Some Of The Older Inhabitants
Informed Us, That They Were Driven To Great Extremities During Their
Defence, Like The Jews Of Old When Besieged By The Roman Emperor Titus,
Insomuch That They Were Constrained By Hunger To Feed On The Carcasses
Of The Dead.
Though somewhat repaired, it still remains only the ruins
of their former town.
Except in the houses of the better sort, they have
no chimnies, so that we were very much incommoded by the smoke during
our stay at that place. Their fuel is turf, which they have very good,
together with whins or furze. As there grows little wood hereabout,
building is very expensive; as also they are in want of lime, which they
have to bring from a far distance. But they have abundance of stone, the
whole country appearing entirely composed of rocks and stones, so that
they commonly make their hedges of stone, by which each mans ground is
parted from his neighbour. Yet their country is very fruitful, and
abounds in grass and grain, as appears by the abundance of cattle and
sheep; insomuch that we had very good sheep, though smaller than those
of England, for two shillings, or five groats a-piece, and good pigs and
hens for threepence each.
The greatest want is of industrious and husbandly inhabitants, to till
and improve the ground; for the common sort, if they can only provide
sufficient to serve them from hand to mouth, take no farther care. Good
land was to be had here for fourpence an acre of yearly rent. They had
very small store of money among them, for which reason, perhaps, they
doubled and trebled the prices of every thing we bought, in proportion
to what they had been before our arrival. They have mines of alum, tin,
brass, and iron; and we saw certain natural stones, as clear as crystal,
and naturally squared like diamonds. That part of the country is full of
great mountains and hills, whence run many pleasant streams of fine
water. The native hardiness of the Irish nation may be conceived from
this, that their young children, even in the midst of winter, run about
the streets with bare legs and feet, and often having no other apparel
than a scanty mantle to cover their nakedness. The chief officer of
their town is called the sovereign, who hath the same office and
authority among them with our mayors in England, having his Serjeants to
attend upon him, and a mace carried before mm as they have. We were
first entertained at the sovereigns house, which was one of the four
that withstood the Earl of Desmond in his rebellion.
They have the same form of common prayer, word for word, that we have,
only that it is in Latin. On Sunday, the sovereign goeth to church
having his Serjeant before him, and accompanied by the sheriff and
others of the town. They there kneel down, every one making his prayers
privately by himself. They then rise up and go out of the church again
to drink. After this, they return again to church, and the minister
makes prayers. Their manner of baptising differs somewhat from ours,
part of the service belonging to it being in Latin and part in Irish.
The minister takes the child on his hands, dipping it first backwards
and then forwards, over head and ears into the cold water even in the
midst of winter. By this the natural hardiness of the people may appear,
as before specified. They had neither bell, drums, nor trumpet, to call
the parishioners together, but wait for the coming of the sovereign,
when those that have devotion follow him. Their bread is all baked in
cakes, and the bakers bake for all the town, receiving a tenth part for
their trouble. We had of them some ten or eleven tons of beer for the
Victory; but it acted as a severe purge upon all who drank it, so that
we chose rather to drink water.
Having provided ourselves with fresh water, we set sail from thence on
the 20th December, accompanied by Sir Edward Dennie and his lady, with
two young sons. In the morning of that day, my lord went on shore to
hasten the dispatch of some fresh water for the Victory, and brought us
news that sixty Spanish prizes were taken and brought to England. For
two or three days after we sailed, we had a fair wind; but it afterwards
scanted, so that we were fain to keep a cold Christmas with the bishop
and his clerks, as I said before. After this, meeting with an English
ship, we received the joyful news that ninety-one Spanish prizes were
come to England; and along with that, the sorrowful intelligence that
our last and best prize was cast away on the coast of Cornwal, at a
place the Cornish men call _Als-efferne_, that is Hell-cliff, where
Captain Lister and all the people were drowned, except five or six, half
English and half Spaniards, who saved their lives by swimming. Yet much
of the goods were saved and preserved for us, by Sir Francis Godolphin
and other worshipful gentlemen of the country. My lord was very sorry
for the death of Captain Lister, saying that he would willingly have
lost all the fruits of the voyage to have saved his life.
The 29th December we met another ship, from which we learned that Sir
Martin Frobisher and Captain Reymond had taken the admiral and
vice-admiral of the fleet we had seen going into the haven of Tercera;
but that the admiral had sunk, in consequence of much leaking, near the
Eddystone, a rock over against Plymouth sound, all the people however
being saved. We were likewise informed by this ship, that Captain
Preston had captured a ship laden with silver. My lord took his passage
in this last ship to land at Falmouth, while we held on our course for
Plymouth.
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