XIV 
MEMOIR OF THE LATE 
Scenes which were at that time known but to a few of our countrymen, 
and those belonging to the wealthier classes, are now visited annually by 
thousands, and are more familiar to tourists than many parts of these 
kingdoms. 
During Mr. Thompson’s tour, which occupied four months, he was 
daily in the habit of noting down the leading incidents of his journey. 
These memoranda are occasionally copious, but in general they are very 
concise. They bear intrinsic evidence of being written on the spur of the 
moment, and do not embody in a narrative form the details of personal 
adventure and dialogue, nor discussions on habits and manners, remains 
of antiquity, nor works of art. 
From some interlineations obviously added at a later date, it would 
appear probable that the author had intended at some future period 
transcribing into a more regular and extended form the rough notes of 
his original diary. If such was his intention, it was never fulfilled. To 
him the hurried jottings of the note-book would have been replete with 
meaning, rich in pleasant memories and bright associations. To others 
they are little more than a list of places and objects — sketches of scenery 
enjoyed — an enumeration of paintings visited — and occasionally a brief 
phrase expressive of admiration and delight. 
We have read this journal with much interest, not for the sake of any 
information which it contains respecting the localities visited, but because 
of the manifestations it affords of the mental characteristics of the author. 
It furnishes examples of the habits of observation and the modes of thought 
by which he was afterwards distinguished. To those who knew him well, 
it likewise evinces his quiet humour, his appreciation of art, and the 
spring of poetic feeling which throughout life was ever welling up, amidst 
all his devotion to science. 
But while the journal presents these attractions to the members of the 
family circle and a few attached and intimate friends, it did not seem to 
be such as would warrant publication. As a guide-book it is out of date, 
and the facts which it contains have been told by a hundred other writers. 
We felt convinced also that no one would have shrunk more sensitively 
than Mr. Thompson himself, from the idea of giving to the public the 
crude and hasty notes jotted down by him more than a quarter of a century 
ago. The first and the concluding paragraphs may, however, be given, as 
embodying the dates both of his departure from Belfast and his return. 
“ I commence this journal with the idea, that in after years I will read 
it over, and think upon it, as on a lovely dream never to be realized. 
“ On Sunday morning at nine o’clock, 21st May, 1826, left Belfast in 
the Chieftain S. P. for Liverpool. Sailing down the Lough, the shore on 
every side looked as beautiful as a fine summer day could make it, and 
when opposite Donaghadee the waters assumed the most glassy smooth- 
ness I ever witnessed. Our vessel stopped here to land a party of plea- 
sure ; all the boats of the town, that were scattered around us, in an in- 
stant ceased their motion, and nothing was heard in the intervals of our 
music ceasing, but 4 the light drip of the suspended oar.’ The waters lay 
calm and motionless as the sky above them, so that we could neither dis- 
tinguish where the one terminated, nor where the other commenced, 
which made the vessels at a distance appear as if suspended in air.” 
The journal concludes thus : — 
44 20th September. — At three we set sail from Liverpool in the Chief- 
tain, and after a delightful passage occupying seventeen hours, landed 
upon 4 mine own, my native land,’ about eight o’clock, on Thursday, 21st 
