which add their charms to form one glorious whole. Carrying the eye along the rock-bound coast of Wexford, a complete pictorial history of Ireland is laid open to our view. A Martello tower marks the bold headland of Bagenbun,* famed as the first landing-place of the AngloNormans in Ireland, where Robert Fitz-Stephen, his thirty knights, his sixty men in coats of mail, and his three hundred skilful Welsh archers, ran their ships ashore, and here, according to the old couplet, "Ireland was lost and won." The Bay of Bannon,† beneath whose silent sands lie entombed the remains of an ancient city, known as "the Irish Herculaneum," and where, upon a mass of masonry, still peering its head above the ground, and believed to be the chimney of the Tower Hall, two members were wont to be returned, previous to the Union, to protect the interests of the submerged city in the Irish Parliament. Fethard Castle, still habitable, the ancient see house of the bishops of Ferns, with its graceful round tower, and projecting battlements. The lone Sallee Islands, where the unfortunate rebel chiefs, Harvey of Bargy Castle, and Colclough of Ballyteigne, lay concealed until the 27th of June, 1798. The fine old tower of Hook, the guardian of the harbour, built by Rose, daughter of Crume, king of Denmark, to guide her children to their adopted home, rearing its beacon head one hundred and thirty feet above the ocean dashing at its base. The mouldering ruins of Slade Castle, founded by the daring adventurer, Richard de Hay, in 1169. The old grey tower of Houseland. Loftus (formerly Redmonds) Hall, a seat of the noble family of Ely, which came into their possession in 1669, and where is still preserved the undoubted (?) sword of the renowned Strongbow. The frowning batteries of Duncannon Fort, with its glacis, ravelin, and bastions, enlarged and strengthened in 1588. James's rock and Kingsbay, the retreat of the flying monarch, on the 3rd of June, after his defeat on the banks of the Boyne. The high land of the barony of Forth, with its remains of oneand-thirty Anglo-Norman castles, and eighteen churches, telling tales of bygone greatness and decay. The sombre old tower of Buttermilk Castle, on the river's brink. A toll-house erected by the Bernardine monks, for the double purpose of replenishing their coffers, and curing their fish. The noble and sadly neglected ruins of Dunbrody Abbey, founded by the * According to Holinshed, the names of the two ships in which the invaders arrived, were the Banna and the Boenne, and hence the name of the headland. †The Rev. R. Walsh, who visited this spot in 1826, says, "the impression that we were standing over a once populous city, which yet remains almost entire, with all its busy inhabitants, it might be, buried under our feet, gave to its present silence and solitude, an interest, greater perhaps, than is attached to any other remains in the united kingdom." Resting against the exterior wall of Fethard church, which adjoins the castle, is a large slab, erected to the memory of Alexander Devereux or De Ebroico, the last abbot of Dunbrody, who was consecrated Bishop of Ferns in 1539, and died here in 1566. He is called by Grose, in his Military Antiquities, "a sacrilegious plunderer." § If tradition speak truth, poor Rose erected her light-house in vain, for her three sons, returning to Ireland, and seeing the strange beacon-fire at Hook, mistook their bearings, and were lost, together with their vessel. It is much to be lamented, that so little attention has been paid to the preservation of the most interesting ruins in Ireland. Lamentations are now raised, when too late, that steps were not taken, some years since, when a very few pounds (!) would have saved the fall of the fine west window of Dunbrody. pious Norman, Harvey de Montemarisco, uncle to the Earl of Pembroke, about 1182, and dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. The rugged rock of Carrickburn, frowning on the atrocities committed in the barn of Sculabogue, where two hundred and twenty-one unfortunate beings, male and female, young and old, were slaughtered with savage fury on the morning of the 5th of June, 1798. The site of the rebel camp on Sliebh-Quilter, and many other spots made memorable during that eventful year. SliebhGrian,t or the hill of the sun, where the citizens of Waterford were wont to assemble and worship the glorious orb of day. Sliebh-na-mann, the hill of fair women, the scene of Beauty's contest for the hand of the gigantic Fin-mac-Coul. The lofty tower in the park at Curraghmore, commemorative of the violent death of the Lord Tyrone. Newark, the seat of the late venerable Sir John Newport, Bart., the much respected Chancellor of the Exchequer. The spire, more massive than graceful, of Christ Church Cathedral, pointing to the site of the "Urbs intacta," founded by Sitoracus the Dane, so far back as 853, and where, in later years, Dermot's lovely child, amidst the reeking horrors of a newly conquered city, became the bride of Pembroke's crafty earl. The flag still waving over the ivy-clad walls of the island castle, erected some time in the sixteenth century. Mount Druid, where the ancient priests of the mistletoe and the oak long since performed their mystic rites. The treacherous bay of Tramore, marked by lofty beacons, the scene of the tragic end of two hundred and ninety-two soldiers of the 59th Reg., together with seventy-one women and children, who were wrecked, in the Sea-horse transport, in the memorable month of January, 1816. The hill of Kilmacombe, crowned with its Cromlech, until within late years, a good specimen of its kind, when the hand of man effected the ruin which time had disdained to perform. New Geneva, the site of the proposed settlement of a Genevese colony in 1785. The shamefully mutilated remains of Crook Castle, once the property of the renowned Knights Hospitallers of St. John. The landing-place of the second Henry, on St. Luke's day, 1171, where the sudden appearance of a white hare was considered, by England's mighty monarch, his five hundred knights, and four thousand men-at-arms, as a blessed omen, and undoubted " signum victoria." The lovely bays, sheltered by the fine headlands of Credau and Knockaveelish. The fast disappearing ruins of Passage Fort and Castle, where Perkin Warbeck, although assisted by the proud Desmond, and a force of two thousand four hundred men, unable, by fair means or foul, to shake the loyalty of the men of Waterford,‡ was forced to embark in haste, and fly *On a lesser hill, beneath the rock of Carrickburn, is now to be seen a far more pleasing object than the blackened remains of Scullabogue Barn, namely, a fac-simile of Pompey's Pillar, built of fine granite, and rising to a height of 95 feet, 4 inches, erected to commemorate the services of General Browne Clayton, in the campaign under Sir Ralph Abercrombie. Tighe, in his "Survey of Kilkenny," speaking of the Druidical remains on SlieveGrian says, that the words "Belli Divose" are distinctly visible on one of the large stones, referring, as he takes it, to the names of Bel and Dionusos, under which the sun was worshipped in these islands. The motto, at this time granted to the city, for her unbending fidelity to the crown, "Urbs intacta manet Waterfordia," has, of late years, been humorously translated, in consequence of the apathy at times displayed in cleansing the public thoroughfares, "The unswept city." VOL. VI., NO. XXVIII. for Cork, hotly pursued by "four great ships at the citizens' charges.". The same banks, which were five times honoured, in days of yore, by the pressure of an English sovereign's foot: in 1185, by John, and again in 1211, and by Richard the Second, in 1394 and 1399. Strongbow's bridge, where the country people assert that he slew his son,* for neglecting to obey his orders, and have the stream rendered passable for his troops, on their march from Crook to Waterford. The old castle of Faithlegg or Fatlock, the scene of a fierce encounter for its possession, in 1649, and the picturesque ruins of the little church, surrounded by its venerable ash trees, the peaceful resting-place of many generations of the Bolton family. Near these ruins, and at the foot of the hill on which we stand, is situated the house, a plain but substantial structure, well suited in size to the demesne. The grounds fall gently to the river's brink, and possess vast capabilities, but unfortunately the present owner appears to think that, where nature has been so lavish, it is unnecessary for art to interfere, and, consequently, little aid, in the way of embellishment, is afforded to the benignant dame. The estate of Faithlegg was held for many generations, by the family of Aylward, now represented by James Kearney Aylward, Esq., of Shankill (county of Kilkenny,) descended from Richard Aylward, Esq., of Faithlecke, who married Catharine, sister to Sir Almare Gras. The arms of this family are still to be seen sculptured over the doorway of an old castle at Passage. In the year 1649, the estate changed hands, having been granted, by Cromwell, to Captain William Bolton, an officer of " the old army," and one of those chosen, by lot, at Whitehall, on Friday, April 20th, in the same year, to " go for the service of Ireland.” In the year 1719, the possessor of Faithlegg was the Captain's grandson, the Very Rev. Hugh Bolton, Dean of Waterford, uncle to the Right Rev. James Hawkins, Lord Bishop of Raphoe, and to Sir William Hawkins, Ulster King-at-Arms, grandson of William Hawkins, Esq., Ulster King-at-Arms, who married Elizabeth, daughter of James Mutlow, Esq.,.of Woodstown House,† in the same Barony. The estate remained with this family until the death of John Bolton, Esq., of Mount Bolton (father of Lieut. Gen. Sir Robert Bolton, G.C.B., Aide-de-camp to his Majesty George the Third,) in 1792. Since then, until comparatively late years, when Mr. Power, one of the county members, became its purchaser, it was in the possession of Cornelius Bolton, Esq., M.P., the following tribute to whose memory is extracted from Ryland's History of Waterford: There is a small village here, called Bolton-on-Checkpoint, formerly the Packet station, and the scene of much generous, but unprofitable speculation. Mr. Bolton established a cotton manufactory here, but this, and many other projected attempts of the same spirited individual, were, unhappily for the country, unsuccessful." *There is probably no more truth in this tradition, than in that which would make him the slayer of another son, after the battle of Idrone. † Woodstown House, now the seat of the Right Hon. Lord Carew, although much nearer to Faithlegg than many of the places above mentioned, is not seen from the hills, its situation being in a hollow, at the foot of Woodstown Bay. Mr. Mutlow married Elizabeth, relict of Robert Carew, Esq., Lord Carew's great-grandfather. Mulgrave Castle, co. York. THE ancient Castle of Mulgrave, four miles nearly west from Whitby, was, according to Camden, the fortress of the Saxon Duke, Wada, whom tradition has represented as a giant. This castle and barony was granted, after the Conquest, to Nigel Fossard, and was, by marriage with the heiress of that family, transferred, in the reign of Richard the First, to Robert de Turnham, whose daughter and sole heiress, Isabella, brought it to Peter de Malo-Lacu, a native of Poitou, in France, in the reign of King John, to whom he remained on all occasions a firm adherent. During the insurrection of the barons, several of them being made prisoners, were committed to the custody of Peter de Malo-Lacu, who rebuilt and fortified this castle, which, through neglect, had fallen into a ruinous state. When finished, the beauty of the fabric and its situation, induced him to call it Montt-grace; but being a grievous yoke to this part of the country, the neighbouring inhabitants, by changing a letter, called it Montt-grave, a name which it after retained. The family of Malo-Lacu, or Mauley, continued in possession till the reign of Henry the Fifth, when through default of male issue it was, by the marrage of heiresses, transferred successively to the Bigods and the Radcliffes. About the year 1625, this castle and manor came into the possession of Edmund, Lord Sheffield, Lord President of the North, who was, by Charles the First, created Earl of Mulgrave. This family became extinct in 1735; but the title was revived in the person of Constantine Phipps, a captain in the royal navy, and a descendant of the Anglesey family, who was created Earl Mulgrave in 1767; and in the year 1774, a lease of the Mulgrave estate was confirmed to him and his heirs for the sum of 30,000l. and a quit-rent of 12,0007. per annum. His son, Constantine John, was created a peer of Great Britain in the year 1790. By his wife, Eliza Anne, daughter of Nathaniel Cholmley, Esq., he had a daughter, but dying without male issue, in 1792, his English title became extinct; but was revived, in 1794, in the person of his brother Henry, the late earl, father of the Marquess of Normanby. The ancient Castle of Mulgrave having been garrisoned by the king's forces during the civil wars, in the reign of Charles the First, was afterwards dismantled by order of the Parliament. It is seated on an eminence, the steep declivities of which are beautifully covered with wood, and being strongly fortified by nature according to the taste of the feudal times, was eligibly situated for a baronial mansion; and there is now nothing left from which we can form any just idea of its ancient magnificence. LINES SUGGESTED ON HEARING THAT POPE'S VILLA AT TWICKENHAM WAS TAKEN DOWN FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING IT. FOR Britain, not for Pope, I weep the hour, If but for Homer in an English dress; Great Britain's boast, fair Twickenham's classic pride. MRS. SOMERS. |