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A Popular History of Ireland : from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics — Volume 1 by Thomas D'Arcy McGee
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were studied and observed by their pupils. At that time,
as we gather from every authority, they were models of
simplicity. One Bishop is found, erecting with his own
hands, the _cashel_ or stone enclosure which surrounded
his cell; another is labouring in the field, and gives
his blessing to his visitors, standing between the stilts
of the plough. Most ecclesiastics work occasionally either
in wood, in bronze, in leather, or as scribes. The
decorations of the Church, if not the entire structure,
was the work of those who served at the altar. The
tabernacle, the rood-screen, the ornamental font; the
vellum on which the Psalms and Gospels were written; the
ornamented case which contained the precious volume, were
often of their making. The music which made the vale of
Bangor resound as if inhabited by angels, was their
composition; the hymns that accompanied it were their
own. "It is a poor Church that has no music," is one of
the oldest Irish proverbs; and the _Antiphonarium_ of
Bangor, as well as that of Armagh, remains to show that
such a want was not left unsupplied in the early Church.

All the contemporary schools were not of the same grade
nor of equal reputation. We constantly find a scholar,
after passing years in one place, transferring himself
to another, and sometimes to a third and a fourth. Some
masters were, perhaps, more distinguished in human Science;
others in Divinity. Columbkill studied in two or three
different schools, and _visited_ others, perhaps as
disputant or lecturer--a common custom in later years.
Nor should we associate the idea of under-age with the
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