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A Literary History of Ireland, from Earliest Times to the Present Day

Note 16 — Chapter XIII

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It is worth while to transcribe this passage as a fair specimen of St. Patrick's style and latinity. "Et ibi scilicet in sinu noctis virum venientem quasi de Hiberione cui nomen Victoricus, cum æpistulis innumerabilibus vidi; et dedit mihi unam ex his et legi principium æpistolæ continentem 'Uox Hiberionacum.' Et dum recitabam principium æpistolæ, putabam enim ipse in mente audire vocem ipsorum qui erant juxta silvam Focluti [in the county Mayo] quæ est prope mare occidentale. Et sic exclamaverunt: 'Rogamus te sancte puer ut venias et adhuc ambulas inter nos.' Et valde compunctus sum corde, et amplius non potui legere. Et sic expertus [i.e. experrectus] sum. Deo gratias quia post plurimos annos præstitit illis Dominus secundum clamorum illorum" (Folio 23, 66, Book of Armagh, p. 126 of Father Hogan's Bollandist edition).

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