You see that one has a good deal to go through who undertakes to prepare a life of Saint Patrick.
But our thoughts have wandered from Dr. Parsons. He has gathered the books before him with great pains, from public and private libraries, and he religiously meant to make an exhaustive study of them all; but sermons and parish calls and funerals, and that little affair of Mrs. Samuel Nute, have forced him, by a process of which we all know something, to forego his projected subsoil ploughing and make such hasty preparation as he can.
He has read the Confession and the Epistle to Coroticus, and he has glanced over the "Life and Legends," reading in a cursory way of the leper's miraculous voyage; of the fantastic snow; of the tombstone that sailed the seas; of the two trout that Patrick left to live forever in a well,—
"The two inseparable trout,
Which would advance against perpetual streams,
Without obligation, without transgression—
Angels will be along with them in it."
And being very fond of pure water himself, the Doctor is touched by Patrick's lament when far away from the well Uaran-gar:—
"Uaran-gar, Uaran-gar!
O well, which I have loved, which loved me!
Alas! my cry, O my dear God,
That my drink is not from the pure well of Uaran-gar!"
But finally he has settled down, as most casual students will, to the sincere and charming little sketch by William Bullen Morris,—"Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland." He is reading it now by the east window, holding the book at arm's-length, as is his wont.
The theme is new to him. There opens up a fresh and interesting field. The dedication of the little book strikes his imagination: "To the Members of the Confraternity of Saint Patrick, established at the London Oratory, who, with the children of the saint in many lands, are the enduring witnesses of the faith which seeth Him who is invisible."
He is interested in the motto on the title-page,—"En un mot, on y voit beaucoup le caractère de S. Paul," and in the authorization,—"Nihil obstat. E. S. Keagh, Cong. Orat." "Imprimatur, + Henricus Eduardus, Card."
The Doctor looks through the book in order. First, the introduction; and here he considers the questions—First, was there in fact such a man as Saint Patrick? Second, what was his nationality? Third, when was he born: and, herein, does the date of his escape from captivity conflict with the date of his visit to his kinsman, Saint Martin of Tours? Fourth, to what age did he live? Fifth, where and by whom was he converted? Sixth, are his miracles authentic? and so forth.