of his Honour's wine was proposed as the reward of him whose sinewy arms could lift the huge block of marble which lay before the door-and many a loud triumphant laugh was heard, when the high stilts were given to an unpractised youth, who found it impossible to preserve his balance, and, after the first presumptuous attempt, lay floundering in the

mire.

To relieve our ennui too, while we were waiting in the vain hope that the weather would clear up, and allow us a fine evening for our return, a poor stranger from Joyce country came before his Honour, as a magistrate. His black eye, swelled face, and head and shoulders covered with clotted blood, too plainly told the history of his sufferings; and his woeful countenance formed a strange and ludicrous contrast with his account of the pleasures of the preceding evening. It was a fair-day or patron*, as it is

* The patron (pronounced patten) is the festive meeting held in commemoration of the virtues of a patron Saint. A kind of rural fête, with the usual accompaniments of drinking, dancing, and fighting too, unless the personal interference of the neighbouring magistrates is exercised, or the spirits of the people repressed by a conscious participation in plots and conspiracies. Every patron Saint has his spring of holy water, where his devoted followers must taste and pray, before they take any part in the festivities of the day.

called, at Cliefden, and this poor fellow had travelled many a weary mile across the mountains, to share its rustic mirth and revelry:-but "plaze your Honour, there was a little bit of fighting in it," and as no true follower of St. Macdarragh could refuse to take a part in such a peaceful contest, he had received, and no doubt given, many a friendly blow; but his meditations on a broken head during the night had both cooled his courage and revived his prudence, and he came to swear before his Honour, in charge of assault and battery, against those who had thus woefully demolished his upper works.

After having exhausted all our resources in finding amusement in the sheltering cabin, we were compelled to think of our return, and well wrapped in cloaks and coats, most heroically resigned selves to our fate, and reached the castle, a dripping, though not a melancholy, party.

To-morrow has been fixed for the ascent of Lettery, whose venerable head is now veiled in thick clouds; but I fear it will not be possible even to make the attempt.

M.

LETTER XXXVI.

JUNE.

OUR walk to the green marble quarry was attempted on a day not very propitious for such an expedition. We were to cross a bog which the late rains had made very soft, and there was not the least vestige of a road. The weather was showery; one of the days so particularly picturesque in mountain scenery, when the clouds pass swiftly over a deep blue sky, and fall in heavy but short showers. Such weather is, however, the very worst for bog-trotting expeditions. The rain makes the bog even less firm than usual, and along the dreary plain it is difficult, if not impossible, to find any shelter from the occasional scuds that pass over. But the delays that had already occurred, and the increasing uncertainty of the weather, made us resolve to brave a few showers in the attempt.

From the first of these casual attacks we were sheltered by a cabin, which was one of the worst perhaps in Cunnemarra. It had no window, and only a hole

in the roof by way of a chimney. The door on the weather side was closed, the other open-and out of it the smoke was pouring much faster than from the legitimate aperture. As soon as we had recovered the use of our eyes, for, upon first entering, the darkness quite blinded us, I began to look about. The room was small-at one end was a pile of turf, at another, a few potatoes. In vain I looked round for bed or bedstead: a little dirty straw in a corner shewed too plainly what was the wretched substitute. Neither chair nor stool was to be seen; the spinning-wheel was moved off its stand to give me a seat, while the inhabitants contentedly squatted on the damp ground. Two great girls, the youngest above ten years old, both unemployed, were crouched close to the fire. They had fine countenances, with bright black eyes, but their thick tresses of dark uncombed hair hung with very disfiguring negligence round their faces. Their clothes were ragged and dirty, yet evidently appeared to be the remains of some of the "elegant" benefactions of the English. If you could have looked in upon me at that moment, how you would have started! and commended, perhaps, the zeal of Christian benevolence, which, you would fancy, could alone have guided me to an abode of so much poverty and wretched

ness; little dreaming that I was there for my own convenience; and that, far from thinking it necessary to condole with the woman on the apparent absence of all comfort, I was holding a cheerful conversation with her, through the medium of an interpreter, upon the price of wool and flannel; how much she gained by her stockings, and how many pair she could knit in a week..

The next cabin in which we were obliged to seek shelter, was in every respect the reverse of this: it was so neat and comfortable, that any Welsh peasant might have contentedly made it his abode. But then, it must be confessed, the inhabitants were above the lowest rank. By the number of acres which they rented, they might properly be called small farmers, although in their mode of life they were far removed from even the lowest of that rank in England. There are, indeed, few cottages in Cunnemarra, I am afraid, that could make so great a display of comfort. A table and chairs, a wooden bedstead, good bed and woollen quilt, are luxuries not often to be met with: besides these, we noticed with. satisfaction a cupboard with shelves, on which were arranged cups, jugs, and plates, while two open doors shewed a scullery on one side, and a bedchamber on the other. The old woman of the house