the rude son should strike his father dead. . . . Then everything includes itself in power, Power into will, will into appe­tite; And appetite, an universal wolf, So doubly seconded with will and power, Must make 'f>eTforce an universal prey, And last eat up hi-TrUJelf. Great Agamemnon, This cha-Os, when degree is suf­focate, Follows the choking. And this neglection of degree is it That by a pace goes backward in a purpose It hath to climb. (I, iii, 109-129.) The Governour For who can deny but that all thynge in heven and erthe is governed by one god, by one per­petuall ordre, by one providence One Sonne ruleth over the day, and one Moone over the nyghte (p. 8). ... Moreover take away ordr from all thynges what shuld then remayne? Certes, nothynge finally except some man wolde imagine eftsones Chaos: which of some is expound a confuse mix­ture. Also where there is any lacke of ordre nedes must be per­petuall conflicte : and in thynges subjecte to Nature nothynge of himself onely may be nourished; but when he hath destroyed that wherwith he doth participate by the ordre of his creacion, he hym selfe of necessite must then per­isshe wherof ensueth universall dissolution (p. 3). 16Compare The Governour, 204-205, in which Elyot insists that the elimination of superiority, or degree, would result in the destruction Troilus and Cressida The Governour The specialty of rule hath been Lyke to a castell or fortresse neglected; suffisethe one owner or soverayne, And, look, how many Grecian and where any m-0 be of like tents do stand power and autkoritie seldiom Hollow upon this plain, so many cometh the worke to perfection ; hollow factions. or beinge all redy made, where When that the general is not like the one diligently overseeth and the hive the other neglecteth, in that con­To whom the foragers shall all tention all is subverted and com­repair meth to ruyne. In semblable wyse What honey is expected. Degree dothe a publike weale that hath being vizarded m-0 chief e governours than one: The unworthiest shows as fairly Example we may take of the in the mask. grekes (p. 7). (I, iii, 78-84.) Therefore god ordayned a di­versitie or pre-eminence in de­grees to be amonge men for the necessary derection and preserva,.. tion of them in conformitie of lyvinge. Wherof nature minis­treth to us example abundantly, as in bees (p. 204). Coriolanus, etc. In Shakespeare's Hand in Sir Thomas More, R. W. Chambers argues very plausibly that there is striking simi­larity between the speech of Ulysses on degree and the famous 147 lines in the play of Sir Thomas More. He shows further that in certain passages of Coriolanus recur ideas and phrases common to Troilus and Cress'ida. Chambers (op. cit., p. 149), writes: To Shakespeare, and to the writer of the "147 lines" the disregard of order does not merely lead up to such commonplace scourges as war, death, and pestilence. Both More and Ulysses depict disobedi­ence as a more terrible thing; a thing inconsistent with the order which even war demands: a thing leading straight to anarchy. of law and government, in the physically weak becoming slaves of the strong; "and finally as bestes savage the one shall desire to slee a rwther." Shakespeare and Elyot's "Govern.our" Notice how applicable this statement is to the first chap­ter of The Governour, parts of which have been already quoted in this paper. Chambers continues (p. 156) : But not only does Sir Thomas More share with the Bishop of Carlisle, Ulysses, and Coriolanus their passionate feeling for "degree," and their passionate fear of chaos; what is more significant is that in expressing these things they all speak the same tongue. Chambers then quotes passages from Cori-Olanus (I, i, 168 ff.), Sir Thomas More (Addit., II. 195-210), and Troilus and Cressida (I, iii, 109 ff.) to the effect that failure to recognize degree in the choice of a ruler and to yield obedience to the one chosen would ultimately result in chaos, and men like beasts "would feed on one another." The parallelism in thought and language of the excerpts quoted by Chambers is noteworthy ; and the ideas as well as the manner of expression are characteristic of Shakespeare. But back of Shakespeare (and this is not noticed by Cham­bers) is a much earlier exposition by Elyot which may well have been a part of Shakespeare's reading. The insistence upon degree, the disastrous results of the impairment of authority are here in The Governour (1531). The passage runs: ... therefore god ordayned a diversitie or pre-eminence in degree to be amonge men for the necessary direction of them in conformitie of lyvinge. Wberof nature ministreth to us examples abundantly, as in bees ..• wolfes, etc., ... amonge whom is a govemour or leader, toward whom all the other have a vigilant eye, awaytinge his signes or tokens, and according thereto preparinge them self most diligently. If we thinke that this naturall instinction of creatures unreasonable is necessary and also commendable, howe farre out of reason shall we iudge them to be that would exterminate all superioritie, extincte all governaunce and lawes, and ... do endevour them selfes to bryng the life of man in to a confusion inevitable, and to be in moche wars astate than the afore named beestes? Sens without governaunce and lawes the persones moste stronge in body shulde by violence con­straigne them that be of lasse strength and weaker to labour as bondemen or slaves for their sustinaunce and other necessaries, the stronge men being without labour or care. Than were all our equalitie dashed, and finally as bestes savage the one shall desire to slee a rwther (Bk. III, ch. III, pp. 204-205).17 It should be stated that this discourse is not exceptional in The Governour. The idea is often repeated. It appears in the first two chapters no less than five times, and is elaborate in later chapters. "Lacke of ordre" results in "perpetuall conflicte," and ultimately in "universal disso­lution" (p. 3) ; "without ordre may be nothing stable or permanent; and it may not be called ordre, excepte it do contayne in it degree, high and base, accordynge to the merit or estimation of the thyng that is ordred" (p. 4). "Confusion," "desolation," "dissolution" are terms repeat­edly employed by Elyot to describe a condition that will obtain in a commonwealth when responsibility of governing is divided, or the common people defy the authority of the constituted ruler. But the passage cited seems to me not the only corre­spondence between Coriolanus and The Governour. In a long speech of Coriolanus (III, i,) many of the ideas are not dissimilar to those found in the second chapter of Elyot's work. Compare . . . By Jove himself ! It makes the consuls base : and my soul aches To know when two authorities are up, Neither supreme, how soon confusion May enter 'twixt the gap of both and take The one by the other. (Ill, i, 107-110.) and the heading of the second chapter in The Governour: That one soveraigne governour ought to be ~n a publike weale. And what damage hath happened where a multitude hath had equal autho:ritie without any soverOllJgne (p. 7). Much of this chapter is devoted to illustration of the in­adequacy of government by two kings, or of democracy. 17Cf. The Governour, p. 3, beginning "More over take away ordre from all thynges what should then remayne" and ending "he hymselfe of necessite must then perisshe whereof ensueth universall dissolu­tion." Shakespeare and Elyot's "Governour" The conflict of Roman tribunes and senators is used in illustration by Elyot. Further on in the same speech Coriolanus says, ... This double worship Where one part does disdain with cause, the other Insult without all reason; where gentry, title, wisdom, Cannot conclude but by the yea and no Of general ignorance. . . . Nothing is done to purpose. (III, i, 142-149.) Compare with this the following lines, in which Elyot is referring to the political situation of the Romans after they had dispensed with kings : Consequently with communaltie more and more encroched a licence, and at last compelled the Senate to suffre them to chose yerely amonge them gouernours of theyr owne astate and condition, whom they called Tribunes: under whom they resceyued suche audacitie and power that they finally optained the higheste authoritie in the publike weale, in so moche that often tymes they dyd repele the actes of the Senate, and to these Tribunes mought a man apele from the Senate or any other office or dignitie (Bk. I, ch. ii, pp. 12-13). Again, in this speech, Coriolanus says: Sometime in Greece . . . Though there the people had more absolute power, I say, they nourished disobedience, fed The ruin of the state. . . . (111, i, 115--118.) Compare with this the following from Elyot: .. Athenes and other cities of Grece, when they had abandoned kinges, and concluded to lyue as it were in a communaltie, which abusifly they called equalitie, howe longe tyme did any of them con­tinue in peace? yea what vacation had they from warres--0r what noble man had they which advanced the honour and weale of theyr citie, whom they did not banish or slee in prison? (p.12) . In the light of Coriolanus's speech above and of his actual banishment from Rome, this passage from The Governour is particularly suggestive. As a concluding remark on Coriolanus, I wish to say that Elyot employs for illustration the episode of Coriolanus's Texas Studies in English rejection of rewards, except one horse and the request for the freedom of a prisoner. The account occurs likewise in Plutarch. None the less, Elyot's use of it might well have drawn Shakespeare once more to a perusal of The Gov­ernour. The contents of the play would seem to confirm this theory. To summarize the matter of this paper in general terms, I may say that the plays of Shakespeare dating from about 1595 to 1609 show in thought and expression of ideas some striking agreements with parts of The Governour. These agreements are best exemplified in 2 Henry IV, Henry V, and Troilus and Cressida, plays of practically contemporary composition. On the evidence afforded by these three plays, I should be willing to rest my case. I maintain further, however, that Coriol,anus (to say nothing of various other plays mentioned in this discussion) offers additional testi­mony to Shakespeare's knowledge of Elyot's most famous book The Governour. AN UNNOTED ANALOGUE TO THE IMOGEN STORY BY ROBERT ADGER LAW Two close analogues to parts of the Imogen story of Shakespeare's Cymbeline are to be found in recognized sources of his other plays. One of these analogues was noted by Professor Greenlaw twelve years ago, but the other appears hitherto to have passed unnoticed. Critics usually trace this story either to the ninth tale of the second day in the Decameron, or to the similar English version, Westward for Smelts, both of which possible sources are found conveniently in the Appendix to the Variorum Cymbeline. But neither version says aught of the heroine's romantic marriage or of her apparent death and burial. One localizes the attempted murder near Genoa; the other, near Waltham, whereas Shakespeare places it in Cambria. The two analogues may account for Shakespeare's varia­tions. Writing of "Shakespeare's Pastorals" in Studies in Phi­ lology, XIII, 139-140 (1916), Greenlaw showed that in Imogen's secret marriage, the subsequent banishment of her husband, her father's attempt to force her into a second marriage with a husband of his own choosing, her swallow­ ing a sleeping potion, or drug, as a result of which she is taken for dead and is buried, and finally her awakening in the grave to find the supposed dead body of her husband beside her, Shakespeare was apparently reworking motifs from the Romeo and Juliet story. As to the Cambrian background Boswell-Stone, noting the name Morgan in Cymbeline, suggests (Shakespeare's Holinshed, p. 17) that "in the old Leir Ragan's husband is Morgan, King of Cambria," but does not connect the scene of attempted murder in Cymbeline with that in the Leir play (published 1605). A series of corresponding situations in the two plays seems to me significant. 1. In Cymbeline. Act IH, Scene iv, Imogen under false pretext of meeting her husband, whom she entirely trusts, is lured to a remote "place" in Cambria, accompanied only by Pisanio. In King Leir, Act Ill, Scene v (as arranged by Fischer, Shakespeare's Quellen: King Lear) Leir, under false pretext of meeting his daughter, whom he entirely trusts, is lured to a thicket in Cambria, accompanied only by Perillus. 2. Arrived there, Imogen longs to see her husband. Arrived there, Leir longs to see his daughter. 3. Pisanio hands Imogen a note from her husband, ordering him to slay her for adultery. The Messenger hands Leir a note from his daughter ordering him to slay the old king, apparently for his wicked­ness. 4. While strongly protesti-ng her innocence, Imogten expresses willingness to die, and bids Pisanio strike. While strongly protesting his innocence, Leir expresses willingness to die, and bids the Mes­senger strike. 5. Pisanio relents and refuses to slay Imogen. The Messenger relents and refuses to slay Leir. 6. Even though her Ji.fe has been spared, Imogen is despondent, and is resolved not to return to court or stay in Britain. Even though his life has been spared, Leir is despondent, and is resolved not to return to court or to stay in Britain. 7. Finally, on Pisanio's advice, Imogen disguises herself by a change of garments in order to cross the sea to Italy and rejoin her husband. Finally, on Perillus's advice, Leir crosses the sea to France and disguises himself by a change of garments in order to rejoin his daughter Cordella. Several years ago (cf. Publ. M. L.A., XXVII, 117ff.) I set forth a theory that Shakespeare used this same scene from the old Leir as a basis for Richard the Third, Act I, Scene iv, where Clarence is murdered in prison. Parallels of situation between the corresponding scenes are (1) the vic­tim's warning dream, which he fearfully recounts at the beginning of the scene; (2) the hired murderer's threat to stab the victim in his sleep ; ( 3) the awaking of the victim and his debate with the assassin on the justice of slaying him; and (4) the victim's suggestion that the actual procurer of the crime will reward his agent for showing mercy. Confirmatory evidence of borrowing is found ( 5) in the wording of many parallel passages. Not one of these similarities exists between the Cymbeline and the Leir, but significant resemblances of situation are in the Cambrian setting, in the murderer's false-hearted engagement to meet his victim there, in the use of the letter directing the servant to commit murder and the showing of this letter to the intended victim, and in the happy denoument, brought about by the servant.'s relenting. If then, as I believe, Shake­speare used the one scene as source material of two plays, his variation in the choice of details each time is striking. Not less striking is the absence of any scene of attempted murder of the old monarch in Shakespeare's King Lear. OTHELLO AS A MODEL FOR DRYDEN IN ALL FOR LOVE BY T. P. HARRISON, JR. A major weakness of Dryden's adaptation of Shakes­peare's Antony and Cleopatra results from his alteration of the role of Alexas, Cleopatra's facile pander: thereby the admirable self-sufficiency of Shakespeare's queen is con­siderably impaired. In the earlier play Alexas is a non­entity; there his part is negligible. But it seems that Dryden's Alexas was to some extent inspired by Shakes­peare's Iago, and that frequently both in language and in situation the later play is further reminiscent of Othello. That Dryden relied explicitly upon Othello is suggested by the parallels now to be quoted. When Dryden's play opens, Alexas, perplexed by the situa­tion, is exercising his wit1 to keep Antony in Egypt. Like Iago, here and elsewhere, he is thoroughly selfish in his every aim. Of Cleopatra, he speaks thus to her priest (I, 77-85) : Oh, she dotes, She dotes, Serapion, on this vanquished man, And winds herself about his mighty ruins ; Whom would she yet forsake, yet yield him up, This hunted prey, to his pursuers' hands, She might preserve us all; but 'tis in vain- This changes my designs, this blasts my counsels, And makes me use all means to keep him here, Whom I could wish divided from her arms Far as the earth's deep centre. Here Alexas has no thought of imperiling himself as he thus launches into schemes to prevent Antony's departure. 1The confident reliance of Alexas upon his wit and his frequent use of the word savors of Iago. In Othello, likewise, Iago's initial motive2 in arousing the jealousy of Othello is free from any apprehension of per­sonal risk. Later each is forced to exert his wit stren­uously to save himself at the expense of other lives. Act II of All for Love witnesses the first victory of Alexas. When, in the meeting contrived by her guiding pander, Cleopatra wins Antony to her will, she then trusts Alexas more completely than ever. Unfortunately for them both, Dolabella now arrives upon the scene, bringing with him Octavia and her children (Act III). Forthwith Antony returns to the arms of his wife, and Alexas is foiled. The exasperation of Alexas in this exigency, his loud contempt of virtue and Antony,3 all bear the marks of his apparent prototype, Iago (III, 379-381) : This downright fighting fool, this thick-skulled hero, This blunt, unthinking instrument of death, With plain dull virtue has out-gone my wit. The temporary eclipse of Cleopatra prompts her servant to a move which in the end proves fatal both to himself and to his mistress : Alexas urges the Queen to feign love for Dolabella in the hope of awakening Antony's jealousy. Act IV is of first importance in its bearing upon Othello, how­ever much Dryden relied, as of course he did, upon a scene in his professed source; there Antony's stupid fury is aroused by the familiarity which his subtle mistress permits Thyreus, Caesar's messenger. Yet in Dryden Dolabella is as surely the means in the machinations of Alexas as in 2Throughout this paper I have tried to speak of Iago and his some­ times disputed motives only in terms of fairly universal acceptance. 3Cf. Iago: "The Moor is of a free and open nature, That thinks men honest that but seem to be so, And will as·tenderly be led by the nose As asses are." "Virtue! a fig! 'tis ourselves that we are thus or thus." (Othello, I, iii, 405-408, and I, iii, 322.) Shakespeare Cassio is that of Iago. To his mistress Alexas whispers (IV, 78-88): 'Tis your last remedy, and strongest too. And then this Dolabella-who so fit To practice on? He's handsome, valiant, young, And lookB aB he were laid for nature'B bait To catch weak women'B eyeB:" He stands already more than half suspected Of loving you ; the least kind word or glance You give this youth will kindle him with love. Then, like a burning vessel set adrift, You'll send him down amain before the wind, To fire the heart of jealous Antony. Cleopatra hesitates, agrees to the plan, meets Dolabella, and pathetically carries through her part, repenting too late, however, to avoid the accusing eyes of Ventidius and Octavia, who mark their intimacy. It is now Ventidius who pours "pestilence" into the ears of the vainly reluctant Antony,-evidence which Alexas is forced to corroborate. Ventidius discloses Dolabella's meeting with Cleopatra thus (IV, 285-291): And then he grew familiar with her hand, Squeezed it, and worried it with ravenous kisses ; She blushed, and sighed, and smiled, and blushed again; At last she took occasion to talk softly, And brought her cheek up close, and leaned on his ; At which he whispered kisses back on hers; And then she cried aloud that constancy Should be rewarded.~ •Italics mine. Cf. Iago as he selects his victim: "Cassio's a proper man: He hath a perBon and a Bmooth dispose To be suspected, framed to make women false." (Othello, I, iii, 398, and 403-404.) ~ct. Iago to Roderigo of the meeting of Desdemona and Cassio: "Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? They met so near with their lips that their breaths embraced together." (Othello, II, i, 260 and 264.) Apart from the Alexas-Iago parallel, the following passages from Act IV are significant when compared with a scene from Othello. Inevitably suggestive are the bewilder­ment and, later, the anger of both Antony and Othello as they face the innuendoes of Ventidius and of Iago. All for Love Othello Ant. A word in private. Iago. Ha! I like not that. When saw you Dolabella? 0th. What dost thou say? Vent. Now, my lord; Iago. Nothing, my lord: or if­ He parted hence, and I know not what. Cleopatra with him. 0th. Was not that Cassio parted Ant. Speak softly.-'Twas by with my wife? my command he went, 1 ago. Cassio, my lord! No, sure, To bear my last farewell. I cannot think it, Vent. It looked indeed That he would steal away [Aloud] so guilty-like, Like your farewell. Seeing you coming. (III, iii, 35-39.) Ant. More softly.-My fare­ Iago. Think, my lord! well? 0th. Think, my lord! What secret meaning By heaven, he echoes me, have you in those As if there were some words monster in his thought Of "My farewell"? He Too hideous to be shown. did it by my order. (lb., 105-108.) (IV, 256-263.) Ant. Thou dost belie her­ 0th. No, Iago; [Aloud] I'll see before I doubt; Most basely and mali­ when I doubt; prove; ciously belie her. And on this proof, there is Vent. I thought not to dis­ no more but this, please you; I have Away at once with love or done. jealousy! (lb., 189-192.) Octav. You seem disturbed, my Iago. I see this hath a little lord. [Coming up] dash'd your spirits. Ant. A very trifle. 0th. Not a jot, not a jot. (lb., 270-273.) (lb., 214-215.) A.nt. Though Heav'n and earth 0th. If she be false, 0, then Should witness it, I'll not heaven mocks itself! believe her tainted. I'll not believe't. (lb., 315.) (lb., 278-279.) In the passages quoted both Antony and Othello struggle vainly against the convincing evidence of unfaithfulness. Finally, each hero forces the accuser to produce more cer­tain evidence. Ant. Hence from my sight! 0th. Villain, be sure thou prove for I can bear no my love a whore, more: Be sure of it; give me the Let furies drag thee quick ocular proof; to hell; let all Or, by the worth of man's The longer damned have eternal soul rest; ea"l:i torturing Thou hadst better have hand been born a dog Do tnou employ, till Cleo­Than answer my waked patra comes; wrath! Then join thou too, and (lb., 359-363.) help to torture her ! (lb., 379-383.) To return for the moment to the parallel roles of Alexas and Iago : until this point in both plays the actions of these men are largely experimental ; but from this point forward each, realizing his life in immediate peril, plans with the sole motive of saving himself. Alexas, thinking to have won Antony again for Cleopatra, has succeeded only in re­assuring him that she is playing into Caesar's hands; both Cleopatra and Dolabella are ruined in Antony's esteem, while Octavia withdraws with dignity. Thus from the hands of the queen Alexas stands, too, in much peril. For Iago there remains but one course : at all hazards to prove Desdemona false. In the lives of both men a crisis has been reached. Before proceeding to the final phase of this comparison, there are to be disclosed separate parallels which will be sufficiently made plain by quotation. All for Love Othello Ant. Swear, swear, I say, thou 0th. Therefore confess thee dost not love her. freely of thy sin. Dola. No more than friendship (V, ii, 53.) will allow. Des. . . . . never loved Cassio But with such general war­ ranty of heaven As I might love. (lb., 59-61.) "Othello" as a Model for Dryden in "All for Love" 141 Ant. Ant. Cleo. Ant. Cleo. Ant. Do"la. Ant. Cleo. Ant. All for Love No more? Friendship allows thee nothing; thou art per­jured­(IV, 492-495.) Ventidius heard it; Octavia saw it. They are enemies. Alexas is not so: he, he confessed it; (lb., 499-501.) Aye, there's the banish­ment! Oh, hear me! Hear me, With strictest justice, for I beg no favour; And if I have offended you, then kill me, But do not banish me. (lb., 555-558.) No more.-Alexas! A perjured villain! (to Cleo). Your Alexas­ yours. (lb., 566-567.) Hear him; confront him with me; let him speak! I have; I have.. (lb., 570-571.) 0th. Othello Sweet soul, take heed, Take heed of perjury; (lb., 50-51.) 0th. He hath confessed. (lb., 68.) Des. 0, banish me, my lord, but kill me not! (lb., 78.) Des. No, by my life and soul! Send for the man, and ask him. (lb., 49-50.) 0th. He hath confessed. (lb., 68.) The foregoing parallels, unconnected and inconsistent as they are, are less convincing than the major parallel, which is now to be concluded. After the total failure of Alexas' device to use Dolabella to advantage, he turns to meet the fury of the disap­pointed queen (V, 17-27) : Texas Studies in English Art thou there, traitor?-Oh! Oh, for a little breath, to vent my rage-­ Give, give me way, and let me loose upon him. Alex. Yes, I deserve it, for my ill-timed truth. Was it for me to prop The ruins of a falling majesty? To place myself beneath the mighty flaw, Thus to be crushed, and pounded into atoms, By its o'erwhelming weight? 'Tis too presuming For subjects to preserve that wilful pow'r Which courts its own destruction.e Cleopatra, like Othello, is mollified by this profession of self-pity; but, also like Othello, she conjures Alexas to undo the mischief (V, 56) : Look well thou do't; else-­ (Othello is more explicit in his threats to Iago.) After the desertion of the Egyptian galleys to Caesar, the queen's now fervid desire to have her name cleared before her lover is met by Serapion, who counsels her to dispatch the trembling Alexas to Antony (V, 116-121) : He who began this mischief, 'Tis just he tempt the danger. Let him clear you: And, since he offered you his servile tongue, To gain a poor precarious life from Caesar, Let him expose that fawning eloquence, And speak to Antony. Thus forced to approach Antony, Alexas is desperate (V, 137-139) : ecf. Iago to Othello: "God be wi' you; take mine office. 0 wretched fool, That livest to make thine honesty a vice! 0 monstrous world! Take note, take note, 0 world To be direct and honest is not safe. I thank you for this profit, and from hence I'll love no friend, sith love breeds such offence." (Othello, III, Hi, 375-380.) "Othello" as a Model for Dryden in "All for Love" 143 Let me think: What can I say to save myself from death? No matter what becomes of Cleopatra. Iago's equally perilous efforts to save himself are too well known. At a critical juncture, immediately after Rode­rigo's murder, Iago muses: This is the night That either makes me or fordoes me quite. (Othelw, V, i, 128-129.) Alexas' announcement of Cleopatra's death is as ineffective as it is fatal, both to Antony and to the queen. Their deaths correspond to those of Othello and Desdemona; and both Alexas and Iago are brought in bound to view the dismal scene of their making. At the last when Dryden concentrates upon the famous lovers, Alexas is forgotten. However, Alexas remains as Dryden's adaptation, not of his mild-eyed prototype in Antony and Cleopatra, but of his stronger forbear, Iago. MILTON'S EARLIER SAMSON BY EVERT MORDECAI CLARK On the point of Milton's earlier interest in the story of Samson as a possible subject for heroic song, Professor Moody, following Masson,1 remarks: "At that time, ap­parently, he considered it little, since the jottings2 are unac­companied by any hints as to treatment."3 But the promi­nence of this subject in the poet's mind during the period of 1639 to 1642 was somewhat greater than these critics have allowed. Their conclusions about the matter do not take account of the fact that in addition to entering in his notebook the items, "XVII. Samson marrying, or in Ramach-Lechi; Judges XV. XVIII. Samson Pursophorus, or Hybristes, or Dagonalia, Judges XVI,''• Milton also meta­morphosed the narrative of Samson into a kind of political allegory, which he sent abroad in printed form as early as the beginning of February, 1642. In the following study of Milton's earlier Samson, I shall have in mind the two-fold purpose of pointing out what the passage reveals about the author's mind and art in 1642 and of indicating some of the "hints as to treatment" which commentators seem to have overlooked but which the poet did not forget to follow up in his subsequent play. First of all, however, it will be of use to review the situation with which Milton's interesting allegory deals. Since November, 1640, the Long Parliament had been at work uprooting absolutism in church and state. Within a year it had executed Strafford, secured itself against in­voluntary dissolution, taken the tenure of judges out of the 1The Poetica! Works of John Milton, Ill, 86: "These subjects, how­ever, do not seem then to have had such attractions for Milton as some of the others in the list; for they are merely jotted down, ... whereas to some of the others ... are appended sketches of the plot, or hints for the treatment." 2cambridge Ma:nuscript. sMilton's Complete Poems, Student's Cambridge Edition, p. 283. •Percival, Milton's Samson Agonistes, p. x. Milton's Earlier "Samson" royal hands, abolished the courts of High Commission and Star Chamber, restrained illegal taxation, demanded con­trol of the militia, secured the king's agreement to disband the army, and got possession of the Tower. In church affairs reform had moved with much less unanimity and speed. Archbishop Laud had been impeached in December and imprisoned in March; but the Root and Branch Petition of December had met with determined opposition in Par­liament from conservatives who favored church-reform but not the abolition of episcopacy. The House of Peers, less friendly with the bishops than concerned about their own security as a body, had continued to defeat the Commons in their motions to deprive the bishops of all legislative and judicial power. Thus the Exclusion Act of March and the Vane-Cromwell Bill of May had come to naught. In July the Root and Branch Bill had been dropped by common consent in view of the king's projected trip to Scotland and the increasing need of presenting a solid Parliamentary front. But something at least toward eccle­siastical reform had been accomplished: thirteen bishops had been impeached on August 4; and on September 1, before recessing, Parliament had purged the church of Laudian innovations.5 And now, upon the reconvening of Parliament in October, the year of controversy between royal prerogative and Parliamentary power approached its crisis. All issues were concentered in this one: would 5Gardiner, Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolutwn, p. 197: "It is this day ordered by the Commons in Parliament as­sembled: That the churchwardens . . . remove the communion table from the east end of the church; . . . and that they take away the rails and level the chancels . . . : That all crucifixes, scandalous pictures of any one or more persons of the Trinity, and all images of the Virgin Mary, shall be taken away and abolished; and that all tapers, candlesticks and basins be removed from the communion table: That all corporal bowing at the name of Jesus, or towards the east end of the church, chapel, or chancel, or towards the communion table be henceforth forborne . . . : That the Lord's Day shall be duly observed and sanctified; all dancing or other sports, either before or after divine service, be forborne and restrained; and that the preaching of God's Word be permitted in the afternoon." Charles yield again, or would he continue to defend the bishops and the established church? The king's reply6 left no doubt that he had chosen the latter course. The Grand Remonstrance was laid before the king on December 1. On December 30 the bishops, still clinging to their seats in the upper House, were arrested for contempt and sent to join Archbishop Laud in the Tower. The passing of the Exclu­sion Bill followed in February as a matter of course. Fail­ing in his bold attempt on January 4 to arrest the five members who were about to launch impeachment proceed­ings against the queen, Charles withdrew to the north to prepare for the conflict which was now inevitable and near at hand. It was during this thrilling year of 1641 that Milton, perceiving, as he thought, "that a way was opening for the establishment of real liberty; that the foundation was laying for the deliverance of man from the yoke of slavery and superstition," led solely by the "love of truth" and "rever­ence for Christianity," put aside his cherished art to bring "timely succour to the ministers, who were hardly a match for the eloquence of their opponents."1 Having made this momentous decision, he addressed himself to his new task with characteristic zeal. In May, 1641, he sent forth Of Reformation touching Church Discipline; in June, Of Pre­latical Episcopacy; the Animadversions in July. The crisis precipitated in the fall by the king's defiant stand set Milton to work upon The Reason of Church Government Urged against Prelaty, an elaborate treatise dealing vigorously and learnedly with the issue of the hour. In this fourth anti-episcopal tract, the note struck lightly in Comus, more 6Gardiner, op. cit., p. 202: "The first [Charles's affection] I shall express by governing you all according to the laws of this kingdom, and in maintaining and protecting the true Protestant religion, according as it hath been established in my two famous predecessors' times, Queen Elizabeth and my father; and this I will do, if need be, to the hazard of my life and all that is dear to me" (Speech to the Recorder of London, November 25, 1641). 1The Prose Works of John Milton, ed. Bohn, I, 258. Subsequent references to the Prose Works are to the Bohn Edition. Milton's Earlier "Samson" plainly in Lycidas, and insistently in the three preceding pamphlets is sounded with ominous finality. Episcopacy is doomed; but the king, if he will, may come out before the structure falls. In the allegorical passage which follows, Milton points out to him a way of escape and at the same time holds up the picture of an ideal king: I cannot better liken the state and person of a king than to that mighty Nazarite Samson; who being disciplined from his birth in the precepts and the practice of temperance and sobriety, without the strong drink of injurious and excessive desires, grows up to a noble strength and perfection with those his illustrious and sunny locks, the laws, waving and curling about his godlike shoulders. And while he keeps them about him undiminished and unshorn, he may with the jawbone of an ass, that is, with the word of his meanest officer, suppress and put to confusion thousands of those that rise up against his just power. But laying down his head among the strumpet flat­teries of prelates, while he sleeps and thinks no harm, they wickedly shaving off all those bright and weighty tresses of his law, and just prerogatives, which were his ornament and strength, deliver him over to indirect and violent counsels, which, as those Philistines, put out the fair and far-sighted eyes of his natural discerning, and make him grind in the prisonhouse of their sinister ends and practices upon him: till he, knowing this prelatical rasor to have bereft him of his wonted might, nourish again his puissant hair, the golden beams of law and right; and they sternly shook, thunder with ruin upon the heads of those his evil counsellors, but not without great affliction to himself.a Such was Milton's indirect but earnest appeal to Charles as England stood on the verge of civil war. Quite clearly he announces his as yet unbroken allegiance to a properly­limited and law-abiding king, but as clearly intimates that his allegiance is conditioned upon the king's behavior with respect to law and right. He boldly warns the king that he must separate himself from the prelates and cease to flout Parliament and the law or the consequences will be dire; that, indeed, a penalty has already been incurred and must be paid. The king had yet to run his course through bloodshed and broken faith before the conception of justi­fiable tyrannicide should find lodgment in Milton's mind. BProse Works, II, 506. As to the church, Milton is here seen occupying middle ground between the orthodox episcopacy to which in college days he had given at least a formal assent and the inde­pendency to which he was shortly to subscribe. He stands shoulder to shoulder with the Root and Branch abolitionists in Parliament so far as episcopacy is concerned. As the context of the passage shows, as a substitute for that church he is flatly in favor of the Presbyterian system,9 to which Parliament just then stood more or less committed. In turning from the historical and autobiographical sig­nificance of the allegory to its literary aspects and relation­ships, one observes, first of all, that the passage is a charac­teristic specimen of the poet's ardent, imaginative prose. Milton fully realized as he deliberately turned from poetry to pamphleteering that "it were a folly to commit anything elaborately composed to the careless and interrupted listen­ing of these tumultuous times,"10 and "that if solidity have leisure to do her office, art cannot have much."11 Neverthe­less the artist now and then, as in this instance, asserts himself even in Milton's controversial prose. One admires the deftness with which the story of the Nazarite is sug­gested rather than retold and is made to apply to England's erring king. The biblical and the political threads of the narrative are nicely proportioned and skilfully intertwined. The passage is heightened by the use of varied figures of speech, not the least impressive of which is the bold but implied antithesis between the king as he is and the king as Milton thinks he ought to be. Thus in its warmth and color and ingenuity of structure and expression the excerpt reminds us that the pamphleteer is still a poet, though he is "sitting here below in the cool element of prose."12 9Prose Works, II, 490: "Little is it that I fear lest any crooked­ness, any wrinkle or spot should be found in presbyterian government. . . . Every true protestant . . . will confess it to be the only true church government." IO/bid., II, 476. 11/bid., II, 477. 12/bid., II, 477. Milton's Earlier "Samson" We are reminded, too, by this political application of the ancient story, of Milton's proneness to relate his art, directly, or indirectly, to contemporary people and affairs. His prose works deal with problems and conditions of the age. Allegorically, the evils of the court and of the church are exposed in Comus and Lycidas. His English sonnets are prevailingly occasional. One may not go so far as to believe that Milton's "true place is with the great political philosophers of his race" or that "Paradise Lost is the epic of the English state"13 and yet be able to agree with the more moderate view that "it '\Vas the course of national events and Milton's participation in them, and his ultimate exclusion from them, that prepared the ground" for Para­dise Lost and "made inevitable his final choice"a of the epic form. In its political aspects Samson Agonistes is a dra­matization of the apparent death and predicted resurrection of the Good Old Cause. Thus the play, as a political alle­gory, is seen to be the following up of one of the "hints as to treatment" that had been employed by Milton long before in his allegory of Samson and the ideal king. Milton's lifelong interest in dramatic composition was especially pronounced during the period between his return from Italy in 1639 and the closing of the theaters in 1642. At the very moment of his writing the particular passage under review, he was seriously considering "whether those dramatic constitutions, wherein Sophocles and Euripides reign, shall be found more doctrinal and exemplary to a nation,"15 and even reshaping epic materials into dramatic form.16 Indeed, if one should care to follow the liberal method of interpretation employed by Milton, who detected 13Haller, W., "Order and Progress in Paradise Lost," P.M.L.A., xxxv, 225. HRand, E. K., "Milton in Rustication," Studies in Philowgy, XIX, 130. 1sprose Works, II, 479. lSSee, for example, Milton's four drafts of a tragedy, Adam Unparadized, the opening lines of which were written as early as 1642 (Masson, op. cit., II, 20). "a divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon" and con­jectured that "the Apocalypse of St. John is the majestic image of a high and stately tragedy,"15 he might fairly conceive that the allegorical sketch of Samson and the king is also implicitly a drama. The setting would be Stuart England of 1641 and 1642; the protagonist, Charles him­self; the dramatic struggle, already under way and near its crisis, externally, between the king and prelates united and such champions of law and Parliament as Cromwell, Hampden, and Pym; subjectively, between the king's in­herent sense of right and his stubborn loyalty to the estab­lished church; the denouement, inevitable disaster for epis­copacy or kingship, and perhaps for both. It suffices, how­ever, to point out these dramatic elements of the allegory and to suggest that between them and the corresponding elements of Samson Agonistes there is a certain parallelism which throws at least the light of antecedent probability upon some disputed points of technique in the later play. In both, the biblical groundwork of the plots-the career of Samson-is the same. In each, God's appointed cham­pion runs a course of irresistible triumph, delusion, defeat, repentance, restoration, atonement, and final victory in suffering or death. The intermediate steps by which he ascends from the prison-house of despair to the temple of triumph are clearly marked. In each the hero, on coming to himself, sets out to renew his allegiance to God, and is assisted and restored by omnipotent power and grace. But in neither case does he escape the penalty of his sin. Thus the earlier version states: "till he, knowing this prelatical rasor to have bereft him of his wonted might, nourish again his puissant hair, the golden beams of law and right; and they sternly shook, thunder with ruin upon the heads of those his evil counsellors, but not without great affliction to himself." In Samson Agonistes these steps are more elabo­rately set forth. Samson repents, withstands the old temp­tation, is roused to a consciousness of power and of divine approval, and, thus restored, is allowed to accomplish the mission of his life. The episodes of Manoa, Dalila, and Milton's Earlier "Sam.son" Harapha are the indispensable stages of Samson's restora­tion as a champion of God. But resurrecting and espousing the opinion of Samuel Johnson that this drama "must be allowed to want a middle, since nothing passes between the first act and the last, that either hastens or delays the death of Samson,"11 Professor Tupper condemns the plot of Samson Agonistes and dis­poses of the intermediate incidents as "padding." Particu­larly the episode of Dalila, he feels, "does not bear upon the spiritual course of the drama as contained in the beginning and the end."18 The persistent fallacy arose, of course, from Johnson's misapprehension as to the denouement, which he considered to be the death of Samson, but in which death is really incidental and victory the dominant thought. That the intermediate episodes constitute the necessary preparation for the hero's spiritual triumph, which in the biblical account and in both of Milton's ver­sions is the real objective of the story, has already been established by Professor Baum19 and others. I wish merely to suggest that Milton's earlier handling of the story sup­ports the view that Samson Agonistes has a definite and logical middle as well as a beginning and an end. In their political aspects the plots of allegory and drama are, as I have said, analogous but not identical. In each the state, as represented by its divinely-sanctioned head, is depicted as partially or utterly dethroned, as coming to itself and renouncing its evil ways, as reinvested with the prerogatives of sovereignty, and as finally triumphing over all its foes. The fact that Milton made a political applica­tion of the story in 1642 adds probability to the interpreta­tion of Samson Agonistes as a political allegory of the HTke Rambler, No. 139, 1751. Johnson's opinion late in life re­mained the same: "The intermediate parts have neither cause nor consequence, neither hasten nor retard the catastrophe" ("Life of Milton," Works, ed. 1820, IX, 169). 1S"The Dramatic Structure of Samson Agonistes," P.M.L.A., xxxv, 381. 19"Sa11Ulon Agonistes Again," P. M. L.A., XXXVI, 354-371. temporary downfall and ultimate triumph of the Puritan state. But characterization in Samson Agonistes as well as plot has of late been more or less condemned. The character of Samson in particular has suffered at the hands of recent critics. Thus one commentator finds the hero susceptible, "clownish," "unintelligent," and declares that Samson, judge of Israel, "has obviously missed his calling."20 An­other finds that the hero "has been granted an unwieldy strength of body but impotence of mind, and because he has lacked wisdom he has been overcome by the weakest of subtleties."21 Elsewhere22 I have discussed at length the character of Milton's Samson. Suffice it here to say that in neither allegory nor play has Milton represented Samson as unheroic, much less as a sensualist or a fool. The tendency of recent critics to depreciate the hero has arisen, it would seem, from a misconception of the biblical character, failure to differentiate the biblical and the Miltonic conceptions of the hero, or the overlooking of the fact that the lines of the drama that emphasize the weak­ness and folly of the protagonist are Samson's bitter but dramatically appropriate words of self-reproach. To Milton's mind in 1642, Samson was "that mighty Naza­rite, ... who being disciplined from his birth in the pre­cepts and the practice of temperance and sobriety, without the strong drink of injurious and excessive desires, grows up to a noble strength and perfection," a "god-like" man, magnificent in body, mind, and soul, weak only at one point and for a little while, but soon repentant, once more loyal, and finally irresistible as an instrument of God. Such Milton's conception of the hero essentially remains in the subsequent play. It is inconceivable that the heroic figure 20/bid., XXXVI, 356-357. 21curry, W. C., "Samson Agonistes Yet Again," Sewanee Review, July, 1924. 221n a paper entitled "Milton's Conception of Samson,'' read at the meeting of the Modern Language Association at Louisville in December, 1927. Milton's Earlier "Samson" delineated in 1642 should have dwindled in the poet's later estimation to the dimensions of a sensualist, a weakling, and a dolt. The real weakness of Samson Agonistes as a tragedy, however, thinks Professor Baum despite his entertaining but depreciatory remarks about the hero, consists not in defects of plot or characterization but resides in the very nature of its theme, which he defines as "Samson's double failure as a Nazarite and as a leader of his people."23 This definition of theme seems strangely inconsistent with the excellent point which he goes on to make, that "the final catastrophe is not defeat but reconciliation."24 The real theme of Samson Agonistes, as I have intimated in preced­ing remarks about plot and characterization, is not failure but ultimate, tranquillizing spiritual success. As Professor Jebb said twenty years ago, "the central idea of Samson's history, and, in harmony with that of history, the central idea of Milton's poem, is the idea of a national champion, first victorious, then abased, then finally triumphant in a national cause."25 This note of victory is especially promi­nent in the earlier sketch. Underlying Milton's conception of Samson as an erring but divinely-assisted man, and interwoven in both his versions of Samson's career, is the thought of greatest prominence in the poet's mind and major poems: a conviction of the intimate relationship of man and God and of the victory which man and God with blended might accomplish. In the light of Milton's con­sistent optimism, it is impossible to accept the view that failure is the theme of either allegory or play. The subject of Samson, then, contrary to accepted views, had considerable prominence in Milton's mind during the important transitional period of 1639 to 1642. The "hints as to treatment" that Masson and Moody failed to find 2aop. cit., XXXVI, 358. 24lbid., XXXVI, 368. 2sJebb, Sir R. C., "Samson Agonistes and the Hellenic Drama," December 10, 1908, Proceedings of the British Academy, v. III, p. 7. appear in the dramatic allegory of Samson and the king, which, together with the Cambridge jottings, is indeed a kind of Samson Agonistes in embryo. A comparison of Milton's tragedy with its long-neglected26 prototype leaves one a little surer than before that Samson Agonistes is less significant as an imitation of Greek tragedy than as an ethical, Christian, and political dramatic poem; that its plot is better constructed, its central figure more heroic, and its theme much loftier than some critics have allowed; and, finally, that the possibilities of an allegorical and dramatic application of the story of Samson to English national affairs were perceived by Milton some decades earlier than has commonly been supposed. 2sRaleigh quotes the passage and observes that "the theme of Samson Agonistes had thus already taken possession of Milton's imagination when he wrote his first prose tractates"; but he con­cludes that "this ingenious allegorical application naturally finds no place in the grave poem of Milton's latest years" (Milton, p. 51). Saurat remarks in connection with the passage, "Let us notice by the way that the subject of Samson has already caught Milton's attention" (Milton: Man and Thinker, p. 44). BROCKDEN BROWN'S FIRST ATTEMPT AT JOURNALISM BY DAVID LEE CLARK So far as there is any record, the history of American periodicals1 before 1800 is a tale of ambitious endeavors and triumphant failures. The idea of an American maga­zine for all the Colonies was original with Benjamin Franklin. He conceived a plan for a general repository, patterned after the Gentleman's Magazine of London; and on November 13, 17 40, published his proposals. But his rival, Andrew Bradford, anticipated him by three days with a hurriedly assembled sheet under the title of the American Magazine, the first number of which appeared in January, 1741. The rival editors at once fell to ridiculing each other in wretched doggerel, and the expected happened: Brad­ford's magazine died a natural death with the third issue, Franklin's with the sixth. Of the entire sixteen monthlies of the Colonial period not one, with the possible exception of the American Magazine and Monthly Chronicle (Phila­delphia, 1757-1758) gained any importance. That, under the leadership of the Reverend William Smith, first provost of the College of Philadelphia, is said to have had a consid­erable literary and financial success. But the magazine came to an abrupt end on Smith's departure for England. The average life of the Colonial magazines was less than fourteen months, and not one celebrated its third birthday. Furthermore, these periodicals hardly deserve the name American, for they inadequately reflected the life and the temper of the Colonies. In form and in subject-matter they were conscious imitations of the journals of the mother­country. During the Revolution all literary publications ceased, but from 1783 until the close of the century a strong 1Unless otherwise indicated the term periodical is herein used of monthly magazines only. demand was created by the patriotic effusions with which the new republic was flooded. Forty or more monthlies appeared during these seventeen years, but only four were really successful. Two of these-the Columbian Maga­zine (1786-1792) and the American Museum (1787-1792) -were published in Philadelphia; the MassaDhusetts Magazine (1789-1796) in Boston; and the New York Maga­zine (1789-1796) in New York City. Here for the first time one finds a native product. Although, like their pred­ecessors, these magazines, in form at least, were imitations of contemporary British journals, they made a conscious effort to encourage and foster a purely American literature; and it was through the pages of these four periodicals that the productions of vigorous native pens reached a large number of eager readers. It is not too much to say that these magazines started America on the road to liter­ary independence. For several reasons, however, these four journals found the cultivation of a native literature an almost herculean labor. There was a general lack of culture; only a handful of men had the inclination or the courage to devote them­selves to literature or to scholarship. A few like Bracken­ridge and Brown made heroic attempts to refute the British contention that Americans, when separated from the moth­erland, would speedily degenerate into illiterate ourang­outangs. Leading British critics contended that since Americans were primarily money-grabbers they could never rise to the higher reaches of culture. But though the germ of truth in this charge made the judicious grieve, then as now, the grief was not sufficiently deep or widespread to rouse the youthful or the slothful to independent effort. More specifically, lack of an international copyright law forced these four thriving magazines, in competition with less fastidious publications, to resort to many "selected" articles. Again, imperfect communications between the various literary centers had a bad effect upon circulation­on all sides was heard complaint from subscribers about delays in the delivery of magazines. Finally, perhaps the most serious handicap of all was the failure of the newly Brockden Brown's First Attempt at Journalism 157 established government to make just and adequate postal laws. The editor of the Columb'ian declared in December, 1792, that the chief reason for the demise of that valuable periodical was the law that prohibited the circulation of monthly magazines at a rate lower than that on private letters. Matthew Carey's American Museum came to an untimely end in the same month and year and for the same reason. Nevertheless, in the face of such untoward circumstances and with a knowledge of others' failures, Charles Brockden Brown at the solicitation of the New York Friendly Club undertook the editorship of a purely literature magazine. He first mentions the project in a letter to his brother James, on August 25, 1798, in which he says that he is preparing to publish Wieland and the proposals for a maga­zine. Wieland appeared in September, but the yellow fever, of which his intimate friend, Elihu Hubbard Smith, died and Brown himself was seriously ill, held up the other undertaking. We learn no more of it until in December of the same year Brown writes to his brother Armitt: "Eight of my friends here, men in the highest degree re­spectable for literature and influence, have urged me so vehemently to undertake the project of a magazine, and promise their contributions and assistance to its success, that I have written and published proposals. Four hun­dred subscribers will repay the annual expense of sixteen hundreds dollars. . . . All above four hundred will be clear profit to me; one thousand subscribers will produce four thousand five hundreds dollars, and deducting the annual expense will leave two thousand seven hundred [sic]. If this sum be attainable, in a year or two you will allow that my prospect is consoling."2 Frequently in America during the last quarter of the Eighteenth Century the literary clubs sponsored their own magazines.3 Concerning such clubs in New York at this 2L1.fe of Charles Brockden Broum., by William Dunlap, Vol. I, p. 240. 3The idea of a weekly magazine as a mouthpiece for the New York Friendly Club had been in the minds of Dunlap, Johnson, and Smith time information is hazy and fragmentary. According to Dunlap many of them existed in America for the purpose of opening the highways to truth and creating and fostering an American literature that would be independent of Europe and expressive of American ideals. "Bands of pioneers," he said, "were formed, who aided each other in removing rubbish and hewing down prejudices of stub­born texture from long growth, and mischievous from the veneration bestowed upon worthless old age."4 Dunlap was connected with the pathmakers who resided in New York. He was "intimately associated with Elihu Hubbard Smith, Charles Brockden Brown, James Kent, Edward Miller, Samuel L. Mitchill, Samuel Miller, William John­son, John Wells. . . . The young men above mentioned, with Richard Alsop, Mason Cogswell and Theodore Dwight, of Connecticut, formed a club, projected many literary works, and executed some. A magazine was supported for a short time . . . a review was published. Some of these gentlemen had previously been associated under the name of the Philological Society. Perhaps to this association, of which Noah Webster was a member, may be attributed those labours which have given to the world the most per­fect English dictionary in existence.".5 In a sketch of Dunlap's life in the New York Mirror6 it is said that the Philological Society was organized about 1788 with a mem­bership of Federalists, including Mitchill, Webster, Hoff­man, Livingston, Wetmore, Johnson, Cutting, Morton, and Woolsey. This society, we are told, perished about 1793, and from its ashes sprang the Friendly Club, "which, with some of the members of the first, enrolled the names of for some time before Brown took up his residence in the city. Dunlap records in his unpublished Diary (now in the Library of Yale Univer­sity) for June 1, 1798: "See Smith & talk of a weekly magazine for this place, to be printed by the Swords for their emolument, we having all power over it." But we shall see that the plan of a weekly maga­zine soon gave way to the idea of a monthly. 4History of the American Theatre, Vol. I, p. 220. 5lbid. BThe New York Mirror, Vol. X, pp. 265-266. Edward Miller, Elihu Hubbard Smith, and Charles Brock­den Brown." James Grant Wilson's Memorial History of the City of New York, more readable than reliable, says: "Nothing worthy of the name of a club appeared till, just before the war of the American Revolution, the Friendly Club was formed with James Kent, William Dunlap, Charles Brockden Brown [truly precocious!], and Anthony Bleecker as leading spirits. Several of its members conducted the first medical journal in America, and its weekly receptions were attended by the intellect and wit of the city, George Washington often being a visitor. But the club finally went to pieces in the clash between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists members, some of them founding the Drone Club in 1792 as a successor of the Moot Club of ante­Revolutionary days, for the debate of purely technical ques­tions, chiefly in the law."• Again, Martha J. Lamb in her History of the City of New York remarks of Brockden Brown that he was a member of the Drone Club, "a social and literary circle, instituted about 1792 as an aid to intel­lectual improvement. Its membership was recognized by proofs of authorship."8 Miss Lamb copies almost literally, but without acknowledgment, from Dr. John W. Francis's Old New York. It is also to be noted that a Friendly Club existed at Hartford as early as 1785, and included as mem­bers Trumbull, E. H. Smith, Barlow, Dwight, and Alsop. These gentlemen contributed to the Anarchiad and the Echo. Surely here is confusion worse confounded, and a history of the clubs of this stirring period is much needed. In all this mass of confusion one thing, however, stands sure: the purpose of these clubs was mainly literary. We have also seen that the membership of each of them included prac­tically the same group of leading intellects of the region. The eight respectable and influential friends of whom Brown writes were members of the New York Friendly Club. That club, however, was composed of more than •Menwrial Hist