ing seems to have served as the principal church until 1268, when Moelpatrick O'Scaunaill, the Primate who founded the Franciscan Abbey, commenced the Tempul Mor, or Great Church of Armagh. The new structure, like the Roman Catholic Cathedral in our day, was probably carried on at intervals, and required a long period for its completion, but when finished proved enduring, for, after repeated conflagrations, changes, and repairs, it still remains the pride of the province, and the glory of its noble restorer, who might have demolished the old shell, and at less cost have erected a large and handsome edifice on the same or another site, but who, as his Grace wisely judged, preferred at any sacrifice to retain, as far as possible, the ancient fabric in its original proportions and time honoured associations. The present building is cruciform in plan, with a massive tower, containing eight bells, rising from the intersection. It is not easy to ascertain with certainty the exact period of its erection. A portion of it, however, may be referred to the twelfth, and other parts to the thirteenth century. The interior, as restored some years ago by Primate Beresford, is extremely fine. The eye, upon entering the west end, traverses the long avenue of piers and Gothic arches which stretch out their heavy grandeur on either side, until it reaches the Primate's throne. "The high embowered roof With antique pillars-mossy-proof, form a beautiful picture. "The Screen," wrote Dr. Petrie, "is indeed beautiful in its way, but in a way we never had in Ireland. The restorer of the Cathedral should be an Irish historical architect and antiquary. This Mr. Cottingham is not." The baptismal font is a copy from the ancient one, which was sent to London-and which Mr. Cottingham was, strangely enough, permitted to retain in his Museum. It is said that after this restorer's death, the old font was sold at a high figure. In one sense he did not restore the font. Altogether this grand old Cathedral will well repay the trouble of a visit. It has within a recent period undergone a thorough process of repair, in which all the original features were most scrupulously preserved. The library connected with the Cathedral, containing 15,000 volumes, is extremely rich in high-class and rare works, especially those relating to Irish history and archæology. The Archbishop of Armagh is also Primate of all Ireland. The modern Roman Catholic Cathedral of Armagh, also called St. Patrick's, consecrated in 1873, is a very magnificent structure. It is built on the height called Banbrook Hill, and from it may be obtained a view almost unexcelled for great loveliness. The city, with its narrow streets and that air of antiquity which pervades it, lies to the south and west. The Ridge of Sallow, the Ferta Martyrum, and other historic eminences, revered even under their modern titles, confront the spectator; religious edifices and public buildings, every one of them hallowed by their association with the past, or occupying ground made sacred by the memories of sacred things, present themselves on all sides. Armagh is very picturesque; built on a hill, with the Cathedral (as at Derry) rising above the crowd of houses which nestle around it. The streets are clean, and several of them have the peculiarity of being paved with marble. Main Journey resumed― Enniskillen to Sligo. The direct route from Enniskillen to Sligo is by the Sligo, Leitrim, and Northern Counties Railway, passing by Belcoo, Manorhamilton, Collooney, Ballysodare, and several minor stations. A second route is by the fashionable watering-place, Bundoran, and the grand coast road by Cliffony, Grange, and Drumcliff. It is only natural that the shorter and direct route should be the first noticed. Shortly after leaving Enniskillen we cross the Erne by the splendid viaduct already noticed, and just a little further on, gain an extremely picturesque view of the town. That grassy hill to the right is Rossory (in correct Irish, Rossairthir, the Eastern Peninsula). Few could imagine that that lonely eminence some fourteen hundred years ago, and for ages after, was a site of learning, religion, and hospitality; but so, according to Irish annals, it was. It appears that about the close of the fifth century a certain noble lady, daughter of Conall Dearg, Prince of Oriel, selected this place as a centre from which the teachings of Christ might be promulgated amongst the still semi-pagans who formed the mass of the people of Ireland for a considerable period after the mission of St. Patrick, as shown by the late Dr. Todd and other authorities on the subject of our early ecclesiastical history. The people of a nation, and particularly of a Celtic nation, grade and grade, could not have been completely, or St. Fanchea and the Conversion of St. Endaus. 247 cven generally, converted from their immemorial idolatry to the Faith within the period usually assigned to a generation. Of this lady's high position some idea may be formed from the fact of her hand having been sought by Aengus, son of Natfraich, King of Munster, whose suit, however, she denied, notwithstanding the most pressing entreaties on the part of that monarch. Her views were not of this world. Fanchea is said to have received the veil from the hands of St. Patrick himself. If this be so, there can be little doubt that her immediate ancestors were at least in the majority ununited with the Church. She had a brother named Aine, or in Latin Endæus, who is usually described as a mighty man of valour-a leader of hosts-in short, a chieftain or prince of the period, who loved the song of the lark rather than the squeak of the mouse, and thought a castle of bones (the hardy surrounding clan) was far preferable to a castle of stones, wherein the slothful and unenterprising might live "to eat and drink and be despised and die, even as the beasts that perish, unsung by bard, their chaoin, or funeral dirge, unchaunted by mourners. Rough as he was in his hot youth, Endæus appears to have been deeply attached to his gentle sister, and on a certain occasion he is recorded to have set out to visit her at her residence, Rossory. Upon the way his party appear to have come into collision with some Fermanagh people, who could not understand the meaning of this seemingly hostile invasion. The result was the slaying of one of the opposing natives. This accident must have occurred not far from Rossory, as upon nearing that sacred spot the warriors of Endæus were still singing their song of triumph. Upon the sound of the wild strains reaching the ears of St. Fanchea, she is said to have addressed her community with words somewhat like the following in meaning::-" Know you, my sisters, this dreadful vociferation is not pleasing to Christ," then recognizing her brother's voice she exclaimed, as it were prophetically, "He is a son of Heaven's Kingdom, where voice is so particularly distinguished." Nevertheless, his approach was forbidden, the sister crying, “Do not come near us, for thou art contaminated with the blood of a man that is slain." Endæus denied the guilt of culpable homicide, declaring that as he held the inheritance of his father-therefore, he was justified in fighting against his enemies. This seems to have been the turning point in the life of Endæus. Admitted to the society of his sister, and paying attention to her gentle teaching and influence, he appears to have become a new man. He had been a pagan, and was now a Christian, and might to the end of his days have remained a good lay member of the Church, but for the fact that a noble maiden, to whom he was deeply attached, and who had been placed under his sister's care, died before he could (as he had long cherished the hope of doing) make her his wife. Fanchea appears to have been present with this lady at the time of her departure, and having placed a veil over the still beautiful face (more beautiful, perhaps, in the "rapture of repose" than it had ever previously been), conducted the lover to the chamber of death, and desired him to look now upon the face of her whom he had desired to espouse. The scene which followed had better be left to the imagination of the reader. It is enough to say that the world seemed gone and dead, for ever dead, to this once proud leader of spearhurling, axe-wielding, torch-bearing, hard-riding warriors. He took the habit of a monk, and ultimately became one of the most distinguished luminaries of the ancient Irish Church. His principal seat was Aran, off the coast of Galway, where his church and tomb are still evident. St. Endæus is recorded in some of the most ancient ecclesiastical manuscripts still remaining to us to have erected at Rossory, with his own hands, a magnificent earthwork. This Mur, though greatly ruined, still remains. It is of the rath class. To the antiquarian eye it constitutes a most interesting example of those earthen circumvallations alluded to by Bede as having been usually adopted by the Scoti for the enclosure and protection of their monasteries. A drive of five and a half miles brings us to Florencecourt Station, near which the picturesque terraces of Belmore mountain make a most agreeable feature in an otherwise rather tame landscape. At Belcoo, twelve and a half miles from Enniskillen, a most beautiful view of Upper and Lower Loughs Macnean is obtained. Between this station and Manorhamilton we pass Glenfarn, the grandly wooded estate of the Tottenham family. Manorhamilton is an inconsiderable town situated in an angle of the County Leitrim, and remarkable only for its romantic position amongst mountains of irregular form, and rising to elevations of from 1,200 to 1,500 feet. It takes its name from a once splendid baronial castle, the ivy-clad ruins of which can be seen from the line, erected in 1641 by Sir Frederick Hamilton, who figured largely in the political affairs of that stirring and eventful period. Dromahair, thirty-three and a quarter miles from Enniskillen, is, like Manorhamilton, a small but rising place, notable only for the possession of a very stately castle, now in ruins, which formerly belonged to the O'Ruarkes. Beside it are the walls of a long oblong detached building, commonly called the "Banquetting Hall." Here, no doubt, it was that the celebrated entertainment took place of which we read Lough Macnean. "O'Rourke's noble feast By those who were there, Or by those who were not." 249 The poem goes on to describe the numbers of fat cattle, sheep, bullocks, and swine which were, on that memorable occasion, consumed; and how the usquebaugh, otherwise whiskey, was brought up in pails, and drank out of methers or large vessels of wood, generally of a quadrangular form, and with perforated handles on each side. It refers also to the fact of "a cubit, or more, being the length of the skean," or dagger-knives of the guests; and how, before the close of the festivity, as might be expected, a little slashing occurred. The only stations from Dromahair to Sligo, in the neighbourhood of which any places of interest may be visited, are Collooney and Ballysodare. These shall be mentioned in a short excursion from Sligo, where tourists of " enquiring minds" should certainly remain for a space of two or even three days. Sligo is, perhaps, one of the most |