WE left Kyle-more next morning about 8.30,—the Irishman calling to us from his window, “to give his love to the Bishop1 of London, and to ask him what he fancied for the Chester Cup,”—travelling on an outside car,—the most pleasant mode of conveyance2 for two persons, as you are thus perfectly3 independent, can stop when and where you please, have plenty of room, and can converse4 agreeably. Frank looked wistfully back at the lake, like the pointer sent home at luncheon5, or the hunter you have ridden as your hack6 to the “meet,” or (a resemblance much more to his taste), a belle7, reluctantly leaving the ball-room, on the arm of her drowsy8 but determined9 Pa.
Now we pass through the severe and solemn scenery of the Killeries, compared by Inglis, Barrow, and Miss Martineau, to a Norwegian Fiord, with its lakes so still, and cold, and black, and its mountains so bleak10 and stern, that even the sea-fowl seemed to have deserted11 it with the exception of a single cormorant12, who looked as though he had committed himself in some disreputable way, and had been banished13 here for solitary14 confinement15.
But the dreariness16 of the scene was soon delightfully17 relieved by numbers of the peasantry, on their way to the Fair, or Pattern as it is called, being held on the festival of some Patron Saint, at Leenane; and the striking colours of their picturesque18 costume, red, white, and blue, came out most effectively against the sombre darkness of the back-ground. Boats, too, were crossing the water; and a soldier in uniform, coming over in one of them, glowed on the gloomy lake, like a bed of scarlet19 geraniums in the middle of a fallow field. Some were on foot; but more on horseback, almost every steed carrying double—husbands and wives, mothers and sons, brothers and sisters, and for aught I know, “one lovely arm was stretched for,”—nothing in particular, “and one was round her lover.” The bare feet hung gracefully20 down, and the eyelids21, as we passed, hung gracefully down also, and hid those bright Irish eyes. Well, “there is a shame, which is glory and grace,” the most beautiful ornament22 that woman wears, and nowhere worn with a more becoming, but unaffected, dignity, than here by the maidens23 of Connamara.
Saddles did not seem to be known, and the bridles24, chiefly, were of rope or twisted hay. As to the Fair itself, I imagine that the meeting partook more of a social than of a commercial character, a few sheep being the principal live-stock which we saw exposed for sale. Several stalls exhibited, for the refreshment25 of visitors, large cakes or bannocks, with currants at an incredible distance from each other (the white bread, per se, being, doubtless, a sufficient novelty and treat to many), and any amount of apples. Indeed Paddy seems almost as fond of pommes d'arbre as he is of pommes de terre; and in Stations, Steamers, and Streets, they have all but a monopoly of the market.
The landlord of the neat-looking inn at Leenane, a fine, tall, manly26 fellow, reminding us that we had now entered into the country of “big Joyce,” came forth27 and welcomed us cheerily, as we stopped to change our horse, and almost induced us to stay and see the fun of the fair, together with “the hundred and fifty couple, which would stand up in the afternoon for a jig28.” But we had no time to lose, having to meet the Clifden Car, at the Cross Roads, en route to Galway; and as we saw, shortly afterwards, two waggons29 loaded with constables30, who were going to preserve order, we did not regret our departure, nor fail to congratulate each other on the unbroken soundness of our Saxon skulls31.
We took with us a new driver from Leenane, who seemed somewhat depressed32 at leaving the Fair, and was the least sociable33 Irishman I ever met. But one does not desire conversation amid this impressive scenery; and as the only information which he volunteered was this, that “Hens Castle,” near the Mauwt Hotel, was built in one night by a cock and hen grouse,—a statement which he appeared to believe implicitly,—I don't suppose that we lost much from his taciturnity. The misfortune was, that, though his tongue was tied, his hat was not,—an eccentric, light-hearted “wide-awake,” which would keep skimming past us, and hurrying back to Leenane, always starting off with a fresh impetus34, as the owner stooped to secure it. As time was precious, Frank offered to fasten the article to his head, with a large, gold breast-pin, by way of nail, and a heavy stone, which he picked up by the wayside (during a little walk of some two miles up hill), as hammer; but he was repulsed35 with considerable asperity36. At last, to our great delectation, the offensive head-gear was drawn37 out of a boggy38 pool, in such a limp and unpleasant condition, that the proprietor39, after a brief survey, indignantly sat upon it during the remainder of our journey, vesting his cranium in a pocket-handkerchief, which was, indeed, a sight to see. With a large bunch of heather, which, I regret to confess, we could not refrain from inserting in the collar of his coat, and
“dulce est tomfoolere in loco?
he presented an appearance “well worthy40 of hob-servation,” (as they say at the wax-work), and which would have raised an immediate41 mob in any street of London.
We arrived at the cross roads, in spite of the Fabian policy pursued by the volatile42 hat, in good time for the Galway car, and soon found ourselves leaning over the pretty bridge at Oughterarde, and bidding farewell to Connamara. It has been, indeed, a privilege and refreshment to wander amid these glorious scenes, where
“Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise,”
and where nature, with a calm, majestic43 dignity, which must impress, and ought to improve, claims at once our reverence44 and love, awes45 us with her grandeur46, but charms us more with her smile.
The tourist readily foregoes and forgets the temporary loss of little comforts to which he has been accustomed. There is but one really great deprivation47 to which he is subject,—the want of ladies' society. English ladies can go, do go, and will go everywhere; but, generally speaking, they are unwilling48, wisely unwilling, to encounter a wet day on an Irish car, or the carpetless, comfortless rooms of the Connaviara inns.
Indeed, the fine gentleman, who chiefly loves the tips of his moustaches, the sleeve-links of his shirt, and the toes of his gleaming boots,—the dandy, [Greek word], who can't live without his still champagne49, by Jove, his soups and sauces, and golden plovers50, his Nesselrode pudding, and petit verre en suite,—will find sad discomfiture51 in Connamara. Neither Apicius Coelius nor Lady Clutterbuck have prepared the way for his daintyship, and when the bacon, which accompanies the breastless fowls52, shall display its prismatic hues53, his forlorn spirit shall sigh in vain for the pleasant hams of Piccadilly, while, in vain, he imprecates on the unskilful cook the fate of Mr. Richard Rouse. 1
1 A cook, who, in the year 1530, attempted to poison Fisher,
Bishop of Rochester, and was boiled to death—out of
compliment to his profession. See Froude's History of
England, vol. i., p. 288. A writer in the Athenaum (Jan. 13,
1844,) remarks, in a very amusing article on the Irish
nothing to cook. We occasionally, to be sure, throw them a
cookery goes no further.”
At morn, moreover, lazily turning in his bed to ring for valet or waiter, how shall his superb dignity be perturbed57 to find, that there exists no belle alliance between the upper and lower house, and that his highness must go to the stair top, and hallo, for whatever his emergencies require. No marble bath awaits him now, with its tepidly58 congenial joys; but there stands at his door a little tub, which he contemplates59 as ruefully as the stork60 of the fable61 the shallow dish of the fox, and which just contains a sufficiency of water to perplex a rat of irresolute62 mind, whether he should walk or swim. The accommodation is, in fact, so limited, that Frank, in attempting some daring flight of ablution, broke his tiny bath to pieces, and away streamed the water to announce the fact down stairs.
Up came the astonished waiter, and surveying the wreck63 with a sorrowful countenance64, exclaimed, “By the powers, your onner, its Meary's looking-glass you've been and ruinated intirely!—and how will she kape herself nate and daysint?” subsequently explaining to us, that this vessel65, filled with clear spring water, had served, prior to its dissolution, as the mirror of the pretty housemaid. I had my doubts as to the tale of a tub; but Frank, at all events, thought it his duty to have an interview with the bereaved66 Meary, and returned therefrom with one of his ears considerably67 enriched in colouring.
I strongly recommend the tourist to make himself a C.B., by procuring68 a portable bath of waterproof69 material, such as is now made for travellers. He will then have no difficulty to contend with beyond a slight indisposition on the part of the waiters to supply him liberally with the element required. “Bedad,” said one of them to me, “if the rain's to be presarved, and carried up stairs, and trated in this fashion, I'm thinking it'ill get so mighty70 fond of our attintions, that it'll never lave us at all, at all!”
Again, the fine gentleman may be disconcerted to find that windows very generally decline to be opened, or, being open, prefer to keep so, except in case of his looking out of them, when they are down upon his neck, like a guillotine. His looking-glass, too, just as it is brought to a convenient focus, may perhaps, dash madly round, as though urged by an anxiety, which it could not repress, to assure him, in white chalk, that it really cost three and sixpence!
But what are these trivial inconveniences, which amuse, more than they annoy, to “a man as calls himself a man,” and when he has such active, cheerful, untiring servants, ever ready to do all in their power to please him? The cuisine71 is certainly a little queer, but he who, with a Connamara appetite, cannot enjoy Connamara fare, salmon72, fresh from its lakes, eggs newly laid, excellent bread and butter, the maliest of potatoes (“laughing at you, and with their coats unbuttoned from the heat,” but perhaps a trifle underboiled for our taste, until we learn to like them “with a bone in them”), together with the best of whiskey, and our Burton beer; he who cannot sleep in a clean Connamara bed, after a day among its mountains and lakes, nor say with Bellarius,
“Come; our stomach
Finds the down pillow hard,—
why he's not the man for Galway, and had better keep away from it.
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1
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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hack
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| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
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7
belle
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| n.靓女 | |
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8
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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10
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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11
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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12
cormorant
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| n.鸬鹚，贪婪的人 | |
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13
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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15
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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16
dreariness
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| 沉寂，可怕，凄凉 | |
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17
delightfully
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| 大喜，欣然 | |
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18
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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19
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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20
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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21
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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22
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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23
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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24
bridles
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| 约束( bridle的名词复数 )； 限动器； 马笼头； 系带 | |
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25
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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26
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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27
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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28
jig
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| n.快步舞（曲）；v.上下晃动；用夹具辅助加工；蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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29
waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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30
constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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31
skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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32
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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33
sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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34
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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35
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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36
asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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37
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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38
boggy
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| adj.沼泽多的 | |
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39
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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40
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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41
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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42
volatile
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| adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质 | |
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43
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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44
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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45
awes
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| n.敬畏，惊惧( awe的名词复数 )v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的第三人称单数 ) | |
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46
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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47
deprivation
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| n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困 | |
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48
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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49
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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50
plovers
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| n.珩，珩科鸟（如凤头麦鸡）( plover的名词复数 ) | |
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51
discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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52
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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53
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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54
census
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| n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查 | |
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55
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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56
broil
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| v.烤，烧，争吵，怒骂；n.烤，烧，争吵，怒骂 | |
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57
perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
tepidly
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contemplates
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的第三人称单数 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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60
stork
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| n.鹳 | |
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fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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62
irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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63
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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64
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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65
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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66
bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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67
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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68
procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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69
waterproof
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| n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水 | |
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70
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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71
cuisine
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| n.烹调，烹饪法 | |
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72
salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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73
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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74
sloth
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| n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散 | |
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