le that it is of Celtic derivation; and if this view
be accepted, there is nothing at all extraordinary in its being
recognized in the illuminated Irish gospels. Ireland, in the 6th and 7th
centuries, was the great centre of art, civilization and literature; and
it is only reasonable to suppose that there would be intercourse between
the Irish Christians and those of the west of Britain, during the time
that the Romano-Celts, or Brit-Welsh, were being slowly pushed westwards
by the heathen English invader. Proof of such an intercourse we find in
the brief notice of the _Annales Cambriae_, in which Gildas, the
Brit-Welsh historian, is stated to have sailed over to Ireland in the
year A.D. 565. It is by no means improbable that about this time there
was a Brit-Welsh migration into Ireland, as well as into Brittany.
Objects with these designs found in Germany are probably directly or
indirectly due to the Irish missionaries, who spread Christianity
through those regions. The early Christian art in Ireland grew out of
the late Celtic, and is to a great extent free from the influence of
Rome, which is stamped on the Brit-Welsh art of the same age in this
country.

Several other ornaments with enamel deserve especial notice. The enamel,
composed of red, blue and yellow, has been inserted into the hollows in
the bronze, and then heated so as to form a close union with it. They
are of the same design as those which have been met with in late Roman
tumuli in this country, and in places which are mainly in the north.
They all belong to a class named late Celtic by Franks, and are
considered by him to be of British manufacture. This view is supported
by the only reference to the art of enamelling furnished by the
classical writers. Philostratus, a Greek sophist in the court of Julia
Domna, the wife of the emperor Severus, writes, "It is said that the
barbarians living in the ocean pour these colours (those of
horse-trappings) on heated bronze, and that these adhere, grow as hard
as stone, and preserve the designs that are made in them." It is worthy
of remark that, since the emperor Severus built the wall which bears his
name, marched in person against the Caledonians, and died at York, the
account of the enamels may have reached Philostratus from the very
district in which the Victoria Cave is situated.

Associated with these were bronze ornaments inlaid with silver, and
miscellaneous iron articles, among which was a Roman key.