ECLECTIC ECLECTIC REVIEW, FOR MAY, 1812. Art. 1. An historical Account of the ancient Culdees of fona, and of their By John Jamieson, D.D. THE work before us relates to the only era of our history in which Britain was ever, till lately, remarkable for exertions in diffusing Christianity among the heathen. We should have supposed it to be, by this time, a generally acknowledged fact, if Dr. Jamieson had not evidently been uninformed of it, that Christianity was, introduced into Britain by the family of the celebrated Caractacus, on their return from Rome, where they had been detained seven years, at the cri sis when a Christian church was first formed in the imperial city. A striking concurrence of Eastern and British traditions renders it very probable, that the apostle Simon Zelotes; and Aristobulus, a Roman evangelist, were the chief instruments of converting the original Britons. The gospel, thus planted in its purity and simplicity, appears to have spread throughout their population; and to have taken root so early, and so firmly, as to resist the influence of superstitions which rapidly multiplied in the luxurious soil of Rome. To the northern inhabitants of our island access was more difficult. The British and the Pictish confederacies were mutually hostile before either was assailed by foreign invaders; and the submission of the Britons to the Romans, whom the Picts successfully resisted, tended only to confirm and increase their reciprocal enmity. As the Roman power in Britain became contracted, that of the Picts was proportionably enlarged. Rushing from the Grampian hills, they seized the lowlands, which, though the Britons had previously occupied them, were desolated by war; and, advancing southward of the Firths, reduced the northern British territory to the narrow limits of Strath-clyde; the communication of which with Cumberland was intercepted by an VOL. VIII. 2 P R addition of the district called Galloway to the Pictish domi nions. The Picts, nearly from their first notice in history, were distinguished into two independent states, or nations, each of which was subdivided into various tribes. The Romans at first gave to all of them indiscriminately the appellation of Caledonians; afterwards they restricted it to a single tribe; and, finally, again extended it to one of the two grand divisions of the Picts. The propriety of the latter application is confirmed by the most ancient British records. Tacitus distinguished them to be of German original, as indeed their name implied: for the British term Calyddon, whence the Romans called them Caledones, and Calydonii, indicates them to have been Celts, or (which, in most ancient authors is synonymous) Germans. They appear, therefore, to have been the progenitors of the modern lowlanders in North Britain, who at present more resemble the Germans than any other people of Europe. Those Picts, consequently, who spread over the lowlands, as the Romans contracted their line of demarcation, were the real Caledonians; and from the situation which they occupied, they became known, thenceforward, by the title of southern Picts. It does not appear that they ever called themselves Picts, or that the denomination was used for either of the two grand divisions, or any of the tribes which composed them, but merely as a federative title, on whatever account it was imposed. The southern Picts are sometimes called Prydyn, or Phrydyn, by the Welch, and Fortren, by the Irish names which, perhaps, imply an original relation to the Frisii of the opposite continent. The advances of the southern Picts, though unlikely to conciliate the amity of the Britons, rendered them more easily accessible; and at the commencement of the fifth century, when the attention both of Romans and Britons was engrossed by continental wars, there seems to have occurred a temporary suspension of their hostilities with the Picts. Ninian, a British bishop, resident on their boundaries, benevolently availed himself of this opportunity (about A. D. 412) to instruct the southern Picts; and they appear readily to have adopted the profession of Christianity. Ninian might reasonably hope to render his own countrymen, as well as their formidable neigh bours, essential services by his well timed exertions; but that hope was frustrated by the restless ferocity of the northern Picts, who were no sooner liberated from apprehensions of the Roman and British forces, than they assailed and subdued their former allies. The ancient Pictish confederacy thus became subject to the kings of the northern Picts. It does not appear that the heathen conquerors persecuted their Christian subjecu. 1 *For a clear and familiar demonstration of these facts, we refer to the last publication of the Society of Antiquaries (Vol. XVI. pp. 94122 of the Archeologia, 1809). It is the more necessary for us to notice this misnomer, as, through inadvertence, it has crept into one of our recent articles. q lo enos besimetge of stiliu per nomeritor ed 2 P 2 Picts. Palladius, a British priest, is said to have been, about this time, commissioned by the Roman patriarch to preach both in Ireland and Scotland; but in the former country he appears to have had little success; and in the latter he died soon after his return to Britain. Another Briton, named Patric, having endured several years captivity in Ireland, returned thither as a minister of the gospel; and succeeded so happily as to persuade the inhabitants in general to embrace Christianity. From the state of barbarism, indeed, in which they appear to have always remained, there is room to apprehend that the populace were but inadequately instructed: yet it is certain, that many of the noble families entered on a zealous profession of the gospel, and that very numerous places of Christian worship were erected throughout the country. Colm, or, as he is generally called, Columba, born A.D. 521, of royal descent, was committed, in early youth, to the care of several among the most eminent of Patric's disciples; and he manifested talents and dispositions of the highest promise. When twenty-eight years of age, he founded a seminary, in a central part of Ireland, for religious instruction; and, renouncing temporal honours and possessions, travelled through the Christian nations of Europe to acquire more extensive knowledge. On his return he established, by his influence among his countrymen, several institutions for the preparation of missionaries; the members of which, without restricting themselves to celibacy, or becoming bound by monastic vows, submitted to rules for their constant employment, in study, devotion, offices of humanity, and useful arts and labours. Having thus provided instruments for his future operations, he engaged, when forty-two years of age, in a mission to the northern Picts, the only division of the ancient inhabitants of Britain who still adhered to Paganism. He selected twelve of his followers to accompany him, in entering on this work; and chose for their missionary station a small island adjacent to that of Mull; which thence derived the name of I colm-kill, or the Island of Columba, (the founder) of cells. His followers were termed Culdees, or recluse persons. Previous to Columba's enterprise, his countrymen, the Scots, had recovered possession of their former territory in Argyle; and as they had, during their retreat in Ireland, adopted the profession of Christianity, his choice of a spot in their vicinity might be determined, with a view to their friendly offices, in case of need. It was also convenient for intercourse with Ireland, where he retained the superintendance of the seminaries, or cells, which he had founded. Its insulated situation was also best adapted to security from sudden outrage; and to the retirement requisite to an unremitted course of prepara tion for missionary labours. The Danish and Norwegian pirates, who afterwards ravaged both Britain and Ireland, had not then made their appearance on those coasts; and the veneration in which Columba was held by his own countrymen, secured his new abode against maritime hostilities from the only quarter to which it was obviously exposed. In the subsequent establishments of the Culdees, they seem, however, to have adhered injudiciously to this pattern, by founding them, almost exclusively, in the Western Islands; where, in the course of the next three centuries, they were utterly destroved by the Norwegians. The conductor of this mission appears, from several accounts which his successors have transmitted to us, to have possessed almost every personal qualification that was desirable to promote its success. His fervent piety, unbounded humanity, engaging affability, and indefatigable exertion, attracted universal veneration, and conciliated even the bards and idolatrous priests of the Crutheni, who resembled the British Druids in their worst characteristics, while they were very inferior to them in knowledge. The Pictish monarch, Brude the second, submitted to baptism, in the third year of Columba's mission; and, at his instance, a subordinate king of the Orkney Islands, (which were peopled by both the Pictish nations) admitted one of Columba's followers, named Cormac, to preach to his subjects. The Culdees extended also their beneficent zeal to the remote inhabitants of Iceland, who, by their means, received the gospel much earlier than the parent states of Scandinavia. On the continent, the only enterprise of Columba's compatriots, during his life, was conducted by person of a similar name. Columbanus, accompanied by Gallen, Magnus, and Sigebert, promoted the conversion of heathens, and the reformation of corrupted Christians, in Burgundy, Switzerland, and around the Rhetian Alps. Their example appears to have been far more abundantly productive than their exertions. Many, who afterwards followed their steps, entered into their work with much more extensive success. Columba died as he had lived. His last, as it had been his favourite employment, was that of transcribing the sacred scriptures. Having begun to copy the thirty-fourth Psalm, and having written: They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing."-Here, said he, I will close: the next words, Come ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord," will better suit my successor. He soon afterwards expired, in domestic worship, with a countenance expressive of joy, and his hand extended towards his attendants, as usual with him in pronouncing a benediction. Eminently as he was qualified for usefulness, that he should not, |