they, as Ware informs us, fixed their refidence at Corbally; where is at this day, in good prefervation, a fmall neat chapel, of a cruciform fhape, with narrow flits for windows, and many other particulars indicating a refpectable antiquity."

"GLENDALOGH.

"THE ruins of this abbey (be ing the firit which a traveller perceives) are fituated in the bottom of the vale, and conft of two buildings parallel to each other (the larger one on the fouth being the church;) on the east end of the abbey is an arch, of extremely curious workmanship; the columns on the fides recede one behind another, and are very short, but do not diminish; the capitals are ornamented in a fingular manner, moft of them with human heads at the angle, and dragons or other fabulous animal at the fides; the heads have much the appearance of thofe in Egyptian fculpture with large ears, long eyes, and the treffes of the hair ftrait; the ring tones of the arch are indented triangularly, in imitat on of the Saxon architecture, and in fome parts human heads and other ornaments within the triangular mouldings. On the removal of fome heaps of rubbish from under the ruins of this arch. a few ftones beautifully carved were found, m ny of them belonging to the arches, and fome to the architrave of the window; the architrave s twelve inches broad, and a pannel i. funk, orna mented lozenge wife, an an ovelo forms the lozenge, with a tead running on each fide; the centre of the lozenge is decorated on one fide, in bafs relict, with a knot delicately carved; the other with a flower in the centre, and mouldings

are

correfponding to the shape of the lozenge. The half lozenge at the bottom of the pilafter, in one s filled with a bas relief of a human head, with a bird on each fide pecking at the eye, and the other by a dragon, twisting its head round, and the tail turned up between its legs into the mouth. Here is another ftone, apparently the apital of a column; two hides of it are vifible, both are ornamented with a patera, but each fide in a differ ent manner; one confifts of a flower of fixteen large leaves and fifteen fmaller ones, relieved the eighth of an inch, and the other of fix leaves branching from the centre, with another leaf extending between their points.

"In deferibing the other ruins of this defolated city, (which ap pears to have been built in an elegant ftyle of Greci ́n architecture) we in fome measure outstep the bounds original y prefcribed, in which monaftic dwellings we e alone inc'uded; but their contigu ity to the abb y, which we have just now quitted, induces us to proceed to the next erection called the

able, and for which it will be celebrated, even when the veliges now remaining are no more.

he entrance to the area, on which thefe churches ftand, is on the north-eaft fide, through the ruins of a gateway, fixteen feet fix inches in length, by fixteen fee in width; the arches, which are fill entire, are nine feet feven inches wide, and ten feet high, and the ring-ftones, of mountai granite, are the full depth of the wall; the outfide arch is compofed of twe ty four stones, and the infide one of twenty-feven, which are two feet fix inches in depth.

"The CATHEDRAL CHURCH ranks as the first, and owes its origin to St. Keivin, by whom it was dedicated to the patron faits of the abbey. It measures forty-eight feet in length and thirty in width; on the fouth fide were three small windows, and at the east end was an arch feventeen feet fix inches wide, behind which was another building thirty-feven feet fix inches in length, by twenty-three feet in width, with a beautiful window at the east end, on the north are two mall ones, and one on the fouth, with a door three feet eight inches wide, communicating to a fmall building of fixteen feet by ten the door of the church is feven feet tour inches high, three teet fix inches wide at top, and three feet ten at bottom; the jambs are compofed of four courfes and a intel at top, over which is a difcharging arch; the ones are the entire depth of the walls, with a reveal cut at the infide for the door, which appears to have turned on pivots; holes are cut for bars across, and irn cramps and bolts appear in fome p aces; feveral courfes of this building are of hewn stone, as well as a kind of pilatiers, which

project from the end of the wall to the front and rear, and measure two feet fix inch s in width; the wall of the building to the east, within thefe, is detached, and has the appearance of a more modern ftyle.

Under a fmall window, at the fouth fide of the choir, is a tomb of freeftone, ornamented, and in the cemetery fands a round tower, one hundred and ten feet high, uncommonly well built, and in fine prefervation, the roof alone having fuffered by time; at the bottom it meafures fifty-two feet in girth, and the walls are four feet thick.

"The remains of feveral croffes may ftill be feen amongst those ruins, and that fituated in the cemetery of this church, particularly merits notice, being one entire ftone, eleven feet in height..

"ST. KEIVIN'S KITCHEN (its vulgar appellat on) was undoubt dly one of the Seven Churches, and is now almoft entire, having fuffered alone in the ruin of a window, the only one in the church, this was placed about eight feet from the fouth-eaft angle, and was ornamented with an architrave elegantly wrought, but being of freetione, it was conveyed away by the neighbouring inhabitants, and brayed to powder for dome tic use. The area of this church measures twenty two feet nine inches by fifteen, in height it is twenty feet, and the wa ls are thre feet, fix in thickness; at the caft cnd is an arch five teet three inches in width, which communicates to another building ten feet fix in length, by nine feet three in width; on the noth fide of which is a door two feet two inches wide, which communicates with another chapel of the fame length, and feven feet nine inches in width; each of these

buildings

buildings has a finall window in the centre to the east, the walls are three feet thick, and both measure twelve feet in height. The foundation, with two or three courses of the building is laid of cut mountain grit; the door is fix feet eight inches high, two feet four inches wide at top, and two feet eight inches at bottom, most of the ftones run through the entire thickness of the wall; the lintel is five feet eight inches in length, by eleven inches and an half in depth, and a rude cornice, projecting about five inches, and meafuring four feet ten inches long, by fix inches in depth, is worked out of the fame ftone. A round belfry rifes from the weftend of the church, the entrance to it is through a fquare hole in the cove of the church, over which, between the cove and the roof, is a large fpace, open to the belfry, that received its light from a fmall window. The height of this tower is about forty-five feet; the roof, both of the church and tower, is composed of thin ftones, very neatly laid, and with a very high pitch; the ridge of the roof is about thirty feet above the ground, and the double building, at the rear, is only twenty feet; having afcended the roof of this building, we difcover a groove cut in the east-end of the larger building, which fhews that this was not the original tower, but much higher and narrower than the former; indeed the walls of the double building are feperat ed from thofe of the large, and though undoubtedly very ancient, yet the inferiority of the materials and workmanfhip, evidently fhew that this work was pofteriour to the former, and erected by much lefs fkilful builders.

"OUR LADY'S CHURCH, the most westward of the feven, and

nearly oppofite to the cathedral; is now almost in ruins, but from the door . y, and the few remains of walls, it appears to have been built with more knowledge of the art than the other buildings. The door confifts of only three courfes; the lintel is five feet fix inches in length, and fourteen inches and an half in depth; the door is fix feet four in height, two feet fix in width at top, and two feet ten at bottom; a kind of architrave is worked a round the door fix inches broad, and in the bottom of the lintel an ornament is wrought in a cross refembling the flyer of a ftampingprefs. The walls are carried up with hewn ftone, in general of a large fize, to about the height of the door, and the remainder are of the rude mountain rag-stone, but laid incomparably well. At the east end was an arch of hewn ftone exactly fimilar to that of the cathedral.

"THE RHEFEART, literally the fepulchre of kings, is famous for having feven princes interred within its limits; in this church is the tomb of M'Mthuil, or O'Toole, the ancient chieftain of the country, with the following infcription, ia the Irish character:

"JESUS CHRIST "MILE DEACH FEUCH CORP RE MAC MTHUIL.

"See here the refting-place of the body of king MThuil, whe died in Chrift 1010.

"Many others of this family are faid to have been interred here, where a ftone cross, elegantly carv ed, is ftill preserved.

"PRIORY OF ST. SAVIOUR, COM. monly called the Eaftern Church. Of this building, little can be faid, the foundation only remaining; but about five years fince, a quan

tity of ftone remarkably well wrought, was discovered here, and on removing an heap of rubbish, the collection of many centuries, two clusters of columns were found, with curious emblematic decorations, which had fupported a great fretted arch, compofed of the before mentioned ftones, which lead to the difcovery.

"THE IVY CHURCH, is fituated fomewhat to the weftward, and has large breaches in its walls long fince overgrown with ivy; nothing worthy of remark can be found in this building, which is entirely unroofed.

"TEAMPULL-NA SKELLIG, fituated in the recefs of the fouth mountain, was the ancient Priory of the Rock, and was alfo called the Temple of the Defert, both expreffive of the Irish appella

tion.

"The celebrated bed of St. Keivin, on the fouth fide of the lough is a cave, hewn in the folid rock, on the fide of the mountain, exceeding difficult in afcent, and terrible in profpect, for it hangs perpendicular over the lake, at an alarming height above the furface of the water; at a small distance from this bed, on the fame fide of the mountain, are to be feen, the ruins of a small ftone building, called St. Keivin's cell.

"We fhall now bid adieu to

this illuftrious feminary, which (in the language of a late eminent writer,) "was once the luminary. of the western world, whence favage fepts and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the bleifings of religion."

"The romantic shape of the furrounding mountains, many of which are covered with a fresh fpring of wood, and others, though of a furprising height, retaining the livelieft verdure almost throughout the year; thefe, added to the winding form of a very fertile valley,' which terminates in a lake of confiderable extent, increafe our veneration; in a word, on a review of fuch a fcene, "to abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impoffible if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if it were poffible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our fenfes;" whatever makes the pait, the diftant, or the future, predominate over the prefent, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from us and from our friends be fuch frigid philofophy as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wifdom or by virtue. That man is little to be envied, whofe piety will not grow warmer as he treads the ruins of Glendalogh!"