And for catching the poachers, meet no such fit man
As Monaghan, Houghy, or Brian M'Can.

Of this last sturdy fellow, I'd fairly say, no man
With him can compare as a hearty good row-man;
At an oar, or a glass, or a joke, at a pinch,

If his equal there be, it is dry Mathew Lynch.

There's Whirren so merry, when the wind in full west,
Where the trout are the largest, the most, and the best;
And Colure, and Dara, Cranlaballa, Donore.

Might be guarded by Indians+ from Cloneave's lone shore;
All these rogues, if well paid for't, may chance to prove honest,
And, as they become so, the poachers be non est.
Ye Lords of the lakes, to my counsel attend-
Your own and the right of fair angling defend :
Exhausted Lough-Sheelan again shall revive,
And, like Derevaragh, with trout be alive;
And, than now, tenfold better the fishing shall be,
When from all the curs'd posse of poachers set free.
As soon as the May-fly shall rise from the deep,
And forth from its shell on the smooth waters creep,
Your angles prepare, and each gay painted boat
From its winter confinement again set afloat;
And while with fair angling your sport you pursue,

May the shores still re-echo the frequent cuckoo; ‡
With the DRAKES and the OLIVES, the monkey and crottle, §
Pull many a six-pounder trout may you throttle.

At present no more, of all poachers the hater,

I am your's, as you merit, an honest-PISCATOR.

† Applied to the rude inhabitants of Cloneave-island, insulated by lake and river Inney.

A note of exultation used by an angler on hooking a fish.

§ A dye of the cinnamon; an excellent killing colour.

CHAP. VII.

"Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,
That hide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides,
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you
From seasons, such as these? Oh! I have ta'en
Too little care of this! Take physic, Pomp;
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel:
That thou may shake the superflux to them,
And show the heavens more just."

SHAKSPEARE.

SINCE the publication, originally, of Mr. Greendrake's Westmeath Excursion, we have been looking over the remaining manuscript in our possession, and discovered the following papers, which before escaped our notice :---

ACCUSTOMED as I have been to the well-ordered state of society in England, where a certain degree of comfort, neatness, and plenty, attaches to the very last link of the social chain, I could not but be more sensible to the melancholy and afflicting contrast, which this country furnishes. My great love of the angle, and the excellence of the sport which the lakes here afforded me, could not altogether so occupy my mind, as to blunt my feelings towards the abject and extreme poverty and privations which I witnessed on approaching or entering

the habitations of the peasantry. I can venture to assert, that the worst and barest wig-wam of the North American savage, is supplied with more, and superior, articles of furniture and domestic accommodation, than the generality of the Irish cabins, the interior of which I have had an opportunity of viewing. I will not name the individuals, nor their locality, as I do not wish to attach direct reproach to those whose duty it is to correct such extreme poverty, and alleviate its evils. But, I have been in the wretched huts of several peasants, wherein I could not get a vessel out of which to drink; a stool to sit on a plate, or knife and fork; and yet, these men have been, from boyhood to old age, the almost daily attendants on the sports of their luxurious and wealthy lords, by land and by water; by wood and chase; and their wretchedness, exhibited in the immediate vicinity, indeed, I may say, in absolute contact, with the proud mansion-house, must have been within the constant observance of those fils du fortune, who, at the perusal of fictitious distress, and surrounded by all the warm and glittering appendages of luxury, would display a shuddering sensibility; aye! and even shed tears to the sorrows of fanciful excitement.

I am not one of those who expect, in its extreme sense, that the wealthy shall give all their substance to the poor, and take up the suffering and self-denying cross of their Redeemer; but, I would call upon them to manifest so much of the christian spirit, as should lead them to administer, in some degree, to the wants of their dependant fellow-creatures; and, for their own sakes, if not from

a less personal motive, to reflect, occasionally, upon the parable of Dives and Lazarus. To those who will not, I certainly cannot award the character of christian, although they assume its profession; and, I cannot picture to myself, the man of cultivated mind, redundant wealth, influential rank, and responsible station; I cannot contemplate the happy and delicate ladies of his family, with all their sensibilities, strengthened and refined by their habits, and their studies; yet, daily passing the doors of the wretched families, committed by Providence and the relations of society to their protection, without being at all affected by the duties thus imposed on them.

There is another kindred consideration, which pressed upon my mind, upon observing the very defective relations of society, in this fine but unhappy country. In England, every provincial town, however small, is the centre of much domestic trade, and exhibits features of wealth and prosperity, which you vainly look for in Ireland. You see in the one, splendid and well-stocked shops, because, from them are supplied all the neighbouring gentry around; in the other the very reverse of this just and salutary system of social dependance prevails; the squire, and his imitator, the gentleman farmer; the rector, and his curate, the physician and the attorney-all send to Dublin for every thing they want. And many carry this anti-patriotic feeling and practice still farther, getting their wearing apparel of every description from London. Is it, then, to be wondered at, that, with few exceptions, in the Irish country towns, are to

be seen no extensive and well-stocked shop of the grocer, the woollen and linen-draper, the ironmonger, &c.; and that the general aspect of those towns is of the idle, torpid, desolate, and miserable character, which I have appropriated to Castlepollard, in a former letter?

In conversing on this subject, I have been opposed by arguments, drawn from the defective quality and advanced prices of the articles to be had from country shop-keepers, and the impositions practised by them. I have been told, that no tailor could be found to make a coat of fashionable cut; no shoe-maker to compete with Drummond, of Dublin, or Hoby, of Londonvery true: but, whose is the fault? The arts, mechanical trades, and commerce, will not thrive or advance to perfection, without encouragement; and, then, it follows to ask, who are they whose duty it is to afford this encouragement? The shop-keeper, without capital, cannot have a well-chosen and extensive assortment of goods. Capital is created by the profits of trade; and without trade the small capital is daily growing smaller, until it disappears altogether in the utter ruin of the unhappy speculator. Not having quick returns, he is obliged to aim at greater profit, by advanced prices; having no customers whose elegant and luxurious habits require the best and finest quality of goods, he is obliged to suit the character of his wares to the description of his customers the small farmer, the humble mechanic, and the miserable peasantry around him; and nothing of a superior quality can be had where no such thing is ever called for.