IV.
A Quaker Authoress.
Mary Leadbeater,
Author of "Annals of Ballitore," "Cottage Dialogues," &c.
1758-1826.
THE village of Ballitore, through which the Gordon-Bennett motor race passed several times, was once noted as a Quaker settlement. Mary Leadbeater (formerly Shackleton), has written its chronicles, which are very delightful reading. She herself was an authoress of no little repute, her "Cottage Dialogues," published in 1810, being introduced to the public by a preface from Maria Edgeworth, who thought very highly of the book.
At the close of the eighteenth century the Society of Friends had become a power in Ireland, many of the richest merchants and traders—the Pims, the Bewleys, the Goodbodys, the Clibborns, and others—were Quakers. The village of Ballitore, in Kildare, was one of their strongholds, and was celebrated for a school of which Abraham
