242 



DICKSON ON THE LOSS TO INNISHANNON 



work on The Waste Land of Ireland. Had Mr. Colthurst's 

 example in the county of Cork been forwarded there, it could 

 not fail to have produced luxuriant Flax, equal to that 

 produced on the waste land in Holland, and on the banks 

 of the Humber, in Yorkshire. Had that mill been erected 

 to prepare Flax in Innishannon, the noise of the shuttle 

 and the merry song of the weaver would have been generally 

 heard in Bandon and Innishannon ; and once more the 

 cottages of the poor would have been illuminated, as Pope 

 says : — 



" Which not alone has shone in ages past, 

 But lights the present, and shall warm the last." 



Such were my anticipations and hopes in 1854. I then 

 determined to do my part, and with the assistance of Mr. 

 Frewen, then M.P. for East Sussex, to lay such a foundation 

 of industry in Cork, as must have led to the rescue of many 

 of my countrymen from the iron grasp of poverty. After 

 getting an estimate, with plan and drawing of the mills at 

 Innishannon, from a builder in Cork, I left that city at the 

 request of Mr. Frewen, to meet him at his residence, either 

 at Cold Overton Hall, Brickwall, Leicestershire, or at the 

 Carlton Club, London. On my arrival home, I felt confident 

 that I should successfully carry out my views. I consoled 

 myself with sanguine expectations, but Mr. Payne (Mr. 

 Frewen's agent) put his veto on my hopes and exertions. 

 Ere I was two hours in London, Mr. Frewen's letter arrived, 

 to inform me that he had (on the advice of Mr. Payne) 

 changed his mind respecting the mill in Innishannon. Mr. 

 Frewen doubtless thought (on the advice of his reverence), 

 that a Flax-mill, giving employment to a hundred families 

 from twelve years old and upwards, was Malum prohibitum. 

 He was ill-advised, and his withdrawal from the proposal 

 caused me considerable expense, great disappointment, and loss, 

 by leaving Ireland at the time, more especially as a gentle- 



