it Where men doe tell strange tales that long ageâ— Saint Patricke built a solitary Cave Into the which they that devoutly goe By purging of their sinnes their Soules may save Now whether this Report be true or no I not affirme and yet I not deprave And here may M. Burton for his deep search into the secrets of Nature be fitted with a place such as we could wish I would saith he have a convenient place to goe downe with Orpheus Vlysses Hercules Lucians Menippus at Saint Patrick's Purgatory at Trophonius denne Hecla in Island Aetna in Sicily to descend and see what is done in the bowels of the earth But I proceed to what remayneth That seeing we cannot sinde the Author of it which Messingam conceiveth not to bee so materiall yet that we see the use of it and why it is called a Purgatory Wee have before seene the solemnitie and strictnesse of of the Pilgrimage so great paines deserveth some great and large benefit And greater cannot be if that be true which Ranulphus reporteth and yet but by heare say of it There is Saint Patrick's Purgatory that was shewed at his prayers to confirme his preaching and his lore when he preached to misbeleeved of sorrow and paine that evill men should suffer for her wicked workes and of joy and blisse that good men shall receive for her holy deeds He telleth that who so suffereth the paines of that Purgatory if it be enjoyned him for penance he shall never suffer the paines of Hell but he shall die finally without repentance of sinne as the example is set more fully out at the Chapters end Where he speaketh of the History of Owen the Knight of whom before But his translator Trevisa teacheth us better doctrine But truly no man may be saved but if he be very repentant whatsoever penance he doe And every man that is very repentant at his lives end shall be sickerly saved though he never heare of Saint Patricks purgatory What the effects are of the suffering those paines of which Ranulphus did speake we were before told by Vitriacus That it purgeth him that undergoeth them But it was not for purging men that Saint Patricke did intend it for they of the ancientest that make Saint Patricke the founder of it speake onely of that infernall fire of the damned not of any purging flames of which Giraldus Cambrensis thus While the Holy Man disputed with that incredulous nation of the infernall paine of the reprobate and the eternall and true life of the Elect after death that so great so unusuall so strange a noveltie might by what they should see make a sure impression in the mindes of these infidels through great feruency of prayers he deserved to obtaine for that stiffe-necked people the great admirable and profitable demonstration of both upon Earth a demonstration of both saith hee that is of eternall blisse and joy which who will say is seene or found in Purgatory a place of torment And the torments also of which he made demonstration was of that which they doubted the infernall paines of the reprobate And thus much did Thyraeus speake before That these incredulous men doubting of the paines and punishment of the damned and requiring some visible demonstration of it hee made a Circle in the earth c. As for that other That God had further revealed to Saint Patricke that in that place there was a purgatory of which before it is but a late fancie and on better considerations brought in to helpe the matter Now that the eternall torments of Hell should purge is surely a new thing and such as none of them I suppose will take upon him to defend This is that if any that was shewed by Saint Patricke neyther did he but shew it to terrifie those that doubted of them which needed not to continue the worke being finished and they now beleeving Yet let it be supposed that in that place the paines of Purgatory may be understood and that not the reprobate but the truely contrite is there purged being by Divels drawne through fire and water and a thousand dangers as Vitriacus would have it Yet I hope they will not say that this Fire or Water or I cannot tell what thousand dangers doe purge them that suffer them not And will they say that all who in our dayes goe into this Purgatorie doe lye frying in such flames or be frozen in water or runne any such dangers at all Sure I thinke they will not And if any should common experience would crie them downe Since the writing hereof saith Campian the Iesuite I met with a Priest who told mee that he had gone that pilgrimage and affirmed the order of the premisses but that for his owne part he saw no sight in the world save onely fearefull dreames when hee chanced to nodd and they said hee were exceeding horrible Neyther is it thus onely in these dayes but if wee looke many ages before it will bee found no otherwise and well may it be doubted if ever it were more Iohn Stow in his Annals of England hath a discourse to this purpose of Iohn Froissart the French Historian who lived Annâ— 1395. about 244. years since after Henry of Saltry 255. much alâ—ut the middle time it is this About this time Sir Iohn Froissart Chanon of Chymay in the Earledeme of Heynault as himselfe reporteth came into England He demanded of Sir William Lisle who had beene with the King in Ireland he meaneth Richard the second the manner of the Hole in Ireland that is called Saint Patricks purgatory if it were true that was sayd of it or not Who answered that such an Hole there was and that himselfe and another Knight had beene there while the King lay at Dublin and sayd they entred into the Hole and were closed in it at the Sunne-set and abode there all the night and the next morning issued out againe at the Sunne-rising Hee said that when hee and his fellow were entred and past the Gate that was called the Purgatorie of Saint Patricke and that they were descended and gone downe three or foure paces as into a Cellar a certaine hot vapour rose against them and strake so into their heads that they were faine to fit downe on the stayres which were of stone And after they had sate there a season they had great desire to sleepe and so fell into a sluâ—â—ber and slept there all night In which sleepe they had marvailous dreames otherwise than they were wont to have in their Chambers but in the morning after they had issued out they had cleane forgotten their dreames and visions Thus Stow of Froissart whose owne relation if it be rather desired is as followeth I John Froissart knowing peace to be concluded by Sea Land between the English the French had a great desire to see England towards which I presently tooke shipping where
into Saint Patricks Purgatory Neyther will I divulge all that there I saw onely those things which I might lawfully relate When Charles the French King was dead to whose care I was recommended by my dying Father I did repayre to Iohn King of Aragon in Spaine whose subject I was by the law of Nations my possessions lying within his Dominions He did alwayes esteeme of me asmuch as a King could a subject and mine observance of him was as great Hee first made me Master of his Horse and after gave me the Command of three Gallyâ—s for the service of Pope Clement And after his death I served under his successor Pope Benedict the thirteenth at which time the newes was brought to me of my Kings death with which sad relation much perplexed I did earnestly desire to know in what estate the Kings Soule was or if in Purgatory it were what paines it there suffered whereupon I called to minde what I heard reported of Saint Patrickes purgatory and resolved to visit it that I might aswell know some certaintie of the King as for obtayning pardon of God for my sinnes And first fearing I might fayle of my dutie if without leave from the Pope I had undertaken that pilgrimage to him I made knowne my resolutions desiring his favour that I might be gone But he so mamely apposed himselfe to mine intentions that scarcely did I know how to gayne-say But at the last by much impoâ—…itie I gayned so farre with Pope Benedict the thirteenth that I was with his blessing confirmed in it and so departed from Avignion where hee then was in the yeare after the birth of our Lord one thousand three hundred twenty and eight in the Month of September about the Even of that day which is sacred to the blessed Virgin First I went to the French Court in Paris whence I departed with the Kings Letters of Recommendations to his Sonne in law the King of England of whom I courteously was received and with his Letters sent away into Ireland When I was come to Dublin the Metropolis of the Kingdome I did addresse my selfe to the Earle of March brothers sonne to Richard being then Deputy of Ireland he having received the King and Queenes Letters did receive me honourably But understanding my resolution he laboured by all meanes to disswade me laying before me the great dangers of that Purgatory in which many had miscarryed but prevailing with me nothing he sent me to Drogâ—eda to the Archbishop of Ardmagh to whom in matters of Religion all the Irish without contradiction are subject who having perused the King and Queenes Letters with those from the Earle of March hee entertayned me lovingly and freely and endeavoured to divert mee shewing how difficult the enterprise was and that many went thither who never returned But seeing my resolution he did absolve me dismissing mee with Letters to O Neyle the King from whom with gifts I departed to a Village called Tarmuin that is to say Protection or a Sanctuary The Lord of this place with his brother shewed me great courtesies and in Ferryes waâ—ted me and my followers into the Island where the Purgatory was together with many others who from severall Nations flocked thither to visit this Purgatory I was conducted into the Church of the Monastery and being by the Pryor in the presence of many questioned I shewed the reason of my resolution that I purposed to commit my selfe into the Purgatory then he Thou hast undertaken a difficult and dangerous thing which some few have attempted yet could not compasse I doe confesse indeed that to descend into purgatory is easie but-the chiefe worke is to returne thence For the torment of that place is beyond all credit in which men otherwise of good constancie have so fayled that they have lost themselves bodies and Soules To all which I answer that seeing I came thither purposely and to that end it was expedient I should proceede To which he If such be your resolution then doth it be hove that thou observe the rites of this place in manner as they were by Saint Patricke appointed and by my predecessors observed Shortly after the Priests adjoyning with all the Religious of the Convent being called together that Masse was Celebrated with Musicke and solemnity which is used to be sayd for the dead which being finished and all Ceremonies observed the Priests being placed in order I was in Procession brought to the Doore of the Cave where the Letanie being sung I was sprinckled with holy Water and the Doore being opened the Pryor thus said publikely Behold the place into which thou doest desire to enter but if yet thou wiâ—t be by me advised change yet thy resolution yet if thou wilt needs goe forward attend while I briefly tell what shall happen to thee First Gods messengers shall meete thee and by them shalt thou be taught what to doe After shalt thou see devils who by all meanes will seeke to deceive thee sometimes by flattering speeches againe by threatnings other whiles with tormenting thee but thou shalt be freed from all their cruelty by pronouncing these words CHRIST the Sonne of the living God have mercie upon me a Sinner These things have we heard to have happened to those who have returned from purgatorie After this I kissed them all and bade them farewell So going into the Cave after whom followed an English Knight we were forbidden to discourse on which they report death to be imposed So the doore being locked the Pryor with the people returned Now when I was shut in and had taken notice of the greatnesse of the Cave which I conceive to be about foure Elnes I found the inner part thereof to turne and extend it selfe a little to the left hand as I went in Where I had troden I found the ground under mee so weake and shaking that it seemed as though it could not beare a man therefore fearing to fall into some unknowne depth I did step backe and having setled my selfe in the Catholike Faith and being firme in my resolution I did cast my selfe on my knees to pray supposing there had beene no more to be done But about one houre after I did begin to tremble everie joynt of me to sweat and to be heartsicke to vomit also as if I had beene in some long voyage at Sea In which troubles I was overtaken with sleepe but againe rowsed up with the noyse of a great Thunder which was not heard by me alone but of as many as were in the Island with which they were the more astonished in that it was a cleare and faire day The feare of which suddaine thunder was not over when a new and greater terror seized on me for scarcely was I awake when that I did slide downwards about six Elnes with which suddaine fall notwithstanding that I were fully awakened and affrighted yet did I not recover my selfe untill I had sayd those words the Pryor taught me Christ thou
Viscount to that Purgatory to be purged with him But this is not all For secondly after the decease of Charles the fourth King of France there succeeded in the yeare 1328. Phillip of Valois to whom in England Edward the third was Contemporary this Edward began his Reigne anno 1326. two yeares before and dyed in the fifty first yeare of his Reigne To him succeeded Richard the second here spoken off And in a Parliament held anno 1385. which was the ninth year of Richards Reigne was Roger Mortimer Earle of March proclaimed Heire apparant to the Crowne Shortly after which this Roger sailed into Ireland where he was Deputy at which time this pilgrimage was said to be for from the French King he brought letters to Richard and from Richard to the Earle of March then Deputy But deducting two yeares from the fifty and one yeares of Edward the third the remaine is fortie nine to which adde nine yeares of Richards Reigne at which time the Earle of March was Deputy it maketh up fifty and eight yeares so that by this computation this Pilgrimage must have beene 58. yeares before this yeare of Richard and as many before the Earle of March for so long is there between the yeare 1328. 1386. The time of his being Deputy and how these things will hang together I see not Neither can this be supposed to be such a mistake as that the figures might be mis printed 1328. for 1386. for in the Margent of that Legend the figures are 1328. but in the body of the Discourse it is thus at large I did set forward in the yeare after the birth of our Lord One thousand three hundred twenty and eight And the same Author in another booke set out since relating the same story hath it in the same words at large In the yeare one thousand three hundred twenty and eight not in figures But it is yet more inconsistent For Richard King of England is said to be Sonne in Law to the then French King unto whom Letters recommendatory are brought by the Viscount from his Father in Law True it is that Richard was affianced unto Isabell daughter of Charles the sixt of France but that was so farre from being in the yeare One thousand three hundred twentie and eight that is was in the year one thousand three hundred ninty six that is sixty and eight years after Neither could it be when the Earle of March was Deputie of Ireland which was about the yeare One thousand three hundred eightie and five nine or ten yeares before so that either Richard was not Son in Law to the French King or the Earle of March was not Deputy when the Viscount came into Ireland Neither is it lesse absurd which is added That the Earle of March the Deputy having received the King and Queene of Englands letters did honourably receive him For what Letters could the Queen write shee was but seven years old when he was as I said affianced to Richard and not full twelve when by the Lord Henry Piercy she was brought backe into France after Richards death Neither could she write to the Earle of March being Deputy of Ireland unlesse we should suppose her to have written three or foure yeares before she was borne And as foolishly is the Earle of March made to be Richards brothers Sonne Richard having no Brother he being the sole surviving Sonne of Edward the black Prince And Roger Mortimer being the great grandchild of Edward the Third descended from Philip daughter of Lionell third sonne of Edward the Third which Lionell was brother to that Edward the black Prince and Uncle to Richard So that considering this Masse of absurdities from first to last any one I suppose may well guesse how false this Legend is and this Imposture may give just cause to suspect this and all others of the like Fables But I much wonder that the translator O Sullevan whose faculty was singular that way did not helpe out the matter better than he hath done but either he saw it not or if he did he thought it dangerous to stirre in it and to raise up any doubts supposing it might as well passe after as hitherto it had without discovery thinking it may be that none would so farre question it Neither could O Sullevan be so simple as to conceive such a childish dreame could passe without some observation therefore to prevent it he laboureth to cast a mist before his Readers eyes If this History saith he be in any thing which we have shewed in many things if not in all hard to be beleeved what then Let him that desireth to be satisfied reade Dionysius Carthusianus who reporteth like Histories of others who returned from this Purgatory But what are like Histories to this what if they be as false as this But Dionysius saith he doth prosecute the matter at large answering all Arguments and doubts that can be made against it This indeed is to some purpose if so it prove but I rather suspect this to be O Sullevans cunning to direct the Reader and take him off from prying too neare into that of the Viscount yet least we may seeme to prejudicate him let us heare what Dionysius doth say to this purpose First saith he Dionysius confirmeth this by the like Relations He indeed among other Histories proving that Soules departed are purged in such flames giveth us one of Tondall an Irish Knight who lived about Henry of Saltry's dayes He Balaeus speaking of that Henry flourished then when Tondall the Carthusian in Ireland being revived returned to his owne from Purgatory reporting visions calling him a Carthusian whom in others we reade a Knight it may be as Owen the Knight putting himselfe into the Cistercian Order so he into the Carthusians Neither were they farre distant from each other both Owen and Tondall being in K. Stevens dayes this last being about the twelfth yeare of his Reigne both which administred abundant matter for Henry to write The Legend of Tondall is this in effect that his Soule was separated from his bodie three dayes like that which we before did reade of Tymarchus whose Soule was sent on the like errand two dayes and one night In this differing from that of Owen whose body also went along This Soule of Tondall is by an Angell conducted into Purgatory where it saw many strange things among the rest a beast of incredible greatnesse which may easily be believed whose mouth seemed capable of nine thousand armed men just nine thousand within whom were many thousands of men and women grievously tormented this was a thing not observed by Owen the Knight or that our Viscount for this Purgatory is beholding to these great Titles of Viscounts and Knights for the upholding of the credit of it but to goe on This Soule of Tondall is brought to a place where over a lake there was a bridge two miles long and but one palme broad full
among the Schoolemen saith Maldonat the Iesuite 2. But in case this Sacrament reach not unto all then there remaineth a Purgatory after death appointed also by Christ saith these Fathers But where doe we finde it so appointed by Christ and if it were how commeth it to passe That in the Commentaries of the Greek Fathers we finde little or no mention of it for ought I know neither yet have all the Latines conceived the truth of it the beleeving of it not being so necessary for the Primitive Church as now it is saith Fisher Bishop of Rochester the esteeme of Indulgences wholly depending on Purgatory for there were no use of Indulgences if there were no use of Purgatory He proceedeth Considering therefore how that Purgatory was for a while unknowne and that some by degrees received it partly by Revelations and partly by Scripture and that it was so lately known and received by the whole Church c. But by his leave not by the whole Church for neither the Greeke nor all the Latines beleeve it as was before confessed and what ground in that kind it hath gotten was but of late dayes it neither being necessary nor known to the Primitive Fathers and yet with what confidence doe these learned Archbishops affirme that Christ himselfe appointed it 3. But they proceed We in Purgatory are either altogether freed or much eased by the Prayers of men living yet how that should be we know not For to this very day was it never determined by the Church how our Prayers could profit the dead as Cassander confesseth But as Purgatory brought in these Prayers so doe these Prayers uphold Purgatory The great profit whereof makeing it so necessary for these last times which the simplicity of these former ages could not dive into But now these three points are fully confirmed for true by these Archbishops And now is our Pilgrim returned into the dark Hall whereinto he first entred a journey if we consider it no lesse wonderfull than the rest in twenty and foure houres all on foot traversing more ground than can be wellâ— imagined going over many large fields the bounds o most whereof could not by the eye of man be discerned and passing to The extreamest part of the world It is said indeed that those malignant spirits did further him in his speed and needs must he then goe but if it be so in his going forward what shall be said for his comming backe for then none of them could so much as looke on him but fled at the sight of him So that his owne footmanship must performe it where also notwithstanding his swift going forward and the generall Torments he suffered and saw putting him besides himselfe yet is he so skilfull in the way that through all these darke and unknowne passages he came backe foot by foot the same way that he went Neither is his eye-sight any thing dazled or impaired by the transoendent light in Paradise surpassing the glory of the Sunne But entring into that spacious and dark hall of which before he could by the Twilight discerne those men whom hee had formerly met there distinguishing their number Twelve and their Actions signing him with the signe of the Crosse. Here also he met and knew his Companion the English Knight that went in with him who it seemeth went no further than that Hall being so tired out with labour and Torments that he could not returne without the Uiscounts helpe where what Torments he endured more than the other we heare not And if he were tormented he had the same remedy propounded to him that was to the Viscount the pronouncing of the blessed Name of IESUS by which he might be delivered of which it is supposed he did make use otherwise he could not be freed and if he did how came he to be so extraordinarily oppressed or rather whence was it that he did not utterly perish in not going forward that being the onely thing those spirits are said to labour to stop men in their journey by faire or foule meanes thereby to destroy them bodie and soule as in the former passages hath been at large described But why dally we thus with this Counterfeit whom it is now time to unmask and we shall fully discover the fraud by observing the circumstances of the time and persons when and with whom which here for the better colouring of the matter are very punctually described His owne relation is in substance this y When Charles the French King was dead this Viscount went to Iohn King of Aragon his Soveraigne by whom he was imployed with Command of three Gallyes for the assisting of Pope Clement and after the death of Clement he served his Successor Benedict the thirteenth during which time his king dying he with Benedicts benediction left Avignion going on in his pilgrimage to S. Patrickes Purgatory when Anno 1328. in what moneth September what day of that month on the feast of the blessed Virgin about what time of the day About the evening Can anything be more punctuall but behold further circumstances yet From Paris he goeth with the French Kings letters to his Sonne in Law Richard King of England by Richard he is sent into Ireland with other letters to the then Deputy the Earle of March Richards brothers Sonne and from him he goeth to the Lord Primate and then into this Purgatory What can be more precise We have the yeare month day almost the very houre The Places and Persons we know who could thinke the man meant before so many witnesses to play his Legerdemaine tricks like Iuglers who trusse up their sleeves before they begin their feates and all this but to avoid suspition now see him in his colours Know therefore first that in the year one thousand three hundred twenty and eight the time of this supposed pilgrimage Benedict the thirteenth was not Pope neither of a long time after But Iohn the 21. accounted also the 22. whom succeeded Benedict the tenth or the twelfth as he is also esteemed after him Clement the sixt Innocent the sixt Urban the fift Gregory the eleventh and Vrban the sixt with whom stood in Competition as Anti-pope Clement the seventh in the yeare 1389. whom followed in that Schisme this Benedict the 11. or the 13. in the yeare 1394. which two last are they who are here mentioned of which the last that is to say Benedict the thirteenth was before called Petrus de Luna and an Aragonoes a motive for the King of Aragon to be an assistant unto him whose subjects for the most part obeyed Benedict saith Plaitina so that as this pilgrimage was to be in the yeare 1328. and in Benedict the thirteenth his time Successor to Clement it is apparant that by that computation it should have been before Clement sixty and one yeares and before Benedict sixty six yeares An error so grosse that it had need to have gone with our