CHAP. X.

And let those that play your clowns, speak no more than is set down for them."

SHAKESPEARE.

THIS histrionic injunction of the great dramatic poet equally applies to those who take upon them, through the medium of the press, to record the sentiments and opinions of others; and that they should not, by a sort of rectifying process, neutralize the original savour of those opinions, and convert them into their own. In this paper, Mr. GREENDRAKE will be found to mingle, with his topographical descriptions, philosophical, moral, and political observations, to the detail of which we felt it our duty to be faithful, but for which we by no means consider ourselves responsible. If yet our pulpits are profaned by the coxcomb and man of the world, we avow that we know them not; if the labours of pious tractitions are futile; if Irish Testaments are << Roman Greek" to the multitude; and if maiden modesty and matron decorum have degenerated since the days of our

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grandmothers, it is not we who say so, but Mr. GREGORY GREENDRAKE, upon whom the storm of resentment, should any be excited, ought justly to fall.

"We know too well the duty

We owe to love and beauty,"

to interfere with or condemn that delicate and virtuous notoriety, which now accompanies, in bold and conscious triumph, the tender and blushing bride from the hearth of her paternal home to the altar of Hymen, and afterwards "tells it in the streets of Gath." No! no! this and all other points of free or impertinent observation we throw upon GREGORY's shoulders; and although we confess ourselves very much attached to him, still, in the true spirit of worldly friendship, we might cordially enjoy the fun of seeing him get a good mauling.

NEWRATH-BRIDGE-BRIDAL PARTY.

"Having remounted our vehicle, we proceeded to the village, or rather hamlet, of Newrath-bridge, prettily situated close to the demesne of Rosanna, the residence of the dowager Mrs. Tighe, a lady of the old school, and abounding in the domestic virtues, and mother of the late ingenious William Tighe, of Woodstock county Kilkenny. Rosanna is rich in what is called home scenery, having some very fine and aged timber; the mansion is old, and the demesne flat and destitute of

variety. Here the fair authoress of Cupid and Psyche composed her flowing numbers, and this circumstance constitutes the most interesting distinction of the scene. We baited our horse and refreshed ourselves at the inn of Newrath-bridge, which is a tolerably comfortable one and much resorted to in summer by the inhabitants of Dublin, either on parties of pleasures, or for temporary residence. An ordinary or public table is kept for the resident guests, who pay a weekly and moderate consideration for board and lodging. The air is accounted salutary for invalids, and the beauty of the surrounding scenery peculiarly invites to the benefits of exercise.

"During our short stay, the whole establishment was set in motion, or, more properly speaking, in commotion, by the arrival of a bridal party from Dublin, a circumstance, I am told, frequently occurring. The curiosity of the inmates, of which there were many, was immediately rendered active, and I am certain, had privacy been the object of the newly married couple, it would have been better attained in the streets of Dublin than at the inn of Newrath-bridge, where they become the objects of an undivided, concentrated, indelicate curiosity. It surprises me that home, the sacred and permanent temple of wedded happiness, is not, in all cases, made the scene of its first and dearest enjoyments. I should expect that the very recollections attached to the first moments of a fond and virtuous union would impart a magic locality to their loves, and enable them still to renew the flow of affection at the fountain of memory. With similar and

disapproving feelings I view the exhibition of wedding favours paraded by coachmen and footmen; to me nothing can appear more grossly indelicate; they seem to indicate the mortality of the first of female virtues, and I hope to live to see the practice disused.

Wicklow, the assize town of the county, is distant about two miles from Newrath-bridge; it is a poor place, without trade or manufactures. There is just over the town a bold headland, on which is a light-house and signal tower, and on the beach, close by, called the Murragh, is a pretty race course, on which are races annually in Whitsun week, during which there is some good running, and a great concourse and variety of spectators from Dublin and the surrounding country. The Vartrey discharges itself here into the sea, and the white trout sometimes run up beyond Rosanna, and afford good sport to the angler; they take a gaudy fly, and are not nice as to its composition.

DUNRAN.

"On our return to town, we visited Dunran, which presents to the stranger some very fine and interesting scenery. It is a vast glen; on one side bare rocks to an immense height, hanging in a thousand whimsical, and some grand forms, with vast fragments tumbled from them and lying in romantic confusion. Some of the rocks bear singular and striking resemblances to towers, spires, and minarets, and to works of fortification.

On

the other side is a fine mountain, covered with shrubby wood. This wild pass leads to the bottom of an amphitheatre of mountain completely wooded. Hence a riding is cut through the hanging wood, which rises to a central spot which has been cleared and converted into a beautiful waving lawn, with many oaks and hollies scattered about it. In this place there is a cottage, having an oval room, from the windows of which are three views; one, of distant rich lands opening to the sea, another to a great mountain, and the third upon a part of the lawn; it forms upon the whole a most agreeable retreat. We passed soon after through Newtown MountKennedy, a neat village, where there are bleach-grounds,' and cotton works; from this village a road branches off across the mountains to Roundwood. Excepting Mount Kennedy, the fine seat of the late Lord Rossmore, now that of Mr. Gunn, and Altidore, that of the late Mr. Blachford, who had been married to a daughter of Mr. Grattan's, there is nothing to tempt a deviation from the road, until the traveller reaches Delgany. On recollection I must make another exception; under Altidore, and forming, indeed, a part of the demense, is

HERMITAGE,

where was once a good mansion, now in ruins. This is among the beauties of the county Wicklow worth viewing. A narrow wavy glen, or rather ravine, is clothed on both sides with wood, and along the side of a stream