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diff --git a/44066-0.txt b/44066-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8cbaa8e --- /dev/null +++ b/44066-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8754 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44066 *** + + By M. M. SHOEMAKER + + + ISLANDS OF THE SOUTHERN SEAS + + With 80 Illustrations. Second Edition. Large 8vo. Gilt + top $2.25 + + QUAINT CORNERS OF ANCIENT EMPIRES + + With 47 Illustrations. Large 8vo. Gilt top $2.25 + + THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY FROM PETERSBURG + TO PEKING + + With 30 Illustrations and a Map. Large 8vo net, $2.00 + + THE HEART OF THE ORIENT + + With 52 Illustrations. Large 8vo net, $2.50 + + WINGED WHEELS IN FRANCE + + With about 60 Illustrations. Large 8vo net, $2.50 + + WANDERINGS IN IRELAND + + With 72 Illustrations. Large 8vo net, + + PALACES AND PRISONS OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS + + With about 60 Illustrations. Large 8vo net, $5.00 + Large Paper Edition. 4o net, $12.00 + + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + + New York London + + + + +[Illustration: "The Harp of Erin" + +From the original painting by T. Buchanan Read in possession of the +author] + + + + + WANDERINGS + + IN + + IRELAND + + + BY + + MICHAEL MYERS SHOEMAKER + + Author of "Islands of the Southern Seas," + "Winged Wheels in France," etc. + + + Illustrated + + [Illustration] + + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + NEW YORK AND LONDON + The Knickerbocker Press + 1908 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1908 + + BY + + MICHAEL MYERS SHOEMAKER + + + The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + + + + TO MY AUNT + ANNA L. SHOEMAKER + + THESE NOTES ARE AFFECTIONATELY + DEDICATED + + + + +PREFACE + + +Are you minded for a jaunt through the island of Erin where tears and +smiles are near related and sobs and laughter go hand in hand? We will +walk, and will take it in donkey-cart and jaunting-car--by train and in +motor-cars--and if you suit yourself you will suit me. + +Leaving Dublin we will circle northward, with a visit to Tanderagee +Castle and the tomb of St. Patrick--God bless him,--then on past the +Causeway and down to Derry, and so into the County of Mayo, where in the +midst of a fair you will encounter the wildest "Konfusion" and will be +introduced to the gentleman who pays the rent. + +In the silence and solitudes of the island of Achill you will see tears +and hear sobs as you listen to the keening for the dead. Near the island +of Clare, Queen Grace O'Malley will almost order you away, as she did +her husband, and your motor with all its wings out will roll through the +grand scenery of the western coast--now down by the ocean and then far +up amidst the sombre mountains--Kylemore Castle and quaint Galway, Leap +Castle--ghost-haunted--and moated Ffranckfort, Holy Cross and the Rock +of Cashel--will pass in stately array and be succeeded by a glimpse of +army life at Buttevant, and a dinner at Doneraile Court, where you will +hear of the only woman Free Mason. Killarney will follow with its music +and legends, and Cork and Fermoy, and so on and into the County of +Wexford, where you will rush through the lanes and byways and will scare +many old ladies--driving as many donkeys--almost into Kingdom Come. You +will be welcomed at Bannow House and entertained in that quaintest of +all earthly dwellings, "Tintern Abbey," which was a ruin when the family +moved into it more than three centuries ago. You will visit the buried +city of Bannow and pass on to where Moore watched the "Meeting of the +Waters." You will visit in stately mansions, and go with a wild rush to +the races at the Curragh. At Jigginstown House you will be reminded of +the cowardice of a king, and as you bid farewell to Ireland you will lay +a wreath on the grave of Daniel O'Connell,--all this and much more if +you are so minded. + + M. M. S. + + UNION CLUB, NEW YORK, January 1, 1908. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + + PAGE + + Welcome to Ireland. Quaint People of Dublin. Packing + the Motors. Departure. Tara Hill. Its History and + Legends. Ruins at Trim. Tombs of the Druids. + Battle-field of the Boyne 1 + + + CHAPTER II + + Through Newry to Tanderagee Castle. Life in the Castle. + Excursions to Armagh. Its History. The English in Armagh 15 + + + CHAPTER III + + Through Newcastle to Downpatrick. Grave of St. Patrick. + His Life and Work. The Old Grave Digger. Belfast and + Ballygalley Bay. O'Halloran, the Outlaw 25 + + + CHAPTER IV + + Ballycastle to the Causeway. Prosperity of Northern + Ireland. Bundoran. Gay Life in County Mayo. Mantua + House. Troubles in Roscommon. Wit of the People. Irish + Girls. Emigration to America. Episode of the Horse. + People of the Hills. Chats by the Wayside. Mallaranny 34 + + + CHAPTER V + + The Island of Achill. Picturesque Scenery. Poverty + of the People. "Keening" for the Dead. "The Gintleman + who pays the Rint." Superstitious Legends 53 + + + CHAPTER VI + + Monastery of Burrishoole. Queen Grace O'Malley and + her Castle of Carrig-a-Hooly. Her Appearance at + Elizabeth's Court. Dismissal of her Husband. Wild + Scenery of the West Coast. The Ancient Tongue. + Recess. Kylemore Castle. Crazy Biddy 77 + + + CHAPTER VII + + The Ancient City of Galway. Quaint People. Curious + Houses. Vile Hotel. Parsonstown. Wingfield House. + Leap Castle, and its Ghosts. Ffranckfort Castle. + Clonmacnoise. Holy Cross Abbey 94 + + + CHAPTER VIII + + The Rock of Cashel. Its Cathedral, Palace, and Round + Tower--Its History and Legends. Kilmalloch, its + Ruins and History. The Desmonds. Horse Fair at + Buttevant 119 + + + CHAPTER IX + + Buttevant Barracks. Army Life. Mess-room Talk. + Condition of the Barracks. Balleybeg Abbey. Old + Church. Native Wedding. Kilcoman Castle, Spenser's + Home. Doneraile Court. Mrs. Aldworth, the only + Woman Freemason. Irish Wit. Regimental Plate. + Departure from the Barracks 132 + + + CHAPTER X + + Route to Killarney. Country Estates. Singular Customs. + Picturesque Squalor. Peace of the Lakes. Innisfallen. + The Legend of "Abbot Augustine." His Grave. "Dennis," + the "Buttons," and his Family Affairs. Motors in the + Gap of Dunloe 161 + + + CHAPTER XI + + Kenmare and Herbert Demesnes. Old Woman at the Gates. + Route to Glengariff. Bantry Bay. Boggeragh Mountains. + Duishane Castle. The Carrig-a-pooka and its Legend. + Macroom Castle and William Penn. Cork. Imperial + Hotel. "Ticklesome" Car Boy. The Races and my Brown + Hat. Route to Fermoy. Breakdown. Clonmel and its + "Royal Irish." Ride to Waterford 170 + + + CHAPTER XII + + Ancient Waterford. History. Reginald's Tower. + Franciscan Friary. Dunbrody Abbey. New Ross. Bannow + House. Its "Grey Lady." Legend of the Wood Pigeon. + Ancient Garden. Buried City of Bannow. Dancing on + the Tombs. Donkeys and Old Women. Tintern Abbey and + its Occupants. Quaint Rooms and Quainter Stories. + Its History and Legends. The Dead man on the Dinner + Table. The Secret of the Walls. The Illuminated + Parchment. The Sealed Library. Ruined Chapel. King + Charles's Clothes. Is History False or True? 181 + + + CHAPTER XIII + + Return to Ireland. Illness. Conditions on the Great + Liners. The Quay at Cork "of a Saturday Evening." + En route once more. The Old Lady and the Donkey. + Barracks at Fermoy. Killshening House, Abandoned + Seat of the Roche Family. Fethard. Quaint Customs. + The Man in the Coffin. "Curraghmore House" and its + Great Kennels. Its Legends, Ghosts, and History. + Lady Waterford. Oliver Cromwell at the Castle. The + Marquis in the Dungeon 209 + + + CHAPTER XIV + + Departure from Fethard. A Dead Horse and a Lawsuit. + Approach to Dublin. Estate of Kilruddery. The + Swan as a Fighter. Glendalough, its Ruins and History. + Tom Moore and his Tree in Ovoca. Advantages of Motor + Travel. Superstition of the Magpie. A Boy, a Cart, + and a Black Sheep. The Goose and the Motor 225 + + + CHAPTER XV + + The Lunatic. Insanity and its Causes in Ireland. The + Usual Old Lady and Donkey. Sunshine and Shadow. + Clonmines and its Seven Churches. The Crosses around + the Holy Tree. Baginbun and the Landing of the + English. The Bull of Pope Adrian. Letter of Pope + Alexander. Protest of the Irish Princes. Legends. + Death of Henry II. 243 + + + CHAPTER XVI + + Wild Times in Ireland. Landlord and Tenant. Evictions. + Boycott at Bannow House. The Parson and the Legacy. + The Priest and the Whipping. Burial in Cement. + Departure from Bannow House. Kilkenny and her Cats. + The Mountains of Wicklow. Powerscourt and a Week-End. + Run to Dublin and an Encounter by the Way. The Irish + Constabulary. Motor Runs in the Mountains. Lord H----. 260 + + + CHAPTER XVII + + Dublin. Derby Day and the Rush to the Curragh. An + Irish Crowd. The Kildare Street Club and Club Life. + Jigginstown House and its History. The Cowardice + of a King. The Old Woman on the Tram Car. Parnell. + The Grave of Daniel O'Connell 276 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + THE HARP OF ERIN _Frontispiece_ + From the original painting by T. Buchanan Read, + in the possession of the author + + STATUE OF ST. PATRICK ON THE HILL OF TARA 4 + + CASTLE OF KING JOHN AT TRIM 8 + + MONUMENT ON THE BATTLE-FIELD OF THE BOYNE 12 + + TANDERAGEE CASTLE, IRISH SEAT OF THE DUKE + OF MANCHESTER 16 + + CHAPEL, TANDERAGEE CASTLE 20 + + DRAWING-ROOM, TANDERAGEE CASTLE 24 + + TERRACE, TANDERAGEE CASTLE 28 + + TOMB OF ST. PATRICK AT DOWNPATRICK 32 + + A CABIN IN THE NORTH 36 + + A WOMAN OF THE NORTH 40 + + MANTUA HOUSE, ROSCOMMON 44 + + BALLINA, A TYPICAL IRISH TOWN 48 + + A GLIMPSE OF ACHILL 52 + + SLIEVEMORE MOUNTAIN, AND DUGORT, ACHILL 56 + + FISHERFOLK OF ACHILL 60 + + A LONELY ROAD IN CONNEMARA 64 + + KYLEMORE CASTLE, CONNEMARA 68 + + CRAZY BIDDY 72 + + THE LYNCH HOUSE, GALWAY 76 + + ABBEY OF ST. DOMINICK, LORRHA, ANCIENT + BURIAL-PLACE OF THE CARROLLS 80 + + LEAP CASTLE, COURT SIDE 84 + + LEAP CASTLE, PARK SIDE 88 + + MOAT OF FFRANCKFORT CASTLE 92 + + FFRANCKFORT CASTLE 96 + + CLONMACNOISE 100 + + ABBEY OF THE HOLY CROSS 104 + + ROCK OF CASHEL 108 + + CORMAC'S CHAPEL, CASHEL 112 + + CROSS OF CASHEL, AND THRONE OF THE KINGS + OF MUNSTER 116 + + ANCIENT GATEWAY, KILMALLOCH 120 + + DOMINICAN ABBEY, KILMALLOCH 124 + + BUTTEVANT BARRACKS 128 + + DINNER, BUTTEVANT BARRACKS 132 + + BUTTEVANT, COUNTY CORK 136 + + KILCOMAN CASTLE, SPENSER'S HOME 140 + + DONERAILE COURT, COUNTY CORK 144 + + ROOM IN DONERAILE COURT WHERE MRS. ALDWORTH + HID 148 + + THE HON. MRS. ALDWORTH, THE ONLY WOMAN + FREEMASON 152 + + THE LAKE, DONERAILE PARK 156 + + MALLOW CASTLE, COUNTY CORK 160 + + IRISH COTTAGE, COUNTY KERRY 164 + + CHAPEL OF ST. FINIAN THE LEPER, INNISFALLEN 168 + + TREE OVER THE ABBOT'S GRAVE, INNISFALLEN 172 + + UPPER LAKE, KILLARNEY 176 + + "DINNIS," HOTEL VICTORIA 180 + + THE ROUTE TO GLENGARIFF 184 + + CARRIG-A-POOKA CASTLE 188 + + MACROOM CASTLE 192 + + REGINALD'S TOWER, WATERFORD 196 + + FRANCISCAN FRIARY, WATERFORD 200 + + DUNBRODY ABBEY, COUNTY WEXFORD 204 + + BANNOW HOUSE, COUNTY WEXFORD 208 + + TERRACE, BANNOW HOUSE, COUNTY WEXFORD 212 + + CORNER OF THE ROSE GARDEN, BANNOW HOUSE, + COUNTY WEXFORD 216 + + BANNOW CHURCH, COUNTY WEXFORD 220 + + TOMBS IN BANNOW CHURCH 224 + + TINTERN ABBEY, COUNTY WEXFORD 228 + + KILKENNY CASTLE 232 + + DESERTED KILLSHENING HOUSE, FERMOY 236 + + CURRAGHMORE HOUSE, MARQUIS OF WATERFORD 240 + + HALLWAY, CURRAGHMORE HOUSE 244 + + DINING-ROOM, CURRAGHMORE HOUSE 248 + + KILRUDDERY HOUSE, EARL OF MEATH 252 + + GLENDALOUGH 256 + + TOM MOORE'S TREE, VALE OF OVOCA 260 + + ONE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES, CLONMINES 264 + + FUNERAL CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE, COUNTY + WEXFORD 268 + + POWERSCOURT HOUSE 272 + + GREAT SALON, POWERSCOURT HOUSE 276 + + RUINS OF JIGGINSTOWN HOUSE, EARL OF STRAFFORD 280 + + PARNELL'S GRAVE, GLASNEVIN CEMETERY, + DUBLIN 284 + + DANIEL O'CONNELL'S MONUMENT, GLASNEVIN + CEMETERY, DUBLIN 288 + + + + +WANDERINGS IN IRELAND + + + + +CHAPTER I + + Welcome to Ireland--Quaint People of Dublin--Packing the Motor and + Departure--Tara Hill; its History and Legends--Ruins at Trim--Tombs + of the Druids--Battle-field of the Boyne. + + +"Glory be to God, but yer honour is welcome to Ireland." + +An old traveller understands that it is the unexpected which makes the +joy of his days. I had come to Europe with the intention of spending +some conventional weeks in London, followed by an auto tour with the +family through the fair land of France. Fate brings me, upon my first +day in town, to Prince's Restaurant, when out of the chaos of faces +before me rises one whose owner, a son of Erin whom I had last seen +under the cherry blossoms of Japan, advances upon me. Then the +conventional promptly drops off and away, and it is but a short while +before a motor tour is arranged in the Emerald Isle, a month to be +passed amidst its beauties and miseries, its mirth and its sadness, for +all go in one grand company in the land of St. Patrick. + +With Boyse of Bannow I shall follow the fancy of the moment, which to my +thinking is the only true mode of travel. + +"Du Cros" has agreed to furnish a perfectly new Panhard for and upon the +same terms which I received in France last year, viz., thirty pounds +sterling per week, and everything found except the board and lodging of +the chauffeur. These very necessary details arranged we are impatient to +be off and leave London on a hot day in June. The smells, dirt, and dust +of her wooden streets, driven in clouds over all the grand old city, +follow us far out into the green meadows of England until we ask whether +the hawthorn blossoms have ever held any fragrance, and have we not been +mistaken as to roses. But London is not all of England, and we are +finally well beyond her influence and wondering why we remained within +her limits with the beautiful country so near at hand. The meadows of +England giving way to the mountains of Wales, one catches a glimpse of +the stately towers of Conway Castle, and then sails outward and westward +upon a level sea, which, on its farther side, holds the haven of desire, +Dublin, on the broad waters of the Liffey. + +Ireland welcomes us, weeping softly the while, though smiling ever and +anon as the sunlight rifts downward from the west. The gang-plank is +slippery and the pavements mucky, but our welcome is a warm one, at +least one fat, comfortable looking old woman with a shawl over her head, +a gown whose colour I cannot attempt to give, and shoes which have +evidently been discarded by her "auld man," greets me with a "Glory be +to God, but yer honour is welcome to Ireland!" and then catching sight +of my Jap servant, she gives utterance to a very audible aside, "Be the +powers of the divil, phat's that he has wid him!" crossing herself +vehemently the while, firmly convinced, I doubt not, that she has seen a +limb of Satan, which I think he strongly resembles. + +The Shelburn Hotel receives us within its walls, unchanged in the thirty +years which have elapsed since I last crossed the threshold, a +comfortable inn, pleasantly situated upon College Green, where a band of +Irish musicians are discoursing American ballads of the early sixties. + +One runs into the tide of American tourists here in Dublin, and to-night +this hotel is crowded with them. The clatter of tongues proving too much +for me, I dine and start to bed as soon as possible--a good book and an +easy resting-place are attractive after the long ride from London. + +In the hallway I encounter the porter trying to induce an old gentleman +to go to bed. Said gentleman is drunk as a gentleman should be, and +sound asleep in his chair, holding fast to a glass of whiskey and soda, +from which no efforts of the porter can part him. + +"What's the number of your room, sir?" + +The sleeping eyes half open as the happy man murmurs, "Wasn't you tryin' +to stale my whiskey just now?" + +"Well, I thought, sir, ye would be more comfortable in yer room." + +"Let slapin' dogs lie, me boy. But 'twas in a good cause ye did it, and +so I'll go," and he staggers off to the lift, sleeps on my shoulders +until I get out, and probably on the bench for the rest of the night, as +that small lift boy could never move that bulk, redolent of whiskey and +good humour. + +So far I have heard nothing from Boyse, who was to have rejoined me +here, and, when ten o'clock comes round, give him up for the night, and +putting out the light am shortly in the land of dreams, only to be +awakened by a clatter on the door followed by the entrance of the +missing man. He has put up at the Club, having reached here ahead of me. +Our car he reports ready for us at nine to-morrow morning, and I shortly +drive him out as it has gotten late. + +One must be of a sour disposition if one does not laugh in Ireland, and +be assured her people will always laugh with one, though at times there +sounds a catch of a sob running through it all. Seat yourself on any +spot in the island, and something funny is apt, nay almost sure, to +occur before you depart; all of which is apparently arranged for your +especial benefit. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Statue of St. Patrick on Tara Hill] + +It is raining this morning and it is Sunday, which in the dominions of +his Majesty does not mean a day of diversion unless you happen to be a +guest in some country house. I am in a secluded seat on the portico of +the hotel, when directly before me, on the only spot of pavement +visible, appears a girl of fourteen dressed in everything which could +never by the widest stretch of the imagination have been intended for +her when purchased. She summons "Katie darlin'" not to be such a +"truble" to her, but to appear and "spake to the gintleman," whereupon +from around the corner of a stone post comes "Katie darlin'," a mite of +a child some two feet tall with a pair of black eyes sparkling all over +her dirty little face. She is robed in what looks like a blue plush +opera-cloak on wrong side in front and festooned over what were once +shoes; her shock of never combed hair is topped by an old woman's +bonnet. "Katie darlin'" is evidently out for her Sunday. She is glad to +see every one, and especially "Your honour" after the reception of a +"ha'penny." Bless her dirty little face, what will be her portion in +this life, I wonder! Yet, after all, being Irish, she is safer than if +born of another race, for the women of her land do not go down to death +and destruction as easily as those of other countries, be it said to +their credit. God grant it may be so with "Katie darlin'," who goes +smilingly away to meet whatever fate the future holds for her, and which +disturbs her not at all as yet. + +The morning of our start from Dublin opens windy and with drifting +clouds but is a fair day for hereabouts, and after all these grey skys +are very soothing to one's eyes. + +Our motor rolls up at ten A.M. and proves to be a handsome new Panhard +of fifteen horse-power. Packing and stowing take a half-hour the first +day, as economy of space is to be desired, and the proper arrangement of +luggage is a question to be considered. However, all is done and I roll +off to the "Kildare Street Club," where Boyse awaits me. + +His traps necessitate a new arrangement of all the luggage, which I am +not allowed to superintend at all, but am carried off to a room well to +the rear where a whiskey and soda is vainly pressed upon me. I should +much prefer to stay outside and boss the job of loading up, but that +would be undignified. So we stay cooped up until all is arranged, and +then sally forth and roll away with the utmost grandeur of demeanour. I +object several times during the day to the arrangement of those traps, +impressing upon Boyse the truth of the old saying, "if you want a thing +done, go,--if not, send--" and pointing out to him that therein lies the +reason for the increasing glory and prosperity of our country and the +evident decadence of the British Empire. + +He does not take me as serious,--perhaps I am not,--but daily life must +have its spice and we spend many hours like Pat and "Dinnis" on the quay +at Cork of a Saturday evening, "fighting each other for conciliation and +hating each other for the love of God." + +Speeding away through Dublin's busy streets and out into Phoenix Park, +existence becomes life once more. The rushing winds drive the last taint +of the city and its world of men and women off and away. Beyond the +confines of the park we enter at once into the green country; tall +hawthorn hedges toss their branches above us as we speed onward, the car +moving like a bird. These are not French roads but they are far from +bad. Mile after mile glides by us, and a sharp rain forces the top over +our heads, but not for long,--it is soon down again, and we give +ourselves up for an hour to the enjoyment of mere motion. And then +history claims our attention. Dublin is of course rich in its memories +but leave it for the present and speeding westward some thirty miles +pause at the foot of Tara Hill, the most renowned spot in Ireland. There +are few in our Western land who do not remember the sweet old song of +Moore's: + + "The harp that once through Tara's halls + The soul of music shed, + Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls + As if that soul were fled." + +And there are many to whom its melodies will recall those better days +when voices long since sunken into silence sang them off into dreamland +with those words. + +Green grow the grasses to-day over this site of Ireland's most ancient +capital. Gone are its garland-hung walls, silent its harps for ever. + +Leaving the present behind, one passes into the remotest recess of the +island's past as one mounts the hill. To-day wavering misty shadows +close in around me as I move upward, even as though the spirits of the +ancient kings and minstrels were yet about, and the winds moan as though +driven across the strings of many harps, and there seems melody all +around me. + +Tara is not a great hill, but a fair green mound from which the ancient +kings were wont to spy out all the fair land around them. It was the +most sacred spot in the kingdom and none could wear the crown who bore +blemish of any sort. Cormac Mac Art, the great King, was, upon the loss +of his eye, forced to retire to the hill of Skreen near-by. For +twenty-five hundred years, Tara was the palace and burial-place of the +kings of Ireland, who every third year met here in great convention. +To-day as I stand on its summit nothing of that period, save some long +mounds, breaks the green carpet of grass thrown like the covering of our +holy communion over this holy of holies. Tara was mentioned by Ptolemy +and he called it "illustrious." Its name by some is supposed to be taken +from that of the wife of a King, Heremon, the first monarch of Ireland. +"Thea" was her name and the place was called Temora (the house of Thea), +but others call it "the house of music" (Thead, a musical chord, and +mur, a house). + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Castle of King John Trim] + +The main hall stood nine hundred feet square and "twenty-seven cubits in +height." It held its thousand guests daily and on great days the monarch +sat on his throne in its centre, his flowing yellow hair bearing the +golden crown, his stately form clothed in a brilliant scarlet robe laden +with rich ornaments of gold. Golden shoes ornamented with red buckles +and bearing stars and animals in gold, were upon his feet; the King of +Leinster sat, facing him, the King of Ulster sat on his right, the King +of Munster on his left, while the King of Connaught sat behind him. On +long rows of seats before him were the druids, bards, philosophers, +antiquaries, genealogists, musicians, and the chiefs of all the towns of +the kingdom. The assembly was opened by the chief bard, followed by the +druidical rites, after which the fire of Saman, or the moon, was +lighted. Not until then was the business of the convention taken up. In +one part of the palace, the youths were instructed in poetry and music +and initiated into the hidden harmony of the universe. Evidently in +those days a city must have surrounded the base of this hill, but of the +houses of the people little seems to be known and nothing is left. + +In these long mounds the traveller to-day may trace the outlines of the +hall composed of earth and wood from whence one hundred and forty-two +kings ruled the land, the great King Cormac dating back to A.D. 227, and +he it is who is supposed to have built this hall. Some claim that the +celebrated "Stone of Destiny" now in the coronation chair in London was +taken from here to Scotland. Of this there is no proof, but so runs the +legend. + +There is only the music of the wind-swept grasses on Tara Hill to-night, +yet surely the moon rising so grandly yonder still holds her feast and +is summoning her worshippers from the mists of the valley rising in +fantastic forms all around us,--but the only thing bearing semblance of +human form which she illumines is a crazy statue of St. Patrick here on +the spot where he met and, by the power of the Lord, vanquished the +magicians of the king. There could be no fitter heir to inherit and so +we leave him in sole possession and go down to our car, which rolls us +silently away through the green lanes and on towards Trim's ruined +arches and towers. Now the tall "yellow steeple" of the Abbey of St. +Mary's, founded by St. Patrick, and close into the town the great Castle +of King John loom up in the moonlight. Vast in extent, the castle +appears doubly so in this shadowy light, as we glide by it, a huge empty +shell covered with clambering ivy. + +Rolling on through the town we pass to Navan, dear to hunters. All this +is a fair green country where the grass is good for the cattle, where +the poultry thrive, and the Boyne is full of fish, hence one notes on +all sides the ruins of many monasteries, for those old monks were always +to be found where their stomachs could be well taken care of; and yet +with all that they were the power in the land, as the priest is still +the power in southern Ireland. + +Leaving Navan we turn northeastward towards Drogheda. The road winds all +the way by the banks of the Boyne and while that name recalls to mind +most prominently the famous battle of the kings, James and William, +still the region was celebrated long ages before either was thought of. +The whole valley was a vast necropolis for the ancient kings and druids, +and on both sides one sees the remains of a remote antiquity, especially +at New Grange where one finds a tumulus covering some two acres. At +first glance it resembles an Indian mound in America, but it is far more +satisfactory to explore as one finds in its interior a tomb of +extraordinary size and rich in carving, which is supposed to date as far +back as the earliest bronze age, but who was buried here is a question +which has never been settled. + +We enter by a passage on its southern side about fifty feet long,--a +stone corridor formed by upright slabs about seven feet high and roofed +by stones of great size. Our glimmering candles show the centre tomb to +be a lofty domed chamber, circular in form, its roof composed of +horizontally placed stones projecting one beyond the other and capped by +a single slab some twenty feet above the observer. There are three +recesses branching off from the rotunda, probably the tombs of the +lesser mortals, while the body of the monarch evidently occupied the +centre space. + +There is another sepulchre of equal size at Dowth, and doubtless every +hill or mound in sight holds others. If the Boyne as it winds and +murmurs past them could speak, it could doubtless tell us tales of kings +and druids, of royal coronations and priestly ceremonies, of life and +death in the long dead past. How was it all, I wonder? Was it +picturesque and beautiful or did the barbaric side crowd all that down +and out, leaving nothing save a shuddering feeling of horror as one +gazed on the rites of the druids? + +These tombs were rifled by the Danes a thousand years ago, and +therefore, aside from the carvings on their walls, have yielded but +little of interest to the antiquary. There is nothing of animal or human +life represented, merely coils, lozenges, and spirals, with now and then +a fern leaf, but nothing which tells their story as do the Egyptian +inscriptions. This valley of the Boyne is beautifully wooded and the +roads are fine. Our route lies past the obelisk marking the famous +battlefield where the sun of James II. set for ever. The valley is +lovely and reminds one greatly of that of the Thames near Richmond. It +has taken most of the day to make the chauffeur understand that we are +not out to kill time and distance. At the rate he would like to travel +we should reach Iceland in time for tea even with the ocean to cross, +but, as I have forced him to retrace the route several times, he seems +at last to understand our determination not to rush. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Monument on the Battle-field of the Boyne] + +The whole day's ride has been charming. We did not stop at Drogheda, but +passed on to Newry, a twelve-mile ride over a very fine road, and rested +at the Victoria Hotel, having covered one hundred and three miles since +eleven this morning, with long stoppages several times. The auto has +done splendidly and will do better as it gets down to work. + +This is the Protestant end of Ireland, prosperous and contented +apparently, but not picturesque. That goes with the state of affairs to +be found in the southern half. + +Newry is a clean town with neat shops and houses, and a good hotel, +still there are Irish characteristics which those of us who remember the +Irish maid of long ago in America will recognise at once. Many things +are broken, "jist came that way"; a complete toilet set is unnecessary +where there are windows; and I notice that the salutations sound always +wrong end first,--when people meet they say "Good-night," a form never +used elsewhere except when parting. + +Apparently the hotel is the social club of the town, where the men of a +certain class gather in the evenings, and drawing their chairs in a +circle before the bar, spend an hour or so in chaff with the barmaid, +drinking porter the while. To-night the talk is of a more serious nature +and turns on trade. + +It is claimed that what kills all chance of Ireland being a profitable +country are the railway rates, that, for instance, it costs more to get +corn from Galway to Dublin than from America to any point on the island. + +I asked an Irishman whether Gladstone had benefited Ireland, and he +replied, "he was the cause of all our trouble, he cost Great Britain two +thousand millions sterling and countless lives, and yet they put up +statues to him." + +The traveller of to-day sees no sign of the upper classes in Newry, +though there are estates all around it, and in turning the pages of its +history he will discover that it is a place of great antiquity, though +its streets to-day show no signs thereof. Prosperous and commonplace +would best describe it. However, it is just the prosperous and +commonplace which the traveller most welcomes as night comes down upon +him, for there, and not amongst the romantic and picturesque, in Ireland +at least, does he find comfortable quarters and good food. So it is +to-night and so to bed and dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + Through Newry to Tanderagee Castle--Life in the Castle--Excursions + to Armagh--Its History--The English in Armagh. + + +Our route lies from Newry north-west through Pointz-pass, beyond which +as we approach Tanderagee, the castle, a stately stone structure, is +seen towering high on a forest-crowned hill with a flag denoting its +owner's presence floating from the main tower. + +While the castle is a modern structure of some seventy-five years of +age,--originally built by the Count de Salis,--it stands on the site of +the very ancient stronghold of Redmond O'Hanlon, the most noted outlaw +of Ireland. As we roll through the quaint town clustering around the +hill, where every soul appears to have gone to sleep or gone dead long +since, the sound of the motor brings a few pale faces to the doors of +the houses, but it is very quiet withal. + +Looking upward from this street the growth of trees is so dense that no +sign of the castle is visible. We pass through almost a tunnel cut +through the rocks and trees, and emerging in a spacious courtyard, draw +up at the main portal where the _maître d'hôtel_ meets and conducts us +within, our hosts being off somewhere in their motor but will return +shortly. + +This gives us time for a quiet inspection. We find ourselves in a long, +wide, and lofty corridor having a row of windows on its right, while on +the left one has entrance first to the main hall and chapel, stately +apartments very richly decorated, and then in order follow several +drawing-rooms, a library, and a spacious dining-hall, and from the walls +of each and all, the painted faces of those who walked these chambers +long ago look down upon us with questioning gaze as though they still +retained some interest in this world of the living, and yonder dame +would, I know, like to hear the latest news from London; but take my +advice, my lady, and let it pass, it is productive of just the same +unrest and discontent now as when you trod the boards of that great +theatre of life,--Dead Sea fruit, the whole of it. + +Wondering what part she played in life, my eyes wander to an open window +and straightway all thoughts of Madam vanish as I gaze downward +through the glades of one of those beautiful parks which abound in these +dominions. A stately terrace of stone shrouded in ivy runs below these +windows and from it the land drops away into a gentle valley filled with +great trees and blossoming banks of rhododendrons with here and there a +stretch of grassland and a gleam of water, a vista which must have been +a perpetual delight to the Duke who collected these books in this +library, for a lover of books is generally a lover of nature. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Tanderagee Castle] + +Passing onward you will enter the courtyard and at the end of the long +arcades on one side find the billiard and smoking rooms. On the upper +floors, aside from the state and family apartments, one finds long rows +of bachelor apartments, twenty or thirty of them I should say, and in +the middle of the row a cozy octagon chamber where much high revel has +held forth, and which looks very lonely just now. There are small +closets in the walls which certainly did not hold holy water. + +But times are changed at Tanderagee, and while there is to-day high +revel within its walls, it comes from the fresh young voices of children +and would in no way appeal to the ghosts which haunt the octagon +chamber. + +After luncheon we visit the little ones in their rooms high up in the +sunlight, and very happy, fine children they appear to be. Round-eyed +little Lady Mary did the honours and presented her brother, who at the +time was making vain attempts to stand on his head in a corner, while +the new baby dreamed his days away in a crib by the fire. I am told that +the present Duke dying without an heir the estate would pass to a +Catholic owner, much to the distaste of the tenants here, who are mostly +Protestants, and that when little Lord Mandeville was born the +rejoicings were immense,--every man as he heard it having a pull at the +church bell. Now there are two sons and hence little chance of the +dreaded misfortune,--though it often happened during the Boer war that +many estates in the empire fell to those so distant that no hope had +been entertained for an instant of their so passing. Let us trust it +will not occur here, for these are fine children. + +Passing downward, we spend some hours in wandering over the park, +pausing at last by the grave of the late Duke in the little churchyard. +I did not notice the graves of any other members of the family. I +believe former dukes are interred at Kimbolton, the family seat in +England. The church holds some very beautiful windows erected by the +present Duchess to the memory of her mother, Helena Zimmerman. As we +return to the castle the voices of the children have roused all the +echoes of the courtyard into wild replies and now the sunlight streams +downward as though in thorough approval. + +Tea-time, that most pleasant hour of the day, finds me in the chapel +listening to the soft tones of the organ. My hand quite haphazard picks +up a volume lying near me whose title at once chains my attention and in +view of the base manner in which the author afterward sold his talents +to her enemies and slandered his Queen it may be well to quote what he +says of that Queen in this preface: + + "TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. + [An Epigram of George Buchanan.] + + "MADAM: + + "Who now happily holdest the sceptre of the Caledonian coast + conveyed from hand to hand through a long line of innumerable + ancestors, whose fortune is exceeded by thy merits, thy years by + thy virtues, thy sex by thy spirit, and thy noble birth by the + nobility of thy manners, + + "Receive (but with candour and good nature) these poems upon which + I have bestowed a Latine Dress, etc. etc. I durst not cast away + this ill-born product of mine lest I should reject what thou hast + been pleased to approve. What my poems could not hope for from the + wit and genius of the composer perhaps they will obtain from thy + good-will and approbation."[1] + +Deep in thoughts of that most interesting period of Scotch history I do +not even hear the dressing bell until its clangour becomes too insistent +to be disregarded, and I mount to my room to dress for that most +important function of the day--dinner. A bright fire makes the chamber +warm and cozy so that it is difficult to resist the temptation to +further reverie. + +Evidently Tanderagee has been greatly improved of late years. In the +building have been placed several modern bathrooms, a Turkish plunge, +and an electric light plant and steam heat, so that the damp, +penetrating cold and musty, mouldy smell usually so ever-present in +these houses, where fortunes are so constantly spent in decorations and +so little done for actual comfort, are absent. From my window I can see +on the lake of the park an ancient swan named Billy, alone in all his +glory and from choice and bad temper, not necessity. He has killed off +all his kind and all other kinds, is in fact a degenerate bird, and when +evening comes on he betakes himself with the rest of the "boys" to the +village street, and loafs around all night, no dog in the place daring +to molest him. I saw him outside of a public house there with a desire +for strong drink expressed in his eyes. He is a rake of the worst +character but you dare not tell him so. He leaves the park every night +before the gates are closed and returns next morning. + +There are fine drives in all directions hereabouts, and the roads being +good we have many a rush in the motor-cars,--one to an old ruin where +the devil is supposed to leave the impress of his foot upon a plank in +the floor each night. I doubt if to-day even the devil could reach the +plank through the accumulation of dirt thereon. + +[Illustration: Photo by Wm. Lawrence + Chapel, Tanderagee Castle] + +As we wait in the quadrangle one morning for our motors, to my +astonishment I am accosted in salutation by a name used only at home, +and by those I have known for years. "How de do, Mr. Mike?" Around me +rise the walls of the castle, but aside from the expressionless faces of +the house servants standing near I can see no one until in a dark corner +of the court a yet blacker spot suddenly shows a white gleam of teeth, +and out into the light comes the speaker. "How de do, sir?--I'se de cook +on de boss's car, and I knowed you all your life. Don't you remember +nigger John and Miss Nancy Ballentine?" Convulsed with laughter, I can +scarcely answer. This explains the hot bread and waffles on the +breakfast table, which surprised me for the moment, but which I had +entirely forgotten. Bowing and scraping came black "Tom" into the +sunshine and it seemed to do his heart good to talk of the old times, of +Black John our own cook, and Miss Nancy Ballentine, who "tended de +ladies' waitin' room in the C. H. & D. station" when she was not +assisting at the marrying or burying of most of us, at the latter +wearing a dress composed of the crêpe from many a doorbell. That it did +not match in degrees of blackness mattered not at all to the good dame. +She arranged it in stripes and she could tell you which particular +funeral each of those stripes came from. She has been dead many years, +and to have her recalled here was strange indeed, but--the cars come +with a rush, and we are off with a rush, speeding through the beautiful +park whose trees certainly equal any I have seen except of course those +of California. + +I find that my fifteen horse-power Clements keeps up very fairly with +the Duke's motor of sixty horse-power. Of course on the wide straight +roads of France this could not be, but on these narrow and crooked lanes +of Ireland we are never very far apart, and have had many good runs +together. + +Our motoring carries us often to the town of Armagh where one comes +across traces of the hatred of that Catholic Queen, Mary I., for the +Irish. She burned this see and three other churches. The cruelties of +that Queen to the people of Kings and Queens counties equals anything +told in Irish history, but is rarely mentioned by the historians of the +day. In fact, all the territory forming now those counties was stolen +from its ancient owners and the name changed as above, resulting in a +warfare which lasted into the reign of Elizabeth until the people +finally disappeared into the mountains. No torture or cruelty was +spared. + +In _Forgotten facts in Irish History_ we read that "it seems very +apparent to the student of Irish history that these people received +their persecutions not because they were _Catholics_, but because they +were _Irish_. The most terrible persecutions took place under the +Catholic sovereigns of England and not until those monarchs became +so-called heretics was the Church of Rome turned against them, so that +at the present time it is the effort of all to show that the persecution +if it exists is because of the religion." + +The history of the archbishopric of Dublin is an object-lesson on the +exclusion of the Irish from the Church ever since the Conquest. From +1171 down to the Reformation, in 1549, there were twenty-three +archbishops of Dublin. Of these not one was Irish. For the archbishopric +of Dublin "No Irish need apply!" + +The Statute of Kilkenny enacted that no religious house shall receive an +Irishman, under penalty of being attainted and having its temporalities +seized. + +One historian of our times asks: + + "But would any Irishman have the hardihood to say that if King + Edward VII. were to become a Roman Catholic (which heaven forbid), + and to go hand in hand with the Papacy in the prosecution of their + Imperial and world-wide projects, that the Pope would oppose the + King in any tyrannies he might be disposed to inflict upon Ireland + which did not run counter to the interests of the Roman Catholic + Church? Would the Pope risk the friendship of the ruler of a great + Empire for the sake of what Italians regard as 'a mere eruption on + the chin of the world'?[2] + + "The centuries of oppressive treatment which Ireland received while + the whole kingdom was under the 'shelter of the wings of Rome' + amply explains the animosity which rankles in the Irish heart + towards England and everything English. The whole story of that + almost forgotten period is a series of murders, cursings, + tyrannies, betrayals, rapacity, hypocrisy, and poverty, which + scarcely finds a parallel in the range of history." + +Armagh has suffered terribly throughout the years since St. Patrick +founded the cathedral, but though abounding in memories, there is little +existing of the past in the town to-day. The site of its cathedral is +very fine, but the building has suffered a complete restoration. + +Our days at Tanderagee have passed pleasantly but they are over at last +and bidding our hosts adieu we roll off towards Newry. + +[Illustration: Photo by Wm. Lawrence + Drawing-room, Tanderagee Castle] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The Preface of George Buchanan's Poetical Paraphrase upon +the five books of Psalms. + +Translated literally into English by Pat Stobin, A. M. Copied by me from +the MS. copy of Stobin at Tanderagee, owned by the Duke of Manchester. +The whole book is in MS. + M. M. SHOEMAKER. + +[2] The late Professor Stokes ventured to say that an English +Peer is a more welcome visitor at the Vatican than an Irish Roman +Catholic Bishop. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + Through Newcastle to Downpatrick--Grave of St. Patrick--His Life + and Work--The Old Grave-Digger--Belfast and Ballygalley + Bay--O'Halloran the Outlaw. + + +It is nearly six o'clock when we start from Newry towards Newcastle. Our +road lies down the river, and so on by the sea the entire distance. + +The highway is excellent all the way, some thirty-two miles, and the car +speeds onward like a bird. The scenery is lovely, the glimpses of +mountain and meadow, sea and sky enchanting. + +About 7.20 brings us to the hotel at Slieve Donard, a very large costly +establishment built by the railway company. It is evidently a +watering-place of some importance, and next month (July) will see it +crowded. The place is pleasantly situated by the sea and presided over +by the Mourne Mountains. There are golf-links and the walks and drives +are fine, but otherwise there is nothing of interest, and we shall move +northward to Dundrum. + +The morning is clear and crisp as we leave Newcastle, getting lost at +once in the many byways, but that is rather a pleasure than an +annoyance. All the roadbeds are fine hereabouts and we roll merrily +along over hill and down dale until Downpatrick comes into view, and we +pass up her streets to her ancient cathedral, and there pay our +devotions at the grave of St. Patrick. + +The church stands well above its ancient city and is visible from all +the country round about. Several places claim the birthplace of St. +Patrick, but that benign Scotchman was born near Dunbarton. He himself +says that his father was a deacon and his grandfather a _priest_. He was +a nephew of St. Martin of Tours, the sister of that holy man having been +the mother of the Irish patron. His name was Succat, but it is by his +Latin name of Patricius that he is known best to the millions who revere +his memory. + +Ireland during its first millennium was called Scotland, and its people +"Scots," and by these St. Patrick was taken prisoner when he was but +sixteen years of age and carried to Antrim, where he was held for six +years and forced to care for the swine of Michu, a chieftain. We are +told that this occurred in the mountain of Llemish near Ballymena. +During this period his thoughts were ever turned towards Christianity +and after having effected his escape he is next heard of at Auxerre with +its Bishop, Germanus, by whom he was admitted to holy orders. His +thoughts always turned towards Ireland and here he landed when he was +sixty years of age near the present church of Saul on Strangford Lough +in 432 A.D. This was but four miles from Downpatrick, and there the +Lord promptly blessed his work by enabling him to convert the chieftain +of the district, Dichu, to Christianity, receiving as a gift the barn of +that same chieftain, which formed the first Christian church of this +island. The present church of Saul stands on the spot and that name is +but a corruption of the ancient one of "Patrick's Sabball," or barn. + +From here the faith spread until it covered all the land, and here in +492 he died. + +Both Armagh and Dundalethglass--Downpatrick--claimed a right to provide +him with a tomb, and to settle the dispute two untamed oxen were yoked +to his bier, and they stopped on this hill of Downpatrick. As to what +sort of a wild ride they gave his saintship before, out of wind, they +rested on this hill, history is silent, but, being Irish, there is no +doubt but that he thoroughly enjoyed it. + +I have always regretted that during an ocean voyage which I once made +with the late Bishop Donnelly, I did not make inquiry concerning this +funeral progress, for I have no doubt but that his reverence--he was not +a Bishop then--knew all about it. I have never met any one who more +thoroughly appreciated the sunshine and sorrow, the laughter and tears +of the land he loved so well, and I greatly regret that that voyage was +so short and that the good Bishop so soon thereafter entered into his +rest. But to return. + +As far as the actual grave of St. Patrick is concerned, there is, of +course, no certainty; that he was buried somewhere on this hill appears +beyond doubt, and probably near the spot the church was built on, but +that his body remained long in the grave after he was elevated to the +sainthood is clearly doubtful. Probably every church in Ireland has at +one time contained a relic of his. As for this original church here, it +is spoken of way back in the sixth century and again in the eleventh. +The first claimed to have been erected by the saint himself. + +The relics of Columba were brought from Iona here and it is related that +it was that saint who enshrined those of St. Patrick just three-score +years after his death. In his tomb were found his goblet, his Angel's +Gospel, and the Bell of the Testament. + +Into St. Patrick's tomb went also the bones of St. Brigid. The Danes +came here, and Strongbow and King John passed by. + +The present church is supposed to be only the choir of the great +edifice--the second church--built by De Courcey and destroyed by Edward, +Lord Cromwell in 1605; but it is so completely restored that it is of +little interest, though very comfortable withal. + +[Illustration: Photo by Wm. Lawrence + Terrace at Tanderagee Castle] + +Just outside there stands a venerable gravedigger amongst the tombs, +who might almost have been here fifteen hundred years ago, and certainly +he would resent any insinuation that he was not well informed upon all +which may or may not have occurred since the death of the saint. He is +leaning upon his rake near the church door, and returns our salutation +in an antique manner, nothing about him as it were, belonging to this +latter day or date. "Yes, the cathedral can be visited, but perhaps +'twould be as well to visit the tomb, I will show you that,--who +better?" + +It is off amongst a tangle of tombstones and high grasses, a great flat +irregular boulder engraved with a Celtic cross and the saint's +name--evidently the sinful dead have crowded as closely as possible +around the saintly ashes in order perhaps to pass into the heavenly +gates unobserved with such great company to chain the attention of St. +Peter. But some of these around started on their last journey hundreds +of years after St. Patrick,--still, as we are told that "in His sight a +thousand years are but as yesterday," perhaps they all arrived together, +and I doubt not that for his beloved Irish the holy Patrick would delay +his entry as long as possible and even come back again from that farther +shore at the calling of some late comers. + +When I ask this gravedigger whether this be indeed the grave of the +holy man, he looks wise, plucks a bit of grass from a near-by grave, and +seizes his opportunity for an oration. It is useless to stop him with +questions, he will answer as and when it pleases him; and so, sitting +upon the tomb with the sunlight falling in a glowing benediction upon +us living and upon the old cathedral and its silent company, he speaks +on and on. "There's many, your honour, phwat has heads but don't use +thim. Is this _the_ grave you ask. Well I have puzzled out the question +for many years. I _don't_ believe it is, as I suggested this spot to the +antiquary society myself. In owlden days the spot prayed upon as his +tomb was under yonder middle window of the church, but whin a bishop +came along who wanted more silf-glory than one driveway would give him, +he made that one there, and in so doing moved the owld tombstone,--not +that I am claiming that even that was the first one laid upon the +blessed corpse, for an owld woman of eighty who lived here until she was +ten and then moved away, came back to bid farewell to her native town on +going to America, and upon being shown the tomb undher the window asked +since whin had the dead taken to moving their graves, for whin she left +here it was below there in the valley. But we know it was around here +some place, and this new spot is as good as any other." "Did St. +Pathrick build that church?--no, sure, yer honour, he was not the kind +of a man who wint around glorifying himself. If he had had as much money +as that cost 't would be the poor who would have got it. Still, the +church yonder is fifteen hundred years old, though it has been so built +over that it is hard to believe it." + +The old man would have talked on for ever, but, like most of his age, it +would have been but vain repetition, and so we move off and away, +feeling sure that the spirit of the benign old saint returns now and +then in floods of warm sunlight to his ancient cathedral of Downpatrick. + +Like most grave-diggers, the man up there knew more of the past than of +the present, and when he told us that we would find a fine ferry from +Strangford across the outlet of the lough of that name he spoke without +advisement. We found a proposition to place some planks from one boat to +another and so to ferry us and our great machine over one of the +deepest, swiftest currents passing outward to the sea. It is useless to +say that I vetoed this proposition, so we rolled backward almost to +Downpatrick, and then turned north-west towards Belfast, which we +reached for luncheon. + +When I pass a city like Belfast without notice, it is not that there is +not much of interest there, but that it has been so often described, and +I would confine these notes to those more unfamiliar spots with which +Ireland abounds, places of which the general run of travellers knows +nothing. Yet Belfast, like its great neighbour Glasgow, possesses much +of interest of which the guide-books make no note. + +Leaving the busy city of the north, our route lies towards the sea and +by the sea for some hours, the roads all very good. We pass +Carrickfergus and Larne and on the shores of Ballygalley Bay, coming to +a sudden stoppage, discover on investigation that our stupid chauffeur +has allowed the gasoline to run out. What to do is a problem, as we are +some miles from any town and the road is a lonely one. To assist in a +solution of the question Boyse goes to sleep in the motor and I go out +on a lonely rock at sea where O'Halloran, that most renowned outlaw in +Irish history, built his tower,--all in ruins now. For ten years he kept +all this district in subjection and was killed in 1681. + +There is but little left of his stronghold here--an angle of a tower, an +outline of a wall or two,--all on a tiny island around which murmur the +waters of the Irish Sea, while far out, seemingly afloat, in the hazy +distance rise the shadowy shores of Scotland. That is Cantyre and Arran +over yonder. There are no sails in sight and the sea is asleep. The +high-road winds away close down by the shore on either hand, while high +behind it the fantastic cliffs tower some three hundred feet and more, +wild and desolate. To have passed this way in the days of O'Halloran, +without paying heavy tribute, if he allowed you to go at all, would have +been well-nigh impossible, and our further progress, unless that petrol +comes, is as effectively prohibited. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + The Tomb of St. Patrick] + +But there is peace about just now, the drifting clouds above, the +lapping waters and silent hills all around, Boyse still sleeping, and +the auto seemingly dead, while Yama occupies a pinnacle of an adjacent +rock, a bronze Buddha on its travels, as it were. But far down the coast +road a white speck shortly evolves into a jaunting-car laden with petrol +cans--we had sent word back by a passing cyclist--whose contents are +promptly transferred into our tank, and then with all paid for we glide +away to the north, with one last glimpse at the ruined tower in its bay +of Ballygalley. + +I should make the chauffeur pay for his stupidity about that petrol, but +I don't suppose I shall do so. + +The ride to Ballycastle is joyous, the road very fine and smooth, +running now by the glistening sea and then far up a thousand feet amidst +the silence of the hill and moors, over which flocks of sheep are +browsing upon grass rich and thick. + +Several towns are holding fairs, and we have met two "Irish gentlemen" +returning home who would not care to-day whether the Emerald Isle got +her freedom or not. One led a huge stallion which pranced and snorted at +our passing, but while unable to stand straight, his keeper held on to +his charge, and I doubt not got him home safely, occupying most all the +roadway in his progress. It will be a very sorry day indeed when an +Irishman, no matter what his condition, cannot hold on to a horse. + +Ballycastle is reached at eight o'clock and we find quarters in a very +comfortable inn--the Marine Hotel,--after a run of over one hundred +miles. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + Ballycastle to the Causeway--Prosperity of Northern + Ireland--Bundoran--Gay Life in County Mayo--Mantua House--Troubles + in Roscommon--Wit of the People--Irish Girls--Emigration to + America--Episode of the Horse--People of the Hills--Chats by the + Wayside--Mallaranny. + + +It is nineteen miles from Ballycastle to the Causeway. Immediately upon +leaving the former place, in fact quite within the town's precincts, we +struck one of those steep short hills which seem greatly to try the +temper of motors. While they will later mount much more difficult and +longer slopes, with apparently no difficulty, such a hill so soon after +breakfast always disagrees with them, and so it was just here. In fact, +it looked as though we must get out and walk, but with an additional +spurt and snort it was over the summit, and we tobogganed down the other +slope at a speed which made us hold on tightly. + +All this ride to the Causeway is up and down the wildest hills, close +beside yet high above the neighbouring ocean, and at times the route +lies down such steep inclines that I confess I take them in great +trepidation, commanding Robert to go slowly. This he consents to do at +the very summit, but halfway down with what a whiz and a roar do we +finish the descent, rushing far up the next incline! + +There is a safer, far safer, route just inland, but the vote was against +that. Yet at times when the wind is roaring past us, as we rush downward +and we realise that a break in any part of our car might hurl us over +the wall and hundreds of feet downward, we almost wish we had selected +the safer route. The road is so close to the cliff's wall that the +prospect along the coast is at all times grandly impressive while from +far beneath arise the vague, delusive voices of the ocean. Pausing for a +space we cross the wall and creep out on to a projecting headland and +drink in the superb panorama. Far below us and far out to sea spreads +the great floor of the Giant's Causeway, while on either hand away into +the hazy distance of this lovely day in June stretch the fantastic +cliffs and headlands of this romantic coast, showing by their jagged +outlines the effects of their ceaseless battle with the sea. On the +headland where we stand green grasses spangled with buttercups roll +inland into broad meadow lands and towards distant purple mountains. +This world may hold more lovely spots than Erin's Isle, but if so, I +have never seen them. + +As there are very few signboards in Ireland a motor tour is a constant +study of the map and one must come provided with such. Before leaving +London I purchased a set of Stanford's, seven in all, covering this +island, and very finely gotten up.[3] It is a pleasure to study them and +a child could scarcely go wrong, though we have enjoyed the pleasure of +getting lost several times. + +So far my luck of two years back in France, as to weather, has followed +us. Aside from one shower the first day we have had fine weather all the +time, not all sunshine but no rains, and the cool grey skies with rifts +of sunlight breaking through them, illuminating like a searchlight spots +of the land or sea, are beautiful. + +The auto has settled down to serious work by now and rushes singing +along, working better and better as the hours fly by. Leaving the +Causeway our route lies inland through Bushmills, Coleraine, and +Limavady. + +All this end of Ireland appears prosperous. The highroads and villages +are well kept. The land is strongly Protestant, its men and women fine, +serious specimens of humanity, and there are no heaps of manure and +filth near the tidy houses, while the old mothers go smilingly along +through life. + +Even the hens in this island have a degree of understanding denied their +French sisters. Scarce one has attempted to cross our pathway and none +have gotten killed. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + The Interior of a Cabin of the North] + +Lunching at Londonderry we made a rapid run to Bundoran on the Atlantic +coast. The ride was pleasant with good roads nearly all the way, part +way over the highlands and part by the shores of Lough Erne. Bundoran is +a desolate, bleak sort of watering-place, lonely and dispiriting, but +with a comfortable hotel of the Great Northern Railway Company. + +We depart next morning with every feeling of satisfaction. It is a +dreary place and the life led therein is dreary also. The power of the +ocean is so great here that it has carved the whole coast with caverns +and gulches until the observer wonders whether it will not eventually +carry off Bundoran, town, hotel, and all. + +So we roll off into the sunshine and from the moment we enter County +Sligo the fun begins. A spirited sprint with half a dozen young steers +leads us through a group of jaunting-cars from which our passing causes +men and women to descend in anything but a dignified manner. One portly +dame in a white cap slips and sits down upon mother earth with much +emphasis. Her remarks, though few, were to the point. Another gathers +her skirts well around her waist, and regardless of a foot or more of +panties takes a flying leap over a mud wall, and "Glory be to God's" +resound on all sides. A flock of geese in attempting escape through the +bars of a gate get wedged therein, and keep the gate going by the +motion of their wings, and as it swings to and fro rend the air with +their squawking. On the whole the excitement would satisfy the most +exacting and there is more to come. + +This being the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul has been seized upon for +fairs, and in all the villages great preparations have been made for +their celebration. Towards each town droves of animals, mostly cattle +but also many pigs, the latter scrubbed to cleanliness, make stately +progress, the pigs in carts bedded with straw--not a mortal in any of +the fairs is as clean as the pigs. + +We were approaching one of these fairs, and moving as slowly as could be +if we were to move at all. Cattle and pigs were all around us and +generally paid no attention to our car, but one sportive young heifer +decided otherwise, and with a snort and a whisk of tail she was off in +the opposite direction. Evidently a leader of fashion in her circle, she +created a fashion there and then for there was scarce a pig or cow which +did not follow suit, urged on by many dogs. The noise and confusion was +appalling, and the manner in which old men and women, comfortable Irish +"widdies," young men and maidens, took to trees and stumps gave added +animation to the landscape. By this time we had come to a halt. I did +not want to laugh, and the suppression of that emotion caused the tears +to course down my face. Just then a man advanced towards us, his face +aflame, his raised right arm grasping a bowlder, while as he came onward +he shouted furiously, "I'll larn yez, I'll larn yez." There was nothing +to do save sit silently, and this we did. The nearer he came, the lower +got his arm, until he had passed us as though we were not there. Then +the arm went up again and all the fury returned while the air rang with +his "I'll larn yez," but towards whom directed it was impossible to +determine as he walked steadily away from us all the time. I cannot say +that I altogether blame him as it must have been somewhat difficult for +the owners to separate their new purchases from that concourse of +rushing animals. What a good time they had to be sure! + +The man was our first instance of hostility in Ireland. In fact the +people were generally very friendly towards us, assisting whenever +assistance was required, which fortunately was not often. Certainly we +met with none of the jealous hatred which often greets a prosperous +looking man in France, and causes him to think of the guillotine, or the +lowering glances and sometimes violence of the Swiss. Still the Swiss +have some justice on their side. The passing machine covers the meadow +grass with dust and the cattle will not eat it, which to the people +spells ruin. + +However, auto cars cannot be kept out of Switzerland, and her government +should take the matter in hand and, by oiling the highways, obviate the +difficulty. + +No oil will, however, ever be needed in Ireland. While we had but one +rain during the entire tour of the first summer, the night dews did away +with all dust. As for the highways and lesser avenues and byways, I +expected to find much that was rough and almost impassable, but on the +whole they are all very good indeed. Except in Galway I remember none +that were bad, and I circled the entire island and crossed and recrossed +it many times. + +From Sligo we take a run through the county of Roscommon, which seems to +suffer most from these evil days, and to carry on its face a look of +sadness and neglect. Things are not at rest here and the press daily +holds its records of "outrages" in Roscommon, but let us leave that +until to-morrow. Certainly there are no traces of it as our car rolls up +the broad avenue of Mantua House, the estate of Mr. Bowen, where as the +rain comes down a warm welcome and bright fire cause us to forget that +there is storm and darkness outside and perhaps sorrow and trouble all +around. + +Mantua House is a spacious, square building, in a large park. It has +some three centuries to its credit but yet it is a cheery, pleasant +abiding-place and smiles at the passer-by like a saintly old lady. It is +said that the fairies abided once under its doorstep and when some few +years ago a vestibule was added an old woman appeared and kneeling down +cursed the workmen for disturbing them. But the little spirits do not +seem to have minded it much and the inhabitants of the "House in the +Bog" live on in peace. My night's slumber under its roof was undisturbed +and dreamless. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + A Woman of the North] + +There is much of interest in the house in the shape of portraits, and +those of seven generations, whose owners had passed their lives here, +looked down upon us while at dinner. I fear I appear morose and a bad +guest for I cannot keep my eyes and thoughts from these old portraits, +wondering what the lives of their owners were and how I shall feel if +ever my painted face looks down from some shadowy canvas on a company at +dinner a century or two hence. If such portrait should exist it will +probably be marked "Portrait of a gentleman" as one so often reads in a +catalogue when name and owner are long, long forgotten as of no +importance. How poor a thing is earthly immortality and yet how we all +long for it, how we dread to be amongst those "_forgotten_." But they +are not "forgotten" in Mantua House, as I was told the names and dates +of all of them. Later, in the glow of the turf fire, those around us in +the spacious hall almost quicken into life and gaze into its glowing +depths as we are doing and as they have each in turn done in the old +mansion, until the bell of time sounded for them and they passed away +into shadowland. I think that for glowing warmth and depth of colour a +turf fire surpasses all others. The brown earth burns deeply but glows +to its very heart, and as it burns throws off a pungent smoke which +recalls to your memory the "Princess of Thule," and finally getting +into your brain drives you off to bed and the mantle of sleep falls upon +the "House in the Bog." + +It is a misty morning in which we bid our hosts good-bye but not to be +too hard upon us the sun shines now and then as we roll off between the +dripping hedgerows whose boughs, reaching at us as though endeavouring +to stay our progress, scrape the top of our hood as the car glides +onward. As I have stated, the county of Roscommon suffers more than any +other section of Ireland in these days of "cattle driving." Here it is +first impressed upon the traveller that there is trouble abroad. Numbers +of men with lowering glances loaf around doing nothing save smoke their +stumpy pipes and all the rich land hereabouts stands neglected and +deserted. + +As to this driving of the cattle which is the cause of most of the +trouble, the landowners generally rent their fields for grazing, but the +people are determined that they shall _sell_ them their lands and at +prices dictated _not_ by the _owners_, but by the _purchaser_. This +being refused, they will not allow the grazing, and drive a man's cattle +back to him, leaving the land of no profit to its owner, and hoping +thereby to force him to their methods. There would appear to be small +justice in all this. + +There is much trouble of this description all over the island but it is +only in Roscommon that the fact has impressed itself upon us and we +hear of it constantly. One man told me that he had been out with seven +packs of hounds which had been poisoned and related the story of a +landlord who spent not less than forty thousand pounds a year on his +estate keeping it and his tenantry in the best of conditions. He was +waited upon by a committee from the League, who informed him that if he +allowed certain men, all his friends, to hunt with his hounds, he and +his pack would be boycotted. He replied that he lived in the country +because he considered it his duty to do so, that he spent all his money +here for the same reason, giving employment to hundreds, keeping all in +plenty, but that if such a threat was carried out, he would sell +everything and leave. It was carried out, and he closed his estate, sold +his horses and hounds in England, and left this island, the loss to his +section being enormous, and all for the sake, as in most of our +"strikes," of a few ringleaders who fatten on the poor men they +hoodwink, while their families starve. + +At present a man may go into many sections of Ireland and demand land, +placing his own price thereon and the owner has got to accept it. +What an opportunity for dishonesty lies there! It is so common for +all Europe, and I have noticed several very bitter "communications" +in the Irish press lately--to point to the so-called lawlessness of +America, _i.e._, the United States, that it is something to note the +present state of affairs in parts of Ireland. For instance, here in +Roscommon, no man has been convicted of murder for years, yet there +have been many terrible crimes of that sort committed; one where a son +and daughter murdered their old father on his doorstep that they might +get the little place. They were tried and _acquitted_. Again every one +has heard of the case of Mr. and Mrs. Blake which occurred but lately +in Galway. Refusing to sell their lands they were both fired upon and +wounded while returning from mass and almost under the walls of the +church. The people standing round simply roared with laughter. No one +was apprehended for that crime though every one in the country could +tell who were the assailants. + +It is scarcely just for an outsider to pass upon the affairs of a +foreign country, but when, as I have stated, one's own land is +constantly held up to the most violent criticism, while at the same time +the daily press of our critics teems with reports of like and worse in +their own country, one cannot be blamed for so doing. + +[Illustration: Mantua House + Roscommon] + +I was told later that there is much trouble around Cashel, but +personally I saw no signs of it save in Roscommon. Elsewhere it is very +easy to disbelieve the reports, for surely in no part of the world are +the prospects more entrancing to the traveller--on the surface at +least--than in this island with its lovely lakes, its beautiful +mountains and seas, its picturesque people, and above all its luxuriant +vegetation. Every old tower is shrouded in ivy, and the grass is soft as +velvet, showing the richness of the soil, and is beautiful beyond +description. With all their sorrow and tears these people appear full of +sunshine and laughter, and if you smile at them you are always greeted +pleasantly, while you find them at all times full of jests and quaint +humour which keep you in a constant state of laughter. The other day I +gave a man a sixpence as a tip. Being possessed of true politeness, he +would not directly reflect upon my generosity, or the lack thereof, but +gravely regarding the coin a moment, and scratching his head the while +in a meditative fashion, he exclaimed, "Bad luck to the Boer war which +blew the two shillings away and left the sixpence." + +It is almost impossible to change the habits and customs inborn in these +peasants, no matter how many years may be passed in foreign lands. It is +a well-known fact that girls that have lived in cleanly, pleasant homes +in America, with all which that means, on returning here, as they often +do, and marrying some Irish lad, soon sink to the level from which they +had raised themselves by emigrating. Their savings all gone to buy the +hut from their husband's brothers and sisters and poor as when they left +Ireland, they are soon seen standing barefooted in the manure and filth, +pitching it into a wretched cart, drawn by a most wretched looking +donkey, all their good clothes and dainty habits a thing of the past and +I doubt if greatly regretted. + +Occasionally, however, the reverse holds true. A lady not long since +came over bringing her Irish maid with her, and on reaching Queenstown +told the girl that she could, if she desired, go home for a visit and +rejoin her mistress later in Dublin. The girl went, but before the +mistress reached Dublin the telegraph wires were laden with messages +from the maid, so fearful was she that the mistress would leave her, and +when she rejoined her remarked with a gasp, "but ma'am, I did not know +it was like that; why the pig slept in the room wid us." But there are +not many who mind the pig and a girl returned and married here will cuff +her children, dirty with dirt which would have sickened her while in her +American home, out of the way of the "gentleman who pays the rent." + +As for the emigration of these or any other peoples to our country, if +they who come are honest and willing to work, they will find no +difficulty in obtaining plenty of employment, provided they go where it +is and do not expect it to be ready to their hand on landing. Most who +get into trouble and, returning home, tell woful tales about +impositions, etc., are those who insist upon remaining in the congested +districts of the East. The whole South and great West, from St. Louis to +the Pacific, and from Canada to Mexico, is open to them, a vast empire, +where all may live if they will work and where there is room for all who +come. The systems of irrigation in action and proposed by our +government, in the west, are reclaiming a vast empire yet to be +peopled, while in the South labour brings high figures and is difficult +to obtain, especially in our great cotton mills in South Carolina and +Georgia and in the lumber mills of Florida. + +But thousands who come to us have no intention of working and insist +upon remaining around and in our crowded cities and districts where the +devil soon finds plenty of employment for their idle hands, and his arch +agents--ward politicians--lend him most efficient assistance. I know +that only last winter one of the owners of a great lumber mill in +Florida, at his own expense, brought from the immigrant bureau in New +York a large number of men who no sooner got to Florida than they ran +off and became tramps, having from the start no intention of working. + +That there is much truth in _The Jungle_ and other books of like sort is +beyond doubt, but there is no necessity for any man, woman, or child's +remaining in such places unless he so desires. Most of them having lived +in abject poverty and wretchedness at home, continue, by nature, to do +so abroad, and will never change, and such as these by their very habits +contribute largely to the state of affairs described in that book. The +hope lies in the future, not for them, but for their children, who +certainly _will_ change. Such change is difficult if not impossible +after man's estate is reached, not only with the poor but also with the +well-to-do and rich. + +To all proposed emigrants to the United States I would say again, if you +are honest men and will come willing to work, you are welcome and there +is plenty for you to do and space for all. If you expect or insist upon +loafing around the cities, declining work, and expecting to be +supported, you will be disappointed, you will end in the workhouse--stay +away, we don't want you. + +The roads through Roscommon from Mantua House are bad. We encountered +but few good stretches for some miles from that house; then they became +better. On one of these we were making rapid progress down grade, when +suddenly some hundred or so yards ahead two men came out from a gateway +leading a huge black mare. She was evidently restive and we slowed up +but as we came to a stop a hundred feet off she reared, broke loose, and +fell over backwards, then rolling over plunged forward towards a gate +and succeeded in fastening the metal pointed horns upon her collar so +securely under the bar of the gate that she was held immovable upon her +knees. Notwithstanding her great power she could not stir an inch. When +the gate was thrown open, she sprang forward in the wildest fright and +her owner stood by and cursed us to the extent of his ability. He +certainly heard us coming and should not have brought her out, but it's +all one-sided with horsemen,--they expect to do exactly as suits them +and if anything happens, the other party, no matter what they are on or +in, are always to blame. In every case we come, as we did there, to a +dead stop at once, and I must say that all of our accidents have arisen +because the men have much less sense than the horses, which I notice in +nearly every case rarely evince fright until their owners jump at them +and drag at their bridles. I have never listened to a more perfect line +of curses than were poured forth in that case; they seemed to linger in +the air long after we had placed hills and dales between ourselves and +the old man, which we did as soon as possible. + +[Illustration: A View in Ballina, A typical Irish town] + +As we stopped for luncheon later on I questioned a car driver as to a +large building near by. + +"Is that a court-house over there?" + +"Yis, sir, but we haven't much use for it. Only open it wanst a +fortnight, and shortly we won't open it at all, at all. Thim lawyers've +'ad their own way long enough, it's time the car drivers had a show." +(Wherein lawyers interfered with car drivers was not stated.) + +"Are you mostly Catholics around here?" + +"Yis, sir." + +"Is not that a Methodist chapel yonder?" + +"Yis, but not much good at all, and would shut up altogether only some +old man with more money than sinse left it twenty pounds a year." + +Passing onward into the highlands, we stopped for water at a little +stone house, from which the children swarmed out like +flies,--seven,--belonging to one man, and his wife ventures the +statement that if we come back in seven years there will be seven more. +She speaks feelingly; evidently there is no race suicide here. + +This far western Ireland is much like the highlands of Scotland, but far +wilder. Auto cars are rarely seen here. While the land is still orderly +and apparently prosperous, I think I note the change towards the +shiftlessness so prevalent in the south. There are many roofless and +abandoned cottages and the heaps of manure are becoming more frequent. + +We shall shortly reach Newport near Clew Bay and pass on to Mallaranny +and Achill Island, the wildest part of Ireland. Well up into the hills, +we pause for some slight repairs, and the usual group of men and boys, a +girl and a dog, appear as from nowhere and squat on the adjacent bank. +They say they can speak the ancient tongue and that all the old customs +and usages are still in vogue hereabouts. I ask for a wake, but that +puzzles them. "It might be difficult to arrange, sir." However, I shall +probably attend one before I leave the land, hoping that it may not +prove my own. I ask if these boys live near here. + +"They all do, sir." + +"Well, it's a beautiful spot." His eyes and mine wander off over the +solitary moorland and up to the more solitary mountains. + +"It is indade, sir." + +"I have a streak of Irish blood in my own veins," I venture to add. + +"Have ye, now, sir, and were ye born in Ireland?" + +"No, we left here more than two centuries ago." + +"Time you war havin' a wake indade, sir." That turns the laugh on me, +and I throw a shilling at the crowd for drinks, which results in a wild +scramble down into a muddy ditch and a wilder waving of legs in the air +as each and all go head first into the mud. + +Quiet restored, my former conversationalist, somewhat the worse for mud, +remarks. "And indade, sir, ye seem to have a good time, 'tis wishin' I +am that all the people here had the likes," and with an echo to the wish +and a wave of the hand we glide off and away into the valley. + +This ride has indeed been beautiful, but just as we enter the village of +Mallaranny (County Mayo) and are speeding down a steep incline, a little +yellow-headed urchin toddles directly across our track; a catastrophe +seems unavoidable; women shriek and howl, and men stand paralysed, but +one old crone grabs the boy just as Robert brings our car to a halt, +with not six inches to spare. The baby, not at all frightened, howls +with rage because his progress has been cut short. The old crone +proceeds to spank the child until I tell her that if any one deserves +punishment it is herself for her neglect. A few more miles brings us to +the hotel and in a very sleepy state, as the air all day has been +chilly; but we are not so sleepy that we cannot see at once that this +is not such a chamber of discomfort, such a cold storage as that place +at Bundoran. In point of situation and objects of interest there can +also be no comparison. As a centre to explore this beautiful section and +study these people Mallaranny could not be improved upon. The house +stands high and overlooks land and sea for miles, and in whichever +direction the eye roams the prospect is attractive, while Bundoran Hotel +stands on a bleak moor over which the howling winds from all the North +Atlantic sweep with terrible force. The town is dreary and of no +interest, and the mountains too far away, while the climate is raw and +unpleasant, whereas Mallaranny, much to the south, is swept by balmy +winds and well sheltered on the north. Both places have salt water in +the house, but here the bathrooms are large and the tubs are small +swimming-tanks. There is a man at the head of that house and a woman at +the head of this, and there lies the difference so far as the houses are +concerned. Of course I do not mean to state that it is warm here. In +fact the air is cold all over the land, and while there have been no +rains so far, we wear fur coats and use fur robes all the time, and +would be most uncomfortable without them. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + A Glimpse of Achill] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 3: There are also Mecridy's Maps for Cyclists and Tourists, +published at the office of the _Irish Cyclist_, Dame Court, Dublin, at +one shilling each. A very excellent lot of maps. Just what one wants and +no more, and not so expensive as Stanford's.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + + The Island of Achill--Picturesque Scenery--Poverty of the + People--"Keening" for the Dead--"The Gintleman Who Pays the + Rint"--Superstitious Legends. + + +The island of Achill lies off the west coast of Ireland. Exposed to the +full fury of the North Atlantic winds it is one of the bleakest spots on +the globe. The manners and customs of its people change but slightly +with the passing years. + +Leaving the hotel on a misty morning, we roll off towards the sea. The +way is narrow for a car and we pass uncomfortably near sleeping brown +bogs whose quiet waters would promptly cover us up and suck us down past +all resurrection were our wheels to slip over the brink. + +Reaching a hill up which a man is driving cattle, our chauffeur sounds +the horn and pushes gently forward, causing the animals to give way, +whereupon their owner holds up his hand in indignant protest with a +"Would ye dhrive the _cattle_!" To his thinking we should plod slowly up +that miles-long hill behind his herd rather than cause them to move to +one side,--to "dhrive the _cattle_!" being in his eyes little short of +sacrilege. Yet his sort does not hesitate to drive other men's cattle +off of still other men's land, and consider it their right so to do. + +The long muddy road runs on the cliffs over the sea and finally turns +down towards the coast, apparently losing itself in the waste. This is +not the highway and we so discover in season to prevent an accident. +Just then a small boy comes racing after us shouting that we should have +turned off higher up. A few half-pennies and our thanks make him +smilingly offer to return and show us the route, and a lift in the car +completes his happiness,--the first time he has ever ridden in an +automobile, I doubt not. + +The traveller does not notice anything unusual until, having crossed the +Peninsula of Curraun, he enters upon one of the strangest spots on +earth. In the foreground, deep in a valley is a mysterious pool, black +as night: all around rise the gloomy mountains, while over the peak to +the west the sun is sending long shafts of purple and gold into the +distant hollows, where brown turf fields stretch away, and low-walled, +whitewashed, and thatched cottages spot the landscape, and the scarlet +skirts worn by all the women throw splashes of vivid colour here and +there. The whole is gloomy and sombre to a degree. The winds blow coldly +and we draw our furs closely about us as the car speeds onward over +roads not made for such usage. This indeed is ancient Ireland and one +hears the Celtic tongue on all sides. + +Holiday is held here as in Sligo, and the encounters with cattle and +ponies are frequent. Here is a pony drawing a load of heavy timber which +he insists upon running off with on our approach. Of course, we halt +until we can creep by him. Yonder is a man to whom the fair has proven a +not unmixed blessing. He lies upon his face on a bank, blind drunk, and +will not take home with him the drinks consumed at the fair. His wife +and father stand by trying to hold an old horse, but the bridle breaks +and off he goes ahead of us, losing finally both blanket and saddle, and +vanishing up a mountain. Another old gentleman, held on his horse by a +dutiful son, curses us to the King's taste but in Celtic which we do not +understand. Only the women are sober after the day's bout, and many is +the beautiful face set off by the scarlet dress, which greets us +smilingly or hides its sorrow from our glances. + +Now the road grows wilder and wilder,--there is absolutely no sound save +the moan of the distant ocean. + +As we near the remotest part of the island, where the mountains raise +their heads in solemn grandeur, there are no signs of human habitation +except one lonely cottage. Its door is open, but there is no evidence of +life. Suddenly the air shivers with the weirdest, loneliest cry I have +ever listened to,--a sustained, penetrating wail rising and falling on +the sad air and then shuddering away into silence, silence, silence +rendered all the sadder by the fast approaching shadows of night. It is +the famous "keening" or mourning cry for the dead. There are +professional keeners and when one is informed of a death she starts for +the house of sorrow and commences this melancholy cry as she goes. All +the way over hill and dale, by these dark pools and through the bog +pathways she goes, her cry bringing the women and children to the doors +of all the huts. As she approaches the dead the cry dies away and ceases +as she enters the cottage. Walking round the bier she commences anew and +passing outward and away fills all the silence of the deepening night +with her melancholy plaint. To hear it any place in Ireland is sad +enough, to hear it amidst the desolation of Achill is almost terrifying +and never to be forgotten. To-night it sounds like the voices of lost +souls from the depths of the dark Atlantic. + +I have heard a cry like that from the Arab women of a desert town, but +nowhere else on earth, and I doubt if any other people possess one of +such concentrated, desolate sorrow as this,--a sound which almost makes +the heart stand still. + +Why should these people mourn the advent of peace? Surely it is better +for them to sleep than to wake; better to die than to live. + +Through the open doorway of this hut as we pass we catch but a glimpse +of an old woman bowed in sorrow and a sheeted, silent form on the bed in +the corner. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Slievemore and Dugort, Achill] + +Our car glides slowly and silently by and we move onward, more and more +into the island of Achill, into the heart of ancient Ireland, until, +rounding the shoulder of a desolate mountain, we come suddenly upon the +sea. This is no bay or inlet, no capes guard us here, there is no +lighthouse in sight to indicate that man ever sends his ships out there. +That is the heart of the ocean, the deep sea. The waves, black as +midnight and hurled forward with the force of the Gulf Stream, and all +the currents of the North Atlantic, come thundering in with such power +that one instinctively draws backward, while the coast is all cut and +jagged, torn up and thrown pell-mell by the ceaseless onslaught. You +realise that just out there are vast depths, awful forces, and that once +within their grasp nothing save an interposition of God could save you; +even this land scarcely seems a safe abiding-place. + +The sky above is black as the waters beneath it and the winds sough +upward from the underworld as though laden with the misery of these +people of Achill. + +Are there not scenes and times when the great truth of the existence of +the Deity is impressed upon one? By the deep sea, amidst the solitude of +the mountains and the silence of the desert, from the song of a bird far +overhead, and always from the eyes of a little child does not the +assurance come to man, past all doubting, that verily there is--a God? +Has the atheist ever existed who has not experienced this many times +throughout his wretched life? + +The face of Ireland in the far western section seems constantly covered +with tears. The sadness and poverty of the people passes all +comprehension. Surely the love of their home land must be very great to +keep them here at all. + +Lady Dudley has established a most excellent charity hereabouts in the +shape of contribution boxes for the establishment of district nurses in +these the poorest sections of Ireland. The girls have a sadly hard time +of it as often they find nothing to rest on in these hovels save a box +or head of a barrel. We are stopping in front of one now that would be +considered unfit for cattle at home, a low stone hut thatched in rotting +straw patched up with turf. There is no window, and the door has no +glass. The interior, plainly visible, is horrible in its sodden +wretchedness. Before the doorstep is a bog of manure and all kinds of +filth in which the pigs and ducks are at work. As our eyes wander away +and up to the hills, white with stone, we wonder why in God's name with +feet to walk upon every soul does not leave this island, which is not +intended for man to live upon; yet here they are and plenty of them, and +many seem cheery and happy. The woman of this wretched hovel before us +is pitching manure into a cart, and as she stands, barefooted, in the +filth above her ankles, sings and talks to me in the liveliest fashion. +Just beyond is a bog whose waters, black as night, and spangled with +water lilies, reflect as in a mirror a flock of geese and a woman in a +brilliant scarlet petticoat. Beyond rise the mountains sombre and gloomy +and over all lowers a sky dark with storms. Then the rain falls, but +only for an instant, when the sunlight descending in long shafts of +intense light turns even this scene of desolation into one of beauty. If +these people were moved into a richer and more fertile section would +they remain there, or would one shortly find these filthy hovels +occupied again by their original owners? If so, their love of home +passes comprehension. + +One cannot but feel that many of the countless millions yearly sent to +foreign missions were better spent here, where, by improving the body, +the salvation of the soul would be more easily attempted, for it is +impossible to believe that with such horrible, sordid conditions, there +can be any deep belief in the goodness of God. + +When in Teheran, Persia, I could not but observe the extensive +missionary buildings, and when I asked what people the work was amongst, +the reply came "Nestorian Christians." So, all the contributions from +the churches are expended upon those who are already Christians. For (as +is certainly not known at home) a Persian to be converted does not mean +loss of caste as in India but _death_, and hence conversion to +Christianity amongst them is impossible. Persia is the most fanatical +of all nations, where one may not even look into a mosque, much less +enter, yet millions continue to pour into that land yearly. Comment +should be unnecessary, but I cannot help feeling that comment is needed +when looking out over a scene like this before us to-day. There are +plenty of plague spots in our own new land which need close attention; +for instance, in the mountains of Virginia where the people are so +ignorant that they not only cannot read, but do not know what reading +is. It is a disgrace to our land that the ministers from these mountains +are forced to go begging through the churches for money to carry on +their work, but,--it is not half so picturesque and interesting to help +such as to send millions to the land of the Sultan of Ispahan and +perchance be able to rescue some Lalla Rookh or encounter the veiled +prophet of Khorassan. + +I find I am very apt--so to speak--to tumble off the island of Achill +into almost any part of the world, so let us return once more. + +The population of Achill is steadily decreasing, and now counts but +forty-six hundred. These people have been described as a lot of thieves +and murderers with, I should judge, very little justice in the charge. +They had no such appearance to my eye. + +The soil on the island is so thin and poor that her men cannot raise +enough upon it to pay their rent and are forced to seek every year work +in more favoured sections. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Fisherfolk of Achill] + +It is claimed these islanders consist of four great families, whose +members can be easily distinguished from each other, the French +Lavelles, the English Scholefields, the creole Caulfields, the Danish +Morans. But there are also pure Irish to be found in the O'Malleys, +Gaughans, and Monahans. The houses are but heaps of rude stones (which +have been moulded by the tide), round of gable, and roofed by fern, +heather, and shingles fastened by straw bands. Often there are no +chimneys. + +We stop at the town of Dugort under the shadow of the sombre mountain, +"Slievemore," which rises immediately behind it. The town is an attempt +on the part of one church to upset the authority of another amongst +these people, and judging by the absolute desolation of the place I +should say that the move has not been successful. There are some good +houses and a church, but the people do not appear to be about. In the +dreary hotel, we spent some time in an inspection of the most marvellous +collection of paintings it has ever been our misfortune to examine. +There were several of them and they occupied most of the hallway. We +were unable to discover what one of them was intended to portray. We +asked the barmaid and she seemed equally in doubt. B. suggested the +mountain of Slievemore--I thought, a leg of mutton. The artist is the +hotel proprietor. We left a request that he would "Please not do it +again" which seemed greatly to relieve the young woman in charge. + +At the door stands a jaunting-car waiting to take the luggage of a man, +who has been fishing hereabouts, to the station. We offer him a lift in +our motor and I tell the barmaid to give a glass of whiskey to his car +driver. It appears, when it comes, to be a fair sized drink, but the old +chap cocks his eye first on it and then at me, remarking, as he touches +his cap, "And did ye say, sir, it was _twelve_ years old--indade thin +it's _small_ for its _age_." As we roll off he promises to pick us up +when our car breaks down as he knows it _will_. If that is to occur it +is well to start, as we are miles from Mallaranny and well know that +aside from this dreary hotel no hospitality would or could be offered us +in this desolate region, and that the feeling here is not, especially +after the "day off," of the best, as is proven by the curses hurled at +us once more by the old gentleman whom we encountered on our way out. +Later we meet the load of timbers and find that the drunken man has been +deposited face down on the top, while his poor wife and old father +trudge along behind. + +How different all here from the Ireland decked out for the tourist! How +sad and stern and strange! As I turn to look back upon it the daylight +departs and the shadows grow blacker and deeper, only the waters of the +lake catching for an instant a fleeting glow which soon dies out into +ashes; and with the coming of night silence and solitude, profound and +unbroken, rest upon the island of Achill. + +Yet there we saw some wonderfully beautiful women, women whose type has +made Ireland famous, great blue-grey eyes and jet black hair,--or the +fairest of blondes with pale yellow hair and blue eyes, like the +rain-washed heaven of their native land. Again, as we rolled by some +white-walled, rose embowered cottage, an ancient dame in high frilled +cap would smile us a welcome, or, as once to-day, I saw such a splendid +young fellow, whose eyes beamed down into those of his baby boy held in +his arms. There was happiness there. He must have married "his Nora" and +the boy must have had its mother's eyes. Happiness, yes truly, such as +comes not often to the portals of a palace. The man smiles in my face as +the car rolls by. In fact, nowhere in all the years of my wanderings +have I met such quick response to a smile or greeting as in these wilds +of Ireland--save when drink, the curse of the land, had destroyed the +man; but always with the women one has seemed welcome. + +As for the pigs, they are so clean and so pink that one imagines that +they wear silk socks and pumps. Do they walk?--bless you, no,--not on +holidays at least, but ride in state, and here at last you meet and +understand "the gintleman phat pays the rint." I firmly believe they +have all been shaved. B. says not, not till after death. But those were +very lovely and complacent pigs. I was only astonished that they were +not riding in motor cars. + +After the desolation of Achill it is pleasant to return to the hotel at +Mallaranny. Owned by the Great Western Railway Company, it is most +comfortable; a cozy fire before which a tabby cat is purring greets us +as we enter the reading-room and we drop rugs and books with a sigh of +contentment. Dinner over, the evening is passed deep in the history, +romance, and poetry of the spot just visited. + +Probably in no part of Ireland does superstition persist so strongly as +in Achill. Many of the legends are gruesome and cluster about death and +the grave. Many are beautiful, like that of the swans, and there is one +about the seals, which they believe are the people who were drowned in +the great flood. Not until this world is destroyed by fire will they be +permitted to enter heaven, but once in every hundred years they resume +their human shape upon earth, and it was during one of these periods +that an incident happened which is still talked about in the island of +Achill. + +"John of the Glen had fallen asleep. Now the place he had chosen to +repose in was for all the world like a basket; there was the high rock +above him, and a ledge or rock all round, so that where he lay might be +called a sandy cradle. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + A Lonely Road in Connemara] + +There he slumbered as snug as an egg in a thrush's nest, and he might +have slept about _two_ hours, when he hears singing--a note of music, he +used to say, would bring the life back to him if he had been dead a +month--so he woke up; and to be sure, of all outlandish tunes, and, to +quote his words again, 'put the one the old cow died of to the back of +it,' he never heard the like before; the words were queerer than the +music--for John was a fine scholar, and had a quarter's Latin, to say +nothing of six months' dancing; so that he could flog the world at +single or double handed reel, and split many a door with the strength of +his hompipe. 'Meuhla machree,' he says, 'who's in it at all?' he says. +'Sure it isn't among haythins I am,' he says, 'smuggled out of my native +country,' he says, 'like a poor keg of Inishowen,' he says, 'by the +murdering English?' and 'blessed father,' he says again, 'to my own +knowledge it's neyther Latin or Hebrew they're at, nor any other livin' +language, barring it's Turky'; for what gave him that thought was the +grand sound of the words. So, 'cute enough, he dragged himself up to the +edge of the ledge of the rock that overlooked the wide ocean, and what +should he see but about twenty as fine well-grown men and women as ever +you looked on, dancing! not a hearty jig or a reel, but a solemn sort of +dance on the sands, while they sung their unnatural song, all as solemn +as they danced; and they had such queer things on their heads as never +were seen before, and the ladies' hair was twisted and twined round and +round their heads. + +"Well, John crossed himself to be sure like a good Christian, and swore +if he ever saw Newport again to pay greater attention to his duty, and +to take an 'obligation' on himself which he knew he ought to have done +before; and still the people seemed so quiet and so like Christians, +that he grew the less fearful the longer he looked; and at last his +attention was drawn off the strangers by a great heap of skins that were +piled together on the strand close beside him, so that by reaching his +arm over the ledge, he could draw them, or one of them, over. Now John +did a little in skins himself, and he thought he had never seen them so +beautifully dressed before; they were seal skins, shining all of them +like satin, though some were black, and more of them grey; but at the +very top of the pile right under his hand was the most curious of them +all--snowy and silver white. Now John thought there could be no harm in +looking at the skin, for he had always a mighty great taste for natural +curiosities, and it was as easy to put it back as to bring it over; so +he just, quiet and easy, reaches in the skin, and soothering it down +with his hand, he thought no down of the young wild swan was ever half +so smooth, and then he began to think what it was worth, and while he +was thinking and judging, quite innocent like, what it would fetch in +Newport, or maybe Galway, there was a skirl of a screech among the +dancers and singers; and before poor John had time to return the skin, +all of them came hurrying towards where he lay; so believing they were +sea-pirates, or some new-fashioned revenue-officers, he crept into the +sand, dragging the silver-coloured skin with him, thinking it wouldn't +be honest to its _rale_ owner to leave it in their way. Well, for ever +so long, nothing could equal the ullabaloo and 'shindy' kicked up all +about where he lay--such talking and screaming and bellowing; and at +last he hears another awful roar, and then all was as still as a +bridegroom's tongue at the end of the first month, except a sort of +snuffling and snorting in the sand. When that had been over some time he +thought he would begin to look about him again and he drew himself +cautiously up on his elbows, and after securing the skin in his bosom +(for he thought some of them might be skulking about still, and he +wished to find the owner), he moved on and on, until at last he rested +his chin upon the very top of the ledge and casting his eye along the +line of coast, not a sight or a sign of any living thing did he see but +a great fat seal walloping as fast as ever it could into the ocean: +well, he shook himself, and stood up; and he had not done so long, when +just round the corner of the rock, he heard the low wailing voice of a +young girl, soft and low, and full of sorrow, like the bleat of a kid +for its mother, or a dove for its mate, or a maiden crying after her +lover yet ashamed to raise her voice. 'Oh, murder!' thought John +O'Glin, 'this will never do; I'm a gone man! that voice--an' it not +saying a word, only murmuring like a south breeze in a pink shell--will +be the death of me; it has more real, true music in it than all the +bagpipes between this and Londonderry. Oh, I'm kilt entirely through the +ear,' he says, 'which is the high-road to my heart. Oh, there's a moan! +that's natural music! The "Shan Van Do," the "Dark Valley," and the +"Blackbird" itself are fools to that!' To spring over was the work of a +single minute; and, sure enough, sitting there, leaning the sweetest +little head that ever carried two eyes in it upon its dawshy hand, was +as lovely a young lady as ever John looked on. She had a loose sort of +dress, drawn in at her throat with a gold string, and he saw at once +that she was one of the outlandish people who had disappeared all so +quick. + +"'Avourneen das! my lady,' says John, making his best bow, 'and what +ails you, darling stranger?' Well, she made no answer, only looked askew +at him, and John O'Glin thought she didn't sigh so bitterly as she had +done at first; and he came a little nearer, and 'Cushla-ma-chree, beauty +of the waters,' he says, 'I'm sorry for your trouble.' + +"So she turns round her little face to him, and her eyes were as dark as +the best black turf, and as round as a periwinkle. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Kylemore Castle] + +"'Creature,' she says, 'do you speak Hebrew?' 'I'd speak anything,' he +answers, 'to speak with you.' 'Then,' she says again, '_have you seen my +skin_?' 'Yes, darling,' he says in reply, looking at her with every eye +in his head. 'Where, where is it?' she cries, jumping up and clasping +her two little hands together, and dropping on her knees before John. + +"'Where is it?' he repeats, raising her gently up; 'why, on yourself, to +be sure, as white and as clear as the foam on a wave in June.' + +"'Oh, it's the other skin I want,' she cries, bursting into tears. +'Shall I skin myself and give it you, to please you, my lady?' he +replies; 'sure I will, and welcome, if it will do you any good, sooner +than have you bawling and roaring this way,' he says, 'like an angel,' +he says. + +"'What a funny creature you are!' she answers, laughing a lilt of a +laugh up in his face; 'but you're not a seal,' she says, 'and so your +skin would do me no good.' + +"'Whew!' thought John O'Glin; 'whew! now all the blossom is out on the +May-bush; now my eyes are opened'; for he knew the sense of what he had +seen, and how the whole was a memory of the old world. + +"'I'll tell you what it is,' said the poor fellow, for it never took him +any time at all to fall in love; 'I'll tell you what it is, don't bother +any more about your bit of a skin, but take me instead of it--that is,' +he said, and he changed colour at the bare thought of it, 'that is, +unless you're married in your own country.' And as all their discourse +went on in Hebrew and Latin, which John said he had not a perfect +knowledge of, he found it hard to make her understand at first, though +she was quick enough too; and she said she was not married, but might +have been, only she had no mind to the seal, who was her father's prime +minister, but that she had always made up her mind to marry none but a +prince. 'And are you a king's son?' she says. 'I am,' says John, as +bould as murder, and putting a great stretch on himself. 'More than +that, I'm a king's great-grandson--in these twisting times there's no +knowing who may turn up a king; but I've the blood in my veins of twenty +kings--and what's better than that, Irish kings.' + +"'And have you a palace to take me to?' she says, 'and a golden girdle +to give me?' + +"Now this, John thought, was mighty mean of her; but he looked in her +eyes and forgot it. 'Our love,' he says, 'pulse of my beating heart, +will build its own palace; and this girdle,' and he falls on his knees +by her side, and throws his arm round her waist, 'is better than a +girdle of gold!' Well, to be sure, there was no boy in Mayo had better +right to know how to make love than John O'Glin, for no one ever had +more practice; and the upshot of it was that (never, you may be sure, +letting on to her about the sealskin) he clapt her behind him on Molche, +and carried her home; and that same night, after he had hid the skin in +the thatch, he went to the priest--and he told him a good part of the +truth; and when he showed his reverence how she had fine gold rings and +chains, and as much cut coral as would make a reef, the priest did not +look to hear any more, but tied them at once. Time passed on gaily with +John O'Glin: he did not get a car for Molche, because no car could go +over the Mayo mountains in those days; but he got two or three stout +little nags, and his wife helped him wonderful at the fishing--there +wasn't a fin could come within half a mile of her that she wouldn't +catch--ay, and bring to shore too; only (and this was the only cross or +trouble John ever had with her, and it brought him a shame-face many a +time) she'd never wait to dress anything for herself, _only eat it raw_; +and this certainly gave him a great deal of uneasiness. She'd eat six +herrings, live enough to go down her throat of themselves, without +hardly drawing her breath, and spoil the market of cod or salmon by +biting off the tails. When John would speak to her about it, why she'd +cry and want to go back to her father, and go poking about after the +skin, which she'd never mention at any other time; so John thought it +would be best to let her have her own way, for when she had, it's +nursing the children, and singing, and fishing she'd be all day long; +they had three little children, and John had full and plenty for them +all, for she never objected to his selling her rings, or chain, or +corals; and he took bit after bit of land, and prospered greatly, and +was a sober, steady man, well-to-do; and if he could have broke her of +that ugly trick she had of eating raw fish, he'd never say no to her +yes; and she taught the young ones Hebrew, and never asked them to touch +a morsel of fish until it was put over the turf; and there were no +prettier children in all the barony than the 'seal-woman's'; with such +lovely hair and round blinking eyes, that set the head swimming in no +time; and they had sweet voices, and kind hearts that would share the +last bit they had in the world with any one, gentle or simple, that knew +what it was to be hungry; and, the Lord he knows, it isn't in Mayo their +hearts would stiffen for want of practice. + +"Still John was often uneasy about his wife. More than once, when she +went with him to the shore, he'd see one or two seals walloping nearer +than he liked; and once, when he took up his gun to fire at a great +bottle-nosed one that was asleep on the sandbank, she made him swear +never to do so: 'For who knows,' she says, 'but it's one of my relations +you'd be murdering?' And sometimes she'd sit melancholy-like, watching +the waves, and tears would roll down her little cheeks; but John would +soon kiss them away. + +[Illustration: "Biddy" + The Lunatic of Kylemore] + +"Poor fellow! much as he loved her, he knew she was a sly little devil; +for when he'd be lamenting bitterly how cute the fish were grown, or +anything that way, she'd come up and sit down by him, and lay her soft +round cheek close to his, and take his hand between hers, and say, 'Ah, +John darlin', if you'd only find my skin for me that I lost when I found +you, see the beautiful fish I'd bring you from the bottom of the sea, +and the fine things. Oh! John, it's you then could drive a carriage +through Newport, if there were but roads to drive it on.' + +"But he'd stand out that he knew nothing of the skin; and it's a wonder +he was heart-proof against her soft, deludering, soothering ways; you'd +have thought she'd been a right woman all her life, to hear her working +away at the 'Ah, do,' and 'Ah, don't'; and then, if she didn't exactly +get what she wanted, she'd pout a bit; and if that didn't do, she'd +bring him the youngest baby; and if he was hardened entirely, she'd sit +down in a corner and cry; that never failed, except when she'd talk of +the skin--and out and out, she never got any good of him about it--at +all! But there's no end of female wit; they'll sit putting that and that +together, and looking as soft and as fair-faced all the while as if they +had no more care than a blind piper's dog, that has nothing to do but to +catch the halfpence. 'I may as well give up watching her' said John to +himself; 'for even if she did find it, and that's not likely, she might +leave me (though that's not easy), but she'd never leave the children'; +and so he gave her a parting kiss, and set off to the fair of Castlebar. +He was away four days, longer certainly than there was any call to have +been, and his mind reproached him on his way home for leaving her so +long; for he was very tender about her, seeing that though she was only +a seal's daughter, that seal was a king, and he made up his mind he'd +never quit her so long again. And when he came to the door, it did not +fly open, as it used, and show him his pretty wife, his little children, +and a sparkling turf fire--he had to knock at his own door. + +"'Push it in, daddy,' cried out the eldest boy; "'mammy shut it after +her, and we're weak with the hunger.' So John did as his child told him, +and his heart fainted, and he staggered into the room, and then up the +ladder to the thatch--_It was gone!_--and John sat down, and his three +children climbed about him, and they all wept bitterly. + +"'Oh, daddy, why weren't you back the second day, as you said you'd be?' +said one. 'And mammy bade us kiss you and love you, and that she'd come +back if she'd be let; but she found something in the thatch that took +her away.' + +"'She'll never come back, darlings, till we're all in our graves,' said +poor John--'she'll never come back under ninety years; and where will we +all be then? She was ten years my delight and ten years my joy, and ever +since ye came into the world she was the best of mothers to ye all! but +she's gone--she's gone for ever! Oh, how could you leave me, and I so +fond of ye? Maybe I would have burnt the skin, only for the knowledge +that if I did, I would shorten her days on earth, and her soul would +have to begin over again as a babby seal, and I couldn't do what would +be all as one as murder.' + +"So poor John lamented, and betook himself and the three children to the +shore, and would wail and cry, but he never saw her after; and the +children, so pretty in their infancy, grew up little withered atomies, +that you'd tell anywhere to be seal's children--little, cute, yellow, +shrivelled, dawshy creatures--only very sharp indeed at the learning, +and crabbed in the languages, beating priest, minister, and +schoolmaster--particularly at the Hebrew. More than once, though John +never saw her, he heard his wife singing the songs they often sung +together, right under the water; and he'd sing in answer, and then +there'd be a sighing and sobbing. Oh! it was very hard upon John, for he +never married again, though he knew he'd never live till her time was up +to come again upon the earth even for twelve hours; but he was a fine +moral man all the latter part of his life--as that showed." + +As I close my book and put out my candle for the night the moonlight +streaming in at the window draws me to the casement. The bay is like a +sheet of quivering silver with the mountains of Achill and the island of +Clare towering darkly above it. On the highway winding off white in the +clear light no sign of life is visible and but for the softly sobbing +winds, the silence of the night is intense. The tide is flowing to the +sea and the waters are deserted save for one slowly drifting boat. One +is scarcely conscious at first of any sound other than that of the winds +but, as the boat draws nearer on the air floats upward one of those sad +crooning melodies of these people--at first a low monotone which rises +and rises, wailing all around and far above until the very mountains +seem to throw back the sorrow of it. Then it falters away into silence. + +[Illustration: From a steel engraving + The Lynch House, Galway] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + Monastery of Burrishoole--Queen Grace O'Malley and Her Castle of + Carrig-a-Hooly--Her Appearance at the Court of Elizabeth--Dismissal + of Her Husband--Wild Scenery of the West Coast--The Ancient + Tongue--Recess--Kylemore Castle--Crazy Biddy. + + +Leaving Mallaranny we retrace our route towards Newport and pass near +Burrishoole, the ruined monastery of the Dominicans, and then the castle +of Carrig-a-Hooly, from whence that Amazon Queen of this section and of +the island of Clare, Grace O'Malley, dismissed her lord and husband of a +year's standing. + +Carrig-a-Hooly is to-day a square pile of very solid construction, +standing upon a rock, and at one time protected by a massive surrounding +wall. The few windows or loopholes are far apart and very narrow. From +which one Queen Grace dismissed her approaching lord is not related but +that the dismissal was short, sharp, and to the point, effective, there +seems no doubt, as she continued to hold sway over all the County of +Mayo and the adjoining islands, to say nothing of as much of the +neighbouring counties as she could cowe into submission. + +The monastery of Burrishoole is said to have been her burial-place, and +there her skull was for a long time preserved as a precious relic, but +it is also stated that, together with those of many others buried there, +her bones were stolen and being carted to Scotland were ground up for +manure, enriching the land as those of Cæsar were used to stop the +chinks and keep the wind away. + +It was well for the thieves here that they worked and escaped in the +night, for such desecration would have resulted in their quick dispatch +had the superstitious peasantry caught them. + +Many of the latter believe that the skull of the Queen was miraculously +restored to its niche in the abbey, but if so it has mouldered into dust +long since. + +The skulls still to be seen here are regarded with deep veneration and +are often borrowed by the peasantry to boil milk in, which being served +to the sick one is a sure antidote for all ills. + +Queen Grace of Mayo strongly reminds one of another Queen in a far-off +country,--Tamara, whose ruined "Castle of Roses" still keeps watch over +the Caucasus. + +This castle of Queen Grace, like so many old towers, is supposed to +cover buried treasures, guarded at night by a mounted horseman. + +There is, however, another scene in her life which, whilst not +productive of such results as the one at Carrig-a-Hooly, must have been +picturesque and startling in the extreme. + +Imagine the court of the great Elizabeth, with the daughter of Henry +VIII. on the throne in all the heyday of her fuss and feathers, robed +gorgeously and wearing a great farthingale--beneath the hem of her short +skirt one notes the jewelled buckles on her high-heeled shoes,--from her +pallid face flash a pair of reddish eyes and above her pallid brow her +red hair is piled high and adorned with many of the pearls and jewels +which have come into her possession from the robbery of her Scottish +prisoner by the rebel lords. Huge butterfly wings of gauze rise from the +shoulders but give nothing ethereal to the appearance of the +sovereign,--Elizabeth was of the earth earthy. Around her are grouped +all the splendid of that golden age,--the grave prime minister, Cecil +Burleigh, the gallant Leicester, the boy Essex, the splendid Sir Philip +Sidney, together with all the foreign diplomats and beautiful women of +the court. + +In the space before her stands an equally imperious figure,--the +sovereign of this island of Clare. What could have been her dress in +those days three hundred years agone? How did they robe the dames of +high estate in Ireland then, I wonder, and must continue to wonder, for +there is no account left us, but I am sure she was a beauty with fair +skin, brown eyes and a glory of red gold hair. + +The Queen of England has just offered to make her a countess, and we can +imagine the half amazed and wholly amused expression of her majestic +countenance when the offer is coolly refused with the remark that "I +consider myself just as great a Queen as your Majesty." + +Then the Irishwoman went home and did things, short, sharp, and to the +point, effective: secured possession of all the fortified castles of the +island and all the treasures and men at arms, and there occurred that +dismissal already recorded. + +It had been agreed on her marriage that either party could terminate the +matrimonial arrangement at a year's end by a simple announcement to the +other. On the day in question the countess observed from one of the +loopholes of Carrig-a-Hooly the approach of her liege lord, and +thereupon, to surely forestall such action on his part, hailed him and +announced that "all was off" between them, making no mention of a return +of any of the castles, men, or treasures be they his or not. She should +have been Queen of Scotland. She would promptly have settled the cases +of each and every rebel lord from Moray down, and John Knox would have +heard a truth or two which would have made his ears tingle,--neither +could her Majesty of England have meddled so easily in the affairs of +the northern kingdom. + +As our car rolls onward round the bay towards Louisburgh, her island of +Clare blocks the entrance to the westward. Rearing sharply its cliffs +against a glittering sky, it strongly reminds one of the island of Capri +and occupies about the same relative position here as that island does +in the bay of Naples. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + The Abbey of St. Dominick + Lorrha] + +But the blue of these northern waters is to my thinking vastly different +from that in the South. There is a sensuous cast to all the colouring +around Naples, whilst here both heaven and sea are of a bright fair +rain-washed blue. The air is full of health and life, the waters +sparkle, and the strong winds force one to jam a cap down over the eyes +and go for a brisk walk or sail, returning ravenous for one's dinner; +whilst in the south + + "With dreamful eyes my spirit lies, + Under the walls of Paradise." + +And one's body is very apt to contract a fever during the trance. + +Personally in Naples, with all its charm and interest, I always feel +that death stalks wide, the mortal part of me is forever in evidence. +Here, a new lease of life and health comes with every intake of the +glorious air. + +The winds blow strongly to-day while over the mountains dense black +clouds gloom, through whose shadows one brilliant shaft of sunlight +strikes a white sail far out at sea. + +On the rocks the kelp gatherers are abroad with their long rakes, +gathering a slimy harvest. What a living thing that kelp seems to be. +How quiet its slumbers in the dark pool of the rocks while the waters +are afar out, but watch it when the tide turns. At the first ripple it +startles into life and reaches out its long snake-like feelers towards +the coming sea. + +Leaving the ocean for a time and turning inland, we pass some bad roads, +but finally mount upward until in the heart of the mountains and the +wildest section of Connemara their surface becomes smoother and the +wings come out on our hubs and the car skims birdlike onward. + +Fortunately the day has become divine and sunlight and shadow chase each +other in fascinating lights and shadows over the mountains. Up in the +higher valleys where the white cottages are few and far between, the +vast black turf fields stretch to where the brown mountains rise to the +blue skies. Here and there the scarlet skirt of a peasant woman at work +in a distant field glows against the brown earth, while donkey carts, +each with a solitary old dame perched on a pile of turf, pass us now and +then, the little beast which draws them paying us no attention, save by +a pointing of the ears. This is not a holy day, so there are no fairs +and fewer cattle on the highroads, hence fewer races, though now and +then we do have a spirited brush, and several old women shake their +fists at us as we pass by. Coasting down the hills which surround the +lovely lake of Doo Lough, we come finally down by the shores of the +harbour of Killary or Killary Bay, where the fleets of the nation may +and do enter far inland in safety. + +Lunching at Leenane in a comfortable and clean inn made an already +pleasant day seem all the more enjoyable. + +The road, from Leenane on, lay westward by the waters of the Sound, and +then south and up until a superb panorama of sea and land was spread out +before us. + +Those who go yearly to some genteel watering place know little of the +outer sea, never comprehend the majesty of the ocean as it rolls in on +Ireland's western coast, a vast wash of wild waters, glorious and +majestic, roaring around jagged cliffs, which appear actually at war +with it, while the winds murmuring over bogs and lowlands one instant +are in the next roaring outward to greet the ocean. All around here +there is no sound of human life, and a strange sad sort of sunlight +falls over the mountains and shimmers downward into the sea. + +The desolation of this coast is intense to-day but how far more terribly +desolate it must have appeared to the poor sailors on those hulking +ships of the Armada, hurled to their destruction hereabouts. I doubt not +but that the last thoughts of the poor wretches as they sank in these +thundering surges were of the vine-clad sunny hills of far Andalusia +with the tinkling of guitars and the music of the Danza they were never +again to hear. + +As we leave the sea and turn again inward, the scenery becomes wild in +the extreme. Sombre mountains surround lonely valleys with here and +there a lonely lake reflecting the sky. The roads on the whole are good, +save for many ridges formed by the backbone of the old stone bridges. If +the car does not slow down one is thrown out of one's seat, and some of +these ridges would destroy if passed at full speed. + +The higher we mount the more joyous the motion until we seem to be +skimming like a swallow. One nasty angle almost causes our undoing, but +it is passed in safety by the quick action of our chauffeur, who +certainly understands well how to handle a motor, though I think he was +thoroughly frightened that time; we came very near shooting down into +the lake. + +Orders are strict that no risk of destroying animals is to be run unless +the safety of the car necessitates it, but to-day we did kill a poor +pussy who jumped from a wall directly in our path, and not a yard away. +It was done in a flash, and kitty's joyous days were over. Poor thing! +as with us life was the best she had, and it is gone. The incident quite +clouded the day for some time. + +At another time a fine dog, a collie, sprang at us and was thrown down +and the motor passed over him. I looked back, quite expecting to see his +mangled body lying on the highway, but instead of that saw him take a +stone wall in a fashion creditable to the best hunter in Ireland, and +none the worse for his experience. But that does not often occur. [4] + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Leap Castle from the Court] + +It does not strike the traveller as singular that--while English is +spoken by all--he hears so much of the ancient tongue in remote +sections; there is the natural home for it: but I confess I was much +astonished during a recent visit to Canada to find that, after one +hundred and fifty years, from Montreal east, French is the language of +the people. While in the larger cities English is of course spoken, it +is not the prevailing tongue, and in all the small towns and rural +districts French is the tongue, and thousands of the people cannot speak +English at all. In one of the greater cities if a man would obtain a +position in the police or fire departments he must be able to read, +write, and speak French, but a Frenchman is _not_ obliged to read, +write, and speak English. All the estimates for public improvements are +in French alone, though the bidders are all English or Americans, +generally the latter. Of course, they must be translated into English by +the bidders, and what an opportunity is here presented for breaking a +contract by a claim of incorrect translation. In fact, it would seem to +an outsider that Canada is much more loyal to France than to England, +even after a century and a half of Saxon rule. Giving due allowance to +the treaty with France and to the power of the Church of Rome, such a +state of affairs at this date is singular to say the least. + +As for the attempt in Ireland to revive the ancient Celtic amongst these +people, personally I do not think it will be successful, nor do I +understand the move; while it is well to keep it alive for students and +savants, what possible good can it serve the desperately poor and +ignorant of the land, how can they use it? At least so it appears to a +looker-on. (I have not been able to extract a good reason for the move +from any of its many advocates with whom I have conversed on this tour.) + +Surely English is destined to be the language of men, not only in +Ireland but all over the world, and to my thinking this is the greatest +work accomplished by that nation. After all, is it not a case of the +survival of the fittest, and can any one deny that that tongue is +already the most widely spoken and more rapidly spreading than any or +all others? + +Go where you will you will find that next to the language of each +country it is the one in use, and I believe that in generations to come +it will wipe out all the trouble caused by the inhabitants of Babylon in +their desire to get above high-water mark. + +For professors and students it would be well to maintain these ancient +tongues as long as possible, but surely the poor of Ireland could be +benefited to a greater degree by other means than an attempt to restore +to daily use the ancient, almost forgotten, and fast dying tongue of +their forefathers. + +As for the travellers in this land to-day it is confusing and irritating +to be confronted by a sign-post of absolutely no value, intelligible +only to those who know the Celtic tongue. The peasants cannot read them +and do not require them, hence, to all concerned, they mean as much here +as the verst posts do to a stranger in Russia. + +As for the milestones, they tell a story hereabouts concerning what +happened between two towns separated some eighteen miles from each +other. The figures on the stones having become almost obliterated by +time and weather an order was given to a workman in one of the towns to +recut the lot. He took them up one by one and placed them in the proper +order in his stoneyard, but when completed it is evident that, before +the work of replacing them began, he must have celebrated the event in +the usual manner. Certainly the fact remains that he began at the wrong +end of the pile, placing the one marked "17" where the first stone +should have been, and so on with the lot, the result being that sundry +gentlemen the worse for wear coming from one town discovered that their +utmost endeavours to reach home only took them farther afield--where +they finally brought up is not related. As for the man from the other +town, when at the end of the first mile "17" stared at him from the +stone he became convinced that the devil was after him and shook his +first at a solitary magpie which had just flown over his head. I must +confess that I doubt these tales. However but for our maps we should +have been completely astray in western Ireland for all the use the +sign-posts were to us. + +There is a charming little town at Recess, but unless you are a +sportsman, not much of interest. + +Letters from home necessitate B.'s return, and we must call at Kylemore +Castle before we start. Distanced from Recess some thirteen miles, a +journey thither and back would with horses necessitate a whole day's +time, but with a motor it's only just around the block so to speak. + +The morning is sunny and fair, and we drink in the rushing sea-breeze as +we roll away over gentle hills and valleys between the higher mountains, +and though the hills are treeless the whole panorama is attractive. + +Our driver reports his petrol low, with none to be had at Recess, hence +we must fill the tank at Kylemore sufficiently to get us to Galway if it +can be done. + +Kylemore Castle stands in a sheltered valley close by the sea though not +in view of it. It faces a lovely lake and is really built on the side of +the mountain which rises directly behind it to the height of two +thousand feet. + +Across the lake the view is blocked by a similar range. While the +shrubbery is fine and the grass very luxuriant and green around the +mansion, all the hills and mountains are absolutely treeless. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Leap Castle] + +The place, but lately purchased by the Duke of M., was built by Mr. +Henry at an expense, on the estate, of a million sterling. Reverses +forced its sale, and it was bought by its present owner. There is +nothing ancient, the house having but some fifty years to its credit, +but it is capable of being, and, in the present owner's hands, will be +made a charming dwelling-place, and certainly, swept by the winds of the +North Atlantic, it must be at all seasons very healthy. Filled with a +large company or with a few congenial people it should be an enjoyable +spot. + +Its gardens are very extensive and one passes through endless +conservatories full of flowers and fruits. As we round a corner close to +the stable, we encounter the quaint figure of a woman with straggling +grey locks, tumbling down over a pallid face. In a dress of rags and +barefooted, she is dancing a crazy jig all by herself. There are weird +gleams in her eyes as they rove over the sombre mountains, seeking +kindred spirits, I fancy, as she croons in a monotone the notes of some +quaint melody which still drifts across her brain. She shows as she +catches sight of our party that she is no respecter of persons as she +grabs the Duke by the coat and won't let go, imploring him to "lock up +the castle and I'll be round a Monday." When he implores her to put off +her coming for a day or so she declines and sticks to "Monday." I +cannot but doubt in some degree her insanity, at least it has not +destroyed her womanly vanity, for when I tell her I want to take her +picture, she at once attempts to smooth her hair and dress, and striking +what she thinks will be a becoming pose, tells me to "go ahead," and +after the snap remarks, "You had better take another for fear that is a +failure." + +Yesterday, having gone to the kitchen of the castle for her "bit of +meat," she found a new cook, who, not knowing about her, ordered her +out, whereupon she seized a knife from the table and there ensued a +handicap, go as you please, all over the place, with the cook in the +lead and Biddy a close second. After that she got her meat in peace. + +As we return from an inspection of the grounds she is being conducted +off the terrace by the butler. But Biddy has a mind of her own and no +one save this butler could get her away, if it suited her to remain, +which it generally does. We are told she is deeply in love with him and +that there is a photo extant with Biddy on her knees, clasping his legs +and imploring him to marry her. Now the butler is a most stately +personage; he has the cast of countenance of the great Louis of France, +the same beak-like nose and downward sweep of the face lines running +from it, the same haughty pose of the head, in fact, deck him in a high +wig, court suit, and ruffles, and great red heels and you have Louis le +Grand; take them away and you have the butler, the object of Biddy's +devotion, to whom it makes no difference whether he be king or butler. +But Biddy in her rags is after all the most picturesque thing about +Kylemore; her eyes are bright if she is crazy--but where in all the +world will you find brighter eyes than amongst the beggars of Ireland, +and they seem equally pleased whether one gives or not (Biddy did not +beg, neither did she hesitate to take what we gave her). Like all +beggars, many of them are rogues, but, ah, risk that, for you may by +your half crown relieve for the time real heart-breaking misery, and +such poverty as you cannot conceive of. Go to Achill if you would be +convinced of that. + +Yesterday while watching a train pass at Recess a boy approached and +just looked at me, but with a look of such hungry suffering that a +shilling was promptly forthcoming. Then I questioned him, and found that +he had been ill and could at best make but a sixpence a day, that his +brother drove the car for the hotel, getting as wages only the uncertain +tips of the visitors, which, never many, in this remote spot are indeed +few and far between in this bad season. His father had worked in the +neighbouring marble quarries, but pestered and beset by a law-suit over +his little hovel had, as the boy expressed it, "gone dotty," and could +work no more. The mother did what she could and a sister was a cripple. +So that all they had to live upon was what he and his brother could +earn. + +Just as he finished a ducal train rolled by. His Grace was transporting +his family and effects from one great castle to another. Surely the +contrasts in life are heartrending, yet I doubt not that this Duke will +and does do all he can to relieve the sufferings of the poor on his +estates--sufferings intensified and made all the more horrible by the +unprincipled leaders of the leagues in this land, and masters of strikes +in ours and others. + +But to return to Kylemore, the interior of the castle at present is in a +state of transition, so that it is impossible to describe it. Built +against the side of the mountain, some of its staircases are literally +laid on the solid rock. Many of the rooms are spacious and stately and +in the hands of the present owners will doubtless be made very handsome. + +The glimpses of mountains and lake from its windows are entrancing. On +the whole I think one might come to love Kylemore very dearly. It has +cost vast sums of money as it stands and much more will be expended +before the end, if indeed the end ever is reached in these great places +where the expenditure of money is concerned. This one will require a +fortune to maintain. + +Of the two Irish seats of the Duke of Manchester I should much prefer +Kylemore to Tanderagee. While the latter is beautiful in its park and +great trees, the former is a place of endless possibilities. Shooting +and fishing are abundant and of the best, whilst to the lovers of the +picturesque the mountains are an eternal joy, and close by is the +jobling and sobbing of the sea. Its quaint people are an endless source +of amusement and study. To enjoy it one must dwell there, and I depart +with regret at our short sojourn or rather call. + +[Illustration: Moat at Ffranckfort Castle] + +Our petrol has run out and there is none in this locality. However, the +chauffeur manages to buy some from the man at the station and with a +sputter and roar we are off and away through the mountain glens, turning +for a last glimpse of Kylemore, and her little church, both gleaming +white amongst the forests by the lake, and guarded by the brooding +mountains. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] Our route to-day from Mallaranny lay via Newport and +Westport to Louisburgh, then south over the mountains past Doo Lough, +round Killary Harbour to Leenane, west past Lough Fee to Tully Chapel, +south to Letterfrack, west and south to Clifden, south to Ballinaboy +Bridge, southeast to Toombeola Bridge, north to Ballynahinch Station, +and east to Recess. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + The Ancient City of Galway--Quaint People, Curious Houses, Vile + Hotel--Parsonstown--Wingfield House--Leap Castle and its + Ghosts--Ffranckfort Castle--Clonmacnoise--Holy Cross Abbey. + + +As we enter Galway from Recess, the roads become anything but agreeable; +there are many crossings and bridge backs which throw us from our seats, +and without extreme care on the part of the chauffeur would destroy the +car. Fortunately the weather is moist and there is little dust, which in +Galway is most disagreeable, the soil being limestone. + +If you would see an ancient Irish city, purely Irish and undefiled by +the progress of this latter day, come to Galway, where she sits close +down by the sea. It is evidently to this section what Paris is to all +France. There may have been in other times those of the upper classes +here, but they do not appear on her streets to-day. Narrow and winding, +they are lined with ancient houses many of which bear pretentious coats +of arms and much carving, but all are now the dwelling-places of the +people. + +The streets are jammed as this is Saturday evening and we move +cautiously along. At one point, owing to instructions from Boyse to turn +to the right and from me to go to the left, the motor car almost runs +over the pavement, scaring a buxom dame half to death. "'Twas the mercy +of God the dur was open behint us, or ye'd 'ave smashed mesel' and the +childer entirely." But at the same time she laughs and gives us a "God +bless ye." While we are learning the route from her, a perfect Irish +gentleman, properly drunk, reels up and leaning over the front of the +car gazes at us in a most affectionate fashion. Barefooted, rosy-cheeked +urchins are running in all directions, numerous women stand around doing +up their hair, and there is more of the ancient tongue to be heard than +at any other point except in Achill. + +As a child I learned a lot of it, meaninglessly, from the old servants +at home, and recalling many phrases here have at times launched them +forth, generally with dire results. + +To-day as we wend our way slowly through these crowded streets, it +greets our ears on all sides. + +The quaint figures which one encountered in America thirty years ago +must have come from here. Boarding ship in yonder harbour they landed on +our shores absolutely unchanged and unique. One never sees them +nowadays. Even in Ireland they are to be met with only in the remote +districts; they are here in the good city of Galway but you will look +for them in vain farther east. + +The story of the first appearance of my dear old nurse upon the streets +of our city has become a household tale with us. Just in from the "owld +country," she decked herself in her best for her Sunday's outing. A gown +of the most vivid emerald green whose skirt spread over a voluminous +hoop was composed of four huge flounces bound in bright red; a huge +bonnet of green and blue circled around her anything but classic +countenance--certainly her nose could never have been called "Roman"; +she carried an orange and green sunshade. Her appearance created a +sensation which almost ended in a riot. She was too much for the +American youth as he was for her, and she fled homeward pursued by a +howling mob of the gamins. + +I must pay tribute to the women who have come to us from this +island,--respected and self-respecting, they have proven most excellent +servants, with never a shadow of immorality amongst any of them, +thoroughly honest and upright, and during months of absence, and +sometimes years, left in entire charge of the households of which they +kept as perfect watch and ward as though they were indeed their own, +and, in fact, they soon learned to look upon the dwellings of their +employer as home, with no desire to change unless to marry and set up +their own firesides, and even then they never have forgotten and often +return to the places where they lived so long through days of sorrow and +days of mirth, not only servants but friends in the best acceptation of +that word. + +[Illustration: Ffranckfort Castle] + +While Galway is a town of but some fourteen thousand people, the crowds +on its streets to-night would convey the impression of a much greater +population. They simply swarm all over the place. + +The city dates far enough back to have been mentioned by Ptolemy, and +probably took its name from the Gaels or foreign merchants who once +lived here. Galway appears on the pages of history in 1124 A.D. and from +that date onward it was fought for by every tribe of the island. Just +hereabouts there were thirteen tribes who strictly guarded themselves +against all intercourse with the native Irish. Indeed there was a law +that "none bearing an O or Mac in his name shall struttle one swaggere +through the streets of Galway." + +But those days are past and there must certainly be many who bear such +prefixes to their names who are strutting these streets in this year of +grace 1907. + +This was one of the most important seaports trading with Spain, and +there may be seen, even at this date, Spanish traits and features +intermingled with the Celtic, and many of its ancient houses hold the +touch of the South in their lines. Galway was loyal to King Charles and +suffered horribly from the forces of Cromwell in consequence. + +While there are quaint structures still to be found in the streets they +require looking for and one must be prepared to endure much squalor and +dirt and endless smells which will not recall the perfume bazaars of the +Orient, though it has always struck me that the perfumes of the Orient +were thickly strewed that they might drown out much more horrible smells +than were ever to be found in Ireland. + +The most interesting and famous of all the old houses is that of the +Lynch family whose façade holds some curious carvings, notably that of a +monkey carrying off a child, one of the children of the family having +been saved from death by fire by a pet monkey. + +From the window of this house in 1493, its owner, James Lynch, hanged +his own son for murder. + +Legend and truth are probably greatly mixed in the story told to-day. +The murder was that of a young Spaniard of whom the son was jealous, and +whom he stabbed to death. His mother besought her kinsfolk to save him +and them the disgrace of a public death by hanging, the father being +determined that the law should be obeyed. They met and roused the +populace which collected in a multitude outside the old house, to-day so +full of its noisy poor. The father, finding it would be impossible to +conduct his son to the place of execution, led him to one of the great +windows high up in the mansion and from thence launched him into +eternity at the rope's end. The people, awed into silence by his stern +justice, dispersed in quiet to their homes. To-day the street is called +Dead Man's Lane, and it is claimed that the tablet with skull and +cross-bones and its motto, "Remember deathe--vanite of vanite and all is +but vanite," was placed there to commemorate the dark occurrence, but if +so it was not until more than a century had rolled by. + +It is said that this stern, sorrowing father never appeared in public +after his execution of his son. + +The family of Lynch appeared here from Austria in 1274 and until 1654 +was of great prominence; then it vanished entirely. + +The old house rises in state still from its squalid surroundings and the +gloom upon its face seems to come as much from its present degradation +as from its sad history. + +With all its dirt and squalor Galway is possessed of greater interest +than any other Irish city, though with the hurried march of time in +these latter days, the antiquary must search more and more each year if +he would discover aught. + +One of the most singular and interesting parts is to be found in the +district just outside the walls and on the river. It is called Claddagh, +and consists of a colony of fishermen numbering with their families some +five or six thousand. Their marketplace adjoins one of the city's +ancient gates. They are a well ordered and governed people, having a +king or mayor elected from time to time whose word is law and from whose +decision they never appeal; neither will they acknowledge any other +authority. They are religious and will not sail away nor fish on Sunday +or feast day. + +At one period they were sufficient unto themselves and always married in +their own set. That is changed now and neither does one often see the +old and picturesque costume of their women,--a red gown and blue mantle. + +However, even to-day their part of Galway is cleaner and more wholesome +than its other sections. + +Its people are very superstitious and will not fish nor permit others to +do so unless the day and hour be lucky. Some have tried to break through +this but were forced to give up the attempt, as their lives were in +danger. + +An Irishman in the city stated that times were very bad, they "had had +very good crops and hence could not raise the cry of famine and so bring +in the cash from England and America. When they can do that every one is +well off and happy." + +But, as I have stated, squalor, dirt, and evil smells so abound that one +is fairly driven off and away from this quaintest of the Irish towns. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Clonmacnoise] + +You may spend a time in her old church of St. Nicholas, but if you +enter the adjoining graveyard the terrible neglect will drive you forth +in horror, a horror in no way quieted by a sojourn at the awful railway +hotel, a place so vilely dirty that nothing save acute hunger forces us +to remain an instant within its doors. I ask the waiter for a toothpick. +"Well, really, sor, we have none, but here's one of me own, which I'll +lend yez." In the search for it he pulls from the same pocket a dirty +handkerchief and a stump of a clay pipe. My laughter brings a twinkle to +his eyes and procures us a much better luncheon than we had reason, from +the appearance of the dirty table, to expect. + +There is no excuse for this hotel. It is a disgrace to the railroad +which owns and runs it. These railway hotels are generally cleanly and +well kept. Certainly such is the case in England and Scotland and in the +west and north of Ireland. But in Galway the broken-down, dilapidated, +and filthy state of affairs is disgusting in the extreme. One hesitates +to eat anything which comes from the kitchen, and we confine ourselves +to boiled ham and cheese. + +From Galway our route lies eastward to Parsonstown and had we followed +the map would have been simple enough, but the advice of sundry +home-going men, all somewhat the worse for liquor, sent us astray +several times, but in a motor that is of little moment. + +Parsonstown, or Birr, lies directly east of Galway and en route we pass +by Lorrha, where I stop a moment to inspect its ancient abbey. It is of +interest to some Americans as having been the burial-place for centuries +of a well-known family, the Carrolls. There are no monuments or +tablets, as dead have been buried upon dead within the ruined walls for +years on years, even unto to-day, as a fresh mound with a half-withered +wreath of flowers upon it testifies. + +Birr Castle was the original seat of the Carrolls, but they appear to +have owned numerous others in this locality, such as Leap and +Ffranckfort. + +The life of the dwellers must have been very crude and rude, but they +were all very tenacious of their right of sepulchre with their +forefathers. Each old will directs, after kindly returning the "soul to +the God who gave it," that their bodies be buried "in the chapel +adjoining the Abbey of St. Dominick in Lorrha," and so it was done; but, +as I have stated, years have gone and other dead have claimed the same +graves in this holy spot, until the place, now a tangle of ivy and wild +brier, is buried deeply and heaped high with the silent sleepers whose +rest is rarely disturbed by a passer from the great outer world of the +living. + +In the surrounding graveyard the dead sleep closely together and the +spot is better cared for than is usually the case. Apparently they are +not so soon forgotten, at least, one is not horrified by the appalling +desolation and abandonment usually to be found in such places in rural +Ireland. Of course the people are very poor, but at least they could +lock the doors of the vaults and cut the grass over the graves of their +dead. It may be that they consider that nothing is necessary or can be +done once they pass beneath the sod of "holy ground," that, having been +consecrated by the church, any touch of man's hand would be a +desecration thereof. Be that as it may the effects upon one from another +land is horrible. Such is not the case here in Lorrha, I am pleased to +state. + +A quick run of nine miles brings us to the quaint old city of Birr, just +as the night closes in. + +Birr is an eminently respectable town. Its streets are wide and its +houses have a delightful seclusion which reminds one of the main square +in Frederick City, Maryland. There are arched doorways shaded by +climbing vines and bearing great brass knockers. There are family cats +every here and there, and ancient dames peer at you from behind lace +curtains. In its main square at the base of the column to the Duke of +Cumberland and his victory of Culloden, one of the present citizens of +Birr is declaiming. He does not declaim long; truth compels me to state +that he is tight, and that even now two servants of the law are +escorting him into the calaboose. Pity 'tis, 'tis true. But this is +Saturday night and a man must have his little enjoyments. + +We descend at the door of an hotel whose name sets us whistling, "Mr. +Dooley's Hotel." I think it fairly good--Boyse does not agree with me +but withal we are very comfortable in it. + +Birr is the very centre of Ireland, and probably takes airs to herself +in consequence. + +We arrive here very weary to-night. There are days when motoring is not +all joy--this has been one. The lime dust and cold winds around Galway +have cut our faces into segments, and I find a bath, an open fire, and +easy chair too attractive to resist, but Boyse has gone off in a +jaunting-car eight miles to see some friends and arrange for a visit +to-morrow to an ancient castle where a real ghost still holds forth. We +shall see what we shall see, but it would take more than a ghost to keep +me awake to-night, much less to make me drive sixteen miles to call, but +it seems nothing to Boyse who does not return until late--too late to +talk--and so good-night. + +Morning dawns in mist and rain, which continue off and on all day long. +Birr is as silent as only an Irish or English town knows how to be on a +Sunday,--every shop is closed, the houses show scarce any sign of life, +while Cumberland upon his column seems to offer an apology for being in +gala array on the first day of the week. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Abbey of the Holy Cross] + +Boyse's friends near here have bidden us to luncheon after an +inspection of that ancient seat of the O'Carrolls, Leap Castle +(pronounced "Lep"). So rain and mist defying, we roll off at ten A.M. +leaving Yama and our kit behind us. The roads are slippery and the car +skids a little, but the chauffeur is alive to the danger, which is +minimised to the fullest extent by chains on the wheels. Some ten miles +out we turn into a spacious park and are welcomed at the door of the +mansion of "Wingfield" by the daughters of the house, three lovely Irish +women, and I know of no land which can produce more beautiful women than +Ireland; striking forms, faces, and figures are the rule not the +exception in this land of the harp. There is a type of reddish golden +hair, fair clear complexion, and sky-blue eyes which is especially +beautiful to my thinking; it belongs to the upper classes, at least I +have never noted it in a daughter of the people,--there the dark +blue-grey eyes and black hair, or pale straw-coloured hair combined with +palest of blue eyes, prevail. + +I have a painting by our poet-painter, T. Buchanan Read, which shows the +type I speak of, yet where did he ever see it? Certainly not amongst +those emigrants who came to America in his time. The painting, called +_The Harp of Erin_,[5] represents a white-clad woman chained to a rock +in the sea, whose waves dash up around her. Reddish golden hair floats +over her shoulders, which are draped in a green scarf. Blue eyes of the +colour of the deepest heaven gaze mournfully upon you and her arms are +raised to play upon a harp. The artist was in his happiest mood when he +painted this picture and for it he refused a large price, expecting at +the period of the Fenian excitement, in the sixties, to have it +lithographed and so realise vast sums, but fate in some form, how I know +not, intervened, and his idea was never carried out, or the Fenian +bubble burst before it could be accomplished. + +But to return to Wingfield. We gather in two of the ladies and speed off +over the slippery highway to Leap Castle. Now Leap, I would have you +know, is THE ghost castle of Ireland, owning more spooks to the room +than all the others together. En route thither we pass under the shadow +of "Knockshigowna" or hill of the fairies, and it would seem on this +shadowy morning that the ruin on its summit shows signs of a strange +agitation; perhaps the shades are aware of our approach to their +favourite castle in the valley and trust that we may tarry until night +falls and their dominion maintains,--for until then, they must stay +where they are, high up on yonder hill, which is the centre of all the +fairy romance and legend of the island. The forest is dense here and we +roll under the bending boughs, heavy with the night's dew, and +glittering in the sunlight. At the end of a long green tunnel the tower +of Leap Castle blocks the way. + +Leap stands overlooking a fair valley, a great square tower to which +have been added wings on either side. It was one of the most ancient +seats of the O'Carrolls, who seem to have left a most excellent memory +hereabouts as expert sheep-stealers. All of these ancient castles were +composed of simply one great strong tower. Everything else is of much +later date. We have seen a dozen such in the past few days. Leap is no +exception. Fortunately its owner, Mr. D.; is at home and welcomes us to +what has been in his family since the days of the Restoration, a period +when many of the Irish castles passed into the hands of Englishmen. + +We enter the lower floor of the great tower, which in the days of the +O'Carrolls was evidently the great hall, where many of those weird, +barbarous feasts one associates with such places must have occurred. +To-day its appearance is peaceful enough. Pictures anything but terrible +surround us and no ghosts can stand this clear light of day. + +From its windows you enjoy a superb panorama, and from its terrace one +of its ancient owners leapt his horse when pursued by some enemy--hence +the name. He was a rider superior to any even Ireland can show at the +present time for the drop is quite thirty feet. + +The wings of the castle flank the tower on either hand, but aside from +containing cheery rooms with much fine old furniture, are not of +interest, at least when compared to the hall, around which a gallery +circles in the second story, to which stairs in the thickness of the +walls conduct one. In one of the angles there is an oubliette to +anywhere below,--in another a stair mounts to a chapel in the top, +dismantled and disused now save by the ghost of a priest which walks +here with his head under his arm, and it is reported that one of the +chatelaines of the castle fled here from following footsteps which she +could not understand, and flinging the great door to behind her used +her fair arm as a staple, only to have it broken in two by a force no +mortal could withstand. She fainted, but before losing consciousness saw +passing by her the shadow of the headless monk. If you sleep in one of +those chambers below there you will awaken to find your hand drawn over +the bedside and blood slowly dripping from your fingers,--there are +stains on the old oaken flooring even now. Which ghost does that is not +stated. + +No direct heir ever inherits "Leap," and when misfortune is following +fast on the footsteps of the family, a ghostly sheep appears and with a +claw of great length (that kind of sheep have "claws") scratches on the +panels of the great oaken portals. Every properly self-respecting house +in Ireland has a ghost, but Leap has more than its share, and no peasant +of the island would venture to pass a night alone in the dungeon under +its great tower. There was nothing ghostly about the very good Irish +whiskey which we had there,--so toasting all ghosts malign or beneficent +and bidding our host a thankful adieu, we depart under the dripping +skies and return to peaceful-looking Wingfield, only to learn that it +too has its ghost, but a friendly one, being a great white goose which +walks around the walls of the home park and so wards off all evil from +the occupants. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Rock of Cashel] + +A cheerful luncheon with agreeable people will banish any amount of +spooks. It is so in this case. Wingfield could never be called a lonely +place. Each of its fair chatelaines has a pet dog of her own and there +are half a dozen stray dogs belonging to no one and every one. _They_ +are not allowed in any room unless they find the door open and in +Ireland doors are rarely closed. If the dining-room door _is_ open at +meal-time and they about, it's first come first served, with odds on the +dogs,--ditto at teatime,--in fact, any old time or meal, and there are +dogs enough to fill all vacancies and be present upon all occasions. + +It is a merry meal we have, but the best of things must end and so we +rise to depart. As I step forward to open the door for the ladies I find +the knob gone and the act impossible; but we troop around by another way +and settle ourselves before a bright fire in the drawing-room. + +We are told by our hostess that the parson came to call the other day. +The doorbell was broken but the door open. Upon entering the +drawing-room and closing the door the knob came off in his hand. In the +meantime numbers of dogs had collected in the hall. Remembering that the +family were probably all out, he went to the bell to summon help, when +_that_ handle came off also; going to the window to get out, he could +not keep it up until he had called into service a small table; thus he +managed to tumble out on to the lawn amidst ten or a dozen barking dogs +not at that moment on duty inside. He has not called since. + +However to my thinking Irish dogs are good-natured. + +Warm-hearted hospitality reigns in that house and may good luck and +happiness for ever abide therewith. + +After luncheon we start again with our fair guides on a visit to another +famous house, Ffranckfort Castle, some eleven miles away, a veritable +moated grange owned by Major Rolleston. + +Our way lies through the forest. There are few hills hereabouts and no +sign-posts to any of the roads, so that one might well lose the route, +and but for our fair companions we certainly should have done so several +times since we lost sight of the hill of the fairies and entered these +labyrinths of the forest. + +Turning at last through an ancient gateway, we see through the vistas of +the trees and on a level stretch of ground a great enclosure some +hundreds of yards each way surrounded by a high stone wall, through +whose pointed gateway there are glimpses of a castellated mansion. As we +draw nearer a moat full of water discloses itself around the outer wall, +and rumbling over a drawbridge which has long since forgotten its +function, we enter the enclosure. + +As the car draws towards the house, which stands in the centre of the +place, a saturnine face, with a long, hooked nose, gazes at us through +the dusty diamond-shaped panes of a window. + +Here is a mansion of the olden times, and one so secluded that few from +the outer world ever find it. + +The house, built at several different periods, stands in the centre of +the enclosure. I should judge that the main portion was of the date of +Elizabeth but the left still holds a large round tower of a much older +period and the main doorway of heavy old oak, very thick, and studded +with nails folded back in several panels. A very curious bit of work. + +It would seem to-day that the gentleman behind the window either doubts +our being otherwise than spirituelle, or doubts our characters, and so +declines to admit us, but he does come finally, and we enter an old-time +place which knows nothing of the changes of these latter days and cares +less for them. + +In a large square hall we are greeted by our host, a typical Irish +gentleman. He presents us to the ladies of the family, and we are +welcomed as one is always welcomed in Ireland. + +The owner, Major Rolleston, will not believe that I am an American as he +cannot "hear the voice." I know just what he means and finally convince +him that America like England has many accents. + +They are charmed when they find that I really desire to see the old +house, and we are soon at work, at least the Major and I are,--leaving +the rest to discuss "tea." The Major acts as my guide over the place and +out into a lovely flower-garden; he is greatly interested also in the +cultivation of vegetables, and remarks with regret "you don't care for +farming." Confessing my shortcomings in that respect his interest in me +dies out, and he shortly conducts me back towards the old house, over +another drawbridge, which, like its fellow in front, has long since +forgotten its ancient usage. One might spend hours over such a place and +not exhaust its interest. I understand that it is the only perfectly +_moated_ mansion remaining in Ireland. There are fish in the moat, and +on one side a man can swim in six feet of water for some hundreds of +feet. The portions of the building which we inspected consisted of a +large square hall, dining-and drawing-rooms which stretch across its +front, and a large library in the rear. + +The hallway, like most in the land, is decorated with the antlers of +many deer, and in the drawing-room quaint prints and engravings and +portraits of long dead dames and squires adorn the wall, while through +the diamond-shaped panes of the casement the leaf-flecked sunshine +starts many a face into life as it flits across them. One feels that one +should be dressed in the costume of the Golden days. + +[Illustration: From a steel engraving + Cormac's Chapel, Rock of Cashel] + +Ffranckfort is not a splendid place, but it is homelike and beautiful. +Is it peace or stagnation which broods over a spot like this? Do these +people live or merely vegetate? To a man who has passed his years where +the pulses of life beat the strongest it seems at first like stagnation, +as though these woods must suffocate as they crowd so closely around the +outer enclosure, ever advancing towards the house,--indeed one great +tree in its haste or intentness to get here has fallen, and now projects +over moat and wall and far into the enclosure, where its branches peer +about them. Yet when one has been here a space there is a "peace, be +still" over it all, a sense of brooding, that is very calming to one's +spirit. + +Everything belongs to the long ago except our auto, which I order out of +sight, round the corner, with a command to stay there until it is wanted +and not intrude this twentieth century upon the sixteenth. But we cannot +remain for ever, and the car, shortly summoned, glides forth and rolls +us off and away, through the great gateway and over the bridge of the +moat and so off into the aisles of the forest whose trees closing in +around it hide the old hall from view as though by the dropping of a +curtain, and again I ask, is it peace and contentment, or stagnation, to +abide in Ffranckfort Castle? + +I think it was Bayard Taylor who, in his early life, desired the +seclusion of an island in some far off southern sea, there to dwell in +close communion with nature, there to look from nature up to nature's +God,--but as his years advanced and his sands of life ran towards a +finish, that desire changed to one which would place him where the +pulses of life beat the strongest, and his last words were, "Oh, for +more of this stuff called Life!" + +The shadows of night and the falling rain make it dark as we reach once +more our quarters in Birr where a bright fire in our sitting-room is, to +say the least, attractive, and where the discussion pro and con as to +the merits of "Mr. Dooley's Hotel" are revived. "Beastly" comes from +behind Boyse's book where he sits reading deep down in an arm-chair; but +here is a cosey little room, easy chairs and a bright fire, a +dinner-table attractively spread and an attractive dark-eyed lassie +waiting to serve us. May I never encounter worse than that on my +pilgrimage through life. + +To-morrow we go to Clonmacnoise and to-night, as I sit reading about it, +my thoughts become a strange jumble of crosses and round towers, haunted +castles, and ancient Manor-houses towards which I am carried in a wild +rush through the aisles of the forest surrounded and pursued by dogs, +geese, fairies, and ghosts until the top of the hill of the fairies is +reached and I am being tried for high treason because of my doubts +to-day of the powers of each and all of them. The headless monk is my +judge while the sheep with the long claw prosecutes the suit against me. +My fingers are dripping blood, it seems, and I am about to be delivered +to the dogs of Wingfield when I distinctly hear it stated that I am +snoring and had better go to bed. Perhaps such is the case; so good +night. + +As Clonmacnoise stands on the banks of the Shannon and is but some +thirty miles north of Birr, and the day yet young, we are off for a run +thither. The morning is moist and the roads slippery, but we make good +progress, most of the way through narrow lanes, and sometimes through +pastures, to the astonishment of the cattle settled for their noonday's +sleep. + +Clonmacnoise was once the Oxford of Ireland, where the sons of the +nobles were sent for education, its name "Cluan-mac-noise" meaning "the +secluded recess of the sons of nobles."[6] + +It was in addition, one of the favourite burial places of the Irish +kings. Even to-day, to be interred here is considered a blessing, as +those so honoured pass straight to heaven. + +The Abbey dates from the days of St. Kieran, 548 A.D.,--he died of the +plague and was buried here,--and at one time was one of the richest, +compressing within its bounds almost the half of Ireland. It flourished +all through the wars with the Danes, and seems to have been finally +plundered by the English, who carried off the wonderful bells and every +other movable object. From that time onward the roofless churches and +buildings fell more and more a prey to advancing time, until the whole +became as we see it to-day, a small ruined church, a fragment of a +castle, a round tower, and a stately cross, crowded upon by the graves +of those who have eagerly + +sought this direct route to the realms of the blessed, but, for us, this +world is as yet too full of interest, and we do not envy these dead even +though they have here found the portals of heaven. + +At Clonmacnoise is one of the many holy wells dating from pagan days, +and which the traveller finds all over Ireland. These wells would appear +to have formed a prominent feature in the paganism of the ancient +nations. There are traces of them all over Africa, Asia and Europe. + +It's a slippery, sliding run back to Birr, which the motor several times +attempts to take backwards, but it ends safely and we reach "Mr. +Dooley's Hotel" for luncheon. + +It is a misty morning as we depart from Birr, but mist at this season in +Ireland falls like a benediction upon man and upon all the world of +green around him--and where else in this world will you find such green +as in Ireland? + +To-day the woods and meadows stretch away before us and over all bends a +grey sky with patches of vivid blue and white cutting through it every +here and there. + +We had arranged to visit with our hosts of yesterday another of the +"most ancient" and still inhabited castles of this section, but fearing +a change to rain in the weather we give that up and roll off to the +south-west, until finally we reach a fair green valley through whose +grasses and beneath whose bending trees lazily rolls the river Suir, a +river just wide enough to suit one's fancy, full of fish and water +lilies, and by whose banks, amidst a thick grove of stately trees, the +ancient Abbey of the Holy Cross rears its grey walls and delicate +traceries. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + The Cross of Cashel and Throne of the Kings of Munster + Rock of Cashel] + +Holy Cross is one of the finest ruins in all Ireland, and was evidently +an abbey of great wealth and importance. Truly those monks of old knew +where to build and when they brought the relic of the Cross bestowed by +Pope Pascal II. in 1110 to this spot and erected its shrine, they made +no mistake. It is not difficult to restore in the mind's eye the ancient +structure to what it once was, or to repeople it with the forms and +faces of ancient days. Yonder door in the outer wall must often have +given egress to the fat white-robed abbot and his jolly crowd of monks, +come out to inspect the baskets of fish and other good things brought by +the people who crowded around them. There were also hampers of fruit and +vegetables, and other things which looked strangely like casks of wine. +Back of all rose the stately abbey, while the river flowed onward waving +its lilies and grasses, and the soft air was full of the sound of sacred +bells and murmuring waters. + +To-day we face a stately ruin and there is no sound of bells or sight of +abbot, only the river still murmurs amongst its lilies, but Holy Cross +is as beautiful in her ruin as she could ever have been in the days of +her splendour. + +A comely dame admits us through the abbot's portal, and for hours we +wander as the fancy dictates, pausing now in the choir with its ancient +tombs, climbing high on the great tower with its prospect of God's +eternal resurrection all around, or resting where the high altar is +draped in trailing ivy and splendid with golden lichen. + +The mists have disappeared, the sunlight is warm and strong and one can +almost see the fish in the river, while the air is laden with the +fragrance of lilies, and there is a hush over all as though this ancient +dame were sitting for her portrait. + +How completely the rush and trouble of the world drops away in a spot +like this! How the soul is lulled into slumber, and the "Peace, be +still" of God comes down upon one! + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] See Frontispiece. + +[6] Another authority interprets the name (Cluain-maccu-Nois) +"the meadow of the sons of Nos." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + The Rock of Cashel--Its Cathedral, Palace, and Round Tower--Its + History and Legends--Kilmalloch: its Ruins and History--The + Desmonds--Horse Fair at Buttevant. + + +The usual dram-shop exists near this one-time shrine of the cross and +outside of it we found a man somewhat half seas over who had insisted +upon showing us the abbey, but we were equally insistent that we would +not submit to such a desecration, and so the good woman in charge of it, +with much pleasure on her part,--"the likes of him, to be sure, to be +troublin' the gintlemen!"--had locked him out. He was on hand when we +came away, determined to get at least a sixpence for a drink, but to all +of his wiles we proved insensible. Just before we entered the car he +moved off a pace, and regarding me from top to toe remarked, "Well, I +must say, sor, that's the handsomest fitting coat I ever saw." As said +coat was a wretched production of a Chinese tailor of Yokohama the +flattery was too fulsome and fell flat, upon obdurate ears, but he +bestowed his benediction upon us for all that as the car rolled off. + +This section would seem to be the very heart of Ireland. There are +traces of ecclesiastical ruins everywhere, and one's interest is +intensified each moment until it reaches its climax some nine miles from +Holy Cross, when the land drops gently into a vast valley from the +centre of which, rising some three hundred feet, and crowned with ruins, +towers the Rock of Cashel. At its base clusters the town and in the +spreading meadows round about there are many stately ruins. As we +approach, the town gives scant evidence of life, until one wonders +whether any one exists there. We certainly do not see a half-dozen +living things, men or animals, before we desert the car and climb the +rock. + +It is a glorious day as we pass upward to the hill and the old town and +ruins take on a kindly look under the streaming sunshine--for sunshine +"streams" in Ireland; the sky is never cloudless and the sun breaking +through sends its light always in long streaming shafts, as though it +were a great searchlight directed by some giant power; and so it is +to-day, and just now it is turned full upon the Rock until all the ruins +seem quivering with life. + +But it passes, and as we enter and the iron gate clangs behind us the +whole place is full of the sadness of decay. This was the Stirling of +Ireland for here is cathedral, castle, and round tower. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Ancient Gateway, Kilmalloch] + +The stories of war and bloodshed have passed away and Cashel has fallen +more and more into ruin and decay with the flight of years. An old +guide, whose name does not seem to be given, made it the labour of his +life and love to restore as best he could what was remaining. Here he +lived on the charity of the poor, which never failed him, doing his +best, and it was much, to gather together the crumbling stones and +replace them in their old positions. Finally he died and was buried here +and his work, almost undone by neglect and time, was finally taken up by +one of equal taste and greater power, Archdeacon Cotton, who devoted +time, energy, and private means to preserve this most interesting spot +in Ireland from destruction. His work here started in Ireland the same +movement towards the preservation of these ancient places with which Sir +Walter Scott was so identified in Scotland. + +To both, the lover of antiquities owes an eternal debt of gratitude. + +Of Cashel it is related that Archbishop Brice in 1744, not being able to +drive his carriage to the top of the rock, procured an act of Parliament +to remove the cathedral down into the town, whereupon the roof was +actually taken off for the value of the lead and the venerable pile +abandoned to ruin. + +As we pass the iron gateway which now guards the ruins and the dead who +sleep around and in them (for the whole is now a great necropolis) the +eye is first attracted by a rude cross rising from an equally rude base; +on one side is carved the crucifixion, and on the other a figure of St. +Patrick. Here it is said the kings of Munster were crowned and here also +tribute was paid by those of lesser state, and it is claimed that a +hollow on one side was caused by the throwing down of the tribute gold +through many years. + +Passing onward one enters the quaint Cormac's Chapel, one of the most +interesting remains in Ireland. Its original stone roof is still in +place and possesses two very singular square towers on either side, one +of which carries its pyramidal roof, but the other is open to the sky. +The chapel is not large, being but fifty-three feet long and having only +a nave and choir. It is Norman in its character; the very rich +decorations of its arches and niches are all of that style. + +The cathedral is, of course, a ruin, but stately and beautiful. Its +interior is crowded with flat tombstones and even to-day interments take +place here, and be assured to have the right of burial in Cashel Church +is a hallmark of nobility which no money can purchase; only blood ties +with those long since laid to rest will gain you a right to sleep there, +and the same holds with Muckross. + +There is not much left of the castle. Outward amongst the many graves +which cover the rock, the eye is at once attracted by the stately round +tower, rising a hundred feet above the rock. To my thinking there is +nothing more majestic than these simple towers with their conical caps, +and one weaves around them all manner of romances and stories, which +probably are very far from the truth. + +There seems little doubt that they are simply the campaniles of this +northern land and it appears certain that they did not make their +appearance until after the advent of Christianity. They were probably +used also for watch towers and are to be found all down the coast at +points where the Danes were apt to land. + +In those days the Danes were the marauders of Europe, and Ireland did +not escape their attention. + +The ancient annals of the island call these towers, of which seventy are +still standing, "Cloicoheach" or house of a bell. There are two in the +land which have most impressed me, this one high on the Rock of Cashel +and the one at Glendalough, deep down in a valley. Of that one I shall +speak later on. + +Cashel as a place of importance dates from the early kings of Munster +and from the days of St. Patrick--the fifth century--when St. Declan +founded a church here. + +Its name probably came from a stone fort or "Caiseal." It was also +called the City of the Kings. Here in 1172 Henry the Second received the +homage of Donald O'Brien, King of Thomond, and the princes of Offaly and +Decies, and England became the ruler of the land. Here he read aloud +that famous papal bull. Edward Bruce passed by Cashel and paused to hold +a parliament. The Butlers and Fitzgeralds warred all over the place and +the great Earl of Kildare in 1495 burned down the cathedral, and when +called by the King of England to accounting, declared that he would not +have thought of committing such a sacrilege but that he was told that +the archbishop was surely in the church; whereupon the King exclaimed, +"If all Ireland cannot govern this man, he is the fittest to govern all +Ireland," and thereupon appointed him viceroy the following year. + +The rock and town were given up to plunder and slaughter by Lord +Inchiquin in 1647 when twenty monks and many of the people were slain, +but Cashel shines forth most brilliantly as the seat for centuries of an +archbishop, and as the stranger stands on the rock to-day it is not +difficult to picture the scenes and pageants of that period. Restore in +your minds the church and palace to their former grandeur, rebuild and +repeople the many monasteries which dot the green valley around the +rock, fill the shady lanes with the gorgeous processionals of the Church +of Rome advancing to some great ceremonial in the cathedral already +crowded with a multitude bowed in prayer, place the gorgeously robed +archbishop on his throne before the altar ablaze with gold and lighted +candles, while the sunlight streaming through the painted windows casts +the greater glory of God over all, and the organ sends its deep solemn +tones forth under the stately arches. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Dominican Abbey, Kilmalloch] + +Then you have Cashel at its best; but passing outward your eye would +have been at once attracted by the stately round tower, as stately +to-day as it was then, which would tell you at once that, as some +believed, long before the cross came to Cashel the pagans held their +barbarous rites and ceremonies on this rock. + +Again, we are told that Cashel was first founded in the reign of Coro, +son of Loo-ee, and that its name was Sheedrum, also called Drum-feeva; +from the woods about. Through the forests and up to the rock at that +time came two swineherds, with their pigs, Kellarn, herdsman to the King +of Ely, and Doordry, herdsman for the King of Ormond, and there appeared +to them here a figure as brilliant as the sun, and whose voice, more +melodious than any music of this world, was consecrating the hill and +prophesying the coming of St. Patrick. The news soon reached Coro, who +came hither without delay and built a palace here called Lis-no-Lachree, +or the fort of heroes, and being King of Munster his royal tribute was +received on this rock, then called Currick-Patrick,--wherefore it was +called Cashel, _i.e._, Cios-ail, or the rock of tribute. + +All that is but a legend and story of the long ago, yet this great round +tower bears enduring testimony that Cashel was occupied long before the +English invasion. Indeed the chapel of Cormac is undoubtedly of before +that period but the cathedral dates from 1169, and the castle from +1260. The whole was originally surrounded by a wall, of which no trace +remains to us. + +But after all it is the prospect from the outer walls which will longest +hold your attention, the beautiful panorama of the golden vale of +Tipperary spread out before you, while beyond range the stately Galty +Mountains and the Slievenaman and Clonmel hills, the old town clustering +around the base of the rock, its twisting narrow streets bordered by +quaint houses while the green meadows around are dotted with ruined +abbeys and many a tower of far more ancient date. + +If Ireland _is_ unhappy, she does not show it here to the passing +stranger to-day. All is peace down amongst those meadows and beside +those still waters. + +Yonder is the Abbey of Horl, the equal of Holy Cross, but to inspect all +the abbeys one passes would take a lifetime. + +As we return to the car, I notice that there is trouble of some sort. An +old Irishman stands near-by and a little girl is trying vainly to draw +him away. As we arrive Yama remarks that the old man is insulting, and +in as low a tone as I can command I bid him pay no attention as the man +is drunk. That may be, but not so drunk as to deaden his hearing for he +promptly replies, "Yes, sor, I am drunk, but I am drunk on my own +whiskey, and I am not travellin' around wid a monkey man." It was +well-nigh impossible to keep grave faces, but for the Jap's sake we +succeeded, and the car started, not, however, without another shot from +the old man: "Well, good-bye to yez, and I forgive ye if ye did say I am +drunk." I am glad to state that that was the only experience of the kind +which we encountered. What may have occurred before we reached the car I +cannot say,--I certainly did not question the Jap on the subject, +judging it better to drop the whole matter, but I have little doubt but +that he did or said something to enrage the old man. The only one +concerned for whom I felt any pity was the little granddaughter, who +vainly endeavoured to lead him away. Poor child, her eyes were full of +tears and I felt very sorry for her. In this world of ours it seems +always her sex which must suffer. + +Our route from Cashel to Buttevant lies through rich meadow-lands where +the grass is greener and the buttercups of a deeper golden than anywhere +else in the world I think, unless it be in the "blue grass" regions of +our own Kentucky. This was certainly the land of promise to all who +lived here or could force their way in; almost every turn in the road +brings us upon some ruined tower or castle, whilst fragments of +ecclesiastical buildings dot the landscape far and near. Indeed, as we +roll leisurely along on this bright summer's morning, the prospect is at +all times enchanting to the lover of history and antiquity, and the +interest increases steadily until Kilmalloch, the Balbec of Ireland, is +reached, though at all times the traveller's regret will be intense +that the ruin of all is so complete. In fact, the town is but a mass of +ruins where the miserable hovels of the poor prop up what is left of the +ancient mansions of a vanished nobility. As we pass through what was +once its greatest street we note the remains of stately houses every +here and there, but they have evidently been partly pulled down and +their materials used to build the wretched structures which now shelter +these people. Only the property of the church has been spared and in +this case, though the ruin is great, it is the result of the sieges +during Elizabeth's and Cromwell's time; the people have let the +buildings alone, only that great disbeliever in church or state, time, +is for ever at work completing their destruction. + +One comes here upon the trails of the most powerful family which Ireland +has ever possessed, the Desmonds, whose properties, covering four +counties, extended over one hundred miles and contained over five +hundred and seventy thousand acres. An ancient family, even at that +period, they were made earls in 1329. Their power appears to have been +at all times dreaded by the crown and we find one of them of the Kildare +branch a prisoner in the Tower in Henry VII.'s time. He it was who +burned the cathedral at Cashel, hence we may save our sympathies for a +better man, especially as his assurance so affected the King that he was +appointed governor of Ireland, as we related in the account of Cashel. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Buttevant Barracks] + +His son, for rebellion, did not fare so well with Henry VIII., as, with +five of his uncles, he perished on the scaffold and his family was only +saved from extinction by having his youngest brother smuggled over to +France to return to home and restored estates when Edward VI. sat on the +throne. + +Do not, however, for a moment imagine that that family "lived happily +for ever after." Certainly not with such blood flowing in their veins +and with Elizabeth Tudor wearing the crown, during whose reign the +sixteenth Earl of Desmond did all he could to prevent his name from +sinking into oblivion. He became conspicuous as an "ingenious rebel" and +the Queen speaks of him in one of her letters as "a nobleman not brought +up where law and justice had been frequent," by which I presume her +Majesty meant that he had forgotten that the words "law" and "justice" +meant the royal "will" and "desire" only. We have had some such +forgetfulness in our own land of late years. Desmond was of such power +that he could raise a company of five hundred men of his own name alone, +all of whom and his own life also he lost in three years' time. There is +little doubt that he was driven to rebellion by wrong and oppression, as +he and his estates were objects of envy to every other chieftain of +Ireland. His greatest enemy, the Earl of Ormond, was finally empowered +by the crown to crush him and in the end succeeded. Desmond, "trusting +no home or castle," was driven to woods and bogs and finally captured +in a ruined hovel where his head was struck off and sent to the Queen +"pickled in a pipkin." His executioner, a soldier named "Daniel Kelly," +received a pension of twenty pounds from the crown but for some later +act was hanged at Tyburn. + +With James, the son of this Desmond, the power of the family terminated. +He became a Protestant and the only one of his name. It is useless to +state that the followers of his ancient house would not tolerate such a +lapse and upon his only visit to Kilmalloch he was spat upon on his +return from church. That drove him to London, where he died. + +As I have stated, there is almost nothing to remind the traveller +through Kilmalloch to-day of its ancient splendour, though he may still +trace its walls which once completely surrounded the town. Just outside +stands the ruins of the Dominican friary, a stately empty shell. + +Leaving it, we roll away southward and upon entering the town of +Buttevant are rudely shaken from the contemplation of ancient days to +the activity of this twentieth century. + +Buttevant is indulging in a horse fair where David Harums congregate +from all the land roundabout. As our car rolls through the streets, we +are regarded as legitimate prey and have horses of all ages, sizes, and +colours,--"Sound? Glory be to God, as sound as yer honour," shoved in +front of us. (That we pass on without pausing stamps us at once as +unworthy of further notice.) One man with absolutely no right has seized +upon an adjoining field and after breaking a hole in the wall as a +ticket window proceeds to collect a shilling from all who enter, of +which there are many. If any refuse to pay he seizes a convenient rock +and threatens them. It is useless to state that most of the community +imagine that all that is worth seeing in the place is in that field, and +as every one crowds in there they are not far wrong. Still, I learn +later, the canny ticket collector takes care to vanish at the proper +moment. They spend some time looking for him, especially as the owner of +the field threatens to have the law on the whole lot for trespass. + +Leaving the noise and confusion behind us, we enter the great square of +the barracks, and the motor vanishes for a season. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + Buttevant Barracks--Army Life--Mess-room Talk--Condition of the + Barracks--Balleybeg Abbey--Old Church--Native Wedding--Kilcoman + Castle, Spenser's Home--Doneraile Court--Mrs. Aldworth, the only + Woman Free Mason--Irish Wit--Regimental Plate--Departure from the + Barracks. + + +In the barracks at Buttevant are at present quartered a battalion of the +Dublin Fusiliers, a regiment which dates back to the days of Charles +II., and which has spent most of its years in India. Now this battalion +is back home and I doubt not that both officers and men find the cool +grey skys and green fields a welcome contrast to the blazing heavens and +burnt brown stretches of the Far East. Yet I imagine that there will be +certain moments of longing for the land where they have made their home +for so many years,--a land which never entirely releases her hold upon +those who have dwelt there. + + "If a year of life you give her; + If her temples, shrines you enter; + The door is closed, you may not look behind." + +But that state has not arrived with these men yet and they are very +contented to be "at home." + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Dinner at Buttevant Barracks] + +These barracks at Buttevant are spacious and, as barracks go, very +comfortable. Situated in a good hunting country, one hears horse and +hound talk intermingled with the many bugle calls and the stirring +sounds of the fife. The campus or compound, a great green square +surrounded by the quarters, is constantly a gay spot, often with +lawn-tennis and cricket going on in its centre, and there are always the +officers' wives and children, giving the scene just that touch and charm +which can only come from women's presence. + +Orderlies are leading or riding around the drive the hunters recently +purchased at the neighbouring horse fair, and constant are the comments +upon each nag as it passes,--mingled with much badinage at the expense +of the purchasers. + +The regimental band of fifty men discourses sweet music. Tea is on in +the mess-room--soldiers in khaki and soldiers in scarlet coats are +everywhere. Snatches of songs come from the different quarters and life +does not seem hard to these soldiers, at least not now, and yet--the +call to arms and the chance of a skirmish is always welcome at first, +until they realise that "War is Hell" and once entered upon cannot be so +easily stopped. There is no thought of war here now and life goes +merrily onward. + +At seven-thirty the dressing bugle sounds and we are off to reassemble +in the officers' mess at eight for that most important function, +dinner. I confess I feel slovenly in my black clothes amongst the +scarlet and gold of the officers. The mess dress of the army is very +effective, a scarlet jacket fitting closely and showing a generous shirt +front, dark blue trousers with scarlet stripes, strapped over patent +leather boots bearing spurs,--a dress becoming to any man. Once he knows +you, a British officer is always very cordial and agreeable; there are +few exceptions to that rule. I am certainly given a cordial welcome +amongst them on my first evening. + +Dinner announced, we file down to the mess-room where if you imagine +things are crude or camp-like you are mistaken. The spacious apartment +is adorned with the "colours" old and new of the whole regiment (as this +is the headquarters of all its battalions and all such things are here +stored), most of them torn with the strife of battle. The table, of +Bombay oak (which travels with the regiment wherever it goes), is of +great width and as long as the room will permit. For dinner it is decked +with magnificent plate in the form of candelabra, cups and fantastic +salt-cellars, etc. There are flowers and snowy linen of course, and the +room is brilliant with scarlet coats and the mellow light of wax +candles. The dinner goes merrily on, while outside the regimental band +discourses its best. Towards the end we are brought to our feet with +"Gentleman, the King," and so, to the national anthem, drink the health +of his Majesty. + +(I must compliment this band. It is excellent, and I believe is +considered the best in south Ireland.) + +After dinner, we adjourn to the smoking-room upstairs, and "bridge" +comes in for proper attention. + +Not caring for the game, Major Beddoes and I are seated before the fire. +The room is a large one and, I am thankful to say, does not possess +electric lights; a shaded lamp throws a warm glow downward upon the card +tables while the flashes of the firelight bring the scarlet coats and +gold braid of the players, and the tattered battle flags beyond them +into bold relief now and then. + +The air is full of tobacco smoke, but aside from our subdued voices and +an occasional remark thrown at me by the players because I neither smoke +nor play, the room is very quiet. Outside, the barracks and the town +seem to have gone to sleep save for an occasional bugle call or sentry +challenge. + +There had been some commotion below earlier in the evening because of a +young setter pup, which Capt. D. had shut up in his room, having eaten +one of the Captain's new walking boots, and Major Beddoes had some words +with his man, whom he had discovered wearing one of his, the Major's, +best dress shirts. "Sure, Major, 'twasn't soiled enough to give to old +Mag beyant there to wash, and I jest thought I would give it a wear or +so mesell, knowin' ye wouldn't care." + +But those incidents of barracks life have passed on, when I ask the +Major what he thinks are the real feelings of the English for +Americans,--do you like us?--he is enough like a Yankee to throw the +query back at me with the parties reversed; but I came first upon the +field and insist upon that advantage. After some moments of quiet +pulling at his beloved pipe, he answers, "I think individually, yes,--as +a nation, _no_, and you have probably discovered that for yourself, and +the feeling on our part may be based on jealousy. You are also aware +that the same holds in your own land toward our people. As a general +thing we like your women, but not your men, and our opinion of the +latter is probably influenced by those of your citizens who have turned +their backs upon their own land and settled amongst us. Of these I do +not include those who have come amongst us for business reasons,--they +always expect to go 'home,' and are at all periods of their sojourn here +Americans,--but those others who, drawing their entire support from +their own country, settle here and become more anti-American than any +Englishman ever was. We despise them, and no matter how hard they may +work for it, they will never be looked upon otherwise than as +strangers,--their children, reared over here, possibly, but never +themselves, for whether we like you or not, we do think that one born in +America should be proud of that fact and not a cad. Do you agree with +me?" + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Buttevant] + +"Assuredly, and personally whatever pride in the past I possess is +centred in those of my ancestors who helped to make and preserve our +great nation,--beyond them, while it is interesting to trace backward +into the countries of the old world, it is simply a pastime." + +"You certainly send us funny lots of people during the touring months." + +"Yes,--but have you ever tried to talk to them?" + +"Just recall that lot at Mallow the other day. Could any party on the +surface be more unattractive?" + +"You are quite correct, but if you had spoken to that most aggressive +looking man and his more aggressive looking wife and daughter, you would +have discovered well educated and intelligent people, such as form the +real backbone of a nation. They have consumed six summers travelling in +Norway alone, and thoroughly appreciate that beautiful country. They +believe that the world is a better book than any ever enclosed between +covers, and they intend to read it, and when the years bring old age +upon them, all that world will still be an open volume, its changes and +improvements fully appreciated and understood. Can you not excuse much +that is unpleasant in people like these? And do they not compare +favourably with the masses of English of a certain class found all over +Europe." + +As for the sentiments of one nation for another, it is summed up in the +words of a recent author, "Moreover, the fine old dislike which Bretons +bestow upon everything outside Brittany was hers both by inheritance and +careful cultivation." There you have it in a nutshell,--not only as +regards the English but all other nations. England certainly holds that +feeling towards all the continent and I believe towards America; Boston +has it for all the rest of our land. New York has of late years become +more liberal, more cosmopolitan, yet I heard but lately a man make the +remark in her best club that he had "a perfect horror of the middle +West." How does that sound from an educated man in this twentieth +century, and of cities which have long since passed their centennial? To +be sure, far from being a criterion for the citizens of New York, he was +one who had kept his nose down on the books of some counting-house and +had never left the confines of the city. + +As for California, I have known the dislike of everything outside of +that State, especially Eastern, to separate husband and wife and destroy +a family; where the wife's hatred of "outsiders" extended from her +husband's parents to and including every friend he had in the East,--an +impersonal sort of hatred because she was stranger to most of them, yet +none the less violent, with the result as stated. + +Again, did not such a feeling have something to do with our Civil War? +Does not England even to-day believe that the cultivation was largely +in the South, and yet how unjust such an opinion! I am half Southern, my +mother's family having been slave-owners for generations, and I think I +can speak without prejudice, and I say again "how unjust such an +opinion." The cultivation in the South was sprinkled over a sparsely +settled country and centred in a few thousands of planters and their +families. In the North, it covered all of a densely populated section, +and from ocean to ocean it would have been impossible to find a class +like the mountaineers of Virginia, so ignorant that many of them not +only could not read but did not know what "reading" meant. Furthermore +where were, and still are, all the greater universities and seats of +learning? In the North. Where did our great poets and essayists come +from? The North again. I do not desire to decry the South,--far from +it,--but the old idea was an absurdity; the South in her palmiest +ante-bellum days sent the majority of her sons north to be educated, +but---- + +Bridge in the meantime is over for to-night and the group before the +fire increased thereby. So the talk drifts on and on. I am not given to +slang and do not like it, but I happened to use a bit just here, "he +monkeyed with a buzz saw." Attracted by the silence which followed I +looked up to find every face gazing upon me in puzzled amazement, until +finally Major ---- felt that some explanation must be forthcoming. + +"Monkeyed with a buzz saw? Now let me see, let me see. What exactly _is_ +a 'buzz saw,' and what happened to the monkey?" + +My laughter forced them all to join in and for the next hour these +defenders of the British flag took a lesson in American slang, until +upon the soft air outside sounded the notes of the "last post" (or +"taps" as we call it), the saddest bit of melody in the world of music, +and so "good night," "good night." One by one the lights went out and +sleep settled upon the living while the moon, turning her attention +elsewhere, went off to light the fairies dancing on the river and the +witches down in old Ballybeg Abbey. + +The following day being Sunday the soldiers of the King go to service in +full dress; the grim barracks are brilliant with hundreds of scarlet +coats and to the music of _Stars and Stripes Forever_ our one time foes +move off to pray for peace while prepared for war. I notice that +_Hiawatha_ is the favourite tune for marching men, and am told that it +is not only because it is a most excellent march but because the fife +plays an important part in its rendering and the fife is the only +instrument which can be heard above the din of battle. + +[Illustration: Kilcoman Castle + Spenser's Home + Where he wrote _The Faerie Queene_] + +There is a drummer in this band whose movements are simply amazing, and +I find myself trying to imitate them with pole and cane to the peril of +life and property. How he does swing those great sticks around his head +and bring them down upon that huge bass-drum! A drummer surely whose +pomposity surpasses anything of its kind within my memory. As the +inspiring music grows fainter and fainter and the scarlet coats pass +away down the streets of the old town I turn for an inspection of the +barracks. On the top of the entrance arch are the offices, on the right +the guard-house, and beyond it a large gymnasium. On either side of the +green and running at right angles to the entrance are the officers' +quarters, while a large barracks for the men forms the fourth side of +the square. Back of this is another square surrounded by large barracks, +while the married men have a separate building beyond these and the +Colonel lives in a retired pleasant house off in one corner. Of that +house and the dwellers therein I have some very pleasant memories. + +To a looker-on in this twentieth century the disregard of sanitary +measures in such a barracks as this is surprising and I doubt not the +same holds in all others of the Empire and perhaps in all those of other +countries, including my own. Of that I am unable to speak, but the +outrage is an outrage all the same. One can understand the lack of such +things in far western camps or in war times, but that a great stone +place like this with a hundred years to its credit should have no proper +baths or toilet-rooms for its officers is "an outrage" most certainly, +and one which the nation should insist upon being promptly corrected. +There are a few bathrooms with good tubs and hot and cold water for the +men but the officers have nothing save the inconvenient, nasty little +tin tubs, and it is practically impossible for a big man to keep himself +in proper condition by their use. + +These quarters are, as I have stated, massive stone buildings. Each +officer has a sitting-room with two small rooms adjoining and so placed +that either of the latter could be transformed at small cost into an +excellent bathroom with hot and cold water laid on. As it is now, these +gentlemen must use a little tin thing with an inch or two of cold water. +It's a common saying amongst the officers of the army that nothing is +done for _them_. What the government does is all for the rank and file. +That the soldiers should receive everything needful is in all ways +proper, but are not the men who lead them, the brains of this strength +of the nation, entitled to like consideration? They offer their lives +upon the slightest cause, and gladly too, yet their government is so far +forgetful, not to call it by a harsher term, that it neglects their +well-being in this manner. They are willing to put up with _nothing_ +when it is necessary, and surely are entitled to a _bare something_, and +this is nothing more, when it can so easily be done and at such small +expense. Cleanliness is certainly more essential to health than many +brilliant coats and much silver plate. + +There is often scorn expressed for our bathrooms with their modern +appliances, but I noticed at P---- that one of the scoffers, who might +have had his little "tub" (so constantly extolled) in his bedroom, +waited and almost missed his dinner that he might use the only bathroom +in that vast establishment. I do not desire to accuse the officers of +uncleanliness--very far from it--but they should be better provided for +in this respect. + +I am also astounded to note the treatment of the common soldiers--"Tommy +Atkins"--by the public. In time of war he is worshipped, but in time of +peace is scarce considered to be a man, merely a servant to be pushed +and shoved about and treated most discourteously, to say the least. I +saw this done in a theatre the other night, to a soldier who addressed a +simple, civil question to the man next him. The reply he got and the +treatment he received would, in America at least, have resulted in a +row, and justly too. However, that occurred in Ireland where the "red +coats" are not liked. + +I understand that the pay per year of the officers in the British army +is about as follows: + + A Colonel, £400 Sterling + Lt. Colonel, 300 + Major, 240 + Captain, 200 + Lieutenant, 100 + +These figures do not seem very large when a man offers his life to his +country, but they are in excess of many nations on the Continent, where +the officers are forced into beastly poverty by the call for outside +gorgeousness. At a late grand review the eye of a beholder was attracted +by an officer quite resplendent in a beautiful white uniform, superb +high black boots with glittering spurs, a silver breastplate, and +glittering helmet, and mounted on a splendid black charger, his +appearance was gorgeousness intensified. After the review the observer, +passing the tent of this same officer, saw the entire gorgeousness as to +uniform hung up to dry and on the wretched camp bed sat the man _with no +socks on_,--"too poor to buy them," all the pay and far more gone in the +useless display,--and yet not altogether useless, for without the +uniforms these great standing armies would melt away like mist before +the sun and many a throne totter to its fall. However, if the splendour +must be maintained, and it is certainly beautiful to look at, then those +forced to wear it and bear its expense should be better paid, +remembering at the same time that the wearers are ready at any moment to +stand up to be shot to death in defence of the home where you sit +comfortably reading your paper--therefore "PAY, PAY, PAY!" + +The officers of these Fusiliers are devoted to their cook. I suggested +the other day that his coffee might be improved,--it was wretched, in +fact, not coffee at all, while no fault could be found with the rest of +the menu. They replied that they knew it, but he had been so devoted in +battle, had cooked under a galling Gatling fire, had rushed so many +times over death spots to bring them hot sausages which he was forced to +carry in his hands, that they could not scold him. I drank his coffee +with great pleasure after that. The heroes in this world do not always +wear the most brilliant uniforms and has it not been proven that it is +the commissary which in the end decides the conflict? + +[Illustration: Doneraile Court, County Cork] + +There is nothing going on in the barracks this morning which interests +me, save perhaps a court-martial, at which I am told that my absence +will be very precious. So I stroll off in the soft sunlight through the +great gateway, where a sentry holds constant ward and watch, just for +appearance sake, I imagine, as it cannot be to keep the boys in or +strangers out, for just at yonder corner is a breach in the wall +unguarded where any one may come and go at pleasure, and I doubt not +many of the boys do go and for pleasure, though there can be little +amusement in the sad town which clusters between the barracks and +castle. Of young men it seems to hold none, and there are not many +children, so that when these few old people pass onward and enter for +eternity yonder churchyard, old Buttevant will wither away altogether. +Many kindly faces come to the doors to watch me, knowing that I am an +American, and their eyes have a questioning look as though to ask for +some dear one in the land beyond the sea. + +The place is indeed very old and every now and then as I pass through +the streets I come across some vestige of its past greatness and a mile +beyond its limits reach the ruins of Ballybeg Abbey, in a smiling meadow +down by the river Awbeg. Something of a stately structure in its palmy +days, there is little of that left now, but on the whole it is all +rather sociable. The river is of that sort, and having loitered downward +under its trees and through its grasses murmurs confidential bits of +gossip about the castle yonder upon its banks. Yellow buttercups push +their heads upward through the turf which climbs to the old grey walls +of the abbey, and in the abbot's doorway the white face of a ruminating +cow is silhouetted against the inner darkness. "They also serve who only +stand and wait," must have been written of Ballybeg and its kind, for it +has left no trace upon the pages of history. Yet withal, as I have +stated, it's a sociable old place and I spend some time in its company, +seated on the parapet of a neighbouring stone bridge where 'tis said the +fairies dance when the moon is full. + +I expected much from the name--Ballybeg--why I can scarcely tell but I +cannot say that I am disappointed, though such stately structures as +Fountaine and Tintern in Wales would scarce consider Ballybeg to be +exactly "in their set." + +Wandering up the banks of the Awbeg, I pass beyond the castle. We +had tea there last season and a medieval castle which can descend +to having afternoon tea served within its walls is not worthy of +description. It is owned by an irascible old lady who occupies one part +and rents out the other and who generally keeps such a strict eye upon +her tenants that it results in driving them out. When we visited it the +tenants were an officer and his wife, and just that shortly happened, +so that on my second visit to Buttevant, the castle stares at me with +vacant eyes of windows, and I pass onward up the river to the centre of +the town, where the ruins of its Franciscan abbey raise their arches +and columns and guard the dead of long ago, and those who come in this +later day to sleep beneath its shadows. + +If you enter its crypt, you will stand amazed at the vast quantity of +human bones piled pell-mell there. Some say that they are but the +natural accumulation of departing humanity and others that they all came +from the neighbouring battlefield of Knockninoss,--others believe that +when in the flesh they all lived yonder in old Ballybeg. + +Be that as it may, they are here now, quietly awaiting that day of days, +which shall summon them forth once more, and as I stand in the darkness +with my foot on a skull, which might have enclosed the brains of an +Irish king, downward through a broken casement comes the sound of a +voice and the words "I am the resurrection and the life, he that +believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," and I roll the +skull gently back into denser shadows, wondering, _wondering_, and +then, as we all must do, ceasing to wonder, and just continuing +to--trust. + +Passing upward into the sunshine and forward amidst the long grasses +which cover the humbler dead, I find that one more has but now joined +this silent company, and those who brought her here are slowly leaving +the churchyard. Poor people, all of them,--there does not appear to be +any others in this town of Buttevant,--but death seems to hold no +terrors for any one of these and many sit round on the tombstones and do +not hesitate to discuss the qualities, good and bad, of those asleep +beneath them and to admire the inscriptions. Here is one quaint enough +surely: + + "Here lies Pat Steele--that's very true; + Who was he? What was he? What's that to _you_?" + +Yonder is a cross of wood under discussion at the present moment. It +states that "here lies Kate O'Shea and also her sister Mrs. Mary +Buckley," and that as "their father died last year, this is the end of +the O'Shea family." That thereby hangs a tale is very evident, and +yonder fat old lady on whose head a bit of a black bonnet is poised and +round whose shoulders a comfortable shawl is wrapped could and would +tell me if there were not so many listeners about, who knowing her love +of gossip keep sharp watch and ward, so that of those who are gone I +learn nothing, but of what is shortly to happen I hear more. + +[Illustration: The Room in Doneraile Court where Mrs. Aldworth Hid] + +A wedding is to take place in the modern church just here and we sit +round on the tombstones, awaiting the coming of the bride. There are +hints as to this bride which rouse my curiosity, and I decide to await +her coming, which shortly happens. She is a comely looking young woman, +modestly dressed in a green gown, and a blue hat with red roses thereon. +Her blue eyes do not possess a very happy look as they rest on the fat +middle-aged bridegroom, and the old lady on the tombstone next to me +heaves a sigh which tells unutterable things. Still, all seems going +smoothly and we follow into the church. The ceremony begins, and +progresses as usual to that point where the bride is asked if she takes +this man to be her wedded husband, when upon the amazed and horrified +ears of all falls the reply in sharp tones, "Indade, I won't," followed +by a swish of a blue skirt and a flash of red roses down the aisle and +out the door and the bride is gone. I leave a description of the hubbub +which followed to your imagination. + +Getting finally outside, I find myself once more near the old lady of +ample proportions, and just in time to hear her remark "and him wid nine +illegant fat pigs and sivin suits of clothes _aich one better than the +other_." This entirely destroys my dignity and self-control and I double +up with laughter upon a neighbouring tombstone, whereupon the old lady, +after one look of grand amaze, gives me "the full of her back" and with +her "nose trun in the air" passes majestically away. I learn later that +of that bride they never again heard. Like the bubble on the river she +was gone and for ever. + +The neighbourhood of Buttevant is full of interest to those who will +turn aside from the usual tour of Ireland. To-day we are off through the +green lanes for a visit to Kilcoman Castle, the home for some years of +the poet Spenser, and where he wrote his _Faerie Queene_. We shall later +visit the scenes of that poem. + +In 1586 Spenser received some fifteen hundred acres of land from the +crown, and on them stood this ancient stronghold of the Desmonds, which +he made his home for years. Those were troublous times and he saw much +of their misery, and their sadness tinges his great poem. + +He received but small acknowledgment for his work from Elizabeth, and +even that was objected to by Burleigh,--"What--so much for a song!" + +This castle was sacked whilst he occupied it and he fled to London, +where he died in poverty. + +The ruins rise from the midst of a green meadow some seven miles from +Buttevant, and consist of a lonely tower, to the top of which we mounted +by its ancient staircase within the walls. The tower chamber still has +its roof intact, but at its best the castle must have formed a poor +abiding-place even three centuries ago. + +The prospect from the top is rather dreary, and we leave the spot +without regret. + +Doneraile Court, in whose vast park were laid the scenes of the _Faerie +Queene_, is very different. It is now the property of Lord Castletown. + +One more fully appreciates the comfort of a motor-car when forced +suddenly as we were last night to take a jaunting-car for a ride of nine +miles to Doneraile. That distance would be nothing at all in the former +vehicle, but is every inch of nine miles in the latter. It's no easy +matter to hold one's seat in these cars. If you happen to have a +trotting horse it's not so difficult, but if the beast is inclined to +canter, as ours was, the wheels of the car will almost leave the ground +with every canter, and chances are that you will desert the car +altogether. I came near doing so several times last night, and reached +the court in a breathless state, which the horse, with a wicked leer in +his eye, seemed to enjoy to the full. Tom, the driver, secure on his +perch in front, rode most of the way with his back to the horse, which +appeared to know whither we were bound, Tom the while discoursing to me +upon the charms of hunting in Ireland and showing me several of the +favourite jumping places. I did not enthuse; though I have ridden all my +life and hunted some, still a jump composed of a stone wall, a hedge, +and a deep drop on the far side did not commend itself to me, especially +as a man had "broken his neck there but lately." One can scarcely +understand such clumsiness on his part as the drop was quite sufficient +for horse and rider to turn a complete summersault, and still come out +right side up. However, I shall not try the trick, but that I would +hesitate for an instant, for such a reason, to join in the national +sport stamps me as unsportsmanlike--as one who will not buy a horse, and +that settles my position, in Ireland. + +We approached Doneraile Court through the village of that name, which +clusters close under its park walls. Doneraile is quite _the_ place in +this section, and we find it a stately mansion presiding over one of the +most beautifully wooded parks in Great Britain. + +These houses in Ireland, mostly all dating from the Restoration, are +commodious and ofttimes stately structures, and have a beauty all their +own and very different from anything in England, hence one cannot +compare them. This estate somewhat antedates that period as it was +purchased from Spenser's son by William St. Ledger, President of Munster +in Charles I.'s reign, and the town gives the title to the family. + +Doneraile presents a lofty and attractive front to the park and the +attraction abides as one enters the spacious halls filled with the +trophies of the chase and with quaint arms gathered from all over the +world. In the distance a stately staircase mounts to the upper floors +and on the left is a suite of handsome withdrawing-rooms and a library, +while the dining-room holds on its walls many interesting family +portraits, one of which quite diverts my attention from the conversation +during dinner. It is that of Mrs. Aldworth, and shows a very strong, +determined countenance. The finger on that book indicates that you will +believe what she tells you or she will know the reason. + +[Illustration: The Hon. Mrs. Aldworth + The only woman Freemason] + +I have another picture of the lady from a painting in Doneraile,--never +photographed before,--but it is not so distinct as the one I give, and +is merely that of a beautiful woman, a woman of the world before her +character has been developed. Certainly none would dare claim--in her +presence at least--that the character of the lady in the portrait I do +give has not been developed, nor would it be well to cast any aspersions +upon that character. You may think you know a thing or two, but if wise +you will not dare the owner of that face yonder. Madam, I doubt not but +that you were the very best Mason the sun ever shone upon, so let me +alone, will you? + +She was born in 1695, and her history is told us by Lord Castletown in +the room where its great event occurred. + +It is the first on your right in front as you enter the mansion, and the +interest of the house centres there, for therein was being held in 1725 +the Free-masons' lodge when the Hon. Mary St. Ledger, afterwards Mrs. +Aldworth, hid herself, some say in the great clock, and upon being +discovered was by those present condemned to death, when one man so +plead for her that her life was spared and she was made a full-fledged +Mason, the only one in the world's history. What could follow an +incident so romantic save a wedding, and it did follow shortly. It is +said that she was condemned for ever to wear clocks on her stockings, +hence that name for that bit of embroidery. It is also stated that +Aldworth at first voted for her death and she married him to pay him out +again. Whichever tale is correct it is stated that in later years he +more than regretted that he had not voted for her death, but he was +probably a degenerate man, for the face in yonder portrait was worth +fighting for. In the room where it all occurred are her masonic emblems, +a "square" about three inches long, the stone above an amethyst, the +rising sun above, gold, and the rays diamonds (or old paste), a greyish +stone, and yellow amethyst in alternate rays. A little thing to last +when she who wore it and created all this disturbance has been dust and +ashes since 1775. + +The room is a double or alcoved apartment with bookcases ranged around +its walls, and still holds, I believe, the same furniture as upon the +eventful night. + +The talk drifted onward about her and many other curious persons and +things, and the smoke from the cigars grew denser and denser until I +dreamed that I saw all sorts of vanished faces in the space around me, +and I fear that I was dreaming actually when aroused by Major Beddoes +and told that "the ladies are retiring" and so we lighted their candles +for them, and chatting a moment at the foot of the staircase, watched +them disappear above. + +Burne-Jones must have gotten the idea for his famous picture from such a +scene. There is no place where a group of stately, beautifully gowned +women show to better advantage than upon a staircase. I was strongly +reminded of his painting on this occasion. After all the custom of good +night to the ladies with the lighting of candles and its pleasant chat +is a pretty one though you may object to their early disappearance and +would greatly prefer an hour's more talk with them than with your own +sex. + +However, it is late to-night, and bidding our host adieu we move off +through the glades of the park where Spenser wandered and dreamt so long +ago, pausing a moment by the lake where the swans still drift as on a +surface of molten silver. The midsummer air is balmy and delightful and +a full moon lights up the woods until one almost fancies the Faerie +Queene is out in their glades with all her court, or adrift on the lake +with the swans. + +My stay in the barracks is drawing to a close, and perhaps it is well. +Major Beddoes threatens me with arrest, fearing a riot if I am allowed +to wander around attending weddings and other functions to which I have +not been bidden. + +During my sojourn I have employed a boy named Tom who owns a sprightly +horse and a jaunting-car not more than a century old, the latter +harnessed to the former by means of strings. We have had many a rare +drive between the hawthorn hedges, leaving the motor neglected in a +shed: its day will come. + +I have been desirous since leaving Achill to hear again that mournful +cry for the dead,--"keening,"--and had arranged with Tom to bring two +old women into the barracks after dark, to whom I was to give half a +crown each and a bottle of--let us say "cologne"; but they did not +materialise and when I questioned Tom he replied, "Sure, sor, I had 'em +beyant Major Beddoe's rooms, but he druv 'em away." + +"Certainly I did," chimed in the Major; "do you want me +court-martialled?" + +I would not object if it were in a good cause. I think there is also a +bit of personal malice in his acts, as I laughed at him the other day. +He has lately married a charming wife, and is at present quartered in +Mallow, from whence he runs the nine miles in a motor-car of his new +father-in-law. When he made his first appearance the other day on the +barracks compound, with all the officers and their families assembled to +greet him, said motor-car looked as though it had been through the wars, +and was as pug-nosed as many of the aborigines of the land, caused by +sudden contacts with stone gates and the sides of houses, to say nothing +of unexpected excursions through old ladies' gardens and into gullies +not intended for motors. I laughed, I could not help it, hence the +malice aforesaid, with threats of arrest. + +[Illustration: The Lake at Doneraile Park] + +One day we are returning from a jaunt to nowhere in particular, having +been out just looking for things to happen,--which they generally +did,--when, as we draw near the barracks, we pass a dilapidated old trap +with some men inspecting it. One hails our boy with the query, "I say, +Tom, is that your family chariot?" Quick as thought comes the reply: +"Yes, and I am in want of a mule; are _you_ widout occupation?" + +After that we find it advisable to order the car into the barracks +enclosure when dismissing it--at which time I get a wink from Tom--we +shortly find ourselves ensconced before a bright fire in the +smoking-room. + +The quarters are very comfortable. This room is a large double apartment +with easy chairs and lounges, red rugs and carpets, two fire-places for +winter use, and books and cards galore. Downstairs there is a +billiard-room. The quarters of the officers are cleanly and comfortable, +the dwellers therein a healthy, happy looking lot, though they all agree +with what I have said about the bathrooms. + +The regiment has collected its plate throughout all the years since its +foundation, nearly two centuries and a half, and it forms a superb +collection, which I examined with great interest. + +When in 1661 Charles II. married Catherine of Braganza, Bombay was ceded +to England by Portugal as part of the dower of that princess. This +regiment of the Fusiliers was formed at that time and has been in +existence ever since. As the years have gone by this plate, now +amounting in value to some thousands of pounds, has been collected, and +the designs and taste of two and a half centuries are interestingly +displayed in the various articles, especially in the smaller pieces, +such as salt-cellars, snuff-boxes, etc. There are, of course, the +greater pieces, stately candelabra, drinking-cups, and epergnes. One +piece especially attracted my attention, a train of silver cars, each +holding its crystal decanter for port, sherry, brandy, etc., which after +the cloth was removed was rolled around the ancient table. This plate +and table go with the regiment at all times. It even went to South +Africa. + +Captain D. got it all out for my inspection one day and assured me that +it was often in use even in war times. + +Therein lies the difference between the English and Americans. They live +and we spend our lives getting ready to live, and rarely reach the goal. +A soldier especially realises that his life is but from day to day, and +therefore uses each day, with all he owns, to the full. An American +regiment would store such plate and it would be absolutely useless, +rarely if ever seeing the light of day,--but throughout its two +centuries and a half of existence this plate has had constant usage and +shows it. + +Ah, well, what, I wonder, will be our manners and customs when our +nation, like this, has a thousand years to its credit? What will America +be, what will England be then? Let us trust both better and greater and +grander than they are now. + +While I handle these dainty bits of silver that have outlasted the lives +of so many great men, Captain D. pours bits of gossip about army life +and the late war into my ears, and I notice that he does not hear very +well on one side, and ask why. "Oh, nothing much; a Boer bullet hit me +one day and clipped out a bit of my skull under my left eye, coming out +behind my ear, and destroying my sight and hearing on that side,--it was +not much." No! I suppose all soldiers would say it was merely in the +line of their profession, yet life is the best thing given to us, and +those who hold it at a nation's disposal should have the best that +nation can bestow at all times. I have no doubt but that each nation +intends to give all--they are careless, not ungrateful. + +After these days of rest in Buttevant barracks, it is pleasant to see +again our green car glide round the corner and draw up at the door--not +that we have not used it while here. My sojourn with these soldiers of +the King has proven a delightful experience which I shall never forget. +As we are loaded up and the car is snorting to be off they crowd around +us and we make all sorts of appointments for future meetings, few of +which in the usual course of life will ever be carried out, but there is +pleasure in the making. With a last handshake, I give the word and the +car glides noiselessly forward, turns out through the great archway, and +Buttevant Barracks are a thing of the past for us,--really so, as this +regiment moves in September to Fermoy. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Mallow Castle] + + + + +CHAPTER X + + Route to Killarney--Country Estates--Singular Customs--Picturesque + Squalor--Peace of the Lakes--Innisfallen--The Legend of "Abbot + Augustine"--His Grave--"Dinnis" the "Buttons" and his Family + Affairs--Motors in the Gap of Dunloe. + + +The route to Killarney lies through Mallow, where it is amusing, at the +little hotel, to watch the airs and graces assumed by some dozen +Irish-Americans who have returned to their native land for a visit after +having made a dollar or so in America. My Jap boy last night ventured +the remark that they "treat their own people very nastily," which is +quite true. One is constantly impressed with the changed circumstances +of those returning to the old world. On the inward-bound voyage last +month I stood near two of the ancient faith who were watching the +steerage below us. "Vell," said one, "that's the vay I vent over." "Me, +too," replied his companion, and then complacently caressing heavy gold +watch chains stretched across capacious stomachs, they strutted back to +the smoking-room and proceeded to abuse the steward for not anticipating +their wants. Such is life and progress, I suppose. + +But our car has left Mallow far behind and is gliding onward by the side +of the Blackwater, whose course we follow for many miles. + +This is a beautiful section of the land. There are many fine estates on +the hillsides and many ruined and ivy-clad towers by the waters. We have +spent pleasant hours at several of the former and rambled over many of +the latter. In one of the houses where we were for the "week end," I was +amused by rather a singular custom. After dinner, the men having settled +to bridge in the smoking-room I found myself, as I do not play cards, in +the hall with the ladies, of whom there were several of the household +and one visitor. We were enjoying some music and dancing when at nine +o'clock in came our host and handing a lighted candle to each dame +literally shooed them all off to bed, much to the indignation of the +visiting lady and my own astonishment. Paying no attention to me, he +returned to his game, and I sat on in the dark hall so convulsed with +laughter that I was glad that the one candle left shrouded my mirth by +casting many shadows. There were but two things for me to do, go and +watch the game, or go to bed, and I did the latter though it was but +nine o'clock. It is the custom at all these country homes for the ladies +to retire long before the men, but I never before or since have seen +them so peremptorily driven off. + +I think on the route to the Lakes that the villages and straggling huts +must be kept in the state of squalor in which we found them to the more +thoroughly impress the newly arrived tourists; certainly as we near +Killarney they are worse than any we have seen before,--rows on rows of +squalid, dirty houses through whose open doors pigs or geese wandered, +and beyond which gleamed a bit of a fire; white-capped or tozzle-headed +women leaned chattering over the low half doorway used to keep both +children, pigs, and geese from too freely passing off and away between +the high mud-banks with their towering hedges of hawthorn. Droves of +geese slip from beneath our flying wheels and scoff at us as we pass; +chickens fly, screeching, to the safety of neighbouring dung-heaps, and +some ducks get a gait on them that is most astonishing. It would be +impossible for them to maintain their balance unless they kept up that +furious pace. + +As night closes in the clouds lower and finally rain comes down heavily +but fortunately not until we have reached our journey's end, and the +lights from the quaint Hotel Victoria stream out a welcome. They really +act glad to see us and from the proprietor down to "Dinnis" the buttons +each and all appear personally interested in our arrival. How different +from the magnificent insolence of an American hotel clerk. But we are +too tired for further comparisons and are soon off to bed. + +To pass from the pomp and splendour of the army and the kaleidoscopic, +unrestful, rushing life of the world to the peaceful shores of +Killarney is a grateful change. It is so beautiful here to-day and the +world seems so far away that one has no desire to do aught save sit +under the waving boughs of the trees and watch the glittering waters of +the lake. Off across its mirror-like surface the mountains rise abruptly +and over them masses of white clouds hang broodingly, peacefully. Lazily +I wander over the grass, and entering one of the many boats drifting in +the water allow the boy to row me away upon the glassy surface. + +Boyse is still in bed and so I have the boat to myself and also all the +lake, for there is no sound or sign of life anywhere as we drift +outward. The boy moves the oars lazily, scarcely touching the water with +their tips, and we seem to drift halfway between the white clouds +overhead and those far beneath us. Lily pads bearing their white and +gold chalices wave gently to and fro and a stately white swan with her +brood of little ones keeps us company for a space. + +I have not told the boy where to go and he has not demanded to know, +indeed he scarce seems conscious of my presence, but keeps his dreamy +eyes fixed upon his beloved mountains brooding yonder under fleecy +clouds. Ahead of us a fairy island floats waving green boughs in +greeting and as our boat grounds on its gravelly beach, the boy rolls +over and goes to sleep. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Irish Cottage, County Kerry] + +This is evidently the haven where we would be, this holy Isle of +Innisfallen, but it is some time before I am willing to break the +brooding silence by any movement. The long drooping boughs of the trees +trail gently to and fro across the boat and parting now and then give +glimpses of the chapel of St. Finian the leper, but it is so in ruins, +and it and its saint belongs so to the very long ago, that to-day it is +like a thought in a dream. + +As I wander off through the underwood shaded by giant ash the spirits of +the dead monks seem all around me. The path leads to the grave of the +abbot, so long dead that a huge tree growing from his ashes has +encircled his tombstone with its very roots. He lived--but let this poem +tell his story. + + "Augustine, Abbot of Innisfallen, stood + In the abbey gardens at eventide, + And prayed in the hush and solitude + That his spirit might be more sanctified. + He blessed the hills, and fields, and river, + He blessed the shamrock sod; + While he asked the great and glorious giver + For a closer walk with God. + In that twilight hour came tumbling down + The song of a bird, so sweet and clear + That away from the abbey of Innisfallen and town, + The abbot followed, that he might hear; + Followed until, in a dim old wood, + Where the sweetness of song filled all the place + It paused and made glad the solitude, + With its joyous notes of strength and grace, + And the heart of the holy abbot plead + That the world might hear it and understand, + And he turned to the cloister near at hand. + Strange were the voices of prayer and praise, + And the faces were all unknown; + Gone were the monks of the older days, + Augustine, the abbot, stood alone. + 'Where is Sacristan Michael, my son?' + In a faltering voice, the abbot asked; + 'Is Malachi's _pater noster_ done, + Has his strength been overtasked?' + The monks drew near to the aged man, + And told their beads with trembling hands, + As they heard that the stranger worn and wan + Was Augustine head of their house and lands. + 'Two hundred years have gone,' they cried, + 'Since rent was his temple's veil + Two hundred years since the good man died + And the Saxon rules over Innisfail; + No harp now of his countrie's weal + Sings loud in the house of O'Conner, + Gone is Tara's hall to the great O'Neill; + There is nothing left but honour.' + 'Absolve me,' Augustine softly said, + 'For mine hour is close at hand, + To rejoin the brethren who have fled + To the refuge found in a better land. + I soon shall hear the singing + That is clearer and sweeter still + Than the echo of heaven ringing + In the woods beyond the hill. + I shall soon be where a thousand years + Are as a day to the pure and true + To whom life was long with its cares and pains + Though its numbered years were few.' + They tell that legend far and wide + From Clonmines to Loch Neagh, + From Holy Cross to Dundalk Tide + From Antrim to Galway." + +It is said that Innisfallen may not be put to profane uses, that early +in the last century its owner commanded that it be cultivated, but when +the work was begun the air at once became filled with millions of white +birds, whose beating wings drove the men forth and away, leaving the +isle sacred and unprofaned, and the abbot and his brethren to their +dreamless slumbers, and so the years glide by. + +As I pause to-day by the abbot's grave, its great tree rises above with +arms extended, as though in final benediction, the grasses are spangled +with millions of daisies, and the warm air is again, as in his day, full +of the song of birds, and unless I desire a sleep of centuries it may be +as well to return to the world of to-day. + +The boy in the boat awakes with a yawn, and smilingly moves the boat off +and away farther and farther until the Holy Isle seems to detach itself +from the shimmering waters and to float cloudlike slowly heavenward. + +How little the casual tourist ever sees of any land, especially of +Ireland,--a day or two at Killarney, an hour at Blarney, some time +waiting to hear Shandon bells, then a rush to Dublin and the Causeway, +and they leave the island with a shrug of the shoulders and a belief +that there is little to see. But wander into the byways, linger in the +lost corners and talk to these people, and every moment will be of some +sort of interest,--the tears and sadness will pull your very +heartstrings one moment and laughter and fun will bubble all around you +in a mad frolic an hour later. You may hear the wild songs of the +mountains, or the wilder wailing for the dead, and the clouds will drift +far overhead, as though in mourning for their sorrows, then the sunlight +will follow after, sparkling, as though in laughter. Some of the inns +will be neat and comfortable, whilst others will turn out like that +horror of a hotel in Galway. + +We are welcomed on our return to that at Killarney by "Dinnis." Now +"Dinnis" is the "buttons" of the house and stands up to the magnificent +altitude of four feet. He looks about fifteen and when I ask him if he +goes to school I am about bowled over by his reply,--"I'm a married man, +sor." Great heavens! I am told later that the fair bride is near twice +Dinnis's height and that his wooing was of such an ardent nature that it +nearly created a scandal. Ah, well--we don't live but once and Dinnis +believes that if his life is to be as short as his stature, at least it +shall be a merry one. I am told also that there are great expectations +in his family and as our car glides away I lean out and implore him--if +it's a boy--to name it "Mike." Dinnis's indignation at my intrusion upon +his private life is vast but somewhat drowned out by a half-crown and +the roars of laughter from the car boys around. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Chapel of St. Finian the Leper, Innisfallen] + +The poor car boys in Ireland, especially at Killarney, are so many that +there is not work for all and they have to take certain days for each, +that all may have a share. The drivers of jaunting-cars turn gloomy eyes +at our auto as we roll by, well knowing that the advent of such means +loss to them. + +I was strongly tempted to essay the Gap of Dunloe in the motor. The +result would probably have been a fight, as one of Cook's waggons was +attacked not long since while trying the same thing. According to my +recollection of that road, its passage would not be at all difficult for +a good car, but once the legend of its impassability save by ponies is +done away with the occupation of many hereabouts would be over for all +time. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + Kenmare and Muckross Demesnes--Old Woman at the Gates--Route to + Glengariff--Bantry Bay--Boggeragh Mountains--Duishane Castle--The + Carrig-a-pooka and its Legend--Macroom Castle and William + Penn--Cork--Imperial Hotel--Ticklesome Car Boy--The Races and my + Brown Hat--Route to Fermoy--Breakdown--Clonmel and its "Royal + Irish"--Ride to Waterford. + + +I have never taken a more beautiful drive than that from Killarney to +Glengariff, and it is especially delightful in a car, as one is spared a +slow and tedious ascent of the mountains. We leave Killarney on a +perfect morning; the motor seems to have rested with our stay there, and +throbs with a healthy sound. The route takes us through the domains of +Kenmare and Muckross. The latter has been sold by its ancient owners, +the Herberts, and now belongs to a prosperous brewer of Dublin. + +As we enter the domains we are stopped at the gateway by a buxom dame, +who demands a shilling a head. I try to bargain with her, offering half +price for the Jap, and suggesting that we may meet with a catastrophe +which will prevent our getting our money's worth. "It makes no +difference phat sort of quare heathen you have wid yez, or if yez all +died ten feet inside the gate, yez will pay a shilling a head before yez +come a foot farther," and planting herself directly before the car, she +looked it squarely in the eye--wherever that may be--and would have kept +her word. So I perforce hand over four shillings, only to be detected in +trying to pass off an American quarter. As we roll inward an anathema is +hurled after us: "Ho, ho, ha, ha, bad sess to the likes of yez." + +How beautiful it is here--how delicious the day! The sun shines hot and +the air is laden with the odour of the balsam. The superb roadway winds +in and out for miles, now by the lake and here in the deep green of the +forest, with enchanting views of the mountains. Bird-like the car skims +over ancient stone bridges, or close to the water, and we pause a moment +to do homage at the shrine of Muckross, and finally cross the old weir +bridge, declining the bog-oak work for sale by the old man who tried to +sell us such thirty years ago,--same man and same work, I think. + +From here on the road mounts higher and higher, twisting and turning +until I am not sure in which direction we are really going, and am +reminded of a remark of a dear aunt of mine, while riding on a +narrow-gauge railroad near Denver, "Really, I very many times saw the +back of my own bonnet." + +Here, to-day, while far different from the rugged grandeur of our +western mountains, the vistas are equally charming. There, it is not so +much, to my thinking, in the splendour of the hills as in the prospect +over the limitless plains. Vast and grandly mysterious, they roll up to +the very point where the mountains rise abruptly from their western +limits, and as one gazes outward they resemble the ocean itself suddenly +calmed into eternal sleep by the mandate of God, "Peace, be _still_," +and those western plains are indeed _still_. + +This prospect in the old world shows the traveller the entire panorama +of Ireland's most beautiful mountains, and far below him nestle the +chain of Killarney's enchanted lakes, where the fairies dance nightly +and the daisies bloom for ever. But why attempt description? All the +world knows Killarney, and to-day I seem to hear her wild echoes as they +bear away the love song of Dermot Asthore. + +The road from here descends in sweeping curves seaward and our car +scarcely seems to touch the ground, as with all power off and the wings +out it sails downward, until we come to rest at Glengariff, just as the +setting sun tinges her rocks and waters with rose colour. + +The Atlantic is at rest far out and sends only whispers inward on the +ripples to-night. The surface of the bay is dotted with many white swans +floating majestically shoreward. I believe they are native here. At +least we are told that these have their nests on the farther rocks and +rear their young in freedom; even in winter the weather is mild enough +to allow of their being out of doors. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Tree over the Abbot's Grave, Innisfallen] + +Are these the children of Lir still under enchantment in the shape of +swans? One hears of them at Ballycastle, and on the island of Achill, +but this is the only place where they have appeared and yonder old +gentleman swan has an eye which would indicate knowledge of much that he +has no intention of telling us about. + +One does not see the outer ocean at all at Glengariff. The whole +prospect is that of an enclosed lake, where one might drift for ever +without danger from the tempests which howl around this coast at times. + +Not until we reach Bantry Bay does the outer ocean show itself. After +all, what is there in a name? That of Bantry Bay had always attracted +me, and I had expected to find such a spot as Glengariff, but it is far +from that in all ways, being tame and unattractive, though evidently a +much better harbour for shipping. + +Here our route leaves the coast and turning inland passes beneath the +shadow of the Boggeragh Mountains, where there are so many ancient +towers and castles that to visit or relate the tales of each would be to +rewrite the folklore of Ireland. + +One of them, however, cannot be passed in silence, or the spirits which +inhabit it might execute dire vengeance for the slight. The gloomy +castle of the MacCarthys of Duishane, Carrig-a-pooka, rears its dark +towers on a steep rock close to our route, and it is the reputed abode +of that spirit of evil, the Pooka, which in all malice and mischief has +no equal in the fairy lore of Ireland. He has many forms which he may +assume at will,--sometimes a bull, sometimes an eagle, but more often a +horse spouting fire, as he tears through the darkness. He does not show +his demon qualities until he has secured a rider, but on gloomy nights +is met with in the shape of a docile nag, browsing on the highway and +almost inviting you to mount and ride,--but do so and at once he changes +into the wildest and most terrible charger man ever mounted and fairly +flies over castle, lake, and river, into deep valleys and over the +highest mountains and even far out over the ocean. What becomes of the +rider is not told for he does not return, though 'tis said that one +Jerry Deasy did get the best of a Pooka and by the means of spur and +whip reduced even this "divil" into a quiet trot. + +Downward from the mountains our road winds once more through the fair +green country in the valley of the Sullane. We pause a moment before +Macroom Castle, the ancient fortress of the O'Flynns, not because of its +beauty, which from its mantle of ivy is great, but because it was the +birthplace of the father of William Penn, who gave peace to all with +whom he came in contact in life and undoubtedly has found peace in +Heaven. + +The old castle has seen more of war and its horrors than should fall to +the lot of any one spot. It has been destroyed by fire several times, +and at one execution nine outlaws were hanged within its court for +murder. It is not a place which the superstitious seek, after dark or +when winds wake and the chains clank. From Macroom onward the route lies +through a smiling valley until finally the silver toned bells of Shandon +welcome us to the city of Cork. + +The Imperial Hotel in Cork is crowded with people and dirt. I think the +latter will prevail, as it is of the mouldy order. The floors seem +sinking, and en route to the dining-room one walks as upon the deck of a +rolling ship with danger of sharp collision against passing waiters. +True Irish gentlemen, who look not upon the wine when it is red but +drink straight old Irish whiskey in unlimited quantities, are +encountered with the result that between the floors and themselves one +has difficulty in navigating and takes to port several times en route to +dinner. + +This is the week of a cattle and horse show--the viceroy is here and +incidentally most of the rest of Ireland, not that the viceroy's +presence has anything to do with their coming, they give you to +distinctly understand _that_, but that wherever a horse is to be shown, +there come the sons of Erin. I think there is something in the +profession or tastes of a man which stamps his face and figure. One +could never mistake any man here for other than horsey,--all clean, yet +the air is fragrant with the smell of the stalls and aroma of much good +whiskey. Where they stow away all the latter is a puzzle to me, for +their bodies most certainly cannot carry such amounts of ballast as I +have seen poured into them all day long. Not to be horsey completely +ostracises a man, but as that gives one an opportunity to escape the +drinks and so watch the crowd, it is not to me objectionable. + +While Cork is "a place of advanced ideas" and probably less favourable +to the powers that be than any other section of Ireland, still she does +not approve of change in the city or its manners or customs. This hotel +has not had a thing done to it in more than a quarter of a century. I +believe it makes money all the time, hence improvements are not +necessary, certainly they are not made, as witness those floors. One is +still beset by the importunate boys with their "cars" at its doors and +all over the town, but the driver of a jaunting-car is a jolly beggar +full of laughter and fun and thereby puts many an extra shilling into +his pocket. + +Rags and tatters many of them, that is as to themselves, but this does +not extend to their horses,--he is indeed a poor Irishman and not of +pure blood who neglects his horse, and with him it is love me, love my +nag. He will meet your smile with one brighter, and kindness to him +_does_ "butter the parsnips" of the traveller. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Upper Lake, Killarney] + +Leaving the hotel the other day Boyse summoned a car, but the driver +thereof was in such a state of tatters that the lady of the party +refused to ride in that car. To the driver of the one chosen she +remarked, "That man must be very poor; you should club together and buy +him new clothes." "Poor,--not at all, me lady; he's rich, but so +ticklesome that not a tailor in town can take his measure." + +As we are en route to the fair grounds I discover that Boyse does not +approve of my costume, but it is some time before I find out wherein I +fall short. It turns out to lie in my hat, a _brown_ Derby. At home +black hats vanish with warm weather and brown take their place, but here +I learn that a brown Derby belongs to the "fast lot which one does not +know,"--_hence_ Boyse's disgust, but that does not affect me in the +least and I insist upon wearing my brown hat. I really think it almost +spoiled his pleasure in the horse show, if anything could do that. + +The day turns out pleasant and the crowd is large. The viceroy does not +come, which certainly detracts not at all from the pleasure of the +people, as the real viceroy, the horse, is here in full state. Several +of the officers are down from Buttevant and we pass a merry afternoon +clouded only by Boyse's feeling about my hat--he sits afar off and does +not appear to know me when acquaintances pass or if an introduction +occurs is careful to state that I am an American--what a multitude of +sins that covers;--I trust the statement is altogether unnecessary and +that I could never be taken for anything else. + +We are held a day at Cork for repairs to the car, but, those finished, +roll rapidly away in the direction of Fermoy. These roads are very good +and the motor glides smoothly and rapidly onward, first by the banks of +the Lee and then northeastward towards Fermoy. The day is misty and +damp, forcing the hood over our heads, though I would almost rather get +wet than have it up. However, one must consider fur robes, etc., so up +it goes. + +Shortly thereafter I note a clicking sound underneath and an +unsatisfactory movement of the motor, which causes the chauffeur to slow +down and stop. A lengthy examination mends matters for a time, but the +trouble occurs again and then Robert announces that we must return to +Cork as the water won't circulate. We are twelve miles out with no place +en route for help. We are also about the same distance from Fermoy but +in that direction and but three miles away there is a town where cars +may be had and help obtained, so onward we move, and wisely, as matters +turn out, for we come to a final halt on the confines of the village. +Loading the luggage and ourselves upon two cars we drive to Fermoy +leaving orders to have the motor towed in by a mule, ignoble as that +may sound. As it turns out even the motor rebels at such disgrace and +refuses to move even by the use of two mules. Robert manages, however, +to get it over the eight miles to Fermoy by its own power, in some four +hours, allowing much oil to run into the water tubes,--not the best +thing for the motor but all that could be done. I can see that he is +decidedly disgruntled with the car. This is the third time it has been +in the shop in two weeks, which certainly should not have been the case +with a new car such as I was assured this was. When I state this to the +chauffeur, he laughs and replies, "_New!_ Yes, as to the body, but the +motor is some years old, in fact is the original Panhard motor used by +Mr. Harvey du Gros; it has been lengthened and repaired and a new body +put upon it."[7] Fortunately we have each time been where help was at +hand save on this occasion. But as it turns out Robert can repair it in +this hotel yard as they have a pit to work in. He had thought that the +trouble arose from oil and waste getting into and clogging the water +pipes, but it proves to have been a broken pin in the wheel of the +pump,--"broken through age," he states. If this accident had occurred in +the wilds of Mayo or Sligo far from any assistance our plight would have +been a serious one, and I cannot but feel that to send the car out as +new, knowing the motor, the only important part, to be old was + +scarcely fair,--in fact, far from it. Robert is an excellent chauffeur +and thoroughly understands and is able to repair a machine. In this last +case, however, we had to buy a new wheel. + +The town is a small garrison town and we are delayed there only one +night. Still I must acknowledge, as has been so often the case, that its +little hotel was far more comfortable than those in most of the large +towns and cities of Ireland. Its rooms are cleanly and the food good. + +The roads from Fermoy to Clonmel, the depot of the "Royal Irish," B.'s +old regiment, are hilly but good, and the auto takes on life once more, +though I notice that Robert seems concerned as to the result. However +the machinery warms to its work after an hour and we speed onward, +breathing more freely as the pulsations settle down into a rhythmical +beat, finally rolling into the barracks at Clonmel in good season. There +we spend a pleasant hour, lunching with the officers of the mess and +having no time for the town itself, which is not of interest. + +The roads are fine all of the afternoon, most of them well rolled. Our +route is eastward through the valley of the Blackwater, evidently a +stream of importance in ancient days, as its course is guarded by towers +and castles, now all in ruins and given over to clambering ivy. At +Waterford the stream is broad and deep and ocean steamships lie moored +at her quays. + +[Illustration: "Dinnis" + Hotel Victoria] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] A statement denied _in toto_ at the garage in Dublin. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + Ancient Waterford--History--Reginald's Tower--Franciscan + Friary--Dunbrody Abbey--New Ross--Bannow House--Its "Grey + Lady"--Legend of the Wood Pigeon--Ancient Garden--Buried City of + Bannow--Dancing on the Tombs--Donkeys and Old Women--Tintern Abbey + and its Occupants--Quaint Rooms and Quainter Stories--Its History + and Legends--The Dead Man on the Dinner Table--The Secret of the + Walls--The Illuminated Parchment--The Sealed Library--Ruined + Chapel--Clothes of the Martyr King--Is History False or True? + + +The afternoon sun shines brilliantly as we cross the river Suir and +enter Waterford, one of the most ancient towns of the kingdom, yet one +which well survives the passing centuries, holding still the bustle and +clangour of life in its streets and on its quays, which stretch for a +mile and more along the banks of the river and where you will find a +good steamship which in eight hours will land you in New Milford,--but +we are not to leave Ireland yet, nor have I any desire to do so. + +To relate the history of Waterford would be to cover much of that of +Ireland, which is not necessary here. Suffice it to say that this +southeast end of the island appears to have been the first to attract +outside barbarians and we find records of the Danes here back in 853. +Reginald reigned here in the eleventh century, and I find myself +blinking up at his round tower which still keeps watch and ward over +this river. + +There are others in the town if one cares to look for them, but like +this of Reginald all have fallen from their high estate. This is but a +police station now. Of King John's palace nothing remains. In fact +relics of the past are not many in Waterford. + +We pause a moment at the Franciscan Friary, which Sir Hugh Purcell built +in 1220. It is in ruins, of course, and is quite in the heart of the +city, unnoticed save by some wandering spirit. Grass grows thickly under +its arches and there are many flat tombstones bearing historic names and +those of families well-known to-day. + +Not far away stands the cathedral, too entirely renovated, in fact +rebuilt, to be of interest, save for some curious monuments. One +especially, that of a man named Rice, represents his body as they found +it a year after death,--a toad sits on his breast, and we turn away with +anything but pleasant thoughts. It seems he commanded that his tomb be +opened after a year and his monument made, holding a copy in stone of +his body exactly as they should find it,--hence this repulsive statue. +There are but few who would care to attain earthly immortality in that +manner. + +Every road in Wexford will lead one to or near some relic of the past. +Seven miles out from Waterford we find Dunbrody Abbey, standing serene +and stately in the midst of a great meadow and near to an arm of the +sea. Dunbrody is called the most beautiful ruin in the county and it has +been a ruin for nearly four hundred years, having been suppressed by +Henry the Eighth. Its abbots and monks have long since gone the way of +all flesh and one must now cultivate the good graces of a little old +woman in a neighbouring house if one would enter the sacred precincts, +for though ancient, if one door in its outer walls be locked, even an +enterprising man of the twentieth century may not enter its courts. We +tried it and the great central tower seemed to smile down upon us in +derision. All the while the little old lady stood afar off, holding the +key, which we did not get until we had paid for it. + +The world does not come to Dunbrody very often. The tourist world knows +nothing of it--in fact, all this most interesting section of Ireland is +as yet unexplored by the tide of travel rushing northward from +Queenstown. Certainly to-day nothing comes near us and we spend a +delightful hour in the warm sunshine high up on the great tower, and +then awakening Robert, who in turn starts the motor to life, we roll off +through the shady lanes once more. + +The day's work is over and these simple people are resting from their +labours. We have just passed one comfortable old dame seated on a chair +under the bending boughs of the hawthorn. She wore a great frilled +white cap and knitted industriously, while in her lap a white kitten lay +asleep. She greeted us with a pleasant smile as we rolled into and out +of her life and away toward Bannow House, the home of the Boyse family. +I had visited Bannow last year; when leaving the train at New Ross I had +expected to find its entrance gateway not more than a mile or two away, +and fell back aghast when the boy who met me with the dog-cart quietly +remarked that it was a drive of eighteen miles. I must confess that that +is farther than I care to live from the railway, and Boyse has +acknowledged that that distance home has several times deterred his +departure from London--not but what that might have been a mere excuse +for London is just London and means much. However, a new railroad is now +opened only three miles from Bannow, and to-day our car annihilates the +eighteen miles in short order. + +Crossing the river at New Ross the road leads towards the sea. There is +a fine highway all the distance, winding but well made, and the car +appreciates that fact, and makes fair time until we turn into the gates +of the home park and roll onward through its avenues of rhododendrons to +the entrance. Then the car vanishes around to its quarters for a few +days. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + The Route to Glengariff] + +I know of no more attractive, peaceful spot than Bannow House. It is a +large square stone mansion with some centuries to its credit and stands +in the meadow-lands close to the sea in the southeast corner of the +county of Wexford and in a park of some eight hundred acres. One hears +the murmur of the ocean but the house is secluded by avenues of trees +which cut off the view of the sea and also shelter the place from the +fury of the winds. + +Coming into the possession of the Boyse family with the restoration of +Charles II., it has grown until to-day, with its spreading wings, it is +an extensive establishment, a typical Irish home. You find many such +about the land, all charming places to live in. Springing into existence +as the use and need for castles passed away, they are built of stone and +in the case of Bannow House the stone portico has its monolith +columns,--what they call here "famine work." In the dreary winter of +1847 the people worked out their debt to the landlord, for food, etc., +in this manner. The fine avenue of trees through which we approached the +house is also the result of "famine work." + +Entering the house, one finds a large square hall ornamented with spears +and shields from Africa and objects from all over the world, gathered +throughout the years up to date by its former masters and its present +owner. + +To one's right is a spacious dining-room, to the left a ball-room, while +behind the hall is another square hall holding a stair which ascends on +two sides into a gallery above. At the left of this, one enters on the +main floor a spacious drawing-room, where I have spent many a pleasant +evening. + +Bannow is full of the portraits of those who have lived and died here. +They face me at the table, peer at me on the staircase from unexpected +nooks and corners, and beam down upon me in the mellow lamplight of the +drawing-room, each one with a tale of its own, I fancy, and one can +trace the passing centuries by the different styles of dress. Yonder +damsel with that long neck should have lived in the days of beheading at +the block as she would have been a splendid subject; that quaint old +gentleman in the corner knew a thing or two and could tell a good story, +I doubt not. Yonder lady with the towering wig was a beauty in her day, +but, deserted by her husband, who fled to America, she was taken under +the patronage of Queen Charlotte. I spend many a moment talking to these +old pictures and I think they answer always. + +The bedrooms at Bannow range themselves around the gallery,--mine is off +at the end of a long passageway and is haunted, so the story runs, by a +"grey lady." Wheels are heard driving furiously now and then up the +avenue at midnight and pausing at a walled-up door, then the grey lady +flits around the gallery and into this room, where some time since in a +hidden niche in the wall an ancient rosary was discovered. The dame of +the shadows does not appear to be a malign spirit, certainly she has not +disturbed me as I have slept very soundly in her old chamber. + +To-night as I lean out the window, the moon is at the full, flooding +the terrace below, and its stone stairs, guarded by vases and stone pine +cones yonder, gleam whitely as they mount under the shadows of an old +yew tree. The fragrance of sweet grasses fills the air and the night is +full of silence save for the brooding calls of some doves in the forest, +and I wait and watch for the grey lady but she does not come. + +Do you know the legend of the wood pigeon? If not, then the next time +you hear one, listen and it will almost tell it without further words +from me. Once a man went to steal a cow in the days when cattle-lifting +was the proper thing and, when deep in the forest, declared that the +wood pigeons, or doves, as we call them, insisted that he should "take +two--coos--Paddy," "take two--coos--Paddy," and so he did, and still +these birds of the forest will say to you if you listen, "take +two--coos--Paddy," and for ever after you will hear the same as you +listen to their voices. + +Just now there is one on the yew tree by the terrace steps strongly +insisting upon a double depredation on my part of the adjoining pasture, +and his plaint grows louder and more insistent as I close the window, +leaving him to exercise his corrupting influence upon those who may pass +in the night. + +Wandering the next morning up the stone steps and nearly in the forest I +find an ancient garden of great extent enclosed by a lofty wall. I have +already seen such at Doneraile Court and I know that they are charming +spots,--something we can never have in America as we have no time for +them, our places change hands so constantly. I enter this one at Bannow +House through a trellis of white roses embowering a door in the wall and +am confronted by a tree fuchsia towering above me and casting its +crimson and purple blossoms down on my cap. The enclosure is five acres +in size, surrounded by a wall of brick some thirty feet high. Golden and +crimson and white roses nod at me from the walls or peer over the top at +the deep, cool woods without. Formal beds bordered in privet line the +straight walks. Glories of white lilies, purple lilies, scarlet poppies, +and nasturtiums throw splotches of colour all around. In the centre +stands an old stone sun-dial and passing through an archway, gnarled, +squat apple trees and gooseberry bushes are found lining the paths, +while to the walls cling plum and pear trees. Flaming hollyhocks light +up shadowy corners, and from a distant tool-house an old cat is sedately +leading a lot of kittens anything but stately and a great care to their +mother. From under a currant bush wanders an old duck, a sad looking +dame, acquainted with grief, I doubt not. She recalls to mind when as a +child sitting at the feet of my mother I watched the approach of a +similar old duck who gravely waddled up and laid close to the hand which +had been good to her a fragment of a shell, striking a note of tragedy +thereby. We had often fed her on her nest by the brook and now she +brought this as a token that some vandal had destroyed her home, and so +we found it. As I am thinking of her in this garden far enough off from +that brook a stray cat wanders out from a hot-house and sits down to +regard me, bottle flies buzz in the sunlight, and I wonder whether there +is an outside world of rushing unrest. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Carrig-a-pooka Castle] + +This morning the pony cart is in requisition and, with one of the +ladies, I am off for a visit to the buried city of Bannow. It is +sometimes pleasant to banish the auto and jaunt slowly along. The pony +understands that to-day we have all the time there is and so takes it +leisurely with every now and then a grab at the hawthorn blossoms which +bend temptingly toward him in the narrow lanes. He seems to know the way +and finally wanders close down by the sea to where at the end of a long +grassy lane we are halted by a high-barred gate through which some +cattle gaze wonderingly outward. Wending our way through the tall +grasses we mount to where Bannow church holds its ruined watch over the +dead within and around it and over the city buried in the sands and +under the sea. Aside from the sanctuary there is no evidence that man +ever lived here, yet back in the days of James I. Bannow was a +prosperous town paying the crown rents on two hundred and more houses, +but a great storm arose in that same reign and so filled up the entrance +to its harbour as to destroy it, and from that period onward the +sentence of death was carried out against the ancient city. Higher and +higher rose the sands until they covered all except this ruined church +and the dead which lie around it, but,--here comes in a strange law or +custom,--though there was absolutely nothing to represent, the place for +generations returned two members to Parliament, and for the loss of this +privilege the Earl of Ely received fifteen thousand pounds sterling. +Certainly those two members were not annoyed by the wishes or opinions +of their constituents deep in their graves here. + +As I move through the long grasses to enter the ruins I pause a moment +to pay tribute at the tomb of one Walter French, a man who passed one +hundred and forty years upon the earth and "died in the prime of life." +His last illness was the result of his walking some miles carrying a +piece of iron weighing over one hundred weight, and which "somewhat +strained the muscles around his heart, and he sickened and died, much to +the astonishment of all who knew him." He has been dead but a short time +and there are many now here who remember him well. Peace to his ashes, +and here on this breezy down beneath the shadow of this ancient church +and with yonder murmuring sea close by it should be peaceful enough even +for the dead. The church is one of the oldest in Ireland and long +antedates the English invasion. + +It is not extensive, but it is quaint and interesting and possesses some +curious monuments and one pretentious stone sarcophagus. Who slept +there, I wonder?--there is no trace of him now. Bishop or layman, he has +vanished, leaving no sign or name; and when he does come again will he +pass by here? How strange Bannow church will appear to him then--and +where will he search for the mortal part of him? It is certainly not +here in this tomb which he vainly imagined would hold his body inviolate +throughout all time and to the portals of eternity. + +This is a Sunday afternoon of midsummer, a warm balmy day when the +waters have gone to sleep and the bees hum drowsily. Over the hills and +through the lanes come groups of peasantry, in their Sunday best. The +usual number of dogs appear and chase imaginary rabbits through the long +grasses, and on yonder flat tombstone a lad and lassie are gaily dancing +a jig, and I doubt if the mortal or spiritual part of the sleeper +beneath them is at all disturbed by the apparent desecration of his +resting-place. + +Save on Sunday the living rarely come here but to leave one of their +number who has passed the far horizon of life, or sometimes to dance by +day as we see them, or in the moonlight, on the great flat tombstones of +the Boyse family in the chancel, listening while they rest to the +constant advice of the wood doves to "take two coos, Paddy." + +We are favoured with the same admonition, but though those fine red cows +are tempting we pass onward, to the increasing indignation of the +inhabitants of yonder trees. + +As we turn for a last look at Bannow church on its green hill, the +roofless gables are sharply silhouetted against the glow of evening, and +the lad and lassie are still gaily dancing their jig, and two others on +a neighbouring slab are "sittin' familiar." + +So leaving them we wander back, to find the pony, after having her fill +of daisies and grasses, has lain down in the shafts and gone to sleep. +When we reach home there is still much of the evening left, and, +deserting the pony--for which it casts reproachful glances upon us--we +enter the motor and roll away again. + +It is not however an hour for hurry or speed and our car glides slowly +along while we enjoy the delicious air. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Macroom Castle] + +As we pass by the door of an humble cabin, the turf fire within +illuminates the interior, throwing the bright scarlet dress of a girl +into bold relief against a dark wall, and lighting up the bent figure of +an old man smoking on a bench by the fireplace. In one corner is a bed +while in another a huge pig lies asleep. The dark eyes of the girl meet +mine for an instant with a pathetic hopeless expression but the old man +pays no sort of attention, and we roll away, only to come suddenly just +around a corner on a donkey drawing a cart, upon which is perched a +buxom old lady. The beast objects most decidedly to our appearance, and +after an instant of inaction, during which he stares in afright with his +ears pointed forward, he begins to back, and the old woman to screech, +more in indignation than fear, it strikes me, but be that as it may, +both keep in action until brought to a standstill under the bending +boughs of a gigantic fuchsia, whose purple blossoms are cast downward, +and all over the vast white frilled cap of the old lady. Except in +plastering the dame against that beautiful tree, no harm was done, and I +throw her a kiss as we roll away, while faintly on the air is borne to +my ears the anathema, "Ye spalpeen, yez." There is more, but our wings +are out by now and it is lost in the distance. However I would not +hesitate to apply to that old lady were I in trouble and I know I would +not apply in vain, though she might read me a lecture the while and even +bestow a clout with her big soft hand which would be more in the nature +of a caress than a censure. + +How time and people have changed in America during the past forty years! +Then our land was sprinkled with settlements by these Irish, where one +could find all the quaint manners and customs of their homeland; wakes +were as strictly carried out there as here, weddings were just the same, +and around each humble home clustered a bit of atmosphere of the old +world. + +Who does not remember the "tin man," generally named John, who made +his rounds with a tin-shop of no mean proportions crowding his red +waggon? Then there were the tinkers, but I must state that they were of +a better order than those of Wexford to-day. We have just passed a dirty +cart and forlorn pony, driven by a man more dirty and wretched-looking, +if that be possible. I am told he is the head of the tinkers of Wexford, +and that a more disreputable lot of tramps does not exist on this earth. +As for morality, they have never heard of such a word, and certainly do +not know its meaning. In their slovenly villages, they live in the most +promiscuous manner and when the men start on their summer's tramp each +takes along some woman who pleases him, regardless of what the degree of +consanguinity may be. One must see them on their native heath to +comprehend fully the force and meaning of the expression, "I don't care +a tinker's dam"--but our motor has stopped before a great iron gate +beyond which stretch the glades of a magnificent park. On entering I +notice a sign on one of the great trees, "Wards in Chancery," and wonder +"what have we here." + +I doubt not that many of my readers have visited the great estates of +Europe, but unless they have seen Tintern Abbey in Wexford--the +quaintest of all abodes in this quaint Ireland--they have still an +experience before them. + +The history of Tintern dates back to 1200, when the Earl of Pembroke--he +who married the Lady Isabel de Clare, Strongbow's daughter--founded +this abbey to the Virgin after being delivered from the sea on the coast +near-by. It was named after and peopled by monks from Tintern in Wales, +which was founded by the De Clares, and while the cathedral could not +have been so extensive as the one there, the entire monastery was quite +as large as the older establishment. It must have been a glorious place +and is so even now in its ruins, and is one of the most interesting +spots in the island. It lifts its towers amidst groves of stately trees +in a valley but a short distance from the sea and is embowered in +clambering ivy. Its great tower, still preserved as a ruin, is not +habitable save in its lower story, which is used as a kitchen. The +chancel of the abbey has been turned into a dwelling-place and one of +the most curious I have ever inspected. It is late on a brilliant +afternoon when our car, rolling down the broad avenue of the park, comes +suddenly upon the ancient structure in its secluded valley. At first all +appears to be in ruins until we note that some of the arches have been +walled up and hold modern windows. There are bits of ruin +everywhere,--moss-grown stairs with shattered heads on the rail lead to +shadowy terraces over which ancient yew trees extend sheltering arms; +ruined arches and ivied towers dot the meadow, and vine-draped pillars +standing far apart show the once great extent of the abbey. + +Rolling on we round the corner of the main structure and draw up in the +great courtyard, which evidently, in the days of the abbey's grandeur, +was the cloister. To our pulling an ancient bell makes loud reply off in +the tower above us, but for some moments no sign of life is evidenced. +Finally the door is opened by a servant who reminds one of Obaldistone +in Scott's _Bride of Lammermoor_. His manner is as grand as though this +were the portals of Windsor Castle. + +Yes, Mrs. C---- is at home, and will be glad to see us. We are ushered +into one of those quaintly interesting rooms to be found only in the old +world, a room impressed by each passing owner with some of his or her +own personality, individuality, without which no room has any charm. +Yonder is a portrait by Sir Peter Lely of a lady evidently lovesick. +Here is a bit of some framed fancy work whose faded colours plainly show +that it was done by a hand long since still for ever. Ivy peers into the +window and taps on the glass and there is a taint of the buried years in +the air,--the very sunlight seems to belong to late October. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Reginald's Tower, Waterford] + +Bestowed by Elizabeth upon the ancestor of its present owner, Tintern +has suffered the fate of most great Irish houses and now lives in the +memory of the past. I am shown a parchment holding the family tree, +dating backward to 1299, with all its numberless coats of arms done in +colour, but evil times came down upon the race in the last century. Open +house was kept for all who passed. Beggars sat by the scores in its +great courtyard sure of their dole. In its entrance hall stood a bowl of +small silver coins for general usage, and it was dipped into by all. Its +sideboards groaned with a feast on all days,--waste and plenty, plenty +and waste,--until finally upon the death of one owner a question arose +as to the succession and so in came the law and the Court of Chancery. +That suit cost the estate one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and was +finally settled by a workman who discovered the necessary missing +documents in a hidden receptacle in the wall, but too late to save +trouble, and so to-day and each day Tintern is going more and more into +ruin, and the voracious ivy climbs ever higher and higher, pointing like +the handwriting on the wall to the ending of it all. + +In the midst of all these reflections our hostess enters, a typical +Irish lady, all hospitality and warm welcome, as cordial to me whom she +has never seen before, as to her old friends who have brought me +thither. Her hearty laugh drives off the shadows and she is much pleased +that we are interested in her old home: old,--yes verily--just think of +it, her people have lived right here for three hundred years, and but +for the secretion of those documents by some stupid ancestor the domain +would be a rich one even yet. But that does not keep laughter out of +Tintern. Many's the dance which has been given here, and once, with +that love of humour which laughs at everything sad or mournful, the +cards of invitation bore the phrase, "Supper in the charnel house and +dancing in the vaults." Rest assured the feast was lively, leaving +nothing for any ghosts which might happen along that night, and I doubt +their braving the laughter of that merry throng; and yet with it all +there must have been sadness for all which had been so uselessly lost. + +There are many legends for the cause of the troubles which have come +upon the abbey and its owners. + +For holding property belonging to the Church they are for ever under its +curse of fire and water; then the neighbouring peasantry have a legend +that trouble arose because of the murder by Sir Anthony of all the +friars he found in the house when he came to take possession, but they +rather incline to the belief that he rested under a curse of the fairies +because he destroyed an ancient rath, or hill, which they frequented. He +was engaged to the lovely heiress of Redmond. Having gone to England, +his lady promised to burn a light in her tower of Hook to guide him on +his return, and so she did, but the fairies beguiled her to slumber with +their music, and put out the light. So her lover was drowned. The +disconsolate maiden converted her father's tower into a lighthouse, and +so it remains to this day. + +It is also stated that the first Colclough was but secretary to the lord +who obtained the grant and was sent by him to England to have it +ratified. He so pleased the Virgin Queen that when he returned he found +that the deeds conferred the estates upon himself. + +I noticed in the drawing-room a framed address or diploma of some sort +and asked what it was. It contained the portrait of a handsome man in +the prime of life and the emblazonments were many and rich. During the +life of the late owner he was master of the hounds, and it was decided +to present him with this illuminated address together with a present of +one hundred pounds. The event was made the occasion of a great feast, +and these old walls rang so loudly with the merriment that the rooks in +the ruined tower were startled, and fled shrieking into the forests. The +presentation was made with much ceremony, the illuminated parchment +greatly admired, also the casket which held the purse with its hundred +pounds, but which of course was not opened until the guests had all gone +or been carried home. No gentleman would leave such a feast able to +walk,--and the flunkies outside knew their duty and did it. Now it seems +the recipient of all this owed ninety-eight pounds to the man who had +made the presentation speech, and when all had gone and the family had +gathered round to examine the purse they found upon opening it two +pounds in money and a receipted bill for those ninety-eight pounds. Ah +well, 'twas all in a lifetime and life went merrily in those days at +Tintern. But it was a shabby trick, for the neighbours each and all owed +very much more in hospitality to Tintern than the amount of that bill. + +While I am inspecting the framed address the bell of the castle clangs, +the butler throws open the doors, and we pass to the dining-room for +tea, the most pleasant meal of the day over here. + +When the grandfather of our hostess died, he was laid out, as befitted +the head of the house, on this dining table around which we are +gathered. I know that the thought of it returns to several of us as we +sit here. + +There is a vast thickness in the walls of the room and a space not +accounted for by any room, in which it is thought some monk or nun was +immured when the abbey was a house of God--be that as it may, no +investigation has ever been made, and it will probably never be known +what, if any, grisly horror is immured there, so near to our gay +laughter. + +We spend some time discussing tea and the usual assortment of cake. I +never could digest the English fruit cake and I feel quite sure the slab +pressed upon me here would kill a man if it struck him upon a vital +spot. Most of it goes into my pocket, and when we depart I drop it deep +down in a bed of blooming plants near the door, an action observed by +Boyse, who, until I threaten his life in a gloomy whisper, insists upon +examining with the hostess that particular spot, professing a great +knowledge of botany, of which his ignorance is colossal. Whilst I am +guarding my buried cake, our attention is called to what once was the +north transept of the abbey and afterwards for centuries the library of +those who have lived here. It is still a library and full of books, but +for some ungiven reason has been walled up for many, many years,--the +books, I am told, mouldering in great heaps on the floor. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Franciscan Friary + Waterford] + +My desire to explore is intense but, it is useless to say, unexpressed +in this instance. + +From this court started the funeral procession of the gentleman who had +been laid out on the dining table. The cortège was so immense that it +circled away for three miles, though it is not half a mile to the family +vault. Every man was provided with hat band and gloves at the expense of +the widow. At the feast which followed that great table in the dining +hall was decked in the centre with a huge bow of crêpe, black of course. +The roast fowls had crêpe bows tied around their necks and as the old +butler served the whiskey he did so with tears streaming down his face. +As he carried the bottle, also decked with a crêpe bow, he gave +utterance to the mournful words, as the whiskey sobbed gurgling forth, +"Ah, sor, 'tis this bottle will miss him indade, indade." But those +around were determined that, for the day at least, they would drown its +sorrow, and when they went home "there wasn't wan of them knew whether +he was going backwards or forwards, and most of them wint sideways." + +The chapel on the hill yonder must even then have been roofless and in +decay. To-day it is in a choke of brambles and wild roses. Bidding the +car to follow, we cross the park and mount to where it stands, an +absolute ruin. + +We "give Boyse a leg" to a broken casement and he clambers in and down +amongst the brambles up to his neck, and making his way towards the high +altar reads aloud of Sir Anthony Colclough, who died in 1584, he to whom +Queen Elizabeth made the grant. + +There are many other tablets embowered in creeping, drooping vines, and +almost obliterated by the moss of centuries, while a great tree fuchsia +hangs in wildest profusion, shaking its crimson blossoms downward upon +the ruined altar. Wandering around, pushing our way through brambles, +and stumbling over forgotten graves, we come upon the family vault, +underneath and as large as the chapel. The door being open, we wandered +in and paused amazed at the spectacle of dead humanity. + +Outside the sunlight flickered downward through waving branches, casting +long lines of light into the place of the dead, lighting up a sight such +as may be seen only in southern Ireland. The entire space was crowded +with coffins in all stages of appalling decay and ruin and dating all +the way along from the reign of Elizabeth. At our feet lay the ruin of a +large coffin, its handles still clinging to its sides. The skeleton +within had vanished absolutely except the beautiful teeth, +evidently a woman's, which gleamed white in the sunlight. The lid, cast +to one side, left all open to the light of day and passing of moonlight +or storms. Beyond were two still perfect coffins of later date, and yet +farther in where the shadows were thicker rose the ruins of coffin on +coffin, all tumbling pell-mell into one wild chaos. Pausing in silent +dismay for an instant only, we went forth into the sunshine, leaving the +dead to their rest. + +Only in Ireland may one come upon like scenes, where the doors are not +closed even after death. I had often read of such spots, but scarcely +believed the tales until to-day when we stumbled quite by accident upon +that open door and entered, and certainly I shall never forget the +sight. We closed the portal as best we could. One can only hope that the +return of dust to dust may be not delayed, and that all that therein is +may vanish utterly. + +As we roll away the sunlight streams brilliantly aslant, lighting up the +ruined chapel and the old abbey, while the great trees stand all about +them like Druids deep in thought. + + * * * * * + +A rapid rush through the mists of Ireland will so drive the cold air +into one's system that after dinner it is difficult to keep awake and +one is apt to doze off while sitting upright in the drawing-room and to +dream dreams and see visions, especially after our afternoon's +experience. Here to-night in the drawing-room my book has fallen upon +my knees and I have almost passed to the land of nod when some one +suggests that we inspect "King Charles's clothes," and being but half +awake I wonder when he arrived and whether he will permit such +familiarity, and then the questions "which Charles," and if "the first" +of that name, will he bring his head, cause me to come to my full senses +just as Boyse is drawing a long wooden case from beneath a sofa. When it +is opened all the room is filled with a faint perfume, some fragrance so +long forgotten that one cannot give it a name, and yet which calls to +mind the frou-frou of silks and the tapping of high-heeled shoes on +parquette floors, over which wax lights are shedding a soft radiance +while the air resounds to stately music. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Dunbrody Abbey, County Wexford] + +Let us transport ourselves mentally backwards to the dark days of 1649. +Penshurst, the ancient seat of the Sidneys, a gift from Edward VI., when +the tragedy of Charles Stuart was over and the axe had fallen at +Whitehall, his sister the Queen of Bohemia, bowed with sorrow for the +past and undoubtedly with fear for the future, divided as precious +relics amongst those who had been faithful, the belongings of the late +King. These before me she gave to Mr. Spencer, the ancestor of our +hostess here in Bannow House. Mr. Spencer was then acting for Algernon +Sidney, who was a prisoner in the Tower. The relics came into the +possession of the present owner through her father, the Rev. Thos. +Harvey of Cowden Rectory, Kent, and as they are drawn forth one by one +from their hiding place, I glance involuntarily over my shoulder and out +into the misty night, almost expecting to see the shadowy face of the +King questioning our right to these things of his, while the faces on +the walls about have awakened to life and express a strong desire to +come down and join us in the inspection. Here, in a shagreen case, is a +huge silver camp watch which has long since ceased to mark the passage +of time and the vanity of princes. Yonder is a silk dove-coloured coat +and a waistcoat brocaded in rose colour, black, and silver. Here is a +pair of breeches in brown figured silk and another of red and white cut +velvet. There are some quaint gold embroidered slippers with great bows +and high heels and as I stand them on the floor they seem to have been +used but yesterday and are expecting to be used again, and I glance once +more into the outer shadows. At the bottom of the chest are two long +rolls of illuminated vellum illustrating the marriage of the Queen of +Bohemia, called the "Queen of Hearts" by the people who loved her well. +As I look at the painted procession, my hand rests on a lace ruffle of +King Charles, which he may have worn on that occasion. + +It was all so very long ago that I think we have in our unconscious +thoughts almost arrived at the conclusion that these and many of the +famous personages of history are but the fanciful figures of fiction +after all, and it is only when we look upon this frayed doublet which +seems but just cast aside by its wearer, or pick up yonder glove which +still holds the curve of his palm and shape of his fingers, that the +belief is forced upon us that, like ourselves, he once lived and +breathed, enjoyed and suffered, was really of flesh and blood. + +Yet what was this Charles, warm-hearted and generous, or proud, +dictatorial, and utterly unreasonable, holding the divine right of kings +so far above the rights of his people that they were forced to lay low +his head? Which view is the correct one?--for with him, as with all +others of history, there seems a doubt. In fact doubts are being cast +upon the pages of history from all sides to-day. Writers make Lucretia +and Cæsar Borgia far different from the scribes of a century ago, and +possessed of no desire to assist people to a better world. She, for +instance, is now held to have been a model wife and loving mother. Also +we read that Richard of England was not deformed, either in person or +character, but because of the very doubtful legitimacy of the sons of +Edward IV. was the real heir to the crown, and so summoned by +Parliament,--that he did not murder or have murdered Henry VI., the Duke +of Clarence, or the Princes, and that the latter lived at his court many +years--in fact that he was no such character as we have been raised to +believe; and, more marvellous to relate, that the real villain of that +period was Henry VII. of blessed memory,--that he and he alone imported +historians from Italy who at the royal bidding wrote history as it has +been read for so many centuries, that he was the murderer of both King +and Princes and of the Duke of Clarence. Surely we shall shortly have +the Jew of Venice made a generous character, possessing deep love for +all Christians, whilst the eighth Henry will repose in a glorious +effulgency as a model husband as Froude would have us believe. But they +are all of the so very long ago that they appear to us like figures in a +painted window, brilliant or sombre, as the sunshine or shadows of +history illumine or cast them into shade, and it is only when we see +such a thing as this glove of Charles or a half-worn shoe of the +Scottish Queen that they walk out upon us and take their places as real +men and women. + +And so one feels near the presence of that unfortunate Stuart King, as +these belongings of his lie spread out before us. What a small man he +was! These things might be worn by a boy of fifteen,--a delicate boy of +slight frame. They are of great value as such things go, which reminds +one that the world holds much of great value of its dead kings and +queens. It is estimated that the relics of Mary Stuart collected +together at the tercentenary in Peterborough in 1887 amounted in value +to sixty thousand pounds sterling, three hundred thousand dollars of our +money, and yet she was often forced to write imploring letters to her +"brother of France" for her revenues from her fair duchy of Touraine, in +order that she might keep out the cold in her English prisons, and +whilst she was the guest of her "good sister Elizabeth." + +Did her grandson wear these silks and velvets during those sad days at +St. James's Palace? He would almost require the attendance of a body +servant to carry that watch and surely no man who appeared in such +ruffles and high-heeled fancy shoes to-day could induce an army to fight +for him, be he the anointed of God or not,--but then, that clothes do +not make the man was certainly proven in his case, when "a man was a man +for a' that," the Puritans to the contrary notwithstanding. I doubt if +he thought much of his fuss and feathers or paid as much attention to +them as said Puritans did to their sober browns, or some rulers of the +Europe of to-day do to their gaudy plumage. If Charles was vain, it was +with a vanity we can pardon, and far different from that which floods +the world with a string of portraits in different uniforms and +poses--but it is late and even the shades of royalty cannot keep us +awake longer; still as we take our candles and move upwards through the +shadowy hallway I seem to hear the stealthy fall of following footsteps +and turn suddenly, wondering--wondering. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Bannow House] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + Return to Ireland--Illness--Conditions on the Great Liners--The + Quay at Cork "of a Saturday Evening"--En Route Once more--The Old + Lady and the Donkey--Barracks at Fermoy--Killshening House, + Abandoned Seat of the Roche Family--Fethard--Quaint Customs--The + Man in the Coffin--"Curraghmore House"--Its great Kennels--Its + Legends and Ghosts and History--Lady Waterford--Oliver Cromwell at + the Castle--The Marquis in the Dungeon. + + +A year has rolled away since I wrote my last line about this Emerald +Isle,--a year of sickness and suffering, brought about, most seem to +think, by the bubbling springs and cool wells of this same island; at +least B., who drank whiskey and soda, passed scathless, while typhoid +for the second time seized upon my system and worked its will for months +and months. But that is over and gone, and for another year at least I +am immune. Still I think that during this visit I shall hold to soda and +some whiskey, at least I am so advised by a last telegram as my ship +moves out to sea. + +If the Board of Trade knew of the state of affairs on the great liners +they would scarcely permit it. Think of one hundred and sometimes one +hundred and fifty stewards crowded into a confined space below the +saloon with _one_ bathroom only. They are only allowed on deck way +back amongst the emigrants, and from there they come to the main saloon +to wait on the first-class passengers, running the risk of carrying all +sorts of contagious diseases; no air, no ventilation to speak of. The +deck stewards are somewhat better off, being only six in a room, but no +better ventilated than the pen referred to. If things are so on an +English ship, what must they not be upon an Italian! + +It blew great guns, and rained in torrents as we landed at Queenstown. +The _Campania_ came in just behind the _Baltic_ and between the two +nearly two thousand passengers were landed. The accommodations both in +tenders and at the custom house are in every way inadequate, and the +confusion was appalling. + +However, all was passed and done at last, and ten P. M. finds me at the +Imperial in Cork, which is in this rainy weather even more mouldy than +last year, but where B. and a whiskey and soda make matters assume a +more cheerful tone. However as the house is crowded to suffocation an +excursion into the outer darkness has its attractions. On our way out we +remark to the barmaid that it is rather stupid here to-night, and she +suggests that this being Saturday evening if we will go down to the quay +we may find some diversion. Knowing that she would be correct in her +surmise as to other towns on that night and at such places we conclude +to try it in Cork and sally forth, only to fall into the clutches of a +car boy, who absolutely refuses either to be left behind or to allow us +to walk. Hence we are shortly mounted on that characteristic Irish +vehicle, a jaunting-car, and en route for wherever its owner may see fit +to take us. + +Our suggestion of "the quay" evidently meets with his approbation, and +with a twinkle in his eye and a blow for his horse, we set forth. The +pace is one which causes us to clutch the swinging car for safety. That +the streets are crowded matters not at all to our jehu, and many is the +anathema hurled at our heads from the scattering populace--until finally +the crowd becomes so dense that our pace is reduced perforce to a walk, +and at last we stop altogether. Just before us is a half-grown boy +celebrating the approach of the day of rest to the best of his ability, +and an odder figure I have never seen. His tattered trousers are rolled +up above a pair of brogans which would fit the Cardiff giant, the tails +of what once was a black coat of great size trail on the ground behind +him, while his dirty mug of a face has the stump of a pipe fixed +somewhere in the middle--I can see no mouth--and is crowned by what was +once a silk hat, now by numerous blows and whacks more resembling an +opera hat semi-collapsed. In his hand he twirls a shillalah, and as he +croons a ditty he wheels ever and anon to attack any one who treads on +the tails of his coat. Before we have fully appreciated all of his good +points our attention is attracted by increased shouts and the rush of +the crowd down the quay, where evidently Pat and Dinnis are at it hard +and fast. + +How the hats fly! You can hear the whacks of the shillalahs even from +here. The dancing, jeering, hooting, and howling crowd takes first one +side and then the other, "fightin aich uther fur konciliation and hatin +aich uther fur the love o' God." Just about this time we think best to +retire, as good hats are too attractive in free fights. + +It has turned stormy again and the wind blows in great gusts up the +river from the sea. Shortly after we start homeward a fishwife carrying +her loaded basket comes out from a doorway and up a few steps onto the +pavement, when the wind taking her broadside blows her over backwards, +her legs sticking up in the air like two great lighthouses. Of course +the contents of her basket are attacked by every gamin in sight, but the +old woman gets all the fish but one and she has a firm hold on one end +of that, while a sturdy boy holds tight on to the tail. Then begins a +tug of war, resulting in an upset for the boy with half the fish +clutched in his fist. Quick as lightning she seizes him and thoroughly +washes his face with the other half. The last glimpse I have of them as +we roll away she has turned him over her knees and there is no +indication of "konciliation" on her face. + +[Illustration: The Terrace, Bannow House + County Wexford] + +Verily--there is "something doing on the quay at Cork of a Saturday +evening." + +Nine o'clock next morning brings our motor to the hotel door. It is soon +packed and, the word given, is rolling away through the streets of the +city, which one moment laugh with sunshine and the next weep with +downpouring rain,--but bless you, no one minds the rain in Ireland, +certainly not in Cork. + +The music of the Bells of Shandon follows us far out into the green +lanes and winding highways and the motor hums and sings in response as +we roll under the grand old trees with their curtains of quivering ivy. +Almost at once, things begin to happen, and, as usual, an ancient dame +is the cause of war. + +At the end of a long lane, over which the ivy draped trees form a +perfect archway, a donkey cart driven by an old lady approaches us, and +as usual we produce consternation. With each leg pointed towards one of +the points of the compass and with great ears slanting towards us, the +little beast is prepared against all attacks, and to run in any +direction, but he reckons without his mistress. She does not propose +that there shall be any run at all, and quickly slides to the ground +from her perch in the cart--and in her progress shows us that aside from +her waist and woollen skirt she is not encumbered with clothing. The +situation requires prompt action, and seizing her skirt in both hands +she rushes at the donkey and claps it over his head. His surprise is +intense and deprives him of action. What he thinks I know not, but as we +roll by we distinctly hear a suppressed "he-haw." + +The distance to Fermoy is quickly covered, and we pass in triumph the +spot where last year we broke down and were forced to take to +jaunting-cars. + +The Fusiliers who then were at Buttevant are in Fermoy now, and we dine +in the Mess. + +The barracks are much alike in the two places, but while this has no +"green" for cricket and croquet, Fermoy is quite a contrast to the +wretched town of Buttevant. Still all that sinks into nothingness when +it is stated that _that_ is "a better hunting country." + +As of old, the officers endeavour to induce me to spend a winter in that +sport. Twenty years ago I might have done so, but it's too late now, +though I have no doubt that if I lived here I should try it regardless +of the flight of years. I have no doubt but that I could if necessary +buy hunters from each and all of them,--and I have also no doubt but +that they would loan me all they have or may have if I would accept, +which I would not do. + +This is Sunday morning, and his Majesty's soldiers are going to church. +The Church of Rome claims the larger number and there are some hundreds +of scarlet coats marching past the hotel now to the ever favourite and +inspiring tune of _Hiawatha_. How the fifes do seize upon and rip out +those notes and what joy there is in every whack given by that great +bass drummer! My admiration of last year is intensified. + +The officer in charge is a man I know very well and I try my best to +attract his attention, but without success; discipline must be +maintained, and not a glance comes in my direction from under his +towering "bear skin," though I know that he sees me. He owes me a grudge +because, his mother being an American, I tell him his coat should be +blue. + +The streets have ceased to glitter with crimson and gold, and the air +has lost the tones of martial music as we roll away,--only the murmur of +the river and the solemn music of the organ from an ivy-clad church +yonder breaks the stillness of this sunny Sunday morning. + +Not far from Fermoy stands a mansion which is of interest to many in +America, Killshening House, one of the seats of Lord Fermoy. That title +will in time pass to an American boy, or man as he will be then, though +I doubt his ever assuming it--certainly he will never occupy this house. +The present owner lives in a place belonging to his wife, and as we +enter the gates of Killshening, we see at once that it is and has been +long deserted. + +These abandoned houses greet the traveller all over Ireland. This one +has not been lived in for some generations by the family. It does not +pay to keep up the house, and renting the land out as pasturage brings +more income than in any other way. Still it is sad to find a stately +mansion in such a reduced state. The rusty gates have long ceased to +perform their function and stand deeply imbedded in the grass-grown +drive which stretches inward toward the house. The trees have grown wild +at will and stretch their branches almost across the drive. The grass is +rank but still thick and velvety and some sheep stare at our intrusion +and then scuttle away to a safe distance where they stop huddled +together and stare again. Hawthorn hedges white with bloom enclose the +place almost like the palace of the sleeping beauty and one wonders +whether man has entered yonder silent house for the last hundred years. +It certainly has not that appearance. Its windows have a sightless, +unoccupied look and its doors swing open to the summer breezes. Except +for the sheep there is no sign of life anywhere and we enter and roam at +will through the deserted rooms. In its exterior it is of the usual type +of such houses in Ireland, a stately rectangular structure, probably of +some two centuries of age. Its portals are never closed, and passing +inward, one enters a large square hallway, whose fine ceiling is +supported by four stately columns. Surrounding this are numerous +living-rooms, reception-and dining-rooms, and in several the ceilings +show much beauty even through the mould and dirt of years of neglect. + +[Illustration: Corner of the Rose Garden, Bannow House + County Wexford] + +Of those who made this place a home all have long since passed beneath +the "low green tent whose curtains never outward swing" and those who +own it now have other houses more to their taste, so this stands +tenantless, the silence both without and within broken only by the sound +of our footfalls as we explore the empty, echoing spaces. + +The park around is fine, but as we pass away we note that nearly all the +great timber has been cut down. + +It's a sad place, and even our motor seems anxious to leave it. + +Our car this year is a 16-20 Clement and on its top speed runs as +noiselessly as an electric. It is not an especially good hill climber, +though that may be but a temporary fault, as sometimes it sails up an +incline with ease, while at others balks at much lesser grades. On the +whole I like the car very much, and though two years old and having had +hard usage, with but small expense it could be made as good as new. It +is certainly to be preferred to the Panhard of last year and is more +agreeable to ride in than the sixty horse-power Mercedes of the Duke of +M. In those high power cars, unless at full speed, which is impossible +on most Irish roads, one is disagreeably conscious of the power beneath +one, and rather dreads a breaking away with its ensuing destruction. +Certainly but few of these Irish roads are suited to a speed of sixty +miles per hour. This car comes from Wayte Bros., of Dublin, and costs +twenty pounds per month less than that of last season. + +Our onward route lies over the hills to Fethard through Clonmel and +across the river Moyle. As we enter, we encounter a funeral, and I +notice that they are carrying the corpse round and round what is +certainly the town pump. Later I learn that a cross once stood there, +also that through the gate by which Cromwell entered the town the dead +are never carried. + +Boyse has a sister living here, and we pass the night in her home. + +Fethard is one of those quaint Irish places which the world, unless it +hunts the fox, never comes near,--but the Irish world does hunt the fox +and hence everybody that is anybody comes to Fethard. + +As I wandered out into the meadows behind the mews, I came upon a pile +of coffins under a shed,--new and awaiting occupants. Evidently they are +bought by the wholesale here and of assorted sizes against emergencies. +Near-by stood the village hearse, and backed up against a hayrick the +remains of the worn-out one which had ceased from its labors. My remark +that the "coffins were cheap and thin" brought out the rejoinder, "Ah, +they're good enough, give the worms a chance." So wears the world away. +The reply came from an old man smoking a stump of a pipe, and calmly +reposing the while in a pine box, the future use of which could not be a +matter of doubt. + +Leaving him to his repose I enter the motor and with my host and hostess +and B. roll off through Clonmel to the superb estate of the Marquis of +W., "Curraghmore House," the location of which at once strikes the +beholder as very superb. Lofty hills, rich dales, and almost +impenetrable woods surround him in all directions. The home park alone +holds some twenty-seven hundred acres, entirely enclosed by a high stone +wall. + +As we approach the gates we see on a distant hill a lofty tower erected +in memory of one of the heirs, who as a boy broke his neck while +attempting to jump his horse over the gate just before us, and which is +to-day opened to our sounding horn by a smiling old lady, who curtsies +deeply as we pass her. + +Three gates are encountered before we enter the court of Curraghmore +House, where we hear that "His Lordship is down at the kennels," and so +roll away again through the aisles of such trees as only these ancestral +places can show, save in California or a primeval forest where the +vandal, man, has not had his way. How beautiful it is! The wide white +avenues roll and twist away over the deep rich grass. Yonder valley is a +mass of blossoming rhododendrons,--tree fuchsias bloom on the other +hand,--and across the river the green hills mount away, dotted with +sheep, to a fair blue sky. + +We cross an ancient bridge of stone with the water gurgling deliciously +beneath as it flows off down a lane brilliant with the lilac of the +rhododendrons. + +The kennels are probably the most extensive in Ireland and resemble a +large carnivora house in some zoölogical garden,--even to the iron cages +for summer use. + +Here, amidst more than a hundred hounds, we find our host. Of an ancient +Irish family, tall, very fair, with close cropped yellow hair and blue +eyes, and clad in a long white linen coat, his appearance is very +English, which remark would not please him at all I am told. He is +making a register of his hounds for the dog show at Peterborough next +month. + +Each hound is presented, passed upon, and has her name duly entered on +the list. I am told that the dog does not make a good hunter in Ireland, +and hence all of the one hundred and twelve animals here are bitches. +[Perhaps that is always the case, if so you will discover that I am not +a sportsman.] If you were to stumble and fall while near them they would +promptly tear you to pieces, though they are friendly enough and almost +every one, as she passes through the cage, pokes her nose into our +hands. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Bannow Church + County Wexford] + +These dogs actually seem to know what is being said about them. When +they passed muster they jumped away like a boy through with his +examinations,--but there were two or three which did not pass, and the +look of reproach cast upon their keeper as he told of their failings was +almost human. + +The registering done with, they are let out in two lots on the hillside, +and crowd around us, still friendly apparently, but as we turn to +leave--the hounds having been caged again--I drop my stick, and when I +stoop to pick it up the whole pack spring at the bars in a wild attempt +to get at me. I do not regret the protecting iron. + +These kennels are beautifully kept, and the oatmeal cakes on the shelves +of the feed house would taste very good, I fancy. In fact I am bidden to +try one. + +We motor back through the domain to the grounds back of the house and +walk across them to enter the mansion. They are beautifully laid off, +but I think the huge bronze fountain in the centre is a mistake,--a +simple stone basin with a majestic geyser of water would be more in +keeping with the age of the place and the simple and severe outlines of +the house. Like most of the great fountains there is too much bronze and +too little water. + +Curraghmore House was built about 1700, around the remains of a very +ancient castle. From this side the building somewhat resembles +Chatsworth, but on the other one sees the great square tower which dates +from the twelfth century. It has been, of course, much changed and +is now outwardly made to conform to the rest of the mansion,--but upon +entering you at once notice the great thickness of the walls which prove +its age. They are adorned with trophies of the chase of much interest. + +Mounting a staircase of gradual ascent one enters another square hall +around which are the living-rooms, some very rich in ornamentation, +especially in the painted ceilings. Many portraits gaze questioningly at +me from the walls, some so dark with age that only the eyes are visible, +eyes in a pallid face and all else lost in the shadow,--faces whose +owners have come and gone like the shadows of a dream, and whose very +names are now forgotten;--living, I fancy, their lives out in these old +halls, with as little thought for the inevitable forgetfulness of time, +as we have to-day, and we have none at all, but pass the time in a happy +fashion over tea in the Library. + +Some of us wander off to the billiard hall up in the great tower, and +descending stop a moment in a room which it is claimed is visited by +such a ghostly caller as Scott tells of in his "Tapestried +chamber,"--one which will wake you and jibe at you. Here is a portrait +of a lady, with a band on her wrist. She and a brother lived long ago +and were both atheists. The brother became converted to a belief in God +but not this sister, and he promised that when he died if there was a +God and a hereafter, he would return, which he did, and seizing his +sister by the wrist left a mark which necessitated the wearing of this +band. There it is in that portrait over the mantel in the ghost's room. + +There are other phantoms which haunt this mansion of Curraghmore, but +let this suffice. I should like to have slept in that room, and after we +departed I was told that we had all been asked to "stay the night," but +the ladies of the party objected as Lady W. was absent. + +Many years ago en route from Calcutta to Ceylon we had on board a poor +sick man en route to colder climes in the hope of prolonging his life--a +vain one as it proved. He was brought out daily and laid on the deck and +naturally became an object of interest and sympathy to all of the +passengers. One elderly lady was especially kind to him and I held many +long conversations with her. She told me that he had been in the employ +of the government in the Indian Islands, and, stricken with fever, had +been ordered home, leaving a wife and a newly born child behind him. As +I left the ship at Colombo I saw her standing by his side fanning him. +Poor man--he was buried at sea near Aden and to-day I find _her_ +portrait looking down upon me from these walls. She was Lady Waterford, +the grandmother of our host, a woman who believed in seeing the world +and, as I know, doing good as she passed along. I believe she was +considered rather eccentric--interesting people generally are so,--and +it is stated that she discarded all the family jewels in favour of one +made of foxes' teeth. Although eighteen years had elapsed since that sea +trip hers was not a face to be forgotten, and I knew it at once. I +believe she has long since passed away. + +There is a story told of the castle in Cromwell's day which, while it +proves that there is a woman at the bottom of most incidents in this +world, shows that here her wits were the salvation of the house. Knowing +that her father would die rather than surrender to the king-killer, she +seduced the lord of the manor into one of his own dungeons and promptly +locked him up. Into Cromwell's hands she then delivered the keys of the +castle, assuring him that though forced to be absent on this auspicious +occasion her father was nevertheless well disposed to the cause of +Parliament and willing to give such proof as the Protector might demand. +In consequence Curraghmore remained unimpaired in the possession of its +owner, securely locked up the while in his own dungeon. + +Taking it all in all it is a most interesting place, yet when all is +said, to my thinking, the greatest beauty lies in the superb trees of +the park, and its wonderful stretches of grassland. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Tombs in Bannow Church + County Wexford] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + Departure from Fethard--The Dead Horse and a Lawsuit--Approach to + Dublin--Estate of Kilruddery--The Swan as a Fighter--Glendalough, + its Ruins and History--Tom Moore and his Tree in Avoca--Advantages + of Motor Travel--Superstition of the Magpie--A Boy, a Cart, and a + Black Sheep--The Goose and the Motor. + + +The next day opens nasty and wet. Leaving our benediction and thanks +with Mr. and Mrs. P. we roll off through the drops of rain over the +muddy roadways. It is not especially pleasant and conversation lags, but +it must be a bad day indeed to suppress all chances for excitement in +Ireland, as we shortly discover. + +Turning a bend of the road we see, coming towards us, a jaunting-car, +hauled by a bay horse and driven by an old man. The nag gives evidence +of fright and our motor is stopped instantly at some three hundred feet +from her. The old man succeeds in turning her around and at our +suggestion unwinds himself from his lap-robe and gets down to hold her. +All the time our car is at a standstill and making no sound. Whether the +old chap got tangled in the reins or stumbles, I know not, but the nag +plunges, knocking him down, then plunges again and falls against a +stone wall, breaking a shaft. B. gets out of our car and suggests that I +go back to the town just behind and bring a policeman as there will +surely be claims for damages. I cannot see how, as we have not been in +motion for the past fifteen minutes and certainly have an equal right +upon the highroads. However, I roll away, and en route I notice a +travelling circus with a nigger in charge who grins at me. The policeman +secured and brought back in the car, we find to our amazement that the +horse is dead, and the nigger and owner are already haggling over the +sale of its carcass. The latter wants a sovereign and the former offers +half a crown. + +What killed the beast is unknown to us to this day; it certainly did not +break its neck as it kicked and plunged a lot after it was down. +However, it is dead, and there is trouble in consequence. Of course we +are "entirely to blame" though the accident did not occur until we had +been stationary for some fifteen minutes, and until the old man had had +ample time to argue with the horse and then to turn her around and move +away from us before he got down, at which time she was perfectly quiet. +It's my opinion that he became tangled in the reins and fell against +her. Fact remains that she neither scared nor plunged until he got down +from the car and made for her head, and as I have stated before, I have +often noticed that horses are more frightened by their owner's sudden +grabs at the bridle than by the motor car. + +I had once a saddle horse which could never be induced to pass a piece +of paper be it ever so small without violent shying, and I could at any +instant, by pressing my knee suddenly into the saddle, cause him to look +round for such objects and shy violently in advance. + +So it is with most car horses,--let alone they would stand quietly; +grabbed at by the driver they plunge and shy. As far as our car is +concerned it always comes at once to a dead halt if there is the +smallest evidence of trouble. We did so, as I have stated, in this case, +yet I have no doubt damage or blackmail will have to be paid. If this +were not done and B. ever wanted to hunt over this country he would come +to dire disaster, as our names and addresses were taken down by the +policeman, and will never be forgotten but stored away to be remembered +either in blessing or malediction according as we pay or not. + +This being a rented car the owners assume all such risks, and on +reaching Dublin we learn that a claim for twenty-five pounds has already +been presented, the value of the beast having increased by leaps and +bounds, and I doubt not before the year is out will have passed that of +the winner of the Derby. + +I should like to have been at the trial if it came to that, if only to +count the witnesses that would have sprung up by the dozens, undoubtedly +proving in the end that the old man was driving two horses to that +jaunting-car and that our appearance killed them both. + +The day after that occurrence the driver of a cow deliberately placed +her in our pathway in hopes that we would kill her, but he reckoned +without our brakes, which stopped the car not a foot from the cow. Her +owner laughed in a stupid, leering fashion as we rolled away. + +After the death of the poor old horse, which no one could have regretted +more than we did, nothing occurred during the ride to Dublin. + +As we approach the city, the highways are of greater width and in better +condition, though most of the Irish roads are good. There are motor-cars +flying in all directions now and ours catching the disease skims along +like a bird, and quite as noiselessly, until the pavements and narrower +streets of the city force a reduction of speed, and even then the rate +is more rapid than I like. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Tintern Abbey] + +Dublin is in the throes of an exposition, and there is "no room in the +inn." Not to be forced to sleep in a manger we direct our course to Bray +Head, and in her very comfortable hotel of that name are at rest for a +few days. While there are no real mountains in this section of Ireland +the hills and headlands are very bold and beautifully outlined. The +roads are fine and there are many points of interest hereabouts. To-day +we have been rambling over Kilruddery, the fine estate of the Earl of +Meath. The house, while modern, has not that appearance, and at first I +thought it must date at least from the days of the good Queen Bess +during whose reign the property passed into the hands of this family. It +is of that period in its architecture, but the great glory lies all +around it. These grounds are justly famous. I have never seen more +beautiful, stately hedges even at Versailles, and one rather feels that +one should be dressed in the fashion of the Grand Monarque to pace these +grassy lanes. At one point the hedges, thirty feet high, spread off like +the spokes of a wheel, and the legend runs that in ancient days the +abbot had his cell in that centre from where the brethren living down +the aisles could be easily watched, and being human, even if saintly, I +doubt not that they needed watching now and then. + +In front of the mansion two oblong lakes nestle in the velvety grass +like great mirrors and on their waters numerous swans are floating. One +old general mounts the bank and with arched neck and spreading wings +advances to attack us, but we do not risk the battle. Those male birds +can strike hard, and while it might be possible to seize and stretch +their necks, the Lord of the Manor does not like that to be done. So we +take refuge in the flower garden, a perfect glory of bloom and colour. + +Later on, as we are at tea in the "long drawing-room before my lady's +picture," the old swan raises his head just outside in watchful ward +lest we dare to come out. + +I think Dickens must have visited Kilruddery about the time he wrote +_Bleak House_, though he placed the scene of his great work in +Lincolnshire. Here are the long drawing-rooms with my lady's picture +over the mantle before which Sir Leicester sat in such grandeur; yonder +is the window through which the moonlight streamed upon my lady seated +at the open casement, and just here between my lord and my lady Mr. +Tulkinghorn must have paced as he "told my story to so many people." +Just outside runs the Ghost Walk where upon that fatal night the step +grew louder and louder, and above one can doubtless find Mr. +Tulkinghorn's chamber opening out upon the leads, and where he met and +cowed my lady. This may not be the place which the great writer had in +mind, but it might well have been. + +I confess to an intense envy when I visit these superb estates, not so +much as to the houses, unless they are very ancient, but certainly as to +the parks. It is perhaps well that our country cannot know such,--it +certainly never will unless the law of primogeniture is established, +which God forbid. And yet here the younger members of a family seem to +think it but right and just that everything should pass to but one of +them, that they, who may love and appreciate their lifelong home as +perhaps the heir never will, should be turned out, often with nothing, +while, as often, he proceeds to pile debt on debt until the old home +goes by the board and passes to strangers or the great trees are cut +down to pay gambling debts. All this may be gall and wormwood to some of +them but if so they are loyal to the rules of their order and murmur not +at all. + +It is necessary for B. to return to Bannow for a day as he is a +magistrate there and has some business in consequence. So we are off in +the forenoon and shall run the hundred miles by teatime with several +stops thrown in. We enter amongst the hills on starting and are amongst +them all day save for sudden dips into some valley or down to the sea. + +As we speed up the mountains the prospects behind are enchanting. The +valleys are deep and very green while on the other side of one +amphitheatre the vast mansion of "Powers Court House," where we shall +spend the week-end, stands half way up the hillside in a most beautiful +location. From here it appears to be a stone structure of several +stories, with long wings on either hand, and even at this distance one +can see that the garden and park are very extensive. + +Our route southward to Bannow lies through the mountains of Wicklow, +which here resemble Arthur's Seat and other hills around Edinburgh. +Fortunately the day is fine and the roads dry without dust, but one +never suffers from the dust of one's own car and we do not meet any +others, hence the ride is exhilarating and beautiful, especially as we +approach Glendalough, where the scenery is almost Alpine. + +That ancient place lies in a deep valley with mountains towering all +around it. Its ruined churches are presided over by one of the tallest +and most perfect round towers in Ireland. + +Wherever one sees those strange structures they are objects of interest +and this one, rising in stately watch and ward over the dead who sleep +all around it, is unusually so. It stands in an enclosure so choked with +graves that one must walk over the dead to reach it. Two, lately buried +I should say, seem to have used the old tower as their especial +monument, so closely are their heads placed against its ancient base. A +little wooden cross between the graves protests that those who sleep +beneath are of the faith of the Nazarene and not of that of the +long-dead heathens who, some claim, erected this and all other similar +towers in this land, a false idea of course. + +Glendalough is very ancient, and dates its foundation back in 618 A.D. +St. Kevin of the royal house of Leinster died here at a great age, +having lived for years in a hollow tree near the lake and in a cave, to +which there was no access save by a boat. His memory has been honored +for centuries, and in the peculiar manner of much drinking and many free +fights here on the spot where he died, a custom stopped by the parish +priest who emptied the whiskey into the stream and burned the +shillalahs, after which he forced these people who had been enemies for +centuries to embrace over Kevin's grave. He lived to the age of one +hundred and twenty years, founding here what became a crowded city, with +schools, colleges, sanctuaries for the saintly, and asylums for the poor +and sick. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Kilkenny Castle] + +Glendalough began to decline more than six centuries ago, and to-day +holds nothing save a few ruined churches, the stately round tower, and +many graves deep down in its vale, guarded by the brooding mountains. +Its silence is rarely broken except when one more is added to the quiet +company which lies around, or when some wanderer from the outer world +remembers that Glendalough has been and pauses a moment to offer +devotions at her crumbling shrines. + +How completely one's thoughts shift from the ancient heathen history of +this island to gentler times and songs, waving trees, sunlight, and the +music of waters as the car rolls through the Vale of Ovoca, where gentle +Tom Moore's spirit still seems to be singing of its bubbling streams. + +Stop at the old stone bridge and lean a while upon its parapets and you +will be just over the tree, now a gaunt dead skeleton with all its glory +gone, where he wrote the poems so dear to all of us. Beneath you murmurs +one of the streams, and, just beyond, it rushes joyously to its meeting +with the other, and the old tree stands on a point at the meeting place. +The waters plash and sing and dance away and away, the years have rolled +by, and the poet is gone, but his verses live on for ever, and pilgrims +from all over the world come to this spot which he found beautiful. + +To-day as we roll up there are a party of women all from my own land, I +should judge, and each takes her seat for a moment under the great +skeleton where Moore sat and wrote his songs for mankind. + +The east and west sides of Ireland are very different. On the latter +lies all the grandeur and ruggedness, as though nature had been carved +and hewn by the tremendous blows of the North Atlantic's winds and +waves, and all the music is wild and weird; while on the eastern side +all is like a beautiful park, pastoral and full of sunshine and flowers. +Moore's melodies sound all around one and if a lad or lassie sings in +passing it will be of Robin Adair or Aileen Aroon. The former lived just +back there in Hollybrook House and the latter dwells all over the +mountains and down in every vale. + +The entire ride from Bray to Bannow is over fine roads and affords +constant panoramas of sunlight, seas, and stretches of woodlands and +grass-lands, with here and there a stately mansion keeping ward over a +beautiful park and with many gushing, bubbling rivers and brooks. The +air is laden with the perfume of the sweet grasses, and the way is +bordered by blossoming hawthorns and wild roses. Quaint villages and +ancient cities nestle by the sea, whose waters murmur peacefully, +forgetful that storms have ever been. + +With the rapid flight of the motor, new life rushes through one's veins, +and surely some years must drop away. + +It is an error to imagine that an automobile tour means merely a rapid +flight through the country. It may be made just that, and no doubt often +is, but on the other hand it will be found that those who love to +travel, love antiquities, are students of history, will see far more by +the use of a car than would have been possible with stage-coach or by +rail. By the former, progress was slow, and so tedious often that many +points of great interest were given up because of the bodily weariness +necessary in reaching them. With rail I know, from personal experience, +that I allowed years to pass without visiting points which I greatly +longed to see, because it necessitated change of trains and weary +waiting in dirty stations. With a motor one is possessed almost of +Aladdin's lamp. Make your wish, turn a crank, glide over the earth +almost as rapidly as the owner of the lamp did through the air, and +behold you have your heart's desire, and so you have many desires of the +heart and spy out the land as you never would have done in days gone +by,--days which seem so long gone by, though but a few years have passed +since those old modes of transit were the only ones known. You may go as +slowly as you desire in a motor, you cannot in a train. You are able +also to glide rapidly over long, tedious roads of no interest, where +with horses hours of wearisome journey would be necessary. + +So, my dear critic, don't condemn a book of notes written from a motor +until you have tried that method of locomotion and found it wanting, +which, to my thinking, will never occur. This journey to Bannow, but +better still my inspection of the island of Achill is a case in point. +Not satisfied with my first visit, I determined to return. I was then in +Wexford, quite on the other side of the island, but that was, with a +motor, no barrier. I simply crossed the island in a day's run, spent +another day in Achill, and returned to Wexford. + +Had the time been twenty years or ten years ago, the trouble of a second +visit would have destroyed all chances of making it. + +It is very dreamy and poetic to sigh over the old dead days, but it's +all bosh. The modern appliances of the twentieth century enable the +traveller to see more and at his leisure in one summer than he would +ever have dreamed of seeing in those "dear old dead days." + +The time will come when these machines will be made for the people and +general utility. I venture to quote here an article from _Harper's +Weekly_ as to the future of this great invention. + +[Illustration: Deserted Killshening House + Fermoy] + + "When a man takes hold of the knob of his office door he knows + that, year in and year out, the knob will perform its proper + function. When the housewife sits down to her sewing-machine she + knows that hardly once in a thousand times will it fail to do its + work, and do it well. Unreliable is an indictment to which our cars + must too often plead guilty. In America we have done a lot of + foolish things in motor-car building, but we are approaching saner + methods and more correct lines. The car of the future, either for + business or pleasure, has not yet been laid down. He would be a + bold, perhaps a rash, prophet who would undertake any detailed + description of this car. Nevertheless, reasoning _a priori_, there + are some features we may prognosticate. In the first place, it will + be built of better steel than we have been accustomed to use. In + the next place, the cars will become standardized, and when + standardized they will be built by machinery in enormous quantities + at an exceedingly low cost. The wheels will be large, built of wood + and of the artillery type. Hard rubber or some enduring substance + will take the place of the present high-priced unsatisfactory + pneumatic tires. The car will be light, simple, strong, and easily + kept in repair. Mr. Edison once said the automobile will never be + wholly practical until it is fool-proof and the ordinary repairs + can be made on the highway by a darky with a monkey-wrench. The + present highly unsatisfactory system of change-speed gears will be + supplanted by a variable speed device. There are not wanting good + judges who believe that the problem will be solved by a system of + hydraulic transmission. The fuel of the future will be kerosene or + grain alcohol. Thirty-five per cent, of the population of America + are farmers. The farmer will be the chief automobile owner and + user. The maximum speed of his car may be only twenty miles per + hour, but that is twice as fast as his present mode of travel. The + car will be an invaluable adjunct to his work on the farm. The + adjustment of a belt, the turn of a crank, and the automobile + engine furnishes power to thresh his grain, cut his wood, chop his + feed, and pump his water. After being in constant use all the day, + the car is ready to take the entire family to the social gathering + in the village at night, or to church services on Sunday morning. + The farmer will use the automobile as will the butcher, the baker, + and the storekeeper--when he can in no other way get the same + amount of work done at so low a cost; and when the business man can + deliver his goods more quickly and more economically than he can by + using the horse he will do so. + + "There will always be motor-cars de luxe for the rich, but they + will be merely the fringe of the garment of a great industry. The + countless millions of tons of freight now slowly and painfully + drawn over country roads and through city streets by poor dumb + brutes will go spinning along, the motors of the heavily laden + trucks humming a tune of rich content, and all the thousand + tongues of commerce will sing the praises of the motor-car. + + "Let me suggest a few practical things that the tireless horse of + the future will accomplish: + + "1. It will solve the problem of the over congestion of traffic in + our city streets. + + "2. It will free the horse from his burdens. A few years ago, in + the city of New Orleans, an old darky came in from the country and + for the first time saw the electric street cars, which had taken + the place of the mule-drawn car. The old darky threw up his hands, + and looking up to heaven said, 'Bless de Lord, de white man freed + de nigger, now he done freed the mule.' + + "3. The automobile will furnish relief to the tenement house + districts. + + "4. It will stimulate the good roads movement throughout the + United States. + + "5. It will save time and space and become invaluable to many + classes of citizens. + + "6. It will tend to break down class distinction, because one + touch of automobilism makes the whole world kin." + +The motor has come to stay-rest assured of that. It has an equal right +upon the highway under the law of the land, with all other vehicles or +animals, so spare yourselves your curses and your ill temper, which only +injure yourselves.--A stoppage for luncheon allowed me time to bring in +all that, but we are miles onward by now. + +In addition to song and story, superstition, perhaps of a harmless sort, +certainly reigns in Ireland, at least in the southern parts. Even B. +never sees a magpie that he does not cast his eyes and hands aloft in +supplication, to exorcise the evil results of the encounter. I have +always understood that the legends of that famous bird ran "one for +luck, two for joy, three for a wedding, and four for a boy." But B. +insists that the appearance of one means misfortune; however "maggies" +are eminently domestic and travel in pairs. Marriage is not a failure +with them. + +While B. is stoutly maintaining his belief in the ill luck sure to +follow the appearance of a bird just now flirting his tail at us from a +tree near-by, the car comes to a sudden halt and Robert's face plainly +indicates something wrong. With an "I told you so" B. gets out to +inspect. Knowing nothing and caring less about machinery I stay where I +am; the seat is comfortable and paid for, whether in motion or not; if +they want to get down on their backs in that mud they can do so, I +won't. While the work is in progress I question B. on the matter of +superstition and am told that no real Irishman would, in case of death +in his house, go after the coffin _alone_,--that "must never be done." +Many even in these days will place a lighted candle in the hands of the +dying to light them to Heaven, and at a wake there is always a plate of +snuff on the corpse. + +Not long since, a stranger desiring to attend one of these weird affairs +was conducted to the house of a man who--it was stated--had just died. +The deceased was laid out in the little cabin with candles at his head +and feet, and the usual number of mourners around him. Now every one +smokes at a wake, and the visitor, lighted cigar in his mouth, stood +solemnly regarding the placid dead, when some motion caused his cigar +ash to fall upon the placid face, whereupon the dead sneezed and the +wake broke up in "Konfusion." So at least runs the tale. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Curraghmore House + Marquis of Waterford] + +An incident of the later afternoon is also attributed to "a beast of a +bird" which flew over our heads shortly before its occurrence. It +certainly was a most amazing escape from a serious smash-up, and only +the steering ability of the chauffeur saved us and the car. About to +take a side road running at right angles to the one we were on, and +hidden by a tall hedge, we came suddenly upon a boy asleep in a cart +drawn by an old white horse, also apparently asleep. They were not +twenty feet off; to pass was impossible, and our man shot his car +forward, turned it almost on its axis and under the nose of the old +horse so closely that I thought the shaft would strike me and dodged +down into the car; then another sharp turn down into a ditch, +fortunately grassy and not dangerously deep, and up on to the road, and +away as though nothing had happened and all so quickly done that the +horse and boy stood stock still in dumb amazement. It was a very close +shave, and proved that these cars can be turned completely around in a +much smaller space than one would believe possible. We are not courting +such experiences, especially as news of the dreadful deaths of the +Trevor brothers in Cincinnati has just been published. Our man is a +superb driver and thoroughly understands his machine; also he does not +lose his head for an instant, or on this occasion it would have meant +destruction all round. + +Shortly afterwards a black sheep--"horror of horrors," I heard B. +exclaim--crossed our pathway at tremendous speed, and having great faith +in the strength of its skull and in its butting powers tried conclusions +with a closed iron gateway,--the result being intense astonishment +and dire destruction to itself, the gate holding fast. Earlier in the +day we ran over for the first time a goose, apparently without injury +thereto, as the last I saw it was chasing us down the road with +outstretched neck squawking loudly. + +Our orders are strict as to avoiding all living things if by so doing we +do not endanger our own safety and several times we have done so by +sudden swerves to save an old hen or chicken. + +Taking it all together to-day's ride has not been without excitement, +and we almost decline to get out when the car stops at Bannow House; but +I think the driver has had his fill of work for one day, so it is ended, +fortunately with no injury to any one. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + The Lunatic--Insanity and its Causes in Ireland--The Usual Old Lady + and Donkey--Sunshine and Shadow--Clonmines and its Seven + Churches--The Crosses around the Holy Tree--Baginbun and the + Landing of the English--The Bull of Pope Adrian--Letter of Pope + Alexander--Protest of the Irish Princes--Legends--Death of Henry + II. + + +"To some men God hath given laughter, and tears to some men he hath +given." + +To-day it is tears and sadness for one poor woman. + +B. is a magistrate here and last night at dinner a warrant for his +signature was brought to the house. It was for the commitment of a poor +woman to an asylum for the insane and this morning we roll away to the +village to conclude the matter. The "Court" awaits our arrival, but I +have no mind for such scenes; indeed I do not think it right that mere +lookers-on should be permitted, any more than curiosity seekers should +be allowed to stare at men in prison. So I stay out in the car while B., +followed by the "Court," which has been sunning itself outside, passes +within. + +However, I am not to escape in all ways, as, turning my eyes towards a +window to the left, I see the poor woman staring out at me, the sadness +and misery of her expression passing description,--life is so absolutely +over for her, with nothing save the horror of increasing insanity to +look forward to throughout all the years which may remain of existence. +Her mother died in an asylum and her fate is certain. The curse of +intermarriage has pronounced her doom as it does for so many in Ireland. +It is also claimed that much of the insanity so prevalent here is caused +by excessive use of tea, and _such_ tea. Placed on the stove and allowed +to simmer and stew all day, it acquires a strength that would destroy in +time the strongest of nerves. + +This poor woman goes to the asylum by her own wish, and is glad to go, +knowing the hopelessness of it all for her. Ah, the pity of it, and one +is so absolutely powerless to do aught to help! The law is soon complied +with and leaving her sad face still at the window we roll away. + +The day is especially brilliant and the air like wine, laden with the +fragrance of the hawthorn and wild grasses; while the hedgerows +bordering the lanes are a mass of blossoms, and the world is +beautiful,--all the more beautiful by contrast with that glimpse of +sadness we have just left. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Hallway, Curraghmore House] + +Our car goes rushing and singing along until we round a bend of the +road and are immediately involved in wild confusion. An old lady--as +usual--seated on the smallest of carts, drawn by a most diminutive +donkey,--Ireland is full of old ladies in carts, in fact one rarely sees +any others in them,--is vainly trying to stop the wild circles it is +describing, cart and all, in fright at our appearance. It whirls her +around at least a half-dozen times before a passing postman seizing the +bridle leads it by us, while the ancient dame, the flowers on her much +awry bonnet trembling with her indignation, hurls curses at us. "Blarst +yer sowls" comes back at us as she is borne away. + +Truly sunshine and shadow, laughter and sadness chase each other closely +in this Isle of Erin. Don't for a moment imagine, though you may seem to +be in the densest solitude of the country, that there is nobody about; +any instant a sudden turn may find you in the midst of shrieking women, +flying chicks, quacking ducks, and scoffing geese, where clatter and +confusion and curses reign supreme, but again those curses imply nothing +generally here, they are only a form of salutation, and rarely mean what +is said. + +We pass down long stretches of road with the sparkling sea spread out +before us until we draw up near the ruins of the seven churches of +Clonmines, close down by the placid waters of the river. + +Of the churches there is little left, save a few ruined towers. In the +centre of one where the sunshine falls warmest and many flowers grow, +the late priest of the parish has found his resting-place. + +After all there seems to have been close connection between the far +east and this Emerald Isle. At these seven churches of Clonmines, there +was once held a Moorish slave market, and one cannot but think that +that keening for the dead must have come from the chant which one may +still hear amongst the followers of the prophet. + +Clonmines, which is named from the silver mines near-by, was "a very +ancient corporation but quite ruinated" even in 1684 when we find it so +described in an old manuscript of Wexford. In the time of the Danes it +possessed a mint for silver coining and was surrounded by a fosse. On +the shores of its river or tide inlet, called the Pill, the descendants +of the first English conquerors still lived in the days of Elizabeth, in +fact we find yet living in one of these ancient towers, the descendant +of the man, Sir Roger de Sutton, who built it _seven centuries ago_--a +love of home which passes understanding, for that abode to-day could not +be considered as agreeable under any circumstances. + +This little river was considered of such importance in the days of Henry +VI. that an act of Parliament was passed for the building of towers upon +its banks "that none shall break the fortifications or strength of the +waters of Bannow." + +Even in Henry IV.'s time one John Neville was appointed keeper of this +water, and the feudal tenure by which the Hore family held their manor +of Pole was for the keeping of a passage over the Pill when the Sessions +were held at Wexford. But King and noble reckoned without the storms of +winter, which year after year drove the sands of the sea inward, filling +the harbour and finally destroying all the towns on its banks. One of +them, Old Bannow, we have already visited, and we leave this of +Clonmines, to-day a ruin past all redemption, inhabited by that one +family whose members have watched the years go by just here for seven +centuries. + +As we glide off through the winding lanes, the birds are talking to +themselves in the hedgerows, and could tell us much about it all I doubt +not, while far away on the soft air sounds the throbbing and the sobbing +of the sea. + +Close by the roadside we come upon an evidence of one of the quaint +customs still to be met with in this section. There is a certain +tree--why so selected does not appear--which is regarded as holy, and +every funeral which passes leaves a small cross at its base, so that +to-day the pile of rude wooden emblems of our faith reaches half way up +its trunk. There are no shrines around the place or any other evidence +that it is regarded as sacred or used as a point for devotion, simply +that mass of plain wooden crosses mounting high around its trunk, and +numbering many thousands, each one representing the passing of some poor +soul out of this earthly sunshine and into the shadow of the grave. + +Our day is not over yet. This section of Ireland so abounds in points of +interest that fearing we may pass any of them the speed of the car is +reduced to that of a donkey-cart, in fact, several of the latter pass us +with great show of speed and scornful glances cast by ancient dames at +our crawling monster, while the donkey kicks dust in our faces--whether +from contempt of us or a desire to get home to supper he takes no time +to state, but the fact remains. + +Our way leads down by the sea, and leaving the car to puff itself to +sleep, we pass through the downs on the cliffs and out on to the point +of Baginbun. If you are not versed in Irish history, you will wonder why +you are brought here--it is pretty, yes, certainly, but you have seen +other places far more so. There is a little cove just under you where +the waters murmur and whisper, but what of that? Well, that is Baginbun +and just there, though time and tide have long since obliterated the +marks of their ships' prows, landed the English for the first time in +Ireland. Fitzstephens and his band of adventurers in May, 1169, landed +there and doubtless climbed this hill where we stand knee deep in the +grass to day. What that meant to Ireland is told in the history of all +the ensuing years down to this latter day. How many readers are aware of +the Bull of Pope Adrian IV. handing Ireland body and soul over to Henry +II. of England,--let us quote a bit of it just here. + + "Adrian, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our well + beloved son in Christ, the illustrious King of the English, health + and apostolical benediction. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Dining-room, Curraghmore House + Seat of the Marquis of Waterford] + + "Your highness is contemplating the laudable and profitable work of + gaining a glorious fame on earth, and augmenting the recompense of + bliss that awaits you in heaven, by turning your thoughts, in the + proper spirit of a Catholic Prince, to the object of widening the + boundaries of the Church, explaining the true Christian faith to + those ignorant and uncivilised tribes, and exterminating the + nurseries of vices from the Lord's inheritance. In which matter, + observing as we do the maturity of deliberation and the soundness + of judgment exhibited in your mode of proceeding, we cannot but + hope that proportionate success will, with the Divine permission, + attend your exertions. + + "Certainly there is no doubt but that Ireland and all the Islands + upon which Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, hath shined, and + which have received instruction in the Christian faith, do belong + of right to St. Peter and the Holy Roman Church, as your grace + also admits. For which reason we are the more disposed to + introduce into them a faithful plantation and to engraft among + them a stock acceptable in the sight of God, in proportion as we + are convinced from conscientious motives that such efforts are + made incumbent on us by the urgent claims of duty. + + "You have signified to us, son, well-beloved in Christ, your + desire to enter the island of Ireland in order to bring that + people into subjection to laws, and to exterminate the nurseries + of vices from the country; and that you are willing to pay to St. + Peter an annual tribute of one penny for every house there, and to + preserve the ecclesiastical rights of that land uninjured and + inviolate. We, therefore, meeting your pious and laudable desire + with the favour which it deserves, and graciously according to + your petition, express our will and pleasure that, in order to + widen the bounds of the Church, to check the spread of vice, to + reform the state of morals and promote the inculcation of virtuous + dispositions, you shall enter that island and execute therein what + shall be for the honour of God and the welfare of the country. And + let the people of that land receive you in honourable style and + respect you as their Lord. Provided always that ecclesiastical + rights be uninjured and inviolate, and the annual payment of one + penny for every house be secured for St. Peter and the Holy Roman + Church. + + "If then, you shall be minded to carry into execution the plan + which you have devised in your mind, use your endeavour diligently + to improve that nation by the inculcation of good morals; and + exert yourself, both personally and by means of such agents as you + employ (whose faith, life, and conversation you shall have found + suitable for such an undertaking), that the Church may be adorned + there, that the religious influence of the Christian faith may be + planted and grow there; and that all that pertains to the honour + of God and the salvation of souls may, by you, be ordered in such + a way as that you may be counted worthy to obtain from God a + higher degree of recompense in eternity, and at the same time + succeed in gaining upon earth a name of glory throughout all + generations." + +In such words this island, which had been faithful to the Church of Rome +for centuries, was handed over by its head to bloodshed and murder. + +That the progress of the King was watched and approved of is amply set +forth in the letter of Pope Alexander III.: + + "Alexander, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our well + beloved son in Christ, Henry, the illustrious King of the English, + greeting and apostolical benediction. + + "It is not without very lively sensations of satisfaction that we + have learned, from the loud voice of public report, as well as + from the authentic statements of particular individuals, of the + expedition which you have made in the true spirit of a pious King + and magnificent prince against that nation of the Irish (who, in + utter disregard of the fear of God, are wandering with unbridled + licentiousness into every downward course of crime, and who have + cast away the restraints of the Christian religion and of + morality, and are destroying one another with mutual slaughter), + and of the magnificent and astonishing triumph which you have + gained over a realm into which, as we are given to understand, the + Princes of Rome, the triumphant conquerors of the world, never, in + the days of their glory, pushed their arms, a success to be + attributed to the ordering of the Lord, by whose guidance, as we + undoubtedly do believe, your serene highness was led to direct the + power of your arms against that uncivilised and lawless people." + +There exists to-day the complaint of the Irish Princes to Pope John +XXII. in answer to a letter from him to the Irish prelates empowering +them to launch the thunders of the Church against all, whether lay or +ecclesiastical, who were guilty of disaffection to the ruling powers. +This from their holy head in favour of the English was felt very keenly +all over the land and called forth the document referred to above. + + "In the name of Donald O'Neill, King of Ulster, and rightful + hereditary successor to the throne of all Ireland, as well as + Princes and Nobles of the same realm with the Irish people in + general present their humble salutations approaching with kisses of + devout homage to his sacred feet." + +They lay before him, "with loud and imploring cry," the treatment they +have received, and also an account of their descent from Milesius, the +_Spaniard_, through a line of one hundred and thirty-six kings unto the +time of St. Patrick, A.D. 435. From that saint's day until 1170 +sixty-one kings had ruled who acknowledged no superior, in things +temporal, and by whom the Irish Church was endowed. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Kilruddery House + Earl of Meath] + + "'At length,' say the Princes, 'your predecessor, Pope Adrian, an + Englishman--although not so completely in his origin as in his + feelings and connections,--in the year of our Lord 1155, upon the + representation, false and full of iniquity, which was made to him + by Henry, King of England--the monarch under whom, and perhaps at + whose instigation, St. Thomas, of Canterbury, in the same year, + suffered death, as you are aware, in defence of Justice and of the + Church,--made over the dominion of this realm of ours in a certain + set form of words to that Prince, whom, for the crime here + mentioned, he ought rather to have been deprived of his own + kingdom; presenting him _de facto_ with what he had no right to + bestow, while the question touching the justice of the proceeding + was utterly disregarded, Anglican prejudices, lamentable to say, + blinding the vision of that eminent Pontiff. And thus despoiling us + of our royal honour, without any offence of ours, he handed us over + to be lacerated by teeth more cruel than those of any wild beasts. + For, ever since the time when the English, upon occasion of the + grant aforesaid, and under the mask of a sort of outward sanctity + and religion, made their unprincipled aggression upon the + territories of our realm, they have been endeavouring, with all + their might, and with every art which perfidy could employ, + completely to exterminate, and utterly to eradicate our people from + the country ... and have compelled us to repair, in the hope of + saving our lives, to mountainous, woody and swampy and barren + spots, and to the caves of the rocks also, and in these, like + beasts, to take up our dwelling for a length of time.' + + "The Princes enclosed a copy of Pope Adrian's Bull, along with + their Complaint, to Pope John, which Bull the latter Pope + forwarded to King Edward.... + + "The part which the _Church of Rome_ has taken, not only in the + bringing of _Ireland_ under _English rule_ in the first instance, + but in the _maintenance_ of that rule, has _never been understood + by the Irish people in general_. + + "Dr. Lanigan, whose history of Ireland is expensive and scarce, + says of Pope Adrian that 'love of his country, his wish to gratify + Henry, and some other not very becoming reasons, prevailed over + every other consideration, and the condescending Pope, with + great cheerfulness and alacrity, took upon himself to make over to + Henry all Ireland, and got a letter, or Bull, drawn up to that + effect and directed to him, in which, among other queer things, he + wishes him success in his undertaking, and expresses the hope that + it will conduce, not only to his glory in this world, but likewise + to his eternal happiness in the next.'[8] + + "Adrian's old master was one Marianus, an Irishman, for whom he + had great regard, yet, says Dr. Lanigan, 'he was concerned in + hatching a plot against that good man's country, and in laying the + foundation of the destruction of the independence of Ireland.'[9] + + "This is strong language from an Irish Roman Catholic clergyman, + who enjoys the fullest confidence of his country, with regard to a + former Pope, and it must be remembered that the statement was not + made in a platform speech, when momentary excitement might impel a + speaker into the use of words which he would afterwards regret, + but that it was calmly and deliberately penned in the quietness of + the study, and, probably, read and re-read, and finally corrected, + before it was committed to print. + + "The Rev. M.J. Brennan, O. S. F., who is not at all so + unprejudiced as Dr. Lanigan, states that 'Adrian, anxious for the + aggrandisement of his country,' or, as Cardinal Pole expresses it, + 'induced by the love of his country, lost no time in complying + with the agent's request.'[10] The agent referred to was John of + Salisbury, who had been sent by King Henry in 1155 to ask for the + Pope's sanction for the invasion of Ireland, and who states that + the invasion was delayed until 1171 by the restraining influence + of the King's mother, the Empress Matilda. With this statement Dr. + Lanigan agrees.[11] + + "It is a mistake to suppose that the Conquest of Ireland is due to + the appeal made in 1168 by Dermot MacMurrogh for King Henry's aid. + That event merely afforded to the King and the Pope a convenient + excuse for carrying out a long-determined plan. + + "Attempts have been made on various grounds to justify Pope + Adrian's action. Edmund Campion, the famous English Jesuit, + alleges that the Spanish ancestors of the Irish were subject '376 + years ere Christ was born' to one Gurguntius, from whom King Henry + was descended, and that, consequently, the Pope only helped to + restore to Henry his rightful authority.[12] But this notion is + too far-fetched to deserve consideration. + + "A more plausible excuse is that about a century previous to the + Conquest the Irish handed over to the Pope of that time--Urban + II.--the sovereignty of this country. This theory was advocated by + the Rev. Geoffrey Keatinge, D.D. + + "But a still more popular excuse is, that all the Christian + Islands of the Ocean were conferred on the Popes by the first + Christian Emperor, Constantine. + + "Dr. Lanigan brushes aside all these fanciful ideas with one + sweep. 'This nonsense' he says, 'of the Pope's being the head + owner of all Christian Islands had been partially announced to the + world in a Bull of Urban II., dated 1091, in which, on disposing + of the Island of Corsica, he said that the Emperor Constantine had + given the Islands to St. Peter and his vicars. But Constantine + could not give what did not belong to him, and accordingly, as + Keatinge argues, could not have transferred the sovereignty of + Ireland to any Pope.'[13] + + "As to Keatinge's own idea, namely, that the Irish had transferred + their crown to the Pope, Dr. Lanigan writes: 'Neither in any of + the Irish annals, nor in the ecclesiastical documents of those + times, whether Roman or Irish, is there a trace to be found of a + transfer of Ireland to Urban II., or to any Pope, by either the + Irish Kings or Irish nobility, although the sly Italian, Polydore + Virgil, who has been followed by two Englishmen, Campion and + Sanders (both Jesuits), and also by some Irish writers, has told + some big lies on this subject. These stories were patched up in + spite of Chronology, or of any authority whatsoever, and Keatinge + swallowed them as he did many others.'"[14] + +There is much more to be read on the subject and those who are +interested in the question cannot do better than examine that very +excellent little work of John Roche Ardill, _Forgotten Facts of Irish +History_,[15] from which the foregoing pages are a quotation. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Glendalough] + +A very recent writer (Thomas Addis Emmet) states that + + "It would be inconsistent with the truth were we to attribute the + piteous condition of Ireland to any other cause than that the great + majority of the Irish people belong to the Catholic faith. Had the + Irish been willing to cast aside, for temporal benefit, the faith + which they have unflinchingly maintained for over twelve centuries, + their country would have received every aid to advance prosperity, + which would, with their greater advantages of soil and climate, + have been far greater than that attained by Scotland."[16] + +What has Mr. Emmet to say of the treatment of the Irish people by the +English _Romanists_ from Henry II. down to and including the reign of +Mary the First? He will scarcely find that the students of Irish history +will agree with his statement. + +There is another tale, legend or fact, in which, of course, a woman +and her abduction from her husband, O'Roirke, Prince of Breffin, by +Dermot MacMurrogh, King of Leinster, with her own consent many think, +was the cause of the interposition of the English, and she is called +the Irish Helen. Dermot fled to England and laid his case before the +King, craving protection and swearing allegiance. Henry was too busily +engaged in France to attend, but he did issue an edict offering his +protection to all who might aid his trusted _subject_, Dermot, King of +Leinster. + +This aroused Richard, Earl of Chepstow, called "Strongbow," who for his +assistance was to receive the hand of Dermot's daughter in marriage, and +a settlement of all of that Irish King's property upon them and their +children (a contract which was fulfilled), but Strongbow being tardy was +anticipated by Robert Fitzstephens, who agreed to assist Dermot, and was +to receive in payment the town of Wexford and adjoining lands, and he it +was whose boats landed on this little beach, where the water murmurs so +quietly to-night. + +Dermot in his castle yonder at Ferns awaited the coming of these +invaders, and promptly sent his natural son Donald with five hundred +horse to join them, and so the game was played, and his throne restored +to him. + +Then came Strongbow, then Henry II. with his armies, and the English +were here to stay. + +Whatever the facts of the case are, it is certain that just here landed +the first of the English, and from here spread their rule,--whether for +good or ill is the great question of to-day in this island. There are no +relics of the event, though there appear to be some earthworks which are +thought of Celtic origin. + +The leagues are not many which separate this cliff from Cardiganshire in +Wales, and a friendly intercourse was kept up until Pope and King came +together in solemn conclave. + +One of that King's first acts was the bestowal of Dublin upon the "good +citizens of my town of Bristol." The capital of a kingdom bestowed upon +the _traders_ of Bristol! The original of this gift is in the Record +Office of Dublin castle. + +Would it have been any satisfaction to those of the land which he had so +oppressed to have known of the ending of this "Great King"? Dying at +Chinon in a rage so terrible that even death could not smooth out the +traces from his face, Henry II.'s body was plundered like the +Conqueror's, and, like his, left stark naked. Shrouded at last in some +cast-off garments, it was placed in its coffin, a rust-broken sceptre +stuck in its hand, an old and meaningless ring of no value on its +finger, while the crown on its brow was composed of a piece of gold +fringe torn from a discarded robe of some court dame, who doubtless had +curtsied to the ground many times before the living monarch. In such +state, Henry II. was buried in the stately abbey of Fontevrault and +promptly forgotten, though the wrongs he did Ireland lived on and on. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] King's _Eccles. Hist. of Ireland_, vol. iv., p. 159. + +[9] _Ib._, p. 158. + +[10] _Eccles. Hist. of Ireland_, vol. i., p. 305. + +[11] It is interesting to notice that the Bull was issued in +the year 1155, that is sixteen years before the invasion took place. +This was one of the earliest transactions in the popedom of Adrian and +the kingship of Henry, as it was only in December of the previous year, +1154, they were elevated to their respective thrones. In 1155 the +proposal to seize Ireland was considered at the Parliament of +Winchester. (King's _Eccles. Hist. of Ireland_, p. 492.) + +[12] _History of Ireland_, p. 71. + +[13] _Eccles. Hist. of Ireland_, vol. iv., p. 160. + +[14] _Ib._, p. 161. + +[15] Hodges, Figgis & Co., 1905. + +[16] _Ireland under English Rule, or a Plea for the Plaintiff_, +by Thomas Addis Emmet, M.D., LL.D. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + Wild Times in Ireland--Landlord and Tenant--Evictions--Boycott at + Bannow House--The Parson and the Legacy--The Priest and the + Whipping--Burial in Cement--Departure from Bannow House--Kilkenny + and her Cats--The Mountains of Wicklow--Powers Court and a Week + End--Run to Dublin and an Encounter by the Way--The Irish + Constabulary--Motor Runs in the Mountains--Lord H. + + +Ireland has seen strange wild times, and no section of it more than this +remote County Wexford. As I have stated, this estate of Bannow is +eighteen miles from a railroad station now, but in another month a new +line three miles away opens for traffic, and though a good thing for the +property of all in the county, it will sound the knell of probably all +the quaint and curious customs still in vogue here. If that railway +company is wise it will build a seaside hotel in this neighbourhood. The +climate is for most of the year delightful and is rarely subject to the +howling tempests which so constantly sweep the west coast for half the +year. Wexford abounds in beautiful scenery and almost every valley holds +a charming home while quaint towns crowd the river banks and ruined +towers crown the hills on either side. + +[Illustration: Tom Moore's Tree + Vale of Ovoca] + +The maintenance of many of these Irish estates becomes each year more +and more difficult unless the whole is strictly entailed. This is +especially the case with places of small income, say two or three +thousand pounds sterling. In the days when rents were good and five per +cent. obtained it was well enough, but to-day when three per cent. is +all that can be hoped for and yet the old charges for dowers and +legacies must be paid, the owner is perforce a poor man. At present the +landlord seems to have no rights. His tenants may and do absolutely +refuse to pay him rent and he is reduced to poverty. There is a case I +know of where the tenants are amply able to pay him, but they simply +_won't_. His only resource is eviction, which is slow, expensive, and +brings down wrath upon his head. So he is forced to give up his home and +retire to a cottage, while his tenants laugh at him. + +In the case of the peasants, eviction is not only expensive but useless. +No man will rent the hut of those turned out, no matter how many years +drift by, and some landlords are reinstating their evicted tenants. +Better them than empty farms. + +With the new Land Act the tenants dictate that they will buy or nothing. +Of course there have arisen the usual number of scoundrels who get +behind these peasants, buy out their rights, and in the end get the land +for a song. There are several instances where such men who at one time +broke stones on the highway are now landowners of considerable extent. I +heard of one the other day who was just adding a billiard-room to his +"mansion." + +There is much said over here about the corruption of our city +governments, especially those of Chicago and New York, but I also hear +that that of the city of Dublin is to say the very least nothing to +boast of, and that graft has even penetrated London itself. + +Home rule for the peasants of Ireland, so it is stated here, would be +about as sensible as a rule of the blacks in America. When the leaders +in Parliament found they could make no more money by the disturbances, +they called them off, and one of the members of that august body was +kicked all the way down this peaceful avenue before me here and out +yonder gate for abuse of the late Queen. + +During the boycott, Bannow House was in a state of siege and its owner +forced to start a store on the lawn for his own workmen, who could not +purchase anywhere. These provisions were brought from London under +guard. + +After his death--in 1881--his grave, guarded by policemen for +twenty-four hours--until the concrete in which his coffin had been +buried had set,--was surrounded all the time by a howling mob who would +have promptly "had him out" otherwise. + +He hated the parson and so left the church's legacy of two thousand +pounds to the "next incumbent," or rather the interest thereof, but the +parson was equal to the occasion, and, resigning, got himself +re-elected, and so became the "next incumbent" and secured the interest. + +There was another instance here where the holy man, this time a priest, +did not fare so well. He had attacked a member of his parish from the +pulpit, and thereby aroused the ire of the wife. She was about six feet +tall, and following the priest into the vestry-room flogged him soundly. +It was a foolish thing to do, as it roused the whole country round about +and she and her household almost starved from the boycott which promptly +followed. On her death it was necessary to bury her also in cement, to +prevent desecration, every man at the funeral carrying a gun. + +Fortunately those days are gone by, let us hope for all time, but with a +people so ignorant and superstitious anything may happen and if that +cattle driving does not cease old times will come again. + +It is quiet enough here this morning; the peace of the country is +intense, yet to me it is never a solitude, never lonely, and it is +delicious to awake in the early light and feel the cool, damp air blow +in upon one through the open window, while even at this hour of dawn +yonder old reprobate of a wood pigeon is earnestly entreating Paddy to +follow the way of the transgressor,--"_two_ coos, Paddy," "two coos." +One can almost hear the stealthy rustle of the departing beasts and the +soft footfall of Paddy. Far beyond the trees where the pigeons hide, the +fair blue of heaven has been rain-washed during the night, and white +clouds drift lazily off towards the sea murmuring in the distance. + +To-day brings my stay at Bannow House to a close, I trust not for all +time. After luncheon, bidding our hostess farewell, we roll away through +the avenue of rhododendrons, over the meadows, through the forest, where +the insistent birds try for the last time to corrupt my honesty, and so +out on the highway and off to the north. + +Our route takes us past the site of Scullaboyne House, a spot sadly +famous. + +In the dark days of the rebellion of 1798, New Ross and this vicinity of +Bannow suffered horribly. Indeed the battle at the former town was the +most sanguinary of that period, and an event which followed it here too +horrible to be passed over without notice even at this late date. +Scullaboyne House, but lately deserted by its owner, Capt. King, and +seized by the rebels, was in use as a prison. In the house itself were +confined some thirty-seven men and women and in the adjoining barn were +over one hundred men, women, and children, chiefly, but not exclusively, +Protestants. After their defeat at New Ross the rebels sent word to +destroy these prisoners. Those in the house were called one by one to +the door and shot down, but a worse fate awaited those in the barn, +where firebrands thrown into and upon its roof soon turned the whole +into a red hot furnace. Children were tossed out of the windows to save +them, but only to be impaled upon the pikes of the outlaws. Some +authorities claim that two hundred and thirty persons met their deaths +in Scullaboyne. Certainly the French Revolution can show nothing more +horrible. + +[Illustration: One of the Seven Churches of Clonmines + County Wexford] + +There is little left here now to recall the event save a few blackened +fragments, which the rich grass and creeping vines are daily covering +more and more each passing year. + +It is claimed by the insurgent party that they had nothing to do with +the slaughter--that it was the act of outlaws, such as are always to be +found dogging the footsteps of contending forces. However that may be, +the result was absolute ruin to the cause of the rebels. Be it recorded +to the credit of the intelligent priests of the day that they at all +times did what they could to prevent like occurrences and save human +life and that amongst the sixty-six persons executed in Wexford, after +that period, for murder and rebellion, only one was a priest. + +But let us hasten away from all this. + +The roadways are superb all over this section of Ireland, and indeed I +have so far encountered none which could be called bad the (worst were +better than we have around most of our cities), and we are at the +extreme south, having circled the island. + +To-day we meet but few motors. Others are not so fortunate, as we +discover by a disturbed roadbed and some fragments of cars lying around. + +The other day, Lord Blank and a friend of his, driving their cars here +on roads running at right angles and shaded by tall hedges,--the noise +of each motor drowned in that of the other,--came together, "sociable +like," at the junction. Result, two cars gone to smash, but bless you +that's "all in a lifetime" in this blessed isle. + +Bicyclists also appear to meet with trouble now and then, as we have +just passed an inn bearing the sign "Broken down cyclists rest free." + +The road from Bannow via New Ross to Kilkenny passes through Inistiogey, +Thomastown, and Bennett's Bridge, and is fine all the way and through +lovely scenery, most of the time by the banks of the Barrow. + +We reach Kilkenny about three P. M., two hours and five minutes out, +about fifty miles, which is good time on Irish routes, because of their +narrowness and the frequent stoppages rendered necessary through +stubborn donkeys and young cattle. + +The approach to Kilkenny is marked, as is most appropriate, by an +increase in the number of cats, sorry looking specimens, most of them. I +must congratulate the town upon her very clean and comfortable Club +Hotel. + +Kilkenny Castle is not of interest save its stately appearance from the +bridge. It has been modernised into a comfortable dwelling-place, +prosaic in the extreme. + +I find in Ireland that the interesting abodes are of two classes only, +the very ancient castle or the square manor-house; the latter, while +appearing modern, have some centuries to their credit and are +characteristic of the country. I certainly have never seen them +elsewhere. Castles such as Kilkenny and Lismore (the Duke of +Devonshire's), while holding somewhere in their vastness remnants of the +ancient strongholds, have, as I have stated, been brought up to date and +out of all interest. + +The same holds with the cathedral here. Even the round tower looks new. +Rolling onward we pass again through the Vale of Ovoca, but have no time +now for more than a glance as the day wanes and rain threatens. + +Entering amongst the mountains of Wicklow, our car balks once or twice +at the grades, but finally makes up its mind to go ahead and so puffs +and pulls and stews with less noise than most motors would be guilty of, +until finally, with a last effort, the highest point is reached, and the +vale beyond is open to our view, with the demesne of Powerscourt +nestling on its farther side. There are few more enchanting prospects in +the British Isles. It would seem from here to be a great bowl, so +completely enclosed in the mountains as to be accessible only by wings. +The billowy foliage is broken at one point by a waterfall some three +hundred feet high, which plunges down into the celebrated glen, "the +Dargle." + +Half-way up the mountain stands the huge mansion of Powerscourt House, +as though it were the royal box in this vast opera-house of nature. +Dublin has many beautiful points in her neighbourhood, more in fact I +think than any other city of Europe, but none so beautiful as this +before us. + +The temptation to linger is strong, but it is late, and there are miles +yet to go. The route drops rapidly downward and then upward until barred +by the gates of the home park, which we are allowed to enter once it is +certain that we are "going to the house" and are not tourists. + +When we reach there every one is abroad in motors, and it is too late +for tea, but not too late for a whiskey and soda, which, being assured +that we are expected,--hosts have been known to forget their +invitations,--is accepted and thoroughly enjoyed. + +Powerscourt, the seat of Viscount Powerscourt came into possession of +the family during the reign of Elizabeth, and is one of the largest +estates in Ireland, having some twenty-six thousand acres within its +bounds. Probably its scenery is more varied and beautiful than that of +any other estate in the kingdom. + +[Illustration: Funeral Crosses by the Wayside + County Wexford] + +One enters a hallway of large dimensions, whose walls and ceilings are +laden with trophies of the chase from all over the world. Skins of every +description cover walls and floors, while chandeliers formed of antlers +hang by the dozens from the ceilings. + +Doffing our coats and rugs on its great table and trying to appear like +white men after our hundred-mile run through rain and mud, we pass into +the morning room and so out on to the terrace beyond, which on this side +of the house stretches along the entire front, while below terrace after +terrace drops downward to a stone balustrade overlooking the lake, +beyond which the land rises tier after tier until the higher mountains +outline against the sky. + +The rain has ceased and the setting sun is casting long shafts of light +into the quivering forests whose leaves are thicker than ever they were +in Vallombrosa. + +But it is chilly and we hunt out the smoking-room where a bright fire +works its will with the winds driven through us all day and we are found +half asleep when host and hostess return. + +These Irish places are not so gorgeous as many in England but an Irish +welcome is something one does not meet with either in England or any +other land, and to-day holds no exception to that rule. They are glad to +see us and the usual stiffness of an entry in a strange house and +amongst strange people is altogether lacking. The time passes so quickly +that the dressing gong sounds all too soon. + +As I mount the stair portraits of the former owners look down upon me, +from those long dead to that of the present owner, presented by his +tenants upon his coming of age, which by the way must have occurred very +lately, as he is the youngest looking man to be the father of two +children that I have ever seen. + +There is another portrait in yonder corner of a man who looks as though +_he_ would like a whiskey and soda on this damp evening, but he must +long since have passed to the land where such things are not. + +At the head of this main stairway, one enters a vast hall supported by +columns. George the Fourth strutted through here in all his gorgeousness +in 1821. As far as Royalty is concerned, that monarch and his successor +certainly marked its lowest stage--the latter the worse of the two, as +he was common. The rebound since then has been so tremendous that one +feels as though gazing from the top of a mountain downward upon the +marshes by the sea. + +One of the late owners of Powerscourt evidently felt great interest in +the house as he placed tablets in many of the rooms indicating what they +were and had been. I am told to go where I like and examine the whole, +but of course I do not penetrate behind closed doors where evidently +there is much of interest. But I do get lost actually as far as the body +is concerned and mentally in a picture of a lady in the dark corner of a +distant gallery, and have to be hunted out when the gong sounds for +dinner. In the dining-room my eye is attracted by a portrait on the +opposite wall. It proves to be one of Lady Jane Grey when a child of +eight or nine years of age, but has a very Dutch appearance and the +original could never have developed into the graceful greyhound-like +creature so familiar to all in the later portraits. + +The living-rooms in these European country houses are so homelike and +comfortable that similar rooms in our Newport houses must strike a +foreigner as very stiff and new, and generally they are just that, for +with few exceptions they are but temporary abiding-places for a few +weeks in summer. + +The drawing-room in Powerscourt is a wide, sunny apartment; in the +daytime its windows, giving on to the terrace, hold a marvellous +panorama framed for one's benefit, but to-night the curtains are dropped +and a bright fire blazes on the hearth around which runs a rail topped +with a broad leather cushion, which forms a most comfortable perch +promptly appropriated by the men, while the ladies are on low seats. + +The walls are covered by pictures of great value and there is much else +of interest around one, yet it is all so homelike and comfortable that +one scarcely remembers any of the details but simply a charming picture +of the whole; and so the time passes until the ladies having vanished we +are again in the smoking-room, where Boyse starts in to talk and would +have kept it up until grey dawn, but I for one am sleepy and detect the +same symptoms in our host, so we suppress Boyse and go to bed. He may +talk to the fire if he likes, but not to us. + +The next day being Sunday I wanted to go to church, but it is intimated +that my presence is not desired. So Boyse and I roll off to Dublin for +letters and en route back break down and nearly miss luncheon in +consequence. + +On our return we encountered one of the rare cases of hatred, pure and +simple, for those of the upper ranks which I have noted in Ireland. The +avenues between Bray and the city were crowded with Sunday +excursionists, and at one point, a van having stopped, the occupants +covered all the roadway and two men stood facing us exactly in the +centre of our only course. Moving at a snail's pace, we trumpeted +constantly and finally stopped directly in front of these men. I have +never noted more malignant snarls on human countenances than these bore +as they grudgingly gave way. "Do ye think ye own the whole shop?" The +fact that we appeared unconscious of their existence only enraged them +the more, and had they dared strike they would have done so, but one is +always sure of the presence of some of those splendid specimens of men, +the Irish constabulary, than whom the world holds of their kind none +better. All over six feet in stature, they are not merely policemen, +ignorant or not as the case may be, but men of education and who must +keep up that education by further study for higher examinations, which +unpassed will cost them their positions. There are three here to-day, +hence those lowering brows and clenched hands disappear. However, we +have encountered but little of that state of feeling in Ireland, the +instances have been few and far between,--a contrast indeed to France, +where a well-dressed man is often impressed with the belief that those +around him would like to erect a guillotine for his express enjoyment +and would do so upon the smallest provocation. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Powerscourt House + Seat of Viscount Powerscourt] + +All the afternoon is spent out of doors. Other guests have arrived, one +with three motors and another with one. Lord P. has several and ours has +been polished up to look its best, but we finally leave it behind, and +stowed away in the others the whole cavalcades spend the afternoon in +wild flights over the hills and mountains. In the rushes through the +valleys we are well together, but in climbing the ascents which around +here are very steep the cars of greater power vanish in the distance and +we do not see them again and only know of their passage by the general +state of wild confusion reigning amongst dogs, geese, and chickens, +which knowing there must be more of us have not as yet returned to the +centre of the highways; except the geese--it takes more than a motor to +keep those doughty birds off the road. + +Those are wonderful fowls. They measure the width of an approaching car +to a nicety, and retreat just beyond that. So near in fact that we have +been struck by their indignant wings several times. + +To-day I am in an enclosed car belonging to Mr. G. Whilst very +comfortable, especially for ladies in a city, I do not think that they +are pleasant to ride in. The constant rumble and roar becomes very +unpleasant, something one never experiences in an open car; also one +loses entirely that sensation of flying so delicious in an open car. +This one makes my head ache, and it is not a matter of regret when, the +ride over, I am out on the lake with Lord H., attempting to tug a duck +house out of the mud. I am quite convinced that I did most of the work, +but I believe he denies that fact. + +I cannot but regret as I look at this young man, certainly not more than +twenty-five years of age, that we have not something like a school for +the study of diplomacy. We might even have such scholarships, now that +we have decided to become a world power in which diplomats are so +necessary. I asked what was the future of this man in question and was +told, "Oh, he will be an ambassador some day, that is what he is working +for," and working for that means the attainment of perfection in all +things necessary for an educated man,--perfection in everything, not a +mere smattering in a few things. This man speaks all the modern +languages of Europe with equal facility. If music is necessary for his +career he has it at his fingers' ends. He is wealthy, but his money will +be used to further his progress, not to kill it. Nothing will interfere +with that. + +I cannot but contrast him with one I know of whose prospects appeared +equally bright, though his education was not at all the equal of this +man's. However, he might have done much with his life, but marrying a +rich wife he promptly resigned and "sat down to good dinners," amounting +now to absolutely nothing, his career ended. + +Abandoning the rescue of the duck house together with graver questions, +we adjourn to the gardens and consume half an hour, and also a lot of +the biggest strawberries I have ever eaten. + +Time flies. Tea on the terrace, to which more motors have brought other +guests, dinner, and the night are over and gone, and we have rolled +away, waving thanks to our host and hostess for the pleasant "week end" +at Powerscourt House. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + Dublin--Derby Day and the Rush to the Curragh--An Irish Crowd--The + Kildare Street Club and Club Life--Jigginstown House and its + History--The Cowardice of a King--The Old Woman on the Tram + Car--Parnell--The Grave of Daniel O'Connell. + + +Given the capital of Ireland, a bright day in the midsummer of an +exposition year, with the King almost here, and above all the Derby at +hand, and if you are looking for peace and quiet you should go +elsewhere. All Dublin is in an uproar this morning and there is not a +jaunting-car which will look at you for less than double the tariff. +Stately equipages move slowly along, motors of all descriptions pass +like the wind. The beggars are out in full force and if you have a heart +in your bosom you will reach the race-track with not a shilling left +you. Our motor dashes around the corner and up to the door as though it +were new instead of some years of age. The spirit of the races seems to +have gotten into its old bones and it shrieks and snorts and rushes off +with us at an appalling pace notwithstanding the crowded streets and +stone pavements. Out on to the broad highway to the south in company +with the whole town we roll onward past the ruins of Jigginstown House. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Great Salon, Powerscourt House] + +Of the thousands who come this way to-day, few give thought to the house +or its history. They have little time for the past as just a few miles +beyond is the famous Curragh of Kildare, a stretch of the most +marvellous grass-lands in the world, where the turf is of greatest +richness and elasticity. Not for this, and yet because of this, the +people flock four times a year in tens of thousands to worship there at +the altar of the noble horse. The Curragh holds Ireland's greatest +race-course, and has held it for two thousand years. The winner of the +last English Derby is to be on hand and to race to-day and nearly all +Ireland is en route to be present. + +So there is no time for dead Earls and ruined houses on such a day, and +we are swept on and away, for once forgetting our caution and bidding +the chauffeur beat every other motor on the road if he can, and to our +amazement this old "Clement" comes near to doing it, and there are some +very smart cars going down to-day. How the wind does sing around us--if +a cap is lost we do not stop to get it--it would not be possible or safe +to do so with this onrushing crowd behind us. Dogs and chickens get out +of the way in wildest terror, and it seems to me that we take several +turns on two wheels only. It is dangerous work and we know that a break +means destruction most complete, but we cannot help it. Curragh air had +gotten into our heads and go we must. + +After all is said, I think the desire for a race is in every man of us, +inborn and irresistible. Such is the case to-day and our record is good, +though every now and then a sullen rumble and roar and many blasts of a +horn warn us that some car of great power is coming to which we must +give place, and though going at full speed we seem to stand still as it +rushes by us, and here comes in one of the greatest dangers of the road. +The clouds of dust in the wake of such a car are appalling and +impenetrable to sight, yet through this our own car rushes on, trusting +to Providence to keep the way clear. It is a relief to me at least when +it mounts in safety to the downy stretches of the Curragh where there is +no dust, and I find on calling the roll that none of our party is +missing. + +What a beautiful sight! The downs of deep grass stretch away on all +sides crossed and recrossed by the wide highways. Off to the left lies +the great military camp, while in front stretches the race-course, +towards which what seems the whole of Dublin is moving and in every +imaginable manner, from the foot passenger and funny little donkey to +the tally-ho coaches and the gorgeous motor-cars, while over and around +it all rings the Irish laughter, as it has rung around this race-course +of Curragh for two thousand years,--its very name "_Cuir reach_" +implying "race-course." It must mean that to-day at all events, but I +should think that if any sort of a race could disappoint an Irishman +that to-day, the Irish Derby, would do so. It was a foregone conclusion +that the winner of that race in England would be first here,--but to my +thinking it proves no race at all, that horse and another of the same +owner simply running round the course with no show for any other, and +with apparently no speed exerted on their own parts. + +However, it is the changing panorama of the people and not the race +which interests me, and that is not in any degree a disappointment. + +The return to Dublin and on to Bray was the same wild flight as when +going down and a feeling of relief came to me at least when we got +safely back to our hotel, or rather to the exposition grounds where we +dined. What time we reach the hotel and bed I have no memory. Boyse +never got there at all. + +The following day being rainy, I am not disposed to go to the races, and +also learn that our car is in need of attention. However, another must +be forthcoming if desired, and one does come, in which Boyse and a +friend of his, "Copper," are most comfortably packed, and evidently +bound for the Curragh, being Irish. Now, though that is my car, my +absence is evidently very precious to its occupants; still Boyse _does_ +ask kindly whether I "would like to go." What a pressing invitation +that!--much like a blast from the North Atlantic. For an instant I am +tempted to say yes, just to watch their discomfort, but I much prefer +not to go and so state, when--whiz--they vanish like smoke around the +corner, evidently with no intention of allowing any reconsideration on +my part. + +Laughing, I summon a jaunting-car and go to buy my ticket homeward. The +usual tariff for short distances is a sixpence and I hand it over on +descending at the ticket office. The driver evidently has exposition +extortions in his head for, regarding me sourly for an instant, he +remarks, "Ye could 'ave saved five ov thim if ye'd come in the tram." +However, his anger is short lived, and when I laugh he laughs. God bless +you, Pat,--may you succeed in "doing" the next man you carry. + +Many of our evenings have been passed at the Kildare Street Club, of +which Boyse is a member. While they do not give a stranger a week's card +as we do, a member seems to be at liberty to take him there as often as +that member desires, and so the result is the same, if not better. +Certainly at this, the best club in the Irish capital, I was made to +feel as much at home as in my own in America. I shall always remember it +and the men I met there with pleasure. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Ruins of Jigginstown House] + +There are clubs in London, notably the Army and Navy, where one is +treated in the same manner. That club has been growing more and more +liberal of late years. At one period a short while ago, a stranger could +go only to one room and one dining-room. Now in company with a member +the whole club is open to him. There are other London clubs where he may +not even pass the portals, but this is the twentieth century, an age of +reform, and all that will change in time. What homelike and yet what +heartless things clubs are! A man may make his home in one for years, +may have his own particular corner and be the very life and soul of the +house; many would declare that the place could not get on without his +jests and merry laugh, and that they would miss him for ever. How many +would do so? Coming in some day they would note the flag at half mast +and his name on a black bordered card near the door. Most who passed +would not be able to recall his features whilst remembering that they +had drank with him often, and the majority would forget him promptly. +For those who did remember, it would be sad to think that + + "PERIN has gone; and we who loved him best + Can't think of him as + 'entered into rest.' + But he has gone; has left the morning street, + The clubs no longer echo to his feet; + Nor shall we see him lift his yellow wine + To pledge the random host--the purple vine. + At doors of other men his horses wait, + His whining dogs scent false their master's fate; + His chafing yacht at harbour mooring lies; + 'Owner ashore' her idle pennant flies. + Perin has gone-- + + Forsook the jovial ways + Of Winter nights--his well-loved plays, + The dreams and schemes and deeds of busy brain, + And pensive habitations built in Spain. + Gone, with his ruddy hopes! And we who knew him best + Can't think of him as 'entered into rest.' + So when the talk dies out or lights burn dim + We often ponder what is keeping him-- + What destiny that all-subduing will, + That golden wit, that love of life, fulfil? + For we who silent smoke, who loved him best, + Can't fancy Perin 'entered into rest.'" + +The touring is almost over, and I fancy for ever, in Ireland. Our last +day's journey was one of the most pleasant and interesting of the lot. +Having gone to Bray Head to escape the heat of the city, we rolled off +at nine a.m. and passing through town in a rush fled southwards towards +the military camp at Curragh. The day was brilliant and the motor fairly +flew over the highway which to-day we have all to ourselves. + +Passing again the unfinished palace of the Earl of Stratford we paused +to inspect it and to learn its history. + +"Jigginstown" was built by Sir Thomas Wentworth, created Earl of +Stratford by Charles I., who made him Deputy of Ireland and regarded +him at the time as his chief minister and counsellor. In his early +years he was certainly a character of doubtful virtue, as before +this appointment he was as strongly counter to the King as he was +for him after he had received it. The King was subject to a violent +outcry for using a Papist to murder his subjects. Wentworth laboured +under the severe hatred of the English, Scotch, and Irish. He secured +from the Irish Parliament large sums which he used to engage an army +against Scotland. His rule here lasted eight years, and while active +and prudent he was most unpopular. When his fall occurred the Irish +Parliament used every expedient to aggravate the charge against him. +Envy and jealousy both here and in England were the prime causes of his +ruin. + +Knowing the power and deadly hatred of his enemies he implored the King +to excuse him from attending Parliament, but Charles promised that not a +hair of his head should be injured; but his enemies arose in such might, +that no voice was raised in his defence and he was accused of high +treason. The whole affair was a gigantic conspiracy of the leaders of +the Parliament against one man, of whom they could prove no wrong save +that he served the King, and who they were well aware possessed +knowledge of their own treason. "Unprotected by power, without counsel, +discountenanced by authority, what hope had he? yet such was the +capacity, genius, and presence of mind displayed by this magnanimous +statesman that while argument, reason, and law held any place he +obtained the victory and he perished by the open violence of his +enemies." + +(There is a strong resemblance between this trial and that of the Queen +of Scots in Fotheringay the preceding century.) His government of +Ireland was promotive of the King's interests and of the people +commended to his charge. He introduced industries and the arts of peace +and augmented the shipping of the kingdom a hundred fold. The customs +were tripled upon the same rates, the exports doubled in value that of +the imports, and he introduced the manufacture of linen;--that stands +his monument to-day, but,--he was a friend of the King and so must die. + +That is one side of the picture. His enemies claim that whether guilty +of the crime named at the trial or not, he deserved death for his +treatment of the Irish. They state that his project was to subvert the +titles to every estate in Connaught, also that he had sent Lord Ely to +prison to force him (Ely) to settle his estates according to the wishes +of his daughter-in-law, whom Strafford had seduced. The House, on his +condemnation, nobly excluded his children from the legal consequences of +his sentence. + +It is stated that the King was deeply grieved but he certainly did +consent to the deed, though by appointing a commission of four noblemen +to give the royal assent in his name, he flattered himself that neither +his will consented to the deed nor his hand engaged in it. The +exclamation of the doomed man, "Put not your trust in princes," told how +he felt, and so he died in his forty-ninth year, one of the most eminent +personages that has appeared in English history. + +[Illustration: Parnell's Grave + Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin] + +His great unfinished palace rears its walls now close by the highway and +of all the thousands who rush by here to Curragh Camp or races, how many +give it a thought or know who built it? I was told that it was a +monastery whose bricks were passed from hand to hand all the way from +Dublin; others stated that it was an unfinished cotton factory, and it +looks like such. + +It is of red brick, two stories in height, and of great length. Its +arches and brickwork are of the finest, but the whole stands a +melancholy monument to the downfall of human greatness, to the cowardice +of a King. + +From whom did Charles I. inherit such a streak? Certainly not from his +Danish mother, or from his royal grandmother. The worst enemies of the +Stuart Queen never could accuse her of the desertion of her friends. She +was faithful unto death and should deserve the crown of life for that +reason if for none other. But Lord Darnley was never faithful to +anything throughout his entire life, and from that source surely came +this taint in the Stuart kings of England--the degeneracy of James I., +and the cowardice of his son Charles. + +Leaving melancholy Jigginstown behind, we moved on to the Curragh, but +this time to the camp, which, by the way, is one of the largest in the +empire. + +En route, we chased through a drove of cattle, one of which, after +racing with us for some distance, decided finally to take our +right-of-way, and our guard sliding under her hind leg, lifted it high +off the ground, causing her to plunge wildly and the air to be filled +with distant oaths and curses from her owner. She was not hurt at all, +and as the car slid forward and away, clouds of dust hid our number and +defeated all chances of a claim for damages. + +Luncheon with the officers in the mess-tent being over, we started again +citywards, as my days in the land were growing few indeed, to my regret, +and there were some shrines which must be visited or my journey would be +incomplete. + +En route to the tomb of a great statesman we paused to pay our homage at +that of a great divine, Dean Swift, who sleeps in the Cathedral of St. +Patrick under a simple tablet. There, upon an important occasion, when +the cathedral was crowded, he delivered himself of those famous words, +"The Lord loves them that give to the poor, and if you believe in the +security, dump down the dust,"--the shortest sermon ever delivered in +St. Patrick's, and the most effective, for "the dust" came in clouds. + +St. Patrick's blessing must be passing from Ireland at last, as the +papers describe the capture of a brown snake three feet long in a garden +at Ranelagh. + +As we approach the stately cathedral I ask our boy: + +"Is that a Catholic church, Dennis?" + +"No, sor." + +"A Protestant?" + +"No, sor." + +"What then?" + +"A Church of England, sor." + +While these people will generally enter whole-souled into jest or gibe +they will not, it is said, do so with the English, and some of the +encounters with the latter people are amusing in the extreme. + +The other day on the top of a tram car, some Englishwomen were enlarging +upon the not at all times cleanly inhabitants surrounding them. One +remarked that they were all horrid and she should go to Wales where she +would not meet any of "these dirty Irish." An old woman across the tram +could no longer restrain herself, but rising in her wrath, confronted +the Englishwoman with flashing eyes, and "I would not go to Wales ma'am +wur I yez, for yez will find plinty of Irish there; but take my advice +and go to Hell, ye'll find no Irish there." + +A man, killed near Dublin not long since, had been shot through the +forehead, death resulting instantly. The usual crowd gathered, amongst +them an old woman, who for a moment intently regarded the poor fellow, +dead as Pharoah, then, raising her hands and eyes, she ejaculated +"Wusn't it a blessin' of God he wusn't shot in the eye!" What +difference that could have made to him she disdained to explain. + +The last resting place of Daniel O'Connell is in Prospect Cemetery, some +four miles from Dublin. There Parnell also sleeps under the shadow of a +simple iron cross. + +The passing years have called a halt on both of those men. How little we +are conscious of the flight of time until suddenly we find our thoughts, +which before have all been towards the future, have unconsciously to us +turned towards the past, and we are looking backward and not forward. +Then we realize with a sinking heart that for us youth is over and done +with, that for us there is no future save beyond the far horizon. + +The memorial to O'Connell, appropriate in every respect, rears itself in +the stately form of an ancient round tower. Simple and dignified, one +cannot imagine a more appropriate monument to the man who sleeps beneath +it. The tower is of grey stone smoothly polished and rises from a circle +under which is the vault of O'Connell. Around this runs a broad, stone +walk which in its turn is encircled by a rampart, holding many vaults +whose doors open upon the walk, and being all unlocked you may enter +where you will once you pass the outer gate of the circle, generally +locked. To-day, however, the workmen are redecorating the O'Connell +vault and we are allowed to enter. + +[Illustration: Photo by W. Leonard + Daniel O'Connell's Monument + Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin] + +Passing down a broad flight of steps and through an iron grill we find +confronting us, across the circular stone pathway, another grill closing +the centre vault, over whose door is the name "O'Connell." The great +Irishman sleeps alone in the centre of this vault in an altar-like tomb, +through the stone quarterfoils of which you may see and touch his oaken +coffin. The inscription is on a brass frieze around the top. In an +adjoining catacomb are the coffins of several members of his family. I +think such mausoleums are always more impressive when the stone walls +and ceilings are unadorned, but such is not the taste here and the +ceilings and walls were being painted in gorgeous colours. + +It is a useless expense, as with the arches and walls covered with +moisture, the work will be undone very shortly. The plain stone would be +infinitely more impressive and dignified, surely, like the tower above, +more in keeping with the character of the illustrious dead. + +As we leave the cemetery I turned for a last look at the shrine of +Ireland. I have seen, I think, the final resting places of all the +illustrious dead of the earth, and I know of none which has more +profoundly impressed me than this stately tomb of Daniel O'Connell, with +whose name let us close these sketches of the land he loved so +well--Ireland. + + + + +INDEX + + + A + + Achill, island of, 50, 53, 57, 60, 62, 64, 95, 156, 173 + + Adrian IV., Pope, 248, 252, 253, 255 + + Aldworth, Mrs., 153 + + Alexander III., Pope, 251 + + Antrim, 26 + + Ardill, John Roche, 256 + + Armagh, 22, 27 + + Arran, 32 + + Augustine, Abbot, 165 + + Auxerre, 26 + + Awbeg, 146 + + + B + + Baginbun, 248 + + Ballentine, Nancy, 21 + + Ballinaboy Bridge, 85 + + Ballybeg Abbey, 140, 146 + + Ballycastle, 33, 34, 173 + + Ballygalley Bay, 32 + + Ballymena, 26 + + Ballynahinch, 85 + + Bannow, 184, 189, 231, 234, 246, 247, 260, 264 + + Bannow church, 191, 192 + + Bannow House, 184, 186, 188, 242, 262, 264 + + Bantry Bay, 173 + + Beddoes, Major, 135, 154, 156 + + Belfast, 31 + + Bennett's Bridge, 266 + + Biddy, 90, 91 + + Birr, 101, 104, 115 + + Birr Castle, 102, 103 + + Blackwater, 162, 180 + + Blake, Mr. and Mrs., 44 + + Blarney, 167 + + Boggeragh Mountains, 173 + + Bohemia, Queen of, 205 + + Bombay, 157 + + Bowen, Mr., 40 + + Boyne, the, 12 + + Boyse family, the, 185, 191 + + Braganza, Catherine of, 157 + + Bray, 234, 299 + + Bray Head, 282 + + Brenan, Rev. M. J., 254 + + Bretons, 138 + + Brice, Archbishop, 121 + + Brigid, St., 28 + + Brittany, 138 + + Bruce, Edward, 123 + + Buchanan, George, 19 + + Bundoran, 37, 52 + + Burne-Jones, 155 + + Burrishoole, 77, 78 + + Bushmills, 36 + + Butlers, 124 + + Buttevant, 127, 130, 132, 134, 148, 150, 160, 214 + + Buttevant Castle, 147 + + + C + + "Caiseal," 123 + + Campion, Edmund, 255, 256 + + Cantyre, 32 + + Carrickfergus, 31 + + Carrig-a-Hooly, 77, 78, 80 + + Carrig-a-pooka, 174 + + Carrolls, the, 101, 102 + + Cashel, 44, 127, 129 + + Cashel, Rock of, 120, 121, 123-125 + + "Castle of Roses," 78 + + Castlebar, 73 + + Castletown, Lord, 151 + + Caucasus, 78 + + Caulfields, the, 61 + + Celtic tongue, the, 86, 87 + + Charles I., King, 97, 205, 206 + + Charles II., King, 132, 157, 185 + + Charlotte, Queen, 186 + + Chinon Castle, 259 + + "Cios-ail," 125 + + Claddagh, 99 + + Clare, island of, 75, 79, 80 + + Clare, Lady Isabel de, 195 + + Clarence, Duke of, 206, 207 + + Clares, the de, 195 + + Clew Bay, 50 + + Clifden, 85 + + "Cloicoheach," 123 + + Clonmacnoise, 114-116 + + Clonmel, 126, 218, 219 + + Clonmines, 167, 246, 247 + + "Cluain-maccu-Nois," 115 + + "Cluan-mac-noise," 115 + + Colclough, Sir Anthony, 198, 202 + + Coleraine, 36 + + Columba, St., 28 + + Connemara, 82 + + Constantine, Emperor, 255, 256 + + "Copper," 279 + + Cork, 175, 176, 178, 210, 211, 213 + + Cormac, King, 10 + + Cormac's Chapel, 122, 125, 282, 283, 288 + + Coro, 125 + + Cotton, Archdeacon, 121 + + Cromwell, Edward, Lord, 28 + + Cromwell, Oliver, 97, 218, 224 + + Culloden, battle of, 103 + + Cumberland, Duke of, 103 + + Curragh, the, 277-279, 282, 285 + + Curragh Camp, 288 + + Curraghmore House, 219, 221, 223, 224 + + Curraun, Peninsula of, 54 + + Currick-Patrick, 125 + + + D + + D----, Captain, 158, 159 + + Dame Court, Dublin, 36 + + Danes, the, 12, 28, 123, 181 + + Dargle, the, 268 + + Dark Valley, 68 + + Darnley, Lord, 285 + + Deasy, Jerry, 174 + + Decies, 123 + + Declan, St., 123 + + De Courcey, 28 + + Derby, 227 + + Desmond, Earl of, 129, 130 + + Desmonds, the, 128, 150 + + Dichu, 27 + + Dickens, Charles, 230 + + "Dinnis," 163, 168 + + Doneraile Court, 150, 152, 153, 187 + + Donnelly, Bishop, 27 + + Dooley's Hotel, Birr, 103 + + Doo Lough, 82, 85 + + Doordry, 125 + + Downpatrick, 26, 27, 31 + + Dowth, 12 + + Drogheda, 13 + + Drum-feeva, 125 + + Dublin, 6, 14, 23, 227, 228, 279, 282 + + Dublin Fusiliers, 132, 158 + + Dudley, Lady, 58 + + Dugort, 61 + + Dunbrody Abbey, 183 + + Dundalethglass, 27 + + Dundrum, 25 + + Dunloe, Gap of, 169 + + + E + + Edison, Mr., 237 + + Edward IV., King, 206 + + Edward VI., King, 204 + + Edward VII., King, 23 + + Elizabeth, Queen, 22, 79, 202, 246 + + Ely, Earl of, 190 + + Ely, King of, 125 + + Emmet, Thomas Addis, 257 + + Erne, Lough, 37 + + + F + + Fee Lough, 85 + + Fermoy, 160, 178, 179, 214, 215 + + Fermoy, Lord, 215 + + Ferns Castle, 258 + + Fethard, 218 + + Ffranckfort Castle, 102, 110, 112, 113 + + Fitzgeralds, 124 + + Fitzstephens, Robert, 248, 258 + + Fontevrault, 259 + + _Forgotten Facts of Irish History_, 256 + + Franciscan Friary, 182 + + French, Walter, 190 + + + G + + Galty Mountains, 126 + + Galway, 14, 40, 44, 66, 88, 94, 95, 97, 99-101, 168 + + Gaughans, 61 + + Germanus, Bishop, 26 + + Giant's Causeway, 34, 35, 167 + + Gladstone, 14 + + Glasgow, 31 + + Glendalough, 123, 231-233 + + Glengariff, 170, 172 + + Grace, Queen, 77, 78 + + Gurguntius, 255 + + + H + + H----, Lord, 274 + + "Harp of Erin," 105 + + Henry II., King, 123, 248, 251-255, 257, 259 + + Henry VI., King, 206, 246 + + Henry VII., King, 206 + + Henry VIII., King, 79, 129, 183 + + Henry, Mr., 89 + + Herberts, the, 170 + + Heremon, King, 9 + + Holy Cross Abbey, 117, 120 + + Hook, tower, 198 + + Hore family, 246 + + Horl, Abbey of, 126 + + "House in the Bog," 41, 42 + + + I + + Imperial Hotel, Cork, 175 + + Inchiquin, Lord, 124 + + Inistioge, 266 + + Innisfallen, 165-167 + + _Irish Cyclist_, 36 + + + J + + James II., King, 11, 12 + + Jigginstown House, 277, 282, 285 + + John XXII., Pope, 251, 253 + + John, King, 10, 28, 182 + + "John of the Glen," 64, 67-71 + + John of Salisbury, 254 + + + K + + Keatinge, Rev. Geoffrey, 255, 256 + + "Keening," 56 + + Kellarn, 125 + + Kelly, Daniel, 130 + + Kenmare, domain, 170 + + Kevin, St., 232 + + Kieran, St., 115 + + Kilcoman Castle, 150 + + Kildare, Earl of, 124 + + Kildare Street Club, 6, 280 + + Kilkenny, 23, 266, 267 + + Killarney, 161, 163, 167-170 + + Killary Bay, 82 + + Killary Harbour, 85 + + Killshening House, 215 + + Kilmalloch, 127-130 + + Kilruddery House, 228-230 + + Kimbolton Castle, 18 + + King, Captain, 264 + + Knockninoss, 147 + + "Knockshigowna," 106 + + Kylemore Castle, 88-93 + + + L + + Lanigan, Dr., 253-256 + + Larne, 32 + + Lavelles, the, 61 + + Leap Castle, 102, 104, 106, 108 + + Lee, the, 178 + + Leenane, 82, 83, 85 + + Lely, Sir Peter, 196 + + Letterfrack, 85 + + Limavady, 36 + + Lis-no-Lachree, 125 + + Llemish Mountain, 26 + + Londonderry, 37 + + Loo-ee, 125 + + Lorrha, 101-103 + + Louis le Grand, 90 + + Louisburgh, 80, 85 + + Lynch, family of, 98 + + Lynch, James, 98 + + + M + + Mac Art, Cormac, 8 + + MacCarthys, the, 174 + + MacMurrogh, Dermot, 255, 257, 258 + + Macroom Castle, 174, 175 + + Mallaranny, 50-52, 62, 64, 77, 84 + + Mallow, 161, 162 + + Manchester, Duke of, 92, 217 + + Mantua House, 40, 41, 48 + + Marianus, 254 + + Marine Hotel, Ballycastle, 33 + + Martin, St., of Tours, 26 + + Mary Queen of Scots, 19 + + Matilda, Empress, 255 + + Mayo, 72, 78, 179 + + Mayo Mountains, 71 + + Meath, Earl of, 228 + + Mecridy's Maps, 36 + + Michael, Sacristan, 166 + + Michu, 26 + + Milesius, 252 + + Monahans, 61 + + Moore, Tom, 233, 234 + + Mourne Mountains, 25 + + Moyle, the, 218 + + Muckross, 170, 171 + + Munster, kings of, 122 + + + N + + Navan, 10, 11 + + Neagh, Loch, 167 + + Nestorian Christians, 59 + + Neville, John, 246 + + Newcastle, 25 + + New Grange, 11 + + New Port, 50, 66, 84 + + New Ross, 184 + + Newry, 13-15, 25 + + + O + + O'Brien, Donald, 123 + + O'Carrolls, 107 + + O'Connell, Daniel, 288, 289 + + O'Conner, 166 + + Offaly, 123 + + O'Flynns, the, 174 + + O'Hallon, Redmond, 15 + + O'Halloran, 32 + + O'Malleys, 61 + + + O'Neill, Donald, King of Ulster, 252 + + O'Rourke, Prince, 257 + + Ormond, 125 + + Ormond, Earl of, 129 + + Ovoca, Vale of, 233, 267 + + + P + + P----, Mrs., 225 + + Parnell, 288 + + Parsonstown, 101 + + Patrick, St., 10, 24, 26, 28, 122, 125, 252 + + "Patrick's Sabball," 27 + + Penshurst, 204 + + Peterborough, 207 + + Phoenix Park, 7 + + Pointz-pass, 15 + + Pole, Cardinal, 254 + + Pope, the, 23 + + Portugal, 158 + + Powerscourt, 267, 270, 271 + + Powerscourt House, 231, 275 + + Powerscourt, Viscount, 267, 273 + + Prospect Cemetery, 288 + + Ptolemy, 8 + + Purcell, Sir Hugh, 182 + + + Q + + "Queen of Hearts," 205 + + + R + + Read, T. Buchanan, 105 + + Recess, 85, 88, 91 + + Redmond, 198 + + Reginald, 181, 182 + + Richard, Earl of Chepstow, 258 + + Richard, King, 206 + + Rolleston, Major, 110, 111 + + Roscommon, 40, 42, 48 + + "Royal Irish," the, 188 + + + S + + St. Dominick, Abbey of, Lorrha, 102 + + St. James's Palace, 208 + + St. Ledger, Hon. Mary, 153 + + St. Ledger, William, 152 + + St. Mary's, Abbey of, Trim, 10 + + St. Nicholas, Church of, Claddagh, 100 + + St. Patrick's Cathedral, 286 + + Salis, Count de, 15 + + Saul, Church of, Strangford Lough, 26 + + Scullaboyne House, 264, 265 + + Shandon bells, 167, 175, 213 + + Shannon, the, 115 + + "Shan Van Do," the, 68 + + Shelburn Hotel, Dublin, 3 + + Sidneys, the, 204 + + Skreen, Hill of, 8 + + Slieve Donard, 25 + + Slievemore, 61 + + Slievenaman Hills, 126 + + Sligo, county of, 37, 40, 55, 179 + + Spenser, 150, 152 + + Stanford's, 36 + + "Stone of Destiny," 10 + + Strafford, Earl of, 282 + + Strangford, 26, 31 + + Strongbow, 28, 195, 258 + + Stuart, Mary, 207 + + Succat, 26 + + Suir River, 116, 181 + + Sutton, Sir Roger de, 246 + + Swift, Dean, 286 + + + T + + Tamara, Queen, 78 + + Tanderagee, 15, 17, 19, 24, 92 + + Tara Hill, 7-10 + + Taylor, Bayard, 113 + + Teheran, 59 + + Temora, 9 + + Thea, 9 + + Thomas, St., 252 + + Thomastown, 266 + + Thomond, King of, 123 + + Tintern Abbey, 194, 196, 197, 200 + + Tipperary Vale, 126 + + Toombeola Bridge, 85 + + Trim, 10 + + Tully Chapel, 85 + + Tyburn, 130 + + + U + + Urban II., Pope, 255, 256 + + + V + + Victoria Hotel, Killarney, 163 + + Virgil, Polydore, 256 + + + W + + W----, Marquis of, 219 + + Waterford, 180-183 + + Waterford, Lady, 223 + + Wayte Bros., 218 + + Wentworth, Sir Thomas, 282 + + Westport, 85 + + Wexford, 182, 185, 194, 246, 260, 265 + + Whitehall, 204 + + Wicklow, 231, 267 + + William III., King, 11 + + "Wingfield," 104-106, 108 + + + + + _A Selection from the + Catalogue of_ + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + +[Illustration] + + Complete Catalogues sent + on application + + + + + By MICHAEL MYERS SHOEMAKER + + + Islands of the Southern Seas + + With 80 Illustrations. Second edition. Large 8o. Gilt top. $2.25. + + "The author has not only a cultured style and highly descriptive + power, but a quiet, delightful humor. Moreover, he is always + interesting, even when describing the daily incidents of a tour + through New Zealand and Tasmania.... 'Islands of the Southern Seas' + is one of the few books of modern travel that are worthy of being + kept and read over and over again. The illustrations throughout are + excellent and as fittingly clear and incisive as the author's style + demands. A more readable book on the nowadays somewhat hackneyed + subject of travel in the Southern Seas has never been printed, and + we unhesitatingly commend it."--_London Chronicle._ + + + Quaint Corners of Ancient + Empires + + Southern India, Burma and Manila. With 47 illustrations. 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