"When we were within half a bow-shot of the said island of the Purgatory I saw a bird blacker than coal take flight ; it had not a single plume or feather on its back..."
"Some of the evil spirits settled on the Island of Swimmers to which they gave the name of demons. The demonaic island in truth is girded by an inland lake..."
"From Armagh it is almost one day's journey to a certain Island, which is slightly large called Mabeoch and beyond this Island to a small island in which is the Purgatory aforsaid..."
"The Liffer largens near its source and forms a lake in which there is an Island with a little Convent, near which there is a grotto narrow enough and full of spectres horrible to the view..."
"Now it seems there's a place they call Purgat're, so I must write it, my verse not admitting the O. But as for the venue I vow I'm perplext To say it's in this world or if in the next, Or whether in both for 'tis very well known That St Patrick at…
"On every side of the island lay the watery fields, winding themselves into inlets and across bays. Great sheets of water, unbroken save by a group of smaller islands that rode like ships that had run to seed and blossom in tropical seas, with the…
