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the risk of loss which results from the use of seed which is mixed with seeds of the dodder.

This I consider as a remarkable proof of the necessity of obtaining clean seed rather than cheap, and deserves in my opinion to be made generally known throughout Ireland by means of the Penny Journal. I conclude by saying to all cultivators of flax, When buying your seed, always ask for that from America, and do not be tempted by the cheaper but dirty seed from Russia, as by doing this you will avoid the most destructive weed to which the crop is liable.

C. C. B.

ORIGIN AND MEANINGS OF IRISH FAMILY NAMES.

BY JOHN O'DONOVAN.

First Article.

IT has for a long time appeared to me a desirable object, as regards the history of Ireland and the information of the Irish people, to communicate to the public a correct account of the origin and signification of the proper names, tribe names, and surnames of the people of Ireland; more especially as some of the popular writers of the last century have misled them generally into the most erroneous notions with regard to these classes of names. The errors of these writers have not only been adopted by the usually shallow compilers of county surveys, county histories, and other topographical works down to the present time, but also to some extent by writers of a higher order and greater learning and research, as Lanigan and Moore. Indeed, strange as the fact may seem, it is nevertheless unquestionable that there are very few in the country whose ideas upon this subject are consonant with the truth; and hence, upon most occasions on which an Irishman adopts an anglicised form of his Christian name and surname, the effect of the alteration is such as completely to conceal, and not unfrequently to misrepresent, their original orthography and meaning. On this account it becomes unavoidably necessary for me, before I enter upon the series of articles which I propose furnishing on this subject, to exhibit and expose the ignorance of those writers to whom I have alluded, and whose theories have produced so erroneous an impression upon the minds of the Irish people: and to this object I purpose to devote the present introductory paper.

The fallacies which I have to expose were unknown to the Irish people until towards the close of the last century: the writers of an earlier period having been too well informed to lead their readers into error. But their works being for the most part in a dead language, and very rarely to be met with, they ceased to have an influence on the public mind, and left the way open for a new race of writers, very ignorant of the ancient language and history of Ireland, to impose their crude theories upon the uninstructed reader. A society of such persons, of whom General Vallancey, Mr Beauford, and Dr Ledwich, were the most active, was formed for the purpose of giving to the public a series of essays on the antiquities, ancient literature, and topography of Ireland; and the result of their joint labours made its appearance in a work published periodically under the title of Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis," and since popularly called Vallancey's Collectanea. These gentlemen, however, after a time found that their systems had nothing in common, each considering the other as insufficiently informed on the subjects treated of, and I think, with justice; for, as I trust I shall be able to show on a future occasion, all were alike ignorant of the matters they professed perfectly to understand. But though the labours of these gentlemen contributed generally to the propagation of erroneous theories on the subject, it was a work of Mr Beauford's, published in No. 11 of the Collectanea, which, treating more immediately of this subject, has had the greatest influence on the popular mind; an influence less owing to any celebrity attached to his own name than to that of Vallancey, whose sanction and approbation this work is generally supposed to have received. With this writer originated the novel theory that the names of tribes and families in Ireland, as usual among the Saxons and Normans, were derived from earlier appellations of the territories and localities which they occupied. To establish this hypothesis he adopts a process of etymological investigation unparalleled in the annals of

Let not the reader confound this Beauford with the author of the ecare distinguished for their accuracy.

clesiastical map of Ireland, for the latter was Dr Beaufort, and his works

antiquarian research. In the first place, he takes the liberty of dividing the words into as many parts as he thinks proper; secondly, he makes such changes in the vocables thus obtained as he finds convenient to his purpose; thirdly, he gives each of these words new meanings of his own; and lastly, he places the tribes whose names he thus explains in localities which many of them never occupied.

As the errors of this writer, though so long before the public, have never been sufficiently exposed, I shall here undertake the task, by the exhibition of a few examples of his process of investigation, taken without selection, and given as a fair specimen of the whole. It will be necessary for me, however, in fairness, to quote in the first instance the author's own account of the theory which he has put forward to account, in his novel manner, for the origin of the names of men and tribes in Ireland.

"On the increase of population and the introduction of agriculture, these wandering tribes were under the necessity of confining themselves to certain permanent districts; which districts were generally denominated either from their situation or quality of the soil, and from which also the inhabitants obtained their collective appellation; whence, in the most ancient Irish poems and histories, we frequently find clan and slight added to the name of the country, to signify the inhabitants; as clan Cuilean, slioght Breoghain, and slioght Gae; wherefore the children and race of any division were the invariable names by which the ancient Hibernian septs were distinguished from the remotest antiquity, and not, as frequently asserted, the children and descendants of their respective leaders."

Again, "The chiefs of every district were elected from the elder branches of the dynasts; and the kings of the principalities from the senior chief of the subordinate districts, who on their advancement to the dignity obtained the name of the district or clan over which they presided; it being an univernoblesse, with their other appellations, from the place of their sal custom amongst all the Celtic tribes to denominate the residence; a custom in some measure yet retained in the Highlands of Scotland. The variety of names used by the ancient Irish have occasioned great confusion in their history; for before the tenth century surnames were not hereditary, and prior to the establishment of the Christian religion in this country no person was distinguished by one permanent nomination. It is true, during their pagan state every child at his birth received a name generally from some imaginary divinity under whose protection he was supposed to be; but this name was seldom retained longer than the state of infancy, from which period it was generally changed for others arising from some perfection or imperfection of the body, the disposition and qualities of the mind, achievements in war or the chace, the place of birth, residence, &c. so that it frequently happened that the same person was distinguished by several appellations. Our ancient historians, not properly attending to this, have committed great errors in relating the transactions of early periods, by asserting the same action to be performed by several different people, which in reality was performed by one only, thereby throwing their history and antiquities into too distant a period. A similar error has also been committed by not considering the dignitary names of the chiefs, who on their election to the government constantly obtained the name appertaining to the clan over whom they presided, or rather that of the district. These dignitary distinctions, created new difficulties to genealogists of latter names becoming in the tenth century hereditary and family ages."-Collectanea, vol. iii, p. 257.

Now, it will be very easy to prove that these assertions are wholly erroneous, and are mere conjectures, unsupported either by history or etymology. In the first place, the three instances above given to show that the words clan and slioght were prefixed to the names of territories among the Irish, instead of supporting the author's assumption, go to prove the very contrary, for in the first two instances the names adduced are not names of territories, but of men; and with regard to the third instance, there was no such name among the ancient tion! As for his assertion that in the time of paganism every Irish, and it is a pure fabrication of Beauford's own imaginachild at his birth received a name generally from some imagi nary divinity under whose protection he was supposed to be, it is another pure fabrication; there is no authority in any of our ancient documents that men were called after their pagan deities, except in three instances, in the darkest period of Irish history; and even from these it does not appear that

such names were given immediately after the birth of the individuals referred to, but that they assumed them after having arrived at the age of maturity. These instances are to be met with in ancient Irish MSS. concerning the history of the Tuatha De Dananns, a colony said to have preceded the Scoti in Ireland, at a period now generally believed to be beyond the reach of authentic history; but granting that what has been handed down to us concerning this colony is authentic, it does not follow from any thing stated that even among them every child at his birth received a name from a divinity under whose protection he was placed; for the sum of what has been handed down to us on this subject is, that on the arrival of the Scotic or Milesian colony in Ireland the Tuatha De Dananns were governed by three kings, who were distinguished by surnames derived from the names of the gods whom they worshipped. Thus, one of those kings, whose real name was Eochy, was, it is said, usually styled Mac Greine, because he worshipped the sun; the second, whose proper name was Eathur, was called Mac Cuill, because he worshipped the hazel tree, for I suppose men generally lived on nuts in his time; and the third, whose proper name was Teathur, was called Mac Ceachta, i. e. son of the plough, for he worshipped that useful implement as his god! We have no instance of men having been named after pagan deities but these three, and I venture to say that they are not sufficient to establish Beauford's hypothesis. But a stronger argument than this can be urged against his theory, namely, that among all the pagan names of men which have been preserved by our authentic annalists, not one appears to be called after a pagan deity; and if it had been a general custom to call children after such deities, it might be expected that at least a few of them would have been transmitted. Since, then, they have not been transmitted, how, I would ask, did Mr Beauford discover that such a custom had ever existed? It is true that after the establishment of Christianity in the fifth century, the descendants of the pagan Irish who entered into holy orders, or into the monastic state, had their pagan names sometimes changed, as we learn from the lives of the saints of the primitive Irish church, but no documents now remain to prove, or even suggest, that such a change had been made previous to the introduction of Christianity. It is undeniable that cognomens, epithets, or sobriquets, were frequently added to the first name from some warlike exploit, or from some perfection or imperfection of body, colour of hair, or disposition of mind; but this continued to be the custom in Christian times, and still continues so, but no authority has been discovered even to suggest that any change of the original pagan name had occurred previous to the introduction of Christianity; and we find that even long after that period many distinguished Irish bishops, abbots, and other ecclesiastics, bore the names of their pagan ancestors.

It is also a groundless assumption that the chief changed his name for that of the territory after his election to the government, or that the names of either the clan or district became surnames or family names in the tenth century. Can any one believe that Brian was the name of the territory of the O'Briens before the establishment of the name O'Brien? Was Donnell the name of the territory of the O'Donnells previous to the tenth century? Was Niall the name of the principality of the O'Neills?

So much then for Mr Beauford's general theory as put forward in the introduction to his work. I shall now proceed to show the equal fallacy of the etymological processes by which he attempts to sustain his theoretical assumptions in the work itself; namely, that the names of Irish tribes and families were derived from the situations and natural features of the territories they inhabited.

1. "CLANN CUILEAN, or the race or children of the corner of the water; called also Hy na mor, or the district of the sea; the chiefs of which were denominated Mac na mor aois, the sons of the elders of the sea, by contraction Macnamara," &c.

Now, what will be thought of all this etymological induction, when it can be proved from history that clann Cuileuin sig

nifies the race of Cullen?

The Cuilean or Cullen from whom this tribe took their name is found in the pedigree of Mac Namara, within the authentic period of Irish history, for he flourished in the eighth century, a period to which our authentic annals reach with perfect historical certainty. Let us then see how this meaning "children of the corner of the water" is obtained from the compound clann Cuileuin. Apparently by a very simple pro

cess, thus: clann means descendants, cuil means corner, and ean water; but regular as this process appears, it is nevertheless utterly fallacious, for the word clann means children or descendants relatively to an ancestor, not to a locality; and though the name Cuileain (now anglicised Cullen or Collins) when cut in two, would apparently make the words cuil and ean, still the word is not compounded of cuil, a corner, and ean, water, for the first syllable is short, and the last syllable is a diminutive termination of the same power with the Latin ulus, as in the compounds campulus, colliculus, catulus; and the word cuilean, whether taken as a common noun substantive or as a proper name, is synonymous with the Latin catulus, or Catullus.

The next assertion above made, that clann Cuileain was also called Hy na mor, is untrue, for the name Hy na mor had never any existence except in Mr Beauford's fancy; and even if it had, the meaning given for it would not be correct, for hy does not properly mean district, nor does mor mean sea. The assertion that the chiefs of clann Cuileain were called Mac na mor aois is also untrue, for the name was never so written by any one except Mr Beauford. They were uniformly called Mic Conmara, as being the descendants of Cu-mara, who was chief of the clann Cuileain in the tenth century; and the name Cumara, signifying hero of the sea, was first given to a chief of this family, from his being an expert seaman, not from his dwelling on the sea, for the clann Cuileain or Mac Namaras were not located on the sea, or near the sea, but in an inland territory in the south-east of the county of Clare. CINEAL EOGHEAN, or Cean all Eoghain, from cean thuath oll Eogh-an, pronounced Connal Owen, or the principal division of the northern county of the Oll or Bolgæ, an ancient district in the province of Ulster, comprehending originally the present counties of Tyrone, Armagh, Donegal, and part of the county of Derry, being the ancient divisions of Eirgal or Orgall," &c.

2.

66

Here the name Cineal Eoghain, which had been translated genus Eoghain, i.e., race or progeny of Eoghan, by all the early Irish writers, is made to signify the principal division of the northern county of the Oll or Bolga. Let us examine how this interpretation has been wrested from Cineal Eoghain. In the first place, he spells the name incorrectly, though we cannot see that he gains any point by doing so; next he takes asunder what he conceives to be its component parts, first metamorphosing the word Cineal, which is cognate with the Latin genus and the English kind, kindred, into Cean all, which he made to signify " principal division," and resolving Eoghan, a man's name, into Eogh-an, to make it signify I know not what; but as the four vocables thus obtained would not answer his purpose, he took the liberty of adding one more of his own coining, thus making five distinct words of the two original ones. But even allowing that these five vocables are legitimately obtained from the two original ones, I have still a further objection to them, for they do not grammatically coalesce, or bear the meaning he affixes to them, as there is no word among the five to express principal division or county. And granting further that the five words thus formed could really bear the signification he gives them, it would not follow that the name Cineal Eoghain is so compounded, while in opposition to the testimony of all authentic history; and we have the testimony of all the authentic Irish annals, the lives of the Irish apostle, and of the most ancient genealogical books, to prove that the great northern race called Cineal Eoghain took that appellation from their great ancestor Eoghan (the son of Niall of the Nine Hostages), who was contemporary with St Patrick, as did a neighbouring race that of Cineal Conaill, from Eoghan's brother, Conall Gulban.

But the supporters of Mr Beauford's system may say that although it may be true that the Cineal Eoghain took their appellation from their ancestor Eoghan, still that this EOGHAN may have taken his name from the territory over which he ruled. I answer, that this does not bear even the semblance of probability, for we have the authority of Cormac's Glossary for asserting that the proper name Eoghan (still used as a man's name in every part of Ireland, and anglicised Owen and Eugene) was understood by the ancient Irish literati to signify the good offspring, or the goodly born, and this looks much more probable than the signification which Mr Beauford wrings from it, for the Irish had many other names similarly compounded, as Finghin (now Florence), meaning the fair offspring; Coemhghin (now Kevin), the beautiful offspring, &c. Thus it appears that Beauford's derivation of the tribe name of Cineal Eoghain is a mere etvmological

phantasy, unsupported by history or etymology. I have also to mention that the extent he gives to the territory of this tribe is too great, for it never comprised the one-fourth part of the present county of Donegal, or any part of Armagh. But I am exceeding the space allowed me for this article, and must defer the remaining examples till next number.

LETHE: AN ALLEGORY.
BY J. U. U.

Has it e'er crossed thy fancy to explore
The mystery of that old forgetful river
In which the Shade, permitted to renew
Its servitude to clay, went down to drink
Oblivion of itself and all it was:

A dread completion of the work of Death!

Now lend a patient hearing, and I'll tell thee
---Thou wilt receive it as a wayward dream-
The course of this old river. Know it glides
Beneath thy steps, with lapse invisible,
For but by glimpses mortals may behold it;
And these seem far too glorious for one thought
Of dull oblivion ever to intrude

On the rapt vision. Not a shadow there
From gloomy Hades clouds the living light
That glances gaily down the rippling stream.
But past description's power, 'tis loud and bright
With trumpet voices, and with silken sails
Full-blown with Fortune's breath; while from the bank
Hope lifts her siren strain, and bids them speed
For ever on to happy isles afar.

And every ripple teems with springing thoughts--
In one sense faithful to the Samian's creed-

A constant iteration of old fancies

As if the wise and fools of time came back
With their old dreams: forgetful of experience.
There system swells on system, bubbles gay,
Conventions, empires, powers, authorities,
Song's intellectual fabric, pictures, modes,
Those myriad lights, the glory and the glitter
Which make that current gaily beautiful.
And so it rolls, in its magnificence.
Tumbling and sparkling up into the sun
Like an eternal thing: buoyant and bright
Beneath the airs of Heaven that murmur mirth
And hope, and life, and pauseless interest.
While on its living course no spot is seen
That is not far too bright and glorious
For the approach of grim decay, or that
More mighty and more terrible shadow Death
To find a cave to lurk in.

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New shadows fast emerge into the Sun

(So like the last, that scarce one notes the change),

And take a look of immortality,

Incredulous of the Past, blind to the Future;
Not knowing whence they come, from what they are,
Or whither tend. Alas, the stream
With all that went before, is lost below

In dim Oblivion's world: It were a dream
Most fleeting and fantastic, were there not
A chain of awful consequence that binds
What has been, with what must be. Death and Life,
The Past, the Present, and the Future, are
But names bestowed on one perpetual stream,
In different provinces beneath the Crown

Of Him who is the source from whence all comes
And to whom all returns-we see no more
But as the gazer from some narrow bridge
Looks down upon the waters, when beneath
They come from far, and so pass, and are gone.

THE DOMESTIC MAN.-There is no being of the masculine gender whom "the sex" so heartily despise as the domestic man. He is an anomaly a sort of half-way house between the sexes-a concentration of weaknesses-a poor driblet of humanity-a vile caudle-drinker an auditor of laundress's bills-an inquisitor of the nursery-a fellow that likes his bed warmed, and takes note of the decay of carpets a reader of works on " cookery" and a "treatise on teething" a pill bolter-a man that buys his wife's gowns and his children's dresses-a scolder of maid-servants-a frequenter of the kitchen-a person who can tell you the price of treacle, and how long a mop should last a gazer at butchers' windows-a consumer of ginger wine-a slop eater—a market visitor a tea maker-Faugh! He looks like the aborigine of a bed-room. He is lean and bilious-delights in black gaiters and a brown greatcoat. He gives his little bandy-legged child a walk in the Park, where he is taken for a brother of one of the nursery maids in delicate health. He entertains his visitors with his discoveries of the tricks of bakers and the machinations of grocers-ennuies them to death with long stories about bad bread, and "coffee without adulteration." He always knows what is to be for dinner, what remains in the larder and employs his gigantic intellect in considering the best mode of cooking it. He is naturally fretful and peevish, and in cold weather has a helplessness of aspect peculiar to himself. These men never look like Englishmen. They never acquire that manly bluff appearance which is the character of our nation. God knows what is the matter with them, but they always seem out of sorts. Their features are sharptheir voices are effeminate, and they are nearly all of them "troubled with colds." The business of life with them is to regulate the affairs of housekeeping-their tastes, habits, thoughts, and rivalries, are womanish. Their conversation is about "poor Mrs" this, and "poor Lady" that antiquated matrons, with whom they occasionally compare notes in matters of condolence-yet who have enough of the spirit of their sex in them to despise their male coadjutor, and in their souls they think "poor Mr" so-and-so the greatest bore alive. They are always complaining; if not positively unwell themselves a case of rare occurrence-some of their family is sure to be so-or, if all that should fail, then, at least, a dish has been broken, and there is always a number of standing grievances ready to be produced when occasion requires. "Well, heaven help them !" as Shakspeare says, "for they are sad fools." They live a long time, these fellows, but they die at last all the pills and possets in the world will not avert death. The passenger who sees the hearse and mutes, thinks some rational being has died-the stranger, who reads the tombstone, thinks that a man moulders below. But are they deceived? We think so.- -COURT GAZETTE.

PETRARCH'S OPINION OF MONEY.-He who expends it properly, is its master; he who lays it up, its keeper; he who loves it, a fool; he who fears it, a slave; and he who adores it, an idolator.

The whole of human virtue may be reduced to speaking the truth always, and doing good to others.

Many an acknowledged truth was once a controverted dogma; the basis of every science has been considered a fundamental error.

Truth is the most compendious wisdom, and an excellent instrument for the speedy dispatch of business. It creates confidence in those we have to deal with, saves the labour of many inquiries, and brings things to issue in a few words. -Spectator.

Let us hope the best rather than fear the worst, and believe that there never was a right thing done, or a wise one spoken in vain, although the fruit of them may not spring up in the place designated, or at the time expected.

George II., being informed that an impudent printer was to be punished for having published a spurious King's speech, replied, that he hoped the punishment would be of the mildest sort, because he had read both, and as far as he understood either of them, he liked the spurious speech better than his

own.

Printed and published very Saturday by GUNN and CAMERON, at the Office of the General Advertiser, No. 6, Church Lane, College Green, Dublin.— Agents :-R. GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row, London; SIMMS and DINHAM, Exchange Street, Manchester; C. DAVIES, North John Street, Liverpool; SLOCOMBE & SIMMS, Leeds, JOHN MENZIES, Prince's Street, Edinburgh; & David Robertson, Trongate, Glasgow.

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THE fine old mansion of the noble family of Skeffington, of at Massarene and Lough Sidney, or Lough Neagh, with an which our prefixed wood-cut will give a very correct general entertainment of five shillings Irish by the day, and 18 men to idea, is well deserving of notice, not only from its grandeur of serve in and about the said boats, at ten-pence Irish by the size and the beauty of its situation, but still more as present-day each. This grant was made to him by patent for life, in ing an almost unique example, in Ireland, of the style of domestic architecture introduced into the British islands from France, immediately after the Restoration.

This castle is generally supposed to have been erected in or about the year 1662, by Sir John Clotworty, Lord Massarene, who died in 1665, and whose only daughter and heir, Mary, by her marriage with Sir John, the fifth baronet of the Skeffington family, carried the Massarene estate and title into the latter family. But though there can be no doubt, from the architectural style of the building, that Antrim castle was re-edified at this period, there is every reason to believe that it was founded long before, and that it still preserves, to a great extent, the form and walls of the original structure. The Castle of Antrim, or Massarene, as it is now generally called, appears to have been originally erected early in the reign of James I., by Sir Hugh Clotworthy, who, by the es. tablishment of King James I. had the charge of certain boats

1609; and on a surrender of it to the king in 1618, it was re-granted to him, and his son and heir John Clotworthy, with a pension of six shillings and eight-pence per day, and to the longer liver of them for life, payable out of the revenue. For this payment Sir Hugh Clotworthy and his son were to build and keep in repair such and so many barks and boats as were then kept upon the lough, and under his command, without any charge to the crown, to be at all times in readiness for his Majesty's use, as the necessity of his service should require. John Clotworthy succeeded his father as captain of the barks and boats, by commission dated the 28th January 1641, at 15s. a-day for himself; his lieutenant, 4s.; the master, 4s. ; master's mate, 2s.; a master gunner, Is. 6d. ; two gunners, 12d.; and forty men at 8d. each.

On the breaking out of the rebellion shortly afterwards, the garrison at Antrim was considerably increased, and the fortifications of the castle and town were greatly strengthened

by Sir John Clotworthy, who became one of the most distinguished leaders of the parliamentary forces in the unhappy conflict which followed. Still commanding the boats of Lough Neagh, that magnificent little inland sea, as we may not very improperly call it, became the scene of many a hard contest between the contending parties, of one of which Sir R. Cox gives the following graphie account. It took place in 1642. "But the reader will not think it tedious to have a description of a naval battel in Ireland, which happened in this manner: Sir John Clotworthy's regiment built a fort at Toom, and thereby got a convenience to pass the Ban at pleasure, and to make incursions as often as he pleased into the county of Londonderry. To revenge this, the Irish garrison at Charlemont built some boats, with which they sailed down the Blackwater into Loughneagh and preyed and plundered all the borders thereof. Hereupon, those at Antrim built a boat of twenty tun, and furnished it with six brass guns; and they also got six or seven lesser boats, and in them all they stowed three hundred men, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Owen O'Conally (the discoverer of the rebellion, who was a stout and active man) and Captain Langford. These sailed over the lough, and landed at the mouth of the Black-water, where they cast up two small forts, and returned. But the Irish found means to pass by these forts, in dark nights, and not only continued their former manner of plundering, but also raised a small fort at Clanbrazill, to protect their fleet upon any emergency. Upon notice of this, Conally and Langford manned out their navy again, and met the Irish near the shore of Clanbrazill; whereupon a naval battel ensued: but the rebels being fresh-water soldiers, were soon forced on shore; and the victors pursuing their fortune, followed them to the fort, and forced them to surrender it: and in this expedition sixty rebels were slain, and as many were taken prisoners, which, together with the boats, were brought in triumph to Antrim."

But Sir John Clotworthy's little fleet were not always so successful against the Irish as on this occasion. In an Irish MS. journal of the rebellion it is stated that on the 15th September 1645, a boat belonging to the governor of Massarene was captured by Sir Felim O'Neil, in which were two brass cannon, ten muskets, twelve barrels of salted fish, some sailors, and a company of soldiers. They brought it to the mouth of the river Black-water, at Charlemont. The journalist coolly adds, "Some of the men were hanged, and some redeemed!" And again, according to the same authority, in May 1646, Sir Felim had the good fortune to capture seven boats, taking fourteen men prisoners, and killing above twenty more. However, upon the whole, the governor of Massarene did good service to the cause of the Protector, for which, in consideration of the surrender of his pension of 6s. 8d. a-day, &c, an indenture was perfected on the 14th of August 1656 between the Protector and him, whereby a lease was granted him for 99 years of Lough Neagh, with the fishing and soil thereof, and the islands therein, and also the lough and river of Ban, and as far as the Salmon-leap, containing six salmonfishings, and two mixed fishings of salmon and eels, &c.; and being instrumental in forwarding the restoration of King Charles II. after Cromwell's death, he was raised to the peerage by patent, dated at Westminster, Nov. 21, 1660, by the title of Baron of Lough Neagh and Viscount Massarene, entailing the honours, in case of failure of his issue male, on Sir John Skeffington and his issue male, with whom they have since remained. A new patent, constituting Sir-John Skeffington captain of Lough Neagh, was granted to him in 1680.

We shall conclude with a few words upon the castle itself, which is beautifully situated at the extremity of the principal street of the town of Antrim, on the banks of the Six-milewater river, and immediately contiguous to Lough Neagh. The entrance from the town is through a fine gate-house, in the Tudor style of architecture, built of cut lime-stone, and closed by two folding-doors of cast iron, which are opened from a room overhead by means of machinery. The principal front of the castle faces the gate-house, and is in the centre of a curtain wall, connecting two large square towers placed at the angles of the building, and which again have smaller circular towers at three of their angles. This front is approached by a magnificent double stone staircase, and presents a great variety of enrichments in the French style of the seventeenth century, and is also decorated with shields having the armorial bearings of the founder's family, and with medallions containing the portraits of Charles I. and II.

The greatest length of the castle, however, runs parallel with the river, from which it is separated only by a low parapet wall, while the terraces of the gardens are situated on the other side. These gardens are no less attractive than the castle itself, with which they appear to be of equal age; they are laid out in the French style, the flower-beds being formed into a variety of patterns, among which that of the fleur-delis is the most common and conspicuous. This design is in its way extremely beautiful, and to carry it out fully, no expense or trouble seems to have been spared. The borders are often of triple and quadruple rows of box, between which is laid fine gravel of different colours, which adds greatly to the effect. It is said that a red kind of this gravel was imported from Holland, and cost upwards of 1s. 2d. a quart. This garden is traversed from east to west by a succession of fish-ponds, of which the most central one is circular, and the rest oblong: ànd miniature cascades conduct the water from the most elevated of these ponds to the lowest. The timber in this garden is of great age and beauty, particularly the lime and oak; and it contains two or three specimens of the rhododendron, which are celebrated for their magnificence, being fully fifteen feet in height, and of corresponding circumference.

The house contains some fine pictures and curious articles of antique furniture. P.

ORIGIN AND MEANINGS OF IRISH FAMILY NAMES.

BY JOHN O'DONOVAN. Second Article.

IN returning to the subject of the origin of Irish family names, I feel it necessary to adduce two or three additional instances of the erroneous statements put forward by Mr Beauford, as they have had such an injurious influence with subsequent Irish writers on this subject:

3. "OSRAGII, derived from Uys raigagh, or the kingdom between the waters, the present Ossory, called also Hy Paudruig, or the district of the country between the rivers, &c., the hereditary chiefs of which were denominated Giolla Paudruig, or the chief of the country between the rivers, called also Mac Giolla Padruic," &c.

This seems an exquisite specimen of etymological induction, and I have often heard it praised as beautiful and ingenious; but it happens that every assertion made in it is untrue! Osragii is not the Irish name of this territory, but the Latinized form of the name of the inhabitants. Again, Osragii is not compounded of Uys and raigagh; and even if it were, these two vocables are not Irish words, and could not mean what is above asserted, the kingdom between the waters. Again, Ossory was never called Hy Pau-druic, and even if it were, Hy Pau-druic would not mean "district of the country between the rivers." Next, the hereditary chiefs were not denominated Giolla Paudruic, but Mic Giolla Paudruic (a name afterwards anglicized Fitzpatrick), from an ancestor called Giolla Paudruic, who was chief of Ossory in the tenth century, and who is mentioned in all the authentic Irish annals as having been killed by Donovan, the son of Imar, king of the Danes of Waterford, in the year 975. Moreover, Giolla-Phadruic, the name of this chieftain, does not mean "chief of the country between the rivers," as Mr Beauford would have us believe, but servant of Saint Patrick, which, as a man's name, became very common in Ireland shortly after the introduction of Christianity, for at this time the Irish were accustomed to give their children names not only after the Irish apostle, but also after other distinguished saints of the primitive Irish church; and the names of these saints were not at this period adopted as the names of the children, but the word Giolla, or Maol, servant, was generally prefixed to the names of the saints to form those of the children: thus, Giolla Padruic, the servant of St Patrick; Giolla Ciarain, the servant of St Kieran; Giolla Caoimhghin, the servant of St Kevin; Giolla Coluim, the servant of St Columb, &c.

4. "CONMAICNE MARA, or the chief tribe on the great sea, comprehending the western parts of the county of Galway on the sea coast; it was also called Conmaicne ira, or the chief tribe in the west, and Iar Connaught, that is, west Connaught; likewise Hy Iartagh, or the western country; the chiefs of which were denominated Hy Flaherty or O'Flaherty, that is, the chief of the nobles of the western country, and con

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