are usually observed, should rather be called idle days, are a great drawback on industry. I have had occasion to know frequently the sentiments of the Roman Catholic clergy, and the best informed Catholic gentlemen on this subject, and they were almost unanimous in a wish, that they were translated to the following Sunday; and it is not a little remarkable, that much country work is performed on Sunday, that the lower orders would scruple to do on some holy days, especially the lady days, of which I believe there are four or five, and two of them in harvest. From the number of holy days, the working days of Catholics cannot be reckoned more than about 260, so that if we add the Sundays, wet days, days at fairs, funerals, stations, holy wells, patrons, weddings, &c. we may perceive how few days are devoted to labour. Of the industry of the higher ranks, I fear I cannot say much; many are possessed of a "bastard industry, that prompts to activity without ever thinking of consequences." In the pursuit of any thing amusing they are wonderfully active, but an industrious attention to the improvement of their lands is rather a rare quality. There are many praiseworthy exceptions to this character, even of those of the highest ranks, and I trust we shall shortly see many more; I ardently hope, that before long they will feel the delights resulting from a system of farming, combining pleasure with profit; and that they will pay no attention to the unfounded assertion of those who, wanting skill or perseverance, maintain that a gentleman can make nothing by tillage farming. The fact seems to be, that it requires more attention than they are inclined to bestow; whilst the grazing system requires little of either skill or trouble. I feel great pleasure in noticing the praiseworthy encouragement given to his tenants by Mr. Blake of French

fort, and also the spirit and intelligence with which this has been embraced by his tenant, John King (near Merlin Park), whose farm is or was in 1812 conducted in a very superior style of cropping and cleanliness. Every thing about him comfortable and clean, his corn and fuel drawn to the well-enclosed haggard long before others have their corn stacked, or their turf cut.

SECTION XXII.

USE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, WHETHER GENERAL OR HOW FAR INCREASING.

THE use of the English language is increasing rapidly all through the county, but in no part more than in Cunnamara, and generally with a good accent. Many are emigrants from English and Scotch regiments, of which the Scotch Fencibles furnished many highly useful members. A considerable number are those who have evaded the pursuit of their landlords or other creditors, from many different parts of Ireland, particularly from the north, a few years since, when "to hell or Connaught," was the charitable denunciation of that unhappy period. It is somewhat curious that near Galway, and particularly in the town (at the Cloddagh), many do not speak English, but a harsh Irish, not very well understood in general. It has been generally allowed that the following scale may be given of the merit of the different dialects of the Irish language: "The natives of Ulster have the right phrase, but not the pronunciation. Munster the pronunciation but not the phrase. Leinster has neither. Connaught has both." Many understand English, who, from an apprehension

they do not speak correctly, deny their knowledge of it. A witness at an assizes at Galway was proceeding to swear, in good English, that he could not speak a word of it, he meant that he did not speak English sufficiently well to give his testimony in that language. English is always spoken in the country schools, as the parents are anxious their children should speak it. I may therefore safely assert that the English language is gaining ground fast. In the next generation there will not probably be a gentlemen that will be able to speak Irish. It is remarkable that the most ignorant Irishman speaks in general the most correctly grammatical in his own language, and I believe, on a comparison with the natives of many shires in England, where they speak the most unintelligible jargon, he has no cause for much apprehension.

SECTION XXIII.

ACCOUNT OF TOWERS, CASTLES, &c. OR PLACES REMARKABLE FOR ANY HISTORICAL EVENT.

THERE are many old castles, or rather castellated houses, for of those that really can be called castle, I believe Portumna, built by the Burkes, is the only one. Before the arrival of Henry II. there were not more than four or five, except those built in cities. Probably the first building of this kind in Ireland of lime and stone was the castle of Tuam in 1161, by Roderick O'Connor, monarch of Ireland, and for that reason was called Castrum mirificum. In Henry eighth's reign there were upwards of five hundred of these small castellated houses; and since that period, chiefly in the reigns of

Anne and Elizabeth, they multiplied exceedingly. "Queen Elizabeth's ministers obliged every grantee to construct a castle, fort, or bawn, for the protection of his family and tenants. The common small square castles were the residence of English undertakers, and all those built before the reign of James the First were executed by English masons, and on English plans." They are, with few exceptions, small, gloomy, and uncomfortable, and only calculated for defence by the English settlers against sudden incursions of the oppressed natives, or in the warfare carried on by different opposite chieftains who lived by plundering each other. When Cromwell arrived here he demolished the greater part of them, and a happy change in the manners of the people prompting landed proprietors to advance considerably in the comforts and appearance of their houses, they have continued to advance in refinement, not only in the mode of building, but in the arrangement and furnishing of them. In Cunnamara are the castles of Renvyle, Doon, Ard, Ballynahinch, and Bunown, the ancient seat of the O'Flahertys, one of whom, Murrough O'Flaherty, used to get on the hill of Bunown, which hangs over the sea, and "declare war against all the potentates in the world, but especially against that pitiful, pettyfogging (it seems even at a remote period we have had pettyfoggers) town of Galway;" and his dependants used to say "Murrough is angry and there will be bloody work." Aghnenure, within two miles of Oughterard, was a place of some consequence; it was anciently a seat of the O'Flahertys, and at a later period inhabited by the Earl of Clanrickard, who dates several of his letters from it; one on the 20th October, 1651: it was of considerable strength, according to the mode of attack of that early period A river, communicating with Lough Corrib, runs under

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the castle; and tradition says that there was a bell attached to a trap in the kitchen for catching salmon, which gave notice to the cook when the fish was caught. Lord Clanrickard also dates some of his letters from Ierrylan, a large ruined castle opposite to the town of Galway. On the 7th March, 1650, the Marquis of Clanrickard gave audience to the Duke of Lorrain's ambassador at this castle. It is a curious circumstance that this lord always, in his letters to the Irish commissioners at Galway, used the words we and our. In one of his letters from this castle, he says:-" Whilst I was in treaty with lord Forbes, the commander of a parliament ship of war, and though lord Ranelagh, president of Connaught, was then in the fort of Galway, I saw the country on fire, my tenants' houses and goods burned, and four or five poor innocent creatures, men, women, and children, inhumanly murdered by Forbes's soldiers, who having taken possession of Lady's Church in Galway, the ancient burial place of the town, did, upon their departure, not only deface it, but digged up the graves, and burned the coffins and bones of those that were buried there." It is said that the castle of Cregg was the last erected in this county; it was built in 1648 by an ancestor of our celebrated countryman, Richard Kirwan, who in Cromwell's usurpation received the thanks of General Ireton, and a permission under his hand and seal to carry arms, in consequence of the protection he afforded to the protestants in 1641. The castle of Kinvara is in good preservation. There is the remains of a round castle between Gort and Kilmacduagh: I mention it as not being common. The castle of Athenry was built by Bermingham, and seems to have been of considerable magnitude. The castles of Loughrea, Castleconnel, and Portumna were built by the Burkes. There are a multitude of other castles