Its weird situation--A good central point from which to
make excursions--"Sugar-loaf" mountain; its horrible
modern name, and grand ancient one--Glendaloch the most
celebrated place in Wicklow--St Kevin; his youth; his
piety; he did not drown Kathleen; he only whipped her with
nettles--Kevin the most popular of Leinster Saints--"St
Kevin's bed"--Glendaloch an almost utter ruin--Ancient
Irish monasteries; their great wealth--Antique gold
ornaments--The evils of Danish raids--How well the Irish
fought the Danes--Round towers--Their uses--Books destroyed
by the Northmen--Halo of legend and romance that is round
Glendaloch.
"LORDLY AILEACH" 157
The second most historic spot in Ulster--Sublime view from
it--Noble work done in its partial restoration--Its early
history--Its destruction by a Munster King--A funny _rann_
from the Four Masters about it--Its great antiquity--The
great Circuit of Ireland made from Aileach--Quotations from
an ancient poem on the Circuit--A great poem totally
ignored by the Irish cultured classes--Muircheartach
MacNeill a great prince--His capture of the provincial
Kings--His tragic and untimely death.
"ROYAL AND SAINTLY CASHEL" 172
Peculiar situation--Ancient Irish churchmen's appreciation
of the beautiful in nature--Superb beauty of the site of
Cashel--A wonder that so few poets have been inspired by
it--Sir Aubrey de Vere's Sonnet on Cashel--Marred by the
erection of new monuments--Long the seat of Munster Kings--
Antiquity of Cashel as a centre of Christian cult--Wondrous
beauty of Cormac's Chapel; the most remarkable of early
Irish churches--The ancient Irish had no castles; they were
introduced by the Norman French--The city of Cashel--
Cashel, Glendaloch and Clonmacnois the most interesting
places of their kind in Ireland.