spectators will fail to rest contented with the efforts of the architects. Convenience, in this noble residence, is carefully blended with ornament; and, contrary to the perverse custom in many decorated dwellings, it may be safely affirmed that the genius of the builder is most forcibly displayed in the interior. The principal apartments are spacious, appropriate, and chastely, although sumptuously, adorned.

The demesne of Borris has constituted, for numerous successive ages, the chief residence of the senior representatives of the posterity of Donald Kavanagh, natural son of Dermod Mac-morough, the last King of Leinster.* The descendants of that distinguished personage have performed prominent parts in the affairs of Ireland, at many eventful junctures. Owing to the troubled state of the country, and the antient claims of this potent race, we chiefly, until recent more settled and pacific ages, recognise the name in conjunction with scenes of turbulence, but are often constrained to admire instances of individual heroism. Happily, for several generations, the same ardour of family feeling has been employed in genuine patriotism, and such acts of local beneficence as fall more peculiarly within the sphere of the topographer's consideration.

We forbear from following the varied fortunes of this very antient and illustrious family through the centuries briefly succeeding the introduction of the Anglo-Normans by King Dermod, and observe that, on the 4th of November, 1550, Charles, or Cahir, Mac Art Macmorough Kavanagh, of Polmonty, chief of the name, in the great council-chamber of Dublin, and in the presence of the lord lieutenant, Sir Anthony St. Leger, and other official and distinguished persons, submitted himself, and publicly renounced the title and dignity of MAC MOROUGH, as borne by his ancestors. Upon which occasion, as was usual in those times,

he " parted

* The reader will recollect that in our notice of Ferns (County of Wexford) we have presented some remarks of the Chevalier De Montmorency, showing that in Ireland, from the earliest periods down to a date so recent as the sixteenth century, illegitimacy was, for many political reasons, not viewed in a humiliating light.

with a portion of his estates." Four years subsequent to his submission, this chieftain was created by Queen Mary a peer for life, by the title of Baron of Balygan, in the county of Wexford.

Notwithstanding this increasing amity between the chieftain and the English government, we find different members of the sept engaged in ambitious struggles for power at various subsequent periods. In the year 1552, Hugh Mac Morough claimed the discarded chieftainship, and repaired to arms in support of his pretensions. The assumption of this title had now ceased to be merely a subject of contention between rival individuals, and the hand of government interfered to crush so serious an effort at independence. Sir Nicholas Bagenal, knight-marshal, marched a body of troops against the aspiring Hugh; and a desperate conflict ensued, which, we are told, was so well fought on both sides, that the loss, as well as the victory, is uncertain."

*

Donald-Spaniagh (the Spaniard) was a turbulent personage of the sept of Kavanagh, in the latter part of the sixteenth century. In the year 1595, this Donald, in conjunction with Pheagh Mac Hugh O'Byrne (often noticed in our description of the County of Wicklow) ravaged the entire country from Wicklow to the gates of Dublin. His aggressions remained for some time unavenged, but, in the year 1600, Sir Oliver Lambert, the British general, invaded the lands of Donald-Spaniagh, and made a prey of 1000 cows, 500 garrons (small horses), and a great store of sheep. This daring toparch died at his castle of Clonmolin, in the year 1631, or 1632, and was succeeded in the family domain by his son, Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Borris.

Borris Castle, in the year 1642, was garrisoned by the parliamentarians; and the building then experiencing a siege by the Irish, Sir Charles Coote, with some difficulty, threw into it a reinforcement of men and provisions. After the restoration of King Charles II. Bryan Kavanagh, Esq. was suffered to remain in

* The epithet of Spaniagh was frequently applied by the old Irish, not because the person so termed was born or bred in Spain, but on account of his having a yellow or sallow complexion, resembling, as was supposed, that of the Spanish people.

unmolested possession of his estates, which comprised the barony of St. Molin's, and now form the inheritance of the representative of this distinguished family, Thomas Kavanagh, Esq. brother-inlaw, and maternal cousin-german, of the late marquess, and of the present earl, of Ormonde.

During the insurrection in 1798, this part of the country was exposed to many of those excesses which must be expected to stain the annals of factious contention. At that time the house of Borris was placed in a state of defence, and successfully withstood a tumultuous attack and a formal siege from the insurgent party.*

KELLYSTOWN, or KELLETSTOWN, is distant from Carlow about five miles towards the south-east. The more antient name of

* The events connected with the attack of Borris Castle are thus stated in Mr. Hay's Hist. of the Insurrection of 1798. "As the insurgents had not a sufficiency of gunpowder to undertake any new attack, they remained inactive in their several encampments for some days; but in order to obtain a supply of that article, it was resolved to make an attack on Borris, the seat of Walter Kavanagh, Esq. in the county of Carlow, where, it was supposed, lay a great quantity of arms and ammunition. A detachment accordingly proceeded from the camp on Vinegar-hill to that on Lacken-hill, where, receiving reinforcement, the united party moved forward to the attack of Borris, where they arrived after a night's march, early on the morning of the 12th. The cavalry stationed there fled on the approach of the insurgents, but a party of the Donegall militia, who had taken up their quarters in the house, defended it with great bravery, keeping up a constant fire from the upper windows, and losing but one man in the course of the contest. The cannon the insurgents had brought with them were too small to have any effect on the castle, as the only ball discharged by one of them, rebounded from the wall, and an attack by musketry was of course considered ineffectual. As no hopes then remained of taking the mansion by assault or battery, considering the strength and thickness of the wall, and that the lower windows were also lately built up with strong mason-work, the assailants set the outer-offices on fire, in hopes of forcing the garrison to dislodge themselves for their protection; but this manœuvre proving ineffectual, and the insurgents having expended all their ammunition in useless efforts, and having burnt some houses in the village, returned to the several encampments from which they had been detached in the county of Wexford."-Hist. of the Insurrection, &c. p.p. 190-191.

this place is Cill-mna-ur-iosal-na-moen, the church of the poor mourning Munster women; allusive to a sanguinary battle fought here, in, or about, the year 478, in which the Momonian warriors were defeated and slaughtered by the Lagenians. We are told by the Irish annalists that this battle was fought between the men of Leinster, headed by Lughaidh, the monarch, grandson of King Niall of the nine hostages, and Eocha, King of Munster, and his forces.-At Kellystown are the remains of a pillar-tower, standing in an elevated situation. This structure is formed of the grit stone of the country, and measures internally twelve feet diameter. Near the tower are the ruins of a church; and both fabrics were dedicated to St. Patrick, who has the credit of having been their founder. The church is, likewise, built of grit-stone, and the arches are plain and semi-circular. Here is the place of sepulture of the Mac Cumins, or Cummins, a subordinate sept, formerly seated in this part of the country. The tombstones to persons of this name are numerous, but the most antient inscription now remaining is to " Hugo Mac Cummins, A.D. MDCIII."* The antient baptismal font still remains in this ruined church, and is rudely cut from a single stone, in the shape of an ill-designed vase.

TULLOW, TULLAGH, or TULLYOPHELIM, a small town, seated on the river Slaney, near the eastern borders of the county, presents the remains of a monastic building and a castle. Concerning the religious house at this place little is now known, except

* The following remarks may be useful, in conveying to the English reader intelligence concerning the derivation of the names of several Irish septs.-St. Cumineus, bishop and abbot of Ændrom (Antrim) died A.D. 658. Another sainted personage of this name (founder of the monastery of Kilcuimin, in the modern barony of Clonlish in the King's County, formerly called Disert-Cuimin) died A.D. 668. No doubt the sept to which we have alluded above, bearing a peculiar veneration to one or other of those saints, chose him for their patron, and adopted to his honour the name of Mac Cumin, or rather Mac-giola-Cuimin, the son of the servant of Cuimin; which, like the Mac-giola-Patrick of the dynasts of Ossory, and others, continued to be the hereditary surname of that particular race. MSS. of Chev. De Montmorency.

tremely commodious, but scarcely worthy of its situation on a demesne of such distinguished beauty.

Cloughgrenan was an antient estate of the house of Ormonde, and was purchased of the Duke of Ormonde by the great grandfather of the present proprietor, about the year 1680. From this demesne the two Earls of Arran, namely, Richard, son of the first Duke of Ormonde, and Charles the last duke's brother, took the title of Baron in the Irish peerage. The remains of the deserted castle are still standing, near the modern residence of Mr. Rochfort, which is approached through one of the antient embattled gateways. The ruins of the castle are overgrown with ivy, and constitute one of the most picturesque objects in this county. A decayed church, also, mingles its pensive beauties with the numerous charms of the scenery on this favoured spot. The Castle of Cloughgrenan was taken in the year 1568, by Sir Peter Carew from Sir Edmund Butler, who was then in rebellion against Queen Elizabeth. In the year 1642, this fortress was besieged by the Irish, but was relieved by Colonel Sir Patrick Wemys. Here, in 1649, previous to the battle of Rathmines, the Marquess of Ormonde, then proprietor of this manor, assembled and mustered the united Protestant and Catholic royalist army.

In a ford of the river Barrow, at the distance of about one quarter of a mile from the castle of Cloughgrenan, there were found, in the year 1819, several relics of a very remote age, consisting of brazen swords, chiefly broken or much bent; arrowheads; a scull, and other human bones.*

BELLEMONT, the residence of the family of Vigors, is situated on sloping ground upon the bank of the river Barrow. This demesne, which comprises a delightful walk along the borders of the river, is highly adorned with thriving plantations.

* MS. information of J. S. Rochfort Esq. It is to be regretted that the workmen who discovered these antiquities had privately disposed of nearly the whole, before the circumstance was known to Mr. Rochfort. One entire sword, and two broken swords, were obtained by that gentleman, and are now in his possession. They are sharp-pointed and two edged, the brass, of which they are chiefly composed, appearing to be alloyed with tin.