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The difficulty of writing history, increases, strange as it may appear, with the abundance of the materials collected for that purpose. For an author may be overladen with matter, and find as much dif ficulty in disposing to advantage as a general at the head of a large army, whose divisions become unwieldy from numbers, in ranging them on the field of battle. Mr. Coxe has overcome this difficulty; his narration flows uninterrupted, and the order of events is clear and easily followed; his descriptions are neither too long nor too episodical; his portraits seem accurate copies from the characters whose actions and principal features have been laid before us by the course of events; his reflec tions are few, but judicious, not calculated to exhaust the subject but to create new thoughts and considerations in the mind of the reader; and his style is in general simple, unaffected, and pure, in some in

search of what is uncommon and romantic, but of what is probable; of comparing the testimony of writers of different nations and different ages, and educing light from the chaos of dark and confused annals, is, or ought to be, the chief characteristic of an historian. But there is still another requisite, deprived of which his talents must wither away in a barren inactivity, and which is not the gift of nature, but the effect of favouring circumstances. He must have it in his power to make the deep researches necessary to compass his end; the sources whence abundant information may flow, must be opened to him, he must have access to libraries "rich with the spoils of time," and to manuscripts treasured up by curiosity, pride, or learning, and but too often destined to moulder away in useless obscurity. This requisite, Mr. Coxe informs us, was put into his possession by the kindness and public spirit of several distinguished persons. His authori-stances strong and rich, but its chief defect ties, he tells us," are printed, manuscript, and oral." The printed authorities are generally quoted at the end of every chapter, and often in every page; he gives us a list of some of the manuscripts with a perusal of which he was favoured; part of his oral authorities he derived from the Prussian minister, Count Kertsberg, and some confidential friends of Prince Kaunitz. Deli- The utility of an undertaking insures it cacy forbids his disclosing the other per- praise, but the care and talents with which sons to whom he is indebted for informa- it is executed win admiration and grati tion, but after reading his work, we are tude; to both Mr. Coxe has proved fully disposed to give him credit for that himself fully entitled by this original, vaintegrity and good faith which he has al-luable, and laborious publication. ways maintained.

consists in a frequent repetition of the same words at too inconsiderable a distance from each other. Such repetitions may sometimes be elegant, but when too closely strewed over a page become unpleasant not only to the ear, but give an idea of poverty of language, a vice in an author with which Mr. Coxe cannot justly be accused.

A TOUR IN IRELAND.

ART. IV.―Journal of a Tour in Ireland, in 1806. By Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Baronet. 8vo. Pp. 336.

W. Miller.

1807.

THIS work is ushered in with a preface, Captain Skinner; and after a rough and tediof twenty-one pages, followed by an histo- ous passage of twenty-three hours, landed at rical introduction of a hundred and nine the Pigeon-house; from whence a vehicle, pages. We shall begin our task by select- very appropriately called the long coach, ing a few extracts which will give the reader some idea of the present state of Ireland. “Monday, 23d June, in the evening, I sailed from Holyhead, in the Union packet,

* "A most daring attack was made a short time ago upon this coach by a large gang of robbers, who ordered the passengers to dis mount, and plundered them one by one; the

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(holding sixteen inside passengers, and as many outside, with all their luggage) conveyed || us to Dublin, distant about two miles from the place of landing. Passengers are allowed to take their parcels, &c. with them, but carriages and trunks are obliged to go to the custom-house, and undergo a tedious and imposing search. The proprietor must value his carriage as he thinks reasonable; and he is charged on that valuation, four and a half per cent. But here the matter does not end; for besides the duty to government, I paid no less than twelve different officers of the customs.*

"We had scarcely got rid of a most importunate host of boatmen, porters, &c. demanding loudly their fees, than we were desired to dismount from our vehicle, as apprehensions were entertained for the safety of the bridge over which we were obliged to pass.Ӡ

"Having mentioned the principal buildings that arrest the stranger's attention during his walk through Dublin, I shall say a few words respecting the churches. Of these St. Patrick's cathedral, and Christ-church, are the most remarkable for their antiquity, and I may add; only on that account; for their state is very bad and precarious; and the approach to each of them filthy beyond measure, and through the very worst part of the city. I Miserable cottages made of mud and thatched; many of

mail carrier was also fired at by the same people. When this vehicle is known to carry so many of the principal nobility, gentry, and merchants from Dublin to the packet-boat, a regular horse-patrole to attend the coach from the office, could be attended with no inconvenience to government, and would ensure the property of many individuals."

*" So near án alliance having taken place between England and Ireland, it is to be hoped that this vexatious ceremony will shortly be dispersed with, or at least its abuses reformed."

"When such large sums are annually expended in Dublin on less useful buildings and improvements, it surely reflects no credit on the government of a country, that the bridge of communication between England has remained so long a time in a dangerous state."

"Let the reader who wishes to know the dreadful and disgraceful state of this quarter of the city, refer to Mr. Whitelaw's admirable "Essay on the Population of Dublin, and Observations on the state of the poorer parts of that city." Supplement.-Vol. III.

them left in ruins since the rebellion in 1793;
roads excellent and flat (eight or nine miles
from Dublin, on the road to Trim), lands cul-
tivated with corn, potatoes, and pastures, but
slovenly farming.

"Saw written on several houses the words
، Good dry Lodgings;' by which dry is not
meant in contradistinction to wet or damp,
but implies lodgings without board, as the same
word is applied in a higher sense to a ball
without a supper. Miserable hovels still con-
tinue to hurt the feelings of the compassionate
traveller."

Between Mitchelstown and Mullingar (forty-five miles from Dublin), our author remarked,

"A line of most miserable hovels with smoke issuing from a hole in the thatched roof. This country bears but a ragged appearance from the general want of trees, hedge-rows, and the slovenly state of its cultivation.

"The post-horses met us at the entrance to the town, where the hostler harnessed the riding horse on the off-side, and did not perceive his mistake till asked by us, if that was the custom of his country.

"See crowds of females, and many of them otherwise well dressed, flocking barefooted to the fair; and near the town a large group performing ablutions in a pond, preparatory to putting on their stockings.

"Enter the village of Bruff through a most miserable street of thatched hovels. See a ruined castle and church on the left. The same kind of uninteresting country still continues; the soil evidently richer, but the inhabitants more wretched in appearance than any I have yet seen; such habitations, teeming with a numerous population of children, pigs, and poultry, present a truly deplorable and affecting sight to every man of feeling and humanity.

"From the cathedral (at Limerick) I waded through the old town, and the dirtiest streets I ever beheld, to the castle:

"Strangers also, on coming to Killarney, experience a great mortification in finding that the object of their attention is so far removed from the place of their residence; and that the shores of the lake are not within the distance of a moderate walk. Neither do I think that the regulations respecting boats, though at first sight vrey plausible, tend to the comfort of the tourist. Their prices are fixed, § their

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number limited, and at the command of one individual; whereas if a general license was given to keep boats on the lake, I am convinced that the public would be better and more reasonably served. The true enthusiast, the lover of nature, and the artist, would wish, after having had a general introduction to the lakes, to revisit them at his ease, and survey their manifold beauties in detail; but this, from want of small boats, he cannot do; he cannot at his pleasure ramble down to the lakes, and take his boat and amuse himself for -a few hours on its enchanting banks; the scheme and arrangement of each day must be pre-concerted, the boats bespoken, the dinner ordered, &c. &c. In short, difficulties and expense will ultimately exhaust the patience and the purse of even the most sanguine admirer of nature."*

Sir Richard pursues his journey to Youghall, thirty miles from Cork.

"The town of Youghall is situated under the eastern declivity of a steep hill. It consists chiefly of one long street running north and south; it is distant about a mile from the sea, and is a bustling cheerful town, being much resorted to during the summer months as a bathing place. The public rooms on the Mall are pleasantly situated near the banks of the river (Blackwater). There is also a neat little theatre at the back of Campbell's hotel."+

of the hotel, for the information of travellers. Boats 58. per day, and as much more to the steersman as you please; 5s. to the bugle;

28. 2d. to each boatman on the upper lake, and Is. 74d. on the lower lake, with their dinner and liquor each day."

*“The plan mentioned by Mr. Arthur Young in his Irish tour is admirable, and I am surprised it never has been adopted." This plan was first suggested by Twiss, who visited Killarney in 1775. He says in his Tour," Were an Englishman, to build a large and elegant inn, with stables there, such as those at many of the watering-places in England, well provided with every necessary both for lodging and food, with musicians residing inthe house, a library, a billiard-table, fishing-tackle, guns, &c. I do not know any place in Great Britain or Ireland, where a considerable fortune might be acquired in so short a time, or with so little

risk or trouble."

+"This playhouse was built by the landlord of the hotel, and is at the end of his stableyard. I found both house and players better than I could have expected in so small a town. The orchestra consisted of two fiddlers, who

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At Ballyshannon, our author says:"A more dirty inn, and worse attendance, I never met with either abroad or at home; the rooms and beds teemed with every kind of vermin, and a dirty barefooted wench acted as our femme de chambre and waiter; good humour, however, and willingness to oblige (those constant good qualities of the common Irish', were not wanting on the part of our landlady; but more essential comforts were necessary to restore our spirits after a long and tedious day's journey. Ballyshannon, however, with all its desagremens, is worthy a visit, for, close to the town, the river falling precipitately over a ridge of black rocks, forms a grand cataract at the spot where it discharges its waters into the sea. The salmon fishery at this place is very productive, and according to the late 'Survey of Donegall,' when last rented, produced annually 10831. 6s. sd. and at this prescut time still more: the eel fishery also lets for 3251. 10s. 6d. yearly. These fisheries are very numerous throughout Ireland, and the breed of salmon is considered of such high national importance, that all weirs are ordered to be opened, and the fishery discontinued after the 12th of August, that the salmon may have a free passage up the river to deposit their spawn."

It appears to us unaccountable not to find the least notice taken of the salmon leaping up the above-mentioned cascade, darting themselves near fourteen feet perpendicularly out of the water; and allow ing for the curvature, they leap at least twenty. In 1775, this fishery was rented for Gool. per annum, and at that time the fish was sold at a penny per pound, and six shillings per hundred weight. We are not informed of the present prices.

A particular account of the Giant's Causeway and its basaltes, is given from the Rev. William Hamilton's "Letters concerning the Northern Coast of Antrim."

The author's Southern Itinerary is from Dublin to Trim, Limerick, Killarney, Cork, Youghall, Mallow, Tipperary, Kil

commenced the night's entertainment with the popular air of God save the King. The Gods afterwards ordered their own favourite airs to be played; amongst which the Grinder and BlackJoke, were received with great applause. My antiquated female Cicerone of the morning (the sexton's wife), performed the office of O ange girl, and the clerk that of Manager of the

Theatre."

dare, and back to Dublin; and the except a stately hollow pillar, without a Northern Tour, to Trim, Cavan, En-stair-case, so that when I entered within, niskillen, Ballyshannon, Donegal, Coleraine, Giant's Causeway, Antrim, Belfast, Hillsborough, Newry, Dundalk, Navan, and Dublin, about 1100 English miles, and his stay in Ireland was ten weeks.

In the Preface to this book the author says,

"The spirit and even the power of foreign travel is checked; we can no longer trace on the spot, those classical scenes described to us by the ancient pocts and historians, and which in our younger days of study, we even read with enthusiasm; we can no longer in safety ascend the steps of the capitol, nor wander peacefully along the luxuriant shores of Baia or Misenum; even the frozen regions of Mont Blanc are interdicted to us by the ferocious decrees of a Corsican despot."

We shall conclude our account of this work with some extracts from the general remarks which are contained in the last sixty-two pages of the volume.

"Though the subterraneous temple cannot be said to be exclusively peculiar to this country, yet the sister kingdom cannot boast of any one either so large, or in such perfect preservation, as the one at New Grange, near Slane, which I have described in my journal, and which is one of the most curious monuments of antiquity remaining within the limits of the united kingdom."

Fifty-eight round towers are enumerated, from the best accounts which could be collected from the various authors who have recorded them.

"If I am allowed to hazard a la conjecture about these singular buildings, I should suppose them to have been erected about the ninth century. They seem, however, to have been peculiar to Ireland, as there are none in England or Wales, and only two in Scotland; these are situated at Abernethy, in the county of Murray; and at Brechin, in the county of Angus; each on the eastern coast of Scotland,

and far remote from Ireland.”

The round towers in Scotland are on an average a hundred feet in height, sixteen in diameter, and the thickness of the walls is three feet and a half; thus the inside is only nine feet in diameter. Mr. Gordon in his "Stenerarium Septentrionalis" describes the towers in Scotland, and says, "At Abernethy I could discover nothing

and looked upward, I could scarce forbear imagining myself at the bottom of a deep draw-well."

The same author in describing the other round tower at Brechin, says, “upon it are evidences sufficient to demonstrate that it was a Christian work, for over the top of the door is the figure of our Saviour on the cross." This is no demonstration at all; any stone may be interpolated in a building, with inscriptions or basso-relievos at pleasure: on the Trajan column at Rome, a statue of St. Peter, and on the Antonine column, in the same city, another of St. Paul, were placed by Sixtus V. and these Saints have hitherto preserved their pedestals from mutilation, but nevertheless do not demonstrate that the columns are of Christian workmanship.

After having recapitulated the religious buildings, of which a minute detail had been given during the progress of the tour, Sir Richard says,

"But I should ill perform the duty I owe to my own feelings as a man of humanity, and as a citizen of that community which has so lately united each nation under the general appellation of Briton, were I to quit this subject without noticing more strongly than I have hitherto done during my journal, the disgraceful state in which several of the cemeteries are suffered to remain.

"From the earliest ages, and even by the most savage nations, the greatest respect has ever been paid to the bones and ashes of the deceased; but in Ireland, their sad relics, after a short abode in the clay-cold mansion, are again restored to light, and the floors of the once hallowed abbey become white with their thickly mouldering fragments. *

"The ruined abbies of Lislaghtin, Ardfert, Mucrus, and Buttevant, have come inmediately under my own observation; and doubtless many others in Ireland present the same disgusting appearance.

"In a note on Mucrus (Journal), I presented to my readers Sir John Carr's warning to those

strangers whose curiosity might lead them to examine the interior of this ruined abbey; and that I may endeavour to impress the reverend prelates to whom I have addressed myself with an idea of the disgraceful aud revolting state in which its cemetery is suffered to remain, E

situation.

"I address myself to you, ye reverend guar- simplicity, is seldom to be found in either dians of the church, and of the manes of your fellow-citizens; to you it belongs to rescue "In travelling through Ireland, the attenthem from their present exposed and disgrace- ||tion is immediately and most forcibly arrested

ful situation. Examine either personally, or by your rural deans (if such exist), the state of your churches and cemeteries. They are a disgrace to your country, a disgrace to huntanity; a field of battle only can equal the disgusting and desolated appearance which this Irish Golgotha presents to the astonished stranger: your task is easy and the burden will be light. A charnel-house of simple architecture, corresponding with that of the adjoining ruins, and placed under some aged yew-tree, with the plain and impressive motto of FUIMUS over its portal, would add both awe and interest to its hallowed scenery.

"Let us now turn our eyes towards the modern prospect which the capital and its provinces present to the Stranger in Ireland. A native writer has observed, that from the first view of Dublin, we must not judge of its provincial cities and villages; yet in some degree the comparison will hold good between the town and country. In the former, and particularly in the capital, we behold a city abounding with the most splendid works of architecture, extensive in their plans, and imposing in their effects; yet at every step, our feelings and senses are assailed by misery, filth, and beggary. *

by the situation of the labouring poor; and both the eye and the mind are in a certain de gree compelled to dwell upon this distressing object, by the general want of interest which the country affords. They are seldom relieved by picturesque scenery, or by improved agriculture; but the poor man's hovel every where presents itself, and encourages a train of thought most galling to humanity. In describing the state of the poor throughout the different provinces, the authors of the statistical surveys, have performed both their duty to the public and to themselves, as men of feeling, in painting the miseries of the poor in the strongest colours. As their own words need no comment, and will speak more emphatically than from the mouth of a stranger, I shall make use of them on this occasion.

"Mr. Tighe, in his Survey of the County of Kilkenny,' says, The peasants are most miserably lodged; there are numbers who have not a bedstead, nor even what is called a truckle-bed frame; a pallet to sleep on is a comfort unknown to them; a wad of straw, or perhaps heath laid on a damp clay floor, formis their resting place; but very few of them have any thing like sheets; their blankets are wretchedly bad; in short, their bed-clothes "In the latter, the same magnificence of are ragged and scanty; they put their coats idea is extended to the nobleman and gentle-aud petticoats over thein in aid of blankets in man's demesne; we see splendid houses with inadequate establishments; extensive parks and pleasure-grounds, oftentimes neglected, and generally ill kept; in short, the plans both of the public and of the individual, seem in this country both to have been formed and executed on a scale beyond the powers of either; and the simplex munditiis, the neat and clean

I will add an extract from a still later publica-
tion,
Illustrations of the Scenery of Kil-
larney,' by Isaac Weld, Esq. la speaking of
Mucrus abbey, the writer says: In a passage
leading to the cloyster, I once found a head,
with a considerable part of the flesh of the
face, and nearly the entire hair upon it, literally
rolling under my feet."

* "So badly regulated is the police of Dublin, that (as I was credibly informed) dead bodies are frequently exposed in the streets to procure, by charity, the means of burying them; and I was also told, that a mother had carried about the streets her infant who died

of the small-pox, in order to excite the compassion of those she met."

cold weather: too often these are still damp, having been but imperfectly dried by a miserable fire, after they were worn at work in the rain. Even through the scanty thatch, the rain sometimes descends upon their beds, and bringing down the spoty substance lodged there by the smoke of the cabin, wets and stains the bed itself, and those who are stretched upon it.'

"Neither are the habitations of the poor,

except in the immediate neighbourhood of some man of feeling, who has looked on them with an eye of pity (and few indeed are these examples), at all more comfortable in other provinces: in short, the above may serve as a general and just description of the poor man's hovel. I shall however subjoin a few more ex-. tracts from other county surveys."

"CAVAN.-In civilization they have made no proficiency, for the very wealthiest of these mountaincers have no better bed than straw, nor is a bedstead to be seen amongst them; but they indiscriminately herd together with the hogs, and all the domestic animals of their hovel. In more minutely examining the cou

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