King of the vigorous Triocha meodhanach. Dr. John O'Donovan suggests that Ui Baghamhna is the modern (barony of) Ibane. Smith, too, remarks that the O'Flynns were settled in Ibane. When we turn to the Genealogy of Corca Laidhe we find the pedigrees very confused. At pages 36-37 we read "Now comes the AesCoin-chinne. Aedh Finn had four sons, viz., Breasal, Tuathal, Tibraide, and Murcadh. Conall had two sons, viz., Flann and Arda. Now the Ui-Badhamhna, viz., Donnghus, son of Cuchoingeilt, son of Seanchlanna, son of Scannlan Dubh, and so on to Eochaidh Badhamhna." Elsewhere we read that Coinchinne daughter of Cathbhadh, had a son, Conall Claen,' "the progenitor of the Cineal-Coinchinne, seated in the district extending from Feith-na-h-imghona to Droichead Locha na h-Imchadha" (p. 39); and that Feith-na-h-Imghona was west of Traigh Omna (Tragumina, parish of Castlehaven). This would lend colour to the belief that the O'Flynns were settled at Ardagh (parish of Tullagh), where there is a ruined castle. In another part of the Genealogy we find the pedigrees of the Ua Baire (after whom Meentervaura is called), and of Flann-Arda mixed up together (pp. 42-45). Thus we read "Codfach, son of Dubhdalethe (Dowdall), son of Maelcorma, son of Cuilleanain (Cullinane), son of Bruadar, son of Dunlaing (Dowling, Doolan), son of Dunadhach (Downey), son of Flaithimh (Lahiff, Leahy), son of Flaithbheartach (Flaherty), son of Flann Arda, son of Mac Con, son of Condach, son of Fearghus, son of Conall, son of Treana, son of Duach," etc. From the Four Masters we learn that Cuchoingealta, lord of Corca Laidhe, died 770 A.D., and that Bruadar, son of Dunlaing, lord of Corca Laidhe, died 860. From the Genealogy we learn that Tuath-o-Dubhdaleithe (O'Dowdall) extended from Beal-atha-na-h-uidhre to Beal-atha-buidhe, and from Gortna-daibhche to Loch-an-tairbh. Its chieftains were-O Dowdall, Ua Mailcheallaigh, Ua Duibhleanna, Ua Mailcorma, Ua Cuilleanain, O Bruadair, Ua Dunadhaigh, and Ua Lathimh (pp. 53-57). This tribal district was clearly inland, beal-atha-buidhe being Ballyboy, which is north of Dunmanway; Gort-na-daibche being Gortnadihy, parish of Kilmeen; Lochantairb being Loughantarrif, parish of Drinagh, and Beal-atha-nahuidhre being a ford over the river Arigideen. The names of the families settled in this part are all derived from names found in the pedigree of Flann-Arda. This would seem to indicate that the Ui-Baghamhna were settled in this district. Dunald Mac Firbis, however, identifies Tuath-o-Dowdall with Triucha-meadhonach (the territory of the O'Cowhigs). The Genealogy of Corca Laidhe, after describing the Tuath-o-Dunghalaigh, which extended from the island of Inchidony to Beal-atha-na-huidhre and Grillach (parish of Kilnagross) to Achadha (now Agha, parish Lislee), inserts: "The meaning of the Middle Cantred, i.e., O'Cowhig's territory"; and then goes on to describe O'Dowdall's tuath. I cannot say whether the Genealogy refers O'Cowhig's territory to O'Dunghalaigh's tuath or O'Dowdall's tuath. It is clear that the O'Cowhig's territory was near the sea. The name is still preserved in Dunnycowhig (parish of Lislee); and they are said to have erected seven castles on the Seven Heads. O'Heerin speaks of them in connection with the "harbour of white stone"; and Bishop O'Brien says they possessed the baronies of East and West Barryroe. Hence I am inclined to think that Tuath-o-Dunghalaigh represents the O'Cowhig territory, and that Tuath-o-Dowdall represents the Ui Badhamhna territory. A Taxation of the Diocese of Ross preserved in the Records of the Irish Exchequer, and printed in the Calendar of State Papers, 1302, A.D., mentions three deaneries of Ross, viz., Obathumpna, Corkyg Teragh, and Boerry. Canon O'Hanlon, in a note to his Life of St. Fachtna, mentions three deaneries also, viz., Ardagh, Carberry, and Tirerril. Canon O'Hanlon's Ardagh probably represents the Obathumpna of the State Papers; and Obathumpna seems to be a corruption of U1 Badamna (Badhamhna, ua budumna, as some MSS. have it), the territory of the O Floinn-Arda. This deanery consisted of the parishes of Thamalage (Timoleague), Lislithig (Lislee), Crogharge, Kilmoludu (Kilmalooda), Nathrugg, Disertrum (Desert), Dounaghmore (Donoughmore), and Kelly. If my surmise be correct, it shews that the O Flynns were settled not near Baltimore but in the baronies of Ibane and Barryroe. There is a townland named Ardagh in the parish of Ross. JAMES M. BURKE. Belzoni the Egyptian Explorer in Cork.-Signor Belzoni was a native of the Roman States, and possessing a wandering spirit he visited England, Ireland, and Scotland about nine or ten years ago. He was then about 28 years of age, of very handsome and colossal appearance, his stature being upwards of six feet six inches, and remarkably straight and well formed. His circumtances having become straitened, he went to Edinburgh, and commenced an Exhibition of Hydraulics, in which he was a perfect adept. From Scotland he repaired to Ireland, and finding the resources of the mind insufficient to feed the curiosity of his visitors, he determined to employ the prodigious strength of his body, and between the acts of the hydraulic experiments, Mr. Belzoni was doomed to bear upon his colossal frame not fewer, if we mistake not, than 20 or 22 persons. Thus he has been seen at the Cork and Cove theatres lifting up this human weight of individuals strapped around his hips, shoulders, and neck, and moving across the stage as stately as the elephant with the Persian warriors. Between 1815 and 1819 he made those researches in Egypt which immortalised his name."—"Gentleman's Magazine," January, 1821. A Curious Incident in the Tithe War.-The following account of a very curious episode in the agitation against tithes, which were so long a source of discontent, ill-will, and even bloodshed in Ireland, is copied from vol. ii. of "Memoirs and Correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh," London, 1848. It is published under the heading, "Memorial of the Rev. Dr. Coppinger, Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork, respecting a Notice posted near the Chapel of Ballyntantis, in the neighbourhood of Middleton, County Cork"; but Dr. Coppinger was Bishop not of Cork but of Cloyne at that time. Ballyntantis is now known as Ballintoutis, and the old chapel in respect to which Bishop Coppinger adopted such severe measures is now superseded by a modern church. The second D in Middleton has long been dropped from the spelling of that town's name, probably to distinguish it from Middleton in England.] 8 Middleton, Sep. 2, 1799. "On Sunday, the eighteenth of August, a Notice against the paying of tithes and assisting the clergyman to draw them was posted up close to the chapel of Ballyntantis, near Middleton, which being observed by the parish priest, the Rev. Michael Barry, as he was about to enter the chapel, he remonstrated forcibly against it, and insisted that the people present should instantly take it down. They did not do so; he therefore took it down himself; and refusing to say Mass for them, came off at once to give an account of the transaction. I expressed, not only to himself, the satisfaction which his conduct gave me, but went with him to his other chapel at Middleton, where in presence of a very large congregation I repeated the encomium, and returned him public thanks. I then laid an interdict upon the chapel of Ballyntantis, till the parishioners in a body should declare their abhorrence of this Notice, and give me sufficient reason to expect that they would never again be concerned in nor countenance any similar outrage. The following day I engaged the parish priest to accompany me to Cove, where we presented the Notice to Sir Charles Ross, to receive his directions, and lay before him what we ourselves had done. He was pleased to signify his approbation, but, at the same time, desired us to let the people know from him, that if any disorderly conduct of that sort should appear there again, he would send troops to live upon them for a month at free quarters. The General's determination was to be announced to them in the chapel yard, the next Sunday; but they came to me before that day, accompanied by their parish priest, for I refused to listen to them without him. They declared their regret for not having taken down the Notice; they endeavoured to exculpate themselves on the score of being concerned in putting it there; they offered to make up, among them, a sum of thirty or forty pounds as a reward for discovering the guilty person; they promised to oppose unanimously any proceedings of this sort, should such ever be attempted in their parish. The parish priest bore testimony that these people were heretofore the best conducted and the most exemplary under his care, yet I still refused to withdraw the interdict, until after stating these particulars to the General, I should have his express concurrence. I accordingly wrote to him by one of them, and received the following answer :— "Cove of Cork, August 24th, 1799. Sir-I am happy to learn that the measures which you have adopted appear likely to prevent a repetition of the very unjustifiable proceedings which lately occurred in the parish under Mr. Barry's charge. Nothing can give me more pain than being obliged to adopt severe and vigorous measures in order to preserve the peace of the country; but should a similar circumstance occur, I will feel it my duty to make the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of the place where any unlawful proceeding takes place entirely responsible for the consequences unless they produce the guilty persons. It is my anxious wish to preserve the security and tranquillity of the country by the most moderate and lenient measures; but if obliged to adopt a different line of conduct, the people may be assured that no indulgence shall be shown to offenders. If you think it expedient to take off the interdict laid upon the chapel, I can have no objection to your doing so.-I have the honour to remain, etc., The Rev. Dr. Coppinger," CHARLES ROSS, Major-General. There is not a sentence in the General's letter that was not literally communicated and strongly enforced at the chapel of Middleton by myself in English and by the parish priest in Irish, after which I gave him directions to go in person to the chapel of Ballyntantis, to speak to the people there; and though I withdrew the interdict, I ordered, at the same time, a sentence of excommunication to be pronounced against any person or persons who should thenceforward be guilty of or in any way concerned in a like offence. This order, with a view to greater formality, I committed to writing, and directed as a letter to the parish priest, though I gave it after out of my own hand, desiring that he might himself seal it, and never indeed suspecting that it could be made the subject of a serious complaint against me, as I now perceive it has, by the following conclusion of Lord Longueville's card to the parish priest of Middleton: "Sir Charles Ross's letter to the titular Bishop was much stronger and more explicit than it appeared to the Bishop to be designed for, by the communication he made of it to Mr. Barry, which is gone to the Lord Lieutenant." I cannot wish it to come before a better tribunal; and the above particulars considered, I rest with confidence in the result.-William Coppinger, D.D. J. C. Reviews and Notes of Books, etc. Une Loi Historique, vol. ii. By Ernest Millard, Capitaine Commandant du Génie, Adjoint d'Etat-Major. In this, the second volume of his work, the Belgian author endeavours to establish a "law" that the great nations of the world go through certain phases of development, each of which lasts on an average 250 years, and that five of these make up what he calls a historical generation. Each generation contains the successive phases of formation, activity, uneasiness, splendour, and decline. And as the phase of decline of one generation coincides with the phase of formation of the next, he arrives at the conclusion that each race passes through a phase of splendour every thousand years. Thus, taking Italy, he holds that that country has twice dominated the world, once by pagan Rome, once by Christian Rome, and he finds that the period of the greatest glory of the former is separated from the time. when Papal influence was at its greatest (twelfth and thirteenth centuries) by precisely 1,000 years. And he foresees a third period of Italian greatness about the year 2100 A.D. In the volume before us he works out his theory in the same way for the Jews, to whom he assigns five generations previous to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. He sees in the present day the phase of splendour of their seventh generation. In the same way the author assigns five generations to the Greeks, the last of which is now in its period of decay. The author's views, if somewhat far-fetched, are at any rate ingeniously worked out. He fortifies them with extracts from historians, which show a wide and varied reading. Irish Exiles in France. The following extracts from an article in Revue des Deux Mondes of March 1st, 1905, may be of interest for Irish readers as throwing some light on the fortunes of those exiles who followed King James II. to France, and as showing how the descendants of these exiles mingled with and were absorbed into the population amongst which they had made their homes. The writer, M. Alfred Mézières, of the Academy, is giving, under the title "Au Temps Passé, an account of the surroundings of his childhood. Describing the little hamlet of Rehon, situated just inside the French boundary on the frontiers of Belgium and Luxemburg, he says that, of about thirty families in the hamlet, only two persons were in comparatively easy circumstances. "One was altogether of the countryside, of local growth. The other, that of my grandfather, born in 1765, sprang from quite another source. He belonged to the Irish family of O'Brien' which had followed the fortunes of the Stuarts to France. As long as these lived on the subsidies and under the protection of Louis XIV., the O'Briens had remained in France with them. But when the treaty of Utrecht forced Louis XIV. to recognize the new dynasty which reigned in England, the Stuarts sought refuge in the territories of the Duke of Lorraine, who gave them a residence at Commercy.) There the Pretender disbanded the Irish regiments which he could no longer pay. An O'Brien married a girl of the neighbourhood, and established himself at Rehon. It is from him that my mother's family descends. But the name has been disfigured on the way by the parish scribes, who were very slightly acquainted with English spelling. During the early years of the eighteenth century it was written O'Brion. This O which astonished everyone finally disappeared. It was replaced by Au, all the more easily that there was in the district a long-established family called Aubrion with which ours was mixed up, although there was not the slightest relationship between us. The Irish origin is attested by very old deeds, and also by a continuous tradition. My mother, born in 1807, and her first cousin, born in 1784, preserved such a faithful memory of it that they never went to bed without addressing a prayer to heaven for the souls of James II. and James III." M. Mézières gives some further interesting details about his grandfather O'Brien, who lived to the great age of 89. He had a great natural aptitude for engineering, and became contractor for the important fortifications which Napoleon constructed at Metz. He came into frequent contact with Napoleon himself; and enjoyed the respect and confidence of the generals who were placed over the fortifications. One of these told M. Mézières that one day at Mayence he had nearly been struck on the head by a bag of gold which a dishonest sub-contractor had brought as a bribe to M. Aubrion, and which the latter in his indignation had thrown out of the window. No doubt researches at the present day in all the Catholic countries of Europe would throw similar light on the fortunes of the descendants of many another of the "Wild Geese." (1) Lorraine, as is well known, was not annexed to France until 1776. W. BUTLER. |