COLUMBANUS .-- St.Colm, or Columbanus, who was born in 521, was the founder and abbot of a monastery in Iona, one of the Hebrides, which is also called Icolmkill--the Isle of Colm's Cell.

The Socrates of that retreat, he found his Plato in the person of a successor, St.Adamnan, whose "Vita Sancti Columbae" is an early work of curious historical importance.

St.Adamnan became abbot in 679.
A backward glance at the sparse and fragmentary annals of the Celtic people, will satisfy us that they have but slight claims to an original share in English literature.

Some were in the Celtic dialects, others in Latin.

They have given themes, indeed, to later scholars, but have left little trace in form and language.