Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1885-02-03
MISCELLANEOUS.
Sketches of Foreign Travel.a
BIZ Coz. JNo. t. Glpsox.
(Conti'.1ed. -

Should the House of Lords ever be
set aside, or the law of priinogcniturc
and of entail ever be abolished, it
would not be difficult to foretell5 the
fate of these noble and lordly. .estab-
iishments. Those that are near large
cities would most probably fall into
the hands of 7eoVtS honlImeS, men OF
great wealth, with the. usual pride aud
ostentation of millionaire of to-day,
who was poor yesterday, yet greatly
reduced in point of acreage. Others
more remote from the great commcr-
cial centres, and offrof thegreat lines
of travel, would be sold for song,
and, eventually, go to rum, and like
the present ruins of AbDcys and Cas-
ties, would become sad monuments
of past power, glory and pride.
Lower Loch Erne, the NTindemerc
of Ireland, is about 24 miles long,
with maximum width of miles,
1t begins near Enniskillen- and ex-
tends westward to near Donegal bay.
The drive along its northern shore Is
said to be the finest in ireland. /
did not take it, as had no company.
Nor did 1 sail over. it in the steamer,
which l would have done had it been
running. The excursion or season
boats OH the rivers and lakes, and the
season coaches in England, ireland
and Scotland, do not beginsto run till
the first of June, which it would be
we'll for those to note who mediate
tour i'll those countries. l got man
and row-boat and visited an Island
named Devenish, about three miles
from the town, containing nearly one
hundred acres, upon which saw the
ruins of an abbey, two very old
churches and a very interesting round
tower, built of small square stones,
with scarcely any mortar, the interior
surface of which was the smoothest
of any stone-worl1 L ever saw. The
tower is perfectly circular and has
openings up to the top to let in the
light. 1t is not as high by thirty-odd
feet as thee saw at Monasteboice.
From its presence with these old
ruins, the date of whose foundation,is
dimly known, and from its adapta-
tion to the purpose, it is unreasonable
presumption that like the leaning
tower of Pisa it was used primarily
and generally as bell tower. AS
far back as fifteen hundred years
Christian church wasIfounCledh there.
Why an island in the lake should have
been chosen for these ecclesiastical
buildings / can not divinc; unless it
was for the sake of security against
the early and continued inYasions of
the Norscmen or for the sake of sOli-
tude so genial to n Monk. The
neighboring people of humble condi-
ton still bury their dead about these
old ruins. Wien the early. fathers,
the conserVators of tie faith, planted
the cross in this far-off land, it was
among a people of the deepest relig-
ious sentiment and a people who will
be the last to abandon the burden of
that cross. After 0 cursory survey
of things returned to my hotel, the
Imperial, and left on the first train
for Londonderry, passing throughthe
county of Tyrone and along the cast
ern border of Donegal by the towns
of Omagh and Strabanc, and for
some distance along theriycr Mourne.
The country is very hilly and boggy,
with some well-improved lands how
ever. Londonderry covers a very
steep hill which rises abruptly from
the river Foyle that sweeps around it,
and whilst the city presents a pictur-
csque appearance and affords many
pleasing views from the square which
forms its centre, on the very crown of
the hill. it has nothing particularly
interesting to the tourist. It's popu-
lation is 25,OOO. Linen factories,
breweries, ship building, saw-miIls,
&C., constitute in part its industries.
1t has a very fine iron bridge four
hundred yards long across the Foyle,
which you have to cross to take the
train for Coleraine, BaIleymera and
Belfast. The city is known in his
tory as having endured great suffer-
ing and mortality from starvation, in
holding out in 1888 against Lord
Antrim, who commanded the Irish
troops in the interest of James
II. 1t formerly belonged to the fam
lily of O'Neill, who owned and ruled
over the whole county. Its original
name was Derry, but when the au-
thority of the O'Neil1s was over
thrown and their lands confiscated in
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the
town and county were handed over to
parties in London, who named it
Londonderry, by which name the
county and town have gone ever since.
In that siege, or rather just at it's be-
ginning, there were some nine men
whose memory the. citizens of London
derry to this day delight to mention as
having performed a timely, thought