Dun stan,  we  know,  was  an  excellent  artist  in  metal-
work.  Some  of  the  Irish  monks  too  were  skilled  in
simple  herb  remedies ;  and  the  poor  people  around
often  came  to  them  for  advice  and  medicine  in
sickness.  When  a  monastery  was  situated  on  the
bank  of  a  large  river  where  there  was  no  bridge,  the
monks  kept  a  curragh  ready  to  ferry  travellers  across,
free  of  charge.
In  some  monasteries  it  was  the  custom  to  keep  a
fire  perpetually  burning  in  a  little  chapel  specially  set
apart  for  this  purpose,  to  which  the  inmates  attended
in  turn  to  supply  fuel,  so  that  the  fire  might  never  go
out.      The  perpetual  fire  of  Kildare,  which  was  kept


144  RELIGION,  LEARNING,  AND  ART.  [PART  II.
alight  from  the  time  of  St.  Brigit  for  many  centuries,
is  commemorated  in  Moore's  lines  : —

"  Like  the  bright  lamp  that  shone  in  Kildare's  holy  fane,
And  burned  through  long  ages  of  darkness  and  storm :  "

and  there  were  similar  fires  in  Kilmainham,    Seir-
kieran,  and  lnishmurray.
Besides  the  various  employments  noticed  in  the
preceding  pages,  the  inmates  had  their  devotions  to
attend  to,  which  were  frequent,  and  often  long :  and
in  most  monasteries  they  had  to  rise  at  the  sound  of
the  bell  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  and  go  to  the
adjacent  church  to  prayers.
