Evening journal., 1908-07-11
THE BLARNEY STONE,
An Old Legend Tells How II
Found Its Way to Ireland.
THE MAGIC OF KISSING IT.


parts to the Lips That Touch II the
Power to Utter Honeyed, coaxins and
pelusiVe Speeches.
The blarney stone takes its name
from the village Of Blarney, in County
Cork, Ireland, near which stand the
ruins Of the famous Blaney castle,
dating back to the fifteenth century.
and the groves of Blarney. which en-
Joy an equally wide reputation. A riv-
ulet flowing through them bears the
same name. The name Blarney is
from the Irish ''blairne," a little field,
the Gaelic form being "blair" or "blar, "
plain. The village is four miles north.
west Of Cork and has a few hundred
Inhabitants. In the groves Of Blarney
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 coaxlng,
wheedling and hattering.
The true stone is declared to be one
in the castle wall, few feet below
the summit of the tower. To reach
and osculate It it Is necessary for one
to be held over thNNarapet 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 Fleri Facit. A. d. 144o"
OF the blarney stone Father Prout,
the Irish poet declared that it was the
palladium OF liberty for Erin. He de-
scribes the stone and relates a number
Of legends regarding il, 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
mitted in the phrase "Punic faith"
and that before that it 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 ap-
propriated 1t. 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 un-
I'll 1t was made use of in 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 chleftains to harass
the English. the owner Of the castle.
Cormack McDermod Mccarthy, who
then occupied 1t. concluded an armis-
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 until
the lord president became the laugh
ingstock Of the ministers OF Queen
Elizabeth. and the hopeyed and delu-
sive speeches Of the lord Of the castle
became known as mere "blarney"
The word found its way into litela-
ture in the last century. In the "Jour-
nal' Of Caroline Fox. which appeared
in 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 a deceiver" In
one of his Irish novels. President
James Buchanan wrote, ''The general
has yet to learn that my fathers coun-
trymen q have ever felt proud OF my
descent from an Irishman). though
they themselves do blarney others, are
yet hard to be blarneyed themselves"
Washington Irving in ''rhe Traveller"
wrote, $50 he blarneyed the landlord"
James Russell Lowell in "The Fable
For Critics" says:
The cast clothes OF Europe your states.
manship tries
And mumbles again the old blarnsys and
lies.
The name of the old time castle and
town has added a noun, a verb, an
adjective and a participle to the Ian
guage. The most comprehensive def
milton Of the noun "blarney" is "ex
ceeJlingly complimentary languages;
flattery; smooth. wheedling talk; pleas
ing cajolery" AS to the origin Of the
word, one photographer quotes Grote
as crediting the derivation Of 1t from
the phrase clicking the blaruey
stone." applied to incredible stories
told of climbing to a stone very diff
cult of access in a castle of that name
in the county OF Cork. Ireland" But
he added that Dr. Jameson derives II
from the French "balwerne." "a lie;
fri solous talk" and defines 1t 'gross
tiattery; unmeaning or vexatious dis
course Qow)." But the word seems
to have outgrown this restricted mean
ing since the latter part of the eight
eenth century. Every Irishman south
OF the Liney is popularity supposed to
have kissed the blarney stone, and If.
moreover. he has had a dip in the
shannon he IL ranufad n hava tho raf