Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 09.djvu/103

 CARLTON, THOMAS COMPTON. [See .]

CARLETON, WILLIAM (d. 1309?), judge, appears to have been a Yorkshireman. He was designated 'civis Eboracensis' in a roll of 1291 (Rot. Orig. Abbrev. i. 75). The earliest mention of him occurs under date 1286, when he was placed in possession of the vacant abbey of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, to hold during the king's pleasure. Between 1286 and 1290 inclusive he acted as one of the justices of the Jews, officials with functions similar to those exercised by the barons of the exchequer, but limited to the transaction of business in which the Jewish community was concerned. His salary appears to have been 20l. per annum. On the expulsion of the Jews, which took place in 1290, it is probable that he was immediately created a baron, as we find him ranked next after John de Cobham, the senior baron, in the list of justices summoned to parliament in 1295. He was despatched to Antwerp in 1297 to negotiate, on behalf of the king, a loan of 10,000l. with the merchants there, presumably for the purposes of the expedition to Flanders. By the death of John de Cobham, in 1300, he became senior baron. He was reappointed on the accession of Edward II (1307), at whose coronation he was present, and the same year received permission, in consideration of his 'long and meritorious and unremitting service,' to attend at the exchequer at his own convenience. The following year he is mentioned as one of the judges assigned to try cases of forestalling in the city of London. As after this year he is not again summoned to parliament, it is probable that he died before the next writ was issued (the 11th of the ensuing June). As his name does not occur in the 'Inquisitiones post Mortem,' we may infer that, like many other of the earlier barons of the exchequer, he was of humble origin; and as he is described as 'civis Eboracensis,' it seems not altogether improbable that he was the tenant of Carleton in Yorkshire, under Henry de Percy.

 CARLETON, WILLIAM (1794–1869), Irish novelist, was born at Prillisk, co. Tyrone, in 1794, and not, as some writers have stated, in 1798. His parents supported themselves and fourteen children, of whom William was the youngest, on a farm of only fourteen acres. Carleton used to say that his father's memory was a rich and perfect storehouse of all that the social antiquary, man of letters, the poet, or the musician, would consider valuable. He spoke the Irish and English languages with nearly equal fluency, and was acquainted with all kinds of folklore. His mother was famous for her musical talents. Carleton's earliest tutor was one Pat Frayne, the master of the hedge school, who appears as Mat Kavanagh in the ‘Hedge School,’ and Carleton bears testimony to the savagery of hedge schoolmasters generally. Being subsequently for a time under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Keenan of Glasslough, he made considerable progress in his studies, especially in classics. On the removal of Dr. Keenan to Dundalk, Carleton was compelled to return home. His parents had intended him for the church, and sent him as a poor scholar to Munster. He had travelled as far as Granard when he interpreted an ominous dream as a command to return to Tyrone. The incidents of this journey gave rise to the tale of the ‘Poor Scholar.’

Lough-derg was a place famed for many legends, and Carleton visited the spot to perform a station there. In the ‘Lough-derg Pilgrim’ he has given an exact transcript of what took place during these stations held in the summer months. Carleton's experiences at Lough-derg led him to the resolution never to enter the church. About this time there fell into his hands a copy of ‘Gil Blas.’ He now longed for contact with the world, and entered the family of Piers Murphy, a farmer in county Louth, as a tutor. He next went to Dublin in search of fortune with two shillings and ninepence in his pocket. Offering himself as assistant to a bird-stuffer, he was asked what he proposed to stuff birds with, and ingenuously replied, ‘Potatoes and meal.’ He determined to enlist, and addressed a letter in Latin to the colonel of a regiment, who dissuaded him from his purpose, and shortly afterwards Carleton obtained some tutorships. While engaged in tuition he met the lady whom he afterwards married.

For the ‘Christian Examiner,’ a Dublin periodical edited by the Rev. Cæsar Otway, a protestant clergyman, Carleton wrote a description of his pilgrimage to Lough-derg. Sketches soon followed each other in rapid succession, and in 1830 these were collected into a volume, and published under the title of ‘ Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry.’ Several editions were called for in three years, and a second series appeared in 1833. His sketches of the peasantry were followed by a collection of ‘Tales of Ireland,’ 1834. In some of the tales he evidently describes his