213 
been the draught-men with which the brethren amused them- 
selves at a game of chequers, and we all know this was a fa- 
vourite game amongst the ancient Irish. In the Caome Clanna 
Uirhcac, one of our most ancient tales, the beautiful Oemop is 
represented as engaged in a game of chequers with her lover, 
when their residence is treacherously assailed by the myrmi- 
dons of O’Connor. And in the Leabarp na gceanc, the right of 
the chief of Siol Murry, and of the King of Chach, are stated 
to be certain chess-boards. Moreover, the brethren, on this 
supposition, may well have eked out their artistic earnings by 
their accustomed questing, and thus the coins of various 
dates are accounted for. J 
*‘ Another friend, with more ingenuity than probability, 
has suggested that this island, where manifestly was a smithy, 
was the retreat of the smith who, in early ages of Irish history, 
was looked on as associated with magic rites, possessed of the 
evil eye, and shunned as an associate ; and to this, St. Patrick’s 
hymn at Tarah gives some countenance, where he mentions 
Smiths and Druids as those whose incantations he deprecates; _ 
but I own I look on this suggestion as very fanciful. 
“The double pavement is again a difficulty ; but here the 
suggestion of Mr. Mulvaney, Commissioner of the Board of 
Works (and whose extended acquaintance with drainage ope- 
rations entitles any suggestion of his to the greatest weight) 
affords a solution. He says, he has no doubt that the levels 
of our inland lakes have frequently been suddenly and con- 
siderably raised by stoppages in the outfalls and accidental 
obstructions, like the falling in of a bank, or the accumulation 
of floating timber ; and, supposing such to have occurred at 
Cloonfinlough, and nearly submerged the island, rapaciously 
occupied, it might have been raised afresh, and the new pave- 
ment laid for the convenience of its more peaceful occupants. 
**'The other two islands in Ardekillan and Cloonfree have 
not yet been examined. All that is really known of them 
is, that an external stockade is apparent round them, like 
AG 
b. 
