THEIR HEIGHT, FORM, AND STRENGTH. 123 



conspired with other causes, to soften and simplify 

 the character of the Leitrim peasant." 



Here we find no trace of degraded dwarfs. I 

 might very easily extend those quotations ; and I 

 might even prove the falsehood of Hall's statements 

 from the silence of tourists' books on that matter ; 

 and I could easily show how incompatible his 

 assertions are with the whole tone and tenor of 

 books written on the West of Ireland.* 



133. 1821. George Petrie, the son of Scotch 

 parents, visited the West of Ireland in 1821. He 

 expresses his amazement at Pinkerton's assertion, 

 that " the wild Irish are the veriest savages on the 

 face of the globe," and says : " As the result of 

 much enquiry and attentive observation, I am bound 

 to praise their primitive simplicity, ingenuous 

 manners, singular hospitality and honesty. They 

 are brave, hardy, industrious, enterprising, thought- 

 ful, intelligent, innocent. Lying and drinking form 

 no part of their character; they never swear, have 

 a high sense of propriety, honour, and justice. They 

 are healthy, comely, and prepossessing, of fine 

 intellect and delicate sensibility ; still wild Irish 

 perhaps, and poor certainly, but well-dressed 



* For instance, The Saxon in Ireland ; or, Rambles of an 

 Englishman in Search of a Settlement in the West of Ireland, 

 London, John Murray, 1851. 



