Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The ludicrous fictions of Roman Catholics respecting St. Patrick have induced many sober Christians to doubt Whether there ever existed such a person. But if ancient and unquestionable docu ments may be credited, there was, beyond dispute, such a man. We can no more ques tion the existence of St. Patrick than of king Alfred.