ing field.
The dedication of the little book strikes his imagination: "To the
Members of the Confraternity of Saint Patrick, established at the London
Oratory, who, with the children of the saint in many lands, are the
enduring witnesses of the faith which seeth Him who is invisible."

He is interested in the motto on the title-page,--"_En un mot, on y voit
beaucoup le caractere de S. Paul_," and in the authorization,--"_Nihil
obstat_. E. S. Keagh, Cong. Orat." "_Imprimatur_, + Henricus Eduardus,
Card."

The Doctor looks through the book in order. First, the introduction; and
here he considers the questions--First, was there in fact such a man
as Saint Patrick? Second, what was his nationality? Third, when was he
born: and, herein, does the date of his escape from captivity conflict
with the date of his visit to his kinsman, Saint Martin of Tours?
Fourth, to what age did he live? Fifth, where and by whom was he
converted? Sixth, are his miracles authentic? and so forth.

After this introductory study the book takes up the saint's life in
connected order. Patrick was the son of a Roman decurio. From his
earliest days wonders attended him. When he was an infant, and was
about to be baptized, it happened that no water was to be had for the
sacrament; whereupon, at the sign of the cross, made by the priest
with the infant's hand upon the earth, a fountain gushed forth from the
ground, and the priest, who was blind, anointing his own eyes with the
water, received his sight.

As Patrick grew older, wonders multiplied. He came as an apostle of the
faith to Strangford Lough. Dichu, the prince of that province, forewarned
by the Druids, raised his sword at Patrick; but instantly his hand was
fixed in the air, as if carved of stone; then light came to Dichu's
soul, and from a foe he became a loving disciple.

Then comes the story of the fast upon the mountain. It was on the height
ever since called Cruachan Patrick, which looks to the north upon
Clew Bay, and to the west on the waters of the Atlantic. It was Shrove
Saturday, a year and a little more from the apostle's first landing
in Ireland. Already he had carried the gospel from the eastern to the
western sea. But his spirit longed for the souls of the whole Irish
nation. Upon the mountain he knelt in prayer, and as he prayed, his
faith and his demands assumed gigantic proportions. An angel came down
and addressed him. God could not grant his requests, the message ran,
t