The Greville Memoirs, Part 3 (of 3), Volume 2 (of 2): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860Greville, Charles
History
The Greville Memoirs, Part 3 (of 3), Volume 2 (of 2): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860
Greville, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901
Carlisle was received with great enthusiasm by both pupils and
teachers. After this we went to the Hill of Killinie, whence there is a
grand panoramic view of the Bay of Dublin and the surrounding country,
and then to my old friend Lady Campbell[1] (Pamela Fitz-Gerald), whose
beautiful daughters are as well worth seeing as anything in Ireland.
Footnote 1: [Lady Campbell was the daughter of Pamela and Lord Edward
Fitz-Gerald.]
_Dublin, August 24th._--Yesterday in the morning a review in the
Phoenix Park, after which Bagot took me to Howth Castle, which I was
curious to see, but it is not very remarkable, though very ancient. It
has a modernised appearance, and is a comfortable house, said to be the
oldest _inhabited_ house in Ireland, and one of the towers of fabulous
antiquity. I remarked that the hall door was left open, according to
the traditional obligation. One of the Ladies St. Lawrence told me the
story as follows: An old woman, 'the Granawhile,' came to the castle
and asked for hospitality or alms, and was refused and driven away. She
was the wife of a pirate. On the seaside she found the young heir with
his nurse, whom she seized and carried off. Afterwards she brought the
boy back, and consented to restore him on condition that henceforward
no beggar should be refused admittance, that the hall door should be
kept continually open, and that at dinner a place should be kept and
a plate laid for any stranger who might appear. The beggars are kept
away by not being admitted through the lodge gates; the hall door is
open, but there is another door behind it, and the vacant place has by
degrees fallen into disuse. I know not how old the story is, but there
is enough to show that it had a foundation of some sort, and that it
retains a relic in the customs of the family. On returning to Dublin
I went to see Trinity College, and the beautiful museum erected a few
years ago. Dublin is, for its size, a finer town than London, and I
think they beat us hollow in their public buildings. We have no such
squares as Merrion Square, nor such a street as Sackville Street.
[Sidenote: VISIT TO IRELAND.]
_Bessborough, August 26th._--I came here on Wednesday viâ Kilkenny.
A very nice place, comfortable, and in as good order as any place
in England. People apparently well off, and cottages clean and not
uncomfortable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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