the cauſe of his great idolatry, St. Andrew, like a true Chriſtian Champion, taught him the worſhip of the living God; which, when they had rightly performed, on a ſudden the milk white ſwans were changed into the ſhape of beautiful ladies, to the great joy of all preſent: For St. Andrew, having knowledge it was St. Anthony that had ſlain the great Blanderon, and how he was departed with the lady Roſalinda, he ſecretly ſtole away from the Thracian King, to ſeek St. Anthony whom he greatly longed to ſee, and the King's Daughters underſtanding he was gone, travelled after him, whoſe ſudden departure cauſed great ſorrow throughout all Thrace.
The ſix ladies having travelled many a weary mile, in a fruitleſs ſearch after St. Andrew, came at last to an uninhabited wilderneſs, ſave only with beasts and ſavage monſters, where they were ſurprized by thirty bloody ſatyrs, that hauled them by the hair of the heads, regardleſs of their ſhouts and loud ſounding outcries, intending to have raviſhed them of their virgin honours, but heaven (that always favours the virtuous) had ſo ordered it, that St. Patrick, that magnanimous Iriſh Champion, after many heroic actions by him performed, was, at the ſame instant, alſo in the deſart place, who beholding the inhumanity of thoſe ſavage creatures couragiouſly ſet upon them and put them to flight, delivering thereby thoſe moſt excellent princeſſes from death, or what they accounted worſe than death, the ſpoiling of their virginities, who after ſome pauſe of time, being a little come to themſelves, related to St. Patrick the occiſion of their journey, with an account of the achievements both of St. Anthony and St. Andrew, as you heard before in the beginning of this chapter, St. Patrick comforted them the beſt he could; like a noble knight undertook to be their conductor in their undertakings, having himſelf a mind to behold thoſe magnanimous Knights who formerly had been his companions in the case of
