utside the scope of this article. For the
_Confession of St Patrick_ and his "Letter to the Subjects of Coroticus"
see PATRICK. The only Irish document ascribed to the saint is the
strange so-called "Hymn," the _faeth fiada_, more properly _foid fiada_,
"the cry of the deer." This is a rhythmical incantation which is said to
have rendered the saint and his companions invisible to King Loigaire
and his druids. The Trinity and powers of nature are invoked to help him
to resist spells of women and smiths and wizards. The hymn, which
contains a number of strange grammatical forms, is undoubtedly referred
to in the Book of Armagh, and may very well go back to the 5th century.
The Latin hymns contained in two MSS. dating from the end of the 11th or
beginning of the 12th century, a Trinity College, Dublin, MS., and a MS.
belonging to the Franciscan monastery in Dublin, are of interest to us
as exhibiting the influence of the native metrical system. Quantity and
elision are ignored, and rhymes, assonances, alliterations and harmonies
abound in true Irish fashion. The line consists of two units which
commonly contain either seven or eight syllables apiece. The earliest
and best-known of these religious poems are the Hymn of Secundinus
(Sechnall d. 447) on St Patrick, and the two hymns attributed to St
Columba (d. 597) beginning "_Noli pater_" and "_Altus prosator_," the
latter of which exhibits some of the peculiarities of the so-called
Hibernian Latin of the _Hisperica Famina_ and the _Lorica_ of Gildas.
The date of the Irish hymns in the _Liber Hymnorum_ ranges, according to
Stokes and Strachan, from the 7th to the 11th centuries. Ultan's hymn on
St Brigit beginning "_Brigit be bithmaith_," which is by far the most
artistic of the collection, was perhaps composed in the 7th century.
Definite metrical laws had evidently been elaborated when this poem was
written. The beat is iambic, but the natural accent of the words is
rigidly observed. The long line consists of two units of five syllables
each. The rhymes are dissyllabic and perfect. Alliteration is always
observed in the latter half of each line and assonances are found
knitting up the half-lines. The short prayer ascribed to Ninine or to
Fiacc is a highly alliterative piece without rhyme, the date of which
cannot be fixed. The well-known hymn on St Patrick traditionally
ascribed to Fiacc, bishop of Sletty, and the piece beginning "_Sen De_,"
traditionally ascribed to Colman,