Rilkenny Castle. SEAT OF THE MARQUIS ORMOND. How full of solemn feudality is Kilkenny Castle! Striking at once both mental and bodily vision, for its site is not only majestic and grand, loftily towering over The stubborn Neure, whose waters grey By fair Kilkenny and Ross-ponte borde, but the venerable walls, and antique bastions speak of historical associations with which they are intimately connected, and the interest is excited by the magnitude of the incidents which occurred here. It dates with the arrival of the English in this country, and, though the revolution of ages have effected changes in the possessions, and recent improvements and alterations have swept away traces of the honourable wounds which the implements of war, and time dealt on the fortress, legend, and ballad, and chronicle has preserved its history. The original castle is said to have been built by Strongbow, and subsequently destroyed by the Irish shortly after its erection; but the place was deemed too important to be left defenceless, for we find in A.D. 1195, a spacious and noble castle arose from the ruins. In a military point of view, (no trifling object in those days) the situation was most eligible. The castle was built on a lofty mound, one side steep and precipitous, with the rushing Nore sweeping round its base. To this natural rampart was added a wall of solid masonry, forty feet high. The other parts were defended by bastions, curtains, towers, and outworks. The area thus inclosed contained the donjon and main keep, inhabited by the distinguished owner William, Lord Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and a caserne for a strong garrison. In 1391 it came by purchase into the present noble familyhaving been bought by James Butler, third Earl of Ormond, a descendant of Theobald Walter, a great favourite of Henry II., who made him large grants in his newly acquired Irish territory. He filled the office of Chief Butler of Ireland, which became hereditary, and the surname of the family. As our space would not admit our dwelling on the numerous important events which these walls have witnessed, as indeed few Chapters of the History of Ireland omit some record of transactions in which Kilkenny Castle bears a part, we proceed to give a brief notice of its present appearance. Its situation, close by the Nore, is of extreme beauty. The elevation is considerable and affords an extensive view, as the castle overlooks the city, and the sight can follow the windings of the river, through many a verdant meadow, shady grove, and well-planted lawn. The river is clear and bright, and the city has the advantage of permitting an uninterrupted prospect, boasting of water without mud, air without fog, and fire without smoke. So that when the eye is sated with gazing on the reaches of the clear sparkling river, now glancing along fair meadowy niches, and anon lost between high wooded banks, it can wander over spire and gable of the city, and here wrapt in the quiet of the lordly dwelling, the visitor listens to the hum of the busy-bustling crowd, who urge their laborious callings in every variety of city life. The castle is approached from the town, and a long range of offices are on the right hand. Neither the style of architecture in which they are built, nor the entrance, is in accordance with the rest of the castle. This is the more striking from the proximity to the venerable walls. The recent buildings are in the best taste, and well executed. Some basso-relievos are finely sculptured. We went through many of the rooms not remarkable of size, but convenient and affording pleasing views of the country round. There has, however, been recently completed, a splendid picture gallery, about 150 feet in length. This contains a great collection of paintings. The belles, the wits, the courtiers, and courtezans of the Merry Monarch are here congregated, and the sight is dazzled by the gorgeous blaze of beauty, and dress, depicted by Sir Peter Lely and Sir Godfry Kneller, until the weariness of excess of glare is relieved by the sober colouring of Vandyke, or the religious tenderness of Carlo Dolci. Here are kings and Queens in all their pomp, King Charles I. and his unhappy queen ;King Charles II., King James II., Queen Mary, Queen Anne, Royal Family, by Vandyke, Duchess of Richmond, by Sir Godfry Kneller, with portraits of various members of the Ormond family, scripture pieces, landscapes, flowers, mingled with saints and sinners, gay knights and grave senators, a motly and distinguished array. What food for meditation is here for the imaginative mind? What tales these silent beings could tell were the canvass animated? Here are kings who, during their career on earth, experienced all the vicissitudes of fortune, the privations that afflict the meanest subject, hunger and poverty, and terror of enemies, and loss of friends and fortune. One was exiled, another dethroned, another beheaded. Here are youthful beauties radiant in smiles and charms, who lived till these smiles ceased to captivate, and these charms to win admiration. What feelings are aroused by the sad fate of many a proud noble here standing clad in his peer's robes. The battle field witnessed the death throes of some, the sod of a foreign land covered the bones of others. And now their fame and their fate lives but in the vague legend and a few feet of painted canvass. I lingered amidst these frail memorials of greatness until the shadows of evening deepened the gloom of the old towers. The sun sank gorgeously into a cradle of golden rays, pillowed by downy clouds of dazzling whiteness. The Nore hymned a vesper song as the stars shone out, and the hour was meet for reminiscences of the past. There floated before us visions of the former owners, the Anglo-Norman invaders, the fierce conflicts with the Irish Chiefs, the rivalry between the Butlers and Fitz Geralds of Desmond; the feuds that existed between these Irish Guelphs and Ghibellins are celebrated in the annals of Ireland. Once we are told a reconciliation was effected, and the leaders agreed to shake hands; but they took the precaution of doing so through an aperture in an oaken door, each fearing to be poniarded by the other! After the battle of Affane, on the banks of the Blackwater, the Fitz Geralds were repulsed, and their chieftain made prisoner. While weak from loss of blood, the victors were bearing him on their shoulders, and the Lord of Ormond triumphantly exclaimed "Where now is the great Earl of Desmond?" "Here," replied the Lord Gerald, "now in his proper place, still on the necks of the Butlers." "The antiquity of this family," says Burke,* " is indisputable; but whence it immediately derived its origin is not so clearly established. Its • Peerage. surname however, admits of no doubt as springing from the chief butlerage of Ireland, conferred by Henry II. on Theobold Fitzwalter in 1177." We find various descendants of Theobold sitting in the Parliaments of the Pale, and filling high offices, Lords Justices, &c. The Earldom of Ormond was granted to James Butler in 1328, by creation of King Edward III. James, third Earl, purchased the Castle of Kilkenny from the heirs of Sir Hugh le de Spencer, Earl of Gloucester in 1391, which has since been the principal seat of this family. The representatives of the House of Ormond were not alone distinguished by their pride of ancestry and martial deeds. Many of the Earls of Ormond were famed for a love of literature and extent of learning, quite remarkable in their time. We need not refer to higher authority than the compliment Edward IV. paid to the demeanour and conduct of John, the sixth Earl. "If good breeding and liberal qualities were lost in the world, they might be all found in the Earl of Ormonde." In a note to Hall's Ireland, vol. ii., is a curious letter stated to have been the reply of a very loyal man, Sir Piers Butler, Earl of Ossory, in answer to a proposal of the Earl of Kildare, that the two houses should unite their forces, take Ireland from the dominion of Henry VIII., and divide it between them. The Earl of Kildare to have one moiety, Earl of Ossory and his son Lord James Butler the other. "Taking pen in hand to write to you my absolute answer, I muse in the first line by what name to call you-my lord, or my cousin,-seeing that your notorious treason hath impeached your loyalty and honour, and your desperate lewdness hath shamed your kindred. You are, by your expressions, so liberal in parting stakes with me, that a man would weene you had no right to the game; and so importunate for my company, as if you would persuade me to hang with you for good-fellowship. And think you, that James is so bad as to gape for gudgeons, or so ungracious as to sell his truth and loyalty for a piece of Ireland? Were it so (as it cannot be) that the chickens you reckon were both hatched and feathered; yet be thou sure, I had rather in this quarrel die thine enemy than live thy partner. For the kindness you proffer me, and goodwill, in the end of your letter, the best way I can propose to requite you, that is, in advising you, though you have fetched your fence, yet to look well before you leap over. Ignorance, error, and a mistake of duty hath carried you unawares to this folly, not yet so rank, but it may be cured. The king is a vessel of mercy and bounty; your words against his majesty shall not be counted malicious, but only bulked out of heat and impotency; except yourself by heaping of offences discover a mischievous and wilful meaning. Farewell." The descendants of so straightforward a subject should partake of his spirit, and a hatred of court favourites appears a distinguishing feature in the characters of the Butlers. In Carte's life of the Duke of Ormond, we find the hostility of the Earl Thomas to Queen Elizabeth's minion, the Earl of Leicester, not confined to language. He used often tell her Majesty in plain terms that Leicester was a villain and a coward. Coming one day to Court he met Leicester in the anti-chamber who bidding him good-morrow said, "My lord of Ormonde, I dreamed of you last night.” “What could you dream of me?" asked Ormonde. “I dreamed," says the other, "that I gave you a box on the ear." "Dreams," answered the Earl, "are to be interpreted by contraries;" and, without more ceremony, gave Leicester a hearty cuff on the ear. He was upon this sent to the Tower, but shortly after liberated. The The next instance of courage which tradition preserves, is related of James, afterwards Duke of Ormond, while yet a very young man about twenty-two years of age. He went to attend the Parliament in Dublin summoned by Wentworth, Lord Lieutenant to Charles I. The Lord Deputy had issued a proclamation forbidding any member of either house to enter with his sword. As the Earl of Ormond was passing the door of the House of Peers, the Usher of the Black Rod required his sword. request being treated with silent contempt. He demanded it peremptorily, whereupon the Earl replied, "If he had his sword, it should be in his body, and haughtily strode to his seat. The Lord Deputy summoned the refractory Peer before the Privy Council, and called on him to answer for his conduct upon which, Lord Ormond said he acted under the oath of his investiture, that he received his title to attend Parliament cum gladio cinatus." The ability and courage of the young noble obtained him great applause, and the Deputy perceived he had better conciliate his friendship, than provoke his enmity. He accordingly heaped favours upon him ; made him a Privy Councillor at the age of twenty-five. This lord was the father of one of the purest characters of that, or any age-the Earl of Ossory. Of him was it truly said—" His virtue was unspotted in the centre of a luxurious court; his integrity unblemished amid all the vices of the times; his honour in tainted through the course of his whole life." "His Majesty," exclaimed Evelyn, on hearing of his death, never lost a worthier subject, nor father a better or more dutiful son: a loving, generous, good natured and perfectly obliging friend-one who had done innumerable kindnesses to several before they knew it; nor did he ever advance any who were not worthy; no one more brave, more modest; none more humble, sober, and every way virtuous. Unhappy England! in this illustrious person's loss. What shall I add? He deserves all that a sincere friend, a brave soldier, a virtuous courtier, a loyal subject, an honest man, a bountiful master, and a good Christian, could deserve of his prince and country." 66 How affecting to turn from this fine panegyric, traced by the hand of generous friendship, revealing the peculiar excellent qualities of the deceased, and particularising each, to the passionate burst of grief; in which the bereaved Duke must have indulged, when the heir of his house lay a corpse before him; and what depth of feeling and sublime appreciation of the inestimable loss is contained in his reply to some expression of condolence-"I would not exchange my dead son for any living son in Christendom." Surely, such an instance of genuine regard for the illustrious dead must be remembered with pride by their descendants! How well the Earl of Ossory deserved the praise bestowed on him, and the universal grief felt at his death, may be seen from the following anecdote, which exhibits, strong filial piety and fearlessness of Court favourites which the King's presence could not restrain. Not long after the celebrated attempt of Blood to kill the Duke of Ormond, in which he had nearly succeeded, being on his way with him to Tyburn, where he resolved the Duke should hang, when he was rescued, the Earl of Ossory met the Duke of Buckingham, who was universally beloved, the instigator and protector of Blood, in the royal chamber, and thus addressed him while behind the King's chair. "My lord, I know well that you are at the bottom of this late attempt of Blood's upon my father; and therefore I give you fair warning, if my father comes to a violent death by sword or pistol, if he does by the hand of a ruffian, or the more secret way of poison, I shall not be at a loss to know the real author of it. I shall consider you as the assassin, I shall treat you as such, and I shall pistol you, though you stood behind the King's chair; and I tell it you in his Majesty's presence, that you may be sure I will keep my word." But we must bid adieu to this noble house. The present Marquis, born in 1808, came to the title on the death of his father in 1838; he is married to a daughter of General, the Hon. Sir Edward Paget, G.C.B., and it is to his taste and perseverance the Castle of Kilkenny owes its improved condition. We might suggest an alteration in the entrance, to preserve the harmony of the structure, which is unquestionably one of the most striking of our Irish Castles and Mansions. SONG OF THE CAPTIVE ROBBER. FROM THE RUSSIAN. Hush! hush green forest, cease to pour Thy murmurs on mine ear: Thy voice, which I may hear no more, Troubling my wandering thoughts with fear; And on the morrow I must stand Before the mighty Tzar, with blood-stain'd hand! The terrible Tzar will say to me, "Answer me well, my child! Who in the forest lone and wild, Were joined with thee in lawless strife, And I will answer, "mighty Tzar! My trusty steed-my bended bow- Then will the Christian Tzar reply: Who brav'st the law so fearfully, A high reward well hast thou won, J. L. ELLERTON. |