FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88  
89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   >>   >|  
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
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88  
89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Aghadoe

 

beneath

 

Killarney

 

silent

 

Waterfall

 
Middle
 

Dublin

 

Lawrence

 

Castle

 
Illustration

comprehends

 
founded
 

blessing

 

remains

 

Finian

 

direct

 

northwards

 

mountains

 

Bridge

 

contrast


colour

 

Mountains

 

Purple

 

Church

 

planet

 

buried

 

AGHADOE

 

secret

 

trouble

 

redcoats


outlaw

 
weathered
 

centuries

 

summit

 

church

 
eighth
 

century

 

doorway

 

vantage

 

imitation


ballad

 

passionate

 

laments

 

beautiful

 

written

 

spread

 
Todhunter
 

seventy

 

colleen

 

capricious