Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts

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Legends of the Celtic Saints. 331
there in force, and insisted on their right to bear the holy
remains to his own cathedral. The prize was too precious
to be given up, and each party determinedly confronted
the other. Arms of iron or bronze they Avould
not use, but neither party would resign the custody of
the saint's body.
At last when anger was waxing hot on either side, the
men of Down were surprised and rejoiced to see the
men of Armagh filing away orderly and peaceably to
the west, till not a man was left behind. They lost no
time, but conveyed the saint's remains to their church,
and there deposited them in a richly-ornamented tomb.
A vision had appeared to the Ardmachians of the
coffin of the saint laid on his own chariot, and his milkwhite
oxen conveying it in the direction of Armagh.
They followed the phantasm, but as it appeared entering
a ford near the city of Armagh, oxen, chariot, and coffin
vanished, and the saddened multitude sought their respective
homes. The body of St. Brigid was laid near
that of St. Patrick after her decease, and the church was
aftenvards further enriched by the remains of St. Colum
Cille, concerning the translation of whose body the following
legend is told :
THE CORPSE-FREIGHTED BARQUE.
Colum Cille, who had preached the Gospel to the
heathen Picts, and built the monastery of lona in the
Hebrides, the chief seat of religion in the Highlands
and isles for centuries, died there after a most active life,
telling his monks in his last hours that he wished his
remains to be laid by those of the blessed Patrick and
* The Anti-Archaeologists of the sixteenth century, holding an
annual meeting in Down, converted the rich shrines of the three
saints into ordinary coin of the realm, for their own special convenience.
The silver case in which the right hand of St. Patrick
was kept, somehow escaped their sharp eyes. It is known to be in
very safe keeping at this moment, but we are not at liberty to publish
iill we know on the subject.