188 



Notker, in the Chronicle of Sigebert, the Saxon Chronicle, in that of 

 Addo, in the works of Saint Bernard, Erric of Auxerre, Giraldus 

 Cambrensis, William of Malmesbury, Marianus Scotus, and other 

 ancient writers, and by the fact of there being in that interval no less 

 than " sixty" Lives of him extant, before Jocelin commenced his ; 

 while in the fourteenth century, Matthew of Westminster and Floren- 

 tius Wigorniensis transmit his commemoration, and are implicitly 

 accredited by a succession of divines and antiquaries, all wholly 

 unsceptical as to the saint's existence ; Bale, Camden, Ware, Bollan- 

 dus, Spelman, Mosheim, Fleury, Stillingfleet, Cave, Nicholson, Tille- 

 mont. Usher, Harris, &c. Not to mention the native memorials in 

 the hymn of Fiech in the sixth century,* the ancient document men- 

 tioned by Mabillon,-|- and above all, the hymn in honour of Saint 

 Patrick, contained in that most venerable MS, the Antiphonarium 

 Benchorense, published by Muratori, and pronounced by him to be 

 tlien about 1000 years old..|. Add to these, that there are literary 

 works yet extant, which bear the name of Saint Patrick, exhibit inter- 

 nal evidence of emanating from such a source, and are acknowledged 

 to be his by the most competent judges ;§ there are churches erected 

 through all these ages to his name, not only in Ireland, but wherever 

 the Scoto-Irish settled ; there has been a tradition universal and im- 

 memorial concerning his mission, and his festival has been hallowed 

 in the observance of centuries. 



Against all this weight of authority and argument. Dr. Ledwich 

 stands alone, and although he occasionally admits the saint into exer- 



* See O'Conor'sRer.Hib. Script. vol. l.Proleg.partl.p.xc. f Vet. Anal. vol. 2, p. 669, &c. 

 X See Lanigan's Eccl. Hist. vol. 1. pp.59, &c., and see more fully O'Conor's Rer. Hib. 

 Script, vol. 1. Nunc. Epist. p. clxiii. 



§ See Lanigan's Eccl. Hist. vol. 1. p. 61. 



II 



