III.--INVENTORY OF ESTATES OF MELLIFONT 131 List of Illustrations. GENERAL VIEW OF MELLIFONT _Frontispiece_ PLAN OF CLAIRVAUX _At_ p. 4 PLAN OF MELLIFONT ABBEY 5 GATEWAY (PORTER'S LODGE) 15 NORTH WINDOW OF CHAPTER-HOUSE 19 DOORWAY OF CHAPTER-HOUSE 23 INTERIOR OF CHAPTER-HOUSE 35 INTERIOR OF LAVABO (OCTAGON) 43 ARCH OF LAVABO (OCTAGON) 47 SOUTH WALL OF LECTORIUM 63 MELLIFONT ABBEY, CO. LOUTH: Its Ruins and Associations. CHAPTER I. THE RUINS. "Look, stranger; where these stones in ruin lie. Here in the old, grey times a holy thing Rose up--a cloistered pile; but time swept by And smote the sanctuary with his reckless wing." (_From the Swedish, by J. E. D. Bethune._) Of the many historic ruins which dot our country and attest its former greatness, few attract so much attention, and invite so close a study as our monastic remains, pre-eminent amongst which are those of the ancient historic Abbey of Mellifont. In countless pages of our Annals the name appears. In the records of sieges, battles and insurrections, from the day on which a colony of St. Bernard's monks from world-famed Clairvaux, came and settled in its tranquil valley, till having passed through many vicissitudes, as an abode of piety and wide-spread beneficence, it became a baronial residence, and finally lost its prestige as the site of a mill, whose remains contrast incongruously with those of such a precious memorial. And what was Mellifont? It was the first house of the Cistercian Order in Ireland; founded, endowed and enriched by native princes and saintly prelates; the mother of saints and scholars; and at one time, the admiration of our land, as a gem of rare architectural beauty.