Disturbed Ireland : $b being the letters written during the winter of 1880-81Becker, Bernard H. (Bernard Henry)
History
Disturbed Ireland : $b being the letters written during the winter of 1880-81
Becker, Bernard H. (Bernard Henry)
Ireland -- Social conditions; Working class -- Ireland
Derrynane rejoices in many memorials of the Liberator, but the relic
of "Ould Dan" that all visitors, and especially Irishmen, are most
anxious to see, is in the oblong mahogany box lying on the tall desk
at which he was wont to stand and write. It is that article of
furniture without which no Irish gentleman's equipment was more
complete than his house without an avenue. "My pistols which I shot
Captain Marker," as poor Rawdon Crawley put it. There reposes
peacefully enough now by the side of its companion, the weapon with
which the "Liberator" shot Mr. D'Esterre. It is a flint lock pistol of
very large bore, and with stock reaching to the muzzle. One
peculiarity about this pistol is worthy of note. Beneath the trigger
guard a piece of steel extends curving downwards and outwards towards
the muzzle, a convenient device, as I find, for steadying the weapon
by aid of the second finger. On the stock is cut rudely a capital D.,
for D'Esterre. There are no other marks, although the pistols have a
pedigree and a story attached to them.
One day an English officer stationed in Ireland found himself in the
painful position of waiting for remittances. Knowing nobody likely to
be useful to him he appealed to the most noteworthy Irishman of his
day, and stating his pressing need, asked him to lend him 50l. until
his funds came to hand. Daniel O'Connell, who was a keen judge of
character, lent him the money without hesitation, and was shortly
repaid, with many expressions of gratitude. About a year afterwards
the Englishman was ordered on a foreign station, and, unwilling to
leave Ireland without giving some tangible expression of his
thankfulness to O'Connell, called upon him and presented him with the
duelling pistols in question, which were accepted as heartily as the
money was lent. On taking his leave the Englishman said, "If you
should ever have occasion to use these pistols you will find them very
good ones; they have already killed ten men." The first and only time
"Ould Dan" used them he killed Mr. D'Esterre, to whose family, it must
be added, he afterwards did all he could to atone for that injury.
Mr. O'Connell also showed me a brass blunderbuss once the property of
Robert Emmet. It has a revolving chamber, which, instead of turning
automatically, must be adjusted by hand after every shot, a curious
forerunner of Colt's invention, adaptation, or revival. Derrynane is
delightfully situated at a spot called appropriately "White Strand,"
from the silvery sand washed by the Atlantic waves. Above it stands
the celebrated circular fort of Staigue, built of dry stone, and with
an inclined plane inside like those at West Cove and Ballycarbery.
Opposite is the magnificent rocky peninsula of Lamb Head, the road
across which much resembles parts of St. Gothard, plus the magnificent
sea shining in the sun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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