The Letters of "Norah" on Her Tour Through IrelandNorah
History
The Letters of "Norah" on Her Tour Through Ireland
Norah
Ireland -- Description and travel
I missed that Drumahaire boat no less than three times--that is, she
was either gone before the time when she was said to go, or was lying
quietly at the wharf, having made up her mind not to stir that day. She
seemed to have no stated time for going or coming, or if she had, to
keep it as secret as an eviction, for no one could be found to speak
with certainty of her movements. When disappointed for the third time,
my very kind friend, Mrs. O'Donell, of the Imperial Hotel, took me on
her own car to Drumahaire. We drove completely round lovely Lough Gill,
seeing it from many points of view. Sligo is not altogether a garden of
Eden, for we passed a great deal of poor stony barren land here and
there during this journey. Like all hilly land, there are pretty vales
among the hills and fair, broad fields here and there, but there is much
barren and almost worthless soil.
Now, there is one thing that has struck me forcibly since I came to
Ireland. I saw it in Down, Antrim, Derry, Donegal, wherever I have been
as well as in Sligo. The poorer and more worthless the land, there were
the tenants' houses the thickest. The good land has been monopolized to
an immense extent for lands laid out for grandeur and glory--and they
are grand and gloriously beautiful. Then pride and fashion demand that
the mountain commons be reserved for game, that is, rabbits. A man must
have extensive wilds to shoot over, so the poor laborers are huddled
into houses--awful hutches without gardens, and the poor farmers are
clustered on barren soil, trying to force nature to allow them to live
after paying the rent.
We got to Drumahaire, stopped at a dandy iron gate beyond which the
turrets of Brefni Castle were waving funereal banners of ivy, entered
and found ourselves in a private domain. Here in the shadow of the old
castle was the handsome modern cottage, extensive and stylish, inhabited
by Mr. Latouche, the agent so much dreaded, so much hated in Northern
Leitrim. This is the gentleman who is accused of charging the tenants
10s. 6d. for potatoes which the landlord sent down to be given to the
tenants at five. If racking the tenantry is the condition on which he
gets this lovely home, it is a temptation certainly. We felt as if we
were in the wrong place, as, after glancing at the handsome cottage, the
trim lawn fringed with shrubbery and then at the ruins we took the lower
walk hoping to get round under the shelter of some trees to the ruins. A
small river brawled over the stones below--far below where we were
walking. A detached portion of the ruins sitting on a rock overlooked
both us and the river. Was it in any part of this building that the
naughty lady watched for her lover?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account