134 Apparent Continuance of fine Weather.

feet in diameter. Where the cloisters were huts, the Monks would be content to answer the summons of a bell, not larger than that we now call a dinner bell. The pride of the wooden abbey was its bell and stone belfry." Campbell's Strictures on Irish History, p. 229.

I cannot express how grateful I feel for the delightful weather which has hitherto attended us, and which at present has the appearance of a continuance. In the sincere hope that you and home have not been denied an equal share of its charming, its salutary influence, I must bid you adieu.

J. C. C.

LETTER XII.

Ballymoney, August 21, 1813.

Two miles from Antrim on the Randalstown road is Shanes Castle. The celebrity of the place led us to expect an ancient edifice that would tell the tales of time long past. In this we were disappointed. The house is of modern construction, the grounds about it flat, and though the timber which surrounds it is very fine, the soil is not rich. A striking feature of the place is said to be a terrace formed on arches of great extent by the side of the Lough; but as we had seen all Lough Neagh had to offer in point of interest or beauty from Antrim, our curiosity was not further excited, and we passed on under an impression that Fame had been lavish of her encomiums on Shanes Castle. The worth and hospitality of its possessors had at all times spread considerable lustre around it, and it is not less an excusable than a common usage to attach to a residence the deserved popularity of its owner,

136

Bogs furnish Food as well as Fuel.

A great difference is perceptible in the soil, cultivation, and cabins of Antrim, when compared with the county of Down. The banks of the Bann, or White River, passing as it does through a great extent of bog, have little to attract the attention in point of beauty.

Nothing can be more erroneous than the idea commonly entertained of an Irish bog by those who are unacquainted with the country. Bogs furnish not only fuel but food; a great proportion of most of them is capable of cultivation, and of bearing very tolerable crops of grain. The most enviable site for a cabin is by the side of a highway adjoining to a bog. Cabins are found to extend along the roads for miles together when contiguous to a bog-whence with less labor a supply of fuel may be obtained by the cottiers, who have thus an opportunity of cultivating, at little expense, a part of them, and also of extending their efforts in the same way; a disposition which seems to be an inheritance, and to increase as it descends from father to son.

Little doubt can be entertained that by these means, in process of time, the whole may be reclaimed; and when that shall be effected it is difficult to conjecture what will become of so redundant a population. Ireland

Bogs likely to be all reclaimed.

137

appears to me as exhibiting a strong resemblance to the rude northern nations, and a hasty approximation to the state of them, previous to the bursting forth of their people, and overwhelming the more southern parts of Europe. Were a million of the inhabitants to emigrate at this day, this number, though great, would scarcely make a perceptible void in Ireland. The population must be increasing in a most rapid manner, if we are to judge by the numerous cabins which were erecting, and the dilapidation or abandonment of so few of them.

We found the road much thronged for some miles before we reached the town, in consequence of its being market day at Ballymoney; as we proceeded, the crowd became so great, as to preclude all calculation of numbers. When we arrived at the principal street of the town, which is nearly half a mile in length, and of considerable breadth, it was overflowing full, notwithstanding a cross street more than half its size appeared to afford it some relief. As illluck on this occasion would have it, the inn was at its further extremity, and, formidable as was the attempt to force a passage through such a crowd, we were compelled to undertake it, at the hazard of being engaged in disputes and involved in difficulties; for no precaution of ours

138 Extreme good Humor of the People,

could prevent our coming in contact with ob jects we wished to avoid, or of splashing and injuring the clothes, if not the persons, of many composing the multitude. Although moving at a foot's pace, and with the greatest precaution on our part, their dress, by being repeatedly forced against the wheels, became dirtied: this inconvenience instead of producing ill humour, had the contrary effect of a laugh, and the sufferers laughed with the laughers. The same inconvenience must frequently have happened on market days, but we did not allow "their being used to it" to detract from our estimation of the extremely good humour with which they had endured the annoyance our passing produced.

The numerous instances, which in the last few days have occurred, afford ground for a dispassionate and fair appreciation of the character of the Irish; and have produced convictions on my mind, that a week ago I could on few authorities have credited. These have had their influence as antidotes against the illiberal national prejudices, which, without examination, we are too apt to admit. General calumnies are always unjust. We hear of individual wrongs, of collective violence; but the operat ing cause or causes of either are kept in the