BEAUTIES AND ANTIQUITIES OF IRELAND

 

 

 

 

Frontispiece.

Cong Abbey.

 

 

BEAUTIES AND ANTIQUITIES
OF IRELAND

 

BEING

A TOURIST’S GUIDE TO ITS MOST BEAUTIFUL
SCENERY & AN ARCHÆOLOGIST’S MANUAL
FOR ITS MOST INTERESTING RUINS

 

BY
T. O. RUSSELL
AUTHOR OF “DICK MASSEY,” “TRUE HEART’S TRIALS,” ETC.

 

LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Ltd.
B. HERDER
17 SOUTH BROADWAY
ST LOUIS, MO.
1897

 

 

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PREFACE

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.

T. O. R.

 

 

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CONTENTS

  PAGE Killarney 1 Its fame world wide—Beauty of its name—Extract from Macaulay in its praise—Comparative smallness of Killarney—Admirable proportion of its scenic features—Softness and beauty its chief attractions—Its weather often moist—Autumn the best time to see it—Its overpowering beauty on fine autumn days—The country round Killarney a wonderland of beauty—Its ruins; and their historic interest.  

class="smcap">Tara 12 Its antiquity its chief attraction—Beautiful view from its ruined ramparts—The most historic spot in these islands—Proof of the general correctness of early Irish history—Dr Petrie’s great work on the antiquities of Tara—His map of it—Its adaptation for a seat of government in ancient times—Its profanation by the erection of modern buildings on it—Tracks of its principal monuments—No trace of stone buildings found—Its praise sung by Gaelic poets—Was the most important place in Ireland—The roads that centred there—The Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny; prophecy concerning it; was brought from Tara to Scotland; now under the coronation chair at Westminster; Petrie’s mistake about it; proofs that it was removed from Tara; the stone there now not the Lia Fail; is the Lia Fail a meteoric stone?—Tara the great political centre of ancient Ireland—The Leinster Tribute—Slaughter of 3030 maidens—Indifference of the Irish heretofore about their history and literature—Many valuable gold ornaments found in Tara—The “Tara Brooch”—King Laoghaire buried in Tara; his face to his foes, the Leinstermen—The old feud between Meath and Leinster not yet quite forgotten—Tara terribly uprooted—Saint Patrick’s goat—Last King that reigned in Tara—Its vast antiquity worthy of credence.   Loch Ree 47 One of the least known of the great lakes of Ireland—Its great beauty—Decline of population in the country round it—Want of steam-boats on the Upper Shannon—Number of Islands—Beauty of the Leinster shore of the lake; is studded with gentlemen’s seats—Goldsmith’s house—Historic interest of Loch Ree—The treaty of Blein Potóg—Athlone; its beauty of situation; the most prosperous town on the Upper Shannon; its manufactures—Decline of the Irish language—Improvement in the condition of the Irish peasantry.   “Emania the Golden” 58 Emania a Latinised form of Emain Macha—The second most historic spot on Irish soil—Its history—Its present desolation—Its great extent—Denationalisation of the peasantry in its vicinity; their almost total ignorance of its history—Emania and the “Children of Uisneach”; extreme beauty of that legend—The tomb of Deirdre—Many gold ornaments found near Emania—Long preservation of a place name—Queen Macha—The city of Armagh; its antiquity; founded by St Patrick; ruined and plundered by the Danes; was for some years the abode of a Danish King; its picturesqueness.   Queen Mab’s Palace 71 Rathcroghan, where Queen Mab lived and reigned, a very celebrated place—She was contemporary with Cleopatra, and was Queen of Connacht—Few legends about her in Ireland; an historic personage there—Proofs of the comparatively high civilization of Ireland in ancient times—Extraordinarily long preservation of the legend of Queen Mab or Medb, in England; her very long reign and great age; death in Iniscloran; her fondness for cold water baths; the Four Masters do not mention her—Description of the Fort of Rathcroghan; the wooden palace that once stood on it; unlike any of the historic forts of Ireland—Rathcroghan desolate since the time of Queen Mab; its vast ancient cemetery; Queen Mab buried there—Longevity of the ancient Irish—Strong proofs that the Connacht queen was the prototype of the Mab of Shakespeare, Drayton, Spenser, etc.; her sister’s name still preserved in an Irish place name—Beauty of the country round Rathcroghan; its fertility—Many mentions of Rathcroghan in ancient Gaelic writings.   The Hill of Uisneach 84 One of the most historic of Irish hills; its peculiar shape—Magnificence and beauty of the view from it—Knockcosgrey—Decay of rural population—Uisneach peculiarly adapted for a stronghold—Aill na Mireann, or rock of the divisions; now called the “Cat Stone”; its very peculiar shape; was supposed to mark the geographical centre of the island—Great Synod held in Uisneach in A.D. 1111—Moat of Ballylochloe; its extreme beauty; supposed origin of its name.   Clonmacnois 97 Strangeness and uniqueness of its situation—Love of the strange and beautiful among ancient Irish Churchmen—The Shannon—Views from Clonmacnois—Small size of its remaining ruined fanes—Its round towers and crosses—Wondrous beauty of its smaller round tower—Petrie’s theory of the origin of round towers—Destruction of Clonmacnois—Vandalism manifest—Occupation by the Danes—The nunnery—Clonmacnois founded by St Kieran—De Lacy’s ruined castle—Beauty and diversity of scenery of the Shannon; historic interest of so many places on its banks.   Knock Aillinn 111 Third most historic hill in Ireland—Beauty of the view from its summit—On it is the largest fort in Ireland—Anciently the Residence of Kings of Leinster—The hill of Allen; Finn’s residence according to all authentic documents; but no trace of earthworks on it—John O’Donovan’s opinion about it—Probable confusion of the names Aillinn and Allen—Probability that Aillinn was Finn’s dun—Immensity of the folk-lore about Finn; as widespread in Scotland as in Ireland; extraordinary way in which he impressed himself on his age; does not seem to have been a lovable personage—Dermot O’Duibhne—Real name of the Campbells of Argyle—Finn, the most powerful man in Ireland in his time—His name incorrectly spelt Fionn.   “Kildare’s Holy Fane” 126 Not much scenic beauty about Kildare—The Curragh—Few ancient remains in Kildare—Its round Tower—Kildare once a large place; famous on account of St Brigit—Its “bright lamp”—Moore’s noble lyric, “Erin, O Erin”—St Brigit’s life in the Leabhar Breac; extracts from it—Her benevolence and charity; her love of the poor and the sick; she was buried in Kildare.  

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

class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">254 Not much known to the general public—Its limpid river—Rivers of muddy water an abomination—Irish rivers generally clear—Extraordinarily luxuriant growth of ivy on the ruins; their effect marred by the erection of a new building close to them—Vandalism in Ireland—Ancient name of Boyle—History of its monastery—Loch Key; the burning of its cranniog—Loch Arrow.   The Lakes of Westmeath 263 Few in search of the beautiful know anything about them; are best known to fishermen—Not many places of historic interest in Westmeath—Loch Ouel—Turgesius, the Dane, drowned in it by Malachy the First—Legend about Malachy’s daughter—Lover’s poem about her—Quotation from the Book of Leinster about Turgesius—Loch Sheelin; beauty of its name—Beauty of Celtic place names—Beauty of the name Lorraine.   Kells in Meath 271 Its ancient name—Its great antiquity—Fertility of the country round it—The tower of Lloyd—Tailltean; its immense antiquity—The Irish Olympia—Proofs of the general authenticity of early Irish history—Sir Wm. Wilde’s opinion of Irish chronology—Assemblies held in Tailltean in recent times—Early Christian Monuments—Kells often burned and plundered by the Danes—The Book of Kells and the Tara Brooch.   Cuchulainn’s Dun and Cuchulainn’s Country 281 Scandalous desecration of his dun; its situation and vast size; its existence another proof of the general truth of Irish history—Cuchulainn, the Irish Hercules—Origin of his name—Nothing told about his size or stature—Total ignorance about Cuchulainn in his birth-place; immensity of the literature in which he figures—Literary industry of early Irish monks—Cuchulainn loved by women; his abduction of Eimer; his liaison with Fann; the tract about him in the Book of the Dun Cow—Fann’s rhapsody—“Cuchulainn’s Death” from the Book of Leinster; beauty of the view from his dun—Numerous antiquities of the County Louth—The Cooley and Mourne mountains—Neglect of the scenery of Louth and Down.   The Wild West Coast 299 Its magnificence; comparison between it and the coasts of Norway; its mild climate—Bantry Bay—The cliffs of Moher—Half Ireland has been swallowed by the sea—Constant erosion by the waves—Killary Harbour—Clew Bay, the queen of Irish Sea lochs; comparison between it and other bays—Croagh Patrick—Achill and its cliffs—Antiquities at Carrowmore—Loch Gill—Sligo—Slieve League—Loch Swilly—Grandeur of the scenery from Cape Clear to Inishowen; its wonderful variety; its mild climate and wild flowers—Ten people visit the coasts of Norway for one that visits the west coast of Ireland—Want of passenger steamers on the west coast; its beauties can only be seen to advantage from the sea—Few safe harbours on the Donegall coast.   Dublin and its Environs 325 Dublin not sufficiently appreciated by some of its inhabitants—Its history—Its long Gaelic name—Danish domination in it—Many times taken and sacked by the Irish—Battle of Clontarf—Canute made no attempt to conquer Ireland—Dublin has not suffered from a siege for one thousand years—Its rapid growth in the eighteenth century—Greatly improved during the last twenty-five years—Its improvement undertaken under enormous difficulties—Its educational advantages—Its libraries—Its museum of antiquities; disgraceful management of it—Dublin supposed to be a dirty city—Its situation—Its public buildings—Its environs; their supreme beauty—Glasnevin Botanic Gardens—Dublin Bay; poem on it—Variety of scenery round Dublin—The Dargle—Howth—Fingall—Dublin situated in a land of flowers—Abundance of wild flowers in Ireland—Phoenix Park—Three round towers close to Dublin; error in its census—What the author has said in its praise is true.   Belfast and its Environs 357 Its rapid growth, and beauty of its environs—Its linen trade—Business capacity of its inhabitants—Its history and meaning of its name—The Giant’s Ring—View from Davis mountain—Belfast Loch—Hollywood—Scenic attractions of the country round Belfast.   Cork and its Environs 366 Its ancient name—Its history—Its situation—Is not growing as it should—Prophecy about it—Its fine public buildings—Its noble harbour—Cork should be where Queenstown is—Environs of Cork—Its antiquities—Its sufferings from the Northmen; their ravages; Lord Dunraven’s theory about them; they met stranger opposition in Ireland than in any other Country; what the Irish suffered from them; the Northmen not builders-up of nations; gruesome revelation of their cruelty found at Donnybrook—The author’s theory as to the cause of their invasions.   Galway and its Environs 388 Its history—Was once a place of large trade—Frightful decline of its population—Its splendid situation and noble bay—Its environs—The Isles of Arran; their gigantic cyclopean remains the most wonderful things of their kind in Europe.   The Cloud Scenery of Ireland 394 Ireland the land of cloud scenery; its situation far out in the “melancholy ocean”; its moist climate; its sunsets; their gorgeousness in fine weather; not often seen in perfection but in autumn.   Something about Irish Place Names

class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">396 Ireland a peculiar country; its abundance of place names as compared with Great Britain—Its ballys, kills, raths, duns and lises; their immensity—Dense rural population of Ireland in ancient times—Antiquity of Ireland.

 

 

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KILLARNEY

Killarney is famed and known all over the civilized world; but there are places in Ireland where isolated scenes can be found as fair as any in Killarney. Much has been written about this “Eden of the West,” but most of those who have attempted to describe it have omitted to mention its chief charm—namely, diversity of scenic attractions within a small compass. Almost everything that Nature could do has been done within a tract of country hardly ten miles square.

Except some favoured spots in Switzerland, there is no spot of European soil more famed for beauty than Killarney. Its very name is beautiful, as any one can know who has heard Balfe’s grand song, “Killarney.” No sounds more harmonious or more fitted for a refrain could be uttered by the organs of speech. The name signifies in Gaelic the church of the sloe or wild plum-tree. The real name of the lake, or chain of lakes, which is one of the charms of Killarney, is Loch Lein, but the latter name is now almost obsolete.

Before attempting to describe Killarney, it will be well to give the reader an extract from Macaulay’s “History of England.” The passage is a masterpiece of prose. It is a sketch of the scenic characteristics of that part of Ireland where the famous lakes are situated:

“The south-western part of Kerry is now well known as the most beautiful tract in the British Isles. The mountains, the glens, the capes stretching far out into the Atlantic, the crags on which the eagles build, the rivulets branching down rocky passes, the lakes overhung by groves in which the wild deer find covert, attract, every summer, crowds of wanderers sated with business and the pleasures of great cities. The beauties of that country are often, indeed, hidden in the mist and rain that the west wind brings up from the boundless ocean. But, on rare days, when the sun shines out in his glory, the landscape has a freshness and warmth of colouring seldom found in our latitude. The myrtle loves the soil; the arbutus thrives better than in Calabria; the turf has a livelier hue than elsewhere; the hills glow with a richer purple; the varnish of the holly and the ivy is more glossy, and berries of a brighter red peep through foliage of a brighter green.”[1]

Macaulay, in spite of his Celtic name, was not a lover of Ireland and the Irish, and there is no reason to suppose that this most wonderful word-painting was evoked by any liking for the land it describes. He had seen Killarney, and it must have inspired him to write the greatest descriptive passage he ever penned.

Those who expect to find in Killarney the grandeur of the Alps, the Rocky Mountains, or even of the Scottish Highlands, will be disappointed. It is too small to be sublime, for it could be ridden round in a day. The most wonderful of its many wonders is variety of scenery in a small compass. In this respect few parts of the known world can compare with it. Almost every possible phase of Nature, almost everything she could do with land and water, can be found in Killarney, and found on a little spot of earth hardly larger than the space covered by London. Mountains, lakes, rivers, rocks, woods, waterfalls, flowery islands, green meadows and glistening strands, almost exhaust Nature’s materials for forming the beautiful. But all are found at Killarney. Man, who mars Nature so often, has helped her here, for the castles and abbeys he raised of yore still stand, and their ivy and flower-decked ruins, tenanted only by the bat and the bee, put the finishing touch on this earthly Eden, and make it one of the scenic wonders of the world. If Killarney had glaciers and eternally snow-clad peaks, it would have everything that Switzerland has.

Another wonderful thing about Killarney is the admirable proportion its scenic features bear to one another. If the mountains were any higher they would be too high for the lakes, and if the lakes were any bigger they would be too big for the mountains. Even the rivers and waterfalls are almost in exact proportion to the other phases of Nature. The monstrous Mississippi or the thundering Niagara would spoil such a miniature paradise; but the limpid Laune and O’Sullivan’s babbling cascade suit it exactly. Killarney is the most perfect effort of Nature to bring together without disproportion all her choicest charms.

Small as Killarney is, it would take at least a week, or perhaps two weeks, to see it and know all its loveliness. It is only on foot and without hurry that its beauties can be seen in perfection. Its mountains may be ascended, and glorious views of sea and craggy heights obtained; but the charm of Killarney is not grandeur, but beauty. There are mountain views in Scotland finer than can be had from the summits of Mangerton or Carn Thual. It would be something like waste of time to climb those hills. Let the tourist rather wander in the hundreds of shady lanes or paths that skirt the lakes, or take a boat and navigate that most picturesque river, for its length, in the world, the Long Range, that connects the upper with the lower lake. Let him mark the wondrous luxuriance of grass, leaf, weed and flower. The arbutus grows so large that it becomes a tree. Ferns of such gigantic proportions may be found in shady nooks that they seem to belong to some far-back geological age. Softness, freshness, luxuriance and beauté riante are the real glories of Killarney. In these it has no rival.

There are two drawbacks to Killarney; there is the guide nuisance and the rain nuisance. The nuisance of guides is probably no greater than in many other places of tourist resort, and, by a strong effort of the will, can be got rid of. But the rain is a more serious matter and must be borne patiently. Some years come when not a dozen dry days occur throughout the entire summer, but generally there is less rainfall than on the west coasts of Scotland or England. There have been quite as many wet days in Liverpool during the three last summers as there usually are in Killarney. It does, however, too often happen that tourists are confined to the hotel for four or five days at a time owing to the rain. It must be borne in mind that this excessive moisture of atmosphere is what has given the south-west of Ireland, and England too, their exquisite charm of verdure and wild flowers. When a fine day comes after rain in summer or autumn all Nature seems to laugh. Flowers of all hues open their petals, birds in multitudes begin to sing, and wild bees and hosts of insects make the air musical with their hum. The American tourist need have no fear when insects are mentioned, for the mosquito is unknown in Killarney. Midges are the only insect plague, but they never enter houses, and are troublesome only before rain, early in the spring or late in the autumn.

Most tourists go to Killarney early in the summer. June and July are favourite times for Americans to visit it. As it lies almost in the direct route between New York and Liverpool, they generally visit it before going to England or the Continent of Europe. But the time to see Killarney is in the

autumn—it is then in all its glory. It should not be visited before the 15th of August; from then until the 1st of October it is the most beautiful place, perhaps, on the earth, provided always that the weather is not wet. There is only one thing that mars the weather in the south of Ireland—namely, rain. Cold, in the general sense of the word, is almost unknown. Every day that is not wet must be fine. There is, it must be confessed, rather more probability of having dry weather in Killarney in the spring or early summer than in the autumn, but, by visiting it in the spring, the tourist would gain nothing, and would lose the wild-flower feast of autumn. No American, or even native of England, no matter from what part of his country he comes, can form the faintest conception of what a Killarney mountain is in September, if the weather be fine. The wild-flower that is the glory of Ireland is the heath. It blossoms only in the autumn. Next in glory to the heath comes the furze. Both furze and heath are indigenous in the whole of the south-west of Europe, but, owing to the mildness and moistness of the climate of Ireland, they grow and blossom there with a luxuriance unknown in any other country. When a great mountain becomes a mighty bouquet of purple and gold, a sight is revealed which surpasses anything on earth in floral beauty. Almost every mountain round about the “Eden of the West” is clothed from base to summit in a vast drapery of heath. Some of the Killarney mountains are wooded for a few hundred feet up their sides, but most of them are entirely covered with heath interspersed with furze. When a fine autumn occurs, tens of thousands of acres of mountain and moorland gleam in the sunlight, an ocean of purple heath and golden furze. Not only do the heath and furze blossom in the autumn, but myriads of other wild-flowers appear only at that time of year, or blossom most luxuriantly then. Even white clover, which rarely blossoms in other countries except in the spring or early summer, open its flowers widest and sends out its most fragrant perfume in an Irish autumn. The air is heavy with fragrance of flowers, the mountains are musical with the hum of bees, and

“Every wingèd thing that loves the sun
Makes the bright noonday full of melody.”

Killarney in a fine autumn becomes not only entrancing, but overpowering in its loveliness.

The whole country round Killarney is a wonderland. Macaulay’s description of it is true to the letter. In all his works nothing can be found of a descriptive character equal to the passage quoted from him. He had a great subject, and he handled it as no other writer of the English language could. He has described one of the loveliest regions in the world in a few lines that will stand for ever as one of the greatest efforts of a great writer. His description is a brilliant gem of composition, just as the place it describes is a brilliant gem of nature.

No one should visit Killarney without visiting Glengariff. It is only about twenty miles from Killarney, and can be reached by a sort of low-backed car peculiar to Ireland. This car is a very curious sort of conveyance. The occupants sit back to back, with their sides to the horses. In fine weather there is no pleasanter mode of travelling than on a low-backed car, but when it rains one is anything but comfortable. Glengariff is thought by some to surpass even Killarney in beauty. It is a deep glen surrounded by mountains of the most fantastic shapes, clothed with a wealth of foliage that would astonish any one who had not seen Killarney. The lake that is seen at Glengariff is sea-water, and opens into Bantry Bay. The tourist will find an excellent hotel there, and no matter how he may be satiated with the beauty of Killarney, he will see other and more striking beauties in Glengariff.

Killarney is well supplied with hotels. There are four or five, and they are all good. Most of them are situated in sequestered places, where a view of some enchanting scene spreads before the door. The village of Killarney is about a mile from the lake; it is a place of no interest at all, but there is a very good hotel in it, and many tourists stop there, for it is just at the railway terminus. Hotel expenses at Killarney in the tourist season are not so high as at some of the fashionable Continental summer resorts. Guides are not much wanted, unless mountains are to be ascended. Then they are indispensable, for mists may suddenly come during the very finest day, and the tourist without a guide would run a chance of spending a night on a bleak mountain or being drowned in a lake or bog-hole. Ponies of a most docile character can be hired cheap. Pony-back travelling is a favourite mode of “doing” Killarney, especially with ladies and lazy men, but no one into whose soul the charm of Killarney really enters would think of travelling through such lovely scenes on horseback. On foot or in a boat is the way to see Killarney.