ELPHIN, 13 m. N. of Roscommon, though an episcopal see, is only a small neat village, celebrated as the birth-place of Oliver Goldsmith. See the magnificent palace; also the Diocesan school-house. Ballintobber was the residence of O'Connor, king of Connaught, but now a dilapidated village. Here are some very extensive ruins of the ancient Castle, built round a square, flanked by four towers of different forms. The vestiges are in a most dilapidated state, but possess some further interest from an anecdote recorded by Grose of a young Irish _Gentleman_, during the civil wars, who behaved with the most devoted bravery in an action fought close to the walls. When victory declared for the Parliamentary forces, this youth, disdaining to fly with his party, placed himself at the corner of a ditch, where he defended himself with his pike against five horsemen who fired on him, when a gigantic English soldier, getting behind him, slew him. Being stripped and his cap taken off, long tresses of flaxen hair fell down, which exciting further curiosity, it was at length discovered that this unhappy youth was a female. See Lough Kee, a romantic lake, adorned with finely wooded rising grounds; on a peninsula are the very picturesque ruins of St. John's Castle. In the Lough is an island called _MacDermot's_, after a chieftain of that name, stated by tradition to have been of a very jealous disposition, and to have confined his wife in it, whenever he was engaged in any of the warlike contests of those turbulent times. If the legends, however, are to be credited, the lady certainly gave him sufficient cause for his jealousy; and all his precautions were unavailing: for it is said that her lover used to swim to his nocturnal visits as Leander did to Hero. The obstacles he had to surmount were indeed numerous; for the island is surrounded by a wall close to the water's edge, encircling a gloomy tower now overgrown with ivy. At present the interior is filled with trees, and the island presents a picturesque and singular appearance. On another island are the ruins of a religious edifice, supposed to be founded by the Culdees, and now called Ennismacreeny Abbey. The walls of the Ch. are yet standing, solemn and sombre, the windows being only long loop-holes; at some distance is a little dark Chapel, which sufficiently marks the gloomy seclusion of those superstitious times. Round Tower at Oran. Strokestown is a neat village; near it the magnificent mansion of Ross Mahon, Esq. Visit Tulsk, a mere hamlet, but worth notice for its antiquities. Here are some remains of an ancient Abbey, little known, and supposed to have belonged to the Dominican order. Nothing exists now but some bare walls, marking the site of the Ch., and part of a square tower; but it seems never to have been very lofty nor very extensive. Near it is Tormonia, the ancient residence of O'Connor, of whose Castle there are some remains.