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| O'CONNELL BRIDGE, DUBLIN.-Since the enlargement of the Irish municipal franchise, under the Gladstone regime, many of the Irish cities have elected aldermen who represent the national feelings of the people. In consequence of this, many streets and public structures, in Dublin and elsewhere, which had formerly borne English names, have been virtually re-christened. Among the thoroughfares so renamed is Sackville street, now O'Connell street, and among the structures O'Connell Bridge, formerly Carlisle Bridge, which is the finest span on the Laffey toward the sea, and connects O'Connell street with Westmoreland and D'Olier streets. This bridge has been greatly improved within the last twenty years. It commands a superb view of the main artery of Dublin's commercial life. At its southern end rises Farrell's masterly statue of William Smith O'Brien, the Young Ireland leader and "rebel" of 1848; and at its northern line the fine monument to O'Connell, after the model of the famed sculptor, J. H. Foley, who died before its completion. Hogan's striking statue of the Catholic Liberator, said to be the best extant, is placed in the City Hall, formerly the Royal Exchange. This is the statue that called forth Thomas Davis' matchless apostrophe, "Chisel the Likeness of Our Chief." |
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