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more or less positively ascribed to him are the productions of a much later period. They are, however, printed as his in the Myvyrian Archaiology, and their titles are: 1. A Dialogue between Merddin and Yscolan; 2. Predictions delivered when in his grave; 3. A Dialogue between Merddin and Gwenddyd, his sister; 4. The Apple-tree; 5. The Songs of the Pigs; 6. The Burrowings. The first of these contains all that has been preserved respecting Merddin, though the details are much less full than they subsequently became. Mr. Stephens considers this poem to have been composed in 1077, to further the interests of Cadwalader, who at that period returned from his long exile to reclaim the throne of his ancestors, the successful result of which reclamation is predicted in the poem. Merddin is here termed Supreme Judge of the North Swy, Diviner of every Region, Bardic President about the waters of the Clyde, and Interpreter of the Army of the God of Victory. Jocelyn of Furness Abbey, who, about 1180, wrote a life of St. Kentigern, seems, on the other hand, to speak of our bard and diviner as being a sort of harmless maniac at the court of Rhydderch-Hoel.

ST. COLUMBANUS.

(Circa 542-615.)

Columbanus, born in the province of Leinster in Ireland, about the year 542, became, while yet a child, an inmate of the newlyfounded monastery of Bangor, on the coast of Ulster, where he spent many years in diligent study and the close observance of pious exercises. About 572, he, with twelve of his brethren, quitted Bangor monastery, and proceeded through Britain to Gaul, where, after being honourably received by Gontram Duke of Burgundy, he founded, first, a monastery among the ruins of Anagrates (Anegray) in the Vosges; and next, when that was found too small for the concourse of brethren whom his high reputation for learning and sanctity collected around him, a larger monastery among the ruins of Luxovium (Luxeuil), with, somewhat later, a dependent establishment at the adjacent locality of Fontana (Fontaines). Columbanus himself, though he retained the superintending authority over both these monasteries, appears to have spent a large portion of his time in a hermitage he had constructed in a cave among the rocks, seven miles from Anegray, where he would abide for days together, in solitary musing, agreeable enough with the contemplative and anchoretic character of the Irish and British churches, but little calcu

lated to dispel the surrounding darkness of paganism. Twelve years after settling at Luxeuil, Columbanus had to defend his fraternity from a persecution raised against them by the Frankish clergy, on account of their following the practice of the British and Irish churches, in opposition to that of the church of Rome, as to the observance of Easter. Columbanus was successful on this occasion; but having incurred the more formidable antagonism of the infamous Brunehaut, he was, about 607, ejected with violence from his monastery, and expelled the kingdom. After various incidents, which belong rather to ecclesiastical than to poetical history, he found his way to the ruins of the Roman town of Bobium, among the Apennines, where, in 615, he founded the monastery of Bobbio. It was here that, in the few months which remained to him of life-for he died on the 21st of November of the same year-he composed the poems which have entitled him to a position in this work. "These productions show," says Mr. Wright, in his valuable Biogra

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phia Britannica Literaria, "that Columbanus was not ignorant of ancient history and fable, and that he had read attentively a certain class of authors. The style is simple, and not incorrect; but there is little spirit or vigour in his versification. He frequently imitates the later poets, and, like them, is too partial to dactylic measures, a fault which strikes us in his hexameters, most of which

have a dactyl for their base. He also possesses another fault in common with all the poets of the middle ages-the frequent use of unnecessary particles, inserted only to help the verse. The subject of Columbanus's poetry never varies; all his pieces are designed to convey to his friends his exhortations to quit the vanities and vexations of the world, which he seems to have thought would be longer retained in their memory if expressed in metre."

The prose writings of St. Columbanus-for despite his heterodoxy concerning Easter, our poet received canonisation-have also been frequently reprinted; they are all of a religious and controversial character.

CEDMON.

(Circa 620-680.)

Cadmon, the earliest of our Anglo-Saxon poets whose productions have been transmitted to us, and who may therefore be regarded as the proto-poet of England, was born in Northumberland, in February, about the year 620, and in his youth served as cowherd upon some proprietor's estate near Whitby. He was, we are informed by

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Venerable Bede, so ignorant, that he had not even learned any poetry; so that often, when at supper in the common hall the harp was moved towards him, that he might, according to the custom of the period,

sing for the entertainment of the company, he would rise for very shame and retire to his own cottage. One night, having thus withdrawn to the stables, where it was his turn to watch, he lay down and immediately fell into a deep slumber. While thus entranced, a stranger appeared beside him, and said, "Cadmon, sing to me." Cadmon answered, "I cannot sing; it was because I cannot sing that I left the hall." The stranger insisted, "I am sure thou hast something to sing." "What can I sing ?" returned Cadmon. "Sing the creation," said the stranger; and thereupon Cadmon found verses rise to his lips which he had never heard before. Cadmon then awoke the stranger had vanished; but the poor cowherd, whom he had inspired, was able not only to repeat the lines he had uttered in his sleep, but to continue, in flowing verse, the narrative of which they formed the exordium. Next morning he repaired to the bailiff of Whitby, who accompanied him to the Abbess Hilda, before whom, and several monks assembled for the purpose, he recited the poem he had so marvellously acquired. The learned auditory at once pronounced that he had received the gift of song from Heaven; and expounding to him, in his native tongue, a portion of Scripture, requested him to reproduce it in verse. Cædmon returned home with his theme; and by the next day had composed a poem so excellent, that the abbess and her learned friends were in ecstasies. Upon their earnest entreaty Cadmon became a monk, and applied himself to the conversion into verse of the whole of the Scriptures. He was never able to master the art of reading; but it was his practice continually to repeat to himself what he heard, and "like a clean animal, ruminating it, he turned it into most sweet verse.” We learn from Bede that our poet's works, as they existed in his time (he died 735), treated successively of the whole history of Genesis, of the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to the land of promise, with many other sacred histories; of the incarnation, passion, resurrection, and ascension; of the advent of the Holy Ghost, the doctrine of the Apostles, the terrors of the day of judgment, the pains of hell, and the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom. The course of Cadmon's life after he became a monk was tranquil and happy. His death took place, it is conjectured, in the year 680. He was buried in the monastery of Whitby, where, according to William of Malmesbury, his bones were discovered in the earlier part of the twelfth century. His works, originally printed at Amsterdam, in 1635, from a manuscript presented by Archbishop Usher to Junius, the eminent philologist, were, in 1832, edited by Mr. Thorpe, by whom the text, carefully formed from the original manuscript, has been accompanied with a literal English version.

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