A number of churches showing the mixture of domestic and ecclesiastical features which prevailed in the latter half of the sixteenth and seventeenth century have already been illustrated, as above indicated. That series of churches will be continued so as to exhaust the subject. The contrast they present with the churches of the earlier centuries is very striking, and affords much food for reflection. [Illustration] [Illustration: Egilsay Church. From South-West.] THE CELTIC MONASTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURES IN SCOTLAND, CHIEFLY AS ILLUSTRATED AND DESCRIBED IN THE WORKS OF THE LATE T. S. MUIR. It has been shown in the Introduction that Christianity was brought to Scotland in the sixth century by the Celtic missionaries from Ireland, and that, after it had endured for seven centuries, the monastic Church of the Columbans, was superseded by the Roman ecclesiastical system. Each of these phases of Christianity possessed its own form of architecture--the one derived from the features peculiar to the Celtic style of building, and the other from the development of the Romanesque architecture general throughout Europe. The latter began to take effect in Scotland about the beginning of the twelfth century, while the former, which had existed from a very early date, continued to prevail in certain parts of the country long after that period. We shall first consider the structures of the oldest or Celtic style. The earliest examples of ecclesiastical architecture in Scotland are, doubtless, the rude structures built with uncemented stones, which still survive in some of the remote islands off the coast, chiefly in the Western seas. These islands, as well as the mainland of Scotland, have been visited again and again by the late Mr. T. S. Muir, who has embodied the results of his peregrinations in his volume on the _Characteristics of Old Church Architecture in Scotland_ (1861), and in his _Ecclesiological Notes on some of the Islands of Scotland_ (1885)--the latter containing a _resumé_ of a number of charming little volumes produced by Mr. Muir at different times. Mr. Muir’s account of his repeated visits to the outlying islands is very quaint and entertaining, and shows that he has been inspired with an enthusiasm for ecclesiology very rarely equalled. He has certainly been the discoverer of many extremely interesting structures, which serve to show the connection between the early Christianity of Ireland and Scotland and the gradual development in this country of a style of ecclesiastical architecture similar to that of the parent isle.