These richly descriptive letters show us what a 19th century English visitor had to say about the cost of living, religion and Irish society, writes Róisín Berry, Special Collections and Archives, Maynooth University Library.

    Imagine it's 1827. You are an English lady of comfortable means. You are living in Ireland, which feels like a million miles away from home. Your husband has taken ill and left you to manage the family purse. You are lonely, an outsider. At times, you feel completely overwhelmed.

    Instead of despairing, you write letters, fascinating letters filled with observations on life in early 19th-century Ireland. Letters that are witty, poignant and, at times, brutally honest.

    It sounds like the plot from a period drama, but this could serve as a description for the Brighton Letters, one of Maynooth University Library’s more intriguing archival collections. The collection consists of 15 neatly handwritten documents, each signed ‘MEC’, from addresses in Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford sent to 'a dear friend', Miss Mordaunt in Brighton, England.

    Written between 1827 and 1828, we know little about the author herself, although we can glean a certain amount of information from the documents. The lady in question appears to be of some means. She is a married English woman residing in Ireland with her husband Horace and is writing with news from her Irish travels.

    The couple seem to have fallen on challenging times, and the letters address everything from Horace's ill health and financial woes to Irish Catholics and their way of life. Spanning over one year, this small collection of letters provides a fascinating insight into many facets of life for the more affluent visitor. The letters may be almost 200 years old, but they touch on topics that are still relevant today.

    The cost of living

    Something we can all relate to, the cost of living is a subject that our author considers as she searches for suitable lodgings, observing 'a man may exist in Dublin upon less than 2 pence a day’. She reveals more about her own situation by stating: 'At this pleasant comfortable Inn we & our two servants are boarded & lodged (supplying our own tea sugar & linen & wine) for about £7 a week – for this we have a very pleasant bedroom dressing room – servants rooms & sitting room & a delightful long sunny room with two large windows looking to the aforesaid garden.' Not exactly living on the breadline it would seem.

    Managing the family purse

    Despite her comfortable set-up, financial worries are never far from our writer’s mind. With her husband ill and her future uncertain, she must take on a new role managing her family’s affairs, observing: ‘It will be a strong argument with me to keep out of debt.' The stress of handling matters normally attended to by her husband is palpable as she confesses: ‘I am obliged to learn to understand all sorts of things wh[ich] are very difficult & sometimes called upon to decide about things wh[ich] makes me anxious & uneasy for I sh[oul]d be sorry if my poor Horace sh[oul]d find everything going wrong owing to his inability to attend to them.'

    Ireland and its Inhabitants
    During her time in Ireland, our writer considers the prospects of various places that she has visited. With a particular focus on the south-east of the country, she makes interesting observations on the counties and their inhabitants – some more flattering than others – resulting in some enthralling descriptions of life on this island in the 1820s.

    Comparing the local population of Wexford with that of Wicklow she notes: 'The country is more promising as to industry cultivation & soil than Wicklow…the race of people quite different…Horace observed the countenance of the people on the high road, said he sh[oul]d not be surprised if a colony of Welch or English had settled here…they retain to this day a striking difference of countenance & character – they are more sober & industrious than the inhabitants but very ugly' with the residents of Co Waterford described as ‘still more ugly – speaking nothing but Irish & very savage’.

    Religious discrimination

    Saving her strongest criticism for Roman Catholics in Ireland, our writer states: ‘The Protestants thank God! are making many converts – as far as I see with Popery, goes Beggary & idleness & error & fanaticism - & these amongst the lower orders are serious & mischievous evils. I was never so anti-Catholic as since I came to Ireland.'

    She is particularly struck by Catholic funeral customs, noting: ‘Great respect of a peculiar kind is paid to the dead especially by the R. Cath[oli]cs – you know the old custom of wakes - & besides this they make a point of carrying the body as far as possible about – thinking it is the nearer to heaven!...unlike us they neither hire, nor put on mourning faces – nor think any solemnity necessary – they have less value for life & less fear of death – this makes them brave but dangerous.'

    Society in Ireland

    Thankfully, not everything our author has to say about Ireland is negative. Regarding Irish society in general she observes: ‘Be assured there is as much good sense & real refinement in the recesses of Ireland…& much pleasanter society, for they naturally easy & cheerful & without the English reserve…& quite as much real delicacy.'

    Any readers from Wexford will be pleased to know that she goes on to praise its ‘kindness & cheerfulness ease & fine air – a whist part, music & chat of an evening – great good sense frankness & ease give better manners than fashionable company – benevolence teaches politeness & that the Irish possess from high to low’.

    In these richly descriptive letters, our writer moves between the general and the personal. Some of her observations are honest and moving, others judgmental and offensive. After penning her last letter in the collection in 1828, we do not know what was to become of ‘MEC’ and her husband Horace. Like any good period drama, the Brighton Letters leave the reader wanting more, and asking just how it all ended for this intriguing woman who visited our shores in the late 1820s.

    This article originally appeared on RTÉ Brainstorm