■ SVK I H ■■c-> *■-■: &3a m >j- I agras&s *mr^- Richard Lovett, MA AUTHOR OF Norwegian Pictures' An Irish Interior, Showing a Hand Loom Weaver and a Spinner, {From a Sketch by Charles Whymper.) Irish Pictures Drawn with pen anb pencil RICHARD LOVETT M.A. AUTHOR OF 'NORWEGIAN PICTURES,' 'PICTURES FROM HOLLAND,' Etc. WITH A MAP AND ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND SKETCHES. 1 'rfi Ardmore, County Waterford. NEW YORK SCRIBNER & WELFORD THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 56 Paternoster Row and 164 Piccadilly 1SS8 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRAE* CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. * LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. A CONNAUGHT CABIN. {From a Sketch by Charles Whymper. CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. An Irish Interior, Showing a Hand-Loom Weaver and a Spinner . Frontispiece Ardmore, County Waterfurd Title-pa«e A Connaught Cabin p age ", Refractory ........ $ The Giant's Causeway ........ lo INTRODUCTION ,, Holy Cross Abbey, Tippcrary ....... n Edmund Burke . . .. '4 A List of the most important Works consulted in the preparation of this Book „ An Ancient Circular Window in the Church at Rathain, near Tullamore . 15 An Ancient Irish Bell jg CHAPTER I. IRELAND'S EYE. Trinity College and the Bank of Ireland, B\ib\m page 18 Initial, the letter L, from the Book of Kells . page 24 Howth Harbour and Ireland's Eye ... i 9 p arl f an Illuminated Monogram, from the Book The Custom House, Dublin .... 21 of Kells Trinity College Library, interior ... 23 An Illuminated Page from the Book of I lurrow . .28 3355 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I,— continued. Leather Outer Case of the Book of Armagh, show- ing the Early Irish Tracery Ornamentation . page 29 The Choir, St. Patrick's Cathedral ... 31 Jonathan Swift ...... 32 Interior of Christ Church as restored ... 35 The Cross of Cong . The Cumdach, or Case of St. Molaise's Gospel-; . page 39 The Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell ... 40 The Ardagh Chalice . . . . . 41 The Tara Brooch (Obverse) .... 42 ,, ,, (Reverse) .... 43 . 44 CHAPTER II. THE GARDEN OF IRELAND. The Esplanade and Bray Head The Vale of Glendalough . Sugar-Loaf Mountain . The Dargle 48 Powerscourt Waterfall 49 Powerscourt House . 51 The Scalp . 52 The Vale of Avoca 53 54 55 62 CHAPTER III. THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. Drogheda from the Railway Bridge The St. Lawrence Gate, Drogheda The Bridge, Drogheda . The Boyne Obelisk . Ruins of the Baptistery, Mellifont . Round Tower of Donaghmore 65 The Cross of Muiredach, Monasterboice . . 72 66 New Grange ...... 75 67 Standing Stones at New Grange ... 75 69 Entrance to New Grange .... 76 71 Recess in the Sepulchral Chamber, New Grange . 77 . . S3 CHAPTER IV. FROM DUBLIN TO CORK. St. Brigid's Church and the Round Tower, Kildare . 86 The Doorway in the Round Tower at Kildare . 87 St. Canice's Steps, Kilkenny .... 88 The Rock of Cashel 89 The Interior of Cormac's Chapel, Cashel . 91 North Doorway, Cormac's Chapel, Cashel . 92 Blarney Castle Crosier found on opening a Tomb in Cormac's Chapel, Cashel 93 The Cross of Cashel 94 General View of Cork . • • • ■ 95 Sir Walter Raleigh's House at Youghal . . 98 Kilcolman Castle 99 101 CHAPTER V. GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. The Upper Lake of Killarney Glengariff . . . . McGillicuddy Reeks . Ross Castle, Killarney . 104 The Pike, Gap of Dunloe . 105 The Eagle's Nest, Killarney . 108 The Old Weir Bridge, Killarney no Innisfallen, Killarney 112 i>3 114 "5 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V.— continued. The Choir of Muckross Abbey . A Kerry Cabin and its Inhabitants Tore Waterfall, Killarney . Valentia, two views- Map, showing the Skelligs page 117 The Gannet page 126 . " 118 The Great Skellig I2« 119 The Ancient Staircase on the Great Skellig . 13I 122 Plan of the Monastery on the Great Skellig . . 133 . 124 A Stone Oratory at Gallems, County Kerry . 136 CHAPTER VI. THE SHANNON. At Castle Connel 138 Athlone Castle ...... 139 The House in which Maria Edgeworth lived . 140 The Library in which Maria Edgeworth wrote . 141 Oliver Goldsmith . . . . . . 143 Doorway 6f Temple Conor Church, Clonmacnois 145 The large Round Tower and the Crosses at Clon- macnois ....... 146 Doorway of the Larger Round Tower at Clon- macnois ....... 148 Crozier found at Clonmacnois . . . 149 Thomond Bridge, Limerick . . . 151 King John's Castle, Limerick . . . 152 The Treaty Stone, Limerick . .' . 152 Kilkee from the Coastguard Station . . 156 Ciifls near Kilkee 157 Cliffs and Natural Arch near Ballybunnion I 5 8 CHAPTER VII. CONNEMARA. Blessing the Claddagh Fleet at the Beginning of An Arran Islander .... . 168 the Fishing Season ..... 160 The Curragh 170 Clew Bay ....... 161 Cong Abbey ..... . 171 A Galway Woman (Initial) .... 161 The Outlet of Lough Mask . 172 The Cliffs of Moher ..... 162 Glendalough ..... • 173 Peat Cutting ....... 163 The Pins of Bunnabeola 174 Queen's College, Galway .... 165 Kylemore ..... ■ 175 Salmon Poaching on the Corrib .... 166 Catching Salmon with a Seine 177 Hook for Poaching Salmon .... 167 Killala . 178 Going to Market • '79 CHAPTER VIII. THE DONEGAL HIGHLANDS. Donegal Castle Carrigan Head, Donegal The East Window, Sligo Abbey The Cloisters, Sligo Abbey 180 Donegal .... 181 Donegal Peasants 183 Mount Errigal . 183 The Natural Arch, Horn Head 187 191 «93 196 The Seven Arches, Lough Swilly 201 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. BELFAST, ARMAGH, AND LONDONDERRY. Queen's College, Belfast Castle Place, Belfast The Albert Memorial The Linen Hall, Belfast A Group of Belfast Operatives Antrim Castle page 202 Londonderry ..... page 209 203 The Bishop's Gate, Londonderry . . .211 . 204 Bombshell and Tablet in the Porch of Londonderry 206 Cathedral . . . . . . 21 1 . 2o5 Roaring Meg, and Walker's Monument, London- 208 derry ........ 212 CHAPTER X. THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY, AND THE MOURNE MOUNTAINS. Carrick a Rede ...... 214 The Chimney Tops, Giant's Causeway . . 215 The Ladies' Chair, Giant's Causeway . . 219 ' Farewell, yer Honour !' The Horizontal Formation, Giant's Causeway . 219 Pleaskin Head, Giant's Causeway . . . 220 Grey Man's Path 221 . 223 /UjfoAi&-J m C/l < H 2 6 H Holy Cross Abbey, TirPERARY. INTRODUCTION. FOR some years past many of those acquainted with the ' Pen and Pencil Series' have expressed the wish that Ireland could be added to the list. English Pictures has long been a favourite ; the more recent Scottish Pictures received a warm welcome ; it seems hardly fair that the Emerald Isle should any longer be omitted. It would be idle to deny that Ireland, even from this point of view, presents difficulties not experienced in the case of the sister kingdoms. Readers may naturally expect to find in any elaborate book upon Ireland issued at the present moment, some reference to the burning questions of INTRODUCTION. the hour ; such, for example, as the relation of tenant to landlord, or the expediency of Home Rule. Absorbing and important as these questions are, the author trusts that it will not detract from either the interest or the value of this work when the reader discovers they have been rigidly excluded. It has not come within the author's province to discuss them. His object is wider, and, it may be hoped, no less useful. He seeks to give pen and pencil pictures of all parts of Ireland ; to produce upon the mind of the reader, so far as it is possible with the means at his command, the impressions that a journey through the country would make upon an observant and unprejudiced mind. This need not and does not indicate indifference to political issues. Far from it. But evidence is not lacking to show that the inhabitants of England, Scotland, and Wales do not know as much as they might and ought about their Irish brethren, and the land in which they dwell. The glorious scenery of Donegal and Kerry, the picturesque ruins of Cashel and the Lower Shannon, the industries of Belfast and Limerick, the splendid past of Ireland — her early Church-life, her missionary enthusiasm, her literature, architecture, and art — present many subjects for consideration and study that ought to command the attention alike of ardent Nationalists, staunch Conservatives, and those who may be unable to sympathise heartily with either section. The United Kingdom possesses no fairer regions than Killarney and Connemara ; no wilder coast scenes than the lofty cliffs and bold headlands that bear, at Valentia, Moher, Achill Island and Slieve League, the whole unbroken force of the mighty Atlantic, and dash into driving foam its wildest waves. There are no more interesting people among the rural populations of Europe than such peasantry as the traveller meets in the Golden Vale of Tipperary, along the mountain routes of Kerry, and amid the lovely scenery of Galway, Donegal, Antrim, and Wexford. Sad and troubled as much of the past of Ireland has been, she has no reason to fear comparison in regard to the men she has produced. No section of Great Britain can show abler men in their respective spheres of life than Patrick 1 and Columba, Brian Boru and Shane O'Neill, James Ussher and Bishop Berkeley, the Duke of Wellington and Lord Gough, Oliver Goldsmith and Edmund Burke, Henry Grattan and Daniel O'Connell. There is so much information, both interesting and also not generally known, connected with the early Irish Church, with various periods of Irish history, and with the art and architecture of Ireland, that the author had 1 The Scotch claim Patrick as being born on their soil. This, though probable, is not certain ; yet his influence and work were certainly Irish. INTRODUCTION. 13 contemplated giving separate chapters to each of these subjects. But limitations of space, and the fact that these ' Pen and Pencil ' volumes are intended for popular reading, have compelled him in this respect to depart from his original plan. But he has not felt it right to omit these important subjects altogether, and hence they have been briefly treated as each seems to arise naturally in the progress of the work. For example, the description of the Royal Irish Academy Museum in Dublin has been made somewhat full, in order that the chief peculiarities of Irish art, as illustrated by its most brilliant achievements, may be indicated. The MSS. of Trinity College Library have been referred to at length, to enable the reader to appreciate the marvellous ability of the ancient scribes who wrote and illuminated them. The personal history of St. Patrick naturally accompanies a description of Slane and of Tara Hill, as some reference to that of St. Columba naturally fits in with a description of Donegal. The origin and uses of the Round Towers — that vexed question — cannot be passed over, and it is dealt with in the description of Clonmacnois, where, within a few yards of each other, two very fine examples have stood for centuries. In this less formal way he has sought — he trusts not less satisfactorily— to deal with all these subjects. The author has had to treat the religious difficulties of Ireland in much the same way as the political. The tangled and tragic story of the past is one that neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic can find any pleasure in recalling. The conflicting currents and forces that influence the religious life of Ireland to-day have been briefly indicated in the chapter on Belfast. Notwithstanding the experience of the past, and the evidence of so much that is conflicting in the present, the author ventures to hope that better times are in store for the sister kingdom. The writer has sought to give brief, pointed, and accurate descriptions of all that is most distinctive in Irish scenery ; to present a varied and thoroughly representative series of engravings ; to glance at some of the most noteworthy men and deeds of the past ; and to catch and depict, so far as his pen can, the most typical aspects of the Ireland of to-day. How far he has been successful must be decided by those who have already given a kindly welcome to Norwegian Pictures, and Pictures from Holland. He can only hope that the Irish readers into whose hands the book may fall will accept his appreciation of, and admiration for, the land they love so well as some atonement for the failings they may observe in his work. As for other readers, he will feel amply rewarded for the time and labour expended upon Irish Pictures if the book enlarges their know- i4 INTRODUCTION. ledo-e of the land known more than fourteen centuries ago as ' the Sacred Isle,' and helps to promote brotherly sympathy towards a people whose history has for some centuries in varied phases been so closely interwoven with that of the English, Welsh, and Scottish races. The author would gratefully acknowledge the help so courteously given to him by the large number of those whom he met during his various journeys through Ireland, or to whom he applied for special information. He had many opportunities of testing the courtesy and hospitality of the Irish people, and, like others who have borne similar testimony, never found these fail. 1SU ''/ . ' Edmund Burke. An Ancient Circular Window in the Church at Rathain, near Tullamore. A List of some of the most important Works consulted in the preparation of this Book. The books included in this list are all important in their respective departments, and they are printed here as a convenient reference list for any who may wish to study somewhat more fully the various subjects of interest connected with Ireland and the Irish people. The list makes no pretension to completeness. It only seeks to indicate a selection of the most important and most easily accessible works. Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland. — By Four Masters. Translated by John O' Donovan. 4 vols, quarto. 1851. Ulster Journal of Archeology, 185 3-1 86 i. — g vols, small quarto. The Journals of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland. Descriptive Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy. — By Sir W. Wilde. History of Ireland.— By Keating. Irish Names of Places. — By P. W. Joyce, LL.D. 2 vols, crown 8vo. 16 LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. National MSS. of Ireland. — By John T. Gilbert. Adamnan's Life of St. Columba. — Edited by Dr. Reeves, i vol. quarto, 1857. St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland. — By Dr. Todd. 1 vol. octavo, 1864. The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick. — Edited for the Rolls Series by Dr. Whitley Stokes. 2 vols. octavo, 1887. The Writings of St. Patrick. — Revised translation by G. T. Stokes, D.D., and C. H. H. Wright, D.D. 1 vol. octavo, paper cover, 1888. Ireland and the Celtic Church. — By G. T. Stokes. 1 vol. crown 8vo. The Round Towers and Ancient Christian Architecture of Ireland. — By Dr. Petrie. 1 vol. quarto, 1845. Notes on Irish Architecture. — By the late Earl of Dunraven. Edited by Miss Stokes. 2 vols. folio, 1875-1877. Early Christian Architecture in Ireland.— By Miss Stokes. Early Christian Art in Ireland. — By Miss Stokes. Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. — By Dr. Killen. 2 vols, octavo. The Dublin Penny Journal, 183 2-1 836. — 4 vols, royal octavo. The Irish Penny Journal, 1841. — 1 vol. royal octavo. The Boyne and the Blackwater. — By Sir William Wilde. 2nd edition, 1850. Lough Corrib. — By Sir William Wilde. The Donegal Highlands. Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry. — By William Carleton. 2 vols. 8vo. 1867. Tales and Stories of the Irish Peasantry. — By William Carleton. 1 vol. 8vo. 1846. Fairy Legends and Traditions. — By T. C. Croker. The Ballads of Ireland. — Edited by E. Hayes. 2 vols, crown octavo. Boston, 1856. Derry and Enniskillen. — By Professor Witherow, D.D. The Boyne and Aghrim. — By Professor Witherow, D.D. Ireland : Its Scenery, Character, etc.— By Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall. 3 vols, octavo. Sketches of Irish Life. — By Mrs. S. C. Hall. 1 vol. octavo. Memories of a Month Among the ' Mere Irish.' — By W. H. Floredice. 1 vol. crown 8vo. The Religious History of Ireland. — By James Godkin. 1 vol. 8vo. 1S73. An Ancient Irish Bell. Howth Harbour and Ireland's Eye. CHAPTER I. Ireland's Eye. IRELAND'S EYE is the name of a rocky islet standing over against Howth Harbour, for many years the port of Dublin and the chief approach by sea to that capital. Kingstown and North Wall have superseded Howth Harbour ; the rocky islet is now seen to advantage only by those who explore Howth itself; nevertheless the island's name is no bad description of Dublin. The great city is in more senses than one Ireland's Eye. Through it the Emerald Isle receives many of her impressions of the outer world, and no fairer feature in her wealth of natural beauty does she possess than the noble bay of Dublin, with the great city nestling beneath the bold headlands of Killiney and the Hill of Howth. The first impression made upon the mind of the observer by Dublin is one of disappointment. The city hardly seems to live up to its environment. The scenery of the bay is very lovely, whether seen in the early morning or the late evening of a summer's day ; the view up the Liffey as the c 2 IRISH PICTURES. 20 steamer approaches the North Wall, embracing the river, the crowded masts and boats, the fine dome of the Custom House in the near foreground, and the multitudinous roofs and spires of the city in the distance, is enticing and whets the appetite and expectations of the explorer. But here as elsewhere the close inspection does not, at any rate at first, realize the distant promise. It is not easy to define exactly the effect produced as one makes the acquaintance of the quays, Sackville Street, St. Patrick's Cathedral Merrion Square and College Green. There are handsome buildings, wide streets, spacious squares, many evidences of life, prosperity and abundance, and yet something seems lacking. Dublin is not like London, New York, Pans or Amsterdam. In these great cities, differing widely as they do in manifold respects from each other, the evidences of prosperity predominate ; in Dublin, although she shares many of the best qualities of her larger sisters, the stranger, although he may have a firm conviction that better times are comino-, hesitates to assert that she is manifestly prospering. . While this impression is strong, the visitor can readily imagine that many take an early and sometimes incurable dislike to Dublin. The signs of apparent poverty are plentiful ; the streets and buildings that really please the eye are few, the number of ragged children seems abnormal ; and if the visitor to St. Patrick's or Christ Church devotes any attention to the neighbourhoods of these noted buildings, he meets many interesting but not altogether pleasing pictures of human life. Yet the writer gladly admits that Dublin's power to impress him favourably increased with each successive visit. As he came to know her better, he grew to like her more, and to appreciate more fully the beauty of her surroundings, and the special objects for which she claims recognition. And it is now time to turn to some of these. Dublin is in the first place a considerable port. The Liffey, the quays, the docks and the canals are among the most prominent features of the metropolis. It is from the river, indeed, that she gets her name as well as a larae portion of her wealth. The ancient high road from Tara to Wicklow crossed the river at this point in very early days by means of a rough wicker or hurdle bridge. Naturally a city grew up around the bridge or ford, and the name for Dublin in the Irish Annals is Ath-Cliath (pronounced Ah-clee), ' the ford of the hurdles.' Duibh-linn, ' the black pool ' or ' river,' the ancient name of this part of the Liffey, gradually banished the older, and has long been the only name by which the city is known. The ancient ford is now represented by splendid bridges, the cluster of huts has expanded into square miles of brick and mortar, and the water which ages since floated the coracles of the Irish or the warships of the Northmen is now ploughed by the bulky steel ships of modern commerce. All else has changed marvel- lously, but in the very name of Ireland's capital there survives the sure evidence of her former humility. Many facilities both natural and artificial exist for giving those wishful IRELAND'S EYE. 21 to get them good representative views of Dublin. A favourite point of view is the top of the Nelson Monument, which towers aloft in the centre of Sackville Street. Seen thence the whole city lies spread out at the observer's feet, and from that elevation, as from no other, he can also observe the beauty of the surrounding country. Some very fine distant views are obtained at different parts of the Phcenix Park. But the true citizen of Dublin maintains that the view obtained from the O'Connell Bridge is not only the best that the city can show, but is also equal to the best that any rival capital possesses. On the left bank of the Liffey, a short distance below the great bridge, stands one of the most prominent buildings in the city, viz. the Custom House. The Custom House, Duulin. Dublin is not only the eye but the heart of Ireland. Hence on every side are traces of the many-sided life of the nation. Her antiquity is evident in many of her names. Her former national life is recalled by the building that is now the Bank of Ireland. It was here in former days the Irish Parliament met, and here many of Curran's and Grattan's famous speeches were delivered. Her relation to England is kept prominently in view by the towers and courtyard of Dublin Castle. Her educational and literary life of the last three centuries has largely centred in Trinity College, which fronts boldly and closely upon an open space in the very heart of the city, the famous College Green. To her great religious hero is dedicated one of her two ancient cathedrals, and though the statement that St. Patrick founded it is mere fancy, it is fitting that he should for centuries have been thus associated IRISH PICTURES. with the metropolitan life. In the centre of College Green, and facing the fine facade of Trinity College, stands the statue of Grattan, while before the gateway of the great university, fronting the effigy of Ireland's renowned orator, are placed statues of Edmund Burke and Oliver Goldsmith. Brilliant political oratory, fervid patriotism, noble eloquence, far-seeing statesmanship, and undying literary fame are here concentred and kept continually before the eyes and the minds of the multitudes who daily throng Grafton Street and College Green. And indeed here is the true heart of Dublin. Much of the business of the city is carried on in this district ; much of her intellectual activity here finds its home and field of work ; the financial heart of the country throbs here, and here blend the associations of the present and the memories of the past in stronger and more vigorous union than elsewhere. The foundation of Trinity College dates from 1592, and the institution began the work of teaching in 1593 as 'the College of the Holy and Indivi- sible Trinity near Dublin,' in the buildings of the Augustinian monastery of All Hallows. During the reigns of James I. and Charles I. it was richly endowed with confiscated lands. Many private benefactors enriched it. James I. conferred also the privilege it still enjoys of sending two members to Parliament. It was not until 1 792 that a Roman Catholic could there take a degree, and not until 1873 could any member of that communion enjoy any part of the rich endowments possessed by the College. The facade facing College Green is somewhat heavy and sombre. It is very massive, and is principally built of Portland stone ; but it at once arrests the attention of the passer-by, and the effect is by no means unpleasing. Passing between the statues of Burke and Goldsmith which flank the entrance, the visitor is admitted into a spacious quadrangle, in the centre of which stands a tall, handsome bell-tower, built of granite. On his right hand stands the Examination Hall or Theatre, and on the left the Chapel, with the Dining Hall as its next neighbour. Both Halls are enriched with portraits of famous students and graduates. But it is to the right of the bell tower that most visitors make their first pilgrimage, for there stands the handsome range of buildings containing the Library. It is included among the five great libraries of the kingdom entitled to a copy of every book published in Great Britain and Ireland. The structure, from an architectural point of view, is plain and unpretending, and yet, withal, possesses a dignity of its own, and a certain fitness as the home of a great literary collection. The ground floor consists chiefly of an arcade, and the library building occupies the rest of the structure. The main apartment is the splendid gallery containing the bulk of the books. This is 210 feet long, 41 feet wide, and 40 feet high. The wood is dark, old oak, and along each side are recesses placed at right angles to the main axis of the room, filled with shelves, and arranged so as to combine IRELAND'S EYE. 23 very happily architectural effect with economy of space. A gallery, placed about twenty feet above the level of the floor, runs round the room, and the best view of this magnificent chamber can be obtained from the end of this gallery immediately over the entrance. The visitor, if at all literary in his sympathies, cannot fail to be charmed as his eye travels down the Trinity College Library, Interior. whole length of the room. The long vista, the lights streaming across from the windows at the end of each recess, the lofty arched roof, the apparently numberless bookshelves and books, the comfortable tables below with their busy readers, the cases full of priceless MSS., the long rows of gleaming marble busts of distinguished literary men of all ages and lands, the time- 24 IRISH PICTURES. worn volumes and the richly carved and deep-toned wood, both alike eloquent of age — all these combine not only to delight the eye, but also at once to stimulate and to satisfy one's sense of literary fitness. A feeling of content that such a splendid library should be so superbly housed steals over the observer. There are many matters in Ireland wherein ordinary courses of pro- cedure seem to be reversed. The origin of Trinity College Library is an illustration in point. In various countries and in all ages scholars and lovers of literature have had to bewail the ravages in the way of MS. and book destruction caused by war. Yet it is out of war- fare that this great library appears to have sprung. In 1603 the Spaniards were defeated at the battle of Kinsale by the English and Irish. The victors in their enthusiasm resolved to erect some per- manent monument of their success ; they collected among themselves the sum of ,£1,800 and — would that their example had found many imitators ! — decided to expend the money in the purchase of books, and present them as the nucleus of a library to the College at Dublin, then completing its first decade. Archbishop Usher was appointed to expend the money, and few of the many tasks he performed during his life can have been so congenial. Since his day the collection has grown and grown until now it ranks as one of the largest in Europe. It can claim the Bodleian as a twin brother, for while Usher was spending his soldiers' money in London, he met there Sir T. Bodley, who was purchasing books for his Oxford collection. Usher's own library, one which embraced manifold treasures in its 10,000 volumes, found here a permanent home. At the eastern end of the library is a handsome room, 52 feet long, 26 wide, and 22 high, containing what is known as the Fagel Library, once the property of a gentleman named Fagel, Pensionary of Holland, comprising 17,000 volumes, and purchased for ^8,000. The library is very rich in specimens of early Irish illuminated MSS., and these, together with many other very precious literary treasures, have their home in what is called the Manuscript Room. This apartment is on Initial, the Letter L, from the Book of Kells. IRELAND'S EYE. 25 the ground floor, and can only be seen by visitors who are able to secure the presence of the Librarian or one of the Fellows of the College. The most famous of these literary treasures are exhibited in cases which stand on the floor of the great library, and among these the highest place is held by the Book of Kells. This is one of the finest MSS. in Europe, and as a specimen of Irish illumination and writing has no rival. It dates from the time when Ireland, under the name of Scotia, was famous throughout Europe for her schools and for her missionary enterprise. It was the product of the agre which sent Columba to Iona, Cuth- bert to England, and Columbanus to Gaul. It is a copy of the Gospels, and takes its name from the fact that it once belonged to the monastery at Kells in Meath. The date has to be fixed by internal evidence, and the best authorities now lean to the view that it was written about the end of the sixth century. The Irish Annals re- cord that in the year 1006 it was stolen from the church at Kells, that it was famous for its cover, and that it was found after forty nights and two months, Part of an Illuminated Monogram, from the Book of Kells. ' after its gold had been taken from it, and with sods over it.' The monastery of Kells became Crown property in 1539, and the great MS. fell into the hands of Gerald Plunket of Dublin. In the seventeenth century Usher became its owner, and with his other books, in 1661, it found a permanent and safe home where it has since dwelt. To it, as to so many of its brethren, time and the binder have proved cruel foes. Although it still contains 344 folios, it has lost leaves at both the beginning and end; and when, in the early part of this century, it was rebound, the margins 26 IRISH PICTURES. were sadly mutilated. But time has done little to destroy the wondrous beauty of colouring in its marvellous illuminations, and its wealth and richness of design are still the wonder of every competent observer. It is the most superb example of this branch of early Irish art. Professor West- wood thus describes the special features of this book as illustrative of the early Irish style of MS. adornment : ' Ireland may be justly proud of the Book of Kells — a volume tra- ditionally asserted to have belonged to St. Columba, and unquestionably the most elaborately executed MS. of so early a date now in existence, far excelling in the gigantic size of the letters at the commencement of each Gospel, the excessive minuteness of the ornamental details crowded into whole pages, the number of its very peculiar decorations, the fineness of the writing, and the endless variety of its initial capital letters, the famous Gospels of Lindisfarne in the Cottonian Library. But this manuscript is still more valuable on account of the various pictorial representations of different scenes in the life of our Saviour, delineated in the genuine Irish style, of which several of the manuscripts of St. Gall and a very few others offer analogous examples. The numerous illustrations of this volume render it a complete storehouse of artistic interest. The text itself is far more extensively decorated than in any other now existing copy of the Gospels.' ' ' Especially deserving of notice,' continues Professor Westwood, ' is the extreme delicacy and wonderful precision united with an extraordinary minuteness of detail with which many of these ancient manuscripts were ornamented. I have examined with a magnifying-glass the pages of the Gospels of Lindisfarne and Book of Kells, for hours together, without ever detecting a false line or an irregular interlacement ; and when it is considered that many of these details consist of spiral lines, and are so minute as to be impossible to have been executed without a pair of compasses, it really seems a problem not only with what eyes, but also with what instruments they could have beeq executed. One instance of the minuteness of these details will suffice to give an idea of this peculiarity. I have counted in a small space, measuring scarcely three quarters of an inch, by less than half an inch in width, in the Book of Armagh, not fewer than one hundred and fifty- eight interlacements of a slender ribbon pattern, formed of white lines edged by black ones upon a black ground.' 2 ' The introduction of natural foliage in this MS. is another of its great peculiarities, whilst the intricate intertwinings of the branches is eminently characteristic of the Celtic spirit, which compelled even the human figure to submit to the most impossible contortions.' 3 The following inscription, in a minute hand, is still partly legible in a small semicircular space at the head of the columns on folio 4 verso. ' This work doth pass all mens conying that doth live in any place. 1 National MSS. of Ireland, by John T. Gilbert, p. 14. 2 Ibid. p. 20. 3 Ibid. p. 15. IRELAND'S EYE. 27 ' I doubt not there. . . anything but that the writer hath obtained God's grace, GP.' On the verso of folio 344 is the following entry : — ' I, Geralde Plunket, of Dublin, wrot the contents of every chapter ; I mean where every chapter doth begin, 1568. The boke contaynes tow hundreth v and iii leaves at this present xxvii August 1568.' Under this is written by Usher, who was Bishop of Meath from 1621 to 1624: 'August 24, 1621. I reckoned the leaves of this and found them to be in number 344. He who reckoned before me counted six score to the hundred.' 1 While upon the subject of Irish illuminated MSS., and as they form such characteristic specimens of Irish art, we must refer to three others that enrich Trinity College Library. The first, the Book of 'Durrow, is a copy of the Gospels according to the Vulgate version. It gets its name from a monastery founded about 523 a.d. by Columba, at Durrow, or Dairmag, the Plain of Oaks, in King's County. Tradition has maintained that Columba wrote the MS., but the fact that the text of the MS. does not appear to be the same as that in use in Ireland in the sixth century tells against this view. On the back of folio 1 2 is an entry in Latin to this effect : ' I pray thy blessedness, O holy presbyter, Patrick, that whosoever shall take this book into his hands may remember the writer, Columba, who have myself written this Gospel in the space of twelve days by the grace of our Lord.' Like several other of these ancient MSS., this copy of the Gospels once possessed a silver cumdach or shrine. This has unfortunately perished, but the inscription upon it has been preserved. It ran ' The prayer and benediction of St. Columb Kille be upon Flann, the son of Malachi, King of Ireland, who caused this cover to be made.' Flann reigned 879-916 a.d., and at that early date the book had become an object of special veneration. In the Annals of Clonmacnois, the translator, Connell Mageoghegan refers to a superstitious belief once current with regard to this and other early books. ' He (Columba) wrote three hundred books with his own hand. They were all New Testaments ; he left a book to each of his churches in the kingdom, which books have a strange property, which is, that if they or any of them had sunk to the bottom of the deepest waters, they would not lose one letter, or sign, or character of them ; which I have seen tried, partly by myself on that book of them which is at Dorowe (Durrow) in the King's Co., for I saw the ignorant man that had the same in his custody, when sickness came on cattle, for their remedy, put water on the book and suffer it to rest therein ; and saw also cattle return thereby to their former state ; and the book receive no loss.' The water-stained condition of some of the last leaves of the Book of Durrow confirms the accuracy of the scribe's statement as to the experiments to which ages ago it was subjected. 1 National MSS. of Ireland, pp. 20, 21, IRISH PICTURES. We are able to give a very fine specimen of one of the illuminated pages of this MS. The second example, the Book of Dimna, so called after the name of the scribe who wrote it, a copy of the Gospels in Latin, dates most pro- bably from the seventh century. It once belonged to the abbey of Roscrea. It was encased in a shrine about the middle of the tenth century. ' The shrine with its precious enclosure disappeared at the time of the dissolution of monas- teries ; it was found by boys hunting rabbits in the year 1 789, among the rocks of the Devil's Bit Mountain in the county of Tipperary, carefully preserved and con- cealed. The boys who dis- covered it tore off the silver plate and picked out some of the lapis-lazuli with which it was studded. It then came into the possession of Dr. Harrison of Nenagh, and after passing through the hands of Mr. Monck Mason, Sir William Betham, and Dr. Todd, was finally purchased for the library.' * The third and in some respects the most interesting of all is the Book of Ar- magh, a curious composite volume of very great im- portance in the literary history of Ireland, and in regard to the life of St. Patrick. Dr. Reeves has discovered evidence in the MS. itself that renders it almost certain that it was written about a.d. 807 by a scribe named Ferdomnach. It seems to have been referred to by the Annalists as ' the Canon of Patrick,' and they record that in 937 it 1 Miss Stokes' Early Christian Art in Ireland, p. 24. An Illuminated Page from the Book of Durrow. IRELAND'S EYE. 29 was enclosed in a case by Donogh, the son of Flann, King of Ireland. At a later stage the ancient silver case was enclosed in a leather cover, and of this we are able to give an illustration. It presents a typical example of Irish ornamentation. An entry at the foot of folio 16 purports to have been made in the presence of the far-famed Brian Boru. In that case it was most probably done in 1002, when that king offered twenty ounces of gold on the altar of Armagh. In ancient days, according to the usual custom, the book had a maor or keeper, who received an endow- ment of land in virtue of his office. His de- scendants were known as Meic maor, ' sons of the keeper,' and in time this became Mac Moyre. Upon the re- verse of one leaf ap- pears, under the date of 1662, the signature of Florentinus Moyre, the last of the family who held the guardian- ship of the book. This man went in 1680 to London to give evi- dence in a trial, and, before starting, placed the book in pledge for five pounds. Soon after, the MS. and its leather case came into the hands of Arthur Brownlow ; it remained in the Brownlow family until 1853, when Dr. Reeves purchased it, and handed it over to the late Primate Beresford, who in his turn presented it to the Library. ' The Book of Armagh is now defective at the commencement. Its first surviving portion is occupied with notes in Latin and Irish on St. Patrick's acts, a collection styled Liber Angucli, relating to the rights and preroga- tives of the See of Armagh, and the Confession of St. Patrick. These are followed by St. Jerome's letter to Damasus, Eusebian Canons, and preface to the New Testament ; interpretation of Hebrew names ; Gospels of Matthew, Leather Outer Case of the Book of Armagh, showing the Early Irish Tracery Ornamentation. 30 IRISH PICTURES. Mark, Luke, John ; Epistles of Paul, including that to the Laodiceans, with prefaces, chiefly by Pelagius ; Acts of Apostles ; and Life of St. Martin of Tours by Sulpicius Severus. Some of the pages are much rubbed, as if frequently exposed or touched, probably for the purpose of swearing.' 1 There are very interesting specimens to be seen here of other classes of MSS. Standing highest in general interest are those belonging to the Greek Testament. The Library possesses a valuable palimpsest, known as the Codex Rescriptus Ditblinensis ; it has been carefully edited by the present librarian, the Rev. T. K. Abbott. It is a small quarto volume, 8| inches by 6, consisting of 110 folios. It contains considerable portions of St. Matthew's Gospel, and its readings possess a very high critical value. It dates in all probability from the fifth century, and is known in the lists of authorities by the letter Z. Any one who wishes to appreciate Dr. Abbott's labours, and the enormous difficulty of much of the work done on behalf of recent New Testament scholarship by such men as Tischendorf and Tregelles, should inspect this MS. They will find it extremely difficult even to see, to say nothing of deciphering, the dim Greek uncial letters that were nearly obliterated many centuries ago, to make way for the later and less valuable writing placed over it. The Library also possesses a much later MS. that has been rendered famous by a fortuitous event in Greek Testament controversy. It is well known that Erasmus omitted from the first edition of his Greek Testament the words in i John v. 7, 8, translated in our A.V., ' In heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth.' When attacked for so doing, he promised that if a single Greek MS. could be found containing the words he would then insert them. They were at last found in a Greek MS., written in the cursive or running hand, of late date and very doubtful authority. This MS., known as the Codex Monfortianus, is also carefully kept in the Manu- script Room. Erasmus, true to his promise, although he did not believe the words to be genuine, inserted them in his third edition. The Revised Version omits them, as resting upon altogether insufficient authority. But it is high time we left the Library for a stroll through the College itself. The various departments of learning are all adequately housed within its very extensive precincts ; the medical school being especially fortunate in this respect. The chemical lecture room and laboratory are splendidly equipped with all the latest and best facilities both for lecturing and prac- tical work. The college park is also a very pleasant place of resort, and on the occasion of a University Cricket Match or Athletic Sports is thronged with the fashion and beauty of Dublin. Across the street, and opposite to the north-west corner of Trinity 1 National MSS. of Ireland, p. 23. IRELAND'S EYE. College, stands the considerable pile of building in which centres the work of the Bank of Ireland. Formerly the Irish Houses of Parliament met here. Visitors are still shown the room in which the Irish House of Lords met, and which, one is told, remains very much now as it appeared in the days of Castlereagh. Dublin possesses two cathedrals, both of which, in recent years, have been thoroughly renovated and restored by private munificence. The younger, but in many respects the more interesting, is St. Patrick's. The early history of this building seems to be somewhat obscure. About 1 1 90, Archbishop John de Comyn, the first English Archbishop of Dublin, built a collegiate establishment here on the site of a much older parish church, and in 12 13 his successor changed the church into a cathe- dral. In 1362 it was burnt, and in 1370 it was rebuilt, with the addition of a fine tower. In 1542 its constitution was changed to that of a dean and chapter, and in 1546 it passed to the Crown. During this period it was ne- glected and fell into decay, but in 1554 Queen Mary restored its rights and privileges. It suf- fered during the Commonwealth troubles, and also at the hands of James II.'s soldiers in 1688. In 1 713 the most famous man who has ever been associated with it, Jonathan Swift, was appointed to the deanery. From that time until his death, in 1745, he devoted himself to the preservation of the building and its numerous monuments, and to the increase of its revenues. In 1783, the Order of St. Patrick was instituted, and the banners of the knights now hang in the choir. In 1865 the restoration effected by the wealth of the late Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness was completed. It had fallen into what seemed like hopeless decay, and although some partial attempts had been made to stay the progress of destruction, the building seemed doomed. But by the aid of Sir B. Guinness the building has been The Choir, St. Patrick's Cathedral. 32 IRISH PICTURES. so restored that Sir James Ware's description once more applies : 'If we consider the compass, or the beauty, or the magnificence of its structure, in my opinion it is to be preferred before all the cathedrals in Ireland.' The architecture of the structure is the First Pointed or Early English, and the ground-plan consists of a nave, choir, north and south transepts, all with aisles, and a Lady Chapel. The tower was built in 1370, and the granite spire, a prominent but not at all lovely object, was added to the tower in 1740. The building is 300 feet long, the nave 67 feet wide, the transepts 157 feet long and 80 feet wide, and the tower and steeple 221 feet high. Sir B. Guinness entirely rebuilt the north and south aisles. The interior is crowded with monuments, some few of them possessing very special interest. Chief among these is the one dedicated to Swift, who was buried October 22nd, 1 745. It stands in the south aisle, and consists of a fine bust, and a slab upon which is inscribed the epitaph written by himself ; one of the saddest inscriptions in this or any other cathedral. It is in Latin, but may be freely rendered : ' Here lies the body of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of this cathedral church, where fierce indignation can no longer rend the heart. Go, traveller, and imitate, if thou canst, one who, as far as in him lay, was an earnest champion of liberty.' Close by is the inscription com- memorating Mrs. Hester Johnson, or 'Stella,' as 'a person of extra- ordinary endowments and accomplishments, in body, mind and behaviour ; justly admired and respected by all who knew her, on account of her many eminent virtues, as well as for her great natural and acquired perfections.' She was buried by the second pillar from the west door on the south side of the nave, Jan. 30th, 1728, seventeen years before the brilliant but bitter genius of Swift sank to rest. Swift's life is a tragedy, perhaps the most tragical in the long story ot English literature. One cannot look upon the two monuments without wishing that the fate of each might have been different, that Swift could have used his splendid intellect for the good rather than the injury of others, and that Stella's loving heart could have been fixed upon one in whose full and unselfish response she would have experienced a happier lot. Jonathan Swift. IRELAND'S EYE. 33 Thackeray's judgment to some seems harsh, but many facts bear it out. ' The sceva indignatio, of which he spoke as lacerating his heart, and which he dares to inscribe on his tombstone — as if the wretch who lay under that stone waiting God's judgment had a right to be angry — breaks out from him in a thousand pages of his writing, and tears arid rends him. Against men in office, he having been overthrown ; against men in England, he having lost his chance of preferment there, the furious exile never fails to rage and curse. In a note in his biography, Scott says that his friend Dr. Tuke, of Dublin, has a lock of Stella's hair, enclosed in a paper by Swift, on which are written, in the dean's hand, the words : " Only a woman's hair." An instance, says Scott, of the dean's desire to veil his feelings under the mask of cynical indifference. See the various notions of critics ! Do those words indicate indifference, or an attempt to hide feeling ? Did you ever hear or read four words more pathetic ? Only a woman's hair : only love, only fidelity, only purity, innocence, beauty, only the tenderest heart in all the world stricken and wounded, and passed away now out of reach of pangs of hope deferred, love insulted, and pitiless desertion : — only that lock of hair left ; and memory and remorse for the guilty, lonely wretch, shuddering over the grave of his victim. And yet to have had so much love, he must have given some. Treasures of wit and wisdom, and tenderness too, must that man have had locked up in the caverns of his gloomy heart, and shown fitfully to one or two whom he took there. But it was not good to visit that place. People did not remain there long, and suffered for having been there.' ' In the north transept stands a characteristic specimen of Swift's biting satire, exercised, it must be admitted, more justly in this case than in many. The Duke of Schomberg was killed at the Battle of the Boyne, and buried in St. Patrick's. His relatives do not seem to have cared sufficiently for the duke to contribute towards the cost of a monument in commemoration of his qualities. The inscription, therefore, runs to the effect that the Dean and Chapter had repeatedly and earnestly besought the duke's relatives to erect the monument, that after letters, the requests of friends, repeated and earnest entreaties had availed nothing, the Dean and Chapter had at length erected the stone, in order that the visitor might know where the ashes of Schomberg reposed. The sting is at the end, where it is asserted that the duke's reputation for valour availed more with strangers than his ties of blood did with his own kindred. This is not flattering to the relatives of the duke, nor, on the other hand, does their conduct indicate that they felt very deeply the loss of the noted soldier ; but it is hardly in accordance with fact to characterize the inscription, as Macaulay does, by the phrase, ' a furious libel.' An hour may be pleasantly spent in deciphering the various monuments 1 Thackeray, English Humourists. 34 IRISH PICTURES. and inscriptions; but there are not many of general interest. In the south choir aisle is one in remembrance of the Rev. Charles Wolfe, author of the Bn rial of Sir John Moore; and in the churchyard one to the memory of Dr. Todd, the archaeologist and author. Only a few hundred yards separate St. Patrick's from the sister cathedral Christ Church. It is supposed to stand upon the site of the old Celtic dun or fort. It was founded in 1038, and completed in the following century by Richard Strongbow and others in conjunction with the Archbishop of Dublin, Laurence O'Toole. In 1562 the greater part of the structure fell in ; and by subsequent restorations and vicissitudes most of the original building has disappeared. There is some reason to believe that originally it was a finer structure than St. Patrick's. Like its sister, it owes its present complete and beautiful appearance to the liberality of a Dublin brewer, Mr. Roe, who expended about a quarter of a million sterling upon it. The peculiar plan of the original choir was ascertained by examination of the crypts, and closely followed in the restoration. A short apsidal choir or presbytery stands to the east of the central tower, and around this an aisle or processional path runs, and beyond this to the east are two chapels, the smaller adjoining the choir. A Synod House for the meetings of the disestablished Episcopal Church of Ireland was erected and connected by a passage with the west end of the cathedral, the tower was raised, and the whole edifice practically rebuilt. It belongs to the transitional style of architecture. A few years ago Mr. Drew, architect to Christ Church, discovered the remains of the Chapter House, near which were formerly the old Law Courts of Dublin, and the narrow passage known as Hell. These remains are now carefully preserved. A monument ascribed to the famous Earl of Pembroke, Richard Strongbow, is placed in the nave. In 1487 Lambert Simnel, the impostor, was crowned here. In mediaeval times the cathedral was rich in MSS., shrines and other relics, possessing, among others, a bacJiall or walking-staff, said to have belonged to St. Patrick. A short walk through a very unsavoury neighbourhood brings the visitor from Christ Church to the Liffey, and immediately before him on the north bank he sees another noted structure — the Four Courts of Dublin, one of the most imposing buildings in the city, and one which, unlike some of the others, has remained true throughout its history to the objects for which it was built. It occupies an oblong, having a frontage on the river of 440 feet. The foundation stone was laid in 1 7S6, it was opened for business in 1797, and it cost about ,£200,000. It consists of a central block of building, surmounted by a circular lantern and dome, one of the landmarks of the metropolis. This building is flanked by squares connected with each other and with the main entrance by arcades. Each angle of the main building is occupied by one of the superior courts, viz., Chancery, Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, whence the name of the Interior of Christ Church, as Restored. D 2 IRELAND'S EYE. 37 pile. The centre under the dome is left free for the meeting of lawyers and clients, and all who have business there, or who are drawn thither by curiosity. A description written fifty years ago applies to it to-day : ' The handsome and towering dome lights the great hall of the Courts, an object of just admiration from its chaste and lofty appearance and proportions. During term time it is crowded with lawyers and pickpockets, strangers and stragglers, the fleeced and the fleecing, the hopeful and the hopefess, the anxious and the careless. At such a period of bustle, a visitor, as a Picture of Dublin benevolently forewarns him, " should look to his pockets." ' l In the neighbourhood of the splendid square known as Stephen's Green, and of Kildare Street, many of the scientific institutions of Dublin, first-class clubs and hotels cluster together. The Royal Dublin Society, the Museum of Science and Art, the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Royal Irish Academy are in this region. Not long after this book is in the hands of its readers, the handsome and extensive buildings of the New National Museum will be complete, affording room to display many treasures at present inaccessible to the public. Each of the great institutions mentioned above is well worthy of careful attention. It is no disparagement, however, to the rest to say that upon the attention of the stranger the Museum and the Library of the Royal Irish Academy have paramount claims. This Society was incorporated in 1 786 for the study of science, polite literature, and Irish antiquities, and very skilfully and thoroughly have these objects been accomplished, although even more might have been done could they have controlled larger funds. The museum contains a marvellously varied and rich collection of specimens of Irish art, from the earliest period down to comparatively recent date. Naturally the most interesting objects are those either entirely or almost entirely peculiar to Ireland. And amono- these what are known as cumdachs, or book shrines, hold perhaps the chief place. They are rarely met with except in Ireland, and have played no unimportant part in past days. They, like the famous bell shrines, came into existence as the outcome of the reverential affection manifested towards the chief Irish teachers, such as Patrick, Columba, and Molaise by their successors. The old book, the familiar companion of the early missionary, was untouched ; but all that wealth and skill could do was lavished upon the production of a box or shrine in which to preserve so precious a relic. In some cases this box was hermetically sealed, and no superstition was stronger or more universal than the belief that the opening of such a box would be followed by the direst misfortune. The oldest and in many respects the most interesting specimen of these in the museum is the Domnach Airgid, or the Silver Shrine. This was for many ages preserved as a reliquary near Clones in County Monaghan. Dr. Petrie's conclusions, given to the Royal Irish Academy in 1838, are generally 1 Dublin Penny Journal, i. 143. 3 S IRISH PICTURES. accepted as the true history of this ancient relic. He says, ' In its present state this ancient remain appears to have been equally designed as a shrine for the preservation of relics, and of a book ; but the latter was probably its sole original use. Its form is that of an oblong box, nine inches by seven, and five inches in height. This box is composed of three distinct covers, of which the first, or inner one, is of wood — yew ; the second, or middle one, of copper plated with silver ; and the third, or outer one, of silver, plated with gold. In the comparative ages of these several covers there is obviously a great difference. The first may probably be coeval with the manuscript which it was intended to preserve ; the second, in the style of its scroll, or interlaced ornament, indicates a period betwixt the sixth and twelfth centuries ; while the figures in relief, the ornaments, and the letters on the third, or outer cover, leave no doubt of its being the work of the fourteenth century.' The inscriptions on the outer case show that the Domnach belonged to the monastery of Clones or See of Clogher, and the John O'Karbri by whose permission the cover was made died in 1353. It is also known from the Irish authorities that St. Patrick gave to St. Mac Carthen, who died in 506, a remarkable reliquary. On the death of Mac Carthen,. Tigernach, his successor, became the first Bishop and Abbot of Clones, where he built a new church, to which he removed the See of Clogher. This evidence goes, therefore, to prove that the Domnach is the identical reliquary that once belonged to St. Patrick, and that as its original purpose was evidently to contain a book, and it actually does contain a MS., which can be reasonably referred to the age of St. Patrick, there is reason for the belief that this is the original MS. Unfortunately, the membranes of the MS. have stuck together, so that it is only with very great difficulty that any separate leaves can be detached. A few of the pages at the beginning of the MS. have been examined, and found to be ' the first chapter of a Latin version of the Gospel of Matthew, in a character not inconsistent with the age to which, on examination, the MS. was assigned by Dr. Petrie.' The Domnach Airgid is exhibited in the little room on the first floor, into which has been brought together one of the most remarkable antiquarian collections of Europe. It was purchased for a few pounds by Mr. Geo. Smith, who sold it in 1S38 for ^300 to the Hon. Henry Westenra, who afterwards became Baron Rossmore, and he ultimately presented it to the Academy. The way in which superstition in later ages centred in and upon these early remains is very finely illustrated by Carleton in one of his most vivid and thrilling stories of Irish peasant life, entitled The Donagk, or the Horse Stealers. He there shows how the ordeal of having to swear upon the Donagh led to the discovery of crime, depicting at the same time the impression that the mere sight of the relic used to produce upon an assembly of peasants. IRELAND'S EYE. 39 In later days these cases were very richly jewelled and adorned with all the resources of wealth and art. Our engraving shows the one that for centuries enclosed a copy of the Gospels believed to have belonged to Molaise or Laserian, of Devenish Island in Lough Erne, a friend and contemporary of Columba. It was made, an inscription tells us, when Cennfailad was abbot, that is, from iooi to 1025, and consists of plates of bronze, upon which richly ornamented plates of silver are riveted. The illustration reproduces the chief face of the cover, hav- ing in the centre a cross contained in a circle, surrounded by the sym- bols of the four evan- gelists. In addition to the Domnach Airgid, the Museum possesses ano- ther relic which there is good reason for be- lieving dates from the time of St. Patrick, viz., his bell. 'T he iro n bell of St. Patrick is at once th e most authent ic Imcl the oldest Irish reli c of Christian met al w ork that has de - sc ended to us . 1 1 possesses the singular merit of having an un- broken history through 1400 years. This bell is quadrilateral, and is formed of two plates of sheet iron which are bent over so as to meet, and are fastened together by large-headed iron rivets. The corners are rounded by a gentle inclination of the parts which join. One of the plates constitutes the face, the crown and the upper third of the back, as well as the adjacent portion of each side, being doubled over at the top, and descending to meet the smaller plate, which overlaps it at the junction. Subsequently to the securing the joints by rivets, the iron frame was consolidated by the fusion of bronze into the joints and over the surface, The Cumdach, or Case of St. Molaise's Gospels. 4° IRISH PICTURES. o-ivino- to the w hole a metallic solidity which very much enhanced its resonance, as well as contributed to its preservation. The handle is of iron, let in by projecting spikes to perforations on the ridge of the bell, and further secured on the outside by bronze attachments of its straps.' r This bell belongs to a class of ecclesiastical objects of which numerous specimens have come down to us. Over fifty are extant in Ireland, and they are not un- common in Wales and Scotland. In the case of St. Patrick's Bell the history can be clearly traced. About the eleventh century it be- came the custom, out of reverence for the early Christian teachers, to prepare costly and richly jewelled cases or shrines for these bells. We o-ive an enoravino- of that in which St. Pat- rick's Bell was for many centuries enshrined. It is a splendid example of goldsmith's work, and it was made be- tween 1 09 1 and 1 103, when Donell MacAulay, the name found in the inscription upon it, was Archbishop of Armagh. It is of brass, upon which silver-gilt plates are fastened, and fine gold filigree work ; it is adorned with gems and crystal. 'Since it was made, about 1091, it has never been lost sight of. From the beginning it had a special keeper ; in succeeding generations its custody was continued in the same family, and proved to them a source of considerable emolument, and in after ages, when its profits ceased to 1 Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 1877. The Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell. IRELAND'S EYE. 41 accrue, long association so bound it up with the affections of the keeper's family that they almost held their existence upon the tenure of its safe custody, and then handed it down from generation to generation, till the stock at last became extinct, and the object of their former care passed into a keeping established by friendship instead of blood.' ' From the beginning of the twelfth century until about the commence- ment of the present, the bell and its shrine was in the custody of a family named Mulholland. The last representative of this family, being childless, entrusted them to the care of the late Adam McLean, Esq., of Belfast. They then passed into the possession of Dr. Todd, from whose executor they were purchased for the Academy for the sum of ^500. It would be possible to fill many pages with descriptions of the beautiful objects contained in this museum, illustrative of the knowledge, skill, and perseverance put forth at a time when many persons fancy that Ireland was in- habited only by hordes of savages, mainly occupied in the slaughter of each other. The museum is crowded with whole classes of speci- mens of which we can take no note — arms, dress, objects the uses of most of which are known, but in some few cases remain yet undis- covered, illustrative of all epochs of Irish history, and of all classes of people who, during historic and even pre- historic times, have lived upon Irish soil. In fact, the only museum that equals it in compactness, in devotion to very clearly defined objects, and in comfort to the observer — by which we mean skilful arrangement of contents, combined with the fact that these are not bewildering in number and extent — is the much more widely-known Museum of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen. All readers of this book who wish to appreciate the past of Ireland should make a point, whenever they visit Dublin, of giving more than a hasty inspection to this treasure-house of the past. Much, however, as we should like to linger, we have space to glance at only three more typical speci- mens, viz., the Ardagh Chalice, the Tara Brooch, and the Cross of Cong. The gem of the whole collection, and in many respects one of the most beautiful and noteworthy objects in Europe, is the Ardagh Chalice. 1 Earlv Christian Art in Ireland, p. 59. The Ardagh Chalice. 42 IRISH PICTURES. When it was made no evidence is extant to show, but all judges agree that at the very least it is over iooo years old. It was found, with other specimens of Celtic art. by a lad digging potatoes in a rath or early fort near the village of Ardagh in Co. Limerick. It belongs to the class of cups known as calices ministralcs, in use before the tenth century, intended for the use of the minor clergy and laity, before the Roman Catholic Church debarred the laity from the communion in both kinds. The chalice is com- posed of an alloy of silver, is seven inches high, nine and a half inches in diameter, the bowl being four inches deep. In the various parts, no less than 354 in number, gold, silver, bronze, brass, copper and lead, are used. The upper rim is of brass, much decayed and split from some local action on that particular kind of alloy. The bowl is of silver, the standard value of which is four shillings to the ounce. The ornaments cut on the silver bowl consist of an inscription, inter- laced patterns terminat- ing in dogs' heads, and at the bottom a circular band of the Greek pat- tern. The mode of ornamentation is peculiar to this cup, being done with a chisel and hammer. Round the cup runs a band composed of two semi-cylindrical rings of silver ornamented with small annular dots punched out with a hollow punch. The space between the rings is filled with twelve plaques of gold repoussd work with a very beautiful ornamentation of fine filigree wirework, wrought on the front of the repousse ground, and carrying out in its most delicate execution the interlaced pattern associated with the art of the country. Between the plaques are twelve round enamelled beads. 1 The Tara Brooch (Obverse). Early Christian Art in Ireland, p. 81 IRELAND'S EYE. 43 Although the object is so small, there are no less than forty different designs discoverable in its decorative work. A well-preserved inscription is engraved on the cup containing the names of the twelve apostles as given in the Romish Canon of the Mass. The Tara Brooch, in the general character and exquisite style of its ornamentation, belongs to the same period of art as the Ardagh Chalice. It was found in 1850, near the sea-shore, by the child of a poor woman, who afterwards sold it in Drogheda. The work- manship is so highly finished that to be fairly appreciated it should be examined through a powerful lens. It ex- hibits seventy-six varie- ties of design, of the class found in the Ar- dagh Chalice and the early illuminated Irish MSS. The obverse and reverse are both richly decorated. ' The Tara Brooch,' said Dr. Petrie, ' is superior to anything hitherto found in the variety of its ornaments and in the exquisite de- licacy and perfection of its execution.' It is com- posed of what is known as white bronze, a mix- ture of copper and tin. The Ardagh Chalice deposed what is known as the Cross of Cong from the proud position of chief among the works of art in the museum. This is a famous relic, dating from the Middle Ages, enshrining and illustrating, as so many of the articles in this fascinating building do, the traditions and habits and life of the early Irish Church. This cross was constructed, as one of the five inscriptions upon it states, for the following purpose : ' In this cross is preserved the cross on which the Founder of the world suffered.' In other words, it is a reliquary, and at one time was The Tara Brooch (Reverse). 41 IRISH PICTURES. believed to contain a piece of the cross upon which Jesus Christ suffered 'the just for the unjust,' in order 'that He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.' It was made by order of Turlough O'Connor, father of the last king who ruled Ireland prior to the Norman invasion, about the year 1123, and placed in the Church of Tuam, during the Archbishopric of in 1 150. This is clearly shown cipherable upon it. It was O'Duffy, who died there, or by nor, who founded and endowed the Reformation it was con- early in the present century Prendergast, found chest and successor Professor MacCul- i t to the The shaft ches high, eighteen quarter in- and it is one quarter in- It is of oak, covered with central plate of the front at large crystal, through which true cross could be seen, regular intervals, and of these of the four beads which origin- remain. The lower part of the animal, beneath which is the *-Cip the socket into which the pole reliquary was borne aloft on Coming back from this at a few other points of special for the country. Of Dublin there is nothing very special to few noteworthy features of anti- terest. The Chapel Royal is a TlIE Cross of Cong - work of high artistic character, and well repays a visit. Its sculpture is fine, and of a high class. The Bermingham Tower is of considerable age and interest. It contains valuable State papers, and was formerly used as a State prison. What importance attaches to the Castle now arises mainly from the fact that it has long been the centre and the symbol of England's authority over Ireland. Dublin is favoured with suburbs that are easily accessible, beautiful in Muiredach O'Duffy, who died by the inscriptions still de- transferred to Cong either by order of King Turlough O'Con- that abbey. At the time of cealed in an oaken chest, and a parish priest, the Rev. Mr. relic in a cottage. From his lagh bought it, and presented Museum, is thirty in- the arms and three- ches broad, and three- ches thick, plates of copper. On the the junction of the cross is a what was supposed to be the Eighteen jewels were placed at thirteen still remain. Two out ally surrounded the central boss shaft is the head of a grotesque richly decorated ball containing was inserted by which the processional occasions, remote past, we must glance note before we leave Dublin Castle we need only say that be said about it. It possesses quarian or architectural in- IRELAND'S EYE. 45 their scenery, and rich in historical and antiquarian associations. It is in this connection, although it hardly comes under the description of a suburb, that reference must be made to Phcenix Park. The name has no reference to the ancient fable, but is derived from fionu uisge, clear or limpid water, the name originally given to a beautiful spring near the Phcenix Pillar. This being pronounced ' feenisk,' was easily corrupted into Phcenix. The park was seized by the Crown on the suppression of the Knights Templars, whose residence was at Kilmainham, and who owned the land on both sides of the Liffey. It is a magnificent piece of country, seven miles in circuit, with an area of 1760 acres. It is well wooded, undulating in parts, with many level open spaces, in which hurling, football, and other games are eagerly played by the youth of Dublin ; and, from different points of vantage, very fine views are obtained. Within its limits stand the Viceregal Lodge, the houses of the Chief and the Under-Secretaries for Ireland, a military school and infirmary, a large constabulary barracks, and the building in which the Ordnance Survey work is carried on. It also contains a review ground, a People's Gardens, and a Zoological Gardens. The military prowess of Ireland is commemorated here by an imposing, if not beautiful, obelisk to Wellington and a statue to Lord Gough. The Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, hard by the large cemetery in which the modern round tower in memory of O'Connell rises to a great height, are also very lovely, well kept, and so laid out as to enable the fre- quenter easily and considerably to increase his knowledge of flowers and shrubs. The Curator's house was once the abode of the poet Tickell, and a grove of aged yew trees is still known as ' Addison's Walk.' No place could well be prettier, or more attractive to a lover of botany than Glasnevin on a fine afternoon in early summer. Needing a somewhat longer journey, and yet within easy reach, are Clontarf and Howth, Clondalkin, Kingstown, and Killiney. All of these are much frequented by the residents of Dublin. Clontarf is midway between Dublin and Howth, and was the scene of that famous battle fought on Good Friday, 1014, between Brian Borumha and the Danes under Sihtric. The Danes were defeated and their power broken, but the chieftain who has ever since stood out as the typical Irish monarch was slain. Brian became King of Munster in 976, he established his power over the whole of Ire- land in 1002. He was able and strong in war, wise in counsel, and not unmindful of the works of peace. ' He erected or restored the cathedral of Killaloe, the churches of Inis-caltra in Lough Derg, the round tower of Tomgraney in County Clare. He built bridges over the Shannon at Athlone and Lanesborough, he constructed roads, he strengthened the forts and island fortresses of Munster. He dispensed a royal hospitality, he administered rigid and impartial justice, and established peace and order through all the country, so that, as the historian puts it, "a woman 4 6 IRISH PICTURES. might walk in safety through the length of Ireland, from Tory Island in Donegal to Glandore Harbour in Cork, carrying a ring of gold on a horse-rod." ' ' Dr. Stokes, in the book from which we have just quoted, gives a very clear and realistic sketch of the famous battle. It was ' fought all over the ground now occupied by the north side of Dublin, from the wood of Clontarf to the site of the present Four Courts, where stood the only bridge then spanning the river Liffey. It began early in the morning, at sunrise, soon after five o'clock. A strong north-east wind was blowing, as the inhabitants of Dublin still so often experience in April, to their bitter cost. The Danish inhabitants of Dublin crowded the walls of the town, which clustered thick round the hill now crowned by Christ Church Cathedral, whence a splendid view of the fight presented itself. ... It was a thoroughly Celtic fight, without any skill or plan or manoeuvres, consisting merely of a series of individual encounters, which are told in a very Homeric style. . . . The Raven Standard ever fluttered in front of Sigurd, who carried destruction with him wherever he went.' Sigurd is at length slain by Morrogh O'Brian, the Irish leader, who in turn is mortally wounded by a Dane named Eric, whom Morrogh slays just before he expires. The Danes are then utterly routed, and multitudes perish in trying to reach their ships on the beach at Clontarf. But in the hour of victory came the worst blow to the Irish. Some of the Danes had fled to the woods which covered the heights around Dublin. ' Brian had taken his station on one of these hills to engage in prayer, like Moses, attended by only a few servants. The king was seated on a fur rug, where he prolonged his petitions from early morning till the afternoon, receiving occasional reports concerning the progress of the battle from Latean, his attendant. As the sun began to descend towards the west, the apostate deacon Brodar and two other warriors approached the. king's station, seeking refuge in the woods. One of the three had been in Brian's service, and he called Brodar's attention to Brian. " The king, the king ! " said he. " No, no, a priest, a priest ! " replied Brodar. " By no means," said the soldier ; "that is the great King Brian." Brodar then turned round with a battle-axe in his hand. The aged king gathered his remaining strength, aimed a blow at Brodar, which wounded his legs, while Brodar cleft Brians head in twain. He then continued his flight to the woods, but was shortly afterwards taken and slain. Malachey, King of Meath, who had remained in reserve, now advanced upon the field and completed the work, routing the enemy on every side, thus terminating the domination, though not the presence, of the Danes in Ireland.' 2 Thus passed away King Brian Boru, in the hour of his final victory. And now, every few minutes, tramcars start from the Nelson Pillar, which 1 Inland and the Celtic Church, p. 291. - Ibid. pp. 302-305. IRELAND'S EYE. 47 speedily carry the curious traveller over the plain where the beaten Danes fled in the vain hope of making good their escape in the ships which had so often carried bloodshed and terror around the Irish coasts. A curious proof of the accuracy of the old Irish Annals has been brought to light by modern science. The early accounts of the battle represent the tide as being at its flood at the time of the rout, viz., about 6 o'clock ; and Dr. Haughton has proved that on April 23rd, 1014, it was high water in Dublin Bay at 5.55 p.m. Passing Clontarf, the traveller reaches the Hill of Howth, not only the most prominent feature in the scenery of Dublin Bay, but also a spot rich in antiquities and in the fine views to be obtained from it. Here is the ancient port of Dublin. Here the old Norse sea-rovers used to collect prior to one of their marauding expeditions. Hard by the harbour stand the considerable ruins of the fine old abbey. Beyond that is situated the castle, which is still a fine residence, with very beautiful grounds. Near the Carrigmore cliffs stands a splendid cromlech, consisting of ten huge masses of rock, the one forming the table measuring in one direction eighteen feet, in the other nineteen and a half, having an extreme thickness of eight feet. Continuing the walk round the headland, the well-known Bailey light comes into view, and in completing the circuit fine views of Dublin and the Wicklow Hills delight the eye. The chief interest of Howth is its lighthouse, with the wonderful gas-light beacon of Mr. Wigham, which has revolutionized the old system of using oil lamps for lighthouse illumination. According to the depth of fog and atmospheric opacity, additional supplies of light are available without delay, and a penetrating power, hitherto undreamed of, at once supplied. The Esplanade and Bray Head. CHAPTER II. The Garden of Ireland. FEW capitals are richer in pretty and picturesque scenery close at hand than Dublin. Still fewer possess in addition wide tracts of exceedingly lovely country so close that almost all of the best parts can easily be visited in a day's picnic. The inhabitant of Dublin need be at no loss how or where to enjoy himself when he snatches a holiday from the ordinary routine of daily work. The counties of Wicklow and Wexford present an almost embarrassing choice of delightful excursions. He has only to take the train, and in a few minutes he is at Kingstown, a fashionable suburb of the great city. This is a modern place, and owes much of its importance to the fact that the mail traffic between Dublin and Holyhead passes through it. Large hotels have been built here ; there are multitudes of well-kept villas, and it has become a fashionable resort for well-to-do merchants and people of leisure. Kingstown during the summer gives itself up to music and promenading, to bathing and lounging, to yachting and the never-failing delight of watching the mail packets come and go. The land rises abruptly from the harbour, enabling the place to look beautiful under the white light of day, and even more beautiful under the subdued glow of the many lights dotted about the hilly streets and lanes. The favourite excursion in the immediate neighbourhood of Kingstown is BOSTON COLLEGE UliUAUY CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. THE GARDEN OF IRELAND. 5< the walk to the top of Killiney, a bold hill rising to the height of 480 feet. Enthusiastic residents occasionally affirm that the view from the top of this on a fine clear day has no rival in Europe ; and although the traveller may not always see his way to the acceptance of this conclusion, he will readily admit that it is impossible to get a lovelier view at so little cost in the way of exertion. A still more fashionable summer resort is Bray. This place is even younger than Kingstown, having been quite unknown until comparatively recent times. Fifty years ago it was occupied by a few fishermen's huts ; now it is crowded with enormous hotels, fine private residences, and all the signs Sugar-Loaf Mountain. of a considerable resident population. Fifty years ago the shore was a lonely beach ; now it is a magnificent esplanade, extending along the water's edge, backed by spacious villas and supplied with baths, pleasure-gardens, and all the devices calculated to attract and detain those who like to combine the comforts of a big town with the advantages of sea-air and sea-bathing. Rising abruptly to the south, is the Bri or Bree, meaning 'headland,' whence comes its name. This has been tunnelled by the railway, and so laid out that the walk around the face of the promontory affords a varied series of delightful views. In the height of the season Bray is very lively, and all those phases of life which have been developed by the modern E 2 52 IRISH PICTURES. fondness for fashionable sea-side summer life can here be studied by means of numerous examples. But Bray is only at the gate of the beauties of Wicklow ; and within certain limits the further afield one travels the richer is the reward, if the traveller be a lover of nature, and in sympathy with what has been most worthy in the past. Much that is very pretty in the immediate neighbourhood of Bray is somewhat vulgarized by the nearness of that centre of fashionable idleness. It is when the traveller gets twenty or thirty miles away that he enters into the full enjoyment of a really lovely region, where the tired worker, the overtaxed, the student, the man or woman brought below physical par by stress and strain of life, or by the partial breakdown of bodily and nervous power, may regain elasticity for the mind, tone for the nervous system, and restoration of bodily vigour Few could spend their holidays in visiting Sugar- loaf Mountain, Glendalough, the Vale of Ovoca, Glenmalure, and a dozen other beauti- ful adjacent dis- tricts without beincr the better physically and mentally, and without increasing their love for na- tural beauty. the To begin with things nearest The Dargle. to Bray. No visitor is long at a loss as to what objects are to be seen, or how he may see them. At every turn car-drivers, hackney coachmen, and guides offer to conduct you to the Dargle, to the Glen of Downs, to Powers- court Waterfall, or where you will, within a radius of ten or fifteen miles. The most popular excursion is to the Dargle and Powerscourt. The former is a beautiful little mountain glen, well wooded, kindly furnished by nature with that usual high rock from which fable insists upon hurling the usual unhappy lover. Like many other much frequented spots, the reputation of the Dargle sometimes suffers from the extravagant praises of those who admire it ' not wisely but too well.' The bridge is a favourite spot not only for the lover of the beautiful, but also a starting-place for the angler. The origin of the name is a subject of controversy. Some THE GARDEN OF IRELAND. 53 >-,£I^-OS5WrC; maintain that it comes from the Celtic Daur Gliu, or Vale of Oaks ; but Dr. Joyce, on the other hand, maintains that it comes from an Irish word dearg, meaning 'red,' and that Deargail, now Dargle, means 'a red little spot.' He fortifies his view by saying: 'I have on other occasions observed how happily the old name-formers generally succeeded in designating places by their most obvious characteristics, every name striking straight for the feature that most strongly attracted attention, so that to this day a person mode- rately skilled in such mat- ters may often predict the physical peculiarities or the aspect of a place as soon as he hears the name. No- thing could be more appro- priate in this respect than the Dargle, which everyone will recognize as the name of a beautiful glen near Bray in Wicklow. The pre- vailing rock in the glen is very soft and of a reddish colour, sometimes with a yel- lowish tinge, but in several places deepening into a dark purplish red. The visitor can hardly fail to observe this almost as soon as he enters the lower gate, where the red stones come to the surface of the path under his feet. The reddish colour also pervades the clay, which is merely the rock worn down ; and is very striking in several spots along the sides of the glen, where the clay and the rock are exposed, especially after rain, which brings out the prevailing hue very vividly.' 1 Near the head of the glen is the well-situated village of Enniskerry, and after a drive of a few miles through Lord Powerscourt's property, the Powerscourt Waterfall is reached. This again is very pretty, although occasionally visitors are disappointed, because somewhat overdrawn descrip- 1 Irish Names of Places, ii. 39. Powerscourt Waterfall. 54 IRISH PICTURES. tions have raised their expectations too high. The effectiveness of the fall necessarily varies with the body of water coming over it. It is a fine fall and picturesquely situated ; but he who goes fancying it is as picturesque as the Kilefos in the Naerodal, or as voluminous as the Mongefos in the Romsdal, will assuredly be disappointed, no matter how heavily it may have rained just prior to his visit. A good pedestrian can make this the starting-point for a trip among the Wicklow Mountains, several of the highest peaks being in the neigh- bourhood, the highest mountain being Kippure, which just succeeds in POWERSCOURT HOUSE. (From a photograph by Lawrence of Dublin.'] overtopping the Donegal Errigal, and reaches an altitude of 2,475 f eet - These do not seem very lofty in comparison with the Alpine giants, but they are quite high enough to afford healthy exercise and many splendid prospects. A very fine drive is to continue on from the waterfall along Glencree to the Upper and Lower Lough Bray, 1,453 f eet above the sea, nestling at the foot of Kippure, and then return by way of Enniskerry. Any one wishful to see a good specimen of a fine Irish country residence can gratify his taste by visiting Powerscourt House. It is more remarkable for extent THE GARDEN OF IRELAND. 55 and beauty of situation than for exceptional excellence in architecture. Powerscourt demesne covers about 26,000 acres. The first English owner was De la Poer, one of Strongbow's companions. The O'Byrnes and O'Tooles of Wicklow captured it in Henry VHP's time, and when retaken it was bestowed upon the Talbots. In 1556 the Kavanaghs acquired possession of it ; and in 1608 James I. bestowed it upon Sir R. Wingheld, who was created Viscount Powerscourt in 1618. On the road from Enniskerry to Dublin, and within an easy drive of Bray, is a wild ravine known as the Scalp. The road runs over a shoulder of Shankhill Mountain and through this ravine ; it presents a very wild appearance, enormous masses of granite being heaped up in grand and picturesque confusion on either side. It looks as if nature, in order to spare man the trouble of blasting a road, had by some mighty convulsion torn a rent through the mountain just wide ^ The ScALr. 56 IRISH PICTURES. enough for a high road. Professor Hill has shown that the Scalp was once the channel of a great river that drained districts of land, now denuded of extensive rock deposits, and which discharged itself through the Irish Sea in distant ages. From the south entrance a very fine view is obtained, having in the foreground the Greater and the Lesser Sugar Loaf Mountains. Another pleasant trip is along the road which skirts the foot of the Great Sugar Loaf Mountain, passing through the Glen of Downs, another of these lovely Wicklow dells. It consists of a deep, well-wooded ravine, the banks at some points rising to a height of 800 feet. The road runs to Delgany, whence the return to Bray is direct. But, as we have already suggested, he who would rightly appreciate the scenery of this part of Ireland must go somewhat further afield. In the central and southern part of Wicklow are to be found the finest examples both of the softer and lovely country, and also of the sterner, gloomy and wild mountain scenery. The centre towards which all excursions in this region tend by a very natural attraction is the Vale of Glendalough ; and the reason for this is not far to seek. It is one of the loveliest spots upon which the eye can rest. It is associated, like so many other beautiful parts of Ireland, with the past history and religious life of the nation ; and the national tendency to associate romance and tragedy with exceptional natural features is well illustrated here. Glendalough is a mountain valley, situated, fortunately, in the opinion of the lover of nature, some miles from the nearest railway station. It is shut in on every side, except the east, by mountains, and starting from it several smaller valleys run up into the hills on either side. Two lakes lie embosomed in the valley, and looking towards the upper end from the eastern entrance it appears to be entirely enclosed by abrupt and lofty mountains. To the east of the lakes, situated in the centre of the valley, is a remarkable cluster of ancient buildings — a round tower, early Irish churches, one nearly perfect, others in ruins, the remains of an ancient cathedral, an early cross, and a considerable number of old and modern tombstones. The buildings clustered at this spot, together with others scattered over the valley, make up the far-famed Seven Churches of Glendalough. But before we enter into fuller detail, it may be well to glance at the various ways of reaching this valley. If Bray is the starting-point, Rathnew is the nearest station, and the pedestrian will find it an agreeable walk to go by way of the Devil's Glen and the Roundwood Reservoir. Those not equal to a ten or fifteen mile stretch can ride to the Glen, walk up that, and regain their car at the top. Approached from the south, Rathdrum is the station, and then the visitor has a walk or drive of about ten miles through most delightful country. We should be disposed to recommend Rathdrum as the starting-point. As there is a capital hotel at Glendalough, and as the country is admirably suited for walking, the visitor with time and strength THE GARDEN OF IRELAND. 57 at his disposal need not choose the shortest road, but may reach the Seven Churches by way of the Military Road and Glenmalure. This road is a measure of the difficulties that have been experienced in the past in the government of these districts. It was built during the troubles of 1798 to facilitate the movements of troops in this region ; it remains as a boon to the adventurous and scenery-loving traveller. Glenmalure is one of the finest of Wicklow valleys, and when at Drumgoff, where the road from Rathdrum joins the Military Road, the traveller can easily, if he wishes, obtain a guide and make the ascent of Lugnaquilla, the highest mountain in Wicklow, 3,039 feet. The view from the summit, over Wexford, Waterford, and Cork, is very extensive. But the great majority prefer the beaten path ; that which runs by the Vale of Clara to Laragh. And much beyond the fact that it is the shorter and more convenient may be said for this route ; as a drive it is not easy to find its equal. Rathdrum occupies a lovely situation on the Avonmore River, at the junction of two valleys ; through one of these comes the rail- road from Wexford, and along the other runs the road to Glendalough. The whole drive to Laragh is a succession of beautiful views, the road following the Vale of Clara, the Avonmore river being almost always in sight, and usually at a great distance below the traveller ; the slopes of the hills are richly wooded. At Laragh the road turns abruptly to the west, and very soon traces of the manifold remains of ancient buildings, which abound in this region, begin to appear. The road skirts the northern bank of a little stream, at a considerable elevation above it. On the southern bank, about a mile from Laragh, are the ruins known as the Priory of St. Saviour's, probably the site of an ancient monastery, and, according to some, of the ancient religious town of Glendalough. The remains are scanty, but they exhibit many curious specimens of Irish ornamental carving of the ninth and tenth centuries. A few yards from the road, nearly opposite the Priory, stand the walls of a tiny structure known as Trinity Church. It belongs to a very early period, and exhibits fine examples of a square-headed door- way, a choir arch and chancel windows. Shortly after passing this church, the Vale of Glendalough comes into sight, and presents on a fine day one of the most beautiful pictures that the 'Garden of Ireland' can show. To the right is the Vale of Glendasan, to the left Glendalough ; a mountain juts out boldly to a well-defined edge, separating the two valleys, and in the distance are clearly seen the moun- tains that shut in the upper end of the valley. If the visitor is driving it is customary to take him up to the western end of the valley, by the shores of the upper lake, and leave him to explore the beauties and antiquities of that region, and then walk down again to the cashel. By these shores St. Kevin, the founder of the first ecclesiastical buildings erected here, lived his hermit life. The saint is an undoubtedly historical character, and flourished 58 IRISH PICTURES. in the early part of the sixth century. The facts seem to be that he built the cell on the south shore of the lake, known as Tempul-na-skellig, also part of the building known as St. Kevin's Kitchen, and that he lived for years in the vale ; but as usual legend has been very busy with his name. Once when the saint, according to his habit, extended his hand from the window of his cell in the attitude of supplication, a blackbird dropped her eggs into it. He never altered the position, hand or arm, until the eggs were hatched ! It was by these lakes that King O'Toole, when too old to hunt, used to amuse himself by watching his geese swim. Great was his grief when his favourite gander became too old to fly. To him comes the saint, ' What will you give me if I make him fly again for you ? ' ' Why, I'll give you all the ground he flies over, even suppose he flew round the whole glen.' With that exactness always noticeable on these occasions, the gander did fly round the whole glen. ' Now,' said the saint, ' King O'Toole, be as good as your word, give me this place, and I will dedicate it to God.' And King O'Toole, ' putting a handsome face on it,' made over the valley for ever and a day to the enterprising saint. The savage side of asceticism, and its unnatural violation of the duties and claims of ordinary life, are illustrated by the legend of Kathleen. To escape from her affectionate entreaties, the saint fled to the hole in the cliff overhanging the upper lake, up to which tourists occasionally climb, under- going thus needless risks, to the enrichment of the wily boatmen and guides. But the saint's hopes of peace were vain. Even here Kathleen found him. Fearless she had tracked his feet, To this rocky wild retreat ! And when morning met his view, Her mild glances met it too. Ah ! you saints have cruel hearts ! Sternly from his bed he starts, And with rude repulsive shock, Hurls her from the beetling rock. That such a legend could be told, as it undoubtedly was, to the saint's credit, is but one of manifold proofs that a too exclusive and mistaken notion about the salvation of one's own soul may lead to extraordinary callousness as to the rights of others, and the claims of mercy. But St. Kevin is not responsible for the foolish legends that have centred about his personality. To him belongs whatever credit is due for the foundation of an ecclesiastical establishment at Glendalough. Later generations extended and developed his work. In the immediate neighbourhood of the eastern end of the upper lake are the remains of what is now called Refeart or Refeert Church, dating from St. Kevin's time, and exhibiting still a fine specimen of a very ancient THE GARDEN OF IRELAND. 59 doorway. It was here, according to tradition, that King 0' Toole was buried. There is a fine walk along the southern edge of the valley from the upper lake to the main cluster of ancient buildings. These are all enclosed in a cashel or wall, entered through a fine old gateway, which was standing forty years ago, and which, having fallen down since, was restored and securely rebuilt some years ago, the same stones being used and replaced as far as possible in their original order. The structures of note here are St. Kevin's Kitchen, the Lady Chapel, the Cathedral and the Round Tower. Of these the first is, at any rate in part, contemporaneous with the saint. It once consisted of a nave and chancel, with a sacristy at the east end and a belfry at the west. The chancel has disappeared ; the other parts remain. Of these the nave only dates from the sixth century. It is called the Kitchen from the absurd notion, once prevalent, that the belfry was a chimney ! Divested of the turret and the -sacristy, the building resembles somewhat St. Columbkille's house at Kells. It is nearly thirty feet long, twenty-two feet wide, and the walls are three feet seven inches thick. Its side walls are eleven feet high, and the ridge of the roof thirty-one feet above the ground. The belfry and sacristy are later additions when the building was used as a church. Dr. Petrie sees no reason to doubt that ' this building, in its original state, was at once the habitation and the oratory of the eminent ecclesiastic to whom the religious establishment at Glendalough owed its origin ; and it is highly probable that it received, shortly after his death, those additions which were necessary to make it a church, fit for the worship of those who would be led thither from reverence to his name.' ' The Round Tower is very ancient, dating most probably from about the tenth century. It is well built, but, like several others, has lost its original roof and some of the upper courses. These have been restored in recent years, and a conical roof having been added, the tower presents much the same appearance as it must have done originally. The doorway is now about ten feet from the ground, and was probably originally fifteen feet, there having been in the course of centuries an accumulation of debris around its base. In the engraving on page 49 the tower is depicted as it was prior to the restoration of the roof. The small church, erroneously called now the Church of Our Lady, is, in the opinion of Dr. Petrie, contemporary with St. Kevin's House. The Cathedral — a somewhat ambitious name for so small a structure — is roofless. The nave is very ancient, and the west door is a fine specimen of one of the earliest types of ecclesiastical architecture. The chancel is somewhat later in style, and therefore in date. Even if we cannot accept the earlier date, although there seems no sufficient reason to doubt it, the storms of 1 The Hound Towers of Ireland, p. 435. 6o IRISH PICTURES. nearly a thousand years, and all the mischances and ravages of thirty generations, have failed to destroy these examples of Irish piety and skill. But with many the interest of their visit to Glendalough depends but slightly upon these architectural treasures. They go for the exhilaration of the tramp or the ride ; they delight in the bold hill contours, in the peaceful lakes, in the smiling valley, in the wooded slopes. And these are sufficient reasons. He who can traverse the rich and varied country encircling the valley, or ramble along its pleasant paths without being the better for it, is not to be envied. And yet it must be admitted that some due appreciation of the relative antiquity of the various remains, of the part they have played in religious history, of the testimony they bear to the zeal, industry, faith and skill of past generations — all the more powerful because this can neither flatter nor deceive — greatly heightens the pleasure and increases the benefit of such a visit. On a bright summer day here, as at Clonmacnois, at Cashel, at Slane, there is the blending of the fresh and lovely present with the dim, yet no less real, past. The air, the sky, the face of nature, the contour of the mountains are much the same to us as they were to St. Kevin ; but as we pace the unroofed nave of the cathedral, or stand in the shadow of the lofty tower, or try to decipher the sculptures on an ancient cross ; as we think of the successive generations of Celt and Saxon that have passed away whilst these relics of human skill have survived, of the fierce Northmen who again and again ravaged the valley, of the long struggle that raged for the possession of these fair regions, there comes upon us that pleasant emotion, due in part to facts and in part to imagination, the sense of satisfaction that we are able to see, mark, and ponder over the works of other ages, surviving in a natural setting, which is at once ever old and ever new. The traveller who has reached Glendalough from Rathdrum will find it pleasant to return by way of Roundwood and the Devil's Glen. The drive to the former is not so interesting as that through the Vale of Clara, but the walk along the great reservoir of the Vartry that supplies Dublin is worth a visit. This reservoir is an artificial lough, with an area of 400 acres, and formed by a huge dam 1,600 feet long, 40 feet wide at the base and 30 at the top. It can supply the metropolis at the rate of 12,000,000 gallons a day. The water travels twenty-four miles through pipes ere it reaches those who use it. Near to the Vartry reservoir is a road leading to the head of the Devil's Glen. This is a very fine wooded glen about two miles long, through which the Vartry flows. Entering from the upper end, the finest scenery is met first. The glen is closed by abrupt ledges of rock, and over these the river tumbles and roars in a succession of fine falls. Cars are not allowed to drive through, and so those who wish to see the beauties The Vale of Avoca. THE GARDEN OF IRELAND. 63 must perforce walk. It is well worth the trouble. Rock scenery is the chief feature of the glen. It was a prominent place in the 1798 rebellion, and was for a time one of the strongholds of the famous Wicklow eeneral. Holt. The road from the Devil's Glen through Rathnew to Wicklow has many pleasant spots, though at neither place is there anything of special interest. The ' Garden of Ireland ' extends further to the south and west, and below Rathdrum is situated its most celebrated district, the Vale of Avoca or Ovoca, since it seems to answer to both names. This is a lovely valley through which the Avonmore flows, until it meets and mingles its waters with the Avonbeg. The spot where the union takes place is known as the Meeting of the Waters, and it is difficult to conceive of lovelier scenery. On a sunny summer's day the visitor feels that the United Kingdom cannot show a fairer scene. Still even here man has done what he can to mar the beauty. The railway — a necessary evil— runs through it ; yet as it is only a single line and trains are not frequent, this is not such a drawback as it might be. But between Rathdrum and Gorey great beds of copper- pyrites exist, and were recently being worked, and the result, while probably satisfactory from the commercial point of view, has been disastrous to the picturesque effect. The great heaps of reddish-brown refuse seem sadly out of place. The associations and evidences of mining come upon one as a painful contrast, when suddenly encountered in the midst of so much pure loveliness. Doubtless some of the popularity of this region is due to Moore's verses ; but then his lines do fairly represent the impression produced upon a sympathetic observer by the quiet beauty of these peaceful scenes. Allowing something for Celtic imagination, the description even yet holds good : ' There is not in this wide world a valley so sweet As the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet ; Oh ! the last rays of feeling and life must depart Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart. Yet, it was not that Nature had shed o'er the scene Her purest of crystal, and brightest of green ; Twas not the soft magic of streamlet or hill, Oh, no ! it was something more exquisite still. 'Twas that friends, the beloved of my bosom, were near, Who made each dear scene of enchantment more dear ; And who felt how the best charms of Nature improve When we see them reflected from looks that we love. Sweet Vale of Avoca ! how calm could I rest In thy bosom of shade with the friends I love best, Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease, And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace.' 64 IRISH PICTURES. A few miles south-west of Wooden Bridge Station is the wood of Shillelagh, famous as having given the name to that weapon with which so many Irish heads have been broken in past days. But as long ago as 1693 the greater part of the wood was cut down for use in the furnaces of the ironworks of that period. Westminster Hall is said to have been roofed with oak cut from the woods of Shillelagh. The railroad from Wooden Bridge to Wexford passes through a country which, if not quite equal to the Vale of Avoca, yet presents much to charm the eye. Wexford itself is a quaint, busy little seaport, inseparably associated with Oliver Cromwell, by reason of the terrible assault and capture in 1649, an d interesting to the stranger now. It has also unhappy memories connected with the outbreak of 1798. The massacre on the Bridge of Wexford, and the Battle of Vinegar Hill, testify both to the passionate desire on the part of the insurgents to throw off the English yoke, and to the stern suppression of the rising by the Government of that day. Like its neighbour Waterford, Wexford owes its foundation to the Danes, and commemorates that fact in its name. The town of New Ross and the city of Waterford are both well worth a visit. The sail along the Barrow from the one to the other is very enjoyable, and at the junction with the Suir a fine view of Dunbrody Abbey is obtained. The approach to Waterford from the sea is striking. As the Milford Haven steamer draws near the entrance to Waterford Harbour, Hook Head, with its prominent lighthouse, juts boldly out into the sea. A few miles to the north-east another promontory can be seen, known as Bag-an- bun Head. On the Hook Head side of this, in the year 1169, Robert Fitzstephen and his companions landed, and began that long strife between English and Irish which has not ceased although nearly seven hundred years have passed since, to use the rhyming legend that has become current — ' At Bag-an-bun Ireland was lost and won.' Waterford is the chief port of South-eastern Ireland, and a great centre of the cattle trade. It is prettily situated on the Suir, the quays stretching for over a mile along the south bank of that river. But it must be admitted that its claims upon the traveller's attention are soon exhausted, however engrossing they may be upon the man of business. The only structure in it that presents a somewhat ancient appearance is Reginald's Tower, on the quay, and this can hardly make good its claim to an existence of over eight hundred years. Drogheda from the Railway Bridge. CHAPTER III. The Valley of the Boyne. ^HE Garden of Ireland,' as it is popularly called, lies to the south of X Dublin. But this descriptive phrase applies with almost equal force to the region lying immediately to the north of the metropolis. Few- districts in the kingdom can show so much lovely scenery, and into no part of it are compressed so many ancient sites, ruined castles, fine old churches and abbeys, and famous battle-fields. The stretch of country drained by the Boyne and the Blackwater has been renowned in Irish story from the dawn of history until the present clay. Here is the great cemetery of the ancient pagan kings who flourished before the earliest Irish scribe began to pen the annals of his country ; here stands the Hill of Tara, yet evidencing, by its clearly traceable signs, the barbaric splendour of King Laoghaire's Court ; here is the Hill of Slane, upon which St. Patrick kindled that Easter light, the outward symbol of the spiritual light which more or less brightly has never ceased to shine in the Sacred Isle ; here stood the ancient kingdom of Meath ; and with every square mile of the country is connected some deed of daring or of cruelty, some fairy legend or ancient superstition ; hither flocked the Danes in the ninth and tenth centuries, with their keen scent for battle and plunder, as to the richest district of Ireland ; F 66 IRISH PICTURES. here lived and sinned that princess Dearvorgil, famed in story, upon whom has been placed the responsibility of having occasioned the English invasion in 1169; here raged relentless warfare between the dwellers within the Pale and the fierce Irish chieftains ; and here, in modern times, was fought and won the great pitched battle between Protestantism and the last of the Stewart kings on the soil of the United Kingdom. o o In glancing at this celebrated valley, we shall pass in review some of its most attractive sites, and recall a few of its most famous associations. Reversing the natural order of the river, we will ascend from the estuary towards the source. A great river like the Boyne, draining a rich agri- cultural country, necessarily possesses a port of the first rank. Drogheda (pronounced Draw- edd-a) is to-day one of the busiest towns in Ireland, and for many past centuries the pulses of a strong and active life have throbbed here. It is well situated on the steep banks of the Boyne, having many features in common with an ordinary continental town, and, when seen from a distance, it arouses the expectations of the traveller ; but a closer inspection tends to modify first impressions, and adds another to the manifold evidences of the truth of that trite saying, ' distance lends enchantment to the view.' From the earliest times Drogheda has figured more or less prominently in the history of Ireland. It was formerly a walled and strongly-fortified city, and although, unlike Derry, it has lost most of the ancient walls, some fine specimens yet remain. Chief among the St. Lawrence Gate, Drogheda. t h e se is the St. Lawrence Gate, as perfect a specimen of that class of architecture as we could wish to see. As the wayfarer passes beneath the archway, and looks at the lofty towers, pierced by narrow windows and loopholes, imagination begins to picture the angry conflicts upon which it has looked down, and the successive generations that have passed in and out by its well-trodden entrance. Drogheda stands by the site of an ancient ford. In process of time, as at Dublin and elsewhere, the fords were rendered needless by the con- struction of bridges. To the bridge built over the Boyne at this spot the town owes its name, Droichead-atha, the Bridge of the Ford, from which the present name Drogheda is easily derived. The name indicates also that this was the first bridge built over the Boyne on the northern coast road. The THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. 67 quays along the river, crowded as they are by steamers and vessels of many kinds, give proof that the town is not only an important place on the northern road, but that by the waterways of the ocean she is in com- munication with distant parts of the earth. It is believed by some that Milesius and his followers landed near the town, that in the struggle with the natives, his son Coalpha perished, the fact being commemorated in the name, Coelph, given to one of the parishes. It is more certain that Patrick passed by the ford on his way to Slane ; that early in the tenth century it became a stronghold from which the Danes ravaged the surrounding country; that in 1395 Richard II. held an assembly in the church of Mary Magdalene, and that there four Irish chieftains did homage and fealty to the English monarch. ' Every one of them, be- fore the words of submis- sion, laid aside his cap, belt and skeyne, and kneeling down before the king, put both his hands joined between the king's hands, and repeated the words of fealty and sub- mission in the Latin lan- guage.' In Henry VII.'s reign a parliament was held at Drogheda, in 1494, under the Lord Deputy, Edward Poy- nings, which passed the notorious ' Poynings Act,' by which it was decreed that the Irish Parliament should only deal with such matters as had already been approved by the Privy Council. But the ever-memorable incident in Drogheda's history happened in 1649, when she attempted to withstand the greatest Englishman of the seventeenth century, who came to Ireland at the head of his veteran army, to bring the country back to the control of the British Parliament after its revolt and fearful massacres of the Protestants in 1641. Wide is the divergence of view as to what took place ; not with regard to the facts — they are as clear as the sunlight — but as to the moral judgment to be passed upon them. In September, 1649, Oliver Cromwell summoned the garrison to surrender, ' To the which receiving no satisfactory answer," his army stormed the town and put almost the whole garrison to the sword. Cromwell did not hesitate to give his view and justification of the deed. f 2 The Bridge, Drogheda. 68 IRISH PICTURES. ' I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches, who have imbued their hands with so much innocent blood ; and that it will tend to prevent the effusion of blood in the future. Which are the satisfactory grounds to such actions, which otherwise cannot but work remorse and regret.' 'Such,' writes Carlyle, 'was the storm of Drogheda. A thing which, if one wanted good assurance as to the essential meaning of it, might well "work remorse and regret": for in- disputably the outer body of it is emphatic enough ! Cromwell, not in a light or loose manner, but in a very solemn and deep one, takes charge for himself at his own peril, that it is a judgment of God ; and that it did save " much effusion of blood " we and all spectators can very readily testify .... In fact, it cut through the heart of the Irish War. Wexford storm followed (not by forethought, it would seem, but by chance of war) in the same stern fashion ; and there was no other storm or slaughter needed in that country.' The monuments of the past still existing in Drogheda are hardly so numerous as might be expected. There are the two ancient gate-towers, some traces of the old walls, the ruined church of St. Mary, and the fine tower of St. Mary Magdalene, the latter dating from the fourteenth century. Hence, most visitors prefer not to linger long in the town, and are eager to get out into the beautiful country, studded with sites and objects of interest, by which it is surrounded. Few excursions in Ireland can rival a day's wandering in the Boyne Valley, provided only that the sun be shining and the atmosphere clear enough to disclose the distant views. Leaving the town in a jaunting car, and travelling by a road skirting the southern bank of the Boyne, whence fine views are obtained, Oldbridsfe is reached after a short drive. This name is now somewhat of a misnomer, as a comparatively new bridge spans the stream. But the interest of the scene, apart from its rural beauty, which is very great, centres in the event commemorated by the obelisk standing hard by the northern end of the bridge. Upon a huge irregular block of granite rises a massive column, erected in 1736, bearing this inscription: 'Sacred to the glorious memory of King William the Third, who, on the 1st of July, 1690, passed the river near this place to attack James the Second at the head of a Popish army, advantageously posted on the south side of it, and did, on that day, by a single battle, secure to us and to our posterity, our liberty, laws, and religion. In consequence of this action, James the Second left this kingdom and fled to France.' On this eventful day William's army was posted along the north bank, and James's clustered around Donore Hill, on the south side of the river. Part of the English army crossed early in the morning by a ford a few miles up the river, thus outflanking the left wing of the Irish army and throwing it into some confusion. At this moment the remainder of THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. 69 William's army crossed at Oldbridge, a severe struggle taking place, in which the Duke of Schomberg, Walker of Derry, and others were slain. James, it must be admitted, did nothing to encourage his army, and very early in the day fled to Dublin. Many of his troops fought bravely, but they were out-generalled, and were unable to stand before the trained valour of William's troops. The Irish army was routed and pursued some six miles beyond Duleek. The site of this battle is interesting on many accounts, and the results of the victory were of the highest importance. But the associations of angry political passion, bloodshed and strife, seem strangely unsuitable to the peaceful scenes and lovely landscapes of the district ; and so we gladly pursue our journey to places which speak to us of better things than war and bloodshed. From the northern end of the bridge a little dell runs up through the hill. It is well wooded and a carriage road passes through it. It is The Boyne Obelisk. known now as King William's Glen, because part of his army was posted here, and because he reached the river bank by this road on the day of his eventful crossing. The road leads up to the higher ground, and after a drive of from two to three miles, the ruins of Mellifont Abbey come into view. The drive is enjoyable, but not nearly so fine as many others in this neighbourhood. The car turns into a narrow valley, and after running a short distance, suddenly and without any indication of the nearness of 7o IRISH PICTURES. the ruins, brings the traveller to the peaceful shut-in cul-de-sac occupied by Mellifont. The first and most conspicuous object is a lofty, massive tower, through whose arch, only a few years ago, a mill-race was carried, the water of which supplied motive power to a mill which greatly disfigures the otherwise picturesque cluster of ruins. But this, like so many mills all over Ireland, has ceased to be profitable, is now closed, and the mill-race is dry. The tower is ' square in shape and stern in aspect, and bears an elevated turret at its north-eastern angle. This frowning portal, which still remains nearly entire, and was evidently the chief entrance to the monastic enclosure, is an historic evidence, fully as authentic, and more truth-telling than books, of the state of the surrounding country at the time of its erection ; and while the peaceful consecrated structures in the enclosure below are land- marks of learning and religion within, this bold castle tells a tale of lawlessness and rapine which raged without. From this point we look down upon a confused mass of ruins, arches, churches, solid blocks of ancient masonry, some standing, others prostrate, several ivy-clad walls and grass- grown mounds, a few dirty thatched cabins, with an ugly square-slated mill, and an adjoining farm-yard.' ' This monastery, the first belonging to the Cistercian order of monks in Ireland, was founded in 1142 by Malachy O'Morgair, Archbishop of Armagh, and Donough O'Carroll, King of Oirgialla, i.e., of the counties of Armagh, Monaghan and Lough. The first company of monks were sent over from his monastery at Clairvaulx by the famous St. Bernard, and by them the first foundation was built. ' Then was the underwood cleared away, the oak and the birch fell beneath the woodman's axe, and the wolf and the wild boar were scared from their lurking-place, as the valley rang with the clang of hammers and the sharp chip of the chisel. The bees, for which the place was celebrated, and from which it was named, no longer gathered their winter store from its sweet flowers ; and where the crane and the bittern found their resting-place, arose the stately structures of the abbey and surrounding monastic edifices, by far the most gorgeous which had yet been seen in this country. There, where the cooing of the wild pigeon, or the shrill whistle of the lapwing, alone were heard in former years, the tolling of the vesper and the matin bell spread in measured cadences over the surrounding woodlands, and the perfume of incense rose up from the depths of the once solitary and uncultured valley of the Matlock.' 2 The first abbot was Christian O'Conarchy, appointed in 1 145 ; here, in 1 157, a famous synod was held, attended by seventeen bishops and Murtough O'Loughlin, King of Ireland, who made rich presents to the abbey ; here, in 1 193, died the ill-fated Dearvorgil. It was bestowed upon Sir Gerald 1 Tht- Boyne and the Blackuiater, p. 279. J Ibid. p. 285. THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. 7i Moore at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and he changed it into a magnificent residence. Subsequently it was captured by the Irish in 1641. The chief ruins within the enclosure are St. Bernard's Chapel and the Baptistery. The former when complete must have been a beautiful and highly ornate example of the Norman or Early English pointed style. The structure known as the Baptistery is unique, there being no other like it in Ireland. Originally it was an octagonal building, standing upon a series of splendidly built arches. In the opinion of good judges it dates from the early part of the twelfth century. Around these more important structures are the remains of pillars, crypts, arches, and all the evidences of the existence here in the past of a large church and extensive monastery. Sir W. Wilde has noted one important and significant fact connected with these ruins. ' One cannot fail to be struck with the remarkable fact that there is not a single characteristic emblem or element of true Irish ecclesiastical architecture at Mellifont ; no round tower, no crosses, no inscriptions on tombs, no doorways with straight lin- tels and inclining jambs, and no knotted tracery, indicative of early Irish art. Everything we meet here is foreign.' 1 True as this statement is with regard to Mellifont, it cer- tainly does not apply to Monas- terboice, only about three miles distant. No place in Ireland exhibits more magnificent speci- mens of distinctive Irish archi- tecture. The car passes from Mellifont along the upland by a hilly road, and at length brings us to an enclosure situated on the slope of a gently- rising ground, from which towers aloft a bold but partly ruined Round Tower. The enclosure is a cemetery, and occupies the site of a religious house, founded here so far back as the sixth century by St. Buithe or Boetius. The Annals give a.d. 521 as the year of his death. The records of the foundation are tolerably complete, consisting mainly of the names and year of death of the abbots, and records of the plundering it endured. It was famous for learning and hospitality, and until Mellifont was founded ranked as the chief abbey of North-eastern Ireland. The enclosure contains two ruined churches, the tower, three stone crosses, and some early tombstones. One of the churches, that nearest the 1 The Boyne and the Blackwatcr p. 292. Ruins of the Baptistery, Mellifont. 72 IRISH PICTURES. tower, is the more ancient, dating in all probability from the ninth century ; the other is a much later structure. The tower is a very fine example, being 50 feet in circumference at the bottom and about 90 feet high. It has been shattered at the top by lightning, and is somewhat out of the perpendicular. All who can spare the time should visit M onasterboice ; those who are interested in Irish art, because there they can study in situ the most superb ancient crosses which Ireland can show ; and those who feel no such interest, in order that, if possible, it may be developed, and thereby a new intellectual pleasure be enjoyed. The crosses are three in number. They are elaborately carved, and although the rains and sunshine, the haps and hazards of nine hundred years have passed since they were erected, many of the carvings upon them are still clear and sharp, and they enable the ob- server to form a clear idea of the devotion and skill concerned in their construction. Either time has dealt with them in kindlier fashion, or their material is more endurable ; at any rate they are in better preservation than their great rivals at Clon- macnoise. These crosses are monumental, and upon one of them occurs the inscription ' A prayer for Muiredach, by whom was made this cross.' Now there were two abbots of Monaster- boice who bore this name. One died in 844, the other in 923 or 924. The latter seems to have been a man of greater influence and power than the former, and this fact, coupled with other inferential evidence, has led archaeologists to assign the cross to him. Hence it is at least over 950 years old. It has been found impossible to decipher satisfactorily the meaning of all the groups of sculpture. The The Cross of Muiredach, Monasterboice. THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. 73 marvel is that they have retained so well all these centuries their sharpness of outline. Miss Stokes ' states, ' These six subjects— that is, the Crucifixion with its type, the Sacrifice of Isaac ; the empty tomb guarded by sleeping soldiers, with the types of the Descent into Hell, Samson with Lion and Bear, David with Goliath ; Christ in Glory — are the only ones that have been explained out of the twenty-four panels of this monument.' Speaking of this cross, Mr. W. F. Wakeman, the well-known writer on Irish archaeology, states, 2 ' Its height is exactly fifteen feet, and its breadth at the arm six. The figures of warriors and ecclesiastics and other sculpturings upon this cross retain in a remarkable degree their original sharpness of execution. The former are invaluable, affording as they do an excellent idea of the dress both military and ecclesiastical in use amongst the Irish during the ninth or tenth century. Most of the designs clearly refer to Scripture story. There are figures of warriors armed with swords, spears and other weapons, amongst which the axe and sling are conspicuous. The men, it may be observed, bear small circular targets like those in use to a late period among the Highlanders of Scotland.' The cross immediately in front of the tower is more slender but much higher than Muiredach's. It is about 23 feet high, and consists of three stones, a shaft 1 1 feet long, the central stone containing the cross 6 feet 3 inches long, and the cap 2 feet 3 inches in height. It is 2 feet broad and 15 inches thick in the shaft. It has been badly chipped where the shaft is inserted into the base, but many of the sculptures are still fairly decipherable, among them being the Fall of Man, the Expulsion from Eden, the Worship of the Magi, and the Crucifixion. When and by whom it was erected is not known. Of the third cross only a fragment remains, the burden of its destruc- tion being placed upon Cromwell's broad shoulders. The graveyard is still in use, and within the more ancient church is a circular granite stone, probably the shaft of an ancient font. Whenever a funeral takes place, the body is carried around the enclosure and then placed for a few minutes upon this stone. In the Dublin Penny Journal is a description of this scene, interesting for its own sake, and also because it came from the pen of Dr. Petrie, with which we close our sketch of Monasterboice — ' In its present deserted and ruined state it is a scene of the deepest and most solemn interest ; and the mind must indeed be dull and earthly in which it fails to awaken feelings of touching and permanent interest. Silence and solitude the most profound are impressed on all its time-worn features. We are among the dead only, and we are forced, as it were, to converse with men of other days. In all our frequent visits to these ruins we never saw a living human being among them but once. It was 1 Early Christian Art in Ireland, p. 135. " Guide to Ireland, p. 148. 74 IRISH PICTURES. during a terrific thunderstorm, which obliged us to seek shelter behind one of the stone crosses for an hour. The rain poured down in impetuous torrents, and the clouds were so black as to give day the appearance of night. It was at such an awful hour that a woman of middle age, finely formed, and of noble countenance, entered the cemetery, and regardless of the storm raging around, flung herself down upon a grave, and commenced singing an Irish lamentation in tones of heart-rending melancholy and sur- passing beauty. This she carried on as long as we remained ; and her voice, coming on the ear between the thunder peals, had an effect singularly wild and unearthly ; it would be fruitless to attempt a description of it. The reader, if he knows what an Irishwoman's song of sorrow is, must imagine the effect it would have at such a moment among those lightning-shattered ruins, and chanted by such a living vocal monument of human woe and desolation. We subsequently learned, on inquiry, that this poor creature's history was a sad one ; she was slightly crazed, in consequence of the death of her only son, who had been drowned ; and her mania lay in a persuasion, which nothing could remove, that he was not lost, but would yet return to bless her, and close her long-weeping eyes in peace.' At Oldbridge we are in the midst of modern events and associations, at Mellifont mediaeval, and at Monasterboice in early historic. But the Boyne Valley has links with a far remoter past than the sixth century, the men of a much earlier generation have left us considerable traces of their handi- work. Between Oldbridge and Slane a large number of sepulchral mounds exist, and the references in the Irish MSS. enable scholars to decide that here is situated the great royal cemetery, used by the pagan kings of Ireland away back towards the beginning of the Christian era. Three enormous mounds, lying within a short distance of each other, are so much more prominent than their numerous smaller companions that they naturally for long years past have enjoyed the largest share of public attention. Visiting them as they lie upon the road to Slane, they come in the following order : Dowth, New Grange, and Knowth. To a superficial observer they appear natural hillocks ; but a cursory study suffices to convince one that they are the work of man. Indeed, it is, perhaps, not too much to say that they are, for their class, amongst the most wonderful works of man in the United Kingdom. In the year 266 a.d. a famous Irish king named Cormac Mac Art died, ' the bone of a salmon sticking in his throat.' This event took place at the House of Cletty, supposed by some to be Clady on the Boyne. In a very ancient Irish treatise, the History of the Cemeteries^ the following passage occurs: 'And he (Cormac) told his people not to bury him at Brugh, because it was a cemetery of idolaters ; for he did not worship the same God as any of those interred at Brugh ; but to bury him at Ros-na- Righ, with his face to the east. He afterwards died, and his servants of THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. 75 New Grange. trust held a council, and came to the resolution of burying him at Brugh, the place where the Kings of Tara, his predecessors, were buried. The body of the king was thrice raised to be carried to Brugh, but the Boyne swelled up thrice, so as that they could not come ; so that they observed that it was violating the judgment of a prince to break through this testament of a king ; and they afterwards dug his grave at Ros-na-Righ, as he him- self had ordered.' The same record also states, ' The nobles of the Tuatha De Danaan were used to bury at Brugh.' On the banks of the river two miles below Slane is a place called, to this day, Rosnaree, evidently the ford referred to in the old MS., and the great mounds on the other bank are doubtless the cemetery Brugh, in which Cormac, having become a Christian, did not wish to sleep with his pagan ancestors. Dowth was opened and examined in 1847, and it was soon made manifest that it was a great tomb ; but nothing was unearthed or discovered superior to what had been accessible for many years in the mound of New Grange, a mile or two nearer Slane. This consists of an enormous cairn of stones upwards of 70 feet high, covering from one to two acres, and weighing, it has been computed, 180,000 tons. Once it was surrounded by a circle of huge stones, but only ten of these remain. At intervals excavations for road making or building purposes have been made in its sides, reducing its bulk. It is not known when or by whom the entrance was first discovered and explored, but as early as 1699 a description of it was written, which agrees in all essential par- ticulars with what any visitor can now see. The entrance is by a low passage, which starts from an enormous stone, 10 feet long, 18 inches thick, and finely carved with a bold spiral pattern. The passage runs nearly north and south, and is 63 feet long. It is constructed of upright Standing Stones at New Grange. 76 IRISH PICTURES. stones, twenty-one on the right and twenty-two on the left side, covered in by great flag-stones, one of these measuring no less than seventeen feet by six. One can creep along the greater part of this passage with ease, but about 20 feet from the inner chamber the side stones have either fallen or been pressed in so as to nearly touch at the top. Here the explorer has nothing for it but to go down on hands and knees and crawl. The guide with the light who goes before proves that it can be done, and few are likely to experience any difficulty. None should allow this small drawback to prevent them from seeing a marvellous piece of work, viz : — the great sepulchral chamber, occupying the whole centre of the mound. After squeezing through the narrow but colossal portal the way becomes easier, and we pass into a lofty domed chamber. The dim light — when we saw it a fairly strong paraffin lamp was used — the strange entrance, the out- lines, at first so shadowy and awe-inspiring, all com- bine to make such a visit memorable. As the eye gets used to the chamber it is seen to consist of a central apartment with three re- cesses, one opposite the en- trance, one to the east and one to the west. One of these is depicted in our engraving. It is 9 feet high, 8 deep and 7 wide. The central chamber is formed by eleven stones, with flat surfaces facing inwards. From these as a base course, rises the dome, formed of large stones placed horizontally, each layer projecting a little beyond that directly beneath it, thus forming a structure of the ' bee-hive ' type, closed and clamped at the top by an enormous slab of rock. This chamber has a diameter of 18 feet and a height of 19 feet 6 inches. Such is the sepulchral mound of New Grange. It is impossible to stand in that weird chamber without having the brain and the imaei- nation excited. When were these massive stones piled up with such rude and yet, for their purpose, effective skill ? How did these men of a pre- Christian age acquire mechanical power sufficient to lift such masses as the roofing slab of the entrance or the keystone of the dome ? What manner of men were they who could create such lordly dwellings for their dead ? What ideas of life and death and the future did these mighty builders have ? One S ■ -,- I: §» «|S^^SSS Entrance to New Grange. THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. 77 would like to get the clue to these and to many such questions. But at present the answers are vague and uncertain. Not yet, with all our in- creased research and knowledge, have we explained the mystery. New Grange drives home upon the thoughtful observer the lesson conveyed by the old saying, ' There were kings before Agamemnon.' There were men in Ireland before historians arose to chronicle their deeds ; there were conceptions of man's work and power and pride that produced these august tombs. May we not say that there is evidence here that the pre-historic man had a brain to conceive, an arm to execute, and a heart to feel, for the time in which he lived, quite equal to those of his remote nineteenth-century brother, who is apt sometimes to talk and to reason as if knowledge began with him, and as if the men of the early ages were nothing but children ? A pleasant drive of a couple of miles takes us past Knowth, the third of these great mounds, as yet, so far as is known, unexplored. A steep descent brings us to the little town of Slane. And here indeed we are on classic ground. A somewhat long ascent, but one easily made by car, brings us to the Hill of Slane. Upon this hill, on Easter Eve, St. Patrick kindled his paschal fire, according to the habit of that day. This was contrary to the custom, that at the annual festival held at that time of the year at Tara, no fire should be lit in the neigh- bourhood until the great fire had been kindled at the palace of Tara. Thus began the series of events that led to St. Patrick's intercourse with King Laoghaire. And, however it may be with this story, and certain as it is that later miracle-makers have woven about the history of Patrick a web of absurd wonder-workings, it nevertheless remains a fact that this district is inseparably connected with the life and work of the great teacher, and that this connection rests upon a sure basis of fact. The faith and zeal of after ages crowned the hill with a monastery and a cathedral. The tower still stands, albeit in a ruinous condition ; and it can be ascended by the adventurous. From its summit a superb view — unsurpassable in its kind in Europe — is obtained. Seen under such circumstances as those which favoured the writer, viz. brilliant May sunshine, and a clear atmo- Recess in the Sepulchral Chamber, New Grange. 73 IRTSH PICTURES. sphere and an early summer stillness, the truth of the following description is evident : ' The ground whereon we stand is sacred, consecrated by the foot- prints of our patron saint, hallowed by the dust of kings. Look abroad over the wide undulating plains of Meath, or to the green hills of Louth : where in the broad landscapes of Britain, find we a scene more fruitful and varied, or one more full of interesting heart-stirring associations ? Climb this tower and cast your eye along the river. Look from the tall, pillar-like form of the yellow steeple at Trim, which rises in the distance, to where yon bright line marks the meeting of the sea and sky below the Maiden Tower at Drogheda, and trace the clear blue waters of the Boyne winding through this lovely, highly cultivated landscape, so rich in" all that can charm the eye and awaken the imagination ; take into view the hills of Skreen and Tara ; pass in review the woods of Hayes, Ardmulchan, Beauparc ; look down into the green mounds and broad pastures of Slane ; follow the Boyne below you, as it dances by each ford and rapid, to where the great pyramids of Western Europe, Knowth, New Grange and Dowth, rise on its left bank ; see you not the groves of Townley Hall and Old Bridge, marking the battle-field of 1690 with the ill-fated hill of Donore, where the sceptre passed for ever from the line of Stuart, obtruding its long-remembered tale of civil strife upon us ? Duleek stands in the distance. Beyond those hills that border Louth lie Monasterboice and Mellifont, the last resting-place of the faithless Bride of Brefney. ' Those steeples and turrets which rise in the lower distance were shattered by the balls of Cromwell ; and that knoll which juts above them is the Mill Mount of Drogheda. What a picture have we here from this Richmond Hill of Irish scenery ! What an extensive page of our country's history does it unfold to us ! What recollections gush upon us as we stand on the abbey walls of Slane, and take in this noble prospect at a glance ! The records and footprints of two thousand years are all before us ; the solemn procession of the simple shepherd to the early pagan mound, the rude slinger standing on the earthen circle, the Druid fires paling before the bright sun of Christianity, the cadence of the round tower's bell, the matin and the vesper hymn swelling from the hermit's cell or early missionary church ; the proud galleys and glancing swords of fierce Northern hordes ; the smoking ruins of church and tower, the shout of rival clans in civil feuds ; the lances and banners of Norman soldiers ; the moat and fosse and drawbridge of the keep, still echoing back the strife of hostile ranks, the native for his soil, the stranger for his hire ; the ford defended and the castle won ; the pilgrim's cross, the stately abbey, and the baron's hall ; in church, the stole ejected for the surplice, the town besieged, the city sacked ; and then the rattle, and the roar, and smoke of THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. 79 recent battle — have one and all their epochs, ruins, sites, or history, legibly inscribed upon this picture.' ' Where better than in connection with these scenes once visited by Patrick can we say what is needful concerning his life and influence ? All who are in even a small measure acquainted with the facts know that controversy has raged in the past over almost every statement connected with Patrick's life. In fact, some have gone so far as to deny his existence altogether. The ablest and most comprehensive work on the subject which has appeared in recent years is the edition of the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, taken from the Book of Armagh, and edited by Dr. Whitley Stokes. In the introduction to this work he gives the following admirable summary of what is known, and what is probable. Considerable differences of opinion with regard to certain points may be permitted. For example, many will hesitate to believe that Patrick spent thirty years of unsuccessful ministry in Ireland, and then, attributing this failure to want of episcopal ordination and Roman authority, went to Gaul to get these ! Yet the compendium of the personal history is so clear and so reasonably put that it gives a complete picture of the saint's long life. We venture to quote Dr. Stokes' words : ' All the facts that can be stated with certainty about St. Patrick are these : — He was born in the latter half of the fourth century, and was reared a Christian. He had relations {parentes) in the Britains, and he calls these Britains his patria. His father Calpornus, or rather Calpornius, son of Potitus, was both a deacon and a decurio, and therefore belonged to a Roman Colony. Potitus was son of a deacon named Odissus. Patrick's father lived at a place called Bannavem Taberniae, near which he had a small farm, and there, in his sixteenth year, Patrick was taken captive. His captors took him to Ireland, with several others. There he was employed in herding sheep or swine, and devoted himself greatly to prayer. When he had remained six years with his master he ran away, and embarked at some place about two hundred miles distant. After a three days' voyage he landed, and for twenty-eight days journeyed through a desert to his home. ' Again, after a few years, but while he was still a young man (puer), he was in the Britians with his parents, when he dreamed that he was summoned to Ireland, and awoke much pricked in heart. ' He gave up home and parents and ingenuitas (that is, the status of a free man born free), to preach the Gospel to the Irish tribes. His motives, he says, were the Gospel and its promises, and Secundinus adds, that he received his apostleship from God, and was sent by God as an apostle, even as Paul. He travelled through the Gauls and Italy, and spent some time in the islands in the Tyrrhene Sea. One of these appears to have been Lerina, or St. Honorat. He had been ordained a deacon, probably a priest, and at some time in his career a bishop. 1 Thi Boyne and the Blackwatcr, pp. 179, 180. 8o IRISH PICTURES. ' Long after the dream above mentioned, and when he was almost worn out (prope deficicbam), he returned to Ireland (whether for the first or second time will be afterwards considered), and travelling through the remotest parts of the country, he made known the faith to the Irish tribes, of whom he baptized many thousand men. The Lord's flock, he says, was increasing rapidly, and he could not count the sons of the Scots and the knights' daughters who were becoming monks and virgins of Christ. He also ordained clergy, and taught at least one priest from his infancy. His success excited the jealousy of the rhetoricians of the Gauls, in which country he had brethren (fratres). ' * ' He was well versed in the Latin Scriptures, both canonical and apo- cryphal, and though he speaks contemptuously of his own learning, his Latin is not much more rustic than that of Gregory of Tours. He appears to have known little or no Greek. Irish, of course, he learned during his six years of bondage. ' He was modest, shrewd, generous, enthusiastic, with the Celtic tendency to exaggerate failure and success. Like St. Paul, he was desirous of martyrdom. He was physically brave, and had strong passions, which he learned to control. He speaks of twelve pcricula in which his anima was ventured, beside many snares (ambuscades ?) and things which he was unable verbis exprimere. ' This is all that can be stated with certainty about Patrick, his life, writings, creed, learning and character. When and where he was born, his mother's name, his baptismal name, where he was captured, when and by whom he was educated, when and by whom he was ordained, when he returned to Ireland ; whether he afterwards left that country, whether he travelled as a missionary, the date of his death, the place of his burial ; on each of these points we have only the statements, sometimes discrepant and sometimes obviously false, contained in the later lives of St. Patrick and other late documents.' 2 ' Of these statements the following are the least improbable — ' Patrick was born about the year 373, at Nemptor, an old Celtic Neme- toduron, which may have been the older name for Ail Cluade (Rock of Clyde), now Dumbarton. ' The place where Patrick was captured (about a.d. 390), Bannavem Taberniae, has not been identified, but was probably somewhere on the western sea coast {armoricd) of North Britain. His captor took him to the north-east of Ireland, and sold him to a chief named Miliuc, who named him Cothraige, and employed him in herding swine in the valley of the Braid near Slemmish. After six years — when he was therefore in his twenty-third year — he escaped and returned to his family in Britain. As to what he did during the next thirty-seven years, i.e., from a.d. 396 1 The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, vol. i., pp. exxxiii. exxxiv. Ibid. pp. exxxv. exxxvi. THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. Si to 432, it is impossible to offer anything but conjectures more or less plausible. ' The current tradition is that after a second captivity, which lasted only two months, he betook himself to the best schools of the West of Europe, and first came to Ireland to preach the Gospel in the sixtieth year of his age. But against this four objections may be urged. First, if Patrick had been absent from Ireland in Gaulish schools from the age of twenty-three to the age of sixty, he would certainly have forgotten Irish, which language he seems to have known well on returning to that country. Secondly, he would have learned to write better Latin than that of his Confession and the Letter to Coroticus, and he would not have complained by implication that he had not been in scrmonibus instructus ct crudities. Thirdly, it is improbable that an ardent nature like his, spurred by visions and eager to annex a new territory to the kingdom of Christ, would have postponed his attempt for thirty-seven years. And, fourthly, this alleged long absence from Ireland is plainly inconsistent with Patrick's own words, " Ye know and God knows how I have lived among you from my youth up, both faithful in truth and sincere in heart." ' ' It therefore seems probable that Patrick, after his escape from his second captivity, studied in Gaul until he was fit for ordination as a priest. That he was ordained by a Gaulish bishop, and that he then, moved, it may be, by one of the visions which he had so often, returned to Ireland and commenced his work as a missionary.' * 'The kernel of fact in the story told by Probus about his ordination seems to be that Patrick returned to Ireland on or soon after his ordination as priest (say in a.d. 397), and without any commission from Rome ; that he laboured for diirty years in converting the pagan Irish, but met with little or no success ; that he attributed this failure to the want of episcopal ordination and Roman authority ; that in order to have these defects supplied he went back to Gaul (say in a.d. 427), intending ultimately to proceed to Rome ; that he spent some time in study with Germanus of Auxerre ; that hearing of the failure and death of Palladius, who had been sent on a mission to Ireland by Pope Celestinus, in a.d. 431, he was directed by Germanus to take at once the place of the deceased missionary ; that Patrick thereupon relinquished his journey to Rome, received episcopal consecration from a Gaulish bishop, Matorix, and returned a second time to Ireland about the year 432, when he was sixty years old, as a missionary from the Gaulish Church, and supplied with Gaulish assistants and funds for his mission. In this there is no improbability, no necessity to alter dates to assume a plurality of Patricks, a duality of Paladii, and so transfer the acts of one to another. ' There is nothing improbable in the tradition that Patrick landed at the 1 The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, vol. i., pp. exxxvii. exxxviii. 82 IRISH PICTURES. mouth of the River Vartry, where the town of Wicklow now stands, and where about a year before Palladius had landed. Thence Patrick sailed northward along the coast, touching at Inis Patrick, stopping at the mouth of the Boyne and landing at Strangford Lough. There he converted the chieftain Dichu, and received from him the site of the church called Sabhall Patraic, a name still in existence as Saul. Thence Patrick went to the valley of his captivity, to visit his old master Miliuc, and offer him a double ransom ; and there occurred the event which is commonly called a legend, but which seems to be an instance either of d/iarua 1 or of propitia- tory self-sacrifice. Miliuc, seeking to prevent the triumphant approach of his former slave, burnt himself along with his substance and his house. ' Patrick then returned to Dichu's residence in Maghinis, and there he remained many days, and the faith began to grow in that place. ' After leaving Dichu he sailed to the mouth of the Boyne, and leaving his boats proceeded on foot to Slane, where he lighted his paschal fire, and the next day went on to Tara, chanting the hymn called The Deer's Cry. There he preached Christ before the Irish over-king Loiquire, and converted his chief bard, Dubthach Maccu-Lugair. ' From Tara Patrick went to Telltown, where Cabre, the king's brother, sought to slay him, and caused his attendants to be scourged into the River Blackwater. Conall Gultan, however, the king's youngest brother, received Patrick hospitably, and gave him the site of a church. Patrick then proceeded actively in the conversion of Bregia and other parts of the territory of the Southern Hui Neill. He then travelled to Tirawley under a safe-conduct from the nobles of that country, for which he seems to have paid in gold and silver " the price of fifteen souls of men " ; and in Tirawley, near the present town of Killala, he converted the local king and a great multitude of his subjects. ' After spending some years in Connaught, Patrick revisited Ulster, where he erected many churches, especially in Tirconnell. He then visited Meath, passed on to Leinster, and baptized at Naas the two sons of the king of that province. He next visited Magh-life, and entering Seix, now Queen's County, again met the converted bard Dubthach Maccu-Lugair, and made Dubthach's disciple, Frace, Bishop of Sletty. Thence he proceeded to Ossory, and thence to Munster, where he baptized the king. 'According to the Tripartite Life, St. Patrick then founded Armagh, the site of which he obtained from a chieftain named Daire. After having spent sixty years in missionary work, partly as priest, partly as bishop, he died at an advanced age (perhaps ninety years), on the 17th March, probably in or about the year 463, and was buried in Downpatrick. 1 A Hindi word meaning primarily the act of sitting in restraint at the door of a debtor by a creditor or his agent to enforce payment. Then it came to mean fasting at a Temple door to extort favours from the idol, and later to indicate the Brahmanic practice of voluntarily sitting down to die by hunger. THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. 83 ' These are all, or almost all, the facts relating to Patrick which are either certain or reasonably probable. He seems, as Dr. Todd says, to have always addressed himself in the first instance to kings or chieftains, the baptism of the chieftain being immediately followed by the outward adherence of the clan ; but it is certain that the whole of Ireland did not submit to Patrick's influence. Round Tower of Donagiimoke. ' Even when he wrote his Confession he tells us that he looked daily for a violent death (internecio), or to be brought back to slavery [redigi in servitutcvi), and there is some evidence that a partial apostacy took place during the two centuries following his death.' ' The many noted towns and districts in the upper valley of the Boyne 1 The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, vol. i., pp. cxli.-cxliii. G 2 ' 84 IRISH PICTURES. must be passed over with scant reference. They include Donaghmore, with the fine round tower so prominent in the great controversy upon the origin and use of these buildings, from the fact that above the doorway is a sculpture of the crucifixion. This was supposed by some to indicate that a pagan building had been thus consecrated to Christian use. Dr. Petrie holds that it rather fixes the date of the tower to be about the tenth century. Navan, Kells, Bective Abbey, Trim, and Tara, are all well worth the attention of the leisured traveller. They are all rich in remains which indicate the part they have played in past history. At Tara, whose old Irish name, Team hair, means an elevated spot commanding an extensive prospect, there is not only a view similar to but less comprehensive than that at Slane, but there are also evidences of the power of the early Irish kings. The spot ceased to be a royal residence as early as 563 A.D., and it is hardly needful to state that the evidences of past grandeur are not so conspicuous as at Cashel and Trim. The remains are chiefly raths or duns, that is, old mounds and enclosing fortifications of earth, that have evidently been residences in the past. The largest of these, Rath Riogh or Riga, is an oval 850 feet long, enclosing the mounds known as the Forradh and the Teach Cormaic, or House of Cormac. The Forradh is flat at the top and encircled by a double earth-work, enclosing a ditch. Upon the centre of this stands a stone pillar, placed there in 1 798 to mark the graves of some who fell in conflict with the English troops. This pillar had lain for ages upon a neigh- bouring mound. Dr. Petrie held that it was the famed Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, upon which for many ages the Irish kings were crowned. This opinion is not shared by all scholars ; if it be true, then this Lia Fail should be under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey, in the place of the stone so long preserved there. To the north of the Forradh lie the remains of the great banqueting hall. These consist of two parallel lines of earth divided by openings, six on each side, which show where the ancient entrances stood ; it was 360 feet long, and 40 wide. From the centre of the Forradh the finest view of the surrounding country is obtained. Kells is a lively little town, situated near the Blackwater, celebrated as having been the residence of Columba, who founded a monastery there in 550, and as containing a round tower, a building known as St. Columbkille's house, and several splendid old Irish crosses. The saint's house belongs to the class of building and to the same age as St. Kevin's Kitchen, already described. One of the crosses is in the town, three are in the churchyard, and one, the finest of all, in the market place. Kells was in very remote times the home of learning and literature. The most conspicuous evidence of this is the Book of Kells, so fully described in Chapter I., which in all probability was written in the monastery in this town. Trim, the last place in this rich valley we shall note, though of great THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE. 85 antiquity, presents important remains only of much later date than its neigh- bours. Sir W. Wilde grows enthusiastic over its charms. ' To see Trim aright the tourist must approach it by the Blackbull Road from Dublin, when all the glorious ruins which crowd this historic locality, and which extend over a space of above a mile, burst suddenly upon him : the remains of St. John's Friary, and castellated buildings at Newtown ; the stately abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, a little farther on ; the grey massive towers of King John's Castle ; the Sheep Gate, and portions of the town wall ; and, towering above all, the tall, commanding form of the Yellow Steeple, which seems the guardian genius of the surrounding ruins. All these beauteous objects, with the ancient church tower, the town itself, the Wellington Testimonial, and the modern public buildings, form a combination of scenery and an architectural diorama such as we have rarely witnessed.' ' The Yellow Steeple, a square tower, of which only the east and part of the north and south walls are standing, is 125 feet high, and was pro- bably a watch tower. Immediately beside it, in ancient days, were the buildings of St. Mary's Abbey. The castle of King John, so called simply because that monarch once lodged in or near it, was built early in the thirteenth century, and has the proud pre-eminence of being the finest ruined castle in a country peculiarly rich in that class of architectural treasure. The ruins cover two acres ; the donjon or keep rises to a height of eighty feet, and the walls in places are twelve feet thick. The castle was sur- rounded by a moat, 486 yards long, into which the waters of the Boyne could be admitted. Here, during the last seven centuries, many a pageant has taken place, and many a tragedy been enacted. Men famous in history have stayed within these walls. ' We cannot forget the pageants and tournaments of Richard, Earl of Ulster, the imprisonment of the families of the Dukes of Gloucester and Lancaster, during Richard II. 's sojourn in this country; the confinement here of the royal hero of Agincourt ; its occupation by the De Lacys, the Mortimers, the Verdons, the Cootes, its parliaments and its sieges — all of which throw a degree of splendour over the ruins of Trim.' a In the early part of the fifteenth century, Sir John Talbot, ' the Scourge of France,' erected a castle at Trim, of which scarcely any traces remain. Dangan, where the Duke of Wellington lived as a boy, is only five miles away, and on his twenty-first birthday Trim elected him as its repre- sentative in the Irish Parliament. Only two miles distant is Laracor, once the residence of Dean Swift ; and along the quiet roads of this peaceful region he and Stella often sauntered. o 1 The Boyne and the Blackxvate)\ p. 79. 2 Ibid. p. 95. St. Brtgid's Church and the Round Tower, Kildare. {From a photograph by Lawrence, of Dublin.) CHAPTER IV. From Dublin to Cork, THE trip from Dublin to Bantry is made by the main line of the Great Southern and Western Railway as far as Cork, and by this route some very beautiful country and some famous places are seen. Kilkenny and Cashel, Kilcolman and Youghal, Cork and Queenstown, the Golden Vale and Bantry Bay all lie either in our path or can be seen with a very slight expenditure of time and trouble. The first stopping-place of the fast express is at Kildare, the Church of the Oak, the place where, under the shelter of an oak many centuries ago, St. Brigid built her cell. She was born near Dundalk, about 450 a.d., and founded in 484 a great religious house at Kildare, consisting of both monks and nuns. It is said that from the sixth to the thirteenth centuries, a fire, lighted by Brigid, was kept burning. The site of the cell in which it burned is still pointed out. She died about 525. For ages past a cathedral, dedicated to her, has stood on an elevated site in the town. On the disso- lution of the religious houses it fell into a ruined condition, but in recent years attempts have been made to restore, or rather to rebuild it. The tower has been rebuilt and the nave is roofed in. The choir is now used FROM DUBLIN TO CORK. 87 as a parish church; but although much has been done to the nave and tower, they are yet very far from completion. Close by the church stands the round tower. It has been restored at the top, but unfortunately a turreted parapet has been substituted for the correct conical roof. The tower is in good preservation, is 130 feet high, and has a doorway which exhibits unusual features of interest. It is about fifteen feet from the eround, and consists of three concentric arches, ornamented with fine zig-zag mouldings. From the churchyard a fine view to the north and west is obtained, a conspicuous feature being the Chair of Kildare, a limestone mass on the hill called Grange. Kildare is a junction for Carlow, Kilkenny and Waterford. The old town of Kilkenny is well worth a visit, because of its fine situation on * The stubborn Newre, whose waters gray, By faire Kilkenny and Rosseponte boord, because of the part it has played in Irish history, and because of the architectural treasures it yet possesses. Well situated on an elevation overlooking the Nore, stands the castle which was originally built by William, Earl of Pembroke, 1 195. It was purchased by James Butler, third Earl of Ormonde. In 1399 Richard II. was entertained here, and in March, 1650, Cromwell captured it. Within very recent years it has been thoroughly restored, although for centuries very little of the original building has been in existence. Kilkenny in its name commemorates one of the early Christian teachers. The name means the Church of Cainnech or Canice, who was born in 517, and died in 600. He was also venerated in Scotland, under the name of Kenneth, and several churches in Argyle- shire are named after him. The Cathedral of St. Canice is one of the best in Ireland, and, though named after the saint, is of course of a much later date. It was begun about n 80, and completed in the course of the next century. It is 226 feet long and 123 feet wide at the transepts. From the juncture of the nave and transepts a low but massive tower rises. The cathedral has a very fine western door ; it contains many tombs, especially those of members of the Ormonde family. Near the south transept rises a round tower, perfect, with the exception of the conical roof. Several Parliaments met here, the most notorious being that which passed in 1367 what were known as the Kilkenny Statutes, one of which enacted The Doorway in the Round Tower at Kildare. 83 IRISH PICTURES. that marriage with the ' mere Irish ' was treason, and that any one using the Irish dress or language should forfeit his lands ! Leaving Kil- dare and Kilkenny behind, and hasten- ing on towards the west, the Rock of Cashel next de- serves attention. Like Kilkenny, onlyin much higher degree, Cashel combines beauty of situation with a wealth of ancient architec- tural remains and historical associations. Cashel is a small country town, not specially noteworthy in itself, the houses of which cluster near the base of a mass of limestone rock 300 feet high. This mass of limestone forms the far-famed Rock of Cashel. Rising as it does very abruptly from the broad fertile Golden Vale of Tipperary, it formed a natural fortress, certain to be adapted in warlike times to purposes of defence. Equally certain also was it to become the site of religious buildings. The combination of castle and abbey, of religious and military power, so fre- quently met with in Ireland, existed here in full force. The ecclesiastical remains are now much more prominent than the military. Comparatively few traces of the ancient fortifications remain, but the eye is almost bewildered by the towers and turrets and arches of the churches; yet the balance is well St. Canice's Steps, Kilkenny. FROM DUBLIN TO CORK. 89 The Rock of Cashel. preserved. The mere appearance of the rock conveys a sense of strength and secu- rity, testifying to its ancient power; while there is a fitness, if choice must be made, in the fact that the splendid architec- tural remains tend to direct the thoughts of the observer from earthly might and splendour towards the kingdom ol Heaven and the Prince of Peace. The name reflects the past history of the country, for there were manyCashels scattered over Ireland in ancient days, and the word has long formed part of many proper names. It comes from the Irish caiscal, and signifies a circular go IRISH PICTURES. stone fort. The rock at this particular Cashel having been in early times the stronghold of the kings of Munster, and having pre-eminent natural advantages, has in the course of time appropriated the generic as its own specific name. The earliest historical references to Cashel describe it as the regal fortress of the kings of Munster. St. Patrick, according to the life in the Book of Armagh, visited Cashel, and converted the king. ' After this Patrick went into the province of Munster, to Cashel of the Kings. When Oengus, son of Natfraich, arose in the morning, all the idols were on their faces ; and Patrick, with his household, found him beside the fort. He gave them welcome and brought them into the fort to the place where Patrick's flagstone is to-day. And after this Patrick baptized Natfraich's sons, and left blessing and prosperity upon them ; and blessed the fort, namely Cashel, and said that until Doom only one slaughter should take place there. And he abode seven years in Munster. ' While Patrick was baptizing Oengus, the spike of the crozier went through Oengus's foot. Said Patrick, "Why didst thou not tell this to me?" "It seemed to me," saith Oengus, " that it was a rite of the faith." " Thou shalt have its reward," said Patrick : " thy successor," that is, the seed of Oengus and Ailill, son of Natfraich, "shall not die of a wound from to-day for ever." No one is Kino- of Cashel until Patrick instals him, and confers ecclesiastical rank upon him ; and twenty-seven kings of the race of Ailill and Oengus ruled in Cashel under a crosier until the time of Cenn-gecan (slain a.d. 897). '' In 1101, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, a convocation of the people of the southern half of Ireland was held at Cashel, at which Murtough O'Brien, the king, gave Cashel to the devout, 'for the use of the religious in Ireland in general.' Murtough's successor, Cormac, built the famous chapel in 11 34. In 11 52 Cashel became the seat of the archbishopric of Munster, and soon after a cathedral was built. Henry II. here received the homage of Donnell O'Brien, King of Munster ; Edward Bruce held a parliament here ; in 1495 Gerald, Earl of Kildare, burnt the cathedral, because he thought the archbishop was inside. He was grieved afterwards to learn that his supposition was incorrect. The chief buildings upon the Rock of Cashel are the round tower, Cormac's Chapel, and the ruined cathedral. The cluster of towers, arches and walls presents a most effective appearance as the traveller approaches the rock on his jaunting car. The round tower stands at the north-east corner of the north transept of the cathedral, is 90 feet high, 50 feet in circumference, and has walls 4 feet thick. It was divided into five stories or floors, and the masonry is said to be as good as that of the White Tower in the Tower of London. The original conical roof is still upon it. Although not specially mentioned in any of the Irish annals, there can be but little 1 Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, vol. i., pp. 195, I97. FROM DUBLIN TO CORK. 9' doubt that this is the most ancient of all the buildings now standing upon the rock. Next in order of time, but supreme in historical and architectural interest, comes the unique Chapel of Cormac. This was begun by Cormac MacCarthy, King of Munster, in 1127, and consecrated in 1134 a.d. The entry in the Annals of Inisfallen runs: ' 11 34. The church built by Cormac MacCarthy at Cashel was consecrated by the archbishop and bishops of Munster, at which ceremony the nobility of Ireland, both clergy and laity, were present.' Notwithstanding its great age, the edifice is in very good preservation, and presents many features of special interest to the student of ecclesiastical architecture. It differs in several respects from the common type. It has no east window in the chancel, and no original west door ; it The Interior of Cormac's Chai'el, Casiiel. has both a north and south entrance, and at each side of the end of the nave a tower rises, the southern to a height of 55 feet, the northern 50. In the southern tower is a staircase leading to some crofts or apartments situated between the interior stone roof, and the high external vaulted roof; the chancel arch, which is very handsome, and is not placed in the centre, but at the southern side of the dividing wall. The arch is decorated with numerous carved human heads. The whole building is 50 feet long by 18 wide. The north door, of which we give an engraving, is very richly decorated. It doubtless formed the original main entrance to the chapel. It consists of five concentric arches or mouldings, supported by five columns 92 IRISH PICTURES. and a double column. In the archway of the door is a sculpture repre- senting a centaur shooting at a lion, which is tearing some other animal beneath its paws. A recess in the north wall holds a tomb said to be that of Cormac North Doorway, Cormac's Chapel, Cashel. MacCarthy ; but there is reason to believe that it is later in date, Cormac's tomb having been removed a century or so ago to the north transept of the cathedral close by. The ornamentation on this latter tomb is twelfth century work, and when it was opened many years ago a fine crozier was found in it. This ultimately passed into Dr. Petrie's possession, who after FROM DUBLIN TO CORK. 93 carefully studying the old annals came to the conclusion that Cormac was a bishop as well as a king, and hence that the crozier may be the one used by Cormac himself. The head only has survived, the rest being of perishable material. ' This is formed of copper, and measures 1 2 inches in length and 5 in the diameter of the crook. Its surface is covered with a sunk lozenge carving, filled with a vitreous enamel of a blue colour, the intervening elevations of which are gilt — a design obviously intended to represent the scales of a reptile. Within the curve is a human figure, standing, with one leg placed on the neck of the serpent, and the other on the back of a double-faced, wingless dragon, which he has pierced in the back with a spear which the dragon bites. This human figure is dressed in a simple tunic, tied round the waist ; and the feet are covered with buskins which extend above the ankles. The bowl is encircled by a central belt ornamented with nine tur- quoises and nine sapphires, placed alter- nately and at equal distances from each other. Immediately above the bowl is an ornament resembling the Irish crown. The lower part or socket is ornamented with a very graceful pattern composed of leaves or flowers in three vertical ranges, sepa- rated from each other by three figures of a fish ; the well-known mystical symbol of the early Christians ; and these are each ornamented with a range of seven gems, turquoises and sapphires placed alternately at equal distances along the back.' * In the cemetery adjoining the buildings there are no ancient crosses like those at Monasterboice ; but near the entrance to the cathedral stands what is known as the ' Cross of Cashel.' This when complete must have been a very fine piece of work. but enough of its ornamentation can be made out to prove that it most probably dates from the twelfth century. The figure cut in the stone is supposed to be St. Patrick, and the Kings of Munster are said to have been crowned while standing on its pedestal. 1 Round Towers of Ireland, p. 3 13. Crozier found on opening a Tomb in Cormac's Chapel, Cashel. It is now greatly dilapidated, 94 IRISH PICTURES. As already noted, the cathedral dates from the latter half of the twelfth century, but most of the work now standing was built about the close of the fourteenth. It is 260 feet long and 170 feet wide at the transept, and a large part of the fine central tower is still standing. It may be easily ascended, and from the top one of the best views in the south of Ireland is to be obtained. It was intact and used for Divine worship until the time of Archbishop Price, 1 744-1 752, who, according to tradition, not being able to drive his carriage up to the church-door, obtained an Act of Parliament to remove the cathedral to the town, and unroofed the old building for the sake of its lead ! All sub- sequent attempts to restore it failed, and it now remains a melancholy but a picturesque ruin. The Rock of Cashel affords material for a whole volume of antiquarian disquisition. Few places better reward the time spent in acquiring a fair knowledge of the remains and their story ; but, like Glendalough, the charm of the place does not depend wholly upon these. The lover of the beautiful can indulge his passion here, and find ample satisfaction. Standing on the ruined cathedral tower, or strolling along the edge of the rock which slopes abruptly away from the observer's feet, a magnificent expanse of country stretches out be- ~- fore him. His eye ranges over one of the most fertile - tracts of Ireland, the Golden : Vale of Tipperary. Away to the north is the beauti- ful river scene where stands Holy Cross Abbey, on the banks of the Suir ; and further beyond, the town of Thurles, and the Devil's Bit Mountain, the spot whence the Prince of Darkness, according to popular tradition, snapped the Rock of Cashel in a fit of hunger and weariness, but soon dropped it in disgust. To the south are the rich lands of Tipperary, lying warm and luxuriant in the sunshine, having a superb background in the distant Galty Mountains ; while in the western distance are the summits of the Slieve Phelim hills, beyond which is the busy town of Limerick. It is a scene upon which the delighted eye loves to linger, and which, when once enjoyed under favourable conditions, lives long in the memory. And if, under «•..-. The Cross of Cashel. FROM DUBLIN TO CORK. 95 the influence of so much and such rich natural beauty, one tends to forget the past, and to rejoice only in the happy present, the past which is so powerfully represented on the Rock asserts itself even in the landscape, for as the eye returns from the peaks of the Galty Mountains, or from the rich colouring of the distant plain, it falls upon the ruined towers and arches of Hore Abbey, which rise in the immediate foreground, and carry the thoughts back once again to the men and the life of five centuries ago. After leaving Cashel there is not much of very special interest until Cork is reached. From the train fine views of the Galty Mountains are obtained, especially in the early part of the year, when the snow is lying in General View of Cork. [From a photograph by Lawrence, of Dublin.) the gullies, and crowning the summits. But for the most part the gently undulating country is devoid of attractiveness. Oueenstown, Youghal, and Kilcolman are places that make demands upon the attention, and as they are all easily reached from Cork, we may best visit them after we have seen that city. The metropolis of Southern Ireland is a city of 80,000 inhabitants, well situated on the banks and in the valley of the Lee. It is a great port, and also the centre of the butter trade for South-western Ireland. Provisions and grain are also exported in considerable quantities. There are many evidences of trade and busy life in the city ; but there are also those signs 9 6 IRISH PICTURES. of depression so common in Irish towns. Empty and ruined houses may be seen in or near the main thoroughfares ; and, busy as the streets and wharves undoubtedly are, they yet do not convey the impression of being utilized up to the full measure of possibility. Cork produces strangely mixed impressions upon the stranger. Looked at as a whole from one of the heights commanding the city, the impression is pleasing. Some of the streets, as for example, the Grand Parade, George's Street, the South Mall, and Patrick Street are fine wide thorough- fares, filled with well-stocked shops, handsome buildings, and well-dressed people intent upon business. The quays and the bridges, six in number, are also fine and commodious, the most noteworthy being St. Patrick's and Parnell's, the latter a fine swivel bridge, opened in 1882. But many of the other streets are narrow, irregularly built, and not at all inviting to the passer-by. Still Cork ought to be estimated as a great sea-port, and judged on these lines it is perhaps ungracious to find much fault. The city possesses some very handsome buildings, notably the Cathedral of St. Fin Barre, which stands on the site of an ancient monastery, and was consecrated in 1870. This magnificent building is an example of what can be done by the energy of one man. The late bishop, John Gregg, obtained the money, laid the foundation stone, consecrated the building, and arose from his bed, only a few weeks before his death, to place the top stones upon the towers and the spire. The Roman Catholic Cathedral is a handsome structure, and Trinity Presbyterian Church is one of the archi- tectural ornaments of the town. One of the Queen's Colleges is situated in Cork. In the churchyard of St. Anne's at Shandon, lie the remains of Father Prout, near the spot he loved, and within sound of those bells of which he wrote : — With deep affection And recollection I" often think of These Shandon bells, Whose sound so wild would, In the days of childhood, Fling round my cradle Their magic spells. On this I ponder Where'er I wander, And thus grow fonder, Sweet Cork, of thee ; With thy bells of Shandon That sound so grand on The pleasant waters Of the River Lee. I've heard bells chiming Full many a clime in, Tolling sublime in Cathedral shrine, While at a glib rate Brass tongues would vibrate- But all their music Spoke naught like thine ; For memory dwelling On each proud swelling Of thy belfry knelling Its bold notes free, Made the bells of Shandon Sound far more grand on The pleasant waters Of the River Lee. The easiest, and in some respects the pleasantest, excursion from Cork FROM DUBLIN TO CORK. 97 is a visit to Oueenstown, or, as it used to be called, the Cove of Cork. The most enjoyable way is to go by steamer, but the trip by rail affords good views of the finest scenery. For some miles the route lies along the river, which soon begins to widen out into a very fine stream. On the north bank the land rises rapidly to a considerable elevation, and is very well wooded. The citizens of Cork have not been slow to avail themselves of the fine sites thus afforded for comfortable residences, and many fine houses adorn both the north and south shores. A conspicuous landmark upon the southern bank is Blackrock Castle, a modern building, situated upon a pro- montory at a bend in the river, which here turns sharply to the south, and broadens into a fine estuary. The railroad to Oueenstown runs along the north shore, while the Cork and Passage railway occupies the southern. Passing Carrigaloe and Monkstown, the steamer rounds a point and then enters one of the most commodious and also one of the loveliest harbours in the world. It is three miles long and two miles wide, and is completely landlocked, being entered by a channel two miles long and one wide. The expanse of water is broken by two islands, Haulbowline and Spike Island. The harbour runs east and west, and along its northern shore the town is built. The land rises abruptly to a height of several hundred feet, and a very easy climb will bring the visitor to one or other of many points of vantage. The enormous steamers of several of the Transatlantic lines call here, the harbour is generally busy with shipping, and seen under a sunny sky, few landscapes are so fair. Six miles distant to the east is Cloyne, formerly the seat of an inde- pendent bishopric, but now associated with Cork. The famous philosopher Berkeley was Bishop of Cloyne from 1734 to 1753, and resided there for seventeen years. The glory of the town has departed ; the old cathedral is used as a parish church, and there still stands a fine Round Tower, over 100 feet in height. Further still to the east, about twenty-six miles from Cork, is the town of Youghal, well situated on the hill overlooking the mouth of the Blackwater, the river whose valley forms one of the prettiest parts of Ireland. The town contains about 6,000 inhabitants, and is proud of its buildings and of its historical associations. The great church of St. Mary was for many years, like the Dublin cathedrals, in a ruinous state, and has, like them, been restored in recent years. A collegiate establishment was founded here by the Farl of Desmond in 1464, but the church dates back to the thirteenth century. The establishment consisted of a warden, eight fellows, and eight singing men, and the endowment was ^600 a year. The house or college in which the)' resided is still in existence ; but it is memorable from the fact that there once lived in it for several years a famous Englishman, Sir Walter Raleigh, and that he there entertained the great and gentle poet Edmund Spenser. The house retains few traces of its ancient appearance ; it is rather an Elizabethan manor. It was repaired 11 9 8 IRISH PICTURES. in 1602 by Sir George Carew, and a few years later by Sir Richard Boyle, afterwards Earl of Cork, since it had been greatly injured in Desmond's rebellion. The interior is wainscoted with finely carved Irish oak. Tradition states that in. the garden of this house Raleigh planted the first potato that grew in Ireland, and that under its yew-tree Spenser smoked the new and strange tobacco, and pondered The Faerie Queene. But it seems to have been too peaceful a home for the brilliant soldier and statesman, and although prominent for a time in the conduct of Irish affairs, his stay here was brief. Raleigh was present at the capture of Smerwick Fort in November, 1579; in 1584 he obtained the grant of a large tract of land in Munster ; in 1589 he was again in Ireland, and on his return to England Sir Walter Raleigh's House, Youghal (with bay window of his study). took Spenser with him, and introduced him to Queen Elizabeth. The same year saw the publication of the first three books of Spenser's masterpiece. The Blackwater, like its Meath namesake, has a great reputation among the lovers of natural beauty. Following the river up some twenty or thirty miles, the Awbeg, one of the main tributaries, is reached. This stream is well known to anglers, and is noted for the fine trout it contains ; it is also known to the readers of Elizabethan poetry as one of the streams described by Spenser in his Colin Clout's Come Home Again, which was penned in 1591, during his years of — to him — dreary banishment. The Mulla of this poem is the Awbeg of to-day : FROM DUBLIN TO CORK. 99 Mulla, the daughter of Old Mole, so bright, The nymph which of that watercourse has charge, That, springing out of Mole, doth run downright To Buttevant, where spreading forth at large It giveth name unto that ancient city Which Kil-ne-mullah cleped is of old, Whose ragged ruins breed great ruth and pity To travellers, which it from far behold. About two miles to the north-west of Doneraile, a small town on the Awbeg, are the ruins of Kilcolman Castle, for ten years the home of Spenser. Judging from present appearance, it can never have been a Kilcolman Castle. (From a Photograph by Lawrence, of Dublin.) cheerful abode. It was a fairly strong keep, as every gentleman's house had to be in those stormy, troublous times ; the rooms are small, and the arrangements for the comfort of the occupant seem to have been so necessarily imperfect that the visitor does not feel much desire for a return of those 'good old times,' at any rate if this should involve a return to such residences as the poet's home. This applies only to the castle itself, for the surroundings were very lovely. ' The castle,' writes Charles Smith, in his Natural and Civil History of the County and City of Cork, ' is now almost level with the ground, and was situated on the north side of a fine lake, in the midst of a vast plain, terminated to the east by the H 2 BOSTON COLLEGE Ul»i;.vwY CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. IRISH PICTURES. county of Waterford mountains; Ballyhowra Hills to the north, or, as Spenser terms them, the Mountains of Mole, Nagle Mountains to the south, and the Mountains of Kerry to the west. It commanded a view of above half the breadth of Ireland ; and must have been, when the adjacent uplands were wooded, a most pleasant and romantic situation.' It was here that Spenser learned some of the deepest lessons of life. Driven into himself by the uncongenial nature of his surroundings, compelled to practise self-denial, he entered into fuller communion with the natural beauties around him. Here he passed through some of the uncertainties of a long but at the last successful wooing ; and here he enjoyed the happiness of a married life based upon deep and ardent affection. Thus taught and thus disciplined, he learned those truths which he afterwards so beautifully expressed in his Hymne of Heavenly Love, in which the poet shows that he had learned the true secret of the Gospel. After describing how : Man, forgetful of his Master's grace, No less than angels, whom he did ensue, Fell from the hope of promised heavenly place Into the mouth of death, to sinners due, And all his offspring into thraldom threw, and how the Lord Jesus Christ Out of the bosom of eternal blisse In which He reigned with His glorious Sire, He down descended, like a most demisse And abject thrall in flesh's frail attire, That He for him might pay Sin's deadly hire, And him restore unto that happy state In which he stood before his hapless fate. the poet goes on to ask — How can we Thee requite for all this good? Or what can prize that Thy most precious blood ? Yet nought Thou ask'st in lieu of all this love But love of us, for guerdon of Thy pain : Ay me ! what can us lesse than that behove ? Had He required life for us again, Had it been wrong to ask His owne with gain ? He gave us life, He it restored lost ; Then life were least, that us so little cost. But He our life hath left unto us free ; Free that was thrall, and blessed that was banned ; He aught demands but that we loving be, As He Himself hath loved us afore-hand. And bound thereto with an eternal band, Him first to love that was so dearly bought, And next our brethren, to His image wrought. FROM DUBLIN TO CORK. The years which Spenser passed at Kilcolman were among the most eventful in the whole course of English history. He came to Ireland in 1580 with the Deputy, Lord Grey de Wilton, and for about eight years he seems to have resided in or near Dublin. In all probability 1583 was the year in which he began his residence at Kilcolman. While he dreamed and chafed during these years of unwelcome banishment from England, Sidney died in Holland, the beautiful but wicked Mary Queen of Scots perished on the scaffold, the Armada came and was destroyed, and England emerged from her life and death conflict with Spain and the Papacy, Blarney Castle. (From a Photograph by Lawrence, of Dublin.) victorious and with such triumphant energy that she left medievalism behind for ever, and took her place in the van of modern life and progress. Spenser felt most keenly the loss of his friend and typical hero, Sir Philip Sidney, and has enshrined his grief in noble verse. In the struggle known as Tyrone's Insurrection, Kilcolman Castle was attacked and burned, Spenser and his family escaping only with very great difficulty, and according to some accounts with the loss of an infant child, who was burned with the castle. The easiest and the favourite excursion from Cork is to Blarney Castle, to2 IRISH PICTURES. a spot which amply deserves the reputation it has acquired, although that reputation rests mainly upon the features of the place least worthy to sustain it. Multitudes know of or wish to touch the Blarney Stone, who are not so deeply impressed either by the picturesque splendour of the old ruin, or the exceeding beauty of its situation and surroundings. The castle stands upon a hillside which slopes steeply down to the River Blarney, a stream which winds through a lovely and well-wooded valley. Hard by is the neat little town, in which are several mills engaged in the manufacture of tweed. The castle dates from the fifteenth century, and was founded by Cormac MacCarthy, who also founded the abbey and castle of Kilcrea, in the former of which he was buried. The castle and estates were forfeited in 1689, the last of the original owners being allowed a pension of ,£300. Seen across the river by the approach from the town, the lofty grey mass of the huge quadrangular keep towering above the foliage of the trees, the castle presents a very imposing appearance. The real Blarney Stone was one containing the inscription Cormac Mac Carthy fort is mc fieri fecit A.D. The situation of the stone has shown a tendency to vary according to the predilections of the guides. But that now exhibited is the lowermost of those clasped between the iron bars, as shown in the enoravingf. Whatever the origin of the tradition, and of the custom of kissing the Blarney Stone, the reputation it has acquired of recent years has been due largely to Father Prout's verses. There is a stone there. That whoever kisses, Oh ! he never misses To grow eloquent. 'Tis he may clamber To a lady's chamber, Or become member Of Parliament. A clever spouter He'll sure turn out, or An out and outer " To be let alone " ! Don't hope to hindei him Or to bewilder him, Sure he's a pilgrim From the Blarney Stone. The groves of Blarney, They look so charming, Down by the purlings Of sweet silent brooks, All decked by posies That spontaneous grow there Planted in order In the rocky nooks. 'Tis there the daisy, And the sweet carnation, The blooming pink, And the rose so fair; Likewise the lily And the daffadowndilly — ■ All flowers that scent The sweet open air. But rich as this whole district is in pretty scenery and interesting sites, we cannot extend our consideration of them. Only a passing mention can be made of the western part of County Cork. Those who can make time and opportunity should certainly visit Kinsale, Bandon, Clonakilty, Dunmanway and Skibbereen. a x H Glengariff. CHAPTER V. Glengariff, Killarney, and Valentia. THERE are three main routes from Cork to Killarney. The tamest is by rail via Mallow ; the most adventurous is by rail to Macroom, and thence to Killarney by the north road, as it is called, one of the finest drives in South-western Ireland, running through the country of the MacCarthys, with their ruined castles, and enabling the traveller to see Gougane Barra and the Pass of the Deer. The former is a lonely lake, lying embosomed in a great hollow formed by the mountains, which tower in parts almost perpendicularly above it. In the centre of the lake is an islet sacred to St. Finn Bar, which was for ages the object of special pilgrimages. The scenery here, for wild magnificence and power to touch the imagination, can hold its own with anv in this region — so full of grand mountain and lake solitudes. The Pass of the Deer is a deep mountain cleft about two miles in length, ' the most sternly grand defile in Ireland, a scene of utter loneliness, where io6 IRISH PICTURES. no song of bird or hum of bee breaks the monotonous stillness, save where the ripple of numerous sparkling rills course down the side of the acclivities. There are immense masses of rock seemingly poised in the air, almost per- pendicularly on either side, clothed with stunted arbutus, rowan-tree, yew and holly, while huge projecting cliffs ever and anon seem threatening to bar the visitor's progress.' Here the outlawed O'Sullivans and O'Learys long defied the Government, and in 1822 the adherents of Captain Rock for a long time held possession of the pass, until dislodged by Lord Bantry and the military. It is a district well adapted for lawlessness of this kind. But the popular route is by way of Bantry and Glengariff. This takes the traveller along one of the roads in Ireland most frequented, at least In the tourist season ; but it also has compensations, inasmuch as it offers some most magnificent drives, and at the chief stopping points some of the very best hotels in Ireland are to be found. A short but pleasant railway journey from Cork enables the visitor to see the pretty country on the road to Bandon, to catch a good passing glimpse of that well-situated town, to see something of the wildest parts of County Cork, and finally brings him to Bantry, at the head of the famous bay of the same name. Here, if disposed to stop, he will find very comfortable accommodation, and although the little town presents an ancient appearance, and has a fish-like odour, there is nothing in it that need detain him long. But with the drive to Glengariff the beauties of this region begin to reveal themselves. The road winds along the north-eastern ■ shores of Bantry Bay, which are somewhat hilly, affording consequently beautiful and ever-varying views. Whether the drive be taken in the full light of the midday sun, or when the softer lights and the shadows of evening are over the landscape, it will linger long in the memory. The noble expanse of the bay, the lofty peaks of the Sugar Loaf and other distant mountains, the fine bold rock contours, the little streams that ripple down from the surrounding mountains, the splendid colourings of sea and sky and rock and heath, all combine to heighten the enjoyment of the traveller. Especially fine are the views when the approach of evening tends to deepen the shadows and to robe the more distant prospects in a lovely purple haze. Eloquent descriptions of Glengariff abound, sometimes accurate and adequate, sometimes charged with a pardonable exaggeration. But the perusal of these tends to form either untrue or disproportionate ideas of this celebrated glen. Perhaps the ideal course would be to go and see the spot, and then read the descriptions. Glengariff is emphatically a place where the eye sees what it is capable of seeing, and the impression received will vary here, more than in most places, according to the brain to which the eye transmits its sensations. Those who love the combination of bold rocks with lovely dells whose sides are fringed with beautiful trees, and through which musically murmuring streams run down to the sea ; those who rejoice in the GLENGARIFF, K1LLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. 107 fresh, blue, health-giving ocean, and who yet love to look upon it in its gentler and softer moods ; those who like when taking a holiday to exchange the rush and struggle and selfishness of modern metropolitan life for the peaceful country, far removed from the roar of business and the fierceness of modern competition, and yet sufficiently in touch with the outer world to avoid all traces of stagnation — such as these can hardly do better than select Glengariff as a place of resort. The modern tourist loves his comforts, and these he can have in the hotels. Be he pedestrian, or cyclist, or fisher- man, or sketcher, or lover of boating and driving, here can he indulge to the full his favourite recreation. And he can at the same time breathe some of the purest air and rejoice in the marvellous wealth of rich and lovely scenery with which the beneficent Creator has gladdened this part of the land. The name Glengariff means ' the rugged glen.' It includes the harbour formed by the innermost recess of Bantry Bay, and the valley through which flows the Glengariff River, in its descent from Eagle's Nest Mountain, to the sea. The bay is dotted with a large number of tiny islets ; the river rushes headlong down from its source, reaching its highest point of beauty, perhaps, at the old ruined arches of what is known as Cromwell's Bridge. The temperature in this favoured glen varies within narrow limits, the vegetation is rich, the arbutus, the rowan-tree, the holly, azaleas, rhododen- drons, and hydrangeas, all flourish here, and its wonderful combination of beauties and advantages make it a notable place of rest for the overworked and weary, and a choice wintering place for the delicate. But most who visit this earthly Paradise, like ourselves, however fain to linger, have to hasten on to other scenes. There is a road from Glengariff to Gougane Barra, and thence to Killarney ; but the vast majority go by the main road to Kenmare. This is as fine a drive as any tourist need wish to enjoy. The road runs through the village, and then for a short distance along the left bank of the Glengariff River, and finally begins to wind ever higher and higher up the valley of a small tributary of the Glengariff River, which it finally crosses, and winds around a bold, steep hill at a height of nearly 800 feet above the sea. From this point a comprehensive view of the greater part of Bantry Bay is obtained. It then turns sharply to the north, rising still higher and penetrating into ever wilder mountain scenery, until a peak known as Turner's Rock, over 1,300 feet above the sea, is reached. This is pierced by a fine tunnel, and as the car passes out of the long and somewhat gloomy passage a superb view greets him. Stretched out before him, but mainly to his left hand, are the fine multitudinous peaks of Ireland's greatest mountain chain, the McGillicuddy Reeks. Seen early in the year, say in April, they are often covered with snow, and present a most beautiful appearance. Seen under any circumstances with the essential element of a tolerably clear IRISH PICTURES. atmosphere, their wild forms, their great extent, their fine configurations rejoice the heart within the lover of natural beauty. The road climbs for a time along the steep side of one of these huge mountain masses, and gradually descends, crosses the river, and finally runs for miles along the left bank of the Sheen. The scenery gets softer as one approaches Kenmare. The Sheen finally empties into the Sound, the inner part of Kenmare Bay, and, about a mile below the mouth of the Sheen, a fine suspension bridge has been thrown across Kenmare Bay, over which passes the road. Kenmare is quite a recent town compared with some of its neighbours, having been founded as a colony in 1670 by Sir William Petty, the ancestor of the present Lansdowne family. There is little in it to detain the visitor, unless he intends to explore the fine mountainous country round about, in which case it becomes a very convenient headquarters. For most the hour or two of waiting for the mail-cart, or securing a fresh horse and car, is sufficient; and after a brief stay the journey to Killarney is begun. McGillicuddy Reeks. GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. 109 Kenmare is nearly on the sea level, and the road soon begins to ascend. It winds along the base of the mountains, rising higher and higher, until it crosses the top of Windy Pass, at an elevation of about 1,000 feet above the sea. It then skirts the slopes high above the Dwenregh River, runs by the northern margin of Looscaunagh Lough, skirts the base of a small mountain, and then affords the traveller what is considered to be, and justly so, the very finest view of the Killarney Lakes in all their variety and extent. From this point, until Killarney is reached, wherever the eye turns it meets fine peaks, waters gleaming in the sunshine, enticing glens that look as if specially created to afford picnic facilities, and the ever-changing expressions of natural beauty which, if not unrivalled, are worthy of the highest praise, and capable of affording very pure pleasure. And here again it should be noted that Killarney suffers most from its friends. Some of these, not content to allow its claims to rest upon the evidence of a very high type of beauty, clearly manifest to any one capable of judging, make monstrous claims, and give expression to absurd and high- flown descriptions, which only tend to irritate and to provoke comparisons that are better not made at all. Killarney, in the writer's judgment, is quite capable of holding its rank among the districts of exceptional natural beauty ; but for its admirers to expect those who visit it to admit that it stands without a rival, can only lead to vexation of spirit. Arrived at Killarney, the first task is to see it. At present the arrange- ments for doing this are not so convenient as they might be. Those who come by the Kenmare Road get a succession of lovely distant views, and those whose purses admit of a sojourn at the Lake or the Royal Victoria Hotels have no reason to complain ; but for all others, to get anything like a view of the lakes is a task involving the expenditure of time, exertion, and money. The domain of the Earl of Kenmare lies between Lough Leane and the town, and around this a lofty wall has been constructed, with the result that it prevents any view whatsoever, unless the visitor proceeds to some such recognised point of vantage as Ross Castle. It is the same on the road to Muckross Abbey. In fact, it is possible, or rather, as there is no choice in the matter, it is compulsory, on all who wish to travel the six miles of road between Muckross Abbey and Lake View House, to journey by a road which on one side of the way presents the unvarying monotony of a blank stone wall. The patient endurance of those who thus journey is not strengthened by the recollection that on the other side of the wall are some of the best views in what is considered to be the loveliest region in Ireland. Whether, if these walls were lowered, matters would be better, the experts must decide. It is quite certain, even if the trees on the various estates and the distance from the water prevents any view of the lake or the surrounding mountains, that the mental irritation produced upon all who have to pass along the five or six miles of dead wall would 1 10 IRISH PICTURES. be avoided, without in any way interfering with the rights or security of the fortunate possessors of the northern and eastern shores of Lough Leane, if this could be done. Killarney is a district rather than a town. There is indeed a cluster of streets, lined for the most part by very unattractive houses and shops, and not at all remarkable for neatness. These constitute the town, but no visitor Ross Castle, Killarney. is likely to wish to linger here. But the country about, for fifteen miles or so, especially to the south and west, abounds in peaks that may be ascended, mountain loughs, about which linger grim legends, waterfalls and cascades, passes and glens, trips by car or by boat — in fact, scenery, the chief beauties of which can be exhausted in two days, or which can afford the careful explorer pleasant tasks for weeks. The most comprehensive excursion is to the Gap of Dunloe and back GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. in by way of the lakes. For this a whole day is needed, and the earlier the start the better. A good pedestrian can walk it, but the pleasantest way is to take a car to the foot of the Gap ; by this means the five miles of wall are passed quickly, and the wayfarer is fresh for the walk through the Gap, and any excursion that may seem desirable, say the ascent of Purple Mountain, or a stroll up the Black Valley. By this route the Killorglin road is taken, and on the right hand, two or three miles out of the town, the ruins of Aghadoe Church and Round Tower are passed. About two miles or so away from the mouth of the Gap, the first experience of the great Killarney nuisance is encountered. Not far from Aghadoe the road forks, and here, on the alert to catch their victims early, are stationed a collection of the Killarney beggars, misnamed guides. They are mounted on ponies, and their object is to succeed in getting these taken for the ride up the pass. There is no escape from them, and even the plan of engaging one for the purpose of stalling off the others is defeated by the additional swarms that are encountered in the pass. The best plan is to say little or nothing, to buy nothing, and, above all, to drink none of the various mixtures that are offered every few hundred yards along the route. It is really intolerable that these hordes of beggars should be allowed thus to detract from the enjoyment of a very lovely district. But as things are, there seems to be no remedy. One is inclined to hold that if the advocates of Home Rule could make it evident that their panacea would banish the beggars, not only from the Gap, but from all the other lovely parts of the kingdom, they would at once secure the sympathy of all travellers. These would consent to a good deal in order to secure the disappearance of the men and boys who offer ponies for hire, who bring cornets to wake the echoes, and who wish to fire off cannons that look admirably adapted to destroy the individual bold enough to fire them ; together with the girls who offer for sale woollen socks and potheen and milk, the whole tribe of Kate Kearney's descendants who sell deplorable photographs of themselves and the huts in which they live, and the miscellaneous crew who look upon every visitor as the possibility of a copper or a sixpence. The Gap of Dunloe is a pass between the Toomies and the McGilli- cuddy Reeks, up which any but the feeblest walkers can go with the utmost ease, from the point where the cars always stop. The River Loe traverses the Gap, expanding at intervals into five lakes. A good road winds up the valley, crossing the stream by bridges in two places. The mountains rise very steeply to a height of over 2,000 feet, and the scenery is very wild. The narrowness of the defile combined with the height of the mountains gives it a sombre and awe-inspiring influence. At one point the ravine narrows, and a huge mass of rock has fallen and split into two irregular portions. The road runs between these enormous stones, which have the semblance of a rude gateway. The spot is known as The Pike. The 112 IRISH PICTURES. impression of wildness and desola- tion is considerably weakened, not only by the troops of beggars, but more legitimately by the number of little farms in the valley, and by the numerous traces of fairly prosperous agriculture. As the The PikEi ascent is made, very good views to the north are obtained, but by far the finest is enjoyed when the summit of the pass is reached, and the traveller stands with the beautiful Owenreach Valley at his feet, the many-islanded Upper Lake to his left, the Kenmare Road and the Police Barracks directly opposite, and the Black Valley to the right GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. "3 over which tower the rugged pinnacles of the Reeks. Occasionally one meets with absurdly over-drawn descriptions of this Black Valley. When the writer saw it, under a bright April sun, it failed signally to harmonize with its name, since it lay smilingly at his feet, looking most attractive in its beauty. By an easy road the descent into the valley is made, Lord Brandon's cottage is passed — a toll of one shilling being levied on every visitor — and then the boat is taken for the row down to Ross Island. This is certainly **#£*gS*^ The Eagle's Nest, Killarney. not less enjoyable than the earlier half of the excursion. If any part of Killarney deserves the palm, it is this row along the placid waters of the Upper Lake, in and out among its many rocky islets, and down the Long Range which connects the Upper and Middle Lakes. To the south rise Cromaglan and Tore Mountains, to the north the spurs of Purple Mountain and the Eagle's Nest. The views are extremely beautiful, and there is a marvellous variety of colouring and ot contour. The boatmen, in their well-meant efforts to amuse, talk a considerable amount of arrant nonsense about the uses to which the ever-present O'Donoghue puts the many i 114 IRISH PICTURES. strangely-shaped rocks which abound on every hand. The most effective view of all is where the boat, following as it must the windings of the stream, passes immediately beneath the loftiest part of the Eagle's Nest. This mountain, like its neighbours, is clad for some hundreds of feet above The Old Weir Bridge, Killarney. the water level with arbutus, ash, oak, holly and other trees. Among other charms, this spot possesses a fine echo. Soon after passing this point the great excitement of shooting the rapid at the Old Weir Bridge occurs. There is just sufficient fall to impart a GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTtA. "5 somewhat lively motion to the boat, and the distance is so short that almost before you are aware the descent has begun it is over. INNISFALLEN, KlLLARNEY. Under exceptional circumstances, with the water unusually high, it is conceivable that the passage would be attended with some risk. Of course I 2 ii6 IRISH PICTURES. none but those well acquainted with the peculiarities of the place should attempt to take a boat down ; the regular boatmen are all more than equal to the not very anxious demands which the descent makes upon their nerve and skill. After shooting the bridge, the boat glides into a most lovely part, the Meeting of the Waters, and the shore of Dinis Island, which divides the stream, one portion of the waters flowing out into the Middle or Tore Lake, the other passing on to Lough Leane. Dinis Island is delightful, and any who have neither time nor inclina- tion for the longer trips will find this part most accessible, and equal in . beauty to any in the whole range of the Killarney lakes. Passing under Brickeen Bridge, having tarried for a moment to gather a sprig or two of arbutus, the boat shoots out upon the wide waters of the Lower Lake. This is 5,000 acres in extent, being, roughly speaking, 5 J miles long by 2^ wide. When it is breezy, as the writer tested by experience, the waves can rise, and the rowers need to bend their backs to the oars to urge their craft across to Innisfallen and then on to Ross Island. The former, 21 acres in extent, is the gem of Lough Leane. It is lovely as regards its scenery, and it is venerable by reason of past associations. Here, in the seventh century, St. Finian founded a monastery, of which some traces have come down to us ; and here one of the famous early records of Irish history, the Annals of Innisfallen, were penned. At Ross Castle we land; the engraving on page no enables the reader to realize what manner of ruin it is. On the mainland, opposite the Tomies' side of Innisfallen, is O'Sullivan's Cascade, which consists of three distinct falls, one of the favourite shorter excursions. At the south-eastern end of Lough Leane is the ruined Muckross Abbey. It was founded, according to Ware, by Donald MacCarthy about 1440; but the Annals of the Four Masters record that it dates from 1340; there is some evidence that the building was begun by Teige, and finished in 1440 by his son Donald. It was restored, as an inscription on the north side of the choir states, in 1626. 'The church consists of a nave and choir, separated by a belfry of small proportions, and only calculated to hold a single bell. This belfry is pierced by a narrow arch, which connects the nave and choir. On the south side of the nave there is a small chapel or transept, with which it is connected by a large archway ; and on the north side a small doorway leads into the cloisters, which is the most perfect and interesting portion of the building. It is a square of twelve yards, encompassed by an arcade lighting the surrounding corridor, which is about five feet in length. The arcade consists of ten semicircular arches in its north and east sides, and twelve pointed ones on the south and west. The pillars and mouldings are of grey marble. The effect of these cloisters is rendered singularly solemn and imposing by a venerable and majestic yew-tree, which rises like a stately column from GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. 117 the centre of the enclosure, and which, from the density of the dark green foliage of its spreading branches, permits but a "dim, religious light" to penetrate the area. The stem of this remarkable tree, which there is no reason to doubt is coeval with the abbey, is upwards of twelve feet in height, and about six feet six inches in circumference. 'The vault of the MacCarthy Mores is placed in the centre of the choir, and is marked by a flat stone level with the floor, on which the coronet and arms of the Earl of Glencare are rudely sculptured ; a more stately monument, as re- presented in the illustration, marks the grave of O'Donoghue of the Glens, who died in 1S08, and is buried in the same vault.' * Hard by Muckross Abbey the road to Mangerton, the loftiest mountain near Killarney, 2,576 feet high, turns off from the Ken- mare Road. It is a very easy ascent, and the view ' is superb, embracing in the east Crohane, the Paps, Cahirbarnagh, and all that extensive country lying be- tween Millstreet, Mallow and Tip- perary, with the blue range of the Galtys in the far distance. Northward and to the west is Tralee, with the Slievemish Moun- tains in the neighbourhood of Dingle and Ventry, while a faint white line in the horizon marks the north estuary of the Shannon as it flows past Tarbert and Kil- rush. , Due west are the Tore, the Purple Mountain, and the Reeks, with Castlemaine Haven and the Laune running at their feet ; to the south is an immense sea of hills occupying the district towards Ken- mare. The Bays of Kenmare and Bantry are prominent objects in this view — a view which can never be blotted out from memory. At the foot lie the Lakes of Killarney in all their beauty, with the thick wood and groves encircling their shores.' 2 The Choir of Muckross Abbey. 1 Dublin Penny Journal, vol. i., p. 410. Murray s Handbook for Ireland, p. 3 1 7. nS IRISH PICTURES. At a steep part of the ascent, about three-quarters ot the way up, is a depression in the mountain, from which the cliffs rise up steeply, and occupied by a tarn. This depression is known as the Devil's Punch Bowl, and from it descends one of the streams which form the Tore Waterfall. This is a fine fall, some sixty feet in height, situated in a ravine called Owengariff. It is most easily reached from Killarney by the Kenmare Road. Having enjoyed the lovely scenery of Killarney, no traveller who can spare the time should fail to visit Valentia. By this trip some of the most interesting and characteristic portions of Kerry are to be seen, notably what is known as the Mountain Drive, along the southern shores of Dingle Bay, Glenbeagh, late of eviction notoriety, Valentia Island, and, above all, the coast with its islands, pre- eminent among these being the Skelligs. It is possible to go from Killarney to Killorglin by train, and thence by omni- bus or car to Cahir- siveen. But the best way for any one who wishes to see typical men and things is to go by mail-car. In many parts of Ire- land these most con- venient conveyances run. They are not luxurious, their cushions are often hard and well-worn, they are not unfrequently heavily laden with parcel- post impedimenta and other mail baggage ; and he who travels by them must be prepared to rough it a little, and to be considered possibly a trifle plebeian in his tastes. But for all these things there are ample compensations. They are fast ; they are cheap ; each car has a driver thoroughly familiar with the country he traverses, and almost invariably civil, obliging, and communicative ; the passengers are generally typical peasants, and all along the route little incidents happen, slight in them- selves, but of peculiar interest oftentimes to the observant traveller, because A Kerry Cabin and its Inhabitants. Torc Waterfall, Killarney. GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. they enable him to see the people as they are in themselves, and while engaged in their daily avocations. Just as the ordinary Norwegian steamer is a better conveyance for those who wish to study that interesting people, than the special tourist vessels that run to the North Cape, so the mail-car gives many a trait, life-study, amusing incident, or friendly chat, utterly unknown to those who journey in Ireland only by special car or by tourist- crowded coach or omnibus. But he who goes from Killarney to Valentia by mail-car has to get up early. It is timed to leave the post-office at 5.30 a.m., and does so, unless detained by the mail-train being late, a state of affairs which the writer knows by experience occasionally happens. This particular route is traversed daily by a 'long car,' that is, one that needs two horses, can carry about a dozen passengers and a heavy load of mail. The first stage is to Killorglin, about thirteen miles, and after the northern end of Lough Leane has been passed, on the left hand the Reeks present a series of exceedingly fine mountain views. From a broad expanse of morass and bog they rise rapidly and boldly, the lower slopes being rounded and massive, but the upper peaks exhibiting a series of wild and craggy pinnacles. Killorglin has nothing attractive about it, except its fine situation above the Laune, which is here crossed by a bridge leading to Milltown and Castlemaine. Beyond Killorglin the road rises by a long ascent, which gradually brings into view Dingle Bay and the range of hills along its northern shore. Six miles on a steep descent, along the valley of the Caragh, leads to Caragh Bridge, which crosses a wild mountain stream rushing down from Lough Caragh. The district does not belie its appearance ; it is a noted spot for salmon and trout fishing. Passing through Glenbeagh, the road gradually ascends, and, on turning the shoulder of a hill, a splendid view of Dingle Bay is obtained, and for miles the car runs along the face of the slope high above the sea level. The mountains of Clare on the further shore of the bay are all in full view. Perhaps the chief draw- back is the singular absence of shipping, hardly a fishing-boat even being in sight. Leaving the sea, a broad valley is traversed, with mountains on either side, and, crossing Carhan Bridge, Cahirsiveen comes into view. Close to the bridge is a ruined house, of which part of the walls, overgrown with ivy, remain. Here the renowned Daniel O'Connell was born. Cahirsiveen is a poor but apparently thriving little town. It lies embosomed in a bold mountainous country. It is 38 miles from Killarney, and few mail-car rides in Ireland so well repay the fatigue involved in their accomplishment. Valentia Island, or rather the ferry, is three miles beyond Cahirsiveen The island is separated from the mainland by a strait half a mile broad. The engraving gives two views. In the circle is depicted the view from Valentia pier ; it is identical with that obtained from the windows of the hotel, which is so placed as to face the pier. In the extreme right is seen the house on 122 IRISH PICTURES. the mainland from which the ferryboat starts. The other picture represents Knights Town as seen by the wayfarer about to make the passage. The broad strait forming Valentia Har- bour, the mountain, the many tones of brown on the hills, the clear sky, the fine colours of the water, combine to make this a scene upon which the eye lingers with delight. In the extreme left of the larger engraving a little cluster of houses is shown. This is the headquarters of the celebrated Atlantic Telegraph Company. The second building from the left is the house in which the instruments are kept busy day and night constantly receiving and transmitting messages across the Atlantic. The company now possesses three cables, one of which is in direct communication with Embden, in North Germany, by which con- tinental messages are sent direct via Newfoundland and Cape Breton to New York. The public are admitted at stated hours, but the writer, by courtesy of the secretary of the London office, was allowed to inspect the premises during the busiest part of the day. The instruments occupy two rooms. In one the operators are engaged with the Embden cable, some transmitting messages to America ; others to various parts of the Continent via Embden. The messages are expressed in all languages, and in various GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. 123 ciphers. As the operator reads the message which is being spelled out by the instrument he transmits it to Newfoundland, and this is so promptly done that the first half of a message is across the ocean before the other has entirely left Germany. In the second room Stock Exchange work, press messages and private telegrams are coming and going. When the writer saw this room four operators were hard at work on the Stock Exchange messages, all in cipher. The superintendent stated that a New York broker is apt to grow impatient if he cannot get a message through to London and a reply in the course of a few minutes ! Competition has so increased the companies that the rates are very low ; but the low rates have not correspondingly increased the traffic. Although 3,000 messages pass through in twenty-four hours, on the average, this is by no means the maximum that could be dealt with, and meanwhile the shareholders of this company, the pioneers in ocean telegraph work, have to be content with one per cent, dividend. The officials and clerks form a little colony in this extreme south-western nook of Ireland. The hotel at Knights Town is very comfortable and reasonable, and any visitor tired of such tourist-frequented regions as Killarney or the Causeway, wishing to spend a few days in some breezy, health-giving resort ' far from the madding crowd,' might do very much worse than visit Valentia Island. Bathing, boating, and fishing are all to be had; there are plenty of short excursions ; and when the wish to go further afield comes, it is not difficult to sail across to Dingle, and although it is a somewhat formidable trip, it is by no means impossible, as we shall proceed to show, to get out to the Great Skellig, which is by far the most interesting island off the Irish coast. The Skelligs are three rocky islets forming the most south-westerly extensions of the kingdom of Ireland. The strong light perched on a ledge of the Great Skellig, shining out clear and powerful over sixteen or twenty miles of the heaving Atlantic, is the first sign of land that the traveller from the west sees. Though inhabited now only by the light- keepers and their families, centuries ago a monastery flourished there, and no extant remains in Ireland enable us to picture the old monastic life of the early Irish Church better than those which still crown the lofty top of the Great Skellig. It was long the writer's desire to visit this famous spot, and this desire was not lessened by the discovery that the trip was not easy to accomplish, and that the intending visitor was here, more than in most spots along this coast, at the mercy of wind and weather. Unless these were very propitious, the attempt to land was certain to result in failure. But wind and weather were in a kindly mood towards him on the one occasion when he found himself at Valentia with a day to spare ; and no single day's excursion has ever afforded him fuller gratification. 124 IRISH PICTURES. BallydavidJJ C SKELLIG RK The nearest village to the Skelligs on the mainland is Port Magee, a little fishing station on the strait separating the southern coast of Valentia Island from the mainland. It is from this place that, at the time of writing (1888), the boat carrying supplies and letters to the lighthouse on the rock sails at irregular intervals. It is possible to arrange for a visit in this boat, but it is more satisfactory in most cases to hire one specially for the excursion. The Great Skellig is a sharp-pointed mass of rock, rising straight up from the bosom of the Atlantic, and situated about 9 miles to the south-west of Port Magee. It is a most enjoyable ex- pedition for those who are not afflicted with nervous- ness, and who can sit for hours in a small boat as she rides upon the mighty Atlantic swell, and receive therefrom nothing but benefit and enjoyment. It is em- phatically a trip to be avoided by the timid, by those subject to sea-sick- ness, and, unless under very exceptional circumstances, by ladies. Perhaps some adequate impression of the interest of such a trip, and of the Skelligs themselves, can best be conveyed to the reader by describing the author's excursion thither. It fell upon an April day, the only one that could be spared for the adventure. On awaking at 6.30 a.m. — and he who would see the Skelligs should be early on the road— the eye was gladdened by the sight of brilliant sunshine. A jaunting car soon traversed the seven miles that intervene between Knights Town and the ferry over against Port Magee. A very ancient mariner conveys passengers across, and then a certain amount of bargaining secured a boat and a crew of four fine muscular young fishermen for the trip out and back to the Skelligs. The scale of payment was determined to some extent by their assurance that it would be necessary in the state of the wind and weather on that GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. 125 particular day to row probably the whole way there, and certainly the whole way back. And their forecast proved true. And here it may be remarked that no one, from economical or other reasons, should attempt this trip without at least four men. Even in the best weather the landing upon the rock is a somewhat delicate operation, and no boat should ever start which is not in itself capable of standing very rough weather, and so manned that if caught in a breeze there should be ample strength to do all that is needful. Whether I paid more or less than usual I am unable to say. I hired the boat and the four men for the day at a charge of twenty-five shillings, and when they landed me safe and sound in the evening, I felt they had well earned their money. We rowed away from the tiny pier at Port Magee about 10 a.m., and were soon at the mouth of the inlet upon which Port Magee is situated. There was a slight breeze from the north-east, the sun was shining, the sea had a steel-blue tint, the sky was clear, and as we drew near the mouth of the inlet the first taste of what was before us came. A broken ledge of rocks protects the mouth of the harbour. Within the sea was almost calm, but upon the ledge the Atlantic was breaking with a low, thunderous roar, which would not have been pleasing had not the wild foam looked so dazzlingly white in the sunshine, and so fascinated the eye with its ever-varying forms of beauty, that delight in the scene quite overpowered the nervous imagination of what might happen should one of those great rollers send our light boat against any of the thousand ugly pointed rocks so uncannily close to our side. A few minutes' hard rowing, and we were out upon the main. Turning a bold headland, we got our first view of the islets for which we were making. Away out on the ocean, sharply defined against the horizon, were two huge masses of rock, and most beautiful did they appear. Too far away to exhibit any of their inequalities of outline, they rose up from the sea like pyramids, and, enshrouded in an exquisite blue haze, they appeared like twin sapphires. Seen from the low elevation of the boat, lying peacefully on the far horizon, shining forth in their sapphire beauty, one could easily feel and appreciate how the Irish along this coast have acquired and cling to the belief that westwards are the Islands of the Blest, the land of plenty and of peace. As the land receded we began to get a superb view of the coast, and a cruel coast it is. Successively Bray Head, Puffin Island, Bolus Head, the Great Blasquets, and many another headland and islet, came into view. The cliffs in many parts rise from three to six hundred feet, in some cases sheer from the water. But weird and fantastic in form as they often are, wherever the eye lights one impression is received, that of eternal strength. There is nothing of the curious frayed appearance presented by the horizontal strata of the cliffs further north. These rise up boldly, uncompromisingly, and you feel as you look upon them that here is a solidity and a strength 126 IRISH PICTURES. upon which even the Atlantic in its seasons of wildest fury can make no impression. It is in vain that his hugest billows dash against these tremendous barriers. In the conflict, ceaseless, yet fruitless, all softness has disappeared. They present a stern grey front, and in their quiet yet awe-inspiring fixity they seem to say, ' Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.' We row on, and for two or three miles seem to be making little or no headway. But gradually the cliffs of the mainland recede, and we draw near to the first of the group, that known as the Lemon Rock. This is a mass of rock rising only a few feet above high water mark. It has been worn into a ragged outline by the ceaseless action of the water, and as we pass it so far away that the roar of the surge is softened by the distance, we can see the spray shooting up in columns of the purest white. It seems to take a long while, our crew rowing hard all the time, to get beyond the Lemon Rock. But at last it is left upon our port quarter, and we have now done the larger half of our outward journey. We slowly cross the stretch of two or three miles which separate the Lemon Rock from the Little Skellig. One feels afresh the insignificance of man in the presence of the great forces of nature. The sun has now gone be- hind the clouds, the sea has changed to a cold grey, the waves have risen a little, the boat seems small and frail, the ocean seems wide and mighty. There is no vessel within two or three miles of us, and only five or six visible in the whole circuit of our horizon. The strongest swimmer, in case of need, could hardly hope to reach either the Skelligs or the shore. But a glance at the trim craft as she steadily surmounts wave after wave, a look at the intelligent faces and sturdy arms of the rowers as they cheerily urge on the boat, reassures us, and we banish all nervous thoughts and give ourselves up to thorough enjoyment of an hour not likely to recur in a lifetime. We pass near the Little Skellig, and while doing so have ample time to study the large numbers of gannets clustering upon the broken ledges of its most southern haunt in Great Britain. The sea is running strongly The Gannet. GLENGARIFF, KILLARXEY, AND VALENTIA. 129 through a large natural arch at one of the sharp angles of the rock, and though we cannot help wishing for the sunlight, we can see clearly the weird forms into which the storms of ages have beaten its many cliffs and pinnacles. But now all our attention is concentrated upon the main object of our trip. We are within a mile of the Great Skellig, and already it seems to tower high above us in solitary and mysterious grandeur. On all sides the cliff rises so abruptly and so forbiddingly from the sea that access seems impossible, and one feels curious to discover how and where it is possible to get a footing. As we pass under a tremendous shoulder of rock which forms the base of the peak running up almost perpendicularly for about 700 feet above the sea, a little cove comes into view. Comparatively calm as the day is, and assured as we are by the boatmen that there could not be a finer day for landing, it is evident even to an inexperienced eye that the sea is running in the cove in a way that shows what careful handling the boat needs. By skilful management one of the crew is enabled to jump upon a ledge of rock made exceedingly slippery by sea- weed growing upon it. But it is not the first time he has set foot upon the Great Skellig. I follow, and am kept from any risk of a fall by his stalwart arm, and then, by an admirable arrangement of ropes, the boat, after the others have landed, is swung so that she rides up and down in the middle of the cove with no risk of coming against any one of the numerous rocks which would soon knock a hole in her. And here we are, after our three hours' pull, safely landed upon the famous islet. A very fine road, which was made by government labour in the early part of this century, has been cut out of the perpendicular cliff, and winds slowly up to the lighthouse. It affords here and there splendid views of the cliffs in its gradual ascent, and at one point crosses over a chasm. Being on the lee side of the island, when we saw it, and the sea as quiet probably as it ever is there, the swell as it rolled in was pleasant to the ear and the eye ; but in a westerly gale the scene here must be terrific. As one stands upon this road, clinging closely to the face of the rock, and looks westward, remembering that the nearest land in that direction is nearly 2,000 miles away, a sense of isolation comes over the mind. Until recent years there were two lighthouses upon the island, but now only one is in use. This is the lower one, well and securely placed upon a platform levelled in the rock about 140 feet above the sea. But even at this altitude it is not altogether free from serious assault on the part of the ocean. A few years ago the roof was partly carried away by an enormous wave hurled against it by one of those severe gales that from time to time sweep across the Atlantic. The whole western side of the islet has been beaten by the waves into precipitous cliff. The only human beings at present resident upon the island are the K 130 IRISH PICTURES. lighthouse keeper with his wife and children, and his assistant. There is just enough space upon the upper part of the island for the children to run about and for a few sheep to graze. But the monotony of such a life must be very great, and it seems hard upon children that they should be compelled to spend two or three years of their young life on such a lonely, not to say dangerous rock. The lighthouse keeper here, in common with his brethren elsewhere, is courteous and willing- to show all that there is to be seen. Perhaps his cordiality of greeting to the stranger is somewhat warmer than usual from the fact that a visit is indeed a rare event, and the sight of a strange face something to be remembered. Lonely indeed is the Great Skellig, bracing the air, and picturesque the views afforded by its own rugged cliffs, and those of the Lesser Skellig, its only near neighbour ; but these would hardly form sufficient attractions to draw the visitor, were it not for the well-known fact that over one thousand years ago this solitary peak was the home of a busy and devout life. This was the St. Michael's Mount of Ireland, and its history is dim and shadowy in the very early ages of Church history. Many remains of early architecture, and some of them in wonderful preservation, are still to be seen upon the summit of the rock, and form the chief magnet which draws the traveller hither. As one begins to grow more familiar with the scene, and to lose something of the awe which it at first inspires, one cannot but feel that a true instinct brought hither the monks in those far-off days. Starting from the lighthouse, the ascent is very fine. ' Above, the rock towers higher and higher, and is split into fantastic forms like the opened leaves of a book set upright, with narrow strips of bright green running between them, or fringing the horizontal blocks of the strata at their feet. When the sunlit mists or vapours sweep in driving clouds above them, the effect is in the highest degree mysterious and beautiful ; but when at one moment these mists rise so as entirely to conceal the heights, and at the next they vanish as if at the touch of some unseen hand, and the cliff again stands revealed against the blue unfathomed sky, it seems as if the whole scene were called up by some strange magician's wand. ' The ancient approach to the monastery from the landing-place was on the north-east side. There are 620 steps from a point of the cliff which is about 120 feet above the level of the sea, up to the monastery. The rest of this flight of steps is broken away, and a new approach was cut in very recent times. The old stairs run in a varying line ; the steps, which grow broader towards the upper half of the ascent, are lined with tufts and long cushions of the sea-pink, and at each turn the ocean is seen breaking in foam hundreds of feet below.' ' For many centuries the island has been the scene of pilgrimage, but 1 Dunraven's Notes on Irish Architecture, pp. 27, 28. GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. 131 the author could get no certain information as to when the practice ceased, if it has come to an end. Half way up the ascent is a little valley between the two peaks, in shape something like a saddle, and known as ' Christ's Saddle,' or the Garden of the Passion. From this place what is known as the Way of the Cross rises up, and at one part a rock has been shaped into the form of a rude cross. The path still rises, and at length brings the climber to the Cashel or enclosing wall of the monastery. And a wonderful spot this is. Around is the sky and sea. In the far distance is the outline of the Irish coast, but a most peculiar effect is produced upon the mind and spirit by the physical properties of the spot. One cannot at first shake off the sense of insecurity ; then the loneliness of a hieh elevation oppresses one ; and yet the disturbing influence of these feelings is soothed by the conscious- ness that the spot is rich in its spiritual helpfulness. It is good for the soul to be thus lifted out of and away from all the mean and petty detail of life, to escape from the wearing friction of the selfish every-day life, and to be alone with the noblest natural features — the wide sky, the broad and health-giving ocean, the immovable rock, so firmly rooted that through countless generations the Atlantic surges have vainly thundered against it. Standing there one feels that when other countless generations shall have passed the rock will abide there still. Another element in this potent charm is the conviction that upon this rock the men of the past met, and fought, and conquered those foes with which the true spirit of man is ever at war. We might not be able to use the K 2 The Ancient Staircase on the Great Skellig, showing the Lesser Skellig in the Distance. (From an autotype in Lord Dunraven's Notes on Irish Architecture.) 132 IRISH PICTURES. forms of prayer through which those men expressed their penitence, their praise, their aspiration. We may differ altogether from their conception of life, and think that they were better placed when on the mainland, and nearer the full tide of their brethren's life, and toils, and conflicts and temptations. But few can stand on that lonely elevation, bound up indis- solubly as it is with so much that is sublime in the present, and hallowed in the past, without feeling lifted, for a time at least, out of the low commonplace, and the mean selfishness of too much of our daily life. The spirit recognises that here in past ages men sought the great Father in heaven, and found that God is love ; here, they yearned for pardon and found the true ' way of the cross,' the forgiveness of sins made possible because Jesus Christ died on the cross, and granted to erring man, for the Father, having given the Son, with Him freely gave them all things. These rude, humble stone cells become radiant as one feels that in them answers to prayer were obtained, and that in them men, our brothers, felt the power of the Spirit of God to cleanse, to inspire, to recreate, and to exalt. And this feeling deepens as one remembers the comparative purity of that early Irish Church, which has impressed upon the world's history such personalities as Patrick, Columbkille and Columbanus. Seen under the influence of such associations, one feels the truth of these words : ' The scene is one so solemn and so sad that none should enter here but the pilgrim and the penitent. The sense of solitude, the vast heaven above, and the sublime monotonous motion of the sea beneath, would but oppress the spirit, were not that spirit brought into harmony with all that is most sacred and grand in Nature, by the depth and even by the bitterness of its own experience.' ' In order to give the reader a notion of what one of these early Irish monasteries was like, the accompanying plan has been engraved. To render it quite clear, a brief explanation is needful. The buildings which form this monastery occupy a piece of ground measuring about 180 feet in length by from 80 to 100 feet in width. They are, first — the Church of St. Michael, two small oratories, Nos. 5 and 7 in ground plan, and six anchorite cells or dwelling-houses. There are also two wells and five leachta, or places of entombment, and several rude crosses. This group of buildings was enclosed on one side by the rock, against which they were partly built, and then by the Cashel, which ran along the edge of the precipice. The old entrance was at A (see ground plan). It consisted of a flight of steps through a door, which has long been stopped up. It leads into a small level piece of ground, called the Monk's Garden, at B, then by another flight to the doorway, D, which is also closed. St. Michael's Church (marked chapel in plan) is not the original church of the monastery, but a later structure. It is peculiar, inasmuch as it faces 1 Dunraven's Notes on Irish Architecture, vol. i., p. 30. GLEXGAR/FF, KILLARNEY, AND VALE XT I A. 133 the north-east ; and its walls, now only a mass of ruins, were, but a few years since, nearly perfect. More interesting are the old cells, of which the V» A Jl Scale nf Feet ---. Ti.an of tiif. Monastery on the Great Skellig. (From Dunraven's Notes on Irish Architecture?) Cashel contains several fine specimens. No. I is a circular structure having what is known as a bee-hive roof. Each stone projects on the inside a little beyond the one beneath, and gradually in this way the roof comes to a 134 IRISH PICTURES. point closed by a single stone. These erections belong to a very ancient period of early Irish ecclesiastical architecture. The interior is 16 feet 6 inches high, and the walls are 6 feet thick. No. 2 is rectangular inside, better built than No. i, and composed of larger stones, some of which are dressed. Nos. 3 and 4 are similar structures. No. 5 was an oratory, and is quadrangular up to the height of 8 feet, and then becomes an oval dome. The wall at the door is 4 feet 8 inches thick. No. 6 is a cell, having on the inside 'two rows of projecting stones or pegs, which here, as also in the other cells, may have been the supports of book-satchels.' No. 7 is an oratory, stands alone, and gives evidence of being the oldest of the whole group of buildings by reason of the very rude nature of the building. No. 8, for a similar reason, is supposed to be the oldest of the cells. It is partly hidden by a wall built up against it in modern times. G. H. are old burial-grounds, containing many rude crosses and pillar stones. Our knowledge of the history of the Great Skellig is neither full nor consecutive, but there are very interesting references to it in the chief Irish writers. Keating 1 tells the story of how in ancient days the Milesians were wrecked off the south-west coast of Ireland by the powerful enchantments of the Tuatha de Danaans, and goes on to relate that ' the valiant Ir, the son of Milesius, with his ship, met the same fate ; for he was divided from the fleet, and was driven upon the western coast of Desmond, in the kingdom of Ireland, where he split upon the rocks, and every man perished. The body of this unfortunate prince was cast upon the shore, and was buried in a small island called Sceilig Mhichil. This place, by reason of its peculiar qualities, deserves a particular description. It is a kind of rock, situated a few leagues in the sea, and since St. Patrick's time much frequented by way of piety and devotion ; the top of it is flat and plain, and though the depth of earth be but shallow, it is observed to be of a very fattening nature, and feeds abundance of wild fowl that are forced to be confined upon it ; I say they are forced, because the surface of the ground, it is supposed, has that attractive virtue as to draw down all the birds that attempt to fly over it, and oblige them to alight upon the rock. The people who live nigh resort hither in small boats, when the sea is calm, to catch these birds, whose flesh being very sweet they use for provision, and their feathers for other occasions ; and it is to be observed that these fowl, though almost innumerable, are exceeding fat, notwithstanding the top of the rock is but small, and does not exceed three acres of land. The isle is surrounded by high and almost inaccessible precipices that hang dreadfully over the sea, which is generally rough, and roars hideously beneath. There is but one track, and that very narrow, that leads up to the top, and the ascent is so difficult and frightful that few are so hardy as to attempt it.' 1 General History of Ireland (1S54 edition, crown Svo.), p. 136. GLENGARIFF, KILLARNEY, AND VALENTIA. 135 Although Keating states that since St. Patrick's day the rock has been a place of pilgrimage, there is no historical evidence of this fact. The Annals record several plunderings of the islet by the Danes about 823 a.d. For example, under that date the Annals of Ulster state, ' Eitgau of Scelig was carried away by the strangers, and soon died of hunger and thirst.' Giraldus Cambrensis, in his Topograpkia Hibcrniac, a work dating from a.d. 1 187, thus refers to the Skelligs : 'In the southern part of Munster, in the neighbourhood of Cork, there is an island with a church dedicated to St. Michael, famed for its orthodox sanctity from very ancient times ; ' and Lord Dunraven l gives a passage from an ancient MS., extracted by Mr. W. M. Hennesy, to the following effect: 'This Rocke stands three leagues from the earth in the main ocean. Itt is all at lest 700 perches long or heigh, and with much adoe one man can climb up the stayres to it at a tyme, if he looks of any side he will be afrayd of falling into sea. Att the top of this rock is a church built, and a churchyeard about it, people coming too for to perform a pilgrimage on that Rocke. There is a fount or well springing out of the Rocke in the top, and which is very admirable. There is no bird that threds in the said churchyeard above, but must go to the very brinke or bancke thereof afore they can fly ; they can fly over it, but if they light in that place they can never fly until they run to the brink as afforesaide. It is named from the Archangell St. Michaell, in Irish Sceilig Mhichil.' We are not bound in this later age to accept as undoubted all the marvels attributed to the Rock in ancient times, but these references show that in remote days, no less than now, it was difficult of approach, and that its religious associations stirred some of the deepest emotions of the heart. But the afternoon is wearing on, the wind is freshening a little, and though we would gladly linger for hours, prudence warns us that it is time to depart. A large proportion of the population of the island accompanies us to the cove, where our boat is tossing somewhat restlessly upon waters that are in much more lively motion than when we landed. The tide is high, and the boatmen's care and skill are enlisted in the task of getting us safely embarked. Any nervous hesitation, or a foot slipping at the critical moment, might now be serious, for the boat is rising from four to six feet as each surge of the tide rolls into the cove. But in a few moments we are all safely on board, and the bow pointing towards Port Magee. We are not one hundred yards from the island before we have clear evidence that the sea is higher and the breeze stronger than it was two hours before. The white caps of the breaking waves are here and there to be seen, and though the four rowers put their strength into each pull, we seem to leave the Great Skellig only very slowly behind us. And again and again does the eye delight in its almost savage and yet fascinating 1 .Yn/rs on Irish Architecture, vol. i., p. 36. 136 IRISH PICTURES. outlines. For a time the weather seems inclined to give us a touch of one of its rougher moods. As it is, we have to shape our course so as to run to the south of Puffin Island, so called because frequented by puffins. And after a really hard pull of an hour and a half's duration, we get under its lee, and the work gets easier. The row northwards, almost immediately under the frowning cliffs of the mainland, enables us to study closely the splendid peculiarities of this coast ; and the nearer inspection only deepens the first impression, viz., that it is a cruel coast for any boat or ship in distress, but that it is a superb coast for the magnificent way in which it seems to assert its permanent supremacy to the restless, passionate, and eagerly on-rushing ocean. As we enter the harbour, and glide into the still water, the surf in the outer ledges and reefs thundering more loudly and heavily than in the morning, the sun again shines forth. We take a long, lingering farewell of the sapphire islets, and enjoy a lovely evening walk home through the heart of Valentia from Port Magee to the hotel at Knights Town, having added another to the too short list of our notable days of travel and adventure. A Stone Oratory at Sallerus, County Kerry. At Castle Connell os the Shannon. {From a sketch by Charles U'/iynifier.) '^^^ ^■y Athlone Castle. [From a photograph by Lawrence, of Dublin.') CHAPTER VI. The Shannon. IRELAND is exceedingly rich in rivers and loughs. The traveller marvels, first, at the extent and beauty of these natural high-roads, and, secondly, at the comparatively slight use made of them for traffic and commerce. In Oueenstown Harbour, near the port of Moville, in Lough Foyle, in Belfast Lough, and in Dublin Harbour, there are signs of a busy shipping trade. But even these splendid harbours do not impress the observer as being in any degree embarrassed by its quantity. And, on the other hand, such arms of the sea as Carlingford Lough, Donegal Bay, Galway Bay, and, above all, the estuary of the Shannon — waterways which many a land would be only too glad to possess and to utilise — are nearly devoid of shipping. The sail from Limerick to Kilrush fills the visitor with amazement. He rejoices in the size of this Irish Mississippi, and in the fine old ruined castles, and the lovely views to be seen along the banks. But while the steamer glides down the stream hour after hour, and few, if any, vessels pass it on their upward way, he is led to marvel how and why it comes to pass that such a superb channel is so conspicuously deserted. Nature has enriched no other European countries with such magnificent waterways, only to see them comparatively unused. i4o IRISH PICTURES. Ireland also compares favourably with England in her rivers. England can well hold her own in scenery ; but it is doubtful whether she can show river country equal in beauty to the Avonmore, the Blackwater, the Barrow, the Suir, the Nore, the Boyne and its branches. However this may be it is certain that no river in England equals the Shannon, either as an estuary, or in extent, or in the interest attaching to the towns and districts along its course. We propose in this chapter to trace the course of the great stream from the source to the ocean, visiting the more famous places and districts as we pass. The Shannon is 240 miles long, and it drains 4,544 square miles of country. It is navigable for large vessels as far as Limerick, that is, some sixty miles up from the mouth, and the greater part of its course, a total distance of 234 miles, is available for small vessels. The source, according to the popu- lar account, is a lime- stone cauldron, known as 'The Shannon Pot,' situated in a moun- tain valley in Cavan, having on the west the Lur^anacallasfh Mountain, and on the east Cuilcagh Mountain. But Pro- fessor Hull asserts that experiment has proved the real source to be 'a little lough, situated about a mile from the Shannon Pot, which receives considerable drainage from the ground surrounding it at the base of Tiltibane, but has no visible outlet. The waters from the little lough flow in a subterranean channel till they issue forth at the so-called source of the Shannon.' The river flowing in a southerly course is reinforced by the Owenmore River, a considerable stream with several affluents which drains the valley between Cuilcagh and Slievenakula Mountains, and which has itself a fair claim to be considered the real headwaters of the Shannon. The combined streams soon leave Cavan and flow through Leitrim, broadening out into Lough Allen, the first of a series of fine sheets of water along the course of the river. In its southerly course the stream passes by Carrick-on-Shannon, Jamestown, Loughs Baderg and Forbes, and forms the boundary between Connaught and Leinster, separating Roscommon on the west from Longford The House in which Maria Edgeworth lived. THE SHANNON. 141 and West Meath on the east. About nine miles from the town of Longford is a spot famous in the literary history not only of Ireland, but also of the United Kingdom. In 1583, a family named Edgeworth established itself at the village called Edgeworthstown, the head of it at that date being Bishop of Down and Connor. The family has always held a high place among those who felt it a duty to labour for the benefit and social improvement of those around them. During the last century, Richard Edgeworth did much to improve the estate, and was a noted landlord, but it is to the pen of his daughter that the wide reputation of the family is due, and the Moral Talcs have been read wherever English is known. The house in which the Edge- worths have resided for generations is a plain, comfortable mansion, and in The Library in which Maria Edgeworth wrote. this house, which is still standing, the stories were written which have delighted and benefited thousands of readers. Dr. Macaulay, in the Leisure Hour for 1873, thus describes the place to which he then journeyed as a literary pilgrim : ' Edgeworthstown is not a show place, nor is it to be seen without special permission. Having obtained this, I spent some pleasant hours there. Yet it was a melancholy kind of pleasure, the silent and deserted rooms peopling themselves with the shadows of the generation now all but passed away. Maria Edgeworth died in 1850, yet the library or study where she wrote most of the works which have made her name world-famous is just as she left it. It is a large, low-roofed room, with thick projecting wood pillars and wainscoting, and with cosy recesses. Her writing-table and chair, and old family bits of 142 IRISH PICTURES. furniture are still there. The walls are covered with pictures, chiefly family portraits, of which there are also several in the fine entrance hall. All parts of the house are full of interesting family records and relics.' Maria Edgeworth's father was married four times, and had no less than twenty-two children. She was the eldest, and in 1814 she wrote: 'His eldest child was above five-and-forty, the youngest being only one year old.' It was the responsibility thus thrust upon her, combined with natural aptitude for the work, which enabled her to practise in that large family the precepts she embodied in her numerous writings. Between Longford and Athlone the Shannon widens out into Lough Ree, a picturesque lake, possessing the broken outline common to loughs formed by the chemical solution of limestone rocks. The banks are well wooded, and the surface of the lake is broken by islands, some of which are exceedingly beautiful. Not very far from the southern end of Lough Ree is the village of Lissory or Auburn, which claims to be the birthplace of Oliver Goldsmith, and which certainly was the scene of his early childhood and youth. He was born at Pallas, in County Longford, in November, 1728, and when the boy was only a few years old, his father, a curate, was presented with the living of Auburn, where he was not simply ' passing rich on forty pounds a year,' after the standard of The Deserted Village, but in fairly comfortable circumstances, for the living was worth about ^200 a year. As a boy Oliver Goldsmith had a hard life. He was not attractive in appearance, and the smallpox left most evident traces upon his countenance of the severity with which it had visited him. From Auburn, when he was sixteen, he went up as a sizar to Trinity College, Dublin, and while there he so failed to utilise his time and opportunities that neither the keenest insight nor the liveliest imagination could have predicted that the day would come when the institution in which he had been caned by a tutor would erect, on one of the most prominent sites in the Irish metropolis, a statue to his memory. Goldsmith was a poet and a man of letters, and it has long been recognised that literary men of genius seldom develop in accordance with fixed rule, or in orderly response to academic training. It has often been supposed that in Goldsmith's famous poem, The Deserted Village, which appeared in 1770, he has sketched Auburn. Lord Macaulay's criticism is probably just : ' It is made up of two incongruous parts. The village in its happy days is a true English village ; the village in its decay is an Irish village. He had assuredly never seen in his native island such a rural paradise, such a seat of plenty, content, and tranquillity, as his Auburn. He had assuredly never seen in England all the in- habitants of such a paradise turned out of their homes in one day, and forced to emigrate in a body to America. The hamlet he had probably seen in Kent ; the ejectment he had probably seen in Munster ; but, by THE SHANNON. 143 joining the two, he has produced something which never was and never will be seen in any part of the world.' Two miles below Lough Ree the Shannon flows past Athlone, one of the most important and noted of Irish inland towns. It is a busy market Oliver Goldsmi ih. town, a great military centre, possessing also a valuable salmon fishery. The main line of rail between Dublin and Galway here crosses the Shannon by a handsome ' bowstring and lattice ' iron swivel bridge. This is 560 feet long, has four spans, two of 175 feet each over the river, and 144 IRISH PICTURES. two of 40 feet each, over a road on each bank. The castle is supposed to date from King John's time, and is still well kept up, being an important and imposing structure. Adjoining it are barracks capable of accommodating a small army. Athlone was the scene of stirring adventures in 1641, and in 1691 it was besieged and captured by General Ginkell. The bulk of the town lies opposite the castle, and on the left bank of the Shannon. The famous old bridge, the scene of many a conflict, was taken down some years ago, and replaced by the handsome and convenient structure depicted in the engraving. Athlone is not well built, nor does it contain much that need delay the visitor. But there is an air of bustle and prosperity about it that presents a pleasing contrast with some not very distant neighbours. Athlone is the most convenient starting-point for an excursion that should rank among the most important in Ireland, viz., a visit to Clon- macnois. At one time steamers plied down the Shannon from Athlone to Killaloe ; but at the time of writing (1888) this is not the case. A steamer may occasionally go, but this happens too seldom to be of much service to strangers. This is a misfortune, for the trip is one of the best in Ireland. But to visit Clonmacnois the visitor can either hire a row boat and pull down the river, or go by road in a car, a distance of nearly twelve miles. By the latter method he sees to advantage a fine stretch of country, and enjoys some strong fresh air. The district is undulating, and the road winds along past country houses, through tiny hamlets, by deserted cabins, and over large stretches of bog, giving every here and there fine views over the Shannon Valley, and at last brings the visitor to the far-famed ' Meadow of the Son of Nos,' this being the real meaning of the name Clonmacnois. This famous ecclesiastical establishment is well situated upon a knoll overlooking a wide sweep and curve of the Shannon. Within a Cashel, or stone enclosure, are some magnificent architectural remains, and upon another knoll, only a stone's throw distant, are traces of the ancient structure which served as the episcopal palace and castle of the O'Melaghlins. Clonmacnois was founded in A.D. 546 by St. Kieran on land given by Dermot MacCervail, King of Ireland. It soon became a city, and the seat of a bishopric, and established a great reputation as a seat of learning. In later times it became a favourite cemetery for kings and nobles. It was ravaged again and again by the Northmen, and the centuries have not treated it very kindly. But notwithstanding these vicissitudes, and the destructive influences that have been exerted upon it, it is yet second to no spot in Ireland for the number and interest of its wonderful remains. These consist of churches, round towers, stone crosses, and ancient tombs. The building known as Temple Conor is now used as a parish church. This church dates from the tenth century, but of the original edifice, in all probability, the doorway, of which we give an illustration, is THE SHANNON. '45 the only part extant. The Daimhliag Mor, or Great Church, was built in 909 by Flann, King of Ireland, and Colman, Abbot of Clonmacnois. It was rebuilt in the fourteenth century ; but the splendid west doorway is in all probability a part of the original structure. The north doorway, which is enriched by three sculptures placed above the arch — St. Patrick in his pontificals, with St. Francis on one side and St. Dominic on the other — is of the later date. Standing within the church and looking out through the western door, the visitor sees one of the finest ancient crosses in Ireland. It has evidently been placed there purposely, and, seen through the frame of a doorway that was two centuries old when Henry II. landed in Ireland, standing out boldly and clearly as it does against the distant sky, this great, time-worn cross deeply impresses the imagination. About its origin there is no doubt. Upon the west side is the inscription, ' A prayer for Flann, son of Maelsechlainn,' and upon the eastern, ' A prayer for Colman who made this cross on the King Flann.' King Flann died in a.d. 916, and Abbot Colman in 924 or 926, and this magni- ficent monument, 15 feet high, and so placed that no worshipper could leave the church without seeing it, has for over nine hundred years testified to the piety of the monarch, and to the skill of the men by whom he was served and remembered. On the side of the cross facing the church are sculptures relating to the original foundation of that edifice by St. Kieran, who is represented with a hammer in one hand and a mallet in the other. The other side has carvings depicting scenes in our Lord's Passion. A short distance to the south stands another large cross, nearly as fine a specimen of this kind of art as Flann's. It is a good example of the embossed ornamentation common in Irish sculpture of this period. The engraving on page 146 represents this in the foreground, with Flann's cross and the big Round Tower in the middle, and the Shannon in the distance. The numerous tombstones, ancient and modern, testify to the sanctity of Clonmacnois. There are two Round Towers. That shown in the engraving, although ruined in the upper portion, is one of the largest and finest in the country. It is contemporary, in all probability, with Flann's Church. Caesar Otway's Doorway of Temple Conor Church, Clonmacnois. 146 IRISH PICTURES. description of it is not only appropriate to this, but applies to many other specimens of this characteristic Irish building. ' It was high enough,' he writes, ' to take cognisance of the coming enemy, let him come from what point he might ; it commanded the ancient causeway that was laid down at considerable expense across the great bog on the Connaught side The large Round Tower and the Crosses at Clonmacnois. [From a pJwtograpk by Lawrence, 0/ Dublin.) of the Shannon ; it looked up and down the river, and commanded the tortuous and sweeping reaches of the stream, as it unfolded itself like an uncoiling serpent along the surrounding bogs and marshes ; it could hold communication with the holy places of Clonfert ; and from the top of its pillared height send its beacon light towards the sacred isles and anchorite retreats of Lough Ree ; it was large and roomy enough to contain all the THE SHANNON. H7 officiating priests of Clonmacnois, with their pyxes, vestments, and books ; and though the Pagan Dane or wild Munsterman might rush on in rapid inroad, yet the solitary watcher on the tower was ready to give warning, and collect within the protecting pillar all holy men and things, until the tyranny was overpast.' This extract admirably describes the most important functions of these curious buildings. No point in Irish archaeology has been more con- troverted than the origin and use of the Round Towers. Dr. Petrie has, in the opinion of most scholars, settled the question once for all in his well- known essay. They were watch-towers from which the approach of an enemy might be descried in time to make adequate preparations for defence. They were secure places of refuge, into which the monks and all connected with the monastery could safely retire with their valuables, when they were unable otherwise to withstand the assaults of the Northmen. They were also belfrys or bell-towers, and this may be described as their normal use. In them hung the bell or bells that summoned the various members of the monastery to their duties, and that announced the various services as they were held. During five or six hundred years the great tower of Clonmacnois discharged these varied functions. It was built, in Dr. Petrie's view, about a.d. 908. In the Annals of the Four Masters, under a.d. 1124, we read: ' The finishing of the cloictheach (the Irish term used to describe these towers, and meaning belfry) of Clonmacnois by O'Malone, successor of St. Kieran.' This entry referred in all probability not to the erection but to a restoration of the tower. And as late as 1552, in the same Annals, the following entry appears : ' Clonmacnois was plundered and devastated by the Galls (English) of Athlone, and the large bells were carried from the cloictheach. There was not left, moreover, a bell, small or large, an image, or an altar, or a book, or a gem, or even glass in a window, from the wall of the church out, which was not carried off. Lamentable was this deed, the plundering of the city of Ciaran, the holy patron.' Over a hundred specimens of these buildings, some of them quite perfect, have survived to this day. They resemble each other in plan and construction, some exhibiting better masonry than others, and local peculiarities in some instances determining the position of the windows and the door. Usually this is found, as shown in the engraving on page 146, about 15 feet from the ground. This fact strengthens the view that one main purpose the towers served was to afford a safe refuge. When the defenders had entered, and the ladder by which they ascended was removed, they were practically unassailable by any weapons the Northmen possessed. These doors were sometimes decorated with ornamental carvings, but more generally consisted of simple arches. The second tower at Clonmacnois belongs to the building known as L 2 148 IRISH PICTURES. Teampul Finghin, or Fineen's Church, dating, it is supposed, from the tenth century, of which only the chancel and round tower remain. In this instance the tower is perfect. It is much smaller than its companion, being only fifty-six feet high, and the doorway is on a level with the floor of the chancel and opens into it. Many interesting tombstones exist at Clonmacnois, and many inter- esting objects of antiquity have been found there. Among these the museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin possesses a crozier which once belonged to the bishops of Clonmacnois, and which is a very fine specimen of this kind of Irish art. But here, as at Glendalough, although a minute acquaintance with the history and archaeology adds greatly to the value and educational value of a visit, the absence of these by no means destroys the interest of Clon- macnois. The situation is very lovely, the view of the Shannon very fine, the ride or the row from Athlone enjoyable, and even the most superficial inspection of the towers and arches and ruined churches can hardly fail to enrich the visitor with new and deep impressions of the vigorous religious life of Ireland eight hundred or a thousand years ago. Leaving Clonmacnois and following the course of the great river, Shannon- bridge and Banaghel are passed, and finally we reach Portumna. Here a swivel bridge, 766 feet long, has replaced an earlier wooden structure built by Lemuel Cox, the architect of the still ex- tant Waterford Bridge. There is nothing of special interest in Portumna, but the district around has become notorious in recent years on account of its agrarian troubles. Into these, however, it is not our function to enter. A few miles to the east of Portumna is Birr or Parsonstown, the residence of the late Earl Rosse, whose achievements in connection with the telescope are well known. Birr Castle is a fine pile of buildings, some portions of which are very ancient. About 16 10 it came into the possession of the present family by a grant on the part of James I. to Sir Lawrence Parsons. The great telescopes were built by the father of the present earl some fifty years ago. They are three in number, and are all reflectors ; one 18 inches in diameter, one 3 feet in diameter, and the Great Telescope, six feet in diameter and 60 feet long, the largest astronomical instrument Doorway of the larger Round Tower at Clonmacnois. THE SHANNON. 149 in the world. It was first erected in 1842, and although some improve- ments have been made in the mounting, these are not very important. The concave mirrors are metal in all three, that of the Leviathan weighing nearly four tons. By the aid of these splendid instruments the late and the present earls have added greatly to our know- ledge of the nebulae and of some branches of astronomical physics. Below Portumna the river widens out into Lough Derg, about 25 miles long, with an average width of from 2 to 3 miles. The scenery along the whole of the lake is very fine, especially at Scariff Bay. From Mount Shannon on the north shore of the bay, Iniscalthra, one of the many Holy Islands of Ireland, should be visited. St. Caiman founded a monastery here in the seventh century. The church he built was restored by Brian Boru, and of this building considerable ruins are still extant. There is also a fine round tower, partly ruined, but still 80 feet high. At the southern end of Lough Derg is the town of Killaloe, once the seat of power of King Brian Boru. The situation of the town is most picturesque, and it is rich in the possession of a very ancient church. An abbey was founded here in the sixth century by St. Molua, and on its site now stands the cathedral, which dates from the end of the twelfth century. Hard by the cathedral is a small stone-roofed church, which Dr. Petrie believes may be referred to St. Flannan, Molua's disciple, who was consecrated Bishop of Killaloe about a.d. 639. On a beautiful wooded island in the river stand the ruined nave and choir of a stone roofed church belonging to the oldest buildings of the class in Western Europe, and considered by Dr. Petrie to be a church originally built by St. Molua. In these days the island is frequented by anglers, amongst whom it holds a high character, as affording ample facilities for their sport. At Killaloe, and between that town and Limerick, the course of the Shannon is broken by rapids, and consequently the water traffic between those two places is carried on by canal. About midway between the two Crozier found at Clonmacnois. 150 IRISH PICTURES. towns is one of the loveliest bits of landscape in Ireland. This place is known as Castle Connell, and here occur what are generally called the Falls of Doonass. The waters of the Shannon, which are here in some places 40 feet deep and 300 yards wide, for a distance of half a mile rush and roar over ledges of rock and huge boulders. The effect of the scene, which is really very impressive, is due not to anything like a high fall. It owes its charm to the fact that the Shannon makes a wide curve, the banks are either precipitous and well-wooded, or else bordered by fine and well-kept demesnes, and rushing along- between the beautiful banks is the noble stream, its surface broken up into falls and whirlpools and hurrying rapids ; the ever-changing and yet ever-constant forms delighting the eye, and the varied tones of the troubled waters combining into a volume of sound delightful and refreshing to the ear. Few spots are better suited for a quiet walk, for a summer picnic, and, above all, for the pursuit of Izaak Walton's craft. Even a short walk along the river can seldom be taken at this point during the season without the sight of a salmon or a trout capture. Nor is this operation limited to its legitimate pursuit. Walking along the right bank of the stream, sheltered corners are shown in the rocks where fires can be lit to attract the salmon, and report has it that poaching after this fashion is by no means uncommon. Soon after leaving Castle Connell, Limerick is reached, by far the most important city on the Shannon, one of the important centres of trade in Ireland, and a place that has been prominent in some of the most stirring episodes in history. It was founded by the Danes in the ninth century. From them it passed under the sway of the family of Brian Bom, thus attaining to the dignity of the royal city of Munster. It then fell into the hands of the Thomond kings, who ruled it during the twelfth century. King John erected a strong castle there ; it was often besieged in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Elizabeth made it a centre of adminis- tration ; Ireton captured it in 1 65 1 ; in the Stuart struggle it held with James II., and having been unsuccessfully assaulted by William III. in 1690, in 1 69 1 it capitulated under the treaty which led to a series of events the memory of which has given Limerick the name of the ' City of the Violated Treaty.' Limerick is finely situated upon both banks of the Shannon and upon King's Island, which is formed by the Abbey River. It is divided into three main districts ; English Town, which occupies the island, Irish Town, which lies to the south of the island — these two constituting the ' Old Town ' — and Newtown Pery, the chief business and residential districts of to-day. From the peculiarities of its situation, Limerick is rich in bridges. Three cross the Shannon, two of them being handsome structures. One, the Athlunkard Bridge, is hardly within the town. It crosses a beautiful reach of the river above the city, and carries the Killaloe Road. The THE SHANNON. 151 Wellesley Bridge, connecting Newtown Pery with the road from Ennis, is a fine specimen of modern engineering, and consists of five arches, with a swivel on the city side. Higher up the river is Thomond Bridge, rebuilt in 1839, which stands on the site of the ancient bridge, and was the scene of many important events in the past history of the city. Few towns in the United Kingdom can exhibit such large structures so finely placed as these two bridges. At the western end of Thomond Bridge, raised upon a substantial pedestal which lifts it above the reach of the chipping tourist or the wanton defacer, stands the stone upon which, according to popular belief, the Treaty of Limerick was signed in 1601. The history of this famous Thomond Bridge, Limerick. negotiation is long and complex. One of the articles stipulated that the Roman Catholics should enjoy the same privileges in the exercise of their religion as they had done in the reign of Charles II., and that they were to be protected from religious persecution. This article does not seem to have been kept, and hence the name so frequently applied to Limerick — the ' City of the Violated Treaty.' Thomond Bridge gains in picturesque beauty from the fact that at the eastern end stands King John's Castle. This has been greatly disfigured by the construction of unsightly barracks within its precincts ; but these have not been able to wholly destroy the fine effect of the old turrets and towers rising above the bold arches of the bridge, as seen from the opposite bank of the Shannon. Frowning down upon the main approach to English Town, 152 IRISH PICTURES. the massive gateway and the drum towers tell the tale of force and con- quest invariably associated here and elsewhere with the traces of the Norman and Anglo-Norman times. The only other building likely to interest the visitor stands in English Town. This is Limerick Cathedral ; it differs from many churches in departing from the crucifix form, and consists of three aisles. It is considered to date from the twelfth century, but it has been so often enlarged, rebuilt, and restored that probably little if any of the original edifice remains. The interior is effective, and there are many tombs in it, some of considerable interest and merit ; the two side aisles are divided into chapels. There is a splendid tower at the west end, and from the top a view of this part of the Shannon valley is obtained which no visitor who wishes to appreciate the beauty of the Limerick suburbs should miss. At his feet lies the city, intersected by the rivers, and the eye can easily follow the windings of the cramped streets that occupy the older parts. Away on every side stretches a fine expanse of country. Looking up the Shannon, the stream can be traced a considerable part of the way towards Castle Connell and Lough Derg, while below the city it can be seen hastening on to the noble estuary. On every side the The Treaty Stone, Limerick. THE SHANNON. 153 view is beautifully framed in by the near or distant hills which enclose one of the most fertile districts of Ireland. The tower contains a peal of bells noted for their sweetness of tone, and concerning which the following legend is related : — ' The founder of the bells, an Italian, having wandered through many lands, at last, after the lapse of long years, arrived in the Shannon one summer evening. As he sailed up the river, he started at hearing his long lost bells ring out a glorious chime ; with intensified attention he listened to their tones, and when his companions tried to arouse him from his ecstasy they found he had died of joy.' From this point of vantage a fair appreciation of the most brilliant exploit performed by Limerick's military hero, Sarsfield, may be obtained. When, in 1690, William III. was marching upon Limerick, expecting an easy capture, it was only by Sarsfield's energy and courage that the resolution was taken to resist to the last. Things looked gloomy indeed for the Irish cause. William and his army arrived and pitched their tents ; at some distance in the rear followed ammunition trains and supplies, together with some heavy ordnance, and a bridge of ten boats. Sarsfield, with the skill of a true soldier, saw that his one supreme hope was to destroy the enemy's train. The incident can hardly be better described than in Lord Macaulay's words : ' A few hours, therefore, after the English tents had been pitched before Limerick, Sarsfield set forth under cover of the night with a strong body of horse and dragoons. He took the road to Killaloe, and crossed the Shannon there ; during the day he lurked with his band in a wild moun- tain tract named from the silver mines which it contains. He learned in the evening that the detachment which guarded the English artillery had halted for the night seven miles from William's camp on a pleasant carpet of green turf, and under the ruined walls of an old castle ; that officers and men seemed to think themselves perfectly secure ; that the beasts had been turned loose, and that even the sentinels were dozing. When it was dark the Irish horsemen quitted their hiding-place, and were conducted by the people of the country to the spot where the escort lay sleeping round the guns. The surprise was complete ; some of the English sprang to their arms, and made an attempt to resist, but in vain ; about sixty fell, one only was taken alive. The victorious Irish made a huge pile of waggons and pieces of cannon. Every gun was stuffed with powder, and fixed with its mouth in the ground, and the whole mass was blown up. The solitary prisoner, a lieutenant, was treated with great civility by Sarsfield. " If I had failed in this attempt," said the gallant Irishman, " I should have been off to France." ' Sarsfield returned to Limerick, William was compelled to retreat, and it was not until the following year that Sarsfield honourably capitulated to Ginkell, and retired with a part of his army to France. A fine statue of the general now adorns one of the streets of the city. i 5 4 IRISH PICTURES. Limerick has some fine streets and handsome buildings ; the former are thronged by many varieties of Irish society, and by not a few of the fair sex, whose beauty has added to the fame of the city. William Street and George Street are good thoroughfares, crowded with business houses and attractive shops. At the same time it must be admitted that Limerick, even more than many Irish centres of trade, presents those ruined and dismantled houses, even in the better-class streets, which strike the traveller's eye so curiously and unfavourably. The Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. John is a fine Gothic structure. Beyond the top of George Street is the Convent of St. Vincent, and not far away is a large and handsome church. One week evening the writer saw this building, which is capable of holding seventeen hundred people, crammed to the doors by men who had come — and whom he was informed came regularly every week — to a service in connection with the religious and temperance guild worked by the Redemptorist Fathers, to whom the church belongs. Two services are held each week, both thronged, and the guild numbers 5000 men. Limerick has long been a centre of considerable trade, and although at the present time (1888) there is great depression in shipping, and American competition has practically destroyed Irish flour mills, nevertheless there is considerable commercial activity in the city. Lace of a very superior quality has long been produced here, also fishhooks of a fine temper. The industry that exhibits to the stranger most signs of prosperity and extent is connected with one of the staple productions of the land — the ever- present pig — and expends great energy and capital upon the speediest and best ways of converting him into bacon and hams. There is a mistaken idea current that this process can be seen to advantage only in the United States ; that is a great delusion. There are larger pig-killing establishments at Cincinnati and Chicago, doubtless, but at none of them is there a greater combination of smartness, neatness, cleanliness, and high quality of the bacon and ham than at Limerick. By the courtesy of the proprietors, the writer was enabled to go over the establishment of Messrs. Shaw and Sons. Multitudes of those pigs which are to be seen by almost every cabin door in Ireland, and which swarm at every market and fair, find their way here. The buyers, the sharpest and in some respects the most important members of the staff, are constantly securing in all parts of the country hundreds and thousands of pigs. They are not kept long in an active state. Very soon after the porker's arrival it becomes his turn to be chained by the hind leg, swung up to an iron bar, and before he has had time to utter more than two or three of his shrill protests, a sure and strono- hand cuts short his life. In the course of the next few minutes he passes through a series of processes which result in his being cleansed, prepared, weighed, and deposited in the huge room where he awaits his turn to be made into bacon and hams. The rate at which this work is THE SHANNON. 155 done can be gauged from the fact that sometimes 100 are weighed within the hour. Strange as it may sound, all these processes are done cleanly ; and by exceedingly ingenious arrangements of sliding rods it is very seldom necessary for the animal to be placed upon the shoulders of men. It is only by going over an establishment of this kind that some notion of the magnitude of the Irish bacon trade is obtained. Few, probably, think that the shaping of a ham has anything special about it, until they see the rough ham taking a neat and shapely form under knives used by skilful hands. On leaving Limerick in the Kilrush boat, the shipping trade is seen in active operation along the quays. This, unfortunately, is not so brisk as it used to be ; but it still represents a large capital. The trip to the estuary occupies several hours, and is full of enjoyment to those fond of river scenery. The bridges, quays, castle, spires, and cathedral of Limerick soon disappear in the distance, and Carrig-O-Gunnell, the first of the many ruined castles of this district, comes into view. A few miles inland is Mungret, once a great centre of Irish learning, its abbey, now a ruin, formerly accommodating no fewer than 1 500 monks ; and further inland still Adare, the lovely seat of Lord Dunraven, famous not only for Adare Manor, one of the finest houses in Ireland, but also for a wonderful group of ruins. These consist of a castle, the Trinitarian Friary (1230), the Austin Friary (1306), the Franciscan Friary (1464), and two ancient churches. The late earl was an enthusiastic lover of Irish antiquities, as his great work, Notes 011 Irish Architecture, proves ; and these ruins are carefully looked after. There is nothing of the kind more beautiful in the country. Ruined castles are not quite so frequent along the lower valley of the Shannon as on the Rhine, nor are they quite so picturesquely situated ; but, like their more noted brethren, they speak of a time when violence was rampant, when men took what they could get by the strong right hand, and kept it only as long as they remained stronger than their turbulent neighbours. The old keeps alternate with fine modern country seats, this district now, no less than in the past, being a place of residence desired by many. Leaving Bunratty Castle, a massive ruin, on the right hand, and crossing the mouth of the Fergus, which is really a wide bay, Foynes, the terminus of the railway, is reached ; a few miles further the seat of the Knight of Glin is passed, and finally Tarbert is reached. The river at this part is exceedingly lovely. Below Tarbert the stream broadens out into a magnificent estuary, forming a splendid approach to the heart of the country. A run of eight or nine miles in a north-westerly direction brings the vessel to Kilrush. On the left, the ruined churches, the Round Tower, and the tiny hamlets of Scattery Island are in full view. But before this can be duly enjoyed the pier is reached, and any imaginative excursion into those far-distant days when St. Senan crossed to the island in a coracle very similar to those still to be seen on the beach is promptly terminated r 5 6 IRISH PICTURES. by the discordant shouts of the car-drivers on the quay, each hailing some old employer, or eager to secure a prey before a rival succeeds. For in Kilrush there is little of interest, and most of those who come by the boat have as their goal Kilkee. This is the fashionable watering-place of the district, and although Miltown Malbay and Lahinch are making a strong bid for favour, the accommodation at Kilkee is still far ahead of any that can be shown by its enterprising rivals. The drive from Kilrush is about nine miles, and not specially interesting. This is a drawback ; but few who reach the little seaside place regret the trouble expended in getting there. The coast of Clare is wild and rocky in the extreme. At Kilkee a pretty semicircular bay has been formed, with good sands, and protected from the inrush of Kilkee from the Coastguard Station. {From a pJwicgrapk by Lawrence, of Dublin.} z£k§&^ ^ the Atlantic by as ugly a ledge ol rock as the most fastidious taste in that class of scenery could desire. It is in keeping with this terrible west coast that, even when a rare harbour, as at Kilkee, does occur, it should be rendered very difficult to enter except in fine weather. Around the bay, and especially on the southern side, the West End, as it is called, cluster the houses occupied by visitors in the summer, and deserted for the most part in the winter. The coast walks are very fine, and the air is very fresh and bracing. Any who love, or who need, the wind that blows in from the sea can here obtain it in remark- able purity. Those who enjoy a holiday more if they are accompanied by their children, can see them sport in the sands at Kilkee with equanimity, knowing that there they are safe, and certain to enjoy themselves. Those who rejoice in wild fantastic rock scenery should be happy at Kilkee. All along this coast the waves of the Atlantic in the course of ages THE SHANNON. 157 have washed away all g*»i|j>;t the softer material from huge pillars of rock that yet defy the power of the sea, and appear to stand as sentinels along the shore. In some parts the angles are such that a slight exercise of the imagination can transform Cliffs near Kilkee. 158 IRISH PICTURES. prominent points along the coast into giant faces looking down sardonically upon the waves breaking and roaring helplessly at their feet. On Bishop's Island is a very good example of a beehive oratory and a house, none the -x^i'i '■■>'/ i?'jLr' 'i*V' ■M Cliffs and Natural Arch near Bally- BUNNION. {From a photograph hy Lawrence, of Dublin. less interesting from the fact that it can be fairly well studied from the mainland. Caves and natural arches abound both north and south of Kilkee. We gfive an engravinc of a curious natural arch to be seen near Ballybunnion, on the south side of the Shannon estuary, opposite the ruins of Carrigaholt Castle, once the stronghold of the MacMahons. In fine weather boating enables the curious to look closely upon the weird cliff forms and the really wonderful rock faces of this coast ; while in rough weather it may be some consolation to go and watch the sea at its fantastic tricks in the Puffing Hole. Blessing the Claddagh Fleet at the Beginning of the Fishing Season. {From a sketch by Charles Whymper.} Clew Bay. CHAPTER VII. . CONNEMARA ALWAY is the proper starting-point for excursions into the splendid mountain country of Connemara ; but as we closed our last chapter at Kilkee, it may be well to resume our travels from that point. The drive from Kilkee to Mil town Malbay runs near the coast, affording here and there some good views, but chiefly interesting because it traverses a fairly good agri- cultural district of County Clare, and enables the traveller to see for himself what kind of land the Clare peasants have to work, and what are the external appearances of one of the great centres of agrarian disturbance. The West Clare Railway is now open to Miltown Malbay, and the traveller M 162 IRISH PICTURES. The Cliffs of Moher. [From a photograph by Lawrence, of Dublin.) pressed for time can go via Ennis direct by rail to Galway. Much the more interesting route is to keep along the coast, visiting the cliffs of Moher, then striking in- land to Lisdoonvarna, and crossing Galway Bay from Ballyvaughan. There are several famous stretches of cliff scenery on the west coast of Ireland — Moher, Croghan on Achill Island, the cliffs between Ballina and Belmullet, Horn Head, and Slieve League. The last is the most picturesque, and impresses most powerfully the imagination, but the connoisseur should make a point of inspecting them all. The cliffs of Moher extend for several miles along the coast of Clare, reaching in one or two parts an altitude of from 600 to 700 feet. The best time to see them is during a westerly gale. On a clear day the view from the tower shown in the engraving is very comprehensive, extending over the Connemara Highlands northwards, and westward and southward from the Isles of Arran at the mouth of Galway Bay to Loop Head, the extreme point of the promontory forming the north shore of the Shannon estuary. Lisdoonvarna is a spa, and those wishful to do so can there partake of either chalybeate or sulphur water, and at the same time study the habits of those who frequent the Irish Cheltenham. But most visitors, after seeing Moher, prefer to leave these tamer beauties for the more rugged scenes of the north, and make all CONNEMARA. •63 speed to Galway. Or, if coming from Dublin, they will take the comfortable and, for Ireland, fast express of the Midland Great Western Railway. By this route the visitor runs across the great central plain of the country, and over the extensive dreary tracts of the Bog of Allen, which at parts Peat Cutting. {From a sketch by Charles Whymfrr.) extends for miles along both sides of the railway. But even here the dark brown colouring, the dead level, the evidences of peat cutting, and the accentuated monotony of the landscape, combine to interest those who see them for the first time. These peat bogs make up a very considerable M 2 1 64 IRISH PICTURES. proportion of the soil of the country, occupying no less than 2,830,000 acres, and they arouse curiosity as to their origin. Since, like coal, they exhibit no marine fossils, they are not due to the action of the sea. But the evidence shows that they have been formed by mossy growths either in forests or upon the sediment deposited in hollows or fresh-water lakes. The continuous growth and decay during the lapse of ages has slowly built up the peat, which now varies from 20 to 40 feet in thickness, and which supplies over a great part of Ireland the lack of coal. The great bog district over which the railroad to Galway runs is believed to be due to the growth of peat-producing plants destroying the original oak forest, this being succeeded by firs, and these also perishing in turn. Peat-cutting is one of. the commonest and most characteristic occupa- tions in Ireland. Our engraving illustrates the process in some parts of Connaught, though the commoner method is to cut the peat from above, the operator with the spade standing upon the portion to be cut away, and detaching the blocks vertically, not horizontally. The peat is cut into pieces much the size and shape of a brick. It is piled in the first instance loosely by the side of the trench from which it is cut. When sufficiently dried there, it is stacked, as shown by the piles in the distance, and it is then carried or carted by horses, ponies or donkeys to the place where it is to be sold or consumed. Most travellers in Ireland at some stage of their journeyings have reason to, and very readily can, assure themselves of the heat-giving qualities of peat. Passing first Mullingar, that Mecca of anglers, then Athlone, already described, and finally Athenry, with its ruined castle, ancient gateway, and, if seen on market day, picturesque throng of Galway peasants, the train steams into the spacious Galway terminus, adjoining which is the huge hotel built in the hope that Galway would become, what it doubtless ought to be, a great port for the American trade. The curious man may ramble about Galway, and find much to interest him at every turn. The streets are for the most part narrow, winding and irregular. The houses form a strange jumble. Side by side with substantial buildings of the most approved nineteenth century type, stand houses which carry the observer back to the sixteenth century, and if in their courtyards he were to see a group of Philip the Second's Spaniards, he could hardly be surprised. There is the same strange variety in the faces to be seen. Here, if nowhere else, the supposed typical Irishman is to be met, in tall hat and knee-breeches, with the short up-turned nose, small forehead and receding chin. Here also in the crowd follow faces that recall one after another the Dane, the Saxon, the Spaniard and the Celt. Here more, perhaps, than in most popular centres in Ireland the mixed character of the Irish people becomes evident. There are but few buildings in the town of any special merit ; Eyre CONNEMARA. 165 Square contains the best of the modern structures. Lynch's mansion in Abbeygate Street is a fine example of the kind of house the Spanish merchants lived in three centuries ago. St. Nicholas Church is well worth a visit ; the requirements of modern education are met by the Queen's College, a fine Gothic building, which stands on the western bank of the River Corrib, in the northern suburbs. The town possesses a very fine harbour, and around it centres much of the business. Into this harbour empties the Corrib, the outlet of the two great lakes, Lough Mask and Lough Corrib, a shallow, rocky, rushing oueen's College, Galway. stream, in which at certain seasons of the year the salmon are to be seen in such numbers that — to use the colloquial phrase — ' you might walk across upon their backs.' The current is too rapid and the bed too shallow for navigation through the town, and the Eglinton Canal connects the harbour for traffic purposes with the upper part of the Corrib. Few rivers rival the Corrib in the abundance of salmon, and while every facility is afforded for legitimate sport, a good deal of poaching of the kind shown in the engraving on page 166 is there carried on, if report in this instance speaks truly. At the mouth of the harbour, and forming the southernmost quarter of the town, is the Claddagh, a district inhabited solely by a clan of fishermen 1 66 IRISH PICTURES. and their families ; they live in low thatched huts, and are engaged for the most part in the herring fishery. By some authorities they have been considered of Spanish descent, while others, with more reason, hold that they are of Celtic origin. ' The commerce between Galway and Spain was, no doubt, at one time very extensive and important. The Spanish style of many of the houses now in ruins, the traditions and authentic records, prove Salmon Poaching on the Corrib. [From a sketch by Charles Whymper.) that Galway was in old times a very thriving, busy, gay, and luxurious city. No doubt many Spanish merchants lived in Galway, and intermarried with natives long before the stern old Warden condemned his own son to death for slaying a Spanish rival. A Spanish face may still be seen in and about Galway — once in a week or so ; but it appears to me quite certain that the Claddagh, above all other people, had no intermarriage with Spaniards. In proof of this, their present names are nearly all Irish, such as Connolly, CONNEMARA. 167 O'Connor, O'Flaherty; there are some English and Welsh, as Jones, Brown and Barrett ; those first mentioned, however, form the great majority. The Christian names are generally Scriptural, as John, Matthew, Michael, Paul, also Patrick, Catharine, &c. ; but they have this remarkable peculiarity- that there are so many persons of the same name that they are distinguished (in the Irish language) by the names of fishes ; thus, Jack the hake, Bill the cod, Joe the eel, &c. The men and women of the Claddagh, and indeed of Galway County generally, are very fond of gay dress and bright colours ; the country women often wear red cloaks, but the Claddagh women wear bine cloaks and red petticoats ; the fishermen wear jacket, breeches and stockings home-made and light blue. The women often go bare foot, and wear the short blue cloak, bed-gown and red petticoat ; the head dress is a kerchief of bright colours. ' There are no braver men at sea than the Claddagh fishermen, when they go off with the priestly benediction, and the blessed salt and ashes. On land, too, they can show courage when it is called forth and sustained by the conscious- ness of right. A few years ago they completely routed a considerable body of dragoons, by casting showers of heavy stones from their slings. By the way, casting pebbles from the sling is an amusement and a mode of warfare peculiar to the Claddagh men at the present day. Since the famine, this and other sports have been held in abeyance, but it was formerly usual for them to have " slinging matches " ; and when a man was able to strike a shilling as far as it could be seen, it was considered a good shot. It must be refreshing to a Christian of any sect, who has seen much of the despairing infidelity and brutalizing wretchedness of some parts of England, to witness even the superstitions of this simple, patient, and joyous people. They believe in the actual presence of God among them, and do everything in His name. It is worthy of remark that they never by any chance salute or speak to each other without the name of God. I almost regretted to learn that the priests are discountenancing their old amiable superstitions. I may be excused for these allusions to the religion of this race, for certainly the thoughts and feelings of men form the most interesting phase of human study ; and it might be a question with the social reformer whether these people in their ignorance and poverty are not happier than the rich, in whom the emotional element is comparatively dull, and who feel less acutely the joys and sorrows of the battle of life. Here in this remote west the historian also may see in fine preservation much of the life and feeling of the Middle Ages, while all is changed in the "go-ahead" world around. Like seamen everywhere, the Claddagh men have their lucky and unlucky Hook for Poach- ing Salmon. 168 IRISH PICTURES. days, and woe to him who dares to cast a line on an unpropitious morning. Formerly they would not on any account commence the fishing season unless the priest went along with them, and in regular form pronounced a blessing on the day, the boat with the priest sailing out at the head of the fleet. ' The appearance of the village of Claddagh is dirty, but the houses are clean enough inside ; and be it known that before the famine their houses were models of cleanliness ; and we must re- collect that those manure heaps which frequently offend the eye in Irish villages have no offensive odour, on account of the deodorizing power of the peat which forms a large portion of the compost. The men and women have gene- rally clean linen, although often covered with rags. It is a general fact worthy of note that in Ireland a dirty outside generally covers a clean heart.' 1 Among the groups ga- thered at the fish market or clustering around Galway Harbour, the stranger will occasionally see men dressed like the one depicted in the engraving. He exhibits a facial type not common in the crowd, he wears very distinctive knee-breeches or knickerbockers, and his shoes, technically known as pam- pootas, are made of untanned cowhide with the hair left on, cut low at the 1 The Ulster Journal of Archaolog}', vol. ii., pp. 162-165. •MMCHMiaBI An Arran Islander. {From a sketch by C/uirtes Whymperl\ CONNEMARA. 169 sides, with a narrow pointed piece to cover the toes. It is said that experience has proved that such shoes or sandals as these are best suited for the rocky soil such men have to tread. And when the stranger, his curiosity aroused, desires to know whence these men come, he discovers that they are from the Arran Islands. These are three rocky islands lying off the mouth of Galway Bay, abounding in ruins of the most remarkable kind, and inhabited by a simple and kindly race of peasant fishermen. To describe in any detail the noted ruins upon these islands would require a small volume. The most famous is known as Dun Aengus. It is a massive stone fort built in prehistoric times upon the very verge of the western cliff of Inishmore, the largest of the group. It is generally conceded that this represents one of the last strongholds defended by the original inhabitants of Ireland, and is supposed to date from about the first century a.d. 1 A steamer runs regularly to these islands, and they are full of interest both to the antiquary, and to the tourist who ever yearns for ' fresh fields and pastures new.' On these islands, at places like Barna, in Galway Bay, and in fact almost universally along the western coast, the traveller meets and can readily test the seaworthy qualities of the curragh, the representative of the ancient coracle. These boats, made of tarred canvas stretched over a light frame, frail as they seem, can live in very rough weather, and are managed with very great skill by the boatmen. Their chief defect is that they make much leeway when there is a strong breeze. But any one who wishes to make a voyage along this coast in much the same fashion as the Christian missionaries in the fifth and sixth centuries, can do so by employing the modern curragh. After exhausting in a more or less rapid fashion the sights of Galway and the neighbourhood, most travellers push on into the wilds of Connemara. Loughs Corrib and Mask, together with the village of Cong, lie at the beginning of the route. During the summer a steamer sails daily from Galway to Cong, traversing Lough Corrib, which is not only one of the largest but also one of the loveliest in Ireland. It covers an area of no less than 44,000 acres. It is studded with islets, the most important being Inchagoill, or 'the island of the devout foreigner,' which contains an ancient graveyard and the ruins of two very old Irish churches. The more ancient of the two is known as Teampull Phaidrig, or St. Patrick's Church, and has claims by no means despicable to be considered as belonging to the age of the great Irish missionary. There is, moreover, upon Inchagoill a stone monument bearing the inscription, ' the stone of Lugnaedon, son of Limenueh,' who is generally held to have been sister of St. Patrick. Experts have decided that on palseographical grounds the ' Elaborate details with regard to the antiquarian relics on these islands are given in such works as Petrie's Round Towers, Dunraven's Notes on Irish Architecture, and Miss Stokes' Early Christian Architecture in Ireland. 170 IRISH PICTURES. inscription cannot be referred to a later date than the very beginning of the sixth century. The second church, Teampull-na-Neave, ' the church of the Saint,' is several centuries younger than St. Patrick's, and presents to the student of church architecture a very fine example of the decorated, circular-arched, cluster-pillared doorway. On the isthmus connecting Loughs Corrib and Mask stands the village of Cong, the name being derived from the Irish word Cunga, which means 'a neck.' About the year ioio Cong was the seat of a bishopric, and ■"-'■<'. •'• / ' The Curragh. [From sketches by Charles Wkymjer.) there are still extant the ruins of a very fine abbey dating from the twelfth century. It belonged to the wealthy order of St. Augustine. During the last fifty or sixty years the remains have suffered severely from the depredations of those who considered and used it as a handy quarry. It was famous in early days for wealth and ecclesiastical treasures ; of the latter the famous Cross of Cong, described on p. 44, is a good example. The Annals of the Four Masters record that in ' a.d. 1150 Muireadhach Ua Dubhthaigh, Arch- bishop of Connaught, chief senior of all Ireland in wisdom, chastity, in the bestowal of jewels and food, died at Cong in the 75th year of his age.' This man's name is inscribed upon the processional Cross of Cong. CONNEMARA. 171 Roderick O'Connor, who is often described as ' the last King of Ireland,' died here in 1198. The popular view, that he was also interred in Cong Abbey, is incorrect, he having been buried at Clonmacnois. But here he spent the last fifteen years of his life. ' Standing between the river and the abbey, the picture naturally rises before us of the ancient monarch, broken down by the calamities which his family was suffering from, a foreign invasion, which he was no longer able to resist, but still more so by the Cong Abbey. [From a photograph by Lawrence, 0/ Dublin.) opposition and ingratitude of his own children and relatives — passing up the river with his retinue, landing here in 1183, and received by the Lord Abbot and his canons and friars, and then taking leave of his faithful adherents at the water's edge, being conducted in procession to the abbey, which, it is said, his munificence had endowed. There as a recluse, untrammelled by the weight of state affairs, and possibly unaffected by the quarrels of his chieftains and kinsfolk, the Last Monarch of Ireland, abdicating his authority because the country no longer supported him, died, 17= IRISH PICTURES. a sad but fitting and prophetic emblem of the land over which he had ruled.' ' Not far from Cong is the Plain of Moytura, where one of those famous battles— half-historic, half-mythic — lasting three days, took place in the dawn of Irish history between the Firbolgs and the Tuatha de Danaan. Those who wish to get some accurate notion of what really took place on that occasion cannot do better than consult Sir W. Wilde's Lough Corrib, where they will find the history of the great struggle minutely traced. 1 Sir W. Wilde's Loi^h Corrib, p. 181. CONNEMARA. 173 Lough Mask is about nine miles long and four wide, in a very beautiful part of the country, abounding in traces of ruined castles and churches. The river connecting the two lakes runs partly underground, and we are able to give an engraving of one part of this subterranean channel where it is easily accessible and widens out into what is known as the ' Pigeon Hole.' The lively Celtic imagination, which has produced all over Ireland such a rich crop of fairy lore and local legends, has enriched the stream with a brace of holy white trout, which it would be impious in the extreme to catch. And now, turning our course westwards, one of the most picturesque Glendalough. regions of Connaught lies before us. It is the fashion to rush this district by aid of tourist cars. It is hardly needful to say that a more leisurely progress, even if it lead to the expense of private cars, will soon repay the traveller for the expenditure of time and money. The first half of the 47 miles that separate Clifden from Galway are not particularly interesting ; but when Oughterard and Lough Shindilla is reached, the excursion becomes one to delight the lover of fine scenery. To the north rise the Mamturk Mountains, 2,000 feet high ; then comes the valley known as Glen Inagh, at the entrance to which stands the huge sentinel, •74 IRISH PICTURES. Lissoughter, 1,314 feet high. From the summit of this hill a superb view is obtained over Glen Inagh, Lough Inagh and the wild mountain road to the north-west leading to Kylemore. The chief feature in the view, however, is the cluster of mountain peaks to the north-west, the celebrated Pins of Bunnabeola. Under the shadow of Lissoughter the road skirts the shores of The Pins of Bunnabeola. Glendalough, a lovely lake, but, like Killarney, apt to sufter somewhat from the extreme claims put forth on its behalf by too enthusiastic admirers. From this point onwards the road to Clifden runs through a succession of valleys either by the side of a rippling mountain stream or along the delightful shores of Glendalough and Derryclare and Ballynahinch. Domi- nating the whole western half of the drive, and affording a succession of delightful mountain views, stands the cluster of ' peaks of Beola,' the word CONNEMARA. 175 'bin' or 'ben,' 'mountain,' having been corrupted into 'pin.' Benbaun, the highest of the group, is 2,395 f eet above the sea level. Clifden is a well-situated little town, standing at the head of Ardbear Bay, and shut in to the north and east by a circle of mountains. There is not much trade carried on here, and this whole district has never recovered fully from the terrible famine experiences. But on a market day the crowd of peasants and the various business transactions present much that catches the attention of a stranger. The women in blue or scarlet cloaks, the men in frieze coats and knee-breeches, the pigs and sheep, the lively actions and conversations, all combine to make up a picturesque and animated Kylemore. scene. The best excursion from Clifden is through the Martin country to Roundstone and Urrisberg, a hill which although only 987 feet high, yet from its isolated position affords a lovely view, and presents phenomena interesting alike to the botanist and geologist. Those who follow the beaten track, after staying the night at Clifden, will proceed by car another 40 miles to Westport. This route also carries the traveller through some magnificent scenery. Soon after reaching Letterfrack, the Pass of Kylemore is entered. If a choice had to be made among the many exquisite scenes of this region, not a few would award the palm to Kylemore. From Letterfrack the Pass of Salrock and Lough Fee 176 IRISH PICTURES. are easily reached, and lovely views obtained over the Killary, an arm of the sea running inland for 12 miles, and often compared to a Norwegian fjord. An even better centre is Leenane, beautifully situated at the head of Killary Harbour. From thence a whole series of most delio-htful excursions can be made. By ascending Mweelrea, on the north shore of Killary Harbour, 2,688 feet high, a superb view is obtained. A charming and less fatiguing trip is to Delphi and Lough Doo. The valley of the Errif, Lough Natooey, and many other parts of this pleasant region, afford the best of sport to the angler. Lough Natooey is famed for its gillaroo trout. The main road to Westport continues up the Errif Valley and across the watershed into the valley of the Owenwee. During the ride some grand views are obtained over Clew Bay. Westport, like other towns on this coast, is prepared on a somewhat ambitious scale for a prosperous future, which has not yet arrived. It is situated at the head of Westport Bay, an inlet of Clew Bay. It is certainly beautiful for situation, and hard by is the lovely park of the Marquis of Sligo. Beyond this is Westport Quay, with its warehouses and wharfs, but having nothing wherewith to fill them. To the south and west the prominent feature in every view is Croagh Patrick, the lofty conical mountain whence, according to tradition, St. Patrick finally cleared Ireland of reptiles. The mountain has long been the scene of pilgrimages. But in these days it is quite sufficient to rest its claims to attention upon purely natural features. The view from the summit, about 2,500 feet high, embraces a glorious prospect over Achill Island to the Donegal Highlands, over the whole expanse of Clew Bay with its thousand islets, and over the mountain regions of Connemara. A visit to Clare Island enables the visitor to appreciate the fine scenery of the bay, and also to see the ruins of the castle where the famous Amazon Grace O'Malley is said to have resided in Queen Elizabeth's day. The road from Westport to Newport affords fine views of Clew Bay along the eight miles separating the two places. Here another excursion, much more elaborate and needing more time, for which Newport is a good starting-point, is the trip to Achill Island. To do this with any comfort, three or four days are necessary. The rapid tourist might do much in two days or two and a half. Achill is the largest island off the Irish coast, having a shore- line of some 80 miles, and containing 46,000 acres. A long drive from Newport leads to the ferry at Achill Sound, and a further run of nine miles to Dugort, the best centre for exploration. Hence excursions may be planned according to the time and strength of the traveller. Slievemore, 2,217 f eet high, overhangs Dugort. At the hamlets of Keel, Dooagh 'and Keem, a good idea can be obtained of aboriginal life. The people live in round cabins, looking at a distance like corn ricks ; they use the curragh, and are simple and primitive in habit. Here may be seen to perfection CONNEMARA. 177 fishing for salmon with a seine. The salmon on their way to the rivers travel round the bays. A man perched on the crags, who, by reason of the clearness of the water and the whiteness of the bottom, can see every movement of the fish, directs the men when and where to haul the seine so as to enclose the greatest number of fish. This method is followed in other parts of Connaught, and we are able to give an illustrative engraving of the process. The two special things for which many visit Achill are to see the seal caves and to look down Croghan. The caves are visited by boat, and are about two miles from Dugort. If the trip is made when the animals Catching Salmon with a Seine. [From a sketch by Charles U~/iynif