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Show THE ABBEY OF MUCKROSS. One of the Most Famous and Plo-turesque Plo-turesque of Irelsnd's Ruins. Scenic Ireland, with its many beautiful beau-tiful panoramas, offers no spot more particularly satisfying to man's sense of the artistic In nature than tho Klllarney district, with Its far-famed lakes. Not least among the many delights de-lights of this prolific region stands tho picturesque ruin of tho famous MucMvjss abbey, which was founded, In 1440 and l Villt in 1602. It Is charmingly located on a penlnsult .separating .sep-arating tho lower and middle lakos of Klllarnoy. Tho ruin, which consists of parts of tho convent nnd church, Is not remarkable either for extent or for beauty of workmanship. Its preservation, pre-servation, seclusion, beauty of situation, situa-tion, and accompanying, vcnerablo trees, however, conjoin to make It one of the most Interesting ruins of Ireland's Ire-land's former abbeys. Tho cloister, which consists of twenty-two arches, ten of them semicircular and -twelve pointed, Is the best preserved portion of the abboy. A singular feature, as shown in tho illustration, Is a magnificent magnifi-cent yew tree growing In the centre of the enclosure. With a circumference circumfer-ence of 13 feet and a proportionate htght, the wide-spread branches of this noble tree cover, as a roof, the whole area. It is more than probable that iEA MWi T9fuBSHt8EBSSSSIEI Muckrots Abbey. the tree ls coeval with the abbey, and that it was planted by the hands of tho monks who first Inhabited the building. Perhaps its preservation is due to the belief among the common people that any person daring to pluck a branch, or in any way injuring this tree, will not live a year afterward. |