Thomas Dineley


Life
?-1695 [var. Dinely]; English traveller, visited big houses of Ireland during 1680, and wrote Observations on a Voyage through the Kingdom of Ireland [in] 1681, published posthumously, with an ed. by James Graves for the Kilkenny Arch. Soc. (1870). See Roy Foster, Modern Ireland (1988).

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Quotations
Naomh Phadraig: ‘The 17th day of march yearly is Saint Patrick’s, an immoveable feast when ye Irish of all stations and conditions wear crosses in their hats, some of pins, some of green ribbon, and the vulgar superstitiously wear shamroges [sic], 3-leaved grass, which they likewise eat (they say) to cause a sweet breath.’ Further: ‘The common people and servants also demand their Patrick’s groat of their masters, which they go expressly to town, though half a dozen miles off, to spend … and very few of the zealous are found sober at night.’ (Cited in Alannah Hopkins, Living Legend of St. Patrick, 1989, p.113-14; p.118.)

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