354 



Loch Lemnachta, or " New-milk Lake," to the north of the place. The 

 lake in question is probably the small sheet of water now called Loch 

 Minnaun, or the Lake of the Kids, lying a few perches to the north- 

 west of Kildare ; and as it is represented as haying been in or near 

 " B rigid' s pastures," it may have probably been within the ancient 

 limits of the Curragh. 



I may close the present paper with the following extract, already 

 published in Mr. Gilbert's "Viceroys," from the Latin poem in the 

 possession of Lord Talbot de Malahide, to which I have already re- 

 ferred : — 



" Est locus almus apex ubi se Kildarius astris 

 Inserit et socium lambunt fastigia ccelum, 

 Quern prope campus adest, immensi jugeris zequor, 

 Vomere quem nulli, vel adunci vulnere aratri, 

 Sulcavere boves; nullae secuere lacunae. 

 Non illic surgnnt virgulta, lapisve superstes 

 Limes, agro positus ; nullis bic terminus arvis ; 

 Terra patens, praebens promiscua pascua, nullo 

 Limine septa scrobis, sed toti libera regno. 

 Si foret hie lapidum jactu reparanda virum stirps 

 Perdita diluviis, bic frustraretur inanis 

 Deucaliona labor ; silices nec Pyrrha morandis 

 Hoc reperire queat, mulieribus irrita, Campo. 

 Planities tantum in spatium se extendit utrinque, 

 Quantum oculus nusquam cernit. Confinia metae 

 Tarn longinqua patent ; facies tamen unica campi est 

 Qualis tranquilli pelagi tenor, JEole, vestris 

 Flatibus, immunis solet esse et flamine quovis. 

 A fessis, huic nomen, equis, vernacula quondam 

 Lingua loco dederat, quem Graia vocabula rite 

 Hippodromum indigetant, a quadrupedante frequenti. 

 Scilicet baec toties prata ungula trivit equorum 

 Lassa Geraldiadum, cum se Mavortia pubes 

 Exerceret ovans ; et equis, quae maxima virtus, 

 Expertura suis varium certamen iniret." 



Thus translated by Denis Henry Kelly, Esq. : — 



" Where soars the ancient Tower of Kildare, 



Amidst the stars, and leaves in 'ts kindred Heaven 



Its trace, a place there is most passing fair ; 

 And near 't, a level plain of many an acre, 



Which coulter ne'er, nor oxen with curved share 

 Have into furrows riven ; there no dykes 



Have e'er been cut ; no brushwood rises there ; 



No stone stands, planted as an ancient landmark ; 



No bound'ries here to point out sep'rate fields. 



In common past' rage open lies the land, 



Nor hedge, nor ditch is there— all, all is free! 



If here Deucalion, to renew man's race, 



Sought stones to cast behind him, vain his task ! 



Nor in this plain could Pyrrha flints have found, 



To supersede, how vain ! the female sex. 



So far around this plain, on every side, 



No eye of human being can descry 



Its limit — the great stones upon its confines 



