The history of the castle would be hardly complete without mention of the famous ghost “Puck,” who has a fancy for roaming the grounds in the costume he wore when he was an inhabitant of the castle. There are many stories regarding his appearances, amongst which is the following authenticated account: Not so many years ago a naval officer who had just been appointed to the Coast Guard Station at Malahide received an invitation to dine at the castle. On his way up the avenue he met a strange figure in a fantastic costume whom he thought was some one masquerading. Not liking to be made the subject of a joke, he threatened to knock him down unless he told him what he wanted, and upon getting no reply he endeavoured to carry out his threat, but his arm passed through his adversary, and he thought it advisable to hasten his steps to the castle. It was not likely to improve his appetite, however, to find the portrait of the strange figure looking down upon him from the dining-room wall. Richard Talbot was created Lord Talbot de Malahide in 1831, and the present peer is 5th Baron. AUTHORITIES CONSULTED. D’Alton, “History of County of Dublin.” Proceedings of Royal Society of Antiquaries. Carew MSS., Book of Howth. Brewer, “Beauties of Ireland.” Burke, “Visitation of Seats and Arms.” M’Mahon, “Malahide Castle” in “Historic Houses.” Burke’s Peerage. Parliamentary Gazetteer. P., “Malahide Castle,” in _Dublin Penny Journal_. Prendergast, “The Plantation of the Barony of Rhone,” in _Journal of Kilkenny Archæological Society_. _MALLOW CASTLE_ The town of Mallow is situated on the River Blackwater, seventeen miles north-north-west of Cork, in the Barony of Fermoy. The ruins of the castle are to the south of the town upon rising ground commanding the river. They consist of a great rectangular building running north and south, and measuring about 80 feet in length and 30 in breadth on the inside. It has thirty-one Tudor windows, which are generally large and square, having two series of oblong lights, three or five in number, and a window on the north contains as many as eight. The structure is unroofed, and the floors being of wood have almost entirely disappeared. It was defended by three towers on the western side. The round tower at the north-west angle contained a clock until the middle of the last century. The centre tower measures about 12 feet by 15, and its door-head is depressed. The south-west tower has a five-sided exterior, and inside the upper part is circular, and the lower portion pentagonal. The eastern front of the castle has one tower, with a five-sided exterior likewise. In 1836 a portion of the east side of the castle fell. The whole of it is now extensively covered with ivy.