 |
| ARCHWAY, GREY ABBEY, CO. DOWN. -Monestrela, according to the Montgomery manuscripts, quoted Mrs. Hall, was the original Gaelic name of Grey Abbey, the grand arch of which forms the subject of the sketch. We have dealt with it in extenso elsewhere. The arch itself is one of the noblest relics of olden monastic splendor to be found in Ireland. It bears all the massive, yet graceful, features of the Norman-Gothic style of sacred architecture, and is a memorial of the practical piety, as well as the bloody prowess, of the famous John De Courcy, who while conquering an plundering the native Irish, was not bashful in erecting a splendid temple for the worship of the God of justice, at the request of his Manx consort. Nevertheless, it was a splendid structure, and the "Friars of Orders Gray" made it their abode for many centuries, until their "reforming" countrymen, the English drove them out, in the reign of Elizabeth. By moonlight, particularly, the great archway, through which are caught glimpses of other ruins, presents a majestic appearance. Like Melrose- -The gay beams of lightsome day Gild, but to flaunt, the ruins gray; When the broken arches are black in night, And each shafted oriel glimmers white; When the cold light's uncertain shower Streams on the ruined central tower; When buttress and buttress alternatley Seem formed of ebony and ivory- is the time to look upon this romantic ruin to the best advantage. |
 |  |