The Dress of the Connemara People

The features of the landscape are not less strikingly picturesque than the costume of the people, particularly that of the women of these Irish highlands. Civilization and the increasing intercourse with strangers are, however, fast obliterating these peculiarities, and the traveller visiting Connemara will rarely perceive any difference in the dress of the people from that of the peasantry in other districts. Formerly a Connemara dandy, when dressed in his holiday attire, wore a pair of breeches open at the knee—his legs being encased in a pair of those soft, warm woollen stockings, of a light blue or grey colour, for whose manufacture this place has been long celebrated,[52] and his feet inserted into a pair of stout leather brogues [53]—shining with a fresh coat of grease of some kind or another. The blue frieze trusty, or great-coat—fastened like a mantle by a single button, or a strong clasp at the throat—fell loosely from his shoulders, the vacant sleeves, into which he never dreamed of thrusting his arms, swinging idly on each side. A gay-coloured silk neck-handkerchief—a smart, narrow-brimmed hat, placed airily on one side of his head—and a good stout oak sapling completed the appointments of a young fellow going to mass on a Sunday, accompanied by his sweetheart, who most probably would wear a scarlet linsey-woolsey petticoat—of sufficient brevity to show the proportions of a pair of handsome legs, set off like the men's, with blue woollen stockings and brogues.

A coloured cotton gown, drawn up in front, and pinned behind, displayed the scarlet petticoat to advantage;—the outer covering for the body being a blue cloak or mantle, with a hood, which might be drawn over the head at the pleasure of the wearer. The females also usually wear thin muslin caps, which come close to the face, and are profusely ornamented with showy ribbons. The frieze coat, of which I have been speaking, and the manner of wearing it loosely on the shoulders, are derived from the fashion of the mantle formerly worn by the Irish—which, according to the description of it, must have been the most commodious garment in the simplest form that could be devised. The poet Spenser, who resided in Ireland during some of its most troubled days, and who writes of the country in a bitter and hostile spirit, describes the mantle as answering the purposes of housing, bedding, and clothing to the turbulent Irish: "for," says he, "it is a fit house for an outlaw, a meet bed for a rebel, and an apt cloke for a thiefe." He informs us how the outlaw fleeth for his villanies into waste places, "where he maketh his mantle his house, and under it covereth himself from the wrath of heaven, from the offence of the earth, and from the sight of men. When it raineth it is his pent-house; when it bloweth it is his tent; when it freezeth it is his tabernacle. In sommer he can wear it loose; in winter he can wrap it close; at all times he can use it, never heavy, never cumbersome." Again he says, "yea, and oftentimes their mantle serveth them (the rebels) when they are neere driven, being wrapped about their left arm instead of a target; for it is hard to cut through with a sword, besides it is light to beare, and light to throw away."

NOTES

[52] The Connemara stockings, manufactured from the soft wool of the fine mountain-sheep, are famous all over Ireland for their superior warmth and elasticity.

[53] The Irish brogue differs materially from the modern shoe, the sole of the shoe being stitched to the upper leather with hempen threads twisted and waxed—while the sole and upper of the brogue are merely sewed together by a leathern thong. Ancient Irish brogues of very elegant form—composed of raw hides, tastefully ornamented—are not unfrequently found in the bogs of Ireland. The brogue on the foot and the coolin or long hair on the head, were for a length of time the distinctive marks of an Irishman—hence arose the saying, "He speaks with a brogue," when a person spoke with the Irish national accent.