The farmer and mechanic., 1912-09-24
BLARNEY Stone s.
CURIOUS HISTORY
Some Say it Gives Flo
quence
TO Kiss 1t Must Hang Over Angle of
The Caste.
(FroYn New York Sun.


London, Aug. 31.-The story Of the
Blarney stone (Which Mr.. Winston
Churchill kissed recently Is surround
ed with a careless vagueness or his
torical detail characteristic of its
comfy of origin and quite appropriate
to the nature Of the yarn itself.
Blarney is village four miles
northwest Of Cork, with 500 inhabi-
tants- 1t is situated on the Dlarney
river and has some celebrity for its
tweeds; but the castle and its stone
are, Of course, the main glory Of the
place.
The castle is little more than
square tower 12O feet high, with ma
chicolated battlements and it was the
stronghold of the McCarthys.
Triangular Shape.
and from many of the Oldest and 10
The famous stone is of triangular
shape, and is lowered from the north
angle Of the castle, about twenty feet
from the top. 1t bears the following
| inscription:
Cormac Mccarthy Forts Me
Fieri Fecit, A. D., 1446.
How the stone acquired it's reputa-
ton is disputed, but the version given
by Wheeler s"Familiar Alluson
holds the field, probably because it is
the only connected story offering any
thing like an explanation.
Story OF Superstition.
When or how it first got its singu-
lar reputation is not known, but the
superstition concerning it is firmly fix
| ed in the minds Of the Irish peasan-
try, hundreds Of whom resort to the
castle every year for the purpose Of
kissing a stone endowed with a prop
erty SO marvellous.
The story runs that in 1902 Cormac
Mccarthy, the lord Of Castle Blarney,
! concluded an armistice with Carew
the Lord Resident, on condition Of
surrendering the fortress to the Eng
| lish garrison: but whenever the full
| hlment Of his pledges was demanded,
he invented some smooth and palusi-
| BILE excuse for delay, till Carew be-
| came the laughing stock Of Eliza
! beth's Minister'S
Thus" says Wheeler, the term
! 'blarney became "A byword and was
used to denote soft, insinuating and
deceiful manner of speech
1t is said that Queen Elizabeth her.
self was the first to use the phrase,
1T is all blarney."
The reference authorities thus de-
scribe the virtue that follows the
kissing Of the stone:
DR.. Brewers Dictionary Of Phrase
and Fable: "Whoever does this shall
be able to persuade to anything."
Wheeler's Familiar ANusions': !:
| THE power of imparting to any one
who kisses it a fluent. persuasive and
not over honest tongue
Farmer and Henley's "Slang Die
tionary": "Blandishment, soft speech,
or sawder, gross f1attery. CANNON"
Dixon's "Dictionary Of Idiomatic
Phrases: ITO be full Of flattery and
persuasive language"
Names: "Suave speeches intended
| only to gain time
Loyd's "Encyclopedic Dictionary'c
Smooth, meaningless, fattering Irish
speech, designed TO put the person or
audience addressed in good humor,
and thus further any ulteriar object
which the orator may have in view
Virtues of the Stone.
The virtues OF the stone are irnmor-
talized in Milliken's Groves Of Blar-
/ ney" which contains this verse added
by Father Prout of Relics" fame:
There is a stone there
That whoever kisses.
9, he never misses
To grow eloquent.
! Don't hope to hinder him
Or to bewilder him,
/ Sure he's a pilgrim
From the Blarney Stone.
Samuel Lover has also written
about the Blarney Stone. The best
known verse is:
Q say, would you find this same
Barney?
There's a castle not far from Killar-
ney,
On the top OF its wall
(But take care you don't fan)
There's a stone that contains all this
| Blarney.
| Like magnet it's influence such fs.
| That attraction it gives all it touches
If you kiss II, they say,
b From that blessed day.
| You may kiss whom you please with
your Blarney.
The exact position Of the stone ia
another matter of considerable. dis