{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_55196/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_55196","id":"gutenberg_55196","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55196","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - British","Category: Journals","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Ireland -- Periodicals"],"text":"THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL.\n\n       NUMBER 42.       SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1841.       VOLUME I.\n\n[Illustration: ANTRIM CASTLE, THE RESIDENCE OF THE EARL OF MASSARENE]\n\nThe fine old mansion of the noble family of Skeffington, of which\nour prefixed wood-cut will give a very correct general idea, is well\ndeserving of notice, not only from its grandeur of size and the beauty\nof its situation, but still more as presenting an almost unique example,\nin Ireland, of the style of domestic architecture introduced into the\nBritish islands from France, immediately after the Restoration.\n\nThis castle is generally supposed to have been erected in or about the\nyear 1662, by Sir John Clotworthy, Lord Massarene, who died in 1665, and\nwhose only daughter and heir, Mary, by her marriage with Sir John, the\nfifth baronet of the Skeffington family, carried the Massarene estate and\ntitle into the latter family. But though there can be no doubt, from the\narchitectural style of the building, that Antrim castle was re-edified\nat this period, there is every reason to believe that it was founded\nlong before, and that it still preserves, to a great extent, the form\nand walls of the original structure. The Castle of Antrim, or Massarene,\nas it is now generally called, appears to have been originally erected\nearly in the reign of James I., by Sir Hugh Clotworthy, who, by the\nestablishment of King James I. had the charge of certain boats at\nMassarene and Lough Sidney, or Lough Neagh, with an entertainment of five\nshillings Irish by the day, and 18 men to serve in and about the said\nboats, at ten-pence Irish by the day each. This grant was made to him by\npatent for life, in 1609; and on a surrender of it to the king in 1618,\nit was re-granted to him, and his son and heir John Clotworthy, with a\npension of six shillings and eight pence per day, and to the longer liver\nof them for life, payable out of the revenue. For this payment Sir Hugh\nClotworthy and his son were to build and keep in repair such and so many\nbarks and boats as were then kept upon the lough, and under his command,\nwithout any charge to the crown, to be at all times in readiness for\nhis Majesty\u2019s use, as the necessity of his service should require. John\nClotworthy succeeded his father as captain of the barks and boats, by\ncommission dated the 28th January 1641, at 15s. a-day for himself; his\nlieutenant, 4s.; the master, 4s.; master\u2019s mate, 2s.; a master gunner,\n1s. 6d.; two gunners, 12d.; and forty men at 8d. each.\n\nOn the breaking out of the rebellion shortly afterwards, the garrison at\nAntrim was considerably increased, and the fortifications of the castle\nand town were greatly strengthened by Sir John Clotworthy, who became\none of the most distinguished leaders of the parliamentary forces in the\nunhappy conflict which followed. Still commanding the boats of Lough\nNeagh, that magnificent little inland sea, as we may not very improperly\ncall it, became the scene of many a hard contest between the contending\nparties, of one of which Sir R. Cox gives the following graphic account.\nIt took place in 1642.\n\n\u201cBut the reader will not think it tedious to have a description of\na naval battel in Ireland, which happened in this manner: Sir John\nClotworthy\u2019s regiment built a fort at Toom, and thereby got a convenience\nto pass the Ban at pleasure, and to make incursions as often as he\npleased into the county of Londonderry. To revenge this, the Irish\ngarrison at Charlemont built some boats, with which they sailed down the\nBlack-water into Loughneagh and preyed and plundered all the borders\nthereof. Hereupon, those at Antrim built a boat of twenty tun, and\nfurnished it with six brass guns; and they also got six or seven lesser\nboats, and in them all they stowed three hundred men, under the command\nof Lieutenant-Colonel Owen O\u2019Conally (the discoverer of the rebellion,\nwho was a stout and active man) and Captain Langford. These sailed over\nthe lough, and landed at the mouth of the Black-water, where they cast\nup two small forts, and returned. But the Irish found means to pass\nby these forts, in dark nights, and not only continued their former\nmanner of plundering, but also raised a small fort at Clanbrazill, to\nprotect their fleet upon any emergency. Upon notice of this, Conally and\nLangford manned out their navy again, and met the Irish near the shore\nof Clanbrazill; whereupon a naval battel ensued: but the rebels being\nfresh-water soldiers, were soon forced on shore; and the victors pursuing\ntheir fortune, followed them to the fort, and forced them to surrender\nit: and in this expedition sixty rebels were slain, and as many were\ntaken prisoners, which, together with the boats, were brought in triumph\nto Antrim.\u201d\n\nBut Sir John Clotworthy\u2019s little fleet were not always so successful\nagainst the Irish as on this occasion. In an Irish MS. journal of the\nrebellion it is stated that on the 15th September 1645, a boat belonging\nto the governor of Massarene was captured by Sir Felim O\u2019Neil, in which\nwere two brass cannon, ten muskets, twelve barrels of salted fish, some\nsailors, and a company of soldiers. They brought it to the mouth of the\nriver Black-water, at Charlemont. The journalist coolly adds, \u201cSome of\nthe men were hanged, and some redeemed!\u201d And again, according to the same\nauthority, in May 1646, Sir Felim had the good fortune to capture seven\nboats, taking fourteen men prisoners, and killing above twenty more.\nHowever, upon the whole, the governor of Massarene did good service to\nthe cause of the Protector, for which, in consideration of the surrender\nof his pension of 6s. 8d. a-day, &c. an indenture was perfected on the\n14th of August 1656 between the Protector and him, whereby a lease was\ngranted him for 99 years of Lough Neagh, with the fishing and soil\nthereof, and the islands therein, and also the lough and river of Ban,\nand as far as the Salmon-leap, containing six salmon-fishings, and\ntwo mixed fishings of salmon and eels, &c.; and being instrumental in\nforwarding the restoration of King Charles II. after Cromwell\u2019s death,\nhe was raised to the peerage by patent, dated at Westminster, Nov. 21,\n1660, by the title of Baron of Lough Neagh and Viscount Massarene,\nentailing the honours, in case of failure of his issue male, on Sir John\nSkeffington and his issue male, with whom they have since remained. A new\npatent, constituting Sir John Skeffington captain of Lough Neagh, was\ngranted to him in 1680.\n\nWe shall conclude with a few words upon the castle itself, which is\nbeautifully situated at the extremity of the principal street of the town\nof Antrim, on the banks of the Six-mile-water river, and immediately\ncontiguous to Lough Neagh. The entrance from the town is through a fine\ngate-house, in the Tudor style of architecture, built of cut lime-stone,\nand closed by two folding-doors of cast iron, which are opened from a\nroom overhead by means of machinery. The principal front of the castle\nfaces the gate-house, and is in the centre of a curtain wall, connecting\ntwo large square towers placed at the angles of the building, and which\nagain have smaller circular towers at three of their angles. This front\nis approached by a magnificent double stone staircase, and presents a\ngreat variety of enrichments in the French style of the seventeenth\ncentury, and is also decorated with shields having the armorial bearings\nof the founder\u2019s family, and with medallions containing the portraits\nof Charles I. and II. The greatest length of the castle, however, runs\nparallel with the river, from which it is separated only by a low parapet\nwall, while the terraces of the gardens are situated on the other side.\nThese gardens are no less attractive than the castle itself, with which\nthey appear to be of equal age; they are laid out in the French style,\nthe flower-beds being formed into a variety of patterns, among which\nthat of the _fleur-de-lis_ is the most common and conspicuous. This\ndesign is in its way extremely beautiful, and to carry it out fully, no\nexpense or trouble seems to have been spared. The borders are often of\ntriple and quadruple rows of box, between which is laid fine gravel of\ndifferent colours, which adds greatly to the effect. It is said that\na red kind of this gravel was imported from Holland, and cost upwards\nof 1s. 2d. a quart. This garden is traversed from east to west by a\nsuccession of fish-ponds, of which the most central one is circular, and\nthe rest oblong: and miniature cascades conduct the water from the most\nelevated of these ponds to the lowest. The timber in this garden is of\ngreat age and beauty, particularly the lime and oak; and it contains two\nor three specimens of the rhododendron, which are celebrated for their\nmagnificence, being fully fifteen feet in height, and of corresponding\ncircumference.\n\nThe house contains some fine pictures and curious articles of antique\nfurniture.\n\n                                                                       P.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN AND MEANINGS OF IRISH FAMILY NAMES.\n\nBY JOHN O\u2019DONOVAN.\n\nSecond Article.\n\n\nIn returning to the subject of the origin of Irish family names, I feel\nit necessary to adduce two or three additional instances of the erroneous\nstatements put forward by Mr Beauford, as they have had such an injurious\ninfluence with subsequent Irish writers on this subject:--\n\n3. \u201cOSRAGH, derived from _Uys raigagh_, or the kingdom between the\nwaters, the present Ossory, called also Hy Paudruig, or the district of\nthe country between the rivers, &c., the hereditary chiefs of which were\ndenominated _Giolla Paudruig_, or the chief of the country between the\nrivers, called also _Mac Giolla Padruic_,\u201d &c.\n\nThis seems an exquisite specimen of etymological induction, and I have\noften heard it praised as beautiful and ingenious; but it happens that\nevery assertion made in it is untrue! _Osragii_ is not the Irish name of\nthis territory, but the Latinized form of the name of the inhabitants.\nAgain, _Osragii_ is not compounded of _Uys_ and _raigagh_; and even if\nit were, these two vocables are not Irish words, and could not mean\nwhat is above asserted, the kingdom between the waters. Again, Ossory\nwas never called _Hy Pau-druic_, and even if it were, _Hy Pau-druic_\nwould not mean \u201cdistrict of the country between the rivers.\u201d Next, the\nhereditary chiefs were not denominated _Giolla Paudruic_, but _Mic\nGiolla Paudruic_ (a name afterwards anglicized Fitzpatrick), from an\nancestor called _Giolla Paudruic_, who was chief of Ossory in the tenth\ncentury, and who is mentioned in all the authentic Irish annals as\nhaving been killed by Donovan, the son of Imar, king of the Danes of\nWaterford, in the year 975. Moreover, _Giolla-Phadruic_, the name of\nthis chieftain, does not mean \u201cchief of the country between the rivers,\u201d\nas Mr Beauford would have us believe, but _servant of Saint Patrick_,\nwhich, as a man\u2019s name, became very common in Ireland shortly after the\nintroduction of Christianity, for at this time the Irish were accustomed\nto give their children names not only after the Irish apostle, but also\nafter other distinguished saints of the primitive Irish church; and the\nnames of these saints were not at this period adopted as the names of\nthe children, but the word _Giolla_, or _Maol_, servant, was generally\nprefixed to the names of the saints to form those of the children:\nthus, _Giolla Padruic_, the servant of St Patrick; _Giolla Ciarain_,\nthe servant of St Kieran; _Giolla Caoimhghin_, the servant of St Kevin;\n_Giolla Coluim_, the servant of St Columb, &c.\n\n4. \u201cCONMAICNE MARA, or the chief tribe on the great sea, comprehending\nthe western parts of the county of Galway on the sea coast; it was\nalso called _Conmaicne ira_, or the chief tribe in the west, and _Iar\nConnaught_, that is, west Connaught; likewise _Hy Iartagh_, or the\nwestern country: the chiefs of which were denominated Hy Flaherty or\nO\u2019Flaherty, that is, the chief of the nobles of the western country, and\ncontaining the present baronies of Morogh, Moycullen, and Ballinahinch.\u201d\n\nThis is also full of bold assertions, unsupported by history or\netymology. _Conmaicne_ does not mean the chief tribe, but the race of\na chieftain called Conmac; _Conmaicne mara_, which is now anglicised\nConnamara, was never called _Conmaicne ira_, and _Conmaicne mara_ and\n_Iar Connaught_ are not now coextensive, nor were they considered to be\nso at any period of Irish history. _Conmaicne mara_ was never called\nHy Iartagh, and O\u2019Flaherty was not the ancient chief of _Conmaicne\nmara_, for O\u2019Flaherty was located in the plains of Moy Seola, lying\neastwards of Lough Corrib, until he was driven across that lake into\nthe wilds of Connamara by the De Burgos in the 13th century. Again, the\nsurname O\u2019Flaherty does not mean \u201cthe chief of the nobles of the western\ndistrict,\u201d but is derived from _Flaithbheartach_, who was chief of _Hy\nBriuin Seola_, not of _Conmaicne mara_, in the tenth century; and this\nchief was not the first who received the name, for it was the name of\nhundreds of far more distinguished chieftains who flourished in other\nparts of Ireland many centuries before him, and O\u2019Flaherty became the\nname of a far more powerful family located in the north of Ireland; which\nshows that the name has no reference to north or west, but must look for\nits origin to some other source. Now, to any one acquainted with the\nmanner in which compound words are formed in the Irish language, it will\nbe obvious that the name _Flaithbheartach_ is not derived from a locality\nor territory, but that it is formed from _flaith_, a chief, and _beart_,\na deed or exploit, in the following manner: _flaith_, a lord or chief,\n_flaithbheart_, a lordly deed or exploit; and by adding the adjective\nand personal termination _ach_ (which has nearly the same power with\nthe Latin _ax_), we have _flaithbheartach_, meaning the lordly-deeded,\nor a man of lordly or chieftain-like exploits. According to the same\nmechanism, which is simple and regular, are formed several other compound\nwords in this language, as _oirbheart_, a noble deed; _oirbheartach_,\nnoble-deeded, &c.\n\nFinally, Mr Beauford is wrong in the extent which he gives to _Conmaicne\nmara_. He is wrong in giving _Morogh_ as the name of a modern barony,\nfor there is none such in existence; and we have the most indisputable\nevidence to prove that the territory of _Conmaicne mara_, now called\nConnamara, never since the dawn of authentic history comprised more than\none barony. It is to be regretted that these etymological phantasies of\nMr Beauford about the country of O\u2019Flaherty are received as true history\nby the O\u2019Flahertys themselves, and repeated in modern topographical and\nliterary productions of great merit.\n\nI shall give one specimen more of this writer\u2019s erroneous mode of\nexplaining topographical names, and I shall then have done with him.\n\n5. \u201cCAIRBRE AOBHDHA, or the district on the water, from _cairbre_, a\ndistrict, and _aobhdha_, waters; the present barony of Kenry, in the\ncounty of Limerick. This country was also denominated _Hy dun na bhan_,\nor the hilly district on the river; the ancient chiefs whereof were\ncalled Hy Dun Navan or O\u2019Donovan, that is, the chiefs of the hilly\ncountry on the river.\u201d\n\nHere every single assertion comprises a separate error. _Cairbre_ does\nnot mean a district, and _aobhdha_ does not mean waters. This territory\nwas not otherwise called Hy Dunnavan; and even if it were, that name\nwould not mean \u201cthe hilly district on the river.\u201d Again, the territory\nof _Cairbre Aobhdha_ is not the barony of Kenry, neither is it a hilly\ndistrict, but one of the most level plains in all Ireland; and lastly,\nthe name O\u2019Donovan does not moan \u201cchiefs of the hilly district on the\nriver,\u201d for this family name was called after Donovan, the son of Cathal,\nchief of the Hy Figeinte, a people whose country extended from the river\nShannon to the summit of Slieve Logher in the county of Kerry, and from\nBruree and the river Maigue westwards to the verge of the present county\nof Kerry. He flourished in the tenth century, and was killed by the\nfamous Brian Boru in a pitched battle, fought in the year 977; and his\nname was derived, not from his \u201chilly country on the river\u201d Maigue, as\nMr Beauford would have us believe (though it must be acknowledged that\nhe resided at Bruree, which is a _dun-abhann_, or dun of the river), but\nfrom the colour of his hair; for the name is written by Mac Firbis and\nothers _Dondubhan_, which signifies _brown-haired chief_.\n\nI trust I have now clearly proved the fallacy of Mr Beauford\u2019s mode of\ninvestigating the origin and meaning of the names of Irish families\nand territories. It is by processes similar to the five specimens\nabove given that he has attempted to demonstrate his theory, that the\nnames of Irish tribes and families were derived from the territories\nand localities in which they dwelt, a theory never heard of before his\ntime; for up to the time of the writers of the _Collectanea de Rebus\nHibernicis_, all were agreed that the Irish tribes took their surnames\nfrom certain distinguished ancestors, while the Saxons and Anglo-Normans\ntook theirs generally from their territories and places of residence. For\nfurther information on this subject I refer the reader to Verstegan\u2019s\nwork, entitled \u201cRestitution of Decayed Intelligence\u201d and Camden\u2019s\n\u201cRemains.\u201d The learned Roderic O\u2019Flaherty, in his Ogygia Vindicated,\np. 170, speaks on this subject in terms which Mr Beauford could not\nhave mistaken. \u201cThe custom of our ancestors was not to take names and\ncreations from places and countries as it was with other nations, but to\ngive the name of the family to the seigniory by them occupied.\u201d\n\nTo prove that I am not alone in the estimate that I have thus formed of\nthe speculations of Mr Beauford, I shall here cite the opinions of a\ngentleman, the best acquainted of all modern writers with this subject,\nthe venerable Charles O\u2019Conor, of Belanagare, who, in a letter to the\nChevalier Thomas O\u2019Gorman, dated May 31, 1783, speaking of two tracts\nwhich he had published, to refute some errors of Dr Ledwich and Mr\nBeauford, says--\n\n\u201cBoth were drawn from me to refute very injurious as well as very false\nrepresentations published in the 9th number of the same Collectanea by\nMr Ledwich, minister of Achaboe, and Mr Beauford, a schoolmaster in\nAthy. Little moved by any thing I have written against these gentlemen,\nthe latter published his Topography of Ireland in the 11th number, the\nmost flagrant imposition that I believe ever appeared in our own or in\nany age. This impelled me to resume the subject of our antiquities, and\nadd the topography of Ireland, as divided into districts and tribes in\nthe second century; a most curious record, preserved in the Lecan and\nGlendalough collections, as well as in your Book of Ballymote. I have\nshown that Beauford, a stranger to our old language, had but very slight\nmaterials for our ancient topography, and distorted such as he had to a\ndegree which has no parallel, except perhaps in the dreams of a sick man\nin a phrenzy.\u201d[1]\n\nAgain, the same gentleman, writing to his friend J. C. Walker on the same\nsubject, expresses himself as follows:--\n\n\u201cMr Beauford has given me satisfaction in his tract on our ancient\nliterature, published in the Collectanea, and yet, in his ancient\ntopography of Ireland, a book as large as his own might be written to\ndetect his mistakes.\u201d\n\nIt is quite obvious from the whole testimony of authentic Irish history\nthat the names of tribes in Ireland were not derived from the territories\nand localities in which they dwelt, but from distinguished ancestors; for\nnine-tenths of the names of territories, and of the names of the tribes\ninhabiting them, are identical. The tribe names were formed from those of\nthe progenitors, by prefixing the following words:--\n\n    1. _Corc_, _Corca_, race, progeny, as _Corc-Modhruadh_, now\n    Corcomroe in Clare, _Corca-Duibhne_, now Corcaguinny in Kerry.\n\n    2. _Cineal_, race, descendants; _cineal Eoghain_, the race of\n    Eoghan; _cineal Conaill_, the race of Conall. This word is\n    translated _Genus_ throughout the Annals of Ulster.\n\n    3. _Clann_, children, descendants; as _clann Colmain_, the tribe\n    name of a great branch of the southern Hy-Niall.\n\n    4. _Dal_, tribe, descendants, as _Dal-Riada_, _Dal-Araidhe_,\n    _Dal-g-cais_, _Dal Mesincorb_, &c. This word has been explained\n    by the venerable Bede, and from him by Cormac Mac Cullenan,\n    archbishop of Cashel, as signifying _part_ or _portion_ in\n    the Scottic language; but from the manner in which it is used\n    in Irish genealogies, this would appear to be but a secondary\n    and figurative meaning. O\u2019Flaherty seems to doubt that this\n    word could be properly translated _part_; but Charles O\u2019Conor,\n    who gave much consideration to the subject, writes in a note\n    to Ogygia Vindicated, p. 175, \u201cthat _dal_ properly signifies\n    posterity, _or descent by blood_; but in an enlarged and\n    figurative sense it signifies a district, that is, the division\n    or part allotted to such posterity: that of this double sense\n    we have numberless instances, and that in this _second sense_\n    Bede\u2019s interpretation is doubtlessly admissible.\u201d\n\n    5. _Muintir_, family, people; as _Muintir Murchadha_, the tribe\n    name which the O\u2019Flahertys bore before the establishment of\n    surnames.\n\n    6. _Siol_, seed, progeny; as _Siol Aodha_, seed of Hugh, the\n    tribe name of a branch of the Mac Namaras in Thomond; _Siol\n    Maoluidhir_, the progeny of Maeleer, a great tribe in Leinster,\n    who gave name to the territory of Shelmalier, in the county of\n    Wexford.\n\n    7. _Tealach_, family; as _Telach Eathach_, the family of Eochy,\n    the tribe name of the Magaurans in Breffney.\n\n    8. _Sliocht_, posterity; as _Sliocht Aodha Slaine_, the progeny\n    of King Hugh Slany in Meath.\n\n    9. _Ua_, grandson, descendant; nominative plural, _ui_; dative\n    or ablative, _uibh_. This prefix in its upright uninflected\n    form appears in the names of Irish tribes oftener than any of\n    the other seven. Some ignorant Irish scribes have supposed\n    that it signifies a region or country, and some of the modern\n    transcribers of Keating\u2019s History of Ireland have taken the\n    liberty to corrupt it to _aoibh_, a form not to be found in any\n    ancient or correct MS. In support of the meaning above given may\n    be adduced the high authority of Adamnan, abbot of Iona in the\n    7th century, who, in his life of his predecessor St Columbkille,\n    invariably renders _ua_, _ui_, _uibh_, _nepos_, _nepotes_,\n    _nepotibus_, in conformity with his habitual substitution of\n    Latin equivalents for Irish tribe names, as often as he found it\n    practicable. Thus, in the 16th chapter of the second book, he\n    renders _Ua Briuin_, _nepos Briuni_; in the 5th chapter of the\n    third book he translates _Ua Ainmirech_, _nepos Ainmirech_; in\n    the 17th chapter of the same book he translates _Ua Liathain_,\n    _nepos Liathain_; in the 49th chapter of the first book he\n    renders _Ui Neill_, _nepotes Nelli_, i.e., the race of Niall; and\n    in the 22d chapter of the same book he translates _Ui Tuirtre_,\n    _nepotes Tuitre_.\n\nWe have also for the same interpretation the authority of the annalist\nTigernach, who, in his Annals of Ireland at the year 714, translates _Ui\nEachach_ (now Iveagh, in the county Down), _nepotes Eochaidh_.\n\nOn this subject it may not be uninteresting to the reader to hear the\nopinion of the learned Roderic O\u2019Flaherty. Treating of the Hy Cormaic, a\ntribe located near Lough Foyle, in the present county of Londonderry, he\nsays--\n\n\u201c_Hy_ or _I_ (which calls for an explanation) is the plural number\nfrom _Hua_ or _O_, a grandson, and is frequently prefixed to the names\nof progenitors of families, as well to particularize the families as\nthe lands they possess, as _Dal_, _Siol_, _Clann_, _Kinel_, _Mac_,\n_Muintir_, _Teallach_, or any such name, pursuant to the adoptive power\nof custom.\u201d--_Ogygia_, Part III. Chap. 76.\n\nBesides the words above enumerated, after which the names of progenitors\nare placed, there are others to be met with after which the names of\nterritories are placed, as _Aes_, people; _Fir_ or _Feara_, men; _Aicme_,\ntribe; and _Pobul_, people; as _Aes Greine_, i.e., _the people of Grian_,\na tribe located in the present county of Limerick; _Aes tri Magh_, _the\npeople of the three plains_, in the same county; _Feara Muighe Feine_,\n_the men of Moy Feine_, now Fermoy, in the county of Cork; _Fir Rois_,\n_the men of Ross_, the name of a tribe in the present county of Monaghan;\n_Feara Arda_, i.e., _the men of Ard_, a tribe in the present county of\nLouth; _Pobul Droma_, in Tipperary.\n\nMany other names were formed by a mode not unlike the Latin and Greek\nmethod, that is, by adding certain terminations to the name or cognomen\nof the ancestors of the tribes. These terminations are generally\n_raighe_, _aighe_, _ne_, and _acht_, as _Caenraighe_, _Muscraighe_,\n_Dartraighe_, _Calraighe_, _Ciarraighe_, _Tradraighe_, _Greagraighe_,\n_Ernaidhe_, _Mairtine_, _Conmaicne_, _Olnegmacht_, _Connacht_,\n_Cianacht_, _Eoghanacht_, &c. &c. This is the usual form of the tribe\nnames among the descendants of the Belgic families enumerated in the\nBooks of Lecan and Glendalough, as existing in Ireland in the first\ncentury, and it is not improbable that the tribe names given on Ptolemy\u2019s\nMap of Ireland are partly fanciful translations, and partly modifications\nof them.\n\nIt appears from the authentic Irish annals, and the whole tenor of Irish\nhistory, that the Irish people were distinguished by tribe names _only_\nup to the period of the monarch Brian Boru, who published an edict that\nthe descendants of the heads of tribes and families then in power should\ntake name from them, either from the fathers or grandfathers, and that\nthese names should become hereditary and remain fixed for ever. To this\nperiod we must refer the origin of family names or surnames.\n\nPreviously to this reign the Irish people were divided into various\ngreat tribes commanded by powerful chieftains, usually called kings, and\nthese great tribes were further sub-divided into several minor ones,\neach commanded by a petty chieftain, but who was subject to the control\nof the _Righ_, or head of the great tribe. Thus, in Thomond the name of\nthe great tribe was _Dal Cais_, from Cormac Cas, the progenitor of the\nregal family, and of all the sub-tribes into which this great race was\ndivided. Immediately before the establishment of surnames, Brian Boru,\nwhose descendants took the name of O\u2019Brien, was the leader and supposed\nsenior representative of this great race; but there were various other\ntribes under him, known by various appellations, as the _Hy-Caisin_\notherwise _clann Cuileain_, who after the reign of Brian took the name of\nMac Namara; the _Kinel-Fearmaic_, who took the name of O\u2019Dea; _Muintir\nIffernain_, who took the name of O\u2019Quin; the _Kinel Donghaile_, who\ntook the name of O\u2019Grady; the _Sliocht Dunchuain_, who took the name of\nO\u2019Kennedy; the _Hy-Ronghaile_, who took the name of O\u2019Shanaghan; the\n_Hy-Kearney_, who took the name of O\u2019Ahern, &c.\n\nThe chiefs of these tribes had generally the names of their fathers\npostfixed to their own, and sometimes, but not often, those of their\ngrandfathers; but previous to the reign of Brian in the tenth century,\nthese appellations changed in every generation.\n\nThe next article shall treat of surnames.\n\n[1] Original in possession of Messrs Hodges and Smith, College Green,\nDublin.\n\n\n\n\nBOYHOOD AND MANHOOD.\n\n\n    Oh, for the merry, merry month of June,\n      When I was a little lad!\n    When the small birds\u2019 throats were all in tune,\n      And the very fields were glad.\n    And the flowers that alas! were to fade too soon,\n      In their holiday clothes were clad.\n\n    Oh, I remember--remember well,\n      The scent of the morning grass,\n    Nor was there a sight, sweet sound, or sweet smell,\n      That can e\u2019er from my memory pass:\n    For they lie on my heart with the power of a spell,\n      Like the first love I felt for a lass.\n\n    Ay, there is the river in which I swam,\n      The field where I used to play--\n    The fosse where I built the bridge and the dam,\n      And the oak in whose shade I lay:\n    But, oh, how changed a thing I am!\n      And how unchanged are they!\n\n    Time was--ah! that was the happy time!--\n      When I longed a man to be;\n    When a shaven chin was a thing sublime--\n      And a fine thing to be free:\n    And methought I had nought to do but climb\n      To the height of felicity.\n\n    But, alas! my beard is waxen grey\n      Since I mingled among men;\n    And I\u2019m not much wiser, nor half so gay,\n      Nor so good as I was then;--\n    And I\u2019d give much more than I care to say\n      To be a boy again.\n\n                                                 N.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOLD AGE.--Remember, old man, that you are now in the waning, and the\ndate of your pilgrimage well nigh expired; and now that it behoveth you\nto look towards your final accounting, your force languisheth, your\nsenses impair, your body droops, and on every side the ruinous cottage\nof your faint and feeble flesh threateneth the fall; and having so many\nharbingers of death to premonish you of your end, how can you but prepare\nfor so dreadful a stranger? The young man may die quickly, but the old\nman cannot live long; the young man\u2019s life by casualty may be abridged,\nbut the old man\u2019s term by no physic can be long adjourned; and therefore,\nif green years should sometimes think of the grave and the judgment, the\nthoughts of old age should continually dwell on the same.--_Remains of\nSir Walter Raleigh._\n\n\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY DETECTION OF MURDER.\n\n\nIt is a speculation perhaps equally interesting to the philosophic as to\nthe untutored mind, and dwelt on with as much placidity by the one as by\nthe other, to reflect on the various and extraordinary modes by which\nthe hand of Providence has through all ages withdrawn the dark mantle of\nconcealment from the murderer\u2019s form, and stamped condemnation on his\nbrow--sometimes before the marks of the bloody deed were yet dried, and\nsometimes after long years of security had seemed to insure final escape,\nwhether the detection arose from some peculiar circumstance awaking\nremorse so powerfully as to compel the murderer to self-accusation\nthrough an ungovernable impulse; from the hauntings of guilty terror;\nfrom over-anxiety to avoid suspicion; or from some utterly slight and\nunforeseen casualty.\n\nThe popular belief has always been, that of all criminals the shedder of\nblood _never_ escapes detection and punishment even in this life; and\nthough a very limited experience may show the fallacy of such belief as\nregards the vengeance man can inflict, who may conceive that inflicted by\nthe tortured conscience?--that hell which even the unbeliever does not\nmock, which permits neither hope nor rest, invests the summer sunshine\nwith a deeper blackness than that of midnight, peoples the air with\nmoving and threatening spectres, embodies the darkness into terrible\nshapes, and haunts even slumber with visionary terrors more hideous than\nthe worst realities.\n\nThe records of crime in our own and other countries contain numerous\nstriking examples of the detection of murder by singular and sometimes\napparently trivial means. These have appeared in a variety of published\nforms, and are of course generally known; but we shall select a few\nunpublished instances which have come within our own cognizance, and seem\nto us to possess peculiar and striking features of their own, in the hope\nthat they may be found to possess some interest for the readers of the\nIrish Penny Journal.\n\nThe case we shall first select, not so much for the manner of the\nmurderer\u2019s detection as for the singular plan he struck out to escape\nsuspicion, and the strange circumstances connected with the crime and its\npunishment altogether, is that of a man named M\u2019Gennis, for the murder of\nhis wife.\n\nM\u2019Gennis, when we saw him on his trial, was a peculiarly powerful-looking\nman, standing upwards of six feet, strongly proportioned, and evidently\nof great muscular strength. His countenance, however, was by no means\ngood, his face being colourless, his brow heavy, and the whole cast of\nhis features stern and forbidding. From his appearance altogether he\nstruck us at once as one eminently fitted and likely to have played a\nconspicuous part in the faction fights so common during his youth at\nour fairs and markets. But though we made several inquiries both then\nand since, we could not learn that he had ever been prominent in such\nscenes, or remarkable for a quarrelsome disposition. He was a small\nfarmer, residing at a village nearly in a line between the little town of\nClaremorris, and the still smaller but more ancient one of Ballyhaunis,\nnear the borders of Mayo. With him lived his mother and wife, a very\ncomely young woman, it is said, to whom he had not been long married at\nthe time of the perpetration of the murder, and with whom he had never\nhad any previous altercation such as to attract the observation or\ninterference of the neighbours.\n\nIt was on a market evening of Claremorris, in the year 1830, that the\nmother of M\u2019Gennis, a withered hag, almost doubled with age, and who on\nour first seeing her strongly reminded us of the witches that used, in\ndescription at least, to frighten and fascinate our boyhood, hobbled with\ngreat apparent terror into the cabin nearest her own, and alarmed the\noccupants by stating that she had heard a noise in the potato room, and\nthat she feared her daughter-in-law was doing some harm to herself. Two\nor three of them accordingly returned speedily with her, and, entering\nthe room, saw the lifeless body of the unfortunate young woman lying on\nthe potatoes in a state of complete nudity. There was no blood or mark of\nviolence on any part of the body, except the face and throat, round the\nlatter of which a slight handkerchief was suffocatingly tied, by which\nshe had evidently been strangled, as both face and neck were blackened\nand swollen.\n\nWho then had perpetrated the deed? was the question whispered by all the\nneighbours as they came and went. M\u2019Gennis, according to his mother\u2019s\naccount, had not yet returned from the market; the hag herself would not\nhave had strength to accomplish the murder even if bloody-minded enough\nto attempt it, and it was next to an impossibility that the young woman\nherself could have committed self-destruction in _that_ manner.\n\nWhile the callous hag was so skilfully supporting her part in the\nmurderous drama, the chief performer, who had not been seen to return\nfrom the market, immediately after the commission of the horrid deed,\nthrough whatever motive he had done it, crossed a neighboring river to\nBricken, where it intersects the high-road by means of stepping-stones,\nas bridge it had none,[2] though it is occasionally in winter a furious\ntorrent. On the opposite side he chanced to meet a country tailor (we\nforget his name), who was proceeding from one village to another, to\nexercise his craft in making and mending; and the devil suggesting a plan\non the spur of the moment, which was to recoil with destruction on his\nguilty head, he forced the tailor to take on his knees the most fearful\noaths that he would never divulge what should then be revealed to him,\nand that he would act in strict conformity with the directions he should\nreceive, threatening, if he refused compliance, to beat out his brains\nwith a stone, and then fling him into the river.\n\nThe affrighted tailor having of course readily taken the required oaths,\nM\u2019Gennis confessed to him the murder of his wife, using at the same time\nhorrible imprecations, that if ever a word on the subject escaped the\ntailor\u2019s lips, he would, _dead or alive_, take the most deadly vengeance\non him. He then proceeded to cut and dinge his hat in several places, and\ninflict various scratches on his hands and face, directing the tailor\nto assert that he had found _him_ attacked by four men on the road, on\nhis return from Claremorris; after which, to give the more appearance\nof probability to the tale, he obliged his involuntary accessory after\nthe fact (as the law has it) to bear him on his back to a cabin at some\ndistance, as if the murderer were too weak to proceed himself after the\nviolent assault committed on him. And here, if we could venture to raise\na smile in the course of so revolting a detail, we would observe, that it\nmust have been a ludicrous sight to see the tailor, who was but a meagre\nspecimen of humanity, trailing along the all but giant frame of the\nmurderer. The poor tailor\u2019s own feelings were, however, at the time much\nmore akin to mortal terror than to mirth or humour, as he found at the\nsame time his mind burdened with an unwished-for, terrible, and dangerous\nsecret, and himself in company with the murderer, who might at any moment\nchange his mind, repent his confession, and take _his_ life too.\n\nOn reaching the cabin, the tailor told the story of the pretended\nattack, as he had been directed, while M\u2019Gennis himself, showing his\nscratches, and detailing in a weak voice the assault on him by men he\ndid not know, affected such faintness as to fall from the chair on which\nhe had been placed. A farrier was then procured at his request; and to\nsuch lengths did he proceed with the plan he had struck out, that he got\nhimself blooded, though the farrier shrewdly perceived at the same time\n(according to his after evidence) that there seemed to be no weakness\nwhatever about him, except in his voice, and that his pulse was strong\nand regular.\n\nIt may seem strange at first that M\u2019Gennis should have divulged to the\ntailor, an entire stranger, the secret of his guilt, then unknown to any\nbeing on earth but his mother; an instant\u2019s reflection will show us that\nwhen once the thought occurred to make use of the tailor\u2019s assistance\nin the manner described to aid him in avoiding detection, he might just\nas well confess the whole terrible secret, which, coming from _him_,\nwould strike additional terror--the only engine on which he could rely\nfor procuring the secrecy and assistance he required. Accordingly, so\nstrongly was the terror impressed, that on the following day the tailor\ndisappeared from that part of the country, and reappeared not, though\nM\u2019Gennis and his mother were at once committed on suspicion, till the\napproach of the ensuing assizes, when he came forward, probably as much\ninduced by the large reward offered for the murderer\u2019s conviction, as\nfor the purpose of disburdening himself of his fearful secret in aiding\njustice.\n\nThere was much interest excited at those assizes, we recollect, by the\ntrial of M\u2019Gennis and his mother, who were arraigned together, and of a\ngrey-haired man named Cuffe, for a murder committed twenty-four years\npreviously, of which more anon; and with respect to the former parties,\nthere was unmixed abhorrence expressed by the numerous auditors. It\nwas indeed a revolting sight, and one not readily to be forgotten, the\ntowering and powerfully proportioned son in the prime of life, and\napparently with the most hardened callousness, standing side by side\nto be tried for the same heinous offence with his withered parent,\nwhose age-bowed head scarce reached his shoulder, while her rheumed and\nstill rat-like eye wandered with an eager and restless gaze round the\ncourt, as if she was only alive to the novelty of the scene, and utterly\nunconcerned for the fearful position she stood in. It was absolutely\nheart-sickening to see how repeatedly the wretched hag pulled her guilty\nson towards her during the trial, to whisper remarks and inquiries,\nfrequently altogether unconnected with the evidence, and the crime she\nwas accused of and believed to have instigated and aided in.\n\nEven in the strongly guarded court, it was on the side of the dock\nremotest from where M\u2019Gennis stood that the tailor ventured forward to\ngive his evidence, though the murderer\u2019s reckless hardihood of bearing\naltered not for a moment, either in consequence of his appearance, or\nduring the course of his evidence; in fact, he seemed to be principally\noccupied in answering his mother\u2019s queries, and quieting her.\n\nThe testimony of the tailor, bearing strongly the impress of truth,\nsingular as it was, was strengthened by that of the brother of the\ndeceased, who seemed greatly affected while deposing that he had\nmet M\u2019Gennis in Claremorris on the day of the murder, and that the\nhandkerchief afterwards found round his sister\u2019s neck had been worn by\nthe murderer on that occasion. There was not an iota of evidence for the\nprisoners, and accordingly a verdict against the son was instantly handed\nin, though the vile hag was acquitted for want of substantiating evidence\nagainst her, to the regret of a crowded court.\n\nAfter condemnation, M\u2019Gennis was placed in the same cell with Cuffe,\nthe other murderer, who had been also convicted; and nothing could be\nmore dissimilar than their demeanour while together. Cuffe was calm,\ncommunicative, and apparently penitent, while M\u2019Gennis was sullen and\nsilent; nor could all the exertions of the clergymen who attended him\ninduce him to acknowledge either guilt or repentance. On the morning\nafter conviction, an alarm was given in the cell by Cuffe, and on\nentering, the turnkeys found that M\u2019Gennis had anticipated the hangman\u2019s\noffice, by rather strangling than hanging himself. He had effected the\nsuicide by means of a slight kerchief appended to the latch of the door,\nwhich was scarcely three feet from the floor, and on a level with which\nhe had brought his neck, by shooting the lower portion of his body along\nthe cell-flags from the door; and perhaps not the least remarkable fact\nconnected with this extraordinary suicide is, that the handkerchief was\nthe very one with which he had effected the murder of his wife, and\nwhich had been produced on the trial. It is very unusual for any article\nproduced in evidence to find its way to the dock, but in this case it\nappears the handkerchief must by some strange casualty have come into the\nhands of the murderer again; and having soaped it highly (he was allowed\nsoap even in the condemned cell), he consummated his fearful deeds with\nit.\n\nShortly after the discovery of the suicide, we among others visited the\ncell to see the body, when, in a conversation with the acute and highly\nintelligent physician to the prison, he observed what iron nerves the\nmurderer must have possessed to effect such a suicide, as from his own\nheight, and the lowness of the latch, he must, in order to complete the\nstrangulation, have persevered for several minutes in keeping his neck\nstrained, during any one of which, up to the last few, he might have\nreadily recovered himself. The body was still stretched on the flags, and\nexhibited the appearance of a very powerful frame; and when we considered\nthe desperate and utterly fearless mind that had actuated it, it struck\nus, and others who spoke on the same subject, with more surprise than\never, that M\u2019Gennis should not have been implicated in outrage and\nbloodshed long before. Such, however, it would appear, was not the case.\n\nOn being examined at the inquest, the other occupant of that fearful\ncell denied all knowledge of his brother convict\u2019s intention to commit\nsuicide, or of his having committed it, until morning, stating that\nhe had slept soundly, and heard no noise whatever during the night--a\ncircumstance which seems rather curious, as the cell was but of small\ndimensions, and M\u2019Gennis must have certainly made some noise, from the\nmanner in which he had perpetrated the horrid deed. On the other hand, it\nis well known that persons, no matter how restless or uneasy they may\nhave been previously, almost invariably sleep soundly on the night before\nexecution. All doubts and uncertainty are then over: the mental struggle\nhas ceased.\n\nRumours, indeed, were afloat that Cuffe had witnessed the commission\nof the suicide, and that M\u2019Gennis had urged him to do the like also,\nin order not to give their enemies and the crowd the gratification of\nwitnessing their execution. But how could this circumstance be known,\nas Cuffe himself did not admit it? Another rumour was, that M\u2019Gennis\u2019s\nmother, at parting with him, had instigated him to the terrible act; and\nthis we would be more inclined to give credit to, from what we have heard\nof her character, as well as from our own observation of her demeanour\nthroughout the trial.\n\nThe crime of murder is always that most revolting and abhorrent to our\nnature; but when committed on our bosom partner, whom we have sworn\nto defend and cherish, and who in her helplessness looks up to us as\nher only stay and protection on earth, it assumes an utterly fiendish\ncharacter. That it was felt to be so in M\u2019Gennis\u2019s case, unfortunately\nprone as we sometimes are to have sympathy for crime, we were ourselves\na witness, as, on the verdict against him being proclaimed, there was\nan audible buzz of applause through the court; and when the account of\nhis suicide afterwards became public, men expressed the most heart-felt\ngratification that the world was rid of such a fiend. Yet, singular\nit is that never since has it transpired, at least as far as we could\nlearn, what motive M\u2019Gennis could have had for the murder of his wife,\nto whom, as was before stated, he had not been long married. Reports\nthere were, to be sure, that the wife and mother had led an uncomfortable\nand bickering life since coming together--unfortunately a very frequent\ncase, and one which often produces much misery and crime in humble\nlife; and that it was in consequence of the division of some milk at\ntheir homely evening meal, that an altercation arose, which, through\nthe hag\u2019s instigation, led to the destruction of the daughter-in-law,\nand eventually to that of the son. But as these rumours only became\ncurrent after the murder, it is not easy to attach much credit to them,\nespecially if we place any reliance on the statement that M\u2019Gennis had\nreturned home from Claremorris through fields and bye-paths to avoid\nbeing seen, as if he had been contemplating the crime. At all events,\nwhether he had contemplated it, or whether it emanated from a sudden\nburst of wrath fanned by his parent\u2019s wicked suggestions, it seems\nclearly not to have arisen from jealousy, hatred, or revenge--those\npassions so generally productive of such crime; and there is no one\nnow living to explain the mystery, as the hag died without a word in\nexplanation of it.\n\nThe space we have limited ourselves to, prevents us from saying more in\nthis number of Cuffe, whose crime was of a much more national character,\nand occupied a good deal the attention of the government of the period;\nand whose detection, after a lapse of twenty-four years--in fact, after\nhis having declined gradually from the prime of manhood to hoary-headed\nage--seems to go farther in supporting the popular prejudice that\nthe murderer can never escape detection. But we shall take an early\nopportunity to detail to the reader his case, and the state of society\nthat led to it.\n\n                                                                       A.\n\n[2] There is a bridge now in progress of erection over it at this spot.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BALD BARRYS, OR THE BLESSED THORN OF KILDINAN.\n\n    \u201c----Make curl\u2019d-pate ruffians\n    Quite bald.\u201d\n\n                                 SHAKSPEARE.\n\n\nThe breeze of the declining March day blew keenly, as I strode across the\nextensive fields towards the old burial-ground of Kildinan, in the county\nof Cork. On reaching the ancient church, I rested on the broken bank that\nenclosed the cemetery, to contemplate the scene before me, and pause upon\nthe generations of men that have been impelled along the stream of time\ntowards the voiceless ocean of eternity, since the day on which an altar\nwas first erected on this desolate spot, in worship of the Deity. The\nmost accurate observer would scarcely suppose that this enclosure had\never been a place of interment, save that certain little hillocks of two\nor three spans long, and defined by a rude stone, were scattered along\nits surface. To a fanciful imagination these would seem to have been\nthe graves of some pigmy nation, concerning which tradition had lost\nall remembrance. But the little sepulchres were the resting-places of\nunfortunate babes that die in the birth, or but wake to a consciousness\nof life--utter the brief cry of pain, and sleep in death for ever. These\nunbaptized ones are never permitted to mingle with Christian clay, and\nare always consigned to these disused cemeteries. With this exception,\nthe old churchyard had long ceased to receive a human tenant, and its\nfoundation could scarcely be traced beneath the rank grass. The father\nof the present proprietor of the land had planted the whole space with\nfir-trees, and these flourishing in the rich soil formed by decomposed\nhuman bodies for many a foot beneath, have shot up to an unusual size,\nand furnish a proof that even in death man is not wholly useless, and\nthat, when his labour is ended, his carcase may fertilize the sod\nimpoverished by his greedy toil. In these tall firs a colony of rooks had\nestablished their airy city, and while these young settlers were building\nnew habitations, the old citizens of the grove were engaged in repairing\nthe damage their homes had received from the storms of winter; and the\nshrill discordant voices of the sable multitude seemed to mock the repose\nof them that occupied the low and silent mansions beneath.\n\nWhile indulging these _grave_ reflections, I saw a man approach by the\npath I lately trod. He was far advanced in the decline of life; his tall\nfigure, which he supported with a long staff, was wrapped in a blue-grey\ncoat that folded close under a hair cincture, and the woollen hat,\nsusceptible of every impression, was drawn over his face, as if to screen\nit from the sharp blast that rushed athwart his way. He suddenly stopped,\nthen fixed his glance upon a certain spot of the burial ground where\nstood a blasted and branchless whitethorn, that seemed to have partaken\nof the ruin of the ancient fabric, over whose gross-grown foundation it\nyet lingered. Then raising his eyes to heaven, he sank upon his knees,\nwhile his lips moved as if in the utterance of some fervid ejaculation.\nSurely, thought I, this old man\u2019s elevated devotion, at such a place\nand time, proceeds not solely from the ordinary motives that induce the\npenitent to pray--some circumstance, some tradition connected with this\nancient place, has wrought his piety to this pitch of enthusiasm. Thus\ndid my fancy conjecture at the moment, nor was I mistaken.\n\nAs the old man rose from his attitude of supplication, I approached and\nsaid, \u201cMy friend, I hope you will pardon this intrusion, for your sudden\nand impassioned devotion has greatly awakened my curiosity.\u201d\n\nHe immediately answered in the Irish tongue, \u201cI was only begging mercy\nand pardon for the souls who in the close darkness of the prison-house\ncannot relieve themselves, and beseeching that heaven would cease to\nvisit upon the children the guilt of their fathers. This spot brought to\nmy memory an act of sacrilege which my forefathers perpetrated, and for\nwhich their descendants yet suffer; and I did not conceive at the moment\nthat a living being beheld me but God.\n\n\u201cPerhaps,\u201d he continued, \u201cas you seem to be a stranger in these parts,\nyou have never heard of the Bald Barrys, and the blessed Whitethorn of\nKildinan. It is an old tradition, and you may be inclined to name it a\nlegend of superstition; but yonder is the whitethorn, blasted and decayed\nfrom the contact of my ancestors\u2019 unholy hands; and here stands the last\nof their name, a homeless wanderer, with no other inheritance than this\nmark of the curse and crime of his race.\u201d So saying, he pulled off the\nold woollen hat, and exhibited his head perfectly smooth and guiltless of\na single hair.\n\n\u201cThat old heads should become bald, is no uncommon occurrence,\u201d I\nobserved, \u201cand I have seen younger heads as hairless as yours.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy head,\u201d he returned, \u201cfrom my birth to this moment, never knew a\nsingle hair; my father and grandfather endured the same privation, while\nmy great-grandfather was deprived of his long and copious locks in one\ntearful moment. I shall tell you the story as we go along, if your course\nlies in the direction of this pathway.\u201d\n\nAs we proceeded, he delivered the following legend. The old man\u2019s\nphraseology was copious and energetic, qualities which I have vainly\nstriven to infuse into the translation; for an abler pen would fail in\nour colder English of doing justice to the very poetical language of the\nnarrator.\n\n\u201cMany a biting March has passed over the heads of men since Colonel\nBarry lived at Lisnegar. He was of the true blood of the old Strongbow\nchiefs, who became sovereign princes in the land; and forming alliances\nwith the ancient owners of the soil, renounced the Saxon connection and\nname. This noble family gloried in the title of M\u2019Adam;[3] and the\ncolonel did not shame his descent. He kept open house for all comers, and\nevery day an ox was killed and consumed at Lisnegar. All the gentlemen\nof the province thronged thither, hunting and hawking, and feasting\nand coshering; while the hall was crowded with harpers and pipers,\n_caroughs_ and _buckaughs_, and _shanachies_ and story-tellers, who came\nand went as they pleased, in constant succession. I myself,\u201d said the\nold man, sighing, \u201chave seen a remnant of these good old times, but now\nthey are vanished for ever; the genius of hospitality has retired from\nthe chieftain\u2019s hall to the hovel on the moor; and the wanderer turns\nwith a sigh from lofty groves and stately towers, to the shelter of the\npeasant\u2019s shed!\n\nDavid Barry and his seven brothers lived with M\u2019Adam, and were of his\nown name and race; and whether he enjoyed the sport of the chase, or\ntook the diversion of shooting, or moved among the high and titled of\nthe land, they always accompanied him, and formed a sort of body-guard,\nto share his sports or assert his quarrels. At that time, on the banks\nof the Bride, near the ruined tower of Shanacloch, lived a man named\nEdmund Barry. A thick and briary covert on his farm had been for many\nyears the haunt of a fox celebrated all over the south of Ireland for\nthe extraordinary speed and prowess he evinced in the many attempts made\nto hunt him down. Many gallant and noble huntsmen sought the honour of\nbearing home his brush, but in vain; and it was a remarkable fact, that\nafter tiring out both hounds and horses in the arduous pursuit, and\nthough his flight might extend over a considerable part of the province,\nhe invariably returned at night to his favourite covert. A treaty of\npeace, it would seem, had been tacitly instituted between Edmund Barry\nand the fox. Barry\u2019s poultry for a series of years, whether they sought\nthe banks of the Bride or the neighbourhood of the barn door, never\nsuffered by the dangerous vicinity: Reynard would mix with Barry\u2019s dogs\nand spend an hour of social intercourse with them, as familiarly as if\nhe belonged to the same species; and Barry gave his wild crafty friend\nthe same protection and licence that he permitted his own domestic curs.\nThe fame of this strange union of interests was well known; and to this\nday the memory of Barry\u2019s _madra roc_ survives in the traditions of the\ncountry.\n\nOne evening as M\u2019Adam and his train returned from a long and unsuccessful\nchase of Edmund Barry\u2019s fox, their route lay by the ruins of the ancient\nchurch of Kildinan; near this sacred spot a whitethorn tree had stood,\nand its beauty and bloom were the theme of every tongue. The simple\ndevotee who poured his orisons to God beneath its holy shade believed\nthat the hands of guardian spirits pruned its luxuriance and developed\nits form of beauty--that dews from heaven were sprinkled by angel hands\nto produce its rich and beautiful blossoms, which, like those of the\nthorn of Glastonbury, loaded the black winds of December with many\na token of holy fragrance, in welcome of the heavenly advent of HIM\nwho left his Father\u2019s throne to restore to the sons of Adam the lost\ninheritance of heaven. M\u2019Adam was charmed with the beauty of the tree,\nand little regarding the sanctity or the superstitious awe attached to\nits character, was resolved to transfer it to Lisnegar, that his lawn\nmight possess that rare species of thorn which blooms in beauty when all\nits sisters of the field are bare and barren.\n\nNext day, when M\u2019Adam signified his intention of removing the whitethorn\nof Kildinan, his people stood aghast at his impiety, and one and all\ndeclared they would suffer a thousand deaths rather than perpetrate so\naudacious a sacrilege. Now, M\u2019Adam was a man of high blood and haughty\nbearing, and accustomed at all times to the most rigid enforcement of\nhis commands. When he found his men unhesitatingly refuse to obey him,\nhis anger sent the glow of resentment to flush his cheek; he spurned the\nearth in a paroxysm of rage, exclaiming, \u2018Varlets! of all that have eaten\nthe bread of M\u2019Adam, and reposed under the shadow of his protection, are\nthere none free from the trammels of superstitious folly, to execute his\ncommands?\u2019\n\n\u2018Here are seven of your own name and race,\u2019 cried David Barry, \u2018men\nsworn to stand and fall together, who obey no commands but yours, and\nacknowledge no law but your will. The whitethorn of Kildinan shall leave\nits sacred tenement, if strong hands and brave hearts can effect its\nremoval. If it be profanation to disturb the tree which generations have\nreverenced, the curse for sacrilege rests not with us: and did M\u2019Adam\ncommand us to tear the blessed gold from the shrine of a saint, we would\nnot hesitate to obey--we were but executing the will of our legal chief.\u2019\n\nSuch was the flattering unction which the retainers of M\u2019Adam applied\nto their souls, as they proceeded to desecrate the spot hallowed by the\nreverence of ages, and around whose holy thorn superstition had drawn a\nmystic circle, within whose limit human foot may not intrude. Men have\nnot yet forgotten this lesson of the feudal school; the sack of cities,\nthe shrieks of women, the slaughter of thousands, are yet perpetrated\nwithout ruth or remorse in obedience to superior command, and the sublime\n_Te Deum_ swells to consecrate the savage atrocity.\n\nOn that evening M\u2019Adam saw the beautiful whitethorn planted in his lawn,\nand many were the thanks and high the reward of the faithful few who\nrose superior to the terrors of superstition in the execution of his\ncommands. But his surprise was great when David Barry broke in upon his\nmorning\u2019s repose, to announce that the tree had disappeared during the\nnight, and was again planted where it had stood for ages before, in the\nancient cemetery of Kildinan. M\u2019Adam, conjecturing that this object of\nthe people\u2019s veneration had been secretly conveyed by them during the\nnight to its former abode, dispatched his retainers again to fetch it,\nwith strict injunctions to lie in watch around it till morning. The\nbrothers, obedient to the call of their chief, brought the whitethorn\nback, and having supported its stem, and carefully covered its roots with\nrich mould, after the most approved method of planting, prepared to watch\nround it all night, under the bare canopy of heaven. The night was long\nand dark, and their eyes sleepless; the night-breeze had sunk to repose,\nand all nature seemed hushed in mysterious awe. A deep and undefinable\nfeeling of dread stole over the hearts of the midnight watchers; and\nthey who could have rejoiced in the din of battle, were appalled by this\nfearful calm. Obedience to the commands of M\u2019Adam could not steel their\nbosoms against the goadings of remorse, and the ill-suppressed murmur\nrose against their sacrilegious chief. As the night advanced, impelled by\nsome strange fear, they extended their circle round the mysterious tree.\nAt length David, the eldest and bravest of the brothers, fell asleep. His\nshort and fitful snatches of repose were disturbed by wild and indistinct\ndreams; but as his slumbers settled, those vague images passed away, and\nthe following vision was presented to the sleeper\u2019s imagination:--\n\nHe dreamt that as he was keeping watch where he lay, by the blessed thorn\nof Kildinan, there stood before him a venerable man; his radiant features\nand shining vesture lighted all the space around, and pierced awful and\nfar into the surrounding darkness. His hand held a crosier; his head was\ncrowned with a towering mitre; his white beard descended to the girdle\nthat encircled his rich pontificals; and he looked, in his embroidered\n\u2018sandal shoon\u2019 and gorgeous array, the mitred abbot of some ancient\nmonastery, which the holy rage of the Saxon reformation had levelled in\nthe dust. But the visage of the sainted man was fearfully severe in its\nexpression, and the sleeping mortal fell prostrate before the unearthly\neye that sent its piercing regards to search his inmost soul.\n\n\u2018Wretch,\u2019 said the shining apparition, in a voice of thunder, \u2018raise thy\nhead and hear thy doom, and that of thy sacrilegious brothers.\u2019\n\nBarry did raise his head in obedience to the terrific mandate, though his\nsoul sank within him, before his dreadful voice and eye of terror.\n\n\u2018Because you,\u2019 continued the holy man, \u2018have violated the sanctity of\nthe place consecrated to God, you and your race shall wander homeless\nvagabonds, and your devoted heads, as a sign and a warning to future\ntimes, shall abide the pelting of every storm, and the severity of every\nchanging season, unprotected by the defence which nature has bestowed\nupon all men, till your name and race be faded from the land.\u2019\n\nAt this wrathful denunciation the terrified man falls prostrate to\ndeprecate the fearful malediction, and awakes with a cry of terror which\nalarms the listeners. As he proceeds to reveal the terrible vision which\nhis sleeping eyes beheld, the crash of thunder, the flash of lightning,\nand the sweep of the whirlwind, envelope them. As the day dawns, they\nare found senseless, at a considerable distance from the spot where\nthey had lain the preceding night to guard the fatal tree. The thorn\nhad likewise disappeared; and, strange to relate, the raven hair which\nclustered in long ringlets, that any wearer of the ancient _coolin_\nmight well have envied, no longer adorns their manly heads. The fierce\nwhirlwind, that in mockery of human daring had tossed them, like the\nstubble of the field, had realized the dream of the sleeper, and borne\noff their long profuse hair in its vengeful sweep.\u201d\n\nSuch was the narrative of the last representative of the \u201cBald\nBarrys.\u201d I bequeath it to the reader without note or comment. He of\ncourse will regard it according to his particular bias--will wonder\nhow an imaginative people will attribute the downfall of families, or\nthe entailment of hereditary disease, to the effect of supernatural\nintervention; or exclaim, as some very pious and moral men have done, that\n\n    \u201cThere are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,\n    Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.\u201d\n\n                                                                    E. W.\n\n[3] Dr Smith, in his History of the County of Cork, thus mentions\nColonel Barry:--\u201cThe town of Rathcormack also belongs to this gentleman,\nwho is descended from an ancient branch of the Barry family, commonly\ncalled M\u2019Adam, who have been seated here 500 years, and formerly sat\nin parliament; particularly David de Barry of Rathcormack, who sat in\nthe upper house, in a parliament held 30th Edward I., 1302. South of\nRathcormack is a fair stone bridge over the _Bride_, upon which is this\ninscription,--\u2018The foundation of this bridge was laid June 22, 1734;\nColonel Redmund Barry, Jonas Devonshire, and James Barry, gentlemen,\nbeing overseers thereof.\u2019\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE INFLUENCE OF WOMEN.--How often have I seen a company of men, who\nwere disposed to be riotous, checked all at once into decency by the\naccidental entrance of an amiable woman; while her good sense and\nobliging deportment charmed them into at least a temporary conviction\nthat there is nothing so beautiful as female excellence, nothing so\ndelightful as female conversation. To form the manners of men, nothing\ncontributes so much as the cast of the women they converse with. Those\nwho are most associated with women of virtue and understanding will\nalways be found the most amiable characters. Such society, beyond\neverything else, rubs off the protrusions that give to many an ungracious\nroughness; it produces a polish more perfect and pleasing than that which\nis received by a general commerce with the world. This last is often\nspecious, but commonly superficial; the other is the result of gentler\nfeelings, and a more elegant humanity: the heart itself is moulded, and\nhabits of undissembled courtesy are formed.--_Fordyce._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOUR ATTACHMENT TO LIFE.--The young man, till thirty, never feels\npractically that he is mortal. He knows it indeed, and if needs were,\nhe could preach a homily on the fragility of life; but he brings it not\nhome to himself any more than in a hot June we can appropriate to our\nimagination the freezing days of December. But now--shall I confess a\ntruth? I feel these audits but too powerfully. I begin to count the\nprobabilities of my duration, and to grudge at the expenditure of moments\nand shortest periods, like misers\u2019 farthings. In proportion as the years\nboth lessen and shorten, I set more count upon their periods, and would\nfain lay my ineffectual finger upon the spoke of the great wheel. I am\nnot content to pass away \u201clike a weaver\u2019s shuttle.\u201d Those metaphors\nsolace me not, nor sweeten the unpalatable draught of mortality. I\ncare not to be carried with the tide that smoothly bears human life to\neternity, and reluct at the inevitable course of destiny. I am in love\nwith this green earth--the face of town and country--the unspeakable\nrural solitudes--and the sweet security of streets. I would set up my\ntabernacle here. I am content to stand still at the age to which I am\narrived--to be no younger, no richer, no handsomer. I do not want to be\nweaned by age, or drop, like mellow fruit, as they say, into the grave!\nAny alteration on this earth of mine, in diet or in lodging, puzzles\nand discomposes me. My household gods plant a terribly fixed foot, and\nare not rooted up without blood. They do not willingly seek Lavinian\nshores. A new state of being staggers me. Sun and sky, and breeze and\nsolitary walks, and summer holidays, and the greenness of fields, and\nthe juices of meats and fishes, and society, and the cheerful glass, and\ncandle-light, and fire-side conversations, and jests and irony--do not\nthese things go out with life? Can a ghost laugh, or shake his gaunt\nsides when you are pleasant with him?--_Life and Remains of Charles Lamb._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA man cannot get his lesson by heart so quick as he can practise it: he\nwill repeat it in his actions.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    Printed and published every Saturday by GUNN and CAMERON, at the\n    Office of the General Advertiser, No. 6, Church Lane, College\n    Green, Dublin.--Agents: R. GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley, Paternoster\n    Row, London; SIMMS and DINHAM, Exchange Street, Manchester; C.\n    DAVIES, North John Street, Liverpool; SLOCOMBE & SIMMS, Leeds,\n    JOHN MENZIES, Prince\u2019s Street, Edinburgh; & DAVID ROBERTSON,\n    Trongate, Glasgow.","title":"The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 42, April 17, 1841","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":11438}