Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/101

Rh From Portrush we went to the historic town of Londonderry. The most interesting object to be seen here is the monument of Walker, the gallant defender of the town during the great siege,—the hero who with his unsubdued enthusiasm kept up the failing spirits of the besieged, and almost prophetically assured them of speedy succour. The succour though long delayed came at last, and the town was saved. We went up the monument, and saw the figure of Walker with his hand stretched forth, as if triumphantly pointing out to the famished people the long promised succour which had come at last like Noah's ark to save the people. I am sure you cannot have forgotten Macaulay's graphic description of the siege of this virgin fortress, which came vividly to our mind as we walked on the proud and unsubdued walls of the town.

From Londonderry we went to Enniskillen, a dirty town, as almost all the Irish towns are, but situated on a most beautiful lake, the Lough Erne. We had plenty of rowing on that lake, landed at a small island called the Devenish Isle, and saw the ruins of a very old church and abbey of which all accounts are lost. There too we saw a round tower, a very beautiful specimen of that sort of buildings, which one sees in almost every part of Ireland, but of which no one can trace the origin. They are long cylindrical columns, sometimes very high, and look like monumental spires. The one on the Devenish Isle is 16 yards in circumference. No one knows when or why they were built.