236 



Mr. PETBIB'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



The bases of the shafts present an equal dissimilarity in design as the 



capitals. That on the west side exhibits above the 



plinth an ornament, in depressed relief, of the figure 



represented in the annexed drawing, and over it a 



human head rudely carved in low relief, having the 



moustache and beard arranged in stiff and straight 



plaits. The base of the corresponding shaft at the east 



side is less ornamented, and exhibits a sort of bulbous 



figure resting on a high plinth, as sufficiently shown in 



the general view of this doorway, given in p. 232. The 



architrave of this arch is without ornament on its face, 



but its archivolt is richly decorated with a triple-chevron 



moulding; The sub-arch, or recessed division of this 



archway, is sculptured in a style altogether different 



from that of the outer archway, being not in relief, as 



are all the other carvings of this interesting remain, but 



in depressed lines, and of a simpler design. The jambs 



are rounded into semicircular shafts at both their 



angles. The ornaments on the capitals are carried from the true capital to its 



abacus, as shown in the preceding engraving. The bases of the semicircular 



shafts at the angles are bulbous figures, like that 

 already described on the eastern shaft of the outer 

 archway ; and the intermediate spaces are orna- 

 mented with crosses, formed by a check in alter- 

 nate depression and relief, as shown in the annexed 

 engraving. The architrave of this archway pre- 

 sents a simple round moulding, with angular fil- 

 lets on each side, and the soffit is carved into 

 lozenge pannels. 

 Though I cannot in this, as in the preceding instance, adduce any historical 



evidence in support of the antiquity of the doorway, for I should be afraid to 



venture on ascribing its erection to the time of St. Mochua, the original founder 



and patron saint of Timahoe, who flourished, not indeed in the fifth century, 



as Archdall erroneously states, but in the sixth, yet it will, I think, be seen 



