Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Miseries and Beauties of Ireland
Author: Jonathan Binns
Table of Contents
p.1
Kingston — Dublin — Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin — House of Industry — Rotunda Gardens — Rent of Shops in Dublin — Departure for the Country — Hay-making, and character of Irish labourers — The Scalp — Enniskerry — Powerscourt — Tinehinch — The Dargle — Bray — Cruelty to animals — Hill of Howth — Castle of Howth — Grace O'Malley — Hospitality of the Irish.
p.21
Swords — Round Towers — Drogheda — Dundalk — Newry — Postchaise travelling — Hedges of furze — Rathfriland — Hilltown — Lords Downshire, Annesley, and Bangor — Mourne Mountains — 12th of July, and Orange demonstration — Friends' Meetinghouse — Rathfriland — Dresses of the women — Rostrevor — Mountains of Carlingford — Warrenspoint — Kilkeel — An Irish dinner — Cock and Hen Mountains — Peaceable character of the people.
p.37
Examination of Upper Iveagh — Extent of the Barony — Number of the agricultural labourers — Linen trade — Cause of its depression — Wages — Mode of keeping accounts — Employment of women and children — Pigs — Cottier tenants and landholders — Expenditure of an Irish family — Clothing of the labourers — Food — Usurers — Potatoes — Cottages — Want of fuel — Conacre — Payment of rents — Ejection — Early and improvident marriages — Subdivision of farms — High prices for tenant-right — Small holdings and their advantages — Rotation of crops — English and Scotch farmers — Absenteeism — Tenancy at will — Lord Annesley
p.68
Examination continued — Course of management in farms — Mode of trying the quality of corn — Red and white clover — Failure of Potato crop — Superstitions connected with it — Arthur Young — Black rot — Manures — Milk and Butter — Breed of cattle — Fences and trespasses — Taxation — Roads — Emigration — Pawnbrokers — Spirit shops — Intelligence of the people — Remarks on tenant-right — Bog-land — Description of cabins — Poverty and contentment — Beds — Civility and resignation of the Irish — Stock of small farmers — Flax — Gate-pillars — Tethered pigs — Poor Laws.
p.96
Tullymore — Educational Schools — Slieve Donard and other Mountains — Geology of the district — Dundrum — Houses buried in sand — Killough — Ardglass — Examination at Strangford — Barony of Lecale — Employment — Marriage — Receipts and Expenditure of a family — Usurers — Potatoes — Spirit Shops — Clothing of the Peasantry — Conacre — Cabins — Tenant-right — Rents increasing — Average extent of farms — Agents' fees — Agriculture of the district — Cholera among pigs — Butter — Sheep and Bulls — Farmers retrograding — Manures — Hedges — Assessment of the Barony — Poisoning of Children — Tithe — Pawnbrokers — Loan Society — Emigration — Farms in the neighbourhood of Ardglass and Strangford.
p.129
Cost of living at Ardglass — Whale-fishing — Dullisk — Institutions of Ardglass — Journey to Strangford — Lord and Lady Bangor — Ancient Castles — Castleward — Portaferry — Temple Cranic — Colonel Nugent's grounds — Shops in Downpatrick — Abbey of Inch Church of Saul — St. Patrick's Wells — Cathedral at Downpatrick St. Patrick's Cross — Superstitious fables — Slieve-na-Griddle — Cromlechs — Assizes at Downpatrick Raths Castlewellan — Stony state of the roads — Newry — Market Hill — Rich Hill — The Retreat — Capabilities and prospects of Ireland — Mr. Blacker's System — Lord Gosford's farms
p.166
Drumbanagher — Colonel Close — Results of Mr. Blacker's system — Mr. Bacon — Dungannon School-lands — Dr. Richardson — Charlemont — Moy — Coal Island — Visit to Dungannon School-lands — Extent — Cabins upon the estate — Rents — Exertions of Mr. Blacker — Lord Charlemont's estates — Francis Quin's farm — Admirable consequences of Mr. Blacker's system — Flax — Examination of Fews — Lord Gosford's school — Draper's Hill — Moyallen — Society of Friends in the neighbourhood.
p.199
Armagh — Archbishop's Palace — Fair at Market Hill — Basalt — Slieve Guillien — Belleek — Protestant Schools — Cairn on Slieve Guillien — Cabin near the mountain — Native Irish language — Monaghan — Tydavnet — Mr. Skelton, and cruelties arising out of a distraint — Examination of the barony of Monaghan — Want of Employment — Wages — Employment of women — Priest's dues — Spirit-shops — Sobriety of the people — Clothing of the labourers — Pawnbrokers — Remarks on the Irish people — Disturbance at the Examination — Threatening notices — Resident agents — Mr. Rose's Improvement Fund — Breed of cattle — Manure — County cess — Orchards — Emigration.
p.227
Monaghan — Tydavnet — Coothill — Rockcurry — Ballymire — Carelessness of Irish drivers — Clones — Pillar Tower — Rath — The Rev. Mr. Bogue — Squares in Monaghan — Top-coats in summer — Singular mode of stopping passengers — Holyhead — Difference between the Welsh and Irish people — Holyhead Lighthouse — Menai Bridge — Bangor — Conway — Return to Ireland — Donaghadee — Bangor — Belfast Lough — Belfast — Effect produced on first seeing Lough Neagh — Fossil wood — Shane's Castle — Ancient burial-ground — Movement of Sluggan Bog — Pillar Tower — Basaltic formation — Superstitions respecting Lough Neagh — Description of the lake — Falsehood of Irish drivers — Magherafelt — Moneymore — Cookstown — Road to Omagh.
p.253
Examination at Omagh — Failure of the linen trade — Drunkenness — Pawnbroking — Condition of the cottiers — Average size of farms — Usual rotation of crops — Emigration — Tenantry of absentees — Agents' fees — Agricultural state of the barony — Sheep — Cars and sleds — Roads — Mendicity and wretchedness of Omagh — Seats in the neighbourhood — Instance of revengeful feeling — Bessy Bell and Mary Gray — Sleds — Singular mode of thrashing — Intoxication — Conviviality of Irish priests — Opinions respecting them — Journey from Omagh to Enniskillen — Superstition respecting thorn trees — Enniskillen — Lough Erne — Number of its islands.
p.275
Devenish Isle — Pillar Tower — Monastery — Stone coffins — Ely Lodge — Lough Erne — Comparison of this lake with Windermere — Castle Coole — Wild water-fowl — Instance of Irish industry — Belleisle — Examination at Lisbellaw — Wages of farm servants — Spirit-drinking — Clothings — State of the population — Average size of farms — Agents' fees — Objections to a poor law — Inequality of the cess — condition of the people deteriorated since 1799 — Soil of the barony — Cairn on the Topped Mountain — Distant prospect — Interior of a cottage at Ballinamalard — Some remedy for the general destitution absolutely necessary.
p.295
Florence Court — The Claddagh — Crystals — Prices of provisions at Enniskillen — Ploughing by the tail — Middlemen — Cottiers — Large and small farms — Crom Castle — Poisoning of cows — Cavan — Lord Farnham's Schools — Belturbet — Bishop of Kilmore's palace — Church and church-yard — Bishop Bedell — Examination at Ballinaught — The police — Conacre — Competition for farms — Tithe — Leases — Farmers poorer than they were — Rents and cess — Religious persecution — Owen Gray's cottage — Trade of Ballinaught — Market-day at Belturbet — "Staggering Bob" — "Bullockeen" — Barony of Loughtee — Deplorable condition of agriculture — Country between Belturbet and Killykeen — Picturesque scenery — Killykeen Lake — Land of Lakes — Irish waiters — Illicit stills.
p.326
Journey from Enniskillen to Sligo — Badness of the roads — Manor Hamilton — Lough Adoon — Sligo — Ravages of the cholera — The Abbey — The Quay — Effect of prohibitory duties on illicit distillation of whiskey — Potheen — A word in behalf of illicit distillers — The Garrogue — Lough Gilly — Hazlewood — A holy well — Church Island — Goat Island — The holy well of Tubernault — Cairns — Wages of labourers — Cabins — Extent of the barony of Carberry — Sobriety of the people — George Waters and his family — Employment — Marriage feasts — Conacre — Singular mode of obtaining employment on Lord Palmerston's estates — Sale of sea-weed — Crime connected with the taking of land — Dislodgement made by Sir R. G. Booth — Disinclination on the part of strangers to invest capital in farms — Early marriages — Middlemen — Absenteeism — Average size of farms — Scotch agriculturists — Breed of cattle — Butter tasters — Sea-weed — Fences — Taxation — Contributions for building a chapel — State of the roads — Bog on Lord Palmerston's estate — Drifting sands — Employment.
p.365
Journey from Sligo to Ballina — Ballisodare — Public buildings at Ballina — Salmon leap — Rents, and prices of provisions — Lough Conn and Lough Cullen — Lord Lucan's bog — Castlebar — Market-women — Sheep on small farms — Castlebar Lake — Croagh Patrick — Marquis of Sligo — Robinson's Hotel, Westport — Introduction of the linen manufacture by Lord Altamont — Population of Westport — Desire for large farms — Emigration — Leases — Letting in common — Cabins — Size of farms — Agriculture of the district — Sheep shearing — The roads — "Driving" — Potatoes.
p.397
Departure from Westport — Remarkable change in the country — Agricultural school at Hollymount — Tricks practised by farmers — Tuam Catholic Cathedral — The two Archbishops — The Protestant Cathedral — Galway — Crookanabruky — Tornabruky — Character of the inhabitants — Willow cradles — Presentation Nunnery at Galway — Other Nunneries — Principal landed proprietors in the neighbourhood — Dead Man's Lane — Tragical story — Spanish appearance of Galway — Price of provisions — Catholic priests of Galway.
p.1
Examination in the Barony of Kilconnel — Deterioration of marriage-feasts — Premature marriages — The Terrys — Dreadful case of revenge — Sufferings from hunger — Priests' dues — Substitutes for candles — Potatoes, the chief food of the labourers — The cabins of the poorest classes — Improvements at Crith Bog — Inequality of Grand-jury cess — Cattle of the district — Ahascragh Loan Society — Junction of farms — Farms of ten acres — Advice to both landlord and tenant — Meaning of the term "absentee" — Contempt for leases.
p.21
Cattle fair at Ballinasloe — Lord Clancarty — Rents and wages — Pertinacity of beggars — Athlone — Singular customs of the people — Red bogs — Opinions of Mr. Weld — Iron and coal districts — Seven churches of Cluanmacnois — Sacred relics — Birth-place of Goldsmith — Moate — Return to Dublin — Croghan Hill — Bog of Allen — Splendid sunset — The popular faith in Spirits — A few words on Fairies — Philipstown — Destitution of the people.
p.41
Examination at Philipstown — Want of employment — Idleness of the people — Bedding — "Handy-Down" — Conacre — Deficient payment of rents — Average size of farms — A question as to emigration — General remarks on the state of Ireland, as respects the population and employment — Tenant-right — Non-resident landlords — Agriculture — Wealth of the beggars — The cabin of Barney Mangin — Reckless despair of a farmer — Michael Madden's plot of cultivated bog land — George Rait's farm, and system of agriculture — Remarks on the people near Philipstown — Cruelties connected with the taking of farms — The people of Tipperary — White Boys — Oak Boys — Blackfeet, Whitefeet, Terry Alts, &c., &c.
p.66
Edenderry — Protestant opinion of schools — Catholics and Protestants — The Marquis of Downshire's silk-worms — Father Mullens — Mount Mellick — The Ballycommon and Mount Lucas bogs — Hints to the Company for the improvement of waste lands — Lancashire mosses — Departure from Philipstown — Tullamoore — Grand Canal — Banagher — Holy Island in Scariff Bay — Portumna — The Shannon — Killaloe — Limerick — Description of the city — Dr. John Jebb — Estates of the Earl of Dunraven — Carragh.
p.88
Tarbert — Noticeable objects on the Shannon — Mount Trenchard — Droves of fattened pigs detained by the storm — View from near Tarbert House — Trade of Tarbert — State of the people in Lower Conello — Cabins, fuel, and clothing — Emigration — Middlemen — Prices of provisions — Blood of calves — Revengeful feelings of the peasantry, connected with the taking of land — Cabins — Conacre — The golden vein — Rent of land about Tarbert — Fuel — Mr. Maxwell Blacker — Lislactin Abbey — Listowel — Catholic devotees — Irish fights — Lixna Castle — Sir William Petty — Abbey O'Dorney — Tralee — The funeral cry — Ballyseedy — James O'Connell's estate — Castle Island — Arrival at Killarney.
p.111
The Kenmare Arms, Killarney — Plans for exploring the neighbourhood — Ross Castle — Lead and Copper Mines — Scenery on the Lakes of Killarney — The Arbutus — Glena cottage — O'Sullivan's Punch-bowl — Dinis Island — The Eagle's Nest and Crane Mountain — Old Weir Bridge — Islands on the upper lake — O'Donoghue's Horses — Innisfallen — Return in the evening — Comparison of the Irish with the English Lakes — Agriculture of the district — Barony of Iveragh — Food of the labourers — Cowkeeping — Attachment of the tenantry to their native places — Crops — Butter and cheese — Cattle — Taxation — Manure — Cabins — Loan Society — Disadvantages of absenteeism — Lord Headley's property.
p.135
Journey from Killarney to Millstreet — The Cloghreen Mountain — The Paps — Irish funeral procession — Singular defence of absenteeism — The Kerry sheep and pigs — Macroom — The River Lee — Journey to Cork — Cork — Black Rock Castle — Picturesque banks of the Lee — Trade of Cork — Lloyd's Hotel — Kilcolman Castle — Spenser and the Fairie Queene — The meeting between Sir Walter Raleigh and Spenser — Fair-day at Mitchellstown — Wages and Rents — The Kingston caves — The Knockmeledown Mountains — Cave of Oonakareaglisha — Lord Glengall's estates — Ride from Rathcormack.
p.158
Approach to Cahir — The Castle — Lord Glengall's cottage at Kilcommon — Cahir — Tipperary — Mr. Bolton, Lord Stanley's agent — Description of his lordship's estates — Peaceable disposition of the people — Lord Stanley's character as a landlord — Produce and prices — Burial of the dead — Outrages — Unwholesome potatoes — "Driving" — Conacre — Withdrawal of capital — Dairy farms — Agriculture of the district — Golden Bridge — Thomastown — Lady Malpeson — Ancient Castles — Arrival at Cashel — Land-agent of Sir John Fitzgerald — Obsequious manners of the tenants — Visit to the ruins.
p.178
Departure from Cashel — The Garden of Ireland — Urlingford and Johnstown — Round Tower of Fertagh — Castle Durrow — Brockley Park — Athy — Kildare — St. Bridget's perpetual fire — Round Tower of Kildare — Old Kilcullen — Quaker Settlement — Naas — Palmerstown — Bishop's Court — Oughterard Round Tower — Rathcoole — Account of Irish Castles — Return to Dublin — Mr. Petrie's museum of Irish antiquities — Round Towers — Vaults of St. Michan's church — Bodies preserved — Departure from Dublin — Military Road — Lough Bray — Arrival at Roundwood — Anecdote of Sterne — Glendalough and the Seven Churches — Kathleen and St. Kevin — The Conaderry Mountain — The Seven Churches — Singular tradition — St. Kevin's Kitchen — Glenmalure — Lead mines — Vale of Ovoca.
p.204
The Meeting of the Waters — Castle Howard — The Paradise of Wicklow — The Avondale school — Copper district — The Cronehane Mines — Wages of miners — Diseases to which they are liable — Ballyarthur — Skelton Abbey — Arklow harbour — The Castle — Wooden Bridge Inn — Rustic bower — Croghan Kinshela Mountain, and the Gold Mine — Mocha pebbles — Bones of the Elk — The agriculture of the mining district — Mode of digging potatoes — Malton, Earl Fitzwilliam's seat — Astonishing fountain — Earl Fitzwilliam's attention to agriculture — Barony of Shilelagh, why so called — Tullow — Market-people — Prices of provisions — "Dry Lodgings" — Road from Tullow to Carlow — Lunatic Asylum at Carlow — Roman Catholic Cathedral and College — Withholding the Bible from the people.
p.229
Cloghrennan Abbey — Druidical Cromlech — Agriculture in Carlow — Corn-mills at Milford — Improvements at Carlow — Carlow Castle — "Stone Coal" — Old Leighlin — Religious and Political tolerance a — Kilkenny — Round Tower and Cathedral — The Chair of St. Kieran — Remains of Monasteries — Presentation Nunnery — Kilkenny Castle — Marble quarries and works — Gaiety of Kilkenny in the Hunting season — Thomastown — The Giant's Tomb — Woodstock — New Ross — Dangerous darkness of the town — Dunbrody Abbey — Enniscorthy and Vinegar Hill — Employment, wages, and prices — Education — Ferry Carrig — Wexford — Johnstown — Model School — Grogan Morgan, Esq. — Inhabitants of the barony of Forth — Martin Doyle.
p.254
Arrival at Waterford — The quay — Banks of the Suire — The Munster School — The House of Industry — The Mendicity Society — Remarks on the evils of party-spirit — Waterford harbour — Reginald's Tower — Trade of Waterford — Public Buildings — Agricultural Society — Wages and Prices — Geology of the neighbourhood — Pilltown — Mr. Anthony's Museum — Loan Society — The Hon. Miss Ponsonby's Infant School — School on the Besborough estate — Hedge-school — Profits derived from pigs — Poor Laws — Lord Besborough's agricultural improvements — The valley of the Suire — Curraghmore, the Marquis of Waterford's — Unaccommodating exclusiveness of his lordship — The cotton factory at Mayfield — Return to Carrick — Improvement of the place.
p.277
Ride from Carrick to Clonmel — Whiskey-drinking in Clonmel — Public buildings — Roads — Corruption in the revenue department — Scarcity of birds in Ireland — Introduction to Mr. Bianconi — Account of that gentleman — His opinion of tithes — Birth-place of Sterne — Ride to Clogheen — From thence to Lismore — Pass in the Knockmeledown Mountains — General Blakeney and Mr. Eeles — Civility of the car-drivers — Approach to Lismore — Woody and picturesque dell — Lismore Castle — Anecdote of James II — Ancient Lismore — The Duke of Devonshire — Visit to an experimental farm belonging to the Duke — Want of employment about Lismore — Geology of the district — Visit to Mount Melleray.
p.303
Journey from Lismore to Tallow — Youghal — Myrtle Grove, Sir Walter Raleigh's — Spot where potatoes were first grown in Ireland — Tobacco — Churchyard of Youghal — Extract from Dr. Smith — The quay — Dispute between the Duke of Devonshire and the Corporation of Youghal — Trade of the town — Schools — Party-spirit — Minerals — Wages and rents — Ardmore Round Tower — Curran — Besborough — The Groves of Blarney — Blarney Castle, and its magic stone — Amethysts near Cork — Bandon — Extraordinary pits near Ross-Carberry — Bantry Bay — The town of Bantry — Coral-sand — Mines — Agriculture of the neighbourhood — Further account of Bantry — Departure for Glengariff.
p.327
Glengariff — Captain White's domain — Agricultural hints — Steep and rugged road to Kenmare — The Marquis of Lansdowne's estates — Eagles — Kenmare — Public buildings — Liberality of the Marquis of Lansdowne — Export and trade of Kenmare — Distressed condition of the cottagers — Advantage of poor-laws to farmers as well as labourers — The "waking" of Michael Sullivan — Road from Kenmare to Darrynane — Dromore Castle — Crookhaven — Raking sea-weed — Extensive and noble prospect — Arrival at Darrynane House — Hospitality of the family — Fast-day — Description of the mansion and grounds — Mr. O'Connell's love of field sports — The Abbey — Sermon in Irish — Devotion of the congregation — Unostentatious character of the priest — Pride of descent — Agriculture and wages — Mines — Mr. O'Connell's estates.
p.353
Departure from Darrynane — Ride to Cahirciveen — Kerry pony — Wild Irishman — The Skellig Rocks — Monkish cells — Sea-birds — Magnificent sea-views — Arrival at Cahirciveen — Buildings and trade of the place — Valencia — Inattention of Irish landlords in the winter season — Employment — Birth-place of Mr. O'Connell — Character of Mr. O'Connell's father — Journey to Tralee — The Dingle Bay — Singular appearance of the sea — The Blasques — Lord Headley's estates — Bianconi's cars — Gorgeous sunset — The Bridge of Castlemain — Arrival at Tralee — The Hotel — Principal proprietors — Price of provisions — Education at Tralee — Dr. M'Henry — Improving state of the town — The export trade — Bead manufacturers — Sir Edward Denny's residence — Old castles — Rocky coast — Barnacles — Wretched instances of destitution — Tarbert — Sail down the Shannon — Innis Scattery — Kilrush — Improvement of the town — The Steam Company — Remarks on the advantages of public spirit and energy.
p.381
Kilkee — Bog wood — Used instead of candles — Geology of the neighbourhood — Loss of "The Intrinsic" — Account of the shipwreck — Mr. Deane, the inventor of the new diving apparatus — Description of it — The Carrigheen moss — Clearness and beauty of the sea — Attractions of Kilkee and the neighbourhood — Ancient Rath — Belief in Fairies — Education thirty years since — Curraghs, or canoes — Farms and rents — Prices of produce — Wages of labourers — Early marriages — Advice to travellers — Miltown Malbay — The Hotel — The Spanish Armada — Principal proprietors in the neighbourhood of Miltown Malbay — Population and rents — Bright and beautiful morning — Birchfield, Mr. O'Brien's — The Cliffs of Moher — Extensive view — Inn at Lahinch — Interview with Thomas Steele at Ennis — The Jail — The Abbey — Return to Dublin — Sir William Betham — His researches on the subject of the ancient ring-money — Body of a man found in a bog — Conclusion.
p.413
GENERAL REMARKS