The stranger in Ireland

Front matter

Book

THE

STRANGER IN IRELAND?

Dedication

TO

FRANCIS EARL OF MOIRA,

GENERAL OF HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES, MASTER-GENERAL OF THE ORDNANCE,

Preface

IN the following pages I have endeavoured to illustrate the Irish character, and to give a descriptive narrative of a tour into the south and south-west parts of Ireland, and also some account of the present state of society, political economy, national manners, public buildings, &c, of that country. I have as much as possible avoided adverting to those points upon which the public opinion has divided with temper; where I have touched them, I trust it has been with becoming deference, and only when they were connected with the paramount objects of humanity and general policy. Upon those unsettled subjects which have too long excited party animosity, I have advanced nothing which can have the remotest tendency to inflame the public mind, Where time and opportunity did not enable me personally to judge, I have had the advantage of corresponding with some of the most able, impartial, and clis-

PREFACE.

tinguished persons of Ireland, and Englishmen resident there.

If I had not been encouraged by a liberal public, and prompted to the undertaking by several enlightened friends, I would not have engaged in the work : if with these advantages I have failed, the fault is my own, for the character which I have attempted to pourtray is too frank to conceal even its own failings.

Chapter I

page Two Englishmen in India : the Irish hair-dresser and his wig: the favourite owl : a singular character : a disappointment : first bull : the vale of Llangollen : sketch of the Welsh : pedigree : amatory indulgences : blind Bet: Gelert's grave : holy jumpers: Anglesea: a warning : a seasonable relief - 1

Chapter II

The bay of Dublin described : the mole : prize pork: an English agricultural bull : Irish vis-a-vis : ancient history of Ireland omitted : nations, like individuals, proud of ancient genealogy : the fountain : street sounds : jingles : a car : a noddy : the important accelerating and retarding words gee and ivoo discussed : a raw : Dublin beggars : the black cart : mendicant wit : dress of the low Irish - 17

Chapter III

Brief account of Dublin : its progressive improvement : parishes : Jews : defective state of its ecclesiastical establishment: its population : the

- family Bible : necessary weapon for a traveller in Ireland : newspaper murders : state of the quarters of the poor : affecting picture : Irish philanthropy: the glove -shop : deplorable state of the coin: absentees : distressing anecdotes : high state of exchange : attempt to develope its cause : a few suggestions offered for its removal 28

Chapter IV

The late parliament-house : directors of the bank : old Croaker : former Irish house of commons and legislative assembly compared : female auditors : English house of commons : French orators : influence of a large audience on parliamentary orators : patrician eloquence and the garden-pot; Barry the painter: packets: -mailtrtii CONTENTS,

page coaches : a brilliant reproach : the college : monkish law : college

wit : taste how manifested - 47

Chapter V

Dublin society : Ceres and Triptolemus : German and Russian ingenious boors: drawing schools: Venus's shell: female legs: natural genius for forging franks : " port, if you please :" the parliamentary orator and bottle of porter : churches without steeples : the Exchange : the comfort of architectural errors : cathedral of St. Patrick's : the choir : dean Swift and Stella : brilliant wit : church-residence 58

Chapter VI

The Black-rock: local advantage of Dublin: martello towers: cook-maid, whiskey, and priest : a letter : Irish taste : Newgate : Irish mode of executing criminals : wit: the Castle : statue of justice : the late lord Kilwarden : the lord mayor: a bull: mayoralty-house: secretary to the lord lieutenant : a vice -regal device - 69

Chapter VII

The circular road : the bridges : fire, floods, and tempests, great improvers : Westminster and Essex bridges compared : St. Stephen'sgreen : Lying-in Hospital and other buildings : posting : new mod^J of repairing a post-chaise : a print : a lucky mile : address to a driver : the Dargle described : lines : the contrast : Rosanna : Devil'sglen: Dwyer: fidelity - - - - 79

Chapter VIII

Magnanimity of a peasant : good roads : Wicklow cabins : general description of one : few checks to marriage : love, how circumstanced in Ireland : the potatoe : variety of food discussed : horses : cabin politeness : inns : Cronroe : native drollery : Avonmore : Arklow : battle fought there : father Murphy, an extraordinary character : forcible expression ; anecdotes of simplicity. - - 93

Chapter IX

A travelling hint : copper-mines : Wicklow gold-mine : approach to Glendaloch": description of it: Joe the historian of the place: characteristic cunning and wit : the favourite burial-place : round tower : use of this curious building : belfries : bells : St. Kevin : D*ermody : a hint 1 cause assigned for the high state of preservation of the ancient ruins in Ireland: Ledwich's account of this remarkable place : miracles ------- lOf

CONTENTS. ix

CHAPTER X. page

Lugtila: social disposition of the peasants: Belle -vue : humane institution : the palace of glass : beautiful chapel : Glen of the Downs : Swiss cottage : anecdote of native droller} 7 : Garrick and the Irishman : wit : Powerscourt waterfall : venomous animals and St. Patrick: toad-eaters: climate of Ireland: roads: the advantages and abuses of presentments : the intelligent directing-post : churchyards : epitaphs : beautiful lines - - 122

CHAPTER XL

Literary passion of the Irish : paper called Anti-Union : specimen of their song- writing : literary society in Dublin : hospitality : English prejudices: Irish economy: pretensions of the Irish potatoe to superiority profoundly examined : perilous judgment : manners of ancient Irish: Irish breakfast: stirabout: the Irish ladies: Irish crim. cons. : the female brogue : Irish gentlemen : their character : duelling : anecdote : the Irish tourist : Irish military witli respect to duelling: names and descriptions of distinguished Irishmen in poetry, learning, painting, music, and the drama ■> 135

CHAPTER XII.

Character of low Irish : their ingenuity : Irish recruits : local organization : lying and stealing : ditch schools : native urbanity : common modes of salutation : dread of being thought ignorant : hospitality of low Irish : the stranger's flute : their sociability: patrons and broken heads : clruidical superstition : unpleasant custom : Irish imprecations : anniversary of St. Patrick and Sheelagh : herring whipping : the fairy banshee : innocence and licentiousness illustrated : natural delicacy: cleanliness: bravery, its effect: precipitation of speech: whimsical anecdotes 155

CHAPTER XIII.

Blunders and bulls : shall and will : whimsical exclamation : beautiful expressions: the favourite word "elegant:" Irish Monday: German Monday : native pride of Irish : doctor Donolly : begging in former times : maternal fondness : filial piety: influence of kindness, and character of low Irish : their degraded condition: middle-men: nummary of the character of the Irish : Martial's barber 469 x CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIV. page

Tour to Killarney : Naas : raths : other forts : the Curragh of Kildare i ■wit : St. Brigid: anecdotes of that immaculate lady : Monastereven the Bog of Allen : curious bog anecdotes : the enbalmed cobler subterranean forests: remarks Upon them: Dutch boors: canals: American notions of an improved country : walking bogs : Limerick 183

CHAPTER XV.

Thorn ond's bridge : provision-trade: house of industry : shocking spectacle: group of madmen: lord chancellor Erskine : brief history of Limerick: the Shannon: the antiquary Grose and the Irish butcher : Irish language : its sweetness : the celebrated Flood : Dr. Johnson : Irish and Carthaginian languages : Carthaginian swords 199

CHAPTER XVI.

Lyric quality of Irish language : extracts from ancient Irish bards : Patrick Linden : Fitzgerald i O'Geran - - 209

CHAPTER XVII.

A travelling hint : country banks : Adair : its monastic ruins : taste and veneration of the lower orders for them : provincial idiom : the Palatines : gloomy country : the social tobacco-pipe : figurative expressions : whimsical exchange : a pair of breeches : the mountaineer and his dog: approach Killarney: opinion of the low Irish of the Engglish : Killarney: Irish fond of law: the epitaph : Mucruss: prompt drollery : a caution : singular predilection : resolution : anecdotes of Carolan : specimens of his poetic genius - - 218

CHAPTER XVIII.

Visit to the lower lake : Ross-castle : the island of Innisfallen described : the hermaphroditical holly : O'Sullivan's cascade : vegetable massacre : the quarter sessions : low Irish fond of law : national characteristics : drollery of convicted culprit : wit : classical character of the county of Kerry : castles : catholic seminaries : visit to the upper lake : the strawberry-tree : evasive answers : the echo : anecdote : breaking heads for love : fighting a sign of tranquillity: the Purple Mountain: anecdotes of king Donahue : anecdote of Irish magnanimity : tillage and agriculture : population of Ireland - 235

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTER XIX. page

Causes of population: population of Russia and China: luxury: its effects : English and Irish soldiers : Mill-street : rustic civility : a blessing: singular litigation : the blarney-stone and happiness : Cork described : the poor i remarks on house of industry : Frenchman's eulogium on porter : porter breweries : provision-trade : catholics : methodists . hearth-money : more drollery : perjury 254

CHAPTER XX.

More figurative expressions : Kilkenny theatricals : verses : Kilkenny described : the college : coals : cavalry and pikemen : humour of chaise -drivers : the canal-boat : Moira-house : the bell : the letter ■End Irish dragoon : St. Valori : the late dean Kirwan; his eloquence efficacious : brief and beautiful extracts from his sermons - 26r

CHAPTER XXI.

Tinnahinch : Grattan : striking specimens of his eloquence and style of writing ...... 283

CHAPTER XXII.

Powerscourt -house i the four courts described : the Irish bar i eminent advocates '■ characteristic affability: curious mode of placing witnesses : number of counsel in a cause : whimsical circumstance : late lord Avonmore •■ anecdote : specimens of Mr. Curran's eloquence : false alarm : inundation and lawyers' wigs : the New King's Inn 295

CHAPTER XXIII.

The custom-house : observations upon the collection of the customs : exports and imports : whiskey and dram-shops : introduction of spirits in Ireland : the Foundling-hospital : observations : charter-schools : Scots Highland-society '■ education of the poor : ride to Dalkey: the theatre: performers: gallery wit: the Female Orphan - house: the house of industry ; the Hardwicke Fever-hospital: the Hibernian-school : promptitude of women : present state of agriculture in Ireland : fair at Ballinasloe : retm'n to England 309

GeYieral remarks 325

THE

STRANGER IN IRELAND.

Chapter I

TWO ENGLISHMEN IN INDIA. ...THE IRISH HAIR-DRESSER AND HIS WIG.. ..THE FAVOURITE OWL. ...A SINGULAR CHARACTER... .A DISAPPOINTMENT. ...FIRST BULL.. ..THE VALE OF LLANGOLLEN.... SKETCH OF THE WELSH.. ..PEDIGREE. ...AMATORY INDULGENCES ....BLIND BET....GELLERT'S GRAVE. ...HOLY JUMPERS... -ANGLE- SEA. ...A WARNING. ...A SEASONABLE RELIEF.

A WO Englishmen, who were exploring the distant regions ■of the East, determined upon visiting the Polygars in the peninsula of India. " Do not go there," said the venerable chief of a town : u it is a brown and bladeless waste, and the people of that country u are wild and savage ; their covering is the skin of the tyger, and " they banquet upon human flesh ; in the moment that you place " your foot upon their frontier, they will kill and devour you." The wanderers became grave, but not disheartened : they pursued their journey, and when they reached the peninsula, they found the most luxuriant province, smiling in all the prodigal bounty of a beneficent Providence, and a people the most gentle, polished, cultivated, and hospitable.

" What can possess you to go to Ireland," exclaimed a friend of mine, « where the hedges are lined with pikes and blunderbusses ?

A

" Is it to contemplate famine and bogs, and bog-trotters, salmon- " leaps, and restless spirits, so barbarously ignorant, that, in One of " their late revolutionary battles, a rebel hair-dresser ran up to the " muzzle of a cannon, to which an artilleryman was just applying " the match, and, thrusting his wig into its mouth, exclaimed, the " moment before he was blown to atoms, By Jasus I have stopped " your mouth, my honey, for this time."

Reader ! do not anticipate, from these preliminary observations; that the Irish have better qualities than what have been frequently assigned to them : a little time will tell us what sort of people they are ; perchance they may be as bad, perchance a little more deserving of our esteem, than report has depicted them. Come, let us set off' for the waves that are to bear us to their country ; and if we meet in our road any object worthy of notice, let us loiter a little to enjoy the contemplation of it.

It is always a pleasant source of reflection to contrast the manners of different people : in the French diligence, whether by land or by water, the greatest spirit of accommodation prevails ; and even in a German stuhl-waggon, the nose of an Englishman only suffers from the smoke of " the Indian weed," which perhaps issues from every mputh but his own. Shall our own country be charged with want of urbanity, when I relate that, just 3s we were quitting this proud and noble city, five men resisted the wishes of an old lady ? It was even thus: after the only vacancy in the coach had been filled by a little chubby fair dame, who was followed by several bundles and bandboxes, until at length we were as thick

** As bottled wasps upon a southern wall,"

she screamed out, to a pale long-visaged servant who stood dripping in the rain, " Now, William, give me -the owl;" upon which a huge cage, covered with napkins, was attempted to be squeezed into the vehicle, against the admission of which most grave and reverend stranger we all protested; the door was closed, our disappointed companion, with no little bitterness of spirit, impeached our gallantry,, and in half an hour afterwards we quitted the jostling of the pave, for the more easy motion of proceeding upon a fine and level road.

Although I have frequently found a world in miniature in a stageroach, yet the relation of its incidents is never courted, and seldom endured: however, I must be permitted to describe a singular character, who formed one of our party. He was about 45, short, plump, and rosy ; nature had formed his mind with no little degree of whim, which in its action, I should conceive, had neither example nor imitation. Every tale which was told was a long time in travelling through all the sinuosities of the ears to the seat of his understanding ; so much so, that a gentleman having related a very facetious story, which put us all in the highest good-humour, this singular being, for a considerable time, appeared wholly unaffected, until, in the course of conversation, the lively narrative was succeeded by an account of a horrible murder, in the midst of which his countenance began to brighten, and at last his whole frame became convulsed with the exhilarating impressions of the first story.

It was night when we passed through Oxford ; the dim beams of a misty moon just served to mark out the vast and beautiful ancient piles which adorn that seat of learning : all was silent ; not a student's taper beamed through his Gothic casement; only a solitary proctor was to be seen pacing the melancholy streets with Argus eyes. The gloom was enlivened by the reflection, that I should breakfast at the town in which our beloved Shakespeare first beheld the light of heaven ; that I should see the very house of his nativity 3 and contemplate the beautiful Avon, so often celebrated in song.

Alas ! how seldom are our expectations to be realized. Here, upon crossing a long, shabby, shattered bridge, over a river destitute of beauty, and lined on each side by some melancholy marshes, I beheld a line of wretched brick houses : " That is Stratford," said my nearest companion ; and soon afterwards springing up from the breakfast-table at the inn, I beheld in a dismal dwelling, incapable of rousing one poetic idea, the native abode of the divine bard. The whole scene was out of tune with the impression which the birthplace of this unrivalled genius had excited ; I re-entered the vehicle as sulky as disappointed Englishmen generally are, and at length tlined at Birmingham, so admirably styled by Burke the toy-shop of

Europe — Burke who, once the wonder of the senate and an admiring nation, now reposes in the cold bosom of the grave, whilst his prophetic pages find a progressive accomplishment in the prolific prodigies of revolutionary France. The production of this wonderful manufacturing town is the delight of the whole of civilized Europe, and will continue to be so, and to find its market there, by fair means or by foul, unless, in pursuing that system of exclusion which distinguishes the strange policy of his imperial brother of Pekin, Bonaparte shall be able to revolutionize the taste of his people.

To show the superiority of the manufactures of this place, it is related of Mr. Bolton of Soho, to whose ingenuity and enterprize the world is so much indebted, that when he was in Paris, some years since, a Frenchman of fashion exhibited a very beautiful papier-mache snuff-box, and observed to Mr. Bolton that he thought, able as the English were in every work of art, they were not equal to the manufacture of so beautiful and exquisite a piece of workmanship. Mr. Bolton requested to have it, and stepping aside to a window, with a fine penknife opened a part of it, and showed the astonished Frenchman the name of Bolton upon it. Soon after a considerable wager was laid, that the steel manufactory in France was superior to that of England. Mr. Bolton accepted the bet, and on a given day one of the most celebrated French workers in steel produced his sample, -whir.h was very ingenious, but at this moment I forget what it was ; to the surprize of the umpire, Bolton displayed a needle, enclosing another, which contained a third, and won the wager.

Near the lofty Wrekin, we passed by several iron mines and furnaces, which had a Vesuvian appearance ; and as the sun declined we descended one side of Sneedshill, on which the mouths of smelting-houses vomited columns of flame into the dusky atmosphere, and presented all the appearance of a valley of fire. At Oswestry a gentleman who joined us, in talking about the Litchfield races, observed that they were very indifferent, for all the horses that ran were distanced: this was the first bull I had heard upon the journey, but as I was in the high road to Ireland, I concluded I should have many a laugh from the same source. Upon inquiry, however, I found that the sire of this bull was a native of Middlesex. Upon leaving Oswestry we reached Denbighshire, the land of the Owens and Joneses, and of the ancient descendants of the Belgic Gauls, where, having advanced a few miles, one of the most exquisite scenes in nature opened upon us, as we entered the beautiful vale of Llangollen, in the Welsh language called Thlangothlen, two sequent ll's being pronounced as thl.

If the reader has never beheld this vale, and occupation will admit of it, let him not suffer another summer's sun to roll away without visiting it. On our left, from the base of a stupendous cliff, whose top was rough with grey rock, an expanded lawn sloped to the bottom of the valley, encreasing in verdure as it approached the bottom ; here softened by the sombre purple of the mountain heath, and graceful groupes of mountain ash, and there rendered more brilliant by the rich yellow of the furze blossoms. The rocky projections of this eminence, from which the martial Llewelyn descended with his warlike followers to give battle to Edward I, were crowned with browsing sheep ; below, at a giddy depth, the river Dee, filled with its finny myriads every moment dimpling its surface, pursued its rippling course ; whilst on the other side, from a carpet of fertile meadows, and from corn-fields waving their golden honours, an opposite mountain ascended, clothed with woods, half embosoming scattered mansions, farm-houses, and thatched cottages ; and in the front, bounded by the windings of the vale, appeared the aqueduct of the new navigation, spanning the opposite mountains with its lofty arches. The sun was brilliant, and the lark gladdened us with his song. It was a scene of softness, richness, and variety, that might have captivated the olive-faced inhabitant of the vale of Terni. This aqueduct is four hundred feet long, its arches ninety high, and its trough is of cast iron. I expected to have seen every acclivity crowned with a goat, " his white beard streaming to the wind;" but being disappointed, I found, upon inquiry, that that salacious family was nearly exterminated in North Wales, in consequence of the injury which they offered to young growth and saplings. The beauties of nature here are chiefly animated by the appearance of small sheep ? who furnish the most exquisite mutton.

Whilst we were changing horses at Llangollen, I visited the cottage of the honourable lady Butler and miss Ponsonby, two ladies who some years since renounced the vain splendour of fashion and dissipation, for scenes of sequestered happiness. At the back of the house, on the other side of the vale, a lofty mountain rises crowned with the venerable ruins of the tower of the celebrated chieftain Dennis Brand. A little beyond Llangollen, we passed the scite of Owen Glendower's castle, which is now indicated only by a circular ditch planted with trees. At several inns we saw the sign of that distinguished chief, the great favourite of Welsh history.

In the corn-fields I witnessed an instance of bad husbandry which surprised me : the Welsh farmers, in this part of Wales, mow and rake their corn together as we do our grass and hay ; and when they have collected it in heaps, they stack it under a strong matting of straw, by which mode much of the grain must be shaken out and lost. The male peasant is very fond of wearing a blue coat and blue stockings ; and the female is generally attired in a broad black felt hat, tied under the chin with a blue riband, a gown of the same colour, and alight brown great coat. The peasantry present a strange mixture of industry and indolence : on one side the traveller, if he pass into a cottage, will see a woman with a child at her breast, and spinning ; or, on the road, he will meet another knitting as she returns home from the day's occupation : whilst, on the other hand, he will be pestered by groupes of mendicant children, capable of working, running by the side of the carriage, and in a shrill sound exclaiming, " Got bless u, a penny, bless u." Their native language is a dialect of the Celtic.

The simple honesty of the Welsh has scarcely any parallel. The author of the old song, so fresh and dear to infantine recollection, beginning with " Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief," &c. must indeed have been a very prejudiced composer. The W^elsh, even to the peasantry, are very fond of the pride of pedigree. They pretend that they have documents coeval with the incarnation. It was to a Welsh lady, who was tracing her family through a remote course of genealogy, that a wit said, " To cut the matter short, u madam, do begin with Adam." " He is a fellow of yesterday*'

said a haughty Welshman, of a man who wanted to marry his daughter ; " I'll be bound his family was not born before Christ."

One evening, at an inn where we halted, we heard a considerable bustle in the kitchen, and, upon inquiry, I was let into a secret worth knowing. The landlord had been scolding one of his maids, a very pretty plump little girl, for not having done her work ; and the reason which she alleged for her idleness was, that her master having locked the street door at night, had prevented her lover from enjoying the rights and delights of bundling, an amatory indulgence which, considering that it is sanctioned by custom, may be regarded as somewhat singular, although it is not exclusively of Welsh growth. The process is very simple : the gay Lothai'io, when all is silent, steals to the chamber of his mistress, who receives him in bed, but with the modest precaution of wearing her under petticoat, which is always fastened at the bottom, not unfrequently, I am told, by a sliding knot. It may astonish a London gallant to be told, that this extraordinary experiment often ends in downright wedlock — the knot which cannot slide. A gentleman of respectability also assured me, that he was obliged to indulge his female servants in these nocturnal interviews, and that too at all hours of the night, otherwise his whole family would be thrown into disorder by their neglect : the carpet would not be dusted, nor would the kettle boil. I think this custom should share the fate of the northern Welsh goats.

In some Dutch travels we read, that a courtship similar to bundling is carried on in the islands of Vlie and Wieringen, in Holland, under the name of queesting. At night the lover has access to his mistress after she is in bed ; and upon an application to be admitted upon the bed, which is of course granted, he raises the quilt, or rug, and in this state queests, or enjoys a harmless chit-chat With her, and then retires. This custom meets with the perfect sanction of the most circumspect parents, and the freedom is seldom abused. The author traces its origin to the parsimony of the people, whose economy considers fire and candles as superfluous luxuries in long winter evenings. Another traveller also mentions, that the lower people of Massachusetts Bay indulge themselves in a custom called tarrying. If the parents of the young lady approve of her enamorato,

S THE STRANGER IN IRELAND.

they permit him to tarry with her one night. After the old people have retired, the young couple go to bed together with their under garments on : if they like each other, they marry ; if not, they part, perhaps never to meet more, unless the forsaken fair one proves pregnant, in which case, under the penalty of excommunication, the man must marry her.

Habit has so reconciled the mind to the comforts of bundling^ that a young lady who entered the coach soon after we left Shrewsbury, about eighteen years of age, with a serene and modest countenance, displayed considerable historical knowledge of the custom, without " one touch of bashfulness."

At Pentre Voylas, three miles beyond Cernioge, we entered upon the new road, the line of which was first explored by the honourable and reverend Mr. Dawson, and which has been constructed at the expence of that enterprizing, public-spirited nobleman, lord Penrhyn: it runs through Capelcerrig, abbreviates the distance by ten miles to Landegai, where it regains the old road, and saves the traveller the inconvenience and occasional hazard of the Conway ferry. As we entered this road, at a great distance we saw Snowdon rising from the earth into the clouds ; and behind him, and some of his mighty brother mountains, the sun set gloriously. The road has been opened rather too early, before time had completely compacted its surface ; but nature, by an abundance of friable rock, presents a speedy remedy for this evil.

On this road we were met by a well-known character called Blind Bet : she is stone blind, but a fine, cheerful, healthy woman ; by the bounty of travellers, and the sale of gloves and stockings, the manufacture of her own hands, she maintains an infirm mother, and a train of little brothers and sisters. Upon her quitting us, the following lines found their way into my pocket-book :

POOR BLIND BET.

The morning purple on the hill,

The village spire, the ivy'd tow'r, The sparkling wheel of busy mill,

The grove, green field, and op'ning flow'r, Are lost to thee !

Dark child of nature as thou art!

Yet thy poor bosom heaves no sigh, E'en now thy dimpling cheeks impart

As if they knew some pleasure nigh ;

'Tis good for thee !

Thou seem'st to say, " I've sunshine too, ^Tis beaming in a spotless breast ;

No shade of guilt obstructs the view, And there are many not so blest,

Who day's blush see

Dear are those eyes, by mine ne'er seen, Which I protect from many a tear ;

Kind stranger, 'tis on yonder green, A mother's aged form I rear.

Oh buy of me !"

Poor Blind Bet's misfortunes and her virtues excite distinguished respect and admiration in the breasts of her neighbours.

The view of the Devil's Glen which we passed was truly sublime. A bridge with one arch rests upon two projecting rocks, and bestrides an abyss of tremendous depth ; below foams a thundering cascade, which rolls through a rocky chasm into a dusky dell, thickly clothed on each side with stately trees. As it was evening, we halted midway in descending to the base of a lofty hill, within about five miles of Capel-cerrig : here the view was bounded by vast mountains, ijwhose tops were in the clouds, and the vallies were covered with a light blue mist, whilst the roar of torrents was heard at a distance. I never saw nature in a more grand and awful attitude.