THE BLARNEY STONE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 453, 16 December 1881, Page 21

THE BLARNEY STONE.

Attached to the Blarney Castle is the well-wooded demesne, comprising a mirror-like lake and the " sweet rock-close." But neither the stream, nor the lake, nor the castle, nor the village, picturesque as Cork men deem them, has earned such notoriety for " the groves " as a certain stone on the pinnacle of the tower. This stone, is of world-wide repute, for, as Father Prout says, " it is endowed with the property of communicating to the happy tongue that comes in contact with its polished surface the gift of gentle, insinuating speech, with soft talk in all its ramifications, whether employed in vows and promises light as air, such as lead captive the female heart, or elaborate mystification of a grosser grain, such as may do for the House of Commons — all summed up and characterised by the mysterious term ' Blarney.' " This definition of ' Blarney,' given in Prout's • Plea for Pilgrimages,' was called forth by a visit of Sir Walter Scott in 1825. J. Gibson Lockhart tells us that ' Sir Walter scrambled up to the top of the castle, and kissed with due faith and devotion the famous Blarney Stone, one salute of which is said to emancipate the pilgrim from all future visitations of niauvaise houte. On the top of the tower, the wall is broad enough to afford a good footpath, and that part of it where the famous stone may be seen or kissed is held in its place by strong bars of iron. The outer walls of the turrent extending beyond the sides mentioned, you can look down through the spaces between the supporting stones, and the sight on a windy day, when the ruins seem to quake under you, is by no means inspiring. The Blarney Stone is clasped to the outer parapet by the irons referred to, and in order to reach it you must lean out through the open space, between two and three feet in width. It is quite impossible to touch it with your lips without the assistance of a second party, who vigorously holds on to you in the rear to prevent you from diving out through the chasm beneath. A recent tourist briefly but suggestively indicates the danger attending the accomplishment of the feat deemed so useful iB the fields of gallantry and oratorical politics. The ascent to the parapet, as well as the kissing, needs care, courage and caution ; and the words of the tourist are not in this case to be taken for " blarney," as he failed to win the power to use it : " I climbed, and climbed, and climbed," he says. " Three or four times on the way to the turrenta I might have dropped down from the doorlesa passages that open in the interior. There is not a door left in it from the foundation to the top. I was alone ; the wind whistled about my ears ; all the grass and fern tufts that have sprouted among the decayed mortar hissed spitefully. I cautiously crept to the edge of the wall, and while the sides of the old castle seemed to sway to and fro, I reached out to tbe parapet and touched the stone with my finger tips. This is as near as I ever got to it, but I have had enough. There is a stone down-stairs on the ground floor which is far more convenient, and is usually substituted for the original." — Picturesque Ireland.

Mr. John Bobinson, M.L.C., of Natal, editor of the Natal Mereiiry, has written a letter to the London Times, giving the colonists' idea of the results of the release or restoration of Cetewayo. In the course of his remarks Mr. Bobinson says :: — ♦• It canuot be doubted that British prestage in Zululand has been seriously weakened by affairs in the Transvaal. Sitimela's outbreak is the first pronounced evidence of this. Were Cetewayo to be sent back to Zululand, or even to Natal, the fact would be assnredly accepted by both the Zulus and the natives of Natal as a further proof of purposeless weakness and vacillation. Accustomed through three generations to the despotic rule of a king, the Zulus crave for a central authority. They would fain see the British resident clothed with potential functions. Were their late king sent back to them, or placed within reach and sight of them, their attachment to, and belief in him, would rapidly focalise, and he would soon become the rallying point of. native turbulence and disaffection."