between the years 890 and 1238, when the Danes were in the habit of
invading Ireland and plundering the ecclesiastical establishments. One
of the most perfect of these towers, at Antrim, is ninety-two feet in
height and forty-nine feet in circumference at the bottom; the summit
terminates in a cone twelve feet high, which, with the tower itself, is
of undressed stone, the walls being two feet nine inches in thickness.
The door is on the north side at a height of seven feet nine inches from
the ground. The tower was apparently divided into four stories by timber
floors, which, of course, vanished long ago. Each of the three lower
stories is lighted by a square window, and the upper story by four
square perforations opening to the cardinal points. It stands in the
grounds of a mansion. The turf between the two shows the dim outline of
buildings, supposed to be those of a monastery founded by Aodh, a
disciple of St. Patrick, the earliest notice of which occurs in the year
495. It was destroyed during the Danish incursions.
The walls of the chapel at Monasterboice are standing firm and strong,
but without a roof, and the grounds surrounding them and the ruins of
the monastery are still used for the burial of the families of the
parish. It is a free cemetery and belongs to the government and not to
the Catholic Church. Anybody--Protestant, Quaker, or Jew--can lay his
tired bones down under the hospitable trees by application to the
secretary of the board of public works. The oldest grave is that of
Bishop O'Rourke, who was buried there in 982; the latest, marked by a
clumsy wooden cross, was made in 1907.
What people go there to see are three splendid Celtic crosses, the
finest specimens of the kind in Ireland, and that means the universe.
They are believed to have been erected in the fifth century in honor of
St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Bridget. This, however, is
questionable. One of them bears the inscription, "A prayer for
Murriduch, by whom was made this cross." From the Irish Annals it may be
learned that two men of that name have lived in this neighborhood, both
of wealth and distinction, and they died, one in the year 844 and the
other in 924. It is entirely probable that either of them may have
erected the splendid monoliths. The largest is twenty-seven feet high,
and all of them are covered with carvings of religious subjects. The
crosses of Monasterboice have been photographed and reproduced many
times, and models have been shipped to all parts of the world. Perfect
replicas may be found in the museum at Dublin.
Four miles further on are the ruins of Mellifont Abbey, which was
founded in the twelfth century, and has had an important part in the
political as well as the ecclesiastical history of Ireland.
There are several drawbacks to motoring in Ireland, the chief of which
is that the country is so short on good hotels and so long on showers.
The next is the inability to see through or over walls of stone and
hedges that rise twice as high as one's head. Nevertheless, wherever
there is much to see and little time to see it in, one has to put up
with some annoyances, and an automobile is no longer a luxury or a mere
convenience, but an actual necessity.
The Irish climate is like the Irish character. A witty native once said
of his fellow countrymen, "They smile aisy and they cry aisy," and that
describes the habits of the heavens also. Clouds assemble and do
business in quicker time than in any other place I have ever been, but,
although it will "rain cats and dogs" for fifteen or twenty minutes, the
sun will be shining almost instantly afterward, as if nothing had
happened.
[Illustration: A CELTIC CROSS AT MONASTERBOICE, COUNTY LOUTH]
Unfortunately the hotel proposition is not so easily disposed of. Most
of the inns of the country districts and in the small cities are
absolutely intolerable. It isn't so much because of a lack of luxuries
and modern conveniences that the traveler finds in England, Scotland,
and on the Continent at similar places, as it is the excess of dirt and
bad smells. In the average country hotel in Ireland everything is in
disorder and out of repair. The bells don't work; the furniture is
crippled and decrepit; the mattresses are lumpy and half the springs are
broken or out of joint; the bedrooms are seldom swept, the table cloths
are seldom washed; sheets and pillow-cases, are seldom changed, and if a
guest should call for a clean towel the landlord would be likely to ask
what is the matter with the one he gave him a few days ago. The only
alternative to stopping at a dirty hotel is to ride on until you come to
a clean one, and that may be as far as the ends of the earth. The more
practical, and indeed the only, way is to accept the situation good
naturedly and get the best you can out of it. Any person who takes an
interest in this subject can find further and accurate information in
that charming book, "Penelope's Irish Experiences," by Kate Douglas
Wiggin. It is asserted by those who know that there are only five good
hotels in Ireland. We found nine, but did not keep count of the other
kind. They are too numerous to mention.
The road from Drogheda to Tara, the ancient capital of Ireland, follows
the valley of the famous Boyne River, and passes through the famous
battlefield where William of Orange, with thirty thousand men, in 1690,
overcame James II. with twenty-three thousand, and deprived the latter
of his dominion and his crown and gave the Protestants control of
Ireland for the next two hundred and fifty years. A stately monument has
been erected upon the field, and various small markers have been placed
about to show where important incidents took place.
The Valley of the Boyne is extremely beautiful. The banks are densely
wooded for miles, and the river flows through many fine estates owned
and occupied by rich people from London, Dublin, and other cities. The
climate is agreeable and healthful for nine or ten months in the year.
Only February, March, and April are unpleasant, because of the winds.
The scenery is peaceful and attractive, the foliage of the groves and
forests is rich beyond comparison, and it is difficult to conceive of
more desirable surroundings for a summer home for men of wealth and
leisure. To the antiquarian and the archæologist there is an unlimited
field for exploration that has only been touched thus far.
Only a few miles from Drogheda, and on the direct road to Tara, is a
collection of tumuli which are unsurpassed in Europe or any other part
of the world. They mark the location of Brugh-Na-Boinne, the royal
cemetery of ancient Ireland, the burying-ground of the kings of Tara for
centuries before the history of the country began. Although they do not
show the same architectural skill or artistic taste or mechanical
mysteries, and do not compare in magnitude with the pyramids and other
tombs of the kings of Egypt, they nevertheless have an entrancing
interest to those who love archæology and prehistoric lore. The tumuli
are scattered over a large area, and, according to the theories of
scientists who have explored them, contained the bodies of successive
royal families of Ireland until the invasion of the Danes, when they
were desecrated, looted, and nearly destroyed, just as the tombs of the
kings of Egypt were stripped of their treasures by the Assyrians and
other invaders.
[Illustration: RUINS OF MELLIFONT ABBEY, NEAR DROGHEDA, COUNTY LOUTH]
The most remarkable tumulus, at New Grange, has been described at length
by several eminent antiquarians. It stands on elevated ground, and
covers about three acres, the main part being two hundred and eighty
feet in diameter and about one hundred and twenty feet high. It is now
covered with dense vegetation. It is a vast cairn of loose stones,
estimated at one hundred thousand tons, those at the base being very
large--from six to eight feet long and four or five feet thick. They are
arranged in a circle without masonry; simply laid in order and smaller
stones placed inside and on top of them until an artificial cavern was
created, which was reached by a passage sixty-two feet long, formed of
enormous upright stones from five to eight feet high and roofed with
flagstones of great size. This passage leads to a low dome-roofed
chamber, nearly circular, whose ceiling is supported by eleven upright
pillars. The ceiling is nineteen and a half feet from the ground. There
are three other chambers, measuring eighteen by twenty-one feet in size,
which at one time were doubtless filled with the bodies of the royal
families. The archæologists compare them to the beehive tombs of Mycenæ,
known as "The Treasury of Atreus," and find many resemblances. The
surfaces of some of the stones are rudely carved with cryptographs and
ornamental designs.
There are several other tumuli in the neighborhood of different dates
and dimensions and of absorbing interest to science; and all of them we
know, from that accurate and comprehensive chronicle, "The Annals of the
Four Masters," were plundered by the Danes in the year 801. Those
vandals left nothing but bones and cinerary urns; they took away or
destroyed everything else. The tumuli are now in the custody of the
board of works, which is taking care of them, and is having careful
scientific excavations and other examinations made by competent
authorities.
There are several other cemeteries in the neighborhood that are not so
old, and they also are supposed to contain the dust of kings; but few of
the graves have been identified. One of them, marked with two tombstones
set with their tops together like the gable of a house, has been
declared to be of greater antiquity than any other Christian tomb in
Ireland, and is supposed to contain the remains of St. Eric, the first
bishop consecrated by St. Patrick. He died toward the end of the fifth
century. It is said that his custom was to stand immersed in the Boyne
River up to his two armpits from morn till evening, having his psalter
lying before him on the strand where he could read its pages, and
continually engaging in prayer.
In another grave lie the bones of Cormac, the greatest of the kings of
Tara, who was a Christian, having been converted by St. Patrick. His
death was brought about by the Druid priests, who cast a spell over him
and caused a bone of salmon to stick in his throat. He commanded his
people not to bury him at Brugh-Na-Boinne among his royal ancestors,
because it was a cemetery of idolators, but to place his body humbly in
consecrated ground, with his face to the east. These injunctions were
clear and positive, but the king's servants required a miracle to induce
them to obey. Three separate times they started from the palace at Tara
for the royal burying-ground at Brugh-Na-Boinne, when the river
miraculously rose to such a height that they could not cross. After so
many warnings their stupid brains finally saw the light and they laid
his majesty's ashes in consecrated ground, as he had commanded.
The little antiquated village of Kells, with pleasant surroundings and
glorious foliage, sleeps unconscious of its fame. It is of the greatest
interest to Christian archæologists, because it was the home of St.
Columba (or Columbkill), second only to St. Patrick in influence and in
the work of evangelizing Ireland. He was born in Donegal in 521, of
royal blood, being the great-great-grandson of King Niall of the Nine
Hostages, founder of the O'Neill family. Having heard the truth of the
gospel, he gave up his princely heritage for the service of his Master
and became a monk. He traveled for sixteen years, preaching from place
to place, founding churches and monasteries all over the country, which
are still venerated by the people, and are among the most interesting
ruins in Ireland. At Kells he built a famous monastery in the year 550,
and the cost was paid by Dermot, son of Fearghus, king of Tara, at that
time.
St. Columba made his headquarters there for many years and then crossed
the channel to the little Island of Iona, on the west coast of Scotland,
which had been granted him by his relative, the king of that country. He
founded a monastery there, from which he and his disciples traversed all
Scotland and the Hebrides, preaching the gospel, baptizing the people,
building churches and monasteries, until half the Scotch were converted
to Christianity. The rest of Great Britain was converted from paganism
by the missionaries he educated and sent out. After a life of
extraordinary activity and usefulness he died at Iona in the year 597
at the age of seventy-six years and was mourned by every one on the
shores of the four seas. His funeral lasted three days and three nights,
and he was buried within the walls of the monastery of Iona, whence his
remains were afterward removed to Downpatrick and buried in the same
grave as those of St. Patrick and St. Bridget.
A portion of the house of St. Columba still remains at Kells, half
concealed by a cloak of wonderful ivy. There is a tower one hundred feet
tall, and in the neighboring churchyard are several crosses of the
Celtic fashion, similar to, but not so large or so fine as those at
Monasterboice. They are, however, sacred in the eyes of all Irishmen and
date back to the tenth century.
The "Annals of the Four Masters" record many exciting incidents and
important events that have occurred in the history of the town of Kells.
It has been invaded and looted by Irish clansmen, Norwegian hordes, and
Danish Vikings. It has been devastated many times by fire, sword, and
pestilence. Sigtryg of the Silken Beard burned it to the ground in 1019,
and Edward Bruce in 1315, but it has arisen serene and smiling as often
as it has been destroyed, and prosperity has been restored again. It was
in the great monastery founded by St. Columba that the famous
illuminated "Book of the Gospels," preserved in the library of Trinity
College, Dublin, was made by the monks in the eighth century. Mr.
Westwood, a very high authority, pronounces it "the most elaborately
executed monument of early Christian art in existence." Kells was also
noted for its metal work in the Middle Ages. At present it is merely an
agricultural market and the seat of the Marquess of Headfort, who has a
large estate and a beautiful chateau surrounded by a wooded demesne and
a hunting preserve. There are several other delightful residences in the
neighborhood, and if there were a decent hotel within walking or driving
distance, Kells might have many visitors, but those who go there are
compelled to hurry away to find some place to stay overnight.
Navan, a neat little manufacturing town with a woolen mill and other
industries, has a reasonably good hotel, but you have to come back about
ten miles from Kells. There is another neat little town called Trim,
where it is possible to stay overnight and even to pass a day or two.
The country around Trim is lovely. The landscapes in every direction
would fascinate an artist, and the ruins of "King John's Castle," built
on the banks of the Boyne by Hugh de Lacy, are among the most extensive
and beautiful in the world. The walls, four hundred and eighty-six yards
long, with ten circular towers at nearly equal distances, are still well
preserved and there is a lofty keep, seventy feet high, with beautiful
turrets and flanked on either side with rectangular towers. There is
nothing to surpass it in Ireland for picturesqueness, and its
associations give it additional interest, for King John, Edward II.,
Richard, Earl of Ulster, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and other
famous characters, have lived there. Henry of Lancaster, afterward Henry
IV. of England, was imprisoned there; the parliament of Ireland met
within its walls, year after year, and it was once the mint of the
kingdom. In later days it was occupied by the Duke of Wellington, who
received his early education in the diocesan school within the grounds.
His name, you know, was Arthur Wellesley. He was a son of Lord
Mornington, of an old Irish family. His mother was a daughter of the
Earl of Dungannon of Tyrone, and she lived to see four of her sons
elevated to the peerage of Great Britain, not because of wealth or
political influence, but because of their ability and usefulness.
Richard, the eldest, was that celebrated statesman, the Marquis of
Wellesley; the second, William, was also eminent in politics and civil
affairs as Lord Mayborough; the third, Henry, Lord Crowley, spent his
life in the diplomatic service and made an enviable name, while Arthur,
hero of Waterloo and of the Spanish campaign, the man who broke the back
of Napoleon the Great, was the fourth and most famous of them all.
Arthur Wellesley was born May 1, 1769, in Merrion Street, Dublin, in a
house now occupied by the commissioners that are carrying out the land
act, and he died Sept. 18, 1852. It may be said that no other Irish
subject of a British king ever received greater honors or better
deserved them.
Dungan Castle, the home of the Wellesleys, is near Trim, about twenty
miles from Dublin, and the nearest railway station is Summer Hill.
Laracor, a secluded little village where Dean Swift was once curate and
where Stella lived with Mrs. Dingley, is only a mile or two distant.
XII
TARA--THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF IRELAND
In prehistoric times, before the conversion of Ireland to Christianity
by St. Patrick, the clan system prevailed there, as it did in other
countries of Europe. A "clan," or "sept," consisted of a number of
families and was ruled by a patriarch, the greatest warrior, or the
oldest man. A "tribe" was a larger group, consisting of several clans or
septs more or less related to each other and occupying a distinct and
separate territory under the command of a chieftain. Several tribes
composed a nation, as the word is used among the North American Indians,
ruled by a "ri," or king, while the "ard-ri," or over-king, a supreme
monarch with jurisdiction extending to the remotest shores of Ireland,
reigned and resided at Tara until the sixth century, with the province
of Meath as his own exclusive demesne for the use and support of his
family and his court. He received tribute from the local kings or "ri"
and was elected by their votes. Occasionally at his call, or at stated
intervals, the kings and chiefs would assemble at Tara to consider
matters of importance to all, to adopt laws and regulations for
preserving peace and promoting the welfare of their subjects and
protecting their common interests. Several feasts, held there annually,
were attended by the minor kings, chieftains, and nobles who were
followed by large retinues. Their warriors engaged in games, sports, and
tournaments to encourage the physical development of the race and teach
the arts of war. From the throne of the ard-ri decrees were announced,
laws proclaimed, justice dispensed, and prizes awarded. According to the
annals of those early days, one hundred and forty-two kings reigned at
Tara during a period of two thousand five hundred and thirty years,
when the place was abandoned in consequence of a curse pronounced by St.
Ruadhan of Lorrha for the failure to punish Hugh Garry for the murder of
a monk. Until the time of Cormac Mac Art, greatest and most luxurious of
all the ancient kings of Ireland, the rulers who sat at Tara were
pagans, but he was converted to Christianity, and the annalists in
glowing lines describe his piety and his devotions.
According to the ancient laws, the king of Ireland could not have a
blemish upon his person, and Cormac was obliged to abdicate power and
authority and retire to the top of the Hill of Skreen, across the valley
from the Hill of Tara, because his left eye was put out by an arrow shot
by Ængus, a rebellious chieftain, who is believed to have been under the
influence of Druid priests, to punish Cormac for accepting Christianity.
Cormac's administration was the golden age at Tara, and although there
was no pretense of architectural display in the wicker palaces that were
thatched with straw, nevertheless he and other kings of that period
possessed great wealth and made gorgeous displays at the ceremonies of
their courts. An early writer describes a banquet given by Cormac Mac
Art to one hundred kings, chieftains, astrologers, bards, and other
distinguished men, who were seated at twelve tables, sixteen attendants
at each table, and two oxen, two sheep, and two hogs were consumed,
besides other and many varieties of food.
"Beautiful was the appearance of Cormac," says the ancient
manuscript, "flowing slightly, curling golden hair upon him;
"A red buckler with stars and animals of gold and fastenings of
silver upon him;
"A crimson cloak in wide descending folds upon him;
"Fastened at his breast by a golden brooch set with precious stones;
"A torque of gold of curious design and richly graven around his
neck;
"A white shirt with a full collar intertwined with red gold thread
upon him;
"A girdle of gold inlaid with precious stones around him;
"Two wonderful shoes of gold with runnings of gold upon him;
"Two spears with golden sockets in his hand."
In such attire did the king appear at the banquet given in honor of his
chieftains:
"The feis of Temur each third year,
To preserve the laws and rules
Was then convened firmly
By the illustrious King of Erin."
The last _ard-ri_, or king of all Ireland, was Roderick O'Conor, who
died in 1198.
The archæologists, judging by the ruins and the traces of the walls,
find that the great banqueting hall was 759 feet long by 90 feet wide;
the other buildings were circular or oval; and it is apparent that they
were surrounded by walls of stone intended both for privacy and
protection.
No doubt the royal residences and other buildings at Tara were of wicker
construction. Furthest to the south, on the ridge or hill of Tara, is
the Rath Laoghaire (Leary), built by an old king whom St. Patrick tried
to convert, but without success; and somewhere in the rampart on the
southern side of this are the bones of Laoghaire. He was buried as he
ordered--in the bank of his rath, standing erect, with his shield and
weapons, with his face turned southward toward his foes, the Lagenians
(Leinstermen). Next northward is Rath na Riogh (Rath of the Kings),
probably the oldest structure at Tara, and the royal residence. It is
oval, and 853 feet long from north to south. Within its inclosure are:
Teach Cormaic (Cormac's House), a rath with an outer ring, probably
built by Cormac Mac Art. Its diameter is about one hundred and forty
feet. Next to the northwest, and joined to Teach Cormaic by a common
parapet, is the Forradh ("place of meeting"). Its greatest diameter
being 296 feet and the diameter of the inner circle 88 feet. To the
north of these, but still within the Rath na Riogh, is a mound called
Dumha na n-Giall (Mound of the Hostages), on the flat summit of which
was probably a house wherein dwelt the hostages often required by the
ard-ri of minor kings, of whose fealty he might have doubts. No doubt
the hostages of Niall of the Nine Hostages were kept here. To the west
of this mound are the remains of another, the Dumha na Bo, or Mound of
the Cow. Outside the inclosure of the Rath na Riogh, on the north, is
Rath na Seanaidh, or Rath of the Synods, so called because of the synods
held there by St. Patrick and his successors, though it is of much older
date.