Traditions from remote Periods through few Hands (Vol. iii., p. 237.).—The following facts may not be uninteresting on this subject.
The late Maurice O'Connell of Derrynane, co. Kerry, died early in 1825, and would have completed 99 years on the 31st of March in that year. The writer hereof has heard him tell anecdotes derived from the conversation of Daniel McCarthy, of the same co., who died about 1740, aged at least 108 years. This Daniel McCarthy was commonly known by the nick-name of "Dhonald Bhin," or "Yellow Dan," and was the first man that ran away from the battle of Aughrim. There is a short account of him in Smith's History of Kerry, in which he is mentioned as lately deceased. You have thus a period of over 200 years, the traditions of which might be derived through three persons, the survivor of whom, your correspondent, is but middle aged. I remember being told in the co. Clare, circiter 1828, of an individual then lately deceased, who remembered the siege of Limerick by General Ginkle, and the news of the celebrated treaty of Limerick. It is to be wished that your readers who reside in, or may visit Ireland, would take an interest in this subject. I am certain that in remote parts of the country much curious tradition could be thus brought to light; and it would be interesting to compare the accounts of great public events, as remembered and handed down by the peasantry, with those which we take on the faith of historians.
As relating to this subject, I may refer to the allusion made in page 250. of the same Number to the Countess of Desmond, who was said to have lived to so great an age. I have seen the picture alluded to at Glanlearne in Valencia, the seat of the knight of Kerry; and it must have been taken at a comparatively early period of life, as the Earl of Desmond was outlawed, and his estates confiscated, in the reign of Elizabeth. Some record of how this old lady's jointure was provided for might yet be discovered, and the period of her decease thus ascertained.
Kerriensis.
Latin Epigram on the Duchess of Eboli (Vol. iii., p. 208.).—This beautiful epigram, which C. R. H. has somewhat mutilated even in the two lines which he gives of it, was written by Jerome Amaltheus, who died in 1574, the year in which Henry III. of France came to the throne; so that it is unlikely at least that the "Amor" was meant for Mangirow, his "minion." In the edition of the poems of the three brothers Amalthei, which I possess, and which was printed at Amsterdam in 1689, the epigram runs—
"DE GEMELLIS FRATRE ET SORORE LUSCIS.
"Lumine Acon, dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro,
Et potis est forma vincere uterque Deos.
Blande puer, lumen, quod habes concede puellæ,
Sic tu cæcus Amor, sic erit illa Venus."