more than local interest, which, although generally unrecorded by contemporary authors and subsequent compilers, still serve more forcibly to illustrate the literary and social progress of a country than the elaborate treatises of philosophic historians. The acknowledged difficulty of obtaining accurate information on such points has evidently obstructed the production of any important contribution to the history of the streets of Dublin. Hence, those writers who have even incidentally touched on this subject, instead of relying on the result of patient research among our manuscript and printed documents, especially the ephemeral and rare publications of the ancient local press, have in general based their statements on the credit of tradition, which, although a valuable adjunct to more stable testimony, is too frequently delusive to command the implicit confidence of the accurate investigator. In the present and subsequent papers we trust to demonstrate how far documentary evidence may be brought together from various authentic though obscure sources, to illustrate a department of our local history which has been hitherto suffered to remain a total blank. It is not, however, our intention to confine ourselves to an arid and meagre catalogue of names and dates. As far as practicable, we propose to enter on the details of many literary and historic points, connected with the various localities of the city, which have been either totally omitted or superficially treated of by former writers.

To illustrate our remarks on this subject, we have selected a portion of the metropolis, which, from its present appearance, would at first appear likely to afford but a small proportion of interesting recollections.

Stretching in a semicircular line from the hill, on a portion of which the Castle of Dublin is erected, stands Fishamble-street, so called from having been the locality where fish was anciently exposed for sale to the citizens. So early as the year 1356, we find the Government prohibiting, under penalty of imprisonment, the sale of fish anywhere in the city except in the shambles, and at a proper hour of the day. The forestalling of fish was carried to such an extent at this period that the citizens were obliged to pay exorbitantly for it on fast days. To remedy the evil, the King appointed four commissioners to supervise the various harbours from Holmpatrick to Dublin, and to take special care that all fish was forwarded for sale direct to the fish shambles; they

were, moreover, empowered to enter the houses of suspected. forestallers, and to imprison such as were thereof found guilty, in the Castle of Dublin. In the reign of Richard the Second the street was styled "vicus piscatorius." A portion of it appears, however, to have borne the name of "Both-street," as, in 1421, we find mention of "le Fyshamels," near the Church of St. John, Bothstret. Early in the seventeenth century it was called "Fish-street," and at that period the buildings on the west side did not extend, towards Skinner-row, beyond the Church of St. John. At the north end of Fishamblestreet, in the city wall, on the Wood-quay, stood Fyan's Castle, so called from that family which in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries held high offices in the city. In the seventeenth century this castle was known as Proutefort's Castle, and was used as a state prison so late as the reign of Charles II.

The lower portion of the present line of street, extending to the Wood-quay, was anciently called St. Tullock's-lane, from the Church of St. Olave, corruptly styled St. Tullock, which stood close to it at the end of Fishamble-street. writer in the year 1587 mentions St. Tullock's as then converted to profane uses, and adds, that—

"In this church, in old time, the familie of the Fitz Simons was for the most part buried. The paroch was meared from the Crane castell to the fish shambles, called the Cockhill, with Preston his innes, and the lanes thereto adjoining, which scope is now united to Saint John, his paroch."

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A fanatical Dublin author of the seventeenth century, who endeavoured to prove that Oliver Cromwell was a succourer of Romish clergymen," furnishes us with the following anecdote :

"In August, 1649, Oliver Cromwell came with his army into Ireland, and brought over with him one Netterville, a Romish priest, supposed to be a Jesuit, who at his first coming to Dublin obtained a billet to quarter on Matthew Nulty, merchant tailor, then living in Fishamble-street, near the Conduit whereon the Pillory* then stood, signed by Oliver's own hand.

The pillory of the city anciently stood between Werburgh-street and Fishamble-street. Sir James Ware, auditor-general and father of the learned writer of the same name, died suddenly as he was walking through Fishamble-street, in the year 1632. The Irish House of Commons, in 1634, "ordered one William Gowran, who had affronted a member of their House, to be carried immediately to the sheriff's of Dublin, who were required to cause him to be presently whipped in Fishamble

Nulty wanting convenience in his then dwelling-house, furnished a room in an empty house of his next adjoining for Mr. Netterville; where he had not lodged many days, but Nathaniel Foulks (captain ofthe city militia, who lived at the Horse-shoe in Castle-street) came to Nulty, and challenged him for entertaining a priest who daily said Mass in his house. Nulty (being surprised at this news) declared it was more than he knew; and therefore he speedily acquainted Netterville with what the captain said; whereto he replied, I am so, and my Lord General knows it; and tell all the town of it, and that I am here, and will say Mass every day.' This Netterville was Oliver Cromwell's great companion, and dined frequently with him. He was of the family of Lord Netterville of Ireland, a great scholar, and delighted much in music."

Here, as early as the reign of Charles I., was the "London Tavern." "* In 1667 we find it described in an official docu

street, being the place where the offence was committed." The "facetious Tom Echlin," a noted Dublin wit of the early part of the last century, was the son of a basket-maker of Fishamble-street.

The late James Clarence Mangan, whose poetical talents and unfortunate career are well known, was born in this street in the year 1803.

The London Tavern" appears to have been destroyed by a fire which broke out in 1729, in the "London Entry" between Castle-street and Fishamble-street, the greater part of the houses in these two streets, as well as in Copper-alley, close to the back of the "London Entry," being then built of timber or "cage-work."

The iron gate of the passage through which the judges entered the old Four Courts of Dublin, stood about ten yards from the present west corner of Fishamble-street, in Skinner's-row, now called Christ Churchplace. The widening of the upper part of the west side of Fishamblestreet and the adjacent alterations, totally obliterated this passage, which was known as "Hell." The following description of it appeared in a Dublin periodical twenty years ago :

"I remember, instead of turning to the right down Parliament-street, going, in my youth, straightforward under the Exchange and up Corkhill, to the old Four Courts, adjoining Christ Church cathedral. I remember what an immense crowd of cars, carriages, noddies, and sedan chairs beset our way as we struggled on between Latouche's and Gleadowe's Banks in Castle-street-what a labour it was to urge on our way through Skinner-row-I remember looking up to the old cage-work wooden house that stood at the corner of Castle-street and Werburghstreet, and wondering why, as it overhung so much, it did not fall down and then turning down Fishamble-street, and approaching the Four Courts, that then existed, through what properly was denominated Christ Church Yard, but which popularly was called Hell. This was certainly a very profane and unseemly soubriquet, to give to a place that adjoined a Cathedral whose name was Christ Church; and my young mind, when I first entered there, was struck with its unseemliness. Yes; and more especially, when over the arched entrance there was pointed out to me the very image of the devil, carved in oak, and not unlike one of those hideous black figures that are still in Thomas-street, hung over Tobacconists' doors. This locale of Hell, and this representation of his satanic majesty, were famous in those days even beyond the walls of

ment, as "a timber house slated, a base court, a back building more backward, and a small garden in Fishamble-street." In this tavern, Joseph Damer, the noted usurer, kept his office till his death in 1720. In a contemporary elegy we are told :

"He walk'd the streets, and wore a threadbare cloak;
He dined and supp'd at charge of other folk:

And by his looks, had he held out his palms,

He might be thought an object fit for alms.
So, to the poor if he refused his pelf,

He used them full as kindly as himself.
Where'er he went, he never saw his betters;

Lords, knights, and squires, were all his humble debtors;
And under hand and seal, the Irish nation
Were forced to owe to him their obligation.
Oh! London Tavern thou hast lost a friend,
Though in thy walls he ne'er did farthing spend ;
He touch'd the pence when others touch'd the pot;
The hand that sign'd the mortgage paid the shot."

This man's history is curious, and although his wealth has been long proverbial in Ireland, little is known of the remark

Dublin. I remember well, on returning to my native town after my first visit to Dublin, being asked by all my playfellows, had I been in Hell, and had I seen the devil. Its fame even reached Scotland, and Burns the Poet, in his story of Death and Doctor Hornbook,' alludes to it when he says

But this that I am gaun to tell,
Which lately on a night bef 11
Is just as true as the deil's in hell,
Or Dublin city."

As Hell has not now any local habitation in our city, neither has the devil-but I can assure you, reader, that there are relics preserved of this very statue to this day; some of it was made into much esteemed snuff-boxes-and I am told there is one antiquarian in our city, who possesses the head and horns, and who prizes the relic as the most valuable in his museum. At any rate, Hell to me, in those days, was a most attractive place, and often did I go hither, for the yard was full of shops where toys, and fireworks, and kites, and all the playthings that engage the youthful fancy, were exposed for sale. But Hell was not only attractive to little boys, but also to bearded men: for here were comfortable lodgings for single men, and I remember reading in a journal of the day, an advertisement, intimating that there were To be let, furnished apartments in Hell. N.B. They are well suited to a lawyer.' Here were also sundry taverns and snuggeries, where the counsellor would cosher with the attorney-where the prebendary and the canon of the cathedral could meet and make merry-here the old stagers, the seniors of the Currans, the Yelvertons, and the Bully Egans, would enjoy the concomitants of good fellowship-there Prime Sergeant Malone, dark Phil Tisdall, and prior still to them, the noted Sir Toby Butler, cracked their jokes and their marrow bones, toasted away claret and tossed repartee, until they died, as other men die and are forgotten."

able individual who accumulated "Damer's estate." Born in 1630, he early entered the service of the Parliament, and was advanced to the command of a troop of horse by the Protector, who selected him on two occasions to transact secret negotiations with Cardinal Mazarin. On Cromwell's death, Damer retired to his friend Lockhart, then the English ambassador at the court of France, and was present at the marriage of Louis XIV. Not thinking it safe to reside in England after the Restoration, owing to his former connection with Cromwell, he sold some of his lands in the counties of Somerset and Dorset, and taking advantage of the cheapness of land in Ireland, he purchased large estates in this country. "His whole conduct," says a writer of the last century," shows his great abilities and resolution, and so extremely happy was he in constitution, that he never felt any sickness till three days before his death, 6th July, 1720, at the great age of ninety-one years."

Dying unmarried, he bequeathed his property in Ireland to John, the eldest son of his brother George. It has since passed into the Portarlington family, and would probably never have appeared in the Court for the Sale of Incumbered Estates, if Damer's heirs had observed the injunctions of their wise relative, who particularly desired that they should always reside on the lands which he left them in Ireland.

The Church of St. John is noticed in the Records so far back as 1186; it was originally dedicated to St. John the Baptist, but was subsequently transferred to the Evangelist of the same name. Having fallen to decay, it was rebuilt, in the sixteenth century, by Arnold Ussher. In the seventeenth century this church was the burial place of the Anglesey family. The body of John Atherton, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, was buried, "according to his desire, in the remotest or obscurest part of the yard belonging to St. John's Church," after his execution on the fifth of December, 1640.

In the early part of the last century, certain of the Guilds of the city used to assemble here on the festivals of their patrons, whence, having heard a sermon preached for the occasion, they marched in procession to dine at some public tavern.

Parliamentary grants were made, in the years 1767-1771, for the re-edification of this church, in the course of which all traces of antiquity were obliterated.