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workmanship, now much mutilated; capitals of the same kind crowned similar columns on each side, making a range of three. No other sculpture, of any kind, remains about these niches, which are now the receptacles of a few human sculls and bones, possibly the mortal relics of those religious brothers, who once knelt in solemn adoration before it, and to one of whom is attributed that ancient piece of national history, entitled the "Annals of Lough Ke," which appear to have been designed as a continuation of those of Boyle, extending, as they do, from 1249 to 1356. They are, however, as far as may be judged from a copy in the manuscripts of Trinity College, Dublin, but a meagre detail of obits, with little of general history. Close to the ruins of this monastery, are those of the Friars' House.-Church Island, near the western shore of the lake, and north of Trinity, contains upwards of four acres of present measure; on it also stands a ruin of what was more anciently called the church of Inchmacnerin, and of which many distinct records will be found in the historical part of this volume. It also had its annalists, their historic compilation commencing in 1013, the year before the battle of Clontarf, and ending in 1571(a); but, though alluded to, and described by Doctor Nicholson, they are undiscoverable at the present day. The remains of this house present lofty and extensive walls, amidst a now intricate mass of rocks, trees, dwarf

(a) Nicholson's Irish Hist. Lib. Quart. p. 89.

ash, and thorns, closely wound together with ivy tendrils. Hermit island, in the remotest part of the lake from the house, is at present of as difficult access as the last mentioned, it does, however, exhibit the rectangular freestone walls of a small oratory, once, probably, the abode of the recluse who gave it the name. Stag island, yet more northward, comprises upwards of eight finely wooded acres, much frequented by herons in the season: and there are, through the expanse of this Lough, many isolated rocks, which in spring are covered with seagulls' eggs. The surrounding waters are well stocked with salmon, trout, and pike, and the supply of the former is likely to be much increased by a dam head, recently constructed on the Boyle river, at the pleasure ground near the town. A tract of thirty-eight acres, projecting into the lake, near the house, is called Drumman's Island, but is, in truth, a peninsula of the demesne, recently isolated by an artificial canal, and now connected by the bridge engraved in the vignette title of this work-while, from another fine eminence overhanging the lake, called the Rock of Doon, this lovely sheet, its wooded islands, its bordering plantations, the isolated castle, the house, the elevated steeples of Ardcarne at right and Crosna at left; the mock battlements of the Forester's Castle, a striking object, whether strongly lit or deeply shaded, are, with the distant hills, as shewn in the annexed plate, most effectively displayed.

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Of Rockingham and its lake it but remains to say, that it is on every side surrounded by the resi dences of comfortable leaseholders, the shops of thriving artizans, the cottages of an industrious peasantry, and the schools of their respective families within their view, inculcating peace, order, and morality in the rising generations.

The succession of inheritors by whom, during centuries of residence, these benefits have been effected, naturally suggests the introduction here of

A MEMOIR OF THE NOBLE FAMILY OF "KING."

Few sirnames can be found, from the earliest era of authentic history, more widely and influentially extended over every district of the sister kingdom, than that which is the subject of the present notice; accordingly, when Edward the First, immediately after his return from the Holy Land, issued his special commission, directing the Justices in Eyre to inquire of knights' fees, escheats, wardships, and tenures, generally throughout England, families of this name were found established in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Kent, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Dorsetshire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, and Sussex. In the Parliament that sat at Westminster in 1313, John King was representative of the borough of Gloucester, Richard King of that of Wilton in Wiltshire, and Walter King sat for that of Plympton in Devonshire. At the battle of Agincourt in 1415, John King was one of those who fought under the banner of the Duke of Gloucester, while the ecclesiastical annals of the ensuing century present no less than five individuals of the name, born within its interval, that were elevated to the Bench of Bishops. The first of these, Doctor Oliver King, had been educated in King's College, Cambridge, after which he was selected as Secretary to Prince Edward, the son of Henry the Sixth, and subsequently discharged the same office of trust to Edward the

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