* mondi of Uberti, a Florentine poet, was famous for its says or sages. This manufacture was nearly annihilated in the year 1698, through the jealousy of the English artists, and is now but feebly carried on: "As some compensation for this act of injustice, essential encouragement was, from that period, given to the linen trade in Ireland. There can be no doubt that linen was very extensively manufactured in this country at a very remote period, for Hakluyt, an English traveller, in a poem written in 1430, enumerates it among the articles then imported into Chester from Ireland : Hides and fish, salmon, hakes, herring, There must have been abundance of linen in the sixteenth century, for at that time we are told, it was fashionable to wear shirts containing thirteen or fourteen yards, and in 1539 an Act of Parliament was passed limiting the quantity for each shirt to seven yards. Early in the eighteenth century the Linen Board was established, and the effectual encouragement which was now given to the trade induced many Presbyterian Scots, French Huguenots, and some respectable Quaker families to form establishments in various parts of Ulster, and from that period the manufacture has been brought to a very high degree of perfection. Some estimate may be formed of the product of this valuable article of commerce, from the quantity sold in one year (1819) in the market of Armagh alone, producing £527,800, while the sales of yarn amounted to £145,600, during the same period." p. 191--192 "The mineral wealth with which Ireland abounds may be said to have been to the present almost unexplored. In one county at least a gold mine exists, silver in seven, iron in nineteen, copper in seventeen, lead in seventeen, tin in two, and coal in fifteen of our counties, besides various marbles, granite, crystals, and precious stones. What a vast source of employment to our superabundant population and of wealth to the proprietors of the soil, would the working of these mines afford were it carried on with sufficient spirit and energy. The progress of trade has been so rapid, that in the year 1611 the whole value of the exports and imports of Ireland amounted to no more than £211,000, and in two centuries afterwards the exports from one port alone (Waterford) amounted to £2,2000,454 16s. ; and the total exports of Irish produce to above £15,000,000. As some compensation to our readers for having given them so much of trade, we will present them with a few extracts from our Authors' accounts of the variation of dress and luxury, subjects trifling only to the trifling. That of the ancient Irish consisted of the Truis or trousers, of various colours; a shirt of yellow linen, or thin woollen; a Cochal or upper garment, which reached to the middle of the thigh, and had a large hanging collar; it was fastened See an interesting Dissertation on this subject in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, by the late Lord Charlemont. before by a clasp or brooch; over all was the Mantle, which varied as to its materials with the rank of the wearer, from the finest scarlet to frize. Their heads were covered with the Barad, a conical cap, and their feet protected by the brogue. "The dress of the females differed little from that of the men, except that their n antles were longer, and worn over a long gown or kirtle. The unmarried women went barebeaded, with their hair either hanging down their back, or filleted up and fastened with a bodkin of gold, silver, or some inferior metal, according to their rank. The married wore a veil or kerchief on their head made of fine or coarse linen according to their circumstances." p. 202-203. The English power was marked by ineffectual attempts to introduce their costume, enforced by the atrocious cruelty of a penal law against the Irish garb; yet so late as 1562, the retinue of O'Neal are thus described by Camden: "He appeared at Court with his guard of galloglachs bare-headed, arme I with hatchets, their hair flowing in locks on their shoulders, on which were yellow surplices dyed with saffron, with long sleeves, short coats, and thrum jackets, at which strange sight the Londoners marvelled much." p. 207. The exertions of the civil power in the reign of James I. the real conqueror of Ireland, at lenght overcame the obstinacy of the Irish and English-Irish; and assisted by the abolition of the Brehon laws, and the example of the English settlers, habits more suitable to the purposes of civil life were gradually introduced-cloaks, ruffs and trowsers became common, and hats were for the first time worn. Cromwell's officers assisted not a little in the change, by their unrelenting severity againse the mere Irish; and all the fantastic importation of Charles the Second's profligate Court, including open sleeves, Flanders lace, neck-cloths and periwigs were introduced. Tradition which has lost so many more valuable circumstances, has preserved the names of the first persons who wore wigs both in England and Ireland. In the former country Henry VIII.'s fool, Saxton, first enveloped his head in this ornament, and in the latter Mr. Edmund O'Dwyer, vulgarly called Edmund of the Wig. Ladies began to wear fans and to curl and frizzle their hair. For the sake of our female readers, we copy the description given by Walker, of tho dress of an old lady of the name of Power, near Waterford : • The Bodkin was also worn in the breast, as appears from the following passage in an ancient Irish manuscript Romance, called the Interview between Fion Mac Comhall and Cannan :-" Cannan, when he said this, was seated at the table; on "his right hand sat his wife, and on his left sat his beautiful daughter, Finalve, so 66 exceedingly fair, that the snow driven by the winter storm surpassed not her fair"" ness; and her cheeks were the colour of the blood of a young calf. Her hair hung "in curling ringlets, and her teeth were like pearls. A spacious veil hung from her "lovely head down on her delicate body, and the veil was bound by a Golden "Bodkin." Even at this day the female peasants in many parts of Ireland collect their hair at top, and twisting it several times, make it fast with a bodkin. • These jackets were of twisted threads, the cords being interwoven in them, or interlaced with each other. "She was a lady of considerable fortune, and lineally descended from the Kings of Munster.-Proud of her country and descent, she always spoke the Irish language, and affected the dress and manners of the ancient Irish. The border of her coif was of the finest Brussels lace; her kerchief of clear muslin; her jacket of the finest brown cloth, trimmed with narrow gold lace; the sleeves of crimson velvet striped with the same; and her petticoat was of the finest scarlet cloth, bordered with two rows of gold lace. She was vulgarly called the Queen of Credan." "The reign of Anne was prolific in new fashions; the ladies appeared in short jackets of Spanish cloth fastened on the breast with ribbands, hoops of an immense circumference, high peaked stays, shoes of red or blue Spanish leather laced with gold, stockings of blue or scarlet worsted or silk, ornamented with clocks worked with gold or silver thread, and their necks were adorned with black collars tied with ribbands. On the head they wore hoods of divers colours, and beaver hats trimmed with broad gold and silver lace, and a buckle in front. Gold or silver laced coats and waistcoats, the former with long skirts and slashed sleeves, cravats edged with Flanders lace, hose similar to those of the ladies, broad square-toed shoes made fast with small buckles, and monstrous periwigs surmounted by a small hat, formed at the same time the costume of the gentlemen. Since that period the superior classes in Ireland have continued to follow the ever-varying fashions of the neighbouring nations, while little change is observable in the dress of the peasantry." p. 210-211. Our extracts have already exceeded the bounds we had marked out for ourselves, but we cannot refuse room to the following just observations, which we prefer to giving our readers an account of the amusements of the peasantry : "Many attempts have been made to account for the rapid increase of population in a country where poverty and wretchedness so generally abound. Perhaps the true solution of the difficulty is, that while encouragements have been held out to early marriages by a mischievously minute division of land for mercenary or political purposes, no adequate efforts have been hitherto made for employing the superabundant population thus created." p. 224. 66 High rents, fythes, absenteeship, and politico-religious distinctions, have each been considered the prime cause of our evils. We are, however, inclined to view them as only additional weights to the grand incubus which presses down our country, and to concede the fatal pre-eminence to want of full employment and of that species of moral and religious culture, which would not render the peasantry disconted with the station in which Providence has placed them, but would enable them to reap from it all the advantages of which it is capable," p. 225-226. The succeeding section on the Antiquities and Scenery of Ireland, contains a pleasing view of the subject of which it professes to treat, but not sufficiently novel to induce us to extend our quotations; nor shall we make any extracts from the merely statistical part of the work-we would despair of being able to make them sufficiently interesting to those who have no local connections with the County of Limerick, but we hope soon to meet our Authors again in their Second Volume, when we may perhaps bring them before our readers more directly as County Historians. We can, however, venture to recommend this part as containing a full, accurate, and judicious View of the localities. The Synoptical Tables which close the Volume are of peculiar interest and value; and enable the investigator to see at one glance the results of public inquiries and authenticated political documents on the important subjects of population, employment, and education. The results in some instances are truly lamentable. Thus it would appear that nearly two-sevenths of the whole population are absolutely unemployed, and that in an island abounding, both on its coasts and in its interior, in its mountains and in its plains, with every incentive to industry, every material that could reward exertion. It would appear, too, that of our growing population above 1,300,000 are absolutely devoid of education! We aunex the following singular table of the comparative longevity, with the concluding observations : It is worthy of observation, that in each province instances of longevity are most numerous in those counties bordering on the sea. That they should prevail in those districts where employment, and consequently superior nourishment, and other comforts abound, is not a matter of wonder. Hence the longevity of Ulster exceeds that of Leinster by a ratio of one-fith, and that of Munster and Connaught by two-fifths per cent. This may be also in part attributable to its northern situation. Dividing the population of Ireland into four grand classes, with respect to age, the Census of 1821 presents to our view, the following lamentable picture of the state of a country abounding with every means of industry, and with able and willing hands to cultivate them, in the most civilized period of the world : Operative persons from 15 to 70.... 3,931,660 1,094,845 without employment! Aged above 70....... 81,191 {A great proportion of whom are paupers. We now take our leave of this work, with great respect for the judgment and industry of the Authors. We conceive it will, when completed, form a valuable addition to our standard Topographical Works, while it abounds in interest for the general reader: and we congratulate one of the Authors (Mr. M'Gregor) for having been permitted to see what very few men have seen, the approaching termination of two such laborious works, as The History of Limerick and that of "The French Revolution." 66 |