Page:Irish essays; literary and historical.pdf/11



HE name of the Four Masters will be always a dear and venerable name in Ireland and a sketch of their lives and labours must prove both interesting and instructive to everyone who feels the least That interest in the history of his native land. name was first given to the compilers of the Annals of Donegal by the celebrated John Colgan and it was felt to be so appropriate that it has been universally adopted by Irish scholars. It has, indeed, sunk deep into the hearts of the people, and the memory of the Masters is fondly cherished even by those who know little or nothing of their history. As O’Curry has truly said:—"It is no easy matter for an Irishman to suppress feelings of deep emotion when speaking of the Four Masters; and especially when he considers the circumstances under which, and the objects for which, their great work was undertaken."

Just a mile to the north of the estuary of the river Erne, on a steep and nearly insulated cliff overhanging the stormy waters of the Bay of Donegal, may still be noticed by a careful observer the grey ruin of an old castle that in the distance can hardly be distinguished from the craggy rock on which it stands. That shapeless remnant of a ruin is now all that remains of Kilbarron Castle, for some three hundred years the cradle, the home, and the school of the illustrious family of the O’Clerys, from whom three of the Masters sprang. All those who can appreciate scenic beauty, and who feel something of the spiritual power that brings from out the storied past visions of vanished glories to illuminate the present, should not fail to visit Kilbarron Castle. The rock on which it stands is not only steep, but overhanging and the waves are for ever thundering far below. Before you is the noble Bay of Donegal, the largest and finest in Ireland, flanked as it is on three sides by grand mountain