purpose giving on the subject will convince the reader that among
the nations of antiquity they held a prominent position; and not
only were they possessed of a civilization of their own, not
despicable even in the eyes of a Roman--of the great Julius
himself--but they were ever most susceptible of every kind of
progress, and consequently eager to adopt all the social benefits
which their intercourse with Rome brought them. At least, they
did so as soon as, acknowledging the superior power of the enemy,
they had the good sense to feel that it was all-important to
imitate him. Hence sprang that Gallo-Roman civilization which
obtained during the first five or six centuries of the Christian
era--a civilization which the barbarians of the North endeavored
to destroy, but to which they themselves finally yielded, by
embracing Christianity, and gradually changing their language
and customs.

Everywhere--in Gaul, Italy, Britain, and Ireland--did the Celts
manifest that susceptibility to progress which is the invariable
mark of a state antagonistic to barbarism. In this they totally
differed from the Vandals and Huns, whom it took the Church such
a dreary period to conquer, and whom no other power save the
religion of Christ could have subdued.

These few words are sufficient for our present purpose. We proceed
to show that, in their stubborn opposition to many a current of
European opinion, they acted rightly.

They acted rightly, first of all, in excluding from their course
of studies at Bangor, Clonfert, Armagh, Clonmacnoise, and other
places, the subtleties of Greek philosophy, which occasioned