supported by two massive pillars of the Ionic order. The façade is very elegant. An iron balustrade goes round the entrance.

ST. JOHN'S Church stands in the square' opposite the remains of the old black battery, on the ground which will be ever memorable as one of the busiest battle-grounds of the last of the sieges. It is a very neat, compact, and substantial building of cut lime stone, Anglo-Norman in design, built in 1843, and forming an imposing feature of the scene, notwithstanding the superior attractiveness of the new Catholic cathedral of St. John's, which stands in close proximity. Over the organ loft is a handsome wheel window with richly stained glass in the centre, in which are the armorial bearings of the Russells. There are also stained glass memorial windows to the memory of deceased members of the Pery family, the Russells, Maunsells, and Corneilles. The old church of St. John, before its renovation, was an ancient edifice, comprising a nave, with a north and south aisle, extending the whole length of the building. It had been repaired by a grant of £185 19s. 3d. from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. St. John's is a vicarage and in the gift of the Earl of Limerick. The cemetery, which, judging from the quantity of human bones occasionally dug up in the square around it, must have been originally of greater extent, is surrounded by a wall which bears an inscription, informing us that it was repaired not by John Foorde, Mayor, as Fitzgerald, copying the blunder of Ferrar states, but by the parishioners at at their own expense.

JOHN BARRY, Sculpsit.

Which may be thus literally translated

John Foord being Mayor, and
promoter of this work,

the parishioners of
St. John of the Holy Cross,
after the recent havoc

of the war,
procured the
building of these

walls of the cemetery at their

own expense.

Then follow the names of the vicar and churchwardens.

In this Square, just opposite St. John's cathedral, the foundation stone, a handsome fountain of cut lime stone, was laid on the 31st of October, 1865, by John R. Tinsley, Esq., mayor, it being erected by the committee of the Pery Jubilee Fund.

Inside the wall, in the churchyard, is a cut stone recess, with death's head and cross bones carved on it, and this inscription:

John Foorde, Mayor, 1693.

The period of the erection of the old church has been supposed to be coeval with the fortification of the Irish town, in the early part of the fifteenth century. The oldest tomb in the churchyard, probably belonging to a date not much posterior, is fixed in the wall near the entrance, bearing the device of a slipper, and having a defaced inscription written round the sides, stating that Philip caused the monument to be erected, and praying the Lord to have mercy on his soul. The slipper probably refers to the fatal dancing which led to the beheading of John the Baptist, to whom this church is dedicated. Several respectable citizens of modern times, including the Gavin family, are buried in this churchyard. Among the other tombs are those of the Catholic Bishops O'Kearney, Conway, M'Mahon, and one of older date bearing a variety of most curious sculptures, representing that part of the Gospel history which describes the betrayal of the Saviour. The cock, thirty pieces of silver, etc., etc., are quite visible. Before 1763, when £500 were expended on the repairs of this church, it contained a fine monument of the Power family, surrounded by figures of the twelve apostles, sculptured in stone, with armorial bearings, and having the following inscription

underneath :

THOMAS POWER, quondam civis Limericensis, et ejus uxor JOANNA RICE, hoc monumentum hæredibus suis construxerunt, in quo ambo sepeliuntur. Ora pro eis pius lector.

In English:

Quisquis eris qui transis,

Sta, perlege, plora,

Sum quod eris, fueramque quod es,

Pro me precor ora.

Hoc finito, A.D. 1622.

Thomas Power, formerly citizen of Limerick, and Joanna his wife, erected this tomb for their posterity, in which both of them are interred. Pray for them, pious reader.

Whoe'er thou art who passest, stand,

Read and mourn at heart;

I am what thou shalt be,
I had been what thou art.
Pray for my better part.

The original entrance to the church was at the western door, to which it was again transferred, after the building of the square. Over the eastern entrance in John's Street, was a coat of arms cut in stone, bearing the following inscription:

1

Murray expended much of the money which he had made as a publican, in building this

The following are the benefices in the diocese of Limerick:

gate, and was soon afterwards so reduced, that his goods were distrained by the excise; whereupon a poetical guager subjoined the following couplet to the above lines:

"Johannes Murray, had he been wise,

Would have kept this money to pay his excise,

The total revenue may be gleaned from the above. Cost of glebe houses, £25,894, statute acres of glebe, 1082, cost of Protestant parish churches, £27,647, number of persons for whom accommodation is provided in parish churches, 8,670, number of members of Established Church in benefice, 11,122, Catholics in benefice, 246,302.1

The following are the places of worship attended by the Protestant dissenters, who form a numerous and respectable portion of the inhabitants

THE PRESBYTERIAN MEETING HOUSE, a commodious edifice of cut stone, is situated in Glentworth Street, near the Dominican church. Their former place of worship was in Peter Street, having been built in 1775, with a house for the minister, at an expense of £500. They had previously, that is, soon after the Revolution, rented the chapel of the old Augustine Nunnery in Peter's Cell. The Presbyterians in Limerick have been largely increased by an accession of several Scotch families, whose representatives are now merchants, and otherwise respectably employed in the city.

THE QUAKERS' MEETING HOUSE is at present in Cecil Street. It had been first in Creagh Lane, and was afterwards in Peter Street, where they had a cemetery, now disused for the more modern one at Ballinacurra Pike. The Quakers settled in Limerick in 1655.

THE METHODISTS.-Shortly after 1748 or 1749, when the first Methodist sermon was preached upon the Parade Castle Barrack by a Mr. Swindall, the celebrated Mr. Wesley visited Limerick, and a society being formed, they rented the old Church of St. Francis' Abbey, where they continued until 1763, when they erected a handsome brick house, near the city court house, at the expense of £600. It was supported by four columns of the Tuscan order. The congregation subsequently removed to the new

town.

THE METHODIST WESLEYAN CHAPEL.-In 1812 this very neat preaching house was erected in George Street. It is built of cut stone, with a flight of steps and balustrade of cast iron. The interior is neat and conveniently arranged. After the disputes respecting the expediency of sacramental administrations by the preachers in 1815, the Methodists divided into the Wesleyan Methodists, who kept possession of the new house in George Street, while the Primitive Wesleyan Methodists retained

'Sir William (Justice) Shee's History and Statistics of the Irish Church.

the old one; but the latter society soon found mcans to build a better house, known as

THE PRIMITIVE WESLEYAN METHODIST PREACHING HOUSE, in Bedford Row, founded in 1821, built of cut stone, in the Gothic style, with iron balustrade and handsome entrance. The interior is very neat. Apartments for the preacher are attached to the house.

THE INDEPENDENT CHAPEL-a plain, substantial building, we'l suited for the purpose for which it is intended, and adjoining the latter place of worship.