ld Countess of Desmond" was born. In the
table-book of Robert Sydney, second Earl of Leyicester, written when
Ambassador at Paris, about 1640, there is the following reference to
her:--

"The old Countess of Desmond was a marryed woman in Edward IV. time
of England, and lived till towards the end of Queen Elizabeth, so
as she must needes be neare one hundred and forty years old. She
had a new sett of teeth not long afore her death, and might have
lived much longer had she not mett with a kind of violent death,
for she would needes climbe a nut-tree to gather nuts, so falling
down she hurt her thigh, which brought a fever, and that fever
brought death. This my cousin, Walter Fitzwilliam, told me. This
old lady, Mr. Haniot told me, came to petition the Queen, and,
landing at Bristoll, she came on foot to London, being then so old
that her daughter was decrepit, and not able to come with her."

Dromana House, on the eastern branch of the river, is situated on a
beautiful height, which commands the reaches of the river from Cappoquin
to Youghal. At more than one point on the river there were opportunities
of seeing in the distance the cloisters of ~Mount Melleray~--"the little
town of God," lonely above the mists and shadows of the hills. As we
walk or drive, the hillside behind the river winds its way through
cliffs and well-wooded lands in front, the mountains unfold themselves
range behind range. No one who has ever visited Mount Melleray will
forget it or the generous Brothers. The Trappists, expelled from France
in 1830, first settled on the borders of Kerry, but subsequently
colonised this barren hillside, and already they have transformed it
into a fine farm, containing rich pastures and thriving plantations. The
monastery may be visited by gentlemen visitors, and cannot fail to prove
of extraordinary interest. There are two guest houses, one for gentlemen
and the other for ladies. No charge is made for their bed or board, and
all creeds, classes, and nationalities are received with a _caed mille
failte_. Every week a sermon in Irish is preached to the mountaineers.

[Illustration: _Photo, Roche, Dublin._ Mount Melleray--View from South.]

Either from Melleray or Cappoquin, ~Lismore~ may be reached by car or
train. It was the home of learning of old, and to-day, not only its
beautiful position but historic Castle command attention. It is the
birthplace of Boyl