wn
to our own days. The Saltees, two islands off the Wexford coast, were
the refuge to which Colclough and Bagnall Harvey hastened in vain after
the suppression of the Rebellion in '98. Helvick Head, the name of which
also betrays its Danish origin, marks the entrance to Dungarvan Bay. The
line running from Waterford to Limerick Junction contains many places of
interest, from which short tours may be made. As we come near to
~Carrick-on-Suir~ the castle comes into view. The present building was
mainly erected by the former Earl of Ormonde, "Black Tom," as he is
known in history. He was one of the many Irish gallants who found favour
in the eyes of Queen Elizabeth. From Carrick, a drive of eight miles
brings us to Lough Coumshinawn, a lonely tarn lying high among the
Comeragh mountains, on one side of which the cliff rises perpendicularly
to a height of seven hundred feet. The railway from Carrick runs through
the beautiful valley of the Suir to Kilsheelan, and then passes to the
left of the Knockmealdown mountains to ~Clonmel~, the capital of the
"premier county." The town is pleasantly placed in a thriving centre of
local trade. It figured largely in the fights between Cromwellian and
Confederate, and some of the old battlements still stand witness to its
strength in bygone times. The peasantry have a tradition that a cloud
will ever hang above the town since Father Sheehy's death in the last
century. The tradition is hinted at in the beautiful emigrant ballad
"Shameen Dhu," by Katherine Tynan:--

"Now, God watch over you, Shameen,
An' His blessed Mother Mary!
'Twas you that had the lightest heart
In all sweet Tipperary--

'Twas you could sing the blackbird's song,
In dry or rainy weather:
Avic, the long-road wasn't long
Whin we thravelled it together.

Sure, scores of times in the mornin' bright
You sung this very road,
You med the mare's heart bate so light
She never felt her load;
'Twas you could lilt wid the thrush's trill,
Ah, well, avic machree!
God grant you may be singin' still
In that lonely far counthrie!"

[Illustration: _Photo, Roche, Dublin._ Holy Cross Abbey at Thurles.]

The name of Laurence Sterne, author of "Tristram Shandy," and of the
gorgeous Countess of Blessington, are both associated with Clonmel as
their birthplace. Through a mountain cut, appropriately called "The
Wilderness," the railway line runs aside to Thurles. The little church
o