"We passed over level ground through country pleasing enough to the eye"

"We passed over level ground through country pleasing enough to the eye"

Lough Derg--Travelogue--Dublin--Journey

An sixteenth-century letter describing a trip to Lough Derg

Francesco Chiericati, c.1480-1539

Francesco Chiericati's letter to Isabella d'Este Gonzaga, p. 10

CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts

1516

CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork. J. P. Mahaffy. Electronic edition compiled and proof-read by Beatrix Färber, Janet Crawford. Article written by J. P. Mahaffy; the tour by Francesco Chiericati (c.1480-1539), written 1516, has been translated by J. G. Smyly (1516 (original); 1914 (translation).

Citation for the purposes of criticism

Electronic text transcription

English translation

Article containing translated letter

DD_0587

53.715468, -6.355937

https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100081.html

"Leaving Dublin we passed over level ground through country pleasing enough to the eye, overlooking the sea till we came to Drogheda, a fairly rich territory, five miles distant from the sea. Thence we set out and journeyed for one day to Dundalk, once an illustrious city, but at the present day rather ruinous. Continuing our way we journeyed twenty-four miles and arrived at another metropolitan city called Armagh. It is the seat of the Primate of the island, but is very desolate, the best thing in it being an Abbey of Regular Canons. It was here that we began to meet with brutish people. Thence we left the sea behind us and began to penetrate into the mountains. Having journeyed twenty miles we arrived at a cathedral city, called Clogher, beyond which the country is full of thieves. We entered another district called Fermanagh (?), which is full of robbers, woods, lakes, and marshes, proceeding as far as Tremon (?) where there is an earl: here the rule of England ceases."

J. P. Mahaffy, Two Early Tours in Ireland in Hermathena, Ed. Members of Trinity College, Dublin. , Dublin; London, Hodges, Figgis & Co. Ltd.; Longmans, Green & Co. (1914) volume 40page 1–3; 10–16