A ROYAL RESIDENCE IN THE EMERALD ISLE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4247, 30 October 1874, Page 3

A ROYAL RESIDENCE IN THE EMERALD ISLE.

(Correspondence of the New. York Herald.) Dublin, August 6, 1874. There has been recently some talk in the English Parliament with regard to the propriety of establishing in Ireland a residence for the Queen or for some other member of the Royal Family. The friends of such a project declare that if the Queen, or a member of her family, were to reside in Ireland for two or three months in each year, this would tend, in a great measure, to make the Irish people happy, contented, and loyal, while, on the other hand, those who do not much care for royalty or loyalty, assert that the mere residence of a royal personage in Ireland would be a very poor way indeed of wiping out the sense of wrong under which the people smart. The Queen decidedly shows her preference for Scotland. The Scottish people are attached to her and she unquestionably is attached to them, and she shows this attachment by her visits every year to_Babnoral. This cannot be said of the Irish as regards the Queen. To all intents and purposes she has kept aloof from them. During her long reign of thirty-eight years she has been but three times in Ireland—in 1849, 1852, and in 1801 or 1862. But if the Queen should take it into her head to reside in Ireland, where would she find a suitable castle or palace in which to set up her establishment, and accommodate her servants and followers. The Castle of Dublin is a dingy and dirty old building, and the Vice-regal Lodge in the Phcenix Park is not much better. The noblemen and gentlemen of Ireland—many of them—have splendid country seats ; but there are very few of these that would be large enough for the accommodation of a royal household. Her Majesty is said to be exceedingly fond of wild, romantic scenery, such as she finds in the Highlands of Scotland ; but she has never yet been in the Irish Highlands—the wilds of Comiemara—where lake and mountain and sea and cliff and glen lend to the scenery an attraction that cannot be found in any other part of the Green Isle. If she went there she would find a castle, the doors of which would bo hospitably thrown open to her, and to the members of her family. Of this castle I propose to give a description, and make reference to its somewhat remarkable and wealthy owner. Any tourist from America who has visited Conuemara, or the Irish Highlands, as they are sometimes called, situated in the western part of the island, will recollect the beautiful valley of Kylemore, which the traveller passes through on the road from Westport to Clifden. Kylemore Mountain, which is nearly all covered ovor with a growth of natural wood, overlooks a lake of the same name, and opposite the Kylemore Mountain several of the hills known as the "Twelve Pins of Comiemara" rise grandly into view, the "Diamond Mountain," so called from the brightness of the rocks on its sides, and its crest of a whitish color, being the most prominent. The public road for a considerable distance runs along the northern shore of the lake, and at or near a stone, termed by the country people, "The Smoothing Iron," because of its peculiar shape, Kylemore Mountain, with its frowning rocks overhangs the road, and gives to the whole place an aspect of savage grandeur, almost overpowering to behold. Not far from this remarkable spot stands tho castlo of Kylemore, tho princely residenco of Mr. Mitchell Henry, who owns tho castlo and thousands of acres of tho adjoining lands. Mr. Mitchell Henry is now tho senior member in the English Parliament for tho county of Galway, in which county his Irish property is situate. Nothing can exceed tho esteem in which he is held by tho people, and his popularity is so great, that ho can .retain his placo in the House of Commons aa long as ho pleases. The castlo is a noble and stately building. From its towers all the waters of tho lako can be distinctly seen, and in the background risos up as a wall tho mountain of Kylemore, through the woods and crags of which winding paths meet you at every turn. Tho terrace of tho castle fronts on tho public road ; but Mr. Henry, feeling that tho thoroughfare is too near his residence, has, at his own oxpeuse, constructed a new road further away from tho castle. This new road will be soon opened, and tho view from it will bo far bettor than that afforded by the old one. It would be impossible for me within tho limits of thiH correspondence to describe the beauty and grandeur of tho interior of the castlo. Tho door of tho principal entranco is made of oak which, was taken from St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, when Sir Benjamin Loo Guinness was restoring that structure ; and this oaken door is almost as hard as iron. Tho hall presents baronial proportions ; tho drawing-rooms, dining-rooms, and bed-rooms aro furnished with every luxury that wealth could secure or art suggest. In one of the dining-rooms I noticed a sideboard carved in the most exquisite manner. Tho carvings represented fruits, flowers, and vegetables, and a head of Ceres, the Goddess of Plenty. The work was the finest of this description that I have ever seen, and it may havo taken a year or two to execute. When I visited tho castlo on the 3rd inst, the family were not at home, but Mr. Henry was momentarily expected there for a few dayß

preparatory to his departure with his family for Egypt, where they intend making a prolonged sojourn. The gardens of Kylemore are about half a mile distant from the castle. They are surrounded by a high brick wall, and are of considerable extent. The conservatories and hothouses aro not equalled by anything of the sort in any other part of Ireland, and it may safely be said that for elegance and care they are exceeded but by few in England. The air was loaded with a perfume that came from beds of flowers, and also from flowers growing in baskets, the baskets being suspended in the air. The effect was delightful, especially if one remembered that he was standing within a mile or two of the Atlantic Ocean, on the wild western coast of Ireland, where the furious sea hurls its mists and rains and fogs against the sides of the mountains, and the tempest sweeps so much in the same direction as to cause the trees and shrubs to incline their heads towards the east. In the hothouses I saw oranges and bananas gi'owing. I have spoken of the Diamond Mountain. Some days after my visit to Kylemore gardens I walked to the top of the Diamond. It must be nearly 2000 ft. above the level of the sea. From this elevated position I could see the islands, commencing with Achill, on the coast of Mayo, to Innisturk, Shark, and Innisboffin, on the coast of Galway. I could also see the gardens and castle of Kylemore, lying calmly in the valley and looking placid and beautiful, unless when a storm of rain swept over them, as one did while your correspondent sat under a sheltered spot, close to the crest of the mountain, watching the winding of the Davris Biver, as it flowed along from the Lake of Kylemore into the sea at the bridge of Derinver. It was a sight that I cannot soon forget. Now, if Her Majesty the Queen could only | strike a bargain with Mr. Mitchell Henry and buy his castle, she could have a castle in Ireland in every way worthy of royalty. Mr. Henry is proud of his grand residence, and well he may be. He may or may not be disposed to sell it. He has laid out between £200,000 and £300,000 on the purchase of the land, the building of the castle, and the im2>rovement and ornamentation of the grounds, and this at a time when employment was much needed in Connemara. In that remote pai*t of Ireland he has done more good than the whole tribe of the Martins put together, for the head of that family did nothing but fight duels and create election debts and mortgages, which ruined his descendants and deprived them of the greatest estate in Galway.