It is well known that the great monarch Brian Boroihme was killed
at the battle of Clontarf, A.D. 1014. He left his son Donagh his
harp; but Donagh having murdered his brother Teige, and being
deposed by his nephew, retired to Rome, and carried with him the
crown, harp, and other regalia of his father. These regalia were
kept in the Vatican till Pope Clement sent the harp to Henry VIII.,
but kept the crown, which was of massive gold. Henry gave the harp
to the first Earl of Clanricarde, in whose family it remained until
the beginning of the eighteenth century, when it came by a lady
of the De Burgh family into that of M'Mahon of Glenagh, in the
county of Clare, after whose death it passed into the possession
of Counsellor Macnamara of Limerick. In 1782 it was presented to
the Right Hon. William Conyngham, who deposited it in Trinity
College Museum, where it now is. It is 32 inches high, and of
good workmanship--the sounding-board is of oak, the arms of red
sally--the extremity of the uppermost arm in part is capped with
silver, well wrought and chiselled. It contains a large crystal set
in silver, and under it was another stone, now lost.--_Tipperary
Free Press._
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