SNIPPET: Englishman Richard LOVETT's notes on his trip throughout Ireland in the Victorian era were published by the Religious Tract Society in 1888. On his travels, "keeping an open mind," in his own words, he came to respect and admire the culture and the people of Ireland and often stated that if his peers would take the time to visit the Emerald Isle "they, too, might have a different view of the Ireland and its people." Some of his notes are as follows: "Belfast is a capital centre for trips to noted towns and districts of Ulster. As in the case of Liverpool, Glasgow and other great ports, the growth of Belfast has been both recent and rapid. While in Belfast all the varied industries that necessarily centre in a city of over 200,000 inhabitants are to be seen in full activity, the stranger will naturally devote his attention to the two chief - the linen manufacture and ship-building. Armagh, one of the oldest towns in Ireland, and the seat of the most ancient Irish archbisphoric, is only a few miles distant. The town occupies the slope of a hill which is very finely crowned by the handsome pile of the Cathedral. The Roman Catholic Cathedral is also magnificently placed on Banbrook Hill. The narrow streets with their ancient appearance harmonize with the great antiquity of the place. They are clean and neat, and the whole town wears an air of prosperity and extreme respectability. St. Patrick's first church is now represented by the Bank of Ireland; the Provincial Bank comes close on St. Columba's; St. Bride's shares its honours with a paddock; St. Peter and St. Paul afford stabling to a modern 'rus in urbe'; and St. Mary's is lost in a dwelling-house. No city in Western Europe has been burnt or plundered more frequently. In very ancient days it was noted for Emania, the seat of Ulster sovereignty and of the Knights of the Red Branch, and later on for the Damhliag Mor or Great Church, built by Patrick, the great school or university, and the royal cemetery; but except the first none of these have any traces. The present cathedral, in all probability, stands on the site of the stone building which St. Patrick founded, and was begun about 1268. It has undergone many vicissitudes, and has been restored within comparatively recently years. It is well worth careful study, and it stands upon a site that for fourteen centuries has been consecrated to Christian worship. The Archbishop of Armagh is Primate of Ireland, and such men as USSHER, HOADLEY, and ROBINSON have held the office. A main line of rail runs to Londonderry, passing some famous and some very pretty places. At Antrim, there is a noted Round Tower, very perfect and standing in a beautiful park. Antrim Castle, near to the town, is one of the many celebrated Irish residences."