A View of Ancient and Modern Dublin, with Its Latest Improvements

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1807. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VII. Bettevue--Banquet--Wonderful Works of God--Reclaiming Land--Luggula--Husbandry and Agriculture---Employment for the Poor--John Kelly--Mamion-house--Down's-lodge--Woodstock--Tin n y-park--Dromin-lodge--Hollybrook--Ballygannon--Mount Kennedy--Sublime Views--Rural Amusement--Luxury--Asylum for Females--Eulogy on their BenefactressEducation--Grateful praise to the Deity. We walked to Bellevue and dined--no, we banqueted in the demesne. The fragrant meadow was our carpet, a serene sky our canopy. Every wish was replenished with full delight. We enjoyed a feast of rational luxury, and a flow of intellectual pleasure, which may be felt but cannot be described. Here the following lines were penciled in our common-place book: Here Here all the charms of chance and order meet, The rude, the gay, the graceful, and the great, Here ev'ry tree with nature's music rings, Here ev'ry breeze bears health upon its wings. The ancient name of Bellevue was Ballydonough, and was purchased in the year 1753 by the late David La Touche, from the Rev. Doctor Corbet, dean of St. Patrick's cathedral. It contains 300 acres of good ground, to which more is annually adding. Every year a piece of land is cleared, ornamented and divested of its weeds and furze, by the unremitting labour of Mr. John Kelly, a good reclaimer of ground. He also planted almost every tree in the demesne, which is kept in perfect order; and executed, at a considerable expence, a new and good road on a morass. The sums of money laid out on this spot are so heavy we could not ascertain them, but we could discover the patriotic hand of the late owner, to whose expanded, liberal mind, Bellevue owes many improvements. He built the mansion-house in 1754, and his son added the two wings. The whole The ...