After proceeding3 a mile or so, taking two or three turns to look for improvement, I began to perceive evident signs on the part of the road of retrograding into lane-ism; the county had evidently deserted4 it, and though made for cars and coaches, its traffic appeared to be now confined to donkeys carrying turf home from the bog5, in double kishes on their back. Presently the fragments of a bridge presented themselves, but they too were utterly6 fallen away from their palmy days, and in their present state afforded but indifferent stepping-stones over a bog stream which ran, or rather crept, across the road. These, however, I luckily traversed, and was rewarded by finding a broken down entrance to a kind of wood on the right hand. In Ireland, particularly in the poorer parts — to rank among which, County Leitrim has a right which will not be disputed — a few trees together are always the recognised sign of a demesne, of a gentleman’s seat, or the place where a gentleman’s seat has been; and I directly knew that this must be a demesne. But ah! how impoverished7, if one might judge from outward appearances. Two brick pillars, from which the outside plaster had peeled off and the coping fallen, gave evidence of former gates; the space was closed up with a loose built wall, but on the outer side of each post was a little well worn footpath8, made of soft bog mould. I of course could not resist such temptation, and entered the demesne. The road was nearly covered with that short dry grass which stones seem to throw up, when no longer polished by the wealthier portion of man or brute9 kind.
About thirty feet from the gap a tall fir had half fallen, and lay across the road, so that a man should stoop to walk under it; it was a perfect barrier to any equipage, however humble10, and the roots had nearly refixed themselves in their reversed position, showing that the tree had evidently been in that fallen state for years.
The usual story, thought I, of Connaught gentlemen; an extravagant11 landlord, reckless tenants12, debt, embarrassment13, despair, and ruin. Well, I walked up the deserted avenue, and very shortly found myself in front of the house. Oh, what a picture of misery14, of useless expenditure15, unfinished pretence16, and premature17 decay!
The house was two stories high, with large stone steps up to the front door, with four windows in the lower, and six in the upper story, and an area with kitchens, &c., below. The entire roof was off; one could see the rotting joists and beams, some fallen, some falling, the rest ready to fall, like the skeleton of a felon18 left to rot on an open gibbet. The stone steps had nearly dropped through into the area, the rails of which had been wrenched19 up. The knocker was still on the door — a large modern lion-headed knocker; but half the door was gone; on creeping to the door-sill, I found about six feet of the floor of the hall gone also — stolen for fire wood. But the joists of the flooring were there, and the whitewash20 of the walls showed that but a few, a very few years back, the house had been inhabited. I leaped across the gulf21, at great risk of falling into the cellar, and reached the bottom of the stairs; here my courage failed me; all that was left was so damp and so rotten, so much had been gradually taken away, that I did not dare to go up: the doors on the ground floor would not open; the ceiling above me was all gone, and I could see the threatening timbers of the roof, which seemed only hanging till they had an opportunity of injuring some one by their fall. I crept out of the demi-door again, and down the ruined steps, and walked round the mansion22; not only was there not a pane23 of glass in the whole, but the window frames were all gone; everything that wanted keeping was gone; everything that required care to preserve it had perished. Time had not touched it. Time had evidently not yet had leisure to do his work. He is sure, but slow. Ruin works fast enough unaided, where once he puts his foot. Time would have pulled down the chimneys — Ruin had taken off the slates24; Time would have bulged25 the walls — Ruin brought in the rain, rotted the timbers, and assisted the thieves. Poor old Time will have but little left him at Ballycloran! The gardens had been large; half were now covered by rubbish heaps, and the other half consisted of potato patches; and round the out-houses I saw clustering a lot of those wretched cabins which the poor Irish build against a deserted wall, when they can find one, as jackdaws do their nests in a superannuated26 chimney. In the front there had been, I presume, a tolerably spacious27 lawn, with a drive through it, surrounded on all sides, except towards the house, by thick trees. The trees remained, but the lawn, the drive, and the flower patches, which of course once existed there, were now all alike, equally prolific28 in large brown dock weeds and sorrels. There were two or three narrow footpaths29 through and across the space, up to the cabins behind the house, but other marks of humanity were there none.
A large ash, apparently30 cut down years ago, with the branches still on it, was stretched somewhat out of the wood: on this I sat, lighted a cigar, and meditated31 on this characteristic specimen32 of Irish life. The sun was setting beautifully behind the trees, and its imperfect light through the foliage33 gave the unnatural34 ruin a still stronger appearance of death and decay, and brought into my mind thoughts of the wrong, oppression, misery, and despair, to which some one had been subjected by what I saw before me.
I had not been long seated, when four or five ragged35 boys and girls came through the wood, driving a lot of geese along one of the paths. When they saw me, they all came up and stood round me, as if wondering what I could be. I could learn nothing from them — the very poor Irish children will never speak to you; but a middle aged36 man soon followed them. He told me the place was called Ballycloran: “he did not know who it belonged to; a gintleman in Dublin recaved the rints, and a very stiff gintleman he was too; and hard it was upon them to pay two pound tin an acre for the garden there, and that half covered with the ould house and the bricks and rubbish, only on behalf of the bog that was convaynient, and plinty of the timber, tho’ that was rotten, and illigant outhouses for the pigs and the geese, and the ould bricks of the wall wor good manure37 for the praties” (this, in all my farming, I had never dreamt of); “but times was very hard on the poor, the praties being ninepence a stone in Carrick all last summer; God help the poor, the crayturs! for the gintlemin, their raal frinds, that should be, couldn’t help thimselves now, let alone others”— and so on, now speaking of his sorrow and poverty, and again descanting on the “illigance” of his abode38. I could only learn that a family called the Macdermots had lived there some six or seven years back, that they were an unfortunate people, he had heard tell, but he had not been in the country then, and it was a bloody39 story, &c. &c. &c. The evening was drawing on, and the time for my coach to come was fast approaching; so I was obliged to leave Ballycloran, unsatisfied as to its history, and to return to Drumsna.
Here I had no time to make further inquiries40, as Mr. Hartley’s servants always keep their time; and very shortly the four horses clattered41 down the hill into the village. I got up behind, for McC— — the guard, was an old friend of mine; and after the usual salutations and strapping42 of portmanteaus, and shifting down into places, as McC—— knows everything, I began to ask him if he knew anything of a place called Ballycloran.
“‘Deed then, Sir, and I do,” said he, “and good reason have I to know; and well I knew those that lived in it, ruined, and black, and desolate43, as Ballycloran is now:” and between Drumsna and Boyle, he gave me the heads of the following story. And, reader, if I thought it would ever be your good fortune to hear the history of Ballycloran from the guard of the Boyle coach, I would recommend you to get it from him, and shut my book forthwith.
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1
demesne
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| n.领域，私有土地 | |
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2
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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14
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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15
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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17
premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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felon
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| n.重罪犯；adj.残忍的 | |
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wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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whitewash
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| v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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slates
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| （旧时学生用以写字的）石板( slate的名词复数 )； 板岩； 石板瓦； 石板色 | |
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25
bulged
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| 凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物） | |
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superannuated
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| adj.老朽的，退休的；v.因落后于时代而废除，勒令退学 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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prolific
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| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
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29
footpaths
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| 人行小径，人行道( footpath的名词复数 ) | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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manure
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| n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥 | |
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38
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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40
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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41
clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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42
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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43
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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