And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught These mysterious beings hailed Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor and Thane of Glammis, and then as him who should be king hereafter. The first and second assurances were immediately confirmed. This, according to the tradition, set Macbeth's mind to cogitate how the third might also come to pass. Driven on by his ambition, his reflections at last became familiar with guilt; and when the unsuspicious Duncan came to visit him in his castle, Macbeth, at the instigation of his wife, stole to the king's chamber and slew him. Very little of this romance is true, though, besides being represented in the play, it is recorded in the chronicles. That was an age of violence, when few chiefs or kings died a natural death. At the same time, there was no fixed law of succession, and the strongest generally had the best of every dispute. Macbeth's wife, whose name was Gruach, had some claim to the crown, and she is said to have suffered injustice from Duncan. Such circumstances were then too common a cause of violence, and there is reason to believe that Macbeth slew Duncan rather in open war than by secret assassination. Macbeth was a pious monarch. He went on a pilgrimage to Rome; and he made the earliest grant to the church of which there is any authentic record in Scotland. Malcolm, the son of the slain Duncan, assisted by troops from England, made war on Macbeth, who fled before him northwards, and was killed at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, where a gray cairn of stones on the side of a bleak hill, supposed to cover his body, is still called by the country people Cairn Beth. 6. CONVERSION. The conversion of Scotland to Christianity commenced about the year 565, when St Columba, one of the many learned and pious teachers of Christianity in Ireland, landed on the western shore. He planted in Scotland a branch of the Irish Church, of which an account is given in the next chapter. From this source there were dispersed throughout Scotland a number of religious teachers called Culdees. What these were has been the subject of fierce dispute, some maintaining that they resembled the Presbyterian clergy of the present day, while others affirm with no less obstinacy that they were a monastic order. It is certain that they brought with them from Ireland customs which were not in accordance with those of the Romish Church; and thus, as the papal influence subsequently made progress in Scotland, the Culdees were gradually extinguished. On the small island of Iona, off the western coast of Scotland, Columba founded a monastery, which received additions in after-ages, and whose ruins are still visited with interest. This remote spot, now so desolate and lonely, was once the stronghold of Christianity and learning in Scotland, and pious men prayed and studied there, when the rest of the country was plunged in barbarism. Columba was the instructor of the Picts as well as of the Scots. He had to employ an interpreter when he addressed the Picts, and this is one reason for presuming that they were a Gothic people, and not Celtic like the Scots their neighbours. EXERCISES. What 1. What traces did the Romans leave behind them in Scotland? was the district called which retained their manners? What tribes inhabited the rest of Scotland? Describe the disputes about them. 2. What people were of old called Scots? Whence did the Highlanders pass into Scotland? What were they anciently called? 3. What names were given to the inhabitants of Scotland who attacked the southern Britons? Give some account of what has been said about the Picts and Scots. What Saxon kingdom was within the bounds of Scotland? 4. What mistake are people liable to make about the early intercourse of England and Scotland? What Saxon prince found refuge in Scotland? What first made the two countries hostile? What authority did the King of Norway obtain in the north? 5. Would it be of use to go over the names of all the old kings of Scotland? How did Macbeth's name obtain celebrity? Is all true that has been said of him? State some facts really known about him. 6. Who first converted the inhabitants of Scotland? Whence did he come? Describe the differences of opinion about his followers. Where was his church? CHAPTER VII. EARLY HISTORY OF IRELAND). Antiquity of the Irish Race--Ossian-Christianity introduced-Saint 1. THE early historians have told such preposterous tales about the antiquity of the Irish race of kings, that many persons are unwilling to believe the older portions of the history of Ireland, however well authenticated. It is beyond doubt, however, that in some respects its primitive history is more clearly known than that of either England or Scotland. When a nation once begins to grow civilized, peace and tranquillity only are required to enable it to advance rapidly. It is quite sufficient, therefore, to account for the progress which A.D. the Irish made before the incursions of the Danes, to 800. remember that there was probably but one race of people in that island; while in England and Scotland there were Britons, Romans, Picts, Irish, Saxons, and Danes, all occasionally making war against each other. From so early a period, it is said, as the fourth century, herocs became celebrated in the Celtic poetry. About eighty years ago, the poems of Ossian were published in English by Mr M'Pherson, as being a translation of the productions of a Highland bard. There is no doubt that some ballads and other legends about great heroes, partly real persons, but in a great measure fictitious, were procured in the Gaelic language; but the Highlanders brought them over when they passed from Ireland into Scotland, and the persons celebrated in them, so far as they are real, were Irish. The principal hero is called Fingal in Ossian's Poems; but in the Irish authorities he is called Fin Maccoull, and they give an account of him which reminds us more of a freebooter than a king. 2. CHRISTIANITY-ST PATRICK.-We must attribute the dawn of civilisation in Ireland to the introduction of Christianity, though the Irish historians would fain carry it much farther back. St Patrick, the first successful missionary to Ireland, is said to have been born in Scotland, of parents who lived under the Roman government, and were partly of British, partly of Roman descent. The place of his birth is supposed to have been Kilpatrick, near the mouth of the Clyde; but according to other accounts, he was born in Bretagne or Brittany, in France. He was early taken prisoner by one of the followers of Nial of the Nine Hostages, an Irish king who plundered the parts of Britain bordering on the sea. Patrick, thus becoming a slave, was devoted to the herding of cattle on the lonely hills, but after six years of servitude he was released and permitted to return to his native country, having during his captivity been converted to the faith of Christ. Feeling an intense desire to become a missionary of the gospel he passed into France to prepare himself for that office. He used to relate in after-life, that the memory of desolate heathen Ireland haunted him in his dreams, in which he heard a voice sounding from the distant mountains, and saying: "We entreat thee, holy youth, to come and walk still among us." He was upwards of forty years old before he returned to Ireland. Palladius had been sent on a mission to convert that people, but he had failed in the attempt, and St Patrick, who was appointed to succeed to him, landed on the shores of Ireland about the year 432. It is said, that being at first mistaken for a sea-robber, his arrival created uneasiness and alarm; but this was soon dissipated by his meek and peaceful demeanour. Among the other legends referring to his bold endeavours to propagate the gospel, we are told that when the great heathen rites of the nation were to be performed at the hall of Tara, he announced that he would then and there celebrate the Christian solemnities of Easter. It was a rule that no fire should be seen until the great beltane flame blazed up from the hall of Tara. In the meantime, St Patrick, according to old practice in the Church, lit his paschal fire. This incensed the king and the priests; and when the former asked what fire that was, a Druid is said to have replied, "This fire, which has now been kindled before our eyes, unless extinguished this very night, will never be extinguished through all time; it will tower above all our ancient flames, and he who lights it will erelong scatter your kingdom: " The secret of St Patrick's success appears to have been, that while he was bold he was likewise cautious; he did not so much denounce the superstitions of the heathen, as show to them the superior truth and virtue of Christianity. He accommodated his teaching, so far as he conscientiously could, to the rites and ceremonies of their former worship, and thus speedily, after the incident above mentioned, he preached among the Druids in that very heathen temple of Tara. 3. PRIMITIVE IRISH CHURCH.-It was very likely that the forms of worship and church-government established in so remote a district would not remain in exact conformity with those in countries nearer to the see of Rome. It thus happened that when Christianity, as propagated from Ireland through Scotland, met there with Christianity as it had been taught from England, there were found to be considerable differences between them, and particularly one about the proper time of celebrating Easter. These differences were the cause of many bitter disputes. The English church pleaded that it followed the example of Rome; but the Irish churchmen maintained that they had still better authority for their own practice, since they had received it directly from the apostles, who had been the first converters of Ireland. There is no good reason, however, for believing that the Irish were generally converted before the time of St Patrick. Yet it is a curious circumstance, that the country, which has been of late so celebrated for its Romanism, showed in those early times considerable opposition to the Papal Church; and so simple was its ecclesiastical establishment, that some affirm it had no bishops, but nearly resembled the Presbyterian Church of Scotland at this day. The early popes, indeed, showed a jealous dislike of Ireland, and it was under papal authority that the country was subsequently invaded by the English. LEARNING.-Along with Christianity, St Patrick, or some of his immediate followers, made the Irish acquainted with letters. An alphabet was framed, derived from the Roman, but rather ruder in forin, and not quite in the same order, known as the Irish alphabet. In this alphabet, and in the Celtic tongue, there are Irish books of great antiquity. Many of these manuscripts show considerable acquaintance with the classic works of Rome, and even with those of Greece. Although the same Celtic language is spoken in the Highlands, yet no old manuscripts have been preserved in that part of the empire, and the reason probably is, that as Ireland was the principal habitation of the race, the learned men remained there, and did not emigrate to the colony formed in Scotland. Notwithstanding the many extravagant boasts on the subject, there is no doubt that among the Irish clergy there was much learning so early as the year 800, and for two centuries after it. The celebrated John Scotus, commonly called Erigena, who flourished in France in the middle of the ninth century, is believed, on good ground, to have been an Irishman; and there are chronicles of the early Irish history still in existence, which must have been compiled from manuscripts of far greater date, probably as remote as the age of St Patrick. 4. DANISH INVASIONS.-It was about the year 800 that the Danes began to invade Ireland, and they appear to have made rapid progress towards a complete conquest of the island; for soon afterwards there occurs a period of thirty years during which it was subjected to their ravages and oppressions. Mr Moore says: "There is not a single spot of renown in the ecclesiastical history of our country, not one of those numer |