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192 THE SCANDINAVIANS, AND
n > ma y P ass iQto Ugg es > 8* much as to say the
Notst~Ma place of the virgins." Stevens in his Monasticon 2
of the virgin*. gi ves the authority of Llhuyd for his derivation,
which Archdale also gives, 3 and that learned ecclesi-
astical historian, Dr. Lanigan, says, " that lloggis
was not originally the name of the spot, but that it
signified virgins through an English corruption of
the word Ogh, a virgin, so that St. Mary de Hogges
was the same as St. Mary of the Virgins." 4 Hitherto
this derivation has been implicitly adopted, nor can
we discover a single objection made or the shadow
of a doubt cast on it ; we feel some hesitation, there-
fore, in questioning its correctness, and can only
expect to justify ourselves by the strong evidence
we are about to give. In the first place I find that
the nunnery was not exclusively for virgins. A
manuscript in the British Museum states that " the
The nuns not nuns were not of the younger sort but of elderlike
1 "
elderly persons, and for those who desired to live single
lives after the death or separation from their
husbands," and the manuscript adds, " that Alice
O'Toole, near to the Archbishop of Dublin, in one
night's time left her husband and conveyed all his
wealth into this abbey, and it was not known for
seven years' time where she went or how she con-
veyed away his wealth" till Laurence O'Toole's death,
when she appeared at the funeral, and so was dis-
covered. 6 The Alice O'Toole here mentioned was
1
History of Dublin, p. 109. 'Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
1
Monasticon Hibernicum, 12mo, land, vol. 4, p. 187.
London, 1722.
'Pococke Collection, MSS., No.
1
Archdale's Monasticum Hiber- 4,813, British Museum.
nicum, p. 172, 4to, London, 1783.