obscure the noise operates differently. Following the road a little further, there is an other bold rocky projection from which also there is a double view to the right and left. In front so immense a sweep of hanging wood, that a nobler scene can hardly be imagined: the river as before, at the bottom of the precipice, which is so steep and the depth so great, as to be quite fearful to look down. This horrid precipice, the pointed bleak mountains in view, with the roar of the water, all conspire to raise one great emotion of the sublime. You advance scarcely twenty yards before a pretty scene opens to the left, a distant landscape of inclosures, with a river winding between the hills to the sea. Passing to the right, fresh scenes of wood appear; half way to the bottom, one different from the preceding is seen; you are almost inclosed in wood, and look to the right through some low oaks on the opposite bank of wood, with an edging of trees through which the sky is seen, which added to an uncommon elegance in the out-line of the hill, has a most pleasing effect. Winding down to a thatched bench on a rocky point, you look upon an uncommon scene. Immediately beneath is a vast chasm in the rock, which seems torn asunder, to let the torrent through that comes tumbling over a rocky bed far sunk into a channel embosomed in wood. Above is a range of gloomy obscure woods, which half over-shadow it, and rising to a vast height, exclude every object. To the left the water rolls away over broken rocks: a scene truly romantic. Followed the path: it led me to the water's edge, at the bottom of the glen, where is a new scene, in which not a single circumstance hurts the principal character. In a hollow formed of rock and wood (every object excluded but those and water) the torrent breaks forth from fragments of rock, and tumbles through the chasm, rocks bulging over it, as if ready to fall into the channel, and stop the impetuous water. The shade is so thick as to exclude the heavens, all is retired and gloomy, a brown horror breathing over the whole. It is a spot for melancholy to muse in.

Return to the carriage, and quit the Dargle, which upon the whole is a very singular place, different from all I have seen in England, and I think preferable to most. Cross a murmuring stream clear as chrystal, and rising a hill, look back on a pleasing landscape of inclosures, which waving over hills, end in mountains of a very noble character. Reach Dublin.

July 20. To Drogheda, a well built town, active in trade, the Boyne bringing ships to it. It was market day, and I found the quantity of corn, &c. and the number of people assembled very great; few country markets in England more thronged. The Rev. Mr. Nesbeit, to whom recommended, absent, which was a great loss to me, as I had several inquiries which remained unsatisfied.

To the field of battle on the Boyne. The view of the scene from a rising ground which looks down upon it is exceedingly beautiful, being one of the completest landscapes I have seen. It is a vale, loosing itself in front between bold declivities, above which are some thick woods, and distant country. Through the vale the river winds and forms an island, the point of which is tufted with trees in the prettiest manner imaginable; on the other side a rich scenery of wood, among which is Doctor Norris's house. To the right on a rising ground on the banks of the river is the obelisk, backed by a very bold declivity; pursued the road till near it, quitted my chaise, and walked to the foot of it. It is founded on a rock which rises boldly from the river. It is a noble pillar and admirably placed. I seated myself on the opposite rock, and indulged the emotions which with a melancholy not unpleasing filled my bosom, while I reflected on the consequences that had sprung from the victory here obtained. Liberty was then triumphant. May the virtues of our posterity secure that prize which the bravery of their ancestors won! Peace to the memory of the prince to whom, whatever might be his failings we owed that day memorable in the annals of Europe!

Returned part of the way, and took the road to Cullen, where the lord chief baron Forster received me in the most obliging manner, and gave me a variety of information uncommonly valuable. He has made the greatest improvements I have any where met with. The whole country twenty-two years ago was a waste sheep walk, covered chiefly with heath, with some dwarf furze and fern. The cabins and people as miserable as can be conceived; not a protestant in the country, nor a road passable for a carriage. In a word, perfectly resembling other mountainous tracts, and the whole yielding a rent of not more than from three shillings to four shillings an acre. Mr. Forster could not bear so barren a property, and determined to attempt the improvement of an estate of five thousand acres till then deemed irreclaimable. He encouraged the tenants by every species of persuasion and expence, but they had so ill an opinion of the land that he was forced to begin with two or three thousand acres in his own hands; he did not, however, turn out the people, but kept them in to see the effects of his operations.

To Dundalk, the view down on this town also very beautiful, swelling hills of a fine verdure, with many rich inclosures backed by a bold outline of mountain that is remarkable. Laid at the Clanbrassil Arms, and found it a very good inn. The place, like most of the Irish towns I have been in, full of new buildings, with every mark of increasing wealth and prosperity. A cambrick manufacture was established here by parliament, but failed; it was, however, the origin of that more to the north.

July 22. Left Dundalk, took the road through Ravensdale to Mr. Fortesque, to whom I had a letter, but unfortunately he was in the South of Ireland. Here I saw many good stone and slate houses, and some bleach greens; and I was much pleased to see the inclosures creeping high up the sides of the mountains stony as they are. Mr. Fortescue's situation is very romantic on the side of a mountain, with fine wood hanging on every side, with the lawn beautifully scattered with trees spreading into them, and a pretty river winding through the vale, beautiful in itself, but trebly so on information, that before he fixed there, it was all a wild waste. Rents in Ravensdale ten shillings, mountain land two shillings and six pence to five shillings. Also large tracts rented by villages, the cottars dividing it among themselves, and making the mountain common for their cattle.

Breakfasted at Newry, the Globe, another good inn. This town appears exceedingly flourishing, and is very well built; yet forty years ago, I was told that there were nothing but mud cabins in it: this great rise has been much owing to the canal to LochNeagh. I crossed it twice, it is indeed a noble work. I was amazed to see ships of one hundred and fifty tons and more lying in it, like barges in an English canal. Here is

a considerable trade.

Reached Ardmagh in the evening, and waited on the primate.

July 23. His grace rode out with me to Ardmagh, and shewed me some of the noble and spirited works by which he has perfectly changed the face of the neighbourhood. The buildings he has erected in seven years, one would suppose without previous information, to be the work of an active life. A list of them will justify this observation.

He has erected a very elegant palace, ninety feet by sixty, and forty high, in which an unadorned simplicity reigns. It is light and pleasing, without the addition of wings or lesser parts, which too frequently wanting a sufficient uniformity with the body of the edifice, are unconnected with it in effect, and divide the attention. Large and ample offices are conveniently placed behind a plantation at a small distance: around the palace is a large lawn, which spreads on every side over the hills, and skirted by young plantations, in one of which is a terrace, which commands a most beautiful view of cultivated hill and dale. The view from the palace is much improved by the barracks, the school, and a new church at a distance, all which are so placed as to be exceedingly ornamental to the whole country.

The barracks were erected under his grace's directions, and form a large and handsome edifice. The school is a building of considerable extent, and admirably adapted for the purpose: a more convenient or a better contrived one, is no where to be seen. There are apartments for a master, a school-room fifty-six feet by twenty-eight, a large dining room, and spacious airy dormitories, with every other necessary, and a spacious play-ground walled in; the whole forming a handsome front: and attention being paid to the residence of the master (the salary is four hundred pounds a year) the school flourishes, and must prove one of the greatest advantages to the country of any thing that could have been established. This edifice entirely at the primate's expence. The church is erected of white stone, and having a tall spire makes a very agreeable object, in a country where churches and spires do not abound, at least such as are worth look. ing at. Three other churches the primate has also built, and done considerable reparations to the cathedral.

He has been the means also of erecting a public infirmary, which was built by subscription, contributing amply to it himself.

A public library he has erected at his own expence, given a large collection of books, and endowed it. The room is excellently adapted, forty-five feet by twenty-five, and twenty high, with a gallery, and apartments for a librarian.

He has further ornamented the city with a market-house and shambles, and been the direct means, by giving leases upon that condition, of almost new building the whole place. He found it a nest of mud cabins, and he will leave it a well built city of stone and slate. I heard it asserted in common conversation, that his grace, in these noble undertakings, had not expended less than thirty thousand pounds besides what he had been the means of doing, though not directly at his own expence.

In the evening reached Mr. Brownlow's at Lurgan, to whom I am indebted for some valuable information. This gentleman has made very great improvements in his domain: he has a lake at the bottom of a slight vale, and around are three walks, at a distance from each other; the center one is the principal, and extends two miles. It is well conducted for leading to the most agreeable parts of the grounds, and for commanding views of Loch-Neagh, and the distant country; there are several buildings, a temple, green-house, &c. The most beautiful scene is from a bench on a gently swelling hill, which rises almost on every side from the water. The wood, the water, and the green slopes; here unite to form a very pleasing landscape. Let me observe one thing much to his honour; he advances his tenants money for all the lime they choose, and takes payment in eight years with rent.

Upon inquiring concerning the emigrations, I found that in 1772 and 1773, they were at the height; that some went from this neighbourhood with property, but not many. They were in general poor and unemployed. They find here, that when provisions are very cheap, the poor spend much of their time in whisky-houses. All the drapers wish that oatmeal was never under one penny a pound. Though farms are exceedingly divided, yet few of the people raise oatmeal enough to feed themselves; all go to market for some. The weavers earn by coarse linen one shilling a day, by fine one shilling and four pence, and it is the same with the spinners, the finer the yarn the more they earn; but in common a woman earns about three-pence. For coarse linens they do not reckon the flax hurt by standing for seed. Their own flax is much better than the imported.

This country is in general beautiful, but particularly so about the streights that lead into Strangford Loch. From Mr. Savage's door the view has great variety. To the left are tracts of hilly grounds, between which the sea appears, and the vast chain of mountains in the Isle of Man distinctly seen. In front the hills rise in a beautiful outline, and a round hill projects like a promontory into the streight, and under it the town amidst groups of trees; the scene is cheerful of itself, but rendered doubly so by the ships and herring-boats sailing in and out. To the right the view is crowned by the mountains of Mourne, which, wherever seen, are of a character peculiarly bold, and even terrific. The shores of the loch behind Mr. Savage's are bold ground, abounding with numerous pleasing landscapes; the opposite coast, consisting of the woods and improvements of Castle-Ward, is a fine scenery.

Called at lord Bangor's at Castle-Ward, to deliver a letter of recommendation, but unfortunately he was on a sailing party to England; walked through the woods, &c. The house was built by the present lord. It is a very handsome edifice with two principal fronts, but not of the same architecture, for the one is Gothic, and the other Grecian. From the temple is a fine wooded scene; you look down on a glen of wood, with a winding hill quite covered with it, and which breaks the view of a large bay: over it appears the peninsula of Strangford, which consists of inclosures and wood. To the right, the bay is bounded by a fine grove, which projects into it. A ship at anchor added much. The house well situated above several rising woods, the whole scene a fine one. I remarked in lord Bangor's domains, a fine field of turnips, but unhoed. There were some cabbages also

Belfast, is a very well built town of brick, they having no stone quarry in the neighbourhood. The streets are broad and straight, and the inhabitants, amounting to about fifteen thousand, make it appear lively and busy. The public buildings are not numerous or very striking, but over the exchange lord Donnegal is building an assembly room, sixty feet long, by thirty broad, and twenty-four high; a very elegant room. A card room adjoining, thirty by twenty-two, and twenty-two high; a tea room of the same size. His lordship is also building a new church, which is one of the lightest and most pleasing I have any where seen: it is seventy-four by fifty-four, and thirty high to the cornice; the aisles separated by a double row of columns; nothing can be lighter or more pleasing. The town belongs entirely to his lordship. Rent of it 20001. a year. His estate extends from Drumbridge, near Lisburne to Larne, twenty miles in a right line, and is ten broad. His royalties are great, containing the whole of LochNeagh, which is I suppose the greatest of any subject in Europe. His eel fishery at Tome, and Port-New, on the river Ban, lets for 5001. a year; and all the fisheries are his to the leap at Colraine. The estate is supposed to be 31,0001. a year, the greatest at present in Ireland. Innishoen in Donnegal is his, and is 11,000l. of it. In Antrim, lord Antrim's is the most extensive property, being four baronies, and one hundred and seventy-three thousand acres. The rent 80001. a year, but re-let for 64,000l. a year, by tenants that have perpetuities, perhaps the cruelest instance in the world of carelessness for the interests of posterity. The present lord's father granted those leases.

I was informed that Mr. Isaac, near Belfast, had four acres, Irish measure, of strong clay land not broken up for many years, which being amply manured with lime rub bish and sea shells, and fallowed, was sown with wheat, and yielded 871. 9s. at 9s. to 12s. per cwt. Also that Mr. Whitley, of Ballinderry, near Lisburne, a tenant of lord Hertford's has rarely any wheat that does not yield him eighteen pounds an acre. The tillage of the neighbourhood for ten miles round is doubled in a few years. Shall export one thousand tons of corn this year from Belfast, most of it to the West Indies, particularly oats.

August 1, to Arthur Buntin's, esq. near Belfast; the soil a stiff clay; lets at old rents 10s. new one 18s. the town parks of that place 30s. to 70s. ten miles round it 10s. to 20s. average 13s. A great deal of flax sown, every countryman having a little, always on potatoe land, and one ploughing: they usually sow each family a bushel of seed. Those who have no land pay the farmers 20s. rent for the land a bushel of seed sows, and always on potatoe land. They plant many more potatoes than they eat, to supply the market at Belfast; manure for them with all their dung, and some of them mix dung, earth, and lime, and this is found to do better. There is much alabaster near the town, which is used for stucco plaister; sells from 11. Is. to 25s. a ton.

In my way to Antrim, viewed the bleach-green of Mr. Thomas Sinclair; it is the completest I had seen here. I understood that the bleaching season lasted nine months, and that watering on the grass was quite left off. Mr. Sinclair himself was not at home, or I should probably have gained some intelligence that might have been useful.

Crossed the mountains by the new road to Antrim, and found them to the summits to consist of exceeding good loam, and such as would improve into good meadow. It is all thrown to the little adjoining farms, with very little or any rent paid for it. They make no other use of it than turning their cows on. Pity they do not improve; a work more profitable than any they could undertake. All the way to Antrim lands let at an average at 8s. The linen manufacture spreads over the whole country, consequently the farms are very small, being nothing but patches for the convenience of weavers.

From Antrim to Shane's Castle the road runs at the end of Loch-Neagh, commanding a noble view of it; of such an extent that the eye can see no land over it. It appears like a perfect sea, and the shore is broken sand-banks, which look so much like it, that one can hardly believe the water to be fresh. Upon my arrival at the castle, I was most agreeably saluted with four men hoeing a field of turnips round it, as a preparation for grass. These were the first turnip-hoers I have seen in Ireland, and I was more pleased than if I had seen four emperors.

The castle is beautifully situated on the lake, the windows commanding a very noble view of it; and this has the finer effect, as the woods are considerable, and form a fine accompaniment to this noble inland sea.

When

Rode from Mr. Lesly's to view the Giant's Causeway. It is certainly a very great curiosity, as an object for speculation upon the manner of its formation; whether it owes its origin to fire, and is a species of lava, or to crystallization, or to whatever cause, is a point that has employed the attention of men much more able to decide upon it than I am; and has been so often treated, that nothing I could say could be new. two bits of these basaltes are rubbed together quick, they emit a considerable scent like burnt leather. The scenery of the Causeway, nor of the adjacent mountains, is very magnificent, though the cliffs are bold; but for a considerable distance there is a strong disposition in the rocks to run into pentagonal cylinders, and even at bridge, by Mr. Lesly's, is a rock in which the same disposition is plainly visible. I believe the Causeway would have struck me more if I had not seen the prints of Staffa.

Returned to Lesly-hill; and August 5th departed for Coleraine. There the right hon. Mr. Jackson assisted me with the greatest politeness in procuring the intelligence I wished about the salmon-fishery, which is the greatest in the kingdom, and viewed both fisheries above and below the town, very pleasantly situated on the river Ban. The salmon spawn in all the rivers that run into the Ban about the beginning of August, and as soon as they have done swim to the sea, where they stay till January, when they begin