Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1908-08-05
THE BLARHEY Stone,
An Old Legend Tells How II
Found Its Way to ireland.
THE MAGIC OF KISSING IT.

Origin Of the Quaint Belief That u Inn
parts TO the Lips That Touch II the
Power 70 Utter Honeyed. cosxing and
cslosi~e Speeches.
The hlarney stone takes It's name
from the village OF Blarney. in County
CcrS ireland. near which stand the
rains OF the famous Barney castle.
dating back TO the fifteenth century.
aad the groves OF Blarney. which en-
10y al equally wide reputation. riv-
rist flowing through them bears the
same name The name Blarney Is
! from the Irish "hlairne." little field.
the Gaelic form being blair or "blar."
Il plain. The village is four miles north
west OF Corr and has a few hundred
Inhabitants In the groves OF Blarncy
stands the ruined castle. In one tower
OF which Is the world famous stone.
the kiSsia. OF which is reputed 20
endow one with the gift or coaxiaS.
whccilinS ard Gathering.
The j-Ic stone Is declared 10 be one
j
the summit or the tower To reach
ard osculcte Il K Is necessary for one
o. IL hela over the parapet 10y the
heels isui - many persons travelling
In the Emerald Isle desire TO report
that they have kissed the real blarney
stone that one in the top OF the wall
l. held 90 be sufficiently near the real
| thia. for the fiction TO DC maintained
that Il Is the trre stone with all the
! powers OF the original And even 10
H-cl and i,crm persons one near the
castle entrance Is declared 20 lee the
/ original. On the true stone. near the
top of the tower. 4 half eTaced ia
| scription reads. "Cormack Mccarthy
I Forts Me Ficri Tacit \ y. Iii6.'
OF the blarney stone Father Irout.
the Irish poet. declared tha; Il was the
palladium 81 liberty for Erin. T. de-
scribos the stone and relates number
Of legends regarding q. one that IL
was brought TO thu ISLAND hy the
! rhocaiciauS who are rcputed TO have
co!oni1e1 TIE region ana that IL bad
long hCcn iu The custody OF the Cartha-
ginians. w,lc from 6; gained the rep
utation for msinccrity which is trans
m!ttcd In 5ac phrase "l'unic faith
and that before that Il belonged 20 the
Syrians. who were credited with
! speaking with douh,e tongues after
kissing Il; According % the story.
some Cartha gilman adventurers be-
came enamorcd OF the stone and ap-
propriated Il They set sail for Minor
ca. but. being overtakcn 10y storm.
were driven into the harhor 81 Cork
and left the stone I'm that vicinity un-
til IL was made use OF I'm the construc-
ton OF the donjon tower Of Barney
castle
As TO the origin OF the belief In re-
gard 10 the qualities secured 10y kiss
Ing the stone. Crofton Croker SAYS
that in lGO2. when the Spanlards were
urging the Irish chiefiains 90 harass
the English. the owner OF the castle.
! Cormack McDermod Mccarthy. who
then occupied e. concluded an uruis-
tice with the lord president OH coudl.
ton OF Surrendering & To an English
garrison. But he put him OF from
day 10 day with spcclous statements.
fair promises and false prctcXtS until
the lord president became the laugh.
ineStock ~ the ministers or Queen
Elizabeth. and the honeyed AMI delu-
slve speeches OF the lord OF the castle
became known as mere "biawicy"
Tho word found its way ir,o l.cra-
ture In the last century In TIE Jour
nal' OF Caroline Fox. which appeared
In 1885. there is this use OF iae word:
Nine. de Stael was regrettlng 70 Lord
Castlereagh that there was uu word IN
the English language which answered
70 their sentiment No. he said.
there is no English word. but the
Irish have one that corresponds exact.
ly-blarney' Samuel Lover wrote
The blarncy's so great Il deceivcr" In
one OF his Irish novels. President
James Buchanan wrote. THE general
has yet 10 learn that my fathers coun-
trymen Il have ever felt proud OF my
descent from an lrishman). though
they themselves do barney others. are
yet hard TO be blarneyed themselves"
Washington Irving in The Traveller
wrote. so he blarneyed the landlord"
James Russell Lowell in The Fable
For Critics" says:
The cast clothes OF Europe your states
monship tries
And mumbles again the old blarneys and
lies.
The name OF the old time castle and
town has added a noun. Il verb. an
! adjective and a participle TO the Ian
guaSe. The most comprehensive def
milton OF tie noun "blarney" is "ex-
ceeiingly complimentary language:
fattery; smooth, wheedling talk: pleas
ing cajolery" As 10 the origin OF the
word. one photographer quotes Grotc
as crediting the derivation of il from
the phrase licking The blarney
stone" applied 10 incredible stories
told of climbing to stone very din.
cult OF access in castle Of that name
in the county Of Cork. Ireland" But
he added that Or. Jameson derives II
from the French "balwerne." n lie:
fris olous talk" and defines il gross
fiattery; unmeaning or vexatious dis
course Uow)." But the word seems
TO have outgrown this restricted mean
Ing since the latter part Of the. eight
zenith century. Every freshman south
or the Iihey is popularity supposed TO
1 have kissed ba