BACHAL ISA, OR THE STAFF OF JESUS. In the year 1178 William Fitz Aldelm, Chief Governor of Ireland, removed a relic from Armagh called the Staff of Jesus, and deposited it in Christ Church, Dublin, where it remained until the Reformation. When St. Patrick founded the Armagh Cathedral, it is said he deposited there his cele-brated crozier, which became so familiar under the Staff of Jesus. St. Bernard states that the possession of it, and of St. Patrick's texts of the Gospels, almost conferred the bishopric; and Cambrensis intimates that its removal to Dublin was to aid the claim of the supremacy put forward by that province. St. Patrick is said to have received it from a hermit in an island of the Etruscan Sea, to whom it had been delivered, as was believed, by the Redeemer himself (hence the name of Bachall Isa), with an order to give it to St. Patrick when he should arrive there. Jocelyn and the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick give some prodigious stories relative to it, and com-pare it with the Rod of Moses. It is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters at the years 784, 1027, 1030, and 1101. It was ornamented with jewels and precious stones, and preserved, with all veneration, at Armagh. In 1538, the gems and golden ornaments being removed, it was publicly burnt as a superstitious relic, together with many other memorials, in High Street, Dublin, by order of Arch-bishop Brown. The celebrated Jesuit, Edmund Campion, who wrote a History of Ireland in 1571has the following notice of the "Bachal Isa" -"It has been used in solemn controversies to protest and sweare by St. Patrick's staffe, called Bachall Esir, which oath,because upon breach thereof heavy plagues ensued, they feared more to break than if they had sworne by the Holy Evangelist." St. Bernard describes it in his life of St. Malachy, as covered over with gold and adorned with most precious gems, and says that Nigellus, the usurper of the See of Armagh, had taken it away, together with the Book of the Gospels which had belonged to St. Patrick, adding that both were held in such veneration that anyone who had them in his possession was considered by the foolish people as the real Bishop. Giraldus Cambrensis says that it was removed from Armagh to Dublin shortly after the English invasion. The practice of working in precious metals by the Irish is evidenced by the great quantity of golden ornaments, crowns, cups, bracelets, rings, &C~~ that have been found in the country. Cambden, at the year 840, testifies to the wealth of his native country in gems, vesture, and gold :-Insula dives opum, gemmarum vestis et auri," freely translated- "Exhaustless is her store Of veining silver and of golden ore ; Her fruitful Soil for ever teems with wealth, With gems her waters." Amongst the Relics preserved at Armagh was also the famous manuscript, Canoin Phadruig known in modern days as