The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-07-07
THE BLARNEY STONE,
An Old Legend Tells How 1t
Found Its Way to Ireland.
THE MAGIC OF KISSING 1T.

Origin of the Quaint Belief That 1t I'M
parts to the Lips That Touch II the
Power to Utter Honeyed, Coaxins and
Oeiusve Speeches.
The barney stone takes its name
from the village of Blarney, in County
Cork. Ireland, near which stand the
ruins of the famous Barney castle,
dating back to the fifteenth century,
and the groves of Blarney, which en-
joy an equally wide reputation. riv-
ulet flowing through them bears the
same name. The name Barney Is
from the Irish "blairne." little field.
the Gaelic form being 'blair" or "blar,"
a plain. The village is four miles north
west of Cork and has a few hundred
inhabitants. In the groves Of Barney
stands the ruined castle, in one tower
of which is the world famous stone.
the kissing of which is reputed to
endow one with the gift of coaxing
wheedling and fattering.
The true stone is declared to be one
in the castle wall. a few feet below
]
and osculate it it is necessary for one
to be held over the parapet by the
| heels. But so 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
is held to be sufficiently near the real
thing for the fiction to be maintained
that it 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, a half effaced in
| scription reads. "Cormack Mccarthy
| Forts Me Fieri Facit, A. d. 1446."
OF the blarney stone Father Prout.
the Irish poet, declared that 1t was the
! palladium Of liberty for Erin. He de-
! scribes the stone and relates a number
| of legends regarding it, one that it
! was brought to the island by the
| Phoenicians. who are reputed to have
| coloniZed the region. and that it had
| long been in the custody Of the Cartha-
! ginians, who from it gained the rep
utation for insincerity which is trans
|
and that before that it belonged to the
! SyrianS, who We're credited with
| speaking with double tongues after
| kissing it. According to the story,
some Carthaginian Adventures be.
came enamored of the stone and ap-
| propriated it. They set sail for Minor
ca, but. being overtaken by a storm
were driven into the harbor of Cork
and left the stone in that vicinity I'M
| til it was made use of in the construc-
ton of the donjon tower of Barney
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
the English, the owner of the castle
| Cormack McDermod Mccarthy, whC
then occupied it. concluded an arms
tice with the lord president on condi
| ton of surrendering it to an English
| garrison. But he put him off from
| day to day with specious statements
fair promises and false pretexts anti
the lord president became the laugh
ingstock of the ministers OF Queer
Elizabeth. and the honeyed and deIu
sive speeches Of the lord Of the castle
became Known as mere "biarney."
The word found its way into htera
ture in the last century. In the -four
nal" of Caroline Fox, which appeared
in 1885. there is this use of the word
Nine. de StaeI was regrettfng to Lore
| Castlereagh that there was no word il
the English language which answered
to their sentiment No he said
there is no English word. but tht
Irish have one that spends exact
Iy-blarney.' Samuel Lover wrote
The blarneys so great n ceceiver" il
one of his Irish novels. Presiden
James Buchanan wrote. The genera
has yet to learn that my fathers coun
trymen Il have ever felt proud OF m!
descent from an Irishman). though
they themselves do blarney others. ar,
yet hard TO be blarneyed themselves.
Washington Irving in THE Traveller
wrote. so he blarneyad the landlord
James Russell Lowell in The Fabl
For Critics" says:
Tie cast clothes OF Europe your states
| nanship tries
And r1lurab!es again the old biarneys an
o.. Est