Chapter I: Preface

Are you minded for a jaunt through the island of Erin where tears and smiles are near related and sobs and laughter go hand in hand? We will walk, and will take it in donkey-cart and jaunting-car--by train and in motor-cars--and if you suit yourself you will suit me.

Leaving Dublin we will circle northward, with a visit to Tanderagee Castle and the tomb of St. Patrick--God bless him,--then on past the Causeway and down to Derry, and so into the County of Mayo, where in the midst of a fair you will encounter the wildest "Konfusion" and will be introduced to the gentleman who pays the rent.

In the silence and solitudes of the island of Achill you will see tears and hear sobs as you listen to the keening for the dead. Near the island of Clare, Queen Grace O'Malley will almost order you away, as she did her husband, and your motor with all its wings out will roll through the grand scenery of the western coast--now down by the ocean and then far up amidst the sombre mountains--Kylemore Castle and quaint Galway, Leap Castle--ghost-haunted--and moated Ffranckfort, Holy Cross and the Rock of Cashel--will pass in stately array and be succeeded by a glimpse of army life at Buttevant, and a dinner at Doneraile Court, where you will hear of the only woman Free Mason. Killarney will follow with its music and legends, and Cork and Fermoy, and so on and into the County of Wexford, where you will rush through the lanes and byways and will scare many old ladies--driving as many donkeys--almost into Kingdom Come. You will be welcomed at Bannow House and entertained in that quaintest of all earthly dwellings, "Tintern Abbey," which was a ruin when the family moved into it more than three centuries ago. You will visit the buried city of Bannow and pass on to where Moore watched the "Meeting of the Waters." You will visit in stately mansions, and go with a wild rush to the races at the Curragh. At Jigginstown House you will be reminded of the cowardice of a king, and as you bid farewell to Ireland you will lay a wreath on the grave of Daniel O'Connell,--all this and much more if you are so minded.

M. M. S.

UNION CLUB, NEW YORK, January 1, 1908.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

Welcome to Ireland. Quaint People of Dublin. Packing
the Motors. Departure. Tara Hill. Its History and
Legends. Ruins at Trim. Tombs of the Druids.
Battle-field of the Boyne 1

CHAPTER II

Through Newry to Tanderagee Castle. Life in the Castle.
Excursions to Armagh. Its History. The English in Armagh 15

CHAPTER III

Through Newcastle to Downpatrick. Grave of St. Patrick.
His Life and Work. The Old Grave Digger. Belfast and
Ballygalley Bay. O'Halloran, the Outlaw 25

CHAPTER IV

Ballycastle to the Causeway. Prosperity of Northern
Ireland. Bundoran. Gay Life in County Mayo. Mantua
House. Troubles in Roscommon. Wit of the People. Irish
Girls. Emigration to America. Episode of the Horse.
People of the Hills. Chats by the Wayside. Mallaranny 34

CHAPTER V

The Island of Achill. Picturesque Scenery. Poverty
of the People. "Keening" for the Dead. "The Gintleman
who pays the Rint." Superstitious Legends 53

CHAPTER VI

Monastery of Burrishoole. Queen Grace O'Malley and
her Castle of Carrig-a-Hooly. Her Appearance at
Elizabeth's Court. Dismissal of her Husband. Wild
Scenery of the West Coast. The Ancient Tongue.
Recess. Kylemore Castle. Crazy Biddy 77

CHAPTER VII

The Ancient City of Galway. Quaint People. Curious
Houses. Vile Hotel. Parsonstown. Wingfield House.
Leap Castle, and its Ghosts. Ffranckfort Castle.
Clonmacnoise. Holy Cross Abbey 94

CHAPTER VIII

The Rock of Cashel. Its Cathedral, Palace, and Round
Tower--Its History and Legends. Kilmalloch, its
Ruins and History. The Desmonds. Horse Fair at
Buttevant 119

CHAPTER IX

Buttevant Barracks. Army Life. Mess-room Talk.
Condition of the Barracks. Balleybeg Abbey. Old
Church. Native Wedding. Kilcoman Castle, Spenser's
Home. Doneraile Court. Mrs. Aldworth, the only
Woman Freemason. Irish Wit. Regimental Plate.
Departure from the Barracks 132

CHAPTER X

Route to Killarney. Country Estates. Singular Customs.
Picturesque Squalor. Peace of the Lakes. Innisfallen.
The Legend of "Abbot Augustine." His Grave. "Dennis,"
the "Buttons," and his Family Affairs. Motors in the
Gap of Dunloe 161

CHAPTER XI

Kenmare and Herbert Demesnes. Old Woman at the Gates.
Route to Glengariff. Bantry Bay. Boggeragh Mountains.
Duishane Castle. The Carrig-a-pooka and its Legend.
Macroom Castle and William Penn. Cork. Imperial
Hotel. "Ticklesome" Car Boy. The Races and my Brown
Hat. Route to Fermoy. Breakdown. Clonmel and its
"Royal Irish." Ride to Waterford 170

CHAPTER XII

Ancient Waterford. History. Reginald's Tower.
Franciscan Friary. Dunbrody Abbey. New Ross. Bannow
House. Its "Grey Lady." Legend of the Wood Pigeon.
Ancient Garden. Buried City of Bannow. Dancing on
the Tombs. Donkeys and Old Women. Tintern Abbey and
its Occupants. Quaint Rooms and Quainter Stories.
Its History and Legends. The Dead man on the Dinner
Table. The Secret of the Walls. The Illuminated
Parchment. The Sealed Library. Ruined Chapel. King
Charles's Clothes. Is History False or True? 181

CHAPTER XIII

Return to Ireland. Illness. Conditions on the Great
Liners. The Quay at Cork "of a Saturday Evening."
En route once more. The Old Lady and the Donkey.
Barracks at Fermoy. Killshening House, Abandoned
Seat of the Roche Family. Fethard. Quaint Customs.
The Man in the Coffin. "Curraghmore House" and its
Great Kennels. Its Legends, Ghosts, and History.
Lady Waterford. Oliver Cromwell at the Castle. The
Marquis in the Dungeon 209

CHAPTER XIV

Departure from Fethard. A Dead Horse and a Lawsuit.
Approach to Dublin. Estate of Kilruddery. The
Swan as a Fighter. Glendalough, its Ruins and History.
Tom Moore and his Tree in Ovoca. Advantages of Motor
Travel. Superstition of the Magpie. A Boy, a Cart,
and a Black Sheep. The Goose and the Motor 225

CHAPTER XV

The Lunatic. Insanity and its Causes in Ireland. The
Usual Old Lady and Donkey. Sunshine and Shadow.
Clonmines and its Seven Churches. The Crosses around
the Holy Tree. Baginbun and the Landing of the
English. The Bull of Pope Adrian. Letter of Pope
Alexander. Protest of the Irish Princes. Legends.
Death of Henry II. 243

CHAPTER XVI

Wild Times in Ireland. Landlord and Tenant. Evictions.
Boycott at Bannow House. The Parson and the Legacy.
The Priest and the Whipping. Burial in Cement.
Departure from Bannow House. Kilkenny and her Cats.
The Mountains of Wicklow. Powerscourt and a Week-End.
Run to Dublin and an Encounter by the Way. The Irish
Constabulary. Motor Runs in the Mountains. Lord H----. 260