The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-07-03
THE BLARNEY STONE,
in Old Legend Tells How 1t
Found Its Way to ireland.
THE MAGIC OF KISSING IT.
Origin Of the Quaint Belief That II I'm
parts to the Lips That Touch IL the
Power to Utter Honeyed, Coasing and
DeIusive Speeches.

from the village OF BIarney, III county
Cork, Ireland, near which stand the
ruins Of the famous Blarney castle,
dating back TO the fifteenth century.
and the groves OF Blarney, which en-
10y an equally wide reputation. A rlv-
ulet flowing through them bears the
same name. The name Blarney IL
from the Irish "blalrne," little field,
the Gaelic form being "blair" or "blar,
n plain. The village Is four miles north
west OF Cork and has n few hundred
Inhabitants. In the groves OF Blarpey
stands the ruined castle, in one tower
OF which IL the world famous stone,
the kissing OF which Is reputed TO
endow one with the gift OF coaxlng.
whcedling and flattering
The true stone Is declared to be one
I'm the castle wall, few feet below
the summit Of the tower. To reach
and osculatc II It Is necessary for one
to be held over the parapet by the
heels. But so many persons travelling
I'm the Emerald Isle desire to report
that they have kissed the real blarney
stone that one In the top OF the wall
IL held TO be sufficiently near the real
thing for the fiction TO be maintained
that Il IS the true stone with all the
powers OF the original And even to
aged and infirm persons one near the
castle entrance is declared to be the
original. On the true stone, near the
top OF the tower, n half effaced In
scrlption reads, "Cormack Mccarthy
Forts Me Fieri Faclt, A. ID. 1446."
or tho blarney stone Father Prout.
the Irish poet, declared that 1t was the
palladium OF liberty for Erin. He de-
scribes the stone and relates number
OF legends regarding II, one that IL
was brought to the island by the
Phoeniclahs, who are reputed to have
colonized the region, and that 1t had
long been I'm the custody Of the Cartha-
ginlans, who from It gained the rep
utation for insincerity which Is trans
mlttcd In the phrase "Punic faith"
and that before that 1t belonged to the
Syrians, who were credited with
speaking with double tongues after
kissing It. According to the story,
some Carthaginian adventurers be-
came enamored OF the stone and mp
propriated IT, They set sail for Minor
en-, but, being overtaken by storm,
were driven into the harbor OF Cork
and left the stone In that vicinity un-
I'll it was made use of I'm the construc-
ton OF the donjon tower OF Blarney
castle.
AS TO the origin OF the belief In re-
gard TO the qualities secured by kiss
ing the stone, Crofton Croker says
that In 1902, when the Spaniards were
urging the Irish chieftains TO harass
tie English, the owner of the castle,
Cormack McDermod Mccarthy, who
then occupied II, concluded an armis-
tlco with the lord president on condi-
tion OF surrendering II To an English
garrison. But he put him Off from
day TO day with specious statements.
fair promises and false preteXts until
the lord president became the laugh
Elizabeth, and the honeyed and dclu-
sive speeches of the lord OF the castle
became known as mere "blarney."
The word found its way into litera-
ture I'm the last century. In the Jour
nal" OF Caroline Fox, which appeared
I'm 1885, there is this use Of the word:
mime. de Stael was regretting TO Lord
Castlereagh that there was no word In
the English language which answered
to their sentiment NO. he said,
there IS no English word. but the
Irish have one that corresponds exact
! ly-blarney.' Samuel Lover wrote
"The blarney's so great deceivcr' In
one of his Irish novels. President
James Buchanan wrote, "rhe general
! has yet TO learn that my fathers coun-
! trymen q have ever felt proud OF my
descent from an Irishmanl. though
they themselves do blarney others, are
yet hard 10 I've blarneyed themselves"
Washington Irving I'm "The Traveller
wrote, 80 he blarneyed the landlord"
James Russell Lowell in The Fable
For Critics" says:
The cast clothes OF Europe your statcs-
! manship tries
And mumbles again tho old blarneys and
lies
The name OF the old time castle and
town has added n noun, n verb. an
adjective and n participle TO the Ian
guage. The most comprehensive def
milton of the noun "blarney" is EEK
ccc,lingly complimentary language;
hattery; smooth. wheedling talk; pleas
ing cajolery." As TO the origin OF the
word, one photographer quotes Grote
as crediting the derivation OF IL from
the phrase licking the blarney
stone,' applied TO incredible stories
told OF climbing 10 n stone very diff
cult OF access I'm n castle OF that name
i'm the county OF Cork, Ireland" But
he added that Dr. Jameson derives Il
from the French "balwerne," "a lie
frlsolous talk" and defines it gross
flattery; unmeaning or rexatious dis
course Oow)." But the word seems
10 have outgrown this restricted mean