The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction, by Various

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Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
Volume 14, No. 396, Saturday, October 31, 1829.

Author: Various

Release Date: March 5, 2004 [EBook #11459]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIRROR OF LITERATURE, NO. 396 ***

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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. XIV, NO. 396.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1829. [PRICE 2d.

BLARNEY CASTLE.

[Illustration: Blarney Castle.]

This Engraving, to use a cant phrase, is an exquisite "bit of Blarney;"
but independent of the vulgar association, it has a multitude of
attractions for every reader. Its interest will, however, be materially
enhanced by the following admirable description from the graphic pen of
T. Crofton Croker, Esq.[1]

[1] Researches in the South of Ireland, Illustrative of the Scenery,
Architectural Remains, and the Manners and Superstitions of the
Peasantry. By T. Crofton Croker. 4to. 1824 Murray. VOL. XIV.

Blarney, so famous in Irish song and story, is situated about four
miles north west of Cork, and was, within these few years, a thriving
manufacturing village; but it no longer wears the aspect of comfort or
of business, and appears much gone to decay.

The alteration struck me very forcibly. In 1815, I remember a large
square of neat cottages, and the area, a green shaded by fine old trees.
Most of the cottages are now roofless; the trees have been cut down, and
on my last visit, in 1821, a crop of barley was ripening in the square.

"the clam'rous rooks
Ask for their wonted seat, but ask in vain!
Their ancient home is level'd with the earth,
Never to wave again its leafy head,
Or yield a covert to the feather'd choir,
Who now, with broken song, remote and shy,
Seek other bowers, their native branches gone!"

This prepared me to expect a similar change in the grounds of the
castle, where much timber has been also fe