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Union
of Kilrush, Killard, Kilfieragh, Moyferta, and Kilballyhone
VI. Genius
and Disposition of the Poorer Classes, &c.
Genius and
Disposition
The genius of the poorer classes here is acute, and wants only the aid
of education to develope and cherish it. Their disposition is kind; but
they largely partake of the faults as well as the excellencies of the
Irish character: classed into clans, families, and factions, they violently
resent the injuries or affronts offered to each other. In too many instances
they keep up hereditary feuds, like those of the Montagues and Capulets;
and often decide their quarrels by pitched battles at the fairs of Ballykett,
Kilmurry, and Kilmacaduane. It is much to be regretted also, that a general
abuse and disregard of oaths prevail in this district in common with too
many other parts of Ireland. When two men quarrel, and beat each other,
they are too often known to run to a justice of the peace, after the combat
is over, and each of them offers to depose upon the Holy Evangelists that
the other was the aggressor. The road making and presentment systems hold
out strong inducements to the ignorant and avaricious, for the commission
of this crime; and some revenue laws or regulations have been hitherto
as little conducive to the preservation of the morals of our people here
as elsewhere.
Language
The language generally spoken here, except in the remote parts of the
union, is English. Many persons however are still utterly ignorant of
the English language; and a great proportion of the inhabitants speak
Irish in preference. In the years 1799 and 1802, twenty-four copies of
the gospel of St. Luke, and the Acts of the Apostles, were sent by Doctor
Stokes, of Trinity College, to the curate of this parish and union, to
be distributed here. One consequence of this was, that the parish priest
of Moyarta endeavoured to collect these books, for the purpose, it was
generally understood, of burning them on the high road, as false translations:
in this, however, he met with more resistance than he expected; for many
refused to give up the Irish gospel, and the books remained in the hands
of the people.
Manners
The manners of the people here, like those of the native Irish in all
parts of our island, are courteous and engaging in the highest degree.
With the politeness of courtiers they qualify their refusal by civil excuses,
and grant requests in a manner which doubles the value of the favour they
confer.
Genius and
Disposition
In common with the rest of the inhabitants of the province of Munster,
these people are accused of insincerity; but due allowance being made
for their manners, they are just as sincere as any other people in the
empire. The peasant who volunteers to open a gate, break down a ditch,
and perhaps go three miles out of his way to oblige a stranger, can hardly
be suspected of any design in taking so much trouble for one whom he never
saw before, nor ever expects to see again, particularly as he parts him
with as much civility, when he gets nothing but thanks, as when half-a-crown
is put into his hand. Neither can they be suspected of insincerity in
keeping open houses for all strangers, dividing their potatoes and milk
with the wanderer, and taking him to sleep under the same blanket with
themselves and their children. The “Laban an Oultagh,” or
Ulsterman’s bed, is not uncommon here; it is a bed of straw in a
small room, covering the whole floor, in which the husband and wife, and
oftentimes a guest or two sleep. Mr. Paterson of Kilrush, called very
early one morning at the house of a boatman, to send him to Limerick,
and found the door open. He went towards the ‘Laban’ to enquire
for the man, whose wife, a handsome young
woman, answered, that he had gone to the boat. While she was speaking,
Mr. Paterson to his great surprise, saw a man fast asleep among the children,
between her and the wall; and asking, “what the deuce brought him
there,” she replied with unconcern, that “he was an uncle’s
son of Paddy’s, who came to see them the night before.” The
farmers have a kind of a bed, (generally by the fire side) called a ‘Cullentine.’
It is enclosed by four straw mats, with a small door-way for entrance,
and though comfortable enough in the winter nights, it is, from its closeness,
unwholesome in summer, and too often a safe receptacle for more kinds
of vermin than one.
Customs
The New Year is opened with divine service in Kilrush. On this day congratulations
and wishes for many happy new years, resound in all directions, and the
young people expect ‘new year’s gifts,’ to fill their
‘Christmas boxes.’ On the first of February, a stimulus to
industry being offered by the lengthening day and brightening sky, the
labour of spring commences with the old adage, “Candlemas day, throw
candle and candlestick away.” Shrove Tuesday is the greatest day
in the year for weddings; and the Roman Catholic priests are generally
occupied in the celebration of matrimony from sunrise till midnight. The
general fee on this occasion is two guineas and a half; and many thoughtless
couples, under the age of sixteen, pay it with cheerfulness, when they
have not another penny in their possession. They who do not marry on this
day must wait until Easter Monday, on account of the intervening Lent.
The usual dessert and supper on Shrove Tuesday is the pancake. Small pieces
of them rolled up in a stocking, and placed under a lover’s pillow,
are found to be very efficacious in producing prophetic dreams to console
those who are compelled to defer their matrimonial engagements from Ash
Wednesday to Easter Monday.
On Ash Wednesday,
being the first day of Lent, divine service is read in the parish church,
and mass in all the chapels. On this day, as well as on all the Sundays
in the year, the same epistle and gospel is read in both places, with
this material difference, that one priest reads them in English, and the
other in Latin.
The
seven weeks of Lent are strictly observed here by the Roman Catholics;
and on every Friday during this holy season, and every day of the last
week of it, there is divine service in the parish church. On Easter Sunday
every one in the union breakfasts on eggs, and dines on flesh meat. Easter
Monday is a great holiday here; and multitudes go into Scattery Island
this day for the purpose of performing penance on their bare knees, round
the stoney beach and holy well there. Tents are generally erected in the
island on this occasion, and oftentimes more whiskey is drank by the pilgrims,
than is found convenient on their return in crowded boats.
On the first
of April, the old practise of fool-making is kept up here. On the first
of May bushes are erected before the doors, and decked with flowers.*
On the night of the twenty-third of June, being midsummer eve, bonefires
are kindled in all directions through the country; the young people dance
round them, and some drive their cattle through them. On the 29th of September,
(Michaelmas day,) the harvest being generally secured, hunting commences.
Plenty of hares are to be had in all parts of the union, and particularly
in the bogs of Shragh. Foxes are scarce, and keep chiefly in the cliffs.
On the last
day of October, all the Halloween tricks are played here, in a manner
similar to those in the mountains of Ulster, or the Highlands of Scotland.
Till within
a few years, for some weeks before Christmas, a midnight procession with
music took place at Kilrush, called “Waits,” but this custom,
with that of assembling in the Christmas holydays as mummers or wren-boys,
and baiting a bull on St. Stephen’s day, is now grown obsolete.
The good people of Kilrush are too busy to be as gay now as when they
had little or nothing to do but amuse themselves; they forget not however
the festivity and hospitality of this holy season, which are always accompanied
by a liberal relief to the necessities of the poor.
Christenings,
Marriages, Wakes and Funerals
It was formerly usual here to make expensive entertainments at christenings;
but the custom has been abolished among the Protestants by the present
incumbent. It still continues among the Roman Catholics. The inhabitants
of this district marry at an early age. In “The West,” a girl’s
first appearance at mass, is well understood to be an intimation that
her parents wish to receive proposals for her. The marriage fee to the
Romish priest fluctuates between one guinea and five. Some wakes and funerals
here exhibit the same savage mixture of mirth and grief, which has been
so often observed in other parts of Ireland. Dismal howlings are alternated
with songs, plays, and ridiculous stories; whilst the various passions
of grief, love and anger are in turn elevated to their highest pitch by
copious libations of whiskey. It has been sometimes observed on these
occasions, that a man who would grudge to buy a bottle of wine, or a blister
for his relative when living, has expended thirty guineas in whiskey at
the wake and funeral. Many protestants use the Irish cry here, which is
not the case in Ulster; and some of them, when speaking of their departed
friends have been known to fall into the popular custom of saying “God
be merciful to them.”
Traditions
The vague and contradictory traditions of this tract of country would
fill a volume of greater size than value; few of them indeed merit to
be recorded. Those connected with ancient Ecclesiastical history have
been already noticed; and the two following may serve as samples of those
of more modern date.
The Reverend
John Vandeleur, a younger son of the Ralahine family, in the east of this
country, succeeded to the living of Kilrush, on the 6th of March, 1687,
in the room of the Rev. John Paterson deceased. Feeling in common with
the rest of the Protestants of Ireland, the intolerable pressure of Lord
Tyrconnel’s government, he took an early opportunity of joining
his fellow sufferers in seeking redress; and after rendering many services
to the Protestant cause, and being severely wounded at the battle of Aughrim,
he returned to Kilrush, and repossessed himself of his benefice.
His
neighbour and contemporary the Reverend Mr. Barclay, Vicar of the union
of Kilmurry Mc. Mahon, remained at home during the whole contest, and
holding a valuable farm under the see of Killaloe, paid the tythe of it
to the Catholic priest, who had usurped his living. The priest was particularly
severe in exacting tythes from the ejected vicar, and always required
security for their payment. In the summer of 1691, he was unusually hard
to be pleased in the security, and Mr. Barclay despairing of being able
to procure it, was returning in low spirits to his residence at Ballyartney,
when he met Captain O’Brien of Ennistymond, with the news of the
utter defeat of the Irish army at Aughrim. He returned immediately to
the house where the intruder was setting the tythes of his parish, surrounded
by a great number of people. “Have you got security, Sir?”
said the priest, in a loud and imperious voice. “I have,”
said Barclay; “My security is the great King William; and if you
do not deliver up my tythe books in ten minutes, I will have you hanged
on the high road of Kilmurry.” The priest turned pale, and trembled
on the seat of office. Lord Clare’s dragoons galloped through the
village in confusion, pushing for the pass of Moyarta. Mr. Barclay’s
tythe books were submissively returned to him; and the Protestants of
Clare for fifty year’s afterwards drank “Barclay’s Security,”
in a bumper toast.
Language
The Irish language is in general use here, but the English is rapidly
gaining ground; most of the rising generation understand it: a sworn interpreter
is however still used at the assizes of Ennis and the different quarter
sessions, and a country gentleman, ignorant of the Irish Language, would
be much at a loss how to transact his business at the fairs or markets.
Owing to the great intercourse with English and Scottish navy officers
and traders, the dialect of English spoken at Kilrush is much less provincial
than in the more inland parts of the south of Ireland. It however differs
widely from that of the inhabitants of the northern counties, not only
in the mode of pronunciation, but in the tone and inflection of the voice.
State of
Medicine
Before the year 1799, and for some time after it, there was no physician,
accoucheur, or apothecary between Loops Head lighthouse and the town of
Ennis; a tract of country extending upwards of 40 miles, and thickly inhabited.
The shopkeepers however vended medicines, guessing at the doses, with
the usual ill consequences to the purchasers; and the rate at which they
were sold may be ascertained by the price of a common blister, which was
4s. English. Tartar emetic and corrosive sublimate were usually measured
on the top of the same knife used for cutting butter or tobacco.
Quack doctors
abounded in all directions; who beginning their operations on swine, cows,
and horses, proceeded in their medical career from drawing teeth, and
boiling herbs, to the more arduous tasks of reducing ruptures, amputating
limbs, and managing fevers. Such practitioners could not fail to find
abundant employment, creating it as they went along, and often disseminating
variolous infection of the very worst description. One of this lion-hearted
tribe was known in the year 1802 to adopt an expedient of Alexander the
Great. He was called to the relief of a labourer in Carnacolla, when finding
some difficulty in reducing an inguinal hernia, he cut the Gordian knot,
and gave his patient a summary discharge from the troubles of this life.
About this time the Bishop of Killaloe sent an hamper of medicines to
Kilrush, for the relief of the poor, and in some time afterwards Lieutenant
Augustus Markett, of the Royal Navy made a similar donation, which with
occasional aid from the proprietor and incumbent, remedied in some degree
one of these evils, until an apothecary settled here. Mr. Vandeleur also
provided a regular supply of vaccine lymph, by subscribing annually in
the curate’s name to the Cow-pock Institution, and strongly recommended
his tenantry to avail themselves of the benefits arising from Dr. Jenner’s
discovery. There are now at Kilrush one physician and accoucheur, and
four surgeons or apothecaries, all of whom are said to have employment.
Religious
Opinions
The inhabitants of this union, (amounting in December 1813 to 17,242 souls)
were born and baptized either in the Established or the Romish church,
with a few individual exceptions. The incumbent of this benefice has exerted
himself most laudably for many years in the discharge of his clerical
duties; catechising, preaching, and visiting the sick. But the Protestant
establishment, as must have been already observed, is utterly inadequate
to the purpose intended by it, for want of resident clergymen, with schoolmasters,
churchwardens, and sidesmen in each of these five parishes. It is to be
hoped, however, that this subject may ere long occupy some portion of
the attention of the public, which has been hitherto lavished on less
important objects, and that, by the blessing of God upon the wisdom and
munificence of the British nation, the vivifying light of the gospel may
yet beam in a permanent and steady manner, upon the multitudes who remain
here as well as elsewhere in darkness and the shadow of death. No lover
of God or his country can think on this awful subject with unconcern:
but to pursue the consideration of it belongs to the political economist
and legislator, rather than to the statistical inquirer.
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of Kilrush, Killard, Kilfieragh, Moyferta, and Kilballyhone
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