Again, we say, that it is not our wish to anticipate; but facts may be recorded. If the tourist ascertains that the Roman Catholic districts of Ireland are in greater penury than those where Protestantism predominates, he will not attribute that in the first instance to Protestant ascendancy, until he has examined the facts before his eyes. He will see that industry is the great agent in the one case; the want of it, the great and immediate agent in the other. Here then is a point for him from whence to start in his moral investigations; and he will at once observe, that in the Protestant districts six days in each week are dedicated to labour, and the sabbath dedicated to the offices of religion; whilst in other districts half the week is passed in the idleness or dissipation of holidays, and the sabbath neglected. It is true that in the breasts of the Irish Catholics he will find a strong sense of religion, agreeable to their modes of faith and ceremony; but he will also find that those modes of faith and ceremony are subversive of the spirit of industry, whose stream to be generally useful must not be dammed up at particular points, and suffered to run waste at others. But let not the writer of these sheets be misunderstood. Though fully impressed with the truth and justice of the foregoing observations, it is far from his wish to throw any obstacles in the way of the Catholic Faith. That Faith is free and unshackled, as far as regards God and man; if political restrictions still exist, they exist upon an impression that to do them away must be injurious to Protestantism. To adduce the reasons for that impression would be beyond our limits, and beyond our plan; but until that impression is proved to be groundless, unlimited concession must be withheld. The true and liberal philanthropist will also inquire whether, under the peculiar circumstances of their religion, the great body of the Irish Catholics would absolutely be benefited by an accordance with the claims set up. Until that be ascertained, he will pause; and though he may deprecate any thing like coercion, he will still be careful to avoid any thing like encouragement, until he is convinced that its results will at least be harmless.
To form an accurate judgement on these points demands an Irish tour. The conviction on his own mind which the editor has here hazarded, without any wish to prejudge the case in the minds of others, is not formed on slight grounds. An early acquaintance with that island, and subsequent rambles over most parts of it, joined to actual observation in many parts of Europe, and indeed in the four quarters of the globe, have convinced him that wherever Protestantism exists, with some very few exceptions, there are to be found cleanliness, comfort, and industry:—the reverse of the picture, though he would be supported in it by the unanimous assent of many continental travellers, he will not attempt to draw. Let him who doubts, and who chooses to make the Irish tour, examine these hints, and compare them with actual observation. It is true wisdom to learn from experience and observation—it is true candour to acknowledge error when facts judiciously examined and liberally contrasted lead to truth; and the editor's wish will be fully answered, if these expressed opinions, whether right or wrong, shall prompt the minds of his readers to that judicious and liberal examination. In either case the result must be beneficial to the empire; and the notice here taken of the very interesting subject, it is hoped, will neither be considered illiberal or misplaced. But it is now time to enter into details of the more prominent objects of curiosity to the tourist; and it must be acknowledged, with respect to our sister island, that, in taking a general view of its
ANTIQUITIES,
we have not the same facility of correct chronological specification, as in our general introduction to this work; for the antiquarian disputes, still unsettled, claim different dates for many of the most interesting objects. We may however premise, that the order in which the island has been peopled and colonized is generally agreed upon to commence with the Celtes, Scythi, and Firbolgs; then the Phœnicians and Milesians in the south; the Romans, perhaps in a small degree; the Scots in the north; the Danes and Ostmen; the English invaders in the time of Henry II., followed by the Scottish and English colonists of James I., and during the civil wars.
It has even been supposed that the diversities of natural character, at the present day, in some measure illustrate the generally received chronological and topographical arrangement. Ledwich in his introduction to Grose's Antiquities, considers the Celtes as the primeval possessors of the country;—all under the system of Druidism, living a sylvan life, and worshipping the Deity in oaken groves, wherefore few memorials of them are left. In the north are to be traced, from the earliest ages, the Scoti; in the south, the Firbolgs, then the Milesians, and also the Phœnicians about two centuries before Christ; there also, according to Ptolemy, were the Menapii and Brigantes; and the Rhobogdii, Darni, &c. in the north, of a later date than the first Scoti, or Indo-Scythi, agreeable to Vallancey's theory. From these and other local circumstances connected with Ireland, there are few antiquities of very ancient date, with the exception of rude memorials, because nothing but wood was used in building until the 11th or 12th century; for until then, stone was only employed in funeral monuments, or Cairns, in Cromlechs, and sometimes in the Barrows, Raths, and Danish forts; also in the Round Towers, if their antiquity is so great as some writers suppose. Of the antiquities of modern date, the greatest number consist of Castles, Churches, and Monasteries, principally to be found within the limits of the ancient English Pale. This is evident from what Sir John Davis asserts—"Yet, which is strange to be related, they did never build any houses of brick or stone, some few poor religious houses excepted, before the reign of Henry II."
Of the earlier English antiquities, those consist of Cathedrals, Churches, and Castles; some few Saxon, (at Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, and Disert, Co. Clare,) some Norman, but principally of later date.
DRUIDICAL MONUMENTS
are very numerous, particularly in some parts of the north. Dr. Drummond, in the scientific notes to his interesting poem on the Giant's Causeway, says that "numerous monuments of the Druidical superstition are still to be seen in the County of Antrim." The appearance of those agrees with the description in Mallet's Northern Antiquities; and also with the quotation from Wormius, copied by Ledwich,—"The structure of our altars is various; but generally a tumulus is formed, on whose summit three great stones are erected, and on them a fourth broader and more flat is laid, so that it exactly appears like a rude huge table resting on three feet." We may add, in respect to these
That both in Ireland and in Scandinavia, their erection is vulgarly ascribed to giants; an unerring mark, says Ledwich, of their Gothic origin. Sir R. C. Hoare says that the construction of stone temples and cromlechs has generally been attributed to the Druids, but without any certainty of proof. He also hazards the conjecture, and with great plausibility, that a temple like Stonehenge once existed on the Curragh of Kildare (See Tour in Ireland, p. 274.) Coeval with Cromlechs—perhaps—but absolutely so in the opinion of Ledwich, are the