till his return to Iona. He was accompanied by an imposing
train of attendants; by Aidan, Prince of Argyle, so deeply
interested in the issue, and a suite of over one hundred
persons, twenty of them Abbots or Bishops. Columbkill
spoke for his companions; for already, as in Bede's time,
the Abbots of Iona exercised over all the clergy north
of the Humber, but still more directly north of the Tweed,
a species of supremacy similar to that which the successors
of St. Benedict and St. Bernard exercised, in turn, over
Prelates and Princes on the European Continent.

When the Assembly was opened the holy Bishop of Dromore
stated the arguments in favour of Colonial taxation with
learning and effect. Hugh himself impeached the Bards
for their licentious and lawless lives. Columbkill defended
both interests, and, by combining both, probably
strengthened the friends of each. It is certain that he
carried the Assembly with him, both against the monarch
and those of the resident clergy, who had selected Colman
as their spokesman. The Bardic Order was spared. The
doctors, or master-singers among them, were prohibited
from wandering from place to place; they were assigned
residence with the chiefs and princes; their losel
attendants were turned over to honest pursuits, and thus
a great danger was averted, and one of the most essential
of the Celtic institutions being reformed and regulated,
was preserved. Scotland and Ireland have good reason to
be grateful to the founder of Iona, for the interposition
that preserved to us the music, which is now admitted to
be one of the most precious inheritances of both countries.