Irish schools finds fault with him for having gone to the “didasculi Argivi” of that country instead of staying in England where Theodore of Tarsus and Hadrian of Nisida[389] had introduced Greek studies. It is significant that this letter of Aldhelm’s abounds in Hellenisms to a greater extent than any of his other writings, his object being apparently to impress Eahfrid with the Greek learning to be obtained in England. We have referred to a common practice of the Irish monks, viz., the making of marginal and interlinear glosses in which were explained Latin, Greek and even sometimes Hebrew words and expressions by Irish equivalents. They also compiled lists of Irish words which were considered difficult or obsolete at the time the glosses were written. These words were explained by giving their more modern equivalents. Frequently the meaning was given in Latin and Greek also. The most famous glosses of this class are Cormac’s[390] and O’Mulconry’s glosses.[391] Dr. Hyde describes[392] Cormac’s glossary “as by far the oldest attempt[393] at a comparative vernacular dictionary made in any language of modern Europe. The king-bishop (Cormac, d. 903 A.D.) was a most remarkable man and an excellent scholar. He appears to have known Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Danish and to have been one of the finest old Gaelic scholars of his day and withal an accomplished poet.” In the library of St. Paul in Lavanthale (Steyermark) there is a MS. full of extracts written by an Irish monk. It contains Irish poems of the eighth century, Latin hymns, the commencement of a commentary on Virgil, a treatise on astronomy, _Greek declensions and paradigms as well as a Greek vocabulary_.[394] The Greek Creed was sung in the churches of St. Gallen.[395] Under the title _Proverbia Graecorum_ there is a collection of sayings translated by some Irish scholar from Greek into Latin before the seventh century.[396] In the eighth century Boniface brings Clement the Irishman to task for not accepting the teaching of the Latin Fathers Jerome, Augustine and Gregory, just as a century later Scottus Eriugena was charged with being inclined too much to the Greek Fathers and with under-rating the Latin Fathers.[397] In the library of Laon there is a MS. written by an Irish scribe between the years 850–900 A.D. This MS. contains two glossaries in the Greek and Latin languages with occasional passages in the Irish language. It also contains a Greek grammar.[398] It is believed that the _Hermeneumata_ of the Pseudo-Dositheus, a text used by Roman boys in studying Greek, as well as the work of Macrobius were only saved for the afterworld because they were used by the Irish.[399] The interlinear Latin versions of Greek texts are of exclusively Irish origin.[400] In the department of Biblical study Zimmer recalls two important examples: the Gospel Codex of St. Gallen written in Greek with a Latin translation and the Codex Boernerianus, now in Dresden, which contains the Epistles of St.