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 Caoine Clanna 

 Uhphcac, one of our most ancient tales, the beautiful t)eipOpi 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 Leabaip na gceapc, 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. 



" 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 Avhose 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 



