Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 04
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Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 04
Literature -- Collections
"God spakke to Saynt Patryke tho
By nam, and badde hym with Hym go:
He ladde hym ynte a wyldernesse,
Wher was no reste more no lesse,
And shewed that he might se
Inte the erthe a pryvé entré:
Hit was yn a depe dyches ende.
'What mon,' He sayde, 'that wylle hereyn wende,
And dwelle theryn a day and a nyght,
And hold his byleve and ryght,
And come ageyn that he ne dwelle,
Mony a mervayle he may of telle.
And alle tho that doth thys pylgrymage,
I shalle hem graunt for her wage,
Whether he be sqwyer or knave,
Other purgatorye shalle he non have.'"
Thereupon St. Patrick, "he ne stynte ner day ne night," till he had
built there a "fayr abbey," and stocked it with pious canons. Then he
made a door to the cave, and locked the door, and gave the key to the
keeping of the prior. The Knight Owain, who had served under King
Stephen, had lived a life of violence and dissolution; but filled with
repentance, he sought by way of penance St. Patrick's Purgatory. Fifteen
days he spent in preliminary devotions and alms-deeds, and then he heard
mass, was washed with holy water, received the Holy Sacrament, and
followed the sacred relics in procession, whilst the priests sang for
him the Litany, "as lowde as they mygth crye." Then Sir Owain was locked
in the cave, and he groped his way onward in darkness, till he reached a
glimmering light; this brightened, and he came out into an underground
land, where was a great hall and cloister, in which were men with shaven
heads and white garments. These men informed the knight how he was to
protect himself against the assaults of evil spirits. After having
received this instruction, he heard "grete dynn," and
"Then come ther develes on every syde,
Wykked gostes, I wote, fro Helle,
So mony that no tonge mygte telle:
They fylled the hows yn two rowes;
Some grenned on hym and some mad mowes."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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