little, therefore, to recall the image of
the great Marquis who, if Rinuccini read him aright, played so
resolutely here two centuries and a half ago for the stakes which Edward
Bruce won and lost at Dundalk. The castle of the Butlers is now really a
great modern house.

The town crowds too closely upon it, but the position is superb. The
castle windows look clown upon the Nore, spanned by a narrow ancient
bridge, and command, not only all that is worth seeing in the town, but
a wide and glorious prospect over a region which is even now beautiful,
and in summer must be charming.

Over the ancient bridge the enterprise of a modern brewer last week
brought a huge iron vat, so menacingly ponderous that the authorities
made him insure the bridge for a day.

Within the castle, near the main entrance, are displayed some
tapestries, which are hardly shown to due advantage in that position.
They were made here at Kilkenny in a factory established by Piers
Butler, Earl of Ormonde, in the sixteenth century, and they ought to be
sent to the Irish Exhibition of this year in London, as proving what
Irish art and industry well directed could then achieve. They are
equally bold in design and rich in colour. The blues are especially
fine.

The grand gallery of the castle, the finest in the kingdom, though a
trifle narrow for its length, is hung with pictures and family
portraits. One of the most interesting of these is a portrait of the
black Earl of Ormon'de, a handsome swarthy man, evidently careful of his
person, who was led by that political flirt, Queen Elizabeth, to believe
that she meant to make him a visit in Ireland, and, perhaps, to honour
him with her hand. He went to great expenses thereupon. At a parley with
his kinsman, the Irish chieftain O'Moore of Abbeyleix, this black earl
was traitorously captured, and an ancient drawing representing this
event hangs beneath his portrait.

The muniment room, where, thanks to Lord Ormonde's courtesy, we found
everything prepared to receive us, is a large, airy, and fire-proof
chamber, with well-arranged shelves and tables for consulting the
records. These go back to the early Norrnan days, long before Edward
III. made James Butler Earl of Ormonde, upon his marriage with Alianore
of England, granddaughter of Edward I. The Butlers came into Ireland
with Henry II., and John gave them estates, the charters of some of
which, with the seals annexed, are here preserved. There are fine