Disappointment and Vexation

When we reached our car, our company were patiently waiting, but to my awful disappointment told me there was not time to visit Dunquin, and Mrs. S., who seemed to be the heroine in all this day's manoeuvring, told me she had never heard of it before. I have found some fault with others in this work, and have recorded some of their misdoings, and am not so vain as to suppose I have passed through the length and breadth of Ireland, and not done some things and said some things out of time and season. Now here I made a little mistake, and am happy to acknowledge it as publicly as I mention the mistakes of others. This woman had a kind heart, and had manifested as much of it towards me as a poor woman could do; she had taken much pleasant trouble to arrange affairs for this trip, she had waited patiently upon the beach while we were exploring wonders above her, and when we came down, was in readiness to go home. When I mentioned Dunquin, her surprise appeared to me like real intrigue. I thought she could not but know that it was the object of my journey, and I told her so in language which she understood and felt. I hate deceit, and thought here was full proof. The time, too, I could not think was so far spent; but here she was in the right, and had I taken my own course, and persuaded the driver to take us the perilous route, which was nine miles, it would have been a frightful expedition indeed. But we were saved, in spite of my determination to the contrary.

Ireland’s Welome to the Stranger is one of the best accounts of Irish social conditions, customs, quirks and habits that you could wish for. The author, Mrs Asenath Nicholson, was an American widow who travelled extensively in Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine and meticulously observed the Irish peasantry at work and play, as well as noting their living conditions and diet. The book is also available from Kindle.