A great proportion of this territory was the property of the University
of Dublin--endowment made in the time of Queen Elizabeth, when probably
all lands without the pale had about the same value; some of it
pertained to a wealthy English noble, who, until the accident of a
governmental survey, had never so much as cared to ascertain his limits,
and who made the first use of his knowledge by announcing for sale the
lands of Mac-na-Morroch, Knochlifty, Eilmacooran, and Denyvaragh; in
all, nigh fifty thousand acres of mountain, bog, callow, and lake, whose
great capabilities, whether for sheep-farming, fishing, for the quarries
of marble, or the immense mineral resources, were vouched for by a roll
of scientific names, whose very titular letters enforced conviction. If
the pen of an imaginative writer might have been employed in depicting
the stores of wealth and fortune that lay here entombed, no fancy could
have exaggerated the natural loveliness of the landscape. All that was
wild and grotesque in outline, with all that was most glowing in colour,
were there; and when on the nameless lakes the setting sun added his
glory to the golden purple of their reflected lights, the scene became
one of such gorgeous splendour as Art would not have dared to imitate.
The little inn we have just mentioned stood on a rocky eminence which
projected from the mountain-side, and could be seen for miles off, more
conspicuous, besides, by a large green flag, with a harp in the centre,
which by the patriotism of Mr. O’Rorke flaunted its folds to the wild
mountain breezes, as though enjoying in the solitude an immunity which
the Saxon might have resented elsewhere. Tim O’Rorke was indeed one who
had “suffered for Ireland.” Four several times had he figured in Crown
Prosecutions, and both fine and imprisonment had been his portion. On
the last occasion, however, either that national enthusiasm was cooling
down, or that suspicions of Tim’s honesty were getting abroad, the
subscription for his defence was almost a failure. No imposing names
headed the list, and the sums inscribed were mean and contemptible.
Unable to fee the great bar, to retain which, perhaps, formed the
grandest triumph of his life, O’Rorke decided to defend himself, and
in the course of his defence launched forth into a severe and insulting
castigation of his party, who, after using up his youth and manhood
in their cause, left him, when old and broken and dispirited, to the
merciless cruelty of his enemies. He read aloud in open court the names
of the powerful and wealthy men who at first stood by him, and then,
with a shameless insolence, contrasted them with the ignoble friends who
remained to him. He recited the proud sums once contributed, and, amidst
the laughter of the court, ridiculed the beggarly half-crowns that now
represented Irish patriotism. The verdict was against him, and once more
was he sent back to Kilmainham, to serve out a two years’ sentence, this
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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