Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Lewis Dillwyn's Visit to Kerry, 1809 (Author: Lewis Weston Dillwyn)

entry 6

Sunday, July 23rd
We had heard that Mass in the Chapel of the Nunnery is

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performed in public only on Sunday Mornings at ½ past 6 & Leach & I therefore rose early for the purpose of attending it. It was with some difficulty & only thro' the assistance of a Catholick from whom we hired our Boat on Friday that we obtained admittance for even the fore Court of the Nunnery was thronged with poor Wretches who were prostrate on their knees. The Moment that we reached the Door, never having seen anything of the kind before I was filled with amazement for large Candles were burning on the Altar which was covered with gewgaws, & the Priest who stood before it wore a kind of white Petticoat which a Robe of Crimson & white Sattin. He really looked more like Punch in a Puppet Show than a Parson performing worship. Only seven Nuns were present of whom five wore the black & two the white Veil56 & they were pent up from the rest of the Congregation by a wooden railing. The Abbess was a tall woman & there seemed to me some thing so severe & forbidding in her deportment, that I from my heart pitied those who were irretrievably subjected to her controul. The Service when we arrived was nearly over, & when it was ended a fellow politely threw some holy water over us & we came away.

Wishing however to know more of their mode of worship & finding as we passed the Cathedral that the Service was about to begin, we entered it. It is a large & gaily painted Building & the Ornaments on & Paintings above the Altar seemed to be good & costly. We in particular remarked several massy Silver Candlesticks of fine workmanship on which large wax Tapers were burning. Even the Aisles & Galleries were already nearly filled with People who were busily employed in counting their Beads. There are no Pews, Seats, or Divisions of any kind whatever in the Body of the Church or Aisles, & the whole Congregation being prostrate on the Stone Floor presented a curious spectacle. In a few minutes after we entered the Priest came in, & took his station before the Altar. His livery resembled that of the Priest at the Nunnery, except that it was still finer, & his crimson Robes, besides the large white Cross, was gaudily ornamented with gold Lace. There was a fine painting of our Saviour over him & the wide difference in the appearance of the great Master & his pretended Disciple, was very striking. I never was so surprized as to find that very nearly all the Service was made up of dumb show, & the remainder consisted in ringing a little Bell, & gabbling a few sentences of Latin so that I could not distinguish a single word. The Audience said nothing & their devotion seemed

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wholly to consist of bodily exercises. They sometimes prostrated themselves twice or thrice in a minute, then sprinkled & crossed themselves, counted their Beads &c., & in the short intervals between these Ceremonies some of them with the utmost indifference took Snuff! Beyond anything that I could have imagined it all looked like Mummery, and appeared as if they thought that the great object of their adoration could neither see the Heart or understand any Language but Latin. At the end of the Service the Priest gave notice of a day for the performance of some sacred Mystery both in English and Irish, & dismissed the Congregation with a Threat that those who do not then attend the Chapel will be damned.

Just after our return to the Inn, Counsellor Lapp who knew me by name when at Swansea politely called on & breakfasted with us. Just afterwards we were surprized to see a Post Chaise arrive at an opposite Inn, escorted by a detachment of Dragoons, & containing nothing but a Servant Girl. On enquiry we found that she is a material Evidence against some White Boys for the murder of her Master & that the Escort was necessary to prevent her from being murdered by the Murderers Friends.57 According to the representations of Mr Lapp the people are far from being so loyal at Killarney as our Boatman wished to make us believe, & he told us that the late Riot arose from the Military Band having been pelted by a Mob whilst playing God save the King, & that they were only dispersed by a charge of Bayonets. As a Punishment for this Outrage the Colonel ordered that the same tune together with Croppies lie down should be played alternately every Evening, & he protected the Band by the Regiment.

Mr Woods having determined to devote the day to writing, Mr Leach and myself set out without him at ½ past 9 to explore the Peninsula of Mucross. We kept along the Road for about 2 Miles & then struck across some Fields to the edge of the Lake where I found Galium boreale58 growing in great abundance & Mr Leach collected several scarce Insects. We then crossed over a part of Mr Herbert's Grounds to the Ruins of Mucross Abbey,59 which is still a favorite

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burial place with the Catholicks. Most of the Bodies are not buried but put into a sort of Tomb or rather Cupboard, thro' a trap Door on one side which in many instances was very imperfectly closed. Other Bodies were placed in shallow Graves without any Earth & only a Stone or Plank to cover them. One of these Stones by some means had slipped away, & in looking down we saw two Coffins with the Lids (if they ever had any) broken off so as to expose the half decayed remains of their contents which did not appear to have been dead much more than a Year. Every apartment of the Ruins is used as a Cemetary in the same manner & in each are large Piles of Bones, Skulls & half decayed Coffins. The fact is that the Abbey yard is very small & the Soil very shallow. & the superstitious Peasantry so much prefer being buried on the Southern or Western side that there is not sufficient room for the great number of Bodies which are there brought to be buried. When therefore another of a Family dies that possesses a Tomb, one of the old Tenants is pulled out to make room for the new comer & the Body and Coffin is thrown into the Abbey, within whose sacred precints it is supposed to be perfectly safe.60 The Ruins are for the most part covered with Ivy, & an enormous Yew spreads a deep shade over the Cloisters,61 which added to the sepulchral smell & the sight of so many naked Truths filled me with such a mixture of Awe & Horror that I confess I should not then have liked to be left alone. My imagination involuntarily painted it as ‘The Land of apparitions — empty shades’ & such I am ashamed to confess was its affect on my Mind that it was sometime before reason

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could resume her entire sway. The Eastern Window & several other parts of the Abbey are very handsome, but as a Ruin its beauty cannot be compared with that of Notley.62

From the Abbey we walked to the Villages of Mucross & Clogheen, & hired a Guide to conduct us to the spots which command the finest views, & which are therefore generally visited by Travellers. The House63 is beautifully situated at the commencement of the Peninsula & is the Residence of Mr Herbert now Member for the County.64 The Domains have long been celebrated both for their internal beauties, & for the vast variety of noble Prospects which they command. Bishop Berkeley justly remarked ‘that another Louis may lay out another Versailles, but the hand of the Deity only can make Mucross’.65 The whole Peninsula consists of rugged Rocks clothed with a great variety of Trees and Shrubs which in some places are so thickly interwoven that the Lake tho' only a few yards distant cannot be seen at all & in others it appears on all sides glittering thro' the Leaves. Every opening of the Woods affords a different view of the Lake, of its Islands & the neighbouring Mountains & each vies with the other in beauty. Some of the little craggy Islands about the Banks are of the most fantastic shapes, & one of them so singularly resembles a Horse when drinking that it is every where known by the name of ‘O'Donoghue's Horse’. As we walked towards Brickeen Turk Lake was on our left & the Lower Lake on our right & in the very middle of the Peninsula we unexpectely found another small Lake whose surface like a Mirror reflected its sourrounding Rocks & Trees. The sultry heats of noon were tempered by the Breezes from the Lake; the air was filled with the fragrance of wild Flowers, & the Eye wherever it turned beheld a region of Delight, in which Nature seemed to have unlocked all her treasures.

Col. Herbert has made a Drive which extends the whole length of the Peninsula, & crossing over a Bridge goes round the Island of

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Brickeen. Just as we were returning from Brickeen Island we hailed a Boat with which four stout Lads were amusing themselves on Turk Lake, & after an hour's delightful row we were landed at Ross Mines whence on foot we reached Killarney at ½ past 5.

At Bantry I was told that an able bodied Man gets only ten pence a day for his Labor, but the Wages are here higher I suppose owing to the Mining Establishment on Ross Island66 where from four to five hundred are employed. I asked our Guide who was a Laborer what they received at Mucross, & he told me ‘A Hog in common times but two tenpennies now we save the Hay’.67

Just as we were going to Tea Mr [?Japp]68 called & introduced Capt. White who I had before seen at Swansea & we accepted an invitation to dine with him tomorrow at his House on Ross Island. A Mr Wiggins also called on Mr Woods & they remained with us so long that we could do nothing more than journalize a little before Bedtime. Mr Wiggins is Surveyor to Lord Headley's Estates in this neighbourhood69 & they both arrived here a few hours before on their way to Tralee Assize in consequence of 180 of his Lordship's Tenants having signed a resolution that they would pay no more rent!