At Clonells, near Castlerea, lives O'Connor, the direct descendant of
Roderick O'Connor, who was king of Connaught six or seven hundred years
ago; there is a monument of him in Roscommon Church, with his sceptre,
etc. I was told as a certainty that this family were here long before
the coming of the Milesians. Their possessions, formerly so great, are
reduced to three or four hundred pounds a year, the family having fared
in the revolutions of so many ages much worse than the O'Niels and
O'Briens. The common people pay him the greatest respect, and send him
presents of cattle, etc., upon various occasions. They consider him as
the prince of a people involved in one common ruin.
Another great family in Connaught is Macdermot, who calls himself Prince
of Coolavin. He lives at Coolavin, in Sligo, and though he has not above
one hundred pounds a year, will not admit his children to sit down in his
presence. This was certainly the case with his father, and some assured
me even with the present chief. Lord Kingsborough, Mr. Ponsonby, Mr.
O'Hara, Mr. Sandford, etc., came to see him, and his address was curious:
"O'Hara, you are welcome! Sandford, I am glad to see your mother's son"
(his mother was an O'Brien): "as to the rest of ye, come in as ye can."
Mr. O'Hara, of Nymphsfield, is in possession of a considerable estate in
Sligo, which is the remains of great possessions they had in that
country. He is one of the few descendants of the Milesian race.
To Lord Kingston's, to whom I had a letter, but unfortunately for me he
was at Spa. Walked down to Longford Hill to view the lake. It is one of
the most delicious scenes I ever beheld; a lake of five miles by four,
which fills the bottom of a gentle valley almost of a circular form,
bounded very boldly by the mountains. Those to the left rise in a noble
slope; they lower rather in front, and let in a view of Strand mountain,
near Sligo, above twenty miles off. To the right you look over a small
part of a bog to a large extent of cultivated hill, with the blue
mountains beyond. Were this little piece of bog planted, the view would
be more complete; the hill on which you stand has a foliage of well-grown
trees, which form the southern shore. You look down on six islands, all
wooded, and on a fine promontory to the left, which shoots far into the
lake. Nothing can be more pleasing than their uncommon variety. The
first is small (Rock Island), tufted with trees, under the shade of which
is an ancient building, once the residence of Macdermot. The next a
mixture of lawn and wood. The third, which appears to join this, is of a
darker shade, yet not so thick but you can see the bright lawn under the
trees. House Island is one fine, thick wood, which admits not a gleam of
light, a contrast to the silver bosom of the lake. Church Island is at a
greater distance; this is also a clump, and rises boldly. Rock Island is
of wood; it opens in the centre and shows a lawn with a building on it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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