Portarlington is the centre of a beautiful country full of cultivated
farms as well as shut-up and walled-in gentlemen's seats.
Walking down the principal street, I noticed a large placard fastened to
a board hanging on a wall; thought it was a proclamation and stopped to
read it. It was an exposition of the errors of the Catholic Church in
such large type that he that runs may read it. I have some doubts
whether this is the best way of convincing people of an opposite belief
of their errors. I went into the shop thinking I might perhaps buy a
newspaper. I fear me the mistress of the establishment, a timid, elderly
woman, imagined me to be a belligerent member of the attacked church
come to call her to account, for she retreated at a fast run to the
kitchen from which she called an answer in the negative to my enquiry.
Returning to my abiding place, I asked the hostess if the town contained
many Catholics. "Oh, dear no," she replied, "there are few Catholics.
The people are nearly all Protestants." In this neighborhood the
celebrated John George Adair, of Derryveigh celebrity, has a magnificent
residence called Belgrove Park.
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