1850] First Visit to Ireland. 1 1 



CHAPTER III. 



FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 



[1850.] 



THREE months after he left Rugby, his friend Walter 

 Shawe-Taylor quitted Harrow ; and as both were destined 

 to enter Cambridge in the following October they looked 

 forward with eager anticipation to a renewal of the com- 

 panionship which had, of course, suffered considerable 

 interruption during the period of school. A visit from 

 Walter to the Mores at Easter was followed by an invita- 

 tion to Alexander to spend the summer of the year in 

 Ireland : an invitation which was gladly accepted, and 

 may be regarded as having in no small measure determined 

 the course of his subsequent life. 



Castle Taylor, the residence of the Shawe-Taylor family, 

 is situated near Ardrahan, in the southern part of county 

 Galway. The rocky limestone formation is very similar 

 to that of the Burren district in Clare ; and it is unneces- 

 sary to say that many of its natural history features are 

 strikingly different from those which prevail in the Isle of 

 Wight. 



Here he passed four summer months, from the middle 

 of June to the commencement of the Cambridge October 

 Term, recording the doings of each day in a journal which 

 bears ample testimony to the delight he felt in the fresh 

 life and novel surroundings of his friend's Irish home. 

 The two travelled to Ireland together in the highest of 

 spirits : Dublin, where on landing they whiled away a few 

 hours, is spoken of as " a very fair sort of town," while 

 almost startling praise is bestowed on the travelling 

 accommodation of the Ireland of 1850 : " mem., the Irish 

 second-class (carriage) as good as our first." 



A three days' journey brought them to Castle Taylor 

 at 8 o'clock on the morning of June i4th; and here a sleep 



