It was not to be supposed that such a distinguished ornament of the church militant could escape the attention and intrigues of its arch-enemy. And so, on another day, while the holy man went to seek in the woods of Iona for a place more remote from men and fitting for prayer, he suddenly beheld, as he afterwards told a few of the brethren, a very black host of demons fighting against him with iron darts. These wicked demons, as the Holy Spirit revealed to the saint, wished to attack his monastery and kill with the same spears many of the brethren. But he, single-handed, against innumerable foes of such a nature, fought with the utmost bravery, having received the armour of the apostle Paul. And thus the contest was maintained on both sides during the greater part of the day, nor could the demons, countless though they were, vanquish him; nor was he able by himself to drive them from his island until the angels of God—as the saint afterwards told certain persons—and they few in number came to his aid, when the demons in terror gave way. The chapter, which is far and away the most thrilling and humanly interesting, is the last of the volume, entitled, “How our patron Saint Columba passed to the Lord.” It lingers with loving memory over the closing scene of this remarkable life, giving a minute account of the saint’s last words and acts, his preparations for the impending change, and the manner and circumstances of his death. But as this is an oft-repeated and well-known passage, it need not be quoted here. Adamnan’s _Vita Columbæ_ is not the only ancient _Life of St. Columba_ after Cummene’s, but it is undoubtedly the standard classic one, from which most of the subsequent biographies draw their facts and inspirations, with the exception, perhaps, of the “Old Irish Life,” which furnishes particulars not mentioned in this one. Neither is the Schaffhausen document the sole existing MS. copy of the great biography. Dr. Reeves consulted as many as seven distinct MSS., three of which contained a longer and four a shorter text. Besides these he had heard of five other extant copies, more or less complete. The seven from which he obtained his own various readings are the following:— I. Codex A.—The famous Schaffhausen one, the oldest of all, dating from the early years of the eighth century. II. Codex B.—A vellum of the middle of the fifteenth century, preserved in the British Museum. III. Codex C.—The Canisian text, which was published in 1604 from a MS. in the monastery of Windberg, Bavaria. IV. Codex D.—The second tract in a large vellum of the thirteenth century, in Primate Marsh’s library, Dublin. V. Codex F.—A vellum consisting of fifty leaves, now in the Royal Library of Munich. VI. Codex G.—A small quarto MS. on vellum of the early part of the ninth century, in the Library of St. Gall. VII. Codex Cottonianus in the British Museum, also a vellum of the latter part of the twelfth century.