Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Mary Ann Grant's letters from Ireland (Author: Mary Ann Grant)
Entry 49
TO MISS T—
Loughrea,
July 1805.
Your letter, my dear Mary Ann, gave me much pleasure; from the affectionate attachment and fond solicitude I have ever evinced towards you, you may judge of comfort I derive in hearing of your welfare. [gap: extent: 5 lines] Such is our rambling destiny, that we expect to be almost immediately removed from Loughrea, but indeed, to own the truth, I shall not regret it; it is a stupid and unsociable place, and we are so annoyed with rats, that I, who have a perfect antipathy at them, am really in continual terror. I never saw any place so infested; I am
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told that most parts of Ireland are subject to them in a greater or less degree, but it is a singular fact, that no other venomous animals are to be found in the country; it is said that they will not live in it, that a toad and snake, were brought over by way of experiment, and that they died in a very short time.
There are weekly fairs, or markets held in this town; the number of country people that assemble, and the crowds that appear in the streets are almost incredible, in so small a place; our windows are opposite to that part of the street where the principal bustle of the market takes place; and we are often witness to scenes of riot and confusion that we could very well dispense with; they no sooner get money for the stock they sell, than they visit the first public house, where they soon inebriate themselves with copious libations of their favorite liquor, whiskey; they then indulge a vein for quarrelling; and the shillelagh is handled with dexterity; oh! then,
- What stabs and what cuts,
What clattering of sticks,
What strokes on the guts,
What bastings and kicks.
- With cudgels of oak,
Well hardened in flame,
An hundred heads broke,
An hundred struck lame.
So much for an Irish market; similar scenes take place at all public meetings, even a funeral is not exempt from them; indeed, the day of burial is not a day of mourning here, but of feasting; those, who, I believe, are called weepers, or criers, are hired, and their death-howl is the most ridiculous, and the most hideous, that you can conceive. Among the higher ranks of society, this absurd and barbarous custom is entirely abolished, but the peasantry still observe it;
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their ceremonies are not calculated to awaken much solemnity, or inspire awe; the corpse is carried along, in a rude and hurried manner, followed by a concourse of people, the dress and manners of whom do not bespeak the serious occasion for which they have met; and their unconcerned appearance, and conversation, (amid the horrid yells that assail their ears,) seem no indication of sorrow for the deceased. Immediately that the corpse is consigned to its last home, the party returns to the habitation that has lost one of its inmates, where the day is passed in feasting and drinking, till incapacitated from either acting or thinking like rational beings, they quarrel and fight, and then return to their respective homes, generally maimed and disfigured; offering an impressive lesson, of the bad effects that must ever arise from that excess, which degrades man to a lower state than the
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brute creation. Happy for them if they would profit by the experience they dearly, and too frequently purchase.
The manner that the common people pass their Sunday here, does not tend to increase morality. After church service, men, women, and children, usually desert their cabbins, and resort to various parts of the country, where there are tents fixed: here, religion and the serious duties of the day are silenced by bagpipes and violins; every foot is in motion to these irresistible sounds, which are not unfrequently interrupted by the discordant noise of squalling brats, scolding mothers, and swearing fathers; the whiskey bottle is frequently circulated, and boisterous mirth for a while resounds through the tent, till the repeated large draughts of inebriating liquor begin to operate in the head; then, riot ensues, and the clamor of screaming, groaning, swearing and clashing of shillelaghs, succeeds
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the harmony that before prevailed, and concludes this ill-spent day.
Unhappy people! what misery ye bring on yourselves, that might, by the exertion of a little resolution, be avoided: a more temperate life, joined with industry, would fertilize your country, and lessen the evils of poverty; would clothe and educate your children with decency, and provide you with a clean and comfortable abode, and wholesome food; but, alas! to observe the conduct of the low Irish, in their own country, one would suppose that indolence was their birthright; and, where that is the predominant feeling of the mind, vice and licentiousness seldom fail to be the concomitants. From whence does this indolence arise? is it a natural defect? no, their conduct in other situations proves the contrary, and shews, that the evil exists in oppression; and that the mind, enfeebled by hardships, becomes incapable of exerting itself.
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Industry in this country wants proper encouragement; but while the present system lasts, of proprietors quitting their paternal estates, and letting their lands, there can be no hope of reform among the peasantry; between the actual proprietor, and the occupant of the land, there are frequently four and sometimes five progressive tenants, who perhaps never saw the land they hold; it is assigned from one to the other, till it comes into the possession of a description of people called here, middlemen, who rapaciously prey upon the hapless beings that are unfortunate enough, to take farms of them. The land is encumbered by a heavier rent than its utmost returns can afford to pay, and the tenant becomes dispirited, when he finds that after depriving himself of most of the comforts of life, and toiling day and night, he is scarcely able to pay his landlord, and to procure coarse raiment,
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with the most humble fare, for himself and family. A slave to his oppressive master, he is subservient to him in every thing; discouraged by exaction, he bestows very little of the invigorating assistance of good husbandry on his land; the soil loses its natural fertility from neglect, and like its master, degenerates into worthlessness, from the pressure of poverty, and oppression. How different might be the lot of these hapless people, if the proprietors of landed estates, would, themselves, reside on their property, at least, a part of every year, and devote some portion of their time, to an enquiry into the state of their tenantry, redress their grievances, encourage their industry, reward meritorious conduct, and punish vice and immorality; establish schools for the instruction of the rising generation; chusing for the preceptors, such moral and deserving characters, as would act up
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to to the duties of their arduous task, in a conscientious manner, impressing upon the minds of their juvenile pupils, a firm sense of rectitude and loyalty, and of truth and religion, untinctured with fanaticism, or superstition. Let them be taught to revere the laws, to love their king, practice industry, and to pursue virtue, as the certain means of securing comfort in this life, and peace in a world to come; these sentiments imbibed in their infancv, would become permanent and settled principles as they encreased in years; and produce loyal subjects, good soldiers, and contented minds; a country, happy in its own fertility, would, by proper attention to its cultivation, yield abundant crops, and repay its labourers by increasing all their comforts.
To bring this theory into practide, would doubtless be attended with some difficulty; a people, long accustomed to indolence, and ignorance, and unused
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to controul those passions, which so often, and so fatally lead them to join in the tumults that ensure their own misery, and have hitherto retarded the improvement of their country; these people, it must be acknowledged, would require much time, care, and attention, to bring them into that degree of order and sobriety, necessary for their own happiness, as well as for the good of the community at large; but the blessed effects that would result from such a plan, if it could be accomplished, are so obvious, and must be so universally experienced, that it would be worth the trial. Whatever was the event, the effort would be that of christians, whom the Almighty had empowered with the means of doing good to their fellow creatures; to me, it appears a duty incumbent for those who are blessed with affluence to share it with the poor, and to seek out such means as will be best calculated to promote the comfort
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of those, whom providence has made them vassals; it should ever be remembered, that, ‘to whom much is given, much will be required,’ and that a day of final retribution will arrive, when a strict account of every action will be demanded; may it be the earnest endeavour of all, to render such a one as will ensure everlasting felicity.
The superstition of the common people is very great; a striking instance offers itself, in the reverence they pay towards what they call holy water. In this province (Connaught) there are several wells, which in the early stages of Christianity, were dedicated to some tutelary saint, whose name was believed to consecrate the water, and bestow upon it a healing quality that would cure every invalid who immersed themselves in it.
On the anniversary of each saint, an incredible number of people flock round these holy wells, and fancy they, either
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cure their disease, by plunging into the sacred water, or expiate their offences, by going several times round them, on their bare knees. I lately saw a woman and her daughter, a girl of about eight years of age, who had just returned from performing this act of superstition; they had walked seventeen miles; the poor child's feet were blistered and bleeding; yet the mother beheld them with pleasure, because she believed that the girl (who had been dipped several times in the holy well), was for ever cured of fits, that she had been long subject to; her own knees were sadly lacerated, but she bore the pain with patience, because she supposed that she had atoned for her errors, and that they were forgiven her [gap: extent: 4 lines]
We have been to
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several of the weekly balls, but it has not made us in the smallest degree acquainted with the inhabitants of the town; they preserve a respectable distance; the late hour that they assemble at these dances is truly absurd. At a town not a great many miles from hence, Lord B. and General B. were returning one night from a party, between eleven and twelve o'clock, observing a brilliant light in the assembly rooms, they proposed going in for an hour or two, but were surprised on entering, to find no company; they enquired the reason, of a man who had just finished lighting up the lamps, and were answered that the company never came so soon : — ‘So soon! pray what time then are they expected?’ — ‘They usually begin to come about twelve.’ — ‘Well, well,’ said General B., ‘I think, my Lord, you and I will go home now; we can call here after breakfast to-morrow morning.’ This was an excellent rebuke, and
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and I regret that the party did not hear it.