all a mafs of near four hundred feet in height, which in beauty and variety of its colouring, in elegance and novelty of arrangement, and in the extraordinary magnitude of its objects, cannot readily be rivalled by any thing of the kind at prefent known.

"Though there are but two complete ranges of pillars which appear in any of the promontories, yet it is not improbable that there may be many more in fucceffion, at various depths under ground; and this opinion is confirmed by columnar marks which may be traced in feveral rocks that lie in the fea. The Causeway itfelf, which is fitu ated at the bafe of one of thofe promontories, on the level of the beach, is one of thofe columnar beds that has been accidentally stripped and washed by length of time and ftorms.

"The pillars of this whole headland appear naturally to effet a perpendicular fituation, and in the few places where they lie in an inclined pofture, it feems to be the effect of fome external catife, which has deranged them from their original difpofition. Indeed where the forms of cryftallization are imperfect, they may be feen to fhoot in various directions, and fometimes in irregular curves, but in most of thefe instances the cofumnar outline is very rude and unfinished.

"It is worth remarking, that the ranges of pillars are more perfest in proportion as they lie deeper under ground; the fecond range in Pleafkin is evidently better finish ed than the upper one, and contains much fewer irregularities in the grain of its stone; while the pillars of the Caufeway, which runs into the fea itself, have ftill a greater harpness in their figure, and are 17861

more clofe and uniform in their texture.

"Such is the general outline of this great. headland, which affords objects extremely interefling to every one who may wish to study nature in her bold and uncommon works.

"At the distance of eight miles from hence (as I mentioned before) the promontory of Fairhead raises its lofty fummit more than four hundred feet above the fea, forming the eastern termination of Ballycafle bay. It prefents to view a vat compact mafs of rude colum nar ftones, the forms of which are extremely grofs, many of them being near one hundred and fifty feet in length, and the texture fo coarfe, as to refemble black schorle ftone, rather than the clofe fine grain of the Giant's Caufeway bafaltes. At the base of these gigan tic columns lies a wild waste of natural ruins, of an enormous fize, which in the courfe of fucceffive ages have been tumbled down from their foundation by ftorms, or fome more powerful operations of nafure. Thefe mafive bodies have fometimes withitood the fhock of their fall, and often lie in groups and clumps of pillars, refembling many of the varieties of artificial ruins, and forming a very novel and ftriking landscape.

"A favage wildness characteri zes this great promontory, a the foot of which the ocean rages with uncommon fury. Scarce a fingle mark of vegetation has yet crept over the hard rock to diverfify it's colouring, but one uniform greynefs clothes the fcene all around. Upon the whole, it makes a fine contraft with the beautiful capes of Bengore, where the varied brown fhades of the pillars, enlivened by the red and green tints of ochre

and

and grafs, cafts a degree of life and cheerfulness over the different objects.

"Though I have particularly defcribed the bafalt pillars of thefe two magnificent promontories, yet there are many other fimilar arrangements through this country, which, though lefs worthy of admiration as great objects, yet become extremely interesting when one wishes to fearch minutely into the natural caufes which might have produced thefe extraordinary pillars.

"The mountain of Dunmull, lying between Coleraine and the river Bufh, abounds in this fpecies of ftone, particularly at the craigs of Iflamore, where two different ranges of columns may be discover ed; and at most of the quarries

which have occafionally been open-ed round the mountain.-They may be feen alfo at Dunluce hill, near the castle of Dunluce:-in the bed of the river Bufh, near the bridge of Bufh-mills:-on the fummit of the mountain of Croaghmore:-in many parts of the high land over Ballintoy :-in the ifland of Raghery; and various other places, through an extent of coaft about fifteen miles in length, and two in breadth.

"I fhall not at present delay you with a minute defcription of each of thefe, but may, in the course of my letters, take an opportunity to mention the general character of the face of this country, and any fingularities worthy notice, in the forms and fituation of its basaltes."

"D

Ifmounting at a neat little farm-houfe, at the entrance of an expanfivé vale, your attention immediately is arrefted from the meanders of a rapid rivulet, filled with concretions and pe. trifications, to the proud and furly front of an inacceffible mafs of folid rock, impending towards the winding of a gloomy cavern, and feeming to prohibit your advance.

"The last time I paid my vows to the genius of this iny native hermitage; wrapt in contemplation and lamenting the deftruction of many a variegated bloffom cropt by the indifcriminating hunger of the haggard goats, over my head among the cliffs one of them ftood and

2.

fcratched an ear upon a fhelf where I would not have stood stock still

“For all beneath the moon.”

"The gloomy melancholy day fuited well the favage afpect of the place; and although my mind, from the frequent adorations I have paid here, ought to have been proof against furprize, yet, juft on turning the corner of the fear where the fiffures hardly are afunder, and feem clofing directly over you Good heavens! what was my aftonifhment!-"The Alps, the Pyrenees, Killarney, Loch Lomond or any other wonder of the kind at no time, (fays an eminent tourist and philofopher,) exhibit fuch chaim

chafi:"-but at this inftant, a dreadful peal of thunder, which if I had not been ftupid beyond conception I ought to have been prepared for, burst upon me.

"Struck with indifcribable tertor and astonishment, the natural apprehenfions of inftant deftruction being over, a man must have been dead to rationality and reflection, whose mind was not elated with immediate gratitude to the fupreme Architect and Preferver of the univerfe.

"In a brighter day, and without any hereditary veneration for the ground, to a mind capable of being impreffed with the grand and fublime of nature, this is a scene which must infpire a pleasure chaf tifed by astonishment and admiration. Perfonal fafety alfo infinuates itself into the various feelings where the eye and ear are fo tremendously affailed.

"As foon as you are turned within the canopy, the fuperincumbent crags, and a ftupendous cataract gufhing impetuoufly through a prodigious arch above 150 feet almost horizontally above you, proclaim again more fternly "Huc ades fed non amplius."-The rock upon your left rifes perpendicularly, variegated indeed with yews and evergreens ftarting from its interftices and fhelves. But these are not the thing-It is the rock upon your right, under which you ftand to fee the Fall, which forms the principal horror of the place.

"From its very base it begins to flope forwards over you in one black and awful canopy, and overfhadows above half the area below its tremendous roof. When you ftand five or fix yards diftant from its foot, the drops which are inceffantly diftilling from its brow fall upon your head, and in one part of its top more expofed to the weather, there are feveral loofe ftones which feem hanging in the air, and threaten you with immediate annihilation.

"It appears fafer however to fhelter yourself close under its base, and trust to the mercy of that enormous mafs which nothing but an earthquake can remove.

"From the bottom of this righthand cleft to its fummit, which o verhangs its bafe above twenty yards, is 240 feet; but above this point there are three other rows of receding rocks, confronting a fimilar range on the oppofite fide the chafm, from which, if a line was drawn acrofs, the central height from the rivulet would be above 300 yards.

"If any thing can increase the natural folemnity of this vaft and tremendous gulf, it is the mournful folitary fcreaming of the eagle tribe and the ill-boding croakings of the ravens, which if they are not beyond your fight appear foaring fo high amid the clouds as if they were inhabitants of fome loftier region, taking a furvey of the world below them."

"T

HE bards derived their ori

gin from remote antiquity, and were ever held in high ettimation Mankind have been early led to poetical compofitions. Agrceable founds would ftrike at first every ear, but poetry was neceffary to give thofe founds a lafting effect. Verfe was made ufe of to preserve the memory of remarkable events and great actions. The religious ceremonies of nations, their manners, and rural labours, were allo recorded in numbers. Hence it was that Greece could boaft of a Ho

mer, a Hefiod, and many other poets, feveral ages before an hiftorian had written in profe. Among the Gauls alfo, and other Celtic nations, there were poems compofed on various fubjects from the earliest ages.

It is difficult to fix the etymology of the name beird, unleis derived from bar, which fignifics fury; and, no doubt, has fome analogy to that poetic fury, or enthu fiafm, with which the poets fancied themselves, or might feign to be infpired. Diodorus Siculus is the first author among the ancients, who makes mention of the bards, as compofers of verfes; which they fung to the harp, and other inftruments of mufic; celebrating the praises of heroes, or chaffifing vicious characters with fatirical in5

vectives. Ammianus Marcellinus fays, it was the province of the bards to fing, in heroic verfe set to mufical notes of the harp, the atchievements of illuftrious men. There is a paffage of Poffidonius, cited by Athenæus, which describes the Celtic princes going to war, having bards in their train; who celebrated the praises of their chief'tains in verfe, which they fung to the people.

Great refpect was paid by all the northern nations to their bards, as they not only published their renown to the world, but configned their fame to pofterity. It is faid, that this order of men were never guilty of flattery, and never lavished their praifes on heroes, or even on kings themselves, unless deferved by their gallant exploits.

"Though the order of the bards was common to the Celtic nations, no veftige of them remains but a mong the Welsh, the Irifh, and the ancient Caledonians.

"On the invafions of the Picts, the Scots, and the Saxons, and on the decline of the British empire, many poctical compofitions were deftroyed, with other ancient re cords; hence the writings of the bards, and thofe of the carly hil torians are exceedingly fearce. Nen nius, who wrote in the ninth cen tury, and in the reign of prince

Merlyn,

Merfyn, is the first of our British historians, who mentions the bards. He fays, that Talhaiarn was famous for poetry, that Aneurin, and Taliefin, Llywarch-hen and Cian, flourished at the fame period. Of thefe bards, the works only of three are extant; thofe of Aneurin, of Taliefin, and Llywarch-hen. The writings of the other bards being loft, we can only bring Nennius as an evidence in their praile, who afferts that the bards of his age were men of excellent genius. The poems which are extant contain many things deferving of notice, and throw a great light upon the historical events of that age. At the fame time they are difficult to be understood, owing in part to the careleffnefs of tranfcribers, and in part to the language of itself, become obfolete from its very great antiquity. Aneurin, to whom his country gave the honourable diftinction of Mychdeirn-Beirdh, or monarch of the bards, in a poem entitled Gododin, relates that he had been engaged in a battle against the Saxons. Taliefin, called likewife Pen-Beirdh, or the prince of the bards, refided at the courts of Maelgwyn Gwynedh, and Urien Reged, prince of Cumberland. Llywarch-hen, or the aged, who was kinfman to the laft mentioned prince, was himself a fovereign in a part of Cumbria, and had paffed his youthful days in the court of king Arthur. There are extant fome manufcript poems of his, wherein he recites that he was driven by the Saxons into Powis, that he had twenty-four fons, all of whom were diftinguished by golden torquefes, and that they all died in defence of their country. Betides those already mentioned, there were other bards who flourished during this. period, the most eminent of

whom was Merddin Wyllt, who compofed a poem called Afallenau, or the Orchard.

"From the fixth to the tenth century, it is difficult to meet with any of the writings of the bards, owing, it is probable, to the devaftations of war, and to the civil diffenfions among the Welfh.

"Such was the refpect in which the bards were held, that it was enacted by a law of Howel Dha, that whoever fhould ftrike any one of. this order must compound for the offence, by paying to the party aggrieved one fourth more than was neceffary to be paid to any other perfon of the fame degree. The election of the bards was made every year, in an affembly of the princes and chieftains of the country; in which they were affigned precedence, and emolument suitable to their merit; but the bard most highly diftinguished for his talents was folemnly chaired, and had likewife a badge given him of a filver chair. This congrefs of the bards was moft ufually held at the three royal refidences of the princes of Wales; the fovereign himself prefiding in that affembly.

"There were three different claffes of this order in Wales. The firft was called Beirdhs, and were the compofers of verfes and odes in various meafures; it was neceflary that thefe fhould poffefs a genius for poetry, and that genius tinctured with a high degree of enthusiasm. They were likewife the recorders of the arms of the Welsh gentry, and the grand repofitories of the genealogies of families. This class was accounted the most honourable, and was high in the public eftimation. The fecond clafs, called Minstrels, were performers upon inftruments, chiefly the harp and the crwth. The third were they who

I 3

fung