The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1908-06-22
THE BLARNEY Stone,


Origin Of tho Quaint Belief That II I'M
parto 70 the Lips That Touch II The
Power to Utter HOneyed, coaxIns and
pelusivo Speeches.
The barney stone takes its name
from the village OF BIarney. In County
Cork, Ireland, near which stand the
ruins OF the famous Barney castle,
dating back to the fifteenth century.
and the groves Of Barney, which en-
Joy an equally wide reputation. A riv-
ulet flowing through them bears the
same name. The name Barney Il
from the Irish 'blairne.s little field.
the Gaelic form being "blair'' or ''blar,"
a plain. The yillage 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,
wheeling and fiattering,
The true stone is declared to be one
in the castle wall, few feet below
the summit OF the tower TO reach
and osculate II 1t 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 1t III 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. half effaced In
scription reads, "Cormack Mccarthy
Forts Ne Fieri Facit A. D. 1916"
OF the barney 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 1t, one that II
was brought to the island by the
Phoenicians, who are reputed to have
colonized the region, and that X 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 1t belonged to the
syrians, who were credited with
speaking with double tongues after
kissing 1t. According to the story.
some Carthaginian Adventures be-
came enamored Of the stone and ap-
propriated 1t. They set sail for Minor
ca, but being overtaken by storm.
were driven into the harbor Of Cork
and left the stone lii that vicinity I'M
III 1t was made use Of ia the construc-
ton of the donjon tower OF Barney
castle.
AIS to the origin OF the belief III re-
gard to the qualities secured by kiss
ing the stone. crofton Croker says
that III 1909. when the Spaniards were
urging the Irish chieftains to harass
the English, the owner Of the castle,
Cormack McDermod Mccarthy. who
then occupied 1t, concluded an arrnis-
tlce with the lord president on condI-
ton oR surrenderlng Ii to an English
garrison But be put him on from
day to day with specious statements.
fair promises and false pretexts dntil
the lord president became the laugh-
ingstock OF the ministers Of Queen
Elizabeth, and the honeyed and delu-
ssve speeches III the lord of the castle
became known as mere sblarney."
The word found its way into litera-
ture In the last century. In the jour
na' OF Caroline Fox. which appeared
in 1885, there is this use Of the word;
Mime. dc Stael was regretting to Lord
Castiereagh that there was no word iii
the English language which answered
to their sentiment. No, he said,
there Il no English word. but the
irish have one that corresponds exact.
ly-blarney' Samuel Lover wrote
THE blarney's sd great deceiver'' tn
one De his Irish novels President
James Buchanan wrote. "rhe general
ftess y " ~ ANtA - NAtAt Lay tAkA4GA y @0NI%
trymen Il have ever felt proud OF my
descent from an Irishman), though
they themselves do blarney others, ara
vet hard to be hIarneyed themselves
Washington Irving in 'eThe 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
Ana munbIes again the old blarneys and
lies.
The name Of the old time castle and
town has added a noun, verb, an
adjective and a participle to the lau-
guage The most comprehensive def
milton Of the noun "blaTney' is eex-
ceevaingly complimentary language;
fattery; smooth. wheedling talk; pleas
ing cajolery" AS to the origin OF the
word, one photographer quotes Grote
as crediting the derivation of II from
The phrase clicking the hlarney
stone applied to incredible stories