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John Griscom (1774–1852), was an US educator. He started teaching chemistry in 1803 and worked as a professor of chemistry at various University colleges in New York. He was a member of the Quakers, and also engaged in philanthropical work, founding the the New York Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, and, a few years after his journey to Europe, he established the New York High School for Boys in 1825. He also founded the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, and the House of Refuge, and was a founding member of the New York Academy of Medicine (1846). His correspondence (between 1804 and 1851) is kept in the New York Public Library. This account was first brought to our notice by Dr C.J. Woods, formerly of the RIA.
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Created: by John Giscom Date range: 4 April to 16 April 1818.
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[...] 4th. At 8 A. M. the Irish coast was in sight, and we had lost the view of that we had left. At 10 we entered the bay of Belfast, passed the castle and town of Carrickfergus, and approached Belfast about noon. The country on the bay is hilly, and appeared very populous; the fields were remarkably green, and the houses being mostly white, gave to the morning scene a chequered and animating aspect. A large ship rode at anchor in the bay, which, as we neared her, struck my fancy as the most beautiful in form and finish that I had seen in Europe; and I was about to give the highest credit to the Irish as ship-builders, when, on passing near her stern, the word "Philadelphia" undeceived me, and renewed my confidence in the skill and talent of my native land.
The part of the town that lies adjacent to the river, had a neglected and uncomfortable appearance. An excessive crowd was assembled about the wharves to witness the arrival of the steam-boat, which is still
Dublin,
My dear **** and *****,
On the 5th I breakfasted half a mile from the town, at the country residence of a Friend J. B***, very pleasantly situated, and improved with as much taste and attention to the comforts of life, as one would find in a place of similar rank in the south of England. The number and condition of the cottages of
the poor in the vicinity of the town, sink, however,
The fields are delightfully green, and the blossoms are just beginning to appear.
Intending to visit the northern coast, a friend introduced me to Dr. M'D******, one of the principal physicians of the place, a man of science, ready intelligence, and philanthropy. He gave me much useful information and plain directions with respect to the route northward, and its most interesting objects. We went into the Lancasterian school, supported by subscription and donation for the benefit of the poor It consisted of 500 boys and 250 girls, in a large and commodious building. The children were generally barefooted, and on leaving the school, I observed that they were also destitute of covering for their heads. Their clothing corresponded with these evidences of poverty. My young friend, W. B***, who takes an active part in these institutions, conducted me next to the penitentiary, or house of correction for vagrants and disorderly people. It contains thirty-two prisoners, one half of whom are women. They are employed in weaving,
The Linen Hall of Belfast is an appropriate ornament, not only to the town, but to the whole northern section of this great linen country. It is a large quadrangle, with a central hollow square. It contains a good library, and news room; thus combining literature with business, in a manner exceedingly creditable to the proprietors. The most valuable of the English and Scotch literary journals form a part of the pabulum animi, of these Irish Linen Drapers, demonstrating an improved and cultivated taste, and perhaps evincing their nearness to Scotland. Nothing can exceed the neatness and beauty with which the packages of linen are folded, and arranged in the various rooms of this extensive building Great attention is paid to the external decoration of the pieces, such as tying them up in handsome strings or ribbands, stamping them with beautiful devices, and attaching the maker, or vender's name, engraved, and surrounded with an elegant vignette. These ornamental doings, I was told, are very expensive, but quite indispensable in the goods destined for the American market. Unless they look well, and have a beautiful gloss, they meet with a dull sale; the quality of the cloth having much less to do with the demand, than the superficial appearance. In England, the merchants and consumers have learned better; and no such expensive putting up is practised with the goods sent to the neighbouring markets. It is a fact which ought to be well understood by the consumers of linen, that the gloss or
The desire to emigrate to America continues strongly to prevail; and the freight of this native live stock is a fertile sourceof gain to shipping merchants. The competition in these adventures is so great, that the price of a passage is reduced to £2, or even lower. But the abuses practised upon the ignorance of the lower order of emigrants are painful to humanity. I was informed, by a respectable merchant, that 400 passengers (including children) are sometimes crowded into a ship of 320 tons. The poor creatures listen with eagerness to any one who tells a favourable story of America, and thus blindly sacrifice their health and comfort in pursuit of the imaginary happiness and liberty they are to enjoy in the open fields and forests of the new world. These crowded masses are sent to the British dominions only, for such a degraded intercourse is not suffered with the United States, there being a stipulation to prevent such abuses.
At the invitation of Dr. M'D***** I went to a
6th. The ground on which the town of Belfast is built belongs to the Marquis of Donegal. It is rented on long leases, renewable at the expiration of the term at the option of the lessee, agreeably to a determinate scale of rates. The Marquis resides at his seat, in the vicinity of the town. The income of his estate is about £60,000 per annum, but it is much involved in consequence of his adventures in early life, in that most disastrous of all sinking funds, the gaming table. It is now, I am told, in the hands of assignees, with a view of redeeming it from the effects of those early encroachments. He is allowed about one-fifth
The "Academic Institution," which I visited this morning, at the invitation of Dr. M'Knight, professor of chemistry, is a large and becoming structure, in a pleasant situation, and pretty well supplied with apparatus, both philosophical and chemical. The building cost £ 16,000, the amount of which was raised by subscription, a fact certainly very creditable to the liberality of the town. This enterprise was seconded by the government in a grant of £1500 a year, which placed the institution in a flourishing condition. But can it be believed that so serviceable and useful a grant as this could have been given upon any specific condition, or with reference to any terms of political submissiveness to the views of ministers.? Yet I was informed, by persons of strict veracity, that this grant of £1500 was withheld, in consequence of a toast given by one of the inhabitants at a meeting on St. Patrick's day, at which one of the ministers chose to take offence, and because a manager, who was present, did not leave the table. The toast, (which had reference to the condition of the emigrant Irish in the United States,) was simply this: ‘May the political exiles of Erin receive that protection under the Republican Eagle, which has been denied them under the paw of the Monarchical Lion.’ If this be the naked fact, it is surely a deep reflection upon the
At noon I took the coach for Colerain, for the purpose of viewing the northern coast. The country through which I rode was pleasant, and under good cultivation. The town of Antrim, though it gives name to the county, has a poor appearance, the greater part of it consisting of miserable, wretched huts, filled with ragged and barefooted children. Its situation in the vicinity of Lough Neagh is very fine. There is much boggy land in this waste, and the piles of turf, used for fuel, make a conspicuous figure as one travels the road. We passed the site of Shane's Castle, the seat of Lord O'Neil, which was burned a few years ago. In the little town of Ballymena we stopped to dinner. It was much such a repast, and served up nearly in the same way as a traveller would meet with on one of the stage roads of New-Jersey or Connecticut, and the price demanded was also much the same, namely, three shillings, Irish. A rosy-faced girl, neatly dressed, and apparently the daughter of some respectable citizen of Ballymena, got into the
7th. The postmaster of Colerain, on whom I called last evening, relative to the road, invited me to breakfast, and frankly gave me all the information I desired. Our first direction was to Portrush, a village situated on a small but romantic peninsula upon the northern coast. It is a port of entry, and occasionally clears out a vessel for America. The revenue officer, Mr. N*** to whom [ was verbally recommended by Dr. M'D******, readily took my word for it, conducted
We stopped, on our way to the Causeway, to view the ruins of the castle of Dunluce. The appearance of this castle, and its singularly romantic situation, combine to render it one of the most impressive objects of antiquity that has fallen in my route. Its position is on an isolated rock, which projects into the sea, and is separated from the main by a deep chasm: over this chasm is a narrow wall, which furnishes the only means of approach to the castle. There was formerly another similar wall at a short distance from this, parallel to it, so that by laying boards over them a bridge might be expeditiously formed for the passage of the garrison.
The Castle is built of columnar basalt, many joints of which are so placed as to show their polygonal sections. The walls are very thick; the rooms small, and some of them in distinct preservation, though the edifice is in a state of majestic dilapidation.
The solemn roar of the waves as they rush through this cavern, and the thick winnows of foam and seaweed collected in it, heightened the picture which the imagination was prone to form of the uses to which this huge pile must have been applied in centuries past, when this castle was the residence of chivalrous bravery, and one of the strongest fastnesses of those neighbouring chieftains, whose conterminous empires had no other security than the number, fidelity, and hardihood of their dependants. There is, I understand, much obscurity resting upon the history of this castle; but from the contents of a manuscript cited by Dr. Hamilton, in his account of Antrim, it appeared to have belonged originally to an Irish chief called M'Quillan, who, from an excess of hospitality towards a Colonel McDonald, who came from Scotland in the year 1580, to assist Tyrconnell against great O'Neil, invited him to make the castle his winter quarters, and to board his highlanders among the tenantry of the domain. M'Donald gladly accepted the offer; but in the course of the winter he seduced M'Quillan's daughter, and privately married her. A quarrel too arose between a highlander and one of McQuillan's militia, or Gallogloghs, in which the latter was killed. This so incensed the Irish, that in a council which they held, it was resolved that each
Arrived at the famous spot, it presents a curious and picturesque, rather than a sublime object of contemplation. The whole coast in this region, is basaltic, a formation which extends to the western islands, and forms the predominant rock in many parts of Scotland. This rock, it is well known, has
The number of sides of these articulated prisms, varies from three to nine. There is, however, in the whole extent of the causeway, but one triangular pillar, and but three of nine sides. The total number, too, of pillars of four and eight sides, bears but a small proportion to the whole mass; of which it may be safely computed that ninety-nine out of an hundred have either five, six, or seven sides; and of these the hexagonal columns are by far the most numerous. The length of the joints varies from four inches to four feet. In order that space should be entirely filled up by the union of polygonal columns, whose sides are equilateral it is easy for the geometrician to demonstrate that no description of figures would answer, except squares and hexagons. One part of the causeway is appropriately called the honey-comb, from its consisting like the cells of the bee, of six-sided figures; — but to compensate for this want of regularity in the number of sides of the general mass, the diameters of different pillars, and the sides of the same pillar are of various dimensions; and it will soon be observed, that the contiguous sides of the several
The extent of the grand causeway from the gateway at the south end, to the more northeasterly point left bare by neap tides is 660 feet, and its width is 405 feet. The depth to which the pillars descend has not been ascertained, nor is it known how far they reach under the waters of the ocean. The whole mass of pillars which form this great natural curiosity is divided into three distinct parts, or moles, called the little, the middle, and the grand causeway. These parts are separated by whyn-dykes, a kind of wall formed of small triangular basaltic prisms, arranged horizontally. There are ten or a dozen of these curious walls in the vicinity of the causeway, which extend from the cliffs into the sea. A fine spring of fresh water rises in the midst of the causeway, the water of which flows in a limpid current over three hexagonal blocks.
The stratum of the causeway rests upon a bed of red ochre. There are indeed strata of basaltes beneath the red ochre, but none of a columnar figure. Under the term basalt many mineralogists comprehend those varieties which are called Trap, Whinstone, and Greenstone. These, however, are of a coarser texture, and contain very commonly cavities or nodules of some other minerals. Zeolite and chalcedony are found in fine variety at this place.
To the east of the causeway is a beautiful colonnade of basaltic pillars, which is known to form part of the same stratum. It consists of about fifty columns, the middle ones being forty feet in length, and the rest diminishing gradually to the end. It is called the organ, from its resemblance to the pipes of that instrument. But this majestic arrangement of columnar basalt is by no means confined to this immediate neighbourhood. About a mile to the eastward is a cape called Pleaskin, which presents a remarkable and magnificent view of the same symmetrical structure. It is a high and prominent headland, around the base of which are strewn, in vast irregular heaps, fragments of rocks that have tumbled from the cliffs above. Over these enormous masses of debris, are two strata of perpendicular pillars, one above the other, with a thick intervening bed of irregular or amorphous trap. These beautiful colonnades are precisely similar in texture and structure to the causeway, and are, in fact, only a more elevated part of the same formation. Over the upper row of these columns is a thin bed of irregular basalt, and on that, a light covering of earth, which forms the upper surface of this bold and majestic cape. The coast for many miles eastward, exhibits, I was informed, the same precipitous and romantic character, with a frequent occurrence of basaltic stratification. There is so much iron, it is said, in the composition of the basalt of these columns, as to render it magnetic; and in consequence of their upright position, they possess a decided polarity.
Can it be a matter of surprise, that to the untutored fishermen of this part of the island, an assemblage of rocks, adjusted to each other with such wonderful precision, as are those of the causeway, and advancing directly from the promontory into the sea, and stretching toward the western islands, should have been regarded as the work of art? It would indeed require a vast accumulation of strength to execute such a piece of work by human hands. But among a people whose imaginations were prone to supply what their experience could not enable them to realize, it was easy to find a substitute for their own deficient strength, in such an undertaking as this. The traditions of the country came to their aid; and Fin M'Cool, the celebrated hero of ancient Ireland, became the giant, under whose forming hand this curious structure was erected. The discovery that a pile of similar pillars existed somewhere on the western coast of Scotland, would naturally enough give countenance to the rude idea, that this mole had once formed a connection between the opposite shores; and thus it was, that this remarkable projection acquired the name of Giant's Causeway. The island of Raghery, which lies six or seven miles from the northern coast, contains likewise some curious arrangements of basalt. This island is about five miles in length, and three quarters of a mile in breadth. It supports about 1200 inhabitants; a surprising population for its small extent and bleak exposure. They are said to be a simple, laborious, and honest race of people, and possessing a remarkable attachment to their island. In conversation they always talk of Ireland as a foreign kingdom,
No quadrupeds are found on this island, except rats and mice. Neither foxes, hares, rabbits, badgers, &c. which abound on the neighbouring shore, were there known, until hares were introduced by the proprietor. Litigation is said to be little known in Raghery. The inhabitants speak of their landlord by the name of master, and the simplicity of their manners is such as to render the interference of the civil magistrate unnecessary. The seizure of a cow or horse for a few days, to bring the defaulter to a sense of duty, — or, in criminal cases, a copious draught of salt water, form the chief penalties of the island. If the offender become irreclaimable, banishment to Ireland is the dernier resort, and soon frees the community of its unworthy member. The Irish language chiefly prevails in the island. Robert Bruce was once obliged to take shelter in Raghery, and the remains of a fortress are yet visible, which
The underlying stratum of the whole northern coast of Antrim, appears to be limestone or chalk. This substance makes its appearance in various places, rising occasionally into cliffs, and then sinking entirely out of sight, yielding, as it were, to the incumbent pressure of the basaltic strata which rest upon it. At the promontory of Bengore, which abounds in every part with pillars of basalt, the chalk is completely lost for three miles. This alternation of chalky cliffs and basaltic promontories, gives to the whole district of this coast, a geological character of the deepest interest. The abruptness and nakedness of the precipices expose to view, with great distinctness, the various strata which they contain; and it is soon perceived that the deeper the pillars of basalt descend, the more perfect is their prismatic form and arrangement. The material of these columns is pretty easily distinguished as a mineral from every other. Its colour is a dark iron gray, its texture is fine grained, of a crystalline appearance, and it is sufficiently hard to strike fire with steel. It is susceptible of a good
Ochres of several colours, prevail amid the basaltic beds, both on the coast, and in different parts of the country. Hematites, various kinds of clay, steatites, petrosilex, chalcedony, gypsum, and zeolite, are also found among the coarser basalt. From the shivered fragments, too, of the harder portions, a gritty powder results, which resembles the puzzolana or terras of volcanic countries. The soil of this part
White lime-stone, of a peculiar character, emerges from the superincumbent basalt, in various places. It has the appearance of indurated chalk, and is found in several parts of the county. It contains nodules of dark flint, and is found enclosing a number of marine reliquia, particularly belemnites, asteriae, and pectenites. The lime-stone, in the immediate vicinity of the basalt, is more soft and friable than in situations more remote; and the strata, in these cases, which appear to have been in their primitive position horizontal, are found much confused and displaced. Beneath the perfect pillars, they seem to have vanished altogether.3 It is well known that the advocates of the volcanic theory of the earth, derive their strongest arguments from the composition, structure, relative position, and accompaniments of basaltic rocks. These furnish the sheet-anchor of the igneous theory. And, as far as my very limited observations in this region enable me to judge, I should conclude that actual appearances lend no small support to the opinion that fire has been an agent in these formations. That it has been the entire solvent of basalt, and the only cause of the columnar structure and arrangement, I should by no means contend. Much of the controversy between Neptunists and Volcanists, has long appeared to me to be idle and fruitless. When we know that either aqueous or igneous solution may be adequate to the production of most, if not all, of the crystalline forms observable
At Ballycastle, about two miles from the causeway, are coal mines which have been wrought to a considerable extent. In the year 1770, the miners, in pushing forward an adit toward the bed of coal at an explored part of the cliffy unexpectedly broke through the rock into a narrow passage, so much contracted and choked up, as to render it impossible for the workmen to force themselves through, to examine it further. Two lads were therefore made to creep in with candles, to explore the cavern. They pressed forward, but going too far, their candles became extinct, and they were totally unable to find their way back. Alarmed for their safety, fresh hands were collected, and by working incessantly, in the course of twenty-four hours the passage was opened, so as to admit some of the most active among the miners. The lads were found in a distant chamber of the cavern: and on searching this subterranean wonder, it
On leaving the causeway, I clambered up the precipice,
The view of the coast from the precipice which overlooks the causeway, presents a series of objects on which the eye delights to dwell. In no part of the world, perhaps, is the wild sublimity of nature subjected by nature herself to an appearance which so much resembles art; thus contrasting her most fantastic and magnificent forms, with the symmetry and beauty which are found in those minute and delicate productions which are so much admired in our cabinets and museums of natural history.
The coast further westward, I am informed, becomes still more bold and romantic. At Fairhead, a promontory about eight miles from the causeway, the rocks raise their lofty summits more than 500 feet above the sea; and the columnar masses at this place exceed 200 feet in length.
We stopped at the cottage of a labourer, who had just recovered from an injury, received as he was procuring coal for fuel, on the side of a hill which overhangs the causeway. A stone from above fell upon his head, and knocked him down the precipice. He was taken home apparently lifeless; but a surgeon
The village of Bushmills consists almost entirely of mud houses with thatched roofs. We were furnished, nevertheless, at Gamble's inn, with a dinner of fine fresh salmon, roast pork, butter, potatoes, and cheese for two shillings and two-pence each. The northern coast is famous for salmon. The river Bann, which passes through Colerain, and conveys the waters of Lough Neagh to the ocean, is probably unrivalled in the plenteousness of this kind of fishery. The muscular vigour which this remarkable fish exerts in ascending the rapids and falls of this and other streams, is one of the most singular facts in ichthyology.
8th. Colerain appears to be very agreeably situated on the Bann, and is noted for its linen manufacture. But not wishing to remain there, I took the coach at half past ten last evening, and reached Belfast this morning to breakfast. My young friend B. and his sister,
After a few calls, and an early dinner, I proceeded; under the auspices of two friends, to Lisburn, a pleasant town, seven miles from Belfast. The principal object of curiosity here is Coulston's manufactory of damask table cloths, into which we had no difficulty in gaining admittance. It belongs to four brothers, all unmarried men, and is unquestionably the most extensive and perfect factory of this kind in Europe. It occupies about eighty looms, and two hundred people. The diversity of the figures, and the elegance and precision with which they are wrought by the loom into the body of the cloth, and distinguished by a colour varying so little from that which surrounds it, render this species of art one of the most ingenious and delicate which the loom affords. The adjustment of the threads, preparatory to the weaving, so as to mark out each contour of the figure is a special part of the art. It is managed by a man and a boy, the former giving vocal directions to the latter, which, to an unpractised ear, sets all gibberish at defiance, and can hardly fail to excite the risibility of strangers. It is perfectly intelligible, however, to the boy, who follows the directions with his fingers with astonishing agility. They showed me the American coat of arms, and other devices, on cloths intended for the United States market. Some of the articles designed for the Prince Regent were singularly fine and beautiful. I could not but regret that the proprietors should deem it necessary to confine their workmen in such low, confined, and crowded rooms, with no floor but the earth, damp and unventilated.
We had time before dark to visit a boarding-school at Prospect-Hill, a short walk from Lisburn. It is an institution belonging to the Society of Friends, devoted to the education of the children of such of its members as are not in circumstances to pay a full price for their instruction and maintenance. As the management of this school affords an instance of Irish economy, I may be allowed to mention some of the particulars of its expenditure and income. It is under the superintendence of a respectable man and his wife, who employ such instructers as the school may require. It contains at present 46 scholars, viz. 21 boys, and 25 girls. The cost of each to the parents for board, clothing, and instruction is but £4 Irish, per annum; but, to the institution, the whole expense of their maintenance is £16 10s. The deficiency of £12 10s. is partly derived from the farm, and the rest supplied by the funds of the society. The farm consists of twenty acres of land, and from this is obtained more milk and butter, and as much wheat as is sufficient for the whole institution. Of
9th. An intelligent friend, J. R*********, at whose house I was kindly entertained last night, brought me this morning in his jaunting car to Lurgan, a town about a mile from the south end of Lough Neagh. The country appeared to be very fertile, but the cottages of the peasantry are very poor; many of them, miserable hovels of mud, with the most deplorable appearances of wretchedness. One small door is the
The degrading effects of long continued oppression upon the minds and character of men; and of men, too, naturally high-minded, generous, and easily susceptible of all the finer impulses of our nature, are probably no where more manifest than in the Irish peasantry. My friend informed me that a spirited landholder in this neighbourhood, on coming into his estate, was resolved that his tenants should not exhibit such a picture of wretchedness as is usually seen; and he accordingly erected decent stone cottages, with wooden floors, glass windows, good chimnies, and strictly enjoined it on his tenants to keep them clean. But he found it in vain to attempt to change their habits. The hogs were suffered to come in and out; and his cottages, though more respectable exteriorly, were soon upon a level with those of his neighbours in their interior appearance. There is an evident repugnance in these poor people to live
We stopped in our ride at the door of a female friend, who tenanted a cottage of a larger and more respectable size than ordinary. I remarked, as usual, that the floor was the bare ground, and expressed regret at the poverty which it indicated. My companion told me that this person must be worth at least £3000, and, of course, that it was by no means her poverty which prevented her from putting a wooden floor in her house, but the fear of incurring the imputation of pride, among those whom it was her interest to stand well with.
It is universally admitted, however, that the condition of the peasantry in this part of the island is much better than in the south. The farms in the north are generally very small, varying from ten to twenty acres. The tenants are manufacturers, or pursue some trade in addition to the farm, particularly weaving. In the south, the labourers are more uniformly Catholics, and the resources of the loom are comparatively rare.
The superior moisture of the climate requires a tillage different from that which is practised in the United States. The land is ploughed into ridges of about five feet in breadth, harrowed, sown with the grain, and again harrowed. The space between the ridges is then trenched with a spade, or shovel, the earth being scattered over the grain. The trenches are made so deep as to extend a little below the soil and the clay, thus raised, and thrown on the ridges,
We passed, in our morning's ride, through the town of Moira, which gives title to an Earl, who is the present governor general of India. It is a miserable, decayed village; the seat of the earl is also in a state of dilapidation, all owing, as I was informed, to the devastations of the gaming table.
At Lurgan I was introduced to a family of Friends, consisting of the father and mother, and fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters. The mother nursed them all herself, and is still handsome and blooming. The oldest is about twenty-four and the youngest two and a half years old. Lurgan is a market town, and I had an opportunity this morning of witnessing the bustle of an Irish country market. The most curious part of it, was the manner in which flax and linen cloth, the great staple of the north, are bought and sold. The spinners come to the market to buy flax and tow, and to dispose of their yarn to the weavers; and the latter to buy yarn and to sell their cloth to the bleachers. A particular area, enclosed by a wall and opened and shut at a precise hour, is appropriated to the bleachers. They mount upon a ridge of stone blocks, with a pen and ink in their hands, and the weavers crowd around them, presenting their pieces of linen, and clamouring with impatience to get a chance of exhibiting their goods. The experienced purchasers judge, with surprising quickness, of the value of the linen. When the offered price is acceded to, the buyer marks it with his pen, attaches his signature, and after the market is over, meets his customers
Lurgan is probably one of the most respectable villages, for its size, in the island; and yet there were
A friend conducted me to the seat, and through the grounds of — Brownlow, whose son is at present member of parliament for the county. It is delightfully situated near Lough Neagh, and finely diversified with lawns, avenues, and groves of large trees. A small lake in the park discharges its transparent waters into the large lake, and serves by its streamlets and bridges to give an enchanting variety to the place. The grounds abound in hares, which are seen in flocks of some hundreds, the owner not suffering them to be killed.
Lough Neagh contains about 100,000 English acres of surface, and is connected with Belfast by a canal, and with Newry by another.
I dined and lodged at the house of a friend, J. C******, about five miles from Lurgan, whose residence is one of the neatest and most pleasant rural spots I have any where visited. His house, ground, manner of living, and intelligent conversation, gave me a very favourable opinion of the taste and character of an Irish country gentleman. He has a bleaching establishment at a short distance from his dwelling, the operation of which he superintends. The chlorate of lime, (or bleaching powder,) is made in a close room, the lime being spread on the floor and stirred frequently by rakes, which pass through the walls.
The fruit and flower garden of this residence, is situated, as is usual in this part of Europe, so as to leave a fine lawn contiguous to the house free from enclosures, and ornamented with trees and shrubbery. In this respect, the taste for rural improvement in America, will admit of an almost total change for the better. We are very much in the Dutch way of crowding together gardens and out-houses, and making them, for the sake of convenience, contiguous to the main dwelling, to the destruction of all neatness, and too often of health and comfort. The garden here is surrounded, and also divided into two parts, by a high wall, for the advantage of fruit. It contains a neat conservatory.
10th. At Banbridge, a thriving town, two and a half miles from where I slept, I joined the coach this morning for Dublin. The town of Newry, at which we soon arrived, is built of stone, and has rather a dull and uninteresting appearance. The church is a neat edifice. My only companion from this place in the inside of the coach, proved to be a very intelligent and affable gentleman, and as I afterwards learned, an eminent surgeon of Dublin. He
The country on this road is rather hilly. On approaching the metropolis we passed a mount, which, as my surgical companion informed me, is the resort of those who resolve to settle their personal quarrels, by the humane and equitable decision of powder and ball! He told me, that he was once called upon as a surgeon, to attend in an affair of that kind. One of the antagonists was shot through the head, and fell; and the rest all ran away and left him. Rencounters of this kind, he informed me, are not unfrequent.
It was dark when we entered the city, and at Gresham's hotel in Sackville-street, I found accommodations and attendance which might satisfy the most fastidious traveller.
Dublin,
My dear ****,
A LETTER delivered last evening, introduced me to the family of *. ********, with whom I have spent most of this day, (the 11th,) which is the first of the week. There is but one meeting of Friends in this city, which I have twice attended, the first beginning at ten, and the second at two o'clock. Dinner is not taken till after the second meeting. About 120 families comprise the whole of the Society of Friends in Dublin. Their dress, manners, and general appearance remind me forcibly of Philadelphia. In intelligence,
12th. Every stranger must he impressed at his first arrival in Dublin, with the elegance of its principal streets and squares, and the magnificence of its public buildings. In respect to the latter, there are few towns in Europe that vie with it. It is not in the religious edifices, that the skill of the architect, and the funds of the nation, have been so liberally bestowed, but in those buildings which belong more immediately to the government. The post office, the parliament house, (now converted into the bank of Ireland,) and above all, the custom house, have not, I should presume to say, been surpassed in any city of Europe, in buildings of a similar kind.
Sackville-street is really the most spacious in point of width; and as it regards the buildings, hotels, shops, &c. which line it on each side, it is one of the noblest, in the British dominions. It contains the post office, a new edifice, and probably the most elegant and costly in the world, of those which have been erected for the same purpose. It is of beautiful granite, three stories high. The front is decorated with six Corinthian pillars, supporting a grand portico, under which is the front entrance to the different departments. From the court yard, there are arched passages into other streets, whence the mail coaches enter to receive their different bags. The cost of this building was £80,000 sterling. In Dublin, as well as in London and Paris, boxes are placed in different parts of the city, for receiving letters; producing a great convenience and saving of time, to those who live remote from the general office. The small
Nearly opposite the post office, in the middle of the street, is a pillar erected in honour of Lord Nelson. It is 144 feet high. A flight of 169 steps conducts to the top, whence the eye has a fine view of the city and bay. On the top is a gallery, and a statue of Nelson thirteen feet in height, leaning on the capstan of a ship. The pillar is surrounded by iron pallisades and lamps. But I am mistaken, if men of judgment do not, hereafter, pronounce that it was at least a bad taste which placed such a huge pile of materials in such a position, as to obstruct the view of one of the finest streets in the kingdom.
The linen hall in which the staple of Ireland is exhibited in all its varieties, is, as might be supposed, a very extensive building, comprehending numerous apartments appropriated to different divisions of this important trade.
The house of industry, or principal alms-house of Dublin is a very large establishment, and contains at present about 2500 paupers. Many of them are kept at work. The children are separated from the adults, and are regularly instructed in work and the elements of learning. The schools are conducted upon a plan composed of the systems of Bell and Lancaster. The sexes are taught in separate apartments. Each bed in the dormitory, the cleanliness of which is truly praise-worthy, is covered by a quilt made by the scholars. The children, though healthy, and in good condition, had a remarkable cast of countenance;
The ‘Dublin Institution’, to which I have been introduced to-day, consists of a library and newsroom, in Sackville-street, both well supplied. In the latter I found several files of recent New-York papers; which, at this distance of space and time from the place of my residence could not fail to afford an acceptable relish. The cup was not unmixed with bitter, from observing an account of the death of one or two intimate and valued friends.
13th. The Pauper Lunatic Asylum, which I have visited to-day, contains 230 patients , and such is the skill and judgment with which it is conducted, there is not one of this large family of mad people in close confinement. No irons are employed. The large leathern glove which confines the hands as in a close muff, but which is so made as to prevent the appearance of constraint, is the principal coercion employed; moral government supplies the rest; and this owes its perfection mainly to the personal qualifications of Grace, the present manager. The patients are divided into three classes, incurables, ordinary, and convalescent; each of which occupies distinct apartments. The building is a quadrangle, surrounding a large hollow square, which is divided by cross galleries into four courts, and on the outside
14th. At a breakfast this morning at the house of Dr. T*****, a good mineralogist, I met Drs. O**** and S*****, the latter of whom delivers lectures on natural history in Trinity College. Dr. T****** and his wife are natives of India, and the children of Hindoo mothers, their fathers being Europeans.
Their complexions are of an agreeable ruddy brunette, with eyes dark and sparkling, but expressive of much good nature and intelligence.
Drs. O. and T. accompanied me to Sir Patrick Dunn's hospital, a building recently erected on the borders of the city, and intended, in addition to the accommodation of 100 patients, or, if necessity requires, 130, as a supplement to the medical school of Trinity College. The building is rather an elegant structure, and cost £40,000. It contains, for the purpose of instruction, a lecture-room, and a medical library. The fever ward is remarkably well ventilated. I attended two lectures in succession on Materia Medica and Physiology, by Drs. Crampton and Boyton, both of whom confined themselves chiefly to the reading of their notes. At half past twelve we went to the
The other is the skeleton of a giant, who attained the height of seven feet in his sixteenth year. As the story goes, he was an orphan, that fell into the hands of Bishop Berkley, and who, with the view of making an experiment in physiology, trained the boy for the purpose of accelerating and extending his growth. His name was Magrath. He was carried through several parts of Europe, and exhibited as the Irish
Dr. Macartney is a man of superior attainments in his profession. Most of the articles on Physiology, in Rees's Cyclopedia, are from his pen.
Dr. Stokes conducted me through the museum of the college, a fine room 60 by 40 feet, and furnished with a good collection of natural curiosities, especially of Irish antiquities and fossils. Dr. S. has published a catalogue of the minerals in this museum, which occupies an octavo volume. Among the zoological articles is a cameleopard. Two Egyptian mummies, and a great variety of dresses, implements, &c. from China and the South Pacific, are also here collected.
The buildings of Trinity College make a plain and rather antiquated, but respectable appearance. They are almost all of brick, except the front which is of Portland stone. The general structure is that of a parallelogram 300 feet in front, and 600 deep, which is divided into two nearly equal squares. The south side of the inner square is entirely taken up by the library, the great room of which is 210 feet long, 40 wide, and 40 high. The galleries are ornamented with the busts of a number of ancient as well as modern philosophers, in white marble. The park attached to the college, contains about eight acres. The number of students resident in this university is generally about six or seven hundred; and instruction is given to at least an equal number who board in the town. The medical classes appeared to contain about seventy. There are, in the whole, twelve or
15th. Rising early, I had a delightful morning ride with my friend B*****, and two of his sons, to Dunleary, a promontory at the mouth of the Liffy. At this place the government is now constructing a pier of stone, designed to extend a great distance into the channel, for purposes similar to the breakwater of Plymouth, to protect vessels from the sweeping winds which drive across the Irish channel. It already extends 1500 feet from the shore, and is rapidly advancing. The granite of which it is composed, is blasted in the neighbourhood, and brought in low trucks upon iron railways, to the spot where it is to be added to the general mass. These rail roads afford such facilities to the transportation, that a single horse, and a very poor one too, will draw nine or ten tons. The stones are lifted on the trucks by large cranes. The design of this work, and the style of its execution, are very interesting, and quite in character with the
On returning to the city we stopped at the school and buildings of the Education Society, Kildare-street; a laudable and important institution for extending the blessings of education amongst the poor of Ireland. My friend B***** is an active and devoted manager; and with him, I believe, the concern originated. This society extends its patronage to schools in all parts of Ireland, without distinction of sect, except to such as refuse to conform to its prescribed regulations; one of which is, that the sacred Scriptures, without note or comment, shall be read in the schools. It has printed a great number of books for the use of schools, which it disposes of at a very cheap rate. The school supported by the society is justly styled a model school: it now contains 420 boys, and 190 girls, all of whom pay one penny per week. The principal school-room is 86 by 56 feet, with a ceiling of 20 feet, supported by two rows of cast iron pillars, all neatly painted. The floor is level, with a large platform at one end, four steps high, with ample book cases. Each school-room is furnished with a clock. It is conducted principally on the system of Lancaster, but with some useful modifications. The neatness and convenience of the buildings, and the good order and management which prevail in this school, render it altogether, in my estimation, the first of the kind in Europe. The society is supported by a government grant of £6000 a year,6 and by donations and subscriptions.
The buildings cost £12000, and the amount of business which the society is engaged in, requires the regular employment of three clerks. About 300,000 cheap books, comprising twenty different kinds, have been disposed of in different parts of the island.
In its labours to diffuse learning, it has to encounter a host of prejudice from the Catholic priests; but it has the satisfaction to find that these are gradually yielding to the progress of light and knowledge. The Irish language still prevails to such an extent, I am informed, that there are a million and a half of people in the kingdom that cannot hold a conversation in English.
From this interesting and well-conducted institution7 I went to the house of the Dublin Society. This is the simple but emphatic name of a company associated expressly for promoting scientific and
The lecture room is sufficiently large to accommodate 300 persons. I attended a lecture on optics by Professor Lynch. Among the apparatus, I had the pleasure of seeing the famous lens made by Parker of London, and which came into the hands of Richard Kirwan. Professor Griffith, who superintends the geological department, conducted me over the house. He has in hand, an immense geological map of Ireland, with a drawing of the causeway and adjacent strata. The Dublin Society comprehends about 500 members. The spirit and liberality with which its concerns appear to be managed, the elegance of its apartments, and the richness of its collections, are worthy of all praise. The society give premiums for improvements in agriculture, manufactures, chemistry, mechanics, and the fine arts, and on appointed days in each week, the museum may be seen without charge.
I dined with Dr. O****, with an agreeable and very intelligent party, consisting of several medical and other gentlemen of the city. The conversation turned incidentally on craniology, materialism, and a future state; and I had the satisfaction to find, that scepticism appeared to have no place in the minds of any individual of the company.
16th. In the possession of a young friend, J. P**, with whom I took breakfast this morning, I found a neat collection of philosophical apparatus, designed for his own instruction, and that of his intimate
The city of Dublin, until recently, has been noted for the disgusting numbers, and the hardy importunity of the beggars that infest its streets. The almost universal opinion of the necessity of applying some new remedy, to so wide spread and alarming an evil, led to the formation of a society, about eighteen months ago, for the suppression of mendicity in the metropolis. It was a truly formidable undertaking; but the evil had acquired such magnitude, that men were found who were willing to cope with the monster, and exert their utmost to accomplish his final overthrow. In the first report which the society published, for 1818, it is stated, that ‘The city presented a spectacle, at once afflicting and disgusting to the feelings of its inhabitants; the doors of carriages and shops, to the interruption of business, were beset by crowds of unfortunate and clamorous beggars, exhibiting misery and decrepitude in a variety of forms, and frequently carrying about in their persons and garments, the seeds of contagious disease: themselves the victims of idleness, their children were taught to look to begging, as affording the only means of subsistence; every artifice was resorted to by the practised beggar to extort alms, and refusal was frequently followed by imprecations and threats. The benevolent were imposed upon — the modest shocked — the reflecting grieved — the timid
To attempt, however, to cut off so numerous a class of people from their principal resource, without providing an adequate substitute, would have been a gross violation of humanity. The city was therefore divided into sixty walks, and two persons appointed to each walk, to collect subscriptions to a fund for furnishing employment for all who could work, and subsistence for those that could not support themselves. It was found, unfortunately, that no authority existed in the police for arresting the sturdy beggar, other than that of arraigning him as a vagrant, and subjecting him to the penalties of the law as a criminal; and none were willing to adopt so harsh a remedy. It was feared too, by many, who were otherwise friendly to the measure of an universal suppression of mendicity, that any mode which could be devised to obtain voluntary contributions, must terminate in establishing a compulsory tax in the shape of poor rates, and thus prove the means of bringing upon the city the accumulating disadvatages and evils of the English system. Many supposed it would be impossible to clear the streets of beggars; and others believed, that if means were systematically employed to furnish them with labour, it would tend to relax their dependence on their own foresight, and by interfering with the business of the industrious poor, eventually increase the number of dependents on public bounty. These objections and anticipations, greatly increased the difficulties which the society had to encounter, and at last they found themselves
Trusting to the gradual removal of these difficulties, and a more bountiful supply from the public, they entered upon their duties, gave extensive publicity to their plan, and succeeded in registering 7500 beggars, of whom 2251 were sent to their friends in England, Scotland, and the country parts of Ireland, and about 2800 were deemed proper objects of relief. The plan has been successful in clearing the streets; so far, that at present, one is less importuned here than in London or Manchester. But the committee of management continued to be so straitened for funds, that at one time they were obliged to resort to the measure of turning out the inmates of their workhouse, and moving them, in a quiet procession through the streets, to exhibit to the citizens the number and description of objects that were dependent on public charity. This excited a considerable sensation, produced some funds, and occasioned resolutions to be passed in various parishes, approving of the objects of the association. But in less than two months it became necessary to call a public meeting, and adopt more active measures of relief. These, together with public concerts, and some very liberal donations, have enabled the committee to struggle, with much difficulty, through a year's existence; and, whether the scheme is destined to a much longer duration, appears, at present, extremely uncertain. It is at least to be earnestly hoped, that the city will not allow the plan to be wholly given up; but, that at least the virtuous poor will continue to be so assisted, as to prevent
They support a school of 280 children, in which the elements of learning are alternated with knitting, and such other manual exercises as are found most useful. A large apartment, formerly the lecture-room of the Dublin Society, is appropriated to the female spinners; but a more miserable, turbulent, and uncouth assemblage of human beings I never saw, excepting, perhaps, in some of the lunatic hospitals of the continent. The society is obliged to employ collectors of the public charity, whom they send out as often as the state of their funds make it necessary; and to whom they have to allow two and a half per cent, of the amount collected, as the price of their exertions. They call on every body that is able to pay any thing. Such are the difficulties which have here presented themselves in the way of preventing public mendicity, and affording an adequate relief to the really necessitous poor, without resorting to a government tax. And such, it is probable, to a greater or less extent, will be the difficulty in every large city excepting in those places where the poor can be brought within the province of religious superintendence, and their wants supplied by contributions, made under the authority of religious societies.
The plan of maintenance and superintendence suggested by Dr. Chalmers, is probably the least exceptionable, and the most effectual that ever has been devised; but it evidently requires the agency of a moral and religious community; and can only be practised
Notwithstanding the urgent necessity of such a reform as that undertaken in Dublin, there are not, I am informed, more than twenty persons who take an active interest in the concern. Under all circumstances of the case, it appears to me to be an important and unsolved problem in political economy, whether a poor tax, divested, as far as possible, of all liability of abuse, and unaccompanied by statutes which give the poor a legal and positive claim upon it, may not prove, upon the whole, the most equitable, moral, and efficient mode of relief Its numerous and vast abuses in England, or, in other words, the very injudicious administration of the law, may have been the means of bringing it under undeserved censure and reproach. This is a question which it is highly important for tlie United States to reflect and decide upon, with the utmost circumspection.8
Dr. O**** accompanied me to the Bank of Ireland, an elegant edifice, on one corner of the College green, and opposite to Trinity College. The Irish notes are executed in a superior style, and are all finished within the Bank, by an apparatus of singular ingenuity. A remarkably neat steam-engine, of eight horse power, is employed in printing the notes, and grinding the materials for the ink or paint. The printing press is a beautiful piece of mechanism. The notes are all numbered by machinery, and with a precision and rapidity that could not well be attained by mere manual dexterity. It is effected by boys. The numbers are all on the outside or circumference of wheels, contained in a box. There are two sets of them on the same axis, in order to impress two notes at the same time. The wheels project upwards through a cavity in the plates, which cover the box. The note is pressed down by a short lever, governed by the hand; and by the raising of the lever a ratchet is moved, which turns the wheels so as to bring the next number before the opening in the plate. In this manner, without unlocking the box, or touching the wheels, numbers, from one to ten thousand, are brought to bear with unerring regularity on the notes
The apartment of the late house of lords, now used as a court of proprietors, remains as it was left at the time of the union. A beautiful marble statue of the present king, clothed in his parliamentary robes, has been since erected here. It was executed by Bacon, junior, and cost £2000. There is also a fine bust of the Duke of Wellington.
The Custom-House of Dublin is another and still more extraordinary evidence of the taste and magnificence
Close to the eastern front is a broad wharf, and a wet dock, capable of containing forty sail of shipping.
The Royal Exchange, though built many years antecedent to the Custom-House, is also a noble and costly building, with a lofty dome, Corinthian columns, pilasters, and other architectural ornaments. Opposite one of the fronts is a brass statue of George III. on a white marble pedestal. Beside these, another edifice has been erected near the College green, called the Commercial Buildings, by a company of merchants for transacting some particular branches of business. It is spacious and neat, with an extensive coffee-room, broker's offices, stock exchange, &c. fitted up in good style. This edifice alone, must have cost more than all the public buildings in the most
The castle of Dublin, the residence of the lord lieutenant, is situated in a central part of the city. It is an ancient edifice, but is superior in beauty to the palace of St. James. It is divided into two courts or squares, an upper and lower. The castle is entirely surrounded by a wall. The lord lieutenant enjoys, by Act of Parliament, a salary of £30,000; more than five times the sum which the constitution of the United States allows to the President.
The seat of public justice in Dublin is a large pile of buildings, called the Four Courts, on the margin of the Liffey, which is here only a wide canal. In the middle is a circular hall 64 feet in diameter, the crowded resort of lawyers, loungers, and occasionally of light-fingered gentry, notwithstanding the imposing terrors of judge and jury immediately within their notice. The whole length of the four courts is 433 feet. I had not an opportunity to attend to any of the pleadings.
I went to see, in one of the public buildings, (the Rotunda) an exhibition of flowers under the direction of the Horticultural society. The gifts of Flora, prepared by the emulous skill of gardiners and gentlemen in the city and neighbourhood, are arranged on this occasion with singular taste and effect. Prizes are adjudged to the finest specimens. Such a procedure excites competition, and doubtless tends to the progress of horticultural improvement.
Dr. Cleghorn, the state physician, to whom I was introduced by a friend in Edinburgh, accompanied
We went from this place to the Foundling Hospital, an institution of more than a hundred years standing. It is appropriated to the same purpose as the Enfans trouvés of Paris and other cities of the continent, and is, I presume, the only hospital in Great Britain devoted to this object. It is a large and well supported establishment, although its tendency, in relation to public morals, is considered, I believe, by most people, as of no dubious character. The sum of at least £10,000, is collected annually from the citizens of Dublin, for the support of this hospital. A cradle was formerly kept at the gate, as at Milan, into which children were placed from without, and received into the house without any questions. But this has been wisely abandoned, and strict inquiry is now made into the parentage of the children and their
‘For the benefit of infants protected by this hospital, lady Arabella Denny presents this clock, to mark, that, as children who are fed by the spoon, must have but a small quantity of food at a time, it must be offered frequently. For which purpose this clock strikes every twenty minutes, at which notice all the infants that are not asleep must be directly fed.’
It was not until within about four years, that the governors of this hospital, were empowered by act of parliament to exclude the admission of infants at any season of the year, and to require that every admission should be accompanied by a certificate from the minister and churchwardens of the parish, stating that they had not been able to discover the parents, or either of them; or, that the parent or parents, were not in circumstances sufficient to maintain such child.
The whole number of infants admitted during the first four months of 1812, 1813, and 1814, and the proportion of them which died in the nursery, are as follows:
| Infants admitted | Died in nursery | |
|---|---|---|
| 1812 | 1011 | 437 |
| 1813 | 850 | 428 |
| 1814 | 818 | 406 |
This shows a mortality of nearly one half, arising, in a great measure, from the enfeebled and destitute condition of the little sufferers, from the disgraceful manner in which they are sent to the hospital; and it appears to afford a most ample justification of the restriction adopted by the governors. Hence it would appear evident that notwithstanding the great attention that is paid to the health, and instruction, of the children received into this charity, its general influence on the community must be regarded as decidedly unfavourable to morals and humanity. The governors have not found, upon the strictest investigation, that the removal of the cradle, and the closing of their gates during the inclement months, and the requiring of a certificaate as indispensable to admission, have given rise to any considerable number of authenticated cases of infanticide. But even if this did occur much more frequently than is alleged by the supporters of the institution, they fall very far short of the deaths that are occasioned by depriving the infants of the natural and congenial sympathies of the mother.
There are six or eight hospitals in this city, in addition to those I have mentioned, some of which were founded, and are still supported, by the munificence of individuals. A house of recovery for persons afflicted with fever was erected in 1802, which has proved to be of extensive benefit. The only conditions of admission are fever and poverty. The patients are
A school for the deaf and dumb is about to be established in the neighbourhood of the city.9
Few cities are superior to Dublin in the elegance of its public squares. Two of them, St. Stephen's Green, and Merrion Square, may vie with any of the public squares of London, or of any other city that I have seen. The former contains seventeen acres, and the houses around it are generally handsome. It is neatly enclosed, and improved by spacious gravel walks. In the centre is an equestrian statue, in bronze, of George II.
Having secured a passage in the Pelham packet for Holyhead, I left Dublin in a long coach for Howth, the place whence the packets for England depart, seven miles from the city. The packets are small, but their accommodations are pretty good. It was near night when we got on board, and I had but just time before retiring to the birth assigned me, to ascertain that there were several very gentlemanly and polite persons on board, among whom was Hans Hamilton, member of parliament for Dublin, and the Bishop of Drumore.