126 Transactions. 
COMMUNICATIONS. 
I. Some Old Note-takers and their Notes. By Mr Purer Gray. 
In his paper Mr Gray succinctly analysed the contents of three 
booklets, describing respectively the countries and peoples of 
England, Holland, and Scotland. The book is ascribed to James 
Howell, the author of the celebrated ‘ Letters” (1596-1666). 
II. Holywood Abbey. By Grorcr F. Brack, Ph.D. 
The date of the foundation of the Abbey of Holywood is un- 
certain, but it seems to have been before the year 1180. 
Previous to this, however, there seems to have been a cell 
occupied by a monk named Congall, hence the name Dercongall, 
meaning ‘‘the oak wood of Congall.” Congall, or 8. Congall, is 
commemorated in the calender of Adam King, published in Paris 
in 1588, under May 12th:—“S8. Congall, abot of haliwode and 
conf. in scotland vnder King Malcome 2. 1 13.” In the Martyr- 
ology of. Aberdeen, quoted in Forbes’ Kal. Scot. Sts., p. 130 :— 
“Vj Idus Maij. In Scocia Sancti Congalli abbotis apud monas- 
terium de Drumcongal cuius merita longe lateque diffusa minaculis 
non desunt clarere impolluta mente calcanit et immerito qui 
presentis vite infomiam et immundicie calumniam tanquan Christi 
pauper paupertatis et paciencie posterum prebebat exemplum.” 
In Brockie’s MS. (p. 8488) it is stated that in an ancient missal 
belonging to Father Thomas Primrose, there was inserted with a 
pen a collect of or to ‘“S. Congal, Abbate Sacri Bosci.”—Gordon, 
Monasticon p. 318. See also Dempster, Hist. Bec. Gent. Scot. i. 
158-59. The Abbey was also known by the name Dercongal, 
especially in Papal Bulls, and it was also called St. Bois, Sacro 
Bosco Nemus Sacrum, and Monasterium sacris nemoris, ‘‘ Monas- 
tery of the sacred grove.” A large part of the grove remained 
in the time of Charles I. (Description of Nithsdale in Bleaw’s 
Atlas, 55.) Many roots of ancient oak trees were dug up by the 
Rev. Dr Bryce (Johnston’s Statistical Account, i, p. 18). A 
drawing of the stone circle at Holywood is given by Grose in his 
Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 169. The foundation of the Abbey of 
Holywood could not have been much earlier than 1180, as the 
monks belonged to the Premonstratensian order, which was 
