The Charm of Ireland

esser thing. She is rich in the possession of many treasures, and proud of the memorials of many famous sons. Despite all the vicissitudes of fortune, she

ut she knows that it is there; and perhaps so

the Cross of Cong and the Book of Kells. It was for the first of these, which is in St. Patrick's Cathedral,

it furnishes a rapid, easy, and-when one has learned the trick-comfortable means of locomotion. Every one, of course, is familiar with the appearanc

afts, still used in parts of far Connaught, and then the cart with spoke wheels working outside the shafts on a fixed axle-pretty much the form still used all the world over-just such a "low-backed car" as sweet Peggy used when she drove to market on that memorable day in spring. The next step was taken when some comfort-loving driver removed the side-boards, in

a question of refinements, after that-the addition of backs and cushions to the seats, the enlargement of the wheels to make the car ride more easily, the attachment of long springs for the same purpose, and the placing of a li

ON OF THE J

s the worst possible conveyance in wet weather. Hilly roads are fairly frequent in Ireland, but they are nowhere as compared to wet days, and the side-car is a standing

in the sun, never think of using a rain-coat or an umbrella-would doubtless consider the purchase of either a waste of money which could be far better spent-and yet, all the time we were i

occasion to mean motor unless he owns one, for, outside of the trams in a few of the larger cities, the side-car is practically the only form of street and neighbourhood conveyance. One soon grows to like it; we have ridden fifty miles on one in a single day, and many ti

xi; but, alas, this is not the case. He is just as rapacious and piratical as they, though he may rob you with a smile, while they do it with a frown; and he has this advantage: there is no taximeter with which to control him. Everywhere, if one is not a millionaire, one must be careful to bargain in advance. Once the bargain is concluded, your jarvey is the most agreeable and o

he person on the outside seat has the feeling that, unless he holds tight, he will certainly be hurled into misty

years ago it was practically rebuilt in its present shape. Sir Benjamin Guinness, of the Guinness Brewery, furnished the money. Like all the other old religious establishments, it was taken from the Catholics in the tim

ed there beside that "Stella" whom he made immortal. A brass in the pavement marks the spot where they lie side by side, and on

e savage indignation can no longer tear his heart. Go, traveller, and, i

celebrated her the world will never know. She died seventeen years before him, "killed by his unkindness," and was buried here at midnight, while he shut himself into a back room of his deanery across the way that he might not see the lights of the funeral party. He had faults and frailties

tle weal

house for f

by one sa

wanted i

ad of his victorious troops at the battle of the Boyne. Swift wished to mark the grave with an appropriate memorial, but Schomberg's relatives declined to contribute anything towar

end of the choir near the altar, but Strafford, instigated by Archbishop Laud, who protested that it was a monstrosity which desecrated that sacred place, compelled its removal to the nave, where it now stands. The Earl of Cork never forgave him, and hounded him to his death. The monument is a marvel of its kind, containing no less than sixteen highly-c

nd distressful as they are, they have still about them childhood's clouds of glory. So that it wrings the heart to look at the bedraggled, gin-soaked, sad-eyed, hopele

s, living within the same four walls-some in dark basements, some in ricketty attics-cooking and eating there, when they have anything to cook and eat; sitting there through the long hours; sleeping there through the foul nights; awaking there each morning to another hopeless day of misery. Think how impossible it is to be clean or decent a

o years later, Henry II received the submission of the overawed Irish chiefs; and from that day forward, this old grey fortress cast its shadow over the whole land. No tribesman was too remote to dread it, for the chance of any day might send him to rot in its dungeon, or shriek his life out in its torture-chamb

ill show you through the state apartments, which are not worth visiting; and another, more human one, will show you through the chapel. It is more interesting without than within, for over the north door, side by side in delightful democratic equality, are busts of

ish church, which is now the crypt, and his transepts and one bay of his choir still survive. There were various additions and rebuildings, after that, but in 1569 the bog on which the Cathedral is built move

, for it was by some such profits that they had to be restored, if they were to be restored at all, because brewing and distilling are the only

he had been driven from his kingdom and compelled to restore to Tiernan O'Rourke, Prince of Breffni, Dervorgilla-otherwise Mrs. O'Rourke-with whom he had eloped. It wasn't the lady that Dermot wanted-it was revenge, and, most of all, his kingdom-we shall hear more of this story later on-and Strongbow readily agree

indicate three crusades. Crossed at the ankles would have meant one crusade, between knee and ankle, two. I don't know how the old sculptors indicated four crusades; perhaps th

igning of an agreement or the paying of a debt. Almost all of such old documents in Dublin were "Made at the Tomb of Strongbow." Thither people came for centuries to settle accounts, and the Irish are so conservative, so tenacious of tradition, that I dare

ss celebrated here for James II while he was trying to conquer Ulster; and the church is fortunate in possessing a most intelligent verger, with whom it is a pleasure to explo

masterpieces of ancient Irish art, th

s an elaborate state carriage, lavishly decorated with carvings and inlay and bronze figures, and it was ordered by some Irish lord, who, when it was completed, found that he had no money to pay for it, and so left it on the builder's hands. What t

wo which reproduce the high and low crosses at Monasterboice. We shall see the real crosses, before we leave Ireland, but they have iron railings around them, which prevent cl

ements resemble those of the Indians and Moundbuilders, so common in our part of Ohio. Then comes the Bronze Age, with a magnificent collection of ornaments of hammered gold, and some extraordinarily interesting

Norman conquest-roughly, from 400 A. D. to 1200 A. D. Before that time, Ireland was Pagan; after the Norman conquest, she was crushed and broken. It was during these eight hundred years,

l over Europe flocked to them, as the recognised centres of learning. Scholars were revered and books were holy things-so holy that beautiful shrines we

ttle iron bell used by St. Patrick, and recovered from his grave in 552. The exquisite shrine made for it by some master artist about 1100 is here, as is also the bell itself. There is a picture of the shrine opposite the

made to enshrine a fragment of the True Cross, sent from Rome in 1123 to Turlough O'Conor, King of Ireland, and it is called the "Cross of Cong" because Rory O'Conor, the last titular King of all Ireland, took it with him to the Abbey of Cong, at the hea

gment of the True Cross was placed; but it is not there now, and nobody seems to know what became of it. Perhaps it doesn't matter much; at any rate,

ROSS

OF ST. PA

e work of the most exquisite kind around the central crystal. It is elaborately carved, front and back, with the intertwined p

egitur qua passu

rish which bids us pray, among others, for Turlough O'Conor, King of Erin, for whom the shrine was made, and for Maelisu MacB

any picture, for each of its pages is a separate masterpiece. Kells was a monastery celebrated for its sanctity and learning, and it was there, sometime in the eighth century, that an inspired monk executed this Latin copy of the Gospels. It is of sheepskin parchme

is Brian Boru's harp-the very one, perhaps, that shed the soul of music through Tara's halls-only unfortunately, the critics say that it isn't more than five or six hundred years old. And there are stacks of modern bo

right-eyed Irish girls were in their quaint costumes! Ordinarily Irish girls are shy with strangers; but they were working in a good cause that night, and if any man got out of the place with a penny in his p