362 



CARISBROOK CASTLE CAROLAN. 



been settled upon her. His n .UM-UIII, with mineral 

 collections, and some valuable books, he bequeaths 

 to the college of Serampore, and some legacies to 

 his sons and books to hit wife, whom he consti- 

 tuted his residuary legatee. 



CARISBROOK CASTLE, in the isle of 

 Wight. This castle appears, by Domesday-book, 

 to luive been built by William Fitz-Osborne, Earl 

 of Hereford, and the first lord of the island, soon 

 after the Norman conquest. It stands on a small 

 hill south-west of the town of Newport, and over- 

 looking the village of Carisbrook. The walls of the 

 original fortress cover about an acre and a half; 

 these are surrounded by a more modern fortifica- 

 tion, faced with stone, of an irregular pentagonal 

 form, defended by five bastions; these outworks, 

 which are in circuit about three quarters of a mile, 

 and encompassed by a deep ditch, include in the 

 whole about twenty acres : they were added- in the 

 time of queen Elizabeth, and are said to have been 

 constructed upon the same plan as the fortifications 

 of Antwerp, and by the same engineer, Genebella, 

 an Italian. 



Carisbrook Castle is memorable as a prison of 

 Charles I. That unhappy monarch, having first 

 fled to it for refuge, was treacherously detained 

 there by the parliament, from November 1647 to 

 September in the following year, and the narrative 

 of his several unsuccessful attempts to escape 

 from it forms an interesting episode in English his- 

 tory. 



CARLINGFORD; a small sea-port town of 

 Ireland, in the parish of the same name, in the 

 barony of Lower Dundalk, in the county of Louth, 

 and the province of Leinster. It stands at the 

 foot of an extensive range of mountains, and on 

 the south-eastern side of the spacious and beautiful 

 inlet, called Carlingford bay ; it lies to the north of 

 Dublin, at a distance of seventy-five miles. The 

 origin of the town is commonly traced to the erec- 

 tion of the castle, whose ruins form so conspicuous 

 a feature of the place at the present day. This 

 edifice, which is called Carlingford castle and King's 

 castle, is generally said to have been built by order 

 of king John, when he was in this kingdom, about 

 the year 1210. It was an important station during 

 the early ages of the English dominion in Ireland ; 

 and although it was never regularly fortified, or 

 even surrounded by a wall, it was a place of 

 strength, from the circumstance of every house of 

 any importance in it being a small fortress or cas- 

 tle, fully capable of resisting a sudden attack. Its 

 position upon the frontiers of the English pale 

 necessarily exposed it to frequent dangers. 



On the southern side of the town, or that oppo- 

 site to the side on which the castle stands, are the 

 ruins of a Dominican monastery, of the date, as is 

 generally supposed, of the fourteenth century ; a 

 religious house of that order was established here 

 by Richard de Burgh, earl of Ulster, in the year 

 1305. Population of the town, 1300 ; of the parish 

 nearly, 10,000. 



Upwards of 2000 hands are engaged in the 

 fishery ; the oysters taken at Carlingford are cele- 

 brated for their delicious flavour, even in the me- 

 tropolis of Ireland. The water in the extensive 

 bay is deep, but unfortunately the entrance is ob- 

 structed by hidden rocks, which render the naviga- 

 tion dangerous for vessels even of moderate size; 

 the linen and butter which the town exports are 

 thus conveyed in small craft entirely. 



CAROLAN ; a native Irish lyric poet and harper, 



very popular in the recollections of liis coun- 

 trymen. His full name was Turlogh O'Carolan. 

 and he was born in the year 1670, at Newton, near 

 the village of Nodder, in the county of Westmeath. 

 He boasted of ancient Milesian descent; but the 

 land on which he was born had been wrested from 

 his ancestors by the family of the Nugents, on 

 their arrival in Ireland, with king Henry II. His 

 father was a poor farmer, the humble proprietor of 

 a few acres, which afforded him a scanty subsis- 

 tence. According to one account, somewhat too 

 marvellous, perhaps, to be strictly true, Carolan 

 evinced no marks of talent till his eighteenth year, 

 when he entirely lost his eyesight by small-pox. 

 The thoughts which had hitherto wandered over 

 the external world, were then turned inwards, and 

 he became pensive and meditative. Near his fa- 

 ther's house, there was an artificial mount, called 

 in Ireland a mote or rath, one of the numerous re- 

 mains of early fortifications still scattered over the 

 island, or perhaps a seat of justice in primeval 

 times. On this place, which the country people 

 in latter times supposed to contain a fairy palace, 

 the poor boy had been accustomed, while possessed 

 of eyesight, to play with his companions. Now, 

 when unable to join in their sports, he used to 

 cause himself to be led out to it, and would there 

 stretch himself for hours under the genial rays of 

 the sun. While thus solitarily reposing, he would 

 be observed to start up suddenly, as if under the 

 influence of some access of enthusiasm. His 

 friends could assign no better explanation for his 

 conduct, than that he was visited occasionally 

 with preternatural visions, through the influence of 

 the fairy queen. In one of these raptures he called 

 hastily to his companions to lead him home ; and 

 when he reached the house, he sat down immedi- 

 ately to his harp, and in a little time played and 

 sang the air and words of a sweet little song ad- 

 dressed to Bridget Cruise, who had already become 

 the object of his tenderest regards. So sudden is 

 said to have been this visit of the muses, and so 

 captivating was its product, that the people firmly 

 believed him to have been at that moment gifted 

 with poetic and musical power by the fairies ; and 

 they still keep in remembrance the spot where he 

 desired, on this occasion, to be led home. 



A memoir, less striking, but more probable, states 

 that Carolan lost his eyesight at an earlier period 

 of life, and that he endured the bereavement with 

 cheerfulness, saying, " My eyes are transplanted 

 into my ears." It also states that his musical 

 genius was soon discovered, and procured him many 

 friends, who determined to aid its cultivation ; and 

 at the age of twelve, a master was engaged to in- 

 struct him on the harp. " His diligence in the re- 

 gular modes of instruction," says this memoir, 

 " was not great ; yet his harp was rarely unstrung ; 

 his intuitive genius assisting him in composition, 

 whilst his fingers wandered amongst the strings, in 

 search of melody." His love for Bridget Cruise 

 not being successful, he married Mary Maguire, of 

 the county of Fermanagh, who proved proud and 

 extravagant, but never lost bis affections. On 

 entering the connubial state, be fixed his residence 

 on a small farm near Moshill, in the county of 

 Leitrim. Here he built a small house, in which he 

 practised hospitality on a scale more suited to his 

 mind than to his means ; so that, in no long time, 

 he was thrown nearly destitute upon the world. 



The trade of the wandering minstrel, or bard, 

 had long ceased in Ii eland, but the forms of societ) 



