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| MONKSTOWN, CO. CORK. -Among the many pretty villages that stud the emerald shores of the estuary of the river Lee in Monkstown, sketched above. It stands on the right bank of the river, in the midst of scenery that it is no exaggeration to call enchanting. "Glorious woods and teeming soil" characterize the whole neighborhood of this delightful place. It possesses, among other objects of interest, an old castle, now a ruin, which was built in 1636, under what Prof. Addey, in "Picturesque Ireland," calls "peculiar circumstances." The tradition runs that during the absence of the owner of the demesne, who was serving in the army of Philip of Spain, his wife, whose name was Anastasia, resolved to pleasingly surprise him by building a quadrangular castle without diminishing his exchequer. In order to achieve this end, she compelled the tenants on the estate to purchase from her the groceries and other necessaries of existence, consumed or worn by them, at an advance on the prices at which she was enabled to buy the goods wholesale. A keen woman of business, she succeeded admirably, for when the balance was finally struck, it was found that the completed edifice had cost only four pence -commonly called a "groat"-in excess of the receipts from sales of merchandise. This castle fell into decay during the Williamite wars. |
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