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| THE PHOENIX PARK, DUBLIN. -This picturesque tract comprises nearly 2,000 acres of land, beautifully diversified by plain, rolling ground, wood, cascade and rivulet, and is one of the most delightful pleasure spots in Europe. In summer the air is made vocal by countless song birds of almost endless varieties; and red deer run wild amid its classic shades. The section of the park known as "The Fifteen Acres" is a favorite reviewing ground for the Dublin garrison; and in the ante-"Union" days was a famous dueling ground. It was no unusual thing in the last century, when the "code of honor" prevailed in Ireland, to see in the early morning half a dozen "Irish gentlemen of the old school" blaze away at each other, with pistols duly primed and loaded, on this desirable battlefield. Many of the encounters, often fatal to one or both parties, grew out of hot debates on the rights and wrongs of Ireland in the Irish House of Commons. Among those who signalized themselves in this respect were Henry Grattan, Father of the Irish Parliament of 1782; Lord Chancellor Fitzgibbon, Henry Flood, Lord Norbury, who sentenced Robert Emmet to death, and many other historical personages. But the scene presented above is entirely pastoral and recalls no memory of by-gone strife. Irish antiquaries assert that Phoenix Park derives its name not from the fabled bird, but from a well, known as Fionn-uisge ("Clear Water"), still within its limits. |
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