This is from Library Ireland, Sir William Robert Wills Wilde
William Wilde delighted in agling and in the out door life of the West of Ireland, and had summer residences near Cong, and at Illaunroe, in Connemara.
Following remarks on William Wilde are found in "Journal of the Archaeological Society for October 1876
Yet he was no dry and formal writer. His love of antique past was an enthusiasm, and all that is strange and beautiful in the ancient art and architecture of Ireland touched him deeply. He had, besides, a vivid sensibility to the picturesque in nature, while his intense love for the old customs, the old legends, and the old songs, in the language of the people amongst whom he had passed his boyhood, was almost pathetic in its tenderness, and gave a warm human glow to all he wrote, even about the far-off pagan ages, and the shadowy heroes of the ancient battle-grounds. ... Sir William had unusual gifts and facilities for acquiring knowledge on all objects upon which he wrote, a marvellous memory, that no lapse of years seemed to deaden, and remarkable power of utilizing all he saw and heard. He had also a wide acquaintance with all classes of the community throughout the country, who were ever ready and courteously willing to give him information he required. By the peasantry he was peculiarly loved and trusted, for he had brought back joy and hope to many house holds. How gratefully they remembered his professional skill, always so generously given, and how, in the remote country districts, he should often cross moor and mountain at the summons of some poor sufferer, who believed with simple faith that the Docteur mor(The great Doctor, as they called him) would certainly restore the blessed light of heaven to blind-struck eyes. In return, they were ever glad to aid him in his search for antiquities, and to him came many objects from the peasant class for his inspection and opinion---a fragment of a torque or a circlet, and antique ring or coin---and in this way many valuable relics were saved from loss, and given over to the Academy's Museum.
