Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, And Superstitions Of Ireland | by Jane Francesca Wilde
Contains various superstitions, charms, and legends originated in Ireland
| Title | Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, And Superstitions Of Ireland |
| Author | Jane Francesca Wilde |
| Publisher | Ticknor And Co., Publishers |
| Year | 1887 |
| Copyright | 1887, Ticknor And Co., Publishers |
| Amazon | Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, And Superstitions Of Ireland |
By Lady Wilde ("Speranza")
To Which Is Appended A Chapter On "The Ancient Races Of Ireland," By The Late Sir William Wilde.
Legends Of Animals- There are no traces in Irish legend of animal worship, but many concerning the influence of animals upon human life, and of their interference with human affairs. The peasants believe that the dome...
- Legends Concerning Dogs
- Some very weird superstitions exist in Ireland concerning the howling of dogs. If a dog is heard to howl near the house of a sick person, all hope of his recovery is given up, and the patient himself ...
- Legends Concerning Dogs. Continued
- Once, a chief, being jealous of the splendour of the Fenian princes, became their bitter enemy, and set himself to curse Bran above all hounds in the land. But Fionn answered, If thou shouldest cu...
- Legends Concerning Cats
- Cats have been familiar to the human household from all antiquity, but they were probably first domesticated in Egypt, where, so far back as two thousand years ago, a temple was dedicated to the godde...
- The King Of The Cats
- A most important personage in feline history is the King of the Cats. He may be in your house a common looking fellow enough, with no distinguishing mark of exalted rank about him, so that it is very ...
- The Demon Cat
- The cat of the foregoing legend had evidently charming manners, and was well intentioned ; but there are other cats of evil and wicked ways, that are, in fact, demons or witches, who assume the cat-fo...
- Cat Nature
- The observation of cats is very remarkable, and also their intense curiosity. They examine everything in a house, and in a short time know all about it as well as the owner. They are never deceived by...
- Seanchan The Bard And The King Of The Cats
- There is an amusing legend preserved in Ossianic tradition of the encounter between Seanchan, the celebrated chief poet of Ireland, and the King of all the Cats, who dwelt in a cave near Clonmacnoise....
- Legends Of The Bards
- The Irish kings in ancient times kept up splendid hospitality at their respective courts, and never sat down to an entertainment, it was said, without a hundred nobles at least being present. Next in ...
- King Arthur And The Cat
- While on the subject of cats, the curious and interesting legend of King Arthur's Fight with the Great Cat should not be passed over ; for though not exactly Irish, yet it is at least Celtic, and ...
- Legends Concerning Cows
- The most singular legends of Ireland relate to bulls and cows, and there are hundreds of places all commencing with the word Bo (one of the most ancient words in the Irish language), which recall some...
- Fairy Wiles
- The fairies are very desirous to abduct handsome cows-and carry them off to the fairy palace under the earth ; and if a farmer happens to find one of his stock ailing or diseased, the belief is that t...
- The Dead Hand
- Witchcraft is sometimes practised by the people to produce butter in the churn, the most efficacious being to stir the milk round with the hand of a dead man, newly taken from the churchyard ; but who...
- The Wicked Widow
- The evil spells over milk and butter are generally practised by women, and arise from some feeling of malice or envy against a prosperous neighbour. But the spell will not work unless some portion of ...
- The Butter Mystery
- There were two brothers who had a small farm and dairy between them, and they were honest and industrious, and worked hard to get along, though they had barely enough, after all their labour, just to ...
- Legends Concerning Birds
- In all countries superstitions of good or evil are attached to certain birds. The raven, for instance, has a wide-world reputation as the harbinger of evil and ill-luck. The wild geese portend a sever...
- Legends Concerning Living Creatures
- The Cricket The crickets are believed to be enchanted. People do not like to express an exact opinion about them, so they are spoken of with great mystery and awe, and no one would venture to kill ...
- Legends About The Weasel
- Weasels are spiteful and malignant, and old withered witches sometimes take this form. It is extremely unlucky to meet a weasel the first thing in the morning; still it would be hazardous to kill it, ...
- The Properties Of Herbs And Their Use In Medicine
- The Irish, according to the saying of a wise man of the race, are the last of the 305 great Celtic nations of antiquity spoken of by Josephus, the Jewish historian ; and they alone preserve inviolate ...
- A Love Potion
- Some of the country people have still a traditional remembrance of very powerful herbal remedies, and love potions are even now frequently in use. They are generally prepared by an old woman ; but mus...
- Medical Superstitions And Ancient Charms
- The healing art in all the early stages of a nation's life, and' amongst all primitive tribes, has been associated with religion. ' For the wonderful effects produced by certaia herbs and modes of tre...
- A Charm To Win Love
- O Christ, by your five wounds, by the nine orders of angels, if this woman is ordained for me, let me hold her hand now, and breathe her breath. O my love, I set a charm to the top of your head ; to...
- A Charm For The Night-Fire (The Fever)
- God save thee, Michael, archangel ! God save thee ! What aileth thee, O man ? A headache and a sickness and a weakness of the heart. O Michael, archangel, canst thou cure me, O angel of the...
- A Charm For The Measles
- The child has the measles,' said John the Baptist. ' The time is short till he is well,' said the Son of God. ' When? ' said John the Baptist. ' Sunday morning, before sunrise,' said the...
- A Charm Against Enemies
- Three things are of the Evil One- An evil eye ; An evil tongue ; An evil mind. Three things are of God ; and these three are what Mary told to her Son, for she heard them in heaven- The merciful wo...
- A Charm To Extract A Thorn
- The briar that spreads, the thorn that grows, the sharp spike that pierced the brow of Christ, give you power to draw this thorn from the flesh, or let it perish inside; in the name of the Trinity. ...
- How To Have Money Always
- Kill a black cock, and go to the meeting of three crossroads where a murderer is buried. Throw the dead bird over your left shoulder then and there, after nightfall, in the name of the devil, holding ...
- A Charm For The Great Worm
- I kill a hound. I kill a small hound. I kill a deceitful hound. I kill a worm, wherein there is terror ; I kill all his wicked brood. Seven angels from Paradise will help me, that I may do valiantly...
- A Charm For Sore Eyes
- Take away the pain, O Mary, mother, and scatter the mist from the eyes. For all power is given to the mother of Christ to give light to the eyes, and to drive the red mist back to the billows whence ...
- A Charm For Pains In The Body
- Rub the part affected with flax and tow, heated in the fire, repeating in Irish- In the name of a rough man and a mild woman, and of the Lamb of God, be healed from your pains and your sins. So b...
- A Charm Against Drowning
- May Christ and His saints stand between you and harm. Mary and her Son. St. Patrick with his staff. Martin with his mantle. Bridget with her veil. Michael with his shield. And God over...
- A Charm In Time Of Battle
- O Mary, who had the victory over all women, give me victory now over my enemies, that they may fall to the ground, as wheat when it is mown. ...
- A Charm For The Red Rash
- Who will heal me from the red, thirsty, shivering, cold disease that came from the foreigner, and kills people with its poisonous pain ? The prayer of Mary to her Son, the prayer of Columbkill to...
- A Very Ancient Charm Against Wounds Or Poisons
- The poison of the serpent, the venom of the dog, the sharpness of the spear, doth not well in man. The blood of one dog, the blood of many dogs, the blood of the hound of Fliethas-these I invoke. It...
- A Charm For The Evil Eye
- This is a charm Mary gave to St. Bridget, and she wrote it down, and hid it in the hair of her head, without deceit- If a fairy, or a man, or a woman hath overlooked thee, there are three greater...
- How To Go Invisible
- Get a raven's heart, split it open with a black-hafted knife ; make three cuts and place a black bean in each cut. Then plant it, and when the beans sprout put one in your mouth, and say- By virt...
- A Charm For Pains
- I kill the evil; I kill the worm in the flesh, the worm in the grass, I put a venomous charm in the murderous pain. The charm that was set by Peter and Paul ; the charm that kills the worm in the fle...
- A Charm For The Bite Of A Mad Dog
- An oration which Colum-Cille set to a wound full of poison- Arise, O Carmac, O Clunane, through Christ be thou healed. By the hand of Christ be thou healed in blood, in marrow, and in bone. Amen....
- A Charm For Toothache
- Go to a graveyard ; kneel upon any grave ; say three paters and three aves for the soul of the dead lying beneath. Then take a handful of grass from the grave, chew it well, casting forth each bite wi...
- Charms For Freckles and Burns
- A Charm For Freckles Anoint a freckled face with the blood of a bull, or of a hare, and it will put away the freckles and make the skin fair and clear. Also the distilled water of walnuts is good. ...
- A Charm For The Memory
- The whitest of frankincense beaten fine, and drunk in white wine, wonderfully assisteth the memory, and is profitable for the stomach also. ...
- A Charm For The Falling Sickness
- Take a hank of grey yarn, a lock of the patient's hair, some parings of his nails, and bury them deep in the earth, repeating, in Irish, as a burial service, Let the great sickness lie there for eve...
- A Charm For Water On The Brain
- Cover the head well with wool, then place oil-skin over, and the water will be drawn up out of the head. When the wool is quite saturated the brain will be free and the child cured. ...
- A Charm For Hip Disease And Mumps
- Take three green stones, gathered from a running brook, between midnight and morning, while no word is said. In silence it must be done. Then uncover the limb and rub each stone several times closely ...
- A Charm For Epilepsy
- Take nine pieces of young elder twig ; run a thread of silk of three strands through the pieces, each piece being an inch long. Tie this round the patient's neck next the skin. Should the thread break...
- A Charm For Depression Of Heart
- When a person becomes low and depressed and careless about everything, as if all vital strength and energy had gone, he is said to have got a fairy blast. And blast-water must be poured over him by th...
- A Charm For The Fairy Dart
- Fairy darts are generally aimed at the fingers, causing the joints to swell and grow red and inflamed. An eminent fairy-woman made the cure of fairy darts her speciality, and she was sent for by all t...
- Various Superstitions And Cures
- There is a book, a little book, and the house which has it will never be burned ; the ship that holds it will never founder ; the woman who keeps it in her hand will be safe in childbirth. But none ex...
- Various Superstitions And Cures. Continued
- A bunch of mint tied round the wrist keeps off infection and disease. There is a well near the Boyne where King James washed his sword after the battle, and ever since the water has power to cure t...
- A Spell To Find Stolen Goods
- Place two keys on a sieve, in the form of a cross. Two men hold the sieve, while a third makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of the suspected party, and calls out his name loudly, three times ...
- A Prayer Against The Plague
- O Star of Heaven, beloved of the Lord, drive away the foul constellation that has slain the people with the wound of dreadful death. O Star of the Sea, save us from the poison-breath that kills, fro...
- A Blessing
- O aged old woman of the grey locks, may eight hundred blessings twelve times over be on thee ! Mayest thou be free from desolation, O woman of the aged frame ! And may many tears fall on thy grave....
- A Charm To Tame A Horse
- Whisper the Creed in his right ear on a Friday, and again in his left ear on a Wednesday. Do this weekly till he is tamed ; for so he will be. A Cure For Cattle Take nine leaves of the male crow...
- A Charm For Safety
- Pluck ten blades of yarrow, keep nine, and cast the tenth away for tithe to the spirits. Put the nine in your stocking, under the heel of the right foot, when going a journey, and the Evil One will ha...
- An Elixir Of Potency
- Two ounces of cochineal, one ounce of gentian root, two drachms of saffron, two drachms of snakeroot, two drachms of salt of wormwood, and the rind of ten oranges. The whole to be steeped in a quart o...
- Superstitions About Dreams And Fairy Doctors
- Superstitions About Dreams Never tell your dreams fasting, and always tell them first to a woman called Mary. To dream of a hearse with white plumes is a wedding; but to dream of a wedding is gr...
- Charms By Crystals
- The charms by crystals are of great antiquity in Ireland -a mode of divination, no doubt, brought from the East by the early wandering tribes. Many of these stones have been found throughout the count...
- Ancient Legends Of Ireland. Alectromantia
- Should a person be bewitched by an evil neighbour, he must take two black cocks, lay a charm over the head of one and let it loose ; but the other must be boiled down, feathers and all, and eaten. The...
- Omens And Superstitions
- To kill the robin redbreast. To pass a churn and not give a helping hand. To meet a funeral and not go back three steps with it. To have a hare cross your path before sunrise. To take away...
- A Spell To Attract Bees
- Gather foxglove, raspberry leaves, wild marjorum, mint, camomile, and valerian; mix them with butter made on May Day, and let the herbs, also be gathered on May Day. Boil them all together with honey,...
- Superstitions Of The Islands
- Concerning The Dead It is ill luck when going with a funeral to meet a man on a white horse. No matter how high the rank of the rider may be, the people must seize the reins and force him to turn b...
- Legends Of The Saints. St. Patrick
- Many saints in old time used to come and take up their abode on these wild desolate islands for the rest and sanctity of solitude, and innumerable evidences of their presence still remain in the ancie...
- Legends Of The Saints. St. Patrick. Continued
- The number of companions with whom St. Patrick travelled through the country was seven score and ten, and before his time only three classes of persons were allowed to speak in public in Erin-the chro...
- St. Ciaron
- This eminent saint died at the early age of thirty-three; and it is said that his death was caused by the prayers of the other saints of Ireland, who were jealous of his power and fame for sanctity. S...
- St. Martin
- St. Martin was a bad man before his conversion, and, above all, was exceedingly close-fisted, as they say, to the poor; giving nothing and grasping all. So he was very rich but hated by every one. ...
- St. Bridget
- At one time a certain leper came to St. Bridget to beg a cow from her. Which would you prefer ? said the holy Bridget, to be healed of your disease or to have the cow ? I would be healed,...
- St. Kieran
- St. Kieran, also, did good service five hundred years after his death ; for when a great chief and his band plundered Clonmacnoise and carried off the jewels from the shrine, the spirit of St. Kieran ...
- St. Kevin
- It is related of St Kevin that after he had been seven years at Glendalough, a weariness of life came over him, and a longing to hear the voice of man once more. Then Satan came to him in the form of ...
- Christian Legends
- The Round Tower of Clonmacnoise was never finished, for the monks objected to the price demanded by the chief mason ; and one day that he was at the top of the tower, they said he should never come do...
- Swearing Stones And Relics. The Cremave
- In the old churchyard of the monastery at Saints' Island, there is also an ancient black marble flagstone; and the monks gave it power as A Revealcr of Truth, and it is called the Cremave, or Swearing...
- Relics For Clearing From Guilt
- Another relic held in reverence for swearing on by an accused person is St. Finian's Dish. This was found about one hundred and fifty years ago, buried in the ruins of an old abbey. It is of silver wi...
- Innis-Murry
- At Innis-Murry, Sligo, there is a large table-stone supported on eight perpendicular stones as a pedestal. And on the table are seventy-three stones, from five to twenty inches in circumference, which...
- Mysteries Of Fairy Power. The Evil Stroke
- Some persons are possessed naturally with the power of the Evil Stroke, but it is not considered at all so unlucky •as the Evil Eye ; for the person who has it does not act from intentional malice but...
- The Changeling
- A woman was one night lying awake while her husband slept, when the door suddenly opened and a tall dark man entered, of fierce aspect, followed by an old hag with a child in her arms-a little, missha...
- The Fairy Doctor
- If a healthy child suddenly droops and withers, that child is fairy-struck, and a fairy doctor must be at once called in. Young girls also, who fall into rapid decline, are said to be fairy-struck ; f...
- The Poet's Spell
- A very ancient story, as old as the tenth century, is narrated, and firmly believed by the people, that once on a time when the reapers were at work, a fine handsome young married woman, who was in th...
- Charm For The Fairy Stroke
- There is a very ancient and potent charm which may be tried with great effect in case of a suspected fairy-stroke. Place three rows of salt on a table in three lines, three equal measures to each r...
- The Farmer's Fate
- The peasants have the greatest dread of the fairy-stroke, and consider it the most dangerous indication of fairy hostility. When a person is struck, he becomes wholly insensible to external things, as...
- The Fairy Rath
- The fairies, beside being revengeful, are also very arrogant, and allow no interference with their old-established rights. There is a rath in the Queen's County, only four yards in diameter, but he...
- The Holy Wells
- There is no superstition stronger in Ireland than a belief in the curative power of the sacred wells that are scattered over the country ; fountains of health and healing which some saint had blessed,...
- The White Stones
- At many of the wells quantities of beautiful white stones are found that glitter in the sun, and these are highly esteemed by the pilgrims to build up their prayer monuments. One day some women wer...
- The Sacred Trout
- The water of the sacred well must never be used for household purposes-cooking, washing, or the like. But after the well was cursed by the priest, and the tents were struck, and no pattern was held th...
- St. Augustine's Well
- At a holy well in the south, dedicated to St. Augustine* the friars began to build a convent. And during all the hours of work bells were heard ringing sweetly and voices singing ; but one day a woman...
- The Grilled Trout
- In Sligo there is a well called Tober-na-alt, beautifully shadowed by trees, the branches of which are thickly hung with all sorts of votive offerings from those who have been cured by the water; and ...
- Legend Of Neal-Mor
- There is a great hole or well near the river Suir, always filled with water, whose depth no man has yet fathomed. Near it is a castle, which in old times belonged to a powerful chief called Neal-mor. ...
- Legend Of St. John's Well
- At St. John's well, County Cork, there is a large stone, believed to be the real true head of John the Baptist, grown hard and solid from time and the action of the elements. And the stone has certain...
- The Well Of Fionn Ma-Coul
- The ancient churches and cells of the saints were generally placed in the vicinity of a well, which then became sanctified and endowed with miraculous healing power. Or the well may have been held sac...
- St. Seenan's Well
- There is a place on the shore of Scattery Island, where, according to the most ancient tradition, a sacred well once existed, with miraculous curative powers. But no one could ever discover the place,...
- Kil-Na-Greina
- Tober Kil-na-Greina (the well of the fountain of the sun) was discovered only about eighty years ago, by a strange chance in the County Cork. The land was a desolate marsh, no one built on it, and ...
- The Well Of Worship
- At Tober-Mite, the well of the field of worship, County Cork, there are also many pagan monuments, and it is evident that the vicinity was one of the strongholds of the Druids in ancient times, where ...
- The Bride's Well
- Near the last-named well is the Bride's Well, Tober-Breda (the holy well of St. Bridget). There is a stone oratory here of fabulous antiquity, with a doorway fashioned after the Egyptian model, slopin...
- The Irish Fakir
- Many of the professional prayer-men, or Fakirs, resort to the Tober-Breda during the pattern, and manage to obtain gifts and contributions and all sorts of excellent things in exchange for their praye...
- Sacred Trees
- The large old hawthorns, growing singly in a field or by an ancient well, are considered very sacred; and no one would venture to cut them down, for the fairies dance under the branches at night, and ...
- Tober-Na-Dara
- Tober-na-Dara (the well of tears) was so called because it overflowed one time for a mile round, from the tears of the Irish wives and mothers who came there to weep for their fallen kindred, who had ...
- Lough Neagh
- Wonderful tales are related about the formation of Lough Neagh ; and the whole country round abounds with traditions. One of them affirms that the great Fionn Ma-Coul, being in a rage one day, took up...
- The Doctor And The Fairy Princess
- Late one night, so the story goes, a great doctor, who lived^ near Lough Neagh, was awoke by the sound of a carriage driving up to his door, followed by a loud ring. Hastily throwing on his clothes, t...
- A Holy Well
- On the north side of Lough Neagh there is still a holy well of great power and sanctity. Three ancient white-thorn trees overshadow it, and about a mile distant is the fragmentary ruin of a wooden cro...
- A Sacred Island
- At Toome Island there is the ruin of an ancient church, where the dead walk on November Eve. It is a solemn and sacred place, and nothing is allowed to be taken from it ; neither stone nor branch of t...
- The Lake Of Revenge
- Near the great mountain of Croagh-Patrick there is a lake called Clonvencagh, or the Lake of Revenge, to which evil-disposed persons used to resort in order to imprecate maledictions on their enemies....
- Scenes At A Holy Well
- Scenes of holy faith, of tender love, and human pity are, however, happily more frequent amongst the devotees at the holy wells of Ireland than the fierce mutterings of malediction. At these sacred pl...
- Lough Foyle
- Lough Foyle means the borrowed lake, for in old times there were two weird sisters dwelling beyond the Shannon, who were skilled in necromancy. And the elder sister said to the younger- Give me t...
- The Hen's Castle
- At the head of Lough Corrib, deep in the water about a gunshot from the land, stands the ancient castle of Caisleen-na-Cearca, said to have been built in one night by a cock and a hen, but in reality ...
- Sliabh-Mjsh, County Kerry
- Every one knows that Sliabh-Mish, County Kerry, is haunted. The figure of a man, accompanied by a huge black dog, is frequently seen standing on a high crag, but as the traveller approaches, the forms...
- The Skelligs Of Kerry
- The Skellig Rocks are situated about eleven miles from the mainland, and are considered of great sanctity. In the Middle Ages, during the penitential weeks of Lent, the monks used to leave the adjacen...
- Popular Notions Concerning The Sidhe Race
- From the earliest ages the world has believed in the exist-ance of a race midway between the angel and man, gifted with power to exercise a strange mysterious influence over human destiny. The Persian...
- The Hurling Match
- The fairies, with their true artistic love of all the gentle graces of life, greatly dislike coarse and violent gestures, and all athletic sports, such as hurling and wrestling ; and they often try to...
- The Tide With The Fairies
- The fairies take great delight in horsemanship, and are splendid riders. Many fine young men are enticed to ride with them, when they dash along with the fairies like the wind, Finvarra himself leadin...
- The Fairy Spy
- Sometimes the fairies appear like old men and women, and thus gain admission to houses that they may watch and spy, and bewitch the butter, and abduct the children, and carry off the young girls for f...
- The Dark Horseman
- One day a fine, handsome young fellow, called Jemmy Nowlan, set off to walk to the fair at Slane, whither some cattle of his had been sent off for sale that same morning early. And he was dressed in h...
- Sheela-Na-Skean
- There is an old ruin of a farmhouse in the County Cork, near Fermoy, that has an evil reputation, and no one would build it up or inhabit it. Years and years ago a rich old farmer lived there, who ...
- Captain Webb, The "Robber Chief
- About a hundred years ago, a most notorious robber, called Captain Webb, used to make the County Mayo his headquarters ; and dreadful tales are still current amongst the people of his deeds of violenc...
- The Bardic Race
- The magi, the Sephoe, the gymnosophists, and the Irish adepts, held much the same creed and the same dogmas with regard to the conduct of life necessary to heighten the spiritual power. They all absta...
- An Elegy
- o Hoy ne, once famed for battles, sports, and conflicts, And great heroes of the race of Conn, Art thou grey after all thy blooms? O agèd old woman of grey-green pools, O wretched Boyne of...
- The Ancient Kace
- But thousands of years ago, long before kings, bards, and Druids, with all their learning and comparative civilization, flourished in Ireland, and before the traditions of a beautiful fairy race were ...
- The Antiquities Of Ireland
- We commence the study of this early race with the first rude stone implement with which a savage man killed an animal scarcely more savage. Then, simple designs of ornamentation are discernible-the fi...
- The Antiquities Of Ireland. Part 2
- In the Book of Rights, the earliest accessible authority on the subject of costume prior to the Norman Invasion, we read of cloaks of various colours presented in tribute to the kings-cloaks of purp...
- The Antiquities Of Ireland. Part 3
- In these articles, Sir William remarks, the process of development is displayed in a most remarkable manner ; for, from the simple unadorned pin or spike of copper, bronze or brass (the metallic ...
- The Antiquities Of Ireland. Part 4
- Several ancient Irish musical instruments, the chief of which were the harp and trumpet, and numerous fragments of harps have been found also in the oldest crannoges, proving how ancient was the knowl...
- Early Irish Art
- Early Irish art illustrates in a very remarkable manner those distinctive qualities of Irish nature, which we know from the legendary traditions have characterized our people from the earliest times. ...
- Early Irish Art. Part 2
- It is no idle boast to say that the Irish were the teachers of Europe from the seventh to the tenth century in art and religion. Mr. Westwood has visited all the great libraries of England and the Con...
- Early Irish Art. Part 3
- Lambeth. As Saxon art progressed and became influenced by Roman models, the Irish scribes were chiefly employed wherever elegance, harmony of colour, and extreme delicacy of touch were particularly re...
- Our Ancient Capital
- The history of Dublin, so admirably narrated by Mr. Gilbert in his learned and instructive volumes,1 begins the modern period of Irish history when Ireland became indissolubly united with the British ...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 2
- No public statue of an illustrious Irishman until recently ever graced the Irish capital. No monument exists to which the gaze of the young Irish children can be directed, while their fathers tell the...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 3
- But many centuries may have elapsed during the slow progression of these maritime colonies, who have left their names indelibly stamped on the earth's surface, from Ionia to the Tartessus of Spain ; a...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 4
- But onward still came the waves of human life, unceasing, unresting. Driven forth from Carthage, Spain, and Gaul, the ancient race fled to the limits of the coast, then surged back, fought and refough...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 5
- How strangely contrasted the destinies of the two great Japhetian races 1 What vicissitudes of fortune ! The refined, lettered, oriental light-bringers to Europe-the founders of all kingdoms, the firs...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 6
- One Irish priest founded an abbey at Iona ; another was the friend and counsellor of Charlemagne; a third, of equal celebrity, founded monasteries both in France and England. The Irish of eleven centu...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 7
- Still the Danish colony was not uprooted, though after this defeat they grew more humble, kept within their city of Dublin, and paid tribute to the kings of Leinster, and to the paramount monarch of I...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 8
- 1 The Irish Celt to the Irish Norman, from Poems, by Aubrey de Vere. The same authority describes Dermot from personal observation-A tall man of stature, of a large and great body, a valiant a...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 9
- When the first Norman monarch landed amongst us, the memorable 18th day of October, 1172, no resistance was offered by any party ; no battle was fought. The Irish chiefs were so elated at the Danish o...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 10
- Joan, whose portions were Wexford, married Lord Valentia, half-brother to King Henry the Third, and the male line failing, the inheritance was divided between two daughters, from one of whom the Talbo...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 11
- If, at the time of the Norman invasion, a king of the race had settled here as in England, the Irish would gradually have become a nation under one ruler, in place of being an aggregate of warring tri...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 12
- The labours of such an undertaking are manifest ; yet none can appreciate them fully who has not known what it is to spend days, weeks, months buried in decaying parchments, endless pipe-rolls, worm-e...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 13
- In the ancient stormy times of Norman rule, the nobility naturally gathered round the Castle. Skinner's Row was the May Fair of mediaeval Dublin. Hoey's Court, Castle Street, Cook Street, Fishamble ...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 14
- And how many rituals have risen up to heaven from that ancient altar, each anathema maranatha to the other-the solemn chants of the early church ; the gorgeous ritual of the mass ; in Elizabeth's time...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 15
- The ancient race who, thousands of years ago, left the cradle of the sun to track him to the ocean, are now flung on the coast of another hemisphere to begin once more their destined westward march ; ...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 16
- With but the rudest means of transit, hordes of the primitive races passed up the banks of the great rivers, the Euphrates, the Nile, the Volga, the Danube, and the Rhone ; while other tribes, in all ...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 17
- Where Persia's victim horde First bowed beneath the brunt of Hella's sword, I have picked up flint and obsidian arrow-heads, although we know that the Athenians, whose remains still lie beneath ...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 18
- The Boromean, or cattle tribute, which the King of Tara demanded from the Leinstermen, was perhaps the cause of the greatest intestinal feud which ever convulsed so small a space of European ground fo...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 19
- By statistics procured from our Great Midland Western Railway alone, I learn that on an average 30,000 of these people, chiefly the descendants of the dark Firbolgs and the fair Dananns, emigrate annu...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 20
- Moreover it has been recorded that the conquering race sent their small dark opponents into Connaught, while they themselves took possession of the rich lands further east, -and not only established t...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 21
- It would be most desirable if the Government or some Irish authority would send a properly instructed commissioner to investigate the Spanish annals, and see whether there is anything relating to the ...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 22
- In thus briefly alluding to the labours of St. Patrick, I wish to be understood to say that about the time of his mission there was much Saxon intercourse with this country, and the great missionary h...
- Our Ancient Capital. Part 23
- It appears to me that one of our great difficulties in Ireland has been the want of fusion-not only of races, but of opinions and sentiments, in what may be called a give and take system. As regard...
