Cody 
 The River Lee
 
 THE LIBRARY - 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Mrs. Frances Maclver
 
 
 AKD 
 
 THE CORKONIANS. 
 
 BT 
 
 BRYAN A. CODY. 
 
 " The spreading Lee, that like an island fayre, 
 Encloseth Corke with his divided flood." 
 
 Faerie Qwne. 
 
 PRICE ONE SHILLING. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 CHAKLBS MITCHELL, RED LION COUET, FLEET ST. 
 DTTBLItf : W. B, KELLY, GRAFTON ST. 
 
 M.DCCCLIX
 
 THE RIVER LEE, 
 
 THE CORKONIANS 
 
 BRYAN A. CODY. 
 
 " The spreading Lee that, like an island fayre, 
 Enclosetli Corkc with hit divided flood." 
 
 Faery Queen. 
 
 LONDON: 
 CHAS MITCHELL, Red-Lion Court, Fleet-Street, 
 
 DUBLIN 
 
 W. B. KELLY, Grafton-Street. 
 1859.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 In the last line of the first page for " loose" read 
 
 " lose." 
 In the note, p, 99, for "/c/e" read "fida."
 
 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Gougaune Barra, the source of the Lee. 
 Unlike many of our Irish rivers, the Lee is not 
 hallowed by any stirring historical associations. 
 Its verdant banks have seldom trembled beneath 
 the rush of charging squadrons, and the peaceful 
 valleys through which it flows have but rarely 
 echoed the war-cries of contending armies. Des- 
 titute of the interest which attaches to places 
 where those great struggles have taken place 
 on which the destiny of nations hinges, it is almost 
 equally devoid of the charm with which storied 
 ruins invest those rivers whose banks they crown, 
 and to whose natural beauties they form uch 
 august accessories. The Rhine itself would loose
 
 2 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 most of its attraction were it deprived of its 
 ruined towers and monasteries, 
 
 " And chiefless castles, breathing stern farewells, 
 From grey but leafy walls where Ruiii greenly dwells." 
 
 Neither do the waters of the Lee flow broad and 
 deep, like those of the magnificent Shannon, nor 
 with the rapid sweep of the sombre Aunadhuv. 
 Throughout its course, until arrived near Cork, its 
 width does not entitle it to be considered much 
 more than a broad stream, and its current is, for 
 the most part, gentle and unruffled. But, in 
 compensation for the want of those advantages 
 which have made other rivers more famous and 
 more frequented by tourists, nature has lavished 
 on the Lee every charm that could delight the 
 eye of the painter, or kindle the imagination of 
 the poet. Flowing through one of the most 
 beautiful and fertile districts of the " sunny 
 South," its course lies between scenes of sylvan 
 but changeful loveliness ; through pleasant vales, 
 shaded by scattered clumps of trees; by green 
 hills and lawny uplands, which laugh back the 
 smiles of Heaven, and on which groups of cattle 
 pasture or ruminate; past stately villas, with 
 spreading lawns, and by fields of rich pasturage 
 and vivid greenness, on whose soft sward many a 
 pattern is held, and, doubtless, many a love-tale 
 told.
 
 THE BARDS OF THE LEE. 8 
 
 This essentially pastoral character of the 
 scenery of the Lee inspired the following lines of 
 Milliken, a poet who was born and reared on its 
 banks : 
 
 " Pale goddess, by thy ray serene, 
 
 I fondly tread the level green, 
 
 Where Lee serenely rolls 
 
 His smooth and ample tide, 
 'Mid fields in flowers profuse, and woody knolls ; 
 Thy silver lamp my guide."* 
 
 Another Cork bard, whose muse was evidently 
 inspired by something stronger than the water of 
 the placid Lee, thus hymns its praise : 
 
 " Much I've heard about the Rhine, 
 
 With vineyards guy and castles stately ; 
 But those who think 1 care for wine 
 Or lofty towers, mistake me greatly : 
 A thousand times more dear to me 
 Is whiskey by the silvery Lee." 
 
 Beginning with a description of its source at 
 Gougaune Barra, we purpose to sketch the prin- 
 cipal points of interest and beauty along the 
 course of this lovely river ; craving the indul- 
 gence of our readers for our imperfect por- 
 traiture of scenes, to depict whose varied loveli- 
 ness truthfully and vividly transcends the power 
 of pencil or of pen. 
 
 From the village of Ballingeary, in the west of 
 the county Cork, a narrow road, skirting the base 
 
 * " Ode to Cynthia."
 
 4 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 of a steep hill, leads to the Pass of Keiinaneigh. 
 A little beyond the head of the Pass, a bend in 
 the road suddenly discloses a scene more wildly 
 grand and stern than picturesque. Bare and 
 precipitous mountains bound the view on all sides, 
 and enclose a tranquil sheet of water which sleeps 
 within their rugged embrace, " like a woman in a 
 warrior's arms." This is the sacred lake of Gou- 
 gaune Barra, the source of the River Lee.* The 
 mountains which encircle the cradle of the infant 
 Lee divide the counties of Cork and Kerry, 
 and the lake is formed by the mountain rills 
 that descend their sides. It is oblong in shape, 
 and near its centre arises a small island, con- 
 nected with the southern shore of the lake by a 
 narrow causeway. This island is overshadowed 
 by venerable ash trees, which a useful superstition 
 has preserved, at least from the hand of man. 
 
 On the island are the ruins of the chapel and 
 of the hermit's cell, whence the place derives its 
 anctity. In this lone retreat St. Finnbar,f who 
 
 * The Luvius of Ptolemy from which, however, it does 
 mot derive its name, but from the Irish L'ia, which means 
 a rirer. 
 
 t " The name Finbar, literally signifies white or grey- 
 headed ; his real name was Lachan, being so baptised. He 
 was a native of Connaught, and having sat 17 years in thi 
 See, died at Cloyne in th* midst of his friends. His bones, 
 several years after, were deposited in a silver shrine, and 
 kept in this Cathedral." Smith's History of Cork.
 
 THE ISLAND OF THE LAKE. 5 
 
 flourished towards the end of the sixth century, 
 lived in seclusion for many years ; and from the 
 difficulty of access formerly, the island, as well as 
 the shores of the lake, was a refuge for the 
 victims of religious and political persecution of 
 various periods. Contrasting with the barren 
 rocks and shores around, this island, with its em- 
 bowering trees and verdant sward, is most re- 
 freshing to the eye ; and so vividly green is its 
 grassy carpet that it seems like an emerald set in 
 the ring of the lake. This lonely island has been 
 consecrated anew in lines which have the true 
 stamp and ring of genuine poetry, by the gifted 
 J. J. Callanan, whose dawning fame was extin- 
 guished by a premature death in a foreign land.* 
 His poem beginning with the line 
 
 " There is a green island in lone Gougaune Barm 
 is so well known that it is unnecessary for us to 
 give more than this passing allusion to it. 
 
 A large part of the island is covered with the 
 ruins of the chapel before mentioned, adjoining 
 which, and facing the causeway, is a large square 
 enclosure containing eight cells, rudely con- 
 structed of brown stone, like all the buildings on 
 the island. The south and east sides of th 
 
 * He died of consumption, induced by too close applica- 
 tion to study, at Lisbon, in 1829, in bis 34th year.
 
 6 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 square are bordered by a terrace, from which a 
 few steps lead to the chapel on the north side. 
 A mere remnant of the oratory remains to gratify 
 the curiosity of the antiquary or the eye of the 
 artist. The interior is about thirty-six feet long, 
 by fourteen broad, and the side walls only four 
 feet high, like those of the cloisters adjoining. 
 These cloisters consist of four small chambers, 
 and two cells of such narrow dimensions that 
 they must have been a very inconvenient habita- 
 tion for the hermits who once dwelt in them. 
 Securely havened from the storms and vicissitudes 
 of the world within these mountain fastnesses, 
 St. Finnbar, the hermit of the hoary head, 
 nourished those holy thoughts and lofty 
 aspirations which he subsequently realised in 
 the foundation of Cork, and of the Cathedral 
 which bears his name.* A long series of hermits 
 succeeded St. Finnbar in his retirement at 
 Gougaune Barra, seeking a refuge in its rocky 
 bosom. 
 
 * A popular legend ascribes the foundation of that build- 
 ing to the following circumstances: St. Pa-trick, after 
 banishing the reptiles out of the country, overlooked one 
 hideous monster, a winged dragon, which desolated the 
 adjacent country ; and power was conferred on a holy man 
 named Fineen Barr, to drown the monster in Gougaune 
 Lake, on condition of erecting a church where its waters 
 met the tide ; and the saint, having exterminated the mon- 
 ster, fulfilled the agreement by founding *;he present 
 Cathedral of Cork.
 
 THE CEMETERY OF GOUGAUNE BARRA. 
 
 1 'Gainst the taint 
 
 Of dissolute tongues, and jealousy, and hate, 
 And scorn," 
 
 and often vainly. The last of these was an 
 ascetic named O'Mahony, whose tomb, shame- 
 fully neglected, is on the main land. Although he 
 shunned all intercourse with his kind, his memory 
 is held in deep reverence among the peasantry of 
 the district. 
 
 .Near the causeway on the southern shore of 
 the lake is a burial place 
 
 " Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap. " 
 Mr Windele, who gives a faithful and admir- 
 able description of Gougaune Barra, in his 
 " South of Ireland" abook which we recommend 
 to all tourists in the South thus describes the 
 cemetery of Gougaune : " At a short distance, 
 on a little green eminence, a few lowly mounds 
 without stone or inscriptions point out the simple 
 burying-place of the district ; their number, and 
 the small extent of ground covered, give at a 
 glance the census and the condition of a thinly- 
 peopled mountain country ; and yet, this unpre- 
 tending spot is as effectually the burial place of 
 human hopes, and feelings, and passions, of 
 feverish anxieties, of sorrows and agitations it 
 affords as saddening a field for contemplation as 
 if it covered the space, and were decked out with
 
 8 THK RIVER LEE. 
 
 all the cypresses, the willows, and the marbles of 
 Pere la Chaise." 
 
 At the entrance of the causeway leading to the 
 sacred island is the holy well, to which there are 
 two great pilgrimages annually of the diseased, 
 the maimed, and the blind, who seek a cure for 
 their ailments in its miraculous waters. There 
 are numbers of these holy wells in Ireland, and 
 their worship, which is supposed to be of Phoeni- 
 cian origin, is an innocent and beautiful super- 
 stition which we would be unwilling to see decay. 
 These wells, once desecrated by the bloody rites 
 of the Druidical Baal, are now consecrated to 
 Christian prayers and harmless Christian cere- 
 monies. And here we cannot deny ourselves the 
 pleasure of quoting the following lines on these 
 crystal shrines by J. D. Ffraser : 
 
 " The holy wells the living wells the cool, the fresh, the 
 pure 
 
 A thousand ages rolled away, and still those founts en- 
 dure, 
 
 As full and sparkling as they flowed ere slave or tyrant 
 trod 
 
 The Emerald garden, set apart for Irishmen by God ! 
 
 And while their stainless chastity and lasting life hare 
 
 birth 
 
 Amid the oozy cells and caves of gross material earth, 
 The scripture of creation holds no fairer type than they 
 That an immortal spirit can be linked with human clay !" 
 
 The well, which is formed by the waters of the 
 lake, is surrounded by a square enclosure, covered
 
 THE SOURCE OF THE LEE. V 
 
 over with flags, and a cross is deeply sculptured 
 on a stone at the back. In the midst of the 
 walled enclosure on the island, planted on an 
 elevation, is a wooden pole, the remains of a cross, 
 to which innumerable rags, the votive offerings 
 of pilgrims to the sacred fount, are nailed or 
 otherwise fastened. On St. John's Eve a pattern 
 is held at Gougaune Lake, which is attended by 
 the peasantry of all the surrounding baronies. 
 
 Of the mountain streams that feed Gougaune 
 Lake, that which descends from the mountain 
 called Nadan-uityer (the eagle's nest), at the 
 western extremity of the lake, is the natal stream 
 of the Lee, whose true source, however, is a spring 
 in the mountain, the approach to which is ex- 
 tremely difficult. To the east is the outlet of 
 the lake, not much more than three feet wide. 
 Through this rocky passage the youthful Lee 
 leaps and flashes, and flows with the exuberant 
 joyousness of a sportive child, over rugged 
 stones 
 
 " which seem'd to 'plain 
 
 With gentle murmur that his course they did restrain. " 
 
 Faery Queen. 
 
 And hence the name Gougaune, which signifies 
 " gurgling head." The mountains of Gougaune 
 possess a savage grandeur, and almost as fine an 
 echo as those of Killarney. Of these Dereen (the
 
 10 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 little oak-wood) now treeless is the highest. 
 The next in size are Faolite (the cliff), Maolagk 
 (the prospect ^), Coom-roe, Nadan-uillar, and 
 Clara. Their steep sides are covered with heath, 
 and sprinkled with the gay blossoms of the London 
 pride. From the summit of Dereen, on a clear 
 day, the view is truly magnificent, embracing the 
 purple outlines of the Killarney mountains, Glen- 
 gariff, Bantry Bay, and, in the far distance, the 
 heaving bosom of the broad Atlantic. Limiting 
 your vision, a line like a black thread, running 
 towards the south-west, marks the gloomy Pass 
 of Keimaneigh ; while, towards the east, you 
 perceive the waters of the Lee expanding into 
 the Lakes of Inchegeela, about ten miles from 
 Gougaune. Turning from the extensive and 
 diversified prospect to east and west, towards the 
 lake, you behold its solitary waters, with the 
 island at your feet, and the encircling cliffs 
 torn by mountain streams, and echoing the 
 wild cries of the grouse and the lapwing. The 
 precipitous sides of Faolite and Clara sink sheer 
 down to the waters of the lake, which reflect 
 the frowning cliffs above, thus adding to the im- 
 pressive grandeur of the scene. It is indeed 
 
 " A savage place, as holy and enchanted, 
 As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted, 
 By woman wailing for her demon lover ! "
 
 DR. PETRIE ON HOLY WELLS. II 
 
 The aspect of solitude which is impressed on the 
 whole scene is so intense, that we fancy it must 
 be the favourite haunt of the coy nymph, Egeria ; 
 and certainly, no better place could be chosen for 
 the retreat of an anchorite. Speaking of similar 
 consecrated shrines in Ireland, to which pilgrims 
 resort with penitential prayers and offerings, Dr. 
 Petrie says : " Nor is it easy to conceive locali- 
 ties better fitted, in a religious age, to excite 
 feelings of contrition for past sins, and expec- 
 tations of forgiveness, than these, which had been 
 rendered sacred by the sanctity of those to whom 
 they had owed their origin. Most certain, at all 
 events, it is, that they came to be regarded as 
 sanctuaries the most inviolable, to which, as our 
 annals show, the people were accustomed to fly 
 in the hope of safety a hope, however, which 
 was not alwavs realised."* 
 
 Such, with its features of mingled beauty and 
 sublimity, is the source of the River Lee, over 
 which, like the Grecian Helen, loveliness presides 
 with unvarying splendour from its cradle in Gou- 
 gaune Barra to the termination of its course at 
 the entrance of Cork Harbour. 
 
 * Essay on the Round Towers of Ireland.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Pass of Keimaneigh Lough Allua Inchegeela 
 Castle of Carrignacurra The O'Learies Toon 
 Bridge Dundarirk Castle River Sullaue Castle of 
 Carrig-a- Phooka. 
 
 Close by the mountains encircling Gougaune 
 Barra is situated the celebrated Pass of Keima- 
 neigh, or the Path of the Deer, through which 
 runs the high road from Macroom to Bantry. 
 Nothing more wild and awe-inspiring can be 
 conceived than the appearance of this ravine at 
 its entrance from Gougaune side. A huge 
 mountain seems to have been riven from 
 summit to base by some mighty convulsion of 
 nature in order to form this romantic pass. 
 Precipitous walls of rock rise here to the 
 height of several hundred feet on either side 
 of the road, shutting out all light, save what 
 is afforded by a narrow strip of sky, which is 
 alone visible overhead. Dark as " the inside 
 of a wolf's throat," the ravine is gloomy on the 
 brightest day: 
 
 -" At noonday here 
 
 "Pis twilight, and at sunset blackest night." 
 
 Entering the pass, a scene of savage grandeur,
 
 PASS OF KE1MANEI&H. 13 
 
 fit for the pencil of Salvator Rosa, bursts upon the 
 view. In the rocky walls that line the defile 
 numerous chasms have been worn by mountain 
 torrents, which stream down their sides and flood 
 the road in wet weather. These chasms invest 
 the rocks with a still more rugged aspect ; while 
 the huge blocks of stone, and rocky crags piled 
 up confusedly around, assume, in the dim light, 
 the most fantastic outlines, reminding us of D. 
 F. M'Carthy's beautiful lines on 
 
 -" Awful Ceim-an-eagh, 
 
 Where the severed rocks resemble fragments of a frozen 
 
 sea, 
 And the wild deer flee ! "* 
 
 The gorge is tortuous, and as you proceed you 
 seem to be hemmed in, without visible means of 
 egress, by towering barriers of rock. 
 
 In the insterstices of the rock, the arbutus, 
 London pride, the foxglove, the purple heath- 
 bell, with innumerable ferns, mosses, and 
 linchens, grow in the wildest luxuriance. So 
 Secluded is the gorge and so complete the soli- 
 tude, that it seems equally adapted for the 
 inspiration of the poet or the lair of an outlaw. 
 It served the latter purpose before that pioneer 
 of order and civilisation, the engineer, carried 
 
 Alice and Una.
 
 14 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 the present fine road through the heart of Kei- 
 maneigh, and thereby robbed it of much of its 
 security as a retreat for outlaws. It is said that 
 during the Rockite disturbances in 1822, a 
 detachment of yeomanry, under Lord Bantry, 
 while passing through the defile, narrowly- 
 escaped being crushed , to atoms by an enormous 
 mass of rock, which, hurled on them, Tell 
 fashion, in the name of the Trinity, by the 
 redoubtable Capt. Rock himself, came thunder- 
 ing down the cliff just as the last of the yeomen 
 had passed the spot where it fell completely 
 blocking up the passage in then* rere, and 
 securing them from the pursuit of their enemies.* 
 
 About midway in the pass the wild sublimity 
 and grandeur of the scene are almost overwhelm- 
 ing. Huge crags and fragments of rock appear 
 toppling over the brows of the cliffs that frown 
 darkly on either side of the spectator, and seem 
 to threaten his instant destruction ; while shat- 
 tered stones of immense size lie around, as if 
 
 * This incident is detailed at much length, in a descrip- 
 tion of Keimaneigh, which appeared in the Dublin Uni- 
 versity Magazine for June, 1848. Mr. Windele visited the 
 Pass in Ib27, a few years after the occurrence is said to 
 havetaken place ; and as so diligent a collector of every- 
 thing of interest connected with the places about which he 
 has written;* has not mentioned an incident so romantic, 
 we may well doubt its truthfulness. At all events, si non 
 e vero, & ben trovato.
 
 LOUGH ALLUA. 15 
 
 flung there in the sport of Titans. The pass, as 
 it approaches the Bantry side, gradually widens, 
 disclosing a noble view of the Bay. This entrance 
 to the pass is inferior in rugged majesty to that 
 near Gougaune Barra, where the rocky walls are 
 more precipitous and picturesque. 
 
 Leaving the Pass of Keimaneigh (which, we 
 may remark, is about two miles in length from 
 north to south), we return to the Lee. After 
 issuing from the lake of Gougaune, the Lee flows 
 in an eastern direction, through rocky banks, 
 with a foaming and rapid current, to Ballingeary, 
 where the Bunshelin, a small stream, falls into it. 
 The country here is wild and barren, dotted at 
 intervals with straggling herbage. The glen 
 through which the Bunshelin flows is beautifully 
 wild and sequestered, extending to the vicinity 
 of the village of Ballyvourney. near which is a 
 circular stone fort, with subterranean galleries. 
 The Lee now expands into the broad sheet of 
 water, called Lough Allua. The lake (or rather 
 chain of lakes) is four miles in length, and about 
 one in breadth It is studded with several islands 
 formed by the windings of the Lee, in its sinuo us 
 course through the soft, peaty soil of this exten- 
 sive flat. At its western extremity rises the 
 gloomy hill of Coolnegreenane, or the " mountain
 
 16 THE RIVER LfcE. 
 
 Unknown to the sunbeam." The road to Bantry 
 winds along the northern shore of the lake. A 
 little further clown we come to Inchegeela. Here 
 the Lee separates into a succession of tarns, the 
 picturesque appearance of which relieves the wild 
 and uncultivated aspect of the surrounding 
 country. In Dr. Smith's time, the char abounded 
 in the lakes of Inchegeela ; but they have been 
 since exterminated by that omniverous enemy of 
 epicures, the pike. Formerly, some metallic cubes, 
 yellow and shining like gold, were found in 
 this district, and metallic ores have, from time 
 to time, been washed out of the adjacent rocks 
 during floods. Owing to the rocky bed over 
 which the Lee flows, its stream is, for the most 
 part, clear and sparkling as far as Inchegeela. 
 The village of Inchegeela possesses a fine Roman 
 Catholic Church, a constabulary station, &c. 
 The second bridge that crosses the Lee spans the 
 stream at this place. In the distance rise the 
 Sheehy mountains, from whose summit is a 
 splendid view. 
 
 About a mile from Inchegeela is the Castle of 
 Carrignacurra, or the Weir Rock, sometimes 
 called Castle Masters, after a modern proprietor. 
 It rises boldly from a cliff over the river, and is still 
 in tolerably good preservation. It is surrounded
 
 CARRIGNACURRA CASTLE. 17 
 
 by trees, which bring it out in agreeable relief 
 from the bare country around, and consists of a 
 high square tower, without any discernable out- 
 works. It is said to have been built by Sabina 
 O'Carroll, wife of one of the O'Learies, whose 
 principal stronghold it remained for many years. 
 The O'Learies, although subject to the M'Car- 
 thies, were once a powerful sept in this country, 
 whichTias been called Ibh-Laoghaire, or Ivleary 
 (the O'Leary's country), from the extensive pos- 
 sessions this family once held in it. In 1588, 
 Dermot O'Leary, then chief of the clan, was 
 attainted for engaging in the Earl of Desmond's 
 rebellion; and in "the troubles" of 1641, Car- 
 rignactirra was forfeited, and garrisoned by 
 Cromwell's troops. 
 
 Mr. Windele thus refers to the O'Learies : 
 " The name is still frequent here amongst the 
 peasantry ; but a sod of the fee-simple property 
 belongs not to one of the clan. The governor 
 and company for making hollow sword-blades, in 
 England, long since disposed of that. Fame, 
 however, has been more partial to individuals of 
 this race, and Ireland claims amongst her most 
 eminent worthies the name of the pious, the 
 enlightened, and the facetious Father Arthur 
 O'Leary ; and there is a very reasonable chance
 
 18 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 hat the writer of ' Whiskey, drink divine ' the 
 beat song hitherto written in praise of our Irish 
 Falernian may yet add his name to the length- 
 ened roll. The MacCarthy Reagh was the Lord 
 Paramount of the O'Learies, but his authority 
 ceased at the Revolution, and he himself became 
 an exile in a foreign land. The late Count de 
 MacCarthy Reagh resided at Toulouse, and left 
 behind him, at his decease, a magnificent library, 
 second only to that of the King of France. No 
 other private collection in Europe possessed so 
 large a number of printed and MS. books on 
 vellum, of which scarce and valuable material it 
 contained not less than 826 volumes. His sons, 
 nevertheless, at his death found themselves under 
 the necessity of parting with it ; and thus this 
 splendid literary cabinet, the pride of this unfor- 
 tunate family, became scattered over England 
 and France. It would seem as if fortune had 
 not yet ceased her persecutions of an ancient 
 and distinguished race."* 
 
 From Carrignacurra the Lee winds through a 
 flat uninteresting country until it reaches Drom- 
 caragh Castle, another ancient fortalice of the 
 O'Learies, now in the possession of Mr. Brown. 
 
 * Bolster's Quarterly Magazine for October, 1827.
 
 EXTENSIVE MARSH 19 
 
 As we are not aware of any historical associa- 
 tions connected with this ruin, and as it possesses 
 no picturesque attractions, we shall pass on to 
 Toon Bridge, which crosses part of the swampy 
 plain through which the Lee flows in this place. 
 A vast marsh, clothed with heather and water 
 plants, spreads away for miles on all sides. 
 Attempts have been made at various times to 
 drain this extensive quagmire ; but, either because 
 they were on too small a scale, or unskilfully 
 conducted, they have been hitherto abortive. 
 We need not dwell on the importance of reclaim- 
 ing this moorland, the benefits that would result 
 from such an improvement being sufficiently 
 obvious.* 
 
 Through this morass 
 
 " Where the duck dabbles 'mid the rustling sedge, 
 And feeding pike starts from the water's edge," 
 
 the Lee creeps sluggishly along, and forms a 
 number of islets, shaded by groups of trees. 
 Near Toon Bridge the River Toon pours its 
 
 * An intelligent American gentleman, who had taken a 
 tour through a great part of Munster, observed to us 
 recently, that he was greatly struck with the large quantity 
 of reclaimable land he observed lying waste ; proving, as 
 he remarked, want of enterprise in the proprietors, and a 
 negligent system of cultivation on the j>art f the farming 
 classes. The latter fact has, however, been ascribed to the 
 want of tenant-right in the South.
 
 20 T^K RIVER LEE. 
 
 waters into the Lee, after a course of about two 
 miles through a romantic valley. On a steep 
 hill above the bridge rises the Castle of Dunda- 
 darirk, once a keep of the MacCarthies, but 
 forfeited in the rebellion of 1641. It is a single 
 tower, and from its summit can be had an 
 extensive and beautiful prospect, the cause and 
 origin of its name. Not far from Dundarirk is 
 Raleigh, the seat of the late lamented James 
 Minhear, Esq., who was a leading and highly- 
 esteemed citizen of the southern metropoh's. 
 The Minhears, as the name implies, are of 
 Dutch descent. 
 
 We now arrive at one of the principal tribu- 
 taries of the Lee, the Sullane, a river little 
 inferior to the Lee, either in the volume of its 
 waters or the length of its course. It rises in a 
 bog in Ballyvourny, receiving in its course to the 
 Lee the waters of the Bughill, the Foherish, and 
 the Lany. At the junction of the Foherish with 
 the Sullane stands the castle of Carrig-a-Phooka, 
 or the Rock of the Spirit. It is situated on a 
 rock in the vicinity of the Sullane, and its 
 position is one of great strength. It is a single 
 square tower, somewhat dilapidated. Carrig- 
 a-Phooka belonged to the MacCarthies of 
 Drishane, and is chiefly memorable as having
 
 THE CASTLE OF CARRIG-A-PHOOKA. 21 
 
 been the retreat of Cormac Teg MacCarthy, 
 after the defeat of the Spaniards at Kinsale, in 
 1 601 . It was here MacCarthy wrote his penitent 
 letter to the Lord President of Munster, abjectly 
 craving forgiveness for his defection. The castle 
 is accessible only by a narrow and slippery ledge 
 of rock, on which but one person can pass at a 
 time. 
 
 Independently of historic interest, the hoary 
 walls of Carfig-a-Phooka are invested with an ad- 
 ditional charm by weird legends of the wild horse 
 and its headless rider ; and the peasant who has 
 to pass it after nightfall hastens his pace, cross- 
 ing himself the while, and muttering a prayer to 
 the Virgin to preserve him from being spirited 
 away by the terrible phantom. Smith mentions 
 the remains of a Druid altar, or cromleach, in 
 its neighbourhood, but without any foundation 
 in fact. Had he said a part of a Druidical 
 circle, he would have been more correct. 
 
 From Carrig-a-Phooka the Sullane flows east- 
 ward in a tranquil current, through rich and 
 fertile banks, to the town of Macroom.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Macroom The Castle Historic Notices Carrigadro- 
 hid Castle Beautiful Scenery The River Dripsey 
 Iiiniscarra and its Ruined Church. 
 
 About three miles above the junction of the 
 Sullane with the Lee is situated the thriving 
 town of Macroom. Its name, which signifies " a 
 crooked oak," is said to have been derived from 
 the plain of Crom, a fane of that deity, the 
 Jupiter of the ancient Irish, which occupied the 
 site. The town is surrounded by an extensive 
 and fertile vale, bounded in the distance by a 
 range of rugged hills, which, were they of some- 
 what greater elevation, would be entitled to the 
 designation of mountains. Seen from the river, 
 the town forms a triangle, at whose base flows the 
 Sullane, and from whose apex the main street 
 extends in a straight line. Markets are held 
 there weekly and annually, and the Quarter 
 Sessions for the west riding of the county. The 
 population is about three thousand; while the 
 number of tan-yards, flour mills, &c., in the town 
 furnishes a gratifying proof of its rising impor- 
 tance and of the extent of its trade. Formerly, 
 it would seem that the manufacture of the Irish
 
 MACROOM. 23 
 
 nectar, potheen ,was extensively patronised by the 
 Macrompians. Macroom has a high reputation 
 for its hospitality and the jovial character of its 
 population ; and one of them, named Barry, has 
 been handed down to the admiration of posterity 
 in a poem, the opening stanza of which we tran- 
 scribe : 
 
 " Oh ! what is Dan McCarthy, or what is old Jem Nash, 
 Or all who e'er in punch-drinking by luuk have cut a dash, 
 Compared to that choice hero, whose praise my rhymes 
 
 perfume 
 I mean the boast of Erin's Isle, bold Barry of Macroom ?"* 
 
 The Roman Catholic Church is a spacious 
 structure, with an embattled belfry, and, from its 
 situation on the slope of a hill, has a very fine 
 appearance at a distance. 
 
 Nearly opposite the church, on an elevation 
 
 * Owing, probably, to having been once the seat of some 
 of our ancient banls, the muses have smiled on .Yiacroom, 
 which has been prolific in poets ; having, among others (at 
 least Macroom contends with Connaught on that head), 
 given birth to the "great" O' Kelly, better known by the 
 modest lines in which he introduced himself to Sir Walter 
 Scott, even than by his " Curse of Done - ,aile." Another 
 local poet, named Connolly, was famous there in his time ; 
 but he is now forgotten. A jVlaorooin poet is supposed to 
 have composed the doggrel called "The Storeen of Mus- 
 kerry," from which we extract the following stanza : 
 
 " In my rambles and frolicksome raking, 
 
 Amongst the wide nations while wandering, 
 Amongst smiling and affable females, 
 
 My trifling gains I've been squandering ; 
 I prattled, I gabbled, I prated 
 
 With all the fair maids in the country, 
 And with amorous verses repeated, 
 
 Their favour I gained in each comi^ny.'
 
 24 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 above the southern bank of the Sullane, stands 
 Macroom Castle. Sir R. Cox says it was built 
 by the Carews in the reign of King John, while 
 others absurdly attribute its erection to that 
 monarch himself. There can, however, be 
 scarcely a doubt that it was erected by the sept 
 of the O'Flynns, who once held extensive pos- 
 sessions in Muskerry. The O'Flynns were dis- 
 possessed of the castle by Dairinid McCarthy 
 More, whose clan ruled over Macroom for centu- 
 ries. The castle is of massy strength, and is 
 flanked by two square bartizans. It is of no par- 
 ticular style of architecture, but an incongruous 
 jumble of several attributable, doubtless, to the 
 fact of each successive occupier having either 
 made repairs or additions to it in his own taste. 
 Notwithstanding its nondescript character, the 
 castle looks extremely picturesque, with its ivy- 
 mantled walls towering above the placid Sullane. 
 
 The castle possesses much historical interest. 
 It was besieged in 1602, by Sir Charles Wilmot, 
 vrho was on the point of raising the siege, owing 
 to the stubborn resistance of the garrison under 
 Lord Muskerry, when the castle took fire acci- 
 dentally, and the besieged had to surrender 
 unconditionally. In 1641, it was again burned 
 down, but was rebuilt the same year by Lord
 
 MACKOOM CASTLE. 25 
 
 Clancarty, chief of the McCarthies of Muskerry. 
 In 1650, it was garrisoned by the Roman Catholic 
 Bishop of Ross ; but being threatened by au 
 imposing force under Lord Broghill, the Com- 
 monwealth General, the Bishop set fire to it, and 
 concentrated his men in the park, where, after a 
 brief but bloody struggle, he was defeated, and 
 made a prisoner. Ireton, when President of 
 Munster, caused both the castle and the tower to 
 be burned ; so that the former has had the sin- 
 gular fate of having been burned down no less 
 than four times. The castle was again besieged 
 by the troops of James II. ; and Major Kirk, 
 with a body of 300 dragoons, forced the defenders 
 to retreat. " In this castle," says Smith, u is a 
 handsome gallery, with other good apartments ; 
 and Sir William Penn, the famous sea admiral, 
 was born in it " Sir William was the father of 
 the celebrated founder of Pennsylvania. A battle 
 was also fought in the neighbourhood of Macroom 
 between Brian Boroihme and the King of Onea- 
 chach (a part of S Carberry), who was chief of 
 the O'Mahonies. The latter was assisted by a 
 l^rge body of Danes ; but he was defeated, not- 
 withstanding, with great loss, nearly all the 
 Danes being slain. 
 
 Adjoining the castle, an old stone bridge of
 
 A. J. MURPHY, 
 
 26 -THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 I 
 
 nine arches spans the Sullane. Among the many 
 handsome villas that rise along its banks at this 
 place are conspicuous : Mount Massy on the north 
 bank, Rockborough, the property of the Brown 
 family, Sandy Hill, and Firville, the seat of Mr. 
 Harding, situated in a romantic glen. 
 
 Ere quitting Macrooui, we may mention that 
 some ancient weapons were found, many years 
 since, in a cavern on the adjoining lands of 
 Codruin. 
 
 A little below Macroom, a small stream pours 
 its tribute into the Lee. Near their confluence 
 stands the Castle of Mashanaglass, erewhile a 
 fortalice of the M'Sweeneys. It is a high square 
 tower, rising grimly above the plain like a grey 
 spectre of the past. There is nothing either in 
 its architectural design or situation worthy the 
 special attention of the tourist. It was forfeited 
 in 1641 a year so fatal to the native owners of 
 the soil that it may be called the year of confis- 
 cations. It must stand for aye with " a black 
 mark" in the chequered page of Irish history ; 
 the sad epoch whence date the misery and expa- 
 triation of most of the noblest races of our land, 
 who once ruled proudly over princely possessions, 
 on which many of their lineal descendants are 
 now but humble tillers of the soil.
 
 CARRIGADROHID CASTLE. 27 
 
 The road from Mashanaglass passes through a 
 gloomy and romantic glen called " Glencaum," 
 or the Crooked Glen. Rugged masses of rock, 
 in whose interstices grow the ash, the oak, and 
 the birch, rise to a considerable height on each 
 side, screening the river from view, and shrouding 
 the glen in so deep a gloom as to render it suit- 
 able for the haunt of a guerilla, or of a bandit. 
 Here the course of the Lee is very sinuous, and 
 the only object of interest on its banks is the 
 church of Aghina, on the south side, which, 
 standing on an elevation, and having a square 
 tower, has an imposing effect when seen at a 
 distance. 
 
 We now arrive at the extremely picturesque 
 Castle of Carrigadrohid. Like the celebrated 
 Aiduse Thurm on the Rhine, it stands on a steep 
 rock, in the midst of the Lee. A bridge on 
 either side connects it with the banks of the 
 river, whence the castle derives its designation, 
 ( signifying the Rock of the Bridge. The Lee 
 foams and rushes in a turbulent current around 
 the rock on which it is built ; and the spectator 
 is impressed at once with the strength and 
 romantic effect of its position. Its site is said to 
 have been chosen by the lovely Una O'Carroll, 
 to gratify whose caprice, her lover, Diarmid
 
 28 TH RIVER LEE. 
 
 M'Carthy, raised the castle, in a marvellously 
 brief time, on the cliff she had chosen, where 
 they both lived happily after their nuptials. 
 
 During the stormy times that succeeded the 
 year 1641, the possession of Carrigadrohid, from 
 the importance of its position, was fiercely con- 
 tested by the followers of Cromwell and the 
 adherents of the Stuarts. But the castle is 
 especially associated with as noble an instance of 
 heroic self-sacrifice as is recorded in history. 
 After the defeat of the Bishop of Ross, at 
 Macroom Castle, in May, 1650, which we have 
 mentioned already, Lord Broghill promised full 
 pardon to the captured prelate if he would 
 persuade the garrison of Carrigadrohid Castle to 
 surrender. The bishop consented, and Broghill 
 marched to Carrigadrohid. The bishop having 
 been brought to the castle, under the protection 
 of a flag of truce, bravely exhorted the garrison 
 to hold out to the last, observing that his life 
 should be held as nothing in comparison with the 
 great and sacred cause they had sworn to 
 uphold. The result of this noble harangue was 
 what might be expected. The devoted prelate 
 was instantly hanged in sight of the garrison, 
 who, exasperated by the spectacle, bravely 
 resisted the forces of Broghill, who, unable to
 
 BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. 29 
 
 take the castle by main force, at length obtained 
 possession of it by a stratagem, which is thus 
 related by Smith : " The English got two or 
 three team of oxen, and made them draw some 
 pieces of great timber towards it, which the Irish 
 mistaking for cannon, presently began to parley, 
 and surrendered upon articles." 
 
 From Carrigadrohid the Lee runs in a north- 
 easterly direction through a well-cultivated 
 country. A little below Oakgrove, the banks 
 of the river become beautifully wooded. Leafy 
 vistas are seen spreading away into sylvan re- 
 cesses, through which the sunbeams glimmer 
 mistily on a carpet of vivid green. Here the 
 river Glashagariff swells the tide of the Lee, 
 whose banks are now occasionally studded with 
 elegant villas, the names of whose owners do not 
 immediately occur to us. 
 
 Not far from the hamlet of Dripsey, through 
 which the high road passes, the waters of the 
 important tributary of that name commingle 
 with those of th Lee. The Dripsey has its 
 source in the Bogera mountains, on the borders 
 of Muskerry; and, after being joined by the 
 Eylane, flows through the parish of Donough- 
 more before it pours its tribute into the Lee.
 
 30 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 In the immediate neighbourhood of the village 
 of Dripsey is St. Olan's Well, near which stands 
 a noble pillar stone inscribed with mystic Ogham ; 
 and in the adjoining churchyard is a stone, said 
 to be his tomb, and which is called St. Olan's 
 Cap. This cap is believed to possess miraculous 
 healing virtues ; and Smith says the people of 
 the vicinage are persuaded that if the stone were 
 removed it would return of itself to its present 
 position. 
 
 Passing the ruins of the church of Innisluinga, 
 erected by St. Senan, of Scattery, and, lower 
 down, of Castle Inchy, we come to the most 
 charming scenery through which our river flows 
 the romantic valley of Inniscarra. We shall 
 not attempt to describe a scene which is indes- 
 cribable ; but we must linger a few moments 
 within the crumbling walls of the old church of 
 Inniscarra, which stands on the margin of the 
 river, embowered in venerable trees. It was 
 founded by St. Senan ; and its solitary situation 
 in a lone glen on the marge of a murmuring tide, 
 at the confluence of the Lee and Bride, was 
 admirably fitted for the indulgence of prayer and 
 religious meditation. The guardian trees that 
 overshadow the ruins have been religiously 
 spared by the hand of man a refined feeling
 
 INNISCARRA ARDRUM. 31 
 
 that does honour to our poor countrymen. 
 " Those Annals (the Irish) and the lives of our 
 ancient saints," says Dr. Petrie, in his Essay on 
 the Round Towers, " show that trees were a 
 usual ornament in the immediate vicinity of the 
 ancient Irish churches, and, having been often 
 planted by the hands of the very founders of 
 those buildings, were preserved with most reli- 
 gious veneration, and their accidental destruction 
 deplored as a great calamity." Beneath the 
 mouldering graves that lie thickly around re- 
 poses the dust of many generations of the inha- 
 bitants oi the surrounding districts 
 
 The road between Ardrum and Inniscarra 
 passes through some of the most exquisite scenery 
 to be found on the banks of the Lee. Richly 
 wooded demesnes meet the eye on all sides, 
 diversified by extensive tracts of fine grazing 
 land, dotted at intervals with rustic cottages, 
 which impart that peculiar air of life to the scene 
 with which the lowliest habitation of man never 
 fails to invest even the remotest solitudes of 
 nature ; while the bright river is seen glancing 
 in the distance between the stately trees that 
 fringe its banks. The chief object of interest 
 at Ardrum is the residence of Sir George 
 Colthurst, Bart., a fine old-fashioned structure, 
 in excellent preservation, and of considerable 
 extent
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The River Bride The M'Swineys Kilcrea Abbey and 
 Castle Arthur O'Leary Bishop Hurly Muskerry 
 The Ovens Ballincollig The Barrets Legend of 
 Poul-an-Iffrin Carrigrohan Castle The Approach 
 to Cork. 
 
 The River Bride, one of the most considerable 
 tributaries of the Lee, rises in the parish of Kin- 
 neigh, and after flowing about fifteen miles in a 
 north-easterly direction, falls into the Lee at 
 Inniscarra. A round tower of peculiar struc- 
 ture exists near its source, having a hexagonal 
 form from the base to a height of fifteen feet, the 
 remaining portion of the pillar being circular. 
 The erection of this tower may be referred to a 
 period many centuries anterior to that which has 
 been erroneously ascribed to it by Dr. Smith, 
 who assigns it to the commencement of the 
 eleventh century of our era. 
 
 Proceeding down the Bride, the next object of 
 interest that arrests the eye is the venerable ruin 
 of Clodagh Castle, once a itronghold of the 
 M'Sweeneys, a military clan, who formed the 
 Gallowglasses of the Thane of Muskerry. This 
 family was distinguished for its hospitality, a
 
 KILCREA ABBEY. 33 
 
 retaarkable instance of which is mentioned by 
 Dr. Smith. He says that on the high road, near 
 Dunusky, a stone was set up, on which was an 
 inscription in Irish, inviting all passengers to the 
 house of Mr. Edward M 'Sweeny for lodging and 
 refreshment. This stone was subsequently re- 
 moved by a less generous member of the sept, 
 who, it is said, never prospered after. After 
 passing the ruins of Castlemore, formerly a keep 
 of the M'Carthies, the Bride flows through a 
 fertile tract of grazing land, about one hundred 
 and fifty years ago a vast morass. This was the 
 great bog of Kilcrea, which Smith characterises 
 as being, thirty years before his time, a refuge 
 for wolves and " Tories," to the terror and an- 
 noyance of the neighbouring country. He also 
 quotes from a work on agriculture by one of the 
 Ryes of Rye Court, some curious particulars re- 
 garding the draining and reclamation of these 
 bogs. 
 
 Kilcrea Abbey, or, more correctly speaking, 
 Friary, is situated on a gently rising slope above 
 the Bride, about eleven miles west of Cork. Its 
 name is derived from the Irish Killa Crea, which 
 signifies the cemetery of St. Cera. An antiquated 
 bridge crosses the river close to the Abbey, the 
 entrance to which is shaded by a fine avenue of
 
 84 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 trees. The Friary was founded in A.D., 1465, 
 by Cormac M'C'artby Laider, Lord of Muskerry, 
 for Franciscans, and was dedicated to St. Bridget. 
 The ruins are extensive, and the walls still re- 
 maining almost entire, the Abbey has an impos 
 ing appearance when viewed from the bridge. 
 On entering the ruins the effect is still further 
 enhanced, and a feeling of religious awe inspired 
 by the spreading aisles and transept, now un- 
 roofed and dismantled, where once sacred hymns 
 were intoned and fragrant incense rose to the 
 fretted roof. Until lately, the entrance was 
 lined on both sides by a grisly wall constructed 
 of human bones and skulls. The nave is sepa- 
 rated from the choir by a square belfry, eighty 
 feet high, through which a round-headed arch- 
 way communicates with the choir. The columns 
 supporting the arches are round, low, and formed 
 of solid masonry. From one of these columns 
 four ribbed arches spring an architectural pecu- 
 liarity which distinguishes this building from all 
 other structures of the kind. The mullions of 
 the windows were destroyed by the sacriligious 
 hands of Cromwell's troopers. A side aisle com- 
 municates with the nave by three pointed arch- 
 ways ; and at the right side of the nave a passage 
 leads into a chantry. Two. massive pointed
 
 KILCREA ABBEY. 35 
 
 arches divide the aisle at the west end of the 
 transept, which is about seventy feet in length. 
 The Abbey (if so we may term it) belongs at 
 present to Mr. Rye, of Rye Court ; and the old 
 woman who acted as our cicerone informed us 
 that one of his ancestors, while attempting to 
 remove some stones from the ruins for building 
 purposes, was prevented by ghostly interposition 
 from carrying out the desecration. 
 
 The entire -space within the walls is thickly 
 peopled with the dead : the peasantry of the 
 surrounding districts eagerly coveting the privi- 
 lege of having the bones of their relatives repose, 
 when " life's feverish dream is o'er," within its 
 hallowed precints. In Kilcrea are buried many 
 members of the house of the M'C jrthies of Mus- 
 kerry, from Cormac, its founder, to the last 
 descendant of the race, who died in Cork, and 
 was buried here in 1832, after which the ances- 
 tral tomb was walled up, never to be opened 
 again, save to the trumpet-summons of the 
 Judgment Day. Among the remarkable per- 
 sonages interred here was Roger O'Connor, 
 whose tomb stands in the nave. He was an 
 ardent republican and free-thinker, and, with his 
 brother Arthur, took a leading part in the re- 
 bellion of 1798. He fortunately escaped the
 
 86 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 perils of that stormy time, and was subsequently 
 known as a writer of several works of no par- 
 ticular merit. In the south-east angle of the 
 nave is the tomb of Arthur O'Leary, commonly 
 called " the outlaw." It bears the following 
 inscription : 
 
 " Lo ! Arthur Leary, generous, 'handsome, brav, 
 Slain in his bloom, lies in this humble^grave." 
 
 His fate, as illustrating the iniquity of the 
 penal laws, deserves a special mention here. 
 Though possessed of considerable property, 
 O'Leary spent the early part of his life in 
 foreign military service. On returning to his 
 native land, his great popularity among the 
 peasantry excited the jealousy of a neighbouring 
 landed proprietor named Morris. This feeling 
 was intensified into a deadly hatred towards 
 O'Leary, from the fact of a horse belonging to 
 the latter having beaten one of Morris's in a 
 race. Availing himself of that article of the 
 penal laws which disqualified ja Catholic from 
 keeping a horse above the value of five pounds, 
 Mr. Morris publicly tendered him that sum, in 
 the most insulting manner, for the winning 
 horse. O'Leary replied that " he would sur- 
 render him only with his life." Whereupon, 
 Morris and his friends closed around him, a
 
 K1LCREA ABBEY, 37 
 
 struggle ensued, but O'Leary escaped, being 
 indebted for his safety to the fleetness of his 
 steed. His resistance was represented to the 
 government in such a light that he was pro-> 
 claimed an outlaw, a large reward offered 
 for his apprehension, and troops despatched to- 
 arrest him. The peasantry were so attached to 
 him that for four years his popularity secured 
 him from the most active exertions of his 
 pursuers. At length he was surprised by an 
 ambush near Millstreet, and was shot through 
 the heart, at the early age of twenty-six. The 
 brother of the deceased watched an opportunity 
 for revenge ; and two months after the event, 
 oil the 7th of July, 1773, he rode up Peter's 
 Church Lane, in Cork, in broad daylight, and 
 deliberately fired three shots in succession at 
 .Morris, who was standing near the window of 
 his lodgings in Peter-street. Mr. [Morris was 
 wounded in the side by one of the shots, from the 
 fiil'rrts of which he died. The avenger of his 
 brother escaped to America, where he died no 
 many years since. 
 
 Within Kilcrea are also interred the remains 
 of out: with whom are connected some interesting 
 Ui.torical reminiscences. In the southern tran- 
 ";>t i it broken tomb, of which the inscription
 
 38 THE BIVEB LEE. 
 
 is defaced, but on which a cross fleury is still 
 visible. This is generally believed to indicate 
 the resting place of Bishop Herlihy, or Hurly, 
 erst titular Bishop of Ross, one of the three Irish 
 Prelates who attended the Council of Trent. 
 Ilii life was an eventful one. He was a native 
 of Carbery and of humble origin. On returning 
 to Ireland, after assisting at the Council of 
 Trent, he was declared a rebel, and retired to 
 Carbery, from which he was shortly afterwards 
 driven. Betrayed by a renegade named O'Sul- 
 livan (the first, we believe, who has ever sullied 
 that fine old Celtic name), he was imprisoned in 
 Dublin Castle, whence he was transferred to the 
 Tower of London, where he was confined inone 
 .of its gloomiest dungeons for three years and 
 a-half. After some attempts to liberate him had 
 failed, he was at length set at liberty, and w;w 
 about to visit Belgium, when he was seized with 
 illness. He had himself immediately conveyed 
 to Ireland, that he might die in the " Island of 
 Sain'^s." On landing, he was irade prisoner and 
 confined in the Castle, until an order came from 
 the Lieutenant of the Tower for his release. He 
 then repaired to Macroom Castle, the residence 
 of his friend McCarthy More, whose hospitality 
 he enjoyed for a brief period. Bishop Hurly
 
 KILCREA ABBEY. 39 
 
 now took a small farm near Macroosa, where he 
 led a life of sanctity and retirement, revered by 
 the inhabitants of the district, who believed that 
 he effected miraculous cures of diseases. He 
 died in 1579, and was buried, as we have said, 
 at Kilcrea. 
 
 Although considerable space has been devoted 
 to the interesting ruins of Kilcrea Friary, we 
 cannot quit it without quoting the following 
 lines from the celebrated ballad, entitled u The 
 Monks of Kilcrea," as showing the genial hos- 
 pitality which once prevailed among the holy 
 brotherhood who inhabited it: 
 
 " Three monks sat by a bogwood fire ! 
 
 tare were their crowns, and their garment* grey. 
 Close sat they to that boxwood nre, 
 
 Watching the wickt tiil break of day ; 
 Such was ever the rule at Kilcrea. 
 
 Fo whoever past, be he Earon or Squire, 
 Was firee to call at that abbey and Btay, 
 
 .Nor guerdon or hire for his lodgings pay, 
 Tho' he tarried a week with ite holy choir !" 
 
 And now a bare inhospitable ruin meets the 
 eye of the wayfarer ; wliile in place of friendly 
 welcomings, he hears the wind meaning drearily 
 through its crumbling cloisters, as chaunting a 
 dirge for the past, and wailing f^r the happy 
 time that s^-ill return no mere. Life and 
 Thought have departed from it, giving place 
 to Ruin and Death grira tenants who have 
 taken a lease of it for ever.
 
 40 Tiifc invr.ij LEE. 
 
 The Friary was plundered by the soldiers of 
 the Catholic Tyrone, in 1G01, shortly after which 
 it was repaired. In 1614, the Lord Deputy 
 Chi chester entrusted the care of the Monastery 
 to Charles M'Dermod McCarthy, Lord Mus- 
 keny, a Protestant, on condition that he should 
 not allow Friars to dwell in it, and that the laud 
 should be let to none but English Protestants 
 These conditions he seems not to have fulfilled, 
 siiiCL 1 the Friars were not expelled until after the 
 war of '1041, when Cromwell granted the lands 
 to Lord Broglrill. They again reverted to thy 
 Clancarty family ; but, on the attainder of 
 Douagh, the third Earl, they came into the 
 possession of Captain Hedges, by purchase from 
 the Hollow Sword Blade Company. They ulti- 
 mately came into the possession of the lives, of 
 I\ye Court, to onft of whose desccitdents they 
 ftow belong. 
 
 A little to the west of the Friary, higher up the 
 stream, stands the Castle of Kilcrea. It was 
 once a keep of the Clancarty sept, and the date 
 f it* erection is coeval with that of the Friary, 
 by whose founder it was built. It is a square 
 tower, seventy feet high, and .still in a good 
 i-t.-itc of preservation. The bawn and moat 
 etill exist ; liit the barbicans and outworks ar
 
 KlLCREA CASTLE* 4t 
 
 n mass of ruins. The interior of the building 'm 
 bare and gloomy j but the view from the summit 
 the ascent to which is by a flight of marblu 
 steps is varied and extensive. The eyo ranges 
 over a large part of that beautiful district, 
 known by the name of Muskerry, or the 
 Pleasant Country; a district renowned for it 
 comely maidens and stalwart men, and no less 
 celebrated for feats of equestrianism as daring 
 and slap-dash as any of those so graphically 
 described by Lever. In the distance are seen 
 the spreading woods of Castlemore, in the midst 
 of wlu'ch is Rye Court, on whese noble lawn 
 hurdle races and athletic sports are frequently 
 held. Crowning an eminence beyond llye Court 
 are visible the shattered remains of Castlemore, 
 already mentioned. 
 
 About two miles west of Ballincollig, and 
 seven to the west of Cork, is situate the hamlet 
 of the Ovens, on the banks of the Bride. This 
 place is chiefly remarkable for its limestone 
 caverns, said to extend many miles under- 
 ground. There are two entrances to them, but 
 some of the caves are so low as to oblige the 
 explorer to creep on hands and knees, 
 
 A mile to the west of Ballincollig, the Brila
 
 42 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 joins the Lee. Near their junction, rising behind 
 the church of Inniscarra, is a partly wooded and 
 partly uncultivated hill called Carvagh, or the 
 barren ground, once the property of a thirsty 
 soul named Dowe, a toper of the " good old 
 times," who drank it acre by acre. 
 
 The Lee, now increased by the junction with 
 the Bride, winds at the base of Carvagh, in 
 an easterly course, in view of the village of 
 Ballincollig. Here are extensive military bar- 
 racks for artillery and cavalry, and also a con- 
 stabulary barrack. Here also are manufactured 
 large quantities of gunpowder, in the powder- 
 mills belonging to Sir Thomas Tobin, who thus 
 affords considerable employment to the people 
 of the vicinage. 
 
 About a mile from the town is Ballincollig 
 Castle, once a fortress of the Barretts.* It was 
 garrisoned by Cromwell and James LL It is of 
 considerable antiquity, being generally supposed 
 to date from the reign of Edward III. The 
 
 * In reference to the Barretts, the following; charac- 
 teristic anecdote is related of the Earl of Tyrone. As he 
 was marching past Caatleinore, a reidnce of the Barretts 
 near Mallow, he staked who lived there ! And being told 
 that it was inhabited by one Barrett, a good Catholic, 
 whose ancestors had been settled in Ireland OTCT 400 years 
 ' No matter," he replied, " I hate the English churl a* 
 lunch as if he landed but yesterday !"
 
 KELCREA CASTLE. 43 
 
 castle is of quadrangular form, and was formerly- 
 flanked by towers at each angle. It is built on 
 an isolated rock, of moderate elevation, ia the 
 midst of a plain. The Barretts were an influential 
 and predator}' clan ; hence the bawn in which 
 they kept the cattle captured in their forays or 
 raids was well fortified by two towers. The 
 thickness of its walls and the strength of its 
 defences attest the purpose for which it was 
 built, and prove it to have been erected in those 
 feudal times when men were guided solely by the 
 simple rule 
 
 " That they should take, who have the power, 
 And they should keep, who can." 
 
 Fine lawless days, no doubt, when robber knights 
 washed down with stoups of potent ale or w 
 the meat they had plundered from their weaker 
 neighbours, and scorned every man of low 
 degree as a scurvy knave. Such were the Barretts 
 of Ballincollig ; and Dr. Stnith relates that, in 
 1381, the citizens of Cork, harrassed by the 
 repeated forays of these freebooters, despatched 
 a large force against them, capturing the chic 
 of the Barretts and several of the clan, who 
 were detained as hostages. 
 
 As we approach the church of Killogrohan, 
 on turning & bend in the river we come upon a
 
 44 THE RIVER I.EE. 
 
 r)eep gloomy linnjor pool, aptly designated Ponf- 
 cn-Iffrin, or Hell-hole. A hideous snake or 
 dragon of immense size is said to inhabit this 
 pool. He watches vigilantly over untold treasures 
 that lie buried beneath the waters, which he 
 never quits except for an evening promenade 01* 
 the banks of the river, where the marks of his 
 paws have been sometimes discerned. Crofton 
 Crokor has celebrated this pool as the chief 
 haunt of that ubiquitous sprite, " Teiguf of the 
 Lee." On the south side of the river, cr r *ting a 
 steep rock which rises perpendicularly above the 
 road that winds at its base, stands the picturesque 
 Castle of Carrigrohan. A few years ago it was 
 a mouldering ruin, but has since been completely 
 restored by Mr. M'Swiney, who now inhabits it. 
 It Avas formerly a pile of considerable extent 
 and massy strength. In 1462, it is mentioned 
 as having been the boundary of the liberties or 
 the city of Cork. Carrigrohan was founded by 
 the MacCartMes, and came subsequently into the 
 possession of those bold acquisitive Barretts, of 
 whom we have already made mention. Their 
 estates were forfeited at the Revolution, and in 
 1641 Carrigrohan was dismantled. It afterwards 
 became the residence of Captain Cope, a daring- 
 Jvapparec, who, at the head of a gang of brigands^
 
 APPROACH TO CORK. 45 
 
 plundered travellers, and laid the neighbouring 
 country under contribution. 
 
 Opposite Carrigrohan the Awbeg commingles 
 with the Lee, about four miles from Cork, after 
 passing through the famous village of Blarney. 
 So much has been written on this renowned spot, 
 that we shall content ourselves with this passing 
 notice of it. 
 
 A little beyond the bridge, near Carrigrohan 
 Castle, rises a steep hill, from whose brow, 
 looking eastward down the valley of the ^Lee, 
 the prospect is truly splendid. Beneath, the 
 river is seen flowing through the plain in those 
 tortuous snake-like windings so well expressed 
 by the French word replis, through verdant 
 banks of such velvet softness that they seem to 
 mould themselves to the sinuosities of the stream 
 rather than the latter to yield to theirs. On 
 either side softly swelling hills spread away to 
 the horizon, dotted at intervals with groups of 
 trees and browsing cattle. Over all plays that 
 ever-varying light and shade which constitutes 
 the most exquisite charm of Irish scenery, and 
 the absence of which imparts so much monotony 
 to some of the loveliest scenes of continental 
 Europe ; while far to the east the view is bounded 
 by the dark cloud which marks the position of 
 the fair City of Cork.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The City of Cork. 
 
 After passing Carrigrohan Castle, the eye is 
 attracted by the District Lunatic Asylum, plea- 
 santly situated en the slope of a hill above the 
 river. The style of architecture is original and 
 rather peculiar. The prevailing character is the 
 Gothic, rendered still more unique by broken 
 lines and projections, some with high-pitched 
 turrets, ascending in diminishing stages, and 
 others with extinguisher- shaped terminations, 
 the impression produced by which is anything 
 but pleasing. The Asylum is divided into three 
 main compartments, of which the central is 
 appropriated to the harmless and convalescent 
 patients, the eastern to the violent, and the 
 wescern to those in the lowest state of insanity. 
 The ground enclosed consists of fifty- seven acres, 
 the greater part of which is cultivated by the 
 inmates. The building, which is capable of con- 
 taining 00 inmates, is the largest of the kind in 
 Ireland. This, however, is merely accidental ; 
 and it should not be thence inferred that the 
 people of Cork are more liable to insanity than 
 those of any ether town in the kingdom.
 
 APPROACH TO CORK. 47 
 
 A little below the Lunatic Asylum (which, as 
 a very equivocal compliment to Lord Eglinton, 
 was, until lately, named after him) the Lee is 
 divided into two branches, the principal of which 
 rushes foaming through the salmon weirs that 
 obstruct its course 
 
 " Like sheet lightning 
 
 Ever brishtening, 
 With a low melodious thunder." 
 
 After embracing a large portion of Cork, be- 
 tween the North and South channels, the severed 
 streams re-unite at the eastern extremity of the 
 town ; thus verifying the topographical accuracy 
 of Spencer's description : 
 
 " The spreading Lee that, like an island fayre, 
 Encloeeth Cofke with his divided flood." 
 
 Above the weirs, on an eminence at the northern 
 side of the river, is seen Shanakiel House, the 
 seat of Francis R. Leahy, Esq., J.P. It is 
 beautifully situated in a weil-wcoded demesne, 
 and commands a noble prospect up and down the 
 stream. 
 
 The approach to Cork by the western suburbs 
 is strikingly beautiful. To the left appear the 
 wooded heights of Sunday's Well (so called from 
 its ancient saered fountain) with its garden- 
 covered slopes thickly studded with pretty villas.
 
 45 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 On the other side of the river, and parallel with 
 the great western entrance to the city, is the 
 Mardykc a charming avenue, nearly a mile in 
 length, and bordered by two rows of elm tree*. 
 It was lit throughout by lamps ; but many of 
 these have been removed by an over-economic 
 corporation. This agreeable walk was formed 
 across a swamp in 1719, by a Mr. Webber, who 
 built at its western termination a red brick house 
 (whence it was designated " The Red House 
 Walk"), and enclosed a tea-garden much fre- 
 quented by the citizens of that day. Some of 
 the trees have been barbarously hacked in prun- 
 ing, and now present a mis-shapen and grotesque 
 appearance. 
 
 For the enlightenment and comfort of etymo- 
 logists, we may mention that the name of this 
 once favourite promenade now abandoned for 
 the most part to invalids and nursery maids, with 
 their toddling charges is derived from a walk in 
 Amsterdam, called the Meer Dyke, or sea-dyke, 
 an embankment raised to arrest the encroach- 
 ment of the sea. 
 
 Proceeding along the Western Road, the 
 Queen's College is seen to the right, on an eleva- 
 tion above the southern arm of the Lee. It in
 
 TOE QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 49 
 
 very handsome building, of grey lime-stone, in 
 Ike florid Gothic style of the Tudor era ; and no 
 higher testimony could be given to the beauty of 
 its desifpi than the emphatic declaration of Lord 
 Macaulay, that it is "worthy to stand in the 
 ^igli-filreet of Oxford."* The beauty of the 
 building is enhanced by the cluster of trees in 
 which it is embosomed ; but its general effect is 
 somewhat impaired by the too close proximity of 
 that gloomy-looking structure, the County Gaol 
 its classic and effective porticoed entrance, 
 notwithstanding. 
 
 Standing, as it does, near the site of the ancient 
 Gill Abbey, once a seat of holiness and learning, 
 founded by St. Finnbar, in the seventh century, 
 the situation of the College has been happily 
 chosen. The building occupies three sides of a 
 quadrangle. In the west side are the lecture 
 rooms ; in the east the residences of the president 
 and vice-president ; while the north side, or 
 front, which is 200 feet in extent, consists of the- 
 Examination Hall, Library, and Tower entrance. 
 
 * The passage from which these words are quoted occurs 
 in his "History of England," V. III., P. 171, where, with 
 his usual splendour of diction, he thus describes Cork : 
 " The town is adorned by broad and well-built streets, by 
 ' fair gardens, by a Corinthian portico, which would do 
 honour to Palladio, and by a Gothic College, worthy to 
 stand in the High Street of Oxford."
 
 50 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 The south side is still unoccupied ; but the space 
 is likely to be covered ere long by buildings for 
 the residence of professors and students, without 
 which the College can never be anything better 
 than a high school. 
 
 The Examination Hall is remarkable for its 
 noble proportions, being 90 feet by 36, and 56 
 feet high to the apex of an open-timbered roof, 
 whose stained and varnished trusses rest on stone 
 corbels. At the western end is a dais lighted by 
 a recessed oriel window. Adjoining the Exami- 
 nation Hall is the Library, a very fine room with 
 a gallery running midway around the sides. It 
 contains about 10,000 volumes of the best edi- 
 tions in every department of literature and science. 
 In 1854, an annual grant of 1,600 was made to 
 the College ; 500 of which is appropriated to 
 the Library, and since that period a large num- 
 ber of volumes has been added to it. 
 
 Opposite the entrance to the gallery of the 
 Library are the Museums, which occupy the 
 northern side of the quadrangle. They contain 
 well-arranged collections of specimens of fossils, 
 minerals, &c., and some beautiful stuffed hum- 
 ming birds, presented to the College by a Cork- 
 man, General O'Leary. The visitor cannot quit 
 the College without being impressed with its
 
 THE QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 51 
 
 harmonious unity of design and perfect adapta- 
 tion to the Jpurpose for which it waa erected. 
 This unity and congruity prevail in every detail, 
 even in'the furniture and fittings ; and altogether 
 the building is an enduring monument of the 
 skill and taste cf tie architects, Sir Thomas and 
 Kearns Deane. 
 
 The College has been now nine years in 
 existence, having been opened in Nov., 1849, 
 on'urhich occasion the President delivered an in- 
 augural address, which subsequently obtained 
 considerable notoriety by a blundering Italian 
 translation, whence originated the case of " An- 
 gcli v. Galbraith," arising out of the dismissal 
 of the former from his professorship in Trinity 
 College.* Since that time the College has not 
 made much progress, as regards the number of 
 students, although many of them have highly dis- 
 tinguished themselves. Two of its eleves, Messrs. 
 C. Daly and R. Wall, obtained appointments in 
 
 * The President desired to have the address translated 
 into Italian, in order to disabuse the heads of the Church 
 in Italy of the unfavourable notions they had formed of the 
 Queen Colleges. It was, therefore, entrusted to Signor 
 Angeli, the Italian Professor of Trinity College, who was 
 prenuiaed to be a perfect master of that language. How- 
 he execatod th task may be inferred from the evidence of 
 Mr. Panizzi, the Librarian of the British Museum, one of 
 the most eminent Italian scholars of the day, who swore, in 
 the case "referred to above, that the translation was not 
 Italian at all. The following apposite lines (slightly mo-
 
 62 THE RIVER LE. 
 
 the Indian Civil Service, for which they had to 
 compete not only with the alumni of the Irish 
 Colleges, but with the elite of some of the 
 English Universities. It is right also to add 
 that another student of the Queen's College, 
 Mr. John Pope Hennessy, obtained an appoint- 
 ment in the office of the Committee of Council 
 on Education, after having passed a searching 
 examination, with marked distinction, and also 
 read some able papers at the late meeting 
 of the British Association at Leeds, where he 
 achieved a brilliant success. At the Woolwich 
 examinations, students of the Cork College have 
 been equally successful. In some recent exami- 
 nations for degrees at the Queen's University, 
 however, the reputation of the College was not 
 sustained, and it must be confessed that it has 
 been retrograding of late. This comparatively 
 backward position is clearly traceable, in the 
 
 dified), from one of Boileau's Satires, were handed mini; I 
 the court during the trial, and caused much amusement : 
 " Un savant au college fiit jadig a la mode, 
 Mais dexfmts aujourd' hui c'est leplus incommode : 
 Et I esprit le plus beau, I'auteur le phia jjoli, 
 N'y parvicndra jainais au sort de I' A ngeti." 
 The happy application of those lines will be rendered still 
 more obvious when we mention that Signor Angcli was ap- 
 pointed over a man of superior merit by castle-jobbing and 
 nackstairs influence. Mr. Whiteside characterised the trans- 
 lation as '' a fine specimen of rigmarole." Having seen it, 
 we can fully endorse the opinion of the learned Attorney- 
 general.
 
 THE QUEEX'S COLLEGE. 53 
 
 first instance, to the discountenance of the Roman 
 Catholic Church, which cannot fail to exert an 
 appreciable influence on a community so essen- 
 tially Catholic as that of Cork; secondly, to 
 internal mismanagement arising from dissensions 
 among the professors, and .between many of them 
 and the President, which have caused so many 
 visitations to be held in the College, and which 
 have rendered it impossible to effect that har- 
 monious co-operation so essential to the success 
 of an educational institution ; and, lastly, to the 
 unsatisfactory mode of appointment to the profes- 
 sorships, which, in many instaces, have been 
 -obtained by men comparatively unknown, while 
 candidates of acknowledged ability and high 
 reputation have been totally overlooked. Un- 
 doubtedly, including the President, a few able 
 and eminent men occupy chairs in the Cork 
 College ; but without questioning tho compe- 
 tency of any of the Professors, we repeat that 
 many of them were appointed over the heads of 
 better men. Advertising for candidates for a 
 vacant chair in the Queen's Colleges is of late 
 years a mere farce ; and, in looking for it, an able 
 Irishman, with the highest testimonials, will have 
 little or no chance against a mediocre English- 
 man or Scotchman wbo had never boon pre- 
 viously heard o
 
 54 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 The almost constant absence of Sir Robert 
 Kane from the College has been also considered 
 as a principal cause of its present state; but we 
 do not think this has any material influence in 
 its production the causes already enumerated 
 being fully sufficient to account for it. It is, 
 therefore, in no -wise surprising tjfct the Cork 
 College, despite a curriculum expressly arranged 
 to meet the requirements of our " practical" age, 
 and although amply provided with all the ap- 
 pliances requisite to impart superior instruction, 
 has not been hitherto successful ; and, were it net 
 for the number of scholarships and prizes, as 
 well as the government patronage at its disposal, 
 it is indubitable that the Munster branch of the 
 Queen's University would be an absolute failure. 
 As it is, the annual grant of 8,600, is expended 
 for the education of a few students. 
 
 Ere quitting the subject, we may remark that, 
 although a chair of Celtic literature has been 
 established in the College, it would seem to be a 
 mere pretence of nationality, no provision what- 
 ever having been made for its working. Prac- 
 tically, it is the veriest sham ; and hence the 
 learned professor who fills the chair finds his 
 .situation a sinecure having had no class, be- 
 cause no encouragement has been given for its
 
 BLAIR'S CASTLE. 55 
 
 formation. This is the more to be regretted at 
 a time when some of the ablest philologers of the 
 age, and especially those of Germany, recognise 
 the value of the Irish language for the purpose of 
 ethnological research. By the study and com- 
 parison of the Irish with cognate tongues, new 
 and valuable results could not fail to be brought 
 to light concerning the migrations cf the Celtic 
 race, and the fusion of other races with it. 
 
 After passing the Queen's College, the hand- 
 some church of St. Vincent (as yet without it> 
 tower and spire) is seen on the northern side of* 
 the river, and rising at a commanding elevation, 
 above it, appear the ivied walls of Blair's Castle. 
 the residence of Mr. Windelc, the well-known 
 antiquary. Mr. Windele possesses a fine anti- 
 quarian collection, particularly rich in Irish 
 archaeology, containing a megalithic library, 
 consisting of Ogham inscriptions, in which de- 
 partment of our national antiquities he has 
 been the principal discoverer. There are also 
 at Blair's Castle several portions of primaeval, 
 mills, and remains of local mediseval sculpture. 
 
 Blair, the founder of the castle, was a Scotch 
 surgeon, who, in the middle of the last century, 
 obtained a reputation by an accidental cure, for
 
 66 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 which he was attacked by a quartette of local 
 physicians, who proved, to the satisfaction of all 
 men, that, treated secundum artem, the patient 
 ought to have died, and that the Scotch surgeon 
 had cured him unprofessionally. After this lucky 
 " hit," Blair made a fortune by his practice, built 
 his Scottish castle, and wrote a book full of pes- 
 tilent doctrine^ or rather rank infidelity, which 
 was triumphantly refuted by the learned and 
 facetious Father Arthur O'Leary. 
 
 Arrived at the County Court House (whose 
 faultless portico he will pause to admire), the 
 traveller finds himself at once in one of the prin- 
 cipal thoroughfares of Cork. The favourable 
 impression it is calculated to produce in the mind 
 of a stranger will scarcely be diminished by a 
 more extended inspection of the city, the irregu- 
 larity of whose streets, like those of the quaint 
 old burghs of Flanders, invests them with a 
 picturesqeness denied to towns where greater 
 uniformity prevails in the houses. A diminutive 
 tenement side by side with one five or six stories 
 high ; some projecting boldly several feet beyond 
 their neighbours, others modestly receding from 
 the view ; a crooked house leaning with a touch- 
 ing confidence against a straight, with here and 
 there a collapsed oue shored up ; bay windows
 
 THE CITY OF CORK. 57 
 
 find flat mixed confusedly together ; red-brick 
 alternating with queer-looking weather-slated 
 houses Quakers among edifices ; quaint Eliza- 
 iiethan gables rising beside glaring modern 
 fronts; one building robed in cement, with its 
 neighbour shrouded in yellow wash ; flat roofs 
 and pointed jumbled together ; and, crowning 
 all, a mass of indescribable, mischief-meaning 
 chimneys of every conceivable shape such, with 
 a too prevalent air of uncleanliness and dinginess 
 pervading the thoroughfares, are the prominent 
 features of the streets of " the beautiful city." 
 It would be uncandid, however, were we not to 
 state that many of the thoroughfares are really 
 handsome and spacious, and that the city gene- 
 rally bears the unmistakable stamp of an opulent 
 and prosperous community. 
 
 Unlike Dublin, Cork has but few streets with 
 any significative name, and fewer still called after 
 patriotic Irishmen. These are easily enumerated ; 
 Grafton's Alley, so called after the young Duke 
 of Grafton, natural son of Charles II,, who was 
 killed there during the siege of the city in 1690. 
 It was then an open marsh. Mulgrave-street, 
 so named to commemorate the visit of Lord 
 Mulgrave so popular during his viceroyalty. 
 O'Connell-street preserves the memory of the
 
 58 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 great Irish tribune, while Grattan-etreet struggle* 
 to maintain its glorious narae against the English 
 patronymic of Admiral Duncan. George's- street 
 is so styled after the enlightened Second George, 
 who complacently exclaimed, on being asked to 
 accept a dedication from a hapless cultivator of 
 the muses " Ack, Gott ! I hates boets and 
 boetry ;" and finally, " Ireland Rising Liberty 
 Street," BO designated in commemoration of the 
 Volunteers cf 1782, whose first Associations were 
 formed in Cork. 
 
 But how amazed would be the deluded travel- 
 ler were b.6 shown the squares of Cork, of which 
 there are nominally plenty but such squares ! 
 It would puzzle Sir Isaac Newton to make that 
 geometrical figure out of them; and yet the 
 Corkonians unconsciously mention then 1 squares 
 with as much complacency as if they had a real 
 existence and were no myth ; thereby conveying 
 to strangers the idea of a city of vast extent and 
 magnificence. Their " park" is a similar imposi- 
 tion, being nothing more than a reclaimed marsh, 
 on which there is not the shadow of a tree or 
 even of a shrub. The good Cork folks have a 
 firm faith that all these shams are realities, and 
 it would be cruelty to disabuse them of a decep- 
 tion from which they seem to derive so much
 
 THE cmr OF CORK. 59 
 
 harmless gratification. To do so, would be to 
 render existence miserable creation a blank to 
 them. By all means, let them have their hobby ; 
 for what would life be without illusions ? 
 
 In the next chapter we shall briefly trace the 
 origin and rise of the city.
 
 CHAPTER YL 
 
 The City of Cork Continued Historic JSotfee: 
 The history and antiquities of Cork having 1 
 fceeu minutely explored by Smith, Croker, Wia- 
 lele, and others, we shall content ourselves with 
 briefly adverting to the foundation and rise of 
 the city, and to a few of the historic events of 
 which it ha* been the theatre. 
 
 Cork is of ecclesiastical origin, having been 
 founded at the commencement of the seventh 
 eentury by St. Finn-bar, who established the 
 Cathedral on the south-western part of the insu- 
 lated morass, from which the city derives its 
 name the Irish word corcach signifying a marsh. 
 IJeneath the fostering protection of his religious- 
 foundation, hut? sprang up gradually,, forming 
 the nucleus of the future city. It was, in sooth r 
 an unpromising site for a town ; a lonely valley, 
 several miles from the sea, enclosed by steep hills 
 clothed with primaeval forests, and with an oozy, 
 desolate fen spreading around, through which 
 crept the sluggish waters of the Lee, forming in 
 ts windings a number of reed-covered islets, the
 
 SCANDINAVIAN- SETTLERS. 1 
 
 haunts of wild fowl and reptiles. The little town 
 liacl spread over two or three of these islands 
 when, in the beginning of the ninth century, a 
 number of those piratical and sanguinary Se:i 
 Kings of the North, came up the river in their 
 vulture- beaked galleys, gazed wonderingly on 
 the even then venerable Cathedral,* with its 
 cluster of houses In the midst of that wild swamp 
 then startling its quiet seclusion with their 
 savage war cries, attacked, pillaged, and burned 
 the town, after their fashion, bearing away the 
 plunder in their ships, and chanting their war- 
 ike runes as they steered triumphantly down the 
 *tream.f In the tenth century these grim rovers 
 Attacked the city again and yet again; but many 
 
 * Dr. Molyneux mentions a round tower as having been 
 discovered by the Danes, in Cork, in the ninth century. 
 In making tnis assertion for which, we presume, he had 
 reliable authority the doctor unwittingly contradicts 
 himself, being, in common with Dr. Ledw'ich, John Lynch, 
 and Peter Walshe, an advocate of the Danish origin of the 
 round towers. The one referred to stood close to the 
 (Jathedral of St. Finubar. It was injured .during the siege 
 of 16f)0, and existed until about the middle of the last 
 century. Dr. Petrie conjectures the date of its erection t<> 
 have been coeval with that of the Cathedral. His argu- 
 ments in favour -of the Christian origin of these mysterious 
 .structures are very plausible, but by BO means so conclu- 
 sive on the question as persons but superficially acquainted 
 with it would have us believe. See his " Essay on the 
 Round Towers of Ireland " 
 
 * Vide Thierry's granhic description of the expeditions 
 of the Vikings in hia Cfmquete de I'A ngleterrr, vol. 1, p. 
 
 {y\ et *e,q. The " Heimskringla" of Snorro Sturleson alsw 
 j Surds uaa vivid conception of the .Norsemen.
 
 62 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 of them, weary of blood and plunder, or smit, 
 mayhap, with the wild beauty of the place, settled 
 down there, and diverting their skill and energies 
 into more peaceful channels, engaged in trade, 
 and laid the foundation of the future commercial 
 prosperity of the city. At the present day the 
 names of many cf its inhabitants attest their 
 descent from these Danish pirates. From the 
 period of their settlement the city grew apace, 
 and the Scandinavian adventurers were converted 
 into peaceful chapmen when it was surrendered 
 to the Anglo-Normans in 1172, by Dermod 
 McCarthy, Prince of Desmond. By a grant of 
 Henry II., the city of the Ostmen, which covered 
 the greater part of the space between the present 
 north and south bridges, was exempted from the 
 ideal possessions bestowed upon Kobert Fitz- 
 stephen and Milo de Cogan as their portion of 
 the quasi-conquered kingdom of Cork.* 
 
 In the 13th century several religious establish- 
 ments were erected and endowed in Cork. In 
 1214, a Grey or Franciscan Friary was founded 
 by Dermod McCarthy Rea, at Shandon, on the 
 north side of the city. In 1229, a Doaoinicaii 
 Friary arose on the present site of the convent of 
 
 ' Th original Danish city occupied only about half tha 
 pace which WRS subsequently encompassed by walls.
 
 THE MONASTERIES AND ABBEYS. 63 
 
 St. Marie's of the Isle, near the Cathedral. 
 About the middle cf the 12th century, the Mon- 
 astery of Gill-E<la was founded near the site of 
 the present Queen's College. The steeple church 
 of the abbey fell down in 1738. There was also 
 an abbey of Canons Regular, founded so tar 
 back as the seventh centuiy, which, Like all the 
 foundations of that class in Ireland, adopted the 
 rule of St. Augustine, in 1420. This house, 
 afterwards called the Red Abbey, is the only 
 foundation of which any remains now exist. 
 There were besides several priories and nun- 
 neries ; and at the period of the Reformation 
 the city abounded in religious confraternities. 
 
 In 1491, the Pretender, Per kin Warbeck, 
 visited Cork, where his cause was warmly es- 
 poused by the Mayor, John Walters, who pro- 
 claim ad him heir to the crown. For this mistake, 
 or indiscretion, Henry VII. deprived Cork of 
 ita^charter, Jand had Walters executed _with the 
 luckless WarbecL 
 
 About this period, the city was surrounded by 
 fortifications which enclosed that portion of it 
 situated between the north and south branches 
 of the Lee. The walls were defended by several 
 strong towers, one of which stood at the extre- 
 mity of Christ Church-lane, and another whero
 
 64 THE RIVER LEE 
 
 the City Club now stands. The north and south 
 gates were "strongly fortified, and the western 
 wall was protected by St. Peter's belfry and two 
 strong towers. These defences were needed by 
 the industrious citizens against the hostile clans 
 who held possession of the country around it,. 
 and by whom the city was reduced to a chronic 
 state of siege. No citizen would venture 
 outside the walls without arms and a strong 
 escort. Writing in the reign of Elizabeth, 
 Camden says that Cork was " so beset witli 
 rebel enemies on all sides that they (the citizens) 
 arc obliged to keep constant watch, as if the 
 town was continually besieged."* 
 
 With regard to the trade of Cork at that time 
 the reader will be enabled to form some idea of it 
 by the following passage from Crofton Croker : 
 " The ancient trade of Cork was very limited, 
 and entirely confined to England and the ports 
 in the Bay of Biscay ; the principal import was 
 wine from France and Spain, and in return it 
 
 * The following curious extract from the charter granted 
 by Queen Elizabeth to the city of Cork shows how little it 
 was anticipated in the sixteenth century that a communi- 
 cation so safe and rapid as that afforded by the Great 
 Southern and Western Railway would exist between Cork 
 and Dublin in the nineteenth : " Because that the city of 
 Cork is far distant from the city of Dublin, so that by tho 
 violent insurrection and route of the Irish people, ' there 
 has not been at any time, a safe access from the said city 
 flf.Dublinto Cork, nor irill tltere be fur the future.' "
 
 THE TRADE OF CORK. 65 
 
 exported staves, hide?, fish, skins, and wool. 
 All the traffic was carried on in foreign bottoms ; 
 for Cork, in the reign of Elizabeth, only pos- 
 sessed a few fishing barques ; nor were there 
 warehouses established for the reception of mer- 
 chandise, and every trader, therefore, brought 
 his goods at his own risk, and disposed of them 
 in the best manner he could from on board his 
 vessel."* Foreign vessels were received in a canal 
 near Castle-street, and were enclosed by a port- 
 cullis, between the King's Castle, on the site of 
 the old Police Office in Market-street, and the 
 Queen's Old Castle, which occupied the site of 
 the monster establishment still retaining its name. 
 Hence originated the city arms ; a ship between 
 two castles, with the Virgilian motto (a little 
 altered) : static benejida carinis. 
 
 The names of Roche, Skiddy, Gould, Terry, 
 Gnlway, Sarsfield, Meade, Morrogh, and Cop- 
 pinger, were common among the inhabitants of 
 Cork for centuries, and their descendants rank 
 among its leading citizens at present. They 
 were, withal, a sturdy and independent race of 
 men. A message having been sent them by the 
 Lord Deputy desiring them to proclaim James 
 I., they treated the messenger with great indig- 
 
 * Retearchet in the Soutli of Ireland, p. 20 .
 
 66 THE RIVER LIE. 
 
 nity, refusing to obey the mandate, whereupon 
 Si Charles Wilmot was despatched with troops 
 to the city ; but the citizens refused to admit 
 Min with more than six soldiers, and forbade him 
 to lodge in the suburbs.* 
 
 Intimidated by the approach of Cromwell, the 
 city declared for the Parliament in 1649, about 
 which time William Penn, the celebrated founder 
 of Pensylvania, became a convert to Quakerism, 
 in Cork, after having accidentally heard a sermon 
 from a member of that sect. In 1688, General 
 M'Carthy took possession of the city for James 
 II., who made a public entry into Cork the fol- 
 lowing year, after having landed at Kinsale. 
 
 The siege of Cork, by Maryborough, and the 
 Ihike of Wirtemburgh, in September, 1690, is 
 the most important historical event connected 
 with the city. Nature has precluded Cork by 
 its position from ever becoming a place of mili- 
 tary strength. Surrounded by steep hills, it 
 must inevitably be at the mercy of an enemy who 
 obtains possession of them ; and so, despite its 
 embattled wails at the period of the siege, it held 
 out but five days against an army much inferior 
 iu numerical strength to that which had unsuc- 
 cessfully attacked Limerick a few weeks before. 
 
 * Tvdcey"t Cork Remembrancer, pp., 71-75.
 
 TPE SIEGE OF CORK. 67 
 
 As our limits will not allow us to dwell even 
 briefly on this siege, we refer such of our 
 readers as may be desirous to know the particu- 
 lars of it to Macaulay's History of England, 
 vol. iii., p. 679,* the Journal of the Very Rer. 
 Rowland Davies, Dean of Ross, recently pub- 
 lished by the Camden Society, and edited, with 
 considerable erudition, by Mr. Richard Caulfield, 
 of Cork, who has enriched the work with valuable 
 notes,f and to a rare book, " The Life of Joseph 
 Pike," a Quaker, who resided in Cork during the 
 siege. From the last mentioned work we cannot 
 forbear quoting the following interesting pas- 
 sage : " The siege (of Cork) presently came on ; 
 for the governor would not surrender upon sum- 
 mons ; the pavement of the streets was pulled up 
 to deaden the bombs, of which there were, I 
 
 * The noble historian erroneously states that the siege 
 lasted but forty-eight hours ; whereas it cootinned for five 
 entire days. Although a very graphic, his lordship is by 
 no means a trustworthy historian. 
 
 t The Dean was a jovial, yet bellicose Churchman, 
 equally ready to drain a bottle as wield a sword or point 
 a cannon. He also loved to prescribe for the ailments of 
 old liidies ; and so strong were his prescriptions, it aeerus 
 marvellous how any of his patients could have ever 
 recovered from their effects. The most amusing feature in 
 Lis journal is the minuteness with which he notes down 
 the price of everything ha buys, as well as what he spends 
 in the inns he was so fond of visiting, where his expenses 
 M Mom exceeded sixpence. AH illustrative of the relative 
 value of money then, and now, we may mention that for 
 this gum the Dean got a good dinner and a couple of bottle^ 
 lit ale..
 
 68 THE RIVER LEF. 
 
 think, twelve or thirteen thrown into the town 
 while the siege lasted. The cannons from with- 
 out roared, and they made a breach in the east 
 Bide towards South Gate ; the then Duke of 
 Grafton commanded the marines, and ap- 
 proached to Dunscombe's Marsh over the river, 
 intending to storm at the breach ; and in all 
 human probability had carried the town, but 
 that he was mortally wounded from the walls, 
 and so carried off, and died in about a week." 
 The shot -which killed the Duke was fired by a 
 blacksmith from a forge in Old Post Oilice-lane. 
 After the surrender of Cork, the extensive Clan- 
 carty estates in the county were forfeited to the 
 Crown, 
 
 At the period of the siege the city occupied 
 about a tenth of the space it now covers. Shortly 
 after that event, the marshes of the city began to 
 be reclaimed, and some improvements to be in- 
 troduced, as will be seen by the following extract 
 from the Council Book of the Corporation of 
 Cork :~_" 30th of July, 1697. Ordered that Mr. 
 Edward Richardson, according to proposalls by 
 him given in this day to the Councill, for bring- 
 ing in fresh water in pipes to every house in the 
 City, who shall agree with him, have liberty 
 according to his proposall, of breaking up tlia
 
 THE STREETS AXD QUAYS OF CORK. 69* 
 
 pavement, in mending the same, and all other" 
 matters in said proposall contained, provided he 
 perforate the said worke in three yeares tyme." 
 The town gradually extended from island to 
 island, and the various channels that flowed 
 through it having been bridged over, it arose 
 like another Venice above the Hood. Until the 
 close of the last century, the principal streets 
 were tideways, bordered by quays, at which 
 vessels took in and discharged cargoes. Patrick- 
 street was arched over in 178o, previously to 
 which a channel flowed through it. It is now 
 the principal thoroughfare of Cork, and is 
 adorned with handsome shops. The Grand 
 Parade, its most spacious street, was arched 
 over in a similar manner in 1780. At the south 
 side of the Parade was the fashionable prome- 
 nade, shaded by trees, called the " Mall." It 
 was then much frequented by brave gallants i 
 cocked hats, powdered wigs, frills, ruffles, and 
 Bteel-handled swords, escorting young ladies in 
 hoops as voluminous as the crinoline of our day, 
 who tripped daintily along in gold-clocked 
 stockings and red-heeled shoes, over a rough 
 irregular pavement -flagged trottoirs being then 
 unknown. The Assembly Rooms, in George's- 
 Btreet, were then a gny resort, wherein were
 
 70 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 weekly dancing reunions, called " drums," re- 
 ferred to by Dr. Smith, in his quaint amusing 
 way. Within the last thirty years the city has 
 extended rapidly, covering the sides of the sur- 
 rounding hills with stately terraces and villas. 
 But, though blessed, like Damascus, with many 
 flowing streams, its streets are even more filthy 
 than those of the Pearl of Islam. In many of 
 the thoroughfares aro to be found heaps of offal, 
 over which at times hungry curs growl and fi~ht 
 undisturbed, or pestilent sinks, wherein half nuda 
 brats ^dabble ecstatically. Nor is uncleanliness 
 a new feature in Cork ; it seems to have been 
 always inseparable from and indigenous to it. 
 Fynes Morrison, who wrote about Ireland in the 
 year 1600, says : " Even in the best city, as at 
 Cork, I have observed that my own, as well as 
 other Englishmen's chambers, hired of the citi- 
 zens, were scarce swept cnce in a week, and the 
 dust, then laid in a corner, was, perhaps, cast cut 
 once in a month or two." This statement should, 
 however, be received with some limitation, as, 
 in point of veracity, the writer might be termed 
 the Cambrensis of the 17th century. Samuel 
 Derrick, writing to Lord Cork, in 1760, ssys : 
 ' I scarcely need inform your lordship that thij 
 city is nine or tea miles from the sea that the
 
 THE COMMERCE OF CORK 71 
 
 streets are rery dirty, the place lying low, there- 
 fore subject to much raia.'' Du Soile, an Ame- 
 rican, bears similar testimony to the untidiness 
 of Cork. A writer in the University Magazine 
 for June, 1848, thus refers to the city : " Cork 
 is a pretty slattern, slipshod and draggle-tailed." 
 Continuing the figure how fascinating would 
 she not be did the slovenly beauty but wash her 
 face, bind up her unkempt tresses, and keep her- 
 self neat. 
 
 The limits of this work preclude us from 
 doing more than giving a rapid glance at the 
 commercial career of the city. Its developmen t 
 was rapidly promoted by the American war of 
 independence, which made the harbour a rendez- 
 vous for vessels of war and fleets of merchant- 
 men, chiefly bound for the West Indies. At the 
 period of the Union, numbers were employed in 
 Cork in the various branches of cotton manu- 
 facture, cloth-weaving, wool-combing, paper- 
 making, glass-blowing, and tanning, all of which 
 became extinct within ten years after tire passing 
 of the act. Her commerce again revived towards 
 the close of the great French war, Cork having 
 obtained contracts for victualling the navy, which 
 gave a great impulse to her mercantile prosperity. 
 One of her merchants, Daniel Csflagh&n, senior,
 
 72 THE RIVER 1E. 
 
 x -i i ;disrdan immense fort line by the navy contnu '. 
 which lie secured by his superior ability. Her 
 was one of the most remarkable men thai! 
 Cork e\iT produced, having risen from com- 
 parative poverty and obscurity to the very fore- 
 most position among the merchants, not alone oi 
 his native; city, bat of the whole kingdom. 
 
 The thriving condition of the city received a 
 severe blow from combinations among the coopers 
 of fork, which resulted in the withdrawal of tint 
 contract. Of late years, however, the city has 
 progressed steadily in trade and commercial 
 enterprise, in which it excels any other provin- 
 cial town in Ireland, save Belfast alone.* It is 
 true, there are but lew manufactures, and the: 
 visitors will miss those tall chimneys which cha- 
 racterise manufacturing towns ; but there are 
 "vcral monster shops and extensive establish- 
 ment? for curing beef, pork, &c. T.hc principal 
 manufactures of Cork are tunning, distilling,, 
 iiw.ing, wool-combing, ghtc-inaking, vfcc., which 
 art* chiefly emed on in Blackpool, a suburb of 
 1-he (itv. There, are four distilleries, and five 
 breweries,- mehiding one recently established by 
 
 : \ Swift, referring to the trade of Cork, in 170C, ob- 
 - Cork, indeed was a place of trad'j, but i'ur n>ui<i 
 \ it i gone to decay, ami the wretched u.-.- 
 . :'s>$ dealers, are i/'jiUuvs i.J chcuU."
 
 THU LEATHER TI!AI>K MOXSTER StlOrS. 73 
 
 the Messrs. Murphy. The chief tanners arc. D. 
 Murphy and Sons, Sir William Hackett, and the 
 Messrs. Ilcgarty. The leather trade was almost 
 extinguished in Ireland by the potato blight of 
 1845-6, but has since quite recovered While 
 011 this subject, we may remark that tanning and 
 currying are carried on very extensively in the 
 rity, while the sole-leather manufactured in Cork 
 has been long considered the best in Ireland. 
 Within the past ten years, the Messrs. Ilegarty 
 have produced finished calfskin and upper leather 
 which will bear comparison with the best manu- 
 factured in Bordeaux. 
 
 Of the monster drapery establishments, that 
 of Fitzgibbon and Co. (the Queen's Old Castle) 
 is the most extensive. Among these are also the 
 fine concerns of Messrs Carmichael and Co. 
 who have recently enlarged their establishment ; 
 Thomas Lyons and Co., Ogilvie and Co., and 
 M"-M-.S. Arnott and Co., who afford considerable 
 employment in the city by the making 6f knitted 
 pulka jackets, silk nets, and caps, crotchet work, 
 gloves, and several other articles which they ship 
 to various countries. 
 
 The butter trade is the staple one of Cork, 
 and the principal source of its wealth. An sums
 
 74 'ritli fclVEh LfeE. 
 
 Latistic.,s ho'.ving the increase of this important 
 trade cannot be uninteresting, we may mention 
 that in 1633 batter was first shipped in firkins 
 from Cork. In 1806, the expert of butter 
 amounted to 1CO,000 cwts. In 1835, 279,000 
 firkins were exported ; in 1S30, 340,826 firkin?, 
 and in tlie year ending August, 1353, 345.::.^ 
 firkins, exclusive of kegs Besides supplying tho 
 English markets, tlie Cork exporters ship to 
 Australia, the West Indies, alid Lisbon. To 
 show how considerably the trade has increased, 
 we inay mention that a few years since the 
 'average yearly receipt of butter at the Cork 
 Market did not exceed 280,000 firkins; while 
 the quantity received for the last two years 
 amounted to over 400,000 firkins each year* 
 representing an amount of capital equal to about 
 1.500,000, 
 
 Tine export trade of Cork is now chiefly carried 
 on, and its mercantile repute sustained by the 
 eminent firms of John Gould and Co.> Bnrkc 
 Brothers. Honan, Hardy, Adam?, Iloddev,, 
 Sugrue, Clare, and P Murphy and Son. Mr. 
 Pike and I\Cessrs. Lecky and Bealc have exten- 
 sive dock-yards on the river, in which they have 
 constructed several first-class iron *hips. The 
 tics of tac trade of Cork, however, bung
 
 LOCAL 
 
 ar-i!y accessible, we shall merely mention in this 
 place that, in 1854, the tonnage of foreign vessels 
 entered at Cork harbour VVas 175,155 tons, and 
 of British and coasting trade, 470j765 tons, and 
 thst the population of the city, according to the 
 census of 1851, is 85,745, showing an increase 
 over tlie previous census Df 1841, df 5,025 iaha* 
 bitants. 
 
 A very satisfactory instance of local enterprise 1 
 i? furnished in the success of the Cork Gas Con*- 
 sumcrs' Company, incorporated recently tinder 
 the Limited Liabilities Act. It possesses a capital 
 bf 40,000, and numbers about one thousand of 
 the gas consumers bf the city. When we con* 
 Mdtr that this company had to contend with a 
 rich and influential one long in possession, and 
 the punctuality with which they fulfilled their 
 t-ontract to light tlie city when they had but a 
 Very limited time to carry it out, it must be ad-*- 
 hiitti'd that the Cork Gas Consumers' Company 
 is a vt ry gratityinj;- evidence of the energy and 
 business capacity of its directors. 
 
 Beihg wholly untwchtial to oUi 1 pUi-posc tc> 
 fi;ive ir.bre tlinii this imperfect outline of the! 
 history of Cork, we rofvr our readers for more 
 m^onr.nticn to the local historian?, oml
 
 76 Tin: inviiU u-:r. 
 
 especially to Mr. Winder's invaluable '.' Notices 
 of the City of Cork," and to a scholarly essai 
 or. Cork, by John Goo. MacCflrthy, Esq., tho 
 esteemed President of the local Catholic Yountr 
 Men's JSock'ty. 
 
 In the next chapter wo shall treat of the insti- 
 tutions and public buildings of Cork.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The City of Cork Continued. 
 
 In noticing the public establishments of Cork, 
 the Royal Cork Institution is first entitled to 
 claim our attention from its local prestige. 
 
 The building is an antiquated fabric of cling}' 
 red brick, and is situated in an unfrequented 
 part of the city. Its interior comprises a lecture 
 room, a small and neglected museum, a library 
 containing about 1 3,000 books, chiefly scientific, 
 and a hall embellished with several mutilated 
 Ogham inscriptions, some rib-bones of whale.*, 
 old stones, and other interesting objects. A few 
 years since this hall was also adorned with a 
 venerable shark, from whose abdomen protruded 
 a bundle of musty straw a spectacle at once 
 novel and imposing. 
 
 The Institution was founded in 1802, by a 
 number of noblemen and gentlemen with a view 
 to the diffusion of science among the community 
 generally. A charter of incorporation was after- 
 wards obtained, as also a Parliamentary grant of 
 2,000 per annum, subsequently increased to 
 2,500,
 
 78 THE RIVF.r. LEfi. 
 
 The encouragement of agriculture being oiw 
 of the primary objects of the Institution, farming 
 societies were accordingly organised in different 
 parts of the county, premiums adjudged, and a 
 botanic garden taken in 1810. A large house 
 was hired, in which lectures on various branched 
 of science were delivered, including some on 
 anatomy as connected with art. 
 
 We have now to record an act of the committee 
 of the Royal Cork Institution which entitles 
 them to the gratitude of the people of Cork, 
 A splendid collection of cast?, taken wider the 
 special superintendence of Catiota from the 
 Jinest specimens of Grecian and Roman art, 
 preserved in the Vatican and the sculpture 
 galleries of Italy, were sent by Pope Pius tha 
 VII. as a present to the Prince Regent, after* 
 wards George IV., who gave them to Lord 
 Knnismore for presentation to the Cork Society 
 of Arts.* That society immediately engaged a 
 house, and went to considerable expense in con- 
 structing a hall suitable for their reception. 
 Seine years after the society became bankrupt ;
 
 fcOYAl. CORK INSTITUTION. 79 
 
 but the casts were retained by the architect in 
 compensation for a debt incurred by him in 
 fitting tip the hall. Hearing that they were 
 about to be advertised for sale, the proprietors 
 of the Cork Institution immediately redeemed 
 them for a sum of 300, and had them trans- 
 ferred to the Old Custom House, a grant of 
 which they had previously obtained in 1831. 
 
 Owing, however, to religious and political sec- 
 tarianism that perpetual bane of our country, 
 instilling its virus into every phase of Irish 
 society the noble objects for which the Cork 
 Institution was established, and which were 
 carried out at first with vigour and success, 
 were almost wholly neutralised. The govern- 
 ment, finding that no commensurate benefit 
 accrued to the public, gradually reduced the 
 annual grant until 1830, when it was entirely 
 withdrawn.* Since then the institution has had 
 a languishing existence, and is at present chiefly 
 supported by the medical faculty of Cork. 
 
 As a literary association, the Cork Library 
 Society ranks next in importance to the Iloyal 
 Cork Institution. It was founded in 1790, by 
 
 * Sir Walter Scott's forcible comparison in reference to 
 our party strife is only too true: "They (Irishmen) are 
 like people fighting with daggers in a hogshead." -Lock- 
 liartv Life of Scott, v. C.
 
 80 THE UIVEIl LEK. 
 
 n number of Cork merchants for the circulation 
 of standard works. The library is situated in 
 one of the most central pzirts of the city. It 
 contains about 20,000 volumes, principally in 
 the department of Belles Lettres, together with 
 some valuable books of reference. About forty 
 periodicals and newspapers arc also t aken in. 
 
 The reading room is spacious and well kept, 
 with a gallery extending around three of the 
 sides. Here some of the Cork quidnuncs may 
 be seen any day, as well as a few quiet old gen- 
 tlemen who seem to be fixtures there, and to 
 whom the library affords a soothing retreat from 
 the noise and turmoil of the world without. 
 Here some local literateur may also be occasion- 
 ally seen consulting a book, but rarely seated at 
 the tables or fires with book in hand ; for your 
 genuine literary men seldom read in public 
 libraries. 
 
 When we consider the advantages that are 
 afforded by the Cork Library, we are surprised 
 that they are not more generally availed of than 
 they have hitherto been, especially as the sub- 
 scription is so moderate as one guinea per 
 annum. Among its other advantages it pos- 
 sesses that of having a Tery attentive aucl 
 courteous librarian.
 
 Till; SCHOOL OF DESIGN. 81 
 
 The only other library worthy of notice is 
 that of the Cathedral of St. Finnbar. It com- 
 prises a valuable collection of theological and 
 historical works ; but it is hermetically sealed 
 to the reading public of Cork, to whom its 
 existence is scarcely known. 
 
 The apartments appropriated to the School 
 of Design form a portion of the premises of the 
 Cork Institution. In 1848, the upper part of 
 that building having undergone alterations and 
 improvements, the school was accordingly opened 
 und several pupils received. A few years since 
 the collection of casts already mentioned were 
 removed from the cheerless and mouldy room in 
 which they had been entombed for years, to the 
 more airy apartments in which they are placed 
 at present, where, freed from the dust and mould 
 contracted in their former quarters, they now 
 appear in somewhat of their pristine beauty. 
 The people of Cork do not sufficiently appreciate 
 the value of the truly splendid art-treasures they 
 possess in these casts. Gazing upon these god- 
 like forms as they shine out in the softened light 
 upon the enraptured vision, we feel the full 
 meaning and beauty of that fine metaphorical 
 expression so felicitously applied to the peerless
 
 82 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 edifices of Greece "frozen music." Among; 
 other figures in the sculpture gallery is that of 
 the celebrated Apollo Belviderc. This faultless 
 specimen of Grecian art entrances by its match- 
 less beauty even the eye of the unartistic visitor. 
 Enveloped as with a perfume of eternal youth, 
 with a wondrous blending of vigour, grace, and 
 symmetry, a triumphant disdain seated on the 
 brow and quivering in the lip there stands that 
 glorious form, instinct with the god, and lustrous 
 as with a radiance from on high.* Xear. the 
 Apollo stands the group of Laocoon the inspi- 
 ration ofLessing's great work a production still 
 more celebrated for the influence it exerted over 
 the master mind of Germany.f The group pre- 
 sents a marked contrast to the beaming presence 
 of the imperial sun-god. The latter becomes 
 the more fascinating the longer you gaze upon 
 it ; while the expression of intense agony^on tho 
 face of his doomed priest fills the soul with 
 mingled emotions of terror and awe. As we 
 gaze on the group, Virgil's noble lines are in- 
 tinctivelv recalled and how vividly does it 
 
 * YVinckelmann's critique on the Apollo Bclvidcre is one 
 of the most beautiful nnd just in the whole range of Art 
 Criticism. 
 
 t See the first volume of Lewes' s Life of Goethe a. work 
 that should be in every public and private library.
 
 JHK eCHOOL OF BESIGX. 83 
 
 embody the poet's thought : 
 
 Illi agniine certo 
 
 Laoeoonta petunt ; ct primum parva duoruia 
 Corpora natunim serpens amplexus uterque 
 Implicat, et miseros morsu depascitur artus. 
 Post ipsuni, auxilio subeunteui, ac tela ferentero, 
 Cprripiunt, spirisque ligant ingcntibus ; et jam 
 Bis medium amplexi, bis collo squamea circiim 
 Terpa dati, superant capite et cervicibns altis. 
 Ille siinul manibiis tendit divellere nodos, 
 Perfusus sanic vittas ati-oque veneno ; 
 Clamores simul horreudos et sidera tollit. 
 Quales mupitus, fugit cum saucius aram 
 launw. et incertam esoussit cerviec sccurim." 
 
 Our space will not permit us to dwell on the 
 other casts in the gallery ; but we would faiii 
 linger a moment to give a wistful glance at that 
 perfect impersonation of womanly loveliness, the 
 Venus de Medici ; at the Venus of Car.ova, 
 whose charming attitude is so expressive of 
 startled modesty ; at the exquisite face of the 
 Clytie, with its expression of ineffable and dove- 
 like gentleness ; at the chaste Diana, more 
 graceful than the fawn beside her, and with 
 step so elastic that t-he seems about to spring 
 from earth to her celestial home ; at that noble 
 piece of sculpture, Germanicus, a finished type 
 of manly beauty ; at Adonis, on whom Venus 
 scans to gazo with a look of unutterable love ; 
 at Antinous, whose hyacinthine curls shadow a 
 beautiful but an effeminate countenance ; at the 
 Lycian Apollo, whose attitude is the ideal of 
 " AJJ. Ub. II. v. 212 et *5C~
 
 $4 THE iiiVEii LI:K. 
 
 graceful repose ; and, finally, at the splendid 
 torso of Hercules, which fitly closes our rapid 
 Mirvcy of these noble specimens of sculpture. 
 Li the school are also a line collection of busts, 
 relicvi, masks, &c., one of which, a mask of 
 Minerva, is a gem of art. 
 
 The Into accomplished Head Master, Mr. 
 Baimbach, has been succeeded in the office by 
 a gentleman who is filled with a genuine enthu- 
 siasm for his art. We have seen some of Mr. 
 Shell's paintings, one illustrative of Longfellow's 
 '' Excelsior, " one entitled " Jacob's Dream, " 
 and another representing the "Assumption." 
 Judging from the true artistic verve and skill 
 exhibited in these productions, we venture to 
 augur for Mr. Sheil a distinguished position 
 among the artists of the day. 
 
 Under his zealous superintendence, the school 
 has attained a high degree of efficiency, and 
 numbers at present about two hundred students. 
 Several of the pupils have received certificates of 
 merit, and also obtained appointments in the 
 l^ondon Central Training School of Art. 
 
 With so admirable a means of aesthetic culture 
 ns that afforded by this fine collection of Art- 
 Treasures, it is no marvel that Cork should bo
 
 THE SCHOOL OF DESIGX. 85 
 
 prolific 111 distinguished artists especially sus- 
 ceptible to their influence as are the denizens of 
 the southern metropolis, .whose lively imagina- 
 tions and warm feelings are easily wrought to 
 that deration of sentiment and ^refinement of 
 thought usually engendered by the contemplation 
 of such masterpieces. Gazing spell- bound on 
 these divine creations of human genius, Barry, 
 Grogan, Forde, Maclise, Hogan, Hcfferuan, 
 Fisher, and other eminent Cork artists, drank 
 in that inspiration which enabled them to soar 
 so high, and to reflect such lustre on their 
 native city. 
 
 Under the present excellent system of instruc- 
 tion, the Cork School of Art is gradually forming 
 a permanent and valuable museum, admirably 
 adapted for training both the artist and the 
 artisan in the most elevated departments of high 
 and mechanical art. At the annual competition 
 for national medals in London, four medals have 
 been obtained by Cork within the last two years ; 
 and a gift of ten pounds being attached to each 
 medal, to be given in works of art to the school 
 in which the student who obtains it is educated, 
 the school has been presented with works to the 
 value of 40. These works consist of copies of 
 Perugino's frescoes, with tracings from the ori-
 
 86 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 ginal pictures, examples of the best Italian art, 
 frescoes, mosaics, stained glass, wood carving-, 
 eletrotypes of Cellini's clefs-tfce'ivrc, and pho- 
 tographs of crystal cups and enamel in the 
 Louvre, and of armour in possession of the 
 Queen. As a reward for a medal obtained by 
 the school, it will be presented next year with 
 photographs (nearly four feet by three) of 
 Raphael's Cartoons in Hampton Court. As a 
 work of scientific sun-painting, these photo- 
 graphs are the most wonderful of the age ; and 
 thus, owing to the efficient training in the local 
 school, the citizens of Cork can experience the 
 rare enjoyment of gazing on a perfect represen- 
 tation of one of the most glorious productions of 
 the divine painter of the Transfiguration. The 
 school has been also recently enriched with a 
 noble head of Achilles and a cast of the charming 
 Venus of Milo. 
 
 These additions, in conjunction with the gal- 
 lery of casts, render the Cork School of Art the 
 very best in the country for the aitist and the 
 mechanic ; and there can be no doubt that any 
 intelligent student, availing himself of the ad- 
 vantages that this institution presents, would soon 
 be capable of decorating the public buildings of 
 the city, in a style similar to that in which the
 
 THK SCHOOL OF DESIGX. 87 
 
 beautiful Roman Catholic Cathedral has been 
 lately embellished, and in a spirit akin to that by 
 which artists were inspired in the age of Leo X. 
 We earnestly hope that, fired by the example of 
 the many illustrious artists to whom Cork has* 
 given birth, they will strive, with generous emu- 
 lation, to equal their renown ; and we as earnestly 
 trust that the committee of this institution will 
 cordially co-operate with the Department of 
 Science and Art to carry out a system of art- 
 education which appears to us the best adapted 
 to serve the public that has ever been instituted 
 by any government. 
 
 In evidence of the success of the present system 
 of instruction, we may mention that the number 
 of local medals obtained in 1857, with two masters, 
 was fourteen ; while in 1858, with one master, no 
 less than twenty-one medals were awarded to the 
 school. This fact is a conclusive proof of Air. 
 Shell's ability and zeal ; and the students of the 
 school should sedulously avail themselves of both 
 while that gentleman is yet connected with it, 
 since they cannot always enjoy the advantage 
 of having a Head Master, at once so able and 
 and zealous. 
 
 In the immediate vicinity of the School of 
 Design is the Athenaeum, erected a few years
 
 88 THE EIVER LEE. 
 
 since, and chiefly constructed of the materials of 
 the building used for the National Exhibition at 
 Cork in 1851. Being in an unfinished state, tLt> 
 exterior has rather an unsightly appearance ; but 
 when the contemplated semi-circular Doric por- 
 tico shall have been added, it will be a very 
 handsome edifice. The interior, however, is truly 
 grand both as regards design and vastness of 
 proportion. The Rotundo_is lofty and jipacious 
 and is separated from the great hall above 
 which it is elevated several feet by a screen of 
 Corinthian columns. The hall is one of the 
 noblest in the United Kingdom, being 113 feet 
 in length, and 53 in width. It is lighted by a 
 glazed roof, itself supported by a double row of 
 fluted Corinthian columns. At the western end 
 is a semi-circular recess containing a fine organ 
 and seats capable of accommodating a large 
 orchestra. Extending along the cornice of the 
 hall and of the dome ave innumerable small jets 
 of gas which diffuse au'equable and mellow light. 
 The building reflects the highest credit on the 
 architect, Sir John Benson, and the builder, Mr. 
 W. Brash. 
 
 The Athcna?um was intended to be what its 
 name implies a temple for the promotion of 
 science, literature, and the Fine Arts. These
 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 89 
 
 objects have been defeated in a great dcgi'ce by 
 the difficulty of hearing distinctly in it ; a very 
 serious drawback to its utility. It has been, 
 therefore, abandoned for the most part to the 
 votaries of Terspichore, and numerous balls luivc 
 taken place there, which arc remarkable for 
 having been almost invariably the occasion of 
 some " row." 
 
 We must now glance rapidly at some of the 
 remaining public buildings. The steeple of 
 Shaudon Church, being a perfectly unique spe- 
 cimen of architecture, first claims our notice. It 
 has been wittily designated " the pepper-box 
 steeple." It is faced with two red-stone sides, 
 and two of limestone, which invest it with some- 
 what of a, harlequin aspect. If we may use a 
 bull, its weather- cock is a fish (query a shark?) 
 which stubbornly resists the persuasions of your 
 Zephyrs, and " soft souths ;" so that its office 
 appears to be merely to indicate the direction of 
 the latt gale. The steeple is also provided with 
 ;i monster clock, which exhibits a perverse and 
 vicious propensity for going wrong. 
 
 The Court House, referred to in a former 
 chapter, iias been the object of special praise for 
 its external beauty, and of unmeasured censure, 
 on account of its internal construction, to every
 
 90 THE RIVKR LETT. 
 
 going judge of Assize, as well as to builder?, who 
 have of course no interest in alterations. Its 
 happy lot has been that the changes suggested 
 by one judge have been condemned, as a matter 
 of course, by the next. Its temperature, . and 
 internal arrangements, have ever been the sub- 
 ject of complaint and qucrelous remonstrances, 
 especially from lawyers and attornies whose lives 
 arc so precious to the public. We doubt whether 
 a Iluskin would be able to convert the courts of 
 this unfortunate building into comfortable and 
 satisfactory kails of justice. It was built in 1835 
 at a cost of 20,000. 
 
 The Mansion House is a plain, substantial 
 edifice, erected in 17G7. As an Instance of the 
 changes wrought by time, this building, so many 
 years the scene of corporate festivities, has been 
 converted into an hospital under the charge of 
 the Sisters of Mercy. Apropos of the Mansion 
 House, it is worthy of mention that the Mayors 
 of Cork were entitled by virtue of the office 
 to dispose of the city refuse, and that the city 
 scavengers were appointed- by the Corporation; 
 an office, strange to say, generally held by re- 
 spectable citizens about the middle of the last 
 oentury.* A clause in the charter of Queen 
 
 .* Council Book, vol. 5.
 
 PUBLIC BtTLDIXGS. 91 
 
 Elizabeth empowers the Mayors of Cork to have 
 " borne and carried " before them " one decent 
 sword sheathed, and," it continue?, " our will is 
 that the sword-bearer be adorned with a remark- 
 able cap." This latter injunction has been carried 
 out to the letter. The cap is remarkable. 
 
 On Grcnville-place, in the vicinity of the 
 Mansion House, a Turkish Bath has been erected 
 by Dr. Barter. It has a handsome front, is fur- 
 nished with private dressing-rooms, and is capa- 
 ble of accommodating about fifty bathers at a 
 time. 
 
 The Butter Exchange is a handsome building, 
 with a fine portico. In 1849, it was considerably 
 enlarged, chiefly at the instance of the Weigh 
 Master, John Besnard, jun., Esq., J.P., and of 
 the lute James Minhear, Esq., J.P., in whose 
 death the butter trade has sustained the loss of 
 one of its most valuable and estimable members. 
 
 The new Police Office (designed by Sir John 
 Benson) is a tasteful structure, although its effect 
 is considerably marred by a block of dilapidated 
 tenements immediately in front. The former 
 Police OHice was a confined and unhealthy court, 
 and the new one is a considerable improvement 
 pnifc,
 
 92 THK 1UVEK I.F.r. 
 
 Owing to the unwearied exertions of the Rev. 
 Mr. Folcy, a handsome Gothic tower lias been 
 recently added to the Roman Catholic Cathadral. 
 From its elevated position, the tower has a fine 
 t-ffect, and is an ornament to the city. 
 
 The Commercial Buildings, Savings' Bank, 
 [National Bank, and Bank of Ireland, situated on 
 the South Mall (one of the finest streets in the 
 city), are handsome buildings. 
 
 The bridges have no pretension to architectural 
 design. Patrick's Bridge, which was destroyed 
 by the disastrous flood of November, 1853, was 
 a well-proportioned and effective structure. A 
 temporary wooden bridge has been erected near 
 it, to be removed as soon as a new one shall have 
 been constructed. The contemplated bridge is to 
 be a stone one, of three arches, the cost of which 
 is estimated at about 18,000. Professor Ilen- 
 nessy, late of the Queen's College, having prove* I 
 the bridges on the North channel to be the prin- 
 cipal cause of floods in the flat of the city, it was 
 resolved to remove that known as North Gate 
 Bridge, and to replace it by a one-arched bridge. 
 The quays of Cork are solid and well-built. 
 They are formed of cut limestone and cost, in- 
 cluding the expense of their construction in 1825,
 
 THE PUBLIC CTA1UE?. 9 
 
 over 100,000. The increasing commerce of the 
 ';it y rendering the improvement of the channel a 
 matter of necessity, drudging machines have been 
 employed many years in deepening the bed of the 
 *ivcr. This operation having rendered the foun- 
 dation of the quays insecure, they have been 
 recently sheet piled under the superintendence of 
 Sir John Benson. 
 
 Ere we conclude, we must briefly notice the 
 public statues of Cork. The most conspicuous 
 of these is the equestrian statue of George II. 
 (popularly known as George-a-horseback), iu 
 the Parade. It was cast in lead by Van Oss, a 
 Dutch artist. This statue is perfectly unique ; 
 since both horse and rider being inclined forward 
 considerably out of the perpendicular, a crutch 
 was placed under his Majesty's right arm, and 
 another beneath the belly of the charger, to 
 prevent them from toppling over. As may bo 
 imagined, the effect is most ludicrous. 
 
 A marble statue of the Earl of Chatham, and 
 one of William III. adorned the Mansion House. 
 The former underwent some vicissitudes, having 
 been mutilated, and subsequently painted in all 
 the colours of a harlequin. Its removal from the 
 Mansion House bv ou of the chief magistrates
 
 9-4 THE RIVER LEE- 
 
 gave rise to a shower of witticisms from the Cork 
 wags, who are ever prone to "fun." 
 
 In the Savings' Bank there is also a fine statue 
 by Ilogan, of the late William Crawford, one of 
 the best and most accomplished citizens that 
 Cork has ever produced. 
 
 The next chapter shall be devoted exclusively 
 to the Corkonians.
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 The Corkonians. 
 
 "' Ob ! long life to you, Cork, with your pepp?r-box steeple, 
 
 Your girls, your whiskey, your curd* and. s'.reet whey ; 
 Your hill of Glanmire, nd the shops where the people 
 
 Get decent new clothes down beyond the Coal-quay. 
 Long life to swet Fair-lane, its pipers and jigs, 
 
 And to sweet Sunday's-well, and the; (MButi of the Lee ; 
 Likewise our Court-honse, where judges in wigs 
 
 Sing Cork is the Eden for you, iava, asd mo '." 
 
 Crris Ballad. 
 
 So much has been written on the Corkonians 
 by persons thoroughly qualified to do them 
 justice, that we should have regretted our rash- 
 ness in undertaking to tread so beaten a path' 
 were we not encouraged by the hope that what 
 we have to say about their peculiarities mar 
 possess something of the charm of novelty for 
 the majority of our readers. In sketching their 
 characteristics, however, we give the result of 
 our own observation, without reference to tho 
 opinions of any previous writer on the deniaens 
 of " the beautiful city." 
 
 Passing through the leading thoroughfares of 
 the city during the busiest hours of the day, the 
 stranger will be struck with the many cheerful, 
 good-humoured faces he shall meet with in his 
 walk. Among all classes he will see cotmte-
 
 9G T11E RIA'EK LEE. 
 
 nauecs rosy with health and beaming with m- 
 Mligcnce. This cheerfulness of aspect is con- 
 spicuous even among the working classes, 
 who present a marked contrast to the sallow, 
 ;iuv-worn visages of the mechanics of most 
 manufacturing towns ; while even the humblest 
 iiv. in general, more comfortably clad than 
 the corresponding class in other commercial 
 cities. 
 
 As we arc now treating of the externals of 
 Cork life, the reader will please put on his hat 
 and accompany us in a stroll through Patrick- 
 stroot and the Parade the fashionable prome- 
 nades between the hours of three and five 
 o'clock, p.m. By what a motly and lively 
 crowd are we not surrounded ! Ill-dressed 
 dandle?, sporting bad hats, soiled kid gloves, 
 and flashy ties ; lovely girls, rather over-dressed, 
 rattling away in the most musical of brogues, 
 and with fun-flashing eyes, that make you feel 
 very queer about the region of the heart, setting 
 it "all of a twitter,"* chubby-faced youths of 
 
 * Let the most hopeless hypochondriac only encounter 
 the glance of the Cork girls, and we warrant it he will be 
 forthwith converted into the liveliest of men. There is a 
 .kind of mesmeric or galvanic influence in it beyond any 
 ntiNiiowncnt we know <:f. It pierces, it electrifies, it thrill*, 
 it burns, it tickles, it quickens, it flabbergasts, it bothers, 
 it --whew I we're fairly nonplused for words to describe 
 it* uuyu'ul ort'ects.
 
 STREET IXCIDEVI*. 97 
 
 tender age, but preternaturally precocious, 
 making futile efforts to enact the man, and 
 looking distressingly imbecile as they leer at 
 the girls with would-be amorous glances ; raw, 
 sun-burnt country " gents," hirsute in beard 
 and moustache, and arrayed in sporting trim ; 
 seedy half-pay officers, and swaggering full-pay 
 ones ; and, finally, fat citizens with roseate gills 
 and protuberant paunch, who roll cheerily along 
 with the never-failing umbrella tucked under 
 their arms. 
 
 Your progress through the thoroughfares will 
 be frequently impaled by an admiring group 
 assembled stolidly around a ballad-singer, howl- 
 ing out some rude love ditty, or dismal lamen- 
 tation, or by a knot of politicians, constituting ;i 
 4i gutter club," so absorbed in the discussion of 
 state affairs and national politics, as to be wholly 
 oblivious of the inconvenience they cause to 
 pedestrian*. Or, haply, you may be thrust into 
 the kennel by women with baskets projecting 
 far on either side but then it is done with > 
 much good-humour, that the most irascible of 
 mortals could scarcely fall out with them. In- 
 <leed, unrestricted license reigns in the streets of 
 ( 'ork. Boys play ball across the pathways, or 
 at hide-and-seek around you, or drive a hoop or
 
 9g THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 top between your legs -with the greatest eoolne?5, 
 and thiev< s 'will grope in your pockets Avith per- 
 fect impunity ; -whik-, at rare intervals, a police- 
 man may be seen sauntering coolly along with 
 the air of a man who has no duty and a clear 
 conscience. 
 
 Nowhere does there seem to be a more idle or 
 inquisitive class than are the lower orders of the 
 population of Cork. Look up j intently at the 
 sky, or downward at the ground, or stare fixedly 
 before you for a few minutes, and you will b& 
 straightway encompassed by a eager group 
 anxiously inquiring "What's the matter?" 
 
 Having glanced at a few of the exterior 
 features of Cork life, we shall now turn to the 
 characteristics of the inhabitants. The first 
 that a stranger will detect is the general pro- 
 pensity (if we may use an expressive vulgarism) 
 to humbugging. The Corkouian will humbug 
 you with the gravest face imaginable. Every 
 little weakness or eccentricity in another is fair 
 gnme to him; and so perfect an adept is he in 
 tlic art, that, although the victim may have an 
 uneasy consciousness of being made sport of T 
 he, nevertheless, does not know what he would 
 "fee at, or where to have his tormentor. When
 
 CHARACTEISISTICS. 99 
 
 he lias fully ' drawn out " his man, the success- 
 ful operator withdraws, chuckling in stealthy- 
 enjoyment at the exhibition he has made of his 
 victimized gobemouche. Should he, however, 
 meet his match, or catch what is familiarly called 
 u a Tartar," no whit abashed by his failure, he 
 incontinently cracks a joke even at his own 
 expense, and fraternises with his adversary. 
 Hence, a thin-skinned man mixing among them 
 will find himself in a perpetual state of ferment, 
 lie who would be proof against the Cork hum- 
 buggers must encase him in the hide of a 
 rhinosceros. 
 
 Joking is also an essential "characteristic of 
 the Corkouians. He will have his laugh at 
 everything, short of what is most sacred. Under 
 all circumstances, he is a joeosus puer, and is ever 
 ready with le met pour rire.* He is nearly 
 always either eating or elaborating good things ; 
 operations between which there exists an intimate 
 connection ; for your empty stomach is but ill 
 calculated to prompt a merry thought. In re- 
 ference to this habit an old writer remarks that 
 
 * As an instance of this pun-loving propensity, we may 
 mention that a few years ago it was intended to erect a 
 handsome front on the Grand Parade to the Meat and Fish 
 Market, and a wag at once suggested that the city motto 
 miirl't he advantageously changed for that bite into " tie.ti* 
 If ne fide caniln."
 
 100 TU.E EIVKR M-:E. 
 
 their ' risibility " proceeds " rather from a full 
 belly than the provocation of a joke." This 
 love of good cheer seems to have long been a 
 ruling propensity of the citizens, if we are to 
 credit the well vituperated u Bob Twiss," who, 
 in his amusing " Tour through Ireland," in 
 1775, thus libels them: "But the forte of the 
 citizens does not lie in the sciences of painting, 
 sculpture, architecture, music, or such trilk-s, 
 but in the more essential arts relative to eating 
 and drinking, such as the slaughter of hogs, 
 oxen, and sheep, in order to exchange the super- 
 fluous pork, beef, and mutton, for wine, &c. 
 And, indeed, they are much in the right ; for the 
 sciences are only cultivated to enable their pro- 
 fessors to acquire wherewith to purchase those 
 necessaries." Coming from such a reckless vili- 
 ficr, this statement must be received cum yrano; 
 but it cannot be denied that Cork Avit shines 
 brightest at the dinner table, and that a quantum 
 suf. of rosey wine, or its great rival, "whiskey. 
 drink divine," is the oil that feeds the flame. 
 Undoubtedly, the Corkonian waxes most bril- 
 liant when the viands have been washed down 
 by the third tumbler of Wise's or Ilewett's 
 u pot,"' or "patent" whiskey punch. Then, 
 indeed, his humour corruscates in a flood of
 
 CHARACTERISTICS. 101 
 
 lively sallies, comic song?, and pungent witti- 
 cisms verifying in his own person the truth of 
 Migmn'a portrait of 
 
 " A randy, bandy, brandy, no dandy, 
 Rollicking jig of an Irishman." 
 
 So chockful of this spirit of fun are the Cork- 
 onians that it exuberates even in their business 
 transactions. Bargains are concluded with a 
 joke, and shop assistants engage in merry chat 
 across the counters with their customers. This 
 pococurantism pervades all ranks, and forms a 
 really pleasant and peculiar feature in Cork so- 
 ciety, as contrasted with the serious work-o'-day 
 life of other mercantile communities. 
 
 Among this glib-tongued, but quick witted 
 race, conversational power is the test of intellec- 
 tual culture ; and for their proficiency in that 
 gift they arc doubtless indebted to their propin- 
 quity to Blarney. Hence, they don't care a 
 " thirn'en" (Anglice, a jackstraw) for a taci- 
 turn man, even were he a Tully or a Cicero, as 
 one- of themselves would say ; but if you have a 
 rr-ady tongue, plenty of money, and especially 
 Ira*-; you will be courted and carressed to your 
 heart's content in ;i the beautiful city." 
 
 The genus man is gregarious by instinct ; tho 
 species Corkonian by temperament. Mercurial
 
 102 THE fcivER LEE. 
 
 and fun-loring, the excitement of society is ab- 
 solutely essential to him. Owing to that in- 
 exhaustible vivacity arising from his intellectual 
 or physical organisation, our Southern Celt is a 
 good talker ; and his conversation is usually sea- 
 soned with spicy anecdotes and pleasant bits of 
 st-aiulal. Yet is he graced with all the social 
 amenities, and is remarkably non-opinionative. 
 lie is no pig-headed dogmatist, who will thrust 
 his opinion perforce down j-our throat. He is, 
 on the contrary, the most plastic and impressible 
 of mortals. Whether it be from sheer indolence 
 or politeness, we cannot undertake to say, but) 
 at all events, he yields his opinion with the 
 utmost suavity to any one who chooses to ques- 
 tion it. Argument is a serious thing, and he 
 laughs it aside. His principle of existence is to 
 take things easy. 
 
 The Corkonians arc very demonstrative a 
 characteristic noticeable even in the street con- 
 versations, conducted as they usually are with 
 the emphatic warmth and lively gesticulation of 
 the natives of a southern clime. This peculiarity 
 enables strangers to become intimate with them 
 very soon. And, by the way, another trait in 
 their multiform and many-hued character is the 
 marked partiality they seem to evince for
 
 103 
 
 Grangers. Speak with an English, Scotch, of 
 foreign accent, wear a sleek moustachehi a 
 Word, be a stranger of presentable appearance, 
 and you will immediately hate the entree to the! 
 best society in Cork. 
 
 Unquestionably social as arc the inhabitants jof* 
 the southern metropolis, yet nowhere does class) 
 exclusivencss exist with greater intensity than in 
 Cork society, where the esprit dc caste is main* 
 tainted with a Brrtltmhiical rigour. Should any* 
 body moving within one circle or coterie venture 
 to associate with a person In ail humbler sphere, 
 he will be immediately tabood" cut dead " by 
 hie owti " set." 
 
 In a figure bon'owcd from the staple trade &'* 
 the city, it has been AVell said thnt all Cork is one 
 Vast wt-igh-house, where t-voryohe must have his 
 social rank duly scratched tipon liiiii. This ex^ 
 (lusiveness exists as generally among the middle' 
 classes as among those above them. The cloth 
 merchant looks Jow'jl on tlie gfocef, the latter on 
 the chandler, who ehubs the publican, who, iii 
 turr;, looks down on somebody else. This would 
 be sufficiently zitnusing, did it not tend to es- 
 trange men whose genial qualities render them 
 10 well calculated to combine in promoting the
 
 104 THE KIVEU LEE. 
 
 pleasures and cultivating the amenities of social 
 intercourse. 
 
 Finally, the entree to the higher " sets " is not 
 vouchsafed even to transcendent merit, when 
 associated with limited menus or lowly birth ; 
 their portals resembling those doors that Tenny- 
 son says 
 
 " Opn but to golden keys." 
 
 While, as impartial chroniclers, we nave noted 
 
 ionic of the faults of the Corkonians, we it-el 
 sincere pleasure in giving them all honour and 
 praise for their large-handed charity. The ex- 
 clusiveness we have noticed is but the ice encrust- 
 ing the surface of their character the living 
 stream of goodness flowing d?ep and warm 
 beneath. To every appeal to their benevolence 
 they respond with a princely munificence. The 
 local charities are all well supported ; and it has 
 been truly said that you have but to open your 
 hand in the cause of charity in Cork, to have it 
 filled with hundreds. The ahnost unbounded 
 diarities of the late Jeremiah Murphy, the late 
 Thomas Lyons, and of the late ]\ I r. Beamish, are. 
 splendid instances of the worth of the citizens of 
 Cork. 
 
 Cork has produced many distinguished sons 
 and daughters. She has. however, giveii a more
 
 CHARACTERISTICS. 105 
 
 brilliant and numerous roll of names to art than 
 to literature or science. 
 
 When we consider the favourable circum- 
 stances by which her citizens are surrounded, we 
 are surprised that she is not even more rife in 
 artists and poets than she is. Inhabiting a pic- 
 turesque old city, girdled with a cincture of 
 beauty, like Venus with her cest ^breathing an 
 atmosphere of balmy softness, through which the 
 stars shine down with a mysterious and mellowed 
 lustre canopied by a sky of alternate sunshine 
 and showers, imparting to the landscape a 
 changeful loveliness that ever invests it with a 
 new charm a noble collection of casts by which 
 fie mind is trained and elevated to the conception 
 of the Ideal : all these are conditions peculiarly 
 calculated to awaken the poetic and artistic 
 faculties of the mind. These influences have 
 boon long leavening its educated classes, and, 
 combined with the training afforded by the 
 School of Design, cannot fail to develop the 
 natural genius of the people, and bring it to a 
 high degree of perfection. Indeed, one of the 
 most peculiar and remarkable characteristics of 
 the Corkoniuns generally is a blending of an 
 ardent love of the beautiful with a vein of ge- 
 nuine humour,
 
 16J THE iiiVEii tfifc 
 
 The literary reputation of Cork is also of* d 
 high order. Certainly, the Corkonians are an 
 eminently bookloving community ; and even slick 
 tall Icllovvs as Thackevy iintt LeVer have borne 
 high testimony to their literary taste and ability- 
 A genial love of reading pervades all classes, and 
 is not restricted to the middle and upper, .is in 
 inost other Cities; It is this tastd for literature, 
 stimulated and nourished by th& Cork Library 
 and the Cork Institution, the diocesan and many 
 private libraries, that has given the City sucil 
 literary repute, and enabled her to produce a 
 host of crack -writers. Among her literary and 
 scientific celebrities, wd may mention Dr. Magnify 
 "Father Front," Sherida* Kriotvles, D. (X 
 Madden, Arthur O'Leary, Ilaynes Baily, C'avh- 
 iiagh Murphy, E. Kehealy, F. S Murphy, James 
 Roche, Callanan, Millikin, Mi J. Barry, Henry 
 Hennery, F.Il.S:j Mrs. Jas. Gray, Mrs. Iloare* 
 T)r. Robert D. Lyons, William Thompson. 11 
 Dowden, J. F. Mnguire, M.P., William K. Sul^ 
 livan, F. Woodly, W. Lander, D. Casey, &c.- 
 In history and antiquities also the following 
 Vritcrsh.lvc distinguished themselves : T. < 'rol'- 
 ton Croker, T. Windele, Roger O'Connor, John 
 O'Driscoll, Thomas Wood, Colonel Beamish, 
 .O'Xvill Daunt, tf jhn Lindecy, Rich.-irJCau:
 
 LOCAL MjiGAzfcvKS. 10? 
 
 ft. Sainthill, Rev. J. England, ^Y. Fagan, M.I ., 
 and Messrs, lloddcr and Westropp. 
 
 Notwithstanding their unquestionable love of 
 letters, strange to say, periodical literature has 
 never succeeded in Cork. Magazines have been 
 started there at various periods, but all have 
 become speedily defunct. Among the earliest of 
 these '-were the "Monthly Miscellany," -which 
 flourished about 1795, and the " Casket, or Hes- 
 perian Magazine, 1 " published by Millikin, in 1797, 
 au*i which expired after having existed but one 
 jrcar. "Bolsters Quarterly Magazine," a more 
 ann bilious attempt, \vas subsequently started. It 
 was supported by a staff of able contributors ; 
 l>ut went dowi^ owing to the unwise illibenviiiy 
 of the publisher. Many highly talented men 
 contributed to it, including Callanan, J. A. Shea,, 
 -M. 1 ; \ M'Carthy, P. 3. Meagher (now the Paris 
 Correspondent of the Time.*),* Yen. Archdeacon. 
 'O'Shea, and J. "Wihdele. So superior were the 
 contributions to " Bolster's "Quarterly, '" that 
 many of them have since taken a place amofcg 
 vmr standard literature. 
 
 The last periodical attempted in Cork was the 
 >; Cork Magazine," commenced in November, 
 1847. Although its literary matter was charac 
 by considerable ability, it survived little
 
 10* THK fclVEft LEE. 
 
 more than twelve months, it would not be just 
 to ascribe all these instances of failure to an 
 apathy on the part of the Cork people for enter- 
 prises of the kind. They are clearly attributable 
 to the inability or disinclination of their edit ore 
 or publishers to adequately remunerate the con- 
 tributors. This is the great error of publishers 
 of periodicals in this country. They surely can- 
 not expect that men of ability will undergo the 
 severe intellectual drain required by literary 
 labour, and the consequent loss of time that it 
 entails, without receiving adequate compensation 
 for both. Hence it is that our literary men. like 
 our artists, ilit across the Channel, where they 
 receive ample remuneration, and have a far wider 
 sphere than in their own country, in which they 
 find but scant patronage, and a very limited 
 range. 
 
 As we arc on literary matter?, we may men- 
 tion that there are two societies in Cork for thrc 
 intellectual exercitation of some of its inhabi- 
 tant*. The principal of these is the Cuveriaii 
 {Society, founded in 1835. Its objects have a 
 wide range, embracing even' branch of literature 
 and science ; owing to which, perhaps, it has 
 never been a flourishing institution. Save in 
 connection with archaeology, it is scarcely heard
 
 DEBATING SOCIETIES. 10$ 
 
 of ; and even the cultivators of this department 
 find . themselves iu antagonism with their con- 
 freres, whose tastes incline them to other intel- 
 lectual pursuits. The investigators of one section 
 look down on the department of other member* 
 with the game degree of sovereign contempt with 
 which the squabbling professors in MolicreV 
 Bourgeois Gentlehomme regarded each other. 
 
 The Cork Scientific and Literary Society 
 holds weekly debates, and is a revival of the old 
 " Lyceum." A fee often pence was charged for 
 admission to the latter ; and as a specimen oi the 
 subjects discussed there, we extract the following 
 from an old Cork newspaper: Question for 
 Tuesday evening, March 21, 1811 "Which hu> 
 the love of liberty er the love of women the 
 greater influence on the noble mind ?" Question 
 for Saturday, April G r 1811 "Did Pope libel 
 the fair sex when he stated that ' every woman 
 is at heart a rake?'" Question for Saturday, 
 March 30, 1811" Which is the condition of 
 men or women in these countries the happier V" 
 From the nature of these questions it is evident 
 that women ran very much in the heads of a 
 former generation of the Corkonians. 
 
 We reserve for the next chapter some other 
 noticeable traits of the natives of the city of fun, 
 frolic, pigs puns, butter and blarney, brogue and. 
 !jrn<, charming girls, and " odd fishes.
 
 "The Corkoniaiis Continued. 
 
 " They may rail t the city where first I was born. 
 
 But it's there they've the whiskey, and butter, and pork ; 
 And a neat little spot for to walk in each morn 
 
 They call it Daunt 's Square, and the city is Cork. 
 The square has two sides why one east and one west, 
 
 And convenient"* the region of frolic and spree. 
 Where salmon, drisheen*, and beef-steaks are cooked best ; 
 
 Och.' Fishauible's the Eden for you, love, and me !" 
 
 Curie Ballad. 
 
 Resuming our sketch of the idiosyncracies of 
 the Corkonians, a prominent one which cannot 
 fail to attract the notice of a sojourner amongst 
 them, is the warm personalities that characterise 
 the debates of the Town Council, in which re*- 
 spect they are scarcely surpassed by the spicy 
 ebullitions of Yankee senators. In the discussion 
 even of the most trifling matters, flat contradic- 
 tions are usually interchanged between speakers, 
 and when any exciting question arises such as 
 a bridge or a gas one several members stnrt up 
 and speak together, in utter contempt of the 
 authority of the chairman. Indeed, u scenes " 
 occur so frequently in the Cork Council that 
 they are regarded as a matter of course. These 
 little escapades, however, are but another form 
 of " the fan of Cork." Hard knocks arc jriveu
 
 fins CORK ATTORXIES. iii 
 
 and received in the best spirit, and those who 
 have abused each other in the course of discus- 
 sion, will, as soon as it is over, be as loving as if 
 nothing calculated to disturb their friendship had 
 occurred. Like true Irishmen, they knock each 
 other down from pure love. 
 
 The unrestrained license of the attornies who 
 practise in the local police-office is another cha- 
 racteristic of the place. Not only do they apply 
 very warm epithets to each other, but they often 
 set at nought the decision of the bench, and even 
 lecture the presiding magistrates on their duty. 
 Noticing these peculiarities, a writer on Cork, in 
 1736, says " Attorneys have, in this city, one 
 other confounded humour, which should be pe* 
 muptorily checked by the bench, which is an 
 attempt to worry their worships into an ill* 
 judgement by prattling them out of their appre* 
 hensions. Impertinent babblers often continue 
 to wrangle after the case is decided, like some 
 fellows who hold by a bond when the debt has 
 been paid." This description applies iii every 
 point to some of the local practitioners of the 
 present day. And, apropos, the Munster capital 
 is blessed with a superabundance of young soli- 
 citors and medical men a fact which may be 
 accounted for by another namely, that, lacking
 
 112 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 a sufficiency of money, a profession is a requisite 
 for admission to some of the select " sets " 
 to which we have referred. Hence, parents in 
 Cork strive, at all hazards, to give their sons 
 professions, preferring that they should starve 
 genteelly, rather than engage in pursuits that 
 would place them under a kind of social ban. 
 
 It has been remarked that people live beyond 
 their means at Cork. This, however, is rather 
 a national than a local failing. There is, un- 
 doubtedly, much extravagance in the style of 
 living, . nd nowhere are greater sacrifices made 
 to " appearances " than in Cork. Hence it 
 would be a mistake to estimate the wealth of 
 the city by the show upon the surface of society. 
 Generally speaking, the capital accumulated by 
 the parent is squandered by the son. Thus, 
 there is much glitter and flourish without any 
 solid substratum. This unthrifty mode of living 
 is chiefly caused by the tyranny of custom, and 
 by the class rivalry of which we have already 
 spoken. Unless you live " fast " in Cork, you 
 will be nobody. One should reside there to feel 
 the terrible force and meaning of that awful 
 question u What will Mrs. Grundy say ?" 
 
 Of late years the drama of which the citizens 
 wore once such lovers and fastidious connoisseurs-
 
 niSTBiOXIC SOCIETIES. 113 
 
 lias been at a discount in Cork. Tha city was 
 once famous for its amateur histrionics. Of 
 these the Apollo Society was the most conspi- 
 cuous. Milliken actively assisted In its formation, 
 and the society comprised most of the choice 
 spirits of Cork. Their performances were held 
 in the King's Theatre in Tnckey- street, now 
 no more. The late well-known Frank Seymour 
 ("peace be with thee, " Chouse f) was one of 
 the principal performers, and convulsed his 
 audience both by his ranting and amusing 
 blunders.* Among the lady performers was 
 Miss Smithson, a very beautiful girl, who sub- 
 sequently won the hearts of the Parisians at 
 the Odeon, by the grace of her acting and the 
 loveliness of her person. 
 
 The Corkonians are passionately fond of music ; 
 and while even dramatic stars will fail "to 
 draw," a third-rate opera company will attract 
 large audiences. In almost every house you 
 will hear the notes of a piano ; while at night 
 the air is resonant with those of the accordian,. 
 played by the honest 'prentice boys of Cork, for 
 
 * Poor Frank was one of the "characters" of Cork, an I 
 was connected with the local theatres until his death. 
 Notwithstanding his efforts to cater for the public, ho was 
 always in difficulties. We feel bound to say that hi* 
 representation of "Doctor OToolu' was really capital- 
 Another " Apollo," nain?d Rogers, was a very clever
 
 114 TFE RIVER LEfi. 
 
 the delectation of its music-loving public. The 
 very urchins in the street (and clever-faced 
 little fellows they are) will surprise you by 
 whistling an air from a new opera with perfect 
 taste and accuracy. This love of music would 
 seem to be hereditary in the Corkonians. Ad- 
 verting to this tasto, nearly a century ago, Dr. 
 Smith says : " Besides the public concerts, 
 there are several private ones, where the per- 
 formers are gentlemen and ladies, of such good 
 skill, that one would imagine the god of music 
 had taken a large stride from the Continent 
 over England to this island." Private musical 
 reunions, such as'jthcse existed in Cork until 
 within some few years past ; but, we believe, 
 none is in being at present. 
 
 Cork has produced some eminent musicians 
 and composers. Among the latter is A. D. 
 Roche, and among the former the late W. Forde 
 (who was an exquisite performer on the flute), 
 Mr. Bowden, the late Dr. Willcs, the late Re- 
 corder Waggett, and W. Gillespie The music 
 and singing in the churches of Cork are very 
 superior. 
 
 And novr a few words anent the ladies of 
 pork, We unhesitatingly affirm and we Uo
 
 BEATJTY OF THE COKK WOMEX. 115 
 
 so in sill sincerity that in no city of equal popu- 
 lation on the face of the globe are to be seen so 
 many lovely women as within the compass of 
 the fair Minister capital. Nowhere will you 
 find women with such an exquisite bloom on the 
 face, such statuesque regularity of feature, com- 
 bined with ever-varymg pjay of expression, such 
 lithe forms and fawnlike grace of movement, 
 such a blending of dark glancing eyes and orbs 
 of brightest blue., of tlve voluptuous langour of 
 Italy with the sprightly vivacity of France. 
 But far better, and beyond all tltese charms, are 
 iheir genuine goodness of heart, and graceful 
 refinement of mind the former lending an irre- 
 sistable witchery to their smile, and the latter 
 imparting to their conversation an indefinable 
 grace and sparkle.* 
 
 Beauty prevails in an equal degree among the 
 women of the lower classes as in those of the 
 middle and upper ranks ; but its effect is marred 
 In the former by their untidiness, Did they but 
 braid their magnificent tresses, which are gene- 
 rally uncombed or dishevelled, the women of the 
 humbler ranks would be extremely attractive, 
 
 * A malicious poet (evidently a crusty old bachelor) thu* 
 libels the ladies of Cork: 
 
 " They don't care two potatoes for Solons or I'latos, 
 Jiut for raw -,tp/]>j>in'.r boobies tluit stand six IV.-t high "
 
 116 THE RIVER LEF. 
 
 Kven as it is, there are few sights more pleasing 
 or picturesque than a group of Cork girls as- 
 sembled around a fountain, or ascending from 
 the river-side with pitchers gracefully poised on 
 their heads 
 
 In noting the peculiarities of Corfconiaiis, we 
 should not omit their brogue. It has been mer- 
 cilessly attacked by strangers. One writer com- 
 pares it to u a railway whistle raised to hurricane 
 power, trying to scream down a saw-mill at full 
 work." It is broad enough, Heaven knows ; 
 but this is characterising it with a vengeance ! 
 Now, so far from being, such, as- tlus prejudiced 
 scribbler describes, it, the Cork accent is soft 
 and mellifluous in the mouth of a woman, it is 
 truly music-breathing. Unctuous and mellow, 
 it issues from the lips with a peculiar richness of 
 intonation far more agreeable to our unprejudiced 
 ear than the harsh grating of the. Northern or 
 the shrill tones of the Dublin accent. We may. 
 add that it is strongly suggestive of blarney. 
 
 Another peculiarity of the Corkonlans is the 
 spirit of tuft-hunting and toadyism that prevails 
 amongst them. There was some excuse for 
 their frantic fit of loyalty during the Queen's 
 visit, when, almost every man in. Cork was
 
 TCFT-IIUXTIXG 117 
 
 insane ;* but what can we say of a people who 
 prostrated themselves in the UHK! before a Lord 
 Lieutenant, and baptised a lunatic asylum with 
 his name ! Their love of titles has, however 
 been gratified of late years ; for the honour of 
 knighthood has been so plentifully scattered 
 among its citizens, that, as one of its "jokers" 
 would say, Cork is as distinguished for its 
 knights as Algiers was for its Deys. 
 
 A writer on Cork observes that its gentlemen 
 arc remarkable for wearing bad hats. Another 
 notable characterietic of the Ccrkcnians is a 
 contempt for street -crossings, and a tendency to 
 make shoit cuts by a kind of triangulation. 
 
 We must now give a glance at two quaint 
 districts of the city, which are worthy of notice 
 the North Main-street, and that known as 
 liallythomas The former was once, and is to a 
 
 * Iji reference to this loyal furore, Thackeray wrote the 
 fi.l! .jwing lines in Punch: 
 
 " Like crathers mad run, the Cork bo^s gliul run, 
 
 To see the squadhrou sthame up the Lee ! 
 And I'm bound to mintion the condescinsion 
 And great attiation of her Majesty." 
 
 Although not quite in point, we cannot forbear quoting 
 the following additional vcrec : 
 
 " Cork's illigant sthructures and mannfacthura 
 
 Will siiti.s'iictioii the Queen survey 'd, 
 
 And the height of cui-ioMty and ginerosity 
 
 SViilout haniniosity to all display'd/'
 
 118 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 great extent still, the Alsatia of the city. The 
 narrow closes that branch off from it teem with 
 disreputable and disorderly characters of all 
 kinds. Here, in fine weather, groups of women 
 squat on tho pathways, and gossip away, utterly 
 regardless of the inconvenience caused thereby 
 in a narrow and crowded thoroughfare. One of 
 these lanes is celebrated as having been formerly 
 the region of Cork fun and frolic. In Fishamble- 
 lane, some of the choicest spirits of the city> as 
 well as its merriest roisterers, held jovial suppers, 
 seasoned by the most brilliant wit and rare 
 scholarship. Here jMillikin, Maginn, Tolekin, 
 Boyle, and the other members of the Deipnoso- 
 phists, enjoyed "the flow of soul," and pushed 
 their revels far into the night. Tolekin has 
 celebrated the spot in a song full of racy humour, 
 entitled "Judy M'Carthy, of Fishamble-lane." 
 It was famous also for its oysters, beefsteaks and 
 drishecns.* To this day the soul of the hungry 
 visitor is ravished by the divine afflatus which, 
 distilled from its cellars and shops, burthens the 
 surrounding atmosphere with a fragrance more 
 
 * A delicious edible, peculiar to Cork. It is composed of 
 sheep's puddings, and is manufactured in Ballythonms, 
 which region is entitled to the gratitude and reverence of 
 epicures for this delectable production. Charles Lamb hns 
 immortalised the delights of roast pig vroxild that we had 
 another " Elli;V to celebrate those of drishfen. !
 
 PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 119 
 
 delightful than all tlie gums and spices of t: Araby 
 the blest/' 
 
 The population of Ballythomas (which is 
 posited on the heights at the northern side of 
 the city) is altogether peculiar and original. In 
 this district you -will sec u nature undisguised by 
 art." They are a merry- in-the-midst-of-poverty 
 race, and of belligerent and excitable natures, 
 withal. What a picture do two of its beldames, 
 engaged in a scolding match, present ! Now 
 they advance with arms " a-kimbo," pouring 
 forth a torrent of abuse the while, until their 
 noses almost touch ; they then recede to give 
 two or three frenzied prances ; anon they smack 
 their palms defiantly till they ring again. What 
 passion-fraught gestures! what ire-rousing 
 words ! and what a strange vocabulary they 
 use ! But we must let Mr Windele describe it. 
 " It is a jargon," he says, " whose principal 
 characteristics appear in the pronounciation of 
 th, as exemplified in t//s, dot, den, de : this, that, 
 then, they ; and in the dovetailing of words, as 
 kum our ?7j, for " come out of this."* Bally- 
 
 * As illustrative of this peculiar dialect, and of the 
 simple character of those who use it, we will instance a 
 conversation a friend happened to overhear between two 
 crones of the locality. Talking of some person recently 
 deceased, one asked the other " Eh, den, Judy, allanah', 
 iv what did he die. now?" "Ayeh, den," replied Judy, 
 u he died iv Tuesday, I'm tould"."
 
 120 THE RIVER LEE 
 
 thomas was once characterised by distinctive 
 customs and usages ; but the march of innova- 
 tion has swept many of them away. They are, 
 in sooth, a right hearty race, true as steel, and 
 game to the backbjnc. 
 
 Another primitive district in this quarter of 
 the city is Blackpool, which is well described in 
 the following verse of a genuine Cork ballad : 
 
 " R'ackpool is another sweet place in that city, 
 
 \Vhere pitfa, twiirs, and weavers, they all grow together, 
 
 With its smart little tan-yards och, more is the pity. 
 To strip the poor beasts to convert them to leather :" 
 
 This spot was the inspiration of that famous 
 song, " De groves o' de Pool," composed by 
 Millikin, from which we subjoin two verses, that 
 will give some idea of its racincss: 
 
 " Oh. sure dere's no nation in Munster 
 
 Wid de Groves of de Pool can compare, 
 Where dose heroes were all edicatcd. 
 
 And de nymphs are so comely and fair. 
 Wid de gardens around enthertainiug. 
 
 Wid sweet purty posies so full, 
 D*t is worn by dose comely young crattirs 
 Dat walks in de Groves of de Pool. 
 
 Ri fol, ie. 
 
 " Oh ! rnany's de time, late and early, 
 
 Dat I wished f was landed again, 
 Where I'd see de sweet Watercourse flowing, 
 
 Where de skinners deir glory maintain. 
 Likewise dat divine habitation,* 
 
 Where dose babbies are all sent to school, 
 Dat never had fader nor moder, 
 Bat wore found in de Groves of de Pool, 
 
 Ri fol, &c." 
 
 1 A Foundling Hospital.
 
 THE XIGIIT AVATCH 121 
 
 Another peculiarity of Cork cannot fail to 
 excite the astonishment of strangers namely, 
 the wholly unprotected state of the streets at 
 night. The safety of the city is then entrusted 
 to a few decrepit old men, armed with poles 
 surmounted by rusty bayonets. In leaving their 
 lives and property thus exposed, the people of 
 Cork evince a beautiful reliance on Providence, 
 most affecting to contemplate in a distrustful and 
 sophisticated age like ours. 
 
 The nightly " guardians " of the city, when 
 they do not happen to be drunk or asleep in 
 doorways, cry the hour in a manner which 
 renders it impossible to understand them. They 
 make use of a peculiar howl which baffles all 
 description. The following attempt to analyse 
 it may convey some faint notion of the song/ 
 used by one of these 
 
 " Hoarse uufeathered nightingales of time." 
 Commencing in a key between a whine and an 
 ullagone, his voice gradually swells into the 
 following outlandish cry: "Aw pa-haast aliea- 
 van a koolohawk, a fay-hay-hay-hay-hay hair 
 noight, haw-haw-haw-haw-hawl's weigh-haw," 
 terminating the whole with a vicious yell, 
 extremely startling, and even terrifying to ner- 
 vous pcot.-le who may happen to be awake, or 
 be awakened by it.
 
 122 THE RIVER LEE, 
 
 And now we have done with the city. With 
 all their faults (and they have many, but not 
 fjrace ones^), we say from our heart all honour 
 to the fine race who inhabit it ! For no more 
 generous, hospitable, and kindly, can be found 
 anywhere else. Proudly docs he who traces 
 these lines own himself to be a son of the Queen 
 of the South of the City of Genius, a designa- 
 tion to which she is clearly entitled from the 
 many brilliant names she has given to almost 
 every walk of human genius. And still among 
 her children numerous glowing spirits and stout 
 hearts are at work, bravely bent on winning, 
 either within or without her walls, additional 
 ohaplets of fame wherewith to deck the fair brow 
 of the dear old city.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Prom Cork to the Harbour Conclusion. 
 Issuing from the city, by its eastern termina- 
 tion, on board one of the well- appointed river 
 steamers, the handsome office of the St. George's 
 Steam Packet Company is seen to the left, and, 
 immediately adjoining, appear the terminus and 
 extensive buildings of the Great Southern and 
 Western Railway Company. A large portion of 
 their ground here has been appropriated for 
 docks, -whose basin occupies an area of five acres, 
 and will be capable of holding several vessels. 
 A bridge of a peculiar construction, connecting 
 the Glanmire Road with Penrose's-Quay, has 
 been just completed by the Company. The 
 framework is composed of iron, and ^the bridge 
 itself moves on a central pivot, constructed on 
 the same principle as the turning table of a 
 locomotive. The pivot is supported by a solid 
 mass of masonry, rising midway between the 
 grooves, in which the extremities of the bridge 
 lit when in its proper position. The bridge is 
 light, elegant, and simple, and can be moved 
 with ease by two men.
 
 124 THE RIVER LEE. 
 
 On the opposite side, the river is skirted by 
 the New Wall, a delightful and much frequented 
 promenade, recently planted with a double row 
 of elms, by Professor Murphy, of the Queen's 
 College. The New Wall, which will be soon 
 connected with Blackrock, borders the treeless 
 " Park," the latter containing about 240 acres, 
 on which crops are grown by the Professor, 
 
 A little below the Cork and Passage Railway 
 terminus, a scene of panoramic beauty opens on 
 the view. To the left arises the richly wooded 
 hill overhanging the Glanmire Road, dotted with 
 handsome detached villas, beautified by thick 
 shrubberies, trim gardens, 
 
 " And many a shadow-chequered lawn 
 Full_of the city's stilly sound." 
 
 or snug cottages, the very ideal of suburban 
 comfort, cosily nestled in embowering trees. On 
 the right, the banks spread away in gentle undu- 
 lations, covered by sombre groves, through 
 which peer occasionally the pointed gables of 
 antiquated residences and the broad-caved roofs 
 of modern villas. 
 
 Of the residences on the north side ot the river, 
 Woodhill, the seat of Mr. C. Penrose, is invested 
 with a peculiar interest, owing to the circum- 
 stance of poor Emmet's bethrothcd, Miss Cumin,
 
 A MONUMENT BY HOG AX. l^D 
 
 having been married there to Captain Sturgeon. 
 But time has robbed it of this romantic charm, 
 and it is no longer regarded as " a sainted shrine." 
 Below Woodhill are Tivoli, the residence of J. 
 Morgan, Esq., Lota, Lota-more, and other ele- 
 gant villas, whose appearance attests the aflluence 
 of their inhabitants. On the south side appear 
 Sans Souci, Fcltrim (the seat of Mr. Fagan, one 
 of the representatives of the city), Clifton, Mary - 
 ville, and Dundanion, the seat of Sir Thomas 
 Deanc. 
 
 About midway between the villages of Ballin- 
 temple and Blackroek is situated the pretty 
 church of St. Michael. This church is adorned 
 with one of the most beautiful productions of 
 Ilogan's cliisel. It is a monument in alto relievo 
 to the memory of W. Beamish, Esq., of Beau- 
 mont, representing the Resurrection. Above 
 is an angel, with outspread wings, blowing 
 the dread summons the right hand grasping 
 the trumpet, and the left gracefully extended. 
 Over the whole figure is flung such an air 
 of motion that it appears to fly ; while 
 the eyes arc half-closed, as if to veil the 
 celestial resplendence with which they seem to 
 beam. Beneath the angel is a cherub with 
 clasped hands and up-turned face. Below, and
 
 126 THE RIYEU LEE. 
 
 occupying the base of the slab, are the two 
 principal figures of the group. One represents 
 the body rising from the tomb. The cerements 
 still cling to the limbs, which, while yet retaining 
 somewhat of the rigidity of death, arc thrilling 
 with the glow anil vigour of a new existence. 
 The body is half-raised, and the face veiled by 
 the shroud, which, with one hand, it strives to 
 remove, as eager to behold the glory about to 
 be revealed to it. The muscles are wrought out 
 with an anatomical truth, such as a true artist 
 alone can achieve ; while the drapery la arranged, 
 with such artistic skill around the limbs as to 
 bring out in relief the soft and rounded contour 
 of the flesh ; an eflect to which the angular frag- 
 ments of the shattered tomb also contribute 
 Immediately above this figure is an angel, 
 whose right hand points towards Heaven, and 
 whose countenance " breathing Paradise " is 
 illumined with a mingled expression of encour- 
 agement and consolation. Every detail of this 
 beautiful group is most elaborately finished, and 
 its slightest accessaries pregnant with meaning. 
 All that is painful and repulsive in death disap- 
 pears, and there is present alone elevating but 
 awe-inspiring the sublime triumph of immor- 
 tality over the perishable clay, of Eternity over 
 Time.
 
 BLACKROCK CASTLE 127 
 
 The great artist who carved this monument 
 lias just passed from amongst us ; tut his spirit 
 is present in the marble, whence it shall speak 
 with silent, but eloquent utterance, to genera^- 
 tions yet to come, O divine and wondrous spell 
 of genius ! that can lift our drooping spirits from 
 out the petty cares and contracted views of our 
 daily existence, aloft into the starry realms of 
 the Ideal, where the mental vision meets with 
 naught but lovely forms, and the soul is filler! 
 Avith pure and noble thoughts.* 
 
 Pursuing our course down the Lee, the eye is 
 gladdened with a rapid succession of charming 
 views. The most prominent object in the scen 
 is Blackrock Castle, built on the spur of a 
 wooded promontary, at the south side of th 
 river. From its admirable position, as well as 
 the beauty of its design, the castle has a highly 
 picturesque effect. It consists of a large circular 
 tower, with crenelated battlements, and of* a 
 smaller cylindrical turret, rising behind, in which 
 a light is burned for the guidance of shippisg 
 
 * The fame of the illustrious sculptor belongs to his 
 -country, to which it has lent an additional renown. Tn 
 the pride and gratitude of that country he has bqueathe<l 
 his family, and it is the sacred duty of Irishmen to placo 
 them beyond the reach of want. His native city should 
 honour its greatest artist by erecting a public monument tu 
 Siis memory.
 
 128 THE RITEn LEE. 
 
 the whole surmounted by a flag-staS. Tlie 
 former castle was burned down in 1727, some 
 time after wliieh the present structure was 
 erected. Courts of Admiralty were formerly 
 held there to preserve tlie rights of the corpora- 
 tion ; a custom which has been long superseded 
 l>y the far more imposing ceremony of shooting 
 a silver arrow outside the harbour. 
 
 On the opposite bank, at a commanding ele- 
 vation, rise the tall and slender turrets of tlie 
 Mathew Tower, erected by Mr. Connor, in me- 
 mory of the Apostle of Temperance. Nearer 
 the margin of the river extend the sylvan glades 
 of Dunkettle, adjoining which appear the castel- 
 lated walls of Xorth-Esk, the seat of Jamc-& 
 Carnegie, Esq. Between the verdure-robed 
 hills in front of Blackrock Castle flows the 
 lovely Glanmire river, through a romantic dis- 
 trict of hill' and dale, glen and dingle, pasture 
 and woodland. A littte bek/w the- mouth- of 
 the Glanmire liver, the shores sweep away on 
 either side, enclosing a noble expanse of water r 
 called Lough Mahon, from an old fortress of the 
 Mahonics in tlie vicinity. On fine summer 
 evenings the surface of the lough, studded with; 
 the white sails of pleasure-boats, and gleaming, 
 with tlie flash of oars, presents a gay and ani- 
 mated aspect.
 
 RIVER 5,CEM-:r.V I'ASS-'-GK. ll'O 
 
 Jutting far into the waters of Lough Malvoii, 
 on the northern shores, is seen the Little Island, 
 so called to distinguish Lt from the great island, 
 sometime known as Cove. 15elow the Littl<: 
 Island, the shores trend .away on either side, 
 "between which the Lee expands into a broad 
 and noble stream. The banks are fringed with 
 trees, through which gleam verdant lawns and 
 uplands of tenderest green now slight with sun- 
 f-hine, and glimmering anon In softest shadow. 
 Rembrandt would 'hare loved to st-ixly the broad 
 lights and shades that are ever flitting over the 
 scenery of the Lee, whose waters appear fre- 
 quently tinted with various dyes. Here a dull 
 leaden colour, there black as a thunder-cloud 
 in this place violet, 5n ttat a pale, golden hut;, 
 -while another part of its surface flashes with a 
 <lazzling effulgence. The scene is frequently 
 -enlivened "by the rush of the Cork and Passage 
 Railway train, and the plash of the river steamers 
 speeding up and down the stream. 
 
 Rounding the promontory of Horse Head, we 
 come in sight of the town ef Passage en the 
 southern bank. It is well situated, and derives 
 considerable advantages from the railway that 
 connects it with Cork. The shallowness of the 
 tihannel precludes vessels of large tonnage fr.oua
 
 130 THE RIVER I.EE. 
 
 ascending higher than the roadstead in front of 
 the town. The most important establishment 
 connected with Passage is the Victoria Dock, 
 the property of Mr. William Brown, which was 
 built at the cost of about 100,000. It is worked 
 by floating gates, and is capable of holding four 
 vessels of the largest size. 
 
 Passage has been celebrated in a witty song, of 
 which a version, by " Father Prout," has been 
 recently published in LoverV " Irish Lyrics. * 
 T he opening verse is as follows : 
 
 ' ' The town of Passage is both large and spacious. 
 
 And situated upon the say ; 
 'Tis note and daccnt, and quite adjacent, 
 
 To come from Cork on a summer's day. 
 There you may slip in and take a dipping, 
 
 Forenint the shipping that at anchor ride ; 
 Or in a wherry cross o'er the ferry. 
 
 To Carrigaloe on the other side. " 
 
 The town is chiefly remarkable for its dirt and: 
 offensive odours ; but it is to be hoped that the 
 inhabitants will submit ere long to the purging 
 and sanitary provisions of the Towns* Improve - 
 
 * A love song, entitled "The Maid of Passage." is 
 [scarcely less celebrated than the above. We quote a verse 
 i-< A spuuimen : 
 
 " Oh ! fair maid of Passage, 
 As plump as a saus?.ge. 
 And as mild as a kitten, 
 Those eyes in your face 
 Yerrah .' pity my case, 
 or poor Ccnnuid is smitten,!.""
 
 MOXKSTOWX. 131 
 
 ment Act, and thereby considerably promote the 
 welfare of this otherwise agreeable watering 
 place. 
 
 A little below Passage are the Victoria Baths, 
 a very handsome and effective building, with 
 tapering minarets in the Moresque style. The 
 proprietor has erected a Turkish Bath, which 
 will be an additional inducement to the citizens 
 of Cork to visit this charming locality. Behind 
 the Victoria Baths is visible Carrigmahon, Dr. 
 Curtin's hydropathic establishment (which also 
 possesses a Turkish Bath) charmingly posited on 
 the crest of a wooded and verdant height. The 
 road beneath winds beside the river, through 
 a mass of steep rocks that rise, in a series of 
 distinct ledges, to a considerable height above 
 the water. A legend r affirms that these rocks 
 were piled up by an Irish giant, named Mahony, 
 whence their designation, " The Giant's Stairs." 
 
 Monkstown is one of the most picturesque 
 localities on the river. It occupies the gorge of 
 a romantic glen, and the pretty detached cot- 
 tages and handsome terraces of which it is com- 
 posed are spread along the slope of a gently 
 rising acclivity. About midway on the ascent 
 tapers the graceful spire of the church ; and a
 
 1.32 THE RIVER I.KE. 
 
 little to the east of it, embosomed in a girdle 
 of verdure, arise the walls of the old castle, 
 
 " Grey with the frost of hoar antiquity." 
 
 It is a quadrangular building, flanked by 
 square towers, and was built in 1636, at the 
 cost of a groat ! So saith tradition which gives 
 this solution of the problem. Mrs. Anastatia 
 Archdekan, while her husband was absent in a 
 foreign land, determined to afford him u an 
 agreeable surprise," by presenting him on his 
 return with a castle of her own erection. 
 Having engaged workmen, she made an agree- 
 ment with them that they should purchase food 
 and clothing solely from herse'f. The thrifty 
 lady then laid in a good store of these necessa- 
 ries, charging the workmen a commission on the 
 sales. When the edifice was completed, on 
 balancing her amount of receipts and expendi- 
 ture, she found that the latter exceeded the 
 former by the sum of four pence. The Castle, 
 however, was not long in the possession of the 
 Archdekans, since, being adherents of the Stuarts, 
 they forfeited in 1688. 
 
 Doubling the angle of Reenmeen, on" the oppo- 
 site shore, we enter the splendid estuary of Cork 
 Harbour. Passing the naval depot of llaulbow-
 
 QUEEXSTOWX. 
 
 Fine, with its ranges of spacious stores, and the 
 islet of Rocky, Qucenstown breaks on the view, 
 occupying a large portion of the southern shore 
 of the harbour, and ascending in ten-aces along 
 the side of the hill. The noble facade of the 
 Queen's Hotel one of the finest in the kingdom 
 and the handsome range of stately houses that 
 extends from the Market- square to the foot of 
 Spy-hill, have a truly imposing effect, when seen 
 from the water. 
 
 Of late years Queenstown has been conside- 
 rably improved. It was only within the last 
 twelve months that the Towns' Improvement 
 Act has been introduced with very beneficial 
 effects. The greater part of the town is now 
 illumined by gas, and a Water Company provide 
 the inhabitants with an abundant supply of that 
 necessary liquor. These improvements render 
 the place far more attractive to pleasure-seekers 
 and invalids than it had hitherto been, and thus 
 its denizens will reap additional benefits from 
 these reforms. 
 
 In 1848, Lord Middletoh erected a splendid 
 limestone quay, which extends over a mile from 
 the town, as far as Whitcpoint This is now a 
 favourite promenade. From any of the sur- 
 rounding heights beautiful views can be obtained
 
 134 THE lUVEfi LEE 
 
 of ihe noble basin, with its verdant shores sweep- 
 ing away in the distance the emerald frame of 
 a sapphire mirror ; while far outside the harbour 
 gleams the white tower of the lighthouse, whose 
 base is lashed by the foam of the broad Atlantic. 
 
 It is needless for us to loiter over attractions 
 so well known as those possessed by Quci-ns- 
 stown. Its regattas are famed so is its Yacht 
 Club ; its advantages, as a sojourn for invalids, 
 are known all over Europe. For the history of 
 the town and the island we refer our readers to 
 the local chroniclers.* Hastening onwards to 
 our gaol, we shall merely remark, that in the 
 ancient churchyard of Clonmel, in the interior of 
 the island, sleeps the dust of the Rev. Charles 
 Wolfe, the author of the immortal lines on the 
 death of Sir John Moore, and of Tobin, scarcely 
 less celebrated by his comedy of " The Honey- 
 moon." The former died there of consumption 
 in 1823. 
 
 Directly in front of Queen stown is Spike 
 Island, which, from its position, forms a natural 
 
 * It will suffice to mention here that the Great Island 
 belonged formerly to the family of the Hodnetts, and 
 passed into the possession of the Barrys, in the fourteenth 
 century, whence it was styled Barrymore. The latter 
 sept built the strong castles of Barry's-Court and Uelvelly, 
 whose remains, in tolerable preservation, ai'e still visible 
 on the island. It is seven miles in length, and nearly four 
 jn breadth, containing in all about 13,009 acres.
 
 ttOStELLAJf 135 
 
 Mild admirable breakwater. It is used as a con- 
 vict depot, and holds at present about 800 male- 
 factors, who are chiefly employed on the fortifi^ 
 cations which are now in a very effective and 
 formidable condition. Near the south-eastern 
 extremity of the harbour is the embouchure of 
 a stream which leads through beautiful scenery 
 to the East Ferry, Ballinaclirraj and Midleton* 
 At the opposite side afe the rich plantations of 
 Aghada, containing Rostellan, lately the seat of 
 the Marquess of Thomond. The O'Briens of 
 Thomond were among the first of the native 
 princes who espoused the English interests, and 
 their estates were gifts made by the crown of 
 the lands of the more patriotic chieftains who 
 refused to yield, and were driven into exile* 
 By a strange revolution in the wheel of fate, 
 these estates, after the lapse of three centuries, 
 have come once more into the ownership of some 
 of the lineal descendants of the original proprie* 
 tors in the County of Clare. l"he fine estate of 
 Rostellan was recently sold lit the Encumbered 
 Estates Court, and was within an ace of being 
 purchased by John Amott, Esq., a benevolent 
 nnd highly esteemed citizen of Cork.* 
 
 * The Encumbered Estate* Court has effected a complete 
 ^rvi.il revolution In Ireland, the effects of which arc already 
 beginning to be felt. To give an idea of the extent of ifc
 
 136 TOE RIVER LEr. 
 
 A legend records that the proprietor who 
 erected the mansion of Rostellan, having Liiflt 
 it on the site of a graveyard, from which the 
 bones were removed for the purpose, was so ter- 
 rified on taking possession of the house by^the 
 unearthly noises made by the spirits of those 
 whose mortal remains he had disturbed, that ho 
 fled from it, and never inhabited it after. There 
 is also a stone in the demesne, said to possess 
 the magical property, wlien removed, of return- 
 ing to its original position. 
 
 A short distance from Aghada appears the 
 neat village of Whitogate, on the marge of a bay 
 formed by the semi -circular sweep of the shore. 
 Opposite is the wood-robed headland of Cur- 
 raghbinny, at the mouth of the Carrigaline river, 
 the final tributary of the Lee At ks entrance is 
 the fishing hamlet of Crosshaven, and further in, 
 
 operations we transcribe the following interesting parti- 
 culars from fie Xorth American Review for last January : 
 " From the statistics of the new court, recently pub- 
 lished, we learn 'that from the 25th of October, 184!), to 
 the 25th of May, 1857, 4,109 petitions for' the sale, parti- 
 tion, and exchange of land had been presented to the 
 Commissioners. Of these, 1,195 originated with the em- 
 barrassed owners, and 2,914 with the creditors. On the 
 whole, 3,1'. 5 orders for sale were given, and the property 
 was promptly sold in 11,123 lots to 7,2i6 purchasers,, of 
 whom ().!)( ;i were Irish, the remainder English, Scotch 
 and foreigners. The estates a'ready sold have brough. 
 20, 194,2<']l, of which amount immense when we consido* 
 the poverty of the country 18,090,000 has been 
 liutcd to the parties intercbtcd."
 
 CORK HARBOUR 137 
 
 Drake's Pool, so called to perpetuate the escape 
 of Sir Francis Drake from the Spanish fleet, 
 which sought for him in the harbour outside, 
 while he was safely hidden in the pool that bears 
 his name. Ascending the river, a region of en- 
 chantment is unfolded to the view. The estuary: 
 is enclosed by hills clothed from summit to base 
 with magnificent trees, and, winding in its course,, 
 forms a number of apparently land-locked lakes 
 presenting the appearance of a miniature Rhine. 
 Situated on its banks arc the fine demesnes of 
 Coolmore and Iloddersfield, the favourite re- 
 sorts of pic-nic parties from " the beautiful city." 
 The once impregnable Castle of Carrigaline rose 
 on an elevation near the village - t but not a ves- 
 tige of it remains The ruins of Aghamarta 
 Castle, formerly a keep of the Desmonds, are 
 still visible on the banks of the river. 
 
 Emerging from the Awnabuoy, we arrive in a 
 few moments at the mouth of the harbour. The 
 bold headlands on either side of it are crowned 
 by the forts of Camden and Carlisle, the former 
 to the right, the latter to the left, as you issue 
 from the port. Standing on one of these heights, 
 let us give one parting glance at the scene out- 
 spread before us. On one side extends the 
 magnificent basin of the harbour, glassing its
 
 138 tttE ntViiit Lfifi. 
 
 many islands, and the numberless shipping, gay 
 with the bunting of various lands, on its sheeny 
 bosom. Numerous fine yachts glide gracefully 
 over the water, enlivening the scene with their 
 swan-like sails ; while, in the distance, the ter- 
 raced slopes of Queens town glitter in the sun- 
 shine. Thence spreads away the eastern shore, 
 rich with verdure, and studded with gentle- 4 
 men's seats ; and on the Avestern side of the 
 harbour are seen the verdant borders of the 
 Barony of Kerrikurrihy, on which is situated 
 the beautiful demesne of Ballybricken. Turn- 
 ing oceanwards, we see the rocky shores 
 spreading away as far as Trabolgan, the seat 
 of Lord Fermoy, on the one side, and to 
 Ringabella Bay on the other. At some distance 
 the lighthouse rises boldly on a projecting rock, 
 nnd beyond it heaves the glittering bosoin of the 
 mighty Atlantic. 
 
 Our pleasant task is done. The tranquil river 
 whose course we have so imperfectly traced 
 Hows past us as we write, flushed with the 
 roseate hues of the westering sun. A thousand 
 memories throng upon us of happy hours never 
 more to return spent upon its banks. From 
 out the darkling mists of the past loving eyes, 
 now quenched for ever, seem to beam upon us
 
 Wicc more, and warm hands, long crumbled into 
 *lust, to grasp our own with responsive pressure. 
 But away with dreams the time has come, dear 
 Deader, when we must shake your hand at part- 
 Ing. We would fain defer the moment, but we 
 are forced, at length, to utter, for a timo, thut 
 Jwiinful word farewell -I
 
 V 
 
 ^^^^HLr 
 
 This book is DUE on the last 
 date stamped below 
 
 2m-6,'52(A1855)470
 
 lord : 
 PAMPHIET BINDER 
 Syracuse. N. Y. 
 Stockton, Calif. 
 
 A 001 238 486 3 
 
 DA 
 
 990 
 
 C79C6