the pre-Christian history of the Aran Islands is to be found in the
accounts of the battle of Muireadh, in which the Firbolgs, having been
defeated by the Danann, were driven for refuge into Aran and other
islands on the Irish coast, as well as into the western islands of
Scotland. Christianity was introduced in the fifth century by St. Enda,
Eaney, or Endeus, who obtained a grant of the islands from Aengus, the
Christian king of Munster, and founded ten religious establishments.
Aranmore speedily obtained a world-wide renown for learning, piety,
and asceticism, and "many hundreds of holy men from other parts of
Ireland and foreign countries constantly resorted to it to study the
sacred scriptures and to learn and practise the rigid austerities of a
hermit's life"; in consequence of which the island was distinguished by
the name of "Ara-Naoimh," or Ara of the Saints.
[Illustration: "WE TAKE TO THE WATER IN A CURRAGH." ARAN ISLANDS]
A century ago a curious custom prevailed in these islands. When a body
was being carried to the grave, a convenient spot was selected at
which to rest the pall-bearers; here the funeral procession came to a
halt, generally about one hundred yards from the road. This spot was
afterwards used as a site for a monument, erected by husband, wife, or
family, as the case might be, which for the most part took the place of
a monument in the graveyard. When the relatives possessed means these
memorials became quite imposing, bearing carved statuary and having a
short history of the dead inscribed on them, winding up with a formula
invoking a blessing on the souls of the departed. We left the car to
inspect a long row of these stones fronting on the main road from
Kilronan to Dun Aengus. The quaint things said in praise of the dead
were quite interesting.
Many of the natives on Thursday and Friday in Holy Week still make
a pilgrimage round Aranmore, a distance of twenty miles, performing
religious exercises at each church in the circuit.
The O'Briens were lords of Aran from an early period, but were driven
out by the O'Flaherties of Iar Connaught, who in turn were driven out
by the English in 1587. In 1651, the Marquis of Clanricarde fortified
the Castle of Arkyn, the stronghold of the O'Briens, which held out
against the Parliamentary army for more than a year after the surrender
of Galway; but on the occupation of the island, the soldiers of
Cromwell demolished the great church of St. Enda to furnish materials
for the repair of a strong fort. On the surrender of Galway in 1691
Aran was garrisoned, and remained so for many years. Aran gives the
title of Earl to the Gore family.
[Illustration: CURRAGHS, ARAN ISLANDS]
At his home we met Father Farragher, a genial gentleman and the
parish priest of Kilronan, and he gave us a great deal of interesting
information concerning the history of and life on these islands,
which are historic to a degree rarely met with, and with which he was
thoroughly familiar. We returned late in the evening by steamer to
Galway.
When going to bed at the hotel, I summoned our comic "boots," and
directed him to call No. 41 at six o'clock. The "boots" wrote the call
on his slate, and then sat down with a puzzled expression on his face.
Noticing this, I inspected the slate and found that the inscription
read: "Call 46 at 1." He excused his blunder by saying: "Shure, you
Yankees do be givin' us sich quare orders these days, we're prepared
for almost annythin'."
When leaving on the train the next morning and after we were seated
in a crowded carriage, this same man put his head in through the open
window and shouted: "You owe us another shillin'; the misthress forgot
to charge the brace of 'nightcaps' ye had before bedtime."
LIMERICK
The important part of our trip being finished, Mr. Ross left for London
to witness the second attempt at the coronation of King Edward, while
I went down to see Limerick and visit its annual horse-fair. Arrived
at Limerick, I found the town full of the horsiest men I had ever seen
anywhere. They had the knack of horsy dressing down, to a fine point.
Horseshoe pins were "the thing," stuck in light-colored scarfs wound
round their necks; their shanks were tightly rolled in leather, and
above the knee they wore Santos-Dumont balloons in colors that would
have made a rainbow look like a band of crape. Most of them had the
conventional blade of grass in their mouths, a fashion started by
Lord Palmerston fifty years ago and immortalized by John Leech in a
celebrated _Punch_ cartoon of the period. When looking at a horse, they
tilted their hats far back into the nape of their necks, planted their
feet wide apart, stuffed their hands into their pockets, and carried
themselves with the general air of one who soliloquizes, "Well, I'm
just looking for the photograph of a man who can get away with me on a
hoss trade."
Several streets in the horsy quarter of the town were given up to
showing the horses, and there were examples of every breed, size,
color, and weight you can think of, including hunters, carriage-horses,
racers, saddle-horses, utility nags, circus-horses, and ponies. The
rushing, rearing, plunging, galloping, trotting, and loping of the
horses and the shouting of the rough-riders made a kaleidoscopic
scene of dust, noise, and confusion which would have caused any one
suffering from nervous prostration to choose some other place for a
quiet afternoon. But I was there to see it through, and I went into the
spirit of the occasion for "all I was worth," trying my best to lend a
helping hand in many of the trades. I was on the successful side twice,
and had a glass of Limerick ale at a neighboring bar with the elated
buyers. The dealing, "swapping," and buying were carried on in true
artistic style, while the rough-riding when showing the animals can
only be seen in Ireland. It takes a buyer, a seller, and about three
"cappers" on each side to close a trade; they almost pull the clothes
off the back of the owner, and slap him violently on various parts of
his body when "splitting differences." A buyer always bids about five
pounds more than he will really give, stipulating that he shall have
the five pounds returned to him after the purchase; this swells the
apparent value of the nag and pleases the owner. He tells his neighbors
that he sold his horse for the larger amount; but they know that he
didn't get it, so there is no harm done.
A dealer suddenly slapped me on the back and said, "Why don't yer buy a
foine pair for yersilf and take em to the States wid ye?"
"Oh, the horse is not 'in it' any longer in America; the automobile is
king."
"Ach! the divil burn the oightymoobiles annyhow; no dacent man will
roide in wan av 'em if he can get a sate behind a harse," was his
prompt reply.
Young well-matched carriage pairs brought one hundred and fifty
guineas readily, during the afternoon. "Why don't you ship some of
these teams to America? You could get three thousand dollars for them
in New York," was a question I put to another dealer.
"I know it, sir, but the risk and expense are too big; 'twould break me
up in the long run." And I suppose he was right.
After saying so much about the horse-fair, perhaps it might be as well
to say something about Limerick itself. Limerick has had quite a past,
and there has been "a hot time in the old town" about as often as in
any other city that can be pointed out. It is situated in a broad
plain, watered by the Shannon, and backed up in the distance by the
hills of Clare and Killaloe. The river, which soon becomes an estuary,
rolls in a magnificent and broad stream through the heart of the town,
and sends off a considerable branch called the Abbey River. This
branch, rejoining the Shannon farther north, encloses what is known
as the King's Island, on the southern portion of which is built the
English Town, united to the mainland by three bridges, and containing
the most ancient buildings. In contradistinction is the Irish Town,
which lies to the south of it and more in the direction of the railway
station. These two districts comprised the fortified old town. Up to
Edward II.'s time only the English Town had been defended by walls and
towers, but these were subsequently extended so as to include Irish
Town, which was entered by St. John's Gate. The eastern portion of the
walls, in parts forty feet high, is still fairly preserved.
Newtown Pery, the district between this and the river, was then bare,
but having come into the possession of the Pery family (Earls of
Limerick), it was specially built upon, and is now equal to any city
in Ireland for the breadth and cleanliness of its streets. Of these
the principal is George's Street, a handsome thoroughfare of nearly a
mile in length, giving off others on each side at right angles, with
a statue of O'Connell, by Hogan, erected in 1857, at the south end of
it in Richmond Place. There is also, to the north, a monument to the
memory of Lord Monteagle.
The name "Limerick" is derived from the Irish _Luimneach_, the name
of a portion of the Shannon, by the corruption of _n_ to _r_. Like
most of the Irish seaports, it was founded in the ninth century by the
Danes, who were subdued by Brian Boru when he assumed the sovereignty
over Munster, and Limerick thus became the royal city of the Munster
kings. After passing through the usual stages of intestine native
war, its next important epoch was marked by the erection of a strong
fortress by King John, who committed the care of it to the charge of
William de Burgh. Bruce took it in 1316, and remained there for some
months. From that time, with a few intervals of check, it steadily
gained in importance until the reign of Elizabeth, when it was made the
centre of civil and military administration. In 1641 it held out for
some time against the Irish, but was taken by them. It was defended in
1651 by Hugh O'Neill against Ireton, during a six months' siege. Here,
next year, Ireton died of the plague.
But the great episode in the history of Limerick took place during the
wars of William and James, when the events occurred which fastened
on it the name of the "City of the Violated Treaty." After the fall
of Athlone and Galway, Tyrconnell, the Lord Lieutenant, still held
Limerick as the last stronghold that King James possessed, the city
having been previously unsuccessfully assaulted by the English under
William at the head of about twenty-six thousand men in 1690. Lauzun,
the French general, said "it could be taken with roasted apples,"
and leaving it to its fate, went to Galway and embarked for France.
William's army was wanting in artillery, and he awaited the arrival of
a heavy siege-train from Dublin. The convoy was arrested by Sarsfieid,
who started at night with six hundred horsemen on the Clare side and
crossed the Shannon at Killaloe. The next night he fell on them and
took possession of the train. He filled the cannon with powder, buried
their mouths in the earth, and, firing the whole, utterly destroyed
them. More cannon arrived from Waterford, and William pressed forward
the siege. On the 27th of August, a breach having been effected, a
terrific assault was made, lasting four hours, in which the women of
Limerick were conspicuous in the defence; the besiegers were repulsed,
losing about two thousand men. In consequence of the swampy nature of
the ground and the advanced season, William raised the siege. A fit of
apoplexy carried off Tyrconnell, when the government, both civil and
military, fell into the hands of D'Usson and Sarsfield. Ginkell, the
commander of the English army, endeavored to take the town by an attack
on the fort which overlooked and protected the Thomond Bridge. This
attack is described in graphic and spirited language by Lord Macaulay,
and I cannot do better than give the account of it in his own words:
"In a short time the fort was stormed. The soldiers who had garrisoned
it fled in confusion to the city. The Town Major, a French officer,
who commanded at the Thomond Gate, afraid that the pursuers would
enter with the fugitives, ordered that part of the bridge which was
nearest to the city to be drawn up. Many of the Irish went headlong
into the stream and perished there. Others cried for quarter, and held
up their handkerchiefs in token of submission. But the conquerors were
mad with rage; their cruelty could not be immediately restrained,
and no prisoners were made till the heads of corpses rose above the
parapet. The garrison of the fort had consisted of about eight hundred
men; of these only one hundred and twenty escaped into Limerick."
The result of this capture was the fall of James's power in Ireland
and the signing of the famous treaty on the stone near the bridge on
October 3, 1691, the ninth article of which provided that the Roman
Catholics should enjoy the same privileges of their religion as they
enjoyed in the reign of Charles II., and that William and Mary would
endeavor to insure them immunity from disturbance on account of their
religion. This article, however, was never carried into effect,
although through no fault of William's. Large numbers of the Irish
soldiers took service under France, and formed the "Irish Brigade,"
famous in after years in continental wars. Sarsfield was killed at
the battle of Landen (1693), and it has been estimated that in the
next half century four hundred and fifty thousand Irishmen died in
the French service. For seventy years after the siege, the city was
maintained as a fortress, and its ramparts and gates kept in repair and
guarded. In 1760 it was abandoned as such, its defences dismantled, and
the city, thus freed, rapidly extended its boundaries. It has since,
however, been a station for large detachments of troops, and is at the
present day one of the most bustling and pleasant garrison towns.
The Shannon is crossed by three important bridges, of which the Thomond
Bridge, rebuilt in 1839, claims priority from its ancient associations.
It connects English Town with the County Clare, the entrance from
which, through Thomond Gate, was protected by the fort mentioned above
and King John's Castle. It is one of the finest Norman fortresses in
the kingdom, and has a river front of about two hundred feet, flanked
by two massive drum towers fifty feet in diameter; the walls are of
great strength, being ten feet thick. The northern tower is the most
ancient, and from the bridge traces of the cannonading it received in
its various sieges can be clearly seen. It still retains its ancient
gateway, but the modern entrance is from Nicholas Street. Its venerable
appearance is marred by the addition of the modern roofs and buildings
of the barracks into which the interior was converted in 1751. The
constableship of the Castle was only abolished in 1842. The "Treaty
Stone," on which the famous treaty was signed in 1691, is at the
western end of the bridge; it was set upon its present pedestal in
1865.
[Illustration: THE CLOISTERS, ADARE ABBEY, COUNTY LIMERICK]
Limerick is famed for the fineness of its laces, and at one time its
gloves were the most costly in the market. Last, but not least, it is
still famous for the beauty of its women--a reputation not undeserved,
as may be seen even on a casual stroll through the streets.
CORK AND QUEENSTOWN
After the Limerick fair was over I left for Cork, and arrived there
just in time to see the race for the International Cup, presented by
Lord O'Brien and won by the Leander crew, of London. There were a
hundred thousand people on the banks of the river Lee to see the race,
and, strange to say, Cork went wild over an English victory.
Next day I visited the Cork Exhibition. It had, like all minor
exhibitions of the kind, pyramids of manufactured articles, including
the making of various commodities by machinery on the spot. But there
were a good concert band and a fine restaurant. I also dropped into
the Supreme Court and heard the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland stop the
court proceedings to read aloud a telegram from Emperor William, as
well as his reply, in regard to the result of the boat-race. Imperial
and Milesian "taffy" flowed freely in both. Truly, Ireland is the land
of sport!
Later on I attended the Cork steeplechase. There were five events on
the card; the jumps were difficult, and one horse was killed, while two
or three others met with accidents.
I suppose as we are now on the last lap, it would hardly be fair
to Cork and Queenstown to pass them over without noticing them
historically, so, if the reader will pardon me, I will take up a little
more of his time to sketch briefly the salient features of these two
very interesting and ancient towns.
Cork is a mixture of some fine streets, broad quays, and many ill-paved
lanes, the whole being set off by a charming frame of scenery that
compensates for many a defect. It is a county and a city with a
population of 97,281, and is well situated on the Lee, as Spenser thus
describes:
"The spreading Lee that, like an island fayre,
Encloseth Corke with his divided floode"--
as it emerges from a wooded and romantic valley upon a considerable
extent of flat, alluvial ground, in its course, over which it divides.
The island thus formed commences about one mile above the town, is
enclosed by the north and south channels of the river, and contains a
large portion of the city. "In 1689," says Macaulay, "the city extended
over about one-tenth part of the space which it now covers, and was
intersected by muddy streams which had long been concealed by arches
and buildings. A desolate marsh, in which the sportsman who pursued
the water-fowl sank deep in water and mire at every step, covered the
area now occupied by stately buildings, the palaces of great commercial
societies."
Cork has over four miles of quays, and large sums of money have been
spent in harbor improvements; vessels drawing twenty feet of water can
discharge at all stages of the tide.
The earliest notice of the town dates from the time of St. Fin Barre,
who flourished about the seventh century. He founded an ecclesiastical
establishment on the south side of the chief channel of the Lee, and it
ultimately attained to a high reputation among the schools of Ireland.
Then the Danes, after repeatedly plundering it, took a fancy to
settling down here themselves, and carried on a somewhat flourishing
commerce until the Anglo-Norman invasion. At that time the ruling power
was in the hands of Dermot McCarthy, Lord of Desmond, who promptly made
submission to Henry II. on his arrival in 1172, and did him homage. For
a long period the English held the place against the Irish, living in a
state of almost perpetual siege. They were compelled, Holinshed says,
"to watch their gates hourlie, to keepe them shut at service time, at
meales, from sun to sun, nor suffer anie stranger to enter the citie
with his weapon, but the same to leave at a lodge appointed." Camden
also describes it as "a little trading town of great resort, but so
beset by rebellious neighbors as to require as constant a watch as if
continually besieged."
Cork took an active part in the disturbed history of the Middle Ages.
It declared for Perkin Warbeck, and the mayor, John Walters, was hanged
for abetting his pretensions. It was made the headquarters of the
English forces during the Desmond rebellion. In 1649 it surrendered
to Cromwell, who is said to have ordered the bells to be melted for
military purposes, saying that, "since gunpowder was invented by a
priest, he thought the best use for bells would be to promote them into
cannons."
A noticeable event in its history was the siege by William III.'s
army under Marlborough and the Duke of Wurtemburg, when the garrison
surrendered after holding out five days; the Duke of Grafton was killed
on this occasion.
Numerous monastic establishments were founded in early times, nearly
all traces of which, as well as of its walls and castles, have been
swept away. In the southwestern district of the city is the old
cathedral, small and very unlike what a cathedral should be. St. Fin
Barre, the founder of the cathedral, was born in the neighborhood of
Bandon, and died at Cloyne in 630. His first religious establishment
was in an island in Lough Gouganebarra, but about the beginning of the
seventh century he founded another on the south bank of the Lee, which
became the nucleus of the city of Cork. He was buried here in his own
church, and his bones were subsequently enshrined in a silver case; but
these relics were carried away by Dermot O'Brien when he plundered the
city in 1089. There is little of general interest in the subsequent
history of the see. In 1690, at the siege of Cork, a detachment of
English troops took possession of the cathedral and attacked the south
fort from the tower; the cathedral was so much damaged that it was
taken down in 1734 and another erected. With the exception of the
tower, which was believed to have formed part of the old church, it was
a modern Doric building, with a stumpy spire of white limestone. The
mode in which the funds were raised for its erection was the levying
of a tax on all the coal imported for five years. This building stood
until 1864, when it was taken down in order to erect the present
structure upon its site. A cannon-ball fired during the siege of 1690
was found in the tower, forty feet from the ground, and is now on a
bracket within the cathedral. In laying the foundations, three distinct
burial-places were found, one above the other, and the human remains
found exhibited remarkable racial peculiarities.
St. Anne Shandon Church is at the foot of Church Street, off Shandon
Street, at the north side of the city; it was built in 1722, and is
remarkable for its extraordinary tower, one hundred and twenty feet
high, surmounted by a graduated turret of three stories, faced on two
sides with red stone, and on the others with limestone.
"Party-colored, like the people,
Red and white stands Shandon steeple."
It contains a peal of bells, immortalized by "Father Prout" in the
famous lyric:
"... The Bells of Shandon
That sound so grand on
The pleasant waters
Of the River Lee."
They bear the inscription: "We were all cast at Gloucester, in
England.--Abel Rudhall, 1750." "Father Prout" is buried in the
church-yard of Shandon. Shandon derives its name from _Seandun_ (old
fort); the name was given to the church of St. Mary, from its near
neighborhood to Shandon Castle, an old seat of the Barrys.
On the way down to Queenstown we passed Passage West, a pretty village
embosomed in woods, and a considerable place of call, both for
travelers and others bound up and down the river. "Father Prout" has
sung its praises:
"The town of Passage is both large and spacious,
And situated upon the say;
'Tis nate and dacent, and quite adjacent
To come from Cork on a summer's day.
"There you may slip in and take a dippin'
Forenent the shippin' that at anchor ride;
Or in a wherry cross o'er the ferry
To Carrigaloe, on the other side."
[Illustration: SHE SAT AND DROVE ON A LOW-HACK CAR]
Near here is Monkstown, where Anastasia Gould, wife of John Archdeckan,
while her husband was absent in a foreign land, determined to afford
him a pleasant surprise by presenting him with a castle on his return.
She engaged workmen and made an agreement with them that they should
purchase food and clothing solely from herself. When the castle was
completed, on balancing her accounts of receipt and expenditure, she
found that the latter exceeded the former by fourpence. Probably this
is the first example on record of truck practice on a large scale. She
died in 1689, and was buried in the ground of the adjoining ruined
church of Teampull-Oen-Bryn, in which is a monument to her memory.
Queenstown extends for a considerable distance along the northern
coast of the harbor, and from its fine situation and the mildness
of its climate ranks high among the southern watering-places. Queen
Victoria landed here on August 3, 1849, of which she has written as
follows: "To give the people the satisfaction of calling the place
'Queenstown,' in honor of its being the first spot on which I set foot
upon Irish ground, I stepped on shore amidst the roar of cannon and the
enthusiastic shouts of the people."