Above : St Columba Painting

There were laws framed to govern the various systems of education, and when one considers how admirable they were and how splendid was the material that these teachers had, in a, people who had a great natural aptitude and love of learning, it is but little wonder that the Irish schools became famous in Europe. The greatest care was taken that the masters in the various subjects should be competent teachers. Nothing can be more beau­tiful than the ideas which prevailed as to the rela­tion between pupil and master. The master owed the pupil " instruction without reservation and correction without harshness" and to feed and clothe him during the time he was at his learning. In return the pupil was bound to help the master against poverty, and to support him, if necessary, in old age. Learning was held in the highest esteem, and an Ollave sat next to the King at table, and was privileged to wear the same number of colours in his clothes as a monarch. Great feasts were often arranged in honour of the men of learning, and all the poets, brehons, and lawyers were invited to be present.

Plain living and high thinking went together in the school. A few of student resided in the school itself, but the great majority o scholars resided in small house in the neighbourhood built by themselves or by former generation of students. Some of the poorer students lived in the houses of people in the vicinity of the school, and were maintained and educated without any charge. Others lived in the houses with their wealthier classfellows, and waited upon them, receiving their food and clothing as a recompense. Sometimes even rich and nobly born scholars chose to do this by way of discipline and as a prepara­tion for a life of austerity. A story is told of the schooldays of Adamnan, the celebrated Abbot of Iona and the biographer of St. Columba, who was connected with the noblest families in the North of Ireland, which illustrates this feature of school life and shows the Spartan simplicity in which the students were trained. Some time before he suc­ceeded to his kingdom, King Finaghta the Festive was riding one day in the direction of the School of Clonard with certain of his attendants, and they overtook Adamnan, then a little boy, carry­ing a jar of milk on his back. In attempting to make way for the horsemen, the lad stumbled and fell, spilling the milk and breaking the jar. Finaghta rode on, without noticing the accident, but the boy ran after him, greatly troubled and bearing in his hand a fragment of the broken jar. He succeeded in attracting the King’s attention, and Finaghta, amused by his troubled looks, questioned him in a kindly way as to the cause. The boy, not knowing his questioner, replied to him, " Indeed, good man, I have great cause to be troubled. There are living in one house near the school three noble students, and three others that wait upon them, of whom I am one; and the three of us have in our turn to collect provisions in the neighbourhood for the whole six. It was my turn to-day; and lo, what I had obtained has been lost; and this vessel which I borrowed has been broken, and I have not the means to pay for it." Finaghta consoled the lad, assuring him that his loss would be made good, and promising that he would be careful of his welfare in the future. "When he became King he was faithful to his promise, and summoned Adamnan to his court, where he became his friend and spiritual adviser.