On leaving the Chapter-house one finds himself again on the site of the eastern walk or alley of the Cloister, as it is called, and proceeding along it southward, one sees a wall some seven or eight feet high without door or window of any sort. It is doubtful that this was portion of the ancient building; for then Mellifont would not have followed the general plan of all the houses of the Order. That it was not one of the original buildings is probable, both because the masonry is more modern, and the remains of an old building running at right angles with it were found when the excavations were made a few years ago in the potato garden, at the rere of this wall. That old structure measured about fourteen feet wide. It is shown on the ground plan. In the plan of Clairvaux, of which Mellifont is said to have been a counterpart, a long narrow hall ran off the Cloister here, parallel with the Chapter-house. It was called the "Auditorium" or "Parlour." It was there that each choir monk's share in the manual labour was assigned him every day by the Prior. There, too, confessions were heard, and the monks might speak to the Prior or Abbot on necessary matters; for the adjoining Cloister was a place of strict silence. As at Clairvaux, the novitiate was placed further south where the novices were trained in their duties by a learned and experienced monk, who, according to St. Benedict, "would know how to gain souls to God." Over the buildings on the ground story, that is, over the Sacristy, Chapter-house, Parlour, and Novitiate, was the Dormitory, which was entered by a stair-case, in the south-eastern angle of the transept, on one side, and by another stairs at the junction of the east and south walks of the Cloister. When the monastery at Mellifont was changed and remodelled after Clairvaux (for this latter underwent a substantial change in 1175), the monks may have used the old Parlour as a passage leading to other buildings which covered that plot of ground beyond the Chapter-house, now a potato garden. In the plan of Clairvaux, all the space in that direction is covered with buildings. (See plan of Clairvaux.) In the general view of Mellifont, given in frontispiece, the plot whereon these buildings stood is that where the man is seen tilling the garden. But if one ascend the hill, keeping close to the ruins, it will be evident how suitable a place it was for building on, and the remains of walls peep up here and there over the surface. The level at that spot is, indeed, much higher than in the Cloister, or Chapter-house, but that is partially caused by the debris of ruined buildings which has accumulated there. [Illustration: DOORWAY OF CHAPTER-HOUSE. See p. 18. _A. Scott & Son, Architects, Drogheda._]