having died in travail of her first child; as is stated by the earl in his own account of his life.-Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, vol. i. p. 152. A. D. 1604, according to Cox, this house was repaired by the fraternity. Their work is quite visible in various portions of the edifice, which they inhabited nearly to the middle of the last century. To the north-west of the friary, and about thirty yards from it, stands a square tower; it is described by Smith as being called Cullin, and as having been built by an earl of Desmond who retired there. By the peasantry it is called Caislane Caoimhin, but it appears to me to have been a portion of the conventual buildings. Its position shows it to have occupied the external angle of the square plan on which all the Franciscan houses are constructed; one or more towers are generally found connected with monastic edifices in this country, as at Ballybeg and at Bridgetown, both in this neighbourhood; at O'Dorney, in Kerry, where the entrance to the conventual buildings was through a gate tower; in fact, many of our ecclesiastical buildings were strongly fortified, of which Cashel is an illustration-a precaution rendered necessary by the troubled state of the country, during the middle ages. This tower is now built into and connected with a new Roman Catholic chapel, lately erected from the designs of Charles Cotterel, Esq., of Cork; it is Gothic, of the Perpendicular period; and, when fully completed, will become one of the handsomest places of worship in the south of Ireland. Before I conclude this portion of my subject, I would wish to make a short statement relative to a late attempt made to arrest the destruction of the friary. In 1851, Mr. Windele, of Cork, and I visited Buttevant; we found the remains of this ancient building in a very dangerous and ruinous state. A large portion of the north wall of the nave had fallen, there was a fearful breach in the north wall of the chancel, which hourly threatened a fall, and which in all likelihood would have broken through the arching of the crypt, destroying that interesting feature, and have left the east gable in a very precarious condition; the walls were full of breaches, and the tombs and windows in a state of dilapidation, added to which the rubbish of the fallen tower and walls encumbered the nave and chancel to the height of several feet, and the whole place was open to every sort of outrage and desecration. Mr. Windele immediately suggested the raising of a small fund by subscription, to be expended in such repairs as would arrest the hand of destruction, and at least perpetuate a little longer so interesting a monument. He immediately set to work with his usual zeal and energy, and, by the liberality of a few individuals, some of whom are, I believe, connected with this Society, we were enabled to command a sum which, economically applied, effected the following objects: The clearing out several hundred tons of loose stone and rubbish, and levelling the interior; the rebuilding the fallen portion of the nave to a sufficient height to prevent trespassers; the building up the breach in the north wall of the chancel; the filling up a number of breaches internally and externally in various parts of the building; the pinning and securing several of the window arches; the securing permanently the arching of a portion of the crypt, and the placing doors on the crypt and nave to prevent indiscriminate intrusion. A great number of fragments of broken columns, sculptured stones, capitals, bases, pieces of mouldings, &c., having been collected during the repairs, for their future preservation and for the convenience of examination, I had them built into portions of the new work, where they form a sort of medieval museum for the curious. I mention these matters, not only for the satisfaction of those who have contributed to the work, but also to stimulate the zeal of others in entering on works of similar character, it being a melancholy fact, that most of our national monuments are falling to ruin, and in a few years little will remain to us of the past, unless this and similar societies stimulate and excite national feeling for their preservation. We were materially assisted in these repairs by the exertion and liberality of the Rev. C. Buckley, parish priest of Buttevant, who contributed the necessary materials; the subscriptions being expended in paying for labour alone. NUNNERY OF ST. JOHN.-Smith states that a short distance from the friary are the remains of another ruin, supposed to be a portion of a nunnery dedicated to St. John, or Owen, but of which we have no particulars. The only corroboration I can find of this statement, is in a portion of an ancient wall opposite the entrance gate to Buttevant castle, which exhibits a small trefoil-headed two-light window, and built into the wall is a long stone, apparently the upper portion of the jamb of a deeply recessed door-way, which must have been enriched with shafts, as the moulded caps are worked on the stone, being very clearly and sharply cut; this wall is over three feet in thickness. LOMBARD'S CASTLE.-The building described as Lombard's castle, by Smith and various tourists and writers, is situated at the west side of the main street, near the market place: it appears to me to have been more the substantial mansion of some wealthy burgher than a purely defensive structure. Its principal remaining features are a square tower of small dimensions and inconsiderable height that juts into the street, and a portion of the front wall containing remains of square-headed mullioned windows and pointed doors. The masonry of the remaining portions of the building is of excellent character; it is said to have been built by a Galway man who found a treasure in it. The Lombard family were formerly of considerable importance in this part of the country; the tomb of Nicholas Lombard I have shown as being in the chancel. Lodge states that Gregory Lombard, gent., had the wardship of David, viscount Buttevant, who was created first earl of Barrymore.2 1 Smith's History of Cork, vol. i. p. 314. 295. Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, vol. i. p. FOLK-LORE. No. II. BY MR. PATRICK CODY. As the mountain, the well, the river, and the lake are alike hallowed by the association of some popular legend bearing on the superstitions of the early inhabitants of this country; and as these legends tend in some degree to elucidate ancient beliefs and customs, I venture to submit to the Society some traditional relations connected with the baronies of Ida and Iverk, in the county of Kilkenny. The first legend which I shall give is one connected with the traditional history of Holly Lake, called in Irish, Loch Cuillinn, in the parish of Gaulskill, and barony of Ida. It is an article of popular belief that Tory hill, which rises over Loch Cuillinn, was formerly the theatre of Pagan worship for the people of the surrounding country. On one of these solemn occasions, the worship being ended, athletic games and feats of activity were commenced, the people being all assembled on the faiċċe, or plain, now the townland of Fahee, so called in contra-distinction to the part intermediate to that and Tory hill, which was then embosomed in the shade of a thick and lofty wood, and called in the language of the people of that day Coll-mór, but now known by the name of Big-wood, though not a shrub remains. The game of caman, or hurling, being a favourite amusement with the people, it formed on this occasion the leading feature in their sports. The opposing parties were distinguished by the peculiarity of their hurls or battens, composed of cuillionn, holly, or coll, hazel: tri fjċċid caman cuillinn, agus caman coll; six score of the most active youths were chosen and matched against each other-sixty on a side. The preliminaries being gone over, and a lot cast for the wind, the ball was flung aloft in the air, and the eager parties rushed forward to the contest. The struggle for victory was long and ardent, and as one party neared the goal they were again repulsed by the dexterity of their antagonists. At length, from excessive exercise, one man became exhausted with thirst, and directing his way to the nearest group of spectators, he entreated them for some drink. An old woman in the crowd, who was not known to any of the party, directed him to a tuft of rushes growing on the plain, telling him to pull up one of the rushes, and that a most refreshing water would follow it, with which he might allay his thirst, giving him, at the same time, a positive injunction to put the rush back again in its place when he should have drunk sufficiently. He went as directed, drew forth the rush, and drank to his satisfaction of the most exquisite water, which soon restored him to his wonted vigour. It happened the County of Kilkenny, printed in the Society's Transactions, vol. i. pp. 362-72.EDS. This tradition has been already, but more briefly, narrated by Dr. O'Donovan, in his valuable paper on the Traditions of at this moment that the ball was driven towards him with the velocity of an arrow the opportunity was irresistible; forgetful of the old woman's command, he dropped the rush and sprang forward, seized the ball, and hurried with it, despite all opposition, to the eagerly sought for goal, and thus gained the victory. The shouts of his companions and of the applauding spectators were now raised in approbation, but scarcely had these shouts reached the neighbouring hills, when the whole party was overwhelmed by the waters which rushed with ungovernable fury from the place from which the rush had been drawn. The astonished spectators made a speedy departure from the scene of such a terrific disaster, the old woman disappeared from the crowd, for she was a fairy, or an enchantress, and the voice of fame has recorded the catastrophe of the party in the following Irish words, of which I give a translation :: Trí fjċċid camán cuillinn, agus caman coll, A bażad an Loċ Cujllinn ajdṁeall. Ah! sad their fate, six score young heroes brave Thus, tradition assigns the origin of the Loch Cuillinn to this circumstance; the holly tree, from which the hurls of the winning or victorious party were made, being named cuillionn in the Celtic language. It is further related, that for many succeeding ages, it frequently happened, that when the full moon had silvered over the calm bosom of the lake, the caman players were again seen contending on its surface, and, after a protracted and violent struggle, one party eventually gained the goal; unearthly shouts seemed to arise, which floated in wild reverberations round the distant hills; the lake became unusually agitated, the hurlers seemed to be again ingulfed in its waters, and the last expiring echo died away in the bottom of the lake. The old woman was then heard on the Faithche (Fahee) exulting in fiendish cachinnations over this phantom of destruction, and crying out in a loud voice, “an luaċajri! an luaċajr !”—“ the rushes! the rushes !" There is another tradition connected with the name of this lake and hill, which forms one of the Fenian metrical romances, still orally preserved amongst the Irish-speaking people of the district. It relates that as Fionn Mac Cumhaill was one day looking out of a window in the royal palace of Cruaghan, he saw a hare pass by, one side of whose head shone with a resplendent golden hue, and the other side was of a dazzling silvery white. Fionn was astonished at such an appearance, and eagerly desired to give her chase, but his favourite hound, Bran, was not at hand. The next morning the Fenian general stood looking out of the same window, Bran lay at his feet; the hare passed by again, and he instantly roused the hound to the chase. Away fly hare and hound over the dewy lawn. The welkin rings as Bran |