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LEINSTER
it lies the little old town, the quaint and beautiful
harbour with its seawalls, and across a narrow sound
off the harbour is the little, uninhabited, cliffy, fern-
covered island of Ireland's Eye. "Eye" is Danish
for island; Howth is "hoved" (head), and the people
of Fingal keep near the Danish word, pronouncing
almost Ho-at. The Irish name was Benn Edair,
(Edair's Cliff), and many a time it comes into Irish
story, mostly as the point from which heroes sailed
or at which they landed. Howth was the general
landing place for Dublin until Kingstown Harbour
was constructed about a century ago and called
after George IV. But of all the heroes and kings
and commonalty who crossed the Channel, none
deserves mention more than Mr. Robert Loraine, the
actor. He flew from Anglesey, and had all but
accomplished his exploit when something broke,
and he directed his aeroplane to Howth, which
was the point nearest. A level shore he might have
reached, but the cliff rose too high for his sinking
wings to surmount, so he plunged into the water a
stone's throw from land, and swam ashore somewhere
near the Old Bailey Lighthouse, which stands on a
historic site, Dungriffen, that is the Fortress of Criffan.
Now Criffan (or Crimhthann) was King of Ireland in
the fourth century, at the beginning of the period
when Irishmen made many forays on the seas —