Chapter XVII: Mines and minerals

Although it does not come within the design of this work to treat on the geology of the south of Ireland, yet I feel satisfied that a brief account of its mines and minerals will not be misplaced, and may tend to direct some attention to an important though neglected pursuit. There are few countries richer in mineral deposits; out of the thirty-two counties, nineteen are known to contain iron; seventeen copper; eighteen lead, and sixteen coal; and from what has been done and is at present doing, it will, I think, appear evident that Ireland still holds out the hand of invitation for the further operations of the miner.

The most ancient work in the country probably is that on Ross [311] Island, bordering on the lower Lake of Killarney. It is situated on the south side of the island, in limestone, of which this, as well as all the other islands in the Lower Lake, are entirely composed. The remote antiquity of Ross Mine is established by a discovery made on clearing out the old shafts when it was re-opened a few years since, at which time several rude implements of stone were found buried under decayed vegetable matter and rubbish, the accumulation of many centuries: two or three of these relics are in my possession, but their construction is so barbarous that it is evident, with such tools, the process of mining must have been very slow as well as laborious. From appearances, however, it may be inferred, that the workmen endeavoured to facilitate their operations by kindling large fires on the limestone, thereby reducing it to a caustic state; and the timber from the immediate vicinity was, most probably, the fuel used for this purpose. Marks of the fires were distinctly to be seen when the rock was exposed to view, which, with the discovery of the stone implements, affords satisfactory evidence of the mine having been originally worked at a period prior to the knowledge of either iron or gunpowder, and hence local tradition has attributed these operations to the Danes.

There is reason to think that this work was again opened in the reign of James I., as some coins of that monarch were found in another and a distinct part of the mine; but why it was relinquished, if then worked, must remain a subject for conjecture.

About the year 1804, Colonel Hall, who had been some time quartered at Killarney, conceiving a favourable opinion of Ross Mine, induced one or two gentlemen in the vicinity to join him in re-opening it. Having succeeded in clearing out the water and rubbish, the little company were encouraged by the flattering appearance to proceed to work it, which they did on rather an extensive scale, notwithstanding the unfavourable circumstance of its situation - nearly close to the lake, the ground not rising much [312] above it, and dipping towards it at an angle of about 30 degrees from the horizon, so that, in a short time, the workmen had excavated completely under the lake, with every fear of its waters breaking in on them: the richness and abundance of the ore was, however, a sufficient inducement to counteract this danger and inconvenience, as, during the four years that Ross Mine was worked, nearly 80,000l. worth of copper was disposed of at Swansea, some cargoes producing 40l. per ton. But this very richness was the ultimate cause of its destruction, as several small veins of pure oxyde of copper split off from the main load and ran towards the surface; the ore of these veins was much more valuable than the other, consequently the miners (who were paid by quality as well as quantity) pursued the smaller veins so near the surface, that the water broke through into the mine in such an overwhelming degree that an engine of thirty horse power could make no sensible impression on the inundation; and thus a forcible stop was put to all further proceedings.

It would be reasonable to conceive, from the above statement, that the proprietors derived considerable advantage from this mine; such, however, was not the case, and it has been asserted that money was sunk in the speculation; but having made particular inquiry into the circumstances, it appears evident a result so unfavourable was by no means attributable to the mine itself, but to the manner in which it was conducted, and it adds one more proof to thousands of others that inattention or mismanagement may ruin the most promising undertaking.

Another old copper-mine is to be seen on the Mucruss estate, situated on the south side of the peninsula which divides the Lower Lake of Killarney from Turk Lake. This mine was worked about seventy or eighty years since, and its value spoken of in very high terms even to the time of its discontinuance, an event which has been solely attributed to differences amongst the parties engaged. Colonel Hall, with his usual zeal in the pursuit of mines, jointly with [313] another gentleman, went to considerable expense in ascertaining the truth of this report, and cleared the old workings of the water and rubbish; but, on coming to the bottom, the vein was found so reduced in size as to offer little prospect of success in prosecuting it. Some tons of good yellow ore from the pillars left to support the roof and on the surface were obtained, which sold at Swansea for £15 per ton. There was also a rich vein of cobalt combined with arsenic, of about two or three inches wide, lying on one side of the copper vein, some of the specimens of which, found on the surface, were completely covered with a peach bloom efflorescence; from the smallness of the quantity, however, little notice was taken of it as an article of value.

There is another vein of yellow copper ore on a small island in the Lower Lake called Crow Island, which was worked for a short time by the Ross Island Company; but the produce proving inferior to that mine it was not prosecuted to any extent.

The road from Killarney to Kenmare by Glen Flesk passes over limestone, which borders one side of the River Kenmare for several miles, but in no part exceeds a mile in breadth. In this limestone are several appearances of mineral veins, both of lead and copper, specimens of which are easily obtained, as partial attempts have been made to work them; and it is reported that, about sixty years ago, several cargoes of copper ore were shipped for England from one spot, where there is a considerable excavation. Amongst the rubbish on the surface, specimens of good yellow ore, containing about twenty per cent, of metal, may be picked up. A vein of lead was also worked not far from this, but the specimens now to be procured are mixed with a considerable portion of blende; yet the appearances along this line warrant further and careful examination.

At Beerhaven, near the mouth of the river Kenmare, on the county Cork side, a most gratifying sight presents itself in a large coppermine at full work. This mine was discovered about nine years since [314] by Mr. Puxley, one of the proprietors of the property on which it is situated, who soon after sent to Cornwall for an experienced captain, and it has now been in successful operation for more than eight years, with every appearance of long continuing a prosperous work. A gentleman who visited it in 1822 informed me, that it was giving constant employment to about six hundred persons, of both sexes, and of all ages from ten years upwards. The monthly expenditure was from 900l. to 1000l., and the mine produced from 150 to 200 tons of ore in the same time.

Besides paying the proprietors very handsomely, the blessing which this mine has been to the surrounding country can only be appreciated by those who have witnessed such a scene. The place where, but a few years since, the barren and rocky mountains could scarcely sustain the lives of a few half-starved sheep, is now the scene of busy and useful employment, dispensing competence and comfort to hundreds. The principal works are carried on about a mile and a half from the water, and the ground rises to a considerable elevation. The vein crosses the regular strata of the country, which is a hard rock of graywacke, at a small angle, taking a direction about two points to the south of east and the same to the north of west. The matrix of the vein is a white opaque quartz, in part of its course of the amazing width of sixty feet (which has been proved by cutting through it), but the ore has seldom exceeded three feet in breadth.

Mineral appearances have likewise been discovered on the opposite side of the river Kenmare, in the county Kerry and along the coast as far as Dingle, which might prove worth the attention of persons acquainted practically with the subject. Veins of lead and copper have been partially worked at Milltown, between Killarney and Tralee, on the properties of Sir John Godfrey and Lord Head ford; and they certainly encourage further proceedings.

The next metallic veins deserving notice are those on the estate of Lord Audley, in the county Cork, about ten miles west of Skibbereen, [315] which were discovered and opened by Colonel Hall about the year 1814. Three distinct veins presented themselves at no very considerable distance from each other. The first worked was a bright yellow ore of iron pyrites, containing in general about 8 per cent, of copper. The second has been scarcely attended to, as it chiefly consisted of green carbonate of copper disseminated through a slate clay, with small nodules of gray or purple ore appearing here and there. In the third, which has been more extensively pursued than either of the others, the ore is a very rich sulphuret of copper, containing from 55 to 65 per cent, of that metal, and, near the surface, gave every promise of being a very valuable vein; but it degenerated in depth, and was, as well as the others, relinquished. Lord Audley has lately re-opened this vein himself; but whether the undertaking will be attented with success remains to be proved.

In this neighbourhood other veins were also opened by Colonel Hall, and one was worked for a short time on an extensive scale; but it has been given up. This enterprising gentleman likewise engaged in rather an extraordinary undertaking, that of burning out a bog not far from Glandore Harbour, which contained particles of copper; the ashes he shipped for Swansea, and obtained a considerable price for them. These particles of copper are supposed to have been conveyed into the bog by a stream from one of the surrounding hills, which, passing through a copper vein, took them up in a state of sulphate, but meeting with some iron ore in its progress, or in the bog, became deposited in the metallic state, though a large proportion contained in the turf was still in a state of sulphate, which was proved by allowing a knife to remain in it a few seconds, when it became incrusted with a coat of copper.

This was called by the country people “the Stinking Bog”; and when, for want of other fuel, they were obliged to burn the turf from it, the greatest precaution was used in placing the ashes where their fowls, dogs or eats could not get near them, as any offal thrown [316] upon the ashes and eaten by these animals invariably produced death.

Several attempts were made, by cross-cutting the strata in the vicinity, to discover the original vein, but these efforts were without success, and the bog being entirely burnt out, nothing further has been done, although there can be little doubt but that an extensive and rich vein must be somewhere in the neighbourhood. Another bog of the same description is distant about a mile from the one just mentioned. It belongs to Mr. Jervis, but being of small dimensions the expense and trouble of building kilns for the purpose of burning it was considered to be too great for the expected produce.

There are many indications of the existence of copper in the vicinity of Ross Carbery; one may be seen about two miles from thence, close to the Cork road, where green carbonate of copper appears on the surface. Continuing along the coast from Ross Carbery to Clonakilty, there are several excavations where mines have been formerly worked, but no distinct account of the period or of their nature can be obtained; they appear from their rubbish to have contained copper ore, except one, which was worked by an English company about twenty years since, but was relinquished after an insufficient trial. This vein consists of galena and blende.

It was stated by a gentleman of respectability to a friend of mine, who has paid much attention to geological pursuits, that, not long since, some miners who were sinking in search of copper in the vicinity of Clonakilty cut through a rich vein of coal. There is little doubt but coal might be found in many other parts of the county Cork than the district north of the river Blackwater, to which coal works are at present entirely confined, and where the produce cannot be of much benefit from the want of water carriage.

The same observation will apply to the county Kerry, where no search for coal has yet been attempted, although within five miles of Killarney, near a place called Five Mile Bridge, three distinct veins [317] are perceptible rising to the surface; and I have just learned, with much pleasure, that the attention of some of the Welsh coal companies has been lately turned towards the South of Ireland.

Two veins of lead, which had been partially worked before one, near the mouth of Cork Harbour, at Ringabella, on the estate of Mr. Hodder; the other on adjacent property belonging to Lord Shannon - were re-opened in 1822. The latter was shortly after discontinued; but the former promised, with skill and attention, to become an extensive and profitable concern.

There are several other mineral appearances in this neighbourhood, as well as on the eastern side of the harbour; but in this necessarily limited sketch it would be impossible to take even a passing notice of each particular spot. In various parts of the counties of Waterford, Wexford and Limerick efforts have been made to work numerous veins of copper and lead; but, either from want of the suitable means or knowledge of the business, and often both, these undertakings have rarely been either successful or permanent.

In the county Tipperary, at Silver mines, veins of lead have been worked at various periods; but mismanagement seems to be the order of the day in Ireland, and, at the present moment, not more than a few hands are employed at this place, which certainly presents strong inducements for the investment of capital to make it an extensive mine. Many places may be mentioned where mineral treasures expose themselves to the view of the passing traveller; but a repetition of circumstances that admit of little or no variation occasion a tiresome monotony, and enough has probably been said to show what an extensive field for speculation and research the south of Ireland presents: indeed, as useful employment is acknowledged to be the grand desideratum in that unhappy country, and as England has proved herself so nobly solicitous in every effort to raise the indolent and misguided Irish peasantry from their present state of wretchedness and discontent, what better opportunity could be [318] for than this subject presents? - Companies of wealthy individuals might be formed at this side of the water; and, if qualified persons were engaged to superintend the works, such associations would not only be attended with every probability of profit to those concerned, but they would at once administer extensive employment, and, no doubt, greatly tend to tranquillize the peasantry.

There is scarcely a known metal which Ireland has not produced; mercury, [47] tin, [48] platina, and the rarer metals lately discovered in South America, are, I believe, the only exceptions. The purity of its gold has been long noted, and, judging from the numerous and massive ornaments which are almost daily dug up, this metal appears to have been manufactured at a very early period.

Doctor Campbell, in his entertaining Survey of the South of Ireland, particularizes three golden vessels, three ingots weighing about a pound, and more than a dozen pieces of gold of various shapes and dimensions, which were found in a small bog near Cullen. Some more recent discoveries of golden ornaments are mentioned in the [319] sixth volume of the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy; amongst these a small crown which weighed more than a pound. The golden crown or cap dug up in 1692 at the Devil’s Bit in the county Tipperary, and supposed to be still extant, is probably familiar to the reader from the numerous engravings which have appeared of it in various works, from Keating’s History of Ireland to Mr. Phillips’s Emerald Isle.

To enumerate even slightly the several pieces of ancient wrought gold which I have seen at various times in Ireland would occupy many pages; nor do I think that a thousand pounds would purchase the entire: most of them have been consigned to the crucible; rings, chains, fibulæ, tiaras, bracelets, and other articles that completely silence conjecture as to their use.

The best informed and most rational antiquaries strongly oppose the idea that the gold manufactured into these relics was native produce; and even the discovery of gold in the county Wicklow has not been sufficient to shake their opinions.

The Croghan, or Gold-mine Mountain, first became publicly known in September, 1795, although it had long been a secret source from whence a family named Byrne, resident in its vicinity, derived much wealth. Six weeks elapsed before a party of the military arrived to take possession of it by directions from government, and during this time it is calculated that above 10,000l. worth of ore was collected and disposed of by the peasantry. The largest piece which is known to have been obtained weighed twenty-two ounces and sold for 88l.; indeed, so pure was the metal generally, that it was the custom of the Dublin goldsmiths to put gold coin into the opposite scale, and give weight for weight.

After a trial of about five years, supported by an inconsiderable grant, the working of Croghan mine was discontinued, as the produce appeared to be only barely sufficient to cover the expense incurred; but the scale of this undertaking was altogether so limited that it [320]

becomes a question of some national importance whether the mine has not been given up prematurely.

Silver was formerly procured in three, out of the four provinces: [49] in Ulster, - in the county Antrim, which mine was, to use the words of Dr. Boate, “very rich, forasmuch, as with every thirty pounds of lead it yieldeth a pound of pure silver; another was in Connaught, upon the very harbour-mouth of Sligo, in a little demi-island, commonly called Conny Island; and a third, in Munster.”

The discontinuance of these works was caused by the turbulent state of the country: that in Munster has been already mentioned as a lead mine; it was discovered early in the seventeenth century, and notice was given to Donough, Earl of Thomond, then Lord President of Munster, who covered part of his castle, at Bunratty, in the county Clare, with lead procured from Silver mines. Lord Strafford seems to have anticipated favourably of the produce of this mine; and in 1633, besides transmitting to Charles I. an ingot of silver which weighed three hundred ounces, [50]With this new year these first-fruits of your royal mines crave admission into your Majesty’s presence, and let them be the good omens that this kingdom now at length, in these latter ages, may not only fill up the greatness and dominion, but even the coffers and exchequer of the crown of England. Sure I am it becomes not this little one that her breasts should ever be dry, nor ought she with a sparing hand to communicate of her strength and wealth there, considering with what mass of treasure and streams of blood she hath been redeemed and preserved by that her elder and more excellent sister.May your Majesty’s days be as lasting and glorious as the best and purest of metals, and God Almighty prosper and accomplish all your princely thoughts and counsels, be they old or new, he writes the Lord [321] Treasurer that “the King’s duty forth of the royal mines in Munster will be 500l. a year, besides what be thence raised forth of the three other provinces.”

Dr. Boate describes the silver of this mine, in the county Tipperary, as “very fine, so as the farmers sold it at Dublin for five shillings two-pence sterling the ounce: - as for the lead, that, they sold on the place for eleven pounds sterl: the tun, and for twelve pounds at the city of Limerick. The king had the sixth part of the silver for his share, and the tenth part of the lead, the rest remaining to the farmers, whose clear profit was estimated to be worth 2000l. sterl: yearly.”

The sequel to this little history of the work at Silver Mines forms a dreadful episode of the rebellion of 1641.

The Irish, headed by Hugh O’Kennedy, brother of John Mac Dermot O’Kennedy, on whose lands the mine was situated, “not content to lay waste the mine, and to demolish all the works thereunto belonging, did accompany this their barbarousness with bloody cruelty against the poor workmen, such as were employed about the melting and refining of the ore, and in all offices thereunto belonging: the which, some of them being English, and the rest Dutch, (because the Irish, having no skill at all in any of those things, had never been employed in this mine otherwise than to dig it, and to do other labours,) were all put to the sword by them, except a very few, who by flight escaped their hands.”

Iron is abundant in Ireland. During the comparatively tranquil reign of James the First many mines were opened, and iron works, particularly in the province of Munster, became exceedingly numerous; [322] but the renewal of warfare, towards the close of his successor’s reign, proved fatal to the prosperity of these establishments, most of which, being the property of English settlers, were wantonly demolished by the Irish. An improvident consumption of timber was also another cause of the discontinuance of many of them, as it became impossible to procure the necessary supply of charcoal. Those who are curious respecting the details of this subject will find nearly two chapters, in Dr. Boate’s Natural History of Ireland, devoted to an account “of the iron works, their fashion, charge of erecting and maintaining them, and profit coming from them; with an exact description of the manner of melting iron.”

Among the rarer minerals may be classed a vein of sulphate of Barytes, (commonly called terra ponderosa, from its great specific gravity,) situated between Ross Carbery and Clonakilty, part of which is exposed to view on the coast running into the sea; it is several yards in thickness, and, from its apparent compactness and beautiful white colour, may not be unworthy the attention of the statuary; as with sufficient tenacity to retain any impression, it is likewise soft enough to admit of being easily turned or chiselled into form. A vein of sulphuret of iron (iron Pyrites) almost adjoins it.

There are also other smaller veins of sulphate of Barytes in the county Cork.

I have seen many specimens of Asbestos from Beerhaven. This is a singular mineral, which divides into long threads or fibres, and is said to have been manufactured into a kind of cloth, capable of resisting the action of fire. The specimens at Beerhaven are, however, neither sufficiently long or tenacious to admit of being thus woven.

The Cork amethyst has been already mentioned: crystals of quartz, some very large and highly transparent, are found in the western districts of the county Cork, and on the mountains of Kerry, [323] particularly in the vicinity of Dingle. By the country people they are named Kerry diamonds, from their brilliancy, and, when well cut and set, form handsome ornaments.

A. genealogical MS. by a village poet, named Bryan O’Connor, is mentioned in the Anthologia Hibernica, in which its author refers to his “Poetical Description of Kerry”; where he celebrates in heroics the passion of Thomas, the first Earl of Kerry, for wearing Kerrystones as buttons, having several suits embellished with them:

“Here gems unwrought send forth such lively rays,
That paler stars confess a feebler blaze;
The brilliant mass our noble Lord admir’d,
The gems he polish’d and new charms inspir’d:
And Foreign Courts, tho’ envious, forc’d to own,
He wanted of a Monarch - but the Crown.”

The last mineral I shall notice is the Hydrargillite, called also Wavellite, from the circumstance of its discovery in Devonshire by Dr. Wavell. This production is of very rare occurrence, having before been discovered (exclusive of Devonshire) only in South America. It is found about ten miles south of Cork, near Minane Bridge, which crosses a small rivulet that falls into the creek of Ringabella. The rocks in the neighbourhood are of a soft schistus or slaty nature, and flag-stones, of a tolerable size, are obtained near the spot; the specimens in question have not yet been found connected with any rock; they are dug or ploughed up out of the soil, nor is there any adjacent hill from whence they could have been washed down. This mineral appears in the form of small globular nodules, from the size of a pea to that of a walnut; each of these nodules is composed of thin spiral crystals which radiate from the centre, and, when broken, present a silky appearance, generally of a greenish hue and translucent at the edges; but the crystals, when separated, possess a considerable degree of transparency, nor do they adhere 324] together with much tenacity, being easily separable by the nail, and without difficulty reduced to powder.

It is sometimes disseminated through a hard opaque quartz, and sometimes occurs in single nodules, though generally found with the nodules conglomerated together. [325]

Then I our own Historians did peruse;
The Greek and Latin too, and with the Muse
I did converse.

Homer and Virgil, Horace, Sophocles
I read, yet hate none like Thucyclides:
He says democracy’s a foolish thing;
May I have a Republic - he a King!

The Innocent Traytor - 1679.

The literary superiority of Ireland over the rest of Europe, in remote ages, has been a subject of national exultation. We are told of an Establishment at Armagh for seven thousand students; of Greek princes who were educated at the University of Lismore, and of numerous foreigners having visited the schools of Ireland for instruction.

At the English Conquest, however, Ireland was unquestionably in a state of profound ignorance; the pride of her schools and colleges had disappeared; and “to the present day,” says Sir Richard Cox, “very few of the Irish aim at any more than a little Latin, which every cow-boy pretends to, and a smattering of logic which very few of them know the use of.” This passage, although intended to convey little commendation of Irish learning, is certainly a strong

[326]

evidence of a literary taste, and may excite some curiosity to become better acquainted with mountaineers who even aim at “a little Latin.”

Amongst the peasantry, classical learning is not uncommon; and a tattered Ovid or Virgil may be found even in the hands of common labourers. [51] In Munster, the village schoolmaster forms a peculiar character; and, next to the lord of the manor, the parson, and the priest, he is the most important personage in the parish. His “academic grove” is a long thatched house, generally the largest in the place; surrendered, when necessary, for the waking of a dead body, or the celebration of mass whilst the chapel is undergoing repairs; and on Sundays, when not otherwise engaged, it is used as a jig or dancing house.

The highest class of scholars is composed of men as full grown, and often as old as the master himself, distinguished by the name of “poor scholars,” or “strangers.” These strangers are, generally, the sons of reduced farmers and natives of Ulster and Connaught, who, having swallowed all the classical information within their immediate reach, range through the bogs of Munster to complete their knowledge of Latin, and to acquire the Greek tongue. The village schoolmaster gains little from this class of students; but the glory of possessing pupils who, when they return to their native provinces, will spread his fame, appears to him an adequate recompense. Nor is his generosity confined to their education; he also contributes his exertions towards their subsistence, and obtains for them gratuitous lodging in some neighbour’s cabin.

The enterprising spirit of these literary adventurers is surprizing; they will start from the home of their infancy - traverse the southern parts of the island - visit every village - sojourn in every school

[327]

examine every local curiosity, and return to their birth-place, after perhaps a year’s absence, without having, for that space of time, expended, or indeed possessed a single half-crown; so warm is the hospitality of the peasantry, and so high their respect for learning! With the schoolmaster, too, it is a matter of special pride to be visited from remote distances; and it is not unusual to hear the respectability of a school estimated by the number of its “stranger pupils.”

But it may be asked, what can be the object or use of a classical education to the children of Irish peasants? The mass of the population is Roman Catholic. [52] By the penal statutes the wealthier part of that persuasion were deprived of their property, and the general exercise of their religion subjected to severe penalties and restrictions. In this state of things, the clerical profession had nothing to tempt the ambition of ancient Catholic families. It was a life of privations, difficulties, and suiferings; those who enjoyed even competence would not embrace it, and hence it fell into the hands of peasants. The cottager reared one or more of his children in the expectation of their obtaining holy orders, and prided himself in the hope of seeing one of them, at some future day, the priest of his native parish. After wandering in search of learning through the

[328]

country, they made their way to France, Spain, or Portugal; - studied, and were ordained in the colleges of these countries, and returned to exercise their profession in Ireland, where the Roman Catholic clergy are, with few exceptions, sprung from the humblest ranks of the people.

These circumstances, and this feeling, crowd the country schools with learners of the classical languages, and there are few families, however lowly their condition, that do not boast a young aspirant for clerical distinction.

To return to the preceptor. In an evening assembly of village statesmen he holds the most distinguished place, from his historical information, pompous eloquence, and classical erudition. His principles verge very closely indeed on the broadest republicanism; he delivers warm descriptions of the Grecian and Roman commonwealths; the ardent spirit of freedom and general equality of rights in former days and then comes down to his own country, which is always the ultimate political subject of discussion. He praises the Milesians - curses “the betrayer Dermod” - abuses “the Saxon strangers” lauds Brien Boru utters one sweeping invective against the Danes, Henry VIII., Elizabeth, Cromwell “the Bloody” William “of the Boyne,” and Anne; he denies the legality of the criminal code; deprecates and disclaims the Union; dwells with enthusiasm on the memories of Curran, Grattan, “Lord Edward,” and young Emmet; insists on Catholic emancipation; attacks the Peelers, horse and foot; protests against tithes, and threatens a separation of the United Kingdoms! These are his principles, which he pronounces with a freedom proportioned to the patriotic feelings of his auditory: before congenial spirits he talks downright treason; in the presence of a yeomanry serjeant, an excise officer, or parson’s clerk, he reasons on legitimate liberty; he is an enemy to royalty and English domination. Nor do these political sentiments confine themselves to the limits of mere declamation: he is frequently the promoter

[329]]

of insurrectional tumults; he plans the nocturnal operations of the disaffected; writes their threatening proclamations, studiously mis-spelled and pompously signed, Captain Moonlight, Lieutenant Firebrand, Major Hasher, Colonel Dreadnought; and General Rock, Night Errant and Grand Commander of the Order of the Shamrock Election.

Our schoolmaster is a poet too, and consecrates his powers to the diffusion of patriotic aspirations - songs, treasonable, amatory, and laudatory, on his Green Erin, Like an emerald set in the ring of the sea.””;

Nor are his effusions confined merely to manuscript, but pass into print, and, in the shape of penny ballads, obtain considerable and important circulation.

The songs of the people are always worth attention, and it appears to me extraordinary that the most positive treason should for many years past have been published in Ireland, apparently without notice. Of about four hundred popular ballads (chiefly printed at Limerick) which I purchased without selection, in 1821, more than one-third were of a rebellious tendency, particularly a song entitled Cathaleen Thrail, (Catherine the Slave,) so is Ireland allegorically styled. The first, second, and third verses describe the meeting of the author with Cathaleen Thrail, the genius of the country; the fourth, sixth, and part of the last verse I shall copy, on account of the prophetic strain which runs through them:

You, Sons of poor Erin, therefore don’t fail
From Cork to Kinsale, and off to Cape Clear,
Come excite your parties, its no time to bewail,
Tho’ bad alterations we’ve plenty this year;
Now the year 21 is drawing in by degrees
In the year 22 the Locusts will weep;
But in the year 23 we’ll begin to reap
And divorce the Black-weed from Cathaleen Thrail.

[330]

I conversed with many in my circuit most pleasing
Until I came to my native land, sweet Donoughmore,
Tracing old tradition, down from the creation,
And how the Milesians were conquered of yore!
How laws were enacted to slacken their force
How they were wrongfully oppressed and opposed,
And how they were trodden and tossed by the Toads
Who made an encroachment on Cathaleen Thrail.

Good people, take courage, don’t perish in fright,
For Notes will be nothing in the year 25.
As I am O’Healy, we then will contrive
To daily drink beer by laws of Catheleen Thrail!

I shall quote a few lines from another song, which was so extensively sung amongst the lower orders in Dublin, that it must still be distinctly remembered by many; the subject was the Banishment of Napoleon Bonaparte to St. Helena:

Now he is confined, and no hope of releasement,
Before the year twenty-five he’ll surprize them in earnest.
This truth we are told, and that by Pastorini,
That the sword it will fall, and perhaps from St. Helena.

§

Now you that belong to a certain great kingdom,
I would have you beware lest your fate be impending,[&c.]

Verses, however, more polished than the foregoing, have been employed in the dissemination of the same sentiments, and I venture to select one specimen to prove my assertion.

1. Despair not, sweet Erin, thy sun is not set
In the dark shades of discord - but still there remains
A hope that ’twill rise in mild splendour as yet,
A hope that my country may shake off her chains!
The spirit of Freedom still hovers above
To foster thy children, and dares to inspire
Their bosoms with valour, with glory - with love
The patriot’s soul - and the patriot’s fire!

[331]

Modern manuscripts, in the Irish character, may be met with in almost every village, and they are usually the produce of the leisure hours of the schoolmaster: there is little variation in their contents, which consist of verses wherein Fingal, Oscar, Ossian and St. Patrick are important characters. A dialogue in particular between Ossian and St. Patrick, in which the latter endeavours to convert the bard to Christianity, [53] and one of some length between Death and a Sick Man, are amongst the most common. In addition to these are found translations from the classics, and frequently from some of Dean Swift’s verses into the Irish, with a variety of receipts, prayers [54]“O Jesus Christ, the incorporated wisdom of God, be my aid! - O blessed Virgin, listen unto me - Mother of the Saviour of the world, assist me - Mother of God - Lady of Heaven - Sweetly beloved Queen - and Advocate of all human lineage, I beseech you come! - Amiable and mild Lady - Lady of Angels - Flower of the Patriarchs - Desire of the Prophets - Treasure of the Apostles - Mother of the Confessors - Ornament of Virgins - O sweet Virgin Mary, pray for me! - Lady, who art heard above the company of Angels, preserve me from all evils, past, present, and to come; - do not abandon me this day, nor at that dreadful hour when my soul shall be separated from my body, but obtain for me, Sweet Virgin, at the time of my death and judgment, that my soul may come to the heavenly paradise before your Child Jesus, and that I may be worthy to see his grace and everlasting glory with you, O Gate of Paradise - Palace of Jesus Christ - Star of the Sea, Consolation of Mankind - beginning without end! - Take pity on me, O sweet and blessed Virgin Mary - Daughter of God the Father - Mother of Jesus Christ, and Spouse of the Holy Ghost. - Gate of Heaven - Door of the Firmament - Hope of Christians - Fountain of Piety - Safeguard of Peace - Glory of Virgins - Honoured above all Angels - Mother of Mercy - Miracle of Virginity - Virgin above all Virgins - Temple of the Most Holy Trinity - Beautiful above all creatures! - O Lady of Meekness - Abyss of Mildness - Hope of the Sorrowful - Consolation of the Afflicted - in you the angels do rejoice! - O sweet Lady of Mercy, turn your merciful eyes unto me, and obtain for me, by thy powerful intercession, mercy, grace, and peace, in this life, and eternal happiness in the next. - Amen.” and

[332]

charms. The possessor of such manuscript regards it with a degree of affection bordering on veneration, and only on particular occasions is it produced.

To hear the contents of one of these monotonous olios read aloud, is considered by the peasantry a treat of the highest order, and large numbers will assemble on a winter’s evening around the turf fire of a farmer’s cabin for that purpose.

The merit of such remains of Irish literature as have descended to us, is a question which has seldom been examined without prejudices so violent as to render a just conclusion almost impossible. The opinion of Mr. Flood, supported by the bequest of his fortune to Trinity College, Dublin, for the purchase of Irish books and manuscripts and the cultivation of that language, is often referred to; and Lord Rosse (then Sir Lawrence Parsons) has recorded his

[333]

coincidence of opinion in observations, published by his Lordship, on Mr. Flood’s bequest.

“Many Irish manuscripts, in the reign of Elizabeth,” says the noble writer of this volume, “were in Denmark; many were lately in libraries in France, some also in the Vatican: and, if diligent search were made, and large prices offered, probably many more might now be saved from the depredations of time, and which will otherwise very soon be lost irretrievably.” Every one must agree in the inference drawn from this - that “it is time to save what remain” and it would doubtless be desirable that some one, qualified for the task, should translate such works as were considered worthy of it.

Unfortunately, however, the admirers of Irish literature are either so learnedly abstruse, or so profoundly ignorant and illiterate, that their very commendation is injurious to the cause they advocate.

The pages of O’Connor and O’Halloran appear, to use the expression of a friend of mine, “marvellously cumbersome”; and the illustration of Irish antiquities and verbal derivations by the “erudite Vallancey” rather tend to confuse the general reader by their remoteness from the subject, and to confound the unlearned by a display of orientalism.

The late Mr. Joseph Cooper Walker is, perhaps, the most pleasing writer on Irish literature and antiquity; but, if the genius of Vallancey laboured to derive every thing Irish from the east, so Mr. Walker’s ingenuity was on the alert to trace its Italian origin, which I have been told he afterwards regretted and ascribed to a partiality for Italian literature, acquired during his residence on the continent.

The Relics of Irish poetry, by Miss Brooke, is an exception to my former remark; and, had the volume in question been written at a different period, when the antiquarian junto formed by Vallancey, O’Halloran, and O’Flanagan, and supported by Messrs. Walker, Beaufort and Ousley, was less despotic in the circle of Hibernian belles-lettres, it would have been a performance of the first class:

[334]

As it is, this work will continue to hold an eminent place when the productions of those who condescend to patronize the writer, are forgotten, or remembered only as collections of ill-digested fables.

The more ancient Irish manuscripts are the Monkish Chronicles; of some of these, the names only have descended to us: they are generally called after the monastery in which they were written, and those most frequently quoted are the Psalter of Cashel - The Annals of Innisfallen - The Ulster Annals - The Book of Ballymote and the Annals of the Four Masters; but to any of these I believe it impossible to assign, with certainty, an earlier date than the thirteenth or fourteenth century; and it is a question if the original of one of these manuscripts is now in existence: copies of them are preserved, and may be found in various libraries, both at home and abroad.

A manuscript of some antiquity was found, about six or seven years since, in an iron chest, which was discovered on taking down one of the walls of Lismore Castle. If I remember correctly, it was on vellum, of large folio size, well written in double columns, and nearly half of the outside column, from top to bottom, had been cut off, or destroyed by fire: it appeared to contain about two hundred pages, and was clumsily bound in oak.

The volume passed through the hands of several persons in Cork, some of whom were both poor and illiterate; and I mention the circumstance, as it possibly may lead to some inquiry respecting this manuscript.

Although we feel anxious for the preservation of such relics, yet it almost appears an idle amor patriæ to suppose that Irish literature or history can suffer, even by the total loss of the legendary records of an age of ignorance and superstition.

The overabundant use of epithet is a striking peculiarity of most compositions in the Irish language: by some writers this has been ascribed to the nature and structure of the language; by others, to the taste of the people. In a conversation which I once had with

[335]

some Irish scholars, I well remember one of them stepping forward in the formidable gesture of an excited orator, and addressing me in an exalted tone of voice in defence of epithets. “Worshipful Sir,” said he, with outstretched arm, “these epithets are numerous in the original Irish, because they are enlivening and expressive, and are introduced by historians to decorate their histories, and to raise the passions of the reader. Thus were the youth at once instructed in the grand records of their lofty nation, - in eloquence of style and in sublimity of composition!”

Picture this declaration coming from a poor, ragged schoolmaster, or, as he styled himself, “Philomath,” whose miserable habitation, of sods, cemented with mud, and constructed in a ditch, scarcely seemed a human abode: yet, before the door of this hovel, surrounded by a group of admiring compeers and disciples, he harangued, with almost the energy of inspiration, on the superiority of the literature of his country; declaring, “that some scribbling pretenders to knowledge had made it a determined point and standing rule to calumniate and throw as much dirt as they could on Irish history, laws, and morals; thereby imagining that they did a mighty piece of service to England and the King of England, by traducing the people, who were once the terror of the Danes, and who gave kings to Scotland, and even to England itself.”

As a fair example of the use of epithets, the following literal translation of some well-known Irish verses may be produced.

“Mineid (in Irish, Moighneid) the son of Deirg, and Goll, the active, the magnanimous and martial son of Moirne, met in this dreadful field of slaughter: the contest between these two intrepid champions was furious, foaming and frightful - manly, mighty and mortal, insomuch that broken, battered and gory were the corslets, shields and helmets of those impetuous chiefs; and their beamy swords of broad metal did wide-spread havoc in the strained grasp of their sinewy arms.”

[336]

Miss Brooke, in the preface to her Relics of Irish Poetry, extols the copiousness of the language, and remarks, that “the number of synonyma, in which it abounds,” enables the poet “to repeat the same thought without tiring the fancy or the ear”; and mentions, as an illustration, “that there are upwards of forty names to express a ship; and nearly an equal number for a house.”

Specimens are afforded to us, in this volume, of the Ode, Elegy and Song; and, to prevent doubt, the originals are given, with translations, elegantly versified, and literal in the extreme.

Most Irish odes are ascribed to Oisin, the same person as Mac Pherson’s Ossian, whose well-known poems they resemble in style and subject. A similar mistiness to that in which many of his heroes are clothed, envelopes the identity of this bard, whose personal history is as imaginary and undefined as the descriptions contained in the verses attributed to him. These odes represent the kings and chiefs as terrific in war, and fond of the chase; in short, excelling in those virtues and qualifications esteemed by Indian nations at this day, and possessing, in addition, a great love for song and banquets. Little more than a savage splendour can be discovered in these banquets, notwithstanding the vaunting assertions respecting ancient Irish civilization, for which similar bardic or monkish verses are the foundation.

Irish songs are abundant and may be easily procured, but few have been committed to paper: this may be ascribed to two causes; first, being short compositions, they are easily remembered, and secondly, their treasonable nature. Many of these songs are extremely comic, from a richness of humour delivered with a peculiar quaintness, which it is impossible to convey in translation. Allusions to the Greek and Roman mythology are occasionally introduced with propriety and good taste, but more frequently in the most absurd way: one village bard has described his mistress as looking “just like Venus or Jove.”

[337]

Passages, closely imitated from the classics, may be observed in many Irish verses. The resemblance between the commencement of Carolan’s Song on Mable Kelly, and one of Sappho’s Fragments is evident; and Fitzgerald’s Ode to his Ship on leaving Dunboy was doubtless suggested by the third Ode of Horace.

The following translation of a spirited Irish song, which has not before been printed, may be worth preserving: it was composed for, or on, some of the piratical sept of O’Driscoll, a clan that, with the O’Sullivans, possessed a considerable part of the coast of the county Cork, and urged their trade of maritime plunder to such a formidable and fearless extent, as to rival the Algerines, who became jealous of them, and made a descent, in 1631, on their country; burning Baltimore, the principal town belonging to the O’Driscolls, and carrying off the inhabitants into slavery. This event created the greatest consternation in Ireland, and more effectually checked the piracies of the O’Driscolls than the repeated expeditions fitted out against them by the city of Waterford; as they appeared only to become more daring after each attack, notwithstanding the destruction of their vessels and the ruin of their castles.

1. Our oars we ply, when seas run high,
And loud the winds are roaring,
Now down the depths, now up the sky,
On eagle billow soaring!

o And when we hail, the gentler gale,
With glee our stout hearts glowing,
Abroad we spread the spritted sail,
And catch it while ’tis blowing.

§

For us enough, or fair or bluff,
Waves calm or wildly foaming,
So we may launch, thro’ smooth or rough,
Adventurously roaming!

[338]

§

Unknown to fear, the Buccanier,
Self-crown’d the Ocean Ranger,
Blow high - blow low - his course will steer,
His element is danger!

Descriptions of female beauty are often very pleasing in the Irish: part of the song, already mentioned, on Mable Kelly, by Carolan, which has been sweetly versified by Miss Brooke, may serve as an example.

1. As when the softly blushing rose
Close to some neighbouring lily grows,
Such is the glow thy cheeks diffuse
And such their bright and blended hues!

2. The timid lustre of thine eye
With nature’s purest tints can vie,
With the sweet blue-bell’s azure gem
That droops upon its modest stem!

§

Even he whose hapless eyes no ray
Admit from beauty’s cheering day,
Yet, tho’ he cannot see the light,
He feels it warm, and knows it bright!

In a composition of an earlier date, we find the following.

1. On her soft cheek, with tender bloom,
The rose its tint bestowed,
And in her richer lips’ perfume,
The ripen’d berry glowed.

2. Her neck was as the blossom fair,
Or like the cygnet’s breast,
With that majestic graceful air,
In snow and softness drest.

§

Gold gave its rich and radiant die,
And in her tresses flowed,
And like a freezing star, her eye
With heaven’s own splendour glowed.

[339]

Miss Brooke gives a striking, and to me, novel simile from one of Carolan’s songs, composed for Miss Mary O’Neil. “Her eyes (says he) are to her face, what a diamond is to a ring; throwing its beams around, and adorning the beauty of the setting.” The fine expression of “the mind illumined face” is a favourite one in Irish verse; and amongst the most generally used comparisons, is that of Maiden’s Lip - to the Wild Strawberry.

The description of Bridget Brady, by her lover Thaddeus Ruddy, a bard who lived about the middle of the seventeenth century, is perhaps unique as a specimen of local simile.

1. She’s as straight as a pine on the mountains of Kilmannan,
She’s as fair as the lilies on the banks of the Shannon;
Her breath is as sweet as the blossoms of Drumcallan,
And her breasts gently swell like the waves of Lough Allan;
Her eyes are as mild as the dews of Dunsany,
Her veins are as pure as the blue-bells of Slaney;
Her words are as smooth as the pebbles of Terwinny,
And her hair flows adown like the streamlets of Finny.

I recollect once having seen a curious Irish Romance, (to which Miss Brooke alludes in a note,) where the heroine is introduced to the hero by means of a series of comparisons. This lady, of course a princess, looking from the window of her chamber one wintry day, saw a raven feeding on some animal that had been recently killed, and the marks of whose blood tinged some newly fallen snow. “Is there any one in the world,” asked this princess of her attendant, “whose hair is black as that raven’s wing, whose complexion is as pure as that blood, and whose skin is as fair as that snow?” To this her highness’s attendant replies in the affirmative; and, in order to convince the princess, who, in consequence of some old druidical prophecy, had been shut up all her life in a dismal tower, secretly introduces a handsome young prince to her apartment: on their first meeting, they are deeply in love with each other; he carries her off - and so commences their eventful history!

[340]

These romantic tales are abundant; but there is a great poverty of fancy and sameness of incident in them, notwithstanding Spencer’s commendation: “Yea truly,” says the poet, in his View of Ireland, “I have caused divers of them to be translated unto me that I might understand them, and surely they savoured of sweet wit and good invention.” Fingal and Ossian generally perform leading parts, and the adventures of a chief detained by spells in a magician’s power, and a lady transformed into a swan or a deer, whose natural form is restored on the introduction of Christianity, are amongst the most common. On the latter fiction Mr. Moore has founded the song of Silent, O Moyle in his Irish Melodies; but the less refined author of Hesperi-neso-graphia gives us, in a few lines, all the spirit of this tedious legend:

1. The next strange story which his ears
Receiv’d, was of some wolves and bears,
Who once were men of worth and fame,
But by enchantment brutes became;
And would (if tales sung truth) obtain
Their former human shape again.
That then, through all the western ground,
The crooked harp with joy shall sound;
And that a monarch of their own
Shall sit upon the western throne,
And drive from thence by force, all those
That would his powerful arms oppose.

It has been said that a similarity of feeling exists between the music and poetry of Ireland, as in common both excel in the expression of plaintive sorrow;

1. And sure if to thy harp belong
One dearer - one exclusive tone,
The mournful cadence of thy song
Proclaims the chord of grief thine own.

[341]

Hence the Irish elegy is considered to be superior to heroic compositions, from the variety of tender and endearing appellations with which the language abounds. Amongst the elegies given by Miss Brooke, that ascribed to Edmund Ryan, or Ned of the Hills as he was familiarly styled, is worthy of being better known.

Ryan, according to tradition, was one of the partizans of James II., and the confiscation of his estate followed the defeat of that monarch at Boyne. Obliged to retire before the victorious forces of William, Ryan headed a party of freebooters termed Rapparees. To a mind capable of producing compositions of exquisite pathos, how revolting must the association with a gang of lawless plunderers have been! Many songs are still extant in Ireland, attributed to Ned of the Hills, and a beautiful popular melody is distinguished by his name.

The elegy translated by Miss Brooke is addressed by Ryan to his mistress, who appears to have forsaken him on his loss of fortune. Although I have quoted so largely from the Relics of Irish poetry, I cannot resist copying a few stanzas.

[342]

The Iberno-Celtic Society, recently established in Dublin for the preservation of Irish literature, have published, under the title of their Transactions, a Chronological Account of Irish Writers, with a Catalogue of their Works. This is not an uninteresting volume, although it abounds in historical and literary inaccuracies, which would be more pardonable had the compiler or editor commented with less severity on the errors of others; one example may serve: speaking of Carolan - “Some accounts of the life of this bard,” says the editor, “have been published by different authors; but all are erroneous so far as relates to the place of his nativity and some circumstances belonging to his early life. The biographers of O’Carolan, say, “He was born in the village of Nobber, in the county of West Meath, on the lands of Carlanstown, which were wrested from his ancestors by the family of the Nugents on their arrival in this kingdom in the reign of Henry II.” “He must be deprived of sight at a very early period of his life, for he remembered no impression of

[343]

colours.” In these two short extracts there are nearly as many falsehoods as lines; and yet these errors have been repeated in a History of “Irish Worthies” lately published in London. This is inexcusable in an editor who had the means of obtaining better information,” &c. After some vaunting remarks we come to a breathless continuity of negatives to these assertions.

“Torlogh O’Carolan, then, was not born in Nobber; nor is Nobber on the lands of Carlanstown; nor is Carlanstown in the county West Meath; neither did the Nugents ever wrest those lands from the ancestors of Carolan; nor was he deprived of sight so early in life as to have no recollection of colours.” The result, however, of the ensuing half page devoted to correct this important matter is that Carolan was born at Newton, a small village three miles and a half from Nobber, and that, on entering his fifteenth year, he lost his sight in consequence of the small-pox. I will now venture to point out one or two errors which struck me on glancing over the Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society.

“In 1565, Donald M’Carthy, created first Earl of Clancarty,” is mentioned as the author of some poems. It will be remembered by the reader that this title was first bestowed on the M’Carthies by Charles II., on account of the services of Lord Muskery, whose actions were conspicuous during the revolutionary events subsequent to 1641. Again, John M’Donald, or Shane Claragh, is stated to have presided at the Munster Bardic Sessions held at Charleville in the county Cork, in 1755. The inscription on his tomb, copied at page 102 of this volume, proves him to have died in 1754; and I believe it will be found that the Munster Bardic Sessions or Meetings were held at Brury in the county Limerick, and not at Charleville in the county Cork. These instances may be sufficient to establish the statement I have made of inaccuracy, and I have been induced to notice them in case the next volume of Transactions may question my correctness in these particulars.

[344]

It is almost impossible for any historical or topographical work to be free from error, and individually I beg to acknowledge the advantages I have derived from the volume, on some details of which I have ventured to remark; but it must be felt that the repetition of such trivial errors as those in the biography of Carolan did not call for the application of coarse and ungenerous epithets. Under any circumstances, it is a degrading and illiberal retort of a public body to depreciate the labours of a young man who published a valuable and useful book, The Irish Worthies, without assistance in the compilation, and under the most disheartening and unaccountable neglect. It is only necessary for me to state a fact which has come within my own knowledge, that Mr. Ryan, who is an Englishman, was allowed by two noblemen, for some months, a certain number of franks to enable him to solicit information from individuals resident in Ireland, and who might naturally be supposed to feel an interest in his undertaking. Of an incredible number of letters so addressed, I believe not more than three received any reply; but this was not all; insult was added to contempt, and Mr. Ryan’s letters, in some instances, after being opened, were inclosed back to him, for the satisfaction of causing him to pay double postage!