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| RUINS OF MAYNOOTH CASTLE, CO. KILDARE. -In his stirring ballad of "The Geraldines," written in the noontide of the "Young Ireland" poets' intellectual carnival, fifty, or more, years ago, Thomas Davis, the Irish Beranger, proselitzed the proud race of the Fitz-Geralds of Kildare and Desmond in words of fire, sufficient to kindle a spirit of national pride and burning patriotism in any hear no entirely oblivious to noble influences:- What gorgeous shrines, what Brehon lore, what minstrel feasts there were In and around Maynooth's gray keep and palace-filled Adare! The foregoing sketch pictures faithfully almost all the now remains of "Maynooth's gray keep," and its immediate surroundings in "rich Kildare." The fortress has been a ruin since 1535, when it fell by treachery into the hands of King Henry VIII's general during the ill-starred rebellion of Lord Thomas Fitz-Gerald, popularly called "Silken Thomas," against the authority of the tyrannical monarch in Ireland. The betrayal of Maynooth castle paralyzed the efforts of the young Geraldine, and he soon afterward fell into the hands of his enemies. Five of his uncles were also captured and all six were conveyed to England in a ship called "The Cow." One of the uncles dreamt before sailing that the Fitz-Geralds would be brought to London to die, "in the belly of a cow." This augury was fulfilled, for uncles and nephew, having reached the English capital, were immediately beheaded. Lord Thomas' half brother, Gerald, escaped to Italy. From him the present Duke of Leinster is descended. |
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