THE KILTARTAN HISTORYBOOK.

BY LADY GREGORY.

ILLUSTRATED

BY ROBERT GREGORY

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Seven Short Plays

Cuchulain of Muirthemne

Gods and Fighting Men

Poets and Dreamers

A Book of Saints and Wonders

DEDICATED ANDRECOMMENDED TO THEHISTORY CLASSES IN THE NEWUNIVERSITY

CONTENTS

The Ancient Times Goban, the BuilderA Witty Wife An Advice She Gave

Shortening the Road The Goban'sSecret The Scotch Rogue The DanesThe Battle of Clontarf The EnglishThe Queen of Breffny King HenryVIII. Elizabeth Her Death The Traceof Cromwell Cromwell's LawCromwell in Connacht A Worse thanCromwell The Battle of Aughrim TheStuarts Another Story Patrick SarsfieldQueen Anne Carolan's Song 'Ninety-Eight Denis Browne The Union RobertEmmet O'Connell's Birth The Tinker APresent His Strategy The Man wasGoing to be Hanged The Cup of theSassanach The Thousand Fishers Whatthe Old Women Saw O'Connell's HatThe Change He Made The Man HeBrought to Justice The Binding His

Monument A Praise Made for DanielO'Connell by Old Women and TheyBegging at the Door Richard Shiel TheTithe War The Fight at CarrickshockThe Big Wind The Famine The CholeraA Long Remembering The Terry AltsThe '48 Time A Thing Mitchell SaidThe Fenian Rising A Great WonderAnother Wonder Father Mathew TheWar of the Crimea Garibaldi TheBuonapartes The Zulu War The YoungNapoleon Parnell Mr. GladstoneQueen Victoria's Religion Her WisdomWar and Misery The Present King TheOld Age Pension Another Thought AProphecy

NOTES

THE KILTARTAN HISTORY BOOK

THE ANCIENT TIMES

"As to the old history of Ireland, thefirst man ever died in Ireland wasPartholan, and he is buried, and hisgreyhound along with him, at someplace in Kerry. The Nemidians cameafter that and stopped for a while, andthen they all died of some disease. Andthen the Firbolgs came, the best menthat ever were in Ireland, and they hadno law but love, and there was neversuch peace and plenty in Ireland. What

religion had they None at all. And therewas a low-sized race came that workedthe land of Ireland a long time; theyhad their time like the others. Manywould tell you Grania slept under thecromlechs, but I don't believe that, andshe a king's daughter. And I don'tbelieve she was handsome either. If shewas, why would she have run away Inthe old time the people had no envy,and they would be writing down thestories and the songs for one another.But they are too venemous now to dothat. And as to the people in the towns,they don't care for such things now,they are too corrupted with drink."

GOBAN, THE BUILDER

"The Goban was the master of sixteentrades. There was no beating him; hehad got the gift. He went one time toQuin Abbey when it was building,looking for a job, and the men weregoing to their dinner, and he had poorclothes, and they began to jibe at him,and the foreman said 'Make now a cat-and-nine-tails while we are at ourdinner, if you are any good.' And hetook the chisel and cut it in the roughin the stone, a cat with nine tailscoming from it, and there it wascomplete when they came out fromtheir dinner. There was no beating him.He learned no trade, but he was masterof sixteen. That is the way, a man that

has the gift will get more out of hisown brain than another will getthrough learning. There is many a manwithout learning will get the better of acollege-bred man, and will have betterwords too. Those that make inventionsin these days have the gift, such a mannow as Edison, with all he has got outof electricity."

A WITTY WIFE

"The Goban Saor was a mason and asmith, and he could do all things, andhe was very witty. He was going fromhome one time and he said to the wife'If it is a daughter you have this time I'llkill you when I come back'; for up to

that time he had no sons, but onlydaughters. And it was a daughter shehad; but a neighbouring woman had ason at the same time, and they made anexchange to save the life of theGoban's wife. But when the boy beganto grow up he had no wit, and theGoban knew by that he was no son ofhis. That is the reason he wanted a wittywife for him. So there came a girl to thehouse one day, and the Goban Saorbade her look round at all that was inthe room, and he said 'Do you think acouple could get a living out of this ''They could not,' she said. So he saidshe wouldn't do, and he sent her away.Another girl came another day, and hebade her take notice of all that was in

the house, and he said 'Do you thinkcould a couple knock a living out ofthis ' 'They could if they stopped in it,'she said. So he said that girl would do.Then he asked her could she bring asheepskin to the market and bring backthe price of it, and the skin itself aswell. She said she could, and she wentto the market, and there she pulled offthe wool and sold it and brought backthe price and the skin as well. Then heasked could she go to the market andnot be dressed or undressed. And shewent having only one shoe and onestocking on her, so she was neitherdressed or undressed. Then he sent herto walk neither on the road or off theroad, and she walked on the path

beside it. So he said then she would doas a wife for his son."

AN ADVICE SHE GAVE

"One time some great king or lord sentfor the Goban to build a caislean forhim, and the son's wife said to himbefore he went 'Be always great withthe women of the house, and alwayshave a comrade among them.' So whenthe Goban went there he coaxed oneof the women the same as if he wasnot married. And when the castle wasnear built, the woman told him the lordwas going to play him a trick, and tokill him or shut him up when he hadthe castle made, the way he would not

build one for any-other lord that was asgood. And as she said, the lord cameand bade the Goban to make a cat andtwo-tails, for no one could make thatbut himself, and it was meaning to killhim on it he was. And the Goban saidhe would do that when he had finishedthe castle, but he could not finish itwithout some tool he had left at home.And they must send the lord's son for it- for he said it would not be given toany other one. So the son was sent, andthe Goban sent a message to thedaughter-in-law that the tool he waswanting was called 'When you open itshut it.' And she was surprised, forthere was no such tool in the house;but she guessed by the message what

she had to do, and there was a big chestin the house and she set it open. 'Comenow,' she said to the young man,' lookin the chest and find it for yourself.'And when he looked in she gave him apush forward, and in he went, and sheshut the lid on him. She wrote a letterto the lord then, saying he would notget his son back till he had sent herown two men, and they were sent backto her."

SHORTENING THE ROAD

"Himself and his son were walking theroad together one day, and the Gobansaid to the son 'Shorten the road forme.' So the son began to walk fast,

thinking that would do it, but theGoban sent him back home when hedidn't understand what to do. The nextday they were walking again, and theGoban said again to shorten the roadfor him, and this time he began to run,and the Goban sent him home again.When he went in and told the wife hewas sent home the second time, shebegan to think, and she said, 'When hebids you shorten the road, it is that hewants you to be telling him stories.' Forthat is what the Goban meant, but ittook the daughter-in-law to understandit. And it is what I was saying to thatother woman, that if one of ourselveswas making a journey, if we hadanother along with us, it would not

seem to be one half as long as if wewould be alone. And if that is so withus, it is much more with a stranger, andso I went up the hill with you toshorten the road, telling you that story."

THE GOBAN'S SECRET

"The Goban and his son were sevenyears building the castle, and they neversaid a word all that time. And at the endof seven years the son was at the top,and he said 'I hear a cow lowing.' Andthe Goban said then 'Make all strongbelow you, for the work is done,' andthey went home. The Goban never toldthe secret of his building, and when hewas on the bed dying they wanted to

get it from him, and they went in andsaid 'Claregalway Castle is after fallingin the night.' And the Goban said 'Howcan that be when I put a stone in and astone out and a stone across.' So thenthey knew the way he built so well."

THE SCOTCH ROGUE

"One time he was on the road going tothe town, and there was a Scotch rogueon the road that was always trying whatcould he pick off others, and he sawthe Connemara man that was theGoban had a nice cravat, and hethought he would get a hold of that. Sohe began talking with him, and he wasboasting of all the money he had, and

the Goban said whatever it was he hadthree times as much as it, and he withonly thirty pounds in the world. Andthe Scotch rogue thought he would getsome of it from him, and he said hewould go to a house in the town, andhe gave him some food and some drinkthere, and the Goban said he would dothe same for him on the morrow. Sothen the Goban went out to threehouses, and in each of them he left tenpounds of his thirty pounds, and hetold the people in every house whatthey had to do, and that when he wouldstrike the table with his hat three timesthey would bring out the money. Sothen he asked the Scotch rogue into thefirst house, and ordered every sort of

food and drink, ten pounds worth inall. And when they had used all theycould of it, he struck with his hat onthe table, and the man of the housebrought out the ten pounds, and theGoban said 'Keep that to pay what Iowe you.' The second day he did thesame thing in another house. And inthe third house they went to he orderedten pounds worth of food and drink inthe same way. And when the time cameto pay, he struck the table with the hat,and there was the money in the handof the man of the house before them.'That's a good little caubeen,' said theScotch rogue, 'when striking it on thetable makes all that money appear.' 'It isa wishing hat,' said the Goban;

'anything I wish for I can get as long asI have that.' 'Would you sell it ' said theScotch rogue. 'I would not,' said theGoban. 'I have another at home, but Iwouldn't sell one or the other.' 'Youmay as well sell it, so long as you haveanother at home,' said the Scotch rogue.'What will you give for it ' says theGoban. 'Will you give three hundredpounds for it ' 'I will give that,' says theScotch rogue, 'when it will bring me allthe wealth I wish for.' So he went outand brought the three hundred pound,and gave it to the Goban, and he gotthe caubeen and went away with it, andit not worth three halfpence. There wasno beating the Goban. Wherever he gotit, he had got the gift."

THE DANES

"The reason of the wisps and the fireson Saint John's Eve is that one timelong ago the Danes came and took thecountry and conquered it, and they puta soldier to mind every house throughthe whole country. And at last thepeople made up their mind that on onenight they would kill its soldiers. Sothey did as they said, and there wasn'tone left, and that is why they light thewisps ever since. It was Brian Boroihmewas the first to light them. There wasnot much of an army left to the Danesthat time, for he made a great scatter ofthem. A great man he was, and his own

son was as good, that is Murrough. Itwas the wife brought him to his end,Gormleith. She was for war, and he wasall for peace. And he got to be verypious, too pious, and old and she gottired of that."

THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF

"Clontarf was on the head of a gameof chess. The generals of the Daneswere beaten at it, and they were vexed;and Cennedigh was killed on a hill nearFermoy. He put the Holy Gospels in hisbreast as a protection, but he wasstruck through them with a reekingdagger. It was Brodar, that theBrodericks are descended from, that

put a dagger through Brian's heart, andhe attending to his prayers. What theDanes left in Ireland were hens andweasels. And when the cock crows inthe morning the country people willalways say 'It is for Denmark they arecrowing. Crowing they are to be back inDenmark.'"

THE ENGLISH

"It was a long time after that, the Popeencouraged King Henry to take Ireland.It was for a protection he did it, Henrybeing of his own religion, and hefearing the Druids or the Danes mightinvade Ireland."

THE QUEEN OF BREFFNY

"Dervorgilla was a red-haired woman,and it was she put the great curse onIreland, bringing in the Englishthrough MacMurrough, that she wentto from O'Rourke. It was to Henry theSecond MacMurrough went, and hesent Strongbow, and they stopped inIreland ever since. But who knows butanother race might be worse, such asthe Spaniards that were scattered alongthe whole coast of Connacht at thetime of the Armada. And the laws aregood enough. I heard it said theEnglish will be dug out of their gravesone day for the sake of their law. As toDervorgilla, she was not brought away

by force, she went to MacMurroughherself. For there are men in the worldthat have a coaxing way, and sometimeswomen are weak."

KING HENRY VIII.

"Henry the Eighth was crying androaring and leaping out of the bed forthree days and nights before his death.And he died cursing his children, andhe that had eight millions when hecame to the Throne, coining leathermoney at the end."

ELIZABETH

"Queen Elizabeth was awful. Beyond

everything she was. When she came tothe turn she dyed her hair red, andwhatever man she had to do with, shesent him to the block in the morning,that he would be able to tell nothing.She had an awful temper. She wouldthrow a knife from the table at thewaiting ladies, and if anything vexedher she would maybe work upon thefloor. A thousand dresses she left afterher. Very superstitious she was. Sureafter her death they found a card, theace of hearts, nailed to her chair underthe seat. She thought she would neverdie while she had it there. And shebought a bracelet from an old womanout in Wales that was over a hundredyears. It was superstition made her do

that, and they found it after her deathtied about her neck."

HER DEATH

"It was a town called Calais broughther to her death, and she lay chained onthe floor three days and three nights.The Archbishop was trying to urge herto eat, but she said 'You would not askme to do it if you knew the way I am,'for nobody could see the chains. Afterher death they waked her for six days inWhitehall, and there were six ladiessitting beside the body every night.Three coffins were about it, the onenearest the body of lead, and then awooden one, and a leaden one on the

outside. And every night there camefrom them a great bellow. And the lastnight there came a bellow that brokethe three coffins open, and tore thevelvet, and there came out a stench thatkilled the most of the ladies and amillion of the people of London withthe plague. Queen Victoria was morehonourable than that. It would be hardto beat Queen Elizabeth."

THE TRACE OF CROMWELL

"I'll tell you now about the trace ofCromwell. There was a young lady wasmarried to a gentleman, and she diedwith her first baby, and she wasbrought away into a forth by the fairies,

the good people, as I suppose. Sheused to be sitting on the side of itcombing her hair, and three times herhusband saw her there, but he had notthe courage to go and to bring heraway. But there was a man of the nameof Howley living near the forth, and hewent out with his gun one day and hesaw her beside the forth, and hebrought her away to his house, and ayoung baby sprang between them at theend of a year. One day the husbandwas out shooting and he came in uponHowley's land, and when youngHowley heard the shooting he rose upand went out and he bade thegentleman to stop, for this was his land.So he stopped, and he said he was

weary and thirsty, and he asked couldhe rest in the house. So young Howleysaid as long as he asked pardon he hadleave to use what he liked. So he camein the house and he sat at the table, andhe put his two eyes through the younglady. 'If I didn't see her dead andburied,' he said, 'I'd say that to be myown wife.' 'Oh!' said she, 'so I am yourwife, and you are badly worthy of me,and you have the worst courage ever Iknew, that you would not come andbring me away out of the forth asyoung Howley had the courage to bringme,' she said. So then he asked youngHowley would he give him back hiswife. 'I will give her,' he said, 'but younever will get the child.' So the child

was reared, and when he was grown hewent travelling up to Dublin. And hewas at a hunt, and he lost the top of hisboot, and he went into a shoemaker'sshop and he gave him half a sovereignfor nothing but to put the tip on theboot, for he saw he was poor and had abig family. And more than that, whenhe was going away he took out threesovereigns and gave them to theblacksmith, and he looked at one ofthe little chaps, and he said 'That onewill be in command of the whole ofEngland.' 'Oh, that cannot be,' said theblacksmith, 'where I am poor and havenot the means to do anything for him.''It will be as I tell you,' said he, 'andwrite me out now a docket,' he said,

'that if ever that youngster will come tocommand Ireland, he will give me a freeleg.' So the docket was made out, andhe brought it away with him. And sureenough, the shoemaker's son listed, andwas put at the head of soldiers, and gotthe command of England, and camewith his soldiers to put down Ireland.And Howley saw them coming and hetied his handkerchief to the top of hisstick, and when Cromwell saw that, hehalted the army, 'For there is some poorman in distress,' he said. Then Howleyshowed him the docket his father hadwritten. 'I will do some good thing foryou on account of that,' said Cromwell;'and go now to the top of that highcliff,' he said, 'and I'll give as much land

as you can see from it.' And so he didgive it to him. It was no wonderHowley to have known the shoemaker'sson would be in command and allwould happen him, because of hismother that got knowledge in the yearsshe was in the forth. That is the traceof Cromwell. I heard it at a wake, and Iwould believe it, and if I had time toput my mind to it, and if I was not onthe road from Loughrea toBallyvaughan, I could give you thefoundations of it better."

CROMWELL'S LAW

"I'll tell you about Cromwell and theWhite Friars. There was a White Friar at

that time was known to haveknowledge, and Cromwell sent word tohim to come see him. It was of aSaturday he did that, of an EasterSaturday, but the Friar never came. Onthe Sunday Cromwell sent for himagain, and he didn't come. And on theMonday he sent for him the third time,and he did come. 'Why is it you did notcome to me when I sent before ' saidCromwell. 'I'll tell you that,' said theWhite Friar. 'I didn't come on Saturday,'he said, 'because your passion was onyou. And I didn't come on the Sunday,'he said, 'because your passion was notgone down enough, and I thought youwould not give me my steps. But I cameto-day,' he said, 'because your passion is

cool.' When Cromwell heard hisanswer, 'That is true,' he said, 'and tellme how long my law will last inIreland.' 'It will last,' says the WhiteFriar, 'till yesterday will come (that wasEaster Sunday) the same day as ourLady Day.' Cromwell was satisfied then,and he gave him a free leg, and he wentaway. And so that law did last till now,and it's well it did, for without that lawin the country you wouldn't be safewalking the road having so much as theprice of a pint of porter in yourpocket."

CROMWELL IN CONNACHT

"Cromwell cleared the road before him.

If any great man stood against him hewould pull down his castle the same ashe pulled down that castle of yourown, Ballinamantane, that is down theroad. He never got more than twohours sleep or three, or at the mostfour, but starting up fearing his lifewould be peppered. There was a wordhe sounded out to the Catholics, 'Tohell or Connacht,' and the reason hedid that was that Connacht was burnedbare, and he that thought to pass thewinter there would get no lodging at all.Himself and his men travelled it, andthey never met with anything that hadhuman breath put in it by God till theycame to Breffny, and they saw smokefrom a chimney, and they surrounded

the house and went into it. And whatthey saw was a skeleton over the fireroasting, and the people of the housepicking flesh off it with the bits of ahook. And when they saw that, they leftthem there. It was a Clare man thatburned Connacht so bare; he wasworse than Cromwell, and he made agreat slaughter in the house of God atClonmel. The people have it against hisfamily yet, and against the wholeCounty of Clare."

A WORSE THAN CROMWELL

"Cromwell was very bad, but the drinkis worse. For a good many thatCromwell killed should go to heaven,

but those that are drunken never seeheaven. And as to drink, a man thattakes the first glass is as quiet and asmerry as a pet lamb; and after thesecond glass he is as knacky as amonkey; and after the third glass he isas ready for battle as a lion; and afterthe fourth glass he is like a swine as heis. 'I am thirsty' [IRISH: Ta Tart Orm],that was one of our Lord's seven wordson the Cross, where he was dry. And aman far off would have given himdrink; but there was a drunkard at thefoot of the Cross, and he preventedhim."

THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM

"That was a great slaughter at Aughrim.St. Ruth wanted to do all himself, hebeing a foreigner. He gave no plan ofthe battle to Sarsfield, but a writtencommand to stop where he was, andSarsfield knew no more than yourselfor myself in the evening before ithappened. It was Colonel Merell's wifebade him not go to the battle, whereshe knew it would go bad with himthrough a dream. But he said thatmeant that he would be crowned, andhe went out and was killed. That iswhat the poem says:

If Caesar listened to Calpurnia's dreamHe had not been by Pompey's statueslain.

All great men gave attention to dreams,though the Church is against themnow. It is written in Scripture thatJoseph gave attention to his dream. ButColonel Merell did not, and so he wentto his death. Aughrim would have beenwon if it wasn't for the drink. Therewas too much of it given to the Irishsoldiers that day drink and spies andtraitors. The English never won a battlein Ireland in fair fight, but getting spiesand setting the people against oneanother. I saw where Aughrim wasfought, and I turned aside from theroad to see the tree where St Ruth waskilled. The half of it is gone like snuff.That was spies too, a Colonel's

daughter that told the English in whatplace St. Ruth would be washinghimself at six o'clock in the morning.And it was there he was shot by oneO'Donnell, an Englishman. He shothim from six miles off. The Danes weredancing in the raths around Aughrimthe night after the battle. Theirancestors were driven out of Irelandbefore; and they were glad when theysaw those that had put them out putout themselves, and every one of themskivered."

THE STUARTS

"As to the Stuarts, there are no songsabout them and no praises in the West,whatever there may be in the South.Why would there, and they runningaway and leaving the country the waythey did And what good did they everdo it James the Second was a coward.Why didn't he go into the thick of thebattle like the Prince of Orange Hestopped on a hill three miles away, androde off to Dublin, bringing the bestof his troops with him. There was alady walking in the street at Dublinwhen he got there, and he told her thebattle was lost, and she said 'Faith youmade good haste; you made no delayon the road.' So he said no more afterthat. The people liked James well

enough before he ran; they didn't likehim after that."

ANOTHER STORY

"Seumus Salach, Dirty James, it is hebrought all down. At the time of thebattle there was one of his men said, 'Ihave my eye cocked, and all the nationswill be done away with,' and hepointing his cannon. 'Oh!' said James,'Don't make a widow of my daughter.'If he didn't say that, the English wouldhave been beat. It was a very poor thingfor him to do."

PATRICK SARSFIELD

"Sarsfield was a great general the timehe turned the shoes on his horse. TheEnglish it was were pursuing him, andhe got off and changed the shoes theway when they saw the tracks theywould think he went another road.That was a great plan. He got toLimerick then, and he killed thousandsof the English. He was a great general."

QUEEN ANNE

"The Georges were fair; they left all tothe Government; but Anne was verybad and a tyrant. She tyrannised overthe Irish. She died broken-hearted withall the bad things that were going onabout her. For Queen Anne was very

wicked; oh, very wicked, indeed!"

CAROLAN'S SONG

"Carolan that could play the fiddle andthe harp used to be going about withCahil-a-Corba, that was a tambourineman. But they got tired of one anotherand parted, and Carolan went to thehouse of the King of Mayo, and hestopped there, and the King asked himto stop for his lifetime. There came agrand visitor one time, and when heheard Carolan singing and playing andhis fine pleasant talk, he asked him togo with him on a visit to Dublin. SoCarolan went, and he promised theKing of Mayo he would come back at

the end of a month. But when he wasat the gentleman's house he liked it sowell that he stopped a year with him,and it wasn't till the Christmas he cameback to Mayo. And when he got therethe doors were shut, and the King wasat his dinner, and Queen Mary and thethree daughters, and he could see themthrough the windows. But when theKing saw him he said he would not lethim in. He was vexed with him andangry he had broken his promise andhis oath. So Carolan began to give out asong he had made about the King ofMayo and all his family, and he broughtQueen Mary into it and the threedaughters. Then the Queen asked leaveof the King to bring him in, because he

made so good a song, but the Kingwould not give in to it. Then Carolanbegan to draw down the King ofMayo's father and his grandfather intothe song. And Queen Mary asked againfor forgiveness for him, and the Kinggave it that time because of the songthat had in it the old times, and the oldgenerations went through him. But asto Cahil-a-Corba, he went to anothergentleman's house and he stopped toolong in it and was driven out. But hecame back, having changed his form,that the gentleman did not know him,and he let him in again, and then hewas forgiven."

'NINETY-EIGHT

"In the year '98 there were theYeomanry that were the worst of all.The time Father Murphy was killedthere was one of them greased hisboots in his heart. There was one ofthem was called Micky the Devil inIrish; he never went out without thepitchcap and the triangle, and any rebelhe would meet he would putgunpowder in his hair and set a light toit. The North Cork Militia were theworst; there are places in Ireland whereyou would not get a drink of water ifthey knew you came from Cork. And itwas the very same, the North Cork, thatwent of their own free will to the Boerwar, volunteered, asked to go that is.

They had the same sting in them always.A great many of them were left dead inthat war, and a great many better menthan themselves. There was one battlein that war there was no quarter given,the same as Aughrim; and the Englishwould kill the wounded that would beleft upon the field of battle. There is noChristianity in war."

DENIS BROWNE

"There is a tree near Denis Browne'shouse that used to be used for hangingmen in the time of '98, he being a greatman in that time, and High Sheriff ofMayo, and it is likely the gentlemenwere afeared, and that there was bad

work at nights. But one night DenisBrowne was lying in his bed, and theLord put it in his mind that there mightbe false information given against somethat were innocent. So he went out andhe brought out one of his horses intothe lawn before the house, and he shotit dead and left it there. In the morningone of the butlers came up to him andsaid, 'Did you see that one of yourhorses was shot in the night ' 'Howwould I see that ' says he, 'and I notrose up or dressed ' So when he wentout they showed him the horse, and hebade the men to bury it, and it wasn'ttwo hours after before two of themcame to him. 'We can tell you who itwas shot the horse,' they said. 'It was

such a one and such a one in thevillage, that were often heard to speakbad of you. And besides that,' theysaid, 'we saw them shooting itourselves.' So the two that gave thatfalse witness were the last two DenisBrowne ever hung. He rose out of itafter, and washed his hands of it all.And his big house is turned into aconvent, and the tree is growing thereyet. It is in the time of '98 thathappened, a hundred years ago."

THE UNION

"As to the Union, it was bought withtitles. Look at the Binghams and therest, they went to bed nothing, and rose

up lords in the morning. The day it waspassed Lady Castlereagh was in theHouse of Parliament, and she turnedthree colours, and she said to herhusband, 'You have passed your treaty,but you have sold your country.' Hewent and cut his throat after that. Andit is what I heard from the old people,there was no priest in Ireland but votedfor it, the way they would get betterrights, for it was only among poorpersons they were going at that time.And it was but at the time of theParliament leaving College Green theybegan to wear the Soutane that theywear now. Up to that it was a bodycoatthey wore and knee-breeches. It wastheir vote sent the Parliament to

England, and when there is a rowbetween them or that the people arevexed with the priest, you will hearthem saying in the house in Irish 'Badluck on them, it was they broughtmisfortune to Ireland.' They wore theSoutane ever since that time."

ROBERT EMMET

"The Government had people bribedto swear against Robert Emmet, andthe same men said after, they never sawhim till he was in the dock. He mighthave got away but for his attention tothat woman. She went away after with asea captain. There are some say she gaveinformation. Curran's daughter she

was. But I don't know. He made onerequest, his letters that she wrote to himin the gaol not to be meddled with, butthe Government opened them andtook the presents she sent in them, andwhatever was best of them they keptfor themselves. He made the greatestspeech from the dock ever was made,and Lord Norbury on the bench,checking and clogging him all the time.Ten hours he was in the dock, and theygave him no more than one dish ofwater all that time; and they executedhim in a hurry, saying it was an attackthey feared on the prison. There is noone knows where is his grave."

O'CONNELL'S BIRTH

"O'Connell was a grand man, andwhatever cause he took in hand, it wasas good as won. But what wonder Hewas the gift of God. His father was arich man, and one day he was outwalking he took notice of a house thatwas being built. Well, a week later hepassed by the same place, and he sawthe walls of the house were no higherthan before. So he asked the reason,and he was told it was a priest that wasbuilding it, and he hadn't the money togo on with. So a few days after he wentto the priest's house and he asked wasthat true, and the priest said it was.'Would you pay back the money to theman that would lend it to you ' says

O'Connell. 'I would,' says the priest. Sowith that O'Connell gave him themoney that was wanting L50 for it wasa very grand house. Well, after sometime the priest came to O'Connell'shouse, and he found only the wife athome, so says he, 'I have some moneythat himself lent me.' But he had nevertold the wife of what he had done, soshe knew nothing about it, and saysshe, 'Don't be troubling yourself aboutit, he'll bestow it on you.' 'Well,' says thepriest, I'll go away now and I'll comeback again.' So when O'Connell came,the wife told him all that hadhappened, and how a priest had comesaying he owed him money, and howshe had said he would bestow it on

him. 'Well,' says O'Connell, 'if you saidI would bestow it, I will bestow it.' Andso he did. Then the priest said, 'Haveyou any children ' 'Ne'er a child,' saidO'Connell. 'Well you will have one,'said he. And that day nine months theiryoung son was born. So what wonderif he was inspired, being, as he was, theGift of God."

THE TINKER

"O'Connell was a great man. I neversaw him, but I heard of his name. Onetime I saw his picture in a paper, wherethey were giving out meal, where Mrs.

Gaynor's is and I kissed the picture ofhim. They were laughing at me fordoing that, but I had heard of his goodname. There was some poor man, atinker, asked help of him one time inDublin, and he said, 'I will put you in aplace where you will get some goodthing.' So he brought him to a lodgingin a very grand house and put him in it.And in the morning he began to makesaucepans, and he was making themthere, and the shopkeeper that ownedthe house was mad at him to be doingthat, and making saucepans in so granda house, and he wanted to get him outof it, and he gave him a good sum ofmoney to go out. He went back andtold that to O'Connell, and O'Connell

said, 'Didn't I tell you I would put youin the way to get some good thing '"

A PRESENT

"There was a gentleman sent him apresent one time, and he bade a littlelad to bring it to him. Shut up in a boxit was, and he bade the boy to give it tohimself, and not to open the box. Sothe little lad brought it to O'Connell togive it to him. 'Let you open it yourself,'says O'Connell. So he opened it, andwhatever was in it blew up and madean end of the boy, and it would havebeen the same with O'Connell if hehad opened it."

HIS STRATEGY

"O'Connell was a grand man; the bestwithin the walls of the world. He neverled anyone astray. Did you hear thatone time he turned the shoes on hishorses There were bad membersfollowing him. I cannot say who theywere, for I will not tell what I don'tknow. He got a smith to turn the shoes,and when they came upon his track, hewent east and they went west. Parnellwas no bad man, but Dan O'Connell'sname went up higher in praises."

THE MAN WAS GOING TO BEHANGED

"I saw O'Connell in Galway one time,and I couldn't get anear him. All thenations of the world were gatheredthere to see him. There were a greatmany he hung and a great many he gotoff from death, the dear man. He wentinto a town one time, and into a hotel,and he asked for his dinner. And hehad a frieze dress, for he was verysimple, and always a clerk along withhim. And when the dinner was servedto him, 'Is there no one here,' says he,'to sit along with me; for it is seldom Iever dined without company.' 'If youthink myself good enough to sit withyou,' says the man of the hotel, 'I willdo it.' So the two of them sat to thedinner together, and O'Connell asked

was there any news in the town. 'Thereis,' says the hotel man, 'there is a man tobe hung to-morrow.' 'Oh, my!' saysO'Connell, 'what was it he did todeserve that ' 'Himself and another thathad been out fowling,' says he, 'andthey came in here and they began todispute, and the one of them killed theother, and he will be hung to-morrow.''He will not,' says O'Connell. 'I tell youhe will,' says the other, 'for the Judge iscome to give the sentence.' Well,O'Connell kept to it that he would not,and they made a bet, and the hotel manbet all he had on the man being hung.In the morning O'Connell was in nohurry out of bed, and when the two ofthem walked into the Court, the Judge

was after giving the sentence, and theman was to be hung. 'Maisead,' says thejudge when he saw O'Connell, 'I wishyou had been here a half an hour ago,where there is a man going to be hung.''He is not,' says O'Connell. 'He is,' saysthe judge. 'If he is,' says O'Connell, 'thatone will never let anyone go living outof his hotel, and he making money outof the hanging.' 'What do you meansaying that ' says the judge. ThenO'Connell took the instrument out ofhis pocket where it was written downall the hotel-keeper had put on thehanging. And when the judge saw that,he set the man free, and he was nothanged."

THE CUP OF THE SASSANACH

"He was over in England one time, andhe was brought to a party, and tea wasmade ready and cups. And as they weresitting at the table, a servant girl thatwas in it, and that was Irish, came toO'Connell and she said, 'Do youunderstand Irish ' [IRISH: 'An tuigeanntu Gaedilge, O'Connell ' 'Tuigim,'] sayshe, 'I understand it.' 'Have a care,' saysshe, 'for there is in your cup whatwould poison the whole nation!' 'Ifthat is true, girl, you will get a goodfortune,' said he. It was in Irish theysaid all that, and the people that were init had no ears. Then O'Connellquenched the candle, and he changed

his cup for the cup of the man that wasnext him. And it was not long till theman fell dead. They were always tryingto kill O'Connell, because he was agood man. The Sassanach it was wereagainst him. Terrible wicked they were,and God save us, I believe they areevery bit as wicked yet!"

THE THOUSAND FISHERS

"O'Connell came to Galway one time,and he sent for all the trades to comeout with the sign of their trade in theirhand, and he would see which was thebest. And there came ten hundredfishers, having all white flannel clothesand black hats and white scarves about

them, and he gave the sway to them. Itwasn't a year after that, the half ofthem were lost, going through the fogsat Newfoundland, where they went fora better way of living."

WHAT THE OLD WOMEN SAW

"The greatest thing I ever saw wasO'Connell driving through Gort, veryplain, and an oiled cap on him, andhaving only one horse; and there wasno house in Gort without his picture init." "O'Connell rode up Crow Lane andto Church Street on a single horse, andhe stopped there and took a view ofGort." "I saw O'Connell after he leftGort going on the road to Kinvara, and

seven horses in the coach they couldnot get in the eighth. He stopped, andhe was talking to Hickman that waswith me. Shiel was in the coach alongwith him."

O'CONNELL'S HAT

"O'Connell wore his hat in the EnglishHouse of Commons, what no man butthe King can do. He wore it for threedays because he had a sore head, and atthe end of that they bade him put itoff, and he said he would not, where hehad worn it three days."

THE CHANGE HE MADE

"O'Connell was a great councillor. Atthat time if there was a Catholic, nomatter how high or great or learned hewas, he could not get a place. But if aProtestant came that was a blockheadand ignorant, the place would be opento him. There was a revolution risingbecause of that, and O'Connellbrought it into the House ofCommons and got it changed. He wasthe greatest man ever was in Ireland. Hewas a very clever lawyer; he would winevery case, he would put it so strongand clear and clever. If there werefifteen lawyers against him five and tenhe would win it against them all,whether the case was bad or good."

THE MAN HE BROUGHT TOJUSTICE

"Corly, that burned his house inBurren, was very bad, and it wasO'Connell brought him to the gallows.The only case O'Connell lost wasagainst the Macnamaras, and he toldthem he would be even with them, andso when Corly, that was a friend oftheirs, was brought up he kept hisword. There was no doubt about himburning the house, it was to implicatethe Hynes he did it, to lay it on them.There was a girl used to go out milkingat daybreak, and she awoke, and themoon was shining, and she thought itwas day, and got up and looked out,

and she saw him doing it."

THE BINDING

"O'Connell was a great man, wide bigarms he had. It was he left us the cheaptea; to cheapen it he did, that was atthat time a shilling for one bare ounce.His heart is in Rome and his body inGlasnevin. A lovely man, he would putyou on your guard; he was for thecountry, he was all for Ireland."

HIS MONUMENT

"There is a nice monument put up toO'Connell in Ennis, in a corner it is ofthe middle of a street, and himself high

up on it, holding a book. It was a poorshoe-maker set that going. I saw him inGort one time, a coat of O'Connell's hehad that he chanced in some place.Only for him there would be nomonument; it was he gathered moneyfor it, and there was none would refusehim."

A PRAISE MADE FOR DANIELO'CONNELL BY OLD WOMENAND THEY BEGGING AT THEDOOR

"Dan O'Connell was the best man inthe world, and a great man surely; andthere could not be better than whatO'Connell was.

"It was from him I took the pledge andI a child, and kept it ever after. Hewould give it to little lads and children,but not to any aged person. Pilottrousers he had and a pilot coat, and agrey and white waistcoat.

"O'Connell was all for the poor. Seewhat he did at Saint Patrick's Island hecast out every bad thing and everywhole thing, to England and toAmerica and to every part. He fought itwell for every whole body.

"A splendid monument there is to himin Ennis, and his fine top coat uponhim. A lovely man; you'd think he was

alive and all, and he having his hat inhis hand. Everyone kneels down on thesteps of it and says a few prayers andwalks away. It is as high as that treebelow. If he was in Ireland now thepension would go someway right.

"He was the best and the best toeveryone; he got great sway in the townof Gort, and in every other place.

"I suppose he has the same talk always;he is able to do for us now as well asever he was; surely his mercy andgoodness are in the town of Gort.

"He did good in the world while hewas alive; he was a great man surely;

there couldn't be better in this world Ibelieve, or in the next world; therecouldn't be better all over the world.

"He used to go through all nations andto make a fight for the poor; he gavethem room to live, and used to fight forthem too. There is no doubt at all hedid help them, he was well able to doit."

RICHARD SHIEL

"As to Shiel, he was small, dressed veryneat, with knee-breeches and a full vestand a long-skirted coat. He had a longnose, and was not much to look at tillhe began to speak, and then you'd see

genius coming out from him. His voicewas shrill, and that spoiled his speechsometimes, when he would get excited,and would raise it at the end. ButO'Connell's voice you would hear amile off, and it sounded as if it wascoming through honey,"

THE TITHE WAR

"And the Tithes, the tenth of the landthat St. Patrick and his Bishops hadsettled for their own use, it was toProtestants it was given. And therewould have been a revolution out ofthat, but it was done away with, and itis the landlord has to pay it now. ThePope has a great power that is beyond

all. There is one day and one minute inthe year he has that power if it pleaseshim to use it. At that minute it runsthrough all the world, and every priestgoes on his knees and the Pope himselfis on his knees, and that request cannotbe refused, because they are the grandjury of the world before God. A manwas talking to me about the burying ofthe Tithes; up on the top of the Devil'sBit it was, and if you looked aroundyou could see nothing but the police.Then the boys came riding up, andwhite rods in their hands, and they duga grave, and the Tithes, some image ofthem, was buried. It was a wrong thingfor one religion to be paying for theboard of the clergy of another

religion."

THE FIGHT AT CARRICKSHOCK

"The Tithe War, that was the time ofthe fight at Carrickshock. A narrowpassage that was in it, and the peoplewere holding it against the police thatcame with the Proctor. There was aCaptain defending the Proctor that hadbeen through the Battle of Waterloo,and it was the Proctor they fired at, butthe Captain fell dead, and fourteenpolice were killed with him. But thepeople were beat after, and werebrought into court for the trial, and thecounsel for the Crown was againstthem, Dougherty. They were tried in

batches, and every batch wascondemned, Dougherty speaking outthe case against them. But O'Connell,that was at that time at Cork Assizes,heard of it, and he came, and when hegot to the door the pony that broughthim dropped dead. He came in and hetook refreshment bread and milk thesame as I am after taking now, and helooked up and he said 'That is no law.'Then the judge agreed with him, and hegot every one of them off after that;but only for him they would swing. TheTithes were bad, a farmer to have threestacks they's take the one of them. Andthat was the first time of the hurlingmatches, to gather the people againstthe Tithes. But there was hurling in the

ancient times in Ireland, and out inGreece, and playing at the ball, and thatis what is called the Olympian Games."

THE BIG WIND

"As to the Big Wind, I was on my eldersister's back going to a friend beyond,and when I was coming back it wasslacked away, and I was wondering atthe holes in the houses." "I was up totwelve year at the time of the Big Windthat was in '39, and I was over atRoxborough with my father that wasclearing timber from the road, and yourfather came out along the road, and hewas wild seeing the trees and rockswhipped up into the sky the way they

were with the wind. But what was thatto the bitter time of the Famine thatcame after "

THE FAMINE

"The Famine; there's a long telling inthat, it is a thing will be rememberedalways. That little graveyard above, atthat time it was filled full up of bodies;the Union had no way to buy coffinsfor them. There would be a bag made,and the body put into it, that was all;and the people dying without priest, orbishop, or anything at all. But over inConnemara it was the dogs brought thebodies out of the houses, and asked noleave."

THE CHOLERA

"The cholera was worse again. It camefrom foreign, and it lasted a couple ofyears, till God drove it out of thecountry. It is often I saw a manploughing the garden in the morningtill dinner time, and before evening hewould be dead. It was as if on the windit came, there was no escape from it; onthe wind, the same as it would comenow and would catch on to pigs. Shedsthat would be made out in the haggardsto put the sick in, they would turn asblack as your coat. There was no onecould go near them without he wouldhave a glass of whiskey taken, and he

wouldn't like it then."

A LONG REMEMBERING

"The longest thing I remember is thetime of the sickness, and my father thatwas making four straw mats for fourbrothers that died, and that couldn'tafford coffins. The bodies were put inthe mats and were tied up in them. Andthe second thing I remember is thepeople digging in the stubble after theoats and the wheat; to see would theymeet a potato, and sometimes they did,for God sent them there."

THE TERRY ALTS

"The Terry Alts were a bad class;everything you had they'd take fromyou. It was against herding they beganto get the land, the same as at thepresent time. And women they wouldtake; a man maybe that hadn't a perchof land would go to a rich farmer'shouse and bring away his daughter.And I, supposing, to have some spiteagainst you, I'd gather a mob and doevery bad thing to destroy you. That isthe way they were, a bad class anddoing bad deeds."

THE '48 TIME

"Thomas Davis was a great man wherepoetry is concerned, and a better than

Thomas Moore. All over Ireland hispoetry is, and he would have doneother things but that he died young.That was the '48 time. The '48 menwere foolish men; they thought to copewith the English Government. Theywent to O'Connell to get from him allthe money he had gathered, for theyhad it in their head to use that to makea rise against England. But when theyasked O'Connell for it he told themthere was none of it left, not onepenny. Buying estates for his childrenhe used it, and he said he spent it on amonastery. I don't know was hespeaking truth. Mahon made a greatspeech against him, and it preyed onO'Connell, and he left the country and

went away and died in some placecalled Genoa. He was a very ambitiousman, like Napoleon. He gotEmancipation; but where is the use ofthat There's Judge O'Brien, Peter thePacker, was calling out and trying to doaway with trial by jury. And he wouldnot be in his office or in his billet if itwasn't for O'Connell. They didn't domuch after, where they didn't get themoney from O'Connell. And the nightthey joined under Smith O'Brien theyhadn't got their supper. A terrible coldnight it was, no one could stand againstit. Some bishop came from Dublin, andhe told them to go home, for howcould they reach with their pikes to theEnglish soldiers that had got muskets.

The soldiers came, and there was somefiring, and they were all scattered. As toSmith O'Brien, there was ten thousandpounds on his head, and he hid for awhile. Then at the last he went into thetown of Clonmel, and there was awoman there in the street was ahuckster, and he bade her give him upto the Government, for she wouldnever earn money so easy. But for allshe was worth she wouldn't do that. Sothen he went and gave himself up, andhe was sent to Australia, and theproperty was given to his brother."

A THING MITCHELL SAID

"Mitchell was kept in Clonmel gaol two

years before he was sent to Australia.He was a Protestant, and a very goodman. He said in a speech, where wasthe use of meetings and of talking Itwas with the point of their bayonet theEnglish would have to be driven out ofIreland. It was Mitchell said that."

THE FENIAN RISING

"It was a man from America it camewith. There was one Mackie was takenin a publichouse in Cork, and there wasa policeman killed in the struggle. JudgeO'Hagan was the judge when he was inthe dock, and he said, 'Mr. Mackie, I seeyou are a gentleman and an educatedman; and I'm sorry,' he said, 'that you

did not read Irish history.' Mackie criedwhen he heard that, for indeed it wasall spies about him, and it was they gavehim up."

A GREAT WONDER

"The greatest wonder I ever saw wasone time near Kinvara at a funeral,there came a car along the road and alady on it having a plaid cloak, as wasthe fashion then, and a big hat, and shekept her head down and never lookedat the funeral at all. I wondered at herwhen I saw that, and I said to mybrother it was a strange thing a lady tobe coming past a funeral and not tolook on at it at all. And who was on the

car but O'Gorman Mahon, escapingfrom the Government, and dressed upas a lady! He drove to Father Arthur'shouse at Kinvara, and there was a boatwaiting, and a cousin of my own in it,to bring him out to a ship, and so hemade his escape."

ANOTHER WONDER

"I saw Clerkenwell prison in Londonbroken up in the time of the Fenians,and every ship and steamer in thewhole of the ocean stopped. Theprison was burned down, and all theprisoners consumed, and seven doctors'shops along with it."

FATHER MATHEW

"Father Mathew was a great man,plump and red in the face. Therecouldn't be better than what he was. Iknew one Kane in Gort he gave amedal to, and he kept it seventy years.Kane was a great totaller, and hewouldn't drink so much as water outof a glass, but out of a cup; the glassmight have been used for porter atsome time. He lost the medal, and wasin a great way about it, but he found itfive years after in a dung-heap. A greattotaller he was. Them that took themedal from Father Mathew and thatkept it, at their death they would beburied by men dressed in white

clothes."

THE WAR OF THE CRIMEA

"My husband was in the war of theCrimea. It is terrible the hardships hewent through, to be two monthswithout going into a house, under thesnow in trenches. And no food to get,maybe a biscuit in the day. And therewas enough food there, he said, to feedall Ireland; but bad management, theycould not get it. Coffee they would begiven, and they would be cutting agreen bramble to strive to make a fire toboil it. The dead would be buried everymorning; a big hole would be dug, andthe bodies thrown in, and lime upon

them; and some of the bodies wouldbe living when they were buried. Myhusband used to try to revive them ifhe saw there was life in them, but otherlads wouldn't care just to put themdown and have done. And they wereallowed to take nothing money, goldwatches, and the like, all thrown in theground. Sure they did not care muchabout such things, they might be lyingin the same place themselves to-morrow. But the soldiers would takethe money sometimes and put it in theirstocking and tie the stocking below theankle and below the knee. But if theofficer knew that, they would becourtmartialed and punished. He gottwo medals one from the English and

one from the Emperor of Turkey.Fighting for the Queen, and bad payshe gave him. He never knew what wasthe war for, unless it might be fordiminishing the population. We saw inthe paper a few years ago there was agreat deal of money collected forsoldiers that had gone throughhardship in the war, and we wrote tothe War Office asking some of it forhim. But they wrote back that therewere so many young men crippled inthe Boer war there was nothing to bespared for the old. My husband used tobe saying the Queen cared nothing forthe army, but that the King, even beforehe was King, was better to it. But I'mthinking from this out the King will get

very few from Ireland for his army."

GARIBALDI

"There was one of my brothers died atLyons in France. He had a place inGuinness's brewery, and earning L310s. a week, and it was the timeGaribaldi, you might have heard of, wasout fighting. There came a ship toDublin from France, calling forsoldiers, and he threw up his place, andthere were many others threw up theirplace, and they went off, elevenhundred of them, in the French ship,to go fighting for their religion, and a

hundred of them never came back.When they landed in France they weremade much of and velvet carpetsspread before them. But the war wasnear over then, and when it had endedthey were forgotten, and nothing donefor them, and he was in poverty atLyons and died. It was the nuns therewrote a letter in French telling that tomy mother." "And Napoleon the Thirdfought for the Pope in the time ofGaribaldi. A great many Irishmen wentout at that time, and the half of themnever came back. I met with one ofthem that was in Russell's flour stores,and he said he would never go outagain if there were two hundred Popes.Bad treatment they got black bread, and

the troops in the Vatican well fed; andit wasn't long till Victor Emanuel'stroops made a breach in the wall."

THE BUONAPARTES

"Napoleon the Third was not much.He died in England, and was buried ina country church-yard much the sameas Kiltartan. But Napoleon the Firstwas a great man; it was given out ofhim there never would be so great aman again. But he hadn't mucheducation, and his penmanship wasbad. Every great man gave in tosuperstition. He gave into it when hewent to ask the gipsy woman to divine,and she told him his fate. Through fire

and a rock she said that he would fall. Isuppose the rock was St. Helena, andthe fire was the fire of Waterloo.Napoleon was the terror of England,and he would have beat the English atWaterloo but for treachery, thetreachery of Grouchy. It was, maybe,not his fault he was treacherous, hemight be the same as Judas, that had histreachery settled for him four thousandyears before his birth. There was a curseon Napoleon the Third because ofwhat Napoleon the First had doneagainst the Church. He took Malta onetime and landed there, and by treacherywith the knights he robbed a churchthat was on the shore, and carried awaythe golden gates. In an ironclad he put

them that was belonging to the English,and they sank that very day, and werenever got up after, unless it might be bydivers. And two Popes he brought intoexile. But he was the friend of Ireland,and when he was dying he said that.His heart was smashed, he said, with allthe ruling Princes that went againsthim; and if he had made an attack onIreland, he said, instead of going toMoscow the time he did, he wouldhave brought England low. And thePrince Imperial was trapped. It was theEnglish brought him out to the war,and that made the nations go againsthim, and it was an English officer ledhim into the trap the way he neverwould come to the Throne."

THE ZULU WAR

"I was in the army the time of the Zuluwar. Great hardship we got in it andplenty of starvation. It was the Dutchcalled in the English to help themagainst the Zulus, that were trickyrogues, and would do no work but tobe driving the cattle off the fields. Apound of raw flour we would be givenout at seven o'clock in the morning,and some would try to make a cake,and some would put it in a pot withwater and be stirring it, and it might beeleven o'clock before you would get

what you could eat, and not a bit ofmeat maybe for two days."

THE YOUNG NAPOLEON

"There was a young Napoleon there,the grandson of Napoleon the First,that was a great man indeed. I was inthe island where he was interred; it is agrand place, and what is not natural inthose parts, there are two blackthornbushes growing in it where you go intothe place he was buried. And as to thatgreat Napoleon, the fear of him itselfwas enough to kill people. If he wasliving till now it is hard to say what waywould the world be. It is likely there'dbe no English left in it, and it would be

all France. The young Napoleon was atthe Zulu war was as fine a young manas you'd wish to lay an eye on; six feetfour, and shaped to match. As to hisdeath, there was things might have beenbrought to light, but the enquiry wasstopped. There was seven of themwent out together, and he was foundafter, lying dead in the ground, and histop coat spread over him. There came ashower of hailstones that were as largeas the top of your finger, and as squareas diamonds, and that would enter intoyour skull. They made out it was tosave himself from them that he laydown. But why didn't they lift him inthe saddle and bring him along withthem And the bullet was taken out of

his head was the same every bit as ourbullets; and where would a Zulu get abullet like that Very queer it was, and agreat deal of talk about it, and in myopinion he was done away withbecause the English saw thegrandfather in him, and thought hewould do away with themselves in thetime to come. Sure if he spoke to oneof them, he would begin to shakebefore him, officers the same as men.We had often to be laughing seeingthat."

PARNELL

"Parnell was a very good man, and ajust man, and if he had lived to now,

Ireland would be different to what it is.The only thing ever could be saidagainst him was the influence he hadwith that woman. And how do weknow but that was a thing appointedfor him by God Parnell had a back tohim, but O'Connell stood alone. Hefought a good war in the House ofCommons. Parnell did a great deal,getting the land. I often heard he didn'tdie at all it was very quick for him togo. I often wondered there were nopeople smart enough to dig up thecoffin and to see what is in it, at nightthey could do that. No one knows inwhat soil Robert Emmet was buried,but he was made an end of sureenough. Parnell went through Gort one

day, and he called it the fag-end ofIreland, just as Lady Morgan called theNorth the Athens of Ireland."

MR. GLADSTONE

"Gladstone had the name of being thegreatest statesman of England, and hewasn't much after all. At the time of hisdeath he had it on his mind that it washe threw the first stone at Parnell, andhe confessed that, and was very sorryfor it. But sure there is no one canstand all through. Look at Solomonthat had ten hundred wives, and someof them the finest of women, and thatspent all the money laid up by FatherDavid. And Gladstone encouraged

Garibaldi the time he attacked theVatican, and gave him arms, Parnellcharged him with that one time in theHouse of Commons, and said he hadthe documents, and he hadn't a word tosay. But he was sorry at Parnell's death,and what was the use of that when theyhad his heart broke Parnell did a greatdeal for the Irish, and they didn't careafter; they are the most displeasingpeople God ever made, unless it mightbe the ancient Jews."

QUEEN VICTORIA'S RELIGION

"Queen Victoria was loyal and true tothe Pope; that is what I was told, and sois Edward the Seventh loyal and true,

but he has got something contrary inhis body. It is when she was a girl sheput on clothes like your own lady'sclothes and she went to the Pope. Didshe turn Catholic She'd be beheaded ifshe did; the Government would beheadher; it is the Government has power inEngland."

HER WISDOM

"As to the last Queen, we thought herbad when we had her, but now wethink her good. She was a hard woman,and she did nothing for Ireland in thebad years; but I'll give you the reasonshe had for that. She had it in her mindalways to keep Ireland low, it being the

place she mostly got her soldiers. Thatmight not be good for Ireland, but itwas good for her own benefit. The timethe lads have not a bit to eat, that is thetime they will go soldiering."

WAR AND MISERY

"There was war and misery going on allthrough Victoria's reign. It was theBoer war killed her, she being aged, andseeing all her men going out, and ableto do nothing. Ten to one they wereagainst the Boers. That is what killedher. It is a great tribute to the war it didthat."

THE PRESENT KING

"The present King is very good. He is agentleman very fond of visiting, andwell pleased with every class of peoplehe will meet."

THE OLD AGE PENSIONS

"The old age pension is very good, andas to taxes, them can't pay it that hasn'tit. It is since the Boer War there is coinsent back from Africa every week that isdug from the goldpits out there. That iswhat the English wanted the time theywent to war; they want to close up theminerals for themselves. If it wasn't forthe war, that pension would never begiven to Ireland. They'd have been

driven home by the Boers if it wasn'tfor the Irish that were in the front ofevery battle. And the Irish held outbetter too, they can starve better thanthe rest, there is more bearing in them.It wasn't till all the Irish were killed thatthe English took to bribing. BribedBotha they did with a bag of gold. Forall the generals in England that are anygood are Irish. Buller was the last theyhad, and he died. They can find nogood generals at all in England, unlessthey might get them very young."

ANOTHER THOUGHT

"It was old money was in the Treasuryidle, and the King and Queen getting

old wanted to distribute it in thecountry it was taken from. But somesay it was money belonging to captainsand big men that died in the war andleft no will after them. Anyway it islikely it will not hold; and it is knownthat a great many of those that get it dievery soon."

A PROPHECY

"It is likely there will be a war at theend of the two thousand, that wasalways foretold. And I hear the Englishare making ships that will dive the sameas diving ducks under the water. But asto the Irish Americans, they wouldsweep the entire world; and England is

afraid of America, it being aneighbour."

NOTES

I have given this book its name becauseit is at my own door, in the Barony ofKiltartan, I have heard a great numberof the stories from beggars, pipers,travelling men, and such pleasantcompany. But others I have heard in theWorkhouse, or to the north of GalwayBay, in Connemara, or on its southerncoast, in Burren. I might, perhaps,better have called the little book Mythsin the Making.

A sociable people given to conversation

and belief; no books in the house, nohistory taught in the schools; it is likelythat must have been the way of it inold Greece, when the king of highlycivilised Crete was turned by traditioninto a murderous tyrant owning amonster and a labyrinth. It was the wayof it in old France too, one thinks,when Charlemagne's height grew toeight feet, and his years were countedby centuries: "He is three hundred yearsold, and when will he weary of war "Anyhow, it has been the way ofmodern Ireland the Ireland I know andwhen I hear myth turned into history,or history into myth, I see in ourstonebreakers and cattle drivers Greekhusbandmen or ancient vinedressers of

the Loire.

I noticed some time ago, when listeningto many legends of the Fianna, that isabout Finn, their leader, the mostexaggerated of the tales have gathered;and I believe the reason is that he,being the greatest of the "Big Men," theheroic race, has been most often in themouths of the people. They have talkedof him by their fire-sides for twothousand years or so; at first earliermyths gathered around him, and thenfrom time to time any unusual feats ofskill or cunning shown off on one oranother countryside, till many of thestories make him at the last grotesque,little more than a clown. So in Bible

History, while lesser kings keep theirdignity, great Solomon's wit isoutwitted by the riddles of somecountryman; and Lucifer himself,known in Kiltartan as "the proudest ofthe angels, thinking himself equal withGod," has been seen in Sligo rollingdown a road in the form of the IrishTimes. The gods of ancient Ireland havenot escaped. Mananaan, Son of the Sea,Rider of the Horses of the Sea, wasturned long ago into a juggler doingtricks, and was hunted in the shape of ahare. Brigit, the "Fiery Arrow," thenurse of poets, later a saint and theFoster-mother of Christ, does herhealing of the poor in the blessed wellsof to-day as "a very civil little fish, very

pleasant, wagging its tail."

Giobniu, the divine smith of the oldtimes, made a new sword and a newspear for every one that was broken inthe great battle between the gods andthe mis-shapen Fomor. "No spearpointthat is made by my hand," he said, "willever miss its mark; no man it toucheswill ever taste life again." It was hisfather who, with a cast of a hatchet,could stop the inflowing of the tide;and it was he himself whose ale gavelasting youth: "No sickness or wastingever comes on those who drink atGiobniu's Feast." Later he became asaint, a master builder, builder of ahouse "more shining than a garden;

with its stars, with its sun, with itsmoon." To-day he is known as thebuilder of the round towers of theearly Christian centuries, and of thesquare castles of the Anglo-Normans.And the stories I have given of him,called as he now is, "the Goban Saor,"show that he has fallen still farther inlegend from his high origin.

As to O'Connell, perhaps because hisname, like that of Finn and the Goban,is much in the mouths of the people,there is something of the absurdalready coming into his legend. Thestories of him show more than anyothers how swiftly myths and traditionsalready in the air may gather around a

memory much loved and much spokenof. He died only sixty years ago, andmany who have seen and heard him arestill living; and yet he has already beengiven a miraculous birth, and the powerof a saint is on its way to him. I havecharged my son, and should I live tillhe comes to sensible years, I will chargemy grandson, to keep their ears open tothe growth of legend about him whowas once my husband's friendly enemy,and afterwards his honoured friend.

I do not take the credit or the discreditof the opinions given by the variousspeakers, nor do I go bail for the facts;I do but record what is already in "theBook of the People." The history of

England and Ireland was shut out ofthe schools and it became a passion. Asto why it was shut out, well, I heardsomeone whisper "Eugene Aram hidthe body away, being no way anxioushis scholars should get a sight of it."But this also was said in the barony ofKiltartan.

The illustrations are drawn from somedelft figures, ornaments in a Kiltartanhouse.

A. GREGORY.

COOLE PARK, November, 1909.

THE END