{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17343/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17343","id":"gutenberg_17343","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17343","summary":null,"tags":["Brendan, Saint, the Voyager, approximately 483-577","Category: Historical Novels","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Produced by Thaadd, Graeme Mackreth and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\nESSAYS\n\nBY\n\nJOHN, THIRD MARQUESS OF BUTE.\n\n\nBRENDAN'S FABULOUS VOYAGE.\n\n[A LECTURE DELIVERED ON JANUARY 19, 1893, BEFORE THE SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF\nLITERATURE AND ART.]\n\nNew Edition.\n\n1911.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nIt has been thought desirable to reprint the Essays and other short\nWorks of the late Marquess of Bute in an inexpensive form likely to be\nuseful to the general reader, and thereby to make them more widely\nknown. Should this, the second of the proposed series, prove acceptable,\nit will be followed by others at short intervals.\n\n\n\n\nBRENDAN'S FABULOUS VOYAGE.\n\n[_A Lecture delivered on January 19, 1893, before the Scottish Society\nof Literature and Art_.]\n\n\nBrendan, the son of Finnlogh O' Alta, was born at Tralee in Kerry, in\nthe year 481 or 482.[1] He had a pedigree which connected him with the\nrulers of Ireland, and thus perhaps secured for him a social prominence\nwhich he would not otherwise have enjoyed. Nature seems to have endowed\nhim with an highly wrought and sensitive temperament. Putting aside\naltogether the idealism which caused him, like so many others of his\ntime and race, to give himself to the Church, he displayed throughout\nlife a restlessness which led him to constant journeys, sometimes of the\nnature of migrations, and the constant inception of projects to which he\ndid not continue long to adhere; and in the statements about him there\nare elements from which I conjecture that he was probably of the class\nof persons who furnish good subjects for hypnotic experiments. When he\nwas a year old he was handed over to the care of the nun Ita, when she\ndwelt at the foot of Mount Luachra. With her he remained until he was\nseven years old, when she sent him to Bishop Erc, by whom he had been\nbaptized, but during the whole of her life, which lasted nearly as long\nas his own, he never ceased to regard and to treat her with all the\naffectionate reverence of a son. His education was continued under Erc,\nuntil he grew towards manhood, when he visited other parts of Ireland\nfor the sake of study, but it was to Erc that he returned to be\nordained to the Presbyterate. At that period there was a sort of passion\namong the Celtic clergy for retiring into deserts after the manner of\nthe monks and hermits of Egypt, and the islands of the Western and\nNorthern ocean, if they could show nothing like the burning sands of\nAfrica, supplied deserts enough of a different sort. It was only in\naccordance then with a common custom of his day, that Brendan, after his\nordination, set out by sea with a few companions, to find a place where\nto found a monastery. It is to be remarked also that this was just about\nthe time of the migration of the Royal Race of the Dalriads to the\ncountry which has ultimately received from them the name of Scotland,\nand the project therefore bears a strong resemblance to that in which\nColumba succeeded about 60 years later. If Brendan had not failed,\nperhaps Columba would not have come. The wanderings or explorations of\nBrendan and his companions appear to have lasted several years, during\nwhich it may be presumed that they were in the habit of laying up\nsomewhere for the winter. It was doubtless partly owing to the\nrestlessness which was a part of his nature, that he finally settled\nnowhere, and returned to Ireland.\n\n[Footnote 1: Reeve's _Adamnan_, 221.]\n\nIn Ireland he did a good deal of work, but Ita urged him to try and do\ngood elsewhere, and he went over with some of his friends to Britain,\npossibly in connection with movements affected by the career of the\nhistoric Arthur, who was killed at Camlan or Camelon in 537. The\nChristian Irish at that time certainly made endeavours to assist the\nChristian party among the Britons. The nun Edana was making her\nattempts, either in person or by her disciples, to found her girls'\nschools in the south of Scotland, and it is not impossible that Ita\nthought that she might also accomplish some good by sending forth a\nmale emissary. In connection with Brendan's sojourn in Britain, there is\na most curious mention of the use of a Greek Liturgy somewhere in the\nBritish Church. There is a statement that Brendan was at the head of the\ncelebrated Welsh monastery of Llancarfan. He also went over to Brittany\nto see Gildas the Wise, who was bewailing the woes of his native land on\nthe shores of the Morbihan. He ultimately returned to the Western\nIslands, and there succeeded at last in founding two monastic\nsettlements, one in Tiree, at a place which the writers call Bledua, and\none in an island called Ailech, which it seems to me may possibly mean\nIslay. Then he went back to Ireland, and started another monastery in a\ndesert island in Loch Oisbsen, which was given to him by Aedh, the son\nof Ethdach. Hence, however, he again moved in 559, and founded the great\nmonastery of Clonfert, an act which is the principal achievement of his\nlife.\n\nHe was friendly with the principal persons of his own race, time, and\nclass. He seems, as I have said, to have possessed the peculiar\ntemperament, which some call sensitive and others mediumistic, and which\nleads to the phenomenon generally known as second-sight, for, putting\naside all other records about him which point in the same direction, it\nis recorded of him, not only by Adamnan, but also by Cuimine the Fair,\nthat on one occasion when he came over, along with Comgall of Benchor,\nKenneth of Aghaboe, and Cormac o' Leathain of Durrow, to visit Columba,\nwho was then staying in Himba (Eilean na Naoimh, one of the Garveloch\nislands, lying between Scarba and Mull), and Columba at their request\ncelebrated before them on the Sunday, he afterwards told Comgall and\nKenneth that during part of the ceremony Columba had seemed to him to be\nstanding at the bottom of a pillar of fire streaming heavenwards.\n\nHe lived to an extreme old age, and was in his 96th year when the end\ncame. When he felt that it was at hand, he went to see his sister Briga,\nand I quote the sentences which follow, on account of the quaint\nnaturalism which inspires them. 'Among other things, he taught her\nconcerning the place of her resurrection. \"Not here,\" saith he unto her,\n\"shalt thou rise again, but in thine own land, that is in Tralee.\nTherefore, go thou thither, for that people will obtain the mercy of God\nby thy means. This is a place of men, not of women. Now is God calling\nme unto Himself out of the prison house of this body.\" When she heard\nthat, she was grievously afflicted, and said, \"Father beloved, we shall\nall die at thy death. For which of us could live when thou wast absent\nliving? Much less, when thou art dead.\" Brendan said farther, \"On the\nthird day hence, I shall go the way of my fathers.\" Now that day was the\nLord's Day. Thereon, after the sacraments of the altar had been\noffered, he saith to them that stood by, \"In your supplications, commend\nmy going forth.\" And Briga speaketh and saith, \"Father, what fearest\nthou?\" He saith, \"I fear that I shall journey alone, that the way will\nbe dark--I fear the unknown country, the presence of the King, the\nsentence of the Judge.\" After these things he commanded the brethren to\ncarry his body to the monastery of Clonfert secretly, lest, if they did\nit openly, it should be kept by them among whom they should pass. Then\nwhen he had kissed them all one by one, he saith unto holy Briga,\n\"Salute my friends on my behalf, and say unto them to beware of evil\nspeaking, even when it is true, how much the more when it is false.\"\nWhen he had so spoken and foretold how some things would be in time to\ncome, he passed into everlasting rest, in the 96th year of his age.' He\ndied, May 16, 577.\n\nBy combining with all the collected and credible statements concerning\nhim illustrative matter from the history of his times and the\nbiographies of his contemporaries, it would no doubt be possible to\nwrite a life of Brendan, which would be both of considerable bulk and of\nconsiderable interest. But there would be nothing particularly startling\nor striking about it. Apart from the interest of public events\ncontemporary with his long career, the monotonous variety produced by\nhis vagabond nature, and such psychical interest as might possibly\nattach to stories of his mediumistic temperament, it would be rather\nhum-drum. Brendan, however, has had the ill luck to be selected by some\nunknown antient Irish novelist as the hero of a romance of the wildest\nkind, which has certainly spread his name, if not his fame, in quarters\nwhich in all his travels he could never have anticipated. Even in the\nCanary Islands, the natives apply the term 'Isla de San Borondon' to a\npeculiar effect like mirage, showing a shadowy presentiment of land,\nwhich is sometimes seen off their coasts. His character as an hero of\nromance, somewhat of the type of Sinbad the Sailor, if not of that of\nGulliver, has even injured him as a subject of serious study. There has\nbeen a sort of custom, to which may be applied a celebrated phrase of\nNewman, 'aged but not venerable,' of confounding the hero of the romance\nwith the real man. It would be just as proper to identify the hero of\nthe _Pickwick Papers_ with a certain Mr. Pickwick, whom it was, oddly\nenough, the duty of one of Dickens' sons to call as a witness in an\nEnglish law-suit not many years ago. Even Homer sometimes nods--at least\naccording to the critics, of whose opinion Lucian credits him with so\nlow an estimation--and the great Bollandists had their historical\nequanimity--much as experience must have already taught it to bear--so\nupset by the brilliancy of the fable that they have omitted to print\nthe real life at all, a life which is, at the worst, no more startling\nthan a good many with which they have enriched their pages--e.g., those\nof Patrick, Brigid, and Columba--and after a denunciation of what their\nauthorities call the _vana, fictaque vel apocrypha deliramenta_, 'the\nsilly, lying, or apocryphal ravings,' simply proceed to give a\ncompilation of isolated notices drawn from a variety of different\nsources.\n\nProf. O'Curry, in his _Lectures on the MS. Material of Ancient Irish\nHistory_, page 289, mentions four ancient Irish romances in the form of\nvoyages, of which the voyage of Brendan is one. He gives an epitome of\nthat of the sons of Ua Corra, which seems at least in parts to be almost\nequally wild. But that of Brendan has certainly been the most popular.\nM. Achille Jubinal, who edited one Latin and two French translations of\nit, says that it also exists in Irish, Welsh, Spanish, English, and\nAnglo-Norman. The Spanish, English, and Anglo-Norman I have never read,\nand of the Welsh I have never heard. Of the Latin I once made a complete\ntranslation from the Latin text published by Jubinal, but I have lost\nit, and have had to do the work again so far as necessary for the\npresent lecture. I remember, however, that from several features, I came\nto the conclusion that the Latin text was a translation from Irish, and\nthe Irish text must present considerable variants, as Dr. Todd in his\nbook on _St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland_, page 460, cites from 'An\nIrish Life of St. Brendan,' but which must evidently be the fabulous\nvoyage, four incidents, of which one is about the finding of a dead\nmermaid, another about one of the voyagers being devoured alive by\nsea-cats, and the third about an huge sea-cat as large as an ox which\nswam after them to destroy them, until another sea-monster rose up and\nfought with the cat, and both were drowned, none of which incidents\noccur in the Latin. However, to the Latin version my defective knowledge\nmust confine me, and there is enough of it for one lecture, and to\nspare. I may, however, say that by the Latin text I do not here mean\nonly the text published by Jubinal. The present Bollandists were good\nenough, some years ago, to edit for me the 'Codex Salmanticensis,' which\ncontains both the romance and the Life, and I find in the romance\nserious divergences from the text given by Jubinal; they are of a kind\nwhich, in my judgment, stamp it beyond all doubt as a later and corrupt\nedition, but I have largely compared the texts, although not word for\nword.\n\nWell, I am now going to deal with the 'silly, lying, or apocryphal\nravings.' The romance relates that on one occasion when Brendan was in a\nplace called the Thicket, there came to him a man called Barint O'Neil,\nof the race of King Neil of IX. Hostages. This man told him that his\ndisciple Marnock had left him, and founded an hermitage of his own in an\nisland called Delight some, whither he himself afterwards went to visit\nhim. While he was there, they were one day together upon the shore,\nwhere there was a small boat, and then, to translate the precise words,\n'he said unto me, \"Father, go up into the ship, and let us sail westward\nunto the island which is called the Land of Promise of the Saints, which\nGod will give unto them that come after us in the latter time.\" We went\nup into the ship therefore, and clouds covered us all round about us, so\nthat hardly could we see the stern or the prow of the ship. After the\nspace, as it were, of one hour, a great light shone round about us, and\nthere appeared a land wide and grassy, and very fruitful. And when the\nship was come to land, we went out, and began to go about, and to walk\nthrough that land for fifteen days, and we could not find the end\nthereof. We saw there no plant without a flower, and no tree without\nfruit, and all the stones thereof are precious stones. And upon the\nfifteenth day we found a river running from the west eastward. And when\nwe considered all these things, we doubted what we should do. We were\nfain to pass over the river, but we waited for counsel from God. While\nwe discussed thus between us, of a sudden there appeared before us a man\nin great brightness, who called us by our names and saluted us, saying,\n\"It is well done, good brethren, for the Lord hath revealed unto you\nthat land which He will give unto his Saints. For it is an half of the\nisland up to this river; but unto you it is not given to pass over. Go\nback therefore whence ye are come.\" When he said thus, we asked him\nwhence he was, and by what name he was called. And he said unto me, \"Why\ndost thou ask me whence I am? and by what name I am called? Why dost\nthou not rather ask as to this island? For even as thou seest it now, so\ndoth it remain since the beginning of the world. Hast thou any need of\nmeat or drink? Hast thou been overcome of sleep, or hath night covered\nthee? Know therefore of a surety: there is always day here without\nblindness or shadow of darkness. For our Lord Jesus Christ is the light\nthereof, and if men had not done against the commandment of God, they\nwould have remained in the loveliness of this land.\" When we heard it,\nwe were turned to weeping, and when we were rested, we straightway took\nour journey, and the man aforesaid came with us even to the shore where\nour ship was. But when we got us up into the ship, the man was taken\naway from our eyes, and we came into the darkness aforesaid, and until\nthe Isle of Delight some.' Barint goes on to relate his conversation\nwith Marnock's disciples, and how they told him that they often knew by\nthe fragrance of Marnock's garments, when he had been away from them for\na while and returned, that he had been in that garden of God, where, as\nit is expressed, 'night gathereth not, nor day endeth ... for the angels\nof God keep it.'\n\nIncited by this narrative, Brendan proposed to some of his disciples to\nset out in search of the Land of Promise, and after fasting for forty\ndays for three days at a time, they finally embarked from the\nneighbourhood of Tralee. There is a very curious description of the\n_corach_[2] or skin-boat in which they embarked. It was, it is stated,\n'very light, with ribs and posts of wicker, as the use is in those\nparts, and they covered it with the hides of cattle, dyed reddish in\noak-bark, and they smeared all the seams of the ship without; and they\ntook provisions for forty days, and butter for dressing hides for the\ncovering of the ship, and the other things which are useful for the life\nof man.' Two of the MSS. add (and are justified by subsequent\npassages):--'They set up a mast in the middle of the ship, and a sail,\nand the rest of the gear for steering.' The voyagers were fourteen in\nnumber besides Brendan, but at the last moment three other brethren came\nand entreated to be taken, saying that if they were left where they\nwere, they would die of hunger and thirst. Brendan consents, but\npredicts that while one of them would come to a good end, two would come\nto a bad.\n\n[Footnote 2: After the manner of the antient Celts, but which is not, I\nbelieve, altogether extinct either in the Highlands or in Ireland, and\nof which I remember having seen one once in actual use in Wales.]\n\nThey set off in the direction of the summer solstice, by which must, I\nthink, be meant the northerly western point where the sun sets in\nsummer, and are forty days at sea--it will be noticed that the periods\nin this story are nearly always of forty days. At the end of this time\nthey come to a very high and rocky island, with streams falling down the\ncliffs into the sea. They search for a landing-place for three days, and\nthen find a narrow harbour, between steep walls of rock. On landing,\nthey are met by a dog, which they follow to a town or fort, but see no\ninhabitants. They go into a great hall set with couches and seats, and\nfind water prepared for washing the feet. The walls are hung with\nvessels of divers kinds of metal, and bridles, and horns mounted with\nsilver. Brendan warns the brethren against theft, especially the three\nwho had come last. They find a table laid, and spread with very white\nbread and fish. They eat and lie down to sleep. In the night Brendan\nsees a fiend in the shape of an Ethiopian child tempting one of the\nthree last comers with a silver bridle. In the morning they find the\ntable again spread, and so remain for three days and nights. Then they\nprepare to leave, and Brendan denounces one of the brethren as a thief.\nOn this the guilty brother draws the silver bridle out of his breast,\nand cries out, 'Father, I have sinned: forgive it, and pray for my soul\nthat it perish not.' The devil is cast out, but the brother dies and is\nburied on the island. As they are on the point of embarking, a lad\nbrings them a basket of bread and a vessel (_amphora_) of water, which\nhe gives to them with a blessing.\n\nThey start again upon the ocean, and are carried hither and thither,\neating once every two days. At last, on Maundy Thursday, they reach\nanother island, where are many abundant springs full of fish, and flocks\nof white sheep as large as cattle, sometimes so thick as to conceal the\nearth. There they remain until the morning of the Eve of Easter, when\nthey take, and apparently kill and dress, one sheep and one lamb without\nblemish. The reference is evidently to an identity of custom with that\nwhich still prevails in all the southern countries of Europe, of\npreparing the flesh of a lamb on Holy Saturday, in honour of the Paschal\nLamb, which flesh is blessed on the Saturday, and used to break the fast\nof Lent on the next day.[3] When all is ready there comes to them a man\nwith a basket of bread baken on the coals--evidently meaning Passover\nbread. This man now becomes a regular although occasional feature in the\nnarrative, and is called their provider (_procurator_). He foretells\ntheir journey for some time, and how they will be until a week after\nPentecost in a place which is called the _Eden of Birds_.\n\n[Footnote 3: In Italy at least, in order as far as possible to combine\nthe strict fast of the Saturday with a fulfilment of the words of Ex.\nxii. 8, 'And they shall eat the flesh in that night.' It is usual to\nhave an image of a lamb in sugar or other confectionary, which is also\nblessed during the day, and eaten at supper.]\n\nThus furnished, they go to an island close by, which he has pointed out\nto them as the place where they are to remain until the following noon.\nThis island is destitute of grass, and with but scanty vegetation, and\nthere is no sand upon its shores. All goes well until the next day, when\nthey light a fire to boil the pot, whereupon the island becomes restive,\nand finally sinks into the sea, although they all manage to escape into\nthe ship. '\"Brethren,\" saith Brendan, \"ye wonder at that which this\nisland hath done.\" \"Father,\" say they, \"we wonder sorely, and great\ndread hath taken hold upon us.\" He said unto them, \"Little children, be\nnot afraid, for God hath this night shown unto me the secret of this\nthing. Where we have been was not an island but the first fish of all\nthat swim in the ocean, and he seeketh ever to bring his tail unto his\nmouth, but he cannot, because of his length. Jasconius is his name.\"'\n\nThis is the only incident in the whole romance which is actually\ngrotesque. But from the solemnity with which it is narrated, it is\nevident that it did not appear to be grotesque to the author. It seems\nto have taken the fancy of the early and mediaeval public, and even of\nthe iconographic public in a special degree. The word _whale_ has\ncommonly been applied to the beast, and as the same episode occurs in\nthe story of _Sinbad the Sailor_, Jubinal has set himself to speculate\nhow that story, or the _Arabian Nights_ in which it is incorporated,\ncame to be known in Ireland. I confess I do not agree with him. In the\nfirst place, the notion is not particularly recondite, and it has at\nleast this possible foundation in fact, that, as I have been told by\nsailors, the back of a whale of advanced years, when asleep at the\nsurface, may be and has been mistaken from some distance, greatly owing\nto the accretions upon it, for the top of a reef. Again, a somewhat\nsimilar notion occurs in Lucian's _Traveller's Tale_, which was much\nmore likely to be known to the Irish fabulist. Lastly, I must observe\nthat all this is gloss. The word _whale_ (cete) is never applied to the\nanimal but always _fish_ (piscis) or _monster_ (bellua) or _beast_\n(bestie), and the whole thing, with the notion of its vast size, and the\nattempt to join the tail to the mouth, which brings it into connection\nwith the emblem of eternity, which is due, I believe, to the\nPhoenicians, but which we ourselves so often use upon coffins and\ngrave-stones, seems to bring it into connection rather with the idea of\nthe Midgard-Worm, the great under-lying world-serpent which figures so\nlargely in the mythic cosmogony of the Scandinavians. I suggest that\nthis is the notion, of which the romancer may have heard from\nScandinavian sources; and there is even a kind of indication that it was\nassociated in his mind with the idea of paganism, as Brendan is made to\nspeak elsewhere of God having made the most terrible (_immanissimam_) of\nbeasts subject unto them.\n\nOn leaving the spot where the monster had sunk, they first returned to\nthe provider's isle, from the top of which they perceived another near\nat hand, covered with grass and woods and full of flowers, and thither\nthey went.\n\nOn the south shore of this island they found a river a little broader\nthan the ship, and up this they towed her for a mile, when they came to\nthe fountain-head of the stream. It was a wondrous fountain, and above\nit there was a tree marvellously beautiful, spreading rather than high,\nbut all covered with white birds, so covered that they hid its foliage\nand branches. (The notion is perhaps taken from a tree loaded with\nsnow.) 'And when the man of God saw it, he began to think in himself\nwhat or wherefore it should be, that such a multitude of birds should be\ngathered together in one place. And the thing distressed him so, that he\nwept, and fell down upon his knees, and besought the Lord, saying, \"O\nGod, Who knowest the things which are unknown, and makest manifest the\nthings which are hidden, Thou knowest how that mine heart is straitened;\ntherefore I beseech Thee that it may please Thee to make manifest unto\nme, Thy sinful servant, this mystery which now I do see with mine eyes.\nAnd this I ask not for an desert of my worthiness, but in respect of Thy\nmercy.\" When he had so spoken, behold, one of the birds flew from the\ntree. From the ship, where the man of God was sitting, his wings sounded\nas with the sound of little bells. He perched upon the top of the prow,\nand began to spread his wings for joy, and looked kindly upon the holy\nfather Brendan. Then the man of God, when he understood that the Lord\nhad had regard unto his prayer, saith unto the bird, \"If thou be the\nmessenger of God, tell me whence be these birds, and wherefore they be\ngathered here.\" And it said, \"We are of that great ruin of the old\nenemy; but we have not fallen by sinning or consenting; but we have been\npredestinated by the goodness and mercy of God, for wherein we were\ncreated, hath our ruin come to pass, through his fall and the fall of\nhis crew. But God the Almighty, Who is righteous and true, hath by His\njudgment sent us into this place. Pains we suffer not. The presence of\nGod in a sense we cannot see, so far has He separated us from the\ncompany of them that stood firm. We wander through the divers parts of\nthis world, of the sky, and of the firmament, and of the earths, even as\nother spirits who are sent forth [to minister]. But upon the holy days\nof the Lord, we take bodies such as Thou seest, and by the ordinance of\nGod we dwell here, and praise our Maker. As for thee, thou and thy\nbrethren are a year upon the way, and yet there await you six. And where\nthis day thou hast kept the Passover, there shall ye keep it every year,\nand afterwards shall thou find that which thou hast set in thine heart,\neven the land promised unto the Saints.\" And when the bird had so\nspoken, it rose from the prow, and returned unto the others. And when\nthe hour of evening came, they all began to flap their wings, and to\nsing as it were with one voice, saying, \"Praise waiteth for Thee, O God,\nin Zion, and unto Thee shall the vow be performed in Jerusalem, through\nour ministry.\" And they repeated that verse even for the space of an\nhour, and the song and the sound of their wings was like harmony (carmen\ncantus) for sweetness. Then holy Brendan saith unto his brethren,\n\"Refresh your bodies, since this day the Lord hath satisfied your souls\nby His Divine rising again.\" And when supper was ended, and the work of\nGod done, the man of God and they that were with him gave their bodies\nunto rest until the third watch of the night. And the man of God woke\nand roused the brethren for the watches of the night, and he began\nholily to sing that verse, \"O Lord, open Thou my lips.\" And when the\nword of the man of God was finished, all the birds sang out with wings\nand voices, saying, \"Praise ye the Lord, all His Angels, praise ye Him\nall His hosts.\" Likewise at even for the space of an hour, they sang\never, and when the dawn glowed they began to sing, \"And let the beauty\nof the Lord our God be upon us,\" with the same harmony and length of\nsinging as in the Morning Praises: likewise, at the third hour that\nverse, \"Sing praises to our God, sing praises, sing praises unto our\nKing, sing ye praises with understanding:\" at the sixth hour, \"May the\nLord cause His face to shine upon us, and be merciful unto us:\" and at\nthe ninth hour they sang, \"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for\nbrethren to dwell together in unity.\" So by day and by night these birds\ngave praise to God.'\n\nI have read this passage at length, not only because of its intrinsic\nmerit, but also because of its evident meaning. It is obvious that it is\nmeant to propound doctrines similar to those which a distinguished\nwriter has recently discussed under the title, _Happiness in Hell_. It\nis remarkable that the Codex Salmanticensis omits the whole passage in\nthis sense. Possibly it did not suit the views of the transcriber.\n\nIn a week the provider came to them bringing more food and drink, but\nwarned them not to drink of the fountain, as its waters were stupefying.\nHe returned again at Pentecost, bringing more, but bade them now\nprovision the ship with water, and with dried bread. A week later they\nstarted. When they were on the shore, one of the birds came and perched\nupon the prow and said, 'Ye have kept the holy day of the Passover with\nus this year. Ye shall also keep the same day with us in the year to\ncome. And where ye have been in the last year at the Supper of the Lord,\nthere shall ye be upon the said day in the year to come. Likewise shall\nye keep the Lord's night, the Passover Supper, where ye have kept it\nbefore, that is, upon the back of the monster Jasconius. And after eight\nmonths ye shall find the isle which is called Ailbey. There shall ye\nkeep the birth of Christ.' And so he flew back, and as the boat sailed\naway, all the birds sang, 'Answer us, O God of our salvation, Who art\nthe confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar\noff upon the sea.'\n\nThey were wandering upon the sea for three months, and afterwards came\nto the isle Ailbey, where they stayed until the middle of January. There\nis here described a monastery with twenty-four monks, who were fed on\nmiraculously provided bread, and, except the Abbat, never spoke. There\nis rather a curious description of the church, which was square, with\nstalls round the walls. It had three altars, all of crystal, as were\nall the altar vessels, and seven lamps which were lit every evening by a\nfiery arrow which came in and went out at a window.\n\nThey left Ailbey, and were carried about on the sea until the beginning\nof Lent. They then came to an island where there was abundant\nvegetation, roots, and streams full of fish, but some of the brethren\nbecame insensible from one, two, or three days, from drinking the water.\nI own that this and the remark about the water in the Eden of Birds\nseems to me to be very likely plagiarised from the wine-river in\nLucian's _Traveller's Tale_. Hence they went north for three days, were\nbeating about for about twenty, and then eastward for three more, and\nthen came back for Maundy Thursday to the isle of the provider, who\nagain met them. All went on as before, and a week after Pentecost they\nstarted again from the Eden of the Birds.\n\nIt will thus be observed that the real times of voyaging in each year\nare limited to the months of February and March, and from about the\nearly part of June to the middle of December.\n\nForty days after starting in this new year they were much alarmed by a\nvast fish which seemed to be coming after them to devour them, but it\nwas killed by another monster, breathing fire, which appeared against it\nfrom the East, and tore it into three pieces.\n\nThe next day they came to a large and grassy island, where they found\nthe tail portion of the monster fish. On this island they beached the\nship, pitched the tent, and stayed three months, during which the sea\nwas too stormy for travel. They lived for the three months on part of\nthe monster, the rest of which was devoured by beasts, but another\nportion of a fish was afterwards washed up, and they made a salt\nprovision of it--though as to Brendan himself, it is remarked that he\nwas a consistent vegetarian, having never, since his ordination, eaten\nanything wherein had been the breath of life. Three days after this, the\nsea being stiller, they set out again towards the North.\n\nOne day they saw an island in the distance, and Brendan told them that\nthere were three companies, of children, of young men, and of elders,\nand that one of the three brethren last come was there to make his\nearthly pilgrimage. They came to shore. The island was so flat that it\nseemed level with the sea. It had no trees nor anything that wind can\nshake. It was vast, and was covered with something which the Latin text\ncalls _scaltae_--a word which I have failed to find in Ducange or in any\nother authority which I have been able to consult. It is, however,\nevidently, from the context, some kind of ground fruit, and may perhaps\nbe the strawberry or the Blaeberry--although the Latin for these seems\nto be generally _fragum_ and _bacca myrtilii_. This fruit was white or\n_purpureus_--wherein another difficulty arises as to the meaning of\n_purpureus_. The individual berries were as big as large balls, and\ntasted like honey. In this island were the three companies, who seemed\nto be moving and standing in a kind of sacred dance, two moving round\nwhile the one which had taken the farthest place stood still and sang,\n'The Saints shall go from strength to strength: the God of gods will\nappear in Zion.' It is vexatious that here the question of colour again\narises, as something very picturesque is evidently intended to be\ndescribed. The company of children were clad in pure and glistering\nwhite, but the Latin, which is verbally followed by the French, gives\nthe colour of the young men's garments as hyacinthine, and that of the\nelders' as purple. I have consulted all the authorities upon the\nquestion that I can. The result is that it is disputed whether\nhyacinthine means red or blue or both, and whether the Latin purple was\nred or plum-coloured. I hazard the conjecture that there is here an\nattempt to symbolize innocence, vigour, and ripeness, and that as the\nfirst colour is certainly white, the others may be red and what we call\npurple.\n\nThe voyagers landed at the fourth hour (10 A.M.) and the dance went on\nuntil noon, when the three companies sang together the lxvii., the lxx.,\nand the cxvi. Psalms, adding again, 'the God of gods will appear in\nZion.' At 3 P.M. they sang likewise Psalms cxxx., cxxxiii., and what is\ncalled in the Septuagint the cxlvii., viz., the last nine verses of that\nso called in the A.V. At even they sang the lxv., the civ., the cxiii.,\nand then the whole 15 songs of degrees, during which they sat. When this\nwas done, a bright cloud overshadowed the island, a cloud so bright that\nit blinded the sight of the voyagers, but they could still hear the\nsacred song going on without ceasing until midnight (_vigilie matutinae_)\nwhen they heard sung Psalms cxlviii., cxlix., and cl., and then what are\ncalled '12 Psalms according to the Psalter, up to \"The fool hath said in\nhis heart,\"'--an apparent reference to the present Roman Breviary\narrangement by which the xth is united (as in the Septuagint) with the\nixth, and the vth transferred out of its order. As day broke, the cloud\npassed away from over the island and the companies sang Psalms li., xc.,\nand lxiii., and at 9 A.M. xlvii., liv., and cxvi. From what this\npeculiar arrangement of the Psalms is taken, I do not know. It is not\nthat of the Monastic Breviary, nor of the Roman, nor of the Greek\nChurch, nor is it that of the Mozarabic, at least at present, but from\nits excessive irregularity, in which it resembles the Mozarabic, I guess\nthat it may belong to some Ephesine rite, as introduced by Patrick into\nIreland, and that it is here set down at length because it was becoming\nobsolete in the days of the writer. Then they went to Communion. After\nthis, two of the company of young men brought a basket full of the\npurple fruit, and put it into the ship, saying, 'Take ye of the fruit of\nthe strong men's isle, and give us our brother and depart in peace.'\nThen Brendan called the brother to him and said, 'Kiss thy brethren, and\ngo with them that call thee. I tell thee, brother, that in a good hour\ndid thy mother conceive thee, who hast earned to dwell with such a\ncongregation.' So they bade him farewell with tears, and when he came to\nthe companies, they sang, 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for\nbrethren to dwell together in unity,' and then the _Te Deum_, and the\nvoyagers set out again upon their way.\n\nThe voyage now continues with two or three comparatively trivial\nadventures. For twelve days they lived upon the juice of the scaltae,\nafter which they fasted for three days. Then a bird brought them a\nbranch of an unknown tree, bearing a bunch of bright red grapes, whereon\nthey lived for four days, and then fasted for three more. On the last of\nthese they sighted the island where grew the grapes. It was thickly\nwooded, with trees bending under the weight of the fruit, filled with\nall manner of good vegetation, and exhaling an odour like that of an\nhouse full of pomegranates (_mala punica_). Here they landed, pitched\nthe tent, and stayed for forty days.\n\nAfter they left this island they were much alarmed by the sight of a\ngriffin flying towards them, but it was killed by another bird which\nfought it in the air, and its body fell into the sea. They reached the\nisle Ailbey in safety, and there passed the midwinter as usual.\n\nThe following years are passed over with merely the general statement\nthat they went about much in the ocean, and passed the usual seasons in\nthe usual places. It is mentioned that one midsummer the sea was so\nclear for about a week that they could see the marine animals lying at\nthe bottom; and when Brendan sang, these came up and swam round the\nship.\n\nIt must be, as far as the chronology of the romance can be said to be\nfixed, intended to be represented as in the February of the seventh\nyear, that the narrative again becomes continuous. They saw one day a\npillar standing in the sea, which appeared to be near them, but which\nthey did not reach for three days. Its top seemed to pierce the clouds.\nAt the distance of about a mile it was surrounded on every hand by a\nsort of network, of a material like silver, but harder than marble. They\ndrew in the oars and mast, and passed through one of the interstices.\nThe sea within was as clear as glass, so that they could see the bottom,\nwith the lower part of the pillar and the network resting upon it. The\npillar was of absolutely clear crystal, so that the light and heat of\nthe sun passed through it. It was forty cubits broad on every side. On\nthe south side they found a chalice of the material of the network and a\npaten of the material of the pillar. After passing again out of the\nnetwork, they sailed for eight days towards the North, and here begins\nwhat may be called the diabolical portion of the story.\n\nThey saw one day a wild and rocky island, without grass or tree, but\nfull of smiths' forges. The wind bore them past it at about a stone's\nthrow, and they could hear bellows roaring with a sound like thunder,\nand hammers striking upon anvils. Presently they saw one of the\ninhabitants come out of a cave. He was shaggy and hideous, burnt and\ndark. When he saw the ship, he ran back howling into his workshop.\nBrendan immediately bid hoist the sail and have out the oars. While this\nwas doing the creature appeared again with a glowing mass of fused\nmetal (_massam igneam de scoria_) in pincers, which he hurled at them.\nWhere it struck the water about a furlong from them, it made the sea\nboil and hiss. They had only escaped about a mile when they saw beings\nswarming out upon the shore, throwing about molten masses, some after\nthem and some at one another, and then all went back into the forges and\nset them blazing, until the whole island seemed one mass of fire. The\nsea boiled like a boiling cauldron, and all day long the travellers\nheard an awful wailing. Even when they were out of sight of the island,\nthe howls still rang in their ears, and the stench made their nostrils\nsmart. 'And Brendan said, \"O ye soldiers of Christ, make you strong in\nfaith not feigned, and in the armour of the spirit, for we are upon the\ncoasts of hell. Watch, therefore, and play the man.\"'\n\nThe next day but one, they found the wind bearing them down upon\nanother mountain in the sea, black as coal, reaching steep down to the\nsea, and whose top they could hardly see, but yet wrapt in soft mists.\nWhen they came near it, the sole remaining of the three last come\nbrethren jumped out of the ship and waded to shore. Suddenly he showed\nsigns of terror, and cried out that he was being carried away and could\nnot return. The brethren in horror pushed the ship away from land, and\nstarted towards the South. When they looked back they saw flames\nshooting up from the top of the mountain, and then sinking in again, and\nagain surging up. It is a phenomenon familiar to any one who has watched\nthe top of a volcano--often even of iron-works--and which has been\nsplendidly described in the account of the burning essence of life in\n_She_. From this sight they fled and journeyed for seven days toward the\nSouth.\n\nWe now reach an incident founded upon that fact from the contemplation\nof which the human mind perhaps shrinks more than from any other. But\nthe literary treatment of it is so curious and striking, and is rendered\nall the more so, at least to me, because I am aware of only one other\nattempt to grapple with it in the whole cycle of human invention, and\nthat in the very highest sphere of imaginative literature, that I think\nthat you will forgive me if I deal with it, and give at any-rate a part\nof it in full. 'And after these things,' says the novelist, 'the Father\nBrendan saw as it were a very thick mist, and when they drew nigh\nthereto, there appeared unto them a little shape as it had been the\nshape of a man sitting upon a stone, and before him a veil of the size\nof a bag hanging between two forks of iron, and thus the waves beat him\nabout as it were a boat when it is in peril in a tempest. And when the\nbrethren saw it, some of them thought that it had been a bird, and\nothers thought that it had been a ship. Then the man of God answered\nthem, \"Brethren, let be this strife, and turn the ship unto the place.\"\nAnd when the man of God drew nigh thereto, the waves round about stood\nstill as though they had been frozen. And they found sitting upon a\nstone a man shaggy and mis-shapen, and from every side when the waves\ncame upon him, they smote him up to the crown of his head; and when\nagain they fell away from him then was seen the stone whereon the\nunhappy one sat. And the wind moved about from time to time the cloth\nthat was before him, and it smote him upon the eyes and upon the\nforehead. And when the blessed one asked him who he was, and for what\nfault he was set there, and how he had merited such punishment, he said,\n\"I am that most unhappy Judas, the worst of bargainers. Neither for any\ndesert of mine do I have this place, but through the pardon and pity of\nthe Redeemer of the world, and in honour of His holy resurrection, have\nI this rest\" (now, it was the Lord's Day), \"and when I sit here it\nseemeth to me as though I were in the Garden of Eden, by reason of the\ntorments which I shall have this even, for when I am in torment I am\nlike a bit of lead molten in a crucible day and night. In the midst of\nthe mountain which ye have seen, there is Leviathan with his crew, and I\nwas there when it swallowed up your brother, and therefore hell was\nglad, and sent forth great flames, and thus doth it ever when it\ndevoureth the souls of the wicked. But that ye may know the measureless\ngoodness of God, I will tell you of my rest. I have here my rest every\nLord's Day from evening to evening--,\"' and then follow some words as to\nother days which are evidently corrupted both in Jubinal's text and in\nthat of the Salamanca MS. Then it continues, '\"But the other days I am\ntormented with Herod and Pilate, with Annas and Caiphas; and therefore\nI beseech you for the sake of the Redeemer of the world, that ye be\npleased to plead for me with the Lord Jesus that it be granted me to be\nhere until to-morrow at the rising of the sun, that at your coming the\ndevils may not torment me nor carry me away unto that evil heritage\nwhich I have bought unto myself.\"' This is done. There is some talk,\nfrom which it appears that the cloth is one which Judas once gave to a\nleper, the forks some which he had given to Priests whereon to hang\npots, and the stone whereon he sits, one with which he had once filled\nup an hole in a public highway. The whole episode closes thus:--'At the\nbreaking of the day, when the man of God began to take his journey,\nbehold, an infinite multitude of devils covered the face of the deep,\nspeaking with dreadful voices and saying, \"O man of God, cursed be thy\ncoming in and thy going out, for our prince hath scourged us this night\nwith grievous stripes, because we brought him not that accursed\nprisoner.\" And the man of God saith unto them, \"Let that curse be not\nupon us but upon you, for blessed is he whom ye curse, and cursed is he\nwhom ye bless.\" The devils said, \"That unhappy Judas shall suffer double\npains these six days, because ye have shielded him this night.\" The\nsaint saith unto them, \"Ye have no power, neither your princes, for\npower is of God.\" And he said, \"In the name of the Lord, I command you\nand your prince that ye put him to no greater torments than ye have been\nwont.\" They answered him, \"Art thou the Lord of all, that we should obey\nthy words?\" The man of God saith unto them, \"I am the servant of the\nLord of all; and whatsoever I command in His Name, it is done; and I\nhave no ministry save of them whom he giveth me.\" And so they followed\nhim, continually blaspheming, until he was borne away from Judas; and\nthe devils went back and lifted up that most unhappy soul among them,\nwith a great rushing and shouting.'\n\nThis subject is one that ought not to be treated at all. It ought to be\nleft veiled in the unknown, as it has been left for us by the Infinite\nMercy from Whose revelation we know all that we know about it. As a\nmatter of fact, I am only aware, as I have stated, of one other writer\nbesides this Irish romancer, who has treated it. That writer is Dante.\nAt the lowest depth of his Inferno sits Satan munching Brutus, Cassius,\nand Judas in his threefold mouth. Brutus and Cassius have their heads\nand upper parts hanging outside the mouth.\n\n     'Quell' anima lassu, c' ha maggior pena,'\n     Disse 'l Maestro, 'e Giuda Scariotto,\n     Che 'l capo ha dentro, e fuor le gambe mena.'\n\nThe traditional epithet which the world has justly attached to the name\nof Dante Alighieri is 'the Sublime'. I am almost afraid to say it, but\nwe all know how proverbially short is the distance between the sublime\nand the ridiculous. And I venture to submit to the private personal\nthought of each of you whether it be not merely the horror of the\nsubject and of the conception, and the almost stupefying grandeur of the\npoetry, which separates this idea from the grotesque; and whether, if\nthe thing be to be touched at all, the old Irish fabulist has not\nproduced a conception both more tender and more truly tragic.\n\nThey then go for three days southward and find a small precipitous rocky\nisland, quite round, and about one furlong in circumference. Here they\nfind a narrow landing-place, and dwelling on the summit an hermit aged\none hundred and forty years, of which he had passed ninety in the\nisland. He had no clothes except his own hair, which was long and white.\nHe was an Irishman named Paul, and had known Patrick. For thirty years\nhe had lived on fish brought him by a beast, presumably an otter, in its\nfore-paws, along with fuel wherewith to cook it, and which he kindled by\nstriking a flint, and for sixty years upon the water of a spring. He\ngave them of the water of the spring, and bade them go their way,\ntelling them that in forty days they would keep the Passover as usual,\nand so also Pentecost, and thereafter would they find 'the land holier\nthan all lands.'\n\nThey remained therefore on the open sea during all Lent, living only on\nthe water of the hermit's spring, and passed Easter and Pentecost in the\nusual places. But this was the last time. Their provider came to them\nand said, 'Get ye up into the ship and fill your bottles with the water\nof this fountain. I also now will be the companion and leader of your\njourney, for without me ye cannot find the land which ye seek, even the\nland which is promised unto the Saints.' As they embarked, all the white\nbirds sang in chorus, 'The God of our salvation make your way\nprosperous' (Ps. lxvii. 20, Vulg.). They went to their provider's island\nand there took in provision for other forty days and set forth. And now\ncomes the discovery of the Land of Promise, which I had better read in\nfull:--\n\n'And when forty days were past, and the evening was drawing on, a great\ndarkness covered them, so that scarcely could one see another. Then the\nprovider saith to holy Brendan, \"Father, knowest thou what is this\ndarkness?\" The Saint saith, \"Brethren, I know not.\" Then saith the\nother, \"This darkness is round about that island which ye have sought\nfor seven years. Behold, ye see it; enter ye into it.\" And after the\nspace of an hour, a great light shone round about them, and the ship\nstood upon the shore. When they went out of the ship, they saw a land,\nbroad, and full of fruit-bearing trees, as in the time of autumn. They\nwent round about that land as long as they were in it. They had no night\nthere, but the light shone as the sun shineth in his season. And so for\nforty days they went about through that land, but they could not find\nthe end thereof. But upon a certain day they found a great river which\nthey could not pass, running through the midst of the island. Then saith\nthe holy man unto the brethren, \"We cannot pass over this river, and we\nknow not how large is this land.\" While they thought upon these things,\nbehold, there came to meet them a young man with glorious countenance\nand comely to look upon, who kisseth them with great joy, and calleth\nthem every one by his own name, and saith, \"O brethren, peace be unto\nyou, and unto all who have followed after the peace of Christ,\" and\nafter this he said, moreover, \"Blessed are they that dwell in Thine\nhouse, O Lord: they will be still praising Thee.\" After these words, he\nsaith unto holy Brendan, \"Behold the land which ye have sought of a long\ntime. But for this cause have ye not been able to find it since ye began\nto seek it, because the Lord Christ hath willed to show unto thee divers\nof His hidden things in this great and wide sea. Return thou therefore\nunto the land of thy birth, and take with thee of these fruits, and of\nprecious stones as much as thy ship may hold. For the days of thy\npilgrimage are drawing near at hand, that thou mayest sleep with thine\nholy brethren. But after many times this land shall be made known unto\nthem that shall come after thee, when it shall be helpful in the\ntribulation of the Christians. The river which ye see divideth this\nisland, and even as now it appeareth unto you ripe in fruits, so is it\nat every time without shadow or foulness. For the light shineth in it\nwithout failing.\" Then holy Brendan saith unto the young man, \"Lord\nfather, tell me if this land shall be ever revealed unto men.\" And he\nsaith, \"When the Almighty Creator shall have made all nations subject\nunto Him, then shall this land be made known unto all His elect.\" And\nafter these things, Father Brendan took a blessing from the young man,\nand began to return by his way whereby he had come, taking of the fruits\nof that land and of sorts of precious stones; and when he had sent away\nthe man that provided for them, who had prepared meat for him and for\nthe brethren season by season, he went up into the ship with the\nbrethren, through the darkness, whence he had begun to sail. And when\nthey had passed through it, they came unto the Isle Delight some, and\nwhen he had been entertained there for the space of three days, he took\na blessing from the father of the monastery, and then under God's\nleading came straight to his own monastery.'\n\nIt remains to make some remark upon the character and possible sources\nof this curious composition.\n\nIn connection with fabulous voyages, it is natural to think not only of\nLucian's _Traveller's True Tale_, but also of _Gulliver's Travels_, but\nthese are skits, satirizing with wild wit certain features of life which\nlay before the authors. The gravity of Brendan's _Voyage_ renders it\nimpossible to place it in any such category. It can hardly be said to\ncontain any grotesque adventure except that of the monster's back, and\nfrom the way in which this is told, it is evident that it did not appear\ngrotesque to the narrator; and the religious tone of the whole thing\nforbids any such explanation.\n\nOn the other hand, I cannot perceive any hidden meaning in it which\nwould assign it to the same class of allegorical romance of which\nBunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_ is the most famous example.\n\nIt is impossible that it could ever have been intended to be believed.\nSome of the incidents are so obviously fabulous--for instance, that of\nJudas,--that such an hypothesis would be simply to condemn the author as\na profane forger, and his tone is much too pious for that; besides\nwhich, there would have been no possible motive; and again, although\nthis romance stands alone or nearly alone in the popularity which it has\nattained outside its own country, as Professor O'Curry remarks, it does\nnot stand by any means alone within the native literature of that\ncountry, albeit its literary merit may place it above all or nearly all\nthe old Irish compositions of its class. It is, however, an\nextraordinary fact that it has actually been sometimes taken for sober\ntruth. This has not been, I think, so much the case in Ireland. There\nare, it is true, one or two incidents in the Life which may be remotely\nidentified at bottom with incidents in the Voyage, there is even\nmention of the Land of Promise, but I am more inclined to regard these\nas, more or less, distorted legendary statements about Brendan's real\ncareer, afterwards seized upon, magnified, and worked in by the\nromancer, than as incidents of the romancer appropriated and\nnationalized into comparative possibility by the biographer. Thus the\nLand of Promise may have been a fond title for the imaginary site of a\nmonastery for which he was seeking in the Western Isles. But even in\nIreland the son of Finnlogh O' Alta seemingly obtained a character for\ncertain adventures which must have been taken from the fable, and the\nMartyrology of Donegal gravely refers to the Voyage as well as to the\nLife as an authority upon the subject, although I confess I can hardly\nbelieve that Cuimin of Condeire was not jesting when he wrote the\nverse--\n\n     'Brenainn loves constant piety,\n     According to the synod and congregation;\n     Seven years on a whale's back he spent;\n     It was a difficult mode of piety.'\n\nIt was, however, outside Ireland, in countries where less was known of\nthe facts, and the Voyage was isolated from other works of its class,\nthat this romance was most largely accepted as serious matter of fact.\nThe possession of St. Brendan's Isle whenever it should be discovered\nwas, according to M. Jubinal, actually made the subject of State\ndocuments, and he names no less than four maritime expeditions which\nwere despatched in search of it, the last from Santa Cruz in Tenerife in\n1721, at the instance of Don Juan de Mur, Governor of the Canaries, and\nunder the command of Caspar Dominguez. I must, however, avow that I have\ngreat difficulty in believing that such an expedition as this could have\nbeen motived by any other hypothesis than that the romance was the\nlegendary record of some really existing island in the Atlantic.\n\nThe mention of such a belief brings me to the consideration of another\nand very different form of what I may call the naturalistic school of\ninterpretation. This theory throws overboard the whole of the elements\nof the class commonly called supernatural, and even treats the identity\nof the voyagers as a matter of comparative indifference, but it sees in\nthe wild narrative a distorted and legendary account of some actual\nvoyage and some actual adventures and discoveries in the Atlantic. By\nsome the Canary Archipelago, with perhaps Madeira, the Cape de Verde\nIslands, and some parts of the African coast, if not even the Azores,\nhave been supposed to be the original scene of the wanderings of some\nearly navigators, even if not of Brendan, and the Burning Island with\nits savage inhabitants, and the infernal volcano would of course be\ninterpreted of the great volcano of Tenerife. But a more interesting\ninterpretation is that which sees in the voyage of Brendan a distorted\naccount of some ancient voyage by the Western Islands, the Orkneys and\nShetlands, the Faroe Isles, Iceland, and finally to the coast of\nAmerica. I need not remind you that the earliest voyages to America of\nwhich we have historical accounts are those of the Norsemen, who, as\nearly as the year 1001, proceeded so far South as to come into a land\nwhere the vine was growing wild, and which they consequently named\nVineland. It matters comparatively little to the naturalistic\ninterpretation of this romance whether it be based upon mutilated and\ngossiping accounts of the voyages of the Norsemen, or upon some still\nearlier adventures of which all truly historical record has perished.\nThe shores of America here become the Land of Promise, the clouds which\nveil it are the fogs of the coasts of Newfoundland or Labrador, the\ngreat and impassable river which divides it, perhaps the St. Lawrence:\nthe crystal column is an iceberg: the rough and rocky island, and the\nblack, cloud-piercing volcano, which burnt in the midst of the Northern\nOcean, are Iceland and its volcanoes; the Eden of white birds in some\nregion, perhaps the Faroes, where sea-fowl congregate in vast flocks:\nand the minor isles are to be more or less identified with some of those\nof the several archipelagos, many of which, in the time of the romancer,\nif not in that of Brendan, possessed halls, monasteries, and hermits. It\nmay be urged as one of the main objections to this theory that it is\nalmost outside the bounds of possibility that a corach could make such a\nvoyage, but it is perhaps only fair to remark that in the Life, although\nnot in the Voyage, it is stated that after the first five years of the\nwanderings Brendan returned to Ireland, where, among other things, he\nwent to see Ita, and the narrative then continues: 'She received him\nwith joy and honour, and said, \"O my beloved, wherefore hast thou tried\nwithout my counsel? Thou wilt not gain the Land of Promise borne in the\nhides of dead beasts. Thou wilt find it with a ship made of boards.\" So\nhe went into Connaught, and embarked with 60 disciples in a ship\nskilfully made of boards, and toiled in voyaging for two years; and at\nlength came to the island where he would be.' This island, however, is\nonly one with an old man dressed in feathers, who calls it 'an holy\nland, polluted by no blood, open for the burial of no sinner, ... a land\nlike Eden,' but this seems to be the only Land of Promise which was\nknown to the biographer.\n\nWhile, however, I willingly make a present of this passage to the\nnaturalistic interpreters, I do not accept their interpretation. As I\nhave said, I look upon Brendan's wanderings in the Western Isles soon\nafter his ordination, in search of a place wherein to found a monastery,\nas the only scrap of historical basis, at any rate as far as he was\nconcerned, which the romance possesses. The Life says that he reached\nmany islands, but instances only two, one of these being the so-called\nLand of Promise as above, and the incidents are not of a very startling\ncharacter. No one on the other hand will deny that the Voyage narrates a\nseries of incidents of a very startling character indeed, and it seems\nto me beyond possibility that some of them, such as the Judas episode,\ncan have even a legendary basis, or be anything but pure, unmitigated,\nintentional, avowed, undisguised fiction, like the incidents of any\nnovel of the present day. It seems to me that there is in the romance\nmore resemblance to Lucian's _Traveller's True Tale_ than is likely to\nbe accidental, and the Land of Promise indeed occupies a position\nsomewhat similar to that held by the Islands of the Blest in that\nremarkable skit. Again I think that the Burning Island with its forges,\nand its monstrous inhabitants hurling rocks into the sea after the\nvoyagers, and the great black volcano piercing the clouds, is very\nsuggestive of Etna and the Cyclopes as described in the Odyssey. It must\nbe remembered that Greek scholarship was a good deal cultivated in\nantient Ireland. My own impression is that the author, whoever he was,\nwas a very pious man, who had read Homer and Lucian, and to whom it\noccurred that it would be a nice thing to write an imaginary voyage\nwhich might unite similar elements of interest and excitement with the\ninculcation of Christian, religious, and moral sentiments. For his own\npurposes he plagiarized them a little, and I am very far from wishing to\ncontend that it is impossible that he may also have worked in some vague\naccounts of the wonders of America, which had reached his ears from the\nadventurous voyages of the Norsemen, if indeed his date were late\nenough, possibly of even earlier navigators, now to us unknown. But as\nan whole, I look upon the Fabulous Voyage as a composition which is\nreally only differentiated by the elements due to the time and place of\nbirth from religious novels such as those which enrich the pages of the\n_Leisure Hour_ or the _Sunday at Home_.\n\n20 AND 21, BEDFORDBURY, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.","title":"Brendan's Fabulous Voyage: A Lecture delivered on January 19, 1893, before the Scottish Society of Literature and Art","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":11256}