In 1834 William Cobbett an English journalist, farmer and member of parliament wrote a series of letters back to a labourer called Charles Marshall at Normandy Farm, his home in Surrey, England, recounting his recent tour of Ireland.
I came across the following excerpt from these letters in an edition of The Kerry Evening Post of that year, where he talks about a few topics from a discussion on marble by gentlemen "much bemused by beer" to a rant about a Mr. Finn ... he of the local paper Finn's Leinster Journal I presume!
He also has some disparaging words to say about the beers he came across during his travels, prompted by a meeting with 'Mr. Smithwick' in Kilkenny...
"I dined with one Smithwick, a popular brewer - O heavens! What stuff the wild Irish will drink out of political friendship. Why Marshall, if Tom Paine were to come on the earth again - as I suppose he will at the general resurrection - and turn brewer, I would not deal with him unless he put malt and hops in his ale. The purest principles of patriotism and philanthropy could not make cockles indicus go down. Don't suppose I allude to brewer Smithwick's drink, which I understand is some of the best political swipes in Ireland. But I have a prejudice in favor of good unadulterated malt drinks; and I hope, Marshall, your pity for these poor people will prevail upon you to lose your taste for the same sort of potation. Love your country as much as you will, you cannot love it too much; but love your beer also. Beer is the heart of man."
As you can read below he goes on to complain about those who attend his lectures - which he abandons - for not paying to do so but gives a backhanded compliment with regard to the people of Kilkenny's thirst for knowledge. He has some choice words to say about the city itself, and Waterford too!
It all makes for interesting reading...
But even after all of that ranting, it's those sentences from above that stick in my mind...
"Love your country as much as you will, you cannot love it too much; but love your beer also. Beer is the heart of man."Wise words? Who knows...
Liam
[With thanks as ever to my local library.]
1 comment:
William Cobbett is quoted in The Irish Famine: A Documentary, by Colm Tóibín and Diarmaid Ferriter, as follows (he wrote this before the great famine, but evidently Ireland was already in bad shape):
Gentlemen, it is impossible that Ireland can be suffered to remain in its present state! What! Vessels laden with provisions ready to sail for England, while those who have raised the provisions are starving on the spot where they raised them! What! Landlords living in England, having a 'RIGHT' to drive the King's subjects out of this island, on pain of starvation from hunger and cold! What! Call upon England for meal and money to be sent in charity to save the people of Ireland from starving, and make the relieved persons pay rent the same year! What! Demand allegiance from a man whom you toss out upon the road, denying that he has any right to demand from any part of the community the means of sustaining life! ...What! Give to 349,000 of the English people as many representatives in Parliament as you give to the whole Irish nation, and bid the latter be content ...
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