CURIOUS RELIC OF ANTIQUITY. THE reader is requested to connect with pages 125 and 126 of this work, the following account of a very curious relic of antiquity, now in the possession of Adam M Clean, of Belfast, Esq. which appears to have been the gift of Domnald O'Loch luin. (or O'Lachlin,) king of Aileach Neid, to his friend Domnald (or Donald) Mac Amalgaid, who was promoted to the see of Armagh, in the year 1092 + This relic consists of an antique, four-sided hand-bell, of rather uncouth form, and composed of two pieces of hammered iron, connected by brass solder and by twelve rivets. The bell itself has probably been designed for the internal use of a chapel, being only 9 inches in height, 5 in length, and 4 in breadth. When struck by the tongue, a dull, solema tone is produced. So far there is little interesting about it, except that it is an instrument of considerable antiquity. But it is accompanied by a splendid cover, unique in its kind. which serves at once to preserve it from injury and to announce the veneration, in which it had been held in former times. The taste, costliness and beauty of the numerous and singular decorations of this cover, demonstrate it to have been the production of a much later age, than that of the bell itself. The ground of the cover is brass, edged with copper, and enriched with a great variety of elegant ornaments. raised in all its parts. Its top represents a compressed mitre, one side of which is adorned with fine gold fillagrean work, and silver gilt The silver work is partly scrolled in alto relievo, and partly in bass relief, resembling the knots in the collar of the order of St. Patrick. In the centre of the top is a blue stone, set in fine gold, and insphered in a glass bead. In its centre are four pearl-coloured stones, with four green ones of a smaller size, representing an intersected cross. Under this is a circular space, now vacant, which had probably been once occupied by a gem. The other side of the mitre is silver, cut into various crosses. One of the quadrangular sides, under the mitre, is formed into thirty-one compartments, by silver divisions. Nineteen of these are filled with various ornaments, in pure gold fillagrean, *This was a palace in Innis-Eoghain (Innishowen,) where a northern king resided. The author of these Memoirs was unacquainted with the existence of this relic, till after the whole of his intended work, except the Preface, had been printed off. ‡ It is to be observed, that there is a hole in it, worn by time. exhibiting the forms of serpents and snakes, curiously intwined. Two of the other compartments are now vacant. In two of the remaining ten are considerably-projecting oval pieces of polished, transparent rock crystal, or Irish diamond, each about one inch and a half in length, and set in silver. The setting of that which occupies the central compartment is silver, representing, on its edge, small fleurs de lis. Of the eight smaller divisions, one is occupied by an oval garnet, and three by oval Carnelians: the remaining four have lost their ornaments. The other side of the mitred top is of silver, which has been substantially gilt. The top is in bass relief, with scroll work representing serpents; the remainder of it is divided into three compartments. In the central one of these appear two birds. The other two present the profile of a non-descript animal. The area of the quadrangular surface, under this side of the mitre, is covered with a substantial plate of silver, cut into 32 crosses.*An inscription on its four edges, or margins, in old Irish characters, indicates, as far as it has been deciphered "that the bell was presented by Domnald O'Lachlin, to Domnald, the comorbha of Patrick."-The letters in this inscription are not separated into distinct words, and the difficulty of interpreting it is considerably increased by the points or marks formed by the rivets, as well as by the injury which it has sustained in the lapse of ages. In the areas of the two other narrower sides or ends, are pear-shaped Saphires, adorned with silver, which has been gilt. On one of these sides, which is beautified with stones, there are ornaments of fine gold, representing serpents, curiously and elegantly intertwined in most intricate folds, and in various knots like the complicated involutions, in the collar of the order of the Knights of St. Patrick.-It may be worth remarking, that on one of the ends, and below the knob and ring by which it is suspended, there are eight serpents, so singularly infolded and intermingled with one another, that it requires minute attention and considerable discrimination, to trace each separately, and to distinguish it from its fellows. Their eyes are skilfully formed of blue glass. Above the cross, are four of the same kind, and in each of the four compartments, into which it is divided, there are two golden serpents in relief. Below the knob of suspension, on the opposite end or side, are six other serpents with blue eyes, but differently intertwined. On the top is a strange representation of two of these creatures, with two legs. • The number of thirty-one compartments on one side, with the two compartments on the mitre, make thirty three-the years of our Saviour's age: and thirty-three crosses might be easily made out on the other side, by joining two of the incomplete ones. The two rock crystals, which remain in the principal front of the sides, with a niche where a third had been, may have indicated the three years of Christ's ministry.—These conjectures are perfectly consistent with the spirit of the times to which we allude, In the compartments of the cross are knots, resembling those in the collar of the order of St. Patrick. On each of the two suspending knobs of the case, two of the sides and ends are also ornamented in a similar manner. When the bell is enclosed, a sliding brass plate, on which it rests, fills the bottom of the case. On this plate, the lower edge or rim of the instrument has strongly impressed its forma collateral presumption of the antiquity even of the cover; for the weight is not sufficient to have produced the effect, either by its pressure or by any friction which it could have occasioned, except in a long period of time. It proves, also, that when the case was made, the bell had an uneven base, as at present; for the indentations seem not to have been the effect of wearing, but of reiterated percussion. It appears almost unquestionable, that the case is as old as the eleventh century, as the inscription implies. How much older the bell itself may be, is matter of inquiry for the antiquary. It was styled St. Patrick's bell by the family in whose possession it had long remained. It is said, that bells were used in churches, by Paulinus, at Nola in Campania, so early as the year 409. We learn from Bede, that they were applied to ecclesiastical purposes, in England, in the seventh century"Audivit (ait ille) subito in aere notum campanæ sonum, quo ad orationes excitari vel convocari solebant."-Columba, in the 6th century, said to one of his attendants-"Cloccam pulsa," "strike the bell."* He is also stated by one of his ancient biographers, to have found a bell, which had been the property of the Irish apostle, and to have transmitted it to Armagh.t In the 5th century, St. Patrick presented some bells to the Connaught churches.+ Domnald's bell was, we are assured, for some generations, in the possession of a family named Mulholland, and latterly in that of Henry Mulholland, a worthy old schoolmaster, now deceased, who lived in Shane's-castle, formerly Edenduff-Carrick, the seat, as is well known, of one of the ancient and princely septs of O'Neill. Bells of similar size and form are not uncommon. One of these was found concealed in an ivied wall, in the ruined church of Kilbroney. It was agitated and rung by the wind during the continuance of a storm, and having been discovered by this singular accident, was, a few years ago, conveyed to Newry chapel. A physician in Belfast has another, which was raised in a field near Bangor, in the county of Down. It is Vit. S. Scot. p. 65, Pinkerton. Trip. c. 108. Tria. Thaum. p. 408. + Vita § The name Mulholland (Maolcholuim in the original Irish) signifies a person of a family, dedicated to a religious life, under St. Columba, founder of Culdeism, who is frequently styled Columkill, b formed of iron, with a perfectly smooth surface and rounded corners-its height, 12 inches, by 8 in breadth, and 9 in width. A similar hand-bell, which was found at the Route, in the county of Down, is now in possession of another physician in Belfast. * The reader will find, on perusal of pages 125 and 126 of these Memoirs, that the personages mentioned in the inscription are both recognised in Irish history, as contemporaries and friends. An explanation of the term Comorbha will be found in the thirteenth Appendix, annexed to this work. It may, however, be necessary to add that this word frequently signifies a successor, and when applied to any principal prelate, has direct reference to the founder, or first bishop, of the see over which he presided. Thus the comorba or comharba Patricca, is St. Patrick's successor in Armagh. Faranan and Dermot O'Tighernac, who, in the ninth century, were bishops of Armagh, are styled comorbans of St. Patrick; so, also, are Joseph the Anchorite, as well as Mælpatrick and Dubdalethy the Second, who were promoted to the see in the tenth century.+ Mælmurry Mac-Eoch, Amalgaid and Mælissa, the immediate predecessor of Domnald himself, are dignified with the same title.‡ Domnald Mac Amalgaid, the prelate evidently alluded to in the inscription, is sometimes styled the comorban, and sometimes the chief cor orbar of St. Patrick; and his successors received the same pellations. He was the only prelate named Domnald, (or Donald,) who presided over the see of Armagh. In the year 1092, a fire which wasted a considerable part of Armagh, destroyed the churches, and, of course, ruined the It is not improbable that the antique bell in question, may have been one of a complete set presented by the monarch Domnald, to his namesake and friend, the bishop, to repair his loss From the expensive materials so profusely lavished on that curious piece of workmanship, the cover, it seems manifest, that the bell itself, the principal object of former veneration, had belonged to a cathedral or monastery, and had been viewed as a precious relic of antiquity, in the eleventh century. It is probable that after the Reformation, it had fallen into neglect. O'Brian's Dict. edit. Paris. Tria Thaum. p. 295, 296, 297. Ibid. 299. § Ibid. |