Romantic Ireland; volume 1/2

en traceries of stone carving, the illuminated manuscripts, and even the famous round towers themselves were all transplanted from a former home; and that the jewelry, bang

e Celtic (?) motives and similar decorative effects in wood and stone known to belong to the Northmen, or whethe

the "Book of Kells." Nowhere are there more numerous or more gracefully proportioned round towers than in the Emerald Isle, and nowhere are there more consistently and thoroughly exp

they but exist in more tangible form than reputed sites and mere heaps of stones. From the

n of Cinbaeth the First, about the year B.C. 700; Tara, in Meath; Cruachan, in Conact, built by Queen Meave, the beautiful, albeit Amazonian, Q

me centuries subsequently. It is said to have never been more

stood on the spot now marked by a large rath called the Navan Fort, two miles to th

ce, the O'Donnells were elected, installed, or "inaugurated," is still an object of wonder and curiosity

ce, the residence of the Ard-Ri (or High King) of Erin, stand there, but, moreover, the legislative chambers, the military buildings, the law courts, and royal universities surrounded

truction of these round towers are clothed in much darkness. It had previously been supposed that these extraordinary erections were the work of the Danes, but this position seems to be entirely untenable o

ILL O

re found in other localities whic

Christian structures. No such monuments are found elsewhere in the known world, except i

of a Cairene or Damascene mosque, where often, in the smaller mosques, at least, th

dings which often flocked around their bases. In this case they performed much the same functions as the watch-tower or turreted donjon-k

in France in particular, largely from the foundation of tho

unreasonable to suppose that there is much more than tradition, however well supported, to connect the personality of St. Patrick and his immediate successors with any edifices, however humble or fragmentary, which exist to-day. If they do exist, as popular report would seem to indicate, they most likely are rebuilt structures

OWER, A

the sixth century with the advent of St. Columba, an Irish monk, who was exiled from his own country in 563, an

f the Abbey of Neville, not only in theology and pious studies, but in psalm-singing as well" ("Pour instruire la communate dans le chant des Pseaumes et la meditation des choses saintes."). Char

many score of abbeys, priories, and oth

ity, among all nations, of that religious zeal which drew its thousands from the elega

sm of the Crusades subsided, many influences, which otherwise made for the agg

was not till after the conversion of Constantine, A. D. 324, tha

l, the monks of St. Martin's time reproducing the hermit system which St. Anthony had practised in Egypt. G

his rule," "it is noteworthy," says a French authority, "that he did not attempt to restore the lapsed practices of primitive asceticism, or insist upon any very differ

e or less,-authorities differ,-after St. Benedict's death that Augustine arrived in England (A. D. 597). He and his monks introduced the "Rule" into England. Celtic monasticism did not

stic life to still greater splendour and perfection by their rules and foundations. Then followed through

even in gold. In fact, public generosity, and the opulence of the communities which sheltered them, gave th

and. Ireland had no Wyclif to raise his voice against Rome, and the people

Benedictines, the Cistercians (a branch of the Benedictines), the Dominicans (founded by St. Dominic, a Spaniard born a

s Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John, and the Knights Templars, so cal

tle him to a seat in the parliament amongst the peers; the abbess, who presided over her nuns in much the same manner as the abbot governe

nts being known as commanderies, while the knight who superintended was styled preceptor, or commendator. Wheneve

ormitory; the cellarer procured the provisions for the establishment; the infirmarius took care of the sick; th

abited only by mendicants. Chantries were endowments for the maintenance of one or more priests, who were to daily say mass for the souls of the founder and his family. There were formerly many such in Irelan

ferences which are made elsewhere in this volume, and not in any sense as an assum

ny other nation in Europe, and in addition had, for centuries, supplied many brethren to other establishmen

Ireland was above two thousand, and these all in addition

they exist to-day, or as they existed at the disestablishment, in a w

so attenuated, or their architectural qualifications so minor, would be sati

eland are almost unknown to all b

ed of considerably more than a local repute, though none are architecturally preten

inaccessible, and many of them, in fact, of no great age or beauty; but they claim, rightly enough, along

xt approaches it, falls considerably short of it in size; while St. Patrick

Ireland. It is stated, indeed, that no such example exists in any church edifice in Ireland, though of cruciform churche

n in the centre, specimens are found at Ardfert,

outhern wall; but what amounted to nothing more than a sheer act of vandalism caused it to be pulled down and a thoro

shores, and Derry from the southwest resembles nothing so much as a for

w to be really beautiful. It must have been much more sa

ismantled in 1748, and its functions taken up by a structure d

s. It is without a spire, and is a long, low, unmajestic building, curiously placed in juxtapositi

reason of its situation than anything else, though its ample and

tenuated little spire which has no element of beauty in its make

ous; a long, low structure, m

PATR

t attractive, but which mingles with the landscape, fro

urious and most beautiful in Ireland; its western doorway has a

gant structure, but it has a westerl

tower of a considerable height and remarkable preservation. The diocese was

an, see. The present cathedral is a moder

and, nor is it a very ornate or even a splendid structure. Its graveyard professes to be the burial-place of St. Patrick; the

cteristics of some of the more notable

und, they are mentioned elsewhere, but the above fragmentary descriptions should serve to im

cathedrals, but their consideration is quite apart fr

n entirely despoiled of its ancient cathedrals. In the other th

great moment, in that they are supposed to

l of St

t, while St. Adamnan mentions the use of bells "for the more speedily calling people to church." St. Nennin's bell, and those of certain other venerated persons, were frequently tendered to be sworn upon. Iron bells were introduced