IRELAND. 



589 



intelligent, without some of that well-known intonation, which is called the b)ogtie. In the 

 south and west, the Erse or Gaelic is so general, that a stranger, who Vnows only English, 

 can neither communicate nor understand. 



10. Building. The houses, even of the rich, are far less elegant and comfortable than in 

 England ; they are square and gloomy edifices, 'i'he cabins of the poor are as slight protec- 

 tions from the climate as were ever reared in civilized countries. Tliey are without cl;imneys 

 or floors, and are made of mud and straw, and covered Vv'iih sods or heath; many have no 

 windows, and few have more than a single pane. The door is often but a straw mat. The 

 furniture is in keeping with the house, and if there be any besides the crock, it is but a chest, 

 a bench, a table, and a bed. There is but one room, and this is free, not only to any person 

 to enter without knocking, but equally open to " the fowl and the brute." Tlie villages often 

 consist of whole streets of mud cabins. The city of Dublin, the centre of which is hardly 

 surpassed m Europe, for the beauty and splendor of its edifices, is surrounded by miserable 

 hovels, inferior in comfort to the wigwam or tent of the western savage. 



11. Food and Drink. There is little variety in the food of the greater part of the Irish, 

 which consists principally of buttermilk and potatoes, though in spring, there is not always a 

 sufficiency even of these, and the scarcity often rises to a famine. A cow is kept in almost 

 every cabin, but neither butter, cheese, nor even poultry and eggs, are ever thought of by the 

 common people as articles of food for themselves ; these go to pay rents, taxes, and tithes, 

 and the buttermilk only is reserved for the proprietors. Every family has, if no other furni- 

 ture, at least one capacious article, called a crock., or kettle, which is convertible to many uses. 

 The water is brought home, clothes are washed, potatoes boiled, and the harvest of potatoes 

 often brought home in the crock. The crock or potato bowl is placed in the middle of the 

 floor, and the family gather round it, squatting on their hams to eat ; at least, this is the prac- 

 tice where there are no tables or movable seats. The beggar is as welcome as an inmate of 

 the cabin, and is never turned from the door ; such inhospilality, it would be feared, would 

 bring a curse upon the cabin. Animal food is seldom tasted, or indeed anything as fbod but 

 potatoes, by the mass of the people. 



The number of the indigent in Ireland, and the degree of misery to which they are often reduced 

 for food and other necessaries of life, can hardly be imagined in this country, where famine 

 never comes, and where pauperism scarcely exists, except what is created by the improvident 

 emigrants from Europe. Many of the towns in New England are without a single pauper, and 

 there are but few in the whole United States. But the " Cork Reporter," of a late dale, says, 

 that " in three parishes of that city alone, there have been found no less than 26,000 paupers, 

 and the whole city is supposed to present an aggregate of 60,000 persons, without the means 

 of providing for themselves. The number of persons who die of mere starvation in a country 

 like this, must be considerable. 



Tiie Irish are temperate from necessity, as their poverty seldom permits them to have the 

 dignity of denial. Whisky, however, is a constituent part of festivals, and acting on the ardent 

 national temperament, leads to quarrels, which are called rows. Many of the hard-earned 

 gains are expended for whisky, though the consumption of this is on the decrease. Up to 

 1829, there was a progressive increase in the consumption of spirits in Ireland. In 1830, 

 there was a decrease, of home made spirits alone, of 210,903 gallons, and in the first half of 

 IBol, a decrease of 721,564 gallons ; while in Scotland, during the same lime, the decrease 

 was 513,687 gallons. 



12. Traveling. All that used to be so uncomfortable and ludicrous in Irish posting, has 

 disappeared, and in the frequented parts, the traveler finds good roads, vehicles, and accom- 

 modations. The inns, indeed, are inferior to those in England, and in the more humble kinds 

 it is not unusual to see a sign which promises the traveler " dry lodgings," or " entertainment 

 with beds." 



In the remote parts, the traveler must shift as he can, and he must sometimes travel on a 

 omall car with very low wheels. Some of these have but a flat bottom, fastened upon the 

 axletree. The jaunting car, in which the common people of Dublin lake their family excur- 

 sions, is a large cart, lhat will carry a great many ])eople, who sit on two long seats and ride 

 sideways. 



13. Character, Manners, and C^lsloms. It must be adiiiiued, that the sway of the British 

 government in Ireland has been of a kind to depress the spirit and debase the character of the 

 people. It has been thought to be a good measure for liic security of the union, to keep the 



