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SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON 
 

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SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON 
 
 IN 
 
 THE IRELAND OF HIS DAY 
 
 BY 
 
 LADY FERGUSON 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'THE IRISH BEFORE THE CONQUEST,' 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM REEVES, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF DOWN, 
 
 CONNOR, AND DROMORE,' ETC., ETC. 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS 
 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOL. II. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCXCVI 
 
 All Rights reserved 
 

 
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 xvi. friendships (continued) — henry winterbotham, m.p. i 
 
 XVII. AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY . . 1 6 
 
 XVIII. HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST . . -41 
 
 XIX. FRIENDSHIPS (continued)— k TOUR IN DONEGAL . I03 
 
 XX. FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS . . . . .122 
 
 XXI. FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE . . . 1 56 
 
 XXII. HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS POETRY, MUSIC, AND HIS- 
 TORICAL STUDIES . . . . .182 
 
 XXIII. FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS . . . 21 5 
 
 XXIV. HIS WORK AS A POET ..... 256 
 XXV. HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL IRISH 
 
 ACADEMY ...... 293 
 
 XXVI. HIS WORK AS DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF 
 IRELAND ..... 
 
 XXVII. HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF . 346 
 
 APPENDIX — BIBLIOGRAPHY .... 369 
 
 327 
 
 INDEX ....... 375 
 
SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1862-1873. 
 friendships (continued) — henry winterbotham, m.p. 
 
 ' ' So, whene'er I turn my eye 
 Back upon the days gone by, 
 Saddening thoughts of friends come o'er me, — 
 Friends who closed their course before me. 
 
 Yet what binds us, friend to friend, 
 But that soul with soul can blend ? 
 Soul-like were those hours of yore ! 
 Let us walk in soul once more ! 
 
 Take, O boatman, thrice thy fee ; 
 
 Take, — I give it willingly ; 
 
 For, invisible to thee, 
 
 Spirits twain hath crossed with me ! " 
 
 — From the German of Uhland. 
 
 It was on the way to Homburg in the autumn of 
 1862 that the friendship was formed which gave to 
 Ferguson and his wife one who was almost as a son 
 to them for the short remainder of his life. Henry 
 VOL. 11. a 
 
2 HENRY WINTERBOTHAM, M.P. 
 
 Winterbotham, a young English barrister, afterwards 
 Member for Stroud, and Under Secretary of State for 
 the Home Department, was then beginning his pro- 
 fessional career in London, and spending his vacation 
 abroad in the companionship of a sister and cousin. 
 Ferguson and his wife, accompanied by her sister, 
 had journeyed leisurely from Antwerp to Treves on 
 the Moselle, lingering in the cities, so rich in art and 
 architecture, in the Low Countries through which 
 they passed, and exploring the picturesque region of 
 the Ardennes. At their hotel at Treves they noted 
 their fellow-travellers, but did not exchange courtesies, 
 devoting their stay at Treves to the exploration of the 
 grand Roman remains of the once Imperial city. 
 
 Next morning they observed their fellow-travellers 
 on the deck of the steamer in which they were about 
 to descend the Moselle. Not wishing to lose any part 
 of the scenery of the winding and romantic river, 
 breakfast was ordered on deck. When his wife joined 
 Ferguson to summon him to his repast, she found him 
 in animated converse with the young Englishman, 
 which she hesitated to interrupt. They were dis- 
 cussing the question whether Milton — in ' Paradise 
 Lost ' — did not, in his description of the council held 
 by Satan and his compeers after their expulsion from 
 Heaven, derive his material from the debates and 
 debaters in the Long Parliament ? Could it be that 
 Sir Harry Vane was pointed at in Belial? and who 
 were the originals of Beelzebub, Moloch, and the great 
 Arch-Fiend himself? She waited for a pause in their 
 
A SUNDAY AT BERTRICH. 3 
 
 conversation, when Ferguson introduced his wife to 
 Mr Winterbotham, and she proposed the at fresco 
 breakfast, and invited him and his party to join them. 
 A few hours sufficed to make them intimate, and when 
 the young lawyer — who alone of the party was familiar 
 with the district — proposed that the Fergusons should 
 give up their project of reaching Coblenz that evening, 
 and, breaking the journey midway, should strike in- 
 land under his guidance to Bertrich, and spend the 
 next day — Sunday — at this quiet place, they acqui- 
 esced. On landing, a cart was despatched with the 
 luggage and an order for rooms to Bertrich, and the 
 combined party ascended a mountain, on whose 
 summit was a restaurant, commanding a fine view of 
 the Moselle. Here they dined. They afterwards de- 
 scended the other side of the hill, reaching their 
 destination in the evening. The sunny scramble up 
 the mountain, the walk through the woods in the 
 afternoon, the simple service in the church next day, 
 the chanting of the Te Deum, and singing of the 
 Hundredth Psalm in the woodland solitudes on the 
 afternoon of Sunday, followed by a few more days of 
 delightful intercourse, made the new acquaintances 
 fast friends. Before they separated it was arranged 
 that Mr Winterbotham, who had never been in Ire- 
 land, should spend his next vacation with his new- 
 found friends. From thenceforth hardly a year was 
 allowed to pass without visits from him. He made 
 numberless friends in Ferguson's house. His manly 
 and noble character, his candour, his frank, affec- 
 
4 HENRY WINTERBOTHAM, M.P. 
 
 tionate, and courteous bearing, attracted all who came 
 in contact with him, and made them his warm well- 
 wishers. 
 
 He was a devoted adherent of Mr Gladstone, and 
 called himself a Radical, and his political views were 
 not those of most of his Irish hosts ; yet he was so 
 candid, honest, and sincere, that these differences did 
 not break the ties of friendship. 
 
 Remember I am the greatest Radical in the Ministry, and 
 yet you approve of me [he wrote to a Conservative friend]. I 
 am amused at men's prejudices. Often when shut up in some 
 country-house with some old Tory, I watch the surprise with 
 which the honest fellow's prejudices drop off as he recognises 
 how much we have in common. I generally begin with the 
 piano [Mr Winterbotham was a delightful musician], and you 
 know even Saul's evil spirit couldn't stand that. 
 
 In a letter to Mr W. de Vismes Kane of Drumreaske 
 House, Co. Monaghan, to whom Mrs Ferguson had 
 written about him, he speaks of her — 
 
 I have already had cause to know that she is not only a 
 charming companion herself, but a most successful friendship- 
 planter. If you have as much confidence in her judgment as 
 I have, you will let me look forward to the pleasure of making 
 your acquaintance whenever you may come to London or I to 
 Dublin. 
 
 That acquaintance was made when he next visited the 
 Fergusons. Soon after, he cemented the friendship by 
 becoming Mr Kane's guest at Drumreaske. 
 
 Henry Winterbotham was a delicately organised, 
 fair-complexioned young man : his smile was winning, 
 his nature frank and gracious. His character is 
 
MR WINTERBOTHAM'S LETTERS. 5 
 
 disclosed in his correspondence. The letters that 
 happen to have been preserved are chiefly addressed 
 to Mrs Ferguson : — 
 
 My dear Mrs Ferguson, — An answer by return your 
 letter certainly shall have. I am conscious of a strong gravi- 
 tation towards Ireland whenever I think of a holiday. It has 
 become my established play-ground. I need no reflection 
 to feel assured of enjoyment there, and no words to tell me 
 of the cordial welcome I should receive. But in truth I am 
 just now drawn powerfully to my own home. I have not 
 seen my mother since Christmas, and of my father I have 
 had only a glance ; and besides my own longing for home, 
 I don't think it is quite fair for the young birds to spend all 
 their cheerfulness away from home, so Willy and I resolved 
 to go home and cheer up my father and mother. They are 
 getting old, and as their own life gets more shadowy they 
 live more in the intenser life of their children; so, though 
 they never urge it, I know they are glad we are going to spend 
 our holiday with them. I am sure I need say no more to 
 you to excuse myself from Dublin this Easter. You can't 
 think how much I enjoyed myself with you last autumn, and 
 to stay in Dublin with you and see more of your friends 
 would be a real delight. However, perhaps Dublin hospi- 
 tality would not be my best doctor ; for be it known to you 
 in strict confidence, I am suffering from gout. Why did my 
 great-grandfather drink the port and leave the gout instead? 
 I have been very busy (for a young barrister) ever since 
 Christmas, and sedentary pursuits and the everlasting dinner- 
 parties to which my social instincts lead me have told at last. 
 So I am going to rest in the country. Our legal holidays 
 begin this week. I go home to Stroud to-day. Term begins, 
 with a wholesome disregard of ecclesiastical proprieties, the 
 day after Good Friday. Kane goes to Ireland next week. 
 I am sure his mother must want his comfort, so I did but 
 feebly urge him to spend the holidays with me. I see a 
 great deal of him, as he has quite fallen in with a little knot 
 of fast friends here : he will tell you of them. We shall miss 
 
6 HENRY WINTERBOTHAM, M.P. 
 
 him very much when he returns to Ireland for good. He is 
 becoming half a Saxon already. Willy enjoys the society you 
 were kind enough to introduce him to at Cambridge. It is 
 quite a new phase of college life to him. But notwithstanding 
 its charms and vigorous boating and fiddling (for he is devot- 
 ing himself to the violoncello ! ), he is, I think, working well for 
 his degree, this being his last year. What he will do then 
 isn't settled. I want him to come to the Bar — where there 
 is plenty of room for both of us — but whether he would keep 
 his heart for so long a celibacy I don't know. Good wives are 
 at a high premium here, I fancy. I can't get any one to have 
 me. Perhaps a visit to Dublin would be more successful. 
 
 You can't think how Irish questions interest me, though 
 they but half amuse me. There is a strange touch of the 
 comic about even the greatest of them, and still more in the 
 treatment of them. To a thoughtful man, however, the whole 
 of that Belfast story, and chiefly its end, must be very sad. 
 It isn't that Englishmen have better principles or instincts, 
 but they have more law-abiding habits. But I mustn't babble 
 over into a fourth sheet. Remember me kindly to Mr Fer- 
 guson, and believe me always your affectionate friend, 
 
 Henry S. P. Winterbotham. 
 
 The " Kane " here spoken of was not the Monaghan 
 Squire, but the eldest son of Sir Robert and Lady 
 Kane. Robert Romney Kane, now a County Court 
 Judge, was then a student of law, and he too, like his 
 namesake, met Winterbotham first at 20 North Great 
 George's Street. They became fast friends, and, both 
 in London and in Ireland, saw much of one another. 
 
 In 1864 Winterbotham and his younger brother 
 William had joined Ferguson and his wife, who were 
 making an archaeological tour in the West. " I care 
 nothing for your antiquities," wrote Henry, " but much 
 for Mr Ferguson's society. Wherever he wishes to 
 
MR WINTERBOTHAM IN SWITZERLAND. 7 
 
 delve I am ready to hold the hod. Let me know 
 your movements. As soon as I am free Willy and 
 I will join you." They "turned up" at Sligo, and, 
 with the Fergusons, made their way to Donegal. 
 There Dr Stokes and his daughter, Dr Petrie, Dr 
 Todd, and the Rev. H. H. Dickinson joined the party, 
 and spent some time together in exploring the region 
 of Glencolombkill. 
 
 In 1867 Winterbotham wrote from Switzerland : — 
 
 Many thanks for your kind letter. I hope you will ere 
 this have received a newspaper I directed to be sent you 
 with an account of our election. I don't know if the paper 
 mentions the dark young stranger who hurried up just before 
 the election and was by my side throughout. Kane seemed to 
 enjoy the fun, and he and my young brother Willy shouted 
 enough for an army. I am very worn out with the heat, 
 excitement, and fatigue, and have fled here. Kane and my 
 two younger brothers are letting off a little of their superfluous 
 steam by walking round Mont Blanc while I am spending the 
 week in dozing and writing letters. I am perched up at 
 Glion overlooking the Lake. I need not say how lovely and 
 fresh everything looks. The hills seem never to grow old. 
 The wooded hills just behind Glion remind me closely of 
 those delightful ones about Bertrich where we spent the 
 Sunday (how many?) years ago. When the three younger 
 ones rejoin me on Monday, we hope to go to Zermatt and 
 really exert ourselves. My election has started me on a new 
 and interesting career, and I am unaffectedly glad of my 
 success ; but nothing seems to make up to me the accumu- 
 lated sorrows of the last year, or to do anything to fill the 
 void they made nearest my heart. Yet every one says I am 
 very lucky ; so I am going to believe it. At any rate, so long 
 as I can stand I will fight on. I am very glad indeed to 
 hear of Mr Ferguson's appointment, so congenial to his tastes. 
 I can understand, however, that it is no small sacrifice so far 
 
8 HENRY WINTERBOTHAM, M.P. 
 
 as money goes. But how true is it " man does not live by 
 bread alone," and what a ludicrous estimate does the outside 
 world make of the sources of our real happiness, especially 
 in your case, who seem to me to live in a very atmosphere 
 of kindly friendship ! I should like very much to breathe 
 that air again, but for many reasons I cannot hope to do so 
 yet ; but certainly when I do next come to Ireland, I shall 
 not treat you so ungratefully as I have done, but make my 
 way to Great George's Street or a Record Tower, or wherever 
 else your hospitality will shake me down a bed. Willy is 
 articled to a solicitor in London, a friend of mine and brother 
 of Alfred Waterhouse the architect. He is as full of energy 
 as ever, and will, I think, have a useful and honourable career. 
 But one would think I was writing to you from the Antipodes. 
 Farewell. Remember me very kindly to Mr Ferguson, and 
 let not any whom I have known quite forget me. — Believe 
 me always, my dear Mrs Ferguson, your loving friend, 
 
 Henry S. P. Winterbotham. 
 
 The young Member for Stroud had to contest his 
 seat at the election of July 1868. When his return 
 was assured, he wrote to his Irish friends : — 
 
 August 10, 1868. 
 I cannot pretend to answer your kind letter as it deserves — 
 that is, in a quiet leisurely way. Judge from the enclosed 
 slips in what a whirl I am. We do these things so quietly in 
 England that you would think our proceedings tame, but I 
 assure you we are all highly enthusiastic. I know that apart 
 from politics you will be glad to know that my seat is as 
 safe as anything in this uncertain world can well be, though 
 we shall have a hard fight for it. My constituency is raised 
 from 1400 to 5600 ! and I am busy teaching the new electors 
 where Ireland is, what sort of people live there, and stirring up 
 kindly feelings towards them. I may be wrong (for your 
 friend De Visme Kane told me you were a sound Conservative), 
 but it can only do good to arouse here some interest in Ireland. 
 On Saturday (15th) I hope to wash my hands of politics, and 
 
UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE, HOME DEPARTMENT. 9 
 
 meet Robert Kane, and a few of our common London friends, 
 at Grasmere, for a fortnight's walking about the Lake District. 
 My intention is then to return with Kane to Ireland, and stay 
 about there for a few weeks — in fact, until I am sent for here. 
 If you are in Ireland in September, I think I may at least 
 promise myself the pleasure of seeing you. How good of you 
 to take all that trouble to see me in London ! I keep my 
 address (24 Grosvenor Mansions, Victoria Street) carefully out 
 of all Court guides, &c, that I may have one quiet haven from 
 political, legal, and nondescript bores. Alas ! they find it out, 
 and my friends miss me. I am very glad you are gone abroad ; 
 there is no change like it. I do hope it will restore Mr Ferguson 
 thoroughly. Do not, I pray you, alter your plans in the least. 
 You are almost certain to find me in Ireland any time in 
 September. I would come abroad to you, but may not go out 
 of call. 
 
 In March 1871 Henry Winterbotham was made 
 Under Secretary of State for the Home Department — 
 a high position to be attained so early. Yet he was to 
 prove no exception to the irony of Fate. On the very 
 day of his appointment one of his cherished friends, 
 Mr Herbert, died ; a little later his sister, Mrs Anstie, 
 passed away; and on Christmas Day his father was 
 suddenly removed by death. He too could say, Suc- 
 cess is come ! But ah ! it comes too late ! 
 
 " The lips that would have loved to speak his praise, 
 The hearts that would have kindled at his name, " 
 
 were gone from earth ! He wrote dejectedly to his 
 Irish friends : — 
 
 House of Commons, 12//& June 1871. 
 I was very glad to receive your letter, and wish I had leisure 
 to answer it duly. It is not so much time for writing as a 
 
10 HENRY WINTERBOTHAM, M.P. 
 
 leisurely attitude of mind one wants for friendly correspondence. 
 My life is a continual and varied activity. My work is too 
 interesting to be wearisome, yet it pretty well exhausts me, 
 especially now I am learning my trade. I am cherishing 
 a dream of coming over to Ireland in the autumn with three 
 or four friends of Kane's and mine, and settling at Howth or 
 Killiney for a fortnight ; but all is yet uncertain, and I must 
 have a month in Switzerland first. If we come, it will be the 
 last week in September. I fear you will then be away ? I well 
 recollect our walk over Howth, and all your extravagant imag- 
 inations of what I could do. Extravagant I still call them, 
 repeated in your letter ! but thank you for them, nevertheless. 
 Certainly, without some higher aim than one's everyday life 
 realises, one would never rise above it ; so I let my friends, and 
 myself too, sometimes dream. I have had forty interruptions 
 in writing these few lines, and am ashamed to send them, yet 
 will do so, that you may believe I value your kind thoughts 
 of me. 
 
 I have spoken only of my active life, and it is active ; but 
 you will not think there is not a deeper, sadder undercurrent 
 of thought and memory. My dear sister's death I felt much. 
 That long Good Friday spent in her room, with my arms or her 
 husband's round her as we supported her, and for eighteen 
 hours watched her dying — that was a day not to pass lightly 
 from the recollection. 
 
 The following year brought a more cheerful account 
 
 of his life and prospects : — 
 
 You know the interest I take in public life, so I was easily 
 persuaded by Gladstone to quit the Bar and take Office. It was 
 no small sacrifice to me as a poor man. However, I owe no 
 man anything, and have enough, and am, alas ! unmarried, so 
 it does not matter. I was a little tempted a fortnight ago by 
 a proposal of the Duke of Argyll that I should go to India as 
 legal member of the Viceroy's Council. ^8000 a-year and 
 carte-blanche to make laws for some 200,000,000 people was an 
 attractive offer. But I resolved to stay at home. I enjoy my 
 life whether in or out of office. 
 
LAST INTERVIEW WITH WINTERBOTHAM. II 
 
 The last interview between the Fergusons and their 
 young friend was at the Langham Hotel, a few months 
 before Winterbotham's health finally gave way. They 
 had been abroad, and on their way home stayed in 
 London for two days only, and devoted the first to 
 calling on the friends they wished to see. If absent, 
 they left an invitation for breakfast next day at their 
 hotel. Many friends assembled at the Langham on that 
 morning, Henry Winterbotham being one. He looked 
 ill and worn. "You are burning the candle at both 
 ends," was the greeting with which they received him. 
 "I am," he replied, "and I cannot avoid it. The 
 Home Office all day ; the House at night, and Society 
 and the Shah for friends ; little sleep, and much worry. 
 But I will come to you soon, and you will take me 
 to Howth and set me up. I shall write and offer 
 myself as your guest the moment I am free." 
 
 Almost his latest letter was written in the same tone. 
 He craved for companionship with the " quiet, wise, 
 and good," and loathed the crowded salons where little 
 interchange of serious thought or personal regard was 
 possible. 
 
 I am always glad to see your handwriting and get a peep at 
 Ireland [he wrote]. 
 
 Many thanks for your very kind and oft-repeated invitations 
 to Ireland. I assure you neither my regard for my Irish friends 
 nor my interest in Ireland have grown in any degree less through 
 absence, though the daily increasing multitude of acquaintances 
 and of interests is a true dissipation to the soul. . . . 
 
 So you see how necessary it is I should come and see you 
 once more. When we are turned out in earnest, and I am 
 
12 HENRY WINTERBOTHAM, M.P. 
 
 once more a free man or gentleman at large, you shall soon 
 see me. 
 
 What with latitudinarianism in thought, Home Office work 
 for effort, and Society and the Shah for friends, my poor little 
 life is fast losing itself in nothingness. 
 
 When the session was over he again wrote to say 
 that his holiday must be a short one, and having 
 heard that Sir Robert and Lady Kane, with their 
 daughter, were on their way to Italy, he would pro- 
 pose to join them and see Rome, if the Fergusons 
 would excuse his change of plans. They at once 
 set him free, and were happy to think that he would 
 visit Rome for the first time in such congenial society. 
 After a short sojourn in Florence, Winterbotham 
 pushed on to Rome, the Kanes proposing to follow 
 a few days later. When they rejoined him it was 
 evident to them that he was dying, and they tele- 
 graphed for his family, nursed him with loving care, 
 sitting up all night ; but before his brothers could 
 arrive his soul had winged its happy flight 
 
 " To where beyond these voices there is peace." 
 He died on the 13th of December 1873, and lies in 
 the English burying-ground at Rome. 
 
 From one of the tributes to him in the public press 
 a few passages are cited, for the testimony borne to 
 his worth is a true one : — 
 
 The late Under Secretary for the Home 
 Department. 
 
 The Government, the House of Commons, and the Liberal 
 party lose a man of unusual promise by the premature death 
 
LETTER OF MR DE VISMES KANE. 13 
 
 of Mr Winterbotham. He was decidedly one of the ablest 
 among the younger men who have lately been rising into 
 influence. . . . His amiable character and courteous bearing 
 won him the friendship of many men who were compelled in 
 public life to rank themselves among the constant opponents 
 of his party. There can be no doubt that his early death 
 withdraws from our political scenes one of the few young 
 men of genuine promise who have appeared during recent 
 years in the House of Commons. 
 
 In looking over, after his loss, the few which 
 happened to be preserved out of Winterbotham's 
 many letters, there was one in which he spoke with 
 frank cordiality of Mr De Vismes Kane, whose friend- 
 ship he had gained in Ferguson's house. Mrs Fergu- 
 son, knowing that he would like to read it, sent the 
 letter to Mr Kane, stipulating only for its safe return. 
 
 There was little fear [wrote Mr Kane] that I should mislay 
 the letter you so kindly lent me — for which I return you my 
 best thanks. It is seldom that one has the opportunity of 
 learning the unprejudiced opinions of others concerning one- 
 self, and very rarely that of a friend given dispassionately. I 
 was therefore much interested in getting this peep into the mirror 
 of a friend's mind ; and though every reference to Winter- 
 botham is fraught with intense regret, yet the drawing out of 
 one's love to him is pleasant. I don't know that I ever felt so 
 perfect a sorrow for the loss of any one, not a near relation. 
 
 View it on what side you will, one's regret must be intense. 
 Such characters are so rare; his public character being as 
 estimable as his private one, and his great talents lighting up 
 and manifesting the lovable traits and admirable proportions 
 of the whole. 
 
 You have conferred a great benefit upon me, over and above 
 those many others which I do not forget, in bringing me into 
 contact with such an admirable nature, the memory of which 
 hangs like a perfect model in my memory, of what a Christian 
 
14 HENRY WINTERBOTHAM, M.P. 
 
 man may be in this complex state of probation in the nine- 
 teenth century. 
 
 Twenty-one years later, Mr Kane again spoke of 
 Winterbotham in the following letter to Lady Ferguson, 
 1 8th November 1894 : — 
 
 Thanks to you and my dear friend your husband, I enjoyed 
 a good deal of delightful intercourse with Winterbotham. A 
 more noble character I have never met, — so full of enthusiasm 
 for everything that was good, and true, and kind ; so wise, and 
 yet so simple in his manners and habits. He enjoyed his visit 
 to me here vastly, although I was in wretched health at the 
 time. His liberality of sentiment was wonderful, and although 
 his politics were very distasteful to me, his principles were such 
 as I was sure would guide him aright in the end. Had he 
 only lived to see Mr Forster, his friend, Chief Secretary for 
 Ireland, how he would have strengthened his hands in dis- 
 couraging the factious and false Nationalism which, by sedition, 
 political corruption, and assassination, tried to make Ireland a 
 Nation ! Had Winterbotham survived to the present time, 
 what an earnest Unionist would he have been ! How readily 
 he would have severed himself from Mr Gladstone's opportunist 
 policy ! It is a cordial to my heart to remember how noble an 
 Irishman and how honest an Englishman were my friends, and 
 how warmly I appreciated their characters. 
 
 Henry Winterbotham's younger brother William, 
 who had come to Ireland with him in 1864, and had 
 spent some time with the Fergusons in Donegal, in 
 due course of time became a prosperous married man 
 and the father of a promising family. In a letter to 
 Mrs Ferguson he wrote thus of his departed brother : — 
 
 I am not likely to forget you and Dr Ferguson, and your 
 warm affection for my dear brother, nor am I likely to value 
 less your friendship now he is gone who first introduced us to 
 
IS LIFE WORTH LIVING ? 15 
 
 each other. . . . Henry was the brightness of my life, the 
 most affectionate and also the wisest and best friend I had on 
 earth. Every important step I have taken in life, from school 
 to College, from Cambridge to my present work in town — he 
 advised them all. All my best friendships I owe to him. 
 
 The question is sometimes asked nowadays, " Is life 
 worth living? " To which an emphatic " Yes " should 
 be returned. " We bless Thee for our creation, pre- 
 servation, and all the blessings of this life." For, in 
 looking back upon its joys and its sorrows, it must be 
 acknowledged that happiness largely predominates. 
 
 " 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,' 5 
 
 writes Tennyson ; and Longfellow, when his thoughts 
 
 reverted to departed friends, gives expression to the 
 
 same sentiment : — 
 
 " Oh ! though oft depressed and lonely, 
 All my fears are laid aside, 
 If I but remember only 
 Such as these have lived and died." 
 
i6 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1863. 
 
 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 ' ' If all the year were playing holidays, 
 To sport would be as tedious as to work : 
 But when they seldom come, they wished-for come." 
 
 —Shakespeare. 
 
 Ferguson spent the long vacation of 1863 in diligent 
 exploration of that marvellous region of north-western 
 France which is penetrated by the Sea of Morbihan. 
 His headquarters were chiefly at Vannes, Auray, Car- 
 nac, and Plouharnel. In the last place — the best 
 centre for the antiquary — he stayed for about a month, 
 making maps and plans, and investigations amid 
 the tumuli and standing - stones — menhirs, dolmens, 
 alignments, as they are locally called — of that myster- 
 ious region in Brittany whose past is still an un- 
 solved problem. Imagine a district in which thou- 
 sands of great stones, set up on end in numerous rows 
 several feet apart, cover miles of country, and are 
 known as alignments, and where great sepulchral monu- 
 ments abound, each containing a central chamber 
 formed by immense stones rudely ornamented, and 
 
THE MEGALITHS OF MORBIHAN. 1J 
 
 roofed by a mighty mass of stone. These, again, are 
 often covered by a cairn of smaller stones, and over 
 them a mound of earth which looks like a natural 
 hill till it is ascertained to be a prehistoric sepulchre. 
 Such are the objects around the Sea of Morbihan or 
 existing on its islands. If stripped of its coverings 
 the central chamber of great stones is named a dolmen. 
 The menhirs are obelisks of unhewn stone, standing 
 alone or in pairs, most of them fallen. One of the 
 latter, of granite, had stood seventy feet aloft, " one of 
 the greatest monoliths ever raised by the hands of man." 
 
 The problems which perplex the mind at the sight 
 of these monuments are of deepest interest. What 
 is their date ? Who were the builders, and to what 
 race did they belong ? Had they a written language ? 
 Had they the use of metals ? For what purposes did 
 they erect these stupendous works ? 
 
 Ferguson has left unpublished material descriptive 
 of the megaliths of Morbihan, in which he speculates 
 on their origin and affinities : — 
 
 Throughout the west of Europe, from the Pyrenees to the 
 Scandinavian peninsula, and from the Elbe to the extremest 
 parts of the British Isles, are found those great stone structures 
 popularly known as Druids' Altars, Giants' Beds, or Cromlechs. 
 Brittany is particularly rich in these remains, and in Brittany 
 they exist in greatest number and size in the department of 
 Morbihan. Here we are astonished as well by the hugeness 
 of the masses as by the vastness of the areas comprised in 
 some of their combinations ; for besides the common forms of 
 stone table and detached obelisk with which we are familiar 
 elsewhere, we find, in the Morbihan, ranges of great stones set 
 on end, forming connected figures of miles in length, and 
 covering vast scopes of ground in their alley-like perspectives. 
 
 VOL. II. ' B 
 
l8 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 Looking to the Eastern cradle, from which all the arts of 
 life appear to have proceeded, we find in high India sepul- 
 chral structures of analogous character but of smaller dimen- 
 sions. No connecting-link appears in the north of Europe ; 
 but in the region of the Mediterranean — on both sides, but 
 chiefly on the African — traces exist which may be thought to 
 unite the distant extremities of the chain. 
 
 With few exceptions these monuments exhibit no trace of 
 any other art than that of transporting and upheaving great 
 masses of rock. A few are distinguished by a peculiar species 
 of ornamentation, and evince the skill of the stone-cutter; 
 objects of metal have been disinterred from some, and on one 
 structure of an analogous character Runic alphabetic characters 
 have recently been discovered. With these exceptions, the 
 problem everywhere presents itself to the mind of the observer, 
 How have these blocks of ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred tons 
 weight and upwards, been quarried, transported, and set on 
 end or heaved up on their supports by men apparently ignorant 
 of the use of metals — by men in so low a state of barbarism 
 as to be obliged to use flakes of flint for their knives, and 
 sharpened stones for their chisels and hatchets ? 
 
 At Saumur, for example, where one of the greatest stone 
 chambers in existence may be seen, a department of the 
 museum — small but extremely interesting — is filled with objects 
 drawn from monuments of this kind which have been dis- 
 closed and cut through in the formation of public works. A 
 thin flint-flake of eight or ten inches in length, without dif- 
 ference of edge or back, point or handle ; a boar's tusk stuck 
 in the cavity of a morsel of bone ; a stone hatchet, mounted 
 by inserting its narrow end in the core, or perhaps in a slit 
 cut in the side, of a deer's horn ; a little cup, sometimes of 
 unglazed pottery that plainly never felt the rotation of a wheel ; 
 a few beads of rounded shining stone, pierced for the reception 
 of a string, — these, with fragments of the bones of men and 
 animals, constitute the deposits actually found under the 
 freshly-opened stone chambers around Saumur. Similar in- 
 stances might be multiplied from hundreds of other museums, 
 both insular and continental ; but the writer instances the col- 
 lection at Saumur in particular, because, whatever be the civi- 
 lisation disclosed by the contents of the minor monuments, the 
 
BRETON AND STONEHENGE MONUMENTS. 19 
 
 same may be ascribed to the builders of the great one, between 
 which and the smaller dolmens of the neighbourhood there 
 exists no distinction save in size. . . . 
 
 Tradition generally ascribes these works to mythical if not 
 to purely imaginary beings. Stonehenge, reported by Polydore 
 Virgil to be the sepulchre of Aurelius Ambrosius, and some 
 of the Irish megalithic sepulchres referred by bards of the 
 twelfth century to personages of a prehistoric period, are the 
 principal if not the only exceptions. The reference of any 
 monument to gods, to giants, or to fairies, raises a strong 
 presumption against its being the work of the people who 
 ascribe to it such an origin. The arms and implements 
 found in or figured on them have as little place in actual or 
 traditionary use as have the names of those who erected them 
 in local nomenclature. All general information on the sub- 
 ject points to the conclusion that the megaliths are the work 
 of a race extinct or merged beyond the power of identification 
 in some succeeding wave of population before the commence- 
 ment of the historic era. 
 
 It will be observed that Ferguson inclined to the 
 belief that the Breton monuments were pre -Celtic. 
 Yet he weighs carefully the speculations of others — 
 notably of Algernon Herbert, who propounded the 
 theory that after the withdrawal of the Roman legions 
 from Britain Druidism regained much of its power, 
 and that the erections in stone were symbolic, and ex- 
 ponents of the Arthurian myths. Ferguson desired to 
 compare the monuments of western France and south- 
 western England, and on his return journey visited 
 Wiltshire, seeing Stonehenge, Abury, and Old Sarum. 
 In his account of the Morbihan, he describes Gavr-Inis 
 on one of its islands. Those who have visited New 
 Grange, near the Boyne, may realise the Breton struc- 
 ture. The stones which form the walls and roof in 
 both are covered with ornamentation very similar in 
 
20 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 taste and design. Irish tradition makes New Grange 
 the tomb of the Great Dagda — the last Tuatha-de- 
 Danann prince — conquered by the Milesian Celts, who 
 came to Erin by way of Northern Africa and Spain. 
 
 The department takes its name from the Mor-bahan — i.e., 
 the Little Sea or Estuary of Vannes, forming an inner gulf 
 of the Bay of Quiberon. . . . 
 
 Two of these islands [in this sea] bear conspicuous monu- 
 ments — that is to say, Gavr-Inis, lying a little within the 
 narrows, and Longue Isle {Mis Mr), fronting Locmariaquer and 
 the embouchure of the Auray. . . . 
 
 Gaour-Inis, or Giant's Island [as Gavr-Inis is called by 
 the people], argues at all events a non-Breton origin, just as 
 Coir Gaour, or the Giant's Dance, applied to Stonehenge, 
 would imply that the Welsh who gave it that name in the 
 time of Cambrensis knew nothing of its real authors. The 
 monument — a mound containing a galleried chamber — stands 
 on the southern end of the island. It has been often and 
 well described both by word and picture. The mound, 
 although it has been stripped down to the stones covering 
 the sepulchral chamber, still presents an imposing elevation, 
 and the stones are of great dimensions. What attracts the 
 visitor, however, is not the size of the monument, but the 
 remarkable character of the sculptured ornamentation with 
 which all the stones constituting the side-walls, with one ex- 
 ception, and some of the flagstones forming the floor of the 
 gallery, are profusely carved. It is the bizarre and South- 
 Sea-Island-like character of this ornamentation that makes the 
 first and most lasting impression, and transports the imagina- 
 tion, even more forcibly than the rough blocks of earlier struc- 
 tures, to the infancy not only of art but of man himself in the west 
 of Europe. Design of the same general character is, however, to 
 be found on similar monuments in Ireland, and also, as the writer 
 is assured by reliable testimony, in the district of the Pyrenees. 
 Concentric arcs, spirals, zigzags, parallel carved lines, leaf-like 
 and branch-like patterns, interspersed with triangular objects, 
 which appear designed to represent stone hatchet-heads and are 
 conventionally called celts, are the prevailing forms. . . . 
 
GAVR-INIS. 21 
 
 In all the multiplicity of carvings there is but one which can 
 with certainty be recognised as the representation of a known 
 object. It is a stone hatchet, mounted in its handle, very 
 rudely engraved on a spiral stone introduced to give height 
 to one of the parietal props of the corridor. It is noticeable 
 from the form of the haft, which is reverted at top, so as with 
 its backward curving point to give appui to the small end of 
 the stone wedge projecting through the aperture of the handle. 
 For in the mounting of the stone hatchet the blade is inserted 
 in the handle, not the handle in the blade. But this form of 
 haft, with its reverted top, is something peculiar, not seen 
 in the sculptures, medals, or remains, so far as is known to 
 the writer, of any other part of the world, and is here noticed 
 as confirming the truth of another and very remarkable repre- 
 sentation of the national weapon as seen on a neighbouring 
 monument which will be spoken of hereafter. Great blocks 
 of stone form the floor as well as the roof and walls of the 
 structure. These flooring - stones overlap, so as to give a 
 gradual ascent to the chamber ; and there seems some reason 
 to surmise that another vault exists beneath. However this 
 may be, it is evident that the work was planned and put 
 together with much deliberation, for some of the carvings 
 are returned on the sides of the stones in situations which 
 could not have been reached after the blocks were built in. 
 The decoration extends even to the flooring- stones. The 
 last step, forming the threshold of the chamber, has sculp- 
 tures on its upper surface of the same character as the side 
 suggests, and presents on its edge the primitive herring-bone 
 pattern which enters so largely into what is conventionally 
 called Celtic ornament. 
 
 Though stripped of so much of its covering, the tumulus 
 of Gavr-Inis is still a mound of grand dimensions, and is seen 
 overtopping the islands and promontories which surround it 
 from all sides of the Morbihan. . . . 
 
 The description which Caesar gives of the towns of the 
 Celtic tribes who occupied the Morbihan in his time reads 
 with interesting significance : " The sites of their towns were 
 such that, being placed on the very ends of the little tongues 
 and promontories of the land, they neither afforded access 
 to assailants on foot by reason of the rushing in of the tide 
 
22 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 from the main sea, which here takes place every twelve hours, 
 nor to naval attack, because at the recess of the tide the 
 vessels should go to wreck in the shoal -water; and so, in 
 both ways, siege operations were impeded. And whenever, 
 by force of great constructions, these difficulties were sur- 
 mounted, and the sea excluded by dams and embankments, 
 and these got up to the height of their town walls, so that 
 they began to apprehend the event, they would bring up a 
 crowd of shipping, of which they had great abundance, and 
 transport themselves and their goods to some neighbouring 
 town, where they would avail themselves of the same local 
 facilities for their defence." — De Bell. Gall., III. xii. 
 
 If Gavr-Inis, then, as this consideration would suggest, was 
 the site of a town in Caesar's time, was this tumulus, and were 
 the other great neighbouring monuments of the same kind, 
 in existence? or have they been erected since? and if then 
 in existence, were they Gallo-Venetian works, or the works 
 of an earlier race, over some of whose sepulchres the Gallo- 
 Veneti erected their dwellings? It is authentically known 
 that the Veneti of Caesar's time had the use of letters and of 
 iron. In some of the arts of life, as in navigation, they were 
 in advance of the Romans, having dispensed with the use of 
 oars, sailing by the adjustment of helm and rigging, and using 
 chain cables. They fought with missile weapons, and it may 
 be presumed, like other Gauls, with the sword. We nowhere 
 read of the stone hatchet as in use by them or any other 
 Gaulish tribe. It appears incredible that works betokening 
 a period and a taste so savage could have been Venetian of 
 Caesar's period. There is still less reason to refer them to the 
 Gallo-Roman civilisation which succeeded, and lasted down to 
 the obscure era of Arthurian romances. . . . 
 
 Thus each step of the investigation seems to throw us 
 farther back into the night of history, and to invest these rude 
 remains with a more surprising interest. 
 
 Gavr-Inis has been the subject of frequent description. 
 Not so the neighbouring monument on the Isle Longue, of 
 which some account will now be given. It stands on the 
 extremity of the island, looking southward over the narrows, 
 at the entrance of the Little Sea, and westward over the 
 roads of Locmariaquer and embouchure of the Auray. From 
 
MONUMENTS AROUND LOCMARIAQUER. 23 
 
 a distance it appears a grey heap of loose stones with some 
 traces of a terraced outline, and a hummock rising from the 
 centre. . . . Whatever be its epoch, it has existed through 
 a sufficient number of centuries to excite our wonder at the 
 cohesion which still keeps its uncemented stones in their 
 places. This, too, is due not to the size of the materials, 
 for the stones of this part of the structure are such as a 
 moderately strong man might easily lift, nor to any niceties 
 of adjustment, for there is nothing of the cyclopean character 
 in the masonry, but to the durable character of the plan 
 itself. The construction is simply a cairn of dry stone sur- 
 rounding a solid conical pillar, the external rings of which 
 are laid with stones of a moderate size, placed endwise round 
 a well-packed core. Yet to the height of from four to six 
 feet this dry-stone pillar still emerges from the surrounding- 
 ruin, and may yet for centuries continue to shake its shaggy 
 coat of lichens in the gales from the Atlantic. . . . Neither 
 ornament nor any kind of inscription could be discovered in 
 the interior. 
 
 It is on this slightly undulating, well-tilled, and thickly- 
 peopled tract behind and on either side of the town of 
 Locmariaquer that some of the most remarkable megalithic 
 monuments in the world are to be found. From the Pieries 
 Plattes on the outer shore, and the Butte de Ccesar, just 
 within the estuary on the south, to the long mound called 
 the Mane Nelud on the north, over a tract of about a mile 
 square, there are scattered groups of covered, half-covered, 
 and uncovered sepulchral chambers, and of prostrate pillar- 
 stones, of astonishing size and singular interest, heightened 
 by the impression, which at each step acquires more and 
 more the force of conviction, that in these vast masses we 
 look on the remains of a primeval state of man. 
 
 Of the Pieries Plattes little need be said. The name indi- 
 cates ignorance of its origin in those who have so designated 
 the monument. 
 
 The only sculpture which could be reached shows that the 
 carvings on the Pieries Plattes are true to the barbaric type 
 of Gavr-Inis, only somewhat more symmetrical in execu- 
 tion. . . . 
 
 At the foot of the mound two mighty obelisks of unhewn 
 
24 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 stone have fallen from their places, and lie in fragments 
 pointing north-east. We here begin to observe the employ- 
 ment of the Menhir — that is, the long stone, set up singly 
 or in pairs, after the manner of the Egyptian obelisk, in front 
 of the mound sepulchre. Noticing these features in passing, 
 let us for the present leave the Butte de Ccesar, to return to 
 it after some preliminary matter shall have better qualified 
 us to appreciate the results of its recent exploration. 
 
 To the left of the Butte de Ccesar lies the town ; and to 
 the left, or north and west of the town, extending southward 
 to the sea-shore at several points, are vast remains of sepul- 
 chres, from which the tumuli have been removed. They 
 give no sign, however, either in difference of feature or in 
 sculpture, to distinguish them from the hundreds of similar 
 remains scattered throughout all the country, and crowning 
 almost every eminence in sight. They are huge; they are 
 marvellous ; they are rugged and silent. Associated probably 
 with the mound formerly covering one of the greatest of 
 these denuded dolmens, or table-stones, as the discovered 
 chamber is popularly called throughout Brittany, formerly 
 stood another menhir of grand dimensions, now lying in 
 fragments on the western outskirts of the town. Its direc- 
 tion in falling has been towards the east. In the same di- 
 rection has also been the fall of the greatest of ?nenhirs of 
 the Morbihan, which lies at a distance of about five hundred 
 paces, adjoining the noble tomb called the Merchant's 
 Table. . . . 
 
 The giant obelisk which formerly raised its seventy feet 
 of unbroken granite beside that tumulus is an unrivalled men- 
 hir. When erect and whole, this was one of the greatest 
 monoliths ever raised by the hands of man. The great stones 
 in the basements of Persepolis and Solomon's Temple, the 
 Egyptian obelisks (Cleopatra's Needle only excepted), the 
 shaft of Pompey's Pillar, the Albert block which we failed 
 to transport from the quarries of Aberdeen, fall short of it 
 in every dimension. . . . 
 
 It is impossible to contemplate this mighty ruin without 
 wonder at the natural force which has thus lifted and dispersed 
 
MENHIRS OF BRITTANY. 25 
 
 so vast a mass, tossing its fragments like stubble hither and 
 thither, and still greater wonder at the power of men's hands 
 and the grandeur of their thoughts embodied in its original 
 erection. . . . 
 
 Who was the merchant? Had he brought with him the 
 knowledge of commerce as well as of agriculture? or is the 
 name a merely fanciful appellation, disguising the ignorance 
 of those who bestowed it? . . . 
 
 Of all the megaliths of Brittany this is the most perfect 
 in design and workmanship, and bespeaks the farthest social 
 advancement in those who erected it. Yet it belongs to an 
 epoch when the stone tomahawk was the weapon of a personage 
 of distinction ; and with most persuasive appearances of truth, 
 it seems to belong to an epoch when the first steps in agri- 
 culture were still wonderful and memorable in the eyes of 
 men just emerging from the condition of hunters and shep- 
 herds. . . . 
 
 Thus we see the unmounted celt figured on the stones of 
 Gavr-Inis ; the mounted celt on the stones of Mane Nelud ; 
 the mounted and plumed celt on the Merchant's Table ; and 
 here, in the Butte de Ccesar, the same feature appears in an 
 inscription, the value and curiosity of which can hardly be 
 over-estimated. One stone only is inscribed. 
 
 Within the Butte de Ccesar were found not fewer than 
 ninety-three stone-hatchets in hard tremolith ; eleven ditto in 
 jade, broken each in two ; nine large jasper beads, some of 
 them of the size of hen-eggs ; one large hatchet-head in green 
 jade, nineteen inches long ; another in white jade ; various 
 small beads, and an oval annular disc or flat ring, cut out of 
 one piece of jade. . . . 
 
 These were the only objects ; and the chamber being hither- 
 to inviolate, these objects may be taken as the things most 
 precious to the personages there interred. The chamber in the 
 Butte de Jumiac and Mont St Michel at Carnac yielded only 
 objects of the same character. . . . 
 
 As regards the name of Caesar, it has been applied indis- 
 criminately to this [the Mane-er-P hroek\ to the Butte dejuniiac, 
 and to various other localities along the coast about the en- 
 
26 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 trance to the Sea of Morbihan — in commemoration, no doubt, 
 of that day, fatal to the power- of the Veneti, when Julius and 
 his army occupied all the eminences whence they could 
 command a view of the rival navies engaging at their feet. 
 Pilot Joseph, who brings the visitor from Auray, will tell how 
 the wind failed the Govenstach, while the banked galleys from 
 the Loire broke their line, and the Roman sergeants with 
 their halberds cut the tackling, and let down their leathern 
 sails about their ears ; and will point to the beach beside the 
 Pieries Plattes as the spot where the victorious warriors of 
 Caesar landed after their battle. 
 
 Two impressions arose in the writer's mind on the view of 
 the Carnac alignments : one, that the monument is representa- 
 tive of some memorial object ; the other, that it is a species 
 of stadium in stone, as the Wiltshire cursus appears to be in 
 earth. 
 
 These considerations tending to refer the Carnac lines to 
 Mont St Michel, we return with a renewed interest to inquire 
 what is known regarding this great stone-heap. It has recently 
 been explored in a systematic and, so far, eminently successful 
 manner under the direction of M. Galles, Sous-Intendant 
 Militaire of the department. . . . 
 
 Here, if anywhere, we might expect an answer to the 
 questions, Had they the use of metals ? Had they the use of 
 letters ? So far as the voice of this one chamber is heard, 
 it gives a hesitating answer in the negative to the first, and 
 distinctly says No to the second, question. Hatchet-heads of 
 jade and other stones precious in material, exquisite in form 
 and finish, beads and trinkets of jasper drilled and polished, 
 are the only artificial objects found among the heap of cal- 
 cined bones and cinders which covered the floor. 
 
 No lapidary could produce work of greater symmetry or 
 finer finish than is displayed on the celts. Some of them have 
 the lustre of bronze, others that of ivory, combined with the 
 semi-transparency of alabaster. With excellent taste here, as 
 at Newcastle-on-Tyne, the building converted to the uses of 
 the Antiquarian Museum is itself an object of old historic 
 interest. But these unique collections of jade weapons dis- 
 interred from the cairns of Mont St Michel and Jumiac, 
 
SPECULATIONS ON THE AGE OF THE MONUMENTS. 27 
 
 preserved in adjoining cases, give the tower of the Constable 
 Clisson at Vannes even superior interest to the Northumbrian 
 keep of the Plantagenets. 
 
 It would. seem that, as we go farther westward, we penetrate 
 deeper into the night-time of history, and find ourselves among 
 works which, as they proceeded from the younger energies of 
 mankind, are proportionately on a more gigantic scale. 
 
 In a paper read before the Royal Irish Academy on 
 December 14, 1863, Ferguson adduces fresh reasons 
 for assigning a very early date for the megaliths of 
 the Morbihan : — 
 
 As regards the probable age of the megalithic monuments 
 of Brittany, the writer noticed the fact that Cisalpine Gaul was 
 peopled by tribes from the region of Transalpine Gaul, corre- 
 sponding with modern Brittany, so early as the first and second 
 centuries after the foundation of Rome ; and that with one 
 exception, near Trent, no monuments of this character appear 
 to have been observed anywhere in the valley of the Po. On 
 this subject the writer invited information, and submitted that, 
 if in fact the Gaulish family did not leave such memorials of 
 their presence in Lombardy, the conclusion would seem to 
 follow that we must seek for the people who practised those 
 modes of sepulture in an earlier epoch than that of the Celtic 
 migrations. The singular taste and barbaric aspect of the 
 objects appear to the writer to refer them to a race having 
 more of the characteristics of the Indian and Polynesian off- 
 shoots from the parent seats, than of any of the existing 
 nationalities of Europe. 
 
 This was also the idea of Sir Frederic Burton, as 
 will appear in the following letter : — 
 
 I have read with great interest the last paper of yours you 
 so kindly sent me on the Locmariaquer monuments. It 
 especially interests me, because I have very long been under 
 
28 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 the strong belief that all remains in Europe of this order were 
 not Celtic at all, but long ante-Celtic, and are perhaps amongst 
 the most ancient relics of man's art that exist. To find that 
 you, so deeply versed in all that can be known about them, 
 incline to that opinion, greatly fortifies my own conviction. 
 
 I should scarcely have guessed at the strange cartouches 
 being shields, but it seems to me a most happy conjecture. 
 
 May I now call your attention to shields very similar in 
 form, and in some cases really identical, on the monuments of 
 Egypt. For immediate reference look in Wilkinson's ' Ancient 
 Egyptians,' vol. i., from p. 339 to end of volume, and par- 
 ticularly pp. 348 and 388. No doubt Rosselini and Lepsius 
 would afford similar examples. 
 
 I have an idea, but I may confuse these Egyptian recollec- 
 tions in a bad memory, that some of the present African tribes 
 carry such shields too. The nearest to the supposed shields 
 of the Breton monuments are those in the hands of enemies of 
 the Egyptians. 
 
 On leaving France in 1863, Ferguson, in a poem, 
 " Adieu to Brittany," afterwards included in his ' Lays 
 of the Western Gael,' gave expression to the attraction 
 which he felt for the country in which he had so- 
 journed, and for the kindly, simple, pious Breton 
 peasants : — 
 
 ADIEU TO BRITTANY. 
 
 Rugged land of the granite and oak, 
 
 I depart with a sigh from thy shore, 
 
 And with kinsman's affection a blessing invoke 
 
 On the maids and the men of Arvor. 
 
 For the Irish and Breton are kin, 
 Though the lights of Antiquity pale 
 In the point of the dawn where the partings begin 
 Of the Bolg, and the Kymro, and Gael. 
 
Ferguson's adieu to brittany. 29 
 
 But, though dim in the distance of time 
 Be the low-burning beacons of fame, 
 Holy Nature attests us, in writing sublime 
 On heart and on visage, the same. 
 
 In the dark-eyelashed eye of blue-grey, 
 In the open look modest and kind, 
 In the face's fine oval reflecting the play 
 Of the sensitive generous mind. 
 
 Till, as oft as by meadow and stream 
 With thy Maries and Josephs I roam, 
 In companionship gentle and friendly I seem 
 As with Patrick and Brigid at home. 
 
 Be it thine in the broad beaten ways 
 That the world's simple seniors have trod 
 To walk with soft steps, living peaceable days, 
 And on earth not forgetful of God. 
 
 Nor repine that thy lot has been cast 
 With the things of the old time before, 
 For to thee are committed the keys of the past, 
 Oh grey monumental Arvor ! 
 
 Yes, land of the great Standing Stones, 
 It is thine at thy feet to survey 
 From thy earlier shepherd-kings' sepulchre-thrones 
 The giant, far-stretching array ; 
 
 Where, abroad o'er the gorse-cover'd laftde, 
 Where, along by the slow-breaking wave, 
 The hoary, inscrutable sentinels stand 
 
 In their night-watch by History's grave. 
 
 Preserve them, nor fear for thy charge ; 
 From the prime of the morning they sprung, 
 
30 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 When the works of young Mankind were lasting and large 
 As the will they embodied was young. 
 
 Farewell : up the waves of the Ranee, 
 See, we stream back our pennon of smoke ; 
 Farewell, russet skirt of the fine robe of France, 
 Rugged land of the granite and oak ! 
 
 The Vicomte de la Villemarque translated the poem 
 into French, and published his version in an article 
 in ' Le Correspondant,' which told of Ferguson's in- 
 vestigations, and amusingly described the speculations 
 of the peasants as to his proceedings. The attractive 
 personality of Hersart, Vicomte de la Villemarque, 
 author of ' La Legende Celtique,' ' Barzaz-Breiz,' 
 and other works mainly concerned with Wales and 
 Brittany, will appear in his subsequent correspondence, 
 which also evinces his appreciation of Ferguson's 
 genius. The "Adieu to Brittany" and its French 
 rendering were sent to Burton, who thus acknow- 
 ledged them : — 
 
 My dear Mrs Ferguson, — ... I have been unable to 
 send a line to thank Sam for the gift. Let me therefore, 
 first of all, have this gratification, and will you tell him 
 from me, and with my heartiest regards, how very welcome it 
 was, and with what thorough pleasure I read both the account 
 of his researches in Brittany, and the stanzas which I was de- 
 lighted to find coupled with the name of Villemarque. 
 
 These last are indeed delightful, and contain some lines so 
 eminently characteristic of their author that they thrilled me 
 through, as his dear earnest voice has done when reading his 
 own verses. There are thoughts and modes of expression in 
 these lines which could only come from an Irishman, and 
 amidst all Irishmen, only from him, and I cannot tell you how 
 
TRANSLATED BY VICOMTE DE LA VILLEMARQUE. 31 
 
 deeply they affect me. One thing, however, these verses, as 
 well as the paper read before the Irish Academy, do, and that 
 is to make me regret more than ever my ill luck in not having 
 been of your party last year. I should certainly have enjoyed 
 it to the full, and profited by it instead of by my compulsory 
 stay in England, having contracted an illness which deprived 
 me of the power of working for several weeks. 
 
 It was very nice in Villemarque to publish the verses, prefaced 
 by those charming lines of Lamartine, which certainly have the 
 music of true poetry. 
 
 Your letter from home after your return smarted me a little, 
 when I found that you had passed through London without my 
 seeing you. I think I should have forced myself on you and 
 Sam, on your journey to Stonehenge, at all events. My lonely 
 visit to it and Abury in 1859 remains among my pleasantest 
 recollections, and these would have been furbished up to the 
 most brilliant point by wandering amongst those weird stones 
 with you and him. 
 
 The Vicomte de la Villemarque wrote to Ferguson 
 from Keransker in October 1863 : — 
 
 Cher Monsieur, — Votre aimable lettre m'a fait le plus 
 grand plaisir ; je suis ravi que notre Arvor vous ait phi ; les vers 
 d'adieu que vous lui adressez me sont alles droit au cceur, et 
 j'ai traduit extempore les quatre premiers en franc.ais : — 
 
 " Terre de granit et de chene, 
 Je te quitte avec un soupir, 
 Mais en partant je veux benir 
 Ton visage oil mon coeur s'enchaine." 
 
 J'attends la suite avec impatience; mais vous avez ecrit un 
 peu vite et efface un mot, pour en mettre un autre que je n'ai 
 pu lire, dans le second vers de la troisieme stance : — 
 
 "Be the . . . of fame." 
 
 Vos derniers vers si beaux et si justes, — 
 
 " Holy Nature attests us, in writing sublime 
 On heart and on visage, the same," — 
 
32 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 rappelent ceux que Lamartine nous preta, lors de notre meet- 
 ing breton et gallois de 1838 : — 
 
 ' ' Lorsqu'ils se rencontraient sur la mer oti la greve, 
 
 En souvenir vivant d'un antique depart, 
 Nos peres se montraient les deux troncons d'un glaive 
 
 Dont chacun d'eux gardait sa symbolique part ; 
 ' Freres, se disaient-ils, reconnais-tu la lame ? 
 
 Est-ce bien la l'eclair, et la trempe et le fil ? 
 Et l'acier qu'a fondu le meme jet de flamme 
 
 Fibre a fibre se rejoient-il ? ' 
 Et vous nous disons 6 fils des memes plages, 
 
 Nous sommes en troncon du vieux glaive vainqueur ; 
 Regardez-nous aux yeux, aux cheveux, an visage, 
 
 Et reconnaissez-nous a la trempe du cceur ! " 
 
 C'est ainsi que les grands poetes se rencontrent, sans s'etre 
 cherches. 
 
 Je vous remercie de PorTre de votre memoire sur les anti- 
 quites de Karnak ; je le lirai avec un plaisir infini. Je vous 
 remercie egalement pour les communications de Mr. le Dr 
 Todd ; malheureusement elle arrivera trop tard, car mon me- 
 moire sur la cloche de Hival, a laquelle celui de la cloche 
 d' Armagh aurait pu servir d'eclaircissement, va paraitre dans 
 peu de jours. Je ne vous en prie pas moins d'offrir mes 
 remerciments au Dr Todd avec Passurance de mon profond 
 respect. Veuillez aussi me mettre aux pieds de Mistress Fer- 
 guson, " with the kind regards " de Mme. de la Villemarque, et 
 croyez au plaisir que j'ai eu a faire la connaissance d'un homme 
 comme vous. — Votre bien devoue, 
 
 Vte. de la Villemarque. 
 
 Keransker, 27 novembre 1863. 
 Cher Monsieur, — Merci de vos beaux vers ; ils m'ont 
 ravi : les Irlandais doivent etre fier d'avoir un poete qui 
 chante si bien. Helas ! le notre n'est plus. Combien je 
 regrette qu'il ne lui ait pas ete donne de vous lire ! II aimait 
 tant la vraie poesie et il aimait aussi lTrlande. Connaissez-vous 
 son poeme intitule " Le Combat de S. Patrick " ? II etait 
 triste de voir qu'aucun echo flatteur ne lui venait de votre pays. 
 
LETTER OF LE VICOMTE DE LA VILLEMARQUE. 33 
 
 Voulez-vous que le mien vous en envoie un de vos " Adieu a 
 la Bretagne " ? " La Revue de Bretagne et Vendee " vous en 
 serait bien reconnaissante ; je tacherais d'y traduire de mon 
 mieux votre piece, mais en prose ; le peu que j'ai mis en vers 
 m'a paru si au-dessous de l'original que je n'ai pas continue. 
 Vous avez appris la merveilleuse decouverte de Mane-er- 
 l'hroek ? J'ai vu la premiere pierre gravee ; on dirait qu'elle 
 Test d'hier : par malheur elle est brisee et un des hieroglyphes 
 n'est pas tres distinct ; mais l'ecusson est complet. Ceux qui 
 en portaient de semblables devaient etre freres de langue, en 
 Arvor comme dans [illegible]. Etes-vous alle a Belle-ile, que 
 nous nommais en vieux breton Inis Guidhel ? Avez-vous aussi 
 visite la paroisse toujours appelee Guidel? (Vous savez que 
 les Gallois vous appelent Gwyddelod.) J'aurais ete curieux de 
 connaitre si la physiognomie des habitants conserve quelque 
 chose de vos compatriotes. Mon ami Jacob Grimm croyait 
 que le dialecte Vannetais est celui qui offre avec l'Irlandais le 
 plus de rapport; c'est possible, mais de bien loin. Quelle 
 perte nous avons faite dans cet excellent et si savant homme ! 
 Nous venons de nommer M. Pertz pour le remplacer ; j'aurais 
 prefere un philologue. M. Whitley Stokes m'ecrit de Madras, 
 qu'il va publier le ' Felire d'Oengus ' ; ce sera bien heureux et un 
 grand service rendu. Je ne veux pas terminer cette lettre de 
 remerciments, Monsieur, sans vous prier de mettre mes hom- 
 mages aux pieds de Mme. Ferguson ; ma femme lui envoie 
 aussi ses meilleurs compliments. Recevez les miens avec l'as- 
 surance de mes sentiments devoues et reconnaissants. 
 
 Vte. de la Villemarque. 
 
 Others among Ferguson's friends in France — notably 
 M. Henri Martin, the author of a ' History of France,' 
 three times crowned by the Academie — held a different 
 theory as to the race who were builders of the great 
 monuments in Brittany. M. Martin wrote from Wales 
 in October 1863 — ■ 
 
 Je suis bien satisfait que ma lettre pour M. de la Ville- 
 VOL. II. C 
 
34 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 marque ait pu vous procurer d'utiles et agreables relations 
 avec cet excellent et tres devote Celtisane, qui vous aura donne 
 les meilleure directions possible en Bretagne. Je vous remercie 
 beaucoup du tres curieux dessin que vous m'avez envoye ; je 
 pense que vous l'auriez pris tous le monument qu'on appelle 
 vulgairement la table de Cesar a Locmariaker, et d'ont j'ai 
 quelques dessins a Paris avec lesquels je comparerai le votre 
 a mon retour. Si c'etait d'un autre monument il m'interes- 
 serait beaucoup d'en etre informe. 
 
 Je ne pense pas que ces monuments appartiennent a une 
 epoque ante-historique, et je crois que vous pouvez trouver la 
 preuve du contraire assez pres de chez vous, dans les caves de 
 Dowth et de New Grange. Les symboles qui s'y trouvent et 
 qui par rapport avec ceux de Gavr-ynys en Bretagne et de 
 Kivik en Scandinavie sont entierement celtiques, a vrai dire, 
 de type a une foule de combinaisons de lignes ornamentales 
 qu'on rencontre sur tous les objets gauloise, bretonne, et 
 irlandaise. 
 
 Pour moi, je ne doute aucunement de la tradition, qui, chez 
 vous, attribue ces monuments aux Tuatha-de-Danann — race 
 purement celtique. Je viens de me confirmer encore dans 
 cette opinion en examinant en Ecosse les nombreux monu- 
 ments figures qu'ont laisses les anciens Cruithne ou Pictes, et 
 qui se rapportent aux memes types avec quelques variantes. 
 Avec cela est merely Celtic remains. Je crois que les figures 
 que vous avez dessines sont plutot des symboles que des 
 caracteres d'ecriture. 
 
 Before continuing the correspondence which ensued 
 on Ferguson's discovery of previously unobserved 
 markings on the stones which formed the sides and 
 roof of the Breton sepulchral chambers, it may be well 
 to explain that they are almost invisible at mid-day, 
 and require the morning or evening light to render 
 them apparent to ordinary observers. 
 
 When Ferguson wrote to M. Rene Galles telling of 
 
DISCOVERY OF STONE MARKINGS. 35 
 
 his discovery at Mane-Nelud, that officer, on proceeding 
 to the monument at mid-day, failed to detect the mark- 
 ings on the stones. But he returned at night with a 
 lantern, and then saw all that he had been told of; 
 and on carrying on further explorations, he discovered 
 many new objects of interest. 
 
 Thus experience teaches that inscribed stones should 
 be examined at the hours when the sun is high or low 
 in the heavens. Then the incised objects cast a 
 shadow. This knowledge conduced to very early rising 
 on the part of Ferguson and his wife. Their custom 
 was to order coffee to their apartment at earliest dawn, 
 and desire a carriage to be in readiness to convey them 
 to the most distant objects which they proposed to 
 examine. These were often many miles away from 
 their hotel, in which case they took note of conspicuous 
 objects on the way, such as the spires of churches, by 
 which, towards evening, they could guide their return- 
 ing footsteps — for they dismissed their conveyance as 
 soon as their destination was reached. They carried 
 sketch-books, materials for making rubbings, candles, 
 and matches, and diligently utilised the light of early 
 morning. As the day advanced they procured bread 
 and fruit at the nearest hamlet, and rested in the shade 
 of tree or rock till the sun declined, when they resumed 
 their investigations. On the return journey they 
 crossed the country in steeple-chase fashion, over fields 
 and fences, aiming directly at some tower or spire. 
 When on the road, they would walk with the peasants 
 by the side of their carts, and converse with them as 
 
36 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 far as their limited acquaintance with the Breton patois 
 would admit of. Happily, kind feelings can be com- 
 municated without an extensive vocabulary. Often 
 have these good and friendly people offered them a lift 
 on their carts, which the recollection of Clonmacnois 
 experiences led them to decline. Sometimes, if they 
 neared the peasant's home, they would be invited to 
 enter and taste the cider, which is the beverage of 
 Brittany, for vines do not flourish on its granite soil. 
 It was delightful to witness the cleanliness, comfort, 
 and taste displayed in very humble abodes : flowers 
 adorning the windows, snow-white curtains and table 
 linen ; the food a kind of pancake made from rye, 
 eaten with a light and somewhat acid cider, and fresh 
 fruit, generally pears, grown on the gable of the 
 cheerful little home. 
 
 On Sundays they attended at the parish church — too 
 small for its pious population ; and as no other service 
 was held, they took their seats on a bank outside. The 
 worshippers — all of the peasant class — who could find 
 no room within, knelt in attitudes of rapt devotion 
 outside, — men on one side, women on the other, — and 
 joined in the service, which could be distinctly followed 
 through the open door and windows. 
 
 And whenever a " Pardon " was held the Fergusons 
 were sure to be present. This assemblage of peasants 
 in their picturesque costume combined religious ser- 
 vices with the festivities of a fair, including a dance in 
 the open air. Yet the Breton is a grave and sober 
 personage, pensive rather than merry — very dissimilar 
 
THE PEASANTRY OF BRITTANY. 37 
 
 in appearance, character, and type to the Frenchman 
 of other provinces. He is tall, rather fair than dark, 
 slender, narrow-faced, blue- or grey-eyed, with an air of 
 refinement and sensibility. Millet in his " Angelus " 
 has drawn to the life the Breton peasant. He re- 
 minded us rather of the Celtic Irish than of the broad- 
 headed, dark-eyed, vivacious, pleasure-loving popula- 
 tion of Paris and other parts of France. 
 
 When Ferguson and his wife left this district for the 
 more populous and fertile parts of Brittany, they found 
 resident gentlemen living on their estates whose prof- 
 fered courtesies would have been enjoyed had time 
 permitted. At the Chateau of Keransker, the home of 
 the Vicomte de la Villemarque, they took up a book 
 then but recently published, O'Curry's ' Manuscript 
 Materials of Irish History,' and were surprised to find 
 it carefully annotated and its margins filled with notes 
 and references. They were grieved to think how few 
 of their countrymen had mastered the knowledge it 
 conveyed as fully as the Vicomte de la Villemarque, 
 in whose well - stocked library they observed other 
 books referring to Ireland better studied than by 
 Irishmen at home. 
 
 This nobleman's letters show how wide was his 
 culture and ardent his enthusiasm : — 
 
 Keransker, i^juin 1864. 
 Voila longtemps que je n'ai entendu parler de vous ; donnez- 
 nous done de vos nouvelles et de celles de votre cher femme. 
 J'esperais que le Dr Todd m'en donnerait, mais sa lettre est 
 toute scientifique ; quant a M. Stokes, il est trop loin, et ne 
 parle que philologie. 
 
38 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 Ou en etes-vous et vos travaux d'explication sur les inscrip- 
 tions de Mane-er-1'hroek ? Je n'ai pas recu la note imprimee 
 que vous m'aviez promise a ce sujet, et n'ai que votre premiere 
 communication du 9 novembre 1863, a votre Academic 
 J'attends de nouvelles decouvertes pour dire moi-meme mes 
 suppositions a [word illegible] une des inscriptions, et je par- 
 lerai des votres a l'occasion. On m'apprend de nouvelles 
 decouvertes faites dans le tumulus de Grubelz (Kruk-Belz) 
 a l'aide de fonds que j'ai obtenues du comite des travaux 
 historiques pour la societe polymathique du Morbihan, societe 
 a la quelle — j'ai ete assez heureux pour etre rapporter — a ete 
 accorde, outre ces fonds, le grand prix annuel sur toutes les 
 societes archeologiques de France. 
 
 Je pense que M. Galles vous a tenu au courant de ses 
 dernieres feuilles : je vais aller les visiter avec mon ami Henri 
 Martin, et vous en parlerai plus en detail. Presentement, je 
 m'occupe du theatre chez les nations neo-celtiques, et je ne 
 trouve rien a dire de votre Irlande : est ce ignorance de ma 
 part, ou defaut de pieces de la votre ? Tandis que les Celtes 
 du Cornwall et de notre Armorique sont tres riches et que 
 ceux de Galles Font ete, vous me paraissez tout-a-fait pauvres 
 en ce genre litteraire : n'a-t-on done jamais joue chez vous de 
 miracles plays ? ou, si Ton en a joue, n'en reste-t-il aucun ? 
 Je m'etonnerais qu'une litterature 011 le dialogue joue un role 
 remarquable, et ou la legende est si dramatique, n'ait pas eu 
 de pieces de theatre proprement dites. Soyez assez bon pour 
 satisfaire ma curiosite a cet egarde ; je vous en serais tres 
 oblige. 
 
 Notre Bretagne ou je suis [absent] depuis deux mois, vous 
 est tres reconnaissante de vos "Adieux" qui Font charmee. 
 Je regrette que le stance sur la parole dho?inear des Bretons 
 soit arrivee ap res-coup ; a vous dire le vrai, j'avais parfaitement 
 compris le mot " word," mais voulu faire un extra-sens patristique 
 de propos delibere : le poete qui promit une langue celtique 
 eternelle dans ce pays breton a. ceux qui l'habitent leur faire 
 le compliment qui tes touche le plus. De meme en Galles, 
 et, quand j'y songe, en Irlande aussi, par ma foi ! ne criez- 
 vous pas : Erin-go-brath ! et cela sera ; sinon dans Tile meme 
 
LETTER OF M. HENRI MARTIN. 39 
 
 que PAngleterre opprime, ail moins en Amerique : ubi bene 
 ibi patria. ' The Book of Irish Ballads,' a la tete du quel je 
 trouve un nom que j'aime, me ravit, et aussi la collection de 
 Ch. G. Duffy ; toutefois je regrette que les poetes n'avaient pas 
 ecrit en irlandais. 
 
 M. Henri Martin, devoted to Celtic studies, wrote 
 thus on the subject a few years later: — 
 
 Paris, 3 Janvier 1867. 
 
 Cher Monsieur et Ami, — Excusez moi d'avoir ete si 
 longtemps de repondre a votre bonne lettre, et a vous remercier 
 du tres interessant specimen et des renseignements que vous 
 m'avez envoyes sur vos decouvertes. Les principales de ces 
 figures sont en effet toutes pareilles a celles de Gavr-ynys, et 
 ont evidemment la meme valeur symbolique. Les autres sont 
 elles de fantaisie, ou ont elles un sens qui nous est inconnu ? 
 Nous ne sommes pas en mesure de le dire. En tous cas, 
 voila une preuve de plus de l'identite des Celtes primitifs de 
 Bretagne avec ceux dTrlande, corroborant les traditions re- 
 latives au dieu Crom, qui se retrouvent ca et la. en Bretagne. 
 Je viens de lire l'essai sur les dolmens de M. de Bonstettin. 
 C'est un homme de merite, et qui a fait de belles publications 
 archeolgiques, mais son systeme d'attribuer les dolmens aux 
 Finnois est absolument inadmissible. L'opinion de l'ethno- 
 graphe et naturaliste francais Quatrefages est bien plus probable, 
 en ce qui regarde les Finnois. II leur attribue ce qu'on appelle 
 l'age de pierre primitifs, les fossiles humains, et les instruments 
 grossieres du diluvium de la Somme et des decouvertes analogues, 
 et ces Finnois primitifs se servaient prolonges a travers les siecles 
 jusqu'a l'age des cavernes. Les premiers Celtes aurient trouve 
 en Occident des groupes plus du moins nombreux de cette race. 
 
 II me parait probable que les Celtes ont du occuper l'occi- 
 dent et le nord de l'Europe, entre vingt-cinq et vingt siecles 
 avant notre ere. On commence a croire de plus en plus que 
 les habitations lacustes leur appartiennent entierement. 
 
 Veuillez recevoir tout mes remerciments, ainsi que Mme. 
 Ferguson, de l'aimable acceuil que vous avez bien voulu faire, 
 
40 AN ANTIQUARIAN TOUR IN BRITTANY. 
 
 a mon jeune compatriote M. H. Gaidoz, dont le zele pour les 
 etudes celtiques merite encouragement. Je lui ai envoye depuis 
 de nouvelles lettres de recommendation de la part de l'excellente 
 Miss O'Mara, et j'espere qu'il en aura fait bon usage. II n'a 
 pas commence par les agrements de votre climat en arrivant 
 Fhiver en Irlande, mais il a ete fort heureux sous d'autres 
 rapports, et il sera dedommage sous celui-la, quand il verra la 
 verte Erin dans sa parure printemiere. II est probable que 
 les traces que vous trouvez en Irlande de la singuliere coutume 
 des sauvages americaines si elle a existe chez les Cantabres, 
 vous vient de Pelement ibere, plus ou moins mele aux Celtes 
 d'Irlande. J'ecrirai a ce sujet a mes amis du pays basque. 
 
 J'ai ete bien heureux de pouvoir me mettre pendant quelques 
 jours a la disposition de Mme. Ferguson et a la votre, d'une 
 facon si agreable pour moi-meme, durant votre dernier sejour 
 en France, et je compte bien que cette annee nous aurons le 
 plaisir, ma femme et moi, de vous revoir a Passy, et que je 
 pourrai vous conduire rendre visite aux Pharaons, sans sortir 
 de Paris. Vous savez que le musee de Memphis nous arrive. 
 J'aurais grande satisfaction a accepter votre bonne hospitalite 
 et a completer sous votre direction ma premiere reconnaissance 
 de Flrlande, mais je ne puis encore arreter de projets prochains 
 parce qu'apres m'etre remis au travail et avoir passe Fhiver a. 
 mettre en train une ceuvre d'histoire populaire ; il est possible 
 que, comme repos et sante, on me conseille une course au 
 soleil du Midi. J'ai eu des nouvelles de notre ami La Ville- 
 marque de Pau, ou il est avec sa femme, toujours bien souffrante. 
 A vous cordialement et mes devoues hommages a madame. 
 
 H. Martin. 
 
 The papers read before the Royal Irish Academy by 
 Ferguson after his return to Dublin, and printed in 
 their ' Proceedings,' give the further results of his 
 researches in Brittany, which led to the examination 
 of hitherto unopened tumuli by the French Govern- 
 ment. 
 
41 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1863-18S6. 
 
 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 " Men must endure 
 Their going hence, even as their coming hither ; 
 Ripeness is all." 
 
 —Shakespeare. 
 
 On his return from Brittany in 1863 Ferguson estab- 
 lished himself for a time at Salisbury, to delight his 
 aesthetic sense with its cathedral. Keenly sensitive 
 to architectural beauty, he never failed to visit, when 
 within reach, these majestic churches, the glory of 
 Christendom, each of them — to use his own words — a 
 
 Builded prayer, 
 With majesty of strength and size, 
 With glory of harmonious dyes. 
 
 From Salisbury he explored Stonehenge, Old Sarum, 
 and Abury. In their search for the latter place — for 
 Abury seemed to be unknown to the people of the 
 district — Ferguson and his wife drove through the 
 forest of Savernake, glorious in its autumnal beauty, 
 with wide-spreading trees, almost as old as the anti- 
 
42 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 quity they were in search of, verdant grass, grazing 
 deer amid the fern, soft sunshine, realising Shake- 
 speare's words : — 
 
 " Under the greenwood tree, 
 Who loves to lie with me, 
 And turn his merry note 
 Unto the sweet bird's throat ; 
 Come hither, come hither, come hither, 
 Here shall he see 
 No enemy, 
 But winter and rough weather ! ;J 
 
 Abury, or Avebury, is an earthwork not far from 
 Marlborough, with standing stones surrounding it, of 
 which a few are still in situ. Though worthy of a visit, 
 it is inferior in interest to Old Sarum or to Stonehenge 
 — termed by Inigo Jones, who visited it in 1655, "the 
 most notable antiquity of Great Britain." 
 
 The massive stones — trilithons, as they are called — 
 transported from a distance — tradition says from Africa 
 — which stand in groups or lie prone on Salisbury 
 Plain, erected at an unknown time, by unknown 
 builders, for a conjectural purpose, powerfully impress 
 the imagination of the beholder. The grassy upland 
 on which this weird erection stands, its solitude, its 
 mystery, the speculations to which during the centuries 
 it has given rise, make Stonehenge probably the most 
 impressive object on British soil. Henry of Hunting- 
 don in the twelfth century wrote of this " marvel of 
 Britain, where stones of amazing bigness are raised 
 in manner of gateways, so that gateways appear erec- 
 ted over gateways ; nor can any one find out by what 
 
STONEHENGE AND OLD SARUM. 43 
 
 contrivance stones so great have been raised to such 
 a height, or for what reason they have been erected in 
 that place." 
 
 The lintel or impost of the central trilithon had fallen 
 before Ferguson had first seen Stonehenge. "Those 
 who had seen it lying at the foot of the leaning pillar- 
 stone which once formed one of its supports," he 
 observed, "will remember the emotion excited by its 
 vast size, and the surprising height to which it had 
 once been elevated." 
 
 Hardly less impressive is the great Wiltshire earth- 
 work known as Old Sarum. It is surrounded by a 
 deep trench, as is customary in these erections. During 
 the Roman occupation of Britain a fortification, now 
 in ruin, had been built by this military people on Old 
 Sarum. When the Normans conquered the land more 
 than a thousand years later they built a church on its 
 site, which has crumbled away. But the earthwork 
 stands, and is likely to stand, as uninjured by Time 
 as it has been hitherto through countless generations. 
 
 In his " Adieu to Brittany," Ferguson has recorded 
 
 the impressions made by his antiquarian wanderings 
 
 in 1863 : — 
 
 I have stood on Old Sarum : the sun, 
 With a pensive regard from the west, 
 Lit the beech-tops low down in the ditch of the Dun, 
 Lit the service-trees high on its crest ; 
 
 But the walls of the Roman were shrunk 
 Into morsels of ruin around, 
 And palace of monarch and minster of monk 
 
 Were effaced from the grassy-fossed ground. 
 
44 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 Like bubbles in ocean they melt, 
 O Wilts, on thy long-rolling plain, 
 And at last but the works of the hand of the Celt 
 And the sweet hand of Nature remain." 
 
 In December 1864 Ferguson, desirous to verify some 
 of his previous observations, revisited Avebury and 
 Stonehenge, and wrote to his wife from London his 
 impressions of the winter landscape he had seen in 
 Wiltshire : — 
 
 I enjoyed the visit to Amesbury and the plain more than 
 I can tell you. It was a delicious day ; a warm sun and a 
 frosty surface : the scenery about Amesbury the very ideal 
 of English finished culture, a grand old church, a truly beau- 
 tiful palace (the seat of Sir E. Antrobus) among noble woods 
 — delicious meads and a clear abundant river, — all this, associ- 
 ated with a quiet, quaint, cheerful little town, made me in love 
 with the place ; and indeed the civility and respectability of 
 every one made me almost in love with the people. I never 
 took a more exhilarating walk than across the down to Stone- 
 henge. Among others who came up while I was engaged was 
 the lady of one of the great county potentates who resides 
 at Dorrington or Duddington Hall. Madame was so obliging 
 as to ask me to go to her house, but time did not admit. 
 I spend this evening with Burton, and to-morrow with Mallet, 
 and will be with you, D. V., on New Year's Day. I trust that 
 on returning to my own happy home I may find you, the 
 source of all its happiness, at the head of a cheerful household. 
 
 Before he had learned the art of making casts, 
 Ferguson's expeditions to sites already visited, to 
 verify earlier observations, were frequent. His move- 
 ments on these occasions being rapid, his wife did not 
 always accompany him. The enthusiasm, the pleasure, 
 and sometimes the disappointments of the ardent 
 investigator, appear in his letters. 
 
OGHAM INVESTIGATIONS IN CORK AND KERRY. 45 
 
 Imperial Hotel, Cork, 29//* Jttly 1872. 
 
 There is no inducement for you to join me since the com- 
 mencement of the rains, which have been extraordinary even 
 for Cork. I must look forward to meeting you at home in 
 the course of five or six days. . . . 
 
 My business here is heavy, and will keep me at this address, 
 where they make me very comfortable. I have our old 
 sitting-room, littered, much to the disgust I daresay of the 
 housemaid, with casts, in pieces to fit my portmanteau, of 
 large legends. One of them is the Ballinahunt inscription, 
 from near Annescaul, whither I went from Tralee. Nothing 
 more delightful could be imagined than the drive by Camp, 
 and the Madman's Glen, and up from the main road towards 
 the gloomy hollow which you will remember on the right 
 going from Tralee, where lies the Loch of the Shadow, with 
 Cuchullin's house on the mountain above. At foot of this 
 range is Ballinahunt : there, fastened up to the gable of 
 Landers's house, is the stone. I got it all covered in a tight- 
 fitting suit of grey that showed off its charms of notch and 
 digit to entire perfection, when, drop ! spit ! spatter ! down it 
 came ; and there was nothing for it but to join the horse and 
 family in the kitchen. There was Mrs Landers, surrounded 
 by six daughters and two out of four sons — four others dead — 
 spinning wool for home-made frieze and flannel — excellent 
 stuffs, woven in the parish. I wished to bring away some of 
 the flannel at is. a "bundle" — i.e., a short yard — but the 
 stuff was at the fulling-mill. It would make fine boys' summer 
 wear. You remember General Edwards's suit at Lucerne, the 
 same stuff. However, when the deluge was in part abated, it 
 behoved to leave, and I had to divide my cast and put it 
 piecemeal, dripping wet, and alas ! all too tender for the rude 
 shocks of jolting ruts and fords, into the narrow prison of 
 my portmanteau. It preserves the digits, but the vowels are 
 almost obliterated. Pity me ! Yes ; dear Molly, you and I 
 will yet pay another visit to Mrs Landers and bring away 
 every notch as perfect as when it left the chisel, of " Dogred," 
 an " Angel " of the old, old Church of Ireland, for that's the 
 inscription. 
 
46 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 [Wales,] Emlyn Arms, \%th August 1872. 
 
 I am reasonably well, though I have gone through a good 
 deal of fatigue, and hope to return to you about Wednesday 
 not worse in health and greatly improved in knowledge. You 
 thought I knew every digit on the Bridell Stone; but the 
 cast has taught me how vain is the attempt to decipher such a 
 legend in the open air. I have secured the Clydai and 
 Dycoed inscriptions also, and have opened a mine of infor- 
 mation on the buried end of the pillar at Cilgerran. Nothing 
 can exceed the fineness of the weather yesterday and to-day. 
 If to-morrow continues as fine, I shall not leave my work 
 imperfect, but take Tuesday for travelling homeward. The 
 beauty of the country exceeds description. Alas ! my own 
 organisation is so ebranle that I move through the Paradise as 
 wretchedly as Adam after the Fall. If I had my Eve here she 
 would be very happy. The good people of the house all 
 remember her, and bestow a double kindness on me for her 
 sake. Mr Davis is the civillest of hosts. . . . 
 
 I am learning things of curiosity and historic value, and 
 have no regrets but that you are not with me and our vaca- 
 tion beginning. 
 
 Ferguson's correspondence shows how enthusi- 
 astically he devoted his leisure to the discovery, 
 preservation, and elucidation of Ogham inscriptions. 
 This cryptic writing consists of notches cut on the 
 edges of pillar-stones, — those on the angles being 
 vowels, while consonants cross the arris on either 
 side. Oghams are most abundant in southern Ire- 
 land and Wales, but are not unknown in other 
 districts. A few examples are found in Scotland 
 and south-west England, and one in the Isle of Man. 
 
 A paper in ' Blackwood,' November 1886, on " Sir 
 Samuel Ferguson," gives a pleasant account of one 
 of his expeditions, and illustrates the excitement of 
 
DISCOVERY OF OGHAMS AT RATH CROGHAN. 47 
 
 Ogham discovery and the uncertainty of deciphering 
 the legend : — 
 
 Sir Samuel Ferguson's contributions to archaeology deserve 
 a more detailed notice than it is possible to give in a short 
 paper such as this, but the writer would gladly convey some 
 impression of the charm of his companionship on an archaeo- 
 logical tour. The bonhomie and genuine humour of the man 
 brightened the long hours of a wet day in a comfortless Irish 
 inn, quite as much as the love of nature and inexhaustible lore, 
 with which his memory overflowed, enhanced the delight of 
 hours spent amidst the wild cliffs and islands of our Atlantic 
 coasts. The poetic nature, "deep possessed with inward 
 light," the " fancies springing from a heart at ease," made an 
 atmosphere of sweet content about our friend, the influence of 
 which was shared by all. We can picture his happy excite- 
 ment at the moment when the first discovery was made of the 
 Ogham inscriptions in the treasury of Queen Maeve, at the 
 site of her royal residence in Roscommon. . . . The treasury 
 of the queen, it appears, was a grotto, to which in later days 
 a second chamber was added on as porch or ante-grotto, to 
 form the roof of which some long stones were carried from the 
 adjoining burial-ground. In 1864 Sir Samuel and Lady Fer- 
 guson explored this place, which is situated in the wide tract 
 of grazing lands lying around Tulsk, in the county of Ros- 
 common. ... Sir Samuel, eager to explore the inner cave, 
 left Lady Ferguson behind in the ante-grotto, where she re- 
 mained in the darkness awaiting his return. Having provided 
 herself with matches, she lit a candle and commenced the 
 examination of the stones of which the artificial portion of the 
 cave was built. Her eye at last caught sight of markings on 
 the edge of one, now fixed into the roof. . . . Delighted 
 with his wife's discovery, Sir Samuel could exclaim, " Freoch, 
 son of Maeve, is here ; " for the Ogham letters are, we believe, 
 allowed on all hands to signify Freocci maqi medffi. 
 
 Next morning he returned to Dublin, and the first thing he 
 did on arrival was to unpack the precious rubbing he had 
 made. Going over it carefully, he found to his dismay that 
 one letter in the inscription was uncertain, indistinct, and 
 
48 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 blurred. There was just time to catch the night train back to 
 Roscommon. Without a word he started, and by twelve 
 o'clock next morning was again at work in the cave. This 
 time his labour was well rewarded : the doubtful letter came 
 forth in the most satisfactory manner, and Sir Samuel returned 
 the happiest of human beings. 
 
 As soon as Ferguson acquired the art of making 
 paper casts which perfectly reproduced every marking 
 on the stone, the necessity for revisiting Ogham sites 
 no longer existed. The process is simple. Blotting- 
 paper, a sponge, a soft brush, a pot of paste, and a 
 little water are all that the manipulator requires. The 
 stone is freed from lichen, and the paper applied and 
 slightly damped. It is then gently beaten with the 
 brush till the paper, reduced to pulp, is pressed into 
 every crevice. Should it tear in the process, a frag- 
 ment of fresh blotting-paper is applied, damped, and 
 patted. When the inscription is completely covered, 
 a coat of paste is applied, a second sheet of blotting- 
 paper laid on, and the process repeated. Occasionally 
 a third sheet may be necessary. As soon as it is 
 nearly dry, the cast must be drawn gently from the 
 stone. When quite dry, every marking will be dis- 
 tinctly visible. It can be looked at, convex or concave, 
 for the cast has attained the solidity of cardboard. 
 
 In a letter to the Secretary of Council, Royal Irish 
 Academy, Ferguson enlarges on the advantages which 
 these casts possess for the study of Ogham inscrip- 
 tions : — 
 
 For the purposes of study, as well as for facility of arrange- 
 ment and economy of space, casts in paper, of adequate 
 
USE OF CASTS IN OGHAM STUDIES. 49 
 
 strength, are much preferable to reproductions in plaster or 
 metal. To enable the student to give an undivided attention 
 to such objects, it is necessary that they should be easily 
 moved, so as to be placed in convenient lights and points of 
 view. The difficulty of so dealing with heavy masses has greatly 
 detracted from the value, for practical purposes, of the inscribed 
 stones, which have from time to time been brought from their 
 sites in the country, and placed in public and private museums. 
 Any one undertaking the systematic study of such a collection 
 must be prepared to move considerable weights, must work 
 under various inconveniences of posture, and submit to fre- 
 quent interruptions dependent on changes of light and shade. 
 The employment of paper duplicates, while affording entire 
 freedom from these disadvantages, with the additional facility 
 of a surface possessing uniformity of colour, will also, it is 
 hoped, dispense with the temptation to further disturbance of 
 the inscribed monuments still occupying their ancient sites. 
 
 Ferguson read his first paper on Oghams before the 
 Royal Irish Academy in 1864. Its subject was the 
 inscriptions found in the cave at Rathcroghan. The 
 earthworks yet standing, which mark the site of the 
 pagan capital, are insignificant ; but at the adjoining 
 cemetery, known as the Relig-na-ree, an erect pillar- 
 stone is said to mark the grave of Dathi. This pro- 
 vincial king — nephew of Nial- Nine -Hostages, who 
 carried St Patrick a captive to Ireland — had a history 
 in which Ferguson was much interested. In a paper 
 on the legend of Dathi, he thus enlarges on that 
 prince's burial-place at Rathcroghan : — 
 
 At about three hundred yards to the south-east of Relig-na- 
 ree stands the pillar -stone thought to indicate the grave of 
 Dathi, the last Pagan Monarch of Ireland, who is recorded 
 to have been buried at Rathcroghan a.d. 428. When seen by 
 O'Donovan in 1837 it was prostrate, lying beside the little 
 
 VOL. II. D 
 
50 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 mound on which it has since been erected. It is undoubtedly 
 the coirthe dearg, or red pillar-stone, which tradition affirmed 
 to be the monument of Dathi, when Mac Firbis wrote in a.d. 
 1666. Its weight is such as would make it unlikely that it 
 should have been transported from its original site, so that 
 some probabilities point to this spot as being the sepulchre 
 of Dathi. It is a little mound of about eighteen feet in 
 diameter. The earthen field-fence has been diverted so as 
 to avoid passing through it. The tumulus itself hardly rises 
 above the surrounding embankment. 
 
 As if conscious that, for so great a personage, this must 
 seem a very inadequate memorial, the old writers have been 
 careful to assign a reason for its insignificance and obscurity. 
 The reason suggested for the meanness of his sepulchre is 
 that the ex-king and hermit, Formenius, in storming whose 
 cell Dathi met his death by fire from heaven, had prayed, on 
 that occasion, that Dathi's reign might be short and his mon- 
 ument not conspicuous. On this it may be remarked, that 
 although the hillock answers well enough to the imprecation, 
 the pillar-stone is the largest block remaining in or around 
 Relig-na-ree — standing six feet high from the ground, in which 
 it is sunk three or four feet. It is a rude plate of red sand- 
 stone, either brought from a distance or found as a boulder 
 on the surface of the limestone ; but the former suggestion 
 is the more probable, as it shows no marks of water-wearing. 
 
 The interest aroused by the discoveries at Rath- 
 croghan induced Ferguson to follow the footsteps of 
 Dathi through ' Switzerland and the upper valley of 
 the Rhine by Lakes Constance and Wallenstadt to 
 Ragatz and Pfeffers. On the traces of the warrior- 
 king in these regions Ferguson at a later period made 
 a communication to the Academy, from which the 
 following passages are taken : — 
 
 The oldest historic writings of the Irish allege that after the 
 death of Nial of the Nine Hostages, who is said to have been 
 
DATHl'S FOREIGN EXPEDITION. 51 
 
 slain during a predatory expedition into Gaul about a.d. 405, 
 his nephew and successor, Feradach, afterwards called Dathi, 
 having followed his uncle's example in again invading the 
 continent of Europe, was killed by lightning at the Alps. The 
 date of this event is given by the majority of Irish chronologists 
 at a.d. 428, being the first year of Leoghaire, Dathi's successor 
 in the monarchy. Leoghaire's accession, however, is placed 
 by the compiler of the Annals of Boyle at a.d. 426. 
 
 The direction taken by Dathi, further than that he followed 
 in the track of Nial, and was killed somewhere at the Alps, 
 is not directly indicated in the older books now known to us. 
 
 Nial is said to have been slain on the banks of the Loire ; 
 and hence it has been supposed that Dathi's death took place 
 somewhere in France. An expression, however, in the poem 
 ascribed to Torna Eigeas, said to be a contemporary, which 
 we find incorporated in the account of Dathi's expedition, in 
 * Lebor na h'Uidhri,' taken in connection with the then con- 
 dition of Roman affairs in the sub-Alpine provinces of the 
 empire, offers a more tangible ground for conjecture. The 
 bard, contrasting the then notoriety of the place of Dathi's 
 death with the obscurity of his place of burial, refers to his 
 death as having occurred in rig iath — i.e., " in royal land " — 
 an expression which, in its context, appears to point to some 
 portion of the imperial territory, the Caesar being usually 
 designated in Irish compositions of this class ri domain, or 
 King of the World. Roman territory at and on this side of the 
 Alps, in Dathi's period, with the exception possibly of a narrow 
 line of communication, accessible only by permission of the 
 garrison of Lyons, and not likely to have been essayed by such 
 invaders, can hardly be said to have existed anywhere from the 
 Mediterranean to the valley of the Upper Rhine. Though the 
 consul zEtius still held the central and northern parts of Gaul, 
 the Goths at that time, with Toulouse for their capital, occu- 
 pied Narbonne. The Burgundians had extended their king- 
 dom from Dijon to Geneva and the western parts of Switzerland. 
 The central plain of Switzerland was overrun as far as Lake 
 Leman by the Alemanni. Helvetia had just undergone the 
 second of its ruince or desolations, and possessed nothing to 
 
52 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 tempt the cupidity of an invader. Its chief attraction indeed 
 at this time was for Christian hermits and recluses. The 
 passion for ascetic seclusion was then at its height in southern 
 Europe. A colony of monks, observing the rule of the 
 Egyptian desert, had been led to the islands of Lerins, off the 
 Ligurian coast, between Toulon and Nice, where our own 
 Patrick is supposed just about this time to have spent some 
 years in probationary discipline. From that extremity of the 
 Maritime Alps the practice of anchoritism appears to have 
 spread into those places made desert by the irruptions of the 
 barbarians ; and it will be convenient here, in reference to 
 subsequent matter, to state that, in Helvetia especially, numer- 
 ous recluses, including persons of noble birth, are recorded to 
 have set up their hermitages, some in the wildernesses of the 
 Jura, some in Soleure, and others among the ruins of the 
 ancient Lausanum, whence the modern Lausanne takes what 
 may be called its second origin. Rhsetia, however, with Coire, 
 at the head of the Upper Rhine valley, for its western admini- 
 strative centre, remained Roman till a later period in the same 
 century ; and this state of facts, although absolute certainty 
 cannot be claimed for it, may justify us in taking a first tentative 
 step in search of any vestiges that may survive of Dathi's pro- 
 gress, in that region. . . . The principal roads which invaders 
 desiring to reach any part of Italy from these islands should 
 pursue were as clearly defined in the fifth century as they are 
 now ; for the passes through which alone roads could at any 
 time be carried are limited in number and unchangeable in 
 position. If, therefore, the nearest point at which sub- Alpine 
 Roman territory could be reached was, as has been suggested, 
 in the district of the Upper Rhine, there would be a reasonable 
 presumption that the route by Coire and the passes of the 
 Spliigen would be that entered on by Dathi in this expedition. 
 And this indeed is the route which early British and insular 
 travellers are best known to have frequented. Coire itself 
 claims the British Lucius as founder of its church in the end 
 of the second century, and still preserves evidence of early 
 Irish influence in its remains of Christian art. 
 
 The Upper Rhine valley, to which we have been conducted 
 
53 
 
 by this concurrence of hints and inferences, debouches on the 
 Lake of Constance at Bregentz (Brigantuim), where the high- 
 way from Italy through ancient Rhsetia divided, one branch 
 leading northward to Augsburg and thence to the Lower Rhine, 
 and the other, skirting the southern shore of the lake, westward 
 and southward to Zurich {Turicum). A traveller to or from 
 Coire might, however, adopt an alternative and shorter route 
 by the defile of the Lacus Rivarius, now Lake Wallenstadt, 
 which, leading eastward from the head of the Lake of Zurich, 
 past the opening of the valley of Glarus ( Clarona), through a 
 depression at the end of the Appenzell Alps, opens on the 
 left bank of the Rhine about forty miles above Bregentz. The 
 tribes who in Ptolemy's time occupied the point of junction, 
 the Saronicl and Rigiisci^ have left their names in the town of 
 Sargans, where the railway junction now exists, and in Ragatz, 
 five miles higher up, now the well-known health-resort for the 
 adjoining baths of PferTers, the Fabaria of the middle ages. 
 Geographers are agreed in placing the Castra Rhcetica of the 
 Latin writers in the tract about the lower end of Lake Wallen- 
 stadt, in the district of Gastern ; and the small towns of 
 Tertzen and Quarten on its southern, and Quinten on its 
 northern bank, are accepted as marking the sites of Roman 
 military stations. At Mollis, another small place between 
 Quarten and Glarus, there was found in 1765 a hoard of 
 Roman coins, dating from the first to the third century, all 
 indicating the existence of a well-frequented line of communi- 
 cation by this route in Roman times. Pfeffers claims for its 
 founder a Bishop Firmin or Pirmin, once of Metz. The name 
 is not preserved in the abbey itself, but in the adjacent village 
 of Saint Perminsberg, which stands higher up the mountain, 
 both places being in the immediate vicinity of Ragatz. Leaving 
 Ragatz for Zurich by the route which has been indicated, one 
 passes through or near a number of towns and hamlets in the 
 neighbourhood of Lake Wallenstadt, of which, for the purpose 
 of this inquiry, it will only be necessary, in addition to the 
 places already mentioned, to notice Wangs, Flums, Wallenstadt, 
 which in the last century was Wallestadt, at the head of its lake, 
 and Grinau at the head of the Lake of Zurich. 
 
54 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 We are now in a condition to judge how far what has been 
 premised may be found in accordance with the story of Dathi, 
 as it exists in its oldest-written form in our now well-known 
 eleventh-century manuscript, the 'Lebor na h'Uidhri.' The 
 text is accompanied by a gloss in a handwriting, as O' Donovan 
 judged, nearly equally ancient. It may indeed be a contem- 
 porary transcript of an older edition of the text already glossed. 
 There are other editions of the narrative in later Irish manu- 
 scripts ; but though these be later in transcription, and some 
 of them in compilation, it is not to be concluded that they are 
 necessarily derived from less ancient material. 
 
 Nathi, son of Fiachra, took [reigned over] Erin, and invaded to the Alp 
 mountains. Formenus, king of Thrace, came on pilgrimage to the Alp 
 mountains at that time. There was made by him a castle tower, and sixty 
 feet its height, and eleven feet outwards from him to the light, and he was 
 himself in the middle of the tower, and perceived not a ray of the light. 
 Then came Nathi to the tower. Then the followers of Nathi demolished 
 the tower. And Formenus perceived the wind [outer air] about him. 
 Then Formenus was snatched from them in a flame of fire a thousand 
 paces from the tower [i.e., a thousand paces from [that] mountain downward is 
 Formenus]. And Formenus prayed the co-Godhead that the reign of Dathi 
 might not be of long continuance, and that his {i.e., Dathi's] grave might 
 not be conspicuous. The king enjoyed life only while he was destroying 
 the castle, when a flash of lightning came from heaven on him so that he 
 died. Amalgaid {i.e., there were two Amalgaids — i.e., Amalgaid son of Fiachra, and 
 Amalgaid son of Dathi] then took the command of the men of Erin, and 
 carried away the body of his father with him. Nine battles were routed 
 before him in the east. [The battle of Corpar, b. of Cinne, b. of Faili, b. of Miscail, 
 b. of Larrand, b. of Corde, b. of Moli, b. of Grenis, b. of Fornar. These are the battles 
 which were won around Nathi, through the exhibition of him to the hosts, and he dead.] 
 In the Decies of Tara then Amalgaid died. Then the body of Dathi was 
 carried to the west, and he was buried at Cruachan. A company of four 
 men of noble rank brought the body with them. 
 
 There is no ecclesiastical foundation of any Formenus or 
 Firminus in any part of the whole region of the Alps but the 
 one ascribed to Firmin at Pfeffers ; and, in point of fact, that 
 church of Pfeffers does stand about the distance in question 
 below the village and height of St Perminsberg in the region 
 to which the inquiry a priori has so conducted us. This fact 
 
TRADITION OF DATHl's DEATH. 55 
 
 of the existence of two places — one the hermitage of the 
 recluse on the height, and one the church, ascribed to a 
 founder of the same name, on the lower slope of the mountain 
 — has obviously been regarded as a circumstance necessary to 
 be noted in the story. Mac Firbis thus refers to it in his 
 version of the legend : " Formenius then went a thousand 
 paces down from that mountain and dwelt in another habita- 
 tion," both statements importing the existence at St Permins- 
 berg of an anchorite called Forminus, Formenius, or Firminus, 
 previous to the foundation of the great church of Fabaria. 
 
 The gloss-writer, having thus pointed at a place lying on 
 the track which Dathi has been, so far, presumed to have 
 followed, goes on to give other topographic indications which, 
 so far as resemblances of names after the lapse of so many 
 centuries can be relied on, appear to confirm the first identifi- 
 cation, and to localise the scene of the invaders' retreat in the 
 district which has been described as extending from Ragatz 
 and Sargans to the head of the Lake of Zurich. . . 
 
 It seems difficult, in presence of so considerable a number 
 of agreements between the Irish lists and the existing local 
 nomenclature, to doubt that a tradition of Dathi having 
 penetrated as far as the neighbourhood of Ragatz, and of 
 his followers, after his death, having made their retreat by 
 way of the Wallenstadt valley, existed in Ireland previous to 
 the date of the ' Uidhre ' glosses. 
 
 Having the attention thus quickened to the value of the 
 Irish material, it will be less tedious to proceed with its 
 remaining incidents. The gloss-writer, at the close of his 
 list, adds : " These are the battles which were won around 
 Dathi, through the exhibition of him to the hosts, and he 
 dead." This refers to a statement not found in 'Lebor na 
 h'Uidhri,' but detailed with much curious minuteness as well 
 as picturesqueness by Mac Firbis : — 
 
 When the men of Erin perceived this [the death of Dathi] they put a 
 lighted sponc in the King's mouth, in order that all might suppose that he 
 was living, and that it was his breath that was coming out of his mouth. . . . 
 Amhalgaidh, the son of Dathi, then took the command of the men of 
 Erin, and he carried the dead body of his father with him, and he gained 
 
56 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 nine battles by sea, and ten battles by land, by means of the corpse ' 
 for, when his people exhibited the body of the king, they used to rout the 
 forces that opposed them. 
 
 Strange as this device for inspiring terror into an enemy 
 may seem, it is not without parallel in what Florus has told us 
 of the centurion Domitius, or Cronidius, who, in the Dalmatic 
 war, in Augustus's time, attached some kind of chafing-dish, 
 filled with combustibles, to his helmet, so that the superstitious 
 Mysians conceived some supernatural being to have come 
 amongst them crowned with flames. 
 
 What has been said of other recluses will have lessened any 
 surprise at the presence of the royal hermit in this story. Nor 
 is there anything in the description of his tower in the text 
 inconsistent w T ith authority or example. His tower may be 
 inferred to have been a round one, agreeably to the instruc- 
 tion for building fortress towers given by Vitruvius. In that 
 part where he dwelt, presumably on the ground-level, as being 
 the object of a predatory attack, there was no access for light ; 
 w T hence we may infer that the door to the interior existed at a 
 considerable height from the ground, being the method of 
 construction found in all the oldest examples of such detached 
 towers, here and on the Continent. The facility with which 
 the soldiers of Dathi broke through the wall may be accounted 
 for by a circumstance, noted by the gloss-writer, and repeated 
 in other editions of the story, that the tower was built "of 
 sods and stones," meaning possibly that its stones were 
 cemented with clay, or, more probably, that on an under- 
 structure of stone a clay upper storey w T as erected. The 
 definite dimensions given in the text, from which the building 
 appears to have been twenty-two feet in diameter and sixty 
 feet high, will, to most minds, convey the impression that 
 the story, w T ild as it is, originates in some foundation of 
 fact. . . . 
 
 Here I leave this curious inquiry, professing only to have 
 shown grounds for believing that the writer of the glosses 
 in ' Leabhar na h'Uidhre ' intended his readers to understand 
 that such an expedition had been led by Dathi as far as St 
 Perminsberg, and that his followers, after his death, effected 
 
DATHI BURIED AT RATHCROGAN. 
 
 57 
 
 their retreat through the places in that neighbourhood which 
 have been enumerated. 
 
 Since reading the above Paper the writer learns from the 
 Rev. Pfarrer C. Ricklin, Wallenstadt, that Farnor and Lunden 
 are two places in that neighbourhood — the first lying in the 
 direction of Quinten, on the north side of the lake; the 
 second near Mols. The case, therefore, would appear at 
 present to stand thus. The gloss to ' Uidhre ' gives the 
 names : — 
 
 Corpar 
 
 . (not recognised). 
 
 
 Cinni or Cingi , 
 
 . possibly (?) the present 
 
 Wangs, east of Wal- 
 lenstadt. 
 
 Fale . 
 
 . . ii ii 
 
 Wallenstad, locally 
 J*fc/*(stadorstadt). 
 
 Miscal 
 
 . (not recognised). 
 
 
 Larrand 
 
 . apparently the present 
 
 Glarus, formerly Clar- 
 ona. 
 
 Corde (elsewhere 
 
 Corte) ii ii 
 
 Quarten, on south 
 shore of Lake Wal- 
 lenstad. 
 
 Moli . 
 
 ii n 
 
 Mols, east, or Mollis, 
 west, of Quarten. 
 
 Grenis 
 
 ii ii 
 
 Grinau, at head of 
 Lake of Zurich. 
 
 Fornar 
 
 H n 
 
 Fa?'nor, west of Wal- 
 lenstad, on north 
 shore of Lake. 
 
 Besides these, other accounts mention — 
 
 Colum 
 Lundun 
 
 possibly (?) the present Flnm, east of Wallenstad. 
 apparently Lunden, between Mols and Quarten. 
 
 All being in one neighbourhood, on the route hither from 
 St Perminsberg, where the gloss appears to fix the site of 
 Firminus's cell and the death of Dathi. 
 
 The circumstances of Dathi's death are still vividly pre- 
 served in the tradition of the country. The pillar-stone sup- 
 posed to mark his grave stands near Cruachan, in the county 
 of Roscommon, on the estate of Mr French, D.L., of Clooney- 
 quin, who writes as follows : — 
 
58 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 February T$th, 1882. 
 The place where Dathi is said to have been buried, near the Relig- 
 na-ree, was a portion of our old ancestral estate, and I remember, when 
 a boy, I was often told that a king of Connaught was buried there who 
 had been killed by lightning at the foot of the Alps. I was told by the 
 late Fitzstephen French, M.P., that they [Dathi's troops] were said to have 
 placed the dead body on his horse, 'and fastened on his helmet a sponge 
 saturated with some imfiammable liquid, which struck terror by night into 
 the hearts of his enemies. 
 
 At a later period, with reference to a proposal of 
 Colonel Chichester, a landed proprietor in that dis- 
 trict of Roscommon, to open and examine the sup- 
 posed site of Dathi's interment, Ferguson expressed 
 his views as follows : — 
 
 Dr Wright has placed in my hands your note to him of the 
 1 st inst., enclosing the communication of my friend Mr French 
 respecting the Dathi monument at Rathcroghan. 
 
 I am not myself disposed to disturb sepulchral remains, 
 although, if an examination of the tumulus regarded as Dathi's 
 grave were undertaken by others, I would take a lively interest 
 in their proceedings. There seems no doubt that Dathi was 
 interred at Rathcroghan. The older tradition, however, would 
 put the site in the Relig-na-ree rather than under the long 
 stone. As I have said, I shall be prepared, if any exploration 
 in either place be set on foot — which I do not myself recom- 
 mend — to take the necessary steps for securing the presence 
 of some competent representative of the Academy. 
 
 Let me ask your acceptance of a paper of my own on 
 the Dathi legend, which probably will interest you as owner 
 of these remarkable remains of early times at Rathcroghan. 
 
 To Captain (afterwards Sir) Richard F. Burton, 
 Ferguson wrote on the subject of Scandinavian Runes, 
 treated of by Burton in his book on Iceland. These 
 had many points of resemblance to Ogham writing. 
 Instead of selecting, as the Ogham writers did, the 
 
FERGUSON'S LETTER TO CAPTAIN BURTON. 59 
 
 sharp edge of a stone, the runic scribes made a stem- 
 line, from which, on either side, the marks and notches 
 which constituted their occult alphabet branched off. 
 Captain Burton subsequently visited the Land of 
 Midian, and thought that he had there discovered 
 true Oghams, of which he gave a description in Fer- 
 guson's house. The markings, though curious, could 
 not be considered Oghamic. 
 
 The following letter, addressed to Captain Burton, 
 then in Trieste, was written in February 1877 : — 
 
 You have contributed a very interesting addition to our 
 scanty knowledge of Runes and Oghams. I was quite una- 
 ware that your work on Iceland contained information so 
 exceptionally rare and valuable. Having read the book, I 
 have also to thank you for clearer views both of the land 
 and of the people of Iceland than I previously possessed. 
 What most strikes me is the deterioration in both respects as 
 compared with the fairly fertile country and heroic men of 
 the Sagas. . . . 
 
 I cannot credit the theory of British extermination, and 
 would imagine that concurrent streams of Norman and Celtic 
 blood mingle largely in the noble product — the Englishmen 
 of our own day. . . . You will ask why do I travel into 
 these side-paths instead of coming straight to the fact of runes 
 at Emesa? Well, I will tell you. If time had allowed, I 
 would have desired to look up the history of the kingdom of 
 Jerusalem to see how far Norman influences may have extended 
 themselves in North Syria. . . . Neither Rune nor Ogham, 
 so far as I could discover, exists in Normandy or Brittany. 
 Oghams there are of neo-post-Roman date in South England 
 and Wales ; and I travelled lately into Cumberland in search 
 of one which formerly existed there in one of the quarries 
 worked for the purposes of the wall, and most probably legion- 
 ary and Roman, but it had disappeared : so that while I must 
 leave the third and fourth century Runes of Mr Stephens and 
 
60 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 their Greek origin in questionable suspense, I would expect a 
 Latin origin for the Ogham forms, and hope, in some of them, 
 to find memorials of the pre-Patrician Scotic Christians. It is, 
 however, too soon to generalise. I remember having been much 
 struck with Donaldson's idea of Etruscan influences extending 
 into Scandinavia ; and on a clay sepulchral urn found with 
 objects of decidedly Etruscan origin in the Tyrol I have 
 seen the Palm-rune either genuine or imitated. There are 
 many repetitions of character, but not enough of difference 
 to ground any certainty of their being used alphabetically. 
 You may be sure, in anything I may have to write on the subject, 
 I shall not omit to refer to your Syrian examples, and would 
 beg you in the meantime to inquire how far eastward you can 
 trace their use. 
 
 Runic inscriptions were objects of curiosity to Fer- 
 guson whenever he had opportunities for their study. 
 He had made a cast of the Rune engraved by Varan- 
 gians from Scandinavia, on their way to the Crusades, 
 on the lion which now stands at the gate of the Arsenal 
 at Venice, having been brought thither from Constan- 
 tinople. The cast, carefully wrapped up, was carried 
 across the Spliigen in a snow-storm which compelled 
 the travellers to abandon their carriage and continue 
 the Alpine journey in a sledge. The precious cast 
 lay across their knees. But the snow penetrated 
 through all defences. They were thoroughly wet, and 
 the cast, reduced to pulp, became worthless. As they 
 reached the summit the newly-risen sun glorified the 
 landscape. Switzerland spread beneath them clothed 
 in untrodden snow. It was a sight never to be for- 
 gotten. The horses, harnessed tandem -wise to the 
 sledge, were urged forward by the postilion at tre- 
 mendous speed. The splendid spectacle of the Alpine 
 
ADVENTURES IN CROSSING THE ALPS. 6l 
 
 chain, the exhilaration of so rapid a transit, was 
 a pleasurable excitement. It was only on reaching 
 Spliigen that the travellers became aware of the danger 
 they had surmounted. The telegraph-posts, buried 
 in snow, had their tops only visible ; half an hour 
 later these would have been obliterated, and with 
 them all indication of the road they skirted. At 
 Spliigen the sledge was exchanged for a carriage. 
 This had to be abandoned on reaching the Via Mala. 
 The pass was choked with debris. Trees had fallen ; 
 some were hanging over the narrow path suspended 
 by their roots. It was necessary to clamber on foot 
 over the Via Mala, not without peril from falling 
 stones and water issuing from the mountain-side, and 
 to await at its lower end a conveyance sent for to 
 Thusis. Here they had to spend a day or two in 
 bed till their clothes were dried, the luggage and 
 everything they wore being saturated with snow- 
 water. 
 
 Ferguson and his wife, being accustomed to adven- 
 tures in pursuit of objects of archaeological interest, made 
 light of discomforts. Returning a few years later 
 through the Brenner Pass after a sojourn among the 
 Dolomites, they halted at Franzenfeste, and digressed 
 from the beaten track to visit a castle which had a re- 
 markable tower, on the high table-land above the Bren- 
 ner. They were conducted thither by their guide 
 through the dry bed of a mountain torrent. Springing 
 from rock to rock, and boulder to boulder, up a steep 
 ascent, was exhausting work. When they reached 
 
62 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 the summit they found a fine castle, a handsome 
 church, and a hamlet to which there was no other 
 approach ! The conveyance in which they had hoped 
 to be driven back in comfort proved to be a kind of 
 wheel-barrow, to which trunks of trees were loosely 
 attached to act as a drag. In this they made their 
 precipitous descent, frightfully jolted, and thankful to 
 reach the bottom in safety. Assuredly antiquarian 
 ardour was seldom more severely tried ! 
 
 Round Towers, especially such as were of the Irish 
 type, had great attraction for Ferguson ; but his 
 keenest interest was in Ogham-inscribed stones. On 
 receiving one of his contributions to the Proceedings 
 of the Royal Irish Academy on this subject, Sir 
 Thomas Larcom wrote : " ' Oghamica ' is a most 
 valuable paper ; more and more inscriptions turn up 
 year by year ; something more than funereal epitaphs 
 must yet be discoverable from them. They are the 
 hieroglyphics of our cave temples and tombs." 
 
 This expectation seemed to have been realised when 
 a cave at Monataggart, Co. Cork, was discovered by 
 the Rev. Dr Quarry, rector of Donoughmore — the 
 parish in which Monataggart lies. This cave con- 
 tained several stones bearing Ogham inscriptions. 
 " It is, I apprehend," wrote Ferguson, "with possibly 
 one exception, the first occasion of an Ogham text 
 furnishing a means of comparison between lapidary 
 and manuscript forms which might offer a feasible 
 ground for predicating the age of the former." Else- 
 where he further observed : "I am also satisfied that 
 
POETICAL EPISTLE TO THE REV. DR QUARRY. 63 
 
 in it we possess an entire epigraph, certain in all its 
 characters, and perfectly reliable as an example of 
 the orthography of the Oghamic school of writing." 
 
 A correspondence — too technical for these pages — 
 ensued between Ferguson, the Bishop of Limerick, 
 Professor Rhys, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, 
 the Rev.. D. H. Haigh, D.D., of Erdington, and Dr 
 Whitley Stokes, then resident at Calcutta. 
 
 At the time when Ferguson first visited Mona- 
 taggart, the method of making casts was not known 
 to him. When he afterwards learned the process, 
 he appealed to his friend Dr Quarry to make for him 
 at Monataggart one of these authentic models. The 
 rector of Donoughmore, now Archdeacon of Cork — 
 a dignitary venerable for his goodness, his learning, 
 and his power as a speaker and preacher — is a philo- 
 sopher, a profound theologian, and a man of genius. 
 Ferguson in the rhymed epistle which he wrote to 
 him alludes to Dr Quarry's varied attainments, and 
 amusingly portrays his own eagerness to possess the 
 casts of the newly-discovered stones : — 
 
 But thou who, nothing careful whether this 
 
 A digit be, or whether that a notch, 
 
 Incumbent o'er the pure-aired Domnach M6r, 
 
 Tend'st the sparse flock, and much involved in thought 
 
 Ponderest the problem whether they for thee 
 
 Exist subjective, as the Sage of Cloyne 
 
 Once deemed, or thou objectively to them 
 
 Bear the good tidings that their souls desire — 
 
 Good tidings borne effectual either way — 
 
 Or, challenged by Inaugural Address, 
 
 From Science's Olympus thundered forth, 
 
64 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 Inquirest whether Grandsire Molecule, 
 
 Parent at large of protoplastic wares, 
 
 Potential all in all, be not, himself, 
 
 Creature of inference and argument, 
 
 As much as good old Paley's own First Cause — 
 
 Forget not thou, when, higher climbed, the sun 
 
 Shall paint swart Boggra blue, of afternoons, 
 
 And as the primrose pales beneath the furze, 
 
 The call shall come from some parishioner 
 
 Who drinks the narrowing Dripsey, or who dwells 
 
 By west the Mount where mourning cavalcades 
 
 Drain the tear-brimming cup and press the hand 
 
 With grasp effusive, 'neath th' observant gaze 
 
 Foreboding, of your soldiers of the " Cross " — 
 
 Those peaceful champions who preserve the name 
 
 From dull decay of economic Peel ; 
 
 Peel, who, when Britain, armed and victualled full, 
 
 Rode proudly, payed the final fathoms out 
 
 Of that last hawser whereby now we ride, 
 
 And eat the sea-borne and precarious bread, 
 
 In awe of nations held in scorn before — ■ 
 
 Or if from Bridge of Brew, or thereabout, 
 
 Occasion summon, — oh ! forget not then 
 
 The blotting-paper which, in cardboard case, 
 
 Herewith I send by book-post, nor the sponge, 
 
 Filched from the bath, if need be ; — nor forget 
 
 The clothes-brush, sacred to the vestibule. 
 
 But in capacious pocket, such as he 
 
 Must needs be deemed endowed with, when we paint 
 
 A bounteous pastor conversant in alms, 
 
 Bestow the needful tackle ; and when now 
 
 Nearing the " street " where loyal Twohigg dwells, 
 
 Loyal to him who certifies the perch, 
 
 Kept duly metalled, of the County road, 
 
 For Midsummer Presentment, turn thy steps 
 
 Leftwise, aslant, and up the causewayed slope, 
 
 By ridgy headland, and the frequent gate 
 
 Destined to grace a stately avenue, 
 
POETICAL EPISTLE TO THE REV. DR QUARRY. 65 
 
 When the next Land Bill shall confer the fee, 
 
 Rent-free, of Monataggart, moor and marsh, 
 
 On Patrick Cogan, Esquire, and his heirs, — 
 
 Tread onward o'er the glebe reclaimed, where once 
 
 The spirit-versed familiar of the cell 
 
 Drew needful fuel from the friendly bog, 
 
 With foot or slane, for use domestic won 
 
 Or art alchemic, till thou reach the spot, 
 
 Goal of thy journey and my verse alike, 
 
 Where lies the pillar latest disinterred, 
 
 That bears the precious Ogham number Four ; 
 
 Then tarry not, but clap thy paper to, 
 
 Long-fibred, tough, that, copious sponged and oft 
 
 And deftly patted, into every chink, 
 
 Digit, and flaw, shall stick as close as wax 
 
 Pressed by heraldic signet 'neath the hand 
 
 Of an Ambassador, accredited 
 
 With plenas and potentiary powers 
 
 To Court of friendly Monarch, when he seals 
 
 Some solemn treaty international, 
 
 And fates of Empires harden into form 
 
 Of History, the while the bee's-wax cools, 
 
 And signatures of high contractors dry. 
 
 Dry ! Ah ! methinks 'tis here I feel the shoe 
 
 Of execution pinch the gouty toe 
 
 Of fond anticipation nursed in dreams ! 
 
 Alas ! to wait propitious wind and sun 
 
 Were tedious-hard, nor reasonably asked 
 
 Even of acquaintance bound by service done 
 
 To deed reciprocal ; and this of thee 
 
 Nor interchange, as yet of friendly look 
 
 From answering eye to eye, nor service given, 
 
 Service but had — emboldens me to crave. 
 
 Still, wheresoe'er the old humanities 
 
 Of intellectual culture yet survive 
 
 The shock of Church Acts and the loathly qualms 
 
 Of learned disgust bred by the changing time 
 
 That shifts the charge of letters, now to hands 
 
 VOL. II. E 
 
66 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 Of Mr Editor, and now to those 
 
 Of Mr Auditor or other Jack 
 
 Of lecture-platform or the altar-step, 
 
 There will petition for scholastic alms 
 
 Not fall on ears unheeding ; and methinks 
 
 The Cogan household, searched, might furnish forth 
 
 Some means of transport, and the Rectory fire 
 
 Effect the final process. But, behold, 
 
 What cares, what fears, attend the arduous aims 
 
 Of him who from the cryptic past would raise 
 
 Its cipher-woven veil ! For haply she, 
 
 The Lady of the Mansion, she to whom 
 
 Pertains th' intern dominion and the sway 
 
 Of realm domestic, without whom nor fire 
 
 Can cheerful blaze, nor fireside circle smile, 
 
 May make demur ; nor have the ugly thing 
 
 Profane her hearth-rug. Oh, propitiate her ; 
 
 Her mollify with words of softening power, 
 
 Submissive, sweet, persuasive — these the arms 
 
 Victorious ever with the gracious fair — 
 
 Till, all impediments at last removed, 
 
 As when propitious planets, in their course 
 
 With sun and moon concurring, form the house 
 
 Desiderated of the Alchemist, 
 
 And from the crucible he draws its charge 
 
 Refulgent in the light of Rosy Cross, 
 
 To serve hereafter as ?nateries 
 
 For his Philosopher's stone, so thou of mine 
 
 Shalt from the fender raise the plastic mould, 
 
 Dry as Virtuoso's sculptured bone 
 
 From prehistoric caverns of Dordogne, 
 
 In inner cabinet preserved, and tough 
 
 To bear compression of the case, wherein 
 
 Snug-packed, I yet shall have it by the post, 
 
 Authentic, legible, and all be well ! 
 
 Much of Ferguson's correspondence with Dr Quarry 
 was carried on in Latin — a language he was accustomed 
 
FRENCH STUDENTS OF GAELIC. 67 
 
 to use with learned men. He spoke it habitually when 
 abroad, rinding himself more fluent in Latin than in 
 German, Italian, or any of the Scandinavian tongues. 
 Being a frequent visitor to libraries and museums, he 
 was able to converse with Continental scholars, and 
 to receive and give information. In French he could 
 make himself intelligible, but had little facility in 
 modern languages. 
 
 In a letter to M. Henri Gaidoz, editor of the ' Revue 
 Celtique,' Ferguson tells of his project of forming a 
 collection of casts of Ogham legends. The French 
 philologist had spent some time in Ireland, chiefly 
 for the purpose of acquiring Gaelic — a language im- 
 portant not only for its literature, but, from its affinity 
 to Sanscrit, possessing, like that tongue, a mass of 
 written literature handed down from remote ages, 
 safeguarded in India by the Brahmins, as in Ireland 
 by Brehons and Bards. 
 
 The personality of M. Gaidoz was an interesting 
 one. He was much with the Fergusons during his 
 stay in Dublin. Other students from the Continent 
 were, like him, welcome guests : M. le Capitaine Bial, 
 who sketched objects of interest and weapons in the 
 museum of the Royal Irish Academy, and collected 
 material for the Emperor Napoleon III., then engaged 
 on his 'Vie de Cesar'; M. d'Arbois de Jubainville, 
 who has since then utilised the knowledge acquired 
 in Ireland in lectures in the College de France, and in 
 publications on the literature of ancient Erin. In 
 addition to these, and other Frenchmen already 
 
68 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 spoken of, Ireland was sought by German philologists 
 eager to acquire the Celtic tongue, who came with 
 introductions to Ferguson and were hospitably wel- 
 comed by him. One of these, Herr Zimmer, Professor 
 of Sanscrit, told an amusing anecdote of his first ex- 
 periences in Dublin. Being then ignorant of Irish, 
 he thought it prudent to acquire in advance a few 
 current phrases with which to explain his require- 
 ments. On reaching his hotel, he addressed the 
 porter and the manager in what he supposed to be 
 the vernacular, and was surprised to find that they 
 did not speak Gaelic, which he had come to Ireland 
 to learn. To accomplish this, Professor Zimmer had 
 to establish himself for a time in remote districts of 
 the country where Irish is still spoken. 
 
 Ferguson's letter to M. Gaidoz was as follows : — 
 
 I shall, of course, be one of your subscribers — and a con- 
 tributor also, if my knowledge enable me to supply anything 
 worth the notice of men of learning. 
 
 I have a project to induce the Committee of Polite Litera- 
 ture of the Academy to commence a systematic collection of 
 casts from all the existing Oghams. If we could only rely 
 on the published texts, these " Lapidary Aids " would go a 
 certain length in supplementing the materials of the MS. 
 glosses. 
 
 I have been collecting and comparing diligently to this end, 
 and am satisfied that not one in ten of the published Ogham 
 texts is reliable. 
 
 An inspection of the Welsh bilinguals or biliterals has 
 satisfied me that the same key applies to them and to the 
 Irish ; but I am not sure of the Pictish or Picto-Scottish 
 system. 
 
 The following letter to Mr R. R. Brash — a Cork 
 
LETTERS TO MR BRASH AND DR STUART. 69 
 
 gentleman, who wrote on the Ogham monuments of 
 his district — shows the honest frankness of Ferguson's 
 character. Unable to accept the conclusions of Mr 
 Brash, Ferguson pointed out what he considered his 
 errors, so that the southern antiquary might himself 
 re-examine and correct them : — 
 
 If I had not a literary as well as a personal goodwill towards 
 you, I would not speak so freely; but your late readings 
 cannot fail to shake confidence in your judgment, and by-and- 
 by many of your texts will inevitably be disputed. You have, 
 I believe, fallen into considerable errors at Drumlaghan. . . . 
 Now you are on the spot, and can easily verify these observa- 
 tions. You owe it to yourself, if any of them be well founded, 
 to lose no time in correcting your published texts, and stopping 
 the progress of that worst species of error which results from 
 right reasoning on wrong data. If you really have given the 
 Academy erroneous texts from Drumlaghan, it is better that 
 you should be your own critic. I shall willingly, if you desire, 
 be the medium of your setting yourself right. I have made 
 so many mistakes myself, that I can know how to refrain from 
 censure, and I believe every one who understands the nature 
 of the subject would appreciate the candour of such a course, 
 and think the better of you for it. 
 
 Dr Stuart of Edinburgh, author of ' The Sculptured 
 Stones of Scotland,' had been in correspondence with 
 Ferguson about the Aboyne Ogham and the Newton 
 Stone, one of the most obscure and baffling of Ogham 
 texts. In a letter on the former subject Ferguson 
 wrote : — 
 
 I have been very much interested in what you were good 
 enough to tell me of the Aboyne Ogham. The progress of 
 Ogham investigation gives every new text an extreme interest. 
 This, which seems the most easily read of all those in Scotland 
 
JO HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 — for some of your Scottish texts continue to defy our best 
 efforts — is really the most appetising dish to set before an 
 antiquary that can well be imagined. Pray try if you can do 
 anything towards obtaining an authentic cast. I am reasonably 
 sure it contains the well-known Pictish name of Talargan. 
 
 In a subsequent letter to Dr Stuart, Ferguson refers 
 to the subject : — 
 
 I am gratified to hear of your success in getting a cast of 
 the Aboyne Ogham, and shall not be wanting in a diligent 
 study of any rubbing or duplicate you may be kind enough 
 to send me. 
 
 Dr Stuart urged Ferguson to investigate for himself 
 these crucial Scottish inscribed stones : — 
 
 I hope to look at the Newton Ogham before closing this. 
 
 At present I wish to say that I can secure you every facility 
 for an inspection of both the cast and the original. The pro- 
 prietor of Newton in Aberdeenshire is an old friend of mine, 
 and I can easily get access to his grounds. 
 
 I do hope you will make out this little trip. The monument 
 is undoubtedly a very remarkable one, and, as you say, the 
 key to it has not yet been found. I am therefore desirous 
 that it should come under the notice of those who have real 
 qualifications for elucidating the mystery. 
 
 I have just looked at the cast, but can see no continuance 
 of the lines. There is, with the light to-day, faint but rather 
 distinct traces of a fifth line in the former group. 
 
 I think you must see the stone itself. There is a sort of 
 edge for the divisions of the Oghams which is best seen there. 
 
 I send you an earlier notice of the stone with a photograph. 
 
 Dr Stuart must have desired to know the views of 
 the Bishop of Limerick on the Newton inscription, 
 as Ferguson writes on this and other topics the 
 following letter : — 
 
LETTER TO DR STUART OF EDINBURGH. Jl 
 
 I never heard what the Bishop's idea of the meaning of the 
 Newton inscription might be. He is a man of great prudence, 
 and does not declare himself without well-examined grounds. 
 I daresay the announcement that additional Ogham digits 
 exist below the loop of the line of Oghams has had some 
 influence on his continued reticence. 
 
 The feature least acceptable to me in Sullivan's work [Dr 
 W. K. Sullivan, subsequently President of Queen's College, 
 Cork], is the far-travelled linguistic excursion that sometimes 
 carries us to Persia and sometimes to Egypt ; but I have little 
 sympathy with a writer in the last ' Athenaeum ' who takes the 
 same exception after having sought his own illustrations of old 
 Irish society in Africa and New Zealand. Indeed there is nothing 
 that more revolts me in recent dissertations on the Brehon Law 
 than the assumption of scientific supervision on matters which 
 we can only examine near at hand. My friend Mr Richey has 
 written in this vein, inferring, mostly on negative premisses, 
 a state of barbarous dissociation . . . quite inconsistent with 
 the least advances in civilisation. I think it fortunate that Dr 
 Sullivan has approached the subject from its other side. I have 
 not a particle of doubt that where Richey asserts they had no 
 executive officers because he finds no reference to a sheriff in 
 the tracts before him, he acts as unphilosophically as I should 
 do if I made the same statement respecting the English of this 
 century because in Chitty on Contracts or Chambers on 
 Infancy an equal silence on the same subject might be found 
 to exist. Sullivan, on the contrary, looking at the subject with 
 a larger range of material before him, and I think a wider 
 comprehension of its bearings, finds (possibly) a superabun- 
 dance of ministerial officers, and an organisation oppressively 
 minute of every branch of society. I have as little doubt here 
 that errors exist, and some redundancies will have to be pruned 
 away ; for it is the condition of any investigation we can give 
 to the subject that one Irish and one general scholar must 
 work together in every part of the field, and two half-know- 
 ledges do not make one whole one. Then, when you consider 
 how jealous the possessors of this rare kind of learning are 
 of one another, it will not surprise you to hear reproaches 
 
72 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 of ignorance and bursts of ridicule at one another's slips 
 proceeding from those who ought to be helpers and yoke- 
 fellows — and would be so, if their pretensions were less 
 exclusive. 
 
 I think you have a copy of my paper on the rudiments of 
 the Common Law discoverable in the Brehon Code. Sullivan 
 has added considerably to my observations ; but if I had time, 
 I would like to take up the subject again, and treat it legally 
 rather than linguistically. 
 
 Ferguson had read before the Royal Irish Academy 
 in 1867 the papers on the Senchus Mor to which he 
 refers in the last paragraph of his letter to Dr Stuart. 
 Many years later — in 1884 — he was made a Brehon 
 Law Commissioner. But at that time he had reached 
 the period of life at which energetic action and labori- 
 ous mental work are no longer possible. As one of the 
 Commissioners for directing and superintending the 
 transcription and translation of the ancient Laws of 
 Ireland, he wrote to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland 
 approving of the appointment of Dr Robert Atkinson 
 for the work of editor : — 
 
 I have read and return the letters of the Bishop of Limerick 
 and Dr Atkinson. 
 
 I think Dr Atkinson has taken a just and able view of the 
 situation. I agree in his estimate of the prefaces, and con- 
 sider that when one man combining the qualifications of 
 lawyer and philologist cannot be had, it is better that the 
 work should be prepared for future utilisation by an in- 
 dependent philologist. I know that a scholar cannot be 
 dealt with as a contractor, and hope that Dr Atkinson's 
 stipulation as to time may occasion no difficulty in accept- 
 ing his proposal, to which I, for one, am quite prepared 
 to agree. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK. J$ 
 
 The correspondence with the Bishop of Limerick 
 about to be given is interesting in more than one 
 aspect. The generous consideration shown both by 
 Ferguson and Dr Graves is worthy of men who are 
 workers for truth alone : — 
 
 My dear Ferguson [wrote his Lordship], — You were 
 rightly informed that I had succeeded in deciphering the 
 Ogham inscription on the Camp Stone. 
 
 I observed that this inscription, when the Ogham characters 
 have been so set before the eye as to assume their proper 
 alphabetic powers, must be read, not as is usual from left to 
 right, but from right to left. 
 
 Your discovery of the Latin legend on the stone is a most 
 important one. To me, certainly, it is more satisfactory than 
 it can be to those who still cherish the old-fashioned theory as 
 to the primeval antiquity of the Ogham, and think to read in 
 our inscriptions something a great deal more interesting than a 
 few proper names. 
 
 It may be a little provoking to me to see this first announce- 
 ment made by others to the Academy of results which have 
 been known to me for years, and which I hold to be of 
 capital importance in this branch of archaeological study. 
 But for this I have no one to blame but myself. I should 
 have done more wisely if I had put forth even in the briefest 
 and most fragmentary form the leading results which I had 
 arrived at. But those who know the pleasure of doing things 
 completely, and the pain of turning out imperfect work, will 
 at least make some allowance for me. In any case, it is 
 satisfactory to me to see you concurring in, or at least ap- 
 proximating towards, the general conclusions which I have re- 
 peatedly stated in the Academy, and in which I differ from the 
 great majority of those who have written about Oghams. . . . 
 
 I adhere to the views which I originally propounded on this 
 subject : — - 
 
 I. That the Ogham was not a primitive alphabet intended 
 for common use, but an artificial and cryptic one, invented by 
 
74 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 persons certainly acquainted with the Latin, and probably with 
 the Runic, alphabet. 
 
 II. That the Ogham inscriptions were not intended to be 
 easily read and understood, even at the time when they 
 were put upon the monuments. A man's Ogham name was 
 not the name he commonly went by, but formed from it 
 according to certain rules and methods. 
 
 III. That these rules and methods had regard — (i) to the 
 actual nature of the Ogham character ; (2) to the pronunciation 
 of the names ; (3) to the partiality of the Ogham writers for 
 Latin and Greek forms. (The final -os is not an ancient case- 
 ending, as some have supposed.) 
 
 IV. That some, possibly many, Ogham inscriptions will 
 remain undecipherable. 
 
 I hope when I go up to Dublin at Easter to be able to give 
 some hours to the examination of your paper moulds and 
 paper casts. The use of them will save the Ogham student 
 much fruitless labour. At the same time, I must check over 
 my own drawings and woodcuts. I think I have all those 
 enumerated in your list, and about eighty more. — Believe me 
 to be, my dear Ferguson, yours very sincerely, 
 
 Charles Limerick. 
 
 You have my best thanks for the ample and generous state- 
 ment contained in your letter of the 5 th. After reading it, I 
 felt distressed at having given you the trouble of drawing it up. 
 For I did really confide in the sincerity of your desire to see 
 that my claims as a discoverer in the field of Ogham research 
 were honestly acknowledged. 
 
 As regards your generous offer that I should strike my pen 
 through those passages your publication of which would take 
 the wind out of my sails, I do not see how I could avail my- 
 self of it. 
 
 To use a different metaphor, I could not pull your tissue 
 to pieces for the purpose of reclaiming some threads of my 
 spinning. It is true that I have done and said a good deal to 
 throw light upon the Ogham question, whilst I have printed 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK. 75 
 
 only laconic and fragmentary abstracts. The result must be 
 that I shall gain less credit than is due to me. 
 
 I cannot help it. Labours of other kinds, fully occupying 
 my time and overtasking my strength, have hitherto rendered 
 it impossible for me to complete and systematise my researches. 
 I still cling to the hope that I may yet achieve what I have 
 undertaken and fulfil what I have promised. My position in 
 the field is this. I found Petrie and Todd sceptical as to the 
 applicability of the commonly received key. All previously 
 attempted readings of Ogham inscriptions were manifestly 
 absurd. I then at Larcom's request tabulated all the inscrip- 
 tions gathered by the draughtsmen employed on the Ordnance 
 Survey, and by the application of general principles of decipher- 
 ing I ascertained that the old key was the true one. Proceed- 
 ing to use it myself, I found that, as a general rule, the in- 
 scriptions exhibited a proper name in the patronymic. After 
 that it was not hard to pursue the inquiry and gather indications 
 as to the date of inscriptions, &c. — Believe me to be, my dear 
 Ferguson, ever yours faithfully, Charles Limerick. 
 
 " It gives me the greatest satisfaction to see your 
 handwriting again, and to know that you are resuming 
 your Oghamic pursuits," wrote Ferguson to the 
 Bishop. "... It would be a great delight to join 
 you and lend a hand in obtaining casts." Having 
 communicated his own investigations, he wrote a 
 little later:— 
 
 My dear Bishop, — I have heard with great sorrow of 
 your continued indisposition, making it expedient that you 
 should travel abroad. ... I do most sincerely desire and pray 
 that rest may restore you to us a new man as compared with 
 the present — the old man we so long relied on for instruction, 
 for counsel, and for our poor country's advancement in credit- 
 able paths of learning. — Ever, my dear Bishop Graves, your 
 sincerely attached friend and admirer, 
 
 Samuel Ferguson. 
 
j6 HIS WORK AS AN ARCH^OLOGIST. 
 
 A considerable number of photographs from Fer- 
 guson's casts, with which he designed to illustrate his 
 work on Oghams, left incomplete at his death, have 
 been placed by his widow in the hands of the Bishop 
 of Limerick. It was not in her power to use them 
 when she published ' Ogham Inscriptions in Ireland, 
 Wales, and Scotland ' (Edinburgh, David Douglas, 
 1887), and she felt that it would have been her hus- 
 band's wish that the labours of his friend — then about 
 to resume his Ogham investigations — should, so far as 
 these went, be lightened. She therefore placed them 
 at the service of the Bishop, and his Lordship came 
 from Limerick to examine them. " I was much 
 touched," he wrote subsequently, " by the proof you 
 gave of your friendly confidence in offering to let me 
 take that precious box to Limerick. I felt as if some 
 one had asked me to take charge of untold gold." He 
 has since published a monograph on the Oghams of 
 Kerry, and is proceeding with those of Cork. It is 
 to be hoped that he may be spared to complete the 
 work, which in the hands of a scholar so accomplished 
 will no doubt be a monumental one. 
 
 The names of a few of Ferguson's friends distin- 
 guished for their archaeological and historic learning 
 may be briefly mentioned : the Rev. Robert King, 
 whose ' Primer of the History of the Holy Catholic 
 Church in Ireland ' has been a quarry from which 
 more recent writers have derived much original mate- 
 rial; the Rev. Thomas Olden, Rector of Ballyclough, 
 Co. Cork, who has contributed to the ' Dictionary of 
 
SOME LEARNED IRISH WRITERS. JJ 
 
 National Biography' monographs of Irish ecclesias- 
 tics ; the Rev. William Reynell, a friend and cor- 
 respondent of the learned Bishop Reeves; Mr J. R. 
 Garstin, whose bibliography of the Bishop's works has 
 been a valuable addition to his ' Life ' ; the late Rev. 
 James Graves, editor of the ' Kilkenny Archaeological 
 Journal ' ; Professor G. T. Stokes, D.D., author of ' Ire- 
 land and the Celtic Church,' ' Ireland and the Anglo- 
 Norman Church,' and other works; the Rev. Robert 
 Walsh, author of ' Fingal and its Churches.' 
 
 On these and on cognate subjects other able works 
 have been given to the world by the late and the 
 present Bishops of Killaloe, Dr Fitzgerald and Dr 
 Wynne ; the Very Rev. John Gwynn, formerly Dean 
 of Derry, and now Professor of Divinity in the Uni- 
 versity of Dublin, whose work " On a Syriac MS. 
 belonging to the Collection of Archbishop Ussher," ap- 
 peared in the ' Transactions of the Royal Irish Acad- 
 emy ' in 1886; the Rev. Dr Bernard, F.T.C.D., who 
 is engaged with Dr Gwynn in completing the labours 
 of the late Bishop Reeves on the ' Book of Armagh,' 
 and whose memoir on "An Uncial MS. of St Cyril of 
 Alexandria " has been contributed to the ' Transactions 
 of the Royal Irish Academy ' ; the Rev. J. H. Mac- 
 Mahon, whose translation of St Hippolytus's ' Refuta- 
 tion of all Heresies ' is a work of rare scholarship ; and 
 the late Rev. John S. Gilmore, a man of encyclopedic 
 knowledge, though a shy student, whose attainments 
 were known only to his intimates, — all these men shared 
 in the tastes and pursuits of Ferguson. 
 
78 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 Nor has the Church of Rome been wanting in accom- 
 plished men of letters. Monsignor Molloy, head of 
 the Catholic University, eminent in science, holds also 
 a high position as a Dante scholar ; the late President 
 of Maynooth, the venerable Dr Charles Russell, a man 
 of refined and elegant taste in literature ; his kinsman, 
 the Rev. M. Russell, S.J., editor of the ' Irish Monthly 
 Magazine ' ; the late Rev. John Shearman of Howth, 
 author of ' Loca Patriciana,' — all these were known to 
 Ferguson, and members of his social circle. 
 
 In a letter to Dr Angus Smith of Manchester, 
 written in 1873, Ferguson speaks of that gentle- 
 man's work on Loch Etive and its associations, 
 and tells of his own Ogham discoveries in Devon- 
 shire : — 
 
 Your essays on the objects about Loch Etive possess the 
 great advantage of being the first impressions of a man of 
 knowledge and mature judgment. Veteran antiquaries are 
 too often wedded to the views propounded when they were 
 young men. In what you have written we have judgment 
 and candour in a rare combination. Indeed I am much 
 charmed by the interest you have thrown around a scene 
 which you know has long had a strong hold on my 
 imagination. 
 
 Has it ever occurred to you to consider whether vitrification 
 is possible without the application of fire ? I would suppose 
 not. Yet it seems strange that there should be so many ex- 
 amples in Scotland, and one only, so far as I know, in Brit- 
 tany, and one other (which I read of lately) somewhere in 
 Hungary. 
 
 When in Devonshire last August I had the good fortune to 
 detect a hitherto unobserved Ogham on the corner of one of 
 the inscribed stones at Tavistock, which supplies the missing- 
 
JULIUS CAESAR AND VERCINGETORIX. 79 
 
 link necessary for completing the biliteral key to the Welsh 
 and Devonian Oghams. I communicate the fact to our 
 Academy this evening. 
 
 Ferguson's interest in matters of archaeology was 
 widespread, and by no means confined to Oghams. 
 He delighted to visit historic scenes at home and on 
 the Continent. When in France he explored the 
 supposed site of Alesia, the battlefield where Julius 
 Caesar finally subdued the Gauls. M. Henri Martin, 
 in his fine drama named after the heroic Vercingetorix, 
 has vividly depicted this hero's last struggle for free- 
 dom against the power of Rome. In the following 
 letter to Ferguson Sir Frederic Burton touches on the 
 submission of the gallant Gaulish chief: — 
 
 How kind of you to think of sending after me the paper on 
 Mount Callan Sun-Worship. I am particularly glad to have 
 it. I shall now have a respectable volume of your detached 
 papers to bind up. 
 
 My memory happened to serve me justly as to the action of 
 Vercingetorix on surrendering himself to the merciless Roman. 
 
 I have looked up the passage in Thierry, who might save 
 the trouble of searching Plutarch, as he gives a quotation from 
 the latter in a note. But I chance to have Plutarch's Life of 
 Caesar in Greek by me [passage quoted in Greek]. But as 
 showing that Thierry viewed the action much in your sense, I 
 must give you the passage in his text. After stating that the 
 Gaul cleared the space between the camps at a gallop, he 
 says : " Soit que la rapidite de sa course l'eut emporte trop 
 loin, soit quHl ne fit par la qrf accomplir un cerhnonial usite, il 
 tourna un cercle autour du tribunal, sauta de cheval, et," &c. 
 
 But I can't help troubling you further with the passage in 
 Plutarch as it stands in old North's racy English translation, 
 which you told me you have not, although of course it adds 
 nothing in the case : " And Vercingetorix (he that was their 
 
80 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 King and Captain in all this war) went out of the gates excel- 
 lently well armed, and his Horse furnished with a rich Capari- 
 son accordingly, and rode round about Caesar, who sate in his 
 Chair of State. Then lighting from his Horse, he took off his 
 Caparison and furniture, and laid all on the ground, and went 
 and sate down at Caesar's feet, and said never a word." 
 
 Thierry refers also to Florus, lib. iii. c. 10, and to Dio, lib. 
 xl. c. 41 ; but on looking into both, I find they have nothing 
 touching on your point. But Dio, with his sense of the 
 picturesque, tells of the great stature of the Gaul, and how 
 he looked in his armour. 
 
 It seems to me that in whichever sense religiosus is to be 
 taken, this circle was made in one of them. Either Vercinge- 
 torix meant it as an omen of the hoped-for clemency of Caesar 
 towards his compatriots, or of his own self-devotion to de- 
 struction. It cannot have been accidental, nor can I find 
 that Thierry has any authority for talking of the headlong 
 gallop towards the Tribunal, which may have led to an over- 
 shooting of the goal. But which way Vercingetorix turned his 
 horse still remains a question. 
 
 I shall ever look back with pleasure to our day at Tara. 
 Perhaps its wildness was most in harmony with the desolate 
 site of long-past power, with the grey recollections of a people 
 whose sad fortune it has been never to have had the oppor- 
 tunity of developing their own idiosyncrasy and improving it 
 by equal contact and commerce with other nations. But it 
 is a case of the struggle for existence and the survival of the 
 strongest. And if Mommsen be right, the Celtic peoples were 
 doomed by their very nature to merge in those of more politi- 
 cal capacity. 
 
 Tara may look somewhat (on a smaller scale) like the 
 remains left by the Cimbri of which Tacitus speaks, telling of 
 a once powerful people, then no more. . . . 
 
 Tired as I was after the journey and a sleepless night, and 
 stiff with lumbago, I went to the Antiquaries on Thursday 
 evening, and was kept well awake and deeply interested by 
 C. T. Newton's admirable remarks on the Mycenae find. He 
 spoke without notes, and handled his subject in a masterly 
 
LETTER OF SIR F. W. BURTON. 8l 
 
 manner. He showed that certain objects found at Ialysus in 
 Rhodes, and which have long been lying shut up in the 
 British Museum, are identical in general style, and in parti- 
 cular cases absolutely identical, with some of the things from 
 Mycenae. As he had some of Schliemann's photographs 
 present, and some drawings from the Ialysus objects, it was 
 easy to test his assertion. His conclusion was, on well-argued 
 grounds, that both are pre-Homeric, and probably, with the 
 " Treasuries " at Mycenae, pre-Pelopid. He had a cast from 
 a remarkable gem, found, I think, at Ialysus, on which are 
 two climbing lions at either side of a column, quite similar to 
 those over the famous gate of Mycenae. Equally striking 
 were the forms of some vases from both localities. Unlike 
 anything hitherto found elsewhere, only in one case a vase 
 resembled precisely some represented as brought in tribute on 
 a monument of Thothmes III. of Egypt, dating, if Egypto- 
 logists are right, earlier than noo B.C. It is extremely 
 peculiar in the form and the shape and arrangement of the 
 handle and spout. Most curious, too, was the coincidence in 
 the use of the sepia as an ornament both on the Mycenae gold 
 plaques and on the Ialysus vases. 
 
 Schliemann, who was present, had little to say, partly 
 perhaps because he is not strong in English, but chiefly that 
 he has no real archaeological knowledge. He is an invaluable 
 man as a digger, but he has only one idea, like Gladstone's, 
 that everything can be solved by Homer. 
 
 I have been looking in Grimm's wonderful ' German Mytho- 
 logy ' for something in old Teutonic customs and superstitions 
 that might throw light upon the passage in Pliny, but in 
 vain. 
 
 James Fergusson's book has enormously interested me, 
 though some of his arguments won't stand at all. But he is 
 always a suggestive writer, and his words lay more hold of one 
 than those of many a more cautious and solid reasoner. No 
 doubt more will yet come to light respecting the monuments 
 than has been dreamed of in our philosophy, and the Irish 
 element may play a large part in it. 
 
 The friendship between Ferguson and Dr Stokes has 
 
 VOL. II. F 
 
82 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 been already dwelt on. It extended, as they grew up, 
 to his sons and daughters, who, by character and gifts, 
 contributed to the attractions of their father's house. 
 
 Whitley, called to the Bar in 1855, rose to a high 
 position in India, and ultimately became Law-mem- 
 ber of the Viceroy's Council. Although for many 
 years absent from Ireland, he worked zealously at her 
 ancient language and literature. He is a philologist, 
 admittedly, of the highest rank. While in India he 
 published ' The Vision of Adamnan,' ' Cormac's Glos- 
 sary,' and the ' Felire of Oengus ' ; and since his 
 return and residence in London, he has edited the 
 ' Tripartite Life of St Patrick,' ' Lives of Saints from 
 the Book of Lismore,' and the ' Martyrology of Gor- 
 man.' The second son of Dr Stokes resides in his 
 father's house, 5 Merrion Square. Sir William holds 
 a high position in medicine and surgery, and also as 
 an accomplished speaker and writer, ready, refined, 
 and elegant. Henry — Dr Stokes's youngest son — after 
 an honourable career in the Indian Civil Service, has 
 retired, and is also resident in Dublin. Margaret, 
 the eldest of Dr Stokes's daughters, has made her 
 mark both as artist and author. Her latest works, 
 on the Vestiges of Irish Saints on the Continent, 
 have already been referred to. Her earliest was the 
 illustration of a poem given to her by Ferguson, 
 " The Cromlech on Howth," which she adorned with 
 exquisite illuminated letters from the Book of Kells, 
 one of the finest artistic manuscripts which has come 
 down to us from early Christian times. The Book 
 of Kells is a magnificent specimen of Irish caligraphy. 
 
THE CROMLECH ON HOWTH. 83 
 
 From its unique designs Miss Stokes took such initial 
 letters as she required, and made her landscape paint- 
 ings chiefly from scenes at Howth illustrative of Fer- 
 guson's poem. "The Cromlech on Howth" was 
 published by Messrs Day in 1861. Since then Miss 
 Stokes's pen and pencil have been diligently employed 
 in her country's service. 
 
 An appreciative review of " The Cromlech on 
 Howth," very gratifying to the artist, came to the 
 Fergusons with the following note from Margaret 
 Stokes : — 
 
 I send you a notice of the Cromlech which Day sent me 
 word about the other day. Isn't it enchanting! I like it 
 better than any I have seen : I wonder who wrote it ? Some 
 one who could feel poetry, and who has exactly found out the 
 object of the illustrations. 
 
 The review thus spoke of their joint work : — 
 
 One of the latest productions of this delightful art [wrote 
 the reviewer] is so beautiful and remarkable that it cannot 
 fail to obtain universal admiration for the selection of the 
 subject for illustration and the perfection of its execution. 
 Among Mr Samuel Ferguson's ' Lays of the Western Gael ' 
 there is a poem which excels all the others in the volume by 
 its tenderness and simplicity of sentiment, and the piercing, 
 characteristic, pathetic wildness and solemnity of the music 
 which its rhythm breathes. The effect of this poetry of the 
 ancient days of Ireland is to be felt, not to be described. It 
 is almost physical; it seems to thrill the heart and pass 
 through the nerves ; it is keenly, almost painfully delightful, 
 like the inhalation of air of extraordinary purity. All those 
 readers who are familiar with this poetry, and have enjoyed 
 to the full the peculiar and unparalleled pleasure it confers, 
 will rejoice to find " The Cromlech on Howth " in this pic- 
 turesque and appropriate guise ; while those to whom it is 
 
84 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 unknown will make their first acquaintance with it when 
 invested with the splendid apparel of illumination, thus en- 
 riching and concentrating by illustration and association of time 
 and custom the beautiful ancient legend which it enshrines. 
 
 The illuminations of this beautiful volume, which consist 
 of the initial letters, are taken from the Books of Kells and 
 of Durrow. Their antiquity lends them an interest which 
 their beauty, their grace, the fertile, fervent fancy which they 
 indicate, the correctness of their lines, and the richness and 
 delicacy of their colouring, increases to admiration and delight. 
 In this volume everything is satisfactory, the material is amply 
 deserving of the embellishment bestowed upon it, and nothing 
 is wanting to the perfection of the decoration. 
 
 In a letter to Ferguson, Sir Frederic Burton speaks 
 with enthusiasm of " The Cromlech on Howth," and 
 the beautiful illustrations by Margaret Stokes, their 
 common friend : — 
 
 I have just treated myself to the splendid edition of the 
 " Cromlech on Howth," which when you were here I did not 
 know had yet appeared. It is not only a most beautiful 
 work, but a highly valuable one, and prepared with the great- 
 est taste, skill, and feeling. The feeling of the drawings is 
 unusually well reproduced. The initial letters are exquisite, 
 and form in themselves quite a manual of Scoto-Celtic orna- 
 mentation. They are indeed most valuable, especially as their 
 correctness and conscientiousness are no doubt beyond chal- 
 lenge. The letterpress is also very useful, and gives in a short 
 space such information as would have to be painfully sought 
 through many works. As to the cover, it is the best I know of, 
 and quite transcends anything of the kind done in English works. 
 
 I have not said enough about the landscapes, but the truth, 
 and poetic feeling, and skill of those especially at pages i, 3, 
 5, and 7 (the landscapes themselves are misnumbered in my 
 copy), are beyond praise. 
 
 I rejoice to see this work, and could only wish it had a wider 
 circulation than it is likely to have at this side of the Channel. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR WHITLEY STOKES. 85 
 
 But it is something done towards reinstating the history of 
 our country, and forcing those out of it — many perhaps within 
 it — to acknowledge that, spite of the war waged against all 
 that was indigenous for so many centuries, there still remain 
 irrefragable proofs of a former state of culture amongst a race 
 only prevented, I firmly believe, from having taken an equal 
 stand amongst the European nations by the misfortune of 
 geographical position. 
 
 Ferguson kept up an active correspondence with the 
 son of his old friend while Whitley Stokes was in 
 India. It was chiefly concerned with philology as 
 applied to Ogham interpretation. How highly he 
 estimated the genius and character of Whitley is 
 expressed in a letter, written at a later period, to Mr 
 Connolly, a New York publisher, who had sought per- 
 mission to include some of Ferguson's poems in a 
 contemplated volume, and had asked for information 
 about Whitley Stokes : — 
 
 Dr Whitley Stokes, about whom you inquire, is a man 
 quite illustrious in the world of learning. He is one of the 
 leading authorities in Celtic and old Irish philology in all 
 the universities of Europe. He is son of the late Dr "William 
 Stokes, one of my predecessors in the Presidency of the 
 Academy, who was himself son of the elder and less eminent 
 Whitley you refer to. The present gentleman resides in Lon- 
 don, having retired from his office of Law -member of the 
 Council of the Viceroy of India. He is author of many works 
 in the field of old Irish learning, which are of the utmost value 
 to this country, but of the existence of which the noisy Irish 
 know nothing. 
 
 I have done what I could to help men like him in laying 
 the foundations of what I hope may yet be a national Irish 
 literature. With this view I have published my works here 
 at the cost of being, for the present at least, equally unknown 
 
86 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 here and in England. The chief poem I have published, 
 " Congal," does not appear to be known to you. 
 
 I was on the slopes of the Himalaya [wrote Whitley Stokes] 
 when your Oghamic letter of the 16th August 1865 reached 
 me. ... I confess my incredulity about the accuracy 
 of most of the transcriptions and transliterations of Ogham 
 inscriptions. Either the appropriate key (I am convinced 
 there are several keys) has not been applied, or the lines 
 have not been copied with perfect fidelity — or else those 
 lines have been confounded with the natural markings of the 
 stone. Your Buckland Monachorum and Penrhos Llugwy 
 inscriptions were quite new to me and most interesting : the 
 form maccu (in Dubthach maccu-higir, &c.) has long been 
 familiar to me in Irish MSS. Have we here traces of that 
 Gaelic occupation of the western side of Britain of which 
 Cormac speaks in the story of Mug-eime ? Decceda, Decedda, 
 are clearly (I think) genitives singular of a name, the nom. sg. 
 of which in Old-Celtic would have been something like Deceits. 
 Compare the fern. id-stem Decetia, which occurs somewhere in 
 Caesar, and is cited by Zeuss, ' Gramm. Celtica,' ii. 758. . . . 
 
 I haven't the smallest confidence in all this. It is sheer 
 guess-work. But a guess may perhaps put persons other than 
 the guesser on the right track. I cannot agree with you in 
 thinking the inscription has a Greek look. It is an Old-Celtic 
 bilingual like the one at St Dogmaels : "Sagra|m|ni fili cuna- 
 tami," and then in Ogham, " Sagramni maqi cunatami." I wish 
 you would send me a rubbing of it. . . . 
 
 H. Summer Maine was greatly delighted with your " Cean 
 Dubh Deelish," which I showed him the other night when he 
 was dining with us. This and the " Burial of King Cormac " 
 are my favourites among the new poems in your book. 
 
 I send by book-post a paper which you will read with 
 interest [wrote Ferguson, with a copy of his paper on the 
 Brehon Laws]. If but half of my conclusions are well 
 founded, it is not a law of strangers under which we live, but 
 the old Western European code, in which the Irish have as 
 
FERGUSON TO WHITLEY STOKES. 87 
 
 good an inheritance as the Anglo-Saxons. You will not think 
 my emendation of rob presumptuous. I begin to think that 
 for purposes of study it is as well that the Brehon publication 
 has been put forward as it is. If the whole of the collection 
 were printed as O' Donovan left it, without note or comment, 
 a well-instructed lawyer and civilian would reconcile discrep- 
 ancies and marshal the analogies with better chance of success 
 than by going at the material in manuscript. By the time 
 you come over on your leave I hope to have my work pretty 
 well forward, and that you and I and some others may be able 
 to keep the Academy out of a position of declining reputation. 
 I fear the rivalry of the theologies is likely to blight the growth 
 of learning even in that retreat; but we are about to have 
 another University, and possibly it may come to be a fair 
 rivalry of ability. I shall also have some new ballad poems to 
 show you : one on Mesgedra, the supplier of the brain-ball ; 
 but I have kept clear of the horrible, I think successfully. 
 
 It is probable that the October Quarterly will contain a 
 notice by me of our dear friend Todd's ' Wars of the Gael,' 
 and Hennessy's ' Chronicon Scotorum.' I have written some 
 notices for the ' Athenseum ' from time to time on Dr Hill's 
 Newton Stone inscription (which I think I shall be able to 
 read), Forbes Leslie's work about Early Races of Scotland, 
 Arnold's Celtic Literature, and Sir J. Simpson's Inscribed 
 Stones. I am rather disappointed in this last work. After 
 so long an induction, I thought him ripe for some suggestion 
 of an inference. For my own part, I incline to believe in an 
 early race of mankind whose debris are in the out-parts of the 
 earth, and whose original nidus may just as probably have been 
 in high Europe as in high Asia. 
 
 Adieu, dear Whitley. You are now two friends in one. I 
 hope to make your lady's personal acquaintance, and friendship 
 too, some of these days. Offer her my own and my wife's 
 best wishes, and believe me always your faithful old friend, 
 
 Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 On hearing of Ferguson's appointment to the Record 
 Office, Whitley Stokes wrote from Simla : — 
 
88 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 I felt very great pleasure at the news of your appointment, 
 although it involves, I suppose, your retirement from practice 
 at the Bar. Had you been practising in England, I confess 
 I should have regretted the step. But in Ireland no one 
 holding aloof, as you have done, from the ignoble strife of 
 parties, appears to have a chance of promotion to the Bench. 
 I shall read your paper on the Brehon Laws with much 
 interest, provided it ever reaches me : as yet, however, it 
 has not done so. Pray send me another copy addressed 
 "Legislative Council House, Calcutta." If both arrive, I 
 shall hand over one to H. S. Maine, by whom it will be 
 fully appreciated. The articles in the ' Quarterly Review ' 
 also I shall read with eagerness. I have received not only 
 the 'Wars of the Gael,' but Hennessy's 'Chronicle.' Both 
 books are nearly worthless from the purely philological point 
 of view, owing to the editors having failed to indicate the 
 places where they have extended the numerous contractions 
 of the original MSS. The so-called Irish type (beautiful as 
 it is, regarded aesthetically) is unfit for employment in critical 
 editions, as it possesses nothing analogous to the italics which 
 are always now employed to represent such extensions. This 
 would perhaps be of less importance had the editors in the 
 present instance as scholarly an acquaintance with Irish as 
 O'Donovan possessed. . 
 
 There is one man, and, so far as I know, only one, capable 
 of becoming O'Donovan's successor, and that is Standish H. 
 O'Grady. Nothing would give me such pleasure and hope 
 for the future of Celtic letters as hearing that you had suc- 
 ceeded in getting him to accept a situation in your office. 
 
 In Todd's book there are some fine things which you will 
 doubtless bring forward. The 'Chron. Scot.,' however, is dreary 
 reading. These Irish Annals have the same relation to 
 history that tally-sticks or tavern-scores have to one of Glad- 
 stone's financial statements. I should willingly see them left 
 in MS. until the Dinn-senchas and the romances in the 
 ' Leabhar na h'Uidhre,' the ' Book of Leinster,' the ' Leabhar 
 Buidhe Lecain,' &c, had been given to the world. There, and 
 in the Laws, and the Saints' lives, is Irish history to be found. 
 
LETTER OF DR WHITLEY STOKES. 89 
 
 There, and not in these arid Annals, is what scholars want to 
 know about the Irish Celts — namely, their modes of life, 
 thought, and feeling, their superstitions, legends, and poetry. 
 The characters may be fabulous, but the manners and morals 
 attributed to them by the medieval romancist are necessarily 
 those, or nearly those, of his contemporaries. Otherwise his 
 work would have been unintelligible and uninteresting to his 
 ignorant audience. But to return to the ' Chron. Scot' The 
 two quatrains at p. 92 are good. So, too, are those at p. 76, 
 which I turned thus as I lay awake the other night : — 
 
 "The huge cold heavy-toppling swell, 
 
 The blinding sun, 
 Saw Conaing in his wicker coracle 
 
 And bore him down. 
 The sea that o'er him flung her wet, white hair, 
 
 Avenging me, 
 Now lies in light and murmurs music there 
 
 By Tortan's Tree." 
 
 That notion of the sea and her white hair {fairge is 
 feminine) re-occurs in one of the old quatrains which Zeuss 
 printed from a St Gall code, and which (do you remember ?) 
 was thus parodied at Aran : — 
 
 " Bitter in sooth is the wind to-night, 
 Rousing the wrath of the white-haired sea ; 
 But smooth-sea swimming is no delight 
 To Chancery barristers bold and free ! " 
 
 That was a happy time ! But I am very happy, and never 
 regret that I have come to India. My dear wife was much 
 gratified by your reference to her. Remember me affec- 
 tionately to Mrs Ferguson, and believe me always yours, 
 
 Whitley Stokes. 
 
 During the absence of his eldest son in India, Dr 
 Stokes became President of the Royal Irish Academy. 
 In his statement to the Council, he observed of Fergu- 
 son's work in its Museum : — 
 
go HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 There is no one present who feels more strongly than I do 
 the energy and skill which have been displayed by Mr Fer- 
 guson in the arrangements of our Museum, and the boon he 
 has conferred upon the Academy by the formation of a great 
 lapidary museum. It is indeed quite marvellous that so much 
 could have been made of the small amount of space at his 
 disposal. But we have the future to consider. We may hope 
 not only that many private collections may yet be added to 
 the Museum, but that future excavations may cause the soil of 
 Ireland to yield up more and more of the priceless treasures 
 of ancient art she has proved herself so rich in. 
 
 The Academy was at this time employing its scribes 
 in making facsimile copies of Irish MSS. Whitley 
 Stokes criticised with severity some flaws in the tran- 
 scription. To this Ferguson alludes in the following 
 
 letter :— 
 
 Public Record Office, Dublin, 
 iStk May 1875. 
 
 My dear Whitley, — Your additions have opened my mind 
 to much new observation, and I begin to perceive something 
 of the connections and reasons of your science. ... I 
 think you do the scribe wrong, and mete out an unequal 
 measure of your censure in his regard. ... If this be 
 the worst that can be said of his work, you will feel a constant 
 prick of conscience until you set yourself right with yourself 
 by making him some amends. We cannot be perfect. We 
 are human. Help us by gentle correction, and, above all, by 
 instruction, which, the more we know, the more willing we will 
 be to receive from you, whom we all recognise as our master. 
 
 Your affectionate friend (I wish I could call myself dis- 
 ci fiulus), Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 I think, if my replication is taken in a good spirit [wrote 
 Whitley Stokes], the present controversy will be beneficial. 
 But I value your friendship more than all the philology in the 
 world ; and if anything I have written or shall write should 
 alienate you from me, I should never cease to regret it. . . . 
 
CORRESPONDENCE OF FERGUSON AND STOKES. 91 
 
 I have been much absorbed in my revised and annotated 
 edition of our legislative Acts, which will extend to over 2200 
 pages, and in drawing Bills about Opium, Reformatory Schools, 
 and the Tariff, the Burmese Courts, Emigration, &c, &c. I 
 have also tried to codify our Equity law about specific per- 
 formance and injunctions, and my draft will, I trust, become 
 law next year. The only great pleasures we have had are 
 the news of my father's having received the German order 
 pour le merite, and the arrival from Cashmere of a codex of 
 the ' Atharva-Veda,' written on sheets of birch -bark, about 
 500 years old, which, when deciphered (it is in that accursed 
 Shardah character), is pretty sure to yield important results 
 not only for Sanskrit philology, but for the history of the lower 
 forms of religion. The edition of that Veda by Roth and 
 Whitney will have to be quite recast. 
 
 Your " Death of Cuchulain " 1 [wrote Ferguson to Whitley 
 Stokes] has features of surprising grandeur and rude pathetic 
 feeling. It is the peculiarity of these Irish heroics that in the 
 midst of offensive exaggerations and puerilities of incident 
 they tower into a general majesty, of inestimable value to the 
 poet who may be able to turn them to the uses of modern 
 thought. Your version has its usual clearness and force. 
 You set the example of an elegant use of the homely and 
 direct forms of our language. What a contrast to the tawdry 
 attempts at fine writing that these originals have sometimes 
 evoked ! . . . Many a time and oft I have travelled on 
 the top of the Belfast mail, little thinking of the heroic chariot- 
 tracks in which our wheels ran and jolted. The whole Tain 
 topography of that district ought to be recoverable. Modern 
 Irish tales are generally very poor, but these old romances 
 are as full of matter as the fables of Hyginus. In the " death " 
 I fancy there is some religious — I don't speak theologically — 
 significance in the device of the quarrellers at the four corners 
 of the surrounding hosts of Cu's enemies. He was under gets 
 not to refuse certain requests — not to do certain things. This 
 was his taboo : your translation " he was bound " hardly comes 
 up to the strength of his being under these unholy bonds. 
 While I say this, I fail to find any form of words that will do 
 
 1 See ' Revue Celtique,' t. iii. p. 175. 
 
92 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 better and be a translation. On the whole, the original litera- 
 ture of Western Europe has received no greater accession of 
 tragic material for a long time than that scene where Lugad 
 puts aside the hair of the dead hero. Almost as striking is 
 the death of Lugad himself, and the war-casuistry of Conall. 
 These are grand forms to fill the eye of a mind conversant 
 with the pettinesses of the magazines and newspapers. 
 
 I dread the mischief that may be done by poor translations. 
 I daresay what is forthcoming will be in the language of Curry. 
 He had, and O'Looney had too, a respectable directness of 
 apposite language; but none of them knew, or knows, the 
 delicate turns that make all the difference between the jejune 
 and the racy. However, you show us what the language can 
 do, and will continue, — 
 
 " And, by your overflow, 
 Raise us from what is low." 
 
 . . When shall I see you again? that is — subject to 
 the implied contingency. I see old friends falling and failing 
 around me, and must be content to go my ways leaving 
 undone a great deal that I ought to have done ; but I have 
 lived, and loved, and done something if not all I might, and 
 will bequeath, in all likelihood to you, or possibly to one or two 
 others, the duty and I hope the reward of making the voice 
 of this despised people of ours heard high up Olympus. 
 
 I have hardly left space to say my wife always speaks with 
 affection of you and of Mrs Stokes and your little ones. Were 
 she by me she would send her love. Take and distribute 
 mine as amply as you please all round your fireside. — Ever, 
 dear Whitley, your affectionate friend, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 Dr Stokes had in 1873 proposed to make a tour 
 in Brittany, accompanied by his daughter Margaret. 
 He needed change of scene after the sad loss of his 
 wife in that year. Ferguson gave him a letter of 
 introduction to the late Vicomte de la Villemarque, 
 assuring Stokes of a welcome should he find himself 
 in the vicinity of the Chateau of Keransker. 
 
DEATH OF DR WILLIAM STOKES. 93 
 
 My dear Friend [he wrote to the Vicomte], — This note 
 will be presented by Dr William Stokes, the friend and pro- 
 moter of everything we can speak of with any pride that has 
 been achieved in this poor country during the last half-century. 
 It will afford you sincere delight to see the father of Whitley 
 Stokes and the companion of Todd, Petrie, O'Donovan, and 
 Curry. 
 
 Dr Stokes will be accompanied by his daughter Margaret, 
 a lady of accomplishments as rare and admirable in their kind 
 as are those of her illustrious brother. 
 
 I write at the house of my friend, which is at present a 
 house of mourning. He proposes to travel for some time in 
 your country, where, I have assured him, if he pass near 
 Keransker, he will but have to make his presence known to 
 you to assure himself of a sympathetic and kindly welcome. 
 
 I continue to reside at my old address, where a gracious 
 Providence still spares me my dear companion, your old 
 friend, from whom I present affectionate remembrances. — 
 Ever, dear Vicomte, very faithfully yours, 
 
 Samuel Ferguson. 
 
 Dr Stokes never fully recovered the loss of his wife, 
 though he survived her for a few years, and interested 
 himself in his duties as President of the Royal Irish 
 Academy. He died on the 7th of January 1878. Not 
 long before, Ferguson wrote to the faithful daughter 
 and devoted nurse of the friend he prized and was 
 about to lose, a few words of comfort and encourage- 
 ment : — 
 
 7th Dec. '77. 
 
 My dear Margaret, — The lethargy you describe is per- 
 haps a happier dispensation than full consciousness. Your 
 father is not a man who requires light at the last. His mind 
 has had the illumination of wisdom and goodness during 
 years and years of preparation for another life, by the dis- 
 
94 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 charge of every duty and the diffusion of every virtue in 
 this. ..." 
 
 Go on, good daughter, good friend, and believe me very 
 affectionately yours, Samuel Ferguson. 
 
 When Ferguson was made a Knight in 1878 his 
 friend in India wrote to congratulate him : — 
 
 Simla, gt/i May '78. 
 
 My dear Sir Samuel, — My wife and I were much de- 
 lighted to hear from Margaret and to see in the ' Pall Mall 
 Budget ' that you had been knighted. So was a Mrs Hewitt, 
 an old friend of yours, who called here the other day. It 
 must have given Lady Ferguson much pleasure, and the 
 Conservative Government in honouring you has added one 
 more claim to respect and support. Now I have two Sir 
 Samuels to bear in memory with veneration and affection — 
 the other, of course, was Romilly. 
 
 I felt very deeply your kindness to Margaret after my dear 
 father's death. . . 
 
 Why do you not bring out the photographs of your paper 
 casts ? Till we get these we shall have no sure foothold for 
 applying the philological test — the only one that can yield 
 any certain result. . . . With affectionate remembrances to 
 Lady Ferguson, I am always most faithfully yours, 
 
 Whitley Stokes. 
 
 The two following letters, written in 1882, to Mar- 
 garet Stokes, evince the warm affection Ferguson felt 
 for her and all the Stokes family. Her brother 
 Whitley, at this time returned from India, had settled 
 in London ; but there, as elsewhere, had occupied 
 himself in editing early Irish literature : — ■ 
 
 14th February 18S2. 
 My dear Margaret, — I read at the Academy last night a 
 curious paper, of which I send you the abstract. It brings 
 
FERGUSON TO MARGARET STOKES. 95 
 
 Byzantine and Irish history into an interesting and, I fancy, 
 novel contact. I also enclose a photograph, which I have 
 managed to sit for without much severity of aspect, though 
 painfully requested to "look pleasant," which, I suppose, is 
 the customary ordeal in all such studios. My youthful looks 
 occasion me some surprise, considering that I stand on the 
 verge of my seventy-second birthday, and enjoy the privilege 
 of never being quite well. My dear Molly, I rejoice to tell 
 you, has no such claim on the sympathy of her friends. She 
 is full of affairs, domestic, social, collegiate (Alexandrine), and 
 industrial. For my own part, if I live two or three years 
 longer, I have speculations enough to occupy my leisure time 
 very agreeably ; and when it comes to my turn, will look back 
 with a grateful mind on many pleasures afforded me during 
 life by the friendship of the truly good people I have known 
 — you, my dear Margaret, and those who have been and are 
 near and dear to you, being counted amongst the first. I 
 shall also send you something else by book-post. — Affection- 
 ately yours, Samuel Ferguson. 
 
 March 2, 1882. 
 My dear Margaret, — As you will see Whitley sooner 
 than I, and I do not know where else to address him, will you 
 say for me that I have got the ' Togail Troi,' and am highly 
 delighted with and instructed by it. If Mr Tennyson wishes 
 to see how old Irish bardic genius dealt with classical material, 
 he could not have a better instance than in the description of 
 the Greek fleet approaching Sigeum. It is exaggeration, not 
 bombast — the exaggeration of highly exalted fancy and power. 
 So much pleased am I that I shall now take my copy of the 
 1 Togail Troi,' which at first I hesitated to do owing to the 
 impression that the ' Togail ' was, as said in the preface 
 [to the facsimile of the ' Book of Leinster '], " simply a 
 translation from the Latin." 
 
 Ferguson, who had been an Honorary Member of 
 the Society of Scottish Antiquaries since 1874, de- 
 livered in Edinburgh, on their invitation, in the 
 
g6 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 autumn of 1884, what are known as the Rhind Lec- 
 tures, his subject being Ogham Inscriptions in Great 
 Britain and Ireland. In the spring of that year he 
 had spent some time in Edinburgh on the occasion 
 of the Tercentenary celebration of her University. 
 He had then the privilege of being one of those on 
 whom the degree of LL.D. was conferred honoris 
 causa. The Tercentenary was a delightful gathering. 
 The city was en fete ; its citizens hospitable in the ex- 
 treme ; the weather splendid. Men from all parts of the 
 world, illustrious in achievement, who had extended 
 in divers directions the boundaries of knowledge, 
 were there assembled. Two Frenchmen — strong con- 
 trasts — were greeted with marked enthusiasm : Pasteur, 
 quiet in dress and demeanour, almost insignificant in 
 person ; and Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, of com- 
 manding height, brilliant appearance and garb, covered 
 with decorations, with head erect and flashing eyes, 
 moved proudly amid the plaudits of the assembly, 
 which still more vociferously cheered his unassuming 
 countryman. 
 
 Our Edinburgh experiences have been very agreeable [wrote 
 Sir Samuel to Mr Justice O'Hagan on the 3d of May 1884]. 
 I purpose, D. V., to return in October, when the Society of 
 Scottish Antiquaries have asked me to deliver their Rhind 
 Lectures. It is late in life for me to take up such an 
 engagement, but I begin to be very sensible of the value 
 of the time that is left me, and hope to put Irish inscriptional 
 knowledge on a more acceptable footing in what I shall have 
 to say. 
 
 On hearing that Ogham inscriptions were to be 
 
VISITS TO EDINBURGH, 1884. 97 
 
 the subject, Dr Reeves, then Dean of Armagh, sent 
 his congratulations to Ferguson, and spoke of the 
 " Rhinder-post " as "one of great honour, which 
 in your occupation will acquire much eclat.'" 
 
 You have it now in your power [Reeves continued] to set 
 the Ogham question ex cathedra on its just footing. Ogham 
 orthodoxy is in the keeping of yourself and the Bishop of 
 Limerick. I believe ye are of one mind, and most cordial 
 co-operators. Crush out the lingering nonsense of the 
 Vallanceyites, and though you may not be able to solve 
 every enigma and clear away every obscurity, yet let the 
 result of your pronouncements be — the acquiescence of the 
 doubtful and the unanimous approval of the learned. 
 
 Ferguson's visits to Edinburgh in 1884 were not only 
 occasions of unmixed pleasure, but enabled him to 
 renew "old friendships and to make new friends. On 
 his return to Dublin he received from Dr, now Sir 
 Arthur Mitchell, K.C.B., the following letter : — 
 
 34 Drummond Place, 
 Edinburgh, qth November 1884. 
 
 My dear Sir Samuel, — The enclosed from Professor 
 Blackie carries a message to you. Read and rive. 
 
 I hope you are none the worse of your labours here. We 
 are all greatly the better of your coming among us. This 
 world is now as full of praise of you as the Dublin world 
 has long been. 
 
 Give my kindest regards to Lady Ferguson. I hope some 
 day to accept her kind invitation — some day not very distant, 
 but not so close at hand as I could wish it to be. I should 
 go to the bottom, if I tried to cross the sea with such a load 
 of work on my back as I have at present. A little while ago 
 I wanted to go to Ireland to see Ireland ; now I want to go 
 to it to see Lady Ferguson and you again. Remember me 
 also to your charming nieces. 
 
 VOL. II. G 
 
g8 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 I also enclose a note I had from Mr Skene explaining his 
 absence from your last lecture. Mrs Mitchell is not beside 
 me while I write ; if she were, I should have to fill another 
 sheet with kind messages from her. — Ever sincerely yours, 
 
 Arthur Mitchell. 
 
 Sir Arthur Mitchell, who has but recently retired 
 from his laborious duties as Commissioner of Lunacy 
 in Scotland, had himself been a Rhind Lecturer. 'The 
 Past in the Present ' preserves for a wider audience his 
 valuable and interesting addresses. Sir Arthur is a 
 member of the Universities Commission of Scotland. 
 
 It was Ferguson's intention to publish his Rhind 
 Lectures with additional matter and illustrative photo- 
 graphs, but he deferred going to press till he could 
 make his book a complete record of all that was known 
 of Ogham legends. With this end in view he sent the 
 Lectures to Dr Whitley Stokes for philological criti- 
 cism, and devoted his next vacation to a tour in Scan- 
 dinavia. In Bergen, Christiania, Stockholm, Upsala, 
 and Copenhagen he diligently studied in the museums, 
 and conversed with their curators. He was much im- 
 pressed with the rich accumulations of objects of anti- 
 quarian interest at Stockholm, and the ability of Herr 
 Hildebrand, at the head of that national institution. 
 
 The following letters to Dr Whitley Stokes will show 
 how Sir Samuel's ever-active mind was at work during 
 the spring and summer of 1885 : — 
 
 Dublin, March 31, 1S85. 
 My dear Whitley, — I have been unable to put a hand 
 to the Lectures since I last read your notes. . . . 
 
 I had given a good deal of consideration to the Patrician 
 
FERGUSON'S LETTERS TO DR WHITLEY STOKES. 99 
 
 documents, and was able to bring some new matter to bear 
 on the questions of birthplace, foreign travel, and epoch. My 
 mind inclines to the pre-Palladian period, to British birth and 
 orders, and home education, for the author of the ' Confession 
 I put the ' Confessio ' itself in blank verse as the only form of 
 rendering that unites literalness with fervour and effusion. I 
 send you a proof, which pray consider confidential, and return 
 when you have read it. You will see I make the second 
 captivity a spiritual one, and in some other passages correct, 
 I think, previous translations. 
 
 In the same parcel I return the proofs of the Lectures which 
 you were kind enough to note for me. If they aid at all in 
 any of your researches, I shall be very glad to have promoted 
 inquiries, I am sure, far more valuable than my own. 
 
 21st August 1885. 
 
 My dear Whitley, — I stand amazed at the evidences of 
 thought, observation, and industry which I find here to-day on 
 my return from my vacation, in your several gifts to me ; for 
 which I need not express my own, but wish I could adequately 
 express our country's thanks. Little do these ignorant, tur- 
 bulent, discontented poor Irish know the labour and the 
 learning that have been devoted to the building up for them 
 of a School of Letters ; but in time they will know, and some 
 day or other they will venerate the name of Stokes. I am 
 myself, I fear, too old to learn all your labours might teach me ; 
 but I am capable of seeing the vast utility to the student of 
 old Irish of your tract on the declensions, and can see also 
 that many rash speculations may be averted and true indica- 
 tions confirmed by your correction of the text of the glosses. 
 What you mention in your card is new to me as regards the 
 equivalence of the counter-apposited digits in Ogham to the 
 vowels : I only knew it as applying to consonants. 
 
 We had a very agreeable time in Norway and at Stock- 
 holm and Copenhagen. Poor Worsaae must have died very 
 suddenly. I had called at his house and learned that he was 
 in the country on the day of my arrival, and during my week's 
 visit heard nothing of his illness, but learned his death on my 
 
100 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 arrival at Hull. We had one of our nieces with us, a fine 
 young girl, whose enjoyment of the carrioles and cafes equalled 
 my own pleasure in the museums. I saw nothing Oghamic, 
 but a good many things in symbolical sculpture and metal- 
 work, throwing light, I think, on the incised figures on the 
 Pictish stones. I go to work, D. V., to-morrow on my proofs, 
 helped to the avoidance of error by your kind assistance. 
 
 The illness which attacked him early in 1886 — failure 
 of the heart's action — arrested Sir Samuel's purpose. 
 It was touching to see him on his sick-bed propped up 
 on pillows, examining his casts and pondering over 
 their mysterious markings, and then, realising that he 
 must relinquish the endeavour to complete his work, 
 desirous that others should take it up. " If Alick 
 Macalister when he grows up," said Sir Samuel to his 
 wife, " shows the same tastes which distinguished him 
 as a boy, I should like him to have my casts." This 
 young son of Professor Macalister, now of Cambridge, 
 when little more than a child was ever ready to 
 follow his elder friend in Oghamic studies, and Lady 
 Ferguson has since carried out the wish expressed by 
 her husband. 
 
 Upwards of one hundred and sixty of these casts had 
 been photographed under his supervision — designed, 
 when the series was complete, to illustrate his work 
 on Ogham Inscriptions. When this was posthumously 
 published in 1887, the texts, unaccompanied by illus- 
 trations, alone were given. The book was reviewed in 
 the ' Archaeological Journal,' vol. 44, London, 1887. It 
 was pronounced "certain to become a permanent and 
 classic authority on the subject with which it deals. 
 
DR WHITLEY AND SIR WILLIAM STOKES. IOI 
 
 . . . As the texts amount to 226 — all that are known — 
 our readers can judge the value of the exhaustive 
 method with which Sir Samuel has treated his subject, 
 and it will be long ere this volume is superseded as the 
 classic on Ogham." 
 
 My dear Lady Ferguson [wrote Dr Whitley Stokes in 
 January 1886], — I have this moment heard for the first time 
 of Sir Samuel's serious illness. Pray do not show him (at all 
 events till he recovers) the letter from me which Maddie says 
 she has forwarded to you. It would only worry him. And 
 when you have a spare minute, pray send me a post-card say- 
 ing how he is. He and Dean Reeves and Burton are the 
 only old Irish friends who are now left to me, and of these 
 Sir Samuel is the dearest. — Ever yours, 
 
 Whitley Stokes. 
 
 In February 1886 Ferguson wrote a post-card to his 
 friend : — 
 
 Thanks for kind letter to my wife. I am sitting up, and 
 promised liberty out of doors in a week. ... I hope " to see 
 the bud upo' the timmer ^ of another spring. Farewell. 
 
 S. F. 
 
 Sir William Stokes, in his devoted and skilful atten- 
 tions to his father's and his own lifelong friend, did all 
 that medical science can do to prolong life and lighten 
 pain. His sister offered the hospitality of her charming 
 home at Howth. To her kind proposal Ferguson 
 replied : — 
 
 I have little prospect, dear Maddie, of profiting by your 
 hospitable goodness. There is my Report for 1885 to put 
 together the minute I can apply myself to work, and that I 
 must do at the Record Office. William hopes to let me out 
 next week : I shall drive down and back again easily, but a 
 
102 HIS WORK AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST. 
 
 daily train and drive would be too much. Wait till the whins 
 are in blossom and cares of duty relaxed. — Your affectionate 
 friend, Samuel Ferguson. 
 
 Faithfulness to friendship, devotion to the land he 
 loved, characterised Ferguson to the last. Both are 
 evidenced in the following words addressed to Dr 
 Whitley Stokes : — 
 
 There is on my mind a profound conviction that men like 
 you are the destined redeemers of this country, and I would, if 
 it were possible, contribute some honest days' work in your 
 company, to that end, before I quit the scene. 
 
103 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1 864-1 886. 
 friendships (continued) — a tour in Donegal. 
 
 " For life, with all it yields of joy and woe, 
 And hope and fear, — believe the aged friend, — 
 Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love, 
 How love might be, hath been indeed, and is ; 
 And that we hold thenceforth to the uttermost 
 Such prize despite the envy of the world, 
 And, having gained truth, keep truth: that is all." 
 
 —Robert Browning. 
 
 The Rev. James Henthorn Todd, D.D., Senior Fellow 
 of Trinity College, Dublin, and Regius Professor of 
 Hebrew in its University, was closely associated with 
 Reeves, Stokes, Petrie, and Ferguson in friendship, 
 as in the pursuits of learning. Todd was grave and 
 erudite, yet with a keen relish for humour — an elderly 
 bachelor, living chiefly in his rooms in college. But 
 at his home at Silveracre, Rathfarnham, he was sur- 
 rounded by a large circle of relatives and friends. 
 His father had died while he was yet a youth, leaving 
 a large family but slenderly provided for. This, the 
 eldest son, made his way in college by ability and 
 
104 A TOUR IN DONEGAL. 
 
 labour — made a home for his widowed mother, educated 
 and put forward in life his younger brothers and sisters, 
 finding his own happiness in their wellbeing. Dr 
 Todd was a zealous worker for his country and his 
 Church. He was a High Churchman of the olden 
 type, in no sense a ritualist, but every inch a priest. 
 Among his learned labours for Ireland may be named 
 his ' Life of Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland ' ; also his 
 ' War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill ; or, The Invasions 
 of Ireland by the Danes and other Norsemen,' 1867. 
 
 This volume, which contains the Irish text with an 
 English translation, he enriched with notes and illus- 
 trations, many of them from Scandinavian sources ; for 
 the battle of Clontarf, a.d. 1014, in which the forces 
 of Brian Boru defeated the Danes — the victory with 
 which this chronicle of Brian closes — has also been 
 narrated in the Sagas, notably in " Burnt Nial." The 
 Irish chronicle has been ascribed to MacLiag, the 
 Bard of Brian. It bears internal evidence of being the 
 work of one present at the battle of Clontarf, and, for 
 vivid and picturesque narrative by an eyewitness, is 
 of great interest. Ferguson reviewed the work, in an 
 article entitled " Lord Romilly's Irish Publications," 
 in the pages of the ' Quarterly Review,' 1867. The 
 article opens with an account of the "Annals" and 
 of the "Historic Tales" which are found in Irish 
 manuscripts. To the latter class belongs the " Tain- 
 bo-Cuailgne," of which the reviewer thus speaks : — 
 
 The earliest, and, on the whole, the grandest, remains 
 unpublished. It celebrates in an heroic, epic, though inflated 
 
THE ' BOOK OF LEINSTER.' IO5 
 
 manner, an invasion of Ulster by the warriors of Connaught 
 in the pre - Christian times, and is called the " Tain - bo 
 Cuailgne," or Cattle Spoil of Quelgny. The last also remains 
 unpublished. It is called by a formidable - looking Irish 
 name signifying the "Wars of Turlogh," and relates the 
 conflicts and fortunes of the great native families of Clare 
 from the twelfth to the middle of the fifteenth century. 
 . Several of the intermediate ones have, through the 
 exertions mainly of Dr Todd, been published by the Irish 
 Archaeological and Celtic Societies. 
 
 The MS. edited by Dr Todd and reviewed by Fer- 
 guson deals with the invasion of Ireland by the Norse- 
 men : — 
 
 It appears that an ecclesiastic of Kildare, when the too 
 famous Dermot MacMurrogh was a boy, had compiled for 
 that young prince's use a kind of cyclopaedia or repertory of 
 native pieces of literature, the greater portion of which is 
 still in existence in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, 
 and is known as the ' Book of Leinster.' Among other 
 tracts for the entertainment and instruction of young Dermot 
 this collection comprised a copy of the ' Wars of the Gaels 
 and Gauls.' Here it is to be understood that, as some of 
 the Continental nations give the name of Welsh to all for- 
 eigners, so the Gael of Ireland used to designate externs as 
 Gauls ; and in this particular instance the word signifies 
 Norse and Danish foreigners, the work being in effect a 
 poetico-historic narrative of the progress of the Norse invasions 
 of Ireland from their commencement in the beginning of the 
 ninth century down to their termination with the battle of 
 Clontarf in the beginning of the eleventh. The battle of 
 Clontarf is indeed the one great event which it celebrates, 
 all the other matter being introductory and leading up to 
 that culminating-point of the story. . . . 
 
 Most educated persons are aware of the fact that on Good 
 Friday, a.d. 10 14, the united forces of Leinster and the Danes 
 of Dublin, with their foreign auxiliaries, sustained a decisive 
 
106 A TOUR IN DONEGAL. 
 
 defeat from the native forces under Brian, and that the aged 
 king lost his own life on that occasion. . . . We refer 
 those of our readers who may care to know the detail of the 
 organisation and array of the armies on either side, to Dr 
 Todd's elaborate Introduction, in which he has extracted its 
 historical substance from the bardic text, and collated it with 
 whatever illustrative or explanatory matter his great learning 
 has enabled him to draw from the literature of these islands 
 or of Scandinavia. Some noticeable facts, however, are 
 brought out with great vividness in the bardic text. It seems 
 certain that this was one of the hardest fought battles ever 
 joined. It lasted from high water in the morning till high 
 water in the evening, and was fought out in one field by men 
 on foot, and almost wholly in hand-to-hand combat. Many 
 of the Danes wore plate and chain armour. The Irish, as was 
 their custom, had no defensive arms save helmets ; but their 
 patricians and those who matched themselves against the 
 men in mail carried Danish battle-axes, in addition to their 
 heavy swords, for the purpose of breaking the iron and brass 
 casings of their adversaries. There seems to have been 
 little use of the spear, and neither chariots nor cavalry are 
 mentioned. It appears to have been mainly a work of 
 handy blows, kept up without cessation or flinching for a 
 surprising length of time. . . . 
 
 The "Njal-Saga" has enabled Dr Todd to give us the 
 personal description of some of the Danish leaders. Of these 
 the most famous is Brodar, by whose hand Brian fell towards 
 the close of the battle. . . . The Saga is as character- 
 istic of the early Norse genius as the bardic tale is of the 
 Gaelic. From it Gray derived his noble ode of the " Fatal 
 Sisters." And if we compare the rude and savage original with 
 his polished and strong stanzas, we shall see what are the 
 legitimate uses to which some Irish Gray may hereafter con- 
 vert the crude yet less barbarous material supplied by the 
 Irish chronicler. 
 
 Of Dr Todd's treatment of his subject Ferguson 
 thus speaks : — 
 
WARS OF THE GAELS AND GAULS. IO7 
 
 Whatever a patient and laborious scholar could do to settle 
 the text, to separate the fabulous parts from the historic, to 
 marshal the events in right chronological sequence, to fix 
 localities, and to show the genealogies and family connections 
 of the principal characters, he has done with the most praise- 
 worthy pains. In the Danish pedigrees in particular he 
 displays a singular amount of learned research, and shows 
 a state of family connection between the invaders and the 
 great native houses which will be new to the best instructed 
 scholars in these obscure provinces of British history. The 
 book is altogether a singular instance of solid learning, de- 
 voting itself to the service of a semi-barbarous bardism which 
 half a century ago would have been passed by as unworthy 
 of a scholar's notice. But such, no doubt, appeared the 
 first commentaries on the ' Nibelungenlied,' when Germany 
 stood in relation to Teutonic literature as Ireland now does to 
 that of her Gael. . . . 
 
 If Ireland is to reap any real intellectual benefit from the 
 vast work of antiquarian learning accumulated during the 
 last thirty years, comprising above fifty published volumes 
 of substantial matter, not to speak of the collections of manu- 
 scripts acquired chiefly by private subscription for the library 
 of the Royal Irish Academy, it is to the memory of Petrie, 
 and to the living labours of Dr Todd and Dr Reeves, that 
 her gratitude will first offer its acknowledgments. But Petrie 
 and his learned compeers could have achieved little without 
 the official genius which, inspired by him, seized on the 
 opportunity of making the Irish acquainted with themselves, 
 through their own scholars and their own literature ; and, 
 in future tributes to the merits of the great band of archaeo- 
 logists, the death of the elder of whom has left a blank in the 
 intellectual circles of Dublin, the name of Sir Thomas Larcom 
 will claim a co-ordinate commemoration. 
 
 It may be interesting to adduce, as incidental evi- 
 dence that the battle of Clontarf was described by an 
 eyewitness, the fact stated in the MS. that the conflict 
 commenced at early morning, and that it was high 
 
108 A TOUR IN DONEGAL. 
 
 tide at the time. It lasted all that day (April 23, 
 1014), and was terminated by the return of the tide in 
 the evening. " The fact has been verified by astro- 
 nomical calculations, and the inference is that the 
 author of the Chronicle, if not himself an eyewitness, 
 must have derived his information from those who 
 were themselves eyewitnesses." 
 
 Ferguson and his wife, absent on their vacation 
 rambles in 1864, were, as already stated, joined in 
 Sligo by their young English friends, Henry and 
 William Winterbotham. " I come to Ireland for the 
 enjoyment of your society," wrote the elder brother; 
 " and wherever you are pleased to delve, I am ready to 
 hold the hod." They were the magnets that attracted 
 the Rev. Hercules Dickinson — now Dean of the Chapel 
 Royal. The party before their departure from Sligo 
 were joined by Petrie, Stokes, and his daughter Mar- 
 garet. They moved on together through Donegal, and 
 had established themselves in the district of Glen- 
 columbkille for antiquarian work, when, on a very wet 
 and stormy day, Dr Todd joined them from Dublin. 
 He was chilled by the long drive, his eyes were affected 
 by the wind, and his health much impaired during 
 that tour in Donegal. Dr Stokes, in his 'Life of Petrie,' 
 has thus described the region in which the antiquarian 
 friends sojourned in the inclement autumn of 1864 : — 
 
 This was the last of these delightful excursions, never to be 
 forgotten by those who had the happiness to accompany him 
 [Dr Petrie]. The days spent in explorations passed too 
 rapidly, while every evening he would play on his violin some 
 
INCLEMENT AUTUMN OF 1864. IO9 
 
 of the old melodies of the country. Yet while his kindly 
 manner and love of nature gave such a charm to the days 
 passed with him, it was impossible to resist a feeling of sad- 
 ness at the thought that he was then paying his farewell 
 visit to scenes and objects which a lifelong labour had truly 
 made his own. 
 
 Notwithstanding the dreary and tempestuous weather, 
 the group of friends had much enjoyment in congenial 
 society, added to the interest of the antiquities and 
 scenery. The fine cliffs, which at Slieve League rise 
 to the height of 1800 feet above the Atlantic, are 
 belted with lichens of brilliant hues. But in the 
 autumn of 1864 the country, the crops, and the in- 
 habitants suffered from the almost continuous rains, 
 which made the chief food of the people — the pota- 
 toes — more than usually wet and waxy. Sickness 
 supervened, and when it became known that a great 
 physician was sojourning at the hotel, Stokes was 
 besieged every morning with petitions that he would 
 visit the sufferers in their cabins. The Doctor, ever 
 ready to assist the poor, would take down all ad- 
 dresses, return to the breakfast-table, crumble some 
 bread, crush a few lumps of sugar, and to these add 
 a little white powder — probably some preparation 
 of soda or magnesia — which he carried in a tiny 
 box. With these ingredients he made pills, which 
 he placed in his waistcoat-pocket. We started every 
 day for some scene of archasological interest, where all 
 but the Doctor and the present writer were set to sketch 
 the various objects. They then proceeded on a round 
 of medical visits. The sufferers were generally aged 
 
110 A TOUR IN DONEGAL. 
 
 peasants. " A weakness about the heart," an " op- 
 pression on the chest," and rheumatic pains, were the 
 ills of which they chiefly complained. Dr Stokes's 
 manner was full of sympathy. He listened, with his 
 hand on the pulse, to all they had to say, with the 
 utmost patience. Then he prescribed, invariably, the 
 same remedy. With the pills — which were to be 
 taken at stated intervals — he produced half-a-crown, 
 with strict instructions to apply it to the purchase of 
 mutton-chops, one of which was to be eaten daily. 
 When rallied by his companion on the uniform treat- 
 ment ordered for every complaint, " My dear friend," 
 he would say, " in whatever way these poor people 
 describe their sensations, their ailments spring from 
 the same cause : no change of diet, and their only food 
 a wet root. The chops will do them good so long as 
 they last. As for the rheumatism, it is slightly intensi- 
 fied by the wetness of this season — that is all." He 
 would discourse, as we made our way across meadows, 
 bogs, and streams, from one poor habitation to an- 
 other, on the philosophy of health and disease, and 
 extort the admiration and respect of his listener by 
 the wide range of his knowledge, and the depth of his 
 sympathy for the suffering and sorrowful. 
 
 The labours of the day were closed by a festive 
 dinner, ending with a bowl of punch, untouched by 
 the juniors, but enjoyed in moderation by the seniors. 
 Conversation, flavoured with "Attic salt," genial hum- 
 our, and sparkling wit, combined to make the repast 
 " The feast of reason and the flow of soul." 
 
PETRIE AND HIS VIOLIN. Ill 
 
 Then came the solace and refreshment of music. 
 
 Petrie's violin was placed entreatingly in his hands by 
 
 the younger members of the party, whose reverent and 
 
 affectionate attentions to the elders were touching to 
 
 witness, and soon 
 
 " Amid the strings his fingers strayed 
 And an uncertain warbling made, 
 And oft he shook his hoary head. 
 But when he caught the measure wild, 
 The old man raised his face and smiled." 
 
 In his ' Life of Petrie ' Stokes dwells on his love of 
 music and expressive rendering of Irish airs. 
 
 But his deepest and most lasting love was for the ancient 
 airs of Ireland ; and the true expression he gave to them can 
 hardly ever again be equalled. Many now are gone of the 
 happy circles that gathered round him at his own house, or at 
 those of his friends — men of letters, artists, poets, archaeologists, 
 all lovers of Ireland, and true workers for her, whose hearts 
 were kindled and purified by these perfect strains. Those 
 who now remain will often love to dwell in memory on the 
 graceful figure of the old man with his violin, turning, as he 
 used to do, his back upon his audience, and facing the wall, 
 on which, perhaps, was hanging one of his own paintings, 
 harmonious as the strains which he was pouring forth, while 
 his graceful form swayed gently to the rhythm of the air that 
 he was playing. From his early boyhood, whenever he heard 
 an air which in any degree touched his feelings, or appeared to 
 him to be either unpublished or a better version than any 
 which had been already printed, he never neglected to note it 
 down ; and his summer ramblings through most of Ireland — 
 for objects more immediately connected with his professional 
 pursuits — afforded him constant opportunities of increasing 
 the collection which so early in life he had commenced to 
 form, and which at last amounted to many hundreds. 
 
 Petrie's services to his native land were soon to end. 
 
112 A TOUR IN DONEGAL. 
 
 Little more than a year after the visit to Donegal he 
 peacefully closed his eyes on this mortal scene, and 
 passed away, deeply lamented, on the 17th of January 
 1866. " He died as a Christian man should die," 
 wrote his biographer, " not in triumph, nor yet in 
 gloom, but in calm resignation to the will of Him 
 who doeth all things well." 
 
 One of the early recollections which Dr Petrie has 
 left on record was of a touching scene of which when 
 a boy he was an unwilling spectator. His father, an 
 artist, had executed the commission of Sarah Curran, 
 daughter to that distinguished orator and member of 
 the Irish Bar, John Philpot Curran. She had been 
 betrothed to Robert Emmet, whose life paid the 
 penalty of his complicity in the rebellion of 1803 ; 
 and knowing that Mr James Petrie had painted 
 Emmet, she requested that a portrait from memory, 
 aided by his former studies of the head, should be 
 painted for her, and that when completed she might 
 visit his studio alone. A day and hour were named 
 by the artist ; but his boy, unaware of the arrange- 
 ment, was seated in a recess of the window, concealed 
 by the curtain, when the lady, closely veiled, entered 
 the room. She approached the easel, and gazed long 
 and earnestly on the picture of her lover, then leaned 
 her head against the wall and wept bitterly. The boy, 
 attracted by her sobs, knew not how to act. She was 
 quite unconscious of his presence, and before he could 
 make up his mind what he ought to do, she recovered her 
 self-control, drew down her veil, and left the room. 
 
STOKES S LIFE OF PETRIE. II3 
 
 Dr Stokes has dwelt on the purity and gentleness 
 of character and sensitive and delicate nature of Petrie, 
 and the great amount of happiness these qualities 
 secured for him throughout life : — 
 
 In the society of friends, and of the many accomplished 
 strangers who visited him, he took a keen delight ; while his 
 richly stored mind, his singular tact, his exercise of that 
 higher power of criticism which discovers the good achieved 
 rather than the shortcomings in works of literature and of art, 
 gave a rare charm to his society. Though partial to friendly 
 discussions, he ever defended his views with firmness and 
 with spirit. Yet such was the gentleness and grace of his 
 manner that the hours passed in his company were not to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 He often declared to the writer, that though always a poor 
 man, his life had been one of great enjoyment, greater than 
 falls to the lot of most men, and that his chief happiness was 
 in the society of so many loving, lasting, and intellectual 
 friends. 
 
 While engaged on this biography of Dr George 
 Petrie, Dr Stokes wrote to Ferguson the following 
 note : — 
 
 My dear Ferguson, — I am dealing with our visit to Co. 
 Donegal in the last chapter of Petrie's Life. Could you let 
 me have your note-book about the cromlechs at Malin Mor 
 and the cave under the church at Glencolumbkille ? — Ever 
 affectionately yours, W. Stokes. 
 
 When the ' Life of Petrie ' was completed Dr Stokes, 
 on Christmas Day 1868, called at 20 North Great 
 George's Street with a copy inscribed " To Samuel 
 Ferguson, Esq., LL.D., Q.C., from his attached friend 
 the writer ; " and in a note, when he found that Fergu- 
 son was absent, added : — 
 
 VOL. 11. H 
 
114 A TOUR IN DONEGAL. 
 
 I know so little of the literary world that I have no one to 
 consult but yourself in this matter. Should the book cover 
 its expenses, I propose handing any balance that may accrue 
 to the Misses Petrie. 
 
 I could easily have made the book larger, and am almost 
 sorry I did not do so, yet I was anxious to keep it within 
 moderate bounds. But I have done my best under diffi- 
 culties ; and they say that what a man does do is his best. — 
 With kind remembrances to Mrs Ferguson, ever affectionately 
 yours, W. Stokes. 
 
 Ferguson thanked him for the gift in the following 
 letter :— 
 
 You have done your work nobly and faithfully. I am par- 
 ticularly pleased with the chapter on the Ordnance Survey 
 Memoir. The dear old man lives again in these pages, and 
 gives out his full character in all its phases of gentleness and 
 force. — With thanks and every good wish. 
 
 The copy of Ferguson's ' Lays of the Western Gael ' 
 sent to Dr Todd had associations for him connected 
 with their time in Donegal, as will appear in the fol- 
 lowing letter : — 
 
 My dear Friend, — Thank you very much for your beauti- 
 ful book, which comes fragrant with memories of Carrick, 
 Sliabb Liacc and Glencolumbkille. But it is at the same 
 time to me a temptation and a snare ; for my eyes, although 
 slowly getting better, are not yet so far recovered as to enable 
 me to read with impunity. — Ever most truly yours, 
 
 J. H. Todd. 
 
 When Ferguson found himself, at a somewhat later 
 period, at Wildbad Gastein in the Salzburg district, 
 he wrote to Dr Todd, and suggested that he should 
 join him and try the waters, which issue from the 
 snow-mountains so hot that even when they have 
 
DR TODD'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH FERGUSON. 115 
 
 been conveyed in pipes for a considerable distance 
 they have to be cooled before use by admixture 
 with ordinary water. Dr Todd's reply was as 
 follows : — 
 
 Thank you very much for your kind letter. I would be de- 
 lighted to visit Salzburg, from its connection with Ireland. 
 Its founder, St Rodbert {Hibemice Raffertach), and its famous 
 bishop, Virgil (Fergal), the geometer (who narrowly escaped 
 being condemned as a heretic for believing in the Antipodes), 
 were both Irish, the latter certainly. 
 
 The account you give of the Wild, baths is certainly also 
 very tempting — especially when combined with the pleasure of 
 enjoying your and Mrs Ferguson's company, and searching with 
 you whether any recollections or traditions of Ireland still float 
 around the Monastery of St Peter. I have often thought that 
 a history of the Irish ecclesiastics who were founders of 
 churches on the Continent and in Great Britain would be an 
 interesting book ; but my powers of working are not what they 
 were. How strange it is that the proposal to destroy a Church 
 to which England and half of Europe owes its Christianity, 
 should be received with applause by so many here and on the 
 Continent ! But I have forgotten to tell you that it is impos- 
 sible for me to accept your most kind invitation, — first, because 
 I am not up to the journey ; and secondly, because my doctors 
 say that water is not the cure for me. 
 
 The St Brie whose chapel you mention was, I suspect, a 
 native of Wales, who followed St Germain of Auxerre to the 
 Continent and became famous in Brittany ; but the place now 
 called St Brieuc in Armorica was not founded by him, but 
 dedicated to him three centuries after his death. He must 
 have been contemporary with St Patrick. His day was 
 May 1. This would help to identify him, if you find that 
 May 1 is also the day kept at St Bric's Chapel at the Gross 
 Glokner. 
 
 Again thanking you for your kind letter, and regretting that 
 I cannot get to you, I remain, with anxious wishes for your 
 perfect recovery, most truly yours, J. H. Todd. 
 
Il6 A TOUR IN DONEGAL. 
 
 A kind letter from Dr Todd, which reached Ferguson 
 when he was on Circuit in Armagh in the spring of 
 1865, conveyed the gratifying intelligence that the 
 University of Dublin proposed to confer on him the 
 degree of LL.D. honoris causa, to which Ferguson 
 sent the following answer : — 
 
 Dear Dr Todd, — Your note, which has been forwarded to 
 me here, intimating the intention of the University to confer 
 on me the honorary degree of Doctor, has given me great 
 gratification. I have desired nothing more than the approval 
 of the illustrious body which thus deigns to recognise my 
 poor endeavours. I shall very gladly receive the honour the 
 University designs for me ; and I beg you will convey to the 
 Board my grateful acknowledgment for so valuable a mark of 
 their good opinion. 
 
 This agreeable intelligence was communicated by 
 Ferguson to his wife in the following letter: — 
 
 Nothing could be more gratifying than Dr Todd's letter. 
 It gave me real pleasure, and I am sure as much for your 
 sake as my own. I write my acknowledgments to-day accept- 
 ing the honour with alacrity. I have seen the Robinsons. 
 Mrs R. somewhat depressed, but alive as ever to any intel- 
 lectual pursuit. We had a search through the books in the 
 breakfast-parlour for an illustration I wanted of a Bornean 
 war-canoe with an upper deck, in which she was as active and 
 interested as you ever saw her. 
 
 Mrs Robinson, of whom Ferguson speaks in his 
 letter, was the second wife of Dr Romney Robinson 
 the Astronomer; and her sister, Mrs Butler, was the 
 widow of Dr R. Butler, Dean of Clonmacnois. They 
 were the youngest children of Richard Lovell Edge- 
 worth, and half-sisters of Maria, who was some forty- 
 five years their senior. Lucy, Mrs Robinson, delicately 
 
DR AND MRS ROBINSON AND MRS BUTLER. 117 
 
 fair, fragile, petite, is still living, and Harriet, Mrs 
 Butler, not long deceased. Both were very remark- 
 able women, highly cultured and original in character, 
 and their companionship and the brilliant conversation 
 of Dr Robinson made the Armagh Observatory a de- 
 lightful house. "The Trio," as they were called by 
 their intimates, were dear and attached friends of 
 Ferguson and his wife. " The Ferguson Arms " was 
 ever ready to receive them when they came to Dublin. 
 When her husband was on Circuit Mrs Ferguson often 
 sojourned at Armagh with these delightful friends, and 
 when the Assizes were over Ferguson would rejoin her 
 at the Observatory, and if possible snatch a few days 
 to spend there before returning to Dublin. 
 
 Dr Robinson was almost sightless for many years, and 
 had to undergo two operations for cataract ; but Mrs 
 Butler, whose health was more robust than her sister's, 
 zealously attended to some departments of Observatory 
 duties. She registered the course of the winds, rainfall, 
 barometer, thermometer, &c, &c, and read aloud the 
 most abstruse works to the learned Astronomer. 
 
 " Do you remember what Herodotus says on the 
 subject ? " Dr Robinson would inquire of his friend 
 Ferguson, apropos to some discussion ; and if he re- 
 ceived an answer in the negative, it was his habit to 
 turn to his sister-in-law. " Harriet, my dear, will you 
 fetch me from the library the book I want ? You will 
 find it on the third shelf, left-hand side. It is the 
 seventh volume from the end." The little, spare, but 
 active old lady would go at once, and return promptly 
 with the required volume. Then she would proceed 
 
Il8 A TOUR IN DONEGAL. 
 
 to read in Greek — or whatever learned language the 
 book might be written in — the passage indicated by 
 Robinson, who could generally direct her to the page, 
 and say on what part of the page the required reference 
 would be found. If an ignorant listener asked for 
 enlightenment, Mrs Butler would at once translate 
 the classic into English with perfect fluency. Mrs 
 Butler to the latest day of her life — and she lived to an 
 advanced age — was an unwearied reader. She was 
 indefatigable in acts of service and kindness, some- 
 what eccentric in matters of dress, being utterly 
 indifferent to the fashions, yet with the bearing of a 
 perfect gentlewoman. She wrote a life of her husband, 
 and of her sister Maria Edgeworth — printed for private 
 circulation only. This has been the basis of Mr Hare's 
 recent biography. When the delightful home at the 
 Observatory was broken up by the death of Dr Robin- 
 son, the widowed sisters settled at Glasthule, within 
 reach of Dublin and of their friends at 20 North Great 
 George's Street. Here is a note, written in Mrs 
 Butler's bold clear handwriting, to Ferguson, who 
 had sent her a copy of his translation of St Patrick's 
 1 Confession ' : — 
 
 Glasthule Lodge, January 28, 1886. 
 
 O my dear Sir Samuel, — How kind of you ! The 
 Patrician Documents just arrived. How can I thank you 
 enough for it ? So valuable a gift, and such an honour to me at 
 any time ; but that you thought of me, and took the trouble 
 to write the inscription when you had been so ill, is a kindness 
 the most nattering and gratifying to me. Thank you, thank 
 you. — Your grateful Harriet Butler. 
 
MRS ROBINSON, N&E LUCY EDGEWORTH. Iig 
 
 Mrs Robinson, unlike her sister, was choice in the 
 matter of dress, liked pretty things, and looked pretty 
 in dainty silks and laces. She still survives — tenderly 
 cared for by her step-daughter, the wife of Sir George 
 Gabriel Stokes, in their home at Cambridge. When 
 Lady Ferguson visited her in the summer of 1894, Mrs 
 Robinson said to her, " My memory is now like a 
 necklace of pearls of which the string is cut : the pearls 
 of remembrance are there, but they are unconnected. 
 I cannot place them in sequence, I am too old. But 
 my heart is still young, and I love you as fervently 
 as ever." In September 1895 — faithful to a promise 
 made when Mrs Robinson left Ireland — Lady Fergu- 
 son revisited her at Cambridge. " Oh how I thank 
 you ! " she exclaimed ; " the sound of your voice brings 
 back former days when those we both loved were with 
 us, — days never to be forgotten ! though my memory 
 has failed for all recent occurrences." 
 
 When Ferguson in 1878 received the honour of 
 Knighthood she wrote as follows : — 
 
 " Honour to whom honour is due." 
 
 So we congratulate the Lord Lieutenant that he shows he 
 has the good taste and s avoir f aire to bestow duly the honours 
 in his power. 
 
 And much do we rejoice, my dear Sir, that you know how 
 to accept your due ! 
 
 I wish you felt stronger ; but still we flatter ourselves, though 
 you do complain of feebleness, that the accolade will not have 
 overwhelmed you, and that you will actually feel the stronger 
 for the sense of being publicly appreciated. 
 
 Tell your own beloved " Molly," with my love, she must not 
 hold her little head so high above her old acquaintances as 
 
120 A TOUR IN DONEGAL. 
 
 not to allow them to sympathise with her satisfaction on your 
 account, or not let them be very much pleased at her own 
 part in the honour. (Indeed I know few people who would 
 be so little affected by being "be-Ladyed" as your dear 
 romantic wife.) 
 
 Your old friend sends his love. He has deputed me to write 
 for him to tell you how much pleased he is. He is indeed 
 astonishingly well, and has regained so much strength of health 
 that we dare to hope he may get through the next two months 
 without such a very severe attack of bronchitis as he suffered 
 from last year and the previous one. He had not been out 
 walking since the middle of November till last Saturday, when 
 he did venture forth for a few minutes with the greatest enjoy- 
 ment and benefit, to behold the flowers, the grass. 
 
 " The common air, the skies, 
 To him was opening paradise." 
 
 My sister joins us heartily in our pleasure and congratula- 
 tions, and let me say how very much we are gratified by your 
 writing yourself to tell us. — Truly and affectionately, 
 
 L. J. Robinson. 
 
 When the Fergusons with their niece had left their 
 friends at the Observatory after a week's visit, Mrs 
 Robinson wrote : — 
 
 My dear Lady Ferguson, — I hope you and dear Amabel 
 were not too much chilled yesterday by the wintry cold of the 
 air. It was kindly bright and pleasant to the eye, so that I 
 should hope you had a pleasant journey. . . . 
 
 Dr R. took an hour's drive, and enjoyed the sunshine, and 
 wanted the window to be opened ; but his tyrant would not 
 let him have a breath of the very inimical north wind. 
 
 He bewailed our losses all day long, and at the same time 
 rejoiced in the week's great pleasure he had had, most thankful 
 for having been permitted to be so well the most part of the 
 time. — Ever affectionately yours, L. J. Robinson. 
 
 In the later years, when as a widow Mrs Robinson 
 
MRS ROBINSON'S LETTERS TO LADY FERGUSON. 121 
 
 and her sister resided at Glasthule Lodge, and Sir 
 Samuel's last — and fatal — illness had commenced, his 
 old friend wrote the following letters : — 
 
 We read of the riots at Leicester with so much anxiety for 
 yours about your brother there, and wish so much to hear how 
 you feel, and what you hear about him, and how dear Sam is, 
 and your own dear self, that I must tell you so, and ask you 
 to let your niece write me a word about all. You cannot 
 have time to write to every one, and every one must be 
 longing as we are about you and your anxiety on every side. 
 
 The state of public affairs is most terrible. The reign of 
 Mob is, I fear, becoming established in England as well as 
 Ireland ! 
 
 I wish, I wish we could aid you further than by our hearts' 
 service of sympathy and anxiety and love. 
 
 Glasthule Lodge, February 27, 1886. 
 
 Dearest Lady Ferguson, — The day has been abominable, 
 never abating, so I could not venture out, and only write this 
 line to say how sorry not to have gone as you so kindly invited 
 us. I am quite shocked to see in the paper the death of Lady 
 Kane ! and am sorry that you, who had so warm a regard for 
 her, have this loss of a loved friend. How very much relief 
 and heart-pleasure your note gave me I cannot write of quickly, 
 about my dearly loved and prized friend of my husband and 
 of my own self, being better, and able to take an airing ! and 
 sun you with the delightful hope of his recovery and restoration 
 to his former self, perhaps in better health than he has had of 
 late years. God grant it to our constant prayers for him, and, 
 dear, for your own self! 
 
 Oh, the only comfort possible to human hearts is that He 
 orders all for us ! May He keep up your health and strength ! 
 — Ever your loving L. J. Robinson. 
 
122 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 1846-18S6. 
 
 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 " Per la bonta uomo e gentile veramente." 
 
 —Dante. 
 
 " Nor deem that acts heroic wait on chance ! 
 The Man's whole life preludes the single deed 
 That shall decide if his inheritance 
 Be with the gifted few of matchless breed, 
 Or with the unnoticed herd that only sleep and feed." 
 
 — Lowell. 
 
 Denis Florence MacCarthy, born in Dublin in 1817, 
 wrote in the 'Nation' under the name " Desmond." 
 Called to the Irish Bar in 1846, he soon afterwards 
 edited ' The Poets and Dramatists of Ireland ' and 
 ' The Book of Irish Ballads,' the latter volume dedi- 
 cated to Ferguson because "enriched by so many 
 beautiful efforts of his genius." 
 
 Mr MacCarthy subsequently published two volumes 
 of his own poetry, which included " The Bell Founder " 
 and many lovely lyrics. One of these conveys a hint 
 of his approaching marriage : — 
 
MACCARTHY S TRANSLATIONS FROM CALDERON. 123 
 
 " For ah ! the beloved at length has come 
 Like the breath of May from afar ! 
 And my heart is lit with her gentle eyes, 
 
 As the heavens by the evening star. 
 'Tis this that brightens the darkest sky 
 
 And lengthens the faintest ray, 
 And makes me feel that to heart or eye 
 There was never so sweet a May 
 As this 
 Sweet May ! sweet May ! " 
 
 Happy in his domestic life, the young poet threw 
 himself with enthusiasm into his chief literary work, 
 the translation of Calderon's dramas. In his introduc- 
 tion to the plays rendered from the Spanish, MacCarthy, 
 in a poem on the second centenary of Calderon, May 
 25, 1881, thus wrote of the dramatist : — 
 
 " Transcendent Poet, to whose hand was given 
 The Harp of David and the Lyre of Heaven ; 
 Whose pen, unstained by any human dross, 
 Proclaimed the Crimson glories of the Cross ; 
 Whose wondrous Autos opened to man's view 
 Scene after scene, creations ever new ; 
 Worlds unbeheld within his vision brought, 
 And peopled with the phantom forms of Thought : 
 How can I speak of thee, O Bard divine ; 
 How raise my humble Muse to worship thine; 
 How fitly dwell on thy immortal page, 
 Thou Wonderful Magician of the Stage? 
 
 Happy for Spain, that proudly she may claim 
 The priceless heirloom of each deathless name, 
 And in each deathless name her noblest son, 
 Cervantes, Lope, and great Calderon." 
 
 Thus did MacCarthy estimate the genius of the 
 
124 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 dramatist, fifteen of whose plays he translated into 
 English verse. The admirable manner in which he 
 accomplished this labour of love has been told by 
 competent judges. The poet Longfellow wrote to 
 thank him for his work "in the vast and flowery 
 field of Calderon." Mr Ticknor, in his ' History of 
 Spanish Literature,' 1863, also commends Mac- 
 Carthy's work: — 
 
 It is, I think, one of the boldest attempts ever made in Eng- 
 lish verse. It is, too, as it seems to me, remarkably successful. 
 Not that asonantes can be made fluent or graceful in English, 
 or easily perceptible to an English ear, but that the Spanish 
 air and character of Calderon are so happily preserved. . . . 
 
 Calderon is a poet who, whenever he is translated, should 
 have his very excesses, both in thought and manner, fully 
 produced, in order to give a faithful idea of what is grandest 
 and most distinctive in his genius. Mr MacCarthy has done 
 this, I conceive, to a degree which I had previously considered 
 impossible. Nothing, I think, in the English language will 
 give us so true an impression of what is most characteristic of 
 the Spanish drama ; perhaps I ought to say, of what is most 
 characteristic of Spanish poetry generally. 
 
 MacCarthy in his preface compares in a very lumin- 
 ous way the aims, methods, and genius of Calderon 
 with those of Shakespeare : — 
 
 In the English theatre the characters are always the represen- 
 tatives of individuals ; in the Spanish, of classes. The man is 
 everything on the English stage ; on the Spanish, he is nothing. 
 In the former, we look on the actors in the drama as beings 
 of a kindred nature with our own ; in the latter (at least in its 
 tragedy), as merely personifications of the virtues or vices to 
 be represented. In Shakespeare the characters are flesh and 
 blood — where none are so monstrously wicked as not to be 
 
CALDERON AND SHAKESPEARE. 125 
 
 relieved by an occasional ray of a better nature, and none so 
 sterling as not to exhibit a little of the common alloy of 
 humanity. In Calderon they are cast in an inflexible mould 
 of virtue or vice, and preserve their golden or iron rigidity to 
 the last. Shakespeare's figures have the warmth and colouring 
 of the canvas, — Calderon's the fixed and colder outline of the 
 marble. In the one we have the incalculable vicissitudes of 
 life ; in the other, the inevitable certainty of fate. In Calderon 
 it is ever the constant sunshine or the unbroken gloom of his 
 climate ; in Shakespeare the dark and bright — the smiles and 
 tears of our own. Shakespeare possessed higher qualities, and 
 was apparently the deeper thinker. Calderon possessed quali- 
 ties in which the other was deficient, and was perhaps, in 
 some of the attributes of the poet, but little his inferior. In 
 the worship of external nature the Englishman, with all his 
 warmth, is cold compared with the Spaniard ; in the revelations 
 of her mysteries and the inward workings of the soul, the 
 latter must be pronounced superficial when compared to the 
 former. Shakespeare invented characters in abundance, but 
 few plots ; Calderon invented innumerable plots, but few 
 characters. The one was fertile in delineation ; the other, in 
 invention. In fact, both are admirable of their kind, but both 
 are founded on totally different principles of dramatic propriety, 
 and we may relish and admire the one without being unjustly 
 and unnecessarily blind to the merits of the other. 
 
 The Irish poet had caught his inspiration as regards 
 the Spanish dramatist from Shelley's renderings of 
 scenes from Calderon. " His resplendent pages," he 
 tells us, had shown him " how divine a thing translation 
 can be made." The generous enthusiasm of Mac- 
 Carthy for Shelley's renderings increases our admira- 
 tion of his own. Both loved " everything that was 
 Nature's," and Schlegel says of Calderon that his 
 poetry, "whatever the subject may ostensibly be, is an 
 unceasing hymn of joy on the splendours of creation." 
 
126 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 The stimulus of a critique in the ' New York Tablet,' 
 from the pen of the Hon. T. D'Arcy M'Gee, no doubt 
 had its influence in inducing MacCarthy to render 
 from the " Tain - bo - Cuailgne " the story of Ferdiah 
 and his combat at the ford with Cuchullin. M'Gee, 
 whose heart ever beat true to Ireland, had urged that 
 the first claim on every man of letters was that of his 
 native land and its literature. This conviction he 
 expressed in his review of the translations from 
 Calderon : — 
 
 Very highly do we reverence Calderon, and very highly 
 value his translator j yet, if it be not presumptuous to say so, 
 we venture to suggest that MacCarthy might find nearer home 
 another work still worthier of his genius than these trans- 
 lations. Now that he has got the imperial ear by bringing 
 his costly wares from afar, are there not laurels to be gathered 
 as well in Ireland as in Spain ? The author of " The Bell- 
 Founder," of "St Brendan's Voyage," of "The Foray of 
 Con O'Donell," and " The Pillar Towers," needs no prompt- 
 ing to discern what abundant materials for a new department 
 of English poetry are to be found almost unused on Irish 
 ground. May we not hope that in that field or forest he may 
 find his appointed work, adding to the glory of first worthily 
 introducing Calderon to the English readers of this century 
 the still higher glory of doing for the neglected history of his 
 fatherland what he has chivalrously done for the illustrious 
 Spaniard ? 
 
 Some passages from the unpublished " Tain-bo- 
 Cuailgne " had been cited by Ferguson's wife in her 
 1 Irish before the Conquest.' Before the publication of 
 a second edition, Mr Denis H. Kelly had intrusted her 
 with his translation of the epic, from which she made 
 copious extracts. These she placed in the hands of 
 
MR BURCHETT ON THE " TAIN-BO-CUAILGNE. 127 
 
 her artist and poet friends. One of the former, Mr 
 Burchett, the late Head Master of the South Kensing- 
 ton School of Art, in returning the manuscript warmly 
 expressed his appreciation of the " Tain ": — 
 
 I have just now finished my transcript of the great " Cow- 
 Foray," having filled forty-three foolscap folios closely written. 
 This has taken me longer than I expected, and I could not 
 make up my mind to leave any portion of it except such 
 passages as you had printed. I felt, I assure you, while 
 doing it, like the jackal for some future Homer; and the 
 more I become acquainted with the early traditions, the more 
 one feels the classic ground on which we tread. 
 
 You have conferred a very great pleasure upon me, and I 
 sincerely trust that I have not occasioned you any inconveni- 
 ence by my long detention of the manuscript. 
 
 Mr MacCarthy returned the extracts from the 
 ''Tain" with the following letter: — 
 
 My dear Mrs Ferguson, — I return you the extracts from 
 Mr Kelly's translation of the " Tain-bo-Cuailgne," with many 
 thanks. Though the account of the fight between Cuchullin 
 and Ferdiah is given in a very abridged form, it interested 
 me greatly as being evidently taken from a different copy 
 of the "Tain" from that which contains the episode of 
 Ferdiah, which I have endeavoured to throw into a metrical 
 form. If, as I infer, Mr Kelly has translated the whole 
 " Tain," I would like very much to see it. I hope you will 
 excuse my having copied your own extracts from it, of which, 
 however, I of course shall make no public use. Burton's 
 letter pleased me very much, though I think he is a little 
 too severe on the literal style, adopted by most translators 
 from the Irish. The passage he particularly objects to I 
 find no difficulty in understanding ; but that arises probably 
 from my being, at least by descent, a Munsterman. What 
 a grand subject for Burton's pencil would be the advance of 
 
128 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 Cuchullin to the ford of battle, with the chariot surrounded by 
 Bocanachs and Bananachs and the wild people of the Glens ! 
 Read my version of the fight with indulgence. 
 
 The affecting incident in the " Tain " of the combat 
 at the ford, and Ferdiah's death at the hands of the 
 much-loved companion whom he has challenged, has 
 been treated by MacCarthy, De Vere, and Ferguson. 
 The lament of Cuchullin is thus given in the " Ferdiah " 
 of the first-named writer : — 
 
 " Until Ferdiah sought the Ford, 
 I played but with the spear and sword : 
 How dear to me, ah ! who can know ? 
 This golden pillar here laid "low, 
 This mighty tree so strong and tall, 
 The chief, the champion of us all ! 
 
 Until Ferdiah sought the Ford, 
 
 I played but with the spear and sword : 
 
 Through me the friend I loved is dead, 
 
 A cloud is ever on my head — 
 
 The mountain form, the giant frame, 
 
 Is now a shadow and a name." 
 
 In Mr De Vere's " Foray of Queen Maeve " the hero 
 thus apostrophises the victim, who rushed on his own 
 destruction : — 
 
 " ' Ferdiah ! On their head the curse descend 
 Who sent thee to thy death ! We meet no more ; 
 Never while sun, and moon, and earth endure. 
 
 We ate together of the self-same dish : 
 We couched together 'neath the self-same shield : 
 Now living man I stand, and he lies dead ! ' 
 He raised again his head : once more he sang : 
 
CUCHULLIN AND FERDIAH. 120, 
 
 ' Each battle was a game, a jest, a sport, 
 Till came, foredoomed, Ferdiah, to the Ford. 
 I loved the warrior though I pierced his heart. 
 Each battle was a game, a jest, a sport, 
 Till stood, self-doomed, Ferdiah by the Ford. 
 Huge lion of the forestry of war ; 
 Fair, central pillar of the House of Fame ; 
 But yesterday he towered above the world ; 
 This day he lies along the earth, a shade.'" 
 
 In Ferguson's " Tain Quest " the emotions aroused 
 in the breasts of King and Court by the recital of the 
 story of Cuchullin and Ferdiah are chiefly dwelt on. 
 The monarch at the feast had called on his bard to 
 chant the famous " Tain." But the lay was lost, al- 
 though the minstrel had journeyed far in hope of its 
 recovery : — 
 
 Northward to the thunder-smitten, jagg'd Cuchullin peaks of 
 
 Skye, 
 Great Cuchullin's name and glory fill'd the land from north to 
 
 south. 
 
 It was reserved for the son of the bard to recover the 
 forgotten story of the " Great Cow- Foray," whose 
 words had " tramp of heroes in them," and his father 
 chanted them at the royal feast : — 
 
 Light of manhood's generous ardour, under brows relaxing 
 
 shone, 
 When, mid-ford, on Uladh's border, young Cuchullin stood 
 
 alone. 
 
 What, another and another, and he still for combat calls ? 
 Ah, the lot on thee, his brother sworn in arms, Ferdiah, falls ; 
 And the hall with wild applauses sobb'd like woman ere they wist, 
 When the champions in the pauses of the deadly combat 
 kiss'd. 
 VOL. II. I 
 
130 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 The earliest of MacCarthy's Odes was recited in 
 1855, at the inauguration of a statue to the recently 
 deceased Earl of Belfast. The Centenary Ode to 
 O'Connell was delivered August 6, 1875 ; and that to 
 Moore, May 28, 1879. Of the latter Ferguson wrote 
 to its author : — 
 
 20 North Great George's Street, 2&th May 1880. 
 
 In your Ode you had to contend with two great difficulties 
 — writing on a prescribed theme, and for an audience requiring 
 to be oratorically as well as poetically appealed to. The 
 effect, I am told, was all that could be desired ; and speaking 
 of the composition as it reads, I use no flattery in saying 
 that I do not know any one who would have done it so 
 well. Still, in my poor judgment, you will enjoy the higher 
 lasting life the poet aspires to in your lyrics, and I long to 
 have you renew the sweet strains of the morning — "The 
 Bridal," " The Bells," " The Shamrock from the Irish Shore." 
 The Irish shore was never, in my memory, so unlovely in 
 its moral and social aspects ; but my lot has fallen on it, 
 such as it is, and what remains to me of life and of nature's 
 gifts shall be spent in its service. 
 
 We had our friend De Vere here last night, when we read 
 his father's drama of " Mary Tudor" before a chosen and 
 capable audience. Our friend could not but have been 
 gratified by its reception. You will be present, I hope, on 
 some of our lyrical evenings. 
 
 In the spring of 1882 MacCarthy was present at a 
 literary gathering at 20 North Great George's Street. 
 Ferguson and his wife were grieved to see him look ill 
 and depressed. It was his last social evening. He 
 could not be said to have enjoyed it. He told Lady 
 Ferguson that he did not feel equal to conversation 
 with strangers, but would like to sit quietly in a corner 
 
DEATH OF DENIS FLORENCE MACCARTHY. 131 
 
 and talk with her. As far as possible she devoted 
 herself to him, and tried to cheer him. He spoke of a 
 "birthday-book" of the dead, which his daughter had 
 designed, with appropriate lines from the poets on the 
 awakening to eternal life. He left early, and a few 
 days later was at rest and listening to "that hymn 
 which seraphs chant above." He had never recovered 
 the death of his wife. Before he lost her he was witty 
 and brilliant, ready with jest and repartee. He died 
 on the 7th of April, and Ferguson in his address to the 
 Royal Irish Academy on the 10th alluded to the sad 
 event. He received next day the following letter from 
 the poet's son : — 
 
 I beg to offer to you our most sincere and heartfelt thanks 
 for the kindly and generous eloge pronounced by you last 
 evening on my dear father. Your noble poems were his 
 favourite study. The last letter he wrote was to you or Lady 
 Ferguson. — I am, dear Sir Samuel, yours most sincerely, 
 
 John MacCarthy. 
 
 William Charles Bonaparte- Wyse was born on the 
 20th of February 1826. He was son of Sir Thomas 
 Wyse of the Manor of St John, Waterford, by his 
 wife the Princess Letitia, daughter of Lucien Bona- 
 parte, Prince of Canino, brother of the Emperor Napo- 
 leon I. Sir Thomas Wyse had held office under Lord 
 Melbourne's Administration, and was Secretary of the 
 Board of Control, and subsequently British Minister 
 at Athens. 
 
 As MacCarthy had devoted himself to the literature 
 of Spain, so did W. C. Bonaparte-Wyse to that of the 
 
132 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 Langue d'oc. The Provencal dialect of the Trouba- 
 dours of the twelfth century is still a living tongue in 
 Southern France and Northern Spain, and Mr Bona- 
 parte- Wyse, who spent much of his youth in Avig- 
 non and formed friendships with the poets of the 
 Langue d'oc, spoke and wrote the language with 
 fluency. Mistral, Tavan, Aubanel, Roumanille, Alex- 
 sandri, and Azai's, in Provence, and Balaguer, Cutchet, 
 Ascensio, on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, were, 
 as well as their Irish comrade, Felibres, leading mem- 
 bers of the poetic brotherhood of the Felibrige. 
 William C. Bonaparte - Wyse published at Avignon 
 in 1868 his volume of poems written in the Langue 
 d'oc, ' Li Parpaioun Blu,' which he presented, " with 
 the best compliments of the author, to The Poet Fer- 
 guson, from his admirer of many years." These poems 
 were welcomed by his confreres, who pronounced that 
 since the days of the Royal Troubadour, Richard Cceur- 
 de-Lion, "on n'avait pas vu d'Anglais ni d'etranger 
 quelconque, chanter si gentiment dans notre langue." 
 In 1882 Mr Bonaparte - Wyse published his ' Li 
 Piado de la Princesso,' which he presented to "the 
 illustrious author of 'The Forging of the Anchor,' 
 Sir Samuel Ferguson, with the kindest regards of 
 William C. B.-Wyse." This volume of poems was 
 also enthusiastically welcomed by the Felibrige. One 
 of them, Alphonse Roque-Ferrier, asserts that " nul 
 ne pourra refuser d'appliquer a l'auteur des ' Piado de 
 la Princesso ' une partie des paroles qu'il adressait a 
 Mistral, ' Vous aurez magnifiquement vecu votre vie 
 
MR W. C. BONAPARTE-WYSE. 133 
 
 d'homme, en gardant devant le monde la position 
 heroique d'un poete qui proteste en faveur de sa langue 
 et de sa race.' " 
 
 The "Omega" of this volume has the following 
 sonnet in English : — 
 
 OMEGA. 
 
 " Our task is ended, and these purple flowers, 
 Gathered for true-love of the Speech I prize, 
 Are now at length consigned in ordered wise 
 Within the glass-house of this book of ours ; 
 But, forehead bent, me sadness overpowers, 
 And small my pride in what before me lies. 
 Ah ! vain and dull to disillusioned eyes 
 Seems all this flowery growth of vanished hours ! 
 'Tis that I harbour a superb Ideal, 
 Which, like the blazing Sun a rushlight's ray, 
 Quenches and drowns my pallid rhymes unreal : 
 'Tis that the higher mine aspirings wander, 
 I mark the more, uprising far away, 
 Alps over Alps . . . and wistfully I ponder ! " 
 
 Mr Bonaparte - Wyse, with his wife and family, 
 eventually settled at Waterford. He took an interest 
 in its antiquities, as will appear in the following letter 
 and sonnet. Its subject, Reginald's Tower, is a conspic- 
 uous object on the quay at Waterford, where it stands 
 in perfect preservation, still inhabited, a relic of the 
 Vikings in the town which the Danes founded some 
 eight hundred years ago : — 
 
 Manor of St John's, October 12, 1875. 
 My dear Dr Ferguson, — In answer to your query about 
 "Reginald's Tower," I shall take an early opportunity of 
 letting you know the result of my personal examination. 
 
134 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 Unfortunately I am just now laid up with a touch of the gout, 
 which prevents my going into town. One query I can, 
 however, manage to answer at once from my library arm- 
 chair. The stairs are carried up in the thickness of the 
 outer wall, precisely similar to what I have noticed in the 
 old Castle of Moussa, Shetland Isles, which I visited in 
 the year 185 1, and which struck me at the time as having 
 a common Scandinavian origin with the famous landmark of 
 my native city. 
 
 By the way, as you have brought the subject of Reginald's 
 Tower on the tapis, will you kindly permit me to send you 
 the enclosed copy of a sonnet (one of a succession of such 
 I have perpetrated during my sojourn in Waterford, in illustra- 
 tion of scenes of local history) ? As you perceive, I allude 
 in the 13th line to the very subject of one of your queries. 
 On a former occasion, if you remember, you expressed your- 
 self rather favourably of my poetical capacity ; and I do not 
 anticipate that you will now disapprove of what I am engaged 
 about. If ever I print my little work, it would afford me 
 great pleasure to be permitted to dedicate it to the sinewy 
 poet of " Congal," which, whatever others may do, I do not 
 cease to regard as far and away the most thoroughly Irish 
 chef d'ceuvre of the century. Mr R. H. (Orion) Home, the 
 well known poet and dramatist, who has been staying at my 
 house during the entire of last month, was highly pleased 
 with its archaic vigour, being already greatly prejudiced in 
 your favour from his acquaintance with the " Forging of the 
 Anchor," and (though an Englishman), thanks to his intimacy 
 with Sir C. G. Duffy (whom he knew for many years in 
 Australia), he is not by any means ignorant of the best pieces 
 of the Irish Muse. 
 
 You shall hear from me shortly again relative to the other 
 queries. And in the meantime, with kindest regards of my 
 wife to Mrs Ferguson, not forgetting my best remembrances, 
 I remain, yours most truly, 
 
 William C. Bonaparte-Wyse. 
 
LATEST POEM OF MR BONAPARTE-WYSE. I35 
 
 REGINALD'S TOWER. 
 
 "A mighty man was Reginald the Dane: 
 Well could his fist the thickest helm indent ; 
 The Raven followed him where'er he went, 
 And grim his smile amid great heaps of slain. 
 What time the sea-gull shrieked and the tost main 
 Becked him to battle-joys with fierce content, 
 He shoved from shore his stranded armament 
 And hurried seawards, mad for gore and gain. 
 Returning thence, one lovely summer morn, 
 Laden with loot, and many a golden torque 
 Which from the wild O'Feoldins he had torn, 
 He bade his warriors pile this orbed work 
 (With stairs enwreathing it between its walls), 
 That still its sight his fame to men recalls." 
 
 On the 12th of August 1886, when all that was 
 mortal of Sir Samuel Ferguson was removed from 
 North Great George's Street to St Patrick's Cathedral, 
 just as the funeral procession was about to start a 
 wreath of laurel arrived from Waterford, sent by Mr 
 Bonaparte- Wyse, with a request that it would be laid 
 on his grave in testimony of his admiration of the 
 genius of the poet whom he so highly regarded. His 
 own health was much shattered, and he was a great 
 sufferer from gout. A few years later he left Ireland 
 for the sunny South, but only reached his beloved 
 Avignon to die. In the autumn of 1892, broken down 
 by pain, he penned his last sad and desponding 
 lines : — 
 
 THANATOPSIS. 
 
 " In the midst of the flowers and the sunbeams 
 Have I come at last to die, 
 Worried and wearied and wasted 
 By Life's stupendous lie ; 
 
136 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 In the midst of the flowers and the sunbeams 
 
 To breathe my final breath ; 
 In the midst of the flowers and the sunbeams 
 
 To kiss the lips of death : 
 
 Of death — the sole name of solace — 
 
 Conceded to sad mankind, 
 For all the rest are fancies 
 
 And ashes and shadows and wind : 
 In the midst of the flowers and the sunbeams, 
 
 In the land of mine olden love, 
 Where the flowers are sweet on the mountains, 
 
 And the sun burns bright above." 
 
 The Dean of Westminster, Dr Richard Chenevix 
 Trench, came to Dublin as Archbishop in 1864. He 
 had many qualifications for that important post. He 
 was Irish by birth and connection. He was author 
 of standard works in Theology and Literature. He 
 was a poet, and his verse was characterised by ele- 
 gance and sweetness. He was more of a High Church- 
 man than were the clergy whom he came to rule, and 
 at first the divergence occasioned some friction. But 
 he was soon recognised as a pious and peace-loving 
 prelate. Notwithstanding the stormy period of Dis- 
 establishment and Prayer-book Revision through which 
 he piloted the Irish Church, his mild influence was 
 felt even by his opponents. He took a deep and 
 practical interest in the higher education of women, 
 and aided in the establishment of Alexandra College, 
 where he delivered lectures to the young ladies on 
 Church History. To the general public he read papers 
 on non- ecclesiastical subjects, such as the career of 
 
ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN, DR TRENCH. I37 
 
 Gustavus Adolphus and the works of Plutarch. His 
 Essay on the ' Lives ' and ' Morals ' of this writer, 
 which he afterwards published in book form, consti- 
 tutes one of the most charming volumes in our litera- 
 ture. No reader of taste could open it at any page 
 without feeling its delicate charm of style and treat- 
 ment, and the ripe knowledge of the mind from whence 
 it proceeded. Dr Trench also wrote the life of his 
 mother, the lovely and accomplished Melesina Chene- 
 vix, whose portrait by Romney remains to attest her 
 beauty. 
 
 Archbishop Trench, while in Dublin, instituted the 
 Literary Club, of which Ferguson was one of the 
 original members. Their number — strictly limited — 
 permitted of their dining together on certain days. 
 They were all invited to join the Club by the Arch- 
 bishop on literary grounds alone, quite irrespective 
 of creed or politics. 
 
 The Archbishop, like his friend MacCarthy, was a 
 good Spanish scholar, and a translator of the noble 
 literature of medieval Spain. His extensive reading 
 was, however, more apparent in his writings than in 
 general conversation. In society he was silent, and 
 even sad ; but with one or two friends only, he dis- 
 played the treasures of his cultured mind. Possibly 
 the conflict of opinions which it was his duty as far 
 as possible to guide, amid which the circumstances 
 of the time compelled him to move, were felt by him 
 more keenly and with a deeper sense of despondence 
 than a younger man or one of more buoyant nature 
 
I38 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 would have yielded to. His health gave way, and in 
 1886 he resigned his dignities, but carried with him 
 in his retirement— soon closed by death — the esteem 
 even of those who opposed the prelate, and the love 
 and reverence of all near enough to appreciate the man. 
 One sonnet, which reveals the source of the good- 
 ness and elevation of spirit which characterised Arch- 
 bishop Trench, will suffice as a sample of his shorter 
 poems : — 
 
 " Lord, what a change within us one short hour 
 Spent in Thy presence will prevail to make ! 
 What heavy burdens from our bosoms take ! 
 What parched ground refresh, as with a shower ! 
 We kneel, and all around us seems to lower; 
 We rise, and all, the distant and the near, 
 Stands forth in sunny outline, brave and clear ; 
 We kneel how weak, we rise how full of power. 
 Why therefore should we do ourselves this wrong, 
 Or others — that we are not always strong, 
 That we are ever overborne with care, 
 That we should ever weak or heartless be, 
 Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer, 
 And joy and strength and courage are with Thee ?" 
 
 Dr Trench's successor, Lord Plunket — at the time 
 Bishop of Meath — is also a poet. The Hymnal of 
 the Church of Ireland contains a few of his sacred 
 strains. "True to Church and Fatherland," here as 
 elsewhere, is the sentiment of his patriot heart. He 
 comes of high intellectual lineage both by father and 
 mother, the latter being a daughter of Chief-Justice 
 Bushe. Grandson and namesake of the great Lord 
 Chancellor William Conyngham Plunket, his Grace, 
 
ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN, LORD PLUNKET. I39 
 
 as well as his brother, the Hon. David Plunket, recently 
 created Lord Rathmore, has inherited that grand- 
 father's gift of oratory. The Archbishop is a ready, 
 graceful, and sympathetic speaker. His oratory comes 
 from the heart. Its earnestness goes to the heart. 
 When he addresses the young — on occasions such as 
 Confirmations — he is impressive chiefly from his ten- 
 derness and power of sympathy. Like the preacher 
 described by Goldsmith, who 
 
 " Tried each art, reproved each dull delay, 
 Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way," 
 
 our Archbishop appeals to the higher elements in 
 human nature, and illustrates his teaching by the 
 example of a devoted life. 
 
 Lord Plunket's imaginative grasp enables him to 
 understand, attract, and influence many who belong 
 to a different school of thought. Members of other 
 Communions, however strongly they may differ on 
 points of doctrine, recognise in the Archbishop a man 
 of God, a humble Christian, a nobleman in the highest 
 sense of the word, and an Irishman who disinterestedly 
 loves his country. His benevolence, his genial and 
 generous hospitality, are not limited to those who agree 
 in his opinions, for he is free from pharisaism as from 
 prejudice. A character such as his is of public value 
 everywhere, but especially so in Ireland. There, dif- 
 ferences of race, creed, politics, and ancient enmities 
 still tend to disunite. When men thus kept apart 
 can be brought together on any ground common to 
 
140 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 all, distrusts are lessened, goodwill increased, and a 
 great moral gain achieved. 
 
 A few stanzas may be given from words written by 
 Lord Plunket to a popular melody, as they illustrate 
 his love for his country, and reprobation of unfilial 
 conduct on the part of some of her sons : — 
 
 A PATRIOT'S REBUKE. 
 " Ye sons of Erin ! who despise 
 
 The Mother Land that bare you, 
 Who nothing Irish love or prize, 
 Give ear, I will not spare you ! 
 The stranger's jeer I do not fear, 
 
 But can I pardon ever 
 Those who revile their native Isle ? 
 Oh ! never, never, never. 
 
 Go point me out on any map 
 
 A match for green Killarney, 
 Or Kevin's bed, or Dunlo's gap, 
 
 Or mystic shades of Blarney, 
 Or Antrim's caves, or Shannon's waves — 
 
 Ah me ! I doubt if ever 
 An Isle so fair you'll find elsewhere, 
 
 Oh ! never, never, never. 
 
 And now, my friends, go if you will 
 
 And visit other nations, 
 But leave your hearts in Erin still 
 
 Among your poor relations. 
 The spot on earth that gave you birth 
 
 Resolve to love for ever, 
 And you'll repent that good intent, 
 
 Oh ! never, never, never." 
 
 On reading these lines Ferguson wrote to their 
 author : — 
 
LETTERS OF FERGUSON TO LORD PLUNKET. 141 
 
 The verses have given me hope and pleasure more than 
 any other expression of cultivated Irish sentiment that I have 
 seen for many years. They breathe the very tone which it 
 would be my own proudest ambition to elicit and sustain 
 among the Irish upper classes and nobility. 
 
 On Lord Plunket's election to the See of Meath 
 Ferguson wrote to him the following letter : — 
 
 October 23, 1876. 
 My dear Lord Bishop, — It is fortunate for the Church of 
 Ireland that it has secured the services in so high a place of 
 so good a man, and I am truly glad to offer you this double 
 congratulation, for you cannot but be gratified at the selec- 
 tion and the manner of it. When at Old Connaught in the 
 summer, I read in Jeremy Taylor's ' Doctor Dubitantium,' 
 in your Lordship's library, a discourse on the freedom of the 
 Churches, which I thought at the moment very apposite to the 
 present position of the Church of Ireland, both as regards her 
 independence of Rome and her -attitude towards the sister 
 Church of England. It did not occur to me then that your 
 Lordship would so soon have to speak with a voice of authority 
 in our Irish Councils, or I would have referred to the opinions 
 of Taylor when I last had the pleasure of conversing with you. 
 Your friend's work (the ' St Paul ') continues to give me much 
 entertaining instruction. I think I shall be able to add some- 
 thing to the curious chapter on the shipping of the ancients, 
 and if I find I can, I shall send Dean Howson a cast from a 
 roughly scratched design of a ship — probably Phoenician or 
 Carthaginian — brought by Dr Acland of Oxford from Ithaca, 
 where he found it carved on one of the steps of a temple or 
 palace portico. But I must first see if its existence is noticed 
 in the work of Smith of Jordanhill which the Dean refers 
 to. . . . — Believe me very affectionately yours, 
 
 Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 When the honour of Knighthood was conferred on 
 Ferguson in 1878, Lord Plunket wrote to congratulate 
 Lady Ferguson : — 
 
142 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 My dear Mary, — I was just on the point of writing to you 
 when your kind invitation reached me about half an hour ago. 
 
 First let me thank you for that invitation, which I have 
 much pleasure in accepting ; next let me say what pleasure 
 it gave me, as one of your husband's friends — and, I trust, not 
 one of the least attached — to find that his worth has been 
 recognised, not indeed adequately, but in such a manner as to 
 show that it was the compulsion of real worth, and not the 
 pretension or importunacy of a self-seeker, that prompted the 
 recognition. It is pleasant to see true merit, notwithstanding 
 all its modest efforts to seek the shade, tracked out, and 
 forced to show itself before the world ; and as a true and loyal 
 wife justly proud of your husband, as you are, it must rejoice 
 you not a little to see him honoured. Pray give him my love, 
 and believe me yours affectionately, Plunket, Meath. 
 
 When Lady Ferguson desired to inscribe ' The 
 Remains of St Patrick,' published in 1888, to its 
 author's much esteemed and valued friends, his Grace 
 accepted the dedication in these words : — 
 
 I shall esteem it a very great honour to have my name 
 connected in any way with that of your dear husband — and 
 you know I mean what I say, and am not using conventional 
 terms. I have been longing and hoping for the republication of 
 this noble translation in an accessible form, and once or twice 
 had it on my lips to suggest the thought to you. 
 
 On the 14th of January 1895 a lecture on "The 
 Poetry of Sir Samuel Ferguson," by the Hon. Roden 
 Noel, was read before a Dublin audience, the Arch- 
 bishop taking the chair. In introducing the reader — 
 Miss E. H. Hickey — his Grace observed that 
 
 he was very glad of the opportunity to pay, not now for the 
 first time, a tribute to the memory of a dear and honoured 
 friend. As an Irishman he was proud to take part in a 
 meeting which had for its object the recalling to them of the 
 
DR W. REEVES, BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR. I43 
 
 memory of one who had shed so much lustre upon his 
 native land, and a meeting which would also be the means of 
 spreading out to them some of the literary treasures which he 
 had bequeathed to the world at large. Sir Samuel Ferguson 
 was a man of many gifts. He possessed one gift, which to 
 his (his Grace's) mind was of precious value — he was a true 
 patriot, and was an Irishman of the purest character. 
 
 The Rev. William Reeves, who at a later period 
 became Rector of Tynan, Dean of Armagh, and Bishop 
 of Down, Connor, and Dromore, was an early friend 
 of Ferguson's, and their mutual regard remained un- 
 altered throughout life. Reeves was a man of noble 
 nature, dignified presence, and brilliant wit. He was 
 characterised by faithfulness to duty, to friendship, 
 and to his Church and country. 
 
 Reeves had an intimate knowledge of the district 
 over which he bore Episcopal rule from 1886 till his 
 death in 1892. While a curate in the diocese he had 
 applied himself to the study of its objects of ecclesi- 
 astical and historical interest. Indefatigable in the 
 discharge of his clerical duty, and of very active 
 habits, a great pedestrian as well as an ardent student, 
 he had, in his walks to visit his parishioners, increased 
 his stores of local knowledge, and amassed the material 
 of his first great book, published in 1847, ' The Ecclesi- 
 astical Antiquities of Down, Connor, and Dromore.' 
 Ferguson reviewed the work in the ' University,' 
 February 1848, and from this notice extracts are 
 given, — for the review has, in more ways than one, 
 an autobiographical interest. He, too, was intimately 
 acquainted with the ancient Dalriada in which his 
 
144 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 own boyhood had been passed, the scene of events 
 which formed the historic basis of his earliest writ- 
 ings, of his epic of " Congal," on which his imagina- 
 tion was evidently at work twenty-four years before 
 its publication. 
 
 In his review of Reeves's ' Ecclesiastical Antiquities ' 
 Ferguson gives expression to his own opinions of the 
 monastic system he had studied so widely on the 
 Continent. He betrays the repugnances which led 
 him to abandon the project for which he had made 
 conscientious preparation while abroad and before he 
 left Ireland in 1845. The subject which he then relin- 
 quished was in part taken up by Reeves ten years 
 later, when he brought out his edition of Adamnan's 
 ' Vita S. Columbse.' This work was pronounced by 
 scholars " the most valuable contribution ever made 
 to the history of the early Celtic Church." And Miss 
 Stokes has followed the vestiges of Irish Saints on 
 the Continent, and embodied her researches in her 
 charming works, ' Six Months in the Apennines,' and 
 ' Three Months in the Forests of France,' published in 
 1892 and 1895. 
 
 Ferguson's review of Reeves's ' Ecclesiastical Anti- 
 quities ' opens with a quotation from Cicero, which 
 may be considered as his text : — 
 
 " Historia temporum testis, lux veritatis, vita memoriae, magistra vitse, 
 et nuncia antiquitatis." 
 
 History is now, even more than when Cicero pronounced 
 this fine encomium, " the witness of times past, the light of 
 truth, the life of memory, the guide of life, and herald of 
 
REEVES S ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES.' 145 
 
 antiquity " ; for, as the world grows older, and events are 
 become more multiplied, mankind have a larger inheritance 
 in the actions of their predecessors, and history a greater office 
 in charge, . . . that men may feel they are not come into the 
 world strangers, but members of a family long planted in the 
 land before them, owing reverence to the place and institu- 
 tions of their forefathers, and by that common sentiment 
 strengthening the social bond among one another. . . . 
 
 Among the most signal contributions which have been 
 made to the Irish Library since the revival of historical learn- 
 ing among us, we assign an eminent place to this work of Mr 
 Reeves. When it is considered how much has been accom- 
 plished in this way within the last five years, Mr Reeves's 
 friends will perceive how highly we estimate his services. In 
 that high estimate we do him but justice. He has earned his 
 place with Petrie and O'Donovan. Like them, he has earned 
 it by grave, erudite, and patriotic labour : may he long enjoy 
 the eminence so honourably and usefully achieved ! . . . 
 
 The district included within the united dioceses comprising 
 the present counties of Down and Antrim is probably the 
 most interesting portion of all Ireland for historical investi- 
 gation. ... It was here the influence of the bards longest 
 survived after their dissolution at Dromceat ; and here the 
 final struggle between the old and new systems was deter- 
 mined, on the field of Moyra, . . . the scene of the greatest 
 battle, whether we regard the numbers engaged, the duration 
 of the combat, or the stake at issue, ever fought within the 
 bounds of Ireland. For beyond question, if Congal Claen 
 and his gentile allies had been victorious in that battle, the 
 re-establishment of old bardic paganism would have ensued. 
 There appears reason to believe that the fight lasted a week ; 
 and on the seventh day Congal himself is said to have been slain 
 by an idiot youth, whom he had passed by in the battle, in 
 scorn of his imbecility. All local memory of the event is now 
 gone, save that one or two localities preserve names connected 
 with it. Thus, beside the Rath of Moyra, on the east, is the 
 hill Cairn-Albanach, the burial-place of the Scottish princes, 
 Congal's uncles ; and a pillar-stone, with a rude cross, and 
 
 VOL. II. K 
 
146 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 some circles engraved on it, formerly marked the site of their 
 resting-place. On the other hand, the townland of Aughna- 
 foskar probably preserves the name of Knockanchoscar, from 
 which Congal's druid surveyed the royal army drawn up in 
 the plain below on the first morning of the battle. Ath Or- 
 naidh, the ford crossed by one of the armies, is probably 
 modernised in Thorny-ford, on the river, at some miles' dis- 
 tance. On the ascent to Trummery, in the direction of the 
 woods of Killultagh, to which we are told the routed army 
 fled, great quantities of bones of men and horses were turned 
 up in excavating the line of the Ulster Railway. 
 
 The descent of the Lagan from Moyra to Belfast is through 
 a rich, well-timbered country, in the midst of which the river 
 glides smoothly between demesnes and bleach-greens — an 
 object of continual use and beauty — to where it meets the 
 tide, at Stranmellis, an old seat of Sii Moyses Hill, before he 
 acquired his great estates in Kilwarlin. On the right bank of 
 the river, about midway between Lisburn and Belfast, is the 
 Giant's Ring of Ballylessan — a circular space of about six 
 acres, enclosed with a rampart, which shuts out the prospect 
 of everything but the sky, having in the centre a cromlech. 
 Whether this be a sepulchral or religious monument is hard 
 to say. Probably there is no other instance of a sepulchral 
 tumulus surrounded by a precinct of such great dimensions, 
 and fenced by a rampart of such great height and solidity. 
 
 From the point where the Lagan meets the sea-water its 
 beauty as a river ceases. But there is very great historical 
 interest attached to the ford by which it was formerly crossed 
 at Belfast, ... for certain it is that the assassination of 
 William de Burgho — the most important event in the history 
 of the Anglo-Norman power in Ireland — took place in the 
 ford of the Lagan, at Belfast, as he rode from Newtown of the 
 Ards for Carrickfergus. . . . His death was the signal for a 
 universal overthrow of the established government throughout 
 all Connaught, and through nearly one-half of Ulster, which 
 up to this time had been shire-land, with regular ministerial 
 officers and an English-speaking proprietary. 
 
 In the concluding words of his review we have 
 
EARLY MONASTICISM. 147 
 
 Ferguson's deliberate judgment on the tendencies of 
 early monasticism : — 
 
 Even in their least corrupt days, their establishments could 
 have presented no very satisfactory spectacle to a dispassionate 
 mind. . . . We own we have no sympathy with those 
 whose reverence for antiquity leads them to desire a return to 
 the practices of the early Irish Church — a return which we 
 apprehend none of them will be hardy enough to allege could 
 be achieved without monasteries and the mass. As for all 
 their labours in antiquity, we are well pleased with them : 
 everything new in that direction makes more apparent the 
 reason we have to be thankful for existing institutions and 
 practices ; while, by adding new matter to our local informa- 
 tion, it gives the country itself an increased hold on our 
 interests and attachments. . . . 
 
 We must still remember that in the midst of this heap of 
 human frailty they brought us the pearl of God's Word, and 
 that, through God's grace, it is to them we chiefly owe the 
 planting of Christianity among us. And certainly the diffusion 
 of Christianity among us, under their teaching, was something 
 marvellous, and not to be accounted for by anything short of 
 a universal spiritual contagion, accompanied, on the part of 
 its early preachers, by an appreciation of character, and a 
 power of seizing on favourable and of avoiding unfavourable 
 circumstances, only vouchsafed to men who are made special 
 instruments of the great designs of God. 
 
 Reeves's letter to Ferguson on receipt of his ' Lays 
 of the Western Gael ' was written from the Vicarage, 
 Lusk, on November 7, 1864 : — 
 
 Your book took me to-day quite by surprise, for I had no 
 idea there was such a thing on the stocks, and so pretty, and 
 so graceful, and brought out in a style so well in keeping with 
 the sweet measures and sentiments which give beauty and 
 charm to the pages. I am truly happy to be possessed of 
 the book, but more so when I read the brotherly inscription 
 
I48 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 which conveys to me the right and title of my copy. Such 
 a volume, and so bestowed, becomes an heirloom, and a 
 child or grandchild, some half-century hence, shall have a 
 record that the friendship of a sweet bard of Erin, who had 
 the genius to be a poet in spite of law, and to temper black- 
 letter with the harmony of numbers, was a friend to, as he 
 is the valued friend of, his admirer and well-wisher, 
 
 Wm. Reeves. 
 
 Dr Reeves was soon after promoted to the living 
 of Tynan, near Armagh, and was able to hold with it 
 the guardianship, so congenial to him, of its Cathedral 
 Library. His letter thanking his friend for a presenta- 
 tion copy of his epic of " Congal " was as follows : — 
 
 Accept my heartiest thanks for your beautiful present, 
 enhanced so much by your affectionate inscription, and the 
 expressions of commendation here and there, which, though 
 undeserved, are to me most pleasing evidences of a heart full 
 of friendship, generosity, and goodwill. Years ago I remem- 
 ber hearing Whitley Stokes speaking in warm terms of praise 
 of a MS. poem on the battle of Moira which he had seen in 
 the hands of Sam. Ferguson, but now we are no longer 
 beholden to report concerning the work, and we can judge 
 for ourselves. I expect the public voice will pass a vote of 
 praise by acclamation. When I arrived here last night I 
 found the book, and did little more than cut the leaves and 
 skim over the pages ; but when I sit down in good earnest 
 to the book, it shall be in an hour of weariness and exhaus- 
 tion, when the mind requires the sweetest and balmiest 
 matter for its relaxation and refreshment. — Believe me to be, 
 my dear Sam, your affectionate friend, Wm. Reeves. 
 
 In the "Notes" appended to the first edition of 
 " Congal " Ferguson thus writes of Reeves : — 
 
 Dr Reeves joins to the solidity and accuracy of Camden 
 a charm peculiar to himself by which the driest details of 
 
REEVES S LECTURE AT DOWNPATRICK. 149 
 
 topography and chronology are made delightful. There is 
 not a parish, scarcely a townland, in the counties of Derry, 
 Down, and Antrim over which he has not breathed an air 
 from the ancient humanities, which imparts picturesqueness 
 and animation to what used to be one of the bleakest fields 
 of investigation in all the circuit of Ireland. If we seek to 
 discover the sources of his power, we find nothing but state- 
 ments of matter of fact, expressed with lucidity and mascu- 
 line brevity. It is in the order and presentation of his facts 
 that this great master of Scottish topographical history — 
 using the word Scottish in its old acceptation — excels all 
 who have gone before him. 
 
 Ferguson quotes from a lecture delivered by Dr 
 Reeves at Downpatrick, his account of the great fort 
 or dun near that city, said to have been the abode 
 of Keltar, son of Utechar, nephew to Conor MacNessa, 
 King of Ulster, about the time of the Christian era. 
 Celtchar — as the name is sometimes spelt — is described 
 in the " Tain-bo-Cuailgne " : — 
 
 And a huge, generous, terrible warrior is the champion 
 of that land. He has a great nose ; and like an apple the 
 ball of his eye. His hair is red, strong, half grey ; and a 
 grey-black cloak is upon him. And an iron bodkin is fastened 
 in his cloak over his breast, that reaches from one shoulder 
 to the other. And he has on a shaggy curiously-woven shirt. 
 A grey shield, and a huge spear in his hand ; and his death- 
 dealing sword of seven plates of iron has thirty rivets in it, 
 and is inlaid over its side and back. 
 
 Keltar's spear " of fifty rivets," known in mythical 
 story as the lann, is described in Ferguson's poem 
 " Conary." It has come into the possession of Duf- 
 tach, one of King Conary's warriors : — 
 
150 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 And the spear 
 In hands of Duftach is the famous lann 
 Of Keltar, son of Utechar, which erst 
 A wizard of the Tuath-de-Danann brought 
 To battle at Moy Tury, and there lost : 
 Found after. And these motions of the spear, 
 And sudden sallies hard to be restrained, 
 Affect it, oft as blood of enemies 
 Is ripe for spilling ; and a caldron then 
 Full of witch-brewage needs must be at hand, 
 To quench it, when the homicidal act 
 Is by its blade expected : quench it not ; 
 It blazes up, even in the holder's hand, 
 And through the holder, and the door-planks through, 
 Flies forth to sate itself in massacre. 
 
 The fort of Keltar is still standing, a noble earth- 
 work close to Downpatrick. Dr Reeves thus speaks 
 of it in his lecture : — 
 
 The Dun of the ancient Irish was the fortified abode of the 
 king or chief. It was a military term, and the structure which 
 was so called often obtained another name in a social point of 
 view — namely, that of rath — which denoted an abode or house, 
 just as the regal abode at Windsor may be regarded in one 
 point of view as a castle, and in another as a palace. Now 
 you have here beside us one of the noblest remains of a 
 primitive Irish palace which is to be found in Ireland. No 
 one can walk round these fosses and intrenchments without 
 being forcibly struck by their extent and boldness. If dis- 
 posed to carry the imagination backwards, we may picture to 
 the mind the stirring scenes which passed here when this great 
 munition was in its full strength and beauty, and filled by a 
 dense assembly of rude but powerful occupants, when its 
 trenches were deep and filled with water, when its ramparts 
 were lofty and palisadoed, and when chiefs with their golden 
 collars, and bards with their tuneful harps, represented the 
 military and social excellence of their day. . . . 
 
RATH-KELTAR. 151 
 
 The rath near Downpatrick is the largest barbaric fortress 
 I have yet met. Sir James King called it, in 161 2, "the 
 round mount, alias Downeroskae " ; but it is unquestionably 
 the Dun Celtair and Arx Lethglasse of the old writers of the 
 life of St Patrick. Downeroskae seems a name derived from 
 its situation, and signifying "the fortress in the marsh." It 
 was anciently and to a late period almost entirely surrounded 
 with water, and that part of it to which there was access from 
 dry land is considerably higher and more steep than where it 
 was surrounded by the water. The new county gaol and the 
 fort of Celtchar vie with each other in size : the former is a 
 good specimen of the application of modern architectural 
 strength to the suppression of crime, and the latter a grand 
 example of the endeavours of mankind to secure themselves 
 from the incursions of enemies in turbulent and lawless times, 
 ere they had learned to build such perishable edifices as are 
 formed of stone. The county gaol may stand for a few 
 centuries, but the fort of Celtchar will brave as many storms 
 as Slieve Donard. . 
 
 Thus amidst all the fiction and hyperbole which charac- 
 terise the bardic stories of Ireland, we can, in this case, discern 
 some vestiges of true history, and pronounce of this dun that, 
 about the Christian era, it was the abode of a famous chief 
 far and wide renowned for his military exploits ; that he 
 belonged to a distinguished race which left its impress upon 
 many places in the vicinity, where their names are to this 
 day preserved ; and that many of the principal families of the 
 adjacent districts derived their origin from the stock to which 
 he belonged. 
 
 One word more about his date before I leave him. The 
 native legend states that Conor MacNessa, his kinsman, the 
 King of Ulster, when he heard of the crucifixion of Christ, 
 exclaimed, " How sad that is ; for if I were now there present, 
 I would slay all that are around my King, now engaged in 
 putting him to death." This story reminds one of the case of 
 Clovis, the great King of the Franks, who, when he was 
 a-baptising in 495, and heard the missionary, St Remigius, 
 relate the particulars of the crucifixion, exclaimed with excite- 
 
152 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 ment, " Had I been there with my Franks it should not have 
 been so." 
 
 In a letter to Sir Thomas Larcom — 1875 — Fergu- 
 son tells him of Reeves, then Dean of Armagh, and 
 Robinson of the Observatory, and suggests a meeting 
 at Armagh for this group of friends : — 
 
 Reeves testified the most affectionate interest in your health 
 and pursuits, and caught eagerly at an expression of my wish 
 that we might succeed in inducing you to revisit us, and to 
 see the old man eloquent of Armagh once more while he is 
 still left among us. Between the Deanery House and the 
 Observatory (even supposing the coarb of Patrick not to open 
 the Palace to some of us) there would be room for a large 
 party, and I cannot but think that the remembrance of such a 
 reunion would leave an agreeable souvenir in your memory 
 hereafter. 
 
 Let me wish you and Lady Larcom every happiness that 
 the closing year brings with it in retrospect and in prospect, 
 and assure you of the unbroken esteem and regard with which 
 I remain, as always since I first had the good fortune to know 
 you, yours most faithfully, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 When Ferguson was elected President of the Royal 
 Irish Academy in 1881, Dean Reeves wrote to Lady 
 Ferguson, and subsequently to her husband : — 
 
 My dear Mary, — I received your card of invitation for 
 to-morrow, but, alas ! I cannot go. Were it not for to-night's 
 address, to which I have been long looking forward, I would 
 be off for Armagh to-day. But go I must to-morrow to my 
 home, as there is much in the ecclesiastical way to look after 
 there before the end of this week. 
 
 I shall be so happy to hear my dear old friend this evening 
 that I shall count it a memorable occasion in honour of St 
 Andrew, though his patronage belongs to Scotia junior. How- 
 
FERGUSON'S ADDRESS TO THE ACADEMY. 153 
 
 ever, as the chief observance by the Academy is fixed for the 
 eve of St Patrick's festival, Scotia major receives the greater 
 respect. There will be a large attendance, and I have no 
 doubt an attentive and appreciative audience. — Believe me, 
 your affectionate old friend, Wm. Reeves. 
 
 To Sir Samuel Ferguson Dean Reeves wrote from 
 Tynan : — 
 
 I am happy to think that your meeting of the Academy on 
 last Thursday sennight evening was so successful, and that your 
 address so fully sustained the reputation of the speaker. It 
 had only one weak point, and that was the affectionate but 
 too commendatory estimate of the merits of an individual who 
 had the happiness to be among your admiring hearers. 
 
 The "affectionate estimate" to which Dean Reeves 
 refers as the " one weak point " in his friend's address 
 was the following allusion to Reeves's scholarship 
 made by Sir Samuel Ferguson : — 
 
 After the time of Dr Todd, indeed, the work of carrying 
 forward a purely literary and scholastic exploration of Irish 
 historical and antiquarian sources devolved mainly on one 
 man, who has been to us at once our Camden and our 
 Ussher — it is no disparagement to either great name to make 
 the application. The Academy will readily understand that 
 I speak of the Very Rev. Dr William Reeves. In his con- 
 tributions to Irish learning in our ' Transactions ' we have, 
 laid up for the delight and instruction of scholars, an immense 
 store of information, solid, accurate, scrupulously vouched, 
 all conveyed with a grace and engaging directness un- 
 surpassed by any other cultivator of those fields of knowledge 
 here or elsewhere. 
 
 In a letter dated December 1885 the Dean tells of 
 the death of Primate M. G. Beresford. It was hoped 
 
154 FURTHER FRIENDSHIPS. 
 
 by Reeves's many friends that he would be called "to 
 bear the burthen of the Primacy." It was otherwise 
 determined, and Reeves was nominated to be Bishop 
 of the United Dioceses of Down, Connor, and Dro- 
 more. Over these he ruled till his death in January 
 1892. Meantime, as Dean of Armagh, Reeves wrote 
 to Ferguson : — 
 
 My dear good Friend, — I received by post your valuable 
 Christmas gift, being the version of the Patrician Documents 
 with your observations thereon. 
 
 The Fasciculus is specially prized by me on account of the 
 loving superscription, which records the donor's feelings 
 towards the recipient. I would have acknowledged the 
 kindness before this, but for the Primate's illness, which 
 caused the suspension of my customary habits and pursuits. 
 This morning at a quarter-past ten he closed a long life of 
 usefulness and distinction, and one of much enjoyment by 
 reason of manifold blessings in person and family, till old 
 age at length asserted its rights, imposing many maladies, 
 and at last death proved the gentle visitor to undo the 
 galling fetters of mortality. And now, past pain, his body 
 awaits the funeral solemnities of Thursday next, when its 
 final excursion will be from the Palace to the Cathedral, there 
 to rest with his noble predecessors' remains. — Give my love to 
 Mary, and believe me to remain your loving friend, 
 
 Wm. Reeves. 
 
 The Bishop of Down and Connor departed this life, 
 after a very brief illness, on the 12th of January 1892. 
 It was said of him by the Dean of St Patrick's at the 
 funeral service in the National Cathedral : — 
 
 Ireland has lost a son who was more familiar with the 
 antiquities of her race than almost any other man in the 
 kingdom. The Church of Ireland has lost one who was a 
 
CHARACTER OF BISHOP REEVES. 155 
 
 faithful son to her in every position in which he was placed, 
 from the lowest to the highest ; and many and many a one, 
 both here and elsewhere, have lost a friend whose memory will 
 remain long fresh in their hearts. 
 
 At the opening of the General Synod the Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin, Lord Plunket, thus alluded to the 
 deceased Bishop : — 
 
 In him we have lost a ripe scholar, who, by his special 
 knowledge of antiquarian lore, and more particularly in its 
 bearing on the history of our own Church, had won for him- 
 self a name throughout the length and breadth of the literary 
 world ; a genial companion, who, by the charm of his con- 
 versation, flowing forth from a well-stored mind, and by his 
 self-forgetful courtesy, was a welcome friend and guest in any 
 social circle. Above all, we have lost one who, by his loyal 
 and affectionate friendship, has left a blank of imperishable 
 memory in many a mourner's heart. 
 
156 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 1857-1886. 
 
 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 " How charming is divine philosophy ! 
 
 Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, 
 But musical as is Apollo's lute, 
 And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, 
 Where no crude surfeit reigns." 
 
 —Milton. 
 
 Among the friendships which enriched and made happy 
 the lives of Ferguson and his wife was that which 
 subsisted between them and General and Mrs Chesney. 
 Since his retirement from active service this distin- 
 guished officer — who was Commander in 1834-36 of 
 the Euphrates Expedition — resided at Packolet, a 
 house which he had built on his property in the 
 county of Down. It was a lovely spot in the " King- 
 dom of Mourne " — that triangular district bounded on 
 the east by the Irish Sea, on the south by Carlingford 
 Bay, and of which the Mourne Mountains formed 
 the base. This picturesque range stretches diagonally 
 across the southern part of Down, from Newcastle on 
 
THE MOURNE MOUNTAINS. 157 
 
 the north - east to Rosstrevor on the south - west. 
 Although they hardly attain the height of 3000 feet, 
 yet when viewed from the district of Mourne the sea- 
 level secures to them their utmost altitude. Bingian, 
 the most rugged and picturesque, holds a midway 
 position, looking down on Kilkeel, the little town of 
 the district ; and Slieve Donard, more lofty but less 
 picturesque in outline, terminates the range at New- 
 castle. These mountains, as viewed from Packolet, 
 were objects of ever-varying beauty. The aerial tints, 
 light and shadow on their rocky summits, golden furze 
 and purple heather midway, and at their base well- 
 cropped farms, extending to the blue margin of the sea, 
 — these were at all seasons of the year, and all hours 
 of the day, delightful objects for the eye to gaze on. 
 
 Packolet had that indescribable air of refinement 
 and elegance — books, pictures, china, flowers, and 
 ladies' work of all kinds — which indicates the cherished 
 home of travelled and cultured inmates. It was a 
 truly hospitable house. The guests, numerous and 
 varied, inhaled an atmosphere which made them happy 
 and at their ease. While experiencing the kindest 
 attentions from host and hostess, they were with- 
 out the unpleasing consciousness of interfering with 
 ordinary family routine, and were free from all sense 
 of restraint. Such an atmosphere can be created 
 only by a woman ; and Mrs Chesney, — 
 
 " A perfect woman, nobly planned," — 
 was ably seconded by her step-daughter, the only child 
 
I58 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 of General Chesney's first marriage. A younger 
 daughter and four little boys, children of the lady 
 above named, completed the household. 
 
 The General's life -history — a romantic one — has 
 been told by his wife and eldest daughter in their 
 joint biography of ' General Francis Rawdon Chesney, 
 Colonel Commandant Royal Artillery, D.C.L., F.R.S., 
 F.R.G.S., &c, 1885.' General Chesney died, full of 
 years and honours, on the 30th of January 1872. This 
 interesting volume is dedicated "To the two surviving 
 officers of the Euphrates Expedition, Admiral Charle- 
 wood and Mr W. F. Ainsworth, and to the zealous 
 advocate of the Euphrates Route to India, Sir William 
 Andrew, CLE." 
 
 The motto which Jacques Coeur, banker to King 
 Charles VII. of France, carved on the balustrades of 
 his beautiful chateau at Bourges, was to the effect that 
 nothing was impossible to the valiant — "A Vaillans 
 [Cceurs] Rien Impossible." Chesney, too, held that 
 nothing was impossible to a strong will ; and his life, 
 both in public and in private, was a commentary on 
 that text. 
 
 Chesney had followed the campaigns of the Great 
 Napoleon, and walked over all his battle-fields. He 
 had visited the East, and was the author of a history 
 of the Russo-Turkish Campaigns of 1828-29. He also 
 went to Egypt, sailed down the Nile, surveyed the 
 Isthmus of Suez and the outlets of Lake Menzaleh. 
 It was the information thus acquired by Chesney that 
 convinced the Count Ferdinand de Lesseps of the 
 
CHESNEY FIRST PROJECTOR OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 159 
 
 feasibility of the Suez Canal ; and in after-years, when 
 the Canal was an accomplished fact, the Frenchman 
 himself pronounced Chesney the "Father" of the 
 project. 
 
 De Lesseps was most favourably circumstanced for 
 obtaining from the Khedive the indispensable concession 
 of land required for his great undertaking. His father 
 had been French Consul in Egypt when Napoleon was 
 compelled by Nelson's victory of the Nile to evacuate 
 that country. Napoleon confided to the Consul the 
 facts of his position. " I must leave ; can you help me 
 to find a strong man, able to rule ? He must be 
 Mohammedan in creed, and competent to preserve 
 order here when I depart." De Lesseps named 
 Mohammed Ali. "He is an illiterate soldier of for- 
 tune," he told the Emperor ; " but he has a clear head, 
 a strong hand, and an inflexible will." Napoleon 
 appointed him to the position he afterwards filled so 
 ably. Mohammed Ali educated himself, and proved 
 to be a born ruler of men. He was aware that he 
 owed his first step to power to the Consul of France. 
 Their children were playfellows. Said, who was 
 Khedive at the time that Count Ferdinand de Lesseps 
 projected the Suez Canal, readily granted his early 
 friend the concessions he required, and — as is well 
 known — De Lesseps successfully accomplished that 
 great undertaking. 
 
 Explorations in Palestine and Syria were made in 
 1830, and in 1831-32 Chesney descended the Euphrates 
 on a raft from Anah — once a royal residence of Par- 
 
l60 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 thian monarchs. The raft was supported on inflated 
 sheepskins. On this rude structure he managed, 
 without attracting undue notice, to take soundings 
 of the river and sketches of the scenery on its banks. 
 On his return to England these excited so much 
 interest that a second exploration was determined 
 on, and Chesney was appointed to its command. 
 Two small steamers were prepared and sent to Syria 
 in sections. These were landed in the Bay of Antioch, 
 dragged across Syria, and put together and launched 
 on the Euphrates. ' The Personal Narrative of the 
 Euphrates Expedition ' gives interesting details of 
 these arduous operations : — 
 
 The second and greater expedition was conducted with a 
 devoted company of English officers, with ample materials and 
 engineering apparatus ; but it had its own difficulties. The 
 work of transporting the boilers and heavy sections of steamers 
 from the Mediterranean to the head of the Euphrates was a 
 herculean labour, but it only brought out the sterling quality 
 of Chesney's character. Tossing on his bed, in the crisis of 
 brain-fever, the only sound that could soothe him to sleep was 
 the tapping of the hammers on the boiler rivets. At death's- 
 door, he could not rest until the ring of metal proved to his 
 wandering mind that work was being pushed vigorously on. 
 
 Mr (afterwards Admiral) Charlewood had the happi- 
 ness in later years to see his son, Mr Edward Charle- 
 wood, united in marriage to Everilda, the younger 
 daughter of his friend and commanding officer on the 
 Euphrates Expedition. In Admiral Charlewood's con- 
 cluding words he bears record, "that arduous as this 
 service was, I have always looked back upon it as one 
 
THE RESULTS OF THE EUPHRATES EXPEDITION. l6l 
 
 of the happiest periods of my life. We all worked with 
 goodwill, and although we suffered greatly from illness 
 and other causes, yet the great charm was, that our chief 
 both trusted and appreciated us. Never was a man so 
 well adapted for an expedition of this nature, principally 
 from what I have already mentioned, and also from his 
 great tact in putting the right man in the right place. 
 In addition to this, I felt a great pleasure in the wild 
 desert life." Admiral Charlewood died in 1894. 
 
 The results of the Euphrates Expedition were these: 
 Chesney " had proved the Euphrates to be navigable; 
 he had demonstrated that it was the shortest route to 
 India ; he had shown that a very extensive commerce 
 existed along its banks, which might with very slight 
 encouragement be rendered exceedingly valuable ; while 
 he had also proved that with proper management there 
 was nothing to be feared from the Arab tribes." 
 
 Chesney's third and fourth journeys to the East 
 " represent little danger or physical difficulty ; but it is 
 not often that a man of seventy-three will leave his 
 well-earned repose to set off pell - mell for Constanti- 
 nople to obtain from the Porte concessions for a rail- 
 way route which none but he can win. Indomitable 
 energy and a resolute belief in the policy of never 
 giving up were among General Chesney's character- 
 istics, and he possessed them as completely at eighty- 
 two as he did when he first set out to find his way to 
 the great river forty years before." 
 
 Although Chesney had retired from the active 
 practice of his profession, his interest in it continued 
 
 vol. 11. l 
 
l62 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 unabated. He published in 1850 his great work, the 
 ' History of the Euphrates Expedition.' In this 
 laborious task he had the aid of his third wife, Louisa, 
 youngest daughter of his old and faithful friends, Mr 
 and Mrs Fletcher of London. To her he had been 
 united in marriage in 1848. She — who still survives 
 him — was a "willing assistant." Highly educated, 
 devoted, and persevering, she shrank from no labour 
 which was serviceable to her husband. Together they 
 " wrote, and copied, and sought out and verified 
 authorities day after day, and month after month." 
 The " great book " was followed by a work on the 
 ' Past and Present State of Firearms.' This Ferguson 
 reviewed in the ' University,' April 1852. In the pre- 
 vious January he had thus written to his friend on 
 the introduction of projectiles into warfare : — 
 
 I would propose to connect the rockets like chain-shot ; 
 but as a chain would drag and catch on intervening objects, I 
 would employ a chain of carriages — country carts, for example 
 — heavy enough to keep along the surface, and the wheels of 
 which would cause them to bound over obstacles. Invisible 
 projectiles are the least regarded ; visible ones pursuing one 
 straight line are the next more formidable ; but the most 
 formidable of all, I suppose, would be such as would be visible 
 in their approach, and would occupy an extended front. I 
 have often speculated on attaching a congreve to a common 
 outside jaunting-car back foremost, and setting it off down a 
 street loaded with a bag of gunpowder or gun-cotton. The 
 difficulty was that the least inequality of surface would run the 
 car out of the straight line and bring it up against some lateral 
 obstruction. Two cars attached by a chain would be less 
 likely to run both to the same side, and the varying directions 
 of two or twenty cars so connected would mutually correct one 
 
FERGUSON ON PROJECTILES IN WARFARE. 163 
 
 another and preserve the uniformity of front. If I am right in 
 my idea that a line of waggons of, say, 100 yards in length 
 could be propelled across the country by this means with the 
 rapidity of a charge of cavalry, it is plain that no formation 
 could be depended on, and that cavalry following in the 
 track of such an avant-courier would act destructively. My 
 idea, as I have said, would be to place the carriages back fore- 
 most, leaving the shafts to trail on the surface, where they 
 would assist in some measure in keeping the direction constant. 
 I would attach the rockets under the bodies of the carts, giving 
 these at either extremity of the line a turn outwards so as to 
 keep the line stretched. If the thing be practicable for 100 
 yards, it would be practicable for the length of the position at 
 Waterloo. Revolve the idea in your mind, and tell me if it be 
 plausible enough to warrant a suggestion to people at Woolwich 
 to try it experimentally. 
 
 I don't know if you are acquainted with Urquhart, the 
 member for Stafford. He is just now on a visit with Mr 
 Ross, at Rosstrevor. If you should meet him you will find 
 him very full of information on Eastern affairs. He and Mr 
 Ross spent an evening with us when he was in town, and he 
 seemed interested to know of your being in the neighbourhood 
 he was about to visit. 
 
 I am ashamed to be unable to give Mrs Chesney the 
 promised particulars about Greencastle, having been constantly 
 occupied in business that prevents me looking into the Re- 
 cords, from which alone I apprehend anything certain respec- 
 ting it can be derived. There's nothing in the common 
 topographies beyond a loose statement that it was built by 
 the De Burghos. If so, it dates from before the middle of 
 the fourteenth century. 
 
 Another letter from Ferguson to Chesney, though of 
 a later date — 1860 — shows how keenly interested he 
 was in military and scientific matters, and that his 
 many - sided mind embraced questions outside the 
 spheres of Law and Literature : — 
 
164 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 Packolet, *jth Oct. i860. 
 
 My dear Chesney, — Being at Newry on railway business, 
 I have been unable to resist the attraction of seeing my old 
 friends here; and although I miss you, I find with Mrs 
 Chesney so kind a welcome that I have devoted myself to the 
 pleasure of a mountain excursion, almost as frankly as if the 
 head of the hospitable household were here in person. 
 
 Being on the spot recalls to my mind some of the subjects 
 on which I would like to converse with you if you were here. 
 I see in the last number of the ' Cornhill Magazine ' a paper 
 on the national defences, in which I find one of my old ideas 
 (as to the employment of a turn-table for the gun under a 
 hemisphere of iron) has occurred to another, just as I lately 
 found that my notion of a molten-metal shell had taken 
 practical shape in the hands of an independent speculator. 
 
 Finding these details worth something, I conceive it 
 possible that the general theory of which they formed parts 
 may have a feasible basis. I will therefore put down the 
 outline of what I have thought on the subject. First as 
 regards the turn - table. I conceived that it should carry 
 several guns, each of which, after being discharged through 
 the fixed embrasure, should be loaded during its transit round 
 the rest of the circle, so as to bring it to the embrasure ready 
 for a renewed discharge. I contemplated the employment of 
 a series of turn-tables in a circular bastion, each occupying 
 one casemated storey, and commanding its own segment of 
 the exterior. 
 
 The necessity of a ready supply of fresh guns suggested the 
 use of a railroad round the rampart having points communi- 
 cating with a central depot. It occurred to me that the 
 protection afforded by a parapet broken into embrasures was 
 very imperfect, and that either an elevating carriage might be 
 devised, by which the gun (loaded under cover of a continuous 
 parapet) could be raised quasi en barbette at the moment of 
 firing ; or that the recoil of the gun might be spent on a 
 curved tramway which would bring it out of the open of the 
 embrasure, and under cover of the parapet during the process 
 of loading; or that the same object might be achieved by 
 
PROPOSED TURN-TABLE FOR GUNS. 165 
 
 working the gun on a lateral traversing platform which should 
 be mounted on a tramway parallel to the parapet. But what 
 seems to me the most practicable idea, now that guns are 
 made so light, is that of the elevating carriage, by which you 
 show only for the moment of firing over any point of the 
 curtain, and so keep out of the fire of fixed batteries — at least 
 in so far as direct fire is concerned. 
 
 But the application of the turn-table from which I would 
 expect the principal advantages would be in floating circular 
 batteries, moved and movable, through all parts of the wet 
 ditch of a place. These should be iron-plated, beehive- 
 covered tuns propelled by an endless chain laid in the bottom 
 of the ditch, as has lately been done with canal boats. 
 
 The cover is the same here from indirect as from direct 
 fire, and by a shift of position of a few yards the deviation 
 of a fixed battery could be continually evaded. But the tun 
 should have a motion round its own axis so as to bring its 
 one or two fixed port-holes in the proposed line of fire, along 
 which the revolution of the curtained turn-table would throw 
 a continuous discharge. Conceive now the ditch extended 
 by a canal prolonging each face into the field, say, a mile 
 or any other distance of which the surface would allow. 
 Your fortress is an island in a sea occupied by floating 
 batteries without the disturbance of waves or the dangers of 
 navigation. 
 
 I have spoken to you of the utilising of railway lines for 
 purposes of defence. Could the existing lines of canal and 
 of the Thames and Medway be made bases of auxiliary 
 floating martello - towers ? As regards railways, what has 
 occurred to me is that each line should form a military road 
 behind a succession of posts and positions prepared for the 
 reception of troops and armament. I think it would be a 
 great waste to keep up armed forts in all directions even 
 round London. But the earthworks and magazines of in- 
 trenched positions might be made ready for the reception 
 of men and guns whenever occasion should demand, and 
 the lines of railway are now so close that there are few eligible 
 positions to which a short tram could not be laid from some 
 
l66 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 adjoining line, by which men and material might at once be 
 transported to works ready for their reception. 
 
 Finally, it strikes me that lines of light tram-road radiating 
 from a front of fortification would carry loads of explosive 
 substances, which might be propelled by rocket -power as 
 destructively above ground as the galleries of mines below 
 the surface. Especially on a leading highroad a line of tram 
 just strong enough to prevent a waggon laden with live shells 
 from swerving would enable a party disputing the passage to 
 send such a precursor to the action of cavalry as would, I 
 think, greatly impede an enemy. 
 
 You must ascribe to the air of the place this long, and, I 
 fear, somewhat presumptuous disquisition, all the ideas in 
 which have probably been already present in your own mind ; 
 but I should like, if I could, to have a hand in the defence of 
 national freedom, which I fear would not long survive a 
 successful French invasion. — Ever, dear Chesney, truly yours, 
 
 Samuel Ferguson. 
 
 General Chesney made a point of attending the 
 levees of the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin, and enjoyed 
 with his wife and daughter the social amusements of 
 the Drawing-Room and other Viceregal hospitalities. 
 On such occasions "The Ferguson Arms" gladly re- 
 ceived them. In spring and summer it was a great 
 refreshment to the Fergusons to be the guests of 
 General and Mrs Chesney at Packolet. The friend- 
 ship, thus strengthened by frequent intercourse, was 
 cemented by the sojourn of the Fergusons in the 
 summer of 1855 at the seaside cottage of Derryogue, 
 in the neighbourhood of their friends in Mourne. 
 Many joint expeditions among the mountains familiar- 
 ised the poet with the scenery he afterwards described 
 in " Congal." That very happy summer was often 
 
SCENERY OF MOURNE. 167 
 
 recalled to memory. In later years — in a letter to 
 his wife, at the time on a visit at Packolet — Fergu- 
 son thus alludes to the scenes amid which she was 
 sojourning : — 
 
 I am sure the scenes about Packolet must be most lovely 
 just now. Go up the back-road and out on the high ground 
 where old Mrs Close used to live, and look across at the range 
 of mountains, and think of me. Or, I almost equally delight 
 in the prospect looking over past Thornhill from Kilkeel road. 
 This recalls Derryogue. The scene will always be dear to me. 
 I never saw the foliage so beautiful as it is this year. Even 
 George's Street trees are equalled if not surpassed by those of 
 the Deanery. 
 
 In the Biography Mrs Chesney describes an anti- 
 quarian tour made with the Fergusons : — 
 
 General Chesney and his wife made what was perhaps the 
 most enjoyable excursion they had yet undertaken. They 
 joined their friends Sir Samuel and Lady Ferguson at Drog- 
 heda ; and in their company explored the Fort of Dowth, New 
 Grange, Slane, Trim, and finally Tara. To any one who cared 
 for Irish archaeology, these sites must be replete with interest ; 
 but to have been permitted to visit these sacred spots of Ire- 
 land's early greatness in the society of the President of the 
 Royal Irish Academy and his gifted wife, was a happiness of 
 no common order. From their rich stores of learning and of 
 poetry arose the kings and heroes of the past ; and the mounds 
 and galleries and ancient ruins, where their great deeds had 
 chronicled their names, became repeopled for the time. Kells, 
 with its five crosses, and Rath-Keltar, the great Mound of 
 Downpatrick, were also visited ; and a little later, whilst on a 
 visit to Dr and Mrs Robinson at the Observatory, Armagh, 
 Emania, and Creve Roe were explored. 
 
 Their mutual friend Mr De Vismes Kane was to have 
 
l68 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 joined the tourists at Drogheda, but through some 
 mistake failed to appear. Lady Ferguson's letter to 
 him tells of their proceedings, and of the pleasures he 
 had missed : — 
 
 We were indeed greatly disappointed that you did not join 
 us on Easter Monday at Drogheda. We were at the station 
 at the time appointed with a long car and pair of horses. 
 General and Mrs Chesney duly arrived from the north, but 
 the Dublin train came up, and no sign of you ! My husband 
 sat on the platform for an hour and a half till the following 
 train came in, thinking you had missed the first and would 
 come on by the next train. Meantime I drove our friends 
 round Drogheda, and showed them many objects of interest 
 in the immediate neighbourhood. When the second train 
 from Dublin came up without you, we set off for New Grange, 
 Dowth, and Knowth, and thoroughly explored those ancient 
 monuments. General Chesney, who has seen the Pyramids, and 
 indeed all the wonders of the world from China to our Western 
 isle, was amazed with New Grange. We dined there, on its 
 summit, amid blossoming furze, blackthorn, primroses, and 
 violets. Then we continued our journey by the Boyne to 
 Slane, Navan, Bective, and ultimately to Trim. Here we 
 slept, and in the morning explored its medieval antiquities : 
 the noble castle of King John's time, the " Yellow Steeple," 
 erected by Richard Duke of York, father to two of our Plan- 
 tagenet Kings; the old manor-house of the Talbots, still 
 occupied, built by the Sir John Talbot of Shakespeare's " King 
 Henry VI." We dined on Tara Hill, on the site of the old 
 banqueting -hall, even now distinctly traceable, as is also 
 Cormac's House, the mound of the Hostages, Conor Mac- 
 Nessa's Rath; that of Cuchullin, and King Leary, who is 
 buried, according to tradition, in its outer earthenwork stand- 
 ing erect with his face "towards the hated Lagenian race." 
 Add to this Kells with its Round Tower, three sculptured 
 crosses and house — so called — of St Columba, various old 
 churches and castles, the Rath of Teltown and that of Conall 
 
LISDOONVARNA AND SCENERY OF CLARE. 169 
 
 Criffan, — all these, with the addition of most lovely weather 
 and delightful society, and you will see what you have lost ! 
 
 However, we must hope you have yet in store a visit to 
 Tara, Teltown, New Grange, Trim, and Kells. And now 
 behold us here in the wilds of Clare, drinking the mineral 
 waters of Lisdoonvarna, on the borders of that territory of 
 Thomond called " Burrin," where Ireton declared there was 
 not " water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang 
 him, or earth enough to bury him." It is indeed the " smooth- 
 stoned slippery Burrin " ; limestone rocks covering the surface ; 
 yet around them the tenderest herbage, feeding sheep and 
 cattle ; but very little vestige of man, and no trees. We hear 
 the Atlantic roar, and are within a few miles of the cliffs of 
 Moher. These are grand and impressive : a sheer precipice 
 of 600 feet ; and beneath the wide expanse of waters. From 
 the cliff we gaze on our beloved Aran, lying like a gem 
 on the breast of ocean. The immediate neighbourhood of 
 this place is not attractive. But the air is delicious, the 
 weather glorious, the country full of duns and forts and 
 cashels, and old churches and castles of the O'Briens, and 
 so we have much to interest us ; and if the waters benefit 
 my dear husband's health, we shall retain some grateful 
 impressions of the place. At all events it is quiet ; and after 
 the rush of dissipation we have lately had in Dublin, this is 
 no small attraction. 
 
 In the spring of 1857 Ferguson wrote to Professor 
 Sedgwick of Cambridge, asking him to be his guest 
 during the meeting of the British Association to be 
 held in the summer of that year in Dublin. The great 
 geologist had in her girlhood taken Mrs Ferguson, then 
 Mary Guinness, another young friend, and his beloved 
 niece, Isabella Sedgwick, on a tour to the English 
 Lakes. They had been very happy under his guid- 
 ance. He brought them to Rydal Mount, and inspired 
 them with enthusiasm for Wordsworth's poetry. In 
 
170 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 his reply to Ferguson he alludes to this delightful 
 
 excursion : — 
 
 Cambridge, April 3, 1857. 
 
 I received your very kind letter last night, enclosed in the 
 same envelope with one from Dent. 
 
 I am very grateful to you, and tell Mrs Ferguson that I am 
 doubly grateful to her, for your kind letter. I do remember 
 with renewed joy the charming excursion I had to the Lake 
 mountains with a youthful party, in which were two who then 
 passed by the names of Mary Guinness and Kate Whelan. 
 Since then we are all changed, but not in hearts I hope. 
 They have changed their names, and concentrated their love 
 in their own homes; but Christian love is most expansive, 
 and I trust that they have a corner of their hearts left for an 
 old friend, who loved them both while they were joyful and 
 happy under his guidance. 
 
 Since I shook hands with Miss Guinness I am sadly 
 changed, and you may tell Mrs Ferguson that she has gained 
 a loss by not having me at her house ; for I am now as deaf 
 as a post on one side of my head — my sight is bad in my 
 left eye, and my right eye has long struck work — all my best 
 teeth have dropped out of my jaws, and all my beauty (ask 
 your better half if it was not remarkable when we were together 
 at Paradise in Great Langdale, when we saw Adam and Eve) 
 has vanished away. And what is left behind to inherit my 
 old fame? A crusty, gouty, hypochondriacal man, who is 
 in his seventy-third year, who cannot sleep when he is in bed, 
 and who when up is either as cross as a wasp or as torpid as 
 a half-frozen toad. This is my present picture ; therefore 
 pray tell Mrs Ferguson to be thankful that she has escaped 
 from such a frightful visitation. Still I have a warm heart 
 left, and I feel like myself again when a friend comes to see 
 me. If under your guidance she should ever visit Cambridge, 
 tell her that I shall rejoice to show her my noble collection 
 of antediluvian monsters, and make them roar lustily for her 
 amusement, and that when she is tired of looking at my dead 
 bones, I will show her what we can turn out with our kitchen 
 apparatus. I must conclude, as I have another letter I ought 
 
PROFESSOR ADAM SEDGWICK. 171 
 
 to write before our morning chapel at 7 a.m. I have no merit 
 in early rising. I leave bed very, very early, because bed 
 becomes to me a place of torment rather than of rest. Pray 
 forgive this private history, which is in truth chiefly addressed 
 to my old companion to Great Langdale and the modern 
 Paradise. — I am, my dear sir, truly and gratefully yours, 
 
 A. Sedgwick. 
 
 Some years later, on their return from the Continent, 
 the Fergusons, finding themselves in London with a 
 day or two at their disposal, telegraphed to their 
 Cambridge friends Professor and Mrs Adams, and 
 offered to visit them on their way to Ireland. On 
 receiving a cordial response they started at once for 
 Cambridge, and reached the Observatory in time for 
 dinner. Mrs Adams had sent to inform Professor 
 Sedgwick, and before the repast was ended the dear 
 old man was observed slowly approaching, leaning on 
 the arm of his servant. All left the table and met him 
 as he reached the house. He greeted his old friend 
 with much affection, and asked her and her husband 
 and Professor and Mrs Adams to dine with him on the 
 following day. On finding that the Fergusons had on 
 that night to cross the Channel, he named an early 
 hour, and before dinner took them over the museum, 
 of which he was proud. After dinner he withdrew his 
 old companion at the Lakes to show her his " treasures." 
 He unlocked a box which contained books presented 
 by the Queen and Prince Albert with their autographs ; 
 letters from distinguished people ; and beneath all a 
 large miniature case, which he opened. It contained 
 the portrait of a lady dressed in the fashion then half 
 
172 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 a century old. When he placed it in Mrs Ferguson's 
 hands he looked wistfully as if soliciting her to question 
 him ; but she could not bring herself to touch on what 
 was doubtless a life's romance. He replaced the por- 
 trait with a sigh, and without further confidences they 
 rejoined the rest of the party. 
 
 Professor John Couch Adams, astronomer and 
 mathematician, had, as a young man, as early as Sep- 
 tember 1845, indicated the place in the heavens where 
 a new planet should be found. In the words of Sedg- 
 wick, "Adams had tied a noose tightly about its 
 neck." Sedgwick told in the Combination- Room of 
 Trinity College how the astronomer " had worked out 
 by calculation the position occupied in the heavens 
 by the planet Neptune, and his indignation that the 
 credit of being the first to make so remarkable a dis- 
 covery had been refused to the young Cambridge 
 mathematician." 
 
 The following graphic account is given by Professor 
 M'Coy of Dublin, who devoted four years to the 
 arrangement of British and Foreign fossils in the 
 Cambridge Museum. The scene is the Combination- 
 Room, Trinity College, Cambridge : — 
 
 The first night was a memorable one. There was a large 
 party in the Combination-Room at Trinity to see the new 
 year in ; and at it were not only the most distinguished men 
 of Cambridge, but many strangers who had come down for 
 the occasion. Adams was present, and the question of the 
 independent discovery of the planet by him and Le Verrier, 
 and which of them should have the merit of priority, was 
 taken up in a most interesting manner by Professor Sedg- 
 
DISCOVERY OF THE PLANET NEPTUNE. 173 
 
 wick, who told the tale to the whole listening table with 
 fuller knowledge of the facts than any one else had, from 
 his intimacy with the Astronomer Royal as well as with 
 Adams. 
 
 He related how Adams, as soon as he had taken his B.A. 
 degree, worked the matter fully out to his own perfect satisfac- 
 tion, and brought to the Greenwich Observatory a statement of 
 the result obtained for the place of the planet, with a request 
 that the observers would direct their instruments to the indi- 
 cated spot, expressing his conviction that the new body would 
 be found there. With thrilling words Sedgwick touched off 
 the neglect with which young men of genius might have their 
 labours slighted, and deplored the loss to the University, to 
 England, and to their friend, of the glory of this most brilliant 
 achievement. Because nobody at the Observatory knew or 
 cared anything about Mr Adams, nobody looked where he 
 asked to have a scrutiny made, and his paper was put in a 
 pigeon-hole, neglected and forgotten, until Le Verrier made 
 a similar request, with the result that immediate attention was 
 paid to him. (The planet itself was at length observed, first 
 at Berlin and then elsewhere, and by universal acclaim the 
 discovery was set down to Le Verrier.) Then Adams and 
 his old communication were remembered, and it was found 
 that so long before he had pointed more precisely (there were 
 only a few minutes, I think, between their places) to the 
 proper spot on the heavens for the search, and had worked 
 out the whole of the calculations with perfect accuracy, com- 
 pleteness, and elegance. To Adams's great discomfort Sedg- 
 wick told how his modesty prevented his troubling the Astron- 
 omer Royal or any of the officials further in the matter, and 
 how Prince Albert and the Queen felt so strongly on the sub- 
 ject that Adams was asked to accept knighthood at the Public 
 Commencement in 1847, in proof of their recognition of his 
 wonderful work ; and with regret that he would accept no such 
 recognition the story ended. A dead silence fell upon the 
 company. No one felt inclined to break the spell by uttering 
 a word, and Sedgwick, closing his eyes and leaning back 
 in meditative silence, enlisted the sorrowful sympathy of all 
 
174 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 Suddenly he started up with fiery energy, and raising his arm 
 with a fierce gesture, startled us all by exclaiming, " Curse 
 their narcotic souls ! " What was to have come after this we 
 never heard, as a burst of laughter with which this beginning 
 was received seemed to awaken him as from a dream. He 
 looked round to see what was the matter, and as he did 
 so, the boyish, good-natured, beaming expression came back — 
 with his favourite gesture of rubbing his hand over his face 
 and eyes, and a hearty laugh at himself — and thus my first 
 experience of his powers of speech ended. 
 
 Professor Sedgwick, "a master among philosophers, 
 the friend of princes, the delight of little ones," died 
 in January 1873, at the age of eighty-eight. Of him 
 it is recorded that he " extended the frontiers of 
 Science, and was fired with a right royal love of 
 Truth." But no less characteristic of Adam Sedg- 
 wick was his attachment to his native vale. Dent 
 is a Yorkshire dale conterminous with Westmore- 
 land. In its church three generations — his father, 
 brother, and nephew — had ministered in spiritual 
 things to the dalesmen, and in the Parsonage the 
 Professor first saw the light. In a letter to a corre- 
 spondent he describes the valley, always the home of 
 his affections : — 
 
 I wish I could, for a minute or two, transport you to this 
 place. Not so much that you might look at my rugged old 
 face, as that you might gladden your eyes by gazing over the 
 sweet scenery of this rich pastoral valley. The home scenery 
 is delicious, and glowing at this moment (6.30 a.m.) with the 
 richest light of heaven ; and from the door of this old home 
 of my childhood I can look down the valley, and see, blue in 
 the distance, the crests of the Lake mountains, which rear 
 their heads near the top of Windermere. All around me is 
 
PROFESSOR AND MRS ADAMS OF CAMBRIDGE. 175 
 
 endeared by the sweet remembrances of early life ; ... in- 
 deed, when I return to Dent I feel again as if I were in my 
 true home, and I quite naturally talk and think of the joys of 
 boyhood, and begin " to babble of green fields." 
 
 For more than threescore years Cambridge has been my 
 honoured resting-place, and here God has given me a life- 
 long task amidst a succession of intellectual friends. For 
 Trinity College, ever since I passed under its great portal for 
 the first time in the autumn of 1804, I have felt a deep and 
 grateful sentiment of filial regard. But, spite of a strong and 
 enduring regard for the University and the College, whenever 
 I have revisited the hills and dales of my native country, and 
 heard the cheerful greetings of my old friends and country- 
 men, I have felt a new swell of emotion, and said to myself, 
 "Here is the land of my birth ; this was the home of my boy- 
 hood, and is still the home of my heart." 
 
 For Professor and Mrs Adams the Fergusons had 
 a warm and sincere regard. In conjunction with Sir 
 George Gabriel Stokes — sometime President of the 
 Royal Society, and subsequently M.P. for Cambridge, 
 son-in-law to Dr Romney Robinson, and a relative 
 of Dr William Stokes — Ferguson was Mrs Adams's 
 trustee. Much of the correspondence necessarily 
 dealt with business matters, but the friends from 
 time to time exchanged mutual hospitalities. The 
 wife of another Cambridge Professor, Mrs Miller, had 
 etched in pen and ink beautiful and elaborate studies 
 of Alpine scenery, which were greatly admired by 
 Ferguson. His kind friends at the Observatory had 
 presented him with some of these, reproduced by 
 photography. His admiration of them is alluded to 
 in the following letters : — 
 
 My dear Professor Adams, — Can you help me to the 
 
176 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 reading of the inscriptions which I enclose ? It would be a 
 gratification to one whom I would like to gratify ; so I know, 
 if it can be done, it will be a pleasure to you also. 
 
 I thank God I am very much stronger in all points than 
 when I last saw you and Mrs Adams ; will you give her my 
 own and my wife's affectionate remembrances ? . . . 
 
 At the Academy we have got some accession to our 
 scientific forces. I wish I could learn Professor Miller's 
 judgment on the utility of using the microscope in deter- 
 mining the composition of rock. Can an observer see the 
 bounding lines of the crystals so as to discriminate and 
 identify them ? It is alleged not, because, it is said, unless 
 your crystal is cut in its proper place, you cannot from 
 its section determine its class ; but I fancy the crystal in a 
 slice of stone would stand high enough out of its bedding 
 to show its facets, unless on a polished surface. At all events 
 the subject brings our friend to my mind with very agree- 
 able recollections, extending to Mrs Miller, whom I admire in 
 her work every time I take up your delightful book of photo- 
 graphs. Tell her, when you see her, I would rather range the 
 Alps in her company than in that of any other illustrator I 
 ever saw. Believe me (with some yearnings for the banks of 
 the Cam, to be gratified some day, D. K), yours very faith- 
 fully, Samuel Ferguson. 
 
 To this Mrs Adams replied from Bath : — 
 
 I am really delighted you liked the photographs so much. 
 Your letter followed us here, and as Professor Adams could 
 throw no light on the questions you wanted answered, I wrote 
 to ask them of that perfect encyclopedia — Professor Miller, 
 who sends the enclosed to be forwarded to you. 
 
 Mrs Miller writes in very great pleasure at your admiration 
 of her drawings and the photographs. 
 
 Please tell Mrs Ferguson, with my dear love, that Professor 
 Adams is so pleased with the 'Christian Examiner' she so 
 kindly sent us that he means to send for the publication to 
 be forwarded regularly to us. 
 
FERGUSON TO MRS ROMNEY ROBINSON. 177 
 
 Ferguson wrote for information touching the pro- 
 cession of the equinox, too technical to be entered on 
 here. 
 
 The inquiries were made of Dr Robinson through 
 his wife : — 
 
 I have a question in astronomy which I find great difficulty 
 in getting a clear answer to. . . . Could you, without troubling 
 Dr Robinson himself, help me to something definite ? . . . 
 
 What a bore for you, my dear friend, who love astronomy 
 only as impersonated in the Astronomer, to be pestered with 
 this cobbler, who has left his last on his lapstone and gone 
 gadding among the signs of the zodiac. Well, tell me plainly, 
 the question is, . . . and I'll put it to my worthy friend 
 Adams ; but you are nearer, and it seems more natural ; and 
 besides, now that the sun shines, and the leaves put them- 
 selves forth, and the east wind mitigates its temper, my 
 heart turns to my older companions. 
 
 Tell dear Mrs Butler I shall send her a copy of " Deirdre," 
 a one-act drama, one of these days. And now farewell, and 
 may the sun, whether he be in Pisces or Aquarius or else- 
 where, look on no one in his daily courses more contented 
 and peaceful. — Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 Sir Robert S. Ball, known to Ferguson from his 
 youth, succeeded Professor Adams in the Cambridge 
 Observatory. He had been previously Astronomer 
 Royal at Dunsink, the Observatory in connection with 
 Trinity College, Dublin — made classic ground by the 
 genius of Sir W. R. Hamilton. Sir R. S. Ball has 
 done much by his writings and lectures to make 
 astronomy interesting and intelligible to the non- 
 scientific mind. His brother Dr Valentine Ball — 
 recently deceased, — June 1895, — was Director of the 
 
 VOL. 11. M 
 
178 FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 National Museum of Dublin. Dr Charles Ball, a 
 younger brother, is an eminent medical man in the 
 Irish capital. Their father, a distinguished naturalist, 
 had died in the prime of manhood from the rupture 
 of a blood-vessel when sounding in the Museum of the 
 Royal Irish Academy one of the bronze trumpets 
 preserved in the collection. These, with their mar- 
 vellous rivetings, have come down to us from pre- 
 historic times, but require powerful lungs to make 
 them audible. 
 
 Sir Robert and Lady Kane, both eminent in science, 
 were dear and intimate friends of Ferguson and his 
 wife. Their marriage had been a romantic one. The 
 lady was an orphan brought up in the retirement of 
 country life by maiden aunts. Apart from the com- 
 panionship of young people of her own age, Miss 
 Baily devoted herself, among other studies, to that 
 of Botany, and her work — still the best authority on 
 Irish botany — was printed at the University Press 
 at the same time that Kane's ' Industrial Resources of 
 Ireland ' was passing through the press. The printers 
 by a blunder sent each writer's proof to the other. 
 The lady re-posted the one sent to her ; but the gentle- 
 man, much impressed by the excellence of the work 
 mis-sent to him, called at the printers', obtained Miss 
 Baily's name and address, and said that he would 
 remedy their blunder himself by returning her proofs 
 in person. The acquaintance thus commenced resulted 
 in a congenial and happy marriage. Sir Robert Kane 
 became President of Cork College, and head of the 
 
SIR ROBERT AND LADY KANE. 179 
 
 College of Science in Dublin. He was also the im- 
 mediate predecessor of Ferguson as President of the 
 Royal Irish Academy. 
 
 Educated in an atmosphere of science and literature 
 — for Lady Kane was also a good Greek scholar — it 
 is not surprising that the children of Sir Robert and 
 Lady Kane are distinguished in their several spheres. 
 Judge Kane, already mentioned as the friend of Win- 
 terbotham, is a man of large attainment in other know- 
 ledge as well as in that of Law. He was in Italy 
 when he heard of Ferguson's Knighthood, and wrote 
 thus to Lady Ferguson of one whom he had known 
 intimately from childhood : — 
 
 I send you and Sir Samuel my hearty congratulations and 
 those of my wife on your new title, or rather I should congrat- 
 ulate the Order of Knighthood on having such an accession of 
 merit to its ranks as will indeed do it honour. ... As 
 long as I can recollect I have been hearing of the name of 
 Sam Ferguson as one deserving such love and honour that 
 a title could not add anything to it. 
 
 His next brother, Captain Henry C. Kane, R.N., by 
 his scientific skill, foresight, and pluck, as captain of 
 the Calliope, saved his ship in the terrific gale at 
 Samoa, when all other vessels in the harbour, including 
 those of Germany and the United States, went down 
 during the awful hurricane of 1889. The younger 
 children of Sir Robert and Lady Kane were also highly 
 gifted. One of them, who died early, had risen to an 
 eminent position as a surgeon in San Francisco. 
 
 Sir Robert Kane departed this life in 1882. He 
 
l8o FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEN OF SCIENCE. 
 
 never recovered the loss of his wife, who predeceased 
 him. Her last illness was a lingering one ; and in her 
 the present writer lost a faithful friend, whose compan- 
 ionship was delightful, whose varied attainments were 
 known to intimate friends only, so modest, shy, and 
 retiring was her disposition. 
 
 Ferguson owed his acquaintance with Dr Angus 
 Smith of Manchester to the following letter of intro- 
 duction from Sir Robert Kane : — 
 
 Royal College of Science, 24//Z September 1872. 
 
 My dear Ferguson, — Allow me to introduce to you my 
 friend Dr Angus Smith, who, not satisfied with distinguishing 
 himself in chemistry, as he has done, has been latterly de- 
 voting his attention to the subject of archaeology, and natur- 
 ally is desirous of making the acquaintance of one so conver- 
 sant with all those matters as yourself. 
 
 I need not say more of Dr Smith : you will find reason, 
 when you know him, to thank me for having brought you 
 into communication with a gentleman of so much taste and 
 knowledge both in Science and Literature. Dr Angus Smith 
 is a great friend of Mr Francis Jennings of Cork, whom you 
 know at the Royal Irish Academy and otherwise. 
 
 Dr Angus Smith, as already alluded to in a letter 
 of Ferguson's, had made a study of Glen Etive and 
 its vicinity, tracing out the sites associated with the 
 Irish exiles who had made their temporary home in 
 that beautiful district of Scotland. ' The Shores of 
 Loch Etive ' was of deep interest to one whose im- 
 agination had long been exercised on the story of 
 Deirdre and the Sons of Usnach. He sent his * Lays 
 
LETTER OF DR ANGUS SMITH. l8l 
 
 of the Western Gael ' to Dr Smith, who thus acknow- 
 ledged the volume : — 
 
 I send you heartily my thanks for your beautiful volume. 
 I began, at the beginning and read aloud, and I assure you 
 that the pleasure I had and the pleasure it gave by being 
 heard were most unusual, unalloyed, and elevating. 
 
 There is a freshness in these old Celtic stories which to us 
 of modem times speaks of a new [era ?], and I only wonder 
 they are so little known when men seek novelties. For, old 
 as they are, they come forth as new. I know that some 
 of the ancient writers speak with too many words and without 
 much grace ; but you have seen the soul that was in them, 
 and distilled the spirit to the highest refinement. The actors 
 are seen as a saint of the time might have viewed them had 
 he united his loftiness with the enthusiasm of the bard. 
 That is not quite enough : we have made advance, and the 
 higher life of modern thought shines and beautifies the lines. 
 I shall read some this evening to Bailey, better known as 
 Festus, who is coming to me. — With many thanks unfeigned, 
 I am yours sincerely, Angus Smith. 
 
182 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 1859-1886. 
 
 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS POETRY, MUSIC, AND 
 HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 ' ' We receive but what we give, 
 And in our life alone does Nature live : 
 Ours is her wedding-garment, ours her shroud ! 
 And would we aught behold, of higher worth, 
 Than that inanimate cold world allowed 
 To the poor loneless ever-anxious crowd, 
 Ah ! from the soul itself must issue forth 
 A light, a glory, a fair luminous cloud 
 Enveloping the Earth — 
 And from the soul itself must then be sent 
 A sweet and potent voice, of its own birth, 
 Of all sweet sounds the life and element ! " 
 
 — Coleridge. 
 
 The centenary of Robert Burns was celebrated in 
 Dublin in 1859 by a dinner at the Mansion -House, 
 and Ferguson was called on to speak on the character 
 and genius of the Scottish poet. His speech was 
 as follows : — 
 
 " My Lord Mayor, Mr Parker, and gentlemen, in calling 
 upon me, on this occasion, you do me an honour which I 
 prize the more because I am hardly worthy of it ; yet I may, 
 without vanity, acknowledge that on this occasion, when you 
 
FERGUSON'S SPEECH ON ROBERT BURNS. 183 
 
 celebrate the memory of the great Scottish poet in the metro- 
 polis of Ireland, there is a certain propriety in your devolving 
 that honourable task on one like me, who, although by the 
 nativity of many generations an Irishman, am yet by lineage 
 and descent a Scot. Six generations and more have passed 
 since the district of Antrim, in which my infant ears first 
 became familiar with the accents of Galloway, was peopled 
 from that region which has since become famous as the land 
 of Burns. Time has but slightly altered the Scottish accent 
 on our lips ; and saving our duty to our own country, our 
 hearts still turn with pride and affection to that noble land 
 whose sons to-day throughout the civilised world offer the 
 tribute of a national homage to the great poet of Scotland. 
 Such a homage has not been paid to any man of letters of 
 modern times. Yet it is not in the extent merely of these 
 demonstrations — although they embrace the whole circle of 
 the globe, wherever Scotchmen have penetrated in the pursuit 
 of duty, of fame, or of fortune — that we find the magnitude 
 and the marvel of the praise that you bestow upon him. It is 
 in the character of the nation that bestows it, and that of the 
 man to whose memory the tribute is offered, that we discern 
 the greatness and the worthiness of your praise. A nation, 
 eager and eminently successful in the pursuit of practical 
 objects, proverbially prudent, habituated to a rigorous self- 
 control, selects for the object of its reverence — not a man like 
 Bentham or like Franklin — not a divine, a philosopher, or an 
 economist, but a child of impulse and of passion — a proud, an 
 improvident, an unworldly man. How comes this ? By what 
 spell is it that you are thus drawn together in hundreds and 
 in thousands, from the rising to the setting of the sun, to 
 swell the tribute of honour to the memory of this man with a 
 contagious fervour which draws into the vortex of your own 
 enthusiasm the sister capitals and all the provincial towns in 
 the United Kingdom ? Whence comes it, asks the unobser- 
 vant and the thoughtless mind, that you should select for your 
 highest honours a man apparently so dissimilar to yourselves ? 
 The answer to the inquiry — the spell that brings you together 
 — lies in the depth of your own character. It is the old poetic 
 fervour of your race, that faculty which lies at the basis of all 
 
184 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 enterprise and of all fortune, although not discerned by those 
 who merely view the surface of the Scottish character, which 
 recognises in the poet — in the man of fervid soul — the true 
 representative of the character of the Scot in its highest and 
 best aspect. Therefore it is that you have well and wisely 
 chosen a poet as the representative of your race and of your 
 nation, a poet who commands the admiration of mankind, a 
 poet who has given utterance to the best sentiments of love, 
 of tenderness, of generosity, of patriotism, and of piety — to the 
 most charming humour and the brightest wit, in numbers per- 
 fectly melodious, and in language which, notwithstanding its 
 dialectic peculiarities, is pre-eminently manly, direct, and in- 
 telligible. The sentiments belong to the world. The dialect 
 and the poet are your own. 
 
 " When it pleased God to ordain that the languages of man- 
 kind should be different, He left their hearts the same ; and 
 that speech which most directly stirs in the breast of man the 
 common sympathies of our nature is the truest classic : and 
 when we find that those sympathies are evoked by language 
 harmonious in its composition and melodious in its rhythmical 
 arrangement, where rhyme reinforces time, and sense falls in 
 with both, and emotion culminates at every turning-point of 
 the composition, then, by the common consent of mankind, 
 we acknowledge ourselves in the presence and the power of 
 the poet, whether he speaks the language of Attica or of 
 Ayrshire. This is the true test of poetic power, that it stirs 
 the hearts of men deeply and widely by the direct agency of 
 simple and intelligible language. Tried by this test, the poetry 
 of Burns justifies the unexampled honours that to-day are paid 
 to his memory. His poems have the breadth, the simplicity, 
 the ease, and the force of operations of nature. And this is 
 the characteristic of the poetry of the Augustan age of every 
 school of literature, and these demonstrations of yours to-day 
 will do more than all the criticisms of the reviews and maga- 
 zines to recall our writers from that profitless search after 
 recondite thought and curious felicities of expression which 
 of late in our literature have become too much the fashion, 
 and in which the careful observers of the progress of the liter- 
 ature of older nations might well apprehend the approaching 
 
THE CENTENARY OF BURNS. 185 
 
 decay of letters in our own, if the tendency of our favourite 
 writers to abandon the ancient models of simplicity and man- 
 liness be not arrested by such demonstrations as ours to-day. 
 
 " If these meetings have no other effect than to warn our men 
 of letters that the lasting praises of the generations are not to be 
 obtained by intricate, conceited, and curious compositions, they 
 would confer a boon on literature, and aid in maintaining the 
 standard of taste. But, gentlemen, they have a wider, deeper 
 significance. Men will not forget their nationalities — men will 
 not lay down the ties of birth and of kindred at the chair of any 
 science or of any quasi-science. We must be Scotchmen, we 
 must be Irishmen, and we will honour the memories of the men 
 whose genius has asserted and won for us our own places for our- 
 selves in the temple of British fame. Honour, then, in full 
 measure, heaped and overflowing, to the heaven-born peasant 
 who has borne the harp of his country so high in that temple, 
 that if it be placed a little below the lyre of Shakespeare, it is still 
 so near that if you ' make the chords of one vibrate, those of the 
 other will thrill in harmony,' and who, having achieved that 
 position for the lyrical genius of his country, could say with 
 the modest nobility of a truly manly nature, ' I have been bred 
 to the plough, and I am independent.' Well was it for Burns 
 that he was bred to the plough — that he spent the days of his 
 dawning genius in familiarity with nature, and not amongst 
 the fine ladies and fine gentlemen whose neglect of him has 
 been deplored as a misfortune, but truly was a happy escape 
 for him and for us all. Burns was not ashamed that he was 
 born a son of toil. Why should he ? All the pursuits of in- 
 dustry are honourable, especially those of the tiller of the soil. 
 The hands of heroes have been familiar with the plough. 
 Ulysses, the wisest of Homeric worthies, did not blush to 
 confess his prowess in the fields. When reproached with 
 idleness by one of the proud suitors of Penelope, you may 
 remember the noble spirit in which, associating the toils of 
 the husbandman with the glories of the soldier, he replied — 
 
 ' ' ' Forbear, Eurymachus ; for were we matched 
 In work against each other, thou and I 
 Mowing in spring-time, when the days are long; 
 Or if again it were our task to drive 
 
l86 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 Yoked oxen in the plough ; and were the field 
 
 In size four acres ; with a glebe through which 
 
 The share might smoothly glide : then shouldst thou see 
 
 How straight my furrow should be cut and true. 
 
 Or if Saturnian Jove should now excite 
 
 Here, battle, or elsewhere ; and were I armed 
 
 With two bright spears, and with a shield, and bore 
 
 A brazen casque well fitted to my brows : 
 
 Me then thou shouldst behold mingling in fight 
 
 Among the foremost chiefs, nor with the crime 
 
 Of idle beggary shouldst reproach me more.' 
 
 Ulysses, gentlemen, did not conceive that skill in the manual 
 labours of the field detracted in aught from his position as a 
 prince and chieftain ; nor in the case of Burns has it detracted 
 one tittle from his pre-eminence as a leader among the intel- 
 lects of his country. Let no regrets mingle with your festive 
 offerings to his memory. No one with truth can say his life 
 was unhappy. As toil is incident to the eating of daily bread, 
 despondency is incident to the poetic temperament ; and he 
 could not have had that keen enjoyment of existence had he 
 not sometimes suffered those fits of despondency which are 
 inseparable from the poetic temperament. He who enjoyed 
 in a measure so exalted the raptures of love, the delights of 
 friendship, the enchantment of the fancy — no one can affirm 
 that such a man was unhappy. Neither let the libation you 
 pour to his memory be dashed by any bitter thought of sup- 
 posed neglect or ingratitude in his country. Gentlemen, that 
 is not so. Much as Burns has done for Scotland, Scotland, 
 before Burns was born, had done more for him. He was born 
 the child of a proud, of a renowned and glorious country. 
 For him, as for all the genius of future time, Wallace had 
 made the banks of Irvine holy ground — for him Bruce shook 
 his Carrick spear — for him, as for every child of genius that 
 the soil of Scotland should produce to the end of time, the 
 genius of Scottish music had made the hills and valleys of his 
 country vocal with melodies soliciting to song — for him 
 courageous - hearted ancestors, brave and pious men, had 
 fought and bled — had watched and prayed on mountain 
 and on moor — had offered up the sacrifice of their blood 
 for Scotland's religious freedom, — that the cottier on his 
 
ROBERT BURNS AND THOMAS MOORE. 187 
 
 Saturday at e'en might be free to open his big hall Bible 
 by his own hearthstone, and that amid scenes of patriarchal 
 simplicity, piety, and virtue, of manly self-reliance and bold 
 self-assertion, the young germ of genius might unfold itself in 
 safety. Let no man, therefore, say that Scotland had not 
 done her part. No, she has not been wanting. She is no 
 unworthy mother of her noble son. In honouring him you 
 honour her and yourselves. With full hearts, then, and with 
 consciences discharged of all feeling of breach of duty towards 
 the man whose memory we are met to celebrate, let us drain 
 this bumper toast to the memory of Robert Burns." 
 
 The toast was duly honoured. Air — " Ye banks and braes 
 o' bonnie Doon." 
 
 What Burns had done for Scotland in uniting her 
 music to appropriate words, Thomas Moore did in his 
 day and in his measure for Ireland. To Ferguson 
 the " Melodies " of Moore were a source of the purest 
 delight. As poems they were familiar in his mouth as 
 household words, and, when joined to the music of his 
 country and sung with feeling, they enraptured him. 
 In writing to an American correspondent he thus 
 expressed himself: — 
 
 One of our countrymen, Moore, found the song-music of 
 Ireland, with few exceptions, united to incongruous and often 
 vulgar words. He rescued these enchanting airs from that 
 unworthy connection, and made them familiar in the ear of 
 the world in association with the most apposite, elegant, and 
 touching of all national lyrics. The times in which he lived 
 invited to generous and noble aspirations, and it is hard to 
 say whether he more excelled in giving beauty to the expres- 
 sion of those feelings of the human breast which are universal, 
 or of those which in his day were called forth by occasion and 
 circumstances. May your celebration of his memory keep 
 alive these sentiments of fraternity, of freedom, and of that 
 social harmony which is sweeter even than his own songs ! 
 
l88 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 The intense pleasure which Ferguson received from 
 such music as he understood, had its highest gratifi- 
 cation when Herr Sjoden, a Swedish harpist, visited 
 Ireland in 1879 to add to his stores of national airs. 
 This accomplished gentleman often brought his harp 
 to Ferguson's house, and enchanted him, and all other 
 listeners, with his performance. Lady Ferguson gave 
 Herr Sjoden a melody to which he begged Sir Samuel 
 to write words. He consented, and produced " The 
 Lark in clear air," words which rendered perfectly 
 the sentiment of the music for which they were com- 
 posed. Sir Samuel's verses ran thus : — 
 
 Dear thoughts are in my mind, and my soul soars enchanted, 
 As I hear the sweet lark sing in the clear air of the day, 
 For a tender beaming smile to my hope has been granted, 
 And to-morrow she shall hear all my fond heart would say. 
 
 I shall tell her all my love, all my soul's adoration, 
 And I think she will hear me, and will not say me Nay : 
 It is this that gives my soul all its joyous elation, 
 As I hear the sweet lark sing in the clear air of the day." 
 
 Herr Sjoden was enraptured with the melody, which, 
 it is believed, had not previously been noted down, 
 it having been imparted orally to Lady Ferguson by 
 an old Irish gentlewoman who called it "The Tailor's 
 Son." It was sung at a concert given by the Swedish 
 harper before he left Dublin. 
 
 "The Lark in clear air," as taken down from Lady 
 Ferguson's singing by her friend Lady Grainger- 
 Stewart of Edinburgh, has been published by Mr 
 
" THE LARK IN CLEAR AIR. 150, 
 
 A. P. Graves in his ' Irish Song-Book,' 1895, a volume 
 of the " New Irish Library " ; and Ferguson's version 
 from the Irish of " Pastheen Finn " has been set to 
 music by A. A. Needham, and is a charming song. 
 " Cean Dubh Deelish " has been published by Messrs 
 Boosey and Co.; while passages selected from "The 
 Forging of the Anchor" have, as already mentioned, 
 been set to music by Sir Julius Benedict, and performed 
 at the Norwich Festival. 
 
 On leaving Dublin for Croom Castle, Co. Limerick, 
 the country home of Robert Lyons, M.D., Herr Sjoden 
 wrote to Ferguson : — 
 
 With my best thanks for your most kind letter and en- 
 closure, I beg much to apologise for my delaying the answer 
 so long. Shortly after my concert I went down to have some 
 days' rest at this beautiful old country place, and could not 
 find time to call upon you and Lady Ferguson before I left. 
 I need not tell you about the complete success of "The 
 Tailor's Son," or rather " The Lark in clear air." You know 
 about it before this, I am sure. I am indeed proud of the 
 result of my attempting to bring out the Irish airs on their 
 own instrument, and I am fully aware how much I owe the 
 success to yourself and Lady Ferguson. I have not yet been 
 able to find any Irish melody fully suitable to your beautiful 
 poetry, but I trust I shall be successful before long. When 
 back in Dublin, I will take an early opportunity of calling on 
 yourself and Lady Ferguson, and remain, dear Sir Samuel, 
 with my best compliments, your very sincerely and obliged 
 
 Adolf Sjoden. 
 
 To this Sir Samuel replied : — 
 
 I have written one song about the larks, and here is 
 another, but not so joyous. Marry me a good Irish air to 
 it, and give another concert, and if Miss Craig will sing it I'll 
 
igO POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 promise to attend. You will find what I take to be the parent 
 air of " Jock o' Hazeldean " in Bunting under the name of the 
 "Yellow Beggarman." It suits in tune and rhythm, I believe, 
 but may be wanting in dignity and force. The rhyme being 
 common " eights and sixes," you will be able probably to find 
 something better, for in that kind of learning I am a mere 
 dunce. When you hit on something suitable, favour me with 
 a call ; and meanwhile believe me very faithfully yours, 
 
 Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 The words, considering the pathetic character of the air, 
 are singularly unsuitable. They are rustic to the verge of 
 vulgarity. 
 
 It is a lovely air, but melancholy -sweet. I have caught 
 some of the sentiments in words, which I also enclose, but I 
 had no tune in mind when I wrote them, and they do not at 
 all go to "Pastheen Finn." "The dear old Irish air," if it 
 had an air to go to, might be a popular variety of the sad 
 species of Irish song. 
 
 As regards the Pastheen, I don't know the tune sufficiently 
 to say whether I am master of the rhythm ; but here is the 
 second stanza of an incomplete couple of verses which have 
 been in my mind in connection with a poor fellow who had 
 the misfortune to be a Glasgow Bank shareholder, and the 
 blessing of a wife who helped him to bear his reverses 
 manfully. 
 
 Even this wants the sweetness that the air demands, but 
 such as it is you can try how far it suits in rhyme, time, and 
 sentiment. 
 
 SIT BY ME. 
 
 Oh were we happy rich ones, as once we were, 
 
 The diamond and ruby might deck your hair ; 
 
 But your breast, oh what jewel could a king place there 
 
 Worth one throb of the love it bears me ? 
 
 Then, dear one, sit by me, close to me, close to me, 
 
 Dear one, sit by me, hand in hand ; 
 
 Where were the sorrow I could not withstand, 
 
 With you to comfort me, dear one ? 
 
THE SWEDISH HARPIST, HERR SJODEN. I9I 
 
 I am endeavouring to get you the Irish words of the [air] 
 (Moore's "The Dawning of Morn," "The Daylight sinking"). 
 They have a very effective refrain — 
 
 " Ho ! ro ! stauk an Varagay ! 
 Ho ! ro ! stauka na wo ! " 
 
 — Yours very faithfully, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 After his departure from Ireland no tidings reached 
 the Fergusons of the harpist ; but when journeying in 
 Scandinavia in 1885, they learned Herr Sjoden's sup- 
 posed address, and sent, on chance of their reaching 
 him, a few lines on a post-card : — 
 
 Ulvic, Hardangerfiord, 7th July 1885. 
 
 My dear Herr Sjoden, — Travelling now in Norway, we 
 learn the address of the renowned harpist who some years 
 since delighted the ears and moved the souls and exalted the 
 hearts of so many of us in Dublin ; and we hasten to send you 
 the assurance that it rejoices us to hear of your continued 
 welfare. 
 
 Enchanter who reignest 
 
 Supreme o'er the North, 
 Who hast wiled the coy spirit 
 
 Of true music forth, 
 In vain Europe's minstrels 
 
 To honour aspire 
 When thy swift slender fingers 
 Go forth on the wire ! 
 
 Next address — Post Office, Stockholm. 
 
 Samuel Ferguson. 
 Mary C. Ferguson. 
 
 This card, addressed to Herr Adolf Sjoden, Harpist, 
 Helsingfors, failed to find him for whom it was in- 
 tended, but reached the senders in "Dublin, Ireland," 
 
192 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 quite covered with postal stamps. Nor did further 
 intelligence of the accomplished musician ever reach 
 them. 
 
 In a letter to Mr W. B. Scott, poet and artist, who 
 died a few years ago at Chelsea, Ferguson, in thanking 
 him for the gift of his poems, expressed his own views 
 on the volume, and on Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, 
 and Byron : — 
 
 I have read the volume with complete sympathy and a great 
 deal of pleasure. Your sonnets, " Beda," " The Duke's 
 Funeral," are among those which most impressed me. Your 
 estimate of Wordsworth comes very near my own, though in 
 entertaining it I have always felt myself guilty of a sort of 
 literary impiety ; for one of the finest and purest natures I 
 ever knew — I speak of my friend the late Dr Petrie — was so 
 profoundly imbued with the Wordsworthian spirit that admir- 
 ation of him has been regarded by me almost as a religion, of 
 which I would wish to, but could not, become a devotee. Yet 
 in selecting the best pieces of the ' Golden Treasury ' to read 
 to some innocent and candid minds the other day on a hillside 
 in Savoy, the " Daffodils " gave as much pleasure as even 
 Shelley's " Skylark." I was immensely gratified by the sight 
 of Shelley's bust, which Mrs Scott, when I had the pleasure of 
 calling at your house some months ago, was good enough to 
 show me. It breathes a divine genius through all the juvenile 
 lineaments. Undoubtedly he was the sublimest poet of them 
 all. You have not in the least degree outsung his praises. 
 But Society had a right to protect itself against his magnificent 
 anarchies, and I cannot think he suffered any real wrong at its 
 hands. Keats, "by a mousing owl hacked at and slain," 
 comes, I think, next in lyrical loveliness. Then there is the 
 majesty of Byron sometimes dominating both, as one mountain 
 will overtop another as the spectator climbs or descends. It 
 was a much grander poetic age than, I suppose, England will 
 ever see again. The best of our own day are but petite maitres 
 
LETTER OF MR W. B. SCOTT. I93 
 
 in comparison with these noble spirits whom you have justly 
 celebrated. 
 
 The volume of Poems published by Ferguson in 
 1880, of which a copy was sent for Mr W. B. Scott's 
 acceptance, brought in return the following letter : — 
 
 92 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, 
 14//Z May 1 88 1. 
 
 My dear Sir Samuel, — I have to thank you very truly 
 for the literary treat of reading your volume of poems, On 
 seeing it advertised I had intended to possess the book, being 
 really a buyer of new books to some extent, but allowed the 
 matter to pass out of mind, and now you have enabled me to 
 possess it. Your versions of ancient Irish subjects are most 
 interesting ; to me the field is new, and evidently very rich : 
 it is wonderful that so little attention has been paid hitherto to 
 these national legends as poetic subjects. I had lately Joyce's 
 selection of early Irish stories, and at the same time Tennyson's 
 last volume, in which I detected the origin of the " Voyage of 
 Mael dune " and its rendering in modern form ; but none of 
 the historical incidents you have worked upon were in that 
 volume, nor, I suppose, have we outsiders any access to your 
 originals. 
 
 In one respect I find I was wrong in my anticipations of 
 your volume. When a very young man and younger writer, 
 Professor Wilson (Ch. North) showed me your " Forging of the 
 Dolphin's Anchor " with evident delight, saying he wished it 
 had been his own. Never from that early time have I forgotten 
 that poem, and often have in a vague way hoped to find it 
 again, and now I thought I should possibly have that luck. 
 All of these poems are presumably lately written, — I congratu- 
 late you, and envy your power of retaining your powers. For 
 myself I fear the day is over ; nothing but a sonnet now and 
 then comes to me. 
 
 Will you kindly give our compliments to Lady Ferguson? 
 and believe me very truly yours, William B. Scott. 
 
 VOL. II. N 
 
194 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 Ferguson, ever generously appreciative of the writ- 
 ings of others, had a word of cordial praise for a rustic 
 bard of his native Antrim, David Herbison of Dunclug, 
 a tenant on Lord Waveney's estate. In a letter to 
 his Lordship, June 30, 1873, Ferguson thus commends 
 the weaver poet to his consideration : — 
 
 Turning over some recent miscellanies, I found the en- 
 closed notice of, as I believe, one of your Lordship's Antrim 
 tenants. Old David is really a credit to his " country-side," 
 and deserves all that is said of him in the paragraph. I 
 lately revisited the scenes of my own youth in the neighbour- 
 ing valleys of Six-Mile-Water and of Glenwhirry. Owing to a 
 misadventure in the loss of my luggage on the way, I had not 
 time to inquire for the singer of Dunclug. I assure your 
 Lordship there are few owners of estates in either country 
 who can point to more genius in a humble dwelling on their 
 lands, and I think it may gratify your Lordship to see what is 
 thought of him here. 
 
 " Here is David Herbison, from the central glens of Antrim, 
 entering on his seventieth year with new glorifyings of love 
 and beauty, and fresh breathings of honest affection, in an- 
 other volume of poems. David is a weaver, and speaks 
 directly to his own class. Indirectly, he addresses himself to 
 such of the upper classes as do not demand extraordinary 
 aesthetic niceties, and who, if they dare venture an opinion in 
 private, would confess themselves sometimes a little sick of 
 the sort of thing considered correct by the fashionable critics. 
 He sings, like the bird on the bush, to please himself, and 
 has earned sufficient popularity to know that what he sings 
 will go to the hearts of hundreds of honest hearty fellows, and 
 of pretty young lasses tripping barefoot about the ' burns ' of 
 Buckna, Kilrea, and other northern latitudes, where the songs 
 of Burns form a constituent element with native oxygen in the 
 air they breathe. Poor old fellow ! sorrow has laid a heavy 
 hand on him ; but the pressure has given increased volume 
 to the stream of song, in which all his joys and woes run out, 
 
POETRY OF DAVID HERBISON. I95 
 
 and make themselves partakers in the great sea of human 
 sympathy. 
 
 " We have no doubt a wholesome humanity has been con- 
 veyed to hundreds of people, both old and young, who breathe 
 the pure air of the Braid, and love to hear the birds singing in 
 the spring season. Of course the theme of themes with all 
 poets, old and young, is the old story. David invests all the 
 glens, groves, ' knowes,' and ' water-sides ' within a summer 
 day's journey of Dunclug with amorous associations, and in- 
 deed sanctifies them with the emotions of a pure and innocent 
 passion. He says of himself, with truth, in his modest pre- 
 face, ' If my simple verses are not polished to the taste of the 
 refined and better educated classes of society, I feel perfectly 
 satisfied that they do not contain any sentiment of an immoral, 
 irreligious, or injurious tendency.' . 
 
 "We have dwelt at some length on the works of the 
 humble man, from a desire to recognise the social value of 
 such a faculty as he possesses, when turned, without inter- 
 ference with life's legitimate callings, to the promotion of 
 innocent pleasures, good morals, and amiable manners among 
 the people. During a long life Herbison has earned his 
 daily bread honestly at his loom. If the Muse has from time 
 to time irradiated with her presence the little ' spence ' at 
 Dunclug, it has been in the intervals of regulated labour. We 
 earnestly trust that when the shuttle shall begin to glide 
 languidly through the warp — as it soon must do — David's de- 
 clining days may be made easy (and a little thing would do 
 it) by those who have reaped the fruit of his genius in the 
 diffusion of civilising influences among the class below them." 
 
 Ferguson sent to the Co. Antrim poet a copy of his 
 ' Lays of the Western Gael,' which was thus acknow- 
 ledged by Mr Herbison : — 
 
 I had the honour of receiving on Saturday last your new 
 and beautiful volume of poems, for which I kindly thank you. 
 I assure you I have derived more pleasure from it than from 
 any other book that has come in my way for these many 
 
I96 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 years past. Its perusal not only pleased but delighted me, 
 as I am sure it will thousands of my fellow-countrymen, as 
 well as all who may have the pleasure of seeing it. It has 
 long been my opinion that Ulster has produced no other 
 poet so capable of handling our legendary lore as you, nor 
 have we one whose ballads are so deservedly popular : they 
 are written in a style so simple and yet so pleasing, that many 
 of them have long since become favourites with the Presby- 
 terians of this locality, in particular "Willie Gilliland" and 
 "Una Phelimy." The latter, I am sorry to say, you have 
 omitted in the volume now before me, as you have also done 
 "When this Old Cap was New," which was a favourite of my 
 mother's, and who sang it uncommonly well ; and were she 
 living to see it so neglected by you, I assure you you would 
 receive from her an Irish ban that would make your ears ring 
 for hours after. There is also another ballad of yours well 
 known here which you have omitted — that is, "The Fairy 
 Well of Lagnanay," which I think very pretty. Now I do 
 not see for what reason the above-named pieces have been 
 cast aside as unworthy of appearing in the same volume with 
 "Willie Gilliland," &c. They are more to my liking than 
 some of your translations from the Irish, — though I do not 
 object to the translations ; they are in general pretty, and no 
 doubt will be favourites with all who are acquainted with 
 the originals : but my conviction is that your fame will rest 
 entirely on your own original pieces, which, if I am not mis- 
 taken, will procure for you a niche in the Temple of Fame 
 where few, very few, have ascended to in this country. I 
 have, in fact, never read anything that pleased me better than 
 the " Burial of King Cormac" and "Aideen's Grave": they 
 stand highest in my estimation of any of the songs in the 
 ' Lays of the Western Gael.' And now let me thank you 
 kindly again for them, while I remain very truly yours, 
 
 D. Herbison. 
 
 The poem here alluded to as sung by Mr Herbison's 
 mother, and a favourite, was an early production of 
 Ferguson's, and is here cited : — 
 
EARLY POEM BY FERGUSON. 197 
 
 WHEN THIS OLD CAP WAS NEW. 
 
 Since this old cap was new, 
 
 Now fifty-two long years 
 (It was new at the review 
 
 Of the Dublin Volunteers), 
 There have been brought to pass 
 
 With us a change or two ; 
 They're altered times, alas ! 
 
 Since this old cap was new. 
 
 Our Parliament did sit 
 
 Then in our native land, 
 What good came of the loss of it 
 
 I cannot understand ; 
 Although full plain I see 
 
 That changes not a few 
 Have fallen on the country 
 
 Since this old cap was new. 
 
 They are very worthy fellows 
 
 (And much I'd be distressed 
 To think them else) who tell us 
 
 That all is for the best ; 
 Though full as ill inclined, 
 
 Now the bargain's closed, to rue, 
 Yet I can't but call the times to mind 
 
 When this old cap was new. 
 
 What rights we wanted then 
 
 Were asked for above-board 
 By a hundred thousand gentlemen, 
 
 And rendered at the word ; 
 'Twas thus in fair daylight, 
 
 With all the world to view, 
 We claimed and gained our right 
 
 When this old cap was new ! 
 
ig8 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 But patriots nowadays, 
 
 And State reformers, when 
 A starving people's cry they raise, 
 
 Turn out like trenchermen. 
 Ah ! we'd have done the work, 
 
 If it had been to do, 
 With other tool than spoon or fork, 
 
 When this old cap was new. 
 
 The nobles of the country 
 
 Were then our neighbours near, 
 And 'mong us squires and gentry 
 
 Made always jolly cheer ! 
 Ah ! every night at some one's 
 
 Or other's was a crew 
 Of merry lords and commons, 
 
 When this old cap was new. 
 
 They're altered times entirely, 
 
 As plainly now appears ; 
 Our landlord's face we barely see 
 
 Past once in seven years. 
 And now the man meets scorn 
 
 As his coat is green or blue ; 
 We had no need our coats to turn 
 
 When this old cap was new. 
 
 Good counsel to propose 
 
 I have but little skill ; 
 Yet ere a vain lament I close, 
 
 In humble trust I will 
 Beseech for all His aid 
 
 Who knows what all should do, 
 And pray, as I have often prayed 
 
 When this old cap was new. 
 
 God bless that honest gentleman 
 And noble prince the King, 
 
 iVnd grant him long in peace to plan 
 The best in everything ; 
 
POETRY OF MANGAN AND FRASER. igg 
 
 And give unto his Ministers 
 
 As honest hearts and true, 
 And the days perhaps may come again 
 
 When this old cap was new. 
 
 Ferguson's attitude towards those of his contem- 
 poraries less fortunate than himself in worldly circum- 
 stances was one of sympathy and helpful endeavour. 
 His efforts to rescue Mangan from his bondage to evil 
 habits have already been alluded to, as well as his 
 appreciation of the genius which gave to Ireland the 
 renderings of O'Hussey's "Ode to the Maguire" and 
 the " Lament for the Princes of Tyrone and Tyrcon- 
 nel." One of the first visits which Ferguson took his 
 wife to pay after their marriage was to the poor but 
 decent home of a sickly mechanic, the poet Fraser, 
 who, while earning his crust in a poor town dwelling 
 by manual labour, could project his imagination into 
 the scenes of his childhood on the Bog of Clondallagh 
 and the banks of the Brosna, which he thus celebrated 
 in verse : — 
 
 BROSNA'S BANKS 
 
 " For there upon my boyhood broke 
 
 The dreamy voice of nature first ; 
 And every word the vision spoke, 
 
 How deeply has my spirit nursed ! 
 A woman's love, a lyre, or pen, 
 
 A rescued land, a nation's thanks, 
 A friendship with the world, and then 
 
 A grave upon the Brosna's banks. 
 
200 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 Yet idle as those visions seem, 
 
 They were a strange and faithful guide, 
 When Heaven itself had scarce a gleam 
 
 To light my darkened life beside ; 
 And if from grosser guilt escaped 
 
 I feel no dying dread, the thanks 
 Are due unto the Power that shaped 
 
 My visions on the Brosna's banks. 
 
 And love, I feel, will come at last, 
 
 Albeit too late to comfort me ; 
 And fetters from the land be cast, 
 
 Though I may not survive to see. 
 If then the gifted, good, and brave 
 
 Admit me to their glorious ranks, 
 My memory may, though not my grave, 
 
 Be green upon the Brosna's banks." 
 
 Thomas Irwin — "the mad poet," as O'Donovan 
 called him in a letter to Ferguson — was nevertheless 
 a man of genius, to whose wants as well as his volumes 
 Ferguson always subscribed. Among his ' Poems, 
 Songs and Romances, Versicles and Sonnets,' are 
 many lovely lyrics. Most touching is " The Poet to 
 his Verses," with its sad but too true refrain — 
 " Poor Singing Children gain but little gold." 
 
 THE POET TO HIS VERSES. 
 
 " Come to my fireside. Sing to me to-night, 
 
 Poor Verses, echoes of my vanished years ; 
 Though all unknown to fame and fortune's light, 
 
 My heart still guards you with its smiles and tears. 
 Old Memories, though in jarring music sung, 
 
 And rough to other ears, still sweet to mine, 
 Your voice recalls the days when I was young, 
 
 And morning makes the dullest things divine : 
 
POETRY OF THOMAS IRWIN. 201 
 
 Sing, Verses, sing ! the night is dark and cold ; 
 Sing, though your voices gain but little gold. 
 
 Dear lonely offspring of a lonely heart, 
 
 No rich saloon resounds with your acclaim ; 
 No eager student wafts you from the mart, 
 
 Or critic stings you with an epigram. 
 Beside me rest concealed from stranger minds, 
 
 Content if some old comrade, loved and known, 
 Lists to your lay by evening light, and finds 
 
 Within your soul some tremblings of his own. 
 Sing, Little Ones, and round me closer fold ; 
 Such Singing Children gain but little gold. 
 
 Yes, we have wandered heart by heart, unseen, 
 
 Round foreign shores, and through the ocean's blast, 
 Far from the memoried Isle whose fields of green 
 
 Sleep in the spectral stillness of the past : 
 Oft, oft, when far away, I've looked through tears 
 
 Into the dying light that o'er them shone, 
 Where all I loved amid the happier years, 
 
 Where all save you who sing of them, are gone. 
 
 Sing, Memories, sing ! the heart that can behold 
 Heaven in the sunset little heeds its gold." 
 
 Thomas Aird, whose friendship Ferguson had made 
 when in Edinburgh in 1832, was a writer characterised 
 by strength and originality. " The Devil's Dream on 
 Mount Aksbeck" is perhaps his best known poem. 
 Like his countryman Burns, Aird seems to have sym- 
 pathised with "Auld Nickie-ben." But the Grisly 
 Terror in Aird's poem, far from taking " a thought 
 and men','' will not abate his pride and malice. He 
 remains true to the conception, which Milton has 
 made immortal, of the Fallen Cherub. Mr Aird wrote 
 from Dumfries, 13th February 1863 : — 
 
202 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 Along with this I send you a copy of a new edition of my 
 book of poems. Will you do me the favour to accept it, with 
 my affectionate good wishes for Mrs Ferguson and yourself? 
 
 I have revised two or three of the longer poems somewhat 
 sternly, and have added five or six little pieces. The last written 
 of these is " Songs of the Seasons." Your eye, I think, is sym- 
 pathetic with my own. Pray look at these "Songs" as faith- 
 ful little photographs of our Scottish scenery and rural life, 
 and see if they correspond with what you have in Ireland. — 
 Ever faithfully yours, Thomas Aird. 
 
 One of these " Songs of the Seasons " runs thus : — 
 
 " Storm in his blackness forth 
 Hangs on the suffering north ; 
 Wide go his wings, away he springs, 
 Far back the tumult of his hair he flings. 
 The winds are in his roaring wings. 
 Tearing through forests, making gulfs of night, 
 Rushes the tyrannous Might. 
 
 The secret of the April bud 
 
 Bursts to the dewy liquor sweet. 
 
 Old men come forth to warm their blood, 
 
 And chirp upon the sunny seat. 
 
 Black shadows sail, Lights flash in turn : 
 What lustre on yon showery sea ! 
 On every leaf of every tree 
 Drops of molten glory burn. 
 
 The Autumn eve, so warm and golden, 
 Lies on the hamlet quaint and olden, 
 Quaint and quiet. Crofts of wheat 
 Strength and Youth are yonder reaping ; 
 Age at her door, babes at her feet, 
 Half is spinning, half is sleeping." 
 
THOMAS AIRD. 203 
 
 Mountain Hall, Dumfries, 
 November 14, 1865. 
 
 My dear Ferguson, — Special thanks for the photograph. 
 Allowing for the weightier manhood of purpose and business, 
 it harmonises wonderfully well with my recollections of 1832. 
 By birth and name you are a Celt : still that face and head 
 seem to me to belong to the Saxon family. 
 
 According to your request I sent you a carte of myself for 
 Mrs Ferguson's album. It is too small for anything like the 
 effect of a portrait, but I have nothing better at present. 
 
 I have looked out eagerly for you since the 20th of March, 
 having a great desire to see you once more ; but I presume 
 you are now home, without having been able to run over to 
 Dumfries. 
 
 Let me now thank you for the paper on the Maeve Ogham. 
 I made the best use of it I could. After reading it carefully 
 and with peculiar interest myself, I laid it as a gift on the 
 table of our Natural History and Antiquarian Society (our 
 President, Sir William Jardine, being in the chair), and called 
 special attention to your suggestion that there may be Oghams 
 in our district, so that our local antiquaries may look out for 
 the tallies. God be with you both ! — Ever yours, 
 
 Thomas Aird. 
 
 Castlebank, Dumfries, June 19, 1872. 
 
 Many thanks for your kind note. The above is my present 
 address. Most acceptable to me will be your new poem. 
 The movement of our respective minds may not be quite the 
 same, but with the poetry of none of my other contemporaries 
 do I sympathise so thoroughly as with yours. 
 
 Happy you, who have such a prop as Mrs Ferguson. God 
 bless you both ! — Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 Thomas Aird. 
 
 Among Ferguson's seniors for whom he had a 
 cordial regard was Sir James Murray. His son, John 
 Fisher Murray, was the author of some lovely lyrics. 
 
204 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 His younger son, Edward, was an accomplished man, 
 a good dramatic reader. Sir James Murray's daughter 
 and her husband, David R. Pigot, now Master in 
 Chancery, were intimate friends of Ferguson. Master 
 Pigot, like his father the late Lord Chief Baron, has 
 a fine literary taste and great social charm. It is 
 believed that the sketch of Sir James Murray from 
 which the following extracts are taken was written by 
 Ferguson, for with it is a letter of the kind old gentle- 
 man penned in his eighty-second year. " Your noble 
 book," he says, " which I now return, kept me ten 
 days alive. I would be glad to survive ten days more 
 if you can get me your other valued book, which I 
 will then return with best thanks." 
 
 He represented amongst us, during the last forty years, the 
 characteristic shrewdness, humour, and manly kindliness of 
 the Belfast people of the last generation. There was some- 
 thing truly liberal and dignified in his manners and in his 
 person. No one could more effectively give a word of good 
 advice to the young, or of encouragement to the deserving, 
 or with a more pungent wit could rebuke the vain or arrogant. 
 A most perfect tolerance in matters of creed and party dis- 
 tinguished him. ... He had started in his medical career 
 in that arena of all energetic competition, the town of Belfast. 
 Here he struck out that discovery which has made his name 
 well known in practical chemistry. Magnesia had only been 
 used in a solid form up to 1812, when he devised the method 
 of administering it in liquid solution. So material a step in 
 curative science, coupled with his recognised medical talents, 
 brought him wealth and reputation, and introduced him, while 
 still a young man, to the notice and patronage of the great. 
 Drawn by Viceregal invitation to the metropolis, when he 
 had passed through about one-half of his career, he at once 
 took his position in the leading ranks of the Dublin profes- 
 
SIR JAMES MURRAY AND DR MADDEN. 205 
 
 sion. . . . Amongst his most remarkable inventions we may 
 particularise that for utilising the principle of atmospheric 
 pressure in the administrations of air-baths of any required 
 density or rarity, and that for the exhibition of electricity 
 as a curative agent. These were conceptions of entire orig- 
 inality when first propounded by him. . . . Numerous 
 books, pamphlets, and papers on medical and scientific 
 subjects show the wide range of his knowledge and the 
 energy of his intellect. A calm philosophy characterised him 
 at all times and in all his pursuits, and cheered and bright- 
 ened the evening of his days. 
 
 Others among Ferguson's friends were labourers 
 in the field of Irish history. Dr R. R. Madden, 
 after an eventful life as Colonial Secretary of Western 
 Australia, Commissioner of Inquiry into the Slave- 
 trade, West African Settlements, Special Magistrate 
 at Jamaica, and Superintendent of Liberated Africans 
 in Cuba, finally settled in his native land, and became 
 Secretary to the Loan Fund Board in Dublin Castle. 
 Dr Madden had been a traveller at a time when 
 journeying abroad was less easy than at present. 
 France, Italy, Constantinople, Crete, Egypt, and 
 Palestine were familiar ground. He paid three visits 
 to the United States, and resided for some years in 
 Portugal, and in the course of his long life published 
 no less than forty volumes. Of these the earliest were 
 his ' Travels in the East,' ' The Mussulman,' ' The 
 Infirmities of Genius,' and in 1842 he published his 
 magnum opus, ' History of the United Irishmen.' 
 It has been stated that this work, on which many 
 years of labour had been bestowed, involved a great 
 sacrifice of personal interests. Dr Madden collected 
 
206 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 much of his material in America, where many of the 
 surviving actors in the struggles of 1798 and 1803 
 were living. Had the publication been much longer 
 delayed, "the opportunity would have been lost of 
 obtaining that information, and the history of one 
 of the most important periods of British rule in Ire- 
 land must have remained involved in the darkness 
 and confusion by which ignorance, prejudice, and 
 misrepresentation had surrounded it." Of this work 
 a second edition, revised and enlarged, was published 
 in 1858. 
 
 My dear Ferguson [wrote Dr Madden in 1869], — That 
 you should do a kind act in the kindest possible manner, and 
 no less graciously than frankly, efficiently, and to the purpose, 
 ought not to surprise me. But I am surprised, I confess, 
 that any communication to me on the subject of . . . should 
 give me the pleasure — heartfelt pleasure — which your note of 
 yesterday evening gave me. My dear, dear friend, my respect 
 and esteem for you are not of a slow growth or a late origin — 
 they are as old as our acquaintance, and they are of that 
 nature that I cannot resist your counsel; and I may with 
 truth say the mere expression of any wish of yours would 
 have more weight with me than any advice that could be 
 given to me by other friends. In short, I will do as you 
 desire. . . . There is an observation of the elder Disraeli 
 that has much truth in it : " Literary friendships are marked 
 by another peculiarity; the true philosophical spirit has 
 learned to bear that shock of contrary opinions which minds 
 less meditative are unequal to encounter. Men of genius 
 live in the unrestrained communication of their ideas, and 
 confide even their caprices with a freedom which sometimes 
 startles ordinary observers. We see literary men the most 
 opposite in dispositions and opinions drawing from each other 
 that fulness of knowledge which unfolds the certain, the prob- 
 able, the doubtful. Topics which break the world into fac- 
 
DR JOHN M'DONNELL, MR FROUDE, MR LECKY. 207 
 
 tions and sects, and truths which ordinary men are doomed 
 only to hear from a malignant adversary, they gather from a 
 friend. If neither yields up his opinions to the other, they 
 are at least certain of silence and a hearing ; but usually 
 
 ' The wise new wisdom from the wise acquire.' " 
 
 — Yours, my dear friend, ever faithfully, R. R. Madden. 
 
 Dr John M'Donnell, another octogenarian friend, 
 wrote in his eighty-third year his ' Ulster Civil War 
 of 1641,' provoked thereto by the perusal of Mr 
 Froude's ' English in Ireland,' which he terms " a most 
 mischievous production." He speaks of himself as 
 " an uncompromising Protestant," one who believes 
 that it is " clearly the true interest of Ireland to form 
 a part of the British empire, by an equal, firm, and 
 affectionate union with England and Scotland," yet a 
 warm advocate of the "cause of equal justice to his 
 Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen." Dr M'Donnell 
 preserved his vigour of mind and warmth of heart for 
 many years subsequent to the publication of this work, 
 and long survived his son Randal, spoken of already 
 in connection with the North-East Circuit. 
 
 Ferguson concurred in the main with Dr M'Donnell's 
 estimate of Froude's work, and resented his aspersions 
 upon Ireland and the Irish. Even Mr Froude's bril- 
 liant and attractive style could not compensate for 
 that love of paradox which led him to sacrifice truth 
 to his craving for originality. In Ferguson's judgment 
 Mr Lecky — whose History to some extent covers the 
 same period — possesses those qualifications which 
 must secure permanent appreciation : breadth of view, 
 
208 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 grasp, freedom from prejudice, unbiassed statement of 
 facts, and a simple desire for truth in preference to 
 novelty. 
 
 Among the writers on Irish history who were in- 
 timate with Ferguson was Alexander George Richey, a 
 barrister of marked ability. Dr Richey delivered in 
 1869 a course of lectures on the History of Ireland in 
 Alexandra College, Dublin. These were so much 
 appreciated that he was called on in the following year 
 to continue the series in Trinity College. The first 
 course ended with the year 1534. The second carried 
 on the narrative to the Plantation of Ulster, 1608. 
 Till then, Ulster had owned the sway of local chiefs, 
 of whom the most important were O'Neill and O'Don- 
 nell. 
 
 From the accession of the House of Tudor the 
 policy of England towards the nominally subject but 
 practically independent Irish chieftains was vigorously 
 pursued. These were called on to surrender their 
 territories, taking them back with hereditary titles 
 under feudal tenure. The inducement offered to them 
 was that the succession would be thus secured to their 
 direct heirs. Under Irish custom they were elected 
 for life only — the tribe selecting as successor to the 
 chief the ablest or most popular man of his family. 
 The Tanist, or heir - apparent, might be an uncle, 
 brother, or nephew, if the chief's son were under age. 
 Thus under Brehon Law, if a chief rebelled and was 
 defeated, his life alone paid the penalty ; the land was 
 still held by the clan. 
 
THE EARLS OF TYRONE AND TYRCONNEL. 200, 
 
 Greed for the land, and a desire for its appropria- 
 tion, explains the policy of England under the Tudors 
 and Stuarts. O'Neill had become Earl of Tyrone, 
 with succession to his son, Baron of Dungannon. 
 O'Donnell held his principality, now known as Done- 
 gal, as Earl of Tyrconnel. 
 
 Tyrone held his own against the forces of Queen 
 Elizabeth until, the resources of his country being well- 
 nigh exhausted, he submitted towards the close of her 
 reign to her Lord Deputy. He had hardly become 
 an obedient subject when tidings of the Queen's death 
 reached him. He comported himself, however, as 
 loyal during the early years of her successor, though 
 distrusted by the English officials in Dublin Castle. 
 
 The Earl of Tyrone, who seems to have been uncon- 
 scious that he was an object of suspicion, was with the 
 Deputy in the August of 1607, when he received an 
 intimation from a relative on the Continent that his 
 life was in danger, and that he would be arrested 
 on a charge of conspiracy. So serious was the risk that 
 his informant sent a ship to convey O'Neill and O'Don- 
 nell from Ireland. This vessel had anchored in Lough 
 Swilly, and on the 14th of September 1607 bore away 
 the voluntary exiles, who were never to return. " A 
 distinguished crew was this for one ship ; for it is cer- 
 tain that the sea never carried, and that the winds 
 never wafted, from the Irish shores individuals more 
 illustrious or noble in genealogy, or more renowned 
 for deeds of valour, prowess, and high achievements." 
 So testify the Four Masters, annalists of Donegal, who 
 
 vol. 11. o 
 
210 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 wrote the history of these events almost at the time 
 of their occurrence. 
 
 The Rev. C. P. Meehan, in his ' Fate and Fortunes 
 of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, 
 Earl of Tyrconnel; their Flight from Ireland and 
 Death in Exile,' gives minute and touching details of 
 their wanderings on the Continent. Their mortal 
 remains are interred in the Church of S. Pietro in 
 Montorio, at Rome, — a spot which cannot be visited 
 unmoved by an Irish pilgrim, nor without recalling the 
 pathetic wail of O'Donnell's bard, so finely translated 
 by Clarence Mangan, and addressed to Nuala, the 
 sister of the Earl of Tyrconnel : — 
 
 " Then, daughter of O'Donnell, dry 
 Thine overflowing eyes, and turn 
 
 Thy heart aside; 
 For Adam's race is born to die, 
 And sternly the sepulchral urn 
 
 Mocks human pride ! 
 
 Look not, nor sigh for earthly throne, 
 Nor place thy trust in arm of clay, 
 
 But on thy knees 
 Uplift thy soul to God alone, 
 For all things go their destined way 
 
 As He decrees." 
 
 To grasp the problems presented by the Ireland of 
 to-day, it is necessary to master such facts of history 
 as the Plantation of Ulster, 1608-1620, the rising of the 
 dispossessed natives in 1641, and the dealings with the 
 estates of the Anglo-Irish by the Earl of Strafford, 
 King Charles I.'s Viceroy in Ireland. Then followed 
 
CONFISCATIONS OF IRISH LAND. 211 
 
 the campaign of Cromwell and the parcelling out of 
 lands to his soldiers in 1652 ; the Act of Settlement, 
 1662, on the Restoration of Charles II. ; and the Re- 
 volution Settlement, following the victory of William 
 of Orange at the Boyne, 1690, which culminated in the 
 enactment of the Penal Laws. These may be con- 
 veniently studied in the exhaustive work of the Rev. 
 George Hill, ' An Historical Account of the Plantation 
 in Ulster,' published in 1877; 'The Ulster Civil War 
 of 1641, and its Consequences,' by John M'Donnell, 
 M.D., 1879; and 'The Cromwellian Settlement of Ire- 
 land,' by J. P. Prendergast, Esq., 1865. To each of 
 these remarkable books may be applied the words of 
 Camden : " If any there be which are desirous to be 
 strangers in their own soile, and forrainers in their own 
 citie, they may so continue, and therein flatter them- 
 selves. For such like I have not written these lines, 
 nor taken these paines." 
 
 Mr Hill describes the progress of his work in the 
 following letter : — 
 
 My dear Mr Ferguson, — I feel very much obliged, indeed, 
 by your kind invitation, and I would esteem it a great privilege 
 to have a chat with you, and your better half, on several 
 questions connected with our dear old Innisfail. I have read 
 Mrs Ferguson's very interesting little volume on Ireland 
 before the Conquest. It is one of the few books that I 
 have ever met which we close with the reflection or im- 
 pression that it is so tiny in its dimensions. I am happy 
 to hear that she is preparing an account of the once great 
 Northern family of Mage?inis, and I fancy she will not have 
 great difficulty in obtaining ample original materials. 
 
 I have got another student to say that he will endeavour to 
 
212 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 copy what I want from the old Quit-Rent Book, so that in 
 the meantime I shall not be required to visit your great city ; 
 but should I ever do so, I shall not fail to give myself the 
 pleasure of calling. I am about drawing my very troublesome 
 manuscript to a close. I have got 150 copies subscribed for, 
 and as this will about cover the expense of printing, I suppose 
 it will be better to have it done as soon as possible. I have 
 a goodly number of original papers, and my plan generally 
 has been to introduce these as part of the text, accompanying 
 them with notes. I have carefully prepared a vast lot of 
 notes rather than clog or confuse the narrative with the 
 introduction of many topics. I have a few valuable original 
 documents for the Appendix, one of which is a " Briefe 
 Description " of the County of Antrim by an old gentleman 
 named Richard Dobbs, who began it, he says, in May 1683. 
 This has never been printed, and, I would hope, not even 
 generally known about. — I am very truly yours, 
 
 Geo. Hill. 
 
 In the introduction to ' The Cromwellian Settlement 
 of Ireland ' Mr Prendergast asks a pertinent question : 
 " What were the crimes of the Irish to cause the 
 English for so many ages to treat them as alien ene- 
 mies, to refuse them the right to bring actions in the 
 courts set up by the English in Ireland, and to adhere 
 to their cherished scheme of depriving the nation of 
 their lands ? " To this he replies as follows : — 
 
 Their crime was to be possessed of lands the English 
 coveted. Moreover, the English could not endure that the 
 Irish should enjoy their lands in a freer manner than them- 
 selves ; and the Irish could not submit to give them up, or to 
 change their free and independent title into feudal tenure. 
 The English planted in Ireland soon learned to prefer Irish 
 freedom to feudal thraldom. This became a fresh crime in 
 the Irish — they corrupted the English, and both became 
 odious, and the lands of each were to be confiscated. 
 
MR PRENDERGAST — THE REV. J. P. MAHAFFY. 213 
 
 Mr J. P. Prendergast was in social intercourse a man 
 of genial manners, full of anecdote and information. 
 He took special interest in the architecture of the fine 
 pre-Union residences in Dublin, which have for the 
 most part stately well-proportioned interiors. The 
 decorations on walls, ceilings, cornices, &c, are ele- 
 gant in taste ; the chimney - pieces usually marble 
 beautifully inlaid, the fireplaces ornamented with fine 
 brass-work. In many of these old houses paintings 
 on panel or copper, by Angelica Kaufmann, are let into 
 walls and ceilings. Ferguson's was a house of this 
 type, and Mr Prendergast was in the habit of bringing 
 his friends to see it. He was an authority upon the 
 time of erection, the special points of interest, and 
 the former occupants of mansions which date from 
 the days of the Volunteers. 
 
 Another Dublin house of this period, 38 North 
 Great George's Street — also decorated with Angelica 
 Kaufmann's paintings — is the town residence of the 
 Rev. J. P. Mahaffy, F.T.C.D., who holds a position 
 in letters widely recognised at home and abroad. Dr 
 Mahaffy is master of many subjects, but in especial 
 of ancient history and the literature of Greece and 
 Egypt. He is author of a standard Commentary on 
 Kant ; a series of volumes on the Social Life of the 
 Greeks, special studies on Greek Egypt, comprising 
 the deciphering and editing of the Petrie Papyri and 
 a history of the Ptolemies ; Essays on Education both 
 Greek and modern ; and of many personal sketches 
 of eminent men in the ' Athenaeum.' 
 
214 POETRY, MUSIC, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES. 
 
 Professor Mahaffy is a ready speaker, an attractive 
 lecturer, a brilliant conversationalist, and a genial and 
 kindly friend and neighbour. His admirable wife — 
 a woman of that rare type described in the Book of 
 Proverbs — shares in his intellectual tastes and pur- 
 suits. She makes his home delightful to his friends, 
 and finds time to devote to the administration of many 
 of the charities of Dublin. 
 
 Neighbours so kindly, with children very dear to 
 Ferguson and his wife, greatly cheered his declining 
 years. After his death the following sketch by Dr 
 Mahaffy, published in the 'Athenaeum,' is here taken 
 from the article in ' Blackwood ' already quoted : — 
 
 In an eloquent passage, Professor Mahaffy tells the world 
 how, in his own life, Sir Samuel was guided by that " higher 
 wisdom," making an atmosphere of cheerful life around him. 
 
 " Keeping open house with perfect simplicity in the midst 
 of a large company of relations and friends, who all loved 
 him, he moved about among them, seasoning his words, 
 especially to the young, with that delicate humour which 
 adds point and grace to kindly feelings. Even the parting 
 letters which he dictated to his oldest friends when he felt 
 his end near, show flashes of this rare quality. You felt that 
 he saw clearly the frailties of human nature, but that he 
 sympathised with them and forgave them. You felt that 
 he loved youth and high spirits, and that his deepest pleasure 
 was to witness and to promote happiness. Nothing ever 
 clouded the serenity of his home, unless it were this, that 
 the orphan and the unfortunate were constantly inmates of 
 the house, where they found new parents and sure protectors. 
 He had an open day in the week, when any of his young 
 friends in college might come in to dinner without special 
 invitation." 
 
215 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 1 864-1 886. 
 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 " Nor is he far astray who deems 
 That every hope, which rises and grows broad 
 In the world's heart by ordered impulse, streams 
 From the great heart of God. 
 
 God wills, man hopes : in common souls 
 Hope is but vague and undefined, 
 Till from the poet's tongue the message rolls 
 A blessing to his kind." 
 
 —Lowell. 
 
 Sir Theodore Martin, a Scotsman by birth, though 
 long resident in London, has been a man of letters 
 from his youth. In conjunction with Professor Aytoun 
 he wrote ' Bon Gaultier's Book of Ballads.' Its parodies 
 of contemporary poets recall the wit and genial hum- 
 our of ' Rejected Addresses.' Since then he has given 
 us metrical translations of Horace and Catullus, 
 has rendered the masterpieces of Goethe and Heine, 
 Oehlenschlaeger and Hertz, Schiller and Uhland. 
 Dante's ' Vita Nuova,' charmingly translated by him, 
 is an admirable piece of work. So also are his dram- 
 
2l6 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 atic criticisms in ' Essays on the Drama,' contributed 
 originally to reviews and magazines. One of these, 
 " The Drama in connexion with the Fine Arts," 
 originally appeared in the ' Dublin University Maga- 
 zine,' July 1846, and in this he expressed his admira- 
 tion for Miss Helen Faucit's impersonation of Shake- 
 speare's heroines. 
 
 This accomplished and gifted daughter of Erin — 
 now Lady Martin — seems to have impressed her future 
 husband chiefly by her rendering of the witty, 
 womanly heroine of "As You Like It." Among his 
 original poems is one addressed to Miss Faucit as 
 Rosalind. It is an ardent and impassioned love-poem 
 — a love afterwards sustained and intensified through- 
 out a long and happy married life : — 
 
 TO MISS HELEN FAUCIT, AS ROSALIND. 
 
 " Blessings on the glorious spirit lies in poesy divine ! 
 Blessings, lady, on the magic of that wondrous power of thine ! 
 I have had a dream of summer, summer in the golden time, 
 When the heart had all its freshness and the world was in its 
 
 prime ; 
 I have been away in Arden, and I still am ranging there ; 
 Still I feel the forest breezes fan my cheek and lift my hair ; 
 Still I hear the stir and whisper which the arching branches make, 
 And the leafy stillness broken by the deer amid the brake ! 
 Where along the wood the brooklet runs, upon its mossy brink, 
 Myself a stricken deer I've laid me, where the stricken came to 
 
 drink. 
 There be Amiens and his co-mates, up, yon giant stems between, 
 Yonder, where the sun is shining 'neath the oak upon the green. 
 Hark ! the throstle-cock is singing ! and he turns his merry note, 
 Carolling in emulation of the sweet bird's joyous throat. 
 
SIR THEODORE AND LADY MARTIN. 217 
 
 Lightly let them troll their wood-notes, fleet the careless time away, 
 
 What know they of love's emotion ? No sweet Rosalind have they ! 
 
 I will down by yonder dingle — none shall steal upon us there — 
 
 Heavenly, heavenly Rosalinda ! Thou art with me everywhere ! 
 
 Ever is thy voice beside me, ever on thy brow I gaze, 
 
 One such glorious dream about thee all the world beside outweigh 
 
 See, young Ganymede awaits me. Blessings on that roguish boy, 
 
 How he lightens my love's sadness with a sweet and pensive joy ! 
 
 Yet the charms, the playful graces, that show bright in him, I find, 
 
 Only cluster round the image of my heavenly Rosalind. 
 
 So would Rosalind have won me, — so have looked and so have 
 
 smiled, 
 With such blithe and open spirit me of all my heart beguiled. 
 Ever deeper grows my passion, restless more my eager heart — 
 ' I can live no more by thinking, from my Rosalind apart ! ' 
 ' Then to-morrow thou shalt see her, see her, wed her, if you will.' 
 Oh, ye gods, let that to-morrow shine in golden numbers still ! 
 For it gave her to my bosom, and, at length, when there reclined, 
 By the proudest name I claimed her as my own, ' my Rosalind ' ! 
 
 Such, dear lady, was the vision, such the passion strong and deep, 
 Which thy magic wrought within me, laying meaner thoughts to 
 
 sleep. 
 I have been the young Orlando, and though but a dream it were, 
 Never from my heart shall vanish what has struck so deeply there ! " 
 
 After her marriage Lady Martin wrote on the char- 
 acteristics of those among Shakespeare's women whom 
 she had herself interpreted on the stage. 
 
 I have read the " Ophelia " [wrote Ferguson to Sir 
 Theodore], and join my voice to the others advising that 
 it should be published. I always thought the judgment that 
 Ophelia is a " poor creature " superficial, and not what 
 Shakespeare himself had in his mind. The great actor . . . 
 is the interpreter most likely to be right. The view here 
 taken of this character is certainly very natural, consistent, 
 and engaging. I do not remember to have seen poor Ophelia's 
 
2l8 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 excuse for the ditties she sings in her insanity suggested so 
 prettily, or indeed at all, elsewhere. It pleased me very much. 
 These characters of Shakespeare are capable of an infinite 
 variety of presentation, according to the genius which takes 
 them up. A man of penetrating judgment grasps the theory 
 of Hamlet on paper, and delights us with the symmetry and 
 cohesion of his exposition, but he has not realised it on the 
 scene ; and even though he be a Dowden, he cannot know the 
 woman's part, as the woman does who has made Ophelia of 
 herself. 
 
 And again in another letter Sir Samuel observes : — 
 
 We have been greatly interested in Lady Martin's Shake- 
 spearian character-analyses, especially in her " Juliet " ; and I 
 see in last month's ' Blackwood ' a very just and appreciative 
 notice of your own Horatian versions. I congratulate you both 
 on the continued exercise of faculties so agreeable to yourselves 
 and to others. I think the feat you have accomplished in the 
 combined terseness and semi-grave pleasantry of some of your 
 work is very remarkable. 
 
 In a letter written in acknowledgment of the 
 ' Essays on the Drama,' Ferguson speaks thus of his 
 friend's wife and of Professor Blackie, who had been 
 introduced to him by Martin : — 
 
 I ought to address this letter of thanks for your ' Essays on 
 the Drama ' to Mrs Martin, for it is her inspiration that has 
 produced it, though your kindness places it in my hands. 
 What a noble creature ! what gifts ! I half regret that while 
 others were enjoying those delights which you have commemor- 
 rated, in 1846, I was abroad, although seeing other sights 
 also in their kind worthy of admiration. My wife has 
 found the volume a source of great enjoyment, and often 
 recurs to the justice of your views and the lamentable mis- 
 application of the dramatic faculties both of authors and of 
 audiences. She desires her special thanks ; and we unite not 
 only in this acknowledgment of our indebtedness to you, but 
 
PROFESSOR JOHN STUART BLACKIE. 2IO, 
 
 in thanks also for making us acquainted with your agreeable 
 friend Professor Blackie. No one need desire to meet a more 
 lively, fresh, and agreeable companion. He has read Froude, 
 no doubt, and comes among us prepared to diagnose and 
 possibly to prescribe. I fervently hope he may not write 
 either article or book about us, but be content with imparting 
 his gaiety and geniality in private, which indeed did us all 
 here who came in contact with him a world of good ; for 
 we are grown morose, and by too much using of our wits 
 have ceased to be witty. Yet if Blackie brings home with 
 him the conviction which, every year I live, impresses itself 
 more and more on my mind, that the Irish are bent on being 
 " somebodies " in their own country, I would be half content 
 to unsay what I have said, and to welcome the expression of 
 it even among the gabble of the Magazines. But we really 
 have a monstrous overdose of writing. I would not wonder 
 if the upshot were, " all that we know is, nothing can be known. 
 Pursue what" — the head of the Church — "proclaimeth best," 
 and return to the repose of the old bondage. Absit dies / 
 we will both concur in exclaiming, but to what ends may not 
 the follies of political and social science lead a sentimental 
 people ! — Ever, dear Martin, very faithfully yours, 
 
 Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 During his short visit to Dublin, Professor John 
 Stuart Blackie had dined in Ferguson's house, and had 
 enlivened the company by his originality, brilliant 
 conversational powers, and vocal gifts. He was a 
 Scotsman enthusiastically devoted to his country, 
 many of his works being concerned with her literature. 
 It is surprising how much he wrote on Scottish themes, 
 considering that his course of studies as Professor of 
 Humanity at Marischal College and of Greek at the 
 University of Edinburgh were concerned with the 
 classics, and that he had translated ^Eschylus and 
 
220 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 Homer, and lectured on Plato and on Greek philology ; 
 and had also treated of the " War Songs " of the 
 Germans, and translated 'Faust,' and written 'The 
 Wisdom of Goethe.' Yet he was most at home in his 
 ' Lays of the Highlands and Islands,' ' Scottish High- 
 landers,' ' Language and Literature of the Highlands of 
 Scotland, and Metrical Translations of some of the 
 most Popular Pieces of Gaelic Poetry.' Perhaps his 
 greatest service was his successful effort to endow a 
 Chair of Celtic Literature in the University of Edin- 
 burgh. For this object he raised a fund of £12,000. 
 Ferguson, in sending him a subscription towards this 
 endowment, wrote to Professor Blackie the following 
 letter :— 
 
 20 North Great George's Street, May 5, 1875. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I enclose a contribution to your Celtic Chair. 
 If my means were larger, my support would be more sub- 
 stantial. We have done our endeavour to found such a Chair 
 here; but all things Celtic are regarded by our educated 
 classes as of questionable ton> and an idea exists that it is 
 inexpedient to encourage anything tending to foster Irish 
 sentiment. The repugnance to the subject amongst English 
 men of letters — from whom our upper classes have borrowed 
 all they know or feel in the matter — is not unnatural. A man 
 who fancies his education finished does not like to learn a new 
 language and a new Classical Dictionary, with a view merely 
 to the expression of critical opinion for an audience at present 
 very limited in number, and probably better read in the sub- 
 ject than himself. Then there is a very prevalent feeling of 
 mingled arrogance and apprehension which causes the com- 
 mon sort of editors and reviewers to revolt from the subject 
 with a kind of loathing. The arrogance has been bred by 
 an assiduous inculcation of the idea that there is a distinct 
 population in these islands who are ethnologically superior to 
 
LETTER OF FERGUSON TO BLACKIE. 221 
 
 the old native races, and (what is still less probable) that the 
 bulk of the British population is of that blood. The appre- 
 hension, so far as it is not, in truth, an unconscious jealousy, 
 springs, I imagine, from a dread lest the free people of these 
 countries should be brought again under their old bondage to 
 foreign ecclesiastical authority, a result to which the restoration 
 of the Irish to any share of literary influence has been — in my 
 mind, thoughtlessly — thought likely to conduce. In this state 
 of things^ a Chair, putting the subject on purely philological 
 and scientific grounds, offers the most feasible means of 
 winning the needful amount of attention and support. But it 
 is not so much on this ground I offer my adhesion, as because 
 I believe the great value of the study will ultimately be found 
 to consist in the introduction of new material into the much 
 triturated elements of our general literature. We are not in 
 a condition to despise any accession of that kind from any 
 quarter; and, after collecting all that can be gathered from 
 abroad, ought rather to rejoice at the prospect of being able to 
 turn, with an unexpected relish, to something still capable of 
 being supplied at home. It is no answer to say these things 
 are intrinsically jejune, or ugly, or barbarous. You will prob- 
 ably agree with me that much of the material of the best 
 classic literature is as crude and revolting as anything in Irish 
 or in Welsh story. Raw material, however, to be converted to 
 the uses of cultivated genius, is not all that we might reasonably 
 hope for from such sources. There are ways of looking at 
 things, and even of expressing thought, in these deposits of 
 old experience, not to be lightly rejected by a generation 
 whose minds are restless with unsatisfied speculation, and the 
 very clothing of whose ideas begins to show the polish of 
 threadbareness as much as of culture. 
 
 Are, then, the obstructions indicated in the first part of 
 this letter insurmountable ? I will tell you why I think not. 
 Our upper classes in this part of the kingdom, if they would 
 not see themselves entirely excluded from local power and 
 consideration, must place themselves to some — I wish I could 
 say to some further — extent in sympathy with the bulk of the 
 people ; and it is easier and more probable that this con- 
 
222 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 formity should take place in the direction of literary and 
 intellectual harmony. Next, if I rightly apprehend the 
 course of ethnological and philological inquiry, it goes, with 
 an accelerating progress, towards the Britannicising of our 
 theories of origin in race and institutions, and even to some 
 extent in language. Thirdly, the dread of a reaction in 
 religious thought no longer looks for the coming mischief 
 from the solid-minded Irish peasant, but from the inconstant 
 leaders themselves of the Anglo-Saxon world of fashion and 
 refinement. There remain, then, only the latent sentiment 
 referred to, and the aversion from the trouble of learning ; and 
 these are minor obstacles which, if left unsupported, must 
 vanish before such a measure of success as will probably, in 
 any case, attend the project undertaken by a man of your capa- 
 city. — I remain, very faithfully yours, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 Professor Blackie died, at the ripe age of eighty-five, 
 on the 2d of March 1895. His Biography, from the 
 pen of Miss Stoddart, has been recently published by 
 Mr Blackwood of Edinburgh. 
 
 I ought to have acknowledged your most welcome letter 
 many days ago [wrote Martin in acknowledgment of Fer- 
 guson's ' Lays of the Western Gael ']. Nothing but an ex- 
 treme pressure of work, which has sent me home utterly 
 exhausted day after day, has prevented me. I read your 
 beautiful verses at once, and have read them more than 
 once since, with very great pleasure. They are like all I 
 know of yours, like good strong wine, full of glow and fra- 
 grance. Your discoveries are very curious. What do the 
 learned in such matters say to these singular characters? 
 
 Do not forget to include us in your summer plans [wrote Mrs 
 Martin to Ferguson in 1869]. At present we do not know when 
 we shall be able to go to Wales, but we hope it will be early 
 in the summer. We lately were invited to Osborne for five 
 days, which by the Queen's wish was extended to a week. On 
 this occasion all passed off happily, and we enjoyed our visit 
 
LETTERS OF SIR THEODORE AND LADY MARTIN. 223 
 
 very much. The Queen is always most gracious and sweet to 
 us, and the Royal children are clever and very interesting — all 
 those I have seen. The Princess Louise is peculiarly grace- 
 ful and unaffected, but Mr Martin says the Crown Princess of 
 Prussia, whom I have not yet seen, is a remarkable woman — 
 quite the flower of the family. We are invited to stay with her 
 in her Palace at Berlin some time next winter. Mr Martin tells 
 me I shall be charmed with her : with the intellect of a man 
 she has the heart of a child. 
 
 I thank you now, but I ought to have thanked you sooner, 
 for the Prologue in verse you sent me to the last three acts 
 of " Cymbeline." I have not been well lately, or I hope I 
 should not have been so remiss. This play, beautiful as it is, 
 to our modern ideas is a little unhappy in the story, especially 
 when read in a small circle. It was a happy idea of yours 
 in your pleasant rhymes thus to skim over the story of the 
 wager in the first two, to give Shakespeare's own version of 
 the last three lovely acts. The fourth is a perfect idyl, and 
 might stand alone ; and yet, like everything in Shakespeare, 
 is only known best, and in its true significance, when attached 
 to the rest of the story. I sometimes think Imogen was my 
 favourite of Shakespeare's great women ; and yet I never like 
 to say so — each is so distinct, and all so real and so womanly. 
 
 I should have liked much to have been at that famous 
 reading. The names of the readers are vouchers for the high 
 intelligence brought to the task. . . 
 
 Will you and Mrs Ferguson accept our cordial greetings 
 and regards ? and believe me ever, in true friendship, sincerely 
 yours, Helena F. Martin. 
 
 In reference to his translation of a portion of the 
 
 Second Part of ' Faust ' Mr Martin observed : — 
 
 I would fain have done the whole poem could I have found 
 leisure ; but the task demanded much more time and labour 
 than I could give to it, and I feared that, after all, it would 
 be labour thrown away, so few people feel an interest in this 
 part of the great work. You will find I have translated the 
 whole of the classical " Walpurgis Night," and of the " Helena," 
 
224 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 and I should be very glad to have at your leisure your opinion 
 of my work. Some day I cherish the hope of being able to 
 resume and complete it. Before writing to my publisher to 
 send it to you, I should like to know whether I sent you my 
 version of Dante's ' Vita Nuova,' which I think about the best 
 thing in the way of translation I ever did ; because if not, I 
 should like at the same time to send you a copy of that 
 also. . . . 
 
 We had to make a journey to Birmingham for the Musical 
 Festival, from which we returned on Saturday saturated with 
 "sounds and sweet noises," which gave us intense delight, 
 but rather "hurt" us by the strain upon the brain which 
 four magnificent oratorios performed to perfection, and much 
 other high-class music, were calculated to produce. I had 
 never before a conception of what Music could do, and what 
 a Jove among musicians Handel is. . . . 
 
 We hope you have felt much the better for your run into 
 Warwickshire. Is not Stratford and all round it delightful ? 
 
 Our kindest greetings to Mrs Ferguson. It was very hard 
 I could see so little of you. Mrs Martin was greatly pleased 
 to have been more fortunate. — Ever, my dear Ferguson, 
 sincerely yours, Theodore Martin. 
 
 The most important literary work of Theodore 
 Martin was one requiring tact, taste, and judgment, all 
 of which he possesses in a high degree. He wrote at 
 the request of Queen Victoria ' The Life of the late 
 Prince Consort.' Both the widowed Queen and the 
 public pronounced it to be admirably done. It 
 brought him the recognition of Knighthood and the 
 friendship of the Royal Family. 
 
 Ferguson wrote to Martin in March 1878, in com- 
 mendation of his rendering of " The Slave -Ship," 
 which appeared about this time in ' Blackwood ' : — 
 
 I give you joy of " The Slave-Ship," which I have just read 
 
MR AUBREY DE VERE. 225 
 
 with admiration. I don't know the original, but you have 
 produced a combination of grotesqueness and pathos wonder- 
 fully striking in your English. 
 
 Mrs Martin would find some lamentable gaps in the old 
 familiar circle if she were here. Tell her, with my kindest 
 regards, that we often speak of her, and always " with sweet 
 affection and recollection." 
 
 Foremost among the poets still living to uphold the 
 fame of Ireland as the Land of Song is Mr Aubrey de 
 Vere. Of him Ferguson wrote : — 
 
 De Vere possessed the art 
 To touch, nor wound, the generous English heart. 
 With words of strength and clearness to express 
 The power of purity and manliness. 
 
 His genius is hereditary. His father, Sir Aubrey de 
 Vere, author of many lyrics and sonnets, and of a 
 noble drama, ' Mary Tudor,' has left behind him sons 
 who inherit his poetic gifts. Sir Stephen has trans- 
 lated the Odes of Horace, and Aubrey is the author 
 of ' The Search after Proserpine,' * May Carols,' 
 
 * Inisfail,' ' The Legends of Saint Patrick,' ' The Foray 
 of Queen Maeve,' ' Legends of the Saxon Saints,' 
 ' Legends and Records of the Church and the Empire, 
 
 * Mediaeval Records and Sonnets ' ; and two dramas, 
 ' Alexander the Great ' and * Saint Thomas of Canter- 
 bury ' ; also in prose, * Literary and Critical Essays,' 
 some of these dealing with Politics and Theology. 
 
 Mr Aubrey de Vere's best work is consecrated to 
 his native land. His ' Foray of Queen Maeve ' is 
 dedicated to " Sir Samuel Ferguson in token of grati- 
 
 VOL. II. p 
 
226 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 tude for ' Congal,' and for many poems besides, that 
 illustrate aright the Legends of Ancient Ireland." 
 
 " The child is father to the man," 
 
 and Mr de Vere has told how, as a child, sailing with 
 his father on the estuary of the Shannon, that parent 
 pointed to Knock Patrick, " and told us how from its 
 summit Ireland's great apostle had sent his benedic- 
 tion over all the lands to the south and west." 
 
 Thus early interested, the poet in mature life wrote 
 his ' Legends of Saint Patrick,' and dwelt much in his 
 preface on that apostle's method : — 
 
 As legislator St Patrick waged no needless war against the 
 ancient laws of Ireland. He purified them, and he amplified 
 them, discarding only what was unfit for a nation made Chris- 
 tian. Thus was produced the great 'Book of the Law' or 
 'Senchus Mohr,' compiled a.d. 439. 
 
 The Irish people received the Gospel gladly. ... It 
 had created among them an exquisite appreciation of the 
 beautiful, the pathetic, and the pure. The early Irish chron- 
 icles, as well as songs, show how strong among them that 
 sentiment had ever been. . . . That early civilisation was 
 a memorable thing j and when submitted to the Christian law, 
 it did great things. It sheltered a high virtue at home, and 
 evangelised a great part of Northern Europe. . . . 
 
 If the Ireland of early times is ever understood, it will not 
 be till after thoughtful men have deemed her legends worthy 
 of their serious attention. But it is for the lover of poetry that 
 the early Irish legends have most immediate interest. They 
 are poetical because they deal frankly with those vehement 
 emotions of a nation's youth which, like the gestures of chil- 
 dren, are cramped by no restraint. They have neither the open 
 nor the veiled coarseness. They delight in illustrating human 
 affections in all their forms. 
 
FERGUSON'S ESTIMATE OF DE VERE'S WORK. 227 
 
 Ferguson wrote of his friend's work : — 
 
 Mr de Vere moves, indeed, with an ample and easy gesture, 
 and at times uplifts an almost irradiated brow as he follows the 
 spiritual sower casting abroad the seeds of the faith among 
 savage clans, and over wildernesses still the haunt of demons. 
 Patrick has come among the men of Focluth, the woody region 
 in Tirawley, from whence he had first heard the call of the 
 Irish children. He tells his hearers of hell and heaven, of sin 
 and of salvation. 
 
 " The wondrous tale complete, 
 Not sudden fell the silence ; for, as when 
 A huge wave, forth from ocean toiling, mounts 
 High arched in solid bulk the beach rock-strewn, 
 Burying his hoar head under echoing cliffs, 
 And, after pause, refluent to sea returns, 
 Not all at once is stillness, countless rills 
 Or devious winding down the steep, or borne 
 In crystal leap from sea-shelf to sea-wall, 
 And sparry grot replying ; gradual thus, 
 With lessening cadence, sank the great discourse. " 
 
 Here, with perfect appositeness, every feature in turn connects 
 itself with the successions of emotion. The image everywhere 
 reinforces the action, furnishing the mind with sights and 
 sounds proper to every part of it, and, that done, leaves it 
 to proceed, illustrated, not interrupted ; illuminated, not — may 
 we be pardoned for saying — bedizened. To what are we to 
 ascribe the superior directness, apart from excellence of finish, 
 which distinguishes the work of the Irish artist. We think it 
 probable that remoteness from the centre of criticism and 
 independence of what is called literary opinion may go some 
 way to account for the difference. 
 
 Mr de Vere and Sir Samuel Ferguson, from their 
 different standpoints, were alike interested in the 
 career and character of the Apostle of Ireland. Fer- 
 guson, as a very young man, had, in his " Return of 
 
228 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 Claneboy," an historic tale in ' Hibernian Nights' 
 Entertainments,' dwelt on the personality of Saint 
 Patrick, and in advanced life he translated into 
 English blank verse the ' Confessio,' and * Epistle to 
 Coroticus,' considered by scholars to be his authentic 
 writings, and containing much of his autobiography. 
 "This most remarkable work," wrote the late Bishop 
 of Meath (Dr Reichel), gives " a more comprehen- 
 sible and a juster representation, especially of the 
 ' Confession,' than any prose translation could do." 
 
 My dear de Vere [wrote Ferguson in July 1875 of Sir 
 Aubrey's drama], — ' Mary Tudor ' has been in our bookcase, 
 and often in our hands, especially in those of my wife, since 
 it was first published. It is a dramatic poem in contrast 
 with the historical or didactic poem put in form of a drama. 
 It moves and transacts itself by sympathy and emotion, where 
 other pieces transact themselves through exposition and dis- 
 course. I do not like the subject nor the reflections the 
 subject excites at the present time. But this is not the fault 
 of the author, who probably little thought that the subject 
 would so soon be taken out of the sphere of retrospect and 
 made subservient to present politics. 
 
 Both in your writings and those of your father I am 
 charmed with the lyrics. The chant over King Edward's 
 bier in ' Mary Tudor ' is very sweet, solemn, and compos- 
 ing. They are great events, too, that cross the stage, and men 
 of action in their speech as well as in the stage-direction. 
 But I suppose the play would not act. This, however, my 
 want of dramatic sympathy — I suppose — prevents my judg- 
 ing of. 
 
 We greatly regretted when in London not rinding you, 
 and would receive you with open arms here if we should 
 have returned from our vacation when you shall next pass 
 through. . . . God bless you meanwhile, whether you sing 
 
A READING OF ' MARY TUDOR.' 229 
 
 or pray, and put in your heart to sing things sweet, genial, 
 and Irish of the Irish, as I once ventured to interpret the 
 words. — Affectionately yours, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 The letter about to be given refers to a reading of 
 1 Mary Tudor ' which the Fergusons arranged and 
 carried into effect during Mr de Vere's stay in Dublin. 
 The author's son elected to interpret the character 
 of Cardinal Pole, Mrs Ferguson that of the English 
 Queen. Miss Laura Darley and Miss Henrietta 
 Guinness rendered those of the Princess Elizabeth 
 and Lady Jane Grey. Lord Emly, and his son the 
 Hon. Gaston Monsell, Lord O'Hagan, Judge O'Hagan, 
 Mr Edward Murray, Ferguson, &c, rendered other 
 characters in the play. The drama ' Mary Tudor ' 
 is finely conceived, and was effectively delivered. Its 
 success as a reading play could not fail to gratify 
 the author's son. 
 
 Curragh Chase, Adare, May 16, 1877. 
 
 My dear Mrs Ferguson, — I am so much obliged to you 
 for your friendly letter. You may be sure that when I am 
 going to Dublin (if I can stay there more than a few hours) 
 I will write to find out whether you are still there. I will 
 try to bring up a copy or two of 'Mary Tudor,' though I 
 should much rather be a listener at the reading than a reader 
 myself. I fear, however, that I shall not be in town till 
 some time in June, when you may have fled. . . . 
 
 When will your husband give us another " Congal " ? It 
 is the best contribution yet made to our slender stores of 
 Irish history in the form poetic. Ireland alone ought to have 
 exhausted three editions of it before now. If he has not 
 his proper place (much and largely as his poetry is admired 
 by the "fit and few"), you must console yourself (as I do 
 
230 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 when I remember how neglected my father's poetry has been) 
 by humming Canning's song — 
 
 " Praise to placeless proud ability 
 Let the prudent muse disclaim " — 
 
 written when Pitt was out of power and mediocrity was in 
 high places. — Yours very sincerely, Aubrey de Vere. 
 
 A letter from Ferguson to de Vere in March 1881 
 shows that the latter was looking up material for his 
 1 Foray of Queen Maeve,' published the following year, 
 1882. In its preface Mr de Vere observes of his cor- 
 respondent : " How entirely early Irish legends are 
 susceptible of a high poetic rendering in our own day 
 can be doubted by no one who has read the poems 
 founded on them which we owe to ihe genius of Sir 
 Samuel Ferguson." 
 
 My dear de Vere, — The best translation I know of the 
 " Tain " is O'Curry's. It is, I believe, the property of the 
 Archaeological and Celtic Society, of which the Bishop of 
 Limerick and Mr Gilbert are Hon. Secretaries. . . . Professor 
 O'Looney has made, I believe, another translation of the 
 "Tain." The Academy was to have published it, but after 
 printing a few sheets we had to give it up, owing to non- 
 progress in the correction of proofs. . . . 
 
 The late Denis H. Kelly of Castle Kelly also translated 
 the "Tain." He wrote English like a gentleman and man 
 of taste, but may not have been as accurate as the others. 
 He lent his MS. to Lady Ferguson, who made some extracts 
 from it. I do not know who is his legal representative ; but 
 Mr Henry West, Q.C., Loughlinstown, Dublin, his son-in-law, 
 would give you all information. 
 
 Standish O'Grady, Barrister-at-Law, has, I fancy, made 
 some use of a MS. translation at the Academy, of which he 
 will, I am sure, be happy to give you particulars. I do not 
 know it myself. 
 
'the foray of queen maeve.' 231 
 
 I am glad the subject attracts your attention, and will be 
 better pleased still if you will come and study it at 20 
 North Great George's Street. We shall be here for the next 
 two months, and there will be a bedroom and study at your 
 disposal.: — Yours, my dear de Vere, with affectionate good- 
 will, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 In acknowledgment of de Vere's 'Queen Maeve' 
 Ferguson wrote: — 
 
 I have read the volume with the greatest interest and 
 pleasure, — the interest enhanced by a knowledge of the 
 difficulties you have had to deal with, and the pleasure great 
 in proportion to the success I see you have attained to in 
 overcoming them. You have had fewest difficulties of matter 
 in the Children of Lir, and have made of it a truly lovely 
 poem-romance. I think its natural and its religious tenderness 
 more touching than even the most pathetic part of the " Tain." 
 I could not attempt such a scene as the Ferdiah combat — I 
 would break down under the sense of pity. I suppose there 
 is no other situation so touching in old story. That of the 
 two Scotch youths set on by their fathers to the duel comes 
 nearest to it in ballad poetry ; but it wants the grandeur and 
 the great interests in the background. I am half doubtful of 
 the gae du/ga, but you have faced your difficulty like a man, 
 and on the whole acted judiciously in doing so. The fight 
 is preternatural in its devotion, and its demands on endurance 
 and vitality, and required some wonder for its solution. 
 There is a tradition at Stamworth Bridge, where they cele- 
 brate a commemoration of the defeat of the Danes called the 
 "pear "-pie feast, that the leader of the invaders was slain 
 while standing on the open wood-work of the bridge by a 
 weapon floated down the river of a pear-shape. Is it the 
 same old tradition in the British and the Irish Saga, drawn 
 from some common original in the recesses of the morning 
 of history ? I think it is in a note to ' Ivanhoe,' in one of 
 the editions of Scott, I have seen the story. You were right 
 also, I think, to introduce the Mor Ringan and her eel — 
 
232 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 another actor, I do not doubt, in the old story of the wars 
 of the gods of a lost Pantheon. All about the " Tain " calls 
 up greatness of thought and of impression, and you keep to 
 the heroic stature of your subject. You have been more 
 conscientious than I in your treatment of the Sons of Usnach. 
 I always thought the version in the Iberno-Celtic Society's 
 ' Proceedings ' better than that in the ' Atlantis,' and am glad 
 that you work on the former. It will give me true pleasure 
 if these graceful, dignified, and harmonious poems receive 
 the applauses they deserve. 
 
 When the extension of the franchise shifted the 
 balance of power from the trained, educated, and 
 propertied classes to the inexperienced and ignorant 
 masses, who contribute little or nothing towards the 
 burdens of the State, although their votes — numeri- 
 cally greater — have made them its masters, Mr de 
 Vere seems to have realised how unjust as well as 
 dangerous was the situation. He probably wrote to 
 Ferguson on the question of Proportionate Repre- 
 sentation, which drew from the latter this rejoinder: — 
 
 i$tk Feb. 1885. 
 My dear de Vere, — I find it difficult to grasp the 
 subject in all its bearings. The problem seems to be to find 
 a small body which shall represent a very great one in as 
 many of its details as possible. It is fairly right that we 
 should aim at such a representation of the Commons, but 
 how this is to be accomplished is the question. If the three 
 Kingdoms formed one constituency the minority would have 
 no representation at all, and twenty millions should submit to 
 the rule of twenty millions and one. The more numerous the 
 constituencies the less the danger of this result, because some 
 districts are exceptions to the generally " liberal " character of 
 the populace. But more than five or six hundred men cannot 
 take counsel together in one place, and unless the representa- 
 
PROPORTIONATE REPRESENTATION. 233 
 
 tives be delegates only, commissioned to vote as directed, and 
 incapable of deliberation, this seems to fix the limits of the 
 constituencies. In six hundred districts there will be some 
 approach to perfect proportionate representation, but it will be 
 as six hundred to the entire electorate. In any device to 
 reduce this disparity a principle must be affirmed to the effect 
 that in every (two, three, four, or more) constituencies the 
 minority may elect a member of their own, which involves an 
 empirical determination of the two, three, four, &c, and 
 makes any agreement of parties on this fundamental postulate 
 impossible. No, my dear de Vere, I see but one key to the 
 lock, and that not one to be hoped for — namely, elective right, 
 contribution to the burdens of the State, votes proportionate 
 to each man's taxes, and, if you will, to make an end of 
 changes, universal suffrage. 
 
 The electoral pack has been swelled by the introduction of 
 such an addition of non-court cards that, shuffle them as we 
 may, we never can hold the same hands again. Farewell. — 
 Ever yours, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 A few extracts from Mr de Vere's published essay, 
 " Proportionate Representation considered with refer- 
 ence to the Idea involved in it," will explain his views. 
 They are given from his ' Essays,' ii 
 
 The question of Proportionate Representation — although, 
 owing to an accidental combination of circumstances, it may 
 seem for the moment to be disposed of — is certain to recur ; 
 for to England its importance must ever increase, and to 
 Ireland it is a question of life or death. ... A very low 
 franchise taken by itself obviously threatens the practical 
 disfranchisement of whole classes and vast national interests ; 
 but it need not be taken by itself. It admits and demands 
 various compensations and modifications. A share in the 
 franchise is not by necessity an equal share. Voters possess- 
 ing larger intelligence than others, or larger property, and 
 remoter as well as larger interests in the national wellbeing, 
 
234 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 might be endowed with a double vote ; or a second franchise, 
 restricted however to the election of a limited number of 
 representatives, might be created for the protection of interests 
 otherwise unrepresented. . . . The minority in one 
 district and the majority in another may be in harmony so 
 far as adhesion or opposition to a particular political party 
 goes, and yet the more intimate conviction and ardent aspira- 
 tion of the one may be wholly unshared by the other. . . . 
 
 National representation, then, when contemplated in the 
 light of an idea, means the proportionate representation both 
 of a nation's majorities and larger minorities throughout the 
 whole country, not chiefly to adjust the relations of parlia- 
 mentary parties, but for the purpose of eliciting the intelligence 
 and maturing the wisdom of a nation. . . . The wrong 
 done to the local minority, when deliberately left unrepre- 
 sented, is a twofold wrong : it is the expansion of that injury 
 inflicted on the sacred right of each individual, thus amerced 
 of a right conferred on him by his country; it is also the 
 image in miniature of the injury done to the total country in 
 which that conscientious public opinion, which ought to have 
 grown up and become the nation's guide, is murdered before 
 its birth. To deny that numbers alone are to rule is not to 
 affirm that civil position and privilege alone are to rule ; the 
 qualifications to rule wisely and justly are essentially moral 
 qualifications demanded and imparted by nature, and recog- 
 nised, not created, by convention. So long as the qualities 
 which naturally lead to eminence survive in sequent genera- 
 tions of men placed high, their claims to power, though not 
 to exclusive power, survive also, because their powers to serve 
 the nation survive. . . . 
 
 Give us what will raise the masses, not pull down those 
 who have won for themselves, or honourably preserved as 
 their inheritance, the natural rewards of superior intellect, 
 courage, and perseverance, — rewards, however, which ought 
 to be open to all. Improve the condition of those who still 
 remain on the lowest step of the social ladder, and remove all 
 obstacles from those whom nature has qualified to rise to the 
 highest. Give us a parliamentary system which will not set 
 
PROPORTIONATE REPRESENTATION. 235 
 
 class against class, but which will prove the perpetual educator 
 of a people. . . . For [Ireland] Proportionate Represen- 
 tation is even more necessary than for any other part of the 
 empire. The alternative is a demoralisation fatal alike to her 
 spiritual and temporal interests. 
 
 Ferguson turned his thoughts to the subject, and 
 worked out the problem thus : — 
 
 If it were desired that a Representative Chamber should be 
 an exact reflection of the opinions of the voting electorate, 
 that object might be attained quam proxime by a method the 
 chief features in which would be open voting, a general con- 
 stituency, and successive elections. In the exposition follow- 
 ing, the expressions " candidature " will be used as comprising 
 the whole list of unelected candidates, and " disappointees " 
 in reference to voters, as including all whose votes are given 
 either superfluously or ineffectively ; and, in reference to can- 
 didates, as including both the unsuccessful and those set aside, 
 as hereinafter mentioned : — 
 
 1. Take a primary election for the full number of seats, each 
 voter having one vote for any one name in the candidature. 
 
 2. Ascertain the proportion which the whole number of 
 voting disappointees bears to the whole number of voters ; 
 and from the gross return set aside such a number of those 
 having the smaller majorities as will bear that proportion to 
 the full list. The remainder to stand, and their electors to 
 retire and not vote again. 
 
 3. Next, take a secondary election for the seats so vacated, 
 the electorate and candidature to consist of the primary voting 
 and competing disappointees. 
 
 4. Ascertain the proportion of the secondary voting disap- 
 pointees to the secondary voters, and set aside a proportion- 
 ate number of the secondary returns. The rest to stand, and 
 the voters electing them to retire, as before. 
 
 5. A third election to be then taken on the same principles, 
 in which the doubly disappointed voters should elect from 
 amongst the doubly disappointed candidates ; and so on, till 
 
236 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 the number of voting disappointees becomes less than the 
 number representing one seat. With the exception of this 
 residuum, every voter will then have been effectively instru- 
 mental in the return of one representative of his choice; 
 no vote will have been thrown away ; and the Chamber will 
 be an almost exact reflection in miniature of the mind of 
 the electorate. 
 
 My dear de Vere [wrote Sir Samuel in January 1886], 
 — I am sitting up and writing in my bedroom for the first 
 time after a severe three weeks' illness. Your letter gratifies 
 me greatly, and your brother's Horatian versions open to me 
 a view of the diversities of language which has occupied my 
 thoughts, though languidly, most part of the day. Each 
 language seems to have its own jewels which cannot be 
 reproduced. The thoughts can be expressed, but in a medium 
 which must necessarily ally itself with it in different accom- 
 modations. It is evident that the clothing has its part as 
 well as the substance. Carlyle's vanity and arrogance led him 
 to affect contempt for these outsides. He would not have 
 got his own thoughts received so favourably as they were if 
 their outsides had not been well coloured, and their motions, 
 in their own harsh way, musical. If all the earth were of one 
 tongue, and under one rule, we should have free trade and 
 doubtless all blessings, but a great limitation of marrying 
 thoughts to words. 
 
 This letter was never completed. On the same 
 sheet of paper was scribbled in pencil a translation of 
 " Maecenas atavis," "the closest packed of the Hora- 
 tian Odes. Here, in the compass of six-and-thirty 
 lines of twelve syllables, Horace presents the leading 
 pursuits of the life of his day. . . . Any merit the 
 present version can pretend to consists in its concise- 
 ness, being exactly of equal syllabic length with the 
 original." 
 
STRAND LODGE, HOWTH. 237 
 
 The translated Ode appeared as a postscript to the 
 article in ' Blackwood ' on " Sir Samuel Ferguson," 
 November 1886. Its concluding lines are these : — 
 
 Me 
 A wreath from Learning's ivy-tree 
 Makes equal with the gods above ; 
 Me the cool grot, the silent grove, 
 And dances light of Nymph and Faun, 
 Keep separate and far withdrawn 
 From sordid crowds and wealth's pursuit, 
 Let but Euterpe fetch her flute, 
 Nor Polyhymnia stint her lyre ; 
 But rank me in the sacred quire 
 Of Lyric Poets, and I rise 
 With loftier head, and touch the skies 
 
 When the early spring-time came, Ferguson left his 
 home for change of air, never to return in life. A 
 small house at Howth, as close to the sea as it is 
 possible for a house to be, was rented, and he was 
 moved to Strand Lodge by slow stages. It was close 
 to Marine Cottage, where he had spent the summer of 
 i860, and had addressed the letter to his mother which 
 describes the prospect from the field in front of both 
 houses, then and always delightful to him. But as his 
 weakness increased he was unable to leave his room. 
 His days were passed on a sofa in the bow-window of 
 this chamber, which projected over the sea and com- 
 manded a view of the little island of St Nessan, — 
 Ireland's Eye ; its name a corruption of the Norse ey 
 or islet. He enjoyed the scene to the last, and tran- 
 quilly, and even cheerfully, awaited the approach of 
 
238 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 death, solicitous chiefly for others, and exhorting his 
 wife to face her impending solitary fate with courage 
 and resignation. 
 
 Two letters from Mr de Vere will close their corre- 
 spondence : — 
 
 My dear Lady Ferguson, — I am indeed most truly 
 grateful to you for the letter which you have written to me 
 at so trying a time at the wish of your dear husband, who 
 will ever have a place among those near and dear friends who, 
 though I can hope no more to see them on earth, yet for ever 
 live on in my recollections and my prayers. He was one of 
 those gentle and benignant spirits our memories of whom are 
 memories of peace, and in thinking of whom we are drawn 
 away from this lower world of confusions and distractions into 
 a higher and serener region, one of quiet and of hope. He 
 gave his genius to high and noble ends, the illustration of 
 that great and pathetic Past, which will become more and 
 more precious to all those who love Ireland with a worthy 
 love, as he did ! — more precious in proportion as her present 
 and future are disturbed and dark. This was true service; 
 and Ireland will learn with the years to distinguish true service 
 which is self-repaid, and that false service which seeks repay- 
 ment in the acclamations of the crowd. 
 
 His life must surely have been a very happy one ; and it is 
 a real joy to me to learn from you that his death was full of 
 peace. To you it must be the greatest consolation, next to 
 the hope of rejoining him in a happier world, to know that 
 you were allowed to minister to him so much of that happi- 
 ness which was his in life, and that consolation which remained 
 with him at his close. I am most grateful to you for what you 
 tell me of his feelings towards myself, and his sympathy with 
 my attempt to follow his example in the way of illustrating our 
 country's annals. He is gathered to a goodly group of friends 
 who were united in that labour of love : I often thought of 
 him (when all hope of his recovery had ceased) as dying near 
 " Aideen's Grave," a spot which will ever be associated with 
 
LETTERS OF MR AUBREY DE VERE. 239 
 
 him, and which I hope to visit for the first time when I am 
 next in Dublin, and visit it with many affectionate thoughts, 
 you may be sure, of him, for his friendship was very much to 
 me. Once more receive my best thanks, and may God grant 
 you soon that true consolation which He alone can bestow. 
 — Believe me, ever most sincerely yours, 
 
 Aubrey de Vere. 
 
 My dear Lady Ferguson, — Your kind letter is much 
 more than a return for the one to which it was an answer, and 
 it has interested me very much. 
 
 I received the two Dublin papers, and read with emotion 
 and satisfaction also all that they contained respecting my old 
 friend. I was glad that the Archbishop preached on the 
 occasion of the funeral, and thought his sermon full of appreci- 
 ation. I am still more pleased to hear that he was laid in his 
 grave by his old friend Dr Reeves, so able and devoted a fellow- 
 labourer with him in the field of ancient Irish lore. I wish that 
 his grave could have been at Howth, which will always be asso- 
 ciated with his memory ; but it was right that it should be among 
 the graves of his kindred and forefathers. That sonnet by R. 
 P. Graves is a very touching and beautiful one. The incidents 
 recorded in it were well worth recording ; and it must be a 
 satisfaction to you to have such a memento. 
 
 If you are still at Howth when I return, I will remind you 
 of your promise to bring me to " Aideen's Grave." 
 
 I do hope you will bring out a popular edition of your 
 husband's works. Their day will come, when the follies of 
 this day are passed away. — Believe me most sincerely yours, 
 
 Aubrey de Vere. 
 
 Of the younger poets for whom Ferguson felt both 
 interest and hope, a few may be briefly mentioned. 
 Miss A. L. Hildebrand is the author of ' Western 
 Lyrics ' and ' Lays from the Land of the Gael.' The 
 last-named volume contains some lines, full of poetic 
 fire and enthusiasm, on a portrait of Clarence Mangan 
 
24O FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 taken after death by Sir F. W. Burton. This sketch 
 of one so unhappy in life, so placid on his pillow, 
 after life's fitful fever sleeping well, with the rapture 
 of repose on his finely chiselled features, is now in the 
 National Gallery of Dublin. 
 
 A few stanzas from Miss Hildebrand's poem will 
 show how touchingly it appealed to her compassionate 
 woman's heart : — 
 
 " I kneel before thee, as before 
 
 Some pallid, martyred saint, 
 And muse thy chequered story o'er, 
 
 With anguished heart and faint ; 
 To think of all the sorrow prest 
 Into one fated human breast. 
 
 Yes, lofty soul, in prison pent, 
 
 Behind those prison bars, 
 A glorious liberty was lent 
 
 And converse with the stars, 
 For gazing on thy pale dead face 
 A strange, mysterious joy I trace. 
 
 Farewell ! if on that mystic coast, 
 
 Where shadowy martyrs be, 
 My voice can reach thy mournful ghost, 
 
 Accept this strain from me ; 
 Know that thy face in Death's repose 
 Tells to my soul thy soul's deep woes." 
 
 Of Miss Hildebrand Ferguson thought highly. He 
 showed her much practical kindness, giving counsel 
 and aid in the steps so difficult to a young writer 
 for securing the favourable consideration of a pub- 
 
POEMS OF MISS HILDEBRAND. 24I 
 
 lisher. He introduced her to his friend, Canon 
 Macllwaine, then engaged in bringing out the * Lyra 
 Hibernica Sacra,' whose valuable assistance smoothed 
 away many obstacles. Miss Hildebrand felt that she 
 had lost a true friend when Ferguson was taken. She 
 has described his gracious and kindly character in the 
 following lines : — 
 
 ON THE RECEIPT OF SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON'S PORTRAIT. 
 November 14, 1886. 
 
 " Meek face and pure that even here 
 The impress of the heavenly wears, 
 O tell me, is't by Faith or Prayers, 
 Or by the love that knows not fear, 
 Man cometh the Unseen so near, 
 His foot doth tread God's shining stairs, 
 And Mortal with the Immortal shares, 
 Yet counts all human friendship dear ? 
 For this was in thee — sympathy most sweet, 
 The kindly eye that all it looks on blesses, 
 The tender heart whose very smile caresses, 
 Good measure running over, some souls mete 
 The life that knew thee best, this truth confesses, 
 What needs the muse thy virtues to repeat." 
 
 A graceful little note addressed to Ferguson by 
 Miss Katharine Tynan — who, as Mrs Hinkson, has 
 since done acceptable work both in prose and verse — 
 accompanied the presentation of that lady's earliest 
 volume : — 
 
 The writer of the accompanying little volume of verse, 
 ' Louise de la Valliere, and other Poems,' offers it very humbly 
 VOL. II. Q 
 
242 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 to Sir Samuel Ferguson, praying him to accept it as a tribute 
 of homage to the first living Irish poet from the youngest 
 and least. If he should find anything in those poor first- 
 fruits of hers to give him pleasure or to deserve his praise, 
 the writer would feel very proud and very happy. 
 
 To this Ferguson replied as follows : — 
 
 The poems are full of feeling and refinement. I have 
 read them with emotion and pleasure. They are of a higher 
 mood than any I have hitherto seen having the same aims, 
 and ought to make your voice influential among the better 
 spirits of that section of our countrymen with whom you 
 sympathise. You will, I think, be stronger in proportion as 
 you are more direct, and avoid the use of what are called pet 
 words. 
 
 I am greatly taken with your " Bird on the Frosty Branch " ; 
 you are very happy in your bird imagery and sympathies. 
 
 In Mrs Hinkson's subsequent writings, her love for 
 birds and animals shows strongly as ever. It has 
 inspired her poems " St Francis to the Birds," and 
 " Sheep and Lambs," and "The Gardener Sage," 
 who asserts of the crow that he "counts the days 
 of the week and keeps the Sabbath-day." 
 
 E. D. W., author of a modest little volume entitled 
 ' Verses,' published in 1876 by E. Ponsonby, 116 
 Grafton Street, Dublin, is a lady well known and 
 much esteemed in literary circles in the Irish capital. 
 She is a daughter of the late Dean of St Patrick's. 
 Miss West's book is to some extent a self-revelation ; 
 the sonnets it contains are introspective. They 
 abound in tender descriptions of scenery — sea and 
 
POEMS OF MISS WEST. 243 
 
 sky and mountain. They illustrate the truth which 
 Coleridge has so impressively uttered : — 
 
 " Lady ! we receive but what we give, 
 And in our life alone does nature live." 
 
 Nor is Miss West a stranger to 
 
 " That blessed mood, 
 In which the burthen of the mystery, 
 In which the heavy and the weary weight 
 Of all this unintelligible world 
 Is lightened ; . . . 
 
 While with an eye made quiet by the power 
 Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, 
 We see into the life of things." 
 
 A few stanzas from Miss West's poem " September " 
 may illustrate her power of depicting a hillside clothed 
 with blossoming gorse and heather : — 
 
 "Again the lucid deep September haze 
 Trembles in morning hours ; around me plays 
 (Intangible as half- felt dream that weighs 
 In coming sleep) the memory of a blaze 
 That somewhere on a far-off hillside blends 
 
 Its purple reds with flakes of green and gold 
 From a deep furze and heather sea, out rolled 
 In radiant calm amid soft mists that fold 
 Its limits round, aglow as if no cold 
 Or darkness ever had been, nor could be. 
 
 Come there not now, although that ecstasy 
 Was transient likewise, gracious years when we 
 May find our portion 'mid the things that be 
 No loans from joy, but perpetuity 
 Of fair sad happiness, grave equal faith ? 
 
244 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 In surest comradeship of heart and mind, 
 That needs not memory's sweetnesses to bind 
 Its constancies — enough one tie to find — 
 Brave human help exchanged, to face with blind 
 Stern hopefulness all mysteries of death." 
 
 Miss West has recently — December 1895 — become 
 the wife of Professor Edward Dowden, a man of ac- 
 complishment and culture, who published in 1876 a 
 volume of ' Poems.' These were largely concerned 
 with classical subjects. " The Heroines " of whom 
 he treats are Helena, Atalanta, Europa, Andromeda, 
 and Eurydice. " In the Galleries " he describes the 
 Apollo, and the Venus of Melos. Professor Dowden, 
 like Shelley and Wordsworth, has been enraptured 
 by the skylark's melody. He has meditated " By the 
 Sea" and "In the Garden"; and the "Inner Life" 
 of the contemplative soul has been dwelt on in his 
 musings. But it is as a prose-writer and lecturer that 
 Professor Dowden has achieved his highest success. 
 His critical study of the greatest poet of all time, 
 ' Shakspere, his Mind and his Art,' is a most satisfy- 
 ing book. Its substance was delivered in the form 
 of lectures at Alexandra College, Dublin. It has 
 gone through several editions. It is luminous, for 
 Professor Dowden goes to the very heart of his 
 theme, with insight and critical penetration. 
 
 In his ' Life of Shelley ' Professor Dowden has made 
 admirable use of the material placed in his hands by 
 the family of that great poet, who in his brief tenure 
 of life — thirty years only — enriched our literature with 
 exquisite lyrics. It was a difficult task to write the 
 
PROFESSOR DOWDEN'S * LIFE OF SHELLEY.' 245 
 
 life of one so interesting, dowered with charm and 
 genius, yet so devoid of sound principle. To have 
 known Shelley only as a poet, and to have remained 
 ignorant of his errors as a man, would have been pre- 
 ferable. Dr Dowden has, however, accomplished his 
 difficult task with tact and delicacy. " I have reserved 
 from the reader," he writes, " nothing that concerns 
 Shelley. I have endeavoured to search out the truth 
 in many quarters, and to tell the whole truth as far as 
 it is known to me." 
 
 George Francis Savage -Armstrong, now Professor 
 of English Literature at Queen's College, Cork, as 
 Dr Dowden is in Trinity College, Dublin, was a youth- 
 ful aspirant to fame when first known to Ferguson. 
 Now, matured in mind, and author of many volumes 
 of verse — ' Ugone,' ' The Tragedy of Israel,' ' A Gar- 
 land from Greece,' ' Stories of Wicklow,' ' One in the 
 Infinite ' — Professor Savage - Armstrong has proved 
 himself a poet of great versatility, and in his satire 
 ' Mephistopheles in Broadcloth ' a master of irony. 
 The Devil of Marlowe and of Goethe is assumed to 
 be a sojourner in London during the season of 1888, 
 and is described as visiting the House of Commons, the 
 theatres, exhibitions, and parks. He takes a chair in 
 Rotten Row from whence to moralise on the passers-by. 
 
 " The world, I find, on looking round about me, 
 Goes to the Devil very well without me," 
 
 is his conclusion after this inspection of fashionable 
 London. 
 
246 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 Mephistopheles enlarges on the literary decadence 
 
 of the age, and the cliques of poetasters, who 
 
 " Never yet, for all their toil and dole, 
 Have touched the springs of any human soul," 
 and 
 
 " Would not know a poem if they saw it." 
 
 The sceptical conversation of some scientific men, 
 
 who boast that modern science has abolished Hell, 
 
 the Devil, and the Lord of Hosts, is commented on, 
 
 Mephistopheles asks — 
 
 " Nay, I am Evil, I am Anarchy, 
 I am Confusion — have ye conquered vie ? " 
 
 The decadence of Art is thus touched on : — 
 
 " ' O Art, Art, Art,' I cried, ' I feel indeed 
 Thou satisfiest my spiritual need ! 
 Farewell all dreams of Heaven, all childish cults ! 
 This is the true Religion — for adults ! ' 
 Fools ! . . . Art, to gratify the Spirit's yearning, 
 Itself must from the Spirit's yearning spring. 
 With all their marvellous skill, technique^ and learning, 
 Your modern artists paint no noble thing." 
 
 This new departure of a poet whose pen had hither- 
 to been mainly occupied with lovely and peaceful 
 scenes of Nature, suggests saddening thoughts to 
 those who reflect on what has " tamed great nations." 
 It is an evidence, however, of the versatility of the 
 writer who could so lash the follies of the day and yet 
 evoke the tenderer emotions of the heart by a narrative 
 direct and simple as that of " The Fisherman " in 
 * Stories of Wicklow.' Its pathos is such that it can 
 hardly be read without tears. But the poem is too 
 long for quotation. 
 
REVIEWS OF FERGUSON'S POEMS. 247 
 
 Professor Savage - Armstrong received from Lady 
 Ferguson some criticisms on her husband's poetry 
 which had appeared anonymously in the ' University 
 Magazine,' October 1872, and in the ' Catholic World ' 
 of New York, July 1879. A few extracts from these 
 will explain the allusions in the following letters. 
 
 The review of 1872 speaks of Ferguson's work as 
 " instinct with poetic vigour, raciness, picturesque- 
 ness," and enlarges on the " enthralling magic spell " 
 of " The Fairy Thorn." The writer speaks of "the 
 comprehensive grasp of his intellect ; of his wealth of 
 poetic imagery, and the ease with which he could 
 harmonise modes of native thought and native expres- 
 sion] with the march of heroic verse " ; and says of 
 " Congal " that an " important event in early Irish 
 history is presented to public attention invested with 
 all the attractions which powerful and romantic inter- 
 est, truth of local colour, and poetry of the highest 
 order can impart." 
 
 The American reviewer wrote in the same tone : — 
 
 If the spirit of the ancient bardic poetry of Ireland is to 
 live at all to the general reader, it will do so in the poem of 
 " Congal," and Sir Samuel Ferguson has worthily crowned a 
 literary life, so brilliantly begun, with a noble and conscien- 
 tious work, which will illustrate his country's genius as well as 
 his own. 
 
 I return, with very many thanks for the pleasure and ad- 
 vantage I have derived from their perusal [wrote Professor 
 Armstrong], the two articles on Sir Samuel's poems which you 
 so kindly sent me. I think they bring out the fine qualities of 
 the works criticised in very bold relief, and in so doing fulfil 
 
248 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 one of the first functions of criticism ; and although they are 
 written with genuine sympathy, their tone is perfectly impartial. 
 I always think that the world seldom appreciates poetry until 
 it has been carefully expounded. Every new poet appeals to a 
 new taste, and without an interpreter his progress must be slow. 
 As a rule, an Irish poet, unless constantly living in London 
 and identified with some dominant literary clique, has to wait 
 long for disciples, and his fellow-countrymen who ought to 
 rally about him are either too timid or perhaps even too 
 jealous to lend him a helping hand. Sir Samuel cannot 
 complain of neglect or want of recognition ; for his powers 
 have been long acknowledged and appreciated in England by 
 men of finest critical discernment : nevertheless, it is refresh- 
 ing to find so full and careful a study undertaken in such a 
 spirit of independence by an Irish writer in an Irish magazine. 
 Even those who are familiar with Sir Samuel's works, and 
 appreciate them, will read them with keener pleasure and 
 better comprehension with the help of these excellent articles ; 
 and in perusing them and the well-selected extracts they con- 
 tain, one is particularly struck by the poet's intellectual 
 strength and activity, and the abundance and variety of his 
 imaginative resource. 
 
 My dear Armstrong [wrote Sir Samuel on the 16th 
 March 1886], — My wife and I are both very grateful to you 
 for your kindness in sending us your new volume. I am 
 gratified, too, at finding that you turn to home-themes. We 
 will have to make a literature for this country whatever be the 
 fate of this or that policy, and you and a few others are the 
 men on whom the duty will first fall. It must be lofty, moral, 
 and distinctively Irish. You are qualified in the two former, 
 and qualifying in the last requisite. The Poets will save the 
 people whom the rogues and cowards have corrupted. I 
 shall not live, I daresay, to see the salvation, but I shall die 
 believing in it. I have, indeed, had a warning not to expect 
 long-deferred events. I am writing, for the first time, to-day, 
 in my office, after a two months' serious illness, during which 
 I completed my seventy-fifth year. 
 
PROFESSOR SAVAGE-ARMSTRONG. 249 
 
 Two pieces in the volume, as yet, give me chief pleasure. 
 The general Wicklow scene in the first romance, and the 
 bursting of Loch Nahanagan, in which the revulsion of feeling 
 is as touching as the incident's expression is powerful. Also 
 I am much pleased with the " Lifeboat." As a general rule I 
 don't like any of the exceptional metres affected by Tennyson 
 and Browning, and am certain that strength and finish and 
 dignity are better clothed in the measures you have used 
 throughout the greater part of your work. Did I send you a 
 thin blue volume I published some years ago ? If not, I 
 should like to do so. My hand is still unsteady, so I say 
 adieu. — Most truly yours, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 Dear Lady Ferguson [wrote Professor Armstrong after 
 the death of his friend], — I am sure you will not think me 
 tardy in the expression of our deep sympathy with you in 
 your great sorrow. During the past few months Sir Samuel's 
 sufferings and your care and anxiety have been constantly 
 present to our minds, and the cloud that has now cast its 
 heavy shadow upon you has darkened us also. 
 
 The light that has passed away has cheered me many and 
 many a time in the happy past, and its loss is a personal sor- 
 row. A more kindly, generous, sympathetic heart than Sir 
 Samuel Ferguson's we shall not meet again ; a brighter genius, 
 a nobler patriotism, we can hardly hope to have amongst us. 
 
 I cherish with affection the last letter I had the honour 
 of receiving from him, holding up before me his own lofty 
 ideal of literary aims and literary excellence, and shall always 
 prize as a precious memento the copy of his contribution on 
 the Patrician Documents which he presented to me last spring, 
 with his name and my own on the title-page, when I little 
 thought I should never meet him again. 
 
 To all of us who have found for years in your happy hospit- 
 able house a centre of refining intellectual influences his loss will 
 be felt as one that can never be replaced. But his kindliness, 
 his gentleness, his wisdom, his warm and steadfast friendship, 
 will remain treasured in our hearts, and his genius and character 
 will be revered by his countrymen of generations to come. 
 
250 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 My wife joins me earnestly in kindest remembrances and 
 the deepest sympathy. — Believe me to remain, dear Lady 
 Ferguson, very sincerely yours, G. F. Armstrong. 
 
 ' Ballads and Dreams,' by Tom Ferguson, appeared 
 in 1885. The young author was Sir Samuel's kinsman. 
 This grandson of Ferguson's Uncle Thomas of Tildarg 
 was a handsome and attractive youth, beloved by the 
 cousins whom he called "Uncle" and "Aunt." He 
 was early deprived of his parents by death, and since 
 their loss has made his home in Italy. The conclud- 
 ing stanzas of his lines on " Music," which opens with 
 the question, 
 
 " Where does sweetest music linger ? " 
 
 are here quoted. Few, it is believed, will dissent from 
 his glorification of the poet's golden song : — 
 
 " In the mighty organs swelling 
 
 Through the churches, and foretelling 
 All the harmonies of angels and the ecstasies unknown, 
 
 In the stormy waters beating 
 
 On the wild shores, and repeating 
 The sublimest chants of Nature in majestic monotone ! 
 
 But the music that is purest, 
 
 And the notes the truest, surest, 
 Still enduring, never ceasing, deep, ecstatic, sweet, and strong, 
 
 The divine and human blending, 
 
 God and Nature comprehending, 
 Meet and mingle, shrined for ever, in the Poet's golden song ! " 
 
 Mr W. B. Yeats, now the author of many volumes, 
 was a youth only when, in November 1886, after Sir 
 Samuel's decease, he criticised his writings in the 
 
MR W. B. YEATS. 251 
 
 ' Dublin University Review.' From this extracts will 
 be given in the chapter " His Work as a Poet." 
 
 ' The Wanderings of Oisin, and other Poems,' pub- 
 lished by Mr Yeats in 1889, showed that he too had 
 yielded to the fascinations of the old Gaelic legends. 
 Afterwards appeared ' The Celtic Twilight ' and ' Coun- 
 tess Kathleen,' and in 1894 ' The Land of Heart's 
 Desire.' 
 
 Mr Yeats in 1895 has given the world a volume of 
 his own poetry, and has edited * A Book of Irish Verse 
 selected from Modern Writers, with an Introduction 
 and Notes.' It contains many well-chosen poems, 
 and also some caustic criticism open to dispute — 
 as, for example, when he assures his readers that 
 "poetry has cast out" Thomas Moore "because he 
 had not distinction of style," and asserts that " in 
 England his power is over." He states that his book 
 is " intended only a little for English readers, and 
 not at all for Irish peasants, but almost wholly for 
 the small beginning of that educated and national 
 public which is our greatest need and perhaps our 
 vainest hope." 
 
 In his introduction Mr Yeats writes thus of Fer- 
 guson, Allingham, and de Vere : — 
 
 Meanwhile Samuel Ferguson, William Allingham, and Mr 
 Aubrey de Vere were working quietly as men of letters, — 
 Ferguson selecting his subjects from the traditions of the 
 Bardic age, and Allingham from those of his native Bally- 
 shannon, and Mr Aubrey de Vere wavering between English, 
 Irish, and Catholic tradition. They were wiser than Young 
 Ireland in the choice of their models, for, while drawing not 
 
252 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 less from purely Irish sources, they turned to the great poets 
 of the world, Mr de Vere owing something of his gravity to 
 Wordsworth, Ferguson much of his simplicity to Homer, 
 while Allingham had trained an ear, too delicate to catch the 
 tune of but a single master, upon the lyric poetry of many 
 lands. Allingham was the best artist, but Ferguson had the 
 more ample imagination, the more epic aim. His "Ven- 
 geance of the Welshmen of Tirawley " is the best Irish ballad, 
 and his " Conary," a long battle-tale in blank verse, the best 
 Irish poem of any kind. 
 
 The cordial friendship which Ferguson felt for the 
 Rev. Robert Perceval Graves, to whom he dedicated 
 his ' Shakespearian Breviates,' has already been 
 touched on. Dr Graves was a man of gentle and 
 refined manners. His mind was highly cultivated 
 and richly stored, his taste delicate and discriminating. 
 He was the author of sundry uncollected poems, but 
 his Biography of Sir William Rowan Hamilton is a 
 standard work. As Vice-Warden of Alexandra Col- 
 lege he strenuously laboured for the higher education 
 of women, and as Sub-Dean of the Chapel Royal and 
 Almoner of the Lord Lieutenant he befriended faith- 
 fully the charities of Dublin, He had enjoyed the 
 friendship of Wordsworth when a curate in the 
 Lake District of England, and in later life Dr Graves 
 was a leader in the literary society of Dublin. 
 
 His nephew, Alfred Perceval Graves, son of the 
 Bishop of Limerick, was regarded by Ferguson with 
 hope and affection. Love for his country being one 
 of Ferguson's strongest sentiments, it was natural 
 that he should be attracted to young men of promise 
 
MR ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES. 253 
 
 who were workers in the field of Irish Literature, and 
 of these Mr Graves has been among the most ener- 
 getic. He is an active member of the Irish Literary 
 Society of London, and has recently contributed to 
 the "New Irish Library" 'The Irish Song-Book, with 
 original Irish Airs,' published by T. Fisher Unwin in 
 1895. 
 
 In his introduction to this volume Mr Graves quotes 
 the words of "a great musical critic," Dr Hubert 
 Parry, who, in reviewing " the Bunting, Petrie, Holden, 
 Joyce, and Levey collections, which contain over 2000 
 musical pieces," observes : " Irish folk-music is prob- 
 ably the most human, most varied, most poetical in 
 the world, and is particularly rich in tunes which 
 imply considerable sympathetic sensitiveness." 
 
 Alfred Perceval Graves had written long before his 
 ' Songs of Killarney,' and published in 1880 his ' Irish 
 Songs and Ballads.' These have the idyllic grace, 
 the innocent gaiety, and the characteristic purity of 
 Irish peasant life, and are the outcome of " affection- 
 ate studies " made by Mr Graves " among the moun- 
 tains of Kerry." Some of them have been set to 
 Irish airs by Charles Villiers Stanford. " Father 
 O'Flynn " is probably the best known. This song 
 has attained a wide popularity. It describes with 
 spirit and humour the character of a typical Irish 
 priest. 
 
 Ferguson had directed the attention of Mr A. M. 
 Williams, then collecting material for his ' Poets and 
 Poetry of Ireland,' to Mr Graves's ' Songs and Ballads 
 
254 FRIENDSHIPS WITH LIVING POETS. 
 
 These, as soon as known, were appreciated by the 
 American critic. The young poet wrote in acknow- 
 ledgment : — 
 
 I am greatly obliged for your letter of the 26th. I had 
 already received a copy of his book from Mr Williams. I 
 had noted with extreme satisfaction that he had assigned you 
 that place in Irish poetry which I had always felt you were 
 justly entitled to. 
 
 Mr Graves's later correspondence, and the noble 
 sonnet which he wrote on the death of Sir Samuel 
 Ferguson, and published in the ' Spectator ' in August 
 1886, will appear in the final chapter of this bio- 
 graphy. 
 
 Mr William Wilkins, in his ' Songs of Study,' pub- 
 lished in 1881, enlarged, among other topics, on the 
 enjoyments of college life when he and his brothers 
 were distinguished students of Trinity College, Dublin. 
 One of them has since obtained a Fellowship, and the 
 poet the Head-Mastership of the High School in that 
 city. He presented his volume to Ferguson, who 
 acknowledged it in May 1881 : — 
 
 I thank you very much for the volume you have been kind 
 enough to send me. I have read it with great and varied 
 pleasure — liking you most, I think, in your staid metres and 
 moods of sweetness. . . . The volume, indeed, does us all 
 credit, and entitles you to all our thanks ; but I would wish 
 the young men of genius and ability of our country could be 
 induced to publish at home. 
 
 Mr Wilkins's volume had been issued by C. Kegan 
 Paul & Co. of London. Sir Samuel was most de- 
 
MR WILLIAM LARMINIE. 255 
 
 sirous to stimulate the publishing trade in Dublin, and 
 make the city in which he lived a centre of literary life. 
 In pursuance of this desire Ferguson not only watched 
 with the keenest interest, but aided to the best of his 
 power, the career of promising young aspirants to the 
 service of the Muse. Although personally unknown to 
 him at the time, he wrote in November 1884 of Mr 
 William Larminie, author of ' Glanlua, and other 
 Poems,' to Dr Whitley Stokes : — 
 
 I have lately seen some work of Mr Larminie of the India 
 Office — poetry of a high class, very full of Irish feeling. He 
 is a man who would be enraptured with the " Togail Troi." 
 I don't know him personally, but believe him to be a gentle- 
 man, as I am sure he is a man of genius. I say this in case 
 he should cross your path in London. 
 
 They met before the close of Ferguson's life, and after 
 his death Mr Larminie, in writing to Lady Ferguson, 
 spoke of " the praise which Sir Samuel Ferguson 
 bestowed on ' The Return of the Gods ' in his published 
 volume." 
 
 When the thought recurs of poets " in their misery 
 dead," slain by hostile criticism, who believed that 
 their names "were writ in water," it would seem that 
 words of encouragement are wiser and more stimu- 
 lating, even if such should be accompanied by strictures 
 uttered in a spirit of kindness, and designed not to 
 wound, but rather to guide and help. 
 
256 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 1830-1886. 
 
 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 " Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 
 (That last infirmity of noble mind) 
 To scorn delights and live laborious days ; 
 But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, 
 And think to burst out into sudden blaze 
 Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears, 
 And slits the thin-spun life. ' But not the praise,' 
 Phoebus replied, and touched my trembling ears : 
 ' Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, 
 Nor in the glistering foil 
 
 Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies, 
 But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes 
 And perfect witness of all-judging Jove ; 
 As he pronounces lastly on each deed, 
 Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed." 
 
 —Milton. 
 
 It was not until 1864 that Ferguson published a volume 
 of his collected poems, which he named ' Lays of the 
 Western Gael.' It included some of his earliest work 
 — translations from the Irish, " The Forging of the 
 Anchor," and other ballads ; but to these were added 
 new poems — "The Tain -Quest," the "Healing of 
 Conall Carnach," the "Burial of King Cormac," " Grace 
 
OPINIONS OF POETS ON FERGUSON'S POETRY. 257 
 
 O'Maly," the "Adieu to Brittany," " Westminster 
 Abbey," the " Death of Dermid," and others, versions 
 and adaptations. 
 
 Eight years later, in 1872, appeared his epic of 
 " Congal." On this he had long laboured, and upon 
 it he believed that his repute as a poet would ulti- 
 mately rest. In 1880 he published another volume, 
 ' Poems,' followed in 1882 by ' Shakespearian Brevi- 
 ates,' an adjustment of twenty -four of the longer 
 plays of Shakespeare to convenient reading limits. 
 His latest work was the translation into English 
 blank verse of Saint Patrick's ' Confession ' and the 
 ' Coroticus Epistle,' already spoken of. These, with 
 a dissertation on the Patrician Documents contained 
 in the " Trias Thaumaturga " and " Book of Armagh," 
 he had read before the Royal Irish Academy in 1885. 
 They have been posthumously published in book-form 
 in 1888 under the title * The Remains of Saint Patrick, 
 Apostle of Ireland.' 
 
 Upon Ferguson's poetry — written at intervals during 
 a lifetime devoted to professional and public work — the 
 only criticisms which will here be cited are those of 
 other poets. These, as being the opinions of the most 
 competent judges, should be of the highest value. 
 Some appear in published volumes, but most of them 
 in their correspondence. Praises accorded to his verse 
 by critics not thus specially qualified are accordingly 
 excluded. 
 
 On the publication of the ' Lays of the Western 
 Gael,' 1864, Lady Wilde — a woman of intellectual 
 
 vol. 11. R 
 
258 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 grasp and fine enthusiasm — who had been a con- 
 tributor under the nom de plume "Speranza" to the 
 poetry of the ' Nation,' wrote to its author : — 
 
 1 Merrion Square, 14th November 1864. 
 
 Dear Mr Ferguson, — All Ireland will rejoice that your 
 fine poems are at length given to the country in a permanent 
 and portable form. And for myself I feel very proud that my 
 name should be inscribed by your own hand in the copy I 
 have now the pleasure of calling my own. I am glad to find 
 along with our old favourites so many new pieces. "The 
 Tain-Quest," "Grace O'Maly," and others are new to me. 
 They are fine bold fragments of antique life, with such human 
 touches as link them to the present and give them fresh 
 vitality. With all your archaism you still weave in that 
 eternal human element, the same yesterday, to-day, and for 
 ever. Your destiny was to be the Historic Bard of Ireland, 
 and what you have already done proves how nobly you could 
 have fulfilled your mission. Go on, and leave a great legacy 
 to your Country. Make Posterity your client, even though 
 Posterity only pays in marble wreaths on marble brows. Your 
 " Aideen " is to me unutterably solemn and beautiful. I place 
 it first of all you have ever written. I wish it had been illus- 
 trated in a less abstract mode. What a picture could be made 
 of Aideen as " she rode the ridge of war " amid the kings ! 
 All your poems furnish fine subjects for illustration : give them 
 up to Cassell for the purpose. It would waken up new ideas 
 too amongst our artists. Do think of this. Why have you 
 omitted the poem of " Thomas Davis " ? — it is such a mournful 
 pathetic wail, with all the true Irish characteristics. 
 
 Amsbury, Mass., 11st 7/ 1867. 
 My dear Friend [wrote the American poet Whittier], — 
 I ought long ago to have acknowledged the receipt of thy 
 1 Lays of the Western Gael,' and the sonnet so complimentary 
 to myself, forwarded to me by the kindness of Miss Smith of 
 Philadelphia ; but I did not know thy address, and waited to 
 
LETTERS OF J. G. WHITTIER AND THOMAS AIRD. 259 
 
 ascertain it. I have read thy poems with real delight ; some 
 of them were before familiar to me. I have always admired 
 the vigour and rude power and pathos of " The Welshmen of 
 Tirawley." " The Forging of the Anchor " is world-wide. " The 
 Burial of King Cormac " and " The Fairy Thorn " are great 
 favourites of mine ; and I am very glad of the opportunity to 
 thank the author for them. And I like exceedingly the trans- 
 lations from the old Irish bards. The " Lament for the Sons 
 of Usnaeh " is full of a wild pathos, and is most admirably 
 rendered in ringing verse, like the wail of a Lyke-wake. No 
 volume of Transatlantic poetry has been more welcome to me 
 than thine. 
 
 Excuse the brevity of this note and its wretched penmanship. 
 I am too ill at this time to write. With thanks and hearty 
 congratulations, I am thy friend, John G. Whittier. 
 
 Thomas Aird wrote from Mountain Hall, Dumfries, 
 14th November 1864 : — 
 
 My dear Ferguson, — I got your letter and volume last 
 Tuesday. I have been long looking for such a book from 
 you. To read it eagerly at once, and then go back on parts 
 of it with reserve of consideration, have been my chief recrea- 
 tion for the last two or three days. 
 
 " The Tain -Quest " is the greatest of your new pieces ; next 
 in my liking stand "The Burial of King Cormac," "Grace 
 O'Maly," " Adieu to Brittany," and the " sage and serious " 
 verses on Westminster Abbey reprinted from ' Blackwood.' 
 There are fine things in the versions from the Irish ; but they 
 have not impressed me so much as the Fair Hills of Ireland 
 had led me to expect. Your own estimate of them in the 
 introductory note is discriminating and judicious. 
 
 In all respects " The Tain-Quest " is one of the most striking 
 poems of our day. Specially do I admire the artistic skill with 
 which you have doubled the interest of the Quest itself by in- 
 troducing in the most natural and unencumbering way so many 
 of the best points of the " Great Cow-Foray " — the subject- 
 matter of the "Tain." The Shield has long been grand in 
 
260 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 poetry ; you have made it still grander. The refusal of Fergus 
 to stir to the force of private sympathy, but his instantaneous 
 recognition of the patriotic necessity of Song, is a just and noble 
 conception. The power of the Bard over the rude men of Gort ; 
 the filial piety of the sons of Sanchan, and their brotherly love ; 
 that mysterious vapour, and that terrible blast of entrance, and 
 that closing malediction by the Maiden, are all very notable 
 toward the consummation of effect. As for the kissing of 
 the champions in the pauses of the fight, I know of nothing 
 in the reaches of our human blood so marvellously striking 
 and sweet : you have now made it immortal in song. Your 
 lay ended with the malediction. However admirably ex- 
 pressed, the last stanza is an error in art. Surely you spoil 
 the grand close, and the whole piece, by appending your 
 own personality of interference as a commentator on the 
 malediction. Might I not further say (with a peculiar smile) 
 you make the preordained fulfilment of Malison a sublime 
 apology for Irish Grub Street? 
 
 Yes. Give us more of such pieces as " The Tain-Quest." 
 But do not forget your leading Saints. You cannot be fully 
 representative of " Holy Ireland " if you do not set one or 
 two of them in song. Well, then — 
 
 " Bear the cup to Sam the poet ; 
 Yield the bard his poet's meed ; 
 What we've heard is but a foretaste, 
 Lays more lofty now succeed." 
 
 In all circumstances it is pleasant for me to send good 
 wishes to Mrs Ferguson and yourself. — Ever yours, 
 
 Thomas Aird. 
 
 Mr W. C. Bennett also expressed his gratification 
 on receiving a copy of the ' Lays ' : — 
 
 What a pleasure it has been to me to put your collected 
 poems among my favourite volumes on my shelf of poets 
 in my bookcase ! I had so often wondered and regretted 
 that you had not enabled us to have all your poems in a 
 
LETTERS OF W. C. BENNETT AND D. F. MACCARTHY. 26l 
 
 form in which we could fully feel how much you had done 
 and how true a poet you are. The public will recognise 
 more your power — your simplicity of thought and feeling 
 and expression, your bold and thorough truth to nature, and 
 the strength of your imagination, and the mastery you have over 
 the force and music of our language. The readers have 
 known this well; but the many, though they have admired 
 your poems in their scattered appearance, I do not think 
 have had produced upon them the full effect which this 
 collection must produce. Where almost every page is equally 
 fine it is almost needless to particularise poems as beautiful, 
 but if I were to select those which have more especially 
 forced themselves on my memory, I should name "The 
 Forging of the Anchor," " The Welshmen of Tirawley " 
 (strangely powerful in its rude and savage simplicity), " The 
 Tain-Quest" (very grand in parts), "Willy Gilliland," and 
 " The Boatman's Hymn." 
 
 In thanking you for the present and permanent pleasure 
 the volume has given and will give to me, I must express 
 the pleasant feeling with which I received it from yourself. 
 Ranking you as I do among the few genuine living singers, 
 it was no small gratification to me to be so remembered by 
 you. With every good wish, yours very truly, 
 
 W. C. Bennett. 
 
 Mr MacCarthy wrote from London : — 
 
 Believe me that among the many who have longed for this 
 book, no one will value it more highly and love it more fondly 
 than I. It is so delightful to have the old favourites collected 
 together by your own hand, and united with so much that is 
 new and valuable, that I am really unable to tell you the 
 pleasure the whole collection has given me. The poem of 
 "Aideen," which I read in London, awoke many a fond 
 recollection of scenes where I spent much of my childhood. 
 I have expressed in many quarters my admiration of such 
 powerful single-line pictures as " Low Clontarf s wave-trampled 
 floor," " The angry Sand-Bull's roar," and other epithets that 
 must henceforth be ever associated with these localities ; but 
 
262 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 no one can tell of my own individual feelings as I read the 
 lines, I may say, in exile, and thought of the many days that 
 I too roamed over bare " Ben Edar's Peak," and strolled un- 
 consciously through "Aideen's briary dell" in simple enjoy- 
 ment of the place and scene. I trust that the reception which 
 your volume is almost sure to receive will induce you to collect 
 your other writings. You owe this to yourself and to the 
 country. 
 
 Mr Aubrey de Vere wrote from Curragh Chase, 
 Adare, in a tone somewhat sad and desponding : — 
 
 It contains much that must in any case have much in- 
 terested me ; but that interest was increased by the circum- 
 stance that you had chosen Irish subjects. I have often 
 regretted that so few Irishmen have ever illustrated their 
 country as Burns, Scott, and a host of Scottish poets have 
 illustrated Scotland. The link between the patriotic and the 
 poetic spirit has amongst us been broken for many a sad 
 year, and the loss, both moral and literary, has been greater 
 far, I believe, than is generally known. To this cause I 
 attribute largely the signal ignorance of Irish history among 
 our higher classes and in England, and to a great extent the 
 gulf of separation between the higher and the lower classes in 
 this country. 
 
 Moore did something to mitigate this evil, in his Irish 
 Melodies, that small fraction of his works which I cannot but 
 regard as worth all the rest; and Allingham in his tale of 
 the Music-master has given us a real idyl of Irish life which 
 ought to be better known than it is. 
 
 I have read your volume twice over, and doubt not that 
 future readings will reveal to me many additional .passages of 
 beauty. On referring to the index, I find that the poems 
 which I marked as having especially pleased me are "The 
 Tain -Quest," "The Healing of Conall Carnach," "Grace 
 O'Maly," "Aideen's Grave," "The Fairy Thorn," "The Forg- 
 ing of the Anchor," "The Death of Dermid," " Deirdre's 
 Farewell," and her Lament, " Cean - Dubh Deelish." I 
 
O'HAGAN'S ' POETRY OF SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON.' 263 
 
 earnestly hope that you will give us more such illustrations 
 of our Irish history. I only wish that they were sure of 
 meeting among us Irish the reception they deserve. 
 
 Ferguson's old friend Dr Madden took a less de- 
 sponding view than Mr de Vere of Ireland : — 
 
 I was greatly afraid, when you read those poems to me 
 which I have spoken of, that you might be deterred from 
 publishing them. For your sake, but above all, my dear 
 Ferguson, for the sake of this dear land of ours, under all 
 its miseries so deserving of all our love and of all that we 
 can do for its honour, I rejoice in the publication of them. 
 And let me add, I rejoice in it for the sake of one who of all 
 others is most nearly and dearly affected by everything that 
 concerns your fame ; and with kind regards to her, your good 
 lady, believe me, my dear Ferguson, yours very faithfully, 
 
 R. R. Madden. 
 
 Mr Justice O'Hagan, who had reviewed Ferguson's 
 poems in the ' Irish Monthly,' embodied his criticism 
 in a volume which he published in 1887, ' The Poetry 
 of Sir Samuel Ferguson.' In this little book Judge 
 O'Hagan observed: — 
 
 There are, however, two among these modern poets especi- 
 ally distinguished for their success in fusing and interweaving 
 Gaelic modes of thought and turns of expression with their 
 verse, and thus rendering familiar to us the outward garb and 
 inner soul of the poetry of the Celt. These two are Clarence 
 Mangan and Sir Samuel Ferguson. With the former this 
 power flows from the prompt and intuitive perceptions of 
 genius. With the latter it was not the result of genius alone, 
 but of extensive acquisition and years of study, devoted, in the 
 intervals of his professional labours, to the mastery of all that 
 was to be known concerning the ways and fortunes, the re- 
 ligion, laws, and habitudes, of the varied branches of the great 
 
264 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 Gaelic stem which from time to time have taken root in the 
 soil of Ireland. . . . 
 
 Coming down to the middle ages and the time subsequent 
 to the English invasion, we have the graphic and striking 
 ballad of " The Welshmen of Tirawley." . . . From this 
 singular tale of vengeance and retribution we can only extract 
 the stanzas which relate how the blinded Emon Lynott nursed 
 and trained his son, Emon Oge, amid the solitudes of Ben 
 Nephin, that he might become the instrument of his revenge 
 upon the Barretts : — 
 
 "And ere the bright-orbed year its course had run, 
 On his brown round-knotted knee he nursed a son, 
 A child of light, with eyes 
 As clear as are the skies 
 In summer, when sunrise 
 Has begun ; 
 So the Lynott 
 Nursed his vengeance on the Barretts of Tirawley. 
 
 And, as ever the bright boy grew in strength and size, 
 Made him perfect in each manly exercise, 
 The salmon in the flood, 
 The dun deer in the wood, 
 The eagle in the cloud 
 To surprise 
 On Ben Nepbin 
 Far above the foggy fields of Tirawley. 
 
 With the yellow-knotted spear-shaft, with the bow, 
 With the steel, prompt to deal shot and blow, 
 He taught him from year to year 
 And trained him without a peer, 
 For a perfect cavalier, 
 Hoping so — 
 Far his forethought — 
 For vengeance on the Barretts of Tirawley. 
 
 And when mounted on his proud-bounding steed, 
 Emon Oge sat a cavalier indeed ; 
 
265 
 
 Like the ear upon the wheat 
 When winds in autumn beat 
 On the bending stems, his seat ; 
 
 And the speed 
 
 Of his courser 
 Was the wind from Barna-na-gee o'er Tirawley!" 
 
 Sir Samuel's versions from the Irish would of themselves 
 deserve a separate comment. They represent but too faith- 
 fully the sorrow and disaster, the lamentation and the w r oes, 
 of the days of defeat and spoliation. What can be more 
 melancholy, but at the same time more musical, than "The 
 Downfall of the Gael," of which the Irish original was written 
 by O'Gnive, bard of the O'Neills, in the days of Queen 
 Elizabeth? . . . 
 
 Coming down two hundred years later, to the days of the 
 Penal Laws, we have the lament over the ruins of the Abbey 
 of Timoleague. . . . 
 
 Thus traversing all the ages, from the shadow r y gigantic 
 forms and mystic lays of the earliest epoch down to our own 
 times, from Cuchullin and Fergus MacRoy to Thomas Davis, 
 may we not say that Sir Samuel Ferguson has achieved a 
 great work for his country ? Be it no disparagement to other 
 labourers in the same field, whom we honour and admire, to 
 say that he is in the front of them all. . . . 
 
 If a distinctive national Irish literature in the English tongue 
 is, as we hope and believe, an achievement of which the 
 foundations have been already laid, and which one day, in 
 fair and stately proportions, will body forth all that is best and 
 noblest in the character and aspirations of the Gael, and not 
 of the Gael alone, but of the Gael as interfused aud blended 
 with the Dane, the Saxon, and the Norman, according to the 
 noble language of Davis himself, then to Sir Samuel Ferguson 
 may the greater praise belong. Be this the pillar of his 
 fame ! 
 
 Words of generous appreciation in addition to those 
 of Whittier came across the Atlantic. Mr A. M. 
 Williams, a poet and man of letters, included in his 
 
266 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 ' Studies in Folk-Song and Popular Poetry,' Boston, 
 1894, an essay on " Sir Samuel Ferguson and Celtic 
 Poetry," from which a few passages may be cited : — 
 
 " Congal " is not the only contribution made by Sir Samuel 
 Ferguson to Celtic poetry. ' The Lays of the Western Gael ' 
 are a series of ballads founded on events in Celtic history, 
 and derived from the early chronicles and poems. They 
 are original in form and substance, the ballad form and measure 
 being unknown to the early Celtic poets of Ireland, but they 
 preserve in a wonderful degree the ancient spirit, and give a 
 picture of the ancient times with all the art of truth and 
 verity. . . . 
 
 These ballads have a solemnity of measure like the voice 
 of one of the ancient bards chanting of 
 
 " Old forgotten far-off things, 
 And battles long ago," 
 
 and they are clothed with the mists of a melancholy age. 
 They include such subjects as "The Tain-Quest," the search 
 of the bard for the lost lay of the great cattle-raid of Queen 
 Maeve of Connaught, and its recovery by invocation from the 
 voice of its dead author arising in misty form above his grave ; 
 " The Healing of Conall Carnach," a story of violated sanctuary 
 and its punishment ; " The Welshmen of Tirawley," one of 
 the most spirited and original, and which has been pronounced 
 by Mr Swinburne as among the finest of modern ballads, 
 telling of a cruel mulct inflicted upon the members of a Welsh 
 colony in Ireland and its vengeance, and other incidents in 
 early Irish history. The verses on "Aideen's Grave" are 
 a characteristic specimen of the tone and spirit of these 
 ballads. . 
 
 The main literary work of Sir Samuel Ferguson was de- 
 voted to this revivification of the spirit of ancient Celtic 
 poetry, in spite of a highly successful debut as an English 
 poet in "The Forging of the Anchor," which at once took 
 its place among those poems that are the familiar treasures 
 of the people ; and in this he was doubtless governed by 
 
LETTER OF THE VICOMTE DE LA VILLEMARQUE. 267 
 
 something of patriotic spirit as well as by natural predilection. 
 His work is not great in quantity, and he treasured his in- 
 spiration and perfected his workmanship with careful pains. 
 Its result is to give a reproduction of the pervading elements 
 of Irish Celtic poetry in English form with almost absolute 
 perfection, and imbued with a spirit of original genius. In 
 his poems, rather than in Macpherson's ' Ossian ' or in the 
 literal translations, will the modern reader find the voice of 
 the ancient Celtic bards speaking to the intelligence of to-day 
 in their own tones, without false change and dilution, or the 
 confusion and dimness of an ancient language. The value 
 of this work has not yet been fully appreciated by literary 
 critics, but there is no doubt in my mind but that it eventually 
 will be. 
 
 The Vicomte de la Villemarque wrote from Keran- 
 sker in 1864 on receipt of the ' Lays of the Western 
 Gael ' :— 
 
 Mon cher Ami, — J'ai voulu attendre pour vous remercier 
 de votre aimable envoi que j'en eu lu votre volume ; j'en 
 acheve la lecture, et je ne trouve pas de mot qui exprime 
 bien les sentiments qu'elle m'inspire : faute de mieux j'emploie 
 celui d? admiration , mais il ne rend pas encore a mon gre ce 
 que j'eprouve pour vous. . . . Mon cher ami, vous venez 
 de remuer en moi le fibre poetique plus delicieusement qu'elle 
 a ete depuis longtemps ; hurrah pour lTrlande et son barde ! 
 . . . Vos poemes legendaries sont de vrais poemes epiques ; 
 ils en ont le nerf, le souffle et le coup d'aile d'aigle. Et quel 
 art ! quel rhythme ! II m'a ravi comme une musique ; c'est 
 celui de Saint Fiak, et de nos anciens bardes armoricains 
 Je jure que desormais les Irlandais vous disent — 
 
 Bear the cup to otir Ferguso7t, . . . 
 Chaunt us, Bard, the famous "Tain." 
 
 Cette " Quete du Tain " est chantee avec une incomparable 
 puissance de versification. . . 
 
 " The Burial of King Cormac " m'a encore plus enthousi- 
 
268 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 asme, a une nouvelle lecture, c'est vraiment un chef-d'ceuvre 
 de poesie heroique. J'ai aussi relu avec un nouveau plaisir 
 les quinze pieces deja publiees a Dublin, et je ne me lasserai 
 jamais de lire "The Forging of the Anchor" et "The Fair 
 Hills of Ireland," pour laquelle vous savez nous avons passion, 
 et POde de votre O'Byrne qui a trouve dans vous un interprete 
 digne de, lui. Cette poesie lyrique de votre receuil, moitie 
 traduite, moitie imitee de la poesie nationale, est vraiment a 
 la hauteur de la portion epique ; je ne sais meme pas si je 
 ne le prefere point : vous avez la une traduction d'O'Gnive 
 a laquelle rien ne saurait etre compare. J'en ai pleure ■ ces 
 cris patriotiques me vont au cceur; j'ai ete berce de chants 
 pareils. En avez vous beaucoup de tels? C'est ecrit avec 
 des larmes et du sang. Donnez-nous en souvent de ce 
 genre. 
 
 In a further letter, written after a reperusal of Fer- 
 guson's * Lays,' the Viscount expresses his disappoint- 
 ment — 
 
 Je ne pas trouver dans votre receuil la spirituelle chanson 
 politique, " When this Old Cap was JVew." . . . Je ne 
 veux pas finir cette lettre sans vous prier de me mettre aux 
 pieds de Mme. Ferguson, au souvenir de laquelle ma femme se 
 rappelle, et sans vous assurer de nouveau de mes sentiments 
 tres affectueux. Vte. de la Villemarque. 
 
 A criticism from the pen of the Breton poet has 
 been thus translated : — 
 
 In default of poems in the Irish language itself — a language 
 which, notwithstanding the desponding presages of Mr Fer- 
 guson, I affirm will yet make itself heard in its proper hour 
 — I shall lend a right willing ear to new ' Lays of the Western 
 Gael.' For, so far from being tiresome to me, as to a certain 
 super-Saxonised sheller of rhythmical pea-pods {eplucheur de 
 mots et de rimes) of the 'Saturday Review,' Mr Ferguson's 
 poetry gives me great delight. My pleasure would be complete 
 
Ferguson's analysis of " congal." 269 
 
 if he would but realise the ideal of Anglo-Irish poetry of which 
 I dream : I indicate it frankly to the author of " The Burial 
 of King Cormac " and " The Forging of the Anchor." He 
 possesses the art, the rhythm, the nerve, the inspiration, and 
 the fire. Let him apply those rare faculties with which God 
 has endowed him to Irish subjects more varied, of a more 
 general interest, taken in larger measure, from contemporaneous 
 history, in the living chronicle of his sympathising country ; 
 and men will say of his ' Lays of the Gael ' what they have said 
 of the famous Breton Lays of Marie of France — 
 
 " Lays they are that ladies please 
 With pure delight in all degrees, 
 For lays of goodwill [lois] are these." 
 
 After the publication of " Congal " in 1872 it was 
 intimated to its author by Margaret Stokes that her 
 father proposed to review his epic. The sympathy 
 between Ferguson and his beloved friend made this 
 intelligence very gratifying to him, and he wrote to 
 Miss Stokes giving his own interpretation of the action 
 of the poem. The contemplated review was never 
 written — Dr Stokes's professional engagements were 
 too engrossing. 
 
 March 12, 1873. 
 My dear Margaret, — As you are good enough to wish to 
 see the handsome things Mr de Vere has said of " Congal," 
 I enclose his letter, which, pray, return to me by-and-by. 
 Nothing could be more gratifying to me than what my wife 
 tells me you hinted at as possible — a notice of " Congal " by 
 the man most capable of judging of the work in all its aspects. 
 I would indeed feel greatly pleased if your father could find 
 time for such occupation. I am sure he grasps the whole 
 action, and sees how it hangs together, and moves to one end, 
 which indeed was the main thing I had in view in writing it, 
 and the one thing in which, if I may say it, many finer works 
 of our day are deficient. 
 
270 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 If I myself were called on to make an exposition of my own 
 idea of " Congal," I would begin by showing the place in the 
 old Irish social scheme of the Bard — the Bards' burthensome- 
 ness, and the efforts to expel and reduce them, first under 
 Conor MacNessa, when Cuchullin protected them, and next at 
 the Synod of Dromceat, when Columba broke the force of the 
 blow that fell upon them and drove bands of them abroad on the 
 hospitality of the old bard-honouring nobles of Ulidia. Next I 
 would show the fallen estate of the Kings of Uladh, who, from 
 ruling at Emania over all the province from Easroe to Dundalk, 
 had been circumscribed by the encroachments of the Clan Colla 
 within the little limits of Down and Antrim. Here young 
 Congal, after aiding in the restoration of Domnal, disappointed 
 of his reward, and surrounded by the exiled Bards, who hoped 
 for their restoration to social power and dignity on the ruins 
 of the newly constituted Christian establishment, comes on the 
 scene, distracted between the sense of injury and the desire to 
 have his share of the pleasures of life. I don't think it would 
 become me to say a word of the treatment of the subject after 
 this preliminary. Only I would observe that I wished my 
 action to toil slowly up to its turning-point, and, after a pause 
 there, go direct to its catastrophe with increasing momentum. 
 I have stopped to moralise at the cando in the banquet scene, 
 but meant at least to keep the action in continuous progress 
 everywhere else. I think I have been too profuse in illus- 
 tration and simile, and that this is the most palpable of my 
 faults, but I could not altogether discard the character of my 
 original. No one appears to advantage as an Egoist, and as I 
 wish to keep my good standing in your eyes, I go no further. — 
 Believe me very affectionately, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 In a letter to Ferguson, written in 1874, Professor 
 Edward Dowden thus speaks of " Congal " : — 
 
 You say " Congal " has not been a success. I think, whether 
 in "broad rumour" or not, a success it has been, estimated by 
 the " perfect witness of all-judging Jove." A poem with epic 
 breadth and thews is not likely to be popular now. A diseased 
 and over - sensitive nerve is a qualification for the writing of 
 
PROFESSOR DOWDEN ON " CONGAL. 271 
 
 poetry at present much more than a thoughtful brain or strength 
 of muscle. Some little bit of novel sensibility, a delight in 
 such colours as French milliners send over for ladies' bonnets, 
 or the nosing of certain curious odours, is enough to make the 
 fortune of a small poet. 
 
 What seems to me most noteworthy in your poems is the 
 union of culture with simplicity and strength. Their refinement 
 is large and strong, not curious and diseased, and they have 
 spaces and movements which give one a feeling like the sea, 
 or the air on a headland. 
 
 I had not meant to say anything of " Congal," but somehow 
 this came and said itself. — Very truly yours, E. Dowden. 
 
 The greatest poem which Sir Samuel Ferguson has written 
 is, in our estimation, his "Congal," published in 1872 [wrote 
 Judge O'Hagan]. It is a genuine Irish epic, based, like other 
 epics, upon mingled history and legend, having its roots in the 
 deepest human passions — wrath, love, ambition, revenge — and 
 with these passions shaped by destiny to a fatal end. No 
 poem so Homeric in the march of the narrative, in the char- 
 acter of the heroes, or in the resonant majesty of the versifi- 
 cation, has appeared in our time, and withal it is thoroughly 
 and in essence Celtic. 
 
 The old Bardic tale, the " Cath Magh-Rath," which 
 culminates in the battle of Moyra, a.d. 637, on which 
 Ferguson founded his epic, was retold by Mr Ailing- 
 ham in ' Fraser's Magazine,' — May 1875, — in which 
 he thus speaks of " Congal " :— 
 
 It is not part of the plan of this paper to review " Congal," 
 to put it into the winnowing -machine of criticism, but to 
 point to it as one of the works in recent poetic literature 
 worthiest of being known and studied. 
 
 The author is no untried man in the world of letters and 
 the world of practical life. Samuel Ferguson, Q.C., LL.D., 
 &c, &c, Deputy Keeper of the Public Records of Ireland, 
 is a distinguished archaeologist as well as a poet. Though his 
 
272 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 poems as a whole are far less known than they ought to be, 
 " The Forging of the Anchor " has long ago taken its place 
 among classical English lyrics ; nor is it any longer a secret 
 that the admirable piece of humour called " Father Tom and 
 the Pope," which, like "The Anchor," first appeared in 
 ' Blackwood's Magazine,' and has delighted so many readers, 
 is also his. In this era of advertising and trumpet-blowing, he 
 is one of those who have preferred to be private. At what time 
 the public shall begin to recognise the place in English poetry 
 of the author of " Congal," and ' Lays of the Western Gael, and 
 other Poems,' is more their concern than his. But the Old 
 Dustman, Father Time, though he may be slow, does not fail 
 to carry off rubbish in his cart ; while things of worth, great or 
 small, become added to the inheritance of the human race. 
 
 Dear Mr Ferguson [wrote Lady Wilde from Moytura 
 House, Cong, August 12, 1872], — You have added a splen- 
 did and noble poem to our literature, and pray accept my 
 grateful thanks for the kind and gratifying words which you 
 have inscribed with my name in the presentation copy I have 
 had the honour and pleasure to receive from you. I have 
 read and re-read and thought much over this poem. Congal 
 seems to me to typify Ireland. He has the noble, pure, 
 loving nature of his race — still clinging to the old, from 
 instinctive faith and reverence, through all the shadowy fore- 
 bodings that he is fighting for a lost cause ; and the super- 
 natural here has a weird reality and deep significance. It 
 is the expression of our own presentiments. The pathetic 
 beauty and interest of Congal's career is heightened by the 
 consciousness that he is fated, doomed — for the darkness of 
 the old era must fade before the light of the new dispensation ; 
 and we see even this light breaking in on his own mind, as in 
 the prayer before battle, when he utters the great " perhaps," 
 which is the first gleam of a dawning truth. Yet he fights on, 
 with the self-immolating zeal of a martyr, for the old prejudices 
 of his nation, his fathers, his childhood, against the new ideas 
 that overthrew all he reverenced. Still, all our sympathies are 
 with Congal — with the suffering, the fated, the wronged — for a 
 
LADY WILDE ON " CONGAL." 273 
 
 beautiful nature underlies all. So it is with Ireland. She has 
 the sympathy of the World because of the intense faith, love, 
 and reverence from which spring her faults, her failure, and 
 her doom — for all these qualities are arrayed against progress, 
 against the advancing light — and for the old Idols against the 
 Eternal Truth. 
 
 The death of Congal, too, has a pathetic significance. The 
 False requires no Hero to slay it : it is doomed, and the 
 weakest hand can effect its fall. 
 
 Here again I find a symbolism to our poor Irish cause : 
 always led by a hero, always slain by a fool. I must talk over 
 this, and a great deal more in the epic, when I see you. 
 
 I like the full flow of your verse, with the strong, firm 
 rhymes, which are always pure and musical, yet never obtru- 
 sive on the ear by strangeness or straining ; and throughout 
 there is the rapid throb of young heroic blood. Yet one 
 is also often reminded that the author is well versed in the 
 highest classic models. 
 
 There are some exceedingly interesting and dramatic frag- 
 ments from the Irish in the appendix : of course they are your 
 own, as you do not name any other author. They are admir- 
 ably rendered, and you must give us a collected volume of 
 Dramatic fragments from the Irish. These sketches are much 
 too good for an appendix. I look with wonder on this large 
 and handsome volume evolved out of the dull routine of 
 Dublin life, where so little exists to stimulate the intellect. 
 What thought, what courage, what intellectual fervour, to 
 produce so noble a poem ! What artistic power to eliminate 
 these scenes from the dark past of above a thousand years 
 ago, and set them before us with so much of real human life 
 and feeling, and with all the accessories so harmoniously 
 blended in, that we are not startled by a single incongruity, 
 nor yet are our sympathies disturbed by any visible effort to 
 intrude the learning of the antiquary or historian ! Still, it is 
 evident that none but a mind well cultured in both these 
 departments of literature could have produced so perfect a 
 result. You had first a rich store of material to fling into 
 your crucible before you evoked the gold. 
 
 VOL. II. S 
 
274 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 Forgive me all this long outpouring of my thoughts, and 
 believe me ever gratefully yours, 
 
 Jane Francesca Wilde. 
 
 And Burton, with his fine genius of artist and 
 man of letters, wrote his criticisms to the author, 
 who had dedicated the work to him, — for " Congal " 
 was inscribed to " Three much prized Friends, Mar- 
 garet Stokes, Whitley Stokes, and Frederic William 
 Burton " :— 
 
 When you told me you were sending me " Congal," and 
 even when I received it (until I had time to look into it), I had 
 no notion it was really your great, long-hoped-for " Battle of 
 Moyra," but rather some poem worked out in the meantime. 
 I hail it with a thousand welcomes and embraces. I took it 
 up on Friday evening, and rather devoured than read until the 
 small hours of the morning had come unawares upon me. 
 
 It bore me along like a good ship that bounds forcibly and 
 springingly over the waves, driven by a fresh and fair wind, 
 till the aim of the voyage is forgotten in the delight of voyag- 
 ing, and the port is wished still far away. I don't think I 
 know of anything produced in our own era that can compare 
 with " Congal " in vitality, in virile force, and in epic dignity. 
 The characters have a life and a consistency that bring them 
 out in startling relief, and the interest never flags for a moment. 
 It is Homeric. 
 
 I really know nothing in modern work to compare with 
 many passages I could point out in " Congal " in passionate 
 power of expression, born of vigour of conception. That 
 third book is gorgeous in its imaginativeness, and though I 
 well recollect your reading to me years ago those passages 
 where the supernatural agencies are brought into play, and 
 though the impression was deep and lasting, yet now, 
 reading it for myself, and with all the context, it seems to gain 
 in power and in terror. It is quite wonderful to me how you 
 have availed yourself of the incidents in the old Irish poem, 
 
SIR F. W. BURTON ON " CONGAL." 275 
 
 which sometimes in their rude naivete rather excite a smile, 
 and have turned them into dignity and beauty. Certainly the 
 unavoidable incident of St Erc's eggs would have been a crux 
 to any one but yourself. But you have made it, by a touch 
 or two, a poetical and yet most natural point. I could say a 
 hundred things about this great work, which has lost nothing 
 by being so long kept under your shaping hands ; but perhaps 
 I may yet have an opportunity of talking with you face to face 
 about it. . Yet I must just say how forcibly I am struck by the 
 thoroughly northern colouring in general, and the thoroughly 
 Irish colouring in particular, which is imparted to the whole 
 poem. Your minute and loving acquaintance with every inch 
 of the ground where the scenes are laid could alone have done 
 this. But it was indispensable to the real life of the work. 
 
 The vehicle you have chosen in the metre is admirable. 
 No other measure could carry on the narrative so boundingly, 
 and fit itself so well to every necessity; whilst the short 
 chants into which the speakers burst in the third and fourth 
 books, gain and give force and charm by the contrast. 
 
 I have had no such joyful surprise for long as this of find- 
 ing your epic at length really in print. 
 
 There are two or three printer's errors here and there, and 
 though I daresay you have corrected them in some other 
 proofs, I have carefully made notes of them, seeing them un- 
 corrected in the pages. 
 
 I have put upon paper my notion for a device for the pro- 
 posed publications, but as my time would not permit me quite 
 to satisfy myself with it to-day, I shall postpone sending it for 
 your opinion till I shall have got it to what I wish. . . . — 
 Ever, dear Ferguson, affectionately yours, 
 
 Fred. W. Burton. 
 
 Mr A. M. Williams wrote from America : — 
 
 I have read " Congal " with very great delight. I was par- 
 ticularly struck with the grandeur of the phantom figures of 
 the Herdsman, the Walker, and the Washer of the Ford. 
 They were grander than Ossian, as more distinct. . . 
 
 I could say much of the happy boldness and felicity of 
 
276 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 diction in " Congal," which struck me as more than rivalling 
 at times Chapman's translation of Homer, and many things 
 more to its honour, which would sound too much like flattery 
 in the pages of a personal letter, and I hope to be able to 
 bear my testimony in print. I hope to devote my summer 
 vacation to a review of "Congal" with your other poetical 
 works. . . 
 
 I cannot expect much from your time, but I shall be always 
 more than glad to hear from you on any occasion. 
 
 Mr Williams's review did not appear till after 
 Ferguson's death. After a further lapse of time this 
 able and sympathetic critic again wrote of " Con- 
 gal":- 
 
 This is the work to which Sir Samuel Ferguson has devoted 
 himself in his reproduction of Irish Celtic poetry, both ballad 
 and epic, and particularly in his poem of " Congal." . 
 
 Its faithfulness as the reproduction of an ancient Celtic 
 poem consists in the skill with which the characteristic style 
 of language, its multiplied and doubled epithets, is renewed in 
 English without the effect of archaism, and the reproduction 
 of its heroic and primitive tone and spirit. Its original merits 
 are the force and vigour of the narrative, the vivid descriptions 
 of scenery, the strength and impressiveness of the supernatural 
 figures, the genuine inspiration of battle in the combats, and 
 the easy mastery of the " long resounding line " in the verse. 
 There is no modern poem which so thoroughly reproduces the 
 ancient form and spirit of a bygone age, and in which so com- 
 plete and accurate an idea can be obtained of the element of 
 a vanished poetry as in " Congal." 
 
 Of the felicity with which these double descriptive epithets 
 are used there are a thousand specimens, such as 
 
 "The white-maned, proud-neck-arching tide," 
 
 and they give the dominant characteristic of the style as in the 
 original, with a grace and appropriateness which make them 
 a natural part of the English language. 
 
MR WILLIAMS AND MR MACCARTHY ON " CONGAL." 277 
 
 With its faithfulness to tone and character, its skilful repro- 
 duction of style and language, its force and vigour of narrative, 
 its forms of mythologic mysticism, and its appreciation of the 
 magic of nature, " Congal " is the most perfect reproduction 
 of the form and spirit of ancient Celtic poetry in existence, and 
 from it the English reader who is not a Celtic student can 
 obtain the best knowledge of its pervading elements. 
 
 The " long resounding " lines in " Congal " seemed 
 to have charmed the ears of its poet readers. Mr 
 MacCarthy enlarges on these in a letter of December 
 29, 1872 : — 
 
 Your kind inscription on the fly-leaf of " Congal " gave me 
 the greatest pleasure. . . . The copy you have so kindly 
 sent me will possess a special value as coming from yourself. 
 In the two books which I have read, Homer and his best 
 interpreter, George Chapman, were ever present to my mind, 
 — not that there was any trace of imitation, but that I felt I 
 was reading the stately song of a bard who was akin to both. 
 
 "The long resounding march and energy divine" 
 
 of many lines can only be equalled, certainly not surpassed, in 
 the ' Iliad ' of George Chapman. 
 
 Sir Samuel Ferguson published in 1880 a volume 
 entitled ' Poems.' Many of these were of a more 
 philosophic, religious, and spiritual cast of thought 
 than had previously been expressed in his writings. 
 They will be reserved to illustrate the attitude of his 
 mind towards questions of belief and personal ex- 
 perience. Besides these the volume contains poems 
 on Irish subjects which have been pronounced by most 
 competent judges to be Ferguson's masterpieces. Mr 
 Aubrey de Vere considers " Conary " his highest 
 
278 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 achievement ; Mr Allingham prefers " Deirdre," whose 
 story — ever captivating to Ferguson's imagination — 
 was dramatised by him in this volume. " The Sinking 
 of the Monitor," an incident of the Civil War in 
 America, and "The Widow's Cloak," have been 
 specially praised by Mr Williams ; " Mesgedra," a Lay 
 of the Western Gael, ably annotated and criticised by 
 Mr Lyster; and "The Naming of Cuchullin," — all 
 these in the volume of 1880 have had their meed of 
 admiration. 
 
 Sir Samuel Ferguson's poetry [wrote Mr Aubrey de Vere] 
 has a very special character of its own. ... It would be 
 difficult to find, amid our recent literature, a poem which at 
 once aims as high as " Conary " and as adequately fulfils its 
 aim. Perhaps its greatest merit, its originality, may discourage 
 rather than attract those indolent readers who shrink from all 
 themes except such as they are used to — men of that species 
 of intelligence which is well pleased to have its own coals 
 stirred up to brighter flame, but sends out a jet of smoke in 
 the face of one who throws fresh aliment on the fire. More 
 apprehensive readers can, however, hardly fail to be struck by 
 the degree in which they meet, within a narrow compass, so 
 many of the higher qualities of poetry. . . . 
 
 Novel to English readers as is such a poetic theme, and 
 embarrassing as are a few of the Gaelic names, this work 
 belongs to the "great" style of poetry — that style which is 
 characterised by simplicity, breadth of effect, a careless strength 
 full of movement, but with nothing of the merely "sensa- 
 tional" about it, and an entire absence of those unclassic 
 tricks that belong to meaner verse. It has caught thoroughly 
 that epic character so remarkable in those Bardic Legends 
 which were transmitted orally through ages when Homer must 
 have been a name unknown in Ireland. 
 
 The specimens of Sir Samuel Ferguson's poetry here pre- 
 sented need no elaborate comment. Obviously its qualities 
 
MR DE VERE ON FERGUSON'S POETRY. 279 
 
 are those characteristic of the noble, not the ignoble, poetry — 
 viz., passion, imagination, vigour, an epic largeness of con- 
 ception, wide human sympathies, vivid and truthful descrip- 
 tion : while with these it unites none of the vulgar stimulants 
 for exhausted or morbid poetic appetites, whether the epicurean 
 seasoning, the sceptical, or the revolutionary. Its diction is 
 pure, its metre full of variety ; and with these merits, common 
 to all true poetry, it unites an insight which only a man of 
 genius can possess into the special characteristics of those 
 ancient times and manners which are so frequently its subject. 
 His Irish poetry is Irish : not like a good deal which bears 
 that name — i.e., by dint of being bad English, while stuffed 
 with but the vulgarer accidents, not the essential characteristics, 
 of Gaelic Ireland, — not thus, but by having the genuine Gaelic 
 spirit in it. That spirit, like the Irish airs, its most authentic 
 expression, has much of the minor key about it, and many 
 " shrill notes of anger " besides ; but, alike with its sadness, its 
 fierceness, and its wild fits of mirth, a witching tenderness is 
 mingled : and all those qualities are largely found in Sir 
 Samuel Ferguson's poetry. Whoever follows his footsteps up 
 the purple glens of old Erin will not fail to hear the wild 
 slogan of the clan, and farther off " the horns of Elfland faintly 
 blowing." Such poetry can hardly fail sooner or later to 
 conquer that difficulty which the most accomplished English- 
 men often find in understanding poetry which worthily illus- 
 trates the highest Irish themes, even when the critic is patient 
 with modern Irish comedy in its vulgarest forms. Poetry on 
 its lower levels will gratify low appetites, notwithstanding 
 serious diversities in national tastes : it is when poetry deals 
 worthily with what is at once high and characteristic that the 
 diversities and latent antagonisms of national tastes are tested, 
 such diversities as Mr Matthew Arnold has admirably illus- 
 trated in his essay on " Celtic Literature." . . . He 
 [Ferguson] will find readers, however, and their award will 
 be, "The author of these poems added another string to the 
 great English harp — the Gaelic string." 
 
 This criticism appeared among Mr de Vere's 
 
280 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 ' Essays, chiefly Literary and Ethical,' published in 
 1889, three years after Ferguson's death. It is dis- 
 criminating, yet delicate. It is full of generous 
 appreciation, and is doubly valuable as coming from 
 one whose own gifts of genius render him so com- 
 petent to judge of the works of others. 
 
 Mr Allingham wrote from Haslemere, Surrey, June 
 30, 1880 : — 
 
 My dear Ferguson, — It would be hard indeed to find 
 any other handwriting or any other book that could bring 
 me as much pleasure as yours. Let me thank you and con- 
 gratulate you most heartily. Many thoughts of my own 
 swarmed about the pages as I turned them, like bees in a 
 lime-tree \ but 'twere to small purpose to try and make their 
 buzzings articulate. Still, I must say a few things out of many. 
 In your style high culture is reconciled with simplicity, direct- 
 ness, and originality, and nothing can be happier than your 
 enrichment of English speech with Irish forms without the 
 least violence. All the Irish poems are very remarkable, 
 but " Deirdre " I count the chief triumph. Its peculiar form 
 of unity is perfectly managed, while in general effect it recalls 
 nothing so much as a Greek play. "The Widow's Cloak" 
 is a notable artistic feat, but for monarchs and "men in red" 
 I must confess to little liking. " Dear Wilde " gave, when 
 you first sent it, and again gives, a sweet and tender sensation ; 
 but believe that not one of your poetic children has missed 
 a friendly welcome here. As to the world into which they 
 are sent to wander, I fear 'tis but a silly and a stupid world — 
 this generation of it — in its notions of literature. For my 
 own part, I do my best to play Coriolanus and banish it. 
 
 We are enjoying the summer in this village, situated between 
 Hindhead and Blackdown, two upland regions of heather and 
 wide prospects over the meadows, cornfields, old farm-steads, 
 and oak-woods spread below and fading into blue distance. 
 My wife finds plenty of sketching ; little Gerald and Eva roll 
 
LETTERS OF MR WILLIAMS. 281 
 
 in the hay and eat bilberries ; I write, walk, read, think often 
 of old friends, and am affectionately yours both, 
 
 W. Allingham. 
 
 Mr Williams's letter on " The Sinking of the Moni- 
 tor " runs thus : — 
 
 I have received your new volume of poems with the great- 
 est pleasure, and am more than delighted with its contents. 
 I immediately republished the very thrilling poem on the loss 
 of the " Monitor," and it has been already extensively copied. 
 It is especially grateful to us, as European poets so seldom 
 find any themes in our history or experience worthy of notice, 
 and when one does in such a manner as that, we feel doubly 
 grateful. I also greatly admire "The Hymn of the Fisher- 
 men," which you were kind enough to send me in a slip some 
 time ago. But my opinion of the whole volume I shall take 
 occasion to express more at length in a review with special 
 reference to all your poetical works — ' Lays of the Western 
 Gael,' " Congal," and the present volume. . . . — Yours truly, 
 
 Alfred M. Williams. 
 
 This was gratifying to Ferguson. A correspondence 
 ensued which resulted in the dedication to him of Mr 
 Williams's ' Poets and Poetry of Ireland ' in these 
 words: "To Sir Samuel Ferguson, who has done so 
 much by genius to adorn, and by learning to illustrate, 
 the Poetry of Ireland, this volume is dedicated." 
 
 I take great pleasure in forwarding to you with this a copy 
 of ' The Poets and Poetry of Ireland ' [wrote Mr Williams]. 
 I am aware how thin must seem the knowledge of Irish Celtic 
 literature to one of your scholarship, and how many mistakes 
 and blunders you may find in it ; but I venture to hope that 
 I have shown an appreciation of the national characteristics 
 of Irish poetry, and been able to recognise the genuine gold 
 from the tinsel, and the real emeralds from the green glass 
 
282 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 imitations. And also I hope to present in a proportionate 
 and well-balanced form a representative body of Irish poetry. 
 
 The critic and the poet into whose aims and genius 
 he so fully entered never met. Sir Samuel was no 
 longer here when Mr Williams visited Ireland in 1887. 
 He came for change of scene and recovery of health, 
 a mourner for the loss of a beloved wife. When in 
 Dublin he called on Lady Ferguson. She was then 
 engaged in preparing for the press a popular edition 
 of her husband's works. Mr Williams informed her 
 as to the law of American copyright, and most kindly 
 wrote an Introduction which would secure the volumes 
 from piracy. From this Introduction a few passages 
 are here given : — 
 
 Sir Samuel Ferguson was early attracted to the study of 
 the ancient Celtic literature of Ireland, and early imbued with 
 the spirit of its poetry. Some of the most beautiful of his 
 poems in this spirit, particularly that very melodious and regal 
 keen, the " Lament of Deirdre for the Sons of Usnach," are 
 to be found in the volumes of ' Hibernian Nights' Entertain- 
 ments ' preceding these ; and, in spite of a highly-successful 
 debut in English literature by "The Forging of the Anchor," 
 which at once took its place among the poems of the English 
 language, which are the vital and peculiar possessions of the 
 people, and other poetical work, which would have given him 
 a distinct place among English poets, the chief labour and 
 success of his literary life were in the interpretation of Celtic 
 history and poetry and spirit, and were by him so regarded. 
 He did it alike with the learning of the profound and accurate 
 scholar and the genius of the poet. He did not study the 
 ancient Celtic literature and Bardic remains of Ireland in the 
 spirit of the archaeologist and antiquary, although with equal 
 diligence and accuracy, but with a sympathetic appreciation of 
 
MR WILLIAMS ON FERGUSON'S POETRY. 283 
 
 its pervading elements of poetry and the genius of the Celtic 
 race. . . . 
 
 To reproduce the spirit of ancient Celtic poetry in modern 
 verse and revivify its shadowy figures, it is necessary to be 
 imbued not only with an absolute knowledge of the history 
 of the time, and to be able to repeople the green plains and 
 brown mountains, the bare headlands and grassy burial 
 mounds, and the vast and lonely cromlechs with the figures 
 of the mythical heroes, and to see again the giants in the 
 cloud-wraiths of vapour that stalk over the hills, and to hear 
 the voices of the threatening or lamenting genii in the thunder 
 of the surf and the roar of the swelling flood, but also to 
 have a perfect sympathy with the melancholy and romantic 
 genius of the people and the features of the landscape, which 
 so largely coloured it. It is that appreciation of the past in 
 the light of the present, and the informing spirit of the natural 
 scenery, which so profoundly affected Wordsworth at the grave 
 of Ossian, and is so perfectly expressed in the few lines written 
 at Glen Almain. To accomplish this task requires a com- 
 pelling genius hardly less strong than that of the bard in " The 
 Tain-Quest," who summoned its dead creator to speak in the 
 mists and voices of the air above his grave. 
 
 This is what Ferguson has done. He studied not to trans- 
 late but to reproduce the spirit of the Ossianic verse. The 
 mighty heroes of the battles and forays, whose warlike habits 
 of mind were tempered with compassion and humanity and an 
 almost feminine tenderness in comparison with the ferocity of 
 the Scandinavian heroes, stride through 'The Lays of the 
 Western Gael' and the epic of "Congal" in the performance 
 of their feats of war and chase, in the exercise of their more 
 than Homeric hospitality, in the dramas of love, and their 
 peculiarly high-minded and passionate friendship, with a large- 
 ness of thew and sinew and an extravagance of deed suited to 
 the romantic atmosphere, and yet with the essential truths of 
 human passion and pathos. The gigantic figures of the spectres 
 of headland and mountain, the storm and the flood, who were 
 the friends or the foes of the heroes, and the spirits of the 
 visible nature around them, the "Spectre Herdsman," the 
 
284 HI S WORK AS A POET. 
 
 "Giant Walker," the "Washer of the Ford," and other native 
 ghosts and daemons, who people Celtic poetry as they do that 
 of every imaginative race in its primitive era, live and move, 
 in their native hues and terrors, in the magic that informs the 
 mist and cloud with personal shape as when they were first 
 created in the vivid imaginations not yet emancipated from 
 the invisible terrors of nature — 
 
 " At midnight from their mountain-peaks 
 The fierce De Danaan ghosts come down," 
 
 and the voice of the meres and fells wail in calmer tones of 
 lamentation and grief. . . . 
 
 Finally, the impress of the past as it is visible to the present, 
 the effect of the grey cairn and grassy burial-mound, and 
 almost the last fading of the tokens of the aboriginal race into 
 the bosom of nature, and the perception of its spirit amid the 
 light and bustle of the day, — 
 
 " The loneliness and awe secure " 
 
 of the forgotten dead, — is the task of the modern poet speaking 
 in his own time, and to his own generation, of the past. This 
 has been done by Ferguson, and not only does the spirit of 
 Celtic Ireland dwell completely and perfectly in his poetry, 
 but I know of no other instance in literature in which such 
 a work has been so thoroughly and successfully accom- 
 plished. . . . 
 
 There need not be pointed out to any student of poetry the 
 originality and felicity of his diction and rhythm, the happy 
 boldness and vividness of epithet, and the direct clearness and 
 simplicity of his style ; nor to the student of humanity the high 
 and pure thought, the noble aspiration, and the deep and pro- 
 found patriotism, which were the nature of the man, and the 
 product of his noble and lovable character. 
 
 Finally, it may be permitted in one of a nationality which 
 cannot be accused of unfriendliness to the Irish people, and 
 which has absorbed and is absorbing so many of its elements, 
 to express the desire and the hope that a study of the works of 
 Ferguson and of the lofty and noble type of the ancient heroes 
 
LETTERS OF MR BENNETT AND DR WALLER. 285 
 
 whom he depicts, their chivalry and friendliness as well as 
 courage and patriotism, will have its effect upon the spirit of 
 modern times, and calm the passions as well as elevate the 
 tone of patriotic endeavour among all who share the blood of 
 the " kindly Gael." It would be the highest honour and most 
 welcome tribute to the genius of the poet who has done so 
 much to renew and vivify the spirit of Celtic Ireland in 
 heroic verse. 
 
 On receiving the volume of ' Poems ' published in 
 1880 Mr Bennett wrote : — 
 
 What a pleasure it was to me to see your handwriting again ! 
 What pleasure I have owed to you through fifty years ! The 
 Ballad poetry of Ireland has been my most treasured pocket- 
 companion ■ and " The Welshmen of Tirawley," " Willy Gilli- 
 land," " The Boatman's Song," and " The Forging of the 
 Anchor " have been as often re-read by me as any poems I 
 have delighted in. I thank you from my heart for the deep 
 pleasure your genius has given to me in boyhood, in manhood, 
 and with an even greater gladness in my age. 
 
 Dr J. F. Waller, long resident in London, had 
 formerly lived in Dublin. He had been a frequent 
 contributor to the ' University ' during the years when 
 Ferguson also wrote much in that Magazine. In 
 acknowledgment of a copy of ' Poems ' sent to Dr 
 Waller, Ferguson received from him the following 
 letter :— 
 
 4 Montpelier Square, London, S.W., 
 June 9, 1880. 
 
 My dear Sam (for old friendship must discard the for- 
 mality of addressing you by your title), — On my return to 
 London on Monday evening I found the kind present of 
 your book of ' Poems ' awaiting me. A very gratifying gift 
 it is to me, as its inscription tells of "old affection and 
 
286 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 recollection," and that recollection carries me back to the 
 year 1830 or 1831, when I first formed an acquaintance 
 with you that has now endured for near half a century. As 
 Beaconsfield says, "a great many things have happened 
 since then." You have beaten me in the race of life, and 
 of that I do not complain, but heartily rejoice in your 
 honourable success. We are now severed and can meet 
 but seldom, yet I trust our friendship will continue unimpaired 
 to the last. 
 
 I have read a great part of your book with great pleasure. 
 All the poems of the ' Western Gael ' are admirable. " The 
 Little Maiden " is charming. But I'm not going to criticise. 
 My heart is too near yours for that. . . . Present my best 
 respects to Lady Ferguson, and believe me, my dear Sam, 
 your affectionate friend, J. F. Waller. 
 
 My dear Friend [wrote the Rev. Robert Perceval Graves], 
 — Accept my best thanks for " Deirdre," and also for your kind 
 inscription, which I value highly. 
 
 " Deirdre " deserves thus to stand singly in the comely 
 dress you have given her. The night before I received 
 this copy I had been reading the poem in the collection, 
 and feeling continual admiration for the vigour and clearness 
 with which you had brought the history out in dramatic 
 form. It has the clearness of good narrative and the vigour 
 of drama. I don't know any poet who can make a single 
 word carry more meaning ; but that is not all — carry forward 
 more action is a peculiar merit, and it is yours. The story 
 is an affecting one, of much beauty, dignity, and pathos. . . . 
 — Believe me ever faithfully yours, R. P. Graves. 
 
 The opinions of poets, contemporaries, and friends 
 have now been given — Allingham, de Vere, Bennett, 
 MacCarthy, Waller, and Robert Perceval Graves. But 
 Ferguson experienced a new and joyous sensation 
 when he found the young Irish poets gathering around 
 him, and looking up to him as one whose example had 
 
YEATS ON ' THE POETRY OF SIR S. FERGUSON.' 287 
 
 stimulated and set before them a high standard — a 
 nobler ambition than mere personal success. He 
 pointed out the ends at which they should aim, 
 " their Country's, their God's, and Truth's"; and 
 encouraged their efforts by sympathy and counsel. 
 Instances of this have been given in previous 
 chapters. Here will be cited only Mr W. B. Yeats's 
 article in the * Dublin University Review,' November 
 1886, on "The Poetry of Sir Samuel Ferguson," 
 and the criticism which appeared in ' The Reflector ' 
 of April 14, 1888, by Mr Alfred Perceval Graves. 
 
 If Samuel Ferguson [wrote Yeats] had written of Arthur and 
 of Guinevere, they [his readers] would have received him 
 gladly : that he chose rather to tell of Congal and of desolate 
 and queenly Deirdre, we give him full-hearted thanks ; he 
 has restored to our hills and rivers their epic interest. The 
 nation has found in Davis a battle-call, as in Mangan its cry 
 of despair ; but he only, the one Homeric poet of our time, 
 could give us immortal companions still wet with the dew of 
 their primal world. . . . 
 
 "The Twins of Macha" and "The Naming of Cuchullin " 
 give us the key-note of his work — that simplicity which is 
 force. He is never florid, never for a moment rhetorical. 
 We see at once that he has the supreme gifts of the story- 
 teller — imagination enough to make history read like romance, 
 and simplicity enough to make romance read like history. . . . 
 
 We now come to " Deirdre," which I hold to be the 
 greatest of Sir Samuel Ferguson's poems. . . . In " Deirdre " 
 he has restored to us a fragment of the buried Odyssey of 
 Ireland. 
 
 I have not space to do much more than mention the next 
 two poems. Though lucid and beautiful, they are of much 
 less importance than " Deirdre " or " Conary." In these 
 latter the wave of song reaches its greatest volume of sound 
 and strength. In the " Healing of Conall Carnach " it ebbs 
 
288 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 with soft notes that are almost idyllic, and with a half-regretful 
 prophecy of change. . . . 
 
 In thus describing these poems I have not sought to convey 
 to my readers, for it were hopeless, their fine momentum, the 
 sign-manual of the great writers. . . 
 
 The author of these poems is the greatest poet Ireland has 
 produced, because the most central and most Celtic. What- 
 ever the future may bring forth in the way of a truly great and 
 national literature — and now that the race is so large, so 
 widely spread, and so conscious of its unity, the years are 
 ripe — will find its morning in these three volumes of one 
 who was made by the purifying flame of national sentiment 
 the one man of his time who wrote heroic poetry, — one who, 
 among the somewhat sybaritic singers of his day, was like 
 some aged sea-king sitting among the inland wheat and 
 poppies — the savour of the sea about him, and its strength. 
 
 Mr A. P. Graves has entitled his article which 
 appeared in the ' Reflector ' in April 1888 " Has Ire- 
 land a National Poet ? " 
 
 We do not use the term national in the sense of belonging 
 to the Nationalist party in Ireland. . . . We wished to make 
 use of our word national, as distinguished from Nationalist, 
 clear from the very outset. 
 
 Tom Moore is a poet by virtue of his Irish Melodies, 
 but he never was and never will be accepted by Ireland as 
 her national poet in the sense that Burns has been accepted 
 by the Scotch. Had the circumstances of James Clarence 
 Mangan's life been different, he might possibly have earned 
 the title for a time. But we believe that under the most 
 favourable conditions he would have been obliged to concede 
 it to another writer, whom only now that he has been taken 
 from their midst Irish critics of every shade of political 
 opinion are agreeing to honour by this distinction. That 
 writer is Sir Samuel Ferguson. In him, they say, and we 
 believe justly, their country has at last found a poet who 
 can worthily express the national character in its noblest 
 
"congal" a complete epic poem. 289 
 
 aspects — aspects which Ireland has, alas ! latterly only too 
 often lost sight of. Here is a Belfast man of a fine old 
 Presbyterian stock, who, marvellous to relate, has had the 
 sense to eschew politics in verse, and the magnanimity to 
 study with affection and express with truth the finest character- 
 istics of the Southern and Western Celt. . . . No writer 
 who has dared an English epic in this century has, in our 
 opinion, succeeded, with the sole exception of Ferguson. . . . 
 He has ventured a complete epic poem in his " Congal 
 Claen." 
 
 An epic requires a great subject, and he who writes it 
 must have vision and virility closely allied in his nature, else 
 how can he realise the heroic ideal? We claim these as 
 Ferguson's pre-eminent qualities. He is virile. His heroes 
 proclaim it in their every action, their every utterance, and 
 his tender portrait of Lafinda could only have been drawn by 
 a gallant gentleman. He has vision. The terrible shapes of 
 Celtic superstition — the Giant Walker, the Washer of the 
 Ford — loom monstrously before us as he sings, and he mar- 
 shals the contending hosts at Moyra with a magnificent realism 
 to which we know no modern parallel. And his subject ? It 
 is a great old-world tale of love, and hate, and jealousy, 
 and ambition, and craft, and courage, — a splendid story 
 of the last heroic stand made by Celtic Paganism against 
 the Irish Champions of the Cross. But let our readers 
 judge for themselves whether the following extracts from 
 " Congal " alone do not prove Ferguson to have reached 
 heights hitherto unattained by any Irish poetical writer — heights 
 which justly entitle him to rank as the national poet of 
 Ireland. 
 
 In May 1894 the Hon. Roden Noel, himself a poet 
 of distinction, delivered before the Irish Literary 
 Society in London a lecture on " The Poetry of 
 Sir Samuel Ferguson." It was his last public utter- 
 ance. Before the end of the month the interpreter 
 
 VOL. 11. t 
 
2gO HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 of a brother poet, personally unknown to him, had 
 
 passed 
 
 " Into the land of the great departed, 
 Into the Silent Land." 
 
 Mr Noel's lecture, as already mentioned, was read by 
 Miss Hickey to a Dublin audience in January 1895, 
 Lord Plunket, Archbishop of Dublin, presiding; and 
 speeches were made by him, and by Dr Ingram, Sir 
 William Stokes, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice 
 Fitzgibbon, the Rev. J. P. Mahaffy, and Professor 
 Dowden. Mr Noel's lecture contained the following 
 critical estimate of Ferguson's work : — 
 
 The poetry of Ferguson is human, unaffected, sincere, 
 without mannerism, remarkable for economy of power and 
 parsimony of epithet, concentrated, firm in outline, with a 
 strong grip upon the chosen theme, vivid and graphic in 
 delineation, constructed with the utmost artistic skill, sym- 
 metrical proportion of parts, and general unity of effect ; now 
 and again moving us profoundly by a touch of unforced and 
 thrilling pathos, all the more telling for this economy of 
 power and use of the simplest means to produce the effect 
 intended; sometimes profoundly tragic, and now and again 
 instinct with the fairy glamour or shadowy sublimities of the 
 early Celto-mythopoeic genius. Ferguson's learned researches 
 led him, a congenial spirit, a bard of olden time reincarnate 
 or revived, passing through those archaic portals of the mystic 
 letter — led him, as it were, into long-deserted and silent halls, 
 into the very presence-chamber of the Irish genius, built like 
 walls of Ilion to the sound of song, whereinto entering he 
 found the very harp of Tara, and the chord of that harp he 
 alone was found worthy to awaken, till new song-chambers 
 akin to those enchanted labyrinths of the past were by him 
 linked on to the harmonious tale. " Congal " and the shorter 
 Irish heroic poems combine in a striking manner the vague, 
 
HON. RODEN NOEL ON FERGUSON'S POETRY. 2*gi 
 
 undefined, shadowy grandeur, the supernatural glamour of 
 northern romance, with the self-restraint, distinct symmetrical 
 outline, ordered proportion, and organic construction of the 
 Greek classic. . . . 
 
 The poetry of Ferguson is in one respect akin to the dis- 
 tinctively modern poetry of nature, though with a difference. 
 He has entered into the mythological conceptions of nature 
 common to primitive and pagan races, and has been able to 
 express this so strikingly by means of that peculiarly modern 
 poetic sensitiveness to the spiritual and psychical implications 
 in eternal nature, which is a note of our own time. Fergu- 
 son's well-related groups of typical human figures stand forth 
 solid and vivid from a background of appropriate scenery, as 
 you find them in the classical poets. 
 
 This chapter may fitly close with two utterances 
 of Ferguson himself. The first, a letter to the Rev. 
 M. Russell, S.J., editor of the ' Irish Monthly Maga- 
 zine,' written from Tenby, South Wales, in July 
 i! 
 
 Let me thank you for your obliging letter, enclosing Mr de 
 Vere's note, which reached me while on vacation in the 
 country. I have also heard from Judge O'Hagan, who tells 
 me you contemplate the insertion of a second notice of my 
 poems. It is very grateful to me to find appreciation among 
 my own countrymen. It has hitherto been almost totally 
 denied me in the great centres of criticism in England. Pos- 
 sibly de Vere divines the true cause. My business is, regard- 
 less of such discouragements, to do what I can in the forma- 
 tion of a characteristic school of letters for my own country. 
 For the sympathy and encouragement you give me accept my 
 warmest thanks. 
 
 The second is taken from an autobiographical frag- 
 ment dictated to his wife many years ago at her 
 request. In this unfinished sketch, which is incor- 
 
2g2 HIS WORK AS A POET. 
 
 porated here and there in the present memoir, 
 Ferguson thus speaks of his aims and aspirations : — 
 
 I have nothing to note outside the ordinary routine of my 
 practice at the Bar, where I received my silk gown in 1859, 
 until 1864, when I published my 'Lays of the Western Gael,' 
 followed in 1872 by "Congal," an epic poem of greater length 
 and higher literary pretension. Whether the high place and 
 permanence as part of our national literature aimed at in these 
 works will be ultimately attained must be left to the test of 
 time. At present the cultured criticism of the day is averse 
 to the Irish subject in any form, and the uncultured will not 
 have it save in that form of helotism in which I at least will 
 not present it. 
 
:93 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 1834-1886. 
 
 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL IRISH 
 ACADEMY. 
 
 : I looked beyond the world for truth and beauty : 
 Sought, found, and did my duty." 
 
 —Browning. 
 
 The Royal Irish Academy, originated by gentlemen of 
 scholarly tastes in 1782, was incorporated by Royal 
 Charter four years later, for the study of Science, 
 Polite Literature, and Antiquities in Ireland. Its 
 great services to science are universally recognised ; 
 but those which it has rendered to antiquarian studies 
 will alone be referred to here, as Sir Samuel Ferguson, 
 who became a member in 1834, devoted his energies in 
 especial to its literary and archaeological department. 
 
 To collect, preserve, transcribe, and translate the 
 early monuments of her literary past, of which Ire- 
 land may well be proud, was an important part of the 
 work of the Academy. The * Leabhar na-h Uidhri,' 
 ' Leabhar Breac,' the ' Book of Ballymote,' the ' Book 
 
294 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I.A. 
 
 of Lecan,' are among the many works in the Irish 
 tongue of various ages, from the earliest dawn of 
 literature to the seventeenth century, collected and 
 preserved mainly in the Library of the Royal Irish 
 Academy. 
 
 The country is indebted to her distinguished son 
 Edmund Burke for the restoration of the manuscript 
 of the " Brehon Laws," now in the Library of Trinity 
 College, of which a transcript was made for the 
 Academy. 
 
 In the collection of books and manuscripts, as well 
 as of ancient weapons, ornaments, and other objects 
 of goldsmith's work, the chief impetus was due to 
 Dr Petrie, who became a member of the Council in 
 1830. Under his influence the Academy made grants 
 of money from time to time, and when these proved 
 inadequate, Petrie purchased at his own cost MSS. 
 which would otherwise have been lost to Ireland, and, 
 refusing large offers from private collectors, gave them 
 to the Academy at the price for which he had secured 
 them. Amongst these were MSS. in the handwriting 
 of the O'Clerys, one of them being an autograph 
 copy of the second part of the ' Annals of the Four 
 Masters.' 
 
 Thus stimulated, the Irish public contributed gener- 
 ously, mindful when occasion arose of the duty of 
 preserving the ancient literature and antiquities of 
 their country. The Government also, as has been 
 already mentioned, yielded with enlightened considera- 
 tion to the representations of Sir Samuel Ferguson — 
 
INTERESTING OEJECTS IN ITS MUSEUM. 295 
 
 at the time President of the Academy — when he urged 
 the claim of Ireland to that portion of the Ashburnham 
 MSS. purchased by the nation which belonged to her 
 history and were written in the Gaelic tongue. 
 
 To the munificence of some among its members the 
 Academy is indebted for many of the precious objects 
 in its Museum. The processional cross of Cong — 
 an exquisite specimen of goldsmith work made for 
 Turlogh O'Connor, father to Roderic, last king of 
 Ireland ; the golden torques found at Tara ; the 
 Domnach-Airgid, a reliquary with a copy of the 
 Gospels said to have been brought by St Patrick into 
 Ireland, and given by him to Saint MacCarthen, first 
 bishop of Clogher, — are among its treasures. The three 
 cases — of yew, of copper plated with silver, and of 
 silver plated with gold — which enshrine the Domnach, 
 illustrate the art of the sixth, twelfth, and fourteenth 
 centuries. These, and other gems of Irish art, are 
 now exhibited in the New Dublin Museum of Science 
 and Art, the Academy having acceded to the wish 
 of the Government and transferred its rich collections, 
 on the condition that all these objects shall be retained 
 in Ireland for the public benefit, and exhibited in a 
 room of the New Museum devoted to them alone. 
 The transfer of the collection did not take place till 
 after the New Museum had been opened to the public 
 on the 29th of August 1890. 
 
 Ferguson was in his twenty-fourth year when he 
 was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy, 
 March 15, 1834. 
 
296 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I.A. 
 
 My Academic services [he wrote] began in 1836 with the 
 identification of the then novel "boomerang" with the cateia 
 of Virgil. My latest of a long series of papers on lapidary, 
 especially Ogham inscriptions, and other subjects of archaeo- 
 logical criticism, is an elucidation of an obscure passage in 
 Pliny by the light of ancient Irish authorities. 
 
 Thenceforward he was devoted to its interests, giving 
 time, and thought, and contributions to its publications 
 throughout the ensuing fifty-two years. During the 
 last years of his life he had the honour — one he highly 
 prized — to be its President. 
 
 From his Presidential Addresses, and from those of 
 his immediate successors, the Rev. Samuel Haughton 
 and Dr Ingram, the work done by the Academy from 
 its inception to the present time may be traced. Its 
 first President was James, Earl of Charlemont. His 
 grandson, nearly a century later, presented to the 
 Academy MSS. in the handwriting of the leader 
 of the Volunteers. Sir Samuel Ferguson, in ac- 
 knowledging the " Charlemont Presentation," gives 
 an interesting sketch of the career of the great Lord 
 Charlemont : — 
 
 It gives me pleasure to inform the Academy that an impor- 
 tant addition has been made to our manuscript collections, in 
 the twenty-three volumes on the table, presented to us by the 
 Earl of Charlemont. 
 
 The Academy will better judge of the nature and value of 
 this noble donation from the letter of the Earl of Charlemont 
 which accompanied it. . . . 
 
LETTER OF THE EARL OF CHARLEMONT. 297 
 
 "ROXBOROUGH, MOY, Co. TYRONE, 
 2J/A May 1882. 
 
 "To the President of the Royal Irish Academy. 
 
 " Sir, — I have the honour to present to the Royal Irish 
 Academy twenty-three manuscript volumes, seven in folio size 
 and sixteen in quarto, the seven folios containing original 
 literary works of my grandfather, all in his own handwriting. 
 These, I am sure, will be prized by the Academy as proofs of 
 the literary taste and learning of their first President ; and I 
 am gratified to think that in their library they are placed where 
 they will serve to perpetuate and enhance my grandfather's 
 memory amongst his fellow-countrymen. 
 
 " Charlemont." 
 
 These memorials of our first President possess a special 
 interest for us, who still benefit by the enlightened spirit of 
 learning and research to which our charter, obtained by him 
 and the other founders of the Academy, has given form, con- 
 sistency, and permanence. But they possess a wider interest 
 for those who care to look on the record of studies and pursuits 
 which, in his case, have been instrumental in the formation of 
 a magnanimous character, and in giving to his country a great 
 man. For James, first Earl of Charlemont, who not only 
 made Dublin, during his time, a centre of great intellectual 
 activity and of elegant social enjoyment, but so moulded the 
 moral and material forces of the whole country as to achieve 
 that great economic and constitutional victory won by him 
 now just a hundred years ago, will be entitled to the name of 
 a great man as long as these islands possess a history. If you 
 look into this record of his thoughts to learn what were the 
 agencies that chiefly conduced to the formation of his character, 
 you will see what a prominent part polite literature and the fine 
 arts had in its development. In the classic poetry of Greece 
 and Italy he found the congenial expression of grand ideas. 
 Painting, sculpture, and architecture gave, so to speak, strength 
 and symmetry to the constructions of his judgment. These 
 influences are now changed. The classical school of poetry 
 he graduated in has given place to a less stately, though perhaps 
 
298 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 more beautiful, form of song. The regular, majestic architec- 
 ture in which he delighted, strong, elegant, and dignified, as 
 we see it in the palaces raised by him and others of his con- 
 temporaries in and near our city, has been exchanged for a 
 very different and less easily described style of building. The 
 political edifice he constructed endured but for eighteen years. 
 You may read in one of these volumes the thoughtful estimate 
 of those imperfections which led, within so short a time, to its 
 replacement by the wider constitution under which we live. 
 But while these things have passed away, the Academy subsists, 
 full of vitality, and still daily doing honour to its founders 
 throughout all the encyclopaedic field secured for it by his 
 wisdom and that of his associates in the obtaining of our 
 charter, and which I heartily pray may never be narrowed. 
 The Academy has for three generations continued to be an 
 object of friendly solicitude to the noble house of Caulfield. 
 To the second Earl we are indebted for the terra-cotta busts of 
 the Roman emperors which adorn our library, — no castings 
 from a mould, but modelled directly from the originals by the 
 hands of the sculptor. Now we find the third inheritor of the 
 title enriching us with these further donations, which I do not 
 doubt the Academy will suitably acknowledge. 
 
 In 1876, during the Presidency of Dr Stokes, 
 certain changes were proposed by the Government 
 which were strenuously opposed by the Academy. Its 
 governing members approved of a petition to Parlia- 
 ment in which their grievances were stated. A few 
 paragraphs will best explain their action and the cir- 
 cumstances which led to it : — 
 
 In the month of February last a communication, bearing 
 date the 9th of that month, was received from the Right 
 Honourable Lord Sandon, Vice-President of the Committee 
 on Education of her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy 
 Council, announcing to the Academy that her Majesty's 
 Government had approved of a scheme framed by that 
 
REPLY TO LORD SANDON'S LETTER. 299 
 
 Committee, including a proposal for the transfer of the 
 antiquarian collections known as the Academy's Museum 
 to a Science and Art Museum in Dublin to be provided by 
 the State, under a director who should be an officer of the 
 branch of that Committee known as the Science and Art 
 Department, and who would act as accounting officer for all 
 the votes of public money, and be the medium of communi- 
 cation with the said Department. 
 
 Your, petitioners, considering that their collections do not 
 constitute an Industrial or Art Museum within the objects of 
 the Commission of 1869, hereinafter referred to, and that the 
 Science and Art Department is a branch of the Committee of 
 her Majesty's Privy Council on Education, whereas the Royal 
 Irish Academy is not an educational institution, but a learned 
 body entitled, as it conceives, to the same status with the 
 other learned societies of the United Kingdom, which have 
 not been, in this or any other manner, subordinated to the 
 Science and Art Department, in consenting so to transfer 
 its collections, stipulated, amongst other conditions, that 
 the Academy should be accountable, as at present, to her 
 Majesty's Treasury, through the Irish Government, for all 
 sums voted by Parliament, and should not be subject, in the 
 conduct of its affairs, or the expenditure of its grants, to any 
 control on the part of the Science and Art Department, or any 
 of its officers. 
 
 Your petitioners, considering that not only are the grants of 
 public money voted to kindred scientific societies in England 
 and Scotland not issued through the Science and Art Depart- 
 ment, but that the sums allocated by your Honourable House 
 in support of the national Collections of Antiquities in Eng- 
 land and Scotland are accounted for by the Trustees of the 
 British Museum and the Scottish Board of Trustees respec- 
 tively, without any control or interference from the said 
 Department ; considering, also, that they cannot accept such 
 change of the medium through which they should transmit 
 their estimates and receive their issues, without placing in 
 the hands of said Department a control over their action 
 in the higher pursuits of learning altogether out of the 
 
300 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I.A. 
 
 sphere of said Department, fatal to their independence 
 and detrimental to their usefulness, — have declined, and must 
 continue to decline, to apply for any issue of said grant 
 through said Department, whereby said grant will remain 
 unused, and the intention of your Honourable House in 
 voting same be further disappointed. 
 
 Issues of said grant are urgently required for the necessary 
 purposes of the Royal Irish Academy, which, if long deprived 
 of same, must greatly reduce its establishment, and contract its 
 means of promoting the objects of its charter. 
 
 Ferguson wrote on the subject to Dr Stokes as 
 follows : — 
 
 i8//z February 1876. 
 
 My dear President, — It is vital to the Academy that we 
 should be unanimous in our advice on Lord Sandon's letter. 
 I have, as conscientiously as I can, put down the advice that 
 I think we ought to give. If it can be brought to square with 
 what you consider right, and if Dr Ingram (whose opinions I 
 should be inclined to defer to almost as much) and our ex- 
 president Jellett could be induced to see the case in the same, 
 or substantially the same, light, I think no one at our Council 
 table would be likely to dissent. 
 
 I enclose three copies, one for yourself and one for each of 
 the others, which, if you can accompany with your own approval, 
 modified as you might think fit, would give an opportunity for 
 agreement among the minds most likely to influence our 
 destinies. — Believe me, with sincere affection, yours, 
 
 Samuel Ferguson. 
 
 87 St George's Square. London, 
 16 th April 1876. 
 
 My dear President, — ... I regret that these engage- 
 ments will prevent my being present when the Council of the 
 Academy will have to consider the amalgamation project. 
 The individuality and integrity of the Academy are the primary 
 and, I would consider, the indispensable conditions to be 
 insisted on. 
 
LETTERS TO DR STOKES AND DR HAUGHTON. 3OI 
 
 Lord Sandon's letter gave us to understand that the object 
 desired was to get our collections into a museum of larger 
 dimensions, where they would form part of a national display. 
 We are willing to put them there, and may fairly ask, What 
 more would our rulers have? . . . 
 
 It is plain to me, from the temper of the Academy, that they 
 would rather submit to a curtailment of their means than to 
 any derogation from their scholastic and scientific supremacy ; 
 and in this resolve I trust the Council will give them a loyal 
 and unfaltering support. — Believe me to remain, as always, my 
 dear President, your faithful associate, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 Ferguson, when himself President, watched no less 
 anxiously over the interests of the Academy. In July 
 1882 he wrote to the Rev. S. Haughton as follows : — 
 
 As I am about leaving home for my vacation, and move- 
 ments prejudicial to the interests of the Academy may be 
 made in my absence, I wish that the Vice-President, on whom 
 the first duty of protecting these interests will devolve, should 
 be in possession of my sentiments regarding the inexpediency 
 of erecting any rival society or otherwise tampering with our 
 charter. If you should have to leave the neighbourhood of 
 town before my return, I would ask you to hand this note to 
 the Vice-President next in seniority who may happen to be on 
 the spot, in order that if anything overt take place, no time 
 may be lost in convening Council, and laying its views before 
 the Irish Government. 
 
 Before sanctioning the establishment of a rival society, the 
 Lord Lieutenant should be satisfied that such a rivalry is 
 required by some defect in the constitution or in the practical 
 working of the Academy ; and the onus of establishing this 
 lies on the promoters of the rival project. The constitution 
 of the Academy, analogous to that of the Institut of France, 
 has worked well since its foundation, now nearly a century 
 ago. Its most brilliant periods have been those in which 
 activity prevailed in all its departments. Sir William Hamil- 
 ton's researches in science are concurrent with Dr Hincks's 
 
302 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 in philology and Dr Petrie's in antiquities. The fact that 
 the present President has been chosen from the Literary side 
 has not diminished the activity of the Scientific section, the 
 papers in which, at the present time, are of distinguished value 
 and more than ordinarily numerous. 
 
 The gentlemen who are understood to promote the new 
 scheme are, with one unfortunate exception which no one 
 regrets more than I do, members of the Academy. None of 
 them can allege that any communication of his has ever failed 
 to receive an appreciative consideration by the Academy, or 
 has ever been slighted by the Committee of Publication ; or 
 that his own scientific status as a member has ever been 
 denied its due recognition by a seat on the Council, — although 
 true it is the Council has not received with favour the pro- 
 posals these gentlemen have from time to time put forward 
 for recasting the internal arrangements of the Academy, in 
 such a manner as it was feared would isolate its several 
 sections and break up the encyclopaedic character of its 
 meetings. 
 
 I am at a loss to see how any scientific speculation can 
 suffer discouragement by being brought forward in the presence 
 of a body of learned men comprising antiquaries as well as 
 men of science, which is, I believe, the main objection urged 
 by these gentlemen against the Academy and in favour of the 
 innovation they desire. 
 
 Ferguson strongly opposed, on behalf of the Academy, 
 what he called "a tenemental occupation" of rooms 
 in Leinster House. He wished to be independent. 
 But he sincerely desired the prosperity of the Royal 
 Dublin Society, and valued its services to Ireland in 
 the promotion of the useful arts, and also in art and 
 architecture : — 
 
 Another part of the arrangement contemplated at the time 
 of the Academy assenting to the transfer of its Museum was, 
 that it should change its abode to Leinster House, where 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS AS PRESIDENT, R.I. A. 303 
 
 suitable apartments should be provided for it. We have, at 
 all times since our foundation, been provided by the State 
 with a house : first, in our old residence in Grafton Street ; 
 afterwards, in the fine old mansion, altered and enlarged for 
 our purposes, in which we are now assembled. Speaking for 
 myself, I own that the prospect of that arrangement being 
 altered to a kind of tenemental occupation, even in a much 
 superior building, is not a pleasing one. The Royal Dublin 
 Society will always, I trust, be a body of sufficient numbers 
 and consideration to occupy to advantage so much of its old 
 palace as may not be required for departmental purposes ; and 
 I think I express the general feeling of the Academy in saying 
 that, while we wish the sister society the fullest enjoyment of 
 that honourable position, we desire on our own part to remain 
 self-contained in our lodgings, as we mean to keep ourselves 
 independent in our pursuits. 
 
 In his Inaugural Address delivered before the Aca- 
 demy on the 30th of November 1882, Sir Samuel ap- 
 pealed to the members of the Royal Dublin Society 
 in the following words : — 
 
 The domain of Taste — whether artistic, architectural, or 
 aesthetic — is a free field, in which teaching ex cathedra carries 
 no more authority than the critical judgments of individual re- 
 finement ; and we will still look to our educated classes at large, 
 and particularly to the members of the Royal Dublin Society, 
 not only to aid in the promotion of every useful art, but to 
 contribute the influences of independent taste in the fine arts 
 towards the general amenities of our city and country. The 
 true schools of the fine arts in all countries have been the 
 abodes of individual men of genius, sustained by the presence 
 of a rich and splendid society. Whether we shall ever again 
 possess such a class of patrons as called forth the artistic and 
 architectural excellence of the last century no one can foresee, 
 but it needs no prevision to perceive that genius, although a 
 classroom may bring it into notice, is not a thing that can be 
 taught. 
 
304 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 And of a far higher wisdom he thus speaks : — 
 
 Knowledge of the laws which govern the fertility of the soil 
 and the serenity of the atmosphere may conduce to make 
 human life easier, and bring down the high price which man 
 must pay for leave to live. Still, the 
 
 ' ' And ax omnia perpeli 
 Gens humana " 
 
 will remain the old sons of Adam, to whom the control of the 
 elements, if they could attain it, would be as nothing in real 
 value compared with the control of their own desires and 
 passions ; and for whose enlightenment in a higher wisdom 
 than that of Calculus or Quaternion — in the wisdom which 
 makes life happy and beautiful, even if it be laborious — phil- 
 osophy and history and poetry have been softening manners 
 and gladdening the hours of leisure ever since the boon of 
 letters was first bestowed on mankind. With these companions 
 Science walked accompanied in the Grove of Academus, and 
 walks still so accompanied in many of the first Academies of 
 Europe, and, if I have rightly divined your minds, I rejoice to 
 believe that I am here as an exponent of your will that in the 
 Royal Irish Academy they shall not be separated. 
 
 Ferguson, in this address to the Academy, enlarged 
 on the importance of the work on which their scribes 
 were engaged in the facsimile reproductions of the 
 ancient books, and the accumulation of material for 
 the compilation of an Irish Dictionary : — 
 
 The growth of philological study, and the labours of Zeuss 
 in collecting from the Irish material of the Continental libra- 
 ries the elements of a vocabulary and grammar of the ancient 
 language, had given a new value to our old Irish books and a 
 corresponding stimulus to Academic enterprise. For I cannot 
 employ a better word in describing the immense labour about 
 that time entered on by the Council, in commencing the 
 
FACSIMILES OF IRISH MANUSCRIPTS. 305 
 
 transcription in facsimile of our most ancient Irish manuscripts, 
 and so placing them at once at the disposal of Continental 
 scholars. So great and so successful has our progress been in 
 this vast work, that Mr Gilbert, its most active originator, may 
 justly be awarded a large share of the honour and thanks due 
 to your Council and to the successive Committees by whom 
 the transcription has been carried forward. Our Scribe, the 
 last of an hereditary class, lived to complete in this manner 
 the reproduction of the text of the Books of Uidhri, Breac, 
 and Leinster — the last the property of Trinity College, which 
 noble institution shared with us the expense of the transcrip- 
 tion and publication. It has been edited by our colleague, 
 Dr Atkinson, whose prefatory survey of the contents reveals 
 the greatest storehouse of middle - age Irish literature yet 
 thrown open to scholars. Since the death of Mr O'Longan 
 we have been obliged to abandon the pen facsimile and 
 resort to the slower and more difficult process of photography 
 for the smoke -darkened and much-thumbed vellum of the 
 1 Book of Ballymote,' which we hope may be completed in 
 about three years. The vellum of the ' Book of Lecan ' is 
 comparatively clean, and we may look for its reproduction in a 
 shorter time. Others no doubt will follow ; and it is not an 
 over-sanguine forecast that, within the next ten years, the 
 whole bulk of the old native Irish literature will be in the 
 hands of scholars all over the world. 
 
 But without an adequate Dictionary the progress of students 
 in our Middle Irish material must be almost as slow and 
 laborious as we may imagine Zeuss's to have been when he 
 first began the interpretation of his glosses. There are at the 
 present time but a very few men — their names might be 
 numbered almost on the fingers of one hand — to whom the 
 older texts are plenarily intelligible ; and that, in every in- 
 stance, only by the help of vocabularies of their own compil- 
 ing. The Dictionaries we have are more unsuited for these 
 texts than Johnson would be for Chaucer. If the word 
 sought for should happen to be there — a rare contingency — 
 it will, in most cases, be found disguised under an artificial 
 spelling of its first syllable, according to a rule of what may 
 
 VOL. II. U 
 
306 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 be called " vocalic balance," devised since the language 
 became confined to a section of the populace, and in their 
 mouths underwent that process of structural degradation 
 which makes the spoken Irish of the present day so ill-defined 
 and slippery in its fluency. Whether and to what extent the 
 Dictionary we require shall follow these Protean vocalisms, or 
 shall give the words of our vellum manuscripts in their original 
 forms, will be a question for the Editor to whose hands the 
 preparation of material for the work has been confided by 
 Council. A large mass of such material has already been 
 accumulated. Windisch at Leipzic, and Zimmer at Berlin, 
 have given their aid abroad. At home, the contributions of 
 Dr Whitley Stokes, whether in our 'Transactions' or else- 
 where, besides supplying examples of perfect English employed 
 in racy and characteristic translation, are all enriched with 
 glossaries available for the compilation. Every Todd lecture 
 delivered here by Professor Hennessy contributes supplies of 
 the same kind. Under the direction of the Secretary of 
 Council, a process has for a considerable time been in oper- 
 ation of extracting every leading word in the old texts hitherto 
 published, with enough of its context to verify its several 
 meanings — a great undertaking, but not disproportionate to 
 the larger objects we may reasonably hope to attain to through 
 its instrumentality. Where we now have a few students, 
 painfully making their way through the facsimiles, with the 
 illusory and disappointing encumbrance, rather than aid, of 
 our present Dictionaries, we may reasonably expect that then 
 we shall have numerous scholars in all the chief seats of letters 
 eager in the exploration of things as new, at least, in literature 
 as were the contributions of the cloisters at the revival of 
 learning. Fragments of Continental song and tradition may 
 still remain unpublished in obscure repositories, but all the 
 solid literary documents of every country of Europe have been 
 for centuries collected, annotated, and put to the uses of 
 philosophic thought, save only those of Ireland. What had 
 been done for us in this direction, up to the time of 
 our entering on our present Academic enterprise, was 
 mainly the work of individuals. The name of Richard, 
 second Duke of Buckingham, at whose expense O'Connor 
 
Ireland's debt to the duke of Buckingham. 307 
 
 published his { Rerum Hibemicarum Scriptores Veteres,' 
 ought always to be regarded with affectionate gratitude by 
 the Irish people. O'Donovan and Curry had added to 
 it vast stores of exposition, and many selected examples of 
 new material ; but this undertaking of the Academy is the 
 first systematic and comprehensive exploration of the whole 
 field. . . . 
 
 But, unless the diffusion of these new materials results in 
 something more solid and socially influential than pure 
 criticism, the object which has animated so many minds 
 in accumulating and preserving them will be but imperfectly 
 attained. For, if there ever was a legitimate patriotic hope 
 at the bottom of scholastic effort, it animated the men who 
 brought these things together and put them in their present 
 posture and capacity for use. That this country should be 
 without an adequate History and without a characteristic 
 Literature rising above the conventional Irish buffooneries, 
 has been a source of pain and humiliation to educated Irish- 
 men for generations ; and it is to the stimulus of that re- 
 flection, not less than to the love of letters for their own 
 sake, that we owe what we have accomplished, and the 
 prospect of all that we yet may achieve. So far as concerns 
 a general History of the country, we must, probably, be 
 content to let the work for the present rest in preparation 
 and material. If the time had arrived when Ireland could 
 be said to have taken one or other definite position, from 
 which her past could be contemplated in distinct, unshifting 
 perspective, we might be more impatient of delay. But it 
 seems to me that no great History of any country has ever 
 been written from any but a fixed point of contemplation, 
 not attainable in transitional times, such as ours for so great 
 a length of time unhappily have been. Essays, having much 
 of the solidity and dignity of history, may be framed in this 
 view and in that, according to the point the writer would 
 desire to see become the fixed one ; but till some pause 
 in the ever-oscillating course of our destiny shall take place, 
 a philosophic retrospect, on a large scale, of Irish affairs 
 is hardly to be looked for. It is true, the history of even the 
 most fortunate countries must be a record of flux and reflux, 
 
308 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 but the season in which the Historian achieves his work is, I 
 fancy, at high tide. . . . 
 
 Recent events have given to the older races in this country 
 a considerable advancement in wealth and social status ; and 
 it cannot but be that the change will excite a desire for, as it 
 will increase the means of procuring, a higher literature of 
 their own. As regards the rest of the population, including 
 the bulk of the upper and educated classes, if they do not 
 count as many generations to their first settlers and eponymi, 
 they are, at least as far as birth on Irish soil goes, most of 
 them by many centuries more Irish than were the great- 
 grandsons of Milesius — himself but the Strongbow of an 
 earlier conquest. All of them have been here long enough 
 to take root, and they have no intention of going out. They 
 have imbibed, whether from social or from cosmical influences, 
 an Irishism of their own, and assert their claim to a full 
 participation in every honour that this country can confer 
 on its children or they on it. They yield to none of their 
 countrymen in the desire, and they greatly excel the bulk 
 of them in the ability, to make Ireland once again a home 
 of Arts and Letters. The works of this Academy can testify 
 to what they have been able to achieve in that direction 
 during nearly a century of patriotic endeavour. To their 
 hands mainly has been committed the guardianship of the 
 materials out of which such a literature as I have been 
 contemplating may be evolved; and in their hands, mainly, 
 the work of speeding that development now rests in this 
 Academy. But all will depend on the preliminary accom- 
 plishment of a sufficient Dictionary; and if that work be 
 completed during my occupation of this chair, I shall retire 
 from it with feelings of high self-gratulation at having been 
 partaker in a labour which promises such an accession of 
 honourable distinction to my country. 
 
 Of the many friendships formed and cemented at 
 the Academy's meetings, a few not hitherto dwelt on 
 may here be mentioned. 
 
 The late Sir William Wilde was a man of genial 
 
SIR WILLIAM WILDE. 309 
 
 and kindly nature, and an ardent archaeologist. He 
 rendered many services to his country. His work 
 as Census Commissioner was of great importance. 
 His interesting books, ' The Boyne and Blackwater ' 
 and 'The Shores of Lough Corrib,' describe some of 
 her ancient monuments. He gave " the gratuitous 
 labour of years " to the arrangement and cataloguing 
 of the objects preserved in the museum of the Royal 
 Irish Academy, of which he was an active member. 
 He died in April 1876, and Ferguson, then in Oxford, 
 wrote of the sad event to his wife, on the 20th of 
 April : — 
 
 I read in the 'Times' that poor dear Wilde left his castle of 
 the Thrieve and all his buildings thereon yesterday. Alas ! 
 how short a span it is, and so much to do, and to undo in 
 wish and retribution ! May the poor spirit have peace, and 
 his good deeds not be forgotten ! 
 
 Ferguson expressed his feelings in a poem, from 
 which a few passages are extracted : — 
 
 DEAR WILDE. 
 
 AN ELEGY, 1876. 
 
 Dear Wilde, the deeps close o'er thee ; and no more 
 
 Greet we or mingle on the hither shore, 
 
 Where other footsteps now must print the sand, 
 
 And other waiters by the margin stand. 
 
 Gone ; and alas ! too late it wrings my breast, 
 
 The word unspoken, and the hand unpressed ; 
 
 Yet will affection follow, and believe 
 
 The sentient spirit may the thought receive, 
 
 Though neither eye to eye the soul impart, 
 
 Nor answering hand confess the unburthened heart. 
 
310 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 Gone ; and alone rests for me that I strive 
 
 In song sincere to keep thy name alive, 
 
 Though nothing needing of the aids of rhyme, 
 
 While they who knew thee tread the ways of time, 
 
 And cherish, ere their race be also run, 
 
 Their memories of many a kindness done — 
 
 Of the quick look that caught the unspoken need, 
 
 And back returned the hand's benignant deed 
 
 In help or healing, or with ardour high 
 
 Infused the might of patriot-sympathy. 
 
 And when we all have followed, and the last 
 
 Who loved thee living shall have also passed, 
 
 This crumbling castle, from its basement swerved, 
 
 Thy pious under-pinning skill preserved ; 
 
 That carven porch from ruined heaps anew 
 
 Dug out and dedicate by thee to view 
 
 Of wond'ring modern men who stand amazed 
 
 To think their Irish fathers ever raised 
 
 Works worthy such a care ; this sculptured cross 
 
 Thou gatheredst piecemeal, every knop and boss 
 
 And dragon-twisted symbol, side by side 
 
 Laid, and to holy teachings reapplied ; 
 
 Those noble jewels of the days gone by 
 
 The goldsmith's and the penman's art supply, 
 
 With rarest products of progressive man 
 
 Since civil life in Erin first began : 
 
 These all will speak thee ; and, dear Wilde, when these, 
 
 In course of time, by swift or slow degrees, 
 
 Are also perished from the world, and gone, 
 
 The green grass of Roscommon will grow on : 
 
 And, though our several works of hand and pen, 
 
 Our names and memories, be forgotten then, 
 
 Oft as the cattle in the dewy day 
 
 Of tender morn, by Tulsk or Castlerea, 
 
 Crop the sweet herbage, or adown the vale 
 
 The ruddy milkmaid bears her evening pail ; 
 
 Oft as the youth to meet his fair one flies 
 
LETTER OF SIR THOMAS LARCOM. 3II 
 
 At labour's close, where sheltering hawthorns rise 
 
 By Suck's smooth margin ; or the merry round 
 
 Of dancers foot it to the planxty's sound, 
 
 And some warm heart, matched with a mind serene, 
 
 Shall drink its full refreshment from the scene, 
 
 With thanks to God whose bounty brings to pass 
 
 That maids their sweethearts, and that kine their grass, 
 
 Find by His care provided, and there rise 
 
 Soft and sweet thoughts for all beneath the skies ; — 
 
 Then, though unknown, thy spirit shall partake 
 
 Refreshment, too, for old communion's sake. 
 
 The poem was sent in MS. to Sir Thomas Larcom, 
 who thus acknowledged it : — 
 
 Heathfield, Wareham, 19M May 1876. 
 
 My dear Ferguson, — I take it as a great kindness that 
 you have sent me a copy of your lines on Wilde. He was one 
 of my oldest friends, and I deplore his loss more than I can 
 describe. 
 
 I like the lines — I like the beginning — I admire the end — 
 I like it all. They bring back to me D'Arcy M 'Gee's 
 " Monody on O'Donovan." There were giants in the land in 
 those days. Alas ! you will soon stand alone. 
 
 How does the Academy stand as to the Kensington proposal 
 to swallow it ? Twice — nay, thrice, I think — a similar move 
 was successfully resisted. I do not know whether the cross to 
 the Four Masters has been erected, and where. I saw in the 
 Irish papers there was (as usual) a squabble on the site. 
 
 I love your " Congal " the oftener I look into it. There 
 ought to be a memorial to Wilde, though I believe the work a 
 man has done is his best memorial. — Yours, my dear Ferguson, 
 always sincerely, Thomas A. Larcom. 
 
 Ferguson cordially recognised the services of Wilde, 
 and when the Academy's collection of Celtic an- 
 tiquities was about to be transferred to the New 
 
312 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I.A. 
 
 Museum, urged that a bust of Sir William Wilde 
 should be set in the new place of deposit along 
 with that of its chief founder, Dr George Petrie. 
 
 Sir Samuel in his address to the Academy dwells 
 on this topic when describing the great value and 
 interest of the objects about to be handed over to 
 the State in trust for the Irish people. 
 
 One gallery at least of the Museum [said Ferguson], when 
 it shall at length be established amongst us, will be amazingly 
 rich and interesting to the Irish people — that, namely, which 
 will contain the collection of Celtic antiquities now here in the 
 Academy House. 
 
 In transferring our antiquarian collections, we have the 
 satisfaction of knowing that we aid a great and, I trust, a very 
 useful public object by a splendid contribution ; and further, 
 that we repay the advances of the State to the extent of above 
 two thousand pounds of our private moneys from time to time 
 sunk in the purchase and cataloguing of the objects themselves. 
 The nucleus of our Museum was formed by voluntary dona- 
 tions and purchases out of our own income. . . . The 
 whole price at which the collection has been acquired may be 
 computed at between five and six thousand pounds. The 
 mere material in gold and silver is intrinsically worth more 
 than two thousand four hundred pounds. To estimate the 
 artistic and historic value of the collection would be impossible. 
 But celebrated and acknowledged, as it is, for the finest col- 
 lection of its kind in existence, were it put up to auction to be 
 bid for by the rival Governments and collectors of Europe and 
 America, no one would be surprised should it sell for ten times 
 its cost price ; and if that at all approach the measure of its 
 value, the Academy, in transferring it to the State, will go far 
 to recoup the whole amount of all the subsidies it has received 
 from Parliament. 
 
 The credit of having accumulated it rests with Council and 
 with successive Committees, backed by the ever-ready liberality 
 of the Academy and its friends. The late Sir William Wilde 
 
FRIENDSHIP WITH DR INGRAM. 313 
 
 was one of the most energetic of its promoters. He gave the 
 gratuitous labour of years to its arrangement and cataloguing. 
 If, when it goes to its new place of deposit, a bust of Wilde 
 could be procured, to accompany it with the bust which we 
 already possess of its chief founder, Petrie, it would be a grati- 
 fication to those who witnessed his labours, and some small 
 acknowledgment of the debt which his country owes him for 
 services rewarded hitherto only by the memory of their value 
 preserved among his old colleagues, and vaguely recognised by 
 the public. 
 
 It has been stated in an Archaeological Journal of authority 
 that since Sir William Wilde's death the antiquarian collections 
 here have fallen back into the chaos from which he rescued 
 them. I give the most express denial to that statement. In 
 the transfer and new deposit of our Museum which has been 
 made since it ceased to benefit by Sir William Wilde's services, 
 his arrangement, so far as it had gone, was piously preserved ; 
 every object he had recorded was identified with its place in 
 the Catalogue and in the old Registers, and keys connecting 
 the new and old places of deposit were made out with the 
 utmost particularity for them all. Since then there have come 
 into the house upwards of four thousand objects, every one of 
 which at the time of its acquisition has been entered in the 
 new Register, with particulars of place and circumstances of 
 finding, wherever these could be ascertained ; and for all objects 
 which may come in, pending the transfer, like entries will be 
 continued. If the Department should desire to prepare, for 
 its own information, an authentic account of the commence- 
 ment and progress of the Collection up to the time of transfer, 
 I do not doubt that the Council will willingly give access to 
 the minute-books and documents from which the facts may be 
 obtained. 
 
 The friendship of Dr John Kells Ingram, Senior 
 Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, now President of 
 the Royal Irish Academy, was prized and appreciated 
 by Sir Samuel Ferguson, who admired his personal 
 qualities, his simple, manly, unassuming character, 
 
314 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 and his genius and great attainments in varied fields 
 of knowledge. In poetry, Dr Ingram has given us one 
 soul-stirring lyric, and a few sonnets only, but these 
 evidence his fire and fervour. He has, however, chosen 
 for his life-work other fields, and the mere titles of his 
 publications evidence the wide range of his mental 
 attainments. His principal writings, besides some 
 addresses and a number of literary and philological 
 papers in various journals, are 'A History of Political 
 Economy' (1888), and 'A History of Slavery and 
 Serfdom ' (1895). Both these are expanded repro- 
 ductions of articles which appeared in the ' Encyclo- 
 paedia Britannica ' (ninth edition). The former was re- 
 ceived with much favour by the public in Great Britain 
 and America, and has been translated into seven Euro- 
 pean languages. Dr Ingram has also edited from 
 MSS. in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and 
 the University library, Cambridge, the earliest English 
 translation of the ' De Imitatione Christi.' 
 
 As a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and for many 
 years librarian, and Regius Professor of Greek in the 
 University, and as an energetic member of the Royal 
 Irish Academy, he has had much practical work to do. 
 But he has found leisure to devote to the service of 
 others. Many inexperienced literary workers can tes- 
 tify to the aid, encouragement, critical counsel, cor- 
 rection of proof-sheets, and other kind acts entailing 
 much time and trouble, freely given by Dr Ingram ; 
 and what greater proof of unselfish kindness can a 
 learned man bestow ? 
 
dr Ingram's speech at the academy dinner. 315 
 
 When the Academy held its centenary celebration 
 in May 1886, its President, Sir Samuel Ferguson, was 
 hopelessly ill. Dr Ingram presided at the banquet 
 and proposed the health of the Viceroy. In reply, the 
 Earl of Aberdeen dwelt on the attainments of Dr 
 Ingram, his high reputation, his services to the 
 Academy, and the cordial feelings entertained to- 
 wards him by its members — in words which will be 
 echoed by all who have the privilege of knowing 
 him. 
 
 Dr Ingram replied in a noble and stimulating 
 speech, in which he alluded to James, Earl of Charle- 
 mont, and some of his distinguished successors in the 
 chair of the Academy : — 
 
 The time at which the Academy was founded was a hope- 
 ful and expansive one — the public aspirations were high, and 
 the national feeling had been strongly excited. The spirit of 
 the time was well represented in Lord Charlemont, who was 
 the first President of the Academy. The Irish aristocracy of 
 the period have been, I think, rather hardly treated by some 
 historians and politicians. Whatever may have been the 
 radical unsoundness of their political position, they had some 
 of the best qualities of aristocracies : they were patriotic ; 
 they were high-spirited and generous ; they could appreciate 
 wit, eloquence, literature, and art. Lord Charlemont was one 
 of the best types of his class — he was, as has been said, at 
 once a patriot and a Maecenas ; he had travelled much ; he 
 was an accomplished man, possessing, in particular, a thorough 
 knowledge of Italian literature. When he was elected Presi- 
 dent, he did not merely wear the title as a feather in his cap ; 
 he devoted much time and energy to building up the Academy 
 in its early years, and his name deserves to be held in hon- 
 ourable memory amongst us. The history of the Academy 
 seems to fall naturally into three parts or periods. The first 
 
316 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I.A. 
 
 period would end about the middle of the third decade of the 
 present century. The principal figures of the time were Kirwan 
 and Brinkley, men of real eminence — the one as a mineralogist 
 and chemist, the other as an astronomer. This was a period 
 of preparation and training rather than of achievement : the 
 Academy was fostering the scientific and literary genius of 
 the nation, but had not yet earned a European fame. Then 
 came the wonderful outburst which began in the twenties of 
 our century. I know few things in the history of intellect 
 more remarkable than the movement which went on during 
 the next twenty-five years, forming the great period of the 
 Academy, — a movement which may be studied with pleasure 
 and profit in two delightful books — Stokes's ' Life of Petrie ' 
 and Graves's ' Life of Hamilton.' During the brief period I 
 have mentioned, a marvellous amount of memorable work was 
 done. The leading figures on the stage were — Hamilton, 
 M'Cullagh, Lloyd, and Petrie. Hamilton stood in the very 
 foremost rank of mathematicians. There is nothing in recent 
 mathematics to compare with his Calculus of Quaternions. 
 M'Cullagh was more restricted to the field of pure geometry, 
 but he had great geometrical resource, and the beauty of his 
 methods and results was singularly attractive. Lloyd was a 
 great physicist — in particular, terrestrial magnetism owes more 
 to him, perhaps, than to any other man. Petrie was the 
 great reformer of Irish Archaeology, who dispelled the dreams 
 of the Vallanceys and the Ledwiches, and founded an era of 
 genuine inductive research. Now, the fame of all these men 
 is indissolubly connected with that of the Academy, for 
 almost all their most important discoveries were first an- 
 nounced at its meetings. This is true of Hamilton's deductive 
 anticipation of the phenomenon of Conical Refraction — of 
 his theory of Quaternions — of M'Cullagh's beautiful researches 
 on Fresnel's Wave, and on the Surfaces of the Second Order 
 — of Lloyd's experimental verification of Conical Refraction, 
 of his Meteorology of Ireland, and of most of his memoirs on 
 Magnetism ; of Petrie's Hill of Tara, and his Ecclesiastical 
 Architecture of Ireland. All these were brought before the 
 Academy, and published in its ' Transactions.' Other most 
 
NECESSITY FOR A GOOD IRISH DICTIONARY. 317 
 
 valuable labours fell within the same limits of time — sucn as 
 those of Todd, O'Donovan, and O'Curry, on the sources of 
 Irish History and the Philology of the Irish Language, and 
 those of Larcom on topography and local history. To the 
 same period, too, belongs the first formation of our fine 
 collection of national antiquities — now one of the chief glories 
 of the Academy — which was made accessible to study by the 
 Catalogue of Sir William Wilde. ... To the members of 
 our body it is sufficiently known who have done most to 
 sustain the reputation of the Academy during the past gener- 
 ation : it is enough to say that most of them are gathered 
 round our festive board to-day, as are also many of those 
 who may be relied on to sustain its reputation in the years 
 to come. Amongst the tasks which lie before the Academy 
 in the future, there is one to which I wish to call attention, 
 because it is urgent, and ought not to be postponed. The 
 other branches of the Indo-European family of languages 
 having now been sufficiently explored, the attention of philo- 
 logists is becoming in a great degree concentrated on the 
 Celtic tongues. By a grant from the Government, with some 
 assistance from Trinity College, the Academy has been enabled 
 to reproduce some of the most important ancient Irish texts, 
 so as to make them available for the study of scholars, both 
 at home and abroad. Now, the effect of the increasing study 
 of these texts is to make more and more indispensable the 
 production of a really good Irish dictionary, and the Council 
 has undertaken this task. But it cannot be achieved without 
 a vast amount of more or less mechanical labour, done under 
 competent supervision ; and the requisite funds to employ this 
 labour are not forthcoming. I heartily wish some wealthy 
 Irishman, emulating the noble liberality of Guinness and of 
 Roe, would come forward and supply the means, and thus 
 connect his name for ever with this great national enterprise. 
 But, failing such intervention, the Council must proceed — 
 however slowly — with the work, hoping that the Government 
 will ere long see the propriety of pushing it forward by more 
 effectual aid than is furnished by the present manuscript 
 grant. There is no fear of want of useful work to be done 
 
3l8 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I.A. 
 
 by Irishmen in the future, and I am confident there will be 
 no lack of the intellectual ability required to do it. I am 
 one of those who believe in a large undeveloped fund of 
 Irish genius and talent, and I hope this Academy will always 
 be one of the most potent agencies for evoking and encour- 
 aging it, and directing it to the highest and worthiest ends. 
 
 Letters from Dr Ingram and his charming wife were 
 received by Lady Ferguson soon after her bereave- 
 ment. In his communication Dr Ingram encouraged 
 her to undertake the present work, as will appear by 
 his letter of the 31st of August 1886 : — 
 
 I must add a few words to what Mrs Ingram is saying. 
 How deeply we feel the loss that you have sustained you will 
 believe without any assurances from us. But in thinking of 
 that loss, as I have very often done within the last few weeks, 
 with the sense of it has always come the remembrance of his 
 noble life and the enduring and precious work he has be- 
 queathed to his country. These memories must help to 
 support you, and enable you to bear up, as we hear you are 
 admirably doing, against your great sorrow. You have al- 
 ready, we learn, been applying yourself to the preparation of 
 the Rhind Lectures for the press. I venture to hope that, 
 in addition to all else you were to your dear husband, you 
 will one day be his biographer, and let the world fully know 
 what he was, not only as a poet and a scholar, but as a man. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Haughton, M.D., F.R.S., who 
 succeeded Sir Samuel Ferguson in the Presidential 
 Chair, R.I. A., is a man eminent in the scientific world, 
 the author of ' Principles of Animal Mechanics,' 1873, 
 and ' Lectures on Physical Geography,' 1880. He is 
 Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and he takes 
 an active interest in the work of the Dublin Hospitals, 
 and in the Zoological Gardens. He has found it a 
 
PROFESSOR HAUGHTON AND THE TIGER. 319 
 
 difficult matter to raise the funds necessary for the 
 support of the Zoo, and on an occasion when it was 
 urgently in need of funds Professor Haughton called 
 on his friends and fellow-citizens to become subscribers 
 to the Institution. 
 
 I have applied in vain to the Bank of Ireland for an ad- 
 vance of one hundred pounds [he stated]. The directors 
 have demurred, although I have offered ample security for 
 twice the amount. I proposed to hand over and deposit 
 with them a fine young tiger well worth two hundred pounds ; 
 but, strange to relate, they have declined my offer. 
 
 I was Secretary to the Zoological Gardens for more than 
 twenty years [wrote Dr Haughton], and devoted many happy 
 hours to the study of the animals living and dead. 
 
 One of the finest tigers in the collection has shown 
 its gratitude for services rendered by the courageous 
 and resourceful Professor. The beast — a noble speci- 
 men — was threatened with gangrene in its paw, the 
 claw having become distorted and grown into the foot. 
 It was believed that amputation would be necessary to 
 save its life ; but how to perform the operation was the 
 question, and what surgeon would volunteer to beard 
 the tiger in his den ? Dr Haughton undertook the 
 dangerous experiment. In conjunction with his con- 
 freres he devised a net-work which was thrown over the 
 animal, his mate having been secured in a side-den. 
 Thus entangled, the tiger was drawn forward to the 
 partially opened door, its feet, excepting the diseased 
 one, firmly held by the assistant surgeons in the net- 
 work, so that the beast, though much excited, was 
 unable to strike at the operator. The infuriated 
 
320 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I.A. 
 
 animal had almost freed himself by a bound which 
 brought his head in contact with the roof of his den, 
 and blood flowed freely from the wound thus inflicted. 
 The rage of the tigress looking on through the bars of 
 the side-den was terrible. She flung herself against 
 the barrier with an impetus which threatened to 
 shatter it, and knocked off the hat of Professor 
 Haughton. The efforts of the powerful beasts were, 
 however, unavailing. The tiger was again drawn to 
 the front, and the diseased paw operated on by Dr 
 Haughton, who found it would suffice to cut away the 
 offending claw, the suffering beast angrily endeavour- 
 ing to strike at the operator who put him to so much 
 pain. As soon as the wound was dressed and the net- 
 work withdrawn the tigress was re-admitted. She had 
 watched the surgical operation, and at once turned up 
 the tiger's paw and inspected the work done ; then she 
 licked her mate, as a cat its kittens, and soothed him 
 speedily, and soon the operators withdrew. A week 
 later Dr Haughton was again at the Zoo to see how his 
 patient got on. It was the dining hour of the carni- 
 vora, and the house was filled with children and other 
 spectators. Professor Haughton kept in the back- 
 ground ; but the animal espied him, and dropping the 
 bone at which he was gnawing, began to purr like a 
 cat, and rub himself against the bars. Seeing him- 
 self in this friendly fashion recognised, Dr Haughton 
 came forward, got the keeper to open a part of 
 the door of the den, and the tiger, still purring and 
 rubbing his shoulder as a pleased cat is wont to do, 
 
DR SAMUEL HAUGHTON. 321 
 
 allowed the paw to be examined, and evidently recog- 
 nised in the operator who had enraged him previously 
 a benefactor to whom he desired to express gratitude 
 for service done to him. " Next day, and for years 
 after, the tigress showed herself most friendly and 
 grateful for what I had done," writes Dr Haughton. 
 
 The Professor is a man of wit and racy humour, as 
 becomes an Irishman, but is pre-eminently a man of 
 science. To his grasp of a mathematical theorem he 
 owes the hug of a Russian bear, bestowed at the con- 
 versazione of the Edinburgh Tercentenary in 1884. In 
 truth the great Russian Mendelief — tall, long-haired, 
 bearded, in fur cap, with academic robe profusely 
 trimmed with fur — bore a striking resemblance to 
 that animal. The distinguished Russian is the discov- 
 erer of an important mathematical law relating to the 
 chemical elements ; and when he found, to his great 
 exultation, that the Irish Professor had mastered his 
 scientific discovery, M. Mendelief in the crowded as- 
 sembly suddenly extended his arms and embraced his 
 brother scientist, kissing him on both cheeks with the 
 greatest effusion. It was a homage to his genius which 
 Dr Haughton would doubtless have willingly dispensed 
 with. His astonished and dismayed looks could not 
 but amuse his on-looking friends, even while they 
 sympathised with the Russian's enthusiasm. 
 
 When Dr Haughton delivered in March 1887 his 
 Presidential Address, he referred to Sir Samuel 
 Ferguson in the following words : — 
 
 vol. 11. x 
 
322 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 Gentlemen, Members of the Royal Irish Academy, — I have 
 already thanked you for the high honour you have done me 
 by electing me your President. Under the circumstances in 
 which this election has taken place, it is fit that I should say 
 a few words about my predecessor in this chair, whose lamented 
 death has caused the vacancy which you have chosen me to 
 fill. 
 
 Few members of the Academy knew our late President 
 longer and more intimately than I did, and in what I now 
 venture to say, I ask your pardon if private friendship may 
 seem to colour my words too strongly. 
 
 In the first place, I wish to state, imperatively, that our late 
 President was not (any more than I am myself) the mean 
 hybrid for whom the title " West Briton " has been coined. 
 He was intensely Irish, and in his younger days dangerously 
 so — 
 
 <; Si Pergama dextra 
 Defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent." 
 
 He saw in time the impossibility (as others have done) of 
 such methods, and devoted his life to the effort to win for 
 Ireland, if possible, both in literature and science, the first 
 place. His ideas are perhaps best expressed in his own 
 words — 
 
 "The man aspires 
 To link his present with his country's past, 
 And live anew in knowledge of his sires; 
 
 No rootless Colonist of alien earth, 
 
 Proud but of patient lungs and pliant limb, 
 
 A stranger in the land that gave him birth, — 
 The land a stranger to itself and him." 
 
 In our late President's address, on the 30th November 
 1882, he dwells especially on the characteristics of this 
 Academy, that it is not scientific or literary, but essentially 
 both. Fifteen Presidents have preceded me in this chair, 
 and of them, I think, it may be fairly said that, while some 
 excelled both in science and literature, of none can it be said 
 with truth that he was so exclusively devoted to either science 
 
DR HAUGHTON'S ADDRESS AS PRESIDENT R.I.A. 323 
 
 or literature as not to appreciate and prize the value of the 
 other branch of knowledge. . . . 
 
 Sir Samuel Ferguson represented this Academy at the 
 tercentenary of the University of Edinburgh in 1884, on 
 which occasion he received the honorary degree of LL.D. 
 from that University. 
 
 When, in the year 1883, the Lords of the Treasury agreed 
 to the transfer to the Academy of the Irish portion of the 
 Ashburnham. MSS., Sir Samuel proceeded to London, and 
 in conference with Dr Bond, Principal Librarian of the British 
 Museum, selected the MSS. for transfer, and obtained for 
 the Academy a larger portion of them than would otherwise, 
 most probably, have been given. 
 
 At the time of the celebration of the centenary of the 
 Academy (1886), Sir Samuel was prevented by failing health 
 from taking an active part in it, but by frequent letters and 
 otherwise showed undiminished interest in all its proceedings. 
 On that occasion Dr Ingram took his place as senior Vice- 
 President, and gave such an exhaustive resume of the work of 
 the Academy from its commencement as saves me on the 
 present occasion from dwelling upon any part of our past 
 history except that of the last five years, during which our 
 late President directed our meetings and policy with such 
 marked success. 
 
 In the Department of Antiquities we have had from our 
 late President the translation of the Patrician Documents 
 into his own graceful and attractive Anglo-Irish, of which he 
 was so complete a master — a translation that must draw and win 
 students of other branches of knowledge, who would otherwise 
 have cared but little for St Patrick and his literary memorials. 
 
 I should add to this the valuable Memoir on the Stowe 
 Missal, by the Rev. Dr M'Carthy. 
 
 In conclusion, gentlemen, I now ask for your hearty support 
 and assistance, during the period in which it may please God 
 that I shall remain your President. 
 
 We close to-day a page of the past, and open another of the 
 future — 
 
 " Cras ingens iterabimus oequor." 
 
324 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 For many other Academic associates, who were 
 also private friends, Ferguson had a sincere regard. 
 Besides those already dwelt on, space only forbids to 
 enlarge on David R. Pigot, Master in Chancery, son 
 of the courteous and beloved Chief Baron. Drs Aquila 
 Smith, W. Fraser, E. P. Wright, V. Ball ; the Rev. Dr 
 Maclvor and Rev. Maxwell Close ; Mr R. Longworth- 
 Dames, Messrs Maxwell and Lucius Hutton; Professors 
 Hennessy, Atkinson, and Macalister, and his brother 
 Robert, Secretary to the Academy, and others too 
 numerous to mention, had their places in the friendly, 
 sympathetic, and affectionate heart of Ferguson. That 
 he possessed their esteem and attachment is evidenced 
 in the ' Minutes of Proceedings,' 1887, where the 
 Academic labours of Sir Samuel Ferguson are thus 
 spoken of: — 
 
 The year that has just elapsed is memorable to the Academy, 
 not more for the celebration of its centenary than for the 
 death of our late distinguished President, Sir Samuel Ferguson. 
 In him has passed away one of the oldest members of the 
 Academy, and one of its staunchest friends. He had been 
 a member for upwards of fifty years. From the very be- 
 ginning of his membership he gave proof of his peculiar 
 turn of mind. The love for antiquarian studies animated 
 him down to the last year of his life, from his first paper, 
 published in January 1838, to his last work "On the Patri- 
 cian Documents," 1885, a work which gives us the measure 
 alike of the intimacy of his acquaintance with the story of 
 Ireland's Apostle, and of his mastery over the riches and 
 beauty of the English tongue. 
 
 During the twenty years between 1841 and 1863, the 
 absorbing duties of his profession of barrister left him but 
 little leisure for the prosecution of antiquarian research ; 
 
ACADEMIC LABOURS OF SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON. 325 
 
 but as soon as circumstances permitted, his eager mind 
 returned to the cherished studies of his younger days, and 
 in 1863 he began a series of investigations into the arcana 
 of Oghamic writing, which he carried on down to the end of 
 his life with unabated zeal. No failure seemed to daunt him, 
 no praise made him relax his efforts ; and it is not too much 
 to say that if ever the interpretation of the Oghamic record be 
 solidly established, a large share in the renown of the discovery 
 will fall of right to Sir Samuel Ferguson. 
 
 Nor is it solely to his efforts towards the solution of this 
 problem that his renown is due : the thanks of scholars are 
 not less owed to the devotion with which he hunted out 
 from every corner in Ireland the pillar-stones on which the 
 writings are engraved. It was indeed his wish, as it was our 
 hope, that the Academy should be enabled to publish a Corpus 
 Inscriptionum, in the shape of photographs, taken from the 
 paper casts and moulds made by his hands. But with his 
 death the hope has failed : the first fasciculus alone was com- 
 pleted ; the remainder await the time when the Academy shall 
 be fortunate enough to discover among its members one who 
 can worthily fulfil the pious duty of completing the work that 
 Sir Samuel Ferguson began. 
 
 These drier studies, the pioneer labours of decipherment 
 and tentative translation, appealed to a comparatively narrow 
 circle. But Sir Samuel Ferguson had a far deeper claim on 
 his countrymen than mere antiquarian zeal could establish. 
 Fifty years ago he began to delight the wider public with 
 the native tales and poems of Ireland. It was well that 
 the tales should be translated, but it was a rare fortune 
 that gave Irishmen the opportunity of hearing them told 
 by such a master of speech. In the reproduction of these 
 old legends want of knowledge and want of sympathy would 
 be alike fatal, and yet the adequate possession of both would 
 not have sufficed to give the nameless charm of many of 
 them. That could only be given by a poet, and Sir Samuel 
 Ferguson was undoubtedly a real poet. Under his hand the 
 charm of the novelty in the story is heightened by the ex- 
 quisiteness of the form ; the two elements are blended into a 
 
326 HIS WORK AS A MEMBER OF THE R.I. A. 
 
 product peculiarly Irish, and of singular excellence. His last 
 effort, his version of the Patrician Documents, is a noble 
 ending to his work as a student and as a poet. 
 
 But it is not solely as thinker and writer that we have to 
 mourn his loss. The Academy has had no truer son. Out- 
 side the range of his private relations, the Academy was 
 second only to Ireland in his sympathies ; there was nothing 
 that affected either which did not stir up in him a correspon- 
 dent emotion. The highest honours that the Academy could 
 confer upon him were his ; but perhaps even these honours 
 were less significant than the esteem in which he was univer- 
 sally held. And as he was honoured in his public life, so in 
 private he was equally beloved, for his heart was as large as 
 his intellect was clear. 
 
327 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 1867-1886. 
 
 HIS WORK AS DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS 
 OF IRELAND. 
 
 " Old age hath yet his honour and his toil ; 
 Death closes all : but something ere the end, 
 Some work of noble note, may yet be done. 
 
 Tho' much is taken, much abides ; and tho' 
 
 We are not now that strength which in old days 
 
 Moved earth and heaven ; that which we are, we are ; 
 
 One equal temper of heroic hearts, 
 
 Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
 
 To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." 
 
 — Tennyson. 
 
 In the summer of 1867 Edwin, Earl of Dunraven, 
 about to collect material for his noble work, ' Notes 
 on Irish Architecture,' proposed to Ferguson a further 
 sojourn on Aranmore in his company : — 
 
 I hope you will be able to come with Dr Stokes and me 
 to Aran in August. I intend to bring over a photographer, 
 and we shall try to do the thing completely. Pray come if 
 you can. I never see anything of you, which is not satis- 
 factory. Will you be free by the 5th or 6th of August ? I 
 suppose you will be going Circuit immediately. 
 
328 DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF IRELAND. 
 
 A little later he again wrote from Dunraven Castle, 
 South Wales : — 
 
 I don't see why your not being free till the ioth or 12 th 
 of August should prevent your coming then, and I hope you 
 will do so. What I should like to do would be to make a 
 thorough exploration of the Aran monuments, and have every- 
 thing photographed that is worth doing, and then do you take 
 the military part and handle it as you like, and leave me the 
 ecclesiastical. Do try and arrange this. 
 
 He was disappointed not to have been one of the group 
 of friends who had visited Aranmore in 1857, an d> na ^ 
 in jest, half in earnest, had told the Fergusons that 
 until they should consent to revisit the islands under 
 his auspices he would not forgive them for not having 
 invited him to join that expedition. 
 
 Lord Dunraven was himself an accomplished archae- 
 ologist. As Lord Adare, he has been already named 
 in connection with the Ordnance Survey Memoir; in 
 Astronomical science he had been the pupil of Sir W. 
 R. Hamilton at Dunsink. He was also a student of 
 Shakespeare, and took part in the "Readings" in 
 the houses of his friends when he found himself in 
 Dublin. 
 
 At the close of the summer Circuit in 1867, Ferguson 
 and his wife, then the guests of General and Mrs 
 Chesney, awaited the completion of Lord Dunraven's 
 arrangements, prepared to join him at a moment's 
 notice. A letter forwarded to Ferguson while at 
 Packolet changed their plans. It was from Lord 
 Naas, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, afterwards 
 
LORD NAAS S LETTER. 329 
 
 Earl of Mayo, and conveyed an offer of the post of 
 Keeper of the Records of Ireland : — 
 
 Irish Office, 
 61 Queen Street, S.W., August loth. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I have great pleasure in being able to offer 
 you the office of Deputy Keeper of the Records, created under 
 the bills which have just passed through Parliament. The 
 duties will be onerous but honourable, and I am inclined to 
 think that the occupation will be one suited to your tastes and 
 attainments. I am sure that your acceptance of the office 
 will give satisfaction to the public, and that you will have a 
 good opportunity of affording to the country the advantage of 
 much learning and knowledge which so peculiarly fit you for 
 the office. The salary will, I hope, be fixed at a maximum of 
 ^800 a-year, commencing at £600 ; but in your case I shall 
 propose that you should commence zX ^700 a-year, in conse- 
 quence of the extra labour which will be thrown on you in the 
 originating of the department. 
 
 I do not propose to make any further appointments without 
 conference with you. I think, therefore, that you had better 
 confer with the Master of the Rolls with as little delay as 
 possible, and having fully made yourself acquainted with his 
 views, come over here towards the close of this week in order 
 that we may together endeavour in conjunction with the Treasury 
 to fix satisfactorily the number and salaries of the future staff 
 of the office. — Faithfully yours, Naas. 
 
 S. Ferguson, Esq. 
 
 Thus summoned to London, Ferguson could not 
 fulfil his engagement to the Earl of Dunraven, who 
 proceeded to Aran with Dr and Miss Stokes and his 
 photographer only. Lord Dunraven wrote towards 
 the close of August to tell of their progress : — 
 
 I was delighted to find that all was right about the Record 
 Office, but regret much that you were prevented joining us. 
 
330 DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF IRELAND. 
 
 We have done everything here, but owing to the broken weather 
 we have lost two days and a half out of eight. We have photo- 
 graphs of every object of real interest, and high time it is that 
 the forts should have been done, for the havoc among them 
 by the rabbit-hunting in the last few years is dreadful. 
 
 We came across in a breeze yesterday, and visited McDara'a 
 Island : it blew too fresh for the photographs, but we made 
 camera-tracings of the very remarkable church there. 
 
 Among Ferguson's congratulators on his appointment 
 to the Record Office were Dean Reeves, the Rev. E. L. 
 Barnwell, Sir Bernard Burke, Mr Justice Lawson, 
 Isaac Butt, Q.C., and his old companion on the North- 
 East Circuit, Henry Joy, Q.C. 
 
 This instant I have read in the ' Express ' that you are 
 Deputy Keeper of the Records [wrote the Dean of Armagh]. 
 I have read it with the extreme of pleasure, and before the 
 post leaves this village I congratulate you on the appointment, 
 and Mother Erin on her present luck, wishing to both son and 
 mother all the felicitations of such a happy domestic arrange- 
 ment. You cease to be Crown Prosecutor of Armagh, but 
 your call leads to a higher Bar, to be Crown Prosecutor of 
 the long-neglected and despised studies of Record literature, 
 the materials for which were created by the Law, and the 
 development of which will, I trust, bring lustre to the creator 
 through the talents, taste, and patriotism of the rightfully 
 selected member of the family. — Believe me to remain your 
 affectionate friend, Wm. Reeves. 
 
 I congratulate the Record Office on the acquisition of such 
 a Deputy Keeper [wrote Mr Barnwell], and I only hope the 
 Office itself is one worth your acceptance. 
 
 I have read with infinite pleasure of your appointment to 
 the chief direction of the new Record Department [wrote Sir 
 Bernard Burke]. Your legal attainments, your enlarged mind, 
 your literary ability, are qualifications few others possess. 
 
CONGRATULATIONS ON FERGUSON S APPOINTMENT. 331 
 
 My dear Ferguson [wrote Mr Justice Lawson], — I con- 
 gratulate you, and especially the country which has obtained 
 the services of one so eminently qualified for the post. The 
 appointment reflects the greatest credit upon the Government. 
 You were one of the men at our profession whom upon the 
 merits I desired to see promoted. 
 
 Isaac Butt, Q.C., sent his congratulations: — 
 
 I need not tell you [he said] with what satisfaction I saw 
 that you are to have the care and custody of the Records. I 
 rejoice in this on national grounds, independent of the pleasure 
 I would feel in anything that would be for your interest, as I 
 hope this is. 
 
 Henry Joy, Q.C., wrote to the same effect : — 
 
 It gives me such hearty pleasure to see in this day's paper 
 your appointment to the Record Office — a very important 
 post — that I cannot allow a post to pass without congratulating 
 an old and valued friend. I ought perhaps rather to con- 
 gratulate the public upon an appointment (rare in this country) 
 which provides a right man in the right place. 
 
 Although Ferguson made a considerable sacrifice 
 of income by retiring from the Bar, he was not un- 
 willing to accept the post thus offered. His profession 
 had many prizes, but it entailed great anxieties. An 
 assured income, even though a smaller one, had its 
 compensations. His tastes, and those of his wife, 
 were simple, and he had ever been " an undervaluer 
 of money." His health had more than once given 
 way under the strain of professional work, with its 
 late hours and weighty responsibilities. He replied 
 to Lord Naas's letter accepting the task of organising 
 the newly created Record Office, and went at once 
 to London, as suggested by the Chief Secretary. 
 
332 DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF IRELAND. 
 
 That Ferguson was conscious that he possessed 
 practical ability and power of organising is evident 
 from his own words : — 
 
 In 1867 I gave up the profession of the Law and entered 
 on the duties of my present office of Deputy Keeper of the 
 Public Records in Ireland. Besides my training at the Bar 
 and the knowledge of palaeography acquired in my earlier 
 researches, I have naturally a strong turn for the practical 
 applications of knowledge, and believe that my character 
 presents at least as much of the man of business on the one 
 side as of the poet or man of letters on the other. In the 
 exercise of this faculty for business I had amongst my earliest 
 contributions to the ' University ' communicated those papers 
 on the " Commercial Capabilities of Ireland " which were the 
 precursors of the ampler and more scientific " Industrial 
 Resources" of Sir Robert Kane. At the Bar I had been 
 much engaged in a class of cases requiring a knowledge of 
 practical handicraft, and in my new office I have found full 
 occupation both for my Record and Legal knowledge, and 
 for my constructive faculty. To make the most of light and 
 space, to combine individual accessibility with general close- 
 ness of deposit, and to devise the various details of mechanical 
 adjustment as well as of methodical arrangement, was just the 
 kind of task for which my life and habits of mind had pre- 
 pared me. Nine [1877 ; now eighteen] Reports show what has 
 been done during as many years, in assembling the Records of 
 the country from their scattered repositories and placing them 
 in one custody under one uniform system of arrangement and 
 reference. 
 
 How this work has been accomplished is told in the 
 following pages, kindly furnished by Dr J. J. Digges 
 La Touche, who was Assistant Deputy Keeper during 
 Sir Samuel's lifetime, and is now his successor : — 
 
 The Public Records of Ireland being in the keeping of 
 several persons, and many of them in unfit buildings, it was 
 
INSTITUTION OF RECORD OFFICE OF IRELAND. 333 
 
 deemed expedient to establish one office and a better custody, 
 and to allow the free use of the records as far as might be 
 consistent with their safety and with the public policy of the 
 realm ; and a large and commodious building having been 
 erected at the western extremity of the enclosed place at the 
 rear of the Four Courts, Dublin, for the purpose of serving 
 as a Public Record Office, the Public Records (Ireland) Act, 
 1867, was passed and received the Royal Assent on the 12th 
 August 1867. 
 
 Under this Act the Lord Lieutenant was empowered, with 
 the consent of the Treasury, to appoint a fit person, duly 
 qualified by his knowledge of records, to be Deputy Keeper 
 of the Records, to act as Chief Record Keeper under the 
 Master of the Rolls, and to superintend all persons employed 
 in the Public Record Office. 
 
 Lord Naas, afterwards Lord Mayo, who took the greatest 
 interest in the new department, selected Dr Ferguson to fill 
 this post, and he was appointed by the Marquess of Abercorn, 
 the then Lord Lieutenant, on the 23d September 1867, and 
 the keys of the new building were delivered up to him by the 
 Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland on the 19th 
 November in that same year. 
 
 Dr Ferguson's literary tastes, his well-known interest in 
 Irish antiquities and history, and his special familiarity with 
 early English law, seemed to mark him out as eminently 
 suited for the position of Director of the new depository of 
 the Records. The task, however, which actually lay before 
 him proved to be of a character which would have been very 
 uncongenial to most men of letters. 
 
 The similar Department established in London by statute 
 in the early years of her Majesty's reign was, in fact, a 
 reorganisation of the old Record Commission which had been 
 in existence from the beginning of the century ; so that whilst 
 a change took place in the form of the record work and publi- 
 cation, the control of the Records in England remained un- 
 broken in the same experienced hands. 
 
 With the Irish Records the state of things was very different. 
 The Irish Record Commission had been dissolved in 1830, 
 
334 DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF IRELAND. 
 
 and with it had passed away all central control of the Irish 
 Records. These now lay scattered through some two dozen 
 offices, often in the hands of persons quite incapable of under- 
 standing, and still more often of those wholly careless of, 
 their value. 
 
 It was the immediate duty of the new Department to trace 
 and collect the Records from their numerous hiding-places. 
 The Records which were by the new Act primarily to be 
 brought together in the new repository were, as above stated, 
 scattered through some twenty-five offices. Dr Ferguson found 
 himself obliged to initiate every step of the necessary proceed- 
 ings. The legal form of sanction, the mode of dealing with 
 the officials having charge of records, some of whom were 
 unwilling to part with the documents, and others so anxious to 
 be quit of their charge as to chafe at any delay ; the organi- 
 sation of the new officials ; the arranging, cataloguing, and 
 indexing of the incoming Records ; and even the mechanical 
 arrangements for their carriage and stowage in the new building, 
 had all to be arranged for. Dr Ferguson's versatile nature was 
 strikingly illustrated in the active interest he displayed in the 
 most minute provisions, in the details of construction, the 
 adjustment of shelving, the parcelling of Records so as to make 
 them most suitable for deposit. Indeed a dozen appliances, 
 many displaying marked inventive talent, were the outcome of 
 his own mechanical genius. 
 
 The first piece of work which was thrown upon the Office 
 was a rather discouraging one. Before the staff was yet com- 
 pleted, a fire broke out in the offices of one of the Chancery 
 Masters, and the documents they contained — hundreds of 
 thousands of papers and parchments, many injured by fire or 
 water, and most of them in utter disorder — were hurried into 
 the new Record building. The orderly arrangement of this 
 heterogeneous collection demanded immediate attention ; but, 
 nothing daunted, the new Deputy Keeper, with such help as 
 was available, undertook the work, and in a short time reduced 
 the chaotic mass to order. 
 
 The transfer of the great collection of the Rolls Office ; the 
 Landed Estates Record Office and Vice-Treasurer's Records 
 
TRANSFER AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE RECORDS. 335 
 
 in the Custom - House ; the Bermingham Tower Rolls, the 
 Parliamentary Records, and the Record Commissioners' Col- 
 lection from Dublin Castle ; the three Common Law Courts, 
 and the Equity and Revenue Exchequer, soon followed. In 
 three years from the foundation of the Office, the removal of 
 the numerous Records from these large repositories had been 
 effected, they had been made accessible, and in part rearranged 
 in the Record Office. The vast bulk of these documents may 
 be imagined from the fact that those from the Custom-House 
 alone were estimated to weigh 169 tons. 
 
 Following the removal of those great classes of Records 
 were the transfers of a long series of smaller collections, most 
 important of which were the Probate Registries. These 
 especially entailed much negotiation. In 1875 a new branch 
 of work was thrown upon the Deputy Keeper, in which he 
 took a special interest. On the Disestablishment of the Irish 
 Church in 1870, whilst the Records relating to the property 
 and revenues of the Church had been attended to, by being 
 placed under the care of the Church Temporalities Com- 
 mission, no provision had been made for the custody of the 
 Parish Records. In 1875 an Act was passed to remedy this 
 omission and provide that the Registers of Births, Deaths, 
 and Marriages belonging to parishes should, as the old in- 
 cumbents passed from office, be deposited in the Public 
 Record Office. The widely scattered localities of these 
 Records, and the more or less open hostility of not a few 
 of the clergy, smarting under a sense of injustice from recent 
 legislative action, made the execution of this Act a work 
 demanding much patience, skill, and tact. The difficulties 
 it entailed were further increased by the passing of a hastily 
 drawn Amendment Act in the following year, framed in the 
 interest of a few influential clergy who were opposed to the 
 transfer of their Registers, by which the Master of the Rolls 
 was empowered, under certain conditions, to permit Records 
 to be retained in such parishes as were properly provided 
 with means for their safe deposit and custody. So many 
 were the difficulties surrounding the collection of these im- 
 portant Records, that Dr Ferguson felt it necessary himself 
 
336 DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF IRELAND. 
 
 to undertake a large part of the delicate duty of dealing with 
 their ecclesiastical custodians. In prosecution of this service 
 he had, at great inconvenience and often at much personal 
 discomfort, to travel through many remote parts of the 
 country, explaining where necessary to the clergy the require- 
 ments of the Acts, and thus to secure their compliance. 
 
 The large amount of routine drudgery which these continual 
 transfers, with the necessary accompaniment of cataloguing, 
 entailed on the Department, was to some small extent relieved 
 by the duty of preparing the annual reports, which, in accord- 
 ance with the Public Records Act, the Deputy Keeper was 
 called upon to make for presentation to Parliament. Eighteen 
 of these reports by Dr Ferguson were published, for the years 
 1868 to 1885. Though not perhaps attractive to the casual 
 reader, these reports possess a great fund of interest for 
 students of Irish history and legal institutions, and exemplify 
 the careful accuracy and minute elaboration which characterise 
 Sir Samuel's antiquarian writings. 
 
 In undertaking the duties of Deputy Keeper, it was Dr 
 Ferguson's most ardent desire to continue the work of Record 
 publication which had been begun so many years before by 
 the Irish Record Commissioners. The publication of the 
 early Irish Statutes, the Chancery and Exchequer Inquisitions 
 for Munster and Connaught, the Exchequer Inquisitions for 
 Ulster and Leinster, the early Plea Rolls, the Memoranda 
 Rolls of the Exchequer, the Patent Rolls from the reign of 
 James I., and other historically interesting though smaller 
 classes of Records, was a consummation very dear to him, 
 and would, if achieved, or even partly achieved, have been a 
 suitable crown to the work of one distinguished as a lawyer 
 and an antiquary, as well as to the Head of a Record 
 Office. 
 
 Much material for these works had been left by the Record 
 Commissioners, but the large amount of routine work entailed 
 by the reception, arrangement, and indexing of so many 
 collections of documents, and the subsequent reduction by 
 the Treasury of the staff at his disposal, rendered his cherished 
 hopes in this direction unattainable. But though thus dis- 
 
DR DIGGES LA TOUCHE'S STATEMENT. 337 
 
 appointed in the literary results of his work, the years during 
 which he presided over the Record Office showed great 
 strides in making the Records of this country accessible to 
 future students. The organisation of an efficient Department, 
 the tracing, assembling, arranging, and making available as 
 they never had been before so large a mass of documents, 
 was much to accomplish in but the later years of an always 
 busy and eventful life. 
 
 If he left behind him in connection with his Office not 
 much literary or historical results, it was not from want either 
 of zeal, assiduity, or ability, but from causes entirely beyond 
 his own control ; and he has to show for his official labours 
 a Department started out of chaos, which in its arrangement, 
 organisation, and facility of reference by the literary and legal 
 public, has more than amply fulfilled the expectations previ- 
 ously held out concerning it. 
 
 It will be seen from Dr La Touche's statement how 
 much tact was necessary for dealing with the clergy of 
 the disestablished Church of Ireland, whose parish 
 registers were by law to be taken from them and 
 transferred to the Record Office. It was resented by 
 most of them as a grievance as well as a pecuniary 
 loss. It is apparent from the following letter from 
 Dean Reeves that Ferguson had consulted him. The 
 future Bishop had a keen sense of humour, and his 
 account of the way in which many of the registries 
 were kept shows how necessary was the Act which 
 transferred them to a public office : — 
 
 The Library, Armagh, January 23, 1874. 
 
 Your letter of yesterday puts to me an exceedingly difficult 
 question to answer, so unequal are the populations of parishes, 
 and so painfully defective the record qualifications of the 
 clerical exponents a generation or two past. When I was 
 curate of Lisburn (an intensely English and orderly settle- 
 
 VOL. II. Y 
 
33^ DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF IRELAND. 
 
 ment) I had to do with Registers copious and regular, dating, 
 with a well-maintained succession, from the commencement 
 of the seventeenth century, wherein I found entries of the 
 deaths of members of Jeremy Taylor's family, and abundant 
 notices of Schomberg's troops. But when I went from that 
 parish to Ballymena, to my horror the parochial registry 
 started with the year of my own birth ( 1 8 1 5 ) and not a scrap 
 anterior ! 
 
 In Lusk I found some vestiges of earlier days, but in the 
 main a serial not much earlier than this century. The truth 
 is, that in Ballymena among Presbyterians, and in Lusk among 
 Papists, the recurrences of baptisms, marriages, and burials 
 were so few and far between that the Episcopalian or the 
 Protestant incumbent had not sufficient stimulus to institute a 
 registry, and the intervals in the execution of his offices in 
 these occasional duties were so long that his note-book, if 
 such he had, was put past and hardly to be found. Again, 
 incumbents kept the books, if such existed, in their homes, 
 and for convenience put them in the shelves of their little 
 libraries, if not on the tops of some old press ; and in the 
 one case the registry books were numbered with his assets 
 when he died, and, when his books were prepared for sale, 
 either disposed of as waste paper or turned over to the waste- 
 paper-basket. Those on top of the press were sure to be 
 utilised on occasions of economic dearth in combustibles by 
 the housemaid in the promotion of family caloric. I remem- 
 ber being shown by a gentleman in the county of Down, 
 noble-minded and intelligent, vestry books of the parish 
 whereof his father had been incumbent, which had come to 
 him as part of his father's library, and were treasured up by 
 him as choice ingredients in his private collection of family 
 muniments. At Tynan I have a parochial registry of births, 
 deaths, and marriages commencing, horribih dktu, at 1808 — 
 and this in a model parish, where the Established Church 
 element has always been in the ascendant ! My squire solves 
 the enigma by saying that there was a curate who was an 
 inveterate piscator, and that he employed the registral leaves 
 of parchment from time to time as fly-books, until all the 
 
DEAN REEVES ON PAROCHIAL REGISTERS. 339 
 
 volume became fly-leaves. I cannot certify to the birth, death, 
 or marriage of any one in Tynan parish between 1720 and 
 1808 ! This is very sad. 
 
 Viewing matters of this kind, then, with the eye of a lay- 
 man and an archivist, I feel disgusted with the conduct of my 
 predecessors, or of the whole regime which permitted such 
 frightful abuses, and I can feel some sympathy in the Scotch 
 measures which swept all such records, down to a recent date, 
 into the General Register House, and left the parochial 
 ministers to their sacred functions, but divested them of the 
 office of deputy keepers of records. 
 
 On the other hand, as a cleric my choler rises at the idea of 
 a forcible abstraction from my custody of books which I 
 have contributed to create, and carefully laboured to preserve. 
 And in my case the feeling is intensified by habits of strict 
 custody and non-intrusion which I have acquired. 
 
 Dreading the meditated swoop of your Office, which I most 
 cordially honour and esteem, I have had thoughts of falling to 
 work at once and transcribing propria manu all my registra 
 in a uniform manner and to my own taste, ere they be 
 snatched (qttod absit) from me. It comes to this, — I have 
 pity for myself should I be deprived of my parochial muni- 
 ments, but I have no sympathy with my brethren who do not 
 care a fig for these things. I was born a Registrar and 
 scrivener, and therefore I am not an impartial opinion in these 
 matters. 
 
 Now as to parochial Registers, they embrace three depart- 
 ments — Births, Marriages, and Burials. In the parchment 
 books which were issued under the old Board of First-Fruits, 
 and after it by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the volume 
 had three divisions under the above heads. In the baptisms, 
 8 on a page, I always considered the spaces too large, and I 
 have been in the habit of bisecting them and putting 16 on 
 a page. Again, the formulae vary. Some record only the 
 Christian name of the child, the names of the father, and the 
 Christian name of the mother. My plan to help identification 
 has always been to give both names of the father and the 
 maiden name of the mother, as also the date of the child's 
 
340 DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF IRELAND. 
 
 birth as well as baptism, though the former is really only pre- 
 sumptive evidence. The parson can swear to the baptism, 
 but not to the age further than as alleged. Beyond my four 
 parishes of actual experience (I began Curate, then Perpetual 
 Curate, then Vicar, then Rector), I have no acquaintance 
 with parochial records further than to know that in nine cases 
 out of ten they are not older than the present century. But 
 how to estimate their extent for this period, in the three depart- 
 ments, I know not. In my present tone of mind I should be 
 disposed to oppose the centralisation of parochial records, for 
 the clergy are now better keepers than they used to be ; but 
 I would be disposed to give every help in the creation of 
 authentic transcripts to be made in your office from our 
 originals on loan. If I were Primate or a Bishop, I would 
 feel it incumbent on me to rehabilitate my Registry Office of 
 the diocese, and there I would bestow all my goods. 
 
 Archbishop M'Gettigan most kindly lent me the three 
 volumes of Curry's Lectures. The introductory volume 
 struck me as very able, just what I would expect from Sulli- 
 van. It is very suggestive and valuable, and to my mind 
 worth the two actual volumes ten times over. There is an air 
 of self-satisfied composure in the prelections which disturbs 
 me, and the ipse dixits are not sufficiently backed with scholar- 
 ship to satisfy me. 
 
 I intend to go to Dublin on Monday in attendance on my 
 lord and master to do devoirs at the foot of the Viceregal 
 throne on Tuesday. But I hope on Monday night to sit at 
 the feet of the President or Chairman of the R. I. A. — Yours 
 affectionately, Wm. Reeves. 
 
 The gentleness combined with firmness, the inborn 
 courtesy and consideration which were characteristic 
 of Ferguson, and his unswerving allegiance to duty, 
 fitted him, even more than his intellectual equipment, 
 to watch over, guide, and influence those over whom 
 he had to preside. Gentlemen, young and inexperi- 
 enced, though they had passed first-class Civil Service 
 
HIS INTEREST IN THE MEMBERS OF HIS STAFF. 341 
 
 examinations, artisans, and workmen in various de- 
 partments, had been trained by him and fitted to 
 carry out with zeal and efficiency the requirements of 
 their several departments. He took the sincerest 
 interest in them all, and enforced his precepts by 
 example. So resolute was he that when, in impaired 
 health, his physicians desired that he should take wine 
 with his mid-day meal, he refused to obey. A small 
 flask for the waistcoat-pocket, which held one glass of 
 sherry, had been got for him, but he positively refused 
 to make use of it. " I allow no stimulants to be 
 brought into the Record Office," he said, "and none 
 shall be taken there by me." 
 
 How he won and retained the confidence, esteem, 
 and affection of his staff will be evident from the 
 following letters. A few only are given. The first 
 illustrates how in the breast of the Deputy Keeper 
 mercy seasoned justice : — 
 
 I am obliged to part with , the writer whose 
 
 work in map-copying I showed you. He has been allowed to 
 ask for his discharge in consequence of a piece of misconduct 
 which cannot be overlooked in a public office, but which would 
 not be likely to occur in a private employment where his work 
 would be measured by daily inspection. He has served here 
 for six years, and has produced much creditable work. If you 
 can do anything to put him in the way of employment I would 
 be obliged. 
 
 The next letter refers to a case of infectious illness 
 in the household of one of his staff: — 
 
 I am sincerely concerned to know how unhappy you must 
 be. Your chief effort — for you can do nothing in Mrs 's 
 
342 DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF IRELAND. 
 
 case but wait the result — must be to keep the rest of your 
 household and yourself out of the way of infection, and your 
 physician will be best able to tell you how that is to be done. 
 It may strain your money resources. If so, let me know, and 
 I'll be ready to lend a hand. 
 
 My dear Berry [wrote Ferguson to one of his staff about 
 to leave the Record Office for a better appointment elsewhere], 
 — I cannot let you leave this office without a word of farewell. 
 You carry with you the goodwill of every one in the house, 
 and my own thanks for services assiduously and faithfully 
 performed. The Parochial Records Register will long be a 
 memorial of your business-like industry. I find it hard to 
 say whether I am more sorry to lose you' or glad that you 
 go in the way of advancement and bettered fortunes. — Believe 
 me, with every good and kind wish, yours, my dear Berry, very 
 sincerely, Saml. Ferguson. 
 
 To this Mr Berry replied : — 
 
 I hasten to thank you sincerely for your letter, and beg to 
 assure you of my deep appreciation of the kindly feeling that 
 prompted your writing it. To have had conveyed in your 
 own graceful way so warm an expression of goodwill and 
 regret on your own part and on that of my late colleagues 
 has been, indeed, most grateful to me. It was with great 
 regret I left the office, and believe me that my connection 
 with it will always be a source of pride to me, especially in 
 having had the happiness of serving so long under so dis- 
 tinguished a Chief. I hope to have the pleasure of personally 
 thanking you at an early day, and may I take this opportunity 
 of expressing to Mrs Ferguson my warm thanks for much 
 kindness and attention, and of congratulating her on the new 
 honour she is so soon to share with you ? 
 
 All the staff of the Record Office, including the 
 workmen, attended in St Patrick's Cathedral, on the 
 12th of August 1886, the obsequies of the Chief whom 
 
LETTERS FROM MEMBERS OF HIS STAFF. 343 
 
 they revered. Many of them expressed their affection 
 and respect in letters to Lady Ferguson on her be- 
 reavement. A few are here cited : — 
 
 Dear Lady Ferguson, — Your very kind expressions and 
 thoughtfulness in sending a remembrance of Sir Samuel so 
 perfect in every sense touched me very much. I possess two 
 excellent likenesses of him and a couple of autograph letters, 
 which, with the card, shall be cherished in dear and lasting 
 memory of one for whom I entertained the sincerest regard, 
 and who ever treated me (as indeed he did all in whom he 
 felt an interest) with the utmost kindness and consideration. 
 
 Mr Overend told me a good deal of his last days, and 
 whenever he talked he seemed much affected. Sir Samuel's 
 perfect peace and resignation impressed him greatly, and I 
 know he highly valued the privilege of seeing so much of him 
 at the end, and now greatly prizes the recollection of Sir 
 Samuel's affectionate regard. I need hardly tell you how 
 deeply impressed we all were by the solemn service in the 
 Cathedral and by the Archbishop's beautiful address : it set 
 out so perfectly the true nobility and simplicity of character 
 of him we all mourned. Tickell's lines on Addison kept 
 constantly recurring — 
 
 " He taught us how to live, and oh ! too high 
 The price of knowledge taught us how to die." 
 
 At the time of your great loss I did not like to trouble you 
 with any line of sympathy, full well knowing you would have 
 it in abundance, and that you would feel how truly every 
 one privileged with Sir Samuel's friendship was your fellow- 
 mourner ; but in thanking you again much, I am glad to have 
 the opportunity of expressing my heartfelt sympathy with her 
 whose loss has been so great. — Ever, dear Lady Ferguson, 
 truly yours, H. F. Berry. 
 
 My dear Lady Ferguson, — Although not altogether un- 
 expected, I cannot tell you how much grieved I was to hear 
 to-day of the death of dear Sir Samuel. How much I mourn 
 
344 DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS OF IRELAND. 
 
 for him, and how much I shall miss him, few will be able to 
 tell. He was ever a kind, considerate, and true friend to 
 me. I can never forget him, — his genial courtesy, his ever 
 willingness to overlook shortcomings, and his generosity in 
 reproof. I dare not hope to get a Chief like him again. The 
 last two or three times that I had the privilege of seeing him 
 I was much struck — that with all his physical weakness — at 
 the clearness and tranquillity of his mind, with the same 
 cheerful disposition. I will not further intrude upon your 
 great sorrow, but remain as ever faithfully yours, 
 
 John Overend. 
 
 P.S. — I can truly say that there are none of us who do not 
 miss him and mourn for him, for his greatness possessed the 
 greatness of a kind, a loving heart. 
 
 Dear Lady Ferguson, — I hardly know how to thank you 
 sufficiently for sending me the memorial card of my honoured 
 and regretted Chief. I think the likeness is a wonderfully 
 true and good one. For your kind and consoling words 
 regarding my own illness I feel most deeply grateful. I 
 did not like to intrude on your sorrow by writing sooner to 
 express my sympathy at your great loss, but it was and is 
 none the less true and heartfelt. Again thanking you for 
 your kindness, I remain, dear Lady Ferguson, with the 
 greatest respect, very sincerely yours, Thos. M'Ghee. 
 
 Dublin Record Office, 
 Dublin, 6th Oct. 1886. 
 
 Dear Lady Ferguson, — I am very grateful for your kind 
 and unexpected recollection of me, and for the honour you 
 do me in thus including me among the friends of my lost 
 Chief. I had already possessed a photograph of Sir Samuel, 
 but I shall keep this among my most prized relics, and can 
 never look at it without a revival of the affectionate regard 
 I have for so many years felt for him. It would be pre- 
 sumptuous for me to express sympathy with you in your 
 great trial ; but I do feel how deep a blank must be left 
 
ATTACHMENT OF HIS STAFF TO FERGUSON. 345 
 
 in the home by the removal of one so kind, so thoughtful, 
 and so broad in his sympathies as Sir Samuel has always 
 proved to me. — Very faithfully yours, James Mills. 
 
 The words of the Elizabethan poet recur to the 
 mind in reading such testimonies as these : — 
 
 " All heads must come 
 To the cold tomb ; 
 Only the actions of the just 
 Smell sweet and blossom in the dust." 
 
346 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 1810-1886. 
 
 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 " Rather I prize the doubt 
 Low kinds exist without, 
 Finished and finite clods, untroubled by a spark." 
 
 —Browning. 
 " When leaves are green, or golden-sere — 
 
 bright and unforgotten love- 
 Once in the circuit of the year, 
 
 1 bend thy lonely grave above. 
 There, where steep soars the virgin hill, 
 And the blue [inland] waters roll, 
 
 I go to muse, and to fulfil 
 A tender yearning of the soul : 
 To muse on days that far away 
 In Time's grey ocean, like an isle 
 Touched with the pearly bloom of May 
 And lit with morning, shine and smile : 
 To marvel when, to wonder where 
 These searching eyes shall find thee next, 
 Find thee, still gracious, firm, and fair, 
 With sorrow's mystery unvext. 
 
 Faith's noblest instinct is not blind, 
 Hope's lark-like music empty speech ; 
 I shall find thee, we lose to find, 
 By the dark vale the mountains reach." 
 
 —Joseph Truman. 
 
 In dealing with the many movements of a many- 
 sided mind, especially in the most individual and 
 
THE MOVEMENTS OF A MANY-SIDED MIND. 347 
 
 sacred of all relations — its spiritual emotions— it is 
 safest to use only the language in which these con- 
 victions have personally been expressed, and dwell 
 mainly on the evidences of sincerity afforded by the 
 conduct and the life. 
 
 Ferguson's mind was not uniformly orthodox. He 
 thought for himself. He had difficulties ; and long 
 felt a repugnance to the doctrine of original sin. He 
 too — as Tennyson has described his friend — was one 
 
 " In many a subtle question versed, 
 Who touch'd a jarring lyre at first, 
 But ever strove to make it true : 
 
 Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds, 
 
 At last he beat his music out. 
 
 There lives more faith in honest doubt, 
 Believe me, than in half the creeds. 
 
 He fought his doubts and gather'd strength, 
 He would not make his judgment blind, 
 He faced the spectres of the mind 
 
 And laid them : thus he came at length 
 
 To find a stronger faith his own." 
 
 The story of the man of Uz, ''perfect and upright, 
 and one that feared God, and eschewed evil," may be 
 taken as expressive of the questionings of other minds, 
 conscious, like Job, of rectitude, " I will maintain mine 
 own ways before Him." This attitude — not unusual 
 in human experience — has found expression in Fergu- 
 son's poem " Two Voices," a dialogue between Con- 
 science and the Intellectual Soul : — 
 
348 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 TWO VOICES. 
 
 Two voices in my breast 
 Heard I debate, ere slumber o'er me stole : 
 Conscience was one ; and urgent she addressed 
 
 The Intellectual Soul. 
 
 Conscience. 
 
 Soul, if the day were come 
 When thou must part the body's company, 
 What recompense, thinkest thou, of final doom 
 
 Hath the just God for thee ? 
 
 Evade not, Soul \ but give 
 Answer direct : bethink thyself and say 
 What doom is that thou lookest to receive 
 
 At the accounting day ? 
 
 Soul. 
 
 For me to judge, and say 
 What God in justice should adjudge of me, 
 Makes me the judge of God. I put away 
 
 That fond impiety. 
 
 Conscience. 
 
 Prevaricating sprite, 
 Thou shalt no more in feats evasive glory; 
 No more with crafty doublings turn and slight 
 
 The interrogatory 
 
 What feePst thou? 
 
 Soul. 
 
 There indeed 
 Pinches the point I can no more refuse : 
 I feel — I feel — whatever be decreed, 
 I much shall need excuse. 
 
POEMS OF RELIGIOUS EMOTION. 349 
 
 This was Job's experience when brought into direct 
 relations with his Maker : " I will lay mine hand upon 
 my mouth. ... I have uttered that I understood not ; 
 things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. ... I 
 have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear : but now 
 mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and 
 repent in dust and ashes." This may illustrate Fergu- 
 son's experience also. The poem already quoted, his 
 "Three Thoughts," "Three Seasons," and "The 
 Morning's Hinges," about to be cited, indicate the 
 mental struggle and the final victory : — 
 
 THREE THOUGHTS. 
 I. 
 
 "Come in, Sweet Thought, come in; 
 
 Why linger at the door ? 
 Is it because a shape of sin 
 
 Denied the place before ? 
 
 'Twas but a moment there ; 
 
 I chased it soon away ; 
 Behold, my breast is clean and bare — 
 
 Come in, Sweet Thought, and stay." 
 
 The Sweet Thought said me, " No, 
 
 I love not such a room ; 
 Where uncouth inmates come and go, 
 
 And back unbidden, come. 
 
 I rather make my cell 
 
 From ill resort secure, 
 Where love and lovely fancies dwell 
 
 In bosoms virgin-pure." 
 
 11. 
 " Oh, Pure Thought," then I said, 
 " Come thou, and bring with thee 
 This dainty Sweetness, fancy-bred, 
 That flouts my house and me. 
 
350 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 No peevish pride hast thou, 
 
 Nor turnest glance of scorn 
 On aught the laws of life allow 
 
 In man of woman born." 
 
 Said he, " No place for us 
 
 Is here : and, be it known, 
 You dwell where ways are perilous 
 
 For them that walk alone. 
 
 There needs the surer road, 
 
 The fresher-sprinkl'd floor, 
 Else are we not for your abode ; " 
 
 And turned him from my door. 
 
 in. 
 
 Then, in my utmost need, 
 
 " Oh, Holy Thought," I cried, 
 " Come thou, that cleansest will and deed, 
 
 And in my breast abide." 
 
 "Yea, sinner, that will I, 
 
 And presently begin ; " 
 And ere the heart had heaved its sigh, 
 
 The Guest Divine came in. 
 
 As in the pest-house ward 
 
 The prompt Physician stands, 
 As in the leaguered castle-yard 
 
 The Warden with his bands, 
 
 He stood, and said, " My task 
 
 Is here, and here my home ; 
 And here am I who only ask 
 
 That I be asked to come." 
 
 IV. 
 
 See how in huddling flight 
 The ranks of darkness run, 
 Exhale and perish in the light 
 Streamed from the risen sun ; 
 
POEMS OF RELIGIOUS EMOTION. 351 
 
 How, but a drop infuse 
 
 Within the turbid bowl, 
 Of some elixir's virtuous juice, 
 
 It straight makes clear the whole ; 
 
 So from before his face 
 
 The fainting phantoms went, 
 And in a fresh and sunny place 
 
 My soul sat down content ; 
 
 For — mark and understand 
 
 My ailment and my cure — 
 Love came and brought me in his hand 
 
 The Sweet Thought and the Pure. 
 
 THREE SEASONS. 
 
 My breast was as a briary brake 
 
 I lacked the rake and shears to trim ; 
 
 Or like a deep, weed-tangled lake, 
 
 Where man can neither wade nor swim : 
 
 So full of various discontent 
 
 At things I had not height to scan, 
 
 Nor breadth nor depth to comprehend, 
 
 It seemed as though creation's end 
 
 Were but enigma, and God's plan 
 
 One knotted hard entanglement. 
 
 11. 
 Oh ! glad the morning light we greet, 
 That shows the pathway newly found ; 
 And grateful to the oaring feet 
 The touch, at last, of solid ground. 
 A breath : beheld in clearer air, 
 The path surmounts the mountain-side ; 
 A touch : the knots asunder fall ; 
 And from the smooth uncoiling ball, 
 With easy play the shuttle glides 
 To weave the robe the righteous wear. 
 
352 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 III. 
 
 Ah me ! for such a robe unfit, 
 
 How shall I let my face be shown, 
 
 Or venture at the feet to sit 
 
 Of them that sit around the throne ? 
 
 He who upon the darkened eyes 
 
 Has breathed, and touched the chords within, 
 
 Will order all aright. Till then, 
 
 Here let me, in the ways of men 
 
 Walk meekly, and essay to win 
 
 The righteous joy this life supplies. 
 
 The later stanzas of " The Morning's Hinges " run 
 
 thus : — 
 
 O most Mighty, O most High, 
 Past Thought's compass, what am I 
 That should dare Thy comprehending 
 In this narrow, shallow brain ? 
 Yea, but Thou hast given a Soul 
 Well capacious of the whole, 
 And a Conscience ever tending 
 Rightward surely not in vain. 
 
 No, a something cries within ; 
 
 No ; I am not of your kin, 
 Broods of evil ! all the forces 
 
 Of my nature answer No ! 
 
 Though the world be overspread 
 
 With the riddle still unread 
 Of your being, of your sources, 
 
 This with sense supreme I know ; 
 
 That behoves me, and I can, 
 Work within the inner man 
 Such a weeding, such a cleansing 
 Of this moss-grown home-plot here, 
 
STANZAS FROM "THE MORNINGS HINGES. 353 
 
 As shall make its herbage meet 
 For the soles of angels' feet, 
 And its blooms for eyes dispensing 
 Light of Heaven's own atmosphere. 
 
 " Yea, what thou hast last advanced, 
 
 Creature, verily thou canst." 
 (Hark the Master ! ) " Up. Bestir thee ; 
 • And, that thou mayst find the way, 
 
 Things inscrutable laid by, 
 
 Be content to know that I, 
 Hoping, longing, waiting for thee, 
 
 Stand beside thee, every day." 
 
 Lord, and is it Thou, indeed, 
 Takest pity on my need, 
 Who nor symbol show nor token 
 Vouching aught of right in me ? 
 " I, dear Soul," the Master said, 
 " Come to some through broken bread ; 
 Come to some through message spoken ; 
 Come in pure, free grace to thee." 
 
 So, as Browning expresses it in words put into 
 David's mouth in the poet's "Saul": — 
 
 " All's love, yet all's law. . . . 
 
 A Man like to me, 
 Thou shalt love and be loved by, for ever : a Hand like this hand 
 Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee ! See the Christ 
 stand ! " 
 
 Still more finely does Browning assert this doctrine 
 in the postscript to his " Epistle of Karshish, an Arab 
 Physician, " in what is probably the highest utterance 
 to which he has attained as poet and teacher : — 
 
 vol. 11. z 
 
354 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 " The very God ! think, Abib ; dost thou think ? 
 So, the All-Great, were the All-Loving too — 
 So, through the thunder comes a human voice 
 Saying, ' O heart I made, a heart beats here ! 
 Face, my hands fashioned, see it in myself ! 
 Thou hast no power nor mayst conceive of mine : 
 But love I gave thee, with myself to love, 
 And thou must love me who have died for thee ! ; 
 The madman saith He said so : it is strange." 
 
 In his " Hymn of the Fishermen," a poem written 
 after a surmounted danger, Ferguson dwelt on the 
 Divine mercy in the salvation of erring creatures. He, 
 in company with his wife and a young lady friend, 
 had crossed Roundstone Bay on a lovely and calm 
 day of summer when the Atlantic, waveless and blue 
 as the sky above them, seemed the gentlest of all 
 gentle things. Songs were sung as the boat glided 
 smoothly over the water, not alone by the ladies, but 
 by the sailors who navigated her. The man who 
 held the rudder had a melodious voice, and rendered 
 with feeling the beautiful Irish melody, " Molly Bawn 
 Asthore." It was rapturously encored and repeated. 
 Before its close the music suddenly ceased, and the 
 steersman became pale with fear. The sail was in- 
 stantly lowered, and we were called on to refrain from 
 the slightest movement. The boat had drifted over a 
 reef, and but a few inches of water were between her 
 canvas bottom and the jagged rocks. We were face 
 to face with death. Fortunately there was little wind, 
 and the oars were gently used to push us off the dan- 
 gerous reef. When again in safety we with one accord 
 
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN IRELAND. 355 
 
 returned thanks to God for our preservation, but we 
 sang no more that day. 
 
 The concluding verses of Ferguson's " Hymn of the 
 Fishermen" allude to the incident and its spiritual 
 significance : — 
 
 Who, when through drift and darkness 
 
 The reeling hooker flies, 
 And rocks, in ridgy starkness, 
 
 Athwart our bows arise, 
 Prompt to the helm's commanding, 
 
 Brings round the swerving tree, 
 Till, into harbour standing, 
 
 We anchor safe and free. 
 
 And, great and small sufficing, 
 
 Before that equal law, 
 That rules the sun's uprising, 
 
 And makes the mainsail draw, 
 Brings round His erring creatures 
 
 To seek salvation's ways, 
 By laws surpassing Nature's — 
 
 To God give foremost praise. 
 
 On another occasion Ferguson having to drive, in 
 storm and rain broken by fitful gleams of sunshine, 
 over a wild mountain -road, encountered a little girl 
 bravely facing the elements on that " tempestuous 
 autumn day o'er the windy moors," and surmised of 
 her : — 
 
 Something thou hast had to do, 
 Deemed of trust and moment too. 
 
 Now, the errand duly done, 
 
 Home thou hiest fast, 
 Through the flying gleams of sun, 
 
 Through the laden blast, 
 
356 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 With the light of purpose high 
 Kindling bravely in thine eye. 
 
 Round thee, in the glittering rays 
 
 By the rain-drops shed, 
 Shone the blossom'd furze a-blaze, 
 
 Shone the fern-brake red ; 
 Rough but lovely, as thy own 
 Life's ideal, little one ! 
 
 Then a glowing thought there came, 
 
 Guess I not aright ? — 
 That the furze's yellow flame 
 
 Could not shine so bright, 
 Nor the fern-leaves spread so fair, 
 If the good God were not there. 
 
 Rightly to that thought I trace 
 
 All the courage high 
 Flushing through thy wetted face, 
 
 Mounting in thine eye, 
 Now the cloud and driving rain 
 Close around thy path again. 
 
 Could these purblind eyes of mine, 
 
 Past the curtain, see 
 Things unseen and things divine, 
 
 Sure it seems to me 
 I would see an Angel glide 
 Down the mountain by thy side. 
 
 In the Archbishop of Dublin's address on the 12th 
 of August 1886, in St Patrick's Cathedral, given in the 
 first chapter of this biography, his Grace quoted some 
 stanzas from Ferguson's lines on " Westminster Abbey. 
 On hearing week-day service there, September 1856," 
 
PIOUS ALLUSIONS IN FERGUSON'S POEMS. 357 
 
 which need not be repeated here; nor those from 
 " Bird and Brook," in which the poet tells how his 
 
 Soul would strive to raise, 
 If it might, a song of praise, 
 
 yet felt that 
 
 Silence is the speech of awe. 
 
 This reticence was characteristic of Ferguson. He 
 was not effusive in the expression of his deepest feel- 
 ings. And yet, from his earliest to his latest work, a 
 word here and there shows the under-current of his 
 mind. 
 
 Quiet age, and grassy churchyard grave, 
 
 were in his thoughts when he produced in early youth 
 his " Forging of the Anchor," and when he told how 
 Willy Gilliland, 
 
 His hand upon the Book, his knee upon the sod, 
 Filled the lonely valley with the gladsome Word of God. 
 
 In other poems he speaks of the "leavening Word of 
 Jesus," that "Just One crucified for all men's pardon- 
 ing"; His "one shedding of blood for the sins of 
 mankind," and the " ties of Christ's brotherhood." 
 
 Discourse of birth, and life, and death, 
 And of the resurrection. 
 
 In " Mesgedra," a story of pagan times, he 
 
 Tells of woman-love and warrior-ruth, 
 And old expectancy of Christ to come, 
 
 and sees with " fearless vision " 
 
 One great, good God behind and over all. 
 
35§ HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 " Mesgedra " has been criticised by Mr T. W. 
 Lyster, a writer of delicate discrimination and refined 
 taste, who observes of Sir Samuel Ferguson that " in 
 nearly all the poems based on Irish heroic myth he is 
 attracted by some moral, or religious, or humane idea, 
 either inherent in the myth or read into it in his 
 imaginative scrutiny. This is one of the notes of 
 distinction in his poetry — poetry revealing in all its 
 traits a nature of high distinction." 
 
 And yet the genius of Ferguson was essentially 
 masculine. Though a lover of peace, he could appeal 
 to the " God of freedom." In " The Widow's Cloak," 
 a poem of homage to Victoria, " Queen of the Three- 
 joined Realm," whose " sheltering mantle is over India 
 spread," he warns all " who dare to touch the garment's 
 hem " that " the fires are banked : in road and port 
 the seaman-heart swells large " ; yet utters the prayer — 
 
 Maker, Preserver of mankind, and Saviour that Thou art, 
 Assuage the rage of wrathful men ; bring down their haughty 
 
 heart ; 
 Or, if not so Thy holy will — suppress the idle sigh, 
 And God Sabaoth be the name 
 
 We know Thee by ! 
 
 Ferguson's last and lingering illness was borne with- 
 out a murmur. Entire resignation to the Divine Will, 
 gentleness and consideration for those about him, were 
 conspicuous to the end. So greatly was he esteemed 
 that even comparative strangers were concerned for him. 
 
 I have only had the pleasure of seeing him twice [wrote a 
 clergyman], yet I was greatly attracted towards him. I can 
 
FERGUSON S LAST ILLNESS. 359 
 
 quite believe that he is patient, and resigned to leave himself in 
 God's hands. 
 
 I cannot refrain from expressing my sympathy with you in 
 your anxious watch [wrote another to Lady Ferguson]. The 
 affection universally felt for so kind and courteous a friend 
 must be even more pleasant for you to remember now than the 
 respect for his gifts and learning and all the stores of valuable 
 knowledge he has acquired by his long and patient research. 
 
 The feeling expressed for him by his relatives may be 
 summed up in a sentence from the pen of one among 
 them: "What we feel you know without my saying, 
 since you beyond all else know what he is, and how 
 we all love him." 
 
 One of these letters has a peculiar interest, for the 
 lady who wrote it — noble in character, of great charm 
 and goodness — herself died at the same time as Sir 
 Samuel Ferguson. A letter from her husband, Mr 
 Talbot-Crosbie, to Lady Ferguson, with the sad and 
 unexpected intelligence of his wife's decease, crossed 
 hers to tell of her bereavement. Mrs Talbot-Crosbie's 
 note was written in the early stage of Ferguson's 
 illness : — 
 
 Ardfert Abbey, January 25, 1886. 
 Dearest Lady Ferguson, — I don't like to intrude upon 
 you, and yet I like to tell you how much your dear husband 
 and yourself are in my thoughts and prayers. I can't but hope 
 he is improving, and that your great and terrible anxiety is less 
 than it was. Another post-card would be a great boon if you 
 can possibly send it : your last was full of comfort spiritually, 
 although anxious physically. What a true word we have in 
 Job, " When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?" 
 That word, taken with our Lord's own word, " Let not your 
 heart be troubled," are enough for all circumstances that may 
 
360 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 meet us here, and I love to hope that they are sustaining you 
 in your anxiety, as your beloved one in his weakness. Now I 
 won't detain you longer, and, with much love to you both, ever 
 am yours most affectionately, Mary J. Talbot-Crosbie. 
 
 Miss Jane Lee, daughter of the late Archdeacon of 
 Dublin, who won for herself the honourable position of 
 Head of a House at Newnham, and, after a distinguished 
 and useful career, departed this life towards the close 
 of 1895, sent the following kind letter to Ferguson's 
 widow : — 
 
 I have been wishing for some time past to write to you to 
 say how deeply and truly I feel for you and sympathise with 
 you, and have only not done so sooner because I shrank from 
 intruding upon your sorrow. His was so beautiful a life, and 
 yours was so perfect a marriage, that being parted from him 
 for a time must at first be all the harder and more bitter. For 
 us all, indeed, the world seems so much the poorer now that 
 he is no more with us. 
 
 Among all my friends there was no one whom I cared more 
 for, or admired more, or reverenced more, than your husband : 
 in no house used I to meet with a kinder welcome, — there 
 was no home I was gladder to go to. 
 
 But do you not think about those we have lost, that their 
 love, though unseen, is still felt by us — that they are only in a 
 distant part of our Father's House ? Dear friend, I am yours 
 affectionately ever, Jane Lee. 
 
 Nor were Ferguson's friends of a different persuasion 
 less sympathetic. Mr Justice O'Hagan, a large-hearted 
 and devout member of the Church of Rome, wrote as 
 follows to Lady Ferguson : — 
 
 22 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, 1st October 1886. 
 My dear Lady Ferguson, — I thank you for your beautiful 
 and touching letter, and for the memorials you enclose. The 
 
LETTERS FROM JUDGE o'HAGAN AND DR GRAVES. 361 
 
 two sonnets and Lord Plunket's address are full of genuine 
 feeling finely expressed. The photograph is really wonderful. 
 I think I never saw any portrait so vivid and lifelike. The 
 calm, sweet, thoughtful face is there as if the lips were about 
 to open and speak. 
 
 You are very kind in what you say of my endeavours to 
 make his genius appreciated in Ireland. I reproach myself 
 with not having done far more. My last interview with him 
 and the pressure of his hand remain, as they cannot fail to be, 
 indelibly impressed upon my memory. Hoping that I may be 
 soon able to see you, and with renewed expression of my deep 
 sympathy, believe me, dear Lady Ferguson, ever faithfully 
 yours, John O'Hagan. 
 
 A few days after the great sorrow of her life had 
 fallen on the present writer, she received the following 
 letter from her friend Dr Graves, enclosing one from 
 his nephew, Alfred Perceval Graves, son of the Lord 
 Bishop of Limerick. Dr Graves's letter enclosed two 
 sonnets — one written by the younger poet, which ap- 
 peared in the ' Spectator ' a few days after Sir Samuel 
 Ferguson's death, the other addressed to herself by Dr 
 Graves : — 
 
 I think it will gratify you to read not only the sonnet, but 
 also a letter to myself, which have reached me from my 
 nephew Alfred, and the former of which he suggests my 
 sending on to you. It was pleasing to me to note the atti- 
 tude of honouring respect which the younger poet takes 
 towards his elder and superior, and I think you will like to 
 read in his letter his expression of gratitude for personal 
 kindness towards himself. 
 
 I add what I am afraid is really (what Milton's was not) 
 " a poor sonnet " addressed by myself to you ; but you may 
 attach some value to it as imbedding words now sacred to you. 
 
 May I soon go over and have the pleasure — for it always 
 must be a pleasure, even if a sad one — of seeing you ? 
 
362 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 Alfred P. Graves's letter to his uncle contained the 
 following passage : — 
 
 I have been deeply concerned to learn from you of the 
 death of Sir Samuel Ferguson. . . . 
 
 I shall very much miss Sir Samuel ; for he had been most 
 generously kind to me. Thanks to you, I met him at Howth, 
 and had a short but most interesting talk with him. When 
 I spoke with regret of the neglect of all but Irish Political 
 Literature, he said, "My dear Graves, our time will come." 
 
 Certainly he deserves a far ampler recognition than he has 
 obtained in his lifetime. It will come, and I think it the 
 duty of us younger Irish poets to see that he obtains his 
 due as by far the noblest epic-writer we have had. 
 
 I should have liked to have expressed my sorrow at his 
 loss to Lady Ferguson, with whom I can, after my own, 
 deeply sympathise, but I am shy of intruding upon her grief 
 directly. But perhaps you might have an opportunity of 
 letting her see the accompanying sonnet, which I have sent 
 to the 'Spectator.' I trust you may like it. 
 
 SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON. 
 
 " Strong Son of Fergus, with thy latest breath 
 
 Thou hast lent a joy unto the funeral knell, 
 Welcoming with thy whispered ' All is well ' 
 
 The awful aspect of the Angel Death : 
 
 As strong in life, thou couldst not brook to shun 
 The heat and burthen of the fiery day, 
 Fronting defeat with stalwart undismay, 
 
 And wearing meekly honours stoutly won. 
 
 Pure lips, pure hands, pure heart were thine, as aye 
 Erin demanded from her bards of old, 
 And therefore on thy harp-strings of pure gold 
 
 Has waked once more her high heroic lay. 
 
 What shoulders now shall match the mighty fold 
 
 Of Ossian's mantle ? Thou hast passed away." 
 
 Alfred Perceval Graves. 
 
 17th August 1886. 
 
SONNET BY THE REV. ROBERT P. GRAVES. 363 
 
 LADY FERGUSON. 
 
 " Thus spoke he, when he saw her rising tear : 
 
 ' Mary, you must be brave. Though now we part, 
 We shall be reunited.' And her heart 
 
 Drank in with sad delight the tender cheer. 
 
 Nor could she but be sad, when he was near 
 Who soon would be so far ; when every art 
 To keep him here was baffled ; when the dart 
 
 Of ruthless Death must strike a life so dear. 
 
 In all things was she Partner of his Mind ; 
 Felt with him as a Poet ; with her own 
 
 His joy in Shakespeare matched ; nor fell behind 
 His quest of Bardic lay and Ogham stone. 
 
 And Partner is she still ; to her is given 
 
 His 'All is well ' to breathe in hope of Heaven." 
 
 Robert Perceval Graves. 
 
 21st Avgust 1886. 
 
 Dr Graves sent his sonnet and that of his nephew 
 to Sir Frederic Burton, who acknowledged them in 
 the following letter : — 
 
 My dear Graves, — I am very thankful to you for the two 
 beautiful sonnets you have so kindly sent me. Each tells in 
 few words the story of a beautiful life ; for if the subject of 
 the one was a Man, in every high sense of the term, the sub- 
 ject of the other has been a Wife, ideal in her devotion. One 
 offers oneself the feeble consolation that Ferguson had lived 
 the ordinary time allotted to man. But that can in no way 
 mitigate the grief for an irreparable loss. There might — 
 there would have been a solace in thinking that his closing 
 days had been illumed by the dawn of all he hoped and 
 laboured for, with such ardour and single-minded love of 
 country. Perhaps his hope never abandoned him to the last. 
 But to us still living all looks dark indeed, and the darker the 
 more we try to peer into the dreary gloom of Ireland's future. 
 That blind prospect never leaves my mind. But it is worse 
 than useless to talk of these things. 
 
364 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 And Mr Aubrey de Vere, to whom Dr Graves had 
 sent his own and his nephew's sonnet, acknowledged 
 them in these words : — 
 
 Ambleside, 6>//. 11, 1S86. 
 My dear Mr Graves, — Your letter has just reached me 
 in this land of Lakes, which, I know, is a land very dear to 
 you, and I think that both the sonnets would have met the 
 hearty approval and strong sympathy of the great poet whom 
 you knew so well when you resided in his neighbourhood near 
 this haunt of his. After saying this, it is hardly worth while 
 to add that I too admire them both, and have read them 
 more than once with great interest. The Poet of Ireland 
 and her ancient days deserved this tribute ; and it will be 
 acceptable to very many : to her who was a " helpmate " to 
 him in his poetic labours, as in all things beside, it must be 
 especially precious. I read the obituary notice of our old 
 friend in a Dublin paper, as well as the Archbishop's sermon, 
 with much pleasure, but I did not see that in the 'Academy.' 
 No one was more certain to write it both ably and sympatheti- 
 cally than Miss Stokes. 
 
 Dr Whitley Stokes wrote from the Continent (Neu- 
 hausen) to Lady Ferguson : — 
 
 Your kind letter of the 5 th inst. followed me hither, and 
 I was about to answer it and give some account of such 
 of my discoveries at Paris, Saint Germain, Orleans, and 
 SchafThausen as would have interested Sir Samuel, when 
 I saw in the ' Times ' and ' Galignani ' the startling news 
 of his death. He was the dearest and most honoured of 
 my friends, and I still feel stunned and bewildered by the 
 blow. I am haunted by his own words about Thomas 
 Davis : — 
 
 " I may lie and try to think I am but dreaming, 
 May lie and tiy to say, Thy will be done, 
 But a hundred such as I will never comfort Erin 
 For the loss of her noble son." 
 
SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON'S LAST LETTER. 365 
 
 I am asking Maddie to send me to Lausanne, poste restante, 
 the fuller notices of him which are sure to appear in the 
 Dublin and London papers. 
 
 And his brother, Sir William Stokes, felt no less 
 keenly the severance of a friendship which commenced 
 with his earliest recollections : — 
 
 5 Merrion Square, Aug. 15, 1886. 
 My dear Lady Ferguson, — I enclose the certificate. I 
 have just returned from England, and I need hardly say 
 how deeply I regret having been unable to pay a last tribute 
 of respect to one whom all revered and honoured. To have 
 had Sir Samuel's goodwill and friendship were privileges for 
 which I shall ever feel grateful and proud. — Believe me, my 
 dear Lady Ferguson, with true sympathy, ever yours, 
 
 William Stokes. 
 
 The latest letter which Lady Ferguson wrote at 
 her dying husband's dictation, but which he signed 
 with his own hand, was addressed to the Bishop 
 of Down and Connor. It contained expressions of 
 loving regard, and " hope of renewed participation 
 of spirit hereafter," and was responded to by Bishop 
 Reeves in the following communication to his bereaved 
 friend. Sir Samuel's letter is first given : — 
 
 Strand Lodge, Howth, jt/1 Atigust 1886. 
 
 My dear Bishop, — I feel that I nearly approach the time 
 when I must exchange my transitory quarters here for the 
 permanent repose of Donegore. 
 
 It would be a comfort if you would sometimes cast an 
 eye on the last resting-place of one in whom you now have 
 some interest as Bishop of the old Dalriadian stock, and 
 were you present at my interment it would be deemed a 
 gracious act of old friendship and esteem, but this subject 
 
366 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 to other calls and contingencies to which your Episcopal 
 office now subjects you. 
 
 With loving regards while life lasts, and hope of renewed 
 participation of spirit hereafter, your affectionate friend, 
 
 Samuel Ferguson. 
 
 The Library, Armagh, Atig. 10, 1886. 
 
 My dear Mary, — Mourning is now your sad lot, but it 
 has not come upon you unawares, and when I last saw your 
 dear husband, I knew that his days were numbered, and the 
 leave I took I felt to be the last on earth. 
 
 A prince in the excellences of human nature has been 
 removed from earth, and probably never again shall I see 
 one who equally combined all the best qualities of head and 
 heart, and so tempered one by the other that it was difficult 
 to decide whether he was most to be loved or admired. 
 The sad news came to me this morning by the Belfast 
 paper, and this was soon followed by letters, and among 
 them yours with its precious enclosure. That you should 
 think of me at such an hour, and that my beloved friend 
 should make his last confession of attachment with his dying 
 breath, and testify to its sincerity by a signature emblematic, 
 in its firmness, of steady friendship, is more than I could 
 even suppose possible under such trying circumstances. He 
 died, I am sure, the death of the righteous, and by his 
 memories, numerous and sweet, he still speaks and says, 
 "So I thought and felt in the day of health and activity, 
 but the season of weakness and pain came on, and death 
 has freed me gently from the continuance of suffering." And 
 he is at peace. 
 
 Dear Mary, if he were an ordinary man, you would require 
 more external comfort than you now do, for the picture 
 which he has left upon your mind will continually, even 
 in the saddest moments, represent to you how much you 
 owe to the Great Giver for what He has bestowed upon 
 you as a wife, and the good long term of the gift. I hope 
 I may be able to be in my place as the honoured remains 
 reach Belfast, though on account of solemn appointments 
 
LETTERS FROM BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR. 367 
 
 which stand against me for Thursday and the following day, 
 I scarcely know how firmly I may be holden in my official 
 capacity. St James's, Belfast, I know, and Donegore I well 
 remember, — it is my ardent wish to be found in both, if 
 only it can be accomplished. Thanks to you, my very dear 
 friend of old, for what you have sent me — and at such a 
 moment. — Yours affectionately and hopefully, 
 
 Wm. Down and Connor. 
 
 Two years later, on receiving ' The Remains of St 
 Patrick,' a cheap reissue of her husband's " Patrician 
 Documents" which Lady Ferguson dedicated to four 
 friends — the Archbishop of Dublin, the Bishop of 
 Meath, the Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore, 
 and the Rev. Robert King — Bishop Reeves thus 
 acknowledged the arrival of the volume : — 
 
 Conway House, Dunmurry, Co. Antrim, 
 Sept. 12, 1888. 
 
 My dear Mary, — I have just received the graceful little 
 volume of the Patrician Documents, which I shall ever prize 
 as well for the sake of the author as the giver. The printing 
 is very pleasingly executed, and though it does not pretend 
 to the dignity of the R. I. Academy 'Transactions,' it is 
 much more handy, and better adapted to the convenience 
 of the ordinary reader. I hope it will be well received, and 
 amply fulfil the purpose of the learned translator. This 
 useful book comes within the precincts of the Church, and 
 will be an enduring monument of the love which your dear 
 husband bore to the pure religion of his native country. 
 Accept my hearty thanks for the gift, and for your kindness 
 in placing me in the quaternion of the dedication. — Believe 
 me to be your affectionate friend, 
 
 Wm. Down and Connor. 
 
 These friendships, which formed so large an element 
 in the happy life of Ferguson, might be largely ex- 
 
368 HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS QUESTIONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 tended. Enough has been given to show the influence 
 of his strong yet gentle nature, and how truly he 
 was loved and reverenced, as well as the wide com- 
 prehension and helpful sympathy with which he 
 entered into the feelings and interests of others. 
 Rancour, never sought, came to him not. Genial 
 seasons, joyous thought, were his throughout life. 
 He had his full share of struggle, care, and anxiety, 
 yet he was uniformly happy. His was the experience 
 of the Psalmist — 
 
 " Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the 
 days of my life; and i will dwell in the house of 
 the Lord for ever." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 SIR S. FERGUSON'S WORKS. 
 
 1832. The Forging of the Anchor 
 The Wet Wooing 
 Light and Darkness . 
 
 1833. An Irish Garland 
 The Forrest-Race Romance 
 The Fairy Well . 
 Songs after Beranger 
 Regner Lodbrog 
 Nora Boyle 
 Return of Claneboy . 
 Don Gomez and the Cid . 
 Pierce Bodkin . 
 
 Dialogue between Head and Heart 
 Willie and Pate 
 Tale of a Tub 
 
 1834. Inaugural Ode . 
 Hilloa our Fancy 
 Athens : A Sonnet 
 Grana Weal 
 Captain Bey 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 
 Feb. 
 
 Blackwood 
 
 
 April 
 
 
 
 Oct. 
 
 
 
 Jan. 
 
 
 
 Feb. 
 
 
 
 April. 
 
 
 
 May. 
 
 
 
 June. 
 
 
 
 Sept. 
 
 
 
 Dec. 
 
 
 
 Aug. 
 
 Dublin 
 
 
 1 Oct. 
 
 University 
 
 eart . 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Magazine. 
 
 
 Nov. 
 
 it 
 
 
 Dec. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Jan. 
 
 11 
 11 
 
 
 Feb. 
 
 it 
 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 2 A 
 
370 APPENDIX. 
 
 
 
 1834. Sixpenny Manifesto . 
 
 March. 
 
 Dublin 
 
 Grana Weal's Garland 
 
 11 
 
 University 
 
 The Fairy Thorn 
 
 11 
 
 Magazine 
 
 The Forester's Complaint 
 
 April. 
 
 
 Hardiman's ' Irish Minstrelsy,' I. 
 
 11 
 
 
 The Stray Canto 
 
 July. 
 
 
 Hardiman's ' Irish Minstrelsy,' II. 
 
 Aug. 
 
 
 Irish Storyists .... 
 
 Sept. 
 
 
 Fancy, the Scene Shifter . 
 
 it 
 
 
 Hardiman's 'Irish Minstrelsy,' III. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 
 IV. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 
 i»35- 
 
 1836. 
 
 This number contains his Translations from the 
 Irish ; some of them included in ' Lays of the 
 Western Gael.' 1864. 
 
 Hibernian Nights' Entertainments . Dec. 
 
 Shane O'Neill Feb. 
 
 Hibernian Nights' Entertainments — 
 
 Jan., Feb., March, April, June, 
 
 July, Aug., Sept., Nov., Dec. 
 
 Blackwood. 
 
 Dublin 
 University 
 Magazine. 
 
 Hibernian Nights' Entertainments — 
 
 Jan., March, April, May. 
 
 Three Ballads Jan. 
 
 The Sketcher Foiled : A Poem . July. 
 
 Attractions of Ireland . July, Sept., Dec. 
 
 Curiosities of Irish Literature . March, May. 
 
 Scotic Controversy . . . June, Oct. 
 
 The Involuntary Experimentalist . Oct. Blackwood. 
 
 Article on the Brehon Laws . Knight's Penny Cyclopaedia. 
 
 1838. Sonnet: A Vision of Noses . . May. Blackwood. 
 Father Tom and the Pope . 11 n 
 
 Reprinted in ' Tales from Blackwood,' and pirated 
 more than once in America. One edition by Moor- 
 head, Simpson, & Bond, New York, 1868. 
 
 1839. Gallery of Illustrious Irishmen — Petrie Dec. 
 
 Dublin University Magazine. 
 
 1840. Essay, " Of the Antiquity of the Harp and Bag- 
 
 pipe in Ireland." Contributed to Bunting's 
 
 'Ancient Music of Ireland.' Hodges & Smith, Dublin. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 37* 
 
 1840. 
 
 Dublin Penny Journal 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Dublin 
 
 1843- 
 
 Clarendon on the Horse . 
 
 Feb. 
 
 University 
 
 1844. 
 
 Mrs H. Gray's 'Etruria' . 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Magazine. 
 
 
 Ordnance Survey Memoir 
 
 April. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Eugene Sue .... 
 
 Dec. 
 
 11 
 
 1845. 
 
 Burns .... Jan. and March. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Mrs Barrett Browning 
 
 Feb. 
 
 I! 
 
 
 Petrie's ' Round Towers ' . 
 
 April. 
 
 II 
 
 
 O'Connor's Irish Brigade . 
 
 May. 
 
 II 
 
 
 Jerusalem 
 
 Sept. 
 
 II 
 
 
 The Welshmen of Tirawley 
 
 n 
 
 11 
 
 
 Letter to Hallam: Henri de Londres Nov. 
 
 II 
 
 
 Irish Novelists .... 
 
 Dec. 
 
 II 
 
 
 Betham's ' Etruria Celtica ' 
 
 April. 
 
 Blackwood. 
 
 1847. 
 
 Article and Poem on Thomas Davis 
 
 Feb. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Lines on Mangan 
 
 May. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Architecture in Ireland 
 
 June. 
 
 Dublin 
 
 1848. 
 
 Reeves's ' Ecclesiastical Antiquities 
 
 Feb. 
 
 University 
 
 
 'Annals of the Four Masters' . March, May. 
 
 Magazine. 
 
 
 Nineveh 
 
 April. 
 
 it 
 
 
 Inheritor and Economist : A Poem 
 
 May. 
 
 ti 
 
 1849. 
 
 Ruskin's 'Seven Lamps of Architecture' July. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Dublin : A Satire, after Juvenal 
 
 n 
 
 11 
 
 
 Fergusson on Fortification 
 
 Aug. 
 
 li 
 
 
 Hungary : A Poem . 
 
 Sept. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Physical Geography — The Air 
 
 Nov. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Fallacies of the Fallacies . 
 
 Dec. 
 
 11 
 
 1850. 
 
 Irish Tourists : Giraldus Cambrensis — 
 
 Jan., Feb., March. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Rummage Review 
 
 Nov. 
 
 11 
 
 
 The Siege of Dunbeg 
 
 Feb. 
 
 Blackwood. 
 
 1851. 
 
 Ruskin's ' Stones of Venice ' 
 
 Sept. 
 
 Dublin 
 
 1852. 
 
 Celto-Scythic Progress 
 
 March. 
 
 University 
 
 
 Chesney on Artillery 
 
 April. 
 
 Magazine. 
 
 1853. 
 
 Clonmacnois, Clare, and Aran Jan 
 
 and April. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Archytus and the Mariner 
 
 April. 
 
 11 
 
 
 Nineveh 
 
 June. 
 
 ti 
 
 1863. 
 
 Westminster Abbey . 
 
 Sept. 
 
 Blackwood. 
 
372 APPENDIX. 
 
 1864. Lays of the Western Gael . . Bell & Daldy, London. 
 
 Second Edition, 1880. Sealy, Bryers, & Walker, Dublin. 
 
 The Cromlech on Howth . . . Day & Son, London. 
 
 1867. Lord Romilly's Irish Publications . Quarterly Review. 
 Our Architecture. Afternoon Lectures. 
 
 Bell & Daldy, London. 
 
 1868. Note on the Sources and Nomenclature ap- 
 
 pended to his Wife's 'Story of the Irish 
 before the Conquest.' Published by Bell & 
 Sons, London, and included in the Second 
 Edition of 1890. 
 
 1872. Congal G. Bell & Sons, London. 
 
 Second Edition, 1893 Sealy, Bryers, & Walker, Dublin. 
 
 1876. Preface to the ' Leabhar Breac' as Chairman 
 
 of the Committee of Irish MSS. and V.P. 
 Royal Irish Academy. 
 
 1877. The Widow's Cloak . . . . Dec. Blackwood. 
 
 1878. The Gascon O'Driscol . . . May. 11 
 1880. Poems . . Bell & Sons, London ; and M'Gee, Dublin. 
 
 1882. A Word with John Bright . . March. Blackwood. 
 Shakespearian Breviates . . Hodges & Figgis, Dublin. 
 
 1883. The Forging of the Anchor. Illustrated. 
 
 Cassell & Co., London. 
 
 1887. Ogham Inscriptions in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. 
 
 David Douglas, Edinburgh. 
 
 This posthumously published book is founded on 
 the Rhind Lectures delivered in Edinburgh in 1884, 
 with additional material added. It would have con- 
 tained photographs from all his Ogham casts had its 
 author lived to carry out his design. 
 
 First, Second, and Third Series Hibernian Nights' Enter- 
 tainments . . . Sealy, Bryers, & Walker, Dublin. 
 
 1888. The Remains of St Patrick. 11 n 
 
 The following is a list of the Papers by Sir Samuel 
 Ferguson published in the ' Transactions ' and ' Pro- 
 ceedings ' of the Academy : — 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 373 
 
 Papers published i?i the ' Transactions.' 
 
 1838. On the Antiquity of the Kiliee or Boomerang. 
 
 1867. On the Rudiments of the Common Law, discoverable in the 
 
 published Portion of the ' Senchus Mor.' 
 1880. Fasciculus of Prints from Photographs of Casts of Ogham 
 
 Inscriptions. 
 1882. Sepulchral Cellae. 
 1885. Patrician Documents. 
 
 Papers published in the '•Proceedings' 
 
 1838. On the Antiquity of the Kiliee or Boomerang. 
 Continuation of the above. 
 
 Remarks on the late Publication of the Society of Northern 
 Antiquaries. 
 1 84 1. On the Classification of Ancient Military Weapons found in 
 Ireland. 
 
 1863. Account of Inscribed Stones in the Sepulchral Monument 
 
 called 'Mane Nelud,' in the Department of Morbihan, 
 Brittany. 
 Account of Further Explorations at Locmariaquer, in 
 Brittany. 
 
 1864. Account of Ogham Inscriptions in the Cave at Rathcroghan, 
 
 Co. Roscommon. 
 
 1865. On a Passage in the ' Historia Anglorum' of Henry of Hunt- 
 
 ingdon relative to Stonehenge. 
 1870-71. On the Difficulties attendant on the Transcription of 
 Ogham Legends, and the Means of Removing them. 
 
 1872. On Ancient Cemeteries at Rathcroghan, and elsewhere in 
 
 Ireland (as affecting the Question of the Site of the 
 Cemetery at Taltin). 
 
 On some Evidence touching the Age of Rath-Caves. 
 
 On some Links in the Chain of Connexion between the 
 Early Populations of Asia and Central America. 
 
 On Paper Casts of Ancient Inscriptions in the Cos. of Gal- 
 way and Mayo. 
 
 1873. On the Ogham- Inscribed Stone of Callan Mountain, Co. 
 
 Clare. 
 
374 APPENDIX. 
 
 1873. On the Completion of the Biliteral Key to the Values of the 
 
 Letters in the South British Ogham Alphabet. 
 On the Collateral Evidences corroborating the Biliteral Key 
 
 to the South British Ogham Alphabet. 
 On the Evidences bearing on Sun-worship at Mount Callan, 
 
 Co. Clare. 
 
 1874. On an Ogham- Inscribed Stone from Mount Music, Co. Cork. 
 On a recently discovered Ogham Inscription at Breastagh, 
 
 in the Co. of Mayo. 
 On an Ogham-Inscribed Stone (No. 1) at Monataggart, Co. 
 
 Cork. 
 On Further Ogham Inscriptions discovered at Monataggart. 
 
 1875. Additional Note on Ogham Inscriptions at Monataggart, 
 
 Co. Cork. 
 On an Ogham Inscription at Mullagh, Co. Cavan. 
 On the alleged Literary Forgery respecting Sun-worship on 
 
 Mount Callan. 
 
 1876. On the Ceremonial Turn called " Desiul." 
 
 1879. On a passage in the ' Confessio Patricii.' 
 Do. No. II. 
 
 1880. On the Doorway of the Round Tower of Kildare. 
 
 1882. On the Legend of Dathi. 
 Presidential Address. 
 
 1883. On some Passages in the ' Confessio' of St Patrick. 
 On a Mode of Sub-Aqueous Tunnelling. 
 
 On the Kenfig Inscription. 
 
 On some Passages in the ' Confessio' of St Patrick. 
 
 EXTANT PORTRAITS OF FERGUSON. 
 
 A sketch in crayons by Sir F. W. Burton, taken in 1848. 
 An oil painting by Miss Kate Morgan, 1880. 
 
 A large oil painting by Miss Purser, 1886. The property of the 
 Royal Irish Academy. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aberdeen, Earl of, i. 9 ; ii. 315. 
 Absenteeism, evils of, i. 231, 240, 241, 
 
 268. 
 Abury, ii. 19, 31, 41, 42. 
 Academy, Royal Irish, i. 5-11, 31, 64, 
 
 65, 67, 84, 101, 127, 143, 151, 155, 
 
 159 ; ii. 152, 153, 293-326. 
 Acland, Sir Henry, i. 193. 
 Adams, Professor and Mrs, ii. 171-177. 
 Adare, Viscount. See Dunraven, Earl 
 
 of. 
 Aird, Mr Thomas, i. 5 ; ii. 201-203, 
 
 259, 260. 
 Allingham, MrW., i. 313, 343, 344, 
 
 347-35°. 35 2 -3 62 ; «■ 251, 252, 271, 
 
 278, 280, 281. 
 Ambrosian Library, Milan, i. 179. 
 Amesbury, ii. 44. 
 
 Amici, Cavaliere G. B., i. 162, 163. 
 'Annals of the Four Masters,' i. 69, 
 
 70, 75, 81 ; ii. 209, 294. 
 Anster, Dr, i. 102-104, 134. 
 Antiquaries, Society of, Scotland, i. 7 ; 
 
 ii. 95, 96. 
 Apjohn, Dr, i. 102. 
 Aran, Isles of, i. 332-342. 
 'Archaeological Journal,' ii. 100, 101. 
 Archaeological Society of Ireland, i. 143. 
 Archbishops of Dublin : Henri de 
 
 Londres, i. 111, 112, 127, 167 — 
 
 Lord Plunket, i. 10, 11, 269; ii. 
 
 138-142, 155, 239, 290, 356, 361, 
 
 367 — Dr Trench, ii. 136-138 — Dr 
 
 Whately, i. 102, 103. 
 Architecture, i. 96, 97, 100, 165, 166, 
 
 176, 288-297, 305, 314. 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, ii. 279. 
 
 Art, i. 288, 297. 
 
 Ashburnham MSS., ii. 295, 323. 
 
 Athairne, i. 79, 80. 
 
 Atkinson, Dr Robert, ii. 72, 305, 324. 
 
 "Attractions of Ireland," article by 
 
 Sir S. Ferguson, i. 98. 
 Aytoun, Professor, ii. 215. 
 
 Baily, Miss. See Kane, Lady. 
 
 Ball, Sir Robert S., i. 201 ; ii. 177. 
 
 Ball, Dr Valentine, i. 177 ; ii. 324. 
 
 Ballinahunt, Ogham inscription, ii. 45, 
 46. 
 
 Barlow, Miss Jane, 1. 103. 
 
 Barnes, Rev. W., i. 350. 
 
 Barnewell, Rev. C. L., ii. 330. 
 
 Barrington, Sir J., i. 280. 
 
 Belfast, Earl of, ii. 130. 
 
 Belfast, Sir S. Ferguson's birthplace, 
 i. 1. 
 
 Belfast Academy and Academical In- 
 stitution, i. 4. 
 
 Benedict, Sir Julius, i. 104. 
 
 Bennett, Dr Sterndale, ii. 191. 
 
 Bennett, Mr W. C, ii. 260, 261, 
 285. 
 
 Beresford, Lord John, Primate, 1. 172. 
 
 Beresford, Most Rev. Dr M. C, 
 Primate, ii. 153, 154. 
 
 Bernard, Rev. Dr, F.T.C.D., ii. 77 . 
 
 Berry, Mr H. F., ii. 342, 343. 
 
 Beust, Count von, i. 306. 
 
 Bial, M. le Capitaine, ii. 67. 
 
 "Bird and Brook," by Sir S. Ferguson, 
 i. 195, 196. 
 
376 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Blackie, Professor, ii. 97, 218-222. 
 
 Blackwood, Mr John, i. 26. 
 
 Blackwood, MrW., sen., i. 25, 26. 
 
 Blackwood, MrW., jun., i. 274. 
 
 Blackwood, Miss, i. 27. 
 
 ' Blackwood's Magazine,' Sir S. Fergu- 
 son's contributions to, i. 5, 55, 78, 
 104, 105, in, 133, 274; ii. 237. 
 
 Bobbio, i. 179. 
 
 Bolivar, General Simon, i. 18-21. 
 
 Bonaparte- Wyse, Mr, ii. 131-135. 
 
 Bonstettin, M. de, ii. 39. 
 
 Brash, Mr R. R., ii. 68, 69. 
 
 Brehon Laws, i. 351 ; ii. 72, 294. 
 
 British Association, the, i. 73, 159, 
 171. 
 
 British Museum, the, i. 92, 93, 96. 
 
 " Brittany, Adieu to," by Sir S. Fergu- 
 son, ii. 28-33, 43, 44- 
 
 Brittany, antiquities of, ii. 16-40. 
 
 Browning, Mr Robert, i. 258, 324 ; ii. 
 
 353, 354- 
 Browning, Mrs Barrett, i. 111, 216. 
 Buckingham, Duke of, i. 81. 
 Bunting, Edward, i. 47-49, 181 ; ii. 
 
 253. 
 Burchett, Mr R., i. 309 ; ii. 127. 
 Burke, Sir Bei-nard, i. 283 ; ii. 330. 
 Burke, Edmund, ii. 258. 
 Burke, Father, i. 283. 
 Burke, Mr, Under Secretary, i. 294. 
 Burns, Robert, i. 109, no, 127, 131 ; 
 
 ii. 182-187. 
 Burton, Sir Frederic W., i. 134, 173, 
 
 174, 232, 284, 298-326, 337, 338, 
 
 341 ; ii. 27, 79, 84, 101, 240, 274, 
 
 275, 363- 
 Burton, Sir Richard F., i. 317; ii. 58, 
 
 59- 
 
 Bushe, Chief-Justice, ii. 138. 
 
 Butler, Very Rev. Dr R., Dean of 
 Clonmacnois, ii. 146. 
 
 Butler, Very Rev. Dr W. J., Dean of 
 Lincoln, i. 194. 
 
 Butler, Mrs R. (Miss Harriet Edge- 
 worth), ii. 116-118, 177. 
 
 Butt, Isaac, Q.C., M.P., i. 31, 60; ii. 
 33°, 33i- 
 
 Cahermoyle, i. 144, 145. 
 
 Calderon, ii. 123-126. 
 
 Caliari, Paolo. See Paul Veronese. 
 
 Campbell, Mr J. F., of Islay, i. 311, 
 
 325- 
 Campbell, Thomas, i. 26. 
 Carey, Thomas, i. 258. 
 
 "Carey's Footsteps, In," by Sir S. 
 
 Ferguson, i. 262-266. 
 Carleton, William, i. 98, 102, 103. 
 Carlotti, The'jMarchese, i. 173, 174. 
 Cassels, Mrs (Miss Hessy Gunning), i. 
 
 22, 28, 32-34. 
 Cathedrals : Amiens, i. 165 — Laon, i. 
 
 168— St Patrick's, Dublin, i. 10, 11, 
 
 15 ; ii. 135 — Salisbury, ii. 41 — Santa 
 
 Fe de Bogota, i. 21 — Trent, i. 172. 
 Cavendish, Lord F., i. 258. 
 Centralisation, policy of, Sir S. Fergu- 
 son's views on, i. 238-241, 245, 252, 
 
 254, 255. 
 Chapman, George, ii. 277. 
 Charlemont, James, first Earl of, ii. 
 
 296, 297, 315. 
 Charlemont, James M., third Earl of, 
 
 ii. 297. 
 Charlewood, Admiral, ii. 158, 160, 161. 
 Charlewood, Mr and Mrs Edward, ii. 
 
 160. 
 Chateaubriand, Le Comte de, i. 161. 
 Chesney, General Francis Rawdon, ii. 
 
 156-168, 328. 
 Chesney, Mrs (Miss Louisa Fletcher), 
 
 ii. 156, 157, 163, 164, 167, 168, 328. 
 Chichester, Colonel, ii. 58. 
 Churches: Donegore, i. 14 — Kille- 
 
 shin, i. 44 — St Brie, ii. 115 — St 
 
 Cavan, i. 333 — St Enda, i. 335 — 
 
 San Zeno, i. 173 — Ullard, i. 44, 45. 
 Circuit, North-East, i. 6, 209-219, 276. 
 Clarendon, fourth Earl of, i. 227, 228, 
 
 241, 247. 
 Clibborn, Mr E., i. 310. 
 Clonmacnois, i. 328-332. 
 Close, Rev. Maxwell, ii. 324. 
 Columba, St, i. 335 ; ii. 144. 
 Columbanus, St, i. 168, 170. 
 " Conary," by Sir S. Ferguson, ii. 149, 
 
 150, 252, 277, 287. 
 ' Confessio ' of St Patrick, translated 
 
 by Sir S. Ferguson, i. 323, 359-361 ; 
 
 ii. 98, 99, 118, 228, 323. 
 "Congal," by Sir S. Ferguson, i. 35, 
 
 128 ; ii. 134, 145, 148, 150, 166, 229, 
 
 247, 257, 269, 270-277, 283, 284, 289, 
 
 290, 292. 
 Connolly, Mr Daniel, ii. 85. 
 " Cormac, Burial of King," i. 185. 
 ' Coroticus, Epistle to,' St Patrick's, 
 translated by Sir S. Ferguson, ii. 257. 
 Craig, Miss, ii. 189. 
 Crawford, Mr Sharman, i. 243. 
 Cruikshank, George, i. 26. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 377 
 
 Curran, Right Hon. J. P., ii. 112. 
 Curran, Miss Sarah, ii. 112. 
 Curry. See O'Curry. 
 
 Dames, Mr Longvvorth-, ii. 324. 
 
 Dargan, Mr W., i. 71. 
 
 Darley, Miss L., i. 201 ; ii. 229. 
 
 " Dathi, King," articles on, by Sir S. 
 
 Ferguson, i. 354, 358 ; ii. 49-58, 354, 
 
 358. 
 Davis, Thomas, i. 85, 86, 114, 134-146, 
 
 151, 158, 280. 
 "Davis, Thomas, Lament for," by 
 
 Sir S. Ferguson, i. 85, 86, 134-137, 
 
 185 ; ii. 258, 265, 364. 
 "Deirdre," by Sir S. Ferguson, i. 
 
 49-55 ; ii. 278., 286, 287. 
 Delany, Dean and Mrs, i. 301. 
 Dickinson, Very Rev. H. H., Dean of 
 
 Chapel Royal, ii. 7, 108. 
 Dobbs, Richard, ii. 212. 
 Domnach, the Airgid, ii. 295. 
 Donatello, i. 177. 
 Donegal, ii. 7, 103-114. 
 Donegore, its moat, church, and 
 
 churchyard, i. 2, 3, 14. 
 Dowden, Professor, i. 197, 201 ; ii. 
 
 244, 245, 270, 271, 290. 
 Dowden, Mrs (Miss E. D. West), ii. 
 
 242-244. 
 " Dublin," poem by Sir S. Ferguson, 
 
 i. 230-233. 
 Dublin, public buildings of, i. 289-292, 
 
 296. 
 Dublin Royal Society, the, ii. 303. 
 Dublin, society in, i. 268-271, 283. 
 Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, i. 134, 139, 
 
 144, 146, 147, 164, 226, 242, 244 ; ii. 
 
 39. 134- 
 
 Dunraven, Edwin, third Earl of, i. 65, 
 
 340 ; ii. 327-329. 
 Dwarkanauth Tagore, i. 161. 
 Dyce, Mr W., i. 176. 
 
 Edgeworth, Miss Harriet. See Butler, 
 Mrs R. 
 
 Edgeworth, Miss Lucy. See Robin- 
 son, Mrs Romney. 
 
 Edgeworth, Miss Maria, i. 103, 115 ; 
 ii. 116, 118. 
 
 Edinburgh, visits to, i. 25-27; ii. 95-97. 
 
 Edinburgh University Tercentenary, i. 
 18, 27, 33 ; ii- 331. 
 
 Emly, Lord, ii. 229. 
 
 Emmet, Robert, ii. 112. 
 
 Emperor of Germany, i. 306. 
 
 Engel, Carl, i. 309, 310. 
 
 "Epistle, A New Year's, to Dr Gor- 
 don " (rhymed), by Sir S. Ferguson, 
 i. 122-126, 128-130. 
 
 Euphrates Expedition, the, ii. 156, 
 158-162. 
 
 Evans, Dr and Mrs, i. 285, 286. 
 
 Falkiner, Mr Frederick, Q.C., Re- 
 corder of Dublin, i. 217, 276. 
 
 Famine, the Irish, i. 225, 235, 242, 243, 
 244, 250, 251. 
 
 "Father Tom and the Pope," by Sir 
 S. Ferguson, i. 105, 215, 274-277. 
 
 Faucit, Miss Helen. See Martin, 
 Lady. 
 
 Ferguson, Mr John, father of Sir S. 
 Ferguson, i. 1, 3, 4, 16. 
 
 Ferguson, Mrs John (Miss Knox), 
 mother of Sir S. Ferguson, i. 3, ly. 
 
 Ferguson, Mr John, jun.,i. 21, 189, 190. 
 
 Ferguson, Mr Samuel, grandfather of 
 Sir S. Ferguson, i. 2. 
 
 Ferguson, Sir Samuel, birth and 
 parentage, i. 1 — education, 4 — called 
 to the Bar, and joins the North-East 
 Circuit, 1838, 5, 6, 203 — spends a 
 year on the Continent, 1846, 5, 158, 
 164, 179 — marries Mary Catherine 
 Guinness, 1848, 6, 180, 185 — made 
 Q.C., 1859, 6 — retires from the Bar, 
 1867, 218 — Deputy Keeper of the 
 Records, 1867, 6, 8, 83, 218— LL.D. 
 honoris causa, Dublin, 7 — and Edin- 
 burgh, 8 — Hon. Mem. Soc. Antiq., 
 Scotland, 1874, 7 — Knighted, 1878, 
 7— President, 1881, R.I.A., 7, 9, 11, 
 84 — his address as President, 7, 323 ; 
 ii. 302-308 — his illness and death, i. 
 10, 11, 14; ii. 236, 237 — his char- 
 acter as an Irishman, i. 11, 12 — as 
 an antiquary, 11 — as a poet, 12 — as 
 a scholar, 11, 12. 
 
 His letters : to his mother, i. 17, 
 165 — to his brother John, 25 — to his 
 little nephews, 190 — to his wife, 
 191-194, 198, 210, 211 ; ii. 44-46, 
 116, 167, 309 — to Professor Adams, 
 ii. 175, 176 — to W. Allingham, i. 
 35 2 -354. 357. 359. 3 6 i— to Professor 
 Armstrong, ii. 248, 249 — to Mr 
 Berry, 342 — to Professor Blackie, 
 220-222 — to Mr Brash, 69 — to Sir 
 F. W. Burton, i. 284, 318— to Sir 
 Richard Burton, ii. 59, 60 — to Mrs 
 Cassels, i. 33 — to General Chesney, 
 
378 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ii. 162-166 — to Colonel Chichester, 
 58 — to Mr D. Connolly, 85 — to 
 Thomas Davis, i. 139 — to Joseph 
 Evans, 286— to F. S. G, 276— to M. 
 Gaidoz, ii. 68 — to Bishop Graves, i. 
 73-75 ; ii. 75 — to Miss M. C. Guin- 
 ness, i. 183-185 — to Rev. Dr Haugh- 
 ton, ii. 301, 302 — to Mrs Hinkson, 
 242 — to H. Joy, Q.C., i. 216 — to Sir 
 T. A. Larcom, 70 ; ii. 152 — to Robert 
 Mallett, i. 320, 321 — to Sir Theodore 
 Martin, ii. 217-219, 224, 225 — to 
 Judge O'Hagan, i. 128, 129 ; ii. 196 
 — to James Owen, i. 284 — to Dr 
 Petrie, 42, 45 — to Lord Plunket, 
 ii. 141 — to Rev. Dr Quarry (rhyming 
 epistle), 63-66 — to Mrs Robinson, 
 ii. 177 — to Mr W. B. Scott, 192, 193 
 to Herr Sjoden, 189-191 — to Dr 
 Angus Smith, 78— to Rev. E. Spring, 
 i. 275 — to Dr Whitley Stokes, ii. 86, 
 87? 90-92, 102, 255 — to Dr Stokes, 
 300 — to Miss Stokes, 93-95, 101, 
 269, 270 — to Dr Stuart, 69-72 — to 
 Rev. Dr Todd, 114, 116 — to Mr 
 Aubrey de Vere, 228-233, 2 35> 236 
 -^to Vicomte de la Villemarque, 93 
 — to Lord Waveney, 196 — to Mr W. 
 Wilkins, 254 — to unnamed friends, 
 i. 74, 160, 220, 254, 287. 
 
 His works, writings, poems, and 
 essays : ' Congal,' i. 35 — " Cromlech 
 on Howth,"79 — " Dublin, a Satire," 
 238— Essays on Antiquity of Harp, 
 49 — on the Brehon Laws, 351 — on 
 the Patrician Documents, 12, 323 — 
 ' Hibernian Nights' Entertainments,' 
 50, 55 — " Inheritor and Economist," 
 230, 234 — Irish Round Towers, 46 
 — ' Lays of Western Gael,' 36, 350 
 — Memoir of Petrie, 46 — of Thomas 
 Davis, 134 — Ogham Inscriptions, 
 ii. 46, 47, 49, 59, 62, 63, 67, 69, 70, 
 73, 74 — "The Wet Wooing," i. 22, 
 25, 27 — Translations from 'Irish 
 Minstrelsy,' 39 — Westminster Ab- 
 bey, 13. 
 
 Ferguson, Mrs or Lady (Miss Mary C. 
 Guinness), i. 6, 130, 151, 154, 155 ; 
 ii. 5, 13, 14, 30, 32, 39, 40, 47, 76, 
 94, 97, 108, 119-121, 126, 161, 170, 
 190, 191, 359-367- 
 
 Ferguson, Mr Thomas, i. 22. 
 
 Ferguson, Mr Thomas, jun., i. 22, 
 201 ; ii. 250. 
 
 Ferguson, Colonel W. O., i. 18-21. 
 
 Fergusson, Mr James, i. 113; ii. 81. 
 ''Fishermen, Hymn of the," by Sir 
 
 S. Ferguson, ii. 281, 354, 355. 
 Fitz-Gerald, Right Rev. Dr W., 
 
 Bishop of Killaloe, ii. jj. 
 Fitz-Gibbon, Lord Chief-Justice, ii. 
 
 290. 
 Fitz-Gibbon, Mr H., Q.C., Recorder 
 
 of Belfast, i. 217, 218. 
 Fitz-Patrick, Mr W. J., i. 283. 
 Fitz-Simon, Mr and Mrs C. (Miss 
 
 O'Connell), i. 105-107. 
 Forbes, Professor E., i. 114, 115. 
 "Forging of the Anchor," by Sir S. 
 
 Ferguson, i. 5, 36, 104, 276, 277 ; 
 
 ii. 256, 259, 268, 285. 
 Forster, Right Hon. W. E., ii. 14. 
 Fox, Mr George, i. 36, 37, 39. 
 Francia, i. 175, 297. 
 Fraser, ii. 199. 
 Fraser, Dr W. , ii. 324. 
 ' Fraser's Magazine,' ii. 271. 
 French, Mr, of Clooneyquin, ii. 57, 58. 
 Froude, Mr J. A., ii. 207. 
 
 Gaidoz, M. Henri, ii. 40, 67, 68. 
 
 Galles, M. Rene, ii. 26, 34, 38. 
 
 Gandon, i. 288, 289. 
 
 Ganmo, Abbe, i. 161. 
 
 Gansey, i. 224. 
 
 Gilbert, Mr J. T., i. 151, 282, 283, 
 
 310 ; ii. 305. 
 "Gilliland, Willy," poem by Sir S. 
 
 Ferguson, i. 24. 
 Gilmore, Rev. J. S., i. 212; ii. jj. 
 Giotto, i. 177. 
 Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E., i. 254, 
 
 273 ; ii. 4, 10, 14. 
 Gordon, Dr Robert, i. 116-123, 126- 
 
 T30, 133, 184. 
 Gortschakoff, Prince, i. 306. 
 Grainger Stewart, Lady, ii. 188. 
 Grant, Captain, i. 317. 
 Graves, Mr A. P., i. 201 ; ii. 190, 252- 
 
 254, 257, 288, 289, 361, 363. 
 Graves, Right Rev. Dr C, Bishop of 
 
 Limerick, i. 115 ; ii. 63, 70, 73-76, 
 
 97. 252. 
 Graves, Rev. James, 11. 77. 
 Graves, Rev. Dr R. P., i. 200-202, 
 
 270 ; ii. 239, 252, 286, 361, 363, 364. 
 Gregg, Rev. Dr T. D., i. 182. 
 Guinness, Miss Amabel Mary, i. 196, 
 
 198 ; ii. 120. 
 Guinness, Miss Annie Lee. See 
 
 Plunket, Lady. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 379 
 
 Guinness, Sir Arthur Edward (Lord 
 
 Ardilaun), i. 199, 269. 
 Guinness, Sir Benjamin Lee, i. 269 ; 
 
 ii. 317. 
 Guinness, Sir Edward Cecil (Lord 
 
 Iveagh), i. 269. 
 Guinness, Miss Ethel Mary (Mrs C. 
 
 F. Hill), i. 196. 
 Guinness, Miss Henrietta, i. 197 ; ii. 
 
 229. 
 Guinness, Mr and Mrs Henry, i. 194, 
 
 J 95- 
 
 Guinness, Miss Mary C. See Fergu- 
 son, Lady. 
 
 Guinness, Mr and Mrs Richard Sey- 
 mour, i. 17, 18, 194. 
 
 Guinness, Mr Robert Rundell, i. 6, 
 181, 182. 
 
 Guinness, Rev. Robert and Mrs (Miss 
 Butler), i. 193-195, 216, 271 ; ii. 
 121. 
 
 Gunning, Miss Alicia and Miss Hessy, 
 i. 22, 28, 33. 
 
 Gwynne, Very Rev. Dr John, ii. jj. 
 
 Haigh, Rev. Dr D. H., ii. 63. 
 Hallam, Henry, i. in, 112, 167. 
 Hamilton, Sir William Rowan, i. 64, 
 
 70-72, 101, 105 ; ii. 177, 252, 301, 
 
 316, 328. 
 Hardiman's 'Irish Minstrelsy,' i. 39, 
 
 40, 42, 44, 46. 
 Hardinge, Mr, i. 152. 
 Haughton, Rev. Dr Samuel, i. 309 ; 
 
 ii. 296, 301, 318-320. 
 Hennessy, Professor, ii. 306, 324. 
 Herbert, Mr Algernon, ii. 19. 
 Herbison, David, ii. 194-196. 
 'Hibernian Nights' Entertainments,' 
 
 by Sir S. Ferguson, i. 50, 55, 139 ; 
 
 ii. 228, 282. 
 Hickey, Miss E. H., ii. 142, 290. 
 Hildebrand, Miss, ii. 239-241. 
 Hill, Rev. George, ii. 211, 212. 
 Hincks, Rev. Dr, ii. 301. 
 Hinkson, Mrs (Miss Katharine Tynan), 
 
 ii. 241, 242. 
 Hogan, John, i. 163, 232. 
 Holmes, Robert, Q.C., i. 212, 214. 
 Home Rule, Ferguson's opinion on, i. 
 
 255- 
 Home, Mr R. H. ("Orion"), ii. 134. 
 Horsman, Mr A., i. 2. 
 Howth, i. 10, 17, 18, 186, 187 ; ii. 237, 
 
 239- 
 " Howth, Cromlech on," poem by Sir 
 
 S. Ferguson, i. 79 ; ii. 82-84, 238, 
 
 239- 
 Hunt, Leigh, i. 26, in. 
 Hutton, Mr Lucius, ii. 324. 
 Hutton, Mr and Mrs Thomas, i. 280, ■ 
 
 281. 
 
 Inchiquin, Lord, i. 145. 
 
 Ingram, Dr John Kells, S.F.T.C.D., 
 
 i. 8, 231, 270 ; ii. 290, 296, 300, 313- 
 
 3IS, 318. 
 " Inheritor and Economist," i. 230, 
 
 236. 
 "Ireland, Young," Party, the, i. 133- 
 
 138, 144, 145 ; ii. 251. 
 ' Irish, The, before the Conquest,' by 
 
 Lady Ferguson, i. 157; ii. 126, 211. 
 Irish Council, the, i. 146, 226, 245. 
 Irish Literary Society, the, i. 282 ; 
 
 ii. 253, 289. 
 ' Irish Monthly ' Magazine, i. 128, 
 
 130 ; ii. 263-265. 
 Irish music, i. 47-49, 291, 339 ; ii. 
 
 188-191, 253. 
 Irish saints, i. 157, 168. 
 Irish Viceroyalty, opinions on, i. 226- 
 
 230 — advantages of, 255, 268. 
 Irwin, Thomas, ii. 200. 
 " Isis, By the," poem by Sir S. Fergu- 
 son, i. 178, 179. 
 
 Jellett, Very Rev. Dean, ii. 154. 
 
 Jerrold, Douglas, i. 221. 
 
 Jones, Inigo, i. 288 ; ii. 42. 
 
 Joy, Mr Henry, Q.C., i. 212, 214, 216 ; 
 
 ii- 33i- 
 Joyce, Dr, i. 282 ; ii. 193. 
 "Joyces, Curse of the," poem by Sir 
 
 S. Ferguson, i. 255-257, 322. 
 Jubainville, M. d'Arbois de, ii. 67. 
 
 Kane, Captain Henry C, C.B., ii. 179. 
 Kane, Sir Robert, 1. 134, 162 ; ii. 6, 
 
 12, 178-180, 332. 
 Kane, Lady (Miss Baily), ii. 6, 12, 
 
 121, 178, 179. 
 Kane, Mr R. D., i. 18. 
 Kane, Mr Robert Romney, ii. 5-7, 9, 
 
 10, 179. 
 Kane, Mr W. F. de Visme, ii. 4, 5, 8, 
 
 I3> *4> l6 7- 
 Keats, ii. 192. 
 Keller, Dr F., i. 169. 
 Kelly, Mr Denis H., ii. 120, 127, 230. 
 Killarney, i. 221-225. 
 King, Rev. Robert, ii. j6, 367. 
 
3 8o 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Knight, Mr Charles, i. 221-225. 
 Knox, Mr John, grandfather of Sir S. 
 Ferguson, i. 1. 
 
 La Chaise, Abbe, i. 161. 
 
 La Touche, Dr J. J. Digges, ii. 332- 
 
 337- 
 
 Lambeth Library, i. 92, 93, 96. 
 
 Larcom, Right Hon. Sir Thomas A., 
 i. 62, 63, 69-71, 284, 321 ; ii. 62, 
 107, 152, 311. 
 
 Larminie, MrW., ii. 255. 
 
 Law, Right Hon. Hugh, Lord Chan- 
 cellor of Ireland, i. 214. 
 
 Lawson, Mr Justice, i. 271 ; ii. 330, 
 
 33i- 
 ' Lays of the Western Gael,' by Sir S. 
 
 Ferguson, i. 303 ; ii. 147, 195, 256- 
 
 269. 
 Le Fanu, Mr, i. 271, 280. 
 Lecky, Mr, ii. 207. 
 Lee, Miss Jane, ii. 360. 
 Lesseps, Count Ferdinand de, ii. 96, 
 
 .158, iS9- 
 Liebig, Professor, i. 162. 
 Livingstone, Dr, i. 317. 
 Livingstone, Rev. A. G., i. 178. 
 Livingstone, Rev. R. G., i. 193. 
 Lloyd, Rev. Dr B., i. 101. 
 Lloyd, Rev. Dr H., i. 101 ; ii. 316. 
 Lockhart, i. 26. 
 Londres, Henri de. See Archbishops 
 
 of Dublin. 
 Longfellow, ii. 15, 124. 
 Lucan, Sarsfield, Earl of, i. 283. 
 Lyons, Dr, M.P., ii. 188. 
 ' Lyra Hibernica Sacra,' i. 352 ; ii. 241. 
 Lyster, Mr T. W., ii. 358. 
 
 Macalister, Professor, ii. 100, 324. 
 Macalister, Mr Alick, ii. 100. 
 Macalister, Mr Robert, ii. 324-326. 
 MacCarthy, Mr Denis Florence, i. 85, 
 
 139, 151, 152; ii. 122-131, 137, 261, 
 
 277. 
 MacCarthy, Mr John, ii. 131. 
 M'Coy, Professor, ii. 172-174. 
 M'Cuilagh, Professor James, i. 70 ; ii. 
 
 316. 
 M'Donnell, Colonel John, i. 38. 
 M'Donnell, Dr John, ii. 207, 211. 
 MacDonnell, Randall, Q.C., i. 217; 
 
 ii. 207. 
 MacDowell, Patrick, i. 232. 
 MacDowell, Miss, i. 127. 
 MacFirbis, ii. 35. 
 
 M'Gee, Hon. Thomas D'Arcy, i. 85-88, 
 
 90, 139, i45- I 5 8 : ii- I26 \ 
 Macllwaine, Rev. Canon, ii. 241. 
 Maclean, Mr John, i. 36. 
 MacMahon, Rev. J. H. , ii. 77. 
 Madden, Dr R. R., ii. 205-207, 263. 
 Magennis, family of, ii. 211. 
 Maginn, Dr, i. 275, 276. 
 Maguire, Father Tom, i. 105. 
 Mahaffy, Rev. Professor J. P., i. 201 ; 
 
 ii. 213, 214, 290. 
 Mahaffy, Mrs J. P., i. 201 ; ii. 214. 
 "Maiden, The Little," by Sir S. 
 
 Ferguson, ii. 286, 355, 356. 
 Maine, Sir H. S., ii. 86, 88. 
 Mallett, Mr Robert, i. 210, 285, 300, 
 
 301, 309, 320-322. 
 Mane Nelud, discoveries at, ii. 23, 33, 
 
 38. 
 Mangan, James C, i. 60, 61, 74, 88, 
 
 90, 108, 139, 308 ; ii. 199, 239, 240. 
 Marlborough, seventh Duke of, i. 283, 
 
 285. 
 Martin, M. Henri, ii. 33, 34, 38, 39, 79. 
 Martin, Sir Theodore, i. 314 ; ii. 215- 
 
 218, 222-224. 
 Martin, Lady (Miss Helen Faucit), ii. 
 
 216-218, 222-225. 
 Mayo, sixth Earl of, i. 218 ; ii. 328, 
 
 329, 331, 333. 
 Meehan, Rev. C. P., ii. 210. 
 Mendelief, M., ii. 321. 
 Merimee, M. Prosper, i. 161. 
 "Mesgedra," by Sir S. Ferguson, ii. 
 
 278, 322, 358. 
 Miller, Professor and Mrs, ii. 175, 176. 
 Mills, Mr James, ii. 345. 
 Mitchell, Sir Arthur and Lady, ii. 97, 
 
 98. 
 Molloy, Monsignor, ii. 78. 
 Moltke, Count von, i. 306. 
 Monck, Viscountess, i. 151. 
 " Monitor, The Sinking of the," poem 
 
 by Sir S. Ferguson, ii. 281. 
 Montalembert, Le Comte de, i. 170, 
 
 171. 
 Moore, Rev. Dr,Vice-Provost ; T.C.D., 
 
 i. 270. 
 Moore, Thomas, ii. 187, 191, 251, 262, 
 
 288. 
 Morelli, i. 320. 
 Morgan, Professor de, i. 72. 
 Moriarty, Right Rev. Dr, Bishop of 
 
 Kerry, i. 164. 
 "Morning's Hinges, The," by Sir S. 
 
 Ferguson, ii. 352, 353. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 38l 
 
 Mullan, P., i. 341, 342. 
 Murray, Mr Edward, ii. 204, 229. 
 Murray, Mr J. Fisher, ii. 203. 
 Murray, Sir James, i. 161 ; ii. 203, 
 204. 
 
 Naas, Lord. See Mayo, Earl of. 
 Napier, Right Hon. Sir Joseph, Lord 
 
 Chancellor of Ireland, i. 115, 212, 
 
 214. 
 ' Nation, Spirit of the,' i. 137, 138, 
 
 139- 
 ' Nation, The, newspaper, 1. 131, 137, 
 
 *3 8 > *44> M 6 , I 47, 254. 
 Needham, A. A., ii. 189. 
 New Grange, ii. 20, 167-169. 
 Newton, Sir C. T., ii. 80, 81. 
 Noel, Hon. Roden, ii. 142, 289, 290. 
 
 O'Brien, Mr W. Smith, i. 144, 145, 
 
 243, 249. 
 O'Connell, Daniel, i. 85, 105, 107, 239. 
 O'Connell, Miss Ellen. See Fitz- 
 
 Simon, Mrs. 
 O'Conor, Charles, i. 76, 81, 82. 
 O'Conor, Matthew, i. 76, 78. 
 O'Curry, Professor Eugene, i. 60, 6i, 
 
 71, 74, 90, 152, 337, 339, 340, 341. 
 O 'Donovan, John, LL.D., i. 42, 60, 
 
 61, 63, 67, 69, 71, 74, 76, 79-81, 85, 
 
 in, 152; 11. 54. 
 O'Grady, Mr Standish, i. 282 ; ii. 88, 
 
 230. 
 O'Hagan, Mr Justice John, i. 38, 57, 
 
 128-132 ; ii. 96, 229, 263, 271. 
 O'Hagan, Lord Thomas, Lord Chan- 
 cellor of Ireland, i. 36-39, 132, 212, 
 
 214, 270, 284 ; ii. 229. 
 O'Hagan, Lady (MissTowneley), i. 38. 
 O'Loghlen, Sir Colman, i. 245. 
 O'Looney, Professor, ii. 92, 230. 
 O'Mara, Miss, i. 105, 106, 155. 
 Ogham inscriptions, i. 193, 199, 217, 
 
 314 ; ii. 45-50, 59, 62, 63, 66, 67, 70, 
 
 73-76, 296. 
 Olden, Rev. Thomas, ii. y6. 
 "Orangeman, The Loyal," by Sir S. 
 
 Ferguson, i. 212-215, 2 7&- 
 Ordnance Survey, i. 60-67, 74* 
 Overend, Mr John, ii. 343, 344. 
 Owen, Mr James, i. 284.' 
 
 Paez, General, i. 18, 19. 
 Palladio, i. 176, 295-297, 317-319. 
 Palmer, A., i. 201. 
 Parnell, Mr C. S., i. 282. 
 
 Parnell, Mrs (Miss Stewart), mother 
 of C. S. Parnell, i. 281, 282. 
 
 Parry, Dr Hubert, ii. 253. 
 
 Pasteur, M., ii. 96. 
 
 Patrician Documents, the, i. 359, 361, 
 362 ; ii. 154, 228, 257. 
 
 Paul Veronese, i. 173-175, 297, 317. 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, i. 65, 112. 
 
 Petrie, Dr George, i. 42-48, 60, 61, 66, 
 6 9"7i> 74, i°2 5 ^3, 2 3 2 , 2 99, 3°4> 
 33°, 33i, 337, 340 ; n. 7, 107, 108, 
 in-113, 192, 294, 311-313. 
 
 Petty, Sir W., i. 71. 
 
 Pigot, Lord Chief Baron, i. 278, 279. 
 
 Pigot, D. R., Q.C., Master in Chan- 
 cery, ii. 204, 324. 
 
 Pigot, Mrs (Miss Murray), ii. 204. 
 
 Pirn, Mr James, i. 69-71, 102. 
 
 Plunket, first Lord, Lord Chancellor 
 of Ireland, ii. 138, 139. 
 
 Plunket, Right Hon. D. R. (Lord 
 Rathmore), ii. 139. 
 
 Plunket, Most Rev. Lord. See Arch- 
 bishops of Dublin. 
 
 Plunket, Lady (Miss Annie Lee Guin- 
 ness), i. 269. 
 
 Political views of Sir S. Ferguson, i. 
 237, 241, 242, 254, 255, 361. 
 
 "Polo-Ground, At the," by Sir S. 
 Ferguson, i. 257-262. 
 
 Pope, Rev. T., i. 105. 
 
 Porter, Right Hon. A. M., Master of 
 the Rolls, i. 214, 215. 
 
 Porter, Hon. W., i. 215, 216. 
 
 Portlock, i. 102. 
 
 Prendergast, Mr J. P., ii. 211-213. 
 
 Quarry, Rev. Dr, ii. 62-66. 
 
 ' Quarterly Review,' the, article by Sir 
 
 S. Ferguson, 1867, ii. 104-107. 
 Queen, Her Majesty the, i. 145, 314 ; 
 
 ii. 222, 224. 
 Queen of Wurtemberg, i. 307. 
 
 Ramsay, Very Rev. Dean, i. 280, 287. 
 Rathcroghan, ii. 47, 49, 50. 
 Rathmore, Moy-Linny, royal fort of, 
 
 i. 2. 
 Ravenna, i. 177. 
 Record Office, i. 6-8, 10. 
 Reeves, Right Rev. Dr W., Bishop of 
 
 Down and Connor, i. 15, 151, 171, 
 
 2 77\ "• 77, 97, io 1 * 107, 143-154, 
 
 2 39j 33°j 337? 3^6, 367. 
 Reichel, Right Rev. Dr C, Bishop of 
 
 Meath, ii. 228, 367. 
 
382 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Repeal Association, The Protestant, 
 
 Sir S. Ferguson's speech at, i. 
 
 246-255. 
 Representation, proportionate, views 
 
 on, ii. 232-236. 
 • Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores 
 
 Veteres,' i. 82. 
 Reynell, Rev. W., ii. 77. 
 Rhys, Professor, ii. 63. 
 Richey, Dr A. G., ii. 71, 208. 
 Ricklin, Rev. Pfarrer C, ii. 57. 
 Robinson, Rev. Dr T. Romney, i. 
 
 70-74, 162, 163, 284, 321 ; ii. 116- 
 
 118, 152, 175. 
 Robinson, Mrs Romney (Miss Lucy 
 
 Edgeworth), ii. 116, 117, 119-121. 
 Rodenberg, Dr, i. 349. 
 Rome, i. 177, 179. 
 Rouen, Archbishop of, i. 161. 
 Runes, i. 42 ; ii. 59, 60. 
 Ruskin, Mr, 292-294. 
 Russell, Rev. Dr Charles, ii. 78. 
 Russell, Rev. M., ii. 78, 291. 
 
 Saints : Adamnan, i. 172 — Columba, 
 157/158, 171, 172, 335, 341 — 
 Columbanus, 169, 170— Donat, 55 
 
 — Fursey, 168, 335 — Gall, 170 — 
 MacCarthen, ii. 295 — Nessan, 237 
 
 — Lawrence O'Toole, i. 166 — 
 Patrick, ii. 101, 226, 228, 257, 295 
 
 — Rodbert, 115. 
 
 Salmon, Rev. Dr, Provost of T.C.D., 
 
 i. 201, 270. 
 Sandon, Lord, ii. 298, 301. 
 Savage-Armstrong, Professor, ii. 245, 
 
 247-250. 
 Scott, Mr W. B., ii. 192, 193. 
 Scott, Sir Walter, i. 4, 100. 
 "Seasons, The Three," ii. 351, 352. 
 Sedgwick, Professor Adam, i. 71 ; ii. 
 
 171-174. 
 Sedgwick, Miss Isabella, ii. 169. 
 " Shakespearian Breviates," by Sir S. 
 
 Ferguson, i. 200-202 ; ii. 257. 
 Shearman, Rev. John, ii. 78. 
 Shelley, i. 4, 104, 121, 351 ; ii. 125, 
 
 192, 244, 245. 
 Sjoden, Herr, ii. 188, 191. 
 Sloan, Mr, i. 210, 211. 
 Smith, Dr Angus, ii. 78, 180, 181. 
 Smith, Mr George, i. 69-71. 
 1 Spectator, The,' August 1886, ii. 254, 
 
 362. 
 Speke, Captain, i. 317. 
 Stanford, Professor V. S., ii. 253. 
 
 Stanley, Dean, i. 287. 
 
 Staples, Sir Thomas, i. 212, 214. 
 
 Stewart, Admiral, i. 281. 
 
 Stokes, Professor G. T., ii. jj. 
 
 Stokes, Sir George Gabriel and Lady, 
 
 ii. 119, 175. 
 Stokes, Mr Henry, ii. 82. 
 Stokes, Dr William, i. 68-71, 134, 158 
 
 201, 299, 313, 337, 339, 341; ii. 
 
 300. 
 Stokes, Sir William, i. 8 ; ii. 101, 290, 
 
 365. 
 Stokes, Dr Whitley, C.B., i. 299, 338 ; 
 
 ii- 33- 37, 63, 82, 85-90, 94, 98, 99, 
 
 101, 148, 255, 274, 306, 364. 
 Stokes, Miss Margaret, i. 170, 201, 
 
 238 ; ii. 82-84, 92-95. r 44, 269, 274. 
 Stowe MSS., the, i. 82-84. 
 Stuart, Dr, of Edinburgh, ii. 69-72. 
 Sullivan, Dr W. K. , ii. 71. 
 Swinburne, Mr, ii. 266. 
 
 " Tain-bo-Cuailgne, The," ii. 126-129. 
 
 "Tain-Quest, The," by Sir S. Fergu- 
 son, i. 303 ; ii. 129, 230-232, 259, 
 260, 266. 
 
 Talbot-Crosbie, Mr and Mrs, ii. 359, 
 360. 
 
 Tennent, Sir James Emerson, i. 115, 
 116. 
 
 Tennyson, i. 59, 304, 348 ; ii. 15, 95. 
 
 Thackeray, W. M., i. 348. 
 
 " Thorn, The Fairy," by Sir S. Fergu- 
 son, i. 57-60 ; ii. 247. 
 
 "Thoughts, The Three," by Sir S. 
 Ferguson, ii. 349-351. 
 
 " Tirawley, The Welshmen of," by Sir 
 S. Ferguson, ii. 252, 264-266, 285. 
 
 Tisdall, Rev. Dr, i. 270, 271. 
 
 Todd, Rev. Dr J. H., i. 70, 154, 171 ; 
 ii. 7, 32, 37, 103-108, 114-116. 
 
 Todhunter, Dr, i. 282. 
 
 Toombe, Mr, i. 212. 
 
 Trench, Dr. See Archbishops of 
 Dublin. 
 
 Trent, i. 172. 
 
 Trinity College, Dublin, i. 4, 7 ; ii. 
 116. 
 
 ' University Magazine, Dublin,' the, 
 i. 28, 39, 46, 55-57, 65, 76, 81, 96, 
 98, 108-112, 133, 137, 139; ii. 143- 
 147, 162, 247. 
 
 'University Review, Dublin,' the, ii. 
 250, 287, 288. 
 
 Urquhart, Mr David, M.P., ii. 163. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 383 
 
 Vere, Sir Aubrey de, i. 108 ; ii. 225. 
 
 Vere, Mr Aubrey de, ii. 128, 225-230, 
 232, 233, 236, 238, 239, 251, 252, 
 262, 269, 277, 278, 291, 364. 
 
 Vere, Sir Stephen, ii. 225. 
 
 Villemarque, Le Vicomte Hersart de 
 la, i. 155; ii. 30-33, 37, 92, 267, 
 268. 
 
 "Voices, The Two," by Sir S. Fergu- 
 son, ii. 347, 348. 
 
 Wakeman, Mr, i. 60. 
 
 Waller, Dr J. F., i. 68 ; ii. 285, 286. 
 
 Walsh, Revi R., ii. 77. 
 
 Watson, Rev. John (" Ian Maclaren "), 
 
 i. 277, 278. 
 Waveney, Lord, i. 283 ; ii. 194. 
 "Westminster Abbey," poem by Sir 
 
 S. Ferguson, i. 13, 14 ; ii. 35. 
 Westminster Hall, i. 97. 
 Whately, Dr. See Archbishops of 
 
 Dublin. 
 "When this Old Cap was New," ii. 
 
 196-199, 268. 
 Whiteside, Lord Chief-Justice, i. 212, 
 
 271. 
 Whittier, John Greenleaf, ii. 258, 259. 
 "Widow's Cloak, The," poem by Sir 
 
 S. Ferguson, i. 352 ; ii. 278, 280, 
 358. 
 Wilde, Sir William R., i. 337; ii. 308- 
 
 3i3. 3*7- 
 Wilde, Lady ("Speranza"), ii. 257, 
 
 272, 274. 
 Williams, Mr A. M., ii. 253, 254, 265, 
 
 275, 276, 281, 282. 
 Williams, Richard Dalton, i. 185, 203- 
 
 209. 
 Wills, Rev. J., i. 108, in. 
 Wilson, Professor ("Christopher 
 
 North "), i. 5, 25 ; ii. 193. 
 Winterbotham, Mr Henry, M.P., ii. 
 
 Winterbotham, MrW., ii. 6, 7, 14. 
 
 "Wooing, The Wet," by Sir S. Fer- 
 guson, i. 22, 25, 27. 
 
 Wordsworth, ii. 169, 192, 283. 
 
 Worsaae, ii. 99. 
 
 Wren, Sir Christopher, i. 288. 
 
 Wynne, Right Rev. Dr, Bishop of 
 Killaloe, ii. 77. 
 
 Yeats, Mr W. B., ii. 250, 251, 287. 
 
 Zeuss, ii. 304, 305. 
 Zimmer, Professor, ii. 68. 
 
 THE END. 
 
PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.