S. Erc was wont to retire in Lent to jot down his reminiscences of S. Patrick. The writer of the _Life of S. Abban_ says, “I who have composed this am the grandson of him whom S. Abban baptised.” But about the eleventh century a fashion set in for rewriting these histories and elaborating the simple narratives into marvellous tales of miracle, just as in James I.’s reign the grand simple old ballads of the English nation were recomposed in stilted style that robbed them of all their poetry and most of their value. Now it is almost always possible to disengage the plain threads of history from the flourish and frippery that was woven in at this late period. The eye of the superficial reader is at once caught by all the foolery of grotesque miracle, and turns in disgust from the narrative; but if these histories be critically examined, it will almost always be found that the substratum is historical. Surely it affords an interest, and gives a zest to an excursion into Cornwall, when we know something of the founders of the churches, and they stand out before us as living, energetic characters, with some faults, but many virtues, and are to us no longer _nuda nomina_. CHAPTER II. THE HOLY WELLS S. Patrick in Ireland--A pagan holy well--S. Samson--Celtic saints very particular about the water they drank--S. Piran and S. Germoe--S. Erth and the goose-eggs--S. Sithney and the polluted well--Dropping of pins into wells--Hanging rags about--Well-chapel of S. Clether--Venton Ia--Jordan wells--Gwennap ceremony--Fice’s well--Modern stupidity about contaminated water. The system adopted by S. Patrick in Ireland was that of making as little alteration as he could in the customs of the people, except only when such customs were flatly opposed to the precepts of the gospel. He did not overthrow their lechs or pillar-stones; he simply cut crosses on them. When he found that the pagans had a holy well, he contented himself with converting the well into a baptistery. It is a question of judgment whether to wean people gently and by slow degrees from their old customs, or whether wholly to forbid these usages. S. Patrick must have known perfectly what the episcopal system was in Gaul, yet when he came into a land where the Roman territorial organisation had never prevailed, he accommodated Christian Church government to the conditions of Celtic tribal organisation. [Illustration: S. MELOR’S WELL, LINKINHORNE] He found that the Irish, like all other Celtic peoples, held wells in great veneration. He did not preach against this, denounce it as idolatrous, or pass canons condemning it. He quietly appropriated these wells to the service of the Church, and made of them baptisteries. What Patrick did in Ireland was what had been done elsewhere.