The population of Ireland did increase with some rapidity, and the reason for this was to be found in the fact that poverty had not yet produced that demoralization which restricts the growth of numbers. The extraordinary morality of the women of Ireland is admitted everywhere. In England it is remarked upon by poor-law commissioners, and here it is a fact that cannot fail to command the attention of the most superficial observer. How it is at home we are told by Sir Francis Head, whose statements on this subject cannot be read without interest:-- "As regards the women of Ireland, their native modesty cannot fail to attract the observation of any stranger. Their dress was invariably decent, generally pleasing, and often strikingly picturesque. Almost all wore woollen petticoats, dyed by themselves, of a rich madder colour, between crimson and scarlet. Upon their shoulders, and occasionally from their heads, hung, in a variety of beautiful folds, sometimes a plaid of red and green, sometimes a cloak, usually dark blue or dingy white. Their garments, however, like those of the men, were occasionally to be seen in tatters."--P. 119. Anxious to be fully informed on the subject, the traveller took occasion to interrogate various police-officers and gentlemen, and the result of his inquiries will be seen on a perusal of the following questions and answers:-- Q. "How long have you been on duty in Galway?" A. "Above nine years." Q. "Have you much crime here?" A. "Very little; it principally consists of petty larcenies." Q. "Have there been here many illegitimate children?" A. "Scarcely any. During the whole of the eight years I have been on duty here I have not known of an illegitimate child being reared up in any family in the town." Q. "What do you mean by being reared up?" A. "I mean that, being acquainted with every family in Galway, I have never known of a child of that description being born."--P. 208. Q. "How long have you been on duty here?" A. "Only six months." Q. "During that time have you known of any instance of an illegitimate child being born in the village of the Claddagh?" A. "Not only have I never known of such a case, but I have never heard any person attribute such a case to the fisherwomen of Claddagh. I was on duty in the three islands of Arran, inhabited almost exclusively by fishermen, who also farm potatoes, and I never heard of one of their women--who are remarkable for their beauty--having had an illegitimate child, nor did I ever hear it attributed to them; indeed, I have been informed by Mr. -----, a magistrate who has lived in Galway for eight years, and has been on temporary duty in the island of Arran, that he also had never heard there of a case of that nature."--P. 209. A. "I have been here better than two years, and during that time I have never known of any woman of Claddagh having had an illegitimate child--indeed, I have never even heard of it."