R - Comhaltas Archive

- 'After supper, I for the first time drankwhisky punch, the taste of which isharsh and austere, and the smell worsethan the taste .. . The spirit was veryfierce and wi ld, requiring not less thanseven times its own quantity of water totame and subdue it'. It seems the pipesimpressed him more than the drink!Now who could have written this? ' ....arrive late at Ballinasloe, and get bedswith great difficulty ... victuals bad;wine poisonous; bed execrable;generally badly off; fall asleep in spiteof ten thousand noises; wish gentlemanover my head would leave off thebagpipes, and the gentlemen who aredrinking in the next room would leaveoff singing, and the two gentlemen whoare in bed together in the closet wouldleave off snoring; sad, sad. All quiet atlast and be hanged! 'And the fo llowing night after a dreary,frustrating day - ' bed at nine o'clock,in a crib about five feet square; damnthose bagpipes'Wolfe ToneThe writer of these forthright commentsin his diary for the 6 th and 7 th October,1792 was the 29 year old Wolfe Tone.He had gone to Connacht as assistantsecretary to the Catholic where is yourconscience? All wi ll not do. 11 fautpayer. Well (sings) 'Tis but in vain forsoldiers to complain'. Tone had thehappy abi lity to retai n his sense ofhumour and to see the funny side ofthings even in the most unpleasantsituations. It is this sense of fun whichfor me, makes him a human being, aswell as a great Irishman.Sir John Carr, a Devonshire man camein 1805 as a tourist. He, of Committeeto organise Galway and Mayo forCatholic Emancipation andParliamentary Reform . After a terriblejourney, during which their coach washeld up by footpads and broke down inthe mud, eventuall y he and TomBraughall arrived in Ballinasloe ' sickfor want of sleep'. And then the pipesand the singing and the snoring until theearly hours. No wonder he complained.Breakfast in the inn was beefsteak 'friedwith a great quantity of onions', thesame again on the following morning.Wolfe Tone's first day there wascompletely frustrating, the second lessso and the third day, that the fair ofBallinas loe, more rewarding withcontacts made and meetings organised .The dinners at the inn were very bad,he says, and 'our bill monstrous! Aguinea for my crib, without window orfirep lace, for two nights. Oh Lord! OhLord! What will this world come to?Oh, Miss Cu lahaun, mill Culahaun,course, vis ited Dublin, Cork andKillarney. He admired the ingenuity of'the lower Irish' remarking how theycould do so much with so little, -bridles, stirrups, cruppers and ropesfrom hay, and their cabins from whatwas available around them. He praisedtheir well formed bodies and theirhospita lity. He mentioned that ' theharp is yet in use; but the Irish bagpipeis the favourite instrument'.In 1828 a German nobleman PrinceHermann Ludwig Heinrich von Puckler­Muskau, a traveller par excel lence,visited Ireland. He was a man of highspirits, a practical joker, and a 'divil forthe women', he travelled in Italy,Switzerland and Southern France onone tour and later, Italy, France,England, Ireland and Scotland. His lastbig tour was through North Africa,Greece and As ia Minor.He was a tall, distinguished-lookingman and he travelled in style. InLimerick he was taken for the illegitimateson of Napoleon, and in Derrynane hewas the guest of O'Connell. In Cahir itwas believed he had come to thiscountry on a secret mission from theKing of France to the Liberator. While inSouth Tipperary he received lavishhospitality and was invited on two harehunts. He returned the compliment bythrowing a dinner party in Cashel. Heprovided lavish fare for his guests,engaging an Irish piper to play for them.This musi cian, he said, a handsome oldman with a fine head of snow-white hair.A less savoury entertainment he paid forwas a cock fight.Fourteen years later, another Germantraveller and writer appeard on the Irishscene, Johann Geog Kohl from Bremen.He toured widely in Europe andpublished numerous travel books on hisexperiences.In Kilrush he attended one of FrMatthew's temperance meetings andwas very impressed by him and hiswork. He arrived in Kilkenny during theraces - 'this great crowd of peoplewandering about I know not whystanding,sauntering, singing andperforming music in the streets. ' Itsounds rather like Fleadh Cheoil na31-