The Irish standard., 1908-08-08

which used to serve useful purpose
in ancient times, and are associated
with various fascinating legends.
There is a difficult ascent to natural
terrace that is called The Witch's
Stairs" A thoughtful owner of this
glorious forest has placed benches at
easy intervals, where visitors may sit
and read the history, traditions and
Legends of the place and imagine that
he can see the fairies that dance by
moonlight on the carpet of ivy that
conceals the earth. Every step is
haunted by goblin or ghost, and
every dark and gloomy corner has
been the scene of tragedy.
The castle is we'll kept and Sir
George Colthurst, the owner, makes
it as pleasant as he can for the thou.
sands of tourists who come here ev.
cry year from all parts of the world,
and of course a,large majority of them
are Americans. No tourist thinks of
visiting ireland without seeing Blar.
ney Castle, and aside from the legends
and the satisfaction of having been
here it is we'll worth the trouble. The
tower of Keep" which was the forti-
fled part of the building, is almost I'M.
tact except the floors, but the residen
tial portions have crumbled and fallen
away. The castle was built by Cor
mack MacCarthy, prince of Desmond,
who ruled all of Ireland south of Cork,
in 1173. The Desmond clan fought the
Geraldines (the followers of the Earl
of Kildare, whose territory adjoined
them on the north) until 1887, when
! league was formed between the two
clans, with other princes, against the
English, who were kept pretty busy
withiE the Pale, as the territory i'm.
mediately around Dublin was called.
Lady Eleanor MacCarthy saved the
life of Gerald Fitzgerald, the son of
Silken Thomas, Earl of Kildare, who
rebelled against English authority. She
succeeded in escaping from the coun.
try with him and taking him to Rome
where the babe. the only survivor of
the vengeance of Henry VIII, was con.
cealed and cared for by cardinal who
happened to be distant relative. And
it was thus, through the devotion of a
brave woman from it's hereditary enc.
mics, that the house of Kildare escap.
ed extinction.
In the time of Queen Elizabeth, how
ever, upon the suppression of what is
known in history as the Geraldine re-
bellion, the vast estates of the Earl
of Desmond and those of the. MacCar.
thys and 140 other chiefs and land
owners in Munster were confiscated
by a parliament that met in Dublin,
and we're given to English adventurers
for 2 pence and 3 pence an acre and
sometimes for no price at all, upon
agreements that they would colonize
the lands with .Englishmen.
ASA SAASO VAoSSdk I1ys Iuc ucdU Ol lQS
house at that date, was imprisoned in
the Tower of London with Sir Walter
Raleigh, accused of treason, and it
was he who outwitted Queen Eliza
beth with his "deludering" until she
coined the word ."blarney" to describe
his fluent conversation.
The famous Blarney stone is as we'll
known as the King of England, and
the superstition is that whoever kisses
it becomes instantly endowed with
wonderful persuasion of speech. But
very few people and only the most
daring athletes have ever tried the
experiment. The miraculous stone
is the sill of window, which projects
fro mthe main wall near the top of
the tower. AS it is eight or ten inches
from the main wall near the top of
an open space of about twenty or
twenty-four inches, it is not only diff
ficult, but dangerous to attempt to