ANCIENT IRISH BIOGRAPHY-No. XXIV. CORMAC MAC CUILLENAN. AMONG the remarkable men of that period in Irish history to which I have now conducted my readers, was Cormac Mac Cuillenan, Archbishop of Cashel, and, in the latter part of his life, King of South Munster, having been raised to the throne about the year 901. This was a conjunction of the ecclesiastical with the temporal authority, by no means common or desirable; it does not seem to have been beneficial either to the people or the prince in any instance, though it occurred three umes in the course of one century, in the province of Munster. The first instance was that of Feidlim, or Phelim, who preceded Cormac in the year 820, and reigned twenty-seven years, but, owing to his restless temper, and the turbulence of the times, seems to have spent a very uneasy reign, which he terminated by resigning the throne and retiring into religious seclusion for the remainder of his life; the second instance was that of Cormac of whom the present memoir is given, and the third of his injudicious, if not criminal, friend Flaherty, who succeeded subsequently to the throne of Munster, and was more fortunate in his government than the prince whom his rash counsels had ruined. In no case, however, was the regal dignity conferred upon ecclesiastics, except where they succeeded by hereditary right, and thus far are the individuals free from all imputation of sinister ambition. For a considerable time previous to the accession of Cormac the chief monarchy had been filled by Flann Sionna, son of Malachy I. who succeeded after the death of Hugh VI. in 879. In the early part of the reign of this monarch, the Danes committed some of their customary excesses, having plundered and burned the monasteries of Clonard and Kildare; and being encouraged by some civil dissentions in the province of Ulster, they advanced from the neighbourhood of Lough Foyle to Armagh, where they made prisoners of Cumusgach, the king, and his son Hugh, and laid the surrounding country waste. Further than this, however, they do not seem to have disturbed the country during this reign, and this circumstance is properly attributed by our historians to the unwonted harIony that prevailed among the princes of the country, which so over-awed the foreigners that they desisted from their aggressions on the country, conscious that they could not hope for success or impunity so long as the people were united. This cessation of internal feuds is attributed principally to the exertions of Cormac, and in some part to the monarch himself. This does not seem, however, to have been the policy pursued by the latter in the first instance, for it is stated that soon after his accession he marched his army into Munster on some slight occasion, and plundered the province, and a curious circumstance connected with the expedition is mentioned :—it is, that on his return he was so elated by his success he boasted that no state through which he passed would venture to resist his progress, and that he would amuse himself at his chess-board with as much security as if he were on a tour of pleasure an indignity which no prince in those days would patiently submit to even though it were offered by the monarch; his poet, who is named Flan Mac Lonnane, is reported to have replied, that had he attempted this exploit in Thomond the Dalcassians would have resented it in a manner to be dreaded; this naturally inflamed the monarch, who marched back his forces towards Thomond to realise his bravado, and having encamped there on the plain of Magh-Adair, where the kings of the district were always crowned, he set up his chess-tables and commenced his game, but Lorcan, the reigning chief of the Dalcassians, having received due notice of the invasion from the poet, was fully prepared, and accordingly suddenly fell on the royal army, and routed it with great loss, driving the monarch in disgrace from his territory. This ridiculous incident, which is recorded by the Munster annalists, does not accord with the favourable representations referred to above, of Flann Sionna's character, but it may have taught him the folly of wasting the energies of his subjects in idle disputes, and rendered him more worthy of the commendations he has received. Previous to the time of Cormac Mac Cuillenan a considerable change was effected in the government of Leath Mogha, the name given to the southern half of the kingdom when it was divided between Eugene More and Conn Ceadcathac in the second century (for which see No. X. of this work.) It will be remembered that Olliol Ollum, (see No. XI.) directed by his will that his descendants, of the Heberian line, should rule alternately in this territory, but, as has been previously intimated, his desire was frustrated by the continued succession without_intermission of forty-four princes of the elder branch, called Eugenians, to the exclusion of the descendants of his younger son, called Dalcassians, from Cormac Cas. Notwith standing this circumstance, however, it appears that the Dal cassians maintained, as was the custom with all Irish chiefs of any note, an independent authority over that portion of territory which they possessed in right of Cormac Cas, and to which they added Thomond, now called County Clare, by conquest from the province of Connaught. In process of time the territories governed by these tribes became known as North and South Munster, the seat of government in the former being Thomond, and in the latter Cashel, and they had mutually recognised the sovereign jurisdiction of each other over their respective districts. The comparatively narrow limits of the Dalcassian state, might, perhaps, have exposed it to the conquest of its more powerful neighbour but for the remarkable bravery of its people, who protected the entire province from the inroads frequently attempted by the Connaught princes, and resolutely resisted any attempt to interfere with their own independence. It was in this position of useful service on one side and necessary respect on the other that the two leading powers of the Munsters appear to have stood, at the accession of Cormac. There were, besides these, some septs of the Eugenians that had established the usual relation of petty chiefs with the ruling power, acknowledging his superior authority, and becoming his tributaries, but remaining in all essential respects free and independent rulers of their own particular territories. Some circumstances occurred soon after Cormac assumed the regal power that tended to create a more intimate friendship between his throne and that of North Munster, which was still filled by Lorcan, already named. It appears that he was anxious to celebrate the feast of Easter with peculiar solemnity and magnificence on one occasion, and for this purpose applied to that tribe of the Eugenians which occupied the district lying between Cashel and Clonmel-the Mac Carthies, I believe-for certain subsidies of cattle and other provisions, but they, apparently distrusting the demand as an undue assumption of authority, refused it, on hearing which the Dalcassians immediately of their own accord sent a present of the matters required to Cormac. This prince afterwards, as if to sound the temper of the Mac Carthies, inade a similar demand of arms and horses to enable him to make proper presents to the princes and an bassadors who visited him, on which occasion his request being, perhaps, more within the ordinary course of the observances between the chief and petty princes, was complied with, but in such a reluctant and shabby manner that the presents were of no service, consisting as they did of old battered arms, and disabled horses. The Dalcassians, likewise, on this occasion made Cormac a magnificent present in the same manner as at first, and thus ensured, if such were their motive, a favourable leaning to their interests at the Court of Cashel. It is not improbable that these proceedings were altogether the result of court intrigue between rival candidates for the throne, for I find that Callaghan, the chief of the Eugenian sept alluded to, contested the right to the possession of the throne of South Munster, after the death of Flaherty, with Kennedy, the son of Lorcan, the chief of the Dalcassians at this period, and the successor chosen by Cormac himself. It was a natural policy on the part of Lorcan, to cultivate the friendship of Cormac, and thus promote his designs upon the crown, and on the part of Callaghan to give a sullen submission to the authority of one who evidently favoured his rival. This, however, is but conjecture founded on the ordinary course of human action under such circumstances, for the records of the time, with which we are acquainted, are silent as to the motives by which either party was actuated. There are but few incidents of Cormac's reign, or connected with the general affairs of the kingdom at this period, transmitted to us; but it is stated that he was zealous in his efforts to promote the interests of religion and the cultivation of literature. These efforts were not confined to his province, but extended throughout the entire country, owing to the tranquillity that prevailed in the absence or peaceful state of the Danes; and the effects were soon felt in the restoration of religious edifices, the foundation of colleges, and the general comfort and contentment of the people. A curious circumstance is mentioned connected with a visit of state paid by Cormac to Lorcan, in Thomond;-it is, that having been entertained with great pomp, previous to his departure he expressed himself highly gratified with his reception, and requested that each of the twelve chiefs of the Dalcassians would confide one of his sons to his charge to be educated for a religious life under his own superintend ance; this request was promptly complied with by Lorcan and all the other chiefs except one, named Conla, the son of Fionnachta, who declared that it was a trick of Cormac to secure hostages by means of which he could hold the Dalcassians in check. Cormac immediately denied the justice of the imputation, and there is not any thing in the subsequent history of his life to confirm it, but it was a shrewd and not improbable suspicion, and deserves attention as marking the character of the times. The formality with which the intercourse of our chiefs was conducted where any recognition of rank was involved, is also exemplified by the manner in which Lorcan returned this visit. He marched with his retinue and guard to the neighbour hood of Cashel, where he halted and sent forward a messenger to announce his presence to Cormac, who replied by an invitation conveyed through the medium of one of his household to which Lorcan returned a positive refusal; this produced a consultation, on which it was perceived by Cormac that he had overlooked certain old privileges of the Dalcassian chiefs, one of which was, the right of a public reception as an independent | prince, and the occupation of the north division of the royal palace, as a testimony of the protection afforded to Leath Mogha, by North Munster. The result was that Cormac went out of the city accompanied by his train to receive Lorcan, who being satisfied with the apologies offered to him, entered the palace, and enjoyed its hospitalities. to regard their inhumanity with approbation, and he assisted to ON ANXIETY. I AM acquainted with a person who has accumulated considerable property, and resides in a place where a thousand beauties and attractions call up the idea of Paradise, and yet he is very unhappy. He is not devoted to dissipation-to those criminal pleasures which fill the conscience with guilt and the latent stings of remorse, for his character is distinguished for temperance and integrity. With all the objective means and resources of happiness at his command, strange as the assertion may seem, he is evidently wretched. After closely attending to this melancholy case, I am convinced that he labours under an internal disease, which may be correctly designated Anriety. Hle still continues in business, though not from any necessity, and daily complains of his dissappointments, which, according to his own account multiply and thicken upon him with the growing degeneracy of the age. For about fifteen years he has seen a dark cloud suspended over this country, and is persuaded the storm will, ere long, burst forth, and spread universal desolation and ruin. In the midst of peace and plenty he lives in perturbation, and the constant dread of poverty. A fretful and discontented habit of mind darkens the brightest day that shines upon him, and blights the. whole stock of satisfactions with which his lot is enriched. It was some time after this, in the seventh year of his reign, that Cormac was unfortunately induced to undertake a war against the province of Leinster, principally by the counsels of Flaherty, who was then abbot of Inis Cathy, or Scattery, an island in the Shannon, who urged him to the fatal enterprise under the pretext that he was entitled to a tribute from that province, as part of it was situated in Leath Mogha, and as it continued to pay a tribute to the Monarch as chief of Leath Conn. On more than one occasion I have already shown the injustice and mischief of this tribute, and, without entering into the question of the right that the kings of Leath Mogha had to levy a portion of it after the division of the kingdom, it is enough to state that this was the first occasion on which they claimed it, though several centuries had elapsed after the period at which their rights should have commenced, if at allIt appears that Cormac himself was averse to the proceeding, but he was over-ruled by the representations of Flaherty, who was a man of stubborn temper, and had acquired great influence over Cormac, and accordingly an expedition against Leinster was resolved on. Carroll, who was then King of Leinster, made peaceable overtures, which Cormac was willing to accept, but the evil ascendancy of Flaherty was too powerful, and every rational and upright principle of policy was rejected to gratify the malice or the ambition of this man. Even the pacific interference of Manach, a venerable ecclesiastic who was a sincere friend of Cormac, was ineffectual, and the troops of Munster were marched against Leinster. Previous to entering on the campaign, which Cormac anticipated would be unfortu- It has been observed that the most violent passions of man nate, he made his will, and provided for the succession to the are excited by objects and circumstances that immediately rethrone, by assembling the princes of Munster, and stating to late to the supposed means of well-being; about that which them, that as their great ancestor, Olliol Ollum, had desired is to communicate some species or degree of temporal_good.* that the succession should be alternate between the elder and Around these it is, that rivalships and envyings, hatreds, aniyounger branches of his family, so he wished now to secure to mosities, and terrible conflicts, are assembled. The loss of Lorcan, Prince of Thomond, or North Munster, a deserving these inflicts sorrow, unjust privation provokes anger and reprince, the inheritance directed by his forefather; and accord- sentments, and apprehensions of losing these, create the painful ingly Lorcan was chosen as successor to Cormac. His will sensations of fear. By the power of recollecting enjoyed by contained many valuable bequests to different religious estab-man, he is enabled to destroy every present comfort in his deep lishments throughout the entire kingdom, but principally to Ardfinan, Lismore, Emly, Glendaloch, Kildare, Armagh, Scattery, and Mountgarret. After he had settled his affairs he marched his forces against Leinster, thus weakly proving his fear of the reproach of cowardice. The King of Leinster was fully prepared to meet the attack. He received the aid of Flan Sionna, who conducted his forces there in person. The battle that ensued was from the first disastrous to the army of Munster, which was completely routed, and many of its leaders killed, among whom were Fogarty Mac Suivney, King of Kerry, Coleman, Abbot of Cinneity, who was Chief Justice of the realm, and Kelly Mac Carroll, King of Ossory. Cormac himself, after great exertions of valour, was killed by the fall of his horse in the retreat, by which his neck and spine were broken. Flaherty, the fomenter of the fatal strife, was taken prisoner with many others. After the battle the remains of Cormac were found by some Leinster soldiers, who cut off his head and brought it to the monarch, but Flann, it is said, regretted too deeply the fall of such an excellent man regret for the past: his past experience enables him to foresee future calamities, and thus he may embitter the present. All this appears too evident to admit a doubt. To paint the miseries of deep-seated and long cherished anxiety, were an easy, but at the same time, a useless task. Moralists and satiric poets have often triumphantly demonstrated the egregious folly of studying and toiling to make ourselves wretched; but they attack the symptoms without touching the core-without reaching the root of the evil. Efforts of this kind produce little effect on hollow-eyed, heart-corroding care. Now, if temporal good, in some form, be the rallying point of endless hopes, fears, jealousies, strifes, and vexations, it should seem that the discovery and appropriation of a spiritual and celestial good is requisite to set the soul of man at rest. Wealth, power and pleasure, whatever arguments and invectives philosophers may level against them, will continue to agitate the passions of those who have nothing higher and better placed within their view. Cogan on the Passtuns. Stone over a door-way, going into Cormac's Chapel, on the Rock of Cashel CORMAC'S CHAPEL, ON THE ROCK OF CASHEL. I minated Cormac's Chapel was not built by Cormac himself EXTRACTED FROM A MS. HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF CASHEL, BY THE CONTRIBUTOR. THE foregoing cut is a representation of an obscure and fantastical carving on stone, over one of the door-ways leading into Cormac's chapel, and part of the fabric of which what follows is some account. The chapel itself has been so often the subject of engraving that a repetition of it here would not afford any novelty. Harris says, that Cormac, King and Bishop of Cashel, is commonly reputed to be either the founder or at least the restorer of the Cathedral of Cashel, (which bears the name of St. Patrick, as being consecrated to his honour,) and it is past doubt that we have very few traces left of the Bishops of Cashel before his time. Some say, that the Cathedral of Cashel was founded by Angus, King of Cashel, who was baptized by St. Patrick. The annals of the Priory of All-Saints inform us, "That the church after its restoration, (as Harris says, he gathers from the words of these annals,) was solemnly consecrated, and a synod held in it in the year 1134." But Donald O'Brien, King of Limerick, built a new church there, from the foundation, about the time of the arrival of the English, in the reign of King Henry II., (some say in the year 1169,) which he endowed with lands, and converted Cormac's old church into a chapel, or chapter-house, on the south side of the choir. He also made large grants of land to the See of Cashel, which his son Donat, surnamed Carbrac, afterwards enlarged by other grants in Thomond, and among other benefactions he endowed it with two islands, called Sulleith and Kilmacayle. King John confirmed this donation on the 6th September, 1215. About two hundred years afterwards, Richard O'Hedian, Archbishop of Cashel, in 1421, repaired this church, which through age had grown ruinous. He also built a hall for his vicars-choral, endowed them with the lands called Grange Connell, and Baou-Thurles-beg. The church was built without the city, and its situation on a rocky steep hill was a defence to it, though it was thereby too much exposed to the violence of storms. In the ascent to it appears a large stone on which, (as the inhabitants report from tradition,) every new king of Munster was, according to ancient custom, solemnly proclaimed. Cashel was, in old times, the royal seat and metropolis of the kings of Munster, and in it one of the earliest synods of Ireland was held by St. Patrick, St. Ailbe, and St. Declan, at which also St. Kiaran and St. Ibar assisted in the reign of Angus, King of Munster. There is another Cashel, called Cassel Irra, in Connaught, the first bishop of which was St. Bron, who died in 512, which Harris says he thought proper to hint at, because some were of opinion that this St. Bron was bishop of Cashel in Munster. Some well-informed writers contend that the building denoHarris's Ware Hanmer's Chronicle, 69. Harris's Ware. nor for several years after his decease. Of this opinion was Dr. Ledwich, who, after mentioning that Cashel was an ancient Mandra, as he says the wall surrounding its summit, its situ ation, and the monastic spirit of Christianity then prevalent in the kingdom, gave reason to believe, adds that the stoneroofed chapel, denominated from Cormac, must have been constructed posterior to the age of that prelate, and in maintenance of his opinion he gives several arguments. It is curious, however, that he has omitted one circumstance which of a Centaur, or Sagittarius, cut on a stone over the outside of seems strongly to support his hypothesis, namely, that the figure the northern entrance to this chapel, is the armorial ensign used by King Stephen, ¶ who reigned from the year 1135 to the year 1155, upwards of two hundred years subsequent to the death of Cormac. This king's arms were Mars, a Sagittarius, Sol. It appears extremely probable that Cormac M'Cuillenan was not the founder of this stone-roofed chapel, for, exclusive of the proofs adduced by Ledwich, I think there is sufficient reason to conclude that it was erected long subsequent to the time of Cormac M'Cuillenan by Cormac McCarthy, who is styled the picus King of Desmond. The following is the state of facts as they appear to me relative to the erection of Cormac's chapel, by Cormac M'Carthy. I take it that until the year 1101 the buildings on the Rock of Cashel were merely what composed the Dun, or royal residence, or in other words, as Seward** expresses it, the Cursoil, or ha bitation on the rock of the Kings of Cashel, who, from living thereon, obtained, as has been remarked, the appellation of Cartheigh, from the Irish words Cannajec a rock, and Teac a house or dwelling. The cathedral must have previously had some other site.-I do not see in what other light we can understand the annals of Inisfallen,++ when they lead one to assembly of the clergy and people of Cashel, in which he made credit that, in the year 1101, Murtogh O'Brien convened a great dedicated it to, God and St. Patrick. What could have been over that "hitherto royal seat," of the Kings of Munster, and in 1101, if it had been previously dedicated to such use by the necessity for then so making it over to religious purposes, Cormac M'Cullenan, who died in the year 908? The very words of the annalist show that it had not been previously to Murtogh's time dedicated to religion, for they intimate that up to that period it was only used as the royal seat of the Kings of Munster See what next follows. The same annals inform us that in 1127, Cormac McCarthy, King of Desmond, erected a church at Cashel, and, (at the year 1134,) they tell us “that the church built by Cormac McCarthy, in Cashel, was that year consecrated by the Archbishop and Bishops of Munster, at which ceremony the nobility of Ireland, both clergy and laity, were present.' These same annals also, at the year last-mentioned, leave no doubt as to the identity of the building so constructed by Cormac M'Carthy, for they say it was the "Teampul Chormaic," and go even farther by saying that it was so called from him. Thus we have the united evidence arising from the annals of Inisfallen, and the circumstance of the Sagittarius being over the door, to induce us to fix the erection of Cormac's chapel to the 12th, instead of the 10th century. Some English stonetutter might have been employed who might have carved without any particular direction, the arms of the then King Stephen, to embellish the door-way on which he was engaged. It was asy in after ages, from the similarity of name, at a time when the memory of M'Carthy was forgotten, and that of Cormac M'Cuillenan was still fresh in history and tradition, in consequence of his having been not only King, but Bishop of Cashel; and of the fame of his literary works, such as the celebrated Psalter of Cashel, having long survived him, for persons who were not over scrupulous in their enquiries, to attribute the erection of the chapel to the well-known M'Cuillenan, and not to M'Carthy, who was comparatively speaking, unknown. Harris appears puzzled about it in page 464, of the Bishops, and Ware is totally silent on the subject. B. Ad. An. 1127. A LEGEND OF PULCAHIL. In the County of Roscommon, a few miles eastward from Ballintubber, and perhaps as many southward from the beautiful and picturesque village of Castleplunket; on one of those broad pasture hills which, with interesting uniformity, undulate that county, the curious traveller may discover a lave and almost circular pool, into which we must here particularly caution him against tumbling by any inadvertence, as it is a matter of the utmost uncertainty how far he may go before he can reach the bottom-if truly, as the sagacious elders of the vicinity say—there really be any bottom "at all, at all.” This point the learned reader must settle as he pleases for himself we will only, as becometh a faithful historian, lay before him, with the most scrupulous accuracy, some facts which leave little if any doubt upon this deep subject. Of those facts nothing need be offered in confirmation-it may be enough to observe that they are handed down to us by that most unquestionable of channels-oral tradition. Some of them have occurred within the memory of man, and of one, as the reader shall perceive, we ourselves are the unworthy witness. The earliest account of Pulcahil, or Charley's Hole, of which the tradition is distinct enough to deserve the name of history, does not reach further back than the beginning of the eighteenth century; before which period we must refer all its traditions to the fabulous ages of antiquity: though, of course it is to be inferred that this remarkable Hole must from the remotest period have been a scene of wonderful and mysterious occurrences. The legend with which we will commence this narrative is not so interesting in itself, as valuable for its being the earliest we have; and also from its supplying us with the derivation of the modern name of the Pool. We will, therefore, relate it briefly. A poor man, of whom all that can now be discovered is, that his name was Cahil, (the Irish for Charley) was plowing with four horses, near this Hole, upon some Saint's Day. What precise saint, it would be hard to guess; but it is certain that on the day of some great Irish Saint, Charley was plowing near this Hole, in defiance of the repeated warning of some female friend, who, from her pertinacity upon the occasion, is presumed to have been his wife. It is certainly known that the poor low, as is unhappilly usual on such occasions, disregarded these warnings, though strongly enforced by some of those ominous dreams, which used, long ago, to usher in all fatal events The consequences may be foreseen. With that infatuation uniformly characteristic of dooined persons, the poor man led his horses to the hill; and for some hours whistled away at his unlucky work as gaily as if nothing at all was to happen. fel It was a little before noon, and the day was a clear grey quiet day--I think in April-when my authority, the oldest man alive thirty years ago, but at that time a mere gossoon, came up to Charley, just as he was giving the horses a turn towards the unlucky Hole. "Bless the work,” said the boy, in his native tongue. "And you too," answered Charley. "Arrah Charley, is'nt it the unlucky day for you to be out upon the hill? Murtogh O'Flanagan saw the red cloud over the hole these three nights back, and he said in the village that something would happen this blessed day." Poor Charley looked as white as a sheet, and replied in a low voice, "Sure enough, Padeen Ruadth, others besides him says that: but I'll put up the horses after this turn, and give over the work for this day, any way. Run away like a good boy, and tell Watty Egan to be at the stable; and tell Malshe to put down the praties." "Away I went," said old Paddy, "for he looked terrible ghashly, and he was going on just as if he could't help himself. Sure enough, then, I did exactly as I was bid, and every thing was ready for him at the house; but deuce a bit of Charley came. Well, then, the people waited and waited a great while out and out for him; and then poor Malshe began to be freckened up alive, sure enough. At last the poor cratur called all the boys, and myself that was wid them. "Come along, Padeen Ruadth," she cried out, "and all of ye's childers dear, let ye's be coming; we'll find him if he's above ground, any how." Well, away we wint, every mother sowl of us; and as we wint along every body in the town, big and little, that we met, came wid us, and every body said something to encourage the poor crature. Says one, "O poor man, poor man, he's drowned for sartin, to be sure." "And sure I knew it, Malshe; and did'nt I see the red cloud," says another. But the poor thing would not be comforted. So on we wint, every step of the way until we saw the top of the hill forenenst us; but not a Charley was there. Well, then, sure enough, a great cry began; and before we war half-way up the hill, there was the full of a race-coorse of all sorts with us. Well, then, we looked up and down on every side, but still there was no Charley to be found. But across the furrow, just a little way on from where I was discoorsin with him, there was a broad hollow track on to the hole, all the ways. Sure, then, no mortual ever saw the likes of it before. Throth it was just now as if poor Charley and the bastes were all pulling agin one another, there was such a trampling, and stamping, and marks of great struggling back, every fut over to the water side. Well, then, as we went on, the track grew deeper, just as if one of the bastes was threwn down, and there was grate splashes of blood, and some of the boys said there was marks of great big unnatherl feet. But no one said much at this time, for the people all was grately frightened, for the place had a very unnatherl look, sure enough; and every body went away very soon. But not a bit of man or baste was ever seen after that blessed day; and that's the reason it was called Pulcahil ever since." Little Paudeen Ruadth, (or Red Paddy,) was about 105 years old when I heard this sad story from him, in 1805. He was probably fifteen at the time of the event, which fixes its precise period in April, 1717. Since that time there had been ten persons lost in the same place; all under very marked and peculiar circumstances, such as to invest this fatal and portentous Hole with an unquestionable claim upon the attention of the curious. This attraction is much heightened by the general belief in that part of the country, that eleven more persons are still to be lost in the same place. I could never very clearly ascertain how this melancholy fact has been ascer tained. This much is undoubted, that in every case of this kind which has occurred, the red cloud, very much resembling the reflection which a furnace, or some other strong fire, throws upward on the clouds in a dark night; invariably appears above the Hole. As to the real source of this there is much difference of opinion. Besides this awful sign, there are some other strange circumstances pretty generally known, which are, in no small measure, calculated to help out the general effect of these already mentioned. Sometimes late of a summer evening when strangers-for strangers only durst venture there at such hours when strangers are crossing by the good broad path which passes close over the steep bank which conceals Charley's Hole-until one almost steps into it quite ignorant of where they are; all of a sudden, (I shall always retain the language of my informant,) sweet music is heard, and a garden full of smiling posies, or beautiful groves, just like the groves of Blarney, with gay fruit trees all covered with apples and plumbs, and fair young girls pulling away, and laughing, and dancing, and singing such pretty songs, and looking so comical and bewitching; or maybe a regular ball, with half a dozen pipers, and tables laid out with all the best of good eating and drinking; or, perhaps, a nate cottage, with a fine fire crackling | and blazing away in the chimly, and a good-looking farmerlike man at the door to say cead mille failte, and ask one in to take an air of the fire. And, sure enough, this was exactly what happened to Atty Muldoon, over at the cross-roads. But Atty was up to the thing, bekase he used always to be going the road with Father Mike every night from the big house, and from Buck M'Dermit's, and all the great houses in the country, for Father Mike was very great with the whole set of them. Augh, 'tis he was the pleasant company for the quality anyhow glory to his sowl! But, as I was saying, Atty was a cute boy, and knew the ways of every thing supernathral. Well, then, sure enough, Atty was just crossing the hill to go down to a wake that was at Carabawn that night, and his way was right down by the Hole; but Atty was a gay, airy, rolicking blade, and its little he thrubled himself about it. The night was pleasant and starry, and there was a rush-light glimmer apon the hills, from the new moon that was just going down behind the trees of Infield. Well, then, all of a suddent, what should Atty hear but a gay blast out of the pipes, all as one as if it was at his very ears, rattling away with the "swaggering jig," until Atty's heart was jigging up into his very throat with admirashun. "Well," says Atty to himself, for he was the cute and sinsible boy any way, "this flogs the world; sure there isn't a living sowl within a mile iv this, barring the stone wall there below-and the Widdy O'Roorke's ould house, and nobody living in it these twelve years back. Well, on he went stout enough, for he was a brave lad, and had a good sup in; and as he came on the pipes grew louder every step, and he could hear the boys and the girls talking and laughing away ike mad-and then the feet thribbling it away, on the flure, at a great rate entirely. "Well, well," says Atty, "but there's great doins here." Just then, as he was speaking, he came up to the rise of the hill, and sure enough there was the sport in arenest. Before him there stood a fine big slated house, with a white wall, and the shine of twinty mowld candles straming out from the door and the windys, and a great gethering of beautiful dressed boys and girls, laughing, and screeching, and dancing away for the bare life. The door was standing wide open, and a fine brave ould gintleman, drest like any lord in the land, was just coming out of it. Well, then, sure enough, as soon as he cast his eye upon Atty, he shouted out quite free and asey-like, “Arrah, thin, Atty Muldoon, is that yourself; its right glad to see you I am; come in, come in, my fine fellow; yourself is kindly welcome. Come in, my gay boy, come in." "Well, the sorra the likes of this I ever heard," says Atty to himself, afeard the great gintleman would hear him. But as be was always a civil boy, and quick with his manners, he answered up in a noment, "I thank your honour kindly, Sir; but it's going asthray I am in these parts, and I'd be greatly behouldin' to your honour if you'd be afther telling me the way to the Widdy Casey's to night." "Is it the Widdy Casey's, Atty? Just step in and I'll be with you myself, wid two or three more boys that's going that way, in the twinkling of a thunderboult." "Why, thin, I thank you kindly, Sir," says Atty; "but there's Pat Noona and Billy Hurley a little taste over the hill on before, and wanting to be in with them I'd be." ard the trees, and the laughing, and the noise, and the ould gintleman, just in one flash of lightening; and there was Atty standing all alone by himself. And there was the hole of Pu cahil, sure enough, and Atty just within one foot of the edge of it-deuce a word o' lie in it. But one step more would have done his business for him. Well, Sir, when the morning came poor Atty took to his bed; but no one knew what was become of Paddy Noonan and Bill Hurley, till Atty got well enough to tell the whole story. Then ould Pat Hadian, of Carane below, who had always a great head-piece, said, "Why, thin, now boys, maybe the ould gintleman-if gintleman he be-tould the truth for wanse in his life; let yees go and be thrying the Hole." Well, all of us went next morning; and by this blessed stick, there was Noonan and Hurley sure enough; and it was the pitiful sight to see the two poor boys, and both of them having a wife and six childer, come up that morning to the top of the water, with the mark of the same ould gintleman's ugly hands upon them both." We might easily fill a book with other facts equally curious and authentic-but there is a general similarity throughout this class of events, and little variation in the history of most of these escapes; some have escaped narrowly, by leaving hat or coat behind in the struggle, which mostly takes place; but the most approved expedient, in this trying emergency, is to repeat a charm or a prayer to the saint of the day, all the while holding a stick in such a manner as to stop the progress forward; when this is recollected the danger is not very great, as the illusive appearances commonly melt away, and the water becomes distinctly visible during the process; the only consequence ou such occasions is a slight fit of illness, occasioned by the nervous shock, said to be experienced in every instance this we can readily believe, the whole thing is, indeed, quite natural.It is to be observed that much valuable information has been lost owing to the circumstances that some of the parties concerned have not come back to tell their story.-Dub. Univ. Review. SIMILARITY OF SUGAR AND STARCH. THE result of careful chemical analysis is, that starch and sugar are composed of precisely the same ingredients; that the only discoverable difference is a slight disagreement in the relative quantities, and that this is exceedingly trivial. By comparison of the two means, the following are the differences: one hundred grains of sugar contain about one seventh of a grain less carbon, about three eighths of a grain more of oxygen, and two ninths of a grain more of hydrogen than are contained in one hundred grains of starch. These are trifling differences; and, without reference to atomic considerations, it will immediately strike the enquirer that differences by far greater than these frequently occur in the analysis of the same body, executed by different chemists, or by the same chemist at different times; and, in illustration, I adduce the analysis of sugar by the chemists, wherein the quantity of carbon, as stated by Berzelius, is very nearly two grains more than what is stated by Gay-Lussac and Thenard. In short, we may conclude that analysis has not been hitherto able to detect any difference of composition between starch and sugar; and we may admit that, in both, the ingredients are the same in quality and quantity. A person who contrasts their strikingly different properties; who considers that starch is one of the most insoluble bodies, at least in cold water, and sugar one of the most soluble; that sugar is the sweetest of all substances, and starch the most tasteless; will naturally enquire how are these facts to be reconciled; and if the composition is the same in both substances, why are not the substances identical? The question is natural at least it would have been natural and necessary some time since, when it was supposed that similiarity of ingredients and of proportions should produce similarity of qualities. Modern discoveries have proved that this is a mistake; it is now known that, beside quantity and quality of ingredients, the peculiar mode of combination Well, sure enough, Atty was a cute boy, and something of them is to be taken into account; and although we know, in came across him just then, and he grew terribly afeard; and fact, nothing about the modes of combination in which bodies instead of going with the ould boy, he pult agin him with exist, yet chemists have been, in a manner, compelled into might and main. Away they kept pulling both of them: the this mode of explanation by the impossibility of explaining it ould gentleman making believe to be quite good-nathured all otherwise in the present state of knowledge. In the case of the time, and saying, every moment, "Sure Noonan and Hur- starch and sugar, therefore, we know that the ingredients are ley is within;" and poor Atty saying nothing all the while, only the same; we may infer that the relative quantities of them are pulling away for his life. Well, thin, at last he got a terrible also the same; but to assign a reason for the difference of propull out and out from the ould lad.-"Augh, thin, holy St.perties, we say that they are differently combined, without preBiddy, what's this for?" says Atty. Well, thin, to be sure, tending to say whether the difference is a closer approximation the moment he named the blessed saint, away went the house, of particles, so as to expose them more effectually to each "Augh, thin, sorra take you with your ceremony; can't you be coming in at wanst, and not keeping us waiting in the cowld air. Sure, isn't it Billy Hurley and Pat Noonan that's here waiting for you this half hour, you aumadhawn," says the great gintleman, all the time walking on wid great long steps, this ways up to Atty; and when he stood up close before him, in the dim star-light, sure enough, Atty thought it was the ould boy himself. Well, thin, he took Atty just this ways by the collar, and dragged him on towards the door of the great house, saying, as he was going, "Come along now, my boy, Noonan and Hurley's in here, and it's they is taking the raal sup. Come along, my gay boy, you musn't go without a proper skinful of the best this blessed night." |