208 Thickness, Cement and Materials of Walls. 



or other ancient cement. I have seen, at the old city of 

 Cashely in Ireland the fragments of a stupendous ruin, 

 covering several acres. I saw many large and small 

 pieces of masonry, broken up for transportation, with 

 sledges, and other tools. It was more easy to split and 

 break the stones than the mortar, which appeai'edtonie 

 to be composed of common lime and sand. I have seen 

 such ruins, more or less preserved, in several other parts 

 oi Ireland; and they ai'e all of similai' composition. The 

 walls are very thick ; but the stones are most commonly 

 large, and so far as I could judge by the appearance of 

 the mortar, it had not been originally composed of a great 

 proportion of lime. Its appearance was often dusky ; 

 but Irish lime is not so clear and, I beheve, has not near 

 the strength our lime possesses. Our land, of equal 

 quality, and measure, would be ruined, with half the 

 lime they allow to an acre. 



The astonishing frequency of these castles, in most; 

 quarters of their island, furnishes numerous records, 

 preserved from the remotest ages, of the early capacity 

 of the Irish, in the mechanic arts. But they remain mo- 

 numents, and should be warnings, to evince, that the 

 arts of peace have never been durably established there. 

 No country is more capable, by nature, of the highest 

 improvement in agriculture, and all the prosperity of 

 which it is the source. The uncultivated state of a great 

 portion of it, is therefore the more deplorable. It is 

 devoutly to be wished, that we may *' learn to be wise 

 by others harms." — Ireland, for aught we know, once 

 possessed as much freedom as we enjo)'. The foun- 

 dations of these strong holds may have been laid on the 

 ruins of liberty. — Their wild theorists, who build airy 



