class="smcap">Glendaloch

138 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.   Loch Erne 186 Loch Erne, Loch Ree and Loch Derg compared; the former the most peculiar of all Irish Lochs—Its innumerable islands, and the great beauty of its shores—Want of proper passenger steamers on it—Tourists must have good accommodation—Ireland’s beauties can never be fully known until good hotels are provided—No other country of its size has so many lakes and rivers as Ireland—Historic attractions of Loch Erne—Devinish Island.   Mellifont and Monasterboice 195 They are the most interesting ecclesiastical ruins in Louth—Great beauty of the site of Mellifont—Terrible and wanton destruction of its ruins—Its name not Irish—Was generally known as “the Drogheda Monastery”—Size of the building—Was founded in 1142—Renaissance of Irish ecclesiastical architecture; it began when Danish plundering ceased—Effects of the Anglo-French invasion—Dearvorgil, wife of O’Ruarc, buried in Mellifont—Antiquity of Monasterboice—Its glorious ancient crosses—Its round tower—Became a ruin many centuries before Mellifont—Beauty and historic interest of locality—Drogheda—The burgs of the Boyne, New Grange and Dowth.   Trim Castle 207 It is the largest of Irish Castles—The Anglo-French great Castle builders—Hugo de Lacy—Many Castles erected by him—He was the greatest of the invaders of Ireland—He wanted to be King of Ireland—Distracted state of the country in his time—Trim once an important place—Claims to be the birth-place of Wellington; an anecdote about him—The country round Trim most interesting and historic—The Boyne the most historic of Irish rivers.   Cong Abbey 218 The most interesting ruin in Connacht—Roderick O’Connor; Moore’s opinion of him—Cong founded by St Fechin—Was endowed by O’Connor—Description of the Abbey—Its sculptured stones—The Cross of Cong—Cong never plundered by the Danes—Peculiarities and beauty of the country round Cong—Loch Corrib—The Joyce country; a land of giants; anecdote about one of them.   Loch Derg 231 Its great size—Want of islands its principal drawback—Its hilly shores—Little traffic on it—Iniscealtra—St Cainin—Killaloe; its ruined fanes—The Palace of Kincora; no vestige of it remaining; totally destroyed by Turloch O’Connor in 1118—MacLiag’s Lament for Brian and Kincora—The rapids of Doonas; their great beauty.   Holycross Abbey 243 Its beautiful situation—One of the largest ruined churches in Ireland—When founded—Its ruins not much marred—Was inhabited until the suppression of monasteries—Beauty of one of its sepulchral monuments—Founded too late to be plundered by the Danes.   Dunluce Castle 247 The most remarkable ruined Castle in Ireland—From its situation it is the finest ruin of the kind in Europe—The narrow causeway by which it is entered—Unusual thinness of its walls—Was evidently erected before cannons were perfected—An awful place in a storm—Giant’s Causeway—Dunseverick Castle—Meaning of the name Dunluce—Not known by whom or when it was founded—Was once owned by the MacQuillins—Sorley Boy—Terrible catastrophe that once happened at Dunluce—Must have been built before the fifteenth century.   Boyle Abbey