The Miseries and Beauties of Ireland

Front matter

THE MISERIES AND BEAUTIES OF IRELAND. BY JONATHAN BINNS, ASSISTANT AORICULTURAL COMMISSIONER ON THE LATE IRISH POOR INQUIRY. IN* TWO VOL U M E S . VOL. I. LONDON: LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN AND CO. 1837. LIVERPOOL : TRINTED BY J. P. C'ANNELL, 50, CASTLE STREET. TO HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY VICTORIA, QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM 0 F GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND ; whose virtues give assurance of the blessings of peace and increasing prosperity throughout her dominions, these Volumes, accompanied with the fervent wish that her Majesty may long reign to enjoy the fruits of her wisdom and benignity, are most respectfully dedicated BY HER DUTIFUL SUBJECT, JONATHAN BINNS.

ADVERTISEMENT.

. In the hope of contributing, however slightly, to tlie benefit of Ireland, and under the impression that my office as one of the Assistant Commissioners, selected to conduct the Agricultural Inquiry in that country, afforded peculiarly advantageous opportunities for the acquisition of information respecting the general condition of the people, I do not hesitate to add to the number of works already published, on a subject so interesting and important. The chief motive which has influenced me in bringing these volumes before the public — namely, a desire to promote, on the part of the inhabitants of this country, a more familiar acquaintance with the real situation and dispositions of the Irish people, and to encourage a more practical sympathy for their sufferings — must be my apology for the apparent pre sumption of the undertaking. Lancaster, 1837. Pajre CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Chapter I

Kingston — Dublin — Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin — House of Industry — Rotunda Gardens — Rent of Shops in Dublin — Departure for tbe 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 1

Chapter II

Swords — Round Towers — Drogheda — Dundalk — Newry — Post-chaise travelling — Hedges of furze — Rathfriland — Hilltown — Lords Downshire, Annesley, and Bangor — Mourne Mountains — 1 2th of July, aad Orange demonstration — Friends' Meeting-house — Rathfriland — Dresses of the women — Rostrevor — Mountains of Carlingford — Warrenspoint — Kilkeel — An Irish dinner — Cock and Hen Mountains — Peaceable character of the people 21

Chapter III

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 CONTEXTS. VIII

Chapter IV

Pane 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 68

Chapter V

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 . . . 96

Chapter VI

Cost of living at Ardglass — Whale-fishing — DulHsk — Institutions of Ardglass — Journey to Strangford — Lord and Lady Bangor — Ancient Castles — Castleward — Portaferry — Temple Cranie — 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 * CONTENTS. IX

Chapter VII

Pafe Drumbanagher — Colonel Close — Results of Mr. Blacker's system — Mr. Bacon — Dungannon School-lands — Dr. Richard son — Charlemont — Moy — Coal Island — Visit to Dungannon School-lands — Extent — Cabins upon the estate — Rents — Ex ertions 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 1G6

Chapter VIII

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, .-ind 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 ofthe 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 199

Chapter IX

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 227 X CONTENTS.

Chapter X

Page 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 253

Chapter XI

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 — Clothing — 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 275

Chapter XII

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 — CONTENTS. XI Page Deplorable condition of agriculture — Country between Bel turbet and Killykeen — Picturesque scenery — Killykeen Lake — Land of Lakes — Irish waiters — Illicit stills 295

Chapter XIII

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 holywell 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 326

Chapter XIV

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 CONTENTS. XII

Chapter XV

Page 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 — Torna bruky — Character of the inhabitants — Willow cradles — Pre sentation 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 397 LIST OF PLATES, VOL I. page Abbey of Inch, to face 139 Cairn on Slieve Guillien, to face 204 Rath at Clones, to face 232 Ruins on Devenish Island, to face 275 Owen Gray's Farm-house, to face 316 Holy Well and Altars at Tubernault, to face I THE MISERIES AND BEAUTIES OF IRELAND.

Chapter I

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. On the 3d of July, 1835, I embarked on board the Post Office packet, from Liverpool, at five in the afternoon. The weather was fine and mild; and at midnight, the moon shone so bright that many parts of the Welsh coast were clearly dis tinguishable. As the morning dawned, the float ing sea-weed and polypi indicated our approach to land ; but, unfortunately, the atmosphere was VOL. I A KINGSTON. not sufficiently clear to permit us to enjoy in perfection the first sight of the magnificent Bay of Dublin, justly celebrated as one of the finest in the world.

The noble piers of Kingston, con structed of granite abounding in mica, present a splendid appearance when glittering in the sun, and are well calculated to produce upon the mind of a stranger, at the very threshold of the country as it were, a favourable impression of the energy, spirit, and perseverance of the Irish peo ple. The hills of Killiney, and the mountains of Wicklow, visible from the sea, are also of granite, which is used for buildings in the neighbourhood, and of which a large quantity is exported to Liver pool. Having taken up my abode at Gresham's hotel, Sackville-street, I proceeded to the office of the Commissioners of the Irish Poor Inquiry, and received, from the proper authorities, particular directions in reference to my duties as one of the Assistant Agricultural Commissioners.

So much has been said of Dublin within the last thirty years — so many travellers have described DUBLIN. it in so many different ways, and with such a variety of objects — that I run but little risk of incurring censure by passing it over with a very hasty and superficial notice. Dublin is indeed a fine city ; but it is a city of lamentable con trasts v If the stranger be forcibly struck by the number and magnificence of the public buildings, and the general beauty of some of the streets, he is sure to be no less forcibly moved by the very different character of those parts which are termed " the Liberties." Here, narrow streets, houses without windows or doors, and several families crowded together beneath the same roof, present a picture of ruin, disease, poverty, filth, and wretchedness, of which they who have not witnessed it are unable to form a competent idea.

Dublin, I have said, is a city of lamentable con trasts : so is London ; but the contrasts of Dub lin are brought more immediately together than those of the English metropolis. When Dublin presents a scene of the most enlivening gaiety, numbers of miserable beings may be seen lying half naked, and apparently half dead from cold a2 BOTANIC GARDENS, GLASNEVIN. and hunger, on the parapets and the steps of the houses, their nightly resting places ; and the stranger, as he enters the hospitable abode which invites him to partake of the enjoyments and luxuries of life, is almost invariably saluted with the feeble cries and imploring accents of the wretched and the destitute. The Botanic Gardens, at Glasnevin, about a mile from Dublin, have lately been much improved under the superintendence of Mr. Nevin, who has been trying a series of valuable experiments on the potato and various sorts of grasses, and has also introduced many tasteful decorations.

They are well worth visiting. The ground they occupy, consisting of twenty-seven acres and twenty perches, was purchased by the Royal Dublin So ciety ; the gardens, established in 1800, by the last act of the Irish Parliament, have been supported by the general funds of the Society, arising in part from private subscriptions, but principally from an annual parliamentary grant. The Society, instituted in 1731, was supported for eighteen years by private subscription. HOUSE OF INDUSTRY, DUBLIN. Glasnevin has other attractions besides its Bo tanic Gardens. It was here that Addison, Parnell, Steele, Tickell, Swift, and the celebrated Stella, at different periods resided. The " Drapiers' Let ters" were printed in the demesne of Delville, and the author of " Cato/*' composed several of his choicest pieces here.

The fine yew trees in Addison's walk are said to have been planted by the delightful essayist himself. Dr. Litton, who had accompanied me round the gardens, afterwards conducted me to the House of Industry and the four general hospitals attached. The House of Industry is chiefly supported by parliamentary grants. Since its com mencement, 421,148 paupers have been admitted. It was formerly opened for the indiscriminate admission of paupers, whether healthy or infirm, and from all parts of Ireland, but is now re stricted to certain diseased and destitute objects from the county and city of Dublin : firstly, aged and infirm paupers ; secondly, idiots and incura ble lunatics. Such of this class as are inclined to work are encouraged to do so by small premiums ; ROTUNDA GARDENS. the males being employed in cultivating the garden, and making oakum, &c. ; the females in spinning, washing, and knitting.

The system of engaging them in this manner has been found of great utility ; and in consequence of the advantage derived from it, several patients have been restored to their friends. The four general hospitals attached to the House of Industry are for fever, and chronic, and surgical patients. The Dispensary affords advice, medicine, flannel, &c, to the sick poor of the north-west district of the city of Dublin, who are not objects of hospital accommodation, and a physician and surgeon attend daily. Rutland Square, (or the Rotunda Gardens), a much frequented resort of pleasure, was opened by Dr. Mosse, the founder of the Lying-in Hospital, for the benefit of that establishment. The gardens, during summer, are made the scene of evening promenade. The interior, which is beautifully undulated and tastefully arranged, is, upon these occasions, illuminated ; military bands are in attendance ; and the per formances of professional singers diversify the RENT OF SHOPS. attractions of the place.

Though the price of admission is only sixpence, the receipts have been known to amount to as much as .£20 a night. The houses around this square are superior buildings, and include the residence of Lord Charlemont, whose father obtained and deserved the distinguished epithets of "great and good." The rent of shops with houses attached in the best streets of Dublin, varies from one to two hundred pounds a year ; some being from three hundred to a thousand pounds fine besides. The decrease of trade in Dublin may be principally attributed to the general change which took place upon the establishment of a steam communication between the Irish capital and this country. Be fore that event, nearly the whole of Ireland was supplied with English and foreign manufactures through the Dublin importers, who of course derived considerable advantages from the business.

Now, however, the generality of the country shopkeepers go to England at a trifling expense, and purchase for themselves ; but in a greater ratio, it may be observed, than the trade of Dublin DEPARTURE FOR THE COUNTRY. has decreased from this cause, the country must have benefited. I left Dublin for the interior on the 6th. The morning was fine, but the prognostications of an agreeable tour were anything but favourable. For a great part of the way, even where the road was so nearly level that it was a point of dispute whether we were ascending or not, Pat's horse declined, or rather was unable to go beyond a walk ; for we were placed in that un pleasant dilemma so often experienced by tra vellers in Ireland, of being dragged by an animal almost entirely exhausted. Objecting to the merciless use of the whip, which in cases of necessity is applied to some lacerated part of the jaded beast, in the barbarous hope of quick ening his speed — and yet seeing no prospect of an amended pace — I stepped off the carriage, and tried to soothe my impatience by walking a con siderable distance in advance.

As we proceeded we had an opportunity of observing a very lazy system of hay-making in use among the Irish. In one field we saw a gang or company of fifteen HAY-MAKING AND IRISH LABOURERS. or sixteen men working, under charge of two over lookers, and pretending to throw about the swaths of mown grass with clumsy pitchforks. On our passing, they suspended their operations, nor did they resume them whilst we remained in sight. Half the number of women in England would have done the same work, and have done it in a much more efficient manner, than the whole of this company. It is the custom in Ire land for the labourers to be accompanied by an overlooker, with whom, by the way, they spend a great deal of time in idle gossip. From this fact the reader will probably conclude, as I did on first visiting the country, and particularly on this day's excursion, that the Irish are an indo lent people ; but after visiting nearly every part of the island, and having ascertained what was the real situation of the labourers, I found their want of energy to proceed from the bad system pursued* by their employers — from the supply of labourers exceeding the demand — and from the work being always done by the day.

All, without respect to the amount of labour actually performed, are THE SCALP. paid alike; accordingly, the stimulus afforded by the expectation of being rewarded proportionably to industry and skill, is withheld. The spiritless inactivity of the Irish labourer may also be at tributed to the very small wages he receives, as well as to the inevitable consequence of small wages, the miserable food on which he subsists : in many instances it is barely sufficient to support his wretched life. Pat informed us that "the Scalp," about twelve miles from Dublin, was a remarkably " illecant place." We knew it possessed celebrity, and to an inhabitant of Lincolnshire or Cambridgeshire it might afford considerable interest ; but one in the habit of traversing the wildest and most romantic glens and mountains of Cumberland, Westmore land, and Lancashire, could find in it little to ad mire, being merely a passage ofthe road through an opening in the Wicklow Hills, with some broken rocks and loose stones on each side.

On reaching this spot, I began to think that if these were the beauties of Ireland, they were not worth the seeking. We soon, however, arrived at En- POWERSCOURT. niskerry, a pretty village on the Dargle river, where we left the car and proceeded on foot to Powerscourt. By the advice of a land-agent of the Powerscourt estate, who was accidentally passing by, we selected for our guide a ragged fellow with a black eye, who led us up the hill for three or four miles, to give us a view of Powerscourt. After crossing a pebbly stream, we entered the undulating and woody grounds of the Powerscourt Deer Park. We rambled over their grassy surface in search of the water fall, till, like many other tourists in pursuit of na ture's beauties, we were ready to despair, the distance seeming to lengthen as we proceeded ; when, unexpectedly, the splendid cascade, and the romantic little vale into which it falls, suddenly met our view.

The fall of the river Glenisloreane is over a precipice about three hundred feet high, with a beautiful combination of rock and wood on the sides of the stupendous mass over which the water flows. Its fall is partially interrupted by ledges of different inclinations, some of which vary considerably from the perpendicular. The grassy POWERSCOURT. lawn below exhibits the beauty of unassisted na ture, its irregular surface being varied with copse wood and enriched with wild fruit and flowers. Whilst enjoying a perfect feast of whortle berries, which, in some degree, compensated for the want of a more substantial repast, we saw other parties regaling themselves with good cheer from their baskets ; some seated on rustic benches and others on the ground — their gay summer dresses enlivening the sequestered and beautiful glen, and the rich notes of the bugle mingling with the scarcely less rich melody of the waterfall.

A rustic bridge, from which the cascade is seen to great advantage, crosses the torrent a little below the fall. From the deer park we turned to the left, our way lying among meadows and copse wood, along the side of the Dargle river, and on again entering the Powerscourt demesne we passed through fine woods with a stream pursuing a serpentine course, occasionally close to the road. In one of the glades of the wood we suddenly entered a field of fine old cherry trees, their branches bending with ripe TINEHINCH. fruit. Having every inducement, from the lone liness of the situation, the heat of the day, and our own increasing hunger and thirst, to share with the birds the enjoyment thus apparently within our reach, we were advancing with this intention, when we discovered, to our surprise, men seated with scales ready to sell the fruit — and we gladly availed ourselves of their services.

At the gate leading to Tinehinch our guide abruptly left us, alleging that guides were not allowed to go with visitors through the grounds. On looking round, we observed a number of persons on the road, at a distance, waiting for a guide to the waterfall ; having received his remuneration from us, he no doubt saw a prospect of additional profit, and joined another party accordingly. By missing our way to the Dargle, we got a near view of Tinehinch, and indeed approached close to the mansion. Tinehinch is delightfully situated, em bosomed in wood, with the Glenisloreane flowing close by. This was the seat of the late Henry Grattan, whose memory is deservedly dear, not to his native country alone, but THE DARGLE. to the whole civilized world, as the advocate of political justice — the champion of that liberty of conscience and of those equal rights, civil and religious, which had been so long with held.

On reaching the banks of the Dargle, we found a happy circle reposing on a knoll high above the river, which commanded views of a succession of wooded brows and slopes, with the winding stream at intervals opening to the view. We scrambled down the steep banks of the wood till obstructed by the ruggedness and abruptness of the impending cliffs which compelled us to retrace our steps. Soon afterwards we reached a huge granite rock which rises precipitously from a frightful depth below : this rock com mands a rich view of the valley. The reced ing banks of the woody slopes are lost in aerial distance. After a long ramble we found the chief beauties of the Dargle, where the river is confined within a chasm of stupendous rocks, overhung with trees. Below this chasm the stream is deep and dark, reposing in a rocky basin, CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. and reflecting the large granite crags and luxuriant foliage.

A ledge of rock on one side of the ba sin, screened by the branches of trees, forms a cool and shady retreat. Paths and alcoves have been made in these romantic glens by the late proprietor, Lord Powerscourt, and the public have free access except on the Sabbath. On arriving at the lower Dargle gate our driver was not to be found, and after a walk as far as Bray, in the vain hope of meeting with him, we mounted a car that was on the point of leaving. In addition to those seated before us, we made seven in number, and had to go fourteen miles on heavy roads with only one horse. The willing creature dragged us along for a considerable distance, at the rate of nine miles an hour, but this did not exempt him from the merciless and undeserved torture of the whip, which con tinued to be applied until the poor beast could trot no longer.

This cruel treatment of animals which contribute so greatly to our comforts, is, I am sorry to say, far from uncommon, nor is it discouraged as it ought to be, by those who have HILL OF HOWTH. the power, if they chose to exert it, of speedily suppressing the evil. The travellers who do not prevent this abuse are far more to blame than the drivers themselves, who are generally exceedingly ignorant and may plead the brutalizing influence of privation and misery in extenuation of their unfeeling practices. This class of men, as well as the horses committed to their care, suffer in comparably greater hardships in Ireland than they do in England. The next morning a gentleman accompanied us to the Hill of Howth, which is in a northerly direction from Dublin. Our road lay along the shore of the Bay, which presented no inviting appearances to the botanist ; but my friend, a man of science, informed me that it afforded about fifty varieties of shells.

The Hill of Howth is on a peninsula, a J is six hundred feet above the level of the -la. The view of the sea from the hill was particularly fine ; the extensive and noble Bay of Dublin lay before us ; and Ireland's Eye, and other islands, were beautiful objects on the wide expanse of the CASTLE OF HOWTH. Irish Sea, where we could just trace the various vessels hanging like shadows in the horizon. After seeing the lighthouse, we visited the har bours and piers, which are of granite and very substantial. The piers inclose fifty-two acres. These works, the cost of which was upwards of £300,000, are now of but little use, the sand having collected at the mouth of the river. They were intended for a packet station, but the joackets now go to Kingston. The first stone was laid so late as 1807. When George the Fourth visited Ireland in 1821, he landed at Howth, and we were shown the stone which bears the footmark of the royal stranger engraved upon it.