William Makepeace Thackeray visited Ireland in 1842. He later wrote a book based on this visit called 'The Irish Sketchbook'. This extract concerns his brief time in Trim........

The Meath landscape, if not varied and picturesque, is extremely rich and pleasant; and we took some drives, along the banks of the Boyne, to the noble park of Slane (still sacred to the memory of George IV, who actually condescended to pass some days there) and to Trim, of which the name occurs so often in Swift's Journals, and where stands an enormous old castle, that was inhabited by Prince John. It was taken from him by an Irish chief, our guide said; and from the Irish chief was taken by Oliver Cromwell. O'Thuselah was the Irish chief's name, no doubt. Here, too, stands, in the midst of one of the most wretched towns in Ireland, a pillar erected in honour of the Duke of Wellington by the gentry of his native county. His birth-place, Dangan, lies not far off; and as we saw the hero's statue, a flight of birds had hovered about it: there was one on each epaulette and two on his marshal's staff; and, besides these wonders, we saw a certain number of beggars, and a madman, who was walking round a mound and preaching a sermon on grace; and a little child's funeral came passing through the dismal town, the only stirring thing in it (the coffin was laid on a one-horse country car - a little deal box, in which the poor child lay - and a great troop of people followed the humble procession); and the inn-keeper, who had caught a few stray gentlefolk in a town where travellers must be rare, and in his inn, which is more gaunt and miserable than the town itself, and which is by no means rendered more cheerful because sundry theological works are left for the rare frequenters in the coffee-room; the inn-keeper brought in a bill which would have been worthy of Long's, and which was paid with much grumbling on both sides. It would not be a bad rule for the traveller in Ireland to avoid those inns where theological works are left in the coffee-room. He is pretty sure to pay very dearly for these religious privileges.