USES OF BOG-WOOD.-AN IRISH FAIR.

48 case it is very hard, takes a high polish, and is of a beautifulbrown colour. I saw a table-leaf of yew, in which the rings of the yearly growths might be reckoned by hundreds, with the aid of a microscope. Besides ropes and fuel, light is also procured from the bogs. Candles being an expensive article, most of the Irish cabins are lighted with rushes, from which they peel the outer rind, and soak them in fresh butter, (which is much more common than oil,) or in a pale yellow fatty substance which is often found in the bogs.

The slowness with which all kinds of grain ripens in Ireland was to me a matter of continual surprise. The winter corn is sown in November, and the spring corn in February; yet no one thinks of reaping wheat till the middle of September. Oats, which is the principal grain, are still later. Rye there is none. When the summer is cold and wet, the wheat is frequently not cut till the middle of October, and the oats in November. In the south of Germany, on the Rhine, rye is got in about the 22nd of July, and wheat, barley, and oats follow at short intervals. In Courland and Lithuania, countries that lie nearly under the same latitude with Ireland, (the 35th degree passes througn Lithuania and the north of Ireland,) the harvest is gathered about the end of July or the beginning of August, though the summer corn is not sown till April, when the winter snow first leaves the ground. Thus, corn which ripens in three or four months in those countries, takes seven or eight months in Ireland.

While I was in the neighbourhood of Edgeworthtown, a little fair was held, which afforded me an opportunity of observing the conduct of the Irish market-people in selling their wares. Some of them, such as those who sold fruit, meat, and the like, sat beside their wares, and waited for purchasers; but those who sold knives, scissors, and innumerable other little articles, acted in a more mountebanklike manner than I had ever seen in any other country out of Great Britain. They had their wares arranged on a booth that moved on wheels, or on a cart turned into a booth, and ornamented with their goods. To one side of the cart was attached a kind of little gallery, on which the merchant stood, exhibiting some articles to the surrounding public, to whom he praised them in the manner of an Italian dealer in medicines, with extraordinary volubility of speech, accompanied with frequent jokes, not devoid of wit. He then named the price. The people laughed, and offered him a few pence. They then outbade each other till the offer seemed sufficient to the merchant, who all the time continued speaking in a loud

voice, or, if the offer did not satisfy him, till he laid by the article and produced another. In England, such merchants are frequently to be seen at fairs, selling their wares in this way; and even in many English towns, as well as in London itself, there are those who dispose of their goods by means of a perpetual auction.

Neither at this fair, nor at any other in Ireland, did I see any gipseys. Indeed, I was every where told that there never had been any in the country. I have been unable to obtain any information on this subject from books on Ireland; for unfortunately authors too often forget to notice what is not in a country, and yet it is frequently as interesting, to know this as to learn what is in it. Wonderful as it may seem that gipseys, who have found their way into every country of Europe, even into England, where they have spread themselves through the whole kingdom, should not have crossed over into Ireland, many Irishmen have assured me that it is the fact; and as Ireland is distinguished from all other countries by so many peculiarities, (as the absence of toads, serpents, and other venomous creatures, which are found in every other part of Europe,) I am inclined, à priori, to believe the fact. Perhaps some gipseys may have come over now and then; but finding a race almost as barbarous and wretched as themselves, they have turned back again, without spreading themselves through the country. Even the Romans, who once occupied all the rest of Europe, never went over to Ireland.

It is a fact equally remarkable, and not less strange, that there are no Jews in Ireland; at least there does not exist a single synagogue in the whole island, not even in Dublin, although it contains 270,000 inhabitants. Jews came to Ireland with Cromwell; and in 1746 there were 200 individuals, or 40 families, of that nation in Dublin, where they had a synagogue and a burialground; but this number, in 1821, had decreased to nine individuals! In this respect Ireland and Dublin probably stand alone in Europe. In England, and in Scotland also, gipseys and Jews are every where to be met with. Even in China there are Jews. In Ireland alone there are none. What a short distance we need travel to find the marvellous!

CHAPTER IV.

FROM EDGEWORTHTOWN TO THE SHANNON.

IRISH JAUNTING-CARS-PRICES-THE INTERIOR OF IRELAND-RUINS" AS IT HAPPENS, SO HE LEAVES IT"-RAGS-THE DRESS COAT-THE FRIEZE COAT-PADDY'S HEAD-DRESS-LAUGHING AND WEEPING-WALLACHIAN AND IRISH PIGS-WHO PAYS THE RENT--PLANTATIONS-EGG MARKETS -ATHLONE-THE BOG OF ALLEN-COAL FIELDS-REPRODUCTION TURF-BOG ERUPTIONS-BOG BUTTER-SHANNON HARBOUR-THE "GOOD PEOPLE" AND ENGLISH CIVILIZATION-MILESIAN FAMILIES-IRISH AND INDIAN ANTIQUITY-OLD CELTIC FAMILY NAMES-NUMBER OF RUINSSTRUGGLE OF THE IRISH WITH THE ENGLISH-THE SAXONS-CLIMATE.

OF

Having received the congratulations of all my valued friends in Edgeworthtown on the fine weather which seemed to smile upon my journey, I took my departure with regret from a place where I would gladly have lingered; and rolled on, through the centre of Ireland, towards that main artery of the land, the glorious Shannon, which, flowing from the north, pours its waters in a south-west direction. The usual method of travelling in Ireland, on those roads where no stage-coaches run, is on a jaunting-car. These jaunting-cars, or outside cars, as they are also called, are constructed on precisely the same plan as those we found in Dublin. They are two-wheeled, have a seat for two persons on each side, and are drawn by one horse. In the centre, between those two seats, is a recess for luggage, called "the well." The shafts are fixed to the body of the car, without any hinge; so that when the horse gallops, the comical and violent motion affords much pleasantry to some, whilst in others it produces something akin to sea-sickness. The cars are, of course, without covers; and since it is usually raining in Ireland, the traveller must not neglect to envelope himself and his effects in a waterproof of English invention. The horse, driver and all, are hired at the post-station, at the rate of sixpence per English mile, exactly onehalf what is paid in England for a one-horse carriage. Since the horse, the oats which feed him, the plain wooden car, the obliging driver, and his food, which consists of bread and potatoes-in a word, all that you pay for-is produced in the country, this proportion of Irish to English prices probably extends to all the necessaries of life-that is, as one to two. To a traveller who desires to see the country, these cars are much to be recommended. They allow him the most delightful independence; and as he is bound to no particular route, he can go about the country

in any direction by paying his sixpence for every mile and his legs being half out of the vehicle, he can readily jump off and on, and need pass nothing unexamined. Besides, in the driver he has a talkative Paddy, who, for the sake of the counterpoise, usually sits, not on his own box-seat, but on the other side-seat, dos-à-dos with his passenger. He is not disinclined, however, to turn this dos-à-dos into a vis-à-vis, and enter into conversation with the traveller, and "show him the country." Being himself full of curiosity, he does all in his power to satisfy that of his passenger ; he stops whenever the latter wishes it, drives more slowly when he perceives that he is observing any thing; and often adds, when he believes he has said something clever, "Will your honour plase to put that down ?"

On one of the many lovely sunny days which even Ireland enjoyed in the autumn of 1842, I rolled away, in a conveyance such as I have described, towards the Shannon, in order, by means of this beautiful river, to pursue my travels in the southwest of the island. In this most central part of Ireland, from its eastern shores to the Shannon, there are no natural beauties to admire. The country is flat, and the attention is therefore more directed to man and his works. Alas! they can afford him no pleasure, for the former appears mostly in rags, and the latter are generally in ruins. Ruins should not be suffered in any country where order is prized. They should be removed, either because the materials of which they are composed might be applied in new, useful buildings, and the room which they occupy can be turned to a better use; or because, by their total downfall, they threaten the safety of men, and are besides disagreeable objects to look at. Ireland, however, is the first country in Europe for ruins; and here you have them from all periods of history, from the oldest times of the Phoenicians, down to the present day. Some of these ruins are supposed to be the remains of temples erected by fire-worshippers from the East; others are looked upon as Druidical remains, or castles of the old Celtic kings of the island. Portions of the churches built on the introduction of Christianity are numerous. The period of the Danish dominion has also bestowed on the land another extremely rich collection; and down to our own days each century, nay, every decade, has left its ruins here. For multitudes of dilapidated buildings are to be seen in every direction-of buildings that seem not only to have recently fallen into decay, but also to have been but recently built. During my journey I did not see a single village or town entirely free from such recent ruins. In many places we found whole rows of desolated and falling houses, standing side by side, in tens and

PICTURESQUE RUINS.-AN IRISHMAN'S RAGS.

47

twelves. As melancholy tales of war and poetic legends are wont to be associated in the minds of the people with the ruins of old castles and churches, so to each of these more modern ruins of dwelling-houses is attached a still sadder tale of wrong committed in times of peace. The cruel ejectment of a tenant by his landlord, the mournful emigration of the poor inhabitants, brought on by necessity, or the want of means to repair their houses, are usually assigned as causes for their decay. Generally speaking, the people are not very communicative on this subject. "Oh, it is a very sad story, sir," say they: "it is better not to speak of it;" or, "It seems, the landlord does not care much about itjust as it happens, so he leaves it."

The painter is better off; for as there are multitudes of plants in Ireland, especially on the walls, Irish ruins are usually very picturesque. The most beautiful ivy climbs all over them; while wild roses, yews, beeches, and similar plants and trees, nestle every where between the walls. In some countries of Europe, as Livonia, Courland, and Poland, the ruins are almost entirely naked; but in green Ireland it is quite the reverse. Often have

I seen the most wretched huts, mantled in a beautiful robe of full, rich ivy, worthy to clothe the ruined walls of a royal castle of bygone days; and I am convinced that many a cabin is now made habitable only by the ivy, and would surely fall asunder if it were destroyed.

Another phenomenon, not less remarkable than the ruins, is the rags. As the Irishman inhabits his house as long as possible without giving it any repair, and then deserts it as soon as it has become wholly untenable; so he wears his clothes as long as a single thread of them will hold together, never giving the tailor an opportunity of earning a penny by repairing them. In other lands there are poor people enough, who, though rarely able to exchange their old clothes for new ones, yet do all they can to keep them in a wearable condition. Thus, in Russia, the peasants, forced by their climate, stitch patch upon patch over the holes of their old sheep-skins, and even the very poorest rarely exhibits his bare skin, which, in Ireland, is freely exposed even by persons far above the condition of beggars, and whose circumstances may be called comfortable. To wear the very coarsest clothes is in no country deemed disgraceful; but (except in Ireland, where a naked elbow or a bare arm seems to offend no one,) to appear in rags where allowed, save only to those whom the extreme of misery has plunged into such deep despair as to make them despise all sense of decency and feeling. The Irish rag-garments have something quite peculiar about them. Rags so completely rubbed away by

is no