a renewal of the lease under which his beneficial interest was held. This you will allow was coming to the point; I could only reply, in general but decisive terms, that though I should at all times be unwilling to remove an old tenant or his family from lands immediately occupied by them, yet I had resolved that no act of mine should place another landlord between me and the immediate cultivators of the soil. This of course put an end to the conversation, we soon after adjourned to the ladies, and chatted over the tea-table till it was time to go to bed.

H.

LETTER IV.

JANUARY.

HOWEVER I might have felt the extremity of the cold, during the night we passed at the foot of Ben-levi, I had no want of warmth to complain of at R. Picture to yourself, a room ten feet square, in which are arranged a four post bedstead, a dressing table, a chest of drawers, and the usual welcome to a stranger, a bright turf fire, occupying three or four feet by two of the side of the room next the head of the bed. Imagine also that the floor, though boarded, is by nature somewhat damp, that the dry rot is evidently an inmate of the apartment, and you may perhaps be able to conceive some of the inconveniences which then affected me most seriously, but to which, I suppose, time has reconciled me, since, with some trifling alterations, I now occupy the very same apartment as a dressing

room.

After a most substantial breakfast we proceeded to the wreck, and listened with becoming attention

C

to a great many contradictory reports relative to the way in which she had been brought to the spot where she then lay. We afterwards strolled to an old castle, which appeared at the distance of about a mile to the westward. It is a ruined heap without much ornament; but its situation proves it to have been once a place of strength, and the buildings attached to it are of sufficient magnitude to lead one to suppose that they must have been occupied by persons of some rank among the mountaineers. From its high battlements the view was very grand. The sea perfectly smooth, the islands of Boffin, Turc, and Clara, with Achill head, the Keek, Müllrea, and Bencoona, formed a panorama which no pen can describe. Our hills receive a very rich tint from the quantity of heath that blooms amid the rugged rocks, and the colour of the sea varies with almost every change in the atmosphere. There are not indeed two landscapes in the year that perfectly resemble each other. On that day we particularly observed on all the distant objects that delicate pink tint which gives so soft a tone to the scenery, in the fine weather, occasioned by a hard frost; and the mountains had just sufficient snow on their summits to render them most majestically beautiful.

In spite of the worldly prudence that occupied our

thoughts, the beauties of nature for a time were victorious, and it was not until we had long enjoyed the delight inspired by such a scene that we condescended to observe the extent of good land stretched around the castle. The residence of our ancestors was generally well chosen; but since the old castles have been abandoned, it is remarked that an Irish gentleman's house is always near a good situation, but never on the spot. The heir of fortune is seldom content, until he has pulled down what was built by his immediate predecessor. Gall and Spurzheim would attribute this unlucky propensity to the absence of the organ of habitativeness, and the prevalence of that of constructiveness-but enough for me to render you an account of our extravagancies: to you I leave the discussion of their causes.

On the ensuing day, which was Monday, we again went down to the shore to go through what was considered the necessary form of demanding possession of the wreck. There we found above 300 men employed in rolling up the logs of timber from the vessel to a place of safety. As many were engaged upon each as could possibly find room to place a finger, and, besides, there were idlers in equal number, busily occupied in giving time, by way of labour, to c 2

their mates*. My armed party formed a group in itself, and standing aloof from the rest, gave a very negative assistance in the arrangements that were going on.

I soon found that my refusal of a new lease had decided the case, and that every civil opposition was to be made to my claims. This, of course, shortened our stay, and at day-break the next morning, the frost still continuing, and the sun rising beautifully over the mountains, we began our journey homewards.

As nothing of particular interest occurred on our return, I need not waste your time by dwelling on the difficulties of the route. We breakfasted on a boiled sheep, potatoes, and whiskey punch, in a cottage at the foot of Pollacopple; turned somewhat from our road to linger in admiration of the quiet beauties of the lake of Kilmore, and at the top of Mam Turc, quaffed the sacred waters of a fairy well.

*"My good friend," said a gentleman to a peasant standing idle in the road," you seem to be doing nothing." The man negligently began striking the stones. "Oh, that wont do. Do you call that hard work?" "Sure," answered he to this expostulation, Sure, is n't it time now, and not labour we are bound to give the master!"