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| RUINS OF ANCIENT LODGE, CO. GALWAY.- The ruins of the above lodge are situated in the county of Galway, not far from the town of Ballinasloe, and derive a melancholy interest from the fact that, in the grounds surrounding them, a duel to the death was fought in the beginning of this century, by tow gentlemen named Lynch and Kelly, in which the latter was killed. Since the sad event, a blight would seem to have fallen upon the place, and it is said among the peasantry that the ghost of the slaughtered man "walks" of nights near the scene of his violent death. And yet death in the duello was not an uncommon thing in the Galway of our grandfathers' days, for does not Lever sing in "Charles O'Malley," of that particular period- To drink a toast, a proctor roast, To keep game cocks, to hunt the fox Or bailiff, as the case is- To drink in punch the Solway, To kiss your wife, or take your life With debts galore and fun for more, At ten or fifteen paces. Oh, that's the man for Galway! Of course Lever's picture, like most of his sketches of Irish life, is overdrawn, but there is enough truth in it to explain the probable provocation of the Lynch-Kelly tragedy. |
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