ale,
but would soon forget him. Lovers will rejoice at the sequel of the
romance. Colonel Prendergast discovered himself as Lord Ilchester, and
expressed his gratification at the possibility of having such a wife for
his son. There was the usual happy marriage; and the present Earl of
Ilchester and the present Earl of Lansdowne, can claim descent from
Maureen O'Grady.

~Limerick~.--Like most of the Munster seaboard towns, it was built by
the Danes; and it was the cock-pit of the fights between the Ostmen and
the warlike clans who followed O'Brien's banner in the early centuries.
It made history in Cromwell's days, and until recently the old house
occupied by Ireton stood within its streets. Ireton sentenced many men
of eminence to death during the short triumph of Cromwell. Among the
most noble of the cavaliers who died at Limerick was Geoffrey Barron of
Clonmel, a young Irish lawyer who acted as civil secretary to the
Confederates. With exquisite cruelty he was sentenced to be executed
upon the morning which had previously been fixed for his wedding. He
asked, as a favour, that he should be permitted to wear his bridegroom
attire on the scaffold, and Ireton granted the boon.

He made a brave show amid the crop-eared Roundheads.

[Illustration: _Photo, Lawrence, Dublin._ Treaty Stone, Limerick.]

"Taffeta as white as milk,
Made all his suit.
Threads of silver in the silk
Trailed like moonlight through it.
Silver cap and white feather,
Stepping proud and high,
In his shoon of white leather,
Came Geoffrey Barron to die.
Then the Roundhead general said,
Fingering his sword--
Art thou coming to be wed,
Like a heathen lord?

"Go! thy pride thy scaffold is,
Give her sigh for sigh.
Breath for breath, and kiss for kiss,
For Geoffrey Barron must die.
But he laughed out as he ran
Up the black steps;
Never happier bridegroom man,
With his wife's lips.
If for mortal woman's sake,
In silks should go I,
I shall for heaven the same pains take,
Now, Geoffrey Barron must die."

But the name of Limerick scintillates in those glowing chapters in its
country's history, when it stoutly withstood the valour and prowess of
the great soldier-king, William of Orange. Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, the
beloved of damsels and dames, was the hero of this period. A handsome,
large-limbed, brawny soldier, towering over the tallest of his dragoons,
and true as the steel he wore, he was a f