Ireland; and in many places, the fault here existing is reversed. A splendid gateway, promising a mansion to vie with the glories of Stowe or Chatsworth, leading to a mean and dilapidated building, or to what had been originally intended for offices, but converted into the residence of the family, in consequence of improvident projections and failing funds. This, you will say, 'is beginning at the wrong end,' a practice, perhaps, not here peculiarly national; but certainly the Irish appear to me to be a people very fond of exterior show, and falling immeasurably short of us in consulting the interior and essential comforts of their homes. The Irish character seems to be strongly marked by the philosophy of vanity; bearing, with indifference, privations which would make an Englishman miserable, in order occasionally to produce effect upon a large scale.

"The avenue leading to Powerscourt-house is nearly an English mile in length, bordered on each side by well-grown forest trees and luxuriant shrubs, tastefully and ornamentally disposed with vistas opening to the most beautiful views; those to the left looking down the swelling and richly adorned side of the hill, on which Powerscourt-house is erected, into the vale beneath. In this vale is Tenehinch, the quiet and unobtrusive residence of the veteran Irish patriot and splendid orator, Mr. Grattan, and which had formerly been an inn. The delighted eye occasionally catches the sparkling course of a pastoral stream, and picturesque bridge, and ranging over the opposite rising grounds,

rich in the improvements of Bushy-park, the seat of the honorable colonel Howard, and Charleville, that of lord V. Monk, rests, in the distance, on the beautiful conical sugar-loaf hills, and the dark mountains that rise in the rere of the Waterfall, and bound the horizon. "As I do not pretend to the set phrase' of architectural description, I will content myself with telling you that Powerscourt-house is an ample and beautiful. building, consisting of a centre and two wings, constructed of hewn stone; the front towards an ascending lawn of limited view, terminated by a mountain; the rere it is that affords the charming view which I have already attempted briefly to describe. The late lord Powerscourt was as liberal as the present, in opening to the public the enjoyment of this beautiful demesne, and my companion related to me an abuse of the privilege, strongly marking the spirit of the times in which it occurred. Immediately preceding the rebellion of 1798, a butcher or publican, or some such class of Dublin citizen, took his family, on a saint's day, into the county of Wicklow. He proceeded to Powerscourt demesne, drove up close to the house, and, instead of choosing a spot which would not invade the privacy and retirement of the noble owners, he brought his basket of provisions into the back lawn, near to the drawing-room windows, a place which the general good sense and delicacy of visitors had always respected. This disciple of the political new light which flashed upon this country from the fiery corruscations of Gallic liberty, deliberately

proceeded to spread out his refreshments, when a servant was sent to inform the citizen, that it was not usual for a person to enjoy himself as he was preparing to do, in that particular spot, but that all other parts of the demesne were at his service; he regarded the message with stoical indifference, and continued his preparations; his children ran about, plucking every flower and shrub that pleased their fancy, while the senior members of the party laughed, and talked, and vociferated, as though they were lords of the soil, and with as perfect indifference to all feeling and enjoyment but their own, as a lady of fashion in the dress boxes of the theatre, and the coxcomb, who thinks he is amusing her, display by their senseless chatter, while Kemble or Siddons is confirming the immortality of Shakespear. The noble lord, who, in general, dressed very plain, was, at the time, amusing himself by clipping with a sheers some redundant and irregular growth of shrubs, and heard. the message delivered by the servant, and the manner in which it was received. He quietly approached the party, the garden-sheers still in his hand, and gently expressed his wish that they would remove to some other part of the demesne, when the citizen, with an oath, by which a vulgar Irishman may be known all over the world, avowed his determination not to stir a step from where he had fixed himself. 'No, not even if his master were to ask him to do so,' adding, 'that if every Irishman had his own, he had a better right to be there than any English settler.' Then,' said his lordship,

'if you would not move for lord Powerscourt, you will not for me,' and quietly went away to resume his employment. This gross conduct of the disciple of Tom Paine so disgusted his lordship, that the gates of the demesne were, for some time after, closed against all of that description, who had not special permission to enter them. Perhaps nothing could more strongly illustrate, than this anecdote does, the abominable and destructive principles which emanated from the French revolution, and which, had the rebellion of 1798 succeeded, would have uprooted and swept away every distinction of property, rank, and education; and such are the principles which the palace-yard and spafield orators and demagogues of the present day dare to promulgate to a British people.

"Our way through the demesne lay along the banks of a stream, now swelled and embrowned by a recent fall of rain, sweeping, in some places, over a rocky bed, but mostly over a smooth sandy bottom, of golden hue, and embosomed in the shade of various trees, which thickly overhang it, and in some parts, with uplifted roots, throw their obstructing arms across from bank to bank. On the other side of the stream stretches the beautiful demesne of Charleville, that and Powerscourt combining to mutual and general effect, 'giving and receiving beauty.' *Lord Monk, the noble proprietor of Charleville, is among those real and efficient benefactors of their country, who, by a constant residence * Lord Monk has since been raised to the Peerage; he is now Earl of Rathdowne.

among their tenantry, oppose some counteracting good n the greatest evil Ireland labours under, that of absentees; an evil, the sources of poverty to the people, and disaffection to the government; which leaves a poor ignorant peasantry open to all the attacks of demagogues, for which they are prepared by the exactions and abuses of a second-hand authority. His lordship has lately erected a handsome mansion, having been for many years obliged to reside in the offices, in consequence of a very fine edifice, built by the late lord Monk, having been destroyed by fire just as it was completed. This unfortunate circumstance having occurred immediately previous to the rebellion of 1798, strong suspicion, I understand, prevailed, at the time, that the fire was not accidental. The discovery was providentially made by the governess, before the progress of the flames had barred all escape, and she saved herself, and the children under her charge.

"The drive all through was close, but eminently of sylvan character, until we arrived at the Waterfall."