ever you are in danger, cross yourself, and go to heaven." This was, you will allow, an odd conversation to take place in so lonely a situation, and with such a party, and I own I felt a little upon the occasion, but a moment's reflection restored my confidence in the honour of my bigotted but faithful companions. At length we landed again at Leenane to take up our abode for the night. Big Ned Joyce's house was of a different description from any we had before occupied. He had been at one time a wealthy middleman, but from extravagance and mismanagement was nearly reduced to the level of a common peasant. The fire-side however was more comfortable : there were some chairs and a table in the room: from the roof hung down stores of smoked geese and mutton, instruments of fishing, and other articles which shewed the remains of former prosperity. The inner room contained a bed with cotton hangings, a low table, and a chair. The cattle were not allowed the privilege of parlour boarders, and upon the whole every thing was in much better style than the outside of the cabin had given us reason to expect. Dinner was served up in due course, consisting of a goose fresh from the bay, smoked mutton, fish, potatoes, and eggs. It was however Saturday, and neither our host nor Martin would taste the meat.

The only bed in the house was allotted to my companion and myself; the two Joyces sat up all night, talking incessantly. My friend, who as usual could not sleep, was much amused by their conversation, which was carried on partly in English, partly in Irish, and interrupted by continual inquiries whether it was yet twelve o'clock. That happy hour at length arrived, and the clatter of knives and forks very plainly announced that an attack was commenced on the remains of our evening's meal. That they played their parts pretty well was fully ascertained the next morning, for, as I well remember, we fared miserably at breakfast. A person unused to live entirely on potatoes finds them unpalatable in a morning, but when custom has once overcome this disgust, I really believe there is no food more wholesome and nutritious.

I have now given you all that I remember of my second expedition. It was many years before I again visited Cunnemarra.

H.

LETTER VII.

JANUARY.

My first establishment in Ireland was in the spring of 1810. I again left it in August 1812. During the time of our residence the improvement which was gradually taking place in the country was very manifest. Miserable cabins, without any appearance of comfort, were rapidly giving place to comfortable cottages; and, however the people might feel the weight of certain unpopular and oppressive taxes, they were comparatively affluent, and seemed to be approaching much higher degrees of civilization than any which they have yet attained. At our departure all was going on well; rents were paid without difficulty; tenants were to be found for any quantity of land at a moment's warning; and the prosperous condition of the country gave new hope to the buoyant spirit of youth.

I again returned to Ireland in 1816. The alteration which had taken place in the condition of the people was scarcely visible; for though still further

improvement might be observed in their cottages and apparel, a sad change for the worse had really occurred in their circumstances. Five or six different banks, the principal of which was the house of French and Co., had stopped payment, or failed altogether; consequently business was at a stand. The graziers one by one becoming bankrupts had begun to surrender their farms; the middlemen after exhausting what was left of the substance of their under tenants were preparing to follow the example, leaving nothing to the landlord for his rent, but the bare power of inflicting three months' imprisonment, ere the benefit of the insolvent act could be legally claimed by the defaulter. Fraudulent transfers of stock had become the order of the day; principle was held at nought; in short it seemed as if a set of gamblers had been broken in upon by the officers of justice, and that in the general scramble every one was seeking to secure for his own use what he could of the general stock. In the mean time, the labourer and the cottier tenant were ruined altogether. The cow that had formerly been equivalent to one or two year's rent was seized and sold for one instalment for the half year; and as the means of reproduction did not keep pace with the demand which a hungry family were daily making, their difficulties became extreme.

This pecuniary distress was immediately followed by the first scarcity which has happened in Ireland within my memory. The potatoe crop had partially failed; oats were scarce and dear; and the wheat was very bad indeed. In the summer of 1817, the greatest pressure was felt by the impoverished inhabitants of the West. At that time, oatmeal, their common food, reached the enormous price of 32s. per cwt.; and in the purchase of that necessary article, what little remained of hidden treasure was effectually exhausted. They have never yet recovered from this distress.

I am thus particular, because I think it essential to the welfare of Ireland, that the causes of the famine of last year should be accurately ascertained; and I am satisfied that I shall be able to prove to you, that the alteration in the value of money in 1815 and 1816, was the remote cause of the grievous sufferings of the poor in 1822. Indeed, I am inclined to think, that the sufferings occasioned by every scarcity which has found its way into the history of Ireland, if not the scarcity itself, may be more easily traced to some experiment on the currency of the country, or to the no less dreadful ravages of civil war, than to the culture of potatoes as a principal Who will sow, where he is not

article of food.