"BENJAMIN BULL." Now one of the precious pack by whom he was surrounded, saw what poor Bull had written, and leaving the room unnoticed, he went to the proprietor of the tavern and procured from him a bottle of awful dimension which he knew to be in his possession, and this enormous vessel was sent by the wag as the bottle which poor innocent Bull named in his note. This bottle was absolutely a curiosity in its size, something resembling those proudly paraded in an apothecary's shop, whose red and green rotundities, as they glare through the streets at night, are the delight of little boys, and the plague of weak-eyed old women. Such was the bottle sent to Mrs. Bull's house. Such was the bottle filled with many a sigh and groan over her husband's extravagance, by the parsimonious Mrs. Bull, and such was the bottle that was not produced in the club-room. No. The perpetrator of the joke waited the messenger's return, and instead of Bull's superfine, he sent up stairs by the hands of the messenger, a bottle of downright bad whiskey, which he had procured in the mean time. "Now, gentlemen," said Mr. Bull, on the appearance of the messenger and bottle. "Now you shall have a treat," and he uncorked the bottle himself, and gave them a good example by mixing a glass of the precious spirit into a tumbler of punch, which he tasted, and pronounced to be unrivalled. The bottle passed round, tumbler after tumbler was made from it, and as Bull saw the first wry face that was made on tasting the mixture, he exclaimed-" what !-you don't mean to say you don't like it?" "Not much, indeed," said the person he addressed. "Why you never tasted such whiskey before!" "Faith I never did, and I hope never will again," was the answer-and similar diapproval of the whiskey was echoed round the table. Poor Mr. Bull, in the mean time, never perceived the trick that had been practised upon him in having another whiskey substituted for his own, and his indignation rose to a great height, when he found that his vaunted whiskey was rejected by every one who tried it, and that he had the remainder of the bottle left all to his own share. This, he in pure despite, drank the greater portion of, and, as they say "anger is dry," perhaps his rage assisted him in disposing of some extra tumblers of bad whiskey punch, which sent him reeling home that night, and left him next day in a state of helplessness from burning head ache. His "dear Dolly," next day asked her dear Ben, how he could think of sending for such a quantity of whiskey. "No wonder you have a head-ache indeed, if you and your friends drank all that." "It was no such great quantity, my dear," said poor Bull, as he lay in bed, while an old Irish nurse bathed his temples with vinegar and water,-"no such great matter if they had helped me, but I had to drink nearly the whole of it myself." "Is it three gallons!!!" said Mrs. Bull in terror. "Three fiddlesticks, woman," said the husband-"what are you talking of?" "The whiskey you sent for last night," said the wife. "Faix no," said the nurse who now chimed in, "but it was the most ancommon bottle I ever seen. I'd be upon my affidavy that it held somethin' to the tune o' three gallons and a half." "How could you do such a thing as give away my matchless whiskey in that manner?" roared out poor Bull, whose rage began to help his headache. "You ordered me, Ben, my love. You wrote to me to fill the bottle the bearer brought." "I meant a wine bottle. Who ever dreamt of a bottle of whiskey of three gallons." "Faix that would be the fine dhrame if it kem thrue," said the nurse. "I couldn't refuse your order, Ben dear." "I think you should have taken care of that," said the wife. "Oh, the rogues! the tricking villains," said the sick wretch, "I see they have hoaxed me." Throth, they're up to every schkame in life," said the nurse. "They'd thrick the mother that bore them." "How could any one foresee the trick? No man is safe with such humbuggers. I thought I was secure in ordering a bottle of whiskey." "What a take in !" said Mrs. Bull, "to send such a bottle." "Aye, indeed, ma'am dear," said the nurse, "there was the cuteness of the vagabones, for it was only a bottle afther all." "But I never meant such a bottle woman!" said poor Bull, in whom the ardour of indignation overcame the lassitude of sickness, and he rose on his elbow in the bed, and repeated" I never meant such a bottle woman!" "Stay quiet jew'l, be quiet-you'll disthract your poor head -there now-lie down again-ah, never mind the dirty schkamers-don't compare with them at all-sure you're not aiqual to the kimmeens of sitch complate desceivers at all, at all." This wounded Bill's vanity, who thought himself a very smart fellow, and replied to the nurse with some tartness"What do you talk about, woman-they deceived me by a most unfair trick-very unfair-if a man's own order in his own handwriting is not security for himself, I don't know what can be." "Well, masther dear, you'll know betther another time(shut your eye dear, or the vinegar 'ill scald it.)—Security, indeed-faix you must be up airley the day you'd get inside o' sitch chaps as them. You must be more partic'lar for the futhur, for b'lieve me, when you dale with sitch schkamers as them, you must "Never bowlt your door with a boiled carrot." THE HISTORY OF CUTLERY MANUFACTURE. Ar one period we could boast of cutlery manufacture in Ireland, justly celebrated for its excellence in several articles, but, now, we believe there is scarcely a single instance to which we could refer as marking its former flourishing condition. It is not our province at present to discuss the causes of this decline, but at some future period we shall return to the subject, and endeavour to give our countrymen soine useful information regarding it. In the meantime we present thera with a sketch of the history of cutlery manufacture principally in England, extracted from a recently published volume of Doctor Lardner's Cyclopædia, a work which does honour to the age, and to the man, for its utility and literary merits. We will occasionally make similar extracts from the volume now before us, premising that it is a treatise which is calculated to be equally useful to the scientific and operative mechanic, containing many valuable details, of the process of working iron and steel, and giving descriptions and engravings of the instruments and machinery used. "Although we may not be able to produce the testimony of the very earliest ages for the introduction of knives at table, or for domestic purposes, it is certain that the use of edged instruments in slaughtering animals, whether for food or sacrifice, as well as for cutting up their flesh, must have had a very remote origin. These, however, were by no means at first fabricated either of iron or steel, or even of metal, but rather of shells, flints, and other like materials, all classed by writers under the common appellation knives. That this is probably the true meaning of the term in several early passages of Scripture, may be generally inferred from the literal rendering of Exod. iv. 25. The stone celts which have at various periods been dug up, or otherwise discovered in this country, shew, pretty clearly, what the ancient knives were, both as to form and material.Even at the present time, in many savage nations, where the existence or the smelting of iron is unknown, the carving instruments of the natives are, as all readers of voyages and travels, and visiters of museums, must recollect, made of the above-named substances. Nor are the edged stones which have so frequently been brought to this country from the various uncivilized parts of the world by any means so defectively formed for their purposes as might be imagined; on the other hand, they are often brought toward the form aimed at by the workman, with a degree of perfection which is really surprising, especially when we regard them as the result of an application of the rudest possible methods of manufacture. Next to shells and sharp stones, brass, or some metal nearly approaching to it, perhaps copper alloyed with tin, furnished the material of instruments for the arts and domestic purposes, and of the warlike weapons of many of the nations of antiquity. It has already been intimated that the Greeks, at the period of the Trojan war, were little, if at all, acquainted with iron and steel, though brazen implements of different sorts, were common amongst them. Moreover, that the monuments of Egypt themselves were cut with chisels of brass, hardened by some process no longer known, has been asserted; and that many of the battles which have now become so famous in the records of ancient history were fought by warriors armed with brazen swords there can be no doubt. Whether the "nine-and-twenty knives," (Ezra, i. 9.) which were carried by the Jews to Jerusalem on their return from the captivity in Babylon, were of brass or ron does not appear; nor whether they were the sacrificing instruments which had been taken away with other things, from he temple, though this seems probable,―at all events, the mention of these knives, along with such vast treasures of gold and silver, shows that they were accounted valuable. It has, as we have just said, been disputed whether any other than brazen knives-indeed whether iron or steel-were at all known to the ancient Greeks. The authority of the Homeric poems has been cited both for and against the affirmative presumption. The epithet aîow, I burn, has been urged on the one hand, as referring to brass, from the yellow colour of flame; and on the other, to iron, as simply expressive of brightness, I shine being considered to be the more exact sense of the Greek αίθω. It may be remarked, on the authority of ancient writers both in prose and verse, that the swords of warriors, of whatever material fabricated, were not unfrequently used with the utmost convenience for the double purpose of slaughtering their enemies and carving their meat. Caliburn, the sword of king Arthur, and the sword of the renowned Pendragon, were as serviceable in the kitchen as in the field, if we may credit their poetical historian John Grub, heretofore of Christ's Church, Oxford, who says of the latter"His sword would serve for battle, or for dinner, if you please; When it had slain a Cheshire man, 'twould toast a Cheshire cheese." The all-work dagger of Hudibras seems to have been equally adroit and accommodating with the swords of the fore-mentioned Cambro-Britons : "It was a serviceable dudgeon, for bringing any knives into England from beyond the seas, which until that time were brought into this land by shippes lading from Flanders and other places. Albeit at that time, and for many hundred yeeres before, there were made, in divers parts of this kingdome, many coarse and uncomely knives; and at this day the best and finest knives in the world are made in London." Although the chronicler, in this passage, directly refers to the early existence and extent of the cutlery trade, inconsiderate copyists have drawn from it a loose statement to the effect that "knives were first made in England, in 1563, by Thomas Matthews, on the Fleet Bridge, London." Against this assertion, besides the testimony of Stow, and the common traditions of the Hallainshire cutlers, has to be set the undoubted fact, that, so early as the year 1417, the cutlers of the metropolis sought and obtained a charter of incorporation from Henry V. It may be added, that they have a hall in CloakLane, and admit freemen, on the payment of a livery fine of £10. That knives were made at Sheffield at least a century earlier than the preceding date, appears indisputable from the incidental testimony of the poet Chaucer, who, in his "Reve's Tales," states of the miller of Trompington, that among other accoutrements, "A Shefeld thwytel bare he in his hose." The description of knife mentioned by the poet was evidently that used for cutting food, or a case-knife, as it was long afterwards called, from being fitted with a sheath. The distinction which Stow, in the passage before quoted, has drawn between "fine" and "coarse and uncomely knives is too vague to enable us to attach an exact meaning to his words." In the year 1575, if not at an earlier period, Sheffield was certainly celebrated for the fabrication of these wares; for the earl of Shrewsbury, under that date, sends to his friend lord Burleigh, "a case of Hallamshire whittells, being such fruietes as his pore cuntrey affordeth with fame throughout the realme." It is probable, indeed, that at this time, the manufacture consisted, for the most part, of the coarser and inferior kinds, such as knives which, as Fuller says, were "for the common use of the country people," and which excited his surprise when he saw them offered at the low price of one penny. "Sheffield," as Mr. Hunter justly remarks, " possesses natural advantages of a superior order to those which perhaps any other spot in the island can boast, for that peculiar species of manufacture which has fixed itself there. It had acquired an extended reputation for those manufactures as early as the reign of Edward III.; and the princes of the house of Tudor displayed at all times a generous concern for the protection of commerce, and the encouragement of those engaged in it."Although the incorporation of the cutlers "within Hallamshire," At an early period, however, of Rome's ancient glory, not a certain district lying around Sheffield, did not take place beonly was the table-knife, and that doubtless made too of iron fore 1624, yet special regulations for the better government of or steel, well known, but the domestic office of carver actually the craft are extant in the Manor court-roll from a period consiinstituted. Whether, indeed, this important functionary merely derably antecedent to that date. In the 32d of Elizabeth the separated the meat into large portions, as is commonly done by existing laws were recited at length, and a series of "actes and his representative in modern times, or whether he did not cut ordinaunces" agreed upon, 66 as well by the hole fellowshippe the meat into smaller morsels, so as to be quite ready for the and company of cutlers and makers of knyves with the lordmouth, are questions about which writers on the gastronomic shippe of Hallomshire, in the conntye of Yorke, as also by the science are not agreed: from the recumbent positions adopted assente of the righte honourable George Eerle of Shrewsburye, at meals, the latter conjecture is far from improbable. The use lord and owner of the lordshippe of Hallomshire, for the of knives, and even the existence of the office above-mentioned, better relief and comodytie of the poorer sort of the said felwere not uncommon at great men's tables at a very early period, lowshippe." In 1624, the year above mentioned, the maeven in this country. One of the earliest specimens of typo-nufacturing population of Sheffield and the neighbourhood graphy in the English language is a little black letter volume incorporated themselves by virtue of an "Act for the good order printed by Wynkin de Worde, A. D. 1508, entitled "A Boke and government of the makers of knives, sickles, shears, scissors, of Kerving." and other cutlery wares, in Hallamshire, and parts near adjoining." From an era not now to be ascertained, down to the time of Queen Elizabeth, we had an import trade in knives; and as the historian of Hallamshire remarks, "the knyves of Almagne, knyves of France, knyves of Collagne, are among the articles enumerated in the custom-house rate books of the time of Henry VIII. Queen Elizabeth, in the fifth of her reign, laid some restrictions on this import trade, but more, as it seems, with a view to encourage the London manufacturers, than those of the country. London was, at that time, the principal mart of the finer species of cutlery; but besides London, Salisbury, Woodstock, and Godalming were rivals with Sheffield in this department of our native manufactures." At what period our native manufacture of these important wares was introduced it is impossible to say. In Stow's "Chronicle" occurs the following passage :-"Richard Matthews, on Fleete Bridge, was the first Englishman who attaigned the perfection of making fine knives and knive hafts; and in the fift year of queen Eliabeth he obtained a prohibition against all strangers, and others, The preamble of this act sets forth, "That the greatest part of the inhabitants of those said parts consists of persons engaged in the different departments of the cutlery manufacture; and that by their industry and labour they have not only gained the reputation of great skill and dexterity in the said faculty, but have relieved and maintained their famileis, and have been enabled to set on work many poor men inhabiting thereabout, who have very small means or maintenance of living, other than by their hard daily labour as workmen to the said cutlers; and have made knives of the very best edge, wherewith they served the most part of this kingdom, and other foreign countries; until now of late that diverse persons using the same profession, in and about the said lordship and liberty, not being subject to any rule, government, or search of others of skill in these manufactures, have refused to submit themselves to any order, or dinance or search; by means of which want of government the said workmen are thereby emboldened and do make such de ceitful and unworkmanly wares, and sell the same in divers parts of the kingdom, to the great deceit of his majesty's subjects, and scandal of the cutlers in that lordship and liberty, and disgrace and hinderance of the sale of cutlery, and iron and steel wares there made." One important proviso of the act requires "all persons engaged in the said business to make the edge of all steel instruments, manufactured by them, of steel, and steel only; and to strike on their wares such mark, and such only, as should be assigned to them by the officers of the company." These corporation marks were, in some cases, of considerable value, at an after period, as attesting the superiority of the wares upon which they were stamped: an exemplification of this fact has already been noticed in the amount of damages awarded in a court of justice for the infringement of a file mark. Another instance in which one of these marks led to a discovery connected with an assassination which holds a prominent place in the annals of this country, may be mentioned as occuring soon after the passing of the above-mentioned act. In 1626, one Thomas Wild, living in the crooked-billet Yard, High-Street, made for lieutenant Felton the knife with which he stabbed the duke of Buckingham. When the duke fell, the knife was found in his body; and on examination it bore a corporation mark, which being observed, naturally led to further enquiries on the subject. Reference was first made to the London cutlers, as to whether the knife had been made in the metropolis; they all, however, agreed that it had been made at Sheffield, and doubted not but the corporate mark would soon lead to a discovery of the real maker. An express was accordingly sent to Sheffield, the necessary enquiries made, and the poor cutler, Wild, presently sent up to London, and to the earl of Arundel's house to be examined. Wild at once acknowledged the mark to be his, and stated that it was one of two knives he had made for lieutenant Felton, who was recruiting in Sheffield, and for which he had charged him ten-pence. The earl was well satisfied of the truth and simplicity of Thomas Wild's testimony, and ordered him to be paid the expenses of his journey bome. While on the subject of marks, it may not be amiss to remark, that a laxness in the regulations concerning them (if, indeed, any regulations may be said to exist,) has led not only to great confusion, but in some cases to considerable abuse.Whatever may be said in favour of the policy of a manufacturer striking the name of his customer upon articles of which the latter passes with the public for the maker, no reasoning can justify the use of a mark calculated to deceive the purchaser, either as to the nature of the material or the signification of the monogram itself. It is not intended by this remark to object to any manufacturer's right to call his article by what taking or significant name best suits him, but to protest against the stamping of "cast steel" upon articles perhaps containing little or no steel of any sort, as well as the fraudulent imitation of reputable marks upon worthless wares. The policy as well as the justice of some regulation of this kind has been more particularly contended for in reference to the articles commonly cast of a worthless material. In 1817, a petition, signed by 10,000 merchants and manufacturers, was presented to parlialiament, praying that manufacturers of cast metal cutlery might be compelled to put some distinguishing mark upon their goods. No regulation, however, followed. Seven years afterwards, a petition was presented to the commons, praying for a less satisfactory if not less reasonable measure, namely, that a bill should be passed to prevent retailers and others (not being actual manufacturers of cutlery) from stamping or marking goods with their own names. A bill to this effect was presented; but being strongly opposed by the London cutlers, it was withdrawn in the committee. There is another practise so directly illegal, as well as shameless, that it ought not to be tolerated among respectable tradesmen; that is, the unauthorised word " 'patent." Specifications, ridiculous and worthless enough, are, it is true, often enrolled at the patent office, as well as many inventions and improvements of great value; but still, as they are alike dearly paid for, it is only fair that those who purchase the distinction, whether valuable or not, at so high a price, should be protected in their exclusive use of it. Not only were the larger and commoner sorts of knives fitted with sheaths, but also pen-knives, which were fastened into the hafts, in the manner of what are now called desk-knives; so that they could not be put into the pocket without a case or covering: this is evident from various representations in old pictures and prints. At what period that simple but effective contrivance by which they are now made to shut up so neatly intimates, that about the year 1650 clasp of spring knives began and conveniently was introduced does not appear. Harrison to be made with handles of iron, which in a little time they covered with horn, tortoise-shell, &c. In the old Scottish dialect, a clasp-knife was called a jockteleg, this barbarism being a corruption of Jacques de Liege, according to tradition a famous cutler in the Netherlands, whose knives were the first of this sort known in Scotland. Burns, in his epistle to Captain Grose, jocularly intimates that the veteran antiquary possessed, among other equally veritable rarities, the knife of Cain, and "It was a faulding jockteleg, Or lang-kail gulley.” that It has been said, that, however humble a shoemaker's enrations, it would be next to impossible to teach the art of making ployment, and however simple and familiar his tools and opeshoes by means of written and engraved descriptions, though mark may be made, with still greater force, in reference to the these should be never so correct and elaborate. The same recraft of the cutler. The least complex penknife, which, after having been made by a poor ragged work-board man, regularly apprenticed to the trade, is sold for sixpence, would probably all but defy the ingenuity of a first-rate machinist to imitate it in all its parts and perfections; so much depends upon the mawhich almost excludes the application of machinery. nual dexterity acquired by long practice in a handicraft art, "Where is thy home?" I asked of ore To hear a warrior's tender tone Ah! souls that well might soar above, To earth will fondly cling, "Where is thy home, thou lonely man ?* I asked a pilgrim grey, Who came, with furrowed brow, and wan, He paused, and with a solemn mien The land I seek thou ne'er hast seen, O! blest-thrice blest! the heart must be Its only home in heaven! WORSE AND WORSE.-Doctor Pernie happening to call a clergyman a fool, who was not totally undeserving of the title, but who resented the indignity so highly that he threatened to complain to his diocesan, the Bishop of Ely. "Do so," sayı the Doctor, "and he will confirm you." DUBLIN: Stereotyped, Printed and Published by T. & J. COLDWELL, 50, Capel-street, and Sold by the Booksellers in every Town in Ireland; by J. Robins, Bride-court, London; Willmer and Smith, Liverpool; A. Heywood, Manchester; R. Grant and Son, Edinburgh; and J. M'Leod, Glasgow. SUBSCRIBERS, paying in advance, will be regularly served with the Maga zine at their houses-in Weekly Numbers, 1s. Id. per quarter, or 4s. 4d. per annum-in Monthly Parts, with Printed Covers, 1s. 4d. per quarter, or 55. 4d. per annum. Drawn for the Irish Penny Magazine, by Samuel Lover, Esq. R. H. A. from a Sketch by G. H. Pitt, Esq ILLUSTRATIONS OF IRISH TOPOGRAPHY.--No. XXIV. [From Original MS. Collections.] CASTLECONNEL. CASTLECONNEL, a town of 112 houses, and 700 inhabitants, is situated in the barony of Clanwilliam, County Limerick. It lies very beautifully on the eastern side of the river Shannon, and consists chiefly of lodging houses, which in the summer months are much frequented by the neighbouring gentry. The river is here of considerable width, rolling over a rocky bed, the opposite side of which is richly planted. At the N. E. the Keeper mountains finely terminate the prospect. It derives its name from the CASTLE, whose now scanty ruins are above exhibited. Yet this once magnificent edifice was raised upon a commanding rock, and was withal so spacious, and rendered so easy of ascent to its garrison, that, according to tradition, a troop of horse has been drawn up in its hall. There is an excellent spaw here, which Dr. Rutty places in the same class with the German Spaw. The soil about it is of a calcareous nature, the water every where leaving an ochrecoloured matter, the sediment of which has been successfully applied to the cure of ulcers, and sores, while the waters are considered very efficacious in all scorbutic disorders, bilious complaints, obstructions in the liver, the jaundice and against worms. They are a strong chalybeate, but not purely such, having a mixture of absorbent earth and marine salt.Milk mixed with the water of this spa keeps longer unsoured than it would without it. The parish in which this town is situated is sometimes called Stradbally, but more usually by the name of Castleconnel. It is a rectory and vicarage in the diocese of Killaloe, the paronage being in the bishop of that see. There is a church here but no glebe-house. The parish contains nine townlands, being 1187 acres. The townland of Castleconnel comprises 339 of these. Part of the parish, including the town, is in the barony of Clanwilliam, the remainder in the County of the City of Limerick. The population of the former is 3236 persons, that of the latter portion 831 persons. The tithes are wholly payable to the incumbent, and have been compounded for at £244 12s. 3 d., while it is valued to the First Fruits at £2. Near the town is the beautiful seat of Lord Massey, "whose demesne," says Wakefield, "or at least that part of it near the Shannon, seems most delightful. On the opposite side the river makes a bend, and winding round a rocky promontory with a continued shallow stream, enters a bed of rock, in which it proceeds till it disappears among the distant hills. On the west the view is highly picturesque, and in the east is seen the village of Castleconnel, with its white houses, while the remote mountains fading on the sight, produce a most pleasing effect. But in the upper part of the demesne the prospect is exceedingly different, for when the spectator has got so high as to be elevated above the tops of the trees, the beauty of the scenery seems lost amidst the immense extent of the naked and barren hills." Previous to the English invasion the O'Briens, Kings of Munster, had a fortress on the rock of Castleconnel, and it is related that the grandson of Brien Borù was there slain by the Prince of Thomond. 1199, King John gave five knights' fees to William de Burgo, a baron of the family of Fitz-Andelm. In this grant was included Castleconnel, with a condition that he should erect a castle there, and when demanded restore it on receiving a fair equivalent. 1462, The sept of the O'Briens issuing from their native district of Thomond, crossed the Shannon near this town, and having expelled the English settlers of Munster, and peaceably negotiated with the native Irish in Leinster, hung upon the marches of the English Pale with dreadful denunciations. 1578, Queen Elizabeth wrote letters of condolence to Sir William de Burgo, for the loss of his eldest son, slain in a skirmish with the Earl of Desmond, and by letters patent of said year she created him Baron of Castleconnel, and gave him a yearly pension of one hundred marks, to be paid out of her Majesty's Exchequer, during his life: whereof, says Hollingshed, " he took so sudden joy that he swooned, and seemed to be quite dead." 1579, The Lord Justice Drury marched towards Castleconnel, to attack Sir John Desmond, but he having intelligence of his design made a timely retreat. 1640, In the August of this year the following extraordinary production of credulity and superstition, was written by a Mr. Holme, from Limerick, to the Archbishop of Armagh, then in Oxford. | to see so many of his countrymen (some of whom never served before) in employment, and nothing done for him. I have promised to move his majesty on his behalf, which I humbly beseech your Lordship to do. This lord hath two sons in the army who have served abroad. His second son, Mr. Edmund Burke, has nothing. He is a proper gentleman, and when there is an opportunity if your Lordship pleases to obtain for him a cornetcy of horse, or some employment in the foot, it will be an act of great generosity and goodness, and an obligation to a noble family." 1690, Castleconnel was taken by a party of King James's adherents. A letter written " from the camp before Limerick," to Sir Arthur Rawdon, thus alludes to this event :-"There was a castle within four miles of this place, called Castleconnel which was very strong, and in which were 200 men, this morning we took it, and they are now going to hang several of the enemy for example; the number I know not." According to Story the garrison was on this occasion but 126 men, commanded by Captain Barnwall, who surrendered at discretion. The assailants had brought four field pieces, and were led by Brigadier Stuart. 1691, The Prince Darmstadt with his own, Colonel Tiffin's, and Colonel St. John's, regiments of foot, five pieces of cannon, and about seven hundred horse, marched from Limerick, to reduce this castle, which was again, and more strongly garrisoned by the adherents of James. They refused all proffers at first, but after two days siege were compelled to surrender prisoners of war, whereupon De Ginkle ordered the castle to be dismantled and blown up, that it might no longer be "a nest of rebels and rapparees." The explosion was on this occasion so great that it shook the houses in Limerick, and broke several windows. For news we have the strangest that ever was heard of, of enchantments in the Lord of Castleconnel's Castle, six miles from Limerick, and several sorts of noises, sometimes of drums, and trumpets, sometimes of other curious music, with heavenly voices; then fearful screeches, and such outcries that the neighbours near it cannot sleep. Priests have adventured to be there, but have been cruelly beaten for their pains, and carried away they know not how-some two, some four miles. Sometimes minstrels, at other times armed men, as well on foot as on horseback, do appear to the view. What to make of this neither my Lord, nor the best divines we have, can tell, though they have had many consultations about it. Mrs. Mary Burke, with twelve of her servants lie in the house, and never are hurt, only she must dance with them every night, they saying- Mrs. Mary come away!' and telling her she must be 1803, The rectory and vicarage of Castleconnel were by the wife to the enchanted Earl of Desmond. Moreover, a country- authority of the diocesan, united with those of Kilnegarru fellow going to Knockinny fair, to sell his horse, a gentleman 1808, The church here underwent considerable improvements standing in the way demanded whether he would sell his horse; in aid of which undertaking £250 was lent by the board of he answered yea, for five pounds. The gentleman would give || First Fruits him but £4 10s., saying he would not get so much money at the fair. He went, however, and could not get so much money, and at his return he found the gentleman in the same place, who proffered the fellow the same money, which he then accepted. The other thereupon, bid him come in to receive his money, and carried him into a fair spacious castle, paid him his price every penny, and showed him the finest black horse that ever he had seen, and told him that that horse was the Farl of Desmond's, that he had three shoes already, and when he had the fourth shoe, which should be very shortly, then should the Earl be as he was before. This doue, the fellow, guarded by many men, was conveyed out of the gates, and he came home; but never was any castle in that place before or since." 1641, The Lord Castleconnel was attainted, but restored on the accession of King James the Second. 1659, Ireton, the son-in-law of Cromwell, in the prosecution of his intention of blockading Limerick, threw a garrison into Castleconnel; and it is recorded of him, that having himself advanced with Ludlow about half way between Killaloe and Castleconnel, with the object of effectuating a passage over the Shannon, all whose bridges and fords were guarded by the Irish, "they observed a place where a bridge had been formerly, with an old castle still standing at the foot of it, on the other side of the Shannon, whereupon they ordered the roads to be mended by laying hurdles and great pieces of timber on the bogs, that they might bear heavy carriages, which they did, under the pretence of making a passable way between the camp and Castleconnel, where provisions were laid up for the army. Every thing being ready in about ten days, Colonel Reeves was appointed to bring three boats of his to a particular bank by one o'clock in the morning. In the beginning of the night three regiments of foot and one of horse, with four pieces of cannon marched silently towards the boats, and arrived there an hour before day, where they found but two boats, yet they served to carry over two files of musketeers, and six troopers, who having unsaddled their horses caused them to swim by the boats, and were safely landed. Two Irish centinels were on the castle, one of whom was killed, and the other made his escape." 1686, The ingratitude of the Stuarts to their Irish adherents is strongly exemplified in a letter of this date from Lord Clarendon, then sojourning in Limerick, to the Duke of Ormond, alluding to the before-mentioned Lord Castleconnel. "I met here my Lord Castleconnel, whom the king knows; he served under his majesty in Flanders. He is now under great mortification | At a short distance from Castleconnel, on the side of Limerick, is Mount Shannon, once the seat of the celebrated John Fitzgibbon, First Earl of Clare, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Very near it is Annacotty, where one of the earliest paper mills in Ireland was erected by Mr. Joseph Sexton, and one mile further off is Newcastle, where King William had his quarters during the siege of Limerick, while up the river is O'Brien's bridge, which connects the Counties of Clare and Limerick. I cannot close this article without embracing this first available opportunity to offer my most sincere thanks to those who, as if electrified by the announcement in one of my former illustrations (No. XV.,) have offered me the grateful tribute of some national manuscripts, and the perhaps more confiding perusal of ancient family documents. They shall be, I trust, individually assured of my gratitude for compliments so peculiarly felt by me, while I almost shrink from so selfish a claim to what were professed to be for national service and promulgation. My reverred and dear friends, you are neither improvident in the exertions which you make to rescue Irish literature, nor mistaken in the zeal or patriotism of him to whom you offer them. Would that my ability to perpetuate them were equal to my will. It is at least with the purest wish to draw some portion of attention to a quarter too long neglected, that I have undertaken this and some other cotemporaneous labours. The civilization and improvement of Ireland are confessedly neces sary to the happiness and power of the British empire, and the means of accomplishing these objects can only be attained by an unembarrassed intercourse with her history, her customs, her national character, and her more prominent individuals. To effectuate this, whether in the case of county, city, town, or other Irish locality, I am ready in any summer vacation, or other interval of leisure, on being merely indemnified against the expense of publication. The resources of my long researches, my time and my own outlay I shall willingly hazard on the results of the growing intelligence of my countrymen, and the deepening interest which others begin to feel for their advancement. My next notice in this MAGAZINE shall be of the CITY OF LIMERICK, as far as the indulgence of four columns will allow me to illustrate it; while I shall feel much pleasure in renewing my notices of it or any other locality, where the encreased circulation of the MAGAZINE evinces, as in the instance of Cork, that the public are gratified by the inquiry. J. D. |