6o The Boyne Valley. 



path of the canal is a very convenient way from which to view 

 the beauties of the river. About i^ miles from Navan stands 

 the round tower and ancient church of Donaghmore ; a little 

 further down the river we see the Castle of Dunmoe on our 

 left and the ancient church of Ardmulchan on our right. 

 We next reach Slane, to which we have already referred in 

 connection with the coming of Saint Patrick. The river is 

 very beautiful between Beauparc and Slane, and the hill on 

 which it stands commands the most extended view in the 

 county. Close by the monastery on the top of the hill is a 

 great tumulus or mound, probably the burial-place of King 

 Slanius, after whom the town was probably named. The 

 burial-place of King Cormac Mac An, who died in 266, and was 

 buried at Rossnaree, is about two miles from Slane, further 

 down the river. The burial mound is within a stone's throw 

 of the Boyne. On the opposite side, on a hill, is the great 

 tumultus of Knowth. King Cormac's burial has been made 

 famous by Sir Samuel Ferguson in his splendid poem, and the 

 exact place of interment has been handed down for over 1,600 

 years, and never lost sight of by his countrymen. The lecturer 

 next described the three great sepulchral pyramids of Knowth, 

 Dowth, and Newgrange, the most ancient and most remarkable 

 monuments in Western Europe. The lecturer next referred to 

 the Abbey of Mellifont, founded m 1 142 by O'Carroll, Prince 

 of Oriel, at the suggestion of St. Malachy, Primate of Ireland, 

 for monks of the Cistercian Order. The monks were brought 

 from Clairvaux, and were principally French. It was here the 

 faithless Dearvorgail, wife of O'Rorke of Breffney, who had 

 eloped with M'Alurrough, ended her days in penitence. It was 

 here also, towards the close of the sixteenth century, that Hugh 

 O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, submitted to Mountjoy, in the House 

 of Garrett Moore, ancestor to to the Marquis of Drogheda. 

 Monasterboice Round Tower and sculptured crosses were next 

 referred to. There was an Irish monastery founded here in the 

 year 522. The only ruins of this ancient foundation now 

 remaining are the round tower and sculptured grosses, the 



