built a house for the purpose, with stone walls and a slated roof, and shelves suitable for the purpose required, cellars to store the salt in, and presses in which to press the fish. I also built more boats, and got the tackle all ready; and so now, in the year 1700, we were only waiting for God to send us the fish; we were fully prepared to catch them, and turn them to the best advantage.
At first I had only James, my eldest son, with me. As soon as I had completed my preparations, and had every thing ready for the comfort of the family, I sent James to Cork for his mother and the children. They came round by sea in the Robert to Bantry, and thence to Bear Haven.
The first year and a half we lived in a mere cottage, thatched with straw; and we owe it to the good Providence of God, that, while we were so much exposed, we never suffered from the tories,[1] or robbers, of whom there were great numbers in these parts.
Having no immediate use for the Robert, we chartered her to a merchant in Cork to go to Spain. The captain was an Irishman, named James Joy, and he was instructed to receive the money for the freight, and to employ it immediately in purchasing salt, oranges and lemons. He obeyed his instructions thus far, but instead of bringing the cargo to Cork,
- ↑ The word tory having been long known as a cant term applied to a particular party, it may not be amiss to remark that it is here used according to its original signification. It is derived from the Irish word toruighim, to pursue for purposes of violence, and in the days of Queen Elizabeth we discover it first used to signify the lawless banditti who were so troublesome in Ireland during her reign. In England we find it applied for the first time, by the opponents of Charles I., to the followers of that unfortunate prince, under an idea that he favored the Irish rebels; and by an easy transition it became the distinctive appellation of that party who wished for the greatest extension of the royal prerogative.
