Vacations in Ireland

Front matter

C "K.*Wb11. cUl. Da;:' •' .oseii. VACATIONS IN IRELAND. J'Y CHARLES RICHARD WELD. " Cast back the lattice, lat me quaff the dawn, Let the wild wind, dew-laden from the lawn, Scatter my fever'd heart with dewy showers, Snatch from my brows the poppy's drowsy flowers. With ye I'll fly, with ye, To the wooas, the hills, the sea; CaBt back the lattice, show me far away The azure mountain-tops and torrent springs of Day ! *' FfiEDEEICK Tewittson. LONDON LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS. 1357. T7te rinht of tranilatioi is resencd. London : Printed by Spottiswoode & Co. New-street Square. ro THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM, EARL OF ROSSE, K.P., F.R.S. &c. dke. &c. gtysz |)ages arc gcbu&Ub (WITH PERMISSION) IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF MUCH KINDNESS. Burlington House: May, 1857-

Preface

. I dislike Prefaces ; but there are occasions when, in order tbat the reader may understand the author aright, a few explanatory words are necessary. Briefly, then, I have to state that the following pages are descriptive of many visits to Ireland. My rambles on tbe Clare coast, Dingle, and the south-west of Kerry, were made many years ago ; but as tbe natural features of those parts of Ireland have not changed since I saw them, my descriptions hold good ; while, on the other hand, I have thought that a few sketches of " life " in the West, which has changed since the days of slow coaches and few tourists, may not be uninteresting. The remaining parts of Ireland embraced in the following pages have been more recently visited by A VI

PREFACE.

. me, — Connemara and the Carra Lakes so lately as last year. It would have been easy to enlarge my book by making the reader my companion through the north and east of Ireland ; but I have preferred confining myself to the more wild and still very little travelled districts iu the west of our Sister Isle, hoping that some of my readers may be tempted to follow my steps in the wilds of Kerry, Clare, and Mayo, where I promise them great enjoyment and magnificent scenery. I have only to add, that a portion of the chapters on Lord Rosse's telescopes appeared in Eraser's Magazine, and is reprinted by the kind permission of the proprietors of that periodical. CONTENTS.