44 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



myself compensated for all my exertions, and not an idoler." ' O'Donovan 

 had not then ascertained the true position of Magh Sleacht, and, influenced 

 by Lanigan and Beauford, he associated the " plain of genuflections " with 

 County Leitrim. Surmising that Cromlin, or Crimlin, a townland in 

 Oughteragh parish, might have derived its name from the idol,^ he made a 

 careful examination of its "crooked glen." At that time the Tripartite 

 Life was known only through Colgan's Latin paraphrase in the " Septima 

 Vita," ; and O'Donovan had to rely for his marks of identification on two 

 passages, viz. (a), " Cum enim Patricius existens juxta fluvium Gath-ard 

 appellatum, ^•ideret cominus idolum . . . ," and (o) " In ista regiuncula 

 Patricius exstruxit Ecclesiam, vulgo Domnach Mor, Basilicam magnam 

 nuncupatam ; eique praefeeit Mauranum,. cognomento Barhanum, alias 

 Banbanum, cognatum suum." ' 



The misleading expression, " fluvium Gath-ard appellatum," would 

 probably have sufficed in those days to defeat the keenest explorer, though 

 his search had been prosecuted inside Magh Sleacht. While the failure of 

 our most eminent topographer may, therefore, be regretted, it in no wise 

 reflects on his diligence or acumen. Writing from Mohill on the 24th June, 

 O'Donovan thus reported the result of his quest : " Kow, though one should 

 think there are sufficient data here to discover the spot where Crom stood, 

 stiU I cannot discover any place that will agree with it. I cannot find a 

 church called Donaghmore, nor a river called Gathard. The only features 

 remaining to support my conjecture are the river which destroyed the 

 chapel,* and the well dedicated to St. Patrick," both which, joined with the 

 name Cromlin and with their contiguity to Fenagh, would with some 

 ^asioHary minds amount to demonstration." ^ 



On the 9th December 1836, O'Donovan thus wrote from "21 Great Charles 

 Street": — "In looking over the 'Life of St. Dalian,' of Elildallan, near 

 KiUyshandra, I find that Magh Sleacht, where the idol of Crom Cruach stood, 

 was the ancient name of the barony of Teallach Eathach (Tullyhaw), in the 

 county of Cavan. This shows that I searched for Crom in the wrong place, 



' " Ord. Survey Letters" (Cavan and Leitrim). 



^ This notion was by no means fanciful. N. O'Kearney similarly took " Crum Linn " 

 to be "the lake of Crom" (" Trans. Ossianic Society," vol. i, p. 105). 



2 Colgan's " Trias Thaumaturga," p. 134. 



' At least two very old men of the neighbourhood still remember the occurrence here 

 mentioned— the damming up of the river in the gorge above the road, the bursting of 

 the bridge by the unloosened reservoir, and the sudden flooding of the little chapel 

 below it, one Sunday while Mass was being celebrated. 



'" St. Patrick's Well at Crimlin was not destroyed. It is carefully preserved by the 

 respectable blacksmith (Patrick Gormley) near whose forge it is situated. 



" " Ord. Surv. Letters " (Cavan and Leitrim). 



