time she describes her
entertainment after a picnic in a thatched house which she calls a
"cabin," and remarks that the people did not seem solicitous of having
good dwellings or more furniture than was absolutely necessary--hardly so
much--but they made it up in eating and drinking; adding that no people
could be more hospitable or obliging, and that there was not only great
abundance, but "great order and neatness." There is, unfortunately, a
reverse to the medal. She remarks that they cut down all their trees
instead of preserving them; that the poverty of the people as she passed
through the country "made her heart ache," as she never saw a greater
appearance of misery; and that they lived in great extremes, either
profusely or wretchedly. The same testimony is borne by all who knew the
state of Ireland at that time.

A family with which Mrs. Delany had much friendly intercourse was that of
the Wesleys, who then and long after lived at Dangan Castle in the county
of Meath, within two miles of Laracor, Dean Swift's first Irish living.
This residence is generally supposed to have been the birthplace of the
duke of Wellington, though No. 24 Upper Merrion street, Dublin, disputes
that honor. Mrs. Delany describes Dangan Castle as being a large, handsome
and convenient house. Mr. Richard Colley Wesley, who was then the
proprietor, planted and laid out the grounds with much taste. They lived
magnificently, and at the same time without ceremony. There was "a
charming large hall" with an organ and harpsichord, where all the company
met when they had a mind to be together, and where "music, dancing,
draughts, shuttlecock and prayers took their turn." The house is now in
ruins, having been sold to Roger O'Connor, and burnt accidentally
afterward. Mrs. Delany speaks of her friend, Richard Colley Wesley, the
ancestor of the duke, as having more virtues and fewer faults than any man
she knew. She adds a curious circumstance in connection with the ruins of
a castle in the town of Dangan. It belonged to King John, and his _butler,
gentleman-usher and standard-bearer_ were the ancestors of the duke of
Ormond (Butler), Mr. Usher (high sheriff of Dublin that year, 1733), and
Mr. Wesley. The first connection of these families with Ireland is
sometimes stated to have been in the time of Henry II., the surname of
Butler arising from the circumstance that Henry conferred the chief
butlership of Ireland on Theobald Fitzwater in 1177. It is