The Irish standard., 1890-10-04
FAMOUS DUBLIN CASTLE.
A Sketch of the British Stronghold
Erected to Curb and Awe the
Irish People.
THE HOME OF THE VICEROYS.
Strange and Stirring Has Been It's His
tory But Every Plot to Take
it Has Eailed.

tOEy DuL livery Z lOt IT. leho
it Has Failed.
The ''Coombs" in Dublin is the 'Seven
Dia!s" of London, the old Five Points"
in New York city. But Dublin, though
smaller, is a city of far wider contracts,
and though it seems far CRY from
''Coombs'' to Castle, it is, nevertheless,
a fact that IN this city the black blood
runs close to this arterial, the slums
sleep very near the silks. Cork Hill,
which was puilt upon the bog, is made
land. Upon this land rested the Old
Danish fortress, and from it the stately
warrior pile of Dublin Castle now looks
down. From the castle on every side
run the strange, dark, tangled streets
that mesh and bold the poor like fishes
in net. The castle dominates Cork
Hill. as IN Ireland the Norman holds the
Ce)t. It is the actual seat and certer OF
Irish official life, aud its history is the
history of English domination in the
l.
when McDermott and the Norman
mobiles met the Mortimer on the field Of
blood at Waterford. The Irish nation,
ancient and untamahle, never vet wholly
cong uered by the Norman noble, has
always seen above the Norman castle
the banner of all alien race. From tho
day when thr Dane landed on the shores
of Ireland. 800 years ago, until this
hour. Dublin has always been the
citadel Of an invading power.
A thousand years ago, Dublin existed,
indeed, an Irish village, a. mere port, a
crowd of cabins and group OF butts
with a bridge of hurdles across the slow
black waters of the River Lltfey, the
''Eblona' of tbs days of Ptolemy. AT
terward the stronghold of the Danes
was built where now the dark old Nor
man towers look down. The Danes is-
sued from behind their grim walls to
rayage and destroy, and after that the
Normans ruled III Dublin when they
could not conquer in Connaught.
The castle was commenced in the
year 1905 bv the Norman colonists, nm
der special writ OF King John the Sec
ond, its recorded purpose being TO
"curb and awe the city" In the year
1918 it was completed by Henry de
Loundres, the then lord justice of Ire
land. OF the ancient Notifications the
Wardrobe tower alone remains. The
modern buildings, OF NO certain archi-
lecture. surrounding two open squares,
the lower and the upper castle YARDS
are grim. gray ana unimposlng in them
selves. In the lower castle yard the
Chapel Royal challenges the eye with
its huge castellated round tower, it's fine
Gothic windows, it's slender pointed
towers and carved pinnacles. 1t Is
modern. bearing date of 1914, 1t is
filled with the most quaint and curious
of oaken carvings, and the great win
dows are enriched with the rarest of old
stained and jewelled glasses. From
this yard Birmingham towerls reached,
in which are kept the Irish records, de-
posted in 1879 or 80. The lower castle
yard is divided from the upper yard by
a massive stone archwav. About this
yard are the houses of the lord lieuten-
ant and his official staff Here are the
state apartments, aud here are held the
famous dublin drawing rooms" and
the state balls and ceremonies attend
ant on the Dublin seasons and the
vice regal occupancy. Motionless guards
keep watch and ward at the great
portals, and red coated sentries pace the
worn stones of the inner courts. Well
have the foreign legions held the for
tress, for never has an Irishman of the
ancient race held swav within its walls;
and only once in all these centuries. and
then but bitterly and briefly, has tho
green hag been foated over the s5ern
old Norman towers.
Strange and stirring has been tho his
tory of the castle. Certain and secret
and subtle has been the fate Of many
a Celtic chieftain who had heard it's
dungeon doors swing heavily between
him and the fresh, free Irish skies. Plot
and counterplot, conspiracy and swift
revenge, Iawlessness and tyranny, rule
and mlsruIe, treac ,ery and relentless
ness, this has been the part Of Dublin
Castle in the history Of the land she
dominates. The story Of the people
hold all the dear, deep pathos OF the un-
successful; the story Of the castle ali
the glorv; if the gloom, of the stern and
the lnvincible. Within this dark and
suffering heart has failed the i,ape Of
MANY an ancient line, and on this grim
breast has faded the doWer Of raany a
dream.
Il ,lS . plot 50 take the castle has ever yeit