and Dublin Magazine." It seems to have greatly interested the late Mr. Talbot, the father of the late Countess of Shrewsbury, for he had it reprinted for circulation among the people of the two baronies; and he went to the expense of having one of the pillars of the Whitty Monument in Kilmore Church restored.

The old Church of Kilmore lies seven miles from Wexford and two from Ballyteige Castle. No doubt remains that it had been erected in very ancient times, for the materials of the walls consist entirely of boulder stones, supplied abundantly along the shore from the Bar of Loch to the Lady's Island. The building was long and narrow, additions having been made to the length at various times. The Monument to the memory of Sir Walter Whitty, of which an accurate representation,' from a drawing by Mr. Solomons, the eminent Engineer, faces this page, stands in the Sacristy, and is in a perfect state of preservation. The marble used appears to have been brought from Kilkenny. It is the only ancient monument within the walls; but tombstones and headstones have recently been numerously introduced. The consecrated ground attached to the church constitutes a large and well-tenanted cemetery. There is hardly a spot in it where a headstone does not stand; and these headstones, particularly the older ones, commemorate the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the two baronies. No vaults have been discovered, but in the small church of Killagg, on the opposite shore of what was once called the lake, a vault existed, in which it is said the remains of fourteen knights and their wives had been deposited. No record, however, of the fact exists, but the walls are still perfect. The Whittys, the Staffords, the Devereuxes, and the Eustaces intermarried, as may be seen. from the epitaph on the Whitty Monument.

We learn from the MS. Collections of the late Herbert F. Hore, of Pole Hore, Esq., that Sir Richard Whitty was summoned as a Baron to Parliament, 48 Ed. III. and 1 Ric. II. His son and heir, Richard, held three carucates of land in Bally teige, &c. ; had licence to feoff his Manor

The Association is indebted to the kindness of Mr. Whitty for this Plate, which

he has presented to the "Journal" free of cost.-ED.

of Ballyteige, held of the King in capite, 8 Feb., 5 Ric. II., and was appointed one of the three gentlemen of the County of Wexford who were to provide 20 archers for its defence, 18 Aug., 5 Ric. II. This Richard had three sons, Walter, his son and heir, Chief Justice for seven Counties 4 Hen. VI.; Richard, and John.

A Richard Whitty, of Ballyteige, Esq., died May 14, 30 Henry VIII., leaving a son and heir, Robert, a minor, aged 14 at his father's death, whose Custodium was granted to John Devereux, Esq.

The following pedigree, also taken from the MS. Collections of the late Herbert F. Hore, serves to explain the inscription on the monument :

Not very long since a notion universally prevailed that the Kilmore burying ground afforded an ample supply of dead bodies for anatomists, who came in boats over the lake and carried off the recently buried; and, in consequence of this alleged practice, it was the custom for armed men to guard the graves of deceased friends for at least a month after interment. Affectionate regard was

implied in this practice, but the anxiety was perfectly useless.

The lake was once a large sheet of shallow water, and extended over three miles within the spit of sand, or "borough," which separated it from the Channel. Recently the spaces not covered by the tide at low water have been reclaimed, but as yet with very little profit, for the prevalence of salt in the earth interferes with every form of cultivation.

According to a quarto dictionary of heraldry published some sixty or seventy years ago, the Whittys constituted three distinct families, each having appropriate arms; but the monument in Kilmore Church is the most authentic record now available. The lion on the shield in all probability suggested to the people the legend of Whitty's cat; for the writer of this, some five or six years ago, in rendering the head visible by removing the weeds and grass, was told, on inquiry, that this, of course, was Whitty's cat.

It may, perhaps, be curious to mention here that the people of these baronies have no history. The local nature of their vocabulary, and their remoteness in something like a peninsula, shut them out from intercourse with inland peoples. Their ancient records are therefore nil. No man of any note whatever was ever produced amongst them, unless the Devereux who assassinated Wallenstein can be set down as one. Perhaps we may repeat the well-known saying, "Happy are the people that have no history." The saying is particularly applicable to the people of Forth and Bargy. They have always been an industrious, sober, moral, and honest people. They have never, we believe, furnished a felon to the gaol, and were never guilty of political movements, except the terrible and sorrowful one in 1798. At very distant intervals executions have taken place at Wexford Assizes, but a Forth and Bargy man never suffered. The whole county retains the influence which anciently entitled it to be called an English shire; for it stands out very proudly as being utterly exempt from the agrarian outrages which have often characterized

In the MS. Collections of the late H. F. Hore, Esq., the Whittys of Kilgorman (A.D. 1307); of Dungulf; of Ballinacushen;

of Newestown; of Killarvan; of Ballyteige; of Belgrow or Ballygow; of Gentstown, &c., are mentioned.

its neighbours. The celebrated Judge Fletcher, in his charge to the Grand Jury in 1814, described his feelings, after passing through disturbed counties, at finding all things orderly and prosperous in Wexfordshire. Mr. Brewster, in his "Beauties of Ireland," testifies to the same moral state of things.

Mr. O'Connor Morris, the late "Times' Commissioner". well disposed to find fault-expressed his delight at finding everything in Wexfordshire the very reverse of what he witnessed elsewhere. Within a comparatively recent period, what might be called the Irish element has largely entered the county. Sixty years ago all the business transacted in Wexford, New Ross, and even in Carlow, was done in the Irish language. Now all this is altered. English is universally spoken almost exclusively in all these places. The O's and the Mac's now commingle with the few remaining names of the ancient inhabitants of Forth and Bargy. In comparison, the latter resemble exactly the people of Dorsetshire and the adjoining counties, as recently pictured by two able writers in the Spectator, whose contributions have been published in a very useful volume. The Whittys and the Devereuxes monopolized power, and were the especial favourites of the British Government. They seem to have founded the few religious establishments in the county. One of them is entitled to the praise of having erected Selsker Abbey, in the town of Wexford, and the other gave a park to the town. The remains of Selsker Abbey are still visible-a very fine piece of masonry; but the park, though recorded in legal documents, has concealed its sight from archæologists. Wexford, it has been shown in the published Records of our Society, was very often under the necessity of paying black-mail to the Kavanaghs of Carlow, and it is traditionally said that in the last raid made into the county the Castle of Ballyteige was destroyed. The tower and southern walls remain; all else has disappeared. There is a dwelling-house now within the walls, and it is inhabited by an estimable lady named Meadows.