minds that have been yet apparent ly formed of Nature's purest and best materials. The green island, superabounding in all the necessaries and comforts of life, half starves, or reduces to misery and desperation, the great body of her labouring class, the real strength, the pith and marrow, of all society! Whence is all this infamy of degradation, this sinking in the gulph of misfortune for ages, without prospect and without hope? Tell us, Phillips, O'Connell, you who are so painfully working out Irish salvation-lay aside your impassioned and eloquent strains for a moment, and tell us, in the accurate and sober language of philo sophical policy. Thus you will baffle and silence all those, who pretend that the real, although concealed object of all your clamour, is your own personal interest and aggrandizement, rather than the true interests of the great body of your fellow men, or the salvation of your country. Knowledge is power-the power of reform, of doing every thing good, and great, and praiseworthy-and why, in the name of all that is honest and single-hearted, and patriotic, is not real knowledge to be imparted to the susceptible minds of the Irish people-why are they to be deluded with a phantom, under the plausible name of Catholic Emancipation, when not a moment ought to be lost in the attempt to emancipate their souls from the tyranny of abominable and abasing superstition, by which their faculties are enchained the grand cause of all their miseries, and the insuperable bar to all vital aud effectual reform. The subsequent relation I had from a gentleman of honour and veracity, formerly an officer in the British army, but now living re. tired in the bosom of his nume rous family. An account of the religious ceremonies on St. John's, or Midsummer eve, are to be found in the Irish history. The sube stance of the legend seems to be, that at some remote period of an. tiquity, a certain Saint Googaun took up his residence in a small island situated in a lake, when the presence of the Saint endowed the surrounding waters, by virtue of ablution, on St. John's eve, and of certain prayers and ceremonies, with the miraculous power of curs ing barrenness in women. In the land of love, the teeming and prolific Erin, there could not be greater disgrace to either sex than barenness, of course no greater cause for the invocation of supernatural aid. The married women in need, did not fail instantly to seek, nor, according to authentic history, to find, full satisfaction in the newly consecrated religious mystery; nor was the Saint deficient in those devout measures necessary to conciliate and preserve the favour of the godhead of fecundity. On his decease, his man. tle remained; a veil which, being annually lifted up, was destined for ages to unlock the store-house of life. The annual resort to the sacred island, and ablution in the waters of fruitfulness, became a popular religious rite to the sur rounding country; the number of attendants, male and female, increasing with time, and the original principle of the institution, branching ont into scenes of revelry and enjoyment, congenial with the warm and impetuous feelings of a barbarous people, in whose mind the operations of the reasoning faculty were yet dormant or capriciously active. It was obe vious enough, and most probably an original doctrine of the Saint bimself, that the addresses to the deity of the place could not be effectual, without the attendance of male votaries, which was ever after most abundantly supplied from the flower of the country. Thus the island, in the Lake of Googaunbarra, became a perfect Paphos, where the lewd and religious rites of the Paphian goddess were celebrated with as much passion, and with as little of the covering of artificial refinement, as in her own happy island. The congeniality of religious fervours with those of a less shadowy and more sensual description, is evinced through a long chain of evidence, from the most remote antiquity, to the present times-from the soul-stirring canticles of the amorous Hebrew Monarch, to the soft and love-inspiring hymns and love feasts of our modern fanatics. In the summer, 1813, Major dining with a party of ar tillery officers at Cork, together with a particular friend, that friend started the subject of the St. John's festival at Googaunbarra, of which the greater part of the company had never heard, although the distance from Cork to the lake, was but about thirty miles westward.— The curiosity of the two friends being strongly excited, they agreed to take the journey, and a young gentleman desired to be of the party. They proceeded on a good road, on the appointed day, along the banks of the river Lee, through Macroompt to Inchegeelab, where they quitted their carriage, and mounted on horseback, for a few miles, when it became necessary to dismount, and lead their horses over the mountainous and boggy passes, until they descended on the other side, and reached the shores of the lake. The Lake of Googaunbarra is situated within the distance of ten or twelve miles from Killarney ; its superfices may consist of about three or four score acres, and the small island upon it is shaded with forest trees, and covered with a scanty crop of grass. The lake is nearly surrounded, and at the foot of the mountains. Our travellers perceived an immense concourse of people, consisting not only of the inhabitants of the surrounding country, but, according to information, of pilgrims from all parts of Ireland. This meeting too, over and above the especial religious observance of the eve, is perfectly an Irish one, consecrated to the national purposes of jollity and fighting! Of course, there were booths well stored with substantials of beef and mutton, for the support of the bodily energies of the devotees and visitants, and of whiskey to make punch for the exaltation of their spirits to the true Hibernian pitch. The three gentlemen visitants being Protestant, had the precaution to take with them letters of recommendation, both to the chief priest of the place, probably a sort of master of the ceremonies, and to the keeper of a booth. This assured them free admission to all the ceremonies, but not a lodging for the night, a thing about which the initiated were at no loss, but which the gentlemen, two of whom were sober, married men, viewing in a different light, were solicitous to obtain. There was a small, neat slated house in the valley, and the only one, occupied by a son of Sir. Sir: to this supposed hospita ble mansion, the two married friends dispatched the young gen tleman, Arrived nies, was unnecessary. #leman, who, as a bachelor, did not require a lodging, to request accommodation and shelter for the night, in the behalf of two gentlemen strangers. This was refused, on the plea that, the house was already full, which, however, on enquiry, and indeed from ocular demonstration, proved true only with respect to one room, containing twenty-seven young female devotees, and one male friend, with the master of the house-no chairs, but only a sofa or two, the girls in a becoming undress and attitude, lolling upon the floor, with the exception of one or two upon the sofas! The two gentlemen walking towards the house, to meet their envoy and hear the success of his mission, observed him talking to a groupe of fourteen or fifteen-It should be observed here, that fine blooming young damsels, who were sitting around the front door. They accosted him merrily in Irish, (which he understood,) with much sensibility, for the grand purpose of the festival, asking him without reserve, whether he was ready to produce the ecce signum! The horses were provided for, by being turned loose into the valley, where they remained until wanted, biting, kicking, and contending for what was to be picked up, in the true Irish harmony of confusion. these bathers were by no means restricted to the lowest or labouring class, but seemed to consist as well of the classes of property of the vicinity, and of the country in general; the ladies being frequently attended to the lake by their husbands and brothers, whose presence imposed no sort of restraint upon the perfect freedom of conduct, to which the former were intituled by the religious prescription of the festival. They were left to themselves, to seek their cure in their own way, and according to the custom of the place. Fashionable habiliments, lace, silk pelisses, and hair en papiliotte, at once determined the degree of many of the female devotees. The circumstance about to be noted, occurred on the following morning at eight o'clock, but will appropriately be introduced in this place. Major observed a very well dressed, respectable, and comely young woman, about the age of twenty-five, enter the well, as it is called, accompanied companied by her male attendant, with a bundle of clothes, who sat down, holding them upon his kuee, whilst the lady stripped until all the inferior parts of her body were fully exposed from the arm pits, the clothes she retained being tucked up around her and secured from falling. Having performed her ablutions thoroughly, and with much seeming nicety, she retired from the well, the water of which being rendered extremely turbid and muddy, from the trampling of such numbers, she was under the necessity of a new ablution to wash herself clean, which, together with the subsequent drying process, she repeated, standing up close to, and face to face, with her man servant. At this instant, Major, within a few yards, purposely directed his eyes to her, with the look of inquisitive astonishment, and luckily caught the eye of the naked Venus: her regard, however, was momentary, unconscious, and without the slighest perceptible sense of shame or impropriety. Such an uncontrolable force has custom, and more particularly religious custom, on the human mind! The island, formerly so in reality, is at present only nominally such, a causeway having long since given access to it. The well as it is called, is only that part of the lake which washes the causeway, and is the place of the bathers. Upon the island is an ancient and rude temple, probably of Druidical origin, in which are certain recesses, devoted to the religious ceremonies enjoined by the Saint to be performed, together with bathing. In one of these, a few embers were burning, the dim light of which was perhaps a little heightened by the glimmering of a taper. Our friends entered this holy place at about eleven in the evening, and perceived several women around the fire, telling their beads rapidly, and performing the other prescribed religious ceremonies; when casting their eyes upon the ground, they also perceived a couple prostrate, and fervently engaged in another branch of the ceremonies of the Eve, the feet of the latter couple occasionally touching those of the women who were at prayers. The women just regarded the strangers with a look, but remain. ed perfectly unconcerned and at their devotions, taking no further notice. Quitting the temple, the bachelor bade his two friends good night, desiring to look out for an engagement, in which he might be assistant in fulfilling the duties enjoined by the Saint, and promising to rejoin them in the morning. The valley was now covered, and the ditches leading from the hills to the lake filled with religious votaries in couples, who were most fervently performing the essential part of the rites of St. Googaun, for the cure of barrenness in women. The night was most beautifully propitious; the moon shone clear, her silvery image was reflected on the broad expanse of the lake, the wind was bushed, and not a noise or murmur was beard, but the gentle sighs and sobbings of religious love. Never were the 1ites of Venus, or the orgies of antiquity, better imitated, or celebrated with greater effect. Not the smallest idea of shame, or fear of interruption, had place, but the two friends walked up and down unnoticed, and at their discretion, between the endless rows of communicants, until even curiosity and astonishment were wearied. They then retired with disgust to the booth, where the Major took up his station station for the remainder of the night, upon an empty porter cask, and bis friend threw himself upon the ground; upon the latter, an old woman took compassion, and placing his head upon her lap, aud throwing her cloak over him, kindly lulled him to sleep. About three o'clock in the morning, they were aroused from their slumbers, by a loud and confused vociferation, resembling the Irish howl, when running out of the booth, they observed a man before the rest,coming down from the hill, who making a stand, and lifting up his hands, uttered a sort of short speech, accompanied with violent gestures and obvious marks of self applause. This being spoken in Irish, was interpreted by the old woman, of whom bonourable mention has just been made, to be calling for his mother; and in this he was joined in chorus, by all the men in company. I shall not venture to describe the purport of this speech, with the simple precision used by the old woman, but content myself with repeating the boasts of the orators, of their vigorous, fresh, and unfatigued state, after the manifold labours of the night, which they were then ready to renew. Can any one doubt after this, the virtue of the waters at Googaunbarra, any more than those of the catholic and apostolic Doctor Milner's well of St. Winifred, in another case? Nor will a reader of the poet of sense, fail to recollect a couplet, applied by him, probably with equal reason, to another celebrated bathing place : For here walk, Cuff, and Kick! with They were soon after disturbed again, by another orator on a different subject. This was a tall, VOL. XLVI.-No. 271. raw-boned fellow, with a most ferocious countenance, who, issuing suddenly from the booth, reeling drunk, made his speech, accompanied also with the most rude and violent gesticulations and flourishings of his club, in the strongest tone of defiance. The whole was in native Irish, but according to interpretation, it was a defiance of the hostile clan, expected there to fight according to national custom. This it seems was the chief of the Bantry boys, who had possession of the hooths. He repeatedly bawled out-" And by Jasus will nobody fight; and are we then to have no fight?" He arose to look out for the enemy, storming in this way, and throwing down his club several times, until pacified by his staff, and aids-de-camp, and the women, who counselled him to remain quiet until day, when he would infallibly destroy all the opposite clan. These last were reported to be the tenantry of Sir Nicholas Coulthurst, from Balleybourney, who had last year, at some fair, beaten the Bantry boys, but were afterwards challenged by them to a meeting at the Lake. The second day at noon, our travellers, quite satiated with what they had seen and heard, and having been joined by the young gen. tleman, hethought themselves of looking for their horses, in order to return. The young man had found every thing in his night's adventure verified, according to previous representation; the choice perfectly free, where no immediate and actual engagement subsisted. Liberty hall by moon light, and under the canopy of heaven with a witness! Preparing to depart, they descried at some distance, upon the hill, a party of armed men, which the Major rode up to and accosted E |