Monica Devine
Sacred Heart University
Professor Pamela Buck
ENG 390
November 14, 2018
The Act of Union and Irish Travels in the 18th Century
Emily Taylor’s The Irish Tourist; or, the People and the Provinces of Ireland shows readers the adventure of Mr. Crofton Crocker and Mr. Mowbray. At the time of Taylor’s travels, there were many different issues occurring. The biggest issue was everything that involved the Act of Union between England and Ireland and another issue ended up being the Great Famine. The Act of Union influenced the views of Protestants against Catholics and the riots that occurred in major cities, mostly in the north which we see through the characters. The political move of enforcing The Act of Union had the biggest influence on the society and culture. With this paper, we will see how The Act of Union was also a major influence on the work was The Irish Tourist; or, the People and the Provinces of Ireland by Emily Taylor.
Emily Taylor was born on April 8th, 1795 in a town called Banham located in Norfork, England, UK. She is the second and youngest daughter to Samuel Taylor and Jane Taylor. Not long after her birth, her mother passed away and her father’s sisters moved from Ireland to live with them and watch the children. Emily’s father had an enormous library which she had access to and it was the fuel to her early love of reading and music. Around the age of seven, Emily contracted scarlet fever, which caused damage to her inner ear and left her partly deaf after she got over the sickness. After becoming deaf she became closer to her cousin Harriet Martineau, who also was partially deaf and did not grow up far away, despite the seven-year age difference. Who also ended up becoming a travel writer.
The family moved to New Buckenham in 1811, and at the age of 16, Emily and her friend Sarah Glover established the parish’s first Lancastrian school, where she specialized in teaching music. Many of the students she taught, ended up becoming music teachers themselves. After teaching children, she remained interested in children’s education throughout her life. In her middle age, she converted from Unitarianism, which was her father’s religion, to the Church of England. While she was a Unitarian, she was a hymnwriter. Although piety was continuing to characterize her writings, she was not allowing herself to be involved with the doctoral disputes.
At the age of 47 in 1842, Taylor picked herself up and moved to London. In London she was an administrator in schools, and then became a secretary when she worked at West Central Collegiate School in Southampton Row. While she lived in London she wrote many of her popular biographies, historical tales and works of instruction for children. Her interest in teaching children from when she was specializing in music caused her to begin her writings for children. Some of her earliest books include Letters to a Child, on the Subject of Maritime Discovery (1820) and Letters to a Very Little Girl (1821). As time went on, she started writing and publishing books for a wider audience. These books include The Vision of Las Casas, and Other Poems (1825), A Memoir of Sir Thomas More (1834), and Help to the Schoolmistress, or Village Teaching (1839).
The Irish Tourist; or, The People and the Provinces of Ireland was published in 1837. It was designed and written with children in mind. This text is all about the social life and customs of Ireland in the 1800’s. In the introductory to the book, Taylor states “As I am about to conduct a traveler through one of the four great divisions of Ireland, it is proper to come to an understanding with any reader who may not be already tolerable well acquainted with the geography of Connaught; and I would at once advise him to study the annexed map, and inform himself respecting its general situation and boundaries” (Taylor, XIX). Throughout the introductory of the novel, she continues to talk about what the read will see throughout the introductory section of Connaught.
During the 19th Century in Ireland, when Taylor was traveling, there were many events going on in Ireland. In 1801, the Act of Union of 1800 was formed. This allowed The Kingdom of Ireland to unite with Great Britain. In 1803 The Second United Irishman rebellion which is when nationalist Robert Emmet attempted the seize the Dublin Castle. Then we jump to 1829 and that’s when the Catholic Emancipation was going on. This event is when the Catholic Relief Act of 1829 was passed which allowed Catholics to sit in Parliament. The Tithe War started in 1831. The Tithe War was when a force of 120 armed police officers forcibly took possession of cattle belonging to a Roman Catholic priest in lieu of his compulsory tithe to the Anglican Church of Ireland. The passage of the Tithe Commutation Act in 1836 reduced the amount of the tithe and charged the manner of payment which ended the unrest. In the middle of the war in 1834 the Dublin and Kingstown Railway opened as the first commercial railway.
After Taylor traveled Ireland is when the Great Irish Famine started. These events all affected the social aspect of Ireland. Throughout the era of Emily Taylor is when Britain was in the process of stepping into the final step creating a national sentiment which was taken when the middle class defined the Englishness as a positive morality to which everyone could be a part of. We know that Britain is extremely regionalized. There are major differences between the north and south. The south is known because it includes the City and the seat of the national government, both of which are in London. The north is known for the industrialization and sites of the traditional smokestacks.
Taylor grew up in the south of Britain, which is a change compared to where she was traveling in Ireland. At the time of Taylor traveling to Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were still united and under Great Britain’s rule. The UK has rule over Ireland by using Dublin Castle administration of Parliament that is based in London. The capital of Ireland is Dublin, which is where the Act of Union was taking place. The fact that there were many rebellions in Dublin at the time of her travels is one of the differences between home. The other difference is the vast amount of farm lands that Ireland has. Dublin also happens to be one of the last places that Taylor talks about in the book.
In Sarah Mills book Discourses of Difference, there is a chapter called “Feminist Work on Women’s Travel Writing”. Sarah Mills talks about how women travel writers are the indomitable eccentric spinsters. In order to set this straight she said, “the many other texts which do not fall into that mold and have by and large been ignored by present-day critics and publishers alike.” There was a rediscovery of women travel writers and she said it is part of a larger ‘reclaiming’ of the Victorian period for women’s history. To talk about this ‘reclaiming’ she wants to prove that women travel writers are not the indomitable eccentric spinsters. When it comes to the Victorian women she talks about how women are mostly confined to the house. In the section “Problems in the Analysis of Women’s Travel Writing” one of the first things Mills’ mentions are that we can’t assume that the texts are autobiographical. Authors talk about ‘the self’, which makes us believe that it is about the author, when it may not be. We have to not think about the self being directly from the write’s narrator or persona. She also has a section called “How Do Feminists Read Women’s Travel Writing?” This section shows that if you have somewhat of a feminist mindset then you’ll understand women travel writers better than you would have before.
Both of these can help with looking into why Taylor wrote in a male perspective. When first reading The Irish Tourist; or, the People and the Provinces of Ireland, I was confused as to why there was a male speaker. Since Taylor has a background in children’s writing, it may have been easier for her to write her journeys as a fiction. If she was writing as a fiction, the male perspective makes a lot of sense. This goes back to what Mill’s talks about by saying many texts don’t fall into a mold and have been ignored. This could have been the work that Taylor was trying to make it for any age.
In the beginning of the book Taylor mentions a Mr. Crofton Croker, who is the traveler that she places herself into while traveling. Like it was around the world, men had the upper hand in Ireland which allowed them to do more with their lives than women did. As I stated before, it was typical for women to sit at home and tend to the children and the house to make sure once then man of the house got home from work it was all set and she can do whatever he needs her for.
After realizing Taylor was writing as a male, it made me curious as to if there was any research into this. I found an article titled Journeys to Authority: Reassessing Women’s Early Travel Writing, 1763-1862 by Carl Thompson. One thing from this article that stands out to me was “As Colbert notes in his article, claims that travel writing was a genre especially accessible to women in this period need to be qualified, at least for the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries” (Thompson). This would explain why the travels are told from a male’s perspective. Writing in a different voice than she is used to, shows that she is a qualified writer to do any type of work.
The first section I noticed hints of the Act of Union, was once they entered Munster. Munster is a Province consisting of six different counties. Within Munster there is Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, and Waterford. This is located on the South West peninsula of Ireland. Like the rest of Ireland, once the mid 19th century hit much of the area was hit harshly by the Great Famine especially the west of Munster. The opening line of the section of Munster states that Mr. Croker left his home with his son on June 16th, 1835 which shows how close to the famine she was traveling Ireland. As we know majority of Ireland is full of farm land with the exception of some cities throughout. In Munster the most populated area is Cork due to the fact there is a major city located in that county. But, Limerick and Waterford are also populated but not to the extent of Cork. In Cork there are many mentions of beggars, which is not terribly surprising due to the city being located here. “I was alternately amused and pained by the importunacy with which a beggar accosted and pained by the importunacy with which a beggar accosted us at one of our halting-places; poor, ragged, and destitute, as he seemed to be, the good-humor and wit of his repartees, as my fellow-travelers rebuffed him, was most striking.” (Taylor, 123). A few pages after this Mr. Crocker says that he paid attention to the “class of beggars themselves and investigated many cases of most singular and distressing hardship.” (Taylor,130). There was never any bad talk about the beggars, whenever they were mentioned it was just acknowledging that they were around.
It’s not just the beggars that are poor, we are also able to get a look into how it is for families. A lot of the time you imagine poor based on where you live and what type of house you go home too every day. In this time, especially in Ireland everyone is going home to the same type of cottage.
Potatoes were not in great plenty at this time in our neighbourhood, but they begged any of our refuse garden vegetables; and with these they used to mix up a dish which, I believe, would have been disdained by our poor. Sometimes, but rarely, they afforded themselves a piece of bacon. The only table luxury in which I ever saw them indulge, was eggs. (Taylor, 112).
This quote was something that stood out to Mr. Croker. Not necessarily with just this family, but while they were in Munster a lot of the observations that he was making was revolved around the food. This is something that can stand out to anyone because it can be seen as a tell-tale sign of how the family, or person is doing financially.
The next province Taylor, or Mr. Croker, travels too is Ulster. Ulster is known as Northern Ireland, in today’s world it is mostly still part of the United Kingdom with the exception of two of the counties being part of the Republic of Ireland, but at the time of the travels it was known as the north of Ireland. Ulster is made up of nine counties Down, Antrim, Londonderry, Donegal, Cavan, Tyrone, Armagh, Monahan, and Fermanagh. “I heard from northern provinces; that Ulster might be called Protestant Ireland; and that by visiting it I should be able to judge how great had been the effect of the introduction of a purer faith into this country.” (Taylor, 170). With this being one of the first lines in the section of Ulster, shows how important religion is to the people of Ireland. Mr. Croker would believe that Northern Ireland was so great because of the Protestants. Because he was from England, he would have the appreciation of the religion and not have to be surrounded by the Catholics and their opposing views with him. These differences in the religions caused a great stress on the Northern Ireland government in later years because of the Catholics wanting to become the Republic of Ireland during the 1922 partition. This partition kept Northern Ireland part of the UK and this is why Northern Ireland is known as being Protestant Ireland still to this day.
The biggest city in the Province of Ulster is Belfast. “I was struck on my arrival at Belfast with its un-Irish appearance. Here is a town scarce half a century old, – the commercial parts date at a later period even than that. Think that, seventy-eight years ago, this place had only 8,000 inhabitants, and now behold it with a population of 65,00” (Taylor 172). This example shows the growth that Belfast went through. The city became home to many different industrial jobs like linen, heavy engineering, tobacco, and shipbuilding dominating the economy. The population grew because this was the city that migrants came to from Ireland, England and Scotland. The un-Irish appearance could be because of how industrial it is. Even though there are other cities in Ireland they are not as industrial as Belfast is.
The province of Ulster is large due to the many farmlands. The farmlands are the most known part of the appearance of the country. Whenever you talk about Ireland the first thing that is mentioned is how green it is. The next city that Mr. Croker visited was Ballycastle. One of the major points he talks about is the landscape and the roads he travelled. Ballycastle is located right on the north coast of Ireland which gives it beautiful views.
It was soon, however, time for us to proceed on our northward route. We proposed coasting it to the Giant’s Causeway, and accordingly passing through Carrick Fergus, whose fine old castle, on a nearer view, struck me yet more than at first, we came to Larne…Even on the little island of the sea are the remains of abbeys, churches, and all scenes of the past glory of the ancient Irish Church. The Gobbins, stupendous rocks, rising almost perpendicularly about two hundred feet from the sea, and stretching near a mile along the coast, possess several of these remains; … The whole of this northern coast is wild, cold, and stern (Taylor, 176)
There is a different type of vibe that the north of Ireland brings compared to being in a city or the middle of the country. The words “wild, cold, and stern” is the perfect way to describe the coast because every place on the coast is very different. The views from the coast is wild because of how the earth has evolved over time.
One of the other cities located in Ulster, is Londonderry and it is more on the coast. Londonderry is known for the ports and harbor located next to the main city center. One of the most noticeable parts of this town is the fact that there are walls in which surround the main part of the city. Due to the Act of Union, Derry had seen most of the effects of the religious changes in Ireland.
In Derry were gathered together the boldest among the Protestants of the North. They had seen enough of the spirit of the Irish Catholics, excited as it was by the sense of repeated aggression, to be well aware that, should Catholicism again obtain the victory, there would be small hopes of their ever again resuming the possession they were but beginning to enjoy: many of them were influenced by a higher and better feeling, and many by the mere fanaticism of the times … On the other hand, the Catholics had a strong cause; and, if commanded by a more manly and generous leader, might have done better things; (Taylor, 185)
The religious changed that happened because of the Act of Union, caused many issues because once people from Britain emigrated to Ireland, they tried to pressure the Catholics to convert into Protestant. In the Act of Union there are many rights that are taken away from people just because they are Catholic. The tension between the Protestants and Catholics were very extreme because of the fact that there was a pressure to convert to a different religion.
One of the most important political changes that took place in Ireland was the Act of Union of 1801. This act caused the abolishment of the Irish parliament which ended up creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It also has strongly influenced Irish history and it has remained a dominate issue for Anglo-Irish relations. Because of this act, it influenced a lot of the difficulties that Mr. Crofton Crocker and his son have witnessed throughout their travels. “The Irish Rebellion of 1798 brought the Irish question forcibly to the attention of the British Cabinet; and William Pitt the Younger, the British prime minister, decided the best solution was a union.” (Britannica) Pitt argued that the union would strengthen the connection between Ireland and Britain and would also allow Ireland to gain opportunities for economic development. In 1921, the Anglo-Irish treaty came, and this recognized the Irish Free State, which started the end of the Union. The Union officially came to an end in 1922, with the ratification of the treaty.
James Kelly wrote an article on the origins of the act of union which gives us more detail about what really caused this act to come about. He talks about the history of Ireland and Britain’s relationship from 1650 – 1800.
It has long become commonplace to observe that the act of union of 1800, which abolished the Irish parliament and established the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, has since its enactment exerted a formative influence on Irish history and remained the dominant issues in Anglo-Irish relations. In view of this, it is surprising that so little notice has been afforded the development of unionist sentiment in Britain and Ireland in the century and a half to 1800, and that the origins of and background to the union have received such cursory attention. There is, of course, an obvious historical and historiographical reason for this. Generations of Irish nationalists, and all too frequently their historians, have perceived the union as a malign termination of the constitutional arrangement know grandly but misleadingly as Grattan’s parliament. (Kelly 236)
This excerpt from Kelly gives an overview of what happened around the time of the Act of Union. He goes on to trace back to earlier years and talks about the exact causes that brought Britain and Ireland to come to this. In March 1653, The Rump parliament decided that Ireland should send thirty representatives out of 460 to Westminster, which then changed to size out of 140 representatives when the Barebones parliament came to office. This caused Ireland to feel underrepresented in parliament, but Cromwell took over parliament in December 1653 which changed the representatives back up to thirty. When they had only six representatives, it did a disservice to the country because although it seems small compared to Great Britain, it has a large amount of land that would not be covered by six people. That would be like having twenty representatives for the total of the United States of America.
In the 1740’s and early 1750’s the Irish economy began to prosper and the consensus in Irish political life began to break down under the weight of Charles Lucas’s patriot invective and factional antagonism of Speaker Boyle and Primate Stone, that British politicians and political economists, anxious to secure additional sources of revenue and to safeguard British interests in Ireland, began to advocate closer control and to contemplate a legislative union. At this time there were two notable advocates for a union in Britain, Henry Fox who was a secretary at war in the Pelham administration and Lord Hillsborough who was an Irish aristocrat prominent in British politics. Hillsborough was public and persistent which ended up with himself in controversy in 1751 with a pamphlet called A proposal for uniting the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland.
Hillsborough argued, and cited the success of the Scottish union to prove his point, that it was to Ireland’s advantage demographically, because its population must increase – perhaps to six million; agriculturally, because the utilization of land would be improved by better leasing practices and reclamation; socially, because its people would be ‘reclaimed from ignorance and superstition and animated with sentiments of liberty’ by the weakening of the link with the autocratic and intolerant catholic church; and economically, because its trade and manufacture must expand, to embrace a union with Britain. (Kelly 246).
With this pamphlet Hillsborough is trying to convince the people of Ireland that this union would be more beneficial for them than it sounds. He was trying to do this because this point of view was not one that was shared between the overall population of Ireland.
Until the 1790’s, the Irish opinion remained hostile to every suggestion that Britain and Ireland should be bound with a legislative union. On the other hand, Britain move slowly and fitfully, but inexorably towards embracing this idea. The decisive factor in promoting this was the increasing uncertainty of British authority in Ireland by facing the challenged that Anglo-Irish nationalism and republican separatism were posing. Although these issues were around, it was not stopping the union from ever happening. After 1775, there was an increasing number of British politicians and opinion makers decided that control of Ireland would be best through a union. They knew that it would be impractical as long as Irish opinion remained hostile but, even though they knew this, they contemplated and hoped for the increased possibility of it being affected. In 1784 there was a legislative union problem like there was in 1782. Even though William Pitt, who was the prime minister at the time, was anxious to come to terms with how he characterized Ireland which was ‘the most important and delicate problem’. There was the option of a commercial union, which was to establish a commercial and economic uniformity. This means that both countries will become one, even though local concerns will be under the separate legislatures.
Pitt’s effort at a ‘commercial union’ was consequently frustrated by the twin forces of British party opposition and Anglo-Irish nationalism. … the unprecedentedly public debate the commercial arrangement stimulated on the subject of a legislative union contributed significantly to the further erosion of the barriers that still existed in Britain to a union with Ireland. (Kelly 256)
In 1785, there was the failure of the commercial arrangement which signaled the end of London’s efforts to integrate Ireland with a commercial union. After this, the government gave no hints that a union was happening, and London was showing barely any interest in Ireland and their affairs. In November 1792, Pitt expressed a preference for settling a connection with Anglo-Irish on the grounds representing an important step toward the act of union. The British government prepared to ‘treat’ Irish protestants like other subjects which convinced many of the ruling elite in Ireland and who long assumed their ‘protestant ascendancy’ which was synonymous with British control in Ireland. As the years went on the public were well aware that a union was a political option, and the initial rounds in a long and intense propaganda war was fired. The people feared that once the union came to be there would be no return to how it was before the union. After a difficult campaign, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland came to be on January 1, 1801. Edith Johnston argued that the union was a product of exhaustion rather than evolution. The union lasted until December 1921, which is when the Irish Free State became recognized by the Anglo-Irish treaty. The Irish Free State did not include the six northern counties in Ulster, and to this day Northern Ireland is considered part of the United Kingdom. (Britannica).
Because of the union this allowed people in Britain to have land ownership, even when they were not present. The land owners would become something called and absentee landlord. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an absentee landlord as someone who owns and rents property but does not live on or near the property and rarely visits it. Since Emily Taylor is making her travels throughout Ireland, she is able to encounter many different people and stay in many different places. While traveling from Dingle to Tralee Mr. Crofton Crocker and his son were accompanied with a farmer from England, who settled on one of the estates of an English proprietor, who gave them an intelligent account of the neighbourhood he lives in. His son was curious to hear this man’s opinion of the effect of absenteeism:
Why, sir, it is as the landlord is; I should like, no doubt, to see my lord living amongst us; but then we know very well that lords and gentlemen from England cannot be fond of spending their lives here, besides that they have often their fine places in England. What I think we have a right to ask is, that they choose good agents, and come among us sometimes to see how we go on; but I never will join in the cry against them merely for being absentees, when I see many of these absentees doing more for us than many who live close by us. When they spend thousands of pounds in useful public works, which pounds might have been kept in their own pockets and will profit them but little for many years to come, it would be very ungrateful to run them down because they are absentees. Besides, sir, I must tell you, to be fair, that it is often no such very great blessing to have a resident English landlord. If a high church tory comes and settles down here, we know full well that he will lend himself to those who do Ireland mischief; who set the people quarrelling, and by meddling with their priest, inflame all their animosities. Of course, I am a Protestant, and should be very glad to see the people here Protestants too but is downright nonsense to talk as Englishmen often do of the whole fault being in the Catholic religion. If the people have employment they are neither wretched nor idle; if they have neither they are both. (Taylor 145-146)
This quote from the English farmer is showing what it is like to have an absentee landlord. Although this seems a little bias, which is due to him being from Britain originally. I could imagine that if it was someone from Ireland talking about having an absentee landlord they would have a different view from this. The points that he has about the good the absentee landlords do makes sense. There are so many ways that they provide for them even though that they are not living right near them. The landlords that are present feel that they do enough for the tenants because they are close by and can come and check on the house whenever. Since the landlords are away, they feel that they have to give back in ways that other landlords do not. There are many ways that the Act of Union effected life in Ireland and the absentee landlords was just one way.
The last province that I want to talk about is Leinster which has twelve counties. These twelve counties include Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, King’s County, Longford, Louth, East Meath, West Meath, Queen’s County, Wexford, and Wicklow. At the beginning of this Province, Taylor started to talk in Third Person. Which I find interesting considering majority of the book she has been talking as if she was Mr. Croker, but now we are talking about Mr. Mowbray, who first time to Ireland was when they entered Leinster. The fact that she switched to another character seems to how she wanted to write in a fiction genre.
When he first entered Leinster, he was travelling with an attendant, Brady, so he was not lost and could learn about where he is. In Thomastown, he found his friend Mr. Erris who is one of his oldest friends. Even in this section between the two friends, the protestant religion gets brought up. Once they entered Kilkenny, Mr. Mowbray proposed to part ways, which he agreed, but before separating “a letter was brought to Mr. Erris, announcing that his presence was required at a trial that day proceeding at the Carlow assizes, and our traveler readily accepted a seat in the carriage, and proceeded with his friend across Kilkenny county towards the busy county town of Carlow.” (Taylor 258-259). Carlow is the capital town of County Carlow and it has a very lively aspect. Mr. Mowbray went to the courthouse with Mr. Erris and Brady was with them the entire time. Which gave him the comfort of being in this new place.
After Carlow, Mr. Mowbray was on his own because he wanted to head back to Dublin. He had a pretty steady travel back to Dublin and then he met with Brady at the junction of Boyne and the Blackwater in Navan. They then go and travel and see a bunch of places like Slieve, Kells, and Castle Pollard. Like Mr. Croker, he mentions the beggars also. He ends his travels in Kingstown with Brady standing on the pier to watch the last moments of the rapidly retiring vessel. The book ends with Brady saying :
To be sure, it’s no wonder the English like their own land, seeing my heart’s rising now to go back to it. But it would be unnatural entirely if an Irishman born were to desert the country that gave him birth, while he as meat and drink, and hands to keep him from a beggar’s life. God bless the land, and all belonging to it! Erin ma vourneen! Erin go bragh! (Taylor 271).
Ending the book this way speaks to the Irish Culture. It shows how understanding and welcoming they are. In a way it goes back to the Act of Union and shows that despite the disagreements with religion, how the government is affected, and the economy, they are not much different that the British. Both of them love their countries the same way and just want to show everyone that.
Throughout this paper, my goal was to allow the reader to see how the events that took place during 18th century Ireland, affected the travels that Emily Taylor went through. In The Irish Tourist; or, the People and the Provinces of Ireland we are able to see how the Act of Union has influence the society and culture that Mr. Crofton Croker, his son, and Mr. Mowbray had the chance to experience. These characters allowed readers to feel like they were on the journey with them, and it allowed children to learn more about what was going on in the world around them. With evidence found in the sources and The Irish Tourist; or, the People and the Provinces of Ireland, we are able to see how much of an impact the Act of Union had on the history, culture, and people of Ireland at this time.
Work Cited
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Act of Union.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 9 Feb. 2017, www.britannica.com/event/Act-of-Union-United-Kingdom-1801.
Colbert, Ben, and University of Wolverhampton. “Emily Taylor.” Emily Taylor (Author) | British Travel Writing, www4.wlv.ac.uk/btw/authors/1143.
“England.” Countries and Their Cultures, www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/England.html.
Mills, Sara. Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing and Colonialism. Routledge, 2006.
Kelly, James. “The Origins of the Act of Union: An Examination of Unionist Opinion in Britain and Ireland, 1650-1800.” Irish Historical Studies, vol. 25, no. 99, 1987, pp. 236–263. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30008541.
Taylor, Emily. The Irish Tourist; or, The People and the Provinces of Ireland. Darton and Harvey, 1837, play.google.com/books/reader?id=OFUEAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.RA1-PR5.
“Timeline of Irish History.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Irish_history.
Thompson, “Journeys to Authority: Reassessing Women’s Early Travel Writing, 1763–1862.”