AN IRISH CHIEFTAIN.

Southland Times, Volume VII, Issue 6, 6 July 1866, Page 3

AN IRISH CHIEFTAIN.

(From the Spectator.) Among tliß many triumphs of Irish imagination there is none more conspicuous than its legendary lore, and among Irish legends the most exquisite for simplicity and delicacy is one which has for iis scene Lough Lein, the fairest of the three lakes which have conferred a deserved celebrity upon Kilarney. The spot is indeed one which might well kindle into poetry a mind less impressionable than that of the peasant of Kerry. The lake, a miracle of miniature beauty, sleeps at the foot of loftiest mountains in Ireland, and of crags in which the eagle builds. The softness and wa-mth of the almost Italian atmosphere throw a charming languor around, the place. The brilliant green of the turf — the thickets of myrtle, arbutus, and a holly which clothe the banks and the islets — the grey, quaintshaped, lichen-clad rocks, which your guide call The O'Donoghue's castle, and prison; and library — transport you at once to fairy-land. Here alone should you hear the legend, for here alone can you f«el it. Eren the melodious verse of Moore, which keeps ringing in your ears, spoils the vision. You will best hear the tale from the lips of a peasant girl. On the Ist of May — so runs the story — a strange sight may be seen by the shores of the lake. No sooner does the sun begin to appear over the tops of the mountains than a wild strain of unearthly music rises from the rocks, and if there be present a spectator lately purified from his sins, a glorious pageant becomes visible. Troops of fairies spring from every nook and scatter over the surface of the water the loveliest of flowers. Then a trumpet sounds, and the crags assume once more their pristine form, of chapel and castle and donjon keep, and from under the archway fides out slowly upon a milk-white charger a princely, cavalier, dressed in the gorgeous habit of an ancient Irish chief. His horse treads the water as though it were solid ground, and the prince gazes sadly on his old homeAgain the fairy music rises, and swells, and sinks ; the horseman reaches the mid point of the lake, waves a farewell, and all the pageant disappears. But it is said those fortunate ones to whom the vision has been vouchsafed are ever after prosperous, and when, as sometimes happens, this favor has been bestowed on many, the golden age returns for a while, the fields are loaded with the harvest, and all the valley reaps the bounty of The O'Donoghue. The old family with whom this wild legend is connected has been always conspicuous in Irish annals. It claims descent from the Royal House of Munster, and is mentioned repeatedly in the chronicle of the Abbey of Innia-. fallen as the head of the Eognacht of Lough Lein. Among the most stubborn of the enemies of the English Pale during the Middle Ages were the chiefs of this powerful house. Nor when a partial subjugation of the native power had been effected, did they show themselves more inclined to submit. In 1603, the O'Donoghue of the Grlens was attainted. In 1689 his grandson was a general in the army of James 11. Rebellion was followed by confiscation, and but a small remnant was left of the vast estates which once formed the patrimony of this noble house. The chiefs sank in appearance — not in reality, as we shall presently show —to the position of country gentlemen. The present head of the family, a young man of much promise, and in many ways remarkable, is not only heir through his father to those traditions, but through his mother to the power and popularity of O'Connell. jfet though the mantle of the great demagogue has fallen upon him, he has little of the demagogue in his character, as in truth it would be difficult for one to have who has his old rank and power so j forcibly put before his mind in the mouldering towers of Ross castle, and the tombs where sleep the many chiefs of his House in the ruined chancel of Muckross Abbey. . The O'Donoghue, as we have known him here in England, has shown himself to be a young man of considerable ability, and has distinguished himself from the great majority of his colleagues, the Irish members, by a grace and delicacy which is too often absent in them. He has always advanced opinions which we should consider extreme in others, but which in him we almost admire while we condemn. On a late occasion, when bringing before the House of Commons a motion which was repugnant to the feelings of nine-tenths of his audience, he disarmed all hostility by his skilful deprecation : — " It is impossible for one who has come so much in. contact with Englishmen as I have to hate them." Nor did he make less impression by his personal appearance, for he is one oi' the handsomest men in Parliament. 3e showed ako that Irish eloquence is not yet extinct, and though he eaii never hope to reach, the mark of his uncle, he will undoubtedly make an excellent debater. There are one or two points in his character which, though not prominently exhibited, may contribute to diminish his value as a public man. He is vain, like many Irishmen ; he is extravagant, like most Irishmen ; and he cannot avoid, the unreason of extremes. If he can check these tendencies he may do a good work, for few hare such opportunities as he ; but if not, he will sink to the level of the Feargus O'Connors of the last generation.