LUDOVICO. To a river did they lead me, Flowers of fire were on its margin, Liquid sulphur was its current, Many-headed hydras--serpents-- Monsters of the deep were in it; It was very broad, and o'er it Lay a bridge, so slight and narrow That it seem'd a thin line only. It appear'd so weak and fragile, That the slightest weight would sink it. "Here thy pathway lies," they told me, "O'er this bridge so weak and narrow; And, for thy still greater horror, Look at those who've pass'd before thee." Then I look'd, and saw the wretches Who the passage were attempting Fall amid the sulphurous current, Where the snakes with teeth and talons Tore them to a thousand pieces. Notwithstanding all these horrors, I, the name of God invoking, Undertook the dreadful passage, And, undaunted by the billows, Or the winds that blew around me, Reached the other side in safety. Here within a wood I found me, So delightful and so fertile, That the past was all forgotten. On my path rose stately cedars, Laurels--all the trees of Eden. After having described some of the glories of this abode of bliss, he relates his meeting with "the resplendent, the most glorious, the great Patrick, the Apostle"--and was thus enabled to keep his early promise. The poem ends with the following somewhat confused list of authorities: "For with this is now concluded The historic legend told us By Dionysius, the great Carthusian, With Henricus Salteriensis, Cæsarius Heisterbachensis, Matthew Paris, and Ranulphus, Monbrisius, Marolicus Siculus, David Rothe, and the judicious Primate over all Hibernia, Bellarmino, Beda, Serpi, Friar Dymas, Jacob Sotin, Messingham, and in conclusion The belief and pious feeling Which have everywhere maintained it." From Alban Butler's notes to "Lives of the Saints," Vol. I. p. 103, we subjoin the following: "St. Patrick's Purgatory is a cave on an island in the Lake Dearg (Lough Derg), in the County of Donegal, near the borders of Fermanagh. Bollandus shows the falsehood of many things related concerning it. Upon complaint of certain superstitious and false notions of the vulgar, in 1497, it was stopped up by an order of the Pope. See Bollandus, 'Tillemont,' p. 287, Alemand in his 'Monastic Hist. of Ireland,' and Thiers, 'Hist. des. Superst.' I. 4 ed. Nov. It was soon after opened again by the inhabitants; but only according to the original institution, as Bollandus takes notice, as a penitential retirement for those who voluntarily chose it, probably in imitation of St. Patrick, or other saints, who had there dedicated themselves to a penitential state. They usually spent several days here, living on bread and water, lying on rushes, praying and making stations barefoot." THE BRIG O' DREAD. SIR WALTER SCOTT.