it would do good to the reader. Often, too, they were led into anachronisms by asking tliemselves what ought the subject of their memoir to have done, and then answering that question according to the ideas of the age in which they themselves lived.
In making use of these ancient sources of information, there are therefore two errors which are to be avoided. In the first place, that credulity which accepts every story, no matter how far-fetched or improbable; and in the second place, that scepticism which refuses to acknowledge any groundwork of truth, because some of the accessories of the story are manifestly untrue.
The biographers fill up this period of Saint Patrick's life with varied and extensive travels. He visits Saint Martin at Tours, and remains with him four years. He also becomes for a time the disciple of Saint Germanus, and with him visits Britain and aids in refuting the Pelagian heresy. He crosses the Alps into Italy. He visits some islands in the Mediterranean, and in one of them obtains the miraculous crozier known as the 'Staff of Jesus,' which was venerated as a most precious relic up to the time of the Reformation. Finally, he repairs to Rome, is consecrated by Pope Celestine, and with the apostolic commission thus obtained, sets out for his work in Ireland.
We can trace to some extent the growth of the legend. In Patrick's own works we have no intimation that he ever came in contact with any of the eminent men of other lands, but he intimates that he had some connection with Gaul, his biographers therefore considered it only fitting that he should have been instructed by the great religious leaders of the age in that country. Accordingly the
