best-known poets, from Dante down, and some poems of rare beauty and
merit were translated from French and Canadian poets by my daughter,
who has also contributed some interesting articles for the historical
portion of the work. As may be supposed, this book is the fruit of much
research. The collection of the material has necessarily been a work of
time, the field from which the gleanings were made being so vast, and
the selections requiring so much care.

As regards the legendary portion of the work, whether prose or poetry,
the reader will, of course, understand that I give the legends
precisely for what they are worth; by no means as representing the
doctrinal belief of Purgatory, but merely as some of the wild flowers
of poetry and romance that have grown, in the long lapse of time, from
the rich soil of faith and piety, amongst the Catholic peoples of every
land--intensified, in this instance, by the natural affection of the
living for their dear departed ones, and the solemn and shadowy mystery
in which the dead are shrouded when once they have passed the portals
of eternity and are lost to mortal sight. Some of these legends, though
exceedingly beautiful, will hardly bear close examination in the light
of Catholic dogma. Of this class is "The Faithful Soul," of Adelaide
Procter, which is merely given here as an old French legend, nearly
connected with Purgatory, and having really nothing in it contrary to
faith, though in a high degree improbable, but yet from its intrinsic
beauty and dramatic character, no less than the subtle charm of Miss
Procter's verse, eminently worthy of a place in this collection. The
same remark applies more or less to some of Colin de Plancy's legends,
notably that of "Robert the Devil's Penance," and others of a similar
kind, as also T. D. McGee's "Penance of Don Diego Rias" and Calderon's
"St. Patrick's Purgatory"--the two last named bearing on the same
subject. Nevertheless, they all come within the scope of my present