bed meditation, without breaking the fraternal bond. Such, in
634, was Beccan, the "solitarius," as he is designated in Cummian's
contemporary Paschal letter to Segene, the Abbot of Iona; and such was
Finan, the hermit of Darrow, in the words of Adamnan, "vitam multis
anchoreticam annis irreprehensibiliter ducebat." According to the
evidence of the Four Masters, an anchorite held the Abbacy of Iona in
747; another anchorite was Abbot-elect in 935; and a third was made
Bishop in 964[121] "The abode of such anchorites was (adds Dr. Reeves)
called in Irish a 'desert' (Dysart), from the Latin _desertum_; and as
the heremitical life was held in such honour among the Scotic Churches,
we frequently find this word 'desert' an element in religious
nomenclature. There was a 'desert' beside the monastery of Derry; and
that belonging to Iona was situate near the shore, in the low ground
north of the Cathedral, as may be inferred from Port-an-diseart, the
name of a little bay in this situation." The charters of the Columbian
House at Kells show that a "desert" existed in connection with that
institution. Could the old building or capellula on Inchcolm have served
as a "desert" to the Monastery there?[122]

The preceding remarks have spun out to a most unexpected extent; and I
have to apologise both for their extravagant length and rambling
character. At the same time, however, I believe that it would be
considered an object of no small interest if it could be shown to be at
all probable that we had still near us a specimen, however rude and
ruinous, of early Scoto-Irish architecture. All authorities now
acknowledge the great influence which, from the sixth to the eleventh or
twelfth century, the Irish Church and Irish clergy exercised over the
conversion and civilisation of Scotland. But on the eastern side of the
kingdom we have no known remains of Scoto-Irish ecclesiastical
architecture except the beautiful and perfect Round Tower of
Brechin,[123] and the ruder and probably older Round Tower of
Abernethy. If, to these two instances, we dare to conjoin a specimen of
a house or oratory of the same Scoto-Irish style, and of the same
ancient period, such as the Oratory on Inchcolm seems to me probably to
be, we would have in such a specimen an addition of some moment to this
limited and meagre list. Besides, it would surely not be uninteresting
could we feel certain that we have still standing, within eight or ten
miles of Edinburgh,