90 



No. 7. Pilasters, interior of the choir. 



No. 8. Pilasters, interior of the choir. 



No. 9. Ease of pilasters, angle of choir. 



No. 10. Base of angle pilasters, N. window, choir. 



No. 11. Base and capital of angle pilaster, south window, choir. 



From the peculiar grace of form, and deep under-cutting of the 

 foliated capitals of the pilasters supporting the groined roof of the 

 building I am illustrating, as well as from the presence of a broad flat 

 rib running down the external face of each of the pilasters and their 

 bases, as well as along the upper margin of the abacus of the capitals, it 

 is evident that this work is not older than the beginning of the 13th 

 century. Bloxham, and all writers on English Ecclesiastical Architec- 

 ture, direct especial attention to this marked feature, as being one which 

 is of the utmost value in determining the approximate age of a building ; 

 and it is a surer guide in this respect, than even the form of the associ- 

 ated arch, as we shall see presently when describing the octagonal build- 

 ing called "the Baptistry," and which is one of the most interesting of 

 the ruins at Mellifont. 



No. 12. Plan of the octagonal building erroneously called "The Bap- 

 tistry," S.W. of, and close to the choir. It is absurd to suppose that an 

 abbey should be possessed of a building the use of which was prohibited 

 to the monks. "We have here undoubtedly the chapter house of the com- 

 munity, with an apartment over it, as at Wells cathedral, and else- 

 where in England. It is perhaps worthy of note, that when the masonry 

 reached to the height of a few feet above the crown of the semicircular 

 arches on which the upper floor of the building stood, the architect ap- 

 pears to have checked the accuracy of his work by laying an octagonal 

 frame of timber over the arches, and to have enclosed it in the masonry ; 

 where the building is broken through, on the south side, the presence of 

 this massive frame work is indicated by a square hollow in the thick- 

 ness of the wall. This is at least the most apparent explanation for the 

 existence of this singular square horizontal tube in the thickness of the 

 walls over the semicircular arches. It may, however, be an horizontal 

 flue for warming the groined floor over the arches, and was connected 

 with some fireplace in that portion of the building now destroyed. 



"What yet remains of this octagonal building shows that it was open 

 to the air at its basement, but groined with stone : the upper story 

 thus formed having been lighted by a large aperture in each side of the 

 octagon. Access to this floor must have been by a passage from the 

 main buildings on the southern side of the octagon, every trace of which 

 is now gone. Traces of blue and vermilion may yet be seen on the capitals. 



No. 13. Plan of the abutment and arches at the base of the octago- 

 nal building. 



No. 14. Cap of pilasters at the basement of the octagonal building. 

 Nos. 15-17. Cap of pilaster from the same. 

 No. 18. Base of pilaster. ,, 



It is worthy of note that the style and character of the caps of 

 the pilasters from this building are precisely those of the caps of 



