[16] From the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. ii. part iii.
[17] These contributions by the "Abbas Aemoniæ Insulæ" are alluded to by Boece, who wrote nearly a century afterwards, as one of the works upon which he founded his own Scotorum Historiæ.—(See his Praefatio, p. 2; and Innes' Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of Scotland, vol. i., pp. 218 and 228.) Bower, in a versified colophon, claims the merit of having completed eleven out of the sixteen books composing the Scotichronicon lib. xvi. cap. 39:—
"Quinque libros Fordun, undenos auctor arabat,
Sic tibi clarescit sunt sedecim numero,
Ergo pro precibus, petimus te, lector eorum," etc.
[18] See Scotichronicon, lib. xiii. cap. 34 and 37; lib. xiv. cap. 38, etc. In 1547 the Duke of Somerset, after the battle of Pinkie, seized upon Inchcolm as a post commanding "vtterly ye whole vse of the Fryth it self, with all the hauens uppon it," and sent as "elect Abbot, by God's sufferance, of the monastery of Sainct Coomes Ins, Sir Jhon Luttrell, knight, with C. hakbutters and l. pioners, to kepe his house and land thear, and ii. rowe barkes, well furnished with municion, and lxx. mariners to kepe his waters, whereby (naively remarks Patten) it is thought he shall soon becum a prelate of great power. The perfytnes of his religion is not alwaies to tarry at home, but sumetime to rowe out abrode a visitacion; and when he goithe, I haue hard say he taketh alweyes his sumners in barke with hym, which ar very open mouthed, and neuer talk but they are harde a mile of, so that either for loove of his blessynges, or feare of his cursinges, he is lyke to be soouveraigne ouer most of his neighbours."—(See Patten's Account of the late Expedition in Scotlande, dating "out of the parsonage of S. Mary Hill, London," in Sir John Dalyell's Fragments of Scottish History, pp. 79 and 81.) In Abbot Bower's time, the island seems to have been provided with some means of defence against these English attacks; for, in the Scotichronicon, in incidentally speaking of the return of the Abbot and his canons in October 1421 from the mainland to the island, it is stated that they dared not, in the summer and autumn, live on the island for fear of the English, for, it is added, the monastery at that time was not fortified as it is now, "non enim erant tunc, quales ut nunc, in monasterio munitiones" (lib. xv. cap. 38).
[19] Iona itself has not an air of stiller solitude. Here, within view of the gay capital, and with half the riches of the Scotland of earlier days spread around them, the brethren might look forth from their secure retreat on that busy ambitious world, from which, though close at hand, they were effectually severed.—(Billings' Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland, vol. iii. Note on Inchcolm.)
[20] Alexander Campbell, in his Journey through North Britain (1802), after speaking of a fort in the east part of Inchcolm having a corps of artillery stationed on it, adds, "so that in lieu of the pious orisons of holy monks, the orgies of lesser deities are celebrated here by the sons of Mars," etc., vol. ii. p. 69.
[21] See MS. Records of the Privy Council of Scotland, 23d September 1564, etc.
[22] Bellenden's translation of Boece's History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 500.
[23] Works of William Drummond, Edinburgh, 1711, p. 7.
[24] Bishop Lesley's History of Scotland, p. 42.