* The respectable families of the Fitzgeralds still bear the
title of their ancestors, and are never named but as the
Knights of Kerry and of Glynn.
** One of these collars was in the possession of Mr.
O’Halloran.
*** In the Bog of Cullen, in the county of Tipperary, some
golden gorgets were discovered, as were also some corslets
of pure gold in the lands of Clonties, county of Kerry—-See
Smith’s History of Ireland.
“And this helmet?” said I—
“It is called in Irish,” he replied, “salet and belonged, with this coat of mail, to my ancestor who was murdered in this castle.”
I coloured at this observation, as though I had been myself the murderer.
“As you refer, Sir,” said the priest, who had flung by his book and joined us, “to the ancient Irish for the origin of knighthood, * you will perhaps send us to the Irish Mala, for the derivation of the word mail.”
* At a time when the footstep of an English invader had not
been impressed upon the Irish coast, the celebrity of the
Irish knights was sung by the British minstrels. Thus in the
old romantic tale of Sir Cauline:=
In Ireland, ferr over the sea,
There dwelleth a bonnye kinge,
And with him a young and comlye knight,
Men call him Syr Cauline.