i 62 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. V. 
traveller describing his conviction of the high and 
peculiar value which the Irish have for the hog- 
tribe ; the stys appropriated for the shelter of 
these quadrupeds he would tell you surpassed in 
size and commodiousness those of any other 
nation. They are frequently warmed by means 
of a turf fire, so that the children are often 
attracted into them, and may be seen playing 
with the pigs. What is remarkable is that, 
although the peasantry are far from being few in 
number, their habitations are nowhere visible. 
The rags and tatters are the most picturesque in 
the world. Shoes and stockings extremely rare, 
the children half or quite naked. Few vehicles 
of any description on the road, yet the country 
well cultivated and mostly fertile. Y ou are agree- 
ably surprised. At a distance you see a poor 
distressed-looking object, barefooted, with a gray 
cloak over the head ; as you come nearer you see 
an intelligent, healthy, laughing face under the 
cloak, the very reverse of what you anticipated.’ 
On September 8, 1839, Owen writes to Mrs. 
Clift from Florence Court, giving her a descrip- 
tion of the house and grounds, and among the 
details he gives are the following : ‘ There is 
only one exceptional condition about Florence 
Court ; it is abottt twenty barrels of gimpowder, 
which, with arms and accoutrements for five hun- 
dred men, his lordship informed me, with peculiar 
satisfaction, he kept for his boys, in spite of Dan 
