Blue-Stocking Hall, (Vol. 2 of 3)Scargill, William Pitt
General
Blue-Stocking Hall, (Vol. 2 of 3)
Scargill, William Pitt
Epistolary fiction; Women -- Conduct of life -- Fiction; Women -- Education -- Fiction
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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