A Tour in Ireland | Page 7

little hill, half surrounded with others,
variegated and melting into one another. It is one of the most singular
places that is anywhere to be seen, and spreading to the eye a beautiful
lawn of undulating ground margined with wood. Single trees are
scattered in some places, and clumps in others; the general effect so
pleasing, that were there nothing further, the place would be beautiful,
but the canvas is admirably filled. Lake Ennel, many miles in length,
and two or three broad, flows beneath the windows. It is spotted with
islets, a promontory of rock fringed with trees shoots into it, and the
whole is bounded by distant hills. Greater and more magnificent scenes
are often met with, but nowhere a more beautiful or a more singular
one.
From Mullingar to Tullespace I found rents in general at twenty
shillings an acre, with much relet at thirty shillings, yet all the crops
except bere were very bad, and full of weeds. About the latter-named
place the farms are generally from one hundred to three hundred acres;
and their course: 1. fallow; 2. bere; 3. oats; 4. oats; 5. oats. Great
quantities of potatoes all the way, crops from forty to eighty barrels.
The road before it comes to Tullamore leads through a part of the bog
of Allen, which seems here extensive, and would make a noble tract of
meadow. The way the road was made over it was simply to cut a drain
on each side, and then lay on the gravel, which, as fast as it was laid
and spread, bore the ears. Along the edges is fine white clover.
In conversation upon the subject of a union with Great Britain, I was
informed that nothing was so unpopular in Ireland as such an idea; and
that the great objection to it was increasing the number of absentees.
When it was in agitation, twenty peers and sixty commoners were
talked of to sit in the British Parliament, which would be the resident of
eighty of the best estates in Ireland. Going every year to England would,
by degrees, make them residents; they would educate their children
there, and in time become mere absentees: becoming so they would be
unpopular, others would be elected, who, treading in the same steps,

would yield the place still to others; and thus by degrees, a vast portion
of the kingdom now resident would be made absentees, which would,
they think, be so great a drain to Ireland, that a free trade would not
repay it.
I think the idea is erroneous, were it only for one circumstance, the
kingdom would lose, according to this reasoning, an idle race of
country gentlemen, and in exchange their ports would fill with ships
and commerce, and all the consequences of commerce, an exchange
that never yet proved disadvantageous to any country.
Viewed Mount Juliet, Lord Carrick's seat, which is beautifully situated
on a fine declivity on the banks of the Nore, commanding some
extensive plantations that spread over the hills, which rise in a various
manner on the other side of the river. A knoll of lawn rises among them
with artificial ruins upon it, but the situation is not in unison with the
idea of a ruin, very rarely placed to effect, unless in retired and
melancholy spots.
The river is a very fine one, and has a good accompaniment of well
grown wood. From the cottage a more varied scene is viewed, cheering
and pleasing; and from the tent in the farther plantation a yet gayer one,
which looks down on several bends of the river.
July 11. Left Kilsaine. Mr. Bushe accompanied me to Woodstock, the
seat of Sir W. Fownes. From Thomastown hither is the finest ride I
have yet had in Ireland. The road leaving Thomastown leads on the east
side of the river, through some beautiful copse woods, which before
they were cut must have had a most noble effect, with the river Nore
winding at the bottom. The country then opens somewhat, and you pass
most of the way for six or seven miles to Innisteague, on a declivity
shelving down to the river, which takes a varied winding course,
sometimes lively, breaking over a rocky bottom, at others still and deep
under the gloom of some fine woods, which hang down the sides of
steep hills. Narrow slips of meadow of a beautiful verdure in some
places form the shore, and unite with cultivated fields that spread over
the adjoining hills, reaching almost the mountain tops. These are large
and bold, and give in general to the scenes features of great

magnificence. Passed Sir John Hasler's on the opposite side of the river,
finely situated, and Mr. Nicholson's farm on this side, who has very
extensive copses which