To describe all the beauties and antiquities of Ireland, an encyclopedia,
instead of a volume the size of this one would be required. As one of the
objects of this book is to show that Irish history is as generally
interesting as Irish scenery is generally beautiful, few places are
noticed that are not historic; but in a volume of the size of this, all
the historic places could not be mentioned. Many books have been published
during the last three-quarters of a century that treat on Irish scenery
and antiquities. Some of them are very voluminous and copiously
illustrated. They were, for the most part, written by persons utterly
unfitted for the task they undertook. Their remarks on Irish scenery may
be of some value; they may have thought Killarney more beautiful than the
Bog of Allen; but wherever they touch on matters connected with history
and antiquities, they are so often incorrect and misleading that the books
they have published may, for the most part, be said to be useless. It is
not too much to say that many of these works would be actually increased
in value if the printed matter were torn out of them and nothing left but
the illustrations and covers. The people who wrote them were totally
unfitted to treat of Irish history and antiquities. They knew little about
the history of ancient Ireland, and nothing of the Irish language or its
literature. They could hardly be justified to treat of Irish architectural
remains, because they were ill-equipped to do so, and were unsympathetic
with the race that raised them.
If there is any country in Europe about the scenery and antiquities of
which an interesting book could be written, it is Ireland. In no other
country are scenery and antiquities so closely allied, for the finest
remains of her ancient ruins are generally found where the scenery is most
weird, most strange, or most beautiful. In no other country, perhaps, can
so many places be identified with historic events, or historic personages,
as in Ireland. It contains more relics of a long vanished past than any
other European land. Great Britain seems a new country compared with
Ireland. In spite of the wanton and disgraceful destruction of her ancient
monuments that has been going on for centuries, more of such can be found
in a single Irish county than in a dozen in Great Britain. Although
Stonehenge is the finest druidic monument known to exist, the quantity of
druidic remains is much greater in Ireland than in England. In the latter
country we miss the _dun_, the _rath_, the _lis_, the round tower and the
sepulchral mound, some of which are found in almost every square mile of
Ireland. And coming down to later times, when men began to erect
structures of stone, we find the remains of castles and keeps in such
extraordinary numbers that we wonder for what purpose so many strongholds
were erected. Counting _raths_, _duns_, _lises_, _cromlechs_, round
towers, crumbling castles, and deserted fanes, Ireland may be called a
land of ruins beyond any other country in Europe. To make these
multitudinous monuments of a far-back past still more interesting, it will
be found that mention is made of most of them even in the remnant of
Gaelic literature that by the merest chance has been preserved.
The place names of Ireland are as interesting and as extraordinary as her
antiquities, and to some are even more fascinating than her beauties. The
bewildering immensity of Irish place names is one of the most remarkable
things connected with Ireland; but like her ancient monuments, they are
every day disappearing--fading away with the language from which they
were formed. Even still, there are, probably, as many ancient place names
in a single Irish province as in the whole of Great Britain. If it is not
absolutely true when speaking of Ireland to say that, "No dust of hers is
lost in vulgar mould," it can at least be said that there is hardly a
square mile of her surface where some hoary relic of the past or some
beautiful object of nature can be met with that is not mentioned in
history, enshrined in legend, or celebrated in song.