484 



As an appendix to this abstract of Dr. Pickells' memoir, it 

 will be proper to mention that Mr. Kirwan, for some papers 

 read by him before the Royal Society, at the very commence- 

 ment of his scientific career, was voted the Copley Medal; and 

 that he was immediately afterwards elected President of this 

 Academy ; a distinction with which he continued to be honoured 

 up to the period of his death. 



Sir William Betham exhibited an impression of an ancient 

 seal, lately found near Beverley in Yorkshire, on which is re- 

 presented a mounted cavalier 

 with a very long sword drawn 

 in his hand, round which is the 

 following inscription : 



S. BRIEN. REGIS . DE KENEL. 

 EOGAIN. 



Brien O'Neill was King of 

 Kinel Owen, or Tyrone, from 

 A. D. 1241 to 1260, when, along with many others of the Irish 

 chieftains, he was slain in the battle of Drom Deirg, or Down. 

 His head was cut off and sent to King Henry III. ; and pro- 

 bably this seal fell into the hands of the English victors, who 

 carried it to England, and this accounts for its being found in 

 Yorkshire. 



The Annals of the Four Masters have the following account 

 of the battle. 



1260. — "The battle of Drom Deirg, at Downpatrick, was 

 fought by Brien O'Neill and Hugh O'Conor (King of Con- 

 naught) against the English of the north of Ireland, in which 

 many of the Irish chiefs were slain, namely, Brien O'Neill, the 

 chief ruler of Ireland ; Donali O'Cairre, Dermod M'Loughlin, 

 Manus O'Cahan, Cane O'Henery, Donslevy MacCan, Conor 

 O'Duvdirma, and his son, Hugh O'Cahan ; Murtogh O'Ca- 



