Dr. John Hill Burton was the first to expose the utterly fictitious basis on which the popular conceptions of the so-called Druidical religion rests, and he has done it with much ability and acuteness in an article in the _Edinburgh Review_ for July 1863, and in his _History of Scotland_, vol. i. chap. iv. But he undoubtedly carries his scepticism too far when he seems disposed to deny the existence among the pre-Christian inhabitants of Scotland and Ireland of a class of persons termed Druids. Here he must find himself face to face with a body of evidence which it is impossible, with any truth or candour, to ignore. Footnote 241: Adamnan, B. iii. c. 15. Footnote 242: _Ib._, B. i. c. 27. Footnote 243: Adamnan, B. ii. c. 43. Footnote 244: _Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 67. Footnote 245: _Chron. Picts and Scots_, p. 83. Footnote 246: This account of Aidan’s consecration is contained in the older Life by Cummine, and repeated by Adamnan, B. iii. c. 6. In Smith’s _Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_, the author of the article Coronation says,—‘Aidan was made king by him on the celebrated Stone of Destiny, taken afterwards from Iona to Dunstaffnage, and thence to Scone,’ and refers to Adamnan; but there is not a syllable about the stone in Adamnan. For its removal from Iona to Dunstaffnage there is no authority whatever, and that from Dunstaffnage to Scone is part of the exploded fable originated by Hector Boece. The subject is fully discussed in the author’s tract on the ‘Coronation Stone.’ Footnote 247: 575 Magna _mordail_, .i. conventio Drommacheta, in qua erant Colum Cille ocus Mac Ainmireach.—_An. Ult._ It is three times referred to by Adamnan, B. i. c. 38; B. ii. c. 6. He calls it ‘condictus regum.’ Footnote 248: These lines are quoted in the old Irish Life as giving the retinue with which Columba went to Iona; but Dallan Forgaill’s poem relates to the convention of Drumceatt. Footnote 249: _Amra Columcille_ by J. O’Beirne Crowe, pp. 9, 11, 15. The same account is given in the Advocates’ Library MS. of the old Irish Life, evidently taken from the _Amra_. The other tradition referred to seems to be that in Adamnan. See B. i. c. 8, where this incident is mentioned. Footnote 250: _Amra Columcille_, p. 15. Footnote 251: _Ib._, p. 13. CHAPTER IV. THE FAMILY OF IONA. [Sidenote: What St. Columba had accomplished in twelve years; and meaning of the expression “Family of Iona.”]