As no Records, or Chronicles of Mellifont now exist, the historical part of the compilation has been derived from different sources, chiefly from our old Annals--_The Annals of the Four Masters_; those of _Boyle_, of _St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin_; _Clyn and Dowling's_; and of _Clonmacnois_; Ware's _Bishops_, etc.; _the Miscellany of the Archæological Society_; Ussher's _Sylloge_; Morrin's _Calendars of Patent Rolls_, etc. The part relating to disciplinary subjects was drawn principally from Martène's _Thesaurus Anecdotorum_, Vol. IV., which contains the Decrees of the General Chapter of the Cistercian Order, also, from the _Constitutiones et Privilegia, Menologium_, and the _Fasiculus Sanctorum Ordinis Cisterciensis_, by Henriquez; _Originum Cisterciensium_, tom. I, Janauschek; _l'Histoire de La Trappe_, Gaillardin, etc. The vindication of monks in general, from the aspersions cast on them by their enemies, and the facts appertaining to the Rebellion of 1641, are borrowed exclusively from Protestant sources,--Dugdale's _Monasticon Anglicanum_, Tanner's _Notitia Monastica_, Maitland's _Dark Ages_, Leland's _History of Ireland_, Temple's _History of the Insurrection_, 1641, Tichborne's _History of the Siege of Drogheda_, Carte's _Ormond_, etc. These by no means exhaust the list of authors consulted and utilised, but they show how far apart the pieces lay which have been stitched together to form a consecutive narrative. The compiler has endeavoured to compress the matter into the smallest possible space in order to make the little book accessible to all at a moderate price; and he has preferred to allow others to speak rather than to thrust his own opinions on the reader. Finally, he has borne in mind throughout, the trite saying, _Magna est Veritas et prævalebit_. CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I. THE RUINS 1 CHAPTER II. ST. MALACHY FOUNDS MELLIFONT 33 CHAPTER III. AN EPITOME OF THE RULE OBSERVED AT MELLIFONT AT ITS FOUNDATION, AND FOR ABOUT A CENTURY AND A HALF AFTERWARDS 41 CHAPTER IV. MELLIFONT TAKES ROOT AND FOUNDS NEW HOUSES OF THE ORDER 50 CHAPTER V. MELLIFONT CONTINUES TO FLOURISH UNDER SUCCESSIVE EMINENT SUPERIORS 58 CHAPTER VI. MELLIFONT IN TROUBLOUS TIMES 67 CHAPTER VII. THE SUPPRESSION OF MELLIFONT 85 CHAPTER VIII. MELLIFONT BECOMES THE HOME OF A NOBLE FAMILY--IS SOLD, AND IS DELIVERED UP TO RUIN AND DECAY 101 APPENDIX. I.--LIST OF ABBOTS OF MELLIFONT 128 II.--CHARTER OF NEWRY 129