these Angels ordered his conductors to carry back the soul they were escorting, that he knew himself to be out of the body; then he expressed a great unwillingness to be so remanded; they promised, however, to come for him again; and while they were singing" The God of Gods shall be seen in Zion," the sweetness of that strain possessed him so entirely, that his soul re-entered its earthly vehicle without knowing how. This was just at cockcrow: he heard voices of lamentation, ... the mourners by whom his corpse was surrounded, saw the cloth stir with which his face had been covered; they instantly removed it, and to their astonishment the man whom they had been watching through the night, and deploring as dead, sate up and looked about him. He was grieved that there was no prudent person at hand to whom he might repeat all that he had seen; however, he lost no time in confessing and communicating, that he might be ready when the Angels should come for him, fully expecting the speedy fulfilment of their promise. During that day and the following he continued ill; at midnight, when his relations were about his bed, his feet became cold, his hands stiffened as they were extended in prayer,...a second trance ensued,...and he

had then that vision a part of which is related by Bede.

In this second expedition to the spiritual world, he was as little able to see the faces of the Devils by reason of their exceeding blackness, as those of the Angels for excess of light; but he could discern that they had long necks, that they were horribly lean, and that their heads were swoln to the shape of a brass kettle. They threw fiery darts at him, which were received on the shield of his protector; and the uproar with which they made their assaults was so great that he thought it must have been heard over the whole earth. On this occasion he was able to observe the manner in which his soul re-entered the body. While he was beholding that body as a loathsome corpse, which he did not recognize, and was unwilling to approach, he saw the breast open to let in the truant lodger. The Angel assured him that when he was reviving spring water would be poured over him, and he would feel no other pain than that of the burn which he had received in spirit. On a sudden he found himself once more a whole man, stretched on the bed as before, and surrounded by his friends; the cold affusion was administered, and sitting up amid the astonished company, Fursey re

lated his adventures, and displayed the burn in proof of their reality.

After this he itinerated throughout all Ireland, preaching and casting out devils,... an amiable person to the good, a terrible one to the wicked, an aweful one to the nobles and Kings. On the anniversary night of his last rapt a similar fit came on, but his heart continued to beat, and he saw only a single Angel, who announced to him that he was to continue preaching twelve years from that time. Ten of those years he remained in Ireland, and then, no longer able to bear the fatigue occasioned by the multitudes who followed him; and perceiving also the envy which he had excited, he withdrew with some of his monks and two of his brothers, Foilan and Ultan by name, (both Saints,) into a small island,* and proceeding from thence through the country which the Britons still possessed,† he found his way into the kingdom of the East Saxons. Sigebert, the first Christian King of that people, (that Sigebert to whom fond antiquaries have ascribed the foundation of the University of Cambridge,)

* F. Alford (ii. 251.) supposes this island to have been Iona.

Wales, according to the Bollandists,... but more probably the country of the Strath-Cluyd Britons.

received him joyfully, and enabled him to found a monastery at Burgh Castle, then called Cnobersburg, and supposed to have been the Garianonum of the Romans. We are now in the region of realities, and on historic ground. The foundation of a monastery was in those days so great and unequivocal a public good, that a very general spirit of liberality was excited on such occasions. The East Saxons are described as presenting it, some with farms, some with woods, some with fisheries, and some with flocks and herds; others offered silken vestments embroidered with gold and gems, others church vessels of silver and gold; some there were who gave male and female servants, and some who made over their own persons with all that they possessed to the convent, and, assuming a religious habit, devoted themselves in servitude to God. When the building was finished, there was no bell for summoning the monks and people to their devotions. Either there had been some neglect in procuring one, or it had been deemed unbecoming for such a personage as St. Fursey to obtain one by ordinary means. He therefore prayed for a bell, and even the prayers of William Huntington, the S.S. when his wardrobe required replenishing, were not more exactly answered:

for the son of a widow was brought to the convent for interment; an Angel appeared before all the attendants at the funeral with a bell in his hand, and gave it to the Saint,... the Saint rung the bell,... and at the first stroke of its miraculous clapper, the young man was restored to life.* The patient in this miracle became a monk in consequence, and obtained a birth in the convent instead of the churchyard. But the bell confined its powers from that time to securing all persons from danger in a thunderstorm who should be within hearing of its sound; and there are attestations upon certain experience that it continued to possess and exercise this useful property as late as the fifteenth century.

But promising as the foundation of this monastery had been, it was not destined to flourish. Fursey's continuance in the country was neither long nor tranquil. First he left his convent to lead a hermit's life in the wilds with his brother Ultan. But the Pagan Mercians infested the kingdom; he was forcibly brought from his retirement to assist the King with his

*" Multa similia campanarum portenta in vitis Sanctorum Britanniæ et Hiberniæ occurrunt, et nonnulla quidem satis testata.” This is part of a note, either by Bolland or Henschenius, on this story.-Acta SS. Jan. t. ii. 51.