Chapter I: Preface

I have been so often and persuasively asked to republish _A Little Tour in Ireland_, which I wrote as “an Oxonian,” many years ago, at the request of my beloved friend and companion, John Leech, and of which only one edition has been issued, and that long since exhausted; I have been so severely upbraided for “keeping his splendid illustrations locked up in a box, and raising the price of the few copies which come into the market, to thrice the original cost;” I have been so fully certified, not only by hearsay but by my own eyes, that there is little or no perceptible change in the scenes, which he drew and I described; and my apprehension, that the style in which the book is written might be denounced as unbecoming, has been so completely expelled by the amused remonstrance of my friends, who insist that gaiety becomes an undergraduate as much as gaiters a Dean;--that I can make no further resistance, and only ask that the failings of the author may be condoned by the talent of the artist.

S. Reynolds Hole.

The Deanery,

Rochester: 1892.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PACE

I. PREFATORY....................................I

II. TO DUBLIN....................................9

III. DUBLIN........................................l6

IV. FROM DUBLIN TO GALWAY......................35

V. THE FAMINE....................................48

VI. FROM GALWAY TO OUGHTERARDE................55

VII. CONNAMARA....................................65

VIII. CLIFDEN........................................7<>

IX. KYLEMORE......................................86

X. FROM KYLEMORE TO GALWAY..........I08

XI. FROM GALWAY TO LIMERICK..........119

XII. LIMERICK...................134

XIII. KILLARNEY..................141

XIV. KILLARNEY..................151

XV. KILLARNEY..................171

XVI. FROM KILLARNEY TO GLENGARRIFF.......187

XVII. GLENGARRIFF.................197

XVIII. FROM GLENGARRIFF TO CORK..........204

XIX. CORK.....................2l6

XX. BLARNEY...................224

XXI. FROM DUBLIN HOMEWARD...........236

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FACE

the claddagh...............Frontispiece

THE “CURSED ARISTOCRATn............................7

IRISH MELODY..........................................9

LOVE AT CREWE STATION..............................II

THE UNIVERSITY PORTER................................17

THE QUEEN OF BEAUTY.............Tofa.ce 30

CAR VERSUS CAB................ “ 32

A PRIEST..............................................37

WHICH SHALL IT BE?..................................42

AN IRISH PIG..........................................45

ANOTHER IRISH PIG....................................55

A USEFUL GATE........................................56

PADDY AT HOME........................................57

WAITING FOR HORSES..................................6l

A REVERIE............................................69

EVENING IN CONNAMARA................................77

THE ROYAL MAIL......................................86

1*AGE

SOMETHING LIKE A DAY AT KYLEMORK......To face ÇO

ON THE LIGHT FANTASTIC...............109

GOING TO THE FAIR..................IIO

MARY'S LOOKING-GLASS.................Il6

A BEACON ON THE SHANNON..............127

THE BELLE OF THE SHANNON.............130

HOOKS AND EYES...................135

KILLARNEY......................I40

THE GAP OF DUNLOE..............To face 154

BROILED SALMON al fresco...............158

ON THE WRONG ISLAND................l6o

A ROCK AT KILLARNEY.................171

CHOOSING A SHILLELAGH................185

RESULT OF A SALMON DIET..............JÇ1

VILLAGE BEAUTIES...................193

THE TUNNEl...................To face 196

THE WAITER AT GLENGARRIFF.............200

AN APPARITION....................202

THE SLEEPING PIG...................209

IRISH CONSTABULARY.................210

THE BLARNEY STONE..............To face 228

A LITTLE TOUR IN IRELAND.