Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/170

 140 NOTES AND QUERIES. w* a vi. AUG. is, woo. reckoned as a cause at all. In almost all aucient wars the weak suffered far more than the strong. The paper on the naturalization of foreign animals in this country will introduce many of us into interesting regions near at hand of whose existence we have all along been ignorant. It furnishes strong evidence of the fact that the habits of our more humble fellow-creatures are more interesting to us than they were to our fathers. We do not doubt that " utility," in the narrow sense of that misused word, has been taken into consideration by those who have spent time and money in making English homes for these foreigners, but it is quite certain that admiration for the creatures them- selves must have been the chief motive. The reviewer who treats of Dr. Donne gives a just, but by no means favourable picture of one who, through the agency of circumstance, and especially by the flattering biography of Isaac Walton, has taken a higher place among English worthies than he is entitled to. We are so far removed in feeling from the verse which Dr. Johnson called " metaphysical" that it is not easy to do Donne and his contemporaries justice. So far, however, as he himself is concerned, we know no definition of poetry which could place him beyond the low level of those who wrote only for the sake of gaining a transient popularity. WE hear with regret of the death of the Rev. A. W. Cornelius Hallen, an occasional, and in the Seventh and Eighth Series tolerably frequent, con tributor to our columns. He was a capable anti- quary and genealogist, and was resident in 1893 at Alloa, N.B, Under ' Maslin Pans'in the Eighth Series will be found much curious information con- cerning his family, which came from Malines in 1610 and settled at Wandswnrth, and afterwards at Coalbrookdale, as workers in iron and, as Mr. Hallen said, in brass. A history of the family of Hallen or Holland was published by him in Edinburgh in 1885. Personal particulars are wanting. Mr. Hallen's name does not appear in the ' Clergy List,' nor do we find it in any books. CLONFERT CATHEDRAL. — In making a special appeal for funds towards the restoration of this interesting edifice, the rector, Canon McLarney, supplies the following particulars, known, we fancy, to few of our readers :— " Clonfert Cathedral, founded by St. Brendan in the year 568, thirty-nine years before St. Augustine landed in England, and thus before Canterbury Cathedral and many of the ancient cathedrals existing at the present day, is one of the smallest, and yet one of the most beautiful and ancient historic cathedrals in the three kingdoms. It is celebrated, amongst other things, for its Hiberno Romanesque doorway, one of the finest remaining specimens in existence, and for its east window nearly a thousand years old. There is a small, bui very ancient sacristy at the north side of the cathedral. It is roofed with Danish wattles. This hurdle roofing is considered a mark of great anti quity. There were originally two transepts; one is now in ruins and roofless, the other is completely uone. There is a very ancient large carved-stoni Font in the vestibule-of the cathedral. Clonfer was at one time a city, and celebrated for its schools. It is now not even a village. It is men tioned in a State Paper, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that before Trinity College, Dublin, was founded Clonfert was proposed as a suitable sit- or a university, being then celebrated as a seat of earning, and, being in the centre of Ireland, a convenient place for Irish students; but this pro- xwition was rejected, and Dublin obtained the charter. Like other Irish ecclesiastical edifices, lonfert Cathedral suffered greatly from the incur- sions of the Danes, who frequently sailed up the river Shannon from Limerick and attacked it. It was burnt six times between the years 744 and 1 ITU, and was plundered three times between the years 949 and 1065. In the year 1541 it was almost totally destroyed. Bishop Wolley repaired the cathedral in 1664. From that time up to the present, a period of 235 years, some alterations ana improve- ments have been effected, but no general work of restoration has been attempted until recently, con- sequently the building is in great need of repair. St. Brendan, the navigator, founder of Clonfert Cathedral in the year 558, is credited with having landed in America in the sixth century, thus anti- cipating Columbus by more than nine hundred years. St. Brendan is buried in Clonfert Cathedral. A considerable amount of work has been carried out already under the supervision of Mr. J. F. Fuller, F.S.A., architect. The restoration of the chancel is now complete. A thousand jxmnds will be required to restore the nave, and a thousand pounds to rebuild the transepts. It is difficult for an Irish country clergyman to collect such a large sum. The work is being done in sections as money is subscribed. It will be a pity to have to stop it for want of funds. Mr. John Ruskin, although objecting, as a rule, to all ' restoration,' was so much struck with the beauty of the doorway of Clonfert Cathedral, that he sent a donation towards its preservation." to Comsjwufrruts, We mutt call special attention to the following notices :— ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in jurentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- munication "Duplicate." A. A. A. ("Herrick's 'Hesperides and Noble Numbers,' 1847-48").—This work, formerly worth a guinea or two, now, when complete and in good condition, with portrait, fetches forty to fifty pounds. NOTICE. Editorial Communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries' "—Advertise- ments and Business Letters to "The Publisher"— at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C. We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception.