The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-08-06 00:00:00

AN IRISH WELCOME HOME

On the evening of the day of our arrival, while a party of
us were seated after dinner, enjoying ourselves at the hospi-
table board of the worthy commander of the Erin, we wit-
nessed one of those popular demonstrations in behalf of a
respected object which are rarely to be met with in any
country but Ireland, where the feelings of the people, always
enthusiastic, acknowledge no cold and apathetic medium.
All at once, and without any previous warning or intimation
of what was coming, loud and increasing shouts, as of a
party in the heat of a contested election, were heard ap-
proaching, and in a few moments, an immense crowd of men,
women, and childen, headed by several men carrying a burn-
ing tarrel, the smoke of which spread in every direction,
filled the street, and took up their station opposite the house,
many of the men were armed with stout shilelahs, or pieces
of wood. A circle was formed round the " beacon light,"
the flames of which now ascended to a considerable height,
and shouts were sent up from new and old, with vehement
expressions so commingled as to defy even a professor of
" the unknown tongues" to define their import,—while
fiddles, bagpipes, and horns were simultaneously put into
requisition,—the whole forming (to the eye and ear of a
stranger) an assemblage of so questionable and threatening
a nature, that bad an initiated English policeman beheld it,
lie would probably, in the first impulse, have knocked his
stick on the flags for assistance, to quell the gathering
riot, and sprung his rattle for the fire engines, in appre-
hension of a destructive conflagration ! The ladies who had
been delighting us with their gentle presence, retired to an
upper room, as some of us at first supposed, in alarm. A
few moments' observation, however, of the animated and
cheerful visages of those without, convinced us that they
came with no hostile intent, but that, on the contrary the
purpose of their uproarious visit was to give mille fealtas, or
' a thousand welcomes" home to our highly-esteemed ann
respected host, after the perils of his voyage. They had left
two blazing tar barrels on the quay, opposite the ship, when
" the procession" started, byway, (if I may so use the ex-
pression,) of a feu-de-joie. Anon, the shouts were partly
suspended, and three or four fiddlers, with a mixture of bag-
pipes and bugle horns, of each about an equal number—to
make up the harmonic recipe—struck up a medley of reels,
aad gigs, and d,.ncers, male and female, amongst whom se-
veral stout young sailors, and others in blue jackets and
Scotch bonnets, and pretty Limerick lasses, neatly attired,
and with caps and shawls, were the most active. They
footed it with considerable grace and agility, particularly the
girls. The jolly good nature depicted in the swarthy coun-
tenances of the men, and the not less joyous, but more
bashful smiles of the females, together with the occasional
Irish shrug and kick up of the heels of the former, at the
end of each reel, by way of emphatic finale. was quite ex-
hilirating. The natural anxiety of young and old, who were
spectators, to see the dancers, (when they stood ready to re-
lieve) gradually constructed the ground of action ; and the
dresses of the figurantes were frequently in danger of being
ignited by the flames that now burst out from the lower part
of the barrel, that served at once as the ball-room fire and
the chandelier. This inconvenience was, however, re-
medied from time to time, by those with sticks, and more
particularly by a man with a broad Milesian counte-
nance, the very picture of hilarity and good humour;
who seizing a broken oar that had been employed in
bearing the tar barrel. to its i 411101., whirled it about with
the velocity of the wings of a windmill let loose in a
gale, and without inflicting a blow that we could see,
causing a general fall back, so that the reelers had again
"ample room and verge enough." The rout was kept up
with great spirit and perseverance until some time after
dark, when the exhaustion of the conbustibles, as well as of
the dancers, gave intimation that it was time to retire. My
first impression was, that a portion at least of the enthusiasm
displayed was inspired by potations of the ardent beverage of
the country ; but in this I was undeceived. There were few
redeeming
among them who were not disciples of " Father Mathew,"
sum
for.
who had visited this part of the country, and succeeded in
vast numbers of the population to total abstinence.
w who were still addicted to strong drinks made no de-
allowance, and were quite contented with a small
envied the man whose in to drink the health of our worthy entertainer. I had
never before witnessed an Irish welcome ; and (I confess) I
tainedefsort
kind, upright, and manly conduct,
during a long
RICK
years, while he has navigated the
countrymen (indepeudeinra a reception amongst
won from others) of vthichY
LIMERICK,
aEliero might be proud.his humbler
of the golden opinions he has
which may be styled, the western
orfriejru:psoliasunouf
nl,raeblaonudt,7l
situated on the south-east bank