The Charm of Ireland

ive to the scene of the battle of the Boyne, and on to Dowth and Newgrange, the sepulchres of the ancient kings of Erin, and finally to the abbe

briggan, celebrated for its hosiery. Drogheda itself is an up-and-down place, built on the side of a hill. I suppose the castle which was the nucleus of the town stood on top of the hill, and houses were gradually built from it down to the ford fr

d and examined with a scrutiny almost microscopic; and then the would-be purchaser would make an offer for it, which would be indignantly refused. Then the dealer would name his price, and this never failed to arouse a storm of protest. Then dealer and purchaser would indulge in a few personalities, recalling wi

athema in Catholic Ireland. Briefly, the facts are these: The Irish Catholics, under Owen Roe O'Neill, had, naturally enough, supported Charles I against the Parliam

to surrender; upon its refusal, took it by storm, and "in the heat of action," as he afterwards wrote, ordered that the whole garrison be put to the sword. Not more than thirty of the three thousand escaped, and such Catholic priests as were found in the place were hanged. Cromwell afterwards sought to justify this cruelty on two

cted by a retiring wall also loopholed. It is so well preserved because it stands on the opposite side of the town from the one Cromwell attacked, and is the most perfect specimen of the medi?val city-gate which I saw anywhere in Ireland. When one has seen it, one has

akes; but these excursions do not start till June, so it was necessary that we get a car. At the station, and again at the wharf by the river, we had observed large bulletin boards with a list of the jaunting-car tariffs fixed by the corporation

TOWER, C

NCE'S GAT

'm the lad can take ye. Do yo

the fare?

pound

is just half tha

" he agreed

, and told him we wanted to drive out to Monasterboice, and while we didn't mind being rob

ust charge what they please. I'm free to admit they have no conscience. There is one, though, who is

ith the man's wife and assorted children within; but the woman told us that "himself" had driven out

" I said. "Suppose we wait till we ge

station, through a sea of sticky mud, and presen

st every vicissitude of weather, we bade our friends at the hotel good-bye (not forgetting the bell-boy), drove to the station, and got aboard a train, which presently rolled awa

rom her big hat and cheap finery, just home from America, was trying to overawe the friends who had gone to Dublin to meet her by an exhibition of sham g

down in the Vale of Tipperary, and I judged from her appearance that she was

people, who have nothin' to lose, that shout the loudest for it. They would like a bit of land themselves, and they fancy that under Home Rule they'll be gettin' it; but where is it to come from, I'd like to know, unless off of them that has it

es a labourer

twelve shil

e year

inter, so how can one

an they li

for the money that's sent them from America. But what can the farmers do? If they pay higher wag

labourers do

ome'rs else-to Am

will make things be

d men hereabouts don't want Home Rule-they're afraid of it; but they know well enough they must keep

it is true that, as a whole, only the upper class and the lower class of Irishmen really want Home Rule-the upper class from motives of patriotism, the lower class from hope of betterment; while the middle class is either lukewarm or opposed to it at heart. The middle class is, of course, always and everywhere, the conservative class, the class which fears change most

nded masses far to the left, forming a charming background to meadows whose greenness no words can describe. Every foot of the ground is historic; for first the train passes Celbridge where Swift's "Vanessa" dwelt, and just beyond is Lyons Hill, where Daniel O'Connell shot and killed a Du

minding her cow, with no place to feed it but the side of the road, the rich man who owned the l

it take to give grass

y cloak would c

that," said

d laid it on the ground, and she had no sooner done so than i

r, and she opened her foolish mouth and she said, "If t

Brigid held the land which it covered during all her lifetime, and it has been a famous grazing

stretch away as far as the eye can see; and then the Hill of Allen looms up against the horizon, where the Kings of Lei

all been driven away, by eviction, by famine, by the hard necessity of finding work; for there is no work here except for a few herdsmen, and has not been for half a century. For when the

pring into being, closing in the Golden Vale of Tipperary, and one realises it was a true vision o

erary in the spri

horn's whiter

olk assemble and the

ng and their win

venamon puts her

ear the news th

to glance on the r

Tipperary i

had taken a great bite out of it-and that is precisely what happened, for once upon a time the Prince of Darkness passed that way, and when he came to the hill, being pressed with hunger, he took a bite out of the

ame to Thurle

xpress an opinion, saying it would ill become him to exalt one inn at the expense of the other, since the keepers of both were friends of his; but after some moments of cogitation, he said that he would recommend one of them, since it was kept by a poor widow woman. I confess this di

lady explained that the great horse-fair opened in a day or two, and that she was preparing for the crowds which always attended it; but finally she found a room for us away up in the attic, and left us alone with a candle. The weather

do, and between them they lapped us in such a warmth of Irish welcome that we were soon aglow. I left them blarneying Betty and went down to the shining little bar, where I smoked a pipe in company with two or three

at intervals by the tramping and neigh