This etext was prepared by Les Bowler St Ives DorsetTHE LEGENDS OF SAINT PATRICK BYAUBREY DE VERE LLDCONTENTSINTRODUCTION BY HENRY MORLEYSAINT PATRICKFROM ENGLISH WRITERS BY HENRY MORLEYPREFACE BY THE AUTHORPOEMSTHE BAPTISM OF SAINT PATRICKTHE DISBELIEF OF MILCHOSAINT PATRICK AT TARASAINT PATRICK AND THE TWO PRINCESSESSAINT PATRICK AND THE CHILDREN OF FOCHLUT WOODSAINT PATRICK AND KING LAEGHAIRESAINT PATRICK AND THE IMPOSTORSAINT PATRICK AT CASHELSAINT PATRICK AND THE CHILDLESS MOTHERSAINT PATRICK AT THE FEAST OF KNOCK CAESAINT PATRICK AND KING EOCHAIDSAINT PATRICK AND THE FOUNDING OF ARMAGH CATHEDRALTHE ARRAIGNMENT OF SAINT PATRICKTHE STRIVING OF SAINT PATRICK ON MOUNT CRUACHANEPILOGUE  THE CONFESSION OF SAINT PATRICKINTRODUCTION BY HENRY MORLEYOnce more our readers are indebted to a living poet for widecirculation of a volume of delightful verse  The name of Aubrey deVere is the more pleasantly familiar because its association withour highest literature has descended from father to son  In 1822sixtyseven years ago Sir Aubrey de Vere of Curragh Chase byAdare in the county of Limerickthen thirtyfour years oldfirstmade his mark with a dramatic poem upon Julian the Apostate  In1842 Sir Aubrey published Sonnets which his friend Wordsworthdescribed as the most perfect of our age and in the year of hisdeath he completed a dramatic poem upon Mary Tudor published inthe next year 1847 with the Lamentation of Ireland and otherPoems  Sir Aubrey de Veres Mary Tudor should be read by all whohave read Tennysons play on the same subjectThe gift of genius passed from Sir Aubrey to his third son AubreyThomas de Vere who was born in 1814 and through a long life hasput into music only noble thoughts associated with the love of Godand man and of his native land  His first work published fortyseven years ago was a lyrical piece in which he gave his sympathyto devout and persecuted men whose ways of thought were not his ownAubrey de Veres poems have been from time to time revised byhimself and they were in 1884 finally collected into three volumespublished by Messrs Kegan Paul  Left free to choose from amongtheir various contents I have taken this little book of Legends ofSt Patrick first published in 1872 but in so doing I haveunwillingly left many a piece that would please many a readerThey are not however inaccessible  Of the three volumes ofcollected works each may be had separately and is complete initself  The first contains The Search after Proserpine and otherPoemsClassical and Meditative  The second contains the Legendsof St Patrick and Legends of Irelands Heroic Age including aversion of the Tain Bo  The third contains two plays Alexanderthe Great St Thomas of Canterbury and other PoemsFor the convenience of some readers the following extract from thesecond volume of my English Writers may serve as a prosaicsummary of what is actually known about St Patrick                                           H MST PATRICKFROM ENGLISH WRITERSThe birth of St Patrick Apostle and Saint of Ireland has beengenerally placed in the latter half of the fourth century and he issaid to have died at the age of a hundred and twenty  As he died inthe year 493and we may admit that he was then a very old manifwe may say that he reached the age of eightyeight we place hisbirth in the year 405  We may reasonably believe therefore thathe was born in the early part of the fifth century  His birthplacenow known as Kilpatrick was at the junction of the Levin with theClyde in what is now the county of Dumbarton  His baptismal namewas Succath  His father was Calphurnius a deacon son of Potituswho was a priest  His mothers name was Conchessa whose family mayhave belonged to Gaul and who may thus have been as it is said shewas of the kindred of St Martin of Tours for there is a traditionthat she was with Calphurnius as a slave before he married herSince Eusebius spoke of three bishops from Britain at the Council ofArles Succath known afterwards in missionary life by his name inreligion Patricius pater civium might very reasonably be adeacons sonIn his early years Succath was at home by the Clyde and he speaksof himself as not having been obedient to the teaching of theclergy  When he was sixteen years old he with two of his sistersand other of his countrymen was seized by a band of Irish piratesthat made descent on the shore of the Clyde and carried him off toslavery  His sisters were taken to another part of the island andhe was sold to Milcho MacCuboin in the north whom he served for sixor seven years so learning to speak the language of the countrywhile keeping his masters sheep by the Mountain of Slieve MissThoughts of home and of its Christian life made the youth feel theheathenism that was about him his exile seemed to him a punishmentfor boyish indifference and during the years when young enthusiasmlooks out upon life with new sense of a mans powergrowing formans work that is to doSuccath became filled with religious zealThree Latin pieces are ascribed to St Patrick  a Confessionwhich is in the Book of Armagh and in three other manuscripts10a a letter to Coroticus and a few Dieta Patricii which arealso in the Book of Armagh 10b  There is no strong reason forquestioning the authenticity of the Confession which is inunpolished Latin the writer calling himself indoctusrusticissimus imperitus and it is full of a deep religiousfeeling  It is concerned rather with the inner than the outer lifebut includes references to the early days of trial by whichSuccaths whole heart was turned to God  He says After I cameinto Ireland I pastured sheep daily and prayed many times a dayThe love and fear of God