noble demesne appear very extensive throughout the valley, and their refreshing tints relieve the sombre hue of the mountains, and heighten the beauty and grandeur of the scene. The Countess, I am informed, is in the decline of life; but her benevolent exertions to stimulate a spirit of industry, and to promote the improvement and prosperity not only of her own tenantry, but of all within the circle of her influence, have rendered her name deservedly dear to this district of Ireland.

What a succession of sublime and varied scenery does this magnificent coast present to the view! Its bold columnar rocks, expanding their gigantic forms along the brink of ocean -here projecting far into the impetuous flood, and there impending over it in haughty and terrific majesty-bid defiance to its rage, as it foams and bellows at their foot in tremendous but impotent fury. But it was not until we arrived at the Promontory of Fairhead, that we were really astounded at the wonders of this mountainous shore. "This headland rises abruptly to six hundred and thirty feet above the level of the sea. It is composed of columnar

basalt, huge masses of which, during a course of ages, have fallen down, and lie in tremendous heaps around the base of the cliffs, like the wreck of a former world. The wild aspect of this point is peculiarly striking. Desolation and barrenness are its appropriate characteristics. Nature seems here to have exhausted her powers of devastation, to render this scene the most awful and sublime that imagination can conceive."

"Proud, towering o'er the angry main,
"Bleak Fairhead frowns in high disdain;
"And throws aloft his savage front,
"As daring heaven's empyreal brunt.
Against his scarr'd and cragged breast
"A thousand fractured columns rest;
"But not a plant that drinks the air
"Relieves their greyness chill and bare.
"Beneath, his steady feet sustain

"An everlasting hurricane :

"For there, in wildest fury frantic,

"For ever roars the vast Atlantic."

This Promontory forms the eastern termination of Ballycastle Bay, which to-day looks a smooth and beautiful expanse of water; but I am told, that, being exposed to the north

* QUILLINAN'S "Dunluce Castle," a privately-printed poem.

west, the wind from that point renders this harbour extremely turbulent and dangerous. In order to overcome this formidable obstacle to trade, a grant of twenty-three thousand pounds was obtained from Parliament several years ago, for the erection of a pier, to protect the shipping from the fury of these stormy winds. This sum was expended; a pier and a variety of useful establishments were erected; when, lo! the violence of the tides. overthrew the pier, the bay filled with sand, and the trade of Ballycastle was destroyed.

We are much less fortunate in our weather to-day: the Island of Rathlin, which is only seven miles from Ballycastle, appears very indistinct in the gloom of a fast-approaching rain. This island was formerly deemed the stepping-stone between Ireland and Scotland; and the natives of both countries not unfrequently fought for its possession. On this part of the coast there is scarcely any perceptible appearance of low water. The tides rush violently along the narrow channel that separates it from Rathlin; and the ebb returning westward, and meeting a heavy swell from