ende. 
     ‘What mon,’ He sayde, ’that wylle hereyn wende,
     And dwelle theryn a day and a nyght,
     And hold his byleve and ryght,
     And come ageyn that he ne dwelle,
     Mony a mervayle he may of telle. 
     And alle tho that doth thys pylgrymage,
     I shalle hem graunt for her wage,
     Whether he be sqwyer or knave,
     Other purgatorye shalle he non have.’”

Thereupon St. Patrick, “he ne stynte ner day ne night,” till he had built there a “fayr abbey,” and stocked it with pious canons.  Then he made a door to the cave, and locked the door, and gave the key to the keeping of the prior.  The Knight Owain, who had served under King Stephen, had lived a life of violence and dissolution; but filled with repentance, he sought by way of penance St. Patrick’s Purgatory.  Fifteen days he spent in preliminary devotions and alms-deeds, and then he heard mass, was washed with holy water, received the Holy Sacrament, and followed the sacred relics in procession, whilst the priests sang for him the Litany, “as lowde as they mygth crye.”  Then Sir Owain was locked in the cave, and he groped his way onward in darkness, till he reached a glimmering light; this brightened, and he came out into an underground land, where was a great hall and cloister, in which were men with shaven heads and white garments.  These men informed the knight how he was to protect himself against the assaults of evil spirits.  After having received this instruction, he heard “grete dynn,” and

     “Then come ther develes on every syde,
     Wykked gostes, I wote, fro Helle,
     So mony that no tonge mygte telle: 
     They fylled the hows yn two rowes;
     Some grenned on hym and some mad mowes.”

He then visits the different places of torment.  In one, the souls are nailed to the ground with glowing hot brazen nails; in another they are fastened to the soil by their hair, and are bitten by fiery reptiles.  In another, again, they are hung over fires by those members which had sinned, whilst others are roasted on spits.  In one place were pits in which were molten metals.  In these pits were men and women, some up to their chins, others to their breasts, others to their hams.  The knight was pushed by the devils into one of these pits and was dreadfully scalded, but he cried to the Savior and escaped.  Then he visited a lake where souls were tormented with great cold; and a river of pitch, which he crossed on a frail and narrow bridge.  Beyond this bridge was a wall of glass, in which opened a beautiful gate, which conducted into Paradise.  This place so delighted him that he would fain have remained in it had he been suffered, but he was bidden return to earth and finish there his penitence.  He was put into a shorter and pleasanter way back to the cave than that by which he had come; and the prior found the knight next morning at the door, waiting to be let out, and full of his adventures.  He afterwards went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and ended his life in piety....