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ing of these characters there is no knowledge, and it is a matter of doubt if they were intended as characters at all. Several stones with such lines have been found in different places, and it is probable they had a meaning though it be now unknown.

BREHAN'S CHAIR.

The persons who administered the laws in Ireland in ancient times were called the Brehans. They sat either on the summit of a hill or on its acclivity to hear causes. One of the most remarkable of these ancient seats is on the hill of Kyle in the barony of Ossory and Queen's County. It is near the top of the hill on its eastern side, and is formed from the solid rock. The common people call it the Fairy Chair. There the Brehan of the Fitzpatricks held his court. The custom of holding courts on high hills, was usual amongst the northern nations. Artificial moot-hills for courts of judicature it appears were in use in Ireland, as well as in Wales and Scotland. Many of these still remain. A small insulated mount of this kind stands about two hundred yards from the church of Aghaboe; and it has a deep fosse surrounding it. It is supposed to have been the court of the territory of the church and abbey of Aghaboe, which was very extensive.

OGHAM CHARACTERS.

This mysterious hieroglyphical letter, whose powers are now totally lost, was used by the ancient Irish. The inscriptions are merely horizontal, or perpendicular lines, intersected at

right angles by a number of parallel lines, or darts, of unequal lengths. The learned Mr. Pelham supplied General Vallancey with many instances of such inscriptions in the county of Kerry, which have been published in the sixth volume of the Collectanea.

A very remarkable stone of this description stands about fifteen yards from the church of Kill-Melcheder, in this county, and another, of a conical form, at Ballysteeny. Of the stone at Aghadoe, Mr. Pelham speaks as follows: "In the north west corner of the old church of Aghadoe, near Killarney, is a rough stone, of the brown mountain kind, with a few Ogham characters upon it. The stone, as it now lies, is about seven feet in length; but it is probable, it was once longer, and stood erect, as its larger end has an appearance of having been broken, and thrown down by violence into its present situation. This inscription is possibly imperfect, as there is an appearance of a scale of stone having come off from its smallest end. The characters near the middle of the stone are three and a half inches long.

MONASTIC ANTIQUITIES.

THE monastic institutions in Ireland were so numerous as to gain to it the appellation of the Isle of Saints. In Archdale's Monasticon one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight monasteries are enumerated. The property being divided into so many different communities, we cannot expect to find institutions able to erect magnificent structures like Glastonbury, Fountains, or Furness; but many monastic ruins in Ireland are calculated to excite great interest in the lover of antiquity.

GLENDALOUGH.*

The valley of Glendalough, commonly called the Seven Churches, is situated in the barony of Ballinacor, twenty-two miles from Dublin, eleven from Wicklow, and five from Roundwood. It is a stupendous excavation, above one thousand yards in breadth, and about two miles and a half in extent, having lofty and precipitous mountains hanging over upon every side, except that by which it is entered between Derrybawn on the south, and Broccagh mountain on the Forth; the eastern extremity of the vale is an

*

Glendalough, i, e. the Valley of the Two Lakes.

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