The Blarney Stone
The ruins of the famous old fortress, Blarney Castle, are visited by thousands of tourists every year. This is largely on account of a tradition which has been attached, for some centuries, to one of the stones used in building the castle. The stone, in the language of Pront, "Is endowed with the property of communicating to the happy tongue that comes in contact with its polished surface the gift of gentle, insinuating speech, with soft talk in all its ramifications, whether employed in vows and promises as light as air, such as lead captive the female heart, or elaborate mystifications of a grosser grain, such as may do for the House of Commons, all summed up and characterized by the mysterious term, 'Blarney.'" An amusing attempt has been made to prove that the stone was originally brought to Ireland by a Phoenician colony, and that the inhabitants of Tyre and Carthage (long its custodians) made use of its powers, giving rise to the familiar reference to Punica fides Tyriosque bilingues. It was added that some Carthaginian adventurers carried the stone away to Minorca by stealth, and afterward, being driven into Cork harbor, hid their treasure away in the laurel copse known as "the groves of Blarney," celebrated in song and story, whence it was taken out to be used in rearing the tower of Blarney Castle.
A song written by Richard Alfred Millikin, in 1798, refers to the local tradition in these stanzas:--
That whosoever kisses,
Oh, he never misses
To grow eloquent.
'Tis he may clamber
To a lady's chamber,
Or become a member
Of Parliament.
He'll turn out, or
An out-and-outer
To be let alone!
Don't hope to hinder him,
Or to bewilder him,
Sure he's a pilgrim
From the Blarney stone."
The difficulty which an archaeologist would have in searching out the pedigree of the Blarney stone, or the most credulous person in putting its powers to the test, lies chiefly in the fact that scarcely any two authorities agree as to the identity of the stone.
The best informed, perhaps, designate a stone set in the northern angle of the lofty castle wall, about twenty feet from the top, bearing this inscription: "Cormack MacCorthy fortis me fieri fecit, A. D., 1446." There is no way for a tourist to reach this stone except by being lowered, by ropes, from the summit of the wall, at the peril of life or limb. At one time, however, there were so many adventurous souls who were ready to run the risk, that another stone was picked out by the village wiseacres, which was only a few feet below the battlements, and bore the date 1703, with a part of the arms of the family of Jeffreys, into whose possession the castle had passed some years after it fell into ruin. Here it was possible to combine adventure with comparative safety, as, in order to kiss the substituted stone, it was necessary for the tourist only to crawl through a broken place in the battlement, and induce some friend to hold fast to his legs while he reached the stone with his lips, hanging head downward. Even this did not satisfy the conscience of the head of the Jeffreys family, who presently had the stone marked "1703" taken out of its place in the wall, and planted on the apex of one of the turrets, where it could tempt no one to harm.
But, in the course of time, there came to Blarney a maniac, whose one hobby was to find the famous stone. As his condition of mind was not recognized at once, he was allowed to go to the summit of the tower. What was the horror of the people when they beheld him climbing to the top of the parapet and executing a wild dance around the marvelous stone. Just when every one was expecting him to fall and be dashed to pieces, he suddenly seized the stone and dropped it to the ground beneath, where it was broken into three fragments. For a long time thereafter, the Hibernian guides used to point out this broken stone, with the injunction to the visitor to kiss "all the three halves" if he would imbibe any of its mysterious virtues.
The tourist now has his choice of several stones to kiss, the identity of each being equally well attested by the village folk, and one proving quite as efficacious as another.
The village of Blarney is in the south of Ireland, about four miles from Cork.
Blarney Castle was built by Cormack MacCarthy, "the Strong," fourth Lord of Muskerry, about the middle of the fifteenth century. Its walls were 18 feet thick, and it was, therefore, a notable fortress in those days. In 1602, when the Spaniards were exciting the Irish chieftains to harass the English authorities, Cormack McDermot Carthy held, among other dependencies, this castle. He concluded an armistice with Carew, the Lord President, on condition of surrendering the fort to the English garrison. Day after day his lordship looked for the fulfilment of the compact, while the Irishman kept putting him off with soft speeches and delusive promises, until at length Carew became the laughing stock of Queen Elizabeth's Ministers, and the dupe of the Lord of Blarney. Hence, the saying, "None of your Blarney talk." In 1643, Lord Broghill took and held the castle of Blarney for some time. After the restoration of Charles II., Lord Muskerry was created Earl Clancarty, and his estates were restored to him. His son Donagh fought for James II., and the castle suffered another siege during the Orange troubles. Soon after that its fortifications and mansions were destroyed, and little of it was left intact except the walls of the large, square tower (120 feet high), which contain the celebrated Blarney stone.