Abstract
Charles Abbot was one of the more unusual authors of an Irish tour in the eighteenth century. First, he later became a politician of the first rank, serving as the first post-union chief secretary for Ireland, and subsequently as speaker of the post-union Westminster parliament. Second, despite this later prominence his tour remained unpublished until now and third it remains unclear what his purpose in conducting his tour was, was he merely enjoying a holiday in Ireland, was he writing to a now obscure brief, or was he preparing himself for a possible future office in Ireland? Dr Woods addresses these questions in an informative introduction while also situating Abbot's tour in a wider context. The editor has long established himself as an authority on Irish tours in this period and his indispensable 2009 guide to tours and traveller's guides should be an essential part of any serious scholar of the long eighteenth-century's library. Its carefully reconstructed itineraries and systematic recording of the sights and themes recorded and discussed in successive tours is of immense value to the social and economic historian. The scrupulous attention to detail and careful editing that has long distinguished his work is much in evidence in the volume under review.
Abbot's tour is interesting to Woods not just because of the portrait it presents the reader of Ireland on the eve of the tumults of the revolutionary events of the 1790s, but because it opens a window into how eighteenth-century travellers got to Ireland. The journey from England through Wales made by many thousands of travellers in this period has often remained rather obscure bar the frequent complaints about the quality of hostelries in Holyhead. Abbot, however, documented his journey through Wales in detail and this allows Woods to use this edition to show how this journey worked, what its challenges and pitfalls were. The inclusion and detailed annotation of the Welsh section of his tour is therefore especially valuable. The reader is offered a sketch of the main sites in North Wales and learns about the quality of successive inns – ‘indifferent’, ‘tolerable’, ‘very good’ and ‘dirty’(pp., 1, 4, 8) – and about their costs and the costs of successive ferries.
This careful documentation of the price of everything and the detail of the offerings of different inns and public houses is a feature of the much longer Irish portion of the tour. Abbot emerges as a careful, parsimonious and observant traveller. His observations upon the ‘improving’ nature of Irish agriculture and enterprise are particularly cogent as befits a serious lawyer and brother-in-law of Jeremy Bentham. He had clearly read Arthur Young and may indeed have carried a copy of Young's celebrated tour with him considering the frequency with which he updates or clarifies the famous agriculturist's observations. Abbot does not however appear to have had quite as much access to the drawing rooms of the upper gentry, at least apart from a close connection with the Hely-Hutchinson family with whom he stayed at Palmerston. Their influence, and the decision of one of the younger members of the family to accompany him for a portion of his tour influenced his itinerary, taking in as it did part of the Hely-Hutchinson estates in Wicklow as well as in Munster. He followed much of the then emerging standard itinerary of the Irish picturesque tour visiting the Giants Causeway (‘did not at all surprise me; nor very much delight me’), the salmon leap at Ballyshannon (‘extremely picturesque’), Powerscourt and the Lakes of Killarney, where he was perhaps most impressed (pp. 39, 48). His descriptions are not hugely novel or informative but indicate how these sites were already becoming must-see destinations.
Abbot's real value as a historical source is, however, his sharp-eyed analysis of Irish conditions. His astute commentary on agricultural improvement is complemented by a careful investigation of the growing commercialisation of the Irish economy which notes variations in prices and quality of crops and of linen – based on the evidence of conversations with innkeepers and on occasion scrutiny of their account books. He notes the chief trades of the towns and ports he visits, describing the value of the import and export trades and bemoans his failure to get appropriate information when in Cork suggesting the seriousness of his endeavour. This careful recording of price data and of market activity hints that his tour was intended to inform not only himself but others in London. Abbot's tour was not all about socio-economic enquiry. While the embryonic United Irishmen are absent from his account, he makes some shrewd references to the differing political outlooks apparent in Belfast and Derry, while he also takes notice of the Defender trials at the Meath assizes. Indeed, in his commentary on the assizes and the different (inferior?) legal practices visible in Irish courts he is most reminiscent of the similarly studious Edward Wiles who toured Ireland in 1759.
Abbot's tour is replete with interesting detail and every possible reference, from the frequency of the practice of playing musical instruments in the lakes of Killarney to showcase the natural echo chamber to the detailing of different types of linen, to the identification of the formidable number of people Abbot encountered, is explained and clearly referenced in a model of scholarly clarity. The practice of recording the original text faithfully in journal style with Abbot's brief description of the weather and outline of his day's journey adds value. Even more added value is gained by the inclusion of two appendices, one giving a list of the thirty or so books Abbot consulted or regarded as authorities on Irish affairs, ranging from good (Young) and inferior (Richard Twiss) tours, to treaties on law (Davies) and revenue (Clarendon), which tell us something about his sources and what were considered the essential guides to Irish affairs. The longer part of the appendix ‘General observations on Ireland’ is divided into twenty-one sections and the edition here reproduces excerpts from what is a rather rough manuscript in the UK National Archives. It gives a useful sketch of the Irish administration and contemporary politics. Woods rightly sees its value when considered in the light of Abbot's subsequent chief secretaryship post-Union even if his term of office like so many of the immediate post-union holders of that office was brief. It is also interesting because of its advocacy of either Union or further separation as solutions to Anglo-Irish relations, an acknowledgement that the current situation did not work. In summary, there is much in this volume which will be of interest to readers of this journal, whether, economic, social, political or even environmental historians.