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Thackeray's Works: The Irish sketch book, vol. I (1896)
Thackeray's Works The Irish sketch book vol I - 1896 Author:William Makepeace Thackeray Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. FBOM CAKLOW TO WATERFORD. The next morning being fixed for the commencement of our journey towards Waterford, a carriage made its appearance i... more »n due time before the hall-door: an amateur stage-coach, with four fine horses, that were to carry us to Cork. The crew of the " drag," for the present, consisted of two young ladies, and two who will not be old, please Heaven! for these thirty years; three gentlemen whose collected weights might amount to fifty-four stone ; and one of smaller proportions, being as yet only twelve years old: to these were added a couple of grooms and a lady's- maid. Subsequently we took in a dozen or so more passengers, who did not seem in the slightest degree to inconvenience the coach or the horses; and thus was formed a tolerably numerous and merry party. The governor took the reins, with his geraninm in his button-hole, and the place on the box was quarrelled for without ceasing, and taken by turns. Our day's journey lay through a country more picturesque, though by no means so prosperous and well cultivated as the district through which we had passed on our drive from Dublin. This trip carried us through the County of Carlow and the town of that name: a wretched place enough, with a fine court-house, and a couple of fine churches: the Protestant church a noble structure, and the Catholie cathedral said to be built after some continental model. The Catholics point to the structure with considerable pride : it was the first, I believe, of the many handsome cathedrals for their worship which have been built of late years in this country by the noble contributions of the poor man's penny, and by the untiring energies and sacrifices of the clergy. Bishop Doyle, the founder of the church, has the place of honor within it; nor, perhaps, d...« less