COLLECTANEA.
An Ancient Irish Bell.
It does not often happen that a relic of ancient Ireland comes up for auction at a London saleroom, but according to a paragraph in the press to-day, such is to be the case next Thursday, when Messrs. Christies will offer a valuable heirloom which has for many centuries been in the possession of a family in the County Clare. The workmanship, it is stated, enables experts to ascribe the date of the bell to the eleventh century, but popular tradition made it much older. It was said to have belonged to St. Senanus, and to have been a gift to him from heaven. Miracles were said to have been worked through the medium of the relic—such as the detection of liars, and it was called the "Clog an Oir," or Bell of Gold. A description of the bell was given by a correspondent of the Times last year, who stated that from time immemorial the bell has been in the possession of a County Clare family, the O'Cahanes, now represented by Mr. Marcus Keane, of Beechpark and Dundehlin. According to the tradition, it descended from heaven ringing loudly to St. Senanus, the patron of the Seven Churches of Scattery, a holy island near the mouth of the river Shannon, opposite Kilrush, in the earliest years of Christianity in Ireland. Hence it was originally known as "Clog na Neal," or Bell of the Clouds. The bell is known to have been used for a long period of time in the religious services at Scattery (where there are ecclesiastical remains of great antiquity) before it was given into the care of the O'Cahanes, the ancient protectors of the island. It attained to an extraordinary degree of fame and sanctity throughout Clare and Galway. No oath was held to be so
