172 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



legend of the bell, with two mistakes, doubtless the result of quoting from 

 memory ; that the bell hung in the Bound Toioer, and that it tolled spon- 

 taneously eve7-y day ; this last error completely spoils the story ! He then 

 tells us that " among the traditions of the place is one to the effect that the 

 island was desecrated on a certain occasion by one of the sons of Brian 

 Boroimhe, who paid the penalty of his crime." Of this I can find no confirma- 

 tion. " Some years ago," he adds, " it is stated it was desecrated by some 

 members of the Burke family of Meelick, and that evil befel them in conse- 

 quence. A long poem in Irish, of which we possess the translation in English, 

 laments the fact in bitter language." I have been unable to trace this alleged 

 poem. 



IV. I'eampullna hJiFear ngonta. — 0'(-onor give a brief description of this 

 building, without mentioning its name. O'Donovan writes after his descrip- 

 tion the following note : — " This is called Teamjndl na hh/ear ngonta, i.e., the 

 church of the wounded men, i.e., in which men slain in battle and who would 

 not be admitted into respectable burial places, were interred." This does not 

 sound like genuine folk-lore ; it may have been picked up from someone on the 

 spot, not improbably being reached by means of a leading question. We have 

 already noticed the tradition recorded by Brash. 



V. Cross-slab beside TeampuU na bhFear ngonta. — After noticing a slab 

 (probably No. 37 in the foregoing list — the only one of the slabs in the Saints' 

 Graveyard that the Ordnance Letters mention),' O'Conor says: — "There 

 was an attempt made, it is said, to carry away, this stone to Clonrush ; but no 

 human power could take it up to place it in the boat, which was in readi- 

 ness to convey it across the lake." The writer in the E. S.A.I. Journal 

 tells the same story, but again spoils it by making it refer to all the stones in 

 tlie graveyard. 



VI. The tivelvc fou7ule)-s. — We have already mentioned the lost " grave of 

 the twelve saints " (Xo. 85 in the foregoing list), said to mark the spot where 

 the twelve saints were interred who originally founded the churches. There 

 is no other trace of a tradition or record that the monastery was founded by 

 a community of twelve. The number was no doubt suggested by the number 

 of the apostles. (See on this subject Beeves' " Adamnan," Edinburgh 

 Edition, p. Ixxi). 



^ This ia not their fault. The slabs seem to have been completely hidden by rubbish 

 till they were uncovered by the Board of Works. Even now most of them are sodded 

 liver, and have to be dug out by anyone wishing to examine them. This is an advantage, 

 as it preserves them from the weather and from the^ boots of careless wayfarers. 



