This is a modern erection, built about fifty years ago, in the form of a Rotunda, on the scite of the nunnery of St. Mary, which was founded by Patrick Hogges, A. D. 1146. This church can boast of no elegance of architecture; it is called familiarly, the "round church," and its cupola is surmounted by a statute of St. Andrew bearing his cross. Near this cdifice, Henry II caused a pavilion of wicker work to be erected, where, with the Kings and Princes of Ireland, he solemnized the festival of Christmas, in 1172.

Steinhurst informs us, that Rowland Fitz Eustace, Baron of Portlester, founded a chapel adjoining St. Andrew's church, in which he and his lady were interred in 1455.

ST. WERBURGH'S CHURCH was originally built by the citizens of Chester, A. D. 1207. In 1301, when a great part of the city of Dublin was consumed by fire, this church, as well as many others, suffered in the conflagration; but it was rebuilt in 1303, in a grand style of gothic architecture.

It was again visited by fire in 1754, and repaired in its present beautiful form in 1759. In the symmetry and elegance of its architecture, it is decidedly superior to any of the old churches of Dublin.

This graceful pile presents a pilastered front, and a lofty portico supported by rows of chaste and elegant pillars of Portland stone. The order of architecture, that pervades the disposition of the building, is a well harmonized mixture of the Grecian and Gothic styles, without that excess of ornament which frequently mars the effect of the solemn simplicity which should characterise a Christian edifice. The spire is a fine gothic Octagon, supported by eight pillars, the top of which is crowned with a large gilt ball, at the elevation of 165 feet from the ground. In one of the vaults of this church, the celebrated antiquarian, Sir James Ware, from whom we will often have to quote in the course of this work, was buried, in 1666, but no "storied urn,' or monumental inscription, points to his unhonoured grave. The architect, Mr. Cooley, (of whom, as an Irish artist, we will speak hereafter,) displayed good sense and good taste, by placing the organ upon a gallery over the grand entrance, by which the spectator has an uninterrupted view, and commands the whole length of the interior of the church. The large, gothic, stained windows that "cast a dim religious light" through the aisles, diffuse around an air of antique solemnity.

ST. THOMAS' CHURCH is capacious, but presents no feature of architectural elegance. It was built in 1762, and is situated in Marlborough-street.

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH. This is the most modern, as well as the finest specimen of Ionic architecture in Dublin; but we will treat of it in another number. ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH was originally built by Donat, Bishop of Dublin, in 1176, and repaired and re-edified in 1768.

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH is in Fishhamble-street, and was originally built by Alured De Palmer in 1188. A Roman Catholic chapel has been lately built on part of its scite.

PRIORY OF ST. SEPULCHRE. This was a very extensive edifice in the "olden time," it was situated on the north side of Kevin-street; but neither the founder's name, nor the period in which it was first erected, is known. But Archdall and Harris say it is the same as that recorded by Jacelyn, in his life of St. Patrick, to have been founded for Knights Templars, in 583, at a place called Casgot, in that quarter of the then suburbs of the city. From Speed's plan of Dublin, taken in 1610, this priory appears to have been a large building, with a considerable extent of ground belonging to it, surrounded by a strong wall in which were two lofty portals on the north side, and two smaller gates on the south; nearly opposite to one of the south gates stood another edifice, distinguished in the plan, by the name of ST. PAUL'S chapel.

The other churches in Dublin are Mary's, Michan's, Paul's, James', Luke's

Kevin's, Peter's, Bride's, Nicholas', within, St. Nicholas' without, Michael's, Mark's, Ann's, Andrew's, and John's, the latter built in 1773.

ESSAY ON THE ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE OF IRELAND. NO. I.

The Grecian orders of architecture were probably those employed in the building of Palaces and Templos, by the first colonies that settled in Ireland The Druidical temples were generally built in a masculine Doric style, to insure durability. The fragments of broken cornices and architraves, as well as the sculptured figures that enriched the friezes of these edifices, which are still to be seen in Ireland, afford an indubitable proof of the perfection to which the Pagan Irish carried the arts of sculpture and architecture. The palaces of TARA and EMANIA were immense Ionic piles, whose lofty vaulted domes "rested" to use the language of Dr. Harris, " on a forest of marble columns."

It is pretty generally supposed that the blocks from which these pillars were hewn, were brought from Greece. The florid Corinthian order was not introduced into Ireland until the middle of the fifth century, when some of our Princes, enamoured with its beauty, majesty, and lightness, used it in the erection of their mansions. The Christian Irish did not, for ages, build their eccelesiastical edifices in the Gothic style, as that order so calculated for augmenting the solemnity of divine worship was not prevalent in England or Ireland, until after the Norman conquest. Some writers have attributed the invention of this style to the Normans, while others contend that it was only borrowed by them, from the eastern Saracens. Indeed we know from history, that the Justinian edifices at Constantinople, particularly the church of St. Sophia, possess the characteristics of this "pointed style," as it is technically called; but it was in Spain, Germany, and England, that it was carried to perfection. The churches built by St. Patrick at Armagh, Slane, Trion, Finglas, Archad-Abla, (in the county of Wexford,) Ardagh, Down, Colerain, Clogher, Inis-More, and Druin-lias, in the county of Sligo, all exhibit the evident characteristics of the Grecian orders.

These churches, both in their general form and architectural decoration, were perfectly similar to those in Normandy, particularly in the structure of aisles and cloisters.

These edifices were generally rectangular, though some of them terminated on the east, in a semicircle; they had high stone pedimental roofs ornamented with a sculptured cornice. Beneath were vaulted crypts, where the monks retired to perform penance and suffer mortification. The facade was ornamented with rows of circular arches, some of the intersections of which were opened as windows. The marble sashes of these windows were beautiful specimens of Irish sculpture.* The steeples were sometimes square, but generally round and of the doric order. From the days of St. Patrick until the eleventh century, all the

* TORNA EIGIS, a writer who flourished in the fourth century, states that the marble statues of 200 Irish monarchs filled the nitches of the grand gallery of Tara, in his time and from the life of St. Bridget, written by Cogitosus, we learn that her body and that of St. Conlaith, were placed in monuments exquisitely sculptured, and adorned with precious stones. Cambrensis an avowed enemy of our country, says in his Topography of Ireland, that he saw in the very church of Kildare, described by Cogitosus," a concordance of the four gospels; the writing, but particularly the capital letters so highly ornamented, that neither the pencil of an Apelles nor the chisel of a Lysippus ever formed the like: in a word, they seem to have been executed by something more than a mortal hand." Speaking of the weapons of the Irish, the same writer says, "they use spears, javelins, and great battle axes, which are exceedingly well tempered, and brilliantly polished." Nennius, a British writer of the ninth century, bestows great praise on the taste of the Irish in sculpture. In 1692 a crown of gold was found in the county of Tipperary, of the most exquisite workmanship: this diadem was preserved in the castle of Anglurre, in France, until 1304, when a Parisian artist, admiring the sterling quality of its gold, wrought it in the imperial crown of Napoleon. In 1744, another crown, weighing ten ounces, was discovered in the Bog of Cullen, which was equal to the other in structure and decoration. The gorgets of gold, and gold-handled swords, curiosities, and massy goblets which are frequently dug up it Ireland, furnish an indisputable testimony of the luxury of the ancient Irish, in this precious metal.

ecclesiastical erections in Ireland were built according to the Grecian orders of architecture.

The celebrated chapel erected in Cashel, by King Cormac, in the beginning of the tenth century, surpassed in grandeur of design and beauty of architecture, any religious edifice in France or England. Indeed the numerous magnificent ruins, which must astonish the traveller who visits Ireland, proclaim the taste of our ancestors for architecture.

Gothic architecture was introduced into Ireland about the beginning of the eleventh century; for Christ's church was rebuilt according to this order, A. D. 1038, as were the Cathedrals of Waterford, Limerick and Cork, in 1104. The Cathedrals of Cashel and Ardfert, as well as the Abbey of Holy cross, are lasting monuments of the ancient gothic grandeur that distinguished the superstructures of Ireland. The monastic ruins of Ardfert, in the county of Kerry, are among the noblest in Ireland. We are told by Colgan, that when St. Brandon taught in the famous university of Ardfert, in 935, it contained 900 students, among whom were six foreign princes. A feeling antiquarian cannot see the broken columns and ivy-clad ruins of the ancient capital of Kerry, without execrating the memories of an Elizabeth and a Cromwell, and exclaiming in the language of the Irish Poet, "the majestic Denham,"

"Who sees these dismal heaps but will demand,

What barbarous invader sacked the land ?"

Near the Cathedral was an anchorite tower, the loftiest and finest in the kingdom, being 128 feet high; it fell suddenly, in 1771. In the ruined Abbey are the ancient tomb of Mr. O'Connell's ancestors, as well as that of a branch of the O'Connor family. The inscription on the altars of these monuments, are cut in bass-relief, in an elegant and masterly manner. In our next we will treat of the round Towers, and ancient Castles of Ireland.

GRECIAN FEMALES AND MANNERS.

A picture of Grecian Females and Manners, drawn by a French Traveller, in a series of Letters, which appeared in a recent Parisian periodical. (Translated for the IRISH Shield.)

No. III.

In contrast to the lively Greek, is the sedate and phlegmatic Turk; though I have found some of this stately race in Athens, at once polite, sociable, and affable. But I must observe, that in that city they live more on equal terms with the Greeks, cultivate a more friendly intercourse, and partake more of their character, than they do in any other part of Greece or Albania through which I have travelled. I have frequently met the Musselmen at the Greek tables, where they have been gay and pleasant, and no enemy to a hearty bottle, notwithstanding the prohibition of their prophet. Their women are more confined than the Greek females. No Turk admits a stranger, nor his most intimate friend, into his harem. To approach the ladies when abroad, would give offence; and in the street, if they cannot be avoided, it is good breeding, at Athens, to turn to the wall and stand still until they pass, while a Greek lady, if she meets a male acquaintance, will salute. The Turkish ladies are always accompanied in their walks by an old woman, who is generally the medium of correspondence between them and their gallants. They claim only one day in the week as an exemption from their confinement, when their jealous husbands allow them to visit their relations, frequent the baths, or repair to the sepulchres of their friends in the burying grounds, where they are seen sitting in groups under the shade of the spreading cypresses, which over-arch all the tombs of Athens, and give them the air of awe and solemnity. In the Turkish cemetries lie a number of round pillars, formerly placed over the graves of the

Desultory Thoughts on the Poverty and Prosperity of Poets.

95

Athenians; they generally bear concise inscriptions, containing only the name of the person interred, and the town or tribe to which he or she belonged. Some of these, however, which resemble our head stones, are adorned with sculpture, and have epitaphs in verse. There are also seen in different parts of the city, a number of herma, consisting of marble or brazen busts, on long quadrangular bases, a species of monuments invented by the Athenians, representing their friends and relations, and placed as guardian gods at their supulchres, houses, streets, and porticoes. Of the monuments of art, or such remains of them as have been left by Lord Elgin, whom Byron justly denominated the "modern Vandal," I shall say nothing, as M. Chateaubriand has given a glowing description of them.

While the Turkish women are thus bewailing their kindred or husbands, they so completely envelope themselves in their garments, as to render it impossible to discover whether they are young or old, deformed or beautiful.

The Albanian females have more liberty than either the Grecian or Turkishindeed they have all the privileges and indulgences that are enjoyed by French women. But those of the lower orders are early inured to hard labour-to tending the cattle, carrying water on their backs, washing cloths by the sides of fountains, or in the Ilissus after rain; in these cases they sometimes appear quite naked. One day my Italian servant observing a group of Albanian girls in the river, naked, through a gallantry natural to his country, he stood looking at them, which they perceiving, made signs for him to go to them, which he instantly did, but no sooner was he arrived than they surrounded him, stripped him to the condition of themselves, and, after having given him a severe beating, obliged him to return home without his clothes, to our great diversion.

Though the Greek ladies have charms more seductive in the eyes of a Frenchman, who prizes expression of countenance and lightness of figure among the essentials of beauty, yet these graces are of no value in the opinion of the Turk, who sets his heart on a corpulent lump of voluptuousness. The most remarkable trait of beauty in the east, is large black eyes, and it is well known that nature has made this a characteristic sign of the women of Turkey. But not content with these gifts, they employ every effort of art to make their eyes appear larger and blacker. Next to the desire of having the skin soft and of the most beautiful polish, is the excessive anxiety to acquire as great a degree of plumpness as possible. In order to attain this perfection of beauty they make use of various drugs, as the nuts of the cocoa tree, the bulbs of the hermodactyl, rasped down, and intermixed with sugar. By this means, together with their frequent bathings, they acquire a freshness and fairness of skin, and a carnation tinge of countenance that render them very desirable masses, though swelled to excessive en bon point.

It is a fashion equally general, to dye the hands and nails of a red colour. The women could no more dispense with this daubing than with their clothes. And for whom are so many charms so improved and carefully preserved? For a cruel master, instead of an affectionate husband-for an unfeeling tyrant, who holds the fairest part of the creation in captivity. Farewell-I shall write my next from Venice.

DESULTORY THOUGHTS ON THE POVERTY AND PROSPERITY OF POETS.

Much has been written on the calamities and misfortunes of poets. Indeed, the experience of ages has proved that the profession of literature, by far the most laborious of any other, leads to no real benefit, and that the votaries of the muses have seldom found the mazy paths leading to Parnassus, strewn with the flowers of patronage, or shaded with the myrtles of emolument. The princes and nobles of England, to their shame be it told, have not equalled those of other

European kingdoms, in munificent liberality to the great and eminent poets of their country. It is true, that there are some eminent exceptions among the nobility. Shakspeare found in Lord Southampton, a bountiful and generous patron, and the romantic Spenser experienced kindness and generosity from the chivalric Sir Philip Sydney, that would do credit to the beneficent bounty of Mæcenas himself.* It is yet an incontestable fact, that not a single English poet appears to have been enriched by the English sovereigns. Though Spenser had every claim on the gratitude and patronage of the jealous and heartless Elizabeth, having sung her praises in a lofty strain of poetic panegyric, that should exalt her pride and excite her vanity, still the melody of his lyre had no music for her ear, nor the splendid gems of his genius no attractions for her eye. His sweet sylvan song was the tribute of his warm heart, as well as of his brilliant fancy, and the sex of the idol of his worship, may be said to have purified the incense of flattery from the dross that blackens the fire of servile adulation in the censer of encomium. But Queen Elizabeth was the slave of gross passions, which divested her of literary taste, and all her thoughts were constantly employed in devising means for their gratification. The indelicate addresses of a gallant had more charms for her than the elegant and refined language of a poet. The cruel and

* Every reader, who has a mind of sensibility, must have been interested and amused by the splendid and romantic legends of the Fairy Queen," a production in which the brightest and rarest pearls of inagination and fancy glitter and sparkle with a refulgent lustre that shall never be extinguished. Spenser's Fairy Queen possesses the graces of a glowing poetical style, which is so vivified by the pure fite of genius, as to give it all those attracting charms that can engage the attention, and enlist the sympathies of the youthful aspirant of the tuneful mine." The perusal of this work, in the autumn of age, recalls the delightful sensations of early study, and conjures up a thousand long remembered and familiar emotions that are associated in the memory of the past. This poet, in his "Shepherd's Calendar," delineated the character of Lord Burleigh, in rather an unfavourable point of view, which drew down upon him the inveterate resentment of that powerful nobleman, but his enmity only served to raise up hosts of influential friends for the bard, among whom were the celebrated Earl of Leicester, and Lord Grey. When Queen Elizabeth appointed the latter nobleman Lord Deputy of Ireland, he employed Spenser as his secretary, an office from which he derived immense emolument. During his stay in Ireland, his services were rewarded by the grant of 3000 acres of the forfeited estate of the Earl of Desmond, and its magnificent feudal castle (Kilcolman) in the county of Cork. This castle, and its beautiful domain of flowery meads and pastoral valleys, have been consecrated by the genius of Spenser, to immortality. In the romantic and enchanting scenery which surrounds the castle of Kilcolman, nature eminently and profusely displays all the luxuriance, richness and pomp belonging to the poetry of landscape, which, to describe in their sublime and beautiful features, would demand a Byron's pen, or a Salvator's pencil. In the midst of such bright and peaceful scenes of Arcadian loveliness, it is no wonder that a poet like Spenser, whose mind was alive to external impressions, should indulge his genius in painting so rare an assemblage of rural grandeur; for surely there never was a sequestered spot, better calculated for the indulgence of the poetic faculty than Kilcolman, where the gentle murmuring modulation of a limpid river, the broken, mysterious whisper of the waving woods, and the holy and solemn calm of secluded valleys, lull the mind in musing, and sooth the bosom to tranquility. The castle now stands as a monument in the midst of desolation. Its majestic ruins of mouldering porticoes and fallen columus, will proclaim to the traveller that it was once the noble residence of beauty and chivalry. It is situated on the river Mulla, (which Spenser introduces in his poem,) two miles northwest of the flourishing town of Doneraile, and the lofty mountains of Waterford and Kerry rise around its grounds, like the sides of an amphitheatre, draped in blooming verdure. From the summits the beholder can command a picturesque prospect of the romantic views, that open to the sight a Paradise of ornamented domains, and rural magnificence, from whence it is probable Spenser drew many parts of the enchanting scenery of his poein. In a glen at the foot of the Mountain Mole, the Poet has described himself "as keeping his flock amongst the cooly shade of shrubs, and green alders, by the gay shore of Mulla; and charming his oaten pipe to his fellow-shepherd swains."

DONERAILE is a very flourishing town, and remarkable for the regularity of its buildings, and the rural beauty of its vicinity, to which the mansion and highly picturesque domain of Lord Doneraile impart the brightest tints of landscape charms.

It is situated on the river Aubeg, in the county of Cork at the distance of 160 miles from Dublin. It is surrounded with stately groves of fir, which flourishing at all seasons of the year, render the town extremely pleasant. Adjoining this town, there are several quarries of beautiful variegated marble, which is susceptible of the finest polish. At the distance of ten miles from Doneraile, on the road to Mallow, are seen the ruins of the famous Castle of LISCARROL, which, like those of Palmyra, are grand in desolation. Early in 1643, it was occupied by the Parliamentary army; but in the month of July, in that year, it was besieged by the royalists, under Lord Mountgarret, and after a defence of thirteen days, compelled to surrender. The day following, the Earl of Inchiquin, with the regicides, coming to its relief, attacked the Irish army, and after a desperate conflict, routed them, leaving 1500 of their slain in the trenches. This Castle is an oblong square, 120 by 240 feet; it was flanked by nine great towers, and surrounded by a high rampart, and the entrance was defended by a strong fort. It was built by King John, A. D. 1210. There is a subterraneous passage leading to the castle, at the mouth of which there is a chasin called Kate's hole, so deep, that if a stone is let fall from the top, fifteen seconds elapse, before the noise of its descent is heard reverberating from the bottom.