And lo! the two daughters of King Laoghaire, Ethne the fair and Fedelm the ruddy, came early to the well to wash after the manner of women, and they found near the well a synod of holy Bishops with Patrick. And they knew not whence they were or in what form or from what people, or from what country; but they supposed them to be divine sidhe, or gods of the earth, or a phantasm, and the virgins said unto them, “Who are ye! and whence come ye?” And Patrick said unto them, “It were better for you to confess to our true God, than to inquire concerning our race.” The first virgin said, “Who is God? And where is God? And of what (nature) is God? And where is His dwelling-place? Has your God sons and daughters, gold and silver? Is He ever living? Is He beautiful? Did Mary foster His Son? Are His daughters dear and beautiful to men of the world? Is He in heaven or in earth? In the sea? In rivers? In mountainous places? In valleys? Declare unto us a knowledge of Him, How shall He be seen? How is He to be loved? How is He to be found? Is it in youth? Is it in old age that He is to be found?” With swift strides the narrative goes on to tell how the saint enlightened the two maidens, how they believed and were baptized, how they received the eucharist of God and slept in death. Thereafter they were laid on the same bed, covered with garments, while their friends raised great lamentation for them. Such is a summary of the chief events in St. Patrick’s long and epoch-making career in Ireland, taken generally to have lasted sixty years, so that he must have lived to a ripe old age, if the records report with any exactness. Leaving now the biographical and coming to the purely literary aspect of his life, we find that there are three pieces of literature assigned to him, namely, the “Confession” and the “Epistle to Coroticus,” both in Latin, and the “Deer’s Cry” in Gaelic. The two former are sometimes styled his epistles, numbered I. and II., the history of whose preservation to our own time is not without its peculiar interest. Besides the copy of the “Confession” in the Book of Armagh, there are four other MSS. in existence: (1) the Cottonian, in the British Museum; (2) two MSS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, formerly preserved in the Salisbury Cathedral; (3) one MS. in the Public Library of Arras. The text of the Bollandist Fathers was taken from the Arras MS. and published at Antwerp in 1668 in their _Acta Sanctorum_. A copy of the “Epistle to Coroticus” accompanies each of the above except that in the Book of Armagh.