[224] It has been handed down, in most crabbed Latin, by his disciple, Eugippius; it may be read at length in Pez, Scriptores Austriacarum Rerum.
[238] Scriptores Austriacarum Rerum.
[245] Hæften, quoted by Montalembert, vol. ii. p. 22, in note.
[256] Dr. Reeves supposes these to have been “crustacea:” but their stinging and clinging prove them surely to have been jelly-fish—medusæ.
[257] I have followed the Latin prose version of it, which M. Achille Jubinal attributes to the eleventh century. Here and there I have taken the liberty of using the French prose version, which he attributes to the latter part of the twelfth. I have often condensed the story, where it was prolix or repeated itself: but I have tried to follow faithfully both matter and style, and to give, word for word, as nearly as I could, any notable passages. Those who wish to know more of St. Brendan should consult the learned brochure of M. Jubinal, “La Légende Latine de St. Brandaines,” and the two English versions of the Legend, edited by Mr. Thomas Wright for the Percy Society, vol. xiv. One is in verse, and of the earlier part of the fourteenth century, and spirited enough: the other, a prose version, was printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in his edition of the “Golden Legend;” 1527.
[260a] In the Barony of Longford, County Galway.
[260b] 3,000, like 300, seems to be, I am informed, only an Irish expression for any large number.
[269] Some dim legend concerning icebergs, and caves therein.
[270] Probably from reports of the volcanic coast of Iceland.
[272] This part of the legend has been changed and humanized as time ran on. In the Latin and French versions it has little or no point or moral. In the English, Judas accounts for the presence of the cloth thus:—