as that, whose ruin is so beautifully seated on the bank of Enochlough. St. Patrick founded this church (which still retains its ancient name') in the valley of Glannaicle, and two miles from Derry."

At Straad-bally-arran, also near the Fahan-river, are the ruins of a small church, which the country people report to have been the second, which St. Patrick founded in Derry. Near it is a small lake, and a hill, with a stone cross, all on a diminutive scale.

Both-Dhomnaigh. Badoney.

(Sunday's Tabernacle.)

Here, again, is said to have been a monastery near the "Fochmuin river;" can this be either of the above mentioned? I take the liberty of mentioning, for the consideration of the author of the Monasticon, that it can hardly be the rectory of the lower Badoney, in the county of Tyrone, beyond Newtown-Stewart. The topography will admit of but two sites, either the old ruin of Clendermot, or that of Enoch. The former is about two miles from Derry, the latter three. I take it to be the former in Glen-dermot.

Dun-yeven-Dungiven.

(The Pleasant Mount.)

In 1100, O'Cathan founded a priory for canons regular of the Augustinian order; which having been polluted by the effusion of Christian blood, both its church and cemetery were restored by the archbishop of Armagh in 1297. The adjacent village belonged to Dermit O'Cathan.

This ruin is, undoubtedly, the most interesting in our county. It was the burying-place of the sept of O'Cathan. Many of their tombs are ornamented with scutcheons, &c. in no mean style of sculpture; the principal monument is in the south of the altar, and is

G g

sacred to a very remarkable chief of this family, in Latin, surnamed Congalus. I opened this mound and found nothing but ashes. The same thing has happened in other cases, leading me to suspect that the barrows without urns are more ancient than those containing urns. There is a well beside it, said to be St. Patrick's, and other legends of superstition are recounted, which it would be idle to

revive.

The architecture is not perfectly Gothic, but of that mixed character brought into Ireland by the ecclesiastics who fled from the eastern empire, during the irruptions of its barbarous invaders. There is a tower at the north-west. On the same site is also a remarkable pillar, which seems to be sepulchral, and to have belonged to the pagan times. A smaller pillar, not far distant, when opened, without any design of search, disclosed an urn of earthenware with ashes and burned bones. The urn was surrounded by white stones.

The general dimension of ancient churches of the first importance, is 60 by 20 feet; to this the chancel is added, narrower than the body of the church, and separated by a partition, in which is an open arch. There seems to have been a consent in the choice of all these churches, which is not without good taste; for almost all are situated near lakes or rivulets, with romantic scenery. The convenience of freestone has also been regarded. Is it improbable, from the cromlechs, stone-henges, and sepulchral monuments, which we yet find, at or near all these, that Christianity, in supplanting Paganism, placed her altars in the consecrated abodes of those idols, whom she gradually supplanted? How much wiser and milder they who, in those ancient times, imperceptibly grafted the evangelical upon the Druidical culture, than they of this day, who are reviving a system of cruelty to prevent the progress of religious enquiry.

The old Church of Banagher.

This is built of cut freestone, in a good, and even an elegant style. Some modern characters, engraved on the side of the west door,

mention the foundation of the church, as having been in 474, or thereabouts, but this is not likely. Beside it stands the monastery, the only one in the county which still remains. It is entire, except the roof. The door is several feet from the ground, and the building nearly square; it appears that the stairs have been of stone. The tradition is, that O'Heney, a saint, was the founder, and that he used to shew himself, occasionally, from this elevated threshold. The tomb of this saint is still preserved in the church-yard.

The old church of Bally-na-screen is also a place of high antiquity, unnoticed in the Monasticon. This place was not originally intended for a church by St. Patrick, but for a library (in Irish Schren); it was afterwards consecrated, and erected into a church by St. Columb. This is now a ruin.

These various topics of antiquity I have found pleasure in presenting to the reader, hoping that they will be a gratifying introduction, to the modern state of ecclesiastical affairs. To this consideration, therefore, we shall now beg leave to direct the enquiry.

Modern Ecclesiastical Division and Descriptions.

The ecclesiastical boundary of the diocese of Derry is not commensurate with that of the county of London-Derry, but is extremely involved with that of other counties.

The county itself contains thirty-one parishes, of which five, with six churches belong to the primacy of Armagh; the remainder, with twenty-five churches, to the diocese of Derry.

The diocese extends into three other counties, viz. Donegal, Tyrone, and, for a small space opposite Ballyscullion, into that of Antrim. This last circumstance probably arose from the convent of Bally scullion having extended its precints along the shore on the opposite bank of the lake; the island on which the conventual church anciently stood, being equally near to either shore.

According to Doctor Beaufort, this diocese in its greatest length is 47 Irish, or 60 English, and in its greatest br eadh 43 Irish or 54

English miles: containing 659,000 acres, 48 parishes, 43 benefices, 51 churches, 12,921 acres to each church, 33 glebe houses, 12 parishes with glebes only, one benefice without a glebe, and one impropriate rectory.

From the same authority it is stated that the province of Ardmagh extends into the county of London-Derry 25,000 acres, having five benefices, and six churches.

These calculations of extent and boundary, I should suppose might fall short of the reality; as to churches, glebes, and other ecclesiastical considerations, the following table, it is hoped, will be satisfactory. The changes which have happened, in the division of parishes and the building of new churches, may account for the seeming difference between some parts of this report, and that of the judicious and learned Doctor, whose acute and extensive researches have conferred honour on himself and most valuable information on the public.