The keen of the South of Ireland: as illustrative of Irish political and domestic history, manners, music, and superstitions / Collected, edited, and chiefly translated by T. Crofton Croker.
- Thomas Crofton Croker
- Date:
- 1844
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The keen of the South of Ireland: as illustrative of Irish political and domestic history, manners, music, and superstitions / Collected, edited, and chiefly translated by T. Crofton Croker. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![To the spirit that watches On dark Dun-an-oir.* And Ennismore’s maid By the Feal’s gloomy wave,t With her clear voice did mourn For the fall of the brave. On stormy Slieve Mist Spread the cry far and wide, The point of this tongue of land, which is about four miles across, with the Blasket Islands, which lie immediately off it, were held by the Ferriter family under the earls of Desmond, upon condition of supplying a certain number of hawks annually. The Blaskets indeed, are sometimes called Ferriter’s Islands, and Ferriter’s Creek is upon the main land nearly opposite to them. In this creek are the ruins of Castle Sybil, which was the resi- dence of the author of this keen. * There is a castle of this name, which literally signifies “ the Golden Fort,” upon Cape Clear Island; but from the juxta-posi- tion of Dunqueen it is evident that Fort del Ore upon Smerwick Bay is meant, which stands on the north side of the “tongue” of land so graphically described by Camden. T “ dnis-mor, on the river Feil [or Feal] in the county of Kerry.”—O’Brien’s Irish Dictionary. Moore’s verses “By the Feal’s wave benighted,” have exquisitely embalmed a romantic historical anecdote respecting Thomas Fitzgerald, the 6th Earl of Desmond, who died in exile at Rouen, in Normandy, 10th August 1420. Henry V is stated to have attended his funeral, at Paris. { “ Between the bays of Castlemain and Tralee are a range of considerable high mountains, which divide these arms of the sea; they go by the general name of Slieve Mis, near to which, according to Keating, the Milesians fought their first battle with c2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33285676_0081.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
