hold at his house meetings in which the manners of the Presbyterian preachers were imitated and mocked. In these days, no matter what the law may be, it would surely be impossible for the Primate of England to outrage public feeling to such an extent as to marry, in Lambeth Chapel, two child cousins, aged respectively seven and twelve, even to meet the wishes of a powerful nobleman seeking to enrich himself. The fact of the Earl having been guardian of Catherine FitzGerald makes his action the more inexcusable.

him of the Church of St. Brigid, Lough Hyne. A ruin of so many centuries may, from the effects of any winter's storm, be blown down, wrecked, and its identity lost; hence, all the more importance of placing its dimensions, form, and structure on record, and of shewing it as it now appears after the storm and sunshine of twelve centuries.

Among the many lovely unfrequented and little known places in the county Cork, which will well repay the tourist, there is none more restful, picturesque, and beautiful than the land-locked tidal waters of Lough Hyne and its surroundings. It is situated about four miles west of Castle

(1) Irish, "Loch-dhoimhin."

haven and three miles east of Baltimore, and is formed by the sea, which enters through a narrow creek, and spreads into a sheet of water two miles in circumference, set in an amphitheatre of hills that are richly wooded from water's edge to summit. Close to the eastern side there is a small island on which, when Smith (2) wrote, there was one of the many castles of the O'Driscolls, so placed to command and protect the entrance into the lake from the sea. In 1870 part of the walls fell, and at present all that remains are the foundations and a portion of the keep. Smith says that the lake abounded with various kinds of sea fish, with salmon and trout, lobsters, crabs, and escallops. It was the breeding-ground

CASTLE OF THE O'DRISCOLLS, LOUGH HYNE.

of the seal, and the bed of a small oyster, which had the peculiarity in summer-time of having instead of a milky juice, a blood-like liquor; this description is, apparently, not authentic, as many years ago when in West Carbery the writer partook of some, which though unusually small, were delicious in flavour, and quite free from the repulsive peculiarity mentioned in Smith's history. On the south-west side of the lake, close to the Rapids, where the waters of the creek join those of the lake, in a sequestered nook about fifty feet above high-water mark, are the ruins of a primitive and early church, called Templeen Breeda, dedicated to Saint Brigid. The walls are of rough unhewn stone, placed together without mortar. These were standing until some twelve of thirteen years ago, when the east wall fell outwards upon the grave(2) "History of Cork," Dublin, 1774.

ST. BRIGID'S CHURCH, LOUGH HYNE Windows in Southern side from inside, also Recess in Wall beyond them; the stones on the left of the figure are remains of the Eastern end.

yard in which the edifice stands. This burial-place has not been used as such for many years, and no tombstone or memorial slab of any kind now mark the place, which is much overgrown by furze and bracken. The inside measurements of the church are 25 feet 5 inches in length, and 12 feet 6 inches wide, having walls 2 feet 6 inches thick, and at the south-eastern end a recess 1 foot 7 inches high by I foot 11 inches deep, with a lower window in the same wall 7 inches wide on the outside, and splaying inwards to 18 inches. The church has, in the west end, a lowarched doorway, and in the north another with square head and stone lintel, having recesses in the sides of the jambs for à door, as shewn in the photograph.

Donovan, writing in 1876 (3) states that the enclosed area of the aisle is covered with rude headstones and flags.

The building is without any trace of road or pathway leading to or from it, and the tradition of the locality is, that it was approached by its worshippers from the water. The walls in their highest part are nine feet, and at the south-west end are much overgrown with briars and blackthorn bushes. Six feet from the present floor the walls are pierced with putlog recesses for supporting the beams of an upper storey.

About fifty yards north-east of the church is portion of a broken pillar-stone, 18 inches high by 15 inches wide, with an incised cross having a lobe at each end, known in heraldry as a cross pommée. The tradition is, that it marked the resting-place of some saintly person, and is regarded by the people with much veneration. You will be told that, years ago, it was carried off by a sailor to his own house, and on the next morning it was found back again in its old place, shortly after which the sailor was drowned; and although the shaft was wantonly broken, you might hammer away for ever, but the portion on which the cross is sculptured could not be either chipped or injured.

This ancient church is dedicated to one of Ireland's patron saints, and could not have been placed in a more sheltered and secluded site. In many ways it resembles the equally primitive church of St. Fachnan, who founded the Diocese of Ross, and died A.D. 600. His temple is on a knoll adjoining the road from Ross to Glandore, and at its foot is the holy well dedicated to him, from which he doubtless often partook of its clear and cold spring. At Lough Hyne there is also a well, known and resorted to as Tobar-Breeda-St. Brigid's Well-formed by a small natural hollow in the solid rock, on the margin of which are impressions said to have been caused by the saint's knees. These depressions are yearly becoming deeper, by the numerous pilgrims and devotees who come especially on May eve to kneel and worship at its limpid waters, a living emblem of the Divine Redeemer, who was Himself the Fountain of the Water of Life.

(3) "Sketches in Carbery," McGlashan and Gill, Dublin.