When Cromwell was at Clonmell (1650), Richard Magner went to pay his court to him; but being represented as a very troublesome person, and one who had been very active in the rebellion, Cromwell sent him with a letter to Col. Phaire, the governor of Cork, in which was an order to execute the bearer.
Magner, who suspected foul play, had scarce left Clonmell when he opened the letter, read the contents, and sealing it up, instead of proceeding towards Cork, turned off to Mallow, and delivered it to the officer who commanded there, telling him Cromwell had ordered him to carry it to Col. Phaire. This officer had often preyed upon Magner's lands, for which he was resolved to be revenged. The officer, suspecting no deceit, went with the letter, which greatly amazed the governor of Cork, who knew him to be an honest man, and immediately sent an express to Cromwell for further directions. Cromwell being extremely chagrined to be so served, sent orders to let the officer have his liberty, and to apprehend Magner, who took care to get out of his reach.’’
Smith's Cork. , i. 296.
—C.Sunday's Well is at the side of the high road, and is surrounded by a rude stone building, on a tablet in the wall of which the letters I H S mark its ancient reputation for sanctity. It is shaded over by some fine old ash trees, which render it a picturesque object.
Although savouring strongly of egotism, I cannot resist copying from a Lady's Album, to which I had contributed a sketch of Sunday's Well, some verses written on the opposite page by the popular ‘Father Prout’, who, unmasked, appears as one of my associates in commenting on the Tour of M. le Gouz.
—C.
- In yonder well, there lurks a spell,
It is a fairy font;
Croker himself, poetic elf,
Might fitly write upon't.- The summer-day, of childhood gay,
Was spent beside it often;
I loved its brink—so did I think
Maginn, MacClise, and Crofton.- Of early scenes, too oft begins
The memory to grow fainter;
Not so with me—Crofton, nor thee,
‘The Doctor’, or the Painter.- There is a trace, time can't efface,
Nor years of absence dim;
It is the thought of yon sweet spot,
Yon fountain's fairy brim.