es further about it,) and
they dispose of it to a poorer class of fishwomen, who retail it
at market.

"The inhabitants of the Cloddagh are an unlettered race. They
rarely speak English, and even their Irish they pronounce in a
harsh, discordant tone, sometimes not intelligible to the
townspeople. They are a contented, happy race, satisfied with
their own society, and seldom ambitious of that of others.
Strangers (for whom they have an utter aversion) are never
suffered to reside among them. The women possess an unlimited
control over their husbands, the produce of whose labour they
exclusively manage, allowing the men little more money than
suffices to keep the boat and tackle in repair; but they keep
them plentifully supplied with whisky, brandy, and tobacco. The
women seldom speak English, but appear more shrewd and
intelligent in their dealings than the men; in their domestic
concerns the general appearance of cleanliness is deserving of
particular praise. The wooden ware, with which every dwelling is
well stored, rivals in colour the whitest delft.

"At an early age they generally marry amongst their own clan. A
marriage is commonly preceded by an elopement, but no
disappointment or disadvantage from that circumstance has ever
been known among them. The reconciliation with the friends
usually takes place the next morning, the clergyman is sent for,
and the marriage celebrated. The parents generally contrive to
supply the price of a boat, or a share in one, as a beginning."

The writer then proceeds, in a strain of generous yet chastened energy, to
comment on the false measure which people apply to the sufferings of
others. Insensibility to wretchedness, or, as in the vocabulary of
oppression it is called, content, is often a proof of nothing but that
stupefaction of the faculties which is the natural result of long and
blighting misery. A contented slave is a degraded man. His sorrow may be
gone, but so is his understanding.

In the course of her enquiries into the condition of women under the
Mahometan law, the author is led to make some reflections upon one by whom
Mahometan manners were first presented in an attractive shape to the
English public--a person celebrated for her friends, but still more
celebrated for her enemies--known for her love, but famous for her hate--a
girl without feeling, a woman without