364 



CARRICK-ON-SUIR CARRINGTON. 



when la- was got loose, hearing that the great fa- 

 vourite .Buckingham was drawn about witli a 

 coach and six horses, thought he might very well 

 have eight in his coach, with which he rode through 

 the city of London, to the vulgar talk and admira- 

 tion." 



In general, however, it was thought disgraceful 

 in those times lor the male sex to ride in coaches. 

 " In Sir Philip Sidney's days, so famous for men 

 at armes. it was then," says Aubrey, " held as 

 great a disgrace for a young gentleman to ( he seen 

 riding in the streets in a coach, as it would now 

 for such a one to be seen in the streets in a petti- 

 coat and waistcoat 1 so much is the fashion of the 

 times altered." 



Sir Walter Scott says, that it is a tradition in 

 Scotland, that chaises or chariots were first intro- 

 duced into that country in 1745. Before that 

 time, the nobility were accustomed to travel in 

 vehicles somewhat resembling Noah's ark, and the 

 gentry on horseback ; but in that memorable year, 

 the prince of Ilesse appeared in a carriage of this 

 description, " to the admiration of all Scotchmen, 

 who regarded it as a coach cut in half." 



When we compare the clumsy things in which 

 even our kings formerly rode, with the convenient 

 and elegant carriages of the present day, we cannot 

 help admiring the progress which our workmen 

 have made in this and every other branch of art. 



CARRICK-ON-SUIR ; a market-town of Ire- 

 land, in the county of Tipperary, thirteen miles 

 from Waterford, and seventy-eight from Dublin. 

 It is situated on the north bank of the river Suir, 

 and consists of one long street extending in a direc- 

 tion from east to west, from which several smaller 

 ones diverge. The trade of the place consists 

 principally in the sale of agricultural produce and 

 provisions, which are sent to Waterford for expor- 

 tation, and to Clonmel for the supply of that town 

 and neighbourhood. The market is on Saturday. 

 Population of town, G922 ; of parish, including 

 town, 7445. 



CARRIER-PIGEONS, (a.) The Carrier-Pi- 

 geon is distinguished by a broad circle of white 

 skin round each eye, and by the dark-bluish co- 

 lour of its plumage. It will convey letters from 

 distant parts with remarkable celerity and cer- 

 tainty ; and this arises from the natural attach- 

 ment which the birds have for the places where 

 they have been bred. The mode of employing 

 them is to take them to the spot whence intelli- 

 gence is to be brought, to tie the letter under 

 their wing, and to let them loose. They rise to a 

 great height in the air, then, by an extraordinary 

 instinct, they dart onward in a direct line to their 

 home. Out of one hundred and ten pigeons 

 bi ought from Brussels to London, in the summer 

 of 1830, and let fly from London, July 19, at a 

 quarter before nine, A.M., one reached Antwerp, 

 186 miles distance, at eighteen minutes past two, 

 or in five hours and a half, being at the rate of 

 nearly thirty-four miles an hour. Five more 

 reacbed it within eight minutes after. Thirteen 

 others took two hours and a half more for the 

 journey, or eight hours in the whole. Another 





scriptive poet, was horn at Plymouth, in the year 

 1777. His parents were engaged in a retail gro- 

 cery business, and, at one period of their lives, 

 were possessed of considerable property. His fa- 

 ther was also employed, in some capacity, in the 

 Plymouth Arsenal. When he had attained his fif- 

 teenth year, his father apprenticed him to a mea- 

 surer in Plymouth Dock. " I was totally unfit (he 

 himself says) for the profession. Mild and meek 

 by nature, fond of literary pursuits, and inordin- 

 ately attached to reading, it is strange that a me- 

 chanical profession should have been chosen for me. 

 It was principally, however, my own fault. My 

 father was attached to the dock-yard, and wished 

 to see me in it; and, as the popular prejudice in 

 those days among the boys of the town was in 

 favour of the business of a shipwright, I was c.-ir- 

 ried away by the prevailing mania, and was, accord- 

 ingly, bound apprentice. This, however, had 

 scarcely been done when I repented; and, too late, 

 found that I had embraced a calling foreign to my 

 inclinations. Dissatisfaction followed, and the 

 noise and bustle of a dock-yard were but ill suited 

 to a mind predisposed to reflection, and the quiet- 

 est and most gentle pursuits. The ruffianism (I 

 will not change the term) of too many of the ap- 

 prentices, arid, indeed, of too many of the men, 

 sickened me. Let no parent place his child in the 

 dock-yard at Plymouth, unless he have previously 

 ascertained that his health, strength, personal 

 courage, and general habits of thinking 1 and acting, 

 will make him a match for the desperate spirits 

 with whom he will have to contend." After re- 

 maining at the Dock about four years, he resolved 

 on "running away ;" having in vain endeavoured to 

 prevail on his parents to place him in a situation 

 more consonant with his favourite pursuits. On 

 leaving the dock-yard, not knowing whither to 

 turn his steps, he entered himself as a seaman on 

 board a ship of war, and served in the action which 

 took place off Cape Finisterre, February 14th, 

 1797. His first verses on record were written in 

 commemoration of this event ; they attracted the 

 notice of his captain, vvbo, perceiving that he de- 

 served a better situation, and that some very un- 

 toward circumstances must have occurred to induce 

 him to seek this line of life, gave him his liberty, 

 and sent him home to his native tovvn. He then 

 commenced the business of a public teacher at Ply- 

 mouth Dock (now Devonport), and speedily at- 

 tracted considerable attention by his acuteness in 

 his modes of instruction. It should be here ob- 

 served, that Mr Carrington was indebted entirely 

 to his intense love of reading and research for 

 the knowledge which he possessed ; and he w.is 

 often heard to remark that he recollected having 

 learned nothing of consequence at school with the 

 exception of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and 

 the elements of English grammar. He subse- 

 quently went to Maidstone, in Kent, where he 

 opened school. He remained in that town about 

 three years ; and it may be observed that, in after 

 life, he frequently dwelt with great delight on his 

 recollections of Maidstone. 



At the solicitations of a circle of friends at Ply- 



pigeon went from London to Maestricht, 260 miles, mouth Dock, who wished him to undertake the 

 in six hours and a quarter. In January, 1831, two education of their sons, he returned in 1808 to 



pigeons, brought from Liskeard to London, were 

 let fly from London to Cornwall. One reached 

 LUkeard, 120 miles' distance, in six hours, the 

 other in a quarter of an hour more. 



CARRINGTON, N. T., a very pleasing de- 



that town, after a residence in Maidstone of about 

 two years ; and the academy which he then esta- 

 blished he continued to conduct till within six 

 months of his death, being a period of twenty-two 

 years of unceasing toil. This long course of si- 



