slept in peace around their holy Founder, and a sixth,
equal in learning and sanctity to any who preceded him,
received the remains of King Egfrid from the hands of
his conquerors. This was Abbot Adamnan, to whom Ireland
and Scotland are equally indebted for his admirable
writings, and who might almost dispute with Bede himself,
the title of Father of British History. Adamnan regarded
the fate of Egfrid, we may be sure, in the light of a
judgment on him for his misdeeds, as Bede and British
Christians very generally did. He learned, too, that
there were in Northumbria several Christian captives,
carried off in Beort's expedition and probably sold into
slavery. Now every missionary that ever went out from
Iona, had taught that to reduce Christians to slavery
was wholly inconsistent with a belief in the doctrines
of the Gospel. St. Aidan, the Apostle of Northumbria,
had refused the late Egfrid's father absolution, on one
occasion, until he solemnly promised to restore their
freedom to certain captives of this description. In the
same spirit Adamnan voluntarily undertook a journey to
York, where Aldfrid (a Prince educated in Ireland, and
whose "Itinerary" of Ireland we still have) now reigned.
The Abbot of Iona succeeded in his humane mission, and
crossing over to his native land, he restored sixty of
the captives to their homes and kindred. While the
liberated exiles rejoiced on the plain of Meath, the tent
of the Abbot of Iona was pitched on the rath of Tara--a
fact which would seem to indicate that already, in little
more than a century since the interdict had fallen on
it, the edifices which made so fine a show in the days