'Oft in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Fond memory brings the light
Of other days around me.'
Thomas Moore
If you want to fall head over ears in love with Ireland at the very first sight of her charms, take, as we did, the steamer from Cappoquin to Youghal, and float down the vale of the Blackwater--
'Swift Awniduff, which of the Englishman
Is cal' de Blackwater.'
The shores of this Irish Rhine are so lovely that the sail on a sunny day is one of unequalled charm. Behind us the mountains ranged themselves in a mysterious melancholy1 background; ahead the river wended its way southward in and out, in and out, through rocky cliffs and well-wooded shores.
The first tributary2 stream that we met was the little Finisk, on the higher banks of which is Affane House. The lands of Affane are said to have been given by one of the FitzGeralds to Sir Walter Raleigh for a breakfast, a very high price to pay for bacon and eggs, and it was here that he planted the first cherry-tree in Ireland, bringing it from the Canary Islands to the Isle3 of Weeping.
Looking back just below here, we saw the tower and cloisters4 of Mount Melleray, the Trappist monastery5. Very beautiful and very lonely looked 'the little town of God,' in the shadows of the gloomy hills. We wished we had known the day before how near we were to it, for we could have claimed a night's lodging6 at the ladies' guest-house, where all creeds7, classes, and nationalities are received with a cead-mile-failte, [*] and where any offering for food or shelter is given only at the visitors pleasure. The Celtic proverb, 'Melodious8 is the closed mouth,' might be written over the cloisters; for it is a village of silence, and only the monks9 who teach in the schools or who attend visitors are absolved10 from the vow11.
*A hundred thousand welcomes.
Next came Dromana Castle, where the extraordinary old Countess of Desmond was born,--the wonderful old lady whose supposed one hundred and forty years so astonished posterity12. She must have married Thomas, twelfth Earl of Desmond, after 1505, as his first wife is known to have been alive in that year. Raleigh saw her in 1589, and she died in 1604: so it would seem that she must have been at least one hundred and ten or one hundred and twelve when she met her untimely death,--a death brought about entirely13 by her own youthful impetuosity and her fondness for athletic14 sports. Robert Sydney, second Earl of Leicester, makes the following reference to her in his Table-Book, written when he was ambassador at Paris, about 1640:--
'The old Countess of Desmond was a marryed woman in Edward IV. time in England, and lived till towards the end of Queen Elizabeth, so she must needes be neare one hundred and forty yeares old. She had a new sett of teeth not long afore her death, and might have lived much longer had she not mett with a kinde of violent death; for she would needes climbe a nut-tree to gather nuts; so falling down she hurt her thigh15, which brought a fever, and that fever brought death. This my cousin Walter Fitzwilliam told me.'
It is true that the aforesaid cousin Walter may have been a better raconteur16 than historian; still, local tradition vigorously opposes any lessening17 of the number of the countess's years, pinning its faith rather on one Hayman, who says that she presented herself at the English court at the age of one hundred and forty years, to petition for her jointure, which she lost by the attainder of the last earl; and it also prefers to have her fall from the historic cherry-tree that Sir Walter planted, rather than from a casual nut-tree.
Down the lovely river we went, lazily lying back in the sun, almost the only passengers on the little craft, as it was still far too early for tourists; down past Villierstown, Cooneen Ferry, Strancally Castle, with its 'Murdering Hole' made famous by the Lords of Desmond, through the Broads of Clashmore; then past Temple Michael, an old castle of the Geraldines, which Cromwell battered18 down for 'dire19 insolence,' until we steamed slowly into the harbour of Youghal--and, to use our driver's expression, there is no more 'onderhanded manin'' in Youghal than the town of the Yew20 Wood, which is much prettier to the eye and sweeter to the ear.
Here we found a letter from Salemina, and expended21 another eighteenpence in telegraphing to her:--
PEABODY, Coolkilla House, near Mardyke Walk, Cork22.
We are under Yew Tree at Myrtle Grove23 where Raleigh and Spenser smoked, read manuscript Faerie Queene, and planted first potato. Delighted Benella better. Join you to-morrow. Don't encourage archaeologist.
PENESCA.
We had a charming hour at Myrtle Grove House, an unpretentious, gabled dwelling24, for a time the residence of the ill-fated soldier captain, Sir Walter Raleigh. You remember, perhaps, that he was mayor of Youghal in 1588. After the suppression of the Geraldine rebellion, the vast estates of the Earl of Desmond and those of one hundred and forty of the leading gentlemen of Munster, his adherents25, were confiscated26, and proclamation was made all through England inviting27 gentlemen to 'undertake' the plantation28 of this rich territory. Estates were offered at two or three pence an acre, and no rent was to be paid for the first five years. Many of these great 'undertakers,' as they were called, were English noblemen who never saw Ireland; but among them were Raleigh and Spenser, who received forty-two thousand and twelve thousand acres respectively, and in consideration of certain patronage29 'undertook' to carry the business of the Crown through Parliament.
Francesca was greatly pleased with this information, culled30 mostly from Joyce's Child's History of Ireland. The volume had been bought in Dublin by Salemina and presented to us as a piece of genial31 humour, but it became our daily companion.
I made a rhyme for her, which she sent Miss Peabody, to show her that we were growing in wisdom, notwithstanding our separation from her.
'You have thought of Sir Walter as soldier and knight33,
Edmund Spenser, you've heard, was well able to write;
But Raleigh the planter, and Spenser verse-maker,
Each, oddly enough, was by trade 'Undertaker.''
It was in 1589 that the Shepherd of the Ocean, as Spenser calls him, sailed to England to superintend the publishing of the Faerie Queene: so from what I know of authors' habits, it is probable that Spenser did read him the poem under the Yew Tree in Myrtle Grove garden. It seems long ago, does it not, when the Faerie Queene was a manuscript, tobacco just discovered, the potato a novelty, and the first Irish cherry-tree just a wee thing newly transplanted from the Canary Islands? Were our own cherry-trees already in America when Columbus discovered us, or did the Pilgrim Fathers bring over 'slips' or 'grafts,' knowing that they would be needed for George Washington later on, so that he might furnish an untruthful world with a sublime34 sentiment? We re-read Salemina's letter under the Yew Tree:--
Coolkilla House, Cork.
MY DEAREST GIRLS,--It seems years instead of days since we parted, and I miss the two madcaps more than I can say. In your absence my life is always so quiet, discreet35, dignified,--and, yes, I confess it, so monotonous36! I go to none but the best hotels, meet none but the best people, and my timidity and conservatism for ever keep me in conventional paths. Dazzled and terrified as I still am when you precipitate37 adventures upon me, I always find afterwards that I have enjoyed them in spite of my fears. Life without you is like a stenographic38 report of a dull sermon; with you it is by turns a dramatic story, a poem, and a romance. Sometimes it is a penny-dreadful, as when you deliberately39 leave your luggage on an express train going south, enter another standing32 upon a side track, and embark40 for an unknown destination. I watched you from an upper window of the Junction41 Hotel, but could not leave Benella to argue with you. When your respected husband and lover have charge of you, you will not be allowed such pranks42, I warrant you.
Benella has improved wonderfully in the last twenty-four hours, and I am trying to give her some training for her future duties. We can never forget our native land so long as we have her with us, for she is a perfect specimen43 of the Puritan spinster, though too young in years, perhaps, for determined44 celibacy45. Do you know, we none of us mentioned wages in our conversations with her? Fortunately she seems more alive to the advantages of foreign travel than to the filling of her empty coffers. (By the way, I have written to the purser of the ship that she crossed in, to see if I can recover the sixty or seventy dollars she left behind her.) Her principal idea in life seems to be that of finding some kind of work that will be 'interestin'' whether it is lucrative46 or not.
I don't think she will be able to dress hair, or anything of that sort--save in the way of plain sewing, she is very unskilful with her hands; and she will be of no use as courier, she is so provincial47 and inexperienced. She has no head for business whatever, and cannot help Francesca with the accounts. She recites to herself again and again, 'Four farthings make one penny, twelvepence make one shilling, twenty shillings make one pound'; but when I give her a handful of money and ask her for six shillings and sixpence, five and three, one pound two, or two pound ten, she cannot manage the operation. She is docile48, well mannered, grateful, and really likable, but her present philosophy of life is a thing of shreds49 and patches. She calls it 'the science,' as if there were but one; and she became a convert to its teachings this past winter, while living in the house of a woman lecturer in Salem, a lecturer, not a 'curist,' she explains. She attended to the door, ushered50 in the members of classes, kept the lecture-room in order, and so forth51, imbibing52 by the way various doctrines53, or parts of doctrines, which she is not the sort of person to assimilate, but with which she is experimenting: holding, meantime, a grim intuition of their foolishness, or so it seems to me. 'The science' made it easier for her to seek her ancestors in a foreign country with only a hundred dollars in her purse; for the Salem priestess proclaims the glad tidings that all the wealth of the world is ours, if we will but assert our heirship54. Benella believed this more or less until a week's sea-sickness undermined all her new convictions of every sort. When she woke in the little bedroom at O'Carolan's, she says, her heart was quite at rest, for she knew that we were the kind of people one could rely on! I mustered55 courage to say, "I hope so, and I hope also that we shall be able to rely upon you, Benella!"
This idea evidently had not occurred to her, but she accepted it, and I could see that she turned it over in her mind. You can imagine that this vague philosophy of a Salem woman scientist superimposed on a foundation of orthodoxy makes a curious combination, and one which will only be temporary.
We shall expect you to-morrow evening, and we shall be quite ready to go on to the Lakes of Killarney or wherever you wish. By the way, I met an old acquaintance the morning I arrived here. I went to see Queen's College; and as I was walking under the archway which has carved upon it, 'Where Finbarr taught let Munster learn,' I saw two gentlemen. They looked like professors, and I asked if I might see the college. They said certainly, and offered to take my card into some one who would do the honours properly. I passed it to one of them: we looked at each other, and recognition was mutual56. He (Dr. La Touche) is giving a course of lectures here on Irish Antiquities57. It has been a great privilege to see this city and its environs with so learned a man; I wish you could have shared it. Yesterday he made up a party and we went to Passage, which you may remember in Father Prout's verses:--
'The town of Passage is both large and spacious58,
And situated59 upon the say;
'Tis nate and dacent, and quite adjacent
To come from Cork on a summer's day.
There you may slip in and take a dippin'
Fornent the shippin' that at anchor ride;
Or in a wherry cross o'er the ferry
To Carrigaloe, on the other side.'
Dr. La Touche calls Father Prout an Irish potato seasoned with Attic60 salt. Is not that a good characterisation?
Good-bye for the moment, as I must see about Benella's luncheon61.
Yours affectionately S.P.
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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tributary
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| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
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isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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cloisters
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| n.（学院、修道院、教堂等建筑的）走廊( cloister的名词复数 )；回廊；修道院的生活；隐居v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的第三人称单数 ) | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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creeds
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| （尤指宗教）信条，教条( creed的名词复数 ) | |
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melodious
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| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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absolved
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| 宣告…无罪，赦免…的罪行，宽恕…的罪行( absolve的过去式和过去分词 )； 不受责难，免除责任 [义务] ,开脱（罪责） | |
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vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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16
raconteur
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| n.善讲故事者 | |
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17
lessening
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| 减轻，减少，变小 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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yew
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| n.紫杉属树木 | |
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expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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cork
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| n.软木，软木塞 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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26
confiscated
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| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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culled
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| v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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37
precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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stenographic
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| adj.速记的，利用速记的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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celibacy
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| n.独身(主义) | |
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lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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imbibing
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| v.吸收( imbibe的现在分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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54
heirship
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| n.继承权 | |
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mustered
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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antiquities
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| n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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