155 



is the burying place of a branch of the Ogle family, and a tombstone 

 there bears the following inscription : — 



"Nicholas and Abigail eldest son and daughter of Nicholas Ogle of Discertally gent, 

 departed this life the eighth of July and the second of August the year above said 

 (1682)." 



No. 59. View of the " Minstrel's Grave," with Boss Castle and 

 Crover Castle, with part of Lough Sheelin in the distance. I heard 

 the following interesting legend relating to this locality, and I tran- 

 scribe it from my notebook, as I jotted it down shortly after the 

 recital: — " Can you tell me," said I to an old man, named O'Eeilly, 

 who resides on the spot, and who was passing along the byeroad 

 leading to Koss Castle, "is that cross, standing on the summit of 

 that mound of stones, placed in an ancient graveyard ?" This I said, 

 pointing to a small Calvary cross within half a mile of the castle. 

 " No, Sir," said he, " it is not ; no one was ever buried there but a gentle- 

 man and a lady, and they were lovers ; we call it ' the Minstrel's Grave/ 

 for he was a great musician, and she was the daughter of the Black 

 Baron, who lived in Eoss Castle — but I may as well tell you the whole 

 story, and it is as true as life. It was in the time of the great trouble 

 that the Black Baron Nugent lived in the Castle of Eoss." ""What trouble 

 do you mean?" said I. " Sure, Sir, I mean the great war with the Ca- 

 tholics in the time of King Charles, and it lasted for ten years." " The 

 rebellion of 1 641 ?" " True enough, Sir," said he ; " and the country had 

 neither law or peace for all that time. "We call it ' the great trouble.' 

 Well, Sir, the Black Baron Nugent had a lovely daughter, and one day 

 she went boating on Lough Sheelin ; and when she passed near the 

 castle of Crover, which you see standing on that little island in the lake, 

 she heard some one playing music and singing most delightful. She 

 ordered the boatman to land her at the castle. Now, she was a Protes- 

 tant ; and though the castle was owned by one of the O'Eeillys, who 

 was a Catholic, and though there was no good blood between him and 

 the Black Baron, who was a tyrant of a man, as I'll tell you, yet the 

 Lady Nugent was so kind and charitable, and so lovely, that all 

 the country round was very fond of her, and would do anything to 

 please her. Well, Sir, Lady Nugent looked into the castle, and there 

 she saw an officer of the Catholics, who had been badly wounded, 

 and who had fled to hide in the castle of Crover. He was lying on a 

 sofa, very weak and pale, and playing on a harp and singing, so sad and 

 sorrowful, that the Lady Nugent took great pity on him, and fell in love 

 I with him. His name was Irwin, and he was a colonel in the army of 

 the great O'Neill, and had just come from abroad in Spain somewhere, 

 to fight for the ould religion, and small blame to him. Well, Sir, Lady 

 Nugent used to go every day to the castle to attend the wounded 

 officer ; but at last she found she could not be with him often enough 

 when the summer had passed, as she had to cross a couple of miles of 

 ; the lake, so she had a house built for him in the thick woods on the 



