HAND-BOOK OF IRELAND AN Illustrated Guide FOR TOURISTS AND TRAVELLERS BY JAMES GODKIN AUTHOR OF 'IRELAND AND HER CHURCHES,' etc. AND JOHN A. WALKER HON. SEC. TO THE DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS OF 1864 AND 1865 DLE BODI BIBL PREFACE. HE necessity for a thoroughly reliable work on Ireland, combining the two-fold character of a Hand-Book and Guide, has long been felt, not only by residents in the country, but by tourists who take an interest in its material and social condition. The Authors of the present volume have, with much care, endeavoured to supply this want; and whilst they have not omitted any place of interest which a stranger might profitably explore, they have supplied historical, local, and other valuable information, not generally found in mere Guide Books. Tourists will find that travelling in Ireland is by no means so expensive as in England or Scotland, and that the system of Railways, of Mail cars, and Stage coaches, is such that the whole of the country may be visited in a fortnight. But, of course, this rapid travelling is not recommended; for a fortnight in County Wicklow, another in Killarney and the south of Ireland, another amid the western highlands and the highlands of Donegal, and a week at the Giants' Causeway; another devoted to Loughs Neagh and Erne, and one to the very fine scenery of Counties Down and Antrim, would be found quite little enough to see these places to advantage. So that it would be better if the tourist selected |