THE
HISTOKICAL WORKS
OF
GIEALDUS CAMBEENSIS
THE TOPOGKAPHY OF IRELAND, AND THE HISTORY OF
THE CONQUEST OF IRELAND, TRANSLATED BY
THOMAS FORESTER, M.A.
THE ITINERARY THROUGH WALES, AND THE
DESCRIPTION OF WALES, TRANSLATED BY
SIR RICHARD COLT HOARE, BART.
REVISED AND EDITED, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, BY
THOMAS WEIGHT, MJA., F.S.A., &c.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK ST-nflQY.ENX .G
AND NEW YOR
fe*MICf
1894.
DATE JAN ° 8 199°
LONDON:
REPRINTED FROM THE STEREOTYPE PLATES BT WM. CLOWES & SONS,
STAMFORD STREET AND OBAJUNO CROSS.
PREFACE.
GIRALDTTS CAMBEENSIS, so called from the country ot which he was a native, was born about the year 1146, ana belonged to one of the most distinguished families in South Wales. A Norman, or Anglo-Norman, chieftain had esta- blished himself in that district, and left to his family a name taken from the little island of Barri, on the coast of G-lamorganshire. William de Barri, the head of this family in tbe reign of king Stephen, was lord of the princely castle of Manorbeer, in Pembrokeshire, and became allied by marriage with one of the most remarkable families in Wales. Ehys ap Tudor, prince of South Wales in the reign of William Eufus, had a daughter named Nesta, cele- brated for her beauty, and for other accomplishments, who became the concubine of king Henry I., and was subse- quently married to Grerald de Windsor, castellan of Pem- broke. Prom this marriage sprung the illustrious family of Pitzgerald, William de Barri, just mentioned, married Angharad, the daughter of Gerald de Windsor and the princess Nesta, whereby the Barris became related both to the powerful Norman family of the Pitzgeralds, and to the princes of South Wales and the numerous families of Welsh chieftains who cl aime d kindred with them. Giraldus , the author of the historical treatises, of which we now pub- lish a translation, was the youngest of the sons of William de Barri and Angharad ; and was no doubt named after hia maternal grandfather, the castellan of Pembroke. la
if PBEFACE.
one of the books translated in the present volume, Giraldm relates how his cousins effected that extraordinary series of exploits, the conquest of Ireland ; and it was the unity of family of the conquerors, and their great connections in "Wales, which made them objects of jealousy, for their suc- cess, to king Henry. The same feeling of jealousy was ex- tended to Giraldus himself; and, according to his own state- ment, stood in the way of his advancement to the bishopric of St. David's; and this circumstance will explain many sentiments expressed by him in various parts of these writings.
Giraldus was born in the castle of Manorbeer, and, as he gays, dipplayed in his childhood a love for literature, and for the ecclesiastical profession, which led his father to call him "his little bishop." His education was entrusted to the care of his mother's brother, David Fitzgerald, bishop of St. David's, with whom he remained until he had reached his twertieth year; and then he repaired to Paris, and gained great distinction in that University. He returned to England in 1172, and obtained ecclesiastical preferment ; but his activity in correcting the abuses in the church gained him many enemies. In 1176, the see of St. David's became vacant, and the chapter chose Giraldus as their bishop ; but the king refused his consent to his election, and Giraldus and the canons were compelled to yield. Peter de Leia, prior of "Wenlock, was chosen in his place. He returned to Paris, and continued his career in that cele- brated University, where he rose to great honours ; but he came home again in 1180, repaired to his archdeaconry of Brecknock, and was appointed administrator of St. David's during a temporary absence of the bishop. During the few years preceding, the first conquest of Ireland had taken place. King Henry, visiting the borders of Wales in 1184, became acquainted with Giraldus, and, admiring hi* earning, took him to court. He employed him on several
PEEFACE. V
occasions in diplomatic negociations with the Welsh, made aim one of his chaplains, appointed him preceptor to his son, prince John, and, in 1185, sent him with the young prince to Ireland, in the quality of secretary.
Griraldus was evidently a zealous, if a rather credulous, observer and collector of facts. It was during this visit to Ireland that he occupied himself diligently in collecting materials for a description of that country, and remained there for that purpose some time after the departure of prince John. The result was his " Topography of Ireland," which he began to compose soon after his return to Wales, a little after the Easter of 1186, and completed in 1187. Its completion gave occasion for a remarkable display of the writer's vanity and love of ostentation. He recited his book, which was divided into three parts, which he called by the then fashionable term of distinctions, before a public audience of the university of Oxford on three successive days ; and, to give more effect to this proceeding, he gave on each day a sumptuous feast. The poor people of the town were entertained on the first day; the doctors and students of greatest distinction on the second; and on the third the other scholars and the burghers and soldiers. Griraldus was evidently very proud of the sensation he had made on these occasions ; for in one of his books (that De Gestis Suis, lib. ii. c. 16), he declares that it was worthy of the classic ages of the poets of antiquity, and that nothing like it had ever been seen in England. Its effect appears to have been to increase his celebrity.
In the latter part of this year news arrived of the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, and all Western Europe was thrown into a state of great excitement. Preparations were made on every side for a new crusade ; and Henry II., though too prudent a monarch to be led away by the enthusiasm to which it gave rise, could not avoid seeming to encourage it. He accordingly proclaimed the crusade ; and Baldwin,
tl PREFACE.
j-Trtbishop of Canterbury, was sent to preach it in "Wales. Oiraldus was appointed to accompany the archbishop, in which tnere was no doubt a stroke of policy ; for our author was then known throughout Wales as the champion of the rights and independence of the Welsh church against the pretensions of the metropolitan see of Canterbury ; and it was thought that, by joining him in the mission, the fears and suspicions of all who might be inclined to look with distrust upon the visit of the English metropolitan would be silenced. It is probable, indeed, that the presence of Giraldus, the Welshman who had morally been raised to the see of St. David's, did give favour in the eyes of the Welsh to archbishop Baldwin's preaching ; although the vanity of the archdeacon led him to believe that his own marvellous eloquence was the chief element in their suc- cess. This expedition is the subject of one of the most in- teresting of his books, the " Itinerary of Wales," which was compiled with the avowed intention of immortalizing the acts of the archbishop, and especially of his companion, the archdeacon.
In the year 1189, Griraldus accompanied Henry II. on his last expedition into France, and he appears to have been present at that king's death. The new king, Eichard I., shewed the confidence he placed in our writer, by sending him immediately to Wales, to persuade his countrymen to abstain from revolt, and he appears to have fulfilled his mis- sion with success. We find a further proof of the king's consideration, in the circumstance, that, when Eichard de- parted for the Holy Land, he appointed Giraldus, who had obtained a dispensation from the crusade, to be coadjutor with the bishop of Ely, in the administration of the king. dom. Our author was now so confident in his expectation of obtaining, through the king's favour, the high ecclesiasti- cal preferment to which he aspired, that he refused the lesser bishoprics of Bangor, in 1190, and Landaff, in 1191, but his
hopes
until,
PREFACE. VU
seem to have met with continued disappointment, until, at length, he quitted the court, and, being prevented from going to France by the breaking out of war between the two countries, he retired to Lincoln, where he gave him- self to his old literary occupations. And he remained in this retirement several years. In 1198, Peter de Leia died, and the bishopric of St. David's thus again became vacant. G-iraldus was elected by the chapter, and opposed by the archbishop of Canterbury, Hubert Waiter, who refused to accept the nomination on the same grounds which had been previously alleged by king Henry II., that it would be dan- gerous to the English supremacy to appoint a Welshman to the metropolitan see of Wales. Meanwhile king Eichard died, and king John, whose favour Giraldus enjoyed, gave him reason to expect that his election would now be con- firmed ; but the king yielded to the arguments of the arch- bishop, and, after a rather obstinate struggle on the part of the canons of St. David's to sustain their choice, the election of Giraldus was set aside, and the bishopric of St. David's was finally conferred on Geoffrey de Henelawe, in 1203. In the course of this dispute, in which an appeal was made to the pope, Giraldus gave so much offence to king John, that that monarch proclaimed him an enemy to the crown, accusing him of a design to raise a rebellion among the Welsh, and seized upon his lands. He, however, made his peace with the king, after the election of Geoffrey de Henelawe; but, having resigned his archdeaconry in favour of one of his nephews, and retaining only his two church preferments of canon of Hereford, and rector of Chesterton, in Oxfordshire, he retired finally from public life. The see of St. David's was again vacant in 1215, and was offered to Griraldus, but he was now unwilling to accept it. We know nothing of his history during the rest of hia life, but he appears to have died in the year 1223.
Such was Giraldus de Barri, or Cambrensis, the writer ol
fill PREFACE.
the four works translated in the present volume, and o! mary otners, most of which have been preserved. In these writings he appears to us in the character of what we may truly describe as an elegant scholar, deeply learned in the learning of his day, and widely read in classical and medieval literature. He was evidently a diligent collector of facts, but he was at the same time a man of extraordinary credu- lity, as all who read the following treatises will soon dis- cover. Yet the information he gives us is almost always curious, and we feel in every instance that it is the bona fide result either of his own observations, or of his own in- quiries. In common with "Walter Mapes, and others of his contemporaries, he was fond of anecdote, and the continual introduction of popular stories into his writings not only render them extremely interesting, but give us very curious pictures of life and manners in the twelfth century. Our readers will soon detect another characteristic of G-iraldus Cambrensis, which is not less apparent than his credulity — I need hardly say I mean his vanity. He seldom omits an opportunity of speaking of his own writings, and almost always in a laudatory vein — of talking of his own eloquence, of which he was evidently proud — or of setting forth his own deeds with the utmost degree of self-satisfaction. He also affects humour and wit ; but this consists too often in puns and jokes upon words which tend rather to confuse than to amuse the reader. With all these different qualities, G-iral- dus Cambrensis is one of the most agreeable prose writers of the middle ages.
The four books contained in the present volume are those which may more strictly be called the historical treatises of Giraidus Cambrensis. The Topography of Ireland, as already stated, was completed in the year 1187, and was dedicated to king Henry II. The History of the Conquest of Ireland appears to have been commenced immediately after the completion of the Topography, and was dedicated
PREFACE.
to Kienard, count of Poictiers, then the heir to the c^ of England, which he inherited some two years afterwards as Bichard I. In the preface to the description of Wales, he informs us that this history was the labour of two years, so that he must have completed it just before that prince ascended the throne. At a later period he published a re- vised edition of this book, and dedicated it tc king John. The Itinerary through Wales, which was intended to com- memorate the mission of archbishop Baldwin to preach the third crusade to the Welshmen, and the part which Griraldus himself acted in it, was dedicated to archbishop Langton, and therefore cannot have been completed before the year 1207, when that prelate was elected to the see of Canter- bury. The Description of Wales, or the Topographia Cambria, appears to have preceded, in the date of its composition, the Itinerary, as the first edition was dedicated to Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, who occupied that see from 1186 to 1203 ; but a second and probably enlarged edition was subsequently published, and dedicated, like the Itine- rary, to archbishop Langton. In the account of his own writings, given in a letter addressed to the chapter of Here- ford, Giraldus tells us, that in order to make his country better known, as well as to occupy his leisure, and exercise his talents, he had drawn " a map of the whole of Wales, with its lofty mountains and dense forests, its principal lakes, rivers, and castles, many cathedral churches and mo- nasteries, especially those of the Cistercian order," and that this was executed in a small space, on a single leaf, but per- fectly distinct and clear. The loss of so singularly curious a record is greatly to be regretted. It appears that Giral- dus had already imbibed the taste for writing topographies when he composed that of Ireland, for in various passages in that and his other works he announces his intention of writing similar works for Wales, England, and Scotland. One only of these plans he fulfilled, when he published that
X PBEFACE.
of Waies, the exteiit and plan of which differ very consi- derably from those of the Topography of Ireland. We have every reason lor believing that the Topographies of England and Scotland, which appear to have been delayed until the close of his life, were never written. It is certain that no such works are known to have existed.
It only remains to add, that the translations of the Topo- graphy of Ireland and the Vaticinal History of the Conquest are the work of Thomas Forester, Esq., well known by many excellent translations of our medieval chroniclers and historians, published in Bonn's Antiquarian Library. They are the first complete translations of these books that have ever appeared. The translations published by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in 1806, have been adopted for the Itinerary and Description of Wales. All have been carefully revised on the original texts by the editor. A large portion of the notes on the Topography of Ireland are by the editor, while the rest, with nearly all those on the history, are by the translator. Sir Eichard Colt Hoare took the Itinerary as a frame on which to build a large work on the local history and antiquities of Wales, and it was neither possible nor desirable to give the whole of his notes in the present volume. In abridging them the editor has retained chiefly that part which related to the history of the different places visited by Griraldus down to the time of his visit,, and to the description of scenery or antiquarian remains. The words of Sir E. C. Hoare are retained, with the exception of a few necessary alterations and corrections ; and wherever the writer speaks in the first person, the reader will under- stand that Sir Eichard alone is responsible for the state- ment or opinion.
T. W.
THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IKELAND;
ITS MIEACLES AND WONDERS.
BY
SILVESTEE GlIEALDUS CAMBEENSIS.
TIE TOPOGRAPHY OF IEELAND.
THE AUTHOR'S FIEST PKEFACE.
reflect that our life is short and fleeting, I am filled with admiration of the noble aims of those men of genius who, before their path for the future was yet plain, resolved on making it their principal object to leave behind them some excellent memorial, by which they might secure enduring fame, and at least live in after-times, when their brief span of existence had ended. Thus we read in the books of cele- brated poets : —
" Denique, si quis adhuc prsetendit nubila liror, Occidet j et merit! post me referentur honores.** l
" Should clouds of envy still around me spread, Harmless on me their venom will be shed, And honour's meed be mine, when numbered with the dead."
And elsewhere : —
" Quaque patet domitis E'omana potentia terris> Oro legar populi, perque omnia seecula, fama, Si quid habent veri vatum prsesagia, vivam." 2
" Far as the power of Rome the world obeys, All climes and nations shall peruse my lays ; And, if inspired poets can divine, Renown, through endless ages, shall be mine."
This was the first, and main, incentive with the greatest authors to undertake their works. There was another, second indeed in merit as well as in order, namely, the pa-
» Statins, Thebaid, xi. 818, 19. 2 Ovid. Met. xv. 877-9.
B 2
4 THE TOPOGEAPHT OF IBELAND.
tronage, reward, and encouragement of illustrious priiicv*. For honours are the nurses of the liberal arts : —
" Nam si Yirgilio puer et tolerabile desit Hospitium, caderent omnes a crinibus hydrse." 1
" The snakes, had Virgil no Meceenas found, Shook from the Furies' head, had dropt upon the ground."
Aud again : —
" Quis locus ingenio, nisi cum se carmine solo Vexant, et dominis Cyrrhee Nisseque feruntur Pectora nostra, duas non admittentia curas." a " What room for fancy say, unless the mind,
And all its thoughts, to poetry resigned,
Be hurried with resistless force along
By the two kindred powers of wine and song."
The philosophy, however, which loves a happy mean and modest independence, neither revelling in wealth, nor ex- posed to poverty, seems to have been condemned by Solomon : — " Give me, O Lord, neither riches nor poverty, but only what things are necessary for subsistence." For, although mediocrity is not allowable in poets,
" Non dii, non homines, non concessere column® ;" * " Which gods, nor men, nor critics will permit ;"
still, if their wits be slender, there is no reason why they should not possess a moderate competence.
When, therefore, at any former period, the last mentioned inducement to write ceased, poetry began to fail. Not, in- deed, that poetry was altogether lost, or philosophy extinct ; nor did the imperishable records of glorious deeds ever fall into oblivion. Letters were not wanting, but lettered princes. The liberal arts had not disappeared, but the honours which ought to attend them were withheld. There would be no lack of eminent writers at the present day, if there were none of enlightened rulers. Give but a Pyrrhus, and you will have a Homer; a Pompey, and you will have a Tully ; a Caius and Augustus, and a Virgil and Horace will follow in course. While, then, in our case, the second motive for writing fails for want of patrons, the first and most powerful of those I have mentioned urges me on. For
1 JUT. Sat. vii. 69, 70. * Ib. vii. 64—67. 3 Hor. Ars Poet, 372.
TfiE AtJTHOB's FIEST PBEFACE. 5
nothing can better tend to kindle the sparks of mental vigour, and fan the innate fire into a flame, than that, sup- ported by so many and such great authorities, and borne, as it were, upon their shoulders, we may rise to eminence by the aid of their manifold grandeur, if only we have confi- dence in ourselves. Nothing is so great a hindrance to bold attempts as diffidence. Despair of success is fatal to all efforts for obtaining it ; so that many men of praiseworthy talent and learning have for this reason lived in idleness and seclusion, and while they shrunk from proving their abilities by active exertion, their brilliant merits remained hidden. Hence it happens that numbers of men of the greatest learning grow old without knowing their own powers ; and turning the force of their genius to no account, for want of vigour of mind, perish like the beasts, and their names are lost in oblivion.
Since, then, " there is little difference between powers not called into action and buried in sloth ;'•' since " fear is the token of a degenerate mind ;" "a work well begun is half ended ;" and " fortune favours the brave ;" I have resolved on writing, preferring rather to incur the ridicule of the envious and malicious, than to seem in the judgment of worthy persons to shrink from my task through fear. Nor am I deterred by the example of Cicero, who says : — " I do not compose a poem on that subject, because I cannot write such verses as I could wish, and those which I can I am unwilling to write." My own determination is this, and on this subject it is very decided —
" Cum neque chorda sonum reddat, quern vult maims et mens, [Poscentique gravem perssepe remittit acutum :] Nee semper feriet, quodcunque minabitur arcus."1
" For oft the strings the intended sound refuse : In vain his tuneful hand the master tries j He asks a flat and hears a sharp arise ; Nor always will the bow, though famed for art, With speed unerring wing the threatening dart."
FBANCIS.
If I cannot write as well as I would, I will at least write according to the best of my ability. Devoting myself, therefore, to a task requiring long and close application,
1 Hor. Ars Poet. 347—9.
•6 THE TOPOGEAPHT OP IRELAND.
shall I be esteemed presumptuous or provident, exposing myself to the shafts of envious malice while I live, in the hope of possibly achieving a glorious reputation when my days are ended ?
'After long musing on this subject, and after anxiously revolving it in my mind, at last it occurred to me that there was one corner of the earth, Ireland, which, from its posi- tion on the furthest borders of the globe, had been neglected by others. Not that it had been left altogether untouched, but no writer had hitherto comprehensively treated of it.
But it may be asked, " Can any good come from Ire- land ?" " Will its mountains drop sweetness, and its val- lies flow with milk and honey ?" Let us, then, endeavour to suck honey out of the rock, and draw oil from the flint. Let us follow the example of great orators, who, in an admirable manner, most polished the shafts of their elo- quence, when the poverty of their subject required it to be elevated by the superiority of their style.
Et ferat invalid® robur facundia causse.
It behoved them, therefore, to lavish the graces of elocu- tion on cases which were in themselves barren of interest, that, where reasoning little availed, language might do its best. For such is the effect, such the power of eloquence, that there is nothing so humble which it cannot exalt no- thing so copious which it cannot amplify, nothing so obscure which it cannot clear up, nothing so clear which it cannot illustrate. For, as the noble senator says in his Paradoxes : " There is nothing so incredible that it cannot be made pro- bable by the manner of putting it, nothing so rude and barbarous that a brilliant oratory cannot ornament and po- lish." But what can a discourse which has but a slender pith of sense, a barren waste of words, offer to erudite ears, and to men of the highest eloquence ? For it is useless, and altogether superfluous, to address the eloquent in bar- ren phrases, or to set before the learned things which every one knows. "What sort of sounds would the cackling goose utter among tuneful swans ? Are we, then, to publish what is new, or what is already well known ? Men recoil with disgust from what is trite and common, while, on the other hand, novelties require the support of authority.
THE AtTTHOB S FIBST PBEFACE
For, as Pliny says, " it is a difficult matter to give novelty to old subjects, authority to new; to embellish what is threadbare, shed grace on what is out of fashion, light on obscurities, give confidence in what is doubtful, and nature to all."
Notwithstanding, it will be my endeavour, in the best manner I can, to rouse the reader's attention, by setting before him some new things, either not before related or very briefly noticed ; exhibiting to him the topography of Ireland in this little work of mine, as in a clear mirror, so that its features may be open to the inspection of all the world.
I propose, therefore, to take, at least, a distinct view of this most remote island, both as regards its situation and character, explaining its peculiarities, so long hidden under the veil of antiquity, and searching out both the quali- ties and defects of almost all things which nature has pro- duced there, both for the ornament of the better class and the use of the lower orders. Besides this, I propose to unravel the stupendous wonders of nature herself, to trace the de- scent of the various tribes from their origin, and to describe from my own knowledge the manners and customs of many men. And since the country of which we treat is backward and feeble, it will be no small satisfaction to studious minds to survey, at least in thought, our better part of the world and its condition, having all things made easy to be under- «tood.
This work is divided into three parts. The first treats of the situation of Ireland, and its locality in reference to the Greater Britain ; of the quality of the soil, its inequa- lities, and its various properties ; of the fishes and birds which are distinct from ours in place rather than in origin ; of wild beasts and reptiles, the nature as well as defects of the several species ; and of the absence of all venomous creatures. It will also contain a comparison of the East and the West, showing that the West is deservedly to be pre- ferred. All which is distinctly noted in the titles prefixed to the several chapters.
The second part tells of the prodigies and wonderful works of sportive nature, not those only which are found in this country, but others also, of whatever kind and wher-
8 THE TOPOGEAPHT OF IHELAITD.
ever existing, which are of the same description. It also sets forth the famous records of Saints celebrated for their virtues, which were manifested by glorious miracles unknown to the world.
The third part treats, in regular order, of the first inhabi- tants of this country, and the various immigrants of diffe- rent nations, their arrival and departure ; of the habits and customs of the Irish race which inhabits the island to the present day, and of their subjugation by foreign invaders. In short, it gives a history of all that is worthy of notice re- specting this nation to our own times.
In the two first parts I have found no direct evidence from the Irish records, nothing from other sources, except the advantages I derived from personal inquiry, which could aid me in my task. It is only in the third part, which treats of the inhabitants of the island and the origin of the various races, that I obtained some information from their own chronicles. But these having been heaped together by the native writers in a loose and disorderly manner, with much that is superfluous or absurd, and being composed in a rude and barbarous style, I have digested them, with much labour, as clearly and compendiously as I could, like one seeking and picking up precious stones among the sands on the sea-shore, and have inserted whatever was of most value in the pre- sent volume. But since, from the wretched state of human imperfections,
' Judicis argutum labor hie formidat acumen $' *
* I tremble at the critic's shrewd review ;'
if not the work itself, at least the author's design has claims to commendation. For the love of study is praiseworthy ; nor does it appear immeritorious to have had some regard for reputation amidst the regular and almost insupportable cares of attendance at court. Be it his praise, then, that while the body was subject to servitude, the mind was free. And since it is the part of a wise man to take breath in the refreshment of his own spirit of cheerfulness when at times he is worn by outward vexations, and to diversify wearisome employments by an interchange of such as are agreeable nothing that is pleasant being considered a task, dignified leisure intervening between the multifarious calls of business ia surely worthy of commendation.
1 Ars Poet. 369.
THE ATJTHOB'S SECOND PBEFACE. 0
THE AUTHOR'S SECOND PREFACE
SILVESTER GIEALDUS CAMBEENSIS TO THE ILLUSTEI- OUS KING OF ENGLAND, HENEY II.
IT hath pleased your excellency, most invincible king of England, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to dispatch me from your court in attendance on John, your beloved son, to Ireland. Coming there, not as a fugitive, but in some sort as a scout whose office it is to explore the country, I soon found occasion to remark many things which are quite different to what is found in other countries, and, being quite strange, are for their novelty much to be wondered at. I, therefore, began to make dili- gent inquiries respecting the site and ^nature of the country, the origin of the race, their customs, how often, by whom, and in what manner, the island had been subjugated and conquered ; and what new and secret works, contrary to her ordinary rules, nature has stored up in these western and extreme borders of the earth. For beyond these confines neither land exists, nor is there any habitable spot either for men or animals ; but throughout the entire horizon, in boundless space, Ocean only sweeps around, and rolls its waves in unknown and unfathomable channels.
For as the countries of the East are remarkable and pre- eminent for some prodigies peculiar to themselves and ori- ginating there, so also the Western parts are dignified by the miracles of nature performed within their limits. For sometimes, like one wearied with serious affairs and realities, she withdraws and retires for a little space, and, as it were, sportively employs herself with extraordinary freaks in secret parts reverently and mysteriously veiled. Having, therefore, selected and made a collection of the most curious facts, I have deemed it a not unprofitable la- bour to bring those which appeared most worthy of notice into one point of view and to submit them to your high-
10 THE TOPOGEAPHT OF IEELAND.
ness's careful consideration, of which scarcely any part of history has escaped the observation.
I might, indeed, have presented for your highness's ac- ceptance, as others have done, some little offerings of native gold, or falcons or hawks, with which the island abounds. But I thought it of little importance to offer to a mighty prince things which are easily procured, and are perishable in their nature, but rather preferred to send to your high- ness what cannot be lost, and thus, through you, instruct posterity by means which no lapse of time can destroy.
I esteemed it also a worthy undertaking to give a short account in writing of the virtues and victorious honour of yourself and your illustrious son, that the great glory they have conferred on our age may not be merely transitory, but, by the aid of letters, be firmly planted in the memory of posterity. Nor do I hesitate to believe that it may be well entrusted to your watchful care, that through the re- cords of such noble achievements, the minds of many in future times may be roused to increased vigour by the ad- mirable examples of valorous action ; and that the perusal of these pages may have the same effect as the statues and portraits of their ancestors had on men of old, rousing a laudable spirit of emulation, not only in ardent minds, but in those which are feeble and sluggish ; fanning the sparks of impetuous valour in the one, and lighting up the fire of innate courage in the other.
CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTEE8.
CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTEES.
DISTINCTION I.
THE TOPOGRAPHY AND NATTJEAL HISTOET OF IEELAND. CHAPTER PAOH
I. Of the situation of Ireland. — Of the distance between Ireland and Britain. — What land it has on the south and north, and on the east ; and how far distant . 17 II. Of the Spanish sea which embraces Britain and Ireland with two arms. — How far Ireland corresponds with Britain in its dimensions and qualities. — On the length and breadth of Ireland . . .17
III. Of the various opinions of Solinus, Orosius, Isidore,
and Bede 5 some true, some erroneous . . 19
IV. Of the surface of the country, and its inequalities. —
That the land is mountainous, and more gravelly than rocky. — Of the fertility of the tillage-land ; and that the grains of corn are so light that they can hardly be winnowed from the chaff . . 20
V. Of the prevalence of wind and rain, and their causes. —Of the prevailing north-west wind, which bows the trees in a certain direction . . ,20
VI. Of the nine principal rivers, and several others which
have burst forth of late . . . .22
VII. Of the lakes, and the islands therein. — Of the fishes in the sea, rivers, and lakes, and the species which are not found in Ireland. — Of some new species of fishes, which are found no where else . . .25
VIII. Of the birds, and those that are wanting, with their natural and allegorical significations. — Of the hawk, falcon, and sparrow-hawk, and their natures . 26
IX. Of the eagle, and its nature . . . .30
X. Of the crane, and its nature . . . .34
XI. Of barnacles which grow from fir timber, and their
natures . . . . . .36
XII. Of birds of twofold species, and mixed breed . 37
XIII. Of martinets, and their natures . • .38
XIV. Of swans and storks, and their natures . . 39
XV. Of birds which disappear in the winter . » 89
12 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ICELAND.
CHAPTER *AG«
XVI. Of grasshoppers which sing the better when their heads are cut off; and revive spontaneously after being long dead ... . . 40
XVII. Of the various kinds of crows found here, and their
natures . . . . • .41
XVIII. Of the croerite which are here white, and their natures 42
XIX. Of wild animals, and their kinds, with those that are wanting ; of stags, boars, and the small hares here. — That all animals, except man, are more diminutive here than in other countries. . . 43
XX. Of the badger, and its nature
XXI. Of the beaver, and its nature
XXII. Of weasels, and their natures
44 44 46
XXIII. Of reptiles, and those that are not found in Ireland
and that there are no venomous creatures — How venomous animals die as soon as they are brought over, the poison losing its venom. — How the soil of the country destroys venomous reptiles. — Of the leathern-thongs of this country used as an antidote against poison . . . . . 47
XXIV. Of a frog, lately discovered in Ireland . . .50 XXV. Of the various advantages possessed by this island, and
the nature of the climate. — That it is cooled by winds from all quarters. — That the island has little need of physicians. — That the Irish are only troubled with the ague . . . . .51
XXVI. A comparison of the East and West. — That in the east all the elements are pestiferous. — Of the veno- mous force of poison in the East, and of the unhealthi- ness of the climate . . . .52
XXVII. Of the singularly temperate character of our climate, and
that we are happily free from many disadvantages . 53 XXVIII. That the East is the fountain-head of poisons, and that more advantages are to be found in the West than in the East .... .55
DISTINCTION II.
OP THE WONDEBS AND MIRACLES OP IBELAND.
I. Of the very strong currents in the Irish sea, and the ebb
and flow of the tides therein . . . .59
II. Of the difference of the tides in Ireland and Britain . 59
III. Of the influence of the moon on the waters as well as
on natural humours . . . .60
IV. Of two islands, in one of which no one dies, in the
other no animal of the female sex enters . . 61
V. Of an island, one part of which is frequented by good
spirits, the other by evil spirits . . .63
CONTENTS OP THE CHAPTEES. 13
CHAPTKH • PJGB
VI. Of an island where human corpses exposed to the atmos- phere do not suffer decay . . . .64 VII. Of the wonderful natures of some fountains . . 65 VIII. Of two extraordinary fountains, one in Britany, the other
in Sicily . . . . .69
IX. Of a vast lake, which originated in a remarkable manner 70 X. Of a fish which had three golden teeth „ . .72
XI. Of the Northern islands, most of which are in subjec- tion to the Norwegians . . . . 73 XII. Of an island which was at first floating, and afterwards
was firmly fixed by means of fire . . .73
XIII. Of Iceland, which is inhabited by a people of few words,
but truthful, who never take an oath . . 74
XIV. Of a whirlpool in the sea, which sucks in ships. . 75 XV. Of the Isle of Man, which, on account of the venomous
reptiles it harbours, is considered to belong to Britain 76 XVI. That islands were formed long after the flood, not sud- denly, but by degrees, from alluvial matter . . 76 XVII. Of Thule, the Western island, very celebrated among the Orientals, but totally unknown among the people of the West . . . . .77 XVIII. Of the Giants' Dance, which was transferred from Ire- land to Britain . . . . .78 XIX. Of the prodigies of our times j and first, of a wolf which
conversed with a priest . . . . 79
XX. Of a woman who had a beard, and a hairy crest and
mane on her back . . . . .84
XXI. Of an animal which was half-ox, half-man . . 85
XXII. Of an animal engendered by a stag and a cow . . 86
XXIII. Of a goat which had intercourse with a woman . 86
XXIV. Of a lion that was enamoured of a woman . . 87
XXV. That cocks in Ireland crow at different hours from
those in other countries . . . .87
XXVI. Of wolves which whelp in the month of December . 88 XXVII. Of the ravens and owls which once had young ones
about Christmas . . . . .88
XXVIII. Of miracles of saints ; and first, of the apples and ravens
and blackbirds of St. Keiwin. . . .88
XXIX. Of St. Colman's teal, which were tamed by him, and
cannot suffer injury . . . .93
XXX. Of the stone in which a cavity is every day miraculously
filled with wine . . . . .95
XXXI. Of the fleas which were got rid of by St. Nannan . 95
XXXII. Of the rats which were expelled from Fernigenan by St.
Yvor 96
XXXIII. Of a wandering bell 96
XXXIV. Of various miracles in Kildare ; and first, of the fire
which never goes out, and the ashes which never in- crease . ... 96
14 THE TOPOGBAPHY OF 1BELAND.
XXXV. How the fire is kept alive by St. Brigit, on her night . 97 XXXVI. Of the hedge round the fire, which no male can enter . 97 XXXVII. Of the falcon in Kildare, which appeared tame and do- mesticated . . . . . 98
XXXVni. Of a book miraculously written . .99
XXXIX. How the book was composed . . 100
XX. Of the places of refuge miraculously protected by the
saints . . • . . 100
XLI. Of the salmon-leap . . . 102
XLII. How they leap ... . 102
XLIII. Of the life of St. Brendan . . . 103
XUV. Of the cross at Dublin, which spake and bore testimony
to the truth . . . . . .103
XLV. How the same cross became immovable . . 104
XL VI. How a penny, offered before the cross, twice leapt back, but the third time, after confession made, remained ; and of the iron greaves that were miraculously restored 105 XL VII. Of a phrenetic at Ferns, who predicted future events . 105 XL VIII. Of an archer, who crossing St. Brigit' s hedge was struck with madness ; and of another who lost the use of
his leg 106
XLIX. Of the seed wheat, which being cursed by the bishop of Cork, failed to spring up, and the year following was miraculously produced from rye . . 106
L. How Philip of Worcester was struck with sickness at
Armagh, and Hugh Tyrrell divinely scourged . 107
LI. Of the mill which will not work on Sundays, nor grind
any corn which has been pilfered or pillaged . 108
LII. Of the mill of St. Fechin, which no woman may enter 108 LIII. How two horses, having fed on oats pillaged from this
mill, immediately died . . . .108
LIV. How some archers at Finglass were punished by heaven 109 LV. That the saints of this country appear to be of a vindic- tive temper ...... Ill
DISTINCTION in.
OP THE INHABITANTS O» IEELAND
I. Of the first arrival of Csesara, granddaughter of Noah,.
before the flood .... 113
II. How Bartholanus was the second immigrant, 300 years
after the flood . . . . 114
III. How Nemedus, the third settler, came from Scythia,
with his four sons ..... 116
IV. Of the fourth immigration, by the brothers and sons
of Dela, who first divided Ireland into five equal parts ... ... 117
V. How Slane was the first sole king of Ireland . 118
CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTEBS. 15
GBAPTEB PAGB
VI. Of the fifth immigration, when the four sons of king Milesius came over from Spain, and how Herimon and Heber divided the kingdom between them . 118
TIL How the brothers quarreled, and Heber having been slain, Heiimon was the first sole king of the Irish people . . . . . .119
VIII. Of G-urguntius, king of the Britons, who brought over the Baselenses to Ireland,, and settled them in the country ...... 120
IX. Of the triple and new rights of the British kings . 121
X. Of the character, customs, and habits of the people of
Ireland . . . . . .121
XI. Of the incomparable skill of the Irish in playing upon
musical instruments , 126
XII. Of the beneficial effects of music . . . 127
XIII. Of the first inventors of the art of music . 131
XIV. Of an eminent patron and improver of musical instru-
ments ...... 131
XV. Whence music derived its name . . . 132
XVI. How many kings reigned from Herimoa to the coming of Patrick, by whom the island was converted to the
faith 132
XVII. That there were no archbishops in Ireland before the arrival of John Papyrio, who planted there four archiepiscopal sees in the year of our Lord, 1152 . 133 XVIII. How the bodies of three saints, Patrick, Columbus, and Bridget, were found in these our days at the city of Down, in Ulster, and translated . . .134
XIX. How the Irish are very ignorant of the rudiments of
the faith ...... 134
XX. Of their abominable treachery .... 135
XXI. How they always carry an axe in their hands instead of
a staff ...... 135
XXII. Of a new mode of making a . league, a proof of their
wickedness ...*.. 136
XXIII. How they love their foster-children and foster-brothers,
and hate their own brothers and kindred . . 137
XXIV. How new-comers are stained with the same vices . 137 XXV. Of a new and monstrous way of inaugurating their kings 138
XXVI. How numbers in the island are not baptized, and have
never come to the knowledge of the faith . . 139
XXVII. Of many laudable qualities in the Irish clergy . . 141
XXVIII. Of the neglect of the prelates in pastoral discipline . 142 XXIX. How nearly all the bishops of Ireland are elected from
the monasteries ..... 143 XXX. How the clergy differ from monks, and are to be pre- ferred to them ..... 144 XXXI. That many seem to be in the fold who shall be shut
out j and the contrary . . . ; 145
16 THE TOPOGEAPHT OF IBELAND.
CHAPTER PAUB
XXXII. A sarcastic reply of the archbishop of Cashel . . 145
XXXIH. How bells and pastoral staves, and other such relics of the saints, are held in great reverence by the people both of Ireland, Scotland, and of Wales . 146 XXXIV. Concerning the great virtues of the pastoral staff called the staff of Jesus ; and how a priest had a two -fold disease inflicted on him • 146
XXXV. Of *he number of persons in this nation who have
bodily defects . . . . .'147
XXXVI. How many kings reigned from the time of St. Patrick
to the coming of Turgesius . . . 148
XXXVII. How in the time of king Fedlimidius, the Norwegians,
under their chief, Turgesius, subjugated Ireland . 148
XXXVIII. How the English say that it was G-urmundus, the Irish
that it was Turgesius, who conquered the Island . 149 XXXIX. Whence Gurmund came into Ireland or Britain . 150
XL. How, when Q-urmund was slain in Gaul, Turgesius perished in Ireland by the hands of young men dis- guised as girls ..... 151
XLI. How the Norwegians were driven out of Ireland, after
reigning there about thirty years . . . 151
XLII. A subtle question of the king of Meath . . 151
XXIII. Of the arrival of the Ostmen . . . .152
XLIV. How many kings reigned in Ireland from the death of
Turgesius to Roderic the last sole king of Ireland . 153 XLV. How many kings reigned from Herimon the first to Roderic the last .....
XL VI. How from its first immigration to the time of Tur- gesius, and from his death to the expedition of Henry II., king of England, the Irish race maintained its independence ..... 154
XLVII. Of the victories of Henrv TL, king of England . 155 XL VIII. A short recapitulation of the titles and triumphs of
the same king . . . . . 155
XLIX. Of the characters of his sons j and first of Henry III.,
king of England ..... 157
L. Of the character of the count of Poitou , . 159
Of the difference in person and character between the two brothers ...... 161
Of the princes of Britany and Ireland . . 162
How the brothers quarrelled between themselves, and with their father . . . . . 154
Of the Saxon, Spaniard, and Sicilian • . . 164
DISTINCTION I,
CHAPTER I.
OF THE SITUATION OF IRELAND.
IRELAND, the largest of islands after Britain, lies in the Western ocean, a short day's sail beyond "Wales, in Bri- tain ; but between Ulster and Galway, in Scotland, the sea contracts into a narrower strait of about half the breadth. There are, moreover, promontories on the coasts of both islands, which may be seen and made out from the opposite side more or less distinctly, but in all cases clearly enough in favourable weather. Ireland is the most remote of the western islands, having Spain parallel to it on the south, afc the distance of three ordinary days' sail, Great Britain on the east, and the ocean alone on the west. On the north lies Iceland, the largest of the northern islands, at a dis- tance of about three days' sailing.1
CHAPTEE II.
OF THE SPANISH SEA, WHICH EMBRACES BRITAIN AN£ IRELAND WITH ITS TWO ARMS.
?HE Spanish sea, named also the Iberian sea, either from the river Iberus, or because Spain presents the form of a dsphere, receiving the waters of the ocean from the
1 As the distance between the two islands cannot be less than eight degrees of latitude, the estimate given by G-iraldus of the length of time" occupied in the voyage by a sailing ship of those days, though possible, must be taken with some reserve. In some of the Icelandic sagas it is computed at about eight days.
C
18 THE TOPOGEAPHT OF IBELAWD.
west, between Ireland and Spain, is divided into two arms. One of these flows between Spain and Britain, and then, verging to the north, divides France from Britain. But although the mouth of this channel on both sides touches lands from which it might be named, it is most commonly called the French sea, taking its name from France only. The other branch of the Iberian sea, taking its course northward, flows between Ireland and Britain, and extends in length as much as it expands in breadth towards the north, until it mingles its waters with the Northern ocean at the Orkney islands. Thus separated from the rest of the known world, and in some sort to be distinguished as another world, not only by its situation, but by the objects out of the ordinary course of nature contained in it, Ireland Beems to be nature's especial repository, where she stores up her most remarkable and precious treasures. Collate- rally, Ireland thus occupies such a position in regard to the adjacent coast of Britain, that from whatever British port any one sails westward, he will have before him some part of it. Britain, however, is twice as large as Ireland ; for, the greatest length of both islands running north and south, Britain is eight hundred miles long, and about two hundred miles broad, while Ireland extends from the Brandane mountains1 to the island of Columba, called Thorach,2 the length of eight good Irish days' journey, which is forty miles to the day ; and from Dublin to St. Patrick's hills and the sea of Connaught it is four such days' journey in breadth. The surface of Ireland may be, therefore, about as large as Wales and Scotland, the better part of the island of Britain, which was in ancient times annexed by its kings to their own dominions, and called by the Britons Loegria,
1 A Brendanicis montibus, perhaps Mount Brandon, in Kerry, which would not be a measure of the extreme length from S.W. to N.E.
2 We take this to be Rathlin island, off the coast of Antrim, which was in the early ages the chief station for the passage from Ireland to Scotland, and as such the rendezvous for a number of merchants and other travellers. It may be concluded from its Scandinavian name, Thorach, that it was also the point of departure for Norway and Iceland, although Malin Head, on the N.W. point of Donegal, is the point of the Irish coast nearest to Iceland; and it has been supposed that the station mentioned in the sagas for the intercourse between the two islands must be sought for in that neighbourhood.
YABIOUS OPINIONS OF IEELAND. 19
from Locrine, the eldest son of Brute, to whom it was assigned.
CHAPTEE III.
OF THE VABIOTJS OPINIONS OF SOLINUS, OBOSIUS, ISI- DORE, AND BEDE; SOME TRUE, SOME EBBONEOUS.
SOLINUS describes Ireland with sufficient accuracy as one hundred and twenty miles in breadth ; but he says nothing of its length. Hence I conclude that the island was un- known to him, especially as he asserts that it was of enor- mous magnitude. Orosius, better informed, represents Ireland as the nearest island to Britain, with a much smaller surface, and a climate the temperature of which was more favourable. Isidore agrees with Orosius, saying that Ireland is the island lying nearest to Britain, infe- rior in size, but, from its situation, of greater fertility. Bede, also, states that Ireland is much superior to Bri- tain both in the salubrity and serenity of the atmosphere. He is right as to its salubrity ; but, with due respect to his opinion, he is in error with regard to its serenity, as will appear in the sequel of this book. For, as France excels Britain, so by far does Britain surpass Ireland, in the sere- nity and pureness of its air. For the further you go towards the East, the brighter and clearer is the face of the sky, the more penetrating and inclement is the at- mosphere ; but when you turn your steps nearer and nearer to the extremity of the West, you find that, the air being more cloudy and thick, as well as milder and more wholesome, it renders the land more fruitful. Ireland, in- deed, lying at equal distances between the cold of Iceland and the heat of Spain, with its temperature moderated from these opposite quarters, the country is happily favoured both in having a temperate climate and a wholesome air. In shape Ireland is much rounder than Britain, but rather narrow in the middle, and spreading in breadth towards the heads, while Britain is remarkable for being more ob- long and narrow ; and, as the north of Ireland is, as it were, broken off" and much shortened, compared with Britain, BO its southern extremity is so far from being shorter, that, according to Bede's statement, it extends much beyond the parallel of Britain.
o 2
20 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
CHAPTEE IV.
OF THE SURFACE OF IRELAND, AND ITS INEQUALITIES } AND OF THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL.
IRELAND is a country of uneven surface, and mountainous; the soil is friable and moist, well wooded, and marshy ; it is truly a desert land, without roads, but well watered. Here you may see standing waters on the tops of the mountains, for pools and lakes are found on the summits of lofty and steep hills. There are, however, in some places very beau- tiful plains, though of limited extent in comparison with the woods. On almost all sides, and towards the sea-coast, the land is very low, but in the interior it rises into hills of various elevations and mountains of vast height ; not only the surrounding country, but also the central districts, being rather sandy than rocky.
The tillage land is exuberantly rich, the fields yielding large crops of corn ; and herds of cattle are fed on the mountains. The woods abound with wild animals ; but this island is more productive in pasture than in corn, in grass than in grain. The crops give great promise when in the blade, still more in the straw, but less in the ear ; for the grains of wheat are shrivelled and small, and can hardly be separated from the chaff by dint of winnowing. The fields are luxuriantly covered, and the barns loaded with the produce. The granaries only show scanty returns.
CHAPTEE Y.
ON THE PREVALENCE OF WINDS AND RAIN; AND THEIR
CATJSES.
THE crops which the spring brings forth, and the summer nourishes and advances, are harvested with difficulty, on account of the autumnal rains. For this country is exposed more than others to storms of wind and deluges of rain. A wind blowing transversely from, the north- west, and more frequent and violent than any other winds, prevails here ; the blast either bending or uprooting all the trees standing on high ground in the western dis- tricts, which are exposed to its sweep. This arises from
PBETALE^CE OF WINB ANB HAlff. 21
the land, surrounded on all sides by a vast sea and open to the winds, not having in those parts any solid shelter and protection, either distant or near. Add to this, that the waters attracted in clouds, and collected to- gether by the high temperature of that region, and yet neither exhaled by fiery atmospheric heat, nor congealed by the coldness of the air and converted into snow or hail, at last burst in copious showers of rain. In short, this country, like other mountainous regions, generates and nourishes most abundant rains. For the heat evaporating from the high lands by excessive wet, the moisture which they attract is easily converted into its native element. And it is usu- ally distinguished by various names, according to its various elevations. While yet hanging about the hills, it is called mist ; when it rises higher, and, floating in the atmosphere, is quite disengaged from the earth, it becomes clouds ; again descending in drops or particles, it is called snow or rain, according as it is solid or liquid. Thus, Ireland, "Wales, and Scotland are subject to much rain.
The island is rich in pastures and meadows, honey and milk, and also in wine, although not in vineyards. Bede, indeed, among his other commendations of Ireland, says, "that it does not lack vineyards;" while Solinus and Isidore affirm, " that there are no bees." But, with all respect for them, they might have written just the contrary, that vineyards do not exist in the island, but that bees are found there. Vines it never possessed, nor any cultivators of them. Still, foreign commerce supplies it with wine in such plenty that the want of the growth of vines, and their natural production, is scarcely felt. Poitou, out of its superabundance, exports vast quantities of wine to Ireland, which willingly gives in return its ox-hides and the skins of cattle and wild beasts. Like other countries, it has bees producing honey, and I think it would flow from their cells more abundantly, if the increase of the swarms were not checked by the bitter and poisonous yews1 with which the woods of the island abound ; or rather, if the violent winds, and the moisture of the climate, in Ireland, did not disperse
1 GKraldus adopts what Virgil says of Corsica :—
"Fugiunt examina taxos." — Eel. ix, 30.
22 THE TOPOGBAPHY OF IBELAITD.
the swarms of so minute an animal, or cause them to perish.
It may be alleged, indeed, in favour of contrary opinions, that in Bede's time there were possibly some few vineyards in Ireland, and that St. Dominic of Ossory, as some say, introduced bees there long after the times of Solinus. But I can scarcely excuse those who assert that the soil is so noxious to bees, that if any one scatters dust or gravel brought from it among the beehives in any other country, the swarms desert their cells. Bede also affirms, that this island is famous for the hunting of stags and wild goats. "Whereas it is a fact, that it never possessed any wild goats, and is still without them. Nor can it be wondered that these writers occasionally deviated from the truth, when they knew nothing but what they learnt at second-hand and from a distance, in which they placed implicit faith. Any statement rests on a certain foundation of truth, when the person who makes it has been also an eyewitness of what he affirms. Still, these writers are entitled to their due share of praise for their careful and generally correct investigation of subjects placed by distance so far beyond their observation. And, since nothing human is altogether perfect, and universal knowledge and freedom from error is the attribute of divinity, and not of mortals, any mistakes which may have crept into their statements must be con- sidered pardonable, as arising both from human imperfec- tions, and the remoteness of the country of which they treat. This indulgence we ask for ourselves, while we grant it to others, thinking nothing that concerns the human race foreign to our object.3
CHAPTEE VI.
OF THE NINE PEINCIPAL EIVEES, AND SEVEEAL OTHEBS WHICH HAYE BUEST FOETH OF LATE.
THE island is intersected and watered by nine noble rivers, which have been celebrated from the earliest ages, even from the time of Bartholanus, who first settled in it after the flood. Their names are these : the Avenlifius,
1 " Hanc etiam veniam petimusque danmeque vicissim, Nihil unquam human! a nobis alienutn esse putantes."
THE NINE PEINCIPAL EIVEES. 23
At Dublin;1 the Banna runs through Ulster;2 the Moadus, through Connaught ;3 the Slichenis and Samarius, through Kenelcunnill ;4 the Modarnus and Phinnus, through Kenel- eonia;5 and the Saverennus and Luvius, through Cork.6 There are also several other rivers flowing through Ireland, but they are, so to speak, new, and, compared with the others, of recent origin, though not inferior to them, except in respect of their age. Some of these take their rise from springs which have their sources in the bowels of the earth ; others bursting suddenly from lakes in well-known parts, divide the island into separate districts during their long course.
I think it not superfluous to enumerate some of these. Three noble rivers, then, rise at the foot of the Blandine mountain :7 they are called The Three Sisters, because they received their names from three sisters. These are the Beriia, which runs through Leighlin ;8 the Eyrus, which runs through Ossory ;9 and the Suyrus, which, after run- ning through Archfinia and Tribarccia, falls into the sea at Waterford.10 The Slana runs through Wexford ;u
1 The Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow mountains, and, as here in- timated, flows into the bay of Dublin.
2 The Bann, a river of the north of Ireland, which passes through Lough Neagh, and enters the sea near Coleraine.
3 The Moy, a well-known river of Connaught, which rises in Sligo, and enters the bay of Killala. * The Sligrach and Samar, the latter of which runs through Tyrconnell. 5 The Morne and Finn, in Tyrone. 6 The Bandon and Lee, in the county of Cork.
7 Sliabh Bladhwa, or Slieve Bloom, an extensive mountain range, stretching across the King's and Queen's counties. The Three Sisters were the Barrow, Nore, and Suir. See Spenser, F. Q. lib. iv. cant, xi 42,43.
" The first the gentle Shure, that making way
By sweete Clonmell, adornes rich Waterford j The next the stubborne Newre, whose waters gray
By faire Kilkenny and Rosseponte boord ;
The third the goodly Barow, which doth hoord Great heapes of salmons in his deepe bosome ;
All which long sundred, doe at last accord To joyne in one ere to the sea they come ; So, flowing all from one, all one at last become."
8 The Barrow, which rises in the north of Queen's County, ana empties itself into the bay of Waterford. 9 The Nore is a tribu- tary of the Barrow. 10 The Suir rises in Tipperary, and flows into Waterford harbour. » The river of Slaney runa through the county of Wicklow, and flows into Wexford harbour.
24 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IEELA37D.
the Boandus, through Meath ;J the Avonmore,2 through Lignioria ; and the Sinnenus, through Limerick.*
Of all the rivers in Ireland, new or old, the Sinnenus deservedly claims the first rank, both for its full and ma- jestic stream, which flows through vast tracts of country, and for the abundance of fish contained in its waters. It has its source in a lake which divides Connaught from Munster, and forms two branches which take opposite courses ; one branch flowing eastward, and washing the city of Killaloe in its course, after embracing Limerick, and separating for one hundred miles and more the two parts of Munster, falls into the sea of Brandon. The other branch, of equal importance, divides Meath and the further districts of Ulster from Connaught, and after various windings falls into the Northern Ocean.* Thus, flowing from sea to sea, it separates the fourth and western part of the island from the three others. For this country was formerly divided into five equal provinces ; namely, the two Munsters, north and south, Leinster, Ulster, and Connaught. Merlin's prophecy predicted that they would be reduced to one ; but of that I shall speak more fully in the proper place. It may, however, be as well to remark, that the two Munsters embraced the southern parts of Ireland; Ulster, the north ; Leinster, the east ; and Connaught, the west.
1 The Boyne, which rises in Queen's County , flows north-east through Trion and Cavan, and enters the sea below Drogheda.
2 Lignioria is probably a misreading of the manuscript by the copy- ist for Ltsmoria. Avonmore is the Irish name for the Blackwater, which rises among the mountains on the borders of Cork and Kerry, passes by Lismore, and enters the sea at Youghal. •
3 The Shannon, called in Irish, Sinain. It is not easy to account for the singular error into which Giraldus has fallen with regard to the course of this celebrated river. He seems to have imagined that it was a branch of the river Shannon which discharges itself into the sea at Bally shannon, in the bay of Donegal. The Shannon, as is well known, takes its rise in Lough Allen, in the county of Leitrim, and takes first 3 southern and then a south-western course, till it discharges itself into the Atlantic, which was sometimes called St. Brandan's sea, because it was the supposed scene of his marvellous voyages.
4 The river which empties itself into the sea, at Ballyshaunon, is merely the outlet of the waters of kke Earne.
LAKES AND FISHES. 25
CHAPTEE VII.
Or THE LAKES, AND THE ISLANDS THEEEIN ; OF THE FISHES IN THE SEA, EIVEES, AND LAKES ; AND OF THOSE WHICH AEE NOT FOUND THEEE ; AND OF SOME NEW SPECIES OF FISH NOT FOUND ELSEWHEEE.
THIS island is also especially remarkable for a great number of beautiful lakes, abounding in fish, and surpassing in size those of any other countries I have visited. These lakes encompass some slightly elevated spots, most delight- fully situated, which, for the sake of security, and because they are inaccessible except by boats, the lords of the soil appropriate as their places of refuge and seats of residence, where they raise their harvest.
Sea-fishes are found in considerable abundance on all the coasts. The rivers and lakes, also, are plentifully stored with the sorts of fish peculiar to those waters, and especi- ally three species : salmon and trout, muddy eels, and oily shad.1 The Sinnenus (Shannon) abounds in lampreys,2 a dangerous delicacy indulged in by the wealthy.
This country, however, does not produce some fine fishes found in other countries, and some excellent fresh- water fishes, such as the pike, the perch, the roach, the barbel, the gardon,3 and the gudgeon. Minnows, also, bullheads, and verones,4 are not found there, also, no loches, or they are very rare. Thus, every country is deficient in some particular products. In Great Britain there are no tortoises or scorpions. Cisalpine G-aul produces no leopards or lions ; Italy has no perch ; Palestine no pikes ; and both are without salmon. So also, Italy, Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, have no salmon ; and no part of Spain produces pikes, perch, or pheasants. Crete has no owls ; the Mediterranean sea, no herrings ; and the kingdom of Hungary, no eels.
1 Alosisqua prcvpinguilus. The shad, the clupea alosa of modern natu- ralists, called in France an alose. It is not a fresh-water fish, but ascends the larger rivers from the sea, and is most delicate when caught in the rivers. 2 The unwholesome character of the lamprey is proverbial.
Henry of Huntingdon informs us, that king Henry II.'s death was caused by indulgence in this favourite dish. See his History, in Bohn's Antiq. Lib. p. 259. 3 One of the roach family, the leuciscus idus.
4 One of the smaller members of the genus leuciscus, in modern French veron, is supposed to answer to our minnow j but Giralduf dearly distinguishes it from the minuta, the old French menuise.
26 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
On the other hand, the lakes of this country contain three species of fish which are found nowhere else. One is a sort of trout, called also salares, which are longer and rounder than trout, and which are white, close-grained, and good-flavoured.1 The tymal, commonly called the umber,2 resembles the former kind of fishes, except that it is distinguished by a larger head. There are others which very much resemble the sea herring both in shape and quality, and in colour and taste. A third sort exactly re- sembles the trout, except that it has no spots. The first sort is called Glassans, the second, Cafes, the third, Brits.3 These three species of fishes make their appearance in the summer only, and are never seen in the winter. In Meath, near Fovera,4 are three lakes, not far from each other, each of which has its own distinct and peculiar species of fish, and which are frequented by no other, although they are connected by streams affording communications between them ; and if a fish of one kind is carried down into the water frequented by another, it either perishes or finds its way back to its first abode.
CHAPTEE VIII.
OF BIRDS, AND THOSE THAT ARE WANTING, WITH THEIR NATURES AND ALLEGORICAL SIGNIFICATIONS ; OF THE HAWK, THE FALCON, AND THE SPARROW-HAWK, AND THEIR NATURES.
IRELAND has some aquatic birds, which build their nests in high crags, of the same species as are found in other countries ; but some other species have never been found there from the most ancient times.
This country produces in greater numbers than any other, hawks, falcons, and sparrow-hawks,6 a class of birds which nature has endowed with courageous instincts and armed
1 Salares. This word is only found in this passage of Giraldus, and it is not quite clear to what fish it refers. 2 The name umber is
now given to the mallus vulgaris, better known as the graylin.
3 Glassanos — catos—britios. These appear to have been old local names for the fishes alluded to, and are not found in any other writers.
4 Foure, a small town in Westmeath, situated on Lough Lein.
5 Nitos. This is the English interpretation of the Latin nisus g' ren in the early Anglo-Latin vocabularies,
BIBDS, THEIE NATURES. 27
with curved and powerful beaks and sharp talons, to fit them as birds of prey. It is, however, a remarkable fact in the history of this tribe of birds, that their nests are not more numerous than they were many centuries ago j and, although they have broods every year, their numbers do not increase. When one pair perishes by any accident, another takes its place. The nests diminish in number from a variety of circumstances, but nothing occasions them to increase. According to Cassiodorus, birds of this class, which live by prey, allow their young no rest in their infancy, that they may not acquire indolent habits ; they beat the tender brood with their wings, and compel them to fly as soon as they are fledged, that they may rear them to habits on which the parents may rely. And when, in process of time, they are strong on the wing, with the help of their natural in- stinct they are taught to seek their prey, and then are driven by their cruel parents from their native seats, to which they are not allowed to return.
Since, then, it is a much easier task to teach the ignorant than to reclaim the froward, prudent parents will breed up and educate their sons after the example set them by these birds. And, as idleness engenders instability of character, they will rouse and sharpen their will by constant exercise, lest embued with the vices attendant on listless sloth in their riper years, they may find it difficult to unlearn them. Moreover, the Lord chastens the sons whom he loves ; and, in order to set their minds more earnestly on eternal felicity, secures their happiness by present calamities. St. Augus- tine says, " Nothing is more unhappy than the happiness of sinners, which nourishes in them a fatal sense of impunity, and a foe within confirms their propensity to evil." Hence, Gregory remarks, that " oxen intended for slaughter have the free run of the pastures, while those that are reserved for labour are put under the yoke."
So also sons of ripe age are sometimes sent forth from the homes of their parents, for kind and prudent ends ; that, left to themselves, they may learn caution instead of carelessness, diligence instead of idleness, activity instead of sloth, courage instead of cowardice. For he seldom fails who is not wanting to himself; while those who depend upon the assistance of others, appear very often to fall
28 THE TOPOGBAPHY OF
short of their aims. Por this cause the fathers and pastors of the church gradually admit their sons as they become capable of receiving higher instruction, to seek their meat boldly in the Lord's pastures ; for "the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." They teach them also to despise and eschew the troublesome paths of this life, and its sinful gulf, and to direct all their efforts towards that which is their true and permanent country ; thus compelling them by a most merciful severity to be mortified to the world, and become exiles from it.
Moreover, as in all kinds of animals the males are natu- rally stronger than the females, so also in these birds, and all others which live by prey and have to pursue their game, and therefore particularly need for their subsistence strength and force, the female sex is bolder and stronger than in other kinds, though the males lose something of their superior privileges. Perhaps this may signify that the female sex is more resolute in all evil than the male. Tor, as Tully says, " Men will sometimes, to gain a single object, perpetrate one crime; but women will stick at nothing to satisfy their desires in a single instance." So it is said, in Ecclesiasticus, " The wrath of a man is shorter than the wrath of a woman." Nor are they ever wanting in efforts to establish their power over the men in a variety
of ways ; j1 and Grod makes use of the
weak things of the world to confound the strong. Thus, nature has so deprived the males of these birds of the privilege of their sex, that as they grow old they almost always degenerate ; while in the other sex years only add to their vigour and swiftness.
We find it remarkable in sparrow-hawks, that some are dis- tinguished by white spots, some by red, and some by parti- coloured. Hence, it has been conjectured that they con- tracted this variety from the trees in which they were bred. But as this difference is perceived in broods from the same trees, and even from the same nests, it seems to be the better opinion that this variety in their plumage is derived from the parent birds. It is also reported of the sparrow- hawk, that when the frost of winter is very severe, it seizes a bat towards evening, and nestling to it the whole of
1 The sequel of this sentence is here printed in the original Latin :— * Et effceminatos a fceminis viros debita yirilitate foeminee deprsedantur."
BIRDS, THEIR yATURES. 29
tlie night for the sake of the warmth, lets it go free in the morning uninjured, in return for its service. Hawks and sparrow-hawks, differing in size rather than instinct, pounce on their prey with great velocity, and either fail in their first attack, or carry it off.
There are several kinds of falcons, both large and small, high bred, and kestrels ; merlins (meruli) also, small and summer birds, though sluggish at first when fat, afterwards swoop suddenly on their prey, and soaring on high in wide circles, pounce from above on the quarry, and having struck it and crushed it with the force of their breasts, pierce it and tear it to pieces with their extended claws. Their flight is so rapid and unwearied that, pursuing the bird which endeavours to escape, and flits from side to side, now high, now low, while all the spectators are filled with delight ; no length of flight in the vast aerial amphitheatre, no artifice of the fugitive, can save it from its relentless foe. Hawks and sparrow-hawks are of a more delicate nature, requiring choicer food and more careful keepers. Falcons are both more pertinacious in their attacks, and more ready to return to their keeper when he raises his hand, or even at his call. May we not compare to the first class of birds, those who, indulging in sumptuous banquets, equipages, and clothing, and the various other allurements of the flesh, are so won by their charms, that they study only earthly things, and give themselves up to them ; and as they do not soar on high to gain the prize by resolute and persevering efforts, their conversation is on earth, and not in heaven.
Those, again, may be compared to the other class of birds, who, rejecting altogether a delicate diet and all the other delights of the flesh, choose rather, by Divine inspi- ration, to suffer hardships and privations. And, since all virtue soars high, struggling upwards with all their efforts, their aim and object is that recompense and reward for their labours above, which the violent take by force.
Falcons derive their name from a sickle (falce)> because they whirl their flight in a circle ; gerfalcons are so called from their gyrations (ffyrofariendo) ; sparrow-hawks (nisi), from their swoop (nisu) ; and hawks (accipitres) from their greed of prey (accipiendo).1
1 It may be right to remark, that most of these derivations are more fanciful than correct.
80 THE TOPOOBAPHY OF IRELAND.
CHAPTER IX.
OF THE EAGLE, AND ITS NATTJEE.
EAGLES are as numerous here as kites are in other coun- tries. These birds eye with fixed gaze the full effulgence of the solar rays ; and it is reported that they teach their young to do the same, though unwilling. Hence, eagles (aquilat) are so called from their piercing eyes (acu- mine). Thus, contemplative men strive to fix the whole powers of their mind without distractions on the very essence of the Divine majesty, and on the true sun of right- eousness, and, putting their hands to the plough of the heavenly paradise, do not look backward. The fathers of the church also, in order to accustom their sons in tender age to that which is good, teach them to turn the eyes of the soul to the intuition and the desire of the light divine.
Eagles also live for so many ages, that, enjoying renewed youth, they seem to contend with eternity itself. So also the saints, renewed with the innocence of childhood, having put off the old man, and put on the new man, obtain the blessed fruit of everlasting life. Again, eagles often soar so high in their night, that their wings are scorched with the fiery rays of the sun. So those who in the Holy Scrip- tures strive to unravel the deep and hidden secrets of the heavenly mysteries, beyond what is allowed, and those limits which it is not permitted us to pass, returning to themselves halt below as if the wings of the presumptuous imagination on which they were borne were scorched in their flight. But since a subject of great importance here incidentally occurs — for I have both read and observed myself that numbers in many parts of the world have erred in this matter — I think I shall be pardoned for dwelling upon it a little longer, and with more attention.
Bocks and stones, and masses of earth, which of themselves are incapable of motion, being only ponderous bodies which tend to the centre,1 are vastly excelled by trees and herbs, 1 Ad centrum tendunt. The tendency of heavy bodies to a centre was an article of the higher science doctrines of the age of Giraldus, and is stated still more fully by his contemporary, Alexander Neckam, in his treatise De Naturis Rerum. It was a foreshadowing of the Newto- nian doctrine.
THE EAGLE. 31
which have, as it plainly appears, a certain living vegetation and vegetable life, by which they sensibly, though without sense, move and grow, and increase and multiply. Again, trees and herbs are far surpassed by brute animals, which have the power of moving themselves from place to place, and by some instinct know their own stalls, and have some memory of the past. On this account, several of them are even esteemed higher than rational creatures ; " for where reason abounds, there imagination yields." All these, however, are far surpassed by the microcosm man, who, richly gifted with intellect and reason, lifting his face to heaven, and having the use of speech, worships his Cre- ator, and is the most perfect of all terrestrial creatures. But, as far as man excels all others, so are angelical beings pre-eminent, being as far above man in their subtle essence, and in their dwelling on high, in familiar inter- course with the Creator, in whose presence they always stand, as they are his superiors in intellect. Finally, the Almighty and All-creating God, as the potter is superior to the clay he moulds, and the artificer to the material on which he works, incomparably transcends all creatures with a pre-excellence surpassing all powers of language or thought. For He formed all things according to his will ; He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created. From Him is all wisdom, and out of His fullness we all receive. From Him it is that we exist, and are intelligent beings, as from the source from which all intellect flows, as the stream from its fountain. Since then human nature is so much inferior and less worthy than the angelical, tell us, O man, with what face, with what temerity thou presumest to scrutinize and trace out those mysteries, to the investigation of which the very angels esteem them- selves wholly incompetent ? By what arrogance dost thou aspire to embrace with the powers of thy intellect things which no intelligence can grasp or comprehend ? As He is incomprehensible before whose majesty dominations adore and powers tremble,1 so His judgments are incomprehensible, and His ways past finding out. My thoughts are not as your thoughts, nor my ways as your ways, saith the Lord. 1 Dominationes, potestates. Terms in the mediaeval theology indicating different orders of the angels in heaven. Both the dominations and th« potestates and powers formed the second rank of the angelic hierarchy.
32 THE TOPOGEAPHT OF IRELAND.
For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. "Why is your heart so lifted up, and your eyes raised on high, that you are conversant with wonders and with mira- cles which are above you ? Does your pride so separate you from the love of G-od, that while you are wise in that which is above knowledge, and aspire to still higher attain- ments, you turn aside from the path of the humble ? Not- withstanding, it becomes us best not to know more than we ought to know, but to be wise with soberness.
"Beware then, lest in thus employing your intelligence you become as though you had no understanding. Beware, lest abusing the privileges of reason and intellect, through which, by the merciful goodness of the Creator, you excel all beings under the sun, you justly forfeit them. Fix not your seat in the North, and seek in vain to be equal with the Most Highest. Beware, lest, lifting up your horn, you speak evil against the Lord. Beware, lest exalting yourself, you fall from on high. Beware, I say, lest, being so immeasureably exalted, your fall be equally great. Be wise, therefore, ye foolish among the people, and, ye unwise, have some understanding. He that planted the ear, shall He not hear ? and He that made the eye, shall He not see ? He that proveth man, shall He not chastise ? and He that teacheth man wisdom ? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are but vain. Hear, rather, how humbly the man whom Grod himself tes- tifies to have found after his own heart : I mean David the king and prophet, sings in the Psalms : " Lord, I am not high-minded, nor are my eyes lifted up ; nor have I exercised myself in great matters, nor in wonders that are above me." Listen to what Solomon, the wisest of the kings of the earth, said to his son : My son, search not into things that are above thee, nor inquire into those that are mightier than thee ; but meditate always on what the Lord hath commanded thee, and in many of his works be not too curious. Also, to one who eateth too much honey, it is bitter and evil ; and elsewhere, if thou findest honey, eat that which shall satisfy thee, lest if thou eat too much thou vomit it up. Again, to quote, in part, the words of Job : How can man be more just than Grod, or purer than his Maker ? Behold, his servants are not to be trusted, and
THE EAGLE. 38
his angels he charged with folly. How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, while they lift their face to heaven, they shall perish and be consumed as it were by the moth. And again, in the same : Man shall not be justified when compared with God.
Tell me then, thou frail potsherd, with what face, against reason and against faith, thou presumest to give an account of all things above and below, and especially of those which are above all reason ? For what can be more contrary to reason, than by the use of reason to strive to master that which transcends reason ? And what is more contrary to faith than to refuse to believe whatever reason cannot grasp ? " He who is swift to believe is light-minded ;" as much as to say, that faith is to be controlled by reason. But understand, that Solomon did not speak of faith in God, but of mutual confidence amongst ourselves. Gregory distinctly denies the merit of faifh in God which is founded on the experience of human reason. The Apostles are commended for having followed their Master in obedience to his simple summons. It was said in praise of one : " At the hearing of the ear he obeyed me." On the other hand, those disciples are rebuked who were slow to believe. Finally, Mary was commended for having preferred faith to reason, and Zacharias was punished because he tried faith by the test of reason. And again, Abraham was com- mended because against hope he believed in hope.
To return, however, to natural objects. What master ever intrusted to his servant all the secrets of his heart ? or, did even Euryalus to Nisus, Tydeus to Polynices, Orestes to Pylades, without reserving in the inmost recesses of his soul many which he would never unfold or make known to anyone ? How much more must He who is most infinite, reserve to himself things that are infinite ? Will He who is the Maker and Ruler of the universe entirely reveal Himself to the lowest of his servants, who are but dust, so that all that relates or can relate to the lofty, the in- scrutable, the ineffable nature of the Divinity, should be open to the ken of a being so frail, so corruptible, so vile in his nature, as man ? Who ever saw a picture rival the art of the painter ? Shall the vessel say to the potter,
34 THE TOPOGBAPHY OF IBELA2CD.
Why did you mould me in a shape which is narrow at tha mouth and swells out below ? Thus, it is said in the Book of Wisdom, Who hath measured the sand of the sea, the drops of rain, and the days of eternity ? Who hath meted the height of the heavens, the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss ? Who hath searched out the wisdom of Grod, which was before all things ? And again, to whom is the root of wisdom revealed, and who hath known all her secrets ? To whom is the discipline of wisdom revealed and made manifest, and who hath under- stood the numbers of her goings out ? There is one Most High and Omnipotent Creator. God, who sits and rules on his throne, is a mighty king, and greatly to be feared. He created wisdom by the Holy Spirit, and saw it, and counted and meted it out, and poured it forth over all his works, and in all flesh bestowed it on those who love him. Thus, on his people He has shed wisdom, not in entirety, but in portions, and as it were in rivulets, that in all their wants they may recur to him as the fountain-head, the well of living waters, inexhaustible and never-failing. Since then, the wisdom of the Lord is a deep abyss, the heaven of heavens is His, and what remains He will have destroyed by fire, we ought to remember with thanks that we are admitted to the know- ledge of things in part only, and not to the fulness of intelli- gence and comprehension. Hence, when some one irreve- rently inquired, " What Grod did before the world was cre- ated ?" Augustine replied, " He prepared hell for those who ask foolish questions." It is in vain, therefore, to tor- ment ourselves with such inquiries, and I shall finally conclude with the positive axiom, that a well-disposed mind does not search into such things. Into a malevolent mind wisdom will not enter. To use the words of the prophet : " How great are thy works, O Lord : thy thoughts are very deep ; an unwise man doth not know this, and a fool doth not understand it."
CHAPTEE X.
OP THE CBANE, AND ITS tfATUBE.
CBANES assemble in such numbers, that a hundred, or about that number, are often seen in one flock. By natural in*
THE CBANE. 35
gtinct they keep watch in turns at night for their common safety, perched on one foot, and holding a stone in the other featherless claw, that if they should fall asleep, the fall of the stone may rouse them to renew their watch.
These birds are emblems of the bishops of the church, whose office it is to keep watch over their flock, not know- ing at what hour the thief will come. And any sacred duty should employ the mind, and be like the stone, ready to drop. It should utterly shake off all sloth, and allow nothing to be thought of but itself. And if by any chance it should sometimes fail, the mind, being inured to its habitual occu- pation, resumes it like one awakened out of sleep.
This bird also gives notice of danger by its cries. In like manner the pastors of the church drive the wolves from the fold by sounding the alarm from the holy oracles, and with unwearied diligence lift up their voice like a trum- pet. The liver of this bird is also of such a fiery heat, that, when by any chance it swallows iron, its stomach digests it. So bowels 'inflamed with the fire of charity subdue and soften iron hearts which were before indurate, and reduce them to soft concord in brotherly love.
Wild peacocks here abound in the woods,1 but wild hens, which the common people call grutes, (y rut as) are here small and scarce, being both in shape and colour very like partridges. There are immense nights of snipes,2 also called kardioli, both the larger species of the woods, and the smaller of the marshes ; but the latter are the more abundant. Quails are found in considerable numbers ; ra- tul<B* also, with their hoarse cries, are innumerable ; and clouds of larks singing praise to God.
1 The bird here mentioned is probably the capercailzie, or cock of the wood, a noble bird of the size of a turkey, called in Norway " ticer," which is met with in the pine forests of that country, but seldom in any gi'eat numbers.
2 Aceta. This Latin word is explained in the Anglo-Saxon glossaries by snite, the old form of snipe, or rude-coco, perhaps an error for wiide coce, the woodcock, so that the latter are here probably meant by " the larger species of the woods," and "the smaller of the marshes" is no doubt the ordinary snipe.
* It has been suggested that we ought to read ranulce for ratulas in the text of Giraldus ; but it is evident that he intended to speak of a bird, though of what kind is uncertain.
D 2
gg THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
CHAPTER XI.
OF BAENACLES, WHICH &BOW FBOH FIB- T1MBEB, AIO?- THEIB NATURE.
THEBE are likewise here many birds called barnacles, which nature produces in a wonderful manner, out of her ordinary course. They resemble the marsh-geese, but are smaller. Being at first gummy excrescences from pine-beams floating on the waters, and then enclosed in shells to secure their free growth, they hang by their beaks, like seaweeds attached to the timber. Being in process of time well covered with feathers, they either fall into the water or take their flight in the free air, their nourishment and growth being supplied, while they are bred in this very unaccountable and curious manner, from the juices of the wood in the sea-water. I have often seen with my own eyes more than a thousand minute embryos of birds of this species on the seashore, hanging from one piece of timber, covered with shells, and already formed. No eggs are laid by these birds after copu- lation, as is the case with birds in general ; the hen never sits on eggs in order to hatch them ; in no corner of the world are they seen either to pair, or build nests. Hence, in some parts of Ireland, bishops and men of religion make no scruple of eating these birds on fasting days, as not being flesh, because they are not born of flesh. But these men are curiously drawn into error. For, if any one had eaten part of the thigh of our first parent, which was really flesh, although not born of flesh, I should think him not guiltless of having eaten flesh.1 Repent, 0 unhappy Jew, recollect, though late, that man was first generated from clay without being procreated by male and female ; nor will your venera- tion for the law allow you to deny that. In the second place, woman was generated of the man, without the intervention of the other sex. The third mode of generation only by male and female, as it is the ordinary one, obstinate as you are, you admit and approve. But the fourth, from which alone came salvation, namely, birth from a woman, without union with
1 Another curious case of casuistry, arising out of what was an im- portant question in those days, the distinction between fish and flesh, with reference to the diet allowed on days of abstinence, will be found in Chap. XXI. following.
BIRDS OF TWOFOLD SPECIES. 37
a man, yon utterly reject with perverse obstinacy, to your own perdition. Blush, O wretched man, blush ! At least, recur to nature, which, in confirmation of the faith for our best teaching, continually produces and gives birth to new animals, without union of male and female. The first crea- ture was begotten of clay ; this last is engendered of wood. The one, proceeding from the God of nature for once only, was a stupendous miracle ; the other, though not less ad- mirable, is less to be wondered at, because imitative nature often performs it. But human nature is so constituted, that it holds nothing to be precious and admirable but what is uncommon and of rare occurrence. The rising and setting of the sun, than which there is nothing in the world more beautiful, nothing more fit to excite our wonder, we pass by without any admiration, because they are daily presented to our eyes ; while an eclipse of the sun fills the whole world with astonishment, because it rarely occurs.1 The procreation of bees from the honeycomb, by some mys- terious inspiration of the breath of life, appears to be a fact of the same kind [as the origin of barnacles].
CHAPTEE XII
OF BIRDS OF TWOFOLD SPECIES AND MIXED BREED.
THERE are also many birds here of a twofold nature, which are called ospreys, in size less than eagles, and larger than hawks. By an extraordinary contrivance of sportive nature, one of their feet spreads open, armed with talons and adapted for taking their prey ; the other is close, harm- less, and only fit for swimming. It is wonderful how these birds — and I have often witnessed it myself — hover in the air over the waves supported by their wings, remaining still, that they may command a better view of the depths below ; and when, with a penetrating glance, they discover through the great space of turbulent air and water small fishes lurking in the sand beneath the waves, they pounce upon, them from on high with headlong speed, and diving and coming to the surface, use their web-foot in swimming, while with the other armed with talons they seize and 1 A truly just and philosophical remark; a grain of wheat which we may well winnow from the chaff of our author's absurdities
38 THE TOPOGEAPHT OF IRELAND.
carry off their prey. In like manner, the old enemy of mankind fixes his keen eyes on us, however we may try to conceal ourselves in the troublesome waves of this present world ; and ingratiating himself with us by tempo- ral prosperity, which may be compared to the peaceable foot, the cruel spoiler then puts forth his ravenous claws to clutch miserable souls, and drag them to perdition.
It must be remarked that, in both kinds of birds, some are found which much resemble the other ; but they are mongrels, and not true to their kind, differing very much in some things, though they possess the common nature of birds. But the careful observer will discriminate these dif- ferences in animals having a general resemblance, as well as certain resemblances in those which differ.
CHAPTER XIH.
OF MARTINETS AND THEIE NATTTEES.
THERE are also found in this country the small birds called martinets,1 which are less than the blackbird, and here, as elsewhere, rare, frequenting the rivers. They are short, like quails, and dive in the water after the small fish on which they feed ; and though in other respects they retain their general character, their colour varies. For degene- rating here, they have the belly white with a dark-coloured back, while in other countries the belly is red, with red beak and feet. Like parrots and peacocks, the back and wings are distinguished by their brilliant shade of green, which is very lustrous and beautiful. It is remarkable in these little birds that, if they are preserved in a dry place, when dead, they never decay ; and if they are put among clothes and other articles, they preserve them from the moth and give them a pleasant odour. "What is still more wonderful, if, when dead, they are hung up by their beaks in a dry situation, they change their plumage every year, as if they were restored to life, as though the vital spark still survived and vegetated through some mysterious remains of its energy.
Thus holy men, who are dead to the world, and, as it were, laid up in a dry place, and inflamed with the ardour
: The martinet (martineta) was the kingEsher. It is still called in French the martinet-pechenr.
BIBDS WHICH DISAPPEAR DURING WINTER. 39
of charity, purify and perfect themselves and those who are united to them from being vitiated by the corruption of sin, and render them conspicuous by the good odour of their virtues. And while they hang from above by the most intimate union of soul, casting off the old garment of the flesh, and clothed in new virtues, they are changed and renewed for the better from time to time, putting off the old man, and putting on the new. For that is the highest pitch of excellence, when the former acts are surpassed by being followed by those which are better.
CHAPTER XIV.
OF SWANS AND STORKS AND THEIR NATURES.
SWANS abound in the northern part of Ireland ; but storks are very rare throughout the island, and their colour is black. It is remarkable in swans that they teach us not to grieve at the fate of death ; for in their last moments, making a virtue of necessity, they exhibit by their funeral songs contempt for the loss of life. So men, who are clothed in white by the merits of their virtues, depart joyfully from the troubles of the present world, and thirsting for God, the only fountain of life, desire to be dissolved, freed from this body of death, and to be with Christ.
It is remarkable in storks that they desert places where the waters are warm, and frequent those where they are cold. For throughout the winter they harbour about the beds of streams, but in the first opening of spring change the temperature, betaking themselves to a free current of air. So the saints, who now sleep in the dust of the earth, during the wintry season of this world, which now is, when it is renovated and changed into a better state, enjoying for ever a serene atmosphere, will rise from their hiding-places at the first sound of the archangel's voice, and being carried up to meet Christ in the air, shall be summoned to his right hand, and translated into the true liberty of his sons.
CHAPTER XV.
OF BIRDS WHICH DISAPPEAR DURING THE WINTER.
IT is also remarkable in birds of these and other similar spe- cies, which the rigour of winter is wont to drive away, that
40 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
during this period they are neither living nor dead, but vegetating, without the breath of life being extinct, they appear wrapt in a long trance, and, remaining without the nourishment by which animal life is wont to be sustained, are yet supported by some kind and secret process of na- ture, until, roused from their sleep, they come back with the zephyrs and the first swallow. In like manner the animals called dormice, because sleep makes them fat (for the word from which they derive their name, gliscere, signifies to grow fat, as well as to long after), sleep all the winter, and, after lying motionless as if they were dead, revive in the summer. This led some one, speaking in the person of this little animal, to say : —
" Tota mihi dormitur hyems, et pinguior illo Tempore sum, quo me nil nisi somnus alit."
Those seem to fall into a similar trance whose spirits are on some occasions, by divine permission, wafted to the heavenly mansions above, or to the spectacle of hell below, returning at last, when their mission is completed, to their bodies on earth, which meanwhile have remained in an extraordinary state of destitution, breathing without a spi- rit, and living without life, and thus neither entirely dead or alive.
CHAPTEE XVI.
OF GBASSHOPPERS WHICH SING THE BETTER WHEN THEIB HEADS ARE CUT OFF, AND REVIVE SPONTANEOUSLY AFTER BEING LONG DEAD.
IN the districts of Apulia and Calabria there are grass- hoppers with wings, which spring from place to place not by any effort of their legs, but by the use of their win^s, and have orifices under their throats by which they utter tuneful sounds. It is also reported that 'they sing sweetest when their heads are cut off, and when they are dead better than when they are alive. Hence the shepherds in that country have a custom of depriving them of their heads, that at least they may extract sweetness from them even by their death. For the residue of the life-giving spirit, until it has escaped by these apertures from the dying body, gives forth wonderful harmony. These grasshoppers, also, being
THE YAEIOUS KINDS OP CROWS FOUND HEEE. 41
congealed by the frost in the beginning of winter, shrivei up, and many of them putrify. But when warm weather returns in spring, the brealh of life returns to them, and they revivify and recover their strength. That the dead sing better than the living 'may be exemplified in the case of the Christian martyrs, who, having been decapitated for Christ's sake, preach, when dead, better than they did when alive, so that the church is more edified by their death than by their life. In what follows concerning resuscitation and revival, we have a sign of our own resurrection. For thus the Creator, for our instruction and confirmation in the truth, corroborates the less probable articles of the received faith by familiar examples in the natural world. "What else can be the meaning of that prodigious increase from their dust of the little worms which produce silk ? What the astonish- ing reproduction of the phoenix from its own ashes ?
CHAPTER XVII.
OP THE VAEIOTJS KINDS OF CEOWS FOUND HEEE, AND OP THETE NATUEES.
ALSO there are no black crows in this country, or they are very rare; they are all parti-coloured. These birds carry up small shell-fish into the air, and let them fall on the rocks by the sea shore, that, not being able to crush the shells with their beaks, they may be fractured by collision with Jie stones, after falling from a great height. Thus the old feiemy, with malicious guile, after raising to the highest pitch of honour those whom he was unable to pervert when m a humble condition, boldly assails them, in order that, neglecting the duties of their station, or wavering, from being puffed up with arrogance, the higher they have been lifted up the greater may be their fall into the depths of sin, and the more severely he may bruise and crush them.
It is a remarkable fact respecting these birds, that although in other things they are the most cunning of all fowls, their natural instinct fails them in choosing suitable situations for their nests, in which other birds, however silly, manifest great ingenuity. For they build their nests in a public road, or any other frequented place, or on a fallen tree, or a Stone ; never thinking of the winds, or apprehensive oi
42 THE TOPOGEAPHY OF IRELAND.
the access of snakes or men. Thus, however a man maj be distinguished by vigour of genius and the endowments of wisdom, if he abandons himself to licentiousness, and is ensnared by lust, he pays little regard to temperance and modesty. This was exemplified in David and Solomon, one of whom incurred the guilt of murder, and the other of apostacy, through their violent passion for women.
CHAPTEE XVIII.
OF THE CBOEBL3G WHICH ABE HEBE WHITE, AND OF OTHEK SPECIES OF BIBDS.
As in Crete all the merles are white, so the Irish croerice1 are also white. It is the instinct of these birds to impale beetles on a thorn, so that the thorn is impregnated by venom. How remarkable is it that the mischief which we find in neither of the three by itself, is effected through the union of the three. Thus the Creator, by a won- derful union of things contrary, joins the spirit to the flesh, and so the evil of sin is forthwith contracted, although it is to be found in neither of the three of itself.
Ireland produces no falcons but those of noble breed. The ignoble species, vulgarly called layner,2 are not found here. The gerfalcons, which are bred in the Northern and Arctic regions, and supplied from thence, are not produced in this country ; nor are there partridges and pheasants. There are no magpies or nightingales; indeed, of birds in general, and especially of the smaller species, fewer are
1 This word, as far as I know, has not been found elsewhere, and it is uncertain to what bird it is intended to apply. As it fed upon beetles, it must have been busiest towards nightfall. Ducange has the word croerola, as occurring in the Alemanic Laws, and conjectured to be the French crecerelle, a kestrel. But this can hardly be the mean- ing here.
* In old books of falconry, we find hawks formerly appropriated in a sort of fanciful order, according to the gradations of rank, and among them the "layner and layneret" were assigned to an esquire. Thus, also, the gerfalcon was counted a royal bird, the peregrine falcon was appropriated to an earl or lord, the "sakyr and sakyret" to a knight, a lease of merlins to a lady, a hoby to a gentleman " of the first heag," a goss-hawk to a yeoman, a sparrow-hawk to a priest, and a kestrel to a knave (in the old sense of the word). See Latham's Birds, vol. i. p. 109. As to the gerfalcon, see the note to c. 13, Distinction IL la this Topography.
WILD ANIMALS, AND THEIR NATURES. 43
found here than in other countries. This did not escape the notice of Orosius, when speaking of Ireland, for he observes, " No kind of snake is found there ; birds are scarce ; and there are no bees." In the two first instances his account is correct, in the third he is mistaken.
We may add to the list of birds a smaller species of white geese, also called gantes (wild geese), which are wont to arrive in great flocks, with a prodigious cackling. But they seldom migrate to these remote regions, and when they do, in very small numbers. The larger species, called by the vulgar bysice, and also grisia, come over in the depth of winter in vast flocks, when the north wind blows, and after the frosts are past, return with the south wind at the season for building their nests.
CHAPTER XIX.
OF WILD ANIMALS, AND THEIR NATTJRES.
THIS island contains nearly all the species of wild animals which are bred in the western countries. It produces stags so fat that they lose their speed, and the more slender they are in shape, the more nobly they carry their heads and branching antlers.1 In no part of the world are such vast herds of boars and wild pigs to be found ; but they are a small, ill-shaped, and cowardly breed, no less degene- rate in boldness and ferocity than in their growth and shape. There are a great number of hares, but they are a small breed, much resembling rabbits both in size and the softness of their fur. In short, it will be found that the bodies of all animals, wild beasts, and birds, each in its kind, are smaller here than in other countries ; while the men alone retain their full dimensions. It is remarkable in
1 The elk, the largest of the genus Cervus of which there are any traces in Europe, and akin to the moose-deer of America, must have been extinct in Ireland long before the age of Giraldus, or he could hardly have failed to notice it. Still, from its remains being discovered in considerable numbers in the Irish bogs, and often in groups, it would appear that the elk co-existed in Ireland with the present state of organized nature. The species seems to have died off from some change of the climate, the destruction of the forests, or the loss of its natural food, just as attempts to acclimatize in Scotland the reindeer, kindred species, have failed from similar causes.
44 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
these hares, that, contrary to the usual instincts of thatani« mal, when found by the dogs, they keep to cover like foxes, running in the woods instead of in the open country, and never taking to the plains and beaten paths, unless they are driven to it. This difference in their habits is, I think, caused by the rankness of the herbage in the plains, check- ing their speed. Martins are very plentiful in the woods ; in hunting which the day is prolonged through the night by means of fires, For night coming on, a fire is lighted under the tree in which the hunted animal has taken refuge from the dogs, and being kept burning all night, the martin eyeing its brightness from the boughs above, with- out quitting its post, either is so fascinated by it, or, rather, so much afraid of it, that when morning comes the hunters find him on the same spot.
CHAPTEE XX.
OF THE BADGER AND ITS NATURE.
THERE is also here the badger or melot, an unclean animal, which bites sharply, frequenting the mountains and rocks. It makes holes under ground for its refuge and protection, scratching and digging them out with its feet. Some of them, whose natural instinct it is to serve the rest, have been seen, to the great admiration of the observers, lying on their backs with the earth dug out heaped on their bellies, and held together by their four claws, while others dragged them backward by a stick held in their mouth, fastening their teeth in which, they drew them out of the hole, with their burthens.
CHAPTEE XXI.
OF THE BEAVER AND ITS NATURE.
THE beavers, also, have a similar practice, through the kind provision of nature. When they are building their fortress in the bed of a river, they make servants of some of their own species and use them as vehicles in a very extraordi- nary manner, for collecting and conveying oak boughs from the woods to the water. In both these kinds of animals some of these servants are to be found remarkable both for their degeneracy and uncouth shape, and for the manner in which the shaggy fur on their backs has been rubbed and
THE BEAVER AND ITS NATURE. 45
worn off. Ireland produces badgers, but not beavers. They are, however, found in Wales, but only in the river Teivy, near Cardigan (Kairdygan) ; and likewise in Scotland, but very rarely there also.1
It must be noted that beavers have broad tails, but they are not long ; and being spread out like a man's hand, they supply the place of oars when they are swimming. Though they have a thick coat of fur over all the rest of their bodies, their tails are quite bare and smooth, and slip- pery like seals. Hence in Germany and the northern re- gions, where beavers are plentiful, even the great, and men of religion, eat the tails during fasting seasons instead of fish, of the nature of which they partake both in taste and colour. It would appear, however, that what is true of the whole, as a whole, is true of a part, considered as a part ; nor is it usual that a part differs essentially from the whole.3
I propose to describe more fully in another work the habits and character of beavers,3 how and with what skill they construct their fortresses in the middle of the rivers, and how, with such admirable instinct for an animal, when they are pursued by their enemies, they redeem the whole by the sacrifice of a part.4 This I shall do when I come to treat of the geography and natural history of Wales and Scotland, and of the origin and characteristics of the two
1 It would appear from this passage that the beaver, a native of the northern parts of Europe and Asia, was become extinct in Ireland be- fore the time of Giraldus, and had then become very rare in Wales, though still found on the river Tivy in Cardiganshire. Beavers still exist in Norway, where we have seen their dykes in the province of Telemarken ; but they are becoming rare in that country also, and a law was passed not long since, prohibiting their being killed for a term of seven years, in order to preserve the breed. Even in the solitudes of North America, when the beaver remained unmolested for ages after the value of its furs had caused it to be almost exterminated in other countries, it is fast disappearing before the persevering enter- prise and cupidity of the trapper.
8 An amusing specimen of the casuistry of ecclesiastics, who sought to vary their Lenten diet, and as curious an application of our author's shrewd logic to the case. 8 Giraldus mentions the
beaver again in Chapter III. of his Itinerary of Wales.
4 The following scholium is printed in the margin of the Frankfort edition of Giraldus : " that is, by gnawing off, or rather cutting off, their own testicles."
46 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
nations.1 But we shall find a place for this elsewhere, and for another purpose, under Grod's guidance, if life be spared. There are some other wild animals which are not found in Ireland, such as roebucks, goats, hedgehogs, hermins, and polecats (putacii).
CHAPTEE XXII.
OF WEASELS AND THEIR FATUBE.
THERE are here a vast number of weasels, but they are very- small, and are of a reddish colour. This little animal has more spirit than body, and its courage supplying the defi- ciency of its strength, with a great heart actuating a slender frame, it is vindictive and relentless in its wrath, however it may hide it for a time. When injured it dissembles its resentment and defers its revenge ; it is the tyrant of the larger sorts of mice, and commits great ravages by gnawing clothes. It preys also on hares and rabbits, nor does it shrink from engaging in single combat with the snake, in which conflict, often pretending to run away, it betakes itself to some mound of earth which it has noted before, and having a hole through the middle as well as one per- forated above in the form of a cross. The snake gliding after it, and being entangled in the narrow passage without the power of wriggling out, the weasel darts upon it from the upper orifice with its natural agility, and seizes it with its teeth, without suffering any injury. Thus, by an innate impulse and ingenuity, not to call it a won- derful instinct, the weasel, avoiding its terrible enemy's venomous head, triumphs over it more by art than by prowess.
The weasel also, when its young are dying from any hurt, recovers and restores them to life by the use of a yellow flower. We are told by persons who have witnessed the fact, having put the whelp to death to make the experi- ment, that the weasel brought the flower in its mouth, and first applied it to the wound, and then to the- mouth,
1 It appears from this to have been the intention of Giraldus Cam- brensisto write similar topographies of Wales and Scotland. The Cam- escriptto, of which a translation is given in the present volume nay, perhaps, be considered as the fulfilment of one part of this design! but no escription of Scotland by our writer is at present known to
REPTILES. 47
nostrils, and other orifices of the little animal, that it might inhale the odour, by which, through the efficacious touch of the plant, breath was restored, though life seemed ex- tinct, some slight and imperceptible vestiges of it only having remained.
Moreover, as death destroys every thing else by its mere glance, such is the weasel to the basilisk. In like manner, the hya3na subdues the lordly lion with the smallest drop of its urine. The mouse, too, is formidable to the elephant, the largest of animals. Thus, by the wise disposition of Providence, the greater are sometimes conquered by the less, that at least we may learn from them that there is nothing on earth so mighty or so favoured, as to enjoy entire felicity. What is there under heaven loftier than man ? What more insignificant than an adder, a spider, or a gnat ? The Creator has introduced among his creatures nothing without reason, no evil without a remedy.
There are very few or no moles in Ireland, either because they have never existed, or on account of the extreme humi- dity of the soil. As the sun blinds the mole, so a single day sees the birth and death of the grasshopper, on which account some one has thus apostrophized the little insect : " Mora et vita dies una tibi est."
The larger species of mouse is found here in great num- bers, and the smaller kind swarm to such an amazing de- gree that they consume more enormous quantities of grain than anywhere else, and are very destructive to clothes, which they gnaw and tear, however carefully they may be locked up in chests. Bede describes the island as possessing only two sorts of ravenous animals.1 To these I have added this third, which is most destructive.
CHAPTEK XXIII.
OP REPTILES, AND THOSE WHICH ABE NOT FOUND IN THE ISLAND ; AND THAT THERE ARE NO YENOMOUS CREA- TURES, TOR THOSE THAT ARE BROUGHT OVER IMMEDI- ATELY DIE, AND THEIR POISON LOSES ITS VENOM ; AND OF THE DUST OF THIS LAND AND LEATHERN THONGS BEING ANTIDOTES FOR POISON.
0* all sorts of reptiles, Ireland possesses those only which ij "namely, wol~?s and foxes." Giraldus introduce* •
48 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IEELAKD.
are harmless, and does not produce any that are venomous/ There are neither snakes nor adders, toads nor irogs, tortoises nor scorpions, nor dragons. It produces, however, spiders, leeches, and lizards; but they are quite harmless. Hence it may be said, or even written, pleasantly, as well as with historical truth :— " In France and Italy the frogs fill the air with their croakings ; in Britain they are mute : in Ire- land there are none." Some indeed conjecture, with what seems a flattering fiction, that St. Patrick and the other saints of that country cleared the island of all pestiferous animals ; but history asserts, with more probability, that from the earliest ages, and long before it was favoured with the light of revealed truth, this was one of the things which never°existed here, from some natural deficiency in the pro- duce of the island.
Nor does it appear to me much to be wondered at that the country does not naturally produce these reptiles, no more than some kinds of fishes, birds, and wild animals which are not found there. But it does appear very wonderful that, when any thing venomous is brought there from other lands, it never could exist in Ireland. For we read in the ancient books of the saints of that country, that sometimes, for the sake of experiment, serpents have been shipped over in brazen vessels, but were found lifeless and dead as soon as the middle of the Irish sea was crossed. Poison also similarly conveyed was found to lose its venom, when mid- way on the waters, disinfected by a purer air. Bede, in
wolf in a curious legend, Distinction II. c. 19, and in c. 26 ; we find that wolves were not totally extirpated from the neighbourhood of Glen- dalough until 1710.
1 It is difficult to comprehend how the assertion, that no venomoub animals existed in Ireland, could have been so generally current without some basis of truth ; particularly as Giraldus, who was three years in the island, and appears to have been generally well informed on its zoology, not only strips the statement of its fabulous element, calling that " a nattering fiction," but affirms it on his own authority as a fact in natural history, offering the very plausible solution, that species oil animals existing in some countries are not produced in others. The account he gives, in the next chapter, of the great surprise publicly mani- fested, when a frog or toad was found in the neighbourhood of Water- ford, and brought to court, is so circumstantial, that the fact of its dis- ooTery being considered an extraordinary occurrence seems hardlv tc be doubted. 9
EEPTILES. 49
speaking of Ireland, writes on this subject as follows : — " .No reptile is found there ; no serpent can live there ; for, though often carried thither out of Britain, as soon as the ship draws near the land, and the scent of the air from off the shore reaches them, they die. On the contrary, almost all things produced in the island have virtues against poison.1
I have also heard it said by merchants, who pursued their adventures in the ocean, that on some occasions, having un- loaded their ships in an Irish port, they found toads in the bottom of the hold ; and having thrown them on shore in a living state, they immediately turned on their backs, and bursting their bellies, died, to the astonishment of many who witnessed it. It appears, therefore, that either through the merits of the saints, as report goes throughout the world, or some strange and unheard of, but most kindly, influence of the air, or some occult property of the soil itself inimical to poison, no venomous animal can exist here, and every kind of poison introduced from other countries forth- with loses its malignant effect.
Indeed the soil of Ireland is so hostile to poison, that, if gardens or any other spots in foreign countries are sprinkled with its dust, all venomous reptiles are imme- diately driven far away.
Thongs also, which are the real produce of the island, and made of the skins of animals born there, being grated in waters which is drunk, the potion is an efficacious remedy against the bites of toads and serpents. I have seen with my own eyes one of these thongs drawn tight in a circle round a toad, for the sake of the experiment. Coming to the thong, and trying to cross over it, the animal fell backwards as if it were stunned. It then tried the opposite side of the circle, but meeting with the thong all round, it shrunk from it, as if it were pestiferous. At last, digging a hole in the mud with its feet in the centre of the circle, it crept into it in the presence of many persons.
Nay more, according to Bede's statement, almost all things produced in the island have virtues against poison. He gives an instance which he witnessed himself. Some persons having been bitten by serpents, water in which the scrapings of the leaves of books brought from Ireland had
1 Eccles. Hist. b. i. c. 1.
E
50 THE TOPOGBAPHI OF IBELAND.
been mixed was given them to drink and it extracted all the venom of the spreading poison, reduced the swelling of their bodies, and assuaged the tumor. It happened also, within my time, on the northern borders of England, that a Tnake crept into the mouth of a boy while he was asleep, and passed through his gullet into his belly. The reptile making a very ill return to his host for the lodgings with which it had been unconsciously supplied, began to gnaw and tear the lad's intestines, and threw him into such ago- nies that he would have preferred death at once to such a dying life. After satisfying his hunger, however, the snake allowed him some respite from his sufferings, but before that none at all. After the boy had resorted to the shrines of the saints of God throughout England for a long time, but all in vain, at length, better advised, he crossed over to Ireland, where, as soon as he had drank of the salubrious waters of that country and partaken of its food, his deadly enemy expired, and was voided through his intestines. Then rejoicing in renovated health, he returned to his own country.
CHAPTEE XXIV.
OF A FBOG LATELY FOUND IN IBELAND.
NEVEBTHELESS, a frog was found, within my time, in the grassy meadows near Waterford, and brought to court alive before Robert Poer, who was at that time warden there, and many others, both English and Irish. And when numbers of both nations, and particularly the Irish, had beheld it with great astonishment, at last Duvenold,1 king of Ossory, a man of sense among his people, and faithful, who hap- pened to be present, beating his head, and having deep grief at heart, spoke thus : — " That reptile is the bearer of dole- ful news to Ireland." And uttering a sort of prognostic, he further said, that it portended, without doubt, the coming of the English, their threatened conquest, and the subjuga- tion of his own nation. No man, however, will venture to suppose that this reptile was ever born in Ireland ; for the
1 Duvenold, or Donald, king or prince of Ossory, is introduced more fcilly by GKraldus, as an ally of the English, in the Vaticinal History of the Conquest of Ireland.
ADVANTAGES POSSESSED BY THE ISLAND. 51
mud there does not, as in other countries, contain the germs from which green frogs are bred. If that had been the case, they would have been found more frequently, and in greater numbers, both before and after the time mentioned. It may have happened that some particle of the germ, hid in the moist soil, had been exhaled into the clouds by the heat of the atmosphere, and wafted hither by the force of the winds ; or, perhaps, that the embryo reptile had been swept into the hollow of a descending cloud, and, being by chance deposited here, was lodged in an inhospitable and ungenial soil. But the better opinion is, that the frog was brought over by accident in a ship from some neighbouring port, and being cast on shore, succeeded in subsisting and maintaining life for a time, as it is not a venomous animal.
CHAPTER XXV.
ON SEYEEAL ADVANTAGES POSSESSED BY THE ISLAND ; AND THE NATURE OF THE CLIMATE.
IRELAND is the most temperate of all countries. The burning heat of Cancer does not drive the inhabitants to the cool shades, nor the freezing blasts of Capricorn urgently invite them to the fire. You seldom observe snow here, and then only for a short time. Cold weather sometimes comes with every wind, no less from the east and west, than from the south or north. From all quarters they are moderate, and from none tempestuous. The grass in the fields is green in the winter as well as in the summer ; so that they neither cut hay for fodder, nor ever build stalls for the cattle. In consequence of the agreeable temperature of the climate, it is warm at almost all seasons. The air also is so healthy, that no clouds bring infection, and there are no pestilent vapours, or tainted breezes. The islanders have little need of phy- sicians, for you will find few sick persons, except those who are at the point of death. There is little medium between perfect health and the last end. Strangers here are troubled only with one disorder ; they suffer from a single ailment. At first, hardly anyone escapes a violent flux of the bowels, from the succulent qualities of the food they take. How- ever, flesh and the produce of cows are to be had almost at all seasons ; but pork meat is unwholesome. Moreover, no
52 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
natives of the island, who have never quitted its salubrious soil and climate, suffer at any time from either of three sorts of fever ; the only one which attacks them is the ague, and that very seldom.
This was the course of things in due order of nature ; but as the world grows older, and is falling as it were into the decrepitude of old age, and draws to an end, the nature of almost all things is corrupted and deteriorated. For now such floods of rain inundate the country, such dense clouds and fogs overspread it, that you will hardly see three clear days together, even during summer. Notwithstanding, no disturbance of the atmosphere, no seasonableness of the weather, either troubles those who are in health and spirits, or affects the nerves of delicate persons.
CHAPTEE XXVI.
A COMPARISON OP THE EAST AND WEST; AND THAT IN THE EAST ALL THE ELEMENTS ARE PESTIFEROUS, AND OF THE MALIGNITY OF POISONS THERE.
WHAT wealth then can Eastern lands boast which is com- parable to these advantages ? They possess, indeed, those silken fabrics, the produce of a little worm, which glow with colours of various dyes ? They have the precious metals, and sparkling gems, and odoriferous trees. But what are these, procured at the cost of life and health ? Are they not attended with the presence of a familiar enemy, — the air the Orientals breathe, and which constantly sur- rounds them ?
In those countries all the elements, though created for the use of man, threaten wretched mortals with death, under- mine health, and bring life to an end. Plant your naked foot on the earth, death is at hand ; incautiously seat your- self on a rock, death is at hand ; drink pure water unmixed, or smell it when it is putrid, death is at hand. Expose your head uncovered to the free air, if it be cold it pierces you through, if it be hot you languish ; death is at hand. The heavens terrify you with their thunders, and flash their lightnings in your eyes. The blazing sun allows you no rest. If you eat too much, death is at the gate ; if you drink wine undiluted with water, death is at the gate.
MALIGNITY OF POISONS IN THE EAST. 53
Besides this, poison threatens on all hands : the mother-in- law gives it to her step-son, the exasperated wife to her husband, the corrupt cook to his master. You may suspect poison not only in the dish and in the cup, but in your clothes, your seats, your saddles. It insidiously creeps into your veins of itself ; you are subject to its insidious attacks from venomous animals ; man, of all noxious creatures the most noxious, insidiously gives it to man.
Besides all the more common annoyances which abound in these regions, the safety of man is threatened and endan- gered by swift panthers of various kinds ; by rhinoceroses, allured by love of virgins j1 crocodiles, fearful by their breath ;2 hippopotami frequenting the rivers ; lynxes, with piercing eyes ; and lions that fear nothing but the hyaena's urine. The country is infested by asps and vipers, by dra- gons, and by the basilisk, whose very glance is fatal. It is infested by the ' seps,' a little reptile whose malignity makes up for its diminutive size. Its venom not only wastes the flesh, but the very bones. Of which the poet sings : Ossaque consumit cum corpore tabificus seps.2
There is also the dipsa, a small species of snake, whose venom destroys life before it is even perceived, and is so powerful that its bite occasions death before any pain is felt.
It happened, within my own memory, that a man having gone on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, as is the custom, from Britain, one morning, as he happened to be sifting with his hand the corn for his horses, he had his finger bitten by a little reptile which was lurking in the corn. Immedi- ately his whole body, flesh and bone, was converted into a shapeless mass like pitch. His companions, making in- quiry into the cause of his death, or rather of his trans- formation, and the nature of the reptile, discovered a very minute snake having the appearance of a black eel. They learnt from the natives that this species of snake is called Ga/eia, and that it was wont, rarely indeed, but yet too often,
1 It was the unicorn, which, according to the mediaeval fable, could only be caught by the means of a pure virgin, to whom, when exposed in the places the animal haunted, he came and became perfectly tame, and the hunters took this opportunity of attacking and killing it
2 It was the old notion relating to crocodiles, that they drew to them their prey by the effect of their breath.
3 Lucan's Pharsalia, lib. ix. 1. 723.
54 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
within the last thirty years to visit that country from the deserts of Babylonia, and by its attacks on man and beast, with such violent and incurable malignity, gave notice of its arrival. Of reptiles of this description, which abound in the East, each genus has its own peculiar poison, each species its own power of destruction. Their colours are as varied as the dolors they cause ; their varieties as great as the sufferings they occasion. In such peril of death, what security is there for life ? or rather, among so many deaths, what is life ?
CHAPTEE XXVII.
OP THE SINGULARLY TEMPERATE CHARACTER OF OUR CLIMATE ; AND THAT WE ARE HAPPILY FREE FROM MANY DISADVANTAGES.
LET the East then have its abundant stores of venom and poison, while we, possessing in golden moderation whatever is necessary for decent use and the wants of nature, are com- pensated for Oriental pomps by th^ single circumstance of our temperate climate. 0 incomparable gift bestowed on the land by Grod ! 0 inestimable favour — one not sufficiently ap- preciated, conferred on mortals from above ! We sleep secure in the open air, secure on the bare rock. We fear no wind piercing us with cold, prostrating our strength with heat, or carrying pestilence in its blast. The air we breathe, and with which we are surrounded, lends us its beneficent and salutary support. The nearer, indeed, we go to the regions of the East, and warmer climates, the greater is the fer- tility of the soil, and the more plentifully does the earth pour forth her fruits. There also are found in abundance the precious metals and gems, with silk and cotton wools ; and wealth of all kinds is overflowing. The people also, thanks to a brighter atmosphere, although slender in person, are of a more subtle intellect. Hence, they have recourse to poison rather than to violence for success in their schemes, and gain their purposes more by their arts than by their arms. But when we come to the Western parts of the world, we find the soil more sterile, the air more salubrious, and the people less acute, but more robust ; for where the atmosphere is heavy, the fields are less fertile than the wits. And, as each race, bred among Arctic frosts,
THE CLIMATE. 55
Naacitur indomitus bellis, et martis amator ; Gens hsec ingerites anirnos ingenti corpore versant.
Is born to war, and filled with martial fire — So here brave souls gigantic frames inspire.
Bacchus and Ceres, therefore, rule in the East, with their attendant Venus, who, deprived of them, is chilled ; Miner- va, also, who was always nursed and attracted by a purer sky. Here [in the West] reigns Mars, Mercury, and the Arcadian god. In the East is accumulated a superabun- dance of wealth ; here we have a modest and honourable competence. There the atmosphere is serene, here it is salubrious. There the natives are fine witted ; here, their understandings are robust. There they arm themselves with poisons, here with manly vigour. There, they are crafty, here bold in war. There men cultivate wisdom, here eloquence. There Apollo rules, Mercury here ; there Mi- nerva, here Pallas and Diana.
Many other things are wanting here much to our advan- tage, such as vermin. Here there are no earthquakes, you scarcely hear thunder once in a year ; thunder-claps do not terrify, nor flashes of lightning strike. Here are no ca- taracts to overwhelm, no earthquake to swallow you up ; no lions to carry you off, no panthers to mangle you, no bears to devour you, no tigers to destroy you. Moreover, no suspicion of poison makes you recoil from food, even offered by an enemy. No stepson fears the poison cup of his mother-in-law, no matron that of a jealous mistress.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THAT THE EAST IS THE FOUNTAIN-HEAD OP POISONS, AND THAT THE ADVANTAGES IN THE WEST AEE PEEFEBABLE TO THOSE IN THE EAST.
THE East is the well-spring of poisons, and the further the stream flows from the fountain-head, the less is its na- tural force. Weakening gradually during its long course through such vast distances, the strength of the venom has wholly evaporated in these extreme parts of the world.
The further from the zodiac the sun's rays penetrate, the less is the influence of its warmth on objects exposed to it, so
56 THE TOPO GRAPH! OF IEELAND.
that some extreme parts of the Arctic regions are entirely deprived of the benefit of its heat. But you will say, " The East is super-eminent for precious stones and medicinal roots." It is, indeed, a wise provision of nature, that where evils abound, there remedies for the evils should spring up. "Where many diseases are rife, they require medicines to be discovered for their cure ; but here, where the danger is less, the remedies are more scarce.
As much then as ease of mind is more desirable than anxiety, as preservation is better than cure, and as it is better to enjoy constant health than, after much suffering, to seek for remedies, so in the same degree, the advantages of the West are to be preferred to those of the East ; and so far nature has cast a more favourable eye on the regions fanned by the west, than those swept by east winds. It appears to be very probable that as moisture tempers and softens the morning and evening of day, while noon is scorching, and the earliest and latest years of man are mel- lowed by a moist temperament, while his middle age is fer- vid, so while, in respect of the regions on the meridian and its confines, the sun raging in those parts as if in the prime of youth, infects the air with disease, so a more humid climate renders the boundaries of its rising and setting temperate.
WONDEES A2TD MIRACLES. 57
DISTINCTION II.
OF THE WOKDEES AND MIEACLES OF IEELAND.
I COME now to those facts which, being contrary to the course of nature, call forth our wonder and amazement. From among these I have thought it not superfluous to employ my pen in relating such as nature has pro- duced in these remote lands, remarkable and novel in themselves, and such also as have been most eminently and miraculously wrought through the merits of the saints ; the memorials of which are extant in authentic rs- cords, and most worthy of notice. As then the prodigies of the Eastern regions have already been brought to the light of public attention through the labours of industrious authors, so those of the West, which have hitherto been almost hidden and unknown, may at length, in these latter days, find an editor through my labours. I know, however, and am persuaded, that I shall have to write some accounts which will seem to the reader either utterly impossible, or quite ridiculous. But, with the help of G-od, I will insert nothing in my book the truth of which I have not elicited with the greatest diligence either from my own firm belief or the authentic testimony of most trustworthy men, who have lived in the districts of which I write. Let me not, however, be involved in a cloud of malicious slander. What I have witnessed with my own eyes, that I assert firmly and without any hesitation. But what has only reached my ear through others, which I am slower to believe, that I do not affirm, but only relate. To all those of which I received authentic accounts from many persons who were eye-witnesses of them, I give full credence ; and I accept those given by others, whose truth and assertions I find no "eason to doubt.
It is not surprising that wonders should be discovered, Delated, and written concerning His works, who made all
58 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IEELATO).
things according to his will ; with whom nothing is impoa* eible ; who, as the (rod of Nature, moulds nature as he pleases, and makes that natural which appears unnatural. Moreover, how can any thing be said to be done contrary to primitive and true nature, which is Grod, when it is cer- tain that he is the doer of it ? Those things, therefore, are, in common phrase, rather than properly, said to be done contrary to nature, which appear to happen, not contrary to his power, but to his usual proceeding. Since, therefore, God is wonderful in his saints, and great in all his doings, come and behold the works of the Lord, who hath shown his wonders in the earth.
Some countries, islands especially, and parts remote from the centre of the earth, are remarkable for prodigies which are peculiarly their own. For nature always, and purposely as it were, interlards her works with some new ones, that she may thus plainly teach and declare, that although her usual operations may be comprehended by the human un- derstanding, her mighty power cannot be understood. Let the careful reader also remark that history must not be sparing of truth, and that it rather chooses what is certain than what is probable. If, therefore, anything should escape me which is new and unheard of, let it not be condemned and struck out even by the malicious, but sometimes par- doning, sometimes approving, let my task proceed. For as the poet sings : —
" Si patribus nostris novitas invisa fuisset, Ut nobis, quid nunc esset vetus, aut quid haberet Quod legeret, tereretque viritim publicus usus?"1
Let no one, therefore, condemn anything because it is new, which, as time passes on, while it is accused of no- velty, ceases to be new. Let there be found here both what the present age may blame, and posterity applaud ; what the one may rail at, the other read ; what the one may con- demn, the other love; what the one may reprove, the other approve.
1 Hor. Epist. II., 1. 90. 3. Giraldus has altered the beginning of the first line, which is in the original ;
" Quod si tarn Grans novitas," &c.
THE TIDES IN IRELAND AND BRITAIN.
CHAPTEE I.
Or THE STRONG CURRENTS IN THE IRISH SEA, AND THB EBB AND FLOW OF THE TIDES THEREIN.
THE Irish Sea, being agitated by opposing currents, is almost always troubled, so that navigators scarcely ever find it tranquil even for a few days in summer.
CHAPTEE II.
OF THE DIFFERENCE OF THE TIDES IN IRELAND AND BRITAIN.
WHENEVER the water is low in the port of Dublin, the tide being at half-ebb, the returning tide has already risen to half-flood at Milford, the most excellent harbour in Britain for ships to enter. At the same time the flood-tide gradu- ally runs up to the farthest coast about Bristol, which had been left dry by the receding waters. The same rule applies to the tides on the opposite shores. There is also a port at AVicklow, on the coast of Ireland, lying opposite to France,1 into which the tide sets when it is ebbing at most other places, but when the flood returns, this port is left dry. There is another thing remarkable in this locality ; when the sea has receded and left the whole bay dry, still a stream flows in through the entire channel to the harbour, which makes the water salt and brackish. On the contrary, at Arklow, which is the nearest port, not only when the tide is setting in and filling the bay, but also at its reflux, when the sea has entirely ebbed, the stream which runa down retains its purity and freshness, and discharges its waters into the sea without any mixture of saltness.
CHAPTEE III.
OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE SEA ON THE WATERS, AS WELL AS ON NATURAL HUMOURS.
WHEN the moon is at the meridian, the ocean, withdrawing its attendant waves, leaves the northern coasts of Britain
1 Wicklow and Arklow (called by Giraldus Gwykingelo and Archelo) are sea-ports on the Irish channel, incorrectly described by Giraldua aa opposite to the coast of France
60 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IKELAFD.
entirely dry. The reflux then produces high tides on thf Irish shore at Dublin. The coast about Wexford, however has not the Irish tides of Dublin, but the British as they flow at Milford. What is still more remarkable, there is a rock in the sea, not far from Arklow, where the tide cornea in on one side, while it ebbs on the other.
When the moon is at half her growth, as her light re- turns, the Western seas, from some unknown natural cause, begin to be rough and agitated, and, till she is in her full, swell more and more from day to day, overflowing the shore far beyond their usual bounds. But when the moon wanes, and her light failing, she, as it were, turns away her face, the swelling of the waters gradually declines, and when the moon's face is no longer seen, the sea returns into its proper channels, its overflow subsiding. Indeed, the moon is the entire source and cause of motion in liquids, so that it not only regulates the waters of the ocean, but, in animal life, influences the marrow in the bones, the brains in the head, and the juices of trees and plants, in proportion to its in- crease or decrease.1 Hence, when the moon ceases to be lu- minous you will find all animate nature shrink, but when she is again round and shining at the full, the marrow fills the bones, the brains the head, and the juices of vegetables swell. Hence it is, that those are called lunatics, who suffer every month by the excessive action of the brain, as the moon increases ; and the word mensis (a month) is derived from mene, which signifies decrease,2 because it decrease? with the moon, and with her increase fills and completes ite course.
It may be observed that a commentator on that part of the Gospel which speaks of our Lord's curing lunatics and paralytics, writes to the following effect. He calls those lunatics whose disorder augmented with the increase of the moon, not that their madness is caused by the moon, but the devil, who is the author of it, takes advantage of the moon's seasons to shame the creature to the blasphemy of his Creator. The commentator might, however, have said with
1 The extraordinary influence of the moon on the earth and its in- habitants was one of the foundation stones of mediaeval science, and was the origin of numerous superstitions, some of which have hardlj jet become obsolete, 2 From tninuo, to drminish P
PECULIARITIES OP TWO ISLANDS. 61
equal truth, if I may be allowed to correct him, that vale- tudinarians are affected in this manner on account of the humours increasing in an extraordinary degree at the full- moon. But matters of this sort, and why the Western ocean attracts the flux and reflux of the tides by some lively influence, which is regular and unfailing, and acts more powerfully than the Mediterranean Sea ; and how all this is affected through the influence of the moon on liquids ; it would be a more serious task to explain. I have clearly, though briefly, treated on these subjects in my little metrical work called " The Flowers of Philosophy." 1
In order, however, shortly to direct the readers' attention to the more evident causes of these great changes, and to a fuller investigation of their subtle principles, let him bear in mind these four points. Rivers, and the springs which feed them, from which the sea in some degree derives life and motion, are always more abundant towards the extre- mities of the earth. From the four conflicting and most distant parts of the ocean, there is a certain violent attrac- tion of the sea, with alternate absorption and ebullition, and the disorder immediately occasioned by the decrease as well as by the increase of humidity, towards the extremities of the earth, is very apparent. Add to this, that there the ocean has freer course for its flux and reflux without impedi- ment. When, however, the land embraces it on all sides, and it is reduced by so many obstacles to the conditions of standing water in a lake, it has no scope for flowing freely.
CHAPTEE IY.
OF TWO ISLANDS, IN ONE OF WHICH NO ONE DIES, AND IN THE OTHEE, NO ANIMAL OF THE FEMALE SEX ENTEES.
THEEE is a lake in the northern parts of Munster,2 contain- ing two islands, one large, the other small. In the larger island there is a church held in great veneration from the
1 De philosophicisflosculis. This work of Giraldus Cambrensis is not now known to exist.
2 These islands were situated in a lake called Loch Cre, now dried up, in the parish of Corbally, three miles from Roscrea, in Tipperary. The bog, which has taken the place of the lake, is called Monaincha, i. e. the bog of the island ; and on the latter, which is supposed to con- sist of the two islands spoken of by Giraldus, there are the ruins of a monastic house.
62 THE 10POGRAPHT OF IRELAND.
earliest times ; the smaller island contains a chapel, which is devoutly served by a few celibates, called Heaven-wor- shippers, or Grod-worshippers. No woman, nor any animal of the female sex, could ever enter the larger island with- out instant death. This has been often proved by dogs and cats, and other animals, of the female sex, which, having been carried over for sake of the experiment, immediately expired. It is an extraordinary fact, that while male birds perch on the bushes on all parts of the island in great num- bers, the female birds with whom they pair, fly back, avoiding the island from some natural instinct of its qualities, as if it were infested with the plague. In the smaller island no one ever dies, was ever known to die, or could die a natural death. It is consequently called the Isle of the Living. Notwithstand- ing, its inhabitants are sometimes severely afflicted with mortal diseases, and languish in misery till life is nearly exhausted. But when no hope remains, all expectation of the powers of life being restored becomes extinct, and they are reduced by their increasing malady to such a degree of suffering that they would rather die than live a life of death, the natives cause themselves to be ferried over in a boat to the larger island, where they breathe their last as soon as they touch the land. I have thought it right to notice this because it is mentioned in the first pages of the Scholastic History, which treats of the inhabitants of islands of this description. The tree of the sun is also there spoken of, concerning which king Alexander writes to Aristotle, that whoever eats of the fruit prolongs his life to an immense period.
There is also in Ulster a cemetery, with a station, conse- crated by the long resort of holy men. Here, also, the female sex is not admitted; the bride cannot follow her husband, but a local divorce takes place ; they cannot join in their devotions, and on this spot they are adjudged to an early separation. The cock enters here without the hen, and, strange to ob- serve, it calls its mate without avail when it finds a place to feed in the island.
There is likewise, in the northern parts of Britain, an island called the Holy Isle, where women cannot bring forth Children, yet they conceive, becoming pregnant, and increase ID size according to the natural order of things, till the time
ST. PATRICK'S PURGATORY. 63
of delivery. "When that is near at hand, if they are carried to another island, nature takes its free course ; but if they are detained, as sometimes is done for the sake of experi- ment, they are tortured with excruciating pains, and re- duced to the door of death by their sufferings, until they are sent away.
CHAPTER V.
OF AN ISLAND, ONE PART OF WHICH IS FREQUENTED BY GOOD SPIRITS, THE OTHER BY EYIL SPIRITS.
THERE is a lake in Ulster containing an island divided into two parts. In one of these stands a church of espe- cial sanctity, and it is most agreeable and delightful, as well as beyond measure glorious for the visitations of angels and the multitude of the saints who visibly frequent it. The other part, being covered with rugged crags, is reported to be the resort of devils only, and to be almost always the theatre on which crowds of evil spirits visibly perform their rites. This part of the island contains nine pits, and should any one perchance venture to spend the night in one of them (which has been done, we know, at times, by some rash men), he is immediately seized by the malignant spirits, who so severely torture him during the whole night, inflicting on him such unutterable sufferings by fire and water, and other torments of various kinds, that when morning comes scarcely any spark of life is found left in his wretched body. It is said that any one who has once submitted to these torments as a penance imposed upon him, will not afterwards undergo the pains of hell, unless he com- mit some sin of a deeper dye.
This place is called by the natives the Purgatory of St. Patrick.1 For he having to argue with a heathen
1 Tradition places St. Patrick's Purgatory, as Giraldus describes it, on an island in a lake in the province of Ulster, Lough Derg, in Done- negal, near the town and bay of the same name, and about three-quarters of an Irish mile in extent j but Giraldus is the only writer who speaks of its division into paradisaic and purgatorial regions. The text-book on St. Patrick's Purgatory, in the middle ages, was a Latin narrative by Henry of Saltery, which is dated 1152, and is common in old manu- scripts j it was translated into various languages. Giraldus had evidently not seen this book, as his account differs very much from it. See fo*
64 THE TOPOGEAPHY OF IEELA1TD.
race concerning the torments of hell reserved for the reprobate, and the real nature and eternal duration of the future life, in order to impress on the rude minds of the unbelievers a mysterious faith in doctrines so new, so strange, so opposed to their prejudices, procured by the efficacy of his prayers an exemplification of both states even on earth, as a salutary lesson to the stubborn minds of the people.
CHAPTEE VI.
OF AN ISLAND WHEEE HUMAN COEPSES EXPOSED TO THE ATMOSPHEEE DO NOT STJFFEE DECAY.
THEEE is an island called Aren,1 situated in the western part of Connaught, and consecrated, as it is said, to St. Brendan, where human corpses are neither buried nor de- cay, but, deposited in the open air, remain uncorrupted. Here men can behold, and recognise with wonder, grand- fathers, great-grandfathers, and great-great-grandfathers, and the long series of their ancestors to a remote period of past time.
There is another thing remarkable in this island. Al- though mice2 swarm in vast numbers in other parts of Ireland, here not a single one is found. No mouse is bred here, nor does it live if it be introduced ; when brought over, it runs immediately away and leaps into the sea. If it be stopped, it instantly dies.
full information on the subject, the volume on " St. Patrick's Purgatory," by the editor of the present volume. It appears that the penitents were immured in a low and dark cell cut in the rock, and capable of holding six or eight persons, where, with their heads half- turned by preparatory fastings and watchings, they were in a state to place implicit faith in the visions which superstition presented to their distempered imagina- tion through a narrow window, the only aperture left in the stifling cell.
1 These legends belong to an island called Inisgluair, off the coast of Erris, co. Mayo, which was sacred to St. Brandan, and which OHraldus seems to have confounded with Aran. According to the legend, the latter island was visited by St. Brandan when he set out on his grand voyage. St. Bean is supposed to be the saint of that name commemo- rated in the Romish calendar on the 16th of December.
2 Giraldus uses the word mures, but some of the Irish antiquaries Delieve that by this word he meant the small black rat which abound* in Ireland.
WONDERFUL NATURES OP FOUNTAINS. 65
CHAPTER VII.
OF THE WONDERFUL NATURES OF SOME FOUNTAINS.
THERE is a well in Munster, in the waters of which whoever bathes has his hair immediately turned grey. I have seen a man, part of whose beard, having been washed in this water, had become white, while the other part retained its dark natural colour. On the contrary, there is a spring in Ulster, which prevents people who wash in its waters from ever becoming grey-haired. It is frequented by women, and by men who are desirous of avoiding grey hairs. l
There is also a spring of fresh water in Connaught, at the top of a high mountain, and far from the coast, which ebbs twice a day, and flows over as often, like the tides in the sea. There is also in Wales, not far from the castle of Dinevur,2 in the province of Canterbochan, a spring whose waters have similar changes. Trojus Pompeius mentions a town of the Graramantes, in which a fountain bursts forth, which is alternately cold by night and warm by day.3
In the southern part of Britain also, which takes its name from that of its lord, several springs bubbling out from the naked rocks not far from each other, but at a great distance from the sea, are of a very changeable nature. The waters of these are neither sweet nor salt, but brackish. One of them, which springs out on the summit of a high rock having the appearance of a lofty tower, at the full tides of every month, which accompany the moon's increase, throws up a much larger volume of water than usual, to the admiration^ of all beholders.
Likewise^, in the Chiltern district of Britain,4 there are many springs which are entirely dried up when the crops are abundant, the earth being parched for want of their
1 It is not at present known to what wells Giraldus here refers. A well, the water of which turned the hair grey, is mentioned as being in the parish of Gallorn, in the county of Monaghan, and therefore in Ulster, while that spoken of by Giraldus was in Munster. But holy and legendary wells are abundant in Ireland.
2 This spring is again mentioned in the Itinerary of Giraldus, lib. 1, c. x. 3 This statement is taken from Solinus, c. 29.
4 The Chiltern hills are in Buckinghamshire, on the borders Berkshire and Oxfordshire, deriving their name from " chilt," or " cylt,' the old English word for chalk, of which the district is composed.
66 TOPOGKRAPHI OF IRELAND.
refreshing streams. Against a time of dearth and famine, howeyer, the waters bubble up freely from the veins of the earth, and bursting their channels, the precursors of evil, are seen to overflow. There is a fountain equally remark- able for the same prognostics at the village of Nicbatensis,1 in the territory of Vimoux, in the kingdom of Erance.
In some parts of Normandy, however, it happens just the contrary. The springs are full in seasons of plenty, and fail when the crops are deficient. There is a spring in the most northern part of Ulster, which is so excessively cold that it hardens wood, which has been immersed in it for seven years, into stone. We find in Norway another spring having the same property, only being nearer the Frigid Zone, it is still more powerful ; for not only timber, but flax and woollen webs, are congealed into the hardest stone when they have been immersed in this spring a single year. In consequence, Oxippale, a Norwegian bishop, brought to Walderaar, king of Denmark in our time, an object which he had received from him the year before, for the purpose of making the experiment. It had now two different parts, as far as the middle, having been immersed in the water, it was stone ; the other part, which had lain out of the water, retained its original nature.
In Great Britain, near the monastery of Wimborn, stands a grove of fruit trees, the wood of which, when it happens to fall into the water, or on the earth at that spot, is at a year's end converted to stone ; so that stakes fixed in a hedge and planted in the soil, have different properties above and below the surface of the ground. Moreover, any articles carved in wood, and deposited either in the water, or in the earth, at that place for a year, are taken out by the inhabitants changed into stone.2 "What Palladius says
1 We have not been able to identify this place.
2 What Griraldus relates of the petrifaction of wood and other sub- stances immersed in certain springs, was probably derived from reports which had reached him of the calcareous and silicious incrustations produced by the deposits of these waters. There are none more active than the stream wnich flows into the lake of the Solfatara, between Eome and Tivoli, where we have gathered reeds and aquatic plants, crys- tallized during the process of vegetation. Sir Humphrey Davey, in his u Consolations of Travel," says that he fixed a stick iu a mass of tra- vertin, covered by the water, in the month of May, and in April fol- lowing he had sou*e difficulty in breaking with a sharp-pointed hammer
WONDERFUL NATURES OF FOUNTAIN'S. 67
on this subject I think worth quoting here. "There is in Cappadocia an extensive lake, situated on the road between Mazaca and Tuana. When reeds or other things are partially immersed in this lake, on their being drawn forth the next day, the part which is taken out is found stony, but that which remained out of the water retains its natural con- dition." Lo ! how potent are the effects of the water of that lake, which accomplishes in the space of one day what else- where it requires one year, or even seven years, to perform. In Hungary, there is a fountain, the streams of which, not far from their source, are congealed to crystal ice. And what is still more remarkable, when the sun's rays first strike the ice, it is condensed into a solid mass of stone, impervious to the sight, although it might rather be ex- pected that the ice would be dissolved by the sun. Hence a rocky mount has been formed of considerable size from liquids suddenly converted into solid matter, contrary to the usual course of nature.1 In Switzerland, in the province called Suitis (Schwytz), there is a spring on the top of a high mountain which never flows except when the sun is above the horizon. As soon as the sun descends below the horizon it ceases to flow, until the sun has performed its revolution and appears to us again the next day. In the morning, not at day- break, but when the sun has just risen and emerged from be- low the horizon, it pours forth its waters in great quantity. During the entire night it does not yield a drop, although it is the general character of night, being humid and cold, to be congenial to the production of water.2 There is a fountain in Poitou, at St. Jean d'Angeli,3
the mass which adhered to the stick, and which was several inches in thickness. The principal edifices of ancient and modern Rome are built of travertin from the quarries, composed of solid calcareous tufa, the deposit from such springs which abound in the Campagna di Roma.
1 Our author appears to have received some accounts of the effects of glacial action in the formation of Moranies in Alpine countries. See Lyell's Elements, chap, xx., and Forester's Norway.
2 It can be no wonder that in one of the most elevated cantons of Switzerland, the streams fed by the melting of the snow under the influence of the sun's rays in the day-time should cease to flow during the night.
3 St. Jean d'Angeli is a town in the 8.W. of France, in the depart- ment of La Charente Inferieure. The fine fagade of the Benedictinfl Abbey, from whence the town derived its name, is still standing.
£ 2
68 THE TOPOGEAPHT OF IRELAND.
where the head of St. John the Baptist is preserved, from which no water issues in winter, while, contrary to the usual nature of springs, it pours forth copious streams during the summer. In Cornwall there is wood, the timber of which thrown into the water, even in very small pieces, will not float. There is also in France, not far from the city of Paris, a wood adjoining the bank of the river Seine, and in- tersected by a public road. If you throw into the water a piece of timber taken from one side of this road, such is its peculiar gravity from occult causes, that, quite contrary to the usual nature of wood, it instantly sinks to the bot- tom like a mass of stone. On the other side of the road the timber preserves its natural lightness. This wood, therefore, presents a stupendous prodigy of two sorts. We have to wonder at the unnatural gravity of light substances contained in it, and also at the wonderful difference exhi- bited in a small space of ground.
In Auvergne, in the same kingdom of France, there is a forest, very thickly wooded, and exhibiting a nature quite contrary to the usual character. Part of it, when by some accident it has taken fire and burnt down to the roots of the trees, spontaneously shoots up again with- out any labour bestowed on its cultivation.1 But who shall presume to investigate or to assign the causes of such occurrences, when it is plain that the use of the elements is common to all classes of animated nature ? In Connaught there is a fountain whose waters are salubrious to man only, but pestilential to beasts of burden, cattle, and ani- mals of all sorts, when they venture to taste them. Pebbles taken from this fountain allay thirst, if held in the mouth when it is parched. There is a fountain in Hungary still more noxious than the former, inasmuch as it is more uni- versally injurious, its stream being poisonous to mankind as
1 Any one who has travelled in forest districts may have had oppor- tunities of observing that the growth of young underwood from the stools of the burnt trees, after a conflagration, is no uncommon occur- rence; but had Giraldus known that sometimes the young wood which springs up consists of species of trees wholly different from those which covered the ground before, he might well have classed the fact among the " wonders " of nature. We are not aware in what part of Auvergne the forest alluded to is situated. It would have been more to our author's purpose to have noticed the calcareous springs of that district, which U»YS formed limestone elevations of surprising magnitude.
TWO EXTBAORDINARY FOUNTAINS. 69
well as to all kinds of animals. There is also in the kingdom of France, not far from the castle of Pascensis,1 a fountain, the waters of which only suit males, being unserviceable for women, either as a beverage or for exterior use. It is re- ported that these waters retain their cold temperature in spite of all applications of heat ; no contrivance will change their natural properties, and neither by art or by accident can they be disguised or got rid of, even for a single hour.
In the kingdom of Germany and province of Cambray, on the frontiers of France, there is a river with a ford staked out across the stream, with two rows of stakes, one above, one below the ford. Within these bounds the water is always pestiferous to horses ; but outside the boundary both horses and all other sorts of animals come to drink in common without injury. There is a fountain in Munster which, being touched or even looked at by any human being, will immediately inundate the whole province with rain.2 Nor will it cease until a priest, specially appointed, and who has been continent from his birth, has appeased the fountain by performing mass in a chapel, which is known to have been founded not far off for this purpose, and by sprinkling holy water and the milk of a cow having only one colour — a rite, indeed, extremely barbarous, and void of all reason.
CHAPTEE YIII.
OF TWO EXTKAOKDTNAKY FOUNTAINS, ONE IN BEITANT, THE OTHER IN SICILY.
THEEE is a fountain in Armorican Britain of a somewhat similar nature ; for if you draw its water in the horn of an ox, and happen to spill it on the nearest road, however serene the sky may be and contrary to rain, you will not avoid its immediately falling. In Sicily there is a most wonderful fountain. If any one approaches it dressed in a red garment, its waters, bubbling up, suddenly rise to the height of the man's stature, although other colours produce no agitation of the surface. On the man's departure, the
1 It would be difficult to ascertain what was the place here alluded to by Giraldus.
2 According to other authorities, this well was in the mountain of Slieve-Bloom, in Leinster, and was, in fact, identical with the spring which forms the source of the river Barrow.
70 THE TOPOGRAPHY OP IRELAND.
waters, sinking to their usual level, return into their ft rinef channels.
" Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
Et ibi.tem lustrasse boni." " 'Tis blest to learn the principles of nature, And scan the source of good."
But since bounds are set to the powers of the human mind, and everything mortal is far from perfection, the causes of such occurrences
" Dicite Pierides : — Non omnia possumus omnes."
'• Ye Muses tell ; we cannot master all."
Envious nature has locked up the causes of these and other unusual occurrences among her own mysterious won- ders. There is on the sea-shore of Connaught a rocky point of considerable size, which, when the tide is out, appears to rise above the strand no higher than it does above the returning waves which cover all larger objects when the tide is full. There is also in Connaught a walled place, having the appearance of a large castle, consecrated, they say, by St. Patrick. Into this inclosure they never drive so many cattle (although the booty of the whole pro- vince is very often shut up in this place of refuge), but that it would contain many more, until by chance it is reported that it is full, or supposed to be full.
CHAPTEE IX.
OF A GKEAT LAKE WHICH ORIGINATED IN A REMARKABLE MANNER.
THERE is a lake in Ulster of vast size, being thirty miles long and fifteen broad,1 from which a very beautiful river, called the Banna, flows into the Northern ocean. The fisher- men in this lake make more frequent complaints of the quantity of fish inclosed in their nets and breaking them than of the want of fish. In our time a fish was caught here which had not come up from the sea, but was taken
1 Giraldus refers to Lough Neagh, in the N.W. of Ulster, from which the river Bann issues, forming the boundary between the counties of Londonderry and Antrim in its course northward. The legend given by Giraldus, from ancient traditions, of the inundation which formed this Tast la!je. is recorded by Tigernach, the oldest of the Irish annalists j and the names of the tribes who occupied the plain so covered are given in ancient documents. The date of the catastrophe is fixed to A.D. 62.
THE LEGEND OF LOCH XEAGH. 71
descending the lake, and was in shape very like a salmon, but it was so large that it could neither be dragged out or conveyed whole, and therefore was carried through the province 'cut in pieces. It is reported that this lake had 'its origin in an extraordinary calamity. The land now covered by the lake was inhabited from the most ancient times by a tribe sunk in vice, and more especially incorri- gibly addicted to the sin of carnal intercourse with beasts more than any other people of Ireland. Now there was a common proverb in the mouths of the tribe, that whenever the well-spring of that country wras left uncovered (for out of reverence shown to it, from a barbarous superstition, the spring was kept covered and sealed), it would immediately overflow and inundate the whole province, drowning and de- stroying all the population. It happened, however, on some occasion that a young woman, who had come to the spring to draw water, after filling her pitcher, but before she had closed the well, ran in great haste to her little boy, whom she heard crying at aspotnot far from the spring, where she had left him. But the voice of the people is the voice of God ; and on her way back, she met such a flood of water from the spring that it swept off her and the boy, and the inundation was so violent that they both, and the whole tribe, with their cattle, wrere drowned in an hour in this partial and local deluge. The waters, having covered the whole surface of that fertile district, were converted into a permanent lake, as if the Author of nature judged the land which had been witness to such unnatural bestialities against the order of nature to be unfit for the habitation of men, either then or thereafter.
A not improbable confirmation of this occurrence is found in the fact, that the fishermen in that lake see distinctly under the water, in calm weather, ecclesiastical towers,1 which, according to the custom of the country, are slender and lofty, and moreover round; and they frequently point them out to strangers travelling through those parts, who wonder what could have caused such a catastrophe. In a
1 The round towers of Ireland have given rise to a multitude of opinions, and to many very wild speculations ; but the most recent and careful researches seem to confirm the account of Giraldus, and to show that they were erected for ecclesiastical purposes, and at a comparatively late period. The reader is referred to Mr. Petrie's able work on thi* subject.
72 THE TOPOG11APHT OF IRELAND.
manner not very dissimilar, and for the same detestable crime, the region of the Pentapolis was converted into a bituminous lake, called the Dead, or Barren, Sea ; be- cause neither birds, nor fishes, nor anything else can live there. It was first burnt up by sulphureous fire sent down from heaven, and then overwhelmed with an inundation which for ever covered it ; suffering thus for the enormity of its wickedness a double fate.
It must, however, be observed that the river before men- tioned (the Bann), which now flows out of the lake in full stream, had its source in the aforesaid spring from the time of Bartholanus, who lived soon after the flood, when it was fed also by other rivulets, and took its course through the same district, but with a far less volume of water ; and it was one of the nine principal rivers of Ireland.
CHAPTEE X.
OF A FISH WHICH HAD THEEE GOLDEN TEETH.
NOT1 long before the time when the English came over to Ireland, a fish was found at Carl enford (Carlingford), in Ul- ster, of an immense size and an uncommon species. Among its other prodigies, it is reported that it had three golden teeth of fifty pounds weight. I should suppose that these teeth had rather the outward appearance of gold than that they were really such ; and that the colour they assumed was a presage of the golden times of the future conquest immediately impending. Moreover, within our time a stag was found and taken in Great Britain, in the forest of Dur- ham, all the teeth of which were of a golden hue.
1 Another MS. reads, Non Biennio elapso, not two years ago. Lynch, in his Cambrensis Eversus, chap, vi., has given us an older legend, which was perhaps the origin of this story of Giraldus. *' Not two, but more than four hundred years before the English invasion, and while Fiacha Dubhadrochtech, the son of Aid Ronius.was king of Ulster, an enormous whale was drifted along by the tide, and cast up on the shore in Ulster. It had three teeth of gold, one of which was given by Fiacha as wages to some men whom he had employed in erecting a bridge over the rivers Fersus and Monidamh ; the other two were presented to the church to make a reliquary case, on which the inhabitants of that country were accustomed to purge or bind themselves by oath." These teeth are •tated in the Irish chronicles to have weighed fifty ounces.
A FLOATING ISLAND FIXED BY FIRE. 73
CHAPTEE XL
OF THE NORTHERN ISLANDS, MOST OF WHICH ARE IN SUBJECTION TO THE NORWEGIANS.
IN the Northern ocean, beyond Ulster and Galway, there are various islands, for instance, the Orcades and Inchades, and many others, of nearly all of which the Norwegians have obtained the dominion and lordship.1 For, although these islands lie far nearer to other countries, the Norwe- gian people, exploring the ocean, are addicted to piratical enterprises far more than any other nation. Hence all their expeditions and wars are conducted by naval arma- ments. It should be observed that both Orosius and Isidore reckon that there are thirty-three islands in the Orcades, of which twenty were uninhabited and thirteen inhabited ; but at the present time the greater part are inhabited.
CHAPTEE XII.
OF AN ISLAND WHICH AT FIRST FLOATED, AND AFTER- WARDS WAS FIRMLY FIXED BY MEANS OF FIRE.
AMONG the other islands is one newly formed, which they call the phantom isle, which had its origin in this manner. One calm day, a large mass of earth rose to the surface of the sea, where no land had ever been seen before, to the great amazement of the islanders who observed it. Some of them said that it was a whale, or other immense sea- monster; others, remarking that it continued motionless, said, "No; it is land." ]n order, therefore, to reduce their doubts to certainty, some picked young men of the island determined to approach nearer the spot in a boat. When, however, they came so near to it that they thought they should go on shore, the island sank in the water and entirely vanished from sight. The next day it re-appeared, and again mocked the same youths with the like delusion. At length, upon their rowing towards it on the third day, they followed the advice of an older man, and let fly an
1 The Orkney and Shetland islands were colonized by the Norwegian vikings in the ninth century, and completely subjugated hy Harold Harfaager in 895. By degrees the Norwegians also subdued and colo- nized the Hebrides and all the islands on the west coast, from Lewis to the Isle of Man, which they called the Sudrijar, or Southern islands, from their situation as respects the Orkneys.
M. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
arrow, barbed with red-hot steel, against the island ; and then landing, found it stationary and habitable. This adds one to the many proofs that fire is the greatest of enemies to every sort of phantom ; insomuch that those who have seen apparitions fall into a swoon as soon as they are sensible of the brightness of fire. For fire, both from its position and nature, is the noblest of elements, being a witness of the secrets of the heavens. The sky is fiery ; the planets are fiery ; the bush burnt with fire, but was not consumed; the Holy Grhost sat upon the apostlea in tongues of fire.
CHAPTEE XIII.
OF ICELAND, WHICH IS INHABITED BY A PEOPLE OF FEW WORDS, WHO SPEAK THE TETTTH, AND NEVER TAKE AN OATH.
ICELAND, the largest of the northern islands, lies at the distance of three natural days' sail from Ireland, towards the north. It is inhabited by a race of people who use very few words, and speak the truth. They seldom converse, and then briefly, and take no oaths, because they do not know what it is to lie ; for they detest nothing more than falsehood. Among this people the ofiices of king and priest are united in the same person. Their prince is their pontiff. Their bishop performs the functions of government as well as of the priesthood.1 Here never or very seldom lightnings flash, thunder-bolts fall, or the crash of thunder terrifies But they are troubled with another, and still more grievous calamity ; for once in a ye"ar, or two years, a fiery stream
1 The chiefs, or petty kings, of the territories into which Norway was divided, before the reign of Harald Harfaager, in the ninth century, united the functions of civil and military government with the sacer- dotal office, and continued to exercise the same joint authority in their colonies in Iceland. After the introduction of Christianity, the bishops succeeded to the spiritual, and in some measure shared the temporal authority of the Godar, or pontiff-chiefs. In 925, the Ice- landers, in their Al- Thing, or national assembly, enacted a very strict code of laws, containing many excellent regulations, one especially pro- riding for the maintenance of the poor ; but it would appear that the people were more distinguished for legal chicanery than for the vir- tues attributed to them by Giraldus. — See the Supplement to Northern Antiquities chaps, ii. and iii.
A WHIELPOOL IN THE SEA. 75
bursts forth in some quarter of the island, boiling up like a whirlpool, and the hissing flood, rushing violently on, burns up whatever lies in its way. But whether this fire has its origin casually, from below or above, is not known with any certainty.1 Gerfalcons and goss-hawks are bred in the island and exported.2
CHAPTER XIV.
OF A WHIELPOOL IN THE SEA WHICH SUCKS IN SHIPS.
NOT far from the islands, towards the north, there is an astonishing whirlpool in the sea, towards which there is a set current of the waves from all quarters, until, pouring themselves into nature's secret recesses, they are swallowed up, as it were, in the abyss. Should a vessel chance to pass in that direction, it is caught and drawn along by the force of the waves, and sucked by the vortex without chance of escape.3 There are four of these whirlpools in the ocean, described by philosophers as existing in the four different quarters of the world ; whence it has been conjectured that the currents of the sea, as well as the winds, are regulated by fixed principles.
1 Giraldus seems to have blended in this description the phenomena, of which he may have heard a confused account, of the volcanic erup- tions and boiling fountains, the Geysers, of Iceland. See Henderson's Journal of a Residence in Iceland, pp. 74 and 229 j and Sir William Hooker's Tour in Iceland, vol. i. pp. 128 and 149.
2 The gerfalcon was in great request in times when falconry was one of the principal sports of our ancestors ; and Iceland had always the reputation of furnishing the most generous breed. Those whose plu- mage was white were most highly esteemed, and bore a great price. Gerfalcons do not appear to have been ever found wild in Britain, or in Ireland. See before, Distinction I., c. 18. They are still common in Norway. The goss-hawk is a native of England, but they are now rare, though plentiful in Scotland.
3 Giraldus speaks of the maelstrom, a whirlpool in the northern ocean, on the coast of Norway, between the island of Wero and the southern part of the Loffoden island. Some Latin writers fancifully called it umbilicus marts, the navel of the sea ; while our author de- scribes the vortex as secreta naturae penetralia. This whirlpool, for- merly painted in the most frightful colours, is only a strong current of the sea, which roars loudly, as it rises every day during six hours, after which it is more calm for the same period.
76 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND.
CHAPTEE XY.
OP THE ISLE OP MAN, WHICH, ON ACCOUNT OF THE VE- NOMOUS REPTILES IT HARBOURS, IS CONSIDERED TO BELONG TO BRITAIN.
THERE is an island, not the least of the smaller islands, which is now called Man, but had in old times the name of Ewania, and lies, they say, in the mid-channel between the northern shores of Ireland and Britain. Which country it rightly belonged to was a matter of great doubt among the ancients ; but the controversy was settled in this way. Since the island allowed venomous reptiles, brought over for the sake of experiment, to exist in it, it was agreed by common consent that it belonged to Britain.1
CHAPTEE XVI.
THAT ISLANDS WERE FORMED LONG AFTER THE FLOOD, NOT SUDDENLY, BUT BY DEGREES, FROM ALLUVIAL MATTER.
WHETHER islands were formed before the flood, or during the flood, when the parents of all living creatures were shut up in the ark, there seems reason to doubt how noxious ani- mals, and especially venomous reptiles, replenished the re- moter islands, as it is quite clear that no sane person would ever have wished to transport them thither. "With respect to this, it may be reasonably suggested that long after the flood, when living things multiplied, and the earth was replenished with them in all parts, the islands were formed not by any violent or sudden action, but gradually by allu- vial deposits.2
1 Whatever may be thought of this experiment to determine the relative geographical position of the Isle of Man, we know that the island had an intimate political union with Ireland long before its sovereignty became a dependency on Britain. Colonized by the Nor- wegians in the eighth and ninth centuries, and governed by a succession of independent kings, nominally, perhaps, tributary to Norway, the connection between the kings of Man and the Scandinavian kings of Dublin was so close in the eleventh century that either the same, or, at all events, nearly related kings reigned both in Dublin and Man.
2 Although islands and deltas are formed by diluvial deposits at the mouths of rivers, the theory that such islands as those on the north coast of Scotland, of which Giraldus is treating, had such origin, is only suited to the state of science in the times of our author. These inlands
THTJLE, THE WESTERN ISLAND. 77
CHAPTER XVII.
OP THTJLE, THE WESTERN ISLAND, VERY CELEBRATED AMONG THE ORIENTALS, THOUGH IT BE TOTALLY UNKNOWN TO THE PEOPLE OP THE WEST.
THULE, which is said to be the furthest of the "Western islands, is very remarkable for having been well known among the Orientals both in name and position, although entirely unknown to the people of the West.1 Virgil says to Augustus : —
" et tibi serviat ultima Thule."
"And furthest Thule own thy rule."
And Solinus mentions Thule as the furthest among the islands which surround Britain. He says that at the summer solstice there is no night there, and at the winter solstice no day ; and both Solinus and Isidore relate that beyond Thule lies the thick and frozen ocean.
Solinus places Thule, the most remote island in the ocean, between the Northern and Western regions beyond Britain, and says it derives its name from the sun, because the sun causes the summer solstice there, and beyond it there is no day. But this island is so unknown to the people of the West, that It appears that no one of the western or northern islands have the same name or character. We find, how- ever, that in the furthest parts of the Arctic regions, the sun in summer is seen by the inhabitants revolving con- stantly for several nights about the edge of the earth, but
were more probably severed from the mainland by the action of the strong currents and the storms of the Northern Ocean, through a pro- cess of disintegration, which is still going on. See LyelTs Elements of G-eology, pp. 299 — 301. Giraldus raises in this chapter another curious question, which, on received opinions, we are as little able to solve as he was, how, not to say venomous creatures only, but all animals replenished (impleverunt) not only the remoter islands, but, we may add, continents.
1 It is a question full of doubt, to what island the ancients applied the name of Thule, or rather, it is probable that at different times they applied it to different islands, for they seem to have wished to indicate by it the most distant land towards the North-west of which they had any intelligence. Some have supposed that it was Iceland ; others, that it was some one of the most distant islands off the northern coast of Scotland ; arid others, again, have held that by Thule the Romans meant Norway.
78 THE TOPOGEAPHY OF IEELAND.
above the horizon ; and when it returns from the constella- tion of Capricorn, as though under the dark confines of the Antarctic pole, the cheerful beams of that luminary vanish during the same space of days. Either, therefore, Thule is an island as fabulous as it was famous, or it must be looked for in the most remote and distant recesses of the northern ocean, far off under the Arctic pole. Hence Orosius, speaking with more certainty than others respecting doubt- ful points, says that Thule, which is separated on all sides by boundless space from the rest of the world, and faces towards the south in the midst of the ocean, is known but to few persons, and to them imperfectly. Augustine, how- ever, in his twenty first book, De Civitate Dei, says that Thule, an island in India, is to be preferred to other lands, because there the trees which it produces keep their leaves all the whole year round. So that it appears to be situated in India. But he was led astray by a doubtful meaning, which is more apparent than real ; for Tylis is the name of the one, Tyle (Thule) of the other. Hence Isidore also says, Tylis is an island of India, where the leaves are always green. And, again, Solinus says, Tylis is an island in India,1 which bears palms, produces oil, and abounds in vines, and it excels all lands in the miracle that every tree which grows there is clothed with perpetual verdure.
CHAPTER XVIII. or THE GIANTS' DANCE, WHICH WAS TEANSFEEBED FEOM
IEELAND TO BEITAIN.
IN ancient times there was in Ireland a remarkable pile of stones, called the Giants' Dance,2 because the giants brought it from the furthest parts of Africa into Ireland, and set it up, partly by main strength, partly by artificial contrivances, in an extraordinary way, on the plains of Kildare, near Naas. Hence, certain stones exactly resembling the rest, and erected in the same manner, are seen there to the pre-
1 Pliny, b. xii. c. 11, mentions an island called Tylos in the Persian Gulf ; and Arrian, b. vii., one of the same name in the Indian Ocean.
Chorea Gigantum," from x°(>^f » a dance, or company of dancers or singers. Giraldus refers, of course, to the celebrated monument on Salisbury Plain, called Stonehenge, which the old legends represent as Laving been brought from Ireland.
MEN TRANSFORMED TO WOLYE8. 79
sent day. It is wonderful bow these stones, in such num- bers and of such vast size, couid ever be collected together on one spot, and raised upright, as well as by what mecha- nical contrivance others, not inferior in dimensions, were placed as lintels on top of the other massive and lofty piles, so that they appear suspended, and, as it were, hanging in the air, rather by some artificial contrivance than resting on the columns supporting them. According to the British His- tory,1 Aurelius Ambrosius, king of Britain, caused these stones to be transported from Ireland to Britain by the divine aid of Merlin ; and in order to leave some memorial of so great a deed, they were erected on the spot where, be- fore that time, the flower of the youth of Britain died by the concealed knives of the Saxons, who fell upon them and slew them, under the guise of peace, with their treacherous weapons.
CHAPTEK XIX.
OF THE PRODIGIES OP OUR TIMES, AND FIRST OF A WOLF WHICH CONTERSED WITH A PRIEST.2
I NOW proceed to relate some wonderful occurrences which have happened within our times. About three years be- fore the arrival of earl John in Ireland, it chanced that a priest, who was journeying from Ulster towards Meath, was benighted in a certain wood on the borders of Meath. "While, in company with only a young lad, he was watching by a fire which he had kindled under the branches of a spreading tree, lo ! a wolf came up to them, and immediately addressed them to this effect : *' Rest se- cure, and be not afraid, for there is no reason you should fear, where no fear is !" The travellers being struck with astonishment and alarm, the wolf added some orthodox
1 By " the British History," Giraldus of course means Geoffrey of Monmouth, from whom, in fact, this account of the removal of the stones from Ireland to England is taken. See Geoffrey's British His- tory, book viii. chapters x. to xii. 2 The belief in men who could transform themselves into wolves, was a very prevalent super- stition, not only in the middle ages, but it continued in force to much more recent times, and formed part of the witchcraft superstitions, from which plenty of stories like this told by Giraldus might be col- lected. In England, where wolves have long disappeared, the witchei of later times turned themselves into hares.
80 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF IEELANT).
words referring to God. The priest then implored him, and adjured him by Almighty God and faith in the Trinity, not to hurt them, but to inform them what creature it was that in the shape of a beast uttered human words. The wolf, after giving catholic replies to all questions, added at last : " There are two of us, a man and a woman, natives of Ossory, who, through the curse of one Natalis, saint and abbot, are compelled every seven years to put oft' the human form, and depart from the dwellings of men. Quitting entirely the human form, we assume that of wolves. At the end of the seven years, if they chance to survive, two others being substituted in the.ir places, they return to their coun- try and their former shape. And now, she who is my part- ner in this visitation lies dangerously sick not far from hence, and, as she is at the point of death, I beseech you, inspired by divine charity, to give her the consolations of your priestly office."
At this word the priest followed the wolf trembling, as he led the way to a tree at no great distance, in the hol- low of which he beheld a she-wolf, who under that shape was pouring forth human sighs and groans. On seeing the priest, having saluted him with human courtesy, she gave thanks to God, who in this extremity had vouchsafed to visit her with such consolation. She then received from the priest all the rites of the church duly performed, as far as the last communion. This also she importunately demanded, earnestly supplicating him to complete his good offices by giving her the viaticum. The priest stoutly asserting that he was not provided with it, the he- wolf, who had withdrawn to a short distance, came back and pointed out a small missal-book, containing some consecrated wafers, which the priest carried on his journey, suspended from his neck, under his garment, after the fashion of the country. He then intreated him not to deny them the gift of God, and the aid destined for them by Divine Providence ; and, to remove all doubt, using his claw for a hand, he tore off the skin of the she-wolf, from the head down to the navel, folding it back. Thus she immediately presented the form of an old woman. The priest, seeing this, and compelled by his fear more than his reason, gave the communion ; the recipient having earnestly implored it, and devoutly par-
MEN TBAXSrOBMED TO WOLVES. 81
taking of it. Immediately afterwards, the lie- wolf rolled back the skin, and fitted it to its original form.
These rites having been duly, rather than rightly, per- formed, the he-wolf gave them his company during the whole night at their little fire, behaving more like a man than a beast. "When morning came, he led them out of the wood, and, leaving the priest to pursue his journey, pointed out to him the direct road for a long distance. At his departure, he also gave him many thanks for the benefit he had conferred, promising him still greater returns of gratitude, if the Lord should call him back from his present exile, two parts of which he had already completed. At the close of their conversation, the priest inquired of the wolf whether the hostile race which had now landed in the island would continue there for the time to come, and be long established in it. To which the wolf replied : — " Eor the sins of our nation, and their enormous vices, the anger of the Lord, falling on an evil generation, hath given them into the hands of their enemies. Therefore, as long as this foreign race shall keep the commandments of the Lord, and walk in his ways, it will be secure and invincible : but if, as the downward path to illicit pleasures is easy, and nature is prone to follow vicious examples, this people shall chance, from living among us, to adopt our depraved habits, doubt- less they will provoke the divine vengeance on themselves also."
The like judgment is recorded in Leviticus : — " All these abominations have the inhabitants of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled. Beware, there- fore, that the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spi.ed out the nation which was before you." l All this was afterwards brought to pass, first by the Chaldeans, and then by the Romans. Likewise it is written in Eccle- siasticus : — " The kingdom is made over from one nation to another, by reason of their unjust and injurious deeds, their proud words, and divers deceits."
It chanced, about two years afterwards, that I was
passing through Meath, at the time when the bishop of
that land had convoked a synod, having also invited the
assistance of the neighbouring bishops and abbots, in order
1 Levit. xviii. 27, 28.
82 THE TOPOGEAPHT OF lEELAKD.
to have their joint counsels on what was to be done in the affair which had come to his knowledge by the priest's con- fession. The bishop, hearing that I was passing through those parts, sent me a message by two of his clerks, re- questing me, if possible, to be personally present when a matter of so much importance was under consideration ; but if I could not attend, he begged me at least to signify my opinion in writing. The clerks detailed to me all the circumstances, which indeed I had heard before from other persons ; and, as I was prevented by urgent business from being present at the synod, I made up for my absence by giving them the benefit of my advice in a letter. The bishop and synod, yielding to it, ordered the priest to ap- pear before the pope with letters from them, setting forth what had occurred, with the priest's confession, to which instrument the bishops and abbots who were present at the synod affixed their seals.
It cannot be disputed, but must be believed with the most assured faith, that the divine nature assumed human nature for the salvation of the world ; while in the present case, by no less a miracle, we find that at Grod's bidding, to exhibit his power and righteous judgment, human nature assumed that of a wolf. But is such an animal to be called a brute or a man ? A rational animal appears to be far above the level of a brute ; but who will venture to assign a quadruped, which inclines to the earth, and is not a laugh- ing animal, to the species of man ? Again, if any one should slay this animal, would he be called a homicide ? "We reply> that divine miracles are not to be made the subjects of dis- putation by human reason, but to be admired. However, Augustine, in the 16th book of his Civit. Dei, chapter 8, in speaking of some monsters of the human race, born in the East, some of which had the heads of dogs, others had no heads at all, their eyes being placed in their breasts, and others had various deformities, raises the question whether these were really men, descended from the first parents of mankind. At last, he concludes, " We must think the same of them as we do of those monstrous births in the human species of which we often hear ; and true reason declares that whatever answers to the definition of man, as a rational and mortal animal, whatever be its form, is to be considered a man." The same author, in the 18th book of the Civit,
•SOUS' TRANSFORMED TO ASSES. 83
Dei, chapter 18, refers to the Arcadians, who, chosen by lot, swam across a lake and were there changed into wolves, living with wild beasts of the same species in the deserts of that country. If, however, they did not devour human flesh, after nine years they swam back across the lake, and re-assumed the human form. Having thus further treated of various transformations of man into the shape of wolves, he at length adds, " I myself, at the time I was in Italy, heard it said of some district in those parts, that there the stable-women, who had learnt magical arts, were wont to give something to travellers in their cheese which trans- formed them into beasts of burthen, so that they carried all sorts of burdens, and after they had performed their tasks resumed their own forms.1 Meanwhile, their minds did not become bestial, but remained human and rational." .So in the Book which Apuleius wrote, with the title of the Grolden Ass, he tells us that it happened to himself, on taking some potion, to be changed into an ass, retaining his human mind.
In our own time, also, we have seen persons who, by magi- cal arts, turned any substance about them into fat pigs, as they appeared (but they were always red), and sold them in the markets. However, they disappeared as soon as they crossed any water, returning to their real nature ; and with whatever care they were kept, their assumed form did not last beyond three days. It has also been a frequent com- plaint, from old times as well as in the present, that certain hags in Wales, as well as in Ireland and Scotland, changed themselves into the shape of hares, that, sucking teats under this counterfeit form, they might stealthily rob other people's milk. "We agree, then, with Augustine, that nei- .ther demons nor wicked men can either create or really change their natures; but those whom God has created can, to outward appearance, by his permission, become transformed, so that they appear to be what they are not ; the senses of men being deceived and laid asleep by a strange illusion, so that things are not seen as they actually
r Similar stories are told by other old writers ; see William of Malmesbury, book ii. ch. 10. It is rather amusing to find Giraldua believing that, in the metamorphosis of the ass, Apuleius was giving a bona fide relation of what had happened to himself.
G 2
84 THE TOPOGEAPHY OP IBELAND.
exist, but are strangely drawn by the power of some phan- tom or magical incantation to rest their eyes on unreal and fictitious forms.
It is, however, believed as an undoubted truth, that the Almighty Q-od, who is the Creator of natures, can, when he pleases, change one into another, either for vindicating his judgments, or exhibiting his divine power ; as in the case of Lot's wife, who, looking back contrary to her lord's com- mand, was turned into a pillar of salt ; and as the water was changed into wine ; or that, the nature within remain- ing the same, he can transform the exterior only, as is plain from the examples before given.
Of that apparent change of the bread into the body of Christ (which I ought not to call apparent only, but with more truth transubstantial, because, while the outward ap- pearance remains the same, the substance only is changed), I have thought it safest not to treat; its comprehension being far beyond the powers of the human intellect.
CHAPTEE XX.
OF A WOMAN WHO HAD A BEAED, AND A HAIET CEEST AND MANE ON HEB BACK.
DUYENALD, king of Limerick, had a woman with a beard down to her navel, and, also, a crest like a colt of a year old, which reached from the top of her neck down her back- bone, and was covered with hair. The woman, thus re- markable for two monstrous deformities, was, however, not an hermaphrodite, but in other respects had the parts of a woman ; and she constantly attended the court, an object of ridicule as well as of wonder. The fact of her spine being covered with hair neither determined her gender to be male or female ; and in wearing a long beard she followed the customs of her country, though it was unnatural in her. Also, within our time, a woman was seen attending the court in Connaught, who partook of the nature of both sexes, and was an hermaphrodite. On the right side of her face she had a long and thick beard, which covered both sides of her lips to the middle of her chin, like a man ; on the left, her lips and chin were smooth and hairless, like a woman.
*
AIT ANIMAL WHICH WAS HALF-OX, HALF-MAN. 85
CHAPTEE XXI.
OF AN ANIMAL WHICH WAS HALF-OX, HALF-MAN.
Wicklow (Gwykingelo), at the time Maurice Fitzgerald held possession of that territory and castle, there was seen a mau-monster, if he may be called a man, the whole of whose body was human, except the extremities, which were those of an ox ; they having the shape of hoofs, from the joints by which the hands are connected with the arms and the feet with the legs. His whole head was deformed by baldness, there being no hair either behind or before ; but instead of it there was down in a few places. He had large eyes, round and of the colour of those of an ox. His face was flat down to the mouth, there being no protuberance of the nose, but only two orifices to serve for nostrils. He could not speak, the sounds he uttered resembling the lowing of an ox. He frequented for some time the court of Maurice, coming daily to dinner ; and the food which was served he took up between the fissures of his cloven hoofs, which he used as hands. He was at last secretly put to death, a fate of which he was not deserving, in consequence of the jibes with which the young men about the castle assailed the natives of the country for begetting such monsters by inter- course with cows.
It is a fact, that shortly before the arrival of the English in the island, a cow gave birth to a man-calf, the fruit of an union between a man and a cow, in the mountains of Grlen- dalough (Grlindelachan), that tribe being especially addicted to such abominations ; so that you may be perfectly con- vinced that there is another instance of a progeny half-ox half- man, half-man half-ox. This creature, having followed his mother with the rest of the calves, sucking her teats for nearly a year, was afterwards admitted into human society, as it had more of the man in it than of the beast. Shall the slayer of this creature be called a homicide ? Who can associate such a monster, an irrational animal, wanting altogether speech as well as reason, with the family of ra- tional beings? On the other hand, who can disallow the claims of a creature which stands erect, laughs, and goes on two feet, to belong to the I uman species ? Is it not true that
86 THE TOPOGRAPHY OP IRELAND,
" Os homirii sublime dedit coelumque tueri
Jussit ?"
In nature's mould, to man the stamp is given, Which lifts his face from earth and points his eyes to l.eaveEi-
But nature's eccentricities of this kind must be excused, and her judgments are rather to be dreaded, than made the subject of discussion and disputation.
CHAPTER XXII.
OF AN ANIMAL ENGENDERED BY A STAG AND A COW,
WITHIN our time, a stag had intercourse with a cow, at Chester, in Britain, and their offspring was a doe-calf, In the fore-parts, as far as the groin, it had entirely the form of a cow ; but the thighs, tail, hind-legs, and feet were exactly those of a deer, with the same fur and colour. Having more of the nature of cattle about it than of a wild animal, it found its place in the herd.
CHAPTER XXIII.
OP A GOAT WHICH HAD INTERCOURSE WITH A WOMAN.
RODERIC, king of Connaught, had a white tame goat, re- markable • for its flowing hair and the length of its horns. This goat had intercourse, bestially, with the woman to whose care it had been committed ; the wretched creature having seduced it to become the instrument of gratifying her unnatural lust, rather than that the animal was the guilty actor. O foul and disgraceful deed! How dread- fully has reason given the reins to sensuality ! How brutally does the lord of brutes, discarding his natural privileges, descend to the level of brutes, when he, rational animal, submits to such intercourse with a beast ! For although on both sides it is detestable and abominable, it