I have about thirty or forty of those letters of John O’Donovan, written from the year 1854 to the year of his death, 1862. They are very interesting to me and to men like me. They may never see the light of day if I pass them by now. But, I cannot publish the whole of them; I will run through them and show you the ones that I consider interesting, as throwing some light on the character, the thoughts, the opinions, and the genial family surroundings of the greatest Irish scholar of this century. His next letter is this:
Dublin, Dec. 31st, 1854.
Dear Sir—The old name of Castle Salem was Kilbritton. This castle was the chief residence of McCarthy-Reagh, by whom it was erected. The O’Donovans had nothing to do with this castle, notwithstanding the authority of the ignorant historian Dr. Smith!
The Professor Donovan, who wrote the article on coffee in 1834, is my friend Michael Donovan, of No. 11 Clare street, Dublin, who is a very distinguished chemist and member of our Royal Irish Academy, where he frequently reads papers on the most scientific subjects. He wrote several works which were published in Lardner’s Cyclopedia, on galvanism, chemistry, domestic economy, etc. He has made a discovery in chemical science which he has as yet failed to establish; that is, the process of turning water into gas. He was given up the Gas-house at Dover to test this discovery; the house got burned, for which he had to stand his trial; but he succeeded in proving that the house was burned by the workmen, who were prejudiced against him. His father was born at Kilmacow, near the River Suir, in the county of Kilkenny, within sight of where I was born. I was born in 1809 in the parish of Atateemore, in the barony of Ida, and county of Kilkenny. But we are not in any way related. His grandfather turned Protestant about the year 1750, since which period his family have been the wealthiest Donovans in Ireland, except perhaps, those of Ballymore, County Wexford.
You may rely on it that “Felicitas Columba” knows nothing of the O’Donovans-Rossa except what I have published in the appendix to “The Annals of the Four Masters.” I have no sympathy with falsehood in any shape or form, and a lie (white, black or red,) coming from a minister of any religion, (which I am told “Felicitas” is), is doubly hideous. We have truths in vast abundance, and the discovery of them in history and science is a praiseworthy result of patient investigation; but no false assertion should be ventured upon. Truth will ultimately triumph over falsehood, and those who have attempted to sustain false assertions, are contemptible in the estimation of the honorable, and the lovers of true truth. Believe me to be yours sincerely,
John O’Donovan.
I here pass by some letters on genealogy, which may be considered interesting only to myself and to my family name and connections, and come on to this one:
Dublin, 29th May, 1856.
Jeremiah O’Donovan-Rossa,
Dear Sir—Please read the enclosed American letter and return to me. It is rather to show the spirit of the Irish mind in America. I would do anything in my power to encourage nationality, because we are becoming extinct very rapidly.