Antrim

“ His home was as humble as ever—but somehow, it had grown beautiful to him, for the sunshine of contentment was over every thing. His wife was as far from riding in her carriage, and his boys and girls from being gentlemen and ladies, as ever; but he loved them and was proud of them for their goodness and honesty, and he felt that God had done better for them than he could do, with all the riches in the world.
Antrim—The Giant's Causeway. THE POOR SCHOOLMASTER.
The county of Antrim is not only one of the most picturesque, but most prosperous in all Ireland. ”

“ Easter week saw a series of reviews by Sir Edward Carson of the Ulster Volunteers—of the South Antrim Regiment at Antrim Castle, of those encamped at Clandeboye, of 2,500 men of the North Belfast Regiment, and of some 3,000 from North Derry. Everything was done to make the ceremonies impressive, and Sir Edward reminded the Volunteers at Antrim, in words that afterwards acquired an unexpected significance, that they were out not for war but for peace, and were all willing at any moment to tender their services to the King, the symbol of the unity of the Empire. ”

“ On the very lowest edges of the wood, in the shade of a thick plump of beech, strewed generously about the foot by old bushes of whin and bramble, we lay at last studying the open country before us, and wondering how we should win across it to the friendly shelter of Dunchuach. Smoke was rising from every chimney in the castle, which, with its moat and guns, and its secret underground passage to the seashore, was safe against surprises or attacks through all this disastrous Antrim occupation. ”

“ The roads through Antrim are beautifully clean and neat, not only on the line of rail but along the country roads inland. The land is surely beautiful, exceedingly, and kept like a garden. The number of houses of some, nay of great, pretensions, is most astonishing. ”

“ ANTRIM AND DOWN JOURNEYING from the Giant’s Causeway to Belfast and Dublin, through the north-eastern counties of Antrim and Down, one comes upon a region little known to the casual traveller, who is usually smitten at once with the charms of Killarney and the South, and who neglects this more conveniently and comfortably traversed region. ”

“ A new council, consisting, in equal number, of men chosen out of the two parties, was appointed; and the marquess of Antrim, the Lord Muskerry, and Geoffrey Brown, were despatched to the queen mother, and her son Charles, to solicit assistance in money and arms, and to request that the prince would either come and reside in Ireland, or appoint a Catholic lieutenant in his place. [b] Antrim hoped to obtain this high office for himself; but his colleagues were instructed to oppose his pretensions and to acquiesce in the re-appointment of the marquess of Ormond. ”

“ On January 28, an agreement was made between Montrose, ‘his Majesty’s Lieutenant-General’ for Scotland and Antrim, ‘his Majesty’s General of the isles and highlands of Scotland,’ binding both to appear in arms by April 1. Antrim’s share of the work was to levy all the men he could in Ireland and in the Scottish isles, ‘and with the said forces invade the Marquis of Argyle’s country in Scotland.’ The witnesses were Digby, Robert Spotswoode, and Daniel O’Neill. ”

“ Antrim. Ed. at home, at Ballyrobin National School and Convent of Mercy, Crumlin Road, Belfast. Has contributed much prose and verse to various Irish periodicals.
⸺ THE GREEN COCKADE. Pp. 380, close print. (Sealy, Bryers) . 3s. 6d.
A love story, the scene of which is laid in Ulster during the rebellion. Full of romantic adventures. Historical characters introduced: Lord Edward Putnam M’Cabe, and especially Henry Joy M’Cracken. Battle of Antrim described, but remainder of incidents almost entirely fictitious. No attempt at impartiality. The Government side is painted in the darkest colours. ”

“ On the summit of the cliffs were the remains of the buildings where the ancient lords kept their vassals. An old man, who takes care of it for Lord Antrim, on whose property it is situated, showed us the way down to the castle. We walked across the narrow arch, entered the ruined hall, and looked down on the roaring sea below. It still rained, the wind swept furiously through the decaying arches of the banqueting hall and waved the long grass on the desolate battlements. Far below, the sea foamed white on the breakers and sent up an unceasing boom. ”

“ Every one who has visited the basalt-precipices of Antrim or the Inner Hebrides, where dykes are so numerous, will remember how uniform is their breadth as they run like ribbons up the faces of the escarpments. ”

“ About the beginning of the fifteenth century, the MacDonnells, Lords of the Isles, came to Antrim, and in 1584 a thousand Scottish highlanders, called “Redshanks,” of the septs of the Cambiles, MacDonnells and Magalanes, led by Surleboy, a Scottish chieftain, invaded Ulster. And early in James’s reign some English from Devon were brought over by Chichester and settled in Carrickfergus and Malone, near Belfast. These formed the Planters of Antrim; and Down was colonized through the interference of a laird named Montgomery. ”

“ Antrim was Tyrone’s grandson, and the remains of the Ulster clans had no objection to follow him, though some of his levies were islemen or Hebrideans settled in Ireland. Patrick Gordon calls them ‘strangers and foreigners,’ adding that they showed no pity or humanity, nor made any distinction between man and beast, ‘killing men with the same careless neglect that they kill a hen or capon for supper. ”

“ Antrim. From an ancestor who about a hundred years earlier had married Margaret Bisset, heiress of the district on the Antrim coast known as the Glynns (or Glens) , he inherited a claim to the lordship of that territory; and he was one of the most powerful of the Scottish settlers in Ulster whom the English government in the 16th century found difficulty in bringing into subjection. Many attempts were made to drive them out of Ireland, in one of which, about 1550, Sorley Boy Macdonnell was taken prisoner and conveyed to Dublin Castle, where, however, his confinement was brief. ”

“ On his return to Ireland, Antrim found his castle of Dunluce so dilapidated that he built a new residence for himself at Ballymagarry House, not far from the castle. He was a great lover of field-sports, and the remainder of his life is traditionally said to have been devoted to hunting and hawking. ”

“ About 1626 Hugh Campbell, a layman from Ayrshire, established a kind of revival meeting on the last Friday of each month at his house in Oldstone, two miles from Antrim. Great crowds of people attended, and fanatical excesses were fostered by James Glendinning, the eccentric vicar of Carnmoney, co. Antrim. To allay the excitement, Ridge began a meeting for preaching and conference on the first Friday of each month at Antrim, and called in the aid of Robert Blair (1593-1666) [q. v.] ”

“ Was not the Earl of Antrim then with his Majesty at Oxford—that very Randal Macdonnell, Earl of Antrim, whom it had been proposed, as far back as 1638, to send secretly into Argyleshire with a force of Irishry, to aid the King in his first strife with the Covenanters (Vol. II. p. 23) ? Six years had elapsed since then; but there was still extant in Antrim, as the head of the great Scoto-Irish clan of the Macdonnells and Macdonalds, that power for mischief in Scotland which consisted in the hereditary feud between this clan and all the family of the Campbells. ”

“ According to Antrim’s own account, the number of men sent was about 1600, and 800 more were discharged for want of shipping. Three weeks later Ormonde informed Digby that Antrim had sent ‘from Waterford and other adjacent places,’ 2500 men well armed and provisions for two months. The chief of the expedition was Alaster, or Alexander McColl MacDonnell, often, but incorrectly, called Colkitto. He was a man of great courage, remarkable for his strength and stature, and Leven thought him the most formidable leader of the Irish. ”

“ He died on the 10th of December 1636. Antrim married Alice, daughter of Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, by whom, besides six daughters, he had Randal, 2nd earl and 1st marquess of Antrim (q.v.) , and Alexander, 3rd earl. Three other sons, Maurice, Francis and James, were probably illegitimate. The earldom has continued in the family down to the present day, the 11th earl (b. 1851) succeeding in 1869.
See also An Historical Account of the MacDonnells of Antrim, by G. Hill (1873) . ”

“ Ulster to the Scottish Highlands, and founded as many houses there, and, in the subsequent century, a scion of the House of the Isles acquired land in the north of Ireland, and founded the Antrim family. In all the Irish wars this race took generally a part, and, in their own wars at home, were rarely without assistance from Ireland. ”

“ Geoffrey Fanning’s house was searched for arms — and as to the houses of the inhabitants of the County of Antrim, those baronies alone were searched which joined the sea-coast opposite to Scotland, and in or near to the estate of the Earl of Antrim, then a prisoner in the Castle of Dublin, and after the Pretender was landed in Scotland. Parliament adjourned from the 9th to the 20th of February. ”

“ N. of Larne.—Castle of the Countess of Antrim, still venerable and magnificent, and on the site of an ancient Abbey: from the front is seen the Glen or Great Park 13 m. in circuit; extremely romantic and beautiful; consisting of wood and broken rock, with several waterfalls and salmon-leaps formed by a large serpentine river winding through the grounds, whilst its banks are adorned with various evergreens; myrtles, and the arbutus or strawberry-tree almost continually in blossom. ”

“ First there came a call from the congregation of Usher's Quay, Dublin, in conjunction with the Rev. Mr. Arbuckle. Then, almost simultaneously, a like ‘call’ from the old congregation at Belfast. In the face of both, Antrim desired to retain its beloved pastor. As before, the synod decided the matter and assigned him to Dublin. This threw Abernethy into no common agitation and perplexity. After tarrying three months at Usher's Quay on an experimental or observing visit, he felt that Antrim had the first claim upon him, and resolved accordingly, spite of the appointment of the general synod. ”

“ It was decided at last that two of the party should venture into Antrim to buy bread and wine. No one knew what troops there might be in the town. It would not be safe to count on the support of the inhabitants if they happened to have soldiers in their houses. The inns might be full of officers. The shops might be in the hands of the royal troops.
“It’s no use discussing the difficulties and dangers,” said Donald at last. “We’ve got to risk it. We can’t fight all day on empty stomachs. We’d fight badly if we did. I and Neal here will go into Antrim, we’re the least likely to be recognised. ”

“ In point of historical interest, there are but two events connected with Antrim worthy of any particular note—the defeat of the insurgents here in the rebellion of 1798, on which occasion the late Earl O’Neill lost his life; and a great battle between the English and native Irish, in the reign of Edward III., hitherto little spoken of in history, but forming one in a series of events which exercised a great influence over the destinies of this country. ”

“ That valley and those hills belong to the Earl of Antrim—his estate includes some thirty-five thousand acres of Irish soil, around which he may build walls [496] and post notices and set guards; and as I sat there gazing out at them, I realised far more keenly than I had ever done the absurdity of the idea that any portion of this earth's surface can rightfully belong to any man. Trace any title back, for a hundred years, or a thousand years, or two thousand years, and one finds that it started in a theft—theft on the part of an individual from the tribe which held the land in common ”

“ These were settled on the mainland in the counties of Argyle and Inverness, while the island of Skye was given to another son, Grim Donald of Sleat, (Dòmhnull gorm Shléibhte) . Another son got the smaller isles, and another went to Ireland and became Earl of Antrim while the heir remained in Islay and held the adjacent islands as well as portions of the mainland. Of the 700 who returned with his son from Antrim to people the islands after the expulsion of the Norsemen, 22 were heads of families. ”

“ Soon the great lamps would flare, and the crowds would be going to the playhouses: to Tony Pastor's to see the new play, "Dreams," or to Harrigan & Hart's to see [Pg 356] "Investigation," or to Mr. Bartley Campbell's latest, "Separation," at the Grand Opera-house. He would miss all this in Antrim, but Antrim called him.... Antrim, our mother....
And three months ago he had never thought this possible. He had drilled himself into a mature philosophy, saying: "It doesn't matter that I never see Ireland again. I am happy here with Granya and young Alan and Robin Beg, little Robin. ”

“ To the Danes and Pechts the building of all the raths and souterrains is ascribed, and in North-East Antrim the Pechts are said to have been so numerous that, when making a fort, they could stand in a long line, and hand the earth from one to another, no one moving a step. ”