developements set at defiance all attempts to force a covering on them. At length one shouted out from the hall, 'Here's Pether's hat; it'll just fit.' 'Pether's out,' responded the official man, ‘and can't want it. Clap it on, Barney.' This was done; and just as we hoped our delays were ended, a difference appeared in our respective computations of the fare, which required no less than a committee of the whole house, all talking together, to settle. We began almost to regret having declined places on the mail car, which had long since rattled merrily away loaded with our fellowpassengers: but the difficulty was overcome, and we stepped across the threshold. Alas! we were arrested by a storm of indignant eloquence, directed against poor Barney, who, it seemed, had taken the master's own particular bridle for our use; and many were the exclamations, while he in the most leisurely way removed the handsome bridle, replacing it with an article that would scarcely hold together. At last we fairly mounted our vehicle, Barney in the driver's seat, my Irish friend occupying one side with me, and on the other our English youth with his hatbox, and a mountain of luggage piled up between.

Away we went, at a tolerably equal pace, so long as the fine level pavement of the quay lay beneath us; but, Oh! the jolting that ensued,

1

when, after crossing the river, we began to ascend and descend the abrupt little hills! My spirits rose to the highest pitch of joyousness, while the vehicle danced along, as if in sympathy with my bounding heart. The road was narrow and wild, the banks low; and our position of course commanded only a view of one side of the country; but that was a highly Irish one. If you ask what is the distinctive mark of an Irish landscape, where the country has no particular feature of mountain, valley, or wood, I must reply, that it consists chiefly in a gradual easy swell of ground, from the road upwards, divided into portions much smaller than we usually see in England, fenced by very low boundaries of a few stones, or a bank of earth, but rarely displaying a quickset hedge or row of trees. This method of laying out the ground gives you a full view of each separate patch; and these again, being variously cultivated, present a picture altogether dissimilar from English scenery. The background, in this part of Ireland, is almost invariably a fine mountain peak, or chain of gigantic hills rearing their dark summits against the sky. Add to this the frequent glimpse obtained, now of some venerable ruin, standing alone in its little surrounding sanctuary of grass and shrubs; then, perhaps, a light playful stream murmuring over the bright pebbles; and anon, a noble plantation,

mer.

holding in its bosom the family mansion, the glebe house, and often the village church. And at this season you may fill up the canvass with every variety of rich and glowing tint the whole family of wild flowers can supply. Although quite the end of June, we were regaled with the choicest beauties of spring, mingled with those of midsumShrubs and trees of the hawthorn, presenting literally one mass of rich and fragrant blossoms, adorned the road side; and these, as we advanced farther into Wexford, were richly interspersed with tall bushes of furze, not yet entirely stripped of their golden buds. It was not until we had left New Ross considerably behind us, that we found ourselves thus hedged in; but never did we miss the glorious profusion of flowers, among which the foxglove, larger and more beautiful than I have usually seen it in our gardens, continually reared its head, waving above the little rude fence of stones that often constituted the only barrier between us and the corn or potato-field.

But you will expect to hear something of New Ross, the antiquity of which I greatly longed to explore; for, although still called 'New,' it was chartered by Richard II. and was at a very early period a place of great strength. A more recent and painful interest also attaches to it, from its having been the scene of a sanguinary battle in the rebel

lion of 1798, when thirty thousand rebels attacked the town, defended by about twelve hundred effective troops, and a hundred and fifty yeomen. The assailants were fully armed with muskets and pikes, and had four large guns, besides swivels. A number of Romish priests, robed, and bearing crucifixes in their hands, moved through the lines, kindling the wildest enthusiasm in the bosoms of their unhappy victims. As we crossed the bridge above the noble river Barrow, and ascended the exceedingly steep streets, I could not but shudder at the recollections excited: for, within the memory of some who then surrounded us, those streets had actually been choked up and the passage impeded by heaps of mangled bodies, the victims of civil war. I saw the spot where a sergeant of the Donegal militia, with sixteen men and two badly mounted ship guns, defended his post against six hundred furious assailants, whom he repulsed with tremendous slaughter. The bare fact that six carts, with a great number of men, were employed throughout the whole of two long summer days in collecting the dead bodies, and shooting them into the river hard by, gives an appalling view of the scene. It was here too,

that the circumstance really took place, which I have seen in the form of a jest, and, of course, considered an absurd fabrication. One of the

infatuated rebels, relying no doubt on some imaginary charm conferred by his priest, rushed up to a cannon, just as the gunner was about to apply his match, and thrusting his hat and wig into it, cried out, Come on, boys, her mouth is stopped!' In an instant he was blown to pieces.

I could not, however, take more than a hasty survey of the corner of the town through which we passed; time only allowing us to regale on a dish of mutton chops, and exquisite potatoes; which, together with the assiduous attention of the waiter, reminded me again that I was in Ireland. The genuine courtesy with which this class of people here fulfil their duties, and solicitously strive to anticipate your wishes, with their thankful acknowledgment of a small gratuity at parting, is remarkable: it belongs to that national hospitality which, go where you will, delights to cherish you. This I will say of the lower orders of Irish people, that a smile and a kind speech addressed to them, an avoidance of contemptuous looks or disparaging remarks on what is before you, and a fair word of commendation with regard to any thing Irish, when you can utter it in their presence, will, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, win their warm hearts, and render them for the time being your attached, devoted servants. I envy not the person who would derive no plea