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of picturesque and varied beauty; but alas! a barrier exists, not so displeasing to the eye as distressing to the mind. Two brothers, it seems, owned the estates, I know not how long since; who in the unnatural warfare of a fierce litigious contest, became so hardened in enmity that each impaired the beauty of his own portion by endeavouring as much as possible to interrupt and mar the other's view. A range of stabling, so built as to present the aspect of a venerable ruin on the owner's side, formed a great eye-sore to the brother: and the various schemes of retaliation devised by these unhappy combatants, for mutual annoyance, have effected all that man can do to impair the work of God. The property is now in other hands; and we may hope to see these humiliating monuments of wrath and strife removed. Of all the strange things in this perplexing world nothing appears to me more unaccountable than that there should be a lack of love between brothers and sisters. My thoughts hovered more fondly than ever around the scene of yesterday's pilgrimage; and once more I blessed the Lord that from the cradle to that grave no root of bitterness had sprung up to alloy the sweets of fraternal affection and confidence, or that oneness of interest and feeling that could enjoy no unshared prosperity, or allow any unparticipated grief.

Our homeward drive shewed me to greater advantage the fine grounds encompassing this mansion. Fifty-two acres of rich land are laid out in groves, gardens, lawns, and a miniature lake, fringed with stately trees. The most singular feature of the place, and to me perhaps the most attractive, is what they call the grass garden. It is a long slip of land, lying beside the pretty. stream that supplies the aforesaid pretty lake, covered with that rich verdure in which the emerald isle proudly defies competition: saving that a multitude of little beds are cut out in various directions, and so arranged that the choicest, loveliest, most fragrant flowers seem to grow up from the very grass itself; with a perfect grove of dark trees and aromatic shrubs overhanging it on one side, while on the other ripples the stream, beyond which rises another grove; the grass garden is a bewitching spot. These Irish are sad voluptuaries; give them but a plot of ground and time, they will make such a paradise of sweets, and that with so little of the artificial about it, that you are tempted, when once within its precincts, to forget your cares, your very duties in the bustling world, and to imagine you were invested with the privilege of our first father, ere his sin had changed the beauty of this world and his own into corruption. You are in a garden

where the creature's hand has but followed the track of creative magnificence; and you feel as though all your business with this earth was now only to dress and to keep it, and to enjoy its enchanting beauties.

LETTER VI.

WESTMEATH TO DOWN.

Newry, July.

In spite of all remonstrances, our dear hospitable entertainer would rise at an unconscionably early hour to dispense with her own kind hands the plentiful breakfast prepared; and then, freighting her carriage with abundance of provision for our day's journey, dismissed us with a farewell even more tenderly affectionate than her first welcome had been, to Mullingar, whence I had resolved to cross the country by private roads, instead of retracing my way to Dublin, there to take a northern stage. Private travelling is infinitely more agreeable, particularly when you can choose both route and vehicle, and take your own time; and my Westmeath friends heartily approving my contempt for the fears that beset some tourists in this country, commended the choice. Four days had so endeared to me the place and its inmates, that I left it with the reluctant regret of one who

had long been attached to both. A more painful farewell, however, remained to be taken: had I known the excess of its bitterness, I should scarcely have allowed myself that second visit to the spot. To find him there was indeed a searching trial of feeling: but to leave him there seemed to rend every fibre of the heart. Rebellion did surely for some moments prevail; but the two concluding lines of the inscription over which my eye wandered almost unconsciously, came at that moment with the effect that they feebly describe.

Hush, rising griefs: submit, rebellious will;
Faith looks to JESUS, and the storm is still.

It was indeed His gentle voice that alone could calm the internal workings of a mind more excited than the tempestuous waves. I walked among

the hawthorn trees until power was given to bid a quiet and almost a contented farewell. Little prospect there is of revisiting the scene: but no matter! There was a word of promise hidden in my heart from which I had often drawn sweet solace and now it spoke to me with an application as personal as ever it carried to the bosom of the mourner of Bethany-" Thy brother shall rise again."

At the hotel I had ordered an open car to Trim; but a deluge of rain coming on obliged us to

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