286 THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL.
Mr.
MacClean willed the bell and its shrine to Dr. Todd, the great Irish
authority on Saint Patrick, and by him in turn it was bequeathed back
to the nation at large, who leave it to the care of the Royal Irish
Academy as its keepers.
We
have now traced the history of this bell back through the long vista of
fourteen centuries. During most of that time it was venerated as a
relic of great sanctity and the humanizing inÂfluence of this feeling
must have helped these poor benighted savages of Ireland whom Saint
Patrick came to teach and save. The religious sanctity of the bell is
gone, but its mission is not thereby ended. The worship of the
beauÂtiful has also its humanizing and elevating influence.
