forgiveness, and the life of man was war! It was not that laws were
wanting; a code, minute in its justice, had proportioned a penalty
to every offence, and specified the Eric which was to wipe out the
bloodstain in case the injured party renounced his claim to right
his own wrong. It was not that hearts were hard--there was at least
as much pity for others as for self. It was that anger was
implacable, and that where fear was unknown, the war field was what
among us the hunting field is.

The rapid growth of learning as well as piety in the three centuries
succeeding the conversion of Ireland, prove that the country had not
been till then without a preparation for the gift. It had been the
special skill of Saint Patrick to build the good which was lacked
upon that which existed. Even the material arts of Ireland he had
pressed into the service of the Faith; and Irish craftsmen had
assisted him, not only in the building of his churches, but in
casting his church bells, and in the adornment of his chalices,
crosiers, and ecclesiastical vestments. Once elevated by
Christianity, Ireland's early civilisation was a memorable thing.
It sheltered a high virtue at home, and evangelised a great part of
Northern Europe; and amidst many confusions it held its own till the
true time of barbarism had set in--those two disastrous centuries
when the Danish invasions trod down the sanctuaries, dispersed the
libraries, and laid waste the colleges to which distant kings had
sent their sons.

Perhaps nothing human had so large an influence in the conversion of
the Irish as the personal character of her Apostle. Where others,
as Palladius, had failed, he succeeded. By nature, by grace, and by
providential training, he had been specially fitted for his task.