reflex of old Druidic teaching. Thus in an ancient Breton ballad Tina passes through the lake of pain, on which float the dead, white robed, in little boats. She then wades through valleys of blood[1].
As this myth has been exhaustively treated by Mr. Thomas Wright (S. Patrick’s Purgatory; by T. Wright, London, 1844), it shall detain us no longer. I differ from him, however, as to its origin. He attributes it to monkish greed; but I have no hesitation in asserting that it is an example of the persistency of heathen myths, colouring and influencing Mediæval Christianity. We will only refer the reader for additional information to the Purgatoire de Saint Patrice; légende du xiii Sièćle, 1842; a reprint by M. Prosper Tarbé of a MS. in the library at Rheims; a Memoire by M. Paul Lacroix in the Mélanges historiques, published by M. Champollion Figeac, vol. iii.; the poem of Marie de France in the edition of her works, Paris, 1820, vol. ii.; an Histoire de la Vie et du Purgatoire de S. Patrice, par R. P. Franpois Bouillon, O. S. F., Paris, 1651, Rouen, 1696; and also Le Monde Enchanté, par M. Ferdinand Denys, Paris, 1845, pp. 157—174.
- ↑ Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte: Band III., Die Kelten, p. 29.
