Say all that is affectionate to my mother and Adelaide, and add, that I give them present pain, to avoid for them a severer future pang. Adieu.
Your affectionate,
Arthur Howard.
LETTER XVIII.
Arthur Howard to Charles Falkland.
My dear Falkland,
I commence my Killarney advices on the first evening of my arrival there, or I should despair of sending you the promised packet on my return to Glenalta. We reached our inn in gay spirits, having come over bad and good roads alternately, and through a barren wild looking country; but a party, composed of such agreeable ingredients, and affording so much variety as ours did, is very independent of external scenery. If beautiful, it affords an additional source of pleasure, and one topic more for occasional comment; if otherwise, one can do without it: the latter was our case. Having once exclaimed, How desolate! we thought no more about the grievance of an ugly country, but laughed and talked, exchanged places—some riding, some driving, till we found ourselves at our journey's end, after performing five-and-thirty miles without any misadventure. Mr. Otway had written on before to provide "entertainment for man and horse;" so when we arrived we had the satisfaction of finding ourselves expected, which makes a difference everywhere, but particularly in a situation which cannot afford to relax in a single instance the discipline which keeps up some appearance of order and cleanliness; however, I do not mean to throw aspersions on our hotelerie, and am not one of those who consider it fair to abuse unmercifully whatever we find near home, while with something more than philosophy, we revel in the desagrémens of foreign countries, preferring dirt and inconvenience abroad to all the luxuries of comfortable England.
In ten minutes after our arrival we were assailed by all sorts of people; boatmen wishing to engage our large party, musicians desirous of attending us on the lakes, beggars hoping to receive charity, with sundry applicants bringing boxes made of the red deer-hoofs, which are very neatly manufactured here, and various cups, goblets, and other utensils formed from the arbutus, which grows at this place in lavish profusion; all anxious to sell their wares, and all clamorous to recommend them.
Mr. Otway, who knows the genius of the place, and is well known here and loved everywhere, undertook to direct our operations; and, singling out a remarkably fine looking man from the rough personages by whom we were surrounded, addressed him by the name of M'Carty More, and ordered him to be ready with all possible punctuality and accommodation at seven o'clock on the following day at Ross Castle, where we were to embark. The workers in red deer-hoofs and arbutus, were ordered to bring large supplies of the toys in which they dealt on the day preceding our departure, and the beggars were dispersed with a promise that they should have a scramble when we were going away, for which these ill-fed, worse clothed, cheerful, and easily-satisfied beings, were as grateful as if every want had been supplied at the present and prevented for the future.