a Ree mas OP Lenny eee ys ns roy Pia toe Neb Re scents Aerie, = Fine tonne ine BEE Cheat Ah PE, ahSceatae em ta ab aia te abel Oak Fabs ES tg Tal eR EE ma Be et SEER halscnto ntact Rakes Mr. Alderman R. W. Farrell, F.L.A.A., ‘¢ Clonbrone,’”’ 35 Arundel Road, Worthing. MEMORANDUMS MADE IN IRELAND. : = : as! ee SER Ses A a a UortEem T MAG poydeusoyzty pue une] ee ee eee Rr Cate ee BS) MD ERS Ae | Kvhold. a ON RT PI HAAR WS Ne ARS WP Spuruqt MEMORAND UMS: (OF Avent Og IN LR ee AN BY SIR JOHN FORBES, M.D., F.R.S. Physwian to Her Mazesty’s Household. With MAR AN De GLU Si ReAmEO NS: LONDON: |S VE rs Ea i Reon GrO. 1853. Wis Fe ca PREFACE. Tis book is literally what its title gives it out to be—a series of Memorandums made in Ireland. Although in transcribing these, I have, of course, very considerably enlarged them, I do not think that I have added a single new topic to the col- lection in my memorandum book. Sundry remarks and reflections, not in the original notes, have, no doubt, been put into words for the first time, during the process of composition ; but even these can hardly be said to be additions, as most—if not all—of them, had already ‘passed through the mind, although not formally registered. Such interpolations will not, therefore, I trust, be regarded as in any way impugning the literal truth of my title-page. ' I am anxious to have this matter clearly under- stood by my readers, for two reasons: first, because knowing how and out of what materials the work has been framed, they may be prepared for its scrap-like character, and the confined range of its subjects ; and secondly, because if the book has any vi PREFACE. value at all, this must rest mainly on the implied authenticity derived from the fact—that all the statements were recorded at the moment, and on the spot. The only portions of the volumes that do not come clearly within this category of primary nota- tion, are some of the statistics relating to the popu- lation, to ecclesiastical matters, to schools, and to workhouses,—which have been derived from official documents; and the few chapters which give, in greater detail, and in a more general and formal manner, an account of certain important subjects and questions which cannot be overlooked in any work professing to treat of Ireland. These chapters must be admitted to be rather supplementary to the Memorandums, than an intrinsic portion of them ; although, as far as regards the views and opinions propounded, they may be all said to have been formed in the country to which they relate. It is only in the elaboration of their details, that these articles can be regarded as in any way deviating from the promise of my title. feu: Lonpon; 10¢2 May, 1853. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER I. PAGE KINGSTOWN—DUBLIN—COUNTY OF WICKLOW ] Kingstown . 2 Killiney Hill ; : : , 3 Phenix Park f ¢ i : 4 Dublin 5 Public Buildings i Dress . : : ; : : 8 Irish Cars. : ; : é i) The Dargle ; ; : ; lO The Cascade : f : Be ad E Bray . : é : 4 A ALE Beggars. , : : aes Valley of Bray. : : ; . Og Omagh , : j : ; 410 Londonderry. : : . somal dk Public Buildings : , ; 1 le Walker’s Monument ‘ ‘ ; > 412 Churches and Schools . : : Pee Be: Protestant Schools ; , : 114 The Workhouse ; , : ee a Numbers and Dietary ; i ; in 136 Lough Swilly ‘ “ ; A 17 A Farmhouse. : : ;s 4118 Derry to Newton- Tireadie : 5 Pe ee Newton-Limavaddy : : , ~~ 120 Temperance Movement ‘ ce . 120 Coleraine : , : : mba) Schools : : ; : oe A Model School . A : : wee School of the Irish Society ; 5 . 124 Temperance ; ‘ 5 : ve 126 CHAPTER VI. THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER ; : pl27 History of the Plantation ; : . 129 Undertakers from London . , ; = 130 The London Companies : ; Past The Irish Society : : : . 134 Fishmongers’ Company ‘ : - 1135 Ironmongers’ Company. ‘ : », 186 Mercers’ Company . : : ag 187 Grocer’s Company ' ; : - 188 London Companies. i ; = “A389 Scottish Immigration ; ; . 140 Its Physical and Psychological Effects : . 141 Planting of Presbyterianism : ; «14d Religious Statistics of Ulster . ‘ . 149 Education : ‘ : ; + AG CONTENTS. 1x PAGE The Regium Donum . : : a cDae Religious Sects . : ‘ : . 148 Tenant-Right ; : - 1 149 CHAPTER VII. THE GIANT’S CAUSEWAY . : ; + eh The Sea-Cliff Road ; ‘ : 2, 7159 Portrush. : , ; e152 Ruins of Dunluce Castle : : » LS Dunkerry Cave P ; , sir 155 The Giant’s Causeway : ; ‘ edb The Giant’s Causeway Cliffs ; : ae ae The Columnar Beds of Basalt j : .° 168 Pleaskin F ‘ : a» LEO Geology of the Giant’s Causeway (with an Illustration) 162 Description of ditto (with an Illustration) : . 164 The Giant’s Causeway proper. F 24 165 Dimensions of ditto : ! ; , 166 Feelings of Wonder. : ; Bon Causeway Hotel . ; : ; 172 CHAPTER VIIL. BALLYCASTLE—CUSHENDALL—GLENARM—LARNE . eee Ballycastle Workhouse , . 174 Schools é : : : is The Valley of Glendun : ‘ : 2 LG Glendun : 5 ; paged 1/c7) Cushendall : P : : : | Les Cushendall to Larne . : 2 ee!) Magnificent Road ; : : 180 Road Making. : : : Sy iol Cliff Scenery ; : ; ; LBD An Imperishable Memorial : i pagel to) - An Inscription . : ; AS Eiampeten i ao) Glenarm Sy : : ‘ Fy Glenarm to Larne : ; , 7 bee Larne : : : oi kSF, Religious Sects. : ; ‘ ; 188 CONTENTS. Schools Union Workhouse Temperance . Larne to Belfast . CHAPTER IX. BELFAST—ANTRIM—ARMAGH Meeting of the British Association Belfast The Queen’s College (ths an Binctention) Religious Derorninsticus of Students . Public Buildings Increase of Population : Statistical Section of the Association Encumbered Estates Court General Summary of Sales Produce of Sales Classification of Purchasers The Giant’s Ring Antrim Lough Neagh Shane’s Castle Round Tower of Antrim (with an tigation) The Workhouse : Tenant-Right Emigration . Belfast to Armagh Antiquity of Armagh . The great Dr. Robinson Dr. Robinson’s great Acts The Cathedral The Library The Classical School —Obseratary Religious Statisticts Schools : Armagh to Newry Temperance CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER X. PAGE THE UNION WORKKHOUSES OF IRELAND ; 221 Great Benefits of the Poor Law : : . 222 The Amount of Relief ; : 4 . 224 Great Decrease of Pauperism . : . 224 Horror of the Workhouses at first F «. 225 Their excellent Management. ; 1 237 Their Arrangements , ; i . 228 Workhouse Dietary. ‘ i 228 Irish Dietary Table : : ; . 280 English Dietary Table . ‘ i 2et Relative Value of the Irish and English Dieunies . 232 Defects of the Irish Dietary : f . 235 Exclusion of Potatoes ; ; : . 236 Ophthalmia in Workhouses 5 : .. 236 Religious Statistics of Workhouses_. : . 239 Illegitimate Children . . 240 Statistics of Illegitimacy in Tielend and Hagia’ . 242 Illegitimacy in Catholic and Protestant Ireland . 245 Confession and Illegitimacy : : . 246 Industrial Training of Girls we ‘ . 247 Ditto of Boys (Agricultural Schools) ; . 248 Number of Paupers and Cost of Maintenance > 951 CHAPTER XI. NEWRY—ROSTREVOR—DROGHEDA , . 253 Trish Grandiloquence ; ; ‘ . 254 Carlingford Bay : . ; . 255 Rostrevor as a Watering Place : : . 256 Rostrevor as a Winter Residence i . 257 Rostrevor and Warren Point { } 257 Schools at Warren Point : r fi HO) Town of Newry . : : : Zor Temperance . : ; i . 262 Schools in Newry : i ‘ 2), 268 Newry to Dundalk 3 4 3 . 263 Trish Farmers 5 i ‘ . 264 xii THE CONTENTS. A Conversation on Rent The Farmer’s Alternative Logic and Morals Landlord and Tenant . Drogheda ; Grand Railway Bridge Church Accommodation Schools ; TEETOTALISM AS A SYSTEM National Advantages of Teetotalism Necessity of Teetotalism Degradation of our Town-Population . Expediency of Sunday Relaxation Temperance Clubs for the Labouring Class Temperance Hotels Monasterboice The Round Tower (with an ‘Mustrtion Stone Crosses. : The Field of Boyne CHAPTER XII. ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND (With an Illustration of Antrim Tower.) Great Antiquity of the Towers Number of Round Towers Dimensions of the Towers . Shape of the Towers Structure of ditto Interior Arrangements Historical Age of the Towers Probable Antiquity Alleged Oriental Origin Alleged Uses on this Theory Alleged European Pagan Origin Alleged Uses on this Theory Alleged Karly Christian Origin _ Alleged Uses on this Theory Objections to the Christian ‘Theory The result of some predominating idea CONTENTS. xiii PAGE Essentially Irish : : ; i SEE Preservation of the Towers : ‘ ~ ele Systematic Record of the Towers. : .: 31d CHAPTER XIII. THE COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH : , Pe hs: Exterior of the College. ; : . 316 Interior Arrangements : : “yO History of the College ; ; : 2 018 Territory of the College : : . 820 Government of the College : E | (Oem Salaries of the Professors ; : ¢) ove The Course of Education . 5 : . 3822 The Dunboyne Scholarships : ‘ . 3823 Ordination—Vacation P . 324 History of a Day, Week, and Year in the Galles . 325 The Spiritual Retreat : ; : . 3826 An excellent Establishment . - 0) Oot Produces learned Priests . : ‘ . 828 Other Catholic Colleges in Ireland : . 329 CHAPTER XIV. EDUCATION INIRELAND. ; 4 oo) The Model Schools in Dublin : i . 3dl Number of Pupils and their Religion P . 882 The National School System d . 3833 Statistics of the Schools and Colleges of Frets . 3834 Educational Statistics of Ireland and rs : . 3838 Educational Statistics of Europe . 840 History of the National Schools of clit, ; . 341 Opposition of the English Church ! . 3842 Alleged Causes of the Opposition . : . 344 Unreasonableness of the Opposition : . 345 Melancholy Result of the Opposition . 346 Proportion of Catholics and Protestants in the Solioel 347 Government of the National Schools . a) Present Staff of Inspectors _ , : , 349 XiV CONTENTS. PAGE Number of Schools and Scholars, and Annual Expen- diture : ; . 350 Statisties of the Schools iaeiuiar to Donations . 350 Peculiarity of the Schools in Ulster. : Spl The Sunday Schools of Ireland . . 852 The Number and the Religion of the ieee 4 . 353 Salaries of the Teachers and Monitors : . 354 Of the Training of Masters ; , . 9355 Religion of the Managers : : . 356 Agricultural Schools . 357 Protestant Opposition has made the Schools Catholic 358 The Schools should be purely Secular AU Or 17) CHAPTER XV. IRELAND IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE . 363 Considerations as to the Irish Race : . 364 Backwardness caused by Bad Government ‘ . 865 England not to be a standard for Ireland. . 3868 The True Mode of Curing the Ils of Ireland. . 3869 A Medical Analogy—Rational and Empirical Doctors 370 General Remarks : : ‘ » ott Over-Population : P ‘ . 374 The Cottier System : 4 : ote The Labourer’s Wretched Condition ‘ ees Improvement of the Labourer’s Condition : 2 Se Peasant Proprietors. : ; . 3880 Absenteeism : 2 : ! . 882 Want of a Middle Class : s . 383 Importance of a Middle Class , . 3885 Political Favoritism . : . 386 Official Partiality : : Sea ak ine oy f Want of Capital ‘ : : . 388 How to be Supplied : ue ewer £389 Agriculture and Manufactures. : . 3890 Want of Enterprise : - 4 B90) This the Result of Ignorance. ‘ . 392 Want of Education ‘ d . 393 Tenant-Right ‘ : : . 394 The Evil of the Churches . : ; . 896 CONTENTS. XV PAGE The Religious Grievance ; . 396 Peace and Prosperity impossible while it contiiees . oof Feelings of the Clergy : i : + a08 Feelings of Lay Catholics é : > aoe) No Natural Cure of this Evil ; : . 400 Visionary Views of the Protestants : . 401 Visionary Views of the Catholics : a . 402 Religious Opinions. ; : : The Mind is the Man ‘ , : . 403 Legislative Interference necessary : . 404 Religious Equality essential : . 405 Arguments Pro and Con : : . 406 Mode of Equalising the Churches. e . 412 Conclusion . s : - . 414 ERRATA. Vol. I, page 249, line 5 from top, for “ten” read “ thirty.” Vol. II, ,, 83, line 2 from bottom, for “eight” read “ eleven.” 84, line 5 from top, insert, after the words “Christmas Day,” the following words—“ Ascension Day, Corpus Christi, Good Friday,— the last three not being restricted to fixed days of the month,” », 192, first line from top, for “ Belfast” read “ Carrickfergus.” 2”? | | | | OLE | k Shewing FE ROUTE FOLLOWED. ~~) Rs \ mn ae aie Giants « wv) ~ Cmesewiy, aé | | > Portrash e sae mash ai | aan ay q ret © jo Coleraine A ~ eS te gs? “en Y z Teer ab Ne LA ; pI Akewtoun! intave » Lifford | — | | i see P Donegal a 9 4 = S a Marr or Hamilton: ) — Macken” OF Gee tes ee or. BStrabane Ne coe Dio | vv Newtowre Sle spar. Dungannon” Charlemount} a We > ~~de-m Rpiosbargng Wi , ie ragh (ae S ~ ° Mm LON | hihi” és. ley Ce oo ee f\_ 4s 2 “ ee } a Cee Portarlington eS Les 1Gldare ; a Sy alo pee. Ba = ee yo ‘ i\ wars 2 —4 Ni SS ” Ap dee tens a Drogheda Kelismy i pa” fa , Q % : \ ra Navan, / Trina J Dm Ip} elary| po. ; h I, alba TEV ELL Por t lng ; - Mount Me. Se y : forsee ae ET WAS 0 g Wie Gleniiar tea. ‘ h raryborough a \ i ig NoaenS YR ‘ ~ oy ‘ oe ‘ A, $ we y4 fr | WC lof O is s “yf | SA lille i g : Ss eet emiplemore an Xz, | i, K J = ‘ i : Py 1 4 Thurles ~*~ 7 | NG Aghald i] 7 / / 1 \ i co) ! f ! 7 S Wexfor et ‘ a EnRiSt orthy ae Lode ae Bay Se . unlegy? Bee Kenmare Hy 4 English Published by Smith, Elder & Co. 65, Cornhill . io p} KILLINEY HILL. 3 excellencies, speaking generally, greatly prepon- derated over their defects. When leaving this Kingstown hotel on the following day, a little incident occurred which was also somewhat characteristic of the new people we had come among. I was in a great hurry to get a parcel tied up, fearing that I might be too late for the inexorable rail. Some twine was needed to - complete the job, and as none could be immediately found in the room, the maid who was the operator, after a moment’s delay, coolly went to the sideboard drawer, and taking thence the cord of a window blind, complete with all its brass pullies, (perhaps the very one wanting in my bed-room,) cut off as much of it as was needed, and therewith did up my parcel in a trice. Being uncertain whether we should return to Kingstown, we thought it best, before proceeding to Dublin, to ascend some greater height, in order that we might have a still more complete view of the bay. Accordingly, we went to Dalkey by the atmospheric railway, and there took a car to the top of Killiney Hill. From this height Dublin Bay is conspicuous in all its extent and beauty; and a charming scene it is, well deserving this slight trouble to command it. This short railway (only one mile and three quarters in length) is remarkable for its great deviation from the level line, rising no less than one foot in 115 to within a few hundred yards of Dalkey, and from thence to the terminus 2 KINGSTOWN. the census of 1851, is 10,453, being an increase of 3224 since 1841. Many of the streets and terraces are handsome, and the vicinity is sprinkled over with many pretty villas; the whole commanding a charm- ing view of Dublin Bay and its northern boundary, the Hill of Howth. We took up our abode at Rathbone’s Hotel, a large and, on the whole, an excellent establishment, —yet constantly reminding us, by sundry little in- timations, that we had got into a less nice and more careless country than we had left on the eastern side of the Irish Channel. In a very good bed-room, for example, the bell-rope had been broken and was not yet repaired; the window-blind was crippled and would not work; the swing-mirror could not be steadied for want of a fitting screw; and the sole resource against being stifled in a hot night, was to keep the window up by the poker, there being no pullies to the large and handsome sashes. Water was occasionally found wanting where it was most wanted; and there seemed, every now and then, to be a lingering doubt among the servants, whose special duty it was to attend to the particular bell that happened to be ringing. Yet, for all this, the hotel was by no means a bad one, as to accommoda- tion, attendance, or living; and it is but doing justice to it individually to say, that its defects as well as excellencies were more or less shared with it by all the hotels we visited in Ireland. And it certainly would be unjust not to add, that their DUBLIN. 5 servants are paid by the house; and with moderate charges—everything supplied being of the best kind.—AlIl that I have to say of Dublin I shall say in this place, although we paid it a second visit, as will be seen in the sequel. I own myself to have been a good deal disap- pointed with Dublin asacity. To say nothing of its extent, it is greatly inferior, in many other respects, not only to London, but to several towns in England and some in Scotland.’ Its site is flat and monoto- nous, and its streets and squares possess no architec- tural beauty. The former, to be sure, are often very wide, and some of the latter, as Merrion Square and Stephen’s Green, are of immense extent ; but there is throughout a general want of elegance and grandeur. Most of the streets seem to want dignity, and the ma- jority of the houses are common-looking, and even mean and dingy. The very extent of the squares and the width of the streets—particularly Sackville Street —are the means of detracting from their architec- tural effect, the size and structure of the houses not being sufficiently imposing to harmonise: with the spaces they surround or line. Were these squares half their present extent, and Sackville Street half its width, their very ordinary houses would not then be so destitute of effect as they now are. ‘The same remarks apply, though in a less degree, to the quays along the Liffey, which, however, constitute a 1 The population of Dublin in 1841 was 232,726 ; by the last census (1851) it was 247,111; or, including “ Public Institutions,” 258,361, 4 PHENIX PARK. as much as one in 57. With so great a declination, it will readily be understood that the trains return to Kingstown without any aid from steam or other power but their own gravity. We reached Dublin (a distance of about five miles) by the railway, in time to visit the Phoenix Park, and see—exteriorly, at least,—its principal objects, the Military Hospital, the Constabulary Barracks, the Zoological Gardens, the Wellington Testimonial, the Phoenix Pillar, and the Vice-regal Lodge. None of these, except the Zoological Gar- dens, claim particular attention. The collection of animals is very good and of considerable extent. The space is, however, too much filled up by thick shrubberies. This being Sunday afternoon, we were admitted to view the collection for one penny, an arrangement made for the convenience of the poorer ' classes, and which we would recommend to the con- sideration of the directors of our own gardens in the Regent’s Park. The Pheenix Park itself is a splendid expanse of ground, containing, it is said, between 1700 and 1800 statute acres, and being about seven miles in circumference. It is, however, greatly inferior in general beauty to our smaller London parks, and is not to be compared with our Richmond Park, and still less with the truly royal domain of Windsor, in point of variety, extent, and beauty of the views. We took up our abode at the Imperial Hotel, Sackville Street, a capital establishment. in every respect ; with excellent attendance, although the “I PUBLIC BUILDINGS. two cathedrals, Christ Church and St. Patrick, are chiefly interesting from their antiquity: they also contain some fine architectural remains; but both externally and internally they are inferior to almost all our English cathedrals. St. Patrick’s is now undergoing repair; and it is to be hoped that, when completed, greater pains will be taken to keep it decently clean than is the case at present. I never saw a church in so discreditable a state. One part of it may be literally said to be converted into a dove-cot, as its roof is filled with pigeons, and its floor in a state not to be described. It contains some fine and some deeply-interesting monuments. Though far from striking in itself, the monument of Swift is terribly impressive, — perpetuating, as it were, beyond actual life, his savage indignation and lacerated heart.| Among the monuments I was also particularly struck with a bust of Curran, by C. Moore, which appeared to me to be the most ani- mated representation of a human face I ever saw in marble. Whether it may be too animated for its solemn station, or for the laws of strict artistic taste, I know not, but the effect is great. The Castle, the town residence of the Lord- Lieutenant, has, as a whole, no pretensions to either grandeur or beauty, though it still retains, amid the ' Hic depositum est corpus Jonathan Swift, 8.T.D., hujus Ecclesize Cathedralis Decani, ubi seeva indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit Abi, Viator, et imitare, si poteris, strenuum pro virili Libertatis Vin- dicatorem.—(The Epitaph, left in Swift’s will.) i 6 DUBLIN. beautiful and redeeming feature in the city. If the buildings on either side of the fine and beautifully- embanked river, corresponded in size and archi- tecture to the space they bound, this would be one of the most striking promenades in Europe. Sackville Street is, however, a fine street even as it ‘is, with its splendid Nelson column in its centre, and the magnificent Post Office facing it. While denying both beauty and grandeur to Dublin as a city, I must join in the universal judg- ment as to the splendour of many of its public buildings, as the Bank of Ireland—formerly the Parliament House, the Custom House, the Post Office, the Royal Exchange, &c. Trinity College also consists of a series of fine buildings, and, for an institution in: the very centre of a great city, has sin- gularly open and extensive grounds. Unfortunately we could not see the museum or library on the day we visited the College. In the Theatre and Re- fectory are some fine portraits and monuments, but some of the best of the portraits are placed too high for effect. In the former room, there is an organ which was taken out of one of the ships of the Spanish Armada, wrecked on the Irish coast near the Giants’ Causeway. There are a few fine churches, both Catholic and Protestant, in Dublin, as St. George’s in Hardwicke Place, St. Michael’s in High Street, the Catholic Chapel of St. Andrew in Westland Row, and the Metropolitan Chapel in Marlborough Street. The IRISH CARS. 9 ness of the Irish as to dress; and will only further remark here, that it prevails, in a greater or less degree, even among those of whom better things might be expected. In one of the waiters at our excellent hotel, I observed a little of the white within, even when he was in attendance in the coffee-room ; and, in another part of the island, the landlord of a respectable country inn once presented himself in like dishabille. Having seen as much of Dublin as we thought necessary at present, we set about the first object of our country journey,—a visit to the county of Wicklow, of whose beauties we had heard much. We left the city early in. the afternoon for Bray, taking advantage of the Kingstown and Dalkey railways as far as they went, and completing our journey in an Irish car, In this short distance we had an opportunity of witnessing one of the disad- vantages of this mode of conveyance, as we should have got thoroughly drenched by a sudden and very heavy shower, had it not fortunately overtaken us close to a roadside-blacksmith’s forge, into whose open door we drove bodily, without license or cere- mony, yet evidently not unwelcome. Here we waited till the rain was over, the time being well beguiled by the conversation of two or three stal- wart forgemen, who seemed nothing loath to postpone their work for the sake of a traveller’s gossip. Among other subjects of talk with these good men, an incidental remark brought up the subject 8 DRESS. mendings to which it has been subjected, some fine samples of its ancient splendour. I did not make any attempt to visit the abodes of the poor in the obscure recesses of Dublin, pre- ferring to see the condition of this class of persons in the smaller towns and in the country, where—the degrading influences that prevail in all large cities, in all countries, being absent—they might be seen under circumstances more characteristic of the indi- vidual nation. Such of the common people as we had yet seen and conversed with, impressed us favorably by their civility and shrewdness; but we were rather startled at the intensity of the brogue. Some of the speakers were actually unin- telligible to us. This novelty, however, soon ceased to be a novelty; and, after a week or two, the peculiarity of the intonation, as well as of the phraseology, was found to be rather agreeable than otherwise. As yet we had seen no signs of misery and hardly any beggars, though we could not fail to be struck by the general inferiority of the dress of the labour- ing classes, when compared with that of their English brethren. [Ill-fitting coats, with dispropor- tionate length of tail, were common; and holes in the outer garment, showing the white within, were not rare. This struck us the more remarkably as the day was Sunday, and many of the clothes were obviously Sunday clothes. I shall, hereafter, have something more to say on this general untidi- THE CASCADE. 11 three hundred feet, the slopes being completely covered with the liveliest and greenest woods. It is like some of the more wooded glens of our Scottish streams, but softer and richer. Perhaps it comes nearest the character of some portions of the valley of the Wye, but is on a smaller scale. The river that flows through it is inconsiderable, but large enough to yield the charms both of sight and sound to the traveller as he treads his shaded path on the brow of the steep above it. On rejoining the car at the further extremity of the glen, we proceeded on the main road for several miles, through some well-wooded and well- cultivated country, before descending into the valley where the Dargle escapes from Lord Powerscourt’s park. While approaching this along the brow of the right bank of the rivulet, I think the landscape presented to us on the other side, for the distance of about a mile, could hardly be exceeded in point of simple and tranquil beauty,—as it lay stretched out before us, in one delightful perspective of well- cultivated fields, green hedges, trees, and cottages, one beyond the other, up the gentle slope from the brink of the small ravine at our feet to the base of the dark hills in the near horizon. The drive along the bank of the river to the water- fall, along the brow of the wooded ravine, is delight- ful, and the whole may be said to be a repetition of the glen of the Dargle, only on a larger scale. The steep and lofty barrier, on the other side of the 10 THE DARGLE. of fairs and drinking, with the comment that the ancient glories of both had vanished since the advent of Father Matthew. While evidently half-regretting this, my informant readily admitted that the change was for the better. He mentioned, however, a recent little anecdote of himself and a friend, which proved that there still lived in the embers some of the old fire. His friend, after a successful campaign in England as a railway labourer, returned home with 25/. in his pocket. A fair happening to fall in his way immediately after his return, he went to it, of course, taking my friend of the forge with him, and as many of his other friends as he could lay hands on. ‘The result. was, that my informant got kilt, as he said, at the end of the second day by the strength of the potheen, while his friend and treater held on for a day or two more,—that is to say, as long as his cash lasted. Finding on our arrival at Bray, at four o’clock, that there was still time to see some of the beauties of the immediate neighbourhood before dinner, I set off at once in a car to accomplish this object. The points of attraction were the glen of the Dargle and the waterfall in Lord Powerscourt’s deer-park, both in the tract of the same small river, the Dargle. The glen of the Dargle is about three miles from Bray, and is a mile in length. It is a fine example of a wooded ravine, and is extremely beautiful. The banks on either side, particularly on the right bank of the river, rise in some places to the height of BEGGARS. 13 - in Ireland. This house has the most extensive pleasure-grounds I ever saw attached to an inn. The flower garden is a full quarter of a mile in length, extending, in the form of a narrow slip, down to the -sea-shore. Both on our arrival and departure from this place, we had the first specimen of what we saw much of afterwards, the active and most obtrusive . beggary which disfigures most of the public haunts in the South of Ireland. Our carriage was fol- lowed—hunted I may say—by a crowd of children, some of whom were, in the most literal sense of the words, not half-clad. On leaving Bray in the morning, following the instructions of our landlord, we first visited the demesnes of Lord Meath, (Kilruddery,) and Sir George Hodson, (Hollybrook,) both in the vicinity of Bray. They are fine houses, and with very ornamental grounds, but too much shut in with trees. It is hardly worth the while of the English traveller to expend time in visiting such places, as they differ in nothing from the same class of country houses in his own land, unless, indeed, he may wish to be convinced from actual inspection, that the absenteeism of Ireland is not fostered by the deficiency of beautiful and splendid residences. I may here say, once for all, that’ the seats of the nobility and gentry of Ireland are, generally speaking, beautifully situated, replete with every comfort and elegance, and, with some striking sa i BRAY. river, is wooded to the very top, except where the brows of the hills thrust themselves into the land- scape more and more as we ascend. It is where these bordering hills unite at an angle, that they constitute the lofty and steep precipice over which the little river descends along its black surface of rock; and it is thus that they half-surround the loveliest green nook that ever fairies or picknickers haunted. The cascade itself is rather a foamy de- scent of water along the face of the steep cliff than an actual fall. It is of small extent, gentle and very beautiful, but not grand. With all its adjuncts of rock and turf and trees, with all its rural sights and sounds, it would not he easy to match this scene elsewhere: it is surely well worth the traveller’s visit, come he from where he may. Bray is a small scattered town, nearly a mile in length, and finely situated on both sides of the river Bray, which is the boundary between the counties of Dublin and Wicklow, the town con- sequently being in both counties. The population has remained stationary during the last ten years, being, according to the census, 8169 in 1841, and 3152 in 1851: it is chiefly catholic. Bray is much frequented by the people of Dublin as a summer residence and bathing place. The hotel is a large establishment, and well conducted by its very intelligent landlord, Mr. Quin; we had, how- ever, some difficulty in obtaining accommodation in it owing to the unusual number of strangers then GLEN OF THE DOWNS. 15 these two grand features of nature around our dwellings, supplies a perpetual source of quiet in- terest and silent companionship, which the in- habitants of inland plains know nothing of. The glen of the Downs may be said to be, in character, of precisely the same kindred as the glens on the Dargle, only less varied and picturesque in its bounding walls, which are, however, equally wooded and still higher. It seems also deprived of some of its natural charms, by the formality of the high road which runs along its bottom, and by the less obvious path of its rivulet. It divides the two mountains of the greater Sugar Loaf and the Downs from each other; and what may be called its walls rise in some places to the height of 600 feet. The mountains themselves rise to the respective elevation of 1232 and 1561 feet above the sea-level. On escaping from this ravine we entered upon a somewhat wilder country than that we left on the other side of the mountains, but it was still well cultivated and wooded, and more _ resembling England than most of the other parts of Ireland. A short distance beyond the glen we left the carriage, and ascended a small hill, in order to im- prove our view. The view thus obtained was indeed. very fine, comprehending the wide slope of a richly cultivated tract, terminated by the open sea and the bay of Wicklow, with its beautiful headland. In our ramble we came upon a secluded hamlet, called 14 VALLEY OF BRAY. exceptions, kept in excellent order. I must, how- ever, add that these beautiful residences are almost always too much shut in with dense and extensive woods, the demesnes, as they are called, being often more like a forest than a park, according to the idea we have of what constitutes a park in England. Shortly after leaving MHollybrook we passed through the glen of the Downs, a ravine that cuts across the southern portion of the chain of mountains that almost encircle the district of which Bray may be regarded as the capital. This chain of mountains, as seen from every point, constitutes a most beautiful and picturesque feature in the land- scape. It is deficient only on the side of the sea, and there its want is supplied by a boundary as beautiful in its kind. The charm of the whole scene is won- derfully enhanced by its mountain-screen, which is rendered singularly varied and picturesque by the succession of smaller and larger peaks by which its whole skiey outline is broken. The loftiest and most striking of these mountains are the Downs, Bray Head, the Scalp, and especially the Sugar Loaf, greater and lesser, the height of the former being no less than 1650 feet above the sea level. It would not be easy to select a finer site for a residence than might be supplied by many spots in the centre of this valley—if we may call it so— all sufficiently elevated to command at once the sea through the gap of Bray, as well as the circling mountains in all their extent. The presence of THE DEVIL’S GLEN. 17 man, and distinguished by the foreign-sounding name of Altadore. It was only remarkable for its fine woods, and the fine views it afforded of the country below it, and of the sea. The house was common, and the grounds not in good order. The Devil’s Glen is precisely of the same con- figuration and general character as the two glens of the Dargle and the glen of the Downs, only on a grander scale, and more picturesquely beautiful. The wall of the ravine on the right bank of the river rises to a height of full 400 feet, and is diver- sified by bold bare crags jutting out here and there from the green wall of trees, and by the dark sum- mits of heath surmounting it at intervals. The small river (the Vartney) that runs through the glen, is steep in its descent, and forms a succession of small rapids as it dashes over its rocky pathway. The glen is about a mile and a half in length, and terminates in an abrupt angle of rock, over which the river tumbles in a beautiful cascade, or rather in a succession of two or three rapids. This fall, though not so high as that on the Dargle, has the advantage of a fuller stream, and is, on the whole,.a fine termination to this romantic glen. One side of the ravine (the right) belongs to Mr. Synge, of Glenmore, whose beautiful house, called Glenmore Castle, is seen among the trees at its entrance. The other side belongs to Mr. Tottenham, of Ballycarry, who has constructed an excellent footpath along the river side to within a short distance of the cascade. 2 16 THE DEVIL’S GLEN. the Downs, containing eight or ten cottages, and one gentleman’s house uninhabited. These being the first abodes of the rural poor we had come in contact with, I was curious to visit their interior. I found them all very wretched. They consisted respectively of one small apartment without any partition, with rough mud floors, and with either no window or with an opening so small as hardly to deserve the name. There was no furniture but a broken chair and small wooden box, and a small filthy settle-bed in one corner. This bed, we were told in one cottage, was occupied by the poor woman’s two sons, while she herself slept on the floor. For these wretched cabins they paid from 3d. to 6d, and even 10d. per week. A larger double cottage paid a rent of 3/.a year. This was divided into two apartments. In one end, besides two beds, there was a loom for weaving a strong composite cloth of wool and cotton yarn which was spun by the daughter. Some of the cottages were occupied by families whose fathers or brothers had recently emigrated, and from whom they were look- ing for means to enable them to follow. In the poorest of the cabins, occupied by a helpless old woman, I found a dog which belonged to one of these emigrants, with which the poor creature divided her scanty meals out of affection for his absent master. Proceeding onwards towards the chief object of the day’s journey, the Devil’s Glen, we drove through another extensive demesne belonging to a clergy- GLENDALOUGH. 19 The morning being wet, and the look of the sky very unpropitious, we were forced to abandon our intention of visiting Lough Tay and Lough Dan, and the famous Luggala, and therefore shaped our course directly to Glendalough and the Seven Churches. In reaching there we passed through a very dreary and barren country, a sort of table-land of bog of the most wretched description. On leaving this, however, the aspect and condition of the coun- try sensibly improved as we approached the small town of Larach, about a mile and a half from the Seven Churches, and at the entrance of what is properly termed Glendalough. This glen is about three miles in length, and is bounded throughout by the lofty mountains of Derrybawn, Lugdaff, Brockagh, Glendassan, and Comaderry. These mountains at their western ex- tremity approach closely together and finally unite, so as to constitute a profound abyss or hollow, bounded on three sides by lofty and precipitous cliffs and steep rocky wastes. In the bottom of this hollow lies the Lough which gives its name to the whole glen: it is about a mile in length and a quarter of a mile in breadth. In winter and rainy seasons, the longitudinal extent is considerably pro- longed by a temporary accumulation of water at its eastern extremity, which is usually termed the lower lough, and which, when full, nearly washes the prin- cipal ruins of the Seven Churches. The mountains which enclose this narrow glen are, as already said, 18 NEWRATH-BRIDGE. On leaving the Devil’s Glen we pursued our jour- ney to Newrath-bridge, a few miles from the town of Wicklow, and which our host of Bray had indi- cated as our resting-place for the night. We had no reason to be dissatisfied with our quarters, as the hotel is really a most charming resting-place ; but taking into consideration what was intended to be done on the following day, namely, to visit Lough Tay, Lough Dan, and the Seven Churches, we ought, on leaving the Devil’s Glen, to have gone in quite another direction, to the north-west, to Roundwood, in place of south-west, to Newrath. No doubt we had much better quarters where we were ; but in visiting the places indicated, we had to return for many miles directly on our path. The hotel of Newrath-bridge, besides excellent accommodations and a most civil landlord, has the great additional charm of being a solitary house among beautiful scenery. Like the inn at Bray, it overlooks an extensive garden, and combines all the comforts of an inn with the quiet of a private house im the country. It adjoins the classic grounds of Rosanna, the residence of the celebrated authoress of ‘Psyche ;’ and it is said to be a favorite resort with those whom Psyche’s lord has just delivered into the hands of Hymen. We saw some indications of this fact in the poetical effusions contained in the well-filled album of the hotel; and we could not deny that the selection of the locality seemed appropriate. SAINT KEVIN. aT such a town or city did once exist, and was famous in its day for its ecclesiastical establishments and its seminaries of learning. The founder of the churches, no doubt, the nucleus of the future city, ress Ne UN AS : Glendalough. was the famous St. Kevin, who is understood to have flourished in the fifth and sixth centuries, and whose memory is still preserved in innumerable local legends. The small cavern in which the saint is supposed to have lived, and which is still known by the name of St. Kevin’s bed, is pointed out in a cliff on the borders of the upper lake, and is constantly visited by travellers. The highly ungallant way in which the anchorite treated the fair Kathleen, when paying him a friendly visit in this comfortless abode, is known to every one, through the medium of Moore’s melody. Glendalough was the see of a bishop for centuries, and seems to have continued. 20 THE SEVEN CHURCHES. entirely precipitous on the side of the lake, and are said to rise to the extreme height of 1800 feet. Feebly illumined as it thus is by so bounded a space of sky overhead, and excluded through the greater part of the day from the direct influence of the sun, this lough must present a gloomy aspect even in the brightest season, while the impression thence arising will be heightened by the dark, wild, and barren character of its mountain boundaries. Well, there- fore, might Moore, in his celebrated ballad of St. Kevin, term it a “ gloomy shore.” On the day of our visit, the gloom was painfully increased by the darkness of a clouded and rainy atmosphere. This lough of the glen reminded me forcibly, both in its configuration and general cha- racters, of the dark Loch Muick, in the highlands of Aberdeenshire. Glendalough is fed by one or more streams that fall into it at its western ex- tremity, and constitute foamy rapids or cascades, which, seen at a distance, somewhat relieve the neighbouring blackness. Two of these waterfalls are known by the euphonious names of Poolanas and Glaneola. The Seven Churches, which give their name to this wild locality, are all still traceable in their ruins, and are at a considerable distance from one another. .They occupy both banks of the river Glendalough, which flows out of the lake. Strange as it may seem, that so wild a locality as this should have been chosen for the site of a town, there is no doubt that a LEAD MINES OF LUGGAMORE. 23 cumference. The round-headed door is about ten feet from the ground; and it has several small openings or windows in its shaft, besides three or four just below its top. . As another opportunity may probably occur for noticing these towers, which constitute a feature so remarkable and unique in the landscape as well as in the archeology of Ireland, I shall not here advert to any of the ideas or specu- lations that the present tower, the first we had seen, naturally awakened. At the upper end of the glen, about three miles from the Seven Churches, the lead mines of Lug- gamore are situated. We did not visit them. Our guide told us that the Cornishmen employed in these mines had tended to improve the cottages in the neighbourhood, by exhibiting in their own a better arrangement, greater cleanliness, and a more comfortable’ mode of living generally. There is assuredly much room for such improvement. I found the cabins in this place of the same wretched character as those visited the day before. In one occupied by a widow, there could hardly be said to be any furniture. She paid for it a rent of one pound per annum, which was chiefly obtamed by the exer- tions of her son, a lad of some fourteen years of age. On the banks of the lake I visited a cottage of the better order, and found that it was intended as a lodging-house for such stray anglers as come to fish in the lough. ‘The cottage contained a decent bedroom, with a wooden floor, and with two good 22 THE ROUND TOWER. so even to the time of our King John, when it was united to that of Dublin. The largest and most conspicuous remains of the ancient glories of the Seven Churches, are those already mentioned as adjoining the eastern margin of the lower lake. These consist of the ruinous outlines of a small church, dignified with the name of cathedral; a small chapel, called our Lady’s Chapel, adjoining; and a building still retaining its roof, commonly known by the name of St. Kevin’s Kitchen, though no doubt a religious edifice like the rest. This building is of small extent, being only about twenty-two feet in length by fifteen in breadth. There is a small enclosure termed the sacristy, no doubt an ancient burial-place, and still used as such by pious Catholics. It ought, indeed, to be a popular resting-place for the faithful, as the legend is still half-believed by the common people, that gives heaven as a heritage to all who have the good fortune to be here interred. In this cemetery there still remains an ancient granite cross, about ten or eleven feet in height, and formed of one solid stone. It is, however, much decayed, the sculptures upon it being now very imperfectly discoverable. But the most remarkable relic amidst these ruins is the Round Tower, which still exists in all its mysterious perfection, except that it has lost the conical top which seems to have originally be- longed to all these singular structures. The tower is said to be 110 feet high, and about 52 in cir- POSTAGE AND DISCOUNT. 25 its truth, adding, however, that she came soon to like him well enough—“ almost as well as he liked her;” and, what seemed to him still more remark- able, “that she made as good a manager as if she had been thirty instead of fifteen.’ The good couple’s married life had evidently been a happy one; and the smoothness of its current seemed to receive no ripple from the present candid recurrence to what must have been a grievance in its day. My guide was evidently a kind-hearted fellow, and spoke well of his neighbours. Every one had a good word from him, and he was evidently anxious that the poorer members of the hamlet should par- ticipate, with himself, in the traveller’s bounty. He was forty-five years of age, and, for a wonder, was not yet married, owing, he says, to having to support his old mother. He pays 3/. for his cottage, but lets off part of it to a lodger, who pays half the rent. Among the people pointed out to me by the guide, was a nice, cleanly-dressed young woman, who, he said, worked hard to support herself aud a baby, left in her charge by a sister gone to America. Her sister’s husband had died almost immediately after his arrival, and his widow had not yet been able to send for her child, or to: send much money for her support. The young nurse had, however, received from her sister one remittance of a pound, a sum which, she regrettingly said, had been di- minished by eighteen pence for postage, and eighteen pence as discount! There was something deeply 24, A FAMILY STORY. beds for visitors. The board and lodging together amounted to a pound a week. The mistress of this cottage was still a very good-looking woman, al- though she was forty-six years of age, and had had fourteen children. In the course of a short con- versation with her and her husband, I became the depositary of a small piece of family history, which, as it was not confided to me as a secret, I cannot refrain from recording here, as a sample of that simplicity and candour, which have struck me as such conspicuous features in the Irish character. The good wife having told me that she was married at fifteen, I was curious to know what had led to so early an union. Without a moment’s hesitation, and evidently without the consciousness of telling anything extraordinary, she gave me the following explanation in the presence of her husband. She said, being an only child, and the sole support of her mother, who was a widow, she felt that, as her mother’s health was beginning to fail, she must do something more effectual for her future maintenance. Two ways were open for her,—one, service with a farmer, the other matrimony; the latter beimg in her option, through an offer made to her by her present husband, who, by the bye, was obviously much older than his partner. After much deliberation, she decided on marriage, “though (she added, pointing to her husband,) I.did not then like him at all, at all!”? I of course rallied her good man on a con- fession so little flattermg to him; but he confirmed THE VALE OF OVOCA. 27 in the vale of Ovoca. Descending to the bank of this river, and still keeping it on our right hand, we soon reached the celebrated spot where it unites with the Avonmore, and which all the world knows as Moore’s “ Meeting of the Waters.” The united streams now take the name of the Ovoca, and pro- ceed to water the beautiful vale of that name, until they join the ocean at Arklow. We first crossed the Avonbeg immediately before its junction, and then crossed the united streams at Newbridge, a short way further down the valley, in order to reach our destination, which was the house of a friend, situated on the left bank of the river, nearly opposite the town of Arklow. We reached our night’s quarters about six o’clock, purposing to spend one whole day there, in order that we might do full justice to the famous vale, at whose eastern extremity we were now planted. We devoted our day to visit the neighbour- hood of Arklow, especially the vale of Ovoca and its bordering beauties. Crossing the old bridge at Arklow, we drove up the valley along the right bank of the river, stopping to look at several gen- tlemen’s seats on our route. The chief of these, on this side the river, is Glenart, the mansion of Lord Carysfort. The house commands some good views, but is itself not fine, and, as usual, is shut up by thick woods. After a considerable detour we returned to the river, and kept close to its banks all the way to the Meeting of the Waters. 26 VALE OF CLARA. pathetic in this regret. I fear we too often forget how great such “little things are to little men.” The young woman spoke cheerfully and confidently of soon receiving a fresh supply from her sister. Leaving the hamlet of the Seven Churches, we returned on our path so far as the village of Larach, and then turned off, at a right angle, to the south, our destination being Arklow. Our course now lay through the beautiful vale of Clara, on the right bank of the Avonmore, which river we touched at Larach, and accompanied all the way to Arklow. This valley of Clara is very beautiful—not narrow and confined like a glen, but open, and with culti- vation extending high on its gently-sloping sides, like a highland strath opening on the lowlands. It is well-wooded in many places, but is more charac- terised by cultivated than by wild beauty. The small town of Rathdrum, the property of Lord Fitzwiliam, is traversed by the Avonmore, and forms a pleasing feature in the landscape. We only passed through one of its suburbs, as we still kept the Avonmore on our left hand. According to the census, Rathdrum had a population of 1232 in 1841, which had fallen to 947 in 1851. A short way beyond Rathdrum we left, somewhat on our left, the Avonmore and the Avondale watered by it; but from the ridge that bounds its southern bank, we commanded, on our right, the equally beautiful valley of Glenmalure, watered by the Avonbeg, as it speeds on and joins its half-namesake DESECRATION. 29 never fail to point out to the traveller the very tree beneath which he composed it.1 But, alas, for the muse, the classical spot is now sadly desecrated by the progressive encroachments of the works of a most prosaic copper-mine in its immediate vicinity, which not only troubles but poisons the “ waters,” and mingles its squalid ruins and its gigantic me- chanism with the pure charms of nature. If the poet had lived to witness this degradation, we can easily imagine that he would have protested in some such indignant lament as that in which Wordsworth greeted the approach of the railway and steam en- gine to his beloved lakes and vallies : “Tn balance true, Weighing the mischief with the promised gain, Mountains, and vales, and floods, I call on you To share the passion of a just disdain. Plead for thy peace, thou beautiful romance Of nature; and, if human hearts be dead, Speak, passing winds; ye torrents, with your strong And constant voice, protest against the wrong.” As we, however, were not poets, and had no ballads to defend, nothing loath we turned our steps to the mine itself, and are not ashamed to confess that we spent a pleasant half hour amid its huge wheels and heaps of ponderous ore. There are mines on both sides of the river. That which we visited lies on the right bank, and is I see by aremark of Moore’s, in his recently published memoirs by Lord John Russell, that it is this upper “meeting” which he recognises, 6 28 MEETINGS OF THE WATERS. The Vale of Ovoca is certainly very beautiful, tra- versed as it is by its fine river, rapid yet meandering, and bounded by richly-wooded banks on both sides. It is properly called the vale, bemg much too open to take the name of glen, like several of the places already visited. In some places it is of considerable width, containing pasture meadows and cultivated fields and houses, and in one place a parish church (Castle M‘Adam); but it everywhere retains the lofty and wooded barriers which give it the charm of seclusion and repose. As the road follows the windings of the stream, the upward view presents constantly-varying scenes, ever bounded in the dis- tance by some wooded summit ; while, looking back- wards, we here and there catch a glimpse of the sea through the fringed openings in the woods. There are two Meetings of the Waters, the upper, already mentioned, formed by the junction of the greater and lesser Avon (for this is the meaning of the terminations more and deg), and the lower, about four miles down, formed by the union of the Aughrim with this double stream now termed the Ovoca. It is close by this last meeting that the Wooden Bridge Inn is situated, the comfortable resort of all explorers of the beauties of the vale. Of the rival meetings of the waters there cannot be a question, in my mind, as to the great superiority of the upper in point of beauty. It is accordingly this that is usually regarded as the theme of Moore’s charming ballad; and it is here where the guides SHELTON ABBEY. $l bosomed in wood, and though placed on so lofty an eminence, it is thus deprived of some fine views, which it might command if left more open. It can hardly be said to have any park, though its wooded demesne is of great extent. Descending from Castle Howard, and recrossing the river at Newbridge, we drove through the woods of Ballyarthur, a gentleman’s seat on the same ridge as Castle Howard, commanding similar views, and in itself a much superior place of residence, though with an inferior house. It possesses some- thing like an open park, the woods being kept at a more convenient distance from the house. Beyond Ballyarthur we entered the domain of Lord Wicklow, and drove down to Shelton Abbey, his splended and delightful residence. Of all the places yet seen in Ireland,—I had almost said, or elsewhere,—this Abbey impressed me the most by its singular and placid beauty. Placed in a lofty plain or mountain valley, surrounded, yet not too closely, by woods and wooded hills rising gently above it, seeing nothing from its walls but these woods and hills, and yet, while con- veying the impression of profound seclusion and solitude, still breathing of airyness and openness and sylvan freedom, it seemed truly an abode set apart for the peaceful and holy life, which should harbour in a home so named. The character of the building, in the style of an ancient abbey, with its lofty windows, its jutting buttresses, and its wilderness 30 COPPER MINES. called Ballymurtagh. Those on the other side are called the Cronbane copper mines. ‘The ore of the Ballymurtagh mine is a sulphuret of copper, but the sulphur is in places so predominant, that the pro- duce in sulphur is more productive than in metal. The ore is all exported to England for reduction, being conveyed to the pier at Arklow by a tram- road running down the valley. The ore, at the period of our visit, was yielding only about three per cent. of copper, while the less metalliferous portion was said to give a return of sulphur amount- ing to one third. There were about 200 men em- ployed on the mine, all Irish except the manager who is a Cornish man. He told me that nothing could exceed the attention, industry, and soberness of the men. He said they were much more manageable than his own countrymen, and worked contentedly for much smaller wages. Many of them are strict “ Teetotallers,”’ though of late years a con- siderable proportion of them had broken their pledges, and again indulged in strong drinks, but not so as to interfere materially with their work, or seriously to affect the great general sobriety of the mass. On leaving the mine we proceeded to visit Castle Howard, conspicuous through the woods on the brow of the opposite bank. ‘To reach it we had to cross both the Avons, and then ascend a long and winding path overhanging the river, through a perfect thicket of wood. The house is closely em- , TENANT RIGHT. oo the establishment. His land was not in good order, though he seemed to have had a tolerable crop, both of corn and hay. ‘The potato crop had suffered, as indeed throughout the whole county—one third, at least, being destroyed. He spoke doubtfully of being able to pay his rent, and grumbled because, some time back, it had been raised. He said he and his predecessors had built all the houses on the farm at their own expense, and he thought it hard that they should now be charged in the rent. This was the first distinct intimation we had of Tenant-right. I was amused to find that, like many of his betters of the orange school, the farmer regarded the tempe- rance proceedings of Father Matthew as a political, that is, a rebellious movement, originating with the priests and repealers. He readily admitted, how- ever, that the system of teetotalism had been pro- ductive, while it lasted, of great social benefits, and had left behind it much more of general sobriety than existed before its introduction. Our sensibility to natural beauty, if not our gal- lantry, might, we feel, be justly called in question, if, after what we had seen of it in the places com- memorated in this chapter, we did not say one word of the most animated of all the forms of beauty we had seen—that, namely, of the women and children. We shall have another opportunity of referring to this matter; but we must allude here to the fact of our being struck, on the very threshold of Ireland, 3 32 A FARMHOUSE. of turrets, belfries, and lofty and slender chimneys, harmonised admirably with the scenes amid which it was placed. Everything breathed tranquillity and peace, and the charmed beholder could scarce re- fran from holding his breath, in momentary expectation of hearing the solemn bell summoning its inmates to vespers. The illusion was probably heightened by the perfect stillness of the evening, the immobility of the sheltering woods, and the growing dimness of the sky, which only here and there retained a feeble colouring from the sunken sun. Next morning I paid a visit to a small farm in the neighbourhood, tenanted by an old man of seventy-five, an orangeman or Protestant, who had been out in the’98. He paid 20/. for about nineteen acres of good land, and some wild pasturage along the shore. His house is not much better or cleaner than that of a mere cottier, only larger. He keeps a good many cows, and sends the produce, in the shape of butter slightly salted, to Dublin once a fortnight. His grandfather and father occupied the farm before him, and he has still a lease of it, for his own and his son’s life. He has three sons and one daughter. One son is a gardener, and out in the world gainmg his livnmg; another has gone to America, where he obtains a good livelihood as a servant on a railway at New York. His eldest son and heir lives with him on the farm, as does also his daughter, who seemed to be the only woman on a CHAPTER II. ARKLOW—TULLOW— CARLOW—KILDARE—CASHEL. ARKLow is a moderate-sized bustling country town, with a population, according to the last census, of 3300, making a difference of only 46 persons between this and the enumeration of 1841. The upper and better portion of it contains some good houses, with a fine church and chapel. The lower portion of it, on the flat shore, by the harbour, is chiefly inhabited by fishermen, and is very squalid and filthy. There is a pretty good trade here, the exports being principally mineral ores and fish; but the entrance to the small harbour is very shallow and unsafe. According to the Parliamentary re- turns, the proportion of Catholics to Protestants, in 1834, was more than double, the number of Catholics, in the whole parish, being 4347, and of Protestants only 2037. I believe the same proportion (nearly) still holds good. There is a fine National School here. At the time of my visit there were 150 boys in attendance, and a considerably larger proportion of girls. There was one master and two mistresses, all Catholics. There were no Protestants in the school, the Protestant clergymen discountenancing 34 A BEAUTY. with the unusual attractions presented to us by many of its women, and even by many of its children, though seen in all the disadvantages of dirt and rags. In one of our country hotels (I carefully withhold the name, mindful of the fate of Mary of Buttermere, betrayed through the printed enco- miums of a tourist,) we were waited on by a young damsel, who might, I think, be regarded as a perfect beauty, especially by the admirers of the Rubens’ school. Her features and expression were faultless. EMIGRATION. oe Catholics said their own prayers mentally, while professing to join in the Protestant formula. I had not an opportunity of inquiring minutely into the state of temperance in Arklow; but I learned that the number of the pledged children of Father Matthew had marvellously decreased, there being now perhaps hardly more than fifty in the town, where there had once been a thousand. We left Arklow in the forenoon, intending to sleep at Carlow, and proceeding thence by the railway to Kildare, to join the Dublin train on its way to Cork. Advancing for a short way along the banks of the Aughrim river, we turned to the left through a rather wild country, chiefly the property of Lord Fitzwilliam. This property extends for many miles over a series of long and low valleys, mostly boggy in the centre, but partially cultivated on the slopes. The district possesses no feature of beauty, but it is fairly peopled. In the hamlet of Killaveny, in the centre of this dis- trict, | passed some time in a peat-cutter’s cabin, dis- coursing on various local matters. Lord Fitzwilliam was represented as a good landlord in his ordinary dealings with his tenantry. He had, also, at his own expense, sent out a large portion of the population to America, and more were preparing to follow. My informant indicated the extent of this emigration, by stating that the chapel of Killaveny, a large building, was not now one half so full on Sun- days as formerly. Many of the emigrants had already 36 SCHOOLS. the attendance of the children of their flocks, although it would appear that no interference in regard to religious instruction takes place on the part of the teachers. It is part of the system of these schools, that all religious instruction (confined mostly to learning the Catechism) is prohibited during ordinary school-hours. According to the Report of the Commissioners of National Education, the number on the books of this school, in September, 1850, was 214 boys and 224 girls; and in September, 1851, 210 boys and 247 girls. The boys at these schools are permitted to remain as long as they please, the education being such as to fit them for the office of clerk or tradesman. I found the head boys working in vulgar fractions, and their writing was good. ‘There is also a Protestant school in connection with the Church Education Society. According to the last Report, there were in the preceding year (1851) 37 children on the roll, and an average attendance of 27. I visited a (so-called) Protestant school, a little distance from the town, supported by a benevolent lady in the neighbourhood. The number of children on the books was from 50 to 60, and of these about 30 were present. Only about one seventh or one eighth part of the children were Protestants. In this school the scriptures are read daily, and the liturgy of the Church of England used. In these all the children are expected to take a part; but the mistress (a Protestant) told me that she believed some of the ENGLISH LABOURERS. 39 turf-cutter lamented greatly that there was at that time no niistress, as he was anxious to send some of his children to it. In coming along the valley, we had been struck with one farm in a very superior order to the others, and saw several boggy fields under the process of deep draining. The farmer, we were told, was a rich -enterprising miller, who was expending on his land the gains he had made by his mill. A curious fact connected with this draining,—if it is a fact, and I see no reason to doubt it,—was mentioned to me by my intelligent friend as he sat by my side on his wife’s table, with his huge bare legs besmeared with dark peat-earth up to the knees. He said that the miller’s draining operations had been going on for years, and that the men employed in them had been brought from England. Most of these men, he said, had domesticated themselves in the place; several had married, and none of them intended to return to England again. My informant added that the chief cause of this settlement of the strangers was, that they preferred some of this country’s cus- toms to their own. The Irish, the Englishmen said, were friendlier and kindlier to one another, went more to the houses of each other, and so had more pleasure than their countrymen in England. “I tell the tale as ’twas told to me;” and when I com- pare what I afterwards saw of the cordiality, jollity, and fun of the Irish peasantry, even under the pressure of extreme poverty, with the cold, dull, 38 A TURF-CUTTER. sent home a good deal of money to their relations. One girl, who had gone to Australia, and was there employed as a servant, had sent home no less than 20/. to her mother, though she had only been from home four years ; and she expressed her intention of assisting all the members of her family to join her in her new country. This turf-cutter’s cottage was superior, both in size and accommodation, to many I had seen in Wicklow. It had two apartments—a but and a ben, as the Scottish cotter names them,— and could boast of both chairs and a table, besides beds in the inner room. As there was no ground attached to it, the rent was only ll. per annum. The man had no pigs; and I may here observe, that I had scarcely seen any pigs since my arrival in Ireland,—a blank which was proved to be almost general by my subsequent experience. Since the failure of the potato crop, and consequent famine in 1847, when the whole race was devoured, the cottagers have not been able to buy or to maintain pigs, there having been a considerable destruction of the potato crop every season since. It is customary here as elsewhere for the neigh- bouring farmers to grant the cotters ground for planting their potatoes, on their finding manure for the soil. But with their pigs went their manure, and if they obtained land for their potatoes, they had to pay for it; and so they went on from bad to worse. There is a National School in the parish, and the COOLATTIN. 4] We arrived at the village of Coolattin between two and three o’clock, and were not a little dis- appointed that, owing to a mistake of the Arklow job-master, we could obtain no fresh horses to take us on to Carlow. We were therefore obliged to wait till our horses rested. Fortunately there is a very tolerable inn at the place, and we were enabled both to dine comfortably and to see the neighbour- hood. Coolattin is one of those artificial villages that we see spring up at great men’s gates, bran-new, stiff and staring, with no traces of the olden time, and with none of that softened and varied look that always characterises hamlets that have grown up and decayed and been renovated insensibly. It, in fact, contains few other houses than the inn, the schools, the blacksmith’s shop, and the establishment of Paddy “the merchant,” which designation in Ireland means a retail dealer in all things. The houses are all bright and fresh as a new pin, having been only recently erected or restored by the great lord of the land, Earl Fitzwilliam, whose Irish residence is close at hand. Coolattin Park is of small extent, but contains some timber, and is watered by a small river, the Derry, one of the feeders of the Slaney. The house is a plain building, but of considerable extent, and is at this moment receiving a large addition. Adjoining the park is Lord Fitzwilliam’s own farm, which looks, amid the wild and half-cultivated région around it, like a garden in the wilderness. This 40 COTTAGE-LIFE. matter of fact and business habits of the English labourers, I felt no great surprise that, by a certain class of men, the Irish hovel should be preferred to the Saxon cottage. I can easily fancy that the charming picture of cottage life, of which Burns makes his dog Luath the delineator, would be realised with much fewer appliances in an Irish cot- tage than in either a Scotch or English one.’ ' This picture is so beautifully true, and so delightful in all its details, that I can scarcely resist the temptation of reproducing the whole of it in this place. Alas for civilisation and social progress if it be indeed true, as some suppose, that such pictures are now rarer in every country than they were in the last generation. I can only venture to give the few concluding lines of the poem descriptive of some of the winter festivities. It will be remembered that it is the dog Luath who is the narrator: “* As bleak-fac’d Hallomas returns, They get the jovial, rantin kirns, When rural life, 0’ every station Unite in common recreation : Love blinks, wit slaps, an’ social mirth Forgets there’s Care upo’ the earth. That merry day the year begins, They bar the door on frosty wins ; The nappy reeks wi’ mantling ream, And sheds a heart-inspiring steam ; The luntin pipe an’ sneeshin mill, Are handed round wi’ right guid will; The cantie auld folks crackin crouse, The young anes rantin thro’ the house,— My heart has been sae fain to see them, That I for joy hae barkit wi’ them.” N.B.—For fear that my worthy teetotal friends of the south should consider me an advocate of strong drink, I beg to inform them that the “nappy” of the foregoing picture is only fresh home-brewed small-beer. CARLOW. 43 about 40,000/.; and that he derived about 2000/. more from some other property in the county of Kildare. There is nothing note-worthy on the road from Coolattin to Tullow. The country, however, is richer and better cultivated, and this improved state was observable over the whole of that part of the county of Carlow through which we passed. Tul- low is a tolerably neat country town, with a popu- lation of about 38000. It has remained nearly stationary since the previous census, having only decreased by 134; the population in 1841 being 3097, and in 1851, 2963. It is divided by the river Slaney, here a large stream, with a handsome bridge over it. The principal inn is built close to the bridge, the wall of its best sitting-room being washed by the stream. Tullow is conspicuous by its lofty church tower and spire, which are visible at a great distance. The country around is well cultivated and agree- ably varied in surface; the mountains of Wicklow forming a conspicuous feature inthe distant landscape. We reached Carlow about seven o’clock, having travelled, according to our post-boy’s reckoning, 35 Trish miles from Arklow. We put up at a very good inn, called the Club House. Though the country we had passed over is but little travelled, and nearly the whole tract may be regarded as a cross-country, the roads were by no means bad. Our post-chaises, to be sure, were in a rather dilapidated 42 FARMING. farm is of great extent, the fields large and sym- metrical, well fenced, and covered with the finest crops,—the turnips and even the potato fields looking green and without a weed. The friend who travelled with me, and who is learned in matters agri- cultural, exclaimed as soon as he saw it, —“ There’s a farm at last, and I’ll wager the farmer is a Scotch- man.” We found on inquiry that this was the fact ; and we could not help lamenting that such a scene as this was so rare in Ireland. It is very probable that Lord Fitzwilliam may have been hitherto a loser, instead of a gainer, by this mag- nificent farm, as the outlay must have been great to bring it to its present condition. It must, however, eventually not only repay the cost, but bring a good return for the capital invested. In another and still more important point of view, it must even now repay its benevolent and spirited possessor a hundred- fold, by the pregnant and enduring example afforded by it, to all his tenantry and to the country gene- rally. As in matters of morality, one can hardly live with good men without insensibly profiting by their examples; so it would seem hardly possible that the rude and slovenly and unproductive culture handed down unchanged from their fathers to the present generation of farmers in the barony of Shillelagh, should long resist the contagion of the bright example set them at Coolattin. I was informed that the estates of Lord Fitzwilliam, in the county of Wicklow, produced a rental of CARLOW. 45 Carlow lies on the banks and near the union of the two rivers, the Barrow and the Burren, the former of which divides the county of Carlow from Queen’s County. A portion of the town is situated in the latter, and goes by the name of Graigue. It is connected with Carlow proper by a handsome stone bridge, called Wellington Bridge. The Barrow is navigable by barges down to Waterford; and the town is now also connected by railway with Kilkenny on the one hand, and with Dublin on the other. The population of Carlow, by the last census, was, including the suburb of Graigue, 8687, being a decrease of 1722 since 1841. The great majority of the inhabitants are Catholics. According to the official returns of 1834, the proportion of the different religions in the parish were as follows: Catholics, 7843 ; Church of England, 1755 ; Presby- terians and other dissenters, 106. I had not time to visit any of the public insti- tutions of Carlow, nor to make any very special inquiries into other matters. I may state, however, that, according to the last two Reports of the National Schools, that of Carlow had on its books in September 1850, boys, 351; girls, 604; and in September 1851, boys, 288; girls, 452. Strong in its Catholic tendencies as Carlow is, it has its staunch Protestantism also; the stauncher, no doubt, because of the strength of these very tendencies. I here met with a most intelligent 4A. CARLOW. condition, but the horses were good, and the drivers active and obliging. Carlow, the capital of the county of the same name, is a very handsome country town, with more than the ordinary display of public buildings in good style. It contains the ruins of a fine old castle, said to have been built by the famous De Lacy in the eleventh century. One front wall and two of the corner towers still remain, the latter upwards of sixty feet high. A singular piece of barbarism—it may almost be called sacrilege—was committed on this beautiful ruin, within the last 40 years, by a man who, from his education, ought to have had some regard for such relics of antiquity. A physician wishing to adapt the building for the purposes of a lunatic asylum, set about blasting with gunpowder some portion of the walls, and brought down about his ears more than half the structure. One can- not help wishing that it had been brought down literally about his ears. How such an act could have been permitted under the cognisance of the authori- ties of the town is marvellous. Both the English and Catholic churches are remarkably fine buildings, the one surmounted by a handsome spire, the other by a still handsomer tower: the latter is the cathe- dral church of the Catholic dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin. There are also here a Catholic college, with a handsome chapel attached, and a convent; a jail, lunatic asylum, infirmary, and a very handsome court-house, only recently erected. KILDARE. AT enabled to repossess themselves of much of their property by certain arrangements made with the principal creditors, and by borrowing money to effect the re-purchase at a depreciated value. The country from Carlow to Kildare is flat and well cultivated, with some intervening bogs. Kildare itself is a miserable small place, hardly more than a village, though a market town, and giving its title to a county and a diocese. I am tempted to quote a description of this small town from a recent publi- cation on Ireland, not because of its truth (though it comes as near this as the grand exaggerating spirit of the writer would allow), but as a specimen of the magnificent grandiloquence of the ancient hedge-school style, which still lingers in odd corners in Ireland. “ The town itself (says this great writer), as seen from the approaches to it, sends up such a tufting of trees, and such a seeming museum of architecture, as to appear a fascinating feature in the landscape, and afford promise of interesting disclosures to the painter and the anti- quary; but, on being entered, it dashes to the dust the hopes which it had excited, grins ghastly de- rision on the enthusiasm of the literary visiter, folds round him clouds of offensive odours, and huddles itself up in so squalid and tawdry a dress of cabin masonry, grotesquely patched and deformed with clumsy remains of pretending architecture, as in- stantly to convince him that it owes all its interest to the tales and associations of history, and to the 46 AN ORANGEMAN. gentleman of this persuasion, who was not a whit less prejudiced and jaundiced by his Orange princi- ples than was the small farmer and ex-soldier of Wicklow, formerly mentioned. He thought that no compromise should be made with the Catholics, and that every effort should be made to extirpate their religion at least, if not themselves. He, how- ever, admitted that the Protestant clergy had committed a great mistake in withdrawing the children of their flock from the National Schools, as they had thereby thrown all the educational advan- tages of this system into the hands of their op- ponents. While admitting with all the world, that the temperance movement of Father Matthew had done infinite good to the people in their social position, he could not refrain from deprecating it as a measure calculated to enhance the authority of the priests, and to strengthen the anti-Protestant spirit among the lower classes. From everything I have seen and heard in Ireland, I believe no imputation could be more groundless than this, and that there never was a reform undertaken with a more single eye to good than this temperance movement, incom- parably the greatest of the efforts of modern philan- thropy, after that of Education. I learned from the conversation of this gen- tleman, what was confirmed from various other sources subsequently, that many of the proprietors of the encumbered estates already sold, had been KILDARE. 49 institution as this perpetual fire, must have been m ministering to one of the most imperious of the traveller’s wants in the cold season of this cold district. I felt that the good lady has had but scant justice done to her by the popular legend which has transmuted this pure and simple act of hu- manity and mercy into a barren miracle of religious faith. And I rather owe a grudge to the poet Moore for having yet further perpetuated and even aggravated this injustice by having, in one of his popular melodies, travestied the genial hot turf-fire of the kind and considerate institutrix, into a mere lamp of barren light, most disappointing to the shivering traveller who might be attracted by it.’ Kildare. 1 “ Like the bright lamp that shone in Kildare’s holy fane, And burned thro’ long ages of darkness and storm.” A 48 ST. BRIDGET. mind’s power of abstracting its architectural monu- ments from connection with rubbish, and juxta- position to the filth and conditions of a common- place Irish village.” The only things of any interest in Kildare are the fine ruins of the Abbey or Cathedral, and the Round Tower in their vicinity. The abbey was founded so late as the twelfth century, but had been preceded in the same locality by the famous Nunnery and Abbey of St. Bridget, erected, accord- ing to tradition, so early as the fourth. The sole remains of this original fabric is said to be that small portion of the ruins called St. Bridget’s Chapel, or the Fire-house, from being the supposed site of that perennial fire instituted by this holy woman “for the benefit of poor strangers,’ and said to have been maintained by the nuns, day and night, for upwards of a thousand years.” The fire was extinguished for a time, in the twelfth century, by the Archbishop of Dublin; but being soon re- stored, was continued up till the period of the suppression of the monasteries. Looking on the wide open country around me, and fancying how wild it must have been in the days of St. Bridget, I could not help thinking how appropriate such an ' Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland; Art. Kinparg. 2 “Apud Kildariam occurrit ignis Sancte Brigid, quem inextin- guilem vocant; non quod extingni non possit, sed quod tam solicite moniales et sanctz mulieres ignem, suppetente materia, fovent et nutriunt, ut a tempore virginis [Brigide] per tot annorum curricula semper mansit inextinctus.”—Girald. Cambrensis. Hibern. THE COTTAGERS. 51 says) Facts are chiels that winna ding;” and whe- ther they be great or small is often of less import- ance than is their quality. At any rate, it will be admitted that the only sure means we possess of judging of the state of individual classes of men, must be derived from those classes themselves, according to the terms of my motto—Rerum ipsa- rum cognitio vera é rebus ipsis est ;—and it will hardly be denied that it is the condition of the very lowest classes in Ireland, as elsewhere, that has the strongest claim on the attention of public men. I say this much here, not merely in excuse for the statements I am now about to make, but as a general explanation of and excuse for many details of a like humble kind that will be found in my sub- sequent chapters. In a.small shop in the suburbs I found a middle- aged woman and her son making tin saucepans; the department of the mother being to solder the seams. The cottage was tolerably clean and had furniture, and the mistress was both merry and wise. She made her living by selling her manu- factured wares about the country. She pays 3/. per annum rent for her own cottage and one adjoining, which she lets to a labouring man at, if I recollect right, sixpence per week. We went in to look at this cottage, and found it literally without a single article of standing furniture, except a small settle- bed in one corner, on which sprawled an infant of about twelve or sixteen months old. There was 50 THE ROUND TOWER. The remains of the more recent Cathedral and Abbey are very interesting, containing some fine specimens of architecture, and several curious monu- ments. Some of these last have been removed into the adjoming Protestant church. The Round Tower is situated close to the church, amid the graves. It is in perfect repair except on the summit, where the original conical top has been removed, probably by accident, and a sort of parapet or battlement put in its place. This tower is one of the largest in Ireland; Grose says it is 132, Ledwich 110 feet in height, the last being, no doubt, the best authority. We found its external circumference, by our rude measurement, to be about 54 feet. It has a fine ornamented doorway about 14 feet from the ground. There is no good hotel at Kildare, but there is a small inn, where ordinary refreshment can be ob- tained, and a bed, if required. While waiting for the train, we had time to spy the barrenness of the land; and I will here set down, just as they were recorded on the spot, some of the results of my interviews with several of the cottagers. I do this advisedly, although fully con- scious of the humbleness of my theme, and of the small interest such apparently insignificant details are likely to possess for many readers. But my great object in making my memorandums, was to make a collection of Facts from which others as well as myself might draw conclusions; “for (as Burns THE COTTAGERS. 55 O’Connell’s. He would not object to the Protestant clergy being paid by the state, but would leave the Catholic clergy to be supported as at present. He would, however, have the stipends of the former come direct from the Government, and the present tithe-system abolished, as being productive of jea- lousy and heart-burning. So strong were his pre- judices against the English government, that he could hardly be prevailed on to believe that the emigration movement was not a scheme of the ruling powers to extirpate the Irish race. In common, I may say with almost every person I conversed with in Ireland, high or low, Catholic or Protestant, my friend of the needle condemned the mode in which the government grants, at the period of the famine, were expended ; yet upon examination of this matter, I cannot help thinking there is more of prejudice than of reason in this general condem- nation. Many roads and other works that are of little use at present were, no doubt, undertaken and not always completed, and the superintendents of the works seem to have been frequently injudiciously chosen ; still it is not easy to see how, under the circumstances, a better choice for the employment and subsistence of the people could have been made. Roads, bridges, and other works of general convenience, must, sooner or later, be of positive benefit to a district ; and these seem the only kind of works open to the Commissioners, unless they had chosen to expend the public labour for the benefit 52 OPINIONS OF neither chair, nor stool, nor table, nor box on the earthen floor. The good tin-woman took up the baby and nursed it with the greatest kindness, cheering it up with her merry smile and laugh. In a short time the mother of the child came in. She was a remarkably good-looking and _ healthy- looking young woman, and,—what might have hardly been expected in such a place,—cleanly and even neatly dressed. I forgot to ask her, but, from her general appearance, I have little doubt that she had derived her tidiness, amid such poverty, from having been educated either in a National School or in an Union Workhouse. Her husband, a labouring man, she said, was at work in the fields, and could, at this harvest time, earn tenpence a day. In other seasons he could earn only six- pence, and often could get no work at all. She and her landlady were evidently on very good terms, and I doubt not that this true Irishwoman was as kind as she was cheerful. In the same row of cottages I had a long talk with a lame tailor, a man whose brain indicated none of the incapacity of his limbs. He was a staunch Catholic, but evidently possessed of too hard a head and too strong a will to be domineered over by his priest, if his priest ever sought to do so. I was told afterwards by a respectable person in the town, that my cripple-friend was strictly honest and much respected in his humble station. His plan of reform of the Irish Church was nearly that of DEFICIENCY OF LABOUR. 55 arriving at the general statistical facts, naturally enough over-estimated the actual truth. Thus, in the present instance, the population of the whole parish of Kildare had only sustained a diminution of one sixth, or thereabout, during the last ten years ; the population in 1841 being 2654, and in 1851, 2229. While on this subject, I may observe that I here received statements, similar to those already noticed, of the large sums of money sent home from the emigrants to their friends, almost all for the purpose of enabling them to emigrate also. But, considerable as it was, even when tested by statistics, this decrease in the population had by no means proportioned the labourers to the demand for labour. The remaining hands were not half employed. The farmers here, as elsewhere, for want of capital, were converting their corn and potato land into pasture, and thus greatly narrowing the field of employment to the labourer. Another cause of deficient employment here complained of, was the immigration of labourers from Galway and the other still poorer districts of the west. Notwithstanding the poverty of this place, auty. cated, among other things, by the fearfully-ragged condition of many of the people in the streets, we saw no professional beggars, except the usual array of children solicitmg pence under the excuse of acting as guides to show you things that were before your nose. Neither here nor elsewhere did the cottagers, however poor and miserable, ever ask for 5A EMIGRATION. of individuals and the improvement of private property. No doubt the feelings of my honest tailor were somewhat embittered, and his prejudices sharpened, by the deterioration of his own circumstances, although he complained but little, and thankfully acknowledged that he still contrived to make a living by his trade. It was true that he had now no pig, and must, consequently, not only forego the luxury of bacon, but must also be more rigid in his economy than formerly, to enable him to pay his rent. Before the failure of the potato crop, having no land of his own, he was one of those who availed himself of the privilege of planting his potatoes on his neighbour’s land, under the usual condition of manuring the plot of ground. Ever since the failure he had continued the practice until the present year ; but he had now given it up, as the deteriorated crops of the last few years had not proved an equivalent for the expense of labour and of collecting manure without the aid of the pig. Every one I spoke with in Kildare agreed in the belief that the emigration from the parish had been immense,—one half or two thirds at least of the population. This, however, was a great, though I believe an unintentional exaggeration; and I may here remark that such exaggeration was common through nearly the whole of Ireland. Every one losmg some friends and neighbours, and seeing so many tenements empty, and having no means of FAILURE OF THE POTATO CROP. 57 English inn submitting to a nuisance so clearly detrimental to his interests, while there was a poor- house or a policeman in the land! Before proceeding to the more southern districts of Ireland, it will not be inappropriate to say a few words respecting the agricultural condition of the counties we had yet passed through. Comparing generally the style of agriculture with that in Scotland and England, every one must admit that the latter is infinitely superior. Everywhere, except in rare instances, some of which have been already noticed, the land is inadequately cultivated and much less productive than it might be made. It is generally very foul, and the crops, in places, are literally overgrown with weeds. The pasture land is, in the highest degree, neglected ; and what might be the finest meadows are often mere plantations of rag-wort. This plant, indeed, seems to thrive here to an unexampled extent and with wonderful vigour. From the immunity it seems to claim and receive at the hand of the farmer, a stranger might be disposed to think that it and not the shamrock should be the emblem of the land. Though the corn crops are said to be above the average this season, the potatoes have suffered to a great extent,—a third, at least, of the roots have become diseased. I may here also add, to save future repetition, that we found a similar condition of the potato crop throughout Ireland ;— in some places better, in some worse, but the 56 BEGGARS. money in their cottages. If, however, a small coin was at any time placed in the hand of a child, or offered to the parent under some colorable pretext, it was always most thankfully received, and repaid by many a warm prayer for the traveller’s welfare. I must also say that, amid all the privations of the poor, wheresoever observed, there was generally to be found an unrepining content, and rarely any bitterness of feeling mingled with their complaints. There was often even a mirthfulness and _ jollity contrasting strongly with the circumstances around. The clear ringing laugh of the good ttle woman above mentioned, while sitting on her stool soldering her tin pans, or the cordial chirrup with which she roused the cackle of her poor neighbour’s dirty little baby, seemed to spring from a source which mere outward things had but small power over. Surely such a light-hearted race as this were intended to constitute a happy people. The great haunt of beggars, throughout Ireland, are the doors of the hotels; and I was often struck with the marvellous tolerance of the innkeepers with this nuisance to their guests; no attempt, that I saw, being ever made to drive the beggars away, even when almost forcing themselves into the house. If this tolerance was an indication of less fastidious- ness and of an inferior sense of the exigencies of refined life, on the part of the innkeepers, it was surely no less a testimony of their unselfishness and kindness of heart. Only think of the landlord of an ROCK OF CASHEL. -59 No one who has the time, should pass on from Dublin or Kildare to Cork, without paying a visit to the celebrated Rock of Cashel. The station nearest to it on the Great South Western Railway is Goold’s Cross, distant from Kildare about 60, and from Dublin 95 miles. Cars are in attendance from the town of Cashel to meet all the trains, the dis- tance from the railway being seven or eight miles. All this district is in the county of Tipperary: it is well cultivated and rich, but flat, treeless, and unpicturesque. The town of Cashel, like almost every place hitherto visited, has decreased greatly in population during the past ten years; its popu- lation in 1841 being 70386, and in 1851 only 4659. It is not in any way distinguished as to its site or structural character; and, but for its famous rock and the ancient buildings upon it, would have few claims to the traveller’s attention. It was solely on account of these buildings that I paid a visit to Cashel. The Rock of Cashel is especially remarkable, from the perfect abruptness and boldness with which it rises out of the extensive plain in which it is situated; and this its bold and lofty isolation is enhanced a thousand fold by the grand mass of ruins which cover and crown its brow. These magnificent ruins, which though roofless and window- less, and greatly shattered, still stand up in almost their original height from their splendid platform, consist of a singular congeries of noble structures, 58 SHEEP. average loss certainly not less than that just stated. One thing had already been noticed by us, and it struck us much more forcibly afterwards, as we passed by whole districts of green hill and moorland, namely, the total absence of sheep. In England or Scotland such tracts would not have failed to exhibit their white flocks in great numbers. We found, on inquiry, that this branch of agriculture had never been carried to any extent in Ireland ; and we were told, in several places, that the small stock that existed at the time of the famine, and which had been all destroyed by the victims of starvation, had never since been restored. We found, however, in other districts that this and other species of stock were being gradually introduced. Yet it would appear that the increase of the few last years has done little more than compensate for the preceding losses, From the returns of the Census of 1851, it appears that the number of sheep in the whole of Ireland in that year only exceeded the number in 1841 by 15,939, the total stock in 1841 being 2,106,189, and in 1851 being 2,122,128. I have reason to believe, however, that there has been a much greater importation of live sheep into Treland this year than during any preceding year, and this chiefly from Scotland. In subsequent parts of our journey, we passed on the road more than one flock proceeding to its destination under the command of their own northern shepherd. ROCK OF CASHEL. fe | richly ornamental architecture. The ruins of the Abbey of “ Saint Mary of the Rock of Cashel” are much less considerable and interesting. The Rock of Cashel. The position and relations of the Round Tower in regard to the Cathedral, are curious. It is so closely connected with one corner of the church, that it may almost be said to be built into it; and a communication between the two is effected by means of a door-like opening, quarried through the solid masonry of the tower, at the height of some 20 or 80 feet from the ground. It would be almost as curious a subject of inquiry, what was the object of the men of the church in making this communi- cation, and what uses the tower was put to by them, as is the great question of the primary use of all these wonderful Irish towers. This tower of Cashel 60 RUINS OF CASHEL. of vast extent and great variety, yet all united into one grand whole: a Cathedral, an Abbey, a Chapel, a Palace, a Round Tower. We were shown over, in succession, all that remains of these by the intelligent guide whom we found on the spot, and who, while possessing that enthusiasm for his theme which it is pleasing to witness in such a person, had little of that obtrusive impertinence and absurd talk which so often in- terfere with the enjoyment of sight-seeing. But here, to be sure, there was ample room and verge enough for any narrator; and to antiquaries, whether baronial or ecclesiastical, whether archi- tectural or historical, I can fancy no greater treat than a summer’s day amid the ruins of Cashel. Neither my time nor my tastes permitted so long a study; but the couple of hours I spent without and within this noble pile, well redeemed the time and trouble given to accomplish its visitation. The Castle seems to have been the very beau- ideal of a feudal hold, as well from its impregnable ‘site as the multiplicity of its offensive and defensive arrangements. Its huge walls are everywhere burrowed by blind passages, now, literally, leading to nothing, while the smallness of its chambers and its cramped windows speak of times when rude life with security, not comfort or luxury, was the pre- dominant thought of the dwellers in castles. The Cathedral, and especially its subordinate Cormac’s chapel, still retain copious indications of a fine and CASHEL TOWN. 63 extent, but plain and clumsy, both without and within. As usual, I found its floor sprinkled over with devout worshippers on their knees, chiefly women. _A large part of the town consists of poor dirty crooked streets, with long rows of wretched cot- tages, many of them thatched, and all of them, I am very sorry to say, with interiors answering to the exterior—filthy, dark, unfurnished, comfortless. The pressure of railway time did not allow me to extend my inquiries into any of the economical statistics of the place.’ There seemed nothing very remarkable in the country through which we passed from Kildare to Cork ; and if there had, it could hardly be noticed by a railway traveller. It is deserving remark, however, that throughout the whole line the station- houses are exceedingly handsome, all built of stone, and of very varied but elegant design. Many of them are surmounted in front by a pretty belfry, which serves at once for ornament and use. In a part of our transit on this railway I had the misfortune to encounter, as a fellow passenger, one of a class of unhappy men who ought never to travel. By his own report, he had met with nothing in Ireland but annoyances of one sort or other. The inns were dirty; the landlords extortionate ; 1 [ have placed my memorandums respecting Cashel here, in their proper topographical relation, though they were made subsequently, after my return to Dublin, whence I went purposely to visit the place. 62 THE ROUND TOWER. is 90 feet high, and about 10 feet wide in the interior at its base. It is curiously indicative of its distinct origin from that of the other buildings on the rock, that it is built of an entirely different stone; the tower being sandstone, while the castle and church are of limestone. Doubtless it stood solitarily here for generations, perhaps for ages, before the Rock of Cashel was made the abode of St. Mary’s monks or the fortress of the kings of Munster. The interior of this tower is, like that of Monasterboice, quite smooth; but small breaks exist in it at different heights, as if for the purpose of attaching floors or scaffolding. The top is still . entire, but the space below the coping or roof, looked at from the interior, seems much too small to have formed a fitting place for bells. There is a most extensive view from the top of the castle walls; but as the country is for the most part flat, and without either wood or water, the prospect is only interesting on account of its vast- ness. The mountains in the horizon are too distant to be grouped with effect in the landscape. The town of Cashel, as already mentioned, possesses few objects of interest, except the remains of inferior churches, tributaries of the great Abbey of the Rock. It has no public buildings of much note, though the parish church or cathedral is a handsome structure with a lofty spire, and the bishop’s palace has noble gardens attached to it. The Roman Catholic chapel is, as usual, of large CHAPTER III. CORK—QUEENSTOWN—-SKIBBEREEN. Cork, like Dublin and a few of the other chief towns of Ireland, is so well known and of such great extent, that it would be preposterous, in a work like this, to enter into any details respecting it. It is finely situated on the banks of the river Lee, where it begins to open out into the splendid inlet of the sea, called, at its further extremity, the Cove of Cork, and which is about fourteen or fifteen miles in length. The site of a large part of the present city was originally a series of small islands and marsh land, but, a considerable portion of the town lies high on the base and along the slope of a lofty hill which bounds the river on the north. Like the Liffey at Dublin, the Lee is walled in by handsome quays and crossed by fine bridges, the shipping lining and filling up the more open portion of the river below these. The unevenness of much of the ground on which it is built, the irregularity of the streets, the variety of the style of building, the intersecting river, and the overhanging heights, give a very pleasing and a somewhat picturesque aspect to the city of Cork, There are only a few very good streets in it, and its public buildings will stand no comparison with those 5 64: A DISAGREEABLE TRAVELLER. the waiters negligent and saucy; the postboys im- pertinent; the beggars utterly intolerable; the cottages hardly so good as Indian wigwams, and their inmates idle rogues. The country fared little better than its inhabitants: it was for the most part a succession of bogs and rocks, and wonderfully overrated as to beauty. To be sure, he had seen some tolerably high mountains and pretty big lakes, but nothing to be compared to our lakes. Killarney was perhaps worth seeing; but it was by no means the place he expected, after all he had heard about it. I was heartily glad when this man went his way. Most assuredly he shall never “ digest the venom of his spleen” any more in my company, if I can help it. I had as lief have a porcupine or a polecat for a vis-d-vis. We reached Cork about five o’clock. STEAMBOATS. 67 Cork, according to the census of 1851, was 85,745, being an increase of 5025 since 1841. On Sunday afternoon we went down to Cove, or, as it is now called, Queenstown, in one of the steamers which are perpetually plying between this place and Cork. The day was very fine, and our steamer, like many others we saw on the water, was crowded with passengers of the middle class. These were all neatly and well dressed, and con- ducted themselves in the most decorous manner possible. I know not whether there was any strong drink sold or permitted on board, but none was used ; the only luxuries that seemed to be available being apples and pears, and other green fruits, carried about by women. The fare for first class passengers was sixpence, for second class fourpence. Some of the passengers landed at two intermediate villages on the south side of the river or rather har- bour, but the majority proceeded to Queenstown, where the voyage of our steamer terminated. Other steamers, however, after landing some pas- sengers, proceeded onwards along the splendid har- bour out to the open sea, whence, after taking a round for an hour or more, they returned, and calling for their passengers at the different landing- places, retraced their course to Cork. It is hardly possible to imagine a more delightful means of recreation, or one more wholesome or more rational, for the inmates of a crowded city, than this hebdomadal excursion on the Sunday 66 CORK. of Dublin. The Cathedral is a poor structure, and of the same stamp are nearly all the other churches and chapels; and I think there are few towns of the same extent so destitute of spires and towers and other indications of ecclesiastical distinction as Cork. The only fine buildings in the town are the County and City Court-house, and the new Queen’s College, the former an elegant Grecian structure, the latter a handsome quadrangular pile of solid stone in the Tudor Gothic style. Like all large towns, and more especially the large towns of Ireland, Cork contains extensive masses of hidden streets of the most squalid de- scription, inhabited by a ragged and seemingly wretched population. In passing through such streets, however, it is but just to the mhabitants to state that we saw no riotous or indecorous beha- viour, and were but rarely solicited for charity. In going along the better streets, on Sunday, we ob- served many wretched-looking women, most of them with ragged children on their laps or by their side, squatted in the recesses of the doors of the shut shops, obviously beggars, yet not begging, except with that speaking look of misery more emphatic than words. Even the children were as silent as their mothers. Some of this may have been for dramatic effect; but it was impossible to mistake the signs of destitution and distress pre- sented by their emaciated and pinched features, their sickly paleness, and hollow eye. The population of QUEENSTOWN. 69 woods and intermingled with green parklike fields and shining villas; here and there white villages on level patches of shore; and the whole animated and as it were humanised by the peopled steamers sweeping up and down, the boats and yachts sailing or pulling about, and a ship or two at anchor (decked out in their national flags) in every bay that opened out upon us as we pursued our course. Queenstown itself, as seen from the water, pre- sents a most charming aspect, being built on the face of a high hill sloping down to the shore, and thus presenting the whole of its shining profile at once, house above house, street above street; not without the agreeable break of church and chapel, here and there shooting up their tower or spire, or humbler belfry, above the general outline. When, however, we come to closer quarters with it, it does not quite fulfil the promise of its distant attractions, though it contains some good houses in the streets, and some charming enclosed villas in its upper regions. From these, and indeed from almost every portion of the slope, the view of the subjacent harbour and bay, and of the open sea through the gap that unites it with the enclosed waters, is most beautiful and even magnificent. Queenstown is situated on an island called Great Island; but it is only at some distance from the harbour that you can detect its insular character. It has wonderfully in- creased in population of late years; its numbers in 1841 being only 5142, while in 1851 they were 11,428. 68 SUNDAY EXCURSIONS. afternoon, after a week of labour and confinement in their airless courts and shops. And happy are the Corkites that they can command so sweet and pure a luxury,—amid scenes which are in them- selves an exquisite luxury,—for so small a sum as half a day’s wages of a working-man. I could not help wishing that our London had been so situated that her children of labour also might have been able to add the delight of an open sea to their river trips; but they are happy beyond many in having, what they have in their glorious river, not only an escape from the stagnant and impure air of their habitual abodes, but, in addition, the bracing coolness of a breeze in perpetual change, to their lungs and faces. T have no doubt that the Sunday excursions up and down the river constitute a very important element in the improved health and diminished mortality of Lon- don, that has taken place during the last twenty years. It would be difficult to over-praise the beauty of the river from Cork to Queenstown, or of the mag- nificent harbour or inland bay in which it termi- nates, more especially when these are seen as we saw them, under the influence of a bright sun and a brilliant sky. Indeed, every element of beauty that can mingle im such a scene, seemed to be here comprised: we had a stream ever varying in its course and outline, of ample breadth, yet not too broad to prevent distinct recognition of the objects on its banks; water of a colour and purity lke the sea; lofty barriers on either side covered with rich TABLE D HOTE. 71 Queenstown is a most desirable place of residence, more especially for invalids, both in summer and winter. Its maritime position must render it mild, as to temperature, in both the hot and cold seasons ; while, being perfectly sheltered from the north and north-west winds, and catching the whole of the winter sun on its sloping breast, its excellence as a winter residence for invalids can hardly be sur- passed. Beside the water communication with Cork there is a beautiful tract of road along the northern bank of the river, and, on the southern, a railway to Passage, three miles above Queenstown. We re- turned by the steamer,—the river or harbour, or whatever it is properly called, appearing even finer than when we came down it, owing to the risen tide (which now covered every shoal and shallow) making the expanse of water considerably greater. We reached our hotel (the Imperial) in time for the table d’héte dinner, which we found daily set out at half-past five. This table d’héte was attended by nearly thirty persons, ladies as well as gentle- men, and was admirably conducted. Everything was good, and there was plenty of everything,—and all at the moderate charge of three shillings. All, or nearly all, the guests were strangers in Cork, and most of them travellers like ourselves; the staple of the conversation consisting of inquiries and responses as to routes and places, and descriptions of what had been visited and should be visited. The 70 COVE HARBOUR. The harbour is many miles in diameter, com- pletely land-locked, ‘surrounded everywhere by high land of varied outline, and studded with numerous islands rising up abruptly and high above the water. On some of these, as, for instance, Hawlbowline and Spike Island, there are great public works, which have an imposing appearance at a distance. On the first-enamed island there is a naval arsenal, with its range of store-houses; and on the last a lofty and strong-looking battery, with barracks adjoining. The natural beauty of the harbour is, no doubt, not a little enhanced to the ‘beholder by the considera- tion of utility which its mere aspect would suggest, even if this was not more clearly indicated by the numerous ships at anchor. I believe it is regarded as one of the finest natural harbours in the world, both as to size and security. It contained, at the time of our visit, only one man-of-war, a line-of- battle ship bearing an admiral’s flag; but there were numerous ships of commerce at anchor in various parts of it. It is much resorted to by wind- bound merchantmen, and also as a rendezvous for ships from abroad to wait for orders. There is a fine sea-wall, extending from the small piers of the town to a considerable distance along the: water’s edge towards Cork, constituting at once a splendid quay and a promenade,—or rather two promenades, one above the other,—of unequalled. beauty. On the whole, it must strike every stranger that QUEEN’S COLLEGES. 73 The general government of the college was vested in the Council, consisting of the president, the vice- president, and the four deans of the three faculties of arts, medicine, and law; the faculty of arts being subdivided into the literary division and the scien- tific division, each with its dean. Provision was made for the nomination and support of numerous professors in all the departments; and scholarships, on a very extensive and most liberal scale, were instituted for the junior and senior students of every faculty: the junior scholarships being thirty of 24/.; eleven of 20/,; and four of 15/. The senior scholar- ships, ten in number, each of the value of 40/. These colleges were planned and built under the direction of the Irish Board of Works, and were all completed by the year 1849, in a style of solidity, beauty, and interior arrangement, that does infinite credit to all concerned. They are now as great ornaments to their respective neighbourhoods as they are surely destined to become blessings to the country at large. Notwithstanding the great pains taken by the enlightened government which founded the Queen’s Colleges, to meet every difficulty in regard to religious differences among the people of Ireland, it is well known that the Catholic clergy have taken up a very hostile position against them, and have, in so doing, greatly retarded their progress hitherto. It cannot be doubted, however, that an opposition founded on such unjustifiable and untenable grounds, 72 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. scene and whole style of the proceedings reminded us forcibly of one of the salles a manger on the continent. If Cork is defective in the style of its public buildings, it is certainly remarkable for the great number and variety of its public institutions, whether religious, charitable, educational, literary, or scientific. It would take pages to give the mere list of their names and objects; and this, as I made no personal examination of them, I shall not attempt to do. They will be found, in full detail, in the local histories and in the Guides to the city of Cork. I must, however, say a few words respecting one of the institutions of Cork; as, from its recent establishment, it is probably but little known, and as, from its great importance, it deserves to be much known: I refer to the new QueEn’s Coniees, situated a little way out of the town. By an act of Parliament passed in 1845, three new Colleges, called QurEN’s CoLLEGEs, were insti- tuted in Treland, at Belfast,’ Cork, and Galway respectively, “for students in Arts, Law, Physic, and other useful learning.” The president, vice- president, and professors of each college, were constituted a body corporate, with power to hold land of the annual value of 5000/.,.and with all the privileges of other chartered corporations. By the original act the number of professors in each college was limited to twelve; but this number was subse- quently enlarged, yet was not to exceed thirty. SS} Or QUEEN’S COLLEGE. Queen's College, Cork. lated students, according to their religious denomi- nations: Session Session j Session 1849-50. 1850-51. 1851-52. Church of England. . .. . 26 42 37 Roman’ Catholics= 9-7 eaee 38 65 54 Presbyterian’ << ee ee ees 1 2 2 ‘Wesleyan’ (<<) Sieemeete mma nies 4 8 6 Other Communions ... . 1 1 5 Totalteciis vase 70 118 104 No inquiry is made as to the religion of non- matriculated students, they not being subject to the supervision of the Deans of Residences. 74: RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS. so discreditable to the Catholic hierarchy of Ireland, and so utterly at variance with the enlightened spirit of the times, must gradually lessen and finally vanish. No religious or ecclesiastical authority, however potent or however strenuously exerted, can permanently maintain, in this epoch, what reason and the common sense of men in general declare to be wrong; more especially if that which is believed to be wrong is also felt to be injurious to men’s most personal and dearest interests. Queen’s College, Cork, was built from the designs and under the supervision of Sir Thomas Deane, architect, and was opened for public instruction in October, 1849. It has ever since been discharging its important functions in the completest manner, through the instrumentality of a body of professors who, from their knowledge and activity and zeal, would do credit to any institution, however ancient or celebrated: and all this I may say, with equal truth, of the other two colleges. The following is a return of the number of stu- dents who have been entered on its books since it first opened : Session Session Session | 1849-50. 1850-51. 1851-52. Matriculated Students. . . . 70 118 104 Non-matriculated Students . . 45 38 20 Motaliniep sy he. be 115 156 124 The following is the distribution of the matricu- CORK TO BANDON. fiw based purely on religious scruples, not on any objec- tion to the secular knowledge taught there. And as those scruples do not seem necessarily to involve auy fundamental principle of religion, it is to be hoped that they will not be allowed to usurp an authoritative imfiuence to which they are really not entitled. We left Cork on the morning of the 16th, on our intended tour through the south and west of Ireland, purposing to keep as near the coast as the ordinary roads would permit, or only to leave it when diverted by the attraction of places or scenery still more engaging. As we understood that there was nothing very interesting between Cork and Bandon, we took advantage of the railway to that town, and on the same authority proceeded onwards with the coach, without making any attempt to see the place. The country through which we passed in the rail- way seemed well cultivated and fertile, and as we approached Bandon we traversed a valley of so much beauty, watered, I believe, by the river Bandon, as made us doubt whether we were acting under a wise authority in traversing it so rapidly. As the day was rainy, however, we adhered the more readily to our original plan, and passed onwards. Our inten- tion was to reach Bantry that day, but we were sub- sequently induced to alter our course to Skibbereen. The road runs, on the whole, through a fine country, becoming more picturesque and wilder as we advance. Abont sixteen miles from Bandon it 76 RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS. In considering the numbers that have hitherto attended this College, its very recent establishment must not be overlooked. This of itself, to say nothing of other difficulties, seems sufficient to ac- count for the comparatively small number of pupils. It is no easy matter to divert the courses of any of the old currents of human activity; and three years constitute a very small fraction in the life of a National Institution. One item in the preceding return is especially gratifying, and fraught with rich hope for the future ; I mean the greatly predominant number of students professing the Catholic religion. To fill up even this number, moderate as it is, there must have been many heads of Roman Catholic families, whose con- sciences told them that their duty to their children was an obligation more sacred and more potent than obedience to the mere arbitrary will of any man. We need no further proof than this, that the oppo- sition to these colleges, on religious grounds, must and will be abandoned. It is to be hoped, that the Roman Catholic Prelates will, by a spontaneous ca- pitulation, prefer the credit of a gracious concession to the derogation of an assured defeat. By so doing they will still further disabuse the public mind of the opinion so generally entertained, that the Catholic religion is, of necessity, hostile to the en- lightenment of the people. Persons cognisant of the principles of Catholicism know that the opposi- tion of the Irish prelacy to the Queen’s colleges is Pe a EFFECTS OF THE FAMINE. 79 It will be remembered that this town and its neighbourhood suffered in an extraordinary degree in the year of the famine, and it was the desire to see whether it still bore marks of this terrible visitation, or how far it had recovered from it, that chiefly influenced us in visiting it. It was frightful to hear, on the spot, even now, the horrid details of that fearful calamity. Beside the vast number of persons that died in the poorhouses of fever and other diseases generated by insufficient food—and they died so rapidly and in such numbers that the bodies could not be buried in the ordinary way, but were thrown in mass into pits—there were hnn- dreds who never reached the poorhouses, but were found dead in their own cabins and in the roads and fields. A police sergeant at Drimoleague told me that it was no unusual thing, at that time, for his men to meet with such instances, day after day, while on their rounds. In many places, persons were buried in their own potato-gardens, owing to the want of hands to carry the bodies to the churchyard. The same intelligent man assured me that the population of the parish of Drimoleague had sunk from nearly 6000 to about 3000 in the course of two years, and this chiefly from death and not emigra- tion; but he said, also, that a vast number of the survivors had since emigrated. In turning to the positive figures of the census, I find this statement pretty well borne out. Thus the population of the 78 SKIBBEREEN. passes through the town of Dunmanway, containing about 3000 inhabitants." Here the country be- comes highly picturesque and bold, and a little further on, near the village of Drimoleague, it began to assume that wild, stony, and moorland aspect, which it preserved almost uninterruptedly until we reached Killarney. At the village of Drimoleague we left the main road to Bantry and turned south- wards to Skibbereen; the change of direction bringing no improvement in the aspect of the country immediately around us, but supplying some relief to the eye in the ridge of lofty mountains that here bounded our prospect on the south and east. Skibbereen is a mean and rather dirty town, with few good houses and no public buildings of conse- quence; it has, however, a large chapel, a good- looking church, and an excellent National School. Its population in 1841 was 4715; but this has been greatly reduced since by the famine and pestilence to which this unhappy town has been subjected, as well as by emigration. By the census of 1851 the population (exclusive of persons in the workhouse) was only 3833, being a loss of 682 since the previous census. I was informed that the proportion of Catholics to Protestants in the town is about four to one. ' The population by the census of 1851 was 2212, (or, including persons in the workhouse and bridewell, 3031;) the population of 1841 was 3086, showing a diminution of 874. MUTUAL ASSISTANCE. 81 These poor wretches, of course, turned towards me, obviously a stranger; and it was very pleasant, and, I almost think, characteristic of this cordial people, to see the readiness, I may indeed say the eagerness, with which the poor stall-keepers urged the claims of their yet poorer neighbours, with such recommendations as ‘‘ This is a poor widow, your Honour,’ ‘This is an ould sickly creature, your Honour,” “The poor woman is a cripple,” “Sure the poor girl has neither father nor mother,” &c. Even the beggars themselves seemed to have for- gone all professional rivalry, and strove to help one another in the same manner. A poor woman to whom I had given a penny in passing along the street, soon came up to me holding a poor idiot girl by the hand, and begged something of my Honour for her. It was also pleasant to see how, amid all these humble and, as we should think, very miserable and disheartening dealings, the cordial and mirthful spirit of the nation seemed still to triumph among these honest market-women. In the intervals of their dealings, the laugh and joke went round among themselves, and they talked and jested with the stranger with the most unaffected good humour and seeming content ; and as much at their ease as if the acquaintance of the moment had been one of old standing, and they had no cares to make them grave. I could not help thinking, as I went away, how different would have been my reception in an 6 80 INDICATIONS OF POVERTY. parish in 1841 was 5501, while in 1851 it was only 3162, showing a loss of 2839 in the ten years. The town of Skibbereen still seemed poverty- stricken, and every one complained of its low estate, its want of trade, and want of employment for labour. The country around is in the same predi- cament. A few miles from Skibbereen we passed near a small cattle fair, and met with many of the country people returning from it. It was painful to see the humble scale on which business appeared to be conducted. A single small sheep, or pig tied by the hind leg with a straw rope, and followed by the farmer or his wife; a single lean cow or heifer, driven apparently by three or four men; seemed to be the staple of the stock. In the small market-place of Skibbereen the same indications of the poverty of the people were painfully indicated by the humble dealings going on. ‘The articles for sale were chiefly potatoes, turnips and carrots, salted fish, and butter milk, with such trifling articles as country people need, as coarse crockery, nails, &c. The buyers were all of the humblest class, and a halfpenny, or even a farthing, was not seldom the whole outlay of the purchaser. Nor was this the lowest depth. These humble buyers and sellers were attended—I had almost said surrounded—by a motley group in rags, who had not even farthings to give, and who were manifestly cal- culating on receiving from kind hands some portion of their humble receipts or of their unsold substance. COTTAGES OF THE POOR. 83 open door of a small carrier who seemed their friend, and where they spontaneously fell into a grouping so picturesque, that I could not help wishing, at the time, that they might have been seen by their countryman O’Neil, or some other of our painters who delight in filling their canvass with masses of human beings arranged in harmonious order. Crowding into as small a space as possible, sitting, crouching, standing, the boys half-naked in their ragged caps, the girls with their profuse bushy hair and sparkling eyes, every face bent earnestly in one direction, —there they remained, a heaped-up, motley-coloured mass, until the last coach had taken its departure. I paid visits to a good many of the cottages of the labouring people in the suburbs of Skibbereen. They were, for the most part, very destitute of furniture ; even those best supplied would be con- sidered in England as almost empty. For these cottages they paid, some 4d. a week, some 20s. by the year. In one of these I found an old soldier’s widow, 78 years of age, a merry old dame, who had tried various trades in her time, and among the rest that of an applewoman in London. This, she said, after a four months’ trial, proved a failure, and she abandoned it. As usual, I found all these people cheerful and even merry, but still lamenting the poverty of the country, the want of work, and the scantiness of wages. At present, during the harvest season, they get something more; but the ordinary 82 BEGGARS. English market-place, stamped with such poverty as this; and how unlike would have been the prevailing tone of the grave and thoughtful matrons presiding over our tubs and baskets. The beggars, not only in Skibbereen but in all the neighbouring district, were certainly more numerous than we had yet seen, though it was observable that the solicitations were usually but slight, until excited by the lure of something given. ‘Then, indeed, they were apt to become both fast and furious, as if the sight and touch of the material equivalent of potatoes and stirabout, had dissi- pated in a moment every feeling of modesty and reserve. At the village of Drimoleague the crowd of these solicitors of halfpence and pence, around the coaches while changing horses, was unusually large, and it was obviously an ordinary part of the duty of the police, here and elsewhere, to prevent the passengers from being unnecessarily interfered with by them. These good-natured men, however, are by no means strict in their supervision, and rarely interfere unless the case becomes one of evident annoyance. The present case was thought to be so; and the poor creatures, at the word of authority, not only ceased soliciting while the coaches were still there, but even re- frained from following them when they set off, as is the uniform practice. They, however, retired no further from the field than to take up a position on the other side of the small street, in and around the SKIBBEREEN WORKHOUSE. 85 part, being constantly told of large sums (large for them) being transmitted by quite young girls, The union workhouse at Skibbereen is of con- siderable extent, but not on so fine a scale of construction or so good a plan as many others subsequently visited. We found it very clean and in good order, and much work going on in the shape of spinning and weaving, shoemaking, hat-making, tailoring, &c. All the clothes used in the house are manufactured by the paupers; and hence the cost of clothing amounts only to one halfpenny per head per week. The dietary (the first we examined) appeared to us marvellously scanty, there being only two meals for the adults in the twenty-four hours, and these meals consisting exclusively of farinaceous food,—that is, of stirabout, bread, and a sort of gruel soup made of oatmeal and vegetables. We were told that the food was supplied by contract, and at the extremely low rate of nine pence farthing a head per week! I thought the inmates bore marks of this scanty sustenance in their looks; and a good many of the children were suffering from inflammation of the eyes. This disease has been for some years extremely prevalent in the union workhouses of Ireland; but there is no positive evidence that it has been induced or even aggravated by the system of diet in use in them. It seems, however, clear enough that privations of every kind, previously to reception in the workhouse, have often laid the foundation of this sad malady. 84 CAUSE OF IRISH POVERTY. daily wages were said to be only 3d. or 4d. for women and 6d. for men, without food. I had a good deal of talk with some of the shop- keepers also. They seemed all of the same mind as most of the people I had previously talked with, that the want of capital is the great cause of the poverty and distress in Ireland. The farmer, they say, has no capital to expend on his farm, and con- sequently he and the labourer suffer,—he in defective produce, they in loss of labour. This primary and fundamental evil, it is believed, would be greatly mitigated, if not removed, if the pro- prietors could be freed from their difficulties and would reside on their estates; and it is hoped that the act for the sale of encumbered property may bring about this result, at least partially. The same want of capital, they said, prevented the establishment of manufactories, and deprived the labouring class of the vast source of labour thence derived in other countries. And certainly this want of factories must strike with surprise every one travelling in Ireland, seeing and hearing, as he does, in every valley, a superabundance of unemployed water-power. Here as elsewhere, I find the emigration has been immense, and still continues; and there is the same unanimity in the statements respecting the great amount of money sent home by the emigrants to their relations: in this operation I find, as usual, the tender heart of the women playing a conspicuous ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL. 87 There is a very fine National Schoolhouse at Skibbereen, containing four departments, viz., male and female preparatory schools, and male and female schools for more advanced children. At the time of my visit there were in the preparatory schools from 70 to 80 boys and about 90 girls, and in the upper school from 50 to 60 of each sex. There were scarcely any Protestant children in these schools. I see, by the official returns to the National Board, that the total number of children on the books, during the half year ending 30th September, 1850, was as follows :—in the prepara- tory schools, 420; in the more advanced, 220. In the same returns for 1851, the numbers are given as follows: preparatory school—boys, 140; upper school—boys, 79; girls, 135. Skibbereen contains an English church, a metho- dist meeting-house, and a Roman Catholic chapel. This last is a large but unadorned building, and is regarded as a sort of cathedral, the bishop having his residence here. This prelate seems very popu- lar among the people. Some good women whom I spoke to on their way to mass said “he is a saint on earth, and Skibbereen is blest in him.” The bishop’s name is Kane. The chapel is very plain, but calculated to contain a vast number of persons, as there are scarcely any seats in it. It is, nevertheless, said to be too small for the congregation, especially during the ministrations of the bishop. 86 DIETARY TABLE. I may take this opportunity to state that in my subsequent notices of the union workhouses, as in the present, 1 shall restrict myself chiefly to sta- tistical matter, or, at all events, to matters of fact. Hereafter I may have occasion to consider them under a more general point of view. The following is a copy of the dietary of the healthy classes : Dietary TABLE OF THE SKIBBEREEN WORKHOUSE. Breakfast. Dinner. Classes. Mes Supper. Indian Brown } Oat- meal.l | Milk. | bread. | meal.2 1. Ablebodied Men .| 9 oz. | 3 pint| 14 oz.} 1! oz. = 2. Ablebodied Women| 8 oz. | § pint | 12 0z.| 14 oz. a 3. Aged and Infirm .} 7 oz. | } pint| 10 0z.| 123 oz. as 4, From 15 to 9 years| 6 oz. | 3 pint] 8 oz.| 14 oz. |4 oz. brown bread 5. From9 tod ,, | 50z.|4pint| 60z./1 oz.|40Z. ditto W. bread 4 oz. white bread 6. From 5to2 ,, 4o0z. | } pint| 40z.|1 oz. 7. Infants . . . .| 43 1b. of white bread and 1 pt. of new milk daily. There were on the books at the period of my visit 1056 persons, including children; and the number of Protestants among them was only five. The children in the school were under the direction of the National Board. I forgot to take a note of their actual number, but I see by the last two pub- lished Reports, that in September, 1850, the numbers on the school books were as follows: boys, 280; girls, 341; total, 621: and in 1851, boys, 241 (no girls noted). 1 Made into stirabout with water. ? In soup, made in the proportion of 8 ounces to a gallon of water, seasoned with salt, pepper, turnips, and leeks. FAILURE OF THE POTATO. 89 on the point, that the priests in his part of the country paid even more attention to their flocks than the English clergy, though he did not deny that these last were zealous also. Through the whole of this district, and, indeed, I may say through every district in the south of Ireland, we found the same general failure of the potato, to the average of, at least, one third of the crop. All the fields, with very triflmg exceptions, were blighted, and the stems of the plants were often scarcely visible amid the crop of luxuriant weeds which seemed to have taken their place. When pointing out this luxuriance of weeds, as at once a proof of bad husbandry and a probable pro- moter of the disease in the potato, we were generally answered by the averment that the weeds were the consequence of the disease, not its cause; first, because the decay of the useful plants left more plentiful nourishment to the useless ones; and, secondly, because the first indication of the disease put an end to the process of weeding the fields, as being now of no avail. I leave the truth and validity of the alleged facts to the decision of better judges, with the remark, that I subsequently received from many other quarters, equally trust- worthy, opinions completely at variance with those just named. Whether the mode of culture and supervision had anything to do with the pre- vention of the disease in the potato, it assuredly must have an influence over the healthy root. In 88 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. I copied the following inscription to the memory of a young priest, from a tablet on the wall of this chapel. It presents so excellent a specimen of the old hedge-schoolmaster style, that I here insert it; but I suppress, for obvious reasons, the name of the good man whose simple history it so grand- iloquently records :—“This tribute of a people’s love to a patriot’s worth, commemorates a virtue pure as the vesture of holiness it adorned, and ardent as the youthful heart it once animated. More eloquent than the record of a protracted life, it preserves in the revered and honoured name of R. S. a memorial sacred to the affections of his flock, and brightened by the glory of a better world. Born,” &c. I may here remark that all I have yet heard of the Roman Catholic priests in the districts through which I have passed, is extremely creditable to their character and conduct. They seem to be most zealous in the discharge of their sacred duties and most blameless in their lives. I was told by a man, who should be an unbiassed witness, as he was both a stranger and a Protestant, (an intelligent serjeant of police,) that during the fourteen years he had resided in the district, he never heard of any priests bemg accused of any personal immorality, and added that they were, to his own knowledge, a body of truly excellent men. Another Protestant, who declared himself very hostile to the Catholic religion, admitted in my presence, when questioned ORIGIN OF THE NAME. 9] first, nothing remains for the whisky-shop. One of my informants in this matter, a respectable young man, a postboy, told me that he himself had been a teetotaller for two years, but getting into bad com- pany one night, he broke his pledge, and had never since renewed it. He added that he never was so well as during the two years he totally abstained from strong drink, and this fact made him still almost a teetotaller. Among the faithful few who still kept the pledge in Skibbereen, another of my informants named one man, a nailer, who had once been a great drunkard, but who had heen so thoroughly reformed that he had grown prosperous in his trade, and was “ almost like a gentleman.” Here let me inform my temperance friends in England, that I am now able to settle that mooted point among them—the origin of the now-generally acknowledged name of their profession, TrEToTaLisM, and of their own favorite title—TrrtroratLers. The designation has manifestly originated from a mode of expression which I find to be common among the lower class in this country. This consists in the reduplication of the sound of the first syllable, or rather of the first letter in the word fotally, as a means of intensifying the meaning usually conveyed by it; just as we repeat whole words for the same purpose—as when we say “very very bad,” ‘sad sad,” “cruel cruel man,” Often when conversing with the common people have I heard them, when wishing to be emphatic—as it is their nature to 90 TEETOTALISM. England, under such management as we found general in Ireland, we should not expect more than half the crops of potatoes which we actually have. From whatever cause arising, the loss of the potato has already made great changes both in agriculture and in the food of the people. The farmers now grow other green crops in place of the potato, such as turnips and carrots, and not merely for feeding their stock. Turnips dressed with Indian meal make a very wholesome and not unpalatable meal, which is well liked by the peasantry. In towns the use of flour and meal, particularly Indian meal, has increased greatly, and bread, as an article of diet, has become far more general. I was told that the number of bakers in Skibbereen has more than doubled since the famine. I was sorry to learn that in Skibbereen the total- abstinence system of Father Matthew had fallen sadly into decay. From a muster of many hundreds at one time, the professed teetotallers had sunk down, it was supposed, to two or three! Yet, even now, there was very little intemperance in drink among. the common people, partly, it was admitted, from the habits induced by the temperance system while in force, and partly from the general want of the means to purchase the indulgence. A poor man earning only sixpence a day, and sometimes nothing, has more imperious wants to satisfy than even the desire for strong drink; and these being satisfied aS re TO BANTRY. 93° miles, that we were, after all, about to return into the ordinary coach road to Bantry. This was a disappointment; but we had gone too far, before the discovery was made, to retrace our steps. In setting out from Skibbereen I could not help being struck with the wonderful effect that the state of the weather has in modifying the character of a landscape, and, still more, in modifying our appre- ciation of it. Yesterday was wet and gloomy, and the country all around seemed to present nothing but a scene of barren wildness, with scarcely a trace of beauty. When viewed now, however, under a cloudless sky, and lighted up by the morning sun, it was manifest that the natural beauties of the landscape were far from incon- siderable—with its yellow corn fields sprinkled in patches among the dark bogs and projecting rocks ; or creeping up adjoining slopes, dotted with white houses and patches of trees ; and, above all, with its fine sweep of blue hills beyond. When viewed, however, close at hand, and in detail, as when passing through it on our way to Bantry, the utmost commendation that could be bestowed on the country is, that its very wildness and rocky barrenness render it picturesque when contrasted with the tamer beauties of a rich and highly-cultivated region. In some places, indeed, especially when we arrived within a few miles of Bantry, where the road, after winding along an upland valley, at last attained to near the summit 92 FROM SKIBBEREEN be—use the word “t-totally” (“Teetotally”) for the simple trisyllable, and with manifest good effect too. “He was t-totally ruined, sir.” “It is now t-totally gone.” “The poor ould country is destroyed t-totally.’” No doubt, at some public meeting of the friends of temperance, and probably when discussing the relative merits of the tem- perate use of strong drinks with complete absti- nence from them, some zealous Irishman advocated “t-total abstinence” as the only means of success, and enforced his arguments so energetically, that his emphatic “T” was never forgotten, and came at last to be permanently incorporated with the adjective that expressed the quality of the sect, and with the new substantives derived from the same root, ( T-Totaller,” “'T-Totalism,”) which the ne- cessities of language obliged them to form. And, truly, though a vulgar word, and of vulgar origin, this same substantive Trrrorarism is destined to eternal consecration in our language, as embodying the idea of one of the greatest boons ever conferred by a man upon his fellow creatures. One of the reasons for deviating from the main road to visit Skibbereen was, that we might take the coast line of road from thence to Bantry, said to present a much finer tract of scenery than the more direct and more inland route. However, from some misunderstanding of our meaning by our landlord, and from our own ignorance of the route, we discovered, after we had left Skibbereen some A COUNTRY SCHOOLMASTER. 95 dilapidated, and the master and his wife occupying - one end of it. Of scholars I was told there were, in all, only six or eight; and there were none in attendance at the time of my visit. The master received a salary of 20/. per annum. In the village of Killenleagh, in the parish of Caharagh, (well named, as this word in Irish signifies rock,) we found, as usual, a church and chapel, a Protestant and National School. I did not visit the Protestant school, as it was some distance off, but I was told that it had only, like that in the last parish, eight or ten scholars. The National School was attended both by boys and girls, who all assembled in the same room, and were taught by the same master. There were 124 on the roll, and the numbers in actual attendance were 58 boys and 42 girls; among whom there was only one Protestant, a boy of fourteen. In this school two hours on Saturday (all the work-hours on that day) are set apart for religious instruction—that is, for catechising ; and the Protestant boy stays at home while this is going on. The boys bring their catechisms with them at the time, it being one of the rules of the National Schools, that no religious books of any kind are permitted to remain in them. The master has been no less than eighteen years here. He seems an intelligent man, mild and gentle, but not over polished. His salary, when he first came here, was only 8/., and now it is only 171. per annum. Out of this sum he finds himself a 94 A COUNTRY HAMLET. of the lofty hills that overlogk the bay of that name, the prospect became magnificent, but still preserving the character of picturesque wildness rather than of beauty. When, however, having crossed the hills, we came at length in view of the bay itself, studded with islands, and stretching out its river-like expanse to the horizon, between its lofty shores and jutting headlands, we felt that the element of beauty was combined, in no small proportion, with both the grand and the picturesque. In our journey through this wild and stony but well-peopled district, we took occasion to pay our usual visits to some of the cottages and villages near our route, though, in doing so, we met with no adventures, and with but little that was uncommon. The humble principle, formerly stated, on which my book is composed, leads me, and without any apology, to reproduce, in almost their original words, some of “the short and simple annals of the poor,” which I there recorded in my note-book. In a little hamlet consisting only of a few houses, _ we found a small but neat English church and with a very respectable tower; but the gravel path leading up to it was quite grass-grown, indicating forcibly the scantiness of its congregation. The parish was, indeed, mainly a Catholic one, and had a large chapel at another hamlet. There was a Protestant school adjoining the church, equally indicative of the state of Protestantism in the parish, being a mere cottage, very small, and rather FARMHOUSES, 97 were all destroyed, but the only defect in the potatoes themselves, was their extremely small size: none were rotten. In the priest’s field, on the other hand, only one fifth of the crop was sound, the remainder being unfit for use. In this latter case, the exact proportion was ascertained by separating the good from the bad on the spot, and placing them respectively in baskets: the con- tents of four out of every five baskets were unfit for use. ; I found it to be a very general opinion in several parts of the country, that by planting the potatoes very early in the season, they came to maturity before the period of blight arrived, and so escaped. This opinion is, however, contested by many, and among others by the schoolmaster of Kullean- leagh, who had seen it confuted by many positive examples. I visited two small farmhouses in this same parish of the Stones, one in a hamlet near the main road, and one in a more solitary situation some distance from it. Both were in a most slovenly and filthy condition, the space around the houses covered with dung and mire up to the door, ‘and the interior dirty and desolate in the highest degree. In one of these I found, almost for the first time, some pigs; and at the door of the other, several cows brought home to be milked. The women and children seemed all engaged in the domestic services; and I learnt, on inquiry, that . 7 96 TURF-HARVEST. house and living, paying for his wretched cottage an annual rent of 25s. The rule of the school is, that the children of farmers should pay one penny, and the children of labourers one halfpenny, per week. Of late years this humble levy is very badly paid. Before the year of the famine, he used to receive from 12/. to 147. from this source, but since that time the sum has dwindled down to about 4/. The children seemed strong and healthy, and the teaching good. I find, on referring to the last two Reports of the Commissioners, that the number of children on the roll of this school, in September 1850, was 70 boys and 36 girls; in September 1851, 60 boys and 36 girls. I called on the priest, but found him out at the bog, supervising the carting of his winter stock of turf. His kitchen was full of men seated round a large table at breakfast. These were the carters and others employed in the Father’s turf-harvest. The farmers sent their carts, and those who had not carts sent milk and other good things to treat the drivers with. The priest’s house consists of a small parlour at one end with a bedroom over, the other half being occupied by the ample kitchen in which the feast was now going on. We found in this village a good illustration of the amount of destruction sustained by the potato crop, and also of the seeming capriciousness of the cause of the destruction, whatever it may be. In the schoolmaster’s garden, the stalks of the potatoes CHAPTER IV. BANTRY—— GLENGARIFF——-KENMARE. Bantry is a small, neat-looking town, finely situated at the upper end of the beautiful bay, or rather firth or arm of the sea, of the same name. This inlet is full twenty miles long, and varies from two or three to six or eight miles in breadth. It is navigable, even to large ships, through nearly its whole extent, and almost rivals Queenstown harbour in size, safety, and beauty. It runs nearly north- east and south-west, and forms only one of the many splendid sea-rivers that cleave this portion of the Irish coast into a series of narrow peninsulas. It is separated from Dunmanus Bay on the south- east and from Kenmare Bay or river on the north- east, by two long strips of land, the one being seven and a half miles in mean breadth, and the other two and a half. Dunmanus Bay is about three miles wide at its mouth, and eleven or twelve miles long ; Kenmare River, as it is commonly called, is full eighteen miles long, and from one to five miles broad. Well might old Gerard Boate say of Ireland: “The havens of Ireland are so many in number, and for the most part so fair and large, that, in this 98 THE POLICE. the latter could not be spared to go to school on this account. Not far from these houses we stopped at a police- station on the high road. It was a house of con- siderable size, and was throughout extremely neat and clean, forming a striking contrast with the private domiciles around it. These stations are commonly called barracks; and though they usually contain only from five to fifteen men, they are conducted on the principle of -soldiers’ barrack- rooms. I shall hereafter have occasion to notice more particularly the admirable body of men by whom these barrack-houses are tenanted. I will only here observe that, ever since our landing at Kingstown, we had been everywhere struck with their fine figures, mild manners, great courtesy, and singular intelligence. They were evidently the masters of the people; but they seemed to rule them more by love than by force or fear. SCHOOLS. 101 about 7/. 10s. The children attend school from ten to four in summer, and from half-past ten to half- past three in winter. No religious instruction is given except on Saturdays, when three hours are devoted to this and to the repetition of the lessons of the week. I found the Protestant schools in Bantry, as might be expected, on a less extensive scale, and they seemed to me somewhat inferior in their arrange- ments. Both ‘the girls and boys were rather younger than those at the National School, and they seemed hardly so tidy. At the time of my visit, there were 82 boys on the books, and 24 in attendance ; and 52 girls, of whom 42 were in attendance. Both these schools are in connection with the Church Education Society, in whose Report for 1851 I find the numbers set down as follows :—Boys: on rolls, 26; average attendance, 20. Girls: on rolls, 55; average attendance, 33. The annual local subscriptions for both amount to 48/. The master and mistress, as in the National School, seemed very competent, and the children well advanced in their studies. The mistress told me that her salary amounted to about 19/. per annum, of which sum 7/. was derived from some missionary fund (she thought in Scotland). As usual, the boys in both these schools were not so well dressed as the girls, but they were by no means ragged or dirty. The girls were not merely decently but even very neatly dressed, their skins 100 BANTRY. particular, hardly any land in the world may be compared with this.”! The town of Bantry contained, in 1841, a popu- lation of 4082, but had fallen in 1851 to 2935; being a loss of 1147 in ten years. It has a good hotel and not a few good houses, with a fine church and large chapel. The great body of the people and nearly all the lower class are Catholics, but a considerable proportion of the middle class are Pro- testants. It was stated to me that probably as many as one third of the shopkeepers are Protestants. There is an excellent National School here, and also a good Protestant School. In the former there were in attendance, at the time of my visit, 112 boys and 120 girls, and among them there was not a single Protestant of either sex. In the official Reports of this school for the half-years ending in Septem- ber, 1850 and 1851, I find the number of children on the books as follows: 1850—boys, 153; girls, 195; 1851—boys, 175; girls, 196.. The master and mistress are both Catholics.. The master’s present salary is 19/. per annum, besides about 12/. derived from the weekly penny. payments. . The mistress’s salary is 13/7. per annum, with about 3. additional from the weekly pence. Both master and mistress receive an addition to their salaries from some fund at the. disposal of the priest, the patron of the school; this addition amounting, in the one case, to about 10/., and, in the other, to 1 Nat. Hist. of Ireland. FEMALE VIRTUE. 103 by this greater moiety. It was, therefore, with some surprise, and not a little satisfaction, that I made the (to me) discovery of the remarkable come- liness of the young women of Ireland. This come- liness, if not general, was certainly frequent; and, in individual specimens, attained the standard of almost faultless beauty—and this not merely in fea- tures, but in form and deportment also. It was no slight pleasure to meet one of those rustic maidens of a morning, tripping joyously along the turf in her bright-coloured shawl, with her small and well- shaped feet and ankles unfettered by shoes or stockings, with her lithe upright carriage, and her profuse glossy and well-arranged locks; and this pleasure was not a little enhanced when a salutation or a question brought out, as it did, at once, her modest smile and her pretty brogue. It is another tribute justly due to the young women of Ireland, to record their singular decorum and modesty of demeanour, and their general propriety of conduct. I do not hesitate, for a moment, in giving to them decidedly the palm, in these particulars, over the rustic damsels of both England and Scotland. Unmarried mothers are, I believe, quite a rarity in Ireland—a thing which, I fear, cannot be said of any other portion of the three kingdoms. In the town of Bantry, as elsewhere, I find that the glories of Father Matthew have shrunk to a little measure, though hardly so much so as in 102 FEMALE BEAUTY. clean, their hair in good order; and among them many children of extraordinary beauty. This last observation is equally applicable to all the schools visited by me in the south of Ireland, as well as to the children seen in the-cottages, and even to the beggars ; the beauty of the female children, in particular, being very striking. They uniformly wear their hair very thick, and in great profusion—black, golden, and flaxen; and when this huge rounded mass is kept within due bounds and in proper trim, as is generally the case in the schools, it gives a romantic and poetical expression to the head and face, which greatly enhances the effect of their bright black eyes and elegant features. I may add that the beauty of the children is by no means evanescent, as it is found abundantly, though not in quite so great a degree, among the grown-up young women throughout the south and west of Ireland. I find that almost all travellers in Ireland have made the same remark ; but as I had not read their books previously to my visit, I was not prepared for either the frequency or style of the beauty that I encountered in my journey. Iam not even sure that my thoughts were not rather turned from the expecta- tion of finding good looks general in Ireland, from my having seen so many indifferent ones among the work- ing people from that country who crowd our large towns; the great beauty of some of the few Irish gentlewomen I have had the pleasure of knowing, being msufficient to counteract the impression left BANTRY TO GLENGARIFE. 105 of the week! No wonder that, in contemplating these and such-like shifts and straits to which the poor are reduced, a poet should exclaim— “Ah! little think the gay, licentious Proud, Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround,” &c. &c. ; or that any prosaic traveller should give vent to the same humiliating and bitter feeling in the analogous but humbler expressions of the proverb—“ Little knows one half the world how the other half lives!” We left Bantry early in the afternoon for Glengariff, distant-about eleven miles. The road leads round all the little arms and windings of the bay, which is scarcely ever out of sight. There is considerable variety of hill and dale, and numerous fresh aspects of the great bay; but there is little positively beautiful or picturesque until the small offshoot bay of Glengariff opens upon you. The country throughout preserves the same character of stony wildness and relative barrenness, which I have noticed in the former part of this day’s journey. It is still, however, a peopled if not a populous country, the source of sustenance being everywhere conspicuous in small white patches of corn and potato land, scattered here and there amid the petrean desert. But on reaching the heights that overlook the bay and valley of Glengariff, and in descending the slope of the circular sweep which these take around the shore, the character of the landscape entirely changes, and you are at once ushered into the midst of scenes which combine 104: COTTAGERS. Skibbereen. In its day of T T glory, it could boast of a band 500 strong; now it numbered hardly 30! Lord Bantry has a beautiful park and_ splendid house adjoining the town. The situation is very fine, the ground rising into a considerable elevation, which gives it a complete command of the bay. Owing to a mistake, we did not visit the interior of the demesne, but we walked round thewall which com- pletely surrounds it, and could see that the grounds were nicely varied in surface, and full of fine. timber. In making this round I visited some of the cottages on the country side of the park. _ They were not so destitute of furniture as some previously visited, and were a trifle cleaner. It being about meal-time, I found several of the men home from their work and at dinner, which consisted, as far as I could see, of nothing whatever but potatoes tumbled on the table in their skins. In a somewhat superior cottage, with a loft over one end, I found the proprietress herself, who had just arrived from the town to look at her property. The cottage, with about two acres of garden-ground, was to be let at arent of 5/. per annum. On the floor of this cottage I found an old woman (allowed at present to live rent-free, in order to take care of it,) engaged in picking out the good potatoes and good bits of bad potatoes, from a spoiled lot which she had just bought in Bantry for 3d., and which, if sound, would have cost 7d.! And this, probably, was to be the whole of her fare for the remainder ee VILLAGE OF GLENGARIFF. 107 waters with their majestic ramparts. I shall not attempt to combine these elements into a picture by a description which must prove a failure; but I think I am not in any degree exaggérating the truth, when I say that the scene that presented itself to me between five and six o’clock the next morning, from my bedroom window in the Eccles hotel, seemed hardly surpassable as a specimen of the beautiful; and, certainly, according to my judgment at the time, had never been exceeded by anything in my past experience. At that part of the head of the bay usually named Glengariff, there are two excellent hotels, a gentleman’s house, a church, chapel, and National School, and one or two cottages, all scattered about, but nothing like a town or even village. The gentleman’s house (Mr. White’s) is beautifully situ- ated amid its rocky and wooded terraces, and commands the finest views of the bay and all the mountain scenery to the south and west; and it is itself an agreeable feature in the landscape, as viewed from other parts of the shore. A little way beyond the lower hotel, on the Ken- mare road, there is a police station, and a quarter of a mile further on there is a village of considerable | extent, which is, I believe, the proper Glengariff. At this village a little incident occurred on the evening of my arrival, which, though trifling and even ludicrous, may deserve notice, as illustrating one of the phases of Irish life in its lowest scale. 106 GLENGARIFF. the most exquisite beauty with not a little of gran- deur and picturesqueness. All that was barren and wild is either hidden from view or is, by distance and change of aspect, subdued and softened into perfect harmony with the prevailing tone of the new picture of which they form a part. The constituent parts of this charming landscape are, in the first place, the bay itself, here cir- cumscribed by its mountain barriers into a perfect lake, stretching out in one direction almost to the horizon, where it is bounded by the serrated ridge of blue mountains that divide it from Dunmanus Bay, and, less remotely, on the right, by the equally lofty range that overlooks Kenmare River ; secondly, the numerous islands that break its glittering ex- panse, one with its martello tower, another with its thicket of trees, another with its summit of bare rock ; thirdly, the circle of hills and mountains that surround all the inner or upper portion of the bay, the nearer hills covered to the top with wood, the higher and more remote mountains black in their coverings of heath and in the walls of bare rocks that cut it asunder, some of them sharpened into peaks, some massy and bluff, the whole suggesting the idea of guardianship to the valley and the water ; lastly, the inner and lower circle of sloping terraces and rugged cliffs immediately bordering the shore at its innermost round, all covered with trees and bushes, risimg bank above bank, and so uniting, as it were, by a broad green garland, the gentle A NEW SCENE AT GLENGARIFF. 109 love of sport, or from all or any of these motives, I cannot tell, but, after one or two ineffectual at- tempts to dismiss his followers, he despatched one of the longest-legged among them back to the village with a silver com for more change. This gave a respite to solicitation for the time, and he walked on, but with no diminution of his cortége, except. that a few stragglers would spread them- selves along the road behind, as if to hail the first appearance of the missionary on his return. So soon as this event took place, and the hand was once more extended with the penny, the clamours and crowding of the candidates around their victim were renewed with tenfold vigour. Some fifteen or sixteen boys and girls, big and little, rushed simultaneously upon him from all sides, clustering around him like a swarm of bees, hustling and jostling one another, and now screaming all at once and in the loudest key, their ordinary subdued tone of supplication being entirely forgotten. It was of no use to try to escape from the meshes he had woven for himself, his long legs and long paces being but ill mated with the nimble and shoeless feet of his pursuers; and so he sent off another messenger, but still proceeded on his way, listening with comical gravity to the special claims that were shouted in his ears on all sides, and half wishing, I dare say, that the messenger should prove: a raven messenger and be seen no more. But here he is again, breathless and shouting, his extended arm 108 PENCE AND BEGUARS. A gentleman from Eccles’s Hotel went out in the evening to take a walk and inspect the scenery beyond the borders of the lake. In passing through the village above mentioned, he happened to give a few pence to some ragged children who were playing m the road. This bounty and the: still visible presence of the giver, seemed to act like magic on the susceptibilities of all the other children in the village, as the stranger found himself instantly sur- rounded by a crowd of boys and girls of all sizes, and in every variety of rag, each soliciting from his Honour, in earnest but subdued tones, “a halfpenny for the honour of God.” Finding that his whole stock of coppers was altogether inadequate, even in its lowest denomination, to spread over the wide circle of outstretched hands by which he was en- vironed, he went into a little huxter’s shop close at hand for a further supply, and began distributing as before. When his stock was again exhausted, he proceeded on his way through the village, feeling, I suppose, that he had, by the number of his dona- tions, at least, if not by their magnitude, sufficiently allayed, for the present, the appetite of his organ of benevolence. He soon found, however, that his walk was not to be a solitary one; as the same crowd, fortified by many new adherents, followed his path with unabated,.or rather with much augmented energy both of step and tongue. Whether from the helplessness of escape without further bribery, or from benevolence, or from. the CURANNEN MOUNTAIN. LE shocking, to see the eagerness, the yearning, the wolfish longing for those miserable pence that gleamed in the eyes and countenances of these wretched children,—a longing too earnest and too intense to spring from aught but the absolute want of the food these pence could buy. That it should ever be said that the whole childhood and infancy of a village, in a civilised and Christian land, could be reduced so low as to exhibit such a scene as that now described, or that it should be in the power of any man to call it forth by a lure so vile, is surely very melancholy and very humiliating. Alas for Ire- land, that she should be the theatre of such a scene! Early in the morning I set off with a guide to ascend the highest hill in the neighbourhood, or mountain, as it is here called, according to the Irish style of designation. It is the highest of the ridge that immediately bounds Glengariff Bay, but one of the lowest of that lofty range that separates the waters of Bantry from Kenmare. After about a mile’s walk through the woods that skirt the roads that lead to its base, we began to ascend the Curannen mountain. It is not very steep, but the ascent is rendered occasionally difficult by the inter- vention here and there of bare walls of rock, and is always disagreeable from the swampy nature of the soil which covers its slopes. From its summit a splendid view is obtained of the bays of Bantry and Glengariff, and of the magnificent ranges of Caha and Slievmisk on the south-west, culmi- 110 TOM DONOGHUE. striving to reach the central figure through the dense mass of living rags that surrounded him. And so the scramble and the hubbub are renewed in all their wildness, and the rushing and crushing become so blind and furious at last, that the whole bundle of rags rolls bodily into the ditch by the roadside, dragging the Lord Bountiful of pence along with it ! A considerable distance from the village had by this time been reached, and when the last messen- ger was sent off, a general panic seemed suddenly to seize the assembly lest this time he should not return. ‘Oh sir, your Honour, Tom Donoghue is a rogue—he will not come back—he is the worst boy among us.—Plase your honour will we look for him? He’s a tief—he’s a vagabone!” In due time, however, Tom Donoghue did come back, with flying rags and pence in hand; but, alas, whether the character given to Tom in his absence was true or false, it is an historical fact that Tom could only produce five coppers for the silver sixpence he had taken to the village. It is, however, but doing justice to Tom to state that he loudly asserted his own innocence, and as loudly accused his banker of foul play, who must herself have cribbed the missing penny which brought him to such dishonour. All this, doubtless, is farcical to read, and may possibly have been felt, in the transacting, to be mainly a piece of picturesque or grotesque fun. But it was surely much more than this. If picturesque, it was also deeply painful, nay WAGES. 113 death. Then they all went to the Union Work- house, which Tim, after three months, was obliged to leave on account of sickness: he then, for a time, got relief out of doors, and eventually was taken into the service of a farmer, his present master. The boy attributes his illness in the workhouse, and no doubt justly, to the diet, which was so different to the potato-regimen that he had been accustomed to. He returned to his old regimen on going to the farm, and has remained quite well and very happy ever since. Tim’s master—who, he says, is a kind man—has about twenty acres of land, besides the mountain pasture, and keeps three men and two boys, who are all fed in the house. They have only two meals in the day, at ten and four, and both are precisely alike; namely, potatoes ad libitum, and a couple of pints of butter-milk or sour-milk each. At some seasons they get fish twice a week, fresh or salt, particularly in winter, when there is no milk; but they never taste bread from one year’s end to the other. On this fare Tim says they are all strong and healthy and well contented with their lot. Besides their living the men get, respectively, ten shillings, fourteen shillings, and twenty shillings a quarter. Tim and his young comrade get, as their sole pay, a suit of clothes now and then. Out of their scanty means, the men lay by some money. The desire of all is to save enough to take them to 8 112 TIM SULLIVAN. nating in the picturesque peaks of Hungry Hill. In the opposite direction, the whole country, as spread out beneath the eye, presents the aspect of a stony wilderness, broken up into innumerable low jagged peaks of rock, here and there intermingled with small patches of corn. On all sides there was enough of wild grandeur, but nothing of the ex- quisite beauty which characterises Glengariff Bay, as seen from its own shores. My guide was an intelligent lad of twenty, who supported his widowed mother and sisters by his earnings. In the way up the mountain, we were joined by a sensible boy of sixteen years of age, but very small, who was guarding his master’s cows on its green slopes, and kept us company so long as he could keep them in sight. - While resting ourselves on a ledge of rock in the sunshine, I took down in my note-book Tim Sullivan’s little history ; and here it is, in all its trite and humble details, as winnowed by not a little cross-questioning, and by the criticisms and corroborations of our guide. “These little things are great to little men.” Poor Tim is an orphan. His mother has been dead thirteen years, and his father six. Both died young. His father had a little land and some cows, but all his substance disappeared with himself, Tim does not know how. Only about a pound remained over, and on this and the charity of the neighbours, Tim and his brother and two sisters lived in the old cottage for a year after his father’s SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT. 115 There are two National Schools in the neighbour- hood of Glengariff. I was prevented from visiting them, but I learnt that there were between 30 and 40 children in one, and between 40 and 50 in the other; and in one there were said to be five Protestants. I learnt from the good authority of the coachman who drove our phaeton from Glengariff to Kenmare, that Teetotalism has fallen off greatly in the dis- trict, he being now one of 14 alone remaining out of a band of 250. The majority, however, had perse- vered for about five years. Most of them broke down in the year of the famine. He himself had kept his pledge for thirteen years, and doubted not, he said, with the blessing of God, to keep it all his life. He had proved its advantages to be too great ever to be foregone. Before he took the pledge, he said, he spent most of his substance in drink, and kept himself and wife in constant distress. Since he became a teetotaller, he has made a shift to make a fair living, and to keep his family decently. At this very time, four of his children are at the National School, for each of whom he pays one penny per week. I was glad to learn, from more than one source, that the means of the labouring class are improving in Glengariff. Pigs, which had been all devoured in the year of famine, were beginning to be scantily replaced in their old premises, especially since Indian meal became so plentiful and cheap. During the 114 PRICES. America. Sometimes, however, their prudence is overcome by the temptations of the holiday of the week, Sunday, and a shilling is occasionally spent in strong drink at the public-house. None of the people of the farm are Teetotallers. In returning from the mountain I went into a small cottage among the woods at its foot. Here I found an old woman who could speak only Irish, and a handsome young woman of 21, her daughter, who was married at 15, and had now two children. Her husband was absent in England, gone thither for the harvest. He was in this following the steps of her own father, the old woman’s husband, who used to go every year to England, for three or four months in the summer, and usually brought back with him about three pounds. To complete these “simple annals of the poor” of Glengariff, I will set down the prices of clothing, as I received them from my guide. The wearers have to go all the way to Bantry for them, as there are no clothes-shops in Glengariff. A suit of old clothes may be had for from 5s. to 7s. 6d., viz., a coat from 3s. to 4s., a waistcoat for 1s., and a pair of trousers for from ls. to 2s. 6d. A suit of new clothes may be obtained for from 20s. to 80s.; but there are few of the labouring class who can afford this luxury. My guide’s jacket, which was now rather dilapidated, cost him 6s. (new cloth,) and had been worn a year. Good strong shoes (always bought new) cost about 6s. THE ROADS. R17 great boldness in its features, rising occasionally from the tame to the picturesque, and even to the grand: before we had finished our day’s journey, it will be seen that the landscape rose up to the pitch of the magnificent, if not the sublime. Shortly after leaving Glengariff, the road began to ascend the mountainous ridge that divides the bays of Bantry and Kenmare, sweeping round their base, and winding up their face until we had attained a great elevation. All this was very picturesque ; and some of the valleys at our feet made charming pictures, with their projecting rocks, black bogs, and yellow patches of corn,—resem- bling, in this respect as in others, many of the straths in the Highlands of Scotland. When after passing over many cuttings of rock and rock-built terraces, the road had attained its highest point, it pierced the mountain-top by a tunnel through the solid rock, some 500 or 600 feet in length, and then opened from the darkness upon a splendid view of the valleys beyond. We were now in the county of Kerry, the tunnelled ridge being on the boundary between it and Cork. From this point to Kenmare the road passed through a much less wild and more cultivated country, presenting some spots of con- siderable beauty, but still preserving much of the same stony and moorland character it had shown beyond the hills. The fine road across this difficult pass was made many years since by Nimmo, the celebrated Scotch 116 GLENGARIFF TO KENMARE. scarcity, this meal sold for 3s. 6d. and even 4s. 6d. the stone; now it is to be had for Is. At Bantry and Glengariff, and at every open point of the shore passed by, we observed an active traffic going on in the landing and carting of sea- sand for manure. This sand, here called coral sand, is an almost unmixed congeries of small fragmentary masses from decayed corallines, and exists in great quantities in the localities where it is found. It is brought in boats from various places in the bay, and seems very extensively used. It is said to be particularly excellent in the reclaim- ing of bog. I may almost say that the transport of this sand, by water and land, about Bantry Bay, seemed to us one of the most active and most extensive operations relating to agriculture that we saw in Ireland.! In proceeding from Glengariff to Kenmare, a distance of about twenty miles, we traversed that petrean desert which I had seen from the top of Curannen, and which presents to those who travel through it, nearly the same wild and barren features which mark the country all the way from Dunman- way and Skibbereen. The only difference was, that our route to day lay through a wilderness possessing 1 A chemical friend has kindly analysed this sand for me, and gives the following as its composition: In 100 parts—Carbonate of Lime, 50; Silicate of Alumina (clay), 45; organic matter, containing nitrogen, which, on distillation, yields ammoniacal compounds, 5; a trace of iron. No doubt this fine grit is calculated to act on the soil mechanically as well as chemically. TRAITS OF CHARACTER. 119 state, with shattered roof and broken windows, but learnt from the master that it had not been repaired because it was about to be rebuilt. There were in attendance at the time of my visit about 50 boys and girls, who all congregated in the same school. There was not one Protestant among them. According to the official reports, there were, in this school, in September 1850—boys 74, girls 49; and in September 1851—boys 67, girls 48. The master had been here sixteen years, and his present salary amounted to about 80/. per annum; viz., 15/. from the Board, 10/. from Lord Lansdowne, and about 5/. from the children’s weekly pence. This last item is so small, because the inhabitants of the parish are generally poor, and many children fail in their contributions. The master, I found, added farming to his scholastic avocations, being a tenant of Lord Lansdowne to the amount of 15/. yearly rent, and: keeping cows and growing oats and potatoes. I suspect that these agricultural idols were too attractive for the peace of the good man’s official conscience, as he had recently suffered a curtailment of his salary to the amount of 4/. annually, on account of deficiencies detected by the Inspector in his educational capacity. This he himself told me, in the most naif manner, without the least sign of discontent, and without casting a shadow of blame on his superiors. On a subsequent occasion, at another country school in this county, I met with 118 ‘SCHOOLS. engineer, much of whose fine. handiwork is seen in more than one county in Ireland. And I may take this opportunity of stating how excellent we found the roads throughout the whole of Ireland, well-planned and in capital condition, and (what is an additional charm to the traveller) without turnpike or toll, except in the neighbourhood of Belfast, and from thence southward along the eastern coast. Nearly the whole tract of country we passed through from the tunnelled rock to Kenmare and beyond,—in all about fifteen miles,—as well as the town of Kenmare itself, belongs to the Marquis of Lansdowne. This nobleman bears, among his tenantry in this country, an excellent character as a landlord, and also for his general liberality and generosity. Within these few years he has ex- pended full 10,0002. in promoting emigration from his estates. For some distance before we reach Kenmare, the road tracts the river Roughty through its valley, and, before entering the town, crosses the narrowed head of the great estuary of Kenmare, on a fine suspension bridge, 400 feet in length, erected about twelve years since at the joint expense of Lord Lansdowne and the Board of Public Works. It is named Lansdowne Bridge, after the Marquis. In my way from Glengariff to Kenmare, I visited the small National School of of , In the parish I found it in a greatly dilapidated ON THE STATE SCHOOLS, 121 the prejudices of the Protestants, and curtailing the education of the people, they were injuring the cause of the Roman Catholic religion and of Ireland. He regarded the improved education of Catholics in the National Schools and colleges as calculated not to lessen their adherence to their own religion, but greatly to strengthen it; and, in like proportion, to confirm and augment their patriotism as Irishmen. He said it was a great mistake to believe that the priests had their chief hold and control of the people through their ignorance. On the contrary, the most obedient to the will of their pastors, and the most faithful to the doctrines of the church, were those whose minds were expanded and enlight- ened by education. The present ignorant race of common people could, with difficulty, understand the real nature of the Catholic religion, and could hardly comprehend the true position of Ireland in her ecclesiastical and political relations. When the National Schools and Colleges have had full time to develop their influence, then the lowest of the people will come to see, at once, the monstrous anomaly of the present relations of the two churches, and to feel, more profoundly, the superiority of their own. He and all his brother priests, and all the national schoolmasters I spoke with in Ireland, condemned the conduct of the Protestant clergy, in preventing the attendance of the children at the state schools, as most detrimental not merely to their own flocks but to the country at large. 120 OPINIONS OF A PARISH PRIEST a precisely similar instance of degradation of salary for a like cause, and which was spontaneously men- tioned by the teacher (a schoolmistress) with the same candour and simplicity, and the same apparent absence of all soreness towards the higher authority. These little incidents, and many others of an analogous character—one of which I have already related of a goodwife on the banks of Glendalough— which I have met with in Ireland, have impressed me strongly as indicating the singular candour and honesty of the humbler classes of the Irish. I may be mistaken, but my experience leads me to believe that instances of such spontaneous, unselfish and, certainly, unnecessary exposition of personal cha- racter and personal failure, could hardly be found in either England or Scotland. If the parties similarly circumstanced in these countries would not, as I believe, have intentionally misstated the truth, I am inclined to think they would not have volunteered its expression. On the same route I also had an interesting interview with a parish priest, whose name and residence I shall leave blank, as in the case of the schoolmaster. He was evidently an intelligent and well-educated man, and entertained more liberal views on several points than are usually ascribed to his brethren. For instance, he disapproved of the recent proceedings of Cardinal Wiseman and the bishops who had set themselves in opposition to the Queen’s Colleges, believing that, by rousing KENMARE. liza landlord’s will and of holding by the tenure of a lease, were at all similar in their influence on the tenant’s mind and actions. He referred me, in illustration of his. position, to a small farm within view, which had been elaborated, by hard work, from a stony moorland and barren bog, through the mere consciousness of the security and permanency of the tenure. The town of Kenmare is situated a short distance from the Roughty river, and commands very little view of its own fine estuary, though the lofty ranges of mountains that enclose it on both sides (Slievemisk and Caha on the south-east, and Dunkerrin on the north-west) form conspicuous and splendid features in its landscape views. It is a neat and clean-looking town, presenting in its angular walls and roofs, and in the scanty admix- ture of dilapidated cottages, evidence of its com- paratively recent origin. The population, in 1841, was 1339, and in 1851, 1501; but, by its bustle and activity, the place conveyed to us the impression of being more populous. It contains all the usual institutions of a country town—a church and chapel, a dispensary, several schools, and a fine Union- workhouse in the outskirts. I visited three of the schools, the National Boys’ and Girls’ School, and an industrial school for girls. In the boys’ school there were 54 on the books, but only 27 present. The average attendance during the last three years was much more than this, Lb 3 FIXED TENURES. By so doing they at once prevented a consider- able portion of the community from being so well educated as they might otherwise be, and tended to keep up and strengthen the prejudice of sect against sect, which was most destructive of social happiness. The Father was evidently a tenant-right man, but, apparently, to that degree only in which he will be followed by most men. He attributes the sad economical condition of the rural population of Treland mainly to the want of leases; this want leading to such insecurity of tenure as destroys or paralyses all individual enterprise among the farmers. He believes that long leases would have the effect of bringing the land into good culti- vation without any more capital than the farmers possess at present. Their own hands and arms, and those of their sons, he said, would soon make capital if they were freed from all doubt as to the future possession of the soil for a period sufficient to admit of a due amount of produce in return. At present, the small farmers do not, and will not, exert themselves, from the predominating feeling of uncertainty in their minds, as to whether they may be labouring for themselves or others. I, of course, submitted to his consideration the fact, that permanency of holding had always been virtually the condition of the farmers, from the mere custom of the country, though without actual leases; but he denied that the two cases, of holding at the FEMALE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 125 children’s pence, so that his allowances are com- paratively good. The weekly penny is paid by most of the children who have the means to do so. In the girls’ school (then under the supervision of an ingenuous young lady, one of my Irish beauties, in the absence of the mistress, her sister,) I found there were 58 on the books, and 43 present ; this greater proportional attendance than in the boys’ school, being explained by the inferior demand on the girls for harvesting. The mistress of the school was also a first-class teacher, and had a salary of 22/. per annum, besides 8/. from Lord Lansdowne and the children’s pence. Accord- ing to the official returns, the numbers in the school in September 1850 and 1851 were 107 and 79. The little girls were in the highest order as to neatness and cleanliness, and presented the usual amount of intelligence and good looks. The Female Industrial School was in excellent order, and evidently thriving. It contained 30 girls, whom I found all at work at various kinds of needlework, some of rather a refined and elaborate kind. The girls were all neatly dressed, and very tidy. They remained no less than eight hours at school daily (from ten to six) two of which only were devoted to literary instruction. The children do not pay as in the other schools, and they receive the money-produce of their work. They read the Lord’s Prayer and Creed every evening. There was one Protestant among the 30 girls. The mistress 124 RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. viz., 47. The present smallness of number was explained by the emigration, and by the demands of the present harvest season. There was. not one Protestant now on the books, but at one time there had been four, and no inconvenience or difficulty was experienced in regard to them. They usually retired during the period of religious instruction, which is given, in this school, during two hours on Saturday, and also daily in summer for half an hour after four o’clock. According to the official returns, the numbers in September 1850 and 1851 were, respectively, 95 and 63. I may here remark, that the times and amount of religious instruction in the National Schools vary considerably in different schools, according to the inclination of the masters or patrons. The only points rigidly adhered to are, that, except on Saturday, the religious lessons shall not interfere with the ordinary hours of school-work, and that at all times when they are going on, the “ RELicrous Instruction” board shall be displayed in a con- spicuous part of the room. The school seemed in very good order, and the boys well advanced. The master was what is called a first-class teacher, and received a salary of 24/. per annum from the date of his first appointment, The next step would be 28/., and the final limit would be 35/. annually. Lord Lansdowne contributes 10/. to the master’s salary over and above the 24. ; and the master also makes about 5/, from the CHAPTER V. KILLARNEY. THe small amount of time we had to spare, pre- vented our visiting the little harbour of Kenmare, though it lies only a short way below the town. We were afraid of being belated in reaching Killarney, as we knew the road before us to be mountainous, and we could only obtain a one-horse car to carry us over the seventeen miles we had to travel. Shortly after leaving Kenmare, we began gra- dually to ascend the slope forming the base of the range of mountains which separate the district from the still more mountainous region of Killarney. The road was excellent, and only in a few places very steep, the comparative easiness of ascent being obtained by great engineering skill in directing the tract round the brows and along the hollows and steep flanks of the mountain, often on artificial terraces quarried from the rock itself. Nothing could exceed the wild picturesqueness of the scenes through which we immediately passed, unless it was their desolate barrenness. The only intimation of civilization, or of the workers of civilization, presented to us, besides our magnificent road, was 126 ADVANTAGES OF TEETOTALISM. , has a salary of 20/7. per annum. ‘This is not a National School. Kenmare was formerly remarkable for the number of its Temperance votaries, the Teetotallers mustering once as high as 700. This number has, as in other places, fallen off greatly; but there are still said to remain as many as 150 in the town. It is remark- able that our driver from Glengariff to Kenmare, and our driver from Kenmare to Killarney, were both Teetotallers, as was also the driver of the public car with which we kept company a part of the way. Our driver, a young man of twenty-five, had only taken the pledge in April last, and he had gone all the way to Cork (seventy-five miles) to receive it at Father Matthew’s own hands. He carried his medal with him, and seemed highly gratified at the reform of life of which it was at once the emblem and the pledge. He says that, though so young, he had formerly drunk hard, and so spent most of the money that he earned. Since his reformation, all his earnings not required for his own personal wants go to the support of his mother and sister. He is now, he says, a happy man: we certainly found him a merry one. THE TORC WATERFALL. 129 This lower portion of our descent, and the level road that succeeded it, sweeping between, the richly-wooded shore and the base of the over- hanging cliffs, led us through scenes of surpassing beauty, combining in one view, our own terraced and shaded tract, the bright lake with its tree- clad islands immediately below us, and the grand mountain-ranges beyond, whose steep base closely bounded its further shore and whose blue summits filled up the far horizon. So exquisite did these views seem to me at the time, that I almost settled it in my own mind, that no views on or from the lake itself could be superior. At any rate, they realised to me all that I had ever heard or read of Killarney. Proceeding onwards past the base of the beautiful Tore mountain, and turning away from the imme- diate shore of the lake, we halted at a small lodge by the wayside, in order that we might walk up through the woods to see the Tore waterfall. This descends from the gap that divides the Tore moun- tain from Mangerton, and, though not possessing a large supply of water, is very beautiful. The fall is about sixty feet in height, and the greater portion of it rather rushes along the rugged face of the rock, than falls from it. The narrow glen and cliffs on either side are richly wooded up to the summit of the cascade ; and, indeed, the whole space below and around is so bright and gay with vegetable life, that the impression conveyed is much more that of 9 128 MOUNTAINOUS SCENERY. the sight, now and then, of a wretched cottage, half-seen by its small patch of white corn-land, in the valley below. As features in the landscape, however, these far-down valleys were rich; and the ever-varying views of the lofty mountains beyond them, with their rugged summits blue in the distance, were most grand. The splendour of the scene attained its consum- mation when, on reaching the summit of our ascent, the still loftier ridge of the Killarney range suddenly burst upon us, crowned by Carran Tual and the other forked Peaks—or Reeks as they are here called—of the majestic Macgillicuddy. Close bor- dering on them, and only separated from them by the romantic gulf of Dunloe, towered right in our front, the Purple Mountain; and, as we proceeded onwards, its worthy brother-giants of the group, came gradually and successively into view—the Eagle’s Nest, Glenaa, the Tomies, the Torc, and Mangerton. With this splendid background ever in our eye, we pursued our steep, winding tract along the mountain side, following all its outs and ins, over terraces and through quarried rocks, as on the other side. While still in mid-descent, we caught a par- tial glimpse of the Upper Lake smiling far below us in its leafy cradle curtained by mountains, soon to be seen with yet more charming effect through the screen of birch trees that rose to shadow our path as we approached nearer to its level. YOUNG IRELAND. ton tains, which the other hotels supply to every idle lounger at their windows. What we could obtain we took advantage of, by a walk through the Abbey grounds while daylight lasted and our dinner or Supper was preparing. Our driver from Kenmare to Killarney, the young Teetotaller already spoken of, was a true son of St. Patrick, light-hearted, merry, and good-humoured. As we were ascending the mountain, he amused us not a little with his off-hand chat, and afforded us a good deal of information respecting his own locality. He also volunteered to sing, and made the echoes ring again with his sonorous strains. One of his songs was really, in itself, a song of no ordinary beauty and pathos; and when it was considered under what circumstances it had been written and by whom it was written,—and that it now burst forth spontaneously, and, as it were, irresistibly, from the lips of this young Irishman, amid the very scenes where it was composed,—it could not fail being listened to with redoubled interest. Poor Michael Doheny, the author of it, was one of those enthusiastic young men (many of them men of education like himself) who, some years back, con- stituted that romantic Association called Youne InELanp; and he was one of the few who did not hesitate to bring down their romance into actual life, when, in 1848, the silly and abortive attempt was made by Mr. Smith O’Brien to take up arms against the British Government. On the extinction 1380 MUCKROSS HOTEL. softness and beauty than of either the grand or picturesque. A mile further brought us to our destination, the Muckross Hotel, situated near the ruins of Muckross Abbey, opposite the middle lake, and rather more than two miles from the town of Killarney. My companion and myself were the last guests who could be received at the hotel—every bed but two being already occupied. The great defect of the Muckross Hotel is its position at some distance from the lake, all view of which is completely intercepted by the lofty woods of Muckross Park, the splendid seat of Mr. Herbert. It is so provoking to know one’s self close upon the verge of a most beautiful lake and all its wealth of mountain scenery, and yet to be as entirely excluded from them as if you were a hundred miles off,— that no excellence of domestic accommodation can compensate for the sacrifice. I, therefore, advise all travellers who can obtain entrance into the Lake Hotel or the Victoria,—both of which command full views of the lake—not to be tempted to forego the feast on nature’s beauties for any superiority of indoor feast that the Muckross, alias Roche’s Hotel, can supply. It is true that we have only to ascend a small knoll in a field behind the village, or to walk across the Abbey grounds to the shore of the lake, to obtain all that we desire: but what I de- siderate at Muckross is the daily, hourly, persistent, self-presenting views of the water and the moun- > EE ETE IRELAND ASTHORE. 133 happy Scotland. I give Mr. Doheny’s song entire, deeming it most fittmg to take its place among Memorandums made in Ireland in the year 1852. IRELAND ASTHORE. By Micuart Doneny. Airn— The Harp that once through Tara’s Halls.” i The long-long-wish’d-for hour has come, Yet come, AstHORE,! in vain, And left Thee but the wailing hum Of sorrow and of pain; My Light of Life, my lonely Love, Thy portion sure must be Man’s scorn below, God’s wrath above— A cushla gal machree.? 2. *Twas spoke of Thee, the world around, ’Twas hoped from Thee by all, That, with one gallant sunward bound, Thov’dst burst long ages’ thrall : The bound was made, alas! and those Who perilled all for Thee, Are cursed and branded as thy foes— A cushla gal machree. 3. Pve giv’n Thee manhood’s early prime And manhood’s teeming years, I’ve bless’d Thee in thy sunniest time And shed with Thee my tears ; And, Mother, though Thou’st cast away The child who’d die for Thee,— My fondest wishes still shall pray For cushla gal machree. 1 My dear—my love, (Ireland.) 2 “A cushla gal machree,” literally, “O, fair pulse of my heart.” 132 THE EXILES SONG. of this movement, Doheny, like most of his col- leagues, was compelled to seek for safety in exile ; and it was while concealing himself among these mountains and those of Glengariff, waiting for the opportunity of escaping beyond sea, that he com- posed this song. A reward of 300/. was offered for his apprehension, but none of his countrymen, how- ever poor or wretched, were found mercenary enough to earn it, and he finally succeeded in making his escape from Cork in female attire. It was evident that our minstrel, though a very indifferent singer, felt the pathos of his song, and it soon appeared that his sympathies were strongly on the same side as those of its author. On my asking him if he would have joined in this insurrec- tion, if he had come in the way of it, he replied instantly, “To be sure I would: a man ought to fight for his country.” So true it is, I believe, that there still dwell deep in the Irish mind the memory of the ancient independence and legendary glories of Ireland, and the vague notion of something being yet due in the shape of vengeance on the sons of the conquerors. It is to be hoped, however, that all such memories will gradually find less and less of substantial food, in the shape of political and religious grievances, to keep them alive; and that they will be allowed peaceably and insensibly to sub- side into such innocent yet inspiring dreams of the heroes and the heroic romance of old, as still delight to linger among the mountains and vallies of my own GAP OF DUNLOE. 135 on two of its sides, we had scarcely an opportunity of having a glimpse of it the whole way; owing to the flatness of its shores and the intervention of the woods covering them. After proceeding a considera- ble distance in this direction, we again turned off abruptly at another right angle, and kept this course, directly south, until we reached our boat at the extremity of the Upper Lake. Our new line of road led towards the base of the ridge of mountains which had bounded our left-hand course on our way to Killarney the day before, and soon opened up to us the entrance to the ravine which cuts them across, and which, like a narrow rent in the lofty ridge, had been conspicuous to us from the moment we turned our face in this direction. This ravine is the Gap or DuNLoz, an appellation which cannot fail to strike every one who approaches it from the north as singularly ap- propriate. It is mdeed exactly such a gap as fancy might conceive to be left by the blow of some Titanic axe, in the days when the sons of earth were striving with Zeus. About a mile or less within the mouth of the Pass we dismissed our car, the road not permitting it to proceed further, and mounted the ponies which we found waiting for us. The Gap of Dunloe is four miles across, and pre- serves very much the same character throughout as to the narrowness of its opening, the abrupt steep- ness of its lofty boundaries, and the comparative flatness of its base or floor. This last characteristic 134: IRELAND ASTHORE. 4.. For Thee I’ve track’d the mountain-sides And slept within the brake, More lonely than the swan that glides O’er Lua’s' fairy lake, The rich have spurn’d me from their door Because I’d make Thee free, Yet still I love Thee more and more— A cushla gal machree. 5. T’ve run the outlaw’s wild career And borne his load of ill, His rocky couch, his dreamy fear, With fix’d sustaining will; And should his last dark chance befall, Even that shall welcome be: Tn death I'll love Thee most of al— A cushla gal machree. The fine weather which we had enjoyed ever since our arrival at Skibbereen still continuing, we took speedy advantage of it to see the Great Sights of Killarney, and started early in a car for the Gap of Dunloe, having previously sent on ponies to carry us across the mountain, and engaged a boat to meet us at the top of the upper lake. The route followed is first the main road (north) through the town of Killarney, and then the road which turns from this westward, at a right angle, in the direction of the Bay of Dingle and Valentia. It is remarkable that though thus tracking the outlines of the lower lake ' “Tua’s fairy lake.” A small lake between Glengariff and Bantry, seen from the coach road; also seen from one of the adjacent moun- tains where Doheny composed these verses. ea THE BLACK GLEN. 137 splendid Reeks, now near at hand, joining on to the range of mountains running more directly south, con- stitute a magnificent prospect to the traveller as he escapes from the fastnesses of the glen. In descend- ing the long slope from the southern mouth of the Gap to the lake, we had a fine view on our right hand of the extremity of the Commeenduff Lough and the Black Glen in which it is buried; a very wild yet beautiful spot, and well deserving the homage of a closer visit than we paid to it. In pursuing our course downwards from it, we followed the tract—though at some distance from it—of the river which issues from this lough, the Gearhameen, all the way to its junction with the upper lake. It was, indeed, on the widened mouth of this river, rather than on the waters of the lake itself, that we embarked, the oars of the boatmen, for a short space, almost tonching the banks on both sides. Just before joming the boat, we passed through the grounds of an ornamental cottage belonging to Lord Brandon, and named after him Brandon Cottage. At the side of the gravel walk in the grounds we found a book and pen and ink, raised on a small shelf or tablet, with a written request that travellers would inscribe their names therein. The grounds are very confined and the cottage itself small; but it boasts of a raised turret, which forms a conspicuous and beautiful feature in the landscape as seen rising from its woody screen at a distance. There were four or five other boats, besides ours, 186 THE PASS. is explained, of course, by the great depth of the cut into the mountain, and renders the passage through it very easy to both horsemen and pedes- trians. To be sure, in the latter part of its course, the road rises very considerably until it attains its highest elevation near the southern extremity of the Gap. In this facility of ascent, I think it differs from almost all the Passes in the Alps, though it emulates many of these in some of their most attractive features. It particularly reminds one of an Alpine valley, by the vast accumulation of frag- ments of rock, fallen from the cliffs above, which are strewed along its base, There are a few cottages and a few patches of corn-land at the northern entrance of the Gap, but it soon becomes too narrow for either, though, at several points beyond, it did not fail to present us with some indications of inhabitance, therein or thereabout, in the shape of dames and damsels, eager to bestow on the travellers, for a sufficient equiva- lent, a cup of goats’ milk or whiskey, or of both united, as the taste of their customers might incline. In the course of the Gap there are several small lakes and a little lively brook, and, here and there, also, a dwarf tree or a small thicket of coppice, all of which add not a little to the charm of the scene by softening more into beauty its prevailing tone of stern grandeur and wildness. This Pass divides the Tomies and Purple mountains on the east from one of the bases of the Macgillicuddy on the west, whose 1388 THE UPPER LAKE. waiting for parties crossing the Gap after us, and a small assemblage of hangers-on offering for sale walking sticks and other mementos of the lake and mountains. We were soon swept into the middle of the lake by our four powerful oars, piloting our devious course, now this way now that way, amid the numerous islets with which it is studded. These islets and the as-numerous rocky and wooded pro- montories stretching into it in all directions from the main land, greatly diminish the extent of watery space seen at any one time, and give the impression of the lake being much smaller than it really is. So broken-up, however, greater variety of beauty is presented than if it had been all one continuous expanse, as almost every islet and promontory, whether rising from the water in steep, bare, rocky cliffs, or sloping gently down to it, is crowned with the most luxuriant canopy of trees, among which the arbutus, distinguished by its subdued and mellow green, is most conspicuous. In passing through this lake, and along the narrow river-like strait that connects it with the middle and lower lakes, I could no longer doubt that the views now presented to us were at once gran- der, more picturesque, and more beautiful, than any we had seen or could see from its banks. Beside the charm—great in itself—of floating placidly over the calm surface of the mirrored water, the spec- tator from this central station can command, at cn tring CA able ie ‘ss tater-einwmed shores of the lake, ‘the | aber gece fer ap) with impehetrable bie eS ap , Phe sky. abrupt and dark; weltits: roa a Me wadl, he has still fresh aspects of ‘the piri, wit eee alike, except: in ae? possessing the commie: “wre #® beanty:andsa grandeur thet tome’, ine Beawis: it ie. imposaible ee) E ‘to conveyin words the iqeis! Sores of the! land- ih scape, which, when combines, yc@tsinet @ exquisite | a result ‘btit’T think few de Siva is se ie M good fortune! to visit. the Upper ‘finke Wit See a he ae oS eS. ee ee ; ; Se i ae Range ef Killarney,’ under as favanety: sees: a stanees ag we did, will ‘either deny the pang ly 4 think that it may be equalled or exealia’ hy hetid a ari other scenes of 2 kindred sort, ‘Phy seniet =A of the’ picture, at this moment fm my fancy, while des) I am thus’ feebly indicating dk eet cvwme of its bare outlines, camienh Vie ia plensure it reset pigshogioshectiael estan in my appre- wets AR ia prac Pie Middle Lake, ‘es- peckatiy Wt ca RNSHIN dams Sheitaiy coaneroals the Mestinys nh aig, tenes, wad the upper portion of the Lowe#)Jhe 4eitet Glenaa-bay, still present muck Sa ‘eon bait 2? the Upper Lake, though with sone Meteo of its grandeur. And yet , oem iy qualification to a & ee ee ee oe a ‘Site = 5 te are led Sali SSS ae 1104 5) 8 1518 3? ITS NUMBERS AND PAY. 269 think, be conceded. And all that we have heard of the general conduct of this body of men, would seem to entitle them to an almost equal praise for their moral qualities: at least, they have ever borne, and continue still to bear, the highest character for general good behaviour and efficiency in the per- formance of their important duties. The following was the state of this Force on the Ist of July, 1851, according to the return made to the House of Commons: 1 inspector-general; 2 deputy inspectors-general; 2 assistant inspectors- general; 1 receiver; 1 surgeon; 1 veterinary sur- geon; 17 paymasters; 71 magistrates; 35 county inspectors; 246 sub-inspectors; 334 head constables; 1716 constables ; 355 acting constables ; 9674 sub- constables. Total of all ranks, 12,885.! There are 352 horses belonging to the corps. The total ex- penditure of this body during the year 1850, was 562,183/, 14s. 64d.—an enormous sum, certainly, but no doubt well exchanged for the benefits pro- cured by it. The following are the annual allow- ances of some of the officers and of the men:— inspector-general, 1500/.; deputy inspectors-general, (each) 800/.; assistant inspectors-general, (each) 500/.; county inspectors, according to their rate, (each) from 220/. to 298/.; sub-inspectors, according to their rate, (each) from 100/. to 180/.; head con- 1 Sir Francis Head informs us (Loc. cit.), that of the total force 7798 were Catholics, and 4703 Protestants. This makes the total greater than that given in the text by 216, no doubt owing to the in- crease since the Parliamentary Return from which I copied my numbers. 270 WESTPORT. stables, from 50/. to 80/.; mounted constables, 38/. ; infantry, 36/.; sub-constables, first rate, 27/. 14s., second rate, 24/. The duties performed by these men are very multifarious, but may be easily understood. Besides exercising the more ordinary functions of constables, they assist all public bodies in town and country, and perform themselves the functions of others. For instance, they took the late census, not merely as to the population, but as to houses, farms, farm produce, &c. &c. In short, I believe it is almost as easy to say what they do not do as what they do: they are the servants of public order and public convenience in all things—always wanted, always found. In my frequent personal intercourse with these men, I was always struck with the readiness of their replies and the suavity of manner with which they were given. They seemed to deport themselves as if it were at once their duty and their pleasure to be agreeable. On several occasions I obtained the most valuable information from them, not merely by word of mouth but by correspondence ; and the letters with which I have been favoured, would do credit to any professed clerk. On leaving Leenane, we turned, first, for a short way, round the inner end of the Great Killery Lough, and then made our escape abruptly through a gap in its boundaries into the county of Mayo. After this we soon left all our noble mountains behind us, and with the exception of the valley of WESTPORT. 271 the Errive, with its fine woods and river, all the rest of our journey was tame and uninteresting. We reached Westport between five and six o’clock. We had sufficient daylight remaining after our arrival at Westport, to visit the adjoining park and demesne of Lord Sligo, and to take a peep at Westport Quay, the marine portion and port of the town. The wall of Lord Sligo’s park bounds the whole of the western side of the town; and the main entrance fronts one of the principal streets. This is a great advantage to the inhabitants, access to the park being liberally granted to all persons at all times. The grounds of Westport House consist mainly of a small valley at the foot of a gentle hill, and of the flat alluvial plain by the side of the small river, which, after passing through the town, traverses the park. This is of considerable extent; but, like all Irish parks, too full of trees. The damming up of the rivulet by an embankment at the lower extremity of the grounds, near the Quay, has created a small lake, which occupies the centre of the valley, and almost washes the walls of the house,—a large square unornamented building, with no pretensions to architectural elegance. The walks through the woods are pleasant ; but the thickness of the cop- pices and the over-crowding of the trees give to the whole an impression of closeness. The Quay, which adjoins the lower end of Lord 272 THE CLENDENNING MONUMENT. Sligo’s park, can boast of some pretty large store- houses; but I fear the sea-traffic from it is far from considerable. The town of Westport is situated principally on the brow of a small hill, and in the valley at its foot. This lower portion of it is traversed by the small river already mentioned, which is embanked, and the ground on both sides converted into a Mall, with a range of good houses overlooking it. Our hotel, which is excellent, is the principal building in the North Mall. Besides the Mall, there is another tolerably wide street on the brow of the hill, and a third, very steep, crossing these at right angles along Lord Sligo’s park-wall. . In the centre of this steep street there stands on the top of a ridiculously slender and ungraceful pillar, the statue of a late citizen of the place, but whose claims to such an honour are by no means allowed by the majority of his surviving townsmen. George Clendenning, we were told, was a Protestant banker, the active agent of a former Lord Sligo, the friend and helper of the aristocracy in the neighbour- hood, and the great patron of the orange party. Like most men of the class, he seems to have been cordially disliked by the party opposed to him, the Catholic and liberal portion of the population, some of whom, even now, prognosticate the precipitation of his effigy, one of these days, from its ar lofty position. This statue, and the present feelings of the public WESTPORT. 2785 respecting it, afford a good illustration of the folly of raising monuments on mere party grounds, a fact which towns, of more importance than Westport, would do well to keep in view. A fine statue was erected very recently in London to the memory of a man, who, in twenty years, will have no memory. Parts of the upper portion of the town, and the higher grounds on both sides of it, command splendid views of the neighbouring mountains, as well as of the sea-like bay of Clew, with its numerous inlets and islands. At the mouth of this bay, Clare Island rises boldly up from the water directly to the west ; to the south-west, Croagh Patrick fills the horizon with its magnificent peak ; on the south and south- east, the grand range of the Morisk and Partree mountains loom nobly in the distance; and to- wards the north, the numerous peaks of the Bur- rishoole group give additional picturesqueness to the scene. In the immediate vicinity of the town, the soil is sufficiently flat to be cultivable, and is, for Ireland, tolerably well cultivated. The parish church of Westport is situated within | Lord Sligo’s park. The Roman Catholic Church is | | * a large building, situated in the South Mall, with a somewhat imposing front, apparently of recent erection. There is also, in the town, a Presbyterian and a Methodist Meeting House. The population of Westport was, in 1841, including the Quay, 4912, and in 1851, 4815. This makes a decrease of only 97, a much smaller proportion than 18 274 UNION WORKHOUSE. was supposed by the inhabitants themselves to have resulted from the two great causes of decrease, famine and emigration. In 1850, the number of emigrants that sailed from Westport harbour was only 690; but I believe a considerable portion of the emigrants from this district sailed from other ports. Westport seems essentially a Catholic town, although it is one of the places in the West of Ireland in which zealous endeavours have been made, of late years, to extend the Protestant faith. I do not know what success has attended these attempts; nor do I know whether the estimate of the two religions, given to me by several of the inhabitants, is to be depended on. This estimate made the number of Protestants, of all denomina- tions, to be only about two or three hundred. I see by the Parliamentary Returns in 18384, that the whole district in which Westport is situated, comprising a space twenty-four miles in length and twelve in breadth, contained the following relative proportions of the different sects :—-Churchmen, 1222; Presby- terians and other dissenters, 11] ; Roman Catholics, 30,385. It will require no slight power to bring these proportions into anything like that equality which some zealous Protestants seem to think almost already reached. Several of the respectable Catholics with whom I conversed, complained a good deal of the mis- chievous efforts of the religious reform movement in a a ee ee FOOD AND LABOUR. 275 the town, as productive of heart-burnings and strife, and as tending, generally, to destroy the harmony that previously existed among the different sects. There is a very fine Union Workhouse at Westport, kept in great neatness and cleanliness, and ob- viously under a rigid though humane discipline. It contained, at the time of my visit, only 792 inmates, the smallest number that was ever in the house. Of this number 131 were in the infirmary. The season of harvest is always found to diminish the number of persons in the workhouses, as many can then find work who are deprived of it at other times of the year. Thus, so recently as May last, there were nearly double the number of persons in the house. In June, 1850, the master told me that he had as many as 5000 persons in this and the auxiliary houses. During that year, I found by the Commissioners’ Reports that 11,441 were admitted into the house, and 8282 received relief out-of-doors ; while in the subsequent year, 1851, only 6896 received in-door relief, and 116 out-door relief. Among the 792 persons now in the house, there are only three Protestants; and the master says that the number never exceeded 20 when the houses were at the fullest. The diet was, as usual, according to the regulations; but the bread was greatly superior to the rye-bread of Clifden, being made of a mixture of Indian meal and what is termed whole wheaten flour. It was well-baked and very palatable. The bread of the 276 WORKHOUSE SCHOOLS, children is made of whole wheaten flour alone, and that of the infants of the ordinary white flour. The adults have buttermilk ; the children sweet milk. The decrease of numbers mentioned above has not been solely owing to the harvest. No fewer than 300 children have gone out of the house, in conse- quence of money received from their fathers in England and Scotland; and 21 have gone to America, through funds sent home to them by their relations. Except the children in the schools, every person capable of work does work, either in the house or out-of-doors. Forty men are now at work on the grounds attached to the workhouse. I found the schools in this house, as indeed everything else, in capital order, and the children all actively engaged in learning. There were in the boys’ school 122, and in the girls’ 240, all dressed in the uniform of the house, and all singu- larly neat and clean. Cleanliness is, indeed, most carefully enforced. Beside the usual ablution of the hands and face in the morning, the children wash their feet before going to bed in the evening. I saw a most convenient and compendious apparatus for this purpose in one of the rooms—viz., a sort of small wooden trough or canal running round the room, close by the wall, which can be filled with water at will, and into which some hundreds of little feet may be inserted at once. With such care it is no wonder that the children in the workhouses in this eountry are in general so healthy, and look so well. THEIR ULTIMATE BENEFIT. aT According to the reports of the Commissioners of National Education, with whose Board this workhouse school is in connection, the number of children on the rolls, in the year 1850, was no less than 1686, and in 1851, 1496. Among the 240 girls in the school there was only one Protestant. I omitted to inquire the proportion of Catholics among the boys, if there were any. The Roman Catholic chaplain was in the school at the time of my visit, but rather, it would seem, for simple supervision than for purposes of religious instruction. ‘This is given at other and stated times. There are two chaplains here, as in all the other workhouses visited by me. The salaries seem to bear some relation to the pro- portion of clients, though, of course, not a very precise relation; the Catholic chaplain receiving for his flock of 789, 52/., while the Protestant chaplain receives 25/. for his 3 scholars. Many of the children are complete orphans, their parents being either both dead, or one of them (the father) having left the country before or after the other’s death. A considerable number have, also, come into the house along with their mothers, the family having been left by the father without the means of support. No one can visit these Union schools without feeling strongly impressed with the conviction that they are working a change in the manners and habits of the rising generation that must tell 278 THE NATIONAL SCHOOL. immensely on the manners and habits of the future men and women of Ireland. It would be contrary to all our experience if young girls, taught to work, taught to read and write, taught religion, and forced into the observance of the most tidy habits, for a continuous period of twelve, six, or even a less number of years, should feel comfortable or satisfied with the slovenly and lazy habits, or with the per- sonal and household dirt and squalor of every kind to which their parents had been accustomed. When themselves domiciled in their parents’ cottage, or occupying the place of mistress in their own, it is impossible that they should forget all the lessons they learned in their younger days; or that they should not feel anxious that others should learn the advantages derivable from the same source. I feel assured, that young women so instructed and scat- tered throughout the land, will prove so many well- springs of the economic virtues, and thus raise, both by example and precept, the standard of social and domestic life to a point much higher than it now is. In proof that such habits are not unpalatable to the young in Ireland, I may mention the well- known fact, that when the mother is enabled to leave the Union, on the return of her husband, or by any other means, her daughters are often found most anxious to remain in the house. ‘This, how- ever, is not permitted by the rules of the Unions. The orphans, however, are permitted to. remain UNION WORKHOUSES. 279 until they have attained the age of 15 or 16, unless they have been able previously to obtain some domestic employment. I have said that I found everything in this work- house in excellent order; a remark already made in regard to others, and which may be justly applied to all those visited by me. Except the police barracks, nothing domestic in all Ireland struck me more than the neatness and cleanliness of these houses. They looked as if they had been purposely set up as patterns for imitation by the cottagers; and there seems little doubt that, among the other lessons learned in them by the more juvenile part of their inmates, that of domestic as well as of personal tidiness will be one. It here occurs to me to make another general remark on a circumstance which forced itself on my notice in almost every visit I paid to these houses, and which will account for much of the excellent discipline and arrangements found in them all: I mean the remarkable intelligence of the masters. I do not know from what class of society these men have been taken, or what may have been their previous preparation for the office, but they all appeared to be singularly well suited for the situations they filled. Their civility to us strangers was marked, and they evinced the utmost readiness to show and explain everything in the establishments under their charge. Many of them were evidently men of fair education, a fact which I 280 PROTESTANT SCHOOLS. had an opportunity of putting to the test, on more than one occasion, in the course of a correspondence with them. I found the National School at Westport not in a very prosperous condition. This is an old school, established many years since; it was sus- pended in the year 1839, and did not open as a National School until last year. The cause alleged for this tardy opening is the hostility of Dr. M‘Hale, the Catholic bishop of the diocese, to all such schools. In the year 1851 the average attendance at the boys’ school was 119; the attendance last month was 180, though on the day preceding my visit there were only present 105; the decrease being caused by the claims of harvest. The whole number at present on the rolls is 8308. There is only one Protestant at present in attendance, but there have been as many as three or four. In the Westport Parochial Protestant Schools I found the statistics as follows :—Boys. On the books, 42; average attendance, 25; present to-day, 22; of whom 6 were Roman Catholics. Girls. On the books, 40; average attendance, 30 to 86; present to-day, 22; of whom 7 were Roman Catholics. I learnt from the zealous curate of the parish, whom I met with in the school, that there were three other Protestant schools in the country districts, which might have an average attendance of from 15 to 25 each. No food or clothing is supplied to the children at any of these schools. They are TRETOTALISM. 281 supported chiefly by private subscription, though they also derive support from the Church Educa- tion Society, with which they are associated. In the Report of this Society for the present year it is stated, that the number on the rolls of the Westport School, in 1851, was 40 boys and 40 girls, with an average attendance of 22 and 27 respectively. In the same document the amount of local subscriptions is stated to be 44/. for both the schools. The same gentleman also kindly informed me that the proportion of Protestants in this town and neighbourhood had certainly increased, although not fewer than 850 had emigrated during the last four years. At the last Confirmation held in Westport he said that no less than 24 converts were confirmed, of which number 18 were adults. The accounts I received of the past and present condition of Temperance in Westport was rather inte- resting, though its formal aspect at present was some- what disheartening. An active and very respectable Catholic tradesman established a Total Abstinence Society so early as the year 1835, long before Father Mathew came into the field, starting with about 40 or 50 members. After the visit of Father Mathew the numbers greatly increased, so that as many as 2000 pledged men walked in the proces- sion of 1840. In the following year there occurred some disputes, involving some of the relationships of the members with the clergy, which brought upon them the hostility of their redoubtable Bishop, 282 TEETOTALISM. Dr. M‘Hale, and this led to the downfall of the Society. My informant, himself a Catholic, and a well-informed and highly-respectable man, reluc- tantly confessed his belief that the Bishop was jealous of the popularity and power of the Father, and hence in reality his hostility, though it had other ostensible grounds for it, bearing more di- rectly on the ecclesiastical functions of the Bishop. 1 believe some of the over-zealous Teetotallers made a proposition that they should not counte- nance any priest who was not himself a Tee- totaller. There never was a Temperance Hall in this town, which is always a valuable medium for keeping people together. It is thought that there are not now more than 40 or 50 pledged practical Teetotallers in the town. The community, however, have here as elsewhere, greatly profited by the system of Total Abstinence. Although its reign was so short, it has left most valuable fruits behind it, the inha- bitants being, upon the whole, very temperate. CHAPTER XII. CASTLEBAR. We left Westport in the forenoon for Castlebar, purposing, after paying a short visit to it, to proceed to Ballina for the night. There is nothing very remarkable in the district between Westport and Castlebar. We had left the region of mountains and picturesque beauty behind us, and once more entered upon a tract of that tame, rugged, and homely scenery, which charac- terises so large a portion of the lowland districts of Treland. Beauty—simple beauty—can hardly be said to characterise any of the large landscapes in Ireland. Combined with the grand or picturesque, indeed, or with both these, we often meet with fragments and glimpses of scenery super-eminently beautiful; but we rarely or never meet with any of that continuous garden-like and half-sylvan landscape, presented to us by the rounded knolls and rich plains of England, and which goes to the heart by its charm of loveli- ness alone. It may even be doubted whether Ireland can be ever made to rival, in the quality 284 REFLECTIONS ON THE COUNTRY. of uniform richness and charm of landscape, its sister island. The inherent barrenness of much of its rocky uplands, the tameness of its wide and dismal plains, the coarse lifelessness of its moors and boggy valleys—together constituting a large portion of the soil of Ireland—seem almost to deny to it the possibility of attaining to that general aspect of delightfulness, which the com- bined powers of nature and art have bestowed upon England. When, indeed, the time arrives, as it is to be hoped it will, and at no very remote epoch, that shall see all the soil of Ireland that is cultivable, cultivated as it ought to be; all her fields fenced with living hedges and lined with trees ; and, above all, when the sloping shores that border and surround her thousand bays and lakes and rivers, have risen in all the glory of cultivation from the hands of an industrious, prosperous, and tasteful people; then may there be more room to question of her rank in the scale of beauty: then may she measure herself with England with less timidity. Even in her present state, it will not be denied that she is mistress of many scenes that England can scarcely pretend to rival. The country beyond Westport was a good deal more cultivated than any we had yet traversed since entermg Galway; but it presented to us many moorish and boggy spots not cultivated at all, per- haps not cultivable; and only a comparatively small AGRICULTURE. 285 extent of occupied land that did credit to modern agriculture. The new system of consolidation, also, was here strongly indicated by the comparatively small amount of corn land and the great extent of pasture ground; and, still more unpleasantly, by the “ruined walls and roofless homes” that marked our tract on either hand as we proceeded through the territories of Lord Sligo and Lord Lucan, the great proprietors of the district. We stopped at a small village on the roadside near a fine farm of 300 acres, belonging to Lord Sligo, but occupied by an English gentleman of the name of Stafford. Everything seemed here in good and wholesome trim, the whole aspect of the farm betraying the country of its cultivator. Mr. Stafford is a Protestant, but like Mr. Ellis and other kind and just men of that religion, is as popular among the people as if he was of their own creed. Indeed, I found it invariably the case in all parts of Ireland, that the popularity of the landlord, or the farmer, depended in no degree upon his religious views, but upon his practical conduct towards his neighbours and dependants: and this fully as much in the case of the Catholic population as of the Protestant, if not more so. Men of this persuasion among the labouring class over and over again assured me, and collateral cir- cumstances corroborated the assurance—that in their intercourse with people of their own humble station, or in their relations with their superiors, 286 TOLERATION. they never allowed the matter of religion to influence their proceedings. They said the question with them was not whether a man was a Catholic or Protestant, but whether he was a good or bad man; and I do not think I met with a single example among lay Catholics of the lower class, of those narrow and ex- clusive views in religion, which unhappily distinguish so large a proportion of their superiors of both creeds. The common expression of these humble persons was, that every man had a right to follow his own religion, and that it would be much better for the people generally if they were all let alone to follow their own convictions. In making this statement I must, to prevent all misconception, add, that this liberality of views, on the part of my humble Catholic friends, originates in no laxity of principle nor in any sceptical mis- givings in their own minds as to the superior truth of their own creed. On the contrary, I never met with one among them who was not a sincere believer, and with very few, indeed, who might not fairly claim to be both religious and pious. In speaking of their individual misfortunes and dis- tresses, they almost invariably comforted themselves with the expression that such was God’s will, and with the prayer that they might, by His grace, be enabled to bear what had befallen them. Even in the ordinary and everyday proceedings of life, along with a remarkable freedom from swearing and all other sorts of bad language, they generally exhibited NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 287 —at least, elderly persons did—a degree of reverence towards the name of God which is rarely witnessed in Protestant countries,—the women curtsying, and the men raising their hats from their heads, when- ever they had occasion to name that name. I would, therefore, think myself justified in believing, from such facts alone, that these people were telling me nothing but truth as to their feelings towards their neighbours and their neighbours’ religion, even if I had no other authority; but I had the same statements confirmed to me over and over again by Protestants. From this, I think, the inference is fair, that whatever disorders and disturbances, or whatever violent proceedings take place in Ireland under the name or pretence of religious difference, they do not originate with the humbler classes, but with their superiors on one side or the other, most commonly on both. In Mr. Stafford’s village (1 omitted to note its name) we found the National School shut up— another victim of Dr. M‘Hale’s prejudices. It was, however, said by the people of the village that the school was about to be opened once more, it being understood by them that the hostility of the Bishop and his priests, from what cause they knew not, had abated. Whatever it was, they were rejoiced at the prospect held out to them, as they complained much of being unable to give their children any education at present. The village, in other respects, was said to be comparatively prosperous, owing mainly to the 288 CASTLEBAR. great number of hands employed by Mr. Stafford, and to the liberal wages given by him. Castlebar, situated about eight and a half Irish miles from Westport, appears to the traveller passing through it, a neat and even a handsome town; but a closer inspection hardly bears out the first im- pression. Its population in 1841 was 5137; and in 1851, 4027, showing a decrease of no less than 1110 in the ten years. Taking the whole parish, exclusive of the town, the decrease was still greater—viz. from 5827 to 3115, a decrease of 2212, or considerably more than one third. Even this was below the estimate of some of the inhabitants, who assured me that, what with famine, fever, emigration, and evictions combined, the loss had been one half. I have already remarked that I generally found the estimate of the inhabitants themselves, as to the decrease of population in any place, above the truth. Castlebar seems to be essentially a Catholic town; at least the official returns of 1834 gave only 1183 Protestants out of a total population of 12,111 in the parish; and one of the Protestant tradesmen only gave the present number of Pro- testants in the town as about 700. Some of the Catholics with whom I spoke rated the number below this. The Catholic Chapel is large, but, as usual, ugly. ‘The Parish Church is a neat building with a hand- some spire. The Court-house in the square is also neat; and the County Prison, at the western , q i se ae — ae Be rates NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 289 entrance of the town, is massy and imposing. In saying the town was neat, I ought to have confined the remark to the main street and the parts adjacent, the great body of the place con- sisting of poor streets with low cottage-like houses. What is called the National School in Castlebar, was opened so long ago as 1820. On the estab- lishment of the National School system it was adopted by the Board, and continued so associated until the year 1842, when, from some cause or other, it ceased to be connected with the National system. It has, however, remained open as a school ever since, being supported by private sub- scription. Negociations are again on foot to place the school under the National Board. At this time it contains about 100 children of each sex, and there is not one Protestant among them. The children ought to pay one penny per week, but the master says that not more than twenty of the boys really do so. He is, consequently, kept very poor, not having more than 20/. salary. He pays out of this a rent of 1/. per annum for his house. I visited also the Parochial Protestant Schools, which are in connection with the Church Education Society. At the time of my visit there were 38 boys on the roll, and about 20 present, the average attendance being from 19 to 24. Some of the boys were Catholics. There were 32 girls on the rolls, with an average attendance of 18; 16 were then present, of whom two were Catholics. Among the 19 290 PAROCHIAL PROTESTANT SCHOOLS. children of both sexes there are 26 who are orphans or otherwise destitute, and who consequently receive support from the school-fund, I think to the amount of a quarter of a stone of Indian meal per week. The Catholic children participate in this bounty as well as the Protestants; their attendance at school being found to be most regular when the meal is scarcest at home. In the last Report of the Church Education Society I find the number on the roll and the average attendance in these schools to be as follows, in 1851:—Boys, on the roll, 49; average at- tendance, 82. Girls, on the roll, 34; average attend- ance, 26. Both the master and the mistress accounted for their present small attendance, partly from the claims of the harvest season, but still more from the ill-blood and prejudices generated by the late con- tested election ; the poor children suffering from the faults of their betters: the old story of the delirant reges plectuntur Achivt. The master of the school was formerly a Catholic, and a teacher in the National Schools until the year 1848. He was converted by following up his own reflections excited by the enunciation of a physical fact in one of the lay books supplied to the school. This was the doctrine of the émnpene- trability of matter. How, he argued, could the actual physical presence of the body and blood of Christ exist in the bread and wine, without exhi- biting physical gravity and bulk, or without dis- placing something? He considers himself as an TEETOTALISM. 291 example of the danger to Catholicism of the Na- tional Schools, and thinks Dr. M‘Hale’s hostility to them is founded on this danger. The honest schoolmaster is certainly now a zealous Protestant, whatever the philosophers or the Catholics may think of the fulcrum that moved him into his present position. Iam told that the doctrine his philosophy seemed to him to impugy, is not, after all, the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation but that of Consub- stantiation, which is disavowed by orthodox Catholics. But I feel more concerned in wishing, poor fellow, that he had a better salary, for I believe he is, at any rate, a worthy pedagogue ; he told me his whole income was 201. On further inquiry in the town I learnt that all the conversions to Protestantism were among chil- dren. No one seemed to be aware of the conver- sion of any adults. My inquiries respecting Temperance were so far satisfactory as to justify me in placing Castlebar in the same temperate category as the other towns yet examined by me. Although greatly fallen from the palmy state of pledged Teetotalism, which once distinguished it, it has preserved the best fruits of this system in its habits of practical temperance. At one time it would appear that one half, if not two thirds of the population were pledged and prac- tical Teetotallers. It is now doubted if there are more than twenty or thirty that can lay claim to this distinction. 292 UNION WORKHOUSE. Various causes have contributed here as else- where to the downfall of the Temperance system. The hostility of Dr, M‘Hale is regarded as one of the principal in this town as well as in Westport. It is no enviable distinction to this prelate that he should be opposed to the two greatest measures ever devised for the moral and physical good of his countrymen—I mean the National School system and the Abstinence movement of Father Mathew ; and still more that he alone, of all the Roman Catholic Bishops of Ireland he immediately rules, of all the priests in Ireland— should be entitled to this bad eminence. The Union Workhouse is, like all its fellows, a well-built and roomy establishment; and all its and the clergy whom interior arrangements are characterised by the same order and discipline, and by a degree of cleanliness that is really surprising. The total number in the house at the time of my visit was only 579, viz., 84 men, 125 women, 319 children, and 61 in the hos- pital. The number of Protestants 16. The present is, I believe, the smallest number that ever was in this house. The master has known it to contain (in 1848) 2500 persons at one time. In the year 1850 there were in this Union, according to the official reports, 8600 who received in-door relief, and 11,204 who re- ceived out-door relief; last year (1851) therewere 5377 received into the house, and none who received relief out of doors. No doubt the returns for the present vear will show a still more remarkable diminution. DIET—NUMBERS, 293 The dietary in this house is according to the pre- scribed formula, as to amount and kind, with only such slight variations as local circumstances suggest. The bread in common use, called here compound bread, is made of equal parts of whole flour (un- bolted wheaten flour) and rye meal. I found it very palatable and good. The Indian meal (8 oz.) allowed for breakfast is made into a mess of stirabout, weighing no less than 38 oz., so that the break- fast of a healthy man consists of 38 oz. of Indian meal porridge, and half a pint of milk. The chil- dren under fifteen have a third meal, consisting of 4 oz. of brown or white bread made of wheaten flour. The meal hours are as follows :—Breakfast, from eight to ten; dinner, from two to four; supper (for the children) from five to six. Women nursing have, in addition to their ordinary diet, one pint of gruel or vegetable soup, and one glass of milk daily. The average number of children in the workhouse schools at present is from 60 to 70 boys, and from 180 to 200 girls, over and above the infants. In the Reports of the National Board, under which these schools are enrolled, the number of children in September 1850 was stated to be 226 boys and 226 girls; and in the same month of 1851, 108 boys and 226 girls. In the house at present there are a great many orphans and deserted children. Of these, the girls are kept in the children’s department until they are fifteen, when they are transferred to the women’s department, if they still remain in the house. 294 FARMING. Castlebar being the capital of Mayo has, of course, its newspapers ; and of course one, at least, for each of the two great parties in Ireland,—the Liberal for the Catholics, the Conservative for the Orangemen and Protestants. They are called ‘The Mayo Constitutional,’ and the ‘Mayo Telegraph,’ and they are each recorded in Thom’s Almanac as using 15,000 stamps in the course of the year. Lord Lucan’s Lodge, it hardly deserves the name of a mansion, adjoins the town of Castlebar, and his farm-buildings are at no great distance. This farm- homestead is a complete model establishment, with steam-engine-power, aud everything in the most perfect order. His Lordship is said to be the most extensive farmer in the three kingdoms, having, it is stated, not fewer than 15,000 acres in his own hands. This extraordinary circumstance is explained by the fact that Lord Lucan has been for years devoting all his energies to convert his estates into large farms, on the English or rather Scotch system. His bailiff is a Scotsman, and all his farming ope- rations are conducted on the Scottish model. The only part of his improvements that we saw was this home-farm, conspicuous by its large and regular fields, and presenting the due proportion of turnips, grain, and grass, which this system requires. It reminded me of Lord Fitzwilliam’s farm at Coolattin, and, like it, exhibited a striking contrast with the wild country around it. Lord Lucan retains such a vast quantity of land in his own hands simply REFLECTIONS ON FARMING. 295 because part of it is in the process of consolidation, and because he has not been able to get tenants for much that is consolidated. The outlay of money in these gigantic improve- ments has been enormous,—amounting, it is said, to some hundred thousand pounds. We were told that, in some of his improvements he has expended as much as 15/. per acre. Whether or not he himself, even if he lives to be an old man, will ever receive any adequate return for his expenditure, most people seem to doubt; but that the property will eventually be an immense gainer by his labours is clear enough. Lord Lucan seems to have set about his great work with such determination, that he has been as little daunted by the moral and social difficulties involved in it, as by the physical obstacles presented to him. The number of cottages that have been pulled down, and the number of people evicted from them, and compelled to go into towns and into workhouses, or to emigrate from the country alto- gether, have been literally enormous. Although a very soft nature could scarcely be brought to front at all such a trial as this must have been to the heart and mind of its institutor, and although the name of Lord Lucan is certainly very unpopular among the people of the district, yet I nowhere heard that he had betrayed, in the operations which were necessary to the completion of his plans, any undue severity, much less any cruelty that could be avoided. 296 THE POOR-LAW. Neither must we suppose that all the persons deprived of their potato-gardens were disposed of as above mentioned. Some, no doubt, have re- mained in their old haunts, working at his improve- ments, and will probably be fixed there eventually as labourers on the new farms. Still it cannot be doubted, that hardship and distress, in the highest degree, must have often been the necessary consequence of Lord Lucan’s proceed- ings ; but whether he was wrong in doing what he has done, or whether he may not, in reality, rather claim from the large-thoughted and far-seeing patriot and philanthropist, the merit of conferring on his country the greatest of boons, is a question which will be answered very differently by different individuals, according to the strength and extent of their mental grasp, their economical and political views, and their personal temperament. I will venture to say this much—that though there are many good and wise men who would have shrunk from doing, or even from witnessing, such things, there is no patriotic Irishman who must not rejoice that they have been done. The thunder-storm and the hurricane are felt and deplored as terrible inflictions, but we are told by philosophers that they are wise and benevo- lent provisions in the economy of nature. In reference to the system of eviction generally in Ireland, it is but just to the landlords to remark that the establishment of Union Workhouses and of Poor Law relief generally, during the last ten POOR-RATES. 297 or twelve years, has deprived it of much of the horror that would have otherwise accompanied it, and which must have gone along with it in times when no such asylums existed. The Poor Law system came into operation in 1839, and workhouses began to be erected in the following year. Four houses were completed in 1840, and the erection went on so rapidly, that in the year 1845, no fewer than 123 had been opened. The number was increased every successive year until 1850, when they had reached their present number of 1638. The following table shows the number and extent of accommodation and assistance afforded by these houses, and at what cost to the country, during the last four years :— Numbers Relieved. cu, Years. In-door. Out-door. Expentiniie: £ 131 1848 610,463 1,433,042 1,835,634 131 1849 932,284 1,210,482 2,177,651 163 1850 805,702 368,665 1,430,108 163 1851 708,450 60,120 1,110,892 Two things are evident from this statement— first, that there was a sure asylum to which the evicted families could resort, and had a legal right to resort, so that the evictors could not be justly charged with the crime of knowingly exposing them to actual want of either food or shelter: secondly, that this food and shelter were provided, in a very 298 POOR-RATES. considerable degree, by the landlords themselves, and at an enormous cost to them; the very act of eviction that placed their property within their own control making them liable to the whole amount of poor rates levyable on it. The amount of this rate has for a good many years been very great—some years in certain places almost equal to the whole rental; in many places, during a few years, equal to one half the rental. The amount of the rate during the present year I found to vary from 3s. to 5s. in the pound; an immense decrease for many places, but not much in others. As illustrating the burthen of the poor-rates on the landlords, I will here give the actual rates of one particular place (Killarney) for the last seven years; always rather preferring, according to the title of my book, to state individual facts, than to make general propositions. Poor Rats levied on Property in the Kittarney Exzctorat Division, from 1846 to 1851. Rate. Per Annum. February, 1846 . ‘ sage er evesub LONG February, 1847 2 8 October, 1847 S s a hia April, 1848 4 6 October, 1848 3 3 eee July, 1849 DA September, 1849 Bree iv ee July, 1850 peo =n oan June, 1851 Wes October, 1851 4 sf hie oh? AN APOLOGY FOR THE LANDLORDS. 299 The following are the different ways in which the rates are proportioned between the landlord and tenant :— 1. Where the rent per annum is equal to the valuation of the property under the Poor Law, the landlord pays half the rates, by allowance to the tenant when paying his rent. 2. Where the valuation of the property exceeds the annual rent, the landlord pays half the rate per pound on every pound of the year’s rent. 3. Where the valuation of the property is less than the annual rent, the landlord pays half the rates levied. In all cases the occupier must pay the collector in the first instance, and deduct from the landlord, when paying his rent, the amount legally chargeable against the latter. In making these statements I am the apologist of the landlords to this extent—of those landlords, at least, who have only adopted the practice of con- solidation since the complete establishment of the Poor Law system—viz. that if they had the con- viction that this consolidation was not merely for their own interest as proprietors, but was also for the good of the country at large, and for the happiness of the future people of Ireland, they were not merely legally but morally justified in carrying it into effect. The existence of the Poor Law system, with its Union Workhouses in every district, was an essential preliminary, not merely to render such an 3800 LARGE AND SMALL FARMS. act justifiable, but to render it possible without in- curring the responsibility of a most positive outrage on humanity, which no mere legal authority could either warrant or palliate. And the apology, more- over, proceeds on the assumption that the evictions were had recourse to after due warning to the parties concerned ; and that they were conducted with every practicable accompaniment that could mitigate the physical and mental distress which must, under all circumstances, be too severe not to reach the heart of any one in any way concerned in the proceedings, much more the hearts of those who were the direct cause of it. I believe this was often the case; I would fain hope that it was generally so: I have learned, however, that the reverse was also true —nor rarely, I fear ; more especially where the task of dispossession was left in the hands of a mercenary agent. If this be true, the landlord, whether a resident or an absentee, has incurred a fearful responsibility, which, far from being limited to the immediate case, must take its share In answering for those terrible deeds of mistaken vengeance which have of late years so darkened and saddened the social history of Ireland. Although Lord Lucan’s plans of consolidation comprise, as a general rule, the establishment of large farms, yet the rule seems to be wisely modified by him im practice. And, indeed, I cannot but believe that a country or a district with nothing but large farms, would only be a shade better than that HARVEST WAGES. 301 of the wretched cottier system. The mixture of large and small holdings in the same district seems to be capable of producing infinitely greater good than can be achieved by the exclusive adoption of either. This would appear to be Lord Lucan’s opinion also. At least, I found such holdings in one of his villages near Castlebar. One tenant, under a recent lease, rented a house with 15 acres of land adjoining for 17/. per year; and another had only 7 acres and a house, for which he paid a rental of 9/. 14s. annually. The people we saw employed on Lord Lucan’s harvest field, were chiefly paid by the piece, at the rate of 7s, 6d. per acre, which amounted to about ls. per day. Those employed by the day were paid as follows: the men 10d., the women-reapers 6d., and the women-binders 4d.,—all without victuals. The locality of Castlebar has naturally led me to refer more particularly to Lord Lucan in relation to the great change as to the consolidation. of agricultural property now taking place in Ireland ; but it will be seen by many previous statements in these pages, that he is far from being the exclusive promoter of it. Indeed, we have seen that the practice has almost become’general through- out Ireland. And now, in writing out my memo- randums on this head, I am enabled to avail myself of information of the most important and most authentic kind, showing the actual advances made in this direction. This information is derived from 302 CHANGES IN AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS. an admirable Report recently published by the Commissioners of the late census in Ireland. The whole of this Report I recommend to those who wish for a complete knowledge of the subject: I can here only make a few extracts from it. It will, I think, be impossible, after reading these brief but pregnant statements, any longer to retain a doubt that the great revolution as to the holding of property in Ireland has already made great ad- vances; while it seems equally certain, from what is at present going on, that these advances will pro- ceed to an early consummation. What may be the precise effect of this remarkable change on the future fortunes of the people of Ireland, remains to be seen. In all probability, it will be one of great though not unmixed good; but for good or for evil, the die is now cast—the thing is now done. 1. Changes in the several Classes of Agricultural Holdings, exceeding one acre in extent, which have taken place during the last ten years. No. of No. of Classes of Holdings. Holdings Holdings | Decrease. | Increase. in 1841. in 1851. ee Number above 1 and not exceeding 5 acres .|_ 310,375 88,083 | 222,292 = Number above 5 and not exceeding 15 acres .| 252,778 191,854 60,924 Number above 15 and not exceeding 30 acres | 79,388 | 141,311 _ 61,973 Number above 30 acres} 48,623 149,090 — 100,467 Total. . -| 691,114 570,338 | 283,216 | 162,440 NUMBER OF HOLDINGS. 303 11. Changes in each of the last three years. Holdings not exceeding] Holdings exceeding Total Holdings. One Acre. Une Acre. Vie) = i No. | Ann. Dee. No. | Aun. Inc. No. Ann. Dec. — ee fee es 1849 | 651,145 == 31,989 = 616,156 —_— 1850 | 628,222 | 22,923 | 35,326 3,337 |592,826 | 26,260 | 1851 | 608,066 | 20,156 37,728 | 2,402 |570,338 | 22,558 From these Tables it will appear that the total number of holdings has continued to decrease. The entire reduction between the years 1850 and 1851 is 20,156—which is, however, 2767 less than that which took place between 1849 and 1850, although at the same time the returns for 1851 exhibit an increase of 8402 in the holdings under one acre. This increase of the very small holdings is satisfac- tory as showing that the remark made in a pre- ceding page, respecting the retention of a portion of the evicted tenantry, in or near the consolidated estates, must be correct. It is presumed that among the vast number of “holdings not exceeding one acre,” many must be occupied by former cot- tiers, now engaged as labourers on the property of others. The following Table shows the interesting fact of the actual results of the consolidation system so far as yet developed. 304 NUMBER OF FARMS, ETC. m1. Actual number of Farms in Ireland, exceeding 30 acres, in the year 1851. Above 30 and not exceeding 50 acres . - 70,093 Above 50 and not exceeding 100 acres ° - 49,940 Above 100 and not exceeding 200 acres 5 2 195753 Above 200 and not exceeding 500 acres : - 71847 Above 500 acres 1457 The following twoextracts from the Commissioners’ Reports have also very important bearings on the same general subject of the influence of the changed system on the tillage and produce of the land. The first (rv) shows that there has been a consider- able increase in the amount of cultivated land during the last ten years; while the next (v) seems to prove that the recent practice of throwing corn-land into pasture, has already told on the amount of the cereal produce. tv. Relative quantity of arable land in Ireland now and formerly. “The quantity of arable land in Ireland in 1841, was 13,464,300 acres; the amount according to these returns is now 14,802,581, showing that the extent of the cultivated land has been increased by 1,338,281 acres during the last ten years; and from 1847 (the first year the extent of tillage was re- corded), to 1851 the quantity of land under crops has been also extended from 5,238,575 to 5,858,951, thus showing an increase of 620,376 acres. LAND AND PRODUCE. 3805 v. Estimate of the quantity of corn, beans, and peas grown in Ireland during the last four years. Crops. 1847. 1851. Wheat (barrels of 20 stones) .. 4,916,599 .. 2,508,963 Oats ( ditto of 14 stones) . . 18,433,390 .. 17,232,874 Barley ( ditto of 16 stones) .. 2,489,330 .. 2,482,992 Bere (ditto of 16 stones)... 423,978 .. 442,752 Rye (ditto of 20 stones)... 102,273 .. 157,537 Beans and Peas (bushels of 8 gallons)... 675,649 .. 1,283,610 vi. Total produce of the above crops reduced to tons of 2240 lbs. each: Years. Tons of Produce. Years. Tons of Produce. 1847 . 2,548,503 1850 és « 2,113;327 1849 7 . 2,182,514 1851 A . 2,165,864” vit. Total produce of edible roots (in tons) during, the last four years. Potatoes. Turnips. Carrots, &c. —— Tons. Tons. Tons. 1848 | 2,048,195 | 5,760,616 | (Not known.) 1849 4,014,122 5,805,848 101,727 1850 3,945,990 5,439,005 83,622 1851 4,441,022 6,081,326 87,627 In the year 1847 the proportion of cereal to green crops was, in acres—four six-tenths to one; whilst in 1851 the proportion was two three-tenths to one. vu. Amount of flax (also showing its great increase) cultivated in each province in Ireland. 1850. Acres. 1851. Acres. Leinster, © cas: :. cena 1801 4889 Munster «ay Lee 2094 5991 Ulster® sh * 5 Use 83065 125,407 Connaught, . ....4) 24 2080 4249 Total of Flax . . 91,040 140,436 20 306 PRODUCTION. The two following Tables, showing the total amount of stock in Ireland in 1841 and 1851, complete the view I have been desirous of giving of the present state of the agricultural interest in Treland. It will be seen how well these details confirm the observations I have had occasion to make in various places respecting the deficiency of pigs and sheep in Ireland. I may add, that they point out to the speculator in Irish stock a fine field for his exertions: 1x. Fotal and relative amount of each kind of Stock in Ireland in 1841 and 1851. 1841. 1851. Horses and Mules m 50) Gy RUGS soe Bteaisy Geel Asses A : 92305; ~. .. 136,981 Cattle = : : 9 1,863;116- < <,- 2,967,461 Sheep fish. Gee ee ORAea c );) 2.490198 DIGS a igh eee ee BOS ok Pe OSa Bay Goats . : 5 4 - _ hia 235,313 Poultry 5 : : . 8,458,517 . . 7,470,694 “This Table shows a gradual diminution in the number of horses and mules; the decrease within the ten years being 32,803. Pigs, though greatly increased since 1847, have not yet reached the numbers shown in 1841, the deficiency as between that year and 1851 being 327,956. Goats were not enumerated in 1841, but their numbers have considerably increased since 1847. Poultry have also increased since 1847; but they are yet under the number in 1841 by 987,828. The number AMOUNT OF STOCK. 307 of horned cattle in each period shows a considerable augmentation; the increase within the ten years being 1,104,345. “The Census Commissioners of 1841 not only made an enumeration of the stock at that time in Treland, but also, after inquiry, assumed an average rate per head for each description, viz.:—horses and mules were valued at 8/. each, asses at 1/., horned cattle at 6/. 10s., sheep at Ill. 2s., pigs at Il. 5s., poultry at 6d. By this means they arrived at an approximation to the value of the entire stock in Ireland in 1841. There is every reason to think that were the inquiries on this subject now repeated, horses and mules, cattle, sheep, and pigs would be estimated at higher rates; but as any alteration in these rates would disturb the comparison with pre- vious years, it has been thought judicious to adhere to the prices adopted in 184]. A general view is thus afforded of the extent of the changes which have taken place since that year in this important branch of farming.” x. Past and present value of farm stock in Ireland : Years. Value. 1841 . : : % - £21,105,808 UfeiSp he : . z S 2 odgaoo “ In contrasting the number of holdings with the value of stock in the years 1841 and 1851, it appears, that although the number of holdings has diminished by 120,776, and the gross value of stock 808 NUMBER OF HOLDINGS. in the possession of landholders has increased by 7,926,3077., the landholders in each class have on an average a less amount of stock on their farms respectively than they had in 1841, thus showing that stock on the two smaller classes of holdings (7. e. from 1 to 5 and from 5 to 15 acres) has dimi- nished more rapidly than the number of holdings, and that, although the stock on the two larger classes (7. e. from 15 to 80, and above 380 acres) is increased, the increase is not in proportion to the greater number of large holdings; and that a further augmentation of the stock to an extent of 5,700,000/. in value is required to make the average amount of stock on each class of holdings in 1851 equal to what it was on the same classes in 1841. “The demand for this increase necessarily arises from the enlarged size of farms; thus if a farm of five acres, with its stock, be added to one of fifteen acres with its stock—as existing in 1841—the latter becomes a holding of a higher class, but with a stock value for only (9/. 17s. 6d. added to 22/. 11s. 7d.) 32/. 9s. 1d., being 14/. under the average value per holding of the class to which it has been raised by the union of the two farms.” END OF VOL. I. le INC IED) hur ‘roype a preapue Wt | | nt ‘ o. = i ns) ln es . Peake, oO MEMORANDUMS MADE IN IRELAND. CHAPTER I. BALLINA. We left Castlebar in the afternoon, on our way to Ballina, where we purposed resting for the night. The route presented nothing very worthy of notice until we reached Lough Conn. The country through which we passed on leaving Castlebar possesses little that calls for notice, being of that common, coarse, semi-cultivated kind which in Ireland is so uninteresting when not relieved by the vicinity of lakes or mountains. As we ap- proach Lough Conn, however, the tameness of the flat corn-patched moorland disappears, and is succeeded by the sterner and bolder features of a stony desert, the whole surface being almost covered by the huge projecting shoulders of the subjacent rock, or overlaid by vast boulders broken from the same. Skirting the west shores of the lake for a time, the road at length brought us under the base of one of the roots or rather branches of the great II. L 2 LOUGH CONN. Nephin Mountain, the highest in Mayo. At this point we had reached the extremity of the lake we had been skirting; but we soon found that the road which, turning to the east, led us along its northern shore, merely traversed a narrow neck or tongue of land which separates this from another lake of much greater extent. This strip of land was, In its natural state, cut across by the small stream which unites the two lakes, but is now artificially united to the opposite bank by a bridge. This bridged neck of land is termed the Pontoon. Both these lakes are usually called Lough Conn, though this name properly belongs to the larger or upper lough only, the lower having the distinctive appellation of Lough Cullen. Together, these lakes are of great extent, the upper, or Lough Conn proper, being eight miles in length, its greatest width three miles and a quarter, and its mean breadth one mile and a half. The lower lake, or Lough Cullen, is about two miles and a half long, and one mile and a half broad. This last, except at the point which adjoins the upper, has nothing picturesque about it, its shores being flat and marshy. A good deal of the upper lake is bor- dered in the same manner, but the fine range of mountains that bound it on the west, breaking up its shores with their rugged spurs, and finally ter- minating in the great Nephin, give at once a grand and picturesque aspect to the vast expanse of water at their feet. LOUGH CULLEN. 3 This Nephin is a finely-shaped mountain-mass, quite isolated by its great elevation, and visible at a far distance in all directions. It rises 2646 feet above the sea level. The flat shores of Lough Conn proper, are, on the east side, if possible, still more rocky than those of Lough Cullen, and the whole tract of country around retains the same character to a considerable distance from the water. The upper lake is fed by the river Deel, which enters its north-western extre- mity, as well as by other streams from its mountain boundary. The lower lake is partially fed by streams coming from the south, namely the Castle- bar river, and another whose name I did not learn. The Castlebar or Clydagh river is the outlet of a series of small lakes near Castlebar, which together occupy a space nearly three miles in length and a quarter of a mile in breadth. The Clydagh escapes from that portion of the lake called Lough Dan, close to the town of Castlebar, and has a course of nine or ten miles, part of it through a flat marsh, before it ends in Lough Cullen. Both the lakes finally discharge their waters by a channel not more than a quarter of a mile long, running from the lower extremity of Lough Cullen into the river Moy, whose seaward course brings it very close to this lake. The small river forming the outlet of the lakes is very shallow as well as short, being partially dry in the summer. The elevation of these lakes above the sea level is stated to be from thirty-seven to forty- 4 A PHENOMENON. two feet, a difference of five feet having been observed between the winter and summer level. I am led to give these particulars a little more in detail on account of a very singular anomaly which exists in the currents of these lakes,—nothing less, indeed, than the occasional reverse flow of the lower lake into the upper. Of the truth of this fact I received, on the spot, the most distinct evidence from persons resident there, and, among others, from a very intelligent member of the constabulary force, Mr. William Browne, at that time, and for many years previously, stationed at the barracks close by. I have since had some further commu- nications with Mr. Browne, which leave no doubt whatever on my mind as to the fact of the backward flow, though I have not yet succeeded to my own perfect satisfaction in accounting for it. As far as I can learn, the reversed flow has no set times of recurrence; at least none of my informants have ascertained this fact, if it exists; but Mr. Browne and some of his local friends think it occurs most frequently in summer and harvest. Neither had any one noted the period of its duration. They had, however, all seen the flow itself, and Mr. Browne states that when it exists, the current is very strong, much stronger than the ordinary current downwards. It has been stated that this singular change of current is connected with the ebb and flow of the sea; but this is quite untrue in fact, and could not possibly be the case, the only connection of the EXPLANATION OF ITS CAUSE. 5 lakes with the sea being by the river Moy, in which the tide does not rise higher than the town of Ballina, which is ten miles below Lough Conn. Several other explanations present themselves. Knowing, as we do, the power of a long-continued wind blowing in one direction to raise or heap-up water on the opposite shores, as is seen in the Red Sea, and on some parts of the eastern shores of America, we might suppose that such might be the case here; but those who are best acquainted with the phenomenon assert that it is unconnected with any such precursor. Another, and much more probable explanation, is the sudden elevation of the level. of the lower lake by great partial rains, which, while flooding the Clydagh and other small rivers that run into the lower lake, may have missed the vicinity of the upper. Obvious difficulties in this explanation are (1) the immense quantity of water that would be requisite to raise the whole surface of the lower lake (upwards of 2700 acres in extent) only a few inches; and (2) that, in the case of partial falls of rain, the probability is much greater that they should affect the upper lake, owing to its mountainous borders, than the lower lake: still, when it is considered that there are several small rivers draining a wide extent of country, falling into the lower lake, and that it is very much shallower than the upper, the explana- tion seems far from untenable. A third explanation occurs to me, founded on the 6 FURTHER EXPLANATIONS. relation of the river Moy to the lower lake. This river, in its progress seaward, and before turning away, as it were, from the lower lake with a rounded sweep, runs for a part of its course almost in an opposite direction to that of the short river that jos it from the lower lake. Now, if we conceive the river Moy to be flooded from any of the ordinary causes that flood rivers, we can easily understand that it may not only dam up the outlet from the lower lake, but produce such an accumulation of water in it as to make it flow into the upper. Un- fortunately I am as yet unable to state, from any local authority, whether this hypothesis is at all borne out by facts. However, I think that one or other of the latter two hypotheses, and, still more, the co-existence of the two supposed phenomena, a likely-enough occur- rence, will go far to set at rest this curious question. Our friends at the Pontoon barracks gave us another piece of information respecting these lakes which is worth noticing. They were formerly, and from time immemorial, celebrated for the great quantity of trout and salmon contained in them. These have within these dozen years sustained a wonderful diminution, especially the trout, from the introduction of pike into the lakes about the time specified. How this introduction. took place no one seems to know, though there is so pretty a legend got up respecting it, that makes one almost regret that it is not true. It is stated that an old poacher ENCLOSURES. a on the lakes, convicted and punished for his mis- demeanours, conceived a project of revenge on those who had been instrumental in his disgrace, that should touch them all very nearly. This was the introduction of some living pikes into the lake, which he is reported to have brought from some distant lough in the county of Galway. After the stony desert immediately beyond Lough Conn, the country becomes once more boggy and moorland, and so continues, intermingled with small farms and patches of corn-land here and there, until we reach Ballina: this we did about seven o’clock. We had remarked in every part of the country which we had yet passed through, the singular fond- ness of the farmers of Ireland for enclosures. In the smallest farms, and in mere cottage holdings, and quite as much on the poorest and wildest spots as on good lands, no portion of ground occupied, or intended to be occupied by any one, is ever seen without a fence or enclosure of some sort—almost always in the shape of rude stone walls. We had a curious example of this in the vicinity of Lough Conn, where the slope of a small hill on the road- side is divided into some dozens of little enclosures —many of them not bigger than the site of a good- sized house—by huge stone walls, although more than half the enclosed space in each consisted literally of earth-fast blocks of stone. It looked almost as if the fences had been reared to protect the stones! I suppose the immediate cause of this 8 PECKSNIFFIAN TOWERLETS. superfluity of fencing, in many cases, rests on the necessity of disposing of the stones dug from the © soil in clearing it, and hence their arrangement in the form of walls. But the same system prevails among the bogs and moors, where there is often no stones, showing that there must be some other reason for its being so universal in Ireland. While on this subject I may mention another small peculiarity in the exterior economy of farming in Ireland, which struck me equally, and more par- ticularly from the circumstance of its universality throughout the whole island: this is the existence in every common field-gate of two huge round pillars of stone with conical tops, something in the fashion of the Round Towers in miniature. I got into the habit of naming these Pecksniff gate-posts, after Dickens’s hero, from the striking contrast between their vast pretensions and small performance. Very generally it happened that the fields at whose en- trance these huge gate-posts stood, were small and insignificant, and not at all tenable in their fence- capacity; aud very commonly also the gate itself (generally iron) was not fixed in these stone posts, but had a separate metal upright to swing on: so that they were in reality more for ornament than use. These Pecksniffian towerlets are also rendered more conspicuous by being whitewashed with lime ; a practice, by the way, vastly more general, as applied to cottages and small houses, in Ireland, than I ever saw elsewhere. Whatever may be the BALLINA. 9 blackness of all within doors, you will generally find that the outside walls of the cottages are nicely whitewashed, except in the cases, comparatively rare, where they are built of turf. These peculiarities, also, like the stone fencing, originate in local causes. I believe the gate-posts are made of such large diameter (a couple of feet or so) because it is easier and cheaper, in so stony a land, to build with large stones than with small; and they and the cottages are whitewashed because limestone is, fortunately for Treland, a very frequent rock in most parts of it. Ballina is a neat, and looks like a thriving town. It is beautifully situated on the banks of the river Moy, about five miles above the point where it enters Killala Bay. It consists, indeed, of two towns, divided by the river, and united by the two bridges which cross it. The larger town, Ballina proper, lies on the left bank, and the smaller, Ardnaree, on the right ; but they are both, properly speaking, but one town, and usually receive the one general name of Ballina. There has been a remark- able decrease in the population of these towns of late years, particularly of Ardnaree, as will appear from the following abstract of the last two censuses. 1841. 1851. Decrease. Ballina : . 5 5313 4635 678 Ardnaree . : -| 1699 583 1116 Ballina proper contains one or two excellent streets, and several others of tolerable size and 10 THE MOY. neatness. Like all other Irish towns, it also con- tains many small cottage-like houses and some dirty and confined lanes, more particularly Ardnaree. The Moy is a splendid river, and, dashing as it does over some bold rapids in the very middle of the town, gives to the eye and ear a perpetual suggestion of activity and liveliness which is very agreeable to a civic population. The tide flows up to the town, but the river is not navigable farther than a mile or a mile and a half below it, and only then to vessels not exceeding 400 or 450 tons. The river between the town and Quay runs over a suc- cession of rocky shelves, and its banks, particularly the left, are finely wooded, and contain several gen- tlemen’s seats. There is always a steam-tug on the river to assist the navigation, which, for a small Irish port, seems considerable. The pilot told me that about forty ships came into the harbour in the course of the year, either loaded or to load. There was formerly a large export trade in corn, and the people at the Quay informed me that there had been a larger exportation this year of oats and barley than in all the years since the famine. Of late years, among the imports, Indian corn has been a principal article. There is a fine salmon fishery in this river, em- ploying many hands during the season, and also a good many at other times to keep the rivers and lakes in the interior frequented by the fish. The men seem badly paid, the best hands receiving only 2. FISHERMEN. Il seven shillings a week, even when employed by night as well as by day. The fish is commonly ex- ported to Liverpool, being conveyed from the river in a small sloop to be put on board the Liverpool vessels in Killala Bay. The total export of salmon this year is supposed to amount to from 120 to 130 tons, and reckoned to realise to the proprietors a profit of near 5000/. These gentlemen pay a rental of 1100/. for the fishery, besides a constant outlay of about 500/. for watching and protecting the hauntsof the fish. The present season has been particularly successful. The small village called The Quay is almost en- tirely occupied by fishermen. The cottages are small and untidy, and not half-furnished. There is a small plot of ground attached to most of them, to the extent of 16 or 17 perches; the rent varying from 20s. to 30s. per annum. There are about forty fisher- men in this village, or rather forty men whose avowed occupation is fishing ; for they assured me that very few of them could follow their trade for want of the necessary means. ‘They said that nearly all their boats have gone to decay; and, since the years of famine, they have not been able to get either new boats or nets, or other necessary tackle. The men were strong and active-looking, and expressed them- selves as most anxious to follow their occupation if they were enabled to do so, I asked these men if they would and could pay a weekly rent for boats and tackle, if they were pro- vided by others. They caught eagerly at the idea, 12 WANT OF ASSISTANCE. and said that every man would willingly pay a shil- ling per week for the use of the boat, &c. If these statements are correct—and I see no reason for doubting them—the facts stated seem to indicate as great a want of enterprise among the commercial class in Ireland, as among the people themselves. Surely in such a town as Ballina some individual, or some association of individuals, might be found, who, merely as a commercial speculation—to say nothing of higher considerations—might give these poor men the means of following their employment. It seems strange that the mere desire of obtaining a better fish-market—which, I believe, hardly exists at present in Ballma—should not, of itself, set on foot some such undertaking. There can, I think, be little doubt that it would pay, even commercially: that it would inevitably pay most richly in the higher mart of benevolence, there can be no doubt at all. It was really most painful, and in many ways, to see those fine sturdy fellows—willing to work, and able by their work to support their families and benefit the public at the same time—all loitering idly at their cottage-doors, and half-starved, solely because no man or men among their neighbours— who must be aware of their condition—would take the trouble to consider the means whereby their evils might be removed. The least consideration, I am convinced, would inevitably lead to their removal. I feel the more assured of the success of this plan of supplying the fishermen with boats, &c. at a weekly THE SCOTTISH PRACTICE. 13 or annual rent, because I know it to have been a custom formerly in use among the fishermen in some parts of Scotland ; the proprietor of the village supplying all the boats, and leasing them out for a term of years, under a contract of repair and renewal at certain fixed times. While writing out these Memorandums, I have received from a friend a communication on the subject of the Scottish practice, which I subjoin. From this it appears that the custom prevalent when I had a knowledge of the country, some fifty years since, has now become obsolete; but the fact of its existence so long sufficiently proves its practicability. Whether my Irish friends might, by greater care in the organisation of the plan, eschew the causes of its decay in the Banffshire fishing villages, I do not know; but, at any rate, the prospect of even tem- porary success ought, in my opinion, to be reason sufficient for attempting its introduction at Ballina and elsewhere along the west coast of Ireland, under the state of distress now so painfully prevalent there. My friend’s statement is as follows :— “ About twenty years ago the proprietors on the east coast of Scotland, particularly those of the fish- ing villages on the Banffshire coast, Port-Gordon, Buckie, Portessie, Findochty, and Portknockie, were in the practice of affording to a crew of fishermen (six in number) a new boat, at a cost of 25/. or 28/.; the fishermen supplying, at their own expense, sails, rigging, &c. They paid the proprietor in money and 14 THE SCOTTISH PRACTICE. fish to the amount of 6/. 6s. per annum for the space of seven years. This sum stood also as payment for . the privilege of landing their boats, and as ground- rent for their houses. At the end of seven years the boat was considered to be worn out; when the crew paid the proprietor 1. as the value of the old boat, and the proprietor in return paid the crew 1li. 5s. to aid them to get a new one: this was called the short run, and was renewed at the end of every seven years, upon the regular payment of 61. 6s. yearly. The crew had to give the boat all the necessary repairs she might require during this term at their own expense. The fishermen had to find themselves in all their fishing materials, namely, nets, lines, &c. “The above plan appeared to work well for a long time. It is now, however, almost done away with. It became a difficult matter for the proprie- tors to get the fishermen to keep together: they were always breaking up their crews, through quar- rels amongst themselves, and of course the rents were but indifferently paid; so much so, that the proprietors have now in general declined to assist them with new boats. The general practice now is for each fisherman to pay the proprietor 10s. 6d. for the privilege of landing his boat, and from 10s. 6d. to 12s. 6d. for the ground-rent of his house, yearly.” I subjoin, in a note,’ the remaining portion of my 1« The haddock fishing commences here about the 1st of October, and continues until the end of May. ‘The fishermen sell all their fish to the fish-curers, who smoke them for the Glasgow, Leith, London, NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 15 friend’s communication, as containing some statistics which may also be useful in Ireland. The National Schools at Ballina are on the usual excellent plan. At the time of my visit to the boys’ school there were on the books 175, but only 60 present. The average attendance during the last year was about 100. The present compara- tively small attendance was accounted for partly by the period of the year (harvest), by the vicinity of the vacation, and by the unfavorable effects of the recent election for Members of Parliament. There was only one Protestant at present in the school; but at a former period there had been as many as twelve. The master is a Catholic, and gives the usual religious catechetical instruction at the stated times fixed by the Board. The parish priests visit the school for purposes of supervision and inspection, but never instruct the pupils in religion. and Liverpool markets, where they bring from 20s. to 40s. per barrel, according to the supply. Thecurers pay the fishermen about 16s. for 156 haddocks; the barrel containing about 230 to 250 haddocks, and costing the curer 25s. the barrel, besides other charges and expense of transit. “From the 12th of July to the middle of September our fishermen occupy themselves in prosecuting the herring fishing, and, in general, with very good success. The average gain to the individual fisherman may run from 80/. to 100/. per annum. The men certainly have a great deal of materials to keep up, so that, on the whole, they may be said to be in debt. “The population of Buckie is about 2700, and the number of active fishermen 362. Thirty-two large boats go to the haddock fishing during the winter, and six smaller ones. Buckie also fits out about 175 boats to the herring fishing yearly. These boats, when new, cost from 604. to 70. each; and the fleet of nets about 70/. to 80/.” 16 PROTESTANT SCHOOLS. The female school, although belonging to the National establishments, is conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, four or five of whom attend the school by turns. There are also two paid mistresses in the school. At the time of my visit there were only 32 girls in attendance, owing to the prevalence of the same reasons which affected the numbers in the boys’ school. Some weeks back, however, there were between 200 and 300 in attendance. In July there were on the roll 389. There is not, at present, one Protestant m the school. This is an industrial as well as an ordinary educational school. The following is the state of these schools, according to the official returns of the National Board, dated September each year: 1850. 1851. Boys’ School F eos tet ee, LOS Girls’ School : Se ey ee ice neo There is a Protestant school in Ardnaree, attached to the English Parochial Church, and supported to a considerable extent by the Rector. It does not appear in the list of the schools assisted by the Church Education Society. The school-house is small, and in every way inferior to the National School. At the time of my visit there were on the books 58 boys, with an average attendance of 25; and 42 girls, with an average attendance of 20. For- merly (before the famine) the schools seem to have been better attended, the boys then reaching to the number of 180, and the girls to 110. A short PRESBYTERIAN MISSION SCHOOLS. V7 period of the school-time, in the girls’ school, is devoted to industrial work. The children are ex- pected to pay one penny or twopence per week, but few pay anything. The master told me that nearly one half of his pupils were Catholics, but the mistress said the Catholics only amounted to about a fifth part among the girls. All who attend the schools read.the Scriptures, and must learn the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer; but the Catholics are excused from the catechetical instruction. No food or clothing has been given to the children in these schools for the last two years. There is also a very neat and well-organised Presbyterian School in Ballina. At the time of my visit it had on its books 52 boys and girls. All these are Catholics, except six, and all of them read the Scriptures and receive the same religious in- struction. Twenty-five of the Catholic children even attend the Presbyterian Church. This is an industrial school, and seems excellently managed. No bribes in the way of food or clothing are held out to the Catholics to attend it; but the girls receive the profit on their own work, and obtain all the materials at a cheaper rate. This is a Mission School, established with a view to the ultimate conversion of the Roman Catholics, and was the first battery I had seen erected by the Presbyterian powers against the fortress of Catho- licism. It is necessary to distinguish such schools from the common or ordinary schools so liberally 2 18 PRESBYTERIAN MISSION SCHOOLS. provided by the Presbyterian Church. Wherever any of her ministers are to be found, whether in the Presbyterian land of Ulster, or elsewhere, the establishment of a school may be said to be almost as much a matter of course as the erection of a chapel, education being never for a moment for- gotten by this intellectual sect of Christians. But these Mission Schools are on a different footing, and have, in some respects, a different object. They are, like the Church Mission Schools of the English Church, for the most part planted among Roman Catholic populations; and the officers con- nected with them do not confine themselves exclu- sively to instruction in the schools. In each district. where any of these schools exist, there is a local missionary and a catechist or Scripture reader, whose duty it is to give religious instruction in school and out of school. There are in Connaught two distinct sections of these Presbyterian Mission Schools; one supported by the Presbyterian body at large from certain funds derived from various associated bodies, collections at churches, and private contributions; the other set on foot and maintained by the “ Belfast Ladies’ Relief Association for Connaught.” These two Societies, though having objects in common, are yet distinct in their organisation and management. Of the schools which may be termed “ General Presbyterian Mission Schools,” there are at this time no less than forty-three in the counties INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. 19 of Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon, and Leitrim, con- taining in all about 2000 children. Of this number only a fifth or sixth part are Protestants. “In these forty schools (says one of the Reports) there are forty-seven teachers engaged in giving instruc- tion in common literature, and in Scriptural and industrial knowledge. The number on the roll is above 2000—between fifteen and sixteen hundred . in daily attendance—and about one half of them are working at the sewed muslin manufacture. Each district 1s independent of the others, as to special oversight and management ; but all are con- ducted on the same general principles, under the care of the general superintendent.” Beside these schools there are twenty or thirty more of the same kind in the south and west of Ireland, and a consi- derable number more (perhaps forty) which are only partially supported by the funds above mentioned. It will be further seen by the following extracts from the same Report, that the schools are, for the most part, industrial schools, and the pupils chiefly girls ; and it will be observed that the plan of the English Church Mission Schools, in giving physical relief to the children, is likewise adopted to a certain extent :—‘“ As most of the schools are female schools, and the young people had little or nothing to do, and much poverty and destitution prevail continually, it seemed to be important to teach them some branch of female industry; and the sewed muslin manufacture, so long practised in 20 BELFAST RELIEF ASSOCIATION, Ulster, was found, after trial of other kinds of work, to be most available and profitable. This useful art is now, therefore, taught in all the schools where the teachers are female, and is forming the children to habits of industry and diligence, of which, at first, they seemed almost incapable. The Relief fund, for supplying some food and clothing to the more destitute children, has proved a very important auxiliary to the work. It helps to sustain them until able, by their own hands, to support themselves. It has made the schools a refuge also for a great number of orphans, and a blessing to them, both in respect to indus- trial and saving knowledge. Thus, in one district alone, ninety children are to be found in our schools, of whom fifty-six have lost their fathers, and nineteen are without mothers, and fifteen are wholly orphan; while the whole of the children of one small village have been rescued from starvation and idleness, and their fatal accompaniments and fruits. Of these there are fifty now able to support them- selves, and twenty-five who can do so in part.” The Belfast Ladies’ Relief Association for Con- naught was set on foot in 1846, I believe, by Dr. Edgar, its present President, but was, from the beginning, supported equally by all denominations of Protestants. Its great objects were to introduce industrial training of such kind as to enable girls and young women to gain their livelihood by means of a trade, and to promote the Protestant religion, SPRIGGED MUSLIN. 21 not by teaching “any of the peculiar principles of any one denomination of Protestants, but to act as pioneers for all, teaching alone the simple truths of the Gospel.” Whatever may have been the effect of these schools in making converts to Protestantism, their influence in making converts to civihsation, and thus improving the social and economical condition of the female part of the population, has been immense. This is sufficiently manifested by the simple fact, stated in one of the late Reports of the Association, that no less a sum than 75001. has been received by the pupils of the Connaught schools as their earnings for a single year. This estimate is formed from the returns of all the schools, the General as well as the Association Schools. This “sewed muslin manufacture” has of late years become a most important article of commerce in Ire- land. It was stated in a paper by Mr. Holden, read before the meeting of the British Association at Bel- fast, in the first week of September, that a quarter of a million of persons (young women and girls chiefly) are now employed in this manufacture, in Ulster alone, at the weekly pay of from 4s. to 6s.; and that from 500,000/. to 600,000/. are annually paid for labour, exclusive of materials. A great advantage attending on this kind of work is its being carried on at the domestic fireside, and, as just stated, in schools. Although the great staple of the work done in the schools consists of this “sewed muslin,” knitting, ye WORKHOUSE FARMS. stitching, and all other kinds of needlework are also taught and exercised in them. It has been found, in numerous instances, that the children belonging to these schools, even those of tender age, have been able to assist, and have assisted very considerably, their parents in their difficulties. The Union Workhouse in Ballina contained, at the time of my visit, only 750 persons of all ages, among whom there were between twenty and thirty Protestants. There were in the schools 324 boys and girls; and 150 were in the hospital, of whom fourteen were labouring under ophthalmia.' Last year, the smallest number at any time in the house was 1875. According to the official reports, there were relieved in the Union in 1850, 5954 in the house, and 4169 out of the house; and in 1851, 3390 in-doors and 20 out-doors. There is a farm of twenty-five acres attached to the workhouse, on which the boys that have not reached their fourteenth year are alone employed. At the period of my visit, indeed, all hands, of whatever age or sex, that were able to work, were so employed; but this was a mere temporary harvest labour. The true principle on which such works should be conducted are laid down in the last Report of the Commissioners as follows: “Tn carrying out those provisions of the statute 1 Ina communication received from the master, dated January 31, I find the numbers in the house were still further reduced at that date, there being then only 645 in the house, and only five cases of ophthalmia. ee COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. a5 11 and 12 Vic., cap. 25, which permit farms to the extent of twenty-five acres to be taken for the instruction of children under sixteen years of age in an improved system of agriculture, we have endeavoured to guard as much as practicable against any evasion of the object of the statute by substi- tuting adult labour for that of the young persons for whose employment and instruction these provi- sions were enacted. We have, therefore, usually stipulated that such farms should be held in con- nection with buildings wholly detached from the main workhouse, and fitted for the reception and maintenance of young persons to be instructed in agriculture ; and in most instances this arrangement has been effected. “The desire of Boards of Guardians to take farms under this statute has often been connected with an intention to obtain profit from the labour of the adult male inmates, by employing them on the farm. To such employment of adult workhouse inmates we have objected, not only as going beyond the terms of the Act of Parliament, but as tending to make residence in the workhouse less irksome to persons able to work, than it is when employment is found for them within the enclosed yards of the building; and since the number of this class of paupers has decreased, there has been less anxiety shown to take additional land beyond the twenty- five acres authorised by the original Act. In some Unions, as in those of Galway, Ballina, Clogheen, 24: CAPTAIN HAMILTON’S REPORT. Dungarven, New Ross, Gorey, Kilrush, and Ennis, the Guardians have carried out the precise object of the Legislature in giving young persons under sixteen the benefit of instruction in improved modes of agriculture, and these exertions have been re- ported to us by some of our Inspectors as produc- tive of very useful and beneficial results.” It would appear that the Ballina farm, conducted on these principles, has answered its purposes admirably, as will be manifest from the following extracts, taken from Capt. Hamilton’s Report, dated April, 1852: “The Ballina Workhouse Farm consists of twenty- five statute acres. There is an Agriculturist, who is paid at the rate of 35/. per annum, with a house, but no rations, He resides in the Auxiliary Workhouse, and has entire charge of the Agri- cultural class, which at present numbers only 39 boys, between fourteen and sixteen years of age, and 14 boys under fourteen years of age. The latter have only been under instruction for one week, having been sent to fill vacancies. There are sixteen acres prepared for crops, which will consist this year of oats, turnips, flax, parsnips, carrots, onions, &c. I cannot, perhaps, convey a_ better idea of the success of the system than by repeating what the Agriculturist complained to me. of — ‘Why, Sir, I no sooner teach a boy anything, and make him useful, than I lose him.’ ._ ©The farm may be said to have been only fairly in operation this year, and already 28 snitch WORKHOUSE FARMS. 20 boys, most of whom were orphans, and who had been for years inmates of the house, have found employment out of the house, and have, I am led to believe, given satisfaction to their employers. “The greater number of boys who have been instructed, or are at present under instruction at the farm, are orphans; they look very healthy, and are well behaved. Indirectly the farm has hitherto paid. For, if the cost of maintenance and clothing the boys, who have through its means ceased to be a burden on the Rates of the Union, be taken into consideration, there.is a present saving of at least 120/. per annum, not taking into account the differ- ence of cost between turning out useful members of so- ciety, and those whose training entirely unfits them for anything but crime and misery,—in either of which courses, I need hardly remark, they would prove a heavy and constant burden on the industrious classes. “TI regard the system (slight as has been my experience of it), when commenced with caution and under favorable circumstances, as one of the chief means of remedying the lamentable effects of the last few years, which have made the workhouses of some Unions the only, at present, ostensible home of many hundreds of orphan children.” The boys employed on the farm receive a couple of hours’ schooling before going to work. The dietary in this house is the one ordinarily used. I only remember a little peculiarity in the bread. Instead of being made: into loaves, it 26 THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. is formed into rounded thinnish cakes, each of the precise weight allowed to one person, and baked on a hot plate. It is made of three fourths Indian meal and one fourth whole wheaten flour. I thought it better and more palatable than the usual loaf bread. The following is the history of the Temperance movement in Ballina:—Father Mathew visited the town in 1843, on which occasion about 600 took the pledge. A Temperance Hall was established, with the usual accompaniments of newspapers, Xc., and a band of music provided. The Society was faithful, and flourished for about three years, but, like so many others, became disorganised during the famine, and was broken up. ‘Two years ago there were still about a hundred pledged members, but at the beginning of the present year the number had fallen as low as thirty. Fortunately the Temperance cause in Ballina has been taken up by the Sisters of Mercy, who, to the number of eight, have established themselves in a convent here since last October. These ladies have already added a full hundred to.the old remnant, and are zealously and successfully following up their triumph. Their plan is to accept pledges, at first, for a period of twelve months only, finding it much more easy to obtain them for that limited period ; and well-judging that the great majority of those who have kept the pledge for that period will renew it permanently. These admirable ladies carry their SISTERS OF MERCY. Pay Christian zeal and practical good sense into this as into all their other undertakings. They are found to exercise a much greater supervision over their pledged clients than any other persons could do; and pro- portional results may be expected from their labours. I mentioned these noble Sisters of Mercy once before, in my memorandums on Killarney ; but they are so widely spread over Ireland, and so constantly to be found where good is to be done, that I feel it would be unjust alike to their profession and practice (which here, for once, are the same,) not to make them the express subject of a few memorandums in a book professedly treating of Ireland. I shall there- fore take the occasion which here naturally presents itself, of telling what little I know about them. Every one who has been in Catholic countries must have heard of and seen these Sisters at their various works of Charity and Mercy—educating the young, nursing the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, harbouring the homeless, imparting re- ligion to improve the good and to restore the bad; and all, with that utter self-abnegation and self- devotion, and with that earnestness, tenderness, and patience, which can only spring from the profoundest conviction that, in so labouring, they are fulfilling God’s will as revealed to man. Of them, and of a few others—constituting a wonderfully-small minority of the great Christian community—it may be truly said, that they accept and follow, to the letter, the precepts and the prac- 28 RELIGIOUS ORDERS. tice of the great Founder of the Christian religion : not by useless self-sacrifice and barren holiness, but by actively ministering to the welfare and necessities of their fellow-creatures in accordance with that grand fundamental law of all true religion—To do unto others as one would desire that others should do unto him. Into this small category of true practical Christians, I think we must admit some more of the religious orders existing in most Catholic countries, and now spread widely over Ireland. Of this kind are the Christian Brothers, already mentioned ; the Sisters of Charity; and those communities of Nuns, who, like the Sisters of Mercy, consecrate their lives to the imparting of good to their neighbours—particularly to the poor and the young—in the form of Epvucation. Under this head come especially the Nuns of the Presentation Order; also those of the Sacred Heart, of Loretto, Carmelite, &c. Of the two most active and most numerous of these Orders, the Presentation Nuns and the Sisters of Mercy, there are upwards of fifty separate establishments in Treland, viz. 30 of the former and 24 of the latter, all of which, I believe, must be regarded as perennial fountains of good to their respective neighbourhoods. In the First Report of the Commissioners on Trish Education in 1825, it is stated that there were then in Ireland thirty Nunnery Schools, containing 6310 girls. Of these thirty schools, no fewer than eighteen belonged to Nuns of the Presentation ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL STATISTICS. 29 Order. The following handsome tribute by the Commissioners to the teaching in these schools is, I believe, most just; and certainly not less so at this time than it was twenty-seven years since. “We have visited many of these schools, and have found them conducted with great order and regu- larity ; and the children are, in general, well sup- plied with books and every school requisite. The Nuns are the teachers, and devote themselves to the duty of instruction with the most unwearied assiduity and attention. We were much impressed with the appearance of affection and respect on the part of the pupils towards their teachers which charac- terises these institutions in a remarkable degree.””* The following few memorandums, extracted from the Irish Catholic Registry of this year, show the work now being done in some of these establish- ments: At the Carmelite Convent at New Ross, it is stated that there are 600 children in the schools. At the Presentation Convent at Drogheda, the schools are said to contain 1000 children. In Loretto House, Navan, besides forty lady boarders, there are two large day-schools for the poor, and 200 destitute children receive their breakfast daily. At the Presentation Convent at Limerick, there are 700 girls in the schools. There are two Convents of the Sisters of Mercy in Limerick; in one of these fifty servants out of place are lodged and supported ; 1 First Report, p. 88. 30 RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS. in the other, more than sixty orphans are main- tained. It is stated that in these two convents, and in two others in the same diocese, there are no less than 2000 girls in the schools. The Sisters of the Convent of the Good Shepherd, in the same city, have charge of a Magdalen Asylum containing seventy penitents. In the two Convents of the Sacred Heart at Roscrea and Armagh, there are at one 60 young ladies, (boarders,) 30 day-scholars of a better class, and 400 poor children; at the other, a few boarders, 20 day-scholars, and about 400 poor children. Although these establishments go all under the name of Convents or Nunneries, it must not be imagined that they are all of great extent, like many of the communities having similar names which are to be seen in other countries, or which we read of in our own, in former times. On the contrary, the great majority of them are small, having only such a number of members as are required for the active labours in which they are engaged. Thus, in the thirteen establishments of which I have taken note, the following numbers represent the total staff in each, including Novices, lay-sisters, &c.— 34, 20, 17, 16, 18, 11, 10, 8, 5. It would thus seem that the ancient and unnatural practice of the Catholic Church of congregating together, for mere devotional purposes, large numbers of young women who might have been useful in the world’s work, has been most happily modified, at least in Ireland. NUNNERIES. OL Some of the numbers in the above list are still, no doubt, a good deal too high; but I believe the strength in the majority of the institutions is not at all disproportioned to the active work done. If this regulating principle—of hands proportioned to work—is kept in view, there seems no reason why such religious establishments should not only be permitted but even encouraged, and thisno less in the . Protestant than the Catholic Church. The Catholics, indeed, seem to doubt whether there is sufficient earnestness and definiteness of belief among Protestants to originate or perpetuate among them such devoted communities; but surely the Reformed Church will not submit to an imputa- tion which goes to the root of the superiority they claim over the Catholics. - As strikingly illustrative of the principles and practice adopted, and of the sentiments and feelings entertained by the inmates of these modern Nun- neries, I cannot here refrain from quoting a portion of a letter lately addressed to an old friend, by a lady now a Nun in one of the Convents of the Sacred Heart above mentioned : “J think you know that if I gave the best part of my life to education, it was, if not from enthu- siasm, at least with it, and had not the Society of the Sacred Heart been devoted to that object, I should never have jomed it. Not only the fact of the Society embracing all classes, from the palace to the cottage, nay, to the houseless orphan, but the 32 NUNNERIES. admirable method used in carrying it out, won my heart, and every day I may say I find my anticipa- tions out-stripped. No house of ours can be with- out pupils, of as many of these classes as we have hands to cultivate, say, in general, four, viz., young ladies, day-scholars, (of the middle classes generally,) poor children, and orphans. These last are boarders, taken for nothing, if the house can afford it, or, at least, for the barest needful for food and clothing. Our rule for education is to give the best that can be given, keeping in view the modesty proper to our sex, balanced with the ever-increasing exigencies of the age. Accomplishments are usually taught by masters, under our constant surveillance of course. The course of studies comprise, besides the founding branches of reading, writing, history, geography, globes, arithmetic, style and composition, Kc. ; foreign languages, taught by natives, (an easy matter for us who are of many lands,) mineralogy, botany, zoology, in the regular classes, and these ex- tended and detailed, joined to natural philosophy, geology, logic, and even a little chemistry, in what is called the superior class. You will perceive that we must begin with good health, good spirits, good talents, and good education; but all this does not suffice, we must be good students too, and even in the daily routine we must prepare our classes, poor little women as we are, neither more nor less than any professor of your colleges. To explain to you our system, (contained in a little code, binding NUNNERIES. oo both mistresses and children) would require more time than I can now spare. It will suffice to say, that reward is ever preferred to punishment; indeed, were a pupil only sensible to the latter, her parents not only would be apprised of the fact, but we would request them (and this is no rare event) to prefer another convent. Need I say, that a higher principle than the diffusion of knowledge actuates us? We believe that man’s mind was made to know God, and his heart to love him, his whole being given to serve him; we believe, too, that cultivating the mind to the fullest rational extent, opening the kindly feelings, training the young heart, and ever imparting accomplishments that will prevent idleness and worse,—all will render these dear children more capable of rising to the knowledge and love of their Creator and Heavenly Father, putting them in the way, each according to the duties of her sphere of life, of acquiring and imparting the largest portion of hap- piness here, and hereafter of receiving a higher reward and enjoying greater bliss; not to say, that we believe and hope many by our means will avoid, through God’s blessing and the merits of his Son, an opposite lot in eternity.” In the poorer quarters of the towns of Ballina and Ardnaree, and in the fishing village and cottages near the quay, I found the poor people’s cabins very little better than those I have formerly noticed. They were perhaps a shade cleaner, and had a 3 54 RATES AND RATING. sprinkling more of furniture; but still they were much: below the standard of even the humblest comfort, and altogether incompatible with what reason would indicate as the abodes of men able and willing to work, in a civilized land, and at the present stage of man’s progress. Beside the rent for the cottages, the poorest people seem to pay county cess, to the amount of 6d., 7d., or 9d. yearly. A small house in the town, the inhabitant’s own property, and valued at 2/. per annum, paid 4s. 3d. rates, and 2s. 10d. cess. The same man rented a small portion of land, for which he paid 4/. yearly rent, the landlord paying all the public charges, - The general amount of poor-rate in Ballina last year was 3s. 4d. in the pound per rate—that is, 6s. 8d. per annum: this year it is nearly the same, namely, 3s. 6d. per half-year’s rate. In the year 1847, the rate was as high as 7s. 6d.—that is, 15s.in the pound. The county cess is paid by every one who rents a house valued at 1/. annual rental. From the remarkable decrease of population in these towns shown above (nearly one fourth part), it cannot be doubted that the emigration from them has been very great, though only 202 persons are mentioned in the official returns as having sailed from this harbour in 1850, their destination being Canada. ‘The most intelligent persons in this place are of opinion that emigration has gone quite far enough in reducing the proportion of population to LARGE FARMS. 3D the exigencies of labour—that is to say, if labour were really sought for according to the wants and not according to the remunerative powers of the country. The system of consolidation of farms has been carried to a considerable extent in the vicimity of Ballina. One proprietor has dispossessed all the cottagers, except about six, over a tract of 1500 acres; but, like Lord Lucan, he has not yet obtained tenants for the large farms thus created. In some places, the few small farmers who have remained in the country have done well, by obtain- ing land at a very low rate, and grazing cattle on it. Having no outlay but in the purchase of the cattle, they suffer little or no injury from having a mere holding from year to year, while the landlords are willing to accept almost a nominal rental until they obtain such tenants as they require. In this neighbourhood, as elsewhere, the corn crops are excellent, better than for years before. Even the partial failure of the potatoes will not be greatly felt, as a much greater quantity than usual had been planted, almost as if to provide against the failure. But the failure of the crop has been actually less here than in any place previously visited by us; and the same result has been found to extend all over the country as far as Sligo. From what I could learn, house-rent, and also the rent of land, was moderate in the town and 36 HOUSE RENT, neighbourhood. For instance, the very respectable landlord of the hotel where we put up (the Royal Mail Hotel) told me that he had only two years since obtained a lease for sixty years of the hotel— a house of considerable extent—and twenty acres of land adjoining, at a rental of 70/. per annum. I feel assured that such a property, in any town of England, could not be obtained for a rental of half as much more. On putting the usual question to intelligent men in this district, as to the causes of the depressed state of Ireland, relatively to England and Scotland, I met with the answer I so often received elsewhere —viz., that the main causes are: over-population, (now, however, remedied ;) defective capital among the landlords and farmers; and defective enterprise in all classes. The same statement was repeated in almost the identical words used in the south, that when farmers make a little money they keep it close, and live on it without more exertion ; or they make their sons gentlemen, and they soon spend it for them. Still, the general belief and the general expression among impartial and intelligent men was, that Ireland was decidedly improving; that the people were better off; that there was more enterprise, such as it was—more work, more trade, and, above all, more Horr. CHAPTER II. SLIGO. We left Ballina for Sligo about noon, and reached the latter place early in the evening. Immediately on crossing the Ballina Bridge we entered the county of Sligo, the river Moy being the boundary between it and Mayo. The road, generally speaking, coasted the sea line, so that we were rarely out of sight of the open sea or of some of its manifold bays or inlets. These sea- views, always fine to the eye of passing travellers, constituted the chief, if not the only attractive features in this day’s route. We had, to be sure, for a considerable portion of the latter part of our journey, a fine range of hills on our right-hand, (the Lurgan hills,) the northern extremity of which we closely rounded at the small town of Ballysadere, about three miles from Sligo. Ballysadere is beautifully situated at the foot of the Lurgan hills, and at the head of the southern horn of Sligo Bay, called Ardnaglass Harbour, and is rendered still more picturesque by being tra- versed by the united streams of the Owenbeg and Arrow, which rush with great impetuosity over a succession of rocky ledges so as to constitute a 38 INDICATIONS OF IMPROVEMENT. series of fine rapids within the very precincts of the town. From this part of the road also, and indeed long before we reached Ballysadere, we had constantly in our eye the beautiful and finely-shaped hill of Knocknara, shooting up from the sea-bank at the entrance of Ardnaglass Harbour to the height of a thousand feet, crowned with a singular-looking isolated rock, which makes one doubt at first whether it is the work of nature or art. The general aspect of the country, however, becomes greatly improved in regard both to culti- vability and cultivation so soon as we enter the county of Sligo. The bogs are fewer and the farms are larger; and although the general style of the cottages could hardly be said to be much better, they presented decided indications of greater sub- stance on the part of the cottagers. For the first time since commencing our journey, we began to recognise, as an ordinary attendant at the cabin door, that animal which has always been regarded as the familiar household friend of the Irish. In all parts of the country previously visited, we scarcely ever met with a pig in the cabin of a mere cottier, and their presence was even rare in the homesteads of the small farmer. The race, as for- merly mentioned, had almost been extirpated by the dire necessities of the year of famine, and the poverty of the people had hitherto prevented its regeneration. We had other indications, also, of the improved ABSENTEEISM. 89 condition of the people during this day’s journey. Almost for the first time, in Ireland, we saw an orchard now and then adjoining a small farm-house, and in one cottage garden, at least, we gladly recog- nised, (and for the first time also,) that emblem of cheerful industry, a bee-hive. What a contrast is presented by the wayside cottages of England, need not be said; but I fear it must be said that so general an absence of the bee,—the only profitable stock that involves no outlay,—is a melancholy proof that the Insh cottagers are far behind their English brethren even in the desire to work out their own comfort. But the want, or comparative feebleness of this desire, indicated by so many other things in the cottage-life of Ireland, is also, I believe, a proof of another want for which the cottagers of Ireland cannot be made responsible,—I mean the want of that more instructed and more well-to-do class of small gentry which is scattered so plentifully throughout the villages and rural districts of England. Absenteeism of the great lords and lairds is, no doubt, one of the main sources of the evils of ‘Treland; but the absenteeism,—or, to speak more justly, the want or deficiency of the class referred to,—is fraught with still worse consequences. It is greatly from the example, counsel, and assistance of this class of persons,—well termed the middle class, as being the link between the rich and 40 VALUE OF A MIDDLE CLASS. poor,—that the lowest members of the community derive the inclination and the means of increasing their own comforts and of improving their position in life. With such a middle class as this inter- spersed among the peasantry, and with a resident Aristocracy like that of England, ever ready to co-operate in all schemes of relief and improvement relating to the poor, we should, I think, soon find a wonderful change in the industrial habits and the domestic comforts of the people of Ireland. At present, they have few friends and patterns and advisers of this sort, except their priests, whose enforced poverty and defective domestic relations deprive them of much of the power to aid them, which their inclination would unquestionably lead them to exercise if they had the means. For much, therefore, if not for all their social defici- encies and inferiority, the peasantry of Ireland are to be pitied not condemned; they are unfortunate, not criminal. In the actual and most unhappy relations in which the Church establishment stands to the great body of the poor (the Catholics) of Ireland, the parochial English clergy and their families are most inadequate substitutes for the pattern class referred to, and can generate only an infinitesimal portion of that amount of social good which flows over the whole soil of England from the thousand homesteads of her clergy. For obvious reasons, the exertions of the pastors of the Established Church STATE ENDOWMENT. Al in Ireland to benefit the poor, must be mainly con- fined to their own flocks, a miserable minority of the great body of the people, and a minority, too, much less destitute, generally speaking, than the majority. In this important relation of the clergy to the lower class of their parishioners, I see a strong argument in favour of payment by the State of the parochial ministers ; but I also see in it the neces- sity of such payment being extended to every deno- mination of ministers. It is truly painful, in the present condition of things, to see the great body of the true pastors of the poor, the Catholic clergy, instead of being able to aid their flocks, pecuniarily or otherwise, condemned to accept their own scanty livelihood from them. So long as this is the case, the parish priest is necessarily disqualified from assuming that position of superiority in social station, which I regard as of so much consequence to the temporal welfare of the humbler class of their parishioners. And, it need hardly be added, that such a disqualification operates with tenfold force in such a country as Ireland, so destitute, as we have seen, of the class of lay gentry, and others of a class some- what lower but still fitted to benefit those beneath them, as well by their means as by their example. While stopping to change horses at the small village of Dromore West, about twelve miles from Ballina, I was able to ascertain the few following par- ticulars respecting a Presbyterian School established 42 DROMORE WEST. there about five years: one of the schools formerly mentioned as emanating from the Belfast Ladies’ Association. This school, at the time of my visit, contained about 100 children, who are nearly all Catholics: in the boys’ school there was not one Protestant. There were nearly four times as many girls as boys in the school, a disproportion readily explained by the fact that the girls’ schools are Industrial Schools, in which a good deal of money is gained by the muslin work done in it. The schoolmistress told me that she had paid as much as 25/. for work in a fortnight, and that she now sometimes pays as much as 15/. But for this work and its resulting pay, the greater part of the girls, being orphans, deserted, or inadequately sup- ported, would be in the workhouse. There is also a National School in this village, but I had not time to visit it. According to the official reports, it had on the books 85 boys and 58 girls in September, 1850, and 55 boys and 65 girls in September, 1851. In approaching the town of Sligo, as we did, from the west, the traveller is surprised to be told that he is almost arrived at it,—that it is but a furlong before him, and so on,—while nothing can be seen of it, except one or two public buildings, which are afterwards found to be more than a mile from it. The fact is, that Sligo lies in a deep valley, on the banks of its own harbour, and conse- SLIGO. 43 quently on the sea-level, while a partial rising of the ground still intervenes between the spectator and it, as he descends the slope of its surrounding hills. Nevertheless, the site of nearly all its streets cannot be called flat, as the acuteness of the angle formed by the hills constituting the valley, produces a marked slope on either side on which the houses are built. The centre of the valley below the town is filled by the arm of the sea constituting the har- bour, and in the town by the river Garrogue, which divides it into two parts. Both these form fine features in the immediate aspect of the town, while the landscape that bounds it, comprising at once exquisite views of the mountains, the bay, and the sea, may fairly claim to be at once beautiful and picturesque. The town itself contains very little worthy of note. There are, to be sure, two fair bridges joining the two portions of the town, a spacious county jail, two tolerably good-looking churches, a large but clumsy Catholic chapel, a neat Infirmary, and the ruins of a fine old Dominican Abbey; but, with the exception of the last named, none of the structures are remarkable. There are two or three tolerable streets, but the majority are small, poor, and rather untidy. There are two hotels of consi- derable size, but they are inferior in appearance to those of most of the towns previously visited by us, and that where we put up was certainly not first-rate. The harbour, so beautiful a feature in so many Irish 4A, NATIONAL SCHOOLS. towns, retains the same character here, although I believe it is not so good as it looks, being obstructed by a rather impracticable bar, which mars its navi- gation. Ships, however, of a considerable size come up to the town, and it can boast, I am told, of having the most commerce of any town in Con- naught. It has shared with almost all the other ports in that traffic of expatriation which has, of late years, given to Ireland a sad pre-eminence over all other countries. In the year 1850 there sailed from Sligo 1832 emigrants, viz., 931 for the United States, and 901 for our possessions in Canada. I know not the subsequent amount of emigration. The population of the town of Sligo was in 1841, according to the census returns, 12,272, but had fallen down to 10,889 in 1851. If, indeed, we were to include the inmates of the gaol, workhouse, and hospitals in the latter year, instead of a decrease we should have an increase of 1058, these establish- ments having, within themselves a population of 2431. Education flourishes in Sligo as_ elsewhere. There are no less than four National Schools, though one of them was temporarily shut at the period of my visit. Three of these schools, in Sep- tember, 1851, contained 252 boys and 660 girls. There are also three Protestant schools in con- nection with the Church Education Society ; a male and female school in St. John’s parish, and a female school in Calry parish. These in 1851 had 272 children on their rolls, with an average attendance TEMPERANCE. 45 of 167. ‘The local contributions towards the sup- port of the schools amounted in the same year to 924. Sligo has likewise several schools, superintended by the Sisters of Mercy and other Nuns. In the Nunnery School belonging to the Order of Mercy, there were 250 grown-up girls and 140 children ; and in that of the Ursuline, 200 children. The Sisters of Mercy have built a house of refuge, partly for education, but chiefly for the temporary main- tenance, by their own work, of servants out of place: it contained, at the time of my visit, 40 inmates. These excellent women have here, as in Westport, taken the Temperance movement under their direc- tion, and have within the last year given the pledge to full 200 men. Like their Sisters in Westport, they give the pledge for a limited period of one or two years. In Sligo as elsewhere Teetotalism had fallen from its high estate, and the fall here as elsewhere was attributed to the sad incidents of the years of pesti- lence and famine. Many men attributed their broken pledges to the recommendation of their medical friends, who considered spirits as a prophy- lactic against cholera and fever. One poor fellow, an ostler, told me that his doctor had been the ruin of him, by advising him to take two glasses of spirits, besides beer, daily. He had, however, after experiencing for a time the evils of the stimulating regimen, returned to his pledge, and had now kept it faithfully for eight years. 46 UNION WORKHOUSE, Father Mathew visited Sligo in the year 1840, and received the pledges of one-half or even of two thirds of the Catholic population: and some thousands kept their pledges until the whole system was disorganised, as already said, by the visitations of famine, cholera, and fever. There was then a Temperance Hall and the other usual adjuncts of a zealous and active association. All these have dis- appeared, and I was told that before the Sisters of Mercy began their labours, there were probably not more than a hundred members remaining of the original stock. I visited the Union Workhouse, which is prettily situated about a mile out of the town, and presents the same admirable neatness and order which charac- terises all this class of houses. It was first opened in December, 1841, and was planned for the accom- modation of 1200 inmates. Further accommodation was afterwards provided for 800 more; and I see by the official Reports that in April, 1848, it contained at one time 1690 inmates. It can now receive within its walls 1600. At the time of my visit it contained in all only 753. Of these there were no less than 212 persons in the hospital, including 16 in the Fever Hospital. As this is a greater propor- tion of sick than has been observed in other houses of the kind, it is but fair to say that of the 196 inmates of the hospital, 58 were merely infirm from old age, making the actual number of sick in the two infirmaries 154. Among these no less than 50 PAUPERISM. 47 were cases of ophthalmia.’ Out of the 753 persons in the house there were in the schools no less than 226 children, viz. 99 boys and 127 girls; and the number of Protestants was about 80—by far the largest number yet found in any Union, and indi- cating our gradual progress towards the Presbyterian district. The following statement gives, in round numbers, the greatest amount of paupers on the books at any one time during the last few years, and points out the progressive diminution of pauperism in the dis- trict : In 1849 é : : 4100 Tn 1850). ; . 8200 In 1851 3 . 1400 to 1900. The same results are shown on a still larger scale in the official Poor Law Reports : Number of Persons Relieved during the Year. | Years. In-door. Out-door. | 1849 13,379 17,351 | 1850 9309 412 | 1851 5962 9 | I observed a peculiarity of the “stirabout” in this Union, 2 oz. of rice being here combined with 5 oz. of Indian meal in its composition. The re- sulting mess was very palatable. I also noticed that ' By a communication from the master, dated February 12, I learn that this number had decreased to 24. 48 COTTAGERS. the bread was composed entirely of flour, that is, from fine Egyptian wheat ; and was very good. At a short distance beyond the Union Work- house I visited the new County Asylum for Lunatics. Though not yet completed, I could see from its interior plan that it embraces all the best modern arrangements hitherto suggested—among others, that of having a recess dining-room, bulging out, as it were, from the exercising gallery adjoining the cells. In this respect it has the advantage over the new asylum at Killarney. I cannot omit to notice the singularly-elegant elevation of this house, and the remarkable beauty of the whole structure. Indeed it is, to my taste, one of the finest public charities I ever saw, and seems no less creditable to the liberal spirit of the public body who authorised its erection, than to the fine taste of the architect, Mr. Deane Butler. It was to me another striking evidence of the great architectural genius of the Irish nation. I visited several cottages in and near Sligo, and had a good deal of conversation with their occupants. Being Sunday morning, I found them all at home and at leisure. Upon the whole, the cottages were somewhat better than those observed further to the south and west, both as to neatness and amount of furniture. Many of them, however, were lamentably deficient in both these respects. Only in one or two, out of many, could I recognise even a slight approach towards what in civilised nations is called i> COTTAGERS. 49 comfort: in none could I find a single trace of those humble but charming efforts at embellishment and decoration, those simple and innocent luxuries, so surely indicative of mental progress, that delight the eye and touch the heart of the visitor of an English cottage. Alas, for the poor of Ireland, that gifted as they are, beyond most, with the quick imaginations and the warm affections which are best calculated to create and to enjoy what is graceful and what is tasteful, they should still be bound by their hard fortunes within the circle of mere physical wants! Truly, of them, if of any, it may be said— “Chill penury repressed their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.” Among others, I went into a cottage belonging to a young labouring man and his wife, and which, with the exception of two chubby, half-clad infants, could boast no other wealth than a couple of chairs, a potato-pot, and a few dishes of coarse crockery. I here met with one of those strong-headed men, not seldom to be found in the very lowest rank of society, who at once arrest the attention and com- mand the respect of every one, by the unconscious display of natural talent, good sense, and good feel- ing. He was a working mason, of about forty years of age, and seemed to have come into his neighbour’s house for a little morning’s gossip. It was early, and he had not yet begun to prepare himself for chapel. Soon finding that my friend in the flannel jacket and lime-burnt hat was one of nature’s gentlemen A 50 A LABOURER’S OPINIONS ON as well as philosophers, I gradually got into an interesting discussion with him on the everlasting theme of Ireland—her evils and their remedies; the young labourer and his wife standing by, the while, now joining in as a sort of confirmatory chorus, and now serving my friend as living illustrations of his theme. I don’t know that he told me aught that was new or worth reproducing in these pages; but his shrewdness, liberality, and impartiality, certainly tended to strengthen impressions already in my mind, and added to my respect for the Irish character in its humbler sphere. He was a strong Catholic, but without bigotry. He seemed to regard his Protestant neighbours without the least ill feeling; and the great question that so agitates the Catholics of the middle and upper classes and the Roman Catholic clergy—I mean the monstrous anomaly of the Church of the minority being the exclusive recipient of tithes—seemed hardly to affect him at all, because, im reality, it scarcely touched his class practically. He thought his own creed the true one, but he did not blame others for preferring that they had been brought up in. Being somewhat of a scholar, he now and then referred to passages in the Bible; and on my expressing my. surprise at this, he told me that he had an English Bible, and that he had not only the sanction of the priest for keeping it, but for reading it. He offered to show it to me, if I would go with him to his house, which was hard by. His possession of this book was shown to be an ex- NATIONAL EVILS. 51 ception to the general rule, by a circumstance men- tioned by him, namely, that he had won a bet from a Protestant neighbour on the question whether the priest would allow him to retain it. The general practice was evidently against him; but probably he relied on his own strength of character and known soundness of belief. He condemned the Elections as most injurious to the peace of the lower classes, stirring up ill blood between the Protestants and Catholics which never was moved at other times. He himself had no vote, and hoped he never would have one. He spoke with kindness of the landlords as a body, but condemned some of them bitterly as oppressors of the poor, both im their minds and bodies, sometimes directly, but much more frequently through their agents. He had often known a poor man’s cow or horse, or other goods, taken for rent at the very time of the year when they were most needed by their owner, and thus the poor tenant be broken down entirely; whereas, if the agent had waited for a short time, say till after harvest or after ploughing time, all the rent or the greater part of it would have been paid, and the poor man would still have held his place in the world. He pithily illustrated the relative power of landlord and tenant, in all their differences, by the remark, “A sally [sallow] landlord will break an oaken tenant.” He avowed himself to be strongly attached to the English government, as being in itself not only the 52 REMUNERATION OF LABOUR, best form of government, and the Queen the best of queens, but as being far better for Ireland than Repeal and so-called independence. But he strongly insisted upon the fact that there was still something wrong between the two countries which ought to be made right; though he confessed that he did not know the precise root and essence of the evil. Practically, however, he said he knew it in many ways, and most of all and most painfully in the palpable fact that a large proportion of the working- men of Ireland, men able and willing to work, could either get no work at all or insufficient work, or getting sufficient work could not get adequate re- muneration. A country properly governed and properly managed ought, he truly said, to exhibit no such fact as that; “nor ought a man like him,” he said, (pointing to the stalwart labourer standing beside him,) “to be compelled to labour for 6d. or 8d. a day, with a wife and children to maintain, food and clothing to buy, and rent to pay.” And yet he was far from extravagant in his ideas as to the remuneration of labour, bounding his esti- mate at one shilling, or at most eighteen pence, for the daily allowance. Surely, in all this the good man was right; and surely, distresses so patiently borne and sought to be allayed by means so moderate, cannot much longer be the lot of this unfortunate people. The moderation of tone and views of my hard- handed friend gave me no surprise, as I had noticed MODERATE VIEWS RESPECTING. 53 it previously among many of his class. Indeed, the general feeling prevalent among even the most dis- tressed poor in Ireland had always shown itself to me more in the form of sorrow than of anger. I met with little or nothing of that terrible bitterness of discontent which, in former years, used to charac- terise a considerable proportion of the lower classes in England, and which refused to be allayed by concessions addressed to their mere personal and individual wrongs. The poor men of Ireland, more practical in this than even their English brethren, seemed to me to indulge in no transcendental theories of politics, nor to look for aid from organic changes in the state of society or government. They looked only to their individual wants and wrongs, and sought redress for these in such a plain practical form as common reason and common sense could at once understand and sanction. Perhaps it was the very discipline of their long distress that had brought them into a state of mind that simulated, at least, if it was not that highest kind of practical philosophy which teaches us, in the words of our great poet, that— “To know That which before us lies in daily life Is the prime wisdom.” It is among the more instructed members of the middle class, and among the Catholic clergy, that the national wrongs in regard to the dominant Church are felt and expressed. If the labouring 54 PROSELYTISM. classes ever take a part in such questions, it is at the suggestion of those above them, not from their own spontaneous feelings and convictions. Since coming into the west of Ireland, where the greatest efforts in proselytismg to the Protestant Church has been made, I think I have myself ob- served, and have been certainly informed by those who ought to know, that the zeal of the Roman Catholic Clergy in visiting and instructing their own flocks has been increased in proportion to the ac- tivity of their opponents. It is most certain that the priests are very zealous and industrious in their vocation ; and if they are more so now than formerly, or more so here than elsewhere, the result becomes very intelligible on the grounds of mere human rivalry and opposition. It is the opinion of some observers, Protestant as well as Catholic, that the zeal of the Protestant ladies and Scripture readers may, by stirring up this rivalry and opposition, neutralise itself. The priests certainly complain of both these classes of persons for going about, as they say, to disturb the quiet of consciences and the peace of families ; but it will be understood that such complaints are likely to be the louder, the more successful such missionaries are in their work of conversion. It cannot, however, be otherwise than most distressing and annoying to men so strong in their convictions of the superiority of their own creed and so zealous in the discharge of their duties, as the priests are, to find their old NATIONAL RESISTANCE. 55 province so determinately and systematically invaded by hostile bands on all sides, vowed, not merely to “ disturb their ancient solitary reign,” but to break it in sunder and destroy it altogether. If, under such circumstances, we should find the equanimity of the old rulers somewhat disturbed, or should even see them, occasionally, moved to the point of wrathful and unseemly opposition, we need not surely be much surprised, nor feel that it re- quires any extraordinary amount of clemency to forgive them. This remark is made in reference to reports I have heard in England, respecting the conduct of the priests in some of the emergencies alluded to. I think it right, however, to state that I myself, while in Ireland, met with no instance of unseemly violence on the part of the priests in such cases, either in word or deed. In fact, they seemed to be all too deeply impressed with the strength of their own cause, and to have too strong a conviction of the eventual and, as it were, necessary failure of their opponents, to make any such demonstration of feeling probable. Most assuredly such feeling was never demonstrated in my presence. In leaving Sligo for Enniskillen we proceeded directly eastward, and soon got upon high ground that enabled us to regain, and with added beauty, all the splendid landscape of the west, which we had lost in descending into the valley of Sligo. Two of the most conspicuous features of this landscape remained long within sight as we pursued our 56 LOUGH GILL. eastward path, and often made us turn round to admire their striking singularity and beauty; I refer to the two lofty and isolated hills at the mouth of Shgo Harbour, the one on the south side already mentioned, Knocknara or Knocknaree ; the other on the north side, the still more beautiful Benbulben, with its congenerous peaks of Benduff and Benwicken. The loftiest of these three peaks, that which gives name to the mountain, is about 1700 feet above the sea-level. In about two miles after leaving Sligo, we passed through the magnifi- cent woods of Hazelwood, the seat of Mr. Wynne, and skirted his extensive farm, almost as magni- ficent in its way. We had seen no farm to be compared with this since we saw Lord Lansdowne’s at Coollattin, either for the size of the fields, the excellence of the cultivation, or the goodness of the crops. It was a perfect Scotch farm; and we found another, almost as good, at no great distance from it, belonging, I think, to another proprietor. On emerging from Mr. Wynne’s woods and grounds, we found ourselves on the northern bank of the charming Lough Gill. This lake is prin- cipally in the county of Sligo, but partly also in that of Leitrim, and is about four miles in length and from halfa mile to a mile and a half in breadth. With the exception of the lakes of Killarney, it presents decidedly the most beautiful piece of lake scenery we have yet seen in Ireland. It resembles Killarney in the wooded beauty of its shores and THE COUNTRY. 57 islands, and in its general sweet and smiling aspect, but it wants much of the grandeur thrown around the former by the magnificent mountains that environ them. Not that the shores of Lough Gill are, by any means, tame; on the contrary, the steep and wooded hill that rises abruptly from its edge, and constitutes its southern boundary, rises to the height of 800 feet, and certainly contributes not a little to enhance the charm of the placid waters and the wood-crowned shores at its foot. The lake is said to cover an extent of 3600 acres, and to contain no less than twenty islands, most of them richly wooded. Two of the largest are mha- bited, or at least are in a state of cultivation, and one contains some very ancient ruins, whence it derives its name of Church Island. At the eastern extremity of Lough Gill we turned for a short time northward, until we reached the main road leading to Manor Hamilton and Enniskillen, when we once more turned our faces to the east. The country for some miles after leaving Lough Gill presented to us a more con- tinuous tract of gentle beauty and quiet pic- turesqueness than we had before seen in Ireland. It consisted of a succession of small green low hills with bluff shoulders, constantly broken by naked cliffs of rock projecting from the green turf or blossoming heath, and separated from one another by a network of little fairy valleys, winding and twisting about in all directions. It had no trace 58 DRUMLEASE. of the bog or the moor, and put one in mind of some of those small half-wild half-tame sheep-walks which are occasionally met with in the north of Devon. It was, to my taste, as pretty a bit of quiet landscape as could well be seen. The whole country retained somewhat of the ‘same aspect all the way to Manor Hamilton, but afterwards it resumed, here and there, a good deal of the old tame, flat, and boggy character, though, on the whole, much more cultivated and more peopled than the part of Sligo we had traversed the day before. We were now in the county of Leitrim. In passing through the pretty parish of Drum- lease, some distance beyond the east end of Lough Gill, we stopped at several cottages to examine their condition, and that of their inmates. Neither presented any remarkable difference from what we had already seen further south. I called also at a little farmhouse, which was in no way better than a cottar’s cabin, except that it was somewhat more roomy and had a few sheds attached to it. The little farm consisted of thirteen acres, for which and the house only 6/. rent was paid. The farmer kept four cows and one horse, and he had a few pigs and a donkey. The horse was not employed in ploughing, as all the work of the farm was done by hand, the digging being performed by the farmer himself, with the aid of one or two men, hired for the occasion, and to whom he paid 10d. per day. The SERVICE AND INDEPENDENCE. 59 poor-rate on the farm was 8s. in the half-year, and the county-cess 8s. 4d. for the whole year. The man had occupied this little farm for five years, and had found it always hard work to pay his rent and keep his family. Previously to engag- ing on ‘the farm, he had been a ploughman with a neighbouring gentleman for many years, receiving as wages one shilling a day, besides his food and a free house. His wife complained bitterly of her altered fortunes since her husband had changed his mode of life. Formerly, she said, she had not only all that was necessary for herself and children, but was able to indulge in many simple luxuries which she was now forced to forego. It was admitted that this man’s allowances, while in service, were uncommonly large, in consequence of his being a favorite with his master, a man of extraordinary liberality to his labourers ; but the goodwife declared that she and her family would be greatly better off if her husband were again in service, though with considerably smaller wages. I could not help con- sidering the history of this humble household, as offermg a good illustration of the comparative advantages of the cottar system and the consolidated farm system. The vote of the mother of the family (I did not see her husband) would obviously be in favour of service over so-called independence. The poor woman was not in good health, and in giving her some counsel respecting it, I had occasion to question her as to her age. She told 60 THE FAMILY PET. me at once, but with a blush indicative of some- thing wrong, which she explained by stating that, having married a husband much younger than herself, she had usually passed for a good-deal- younger woman than she was. I record this trifling fact as another instance of the singular candour which I have already mentioned as characteristic of the Irish peasantry, although it may be fairly objected that the want of candour in concealing her age may well balance the candour towards me. In one sense this is true; still the spontaneous confession of. previous wrong must be admitted to be an act of candour. When I entered the open door of this cabin, 1 found it tenanted by the good woman of the house, a female friend seated by her at the hearth, with a sickly-looking child on her knee, and a boy and a donkey. The boy, I found, was the son of the family, and the donkey was his, he having brought it up when deprived of its mother shortly after its birth. Although evidently familiar with its present locality, and under no sort of restraint before com- pany, I was made to understand that this was really not the donkey’s proper abode, he being only admitted an occasional visitor as the pet of the family-pet. The boy was a fine smart lad, very decently clad, and was an attendant at the National School of the parish, where he paid the usual weekly penny. He told me there were 40 boys now in the school. I see by the Commissioners’ Reports, that THE EMIGRANT’S LETTER. 61 in September 1850 there were on the books of this school 59 boys and 60 girls; and in September 1851, 67 boys and 68 girls. The boy had to go some distance to the school, which was evidently much prised by the mother. During my conversation with the mistress of the house, I observed that her female companion took from her pocket a piece of paper, and looked wist- fully yet doubtfully over its contents, as if not quite certain of their import. I immediately guessed what the matter was, and asked if she had got a letter from America? She said it was a letter from her husband, which she could not very well read. She handed it to me, and I read it to her. Her husband had only left Ireland in the beginning of the year, having been sent for (that is, having had his passage paid,) by his younger brother, a young man of twenty-five, who had emigrated three years before, and was now in the receipt of 120 dollars annual wages. ‘The writer informed his wife that, by the blessing of God, he had got into good work, and would soon, he hoped, through the same blessing, be enabled to send her home money enough to bring her and the children out to him. He enclosed an order for 3/., which would enable her to live in the meanwhile. Like most letters of the poor, this was short, and obviously the production of no great clerk. It was, however, much to the point; telling everything that was essential, and bearing the un- questionable impress of true affection. 62 SOCIAL WANTS. “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin ;’——and surely it was impossible not to sympa- thise with this poor woman, nursing her sick child on the floor of that humble cabin, and shedding tears over the crumpled piece of paper that reminded her, at once, of the far-absence and the unabated affection of her husband; and awakened, no doubt, a thousand memories of the past and a thousand hopes of the future. What was it to this gentle wife, or to her warm-hearted husband, under what form of government they lived, provided they had the means of living, and could hold im peace and security one sacred spot whereon to build up the fabric of the affections in a home they might call their own? So true is it, that to the children of labour, at least, the first and dearest necessity is still the very same as that which was the first necessity of the savage when struggling into civilisation—a home and the means of living. Hence it is surely the first duty of a government, to see that all classes of the community have these means, or may have them, at least, under due sub- mission to the conditions imposed on the members of social and civilised life. It is only when so cir- cumstanced, that men in the lower ranks of society are in a fit condition to think wisely or to think at all or to judge calmly of their remoter relations with political governments or ecclesiastical arrange- ments. In our intellectual as in our social condition, we must possess the necessaries before we aspire to MANOR HAMILTON. 63 the luxuries of life. In the present state of Ireland, therefore, as well as of England also, it is most wise to regard the amelioration of the social condition of the labouring classes as the necessary preliminary step to, or at least as an essential ingredient in any extension of their political powers. Such an exten- sion is their undoubted right, and they must obtain it in due time; but they have still more imperative claims to still more important rights—namely, to be placed in a position to obtain ‘‘a fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work ;” to obtain a sufficiency for house- room, food, and clothing for themselves and families, and education for their children. Until the state has discovered the means of satisfying these claims—and our recent legislation respecting “‘ unrestricted com- petition” has gone a great way towards satisfying them—political rights and political powers are to the poor but as “sounding brass or tinkling cym- bals ;” they may play round the head, but come not to the heart. We stopped for a very short time at Manor Hamilton, a small town about twelve miles from Sligo. It is situated in a beautiful neighbourhood, with a fine range of hills for a back ground. Like most of the places visited by us, its population has considerably decreased of late years. In 1841 it contained 1507 persons, and in 1851 only 1127, that is, exclusive of its workhouse, which, at the time of the last census, contained 552 inmates. I had not time to visit the public institutions of 64. EDUCATION. the place, but I learnt from my constant informants, the police constables, that the schools were flou- rishing and well attended. On referring to the official documents respecting them, I find that the following was their condition, as to numbers, by the last returns: National School—in September, 1850, boys, 95; girls, 110; in September, 1851, boys, 93; girls, 89. Workhouse Schools—in 1850, boys, 89 ; girls, 185; in 1851, boys, 71; girls, 116. Church Education Society’s Schools—in 1851, boys and girls, 96; with an average attendance of 51. According to the testimony of the same autho- rities, there were only about 20 teetotaliers in Manor Hamilton, and three of these belonged to the constabulary force of 15, stationed in the place. The country beyond Manor Hamilton generally presented the more common characteristics of Irish lowlands,—half cultivation and half bog; though there were many litttle spots not devoid of beauty. CHAPTER III. CATHOLIC IRELAND. Havine crossed the narrow breadth of the county of Leitrim, we entered into the county of Fermanagh, and into the Province or Utster, through the small neck of land that separates the upper and lower Lough Macnean, or Lough Cane and Lough Nitty, as they are also called. Of the former we could only see a small portion, but our road took us some distance along the northern shore of the latter. The views here are fine, both of the shores and the lake, though not equal, in point of beauty, to those of Lough Gill. The upper lake is about four miles long and two miles broad, and the lower has about one half of these dimensions. The isthmus between the two is about half a mile wide. The two lakes communicate by a small river, and they both dis- charge their superfluous waters through the river Arney into Upper Lough Earne, From the shores of Lough Macnean onwards the country presents nothing remarkable until we come within four or five miles of Enniskillen, when it assumes more the appearance of England than any place we had seen since leaving the county of 5 66 CATHOLIC IRELAND. _ Wicklow. Indeed, it was more like England than any part of Wicklow, having in abundance all the elements of beauty which are so profusely scattered over England,—wood, water, diversified surface, and rich cultivation. If it were transported to Kent or Surrey, this little district would hardly seem alien to the land. Before advancing further into Unstrr, and so leaving behind us the provinces which are much more entitled to the name of CatHotic than Ulster is to the name of Protestant, it seems expedient to place on record the results that have presented themselves to my observation and inquiries respecting the character and the ecclesiastical and social posi- tion and relations of the Roman Catholic clergy ; and also respecting some of the practices in their Church which bear most strongly on the condition, habits, and resources of the great body of the people. In making this brief survey, I shall concentrate all my memorandums relating to the subject, whether made before or subsequently to my visit to Enniskillen ; and I shall, as usual, make no attempt to present my materials in any other than the fragmentary and imperfect form in which they originally came to me. My book professes to do no more than to report what the writer himself did, saw, and heard. For anything like a complete view of any of the more important aspects of Ireland and her people, the reader must seek other authorities. I will also ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 67 here repeat what I have already stated in a former chapter, that in recording matters relating to reli- gion or its ministers, I profess myself to be purely an historian of facts, not a commentator or critic, except in so far as such facts have an obvious bearing on the social, political, or moral condition of the people. I profess, for the time, to ignore all special religious doctrines, as to their abstract right- ness or wrongness. And, first, as to the number, social position, revenues, and character of the clergy. Roman Catholic Ireland is divided into four Ecclesiastical Provinces, which correspond with the Civil divisions, viz., Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Con- naught. There are four Archbishops, one to each pro- vince, designated respectively—of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, Tuam. There is also a Dean and Vicar- General to each province. There are twenty-four dioceses, each having its Bishop. According to the Irish Catholic Registry of the present year there are in Ireland 1013 parish priests, and 13807 curates or coadjutors, besides 65 others not specially placed, making a total of 2385 of working clergy, ex- clusive of the Dignitaries and the Regulars. The emoluments of the Archbishops and Bishops are derived from the ordinary revenues of one or more parishes of which they are rectors; from fees for marriage licenses and other official acts; and from the individual contributions of the clergy of their respective dioceses. These contributions are, for 68 OFFICES AND REVENUE OF the most part, confined to parish priests, who usually contribute two guineas annually; in some dioceses the curates also contribute. The average amount of a Bishop’s imcome may be stated at about 5007. per annum. This was the average given in by the Bishops examined before the Com- mittee of the House of Commons in 1825, and it is presumed that there has been no material alteration since. There are two classes of working priests in Ire- land—parish priests and curates, or coadjutors as they are more usually called, corresponding to our beneficed clergymen and their curates. The Roman Catholic parishes being frequently very large, there are not seldom two curates, or even three, in one parish. The priests derive their incomes entirely from their parishioners, who contribute the amount in various modes and forms. The following are the principal sources available for this purpose, and their ordinary amount in country parishes : 1. Easter and Christmas Offerings, varying from 1s. to 2s. 6d., 5s., 7s., and 10s., according to the means of the parties. None but the heads of families pay; and the poor generally content themselves with paying at one of the seasons only, generally Christ- mas, and usually contribute only 1s. The amount of income from these voluntary offerings is supposed to be at least one half of the priest’s whole revenue. The remaining revenue is derived from the perform- THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 69 ance of the various ceremonies of the Church. Of these by far the most lucrative are marriages and funerals. 2. Marriage.—The ordinary fee for marriage, even for the poor, is a guinea, sometimes 80s., and it is generally rigidly exacted. In very poor parishes, a less sum is, however, often taken, as 10s., and even 5s.; but the higher charge is the more general. Sometimes when the priest has insisted on the larger sum, say 30s., he will return a third or fourth part of it, in the shape of a present, when he pays a visit to the newly-married couple. But this is not reckoned on. SBesides the regular fee, it is customary to make a collection for the priest at the house where the ceremony is performed, all the guests, often numerous, contributing more or less, according to their means, from ls. to 5s. or 10s. By this means, 51., 10/., 20/., are sometimes collected ; and the sum has been even known to reach 40/.: and all this not merely at the weddings of the rich, but even at those of common farmers. It is to be remarked that, in Ireland, the ceremony of marriage is almost always performed in private houses, and by licence ; banns being very rarely published in the chapel. 3. Funerals.—Properly speaking there is no fee for funerals ; but as every person, however poor, de- mands the presence of the priest, to say prayers in the house before the corpse is removed to the churchyard, a fee is exacted for this service. Very frequently, more than one priest is invited ; some- 70 SOURCES OF REVENUE OF times four, five, or even six, according to the devo- tion of the survivors, and the capacity to pay the fee, which is always 10s. to each clergyman in attendance at the funeral, and double this sum to the priest of the parish. The same priests that attend in the house of mourning to say the prayers, usually follow the corpse to the grave, where prayers are again said; but this is not always the case. Very poor persons, having only one priest, pay him 10s., or 15s. if he is the priest of the parish. 4. For Baptism, the usual fee varies from 1s. to 2s. 6d.; and this fee is understood to include that for Churching the mother. 5. Prayers for the Dead are constantly said in the chapels, and are repeated annually, often for many years, even for the poor. The usual fee for this service among the poorer classes is 1s.; among those above the poorer class it may be Is. 6d., 2s. 6d., or 3s.; and may be more, and is usually more, when the deceased belongs to the richer classes. These payments are for special services. Prayers for the dead on Sunday, in the ordinary offices of the Church, are not paid for. 6. Confession.—No fee is ever paid for this in chapels, nor, indeed, elsewhere; but when what are called “stations” for receiving confessions are held in private houses, in remote places of the parish, then the head of every family attending them is ex- pected to make a compliment to the house in the form of a small fee to the priest. This fee is usually 1s. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. it I have heard of some curious differences of opinion as to the point of view in which the fixing of these “Stations” at particular houses is regarded. A Pro- testant gentleman of Ireland stated before one of the Parliamentary committees, that the priests often appointed ‘Stations’ at particular houses, as a means of punishment for some offence given by the master; the expense of a Station, as involving a public breakfast, &c. being always considerable to the householder. On the other hand, I was told by Catholics, that the allocating of a Station was gene- rally desiderated, not merely as implying honour to the entertainer, but as conferring actual benefit, in the form of “good luck” to the house. 7. Pew-Rents, or Seat-Rents, in the galleries of the chapels, produce something for the incumbent, but not much. The rents are very low, and the seats not generally numerous; the great body of the church being open and free to all. 8. The Visitation of the Sick, which includes almost always the administration of the last Sacra- ment, is also one of the ordinary sources of revenue. The fee for this, among the poor, is only 1s.: I am told that in some dioceses no fees are now taken. It is to be remarked that the Catholic visitation of the sick, with its formal administrations, is very different from that of the Protestant Church. In the former the first visit is often the only one, even though the sick person should live a considerable time thereafter. What is done at that visit is un- 2 SOURCES OF REVENUE OF derstood to have an abiding efficacy, and therefore needing no repetition. The opinion of the common people is that so long as the sick person keeps in bed, there can be no fresh,commission of sin, and, consequently, no need for absolution; but that if the party remains out of bed for some days, the presence of the priest is again necessary to prepare him for his end; and for this he receives the usual fee. 9. Occasionally, also, as we have seen at Limerick, the priests derive a part of their emoluments from voluntary contributions at the chapel-doors; but this, I believe, is unusual. Collections at the chapel- doors are, however, common for other purposes: as for the repairs of the chapel; for poor parishioners who may have met with some special misfortune, &c. On these occasions, the ordinary contributions in country parishes do not exceed one halfpenny or a penny. 10. Presents.—A real, though uncertain source of revenue, is the system of voluntary gifts made by the more wealthy parishioners to their pastor. These gifts may be in money, but are more commonly in the form of matters of domestic utility, such as corn for horses, young pigs, &c. &. Much money is also saved to the priest by the assistance rendered in many of his wants, as in carrying his turf, corn, &e. &e. The whole amount raised by these various means is usually considered as a common fund for the maintenance of the parish priest and his curates, be THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 73 they two or more. The division of the spoil varies in different places, but the more ordinary practice would seem to be for the priest either to receive one half or two thirds, and divide the remainder among the curates; or to take the whole, and grant a small salary of 20/. or 30/. to each curate, beside boarding and lodging him at the same time in his house, and finding keep for his horse. Sometimes the curates are boarded elsewhere, and their board paid by the priest. The total amount of the respective salaries of the parish priests varies much in different places. Some few parish priests in large and rich parishes make as much as 400/. a year; but the great majority of them do not make the half of this sum : many make 150/., and many not more than 100/. The curates’ incomes may be stated generally as varying from 30/. to 501. But, of course, all these sums are subject to great variation, depending on numerous contin- gencies. According to his degree of popularity or unpopu- larity, or according to the wealth or poverty of his flock, the priest may have his income greatly in- creased or diminished. In some parishes, all con- tributions, personal gifts and all, go to the common parochial treasury, and are shared according to a fixed rule, whatever that may be. In other cases, the individuals, whether priests or curates, are allowed to hold all gifts presented to them as their own. In this manner, sometimes a popular coadjutor may ex- © 74 MORAL CHARACTER OF THE ceed in income his less popular superior. Thus, I learnt that in a country parish, a coadjutor recently dead had actually left behind him, in the bank, be- tween 300/. and 400/., all saved during a residence in the parish of only four years, and all derived from the numerous and large presents made to him by the farmers and others of his parishioners. Generally speaking, the style of living of the rural priests, whether parish priests or curates, is hardly what would be called in England genteel or even comfortable; partly in consequence of their scanty revenues, and partly, perhaps, on account of the comparatively isolated and lower social position they occupy. Unlike the clergy of England, whether Protestant or Catholic, the priests in Ireland are permitted to hold but rare social intercourse with the gentry in their own neighbourhoods—greatly, ui should say, to the discredit of the gentry, and greatly to the loss of the community. Knowing this, and knowing, moreover, how much they suffer from the res angusta, I own I was surprised to find, in my limited intercourse with the priests of both degrees, how well they preserved the character of gentlemen, both in their manners and external appearance. I found them always well-dressed, very polite, and with the conversation of men who had been well- educated. I heard but one report of the priests; and that was that their character and conduct were uniformly excellent and exemplary. In an earlier stage of my ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 75 journey I have made a similar statement, and I now repeat it as the result of all I saw and heard in Treland. I do not believe that a more favorable report could be made, by an impartial observer, of the charac- ter and conduct of the Protestant clergy of England or Scotland ; and no one, I believe, will think of deny- ing their claim as a body to moral and social excel- lence. I never heard a charge of personal immorality brought against any priest—and I made particular inquiries on this subject; and it was generally acknowledged that they were indefatigable in the discharge of their official duties. In most parishes these duties are very severe, partly on account of the immense number of persons in every cure, and partly from the quality of the religious services re- quired and the nature of the people. The lower class of Irish are remarkably timid when sick, and the attendance of the priest is expected on all such occasions, by night as well as by day. It has been recently stated that such summonses are disregarded by the priests unless previously assured of payment for the religious offices they are called on to perform. I believe this charge, generally speaking, is most unjust : it is certain that if such de- linquency came to the knowledge of the Bishop of the diocese, it would receive severe ecclesiastical censure. That these good men, however, should all be beyond the limits of fault or failure, no one, of course, will expect; they have their failings and weaknesses, no doubt, as other men and other 76 GENERAL DEPORTMENT OF THE priests, as they have the flesh and blood of other men and other priests. Thus, I learnt in one country parish that the priest, a good man in other respects, had a sad propensity to spend more money than he had to spend, and so got constantly into debt, to the great scandal of his parish. It, is fair, however, to state that his embarrassments were said to originate not in personal extravagance, but in his desire to administer to the wants of his relations, who were at once numerous, poor, and exigent. I heard of another who was supposed to make his after-dinner brewage a little too strong. But who has not heard of similar and worse imputations cast on some ministers of the decentest Church in the world? Miss Martineau, in her letters from Ireland, makes a much graver charge of the last-mentioned kind, against the ministers of the Established Church in Ireland: but, judging from all I have heard, I should say that anything like a general charge of this kind against either class of clergy, is most unjust. I am strongly borne out in what I have stated respecting the Roman Catholic Clergy, by the tes- timony of a Protestant friend, who has lived in Treland the greater part of his life, and who, from having filled official situations in various parts of the country, has had the very best opportunities for judging in this matter. He says, in a letter written to me since my return from Ireland,— “ Compared with the clergy of the Established Church, I should say that the priests are, generally ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. (ee speaking, equally conscientious good men, and equally anxious for the welfare of their flocks. I do not think they are unnecessarily rigid in exacting their fees. I certainly have heard of their refusing to administer some of the Church services without receiving the proper fee, but this is a very rare occurrence. In fact, there is no occasion to resort to such extremes, for they have all good believing Catholics at their command, ready to pay what they choose to demand or the parishioners can afford. I have been told by priests themselves that they were sometimes obliged, on being called to admin- ister the usual services in a well-to-do family, to make some member of it pay, or promise to pay, the Church arrears before they performed the required office.” The discipline of the priests in their own parishes is much more rigid, and their sovereignty much more acknowledged, than can well be imagined by the inhabitants of a Protestant country. And yet it is but justice to them to say that their interference seems to keep generally within the limits of what they regard as their pastoral province. They con- sider themselves as having a paramount authority in all matters of morality as well as religion, and they demean themselves accordingly. When all the lesser powers fail to reclaim, they do not hesitate to proceed to the extreme measure of excommunication, a result dreadful and most dreaded. I am unable, from my own knowledge, to give any opinion as to the conduct of the priests in 78 THE PRACTICE OF CONFESSION. influencing the opinions and actions of their parishioners in political matters. It seems certain that many have so interfered, and with much vehe- mence, of late years; but, from all I heard in Ireland, I am disposed to believe that the pro- portion of priests so interfering is vastly exaggerated in England. People seem to forget how very small a number of active persons, who frequent and speak at public meetings, may strongly arrest public attention at a distance, in these newspaper days. I should not be surprised if the Catholics of Ireland should sometimes set down the rampant denounce- ments of some half-dozen of our own fiery ecclesi- astical speakers, on ccrtain public occasions, as representing the calm and deliberate opinions of the English clergy. This I know, that, as a general rule, the great body of the Catholic clergy im Ireland, like the great body of our English clergy, believe and feel and act under a profound conviction of the sacredness of their great calling, and of the paramount nature of its claims on all their powers of thought and action. At the same time I readily admit, that if anything could excuse the clergy of any Church in appearing personally in political contests, the priests of Ireland must be allowed to have that excuse. The degraded and anomalous position in which they are placed, in relation to their brethren of the Established Church, is sufficient to rouse whatever remains of mere human feelings in their breasts, and such feelings, THE PRACTICE OF CONFESSION. 79 as I ventured to say on a former occasion, can only then be expected to be subdued into peaceful inac- tion, when one of two alternatives has taken place in [reland,—the abolition of the monstrous ano- maly now presented by the two Churches, or the practical realisation of that perfect and unrepining endurance of wrong on the part of the sufferers, which, however deducible from the fountains of Christianity, has never yet been manifested by any great body of Christians, whether lay or clerical. The grand and characteristic power with which the priests of the Roman Catholic Church are armed, and that which gives them their chief authority over the minds of their flocks, is the possession of the privilege, peculiar to their form of Christianity, of enforcing the practice of ConFEssIoN. Whether the exercise of such a power is consistent with personal freedom of action and the dignity of human reason, may be a proper subject of inquiry with the moral philosopher: whether it constitutes any impediment to the complete development of constitutional liberty in a state, is a question which may fairly be regarded as coming within the con- sideration of a constitutional and paternal govern- ment; but with neither branch of the inquiry is it now my province to deal. I have only to regard the subject in an historical, or rather in a natural- historical point of view, as it exists, and as it influences the ordinary conduct, and what may be 80 THE PRACTICE OF CONFESSION. termed the private social condition of the people. Much less, I am sure, will it be expected from me to give any opinion of it as a religious doctrine of the Christian Church. Right or wrong, true or false, I have only to deal with it as other matters of fact which press upon the traveller’s attention. Confession is universally regarded both by the priests and people of Ireland as one of the first, if not the first, of religious duties. It cannot be long foregone by any resident in a parish, without the loss of character and status by the foregoer. Very pious persons, and those whose time is at their own disposal, confess frequently —weekly or monthly; the labouring poor (whom I chiefly consider in these re- marks) twice or thrice a year; women more frequently than men, as they are naturally more pious, and their time less valuable, and they are more at home. It is considered so terrible a sin to have any reserve in confession, that it is commonly believed that everything regarded as wrong by the con- fessing party, is surely confided to the priest in the confessional. My own inquiries lead me to assent to the accuracy of this belief. Absolution does not follow confession as a neces- sary result; more time is often required, in order to give stronger evidence of repentance by an amended life; and certain penances are enjoined, which must be performed: when the priest is satisfied that the repentance is sincere, then absolution is given. THE PRACTICE OF CONFESSION. 81 The practice of regular confession is considered by those who follow it, as a powerful means for preserving them in a virtuous course of life. The conviction constantly present to them, that whatever wrong is done must be laid open to another, is felt, they tell us, to be constantly operative as a preventive of wrong-doing; while the happy consciousness of having been, as they believe, through confession, penitence, and absolution, re-established in the state of comparative innocence and purity, fortifies in a marvellous manner (so they say) the resolutions to follow what is good, and eschew what is bad. I give these statements, as I have said, his- torically, and exactly as they were made to me by the parties concerned—the lower classes of the Irish Catholics. I cannot vouch for their truth ; but I have no reason to doubt their accuracy; and, in fact, they seem to be strongly corroborated, if not confirmed, by much that we see in the actual con- duct and habits of the people. At any rate, the result of all my inquiries is, that—whether right or wrong in a theological or rational point of view—this instrument of confession is, among the Irish of the humbler classes, a direct preservative against certain forms of immorality at least. That it is productive of no evil I am not prepared to say. Indeed, considering its potency, and the fact that its operations are directed by mere weak mortal men, it would be contrary to all the analogies. 6 82 ALLEGED EVILS OF CONFESSION. of human affairs, if it were not occasionally pro- ductive of evil. It is, however, but simple justice in me to say that, when in Ireland, I heard of none that could be fairly attributed to it. In England, of course, we all have heard—and, no doubt, many who have heard have believed — that the confessional has, through its purgatorial and exonerating agency, given facility, if not en- couragement, to the perpetration of those dreadful public or political murders which have, of late years, so stained the annals of Ireland. But this is a belief which no candid or instructed mind will enter- tain, and a charge which no man of sober reflection will prefer: it, indeed, stands self-confuted by its very enormity, and by the religious and moral lives —to say nothing of the Christian principles—of the men against whom it is preferred. Another charge often preferred against Confession, in Ireland and elsewhere, is the facility it affords for corrupting the female mind, and of its actually — leading to such corruption. The facility, I presume, may be admitted ; nor need the fact be denied, that it has been sometimes taken advantage of: but to say that this is a common case, or even a rare case, among the priests of Ireland, is, I believe, one of the most unjust charges ever made against any body of men. So far from such corruption resulting from the con- fessional, it is the general belief in Ireland—a belief expressed to me by many trustworthy men in all HOLIDAYS. 83 parts of the country, and by Protestants as well as Catholics—that the singular purity of female life among the lower classes there, is, in a considerable degree, dependent on this very circumstance. No general statements, however strong, unless supported by evidence of the most positive kind, can be ad- mitted against the testimony of facts like these : and if the confessional is to be condemned—and I am far from saying that it is not—its condemnation must rest on something else than its mfluence in leading to vice and immorality among the Catholics of Ireland. The only other thing in the practice of the Irish Catholics that occurs to me as coming within my province to notice is the matter of Holidays. Formerly, when these holidays were more numerous and more rigidly enforced than they now are, they were a very serious hindrance to the necessary exer- tions of the labouring classes in gaining their daily bread. In recent times the Pope has, I believe, authorised their reduction in most Catholic coun- tries. I know that in the Spanish colonies—and I should suppose the case to be the same in Spain— they have been reduced to thirteen; thus making, with fifty-two Sundays, a total of sixty-five holidays, and leaving 800 working-days in the year. In France, I believe, they have been reduced to four. In Ireland they have been reduced to the eight fol- lowing: January 1, The Circumcision; January 6, 84. CATHOLIC HOLIDAYS. The Epiphany; March 17, The Feast of St. Patrick; March 25, The Annunciation; June 29, The feast of St. Peter and St. Paul; August 15, The Assump- tion; November 1, All Saints’ Day; December 25, Christmas Day. These days are, I believe, strictly kept; that is, as far as regards going to mass and abstaining from work; but in other respects they are not simply a source of positive loss to the indus- trious, but the incentive to dissipation and idle- ness, present and future. One of the bishops, when examined before the Parliamentary Committee, in reply to the question, Whether the number of holidays could be reduced, in the event of factory- labour becoming prevalent in Ireland? said they could with the sanction of the Pope, and he seemed to foresee no great difficulty in the matter. The present time, when it is to be hoped that Ireland is entering on a new epoch, would seem favorable for an attempt to get them so reduced. -1 cannot conclude these notices without remark- ing on the fact, that the support of their clergy, thrown on the respective congregations by the actual position of their Church, is a most serious incon- venience to the great body of the population of so poor a country as Ireland. From the statements made in the preceding pages, there can, I think, exist no doubt in any man’s mind, that the amount of some of the fees and of certain contributions con- ventionally fixed at certain sums, are altogether dis- EXACTION OF FEES. 85 proportioned to the means of the great majority of the persons who pay them. Some of them seem no less disproportioned to the amount of the services rendered for them. I would particularly instance the fee for marriage as quite exorbitant in the case of a poor labouring-man—amounting In many cases to the sum total of his earnings for six or eight weeks! Poor and ill-paid as they are, I cannot here acquit the priests of blame in demanding and accepting such fees from the poor. Of the minor fees I say nothing; but surely, even under present circumstances, those higher ones might be modi- fied, and the loss be made up, in some degree at least, by an increase in the amount of Easter and Christmas offerings and other presents, made by the richer members of the community. It is the accept- ance—not to say the exaction—of these numerous and large fees from the poor, that gives occasion to the very unfavorable contrast in this respect that exists between the Catholic clergy of Ireland and their brethren in England and Scotland, who may be almost said to take no fees from their flocks. In the actual state of Ireland, however, it is difficult to see how the priests could be supported without such contributions. The ordinary resource of pew-rents, by means of which the Presbyterian clergy in Ireland and most of the Dissenting clergy in Great Britain —including the Catholics—are mainly supported, cannot be made available for the Catholic clergy, because of the very insignificant number of seats in 86 SUPPORT OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY. their chapels, and of the still more insignificant number of persons who could afford to pay for them if they existed. It is to be hoped, however, that the time is not far distant when the act of a liberal and paternal’ government, equally regardful of the religious sen- timents of all its people, shall, by a due state- provision, put an end to the distressing position in which both the Catholic clergy and the poorer laity of Ireland are at present placed, through the un- natural and most unjust privations to which their Church has been so long subjected. CHAPTER IV. ENNISKILLEN. ENNISKILLEN, the capital of Fermanagh, is one of the neatest towns in Ireland, and planted in a beautiful site between the two Loughs Erne. These two lakes are about four or five miles apart, but are united by a splendid river, flowing from the upper or southern lake into the lower or northern. At about two thirds of the distance from the upper lake this river divides into two branches, which, after a circular bend on either hand, reunite and then proceed in a single current into the lower lake. On the island thus formed is built the prin- cipal part of the town of Enniskillen, though it is extended on both sides across its bounding rivers by means of bridges. The island is considerably elevated at one point, and is everywhere sufficiently high to preserve a good slope towards the water on all. sides. As seen from any of its approaches, Enniskillen has a very fine appearance, and from its higher parts it commands most delightful views in every direction. The whole valley between the lakes is bounded on either side by hills of considerable height, rising up steeply or sloping up gently from 88 ENNISKILLEN. the water, and everywhere adorned with the richest verdure and most luxuriant woods. It would, indeed, not be easy to point out a more charming locality than the immediate vicinity of Enniskillen, even without taking into account its magnificent lakes. The town itself is neat enough, but without any pretensions to architectural beauty either in its domestic or its public buildings. It is traversed from end to end by one main street which is of a fair width, and contains many good shops and two good hotels. The population of Enniskillen in 1841 was 5686; and in 1851, 5792. In addition to its own population it had, in 1851, in its work- house, gaol, and infirmary, 1075 persons. Being now in the province of Ulster, we begin to find a great alteration in the proportions of the two religions among the people, the Protestant element here assuming a much more important value. I was given to understand that in the town of Ennis- killen the numbers of Catholics and Protestants are now nearly equal, the former comprising all the lower classes, the latter the middle and upper classes mainly. This statement seems to be well borne out by the official returns of 1884, which distribute the population of the two parishes (Enniskillen and Rossory) in which the town is situated as follows: Protestants, 9052; Roman Catholics, 9208. It seems also in accordance with the official returns SCHOOLS. 89 of the whole county of Fermanagh, as given in the census of 1841. The number of the ministers of the different religious bodies are there given as follows :—Established Church, 29; Presbyterians and Methodists, 23; Roman Catholics, 23. This enumeration makes the number of Protestant ministers, taken conjointly, as bemg double that of the Roman Catholic. But if we admit, on the other hand, that each of the Catholic congrega- tions is double that of the Protestant congregations (a moderate estimate in my opinion), we shall arrive at a conclusion in conformity with the statement made above as to the proportion of the two religious bodies in the town of Enniskillen. There are numerous schools, and of all kinds, in the town: two National Schools; one if not two Catholic Schools ; three schools connected with the Church of England, and three connected with the Presbyterians and Methodists, besides the great Endowed Grammar School of Portosa. I was only able to visit one of the National Schools, the smaller of the two. Here I found in the boys’ department only 37 on the books, with an average attendance of 26. The master told me that the attendance in winter was considerably larger, averaging 37 or 38. Out of the 37 now on the books, 12 are Protestants, of which number 9 attended school the day of my visit. This school, although in connection with the National Board, is not a pure National School, as the master receives 90 SCHOOLS. pupils of a higher class, who pay him fees averaging from 2s. 6d. to 7s. 6d. per quarter. As in the ordinary National Schools, the reli- gious instruction (simply the Catechism) is given on Saturday from half-past eleven to one o’clock, the Catholics occupying one room and the Protestants another. The master is a Catholic; but so far from seeking to convert his Protestant pupils, he adopts a rule of sigular impartiality towards the two religions. Feeling it to be inconsistent with his own religious views to teach the Protestant Catechism, he dele- gates this task to a senior Protestant pupil; and in order that the Protestants may have no grounds for complaining of partiality even in this, he also dele- gates the instruction of the boys of his own religion to a pupil. In the girls’ school, the numbers on the books and in attendance were almost precisely the same as in the boys’ school, but there were only 3 of the girls Protestants. Much of the time of the girls is employed in that kind of needlework (here termed “ sprigging”) which has been already noticed as so predominant in the schools of Connaught. Though highly important in various points of view, as for- merly stated, this work may be and probably is carried too far in some schools. At least, I received complaints from more than one of the schoolmasters that it seriously interfered with the literary instruc- tion of the children. And this is likely enough, Spriggery, or any other kind of female handiwork, SCHOOLS. 91 is, no doubt, very proper for girls to learn, but it ought not to supersede intellectual culture, which is still more important. In the Commissioners’ Reports I find this school recorded as having, in the September quarter of 1850, 65 boys and 64 girls; and in the same period of 1851, 53 boys and 40 girls on the books. The same Reports give, at corresponding periods, the returns of the other National School as follows:— 1850—boys, 137; girls, 115; 1851—boys, 188; girls, 74, ‘There are three Protestant Schools belonging to the Church Education Society, viz., a boys’ and girls’ school, called the Fortshill Schools, and an Infant School. According to the Society’s last Report, these schools in 1851 had the following pumbers: On the Books. Average Attendance. Boys : 3 é nO dae s Bib ites Girls. ° 2 eer i es : - 40 Infants . ; 5 sO oiada . ey At the time of my visit, the average attendance at the boys’ school was 56, of which number 3 only were Catholics. The number of Catholics attending these Protestant schools has been greatly reduced since the present priest came into office. In the time of his predecessor there had been as many as 20, and at one time even 27 Catholic children in the school. The priest now puts a veto on their 92 SCHOOLS. attendance. All the Catholic children that do attend must read the Bible with the others, but, I believe, they are not catechised. At this school the children of parents who have money, pay from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. a quarter; others pay one penny per week; but there are a good many who pay nothing at all. In the girls’ school there were 42 on the books, with an average attendance of 33. Here also there were 3 Catholics. This is an industrial as well as a literary school; literary work being attended to from ten to one, and sewing, &c., from one to three. Ten of the girls have a free attendance, the others pay one penny per week. Both these schools seemed well conducted, and the pupils, especially the girls, were very respectably clothed, and well advanced in their studies. One of the seven Royal Endowed Schools of Ireland is in the immediate neighbourhood of En- niskillen, and is named Portosa School. The pre- sent principal, the Rev. Dr. Graham, was kind enough to afford me all the information I required respecting the establishment. These schools are of old foundation, and are chiefly maintained by rents derived from foundation lands. They are in some respects similar to our endowed classical schools in England, and are intended to educate the children of the upper or middle classes destined for the Uni- versity or otherwise. According to a Parliamentary return of 1849, Portosa School had an annual in- PORTOSA SCHOOL. 938 come from rents of 1877/. 10s. 4d., and had 57 boys on its books. It and the other endowed schools of Armagh, Dungannon, and Cavan, have, to share by their pupils, no less than thirty exhibitions of from 251, to 50. each, both while at school and at Trinity College, Dublin; and they are all equally open to Catholics as to Protestants. There are 20 boys from the town who have a claim to gratuitous education in this school; all others pay fees to the master, and attend either as day scholars, or reside as boarders in the master’s house. The latter pay forty guineas a year. There are at present 70 pupils, 24 of whom are boarders. Formerly the attendance at this school seems to have been considerably greater, the number of pupils, in 1838, amounting to 176, viz. 96 boarders and 80 day scholars. It is said that the imcreased religious agitations of late years have affected the prosperity of these schools as well as all other prosperities in Ireland. The Union Workhouse at Enniskillen is situated on an elevated and very healthy spot, on the right bank of the river, beyond the town, It is an excellently-arranged house, and clean and neat as usual. It was opened in December 1845, and is planned for the reception of 1000 inmates. At the time of my visit, there were only 446 persons in the house, the smallest number that it has ever contained. Out of this number there were only two healthy and able-bodied men, all the rest being 94. UNION WORKHOUSE. either superannuated, sickly, or children. I see by the Commissioners’ Report that, on the 29th of April, 1848, it contained (with the additional accommodation then temporarily provided) 1171 persons. During the two last years, 1850 and 1851, the master said the average numbers in the house were respectively 822 and 574. Out of the present number in the house no fewer than 92 were in the hospital, and 20 in the fever-hospital. Of the persons now in the house, the master (who is a Protestant) reckoned that two fifths were Pro- testants, and three fifths Catholics. On a former occasion I gave a statement of the amount of rates levied in the Killarney Union for the support of the poor, for a period of some years; and I here subjoin, for the sake of comparison, a statement of the rates in the Enniskillen Union for five years. For the sake of clearness, I have taken the average of the rates levied on the twenty electoral divisions of the union, as they vary con- siderably : Rate. Average Poundage. 1845, 7th July 0 1846, 29th September A i 0 1847, 7th September 3 : : 2 1848, 12th September 3 1849, 2d October 2 Only one rate has been levied since 1849, viz. in 1851, and this averaged from 10d. to 1s. in the pound. The dietary of this house is according to the DIETARY. 95 established regulations, but with some slight modifi- cation. The able-bodied adults receive no bread, but only stirabout for dinner and supper. This is made from equal parts of Indian meal and oatmeal, the allowance of the mixed meal being 8 or 9 oz. for breakfast, and 9 or 10 oz. for dinner: at both meals butter-milk is allowed. Besides the stirabout, children under fifteen, and the aged and infirm, are allowed bread—the former brown bread, the latter white bread; and children under nine get white wheaten bread instead of brown. Another modifi- cation in the dietary of this house, which I have nowhere before met with, is the allowance of potatoes on alternate days, during a certain period—that is, while the crop reared on the workhouse grounds lasts: 83 Ibs. being allowed to each able-bodied person (and to the other classes in proportion) for dinner, in lieu of stirabout. This total absence of potatoes in the workhouse dietaries of Ireland has always struck me as very singular. Has it been adopted with any view of weaning the people from the taste of that root which has been so fatal to their country, both by its prosperous condition and by its failure? Or has it originated in purely economic views? If so, what are these views ? The schools in this house were formerly in con- nection with the Board of National Education, but are now withdrawn. I found them in excellent order, the boys’ school containing 100, and the 96 WORKHOUSE SCHOOLS. girls’ 123. Both schools are industrial as well as literary ; the boys of proper age working a part of the day on the farm, the girls at needle-work. All the girls above nine years are employed at work after two o’clock, the previous part of the day being occupied in the school. Two thirds of all the children are either orphans or have been left on the parish by the emigration or absence of their parents. All the children receive religious instruc- tion, according to the form in which they had been previously trained; even orphans are brought up in the religion of their parents, if this is well known. Foundlings and others, the religion of whose parents may be doubtful, are educated as Protestants. In the official report of these schools, published by the National Board, it appears that in Septem- ber, 1850, there were in attendance 165 boys and 161 girls. The decreased numbers now on the books are obviously accounted for by the great decrease of the general amount of paupers. It will at the same time be remarked, that the proportional decrease of the children is much less than that of the adults, a circumstance easily to be explained by the orphaned condition of so large a proportion of them preventing their removal from the house. It is most important to remember that the girls are not allowed to leave this or any other work- house until they have attained the age of fifteen, unless they are removed by their parents or the guardians of their parish, or by some private house- etal TEMPERANCE, 97 holder of known character, who undertakes to protect them as servants. In the year 1848 the guardians sent out to Australia 107 young women, between the ages of fifteen and twenty-two. The most favorable reports of these had been received. Many of them had sent home money to enable their relations to emigrate. Some striking and affecting instances were mentioned of this devoted- ness of the emigrants to the ties of kindred and old associations—as, for example, that of a young wife whose husband had become paralytic, and conse- quently unable to work, but who, nevertheless, succeeded not only in supporting him, but in saving sufficient money to enable some other of her relations to go out to them. The result of my inquiries respecting the state of Temperance in Enniskillen was almost identical with what I had found in the great majority of the places I had already visited. At the period of Father Mathew’s visit, and afterwards, there were many hundreds who took and kept the pledge in the town of Enniskillen, and full 2000 are believed to have flocked from the country to join the movement. It is said that there is a considerable proportion of these pledged men still remaining in the country villages. In the town it is believed that though there may be about 200 practical Teetotallers, there are hardly more than 20 who are actually pledged to abstinence. There was a Temperance Hall here 7 98 RAGS AND BEGGARS. for several years; but it has ceased to exist for a considerable time. The chief causes of the breaking up of the Temperance organisation in this place, are said to have been the fear of cholera and fever, and religious dissention aggravated by an election. It would appear, however, that here, as in every other town visited by me, the habit of temperance has sur- vived its organised source; the people being generally very abstinent in the use of all kinds of intoxi- cating drinks. In my memorandums of things seen, I have not of late said aught of rags and beggars. The truth is that both have shown themselves to me in con- siderably less force since I left the county of Kerry, though they have been visible everywhere to a cer- tain extent. I believe, also, that they have been still less conspicuous since leaving the county of Galway, and would appear to be progressively de- creasing as we advance northwards. In Westport, Sligo, and Enniskillen, for instance, these indications of poverty have certainly been much less obtrusive ; although some allowance must be made for our eyes getting more accustomed to them, and consequently attending to them less. In our journey from Sligo to this place we had very few appeals made to our generosity, and we certainly saw nothing comparable to the looped and windowed raggedness which had beset us in Wicklow, Carlow, Cork, and Kerry. The day being Sunday, we saw in several places the RAGS AND BEGGARS. 99 country people going to and coming from chapel, all decently clad ; and the young women, especially, handsomely bedight in their bright-coloured shawls, with well-arranged hair and well-cleaned shoes. No doubt, on this occasion, many a pretty foot was for the first time hid from view since the last visit to chapel. The men were much less presentable, owing to that abominable habit, so long prevalent among the poor in Ireland, of wearing the cast-off clothes of others. It is, however, but just to my Leitrim friends to say that this costume was seen but com- paratively seldom among them, compared with places further south and west; but still it was seen much too often. This habit, originating, no doubt, in poverty, has, I think, been carried much further than was absolutely necessary, merely because it had become a habit. JI think it must be beginning to wear out, as I observe that a fair proportion of the boys and young men show themselves, at least on Sundays, in jackets and short coats, evidently originals. When such a change has become general, it will enable Old Ireland to put a much better face, at least, upon her poverty, if, indeed, the change itself may not be looked on as evidence of the diminution of that calamity. Nothing could convey to a stranger a stronger impression of wretchedness and untidiness, than this vicarious costume of the Irish, disfiguring at once to the person of the wearers, and calling forth in the 100 CAST-OFF APPAREL. mind of the observer the most disagreeable associa- tions. Even when not in holes, as they too often are, those long-tailed coats almost touching the ground, and those shapeless breeches with their gaping knee-bands sagging below the calf of the leg, are the very emblems and ensigns of beggary and degradation. I believe, moreover, that the use of such garments is a great mistake, and not by any means so inevi- table a result of the want of means as is commonly supposed. Like all cheap bad things, they prove, in the end, much dearer than good new clothing, which will last three or four times as long as most of these refurbished but rotten commodities. A little management, with the aid of their more well-to-do neighbours to plan for them and to act for them, would soon bring the new clothing within easy reach of many who now think themselves only able to grasp the old. Once adopted, the improvement must be permanent, as the very first suit would be found to carry the wearer further on than the two old suits he had been accustomed to buy for about the same money. Then should we see Paddy “ his own very self” at last, exposed in all his native strength of thew and sinew, and as smart without as within—no longer transmogrified into that vile travesty of a man, which has become the butt of the stage and the standing theme of caricaturists. Who would not hke to look on Paddy in his new costume? Who would not like to look on Nora THE OLD CLOTHES SYSTEM. 101 while she looks on Paddy, and Paddy looks on himself, “ Miraturque novas frondes et non sua poma?” On several occasions, in different places in Ire- land, I made some inquiries respecting this old- clothes system. I was not surprised to find it con- stituting an active branch of both the local and the external commerce of the country, and the source of enormous profits to the traffickers. There seems to be a regular system followed by the vendors of old clothes in furbishing them up for the market. How- ever greasy, or old, or threadbare, they continue to put a nap and a gloss upon them, so that, like Burns’ Cottar’s wife, they “Gar auld claes look amaist as weel’s the new ;” and then sell their rotten gear in complete suits, at the attractive prices of 35s., 20s., 10s., or even of 5s. each. In the south of Ireland these old clothes come from Bristol or Liverpool; in the north they come from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Londonderry and Belfast. A retail dealer in these articles told me that his great wholesale correspondent in this line, who had establishments both in Dublin and Belfast, had realised a fortune of 60,000/. by this traffic, and had recently become the purchaser of one of the large Encumbered estates ! Similar inquiries among the shoemakers assured me that the use of shoes had been gradually in- creasing among the poorer classes. Nearly all the 102 INCREASE OF USE OF SHOE-LEATHER. young women, who usually go barefooted except on fair-days, holidays, and Sundays, have, for the most part, both boots and shoes; and in towns, in these northern parts, bare feet, even on ordinary occasions, are the exception, not the rule. An old shoemaker in Enniskillen of forty years’ standing, assured me that there were now three times as many shoes worn as there were thirty years ago. This old man mentioned a circumstance in regard to shoes, which seems hard to account for, even if it were only par- tially true: he said that in the great year of distress, 1848, he and his brother-shoemakers continued to have plenty of work, while the tailors in the same place t-totally failed! Are shoes a greater necessary of life than clothes ? I have already remarked, more than once, how much Indian flour had become a part of the food of the people in Ireland. Finding it as much in use here as elsewhere, I had the curiosity to inquire of a large dealer in grain and flour of all kinds, as to the relative sale among the people of Enniskillen of the various kinds of meal. He informed me, in the first place, that since the period of the failure of the potato crop, he has sold from thirty to fifty times as much grain meal, of one kind or other, as previously to that period. He sells about four fifths of Indian meal for one fifth of oatmeal and flour respectively. He does not sell nearly so much barley meal as amounts to one half of either the es ON THE MISERIES OF IRELAND. 108 flour or oatmeal sold. Indian meal has the ad- vantage of being cheaper, and of being supposed to be more nutritious than either flour or oatmeal. It sells at present at ls. 1d. per stone, while oatmeal is ls. 4d. . To conclude the notices of my gleanings in Enniskillen, I will here set down, by way of coun- terpart to my Sligo-labourer’s views, the opinions of an Enniskillen-shopkeeper, on some of the sources of the miseries of Ireland, and on some of her worst grievances. Both Catholics, it will be seen how they differ—according to the point of elevation of the observer. The shopkeeper dwelt mainly on the following circumstances : 1. Inherent want of enterprise in Irishmen themselves, leading them to hoard money when they should use it in business. 2. Want of capital, or its too restricted employ- ment by the possessors and occupiers of land. 3. Absenteeism, and the consequent substitution of agents for the natural lords of the people. 4. Too high rent of land and wantof leases, and con- sequent ill-treatment of the tenantry in various ways. 5. Toryism and Orangeism and Protestantism of the magistrates, all existing in great disproportion to the amount of opposite views in religion and politics among the great majority of the people. 6. The monster grievance of the church: the payment of tithes to the clergy of a hostile creed ; 104 THE LAKES OF ENNISKILLEN. the perpetual upholding before the eyes of the Catholic clergy and laity of the badges of the triumph of a foreign religion, while their own religion and its professors are condemned to degradation and poverty. The two lakes of Enniskillen—the Upper and Lower Lough Erne—are justly ranked among the finest of Ireland. The Upper Lake is said to be eight miles and a half in extreme length, and three miles and three fourths in extreme breadth; and the Lower, twelve miles and a half by five and a half. They are both profusely interspersed with islands, the Upper being said to contain 90, and the Lower 109. Both are magnificent pieces of water, and most of their shores are extremely beautiful, rich with fine woods or green slopes or cultivated fields, and bounded in some places with hills of considerable height. But they want entirely the glorious moun- tams—those adjuncts which render Killarney so grand as well as beautiful, and which superadd sublimity to many of the Scottish lochs. The numerous islands in both the lakes, for the most part richly wooded, give a romantic and poetical cast to the landscape; but in the Upper Lake their size and frequent closeness to one another, detract considerably from that essential charm of a lake, a free expanse of mirrored water. Mr. Otway has well expressed this defect in the following sentence: “The great fault of Upper THE LOWER LAKE. 105 Lough Erne is, that it is too much encumbered with hilly islands, so as to give you rather the idea of a hilly country, with its lowlands flooded, than of a broad sweeping expanse of lake,” I took a boat at Enniskillen, early in the morn- ing of a beautiful day, and was rowed up the Lower Lake as far as Ely Lodge, a seat of the Marquess of Ely—a distance of about six or seven miles. All this portion of the lake is exceedingly beautiful, the wooded islands adding greatly to the richness of the scene, without, in any way, destroying the fine effect of the wide-spreading water. The hilly shores are completely wooded on the southern side, and on the north are, for the most part, green or cultivated slopes of almost equal beauty. I landed on Lord Ely’s domain, which I believe is an island, though I could not discover its watery limit on the land side. It is, I understand, separated from the main land only by so small a line of water as can be spanned by a bridge. As this island is of considerable height, and the house (Ely Lodge) built on its summit, I expected to get a fine view of the upper portion of the lake from it; such expectation being, indeed, the chief motive of my visit to it. On reaching the house, however, I was completely disappointed ; not a glimpse of the lake being visible from even its upper windows; so high had the wood been permitted to grow up around it, and not a vista left through which the eye could find its object. 106 DEVENISH ISLAND. This struck me as one of the most curious ano- malies I had met with in Ireland: a house built purposely, no doubt, with the object of commanding one of the richest and most magnificent views, and that object totally defeated by what could only have been originally intended for a means of enhancing it. What could be the explanation of this ano- maly? Was it an illustration of that confusion of ideas,—here leading to an exquisite practical bull —with which the natives of this country have been reproached? Was it a transcendent instance of that over-fondness for woods in these demesnes, which I have had occasion to notice on former occasions? Or was it—worst of all—an evidence of that curse of Ireland,—AssrntTEeEIsmM, which here, for once, in the natural, as often in the social world, permits beauties to grow into deformities, and fosters virtues into vices, solely because they are not witnessed by those who alone have the privilege and the power to prevent the transformation ? In my way I stopped at Devenish Island, not far from the head of the lake, in order to see its cele- brated Round Tower and ruins. This tower is one of the most perfect in Ireland, its conical top, for- merly shattered, having been completely restored by public subscription about sixteen or seventeen years since. It is 82 feet high and 49 feet in cir- cumference. It is beautifully constructed, and ap- parently as strong as the day it was built. It has a CASTLE COOLE. 107 feature which I observed in none of the other Round Towers, and which, I believe, is peculiar to itself: this is the existence of four finely-sculptured heads and faces on an ornamental cornice immediately below the coping, each over a loophole or window. These heads look respectively to the four quarters of the heavens. Adjoining the tower are some extensive ruins of an ancient church and monastery, still retain- ing some fine specimens of ornamental architecture. The island on which these antiquities are placed is a simply rounded knoll, without wood, but exhi- biting the richest pasture: its whole extent is said to be about eighty Irish acres. The Tower is built on the northern slope, a considerable way below its highest point, a sufficient proof, corroborated by many other similar instances, that these Towers were not originally intended for watch-towers or beacons. A show-place in the immediate vicinity of Ennis- killen is Castle Coole, the seat of Lord Belmore. The park, though not very large, is very fine, and not quite so much over-wooded as many others, though it also contains much wood, and some of it very fine. The house was built not very many years since, after the designs of Mr. Wyatt, and is a splendid structure in the pure Grecian style. It is said to have cost 200,000/., and, like many other fine buildings, it probably swallowed up a good part of its owner’s estate. At least, the Belmore pro- perty now extends very little beyond the park, the 108 GENERAL COLE. remainder having lately been disposed of in the Encumbered Estates Court. There is a small lake in the demesne, containing numerous wild-fowl in a half-tame state. On the highest summit of the island on which the town of Enniskillen is built, there is a very fine and lofty column, erected, some years since, in honour of General Sir Lowry Cole, one of the Peninsular soldiers, and a son of the noble house of Enniskillen. Owing to some difference between the Municipality and the Earl, the structure has never been completed, and now stands unsur- mounted by the statue for the support of which it was erected. It, however, serves admirably to fulfil some of the collateral objects which, no doubt, had a share in its origimal design: it is a great ornament to the town; it is a beautiful object for the traveller approaching it, from whatever quarter he may come; and it affords from its summit a delightful view of the beautiful country around. CHAPTER V. LON DONDERRY—COLERAINE. We left Enniskillen for Londonderry early in the morning, taking the public car as far as Newtown- Stewart, and there joining the railway. The fine- ness of the day and the reported want of interest in the country to be passed through, led us to prefer the public conveyance, and, as far as sight-seeing was concerned, we encountered little on our journey to make us regret having adopted the more expedi- tious mode of travelling. About six or seven miles from Enniskillen we entered the county of Tyrone. The district throughout presents the usual tame character of the Irish low country, but with some- what more of continuous cultivation and less of bog. There is also here and there an attempt at fencing the fields with quick, and now and then a some- what better show of trees about the farm-houses. We changed horses at Omagh, the capital of the county, a small town with about 3000 inhabitants,’ 1 The population of Omagh by the last census was 3016, being an increase of 69 since 1841. Comprising the inmates of the gaol and hospitals, the present population would be raised to 5385. 110 OMAGH. and presenting to us a tolerably neat and busy aspect as we passed. Like so many Irish towns, Omagh has a fine Grecian Court-house, which strikes the eye of the passing traveller. It is evidently of recent erection. The railway from Newton-Stewart to Omagh was just completed, but not yet opened for traffic. As we proceeded to the former town, we tracked its course nearly the whole distance; both it and the road running, for the most part, along the banks of the beautiful valley of the Struel, a fine river, which takes its origin a little above Omagh, from the union of two smaller streams, the Cam- owen and the Fairy Water. After passing Strabane the railway runs for some distance through the border line of the county of Donegal before it enters the county of Derry. During a consider- able part of this tract, it skirts the banks of the river Foyle, which, as we advance towards London- derry, assumes the character of a magnificent stream through the aid of the tide from Lough Foyle. Londonderry, or Derry, as it is always called in Ireland, is a large and handsome town, full of interest of every kind, from its buildings, its insti- tutions, its antiquities, and its history. Its situa- tion is singularly beautiful in itself, and commands the most delightful and varied views in all directions. The hill on which it stands is more than half sur- rounded by the river Foyle, and the splendid Lough LONDONDERRY. TEE or arm of the sea of the same name, washes its base. The walls of the old city still preserve their perfect unity, and now serve as a circu- lar walk amid the houses, which are nearly as numerous, though not quite so close, without it as within it. Like many of the ancient walled cities in Eng- land, Londonderry is quartered by two main streets crossing each other in its centre, and each at its extremity piercing the city wall by agate. The large open space left by the intersection of the streets, called the Diamond or Market Place, has been partly filled up by the Exchange or Corporation Hall, a large pile of building, but more massy than | elegant. It contains the Common Council Room, a large Assembly Room, News Rooms, &c. That arm of the cross which traverses the town from Bishop’s-gate to Ship-quay Gate, constitutes two splendid streets, one on each side the Diamond, though the lower, Ship-quay Street, is so steep as hardly to be passable by carriages. In its upper portion, called Bishop’s Street, it contains a hand- some Court House, a very elegant structure in the Grecian style, but rather cramped by its position in the line of the street. Nearer Bishop’s Gate are the Bishop’s Palace and the Deanery, neither very noticeable, unless it be for the fine garden belonging to the former. In the same quarter is the Cathe- dral, built on the most elevated point of the hill of Derry. It is a neat plain Gothic structure exter- 112 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. nally, but has little of the character of a cathedral within, being without transepts, and having what dignity it could otherwise boast of destroyed by its homely but convenient pews and galleries. The most interesting object in the whole building is the monument to the great Diocesan of Derry, Dr. Knox, that noble pattern of a Bishop and of a Christian man. In the steep street, below the Diamond, there are some public buildings of lesser note, two Banks, Gwyn’s Charity, &c. In other parts of the city, both within and without the walls, there are nume- rous other public buildings, some of them in excel- lent taste, as the Gaol, the Lunatic Asylum, the Poor-house, the Custom-house, the Public Library and News-room, &c. Next to the Cathedral, the most conspicuous public structure is the monument to George Walker, the famous clerical Governor and defender of the city during the celebrated siege by the army of King James. It consists of a fine column of Port- land stone, 82 feet in height, including its base, surmounted by a statue of the same material, nine feet high. Walker is represented in the rather incongruous character of Divine and Soldier, which he bore in life, being dressed in canonicals, and armed at once with the Bible and the sword. This monument was erected so late as 1828 by public subscription. Its summit is accessible by a spiral staircase within, and is well worth as- = . ‘le ee ee - a CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 113 cending for the splendid view it commands of the city and its vicinity. The population of Londonderry in 1841 was 15,196, and in 1851, 19,399, a much greater in- crease than we have met with in any of the towns hitherto visited, except Dublin and Cork. It is even greater than the increase of those cities in pro- portion to the number of inhabitants. If we were to include the inmates of the Workhouse, Gaol, Lunatic Asylum, and Infirmary (1080), we should raise the total population of Londonderry to 20,479; but this, as already remarked more than once, would not be a true population estimate. As far as I could learn, there are only three Episcopalian Churches in Derry, including the Ca- ; thedral which serves as the parish church, There are, at least, double this number of churches and chapels belonging to other classes of Protestants, There is only one Roman Catholic chapel ; but this, owing to its size and the numerous services always performed in it on Sundays, suffices for all the Catholic population, large as it is. Londonderry is, perhaps, still more conspicuous for the number of its schools than even for its places of worship. Besides six National Schools within and without the walls, Foyle College (a classical school), Gwyn’s and Erasmus Smith’s Charity Schools, it can boast of schools specially connected with every religious sect, more especially with the Presbyterian body, which probably exceeds, in point II, 8 114 PROTESTANT SCHOOLS. of number, all the other denominations of Protes- tants taken together. The very large number of schools established in and around Londonderry, is strikingly and agreeably exhibited by a document now before me, being a statement of the accounts of the Irish Society in the year 1851. From this it appears that this Society contributes annually to the maintenance of not fewer than sixty-five schools in Londonderry and its liberties. Among these are no less than thirteen National Schools, and hardly a less number of Presbyterian Schools. Under this last head I find, First Congregation— Male, Female, and Sunday Schools: Second Congre- gation—Sunday Schools: Third Congregation— Boys’ and Girls’ and Sunday Schools: Fourth Con- gregation—Sunday Schools: Reformed Presbyterian Schools; besides numerous other schools which probably belong either to Presbyterians or to some other Protestant Dissenters. Circumstances pre- vented me from paying my usual visits of inspection to the schools of Londonderry. I can therefore give no statistics of the number of children in attendance, or of their religion, from personal inquiry. I have since, however, ascertained that on the day of my visit to Londonderry the number of children belonging to the National Scliool con- nected with the chief Presbyterian Church, was as follows :—Boys, 66; girls, 2; and they were thus distributed, according to their religion—45 Presby- terians, 21 Church of England, 2 Roman Catholics. ; THE WORKHOUSE. 115 There is also about to be established a new College, destined chiefly for the education of Presbyterians, from a bequest of 20,000/. made for this purpose by the late Mrs. Magee; and for which the Irish Society has recently granted a fine site without the walls, amounting to twenty acres. The same circumstance that interfered with my visits to the schools prevented my personal inspec- tion of the workhouse. But I have since been favoured with an official statement from the master, of its statistical relations, not only at the period of my visit to Londonderry, but also for the two pre- ceding years at the same date, and also at a still more recent period. The following is the statement : Number and Condition of the Inmates in the Londonderry Workhouse. - 2 a5 2 a ce of A loo | 88 Sa) sales a l22|"2| = [Be |ee|"= S| Se eee Saturday, 31st August, 1850 | 458) 81 | 65 | 58 | 46 | 3 | 96 Saturday, 30th August, 1851 | 466) 62 | 81 | 49 | 48 | 2 | 98 Saturday, 28th August, 1852 | 383] 59 | 64 | 45 | 13 | — | 81 Saturday, 19th February, 1853| 599} 70 | 86 | 58 | 46 | 2 [126 Hee Shas CNS Ee a ae ae I am the more pleased in being able to give these returns for a period of some extent, as they 1 Dysentery, diarrhcea, variola, and measles, are treated in different wards in the Fever Hospital. 2 The number of cases of ophthalmia for the year ending the 31st of December, 1852, was 26. 116 NUMBERS AND DIETARY. show, among other things, that the proportion of the professors of the two religions, as there given, is a steady and not an incidental one. These figures also confirm a statement often made to me, and noticed elsewhere, viz. that the lower class of the population are still essentially Catholic, even in Protestant ULSTER, As there is some deviation from the more ordi- nary dietary of the Unions in this house, I give in the following Table that portion of it having re- ference to the different classes of adults, It will be observed that here, for the first time, we see all the inmates participating in the allowance of a third daily meal, or supper. Scale of Diet in the Londonderry Workhouse. Class. Working Men Working Women Aged and Infirm. Breakfast, (at 9.) 7 oz. of meal 4 qt. buttermilk 6 oz. meal 4 qt. buttermilk 6 oz. meal 1 qt. buttermilk Dinner, (at as) 12 oz. coarse brd. 1 qt. veg. soup! 8 oz. coarse brd. 1 qt. veg. soup 8 oz. coarse brd. 1 qt. veg. soup Supper, (at 6.) 6 oz. meal? 4 qt. buttermilk 4 oz. meal 3 qt. buttermilk 4 oz. meal 4 qt. buttermilk There is a farm attached to the workhouse, of about ten acres, for the purpose of training the school-boys to habits of industry in agricultural labour ; and also to afford a supply of vegetables for the house—namely, turnips, carrots, parsnips, cab- 1 The vegetable soup is composed of 3 stone carrots, 1 stone turnips, 1 stone onions, 5 lbs. cabbage, 4 lb. pepper, with 10 lbs. oatmeal, for each 100 rations. 2 The “meal” consists of half oatmeal and half Indian meal: it is made into stirabout with water and salt. LOUGH SWILLY. ug bages, onions, leeks, and parsley. Potatoes are also cultivated in the grounds, in sufficient quantity to supply the house for about seven weeks in the months of August and September. I received some account of the Temperance move- ment in Derry, from one of its zealous advocates in the town. This began so long back as 1836. At one time the Society had full 2000 members, but now it cannot boast of more than 500. ‘There is a Temperance Hall where the members have evening meetings occasionally. For the last six years there has been a Benevolent Society attached to the Tem- perance Institution, and comprising nearly all the members. The object of this Society is to afford relief in sickness and to pay the expense of funerals, at which all the members attend with crape on their left arm. The members, who are nearly all Catholics, pay threepence weekly. Before leaving Londonderry, I went about six miles into the country to the north-west, to see an old rath or fort in the county of Donegal, on the banks of Lough Swilly; which is evidently, both in extent and beauty, one of the finest of Ireland’s thousand inland friths or salt-water lakes, This rude fort or castle is situated on one of the hills overlooking the lough, and commands a splendid view of its many-branched arms and islands. It is one of a class numerous in the country, consisting simply of a vast accumulation of huge stones rudely 118 A FARMHOUSE. piled, in the form of a circular rampart, round the brow of the hill. It must have been a stronghold in its day; and a little labour to build up the breaches of time with its own fallen ruins, would make it so still. The country between Londonderry and Lough Swilly is, for the most part, wild moorland, or with only partial slips of cultivation ; there being nothing like complete or continuous cultivation except within two or three miles of the town. I went into a small farmhouse at the foot of the fort-hill. The kitchen was full of smoke and ditt, and the cowhouse full of cows. It was a dairy farm; but presented few of the rural charms com- monly seen about such homesteads in England. The mistress of the establishment was in the cowhouse, settling her charge for the night. Her language and her brogue were Scotch—almost as pure and perfect as they exist in the Lowlands of Scotland. I was so struck with this, that I asked if she was not herself really a Scotchwoman; but she assured me that her family had lived in the country for some generations. I need hardly say, that the whole of Ulster re- tains more or less of this mark of the old Plantation- men of James I., which is the surest proof of the change of blood in this part of Ireland. But “the kindly Scotch tongue” sounds more startlingly fami- liar when heard on the banks of a mountain loch, amid peat and heather, and within the walls of a chimneyless and smoky cabin. DERRY TO NEWTOWN-LIMAVADDY. 119 We left Londonderry for Coleraine in the stage- coach, being anxious to make our circuit of the coast of Antrim as quickly as possible, in order that we might be in time to attend the meeting of the British Association, then assembling in Belfast. Although the day was rainy, I considered myself fortunate in getting a seat on the outside, as I was reluctant to miss seeing any portion of the route. There was, however, not much worth seeing during this day’s journey. The country from Derry to the halfway town of Newtown-Limavaddy is, for the most part, fertile and tolerably-well cultivated, with little of deteriorating bog. For a considerable way the road lies near the shores of Lough Foyle, (not very picturesque,) and commands a fine view of the range of the Innishowen mountains dividing Lough Foyle from Lough Swilly. After passing Limavaddy, and leaving behind us the rich banks of its beautiful river Roe, we enter on a wild boggy and mountainous region, hardly to be surpassed in dreariness by any district in Ireland. This wild country continues till we come within a mile of Coleraine, and its beautiful river, the Bann. Much of the country passed through has be- longed to the great London companies since the Plantation of Ulster in the time of King James L.; and though several of the companies have since sold their lands, the greater number still retain their property or have only let it on lease for a time. As far as I could learn, these companies are the only 120 NEWTOWN-LIMAVADDY. absentees who are popular in Ireland; and I am not sure that they are not more regarded by the tenantry than the majority of the resident landlords. Their conduct may be taken as evidence against the general applicability of a maxim already commented on in these pages—that public bodies have no heart. We shall have further proof, by and bye, of the possession of this sympathising organ by these London companies. The county of Londonderry is almost as bare of wood as any of the districts hitherto visited. Although, no doubt, richer in this respect than it was fifty years since, when it was officially reported on in regard to its timber produce by Mr. Beresford, yet I fear it is still somewhat obnoxious to the charge with which he winds up his report, “that the county of Londonderry is perhaps the worst- wooded in the King’s dominions.” Limavaddy, or as it is usually named, Newtown- Limavaddy, is a neat and thriving town. It is situated in the heart of the flax district, and carries on an active trade in this article. According to the last census it had, in 1851, a population of 3206, being an increase of 105 since 1841. This increase, small as it is, is a strong evidence of prosperity in an Irish town. . I learnt from one of the Presbyterian clergy of Limavaddy that the Temperance system was now in a very flourishing condition in that district, in con- sequence of an active movement made in its favour COLERAINE. CSE during the last two years. The Presbyterian clergy- men of six neighbouring parishes had themselves all become Teetotallers, and had induced their flocks, to the number of 2000, to enrol themselves as mem- bers of the Temperance society ; showing—what I had already seen in several Catholic districts—that there is no agency so effective, in this respect, as the example of the pastors of the people to lead them in the right way. Coleraine, like almost all the coast towns of Ire- land, is situated on its own river—and a noble river the Bann is, viewed from the bridge on either side. But the town, though finely situated, is not fine; on the contrary, it has a very common-place look, though there are some streets of a good size and with good houses in them. The population in 1841 was 6255, and in 1851, 5920; showing a decrease of 335 during the ten years. Like Londonderry, Coleraine has its central square or diamond, with the Town Hall or Courthouse in the midst of it. It has also avery good market-house, of comparatively-recent erection. The public buildings are hardly worth notice. The best-looking is the Catholic chapel, on the left bank of the Bann, and the new National, Model School, a little below the town on the same side of the river. This last is a very handsome building, creditable to Irish taste. Coleraine is the most Protestant town we have yet visited. It probably retains nearly the same 122 SCHOOLS. proportions of the different religions as in 1834, when the two parishes in which it is contained (Coleraine and Killowen) gave the following results: English Church, 2167; Presbyterians and other Protestant Dissenters, 4996; Roman Catholics, 2100. This return makes the Catholic element considerably less than one third of the whole. In its suburbs the town exhibits long rows or streets of thatched cottages; a feature which exists in almost every Irish town, and always conveys the impression of meanness. Here a portion of the houses in the cottaged streets are slated ; but usually they are thatched. I visited some of the cottages, and found them still very untidy and_ ill-fur- nished, though somewhat better than similar tene- ments in the south and west. In one of these, an artisan’s, the family were at dinner; and I was rather surprised to see the same rude habits as to eating, and the same humble fare, as in the poorer country districts. The meal consisted entirely of potatoes (placed on the naked table,) except a modi- cum of some small fish (salted) placed in a dish, to be eaten with the fingers as a relish. These houses have small gardens attached to them, and pay a rent of from 1s. to 1s. 6d. a week. Like Londonderry, Coleraine is very rich in. schools, of all denominations. I paid a short visit to several. ‘There are three National Schools; two having a boys’ and girls’ school each, and one (the Model School) containing in addition an infant ——— A MODEL SCHOOL. 128 school: so that, in fact, there are seven National Schools. I was only able to visit the new Model School, and the school in Killowen Street, which last is frequented chiefly by the Catholics. The Model School is a handsome new building, only opened in March, 1850. I found it in admi- rable order, the children all actively at work under masters and mistresses evidently well qualified and zealous. Besides the children, there were in the boys’ school eight pupil teachers, and in the girls’ school four, qualifying for taking charge of other schools. At the time of my visit there were in the boys’ school, 82, with an average attendance of 65; only 15 of the number being Catholics. The master is a Pres- byterian. In the girls’ school there were 63 on the rolls, with an average attendance of 54; 17 out of the 63 were Catholics. The mistress is a Catholic. In the Infant School there were 62 on the books, with an average attendance of 54. Out of the 62 there were 15 Episcopalians and 10 Catholics, the rest being Presbyterians. The mistress is a Presbyterian. In the proper school-hours, at certain times, the extracts from the Scriptures are read by all the pupils; but, on the day set apart for distinct religious instruction, the children of the different denominations are separated, in order to be cate- chised in their respective systems. The master assured me that there were found no difficulties in carrying out this arrangement. I regard this school as a model school in every 124 SCHOOL OF THE sense of the word. The master and mistresses are of a superior stamp, and the children conspicuous alike for their excellent appearance, their emula- tive zeal, and their proficiency. I observe by the Official Report of 1850, that although these schools did not open till the 3lst of March, they had in September the following numbers on their books :—boys, 77; girls, 76; infants, 45; while in the same month of the following year (1851) their numbers were as follows:—boys, 53; girls, 71, infants, 56, The National School in Killowen Street had, at the time of my visit, on the books 56 boys, with an average attendance of 80; and 46 girls, with an average attendance of 37, ‘There were no Pro- testants in the boys’ school, and only four in the girls. Both the master and mistress are Catholics. The few Protestants are catechised by their own Minister in a separate apartment. The present low rate of attendance at the boys’ school is ac- counted for partly by the demands of the harvest, but chiefly because there is only a substitute master, the proper master being absent. In the official re- ports of this school there were on the books in Sep- tember, 1850, 53 boys and 67 girls; and in the same month in the following year, 76 boys and 91 girls. The only other school I visited was one belonging to the Honorable the Irish Society. It has the largest and finest school-room I had seen in Ireland, and the educational arrangements seemed very excellent. 2 eT oe IRISH SOCIETY. 125 The history of this school is interesting. It was originally founded by the Irish Society so far back as the year 1705. After many vicissitudes, it was abandoned in 1739, and an infant school estab- lished, This also continued many years in an unsatisfactory state, when the Society finally erected the present school, which was first opened in 1821; its first master and mistress being sent from the London Borough School, on whose principles it was established. In the Superintendent’s report for the first year, a circumstance is mentioned, very touching in itself, and illustrating the sad condition of the poorer classes of Coleraine only thirty years since. I quote the master’s words:—‘“ In consequence of the wretchedness of the children, in point of habili- ments, great numbers being unable to appear on Sabbath-days at any place of worship, the Superin- tendent hath established in the Society’s Institu- tion-room Sabbath-evening readings, connected with singing, to which not only the children of the inhabitants, but hundreds of others flock, in connection with their parents, many of whom are equally wretched in point of accommodation as to dress. Here they can appear with comparative comfort ; a small portion of the room being lighted on one side for the use of the singers and the respectable part of the inhabitants, so that on the other side, which is comparatively dark, the poor creatures can have the advantage of hearing the 126 TEMPERANCE. Word of God read, without any exposure of person or feeling.””! At the time of my visit the children, both boys and girls, had no occasion to hide themselves in the dark to avoid “exposure of person or feeling.” They were all decently dressed and healthy-looking. On inquiry I found that there were rather more than 300 in attendance at the two schools. The number of boys on the books was about 200, and the average attendance was about 150; the whole number of Catholics not exceeding 20. Formerly the proportion of Catholics was considerably larger. At this school the Scriptures are read every morning. The children are recommended by a local committee of the clergymen of the town, and pay nothing for their education. The master is provided with a house, and has a salary of 60/. besides 10/. for fuel. The old Temperance or Teetotal organisation has quite disappeared in Coleraine, though there are still numerous Teetotallers in the town, and its population is generally temperate. Some years back there were no fewer than from 1600 to 2000 men systematically enrolled as disciples of Father Mathew. The revival of all this good to the people only awaits the co-operation and direction of the clergy, as in the case of Limavaddy above mentioned, in which their influence, in this respect, has been of late so strikingly exhibited. 1 View of the Origin of the Irish Society ; Appendix, p. ccxxiii. Se er CHAPTER VI. THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER. Since entering the county of Londonderry, several things, some of which have been already incidentally mentioned, have greatly struck us, showing that, in passing into the province of Ulster, we had come among a people and among insti- tutions, if not altogether different, at least differing very considerably from those heretofore witnessed by us. The physical character, the language, the predominant religion of the people, had all changed, and we had become aware of a new form of proprie- torship comprehending a large proportion of the territory of the country. It seems therefore expe- dient, before advancing further into the province, to place here, in juxta-position, all my memo- randums relating to these various points, whether made here or elsewhere. In the beginning of the reign of James I, about the year 1607, a considerable portion of the pro- vince of Ulster having become vested in the Crown, by an act of attainder of many of its native Lords and proprietors, it was determined to plant a Pro- 128 THE PLANTATION testant colony there. For this purpose lands were granted to numerous parties in England and Scot- land, under such conditions as then seemed essential to the success of the great objects in view, viz. the formation of a population that might be attached at once to the British rule and the Protestant religion. * We are not ignorant,” writes King James in 1612 to the then Lord-Deputy of Ireland, “ how much the real accomplishment of that Plantation concerns the future peace and safety of that kingdom; but if there were no reasons of State to press it forward, yet we would pursue and effect that work, with the same earnestness as we now do, merely for the goodness and morality of it; esteeming the settling of religion, the introducing of civility, order, and government among a barbarous and unsubjected people, to be the acts of piety and glory, and worthy also a Christian Prince to endeavour.” The parties to whom the lands were granted (“‘ Undertakers,”’ as they were called,) were of three sorts :—“ 1st. English or Scottish, who are to plant their portions with English or inland [lowland ?] Scottish inhabitants. 2d. Servitors in the kingdom of Ireland, who are to take Irish, English, or Scottish tenants. 8d. Natives of Ireland, who are to be made freeholders.” These estates were re- quired to pay to the Crown an annual fee of only 6s. 8d. for every sixty acres; but the proprietors were required to build castles and houses, to pro- vide men and arms for defence, and otherwise to do OF ULSTER. 129 all that was requisite for the cultivation and civi- lization of the country. Each Undertaker was obliged to reside on his property, or to have an acceptable deputy, for the first five years, and “within three years to plant a competent number of English or inland Scottish tenants upon his proportion as shall be prescribed by the Com- missioners.” This regulation was subsequently more strictly defined to the effect that, upon every 1000 English acres, the Undertaker was “ to plant and place the number of twenty-four able men, being English or imland Scottish, and so rateably upon the other two proportions of 1500 and 2000 acres.” In an early period of these arrangements, the King considering the City of London to be espe- cially well calculated to carry out his views, made an offer to this effect in 1609, through its then Lord Mayor, Humphrey Wild.t The chief motive influencing this offer seemed to be the expectation that the great Companies of London would be much abler than any private parties to re-establish and protect “the late ruinated City of Derry and one other place at or near the Castle of Coleraine,” so as to make them capable of “ affording safety and security to those that shall be sent thither to in- habit.” Among the ‘‘ motives and reasons to induce 1 Many of the details in the text are taken from a printed but un- published volume entitled .‘‘ A Concise View of the Origin, &c. of the Irish Society,” privately issued by the Society in the year 1842. II. 9 130 THE PLANTATION the City of London to undertake the plantation of the North of Ireland,” held out by the King and his Ministers, besides the great and manifold direct benefits to accrue to the City from the various pro- ductions of the country, it is amusing to find enu- merated the indirect advantages of thinning the population, and so rendering the city more healthy. “Tf,” says the official document, “ multitudes of men were employed, proportionably to the commo- dities which might there by industry be attained, many thousands would be set to work, when the infinite increasing greatness (that often doth mi- nister occasion of ruin to itself) of this city might not only conveniently share, but also reap a singular commodity by easing themselves of an unsupport- able burthen, which so surchargeth all parts of the city, that one tradesman can scarce live by another; which, in all probability, would be a means also to preserve the city from infection, (and, by conse- quence, the whole kingdom, which, of necessity, must have recourse thither,) which persons pestered or closed up together can neither otherwise or very hardly avoid.” After due negotiation and examination of the country by its agents, the City accepted the offer, according to the terms proposed, viz. :—‘ These towns (Derry and Coleraine) His Majesty may be pleased to grant, with such liberties and privileges as shall be convenient, but also the whole territory and country betwixt them, which is above twenty Fini Rai Ee, oe OF ULSTER. 131 miles in length, bounded by the sea on the north, the river Bann on the east, and the river Derry or Lough Foyle on the west: out of which 1000 acres more may be allotted to each of the towns, for their commons, rent free; the rest to be planted with such Undertakers as the City of London shall think good for their best profit, paying only for the same the easy rent of the Undertakers.” A few years afterwards (1613) the whole of the Irish property was divided into twelve lots, and balloted for by the Companies, each of the large Companies associating with itself a certain number of the lesser companies, so as to make the contri- butions of each of the twelve nominal Companies, towards the expenses of the undertaking, equal. And from that time forward the individual Compa- nies had the entire government, management, and proceeds of their own properties in their own control respectively. At the time of the division of the estates, the Companies had been already assessed “ towards the plantation of Ireland,” to the amount of 40,000/., a sum which was eventually swelled, by different assessments, to upwards of 60,000/. It is not much to be wondered at that the payment of these large sums made the Companies, at the time, think that they had made but an indifferent bargain, more especially as the annual value of the whole pro- perty was only then rated at 1800/. The price of- produce and of some of the articles of domestic con- sumption, at that time, in Ulster (1613) will account ¥32 THE PLANTATION for this low estimate. The following are some of the prices of those days:—A cow or bullock, 15s. (about a halfpenny per lb.); a sheep, from 16d. to 2s.; a hog, 2s.; a “very long” salmon for 4d., 6d., or 8d.; barley, 11d. a bushel; oats, 4d. a bushel; strong beer, 16s. a barrel, (represented by the London Commissioners as very dear.) The bargain, however, has since proved to be one of the best ever made by the Citizens, the annual income from the property at present divided among the Companies being upwards of 100,000/. a year. Previous to the division of the property among the Companies, the Common Council appointed a special Company or Society for supervising and managing the affairs of the Plantation. This Society shortly afterwards (in 1615) was incorporated under the name of “The Society of the Governor and Assist- ants of London of the new Plantation of Ulster ;” and in 1662 received a second Charter from Charles II, under which it still exists. It is now known by the name of “The Honorable the Irish Society.” At the period of the division of the property, this Society retained in its possession “the houses of Londonderry and Coleraine, the lands attached thereto, and the woods, ferries, and fisheries,” as not being susceptible of division. This property they still retain, and may thus be considered as con- stituting a thirteenth Company. The twelve great Companies among whom the Ulster property was divided, were the following :— Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, OF ULSTER. 1338 Skinners, Merchant Tailors, Haberdashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners, Clothworkers. Four of these Companies (Goldsmiths, Haberdashers, Vint- ners, Merchant Tailors,) have since sold their rights in perpetuity ; two (Salters and Skinners) have not yet got possession, owing to the non-expiration of a long lease granted by them ; while the remaining six (Drapers, Fishmongers, Grocers, Mercers, Cloth- workers, Ironmongers,) have had their estates under their own management for a good many years past. The estates are managed by resident agents, but none, I believe, are actually cultivated by the Com- panies. The Companies, as already stated, have the character of being excellent landlords: the rents being moderate; the tenants seldom molested in their tenure ; and great liberality being shown in the maintenance of schools and in the support of other charitable institutions. The whole property of the Companies is at present _ reckoned, in round numbers, at about 160,000 acres, and that of the Irish Society at 14,000, making a total of 174,000 acres; constituting, in fact, more than half the county. In a valuation of the whole of the county property made in 1802, for the purpose of levying the Cess, the Companies’ property was calcu- lated at 1492/., while all the remaining property of the county was valued at 884/. A general idea of their individual extent may be gathered from these two facts: Ist, that the population on one of the pro- perties (Fishmongers) amounts to upwards of 4000; 131 THE IRISH SOCIETY. 2d, that the individual Companies derive incomes from them varying from 8000/. to 16,000/. per annum. The circumstance that most interested me in regard to the local administration of the Companies, was the marked patronage afforded by them to the education of the people on their respective estates, and, indeed, in the county generally. Having been kindly favoured by most of the Companies which have their estates in their own management, with some particulars relating to their respective schools, I am glad to be able to notice them in this place. They redound greatly to the honour of these bodies, as evincing, at once, great liberality of views, and a very paternal regard for the welfare of the people under their government. It will be seen that no consideration as to the religion of the children is allowed to interfere with the distribution of their bounty. 1. The Irish Society.—I have already noticed the admirable school in Coleraine, which is entirely supported by the Society. I will only here add, that its annual cost to the Society is upwards of 2501. This, however, is but a small proportion of the benefits contributed by the Society towards the education of the people in the county. Accord- ing to an official document now before me, it appears that in the year 1851-2 it contributed funds towards the support of no less than ninety- one schools, amounting in all to 1466/, In addi- tion to this sum the Society, during the same FISHMONGERS’ COMPANY. 135 year, expended in charitable donations of various kinds (including 5501. for building churches), the sum of 915/. 18s, In illustration of the liberal way in which the Society expends its funds, it may be stated that it contributes annually to the Lough Foyle College the following sums: For the College A - 1 2 - : - 2007. For two Masters, 40/7. each A J 802. For five Exhibitions to Trinity College, Dublin, 307. each 1507. Total ; ; A : é 3) 4007, It also subscribes 80/, annually to the Tem- plemoyle Agricultural Schools. The net income of the Society, from its Irish property, during the year ending the 10th of February, 1852, was 12,4291. 6s. 113d. 2. Fishmongers’ Company.— This Company took the direction of its property into its own hands in the year 1820. Since then it has built and en- dowed numerous schools throughout the district. It now maintains eight schools entirely at its own expense, besides contributing to others partly sup- ported from other quarters. The annual expendi- ture on schools, during many years, has varied from 3547. to 511/., making an average considerably above 400/. Of the eight schools entirely sup- ported by the Company, one is exclusively for boys, three exclusively for girls, and four for the two sexes. These schools, in the year 1852, contained 498 pupils of both sexes. I have not been able to 136 IRONMONGERS’ COMPANY. ascertain the proportion of the two religions in these schools; but as it appears that the proportion in the whole population on the Company’s estates is very nearly as three to two, 7. e., three Protestants to two Catholics, it may be fairly inferred that there will be nearly the same proportion in the schools. 3. Ironmongers’ Company.—This Company has no schools exclusively supported by itself, but it contributes to fifteen schools, of which number fourteen are National Schools. These schools lie in the parishes of Aghadoey, Desertoghil, Macos- quin, Erigal, and Agivy, in a south-west direction from Coleraine, and about seven or eight miles dis- tant from it. The following Table exhibits the chief particulars relating to them at the close of the year 1852: ou | Religion. | a ; ; [eee = 8 E g B< | £8 |: | Probable ay s a 4, ct it CHAPTER XII. THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND, Havine, with the Tower of Monasterboice, taken leave, for the present, of those most singular monu- ments of antiquity, Taz Rounp Towers or IRELAND, it seems fitting, at least, if not imperative, that something of a more general kind should here be said respecting them. This would be appropriate, if it were merely to commemorate in these pages, the strong impression made by them on the writer’s mind, as, one after another, they presented them- selves to notice, in so many and such distant parts of the country travelled. Of all the relics of antiquity still preserved in Ireland—I had almost said in Europe—there are none which, in my mind, can vie in point of attractiveness with these Towers. No one who sees but once their beautiful, lofty, and slender shafts shooting up into the sky, and domi- nating in solitary grandeur, the surrounding land- scape—all strikingly resembling one another and resembling nothing else—but must be struck with admiration and curiosity of the liveliest kind. And yet these primary feelings are but slight in degree, 286 THE ROUND TOWERS when compared with those which are excited by the consideration of all the extraordinary circum- stances involved in their history. That these Towers have existed, or, at least, the majority of them, for upwards of a thousand years, is certain; that they may have existed twice or thrice this period is far from improbable; but that the era of their origin and the object of their erection remain as secrets yet to be unfolded, are circumstances which only add to the mysterious interest which attaches to them. It may be hoped, therefore, that the following notices, though con- taining nothing new, will not be considered as foreign to a work which professes to record what- ever appeared to a stranger most note-worthy in Treland. In the adjoining small woodcut we have an accurate representation of one of the most perfect of these towers, that of Antrim; and seeing this, the reader may suppose that he has seen all. It OF IRELAND. 287 will be immediately shown, that they do vary con- siderably in size, and slightly in form, and more or less in some of their minuter details; but certainly their striking resemblance one tu another, is one of their most remarkable features. The number of Round Towers at present existing in Ireland, in a more or less perfect state, is said to be between seventy and eighty, of which number about twenty only are in complete preservation; the rest being more or less injured or decayed. They are to be found in every county of Ireland except six, and are spread over its whole extent, east, west, north, and south. The following is a synopsis of the present heights of all I have been able to find an account of: Height in feet. Meabeny Height in feet. panes From 100 to 130 . 7: From 50 to 60 : rl es: 3 90 to 100 5 » 40 to 50 1 + 80 to 90 4 » 930 to 40 fs aed Ss OstOmeyonte cee) » 20 to 30 : aw) » 60to 66 5 md tO EAD 5 Ledwich gives the following as the circumference near the base, of twelve of the towers: No. of Towers. Girth in feet. |] No. of Towers, Girth in feet. 1 Uy 95 2 9 2 4 48 2 54 1 47 1 5 53 1 44 1 51 1 41 1 50 1 38 288 THE ROUND TOWERS The same author gives the following as the varying | thickness of the walls in twelve of them : Feet. Inches. | Feet. Inches. One ; sat 8 Three. See 8 One . shila! 4 i Four ‘ Aids 6 Onehntshead Bee | Peo Te iden er ato In Clondalkin Tower, so carefully measured by Mr. Petrie, there is a difference of 14 inches between the thickness of the walls in the lower and the upper story. Speaking of them generally, this author, the latest and best authority, says they vary in height from 50 to 150 feet, and from 40 to 60 feet in circumference. He also says, that they have usually a circular projecting base, con- sisting of one, two, or three steps or plinths. None of the five towers examined by me had any appearance of this kind. In a few cases (one or two) the base is considerably wider than the rest of the shaft (as, for instance, in Clondalkin Tower); but, generally, they begin to taper from the very foundation, but so gently, that the diminution is only perceptible when you look upwards and take in the whole structure at one glance: then you see the gradual diminution of size from bottom to top. In Clondalkin Tower, which is 85 feet 9 inches high, the difference between the internal diameter of the lower story and the upper is ten inches, the former being 7 feet 4 inches, the latter 6 feet 6 inches. The entrance or doorway of the Towers is always, OF IRELAND. 289 © or with two exceptions at most, a considerable distance from the ground or base of the tower, varying, Mr. Petrie says, from 8 to 30 feet. Mr. Ledwich gives the precise heights (in feet) of the doorways in eleven, as follows: 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 114, 13, 18, 14, 24, Besides the doorway, the shafts of the Towers are pierced by small square apertures or windows, at intervals of 12 feet or thereabouts, through the whole height of the Tower. These windows are rarely, if ever, placed in a perpendicular line above one another, but irregularly on different sides. Immediately beneath the conical summit, however, there is a series of these windows on the same level, all round ; almost always four, but in two cases, six. Sometimes, but not always, the four windows face the four cardinal points of the compass. These upper windows seem to be generally larger than . those below: thus, in Clondalkin Tower, while the windows in the shaft are only 2 feet 2 inches high, those under the eaves are 3 feet 7 inches. When complete, the Towers are covered in by a very thick conical roof of stone, ending in a sharp point, and with slightly-projecting eaves below. In the whole of their height above the immediate base, the Towers are invariably round; the stones of which they are composed being generally neatly chiselled, so as to fit the circular line. The stones vary in quality, apparently according to the nature of the local rock. LT, 19 290 THE ROUND TOWERS In the Towers I have examined, there is very little appearance of mortar between the stones, either without or within, the bare surfaces of the stones, for the most part, touching each other; but a close examination always can detect cement, particularly in the interior. In the Tower of Monasterboice, which is composed of a slaty rock, it was with great difficulty that mortar could be detected either on the outside or within. Often the door-jambs and door-top are of a different stone from the rest of the building, and are, in a few cases, ornamented and sculptured. All the Towers, except, I think, three, are ex- ternally perfectly smooth, and unornamented from base to summit. Of the three exceptional Towers, that of Ardmore has three prominent belts or string-courses between the doorway and upper windows ; that of Dysart has one belt; and that of Devenish, as formerly stated, has an ornamental cornice with four sculptured heads just below the eaves of the roof. Generally speaking, the opening of the doorway is very small, say a couple of feet wide and double that in height, so as to be capable of admitting only one person at a time. In a few, however, the doors are larger; that, for instance, of Clon- dalkin Tower, is no less than five feet four inches high. No doors have been found on any of them ; but in some there are said to be holes in the jambs as if for the admission of bolts. OF IRELAND. 291 The only two Towers whose interior I inspected (Cashel and Monasterboice) seemed to me, in look- ing upward, to present a perfectly smooth and unbroken surface, as if they had never been planned for any kind of flooring; but it appears that, on closer examination, all the towers, or nearly all, possess, in the vertical spaces between the windows, some kind of rests or supports for the fixing of floors; and, indeed, two or three possess floors at the present day. The mode in which the floors were attached was either by letting the ends of the joists into holes in the wall, or by resting them on separate pro- jecting stones, or on prominent ledges running round the whole interior circumference. The number of floors varied, according to the height of the Tower, from three to eight; the more common number was five or six. The windows correspond with the different floors, each floor having one window. ‘The height of the interior stories would thus be, on an average, about twelve feet. According to the measurements given of Clondalkin Tower, the following are the heights of the different floors, beginning at the base :—12 feet 5 inches ; 14 feet ; 13 feet ; 18 feet ; 9 feet 6 inches. At whatever height the doorway is placed, the lower or ground floor has been found nearly on a level with this, or only a few feet below it; and in most of those whose interior has been explored, the portion of the interior below the doorway has been 292 THE ROUND TOWERS found filled up with stones or solid masonry. In several which have been cleared out to the bottom, skeletons, more or less perfect, decayed bones, &c., have been found, seeming to show that the Towers were occasionally, at least, used as cemeteries, whatever other purpose or purposes they may have served, The doorways are for the most part formed of unornamented stones; but in two of them (Kildare and Timahoe) they are richly ornamented with sculpture ; and in two others (Antrim and Donough- more) there are rude crosses sculptured above them. Before noticing the numerous and varied specu- lations respecting the origin and uses of the Round Towers, it is important to know how far back their existence can be traced in anything like an authentic manner. It will be a sufficient justification of a good deal of our interest in them, if we can satisfy ourselves that they are many centuries old, though we may fail to prove that their origin extends back into remote antiquity. It would be something to know with certainty that St. Patrick or even Brian Boroihme had been among their contemporaries, though we may fail to carry them back to the days of Zoroaster or Pharoah. Of the existence of these Towers in the twelfth century we have the positive testimony of an eye- witness, Giraldus Cambrensis; and of their previous existence we have, if not positive testimony, cer- tainly a most strong presumption in the belief of OF IRELAND. 293 the Irish of that day, reported by the same authority. This author, who wrote about the year 1185, after noticing the legend of the miraculous formation of Lough Neagh from the overflowing of a certain fountain unfortunately left open when it should have been covered, tells us, as a reason for believing in the story, that the fishermen belonging to the lake were in the habit of pointing out the Round Towers of the submerged district still standing beneath the water. ‘ We have probable grounds for believing in this event (he says), because the fishermen on this lake can, in clear weather, distinctly see beneath the water Kcclesiastical towers, which, according to the fashion of the country, are narrow, round, and lofty, and frequently show the same to the wondering strangers passing that way.” ! Everybody knows the charming use made of this legend by Moore in one of his Melodies : “On Lough Neagh’s banks as the fisherman strays When the clear cold eve’s declining, He sees the Round Towers of other days In the waves heneath him shining: Thus memory, often, in dreams sublime, Has a glimpse of the days that are over; Thus, sighing, looks through the waves of time For the long-faded glories they cover.” ee LS LS Se i 1 Hujus autem eventus argumentum est non improbabile, quod pis- catores aque illius turres ecclesiasticas que more patriz arcte sunt et altze nec non et rotund sub undis manifeste sereno tempore con- spiciunt; et extraneis transeuntibus reique causas [casum] admiranti- bus frequenter ostendunt.—Topog. Hibern. in Camden. Distinctio II, cap. ix. 294. THE ROUND TOWERS The celebrated Irish scholar, Dr. O’Connor, asserts positively that they are noticed in Irish legends as old as the seventh century :—“ Procul dubio Turres in antiquissimis Hiberniorum Car- minibus memorantur,” and instances some such, “scripta Seculo VII.” The ancient chronicle, termed the ‘ Ulster Annals,’ under the year 448, speaks of an earthquake “by which seventy-five Towers were destroyed or injured ;” but, of course, it may be questioned whether the towers referred to were necessarily Round Towers. In many parts of the old written annals of Ireland we have accounts of the assault and burning of many Belfries or Fortresses between the tenth and twelfth centuries ; but whether these were really Round Towers or not, depends on the meaning of the word Cloichteach, respecting which the learned antiquaries of Ireland are not of accord. Some contend that the struc- tures so called, were not the Round Towers pro- perly so named, but separate Belfries connected with the churches, and made of wood. It seems certain that the Irish term Cloichteach was ap- plied to mere strong-holds or towers without bells, as is incidentally mentioned by Mr. Petrie in noticing an ancient Irish narrative respecting Charlemagne. Perhaps one of the strongest testimonies in favour of the early existence of these Towers is the fact that Mr. Petrie himself, so strong an advocate of their comparatively recent origin, contends for OF IRELAND. 295 the construction of one of them as early as the . sixth century. Taking all these statements into account, toge- ther with many other notices, historical and legen- dary, adduced by Irish writers on this subject, it hardly admits of question that, whatever may have been the exact period at which these Towers were built, they certainly existed at a period as remote as a thousand years from the present time. And it may be added that, from the perfect preservation in which many of them are still found, no argument. can be adduced, on the score of durability, against: their existence for double that period of time,—an opinion actually maintained by many of the best authorities who have investigated the subject. Knowing them to have existed a thousand years comparatively uninjured by time, we must admit, a fortiori, their capacity to have endured another thousand years, the earlier of the two periods. Among the numerous authorities who take this view of the question, we may mention the poet Moore, who thus speaks of them in his History of Ireland :— «The truth is that neither then [the sixth and seventh centuries] nor, I would add, at any other assignable period within the whole range of Irish. history, is such a state of things known authen- tically to have existed, as can solve the difficulty of these Towers, or account satisfactorily, at once, for. the object of the buildings and the advanced civili- sation of the architects who erected them. They 296 THE ROUND TOWERS must therefore be referred to times beyond the reach of historical record.” For this very remote origin of the Towers, how- ever, it must be owned that there is no historical or even traditional evidence, though there are many and strong inferences and arguments both of a positive and negative kind. Into this discussion it will not be expected that we can here enter, except in so far as may be incidental to the exposition of the various views which remain to be stated respecting the objects or purposes for which these singular structures were erected. The different parties to whom the erection of these Towers has been attributed, may be said, in general terms, to be three:—1, the ancient Orientals; 2, the European Pagans of the middle ages; 3, the early Christians. 1. The Orientals assumed as the builders of the Towers, are the Indians, Persians, Phcenicians. No very special attempt has been made to account for the remarkable exodus of colonies of one or other of these people into the extreme west, nor to fix the period of their immigration into Ireland. The theory has been invented in the difficulty of — antiquarianism to account for the existence of the Towers on native or national grounds, and in the belief that the religion and religious institutions of those countries supply materials for overcoming these difficulties. The purposes and uses of the Towers, on the OF IRELAND. 297 . Oriental theory, are said to be one or other, or one or more, of the following :— a. They were Mithraic or Fire Temples, for con- taining the sacred fire in the emblematic worship of the Sun and Moon, according to the ancient Persian religion. : 6. They were Astronomical Observatories, con- joined with or distinct from the Mithraic worship. c. They were Buddhist Temples; and in them- selves emblems of the Phallic worship connected therewith. The principal arguments in favour of one or other of these appropriations, are the following :— 1, the great fitness of the general structure of such Towers for containing sacred fire; 2, the faci- lity of preserving the inviolability of the fire, by means of the elevated entrances; a form of struc- ture still said to exist—and for the same purpose— in the Parsee temples; 3, the alleged existence of ancient Towers of a similar character, and still to be found in various parts of the east, and appropriated to one or more of the purposes mentioned. I cannot but think, that what ought to be and is supposed to be, the most powerful of these argu- ments, viz., the existence of analogous structures in the East, is really very weak. Reckoning all the Towers mentioned by travellers, as bearing a greater or less resemblance to the Irish Towers, I do not believe they amount to more than half a dozen or half a score at most. Now, if these Towers were 298 THE ROUND TOWERS connected with a wide-spread religion, as is alleged, is it not astonishing that they should be so extremely rare there, and so plentiful in Ireland? It has been alleged that they were all destroyed by the Maho- medan conquerors of these countries. But have we any historic evidence of this ? It is certainly one of the most extraordinary facts connected with these Towers, and one that seems inexplicable on any of the theories yet advanced, that structures of this precise and peculiar character should be almost exclusively confined to Ireland; should be quite exclusively confined to it as a class of buildings of general prevalence. The only structures of precisely the same kind to be found in Europe are, I believe, two in Scotland, one at Brechin and one at Abernethy; but the utter obscurity that hangs over the origin of these, leaves the dark question of the Irish Towers with- out any additional illustration. 2. The European Pagans, supposed to be the authors of the Towers, are the Druids and the Danes. a. The Druids are supposed to have erected them for the exercise of their religious rites, especially some believed to be connected with pro- clamations to the people—a purpose for which the loftiness of the Towers would offer great facilities. It is a sufficient argument against this theory, that all druidical remains, of an architectural kind, existing throughout Europe—and they are nume- rous—are of such rude inferiority, as necessarily OF IRELAND. 299 presupposes the inability among this people to erect such elaborate structures as the Towers; an argu- ment still further strengthened by the fact of the non-existence of any such structures in other European countries, as much frequented by the Druids as Ireland was. b. The Danes, then Pagans, are supposed by the supporters of the other theory, to have erected them as fortresses, to enable them to secure their conquests in Ireland. The arguments against this theory are the following :—1, that the Danish inva- sion did not take place, according to Géiraldus, before the year 838, long before which date we have almost positive evidence of the existence of the Towers; 2, that no Towers are found near Waterford and other places most occupied by the Danes; 3, that the Danes, in their own country, and in other countries conquered by them, as England, erected no such structures. c. I include the Cemetery theory in this Pagan category, although it seems to belong as probably to the Christian, or to both. This theory, which would appropriate the Towers as monuments for the dead, whether kings, warriors, or saints, has, of late years, received great additional support, from the fact of the remains of the dead being dis- covered in almost all the Towers which have been thoroughly explored. If they had not been specially destined to this end from the first, it is not easy to believe, that the sacredness or exclusiveness of any. 300 THE ROUND TOWERS other primary destination, would have allowed of this cemeterial use, as an incidental or secondary appropriation. This consideration seems, therefore, to give additional probability to the theory that would classify the Towers with the Egyptian pyra- mids and the numerous other grand cemeterial monuments of the mighty dead, which have sig- nalized our race in all ages and all countries. 3. The theory that ascribes the origin of the Round Towers to the Christians of the early cen- turies, comprehends several different views as to their original purpose or use. a. One of these, and certainly not the least probable, is that which attributes them to the primitive Cenobites or Conventual Christian Brothers, who are believed to have reached Ireland from the east, in the sixth and seventh centuries. They are sup- posed to have erected the Towers, with the aid of the newly-converted kings and toparchs, as for- tresses or strongholds, wherein to secure, in time of war and danger, the sacred utensils, relics, dresses, books, &c., belonging to those churches in whose immediate neighbourhood they stood. If such was their purpose, surely no kind of structure could be more suited for attaining it, at the supposed period of their erection. Against a mere rapid or temporary attack, which gave time for only the briefest preparation, they would be almost impreg- nable ; while the persons within possessed the means of great annoyance to the besiegers. Their diminu- NE ees : le RIA OSA SOS a ee te Ooi OF IRELAND. 301 tive and lofty doorway being barred within, the massive structure could only be assailed in two ways, either by assaulting the wall with quarrying instruments, or by attempting to force the doorway, after reaching it with ladders. In either case, the simple dropping of large stones from the windows, commanding the whole circumference of the Tower, would prove decisive against such assaults. An argument supposed to be conclusive has been adduced against the Cenobitic origin of the Towers; but which appears to be easily met with counter arguments of equal force at least. This argument is, the extreme improbability that people who were content to see their churches built of wattles or rough-hewn wood, should have ever thought of erecting, or could have had the knowledge to erect, such elaborate and finished structures as the Towers. Now, it may be replied—l1st, that in such a state of society as is here supposed, these fortresses were of more pressing necessity than stone churches; 2d, that admitting that the churches of the time were built of wood, such strongholds would be essential to the security of the religious community attached to them ; certainly more essential than in later times, when these churches were themselves capable of resisting mere predatory attacks; 3d, that the very premiss assumed, viz. that these Cenobites had come from the east, that is, from some civilized country; presupposes their capacity to rear such structures, 302 THE ROUND TOWERS or at least structures as substantial and elaborate as the Round Towers. 6. A second of the Christian appropriations is the Stylitic theory, which would convert the Towers into anchorite pillars, for the display of such pious impiety as was exhibited by the pillar-saints of the east, and particularly by the famous Simeon of the Pillar, or Stylites. Numerous and obvious argu- ments demolish this absurd theory. We need only mention two:—lst, the total unfitness of the Towers for the purpose of such display; and 2d, their great numbers. Even if the tops of these Towers, instead of being sharp and conical, had been flat, and so suited to the aerial phantasies of those absurd devotees, can we believe that human folly could be so prevalent and so profuse, as to erect such a multitude of these expensive buildings for such a purpose; or that hundreds of such fanatics could have been found “playing their fantastic tricks before high heaven” within the bounds of one little island? Impossible. c. The theory that would appropriate the Towers for penitential purposes of another kind, viz. as “stations,” wherein, beginning at the top, the penitent might gradually fast and pray his way downwards to the door, to receive absolution, is so purely gratuitous, and so totally unsupported by arguments, that it cannot claim any consideration. d. The theory that regards them as monuments erected in honour of the early founders of Chris- H \ ‘| § | OF IRELAND. 303 tianity in Ireland, may very properly be blended with that of the Cemetery theory already noticed ; as all analogy would lead us to believe that such monuments would naturally enclose the remains of those in whose honour they were erected. e. The Beacon or Watch-tower theory, con- sidered in its speculatorial or warlike relations, and independently of its ecclesiastical or local bearings, seems at once put aside by the notorious fact of the local position of the towers—few of them, I think, being placed in such localities as would render them particularly useful as means of warning the country round, and many of them being placed in situations the very reverse of those which would be chosen for such a purpose. In another point of view, however, that is, regarded as local beacons to guide the inmates of the establishment, or the benighted traveller, in dark nights, to the shelter afforded by the monastery near which they were placed, their designation as beacons, as well as their utility, might be fairly admitted ; but we can hardly believe that such costly structures would be erected for so comparatively slight a purpose, more particularly as the same end might have been attained by more ordinary means. f. The appropriation of these Towers as keeps or fortresses for assuring safety to the ecclesiastics and the treasures of the churches near which they were erected, has been already noticed in reference to the earliest periods of Christianity in Ireland. The consi- 304: THE ROUND TOWERS deration of this appropriation is here renewed under another aspect, viz., as connected with the more advanced period, when stone churches, and, indeed, churches of elaborate architecture, were general in Ireland. The great advocate of this theory is Mr. Petrie, who, however, considers that the appropria- tion next to be noticed, that of the belfry, went hand in hand with it, both in the original plan and in the subsequent practice. I have nothing to add to what has been already stated respecting this appropriation, except that if the theory which brings the origin of the Towers into a later epoch, gets rid of any difficulties of an architectural character which may be supposed to attach to them at a much earlier and ruder period, it certainly weakens the necessity for them, when the churches themselves had grown into strongholds. No one will doubt that the skill which could design and erect a church or monastery, could compass the building of these Towers; but we have given grounds for believing that adequate capacity existed in the times of the Czenobites. g. The theory that regards the Towers as belfries, is that which will probably at first find readiest acceptance in the minds of most travellers, from the mere circumstance of their being almost always placed near churches; while, in the absence of any other very obvious purpose, their height and slender- ness seem naturally to indicate or suggest such a use for them. I think, however, that a more complete examination of their general and special structure, \ } | q ; » OF IRELAND. 305 will point out their obvious unsuitableness for such a purpose; while many other arguments can be adduced against the probability of this having been the object for which they were originally erected. Nor will the acknowledged fact, that some of these Towers have been used—and I believe one or two are still used—for the hanging of bells, remove the difficulties of the theory that would fix this as their original use. Although designed for very different purposes, it would be far from improbable that they might be employed as such, for want of better, or to save the expense of erecting new ones more adapted for the purpose. We have all seen a church-bell sus- pended on a neighbouring tree during the rebuilding of a country church; but we did not thence infer that this was the original and proper belfry of the parish. Respecting the two great fundamental theories of their Oriental and their Christian origin, it is hard to say which seems most probable or most impro- bable. Many arguments, besides those given above, may be advanced and have been advanced for and against both. The advocates of their Christian origin regard the two facts of their nearly invariable presence in the immediate vicinity of Christian Churches, and the existence of sculptured crosses over the doors of two of them, as almost conclusive in favour of their views. But their opponents are certainly not destitute of arguments of considerable force against them. For instance, they say (1) that 11. 20 306 THE ROUND TOWERS no very probable use of such structures in relation to Christian establishments has been adduced; (2) that if they were necessary for ecclesiastical pur- poses, all the Irish churches, and not merely a small proportion of them, ought to be provided with such towers; (3) that if they were of strictly Christian origin, they ask, how it comes that, of all Christians in the world, the Irish Christians alone had such buildings; (4) they think that they explain away a good deal of the force of the argument founded on the topographical relations of the churches and Towers, by the counter-argument, that the pre-existence of the Towers as objects of sacred or superstitious interest to the people, might be the cause of the churches being erected in the same locality; while (5) they regard the existence of these two crosses as supplying strong arguments on their own side of the question; a view of the case which I confess I adopt. If these Towers were originally raised by Christians and for Christian pur- poses, we ought to expect crosses on all of them, and not on two only ; and the very fact of their existence on two only seems almost conclusive evidence against their Christian origin generally. The most striking of all the characteristics of these Towers— their wonderful uniformity—bears strong testimony against these two crosses having been portions of the original structure of the Towers on which they are now placed. Resembling their fellows in every- thing else, how, if erected at the same period, should OF IRELAND. | FOF these two Towers differ from them in this very striking particular? I would, therefore, draw one or other of the two following inferences respecting these two Cross-Towers: either (1) that the: two crosses have been sculptured on them, in Christian times, and posteriorly to their original erection ; or (2) that the two Towers have been erected subse- quently to and in imitation of the other Towers, and were marked by crosses at the period of their erec- tion to indicate their origin in Christian times. In considering all the foregoing theories of the origin and alleged uses of these Towers, it will not be denied that great difficulties attach to each of the explanations advanced, so that they still remain, and are likely to remain, “ the very Cruces Antiquariorum,” as Sir Walter Scott called them. I make no pretensions to solve the riddle, but con- fess myself equally puzzled with most of my prede- cessors. My bias is certainly in favour of the pre- Christian origin of the Towers ; but I am fully aware of the many and strong arguments that can be and are adduced against the theory ; and must therefore be content to leave it without any additional support from me. Before concluding, however, I must ad- vert to two circumstances which have strongly pressed themselves on my mind, both while contemplating the Towers on the spot, and while reflecting on them since. I hope I am not quite mistaken in thinking them deserving of consideration in our 308 THE ROUND TOWERS future attempts to solve the great problem of the origin and uses of these marvellous structures; they are as follows: 1, I have already stated, more than once, that what struck me as a prominent characteristic of the Irish Towers was their wonderful similarity one to another, and their no less dissimilarity to all other buildings. In the minute description of them for- merly given, it will be observed that differences do exist in various details of structure; but all these differences will be found, on examination, to be of a kind in no degree to detract from the uniformity of their generic character. They are all “ Irish > and nothing else but Irish Round Towers; all possessing such broad characteristic marks Round Towers,’ as identify them one with another, and constitute them a single and distinct species of architectural structure. They differ as individual men differ, but they all as obviously belong to the species of “ Round Towers,” as all men belong to one species or genus— Man. I dwell upon this fact, because I cannot help thinking that it has important bearings on the ques- tion of the origin and purposes of the Towers. The argument I would deduce from it is this: that such wonderful uniformity of structure implies the existence of some one great predominating idea in the minds of those with whom they originated ; such idea not merely prompting the erection of buildings of a special kind, but so governing their individual structure as to prevent all deviation from | OF IRELAND. 309 the original type. We see no such uniformity in other buildings erected for ordinary secular pur- poses, and we can hardly believe that the varying judgment, or capacity, or taste, or caprice of archi- tects, in planning and constructing such buildings, could be restricted within such rigid limits of design, if they had been left at liberty to use their own discretion in the matter. Why, in building a belfry, or an ecclesiastical stronghold, or a peni- tential prison, or a beacon, should one model be so invariably and rigidly followed? Surely, any or all of these purposes could be served, by structures of a varying form and character. We see no such uniformity in any set: of mere secular buildings, in any other country, though the object of the build- ings may be precisely the same. Our houses, our colleges, our monasteries, our churches, our palaces, our town-halls, our monuments, our forts, our bar- racks, our barns, our stables, our gardens, our bridges, all vary infinitely. Why, then, should these towers, if intended to serve any of the ordinary secular or semi- ecclesiastical purposes, not show something of the same variety ? I would humbly submit, that the only probable explanation of this marvellous uniformity is that already stated, viz., that the Towers were the offspring of some one grand subjugating idea, most probably of some profound and wide-spread religious conviction, forbidding all deviation from the ideal prototype. T have named our churches among the buildings 310 THE ROUND TOWERS that exhibit conspicuous varieties of plan and con- figuration ; and the fact unquestionably is so, speak- ing of structure generally ; yet they may be adduced, on the other side of the argument, as strikingly illustrative of the influence of predominating ideas in determining and preserving special architectural configuration. All, or nearly all, the Christian churches of a large size, such as cathedrals, retain the form of a cross in their outline; almost all churches, great or small, are built in such a direc- tion (EK. and W.} as to have one of their extremities looking towards the land where the religion exer- cised in them originated. It need not be supposed that the advocacy of this general theory necessarily involves the admission that the primordial and governing notion, call it idea, be- hef, conviction, feeling, or aught else, must necessarily be of a religious character. The probability will, no doubt, be in favour of its being so; but it is easy to imagine other ideas or feelings, of such intensity and universality, yet not at all of a religious or superstitious sort, as might equally lead to a like result. Some such will readily suggest themselves to most minds; and if this were the place for such a discussion it would not be uninteresting to pursue it. But I have already carried this subject a good deal beyond the limits I had assigned to it in enter- ing on it, and cannot now trace it further. If the speculation here touched on possesses any pith, it must tend materially to influence the reception OF IRELAND. 311 which the individual theories hitherto propounded respecting the Towers, are likely to meet with from those who countenance it. ; 2. The second and last point of a general cha- racter respecting the Towers, to which I shall advert, is the fact—so I conceive it to be—of their purely topical or indigenous origin. What I would advance and maintain is this:—that whether the Towers drew their existence from any such predo- minating influence as has been suggested, or not ; or whether the original excogitators of the struc- tures, were strangers or natives, the plan itself, or general system of the Tower-building, not only had its birth in Ireland, but (Gf I may be allowed the expression) had its life and death also: in other words, was a plan or system purely and exclusively Irish. I think no other evidence is required to maintain this view, but the facts so often stated above, viz., the non-existence, or comparative non- existence, of any such structures elsewhere; and their so-plentiful presence in every part of Ireland. If strangers from the east really did bring a religion with them, prompting the erection of such Towers, the idea and plan of their actual structure would seem to have been developed on the soil of Ireland. They left no prototypes of such structures behind them in their native east. If, on the other hand, the Christianity of the early or later centuries, was the source of the idea which gave rise to their erec- tion, its Irish votaries must have been the. parties 312 THE ROUND TOWERS to embody its suggestions, and carry them out in the Towers; as they had no prototypes to follow in the other Christian lands of Europe or elsewhere. And so it may be reasoned in regard to any other hypothesis that has been suggested as accounting for the origin of the Towers. Every consideration, indeed, positive or negative, seems to concur in supporting the notion for which I am contending— viz., that these Towers were literally, and in every sense of the word, what Giraldus calls them—a “mos patrie,”’—an Irish Fashion-—as much and as exclusively belonging to the country, as any other of their peculiar customs. Before finally dismissing this, the most imterest- ing of antiquarian subjects, 1 must be allowed to put in a word in behalf of the Round Towers them- selves, as they now exist;—a word to which, I think, the patriotism of Irishmen cannot refuse to give ear. Many of them are in a state of progressive though slow decay, and must, if no conservative interference takes place, eventually become masses of mere shapeless ruins. Others, such as those of Gendalough, Kildare, and Monasterboice, are still sound and strong in their general frame, and merely partially injured at top. Now, what I would pro- pose is—that all the Towers of the former class should:be so far repaired, as to prevent any further dilapidation of their mass; and that ail those of the latter, should be completely restored by the replace- ment of their conical dome, as has been done in the OF IRELAND. 315 case of the Devenish and Antrim Towers, as well as some others. So repaired, they would, in all pro- bability, remain, without any further care, to be, twenty centuries hence, what they are now and have been so long,—mysterious beacons in the sea of time, inspirmg wonder, stimulating thought, feeding fancy. Surely, there could not be a more graceful gift made to their country by the lords of the Irish soil, than this re-edification of monuments so splendid in themselves and so characteristically national. I would also suggest to the antiquaries of Ireland a humbler labour, but one of analogous import, and which might even prove, eventually, more con- servative of the fame of these wonders of their country, than all that the hand of architecture could effect. This labour is—to get constructed an exact and minute description of every individual Tower, with careful measurements and accurate plans of the general structure of each, and of every individual part. This would not merely be a most valuable record of the actual condition of the Towers, at a particular epoch, but, by permitting a minute comparison to be instituted between each part of all of them, might even throw some considerable light on the great question of their origin and uses, It is surely discreditable to the spirit of Irish anti- quarianism, that no such record as this exists; nay, that no attempt even to frame such a record has been made. As far as I know, Mr, Petrie’s solitary 314 THE ROUND TOWERS. description and delineation of Clondalkin Tower, is all that has been effected in this way. To under- take and complete a record of the kind proposed, in a spirit and style worthy of the subject, would surely be a labour of glory, and ought to be a labour of love for any Irishman. The author of such a work, when committing it to the immortality of print, might almost be justified in addressing the objects of his antiquarian love, in the language of the poet, when promising to his mistress the deathlessness of his own “powerful rhyme:”— «“ When wasteful war shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn, This living record of your memory. *Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom.” CHAPTER XIII. THE COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. On returning to Dublin, my first business was to repair the mistake I had committed on my former journey to the south, in passing by CasHeL, Accordingly I now devoted a day to make the visit, then omitted. Of this I have already given a short account in my former volume; having transferred the narrative thither for obvious topo- graphical reasons. Besides my desire to see a little more of the Capital of Ireland before leaving the country, I had two other objects in view in revisiting Dublin, namely, to see the Model Schools and the College of Maynooth. In the present Chapter I propose to give, at some length, the results of my visit to the College ; and in the next, I hope to be able to combine with my brief notice of the Model Schools, a more detailed account of the state of Education in Ireland generally. The College of Maynooth is about fifteen English miles from Dublin, on the line of the Midland or Gal- 316 COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. way railway. It adjoins a small town of the same name, which contains about 2000 inhabitants, and is rather a neat and clean-looking place. There is a sort of square or open space at one end of the town, one side of which is fronted by the College, another by the parish church of Larachbryan, and the old castle of Maynooth; and a third, by the gate which leads to Carton, the seat of the Duke of Leinster. The old castle of Maynooth, a fine ruin, gives additional dignity and interest to the place. Not having an introduction to any members of the College, we threw ourselves on the kindness of the first gentleman we met with, and were most courteously received, and kindly shown over the whole place by one of the senior pupils, a very intelligent and gentlemanly youth of eighteen or nineteen. There was no reserve or restriction on his part, in showing us whatever we desired to see, or in giving us whatever information we sought at his hands. In his conduct and manner, there was the same good breeding and the same open cheer- fulness which we might expect from an under- graduate of Oxford or Cambridge, doing the honours of his College to strangers. And I may here re- mark, that the bearing, dress, and address of the students generally, were decidedly those of gentle- men; though here and there, a critical eye might detect indications of a humbler fortune and breeding than are to be met with at the English Universities. The College consists of two quadrangles, or COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. 317 rather of the three sides of two quadrangles, one behind the other; one old and one new; the former a piece of patchwork, very ugly and barrack- like; the latter, a bran-new erection in Pugin’s best style, though little decorated. The length of the front of the old College is about 400, and that of the new about 300 feet. The interior arrangements of the New College are made on a large and handsome scale. There is a fine corridor, with a roof of peculiar construction, all round the three sides of the quadrangle, into which the lecture and class-rooms, as also some of the students’ rooms, open. The refectory is a noble hall, and the library a spacious and well-contrived apartment. The students’ private rooms up-stairs are good as to size and accommodation, but there is in them a great defect as to warming and ventilation; there being no chimneys, and, as far as I could see, no provision for the admission of warm fresh air, or for the escape of foul. By means of the additional accommodation sup- plied by the new buildings, every student will now have his separate room; an arrangement which must greatly conduce to the personal comfort of the young men, as well as add to their facilities for study. Sir Francis Head supposes, that this appro- priation of a room to each student, must “ mate- rially increase the monastic severity of the educa- tion ;’ but I own I cannot see how this can be the 318 COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. case, since these rooms are merely bedrooms; all the studies of the College being conducted in public halls and lecture-rooms.' The new buildings of the College, besides the public halls and lecture rooms, contain 215 private rooms for students. The number of students on the College books at the time of our visit, including those of the upper and lower schools, and the Dun- boyne scholars, amounted to the full complement of 520, viz., 500 ordinary students, and 20 on the Dunboyne Foundation. The following brief but authentic history of Maynooth College I extract from that excellent authority for everything Irish, ‘Thom’s Irish Almanac;’ and for the details that succeed, I am chiefly indebted to the Eighth Report of the Commissioners of the Irish Education Inquiry, presented to Parliament in the year 1827. Before availing myself of this last stock of information, I have ascertained that it is equally applicable to the College now as in the year it was prepared. ‘ I take this opportunity of referring to Sir Francis Head’s book, ‘A Fortnight in Ireland,’ for an excellent and very complete account of Maynooth; "and, I may also add, of the Constabulary Force of Ireland. Had Sir Francis devoted more time to Ireland, and brought his admirable talents to bear, in the same systematic, business-like, and truthful manner, on other important Irish subjects, and on the state of Ireland generally, he would certainly have deterred inferior pens from submitting their humble notes and memorandums to the public. It is greatly to be lamented that so accomplished a writer should have descended to so low a ground of political partisanship as he has done in the Second Part of his book. COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. 319 “This College was founded in 1795, by an Act of the Irish Parliament, which passed both Houses without a dissentient vote. A sum of about 8000/. subject to certain deductions, was annually voted by the Irish, and afterwards by the Imperial Parlia- ment, for its maintenance, from 1795 to 1807, when 5000/. additional were voted for the enlarge- ment of the buildings. The annual vote from 1808 to 1813 was 8283/., and from_1818 to 1845 it was raised to 8928/7. The annual grant for the first four years was principally expended in erecting and fur- nishing the front range of the College: the cost of the other portions of the buildings, successively erected in 1808, 1815, 1824, and 1835, was de- frayed partly from the specific grant of 5000/. for that purpose, partly from several unconditional do- nations to the College, amounting to 6000/., and partly from the accumulated savings on the entrance fees and pensions of the students. The total amount of donations and bequests to the College, including the sums funded for bourses, was 31,6811/., besides all the fee simple estates of the late Lord Dunboyne, in the county of Meath, which now return to the College 460/. per annum. The entrance fees and pensions of the students from 1813 to 1844, amounted to more than 84,000/. The number of students in- creased with the enlargement of the buildings from 50 to 250; then gradually rising to 400, it amounted in 1836, and the three following years, to 478; but between 1841 and 1845 it fell to an average of 3820 COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. 430; of these 250 were charged on the Parliamen- tary vote, the others paid an annual pension for their - maintenance. By the Act 8 and 9 Vic., c. 25, (1845) the College was placed on a new footing, and per- manently endowed for the maintenance and educa- tion of 500 students, and of 20 senior scholars on the Dunboyne Foundation, which has been uni- formly since that time the total number of students. Besides providing for the annual cost of commons, &c. for these 520 students, of allowances to the 20 Dunboyne students, and to 250 students of the three senior classes, and of salaries to the President, Superiors, and Professors, the Act moreover vested in the Commissioners of Public Works a sum of 30,0007. for erecting the buildings necessary to accommodate the enlarged number of students,”’ Sir Robert Peel’s Act also constituted the trustees a corporation, with power to hold real property to the amount of 3000/. of annual value. On the first imstitution of the College, the Duke of Leinster yielded up to it a house (part of the present College,) and 54 acres of land, on a perpetual lease, at an annual rental of 72/.; and 20 more acres were subsequently obtained from another proprietor, at a rental of 140/.; so that the College grounds comprise 74 acres in all. The College was at first intended to receive a certain number of lay students; but the regulation was abandoned in the year 1817, since which period the 1 Trish Almanac, 1853. COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. 3821 institution has been exclusively directed to the education of ecclesiastics. No student can be received into the College, unless he is recommended by one of the bishops, and is sixteen years of age; and, previously to admission, every candidate must pass a preliminary examination, including Classics, English Grammar, the elements of Arithmetic, &c. The College is in charge of a body of trustees, (17 in number,) who are for the most part bishops and noblemen of Ireland. They meet twice a year. There is also a body of official Visitors, (8 in number), who are bound to examine the institution and to report on it once a year. The trustees have the nomination of the officers and professors. The establishment con- sists of a president, a vice-president, three deans, a prefect of the Dunboyne Foundation, a bursar, and twelve professors. By Sir Robert Peel’s Act of 1845, the salaries of all the officers were raised; and are, at present, as follows: that of the President, 5741. 12s. 8d.; that of the theological professors, 264/. 12s. 8d.; and that of the other professors, 2417, 12s, 8d. The fragmentary character of these sums is accounted for by the fact, that, when the salaries were raised, the precise relations which they previously held to each other were still retained. The following is the ordinary course of education in the College, during the eight years the pupils remain in it; the academical year consisting of ten out of the twelve months :— Wy 21 3822 COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. First year.—Humanity—that is, Greek, Latin, Grecian and Roman History; also Arithmetic, Algebra, &c. Second year.— Rhetoric and Belles Lettres: Greek, Latin, English Composition, &c. Third year.— Logic, Metaphysics, Ethics, &c. On one day in the week, in this class, there is an exercise on scholastic disputation, usually in Latin. Fourth year.—Mathematics, Natural Philoso- phy, &c. After the four years passed in these secular studies, the students are all transferred to the Divinity department. Here they remain four years more, their studies during this period having all direct reference to their future duties as priests. There are four professors in this department; each of whom lectures both on Dogmatic and Moral Theology. There is also a professor of Hebrew and Sacred Scripture, who is regarded by the statutes as a professor of Theology (a fifth). Besides the more formal lectures that must be daily attended, according to the standing of the students, there are numerous special exercitations of various kinds in the different years. For in- stance, there are two lectures weekly on Scripture History. On one day in the week, a half-hour is set apart for the students to comment on the Gospels and Epistles appointed for the following Sunday; and the senior members of the class are called on, mm succession, to preach a sermon on the Sundays COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH: 323 and holidays. Once a month, the students are further exercised in public disputations; a chapter of the Bible is selected, and they are called upon to argue on it one against the other. There is a distinct Hebrew class, and two annual public exami- nations in this language. At the end of every year, there is a general public examination, lasting from nine to eleven days, at which all the students must attend and answer. Many of the students of the Divinity class, who come from the parts of the country where Irish is spoken, chiefly Munster and Connaught, attend the professor of Irish during the second year of their Divinity course. The Dunboyne scholarships were originally founded by Lord Dunboyne, and the fund amounted to about 500/. per annum. In 1813, an addition of 700/. an- nually was made to this fund by Parliament, to raise the number of scholarships to twenty, all of which are retained for three years beyond the ordinary College course of eight years. The election into this class takes place once a year, the scholarships being awarded to the students “who exhibit more than the ordinary talent and good conduct.” These students are under the special charge of their own Prefect, who superintends their morals, and also, together with the professor of Hebrew, assists in completing their education. Their principal stu- dies are Hebrew, Divinity, Canon Law, Ecclesias- tical History, Composition, &c. Four prizes are 824 COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. annually distributed among them; one for Theo- logy ; one for Ecclesiastical History ; one for Canon Law; and one for “an Essay or Exercise in Com- position.” Among the ordinary students, the general rule in regard to ordination is as follows: the order of Sub-Deacon is given at the end of the second Divi- nity year; that of Deacon at the end of the third ; and that of Priest at the end of the fourth,—that is, when the course of studies is complete. There is a vacation of six weeks each year, in the months of July and August; but the students do not, as a matter of course, leave the College, without the formal permission of their superiors. For those who remain in College, lectures and other studies proceed, but not with the same vigour or strictness as on other occasions. The general discipline of the house is very rigid, and the rule of study severe. No practical restric- tions are imposed on the students in their inter- course with their friends ; but all letters to and from them must pass through one of the Deans’ hands: the letters, however, are never opened, although the right to examine them is maintained. No books are permitted to be brought to or retained in the College, without the sanction of the Deans; but, subject to this regulation, the students may establish private libraries in their rooms. If prohibited books are detected in the possession of a student, expul- sion is the consequence. Newspapers are prohibited. COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. 325 The more ordinary modes of punishment for breaches of the laws, are reproof and admonishment from the President ; after this, expulsion from the College. The Commissioners, in 1827, state that three or four students are expelled annually. The following history of a day and week and year in the College, shows a very rigid and formal discipline, but one which can hardly be called un- reasonably severe for youths whose future life is to be one of continued privation, and ought to be one of habitual piety and virtue. The students rise at five in the summer, and six in the winter. After dressing, they assemble in the Chapel for morning prayer, and then prosecute their studies till eight, when they go to mass. After mass they breakfast, and then amuse themselves till half-past nine, and again return to study till half-past ten. They then attend lectures till half- past eleven, when they have another half-hour’s recreation. At twelve, study is resumed for two hours, and is again succeeded by an hour’s attend- ance on lectures. The two hours, from three to five, are devoted to dinner and relaxation. At five, the studies are once more resumed, “ either in pri- vate or in class,’ and continued till eight, when another hour is allowed for recreation. At nine, they again assemble for prayers; after which they retire to their bedrooms, and are expected to be all in bed by ten. Wednesdays and Saturdays are half-holidays, 326 COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH; at which times the students usually walk in the country, under the superintendence of the Deans. During the hours of private study and, of course, at lecture, and also at meals, the students are en- joined silence ; and after retiring to their rooms at night, “ silence is strictly enjoined until after morn- ing prayers of the ensuing day.” It is only during the times of recreation of five days in the week (between four and five hours each day) that the students have full liberty to converse with one another: on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and some other occasional vacant days, “the liberty of speak- ing is less restricted.” Twice in the year, five days are set apart for what is called a “ Spiritual Retreat,’ during the whole of which period silence and religious medita- tion are strictly enjomed. One of these “ Retreats” is early in September, the other at the period of Ordination: both are followed by Confession. During these Retreats “the time is principally spent in prayer, in spiritual reading, in exercises of piety, and in attending to spiritual instruction in the Chapel.” A portion ef each day is allowed for exercise, but the students are understood to walk “in silence and solitary contemplation.” ' No one, I think, who peruses the foregoing account of the general course of proceedings at Maynooth—an account which has the stamp of 1 Highth Report of the Commissioners of the Irish Education Inquiry. COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. 527 accuracy impressed on it by the signature of the five Commissioners'—will hesitate to admit that the youths educated in that College ought to grow up learned as well as religious men. ‘The course of the studies in Divinity is, I believe, unex- ampled, both as to extent and duration, by any other institution that prepares young men for the exercise of the Ministry in Great Britam. I know not whether the results are proportionate to the preparation ; but I saw nothing among the Catholic Clergy in Ireland to make me doubt this. On the whole, from what I myself saw at May- nooth, and from what I have since learned re- specting it, 1 am bound to conclude that it is a well-planned and well-managed Institution, calcu- lated to communicate to its students a good secular as well as religious education, and to send them forth amply qualified for the discharge of their sacred functions as priests; and as well-informed gentlemen, to set an example of social propriety to their flocks. It was an opinion formerly prevalent in England, and still entertained, I believe, by many, that the Roman Catholic Clergy in Ireland are an inferior order of men, and hardly admissible into the con- ventional category of gentlemen. I know not what may have been their condition and quality formerly, but, at present, such a character is totally inap- plicable to them. It is true, that the original ' Signed—London, June 2d, 1827, by T. F. Lewis, J. L. Foster, W. Grant, S. Glassford, A. R. Blake. 828 COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. social status of a considerable proportion of them, and the scanty incomes that fall to the share of all, prevent them generally from attaining that position im society enjoyed by the members of the aristocratic Church of England; and they are probably some- what deficient in those graces of manner and that polished ease, which such society alone can give. But, judging from what I myself saw, I should say that they are gentlemen in the true sense of the word, and with as much polish as could be expected from men who, for the most part, like the Scottish Clergy, spring from the middle or lower ranks, and have been educated in the seclusion of a college. At any rate, as far as I could learn, they possess, as a body, those higher qualities of character and conduct for which gentility and polish can be no substitute ; and that pure life and conversation which, by adding example to precept, lends to their teachings that force and vitality which can alone render them effectual. It was stated in the Parliamentary Report quoted from above, that, besides those at Maynooth, there were then (1827) about 120 students educating for the Irish priesthood at Carlow, Wexford, and some other Catholic Colleges in Ireland; and about 140 on the continent with the same object. I am not aware to what extent this training for the priesthood, beyond the walls of Maynooth, is at present carried in Ireland. The following five Colleges, however, have all establishments of some extent for con- ducting ecclesiastical teaching :— COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. 329 1, St. Patrick’s College, Carlow.—This College was founded in 1798, and is altogether self-support- ing. It consists of two establishments: one for lay and one for ecclesiastical students. The ave- rage number of pupils during the last seven years has been, 64 of the former and 67 of the latter class. 2. The College of All-Hallows, Drumcondra. This institution is for the education of Priests for Foreign Missions. During the year 1851, the average num- ber of students was 80. The number at present is 85. 3. St. Kyran’s College, Kilkenny.—There are, in all, seven professors belonging to this College ; two in the Divinity department. 4, St. John’s College, Waterford.—There are six professors in this College,—two Ecclesiastical. 5. St. Patrick’s College, Thurles.—There are five professors ; two for Theology and Scripture. Besides these ecclesiastical Colleges, I find the following list of Catholic Institutions for the education of the youth of the better classes spread throughout Ireland :!— 1. College of St. Dominick, at Esker, county of Galway. 2. St. Vincent’s Ecclesiastical Seminary, Castle- knock.—This is intended as a preparatory College for candidates for the priesthood who intend enter- ing the higher classes of Maynooth and the other Catholic Colleges. It contains, at present, 69 pupils, all resident. ' Battersby’s Catholic Registry, 1853. 830 COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. 3. Kilmore Diocesan College, Cavan.—This insti- tution is partly on the same plan as the last, but also professes to complete the education of lay youths intended for commerce or the learned professions. It contains, at present, about 50 pupils. 4, St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam. 5. St. Peter’s College, Wexford. This is a clas- sical and commercial establishment. Number of students, 90. 6. Colleges of the Society of Jesus, three in number. 7. St. Colman’s Ecclesiastical Seminary, Newry. 8. Diocesan Seminary, Navan. Established in 1802, partly for the education of candidates for the priesthood, and partly for the lay education of the middle classes. It has, at present, about 80 resident pupils, and 45 day scholars. 9. St..Columb’s College, Londonderry. 10. St. Malachy’s Diocesan Seminary, Belfast. 11. Academy of St. Lawrence, Dublin. 12, Carmelite Seminary of St. Mary, Knock- topher, Only opened last year. It has now about 50 pupils, about 20 of whom are studying for the priesthood. . 13, Connexional Seminary of Saint Lawrence O’Toole, Dublin. 14, The Dominican College of St. Thomas, New- bridge. This college was only established ‘in 1852. It contains, at present, 24 resident pupils, and 82 day scholars. 15. St. Mary’s College, Air Hill, Kingstown, ry A, 4 Sree et ee rare ZO a eae CHAPTER XIV. EDUCATION IN IRELAND. Tux visit to the Model Schools in Marlborough Street, was brief, but sufficed to show the complete- ness of the arrangements there adopted for carrying into effect all the objects of this admirable establish- ment. I was fortunate to find all the schools in active operation; and had the honour of haying the various proceedings explained to me, after the pupils had retired, by the Resident Commissioner himself. To give a detailed account of these would occupy more space and time than I have now at my disposal; and this is the less necessary, as all the essential details may be found in the excellent Reports annually published by the Commissioners. Beside the ordinary branches of instruction, music and drawing are especially cultivated in this insti- tution; and in the upper school, I heard and saw specimens of both, which would have done credit to the pupils in any academy. Perhaps the most important department in the institution is that devoted to the instruction of teachers for the National Schools; and it is con- ducted in the same efficient manner as the other departments. The only defect seems to be the 832 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. insufficient length of time the teachers are retained under training; and this defect the Commissioners are endeavouring to remedy by every means in their power. The number of teachers trained in these schools in the year 1851, was 257, viz. 169 males and 88 females. In the school for training the female teachers, I was gratified to see that the important art of cookery was taught among other accomplishments; a species of knowledge which, beside its advantage to the individual, may prove beneficial to the whole country, as these young women are likely to be spread through every part of it. The number of pupils on the rolls of these schools on the 380th September, 1851, was—males, 697; females, 473; infants, 364; making a total of 1534; the daily average attendance during the year being about 1200. The following Table shows the number on the rolls in each school, for the week ending the 30th October, 1851, with the religious denominations of the children : Boys. Girls. | Infants. | Total. —— |e | Roman Catholics . «| 500 | 439 | 344 | 1283 Church of England. -| 72 4] 41 154 Presbyterians : 5 2) 8 4 21 Protestant Dissenters . S i 1 0 2 Jews . 0 0 2 2 otal sen : - | 582 | 489 | 391 | 1462 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. O00 This Table shows, as decidedly as any of our former Tables, how predominant the Catholic element is, even in the schools of the Capital; evidencing there, as elsewhere, what is the characteristic religion of the land, and how the Church of the minority holds her children aloof from the foun- tains of instruction opened to them by a paternal government. It is gratifying to the friends of Ireland to be able to state that, in that most important of all the departments of social economy—Epvucation, the country is, comparatively speaking, greatly ad- vanced. The numerous statistical notices, under this head, given in almost every one of the preceding Chapters, must have made this sufficiently evident to my readers. The subject is, however, of such very great importance, in relation to the actual con- dition and future progress of the Irish people, that it claims some more special notice than I have hitherto been able to bestow on it. I wish it were in my power to do full justice to it; but I must be contented with merely giving, in this place, a few additional details of a somewhat more general cha- racter than would have been proper when taking my Memorandums on the spot. The great characteristic feature in the system of Education in Ireland, is that presented by the admirable Institution, called the Boarp or Na- TIONAL EpucaTIon ; and the remarks I am about to 834 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. make will be confined, in a great measure, to an exposition of its general plans, and the happy results of its labours. To those who desire fuller informa- tion respecting the proceedings of this Institution, I recommend a perusal of the Official Reports ad- verted to above. For much additional statistical matter of a like kind, I must also refer to the Annual Reports of the numerous private societies, instituted and maintained with the same benevolent object of instructing the people; and to that ad- mirable epitome of information of all sorts concern- ing Ireland, ‘ Thom’s Irish Almanac.’ Until the establishment of the National Board in the year 1831-2, Ireland, like England, was almost entirely dependent on the exertion of indi- viduals, acting singly, or combined im societies, for the education of the great mass of her people. A good many of these old societies still subsist ; but several of them have been absorbed by newer ones having the same general objects, particularly by the great Church Education Society. Among those partially or totally suppressed societies, may be mentioned the old Parochial Schools, mainly sup- ported by the clergy; the schools of the Association for Discountenancing Vice; the London Hibernian Society; the Chartered Schools of the Incorporated Society, &. The following list gives as near an approximation as I can make to the present number receiving instruction in all the schools in Ireland, high and low. I have no doubt that the statement EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 335 is far from being correct ; and I believe it can hardly be made so at present, without a special official inquiry; its most prominent inaccuracy will be found, I suspect, to lie on the side of defect as to numbers; but I have been unwilling to run any risk of exaggeration in a matter of such great importance. That I cannot have made any great mistake on the other side of the question, must appear from the fact, that nine tenths, at least, of the numbers given, are taken from official, or at least authentic, documents:— IRISH COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS. ee (1.) Trinity College, Dublin; and Queen’s Colleges of Cork, Belfast, Galway . 1600 (2.) Endowed Schools of Royal and Private Foundation Lobe ln(re:les \oeiflke ee G RO yey aia Aaa ae (3.) Schools on the Foundation of Erasmus SIWIth: © 2°, , Sl aenbae . 6535 (4.) College of Maynooth, and otherCatholic Colleges and Superior Schools . . 2200 (1.) From the College Calendars. (2.) According to the Parliamentary returns, 1852; viz.—9 Royal schools, 14 Diocesan schools; 22 Private schools. (3.) According to the Parliamentary return of 1826, the number of the schools belonging exclusively to the Foundation was given as 100, containing, according to the Protestant returns, 7824, and according to the Catholic returns, 7612 scholars: taking the average of the two returns, we have 7771 as the number of scholars. My informant in Dublin in 1852, (see vol. I, p. 164,) gives the present number of schools as 108, and supposes the average number of scholars in each may be about 50: this would make the total number of scholars 5900. Now, taking the average of the two estimates, we have 6835. Accordingly I assume this number in the list. (4.) The fixed complement of Maynooth is 520. There are 24 other 336 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. No. of Scholars. (5.) College of St. Columba, Belfast Insti- tution and Academy, and other Pro- testant Schools of a superior class. 1000 (6.) Charitable Institutions and Societies, with Schools for the Maintenance and Education of Children of particular classes, (Orphan Schools, &c. &e.) . 5000 (7.) Private Pay-Schools of all kinds and for both sexes, besides those included in the list of the Superior Schools, (Nos. 2, 3, 5,) say See ee eee ot OOU Catholic colleges and Educational establishments of a superior order. I have ascertained the actual number of pupils in several of them, and from the returns have given an average of 70 students to each, which gives the number in the text. (5.) The present number of students in the Protestant college of St. Columba is 127. In the other Protestant academies in Ulster, and Protestant schools elsewhere, I have allowed 873 pupils to make up the round number of 1000 given in the table. (6.) Looking at the great number of the establishments for Orphans in all the large towns of Ireland, (there are upwards of 20 in Dublin alone,) and reckoning the various Charity schools devoted to the children of different classes of society, a very numerous list, I believe the number of 5000 assumed in the Tables is considerably below the truth. See Thom’s Almanac for an account of many of these schools. (7.) In the Second Report of the Educational Inquiry in Ireland (1826), there is areturn under the head “ Pay Schools unconnected with Societies,” comprising no less than 9352 schools, containing, according to the Protestant returns 394,732, and, according to the Catholic returns, 403,777 scholars. In the same report, under the head of “ Parish Schools,” constituted by the act of Henry VIII, and superinten- ded by the Clergy of the Established Church, 827 schools and 40,758, or 44,056 scholars (according to the Par. Com. returns respectively) are returned. Now, assuming as I have done, that the great body of scholars then provided for in these schools have been absorbed by the National schools and the Church Educational Society’s schools, I can hardly EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 337 No. of Scholars. (8.) The Schools under the National Board .. Yi. a, 9 eee 2 OO (9.) Schools connected with the Church Education Society... ..° 5 2 ewan, o (10.) Schools of the Irish Society . . . 26,322 (11.)° Irish Mission Schools.) 2 anu (12.) Capt. Robinson’s Schools, and Incor- porated Society’s Schools (20) .. 2636 (13.) Schools of 85 Workhouses not in connection with the National Board 2000 (14.) Schools of the London Companies in Ulster: 3 35\ 07 Wat ceo aes 2000 (15.) Presbyterian Mission Schools, in- cluding the Belfast Ladies’ Schools, and Schools attached to Presbyte- rian Churches, Baptist and Wes- leyany ditto <5 sn eee ieee 8000 believe but that the estimate of 20,000, assumed in my list for these two classes of schools, must be below the truth; but as I prefer being charged with understating, rather than overstating, I allow the estimate to stand. (8.) From the Report of 1852. (9.) From the Report of 1852. (10.) From the Report of 1851. (11.) From the Report of the Society, 1852. (12.) From a statement in the Church Education Society’s Report, 1852. (13.) Calculated proportionately from the other Workhouse Schools. (14.) Calculated from the Reports of the Schools, (see vol. II, Chap. VI, of the present work.) (15.) Estimated from the Reports of the Societies and private in- formation. Il, 22, 338 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. No. of Scholars. (16.) Schools of the Christian Brothers, 1852 Saal eaneoes orad LOMO ee) Nunnery ochools- 2 wc eiessre, 12,080 (18.) Children in the Sunday Schools, not attending other Schools . . . 100,000 828,737 Assuming, then, that the numbers here given are approximatively accurate, and that the total number of children and young persons at present under education in Ireland is, as stated in the Table, 828,737; it follows, by comparing this number with the population in 1851 (6,515,794), that the proportion of scholars to the whole population is 1 in 7.86. ; This estimate, which I regard as below the truth, places Ireland, in respect of Education, very far above England, according to the estimate that has been usually hitherto made of the attendants on her (16.) According to the Returns of 1826, the pupils of these Schools amounted to 5541; the present number is taken from the Catholic Registry. (17.) According to the Returns of 1826, the children in these Schools amounted to 7575. I believe 1am considerably underrating the present number by fixing it at 12,000. (18.) I hesitated some time before I admitted this class of scholars at all into my list; but as they are not accounted for under any other heading, and they receive ne other schooling than that afforded by the Sunday Schools, I have thought it just to add them to my list. The total number of children attending Sunday Schools in Ireland on the Ist July, 1852, was no less than 222,628: and as it is stated in the Report, that, about 100,000 of these do not attend any other Schools, I have placed this number in my list. EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 309 schools ; and places her still above England, even according to the greatly-improved estimate supplied by the Census of 1851. We had been accustomed to consider the proportion of children attending schools in England, as not being higher than 1 in 14 or 15; and Mr. Kay, in his book on Education, makes the proportion, in 1850, to be 1 in 14. In my calculations I had accordingly assumed this proportion as approximatively correct, and had so recorded it in these pages. But since this Chapter was at press, Lord John Russell has announced in Parliament, (April 4th, 1853,) the proportion, as ascertained by the last Census, in- stead of 1 in 14, to be 1 in 8.5. This very grati- fying correction of an erroneous opinion, greatly lessens the assumed superiority of Ireland as to Education ; though, as already stated, it still leaves her the superiority. Both returns are most satis- factory, as showing how both countries may now compare themselves, with less shame, with the well- educated countries of the Continent, or, at least, with some of those countries some ten or twenty years before the present time. If the comparison were now made, it is probable that the continental nations would be found to present a much higher educational proportion than appears in the following Table. ‘This Table I have condensed from the work of Mr. Kay, already quoted, interpolating Ireland, in its proper place, and transferring England from the lowest place assigned to her by Mr. Kay to the 340 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. place she is entitled to occupy, according to the authority of the last Census. Proportion of Scholars to the General Population in different Countries, Country. Date of the Estimate. Saint Petes to the whole Population. Saxony...) > 1841 1 to 5.0 Switzerland . .| 1837 to 1844 1S Koy yf Wirtemburg . . 1838 1 to 6.0 Prussia 324 1838 Eto 60 Baden (Duchy) . 1838 1 to 6.0 Denmark. . . 1834 140 67.8 Trelandya ti, 2% 1851 LStoneg3 Holland)... 1838 Lote) 4850 Payuria. .- 6s 1831 1 to 8.0 Scotland... 1842 Ti to 8:0 Bohemia . . . 1843 1 to 85 England . , . 1851 Lito: 85 IASRee WAgL GUN SR 1843 1 to: 9.0 Tesland hoo0 + 1851 1 to 9.0 ranee's cet ashi 1843 1 to 10.5 Belgiumyyey ss 1836 1 to 10.7 There is reason to believe that Ireland was in advance of England, in respect of education, long before the epoch of the National Schools. The following little history is not introduced as a proof of this superiority, but merely as an apposite illus- tration, which I have received from an officer who was present during the occurrence : In the beginning of the present century, an Irish militia regiment happened to be quartered in the st THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 34] same locality as the Middlesex Militia of that day. A question having arisen between the two com- manding officers of the respective corps, on this very subject of education in the two countries, it was agreed to have it decided by a bet after actual examination of the individual soldiers. The champion of the Irish won his bet, as it was found that the proportion of men who could read and write was greater in the Irish regiment. But it is the establishment of the system of Nationau Scuoots in the year 1831-2, that Ireland must regard as the foundation of all her present superiority and all her future expected progress in Education: a measure second in real importance to no social or domestic enactment of the British Government, and almost worthy to be compared with that noble act of the Scottish Parliament which established the system of parochial schools in that country in the year 1696.! No one can examine the series of interesting documents, published by the Commissioners under the form of Annual Reports to the Lord Lieutenant, without being impressed with the singular zeal, 1 Although the formal statute establishing the present system of Parochial Schools in Scotland was only passed at the above date, the Schools had been virtually established long before: first, in 1616, by an act of the Privy Council, ratified by Parliament in 1633; and secondly, in 1646, during the Commonwealth. ‘This last act was repealed at the Restoration, but was afterwards incorporated in the “ Act for settling Schools,” in 1696. 342 THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. industry, and impartiality, which have characterised the proceedings of the authorities appointed to carry the government plan of Education into effect ; and no one can contemplate the actual results of their labours, as seen in the present extent and condition of the schools, without acknowledging that they have achieved, under great difficulties, a truly- national work, already benefiting Ireland in a very high degree, and, no doubt, destined to benefit her in a still higher degree, through many generations. The great obstacles the Commissioners have had to contend with from the beginning, has been the prejudices engendered by the different forms of religion prevalent in Ireland. Most carefully and wisely were the plans of the Government framed, with the view of meeting the difficulties arising from this cause; and nothing could exceed the tender care evinced by the Commissioners towards all objectors, in putting these plans in execution. But no courtesies, no concessions, no modifications consistent with the grand fundamental principle on which the system was founded, have been found adequate to meet the narrow views which have unfortunately been adopted by the clergy of the Established Church in Ireland. The consequence has been, that though the great mass of the children of the lower classes of the Catholic population have obtained nearly all the benefits the schools are calculated to bestow, the children of the same THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 343 classes belonging to the Protestant Establishment, have derived very little advantage from them., For this great and irreparable loss to the poor, the ministers and gentry of the Established Church in Ireland, are entirely responsible; and although sectarian prejudice may for a time make them blind to the evil they have done, and are still doing, there can be but one opinion among én- lightened and impartial men as to their conduct. From a spirit of hard sectarianism, not unmixed, it is to be feared, with feelings of even a lower kind, they have sacrificed the highest interests of those who have a claim on them for direction in the right way ; and have, so far, done what in them lay, to check the progress of their country in the career of improvement and happiness. In making this general charge against the clergy of the Established Church in Ireland, I believe myself warranted by their conduct generally. It would, however, be unjust not to admit, that there have been some brilliant exceptions ;—few in num- ber, it is true, but sufficient to show how delightfully different would have been the result had such con- duct been general and not exceptional. It is hardly necessary to name Archbishop Whately, as the noble leader of this liberal band. It would have much less surprised most men in this country, had the opposition arisen on the other side. But it is undoubtedly true that, on this great occasion, it is the members of the Catholic 344 THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. Church who have exhibited the liberality of views, and the members of the Protestant Church who have shown the narrow-mindedness and bigotry; the two establishments appearing, for once, to have changed sides. From the very beginning, the Catholic clergy, generally speaking, have been cordial supporters of the system; though here and there, and particularly in the diocese of Tuam, there has been occasional opposition manifested. One of the causes said to lie at the root of the opposition by the English clergy, is the open ex- posure which would necessarily be made of the comparative numbers of the two churches,—and, consequently, the very inferior numbers of their church,—if the children all congregated under the same roof. Another cause alleged is, their unwil- lingness to mix on equal terms, as they must necessarily do, in the supervision of the schools, with their unendowed brethren of the Catholic Church. Painful as it is to admit these, or any other causes not based on purely religious grounds, as helping to account for the opposition of the English clergy, one is almost compelled to have recourse to some such theory of inferior motives; seeing that it is impossible to find any sufficient reason of a real religious character to justify their conduct. According to the provisions of the original plan laid down by the Government, and most rigidly enforced by the Commissioners, all interference of the clergy of one sect with the children of another, THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 345 has been most carefully guarded against ; while all possible freedom of access has been secured to the pastors for the express purpose of instructing the children of their own flocks, in their own religious views. This must be obvious to every visitor of these schools ; and has been made public in almost every report issued by the Commissioners. ‘‘ The principle of the system is, and has been from the beginning, that the National Schools shall be open alike to Christians of all denominations; and that, accordingly, no child shall be required to be present at any religious instruction of which his parents or guardians may disapprove; and that opportunities shall be afforded to all children to receive sepa- rately, at particular periods, such religious instruction as their parents or guardians may provide for them.””* “One day, at least, in each week (independently of Sunday) is to be set apart for the religious instruc- tion of the children, on which day such pastors or other persons as are approved of by the parents or guardians of the children, shall have access to them for that purpose.” The managers of schools are also expected, should the parents of any child desire it, to afford convenient opportunity and facility for the same purpose, either before or after the ordinary school business, on other days of the week. “ Any arrangement of this description that may be made, is to be publicly notified in the schools, in order that those children, and those only, may be present 1 Eleventh Report, 1844. 346 THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. at the religious instruction, whose parents and guardians approve of their being so.””! I can testify, from personal examination in every part of Ireland, that these rules are rigidly adhered to by the masters of the schools; and I believe that any attempt at proselytism by them, is a thing unheard of. The melancholy result of the opposition on the part of the clergy of the Established Church has been, as above stated, to exclude the great majority of the Protestant children of the more Catholic parts of Ireland, from all participation in the benefits of the National Schools. This fact will appear sufficiently established by the results of my own numerous inquiries in the schools, as detailed in this work, the whole aspect of the schools, out of Ulster, being essentially Catholic. In twelve schools visited by me in Lein- ster, Munster and Connaught, containing in all about 8000 children, not more than about 30 Protestants were reported to me, being in the proportion of 1 Protestant to 100 Catholics; while ’ in four schools in Ulster, the numbers were 440 Catholics to 141 Protestants, or about 1 Protestant to 3 Catholics. It would appear, however, from the more ex- tensive, and, no doubt, more accurate inquiries instituted by the Board itself, last year, at the equest of the Lord Lieutenant, that the proportion 1 Second Report (Appendix), 1835. THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 947 of Protestants in the schools generally, —including, of course, Uxstrr,—is considerably greater than that just stated. Out of a total of 491,927 children, the numbers belonging to each, of the different religions were as follows: Established Church . : : : : 24,684 Presbyterians . F ; : : 40,618 Other Protestant Digisien : , ; 1908 Catholics . : 4 : : 3 ow) Lean, This would give the relative proportions in the schools, as follows : Established Church . 4 A Aa i bestiny eh, Presbyterians and other pidtestant Dis- senters ‘: : ; “4 m . deinidds Catholics é : A : a) Sine Protestants of all deuatatnge 3 Bakes ype But even in these returns, it is evident that the Established Church exhibits her special backward- ness to join the National Schools in comparison with the other classes of Protestants ; unless, indeed, we are to assume that these last-named classes have increased of late years, in a ratio vastly beyond that of the English Church. In the returns of 1834, the proportion of the members of the Esta- blished Church to Protestants of all other deno- minations, was nearly as 8 to 6; but in these returns from the schools, the proportion is quite different, and even more than reversed, there being only 5 members of the English Church to 9 Presbyterians. The following Table, however, shows results con- siderably more satisfactory, and seems to prove that 348 THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. the opposition of the Established Church is already beginning to relax, although still only permitting a disparaging comparison with the Protestant Dis- senters. It is taken from the Head Inspectors’ Reports of Model Schools, in the year 1851. No. of Children of each Religious Denomination in each School. Model Schools. ‘ Wetabhished Presbyterians, eS Oe ee Newry . é 3 218 268 484 Ballymena . 5 30 135 59 Coleraine . P 60 189 67 Baillieborough . 64 44 168 Clonmel 3 5 63 26 174 Eine 3 : 23 0 294 Votalea. < 458 662 1246 But dismissing from consideration these miserable sectarian views, we must admit that the success of the National School system, viewed as a system of National Education, has been most satisfactory; leaving no doubt, in the mind of liberal and impar- tial judges, of its ultimate triumph over every form of obstruction that has been raised or may be raised against it. It is believed that the only event that could frustrate such a result,—namely, the over- throw of the very principles of the system by government, in accordance with the wishes of the obstructing minority,—is one which, in the present and prospective condition of the world, may be regarded as next to impossible, THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 349 The Board of National Education, as already stated, was founded by Government Order in the year 1831. Although it commenced, operations immediately, a good deal of time was necessarily consumed in preliminary arrangements, so that it did not publish its first Report until 1834. The Society was further strengthened by being incor- porated by Royal Charter in the year 1845; the Charter granting all the usual powers accorded in similar cases. The government of the Institution is exclusively vested in a body of Commissioners, who are not to exceed fifteen, but may consist of any less number. As vacancies occur, they are filled up by the Lord- Lieutenant. The present number of Commissioners is fourteen, one of whom, the Right Hon. Alexander Macdonnell, is resident. There are two chief secre- taries. The present Staff employed under the Board, in the supervision of the schools, consists of the following officers : 4 Head Inspectors. 1 Agricultural Inspector. 36 District Inspectors. 8 Sub-Inspectors. 1 Agricultural ditto. The whole of Ireland is divided into 44 districts, each of which is superintended by an Inspector or Sub-Inspector. In their last Report, the Commis- " sioners express their intention to augment the num- ber of both the Head and District Inspectors. The following Table exhibits at one view, the 350 THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. progress of the Society from its commencement up to the year 1851. ee *No. of Schools No. of Children Annual in operation. on the Rolls. Expenditure. 1833 789 107,042 £ ee 1835 1106 145,521 1836 1181 153,707 1837 1300 166,929 1838 1384 169,548 1839 1581 192,971 1840 1978 232,560 1841 2337 281,849 1842 2721 319,792 63,146 0 0 1843 2912 355,320 63,283 16 11 1844 3153 395,550 76,205 6 8 1845 3426 432,844 89,501 13 8 1846 3637 456,410 SO,lo2zeto 3 1847 3825 402,632 102,318 14 5 1848 4109 507,469 V2 Ts dedide eda 1849 4321 480,623 138,246 16 7 1850 4547 511,239 153,473 17 2 1851 4704 520,401 158,564 4 4 The following is a List of the Schools in opera- tion, and their respective attendance, in each of the different provinces, during the half-year ending 30th of September, 1851. Province. ; No. of Schools. No. of Scholars. ——————————— Eee Ulster . ; : 1878 151,082 | Munster : ; 1089 160,345 \ Leinster : : 1154 137,507 Connaught . x 583 68,563 The following Table shows the distribution of the Schools throughout Ireland, according to THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS. bol provinces ; with the proportion of schools and of scholars to the population of each province; and also the proportional number of scholars in each school in the respective provinces. The numbers of the schools and scholars are taken from the Eighteenth Report of the National Board (1851), and the population from the Census of the same year : Proportion of Proportion of | Proportional No. of | i Schools to the | Scholars to the Scholars i h | Es onal Population. “Schock Ulster. Sele ue tO est 1 to 13 80 Munster . . |2t to 1706 Etonel 146 Leinster . , | 1 to 1449 1 to 12 118 Connaught .| 1 to 1735 1 to 14 117 This Table exhibits a remarkable peculiarity in regard to the province of Ulster, indicating, I presume, the more effective system of instruction pursued in the schools of that province. The peculiarity is this,—that while the proportion of the population under instruction is greater in two of the other provinces and nearly as great in the third, the proportion of schools is much greater in Ulster, and consequently the proportion of scholars in each school much less. It admits of no question that the instruction of pupils by one master or mistress must be greatly more effective, when the number to be instructed is only 80, than when the number is one half or two thirds greater. It is impossible for one teacher to do full justice to 146 pupils, as in the schools of Munster, or even to 117 352 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. or 118, as in the schools of Leinster and Connaught. J regret that the mode of the returns given in the Church Education Society’s Reports, prevents my being able to indicate the proportional numbers in its schools according to the provinces. From the data supplied by the Returns of the National Schools, as given above, it would appear that the desire of education among the lower classes of Ireland is quite as great in the Catholic as in the Protestant districts. I subjoin a Table drawn up on the same principle as the above, in regard to the children in the Sunday Schools of Ireland, from which it will appear that a very different distribution of schools and scholars takes place in the different provinces. I stated above that the total number of scholars in the Sunday Schools of Ireland was on the Ist January 1852, 222,628; and I may here add, as giving the key to the results exhibited in the sub- joined Table, that the Sunday Schools, though by no means excluding Catholics, do so practi- cally, in a great measure, from the fact of being scriptural schools, according to the tenets of Pro- testantism : Proportion of Proportion of Provines, euatene ge Suck eng Ulster. Vat 1 to 1028 ates Leinster . x 1 to 4575 1 to 105 Munster . , 1 to 3550 Lite 15k Connaught : 1 to 4561 1 to 80 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 358 In this Table Ulster appears pre-eminent not merely in the number of schools, but in the pro- portion of her scholars to the general population. Although the National Board had complete control over the whole of the schools in connection with them, from the beginning, they, at first, re- quired more or less pecuniary support from the locality in which they are respectively situated. The general principle on which the Commissioners proceeded, was that of assisting local exertions for the establishment of schools; except in the case of Model Schools, of which they bore the whole expenses. This requirement of local aid has, however, in a great many instances, fallen into abeyance, the whole expense being often now defrayed by the Board. The salaries granted to the Teachers come under the head of gratuities ; though, for the most part, these gentlemen receive little else in the form of pay, except what arises from the children’s pence. On the 31st of March, 1852, the number of Teachers of all sorts and of both sexes, in the service of the Board, was 5822; they were divided as follows, according to their religion: Established Church . A : : : . 360 Presbyterians . - : ; x : . 760 Other Protestant Dissenters . 5 A ox aD Roman Catholics ; , : - = . 4653 No evidence can be more conclusive than this, FE: 23 304 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. that the National System of Education in Ireland, is, at present, essentially one for the members of the Catholic body. The Commissioners have been progressively augmenting the salaries of their Teachers; but they are yet much too small. The following is the Scale of Salaries as last augmented, in the year 1851: / Salaries per Annum. Classes of Teachers. Males. Females. lst Division. £35 £24 First Crass. } 2d do. 28 20 3d do. 24 18 | st do. 21 16 SECOND Cxass. | 2d ae UR 15 T C Ist do. 1, 14 HIRD ULASS. } 2d do. 15 13 An important class of Teachers in the schools, are the Monitors.. At the close of the year 1851, the number of paid Monitors was 341, viz., eight male and four female for each district. Their pay is as follows :—first year, 4/.; second year, 51. ; third year, 7/.; fourth year, 81. One of the finest features in the Prussian system of education is the elaborate care bestowed on the training of the Masters, or teaching the Teachers. The Irish Commissioners have paid all the attention possible, in their limited sphere, to the same object; EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 395 but they have not sutlicient pecuniary or educational means to effect all that is desirable. They are, however, gradually extending their provisions in this way. From the commencement of their ope- rations up to the end of the year 1851, they have sent out of their trainmg schools 3118 Teachers. In the year 1851 only, they trained 257 National Teachers, viz. 169 males and 88 females. It is manifest, from the whole of their Reports, how deeply impressed the Commissioners always have been with the importance of having a staff of well-trained Teachers; and they seem to have done all that was practicable to create such a staff. But the means at their disposal are totally imade- quate to raise the standard of intellectual acquire- ment, among this class of men, to that point which it ought to reach. In the first place, the period given up for their instruction, is greatly too short for the acquisition of the necessary knowledge ; and, in the second place, their salaries are quite insufficient to give them that consideration in the eye of the public and their pupils which is essential to their full success as Teachers; or to enable them to attain that position in social life which they ought to hold. In proportion, however, as we increase the stan- dard of knowledge of the Teachers, we must at the same time augment their income. Most justly does Mr. Kay remark, that “we must provide good situations for the teachers, or we shall never obtain 356 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. well-educated teachers for the schools;” and I think the same gentleman’s estimate of what ought to be the situation of such men is not at all too high. “ Hach teacher (he says) ought to have a certain salary, of at least 50/. per annum, provided for him, as well as a house and garden, and the school- fees.” The individual schools have one or more gentle- men of the district connected with them, who, under the name of Patrons or Managers, are, or ought to be, the ordinary supervisors of the schools, and have the power of nominating the Teachers, with the sanction of the Board. In November, 1852, there were, in connection with the Board, in all, 4795 schools; and the following Table gives the number and religion of the lay and clerical managers of 4434: of these schools : Number of Managers, Religion of the Managers. Number of Schools. Clerical. Lay. Established Church . 67 229 5 Presbyterians . . . 247 151 670 Protestant Dissenters 4 12 2 Catholics! Worn ie 957 186 3187 It will be observed in this Table, as in others, how inferior a position is held by the Established Church, as to the number of schools under its immediate management; and what indicates still more strikingly the animus of the Clergy of the 1 “Social Condition of the People.’ ee ee EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 357 Church, is the remarkable disproportion indicated between the number of its lay and clerical managers, as compared with the other Churches. Thus, while in the Catholic Church, the proportion of clerical to lay managers is as 5.1 to 1; and in the Presbyterian Church, as 1.6 to 1; in the Eng- lish Church it is only as 1 to 3.4. Agricultural Schools.—Casual reference has been made to these schools in several of the preceding pages, and their high importance pointed out. There are none of the labours of the Commissioners more praiseworthy than those relating to these schools; and none in which they seem to exhibit a more enlightened zeal. They are every year gradually augmenting their operations in this direction. At the close of the year 1851 the kind and number of the Agricultural Schools were as follows: 1. Model Agricultural Schools under the exclusive management of the Board . : : ‘ \ 2 : : 5 ie 2. Under the management of local Patrons ; ; : 16 3. Ordinary Agricultural Schools in connection with the Board 38 4, Workhouse Agricultural Schools . - ‘ ‘ ‘ Aone Total é , : ‘ 2 3 3 82 When these schools have been increased four- fold, as they will be erelong, it is not easy to over- estimate their importance in improving the know- ledge and habits of the young agriculturists of the country. But independently of this, the mere 3508 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. practice of the art is highly beneficial in itself; “it keeps in vigorous action the physical powers and mental faculties of the children; and by teaching them to labour, gives them habits. of useful indus- try.777 wisely consider that all such industrial instruction must be kept within due bounds, and be always At the same time, the Commissioners most made subordinate to mental culture. They say: “The agricultural and other industrial instruction which we are endeavouring to promote, is intended by us to be only supplementary to the ordinary branches of school instruction. The latter is re- garded as the primary object; and, accordingly, we never make grants to schools exclusively agricultural or industrial.” Two main conclusions are manifestly deducible from the whole of the preceding details: 1st. That the National System of Education in Ireland has succeeded admirably among that portion of the people who are either Catholics or Protestant Dissenters; 2d. That it has comparatively failed among the members of the Established Church. However much to be regretted is this incomplete success, it is very satisfactory to know that the incompleteness attaches to the side of the minority. Had the defalcation occurred among the Catholics, who constitute the great body of the people, the admirable scheme of National Education must 1! Eighteenth Report, 1851. ? Thid. EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 359 have been regarded as almost an entire failure. As it is, we can only say that the success, though great, is less than it was expected to be, might have been, or ought to have been. The great practical question now is,—Can the obstacles to the equal instruction of the children belonging to the Established Church in Ireland, be removed by any interference of Government, so as to extend to the whole of the population the great benefits now received by a portion only? In considering such a question, it would evidently be most unfair to the children of the minority to make them continue to suffer on account of the short-sighted prejudices of their superiors. It would be still more unfair to the children of the majority, to make them suffer for the prejudices of another sect. And it would be the unfairest proceeding of all, to ruin the whole of the present admirable system of education, by the vain attempt to conciliate its opponents by altering its essential principles. It is evident from several passages in the last Report of the Commissioners that they regard the opposition of the English Church as on the decline ; and some of the statistics given above seem to corroborate this opinion. It will, therefore, be but right to allow things to proceed as at present, in the hopes that a few more years may bring about a more satisfactory result. So all-important, however, is Education, that its progress cannot be allowed to be permanently im- 360 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. peded by the misjudgment of any sect or party. The children of the land must not be permitted to fall into the ditch, because their leaders are blind. They must be taught, though even at the sacrifice, on the part of Government, of submitting its own juster views to the requirements of prejudice. If the Protestants of Ireland are found to persist in withholding the children of their church from the National Schools, a just and paternal rule must remember the loss and forget the wrong; and build and endow schools for Protestants as well as for Catholics. But the time has not yet come for making this sacrifice. Although I should be sorry to see any attempt now made to alter the principles which guide the conduct of the Commissioners of the National Schools of Ireland, as to religious instruction, I am decidedly of opinion, that were the Institution to be founded anew, it would be much wiser, as leading to more harmony and to richer educational results, to make the schools exclusively Secular Schools, as they have been called, discarding all pretence and all attempts to instruct the children religiously by the Masters of the Schools. And I would advocate this plan even on religious grounds alone, if on no other ; as I feel assured it would lead to a much more com- plete religious education of all the children, than is now attained either in the schools of Ireland or England. Under the present system of what is EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 361 called religious instruction in the schools, parents and guardians, and the clergy themselves in many cases, are led to rely mainly, if not altogether, on it, and so to neglect all separate religious instruction at home or elsewhere ; when the fact unquestionably is, in a large proportion of cases at least, that the reli- gious teaching in the schools is very imperfect, being too often merely technical and verbal, and learnt by rote but not by heart. If parents capable of instruct- ing their children in religion, knew that it was not taught at school, they would feel that the responsi- bility of this great work necessarily devolved on them- selves, and would surely act accordingly. It will hardly be doubted that, ceteris paribus, the instruc- tion so given by the parents to their children, will have a heartiness and warmth in it, which could not fail to leave an impression very different from that of the formal teaching of a hired master. In the cases where parents are incapable of being themselves the instructors—and even where they are so—I think we might reasonably impose on the Clergy of every parish or school-district the office of instruct- ing in religion the children of members of their own flock, and orphans of their own religion ; a duty they would, no doubt, like the parents, feel the more im- perative from knowing that the entire responsibility of it was left to themselves. A sufficient portion of one day in the week, or an hour each day, might be appropriated to the religious lessons ; and in order that this most important duty might be fulfilled with 362 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. perfect convenience to all parties, I would have one or more rooms, exclusively devoted to this object, attached to every school-house, and placed in the immediate charge of the clergy. Where it is not a mere pretence, it is certainly a delusion, that there is any more impiety in teaching reading and writing, and arithmetic, and geography, and history, without any formal admix- ture of religious lessons,—than it is to teach any art or trade without them. Both kinds of know- ledge are, no doubt, essential; but I maintain that here, as in so many other departments of learning, each can be best taught by itself. The division of labour will be found as valuable in this, as in any other department of knowledge. ee CHAPTER XV. IRELAND IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE. Ir will, I doubt not, be expected by all those who have followed me thus far, that after concluding my numerous and manifold observations relating to the individual things of Ireland, I should have some- thing to say, of a more general character, respecting the past and present state of the country and its prospects in the future. Such an expectation, I admit to be both natural and just; as it would be unreasonable to believe that the extensive and pro- longed exercise of thought, necessarily implied in the original process of collecting the memorandums, and in the subsequent elaboration of them into their present shape, should not have led the writer to reflect seriously on these important questions, and prepared him, in some measure at least, to hold opinions of a more or less definite character respect- ing them. Such opinions, and of a very positive kind, I undoubtedly have formed in regard to several of the matters alluded to; and some of these opinions I am now prepared, in all humility, to submit to the 364 IRELAND—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. reader’s consideration. In doing so, however, I dis- claim all pretence to have been able to fathom and gauge, with even approximate accuracy, the actual condition of Ireland in its social and political rela- tions; or to have eliminated from the chaos of the past, the true causes or sources of that condition, whatever it may be; and still less, to have made the discovery of the means and measures on which her future peace and prosperity are to be based. All that I am now prepared to do—all that my humble powers enable me to do—is to conclude my book as I began it, by recording, in the form of detached remarks or memorandums, a few of the con- elusions which have forced themselves on my mind, after giving the individual subjects all the impartial consideration I have been able to bestow upon them. Before writing down the few special observations I purpose making on this subject, I wish to premise two or three of a more general kind, which appear to me to have important bearings on the whole case of Ireland, whether regarded relatively to the evils themselves, to their causes, or to the means of re- medying them. 1, The first of these relates to the race, blood, or inherent psychical qualities of the people whose condition is the subject of consideration. It is the opinion of many—I might almost say it is a preva- lent opinion in England—that there is something IRELAND—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 3865 in the very character of the Irish, as a people, that is more or less incompatible with social progress and national prosperity. Those who think so, regard the great movement of Emigration, now in progress, as chiefly beneficial by removing materials unsuscep- tible of useful or safe application in the construction of the social edifice; and look forward—many with hope, some with confidence—to the complete or partial extermination of the race from the soil of Ireland, as the only sure means of restoring that country to its just level in the scale of national welfare and happiness. Now, even admitting that such a fundamental eradication were desirable, its obvious impossibility leaves us still in the same predicament as our predecessors, to apply our reasonings and our remedies, whatever they may be, to the same im- pugned race. It becomes, therefore, necessary to entertain the question—whether the imputation stated is really true; because, if so, it follows as a corollary, that it matters little what means of amelioration we may propose, in a case confessedly hopeless. I think, I may venture boldly to affirm, that there never was a falser or more injurious opinion entertained respecting a people, than that just stated in relation to the people of Ireland. It is so mon- strously absurd—so directly in contradiction not merely to facts and to experience respecting these very people, but to all that we know of the constitution of man 366 IRELAND—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. regarded as an animal,—that it seems not merely unnecessary but humiliating to give it serious con- sideration. It is not to be denied, that RacE goes for much in our estimates of social and national progress; any more than that the constitution or temperament of individual men, goes for much in modifying their particular career, and determining their status. But this is a very different thing from affirming of a whole people, that they are incapable of reaching a given point of elevation in. the social scale, which has been attained not merely by all their neighbours, but even by various branches of their own race within the same quarter of the earth, As containing unanswerable reasons against the entertainment of a notion so absurd in itself and so injurious to the Irish nation, I shall here content myself with the following brief but pregnant state- ments, derived from the recent publications of two eminent writers : “Tn his own country, exposed to the wretched under-lessee system and under-agent system of Ireland ; to the discontented spirit of a priest- hood, which we have treated as if we desired to render it inimical to our government; to the galling sense of foreign rule, suggested by the presence of English soldiers ; and to the irritating thought that his rent goes to aggrandise the splendour of a distant capital, and that the hall of his landlord is deserted, the Irishman becomes discontented, idle, rebellious, and criminal. Send him to Australia, to the States, or to any English colony, where he can make himself, by industry, a pro- prietor of land, and where he is not shackled by middle-age legislation, and he becomes immediately the most energetic and conservative of colonists. He there acquires faster than any one else; he effects more in a day than any one else ; he is more untiring in his perseve- IRELAND——PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 367 rance than any one else; and he forces his rulers to write home to England,—as the Governor of South Australia did but a few years ago, —that the Irish are the most enterprising, successful, and orderly of all the colonists of those distant lands.”—Kay’s Social Condition of the People, vol. i, pp. 89. “Almost alone amongst mankind the Irish cottier is in this condition, that he can scarcely be either better or worse off by any act of his own. If he were industrious or prudent nobody but his landlord would gain; if he is lazy or intemperate, it is at his land- lord’s expense. A situation more devoid of motives to either labour or self-command, imagination itself cannot conceive. The induce- ments of free human beings are taken away, and those of a slave not substituted. He has nothing to hope, and nothing to fear, except being dispossessed of his holding, and against this he protects him- self by the wltima ratio of a defensive civil war. Rockism and Whiteboyism are the determination of a people, who have nothing that can be called theirs but a daily meal of the lowest description of food, not to submit to being deprived of that for other people’s convenience. “Ts it not, then, a bitter satire on the mode in which opinions are formed on the most important problems of human nature and life, to find public instructors of the greatest pretension, imputing the back- wardness of Irish industry, and the want of energy of the Irish people in improving their condition, to a peculiar indolence and insouciance in the Celtic race? Of all vulgar modes of escaping from the con- sideration of the effect of social and moral influences on the human mind, the most vulgar is that of attributing the diversities of conduct and character to inherent natural differences. What race would not be indolent and insouciant when things are so arranged, that they derive no advantage from forethought or exertion? If such are the arrange- ments in the midst of which they live and work, what wonder if the listlessness and indifference so engendered are not shaken off the first moment an opportunity offers when exertion would really be of use? It is very natural that a pleasure loving and sensitively organised people like the Irish, should be less addicted to steady routine labour than the English, because life has more excitements for them inde- pendent of it; but they are not less fitted for it than their Celtic brethren the French, nor less so than the Tuscans, or the ancient Greeks. An excitable organization is precisely that in which, by adequate inducements, it is easiest to kindle a spirit of animated exertion. It speaks nothing against the capacities of industry in human beings, that they will not exert themselves when they 368 IRELAND—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. have no motive.” '—WMill’s Principles of Political Economy, vol. i, pp. 390-1. 2, The second preliminary observation I wish to make, has reference to the condition of Ireland relatively to that of other countries, and particularly England. It is customary to speak of the state of the Irish peasantry, as if their condition of wretched- ness was quite peculiar, and in no degree shared by other countries; and in studying the means of their improvement, it seems to be tacitly assumed that we need have no other or higher aim than to place them on a level with the peasantry of England. Unquestionably, it would be a considerable improve- ment on the old cottier-and-potato-system of Ire- land, if the labourers of that country were placed on the footing of the agricultural labourers of England; but it would be to employ a false and most unjust standard of amelioration, if we were to consider the actual state and condition of the English labourer, as all that need be sought to be attained in planning the elevation of the lower classes of Ireland. The truth undoubtedly is, that though not quite so low in the scale as the potato-fed, hovel-lodged, and half-clad cottier of Ireland, the English agricultural labourer is far below the position, as to physical 1 In corroboration of the above statements, I add the following testimony of one of the most experienced and most distinguished generals in the British service; it is extracted from a note recently written, and now lying before me: “‘ My own opinion is that the Irish are a more steady people than the English ; andI believe that a larger proportion of the non-commis- sioned officers of the British army are Irish than English.” ae —— — IRELAND—PRESENT, PAST, AND FUTURE. 369 comforts and intellectual cultivation, which he ought to occupy in this country of overflowing riches, and in this age of advanced civilisation. It forms no part of my present business to inves- tigate the causes of the depressed state of the English peasantry, or to suggest any means for its improvement; but knowing the existence of this state as a notorious matter of fact, and deeply feeling the necessity of a change, I should regard it as a species of deceit and treachery towards the labouring class of Ireland, if any set of men, or any government, undertaking the task of their improvement, should consider that they had no higher task to fulfil than to bring them up to the level of the same class in England at the present time. Such an elevation may be a very proper, and even a necessary step in the progress towards a better state, but it can never be regarded as the ulti- mate object at which the social reformer should aim. 3. My third and last general observation relates to the mode in which the relief or cure of the evils of Ireland—supposing their existence ascertained— should be attempted. And I have to crave the reader’s indulgence for putting it in the form of a professional illustration, as naturally suggested to the mind of a physician, by the (to him) household words “relief and cure.” I hope the illustration, though medical, will be found to be perfectly intelligible. II, 24 370 IRELAND—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. | In the treatment of chronic diseases, or diseases of long-standing, in the body natural, there are two very different modes followed by physicians; one of which may be called natural or rational, the other empirical. The physician who conforms to the first of the two systems, endeavours, before prescribing for his patient, to ascertain not merely the nature, complexion, and extent of the whole of the disordered states actually present, but to trace them back to their origin, striving to make out the especial circum- stances under which they originated, their primary causes, progress, duration, &c. &c. Having done so, he seeks, in the first place, (unless there should be some very urgent morbid condition requiring immediate temporary relief by artificial means,) to institute such a system of GENERAL MANAGEMENT as shall, as far as practicable, embrace the whole of the disordered conditions and their causes, and so endeavour to make nature herself unwind, in her own way, the many-plied thread of disorder which had been so gradually and so long growing up into the bulk of formal disease. - The sole system of management capable of pro- ducing such a result, is that which physicians term Reetmen, comprehending within its range the habits and mode of life of the individual, and all the controllable influences that act on the body and mind, The more prominent points of this natural method of cure may be stated to have reference to the regulation of the diet in all its forms; the regu- GENERAL REMARKS. + ‘Ore lation of the exercise of the body and mind ; change of injurious habits of all kinds, bodily and mental ; change of scene; the removal and substitution of moral influences; the open air; change of air; bathing in all its forms; friction, shampooing, gym- nastics, &. &c. Along with the particular form of regimen suited to the individual case, medicines, or medicaments, technically so called, are prescribed as auxiliaries, to fulfil any special indication which they are capable of fulfilling, and which the regiminal treatment may be insufficient to meet. In the second or empirical method of: treating chronic diseases, the physician reverses the above method; placing all, or nearly all, his trust in medicaments, and regarding regiminal treatment as merely of occasional and subordinate use, imagining that he possesses, in the innumerable articles of the materia medica, instruments qualified to combat successfully each individual disorder that is of a curable kind; and he acts accordingly. If, as often happens, the morbid affections are, thereby, after a time, removed, the empirical or medica- mentous practitioner is in the habit of believing that the greater part of the result is attri- butable to his artificial remedies, and little or none of it to the ordinary operation of nature and time. Occasionally, however, this artificial mode of practice is positively injurious, directly or indirectly, by interfering with the natural processes of cure ; 372 IRELAND—PRESENT, PAST, AND FUTURE. and its best results are apt to be only palliative and temporary, the system being left with the same morbid tendencies as before, almost certainly to be fostered into the same or similar diseases by the same or similar causes. The result in the case of the rational or regi- minal system of treatment is very different; the cure, when it takes place, being often of a per- manent kind, because it is mainly the work of nature herself, and because the very tendencies to disease are either removed in the process of cure, or are checked by the patient’s having become acquainted with the causes of his malady, and thus placed in a position to prevent its re- currence. Now, in regarding the generally depressed, dis- turbed, and disordered state of Ireland, in the light of a social or national malady to be relieved or cured, I earnestly and confidently submit that (speaking analogically) it is on the principles of the NATURAL, RATIONAL, OY REGIMINAL SYSTEM OF CURE alone, that any attempt likely to lead to satisfactory results can be founded. It is only by looking carefully at all the individual disorders that together constitute her disease,—by tracing them to their respective sources, and following their progress to their present state of development, that anything like a just knowledge of the nature of the evils to be removed can be obtained; and it is only by employing some comprehensive system of treatment, a ase GENERAL REMARKS. 373 —a system comprising many individual modes, applicable respectively to the many individual dis- orders constituting the great general disease,—that they can be relieved or cured. The short-sighted empirical politician may select some individual evil, and magnifying it, in his imagination, into the whole disease, may apply his nostrum accordingly, and look with confidence for a speedy cure. And a cure he may possibly obtain— at least a temporary one—of the particular disorder attacked; but it will soon be found that even although the particular disorder should not return, the patient’s state is very little improved, the great constitutional malady still existing as before. I shall now proceed to notice in order, but briefly, some of those points in the past and present state of Ireland, which have most attracted the attention of those who have sought to solve the mystery of her misfortunes. As already stated, I profess to in- stitute no profound investigations into causes, nor to propound any grand system of relief for these misfortunes. My observations are avowedly partial and fragmentary, and have no higher aim than to take their humble place among the mass of materials already collected on the same subject, all of which, it is to be hoped, will ere long obtain the attention of some statesman worthy of the name, and whose proud destiny it may be to mould them into a form of perpetual good for Ireland. 374 OVER-POPULATION. > 1. Not many years since, one of the most obvious of the evils of Ireland was certainly oveR-PoruLA- TION; the mouths being too many for the food produced, the hands too numerous and too strong for the work to be done. This evil may be now said to exist no longer; the people having, of late years, been so thinned, by famine and disease, and yet more by emigration, that the population may now be regarded as neither beyond the amount of the demand for labour nor of the supply of food ; or, at least, is not beyond the amount of labour that ought to be required for the due cultivation of the soil; or beyond the amount of food that the land is capable of producing, if duly cultivated. It is indeed true that, as yet, the demand for labour is insufficient to create occupation for all the hands ready to accept it; and that the remuneration for labour, when obtained, is much below its real value. I mean merely to assert that there is now no absolute over-population in the country, to be regarded, as formerly, as a direct evil requiring remedy. On the contrary, it is to be feared that, if the present rage for emigration should continue a few years longer, the old evil of superfluity will be exchanged for the new evil of deficiency. It is to be hoped, however, that the ameliorations now im progress, as regards the increase both of culture and capital, may, before long, by regulating the demand and supply, greatly improve the con- dition of the labourer in all its aspects, if they do THE COTTIER SYSTEM. 375° not entirely remove all the evils under which he has so long laboured. Such amelioration I regard as the sole means capable of keeping emigration within salutary and safe limits; and if it is not speedily effected, it will be found to come after the evil is consummated. 11, Coincident with the evil of over-population, and, indeed, the main cause of it, was the coTTIER system and cottier modes of life, so universally prevalent in Ireland until these recent years. Assuredly, no greater evil could befall a country than the establishment of such a system; and however lamentable may have been the influences and the means whereby it has been broken up in Ireland, every well-wisher of that country must rejoice at its downfall. Through this system and its accom- paniment,—the grand element of its vitality, potato- food,—the peoplewere debased to nearly thecondition of savage life. Secure of the means to maintain life and health by a minimum amount of labour, and in the absence of all stimulus to make them seek to rise above the low level in which they were born, they seemed almost to forget that man was a progressive animal, or had any nobler functions to fulfil, than to preserve individual life and to per- petuate the race. Under such cireumstances, of course, the human- ising influences of superior civilisation were but little known or regarded; and though the genial 376 THE COTTIER SYSTEM. and docile nature of the race, and the rigid super- vision of their spiritual superiors, might keep them strictly within the pale of religion and morality, their whole status, physical and intellectual, came too near that of the mere animal to be regarded with other feelings than those of pity and fearful apprehension by all who had the happiness to partake of the blessings belonging to the higher stages of human life. As already stated, this form of Irish life, with its accompanying miseries, has been fairly broken im upon, and may be regarded as in the process of being gradually extinguished. This extinction, every one will admit to be essential to the progress of the lower classes of Ireland, towards a better position ; but it would be a great error to believe that the extinction, of itself, would achieve this position. All that has been hitherto effected is to render such possible; much, very much, remains to be done before it can be secured. It may suffice, for the present, to convert the cottier and his sons into day-labourers, like the great mass of the English peasantry; and if they can thus obtain a sufficiency of occupation, and a reasonable remuneration for it, their condition will, undoubtedly, be very superior to their former one ; and no material change in their relations need, perhaps, be. contemplated for. some considerable time. But the status of the agricultural labourer, on the best English model now presented to us, is THE LABOURER’S CONDITION. O77 clearly one which cannot, in the nature of things, be of a permanent kind; which ought not to be so if it were possible so to make it. It would, therefore, be a very short-sighted and imperfect policy that should regard the existing condition of the peasantry in this country, as the final stage of advancement for the rural population of Ireland. Until measures shall be devised not merely to ensure “a fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work,” for all the willing and capable labourers in the land, but to render it possible for them, or for some of them at least, to rise above their servile condition, through superior industry and good conduct, never shall we see that measure of content, comfort, and happiness among our peasantry which they may fairly claim from the justice of governments, as their inalienable right, until forfeited by their own acts. I am well aware that a labouring class must exist in all countries occupied by civilised men; and I am disposed to believe, not only that there is nothing incompatible with happiness in the condi- tions necessarily imposed on such a class, but that its members, when possessing legitimate privileges, are fully as happy, if not happier, than the classes above them. But I consider as one of these legiti- mate privileges, the possibility of the individuals con- stituting the class, rising to a higher level, or at least to a more desired station, than that which they occupy as day-labourers. Such a rise is, in the present state of things in England or Ireland, lite- 378 _ IMPROVEMENT OF THE rally impossible,—at least in the line of the man’s own occupation. Once an agricultural labourer, always an agricultural labourer, seems to be the decree of the gloomy fate ruling the destiny of these men, and ever sounding in their ears and hearts the paralysing accents of despair. T will dwell no longer on this painful and fruitful theme, but merely to state that all the boon sought for the labourer, in addition to his fairly-earned wages, is simply the adoption in our islands of some of the arrangements existing in many continental states, whereby a possibility is opened up to the agricultural labourer to become the proprietor of a small portion of that soil he is accustomed to till, or at least to become its temporary master through the payment of a reasonable rental. I am by no means recommending that general subdivision of the land which obtains in some countries, being averse to the existence neither of large territorial properties, nor of large farms; all that I desiderate, as being essential to the content and happiness of our pea- santry, is the existence throughout the country of a certain proportion of these small properties and these small farms, sufficiently numerous to make the hope reasonable in the breast of any labourer, that by superior industry and economy and self-restraint, he may, one day or other, become the permanent or temporary lord of one of these humble domains. Although the slightest reflection on the subject must convince any man of the beneficial influences LABOURER’S CONDITION: 879 that must flow from the simple arrangement re- ferred to, it may be as well to have the con- viction strengthened by the experience of countries where the system of small farms and peasant proprietors prevails. For this purpose I earnestly recommend the perusal of a book more than once quoted in these pages—Mr. Kay’s ‘Social Con- dition of the People in England and Europe ’— in which will be found such a mass of authentic facts, all bearing on the subject, and all concurring in the support of the views advocated above, as must, I think, convince the most sceptical. My space will only allow me to quote one small passage from the hundred of the same kind with which the work overflows :— “To illustrate still more clearly the great sub- division of landed property in Prussia, Dr. Shubert, in his excellent work on the ‘ Statistics of the King- dom of Prussia,’ informs us, that there are in Prussia 257,347 estates, each of which is between 240 acres and 50 acres in size; 314,533 estates, each of which is less than 50 acres in size; and 668,400 persons (without reckoning the owners of the above- mentioned estates), some of whom have each of them a small house of their own, whilst the re- mainder are labourers for others, and do not possess a house or any land of their own, but are allowed by their masters a field for the support of one or two cows. 380 PEASANT PROPRIETORS. “Owing also to the impossibility of tying up the land by settlements, mortgages, long leases, or wills, and to the great simplicity and cheapness of the mode of conveying an estate from a seller to a purchaser, a great many estates of all sizes, and situated in all parts of these countries, are con- stantly changing hands, or being offered for sale in the markets. “From these causes, people of all classes are able to become proprietors. Shopkeepers and labourers of the towns purchase gardens outside the towns, where ‘they and their families work in the fine even- ings, in raising vegetables and fruit for the use of their households ; shopkeepers, who have laid by a little competence, purchase farms, to which they and their families retire from the toil and disquiet of a town life; farmers purchase the farms they used formerly to rent of great landowners ; while most of the peasants of these countries have purchased and live upon farms of their own, or are now economising, and laying by all that they can possibly spare from their earnings, in order therewith as soon as possible to purchase a farm or a garden. “Tt is this fact which, more than any other, dis- tinguishes the social state of these countries from that of Great Britain and Ireland. The position of the peasant in the first-mentioned countries admits of hope, of enthusiasm, and of progress, for he knows that if he is economical and prudent, he may make himself a proprietor, and may climb the social ladder. ce a ee tt ee PEASANT PROPRIETORS. 381 The position of the peasant in the last-mentioned countries is one of hopelessness, discontent, and stagnation ; for what motive has he to induce self- denial, energy, and prudence ; and what chance has he of improving his position in the world? “Tt is possible for the poorest young man in Germany, Switzerland, the Tyrol, Belgium, Holland, France, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, to purchase a garden or a farm, if he is intelligent, prudent, and self-denying. It is a safer and more agreeable in- vestment than that of a little shop, which is the only one open to a poor peasant in England. It seems to be inherent in man’s nature to wish to possess land; and it is certain that there is no other inducement, which has half its force, in lead- ing the poor man to give up present gratification for its sake. Few men will defer their marriage, or deny themselves the excitement of the tavern, or of the gambling-table, for the sake of becoming a shop- man; but millions of peasants are at this moment on the continent of Europe putting off their mar- riages, abstaining from the use of spirits and from immoral gratifications, working double hours, striving with double diligence to please their employers, refraining from the strife of politics, and availing themselves of every opportunity of saving money, in the hope of purchasing a garden or a farm.” —(Vol. i, pp. 57—59.) 11. ABSENTEEISM, as it is technically called, or 382 ABSENTEEISM. the abandonment of their estates as places of resi- dence by the great Irish proprietors, has been one of the sources of evil to Ireland most dwelt on by those who have had to study the condition of that unhappy country. Unquestionably, Hac fonte derivata clades In patriam populumque fluxit ; but still it cannot be regarded as one of the very first magnitude ; and, whatever may have been its amount, it is certainly one greatly on the decrease. The Irish nobility and gentry have of late years spent more time on their paternal estates; and the fashion of the day, if we speak of no higher motives, has fortunately taken the side of residence. Not to mention the greater interest awakened in the minds of the proprietors for the condition of their people by recent events, the greatly increased facilities of transport to and from the country, the encomiums of tourists on the beauties of Ireland, &c., have all had a tendency to bring about a state of things more favorable to the rural population of Treland. It is to be expected also that the recent change of property, made through the agency of the Encumbered Estates’ Court, will have considerable effect in augmenting the number of resident pro- prietors; the absenteeism of many of the late owners being occasioned by their absolute inability to maintain the state supposed to be implied by the nominal possession of great property. The change, therefore, as far as it goes, is de- WANT OF A MIDDLE CLASS. 383 cidedly on the side of improvement; and there seems every reason to believe, that it is far from having as yet reached the height which it is des- tined to attain. The apprehension of personal danger from the discontented peasantry is being gradually dismissed from many minds which for- merly entertained it; as the true character of the Irish people becomes better known, and as the causes which formerly led to such outrages are gradually decreasing. It is not easy to estimate too highly the value of the influence derived from a good and public-spirited resident landlord to his tenantry, and to all the labouring classes in his district ; and no one who knows Ireland will doubt that the decrease of Absenteeism, or, in other words, the more extended and more continuous residence of her nobility and gentry, must be classed as among the material sources of the future prosperity of Ireland. rv. Analogous in its effects to the Absenteeism of the lords of the soil, but of still more extensive influence for evil, is the absence, throughout the rural districts of Ireland, or comparative waNT oF RESIDENTS OF THE CLASS OF SMALL GENTRY, or well- to-do persons of the middle-class of society. In more than one place in these volumes I have referred to the sad loss sustained by the lowest classes from the want among them of this most important link in the social chain. It is, I believe, 384. WANT OF A MIDDLE CLASS. mainly owing to the wide-spread presence of this middle-class in England, in the vicinity of her towns, in her villages and hamlets, and along the tract of her highways, that the labouring classes of this country owe much of the comfort they still possess, in spite of their scanty earnings and their hopelessness to rise above the low level of their condition. From this source they derive, for them- selves and children, aid and support of every kind, in health and sickness; and what is almost of equal value, a pattern and example of improved modes of living, calculated to prevent them from sinking into that utter disregard of the decencies and proprieties of life, which we know to have bent the cottier peasantry of Ireland almost to the rudeness of savage life. As the principal and most important members of this great intermediate class in England, I formerly named the Parochial Clergy, who, regarded simply as a body of resident gentry scattered throughout the whole breadth of the land, and without reference to their sacred calling, must be admitted to be, and always to have been, perennial beacons of light, and perennial fountains of good to the humbler classes amid whom they live. On the occasion referred to, I stated it be one of the chief misfortunes of the Trish people, that they were in a great measure deprived of this fruitful source of benefit, owing to the poverty of the Irish clergy, and the neces- sary limitation of the influence of the ministers of IMPORTANCE OF A MIDDLE CLASS. 385 the Established Church. It is to be hoped, how- ever, that among the means of amelioration yet in store for Ireland, the planting of this middle class— both lay and clerical—throughout all her rural dis- tricts, may be confidently looked to as one. In a subsequent page I may have to reconsider this question in regard to the clergy; but I would here beg to call the attention of the political econo- mist and statesman, to consider how a lay population of the kind indicated might be planted im the land. I can only suggest the relaxation of those antiquated laws and precedents which have always made it so difficult for men of moderate or small fortunes to obtain possession of limited portions of land in these islands ; and express a hope that through the medium of the continued operation of the Encumbered Estates’ Court, some means might be eventually secured for accomplishing so desirable an end. Peace and con- tent, and full security to life and property, being once established in Ireland, surely there are thou- sands to be found among her townsmen, who would delight to exchange the musty lanes and narrow streets where they had realised an independency, for the green valleys and charming hill-sides of the country, if they could find there properties of a size and price suited to their limited means, And when the vast importance of such changes, both to the individuals making them and to the district into which they would be made, is considered, it is not too much to look forward to the excogitation of i, 20 386 POLITICAL FAVORITISM. measures by some philanthropic statesman, to ren- der them as practicable as they are desirable. v. One of the longest-standing grievances of Ireland, and not the least in degree, is that which, for shortness, may be named OFFICIAL PARTIALITY, or POLITICAL FAvoRITIsM. The essence of this grievance consists in the nomination of persons to offices of trust, and to public situations generally, both low and high, not according to their general qualifications or claims or special fitness, but on political or religious grounds. It will be admitted that, in former times, the patronage of the Govern- ment, and still more that of Government officials, was frequently regulated on such principles, from the office of Lord-Lieutenant downwards. Of late years, however, and especially since the advent to power of the liberal party of statesmen, after the conclusion of the war, this evil has been greatly abated; and it may be now almost looked upon as in the process of gradual extinction. That the evil is, however, still in existence, though in a very mitigated form, must be admitted by every impar- tial visitor of Ireland; such existence being here and there manifested by the discontent and ill-blood which may be expected to flow from such a source. Among the instances of this official partiality complained of by the Catholics, may be mentioned the undue preference given to Protestantism and Orangeism in. the nomination of magistrates; the OFFICIAL PARTIALITY. 887 disproportion of Protestants holding the numerous small offices under government, &c. &c. Unques- tionably, very unreasonable opinions on this head are held by many Catholics as well as Protestants ; and, in the sharp rivalry, not to say the hostility, that exists between the two parties, it would be wise for the Government to take counsel, in such matters, from neither. This is a mode of proceeding more and more followed, I think, every day; and its yet greater development and final establishment, on the basis of real justice, without respect to extraneous considerations, may, in my opinion, be fairly set down as among the sources of good that are to be reckoned on as part of the future destiny of Ireland. Of course, no one who knows human nature, or has read history, will believe that the time will ever arrive when there shall be no favoritism or no par- tiality in such things. Such Saturnia regna only exist in the dreamland of the visionary who has not mingled in the world’s affairs. : It will, however, be much—and this, I think, may be reasonably antici- ‘pated—that the system of jobbing and partisanship shall, as a general rule, be superseded by the oppo- site system of regard for just claims and efficient administration. vi. Of the numerous causes on the tongues of all men, adduced to account for the long-depressed state of Ireland, none has been more generally received, or believed to be of more importance, than what is 888 WANT OF CAPITAL. technically called want or capitaL. ‘This is, no doubt, a just representation of the facts; and no one will deny that an increase of the capital of the country must go hand in hand with the growth of its economical improvement. Indeed, the two things are rather identical than one the cause of the other. Were it possible to throw money into Ireland in mass and indiscriminately, as if it were a sovereign nostrum for the cure of all her ills, to do so would only be a little wiser than to throw it into Lough Neagh, to keep company with the submerged Towers: it could effect no permanent good for Ireland. But if capital could be gradually, and as it were imper- ceptibly, insinuated into the whole body and consti- tution of the country, through the medium of the hundred channels which seem to be naturally pre- pared for its reception, and in such manner as to be blended and assimilated with the more essential interests of the people, then, indeed, would the supply be found tobe a potent remedy in the true meaning of the word. How this is to be effected I leave to the consideration of those whose economical and commercial knowledge fit them for judges in such a case. I can only hint at one or two of the more obvious modes which strike the ordinary observer. 1. The Encumbered Estates’ Court is clearly one of these inlets, and must be effective to a certain extent. The new possessors of the estates must have the means of paying their way, at least, a thing HOW SUPPLIED. 389 which, in itself, would be a considerable advance on the old rule; and it can scarcely be doubted that they will go far beyond this, and invest much addi- tional capital in the improvement of their property. In improving their property they must, of necessity, improve the condition of those who are locally con- nected with it, whether tenants, tradesmen, or labourers. And if along with their money, they bring also the still more precious capital of per- manent residence and paternal rule, such as becomes the lords of the people, the results will be propor- tionally great. 2. As portions of the same mode of bene- fiting Ireland by the introduction of capital, the great changes in the agricultural relations of the country, which have taken place of late years, and are still in progress, deserve attention. The great inroads made on the old cottier system by the con- solidation of farms, presuppose a great investment of capital in the farms so consolidated. If this investment comes from the landlord, it may be regarded as so much gained to Ireland, as, if not so invested, it would have been probably spent beyond her bounds. If it comes from the tenants, it will be no less a positive gain to the country, as the great majority of the renters of the large farms recently created, are expected to come from abroad, that is, from England or Scotland. The mere occupation of any farm of large extent, involves the necessity of a considerable outlay of capital; and 390 AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. this, whatever be its amount, must be added to the general stock, whether the undertaking requiring it proves successful or not. If the nature of the farms or the predilections of the farmers, determine the agricultural operations into the line of stock in place of grain, the immediate outlay will probably be still greater, and a proportionate addition be consequently made to the general capital. 3. Another most obvious mode of introducing capital into Ireland, and one which every successive year renders more likely of adoption, is the esta- blishment of manufactures of different kinds to give occupation to her people. It cannot fail to strike every traveller in Ireland with surprise, when he sees the great amount of unemployed labour waiting to be purchased at the cheapest rate,—the vast extent of unclaimed motive power lying waste in the countless rivers that intersect the land,—and the boundless facility of communication with other countries, supplied by the magnificent harbours that indent her shores on every side ;—that the country, with the exception of Ulster, is almost destitute of manufacturing establishments of any sort. The imperfect supply of coal in the country itself, 1s, no doubt, a drawback to the formation of such establishments; but considering the present facilities of transport from England, this defect can never suffice to counterbalance the great advantages pointed out, and to which others of almost equal force might be added. WANT OF ENTERPRISE. 391 It is, I believe, the ill name that Ireland has unfortunately acquired for turbulence and disregard of life and property, that has, to a considerable extent, delayed the more general establishment of manufactures on her soil. And it is now to be hoped, that the removal of this evil fame,—already effected, or in the process of being so,—will no longer prevent capitalists from turning their atten- tion to Ireland, as an eligible field for their opera- tions. They may rest assured, that nowhere will they find more ready and willing hands, or less interference with any of their proceedings. vu. With want of capital, as one of the great primary sources of evil to Ireland, I have heard generally coupled another want of yet more vital import, the WANT OF ENTERPRISE in her people. Of the existence of this want, both in the past and present time, there need be no doubt : it meets the eye and the ear of the traveller in most parts of the island. It is, however, quite a separate question, whether the want so acknowledged belongs to the genius of the people, or whether it is an adventitious blemish derived from the circumstances amid which they have been so long placed, and from their im- perfect appreciation of their own interest. No one will deny that the Irish, as a people, are generally disposed to have a close regard to what they con- sider as their own interests, (except, indeed, when the excitement of passion or enthusiasm may cast a 392 RESULT OF IGNORANCE. temporary mist before their eyes,) and that they are not likely to act in a way which they consider as opposed to this. The small farmer who has by in- dustry and economy realized a sum of money, will not lay this by in his chest, or place it in the bank, if he believed that it would be equally safe and more productive if expended on his farm: it is his igno- rance, not his nature, that makes him prefer the former course. A better education, a more extensive knowledge of business, would make him take the latter. Iwill not, therefore, admit among the essen- tial sources of evil to Ireland the alleged want of enterprise of her people. They are enterprising enough when they see the way clear before them : they will be as enterprising as other men when they have been freed from the circumstances which have been long moulding them into forms not essential to their nature. In support of the accuracy of these statements, | might say, in demonstration of their truth, I refer back to the testimony of Mr. Mill and Mr. Kay, queted in pp. 366-8, and in pp. 379-81. vu. Among the evils of Ireland, and indeed of almost all other countries as well as Ireland, must be reckoned THE WANT OF SUFFICIENT EDUCATION among the great mass of the people. Great and praiseworthy as are the efforts that have been made by the government to lessen this evil, by the insti- tution of the National and Workhouse schools, as well as by private individuals and societies more WANT OF EDUCATION. 393 particularly in connection with religious instruction, no one will deny that the results are as yet far below the point which the good of society requires them to reach. It is consolatory however to reflect, that it is in the very nature of the educational efforts now making, to increase with time; and, as it cannot be imagined that the Government will interfere to check the progress of their results, we are justified in looking forward to a greatly improved education as among the ameliorating means available for Ireland. I have purposely included the workhouse schools with the others, and in speaking of them here desire to comprehend the whole of the training received in them, whether of a literary and industrial, or do- mestic kind. It can hardly be imagined that the cultivation of the intellect from all these sources, and the examples set before the pupils, of personal propriety in every shape, should fail to communi- cate to the present youth of Ireland desires and tastes of a kind superior to those of their parents, and so influence for good the feelings and habits of the future men and women of the land—that is, of themselves. It would be an immense step gained in social progress, if we could implant feel- ings and ideas in the youthful mind that would recoil, in adult life, from the squalor of the unfur- nished hovel and a diet shared with beasts; and surely it is not too much to expect that teachings and examples of the kind referred to, continued through many years, should produce such a result. 394 TENANT RIGHT. Here, then, we foresee one other source of improve- ment for the Ireland of the coming time. 1x. A very old Irish grievance, but one which has only, in recent times, assumed a conspicuous promi- nence, is that which is now known by the name of TENANT RIGHT. This grievance has been noticed in many of the preceding pages, and its nature pointed out, and the remedies proposed for it given in the words of the aggrieved themselves. The grievance is certainly real and great, and the agitation for it need not be expected to cease until relief is found. As more than one proposition to this effect, in the shape of an Act of Parliament, has already been in- troduced into the Legislature, we may safely con- clude that an abatement of the evil will take place ere long, to a certain extent at least, if not to the full extent demanded by the complainants. That the relief thus to be obtained, however, must be considerable, need not be questioned, as no impartial observer can deny the reality of the wrong sought to be redressed, or the practicability of redressing it partially, at least, if the subject is taken up in sin- cerity and earnestness. It may, indeed, be almost impracticable to make up to the present tenants the full amount of their losses from this cause in the time that is past : something, however, will be done even in this respect ; while, in regard to the future, measures positively preventive of a recurrence of the evil may be devised and established with little TENANT RIGHT. 395 difficulty. We may, then, fairly reckon on the granting of some form of Tenant Right as certain ; and although this form may fall short of general expectation, or even of justice, it cannot fail to be, pro tanto, a means of bettering the condition of the tenant farmers, and must consequently be added to the stock of ameliorative means already in progress for the future benefit of Ireland. x. I have reserved for the last head of my inquiry, one of the gravest of the evils of Ireland, and for which there appears in the prospects of the future no healing balm of speedy efficacy: I refer to THE RELATIONS OF THE ENGLISH AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES to the people and to one another. Although repudiating throughout this whole inquiry the charlatanic idea that the multiplex malady of Ireland could be cured by any one remedy or nostrum, and denying that the suppression or removal of any one of its symptoms, however prominent or severe, could be regarded as anything more than a partial and temporary relief, I am bound to admit that the disturbing influence of the individual evils may vary immensely;—that while the persistence or cure of one may be but a matter of trifling import, the persistence or cure of another may be a thing of the most vital consequence. The matter now to be considered,—the existing state of the two Churches, kind ; its persistence being capable of depriving all is an evil of this latter 396 THE EVIL OF THE CHURCHES. other ameliorations of more than half their value, and its removal allowing them all to operate freely, according to their intrinsic powers. In this respect, then, this question of the Churches, though not in itself the essence of Ireland’s peace and prosperity, becomes the hinge on which they turn; its settle- ment will allow all other questions to be settled; its non-settlement involves the non-settlement of all other questions. This evil of the Churches, or THE RELIGIOUS GRIEVANCE, as it may be more briefly named, con- sists mainly in this, that in a country essentially Catholic,’ there is established by law a Protestant Church, which is the exclusive recipient of the ecclesiastical revenues dedicated by the state for the payment of the ministers of religion, the grievance being immensely aggravated by the consideration, that the ministers of the new or state church were forced, as it were by conquest, into the places of the ministers of the old church, obtaining all their revenues, yet leaving all, or nearly all, the work to be done by the dispossessed and degraded clergy of the ancient church. I am not very solicitous whether this be con- sidered a strictly accurate or logical definition of the grievance or not; it is quite sufficient for my purpose if it indicate the general facts known to ' T may as well state here that in most of my subsequent remarks, I refer to the three Catholic provinces only, and exclude Ulster, which may fairly be considered as much Protestant as Catholic. THE RELIGIOUS GRIEVANCE. 397 all:—that the Catholic Church was the original Church of Ireland ; that it still continues to be the Church of nineteen twentieths of the people in the three Catholic provinces ; that the church revenues originally belonging to the Catholic clergy have been entirely taken from them, and bestowed upon their Protestant brethren; that the Protestant clergy are consequently rich, or comparatively rich, while the Catholic clergy are extremely poor; that the former have fine houses and fine churches built and supported by the state, while the Catholic priests have neither; that the doctrines of the Protestant church are considered by the Catholics to be, in a great measure, false, while they enter- tain the most profound conviction of the truth of their own; and that, consequently, they (the Catholics) entertain a strong religious horror of Protestantism, and the most intense love of, and devotion to, their own faith. Now, any one who considers these facts simply in their relation to human beings generally, must inevitably come to the conclusion, independently of all experience of the particular case, that the ex- istence of content, and satisfaction, and peace in the minds of the clergy of the old church, if not an actual impossibility, is an event which no reason- able mind has a right to expect, much less to calculate on. Its existence would, indeed, be miraculous, except under the supposition of the eradication of all human passion and feeling from 398 THE EVIL OF THE CHURCHES. the heart. Such a miracle not having been worked, the fact undoubtedly is, that the feelings which reason and all experience would lead us to predicate as existing in the minds of the Catholic clergy of Ireland, do exist there. They look with a discontented eye on their own state, and on the state of the clergy of the Protestant church; they feel that their own church and its pastors have been, and continue to be, most .unjustly dealt with ; and all who know them must be aware that the senti- ment most deeply engraven on their hearts, next to their love and obedience to their church, is the desire to see the wrongs of their faith vindicated, and their own rights restored. In making this representation of the sentiments of the Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland, it is but fair to add, that these sentiments are very far from being ostentatiously entertained. On the contrary, although the idea is a fixed one, it is alta mente repostum, never unnecessarily brought to light, never paraded before the common eye. In the present apparent hopelessness of redress, the watchword that at once regulates and restrains is “ Bide your time ;” the conviction that, some day or other, this redress will come, being as profound, as vivid, and as uni- versal, as is the sense of the wrong. It is only when such excitement is applied as flows from a contested election, or some other public proceeding involving considerations of Church and State, that the hidden fire leaves the heart for the lips and hand. THE RELIGIOUS GRIEVANCE. 3899 Under such circumstances, and with such dis- turbing feelings in the minds of all, it is really most surprising that the habitual conduct of the priests should (with a few extraordinary exceptions) present, what it is universally admitted to present—a very pattern of patience and industry in their sacred vo- cation, and a devotedness to its duties which cannot be excelled. They seem to act as if the hope of their restoration to dignity and power, was solely founded on their confidence in God’s justice and not in any secular acts of themselves or other men. In these feelings of dissatisfaction, from the con- sciousness of wrong, as well as in the desire for redress and reparation, all the more instructed lay- Catholics of Ireland participate; and being less restrained by a sense of duty in another direction, they are much less scrupulous in avowing their seutiments, or in endeavouring to give them vitality in more immediate action. The expression of them, accordingly, never fails to break out when a reason- able opportunity presents itself for their display. Among the lower or labouring classes of the people, the same feelings exist, but in a very subdued degree; being only a little more vivid or warm, than are those which linger among the legendary visions of Ireland’s ancient glory, and of its des- truction by the Saxon; or which float around their day dreams of reconquest and vengeance. The humble men of Ireland are too much en- grossed with the present objects of sense, too much 4.00 THE RELIGIOUS GRIEVANCE. distressed with the hardships of their own lot, and too deeply interested mm procuring the bare neces- saries of daily life, to have much thought to give to matters that do not concern them immediately. But the very condition which so painfully absorbs their habitual attention, must be allowed to afford the best materials for the propagation and corro- boration of discontent with things of more general import, should they ever be submitted to them by their superiors. They must therefore be looked on as constituting a very important element, poten- tially at least, in the general mass of discontent existing in Ireland on account of the grievance now under consideration. Now, what prospects have we in the future, of the removal of this, the most vital of all the ills of Treland—the Religious Grievance? I own I can see none, that is to say, none that is likely to arise naturally, as it were, or in the ordinary progress of events; as we have shown to be probable at least, if not certain, in the case of most of the other evils of Treland. If, indeed, the desires and hopes of amiable but visionary enthusiasts, could be accepted by reasonable minds as grounds for safe calculation, then might we believe that the progress of Protestantism in Ireland would ere long solve the riddle, and annihi- late the difficulty, by leaving the whole population of that country of one faith, in which case, what is now felt to be a grievance and a wrong, would SIR ROBERT PEEL’S OPINION. 401 become the source of consolation and blessing, and be universally recognised as just and right. But, alas, this consideration can have no place in the minds of those who have any pretensions to be fair judges in a case like this; it is truly “ such stuff as dreams are made of,’ and deserves no graver reception at the hands of philosophers or philosophic statesmen. One of this latter class, the late Sir Robert Peel, in claiming the sanction of the House of Commons to his noble measure for improving the education of the Catholic Clergy in Ireland, told the members of that branch of the Legislature, so late as the year 1845, that, think what they might, do what they would, the Catholic religion would continue to be the religion of millions in Ireland.' Sir Robert did not attempt to state the period of this continuance ; but I cannot doubt that, if he had been considering the question under the present point of view, he would have been ready to admit that it would be madness to postpone any intended amelioration of the condition of the people, on the faith of such a contingency as their conversion to Protestantism. I hold the converse view of the case, entertained ' “ We believe that it is perfectly compatible to hold steadfast the profession of our faith without wavering, and, at the same time, to improve the education and to elevate the character of those who—do what you will—pass this measure or refuse it—will continue to be the spiritual guides and religious instructors of millions of your fellow- countrymen.”—Debate of April 3, 1845. Ti; 26 402 THE RELIGIOUS GRIEVANCE. by other enthusiasts equally amiable and visionary, namely, that the Catholic faith will, at no very distant day, become the exclusive religion of Ireland, to be worthy of no graver regard; and therefore I am compelled to consider the difficulty as one that admits of no natural or spontaneous solution, but that, if dealt with at all, it must be dealt with extrinsically, or from without. Now, the sole power capable of so dealing with it, is the imperial Legislature ; and if it should decline to do so indefinitely, it and the people of England must be prepared to see indefinitely postponed the settlement of Ireland’s difficulties, and the very foundations of her prosperity still remain to be laid in the peace and content of her people. It is a common argument much in favour with men of a certain caliber of mind, that so long as the external or physical conditions of life are suffi- cient for ordinary animal enjoyment and compatible with moderate freedom of action, are attained, nothing more is necessary for the content and happiness of the individual; and that so long as these are secured to him by the government. under which he lives, he has no right to complain of his lot or to seek to alter it. This has been the plea of tyranny and despotism from the beginning of time; and seems to be the motive principle now directing the movements of the state-machine of many of the continental nations. Carried a little farther, it is the same argument that has been THE MIND IS THE MAN. 403 brought in defence of slavery itself, on the ground that slaves are less severely worked, better fed, more warmly clothed, more carefully doctored, than the peasantry of many free countries. The employers of this class of arguments seem almost to ignore the psychical part of man, or at least to overlook that nobler portion of his mind which raises him altogether above mere animal life. Even when used in their least offensive form, and in their mildest degree, such arguments are altogether false and invalid, inasmuch as it is his moral and intellectual state, and not his mere animal or bodily state, that man considers as that part of what he calls himself, which claims his chief regard, and must take the first place in all considerations affect- ing his well-being and happiness. The mind is the man; the mind’s happiness is the man’s happi- ness: mens agitat molem. Never, then, let it be argued, in regard to the Irish clergy, or, indeed, in regard to any set of men, that because they are well enough circumstanced in respect of their physical or bodily condition, (and it is perhaps straining the argument on the side of their opponents to admit so much in regard to the Roman Catholic Clergy,) because they are in no way interfered with in any of their social relations ; because they have the same free scope of action as all their fellow citizens, and, most of all, have the unrestricted liberty to perform all the functions of their holy office, they ought, therefore, to be con- 404: LEGISLATIVE INTERFERENCE. tented with their actual lot, and not allow their souls to be disquieted by a state of things brought about by no act of theirs, for which they are there- fore in no way responsible, and which, moreover, took place generations before they were born, and has been the heritage of their predecessors as well as of themselves. On the grounds just stated, it is, to my mind, an all-sufficient reply to such arguments, to state the simple fact that the circumstances under which the Roman Catholic Clergy of Ireland are placed, and by no fault of their own, do painfully affect their minds, do disturb their peace, do and must and will, through them, greatly interfere with the tranquillity and happiness and prosperity of their country, so long as these circumstances are permitted to exist in their present intensity, or indeed at all. The only agency by which these circumstances can be effectually changed, I have already stated to be an act of the Legislature; and the only change that can be effectual—that. will, in other words, lead, through the removal of discontent, to the future peace and prosperity of Ireland, is THE PLACING OF THE TWo CHURCHES ON THE SAME FOOTING IN RELATION To THE Sars. Tinkering and cobbling and botching politicians may stitch and patch and pin and paste and rivet and solder and shorten and lengthen and straiten and widen ; but all will be in vain towards attaining the end desired—all, save the measure just enunciated, ARGUMENTS PRO AND CON. 405 that shall place the rival churches on the same level, The Legislature assuredly can do this; the Legis- lature, I believe, will one day do this; because one day it will be convinced, not merely of the justice, but of the absolute necessity of the act. This day is probably yet far distant, but its advent is not the less sure. In the meantime it would be an easy task to show that there is no valid reason why it might not be done now, and a thousand reasons why it should and ought to be done soon. Into this discussion, however, it is not my purpose to enter at any length ; but before closing the subject I should like to touch on a few of the more salient points in the arguments pro and con. 1. One great argument employed by Protestants against the admission of Catholics to equal privi- leges with themselves, indeed, against their being tolerated in any way, is that the religious doctrines professed by them being false, ought to be in no way countenanced, much less encouraged by those of the better faith. The arguers on this principle even contend, that the Protestant government of a Protestant country, like England, is hound by its obligations towards the national religion, not to countenance, and, still more, not to protect or pro- mote a belief that is false, and a practice that is superstitious. With this or any other opinion entertained by 4.06 RELIGIOUS EQUALITY. individuals respecting the faith of their neighbours, no one, of course, has any business to interfere: they have a perfect right to entertain, on this subject, any opinion they please, and to act on it within the bounds of the law. The individual members of government, in their private capacity, have unquestionably the same privilege, and are at perfect liberty to indulge whatever opinions they may entertain, on this or any other subject. When, however, they come to act as a government, they are bound by very different obligations, and have to consider, not what is false or true in opinions, but only what is right or wrong in act. In this point of view, they cannot, by possibility, have anything to do with the doctrines of Catholics, whether false or true, so long as these doctrines do not issue in acts contrary to the laws of the land or to the welfare of the state; and they are bound, as a government, to see equal justice done to them as to all others of the Queen’s subjects. | But this question of truth or falsehood in regard to religious doctrines is one which, if it were de- sirable to settle, can never be decided by any human tribunal, Individuals may decide this in their own minds ; and they are as perfectly justified in acting on the conclusions arrived at by themselves, as if these conclusions could be made equally clear to all the world. Religious belief being a matter of opinion, must be judged by man’s opinion. It is not in the nature of things that its truth can be ARGUMENTS PRO AND CON. 407 proved, in the manner of disputed events by testi- mony, or as facts in science by physical demon- stration. If we empannel a jury of twelve of the most learned and honestest Protestants in Europe, to try the question of whether the Protestant or Catholic religion is truest or best, we shall have an unanimous verdict in favour of Protestantism. If, on the other hand, we select twelve catholics, equally learned and just, with Dr. Newman and Mr. Manning at their head, as being versed utroque jure, we as surely will expect and shall receive a verdict on the opposite side of the question. It is perfectly obvious, therefore, that no ground of exclusion from any of the rights of citizenship can be found against the catholics on the mere ground of the falseness of their religious views. 2. But it is further argued,—the Catholic re- ligion, though not demonstrably false as matter of doctrine, may, as a code of belief and practice, he shown to be detrimental to the secular and social well-being of its own members, and so be brought within the restrictive authority of government, as the natural protectors and guardians of all the subjects of the realm. The enforced celibacy of the priests, the segregation of men and women in monasteries and convents, the practices of confession and absolution, the maintenance of unnecessary holidays, &c. &c., may be advanced as illustrations of the grounds on which official interference might be justifiable. But arguments based on such grounds 408 RELIGIOUS EQUALITY. are utterly untenable: they are overthrown, at once, by the one comprehensive argument applicable to all cases of conduct, viz., that the citizens of a free country have an inalienable right to determine their own modes of life and proceedings, so long as such proceedings do not interfere with the rights of their fellow subjects, with the law of the land, or the general well-being of the state. 3. An argument of a like kind, but of much greater relevancy, is founded on the allegation that there are several things in the Catholic doctrines and practice which are more or less incompatible with that free action of communities which leads to social improvement and progress, as well as with the individual loyalty and allegiance which every sub- ject owes to his legitimate sovereign. The principal things referred to in this objection are, I presume, the following :—1, the fettering of the mind by the practice of confession ; 2, the freeing it, beyond the boundaries of law and morals, by the practice of absolution and indulgences; 3, the submission of the clergy to a foreign prince or prelate, the Pope. In regard to the first two circumstances here noticed, confession and absolution, and, indeed, in regard to several other doctrines and practices of the Catholic church, I think it cannot be denied that they are more or less obstructive of man’s pro- gress in secular civilization, as well as in his attainment of that freedom of thought. and inde- ARGUMENTS PRO AND CON. 409 pendence of action which should be the inheritance and portion of every member of a free state. And herein, at least, Protestantism, according to my humble judgment, may prefer a very positive claim of superiority over her rival. But opinions on this point will vary according to the relative estimation in which worldly and non- worldly things are held by those who have to form the opinions. It will probably be claimed by the Catholics, as the highest glory of their religion, that it does the very thing I complain of. At any rate, it seems certainly to be in the very essence of this religion to lead to a practical depreciation of secular concerns, in relation to things not of this world. In the exercise of the Protestant religion, secular and post-secular things seem to be more har- moniously combined, and the pursuit of those in the one category to the utmost extent consistent with the human faculties, is, in no way, regarded as inconsistent with all necessary devotion to the other. It would seem, therefore, to be true, that *the Catholic religion is less favorable than Protestantism to man’s progress in civilization, to the culture of some of his powers, and to the attainment of worldly prosperity and power. But such an admission in no way justifies the conclusion, that the followers of Catholicism are, therefore, to be in any way interfered with for persisting in the faith and 410 RELIGIOUS EQUALITY. practices that lead to such results. These results, if injurious, affect only themselves ; and there is no human authority that can forbid a man choosing his own lot, whether good or bad, so long as this choice involves no breach of his obligations to the state or to his fellow subjects. To use the words of Lord John Russell, in a recent debate in parliament, “Are you, on account of what you believe to be the errors of his faith, to deprive a man of political power and civil privileges ?” The question of the spiritual obedience of the Roman Catholic clergy to a foreign bishop, is one which, at first sight, wears an aspect very different from the points already discussed, and seems much less easily disposed of by arguments from the same armoury. Theoretically, indeed, it is perhaps hardly possible so to dispose of it; but regarded practically, as a matter of experience, and in its probable bearings as judged by common sense, not by the fears of a hostile party, it really dwindles into the same insignificance as the others. Stretched to its utmost extreme, the foreign domination cannot extend beyond things spiritual and ecclesi- astical ; and whether the mandate regulating these, issues from the pen of a bishop living in Rome or in Dublin, is, or rather ought to be, a matter of little moment to the British nation. If the one arrangement is more acceptable to our Catholic fellow subjects than the other, I see no very sub- stantial reason why they should not be indulged in ARGUMENTS PRO AND CON. 411 their predilection. If the Pope were mad enough to issue orders injurious to the political or social condition of this country, and in his capacity of prince, not of bishop; such orders, I doubt not, would be just as much disobeyed by the Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland, as if they owed him no spiritual homage. And, besides, our England has not yet fallen so low in its own esteem, or in its consciousness of dignity and power, as to permit either a foreign or domestic priest, be he of what religion he may, to usurp any secular power beyond the right of a subject, or to commit a breach of any established law with impunity. On the whole, then, and in conclusion, I would say, that if it be for the good of Ireland that the two churches of that country should be put on an equal footing; or, in other words, that the great RELIGIOUS GRIEVANCE should be abated; there is nothing in the religion or the religious relations of the Irish Catholics, to prevent this being done with perfect safety to the state and without injury or wrong to the people at large. The sole question now remaining to be considered is THE way in which the proposed change could be effected, with the least possible injury to any class of her Majesty’s subjects, and with the greatest amount of benefit to all concerned. I make no pretensions to have anything new to advance on this head; and I merely give the following meager outlines of plans, in order that no 412 RELIGIOUS EQUALITY, doubt may remain on the reader’s mind as to the practical extent to which I think the views pro- pounded above should be carried. The easiest and simplest mode of bringing about the equalization of the Churches is that which, by merely putting an end to the present Church esta- blishment, would leave all the three Churches of Ireland in the same predicament of Free or Volun- tary Churches, to look for support from their respective members; the revenues of the present Church being assumed by the state, and devoted to the purposes of national education. A second mode, would be, for the state, after the assumption of the Church revenues, to re- distribute them equally among all the ministers of “the three Churches ; the national education being supported, as at present, by government. Of course, the revenues of the livings would not be assumed by the state until after the death of the present incumbents; and means might be devised for satisfying or indemnifying individuals for their loss of patronage. At the period of the Reform Bill, scores of Boroughs that were the private pro- perty of individuals, and had been bought at high prices, were sacrificed for the good of the country, without any other compensation being given to the patrons; and I do not seea great difference between the two cases. Where the tithes are all the bona fide property of individuals, their proprietary rights must, of MODE OF ESTABLISHING. 413 course, be respected: there being a wide difference between a pecuniary income and mere patronage. Whatever arrangement should be adopted, it would be requisite that the bishops of the two churches possessing such dignitaries, should be paid by the state. Of these two modes of dealing with this great matter, I confess I have a strong leaning in favour of that which contemplates the paying of the clergy, mainly on the ground of its being a thing of great moment to the lower classes, to have resident among them gentlemen every way independent, and enabled by their worldly means and social status, to be at once counsellors, guardians, and patterns to their humble neighbours. But to neither the one nor the other of these modes, nor, indeed, to any plan yet proposed, do I feel myself bound to adhere with a positive pre- ference. The best plan shall be my plan; but the responsibility, as well as the honour, must rest with others. I have felt it to be my humble duty to state, in the strongest terms, my opinion as to the absolute necessity of such a measure; but it is for StarEsMEN, not for the solitary student, or for men whose minds are devoted to other pursuits, to excogitate and plan and carry into effect so grand a work. Though surrounded with many and great difficulties, I regard it as PERFECTLY PRACTICA- 414, CONCLUSION. BLE ; and, indeed, as a task greatly more easy than several which have, in recent times, received the sanction of the imperial legislature. The same wisdom and zeal and noble resolution which carried to a successful and triumphant issue, THE Emanct- PATION OF OUR SLAVES, THE EMANCIPATION OF THE CatHotics, THE Rerorm Bix, and Free Traps, will find the task proposed quite within their grasp ; and it is to be hoped that its accomplishment is destined to shed around the memory of some of our living statesmen, a portion of the same glorious light that must render conspicuous through all time the names of the authors of the great acts referred to. And here I, at length, terminate my Memo- RANDUMS MADE IN IRELAND, and the commentaries and opinions naturally suggested during their transcription. I submit the whole to the candid judgment of the public, with a deep sense of the imperfection of my work, but with a lively con- sciousness that, in writing it, I have been animated by a sincere desire to learn and to speak the truth, and to do good according to my humble means. FINIS. Ose, 5 i 8 ° E ao be 3 a i) Aa < s I < e 3) rere: § Aagignsite tunnel RPonnapatt-athhdtvremest#nrrgP HL 6 AA At ll sheet, P ra tat ett git opie gHesinseZ, tee eee waniliudrehaaldiben} ule EER,