The three classes of gentlemen in Ireland described—Irish poets—Mr.
Thomas Flinter and D. Henesey—The bard—Peculiarities of the
peasants—Their ludicrous misinformation as to distances accounted
for—Civility of a waiter—Equivocation of the peasants, and their
misdirection of travellers to different places.
I will now proceed to lay before the reader a brief but more general
sketch of the state of Irish society at the period of my youth,
reminding him of the principle which I have before assumed; namely, that
of considering anecdotes, bon-mots, and the like, valuable only as they
tend to exemplify interesting facts relative to history or manners: many
such I have inserted in these fragments; and as I have been careful
throughout to avoid mere inventions, my reader need not, by any means,
reserve their perusal for the study of his travelling carriage.
Miss Edgeworth, in her admirable sketch of _Castle Rackrent_, gives a
tolerably faithful picture of the Irish character under the combination
of circumstances which she has selected; and the account that I am about
to give may serve as an elucidation of the habits and manners of Irish
country society about the period Miss Edgeworth alludes to, and somewhat
later—with which she could not be so well acquainted.
In those days, the common people ideally separated the gentry of the
country into three classes, and treated each class according to the
relative degree of respect to which they considered it entitled.
They generally divided them thus: