The River Mattock flows peacefully still by the old abbey as it did over seven centuries ago, when its course being first arrested, it was harnessed and compelled to take its share in many useful and profitable industries. One old solitary yew tree casts its shadow on its water and bears it company amid the surrounding ruin and desolation--sad and sympathising witnesses of Mellifont's fallen greatness. No bridge now spans the river here, though formerly it was probably arched over, and the slopes upon the Meath side were laid out in terraces and gardens. The present mill was built over one hundred years ago, together with some out-offices; the latter, being situated almost midway in the nave of the church, were removed when the excavations were made. The mill has not been worked during the last thirty years. When Mr. Armstrong wrote his interesting papers on Mellifont, in the _Dublin Penny Journal_, 1832-33, a few cabins nestled under the shadow of the old ruins. The last building that deserves notice is the small ruined edifice on the hill, which, after the suppression of the monastery, was used as a Protestant place of worship. Sir William Wilde was of opinion that it dates from the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The western gable which rises in the centre into a double belfry contains a pointed door-way, and above, but not immediately over this, is a double round-arched window. One small narrow light occupies the eastern gable. At a few paces in front of this building there stood, at the time Sir William examined it, two very plain and very ancient crosses, one having a heart engraven on it encircled by a crown of thorns, and the other having a fleur de lis on the arm. The latter cross has disappeared, but the former can still be seen prostrate on the ground, in that half of the old cemetery beyond the road-way, that is, on the side to the south. After the suppression, this was used as a Protestant burial-ground, though the presence of Catholic emblems would go to prove that it was once Catholic. Of late years the interments here have been but few. We are nowhere told, nor does any tradition still linger to indicate the former use of this ancient building, but it is most probable, that it was the church in which the tenants and dependants of the Abbey assisted at Mass and other religious functions--in a word, that it was the parish church of Mellifont, which was _served by the monks_. This seems to be the most likely explanation; for the law of "Enclosure," that law of the Church which debarred females from entering within the monastic enclosure, ("_Septa monasterii_" as it is called), was in full force at the Dissolution of monasteries, as appears from the Decrees of the General Chapters of the Order about that time, and also from the Episcopal Registers of some of the English dioceses which have lately been published. In these latter are found reports of the bishops, who, either officially or by delegation, visited