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had the qualifications requisite to form a fair and impartial judgment. An original Irishman resembles in many respects a Highlander; in some grand outlines he is indeed different, but this should be attributed perhaps to his situation, which is certainly little calculated to unfold his genuine character, rather than to any great essential distinction. To a stranger altogether unacquainted with his language or customs, like a Highlander, he appears very different from what he really is; he assumes the semblance of dispositions and qualities which are not. the most characteristic of his nature; and lest the dear language of his fathers, and superstitions of his earliest days, should be exposed to unhallowed ridicule, he will seem very unconcerned about either. This disposition is natural, and perhaps may be common to all nations that are much separated from foreigners, and that have only advanced to a particular stage of civilization. For though the Irishman has been surrounded during several centuries with strangers, yet jealousy and pride, and injurious treatment have confirmed him in his prejudices and have strengthened his attachment to the characteristics of his own people. This prejudice against the sons of the stranger who have settled in his country, operates much more powerfully in him than in the Highlander of

the present day and it must be owned, that the latter has always had more justice done him than the former.

Though I have said, that there are two classes of people in Ireland of a different origin, it should be observed, that there are three, if we include the Scots of Ulster, who settled there in the reign of Charles the first and second. They are a sober, industrious, and in general a wealthy people; proud of the name by which they are designated, and still retaining a hearty dislike to popery and all its adherents. Those counties in which they reside may easily be distinguished by the stranger from the advanced state of their agriculture and manufactures, and from the superior comfort and cleanliness of the inhabitants. Ulster are to be found the three classes which divide Ireland, the native Irish, or aborigines, the Anglo-Hibernians or English settlers,and the Scots. The first class in this province, consists of servants, sometimes tenants, as in Donegal and Antrim, where they compose the greater part of the population, and in a few instances proprietors; the second class, or Anglo-Hibernians, belong nearly all to the description of landed gentry; and the Scots, who are both tenants and proprietors, compose chiefly the manufacturing class. No part of Ireland is

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more improved than some parts of Ulster, and there is no part where the influence of religious antipathies and prejudice is more apparent. I have often been astonished to see a man ignorant and vicious, contend as furiously for the meeting-house, or church, or chapel, as if the religion of Christ had been confined to either of these places of worship, and as if he himself had been the most devout and exemplary christian on earth. A religious designation is here the name of a political party, as well as of a religious body; and it is no unusual thing to meet with a ruffian, who would fight for that sect whose name he bears, whilst he is totally ignorant of the tenets of every sect.

The religious animosities. which were strengthened by the atrocities committed by all parties during the civil war which ended with the treaty of Limerick, have always been continued in Ireland. They have been kept alive by parading associations, calling themselves. the friends of government, by political depression, by ignorance, superstition, and barbarism. How unfit are men, placed from their infancy in these circumstances, to judge of the character of one another with candour or fairness! The native Irishman has accordingly seldom met with justice; his vices have been held forth as unequalled; his disposition as fero

cious, and his mental culture hopeless; whilst the fine qualities which essentially compose his character have been overlooked or caricatured.

There is no mark by which the Irishman (always recollecting that by this I mean the original race of the country,) is more distinguished than inquisitiveness. He will walk

miles with you to discover where you come from, where are you going, and what is your business; he will appear merry to make you frank, and perfectly untutored and simple with a design constantly in view. This disposition has been cherished by the recitation of the sceuldachs, a species of legendary tales that have been transmitted from time immemorial. Every one is in possession of some of these; and the recital of them is one of the most favourite pastimes. As there is not one in a thousand of these people who can read, and as their priests do not often condescend to deliver sermons, this may be considered as the principal source of their instruction. And, however extravagant some of these stories may be, they are not altogether useless even in this point of view; they refer the mind from the present, to the past, and the future; they sharpen the intellect and furnish it with ideas; and they tend to excite

and gratify a powerful curiosity. A people possessed of this disposition, though sunk in ignorance and superstition, will nevertheless rise; and though circumstances for a time may repress its ardent impulse, yet their situation cannot be considered as hopeless while that impulse remains.

The tales of the bards and senachies produce a powerful influence on individual character. They begin to make their impression at that period of life, when almost any im. pressions may be made, and, when once made, can scarcely ever be completely effaced. Besides, the influence which the tale exerts is the more permanent, since the young listeners are generally allied, either by kindred, or tribe, or nation, to the hero, of whose marvellous exploits, or tragic death, it is the history all the warm and sympathetic affections of the tender mind are, thus awakened, and dwell with infinite delight on the fond image which an astonished imagination has formed.

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Though there are neither bards nor senachies in polished society, who amuse and instruct by the recitation of their tales and their songs, there are few who have had the advantage of liberal education, who have not felt in early life something analogous to the influence to which I have referred, Even the youth

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