formed, which extended from the Shannon to the sea, and from Slieve Bloom to Dundalk, or, at least, to the Fane River, beyond the town of Louth.1 In later times this great principality was divided into eleven sub-kingdoms, each of considerable extent, as set forth in the Book of Rights, which was originally composed by Benignus, the disciple of St. Patrick. We shall have occasion to refer to several of these sub-kingdoms in recording the missionary journeys of our Saint. Tara, being the capital of