John Locke wrote, in "The Exile's Return" - O Ireland, isn't it grand you look -- Like a bride in her rich adornin'? And with all the pent-up love of my heart I bid you the top o' the mornin'! The first steamship to round the Cape of Good Hope was the "Zenobia" built in Waterford. W. B. Yeats wrote, in "The Land of Heart's Desire" The land of faery, Where nobody gets old and godly and grave, Where nobody gets old and crafty and wise, Where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue. The only Irishman that was ever a Papal candidate was Luke Wadding of Waterford. Ireland is only about the size of West Virginia or Maine or South Carolina, or Lake Superior. Wherever you stop for a pint, you'll never be farther than 70 miles from the sea. The modern method of bacon curing was developed in Waterford. Ireland's six highest mountains are all in Kerry. Five of the six are the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, with Carrauntoohill being the highest at 3,414 ft. The other peak in the top six is Mt. Brandon which is 3,127 ft. Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, wrote -- "Ah, Ireland...that damnable, delightful country, where everything that is right is the opposite of what it ought to be." The largest surviving native Irish mammal, the Irish Red Deer, can be found only in Killarney where it has been for over 10,000 years, since the end of the Ice Age. Some 850 deer live in Killarney, principally in the valley between Torc and Mangerton mountains. George F. Handel, German composer and musician, played his "Messiah" for the first time on an organ at Neal's Music Hall in Fishamble Street, Dublin. The remains of St. Valentine are enshrined at the Carmelite Church on Whitefriar Street in Dublin. Patrick Pearse, Irish novelist, wrote: "The Gael is not like other men; the spade, and the lom, and the sword are not for him. But a destiny more glorious than that of Rome, more glorious than that of Britain, awaits him; to become the savior of idealism in modern intellectual and social life." The word "donnybrook" takes its origin from the raucous 19th century Donnybrook Fair, held in a Dublin suburb of the same name. The Brazen Head Pub in Dublin is said to the be oldest tavern in Ireland, dating back to 1198. In 1917, Henry Ford & Son constructed their first factory in Europe in Cork City. Co. Cork, Ireland's largest county is nine times the size of the smallest county, Louth. The Shannon River covers an area approximately 18.5% of the total area of Ireland. James Joyce wrote," O Ireland my first and only love, Where Christ and Caesare are hand in glove." County Antrim is only 13 miles from Scotland. The River Poddle flows under Dublin's St. Patrick's Cathedral less than eight feet below the floor. (I believe it was built in 1192). John Synge wrote, "There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting." Co. Meath's Newgrange dates back to 3,000 B.C., making it 500 years older than the pyramids of Egypt and 1,500 years older than Britain's Stonehenge. The U. S. Navy was founded by Commodore John Barry from Wexford. The White House, designed by Carlow-born James Hoban, was modeled after Leinster House in Dublin, now the Irish Parliament Building. Diarmuid Russell wrote, "Everywhere in Irish prose there twinkles and peers the merry eye and laugh of a people who had little to laugh about in real life." The Chester Beatty Library in Dublin houses one of the world's greatest collections of Oriental manuscripts and miniatures. Tralee's golf course at Ardfert was Arnold Palmer's first design in Europe. Poulnabrone Dolmen, an ancient burial chamber four miles south of Aillwee Caves in Co. Clare is said to be Ireland's most photographed tomb. Killary Harbour in Connemara is known for its Norwegian-like fjords. As many as one-third to one-half of the American troops during the Revolutionary War were of Irish descent. Among them, 1,500 were officers and 26 were generals. Eight of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were of Irish descent. The document itself was handwritten by Irish-born Charles Thomson and printed by another Irishman, John Dunlap. 500 to 800 AD was the Golden Age of Ireland, a period of great artistic and literary creativity that made Irish scholars the most revered in Europe. The Burren, Irish for "gray rocky place," is 50 square miles of great irregular slabs of limestone with deep cracks. Located in Co. Clare, this humid, eerie moonscape is a natural rock garden, where plants native to the Arctic thrive next to subtropical flora. Beneath the scarred surface are spectacular caves and streams. Irish Coffee was invented at Shannon Airport. Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, "We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English."