the style of Louis Quinze, with long, straight avenues, adorned with flowers, terminated by bright vistas, with mimic lakes, formally cut lime trees, &c. The castle was built in the reign of Charles II. by Sir Hugh Clotworthy, a gentleman from Somersetshire. Lord Massereene has concentrated in himself several titles; he is Baron Lough Neagh, Viscount Ferrard, and Baron Oriel, as well as Viscount Massereene. Sir William Skeffington was created a Baronet by Charles I. Sir John Skeffington, the fifth Baronet, married the heiress of Sir John Clotworthy, who was elevated to the Peerage, in 1660, by Charles II. He died five years after, and his honours devolved upon Sir John Skeffington. The titles of Viscount Ferrard and Oriel of Collon, was borne by Foster, last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, coming to him by marriage.

The Round Tower of Antrim stands about half a mile northeast of the town, in the plantations of G. Jackson Clarke, Esq., J.P., who keeps it in repair. It is cylindrically built of unhewn stone, and is ninety-five feet high, forty-nine feet in circumference at the base, and the cone forming the summit twelve feet in height. The door is seven feet nine inches from the ground. Immediately above the door-way is a Grecian cross, rudely sculptured in alto relievo on a block of freestone. Around the base of the tower great quantities of human bones have been found.

Lough Neagh has been already sketched in outline (p. 11). Coming from the Antrim coast, or from the Lakes of Killarney, its shores seem very tame, in the absence of mountains, cliffs, glens, gorges, and other features of the picturesque. Its shores are flat, and its waters are generally very quiet; so much so, that in some severe winters it has been completely frozen over; and, in 1814, Colonel Heyland passed over it on horseback. Tradition ascribes the lake to various causes, one of which is, the submergence of the earth by which an ancient town was sunk, and covered with water; as the national poet sings:

'On Lough Neagh's banks, as the fisherman strays,
When the clear, cold eve's declining,
He sees the Round Towers of other days
In the waves beneath him shining.'

There is a very general belief, however, that the lake has the property of petrifying wood. Ram's Island contains nearly seven statute acres, and is beautifully laid out, and planted with rose-trees, and a profusion of other flowering plants. An extremely ornate cottage, tastefully furnished, was erected by Earl O'Neill, in which the caretaker resides, from whom visitors and pic-nic parties, who frequently, in summer, spend a day in the sweet little spot, receive every requisite attention. Tourists and excursionists have ready means of access to the island by boats from Glenavy Water-Foot, the mouth of Crumlin Water, and other adjacent points. It is principally celebrated for the ruins of a Round Tower, the only object of antiquity which it contains. Its original height can only be guessed at, as

'Time with assailing arm

Hath smote the summit, but the solid base
Derides the lapse of ages.'

The altitude of the portion which remains is 43 feet; its circumference over 35 feet; the thickness of the walls is 2 feet 8 inches. The entrance is on the south-west side, nearly level with the ground.

CHAPTER XVII.

ARMAGH, MONAGHAN, CAVAN, AND FERMANAGH.

ARMAGH COUNTY.

HE County Armagh runs across from the head of Lough Neagh, its northern boundary, almost to the Bay of Dundalk, where Louth bounds it to the south. It has Down on the east, and on the west Monaghan and Tyrone; its greatest length being thirty-two miles, and greatest breadth twenty, comprising an area of 328,076 acres, of which 265,243 are arable, 35,117 uncultivated, 8,996 in plantations, and 17,942

under water. The surface is hilly, rising into a mountain range towards Sleivegullion on the south-west. The population has been kept up since 1851 better than in most counties, the falling off being only about 6,000. At the last census it was 190,086. The lieutenant of the county is Lord Lurgan; the number of magistrates being eighty-one, including fifteen deputy-lieutenants. The county returns two Members constituency, 7,443. Next to Armagh, the capital, the largest town is

Lurgan (pop. 7,766). It stands on the eastern verge of the county, about 2 miles from Lough Neagh, and seventeen from Belfast. The surrounding country is very well cultivated, producing abundant crops. The town occupies an elevated site, looking clean and comfortable, with a well employed, thriving population, and good markets. There is, however, little that is picturesque, if we except Lurgan House and demesne, the beautiful seat of Lord Lurgan, by whose ancestor, Sir William Brownlow, the town was founded. He came over from Epworth, in Derbyshire, and received a grant of lands here, in 1629. The demesne comprises more than 300 acres, and is highly ornamented with plantations. About five miles further on the line of the Ulster Railway is

Portadown (pop. 5,524), which stands on the River Bann, near its junction with Lough Neagh, on which side the country is low, marshy, and bleak; but the environs are well cultivated, adorned with numerous villas, and snug farm-houses. The junction between the Dublin and the Ulster railways has greatly increased its business, and it is a decidedly prosperous and rising town. It was founded at the time of the Ulster Plantation, by a gentleman named Obens, and it has held its ground as well as most of the Ulster towns that originated at the same period.

Tanderagee lies in a rich valley, about five miles to the north-west. It is an exceedingly pretty little town, formerly the property of a most public-spirited gentleman, and a most improving landlord, General Sparrow, and now the estate of the Duke of Manchester. The approach to it from the County Down is charming. The castle of Tanderagee is a large, modern, baronial pile, occupying the site of an ancient fortress, built when the estate was granted by James I. to

Sir Oliver St. John. Before that time it belonged to the O'Hanlons, one of whom, J. Redmond O'Hanlon, the most celebrated of the Irish rapparees, was, for a long time, a formidable outlaw and freebooter in the mountains about Newry.

THE CITY OF ARMAGH.

Armagh City is one of the most ancient in the island, claiming such connexion with St. Patrick that its Archbishop has been recognised, after much competition with Dublin, as the Primate of all Ireland, having the right to carry his crozier into every diocese. And although the situation is by no means central, and the population never was large, and is now but 8,933, the primacy has been acknowledged and maintained in the Protestant Establishment, the Archbishop being much more largely endowed than the Archbishop of Dublin. The town is situated on a hill, which is crowned by the old cathedral, which presented the grandest feature in the picture until it was transcended by the magnificent Catholic cathedral, commenced by Primate Crolly a quarter of a century ago, and just now finished. It stands on elevated ground, a little out of the town, and is really one of the grandest and most elaborately decorated edifices in the country. The city of Armagh is one of the best of our inland towns, and has an antique air of quiet respectability, such as might be expected in an old cathedral town, having an archbishop with a princely revenue, and a numerous staff of well endowed clergy as constant residents. Besides, it is the county town, and many of the large landed proprietors have their mansions in the neighbourhood, some of them peers and baronets, such as the Earl of Gosford, Lord Lurgan, the Earl of Charlemont, Sir Capel Molyneux, Colonel Sir James Stronge, &c. The borough returns one Member to Parliament, the constituency being 603.

Of the primatial see of Armagh, Archdeacon Cotton says, 'There seems to be no reasonable ground for doubting that this Church was founded and endowed with its primatial dignity and pre-eminence by St. Patrick.' He also remarks, 'that the Registry of Armagh presents a splendid contrast to the others. This repository (alone of Ireland) contains a

venerable and valuable series of ancient registers of some of the earlier prelates, which happily have escaped destruction.' In consequence of the disturbed state of the province of Ulster during a great part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, most of the diocesan registers suffered the loss of their ancient records. Armagh was so fortunate as to escape this calamity, so as to be a splendid exception to all the rest of the sees. The ancient registers do not commence till beyond the middle of the fourteenth century.

The Royal School of Armagh is a free grammar school, founded by Charles I., in 1627, and vested in the Primate Ussher and his successors. The endowment consisted of certain lands, containing about 750 acres, producing an income now of about £1,200 per annum. It is to this grant the present classical school owes its origin. The buildings, which are very extensive and commodious, were erected in 1774. The city of Armagh was plundered and burned in the Middle Ages more frequently, perhaps, than any other city in Ireland, the cathedral being always involved more or less in the common destruction. The present cathedral was erected in 1677. It was greatly improved by the munificent Primate Robinson; yet, in 1834, the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Revenue and Patronage reported that it was in a dilapidated state from age; and it was pronounced by the provincial architect to be unworthy of any considerable expenditure. The cost of the restoration was met by a general subscription; but the greater part was contributed by the late Primate, amounting, it is said, to £20,000.

Armagh was one of the six counties confiscated by James I. The territory had belonged to the O'Neills, the O'Hanlons, the O'Carrols, and O'Cahans, whose people were all involved, more or less, in the fortunes of the Earl of Tyrone. The Plantation scheme was said to be the work of the Privy Council of Ireland, and submitted by them for the adoption of the English Government. It was part of the plan that all the lands estreated in each county should be divided into four parts, whereof two should be subdivided into proportions consisting of about 1,000 acres apiece; a third part into proportions of 1,500 acres; and the fourth in proportions of 2,000 acres. Every proportion was to be made into