398 



[Proc. B.N.F.O. 



Bangor, Dufferin, Killyleagh, Ward, &c, whose representatives at 

 the present day retain their connection with the County Down 

 and some with historic Bangor. In 1689 the Duke Schomberg, 

 having landed at Groomsport with the advance portion of William 

 III.'s army, marched to Bangor. The tangible relics of that 

 early exalted age of Bangor existing now are few indeed. The 

 seal of one of its abbots is preserved by the Royal Irish Academy. 

 Another and equally important seal is one that was attached to a 

 famous petition, about the year 1500, to the King of England. 

 " This seal is of interest as being the only existing reproduction 

 of a sketch of the Abbey of Bangor as it was in the Middle Ages." 

 (H. C. Lavvlor.) Bangor has left some priceless relics in the 

 shape of books scattered in the great libraries of Europe. The 

 " Antiphonary Benchorense," or "Antiphonary of Bangor," a 

 book of anthems written in the seventh century for services in the 

 college church at Bangor, is now in the Ambrosian Library at 

 Milan. It was presented with other Irish books by Donegal, an 

 Irish scholar of the ninth century and one of the founders of the 

 University of Pavia, and possibly a graduate of Bangor, whose 

 death is recorded in 834. This book remained at Bobbio till 

 1606, when it was removed by Cardinal Frederick Borromeo to 

 the newly-founded library in the capital of Lombardy, where it 

 can still be seen. Amongst the treasures in the library of St. 

 John's College at Cambridge the writer was shown a psalter, 

 commonly known as the Southampton Psalter, because it was 

 given to the library by Thomas, Earl of Southampton, but it is 

 strongly conjectured to have belonged to Bangor in Ireland, and 

 has attracted much attention from Celtic scholars, by whom it is 

 attributed to the ninth century. It will be interesting to observe 

 if any light can be thrown on it in the revision of the catalogue of 

 the St. John's College MSS., which has recently been undertaken 

 by Dr. James, the present Provost of King's College. The high 

 cross of Bangor once stood in the Market Square. No Irish town, 

 much less one of the importance of Bangor, would have been 



