A Tour in Ireland | Page 8

line the river. Coming in sight of Sir W.
Fownes's, the scenery is striking; the road mounts the side of the hill,
and commands the river at the bottom of the declivity, with groups of
trees prettily scattered about, and the little borough of Innisteague in a
most picturesque situation, the whole bounded by mountains. Cross the
bridge, and going through the town, take a path that leads to a small
building in the woods, called Mount Sandford. It is at the top of a rocky
declivity almost perpendicular, but with brush wood growing from the
rocks. At the bottom is the river, which comes from the right from
behind a very bold hanging wood, that seems to unite with the hill on
the opposite shore. At this pass the river fills the vale, but it widens by
degrees, and presents various reaches, intermixed with little tufts of
trees. The bridge we passed over is half hid. Innisteague is mixed with
them, and its buildings backed by a larger wood, give variety to the
scene. Opposite to the point of view there are some pretty enclosures,
fringed with wood, and a line of cultivated mountain sides, with their
bare tops limit the whole.
Taking my leave of Mr. Bushe, I followed the road to Ross. Passed
Woodstock, of which there is a very fine view from the top of one of
the hills, the house in the centre of a sloping wood of five hundred
English acres, and hanging in one noble shade to the river, which flows
at the bottom of a winding glen. From the same hill in front it is seen in
a winding course for many miles through a great extent of enclosures,
bounded by mountains. As I advanced the views of the river Nore were
very fine, till I came to Ross, where from the hill before you go down
to the ferry is a noble scene of the Barrow, a vast river flowing through
bold shores. In some places trees on the bank half obscure it, in others
it opens in large reaches, the effect equally grand and beautiful. Ships
sailing up to the town, which is built on the side of a hill to the water's
edge, enliven the scene not a little. The water is very deep and the
navigation secure, so that ships of seven hundred tons may come up to
the town; but these noble harbours on the coast of Ireland are only
melancholy capabilities of commerce: it is languid and trifling. There
are only four or five brigs and sloops that belong to the place.

Having now passed through a considerable extent of country, in which
the Whiteboys were common, and committed many outrages, I shall
here review the intelligence I received concerning them throughout the
county of Kilkenny. I made many inquiries into the origin of those
disturbances, and found that no such thing as a leveller or Whiteboy
was heard of till 1760, which was long after the landing of Thurot, or
the intending expedition of M. Conflans. That no foreign coin was ever
seen among them, though reports to the contrary were circulated; and in
all the evidence that was taken during ten or twelve years, in which
time there appeared a variety of informers, none was ever taken, whose
testimony could be relied on, that ever proved any foreign interposition.
Those very few who attempted to favour it, were of the most infamous
and perjured characters. All the rest, whose interest it was to make the
discovery, if they had known it, and who concealed nothing else,
pretended to no such knowledge. No foreign money appeared, no arms
of foreign construction, no presumptive proof whatever of such a
connection. They began in Tipperary, and were owing to some
inclosures of commons, which they threw down, levelling the ditches,
and were first known by the name of Levellers. After that, they began
with the tithe-proctors (who are men that hire tithes of the rectors), and
these proctors either screwed the cottars up to the utmost shilling, or
relet the tithes to such as did it. It was a common practice with them to
go in parties about the country, swearing many to be true to them, and
forcing them to join by menaces, which they very often carried into
execution. At last they set up to be general redressers of grievances,
punished all obnoxious persons who advanced the value of lands, or
hired farms over their heads; and, having taken the administration of
justice into their hands, were not very exact in the distribution of it.
Forced masters to release their apprentices, carried off the daughters of
rich farmers, and ravished them into marriages, of which four instances
happened in a fortnight. They levied sums of money