SNIPPET: On a gatepost, wood-framed and protected from the weather by a sheet of glass, is the poem, "Lissadell," by William Butler YEATS. As you continue up the drive you see an austere and rather forbidding-looking Co. Sligo mansion by Francis GOODWIN dating from 1834, made from limestone from Ballisodare south of Sligo town. The harshness of its grey bulk is softened by the vivid green of the surrounding grass and the beautiful and colorful front floral gardens. The hall is impressively vast and lofty with some light coming from a window above, but on a cloudy day it can be rather gloomy. It was here in Lissadell that Sir Robert GORE-BOOTH distributed food to his starving tenants in the Potato Famine of 1845-1849, mortgaging some of his estate to do so. A banner hanging in the billiard room was given in gratitude for his help. Sir Robert was unusual in his concerns, since many landowners at that time simply turned their backs on the distress around them. Throughout the house there are hunting trophies collected during expeditions by the GORE-BOOTH family. In the hall there is an enormous organ, and as William B. YEATS was a visitor here he may have part of the audience during a recital. A smaller family room leads into a large one that inspired the first two lines of YEATS' poem: "The light of evening, Lissadell, Great windows opening to the South." Great windows stretch from wall to wall, and while it is no longer possible to see the bay because of the trees which have grown tall, in YEATS' day the view would have been truly magnificent. In the dining room are life-size portraits of family members and retainers - the game-keeper with his dog and gun, the forester with his axe, the butler in his apron. A whimsical self-portrait of Constance GORE-BOOTH's husband, the artist, Count MARKIEWICZ is also found in the dining room, and over the fireplace is a charming painting by Sarah PURSER (1848-1943) of Constance and Eva as children. A double staircase of Kilkenny marble leads to a sky-lit gallery where there is a collection of portraits painted by Constance, the oldest GORE-BOOTH daughter, and there is a playroom stuffed with a well-worn collection of Victorian toys, a doll's house, a rocking horse and lead soldiers. Robert's rather eccentric son, Henry, was an Arctic explorer and avid hunter who took his butler with him on expeditions. There are hundreds of glass cases with stuffed birds and animals, as well as the many trophies lining the walls of the great house. In the drawing room there is a flamboyant marble mantelpiece with the table set for afternoon tea and a lovely old portrait of several young girls above the fireplace. In 1894, YEATS was invited by the family to stay at Lissadell. Age 29, he was strongly affected by its grandeur and by the gracious living of the GORE-BOOTHs which is often reflected in his poetry. Although he was already a distinguished poet, he was given a small room over the stables in keeping with the custom to have all bachelors well away from any temptations that might be found in the big house. YEATS apparently did find the daughters attractive and he was well past middle life when he wrote his poem which tells sadly what years can do to youth and beauty: "Two girls in silk kimonos, both Beautiful, one a gazelle." Constance had a fiery and dramatic personality and went to Paris to study art. There she met and married Casimir MARKIEWICZ, a nearly-penniless Polish Count with a leaning towards revolution. She found herself caught up in the movement, pressing for freedom for the Irish, and she was imprisoned and even condemned to death for her part in the Uprising of 1916. She was later pardoned, largely due to the efforts of her sister Eva and friends in high places, and Lissadell was spared the fate of many of the great houses of Ireland which were burned to the ground. In spite of her political activities, Constance was invited to become the first woman MP for Britain in 1918 but declined. She became a member of the first Dail in 1919, however, and appointed Minister for Labour. Eva, the other girl in the silk kimono was less flamboyant. She chose to leave the comforts of Lissadell for the slums of Manchester where she worked tirelessly for the Women's Suffrage movement and did everything she could to ease the life of factory girls and those who worked behind the bar in public houses. YEATS felt Eva's writing of poetry held promise. Her poems were published in 1929, two years after both sisters had died. A younger GORE-BOOTH daughter, Mabel, married well, had a happy life and a great brood of children, and the descendants of the family live quietly in a small private wing of the big house. Each year the grounds of the parish church of St. Columba's at Drumcliffe are visited by almost 80,000 people who come to see the simple gravestone which marks the final resting place of W. B. YEATS who died in 1939. The church with its beautiful interior contains a plaque recording another member of the YEATS family who had been a rector a great many years ago. The present rector (2000) is Canon Ian GALLAGHER