“What then, (said I,) we shall not enjoy ourselves in all the comfortable unrestrained freedom of an inn.”
“We poor Irish, (said the priest,) find the unrestrained freedom of an inn not only in the house of a friend, but of every acquaintance, however distant; and indeed if you are at all known, you may travel from one end of a province to another, without entering a house of public entertainment; * the host always considering himself the debtor of the guest, as though the institution of the Beataghs ** were still in being. And besides a cordial welcome from my hospitable kinsman, I promise you an introduction to his three handsome daughters. So fortify your heart, for I warn you it will run some risk before you return.”
* “Not only have I been received with the greatest kindness,
but I have been provided with everything which could promote
the execution of my plan. In taking the circuit of Ireland,
I have been employed eight or nine months; during which time
I have been everywhere received with a hospitality which is
nothing surprising in Ireland: that in such a length of time
I have been but six times at an inn, will give a better idea
of this hospitality than could be done by the most laboured
praise.”—M. de Latocknay.
** In the excellent system of the ancient Milesian
government, the people were divided into classes; the
Literati holding the next rank to royalty itself, and the
Beataghs the fourth; so that, as in China, the state was so
well regulated, that every one knew his place, from the
prince to the peasant. “These Beataghs (says Mr. O’Halloran)
were keepers of open houses for strangers, or poor
distressed natives; and as honourable stipends were settled
on the Literati, so were particular tracts of land on the
Beataghs, to support, with proper munificence, their
station; and there are lands and villages in many places to
this day, which declare by their names their original
appointment.”
“Oh!” said Glorvina, archly, “I dare say that, like St. Paul, he will ‘count it all joy to fall into divers temptations.’”
“Or rather, (returned I) I shall court them like the saints of old, merely to prove my powers of resistance; for I bear a charmed spell about me; and now ’none of woman born can harm Macbeth.’”
“And of what nature is your spell?” said Glorvina, smiling, while the priest remained a little behind us talking to a peasant. “Has Father John given you a gospel? or have you got an amulet, thrice passed through the thrice blessed girdle of St. Bridget, our great Irish charm?” *
* On St Bridget’s day it is usual for the young people to
make a long girdle rope of straw, which they carry about to
the neighbouring houses, and through it all those persons
who have faith in the charm pass nine times, uttering at
each time a certain form of prayer in Irish, which they thus
conclude: “If I enter this thrice-blessed girdle well, may I
come out of it nine times better.”
“My charm (returned I) in some degree, certainly partakes of your religious and national superstitions; for since it was presented me by your hand, I could almost believe that its very essence has been changed by a touch!” And I drew from my breast the withered remains of my once blooming rose. At that moment the priest joined us; and though Glorvina was silent, I felt the pressure of her arm more heavily on mine, and saw her pass the drawbridge without a recollection on her part that it was to have been the boundary of her walk. We had not, however, proceeded many paces, when the most wildly mournful sounds I ever heard rose on the air, and slowly died away.
“Hark! (said Glorvina) some one is going to ‘that bourne from whence no traveller returns.’” As she spoke a hundred voices seemed to ascend to the skies; and as they subsided, a fainter strain lingered on the air, as though this truly savage choral sympathy was reduced to a recitative, chaunted by female voices. All that I had heard of the Irish howl, or funeral song, now rushed to my recollection; and turning at that moment the angle of the mountain of Inismore, I perceived a procession advancing towards a little cemetery, which lay by a narrow pathway to the left of the road.
The body, in a plain deal coffin, covered with a white shirt, was carried by four men, immediately preceded by several old women covered in their mantles, and who sung at intervals in a wild and rapid tone. * Before them walked a number of young persons of both sexes, each couple holding by a white handkerchief, and strewing flowers along the path. An elderly woman, with eyes overflown with tears, dishevelled hair, and distracted mien, followed the body, uttering many passionate exclamations in Irish; and the procession was filled up by upwards of three hundred people; the recitative of the female choristers relieved at intervals by the combined howlings of the whole body. In one of the pauses of this dreadful death-chorus, I expressed to Glorvina my surprise at the multitude which attended the funeral of a peasant, while we stood on a bank as they passed us.