blin._ Waterford, from North Side of
River.]

"The Star of the Suir"--the City of ~Waterford~--derived its name from
the Danish words, Vedr-fiord, given to it by its original founders, the
hardy Norsemen. From whatever side we approach the old town, whether
land or sea, the sight is equally delightful. From without, approaching
by the broad waterway, the city stretches forth to meet us, with the
quaint wooden bridge spanning the noble river, and the hills forming a
zone behind. Surely the Danes had an eye for beauty, as for maritime
advantage, in selecting this happy spot for their fortress. In the ninth
century, when the ploughers of the sea seized on the mouth of the Suir,
they fortified a little delta some twenty acres in size, having the
present Quay as its long side. From this little triangle the town grew,
and in the last century was one of the first seaport towns in Ireland.
Here, in 1171, Strongbow landed, defeated the Danes and Irish, who had
confederated to repel him, and sacked the town. It is a strange
historical coincidence that the Feast of St. Bartholomew was the day on
which Strongbow landed and countenanced the massacre of the inhabitants.
Under Raymond Le Gros the carnage was carried out, and in St. Lawrence
O'Toole's address to the Irish princes at peace with the invader, which
has been versified by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, it is referred to in the
lines:--

"Tell me not of leagues and treaties,
Treaties sealed in faith as true
As Black Raymond's, on the bloody
Feast of St. Bartholomew."

[Illustration: _Photo, Croker, Waterford._ The Quays, Waterford.]

King John landed here, and the town was walled in and fortified against
the Irish, who hung like wolves around a fold in the outlying country.
In the Revolution the town adhered to the King. It was the port most
used by the Confederates, and here many of their proclamations were
printed. It was the one place in Ireland which successfully resisted the
all-conquering Cromwell, and hence received the name from the Cavaliers
of _Urbs intacta_. An object of historic interest which has been
restored within the present century is Reginald's Tower. It was built
originally by Reginald the Dane, son of Sitrius, the great Danish King
of Dublin and Fingal (The Fair Strangers), whom Brian Boru defeated at
Clontarf. Here, it is said, DeClair married Eva, whose fair face induced
him to join his forces to her father's fallen fortunes. Maclise, in his