In the parish of Glantaun, and three miles north-west of the town of Mallow, in the midst of a wild tract of country, appear certain rocks of a strange and romantic appearance. The dark green drapery of the creeping ground-ivy, shades the time-bleached sides of these masses; and the lighter tint of the tall fern springing from their deep interstices, marks their different compartments with many a line of green. These rocks lie circularly on the plain, and in the centre rises one towering over the rest, as the graceful height of the pine looks proudly down on its humble fellows of the forest. Its almost inaccessible top is perfectly level, and covered with a carpet of verdant green. At the base of its northern side lie huge stones, which some giant arm seems to have hurled confusedly around; for, from the perpendicular smoothness of the sides, and the table-like flatness of the summit, they could not have fallen down from the rock. Inside these fragments of granite, and level with the plain, yawns a wide opening in the rock. This entrance is softly shaded by the briery branches of the wild rose, and leads, according to the current opinion, to a spacious vault within; and some who have climbed to the top, have found it resound deep and hollow, to the stamp of their foot; but the most adventurous never essayed to explore its inner secrets. A large hawthorn which opens its fragrant white blossoms in this romantic solitude, is tenanted by the wild thrush that pours his song of beauty to the echoes of the rock. Indeed, this seems to be the favourite haunt of the genius of music. Some unseen songster from the green summit of the rock, is often heard to blend strains of melting harmony with the wild warbling of the thrush. The cowboy, as he whistles his herd over the neighbouring pastures to the milking-bawn, as the gentle summer evening is throwing her russet mantle over the green bosom of the land, frequently hears, in this fairy haunt, the music of some unknown instrument, whose thrilling vibrations, suspending every sense but that of hearing, deprive the limbs of motion, and bind the entranced soul in the magic links of harmony, until the wild strain is hushed, and silence reigns around. The land immediately surrounding this haunted rock, has been, time out of mind, deemed consecrated ground. Never did the profane hedging-bill of the peasant, invade its time-honoured shrubs; the spade of the husbandman never wounded the holy glebe; and though modern improvement is rapidly changing the harsh features of this rough district, cultivation has not yet dared to obtrude where superstition guards her ancient right-for tradition relates that this is the favourite abode of Cleena, a benevolent genius-hence the haunted rock, so famous in fairy lore, has obtained the name of Carrig-Cleena. The untaught peasants of the surrounding country, have ever regarded Cleena as their benefactress. The rustic of the present day, affirms that in her neighbourhood, no cattle die from the malignant influence of the evil eye, or the mischievous power of the unfriendly spirits of air; and that her goodness preserves the harvest crop from the blight which lays prostrate the farmer's hopes, when beings unfriendly to man appropriate to themselves the produce of his fields. The peasantry seem to be the children of her peculiar care frequently she has been known to veil her celestial beauty, and attired in the homely garb of the country, announce to some night wanderer the expulsion from her confines of the evil spirits of the north, and the consequent abundance of a plentiful harvest. On the borders of the Shannon, in the County of Limerick, resided a youthful chieftain, one of the Geraldines, the remains of whose castles along the banks of that king of Irish streams, even yet frown defiance on the dashing waves below. He was skilled in all the accom plishments deemed necessary in that age of chivalry in which he lived. Brave as those daring adventurers from whom he claimed descent, and hospitable and generous as the ancient chieftains of the land, his perfections were the theme of many a harp-striking minstrel. The princely chief himself was a bard of the first eminence, and he early taught his harp to breathe, in ardent strains, the charms of Ellen O'Brien. She was the only daughter of one of those unfortunate chiefs whose possessions sunk to insignificance, and whose power crumbled to dust before the prevailing fortune of the Saxon invader. Fitz-Gerald saw the beauteous Ellen-and loved; nor was his passion unregarded his splended accomplishments and noble mien-the soft music of his harp, and tender lay of love, all stole to the heart of the interesting girl, and Ellen beheld in the enemy of her name and race, the only being whose idea twined like a magic spell round her heart and brain, and without whom this earth and its enjoyments seemed but a dreary void. Tradition records that Cleena beheld this favoured youth; and that gifted being, before whose knowledge the secrets of the earth lay unlocked, bent to a superior power, and obeyed that magic spell which, in the olden day, it is said, drew erring angels from their sphere, to bask in the beauty-smiles of the daughters of Adam. She loved Fitzgerald, and resolved that he should share the splendours of her unseen hall, and the greatness of her power. Upon a festival day, when the proud and noble of the land were assembled at "tilt and tournay," a dark cloud descended on the plain, and enveloping young Fitzgerald, bore him from the field. He disappeared-no trace of him could be found; the various messengers who sought intelligence of him returned weary from their fruitless toil. Days and months rolled away in vain expectation; and the most incredulous, at length, believed that a supernatural power had borne the chieftain away, and that he remained the slave of enchantment in some unexplored retreat impervious to mortal feet. Of all that mourned this strange and melancholy circumstance, none felt more intense sorrow than Ellen O'Brien. When his followers ceased to seek their master-when every mouth forgot the hopeless inquiry, she departed privately from the home of her childhood, resolved, with that tenacity of passion which belongs to the true and stainless heart of woman, to find her lover or perish in the attempt. In a rocky glen, in Kerry, where resided a wizard, who held strange and unutterable communings with beings of another life, she learned that Cleena had conveyed her lover to her favourite residence in the county of Cork. In the decline of Autumn, Ellen O'Brien reached CarrigCleena, her hair floating wildly in the fitful breeze, her garments torn by every shrub and bramble, and her feet bleeding from the roughness of the path. In her native tongue, that language of life and feeling, she poured the extemporaneous effusions of her love-lorn heart in harmonious verse. She feelingly depicted their unquenchable loves, their early vows of plighted faith, and the assurance she received that the object of her pursuit was detained in this enchanted rock. She appealed to Cleena's wonted kindness to the human race, and expressed her firm determination to expire at the foot of that rock, the echoes of which should bear her final groan to the faithful youth whose eternal constancy, she knew no power of earth or air could destroy. The legend tells that Cleena, moved by Ellen O'Brien's matchless fidelity, and won by the beauty of her person and the mournful melody of her persuasive song, gave the captive lover to the arms of his faithful maid. They departed together. The nuptial tie joined the hands of those whose hearts were long united; and they became the parents of a numerous and happy offspring. DUBLIN: E. W. Printed and Published by JOHN S, FOLDS, 5, Bachelors' Walk, Sold by all Booksellers in Ireland. In Liverpool by Willmer and Smith; in Manchester by Bancks & Co. in Birmingham by Drake; in Edinburgh by R. Grant and Son; Glasgow by Niven, Jun. and in ANTRIM ROUND TOWER. On a spacious plain about half a mile from the town of Antrim, stands one of those round pillar-towers, the date of erection and primitive use of which continue to attract alike the attention of the curious, and the dissertations of the learned. This tower is ninety-five feet in height, and at one yard from the ground is fifty-three feet in circumference. It is divided into three stories, with holes in the wall for joists to support lofts, and loopholes for the admission of air and light. Those near the top correspond with the four cardinal points, and near them a beam of oak extends across the tower, evidently for the purpose of supporting a bell. A little above these the tower tapers in the form of a sugar-loaf, and was formerly surmounted by a conical covering of granite, resembling in shape a cap or bonnet. Being shattered, as it is supVOL. II. NO. 3. posed by lightning, in 1822, it was taken down, and replaced by a covering of freestone. At the base are two rows of stones projecting about eight inches, and nine feet above these is the door, fronting the north; it is four feet three inches in height, by two feet wide; the wall at the sill is two feet nine inches in thickness. The outside lintel of the door consists of one large stone, as does that inside; and between those is a beam of oak across the door, which must have been placed there at the erection of the tower, as it appears impossible to have been fixed there since. On a large stone over the outside lintel, is a cross in bas-relief, which clearly indicates that our pillar-towers were erected since the Christian era, and that their having been watch-towers, or fire-temples, are the whimsies of disordered minds, or the wild theories of those who, solely from singularity, affect superior knowledge. с Camden informs us, that St. Durtract, a disciple of St. Patrick, founded a monastery at Antrim. A few years ago, in removing some old houses in the vicinity of the tower, extensive foundations and many human bones were discovered, which would lead us to conclude this to have been the site of the abbey mentioned by Camden. This is the more likely, as our towers always stand near some ancient place of worship: the writer is not aware of a single instance of their being found apart from some religious foundation, and in a few instances they are even ingrafted on those buildings. Tradition ascribes the erection of this Tower, as well as others in the north of Ireland, to the celebrated architect called the " Gobban Saer," or "Gobban the Builder," and who is believed, in this part of the country, to have been a woman. It would be highly interesting to ascertain if there be any historical evidences of the celebrated person, whose name is thus popularly connected with the erection of so many of these remarkable structures. A tradition so general could hardly be without foundation; and, if we could determine the period in which the Gobban" flourished, we should have much light thrown on this hitherto mysterious subject. It is not a little strange that we should still be without a correct list of these towers, so that even their numbers have not been ascertained. About 1791, a list was published by the Rev. Edward Ledwich, which is, however, very imperfect. In the County of Antrim he only notices the tower just described, and that on Ram Island; those of Ardmoy and Trumery are omitted. At Dun-aman, near Croom, County Limerick, and Rosenallis, Queen's County, are also round pillar-towers, which are not given in his catalogue. S. M'S. NOTE BY THE EDITOR. We have hitherto refrained from offering any opinion of our own, on the long unsettled question of the origin and uses of our Round Towers, lest we might be suspected of a desire to influence the Royal Irish Academy in their decision on the merits of the Prize Essays, submitted to them on this national subject of antiquarian inquiry. As that decision has been finally made, we have no longer a motive for maintaining silence, and avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded us by the foregoing notice of our ingenious correspondent, Mr. M'Skimin, to state, that our conclusions are those arrived at in the Essay which received, not only the prize proposed by the Academy, but also the additional honour of their gold medal. These conclusions are, that the Round Towers are wholly of Christian origin, and erected for the twofold purposes of belfries and towers, in which the religious communities to whom they belonged deposited their books, sacred vessels, &c., and into which they themselves retired on occasions of sudden predatory attack. As Mr. Petrie's Essay is now in course of publication, we do not consider it fair to anticipate his proofs, which, we have no doubt, will be found satisfactory, and worthy of the award given by the Academy-an award which, it should be borne in mind, it was only entitled to on proofs that were deemed conclusive on the subject. That award, too, it should be observed, was all but unanimous; for, though one gentleman dissented, who considered as more satisfactory the evidences which were offered in Mr. O'Brien's essay, to prove that the Towers were temples and emblems of the god BUDH, and erected previous to the foundation of Solomon's Temple, (!!) it may be questioned how far that gentleman was a perfectly disinterested judge, in as much as he had previously written and published his own theories on the subject, the evidences for which were analyzed and rejected in Mr. Petrie's Essay, and lauded to the sun in various passages in that of his competitor. The Royal Irish Academy, in having taken the most judicious steps for bringing this long contested subject of antiquarian inquiry to a satisfactory termination, are entitled to the most unqualified praise. To Mr. M'Skimin's account of the Round Tower of Antrim, we have to add, that its reputed architect, Gobban, of whom we have given several traditional notices, and have many still to give, was equally celebrated in our ancient ecclesiastical histories, as in our popular traditions. Italy is not the only country in Europe in which great catastrophes have led to the disappearance of entire towns. If the ashes of Vesuvius overwhelmed Herculaneum and Pompeii, and for a long period concealed them from us, a different cause has, in other parts of Europe, produced the same result. There remains, on the southern coast of Ireland, in the county of Wexford, a small bay, enclosed between two mountains; a sandy bank, and an irregular soil, arid, and covered with a sorry vegetation, distinguish it from the surrounding country, which is fertile, and is, indeed, rather picturesque. The heights are placed parallel, and crossed at right angles; and, such is their regu larity that, at first sight, one is led to suppose them to be the work of man. This conjecture is strengthened on observing the summit of an ancient steeple rising in the midst of this solitude. Here, indeed, was once situated the town of Bannow, which is now buried in the sand. The parallel lines, the regular depression of the soil, clearly indicate the direction of the streets. "In following the course of one of these streets," says the narrator of this singular fact, "one sees where the sea originally approached it; for, on slightly digging into the sand, we discovered the remains of an old quay made of bricks." At the extremity of the town, a monument, half buried, yet remains; it is a church, the only entrance to which is by the roof; the interior has been cleared away, in all probability, by some traveller, or from being closed on all sides at the moment of the catastrophe, was preserved from the irruption of the sand, which lies heaped up all around it. To judge from the style, it was erected a considerable time previous to the invasion of Britain by the Normans. It is strange that this singular discovery has not excited sufficient attention to induce some one to prosecute further inquiries on this desolate shore. When the destruction of the town took place is unknown, but it cannot have been at a very distant period. Bannow, according to Maurice Regan and Sir James Ware, must have been a flourishing city, its riches and population must have been considerable. We find, from the archives of Wexford, which contain an account of the taxes levied on that district for the last eight hundred years, every indication of a rich, active, and numerous population. If the period when Bannow became the prey of the sands cannot be precisely marked out, we may notice that the phenomenon which caused its ruin still exists to a certain degree; around the spot are yet to be seen heaps of fresh sand, constantly agitated by the wind, but which is arrested in its course whenever it meets with any obstacle, and is spread over a considerable extent. This has occasioned a total change in the appearance not only of Bannow itself, but of the country around it. A map of the country laid down in 1657, points out the island of Slade in the bay opposite to it, from which it is separated by a channel; and the instructions given in nautical charts for the information of those who navigated this channel, points out the means of avoiding the shoals, which render it dangerous; at the present time the whole is united to the mainland; rocks, island, channel, exist no longer!-at least they are no longer to be distinguished. The above account is extracted from a memoir lately read before the Geographical Society of Paris. I beg leave to forward it, in the hope that it may not be uninteresting to some of your readers. Wexford. M. O'R. THE LAMENT OF CERES. A Free Translation of the Four concluding Stanzas of FOR THE DUBLIN PENNY JOURNAL. And it lies upon my daughter's heart; With the dyes of heaven on its blossom! Wafted earthward from the Stygian gloom. Now from these my blossoms young and vernal, Gloomily the mourner-phantoms move, O, my flowers! that round the mead so sunny, When the autumn pours her yellow treasures, ANCIENT IRISH LITERATURE. This curious remnant of ancient Irish Literature has been so often referred to in our preceding numbers, that our readers must necessarily feel some curiosity to be acquainted with its contents, and with the evidences on which its claims to authenticity rest. Before we proceed to examine the contents of the work itself, it will be found necessary to show that the arguments of Ledwich, who made great exertions to prove that this Glossary was a forgery, are as baseless as he himself was unqualified to examine its contents. That mighty reformer of Irish History, speaking of this Glossary, has the following words : "As to Cormac's Glossary, Lynch says that it was the work of Cairbre Liffechair, A.D. 279; Colgan, as good authority, ascribes it to Cormac Ulfada, A.D. 257. O'Conor, who published Ogygia Vindicated, 1775, and was well acquainted with Irish literature, had never seen this Glossary, and fears it was lost to the public. However, it is said to have been printed in the last century, by O'Clery, one of the Four Masters. Lynch and Colgan are better informed than later antiquaries, and neither give the composition to Cormac of Cashel, but to others who lived six hundred years before Cormac. But even Lynch and Colgan are romancing, when they suppose letters known or common in the third century. "Grant that Cormac M'Cuilenan was author of a Glossary in the tenth century, was not this to serve as an interpreter to the precedent Irish language, grown obsolete in his time? This is the common idea of the use of a glossary, and it evinces the fluctuation and corruption of the language. It is now nine hundred years since Cormac writ this pretended glossary; has the Irish tongue suffered no alteration in such a lapse of ages? It must have astonishingly changed, when we are assured by the author of an Irish Grammar, that the Irish language of four hundred years back, is totally different from the present in sense and orthography. Let the reader mark the words sense and orthography, and draw his conclusion as to the authenticity of this impudent and blundering forgery. I should not have detained the reader so long, were not Cormac's Glossary and Psalter constantly appealed to as authentic literary monuments." In this extract, Ledwich, while he shows his disgust to every thing Irish, makes a curious display of his own ignorance, and I might almost say, stupidity. First, he states that Lynch ascribes this work, called "Cormac's Glossary," to Cairbre Liffechair. Here he shows either ignorance or dishonesty, and as the former is more creditable to his memory, I shall attribute it to his ignorance; for Lynch, in the page of Cambrensis Eversus to which he refers, speaks not of "Cormac's Glossary," but of “ Cormac's Instructions to his son Cairbre Liffechair." 66 I refer the reader to No. 27, pp. 213, 214, of this Journal, where I have collected all the historic evidences concerning Cormac Ulfada, and given specimens of his Instructions to his son Cairbré; and it will be seen that that tract is totally different from this Glossary; and therefore, he who was not capable of distinguishing the one from the other, was but ill qualified to pass an opinion upon the authenticity or antiquity of either. Colgan refers to the same Tract, not to Cormac's Glossary. Ledwich says, "O'Conor had never seen this Glossary.” Here the antiquary confounds Cormac's Glossary with the Psalter of Cashel. Charles O'Conor, in page 161 of Ogygia Vindicated, to which this historic charlatan refers, writes the following note : "This PSALTER OF CASHEL was begun by Cormac M'Cuilenan, King and Archbishop of Munster, about the year 900, and was continued by other collectors after his death. Duald M'Firbis had the perusal of it, and very probably it was the copy which his friend, Sir James Ware, possessed. We are afraid that this valuable collection is now lost to the public." Not a word about Cormac's Glossary; and still from this very passage Ledwich boldly infers "O'Conor, who published Ogygia Vindicated, in 1775, had never seen this Glossary."!! (O tempora!) O'Conor never hinted at his not having seen this Glossary-far from it. In giving the derivation of Erin, he says, that the conjecture of the King of Munster was ingenious, when he derived it from Iber, western, and Nayon, an island. A historian is not to be condemned if he quote authorities faithfully, and draw even subtle conclusions. But when he falsifies his authorities, and then draws inferences unfavourable to the people of whom he writes, he should be considered as influenced by malevolent feelings, not as a historian searching after truth. 66 However, it is stated to have been printed in the last century, by O'Clery, one of the Four Masters." A Glossary was printed and published by O'Clery, at Louvain, A.D. 1643, but this was O'Clery's own compilation from ancient glossaries, as stated in his prefixed preface, not Cormac's Glossary. The remainder of Ledwich's grumbling against this Glossary, amounts to this : This Glossary is said to have been written in the tenth century, to explain Irish words grown obsolete in that age: we are informed by the author of an Irish Grammar, that the Irish language of four hundred years back, is totally different from the present in sense and orthography: therefore if this Glossary were written in the tenth century, it could not be intelligible now; and as quotations from it are given and translated in our time, it can not be the work of so early an age. In reply to this half reasoning I say, that the work was not to serve as an interpreter to the PRECEDENT Irish language, but to give the derivation of Irish words most of which were then, and now are, in constant use; wherefore the learned O'Flaherty calls it the Etymological Book of Cormac, Bishop and King of Munster. The language is ancient, and EXTREMELY difficult, and many parts of it are perfectly unintelligible to those who read and understand only the modern Irish language. Ledwich's exclamations against this work are wild in the extreme; and in order to show the shallowness of his remarks, I shall set down here a few quotations from the Glossary, showing that parts of it might be quoted and understood, were it even the production of the third cen tury. It begins with the word ADAM, which is explained by the Latin, "homo vel terrigena, vel truncus." "Antichristus Græcè dicitur quod est Latinè contrarius Christo ant Graecé, contra Latinè significat." "ajmjn, ab eo quod est amænum" .1. ajbin. "nejnec, i. e. ajrcendac, ancor Græcè ercelsus Latinè dicitur." "ne (the name of a territory) de nomine jne jnjene Cozabal." 66 "airlinge .j. linge ar, vel absque linguâ J cen labras inte .j. jrin tengajd." "Annac .j. andaj, i. e. non dag, non bonum Dag Ebraicé bonum interpretatur; droċ Ebraicè malum interpretatur." buanand, quasi mater erat na jan." bo, (a cow,) nomen de sono factum est suæ vocis." "Manandan mac lin.j. cendujde amra boj j njnjr manand. ba he luamajne jr dec boj in jartar Domain. Ro kindad trja nemznact (J. tnja znatuzad jr njme .j. jn еojn) ja uajn no best in trojnend acor jn dojnend acor jn zan nor cloeclobad cecran de an ne; Inde Scotici Britonesque eum Deum vocaverunt maris, eum filium maris esse dixerunt, i. e. mac lin. De nomine Manandan Insula Monandain dicta est." From these quotations it is evident that many passages in this Glossary are quite intelligible to a Latin Scholar, and that by the assistance of the Latin part he might, without much difficulty, learn the signification of the Irish. As far as the mere explanation of words is concerned, this Glossary is not so unintelligible as Ledwich thought it should be if it were the production of the tenth century. It must be acknowledged, however, that many quotations given in this Glossary from the SEANCHUS MOR, and other tracts of the ancient laws of Ireland, and from the poetry of writers of the 7th and 8th centuries, are extremely difficult and unintelligible to all except those who have made ancient Irish lore their particular study and pursuit. The orthography, and even syntax of many passages in this Glossary, though quite different from the modern language of Ireland, are not however so disguised as to be altogether unintelligible, as we shall make appear in our next article upon this curious remnant of ancient Irish lore, which still remains as a kind of index to works which time has hurled into the gulph of oblivion. The Irish language has not suffered such violent changes as Ledwich endeavoured to prove; all our Irish scholars have asserted the contrary-as the learned O'Flaherty, in Ogygia, and Ogygia Vindicated; and Charles O'Conor, of Belanagare, in a note upon Ogygia Vindicated, p. 20, where he has the following words : 66 The Scotic language suffered, indeed, no alterations except such as the course of time necessarily introduces into every living tongue: new words are introduced, others become obsolete, and some innovations are made in the phraseology. When we compare the language of Brogan, Fiagh of Slebty, Columb-Kille, and other writers of the sixth century, with that of the writers of the tenth and eleventh, we will easily discover instances of such variations; and we have reason to wonder that the number is not considerable. Through the disuse of the Scotic language in the courts of the kings of Scotland, since the tenth century, and the neglect since that age of preserving it in Schools and literary compositions, the phraseology of the British Scots has suffered the corruptions unavoidable in dialects learned solely by the ear. It is thus in the dialects of the Vulgar Irish at present, although it be little more than a hundred years since the Schools wherein the Irish language hath been taught in its purity, have failed."Ogygia Vindicated, p. 20. JOHN O'DONOVAN. The unique and hitherto undescribed implement of war, of which the above woodcut is an exact representation, was found, some years since, in the county of Roscommon, and is now in the possession of Mr. Underwood, of Sandymount. It is of bronze, hollowed, so as to receive a handle at one end, and, perhaps a ball or spear at the other. Like all our very ancient weapons, its workmanship is of distinguished excellence; and we have not found any thing resembling it in the published antiquities of any other country. That the ancient Irish had war clubs called crannibh, appears from old authorities: in an insurrection in the Friary of St. Saviour, (county of Dublin,) in 1351, we are informed that some of the brethren were armed with P. clubs. (Mon. Hib. p. 208.) CURIOUS FACT. Many years ago, a man named Owen Cunningham, was employed by a gentleman in Mourne, to dig up a sallow tree of considerable magnitude, that encumbered a particular part of his garden. In the course of the work, the man was surprised to find at the bottom of the tree, a vessel which adhered firmly to its roots. On raising it up, it proved to be an anker of Geneva, which some person had buried there at a remote period, and had for |