Saturday July 8th
I rose soon after 5 & whilst our Breakfast was preparing I strolled with Mr Leach along the Banks of the River Suire where we found a variety of Trubo littoralis1 &c. We with great pleasure left the vile Inn at Cheek Point at 1/2 past 7 & were driven over an Excellent Road to Waterford which is 7 Irish Miles distant. Eleven Irish are equal to Fourteen English Miles. Our Chaise which we were told is reckoned tolerable in this Country was by far the most miserable I ever saw, but it is impossible for any language to describe the appearance of our Driver. He had a peculiar Hibernian cast in his countenance, & his Cloathes which were apparently the Cast-offs of some English {MS page 5} beggar had never been mended since they came in his possession, & certainly neither they or his Skin had ever been washed since they were made. The want of a middle Rank struck me forcibly as we rode along for we rarely saw any Houses that were not either the Villas of Gentlemen or the most wretched Hovels, & the People were generally either well dressed or clothed in Rags.
On our arrival at Waterford as well as at Cheek Point we were strangely puzzled about the value of our Money. I changed a one pound Bank of England Note & they gave me a Bank of Ireland Note of the same nominal value together with two Silver tenpenny pieces. An English Shilling which they call a Hog or thirteener passes for 13d & a sixpence which is called a Pig is valued in the same proportion.2 We took up our Quarters at the Commercial Hotel than which I never saw a more elegant commodious or comfortable Inn.
After we had lunched and whilst Woods went to see some Relations Mr Leach & I took a five hours, {MS page 6} ramble on the Kilkenny side of the River. The Bridge over which we passed is very fine & of great length & is entirely built of wood. It was erected in 1794 by Subscription & till last year paid 10 per Cent since which the Dividend has increased. The Architect is an American named Cox, who also built the Bridge at Londonderry.3
On the Rocks by the road side I found Fumaria claviculata4 & Cotyledon umbilicus5 [which] there grows in profusion more than two feet high. I also found a Plant by the water's edge not in flower & an Orthotrichum6 with which I am not acquainted.
We dined capitally in an elegant Room & enjoyed a Bottle of good Claret for which we were charged 7/7. This plan of charging odd Pence & halfpence till reconciled by custom seems very odd to an Englishman. Woods was charged Seven Shillings & a halfpenny for a pair of Stockings which much surprized him till he recollected that it is the same as 6/6 English. After Dinner we walked along the Quay which is an English Mile in length & is by far the most {MS page 7} handsome part of the City. The Suire is a very fine River & I suppose that opposite Waterford it is as wide as the Thames at London Bridge.
We were much struck with the wide difference in the Looks of the Women in the upper & lower Ranks the former of whom frequently appeared as remarkable for Beauty, as the latter are universally for excessive ugliness.
Never before having seen or heard of any thing of the kind I was much diverted by an apparatus which I saw attached to all the Carts for the purpose of catching & preserving the Manure as it falls from the Horse that draws them. About 12 we went to Bed.