in his Report on the Bogs of Galway, West of Lough Corrib, printed in the Appendix to the Fourth Report of the Commissioners on the Nature and Extent of the Bogs of Ireland, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 28th April, 1814. The geological portion of Mr. Nimmo's Report will prove a valuable and appropriate addition to the description of West Connaught.

The Royal Dublin Society, aware of the mineralogical importance of these western districts, in A. D. 1825-8, deputed their Professor of Mineralogy and Geology, Sir Charles L. Giesecke, to proceed thither, and report the result of his investigations. His Reports are incorporated in the Proceedings of the Society. Perhaps no other part of Ireland has had the advantage of similar investigations; and we are not altogether without a hope that they may ultimately prove advantageous to this long neglected district.

On an island in this lake, Eoghan Beul, fourth Christian King of Connaught, who began his reign, according to Tigernach, in A. D. 502, held his residence. See the curious life of St. Cormac in the Book of Lecan, fol. 63, and in Colgan, p. 752, for an account of the Saint's visit to that king, at his Dun or residence, called Dun Eoghain, on the island of Inis-meadhoin (now Inishmean) in Lough Measg. Here an abbey, said to have been predicted by St. Cormac, was afterwards erected.-Id. In A.D. 1223, Maoiliosa, son of Torlogh O'Conor, prior of Inis-meadhoin, died.—Four Masters A. D. 1227, the abbey was burned by the forces of Hugh O'Conor, who was leagued with the De Burgos.-Id. Some ruins of this abbey yet remaining, indicate it to have been a small but beautiful building. The site and considerable vestiges of the Dun of Eoghan Beul may still be traced. The celebrated Cathal Crovedearg O'Conor, King of Connaught, was born at the harbour of Lough Mask; and was fostered by Teige O'Concanon, at Hy-Diarmada in the present county of Galway, the ancient patrimony of the O'Concanons. Cathal died in A. D. 1224. For a curious notice of Eoghan Beul, see "The Tribes and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach," p. 471, edited by Mr. O'Donovan, for the Irish Archæological Society, A. D. 1844.

Caislen na Caillighe, or Hag's Castle, on Lough Measg, called by our author "an impregnable castle," is frequently mentioned in our annals. In A. D. 1195, Catha the son of Dermott led an army from Munster into Connaught; and proceeded without interruption until he arrived at Lough Measg and Inis Robha; where he captured the boats or vessels of Cathal Crovdearg O'Conor, King of Connaught, and brought them to Caislen na Caillighe. A. D. 1233, Cathal's son and successor, Felim King of Connaught, demolished this castle, and others throughout the province, which were IRISH ARCH. SOC. 15. 2 B erected

erected by the sons of Roderic O'Conor and the De Burgos. It was afterwards rebuilt by the Bourkes, and continued in the possession of their descendants until A. D. 1586, when it was besieged by Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connaught. It was then considered the strongest fortress in the province, and was defended against him by Risdeard an Chorrain Bourke, and others of his kinsmen, the descendants of Richard O'Cuairsci Bourke, who had flocked thither, as well for safety as to avoid attending the "English" session (assizes), then first established in this country. The Governor attacked it with some four or five vessels manned with the best of his troops; but was obliged to retire, with the loss of one vessel and several men. The Bourkes, however, apprehensive of the result, retreated with their wives and children across Lough Measg. The Governor thereupon demolished the castle, and caused Richard oge, commonly called Fal fo Erinn, the son of Mac William Bourke, to be put to death. See an account of this transaction in the Four Masters, at A. D. 1586; but it will be found more amply detailed in Bingham's own narrative in Stowe's Chronicle, London, 1632, fo. p. 720, et seq. The death of this young chief caused a great sensation at the time. It formed one of the Forty-three Articles of Complaint against Bingham, delivered to the Lord Deputy of Ireland in A. D. 1595; and to it the accused Governor gave the following answer :-" Richard oge, commonly called the Perall of Ireland, was well and worthily executed likewise, for, pretending to do service, laide a plot in deed to bring in Scotts, aud raise a generall rebellion within that County, having made his castle for that same purpose, as appeareth by an act then sett down under the said Sir Richard's hand, and seven more of the councell of the province, which were present at that time, and witness to the whole proceeding; and likewise with the consent of the best gents of the countrie themselves, Sir Richard having no other meane of ordinary trial at that time, by reason of the great troubles; and that he was worthily executed, and the same no manner of discontentment or feare to any, appeare by the aforesaid certificate under all their hands; but all those matters Sir Richard hath answered before, and of this is acquitted by the Councell." See the answers to all the charges, preserved in the Cotton Library, British Museum, Titus B. xiii., p. 451. The charges themselves I have not found, but suppose that they may be discovered among the State Papers of the reign of Elizabeth. To the future topographer or historian of this part of Ireland, they will be indispensable.

NOTE H. See page 24, note". "Inis an Ghoill."

Of the "two chappells" on this island, mentioned by our author, "that dedicated to St. Patrick" is the oldest, and, like all the primitive Irish churches, it is divided into nave and choir. The other, which was dedicated to the Gall Craibhtheach, literally

"the

"the devout foreigner," is now called Teampull na Naomh, the church of the Saint, and is a highly-finished specimen of the religious houses erected by the Irish from the eighth to the eleventh century, but it has suffered much by time. It lies a short distance to the south-east of the church of St. Patrick, and an old winding road or passage, which led from the one to the other, may still be traced. It is not improbable that this "devout foreigner" was the holy priest, Egbert, mentioned by Bede, 1. iii. c. 27. The nave of the church or chapel dedicated to St. Patrick is about twenty-two feet long, and thirteen broad. The choir arch is still standing. The doorway, three concentric arches, is formed of red grit stone. At the south-east corner of the church is a square tomb, probably that of archbishop Muirges O'Nioc, who died in this island in A. D. 1128, as mentioned above, and in the Annals of Ulster and Four Masters. At a small distance to the southwest is a small perpendicular headstone of hard granite, three feet over ground, and five inches square, which bears the following inscription: "Lie Lugnaedon macc Lmenueh." The stone of Lugnaedon, the son of Limenueh. This Limenueh, or Liamain, otherwise called Darerca, was sister of St. Patrick; and Lugnaedon is styled his dalta or alumnus in the Irish Martyrologies.-See the Book of Lecan, 43 (a, b), Trias Thaum. 226. (b.), and Acta SS. 716. This is considered the oldest Christian monument as yet discovered in Ireland. The inscription is in the Roman characters of the fifth century. An attempt to decipher it may be seen noticed in a publication which was popular in its day, entitled the Irish Magazine, printed in Dublin, June, 1810, p. 256. "It is written in the hard Irish, or virgin" [by this word was probably meant virgular] characters, and is in English: Underneath this stone lie Goill, Ardan, and Sionan."" This was utterly unworthy of notice, and would not be alluded to here, except to shew the lamentable ignorance which then prevailed, when none could be found capable of reading and explaining an inscription, which required but ordinary knowledge of the language and history of Ireland. It becomes necessary here to notice an oversight of the learned translator and editor of the Annals of Ulster and the Four Masters, Doctor O'Conor. In both these Annals, at the entry of the death of Murges O'Nioc, Archbishop of Tuam, A. D. 1128, Inir an guill, where he is stated to have died, appears translated "insulis Alienigenarum," and in the Annals of Ulster this is explained, "(i. e. Ebudibus)" the Hebrides; mistaking it for inri gall, which these islands were always called by the ancient Irish. But that this was a mere oversight appears from a note to a previous entry in the Annals of the Four Masters, A. D. 726, which contains the following passage: "Est etiam prope Congam Insula dicta Inis-an-Gaill-chrabhuig, Insula Saxonum Religiosorum, in qua sunt duæ Capellæ et multa Sanctorum Sepulchra;" though even here "Gaill-chrabhuig" should be rendered "Saxonis Religiosi."

2 B 2

NOTE

NOTE I. See page 28, note *. "Fanatics."

Other instances of local proceedings, as remarkable as those of the Anabaptists given by our author, might be adduced; but it is necessary to limit this continuation of our former note, to one or two incidents of a harmless nature which occurred here. In A. D. 1655, two disciples of George Fox, "Humphy Norton and William Shaw, being in a peaceable meeting at Samuel Newton's house in Galway, were by a guard of soldiers forcibly haled thereout, the meeting broken up, and turned out of the town, and not suffered to go in to fetch their Horses."-Compendious View of some extraordinary Sufferings of the People called Quakers, 8vo. Dublin, 1731, p. 53. The "Quakers," however, persevered. In A. D. 1669, "Solomon Eccles, being moved of the Lord to go as a sign, on the 14th of the 7th month, and that naked, with fire and brimstone burning on his head, without the gates of the City, into a papists' Mass-meeting, and the Fryar and people being upon their knees, he (in the spirit of the Lord) said, 'wo to these idolatrous worshippers; God hath sent me this day to warn you, and to let you see, that if you repent not, what shall be your reward.' And so he went over the bridge into the City, warning them also to repentance; and when done he was had to prison, with his three Friends, Randal Cousins, Nich. Gribble, and Henry Bloodworth, who accompanied him in his services; Eliza Harper, visiting them in prison, was also there detained, and after several days imprisonment, were all released.”—Id. p. 113. It is a curious fact that from that time to the present, not a Quaker or Jew has been seen in these western parts of Ireland.

The following occurrence in this district, recorded in Cambrensis Eversus, will shew to what extent the spirit of religious feeling had excited people at that period : "Nuperrimè firmioris et infirmioris sexus et ætatis multitudo ad fontem Galviæ vicinum lavanda confluxit, ut salubritatem, vel naturâ vel S. Augustini (cujus nomen gerit) deprecatione aquis ejus inditam hauriret. Ad innoxiam hanc turbam gubernator Galviensis ducum suorum audacia satelles præsidiarios milites eduxit, qui jussu ejus plumbeæ grandinis nimbo insontes ex improviso perfuderunt; quorum aliqui gravioribus vulneribus affecti, cæteri veste, bonisque nudati in carceres non ducti sed tracti sunt."-Epist. Dedic.

NOTE J. See page 32, note i. "The Red Earl.”

For rank, possessions, and the exercise of that species of military service, called by modern usage, "Martial Law," Richard Burke, the Red Earl of Ulster, who died in A. D. 1326, was undoubtedly one of the foremost men of his time in Ireland. He is commemorated as follows by the noble editor of the Memoirs of the Marquis of Clan

ricarde

ricarde, before referred to, p. 39, note .

"Richard, the second earl of Ulster, usually called, from his complexion, the Red Earl, had such large possessions, that he was the most powerful subject in Ireland.”—Ped. VIII. As our author has, p. 32, adduced documents to shew some of the burgagery and manorial rights of this earl's immediate descendants, I may here refer to a curious old family record, formerly belonging to Mac William Oughter, head of the Bourkes of Mayo, and treating of them alone, and which is now preserved in the MS. Library of Trinity College, Dublin, F. 4. 13. It is described, "Historia et Genealogia Familiæ de Burgo, cum Picturis et Armis multorum nobilium hujusce Familiæ, in membrana delineatis; et Rhithmis in Lingua Hibernice. Omnia Hibernice-Codex membr." This book contains an exaggerated description of the possessions of the "Red Earl," which, it alleges, extended o na Forbachaiż a n-iarżar Chonnaċt, an dużaiż muintir Fhlażartuiż, go baile mic Scanlain laiṁ le Dun dealgan; agus o Tuċuid a d-Tuait Mhuman i Ŏhpian, go baile-hanaig [deal aża seanaiġ] cois na h-Eirne, &c. "From Forbagh [a place six miles west of Galway] in Iar-Connaught, the territory of the O'Flaherties, to Ballymac Scanlan, near Dundalk; and from Luchud [now Lowid or Lughid bridge] in Thomond [viz. in Kilkeedy parish, barony of Inchiquin], to Ballyshannon, on Lough Earn." For the remainder of the exaggerated statement of those possessions, see the old volume referred to, fol. 1. Mac Firbis, in his large and valuable book of genealogies, now in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, after fol. 798, has the following entry in English to the same effect, and probably translated from the same old volume, viz.: "The Red Earle was lord in Demayne and Sarvice, for the most parte, from Bealagh-Lughyd in Tuamond to Bailiehany, which is an hundred miles, and from the Norbagh [Forbagh] by the sea side, to Bailie Mac Skanlon by Dundalke; and also from Limbricke to Waterford, besides all his Lands in four Shires, and in the Countie of Kilkenny, and Tipperary." But though it is evident that Mac Firbis doubted the extent of the statement, yet that the Red Earl's possessions were widely extended there can be no doubt. The following curious and hitherto unpublished record may serve to explain how some of those widely extended possessions were acquired:

"[Anglia, SS. Conmac.] Placita apud Tristeldermot coram Johanne Wogan Justic. de Anno XXXIII. Edw. I., A. D. 1305.

66

Supplicavit nobis dilectus et fidelis noster Ricardus de Burgo Comes Ultonie, quod, cum O'Conoghur [O'Conor] Hibernicus, quiquam plura homicidia, roberias, latrocinia et alia enormia diversa, in terra ipsius comitis de Conacia, et aliis terris adjacentibus, hactenus perpetravit, et de die in diem, in pacis nostre lesione, perpetrare

non