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io LEINSTER
and of the neighbouring Hermitage, "Emmet's
Walk", "Emmet's Seat", are shown: that old story
has left many marks. Curran's name has not been
so cherished: instincts are quick in Ireland, though
it is only within the last few years that we have
learnt how mean a part the great orator played in
that tragic history. Yet it is worth glancing at the
Priory, for here came all that was famous in Ire-
land's most famous day: famous orators, famous
duellists, patriots, and placemen — worse even than
placemen, for Curran's closest friend was Leonard
MacNally, who for a lifetime posed as the champion
of men like Emmet, and for a lifetime sold their secrets
to Government, while acting as their advocate in the
courts where they were tried for dear life.
All the great houses that stud the lower slope of
these hills, with parks about them, and with much
beautiful decoration inside, are work of that period
in the eighteenth century when Ireland had her brief
prosperous hour, when her capital was in truth a
metropolis. To-day, as you rise above this belt of
wooded land and make your way out on to the slopes
of Three Rock or Kilmashogue or Tibradden—the
nearest heights—you will look over a country not much
changed in aspect probably, save that land which
was then cornbearing is now nearly all in grass.
The city itself spreads wider than it did in Grattan's