* *

"Time to barter the transitory things for the country of the King of heaven;
Time to defy the ease of the little earthly world of a hundred pleasures;
Time to work at prayer in adoration of the high King of angels."

The obituary notices, however, were not always complimentary. We find
the following entry in the Annals of Clonmacnois:--"Tomhair Mac Alchi,
King of Denmark, is reported to go [to have gone] to hell with his
pains, as he deserved."

[Illustration: GREY MAN'S PATH, GIANT'S CAUSEWAY.]

[Illustration: RATH AT LEIGHLIN, CARLOW]

FOOTNOTES:

[192] _Expanded_.--I take this opportunity of requesting from laymen or
ecclesiastics who may read this announcement, the favour of any
information they may consider valuable.

[193] _Heaven.--Ec. Hist_. lib. iv. c. 26. "From that time the hopes and
strength of the English crown began to waver and retrograde, for the
Picts recovered their own lands," &c. The Annals of the Four Masters
mention a mortality among cattle throughout the whole world, and a
severe frost, which followed this invasion: "The sea between Ireland and
Scotland was frozen, so that there was a communication between them on
the ice."--vol. ii. p. 291. They also mention the mission of Adamnan to
"Saxon land."

[194] _Galls_.--Gall was a generic name for foreigners. The Danes were
Finn Galls, or White Foreigners, and Dubh Galls, or Black Foreigners.
The former were supposed to have been the inhabitants of Norway; the
latter, of Jutland. In Irish, _gaill_ is the nom., and _gall_, gen.

[195] _Streets_.--In Armagh the buildings were formed into streets and
wards, for the better preservation of monastic discipline. Armagh was
divided into three parts--_trian-more_, the town proper;
_trian-Patrick_, the cathedral close; and _trian-Sassenagh_, the home of
the foreign students.

[196] _Michaelmas_.--Annals, p. 371. Another fearful thunderstorm is
recorded in the Annals for 799. This happened on the eve of St.
Patrick's Day. It is said that a thousand and ten persons were killed on
the coast of Clare. The island of Fitha (now Mutton Island) was partly
submerged, and divided into three parts. There was also a storm in
783--"thunder, lightning, and wind-storms"--by which the Monastery of
Clonbroney was destroyed.

[197] _Reachrainn_.-Rechru appears to be the correct form. It has not
yet been ascertained whether this refers to Lambay, near Dublin, or the
island 01 Rathlinn. See note, p.