e them
again in a deep pool, and after a second's rest, it musters its full
strength, and falls in a torrent towards the Middle Lake. Colman's Leap,
across the stream beneath the Eagle's Nest, is shown here, and of it a
legend similar to others in many parts of Ireland is told. A mile
eastward, along the Kenmare road, we come to ~Torc Waterfall~, lovely as
a capricious _colleen_, whose modes are all the more "deludering" for
their uncertainty--Torc, whether tripping gently or rushing angrily, "to
one thing constant never," makes its bed in a fairy realm, a leafy
garden of ever-changing beauty. Larch and alder, arbutus, oak, and hazel
thickly curtain the Fall from the passing glance. But a sylvan path
o'erstrewn with leaves, and bordered with many fronded ferns, discovers
the fountain in full bearing. White with foam, and angry for its long
delay in the grip of Mangerton, and the hollow of the Devil's Punch
Bowl, the flood breaks through the wall of rocks seventy feet high, and
spits a shower of spray on every futile thing which attempts to stem its
course or stay its purpose. The panorama spread out beneath the rocks of
Torc comprehends, in all their glory of colour and contrast, the Middle
and Lower Lakes beneath the mountains.
[Illustration: _Photo, Lawrence, Dublin._ Torc Waterfall, Killarney.]
[Illustration: _Photo, Lawrence, Dublin._ Ross Castle, Killarney.]
Two and a-half miles northwards by the King's Bridge, or about one mile
direct from Killarney, within sight of the ~Lower Lake~ and the Purple
Mountains, are the ruins of Aghadoe, the "Church of the two Yew Trees,"
founded under the blessing of Saint Finian. The remains of the Round
Tower and Abbot's Castle can still be seen, but these and the eighth
century doorway of the old church are all that have weathered the wind
of centuries. The summit of the old tower is a vantage point for a
vista. Dr. Todhunter has written a beautiful ballad, in imitation of the
passionate Irish laments, for an outlaw who was buried there.
AGHADOE.
There's a glade in Aghadoe, Aghadoe, Aghadoe,
There's a green and silent glade in Aghadoe,
Where we met, my love and I, love's fair planet in the sky,
O'er that sweet and silent glade in Aghadoe.
There's a glen in Aghadoe, Aghadoe, Aghadoe,
There's a deep and secret glen in Aghadoe,
Where I hid him from the eyes of the redcoats and their spies
That year the trouble came to Aghadoe.
Oh! my curse on one
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