and presents a very extensive prospect over a rich vicinage. In the interior the seats of the choir and gallery are of oak varnished, and the whole plain, but remarkably neat. The compass ceiling is adorned with fretwork, and has many modillions, and in the centre a group of foliage, festoons, and cherubim. In the nave and aisles are many beautiful sepulchral Monuments. It is the Cathedral of the see of Ossory; and close to it is a very curious Round Tower. The Dominican or Black Abbey, an extensive ruin, with the elegant ramifications of some of its Gothic windows in pretty good preservation, stands low, and is surrounded by squalid huts, which disfigure its outside and take off much of the sombre effect of its venerable walls. The windows, especially the east one, are light and elegant: the arcades are open and airy; and the towers spring up with an airy elegance that seizes at once upon the traveller's attention. The Abbey of St. Francis, with its square Tower springing from a lofty Gothic arch, is worthy the tourist's notice, though much disfigured in its interior by the squalid cabins of poverty and idleness, and by part of its precincts being turned into a horse barrack. The great altar is a marble slab of amazing size; but perhaps the most remarkable circumstance about the place is the legendary story of a sainted lady who built part of the choir, and whose extreme chastity induced her to descend a virgin into the grave at the age of 70, although she had been married young and to several husbands. The ruins of St. John's Abbey, part of which has been converted into a foot barrack, present some very fine specimens of the light Gothic in the windows and corridors. Founded in 1220. See the marble mill, about 2 m. from the city, and on the left bank of the river; a very ingenious invention, alike admirable for the simplicity of its construction, and for the power which it exerts. The saws are made of soft iron, and will last but a week; each cutting about ten or twelve inches per day, equal to the labour of two men. Not far from these mills are various marble quarries; but the most curious mineralogical specimen is called Sidero-calcite, so plentiful as to have been used for repairing the roads. Unlike the other marbles, it cannot be burnt into lime; but it contains a quantity of iron and manganese; and as it is brittle and friable, it has been proposed as an ingredient in mortar or cement used for building under water. Visit Clogmanta Hill, about 10 m. N.W., where are some extensive Druidical remains, with a magnificent prospect from the summit. Rathbeath, 5 m. N., is supposed to be the ancient Argat-Ross, where in early times a silver mine existed, whence the first Irish coinage took place.