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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:25 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:25 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11260-0.txt b/11260-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e976c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/11260-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1410 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11260 *** + +THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK. + +BY LADY GREGORY. + + +ILLUSTRATED + +BY ROBERT GREGORY + + + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + +Seven Short Plays + +Cuchulain of Muirthemne + +Gods and Fighting Men + +Poets and Dreamers + +A Book of Saints and Wonders + + + +DEDICATED AND RECOMMENDED TO THE HISTORY CLASSES IN THE NEW UNIVERSITY + + + + +CONTENTS + + The Ancient Times + Goban, the Builder + A Witty Wife + An Advice She Gave + Shortening the Road + The Goban's Secret + The Scotch Rogue + The Danes + The Battle of Clontarf + The English + The Queen of Breffny + King Henry VIII. + Elizabeth + Her Death + The Trace of Cromwell + Cromwell's Law + Cromwell in Connacht + A Worse than Cromwell + The Battle of Aughrim + The Stuarts + Another Story + Patrick Sarsfield + Queen Anne + Carolan's Song + 'Ninety-Eight + Denis Browne + The Union + Robert Emmet + O'Connell's Birth + The Tinker + A Present + His Strategy + The Man was Going to be Hanged + The Cup of the Sassanach + The Thousand Fishers + What the Old Women Saw + O'Connell's Hat + The Change He Made + The Man He Brought to Justice + The Binding + His Monument + A Praise Made for Daniel O'Connell by Old Women and They Begging + at the Door + Richard Shiel + The Tithe War + The Fight at Carrickshock + The Big Wind + The Famine + The Cholera + A Long Remembering + The Terry Alts + The '48 Time + A Thing Mitchell Said + The Fenian Rising + A Great Wonder + Another Wonder + Father Mathew + The War of the Crimea + Garibaldi + The Buonapartes + The Zulu War + The Young Napoleon + Parnell + Mr. Gladstone + Queen Victoria's Religion + Her Wisdom + War and Misery + The Present King + The Old Age Pension + Another Thought + A Prophecy + +NOTES + + + + +THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK + + +THE ANCIENT TIMES + +"As to the old history of Ireland, the first man ever died in Ireland +was Partholan, and he is buried, and his greyhound along with him, at +some place in Kerry. The Nemidians came after that and stopped for a +while, and then they all died of some disease. And then the Firbolgs +came, the best men that ever were in Ireland, and they had no law but +love, and there was never such peace and plenty in Ireland. What +religion had they? None at all. And there was a low-sized race came that +worked the land of Ireland a long time; they had their time like the +others. Many would tell you Grania slept under the cromlechs, but I +don't believe that, and she a king's daughter. And I don't believe she +was handsome either. If she was, why would she have run away? In the old +time the people had no envy, and they would be writing down the stories +and the songs for one another. But they are too venemous now to do that. +And as to the people in the towns, they don't care for such things now, +they are too corrupted with drink." + + +GOBAN, THE BUILDER + +"The Goban was the master of sixteen trades. There was no beating him; +he had got the gift. He went one time to Quin Abbey when it was +building, looking for a job, and the men were going to their dinner, and +he had poor clothes, and they began to jibe at him, and the foreman said +'Make now a cat-and-nine-tails while we are at our dinner, if you are +any good.' And he took the chisel and cut it in the rough in the stone, +a cat with nine tails coming from it, and there it was complete when +they came out from their dinner. There was no beating him. He learned no +trade, but he was master of sixteen. That is the way, a man that has the +gift will get more out of his own brain than another will get through +learning. There is many a man without learning will get the better of a +college-bred man, and will have better words too. Those that make +inventions in these days have the gift, such a man now as Edison, with +all he has got out of electricity." + + +A WITTY WIFE + +"The Goban Saor was a mason and a smith, and he could do all things, and +he was very witty. He was going from home one time and he said to the +wife 'If it is a daughter you have this time I'll kill you when I come +back'; for up to that time he had no sons, but only daughters. And it +was a daughter she had; but a neighbouring woman had a son at the same +time, and they made an exchange to save the life of the Goban's wife. +But when the boy began to grow up he had no wit, and the Goban knew by +that he was no son of his. That is the reason he wanted a witty wife +for him. So there came a girl to the house one day, and the Goban Saor +bade her look round at all that was in the room, and he said 'Do you +think a couple could get a living out of this?' 'They could not,' she +said. So he said she wouldn't do, and he sent her away. Another girl +came another day, and he bade her take notice of all that was in the +house, and he said 'Do you think could a couple knock a living out of +this?' 'They could if they stopped in it,' she said. So he said that +girl would do. Then he asked her could she bring a sheepskin to the +market and bring back the price of it, and the skin itself as well. She +said she could, and she went to the market, and there she pulled off the +wool and sold it and brought back the price and the skin as well. Then +he asked could she go to the market and not be dressed or undressed. And +she went having only one shoe and one stocking on her, so she was +neither dressed or undressed. Then he sent her to walk neither on the +road or off the road, and she walked on the path beside it. So he said +then she would do as a wife for his son." + + +AN ADVICE SHE GAVE + +"One time some great king or lord sent for the Goban to build a +_caislean_ for him, and the son's wife said to him before he went 'Be +always great with the women of the house, and always have a comrade +among them.' So when the Goban went there he coaxed one of the women the +same as if he was not married. And when the castle was near built, the +woman told him the lord was going to play him a trick, and to kill him +or shut him up when he had the castle made, the way he would not build +one for any-other lord that was as good. And as she said, the lord came +and bade the Goban to make a cat and two-tails, for no one could make +that but himself, and it was meaning to kill him on it he was. And the +Goban said he would do that when he had finished the castle, but he +could not finish it without some tool he had left at home. And they must +send the lord's son for it--- for he said it would not be given to any +other one. So the son was sent, and the Goban sent a message to the +daughter-in-law that the tool he was wanting was called 'When you open +it shut it.' And she was surprised, for there was no such tool in the +house; but she guessed by the message what she had to do, and there was +a big chest in the house and she set it open. 'Come now,' she said to +the young man,' look in the chest and find it for yourself.' And when he +looked in she gave him a push forward, and in he went, and she shut the +lid on him. She wrote a letter to the lord then, saying he would not get +his son back till he had sent her own two men, and they were sent back +to her." + + +SHORTENING THE ROAD + +"Himself and his son were walking the road together one day, and the +Goban said to the son 'Shorten the road for me.' So the son began to +walk fast, thinking that would do it, but the Goban sent him back home +when he didn't understand what to do. The next day they were walking +again, and the Goban said again to shorten the road for him, and this +time he began to run, and the Goban sent him home again. When he went in +and told the wife he was sent home the second time, she began to think, +and she said, 'When he bids you shorten the road, it is that he wants +you to be telling him stories.' For that is what the Goban meant, but it +took the daughter-in-law to understand it. And it is what I was saying +to that other woman, that if one of ourselves was making a journey, if +we had another along with us, it would not seem to be one half as long +as if we would be alone. And if that is so with us, it is much more with +a stranger, and so I went up the hill with you to shorten the road, +telling you that story." + + +THE GOBAN'S SECRET + +"The Goban and his son were seven years building the castle, and they +never said a word all that time. And at the end of seven years the son +was at the top, and he said 'I hear a cow lowing.' And the Goban said +then 'Make all strong below you, for the work is done,' and they went +home. The Goban never told the secret of his building, and when he was +on the bed dying they wanted to get it from him, and they went in and +said 'Claregalway Castle is after falling in the night.' And the Goban +said 'How can that be when I put a stone in and a stone out and a stone +across.' So then they knew the way he built so well." + + +THE SCOTCH ROGUE + +"One time he was on the road going to the town, and there was a Scotch +rogue on the road that was always trying what could he pick off others, +and he saw the Connemara man--that was the Goban--had a nice cravat, and +he thought he would get a hold of that. So he began talking with him, +and he was boasting of all the money he had, and the Goban said whatever +it was he had three times as much as it, and he with only thirty pounds +in the world. And the Scotch rogue thought he would get some of it from +him, and he said he would go to a house in the town, and he gave him +some food and some drink there, and the Goban said he would do the same +for him on the morrow. So then the Goban went out to three houses, and +in each of them he left ten pounds of his thirty pounds, and he told the +people in every house what they had to do, and that when he would strike +the table with his hat three times they would bring out the money. So +then he asked the Scotch rogue into the first house, and ordered every +sort of food and drink, ten pounds worth in all. And when they had used +all they could of it, he struck with his hat on the table, and the man +of the house brought out the ten pounds, and the Goban said 'Keep that +to pay what I owe you.' The second day he did the same thing in another +house. And in the third house they went to he ordered ten pounds worth +of food and drink in the same way. And when the time came to pay, he +struck the table with the hat, and there was the money in the hand of +the man of the house before them. 'That's a good little caubeen,' said +the Scotch rogue, 'when striking it on the table makes all that money +appear.' 'It is a wishing hat,' said the Goban; 'anything I wish for I +can get as long as I have that.' 'Would you sell it?' said the Scotch +rogue. 'I would not,' said the Goban. 'I have another at home, but I +wouldn't sell one or the other.' 'You may as well sell it, so long as +you have another at home,' said the Scotch rogue. 'What will you give +for it?' says the Goban. 'Will you give three hundred pounds for it?' 'I +will give that,' says the Scotch rogue, 'when it will bring me all the +wealth I wish for.' So he went out and brought the three hundred pound, +and gave it to the Goban, and he got the caubeen and went away with it, +and it not worth three halfpence. There was no beating the Goban. +Wherever he got it, he had got the gift." + + +THE DANES + +"The reason of the wisps and the fires on Saint John's Eve is that one +time long ago the Danes came and took the country and conquered it, and +they put a soldier to mind every house through the whole country. And at +last the people made up their mind that on one night they would kill its +soldiers. So they did as they said, and there wasn't one left, and that +is why they light the wisps ever since. It was Brian Boroihme was the +first to light them. There was not much of an army left to the Danes +that time, for he made a great scatter of them. A great man he was, and +his own son was as good, that is Murrough. It was the wife brought him +to his end, Gormleith. She was for war, and he was all for peace. And he +got to be very pious, too pious, and old and she got tired of that." + + +THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF + +"Clontarf was on the head of a game of chess. The generals of the Danes +were beaten at it, and they were vexed; and Cennedigh was killed on a +hill near Fermoy. He put the Holy Gospels in his breast as a protection, +but he was struck through them with a reeking dagger. It was Brodar, +that the Brodericks are descended from, that put a dagger through +Brian's heart, and he attending to his prayers. What the Danes left in +Ireland were hens and weasels. And when the cock crows in the morning +the country people will always say 'It is for Denmark they are crowing. +Crowing they are to be back in Denmark.'" + + +THE ENGLISH + +"It was a long time after that, the Pope encouraged King Henry to take +Ireland. It was for a protection he did it, Henry being of his own +religion, and he fearing the Druids or the Danes might invade Ireland." + + +THE QUEEN OF BREFFNY + +"Dervorgilla was a red-haired woman, and it was she put the great curse +on Ireland, bringing in the English through MacMurrough, that she went +to from O'Rourke. It was to Henry the Second MacMurrough went, and he +sent Strongbow, and they stopped in Ireland ever since. But who knows +but another race might be worse, such as the Spaniards that were +scattered along the whole coast of Connacht at the time of the Armada. +And the laws are good enough. I heard it said the English will be dug +out of their graves one day for the sake of their law. As to +Dervorgilla, she was not brought away by force, she went to MacMurrough +herself. For there are men in the world that have a coaxing way, and +sometimes women are weak." + + +KING HENRY VIII. + +"Henry the Eighth was crying and roaring and leaping out of the bed for +three days and nights before his death. And he died cursing his +children, and he that had eight millions when he came to the Throne, +coining leather money at the end." + + +ELIZABETH + +"Queen Elizabeth was awful. Beyond everything she was. When she came to +the turn she dyed her hair red, and whatever man she had to do with, she +sent him to the block in the morning, that he would be able to tell +nothing. She had an awful temper. She would throw a knife from the table +at the waiting ladies, and if anything vexed her she would maybe work +upon the floor. A thousand dresses she left after her. Very +superstitious she was. Sure after her death they found a card, the ace +of hearts, nailed to her chair under the seat. She thought she would +never die while she had it there. And she bought a bracelet from an old +woman out in Wales that was over a hundred years. It was superstition +made her do that, and they found it after her death tied about her +neck." + + +HER DEATH + +"It was a town called Calais brought her to her death, and she lay +chained on the floor three days and three nights. The Archbishop was +trying to urge her to eat, but she said 'You would not ask me to do it +if you knew the way I am,' for nobody could see the chains. After her +death they waked her for six days in Whitehall, and there were six +ladies sitting beside the body every night. Three coffins were about +it, the one nearest the body of lead, and then a wooden one, and a +leaden one on the outside. And every night there came from them a great +bellow. And the last night there came a bellow that broke the three +coffins open, and tore the velvet, and there came out a stench that +killed the most of the ladies and a million of the people of London with +the plague. Queen Victoria was more honourable than that. It would be +hard to beat Queen Elizabeth." + + +THE TRACE OF CROMWELL + +"I'll tell you now about the trace of Cromwell. There was a young lady +was married to a gentleman, and she died with her first baby, and she +was brought away into a forth by the fairies, the good people, as I +suppose. She used to be sitting on the side of it combing her hair, and +three times her husband saw her there, but he had not the courage to go +and to bring her away. But there was a man of the name of Howley living +near the forth, and he went out with his gun one day and he saw her +beside the forth, and he brought her away to his house, and a young baby +sprang between them at the end of a year. One day the husband was out +shooting and he came in upon Howley's land, and when young Howley heard +the shooting he rose up and went out and he bade the gentleman to stop, +for this was his land. So he stopped, and he said he was weary and +thirsty, and he asked could he rest in the house. So young Howley said +as long as he asked pardon he had leave to use what he liked. So he came +in the house and he sat at the table, and he put his two eyes through +the young lady. 'If I didn't see her dead and buried,' he said, 'I'd say +that to be my own wife.' 'Oh!' said she, 'so I am your wife, and you are +badly worthy of me, and you have the worst courage ever I knew, that you +would not come and bring me away out of the forth as young Howley had +the courage to bring me,' she said. So then he asked young Howley would +he give him back his wife. 'I will give her,' he said, 'but you never +will get the child.' So the child was reared, and when he was grown he +went travelling up to Dublin. And he was at a hunt, and he lost the top +of his boot, and he went into a shoemaker's shop and he gave him half a +sovereign for nothing but to put the tip on the boot, for he saw he was +poor and had a big family. And more than that, when he was going away he +took out three sovereigns and gave them to the blacksmith, and he looked +at one of the little chaps, and he said 'That one will be in command of +the whole of England.' 'Oh, that cannot be,' said the blacksmith, 'where +I am poor and have not the means to do anything for him.' 'It will be as +I tell you,' said he, 'and write me out now a docket,' he said, 'that +if ever that youngster will come to command Ireland, he will give me a +free leg.' So the docket was made out, and he brought it away with him. +And sure enough, the shoemaker's son listed, and was put at the head of +soldiers, and got the command of England, and came with his soldiers to +put down Ireland. And Howley saw them coming and he tied his +handkerchief to the top of his stick, and when Cromwell saw that, he +halted the army, 'For there is some poor man in distress,' he said. Then +Howley showed him the docket his father had written. 'I will do some +good thing for you on account of that,' said Cromwell; 'and go now to +the top of that high cliff,' he said, 'and I'll give as much land as you +can see from it.' And so he did give it to him. It was no wonder Howley +to have known the shoemaker's son would be in command and all would +happen him, because of his mother that got knowledge in the years she +was in the forth. That is the trace of Cromwell. I heard it at a wake, +and I would believe it, and if I had time to put my mind to it, and if I +was not on the road from Loughrea to Ballyvaughan, I could give you the +foundations of it better." + + +CROMWELL'S LAW + +"I'll tell you about Cromwell and the White Friars. There was a White +Friar at that time was known to have knowledge, and Cromwell sent word +to him to come see him. It was of a Saturday he did that, of an Easter +Saturday, but the Friar never came. On the Sunday Cromwell sent for him +again, and he didn't come. And on the Monday he sent for him the third +time, and he did come. 'Why is it you did not come to me when I sent +before?' said Cromwell. 'I'll tell you that,' said the White Friar. 'I +didn't come on Saturday,' he said, 'because your passion was on you. And +I didn't come on the Sunday,' he said, 'because your passion was not +gone down enough, and I thought you would not give me my steps. But I +came to-day,' he said, 'because your passion is cool.' When Cromwell +heard his answer, 'That is true,' he said, 'and tell me how long my law +will last in Ireland.' 'It will last,' says the White Friar, 'till +yesterday will come (that was Easter Sunday) the same day as our Lady +Day.' Cromwell was satisfied then, and he gave him a free leg, and he +went away. And so that law did last till now, and it's well it did, for +without that law in the country you wouldn't be safe walking the road +having so much as the price of a pint of porter in your pocket." + + +CROMWELL IN CONNACHT + +"Cromwell cleared the road before him. If any great man stood against +him he would pull down his castle the same as he pulled down that +castle of your own, Ballinamantane, that is down the road. He never got +more than two hours sleep or three, or at the most four, but starting up +fearing his life would be peppered. There was a word he sounded out to +the Catholics, 'To hell or Connacht,' and the reason he did that was +that Connacht was burned bare, and he that thought to pass the winter +there would get no lodging at all. Himself and his men travelled it, and +they never met with anything that had human breath put in it by God till +they came to Breffny, and they saw smoke from a chimney, and they +surrounded the house and went into it. And what they saw was a skeleton +over the fire roasting, and the people of the house picking flesh off it +with the bits of a hook. And when they saw that, they left them there. +It was a Clare man that burned Connacht so bare; he was worse than +Cromwell, and he made a great slaughter in the house of God at Clonmel. +The people have it against his family yet, and against the whole County +of Clare." + + +A WORSE THAN CROMWELL + +"Cromwell was very bad, but the drink is worse. For a good many that +Cromwell killed should go to heaven, but those that are drunken never +see heaven. And as to drink, a man that takes the first glass is as +quiet and as merry as a pet lamb; and after the second glass he is as +knacky as a monkey; and after the third glass he is as ready for battle +as a lion; and after the fourth glass he is like a swine as he is. 'I am +thirsty' [IRISH: Ta Tart Orm], that was one of our Lord's seven words on +the Cross, where he was dry. And a man far off would have given him +drink; but there was a drunkard at the foot of the Cross, and he +prevented him." + + +THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM + +"That was a great slaughter at Aughrim. St. Ruth wanted to do all +himself, he being a foreigner. He gave no plan of the battle to +Sarsfield, but a written command to stop where he was, and Sarsfield +knew no more than yourself or myself in the evening before it happened. +It was Colonel Merell's wife bade him not go to the battle, where she +knew it would go bad with him through a dream. But he said that meant +that he would be crowned, and he went out and was killed. That is what +the poem says: + + If Caesar listened to Calpurnia's dream + He had not been by Pompey's statue slain. + +All great men gave attention to dreams, though the Church is against +them now. It is written in Scripture that Joseph gave attention to his +dream. But Colonel Merell did not, and so he went to his death. Aughrim +would have been won if it wasn't for the drink. There was too much of it +given to the Irish soldiers that day--drink and spies and traitors. +The English never won a battle in Ireland in fair fight, but getting +spies and setting the people against one another. I saw where Aughrim +was fought, and I turned aside from the road to see the tree where St +Ruth was killed. The half of it is gone like snuff. That was spies too, +a Colonel's daughter that told the English in what place St. Ruth would +be washing himself at six o'clock in the morning. And it was there he +was shot by one O'Donnell, an Englishman. He shot him from six miles +off. The Danes were dancing in the raths around Aughrim the night after +the battle. Their ancestors were driven out of Ireland before; and they +were glad when they saw those that had put them out put out themselves, +and every one of them skivered." + +[ILLUSTRATION: WILLIAM III] + + +THE STUARTS + +"As to the Stuarts, there are no songs about them and no praises in the +West, whatever there may be in the South. Why would there, and they +running away and leaving the country the way they did? And what good did +they ever do it? James the Second was a coward. Why didn't he go into +the thick of the battle like the Prince of Orange? He stopped on a hill +three miles away, and rode off to Dublin, bringing the best of his +troops with him. There was a lady walking in the street at Dublin when +he got there, and he told her the battle was lost, and she said 'Faith +you made good haste; you made no delay on the road.' So he said no more +after that. The people liked James well enough before he ran; they +didn't like him after that." + + +ANOTHER STORY + +"Seumus Salach, Dirty James, it is he brought all down. At the time of +the battle there was one of his men said, 'I have my eye cocked, and all +the nations will be done away with,' and he pointing his cannon. 'Oh!' +said James, 'Don't make a widow of my daughter.' If he didn't say that, +the English would have been beat. It was a very poor thing for him to +do." + + +PATRICK SARSFIELD + +"Sarsfield was a great general the time he turned the shoes on his +horse. The English it was were pursuing him, and he got off and changed +the shoes the way when they saw the tracks they would think he went +another road. That was a great plan. He got to Limerick then, and he +killed thousands of the English. He was a great general." + + +QUEEN ANNE + +"The Georges were fair; they left all to the Government; but Anne was +very bad and a tyrant. She tyrannised over the Irish. She died +broken-hearted with all the bad things that were going on about her. For +Queen Anne was very wicked; oh, very wicked, indeed!" + + +CAROLAN'S SONG + +"Carolan that could play the fiddle and the harp used to be going about +with Cahil-a-Corba, that was a tambourine man. But they got tired of one +another and parted, and Carolan went to the house of the King of Mayo, +and he stopped there, and the King asked him to stop for his lifetime. +There came a grand visitor one time, and when he heard Carolan singing +and playing and his fine pleasant talk, he asked him to go with him on a +visit to Dublin. So Carolan went, and he promised the King of Mayo he +would come back at the end of a month. But when he was at the +gentleman's house he liked it so well that he stopped a year with him, +and it wasn't till the Christmas he came back to Mayo. And when he got +there the doors were shut, and the King was at his dinner, and Queen +Mary and the three daughters, and he could see them through the windows. +But when the King saw him he said he would not let him in. He was vexed +with him and angry he had broken his promise and his oath. So Carolan +began to give out a song he had made about the King of Mayo and all his +family, and he brought Queen Mary into it and the three daughters. Then +the Queen asked leave of the King to bring him in, because he made so +good a song, but the King would not give in to it. Then Carolan began to +draw down the King of Mayo's father and his grandfather into the song. +And Queen Mary asked again for forgiveness for him, and the King gave +it that time because of the song that had in it the old times, and the +old generations went through him. But as to Cahil-a-Corba, he went to +another gentleman's house and he stopped too long in it and was driven +out. But he came back, having changed his form, that the gentleman did +not know him, and he let him in again, and then he was forgiven." + + +'NINETY-EIGHT + +"In the year '98 there were the Yeomanry that were the worst of all. The +time Father Murphy was killed there was one of them greased his boots in +his heart. There was one of them was called Micky the Devil in Irish; he +never went out without the pitchcap and the triangle, and any rebel he +would meet he would put gunpowder in his hair and set a light to it. The +North Cork Militia were the worst; there are places in Ireland where you +would not get a drink of water if they knew you came from Cork. And it +was the very same, the North Cork, that went of their own free will to +the Boer war, volunteered, asked to go that is. They had the same sting +in them always. A great many of them were left dead in that war, and a +great many better men than themselves. There was one battle in that war +there was no quarter given, the same as Aughrim; and the English would +kill the wounded that would be left upon the field of battle. There is +no Christianity in war." + + +DENIS BROWNE + +"There is a tree near Denis Browne's house that used to be used for +hanging men in the time of '98, he being a great man in that time, and +High Sheriff of Mayo, and it is likely the gentlemen were afeared, and +that there was bad work at nights. But one night Denis Browne was lying +in his bed, and the Lord put it in his mind that there might be false +information given against some that were innocent. So he went out and he +brought out one of his horses into the lawn before the house, and he +shot it dead and left it there. In the morning one of the butlers came +up to him and said, 'Did you see that one of your horses was shot in the +night?' 'How would I see that?' says he, 'and I not rose up or dressed?' +So when he went out they showed him the horse, and he bade the men to +bury it, and it wasn't two hours after before two of them came to him. +'We can tell you who it was shot the horse,' they said. 'It was such a +one and such a one in the village, that were often heard to speak bad of +you. And besides that,' they said, 'we saw them shooting it ourselves.' +So the two that gave that false witness were the last two Denis Browne +ever hung. He rose out of it after, and washed his hands of it all. And +his big house is turned into a convent, and the tree is growing there +yet. It is in the time of '98 that happened, a hundred years ago." + + +THE UNION + +"As to the Union, it was bought with titles. Look at the Binghams and +the rest, they went to bed nothing, and rose up lords in the morning. +The day it was passed Lady Castlereagh was in the House of Parliament, +and she turned three colours, and she said to her husband, 'You have +passed your treaty, but you have sold your country.' He went and cut his +throat after that. And it is what I heard from the old people, there was +no priest in Ireland but voted for it, the way they would get better +rights, for it was only among poor persons they were going at that time. +And it was but at the time of the Parliament leaving College Green they +began to wear the Soutane that they wear now. Up to that it was a +bodycoat they wore and knee-breeches. It was their vote sent the +Parliament to England, and when there is a row between them or that the +people are vexed with the priest, you will hear them saying in the house +in Irish 'Bad luck on them, it was they brought misfortune to Ireland.' +They wore the Soutane ever since that time." + + +ROBERT EMMET + +"The Government had people bribed to swear against Robert Emmet, and the +same men said after, they never saw him till he was in the dock. He +might have got away but for his attention to that woman. She went away +after with a sea captain. There are some say she gave information. +Curran's daughter she was. But I don't know. He made one request, his +letters that she wrote to him in the gaol not to be meddled with, but +the Government opened them and took the presents she sent in them, and +whatever was best of them they kept for themselves. He made the greatest +speech from the dock ever was made, and Lord Norbury on the bench, +checking and clogging him all the time. Ten hours he was in the dock, +and they gave him no more than one dish of water all that time; and they +executed him in a hurry, saying it was an attack they feared on the +prison. There is no one knows where is his grave." + + +O'CONNELL'S BIRTH + +"O'Connell was a grand man, and whatever cause he took in hand, it was +as good as won. But what wonder? He was the gift of God. His father was +a rich man, and one day he was out walking he took notice of a house +that was being built. Well, a week later he passed by the same place, +and he saw the walls of the house were no higher than before. So he +asked the reason, and he was told it was a priest that was building it, +and he hadn't the money to go on with. So a few days after he went to +the priest's house and he asked was that true, and the priest said it +was. 'Would you pay back the money to the man that would lend it to +you?' says O'Connell. 'I would,' says the priest. So with that O'Connell +gave him the money that was wanting--£50--for it was a very grand house. +Well, after some time the priest came to O'Connell's house, and he found +only the wife at home, so says he, 'I have some money that himself lent +me.' But he had never told the wife of what he had done, so she knew +nothing about it, and says she, 'Don't be troubling yourself about it, +he'll bestow it on you.' 'Well,' says the priest, I'll go away now and +I'll come back again.' So when O'Connell came, the wife told him all +that had happened, and how a priest had come saying he owed him money, +and how she had said he would bestow it on him. 'Well,' says O'Connell, +'if you said I would bestow it, I will bestow it.' And so he did. Then +the priest said, 'Have you any children?' 'Ne'er a child,' said +O'Connell. 'Well you will have one,' said he. And that day nine months +their young son was born. So what wonder if he was inspired, being, as +he was, the Gift of God." + + +[Illustration: O'CONNELL] + +THE TINKER + +"O'Connell was a great man. I never saw him, but I heard of his name. +One time I saw his picture in a paper, where they were giving out meal, +where Mrs. Gaynor's is and I kissed the picture of him. They were +laughing at me for doing that, but I had heard of his good name. There +was some poor man, a tinker, asked help of him one time in Dublin, and +he said, 'I will put you in a place where you will get some good thing.' +So he brought him to a lodging in a very grand house and put him in it. +And in the morning he began to make saucepans, and he was making them +there, and the shopkeeper that owned the house was mad at him to be +doing that, and making saucepans in so grand a house, and he wanted to +get him out of it, and he gave him a good sum of money to go out. He +went back and told that to O'Connell, and O'Connell said, 'Didn't I tell +you I would put you in the way to get some good thing?'" + + +A PRESENT + +"There was a gentleman sent him a present one time, and he bade a little +lad to bring it to him. Shut up in a box it was, and he bade the boy to +give it to himself, and not to open the box. So the little lad brought +it to O'Connell to give it to him. 'Let you open it yourself,' says +O'Connell. So he opened it, and whatever was in it blew up and made an +end of the boy, and it would have been the same with O'Connell if he had +opened it." + + +HIS STRATEGY + +"O'Connell was a grand man; the best within the walls of the world. He +never led anyone astray. Did you hear that one time he turned the shoes +on his horses? There were bad members following him. I cannot say who +they were, for I will not tell what I don't know. He got a smith to turn +the shoes, and when they came upon his track, he went east and they went +west. Parnell was no bad man, but Dan O'Connell's name went up higher in +praises." + + +THE MAN WAS GOING TO BE HANGED + +"I saw O'Connell in Galway one time, and I couldn't get anear him. All +the nations of the world were gathered there to see him. There were a +great many he hung and a great many he got off from death, the dear man. +He went into a town one time, and into a hotel, and he asked for his +dinner. And he had a frieze dress, for he was very simple, and always a +clerk along with him. And when the dinner was served to him, 'Is there +no one here,' says he, 'to sit along with me; for it is seldom I ever +dined without company.' 'If you think myself good enough to sit with +you,' says the man of the hotel, 'I will do it.' So the two of them sat +to the dinner together, and O'Connell asked was there any news in the +town. 'There is,' says the hotel man, 'there is a man to be hung +to-morrow.' 'Oh, my!' says O'Connell, 'what was it he did to deserve +that?' 'Himself and another that had been out fowling,' says he, 'and +they came in here and they began to dispute, and the one of them killed +the other, and he will be hung to-morrow.' 'He will not,' says +O'Connell. 'I tell you he will,' says the other, 'for the Judge is come +to give the sentence.' Well, O'Connell kept to it that he would not, and +they made a bet, and the hotel man bet all he had on the man being hung. +In the morning O'Connell was in no hurry out of bed, and when the two of +them walked into the Court, the Judge was after giving the sentence, and +the man was to be hung. '_Maisead_,' says the judge when he saw +O'Connell, 'I wish you had been here a half an hour ago, where there is +a man going to be hung.' 'He is not,' says O'Connell. 'He is,' says the +judge. 'If he is,' says O'Connell, 'that one will never let anyone go +living out of his hotel, and he making money out of the hanging.' 'What +do you mean saying that?' says the judge. Then O'Connell took the +instrument out of his pocket where it was written down all the +hotel-keeper had put on the hanging. And when the judge saw that, he set +the man free, and he was not hanged." + + +THE CUP OF THE SASSANACH + +"He was over in England one time, and he was brought to a party, and tea +was made ready and cups. And as they were sitting at the table, a +servant girl that was in it, and that was Irish, came to O'Connell and +she said, 'Do you understand Irish?' [IRISH: 'An tuigeann tu Gaedilge, +O'Connell?' 'Tuigim,'] says he, 'I understand it.' 'Have a care,' says +she, 'for there is in your cup what would poison the whole nation!' 'If +that is true, girl, you will get a good fortune,' said he. It was in +Irish they said all that, and the people that were in it had no ears. +Then O'Connell quenched the candle, and he changed his cup for the cup +of the man that was next him. And it was not long till the man fell +dead. They were always trying to kill O'Connell, because he was a good +man. The Sassanach it was were against him. Terrible wicked they were, +and God save us, I believe they are every bit as wicked yet!" + + +THE THOUSAND FISHERS + +"O'Connell came to Galway one time, and he sent for all the trades to +come out with the sign of their trade in their hand, and he would see +which was the best. And there came ten hundred fishers, having all white +flannel clothes and black hats and white scarves about them, and he gave +the sway to them. It wasn't a year after that, the half of them were +lost, going through the fogs at Newfoundland, where they went for a +better way of living." + + +WHAT THE OLD WOMEN SAW + +"The greatest thing I ever saw was O'Connell driving through Gort, very +plain, and an oiled cap on him, and having only one horse; and there was +no house in Gort without his picture in it." "O'Connell rode up Crow +Lane and to Church Street on a single horse, and he stopped there and +took a view of Gort." "I saw O'Connell after he left Gort going on the +road to Kinvara, and seven horses in the coach--they could not get in +the eighth. He stopped, and he was talking to Hickman that was with me. +Shiel was in the coach along with him." + + +O'CONNELL'S HAT + +"O'Connell wore his hat in the English House of Commons, what no man but +the King can do. He wore it for three days because he had a sore head, +and at the end of that they bade him put it off, and he said he would +not, where he had worn it three days." + + +THE CHANGE HE MADE + +"O'Connell was a great councillor. At that time if there was a Catholic, +no matter how high or great or learned he was, he could not get a place. +But if a Protestant came that was a blockhead and ignorant, the place +would be open to him. There was a revolution rising because of that, and +O'Connell brought it into the House of Commons and got it changed. He +was the greatest man ever was in Ireland. He was a very clever lawyer; +he would win every case, he would put it so strong and clear and clever. +If there were fifteen lawyers against him--five and ten--he would win it +against them all, whether the case was bad or good." + + +THE MAN HE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE + +"Corly, that burned his house in Burren, was very bad, and it was +O'Connell brought him to the gallows. The only case O'Connell lost was +against the Macnamaras, and he told them he would be even with them, and +so when Corly, that was a friend of theirs, was brought up he kept his +word. There was no doubt about him burning the house, it was to +implicate the Hynes he did it, to lay it on them. There was a girl used +to go out milking at daybreak, and she awoke, and the moon was shining, +and she thought it was day, and got up and looked out, and she saw him +doing it." + + +THE BINDING + +"O'Connell was a great man, wide big arms he had. It was he left us the +cheap tea; to cheapen it he did, that was at that time a shilling for +one bare ounce. His heart is in Rome and his body in Glasnevin. A lovely +man, he would put you on your guard; he was for the country, he was all +for Ireland." + + +HIS MONUMENT + +"There is a nice monument put up to O'Connell in Ennis, in a corner it +is of the middle of a street, and himself high up on it, holding a book. +It was a poor shoe-maker set that going. I saw him in Gort one time, a +coat of O'Connell's he had that he chanced in some place. Only for him +there would be no monument; it was he gathered money for it, and there +was none would refuse him." + + +A PRAISE MADE FOR DANIEL O'CONNELL BY OLD WOMEN AND THEY BEGGING AT THE +DOOR + +"Dan O'Connell was the best man in the world, and a great man surely; +and there could not be better than what O'Connell was. + +"It was from him I took the pledge and I a child, and kept it ever +after. He would give it to little lads and children, but not to any aged +person. Pilot trousers he had and a pilot coat, and a grey and white +waistcoat. + +"O'Connell was all for the poor. See what he did at Saint Patrick's +Island--he cast out every bad thing and every whole thing, to England +and to America and to every part. He fought it well for every whole +body. + +"A splendid monument there is to him in Ennis, and his fine top coat +upon him. A lovely man; you'd think he was alive and all, and he having +his hat in his hand. Everyone kneels down on the steps of it and says a +few prayers and walks away. It is as high as that tree below. If he was +in Ireland now the pension would go someway right. + +"He was the best and the best to everyone; he got great sway in the town +of Gort, and in every other place. + +"I suppose he has the same talk always; he is able to do for us now as +well as ever he was; surely his mercy and goodness are in the town of +Gort. + +"He did good in the world while he was alive; he was a great man surely; +there couldn't be better in this world I believe, or in the next world; +there couldn't be better all over the world. + +"He used to go through all nations and to make a fight for the poor; he +gave them room to live, and used to fight for them too. There is no +doubt at all he did help them, he was well able to do it." + + +RICHARD SHIEL + +"As to Shiel, he was small, dressed very neat, with knee-breeches and a +full vest and a long-skirted coat. He had a long nose, and was not much +to look at till he began to speak, and then you'd see genius coming out +from him. His voice was shrill, and that spoiled his speech sometimes, +when he would get excited, and would raise it at the end. But +O'Connell's voice you would hear a mile off, and it sounded as if it was +coming through honey," + + +THE TITHE WAR + +"And the Tithes, the tenth of the land that St. Patrick and his Bishops +had settled for their own use, it was to Protestants it was given. And +there would have been a revolution out of that, but it was done away +with, and it is the landlord has to pay it now. The Pope has a great +power that is beyond all. There is one day and one minute in the year +he has that power if it pleases him to use it. At that minute it runs +through all the world, and every priest goes on his knees and the Pope +himself is on his knees, and that request cannot be refused, because +they are the grand jury of the world before God. A man was talking to me +about the burying of the Tithes; up on the top of the Devil's Bit it +was, and if you looked around you could see nothing but the police. Then +the boys came riding up, and white rods in their hands, and they dug a +grave, and the Tithes, some image of them, was buried. It was a wrong +thing for one religion to be paying for the board of the clergy of +another religion." + + +THE FIGHT AT CARRICKSHOCK + +"The Tithe War, that was the time of the fight at Carrickshock. A narrow +passage that was in it, and the people were holding it against the +police that came with the Proctor. There was a Captain defending the +Proctor that had been through the Battle of Waterloo, and it was the +Proctor they fired at, but the Captain fell dead, and fourteen police +were killed with him. But the people were beat after, and were brought +into court for the trial, and the counsel for the Crown was against +them, Dougherty. They were tried in batches, and every batch was +condemned, Dougherty speaking out the case against them. But O'Connell, +that was at that time at Cork Assizes, heard of it, and he came, and +when he got to the door the pony that brought him dropped dead. He came +in and he took refreshment--bread and milk--the same as I am after +taking now, and he looked up and he said 'That is no law.' Then the +judge agreed with him, and he got every one of them off after that; but +only for him they would swing. The Tithes were bad, a farmer to have +three stacks they's take the one of them. And that was the first time of +the hurling matches, to gather the people against the Tithes. But there +was hurling in the ancient times in Ireland, and out in Greece, and +playing at the ball, and that is what is called the Olympian Games." + + +THE BIG WIND + +"As to the Big Wind, I was on my elder sister's back going to a friend +beyond, and when I was coming back it was slacked away, and I was +wondering at the holes in the houses." "I was up to twelve year at the +time of the Big Wind that was in '39, and I was over at Roxborough with +my father that was clearing timber from the road, and your father came +out along the road, and he was wild seeing the trees and rocks whipped +up into the sky the way they were with the wind. But what was that to +the bitter time of the Famine that came after?" + + +THE FAMINE + +"The Famine; there's a long telling in that, it is a thing will be +remembered always. That little graveyard above, at that time it was +filled full up of bodies; the Union had no way to buy coffins for them. +There would be a bag made, and the body put into it, that was all; and +the people dying without priest, or bishop, or anything at all. But over +in Connemara it was the dogs brought the bodies out of the houses, and +asked no leave." + + +THE CHOLERA + +"The cholera was worse again. It came from foreign, and it lasted a +couple of years, till God drove it out of the country. It is often I saw +a man ploughing the garden in the morning till dinner time, and before +evening he would be dead. It was as if on the wind it came, there was no +escape from it; on the wind, the same as it would come now and would +catch on to pigs. Sheds that would be made out in the haggards to put +the sick in, they would turn as black as your coat. There was no one +could go near them without he would have a glass of whiskey taken, and +he wouldn't like it then." + + +A LONG REMEMBERING + +"The longest thing I remember is the time of the sickness, and my father +that was making four straw mats for four brothers that died, and that +couldn't afford coffins. The bodies were put in the mats and were tied +up in them. And the second thing I remember is the people digging in the +stubble after the oats and the wheat; to see would they meet a potato, +and sometimes they did, for God sent them there." + + +THE TERRY ALTS + +"The Terry Alts were a bad class; everything you had they'd take from +you. It was against herding they began to get the land, the same as at +the present time. And women they would take; a man maybe that hadn't a +perch of land would go to a rich farmer's house and bring away his +daughter. And I, supposing, to have some spite against you, I'd gather a +mob and do every bad thing to destroy you. That is the way they were, a +bad class and doing bad deeds." + + +THE '48 TIME + +"Thomas Davis was a great man where poetry is concerned, and a better +than Thomas Moore. All over Ireland his poetry is, and he would have +done other things but that he died young. That was the '48 time. The '48 +men were foolish men; they thought to cope with the English Government. +They went to O'Connell to get from him all the money he had gathered, +for they had it in their head to use that to make a rise against +England. But when they asked O'Connell for it he told them there was +none of it left, not one penny. Buying estates for his children he used +it, and he said he spent it on a monastery. I don't know was he speaking +truth. Mahon made a great speech against him, and it preyed on +O'Connell, and he left the country and went away and died in some place +called Genoa. He was a very ambitious man, like Napoleon. He got +Emancipation; but where is the use of that? There's Judge O'Brien, Peter +the Packer, was calling out and trying to do away with trial by jury. +And he would not be in his office or in his billet if it wasn't for +O'Connell. They didn't do much after, where they didn't get the money +from O'Connell. And the night they joined under Smith O'Brien they +hadn't got their supper. A terrible cold night it was, no one could +stand against it. Some bishop came from Dublin, and he told them to go +home, for how could they reach with their pikes to the English soldiers +that had got muskets. The soldiers came, and there was some firing, and +they were all scattered. As to Smith O'Brien, there was ten thousand +pounds on his head, and he hid for a while. Then at the last he went +into the town of Clonmel, and there was a woman there in the street was +a huckster, and he bade her give him up to the Government, for she would +never earn money so easy. But for all she was worth she wouldn't do +that. So then he went and gave himself up, and he was sent to Australia, +and the property was given to his brother." + + +A THING MITCHELL SAID + +"Mitchell was kept in Clonmel gaol two years before he was sent to +Australia. He was a Protestant, and a very good man. He said in a +speech, where was the use of meetings and of talking? It was with the +point of their bayonet the English would have to be driven out of +Ireland. It was Mitchell said that." + + +THE FENIAN RISING + +"It was a man from America it came with. There was one Mackie was taken +in a publichouse in Cork, and there was a policeman killed in the +struggle. Judge O'Hagan was the judge when he was in the dock, and he +said, 'Mr. Mackie, I see you are a gentleman and an educated man; and +I'm sorry,' he said, 'that you did not read Irish history.' Mackie cried +when he heard that, for indeed it was all spies about him, and it was +they gave him up." + + +A GREAT WONDER + +"The greatest wonder I ever saw was one time near Kinvara at a funeral, +there came a car along the road and a lady on it having a plaid cloak, +as was the fashion then, and a big hat, and she kept her head down and +never looked at the funeral at all. I wondered at her when I saw that, +and I said to my brother it was a strange thing a lady to be coming past +a funeral and not to look on at it at all. And who was on the car but +O'Gorman Mahon, escaping from the Government, and dressed up as a lady! +He drove to Father Arthur's house at Kinvara, and there was a boat +waiting, and a cousin of my own in it, to bring him out to a ship, and +so he made his escape." + + +ANOTHER WONDER + +"I saw Clerkenwell prison in London broken up in the time of the +Fenians, and every ship and steamer in the whole of the ocean stopped. +The prison was burned down, and all the prisoners consumed, and seven +doctors' shops along with it." + + +FATHER MATHEW + +"Father Mathew was a great man, plump and red in the face. There +couldn't be better than what he was. I knew one Kane in Gort he gave a +medal to, and he kept it seventy years. Kane was a great totaller, and +he wouldn't drink so much as water out of a glass, but out of a cup; the +glass might have been used for porter at some time. He lost the medal, +and was in a great way about it, but he found it five years after in a +dung-heap. A great totaller he was. Them that took the medal from Father +Mathew and that kept it, at their death they would be buried by men +dressed in white clothes." + + +THE WAR OF THE CRIMEA + +"My husband was in the war of the Crimea. It is terrible the hardships +he went through, to be two months without going into a house, under the +snow in trenches. And no food to get, maybe a biscuit in the day. And +there was enough food there, he said, to feed all Ireland; but bad +management, they could not get it. Coffee they would be given, and they +would be cutting a green bramble to strive to make a fire to boil it. +The dead would be buried every morning; a big hole would be dug, and the +bodies thrown in, and lime upon them; and some of the bodies would be +living when they were buried. My husband used to try to revive them if +he saw there was life in them, but other lads wouldn't care--just to put +them down and have done. And they were allowed to take nothing--money, +gold watches, and the like, all thrown in the ground. Sure they did not +care much about such things, they might be lying in the same place +themselves to-morrow. But the soldiers would take the money sometimes +and put it in their stocking and tie the stocking below the ankle and +below the knee. But if the officer knew that, they would be +courtmartialed and punished. He got two medals--one from the English and +one from the Emperor of Turkey. Fighting for the Queen, and bad pay she +gave him. He never knew what was the war for, unless it might be for +diminishing the population. We saw in the paper a few years ago there +was a great deal of money collected for soldiers that had gone through +hardship in the war, and we wrote to the War Office asking some of it +for him. But they wrote back that there were so many young men crippled +in the Boer war there was nothing to be spared for the old. My husband +used to be saying the Queen cared nothing for the army, but that the +King, even before he was King, was better to it. But I'm thinking from +this out the King will get very few from Ireland for his army." + +[Illustration: W.E. GLADSTONE] + + +GARIBALDI + +"There was one of my brothers died at Lyons in France. He had a place in +Guinness's brewery, and earning £3 10s. a week, and it was the time +Garibaldi, you might have heard of, was out fighting. There came a ship +to Dublin from France, calling for soldiers, and he threw up his place, +and there were many others threw up their place, and they went off, +eleven hundred of them, in the French ship, to go fighting for their +religion, and a hundred of them never came back. When they landed in +France they were made much of and velvet carpets spread before them. But +the war was near over then, and when it had ended they were forgotten, +and nothing done for them, and he was in poverty at Lyons and died. It +was the nuns there wrote a letter in French telling that to my mother." +"And Napoleon the Third fought for the Pope in the time of Garibaldi. A +great many Irishmen went out at that time, and the half of them never +came back. I met with one of them that was in Russell's flour stores, +and he said he would never go out again if there were two hundred Popes. +Bad treatment they got--black bread, and the troops in the Vatican well +fed; and it wasn't long till Victor Emanuel's troops made a breach in +the wall." + + +THE BUONAPARTES + +"Napoleon the Third was not much. He died in England, and was buried in +a country church-yard much the same as Kiltartan. But Napoleon the First +was a great man; it was given out of him there never would be so great a +man again. But he hadn't much education, and his penmanship was bad. +Every great man gave in to superstition. He gave into it when he went to +ask the gipsy woman to divine, and she told him his fate. Through fire +and a rock she said that he would fall. I suppose the rock was St. +Helena, and the fire was the fire of Waterloo. Napoleon was the terror +of England, and he would have beat the English at Waterloo but for +treachery, the treachery of Grouchy. It was, maybe, not his fault he was +treacherous, he might be the same as Judas, that had his treachery +settled for him four thousand years before his birth. There was a curse +on Napoleon the Third because of what Napoleon the First had done +against the Church. He took Malta one time and landed there, and by +treachery with the knights he robbed a church that was on the shore, and +carried away the golden gates. In an ironclad he put them that was +belonging to the English, and they sank that very day, and were never +got up after, unless it might be by divers. And two Popes he brought +into exile. But he was the friend of Ireland, and when he was dying he +said that. His heart was smashed, he said, with all the ruling Princes +that went against him; and if he had made an attack on Ireland, he said, +instead of going to Moscow the time he did, he would have brought +England low. And the Prince Imperial was trapped. It was the English +brought him out to the war, and that made the nations go against him, +and it was an English officer led him into the trap the way he never +would come to the Throne." + +[Illustration: LOUIS NAPOLEON] + + +THE ZULU WAR + +"I was in the army the time of the Zulu war. Great hardship we got in it +and plenty of starvation. It was the Dutch called in the English to help +them against the Zulus, that were tricky rogues, and would do no work +but to be driving the cattle off the fields. A pound of raw flour we +would be given out at seven o'clock in the morning, and some would try +to make a cake, and some would put it in a pot with water and be +stirring it, and it might be eleven o'clock before you would get what +you could eat, and not a bit of meat maybe for two days." + + +THE YOUNG NAPOLEON + +"There was a young Napoleon there, the grandson of Napoleon the First, +that was a great man indeed. I was in the island where he was interred; +it is a grand place, and what is not natural in those parts, there are +two blackthorn bushes growing in it where you go into the place he was +buried. And as to that great Napoleon, the fear of him itself was enough +to kill people. If he was living till now it is hard to say what way +would the world be. It is likely there'd be no English left in it, and +it would be all France. The young Napoleon was at the Zulu war was as +fine a young man as you'd wish to lay an eye on; six feet four, and +shaped to match. As to his death, there was things might have been +brought to light, but the enquiry was stopped. There was seven of them +went out together, and he was found after, lying dead in the ground, and +his top coat spread over him. There came a shower of hailstones that +were as large as the top of your finger, and as square as diamonds, and +that would enter into your skull. They made out it was to save himself +from them that he lay down. But why didn't they lift him in the saddle +and bring him along with them? And the bullet was taken out of his head +was the same every bit as our bullets; and where would a Zulu get a +bullet like that? Very queer it was, and a great deal of talk about it, +and in my opinion he was done away with because the English saw the +grandfather in him, and thought he would do away with themselves in the +time to come. Sure if he spoke to one of them, he would begin to shake +before him, officers the same as men. We had often to be laughing seeing +that." + + +PARNELL + +"Parnell was a very good man, and a just man, and if he had lived to +now, Ireland would be different to what it is. The only thing ever could +be said against him was the influence he had with that woman. And how do +we know but that was a thing appointed for him by God? Parnell had a +back to him, but O'Connell stood alone. He fought a good war in the +House of Commons. Parnell did a great deal, getting the land. I often +heard he didn't die at all--it was very quick for him to go. I often +wondered there were no people smart enough to dig up the coffin and to +see what is in it, at night they could do that. No one knows in what +soil Robert Emmet was buried, but he was made an end of sure enough. +Parnell went through Gort one day, and he called it the fag-end of +Ireland, just as Lady Morgan called the North the Athens of Ireland." + + +MR. GLADSTONE + +"Gladstone had the name of being the greatest statesman of England, and +he wasn't much after all. At the time of his death he had it on his mind +that it was he threw the first stone at Parnell, and he confessed that, +and was very sorry for it. But sure there is no one can stand all +through. Look at Solomon that had ten hundred wives, and some of them +the finest of women, and that spent all the money laid up by Father +David. And Gladstone encouraged Garibaldi the time he attacked the +Vatican, and gave him arms, Parnell charged him with that one time in +the House of Commons, and said he had the documents, and he hadn't a +word to say. But he was sorry at Parnell's death, and what was the use +of that when they had his heart broke? Parnell did a great deal for the +Irish, and they didn't care after; they are the most displeasing people +God ever made, unless it might be the ancient Jews." + + +QUEEN VICTORIA'S RELIGION + +"Queen Victoria was loyal and true to the Pope; that is what I was told, +and so is Edward the Seventh loyal and true, but he has got something +contrary in his body. It is when she was a girl she put on clothes like +your own--lady's clothes--and she went to the Pope. Did she turn +Catholic? She'd be beheaded if she did; the Government would behead her; +it is the Government has power in England." + + +HER WISDOM + +"As to the last Queen, we thought her bad when we had her, but now we +think her good. She was a hard woman, and she did nothing for Ireland in +the bad years; but I'll give you the reason she had for that. She had it +in her mind always to keep Ireland low, it being the place she mostly +got her soldiers. That might not be good for Ireland, but it was good +for her own benefit. The time the lads have not a bit to eat, that is +the time they will go soldiering." + + +WAR AND MISERY + +"There was war and misery going on all through Victoria's reign. It was +the Boer war killed her, she being aged, and seeing all her men going +out, and able to do nothing. Ten to one they were against the Boers. +That is what killed her. It is a great tribute to the war it did that." + + +THE PRESENT KING + +"The present King is very good. He is a gentleman very fond of visiting, +and well pleased with every class of people he will meet." + + +THE OLD AGE PENSIONS + +"The old age pension is very good, and as to taxes, them can't pay it +that hasn't it. It is since the Boer War there is coin sent back from +Africa every week that is dug from the goldpits out there. That is what +the English wanted the time they went to war; they want to close up the +minerals for themselves. If it wasn't for the war, that pension would +never be given to Ireland. They'd have been driven home by the Boers if +it wasn't for the Irish that were in the front of every battle. And the +Irish held out better too, they can starve better than the rest, there +is more bearing in them. It wasn't till all the Irish were killed that +the English took to bribing. Bribed Botha they did with a bag of gold. +For all the generals in England that are any good are Irish. Buller was +the last they had, and he died. They can find no good generals at all in +England, unless they might get them very young." + + +ANOTHER THOUGHT + +"It was old money was in the Treasury idle, and the King and Queen +getting old wanted to distribute it in the country it was taken from. +But some say it was money belonging to captains and big men that died in +the war and left no will after them. Anyway it is likely it will not +hold; and it is known that a great many of those that get it die very +soon." + + +A PROPHECY + +"It is likely there will be a war at the end of the two thousand, that +was always foretold. And I hear the English are making ships that will +dive the same as diving ducks under the water. But as to the Irish +Americans, they would sweep the entire world; and England is afraid of +America, it being a neighbour." + + +NOTES + +I have given this book its name because it is at my own door, in the +Barony of Kiltartan, I have heard a great number of the stories from +beggars, pipers, travelling men, and such pleasant company. But others I +have heard in the Workhouse, or to the north of Galway Bay, in +Connemara, or on its southern coast, in Burren. I might, perhaps, better +have called the little book Myths in the Making. + +A sociable people given to conversation and belief; no books in the +house, no history taught in the schools; it is likely that must have +been the way of it in old Greece, when the king of highly civilised +Crete was turned by tradition into a murderous tyrant owning a monster +and a labyrinth. It was the way of it in old France too, one thinks, +when Charlemagne's height grew to eight feet, and his years were counted +by centuries: "He is three hundred years old, and when will he weary of +war?" Anyhow, it has been the way of modern Ireland--the Ireland I +know--and when I hear myth turned into history, or history into myth, I +see in our stonebreakers and cattle drivers Greek husbandmen or ancient +vinedressers of the Loire. + +I noticed some time ago, when listening to many legends of the Fianna, +that is about Finn, their leader, the most exaggerated of the tales have +gathered; and I believe the reason is that he, being the greatest of the +"Big Men," the heroic race, has been most often in the mouths of the +people. They have talked of him by their fire-sides for two thousand +years or so; at first earlier myths gathered around him, and then from +time to time any unusual feats of skill or cunning shown off on one or +another countryside, till many of the stories make him at the last +grotesque, little more than a clown. So in Bible History, while lesser +kings keep their dignity, great Solomon's wit is outwitted by the +riddles of some countryman; and Lucifer himself, known in Kiltartan as +"the proudest of the angels, thinking himself equal with God," has been +seen in Sligo rolling down a road in the form of the _Irish Times_. The +gods of ancient Ireland have not escaped. Mananaan, Son of the Sea, +Rider of the Horses of the Sea, was turned long ago into a juggler doing +tricks, and was hunted in the shape of a hare. Brigit, the "Fiery +Arrow," the nurse of poets, later a saint and the Foster-mother of +Christ, does her healing of the poor in the blessed wells of to-day as +"a very civil little fish, very pleasant, wagging its tail." + +Giobniu, the divine smith of the old times, made a new sword and a new +spear for every one that was broken in the great battle between the gods +and the mis-shapen Fomor. "No spearpoint that is made by my hand," he +said, "will ever miss its mark; no man it touches will ever taste life +again." It was his father who, with a cast of a hatchet, could stop the +inflowing of the tide; and it was he himself whose ale gave lasting +youth: "No sickness or wasting ever comes on those who drink at +Giobniu's Feast." Later he became a saint, a master builder, builder of +a house "more shining than a garden; with its stars, with its sun, with +its moon." To-day he is known as the builder of the round towers of the +early Christian centuries, and of the square castles of the +Anglo-Normans. And the stories I have given of him, called as he now is, +"the Goban Saor," show that he has fallen still farther in legend from +his high origin. + +As to O'Connell, perhaps because his name, like that of Finn and the +Goban, is much in the mouths of the people, there is something of the +absurd already coming into his legend. The stories of him show more than +any others how swiftly myths and traditions already in the air may +gather around a memory much loved and much spoken of. He died only sixty +years ago, and many who have seen and heard him are still living; and +yet he has already been given a miraculous birth, and the power of a +saint is on its way to him. I have charged my son, and should I live +till he comes to sensible years, I will charge my grandson, to keep +their ears open to the growth of legend about him who was once my +husband's friendly enemy, and afterwards his honoured friend. + +I do not take the credit or the discredit of the opinions given by the +various speakers, nor do I go bail for the facts; I do but record what +is already in "the Book of the People." The history of England and +Ireland was shut out of the schools and it became a passion. As to why +it was shut out, well, I heard someone whisper "Eugene Aram hid the body +away, being no way anxious his scholars should get a sight of it." But +this also was said in the barony of Kiltartan. + +The illustrations are drawn from some delft figures, ornaments in a +Kiltartan house. + + +A. GREGORY. + +COOLE PARK, _November_, 1909. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Kiltartan History Book, by Lady I. A. Gregory + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11260 *** diff --git a/11260-h/11260-h.htm b/11260-h/11260-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cff260 --- /dev/null +++ b/11260-h/11260-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1767 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> + +<html> +<head> + <meta name="generator" content= + "HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st February 2004), see www.w3.org"> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Kiltartan History Book, + by Lady Gregory..</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced; } + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; + text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + .poem .author {text-align: right;} + .list {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .rom {list-style-type: upper-roman;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0em;} + // --> + </style> +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11260 ***</div> + + <h1>THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK.</h1> + + <center> + <b>BY LADY GREGORY.</b> + </center><br> + + <center> + ILLUSTRATED + </center> + + <center> + BY ROBERT GREGORY + </center><br> + <br> + + <p class="list"><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</i></p> + + <ul class="list"> + <li>Seven Short Plays</li> + + <li>Cuchulain of Muirthemne</li> + + <li>Gods and Fighting Men</li> + + <li>Poets and Dreamers</li> + + <li>A Book of Saints and Wonders</li> + </ul><br> + + <center> + DEDICATED AND RECOMMENDED TO THE HISTORY CLASSES IN THE NEW + UNIVERSITY + </center> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + <hr> + <a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> + + <h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheAncientTimes">The Ancient + Times</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#GobanTheBuilder">Goban, the + Builder</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AWittyWife">A Witty Wife</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AnAdviceSheGave">An Advice She + Gave</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#ShorteningTheRoad">Shortening the + Road</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheGobansSecret">The Goban's + Secret</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheScotchRogue">The Scotch Rogue</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheDanes">The Danes</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBattleOfClontarf">The Battle of + Clontarf</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheEnglish">The English</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheQueenOfBreffny">The Queen of + Breffny</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#KingHenryVIII">King Henry VIII.</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#Elizabeth">Elizabeth</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#HerDeath">Her Death</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheTraceOfCromwell">The Trace of + Cromwell</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#CromwellsLaw">Cromwell's Law</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#CromwellInConnacht">Cromwell in + Connacht</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AWorseThanCromwell">A Worse than + Cromwell</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBattleOfAughrim">The Battle of + Aughrim</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheStuarts">The Stuarts</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AnotherStory">Another Story</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#PatrickSarsfield">Patrick + Sarsfield</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#QueenAnne">Queen Anne</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#CarolansSong">Carolan's Song</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#NinetyEight">'Ninety-Eight</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#DenisBrowne">Denis Browne</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheUnion">The Union</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#RobertEmmet">Robert Emmet</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#OConnellsBirth">O'Connell's + Birth</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheTinker">The Tinker</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#APresent">A Present</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#HisStrategy">His Strategy</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheManWasGoingToBeHanged">The Man was + Going to be Hanged</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheCupOfTheSassanach">The Cup of the + Sassanach</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheThousandFishers">The Thousand + Fishers</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#WhatTheOldWomenSaw">What the Old Women + Saw</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#OConnellsHat">O'Connell's Hat</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheChangeHeMade">The Change He + Made</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheManHeBroughtToJustice">The Man He + Brought to Justice</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBinding">The Binding</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#HisMonument">His Monument</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#APraise">A Praise Made for Daniel + O'Connell by Old Women and They Begging at the Door</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#RichardShiel">Richard Shiel</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheTitheWar">The Tithe War</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheFightAtCarrickshock">The Fight at + Carrickshock</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBigWind">The Big Wind</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheFamine">The Famine</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheCholera">The Cholera</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#ALongRemembering">A Long + Remembering</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheTerryAlts">The Terry Alts</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#The48Time">The '48 Time</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AThingMitchellSaid">A Thing Mitchell + Said</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheFenianRising">The Fenian + Rising</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AGreatWonder">A Great Wonder</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AnotherWonder">Another Wonder</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#FatherMathew">Father Mathew</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheWarOfTheCrimea">The War of the + Crimea</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#Garibaldi">Garibaldi</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBuonapartes">The Buonapartes</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheZuluWar">The Zulu War</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheYoungNapoleon">The Young + Napoleon</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#Parnell">Parnell</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#MrGladstone">Mr. Gladstone</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#QueenVictoriasReligion">Queen Victoria's + Religion</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#HerWisdom">Her Wisdom</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#WarAndMisery">War and Misery</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#ThePresentKing">The Present King</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheOldAgePensions">The Old Age + Pensions</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AnotherThought">Another Thought</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AProphecy">A Prophecy</a></p><br> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#NOT">NOTES</a></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p><a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a> + + <h2>THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK</h2> + + <center> + <a name="TheAncientTimes"></a> THE ANCIENT TIMES + </center> + + <p>"As to the old history of Ireland, the first man ever died in + Ireland was Partholan, and he is buried, and his greyhound along + with him, at some place in Kerry. The Nemidians came after that + and stopped for a while, and then they all died of some disease. + And then the Firbolgs came, the best men that ever were in + Ireland, and they had no law but love, and there was never such + peace and plenty in Ireland. What religion had they? None at all. + And there was a low-sized race came that worked the land of + Ireland a long time; they had their time like the others. Many + would tell you Grania slept under the cromlechs, but I don't + believe that, and she a king's daughter. And I don't believe she + was handsome either. If she was, why would she have run away? In + the old time the people had no envy, and they would be writing + down the stories and the songs for one another. But they are too + venemous now to do that. And as to the people in the towns, they + don't care for such things now, they are too corrupted with + drink."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="GobanTheBuilder"></a> GOBAN, THE BUILDER + </center> + + <p>"The Goban was the master of sixteen trades. There was no + beating him; he had got the gift. He went one time to Quin Abbey + when it was building, looking for a job, and the men were going + to their dinner, and he had poor clothes, and they began to jibe + at him, and the foreman said 'Make now a cat-and-nine-tails while + we are at our dinner, if you are any good.' And he took the + chisel and cut it in the rough in the stone, a cat with nine + tails coming from it, and there it was complete when they came + out from their dinner. There was no beating him. He learned no + trade, but he was master of sixteen. That is the way, a man that + has the gift will get more out of his own brain than another will + get through learning. There is many a man without learning will + get the better of a college-bred man, and will have better words + too. Those that make inventions in these days have the gift, such + a man now as Edison, with all he has got out of + electricity."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AWittyWife"></a> A WITTY WIFE + </center> + + <p>"The Goban Saor was a mason and a smith, and he could do all + things, and he was very witty. He was going from home one time + and he said to the wife 'If it is a daughter you have this time + I'll kill you when I come back'; for up to that time he had no + sons, but only daughters. And it was a daughter she had; but a + neighbouring woman had a son at the same time, and they made an + exchange to save the life of the Goban's wife. But when the boy + began to grow up he had no wit, and the Goban knew by that he was + no son of his. That is the reason he wanted a witty wife for him. + So there came a girl to the house one day, and the Goban Saor + bade her look round at all that was in the room, and he said 'Do + you think a couple could get a living out of this?' 'They could + not,' she said. So he said she wouldn't do, and he sent her away. + Another girl came another day, and he bade her take notice of all + that was in the house, and he said 'Do you think could a couple + knock a living out of this?' 'They could if they stopped in it,' + she said. So he said that girl would do. Then he asked her could + she bring a sheepskin to the market and bring back the price of + it, and the skin itself as well. She said she could, and she went + to the market, and there she pulled off the wool and sold it and + brought back the price and the skin as well. Then he asked could + she go to the market and not be dressed or undressed. And she + went having only one shoe and one stocking on her, so she was + neither dressed or undressed. Then he sent her to walk neither on + the road or off the road, and she walked on the path beside it. + So he said then she would do as a wife for his son."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AnAdviceSheGave"></a> AN ADVICE SHE GAVE + </center> + + <p>"One time some great king or lord sent for the Goban to build + a <i>caislean</i> for him, and the son's wife said to him before + he went 'Be always great with the women of the house, and always + have a comrade among them.' So when the Goban went there he + coaxed one of the women the same as if he was not married. And + when the castle was near built, the woman told him the lord was + going to play him a trick, and to kill him or shut him up when he + had the castle made, the way he would not build one for any-other + lord that was as good. And as she said, the lord came and bade + the Goban to make a cat and two-tails, for no one could make that + but himself, and it was meaning to kill him on it he was. And the + Goban said he would do that when he had finished the castle, but + he could not finish it without some tool he had left at home. And + they must send the lord's son for it—- for he said it would + not be given to any other one. So the son was sent, and the Goban + sent a message to the daughter-in-law that the tool he was + wanting was called 'When you open it shut it.' And she was + surprised, for there was no such tool in the house; but she + guessed by the message what she had to do, and there was a big + chest in the house and she set it open. 'Come now,' she said to + the young man,' look in the chest and find it for yourself.' And + when he looked in she gave him a push forward, and in he went, + and she shut the lid on him. She wrote a letter to the lord then, + saying he would not get his son back till he had sent her own two + men, and they were sent back to her."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="ShorteningTheRoad"></a> SHORTENING THE ROAD + </center> + + <p>"Himself and his son were walking the road together one day, + and the Goban said to the son 'Shorten the road for me.' So the + son began to walk fast, thinking that would do it, but the Goban + sent him back home when he didn't understand what to do. The next + day they were walking again, and the Goban said again to shorten + the road for him, and this time he began to run, and the Goban + sent him home again. When he went in and told the wife he was + sent home the second time, she began to think, and she said, + 'When he bids you shorten the road, it is that he wants you to be + telling him stories.' For that is what the Goban meant, but it + took the daughter-in-law to understand it. And it is what I was + saying to that other woman, that if one of ourselves was making a + journey, if we had another along with us, it would not seem to be + one half as long as if we would be alone. And if that is so with + us, it is much more with a stranger, and so I went up the hill + with you to shorten the road, telling you that story."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheGobansSecret"></a> THE GOBAN'S SECRET + </center> + + <p>"The Goban and his son were seven years building the castle, + and they never said a word all that time. And at the end of seven + years the son was at the top, and he said 'I hear a cow lowing.' + And the Goban said then 'Make all strong below you, for the work + is done,' and they went home. The Goban never told the secret of + his building, and when he was on the bed dying they wanted to get + it from him, and they went in and said 'Claregalway Castle is + after falling in the night.' And the Goban said 'How can that be + when I put a stone in and a stone out and a stone across.' So + then they knew the way he built so well."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheScotchRogue"></a> THE SCOTCH ROGUE + </center> + + <p>"One time he was on the road going to the town, and there was + a Scotch rogue on the road that was always trying what could he + pick off others, and he saw the Connemara man—that was the + Goban—had a nice cravat, and he thought he would get a hold + of that. So he began talking with him, and he was boasting of all + the money he had, and the Goban said whatever it was he had three + times as much as it, and he with only thirty pounds in the world. + And the Scotch rogue thought he would get some of it from him, + and he said he would go to a house in the town, and he gave him + some food and some drink there, and the Goban said he would do + the same for him on the morrow. So then the Goban went out to + three houses, and in each of them he left ten pounds of his + thirty pounds, and he told the people in every house what they + had to do, and that when he would strike the table with his hat + three times they would bring out the money. So then he asked the + Scotch rogue into the first house, and ordered every sort of food + and drink, ten pounds worth in all. And when they had used all + they could of it, he struck with his hat on the table, and the + man of the house brought out the ten pounds, and the Goban said + 'Keep that to pay what I owe you.' The second day he did the same + thing in another house. And in the third house they went to he + ordered ten pounds worth of food and drink in the same way. And + when the time came to pay, he struck the table with the hat, and + there was the money in the hand of the man of the house before + them. 'That's a good little caubeen,' said the Scotch rogue, + 'when striking it on the table makes all that money appear.' 'It + is a wishing hat,' said the Goban; 'anything I wish for I can get + as long as I have that.' 'Would you sell it?' said the Scotch + rogue. 'I would not,' said the Goban. 'I have another at home, + but I wouldn't sell one or the other.' 'You may as well sell it, + so long as you have another at home,' said the Scotch rogue. + 'What will you give for it?' says the Goban. 'Will you give three + hundred pounds for it?' 'I will give that,' says the Scotch + rogue, 'when it will bring me all the wealth I wish for.' So he + went out and brought the three hundred pound, and gave it to the + Goban, and he got the caubeen and went away with it, and it not + worth three halfpence. There was no beating the Goban. Wherever + he got it, he had got the gift."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheDanes"></a> THE DANES + </center> + + <p>"The reason of the wisps and the fires on Saint John's Eve is + that one time long ago the Danes came and took the country and + conquered it, and they put a soldier to mind every house through + the whole country. And at last the people made up their mind that + on one night they would kill its soldiers. So they did as they + said, and there wasn't one left, and that is why they light the + wisps ever since. It was Brian Boroihme was the first to light + them. There was not much of an army left to the Danes that time, + for he made a great scatter of them. A great man he was, and his + own son was as good, that is Murrough. It was the wife brought + him to his end, Gormleith. She was for war, and he was all for + peace. And he got to be very pious, too pious, and old and she + got tired of that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBattleOfClontarf"></a> THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF + </center> + + <p>"Clontarf was on the head of a game of chess. The generals of + the Danes were beaten at it, and they were vexed; and Cennedigh + was killed on a hill near Fermoy. He put the Holy Gospels in his + breast as a protection, but he was struck through them with a + reeking dagger. It was Brodar, that the Brodericks are descended + from, that put a dagger through Brian's heart, and he attending + to his prayers. What the Danes left in Ireland were hens and + weasels. And when the cock crows in the morning the country + people will always say 'It is for Denmark they are crowing. + Crowing they are to be back in Denmark.'"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheEnglish"></a> THE ENGLISH + </center> + + <p>"It was a long time after that, the Pope encouraged King Henry + to take Ireland. It was for a protection he did it, Henry being + of his own religion, and he fearing the Druids or the Danes might + invade Ireland."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheQueenOfBreffny"></a> THE QUEEN OF BREFFNY + </center> + + <p>"Dervorgilla was a red-haired woman, and it was she put the + great curse on Ireland, bringing in the English through + MacMurrough, that she went to from O'Rourke. It was to Henry the + Second MacMurrough went, and he sent Strongbow, and they stopped + in Ireland ever since. But who knows but another race might be + worse, such as the Spaniards that were scattered along the whole + coast of Connacht at the time of the Armada. And the laws are + good enough. I heard it said the English will be dug out of their + graves one day for the sake of their law. As to Dervorgilla, she + was not brought away by force, she went to MacMurrough herself. + For there are men in the world that have a coaxing way, and + sometimes women are weak."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="KingHenryVIII"></a> KING HENRY VIII. + </center> + + <p>"Henry the Eighth was crying and roaring and leaping out of + the bed for three days and nights before his death. And he died + cursing his children, and he that had eight millions when he came + to the Throne, coining leather money at the end."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="Elizabeth"></a> ELIZABETH + </center> + + <p>"Queen Elizabeth was awful. Beyond everything she was. When + she came to the turn she dyed her hair red, and whatever man she + had to do with, she sent him to the block in the morning, that he + would be able to tell nothing. She had an awful temper. She would + throw a knife from the table at the waiting ladies, and if + anything vexed her she would maybe work upon the floor. A + thousand dresses she left after her. Very superstitious she was. + Sure after her death they found a card, the ace of hearts, nailed + to her chair under the seat. She thought she would never die + while she had it there. And she bought a bracelet from an old + woman out in Wales that was over a hundred years. It was + superstition made her do that, and they found it after her death + tied about her neck."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="HerDeath"></a> HER DEATH + </center> + + <p>"It was a town called Calais brought her to her death, and she + lay chained on the floor three days and three nights. The + Archbishop was trying to urge her to eat, but she said 'You would + not ask me to do it if you knew the way I am,' for nobody could + see the chains. After her death they waked her for six days in + Whitehall, and there were six ladies sitting beside the body + every night. Three coffins were about it, the one nearest the + body of lead, and then a wooden one, and a leaden one on the + outside. And every night there came from them a great bellow. And + the last night there came a bellow that broke the three coffins + open, and tore the velvet, and there came out a stench that + killed the most of the ladies and a million of the people of + London with the plague. Queen Victoria was more honourable than + that. It would be hard to beat Queen Elizabeth."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheTraceOfCromwell"></a> THE TRACE OF CROMWELL + </center> + + <p>"I'll tell you now about the trace of Cromwell. There was a + young lady was married to a gentleman, and she died with her + first baby, and she was brought away into a forth by the fairies, + the good people, as I suppose. She used to be sitting on the side + of it combing her hair, and three times her husband saw her + there, but he had not the courage to go and to bring her away. + But there was a man of the name of Howley living near the forth, + and he went out with his gun one day and he saw her beside the + forth, and he brought her away to his house, and a young baby + sprang between them at the end of a year. One day the husband was + out shooting and he came in upon Howley's land, and when young + Howley heard the shooting he rose up and went out and he bade the + gentleman to stop, for this was his land. So he stopped, and he + said he was weary and thirsty, and he asked could he rest in the + house. So young Howley said as long as he asked pardon he had + leave to use what he liked. So he came in the house and he sat at + the table, and he put his two eyes through the young lady. 'If I + didn't see her dead and buried,' he said, 'I'd say that to be my + own wife.' 'Oh!' said she, 'so I am your wife, and you are badly + worthy of me, and you have the worst courage ever I knew, that + you would not come and bring me away out of the forth as young + Howley had the courage to bring me,' she said. So then he asked + young Howley would he give him back his wife. 'I will give her,' + he said, 'but you never will get the child.' So the child was + reared, and when he was grown he went travelling up to Dublin. + And he was at a hunt, and he lost the top of his boot, and he + went into a shoemaker's shop and he gave him half a sovereign for + nothing but to put the tip on the boot, for he saw he was poor + and had a big family. And more than that, when he was going away + he took out three sovereigns and gave them to the blacksmith, and + he looked at one of the little chaps, and he said 'That one will + be in command of the whole of England.' 'Oh, that cannot be,' + said the blacksmith, 'where I am poor and have not the means to + do anything for him.' 'It will be as I tell you,' said he, 'and + write me out now a docket,' he said, 'that if ever that youngster + will come to command Ireland, he will give me a free leg.' So the + docket was made out, and he brought it away with him. And sure + enough, the shoemaker's son listed, and was put at the head of + soldiers, and got the command of England, and came with his + soldiers to put down Ireland. And Howley saw them coming and he + tied his handkerchief to the top of his stick, and when Cromwell + saw that, he halted the army, 'For there is some poor man in + distress,' he said. Then Howley showed him the docket his father + had written. 'I will do some good thing for you on account of + that,' said Cromwell; 'and go now to the top of that high cliff,' + he said, 'and I'll give as much land as you can see from it.' And + so he did give it to him. It was no wonder Howley to have known + the shoemaker's son would be in command and all would happen him, + because of his mother that got knowledge in the years she was in + the forth. That is the trace of Cromwell. I heard it at a wake, + and I would believe it, and if I had time to put my mind to it, + and if I was not on the road from Loughrea to Ballyvaughan, I + could give you the foundations of it better."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="CromwellsLaw"></a> CROMWELL'S LAW + </center> + + <p>"I'll tell you about Cromwell and the White Friars. There was + a White Friar at that time was known to have knowledge, and + Cromwell sent word to him to come see him. It was of a Saturday + he did that, of an Easter Saturday, but the Friar never came. On + the Sunday Cromwell sent for him again, and he didn't come. And + on the Monday he sent for him the third time, and he did come. + 'Why is it you did not come to me when I sent before?' said + Cromwell. 'I'll tell you that,' said the White Friar. 'I didn't + come on Saturday,' he said, 'because your passion was on you. And + I didn't come on the Sunday,' he said, 'because your passion was + not gone down enough, and I thought you would not give me my + steps. But I came to-day,' he said, 'because your passion is + cool.' When Cromwell heard his answer, 'That is true,' he said, + 'and tell me how long my law will last in Ireland.' 'It will + last,' says the White Friar, 'till yesterday will come (that was + Easter Sunday) the same day as our Lady Day.' Cromwell was + satisfied then, and he gave him a free leg, and he went away. And + so that law did last till now, and it's well it did, for without + that law in the country you wouldn't be safe walking the road + having so much as the price of a pint of porter in your + pocket."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="CromwellInConnacht"></a> CROMWELL IN CONNACHT + </center> + + <p>"Cromwell cleared the road before him. If any great man stood + against him he would pull down his castle the same as he pulled + down that castle of your own, Ballinamantane, that is down the + road. He never got more than two hours sleep or three, or at the + most four, but starting up fearing his life would be peppered. + There was a word he sounded out to the Catholics, 'To hell or + Connacht,' and the reason he did that was that Connacht was + burned bare, and he that thought to pass the winter there would + get no lodging at all. Himself and his men travelled it, and they + never met with anything that had human breath put in it by God + till they came to Breffny, and they saw smoke from a chimney, and + they surrounded the house and went into it. And what they saw was + a skeleton over the fire roasting, and the people of the house + picking flesh off it with the bits of a hook. And when they saw + that, they left them there. It was a Clare man that burned + Connacht so bare; he was worse than Cromwell, and he made a great + slaughter in the house of God at Clonmel. The people have it + against his family yet, and against the whole County of + Clare."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AWorseThanCromwell"></a> A WORSE THAN CROMWELL + </center> + + <p>"Cromwell was very bad, but the drink is worse. For a good + many that Cromwell killed should go to heaven, but those that are + drunken never see heaven. And as to drink, a man that takes the + first glass is as quiet and as merry as a pet lamb; and after the + second glass he is as knacky as a monkey; and after the third + glass he is as ready for battle as a lion; and after the fourth + glass he is like a swine as he is. 'I am thirsty' [IRISH: Ta Tart + Orm], that was one of our Lord's seven words on the Cross, where + he was dry. And a man far off would have given him drink; but + there was a drunkard at the foot of the Cross, and he prevented + him."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBattleOfAughrim"></a> THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM + </center> + + <p>"That was a great slaughter at Aughrim. St. Ruth wanted to do + all himself, he being a foreigner. He gave no plan of the battle + to Sarsfield, but a written command to stop where he was, and + Sarsfield knew no more than yourself or myself in the evening + before it happened. It was Colonel Merell's wife bade him not go + to the battle, where she knew it would go bad with him through a + dream. But he said that meant that he would be crowned, and he + went out and was killed. That is what the poem says:</p> + <pre> + If Caesar listened to Calpurnia's dream + He had not been by Pompey's statue slain. +</pre> + + <p>All great men gave attention to dreams, though the Church is + against them now. It is written in Scripture that Joseph gave + attention to his dream. But Colonel Merell did not, and so he + went to his death. Aughrim would have been won if it wasn't for + the drink. There was too much of it given to the Irish soldiers + that day—drink and spies and traitors. The English never + won a battle in Ireland in fair fight, but getting spies and + setting the people against one another. I saw where Aughrim was + fought, and I turned aside from the road to see the tree where St + Ruth was killed. The half of it is gone like snuff. That was + spies too, a Colonel's daughter that told the English in what + place St. Ruth would be washing himself at six o'clock in the + morning. And it was there he was shot by one O'Donnell, an + Englishman. He shot him from six miles off. The Danes were + dancing in the raths around Aughrim the night after the battle. + Their ancestors were driven out of Ireland before; and they were + glad when they saw those that had put them out put out + themselves, and every one of them skivered."</p><a name= + "image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> + + <center> + <img src="./images/02.jpg" width="300" height="390" alt= + "William III"> + </center> + + <center> + <a name="TheStuarts"></a> THE STUARTS + </center> + + <p>"As to the Stuarts, there are no songs about them and no + praises in the West, whatever there may be in the South. Why + would there, and they running away and leaving the country the + way they did? And what good did they ever do it? James the Second + was a coward. Why didn't he go into the thick of the battle like + the Prince of Orange? He stopped on a hill three miles away, and + rode off to Dublin, bringing the best of his troops with him. + There was a lady walking in the street at Dublin when he got + there, and he told her the battle was lost, and she said 'Faith + you made good haste; you made no delay on the road.' So he said + no more after that. The people liked James well enough before he + ran; they didn't like him after that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AnotherStory"></a> ANOTHER STORY + </center> + + <p>"Seumus Salach, Dirty James, it is he brought all down. At the + time of the battle there was one of his men said, 'I have my eye + cocked, and all the nations will be done away with,' and he + pointing his cannon. 'Oh!' said James, 'Don't make a widow of my + daughter.' If he didn't say that, the English would have been + beat. It was a very poor thing for him to do."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="PatrickSarsfield"></a> PATRICK SARSFIELD + </center> + + <p>"Sarsfield was a great general the time he turned the shoes on + his horse. The English it was were pursuing him, and he got off + and changed the shoes the way when they saw the tracks they would + think he went another road. That was a great plan. He got to + Limerick then, and he killed thousands of the English. He was a + great general."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="QueenAnne"></a> QUEEN ANNE + </center> + + <p>"The Georges were fair; they left all to the Government; but + Anne was very bad and a tyrant. She tyrannised over the Irish. + She died broken-hearted with all the bad things that were going + on about her. For Queen Anne was very wicked; oh, very wicked, + indeed!"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="CarolansSong"></a> CAROLAN'S SONG + </center> + + <p>"Carolan that could play the fiddle and the harp used to be + going about with Cahil-a-Corba, that was a tambourine man. But + they got tired of one another and parted, and Carolan went to the + house of the King of Mayo, and he stopped there, and the King + asked him to stop for his lifetime. There came a grand visitor + one time, and when he heard Carolan singing and playing and his + fine pleasant talk, he asked him to go with him on a visit to + Dublin. So Carolan went, and he promised the King of Mayo he + would come back at the end of a month. But when he was at the + gentleman's house he liked it so well that he stopped a year with + him, and it wasn't till the Christmas he came back to Mayo. And + when he got there the doors were shut, and the King was at his + dinner, and Queen Mary and the three daughters, and he could see + them through the windows. But when the King saw him he said he + would not let him in. He was vexed with him and angry he had + broken his promise and his oath. So Carolan began to give out a + song he had made about the King of Mayo and all his family, and + he brought Queen Mary into it and the three daughters. Then the + Queen asked leave of the King to bring him in, because he made so + good a song, but the King would not give in to it. Then Carolan + began to draw down the King of Mayo's father and his grandfather + into the song. And Queen Mary asked again for forgiveness for + him, and the King gave it that time because of the song that had + in it the old times, and the old generations went through him. + But as to Cahil-a-Corba, he went to another gentleman's house and + he stopped too long in it and was driven out. But he came back, + having changed his form, that the gentleman did not know him, and + he let him in again, and then he was forgiven."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="NinetyEight"></a> 'NINETY-EIGHT + </center> + + <p>"In the year '98 there were the Yeomanry that were the worst + of all. The time Father Murphy was killed there was one of them + greased his boots in his heart. There was one of them was called + Micky the Devil in Irish; he never went out without the pitchcap + and the triangle, and any rebel he would meet he would put + gunpowder in his hair and set a light to it. The North Cork + Militia were the worst; there are places in Ireland where you + would not get a drink of water if they knew you came from Cork. + And it was the very same, the North Cork, that went of their own + free will to the Boer war, volunteered, asked to go that is. They + had the same sting in them always. A great many of them were left + dead in that war, and a great many better men than themselves. + There was one battle in that war there was no quarter given, the + same as Aughrim; and the English would kill the wounded that + would be left upon the field of battle. There is no Christianity + in war."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="DenisBrowne"></a> DENIS BROWNE + </center> + + <p>"There is a tree near Denis Browne's house that used to be + used for hanging men in the time of '98, he being a great man in + that time, and High Sheriff of Mayo, and it is likely the + gentlemen were afeared, and that there was bad work at nights. + But one night Denis Browne was lying in his bed, and the Lord put + it in his mind that there might be false information given + against some that were innocent. So he went out and he brought + out one of his horses into the lawn before the house, and he shot + it dead and left it there. In the morning one of the butlers came + up to him and said, 'Did you see that one of your horses was shot + in the night?' 'How would I see that?' says he, 'and I not rose + up or dressed?' So when he went out they showed him the horse, + and he bade the men to bury it, and it wasn't two hours after + before two of them came to him. 'We can tell you who it was shot + the horse,' they said. 'It was such a one and such a one in the + village, that were often heard to speak bad of you. And besides + that,' they said, 'we saw them shooting it ourselves.' So the two + that gave that false witness were the last two Denis Browne ever + hung. He rose out of it after, and washed his hands of it all. + And his big house is turned into a convent, and the tree is + growing there yet. It is in the time of '98 that happened, a + hundred years ago."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheUnion"></a> THE UNION + </center> + + <p>"As to the Union, it was bought with titles. Look at the + Binghams and the rest, they went to bed nothing, and rose up + lords in the morning. The day it was passed Lady Castlereagh was + in the House of Parliament, and she turned three colours, and she + said to her husband, 'You have passed your treaty, but you have + sold your country.' He went and cut his throat after that. And it + is what I heard from the old people, there was no priest in + Ireland but voted for it, the way they would get better rights, + for it was only among poor persons they were going at that time. + And it was but at the time of the Parliament leaving College + Green they began to wear the Soutane that they wear now. Up to + that it was a bodycoat they wore and knee-breeches. It was their + vote sent the Parliament to England, and when there is a row + between them or that the people are vexed with the priest, you + will hear them saying in the house in Irish 'Bad luck on them, it + was they brought misfortune to Ireland.' They wore the Soutane + ever since that time."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="RobertEmmet"></a> ROBERT EMMET + </center> + + <p>"The Government had people bribed to swear against Robert + Emmet, and the same men said after, they never saw him till he + was in the dock. He might have got away but for his attention to + that woman. She went away after with a sea captain. There are + some say she gave information. Curran's daughter she was. But I + don't know. He made one request, his letters that she wrote to + him in the gaol not to be meddled with, but the Government opened + them and took the presents she sent in them, and whatever was + best of them they kept for themselves. He made the greatest + speech from the dock ever was made, and Lord Norbury on the + bench, checking and clogging him all the time. Ten hours he was + in the dock, and they gave him no more than one dish of water all + that time; and they executed him in a hurry, saying it was an + attack they feared on the prison. There is no one knows where is + his grave."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="OConnellsBirth"></a> O'CONNELL'S BIRTH + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a grand man, and whatever cause he took in + hand, it was as good as won. But what wonder? He was the gift of + God. His father was a rich man, and one day he was out walking he + took notice of a house that was being built. Well, a week later + he passed by the same place, and he saw the walls of the house + were no higher than before. So he asked the reason, and he was + told it was a priest that was building it, and he hadn't the + money to go on with. So a few days after he went to the priest's + house and he asked was that true, and the priest said it was. + 'Would you pay back the money to the man that would lend it to + you?' says O'Connell. 'I would,' says the priest. So with that + O'Connell gave him the money that was + wanting—£50—for it was a very grand house. + Well, after some time the priest came to O'Connell's house, and + he found only the wife at home, so says he, 'I have some money + that himself lent me.' But he had never told the wife of what he + had done, so she knew nothing about it, and says she, 'Don't be + troubling yourself about it, he'll bestow it on you.' 'Well,' + says the priest, I'll go away now and I'll come back again.' So + when O'Connell came, the wife told him all that had happened, and + how a priest had come saying he owed him money, and how she had + said he would bestow it on him. 'Well,' says O'Connell, 'if you + said I would bestow it, I will bestow it.' And so he did. Then + the priest said, 'Have you any children?' 'Ne'er a child,' said + O'Connell. 'Well you will have one,' said he. And that day nine + months their young son was born. So what wonder if he was + inspired, being, as he was, the Gift of God."</p><a name= + "image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> + + <center> + <img src="./images/01.jpg" width="300" height="429" alt= + "O'Connell"> + </center> + + <center> + <a name="TheTinker"></a> THE TINKER + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a great man. I never saw him, but I heard of + his name. One time I saw his picture in a paper, where they were + giving out meal, where Mrs. Gaynor's is and I kissed the picture + of him. They were laughing at me for doing that, but I had heard + of his good name. There was some poor man, a tinker, asked help + of him one time in Dublin, and he said, 'I will put you in a + place where you will get some good thing.' So he brought him to a + lodging in a very grand house and put him in it. And in the + morning he began to make saucepans, and he was making them there, + and the shopkeeper that owned the house was mad at him to be + doing that, and making saucepans in so grand a house, and he + wanted to get him out of it, and he gave him a good sum of money + to go out. He went back and told that to O'Connell, and O'Connell + said, 'Didn't I tell you I would put you in the way to get some + good thing?'"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="APresent"></a> A PRESENT + </center> + + <p>"There was a gentleman sent him a present one time, and he + bade a little lad to bring it to him. Shut up in a box it was, + and he bade the boy to give it to himself, and not to open the + box. So the little lad brought it to O'Connell to give it to him. + 'Let you open it yourself,' says O'Connell. So he opened it, and + whatever was in it blew up and made an end of the boy, and it + would have been the same with O'Connell if he had opened + it."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="HisStrategy"></a> HIS STRATEGY + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a grand man; the best within the walls of the + world. He never led anyone astray. Did you hear that one time he + turned the shoes on his horses? There were bad members following + him. I cannot say who they were, for I will not tell what I don't + know. He got a smith to turn the shoes, and when they came upon + his track, he went east and they went west. Parnell was no bad + man, but Dan O'Connell's name went up higher in praises."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheManWasGoingToBeHanged"></a> THE MAN WAS GOING TO BE + HANGED + </center> + + <p>"I saw O'Connell in Galway one time, and I couldn't get anear + him. All the nations of the world were gathered there to see him. + There were a great many he hung and a great many he got off from + death, the dear man. He went into a town one time, and into a + hotel, and he asked for his dinner. And he had a frieze dress, + for he was very simple, and always a clerk along with him. And + when the dinner was served to him, 'Is there no one here,' says + he, 'to sit along with me; for it is seldom I ever dined without + company.' 'If you think myself good enough to sit with you,' says + the man of the hotel, 'I will do it.' So the two of them sat to + the dinner together, and O'Connell asked was there any news in + the town. 'There is,' says the hotel man, 'there is a man to be + hung to-morrow.' 'Oh, my!' says O'Connell, 'what was it he did to + deserve that?' 'Himself and another that had been out fowling,' + says he, 'and they came in here and they began to dispute, and + the one of them killed the other, and he will be hung to-morrow.' + 'He will not,' says O'Connell. 'I tell you he will,' says the + other, 'for the Judge is come to give the sentence.' Well, + O'Connell kept to it that he would not, and they made a bet, and + the hotel man bet all he had on the man being hung. In the + morning O'Connell was in no hurry out of bed, and when the two of + them walked into the Court, the Judge was after giving the + sentence, and the man was to be hung. '<i>Maisead</i>,' says the + judge when he saw O'Connell, 'I wish you had been here a half an + hour ago, where there is a man going to be hung.' 'He is not,' + says O'Connell. 'He is,' says the judge. 'If he is,' says + O'Connell, 'that one will never let anyone go living out of his + hotel, and he making money out of the hanging.' 'What do you mean + saying that?' says the judge. Then O'Connell took the instrument + out of his pocket where it was written down all the hotel-keeper + had put on the hanging. And when the judge saw that, he set the + man free, and he was not hanged."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheCupOfTheSassanach"></a> THE CUP OF THE SASSANACH + </center> + + <p>"He was over in England one time, and he was brought to a + party, and tea was made ready and cups. And as they were sitting + at the table, a servant girl that was in it, and that was Irish, + came to O'Connell and she said, 'Do you understand Irish?' + [IRISH: 'An tuigeann tu Gaedilge, O'Connell?' 'Tuigim,'] says he, + 'I understand it.' 'Have a care,' says she, 'for there is in your + cup what would poison the whole nation!' 'If that is true, girl, + you will get a good fortune,' said he. It was in Irish they said + all that, and the people that were in it had no ears. Then + O'Connell quenched the candle, and he changed his cup for the cup + of the man that was next him. And it was not long till the man + fell dead. They were always trying to kill O'Connell, because he + was a good man. The Sassanach it was were against him. Terrible + wicked they were, and God save us, I believe they are every bit + as wicked yet!"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheThousandFishers"></a> THE THOUSAND FISHERS + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell came to Galway one time, and he sent for all the + trades to come out with the sign of their trade in their hand, + and he would see which was the best. And there came ten hundred + fishers, having all white flannel clothes and black hats and + white scarves about them, and he gave the sway to them. It wasn't + a year after that, the half of them were lost, going through the + fogs at Newfoundland, where they went for a better way of + living."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="WhatTheOldWomenSaw"></a> WHAT THE OLD WOMEN SAW + </center> + + <p>"The greatest thing I ever saw was O'Connell driving through + Gort, very plain, and an oiled cap on him, and having only one + horse; and there was no house in Gort without his picture in it." + "O'Connell rode up Crow Lane and to Church Street on a single + horse, and he stopped there and took a view of Gort." "I saw + O'Connell after he left Gort going on the road to Kinvara, and + seven horses in the coach—they could not get in the eighth. + He stopped, and he was talking to Hickman that was with me. Shiel + was in the coach along with him."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="OConnellsHat"></a> O'CONNELL'S HAT + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell wore his hat in the English House of Commons, what + no man but the King can do. He wore it for three days because he + had a sore head, and at the end of that they bade him put it off, + and he said he would not, where he had worn it three + days."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheChangeHeMade"></a> THE CHANGE HE MADE + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a great councillor. At that time if there was a + Catholic, no matter how high or great or learned he was, he could + not get a place. But if a Protestant came that was a blockhead + and ignorant, the place would be open to him. There was a + revolution rising because of that, and O'Connell brought it into + the House of Commons and got it changed. He was the greatest man + ever was in Ireland. He was a very clever lawyer; he would win + every case, he would put it so strong and clear and clever. If + there were fifteen lawyers against him—five and + ten—he would win it against them all, whether the case was + bad or good."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheManHeBroughtToJustice"></a> THE MAN HE BROUGHT TO + JUSTICE + </center> + + <p>"Corly, that burned his house in Burren, was very bad, and it + was O'Connell brought him to the gallows. The only case O'Connell + lost was against the Macnamaras, and he told them he would be + even with them, and so when Corly, that was a friend of theirs, + was brought up he kept his word. There was no doubt about him + burning the house, it was to implicate the Hynes he did it, to + lay it on them. There was a girl used to go out milking at + daybreak, and she awoke, and the moon was shining, and she + thought it was day, and got up and looked out, and she saw him + doing it."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBinding"></a> THE BINDING + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a great man, wide big arms he had. It was he + left us the cheap tea; to cheapen it he did, that was at that + time a shilling for one bare ounce. His heart is in Rome and his + body in Glasnevin. A lovely man, he would put you on your guard; + he was for the country, he was all for Ireland."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="HisMonument"></a> HIS MONUMENT + </center> + + <p>"There is a nice monument put up to O'Connell in Ennis, in a + corner it is of the middle of a street, and himself high up on + it, holding a book. It was a poor shoe-maker set that going. I + saw him in Gort one time, a coat of O'Connell's he had that he + chanced in some place. Only for him there would be no monument; + it was he gathered money for it, and there was none would refuse + him."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="APraise"></a> A PRAISE MADE FOR DANIEL O'CONNELL BY + OLD WOMEN AND THEY BEGGING AT THE DOOR + </center> + + <p>"Dan O'Connell was the best man in the world, and a great man + surely; and there could not be better than what O'Connell + was.</p> + + <p>"It was from him I took the pledge and I a child, and kept it + ever after. He would give it to little lads and children, but not + to any aged person. Pilot trousers he had and a pilot coat, and a + grey and white waistcoat.</p> + + <p>"O'Connell was all for the poor. See what he did at Saint + Patrick's Island—he cast out every bad thing and every + whole thing, to England and to America and to every part. He + fought it well for every whole body.</p> + + <p>"A splendid monument there is to him in Ennis, and his fine + top coat upon him. A lovely man; you'd think he was alive and + all, and he having his hat in his hand. Everyone kneels down on + the steps of it and says a few prayers and walks away. It is as + high as that tree below. If he was in Ireland now the pension + would go someway right.</p> + + <p>"He was the best and the best to everyone; he got great sway + in the town of Gort, and in every other place.</p> + + <p>"I suppose he has the same talk always; he is able to do for + us now as well as ever he was; surely his mercy and goodness are + in the town of Gort.</p> + + <p>"He did good in the world while he was alive; he was a great + man surely; there couldn't be better in this world I believe, or + in the next world; there couldn't be better all over the + world.</p> + + <p>"He used to go through all nations and to make a fight for the + poor; he gave them room to live, and used to fight for them too. + There is no doubt at all he did help them, he was well able to do + it."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="RichardShiel"></a> RICHARD SHIEL + </center> + + <p>"As to Shiel, he was small, dressed very neat, with + knee-breeches and a full vest and a long-skirted coat. He had a + long nose, and was not much to look at till he began to speak, + and then you'd see genius coming out from him. His voice was + shrill, and that spoiled his speech sometimes, when he would get + excited, and would raise it at the end. But O'Connell's voice you + would hear a mile off, and it sounded as if it was coming through + honey,"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheTitheWar"></a> THE TITHE WAR + </center> + + <p>"And the Tithes, the tenth of the land that St. Patrick and + his Bishops had settled for their own use, it was to Protestants + it was given. And there would have been a revolution out of that, + but it was done away with, and it is the landlord has to pay it + now. The Pope has a great power that is beyond all. There is one + day and one minute in the year he has that power if it pleases + him to use it. At that minute it runs through all the world, and + every priest goes on his knees and the Pope himself is on his + knees, and that request cannot be refused, because they are the + grand jury of the world before God. A man was talking to me about + the burying of the Tithes; up on the top of the Devil's Bit it + was, and if you looked around you could see nothing but the + police. Then the boys came riding up, and white rods in their + hands, and they dug a grave, and the Tithes, some image of them, + was buried. It was a wrong thing for one religion to be paying + for the board of the clergy of another religion."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheFightAtCarrickshock"></a> THE FIGHT AT CARRICKSHOCK + </center> + + <p>"The Tithe War, that was the time of the fight at + Carrickshock. A narrow passage that was in it, and the people + were holding it against the police that came with the Proctor. + There was a Captain defending the Proctor that had been through + the Battle of Waterloo, and it was the Proctor they fired at, but + the Captain fell dead, and fourteen police were killed with him. + But the people were beat after, and were brought into court for + the trial, and the counsel for the Crown was against them, + Dougherty. They were tried in batches, and every batch was + condemned, Dougherty speaking out the case against them. But + O'Connell, that was at that time at Cork Assizes, heard of it, + and he came, and when he got to the door the pony that brought + him dropped dead. He came in and he took refreshment—bread + and milk—the same as I am after taking now, and he looked + up and he said 'That is no law.' Then the judge agreed with him, + and he got every one of them off after that; but only for him + they would swing. The Tithes were bad, a farmer to have three + stacks they's take the one of them. And that was the first time + of the hurling matches, to gather the people against the Tithes. + But there was hurling in the ancient times in Ireland, and out in + Greece, and playing at the ball, and that is what is called the + Olympian Games."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBigWind"></a> THE BIG WIND + </center> + + <p>"As to the Big Wind, I was on my elder sister's back going to + a friend beyond, and when I was coming back it was slacked away, + and I was wondering at the holes in the houses." "I was up to + twelve year at the time of the Big Wind that was in '39, and I + was over at Roxborough with my father that was clearing timber + from the road, and your father came out along the road, and he + was wild seeing the trees and rocks whipped up into the sky the + way they were with the wind. But what was that to the bitter time + of the Famine that came after?"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheFamine"></a> THE FAMINE + </center> + + <p>"The Famine; there's a long telling in that, it is a thing + will be remembered always. That little graveyard above, at that + time it was filled full up of bodies; the Union had no way to buy + coffins for them. There would be a bag made, and the body put + into it, that was all; and the people dying without priest, or + bishop, or anything at all. But over in Connemara it was the dogs + brought the bodies out of the houses, and asked no + leave."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheCholera"></a> THE CHOLERA + </center> + + <p>"The cholera was worse again. It came from foreign, and it + lasted a couple of years, till God drove it out of the country. + It is often I saw a man ploughing the garden in the morning till + dinner time, and before evening he would be dead. It was as if on + the wind it came, there was no escape from it; on the wind, the + same as it would come now and would catch on to pigs. Sheds that + would be made out in the haggards to put the sick in, they would + turn as black as your coat. There was no one could go near them + without he would have a glass of whiskey taken, and he wouldn't + like it then."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="ALongRemembering"></a> A LONG REMEMBERING + </center> + + <p>"The longest thing I remember is the time of the sickness, and + my father that was making four straw mats for four brothers that + died, and that couldn't afford coffins. The bodies were put in + the mats and were tied up in them. And the second thing I + remember is the people digging in the stubble after the oats and + the wheat; to see would they meet a potato, and sometimes they + did, for God sent them there."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheTerryAlts"></a> THE TERRY ALTS + </center> + + <p>"The Terry Alts were a bad class; everything you had they'd + take from you. It was against herding they began to get the land, + the same as at the present time. And women they would take; a man + maybe that hadn't a perch of land would go to a rich farmer's + house and bring away his daughter. And I, supposing, to have some + spite against you, I'd gather a mob and do every bad thing to + destroy you. That is the way they were, a bad class and doing bad + deeds."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="The48Time"></a> THE '48 TIME + </center> + + <p>"Thomas Davis was a great man where poetry is concerned, and a + better than Thomas Moore. All over Ireland his poetry is, and he + would have done other things but that he died young. That was the + '48 time. The '48 men were foolish men; they thought to cope with + the English Government. They went to O'Connell to get from him + all the money he had gathered, for they had it in their head to + use that to make a rise against England. But when they asked + O'Connell for it he told them there was none of it left, not one + penny. Buying estates for his children he used it, and he said he + spent it on a monastery. I don't know was he speaking truth. + Mahon made a great speech against him, and it preyed on + O'Connell, and he left the country and went away and died in some + place called Genoa. He was a very ambitious man, like Napoleon. + He got Emancipation; but where is the use of that? There's Judge + O'Brien, Peter the Packer, was calling out and trying to do away + with trial by jury. And he would not be in his office or in his + billet if it wasn't for O'Connell. They didn't do much after, + where they didn't get the money from O'Connell. And the night + they joined under Smith O'Brien they hadn't got their supper. A + terrible cold night it was, no one could stand against it. Some + bishop came from Dublin, and he told them to go home, for how + could they reach with their pikes to the English soldiers that + had got muskets. The soldiers came, and there was some firing, + and they were all scattered. As to Smith O'Brien, there was ten + thousand pounds on his head, and he hid for a while. Then at the + last he went into the town of Clonmel, and there was a woman + there in the street was a huckster, and he bade her give him up + to the Government, for she would never earn money so easy. But + for all she was worth she wouldn't do that. So then he went and + gave himself up, and he was sent to Australia, and the property + was given to his brother."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AThingMitchellSaid"></a> A THING MITCHELL SAID + </center> + + <p>"Mitchell was kept in Clonmel gaol two years before he was + sent to Australia. He was a Protestant, and a very good man. He + said in a speech, where was the use of meetings and of talking? + It was with the point of their bayonet the English would have to + be driven out of Ireland. It was Mitchell said that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheFenianRising"></a> THE FENIAN RISING + </center> + + <p>"It was a man from America it came with. There was one Mackie + was taken in a publichouse in Cork, and there was a policeman + killed in the struggle. Judge O'Hagan was the judge when he was + in the dock, and he said, 'Mr. Mackie, I see you are a gentleman + and an educated man; and I'm sorry,' he said, 'that you did not + read Irish history.' Mackie cried when he heard that, for indeed + it was all spies about him, and it was they gave him up."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AGreatWonder"></a> A GREAT WONDER + </center> + + <p>"The greatest wonder I ever saw was one time near Kinvara at a + funeral, there came a car along the road and a lady on it having + a plaid cloak, as was the fashion then, and a big hat, and she + kept her head down and never looked at the funeral at all. I + wondered at her when I saw that, and I said to my brother it was + a strange thing a lady to be coming past a funeral and not to + look on at it at all. And who was on the car but O'Gorman Mahon, + escaping from the Government, and dressed up as a lady! He drove + to Father Arthur's house at Kinvara, and there was a boat + waiting, and a cousin of my own in it, to bring him out to a + ship, and so he made his escape."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AnotherWonder"></a> ANOTHER WONDER + </center> + + <p>"I saw Clerkenwell prison in London broken up in the time of + the Fenians, and every ship and steamer in the whole of the ocean + stopped. The prison was burned down, and all the prisoners + consumed, and seven doctors' shops along with it."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="FatherMathew"></a> FATHER MATHEW + </center> + + <p>"Father Mathew was a great man, plump and red in the face. + There couldn't be better than what he was. I knew one Kane in + Gort he gave a medal to, and he kept it seventy years. Kane was a + great totaller, and he wouldn't drink so much as water out of a + glass, but out of a cup; the glass might have been used for + porter at some time. He lost the medal, and was in a great way + about it, but he found it five years after in a dung-heap. A + great totaller he was. Them that took the medal from Father + Mathew and that kept it, at their death they would be buried by + men dressed in white clothes."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheWarOfTheCrimea"></a> THE WAR OF THE CRIMEA + </center> + + <p>"My husband was in the war of the Crimea. It is terrible the + hardships he went through, to be two months without going into a + house, under the snow in trenches. And no food to get, maybe a + biscuit in the day. And there was enough food there, he said, to + feed all Ireland; but bad management, they could not get it. + Coffee they would be given, and they would be cutting a green + bramble to strive to make a fire to boil it. The dead would be + buried every morning; a big hole would be dug, and the bodies + thrown in, and lime upon them; and some of the bodies would be + living when they were buried. My husband used to try to revive + them if he saw there was life in them, but other lads wouldn't + care—just to put them down and have done. And they were + allowed to take nothing—money, gold watches, and the like, + all thrown in the ground. Sure they did not care much about such + things, they might be lying in the same place themselves + to-morrow. But the soldiers would take the money sometimes and + put it in their stocking and tie the stocking below the ankle and + below the knee. But if the officer knew that, they would be + courtmartialed and punished. He got two medals—one from the + English and one from the Emperor of Turkey. Fighting for the + Queen, and bad pay she gave him. He never knew what was the war + for, unless it might be for diminishing the population. We saw in + the paper a few years ago there was a great deal of money + collected for soldiers that had gone through hardship in the war, + and we wrote to the War Office asking some of it for him. But + they wrote back that there were so many young men crippled in the + Boer war there was nothing to be spared for the old. My husband + used to be saying the Queen cared nothing for the army, but that + the King, even before he was King, was better to it. But I'm + thinking from this out the King will get very few from Ireland + for his army."</p><a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> + + <center> + <img src="./images/04.jpg" width="300" height="394" alt= + "W.E. Gladstone"> + </center> + + <center> + <a name="Garibaldi"></a> GARIBALDI + </center> + + <p>"There was one of my brothers died at Lyons in France. He had + a place in Guinness's brewery, and earning £3 10s. a week, + and it was the time Garibaldi, you might have heard of, was out + fighting. There came a ship to Dublin from France, calling for + soldiers, and he threw up his place, and there were many others + threw up their place, and they went off, eleven hundred of them, + in the French ship, to go fighting for their religion, and a + hundred of them never came back. When they landed in France they + were made much of and velvet carpets spread before them. But the + war was near over then, and when it had ended they were + forgotten, and nothing done for them, and he was in poverty at + Lyons and died. It was the nuns there wrote a letter in French + telling that to my mother." "And Napoleon the Third fought for + the Pope in the time of Garibaldi. A great many Irishmen went out + at that time, and the half of them never came back. I met with + one of them that was in Russell's flour stores, and he said he + would never go out again if there were two hundred Popes. Bad + treatment they got—black bread, and the troops in the + Vatican well fed; and it wasn't long till Victor Emanuel's troops + made a breach in the wall."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBuonapartes"></a> THE BUONAPARTES + </center> + + <p>"Napoleon the Third was not much. He died in England, and was + buried in a country church-yard much the same as Kiltartan. But + Napoleon the First was a great man; it was given out of him there + never would be so great a man again. But he hadn't much + education, and his penmanship was bad. Every great man gave in to + superstition. He gave into it when he went to ask the gipsy woman + to divine, and she told him his fate. Through fire and a rock she + said that he would fall. I suppose the rock was St. Helena, and + the fire was the fire of Waterloo. Napoleon was the terror of + England, and he would have beat the English at Waterloo but for + treachery, the treachery of Grouchy. It was, maybe, not his fault + he was treacherous, he might be the same as Judas, that had his + treachery settled for him four thousand years before his birth. + There was a curse on Napoleon the Third because of what Napoleon + the First had done against the Church. He took Malta one time and + landed there, and by treachery with the knights he robbed a + church that was on the shore, and carried away the golden gates. + In an ironclad he put them that was belonging to the English, and + they sank that very day, and were never got up after, unless it + might be by divers. And two Popes he brought into exile. But he + was the friend of Ireland, and when he was dying he said that. + His heart was smashed, he said, with all the ruling Princes that + went against him; and if he had made an attack on Ireland, he + said, instead of going to Moscow the time he did, he would have + brought England low. And the Prince Imperial was trapped. It was + the English brought him out to the war, and that made the nations + go against him, and it was an English officer led him into the + trap the way he never would come to the Throne."</p><a name= + "image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> + + <center> + <img src="./images/03.jpg" width="300" height="443" alt= + "Louis Napoleon"> + </center> + + <center> + <a name="TheZuluWar"></a> THE ZULU WAR + </center> + + <p>"I was in the army the time of the Zulu war. Great hardship we + got in it and plenty of starvation. It was the Dutch called in + the English to help them against the Zulus, that were tricky + rogues, and would do no work but to be driving the cattle off the + fields. A pound of raw flour we would be given out at seven + o'clock in the morning, and some would try to make a cake, and + some would put it in a pot with water and be stirring it, and it + might be eleven o'clock before you would get what you could eat, + and not a bit of meat maybe for two days."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheYoungNapoleon"></a> THE YOUNG NAPOLEON + </center> + + <p>"There was a young Napoleon there, the grandson of Napoleon + the First, that was a great man indeed. I was in the island where + he was interred; it is a grand place, and what is not natural in + those parts, there are two blackthorn bushes growing in it where + you go into the place he was buried. And as to that great + Napoleon, the fear of him itself was enough to kill people. If he + was living till now it is hard to say what way would the world + be. It is likely there'd be no English left in it, and it would + be all France. The young Napoleon was at the Zulu war was as fine + a young man as you'd wish to lay an eye on; six feet four, and + shaped to match. As to his death, there was things might have + been brought to light, but the enquiry was stopped. There was + seven of them went out together, and he was found after, lying + dead in the ground, and his top coat spread over him. There came + a shower of hailstones that were as large as the top of your + finger, and as square as diamonds, and that would enter into your + skull. They made out it was to save himself from them that he lay + down. But why didn't they lift him in the saddle and bring him + along with them? And the bullet was taken out of his head was the + same every bit as our bullets; and where would a Zulu get a + bullet like that? Very queer it was, and a great deal of talk + about it, and in my opinion he was done away with because the + English saw the grandfather in him, and thought he would do away + with themselves in the time to come. Sure if he spoke to one of + them, he would begin to shake before him, officers the same as + men. We had often to be laughing seeing that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="Parnell"></a> PARNELL + </center> + + <p>"Parnell was a very good man, and a just man, and if he had + lived to now, Ireland would be different to what it is. The only + thing ever could be said against him was the influence he had + with that woman. And how do we know but that was a thing + appointed for him by God? Parnell had a back to him, but + O'Connell stood alone. He fought a good war in the House of + Commons. Parnell did a great deal, getting the land. I often + heard he didn't die at all—it was very quick for him to go. + I often wondered there were no people smart enough to dig up the + coffin and to see what is in it, at night they could do that. No + one knows in what soil Robert Emmet was buried, but he was made + an end of sure enough. Parnell went through Gort one day, and he + called it the fag-end of Ireland, just as Lady Morgan called the + North the Athens of Ireland."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="MrGladstone"></a> MR. GLADSTONE + </center> + + <p>"Gladstone had the name of being the greatest statesman of + England, and he wasn't much after all. At the time of his death + he had it on his mind that it was he threw the first stone at + Parnell, and he confessed that, and was very sorry for it. But + sure there is no one can stand all through. Look at Solomon that + had ten hundred wives, and some of them the finest of women, and + that spent all the money laid up by Father David. And Gladstone + encouraged Garibaldi the time he attacked the Vatican, and gave + him arms, Parnell charged him with that one time in the House of + Commons, and said he had the documents, and he hadn't a word to + say. But he was sorry at Parnell's death, and what was the use of + that when they had his heart broke? Parnell did a great deal for + the Irish, and they didn't care after; they are the most + displeasing people God ever made, unless it might be the ancient + Jews."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="QueenVictoriasReligion"></a> QUEEN VICTORIA'S RELIGION + </center> + + <p>"Queen Victoria was loyal and true to the Pope; that is what I + was told, and so is Edward the Seventh loyal and true, but he has + got something contrary in his body. It is when she was a girl she + put on clothes like your own—lady's clothes—and she + went to the Pope. Did she turn Catholic? She'd be beheaded if she + did; the Government would behead her; it is the Government has + power in England."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="HerWisdom"></a> HER WISDOM + </center> + + <p>"As to the last Queen, we thought her bad when we had her, but + now we think her good. She was a hard woman, and she did nothing + for Ireland in the bad years; but I'll give you the reason she + had for that. She had it in her mind always to keep Ireland low, + it being the place she mostly got her soldiers. That might not be + good for Ireland, but it was good for her own benefit. The time + the lads have not a bit to eat, that is the time they will go + soldiering."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="WarAndMisery"></a> WAR AND MISERY + </center> + + <p>"There was war and misery going on all through Victoria's + reign. It was the Boer war killed her, she being aged, and seeing + all her men going out, and able to do nothing. Ten to one they + were against the Boers. That is what killed her. It is a great + tribute to the war it did that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="ThePresentKing"></a> THE PRESENT KING + </center> + + <p>"The present King is very good. He is a gentleman very fond of + visiting, and well pleased with every class of people he will + meet."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheOldAgePensions"></a> THE OLD AGE PENSIONS + </center> + + <p>"The old age pension is very good, and as to taxes, them can't + pay it that hasn't it. It is since the Boer War there is coin + sent back from Africa every week that is dug from the goldpits + out there. That is what the English wanted the time they went to + war; they want to close up the minerals for themselves. If it + wasn't for the war, that pension would never be given to Ireland. + They'd have been driven home by the Boers if it wasn't for the + Irish that were in the front of every battle. And the Irish held + out better too, they can starve better than the rest, there is + more bearing in them. It wasn't till all the Irish were killed + that the English took to bribing. Bribed Botha they did with a + bag of gold. For all the generals in England that are any good + are Irish. Buller was the last they had, and he died. They can + find no good generals at all in England, unless they might get + them very young."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AnotherThought"></a> ANOTHER THOUGHT + </center> + + <p>"It was old money was in the Treasury idle, and the King and + Queen getting old wanted to distribute it in the country it was + taken from. But some say it was money belonging to captains and + big men that died in the war and left no will after them. Anyway + it is likely it will not hold; and it is known that a great many + of those that get it die very soon."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AProphecy"></a> A PROPHECY + </center> + + <p>"It is likely there will be a war at the end of the two + thousand, that was always foretold. And I hear the English are + making ships that will dive the same as diving ducks under the + water. But as to the Irish Americans, they would sweep the entire + world; and England is afraid of America, it being a + neighbour."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <a name="NOT"><!-- NOT --></a> + + <center> + NOTES + </center> + + <p>I have given this book its name because it is at my own door, + in the Barony of Kiltartan, I have heard a great number of the + stories from beggars, pipers, travelling men, and such pleasant + company. But others I have heard in the Workhouse, or to the + north of Galway Bay, in Connemara, or on its southern coast, in + Burren. I might, perhaps, better have called the little book + Myths in the Making.</p> + + <p>A sociable people given to conversation and belief; no books + in the house, no history taught in the schools; it is likely that + must have been the way of it in old Greece, when the king of + highly civilised Crete was turned by tradition into a murderous + tyrant owning a monster and a labyrinth. It was the way of it in + old France too, one thinks, when Charlemagne's height grew to + eight feet, and his years were counted by centuries: "He is three + hundred years old, and when will he weary of war?" Anyhow, it has + been the way of modern Ireland—the Ireland I know—and + when I hear myth turned into history, or history into myth, I see + in our stonebreakers and cattle drivers Greek husbandmen or + ancient vinedressers of the Loire.</p> + + <p>I noticed some time ago, when listening to many legends of the + Fianna, that is about Finn, their leader, the most exaggerated of + the tales have gathered; and I believe the reason is that he, + being the greatest of the "Big Men," the heroic race, has been + most often in the mouths of the people. They have talked of him + by their fire-sides for two thousand years or so; at first + earlier myths gathered around him, and then from time to time any + unusual feats of skill or cunning shown off on one or another + countryside, till many of the stories make him at the last + grotesque, little more than a clown. So in Bible History, while + lesser kings keep their dignity, great Solomon's wit is outwitted + by the riddles of some countryman; and Lucifer himself, known in + Kiltartan as "the proudest of the angels, thinking himself equal + with God," has been seen in Sligo rolling down a road in the form + of the <i>Irish Times</i>. The gods of ancient Ireland have not + escaped. Mananaan, Son of the Sea, Rider of the Horses of the + Sea, was turned long ago into a juggler doing tricks, and was + hunted in the shape of a hare. Brigit, the "Fiery Arrow," the + nurse of poets, later a saint and the Foster-mother of Christ, + does her healing of the poor in the blessed wells of to-day as "a + very civil little fish, very pleasant, wagging its tail."</p> + + <p>Giobniu, the divine smith of the old times, made a new sword + and a new spear for every one that was broken in the great battle + between the gods and the mis-shapen Fomor. "No spearpoint that is + made by my hand," he said, "will ever miss its mark; no man it + touches will ever taste life again." It was his father who, with + a cast of a hatchet, could stop the inflowing of the tide; and it + was he himself whose ale gave lasting youth: "No sickness or + wasting ever comes on those who drink at Giobniu's Feast." Later + he became a saint, a master builder, builder of a house "more + shining than a garden; with its stars, with its sun, with its + moon." To-day he is known as the builder of the round towers of + the early Christian centuries, and of the square castles of the + Anglo-Normans. And the stories I have given of him, called as he + now is, "the Goban Saor," show that he has fallen still farther + in legend from his high origin.</p> + + <p>As to O'Connell, perhaps because his name, like that of Finn + and the Goban, is much in the mouths of the people, there is + something of the absurd already coming into his legend. The + stories of him show more than any others how swiftly myths and + traditions already in the air may gather around a memory much + loved and much spoken of. He died only sixty years ago, and many + who have seen and heard him are still living; and yet he has + already been given a miraculous birth, and the power of a saint + is on its way to him. I have charged my son, and should I live + till he comes to sensible years, I will charge my grandson, to + keep their ears open to the growth of legend about him who was + once my husband's friendly enemy, and afterwards his honoured + friend.</p> + + <p>I do not take the credit or the discredit of the opinions + given by the various speakers, nor do I go bail for the facts; I + do but record what is already in "the Book of the People." The + history of England and Ireland was shut out of the schools and it + became a passion. As to why it was shut out, well, I heard + someone whisper "Eugene Aram hid the body away, being no way + anxious his scholars should get a sight of it." But this also was + said in the barony of Kiltartan.</p> + + <p>The illustrations are drawn from some delft figures, ornaments + in a Kiltartan house.</p> + + <p>A. GREGORY.</p> + + <p>COOLE PARK, <i>November</i>, 1909.</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11260 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/11260-h/images/01.jpg b/11260-h/images/01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..721a720 --- /dev/null +++ b/11260-h/images/01.jpg diff --git a/11260-h/images/02.jpg b/11260-h/images/02.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6dfc9db --- /dev/null +++ b/11260-h/images/02.jpg diff --git a/11260-h/images/03.jpg b/11260-h/images/03.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fcc65f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/11260-h/images/03.jpg diff --git a/11260-h/images/04.jpg b/11260-h/images/04.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..14322df --- /dev/null +++ b/11260-h/images/04.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1e052d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11260 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11260) diff --git a/old/11260-8.txt b/old/11260-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a28637 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11260-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1832 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Kiltartan History Book, by Lady I. A. Gregory + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Kiltartan History Book + +Author: Lady I. A. Gregory + +Release Date: February 24, 2004 [EBook #11260] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Garrett Alley, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + +THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK. + +BY LADY GREGORY. + + +ILLUSTRATED + +BY ROBERT GREGORY + + + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + +Seven Short Plays + +Cuchulain of Muirthemne + +Gods and Fighting Men + +Poets and Dreamers + +A Book of Saints and Wonders + + + +DEDICATED AND RECOMMENDED TO THE HISTORY CLASSES IN THE NEW UNIVERSITY + + + + +CONTENTS + + The Ancient Times + Goban, the Builder + A Witty Wife + An Advice She Gave + Shortening the Road + The Goban's Secret + The Scotch Rogue + The Danes + The Battle of Clontarf + The English + The Queen of Breffny + King Henry VIII. + Elizabeth + Her Death + The Trace of Cromwell + Cromwell's Law + Cromwell in Connacht + A Worse than Cromwell + The Battle of Aughrim + The Stuarts + Another Story + Patrick Sarsfield + Queen Anne + Carolan's Song + 'Ninety-Eight + Denis Browne + The Union + Robert Emmet + O'Connell's Birth + The Tinker + A Present + His Strategy + The Man was Going to be Hanged + The Cup of the Sassanach + The Thousand Fishers + What the Old Women Saw + O'Connell's Hat + The Change He Made + The Man He Brought to Justice + The Binding + His Monument + A Praise Made for Daniel O'Connell by Old Women and They Begging + at the Door + Richard Shiel + The Tithe War + The Fight at Carrickshock + The Big Wind + The Famine + The Cholera + A Long Remembering + The Terry Alts + The '48 Time + A Thing Mitchell Said + The Fenian Rising + A Great Wonder + Another Wonder + Father Mathew + The War of the Crimea + Garibaldi + The Buonapartes + The Zulu War + The Young Napoleon + Parnell + Mr. Gladstone + Queen Victoria's Religion + Her Wisdom + War and Misery + The Present King + The Old Age Pension + Another Thought + A Prophecy + +NOTES + + + + +THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK + + +THE ANCIENT TIMES + +"As to the old history of Ireland, the first man ever died in Ireland +was Partholan, and he is buried, and his greyhound along with him, at +some place in Kerry. The Nemidians came after that and stopped for a +while, and then they all died of some disease. And then the Firbolgs +came, the best men that ever were in Ireland, and they had no law but +love, and there was never such peace and plenty in Ireland. What +religion had they? None at all. And there was a low-sized race came that +worked the land of Ireland a long time; they had their time like the +others. Many would tell you Grania slept under the cromlechs, but I +don't believe that, and she a king's daughter. And I don't believe she +was handsome either. If she was, why would she have run away? In the old +time the people had no envy, and they would be writing down the stories +and the songs for one another. But they are too venemous now to do that. +And as to the people in the towns, they don't care for such things now, +they are too corrupted with drink." + + +GOBAN, THE BUILDER + +"The Goban was the master of sixteen trades. There was no beating him; +he had got the gift. He went one time to Quin Abbey when it was +building, looking for a job, and the men were going to their dinner, and +he had poor clothes, and they began to jibe at him, and the foreman said +'Make now a cat-and-nine-tails while we are at our dinner, if you are +any good.' And he took the chisel and cut it in the rough in the stone, +a cat with nine tails coming from it, and there it was complete when +they came out from their dinner. There was no beating him. He learned no +trade, but he was master of sixteen. That is the way, a man that has the +gift will get more out of his own brain than another will get through +learning. There is many a man without learning will get the better of a +college-bred man, and will have better words too. Those that make +inventions in these days have the gift, such a man now as Edison, with +all he has got out of electricity." + + +A WITTY WIFE + +"The Goban Saor was a mason and a smith, and he could do all things, and +he was very witty. He was going from home one time and he said to the +wife 'If it is a daughter you have this time I'll kill you when I come +back'; for up to that time he had no sons, but only daughters. And it +was a daughter she had; but a neighbouring woman had a son at the same +time, and they made an exchange to save the life of the Goban's wife. +But when the boy began to grow up he had no wit, and the Goban knew by +that he was no son of his. That is the reason he wanted a witty wife +for him. So there came a girl to the house one day, and the Goban Saor +bade her look round at all that was in the room, and he said 'Do you +think a couple could get a living out of this?' 'They could not,' she +said. So he said she wouldn't do, and he sent her away. Another girl +came another day, and he bade her take notice of all that was in the +house, and he said 'Do you think could a couple knock a living out of +this?' 'They could if they stopped in it,' she said. So he said that +girl would do. Then he asked her could she bring a sheepskin to the +market and bring back the price of it, and the skin itself as well. She +said she could, and she went to the market, and there she pulled off the +wool and sold it and brought back the price and the skin as well. Then +he asked could she go to the market and not be dressed or undressed. And +she went having only one shoe and one stocking on her, so she was +neither dressed or undressed. Then he sent her to walk neither on the +road or off the road, and she walked on the path beside it. So he said +then she would do as a wife for his son." + + +AN ADVICE SHE GAVE + +"One time some great king or lord sent for the Goban to build a +_caislean_ for him, and the son's wife said to him before he went 'Be +always great with the women of the house, and always have a comrade +among them.' So when the Goban went there he coaxed one of the women the +same as if he was not married. And when the castle was near built, the +woman told him the lord was going to play him a trick, and to kill him +or shut him up when he had the castle made, the way he would not build +one for any-other lord that was as good. And as she said, the lord came +and bade the Goban to make a cat and two-tails, for no one could make +that but himself, and it was meaning to kill him on it he was. And the +Goban said he would do that when he had finished the castle, but he +could not finish it without some tool he had left at home. And they must +send the lord's son for it--- for he said it would not be given to any +other one. So the son was sent, and the Goban sent a message to the +daughter-in-law that the tool he was wanting was called 'When you open +it shut it.' And she was surprised, for there was no such tool in the +house; but she guessed by the message what she had to do, and there was +a big chest in the house and she set it open. 'Come now,' she said to +the young man,' look in the chest and find it for yourself.' And when he +looked in she gave him a push forward, and in he went, and she shut the +lid on him. She wrote a letter to the lord then, saying he would not get +his son back till he had sent her own two men, and they were sent back +to her." + + +SHORTENING THE ROAD + +"Himself and his son were walking the road together one day, and the +Goban said to the son 'Shorten the road for me.' So the son began to +walk fast, thinking that would do it, but the Goban sent him back home +when he didn't understand what to do. The next day they were walking +again, and the Goban said again to shorten the road for him, and this +time he began to run, and the Goban sent him home again. When he went in +and told the wife he was sent home the second time, she began to think, +and she said, 'When he bids you shorten the road, it is that he wants +you to be telling him stories.' For that is what the Goban meant, but it +took the daughter-in-law to understand it. And it is what I was saying +to that other woman, that if one of ourselves was making a journey, if +we had another along with us, it would not seem to be one half as long +as if we would be alone. And if that is so with us, it is much more with +a stranger, and so I went up the hill with you to shorten the road, +telling you that story." + + +THE GOBAN'S SECRET + +"The Goban and his son were seven years building the castle, and they +never said a word all that time. And at the end of seven years the son +was at the top, and he said 'I hear a cow lowing.' And the Goban said +then 'Make all strong below you, for the work is done,' and they went +home. The Goban never told the secret of his building, and when he was +on the bed dying they wanted to get it from him, and they went in and +said 'Claregalway Castle is after falling in the night.' And the Goban +said 'How can that be when I put a stone in and a stone out and a stone +across.' So then they knew the way he built so well." + + +THE SCOTCH ROGUE + +"One time he was on the road going to the town, and there was a Scotch +rogue on the road that was always trying what could he pick off others, +and he saw the Connemara man--that was the Goban--had a nice cravat, and +he thought he would get a hold of that. So he began talking with him, +and he was boasting of all the money he had, and the Goban said whatever +it was he had three times as much as it, and he with only thirty pounds +in the world. And the Scotch rogue thought he would get some of it from +him, and he said he would go to a house in the town, and he gave him +some food and some drink there, and the Goban said he would do the same +for him on the morrow. So then the Goban went out to three houses, and +in each of them he left ten pounds of his thirty pounds, and he told the +people in every house what they had to do, and that when he would strike +the table with his hat three times they would bring out the money. So +then he asked the Scotch rogue into the first house, and ordered every +sort of food and drink, ten pounds worth in all. And when they had used +all they could of it, he struck with his hat on the table, and the man +of the house brought out the ten pounds, and the Goban said 'Keep that +to pay what I owe you.' The second day he did the same thing in another +house. And in the third house they went to he ordered ten pounds worth +of food and drink in the same way. And when the time came to pay, he +struck the table with the hat, and there was the money in the hand of +the man of the house before them. 'That's a good little caubeen,' said +the Scotch rogue, 'when striking it on the table makes all that money +appear.' 'It is a wishing hat,' said the Goban; 'anything I wish for I +can get as long as I have that.' 'Would you sell it?' said the Scotch +rogue. 'I would not,' said the Goban. 'I have another at home, but I +wouldn't sell one or the other.' 'You may as well sell it, so long as +you have another at home,' said the Scotch rogue. 'What will you give +for it?' says the Goban. 'Will you give three hundred pounds for it?' 'I +will give that,' says the Scotch rogue, 'when it will bring me all the +wealth I wish for.' So he went out and brought the three hundred pound, +and gave it to the Goban, and he got the caubeen and went away with it, +and it not worth three halfpence. There was no beating the Goban. +Wherever he got it, he had got the gift." + + +THE DANES + +"The reason of the wisps and the fires on Saint John's Eve is that one +time long ago the Danes came and took the country and conquered it, and +they put a soldier to mind every house through the whole country. And at +last the people made up their mind that on one night they would kill its +soldiers. So they did as they said, and there wasn't one left, and that +is why they light the wisps ever since. It was Brian Boroihme was the +first to light them. There was not much of an army left to the Danes +that time, for he made a great scatter of them. A great man he was, and +his own son was as good, that is Murrough. It was the wife brought him +to his end, Gormleith. She was for war, and he was all for peace. And he +got to be very pious, too pious, and old and she got tired of that." + + +THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF + +"Clontarf was on the head of a game of chess. The generals of the Danes +were beaten at it, and they were vexed; and Cennedigh was killed on a +hill near Fermoy. He put the Holy Gospels in his breast as a protection, +but he was struck through them with a reeking dagger. It was Brodar, +that the Brodericks are descended from, that put a dagger through +Brian's heart, and he attending to his prayers. What the Danes left in +Ireland were hens and weasels. And when the cock crows in the morning +the country people will always say 'It is for Denmark they are crowing. +Crowing they are to be back in Denmark.'" + + +THE ENGLISH + +"It was a long time after that, the Pope encouraged King Henry to take +Ireland. It was for a protection he did it, Henry being of his own +religion, and he fearing the Druids or the Danes might invade Ireland." + + +THE QUEEN OF BREFFNY + +"Dervorgilla was a red-haired woman, and it was she put the great curse +on Ireland, bringing in the English through MacMurrough, that she went +to from O'Rourke. It was to Henry the Second MacMurrough went, and he +sent Strongbow, and they stopped in Ireland ever since. But who knows +but another race might be worse, such as the Spaniards that were +scattered along the whole coast of Connacht at the time of the Armada. +And the laws are good enough. I heard it said the English will be dug +out of their graves one day for the sake of their law. As to +Dervorgilla, she was not brought away by force, she went to MacMurrough +herself. For there are men in the world that have a coaxing way, and +sometimes women are weak." + + +KING HENRY VIII. + +"Henry the Eighth was crying and roaring and leaping out of the bed for +three days and nights before his death. And he died cursing his +children, and he that had eight millions when he came to the Throne, +coining leather money at the end." + + +ELIZABETH + +"Queen Elizabeth was awful. Beyond everything she was. When she came to +the turn she dyed her hair red, and whatever man she had to do with, she +sent him to the block in the morning, that he would be able to tell +nothing. She had an awful temper. She would throw a knife from the table +at the waiting ladies, and if anything vexed her she would maybe work +upon the floor. A thousand dresses she left after her. Very +superstitious she was. Sure after her death they found a card, the ace +of hearts, nailed to her chair under the seat. She thought she would +never die while she had it there. And she bought a bracelet from an old +woman out in Wales that was over a hundred years. It was superstition +made her do that, and they found it after her death tied about her +neck." + + +HER DEATH + +"It was a town called Calais brought her to her death, and she lay +chained on the floor three days and three nights. The Archbishop was +trying to urge her to eat, but she said 'You would not ask me to do it +if you knew the way I am,' for nobody could see the chains. After her +death they waked her for six days in Whitehall, and there were six +ladies sitting beside the body every night. Three coffins were about +it, the one nearest the body of lead, and then a wooden one, and a +leaden one on the outside. And every night there came from them a great +bellow. And the last night there came a bellow that broke the three +coffins open, and tore the velvet, and there came out a stench that +killed the most of the ladies and a million of the people of London with +the plague. Queen Victoria was more honourable than that. It would be +hard to beat Queen Elizabeth." + + +THE TRACE OF CROMWELL + +"I'll tell you now about the trace of Cromwell. There was a young lady +was married to a gentleman, and she died with her first baby, and she +was brought away into a forth by the fairies, the good people, as I +suppose. She used to be sitting on the side of it combing her hair, and +three times her husband saw her there, but he had not the courage to go +and to bring her away. But there was a man of the name of Howley living +near the forth, and he went out with his gun one day and he saw her +beside the forth, and he brought her away to his house, and a young baby +sprang between them at the end of a year. One day the husband was out +shooting and he came in upon Howley's land, and when young Howley heard +the shooting he rose up and went out and he bade the gentleman to stop, +for this was his land. So he stopped, and he said he was weary and +thirsty, and he asked could he rest in the house. So young Howley said +as long as he asked pardon he had leave to use what he liked. So he came +in the house and he sat at the table, and he put his two eyes through +the young lady. 'If I didn't see her dead and buried,' he said, 'I'd say +that to be my own wife.' 'Oh!' said she, 'so I am your wife, and you are +badly worthy of me, and you have the worst courage ever I knew, that you +would not come and bring me away out of the forth as young Howley had +the courage to bring me,' she said. So then he asked young Howley would +he give him back his wife. 'I will give her,' he said, 'but you never +will get the child.' So the child was reared, and when he was grown he +went travelling up to Dublin. And he was at a hunt, and he lost the top +of his boot, and he went into a shoemaker's shop and he gave him half a +sovereign for nothing but to put the tip on the boot, for he saw he was +poor and had a big family. And more than that, when he was going away he +took out three sovereigns and gave them to the blacksmith, and he looked +at one of the little chaps, and he said 'That one will be in command of +the whole of England.' 'Oh, that cannot be,' said the blacksmith, 'where +I am poor and have not the means to do anything for him.' 'It will be as +I tell you,' said he, 'and write me out now a docket,' he said, 'that +if ever that youngster will come to command Ireland, he will give me a +free leg.' So the docket was made out, and he brought it away with him. +And sure enough, the shoemaker's son listed, and was put at the head of +soldiers, and got the command of England, and came with his soldiers to +put down Ireland. And Howley saw them coming and he tied his +handkerchief to the top of his stick, and when Cromwell saw that, he +halted the army, 'For there is some poor man in distress,' he said. Then +Howley showed him the docket his father had written. 'I will do some +good thing for you on account of that,' said Cromwell; 'and go now to +the top of that high cliff,' he said, 'and I'll give as much land as you +can see from it.' And so he did give it to him. It was no wonder Howley +to have known the shoemaker's son would be in command and all would +happen him, because of his mother that got knowledge in the years she +was in the forth. That is the trace of Cromwell. I heard it at a wake, +and I would believe it, and if I had time to put my mind to it, and if I +was not on the road from Loughrea to Ballyvaughan, I could give you the +foundations of it better." + + +CROMWELL'S LAW + +"I'll tell you about Cromwell and the White Friars. There was a White +Friar at that time was known to have knowledge, and Cromwell sent word +to him to come see him. It was of a Saturday he did that, of an Easter +Saturday, but the Friar never came. On the Sunday Cromwell sent for him +again, and he didn't come. And on the Monday he sent for him the third +time, and he did come. 'Why is it you did not come to me when I sent +before?' said Cromwell. 'I'll tell you that,' said the White Friar. 'I +didn't come on Saturday,' he said, 'because your passion was on you. And +I didn't come on the Sunday,' he said, 'because your passion was not +gone down enough, and I thought you would not give me my steps. But I +came to-day,' he said, 'because your passion is cool.' When Cromwell +heard his answer, 'That is true,' he said, 'and tell me how long my law +will last in Ireland.' 'It will last,' says the White Friar, 'till +yesterday will come (that was Easter Sunday) the same day as our Lady +Day.' Cromwell was satisfied then, and he gave him a free leg, and he +went away. And so that law did last till now, and it's well it did, for +without that law in the country you wouldn't be safe walking the road +having so much as the price of a pint of porter in your pocket." + + +CROMWELL IN CONNACHT + +"Cromwell cleared the road before him. If any great man stood against +him he would pull down his castle the same as he pulled down that +castle of your own, Ballinamantane, that is down the road. He never got +more than two hours sleep or three, or at the most four, but starting up +fearing his life would be peppered. There was a word he sounded out to +the Catholics, 'To hell or Connacht,' and the reason he did that was +that Connacht was burned bare, and he that thought to pass the winter +there would get no lodging at all. Himself and his men travelled it, and +they never met with anything that had human breath put in it by God till +they came to Breffny, and they saw smoke from a chimney, and they +surrounded the house and went into it. And what they saw was a skeleton +over the fire roasting, and the people of the house picking flesh off it +with the bits of a hook. And when they saw that, they left them there. +It was a Clare man that burned Connacht so bare; he was worse than +Cromwell, and he made a great slaughter in the house of God at Clonmel. +The people have it against his family yet, and against the whole County +of Clare." + + +A WORSE THAN CROMWELL + +"Cromwell was very bad, but the drink is worse. For a good many that +Cromwell killed should go to heaven, but those that are drunken never +see heaven. And as to drink, a man that takes the first glass is as +quiet and as merry as a pet lamb; and after the second glass he is as +knacky as a monkey; and after the third glass he is as ready for battle +as a lion; and after the fourth glass he is like a swine as he is. 'I am +thirsty' [IRISH: Ta Tart Orm], that was one of our Lord's seven words on +the Cross, where he was dry. And a man far off would have given him +drink; but there was a drunkard at the foot of the Cross, and he +prevented him." + + +THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM + +"That was a great slaughter at Aughrim. St. Ruth wanted to do all +himself, he being a foreigner. He gave no plan of the battle to +Sarsfield, but a written command to stop where he was, and Sarsfield +knew no more than yourself or myself in the evening before it happened. +It was Colonel Merell's wife bade him not go to the battle, where she +knew it would go bad with him through a dream. But he said that meant +that he would be crowned, and he went out and was killed. That is what +the poem says: + + If Caesar listened to Calpurnia's dream + He had not been by Pompey's statue slain. + +All great men gave attention to dreams, though the Church is against +them now. It is written in Scripture that Joseph gave attention to his +dream. But Colonel Merell did not, and so he went to his death. Aughrim +would have been won if it wasn't for the drink. There was too much of it +given to the Irish soldiers that day--drink and spies and traitors. +The English never won a battle in Ireland in fair fight, but getting +spies and setting the people against one another. I saw where Aughrim +was fought, and I turned aside from the road to see the tree where St +Ruth was killed. The half of it is gone like snuff. That was spies too, +a Colonel's daughter that told the English in what place St. Ruth would +be washing himself at six o'clock in the morning. And it was there he +was shot by one O'Donnell, an Englishman. He shot him from six miles +off. The Danes were dancing in the raths around Aughrim the night after +the battle. Their ancestors were driven out of Ireland before; and they +were glad when they saw those that had put them out put out themselves, +and every one of them skivered." + +[ILLUSTRATION: WILLIAM III] + + +THE STUARTS + +"As to the Stuarts, there are no songs about them and no praises in the +West, whatever there may be in the South. Why would there, and they +running away and leaving the country the way they did? And what good did +they ever do it? James the Second was a coward. Why didn't he go into +the thick of the battle like the Prince of Orange? He stopped on a hill +three miles away, and rode off to Dublin, bringing the best of his +troops with him. There was a lady walking in the street at Dublin when +he got there, and he told her the battle was lost, and she said 'Faith +you made good haste; you made no delay on the road.' So he said no more +after that. The people liked James well enough before he ran; they +didn't like him after that." + + +ANOTHER STORY + +"Seumus Salach, Dirty James, it is he brought all down. At the time of +the battle there was one of his men said, 'I have my eye cocked, and all +the nations will be done away with,' and he pointing his cannon. 'Oh!' +said James, 'Don't make a widow of my daughter.' If he didn't say that, +the English would have been beat. It was a very poor thing for him to +do." + + +PATRICK SARSFIELD + +"Sarsfield was a great general the time he turned the shoes on his +horse. The English it was were pursuing him, and he got off and changed +the shoes the way when they saw the tracks they would think he went +another road. That was a great plan. He got to Limerick then, and he +killed thousands of the English. He was a great general." + + +QUEEN ANNE + +"The Georges were fair; they left all to the Government; but Anne was +very bad and a tyrant. She tyrannised over the Irish. She died +broken-hearted with all the bad things that were going on about her. For +Queen Anne was very wicked; oh, very wicked, indeed!" + + +CAROLAN'S SONG + +"Carolan that could play the fiddle and the harp used to be going about +with Cahil-a-Corba, that was a tambourine man. But they got tired of one +another and parted, and Carolan went to the house of the King of Mayo, +and he stopped there, and the King asked him to stop for his lifetime. +There came a grand visitor one time, and when he heard Carolan singing +and playing and his fine pleasant talk, he asked him to go with him on a +visit to Dublin. So Carolan went, and he promised the King of Mayo he +would come back at the end of a month. But when he was at the +gentleman's house he liked it so well that he stopped a year with him, +and it wasn't till the Christmas he came back to Mayo. And when he got +there the doors were shut, and the King was at his dinner, and Queen +Mary and the three daughters, and he could see them through the windows. +But when the King saw him he said he would not let him in. He was vexed +with him and angry he had broken his promise and his oath. So Carolan +began to give out a song he had made about the King of Mayo and all his +family, and he brought Queen Mary into it and the three daughters. Then +the Queen asked leave of the King to bring him in, because he made so +good a song, but the King would not give in to it. Then Carolan began to +draw down the King of Mayo's father and his grandfather into the song. +And Queen Mary asked again for forgiveness for him, and the King gave +it that time because of the song that had in it the old times, and the +old generations went through him. But as to Cahil-a-Corba, he went to +another gentleman's house and he stopped too long in it and was driven +out. But he came back, having changed his form, that the gentleman did +not know him, and he let him in again, and then he was forgiven." + + +'NINETY-EIGHT + +"In the year '98 there were the Yeomanry that were the worst of all. The +time Father Murphy was killed there was one of them greased his boots in +his heart. There was one of them was called Micky the Devil in Irish; he +never went out without the pitchcap and the triangle, and any rebel he +would meet he would put gunpowder in his hair and set a light to it. The +North Cork Militia were the worst; there are places in Ireland where you +would not get a drink of water if they knew you came from Cork. And it +was the very same, the North Cork, that went of their own free will to +the Boer war, volunteered, asked to go that is. They had the same sting +in them always. A great many of them were left dead in that war, and a +great many better men than themselves. There was one battle in that war +there was no quarter given, the same as Aughrim; and the English would +kill the wounded that would be left upon the field of battle. There is +no Christianity in war." + + +DENIS BROWNE + +"There is a tree near Denis Browne's house that used to be used for +hanging men in the time of '98, he being a great man in that time, and +High Sheriff of Mayo, and it is likely the gentlemen were afeared, and +that there was bad work at nights. But one night Denis Browne was lying +in his bed, and the Lord put it in his mind that there might be false +information given against some that were innocent. So he went out and he +brought out one of his horses into the lawn before the house, and he +shot it dead and left it there. In the morning one of the butlers came +up to him and said, 'Did you see that one of your horses was shot in the +night?' 'How would I see that?' says he, 'and I not rose up or dressed?' +So when he went out they showed him the horse, and he bade the men to +bury it, and it wasn't two hours after before two of them came to him. +'We can tell you who it was shot the horse,' they said. 'It was such a +one and such a one in the village, that were often heard to speak bad of +you. And besides that,' they said, 'we saw them shooting it ourselves.' +So the two that gave that false witness were the last two Denis Browne +ever hung. He rose out of it after, and washed his hands of it all. And +his big house is turned into a convent, and the tree is growing there +yet. It is in the time of '98 that happened, a hundred years ago." + + +THE UNION + +"As to the Union, it was bought with titles. Look at the Binghams and +the rest, they went to bed nothing, and rose up lords in the morning. +The day it was passed Lady Castlereagh was in the House of Parliament, +and she turned three colours, and she said to her husband, 'You have +passed your treaty, but you have sold your country.' He went and cut his +throat after that. And it is what I heard from the old people, there was +no priest in Ireland but voted for it, the way they would get better +rights, for it was only among poor persons they were going at that time. +And it was but at the time of the Parliament leaving College Green they +began to wear the Soutane that they wear now. Up to that it was a +bodycoat they wore and knee-breeches. It was their vote sent the +Parliament to England, and when there is a row between them or that the +people are vexed with the priest, you will hear them saying in the house +in Irish 'Bad luck on them, it was they brought misfortune to Ireland.' +They wore the Soutane ever since that time." + + +ROBERT EMMET + +"The Government had people bribed to swear against Robert Emmet, and the +same men said after, they never saw him till he was in the dock. He +might have got away but for his attention to that woman. She went away +after with a sea captain. There are some say she gave information. +Curran's daughter she was. But I don't know. He made one request, his +letters that she wrote to him in the gaol not to be meddled with, but +the Government opened them and took the presents she sent in them, and +whatever was best of them they kept for themselves. He made the greatest +speech from the dock ever was made, and Lord Norbury on the bench, +checking and clogging him all the time. Ten hours he was in the dock, +and they gave him no more than one dish of water all that time; and they +executed him in a hurry, saying it was an attack they feared on the +prison. There is no one knows where is his grave." + + +O'CONNELL'S BIRTH + +"O'Connell was a grand man, and whatever cause he took in hand, it was +as good as won. But what wonder? He was the gift of God. His father was +a rich man, and one day he was out walking he took notice of a house +that was being built. Well, a week later he passed by the same place, +and he saw the walls of the house were no higher than before. So he +asked the reason, and he was told it was a priest that was building it, +and he hadn't the money to go on with. So a few days after he went to +the priest's house and he asked was that true, and the priest said it +was. 'Would you pay back the money to the man that would lend it to +you?' says O'Connell. 'I would,' says the priest. So with that O'Connell +gave him the money that was wanting--£50--for it was a very grand house. +Well, after some time the priest came to O'Connell's house, and he found +only the wife at home, so says he, 'I have some money that himself lent +me.' But he had never told the wife of what he had done, so she knew +nothing about it, and says she, 'Don't be troubling yourself about it, +he'll bestow it on you.' 'Well,' says the priest, I'll go away now and +I'll come back again.' So when O'Connell came, the wife told him all +that had happened, and how a priest had come saying he owed him money, +and how she had said he would bestow it on him. 'Well,' says O'Connell, +'if you said I would bestow it, I will bestow it.' And so he did. Then +the priest said, 'Have you any children?' 'Ne'er a child,' said +O'Connell. 'Well you will have one,' said he. And that day nine months +their young son was born. So what wonder if he was inspired, being, as +he was, the Gift of God." + + +[Illustration: O'CONNELL] + +THE TINKER + +"O'Connell was a great man. I never saw him, but I heard of his name. +One time I saw his picture in a paper, where they were giving out meal, +where Mrs. Gaynor's is and I kissed the picture of him. They were +laughing at me for doing that, but I had heard of his good name. There +was some poor man, a tinker, asked help of him one time in Dublin, and +he said, 'I will put you in a place where you will get some good thing.' +So he brought him to a lodging in a very grand house and put him in it. +And in the morning he began to make saucepans, and he was making them +there, and the shopkeeper that owned the house was mad at him to be +doing that, and making saucepans in so grand a house, and he wanted to +get him out of it, and he gave him a good sum of money to go out. He +went back and told that to O'Connell, and O'Connell said, 'Didn't I tell +you I would put you in the way to get some good thing?'" + + +A PRESENT + +"There was a gentleman sent him a present one time, and he bade a little +lad to bring it to him. Shut up in a box it was, and he bade the boy to +give it to himself, and not to open the box. So the little lad brought +it to O'Connell to give it to him. 'Let you open it yourself,' says +O'Connell. So he opened it, and whatever was in it blew up and made an +end of the boy, and it would have been the same with O'Connell if he had +opened it." + + +HIS STRATEGY + +"O'Connell was a grand man; the best within the walls of the world. He +never led anyone astray. Did you hear that one time he turned the shoes +on his horses? There were bad members following him. I cannot say who +they were, for I will not tell what I don't know. He got a smith to turn +the shoes, and when they came upon his track, he went east and they went +west. Parnell was no bad man, but Dan O'Connell's name went up higher in +praises." + + +THE MAN WAS GOING TO BE HANGED + +"I saw O'Connell in Galway one time, and I couldn't get anear him. All +the nations of the world were gathered there to see him. There were a +great many he hung and a great many he got off from death, the dear man. +He went into a town one time, and into a hotel, and he asked for his +dinner. And he had a frieze dress, for he was very simple, and always a +clerk along with him. And when the dinner was served to him, 'Is there +no one here,' says he, 'to sit along with me; for it is seldom I ever +dined without company.' 'If you think myself good enough to sit with +you,' says the man of the hotel, 'I will do it.' So the two of them sat +to the dinner together, and O'Connell asked was there any news in the +town. 'There is,' says the hotel man, 'there is a man to be hung +to-morrow.' 'Oh, my!' says O'Connell, 'what was it he did to deserve +that?' 'Himself and another that had been out fowling,' says he, 'and +they came in here and they began to dispute, and the one of them killed +the other, and he will be hung to-morrow.' 'He will not,' says +O'Connell. 'I tell you he will,' says the other, 'for the Judge is come +to give the sentence.' Well, O'Connell kept to it that he would not, and +they made a bet, and the hotel man bet all he had on the man being hung. +In the morning O'Connell was in no hurry out of bed, and when the two of +them walked into the Court, the Judge was after giving the sentence, and +the man was to be hung. '_Maisead_,' says the judge when he saw +O'Connell, 'I wish you had been here a half an hour ago, where there is +a man going to be hung.' 'He is not,' says O'Connell. 'He is,' says the +judge. 'If he is,' says O'Connell, 'that one will never let anyone go +living out of his hotel, and he making money out of the hanging.' 'What +do you mean saying that?' says the judge. Then O'Connell took the +instrument out of his pocket where it was written down all the +hotel-keeper had put on the hanging. And when the judge saw that, he set +the man free, and he was not hanged." + + +THE CUP OF THE SASSANACH + +"He was over in England one time, and he was brought to a party, and tea +was made ready and cups. And as they were sitting at the table, a +servant girl that was in it, and that was Irish, came to O'Connell and +she said, 'Do you understand Irish?' [IRISH: 'An tuigeann tu Gaedilge, +O'Connell?' 'Tuigim,'] says he, 'I understand it.' 'Have a care,' says +she, 'for there is in your cup what would poison the whole nation!' 'If +that is true, girl, you will get a good fortune,' said he. It was in +Irish they said all that, and the people that were in it had no ears. +Then O'Connell quenched the candle, and he changed his cup for the cup +of the man that was next him. And it was not long till the man fell +dead. They were always trying to kill O'Connell, because he was a good +man. The Sassanach it was were against him. Terrible wicked they were, +and God save us, I believe they are every bit as wicked yet!" + + +THE THOUSAND FISHERS + +"O'Connell came to Galway one time, and he sent for all the trades to +come out with the sign of their trade in their hand, and he would see +which was the best. And there came ten hundred fishers, having all white +flannel clothes and black hats and white scarves about them, and he gave +the sway to them. It wasn't a year after that, the half of them were +lost, going through the fogs at Newfoundland, where they went for a +better way of living." + + +WHAT THE OLD WOMEN SAW + +"The greatest thing I ever saw was O'Connell driving through Gort, very +plain, and an oiled cap on him, and having only one horse; and there was +no house in Gort without his picture in it." "O'Connell rode up Crow +Lane and to Church Street on a single horse, and he stopped there and +took a view of Gort." "I saw O'Connell after he left Gort going on the +road to Kinvara, and seven horses in the coach--they could not get in +the eighth. He stopped, and he was talking to Hickman that was with me. +Shiel was in the coach along with him." + + +O'CONNELL'S HAT + +"O'Connell wore his hat in the English House of Commons, what no man but +the King can do. He wore it for three days because he had a sore head, +and at the end of that they bade him put it off, and he said he would +not, where he had worn it three days." + + +THE CHANGE HE MADE + +"O'Connell was a great councillor. At that time if there was a Catholic, +no matter how high or great or learned he was, he could not get a place. +But if a Protestant came that was a blockhead and ignorant, the place +would be open to him. There was a revolution rising because of that, and +O'Connell brought it into the House of Commons and got it changed. He +was the greatest man ever was in Ireland. He was a very clever lawyer; +he would win every case, he would put it so strong and clear and clever. +If there were fifteen lawyers against him--five and ten--he would win it +against them all, whether the case was bad or good." + + +THE MAN HE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE + +"Corly, that burned his house in Burren, was very bad, and it was +O'Connell brought him to the gallows. The only case O'Connell lost was +against the Macnamaras, and he told them he would be even with them, and +so when Corly, that was a friend of theirs, was brought up he kept his +word. There was no doubt about him burning the house, it was to +implicate the Hynes he did it, to lay it on them. There was a girl used +to go out milking at daybreak, and she awoke, and the moon was shining, +and she thought it was day, and got up and looked out, and she saw him +doing it." + + +THE BINDING + +"O'Connell was a great man, wide big arms he had. It was he left us the +cheap tea; to cheapen it he did, that was at that time a shilling for +one bare ounce. His heart is in Rome and his body in Glasnevin. A lovely +man, he would put you on your guard; he was for the country, he was all +for Ireland." + + +HIS MONUMENT + +"There is a nice monument put up to O'Connell in Ennis, in a corner it +is of the middle of a street, and himself high up on it, holding a book. +It was a poor shoe-maker set that going. I saw him in Gort one time, a +coat of O'Connell's he had that he chanced in some place. Only for him +there would be no monument; it was he gathered money for it, and there +was none would refuse him." + + +A PRAISE MADE FOR DANIEL O'CONNELL BY OLD WOMEN AND THEY BEGGING AT THE +DOOR + +"Dan O'Connell was the best man in the world, and a great man surely; +and there could not be better than what O'Connell was. + +"It was from him I took the pledge and I a child, and kept it ever +after. He would give it to little lads and children, but not to any aged +person. Pilot trousers he had and a pilot coat, and a grey and white +waistcoat. + +"O'Connell was all for the poor. See what he did at Saint Patrick's +Island--he cast out every bad thing and every whole thing, to England +and to America and to every part. He fought it well for every whole +body. + +"A splendid monument there is to him in Ennis, and his fine top coat +upon him. A lovely man; you'd think he was alive and all, and he having +his hat in his hand. Everyone kneels down on the steps of it and says a +few prayers and walks away. It is as high as that tree below. If he was +in Ireland now the pension would go someway right. + +"He was the best and the best to everyone; he got great sway in the town +of Gort, and in every other place. + +"I suppose he has the same talk always; he is able to do for us now as +well as ever he was; surely his mercy and goodness are in the town of +Gort. + +"He did good in the world while he was alive; he was a great man surely; +there couldn't be better in this world I believe, or in the next world; +there couldn't be better all over the world. + +"He used to go through all nations and to make a fight for the poor; he +gave them room to live, and used to fight for them too. There is no +doubt at all he did help them, he was well able to do it." + + +RICHARD SHIEL + +"As to Shiel, he was small, dressed very neat, with knee-breeches and a +full vest and a long-skirted coat. He had a long nose, and was not much +to look at till he began to speak, and then you'd see genius coming out +from him. His voice was shrill, and that spoiled his speech sometimes, +when he would get excited, and would raise it at the end. But +O'Connell's voice you would hear a mile off, and it sounded as if it was +coming through honey," + + +THE TITHE WAR + +"And the Tithes, the tenth of the land that St. Patrick and his Bishops +had settled for their own use, it was to Protestants it was given. And +there would have been a revolution out of that, but it was done away +with, and it is the landlord has to pay it now. The Pope has a great +power that is beyond all. There is one day and one minute in the year +he has that power if it pleases him to use it. At that minute it runs +through all the world, and every priest goes on his knees and the Pope +himself is on his knees, and that request cannot be refused, because +they are the grand jury of the world before God. A man was talking to me +about the burying of the Tithes; up on the top of the Devil's Bit it +was, and if you looked around you could see nothing but the police. Then +the boys came riding up, and white rods in their hands, and they dug a +grave, and the Tithes, some image of them, was buried. It was a wrong +thing for one religion to be paying for the board of the clergy of +another religion." + + +THE FIGHT AT CARRICKSHOCK + +"The Tithe War, that was the time of the fight at Carrickshock. A narrow +passage that was in it, and the people were holding it against the +police that came with the Proctor. There was a Captain defending the +Proctor that had been through the Battle of Waterloo, and it was the +Proctor they fired at, but the Captain fell dead, and fourteen police +were killed with him. But the people were beat after, and were brought +into court for the trial, and the counsel for the Crown was against +them, Dougherty. They were tried in batches, and every batch was +condemned, Dougherty speaking out the case against them. But O'Connell, +that was at that time at Cork Assizes, heard of it, and he came, and +when he got to the door the pony that brought him dropped dead. He came +in and he took refreshment--bread and milk--the same as I am after +taking now, and he looked up and he said 'That is no law.' Then the +judge agreed with him, and he got every one of them off after that; but +only for him they would swing. The Tithes were bad, a farmer to have +three stacks they's take the one of them. And that was the first time of +the hurling matches, to gather the people against the Tithes. But there +was hurling in the ancient times in Ireland, and out in Greece, and +playing at the ball, and that is what is called the Olympian Games." + + +THE BIG WIND + +"As to the Big Wind, I was on my elder sister's back going to a friend +beyond, and when I was coming back it was slacked away, and I was +wondering at the holes in the houses." "I was up to twelve year at the +time of the Big Wind that was in '39, and I was over at Roxborough with +my father that was clearing timber from the road, and your father came +out along the road, and he was wild seeing the trees and rocks whipped +up into the sky the way they were with the wind. But what was that to +the bitter time of the Famine that came after?" + + +THE FAMINE + +"The Famine; there's a long telling in that, it is a thing will be +remembered always. That little graveyard above, at that time it was +filled full up of bodies; the Union had no way to buy coffins for them. +There would be a bag made, and the body put into it, that was all; and +the people dying without priest, or bishop, or anything at all. But over +in Connemara it was the dogs brought the bodies out of the houses, and +asked no leave." + + +THE CHOLERA + +"The cholera was worse again. It came from foreign, and it lasted a +couple of years, till God drove it out of the country. It is often I saw +a man ploughing the garden in the morning till dinner time, and before +evening he would be dead. It was as if on the wind it came, there was no +escape from it; on the wind, the same as it would come now and would +catch on to pigs. Sheds that would be made out in the haggards to put +the sick in, they would turn as black as your coat. There was no one +could go near them without he would have a glass of whiskey taken, and +he wouldn't like it then." + + +A LONG REMEMBERING + +"The longest thing I remember is the time of the sickness, and my father +that was making four straw mats for four brothers that died, and that +couldn't afford coffins. The bodies were put in the mats and were tied +up in them. And the second thing I remember is the people digging in the +stubble after the oats and the wheat; to see would they meet a potato, +and sometimes they did, for God sent them there." + + +THE TERRY ALTS + +"The Terry Alts were a bad class; everything you had they'd take from +you. It was against herding they began to get the land, the same as at +the present time. And women they would take; a man maybe that hadn't a +perch of land would go to a rich farmer's house and bring away his +daughter. And I, supposing, to have some spite against you, I'd gather a +mob and do every bad thing to destroy you. That is the way they were, a +bad class and doing bad deeds." + + +THE '48 TIME + +"Thomas Davis was a great man where poetry is concerned, and a better +than Thomas Moore. All over Ireland his poetry is, and he would have +done other things but that he died young. That was the '48 time. The '48 +men were foolish men; they thought to cope with the English Government. +They went to O'Connell to get from him all the money he had gathered, +for they had it in their head to use that to make a rise against +England. But when they asked O'Connell for it he told them there was +none of it left, not one penny. Buying estates for his children he used +it, and he said he spent it on a monastery. I don't know was he speaking +truth. Mahon made a great speech against him, and it preyed on +O'Connell, and he left the country and went away and died in some place +called Genoa. He was a very ambitious man, like Napoleon. He got +Emancipation; but where is the use of that? There's Judge O'Brien, Peter +the Packer, was calling out and trying to do away with trial by jury. +And he would not be in his office or in his billet if it wasn't for +O'Connell. They didn't do much after, where they didn't get the money +from O'Connell. And the night they joined under Smith O'Brien they +hadn't got their supper. A terrible cold night it was, no one could +stand against it. Some bishop came from Dublin, and he told them to go +home, for how could they reach with their pikes to the English soldiers +that had got muskets. The soldiers came, and there was some firing, and +they were all scattered. As to Smith O'Brien, there was ten thousand +pounds on his head, and he hid for a while. Then at the last he went +into the town of Clonmel, and there was a woman there in the street was +a huckster, and he bade her give him up to the Government, for she would +never earn money so easy. But for all she was worth she wouldn't do +that. So then he went and gave himself up, and he was sent to Australia, +and the property was given to his brother." + + +A THING MITCHELL SAID + +"Mitchell was kept in Clonmel gaol two years before he was sent to +Australia. He was a Protestant, and a very good man. He said in a +speech, where was the use of meetings and of talking? It was with the +point of their bayonet the English would have to be driven out of +Ireland. It was Mitchell said that." + + +THE FENIAN RISING + +"It was a man from America it came with. There was one Mackie was taken +in a publichouse in Cork, and there was a policeman killed in the +struggle. Judge O'Hagan was the judge when he was in the dock, and he +said, 'Mr. Mackie, I see you are a gentleman and an educated man; and +I'm sorry,' he said, 'that you did not read Irish history.' Mackie cried +when he heard that, for indeed it was all spies about him, and it was +they gave him up." + + +A GREAT WONDER + +"The greatest wonder I ever saw was one time near Kinvara at a funeral, +there came a car along the road and a lady on it having a plaid cloak, +as was the fashion then, and a big hat, and she kept her head down and +never looked at the funeral at all. I wondered at her when I saw that, +and I said to my brother it was a strange thing a lady to be coming past +a funeral and not to look on at it at all. And who was on the car but +O'Gorman Mahon, escaping from the Government, and dressed up as a lady! +He drove to Father Arthur's house at Kinvara, and there was a boat +waiting, and a cousin of my own in it, to bring him out to a ship, and +so he made his escape." + + +ANOTHER WONDER + +"I saw Clerkenwell prison in London broken up in the time of the +Fenians, and every ship and steamer in the whole of the ocean stopped. +The prison was burned down, and all the prisoners consumed, and seven +doctors' shops along with it." + + +FATHER MATHEW + +"Father Mathew was a great man, plump and red in the face. There +couldn't be better than what he was. I knew one Kane in Gort he gave a +medal to, and he kept it seventy years. Kane was a great totaller, and +he wouldn't drink so much as water out of a glass, but out of a cup; the +glass might have been used for porter at some time. He lost the medal, +and was in a great way about it, but he found it five years after in a +dung-heap. A great totaller he was. Them that took the medal from Father +Mathew and that kept it, at their death they would be buried by men +dressed in white clothes." + + +THE WAR OF THE CRIMEA + +"My husband was in the war of the Crimea. It is terrible the hardships +he went through, to be two months without going into a house, under the +snow in trenches. And no food to get, maybe a biscuit in the day. And +there was enough food there, he said, to feed all Ireland; but bad +management, they could not get it. Coffee they would be given, and they +would be cutting a green bramble to strive to make a fire to boil it. +The dead would be buried every morning; a big hole would be dug, and the +bodies thrown in, and lime upon them; and some of the bodies would be +living when they were buried. My husband used to try to revive them if +he saw there was life in them, but other lads wouldn't care--just to put +them down and have done. And they were allowed to take nothing--money, +gold watches, and the like, all thrown in the ground. Sure they did not +care much about such things, they might be lying in the same place +themselves to-morrow. But the soldiers would take the money sometimes +and put it in their stocking and tie the stocking below the ankle and +below the knee. But if the officer knew that, they would be +courtmartialed and punished. He got two medals--one from the English and +one from the Emperor of Turkey. Fighting for the Queen, and bad pay she +gave him. He never knew what was the war for, unless it might be for +diminishing the population. We saw in the paper a few years ago there +was a great deal of money collected for soldiers that had gone through +hardship in the war, and we wrote to the War Office asking some of it +for him. But they wrote back that there were so many young men crippled +in the Boer war there was nothing to be spared for the old. My husband +used to be saying the Queen cared nothing for the army, but that the +King, even before he was King, was better to it. But I'm thinking from +this out the King will get very few from Ireland for his army." + +[Illustration: W.E. GLADSTONE] + + +GARIBALDI + +"There was one of my brothers died at Lyons in France. He had a place in +Guinness's brewery, and earning £3 10s. a week, and it was the time +Garibaldi, you might have heard of, was out fighting. There came a ship +to Dublin from France, calling for soldiers, and he threw up his place, +and there were many others threw up their place, and they went off, +eleven hundred of them, in the French ship, to go fighting for their +religion, and a hundred of them never came back. When they landed in +France they were made much of and velvet carpets spread before them. But +the war was near over then, and when it had ended they were forgotten, +and nothing done for them, and he was in poverty at Lyons and died. It +was the nuns there wrote a letter in French telling that to my mother." +"And Napoleon the Third fought for the Pope in the time of Garibaldi. A +great many Irishmen went out at that time, and the half of them never +came back. I met with one of them that was in Russell's flour stores, +and he said he would never go out again if there were two hundred Popes. +Bad treatment they got--black bread, and the troops in the Vatican well +fed; and it wasn't long till Victor Emanuel's troops made a breach in +the wall." + + +THE BUONAPARTES + +"Napoleon the Third was not much. He died in England, and was buried in +a country church-yard much the same as Kiltartan. But Napoleon the First +was a great man; it was given out of him there never would be so great a +man again. But he hadn't much education, and his penmanship was bad. +Every great man gave in to superstition. He gave into it when he went to +ask the gipsy woman to divine, and she told him his fate. Through fire +and a rock she said that he would fall. I suppose the rock was St. +Helena, and the fire was the fire of Waterloo. Napoleon was the terror +of England, and he would have beat the English at Waterloo but for +treachery, the treachery of Grouchy. It was, maybe, not his fault he was +treacherous, he might be the same as Judas, that had his treachery +settled for him four thousand years before his birth. There was a curse +on Napoleon the Third because of what Napoleon the First had done +against the Church. He took Malta one time and landed there, and by +treachery with the knights he robbed a church that was on the shore, and +carried away the golden gates. In an ironclad he put them that was +belonging to the English, and they sank that very day, and were never +got up after, unless it might be by divers. And two Popes he brought +into exile. But he was the friend of Ireland, and when he was dying he +said that. His heart was smashed, he said, with all the ruling Princes +that went against him; and if he had made an attack on Ireland, he said, +instead of going to Moscow the time he did, he would have brought +England low. And the Prince Imperial was trapped. It was the English +brought him out to the war, and that made the nations go against him, +and it was an English officer led him into the trap the way he never +would come to the Throne." + +[Illustration: LOUIS NAPOLEON] + + +THE ZULU WAR + +"I was in the army the time of the Zulu war. Great hardship we got in it +and plenty of starvation. It was the Dutch called in the English to help +them against the Zulus, that were tricky rogues, and would do no work +but to be driving the cattle off the fields. A pound of raw flour we +would be given out at seven o'clock in the morning, and some would try +to make a cake, and some would put it in a pot with water and be +stirring it, and it might be eleven o'clock before you would get what +you could eat, and not a bit of meat maybe for two days." + + +THE YOUNG NAPOLEON + +"There was a young Napoleon there, the grandson of Napoleon the First, +that was a great man indeed. I was in the island where he was interred; +it is a grand place, and what is not natural in those parts, there are +two blackthorn bushes growing in it where you go into the place he was +buried. And as to that great Napoleon, the fear of him itself was enough +to kill people. If he was living till now it is hard to say what way +would the world be. It is likely there'd be no English left in it, and +it would be all France. The young Napoleon was at the Zulu war was as +fine a young man as you'd wish to lay an eye on; six feet four, and +shaped to match. As to his death, there was things might have been +brought to light, but the enquiry was stopped. There was seven of them +went out together, and he was found after, lying dead in the ground, and +his top coat spread over him. There came a shower of hailstones that +were as large as the top of your finger, and as square as diamonds, and +that would enter into your skull. They made out it was to save himself +from them that he lay down. But why didn't they lift him in the saddle +and bring him along with them? And the bullet was taken out of his head +was the same every bit as our bullets; and where would a Zulu get a +bullet like that? Very queer it was, and a great deal of talk about it, +and in my opinion he was done away with because the English saw the +grandfather in him, and thought he would do away with themselves in the +time to come. Sure if he spoke to one of them, he would begin to shake +before him, officers the same as men. We had often to be laughing seeing +that." + + +PARNELL + +"Parnell was a very good man, and a just man, and if he had lived to +now, Ireland would be different to what it is. The only thing ever could +be said against him was the influence he had with that woman. And how do +we know but that was a thing appointed for him by God? Parnell had a +back to him, but O'Connell stood alone. He fought a good war in the +House of Commons. Parnell did a great deal, getting the land. I often +heard he didn't die at all--it was very quick for him to go. I often +wondered there were no people smart enough to dig up the coffin and to +see what is in it, at night they could do that. No one knows in what +soil Robert Emmet was buried, but he was made an end of sure enough. +Parnell went through Gort one day, and he called it the fag-end of +Ireland, just as Lady Morgan called the North the Athens of Ireland." + + +MR. GLADSTONE + +"Gladstone had the name of being the greatest statesman of England, and +he wasn't much after all. At the time of his death he had it on his mind +that it was he threw the first stone at Parnell, and he confessed that, +and was very sorry for it. But sure there is no one can stand all +through. Look at Solomon that had ten hundred wives, and some of them +the finest of women, and that spent all the money laid up by Father +David. And Gladstone encouraged Garibaldi the time he attacked the +Vatican, and gave him arms, Parnell charged him with that one time in +the House of Commons, and said he had the documents, and he hadn't a +word to say. But he was sorry at Parnell's death, and what was the use +of that when they had his heart broke? Parnell did a great deal for the +Irish, and they didn't care after; they are the most displeasing people +God ever made, unless it might be the ancient Jews." + + +QUEEN VICTORIA'S RELIGION + +"Queen Victoria was loyal and true to the Pope; that is what I was told, +and so is Edward the Seventh loyal and true, but he has got something +contrary in his body. It is when she was a girl she put on clothes like +your own--lady's clothes--and she went to the Pope. Did she turn +Catholic? She'd be beheaded if she did; the Government would behead her; +it is the Government has power in England." + + +HER WISDOM + +"As to the last Queen, we thought her bad when we had her, but now we +think her good. She was a hard woman, and she did nothing for Ireland in +the bad years; but I'll give you the reason she had for that. She had it +in her mind always to keep Ireland low, it being the place she mostly +got her soldiers. That might not be good for Ireland, but it was good +for her own benefit. The time the lads have not a bit to eat, that is +the time they will go soldiering." + + +WAR AND MISERY + +"There was war and misery going on all through Victoria's reign. It was +the Boer war killed her, she being aged, and seeing all her men going +out, and able to do nothing. Ten to one they were against the Boers. +That is what killed her. It is a great tribute to the war it did that." + + +THE PRESENT KING + +"The present King is very good. He is a gentleman very fond of visiting, +and well pleased with every class of people he will meet." + + +THE OLD AGE PENSIONS + +"The old age pension is very good, and as to taxes, them can't pay it +that hasn't it. It is since the Boer War there is coin sent back from +Africa every week that is dug from the goldpits out there. That is what +the English wanted the time they went to war; they want to close up the +minerals for themselves. If it wasn't for the war, that pension would +never be given to Ireland. They'd have been driven home by the Boers if +it wasn't for the Irish that were in the front of every battle. And the +Irish held out better too, they can starve better than the rest, there +is more bearing in them. It wasn't till all the Irish were killed that +the English took to bribing. Bribed Botha they did with a bag of gold. +For all the generals in England that are any good are Irish. Buller was +the last they had, and he died. They can find no good generals at all in +England, unless they might get them very young." + + +ANOTHER THOUGHT + +"It was old money was in the Treasury idle, and the King and Queen +getting old wanted to distribute it in the country it was taken from. +But some say it was money belonging to captains and big men that died in +the war and left no will after them. Anyway it is likely it will not +hold; and it is known that a great many of those that get it die very +soon." + + +A PROPHECY + +"It is likely there will be a war at the end of the two thousand, that +was always foretold. And I hear the English are making ships that will +dive the same as diving ducks under the water. But as to the Irish +Americans, they would sweep the entire world; and England is afraid of +America, it being a neighbour." + + +NOTES + +I have given this book its name because it is at my own door, in the +Barony of Kiltartan, I have heard a great number of the stories from +beggars, pipers, travelling men, and such pleasant company. But others I +have heard in the Workhouse, or to the north of Galway Bay, in +Connemara, or on its southern coast, in Burren. I might, perhaps, better +have called the little book Myths in the Making. + +A sociable people given to conversation and belief; no books in the +house, no history taught in the schools; it is likely that must have +been the way of it in old Greece, when the king of highly civilised +Crete was turned by tradition into a murderous tyrant owning a monster +and a labyrinth. It was the way of it in old France too, one thinks, +when Charlemagne's height grew to eight feet, and his years were counted +by centuries: "He is three hundred years old, and when will he weary of +war?" Anyhow, it has been the way of modern Ireland--the Ireland I +know--and when I hear myth turned into history, or history into myth, I +see in our stonebreakers and cattle drivers Greek husbandmen or ancient +vinedressers of the Loire. + +I noticed some time ago, when listening to many legends of the Fianna, +that is about Finn, their leader, the most exaggerated of the tales have +gathered; and I believe the reason is that he, being the greatest of the +"Big Men," the heroic race, has been most often in the mouths of the +people. They have talked of him by their fire-sides for two thousand +years or so; at first earlier myths gathered around him, and then from +time to time any unusual feats of skill or cunning shown off on one or +another countryside, till many of the stories make him at the last +grotesque, little more than a clown. So in Bible History, while lesser +kings keep their dignity, great Solomon's wit is outwitted by the +riddles of some countryman; and Lucifer himself, known in Kiltartan as +"the proudest of the angels, thinking himself equal with God," has been +seen in Sligo rolling down a road in the form of the _Irish Times_. The +gods of ancient Ireland have not escaped. Mananaan, Son of the Sea, +Rider of the Horses of the Sea, was turned long ago into a juggler doing +tricks, and was hunted in the shape of a hare. Brigit, the "Fiery +Arrow," the nurse of poets, later a saint and the Foster-mother of +Christ, does her healing of the poor in the blessed wells of to-day as +"a very civil little fish, very pleasant, wagging its tail." + +Giobniu, the divine smith of the old times, made a new sword and a new +spear for every one that was broken in the great battle between the gods +and the mis-shapen Fomor. "No spearpoint that is made by my hand," he +said, "will ever miss its mark; no man it touches will ever taste life +again." It was his father who, with a cast of a hatchet, could stop the +inflowing of the tide; and it was he himself whose ale gave lasting +youth: "No sickness or wasting ever comes on those who drink at +Giobniu's Feast." Later he became a saint, a master builder, builder of +a house "more shining than a garden; with its stars, with its sun, with +its moon." To-day he is known as the builder of the round towers of the +early Christian centuries, and of the square castles of the +Anglo-Normans. And the stories I have given of him, called as he now is, +"the Goban Saor," show that he has fallen still farther in legend from +his high origin. + +As to O'Connell, perhaps because his name, like that of Finn and the +Goban, is much in the mouths of the people, there is something of the +absurd already coming into his legend. The stories of him show more than +any others how swiftly myths and traditions already in the air may +gather around a memory much loved and much spoken of. He died only sixty +years ago, and many who have seen and heard him are still living; and +yet he has already been given a miraculous birth, and the power of a +saint is on its way to him. I have charged my son, and should I live +till he comes to sensible years, I will charge my grandson, to keep +their ears open to the growth of legend about him who was once my +husband's friendly enemy, and afterwards his honoured friend. + +I do not take the credit or the discredit of the opinions given by the +various speakers, nor do I go bail for the facts; I do but record what +is already in "the Book of the People." The history of England and +Ireland was shut out of the schools and it became a passion. As to why +it was shut out, well, I heard someone whisper "Eugene Aram hid the body +away, being no way anxious his scholars should get a sight of it." But +this also was said in the barony of Kiltartan. + +The illustrations are drawn from some delft figures, ornaments in a +Kiltartan house. + + +A. GREGORY. + +COOLE PARK, _November_, 1909. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Kiltartan History Book, by Lady I. A. Gregory + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 11260-8.txt or 11260-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/2/6/11260/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Garrett Alley, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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A. Gregory + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Kiltartan History Book + +Author: Lady I. A. Gregory + +Release Date: February 24, 2004 [EBook #11260] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Garrett Alley, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + <h1>THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK.</h1> + + <center> + <b>BY LADY GREGORY.</b> + </center><br> + + <center> + ILLUSTRATED + </center> + + <center> + BY ROBERT GREGORY + </center><br> + <br> + + <p class="list"><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</i></p> + + <ul class="list"> + <li>Seven Short Plays</li> + + <li>Cuchulain of Muirthemne</li> + + <li>Gods and Fighting Men</li> + + <li>Poets and Dreamers</li> + + <li>A Book of Saints and Wonders</li> + </ul><br> + + <center> + DEDICATED AND RECOMMENDED TO THE HISTORY CLASSES IN THE NEW + UNIVERSITY + </center> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + <hr> + <a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> + + <h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheAncientTimes">The Ancient + Times</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#GobanTheBuilder">Goban, the + Builder</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AWittyWife">A Witty Wife</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AnAdviceSheGave">An Advice She + Gave</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#ShorteningTheRoad">Shortening the + Road</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheGobansSecret">The Goban's + Secret</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheScotchRogue">The Scotch Rogue</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheDanes">The Danes</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBattleOfClontarf">The Battle of + Clontarf</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheEnglish">The English</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheQueenOfBreffny">The Queen of + Breffny</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#KingHenryVIII">King Henry VIII.</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#Elizabeth">Elizabeth</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#HerDeath">Her Death</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheTraceOfCromwell">The Trace of + Cromwell</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#CromwellsLaw">Cromwell's Law</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#CromwellInConnacht">Cromwell in + Connacht</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AWorseThanCromwell">A Worse than + Cromwell</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBattleOfAughrim">The Battle of + Aughrim</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheStuarts">The Stuarts</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AnotherStory">Another Story</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#PatrickSarsfield">Patrick + Sarsfield</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#QueenAnne">Queen Anne</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#CarolansSong">Carolan's Song</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#NinetyEight">'Ninety-Eight</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#DenisBrowne">Denis Browne</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheUnion">The Union</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#RobertEmmet">Robert Emmet</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#OConnellsBirth">O'Connell's + Birth</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheTinker">The Tinker</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#APresent">A Present</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#HisStrategy">His Strategy</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheManWasGoingToBeHanged">The Man was + Going to be Hanged</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheCupOfTheSassanach">The Cup of the + Sassanach</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheThousandFishers">The Thousand + Fishers</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#WhatTheOldWomenSaw">What the Old Women + Saw</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#OConnellsHat">O'Connell's Hat</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheChangeHeMade">The Change He + Made</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheManHeBroughtToJustice">The Man He + Brought to Justice</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBinding">The Binding</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#HisMonument">His Monument</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#APraise">A Praise Made for Daniel + O'Connell by Old Women and They Begging at the Door</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#RichardShiel">Richard Shiel</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheTitheWar">The Tithe War</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheFightAtCarrickshock">The Fight at + Carrickshock</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBigWind">The Big Wind</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheFamine">The Famine</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheCholera">The Cholera</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#ALongRemembering">A Long + Remembering</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheTerryAlts">The Terry Alts</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#The48Time">The '48 Time</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AThingMitchellSaid">A Thing Mitchell + Said</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheFenianRising">The Fenian + Rising</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AGreatWonder">A Great Wonder</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AnotherWonder">Another Wonder</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#FatherMathew">Father Mathew</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheWarOfTheCrimea">The War of the + Crimea</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#Garibaldi">Garibaldi</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheBuonapartes">The Buonapartes</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheZuluWar">The Zulu War</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheYoungNapoleon">The Young + Napoleon</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#Parnell">Parnell</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#MrGladstone">Mr. Gladstone</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#QueenVictoriasReligion">Queen Victoria's + Religion</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#HerWisdom">Her Wisdom</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#WarAndMisery">War and Misery</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#ThePresentKing">The Present King</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#TheOldAgePensions">The Old Age + Pensions</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AnotherThought">Another Thought</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#AProphecy">A Prophecy</a></p><br> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#NOT">NOTES</a></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p> + + <p> </p><a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a> + + <h2>THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK</h2> + + <center> + <a name="TheAncientTimes"></a> THE ANCIENT TIMES + </center> + + <p>"As to the old history of Ireland, the first man ever died in + Ireland was Partholan, and he is buried, and his greyhound along + with him, at some place in Kerry. The Nemidians came after that + and stopped for a while, and then they all died of some disease. + And then the Firbolgs came, the best men that ever were in + Ireland, and they had no law but love, and there was never such + peace and plenty in Ireland. What religion had they? None at all. + And there was a low-sized race came that worked the land of + Ireland a long time; they had their time like the others. Many + would tell you Grania slept under the cromlechs, but I don't + believe that, and she a king's daughter. And I don't believe she + was handsome either. If she was, why would she have run away? In + the old time the people had no envy, and they would be writing + down the stories and the songs for one another. But they are too + venemous now to do that. And as to the people in the towns, they + don't care for such things now, they are too corrupted with + drink."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="GobanTheBuilder"></a> GOBAN, THE BUILDER + </center> + + <p>"The Goban was the master of sixteen trades. There was no + beating him; he had got the gift. He went one time to Quin Abbey + when it was building, looking for a job, and the men were going + to their dinner, and he had poor clothes, and they began to jibe + at him, and the foreman said 'Make now a cat-and-nine-tails while + we are at our dinner, if you are any good.' And he took the + chisel and cut it in the rough in the stone, a cat with nine + tails coming from it, and there it was complete when they came + out from their dinner. There was no beating him. He learned no + trade, but he was master of sixteen. That is the way, a man that + has the gift will get more out of his own brain than another will + get through learning. There is many a man without learning will + get the better of a college-bred man, and will have better words + too. Those that make inventions in these days have the gift, such + a man now as Edison, with all he has got out of + electricity."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AWittyWife"></a> A WITTY WIFE + </center> + + <p>"The Goban Saor was a mason and a smith, and he could do all + things, and he was very witty. He was going from home one time + and he said to the wife 'If it is a daughter you have this time + I'll kill you when I come back'; for up to that time he had no + sons, but only daughters. And it was a daughter she had; but a + neighbouring woman had a son at the same time, and they made an + exchange to save the life of the Goban's wife. But when the boy + began to grow up he had no wit, and the Goban knew by that he was + no son of his. That is the reason he wanted a witty wife for him. + So there came a girl to the house one day, and the Goban Saor + bade her look round at all that was in the room, and he said 'Do + you think a couple could get a living out of this?' 'They could + not,' she said. So he said she wouldn't do, and he sent her away. + Another girl came another day, and he bade her take notice of all + that was in the house, and he said 'Do you think could a couple + knock a living out of this?' 'They could if they stopped in it,' + she said. So he said that girl would do. Then he asked her could + she bring a sheepskin to the market and bring back the price of + it, and the skin itself as well. She said she could, and she went + to the market, and there she pulled off the wool and sold it and + brought back the price and the skin as well. Then he asked could + she go to the market and not be dressed or undressed. And she + went having only one shoe and one stocking on her, so she was + neither dressed or undressed. Then he sent her to walk neither on + the road or off the road, and she walked on the path beside it. + So he said then she would do as a wife for his son."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AnAdviceSheGave"></a> AN ADVICE SHE GAVE + </center> + + <p>"One time some great king or lord sent for the Goban to build + a <i>caislean</i> for him, and the son's wife said to him before + he went 'Be always great with the women of the house, and always + have a comrade among them.' So when the Goban went there he + coaxed one of the women the same as if he was not married. And + when the castle was near built, the woman told him the lord was + going to play him a trick, and to kill him or shut him up when he + had the castle made, the way he would not build one for any-other + lord that was as good. And as she said, the lord came and bade + the Goban to make a cat and two-tails, for no one could make that + but himself, and it was meaning to kill him on it he was. And the + Goban said he would do that when he had finished the castle, but + he could not finish it without some tool he had left at home. And + they must send the lord's son for it—- for he said it would + not be given to any other one. So the son was sent, and the Goban + sent a message to the daughter-in-law that the tool he was + wanting was called 'When you open it shut it.' And she was + surprised, for there was no such tool in the house; but she + guessed by the message what she had to do, and there was a big + chest in the house and she set it open. 'Come now,' she said to + the young man,' look in the chest and find it for yourself.' And + when he looked in she gave him a push forward, and in he went, + and she shut the lid on him. She wrote a letter to the lord then, + saying he would not get his son back till he had sent her own two + men, and they were sent back to her."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="ShorteningTheRoad"></a> SHORTENING THE ROAD + </center> + + <p>"Himself and his son were walking the road together one day, + and the Goban said to the son 'Shorten the road for me.' So the + son began to walk fast, thinking that would do it, but the Goban + sent him back home when he didn't understand what to do. The next + day they were walking again, and the Goban said again to shorten + the road for him, and this time he began to run, and the Goban + sent him home again. When he went in and told the wife he was + sent home the second time, she began to think, and she said, + 'When he bids you shorten the road, it is that he wants you to be + telling him stories.' For that is what the Goban meant, but it + took the daughter-in-law to understand it. And it is what I was + saying to that other woman, that if one of ourselves was making a + journey, if we had another along with us, it would not seem to be + one half as long as if we would be alone. And if that is so with + us, it is much more with a stranger, and so I went up the hill + with you to shorten the road, telling you that story."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheGobansSecret"></a> THE GOBAN'S SECRET + </center> + + <p>"The Goban and his son were seven years building the castle, + and they never said a word all that time. And at the end of seven + years the son was at the top, and he said 'I hear a cow lowing.' + And the Goban said then 'Make all strong below you, for the work + is done,' and they went home. The Goban never told the secret of + his building, and when he was on the bed dying they wanted to get + it from him, and they went in and said 'Claregalway Castle is + after falling in the night.' And the Goban said 'How can that be + when I put a stone in and a stone out and a stone across.' So + then they knew the way he built so well."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheScotchRogue"></a> THE SCOTCH ROGUE + </center> + + <p>"One time he was on the road going to the town, and there was + a Scotch rogue on the road that was always trying what could he + pick off others, and he saw the Connemara man—that was the + Goban—had a nice cravat, and he thought he would get a hold + of that. So he began talking with him, and he was boasting of all + the money he had, and the Goban said whatever it was he had three + times as much as it, and he with only thirty pounds in the world. + And the Scotch rogue thought he would get some of it from him, + and he said he would go to a house in the town, and he gave him + some food and some drink there, and the Goban said he would do + the same for him on the morrow. So then the Goban went out to + three houses, and in each of them he left ten pounds of his + thirty pounds, and he told the people in every house what they + had to do, and that when he would strike the table with his hat + three times they would bring out the money. So then he asked the + Scotch rogue into the first house, and ordered every sort of food + and drink, ten pounds worth in all. And when they had used all + they could of it, he struck with his hat on the table, and the + man of the house brought out the ten pounds, and the Goban said + 'Keep that to pay what I owe you.' The second day he did the same + thing in another house. And in the third house they went to he + ordered ten pounds worth of food and drink in the same way. And + when the time came to pay, he struck the table with the hat, and + there was the money in the hand of the man of the house before + them. 'That's a good little caubeen,' said the Scotch rogue, + 'when striking it on the table makes all that money appear.' 'It + is a wishing hat,' said the Goban; 'anything I wish for I can get + as long as I have that.' 'Would you sell it?' said the Scotch + rogue. 'I would not,' said the Goban. 'I have another at home, + but I wouldn't sell one or the other.' 'You may as well sell it, + so long as you have another at home,' said the Scotch rogue. + 'What will you give for it?' says the Goban. 'Will you give three + hundred pounds for it?' 'I will give that,' says the Scotch + rogue, 'when it will bring me all the wealth I wish for.' So he + went out and brought the three hundred pound, and gave it to the + Goban, and he got the caubeen and went away with it, and it not + worth three halfpence. There was no beating the Goban. Wherever + he got it, he had got the gift."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheDanes"></a> THE DANES + </center> + + <p>"The reason of the wisps and the fires on Saint John's Eve is + that one time long ago the Danes came and took the country and + conquered it, and they put a soldier to mind every house through + the whole country. And at last the people made up their mind that + on one night they would kill its soldiers. So they did as they + said, and there wasn't one left, and that is why they light the + wisps ever since. It was Brian Boroihme was the first to light + them. There was not much of an army left to the Danes that time, + for he made a great scatter of them. A great man he was, and his + own son was as good, that is Murrough. It was the wife brought + him to his end, Gormleith. She was for war, and he was all for + peace. And he got to be very pious, too pious, and old and she + got tired of that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBattleOfClontarf"></a> THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF + </center> + + <p>"Clontarf was on the head of a game of chess. The generals of + the Danes were beaten at it, and they were vexed; and Cennedigh + was killed on a hill near Fermoy. He put the Holy Gospels in his + breast as a protection, but he was struck through them with a + reeking dagger. It was Brodar, that the Brodericks are descended + from, that put a dagger through Brian's heart, and he attending + to his prayers. What the Danes left in Ireland were hens and + weasels. And when the cock crows in the morning the country + people will always say 'It is for Denmark they are crowing. + Crowing they are to be back in Denmark.'"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheEnglish"></a> THE ENGLISH + </center> + + <p>"It was a long time after that, the Pope encouraged King Henry + to take Ireland. It was for a protection he did it, Henry being + of his own religion, and he fearing the Druids or the Danes might + invade Ireland."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheQueenOfBreffny"></a> THE QUEEN OF BREFFNY + </center> + + <p>"Dervorgilla was a red-haired woman, and it was she put the + great curse on Ireland, bringing in the English through + MacMurrough, that she went to from O'Rourke. It was to Henry the + Second MacMurrough went, and he sent Strongbow, and they stopped + in Ireland ever since. But who knows but another race might be + worse, such as the Spaniards that were scattered along the whole + coast of Connacht at the time of the Armada. And the laws are + good enough. I heard it said the English will be dug out of their + graves one day for the sake of their law. As to Dervorgilla, she + was not brought away by force, she went to MacMurrough herself. + For there are men in the world that have a coaxing way, and + sometimes women are weak."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="KingHenryVIII"></a> KING HENRY VIII. + </center> + + <p>"Henry the Eighth was crying and roaring and leaping out of + the bed for three days and nights before his death. And he died + cursing his children, and he that had eight millions when he came + to the Throne, coining leather money at the end."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="Elizabeth"></a> ELIZABETH + </center> + + <p>"Queen Elizabeth was awful. Beyond everything she was. When + she came to the turn she dyed her hair red, and whatever man she + had to do with, she sent him to the block in the morning, that he + would be able to tell nothing. She had an awful temper. She would + throw a knife from the table at the waiting ladies, and if + anything vexed her she would maybe work upon the floor. A + thousand dresses she left after her. Very superstitious she was. + Sure after her death they found a card, the ace of hearts, nailed + to her chair under the seat. She thought she would never die + while she had it there. And she bought a bracelet from an old + woman out in Wales that was over a hundred years. It was + superstition made her do that, and they found it after her death + tied about her neck."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="HerDeath"></a> HER DEATH + </center> + + <p>"It was a town called Calais brought her to her death, and she + lay chained on the floor three days and three nights. The + Archbishop was trying to urge her to eat, but she said 'You would + not ask me to do it if you knew the way I am,' for nobody could + see the chains. After her death they waked her for six days in + Whitehall, and there were six ladies sitting beside the body + every night. Three coffins were about it, the one nearest the + body of lead, and then a wooden one, and a leaden one on the + outside. And every night there came from them a great bellow. And + the last night there came a bellow that broke the three coffins + open, and tore the velvet, and there came out a stench that + killed the most of the ladies and a million of the people of + London with the plague. Queen Victoria was more honourable than + that. It would be hard to beat Queen Elizabeth."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheTraceOfCromwell"></a> THE TRACE OF CROMWELL + </center> + + <p>"I'll tell you now about the trace of Cromwell. There was a + young lady was married to a gentleman, and she died with her + first baby, and she was brought away into a forth by the fairies, + the good people, as I suppose. She used to be sitting on the side + of it combing her hair, and three times her husband saw her + there, but he had not the courage to go and to bring her away. + But there was a man of the name of Howley living near the forth, + and he went out with his gun one day and he saw her beside the + forth, and he brought her away to his house, and a young baby + sprang between them at the end of a year. One day the husband was + out shooting and he came in upon Howley's land, and when young + Howley heard the shooting he rose up and went out and he bade the + gentleman to stop, for this was his land. So he stopped, and he + said he was weary and thirsty, and he asked could he rest in the + house. So young Howley said as long as he asked pardon he had + leave to use what he liked. So he came in the house and he sat at + the table, and he put his two eyes through the young lady. 'If I + didn't see her dead and buried,' he said, 'I'd say that to be my + own wife.' 'Oh!' said she, 'so I am your wife, and you are badly + worthy of me, and you have the worst courage ever I knew, that + you would not come and bring me away out of the forth as young + Howley had the courage to bring me,' she said. So then he asked + young Howley would he give him back his wife. 'I will give her,' + he said, 'but you never will get the child.' So the child was + reared, and when he was grown he went travelling up to Dublin. + And he was at a hunt, and he lost the top of his boot, and he + went into a shoemaker's shop and he gave him half a sovereign for + nothing but to put the tip on the boot, for he saw he was poor + and had a big family. And more than that, when he was going away + he took out three sovereigns and gave them to the blacksmith, and + he looked at one of the little chaps, and he said 'That one will + be in command of the whole of England.' 'Oh, that cannot be,' + said the blacksmith, 'where I am poor and have not the means to + do anything for him.' 'It will be as I tell you,' said he, 'and + write me out now a docket,' he said, 'that if ever that youngster + will come to command Ireland, he will give me a free leg.' So the + docket was made out, and he brought it away with him. And sure + enough, the shoemaker's son listed, and was put at the head of + soldiers, and got the command of England, and came with his + soldiers to put down Ireland. And Howley saw them coming and he + tied his handkerchief to the top of his stick, and when Cromwell + saw that, he halted the army, 'For there is some poor man in + distress,' he said. Then Howley showed him the docket his father + had written. 'I will do some good thing for you on account of + that,' said Cromwell; 'and go now to the top of that high cliff,' + he said, 'and I'll give as much land as you can see from it.' And + so he did give it to him. It was no wonder Howley to have known + the shoemaker's son would be in command and all would happen him, + because of his mother that got knowledge in the years she was in + the forth. That is the trace of Cromwell. I heard it at a wake, + and I would believe it, and if I had time to put my mind to it, + and if I was not on the road from Loughrea to Ballyvaughan, I + could give you the foundations of it better."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="CromwellsLaw"></a> CROMWELL'S LAW + </center> + + <p>"I'll tell you about Cromwell and the White Friars. There was + a White Friar at that time was known to have knowledge, and + Cromwell sent word to him to come see him. It was of a Saturday + he did that, of an Easter Saturday, but the Friar never came. On + the Sunday Cromwell sent for him again, and he didn't come. And + on the Monday he sent for him the third time, and he did come. + 'Why is it you did not come to me when I sent before?' said + Cromwell. 'I'll tell you that,' said the White Friar. 'I didn't + come on Saturday,' he said, 'because your passion was on you. And + I didn't come on the Sunday,' he said, 'because your passion was + not gone down enough, and I thought you would not give me my + steps. But I came to-day,' he said, 'because your passion is + cool.' When Cromwell heard his answer, 'That is true,' he said, + 'and tell me how long my law will last in Ireland.' 'It will + last,' says the White Friar, 'till yesterday will come (that was + Easter Sunday) the same day as our Lady Day.' Cromwell was + satisfied then, and he gave him a free leg, and he went away. And + so that law did last till now, and it's well it did, for without + that law in the country you wouldn't be safe walking the road + having so much as the price of a pint of porter in your + pocket."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="CromwellInConnacht"></a> CROMWELL IN CONNACHT + </center> + + <p>"Cromwell cleared the road before him. If any great man stood + against him he would pull down his castle the same as he pulled + down that castle of your own, Ballinamantane, that is down the + road. He never got more than two hours sleep or three, or at the + most four, but starting up fearing his life would be peppered. + There was a word he sounded out to the Catholics, 'To hell or + Connacht,' and the reason he did that was that Connacht was + burned bare, and he that thought to pass the winter there would + get no lodging at all. Himself and his men travelled it, and they + never met with anything that had human breath put in it by God + till they came to Breffny, and they saw smoke from a chimney, and + they surrounded the house and went into it. And what they saw was + a skeleton over the fire roasting, and the people of the house + picking flesh off it with the bits of a hook. And when they saw + that, they left them there. It was a Clare man that burned + Connacht so bare; he was worse than Cromwell, and he made a great + slaughter in the house of God at Clonmel. The people have it + against his family yet, and against the whole County of + Clare."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AWorseThanCromwell"></a> A WORSE THAN CROMWELL + </center> + + <p>"Cromwell was very bad, but the drink is worse. For a good + many that Cromwell killed should go to heaven, but those that are + drunken never see heaven. And as to drink, a man that takes the + first glass is as quiet and as merry as a pet lamb; and after the + second glass he is as knacky as a monkey; and after the third + glass he is as ready for battle as a lion; and after the fourth + glass he is like a swine as he is. 'I am thirsty' [IRISH: Ta Tart + Orm], that was one of our Lord's seven words on the Cross, where + he was dry. And a man far off would have given him drink; but + there was a drunkard at the foot of the Cross, and he prevented + him."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBattleOfAughrim"></a> THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM + </center> + + <p>"That was a great slaughter at Aughrim. St. Ruth wanted to do + all himself, he being a foreigner. He gave no plan of the battle + to Sarsfield, but a written command to stop where he was, and + Sarsfield knew no more than yourself or myself in the evening + before it happened. It was Colonel Merell's wife bade him not go + to the battle, where she knew it would go bad with him through a + dream. But he said that meant that he would be crowned, and he + went out and was killed. That is what the poem says:</p> + <pre> + If Caesar listened to Calpurnia's dream + He had not been by Pompey's statue slain. +</pre> + + <p>All great men gave attention to dreams, though the Church is + against them now. It is written in Scripture that Joseph gave + attention to his dream. But Colonel Merell did not, and so he + went to his death. Aughrim would have been won if it wasn't for + the drink. There was too much of it given to the Irish soldiers + that day—drink and spies and traitors. The English never + won a battle in Ireland in fair fight, but getting spies and + setting the people against one another. I saw where Aughrim was + fought, and I turned aside from the road to see the tree where St + Ruth was killed. The half of it is gone like snuff. That was + spies too, a Colonel's daughter that told the English in what + place St. Ruth would be washing himself at six o'clock in the + morning. And it was there he was shot by one O'Donnell, an + Englishman. He shot him from six miles off. The Danes were + dancing in the raths around Aughrim the night after the battle. + Their ancestors were driven out of Ireland before; and they were + glad when they saw those that had put them out put out + themselves, and every one of them skivered."</p><a name= + "image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> + + <center> + <img src="./images/02.jpg" width="300" height="390" alt= + "William III"> + </center> + + <center> + <a name="TheStuarts"></a> THE STUARTS + </center> + + <p>"As to the Stuarts, there are no songs about them and no + praises in the West, whatever there may be in the South. Why + would there, and they running away and leaving the country the + way they did? And what good did they ever do it? James the Second + was a coward. Why didn't he go into the thick of the battle like + the Prince of Orange? He stopped on a hill three miles away, and + rode off to Dublin, bringing the best of his troops with him. + There was a lady walking in the street at Dublin when he got + there, and he told her the battle was lost, and she said 'Faith + you made good haste; you made no delay on the road.' So he said + no more after that. The people liked James well enough before he + ran; they didn't like him after that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AnotherStory"></a> ANOTHER STORY + </center> + + <p>"Seumus Salach, Dirty James, it is he brought all down. At the + time of the battle there was one of his men said, 'I have my eye + cocked, and all the nations will be done away with,' and he + pointing his cannon. 'Oh!' said James, 'Don't make a widow of my + daughter.' If he didn't say that, the English would have been + beat. It was a very poor thing for him to do."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="PatrickSarsfield"></a> PATRICK SARSFIELD + </center> + + <p>"Sarsfield was a great general the time he turned the shoes on + his horse. The English it was were pursuing him, and he got off + and changed the shoes the way when they saw the tracks they would + think he went another road. That was a great plan. He got to + Limerick then, and he killed thousands of the English. He was a + great general."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="QueenAnne"></a> QUEEN ANNE + </center> + + <p>"The Georges were fair; they left all to the Government; but + Anne was very bad and a tyrant. She tyrannised over the Irish. + She died broken-hearted with all the bad things that were going + on about her. For Queen Anne was very wicked; oh, very wicked, + indeed!"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="CarolansSong"></a> CAROLAN'S SONG + </center> + + <p>"Carolan that could play the fiddle and the harp used to be + going about with Cahil-a-Corba, that was a tambourine man. But + they got tired of one another and parted, and Carolan went to the + house of the King of Mayo, and he stopped there, and the King + asked him to stop for his lifetime. There came a grand visitor + one time, and when he heard Carolan singing and playing and his + fine pleasant talk, he asked him to go with him on a visit to + Dublin. So Carolan went, and he promised the King of Mayo he + would come back at the end of a month. But when he was at the + gentleman's house he liked it so well that he stopped a year with + him, and it wasn't till the Christmas he came back to Mayo. And + when he got there the doors were shut, and the King was at his + dinner, and Queen Mary and the three daughters, and he could see + them through the windows. But when the King saw him he said he + would not let him in. He was vexed with him and angry he had + broken his promise and his oath. So Carolan began to give out a + song he had made about the King of Mayo and all his family, and + he brought Queen Mary into it and the three daughters. Then the + Queen asked leave of the King to bring him in, because he made so + good a song, but the King would not give in to it. Then Carolan + began to draw down the King of Mayo's father and his grandfather + into the song. And Queen Mary asked again for forgiveness for + him, and the King gave it that time because of the song that had + in it the old times, and the old generations went through him. + But as to Cahil-a-Corba, he went to another gentleman's house and + he stopped too long in it and was driven out. But he came back, + having changed his form, that the gentleman did not know him, and + he let him in again, and then he was forgiven."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="NinetyEight"></a> 'NINETY-EIGHT + </center> + + <p>"In the year '98 there were the Yeomanry that were the worst + of all. The time Father Murphy was killed there was one of them + greased his boots in his heart. There was one of them was called + Micky the Devil in Irish; he never went out without the pitchcap + and the triangle, and any rebel he would meet he would put + gunpowder in his hair and set a light to it. The North Cork + Militia were the worst; there are places in Ireland where you + would not get a drink of water if they knew you came from Cork. + And it was the very same, the North Cork, that went of their own + free will to the Boer war, volunteered, asked to go that is. They + had the same sting in them always. A great many of them were left + dead in that war, and a great many better men than themselves. + There was one battle in that war there was no quarter given, the + same as Aughrim; and the English would kill the wounded that + would be left upon the field of battle. There is no Christianity + in war."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="DenisBrowne"></a> DENIS BROWNE + </center> + + <p>"There is a tree near Denis Browne's house that used to be + used for hanging men in the time of '98, he being a great man in + that time, and High Sheriff of Mayo, and it is likely the + gentlemen were afeared, and that there was bad work at nights. + But one night Denis Browne was lying in his bed, and the Lord put + it in his mind that there might be false information given + against some that were innocent. So he went out and he brought + out one of his horses into the lawn before the house, and he shot + it dead and left it there. In the morning one of the butlers came + up to him and said, 'Did you see that one of your horses was shot + in the night?' 'How would I see that?' says he, 'and I not rose + up or dressed?' So when he went out they showed him the horse, + and he bade the men to bury it, and it wasn't two hours after + before two of them came to him. 'We can tell you who it was shot + the horse,' they said. 'It was such a one and such a one in the + village, that were often heard to speak bad of you. And besides + that,' they said, 'we saw them shooting it ourselves.' So the two + that gave that false witness were the last two Denis Browne ever + hung. He rose out of it after, and washed his hands of it all. + And his big house is turned into a convent, and the tree is + growing there yet. It is in the time of '98 that happened, a + hundred years ago."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheUnion"></a> THE UNION + </center> + + <p>"As to the Union, it was bought with titles. Look at the + Binghams and the rest, they went to bed nothing, and rose up + lords in the morning. The day it was passed Lady Castlereagh was + in the House of Parliament, and she turned three colours, and she + said to her husband, 'You have passed your treaty, but you have + sold your country.' He went and cut his throat after that. And it + is what I heard from the old people, there was no priest in + Ireland but voted for it, the way they would get better rights, + for it was only among poor persons they were going at that time. + And it was but at the time of the Parliament leaving College + Green they began to wear the Soutane that they wear now. Up to + that it was a bodycoat they wore and knee-breeches. It was their + vote sent the Parliament to England, and when there is a row + between them or that the people are vexed with the priest, you + will hear them saying in the house in Irish 'Bad luck on them, it + was they brought misfortune to Ireland.' They wore the Soutane + ever since that time."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="RobertEmmet"></a> ROBERT EMMET + </center> + + <p>"The Government had people bribed to swear against Robert + Emmet, and the same men said after, they never saw him till he + was in the dock. He might have got away but for his attention to + that woman. She went away after with a sea captain. There are + some say she gave information. Curran's daughter she was. But I + don't know. He made one request, his letters that she wrote to + him in the gaol not to be meddled with, but the Government opened + them and took the presents she sent in them, and whatever was + best of them they kept for themselves. He made the greatest + speech from the dock ever was made, and Lord Norbury on the + bench, checking and clogging him all the time. Ten hours he was + in the dock, and they gave him no more than one dish of water all + that time; and they executed him in a hurry, saying it was an + attack they feared on the prison. There is no one knows where is + his grave."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="OConnellsBirth"></a> O'CONNELL'S BIRTH + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a grand man, and whatever cause he took in + hand, it was as good as won. But what wonder? He was the gift of + God. His father was a rich man, and one day he was out walking he + took notice of a house that was being built. Well, a week later + he passed by the same place, and he saw the walls of the house + were no higher than before. So he asked the reason, and he was + told it was a priest that was building it, and he hadn't the + money to go on with. So a few days after he went to the priest's + house and he asked was that true, and the priest said it was. + 'Would you pay back the money to the man that would lend it to + you?' says O'Connell. 'I would,' says the priest. So with that + O'Connell gave him the money that was + wanting—£50—for it was a very grand house. + Well, after some time the priest came to O'Connell's house, and + he found only the wife at home, so says he, 'I have some money + that himself lent me.' But he had never told the wife of what he + had done, so she knew nothing about it, and says she, 'Don't be + troubling yourself about it, he'll bestow it on you.' 'Well,' + says the priest, I'll go away now and I'll come back again.' So + when O'Connell came, the wife told him all that had happened, and + how a priest had come saying he owed him money, and how she had + said he would bestow it on him. 'Well,' says O'Connell, 'if you + said I would bestow it, I will bestow it.' And so he did. Then + the priest said, 'Have you any children?' 'Ne'er a child,' said + O'Connell. 'Well you will have one,' said he. And that day nine + months their young son was born. So what wonder if he was + inspired, being, as he was, the Gift of God."</p><a name= + "image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> + + <center> + <img src="./images/01.jpg" width="300" height="429" alt= + "O'Connell"> + </center> + + <center> + <a name="TheTinker"></a> THE TINKER + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a great man. I never saw him, but I heard of + his name. One time I saw his picture in a paper, where they were + giving out meal, where Mrs. Gaynor's is and I kissed the picture + of him. They were laughing at me for doing that, but I had heard + of his good name. There was some poor man, a tinker, asked help + of him one time in Dublin, and he said, 'I will put you in a + place where you will get some good thing.' So he brought him to a + lodging in a very grand house and put him in it. And in the + morning he began to make saucepans, and he was making them there, + and the shopkeeper that owned the house was mad at him to be + doing that, and making saucepans in so grand a house, and he + wanted to get him out of it, and he gave him a good sum of money + to go out. He went back and told that to O'Connell, and O'Connell + said, 'Didn't I tell you I would put you in the way to get some + good thing?'"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="APresent"></a> A PRESENT + </center> + + <p>"There was a gentleman sent him a present one time, and he + bade a little lad to bring it to him. Shut up in a box it was, + and he bade the boy to give it to himself, and not to open the + box. So the little lad brought it to O'Connell to give it to him. + 'Let you open it yourself,' says O'Connell. So he opened it, and + whatever was in it blew up and made an end of the boy, and it + would have been the same with O'Connell if he had opened + it."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="HisStrategy"></a> HIS STRATEGY + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a grand man; the best within the walls of the + world. He never led anyone astray. Did you hear that one time he + turned the shoes on his horses? There were bad members following + him. I cannot say who they were, for I will not tell what I don't + know. He got a smith to turn the shoes, and when they came upon + his track, he went east and they went west. Parnell was no bad + man, but Dan O'Connell's name went up higher in praises."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheManWasGoingToBeHanged"></a> THE MAN WAS GOING TO BE + HANGED + </center> + + <p>"I saw O'Connell in Galway one time, and I couldn't get anear + him. All the nations of the world were gathered there to see him. + There were a great many he hung and a great many he got off from + death, the dear man. He went into a town one time, and into a + hotel, and he asked for his dinner. And he had a frieze dress, + for he was very simple, and always a clerk along with him. And + when the dinner was served to him, 'Is there no one here,' says + he, 'to sit along with me; for it is seldom I ever dined without + company.' 'If you think myself good enough to sit with you,' says + the man of the hotel, 'I will do it.' So the two of them sat to + the dinner together, and O'Connell asked was there any news in + the town. 'There is,' says the hotel man, 'there is a man to be + hung to-morrow.' 'Oh, my!' says O'Connell, 'what was it he did to + deserve that?' 'Himself and another that had been out fowling,' + says he, 'and they came in here and they began to dispute, and + the one of them killed the other, and he will be hung to-morrow.' + 'He will not,' says O'Connell. 'I tell you he will,' says the + other, 'for the Judge is come to give the sentence.' Well, + O'Connell kept to it that he would not, and they made a bet, and + the hotel man bet all he had on the man being hung. In the + morning O'Connell was in no hurry out of bed, and when the two of + them walked into the Court, the Judge was after giving the + sentence, and the man was to be hung. '<i>Maisead</i>,' says the + judge when he saw O'Connell, 'I wish you had been here a half an + hour ago, where there is a man going to be hung.' 'He is not,' + says O'Connell. 'He is,' says the judge. 'If he is,' says + O'Connell, 'that one will never let anyone go living out of his + hotel, and he making money out of the hanging.' 'What do you mean + saying that?' says the judge. Then O'Connell took the instrument + out of his pocket where it was written down all the hotel-keeper + had put on the hanging. And when the judge saw that, he set the + man free, and he was not hanged."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheCupOfTheSassanach"></a> THE CUP OF THE SASSANACH + </center> + + <p>"He was over in England one time, and he was brought to a + party, and tea was made ready and cups. And as they were sitting + at the table, a servant girl that was in it, and that was Irish, + came to O'Connell and she said, 'Do you understand Irish?' + [IRISH: 'An tuigeann tu Gaedilge, O'Connell?' 'Tuigim,'] says he, + 'I understand it.' 'Have a care,' says she, 'for there is in your + cup what would poison the whole nation!' 'If that is true, girl, + you will get a good fortune,' said he. It was in Irish they said + all that, and the people that were in it had no ears. Then + O'Connell quenched the candle, and he changed his cup for the cup + of the man that was next him. And it was not long till the man + fell dead. They were always trying to kill O'Connell, because he + was a good man. The Sassanach it was were against him. Terrible + wicked they were, and God save us, I believe they are every bit + as wicked yet!"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheThousandFishers"></a> THE THOUSAND FISHERS + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell came to Galway one time, and he sent for all the + trades to come out with the sign of their trade in their hand, + and he would see which was the best. And there came ten hundred + fishers, having all white flannel clothes and black hats and + white scarves about them, and he gave the sway to them. It wasn't + a year after that, the half of them were lost, going through the + fogs at Newfoundland, where they went for a better way of + living."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="WhatTheOldWomenSaw"></a> WHAT THE OLD WOMEN SAW + </center> + + <p>"The greatest thing I ever saw was O'Connell driving through + Gort, very plain, and an oiled cap on him, and having only one + horse; and there was no house in Gort without his picture in it." + "O'Connell rode up Crow Lane and to Church Street on a single + horse, and he stopped there and took a view of Gort." "I saw + O'Connell after he left Gort going on the road to Kinvara, and + seven horses in the coach—they could not get in the eighth. + He stopped, and he was talking to Hickman that was with me. Shiel + was in the coach along with him."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="OConnellsHat"></a> O'CONNELL'S HAT + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell wore his hat in the English House of Commons, what + no man but the King can do. He wore it for three days because he + had a sore head, and at the end of that they bade him put it off, + and he said he would not, where he had worn it three + days."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheChangeHeMade"></a> THE CHANGE HE MADE + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a great councillor. At that time if there was a + Catholic, no matter how high or great or learned he was, he could + not get a place. But if a Protestant came that was a blockhead + and ignorant, the place would be open to him. There was a + revolution rising because of that, and O'Connell brought it into + the House of Commons and got it changed. He was the greatest man + ever was in Ireland. He was a very clever lawyer; he would win + every case, he would put it so strong and clear and clever. If + there were fifteen lawyers against him—five and + ten—he would win it against them all, whether the case was + bad or good."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheManHeBroughtToJustice"></a> THE MAN HE BROUGHT TO + JUSTICE + </center> + + <p>"Corly, that burned his house in Burren, was very bad, and it + was O'Connell brought him to the gallows. The only case O'Connell + lost was against the Macnamaras, and he told them he would be + even with them, and so when Corly, that was a friend of theirs, + was brought up he kept his word. There was no doubt about him + burning the house, it was to implicate the Hynes he did it, to + lay it on them. There was a girl used to go out milking at + daybreak, and she awoke, and the moon was shining, and she + thought it was day, and got up and looked out, and she saw him + doing it."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBinding"></a> THE BINDING + </center> + + <p>"O'Connell was a great man, wide big arms he had. It was he + left us the cheap tea; to cheapen it he did, that was at that + time a shilling for one bare ounce. His heart is in Rome and his + body in Glasnevin. A lovely man, he would put you on your guard; + he was for the country, he was all for Ireland."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="HisMonument"></a> HIS MONUMENT + </center> + + <p>"There is a nice monument put up to O'Connell in Ennis, in a + corner it is of the middle of a street, and himself high up on + it, holding a book. It was a poor shoe-maker set that going. I + saw him in Gort one time, a coat of O'Connell's he had that he + chanced in some place. Only for him there would be no monument; + it was he gathered money for it, and there was none would refuse + him."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="APraise"></a> A PRAISE MADE FOR DANIEL O'CONNELL BY + OLD WOMEN AND THEY BEGGING AT THE DOOR + </center> + + <p>"Dan O'Connell was the best man in the world, and a great man + surely; and there could not be better than what O'Connell + was.</p> + + <p>"It was from him I took the pledge and I a child, and kept it + ever after. He would give it to little lads and children, but not + to any aged person. Pilot trousers he had and a pilot coat, and a + grey and white waistcoat.</p> + + <p>"O'Connell was all for the poor. See what he did at Saint + Patrick's Island—he cast out every bad thing and every + whole thing, to England and to America and to every part. He + fought it well for every whole body.</p> + + <p>"A splendid monument there is to him in Ennis, and his fine + top coat upon him. A lovely man; you'd think he was alive and + all, and he having his hat in his hand. Everyone kneels down on + the steps of it and says a few prayers and walks away. It is as + high as that tree below. If he was in Ireland now the pension + would go someway right.</p> + + <p>"He was the best and the best to everyone; he got great sway + in the town of Gort, and in every other place.</p> + + <p>"I suppose he has the same talk always; he is able to do for + us now as well as ever he was; surely his mercy and goodness are + in the town of Gort.</p> + + <p>"He did good in the world while he was alive; he was a great + man surely; there couldn't be better in this world I believe, or + in the next world; there couldn't be better all over the + world.</p> + + <p>"He used to go through all nations and to make a fight for the + poor; he gave them room to live, and used to fight for them too. + There is no doubt at all he did help them, he was well able to do + it."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="RichardShiel"></a> RICHARD SHIEL + </center> + + <p>"As to Shiel, he was small, dressed very neat, with + knee-breeches and a full vest and a long-skirted coat. He had a + long nose, and was not much to look at till he began to speak, + and then you'd see genius coming out from him. His voice was + shrill, and that spoiled his speech sometimes, when he would get + excited, and would raise it at the end. But O'Connell's voice you + would hear a mile off, and it sounded as if it was coming through + honey,"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheTitheWar"></a> THE TITHE WAR + </center> + + <p>"And the Tithes, the tenth of the land that St. Patrick and + his Bishops had settled for their own use, it was to Protestants + it was given. And there would have been a revolution out of that, + but it was done away with, and it is the landlord has to pay it + now. The Pope has a great power that is beyond all. There is one + day and one minute in the year he has that power if it pleases + him to use it. At that minute it runs through all the world, and + every priest goes on his knees and the Pope himself is on his + knees, and that request cannot be refused, because they are the + grand jury of the world before God. A man was talking to me about + the burying of the Tithes; up on the top of the Devil's Bit it + was, and if you looked around you could see nothing but the + police. Then the boys came riding up, and white rods in their + hands, and they dug a grave, and the Tithes, some image of them, + was buried. It was a wrong thing for one religion to be paying + for the board of the clergy of another religion."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheFightAtCarrickshock"></a> THE FIGHT AT CARRICKSHOCK + </center> + + <p>"The Tithe War, that was the time of the fight at + Carrickshock. A narrow passage that was in it, and the people + were holding it against the police that came with the Proctor. + There was a Captain defending the Proctor that had been through + the Battle of Waterloo, and it was the Proctor they fired at, but + the Captain fell dead, and fourteen police were killed with him. + But the people were beat after, and were brought into court for + the trial, and the counsel for the Crown was against them, + Dougherty. They were tried in batches, and every batch was + condemned, Dougherty speaking out the case against them. But + O'Connell, that was at that time at Cork Assizes, heard of it, + and he came, and when he got to the door the pony that brought + him dropped dead. He came in and he took refreshment—bread + and milk—the same as I am after taking now, and he looked + up and he said 'That is no law.' Then the judge agreed with him, + and he got every one of them off after that; but only for him + they would swing. The Tithes were bad, a farmer to have three + stacks they's take the one of them. And that was the first time + of the hurling matches, to gather the people against the Tithes. + But there was hurling in the ancient times in Ireland, and out in + Greece, and playing at the ball, and that is what is called the + Olympian Games."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBigWind"></a> THE BIG WIND + </center> + + <p>"As to the Big Wind, I was on my elder sister's back going to + a friend beyond, and when I was coming back it was slacked away, + and I was wondering at the holes in the houses." "I was up to + twelve year at the time of the Big Wind that was in '39, and I + was over at Roxborough with my father that was clearing timber + from the road, and your father came out along the road, and he + was wild seeing the trees and rocks whipped up into the sky the + way they were with the wind. But what was that to the bitter time + of the Famine that came after?"</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheFamine"></a> THE FAMINE + </center> + + <p>"The Famine; there's a long telling in that, it is a thing + will be remembered always. That little graveyard above, at that + time it was filled full up of bodies; the Union had no way to buy + coffins for them. There would be a bag made, and the body put + into it, that was all; and the people dying without priest, or + bishop, or anything at all. But over in Connemara it was the dogs + brought the bodies out of the houses, and asked no + leave."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheCholera"></a> THE CHOLERA + </center> + + <p>"The cholera was worse again. It came from foreign, and it + lasted a couple of years, till God drove it out of the country. + It is often I saw a man ploughing the garden in the morning till + dinner time, and before evening he would be dead. It was as if on + the wind it came, there was no escape from it; on the wind, the + same as it would come now and would catch on to pigs. Sheds that + would be made out in the haggards to put the sick in, they would + turn as black as your coat. There was no one could go near them + without he would have a glass of whiskey taken, and he wouldn't + like it then."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="ALongRemembering"></a> A LONG REMEMBERING + </center> + + <p>"The longest thing I remember is the time of the sickness, and + my father that was making four straw mats for four brothers that + died, and that couldn't afford coffins. The bodies were put in + the mats and were tied up in them. And the second thing I + remember is the people digging in the stubble after the oats and + the wheat; to see would they meet a potato, and sometimes they + did, for God sent them there."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheTerryAlts"></a> THE TERRY ALTS + </center> + + <p>"The Terry Alts were a bad class; everything you had they'd + take from you. It was against herding they began to get the land, + the same as at the present time. And women they would take; a man + maybe that hadn't a perch of land would go to a rich farmer's + house and bring away his daughter. And I, supposing, to have some + spite against you, I'd gather a mob and do every bad thing to + destroy you. That is the way they were, a bad class and doing bad + deeds."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="The48Time"></a> THE '48 TIME + </center> + + <p>"Thomas Davis was a great man where poetry is concerned, and a + better than Thomas Moore. All over Ireland his poetry is, and he + would have done other things but that he died young. That was the + '48 time. The '48 men were foolish men; they thought to cope with + the English Government. They went to O'Connell to get from him + all the money he had gathered, for they had it in their head to + use that to make a rise against England. But when they asked + O'Connell for it he told them there was none of it left, not one + penny. Buying estates for his children he used it, and he said he + spent it on a monastery. I don't know was he speaking truth. + Mahon made a great speech against him, and it preyed on + O'Connell, and he left the country and went away and died in some + place called Genoa. He was a very ambitious man, like Napoleon. + He got Emancipation; but where is the use of that? There's Judge + O'Brien, Peter the Packer, was calling out and trying to do away + with trial by jury. And he would not be in his office or in his + billet if it wasn't for O'Connell. They didn't do much after, + where they didn't get the money from O'Connell. And the night + they joined under Smith O'Brien they hadn't got their supper. A + terrible cold night it was, no one could stand against it. Some + bishop came from Dublin, and he told them to go home, for how + could they reach with their pikes to the English soldiers that + had got muskets. The soldiers came, and there was some firing, + and they were all scattered. As to Smith O'Brien, there was ten + thousand pounds on his head, and he hid for a while. Then at the + last he went into the town of Clonmel, and there was a woman + there in the street was a huckster, and he bade her give him up + to the Government, for she would never earn money so easy. But + for all she was worth she wouldn't do that. So then he went and + gave himself up, and he was sent to Australia, and the property + was given to his brother."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AThingMitchellSaid"></a> A THING MITCHELL SAID + </center> + + <p>"Mitchell was kept in Clonmel gaol two years before he was + sent to Australia. He was a Protestant, and a very good man. He + said in a speech, where was the use of meetings and of talking? + It was with the point of their bayonet the English would have to + be driven out of Ireland. It was Mitchell said that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheFenianRising"></a> THE FENIAN RISING + </center> + + <p>"It was a man from America it came with. There was one Mackie + was taken in a publichouse in Cork, and there was a policeman + killed in the struggle. Judge O'Hagan was the judge when he was + in the dock, and he said, 'Mr. Mackie, I see you are a gentleman + and an educated man; and I'm sorry,' he said, 'that you did not + read Irish history.' Mackie cried when he heard that, for indeed + it was all spies about him, and it was they gave him up."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AGreatWonder"></a> A GREAT WONDER + </center> + + <p>"The greatest wonder I ever saw was one time near Kinvara at a + funeral, there came a car along the road and a lady on it having + a plaid cloak, as was the fashion then, and a big hat, and she + kept her head down and never looked at the funeral at all. I + wondered at her when I saw that, and I said to my brother it was + a strange thing a lady to be coming past a funeral and not to + look on at it at all. And who was on the car but O'Gorman Mahon, + escaping from the Government, and dressed up as a lady! He drove + to Father Arthur's house at Kinvara, and there was a boat + waiting, and a cousin of my own in it, to bring him out to a + ship, and so he made his escape."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AnotherWonder"></a> ANOTHER WONDER + </center> + + <p>"I saw Clerkenwell prison in London broken up in the time of + the Fenians, and every ship and steamer in the whole of the ocean + stopped. The prison was burned down, and all the prisoners + consumed, and seven doctors' shops along with it."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="FatherMathew"></a> FATHER MATHEW + </center> + + <p>"Father Mathew was a great man, plump and red in the face. + There couldn't be better than what he was. I knew one Kane in + Gort he gave a medal to, and he kept it seventy years. Kane was a + great totaller, and he wouldn't drink so much as water out of a + glass, but out of a cup; the glass might have been used for + porter at some time. He lost the medal, and was in a great way + about it, but he found it five years after in a dung-heap. A + great totaller he was. Them that took the medal from Father + Mathew and that kept it, at their death they would be buried by + men dressed in white clothes."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheWarOfTheCrimea"></a> THE WAR OF THE CRIMEA + </center> + + <p>"My husband was in the war of the Crimea. It is terrible the + hardships he went through, to be two months without going into a + house, under the snow in trenches. And no food to get, maybe a + biscuit in the day. And there was enough food there, he said, to + feed all Ireland; but bad management, they could not get it. + Coffee they would be given, and they would be cutting a green + bramble to strive to make a fire to boil it. The dead would be + buried every morning; a big hole would be dug, and the bodies + thrown in, and lime upon them; and some of the bodies would be + living when they were buried. My husband used to try to revive + them if he saw there was life in them, but other lads wouldn't + care—just to put them down and have done. And they were + allowed to take nothing—money, gold watches, and the like, + all thrown in the ground. Sure they did not care much about such + things, they might be lying in the same place themselves + to-morrow. But the soldiers would take the money sometimes and + put it in their stocking and tie the stocking below the ankle and + below the knee. But if the officer knew that, they would be + courtmartialed and punished. He got two medals—one from the + English and one from the Emperor of Turkey. Fighting for the + Queen, and bad pay she gave him. He never knew what was the war + for, unless it might be for diminishing the population. We saw in + the paper a few years ago there was a great deal of money + collected for soldiers that had gone through hardship in the war, + and we wrote to the War Office asking some of it for him. But + they wrote back that there were so many young men crippled in the + Boer war there was nothing to be spared for the old. My husband + used to be saying the Queen cared nothing for the army, but that + the King, even before he was King, was better to it. But I'm + thinking from this out the King will get very few from Ireland + for his army."</p><a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> + + <center> + <img src="./images/04.jpg" width="300" height="394" alt= + "W.E. Gladstone"> + </center> + + <center> + <a name="Garibaldi"></a> GARIBALDI + </center> + + <p>"There was one of my brothers died at Lyons in France. He had + a place in Guinness's brewery, and earning £3 10s. a week, + and it was the time Garibaldi, you might have heard of, was out + fighting. There came a ship to Dublin from France, calling for + soldiers, and he threw up his place, and there were many others + threw up their place, and they went off, eleven hundred of them, + in the French ship, to go fighting for their religion, and a + hundred of them never came back. When they landed in France they + were made much of and velvet carpets spread before them. But the + war was near over then, and when it had ended they were + forgotten, and nothing done for them, and he was in poverty at + Lyons and died. It was the nuns there wrote a letter in French + telling that to my mother." "And Napoleon the Third fought for + the Pope in the time of Garibaldi. A great many Irishmen went out + at that time, and the half of them never came back. I met with + one of them that was in Russell's flour stores, and he said he + would never go out again if there were two hundred Popes. Bad + treatment they got—black bread, and the troops in the + Vatican well fed; and it wasn't long till Victor Emanuel's troops + made a breach in the wall."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheBuonapartes"></a> THE BUONAPARTES + </center> + + <p>"Napoleon the Third was not much. He died in England, and was + buried in a country church-yard much the same as Kiltartan. But + Napoleon the First was a great man; it was given out of him there + never would be so great a man again. But he hadn't much + education, and his penmanship was bad. Every great man gave in to + superstition. He gave into it when he went to ask the gipsy woman + to divine, and she told him his fate. Through fire and a rock she + said that he would fall. I suppose the rock was St. Helena, and + the fire was the fire of Waterloo. Napoleon was the terror of + England, and he would have beat the English at Waterloo but for + treachery, the treachery of Grouchy. It was, maybe, not his fault + he was treacherous, he might be the same as Judas, that had his + treachery settled for him four thousand years before his birth. + There was a curse on Napoleon the Third because of what Napoleon + the First had done against the Church. He took Malta one time and + landed there, and by treachery with the knights he robbed a + church that was on the shore, and carried away the golden gates. + In an ironclad he put them that was belonging to the English, and + they sank that very day, and were never got up after, unless it + might be by divers. And two Popes he brought into exile. But he + was the friend of Ireland, and when he was dying he said that. + His heart was smashed, he said, with all the ruling Princes that + went against him; and if he had made an attack on Ireland, he + said, instead of going to Moscow the time he did, he would have + brought England low. And the Prince Imperial was trapped. It was + the English brought him out to the war, and that made the nations + go against him, and it was an English officer led him into the + trap the way he never would come to the Throne."</p><a name= + "image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> + + <center> + <img src="./images/03.jpg" width="300" height="443" alt= + "Louis Napoleon"> + </center> + + <center> + <a name="TheZuluWar"></a> THE ZULU WAR + </center> + + <p>"I was in the army the time of the Zulu war. Great hardship we + got in it and plenty of starvation. It was the Dutch called in + the English to help them against the Zulus, that were tricky + rogues, and would do no work but to be driving the cattle off the + fields. A pound of raw flour we would be given out at seven + o'clock in the morning, and some would try to make a cake, and + some would put it in a pot with water and be stirring it, and it + might be eleven o'clock before you would get what you could eat, + and not a bit of meat maybe for two days."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheYoungNapoleon"></a> THE YOUNG NAPOLEON + </center> + + <p>"There was a young Napoleon there, the grandson of Napoleon + the First, that was a great man indeed. I was in the island where + he was interred; it is a grand place, and what is not natural in + those parts, there are two blackthorn bushes growing in it where + you go into the place he was buried. And as to that great + Napoleon, the fear of him itself was enough to kill people. If he + was living till now it is hard to say what way would the world + be. It is likely there'd be no English left in it, and it would + be all France. The young Napoleon was at the Zulu war was as fine + a young man as you'd wish to lay an eye on; six feet four, and + shaped to match. As to his death, there was things might have + been brought to light, but the enquiry was stopped. There was + seven of them went out together, and he was found after, lying + dead in the ground, and his top coat spread over him. There came + a shower of hailstones that were as large as the top of your + finger, and as square as diamonds, and that would enter into your + skull. They made out it was to save himself from them that he lay + down. But why didn't they lift him in the saddle and bring him + along with them? And the bullet was taken out of his head was the + same every bit as our bullets; and where would a Zulu get a + bullet like that? Very queer it was, and a great deal of talk + about it, and in my opinion he was done away with because the + English saw the grandfather in him, and thought he would do away + with themselves in the time to come. Sure if he spoke to one of + them, he would begin to shake before him, officers the same as + men. We had often to be laughing seeing that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="Parnell"></a> PARNELL + </center> + + <p>"Parnell was a very good man, and a just man, and if he had + lived to now, Ireland would be different to what it is. The only + thing ever could be said against him was the influence he had + with that woman. And how do we know but that was a thing + appointed for him by God? Parnell had a back to him, but + O'Connell stood alone. He fought a good war in the House of + Commons. Parnell did a great deal, getting the land. I often + heard he didn't die at all—it was very quick for him to go. + I often wondered there were no people smart enough to dig up the + coffin and to see what is in it, at night they could do that. No + one knows in what soil Robert Emmet was buried, but he was made + an end of sure enough. Parnell went through Gort one day, and he + called it the fag-end of Ireland, just as Lady Morgan called the + North the Athens of Ireland."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="MrGladstone"></a> MR. GLADSTONE + </center> + + <p>"Gladstone had the name of being the greatest statesman of + England, and he wasn't much after all. At the time of his death + he had it on his mind that it was he threw the first stone at + Parnell, and he confessed that, and was very sorry for it. But + sure there is no one can stand all through. Look at Solomon that + had ten hundred wives, and some of them the finest of women, and + that spent all the money laid up by Father David. And Gladstone + encouraged Garibaldi the time he attacked the Vatican, and gave + him arms, Parnell charged him with that one time in the House of + Commons, and said he had the documents, and he hadn't a word to + say. But he was sorry at Parnell's death, and what was the use of + that when they had his heart broke? Parnell did a great deal for + the Irish, and they didn't care after; they are the most + displeasing people God ever made, unless it might be the ancient + Jews."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="QueenVictoriasReligion"></a> QUEEN VICTORIA'S RELIGION + </center> + + <p>"Queen Victoria was loyal and true to the Pope; that is what I + was told, and so is Edward the Seventh loyal and true, but he has + got something contrary in his body. It is when she was a girl she + put on clothes like your own—lady's clothes—and she + went to the Pope. Did she turn Catholic? She'd be beheaded if she + did; the Government would behead her; it is the Government has + power in England."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="HerWisdom"></a> HER WISDOM + </center> + + <p>"As to the last Queen, we thought her bad when we had her, but + now we think her good. She was a hard woman, and she did nothing + for Ireland in the bad years; but I'll give you the reason she + had for that. She had it in her mind always to keep Ireland low, + it being the place she mostly got her soldiers. That might not be + good for Ireland, but it was good for her own benefit. The time + the lads have not a bit to eat, that is the time they will go + soldiering."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="WarAndMisery"></a> WAR AND MISERY + </center> + + <p>"There was war and misery going on all through Victoria's + reign. It was the Boer war killed her, she being aged, and seeing + all her men going out, and able to do nothing. Ten to one they + were against the Boers. That is what killed her. It is a great + tribute to the war it did that."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="ThePresentKing"></a> THE PRESENT KING + </center> + + <p>"The present King is very good. He is a gentleman very fond of + visiting, and well pleased with every class of people he will + meet."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="TheOldAgePensions"></a> THE OLD AGE PENSIONS + </center> + + <p>"The old age pension is very good, and as to taxes, them can't + pay it that hasn't it. It is since the Boer War there is coin + sent back from Africa every week that is dug from the goldpits + out there. That is what the English wanted the time they went to + war; they want to close up the minerals for themselves. If it + wasn't for the war, that pension would never be given to Ireland. + They'd have been driven home by the Boers if it wasn't for the + Irish that were in the front of every battle. And the Irish held + out better too, they can starve better than the rest, there is + more bearing in them. It wasn't till all the Irish were killed + that the English took to bribing. Bribed Botha they did with a + bag of gold. For all the generals in England that are any good + are Irish. Buller was the last they had, and he died. They can + find no good generals at all in England, unless they might get + them very young."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AnotherThought"></a> ANOTHER THOUGHT + </center> + + <p>"It was old money was in the Treasury idle, and the King and + Queen getting old wanted to distribute it in the country it was + taken from. But some say it was money belonging to captains and + big men that died in the war and left no will after them. Anyway + it is likely it will not hold; and it is known that a great many + of those that get it die very soon."</p><br> + + <center> + <a name="AProphecy"></a> A PROPHECY + </center> + + <p>"It is likely there will be a war at the end of the two + thousand, that was always foretold. And I hear the English are + making ships that will dive the same as diving ducks under the + water. But as to the Irish Americans, they would sweep the entire + world; and England is afraid of America, it being a + neighbour."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <a name="NOT"><!-- NOT --></a> + + <center> + NOTES + </center> + + <p>I have given this book its name because it is at my own door, + in the Barony of Kiltartan, I have heard a great number of the + stories from beggars, pipers, travelling men, and such pleasant + company. But others I have heard in the Workhouse, or to the + north of Galway Bay, in Connemara, or on its southern coast, in + Burren. I might, perhaps, better have called the little book + Myths in the Making.</p> + + <p>A sociable people given to conversation and belief; no books + in the house, no history taught in the schools; it is likely that + must have been the way of it in old Greece, when the king of + highly civilised Crete was turned by tradition into a murderous + tyrant owning a monster and a labyrinth. It was the way of it in + old France too, one thinks, when Charlemagne's height grew to + eight feet, and his years were counted by centuries: "He is three + hundred years old, and when will he weary of war?" Anyhow, it has + been the way of modern Ireland—the Ireland I know—and + when I hear myth turned into history, or history into myth, I see + in our stonebreakers and cattle drivers Greek husbandmen or + ancient vinedressers of the Loire.</p> + + <p>I noticed some time ago, when listening to many legends of the + Fianna, that is about Finn, their leader, the most exaggerated of + the tales have gathered; and I believe the reason is that he, + being the greatest of the "Big Men," the heroic race, has been + most often in the mouths of the people. They have talked of him + by their fire-sides for two thousand years or so; at first + earlier myths gathered around him, and then from time to time any + unusual feats of skill or cunning shown off on one or another + countryside, till many of the stories make him at the last + grotesque, little more than a clown. So in Bible History, while + lesser kings keep their dignity, great Solomon's wit is outwitted + by the riddles of some countryman; and Lucifer himself, known in + Kiltartan as "the proudest of the angels, thinking himself equal + with God," has been seen in Sligo rolling down a road in the form + of the <i>Irish Times</i>. The gods of ancient Ireland have not + escaped. Mananaan, Son of the Sea, Rider of the Horses of the + Sea, was turned long ago into a juggler doing tricks, and was + hunted in the shape of a hare. Brigit, the "Fiery Arrow," the + nurse of poets, later a saint and the Foster-mother of Christ, + does her healing of the poor in the blessed wells of to-day as "a + very civil little fish, very pleasant, wagging its tail."</p> + + <p>Giobniu, the divine smith of the old times, made a new sword + and a new spear for every one that was broken in the great battle + between the gods and the mis-shapen Fomor. "No spearpoint that is + made by my hand," he said, "will ever miss its mark; no man it + touches will ever taste life again." It was his father who, with + a cast of a hatchet, could stop the inflowing of the tide; and it + was he himself whose ale gave lasting youth: "No sickness or + wasting ever comes on those who drink at Giobniu's Feast." Later + he became a saint, a master builder, builder of a house "more + shining than a garden; with its stars, with its sun, with its + moon." To-day he is known as the builder of the round towers of + the early Christian centuries, and of the square castles of the + Anglo-Normans. And the stories I have given of him, called as he + now is, "the Goban Saor," show that he has fallen still farther + in legend from his high origin.</p> + + <p>As to O'Connell, perhaps because his name, like that of Finn + and the Goban, is much in the mouths of the people, there is + something of the absurd already coming into his legend. The + stories of him show more than any others how swiftly myths and + traditions already in the air may gather around a memory much + loved and much spoken of. He died only sixty years ago, and many + who have seen and heard him are still living; and yet he has + already been given a miraculous birth, and the power of a saint + is on its way to him. I have charged my son, and should I live + till he comes to sensible years, I will charge my grandson, to + keep their ears open to the growth of legend about him who was + once my husband's friendly enemy, and afterwards his honoured + friend.</p> + + <p>I do not take the credit or the discredit of the opinions + given by the various speakers, nor do I go bail for the facts; I + do but record what is already in "the Book of the People." The + history of England and Ireland was shut out of the schools and it + became a passion. As to why it was shut out, well, I heard + someone whisper "Eugene Aram hid the body away, being no way + anxious his scholars should get a sight of it." But this also was + said in the barony of Kiltartan.</p> + + <p>The illustrations are drawn from some delft figures, ornaments + in a Kiltartan house.</p> + + <p>A. GREGORY.</p> + + <p>COOLE PARK, <i>November</i>, 1909.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Kiltartan History Book, by Lady I. A. 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A. Gregory + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Kiltartan History Book + +Author: Lady I. A. Gregory + +Release Date: February 24, 2004 [EBook #11260] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Garrett Alley, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + +THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK. + +BY LADY GREGORY. + + +ILLUSTRATED + +BY ROBERT GREGORY + + + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + +Seven Short Plays + +Cuchulain of Muirthemne + +Gods and Fighting Men + +Poets and Dreamers + +A Book of Saints and Wonders + + + +DEDICATED AND RECOMMENDED TO THE HISTORY CLASSES IN THE NEW UNIVERSITY + + + + +CONTENTS + + The Ancient Times + Goban, the Builder + A Witty Wife + An Advice She Gave + Shortening the Road + The Goban's Secret + The Scotch Rogue + The Danes + The Battle of Clontarf + The English + The Queen of Breffny + King Henry VIII. + Elizabeth + Her Death + The Trace of Cromwell + Cromwell's Law + Cromwell in Connacht + A Worse than Cromwell + The Battle of Aughrim + The Stuarts + Another Story + Patrick Sarsfield + Queen Anne + Carolan's Song + 'Ninety-Eight + Denis Browne + The Union + Robert Emmet + O'Connell's Birth + The Tinker + A Present + His Strategy + The Man was Going to be Hanged + The Cup of the Sassanach + The Thousand Fishers + What the Old Women Saw + O'Connell's Hat + The Change He Made + The Man He Brought to Justice + The Binding + His Monument + A Praise Made for Daniel O'Connell by Old Women and They Begging + at the Door + Richard Shiel + The Tithe War + The Fight at Carrickshock + The Big Wind + The Famine + The Cholera + A Long Remembering + The Terry Alts + The '48 Time + A Thing Mitchell Said + The Fenian Rising + A Great Wonder + Another Wonder + Father Mathew + The War of the Crimea + Garibaldi + The Buonapartes + The Zulu War + The Young Napoleon + Parnell + Mr. Gladstone + Queen Victoria's Religion + Her Wisdom + War and Misery + The Present King + The Old Age Pension + Another Thought + A Prophecy + +NOTES + + + + +THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK + + +THE ANCIENT TIMES + +"As to the old history of Ireland, the first man ever died in Ireland +was Partholan, and he is buried, and his greyhound along with him, at +some place in Kerry. The Nemidians came after that and stopped for a +while, and then they all died of some disease. And then the Firbolgs +came, the best men that ever were in Ireland, and they had no law but +love, and there was never such peace and plenty in Ireland. What +religion had they? None at all. And there was a low-sized race came that +worked the land of Ireland a long time; they had their time like the +others. Many would tell you Grania slept under the cromlechs, but I +don't believe that, and she a king's daughter. And I don't believe she +was handsome either. If she was, why would she have run away? In the old +time the people had no envy, and they would be writing down the stories +and the songs for one another. But they are too venemous now to do that. +And as to the people in the towns, they don't care for such things now, +they are too corrupted with drink." + + +GOBAN, THE BUILDER + +"The Goban was the master of sixteen trades. There was no beating him; +he had got the gift. He went one time to Quin Abbey when it was +building, looking for a job, and the men were going to their dinner, and +he had poor clothes, and they began to jibe at him, and the foreman said +'Make now a cat-and-nine-tails while we are at our dinner, if you are +any good.' And he took the chisel and cut it in the rough in the stone, +a cat with nine tails coming from it, and there it was complete when +they came out from their dinner. There was no beating him. He learned no +trade, but he was master of sixteen. That is the way, a man that has the +gift will get more out of his own brain than another will get through +learning. There is many a man without learning will get the better of a +college-bred man, and will have better words too. Those that make +inventions in these days have the gift, such a man now as Edison, with +all he has got out of electricity." + + +A WITTY WIFE + +"The Goban Saor was a mason and a smith, and he could do all things, and +he was very witty. He was going from home one time and he said to the +wife 'If it is a daughter you have this time I'll kill you when I come +back'; for up to that time he had no sons, but only daughters. And it +was a daughter she had; but a neighbouring woman had a son at the same +time, and they made an exchange to save the life of the Goban's wife. +But when the boy began to grow up he had no wit, and the Goban knew by +that he was no son of his. That is the reason he wanted a witty wife +for him. So there came a girl to the house one day, and the Goban Saor +bade her look round at all that was in the room, and he said 'Do you +think a couple could get a living out of this?' 'They could not,' she +said. So he said she wouldn't do, and he sent her away. Another girl +came another day, and he bade her take notice of all that was in the +house, and he said 'Do you think could a couple knock a living out of +this?' 'They could if they stopped in it,' she said. So he said that +girl would do. Then he asked her could she bring a sheepskin to the +market and bring back the price of it, and the skin itself as well. She +said she could, and she went to the market, and there she pulled off the +wool and sold it and brought back the price and the skin as well. Then +he asked could she go to the market and not be dressed or undressed. And +she went having only one shoe and one stocking on her, so she was +neither dressed or undressed. Then he sent her to walk neither on the +road or off the road, and she walked on the path beside it. So he said +then she would do as a wife for his son." + + +AN ADVICE SHE GAVE + +"One time some great king or lord sent for the Goban to build a +_caislean_ for him, and the son's wife said to him before he went 'Be +always great with the women of the house, and always have a comrade +among them.' So when the Goban went there he coaxed one of the women the +same as if he was not married. And when the castle was near built, the +woman told him the lord was going to play him a trick, and to kill him +or shut him up when he had the castle made, the way he would not build +one for any-other lord that was as good. And as she said, the lord came +and bade the Goban to make a cat and two-tails, for no one could make +that but himself, and it was meaning to kill him on it he was. And the +Goban said he would do that when he had finished the castle, but he +could not finish it without some tool he had left at home. And they must +send the lord's son for it--- for he said it would not be given to any +other one. So the son was sent, and the Goban sent a message to the +daughter-in-law that the tool he was wanting was called 'When you open +it shut it.' And she was surprised, for there was no such tool in the +house; but she guessed by the message what she had to do, and there was +a big chest in the house and she set it open. 'Come now,' she said to +the young man,' look in the chest and find it for yourself.' And when he +looked in she gave him a push forward, and in he went, and she shut the +lid on him. She wrote a letter to the lord then, saying he would not get +his son back till he had sent her own two men, and they were sent back +to her." + + +SHORTENING THE ROAD + +"Himself and his son were walking the road together one day, and the +Goban said to the son 'Shorten the road for me.' So the son began to +walk fast, thinking that would do it, but the Goban sent him back home +when he didn't understand what to do. The next day they were walking +again, and the Goban said again to shorten the road for him, and this +time he began to run, and the Goban sent him home again. When he went in +and told the wife he was sent home the second time, she began to think, +and she said, 'When he bids you shorten the road, it is that he wants +you to be telling him stories.' For that is what the Goban meant, but it +took the daughter-in-law to understand it. And it is what I was saying +to that other woman, that if one of ourselves was making a journey, if +we had another along with us, it would not seem to be one half as long +as if we would be alone. And if that is so with us, it is much more with +a stranger, and so I went up the hill with you to shorten the road, +telling you that story." + + +THE GOBAN'S SECRET + +"The Goban and his son were seven years building the castle, and they +never said a word all that time. And at the end of seven years the son +was at the top, and he said 'I hear a cow lowing.' And the Goban said +then 'Make all strong below you, for the work is done,' and they went +home. The Goban never told the secret of his building, and when he was +on the bed dying they wanted to get it from him, and they went in and +said 'Claregalway Castle is after falling in the night.' And the Goban +said 'How can that be when I put a stone in and a stone out and a stone +across.' So then they knew the way he built so well." + + +THE SCOTCH ROGUE + +"One time he was on the road going to the town, and there was a Scotch +rogue on the road that was always trying what could he pick off others, +and he saw the Connemara man--that was the Goban--had a nice cravat, and +he thought he would get a hold of that. So he began talking with him, +and he was boasting of all the money he had, and the Goban said whatever +it was he had three times as much as it, and he with only thirty pounds +in the world. And the Scotch rogue thought he would get some of it from +him, and he said he would go to a house in the town, and he gave him +some food and some drink there, and the Goban said he would do the same +for him on the morrow. So then the Goban went out to three houses, and +in each of them he left ten pounds of his thirty pounds, and he told the +people in every house what they had to do, and that when he would strike +the table with his hat three times they would bring out the money. So +then he asked the Scotch rogue into the first house, and ordered every +sort of food and drink, ten pounds worth in all. And when they had used +all they could of it, he struck with his hat on the table, and the man +of the house brought out the ten pounds, and the Goban said 'Keep that +to pay what I owe you.' The second day he did the same thing in another +house. And in the third house they went to he ordered ten pounds worth +of food and drink in the same way. And when the time came to pay, he +struck the table with the hat, and there was the money in the hand of +the man of the house before them. 'That's a good little caubeen,' said +the Scotch rogue, 'when striking it on the table makes all that money +appear.' 'It is a wishing hat,' said the Goban; 'anything I wish for I +can get as long as I have that.' 'Would you sell it?' said the Scotch +rogue. 'I would not,' said the Goban. 'I have another at home, but I +wouldn't sell one or the other.' 'You may as well sell it, so long as +you have another at home,' said the Scotch rogue. 'What will you give +for it?' says the Goban. 'Will you give three hundred pounds for it?' 'I +will give that,' says the Scotch rogue, 'when it will bring me all the +wealth I wish for.' So he went out and brought the three hundred pound, +and gave it to the Goban, and he got the caubeen and went away with it, +and it not worth three halfpence. There was no beating the Goban. +Wherever he got it, he had got the gift." + + +THE DANES + +"The reason of the wisps and the fires on Saint John's Eve is that one +time long ago the Danes came and took the country and conquered it, and +they put a soldier to mind every house through the whole country. And at +last the people made up their mind that on one night they would kill its +soldiers. So they did as they said, and there wasn't one left, and that +is why they light the wisps ever since. It was Brian Boroihme was the +first to light them. There was not much of an army left to the Danes +that time, for he made a great scatter of them. A great man he was, and +his own son was as good, that is Murrough. It was the wife brought him +to his end, Gormleith. She was for war, and he was all for peace. And he +got to be very pious, too pious, and old and she got tired of that." + + +THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF + +"Clontarf was on the head of a game of chess. The generals of the Danes +were beaten at it, and they were vexed; and Cennedigh was killed on a +hill near Fermoy. He put the Holy Gospels in his breast as a protection, +but he was struck through them with a reeking dagger. It was Brodar, +that the Brodericks are descended from, that put a dagger through +Brian's heart, and he attending to his prayers. What the Danes left in +Ireland were hens and weasels. And when the cock crows in the morning +the country people will always say 'It is for Denmark they are crowing. +Crowing they are to be back in Denmark.'" + + +THE ENGLISH + +"It was a long time after that, the Pope encouraged King Henry to take +Ireland. It was for a protection he did it, Henry being of his own +religion, and he fearing the Druids or the Danes might invade Ireland." + + +THE QUEEN OF BREFFNY + +"Dervorgilla was a red-haired woman, and it was she put the great curse +on Ireland, bringing in the English through MacMurrough, that she went +to from O'Rourke. It was to Henry the Second MacMurrough went, and he +sent Strongbow, and they stopped in Ireland ever since. But who knows +but another race might be worse, such as the Spaniards that were +scattered along the whole coast of Connacht at the time of the Armada. +And the laws are good enough. I heard it said the English will be dug +out of their graves one day for the sake of their law. As to +Dervorgilla, she was not brought away by force, she went to MacMurrough +herself. For there are men in the world that have a coaxing way, and +sometimes women are weak." + + +KING HENRY VIII. + +"Henry the Eighth was crying and roaring and leaping out of the bed for +three days and nights before his death. And he died cursing his +children, and he that had eight millions when he came to the Throne, +coining leather money at the end." + + +ELIZABETH + +"Queen Elizabeth was awful. Beyond everything she was. When she came to +the turn she dyed her hair red, and whatever man she had to do with, she +sent him to the block in the morning, that he would be able to tell +nothing. She had an awful temper. She would throw a knife from the table +at the waiting ladies, and if anything vexed her she would maybe work +upon the floor. A thousand dresses she left after her. Very +superstitious she was. Sure after her death they found a card, the ace +of hearts, nailed to her chair under the seat. She thought she would +never die while she had it there. And she bought a bracelet from an old +woman out in Wales that was over a hundred years. It was superstition +made her do that, and they found it after her death tied about her +neck." + + +HER DEATH + +"It was a town called Calais brought her to her death, and she lay +chained on the floor three days and three nights. The Archbishop was +trying to urge her to eat, but she said 'You would not ask me to do it +if you knew the way I am,' for nobody could see the chains. After her +death they waked her for six days in Whitehall, and there were six +ladies sitting beside the body every night. Three coffins were about +it, the one nearest the body of lead, and then a wooden one, and a +leaden one on the outside. And every night there came from them a great +bellow. And the last night there came a bellow that broke the three +coffins open, and tore the velvet, and there came out a stench that +killed the most of the ladies and a million of the people of London with +the plague. Queen Victoria was more honourable than that. It would be +hard to beat Queen Elizabeth." + + +THE TRACE OF CROMWELL + +"I'll tell you now about the trace of Cromwell. There was a young lady +was married to a gentleman, and she died with her first baby, and she +was brought away into a forth by the fairies, the good people, as I +suppose. She used to be sitting on the side of it combing her hair, and +three times her husband saw her there, but he had not the courage to go +and to bring her away. But there was a man of the name of Howley living +near the forth, and he went out with his gun one day and he saw her +beside the forth, and he brought her away to his house, and a young baby +sprang between them at the end of a year. One day the husband was out +shooting and he came in upon Howley's land, and when young Howley heard +the shooting he rose up and went out and he bade the gentleman to stop, +for this was his land. So he stopped, and he said he was weary and +thirsty, and he asked could he rest in the house. So young Howley said +as long as he asked pardon he had leave to use what he liked. So he came +in the house and he sat at the table, and he put his two eyes through +the young lady. 'If I didn't see her dead and buried,' he said, 'I'd say +that to be my own wife.' 'Oh!' said she, 'so I am your wife, and you are +badly worthy of me, and you have the worst courage ever I knew, that you +would not come and bring me away out of the forth as young Howley had +the courage to bring me,' she said. So then he asked young Howley would +he give him back his wife. 'I will give her,' he said, 'but you never +will get the child.' So the child was reared, and when he was grown he +went travelling up to Dublin. And he was at a hunt, and he lost the top +of his boot, and he went into a shoemaker's shop and he gave him half a +sovereign for nothing but to put the tip on the boot, for he saw he was +poor and had a big family. And more than that, when he was going away he +took out three sovereigns and gave them to the blacksmith, and he looked +at one of the little chaps, and he said 'That one will be in command of +the whole of England.' 'Oh, that cannot be,' said the blacksmith, 'where +I am poor and have not the means to do anything for him.' 'It will be as +I tell you,' said he, 'and write me out now a docket,' he said, 'that +if ever that youngster will come to command Ireland, he will give me a +free leg.' So the docket was made out, and he brought it away with him. +And sure enough, the shoemaker's son listed, and was put at the head of +soldiers, and got the command of England, and came with his soldiers to +put down Ireland. And Howley saw them coming and he tied his +handkerchief to the top of his stick, and when Cromwell saw that, he +halted the army, 'For there is some poor man in distress,' he said. Then +Howley showed him the docket his father had written. 'I will do some +good thing for you on account of that,' said Cromwell; 'and go now to +the top of that high cliff,' he said, 'and I'll give as much land as you +can see from it.' And so he did give it to him. It was no wonder Howley +to have known the shoemaker's son would be in command and all would +happen him, because of his mother that got knowledge in the years she +was in the forth. That is the trace of Cromwell. I heard it at a wake, +and I would believe it, and if I had time to put my mind to it, and if I +was not on the road from Loughrea to Ballyvaughan, I could give you the +foundations of it better." + + +CROMWELL'S LAW + +"I'll tell you about Cromwell and the White Friars. There was a White +Friar at that time was known to have knowledge, and Cromwell sent word +to him to come see him. It was of a Saturday he did that, of an Easter +Saturday, but the Friar never came. On the Sunday Cromwell sent for him +again, and he didn't come. And on the Monday he sent for him the third +time, and he did come. 'Why is it you did not come to me when I sent +before?' said Cromwell. 'I'll tell you that,' said the White Friar. 'I +didn't come on Saturday,' he said, 'because your passion was on you. And +I didn't come on the Sunday,' he said, 'because your passion was not +gone down enough, and I thought you would not give me my steps. But I +came to-day,' he said, 'because your passion is cool.' When Cromwell +heard his answer, 'That is true,' he said, 'and tell me how long my law +will last in Ireland.' 'It will last,' says the White Friar, 'till +yesterday will come (that was Easter Sunday) the same day as our Lady +Day.' Cromwell was satisfied then, and he gave him a free leg, and he +went away. And so that law did last till now, and it's well it did, for +without that law in the country you wouldn't be safe walking the road +having so much as the price of a pint of porter in your pocket." + + +CROMWELL IN CONNACHT + +"Cromwell cleared the road before him. If any great man stood against +him he would pull down his castle the same as he pulled down that +castle of your own, Ballinamantane, that is down the road. He never got +more than two hours sleep or three, or at the most four, but starting up +fearing his life would be peppered. There was a word he sounded out to +the Catholics, 'To hell or Connacht,' and the reason he did that was +that Connacht was burned bare, and he that thought to pass the winter +there would get no lodging at all. Himself and his men travelled it, and +they never met with anything that had human breath put in it by God till +they came to Breffny, and they saw smoke from a chimney, and they +surrounded the house and went into it. And what they saw was a skeleton +over the fire roasting, and the people of the house picking flesh off it +with the bits of a hook. And when they saw that, they left them there. +It was a Clare man that burned Connacht so bare; he was worse than +Cromwell, and he made a great slaughter in the house of God at Clonmel. +The people have it against his family yet, and against the whole County +of Clare." + + +A WORSE THAN CROMWELL + +"Cromwell was very bad, but the drink is worse. For a good many that +Cromwell killed should go to heaven, but those that are drunken never +see heaven. And as to drink, a man that takes the first glass is as +quiet and as merry as a pet lamb; and after the second glass he is as +knacky as a monkey; and after the third glass he is as ready for battle +as a lion; and after the fourth glass he is like a swine as he is. 'I am +thirsty' [IRISH: Ta Tart Orm], that was one of our Lord's seven words on +the Cross, where he was dry. And a man far off would have given him +drink; but there was a drunkard at the foot of the Cross, and he +prevented him." + + +THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM + +"That was a great slaughter at Aughrim. St. Ruth wanted to do all +himself, he being a foreigner. He gave no plan of the battle to +Sarsfield, but a written command to stop where he was, and Sarsfield +knew no more than yourself or myself in the evening before it happened. +It was Colonel Merell's wife bade him not go to the battle, where she +knew it would go bad with him through a dream. But he said that meant +that he would be crowned, and he went out and was killed. That is what +the poem says: + + If Caesar listened to Calpurnia's dream + He had not been by Pompey's statue slain. + +All great men gave attention to dreams, though the Church is against +them now. It is written in Scripture that Joseph gave attention to his +dream. But Colonel Merell did not, and so he went to his death. Aughrim +would have been won if it wasn't for the drink. There was too much of it +given to the Irish soldiers that day--drink and spies and traitors. +The English never won a battle in Ireland in fair fight, but getting +spies and setting the people against one another. I saw where Aughrim +was fought, and I turned aside from the road to see the tree where St +Ruth was killed. The half of it is gone like snuff. That was spies too, +a Colonel's daughter that told the English in what place St. Ruth would +be washing himself at six o'clock in the morning. And it was there he +was shot by one O'Donnell, an Englishman. He shot him from six miles +off. The Danes were dancing in the raths around Aughrim the night after +the battle. Their ancestors were driven out of Ireland before; and they +were glad when they saw those that had put them out put out themselves, +and every one of them skivered." + +[ILLUSTRATION: WILLIAM III] + + +THE STUARTS + +"As to the Stuarts, there are no songs about them and no praises in the +West, whatever there may be in the South. Why would there, and they +running away and leaving the country the way they did? And what good did +they ever do it? James the Second was a coward. Why didn't he go into +the thick of the battle like the Prince of Orange? He stopped on a hill +three miles away, and rode off to Dublin, bringing the best of his +troops with him. There was a lady walking in the street at Dublin when +he got there, and he told her the battle was lost, and she said 'Faith +you made good haste; you made no delay on the road.' So he said no more +after that. The people liked James well enough before he ran; they +didn't like him after that." + + +ANOTHER STORY + +"Seumus Salach, Dirty James, it is he brought all down. At the time of +the battle there was one of his men said, 'I have my eye cocked, and all +the nations will be done away with,' and he pointing his cannon. 'Oh!' +said James, 'Don't make a widow of my daughter.' If he didn't say that, +the English would have been beat. It was a very poor thing for him to +do." + + +PATRICK SARSFIELD + +"Sarsfield was a great general the time he turned the shoes on his +horse. The English it was were pursuing him, and he got off and changed +the shoes the way when they saw the tracks they would think he went +another road. That was a great plan. He got to Limerick then, and he +killed thousands of the English. He was a great general." + + +QUEEN ANNE + +"The Georges were fair; they left all to the Government; but Anne was +very bad and a tyrant. She tyrannised over the Irish. She died +broken-hearted with all the bad things that were going on about her. For +Queen Anne was very wicked; oh, very wicked, indeed!" + + +CAROLAN'S SONG + +"Carolan that could play the fiddle and the harp used to be going about +with Cahil-a-Corba, that was a tambourine man. But they got tired of one +another and parted, and Carolan went to the house of the King of Mayo, +and he stopped there, and the King asked him to stop for his lifetime. +There came a grand visitor one time, and when he heard Carolan singing +and playing and his fine pleasant talk, he asked him to go with him on a +visit to Dublin. So Carolan went, and he promised the King of Mayo he +would come back at the end of a month. But when he was at the +gentleman's house he liked it so well that he stopped a year with him, +and it wasn't till the Christmas he came back to Mayo. And when he got +there the doors were shut, and the King was at his dinner, and Queen +Mary and the three daughters, and he could see them through the windows. +But when the King saw him he said he would not let him in. He was vexed +with him and angry he had broken his promise and his oath. So Carolan +began to give out a song he had made about the King of Mayo and all his +family, and he brought Queen Mary into it and the three daughters. Then +the Queen asked leave of the King to bring him in, because he made so +good a song, but the King would not give in to it. Then Carolan began to +draw down the King of Mayo's father and his grandfather into the song. +And Queen Mary asked again for forgiveness for him, and the King gave +it that time because of the song that had in it the old times, and the +old generations went through him. But as to Cahil-a-Corba, he went to +another gentleman's house and he stopped too long in it and was driven +out. But he came back, having changed his form, that the gentleman did +not know him, and he let him in again, and then he was forgiven." + + +'NINETY-EIGHT + +"In the year '98 there were the Yeomanry that were the worst of all. The +time Father Murphy was killed there was one of them greased his boots in +his heart. There was one of them was called Micky the Devil in Irish; he +never went out without the pitchcap and the triangle, and any rebel he +would meet he would put gunpowder in his hair and set a light to it. The +North Cork Militia were the worst; there are places in Ireland where you +would not get a drink of water if they knew you came from Cork. And it +was the very same, the North Cork, that went of their own free will to +the Boer war, volunteered, asked to go that is. They had the same sting +in them always. A great many of them were left dead in that war, and a +great many better men than themselves. There was one battle in that war +there was no quarter given, the same as Aughrim; and the English would +kill the wounded that would be left upon the field of battle. There is +no Christianity in war." + + +DENIS BROWNE + +"There is a tree near Denis Browne's house that used to be used for +hanging men in the time of '98, he being a great man in that time, and +High Sheriff of Mayo, and it is likely the gentlemen were afeared, and +that there was bad work at nights. But one night Denis Browne was lying +in his bed, and the Lord put it in his mind that there might be false +information given against some that were innocent. So he went out and he +brought out one of his horses into the lawn before the house, and he +shot it dead and left it there. In the morning one of the butlers came +up to him and said, 'Did you see that one of your horses was shot in the +night?' 'How would I see that?' says he, 'and I not rose up or dressed?' +So when he went out they showed him the horse, and he bade the men to +bury it, and it wasn't two hours after before two of them came to him. +'We can tell you who it was shot the horse,' they said. 'It was such a +one and such a one in the village, that were often heard to speak bad of +you. And besides that,' they said, 'we saw them shooting it ourselves.' +So the two that gave that false witness were the last two Denis Browne +ever hung. He rose out of it after, and washed his hands of it all. And +his big house is turned into a convent, and the tree is growing there +yet. It is in the time of '98 that happened, a hundred years ago." + + +THE UNION + +"As to the Union, it was bought with titles. Look at the Binghams and +the rest, they went to bed nothing, and rose up lords in the morning. +The day it was passed Lady Castlereagh was in the House of Parliament, +and she turned three colours, and she said to her husband, 'You have +passed your treaty, but you have sold your country.' He went and cut his +throat after that. And it is what I heard from the old people, there was +no priest in Ireland but voted for it, the way they would get better +rights, for it was only among poor persons they were going at that time. +And it was but at the time of the Parliament leaving College Green they +began to wear the Soutane that they wear now. Up to that it was a +bodycoat they wore and knee-breeches. It was their vote sent the +Parliament to England, and when there is a row between them or that the +people are vexed with the priest, you will hear them saying in the house +in Irish 'Bad luck on them, it was they brought misfortune to Ireland.' +They wore the Soutane ever since that time." + + +ROBERT EMMET + +"The Government had people bribed to swear against Robert Emmet, and the +same men said after, they never saw him till he was in the dock. He +might have got away but for his attention to that woman. She went away +after with a sea captain. There are some say she gave information. +Curran's daughter she was. But I don't know. He made one request, his +letters that she wrote to him in the gaol not to be meddled with, but +the Government opened them and took the presents she sent in them, and +whatever was best of them they kept for themselves. He made the greatest +speech from the dock ever was made, and Lord Norbury on the bench, +checking and clogging him all the time. Ten hours he was in the dock, +and they gave him no more than one dish of water all that time; and they +executed him in a hurry, saying it was an attack they feared on the +prison. There is no one knows where is his grave." + + +O'CONNELL'S BIRTH + +"O'Connell was a grand man, and whatever cause he took in hand, it was +as good as won. But what wonder? He was the gift of God. His father was +a rich man, and one day he was out walking he took notice of a house +that was being built. Well, a week later he passed by the same place, +and he saw the walls of the house were no higher than before. So he +asked the reason, and he was told it was a priest that was building it, +and he hadn't the money to go on with. So a few days after he went to +the priest's house and he asked was that true, and the priest said it +was. 'Would you pay back the money to the man that would lend it to +you?' says O'Connell. 'I would,' says the priest. So with that O'Connell +gave him the money that was wanting--L50--for it was a very grand house. +Well, after some time the priest came to O'Connell's house, and he found +only the wife at home, so says he, 'I have some money that himself lent +me.' But he had never told the wife of what he had done, so she knew +nothing about it, and says she, 'Don't be troubling yourself about it, +he'll bestow it on you.' 'Well,' says the priest, I'll go away now and +I'll come back again.' So when O'Connell came, the wife told him all +that had happened, and how a priest had come saying he owed him money, +and how she had said he would bestow it on him. 'Well,' says O'Connell, +'if you said I would bestow it, I will bestow it.' And so he did. Then +the priest said, 'Have you any children?' 'Ne'er a child,' said +O'Connell. 'Well you will have one,' said he. And that day nine months +their young son was born. So what wonder if he was inspired, being, as +he was, the Gift of God." + + +[Illustration: O'CONNELL] + +THE TINKER + +"O'Connell was a great man. I never saw him, but I heard of his name. +One time I saw his picture in a paper, where they were giving out meal, +where Mrs. Gaynor's is and I kissed the picture of him. They were +laughing at me for doing that, but I had heard of his good name. There +was some poor man, a tinker, asked help of him one time in Dublin, and +he said, 'I will put you in a place where you will get some good thing.' +So he brought him to a lodging in a very grand house and put him in it. +And in the morning he began to make saucepans, and he was making them +there, and the shopkeeper that owned the house was mad at him to be +doing that, and making saucepans in so grand a house, and he wanted to +get him out of it, and he gave him a good sum of money to go out. He +went back and told that to O'Connell, and O'Connell said, 'Didn't I tell +you I would put you in the way to get some good thing?'" + + +A PRESENT + +"There was a gentleman sent him a present one time, and he bade a little +lad to bring it to him. Shut up in a box it was, and he bade the boy to +give it to himself, and not to open the box. So the little lad brought +it to O'Connell to give it to him. 'Let you open it yourself,' says +O'Connell. So he opened it, and whatever was in it blew up and made an +end of the boy, and it would have been the same with O'Connell if he had +opened it." + + +HIS STRATEGY + +"O'Connell was a grand man; the best within the walls of the world. He +never led anyone astray. Did you hear that one time he turned the shoes +on his horses? There were bad members following him. I cannot say who +they were, for I will not tell what I don't know. He got a smith to turn +the shoes, and when they came upon his track, he went east and they went +west. Parnell was no bad man, but Dan O'Connell's name went up higher in +praises." + + +THE MAN WAS GOING TO BE HANGED + +"I saw O'Connell in Galway one time, and I couldn't get anear him. All +the nations of the world were gathered there to see him. There were a +great many he hung and a great many he got off from death, the dear man. +He went into a town one time, and into a hotel, and he asked for his +dinner. And he had a frieze dress, for he was very simple, and always a +clerk along with him. And when the dinner was served to him, 'Is there +no one here,' says he, 'to sit along with me; for it is seldom I ever +dined without company.' 'If you think myself good enough to sit with +you,' says the man of the hotel, 'I will do it.' So the two of them sat +to the dinner together, and O'Connell asked was there any news in the +town. 'There is,' says the hotel man, 'there is a man to be hung +to-morrow.' 'Oh, my!' says O'Connell, 'what was it he did to deserve +that?' 'Himself and another that had been out fowling,' says he, 'and +they came in here and they began to dispute, and the one of them killed +the other, and he will be hung to-morrow.' 'He will not,' says +O'Connell. 'I tell you he will,' says the other, 'for the Judge is come +to give the sentence.' Well, O'Connell kept to it that he would not, and +they made a bet, and the hotel man bet all he had on the man being hung. +In the morning O'Connell was in no hurry out of bed, and when the two of +them walked into the Court, the Judge was after giving the sentence, and +the man was to be hung. '_Maisead_,' says the judge when he saw +O'Connell, 'I wish you had been here a half an hour ago, where there is +a man going to be hung.' 'He is not,' says O'Connell. 'He is,' says the +judge. 'If he is,' says O'Connell, 'that one will never let anyone go +living out of his hotel, and he making money out of the hanging.' 'What +do you mean saying that?' says the judge. Then O'Connell took the +instrument out of his pocket where it was written down all the +hotel-keeper had put on the hanging. And when the judge saw that, he set +the man free, and he was not hanged." + + +THE CUP OF THE SASSANACH + +"He was over in England one time, and he was brought to a party, and tea +was made ready and cups. And as they were sitting at the table, a +servant girl that was in it, and that was Irish, came to O'Connell and +she said, 'Do you understand Irish?' [IRISH: 'An tuigeann tu Gaedilge, +O'Connell?' 'Tuigim,'] says he, 'I understand it.' 'Have a care,' says +she, 'for there is in your cup what would poison the whole nation!' 'If +that is true, girl, you will get a good fortune,' said he. It was in +Irish they said all that, and the people that were in it had no ears. +Then O'Connell quenched the candle, and he changed his cup for the cup +of the man that was next him. And it was not long till the man fell +dead. They were always trying to kill O'Connell, because he was a good +man. The Sassanach it was were against him. Terrible wicked they were, +and God save us, I believe they are every bit as wicked yet!" + + +THE THOUSAND FISHERS + +"O'Connell came to Galway one time, and he sent for all the trades to +come out with the sign of their trade in their hand, and he would see +which was the best. And there came ten hundred fishers, having all white +flannel clothes and black hats and white scarves about them, and he gave +the sway to them. It wasn't a year after that, the half of them were +lost, going through the fogs at Newfoundland, where they went for a +better way of living." + + +WHAT THE OLD WOMEN SAW + +"The greatest thing I ever saw was O'Connell driving through Gort, very +plain, and an oiled cap on him, and having only one horse; and there was +no house in Gort without his picture in it." "O'Connell rode up Crow +Lane and to Church Street on a single horse, and he stopped there and +took a view of Gort." "I saw O'Connell after he left Gort going on the +road to Kinvara, and seven horses in the coach--they could not get in +the eighth. He stopped, and he was talking to Hickman that was with me. +Shiel was in the coach along with him." + + +O'CONNELL'S HAT + +"O'Connell wore his hat in the English House of Commons, what no man but +the King can do. He wore it for three days because he had a sore head, +and at the end of that they bade him put it off, and he said he would +not, where he had worn it three days." + + +THE CHANGE HE MADE + +"O'Connell was a great councillor. At that time if there was a Catholic, +no matter how high or great or learned he was, he could not get a place. +But if a Protestant came that was a blockhead and ignorant, the place +would be open to him. There was a revolution rising because of that, and +O'Connell brought it into the House of Commons and got it changed. He +was the greatest man ever was in Ireland. He was a very clever lawyer; +he would win every case, he would put it so strong and clear and clever. +If there were fifteen lawyers against him--five and ten--he would win it +against them all, whether the case was bad or good." + + +THE MAN HE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE + +"Corly, that burned his house in Burren, was very bad, and it was +O'Connell brought him to the gallows. The only case O'Connell lost was +against the Macnamaras, and he told them he would be even with them, and +so when Corly, that was a friend of theirs, was brought up he kept his +word. There was no doubt about him burning the house, it was to +implicate the Hynes he did it, to lay it on them. There was a girl used +to go out milking at daybreak, and she awoke, and the moon was shining, +and she thought it was day, and got up and looked out, and she saw him +doing it." + + +THE BINDING + +"O'Connell was a great man, wide big arms he had. It was he left us the +cheap tea; to cheapen it he did, that was at that time a shilling for +one bare ounce. His heart is in Rome and his body in Glasnevin. A lovely +man, he would put you on your guard; he was for the country, he was all +for Ireland." + + +HIS MONUMENT + +"There is a nice monument put up to O'Connell in Ennis, in a corner it +is of the middle of a street, and himself high up on it, holding a book. +It was a poor shoe-maker set that going. I saw him in Gort one time, a +coat of O'Connell's he had that he chanced in some place. Only for him +there would be no monument; it was he gathered money for it, and there +was none would refuse him." + + +A PRAISE MADE FOR DANIEL O'CONNELL BY OLD WOMEN AND THEY BEGGING AT THE +DOOR + +"Dan O'Connell was the best man in the world, and a great man surely; +and there could not be better than what O'Connell was. + +"It was from him I took the pledge and I a child, and kept it ever +after. He would give it to little lads and children, but not to any aged +person. Pilot trousers he had and a pilot coat, and a grey and white +waistcoat. + +"O'Connell was all for the poor. See what he did at Saint Patrick's +Island--he cast out every bad thing and every whole thing, to England +and to America and to every part. He fought it well for every whole +body. + +"A splendid monument there is to him in Ennis, and his fine top coat +upon him. A lovely man; you'd think he was alive and all, and he having +his hat in his hand. Everyone kneels down on the steps of it and says a +few prayers and walks away. It is as high as that tree below. If he was +in Ireland now the pension would go someway right. + +"He was the best and the best to everyone; he got great sway in the town +of Gort, and in every other place. + +"I suppose he has the same talk always; he is able to do for us now as +well as ever he was; surely his mercy and goodness are in the town of +Gort. + +"He did good in the world while he was alive; he was a great man surely; +there couldn't be better in this world I believe, or in the next world; +there couldn't be better all over the world. + +"He used to go through all nations and to make a fight for the poor; he +gave them room to live, and used to fight for them too. There is no +doubt at all he did help them, he was well able to do it." + + +RICHARD SHIEL + +"As to Shiel, he was small, dressed very neat, with knee-breeches and a +full vest and a long-skirted coat. He had a long nose, and was not much +to look at till he began to speak, and then you'd see genius coming out +from him. His voice was shrill, and that spoiled his speech sometimes, +when he would get excited, and would raise it at the end. But +O'Connell's voice you would hear a mile off, and it sounded as if it was +coming through honey," + + +THE TITHE WAR + +"And the Tithes, the tenth of the land that St. Patrick and his Bishops +had settled for their own use, it was to Protestants it was given. And +there would have been a revolution out of that, but it was done away +with, and it is the landlord has to pay it now. The Pope has a great +power that is beyond all. There is one day and one minute in the year +he has that power if it pleases him to use it. At that minute it runs +through all the world, and every priest goes on his knees and the Pope +himself is on his knees, and that request cannot be refused, because +they are the grand jury of the world before God. A man was talking to me +about the burying of the Tithes; up on the top of the Devil's Bit it +was, and if you looked around you could see nothing but the police. Then +the boys came riding up, and white rods in their hands, and they dug a +grave, and the Tithes, some image of them, was buried. It was a wrong +thing for one religion to be paying for the board of the clergy of +another religion." + + +THE FIGHT AT CARRICKSHOCK + +"The Tithe War, that was the time of the fight at Carrickshock. A narrow +passage that was in it, and the people were holding it against the +police that came with the Proctor. There was a Captain defending the +Proctor that had been through the Battle of Waterloo, and it was the +Proctor they fired at, but the Captain fell dead, and fourteen police +were killed with him. But the people were beat after, and were brought +into court for the trial, and the counsel for the Crown was against +them, Dougherty. They were tried in batches, and every batch was +condemned, Dougherty speaking out the case against them. But O'Connell, +that was at that time at Cork Assizes, heard of it, and he came, and +when he got to the door the pony that brought him dropped dead. He came +in and he took refreshment--bread and milk--the same as I am after +taking now, and he looked up and he said 'That is no law.' Then the +judge agreed with him, and he got every one of them off after that; but +only for him they would swing. The Tithes were bad, a farmer to have +three stacks they's take the one of them. And that was the first time of +the hurling matches, to gather the people against the Tithes. But there +was hurling in the ancient times in Ireland, and out in Greece, and +playing at the ball, and that is what is called the Olympian Games." + + +THE BIG WIND + +"As to the Big Wind, I was on my elder sister's back going to a friend +beyond, and when I was coming back it was slacked away, and I was +wondering at the holes in the houses." "I was up to twelve year at the +time of the Big Wind that was in '39, and I was over at Roxborough with +my father that was clearing timber from the road, and your father came +out along the road, and he was wild seeing the trees and rocks whipped +up into the sky the way they were with the wind. But what was that to +the bitter time of the Famine that came after?" + + +THE FAMINE + +"The Famine; there's a long telling in that, it is a thing will be +remembered always. That little graveyard above, at that time it was +filled full up of bodies; the Union had no way to buy coffins for them. +There would be a bag made, and the body put into it, that was all; and +the people dying without priest, or bishop, or anything at all. But over +in Connemara it was the dogs brought the bodies out of the houses, and +asked no leave." + + +THE CHOLERA + +"The cholera was worse again. It came from foreign, and it lasted a +couple of years, till God drove it out of the country. It is often I saw +a man ploughing the garden in the morning till dinner time, and before +evening he would be dead. It was as if on the wind it came, there was no +escape from it; on the wind, the same as it would come now and would +catch on to pigs. Sheds that would be made out in the haggards to put +the sick in, they would turn as black as your coat. There was no one +could go near them without he would have a glass of whiskey taken, and +he wouldn't like it then." + + +A LONG REMEMBERING + +"The longest thing I remember is the time of the sickness, and my father +that was making four straw mats for four brothers that died, and that +couldn't afford coffins. The bodies were put in the mats and were tied +up in them. And the second thing I remember is the people digging in the +stubble after the oats and the wheat; to see would they meet a potato, +and sometimes they did, for God sent them there." + + +THE TERRY ALTS + +"The Terry Alts were a bad class; everything you had they'd take from +you. It was against herding they began to get the land, the same as at +the present time. And women they would take; a man maybe that hadn't a +perch of land would go to a rich farmer's house and bring away his +daughter. And I, supposing, to have some spite against you, I'd gather a +mob and do every bad thing to destroy you. That is the way they were, a +bad class and doing bad deeds." + + +THE '48 TIME + +"Thomas Davis was a great man where poetry is concerned, and a better +than Thomas Moore. All over Ireland his poetry is, and he would have +done other things but that he died young. That was the '48 time. The '48 +men were foolish men; they thought to cope with the English Government. +They went to O'Connell to get from him all the money he had gathered, +for they had it in their head to use that to make a rise against +England. But when they asked O'Connell for it he told them there was +none of it left, not one penny. Buying estates for his children he used +it, and he said he spent it on a monastery. I don't know was he speaking +truth. Mahon made a great speech against him, and it preyed on +O'Connell, and he left the country and went away and died in some place +called Genoa. He was a very ambitious man, like Napoleon. He got +Emancipation; but where is the use of that? There's Judge O'Brien, Peter +the Packer, was calling out and trying to do away with trial by jury. +And he would not be in his office or in his billet if it wasn't for +O'Connell. They didn't do much after, where they didn't get the money +from O'Connell. And the night they joined under Smith O'Brien they +hadn't got their supper. A terrible cold night it was, no one could +stand against it. Some bishop came from Dublin, and he told them to go +home, for how could they reach with their pikes to the English soldiers +that had got muskets. The soldiers came, and there was some firing, and +they were all scattered. As to Smith O'Brien, there was ten thousand +pounds on his head, and he hid for a while. Then at the last he went +into the town of Clonmel, and there was a woman there in the street was +a huckster, and he bade her give him up to the Government, for she would +never earn money so easy. But for all she was worth she wouldn't do +that. So then he went and gave himself up, and he was sent to Australia, +and the property was given to his brother." + + +A THING MITCHELL SAID + +"Mitchell was kept in Clonmel gaol two years before he was sent to +Australia. He was a Protestant, and a very good man. He said in a +speech, where was the use of meetings and of talking? It was with the +point of their bayonet the English would have to be driven out of +Ireland. It was Mitchell said that." + + +THE FENIAN RISING + +"It was a man from America it came with. There was one Mackie was taken +in a publichouse in Cork, and there was a policeman killed in the +struggle. Judge O'Hagan was the judge when he was in the dock, and he +said, 'Mr. Mackie, I see you are a gentleman and an educated man; and +I'm sorry,' he said, 'that you did not read Irish history.' Mackie cried +when he heard that, for indeed it was all spies about him, and it was +they gave him up." + + +A GREAT WONDER + +"The greatest wonder I ever saw was one time near Kinvara at a funeral, +there came a car along the road and a lady on it having a plaid cloak, +as was the fashion then, and a big hat, and she kept her head down and +never looked at the funeral at all. I wondered at her when I saw that, +and I said to my brother it was a strange thing a lady to be coming past +a funeral and not to look on at it at all. And who was on the car but +O'Gorman Mahon, escaping from the Government, and dressed up as a lady! +He drove to Father Arthur's house at Kinvara, and there was a boat +waiting, and a cousin of my own in it, to bring him out to a ship, and +so he made his escape." + + +ANOTHER WONDER + +"I saw Clerkenwell prison in London broken up in the time of the +Fenians, and every ship and steamer in the whole of the ocean stopped. +The prison was burned down, and all the prisoners consumed, and seven +doctors' shops along with it." + + +FATHER MATHEW + +"Father Mathew was a great man, plump and red in the face. There +couldn't be better than what he was. I knew one Kane in Gort he gave a +medal to, and he kept it seventy years. Kane was a great totaller, and +he wouldn't drink so much as water out of a glass, but out of a cup; the +glass might have been used for porter at some time. He lost the medal, +and was in a great way about it, but he found it five years after in a +dung-heap. A great totaller he was. Them that took the medal from Father +Mathew and that kept it, at their death they would be buried by men +dressed in white clothes." + + +THE WAR OF THE CRIMEA + +"My husband was in the war of the Crimea. It is terrible the hardships +he went through, to be two months without going into a house, under the +snow in trenches. And no food to get, maybe a biscuit in the day. And +there was enough food there, he said, to feed all Ireland; but bad +management, they could not get it. Coffee they would be given, and they +would be cutting a green bramble to strive to make a fire to boil it. +The dead would be buried every morning; a big hole would be dug, and the +bodies thrown in, and lime upon them; and some of the bodies would be +living when they were buried. My husband used to try to revive them if +he saw there was life in them, but other lads wouldn't care--just to put +them down and have done. And they were allowed to take nothing--money, +gold watches, and the like, all thrown in the ground. Sure they did not +care much about such things, they might be lying in the same place +themselves to-morrow. But the soldiers would take the money sometimes +and put it in their stocking and tie the stocking below the ankle and +below the knee. But if the officer knew that, they would be +courtmartialed and punished. He got two medals--one from the English and +one from the Emperor of Turkey. Fighting for the Queen, and bad pay she +gave him. He never knew what was the war for, unless it might be for +diminishing the population. We saw in the paper a few years ago there +was a great deal of money collected for soldiers that had gone through +hardship in the war, and we wrote to the War Office asking some of it +for him. But they wrote back that there were so many young men crippled +in the Boer war there was nothing to be spared for the old. My husband +used to be saying the Queen cared nothing for the army, but that the +King, even before he was King, was better to it. But I'm thinking from +this out the King will get very few from Ireland for his army." + +[Illustration: W.E. GLADSTONE] + + +GARIBALDI + +"There was one of my brothers died at Lyons in France. He had a place in +Guinness's brewery, and earning L3 10s. a week, and it was the time +Garibaldi, you might have heard of, was out fighting. There came a ship +to Dublin from France, calling for soldiers, and he threw up his place, +and there were many others threw up their place, and they went off, +eleven hundred of them, in the French ship, to go fighting for their +religion, and a hundred of them never came back. When they landed in +France they were made much of and velvet carpets spread before them. But +the war was near over then, and when it had ended they were forgotten, +and nothing done for them, and he was in poverty at Lyons and died. It +was the nuns there wrote a letter in French telling that to my mother." +"And Napoleon the Third fought for the Pope in the time of Garibaldi. A +great many Irishmen went out at that time, and the half of them never +came back. I met with one of them that was in Russell's flour stores, +and he said he would never go out again if there were two hundred Popes. +Bad treatment they got--black bread, and the troops in the Vatican well +fed; and it wasn't long till Victor Emanuel's troops made a breach in +the wall." + + +THE BUONAPARTES + +"Napoleon the Third was not much. He died in England, and was buried in +a country church-yard much the same as Kiltartan. But Napoleon the First +was a great man; it was given out of him there never would be so great a +man again. But he hadn't much education, and his penmanship was bad. +Every great man gave in to superstition. He gave into it when he went to +ask the gipsy woman to divine, and she told him his fate. Through fire +and a rock she said that he would fall. I suppose the rock was St. +Helena, and the fire was the fire of Waterloo. Napoleon was the terror +of England, and he would have beat the English at Waterloo but for +treachery, the treachery of Grouchy. It was, maybe, not his fault he was +treacherous, he might be the same as Judas, that had his treachery +settled for him four thousand years before his birth. There was a curse +on Napoleon the Third because of what Napoleon the First had done +against the Church. He took Malta one time and landed there, and by +treachery with the knights he robbed a church that was on the shore, and +carried away the golden gates. In an ironclad he put them that was +belonging to the English, and they sank that very day, and were never +got up after, unless it might be by divers. And two Popes he brought +into exile. But he was the friend of Ireland, and when he was dying he +said that. His heart was smashed, he said, with all the ruling Princes +that went against him; and if he had made an attack on Ireland, he said, +instead of going to Moscow the time he did, he would have brought +England low. And the Prince Imperial was trapped. It was the English +brought him out to the war, and that made the nations go against him, +and it was an English officer led him into the trap the way he never +would come to the Throne." + +[Illustration: LOUIS NAPOLEON] + + +THE ZULU WAR + +"I was in the army the time of the Zulu war. Great hardship we got in it +and plenty of starvation. It was the Dutch called in the English to help +them against the Zulus, that were tricky rogues, and would do no work +but to be driving the cattle off the fields. A pound of raw flour we +would be given out at seven o'clock in the morning, and some would try +to make a cake, and some would put it in a pot with water and be +stirring it, and it might be eleven o'clock before you would get what +you could eat, and not a bit of meat maybe for two days." + + +THE YOUNG NAPOLEON + +"There was a young Napoleon there, the grandson of Napoleon the First, +that was a great man indeed. I was in the island where he was interred; +it is a grand place, and what is not natural in those parts, there are +two blackthorn bushes growing in it where you go into the place he was +buried. And as to that great Napoleon, the fear of him itself was enough +to kill people. If he was living till now it is hard to say what way +would the world be. It is likely there'd be no English left in it, and +it would be all France. The young Napoleon was at the Zulu war was as +fine a young man as you'd wish to lay an eye on; six feet four, and +shaped to match. As to his death, there was things might have been +brought to light, but the enquiry was stopped. There was seven of them +went out together, and he was found after, lying dead in the ground, and +his top coat spread over him. There came a shower of hailstones that +were as large as the top of your finger, and as square as diamonds, and +that would enter into your skull. They made out it was to save himself +from them that he lay down. But why didn't they lift him in the saddle +and bring him along with them? And the bullet was taken out of his head +was the same every bit as our bullets; and where would a Zulu get a +bullet like that? Very queer it was, and a great deal of talk about it, +and in my opinion he was done away with because the English saw the +grandfather in him, and thought he would do away with themselves in the +time to come. Sure if he spoke to one of them, he would begin to shake +before him, officers the same as men. We had often to be laughing seeing +that." + + +PARNELL + +"Parnell was a very good man, and a just man, and if he had lived to +now, Ireland would be different to what it is. The only thing ever could +be said against him was the influence he had with that woman. And how do +we know but that was a thing appointed for him by God? Parnell had a +back to him, but O'Connell stood alone. He fought a good war in the +House of Commons. Parnell did a great deal, getting the land. I often +heard he didn't die at all--it was very quick for him to go. I often +wondered there were no people smart enough to dig up the coffin and to +see what is in it, at night they could do that. No one knows in what +soil Robert Emmet was buried, but he was made an end of sure enough. +Parnell went through Gort one day, and he called it the fag-end of +Ireland, just as Lady Morgan called the North the Athens of Ireland." + + +MR. GLADSTONE + +"Gladstone had the name of being the greatest statesman of England, and +he wasn't much after all. At the time of his death he had it on his mind +that it was he threw the first stone at Parnell, and he confessed that, +and was very sorry for it. But sure there is no one can stand all +through. Look at Solomon that had ten hundred wives, and some of them +the finest of women, and that spent all the money laid up by Father +David. And Gladstone encouraged Garibaldi the time he attacked the +Vatican, and gave him arms, Parnell charged him with that one time in +the House of Commons, and said he had the documents, and he hadn't a +word to say. But he was sorry at Parnell's death, and what was the use +of that when they had his heart broke? Parnell did a great deal for the +Irish, and they didn't care after; they are the most displeasing people +God ever made, unless it might be the ancient Jews." + + +QUEEN VICTORIA'S RELIGION + +"Queen Victoria was loyal and true to the Pope; that is what I was told, +and so is Edward the Seventh loyal and true, but he has got something +contrary in his body. It is when she was a girl she put on clothes like +your own--lady's clothes--and she went to the Pope. Did she turn +Catholic? She'd be beheaded if she did; the Government would behead her; +it is the Government has power in England." + + +HER WISDOM + +"As to the last Queen, we thought her bad when we had her, but now we +think her good. She was a hard woman, and she did nothing for Ireland in +the bad years; but I'll give you the reason she had for that. She had it +in her mind always to keep Ireland low, it being the place she mostly +got her soldiers. That might not be good for Ireland, but it was good +for her own benefit. The time the lads have not a bit to eat, that is +the time they will go soldiering." + + +WAR AND MISERY + +"There was war and misery going on all through Victoria's reign. It was +the Boer war killed her, she being aged, and seeing all her men going +out, and able to do nothing. Ten to one they were against the Boers. +That is what killed her. It is a great tribute to the war it did that." + + +THE PRESENT KING + +"The present King is very good. He is a gentleman very fond of visiting, +and well pleased with every class of people he will meet." + + +THE OLD AGE PENSIONS + +"The old age pension is very good, and as to taxes, them can't pay it +that hasn't it. It is since the Boer War there is coin sent back from +Africa every week that is dug from the goldpits out there. That is what +the English wanted the time they went to war; they want to close up the +minerals for themselves. If it wasn't for the war, that pension would +never be given to Ireland. They'd have been driven home by the Boers if +it wasn't for the Irish that were in the front of every battle. And the +Irish held out better too, they can starve better than the rest, there +is more bearing in them. It wasn't till all the Irish were killed that +the English took to bribing. Bribed Botha they did with a bag of gold. +For all the generals in England that are any good are Irish. Buller was +the last they had, and he died. They can find no good generals at all in +England, unless they might get them very young." + + +ANOTHER THOUGHT + +"It was old money was in the Treasury idle, and the King and Queen +getting old wanted to distribute it in the country it was taken from. +But some say it was money belonging to captains and big men that died in +the war and left no will after them. Anyway it is likely it will not +hold; and it is known that a great many of those that get it die very +soon." + + +A PROPHECY + +"It is likely there will be a war at the end of the two thousand, that +was always foretold. And I hear the English are making ships that will +dive the same as diving ducks under the water. But as to the Irish +Americans, they would sweep the entire world; and England is afraid of +America, it being a neighbour." + + +NOTES + +I have given this book its name because it is at my own door, in the +Barony of Kiltartan, I have heard a great number of the stories from +beggars, pipers, travelling men, and such pleasant company. But others I +have heard in the Workhouse, or to the north of Galway Bay, in +Connemara, or on its southern coast, in Burren. I might, perhaps, better +have called the little book Myths in the Making. + +A sociable people given to conversation and belief; no books in the +house, no history taught in the schools; it is likely that must have +been the way of it in old Greece, when the king of highly civilised +Crete was turned by tradition into a murderous tyrant owning a monster +and a labyrinth. It was the way of it in old France too, one thinks, +when Charlemagne's height grew to eight feet, and his years were counted +by centuries: "He is three hundred years old, and when will he weary of +war?" Anyhow, it has been the way of modern Ireland--the Ireland I +know--and when I hear myth turned into history, or history into myth, I +see in our stonebreakers and cattle drivers Greek husbandmen or ancient +vinedressers of the Loire. + +I noticed some time ago, when listening to many legends of the Fianna, +that is about Finn, their leader, the most exaggerated of the tales have +gathered; and I believe the reason is that he, being the greatest of the +"Big Men," the heroic race, has been most often in the mouths of the +people. They have talked of him by their fire-sides for two thousand +years or so; at first earlier myths gathered around him, and then from +time to time any unusual feats of skill or cunning shown off on one or +another countryside, till many of the stories make him at the last +grotesque, little more than a clown. So in Bible History, while lesser +kings keep their dignity, great Solomon's wit is outwitted by the +riddles of some countryman; and Lucifer himself, known in Kiltartan as +"the proudest of the angels, thinking himself equal with God," has been +seen in Sligo rolling down a road in the form of the _Irish Times_. The +gods of ancient Ireland have not escaped. Mananaan, Son of the Sea, +Rider of the Horses of the Sea, was turned long ago into a juggler doing +tricks, and was hunted in the shape of a hare. Brigit, the "Fiery +Arrow," the nurse of poets, later a saint and the Foster-mother of +Christ, does her healing of the poor in the blessed wells of to-day as +"a very civil little fish, very pleasant, wagging its tail." + +Giobniu, the divine smith of the old times, made a new sword and a new +spear for every one that was broken in the great battle between the gods +and the mis-shapen Fomor. "No spearpoint that is made by my hand," he +said, "will ever miss its mark; no man it touches will ever taste life +again." It was his father who, with a cast of a hatchet, could stop the +inflowing of the tide; and it was he himself whose ale gave lasting +youth: "No sickness or wasting ever comes on those who drink at +Giobniu's Feast." Later he became a saint, a master builder, builder of +a house "more shining than a garden; with its stars, with its sun, with +its moon." To-day he is known as the builder of the round towers of the +early Christian centuries, and of the square castles of the +Anglo-Normans. And the stories I have given of him, called as he now is, +"the Goban Saor," show that he has fallen still farther in legend from +his high origin. + +As to O'Connell, perhaps because his name, like that of Finn and the +Goban, is much in the mouths of the people, there is something of the +absurd already coming into his legend. The stories of him show more than +any others how swiftly myths and traditions already in the air may +gather around a memory much loved and much spoken of. He died only sixty +years ago, and many who have seen and heard him are still living; and +yet he has already been given a miraculous birth, and the power of a +saint is on its way to him. I have charged my son, and should I live +till he comes to sensible years, I will charge my grandson, to keep +their ears open to the growth of legend about him who was once my +husband's friendly enemy, and afterwards his honoured friend. + +I do not take the credit or the discredit of the opinions given by the +various speakers, nor do I go bail for the facts; I do but record what +is already in "the Book of the People." The history of England and +Ireland was shut out of the schools and it became a passion. As to why +it was shut out, well, I heard someone whisper "Eugene Aram hid the body +away, being no way anxious his scholars should get a sight of it." But +this also was said in the barony of Kiltartan. + +The illustrations are drawn from some delft figures, ornaments in a +Kiltartan house. + + +A. GREGORY. + +COOLE PARK, _November_, 1909. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Kiltartan History Book, by Lady I. A. 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