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of the bell is ornamented with curved panels of filigree scrollwork, and interlaced work in gold and silver. The front of the shrine (Fig. 72) is divided into thirty-one panels symmetrically arranged. Seventeen of these still retain their original ornamentation of gold filigree work in interlaced patterns of great beauty and intricacy, exhibiting the zoomorphic character so conspicuous in the ornamentation of the manuscripts. The back of the shrine (Fig. 73) is ornamented with zoomorphic and interlaced decorations, and a pattern consisting of small equal-armed crosses. The left side (Fig. 74) exhibits zoomorphic ornamentation of fine gold work, intertwined in intricate folds and knots. Below the knob and ring by which the shrine was suspended there is a symmetrical pattern formed of lacertine creatures so intricately interlaced and intermingled that it requires minute attention and discrimination to trace each of them separately. Their eyes are apparently formed of blue glass. Above the cross there is a similar pattern, and in each of the four compartments into which the cross is divided there are patterns of more delicate work. Below the knob of suspension on the opposite side (Fig. 75) are symmetrical patterns formed of elongated creatures with blue eyes, but intertwined in a different manner. But it would be tedious to enumerate all the varieties of this intricate and characteristic ornamentation, which requires to be seen in order to be understood and appreciated. I have detailed as much of it as will give some idea of the beauty, the richness, and intricacy of the workmanship, because it is this beauty, this richness, and this intricacy of workmanship that disclose to us the taste and skill prevailing at the time, and indicate likewise the degree of veneration felt for the rude object of hammered iron to which this magnificent work of art was given as a covering. On the plain margin of the back of the shrine is engraved the following inscription in Irish

-"A prayer for Donald O'Lochlan, by whom this bell1 was made, and for Donald, the successor of St. Patrick, for whom it was made, and for Cathalan O'Maelchalland, the keeper of the bell, and for Cudulig O'Inmainen, with his sons,

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Figs. 74 and 75.-Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell. Side views.

who gave their help." Donald O'Lochlan and Donald the Coarb of St. Patrick are both noticed in the Annals of the Four Masters, and from the dates of their deaths we infer that the shrine must have been made between the years 1091 and 1105. In the inscription on the shrine it is stated that

1 The outer case or shrine which is here referred to is in the form of a bell, as will be seen from the woodcuts.

the bell had a keeper (as many others of these sacred relics. had), and from incidental allusions in the Annals the keepership can be traced from 1100 to 1466. After that it falls into obscurity. But in 1798 a poor schoolmaster of the name of Mulholland, the family name of the early keepers of the bell,-who was implicated in the rebellion of that time, was saved by a former pupil, Mr. Maclean of Belfast. Years afterwards, when on his deathbed, he wrote to Mr. Maclean : -"My dear friend-You were an old and valued scholar of mine. On one occasion you were the means of saving my life, and on many subsequent occasions of providing for its comforts. I am now going to die. I have no child to whom I might leave the little I possess, nor have I any near of kin who might prefer any claim to it. In either case the treasure which I possess, and which I hold as dear as life, should not have left the family of Mulholland, in which it has been for ages handed down. But I am the last of my race, and you are the best friend I have. I therefore give it to you, and when I am gone dig in the garden at a certain spot, and you will find a box there; take it up, and preserve the contents for my sake." The box contained the bell and shrine which have been described, and which are now among the most valued treasures of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.

It is thus established that this bell was an ancient bell, regarded with an extraordinary degree of reverence, and attributed to St. Patrick before it was enshrined in the end of the eleventh century. But there is no evidence by which we can either prove or disprove the tradition which assigns it to the time of St. Patrick. Archæology, unaided by record, supplies no means of giving definite dates to particular specimens. But whether this bell may belong to St. Patrick's time or not, we know from the testimony of Adamnan that St. Columba had a bell in his monastery at Iona for calling the

brethren together to the church. No earlier type of bell is known, and the conclusion therefore is that whatever may be the various ages of the individual specimens, the type belongs to the primitive period

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Fig. 76.-Bronze Bell at Armagh.

mus of Armagh, and his death is recorded at 904. The form of the bell agrees with that of our Scottish bells of bronze, and this is proof that the bronze variety of the type was in use in the ninth century.

The practice of enshrining these sacred bells, which was common in Ireland, and of which we have a notable instance

1 Among the many allusions to the bells of the early saints in their legendary lives there are none more curious than those which relate to their use in cursing or invoking the Divine vengeance. King Diarmid having refused to deliver a captive whom he had taken out of sanctuary, St. Ruadhan and a bishop that was with him "took the bells that they had, which they rang hardly, and cursed the king and place, and prayed God that no king or queen ever after should or could dwell in Tara, and that it should be waste for ever." And so it fell out accordingly, if we are to believe the ancient poem, that "From the judgments of Ruadhan on his house

There was no king at Teamraigh or Tara."

Conall, son of King Aedh, instigated by his mother, insulted St. Columba by throwing mud on him and his clerics as they came to the Assembly of Drumceat. The saint rang his bells and cursed the offender, who thereupon became imbecile, and was excluded from the succession.

in the case of St. Patrick's bell, was also extended to Scotland. But it was a peculiarly Celtic custom, and though found in Ireland and Scotland where the bells themselves are found, it is unknown in any other branch of the Christian Church. We have but two enshrined bells in Scotland. One of

these is in the Museum. The bell (Fig. 77) is small, measuring only 3 inches high, and 21 inches by 1 inches across the mouth. It is of hammered iron, greatly decayed, and unfortunately broken. It was found about 1814 in removing a heap of stones on the farm of Torrebhlaurn, in the parish of Kilmichael Glassary, in Argyleshire, and was presented to the Museum by Mr. John Macneil of Oakfield. The bell-case (Fig. 78),

Fig. 77.-The Bell of Kilmichael Glassary. which is of brass, has in front a representation of the crucifixion in the style of about the twelfth century. The Saviour is represented as wearing a crown, and over the head of the crucified figure appears the hand of the Father, with the two forefingers extended in the attitude of benediction.1 The engraved floriated ornamentation of the shrine exhibits in its style the features characteristic of this late date. But it also exhibits other features that link it with a large class of objects to which no such definiteness of date can be assigned, and which present as. their peculiar and prevailing characteristic that zoomorphism of ornamentation which in this case is only partially present.

1 This mode of representing the Divine hand over the crucifixion may be seen on one of the windows of the church of St. Remi at Rheims of the twelfth century, and it also occurs on crucifixes of the same date.

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