“_Quidam_ famossissimus in omni arte lignorum et lapidum _erat_ in Hibernia nomine Gobbanus, cujus artis fama usque _in finem sæculi_ erit in ea. Ipse jam postquam, aliis sanatis, in superflua artis suæ mercede lumen oculorum amisit, et erat cæcus. Hic vocatus est ad S. Abbanum et dixit ei: Volo ædificium in honorem Dei ædificare, et tu age illud. Et ille ait: Quomodo possum agere cum sim cæcus? dixit ei sanctus, Quamdiu illud operaberis lumen oculorum habebis, sed tibi postea non promitto. Et ita factum est, nam ille artifex apud sanctum Dei in lumine suo operatus est, et cum esset illud perfectum lumen oculorum amisit”[435]--that is, in the true spirit of what my countrymen call a _sceal Feeneechtha_, or _Phœnician story_, _i.e._ an _entertaining lie_ (a proof, by the way, that they claim no kindred with the Phœnicians, else they would not thus confirm the well-known epithet of _Punica fides_); however to put this _sceal Feeneechtha_ into English, it runs thus: “_Once upon a time_ there lived in Erin a man most celebrated for his universal mastery over wood and stone; and whose fame, accordingly, will live therein as long as _grass shall grow_ or _purling streams flow in its enchanting scenery_. This good man’s name was _Gobhan_, who, wallowing in wealth from the meritorious exertions of his abilities, yet incapacitated from enjoying it by the deprivation of his sight, was summoned before _St. Abhan_, who had already healed the rest of the world by his miraculous gifts, and who thus addresses him: ‘I wish to build a house to the honour of God; and set you about it.’ ‘How can I,’ says _Gobhan_, ‘_seeing_ that I am _blind_?’ ‘O very well,’ says _Abhan_, ‘I will settle that; long as ever you are engaged in the business, you shall have the use of your eyes; but I make no promises afterwards!’ And verily it was so, for long as ever he did work with the saint he had the use of his sight, but soon as ever the work was done he relapsed into his former blindness!” Well, you may laugh if you chose, in future, at the simplicity of the _monks_; but here is one for you, who, in the very extravagance of his simplicity, and that while bursting almost with risibility himself at the speciousness of his conceit, has contrived to bamboozle a jury of _umpires_ who pique themselves upon their contempt for everything _monkish_, and who actually, in any other case, had they the _sworn_ evidence of a monk, would go counter thereto; but here, where an old doting friar is drawing upon his ingenuity, every syllable that escapes him is taken for gospel! Now, _I_ as readily believe, as they would fain persuade me, that “long as _Gobhan_ did work with _Abhan_ he had the use of his sight,” and that “soon as ever the work was done he relapsed into his former blindness.” And why? because the two men, living in different ages, never laid eyes upon each other at all, and thus were they _both, morally and literally, blind to each other_!