former times it was called "the Island of Derry," because on the west and north it is bounded by a remarkable valley, which begins in the south end of the town, at the base of Hollywell Hill, and extends to Pennyburn, a mile below the town. The surface of this valley was formerly undulated with deep ravines. In a map of Derry, in 1600, I find it delineated as "The Bog," and a stream runs through it till it falls into the Foyle. A large portion of this valley, up to the present time, is called the "Bogside," and the inhabitants, the great majority of whom are Catholics, by way of derision are called the inhabitants of the Bogside. The bog has disappeared for more than 200 years, and there is no appearance of the stream that once flowed here; and the deep ravines have been levelled. It was in this bogside the Convent of the Franciscan Fathers once stood. It had attached to it three acres of land, a portion of which was used for a graveyard, the rest being reserved for the benefit of the community. William Street, Rosville Street, and Abbey Street now stand on these three acres, once the modest patrimony of the poor, humble Franciscans. After the memorable siege no Catholic was allowed to dwell inside the city walls, once studded with religious houses, "the Isle of the Derry," and the city of the great St. Columba. In course of time, when religious prejudices began to disappear in a limited degree, and when several Catholics Catholics came from Innishowen and Tyrconnell, in search of work, and to obtain means of subsistence, they were glad to settle down in the Bogside. Here was the nucleus of the Catholic population of Derry, amounting now to near 20,000.

Wonderful and mysterious are the ways of God! William Street, that stands on the land attached to the Franciscan Convent, runs at right-angles from the Foyle to Criggan, the name of a townland, which, with another townland, named Edenballymore, in Catholic times, belonged to the Bishops of Derry. Derry is a rising, prosperous city, ex

tending for more than a mile beyond "the old oak grove of the Derry," in a northern direction. The townland of Criggan is on elevated ground. Here stands the great Catholic Cathedral, built out of the poverty of a poor, persecuted people, at a cost of £40,000 at least. On the grounds of the Cathedral stand the episcopal palace and the schools of the Sisters of Mercy. All these buildings are on high ground, and command a view of the Foyle and the mountains of Donegal, and overlook the City of Columba, with all its historic and religious memories.

In 1694, the population of Derry, including also a circuit of two miles, was only 4,000 (Propaganda Archives). In 1835, after the lapse of 141 years, the population of Derry was only 10,130, and in 1881, it had increased to 29,162. According to the last census, the population of Derry is 32,893. Of this number 18,382 are Catholics, all other religious sects being only 14,511. The Four Masters state, that in the year 1600, Sir Henry Docwra sailed from England with 6,000 men, including colonists and soldiers, to people and defend the city of Derry. He is styled, "An illustrious knight of wisdom and prudence, and an English general." His conduct in Derry was unworthy of a knight, and a disgrace to an English general. These English troops and colonists immediately began the work of vandalism "by tearing down the monastery and Cathedral, and destroying all the ecclesiastical buildings in the town, and with the materials thus obtained erected houses and apartments," nay, even some of the walls of the city. But the bigotry of this Vandal did not end here; his object was to banish all the Catholics from the town. The Irish Society, a name of evil omen, followed up the policy of Docwra. In 1615, two years after this Society obtained a charter, they adopted means to have Derry inhabited exclusively by Protestants, for they issued an order in council, "that a certain number of children be sent over from Christ's Hospital as apprentices

and servants, and forbade all Protestants to take Catholic apprentices." This was the policy carried out in the Plantation of the six escheated counties of Ulster, in 1608, 1609, and 1610, when all the Catholics were banished from the rich fertile land in the barony of Raphoe, and county of Donegal, and allowed to starve, or eke out a miserable subsistence, in reclaiming the morass and the mountain on which no Scottish or English planter would settle. The same policy was pursued in all the Diocese of Derry. Along the valleys of the Derg, the Mourne, the Finn, and the Swilly, the old Celtic race was banished, and their homes and their lands knew them no more. George Montgomery, the first Protestant Bishop of Derry, parcelled out the lands in the valley of the Derg among his Scottish countrymen. The Hamilton family got a large share of the lands of the Earl of Tyrone, around Baronscourt, and along the valleys of the Mourne, the Foyle and the Swilly. Another branch of the same family got the entire territory of Monterlony, near 100,000 acres. John Chapman, a Scottish servant of James I., got the castle and lands of Newtown, once the property of O'Neill. All the old Celtic race was banished from these lands to perish of hunger, or seek an asylum on some barren, inhospitable mountain. The Scottish planters were obliged by law not to take Catholic servants and not to intermarry with Catholics.

Dr. Luke Plunket, who belonged to the illustrious house of Fingall, was Vicar-Apostolic of Derry in 1677. In one of his letters to the Propaganda he says he had thirty parish priests in Derry, and only 5,000 families in all the diocese.. He says his income was only £40 a year, and that he lived 100 miles from the nearest bishop.-Moran's Life of Oliver Plunket.

For the long term of 180 years no Catholic bishop resided in the city of Derry; that is, from the death of Redmond O'Gallagher, who was killed in the O'Cahan country in 1601, till the last years of the episcopate of Dr. McDevitte,

near the end of the last century. Still there was a gradual increase among the poor Catholics of Derry, who first settled down on the land of the Franciscan Fathers. Other streets sprang up in the "Bogside," their names indicating the locality. These streets were designated—“The Cow Bog," the "Long Bog," and the "Bogside," and in these streets, and in the other streets to which I have already referred, the Catholics chiefly resided. Gradually, but slowly, the poor Catholics found their way to the fashionable portions of the city.

The See of Derry was governed by Vicars-Apostolic for the long period of 119 years. No other See in Ireland was so long deprived of episcopal government. Many causes led to this. In 1600, the Cathedral, the great Monastery of Columba, the Convents of the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the Cistercians were all demolished by Docwra to use the materials in building the new city, and to destroy all vestiges of the old religion. The feeling of hatred against Catholics was intensified by the burning of Derry, on the 1st of May, 1608, by the gallant young chieftain of Innishowen, Sir Cahir O'Dogherty. The rebellion of 1641 fanned the flames of religious persecution which were still smouldering. Then came the days of Cromwell and the terrible persecutions of those times. This was followed by the siege, which Protestants boast was the era in which religious liberty began to dawn in Ireland. Religious liberty! what a misnomer! From this era religious persecution was practised on the poor Catholics of Derry city and diocese, with a severity that would bring a blush to the face of a Nero or a Domitian.

(To be continued.)

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[Advt.]

A CHILD TERTIARY.

POOR little Dan was but ten years of age. He lived out in the country among the green Irish fields, far away from any town or city. You would say, how did he know about holy St. Francis, and the Cord of the Third Order? Oh! there is not a spot in Ireland that does not know about St. Francis; and well ought it to be so. If you were to go into the most hidden glen or the loneliest nook, there you would find an old Franciscan ruin. And do you think these sacred ruins do not preach? The people know all about these holy ruins; they know that the brown-robed Franciscans once lived there, and that the people in ancient times gathered there, and that the holy Mass was offered, and the congregation prayed, and sometimes wonderful cures were performed. The children get to know all things in their curious ínquisitive little way. And then, when their parents take them into town, they ask to be shown the church where the holy priests live that used to be long ago in the sacred ruins near their own house at home.

And, you may be sure, Irish mothers will gladly take their children to the Franciscan church; for there is something in the Franciscan Order that agrees with Irish piety and love, as there is something in the breeze of the Irish hills that satisfies the Irish heart.

Somewhat in that way, little Dan, who was hardly ten years of age, came to be a Tertiary.

Now the poor child was sick unto death. He was attacked with some kind of stomach disease. Every three hours he had to be swathed round with burning hot blisters. Day and night they had to be applied, till the poor child was almost roasted, and the cord could no longer be worn around the waist, and so it had to hang around the poor child's neck.

You would have pitied him if you had seen him. His curly