my own insufficiency; yet, as you have laidan injunction, and I have passed my promise, I must respect it. My letters will probably contain variety of matter, arising from the changeful face of nature, and local circumstances, in which, I trust, they will not be found altogether uninteresting: besides, you will, in a considerable degree, enjoy one of the greatest pleasures which the traveller himself experiences, that of anticipation, which is his staff, and he naturally leans on it for support: it bears him on over many a solitary hill, and, by its all consoling help, keeps curiosity alive, and softens his fatigue. I have heard it held to be more pleasurable even than retrospection; insomuch as ideal pleasures exceed those of reality. To some, perhaps, it may be so; but, on the contrary, the painter, whose art enables him to call from Nature's boundless store her choicest beauties, and make them all his own; while, from the blank, a living landscape grows upon the eye, which, when

when finished, and he finds his new creation good, then must his reflections be equal to his anticipations; perhaps greater. Thus far a knowledge of painting in the tourist gives to him an evident advantage over the observer who is unacquainted with the executive part of the art; the want of which must preclude him from a thousand local pleasures, enjoyed by the painter in a very eminent degree.

Having previously debated on the route to be taken, and sketching out a rough draught, yet not binding ourselves to any specific line, I left Kilkenny this morning, in company with my friends, J. H. and W. S. You are acquainted with the excellent taste of the former for landscape painting, which, as an amateur, I have seldom seen excelled; and I believe are not ignorant of the latter's qualifications as a pleasant companion on such an excursion. Six miles from town stands the village of Kills, now very inconsiderable: on the left, its ruined priory rising

from the banks of the King's River, extends its walls along the stream, and ascending a beautifully swelling green bank, encompasses the church with its courts and towers. The first view of this mass of ruins gives more the idea of a vast baronial dwelling, than the peaceful habitation of the cloistered monk. Passing round the village, we entered a spacious area or court, surrounded by a formidable embattled wall, defended by lofty towers, called the burgher's court; this is separated from the inner court by another wall of still greater strength, on which are two stupendous square towers: adjoining the left one, is an arch, or gate, through which we entered the minor area, where stands the church, and se-. veral detached buildings; the whole built in a massive fine style. This place was capable of sustaining a vigorous siege in its earlier days, but since the introduction of gunpowder would be untenable, from its being commanded by eminences on three sides.

This Priory was founded by Geoffry Fitz Robert, in the reign of Richard I. and dedicated to St. Mary. In it were placed four Augustine canons, taken from the abbey of Bodmin, in Cornwall*. The east window is down, and so mutilated, that it is impossible to judge of its design: indeed, few or none of the ornaments of this great building remain; but from the magnificent scale of the whole, we may naturally conclude, that rich internal decorations were not wanting.

Near the church are several low mounds, or tumuli, one of which was opened some years ago; there were found in it an earthen vessel,

* Reynold de Ackland, first prior of the house; Hugh Rufus, successor to Reynold, and afterward bishop of Ossory; Alured afterward first prior of Innisteague; and Algar, who, having been sent to Rome on affairs of the abbey, had a bishoprick bestowed on him in Lombardy.

with some spear and arrow heads*. I counted twelve towers, very perfect; in one of which, while we were employed in examining an antique apartment, whose ponderous chimneypiece, and other ancient fixtures, caught our attention, and gave rise to a long train of the wildest speculation. As we approached a small low door, within which all was darkness, we were roused from our reveries by a strange indistinct sound. Presently we were encoun

tered

* The ancient Irish burned their dead, and deposited the ashes in urns, of which many have been found, containing bones, ashes, and a jelly-like consistence, which was probably flesh. At Killimeille, near Dungannon, on the top of a hill, were two circles of stonés joining each other, forming a figure of eight, each about twenty yards in diameter, being repositories for urns.

The person who farmed the ground, wanting stones to build a house, drew the most of them away. Within one of the circles were found three urns, in three several holes, covered with flat stones; around them were set six large stones, and others thrown upon the top. On the same hill,

eastward