some monasteries and adverted to the law of enclosure as an important point of monastic discipline. This old structure, then, would have been constructed purposely outside the wall for the use of the tenants. Such a chapel is still to be seen outside the enclosure at Bordesley Abbey, an old Cistercian monastery in Worcestershire, of which we are expressly told, that it was the place in which the monks, tenants, domestics, etc., attended Mass. Another purpose may be assigned to this old chapel at Mellifont, as that attached to the College, or Seminary, which once flourished there. The surrounding hill is locally and traditionally known as College-Hill, and the old road which passes over it and leads to Townley Hall, is called the College Road. Little more remains to be said of the ruins or of the site itself. Standing on this hill and looking into the valley beneath, we are struck by its singular natural features. It would seem as if the waters of the Mattock had been suddenly dammed up, and that the pent-up waters, bursting their barriers, hollowed out this sheltered little valley, after the angry element had cleared away the rocks and other obstructions; and having swept it clear of the rubbish, made it a fit and proper place whereon to rear a temple to the true God, in which praise and sacrifice might for ever be offered to Him. No buildings seem to have been constructed on the Meath side, as no traces of them remain. In this, Mellifont differed from Clairvaux, whose buildings filled the valley and spread out wings high up the hills on either side of the River Aube. Just due south from where we have been standing, on the hill, and distant about a few hundred yards, the Guide will show a singular earth-work, shaped like a moat, and having an elevated mound in the centre. From the presence here of old conduits built with masonry, there can be no doubt that this was a reservoir to contain a copious supply of water which flowed from wells on the hill. Lower down than this moat, that is, at the rere of the Chapter-house, lies buried beneath some feet of soil the Abbot's house, where Mellifont's puissant rulers received their guests, and whose hospitable board was honoured by the presence of kings and bishops, as well as chiefs and warriors bold in all their pomp and panoply. It is doubtful that any vestige of the enclosure wall remains, nor can it be conjectured even, what, or how much, space it embraced. As we ponder over the scene, Keats' words find an echo in our hearts:-- "How changed, alas! from that revered abode Graced by proud majesty in ancient days, Where monks recluse those sacred pavements trod, And taught the unlettered world its Maker's praise." CHAPTER II. ST. MALACHY FOUNDS MELLIFONT.