CAR 



479 



CAR 



CaroUa. wai at this time his principal place of residence. 

 >l "Y"* 1 *' There, whilat under this severe regimen, he wander- 



about tlie streets ; his usual guicty forsook him ; 

 no sallies of his once lively imagination broke out { 



i y moment was laden with care, and marked with 

 a dejection of spirits bordering on the deepest me- 

 lanclioly ; his favourite harp lay in an obscure cor- 

 ner of his habitation, neglected and unstrung. In this 

 deplorable situation, passing a whisky bhop one day 

 in town, after having abstained six weeks from tast- 

 ing spirits, he was tempted to step in, undetermin- 

 ed whether to yield to the temptation, or adhere 

 to his late resolutions. " Well, my dear friend," 

 said he to the young man who stood behind the 

 counter, " you sec I am a man of constancy ; for 

 these xir long inchs I have refrained from n'ldsLi/ 

 was ever there so great an instance of self-denial ? But 

 a thought strikes me you will surely not deny me 

 the favour I am about to solicit. Bring me a mea- 

 sure of my favourite liquor, that I may just smell it, 

 and I assure you I will not put it within my lips." 

 The young man complied with hia request, and no 

 sooner did the fumes ascend into his brain, than every 

 latent spark within him was rekindled, his counte- 

 nance glowed with unusual brightness, and he pour- 

 ed forth the effusions of a heart newly animated, in 

 wild but poetic expressions over the bowl to which he 

 owed his inspiration. At length, to the great peril 

 of his health, and contrary to the advice of all his 

 friends, he once more drank the prohibited beverage, 

 renewing the draught until his spirits had fully resu- 

 med their former tone. He then immediately set 

 about composing the much admired and far famed 

 song, which goes by the name of" Carolan's Receipt 

 for drinking Whisky." He commenced the words, 

 and began to modulate the air that evening in Boyle ; 

 and, before ten o'clock the next morning, he sung 

 and played this noble offspring of his imagination in 

 Mr Stafford's parlour at Elphin. In justice, how- 

 ever, to Carolan, it must be remarked, that notwith- 

 standing his fondness for spirituous liquors, he very 

 seldom carried his drinking the length of intoxication; 

 but he imagined that whisky assisted him in his mu- 

 sical composition, and therefore never composed 

 without a bottle of it beside him. To deny Carolan 

 his favourite beverage, was a certain method of rous- 

 ing his satire. Being one time in the house of an old 

 lady, who was remarkably parsimonious in this way, 

 he chanced to hear the butler, whose name was 

 O'Flinn, open the cellar door, and laying aside his 

 harp, followed him into the cellar, requesting a cup 

 of beer; the butler, in rather an insulting tone, or- 

 dered him out, declaring he would give him nothing 

 without orders. 



Carolan indignantly exclaimed, 



" What a pity Hell's gates were not kept by O'Flinn, 

 So surly a dog would let nobody in !" 



The fame of Carolan, as a musician, having reach- 

 ed the ears of an eminent Italian music-master in 

 Dublin, he determined to j ut his abilities to a severe 

 trial, the result of which convinced him how well- 

 founded had been whatever was said in his favour. 

 The method he made use of was this : he selected an 



excellent piece of mmic in the Italian etyle ; but here Carofn, 

 and there either altered or mutilated it in such a way, C- 

 that none but a real judge ould detect the alteration:. '-,-' 

 Carolan bestowed the < , the per- 



former, while he was playing it, not knowing it was 

 intended as a trial of his skill, and that the critical 

 moment was at hand w. / determine his re- 



putation, as a musician, for ever. He declared it to 

 be an excellent piece of mut>ic, but to the astonish- 

 ment of all present, he said, very humorously, i:. 

 own language, la se air c/tui^ uii lj(uai^lie y that i 

 literally, " Here and there it limps and stumbles." 

 He was then requested to rectify the errors, which 

 he accordingly did ; and in this state, the piece 

 sent from Connayght to Dublin. The Italian no 

 sooner saw it than he pronounced Carolan to be a 

 true musical genius. 



In 17^3, Carolan experienced a severe domestic 

 affliction in the death of his wife, which had a visible 

 effect on his constitution. His spirits greatly for- 

 sook him, and the only piece of composition that he 

 attempted from that to his death, was a monody on 

 her death, known by the name of " Mary M'Guire." 

 Carolan, while on a visit at Mrs M'Dermott's of Al- 

 derford, in the county of Roscommon, was taken sud- 

 denly ill, and died therein the month of March 1738, in 

 the68th year of his age ; and was interred in the parish 

 church of Kilronan, in the diocese of Ardagh. But 

 no memorial exists of the spot in which his remains 

 were laid. He had seven children by his wife, six 

 daughters, and one son, who studied music, and went 

 to London, where he taught the Irish harp. Before 

 his departure, he published, in 1717, a collection of 

 his father's music ; but omitted, through mercenary 

 motives, some of the very best of his pieces. It was 

 republished in Dublin, by John Lee, in 1780. 



Carolan, as a musician, stands in the very first class, 

 and has added considerably to the ancient stock of 

 Irish music, for which his country has been, from the 

 earliest times, so celebrated. Many of his pieces, it 

 is to be feared, are now lost ; but we hope, that most 

 of them may yet be recovered, through the indefatig- 

 able exertions of the ingenious Mr Bunting of Belfast. 

 See his General collection of the Ancient Music of 

 Ireland ; and the Belfast Monthly Magazine, No. 12, 

 vol. iii. (o) 



CAROLINA, NORTH, one of the United States 

 of America, is bounded on the north by Virginia, 

 on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Bound* 

 South Carolina and Georgia, and on the west by the ries. 

 state of Tennessee. According to its charter limits, 

 however, it extends much farther on the west, inclu- 

 ding the state of Tennessee, as far as the river Mis- 

 sissippi. By the treaty of 1763, Great Britain gave 

 up her claim to all territory westward of the Missis- 

 sippi ; and the courts of France and Spain, at the 

 same time, granted her the free navigation of that 

 river. At the termination of the American war, 

 Great Britain transferred her interest in that river 

 to the United States. But since Spain, forgetting 

 the treaty of 176'3, now claims the exclusive right of 

 navigating the Mississippi, North Carolina resumes 

 her claims to the lands beyond it, included within 

 the limits of her original charter. By that charter, 

 it extended 758 miles in length, and 110 iu breadth, 



