Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Miseries and Beauties of Ireland (Author: Jonathan Binns)
chapter 2
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.
From Galway I travelled by coach to Ballinasloe, a neat town with a very spacious area for the cattle and sheep fairs held from the 5th to the 9th of October. In the year 1812, there were 83,527 sheep, and 9,983 cattle, shewn at this fair: in 1828 the number of sheep was 97,384; that of cattle 11,513; in 1834 there were, of sheep, 62,928, of cattle 8,054: which diminution in the numbers may be accounted for by the facilities afforded for
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export by the steam communication with Liverpool and other ports; the cattle, instead of being disposed of to dealers at the fair, being now sent direct to the English market.
The river Suck flows through the town, and joins the Shannon seven or eight miles to the south-east of it. Ballinasloe belongs to Lord Clancarty, who uses every means in his power to improve and beautify the town and neighbourhood. Garbally, his residence, is about a mile from Ballinasloe. One of the best of landlords in this neighbourhood is James Daly, Esq. of Dansandale.
This town has a population of about 5000, and is remarkable for having only one pawnbroker. The farms are from twenty, to two or three hundred acres in size. The average rent of arable ground is 20s. per acre, the cess 3s.; lime at the kiln is 8d. per barrel; oats are 6s. 8d. per barrel of 14 stones; and potatoes 1 1/2d. per stone. Labourers, at busy times, get 5d. and 6d. per day, and a meal of potatoes from their employers; and at other times 4d. Lord Clancarty gives 8d. in
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winter, and 10d. in summer, without diet. Conacre, for which the labourer pays at the rate of from four to £5 per acre, is usual; the farmer finds no manure, but allows the labourer to scraw the surface and burn it to ashes.
At Ballinasloe I experienced considerable inconvenience from the beggars, who flocked about the coach in great numbers, and were so desperately persevering as to prevent us from looking attentively after our luggage. Nay, so extreme was their importunity, that they actually assailed the outside passengers by pulling at their legs! The women did not seem distressed, but might very properly be designated sturdy resolute beggars, for they laughed and asked charity at the same time. From Ballinasloe to Athlone the road lies through the southern part of the county of Roscommon. Athlone is a remarkably interesting town. The castle, built by King John, was an important fortress. The Dutch General, Ginkle, who commanded the English after the defeat of James II. at the battle of the Boyne, succeeded in taking the city in 1691, and as a reward for his
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signal services, was created Earl of Athlone. The population is nearly 12,000.
Among the singular customs of the people of Athlone is the following, related in the words of Dr. Strean (as cited by Weld). "On the eve of St. Martin, one of the great saints, whose day still continues to form an important epoch in the calendar, the 11th day of November, every family (more particularly in the country part of the parish) kills an animal of some kind or other: those who are rich, a cow or sheep, others a goose or turkey; while the still poorer, who cannot provide an animal of greater value, kill a cock or a hen, and sprinkle the threshold with the blood, and do the same in the four corners of the house. This ceremony is performed, to exclude every kind of evil spirit from the dwelling where the sacrifice is made, till the return of the same day in the following year." Dr. Strean goes on to ask if this does not look like a continuance of the command given to the Jews in the 12th chapter of Exodus; but my readers will excuse me if I decline following him in his interesting and ingenious speculations.
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Dr. Boate, in his Natural History of Ireland, when treating of the bogs of this district, remarks, "Some of these dry, or red bogs, as commonly they are called, are in some parts of a vast extent; instance that by the Shannon side, beginning hard by Athlone, and following the course of the river down towards Limerick, which, being two or three miles broad in most parts, is said to be upwards of fifty miles in length."
The extent of bogs in Roscommon is stated by Mr. Weld, in his Survey of the county, to be 131,057 statute acres; the remaining part of the county, exclusive of water, being only 453,515 acres. Is it not extraordinary that any person should harbour an opinion that there are too many labourers in Ireland, when even in a single county there are 131,000 acres capable of yielding the finest crops, inviting cultivation —
"Agriculture alone," says Mr. Weld, in his interesting survey above alluded to, "appears to offer a sure and stable source of occupation for the people of a county circumstanced like that of Roscommon; and that it would prove
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beneficial, for a race even far more numerous than is at present spread over the surface, were the improvement of the land pushed to the highest degree of which it is susceptible, cannot admit of a doubt. Scarcely is a field to be seen, the demesnes of the noble and gentlemen alone excepted, where it is not evident that labour might be expended with a profitable result, in fencing, and hedging, and planting, and draining. Roads, likewise, might be improved, with permanent advantage to agriculture and to the people; new communications opened with the Shannon, and quays and harbours established on its banks. To crown all, upwards of 80,000 Irish acres of bogs remain to be improved, which, if roads and a few drains were cut through them as a preliminary measure, and the people, were it practicable, left to themselves, would infallibly be brought under cultivation within the course of a few years, and food be thus afforded not only to the present inhabitants, but for countless generations yet unborn." — (P. 686). And so confident is Mr. Nimmo (a gentleman extensively employed
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by the Commissioners appointed to inspect Irish bogs) of the practicability of converting the whole of them (in the county of Roscommon at least) into arable land, and that at an expense which need hardly ever exceed the gross value of one year's crop produced from them, that he declares himself willing, for a reasonable consideration, to undertake the drainage of any given piece of considerable extent, and the formation of its roads, for the sum of one guinea per acre, and to prepare the same for the reception of any crop, for £10 per acre, which is little more than seven years' purchase of the rent it would then afford.
The northern part of the county of Roscommon is fruitful in iron and coal, and is celebrated for the Arigna coal and iron works, near Lough Allen. In Mr. Griffith's report of the coal district, he states that one of the beds near which these works are situated, is three feet thick, and the quality excellent, and extends over five thousand Irish acres, containing 30 millions of tons, affording a supply, for 500 years, for the iron works and domestic purposes. In addition to this three
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feet bed, he further states that there are two other beds of 9 inches and 3 feet, but inferior to the former. In the report of Mr. Twig (an English mining surveyor) of the affairs of this company in 1827, with reference to the injudicious expenditure of the establishment, a table is given of the salaries paid to various managers and agents employed at or near the works, amounting to £1739. 9s. 3d. per annum.
The several failures that have occurred at Arigna, where success ought to have been the result, are attributed by Mr. Griffith, as stated by him in his evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, to improper management, and the frequent changes in the managers, who were not skilful or experienced men. Iron ore, in Roscommon, and many parts of Ireland, is almost inexhaustible.
To the right, after leaving Athlone, are seen the seven churches of Cluanmacnois with their two pillar towers, situated on the border of King's county, on the eastern bank of the Shannon, where St. Kieran founded an abbey, so early as
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548. Here the sons of the chief nobility of Ireland received their education. In 830, Felym, King of Cashel, slew many of the monks, and fired the churches; and ten years subsequently, he was proclaimed monarch of all Ireland. The landed property and endowments of this abbey were enormous, and necessarily gave it great power in the country. Several crosses and stones of curious workmanship are still remaining, respecting one of which the Rev. Mr. Wright relates that "at this interesting relique, vows are still paid, and prayers continue to be offered; pilgrimages are performed around its hallowed pedestal, and the penitent, with naked foot, still traces the boundary of the holy cemetery. On the 9th of each September, the Patron-day, some thousand persons assemble in this venerable area to observe the festival of St. Kieran. * * * There are the ruins of seven churches still visible within an area of two acres comprised in the ancient cemetery." Driscoll states that "the garrison of Athlone pillaged these celebrated churches, carried off the plate and valuable ornaments, broke
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the stained windows, defaced the carvings, destroyed the bells and books, and committed every species of outrage. The same proceeding took place in other parts of the country. It was easy indeed to accomplish a reformation of this description, and unfortunately the reformers of Ireland seem always, as in this instance, to have confined their zeal to the reforms which might be effected in stone and mortar, tapestry, gildings, and plate." A visit to this interesting spot, which is only eight or nine miles from Athlone, is easily accomplished by the Shannon. Lough Derg, in the same direction, as well as Lough Ree on the Shannon, ought also to be visited. Pallasmore, the reputed birth-place of Oliver Goldsmith, is situated only fifteen or sixteen miles from Athlone, in the south eastern corner of the county of Longford. The village of Lishoy (according to Inglis, the identical Auburn) is about three miles from Ballymahon, in the county of Westmeath.
Nine miles east of Athlone, on the southern edge of the county of Westmeath, we passed through the town of Moate, a clean and respectable
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looking place, whose population is about 2000, a considerable proportion of which consists of members of the Society of Friends.
The road through Kilbeggan, Tyrrel's Pass, and Maynooth, to Dublin, is most of the way near the Royal Canal. At Dublin I attended a meeting of the Board, in company with my colleague, and instead of being released from the Commission as I had expected, we were directed to take examinations in the barony of Philipstown, in King's county, in the province of Leinster. Although I had been anxious to return home, I was reconciled to this arrangement, from the prospect which it afforded of extending my knowledge of Ireland.
From Dublin to Philipstown the road is uninteresting. On our arrival at the latter place, after issuing notices, and adopting the necessary preliminiaries, we inspected the district and the farms in the neighbourhood. In the course of our survey, we ascended Croghan Hill, a conical elevation, for it scarcely deserves the name of mountain, although it forms an interesting object for thirty miles round, and commands an extensive view of
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the surrounding country. It is mentioned by Spenser in his Fairy Queene. This hill is remarkable for its verdure, extending even to the top. The soil is a fine rich loam, upon a limestone substratum; ten or twelve acres of the summit would let for 15s. per acre. There is a cairn on the top, and near it a cemetery, still used by the Catholics, about which are a number of upright grave-stones, bearing inscriptions of the date of 1714 and thereabouts. These stones were once, as Sergeant Malone informed us, mistaken by a party of police for a company of rebels coming over the hill.
From Croghan Hill great numbers of islands, as the natives all them, but more properly oases, or elevated spots of land rising from the bog, may be seen; — of these, Knockarin is remarkable, as being a refuge for vagabonds and malefactors. Though encompassed by the Bog of Allen, which in winter or wet weather may be difficult to cross, and, before any drainage was effected, was wholly impassable by ordinary means, they are covered with excellent soil — part of he substratum being
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lime, and part sandstone. The Bog of Allen, nearly in the centre of which I was standing, is one vast and level expanse, stretching nearly from the Irish Sea to the Atlantic. Arthur Young states that it exceeds eighty miles, and contains 500,000 acres. Here I witnessed a spectacle of inexpressible splendour. The sun was setting in a sky of cloudless and golden beauty — the brown bog, flushed with the bloom of its abundant heather, lay suffused with purple; and the whole space between the arched heavens and the wide-extending morass, was filled with a radiance of purpled gold, the effect of a mutual reflection from the earth on which I stood, and the shadowless sky that stretched above me. Their gorgeous illumination was one of those things which are more frequently met with in the records of poetry, than in the experiences of actual life.
During this walk our guide entertained us with accounts of the popular faith in Spirits — a subject with which the lovers of marvellous mythologies are made familiar through The Irish Fairy Legends, one of the most amusing and interesting
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of publications. The Banshee, Lepreghaun, and other fairies of a similar kind, are seen, according to our guide, in the form of little old men and women, eighteen inches high, and lead to money, and stolen goods. Sometimes they betoken evil, but more generally good, and the people strive to obtain and to preserve their favour. "If you keep your eye on Lepreghaun, who is a little fellow in a wig," said our guide, "he leads you to money." "The Irish name for Fairy," says one who is learned in these matters "is Sia (Sheea) and Siabhra (Sheefra). We do not know the original meaning of Sia. Sigh (Shee) is also given by O'Reilly, and as it signifies spirit, and, adjectively, spiritual, it is probably the true word." The same agreeable writer (Mr. Keightley, whose Fairy Mythology contains almost all the learning of which the subject is susceptible) speaks in the following terms of the fairy-folk of Ireland.
"The Fairies of green Erin present few points of dissimilarity to those of England and Scotland. They are of diminutive stature, but do not appear to have any fixed standard of height; perhaps
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eighteen inches might with tolerable safety be assigned as their average altitudes. A woman from the county of Kerry lately told us that she saw the fairies when she was a little girl. She said she and some other children were one day returning from school, and they saw the fairies scudding like the wind over a big field on the road side, and tumbling head over heels into a hollow at the end of it, where they disappeared. Some of them were as high as castles, others were little dony things, not half so big as the children themselves.
"In the north of Ireland the proportions of the fairies are very minute, approaching to those of Titania's 'small elves,' as will appear from the following established mode of the fairies of that part of Ireland, making their stolen entrance into the houses of mortals. A fairy, the Diavolo Antonio we may suppose of the party, is selected, who contrives to ascend to the keyhole of the door, carrying with him a piece of thread or twine. With this he descends on the inside, where he fastens it firmly to the floor, or some part of the furniture. Those without then 'haul
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taught and belay,' and when it is fast, they prepare to march along this their perilous Al-Sirat, leading to the paradise of pantry or parlour, in this order; — the fairy-piper first steps up, and in measured pace pursues his adventurous route, playing might and main an invigorating elfin-march, or other spirit-stirring air; then one by one the rest of the train mount the cord and follow his steps. Like the old Romans, in their triumphal processions, they pass beneath the lofty arch of the keyhole, and move down along the other side. Lightly, one by one, they then jump down on the floor, to hold their revels or accomplish their thefts."
The Irish fairies, we have seen, are not greatly dissimilar to those of England and Scotland; and these were far from being universally of a grotesque and comical order. In each of the three countries, the fairy-folk may be divided into two classes — the rural elves, inhabiting the woods, fields, mountains, and caverns; and the domestic or house-spirits, called hobgoblins and Robin Goodfellows. Of the former sort are the exquisite
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beings of the "Midsummer Night's Dream;" whilst the "lubbar fiend" of Milton's "L' Allegro" belongs to the latter. Spenser, as Dr. Johnson has finely observed, "is the first poet who has made the fairies great." He has given them the form and size of human beings, and conferred upon them more than human virtue. Allan Cunningham, in his pleasant traditionary notes to Sir Egerton Brydges' edition of Milton's Comus, says of the popular fairies — "They are an elegant and accomplished race; they dwell in palaces under secluded hills; they frequent, when the summer moon is up, the lonely stream banks; they spread tables sometimes in desert places; and astonish and refresh the benighted and hungry traveller with spiced cakes and perfumed wine; nor do they hesitate to mount their steeds — an elfin race; and, accompanied by music from invisible instruments, ride through the lonely villages at midnight, less to the alarm than the delight of the inhabitants."
If the reader should desire to know more of a race of beings respecting whom some of the
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greatest of poets have written some of their most exquisite poetry, I would refer him (among other things) to Sir Walter Scott's Essay On the Fairies of Popular Superstition — to the learned and most interesting preface to the last edition of Warton's History of English Poetry (1824) to the work of Mr. Keightley, above cited — and to a series of elegant papers in Leigh Hunt's London Journal. Let me now beg him to descend with me from the Croghan Hill, and give me his attention on subjects of a much more common-place, but infinitely more important interest.
Philipstown obtained its name from Philip (husband of Mary, Queen of England), who once visited it; the county (King's county) owes its name to the same event. The town is well built, and was formerly a place of note. It contains a capital Court-house and Prison, a large Catholic chapel, and a small Protestant church. The Grand Canal, on which two passage-boats ply daily between Dublin and the Shannon harbour, adjoins the town. Previously to the Union, Philipstown returned two members to parliament, and was a
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place of considerable trade. Lamentably, however, are things changed now. It is robbed of its representatives — the assizes are removed to Tullamoore — its trade has disappeared — many of its houses are in ruins — its shops are falling into decay — and its population, as these signs sufficiently indicate, are poor and wretched. Although surrounded by miles of unreclaimed bog land, its inhabitants wander about the streets in search of employment, and find none. Nor is the desolation confined to the town. In a walk along the bog towards Dublin, we observed the roofless walls of a superb mansion, formerly the residence of Henry Lyons, Esq., one of the representatives of the county.
There are several places which bear the name of Inns or Hotels. We took up our abode at the south end of the town, at an hotel kept by Mrs. Ellis, the post-mistress. Here — after sufficient time to procure tea and coffee from Dublin had elapsed — we lived very comfortably; regaling ourselves in the meantime with excellent cream and eggs, and a joint, occasionally, of good beef
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or mutton. The chickens, like the generality of Irish poultry, were half starved.
My bed-room was part of the Barristers' dining-room, in the palmy days of Philipstown: the sitting-room which we occupied, looked out upon the street, and the windows were frequently crowded with miserable women, carrying children upon their backs, and soliciting charity with pitiful lamentations. To relieve all was impossible — and to relieve only a few increased the number of those who begged. Under such distressing circumstances, my consolation was, that I was engaged in preparing a full and honest statement of their wretched condition, with a view to the introduction of legislative measures of relief.
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