CHAPTER XLVII.

CLIMATE.-VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.-ANIMALS.

THERE is but a small part of Ireland more than fifty miles from the sea, a circumstance which fully accounts for the mildness of the climate, its equability, and its humidity. The temperate atmosphere of Ireland was held in high estimation, and strong testimony to its goodness is borne by the older historians. At the beginning of this century (1804), Dr. Hamilton, in his account of Antrim, mentions the equable distribution of heat throughout the island, and the perpetual verdure of the fields, unimpaired by either solstice. This equability of temperature is clearly proved by the fact, that delicate plants thrive in the county of Donegal, close upon the Northern ocean. Arbutus and laurestinus there grow healthily, and myrtles so luxuriantly, as to cover the walls of houses up to the second story. On the shore of Lough Swilley, near Ramelton, the agapanthus and the fuschia abide in winter in the open ground, and flower extremely well in summer. The southern part of Ireland is considerably warmer than Ulster. The snow seldom lies for any considerable time. The spring is earlier, fruit ripens a fortnight sooner, and the harvest is fit for the sickle a month before that of the northern, and a fortnight before the midland districts. In the counties of Cork and Kerry, tender shrubs, such as bay, verbena, fuschia, &c., grow with extraordinary luxuriance; and the native arbutus enriches the wild scenery of Killarney and Glengariffe. The moisture of the climate is its greatest defect; but this varies remarkably in degree. The atmosphere of the western side of Ireland is naturally much more humid than that of the eastern, exposed as it is to the influence of the moist vapors of the great Atlantic, which, attracted by the mountains, rest upon their heads and pour down rain into the valleys. Thus, the greatest quantity of rain which has been known to fall-forty-two inches —was near Colooney in the county of Sligo, while the smallest quantity is at Armagh, which, though a very hilly, is comparatively an inland district. In a paper lately read at the Royal Irish academy, it appeared, from comparative registers carefully kept, that, in the year 1839, there had been, at Monks Eleigh, which is about forty miles from the seacoast of Suffolk, 21-726 inches of rain; while at Toomavara, in the county of Tipperary, and about forty miles from the western coast, there fell 40-552 inches, or very nearly double the quantity: but during the same year, only 21-7 fell at Armagh-a curious instance of the differences arising from local circumstances. Again, the county of Dublin is wetter than that of Wicklow, because the clouds charged with rain pass over Dublin toward the channel, free from every obstacle, while those which cross Wicklow, striking upon the mountains and hills, deposite their moisture upon their western slopes, leaving the eastern sides of the country between them and the sea dry and in sunshine.

The botany and zoology of Ireland generally resemble those of the neighboring island. The cultivated plants and useful animals are identical. There are, however, some peculiar to Ireland.

The more remarkable plants which are indigenous and peculiar to Ireland, arethe arbutus unedo, or strawberry-tree, found at Killarney, particularly beautiful from its abundance of red fruit; the rosa Hibernica, Irish rose, found near Belfast; the ulex strieta, Irish furze, found sparingly in the county of Down, distinguished from common furze by its upright mode of growth and softer texture; the taxus Hibernica, frequently called Florencecourt yew, from having been first observed in Lord Enniskillen's demesne in the county of Fermanagh-its growth is upright, resembling that of the cypress, and its foliage dark green; the menziesia polyfolia, Irish menziesia, a very beautiful plant, whose large purple heath-like bells decorate the wild districts of Galway; the erica Mediterranea, discovered by Mr. Mackay at Connemara in 1829, a distinct variety of the Corsican heath, very ornamental in the flowering season; the erica Mackayana, many-branched cross-leaved heath, sent to Mr. Mackay from Gonnemara, and named after him by Sir William Hooker, professor of botany, Glasgow (the three last species of heaths are also natives of the Pyrenees); the saxifraga geum, kidney-leaved saxifrage; s. hirsuta, hairy saxifrage; s. elegans,

small round-leaved saxifrage; s. umbrosa, variety serratula, saw-leaved saxifrage, or London pride. The above four species and varieties, new to Britain and Ireland, were discovered by Mr. Mackay, in the mountains near Killarney, in 1805. They all resemble the London pride of the gardens, which also grows wild on the mountains of Galway, Mayo, Sligo, and Donegal.

With respect to the animal kingdom, there were formerly several races of cattle considered as exclusively Irish, of which two kinds are still extant--the Kerry breed, which is black, very small, and beautifully proportioned, the limbs and horns being most delicately made; they are excellent milkers, both for quantity and quality, and are remarkable for their gentle and affectionate disposition: they are to be had only in the remote barony of Iveragh, in the county of Kerry. The other species, which is always called the old Irish breed, is usually of a bright red, the back hollow, the pin bones high, the head very small, a fine eye; the horns growing upright, and remarkably slender, as are the legs. They are very deficient in beauty, but are valuable for the dairy. The red deer, though now extremely scarce, are still to be found at Killarney, in some of the wild mountain districts of Kerry, and the adjoining part of the county of Cork; at Shanbally in the county of Tipperary, and in Donegal. The wolf-dog, now almost extinct, is still occasionally to be seen in Ireland; the curly-haired liver-colored water-dog, which is considered quite an Irish breed; the large black and tan breed of terriers, peculiar to the county of Kerry. Squirrels are common in some places. The gillaroo-trout is peculiar to Lough Neagh; and the pollen, or fresh-water trout, was long considered so, but has lately been found in the Scottish lakes. The dorchar is also peculiar to Lough Neagh; it is of a darker color than trouts usually are. It is generally supposed that Ireland possesses no reptiles, but this is a vulgar error. The toad and frog are common.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

THE PEOPLE.-THEIR CHARACTER AND CIRCUMSTANCES.POPULATION.

THE bulk of the Irish people are a branch of the Celtic race, who were probably the first settlers in the island. The peasantry, throughout nearly the whole country, are of this origin, and in many parts they still speak the Celtic (here termed the Irish) language. The chief exception from this rule is in the north, where a great number of the humbler, as well as middle classes, are descended from comparatively recent settlers of Scottish extraction. Another rather conspicuous exception is found in Connaught, particularly in Galway, where a considerable number of the people seem to be of Spanish descent. Families of English extraction are comparatively rare among the laboring class in Ireland.

The Irish laboring classes, and a large portion of the middle classes, being thus generally of Celtic origin, are marked by many peculiar features. Their character includes much quickness of apprehension and ingenuity, considerable natural eloquence and wit, and affections much warmer than those of most European nations, but is generally acknowledged to be deficient in reflection and foresight, and liable to a peculiar irascibility, which often attaches to a mercurial and upon the whole amiable character. The upper, and a large portion of the middle classes, being of Saxon descent, are not much different from the same classes in Great Britain; but, in as far as any difference exists, it may be said to consist in a tincture of the Celtic, or genuine Irish character, as just described. This admixture is perhaps that which gives the educated Irish so much artistic talent, whether to be exhibited in literature or the arts, while some of the more peculiarly English characteristics are less conspicuous.

Limiting the consideration of the social state of Ireland to what is peculiar to it, we may first advert to a conspicuous practice of the landowners-absenteeism. By absentees are not meant those noblemen, who, being Englishmen, have also large

one.

possessions in Ireland, and whose estates (with some glaring exceptions) are usually well and justly managed; but those sons of Erin who prefer living in any other country to remaining in their own, although it is at home only that a man receives his just meed of respect. This system of absenteeism has led to that of middlemen, who hold large tracts of land from the head landlord, and relet this land at a much increased rent to farmers; these, again, let to a third set of under-tenants at rack-rents; and this lowest grade of tenantry divide their small farms among their sons, thus creating a race of farming poor, who are unable to till their holdings properly, and miserably increasing a population raised but a step above the pauper. There is perhaps no more thriving person than the farming-landholder, who, contented with his condition, rises with his laborers, holds his own plough, and superintends the management of his farm; but the state of the cottier is often far from being a happy The discomfort of this class may be said to arise chiefly from three causes— low wages, high rents, and, most of all, from the want of steady employment. The too great subdivision of land, as will be shown, in treating of the condition of the peasantry in the provinces, is another cause of the general poverty and want of comfort of the cottier. Under the excitement of war prices and the free trade in corn with Great Britain, agriculture advanced rapidly, and, consequently, so did the demand for labor; land rose in value, lessees were tempted to realise profit-rents by subletting their farms; and thus a class of middlemen was created, by whom the land was let in still smaller divisions, and at extreme rents. This system was an absolute bar to the encouragement which might have been given to the tenantry by the proprietors of estates. The occupying landlord pays a higher rent to the middleman than does the middleman to the proprietor, because the middleman exacts as much as he can get, without any reference to the future situation of the tenant: but the landlord has different feelings-he looks forward, and considers the reversionary interest which he has in keeping his tenant in prosperity, and his land in a state to yield a remunerating profit.

The habits of getting credit frequently at an advance of 50 per cent., of resorting to pawnbrokers, and of forming early marriages, contribute to the impoverishment of the laboring classes in Ireland. The poorer the individuals are, the more eager are they for wedlock; even the very beggars intermarry. It must, however, be admitted as some excuse, that early marriage is much encouraged by the Romish priesthood; and in fairness it must be added, that this practice contributes exceedingly to the morality of the lower classes. The superstitious regard to wakes and funerals, which has been handed down from ancient times, is often a deplorable drain on the slender resources of the peasant.

In considering the character of the Irish peasantry in general, it is refreshing to see some noble traits standing out in full relief against the darker shades. The Irish people are of acknowledged bravery, proverbial hospitality, affectionate to their parents and aged relatives, charitable to the mendicant, and evincing in many places, even under extreme distress, a decency of feeling, which renders them averse to soliciting eleemosynary assistance. The women, generally speaking, are modest and irreproachable in their conduct; and it must be added, that, notwithstanding the crime and wretchedness which oppress the country, the poor Irish are free from some species of vice which are but too common in other countries. During the hay and corn harvests of England and Scotland, the services of the Irish laborers are very important. They are generally sober, well-conducted, and inoffensive; laboring hard and living hard, that they may bring their earnings home to pay the rent of their little farm or dwelling. A spalpeen, or harvest-man, carries home from four to eight or ten pounds; to do which, he is contented, while away, almost to starve himself. There is reason, therefore, to hope, that under a better state of things, the national character would rise to a standard much higher than it has yet attained; and improvement may reasonably be expected from the happy change wrought of late years by the temperance societies, and especially by the Roman Catholic clergyman, the Rev. T. Mathew, of which evidence was given in the Ballinasloe fair of 1840, where, instead of twelve hogsheads, the quantity usually disposed of, it is believed that there were only eight gallons of whisky consumed. The last, but by no means the most miserable class in Ireland, is that of the common vagrant. Of these, some are beggars by profession; some are obliged, from loss of employment, to become what are called walkers; and others are mendicants for a time only, as when their husbands are reaping the harvests in England, at

which time it is customary to lock up the house, and the wife and children walk the world until the traveller returns with his little hoard of hard-earned money. It may be asserted, that in every district of Ireland, excepting some peculiarly circumstanced portions of Ulster, there is a feeling of respect toward mendicancy, which tends to support and perpetuate it. The poor tenants of the cabins receive the wanderers, whether single or in groups; and carrying, as these do, their bedding along with them, a warm corner is allowed them, even in the only room possessed. “It is the humblest sort," say they, "that are really good to us." The vagrants that frequent fairs, markets, patrons, holy wells, and other places of religious or pleasurable resort, are better off than the other poor. A respectable evidence declared to the commissioners on the Poor-law Inquiry in the county of Meath, that the beg gars at fairs were "as jolly a set as ever he saw in his life:" and in more places than one, it was stated to the commissioners that the beggars were better off than the tradesmen or laborers.

Hitherto the usual methods of supporting the pauper poor have been congregational collections, subscriptions, very extensive private charity, and of late years the application of the resources of the Mendicity Association; but the inefficiency of these means have ultimately led to the establishment of a poor-law, the general object of which is to relieve the destitution of the country. Under this system, assistance is proposed to be afforded to persons only in the workhouses of their respective parochial unions, which are now erecting throughout Ireland. It is calculated that a hundred workhouses, placed in the centre of so many unions, and capable of containing each from four to eight hundred persons, will be sufficient to accommodate all who are likely to apply for admission. For the better regulation of the system, it was enacted, that a board of guardians should be annually elected in each union, in number according as the commissioners shall see fit, the same guardians being eligible for the subsequent year. It appears that, so far as the poorlaw system is as yet brought into operation, it is imperfect, and has not relieved the districts in which it has been carried into effect from the annoyance of mendicity, inasmuch as there is no compulsory law for retaining vagrants in the poorhouses; they therefore leave them at pleasure, to follow the more agreeable course of begging in the streets. Until such enactment be passed, Ireland, it would seem, will be subject to a severe taxation in support of the poor-law system, while at the same time it is not relieved of the evils of mendicancy. So far as the poorhouses are yet in operation, they seem to be well conducted; arrangements are made for the instruction of the younger portion of the inmates, and the details of food, clothing, and lodging, appear to be generally considered satisfactory.

The population of Ireland was estimated by an acute statesman of the reign of Charles II. as being then about one million one hundred thousand. Another estimate, formed in 1731, but upon data not perfectly to be relied on, made the population two million ten thousand two hundred and twenty-one. This last number seems to have been doubled before 1788, till which time Ireland was almost exclusively a pastoral country. Since then, agriculture and commerce have borne more conspicuous parts in the national industry; but circumstances unfavorable to national happiness and wealth have also been strongly operative, and the progress of the people was, till a very late date, upon the whole, downward. In proportion to the unfavorable circumstances, and most of all where the circumstances have been the most unfavorable, the population has increased. It was, at the first regular census, in 1821, six millions eight hundred and one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven; and at that of 1831, seven millions seven hundred and sixty-seven thousand four hundred and one. What strikingly illustrates the principle here alluded to, is, that in Leinster, which contain populous towns and is a comparatively prosperous province, the increase in the ten years between these two census, was at the rate of nine per cent.; while in Connaught, where there are few towns, but a numerous peasantry in a very depressed condition, the increase was twenty-two per cent. It is a recent discovery, but a very important one, that, below a certain point in comfort of life, population is apt to experience a rapid increase, to the aggravation of all existing evils. And it is to this evil, more particularly, that a well-regulated poor-law may be considered as addressed.

CHAPTER XLIX.

ANTIQUITIES.

THE antiquities of Ireland may be classed under the heads of the cromlech, the cairn, the circle, the pillar-stone, the barrow, the dun, the lis, the rath, the ancient stone-roofed buildings, and the lofty and beautifully built round towers. The name cromlech is compounded of crom, which signifies fate or Providence, and llech, a stone, literally "the stone or altar of God." Cromlech is also interpreted to mean an inclining stone, from the words crwm, bowed, and llech, a stone, as spoken of on page 116. They vary in size and form, and in most instances consist of three upright supporters, two at the lower and one at the upper end, upon which the altarstone was balanced; underneath this, and between the uprights, a hollow is usually found, which is thought to have been for the purpose of facilitating the passage of cattle and children under the sacred fire-a custom which seems to be alluded to in the Scriptures, when the Israelites are reproached with passing their sons and daughters through the fire to Moloch, one of the names given to the sun. Of the cairn there were two kinds, the burying and the simple cairn, or high place made of stones flattened on the top. These artificial high places were usually situated on an eminence; and here, on festival days, especially the first of May and the first of November, the fires of Bel were wont to be lighted. At these times all household fires were extinguished, to be rekindled by a brand from the sacred flame -a practice which continued till the time of St. Patrick, who succeeded in putting an end to it. Tumuli of this description abound in all parts of the kingdom.

Closely connected with the cairn, are the circles of upright stones, usually called druidic circles. They frequently surround a cairn, as that of New Grange, in the county of Meath, where the stones are placed about one third of the whole height, above the base: frequently they encircle a pillar-stone.

The pillar-stone is so frequently joined with the circle, cair, cromlech, and sacred grove, that it can not be passed over in silence. Numerous instances might be pointed out of lofty upright stones in many parts of the kingdom, standing sometimes singly, but most commonly in conjunction with one or more of the abovementioned relics of pagan times. Tradition says, that formerly the people collected round such stones for worship, which is confirmed by the common expression in Irish of "going to the stone," for going to church or chapel. These stones are conceived by many to have given rise to the carved stone cross found in various churchyards, and of which one of the finest specimens is to be seen at Monasterboyce, in the County of Louth.

There are several kinds of tumuli remaining, of which the Irish names declare the original object. The Lios or Lis, which signifies a fortified house, was an artificial hill, sometimes approaching in shape to an ellipse, with a flat top, and an earthen breastwork or rampart thrown round the little plain on the summit, where was placed the dwelling, usually protected by a strong wattled paling, as is now customary among the Circassians. The duns or doons were places of strength, always perched on a rocky bold situation, and fenced by a broad wall of extremely large stones, which wall forms one of the distinctions between the dun and the lis. The rath signifies a village or settlement: these abound in all parts of the island, and are of various sizes, standing sometimes singly, sometimes so as to form a chain of posts; and frequently may be seen a large head rath, where the chieftain lived, and its smaller dependent raths, on which his retainers dwelt.

Among the earliest and peculiar antiquities of Ireland, are the low stone-roofed buildings, with high wedge-shaped roofs: of these, a few instances still exist at Kells, Kildare, Ardmore, and Killaloe. The most remarkable relics of the olden times of Ireland are the lofty round towers, of which, perfect and imperfect, one hundred and eighteen have been enumerated in various parts of the kingdom. They are built with a wonderful uniformity of plan. They are all circular, of small diameter, and great altitude. In most of them the door is at some height from the