In the unhappy disturbances of 1798, Glenmalure was the scene of many deeds of blood. Mrs. Tighe has taken advantage of the great interest which a republican party must always possess in a romantic view of a political question, in her beautiful poem of "Bryan Byrne of Glenmalure," which is to be found amongst the fragments attached to her larger work Psyche.

The wild romantic prospect which Glenmalure affords from the eminence on the road near Drumkitt is superior to any thing in the county of Wicklow, if we except, probably the coup d'œil of Glendalough from the road crossing the entrance of the valley. On the south-east side are the lofty mountains of Drumkitt, Fananerin, Drumgoff, Clorena or Clornagh, Carnwoostick, Corsilagh, Clonkine, Ballinashea, Baravore and Table Mountain; on the northeast are the hills of Ballinabarny, Keikee, Carriglinneen, Ballyboy, Ballynafinchouge. Lugduff, Cullentrough, Barnagoneen, and Cumavally, which last is the property of Baron Robeck. The hills on either side are in perfect continuation, except the interruption created by the lines of demarkation produced by the mountain torrents in rainy seasons. The interval between the opposite chains is nearly equal from end to end, and no where perhaps exceeding a quarter of a mile; the Avonbeg flows down the very centre of the valley, and the road runs parallel to its course along the entire length, and, in the chasm between the Table Mountain and Cumavally, beside a noble waterfall, the Donard road is

VOL. III.

seen winding its serpentine course, and is lost only on the very summit of the chain.

Before the year 1798 this was one of the three passes by which the retreats of the great Wicklow chain could be approached; the others were Wicklow Gap and Sally Gap, both of which were almost impassable. Shortly after this period, the military road was executed; this has laid open the wildest and hitherto most inaccessible tracts to the inquiry of the traveller, and to the improvement resulting from intercourse with the more improved and civilized parts of the county.

EAGLE'S NEST.

The Eagle's Nest is placed in a hanging crag, near the summit of an almost perpendicular rock of a pyramidal form, and twelve or thirteen hundred feet in height. When viewed from a distance, this much celebrated rock, so frequently the subject of the painter and the poet, appears quite contemptible, from the superior height of the adjacent mountains; but the approach to its base, by the river, is picturesque and sublime in the highest degree, since the river runs directly to its foot, and there turns off abruptly, so that the rock is seen from its base to the summit, without interruption; and the projecting masses of huge broken fragments in the centre, tend to complete the magnificence of the object. The base is covered with wood, and a few shrubs appear scattered over the face of the rock up to the very apex of the pyramid.

It is from this sublime and stupendous rock

the sound is returned in so miraculous a manner, that it is considered one of the most singular phenomena in existence. A small hillock on the opposite side of the river, usually called theStation for Audience," is used as the resting place of a paterara, which is carried in the boat from Killarney; the gunner is placed on one side of the hillock, and the auditor on the other, and upon the discharge of the piece, a roaring is heard in the bosom of the opposite mountain, like a peal of thunder, or the discharge of a train of artillery, and this echo is multiplied a number of times, after which it gradually fades away, like the rolling of distant thunder. The exact residence of the eagle may be distinguished by a black mark near the vertex of the rock, and the noble inhabitant is frequently seen soaring above the heads of passengers on the river, and directing their admiring gaze towards his inaccessible retreat. The sound of a musical instrument produces reverberations of quite a different character from that of the musket or small cannon. The only instrument that can be procured at Killarney is a bugle, which is peculiarly appropriate for the production of echoes, and in 1821, one of the best performers in Great Britain, Spalane, afforded the visiters to Lough Lein an opportunity of gratifying their curiosity by listening, amid the rude recesses of the mountains, to the most ecstatic tones, and the most dulcet harmony, apparently produced by preternatural influence.

SKELIG ISLAND.

This is a high and stupendous rock on the coast of the county of Kerry, with many inaccessible precipices horribly overhanging the sea, which is generally rough and tempestuous. A single track, and that very narrow, conducts to the top, so difficult and frightful that few have courage to attempt it. This ascent was enjoined as a penance, from the time of St. Patrick till

very lately. Part of it was performed by squeezing through a hollow resembling the funnel of a chimney; then the penitent arrived at a small flat about a yard broad, which slopes down the rock to the ocean. A few shallow holes are cut here which afford some stay to the hands and feet, but the least slip would be fatal. The last station which the devotees had to visit, is called the Spindle or Spit. It is a long fragment of the rock, about two feet broad, projecting from the summit over a turbulent sea. Here women, as well as men, were obliged to sit astride, and edge forward till they arrived at a cross, which some bold adventurer many centuries ago cut on its extreme end, and which they were to kiss. If the reader can conceive the situation of a person perched on the summit of this pinnacle, in the superior region of the air, beholding the vast expanse of the ocean all around him, except towards the east, where the lofty mountains over the shore, appear like low hills, he may be able to form some idea of its terrors, and of the hideous danger of the ascent and descent.

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MINES.

THE riches of Ireland lie chiefly on the surface, and arise from the fertility of her soil, which is rendered still further productive by the refreshing moisture of the climate, which produces such a verdure, as has justly procured to Ireland the name of the Emerald Island. There are, however, mines in Ireland which yield considerable advantages to the country, and much room is still left for the employment of enterprise and capital.

WICKLOW GOLD MINES

The discovery of this valuable metallic substance, which is supposed to have taken place about 1775, was totally accidental, and the knowledge of the fact confined to the neighbouring peasantry for many years; an old schoolmaster is supposed to have been the first discoverer, whose golden prospects are ably ridiculed in an admirable little dramatic piece by O'Keefe, called the "Wicklow Gold Mines." In the year 1796, a piece of gold, in weight about half an ounce, was found by a man crossing the Ballinvalley stream, the report of which discovery operated so powerfully upon the minds of the peasantry, that every employment was forsaken, the benefits of agriculture