RESEARCHES

IN

THE SOUTH OF IRELAND.

CHAPTER I.

HISTORY AND NATIONAL CHARACTER.

"All only for to publish plaine,

Tyme past, tyme present both:
That tyme to come, may well retaine,

Of each good tyme, the troth."

Thomas Churchyard's Worthines of Wales.

INTIMATELY connected as are the Sister Islands of Great Britain and Ireland, it is an extraordinary fact that the latter country should be comparatively a terra incognita to the English in general, who, notwithstanding their love of travel and usual spirit of inquiry, are still contented to remain very imperfectly acquainted with the actual state of so near a portion of the British empire.

To the facility of its access may in some measure be ascribed the

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indifference usually betrayed on this subject, since we often aspire to what is uncertain of attainment, and are unwilling to submit to the fatigues of travelling without exciting difficulties. Another, and perhaps a still stronger reason, may be discovered in the little importance attached to Irish History during the course of an English education, as it is regarded that of a dependent colony "transmitting to posterity only insignificance, oppression, and warfare."

Closer study would prove that in political feeling, in language, in manners, and almost every particular which stamps a national character, the two Islands differ essentially.

To the history of past ages we must refer for the means of ascertaining the present state of any people: for in remote events existing traits of character originate, that like mountain-streams become important in their progress. Distinctions will be found between the peasantry of England and Ireland, (for in the lower classes alone can national distinctions be traced,) in proportion to the variation of feature in the respective annals of their countries, and to the minute and liberal observer a summary of each may be read in the present inhabitants.

The rough and honest independence of the English cottager speaks the freedom he has so long enjoyed, and when really injured his appeal to the laws for redress and protection marks their impartial and just administration: the witty servility of the Irish peasantry, mingled with occasional bursts of desperation and revenge—the devoted yet visionary patriotism—the romantic sense of honour, and improvident yet unalterable attachments, are evidences of a conquest without system, an irregular government, and the remains of feudal clanship, the barbarous and arbitrary organization of a warlike people.

If a desire for information on the present state of Ireland exists, the past should be attentively studied; but the difficulty of placing ourselves in remote times, and of recalling contemporary opinions