The Purgatory of St. Patrick | Page 4

but of Saint Margaret, as Milman himself
expressly states. Chapter xciii., "De Sancta Margareta", in the
"Legenda Aurea" of Jacobus de Voragine contains her story.
The third translation in this volume is that of "The Purgatory of St.
Patrick". This, though perhaps not so famous as the two preceding

dramas, is intended to be given by Don P. De la Escosura, in a selection
of Calderon's finest "comedias", now being edited by him for the
Spanish Academy, as the representative piece of its class -- namely, the
mystical drama founded on the lives of Saints. Mr. Ticknor prefers it to
the more celebrated "Devotion of the Cross," and says that it "is
commonly ranked among the best religious plays of the Spanish theatre
in the seventeenth century."
In all that relates to the famous cave known through the middle ages as
the "Purgatory of Saint Patrick", as well as the Story of Luis Enius --
the Owain Miles of Ancient English poetry -- Calderon was entirely
indebted to the little volume published at Madrid, in 1627, by Juan
Perez de Montalvan, entitled "Vida y Purgatorio de San Patricio". This
singular work met with immense success. It went through innumerable
editions, and continues to be reprinted in Spain as a chap-book, down
to the present day. I have the fifth impression "improved and enlarged
by the author himself," Madrid, 1628, the year after its first appearance:
also a later edition, Madrid, 1664. As early as 1637 a French translation
appeared at Brussels by "F. A. S. Chartreux, a Bruxelles." In 1642 a
second French translation was published at Troyes, by "R. P. Francois
Bouillon, de l'Ordre de S. Francois, et Bachelier de Theologie." Mr.
Thomas Wright in his "Essay on St. Patrick's Purgatory," London, 1844,
makes the singular mistake of supposing that Bouillon's "Histoire de la
Vie et Purgatoire de S. Patrice" was founded on the drama of Calderon,
it being simply a translation of Montalvan's "Vida y Purgatorio," from
which, like itself, Calderon's play was derived. Among other
translations of Montalvan's work may be mentioned one in Dutch
(Brussels, 1668) and one in Portuguese (Lisbon, 1738). It was also
translated into German and Italian, but I find no mention of an English
version. For this reason I have thought that a few extracts might be
interesting, as showing how closely Calderon adhered even to the
language of his predecessor.
In all that relates to the Purgatory, Montalvan's work is itself chiefly
compiled from the "Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum, seu vitae et Actae
sanctorum Hiberniae," Paris, 1624, fol. This work, which has now
become scarce, was written by Thomas Messingham an Irish priest, the

Superior of the Irish Seminary in Paris. No complete English version
appears to have been made of it, but a small tract in English containing
everything in the original work that referred to St. Patrick's Purgatory
was published at Paris in 1718. As this tract is perhaps more scarce
than even the Florilegium itself, the account of the Purgatory as given
by Messingham from the MS. of Henry of Saltrey is reprinted in the
notes to this drama in the quaint language of the anonymous translator.
Of this tract, "printed at Paris in 1718" without the name of author,
publisher or printer, I have not been able to trace another copy. In other
points of interest connected with Calderon's drama, particularly to the
clearing up of the difficulty hitherto felt as to the confused list of
authorities at the end, the reader is also referred to the notes.
The present version of "The Purgatory of Saint Patrick" is, with the
exception of a few unimportant lines, an entirely new translation. It is
made with the utmost care, imitating all the measures and contained,
like the two preceding dramas, in the exact number of lines of the
original. One passage of the translation which I published in 1853 is
retained in the notes, as a tribute of respect to the memory of the late
John Rutter Chorley, it having been mentioned with praise by that
eminent Spanish scholar in an elaborate review of my earlier
translations from Calderon, which appeared in the "Athenaeum", Nov.
19 and Nov. 26, 1853.
It only remains to add that the text I have followed is that of
Hartzenbusch in his edition of Calderon's Comedias, Madrid, 1856
("Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles"). His arrangement of the scenes has
been followed throughout, thus enabling the reader in a moment to
verify for himself the exactness of the translation by a reference to the
original, a crucial test which I rather invite than decline.
CLAPHAM PARK, Easter, 1873.

THE
PURGATORY OF ST. PATRICK.

TO
AUBREY DE VERE,
WHOSE
"LEGENDS OF ST. PATRICK"
ARE AMONG THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF ENGLISH POEMS,
THIS VERSION
OF THE CELEBRATED LEGEND OF ST. PATRICK'S