Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 30, 23 November 1894, Page 6

Dublin Notes.

(Prim ("nntemj nra 1 io a ) ll u Maku.s SlDt,«M>»ix, iv Liv uiu^uoumu (.<_> iLe j (.(.ciiLlj -published " Spmt of the na ion," iv the New Irish Library srrit c, throws tome doubt on Clarence Mangau'u assorted ignorance of the Irish language. Mr M'Dermott says: — ''Yet it is baid to b-lieve that scholar and linguist as Maugaa wa«, he could have passed ten years of his life in duny and intimate ee-eial intercourse with such masters of Irish learnirg us O Donovao, O'Gurn, and Wakeruan, without picking up (m-algre Im) a sufficient k owlj,)ge of a Ungußge not very difficult to acquire.

In a private letter to a correspondent in Sydney, dated Sr ptem. her the 28th, Sir Charles Gavan Puffj — who was stopping near Geneva, but was about to return to I is u-u 1 winter residence at Nice —has the following i',ter<=B'ing r< feret.ee to th- " New Irish Library, "' and to his own cumec'ion with th*t serv,e? : — " Tt ero are now volumes ready to carry it on successfully to t^e end of 1895, if the Irish rice take an adi quite interest in it. 1 have given it already two years of my life, and more money than 1 choose to count ; but I will consider them well spent if thp youne aid intelligent of our race take to heart the lessons the Irish L' r >nry is designed to teach. But I am ippioaching my eighti^t 1 year, an 1 I cannot hope long to retam the ruus of an cterpnse so labonois "

The 'enantry of D er Island, situated on the Ftrgus, in the Kildjeart district have compelled anancem«nts for the purchase of their holdings under the Land Pjrcha^e (Ireland) Act. Negotiations have been carried on f.ir some time back on behalf of Lord Leconfielc', the landlord of the estate in qnestioD, through the agent, Mr J. W. Scott, J. P., Ross'evLn, Enra=>, and the tenant*, with a view to a settlement on the Lmd Purchase principle, with the result that the terms have been finally arranged between landlord and tenant, tie asreement being 14 yeais' purchase and the wiping out of all arrearß. Djei Island 19 tr 9 largest island on the Fergus, and consists of

upwards of 4."0 statute acres, half of which is held by an extern t-nant, the remainder having been let to six tenantß rtsident on the island. Previous to th' tenants taking the bent fit of the Land Ac', the la-d, whijh is en'irely hmestoue, ani of good quahtyjas pasturage, paid upwards of £2 *n acre. Since then it has been considerably reduce, being on an average aboit £1 333 3 per acre. The tenants all feel thorougly satisfied wi'h 'he bargun.

An attack of a most pavage nature was recently committed upon a ycung man n<im»d Felix ON.ill by a number of O.angemen, wbo were procee lin? to assist at the opening ceremony of an Orange Hall in Derryadd. It appears that Mr O'Neill, who is ia the employ of Missrs Fibbin Brothere, bakers, of this town, was coming from the Montiaghs with ak a 1 of turf, and when abiut two miles out of the town, met the procrgsion nf O angernan on its way to Derryadd. As the procession ca.ne up, O\\ T tiH went to (he side of the road to let them puss, and as he w..s standing with his horse by the he^d one of the proce-Munis s cime up and Mruck him a blow in the right eye. O'Neill retaliated, aui abxit 12 of thf Orangemen sjt upou him, knocked him duwn, kick-1 him ani, he.it him severely wi'h s icks' The unfortuuatj man, beeing n) friends near him, man«g«,J i 0i 0 get away from h.s as^aiUn-?, and tojk ie fuge in the hous^of a man named M'llduff, but the infuriated mob ran after him, thrtw siooes, and tried to knock in the don. O Neill waited until the road was clear, and then proceeded as bes' he could into town and informed the police of the occurreocp, who immediately proceeded to the scene but up to the present have been unablg to fiud any clue as to who were the coward y assailants. It is fesred that iho police wiU be powerless, as O'Neill states that he di i not know any of the crowd It a remarkable fact that al hou»h 2UO extra police were drafted in'o th* t wn on Fnday to kerp the peace, not a single policeman could be seen near the gene of th.' attack

Mr W. B. Y^atq is decl.rei by a competent critic to be one of the sweetest of the molern Irish poets, and hio delica c and quaint little prose work "TheCj'tic Twilight— Hen, Women, Ghouls and Faiiies " has the poetic impress. Mr Yeats does not pose as a cntio of the pathetic folk-lora of the Irish peasante. Ha does not thrust

his tongue into his cheek or wink, after the manner of the late William Carleton ; he is sympathetically respectful, and even has a matter-of-fact simplicity which is an agreeable relief from the "superior" person. Mr Yeats shows us in this little book'and in a series of dainty suggestions how full r>f poetry the Celtic folk-lore isIlere we find the key to Mangan's moo.! when he wrote i" Dark Kosaleen," and it is borae upon us that the finest posts of Ireland are inarticulate, and like its best blood, found among the people. The priests — Mr Yeats thanks heaven for it — do not hate fairies with Puritan fierceness; they have even found a kind of hypothetical explanation for them, which, however is not to be taken de fide. The Irish spirits, even the dhames are not "dark"; they are not frolicsome, or sad, as with a loDging for the lost Paradise ; the leprechaun is jolly and sensible, and anybody that has ever known a banshee will testify that, though her wail is melancholy, herjintentions are honourable.

Mr Morlej's letter, in reply to Mr W. O'Brieo'a icquiries concerning the eviction of Widow Kitterick from the Shgo eaiate, ■applies an object-lesson in the working of the Irish land system at tha present moment which ought to be driven home on the minds of the British public. Evil times, the rtsi.lt mainly^of deaths in the family, have fallen on Mrs Kitterick and ber brother, and co-tenant Pit Geraghty, the widow waa evicted for non-payment of rent last July, and the solitary cow, the one source of wealth to the household, was forcibly sold in order to pay Geraghty 's arreais of rent and save him from sharing his Bister's fate. Now Mrs Kitterick, an object of j compassion even to the local police, has taken refuge in her brother's ha', destitute of all farniture, and the family exist on a starvation diet of potatoes and Indian mal without a drop of milk. Most pa'hetic detail of all, the widow still keeps a child of three at her breast, aa the .only alternative to a regimen — killing to any young child — of boiled potatoes. Bath she and her brother are on the verge of starvation, and Lord Sligo, far away from making any arrangement foi the relief of an old family tenant, is the immediate cause of the loss of the cow, '' It is not for me on this occasion," writes Mr Morley, with characteristic moderation, "to draw tee moral, nor to decide whether a landlord might not rather have ben expected to make the womau a present of a cow than to take the cow she bad away from ber. But it is quite clear on whose side popular sympathies will be, and it is hardly surprising under the circumstances that the actual tenant of the widow's holding should require police protection or that Mr O'Brien should hava declared himself amply satisfied as far as political propaganda is concerned with the painful details supplied him by the Chief Secretary for Ireland.

Under the patronage of Field- Marshal Viscount Wolsely, K.P. commander of the forces in Ireland, and Major-General Lord Ralph Kerr, C B , corn-nan img the Curragh district, a movement has been started tur the erection of a Catholic soldier's institute at the Curragh The committee include Brigade Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel Barry," M.D , Veterinary-Major Froßt, Captain G. F. Stenson, Rev J. Delaney, acting Catholic Chaplaio, and Staff Sjrgeant-Major C. J. Guerin. The hon treasurer is the Rev J. Delaaey, and the hon secretary Supt. Clerk, J, Burke, X >y*l Engineers. The want of an institute or suitable building at the Curragh Camp, where Ca'holic soldiers can meet for mutual improvement and r -crea'ion has long been felt. Such an institu'e already exists at this camp for the convenience of soldiers of the Wesleyau denomination, and a sum of about £1,200 has already been collected for the erection of a Church of England's Soldier's institution. The Catholic soldiers at thia station would, therefore be the only denomination without tbia most desirable establishment. At present an old wooden hut is usad as a meetingroom for the Catholic soldiers. The accommodation is, however, wholly inadequate and unsuitable ; besides, the hut now used will shortly have to be damolished to clear the eita for new barracks. la view of these circumstances, a committee has been formed for the purpose of raising funds for the building of an institute for Catholic soldiers, which is estimated to cost about £800. A sum of nearly £200 has already been subscribed, aod a site has been selected. Field- Marshal Lord Wolseley, commander of the forces in Ireland, haß kindly granted his patronage and promised his support, and Lord Kalph Kerr, the general commanding the district, has subscribed a sum of £50 towards the building fund.