4 



above passage, the old name of Buttevant, and seeing this, he assumed 

 or believed that the river was called Mulla, and that it gave name to 

 Kilnamullagh ; bat this is all the work of his own fertile imagination, 

 At the year 1251 the Four Masters, in recording the foundation of the 

 monastery, call it Cill-na-mullach, which O'Suliivan, in his "History of 

 the Irish Catholics," translates Ecclesia tumulorum, the church of the 

 summits or hillocks, and the words admit of no other interpretation. 



Spenser takes great delight in the name of Mulla ; and not content 

 with impressing the name on the river, he has multiplied it in other 

 localities ; the plain through which it flows, he calls Armulla, and it 

 is, no doubt, to carry out the same idea that he personifies the adja- 

 cent range of hills under the name of Mole — another imaginary name — 

 whose daughters, Mulla and Molanna, are to be understood as named 

 from him. Ail this structure of fictitious names he has evidently built 

 on the name Mulla — this, too, as we have seen, being the work of his 

 own fancy. There can be no doubt that he selected the name for its 

 soft musical sound, in preference to the true but less harmonious name 

 Aubeg. 



In the first of the " Two Cantos of Mutabilitie," Spenser mentions 

 a river under the fictitious name of Molanna, which he personifies as 

 one of Diana's nymphs, and celebrates her love for the river Panchin 

 or Puncheon. It is not easy to determine with certainty what river 

 Spenser meant by the Molanna. The whole context of the pastoral 

 shows that it runs from one of the slopes of Galtymore, and according 

 to Spenser it joins the Puncheon : — 



" So now her waves [i. e. Molanna's] passe through a pleasant plaine 

 Till with the Fanchin she herselfe doe wed, 

 And both combined, themselves in one faire river spred." 



There are only two streams which run down on that side from the 

 slopes of Galtymore. One of these, the Behanagh, rises about a mile 

 west of Galtymore, and joins the Funcheon at Xilbeheny, after a steep 

 course of about four miles. The other is the Attychraan stream, some- 

 times called the Brackbawn ; it rises on the side of Galtymore, and 

 flows through a deep glen by Galty Castle, or " The Mountain Lodge." 

 It is the generally received opinion that this is the Molanna, and in 

 many particulars it certainly answers Spenser's description. " It rises 

 from a group of rocks somewhat in the shape of a horseshoe, high up on 

 the side of Galtymore ; near the rocks it forms a pretty large pool, and 

 the glen through which it flows is to this day shaded with oaks."* 

 This is just as Spenser describes it : — 



" For first she springs out of two marble rocks, 

 On which a grove of oakes high-mounted growes, 

 That as a girlond seemes to deck the locks 

 Of some faire bride, brought forth with pompous showes 



* I have not been able to examine this exact locality personally. For the short 

 description of the Brackbaun quoted above I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Ed- 

 mund Mulcahy, who lives on the spot, and he is responsible for its correctness. 



