fine cavern that so curiously perforates the rock and opens its dark arch to admit our boat. He must, indeed, have a mind cased up in all the commonplace of dull existence who would not, while within this cavern and under this fortress, enter into the associations connected with the scene, who could not hold communings with the 'genius loci. Fancy, I know, called up for me the war boats and the foemen, who either issued from or took shelter in this sea-cave: I imagined, as the tide was growling amid the far recesses, that I heard the moanings of chained captives, and the huge rocks around must be bales of plunder landed and lodged here; and I took an interest, and supposed myself a sharer in the triumphs of the fortunate and the helplessness of the captive while suffering under the misery that bold bad men inflicted in troubled times. Landing in this cavern, we passed up through its landside entrance toward the ruin; the day had become exceedingly warm, and going from the coolness of the cave into the sultry atmosphere, we felt doubly the force of the sun's power the sea-birds had retreated to their distant rocks; the goats were panting under the shaded ledges of the cliffs; the rooks and choughs, with open beaks and drooping wings, were scattered over the downs, from whose surface the air arose with a quivering, undulating motion. We were all glad to retire to where, under the shade of the projecting cliff, a clear cold spring offered its refreshing waters."

It is stated that, in the year 1639, on a stormy day, the part of the castle where the kitchen was situated gave way, and the cook, with eight other servants, who were busy preparing dinner, were precipitated into the sea.

A few of the ancient castles belonging to the old nobility, still continue to be inhabited, as Malahide, Lord Talbot's de Malahade, and Howth, the earl of Howth's, both in the county of Dublin; Shanes castle, the residence of Earl O'Neil; Portumna castle, on the Shannon, that of Lord Clanrickard; and Kilkenny castle, the seat of the marquis of Ormond.

CHAPTER L.

LEINSTER.

THIS is the largest province of Ireland, and contains the twelve counties of Louth, Meath, Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Kildare, Queen's county, King's county, Westmeath, and Longford, the whole forming a large tract of country on the east side of the island, and having Dublin at a central point on the

coast.

The scenery of Leinster is much varied. The county most remarkable for picturesque beauty is that of Wicklow, a short way south of Dublin: the hills, glens, and valleys, are here rich in natural wood, and, bounded by an extensive prospect of the ocean, can hardly be exceeded in beauty. The principal points of attraction for tourists are Lough Bray, a woody ravine called the Dargle, and the vale of Avoca, which is one continuous piece of sylvan pleasure-ground. Wexford, still farther south, may also, to a considerable extent, be described as a picturesque and fertile county; and though the county of Meath is, for the most part, flat and tame, except along the banks of the Boyne and Blackwater, it can boast there of some spots of redeeming beauty, as an example of which, Beau Parc, the beautiful demesne of Gustavus Lambert, Esq., may well be mentioned; and in a large portion of the county the quantity of wood, and the rich hedgerows, give an almost English character to the landscape. Westmeath is remarkable for expansive lakes, and for the dry gravelly hills which give variety to its surface. The Queen's county, though a good deal disfigured by bog, yet boasts, at Abbeleix and Dunmore, of a great stretch of magnificent oak wood. The remaining part of Leinster can not be considered interesting or peculiar in its general features. The King's county contains the greatest portion of the flat flow-bog, on the eastern side of the Shannon; toward Roscrea, where the Slieve Bloom mountains terminate, there is some fine scenery, especially about the ancient castle of Leap.

Leinster may be considered as much superior to the other provinces with respect to agriculture; and some parts of Carlow, Kildare, and Wexford, are cultivated in a manner approaching in skill to that of the agricultural districts of England and Scotland. In stock, implements, rotation of crops, and the industry with which manure is collected and composts manufactured, there is a great and increasing improvement. Farming societies, ploughing matches, and premiums for new and better breeds of cattle, have greatly tended to this increasing prosperity; and they only, who have witnessed what these districts were previous to the Union, can appreciate the amelioration which has since taken place.

In Kilkenny and its vicinity, the blanket trade was carried on to some extent, but latterly it has been in a very declining state. Near Dublin are some extensive paper manufactories, and in the county of Meath is a large flax-mill. Generally speaking, however, there are but few manufactures in Leinster. There is from its chief towns a considerable export of agricultural produce.

The counties of Wicklow and Wexford contain an industrious and thriving population; and because industrious, the people are able to pay, from soils not superior to those of other districts, rents which would be intolerable in other parts of Ireland. The Wicklow peasantry are reckoned the finest in the world, and are proverbial for their handsome features and fine Roman profiles, and still more so as being a respectful, quiet, and well-conducted people. The county of Wicklow is celebrated for its waterfalls, and that of Pola-Phuca may be mentioned as distinguished from others and as being one of the most picturesque objects in Ireland. Pola-Phuca, or, as it is sometimes written, Poul-a-Phouka, is formed by the descent of the waters of the river Liffey, a considerable stream, which, in leaping down several progressive ledges of rocks, brawls and foams till the precipitated waters form a vortex below of great depth, and supposed by the peasantry to be unfathomable. Pola-Phuca is understood to signify" Puck's" or the "Devil's Hole," an expressive term suggested by the whirlpool. It is not far from Rossborough, the seat of Lord Milton, on the left of the road leading from Blessington to Balymore, and, though situated on the confines of the county of Wicklow, forms a strong attraction to the citizens of Dublin, and strangers visiting the metropolis, in their rural excursions. A bridge thrown over it higher up the river than is shown in our view, contrasts strongly with the masses of rock impending on both sides, and affords a very picturesque effect.

Another of these waterfalls is Powerscourt, which descends from a vast height; but the stream of water is inconsiderable, except during or immediately after wet weather. In dry weather, it has the appearance, at a short distance, of a fine silver thread gliding down the face of a steep rock.

The county of Meath is remarkably fertile; but being less subdivided, is therefore less populous than any other part of Ireland, considering the richness of its soil. The same prosperity as that in Wicklow and Wexford, though perhaps in a smaller degree, prevails in Kildare, Carlow, and the Queen's county. One of the chief causes of this prosperity is, that a large portion of the population receive money payments for their daily labor, and another, that the cottier and con or corn acre systems are here less resorted to.

The wages of Leinster are usually a shilling a-day in summer, and in winter from eightpence to tenpence, without diet. The average rent for arable land is from one to one pound and ten shillings, and for pasture land from two to three pounds per

acre.

The general diet of the peasantry is potatoes, milk, stirabout, eggs, butter, bacon, and herrings. Their dwellings are confessedly superior to those of Munster or Connaught. The resident gentry are more numerous, and take a great interest in the well-being of their tenantry. Leinster, therefore, may altogether be pronounced a much improved part of the country.

As the woollen and silk manufactures are still carried on in Dublin and other parts of Leinster, a slight sketch of their history may not be out of place in the account of that province. So early as the reign of Henry III., Irish woollen manufactures were imported from Ireland to England, duty free; and so excellent was their quality, that, from 1327 to 1357, they were exported to Italy, at a time when the woollen fabrics of the latter country had attained a high degree of excellence. The pros perity of the trade is noticed in an act of Elizabeth: and so flourishing was it in the time of Sir William Temple, that he became apprehensive lest it should interfere with that of the English. In 1688, the woollen manufacture was established to a

considerable extent in the liberties of Dublin. But this prosperity was soon interrupted by the English presenting a petition for the imposition of such heavy duties on the exportation of wool, as greatly injured the trade. It never, however, became extinct in the liberties, though it now extends only to the manufacture of coarse fabrics. In 1773, the Dublin society, anxious for its revival, procured an order that the army should be clothed with Irish cloth. This employment, however, became soon monopolized by one or two great houses, which had parliamentary interest: one of these failed in 1810, and the failure was followed by the bankruptcy of almost the entire woollen trade of Dublin; for the general credit was so much affected, that the banks refused to discount the bills of the manufacturers, and consequently the crash became general. The trade is now almost confined to the city of Dublin, where good hearth-rugs and carpeting are made; and favorable auguries are held forth of the factory of Mr. Willans, in particular, from the competition which he is able to stand against the cloth markets of the United Kingdom.

The silk trade was introduced by the French refugees, and about 1693, fully estab lished by them in the liberties of Dublin. In 1774 an act was passed placing it under the direction of the Dublin society, for the extent of two miles and a half round the castle; and that society was empowered to make regulations for its management, which it accordingly did, and also opened a silk warehouse, and paid a premium of five per cent. on all sales made therein. But this warehouse was ruined by an act passed about the year 1786, prohibiting any of the funds of the Dublin society from being applied to support any house selling Irish goods either wholesale or retail. This act gave to the manufacture a check by which hundreds of people were thrown out of employment. According to a return made in 1809, there were still 3,760 hands engaged in it, who, after the passing of this cruel act, struggled to support the trade; but when the protecting duties were taken off in 1821, and steam communication opened with England, the Irish market was inundated with goods at a smaller price than that at which her native fabric could be produced, and thus the ruin of the trade was completed. The tabinet fabric of silk and worsted, for which Dublin has long been famous, is the only branch of the silk business which has not materially suffered from these discouragements. At present, silk tabareas of great beauty, and rich silk velvets, equal to those of France, are manufactured in Dublin.

The chief towns in Leinster are Dublin, Kilkenny, Drogheda, Wexford, Maryboro, Mullingar, and Trim.

Dublin, the principal town in Leinster, and the capital of Ireland, is situated at the margin of a beautiful bay, on a generally flat piece of country, through which flows the river Liffey, and is, therefore, agreeably placed both for commerce and the accommodation of a large population. In point of size, Dublin occupies a place between Edinburgh and London, and its appearance never fails to surprise and delight the stranger. In external aspect, it is essentially an English town, being built of brick in a neat and regular manner, but abounding in a class of elegant public structures of stone, which resemble the more substantial embellishments of Paris and other continental cities. The river, flowing from east to west, divides the city into two nearly equal portions, and is a striking feature in the general plan. The leading thoroughfares of the city are easily comprehended. First, from east to west, there is the double line of houses and quays bordering upon the river, the lower part of which forms a harbor, and is crowded with vessels. Crossing this line at right angles, is the great line formed by Sackville, Westmoreland, and Grafton streets, the first and second of which are connected by Carlisle bridge, the lowest in a range of eight or nine which span the river at various distances from each other. Parallel to the quays on the south side of the river, there is a shorter arterial line of great impor tance, formed by College Green, Dame street, Castle street, and Thomas street, being terminated to the east by the buildings of the university. Though the ancient part of the city occupies the south bank of the river, there is a portion of the mean and elegant on both sides; the streets and squares of the wealthy being here, contrary to the usual rule, in the northeast and southeast districts. All the great lines are formed by houses of lofty and elegant proportions, chiefly devoted to commerce; and perhaps no city can present a more splendid series of shops and warehouses. Sackville street, a hundred perches in length, and six in width, with a noble monumental pil lar in the centre, and some of the finest public buildings in the world lending it their effect, must impress every one as something worthy of a great city. The spaciousness of several of the squares in the aristocratic districts, is equally impressive.

Merrion square is half, and St. Stephen's Green nearly a whole mile in circumference, the latter containing seventeen acres of pleasure-ground in the centre.

On first walking into the streets of Dublin, the stranger is apt to see, in the throng of carriages and foot-passengers, nothing more than what he expects to find in all large cities. He soon observes, however, that, besides the luxurious class who occupy the better kind of vehicles, and the busy well-dressed crowd who move along the foot-ways, there is a great multitude of mean and mendicant figures, such as are only to be found in a small proportion in other cities. This is the very first peculiar feature which the stranger detects in Dublin, and it is an unfortunate one. It is explained when we learn, that of the large population of Dublin-supposed to approach three hundred thousand-fully three fourths are beneath what is recognised in Britain as the middle rank. Thus the most respectable streets in Dublin, and the most elegant figures which appear in them, seem isolated in the midst of penury and meanness. The public buildings of Dublin boast an elegance much above what might be expected from the general character of the city. In sailing up the river, the eye is first attracted by the customhouse, a large and splendid edifice in the well-known taste of the Adams, surmounted by a dome, and very happily situated upon the north quay. The postoffice in Sackville street, is in that graver form of the Grecian style which has more recently come into favor, extending above two hundred feet in front, with a noble portico surmounted by a pediment. The simultaneous starting of the mail-coaches at a certain hour every evening from the court of this building, is one of the sights of Dublin. Opposite to it is a pillar in honor of Nelson, surmounted by a figure of that hero. At the upper extremity of Sackville street is the lying-in hospital, a beautiful building, with which is closely connected the more celebrated Rotunda, together with an extensive plot of ornamental ground. The Four Courts, also a most superb structure, overlooks the river at a point considerably removed to the west, and completes the list of remarkable buildings in the northern division of the city. To the south of the river, the objects worthy of especial notice are more numerous. The buildings of the university (founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1592) occupy a conspicuous situation on the great transverse line of streets which has already been mentioned. Beneath an elegant Grecian front three hundred feet in length, an archway gives admission to a succession of spacious squares, chiefly composed of brick domestic buildings, and containing a theatre for examinations, a museum, a chapel, a refectory, a library, and other apartments necessary for the business of the institution. In the museum is preserved an ancient harp, generally represented as that of Brian Boroimhe, a famous Irish king of the tenth century. There are usually about two thousand students in attendance at the university. Divided from this building only by the breadth of a street, is the bank of Ireland-formerly the place of assembly of the Irish houses of parliament. The deep colonnaded front of this building is one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture, not only in the British dominions, but in the world: it carries a charm like a fine picture. The hall where once the commons of Ireland assembled-where the eloquence of a Grattan, a Curran, and a Flood, was once heard-is now altered to suit the purposes of a telling-room; but the house of peers remains exactly as it was left by that assembly, being only occasionally used for meetings of the bank directorate. The latter is a small but handsome hall, adorned with tapestry representing transactions in the subjugation of Ireland by King William-the battle of the Boyne, the breaking of the boom, and so forth, as also a few appropriate inscriptions.

In Kildare street, at no great distance from the college and bank, the halls of the royal society of Dublin, present a powerful claim to the attention of strangers, in the great variety of curiosities, pictures, and models, with which they are filled. In a perambulation of the city, the castle is the next object worthy of notice. This ancient seat of the viceregal government, to which rumors of plots and insurrections have been so often brought by terror-struck spies or remorseful participators, is placed on slightly elevated ground, in the midst of the old or southern division of the city. It consists of two courts, containing certain public offices, and the apartments of state used by the lord lieutenant. In the lower court is the castle chapel, a beautifullyconstructed and beautifully-furnished modern Gothic place of worship, the whole materials of which are of Irish production, and which cost above forty thousand pounds. The service performed here every Sunday forenoon, graced as it is by the finest vocal and instrumental music, while a rich "religious light" streams through stained windows, and is reflected from the gorgeous stalls of civil and ecclesiastical