Ireland/Irish > Black's guide to Killarney and the south of Ireland

32
DUBLIN TO CORK.
generally asserted by the Irish that the poems attributed to
Ossian, and translated by Macpherson, are but lame piracies
from the poems transmitted from parent to child in their own
country. Fingal, it would seem, was no other than Fin-Mac-
Coul, and his habitation, instead of the magical basaltic cave
of Stafi'a, the bleak hill of Allen, in the midst of an unlimited
bog. Even the shrewd Kohl has subscribed to this idea, but
justly adds— '
“The Irish continually assure the stranger, that their poems are quite
untranslatable, and would be as totally spoiled by transplanting into another
language, as a beautiful flower by being covered with a coating of paint. No
doubt it is difficult to transfer from one language to another all the delicate
aroma of poetry, but Macpherson has shown that a mere imitation, though
assuredly an imperfect one, is sufficient to delight all Europe. At all events,
they ought to be collected and printed in Irish.”
Kildare, though bearing the same name, is not the county
town, but a poor miserable place, chiefly remarkable for the
ecclesiastical ruins which it contains. The convert Bridget
or Bridgid, after assisting St. Conleeth to found a monastery,
erected the celebrated Nunnery of St. Bridget, Kildare’s holy
fane, in which the nuns for eight hundred years maintained
the “ inextinguishable fire,” until Harry, Archbishop of Dublin,
had it extinguished in 1220; it was afterwards rekindled, and
finally put out in the reign of Henry VTII. In 638, Aod
Dulh, or Black Hugh, retired' from the throne of Leinster,
took up his abode in the Augustinian Monastery; and after¬
wards became abbot and Bishop of Kildare, one of the few
instances on record of a crown and sceptre being resigned for
a mitre and crosier. “ In 756, Eiglitigin, the abbot, who was
also Bishop of Kildare, was killed by a priest as he was cele¬
brating mass at the altar of St. Bridgid, since which time no
priest whatsoever was allowed to celebrate mass in that church
in the presence of a bishop.” The Franciscan Abbey, for
u friars of orders grey,” is situated on the south side of the
town. The original founder was Lord William de Vesey
(1260) ; the completion of it was left to Gerald Fitz-Maurice
O’Faley. De Yesey also founded, in 1290, an abbey for white
friars. The town still contains a friary and nunnery, a Roman
Catholic chapel, and various schools. In the churchyard,
close by the cathedral, is a fine specimen of a round tower
about 110 feet in height, with a fine ornamented doorway.
The original conical top has been removed, and the tower is