The most celebrated of these islands is Innis-caltra (Innis Island), which is an ancient holy place, containing the "Seven Churches," and one of those pillar-like structures called "round towers," of which some account will be found in the sequel. We saw this island in the centre of a bay at the distance of a mile and a half, and by the aid of a telescope could distinctly perceive the most remarkable buildings. A dispute arose among the Irish as to whether the famed "St. Patrick's Purgatory" was to be found on this island or on another in one of the northern lakes, but opinions were much divided on the subject. It may be that the people relate this tradition of several islands; but that the purgatory of the holy St. Patrick, once so famous through the half of Christendom, was situated in one of these little islands of Lough Derg, is acknowledged and satisfactorily proved by all Irish antiquarians. The people once imagined that here was to be found the suburbs of purgatory, or, in a word, the entrance to the lower world. St. Patrick, who converted the Irish to the Christian faith, is said to have obtained permission from God that the entrance to the lower world should be opened in Ireland itself, in order to convince unbelievers of the immortality of the soul, and of the punishments and sufferings the wicked must endure after death.

Boate, an old Irish writer, relates, that two monks formerly dwelt in the neighbourhood of the cavern which represented this entrance. Any one who came to the island with the intention of descending to the world below, was compelled to watch, fast, and pray for a considerable time, under the pretext of strengthening him for his perilous journey, but in reality to weaken him, and allow his imagination to overpower his judgment, for which purpose his mind was excited by all manner of wonderful tales. Thus prepared, he was lowered into the cave, which was immediately closed above. After the lapse of some hours he was drawn out again, half dead, and upon recovering failed not to intermix with the reality the monkish stories and his own dreamings, and thus related the most marvellous tales about the world below. In the reign of James II. the monks were driven from the place, and the dark cavern broken up.

This legend struck me as unusual, and at the same time extremely characteristic of the Irish. They are, I believe, the only Christian people who have discovered, here on earth, an entrance to purgatory and the lower regions; and it is extraordinary that they should not only have ventured to place it among themselves, in the middle of their own country, but that their faith was so firm, and their imagination so strong, that the jugglery of the

THE DEVIL'S BITE.-SWEET BALLEY VALLEY.

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monks was never discovered. The Greeks had their entrance to the infernal regions, into which the curious among them sometimes descended; but Homer places it far away from Greece, and Ulysses did not find it till after many years of wandering.

Like all Irish lakes, with the exception of the great Lough Neagh, Lough Derg is of a very irregular form, with a multitude of bays and creeks, and side branches. Its southern part narrows to a point, and at last ends abruptly in a little cul-de-sac. The mountains nearest the lake, Slievh Bernagh, Knockermaun, &c., are very beautiful, and covered with grass, trees, and houses. Somewhat farther off, towards the right, Mount Inchiquin, and to the left the Keeper, which is about 25,000 feet high, tower above them; while among these mountains the traveller perceives the famous Devil's Bite, a very strange and deep cut in the ridge of a mountain, the origin of which the Irish can explain in no other way than by a somewhat humorous attack made by the devil, who probably mistook the ridges for the back of a fat Irish pig. He, however, spat out the bite again, for there is to be found, somewhere in Ireland, a piece of a rock that exactly fits the aforesaid cut. At the very end of the cul-de-sac lies the little town of Killaloe.

One of the little glens on the right side of the lake is called Balley Valley, and the charming seat of the proprietor of the valley, which is situated in it, bears the same name. The last proprietor, an old man who had lived many years in this delightful corner, had lately died. The people told me how grieved he was at the approach of death; and that shortly before he died, when he felt his end drawing nigh, he caused himself to be rowed across to the other side of the lake, from whence he contemplated his property, the charming valley, the green leafy mountains, his beautifully situated house, which lay mirrored in the clear waters of the lake, which was all bathed in the warmest and most lovely sunshine of 1842. The natural charms and beauty of the surrounding country, which he had so long ruled as its owner, brought the tears into his eyes, and in despair he exclaimed: "O sweet Balley Valley! sweet Balley Valley! how can I leave thee!" He then sank back on his seat, and once more he sighed, Balley Valley! how can I leave thee!" and passed away. truth the earth has here such charms, particularly for an independent landowner, that such a sigh may be unavoidable in the hour of death. In such an hour one ought rather to wish he were a poor dweller in an Irish bog; for to him it must be much easier to exchange his black, swampy, charmless bit of ground, for the beauteous blue star-bespangled heaven.

"O sweet

Of a

Lough Derg, the boatmen told me, is from six to seven feet higher in winter than in summer, a very considerable increase for so large a piece of water. Although it lies under the same degree of latitude with the Prussian lakes, and the Curische Haff, which are frozen almost every winter, yet it is seldom entirely covered with ice, and is usually quite free from it. It is often frozen about the shores only, and the boatmen mentioned some severe winters in which the ice was" even four inches thick." It is forty years since the entire lake was frozen over so that carriages could drive across it.

A small steamer, which came alongside our vessel, was making its first experimental trip, and had on board some members of the Shannon Steam Navigation Company. It was built on a new plan, and consisted of two round boats shaped like cigars, and connected above by a common deck. The steam-engine was fixed upon deck, and the paddles struck the water quickly but not deeply. The people termed it "the cigar boat." The invention was highly extolled, and it was expected to float over the most shallow parts of the lakes and rivers. A dozen or two similar boats would be of great value upon the shallow and useless lakes of Germany.

Beyond Killaloe the rocks and rapids in the river again commence; and as the portion of the canal which is to avoid these unnavigable places was not yet completed, we had here the entertaining change of being transferred from the vessel, sack and pack, to a row of Irish cars, in which we proceeded to that part of the canal from whence the navigation to Limerick is uninterrupted. Our captain and his men galloped beside us on horseback, commanding and directing the procession. Having passed over some miles in this manner, we again embarked; but this time it was in a long canal-boat, drawn by a pair of horses. All this may appear somewhat wild and Irish, as such motley and changing modes of conveyance are no longer to be found in England. Our boat was divided into two parts. In the stern sat the passengers of quality, opposite each other, on two rows of seats; while in the forward part, on long benches, chatting and smoking, were squatted the Kerry and Tipperary men, and the temperance people-those who put faith in wonders, and feared fairies and spectres. I overcame my aversion to the rather uncleanly exterior of the latter, for the sake of the bud of the national Psyche, which in this class displays itself more unreservedly than among the former.

I have already mentioned the somewhat antiquated learning, even of the lower classes of the people of Kerry; and I now met

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ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS.

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with a remarkable instance of it. In the bow of the boat sat a Kerryman, reading an old manuscript, which was written in the Irish language, and in the Celtic character. The manuscript consisted of several small and large sheets stitched together, which, to judge from the various colours and antiquity of the paper, must have been united to each other at very different periods. It was all, however, neatly and regularly written. Some, the man told me, he had added himself; some he had inherited from his father and grandfather; and some had, in all probability, been in his family long before them. I asked him what were its contents? They are," answered he, "the most beautiful old Irish poems, histories of wonderful events, and stories and treatises of antiquity; for instance, the translation of a treatise by Aristotle on some subject of natural history!" In all these matters I was yet a novice, and could hardly trust my ears; but I had afterwards ample opportunities of observing how interesting and unique all traditions are among the Irish-a people who believe that their written characters are the very same that the Phoenicians brought with them into the country; who ascribe a part of their ruins to the Eastern fire-worshippers; who in one breath tell all sorts of sayings of Aristotle, and anecdotes of George III.-(twice, methought, I heard them speak of Aristotle as a wise and mighty king of Greece, as if they had the same conception of him as of King Solomon)-a people who think that a Scythian king, who had wedded a daughter of the same Pharoah who drove out the Jews, conquered Spain, and from thence sailed over to Ireland. Í inquired if there were any others on board who had manuscripts with them; when a man from the county of Clare opened his travelling chest, striped with blue paint, and from beneath nightshirts and boots drew out an old manuscript. I asked why they carried these writings about with them? They replied that they did not like to part from them, and they were fond of reading portions of them on their journeys. I afterwards saw several such manuscripts in the hands of the lower classes. Some are said to be written on parchment, and these are probably older than those I saw, which were always on paper.

From the narrow canal we now once more entered the beautiful broad Shannon, and just as evening approached, were landed on the quay of the city of Limerick.

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CHAPTER VI.

LIMERICK AND THE IRISH SATURDAYS.

TRADE OF LIMERICK-ENGLISH AND IRISH TOWNS-LIMERICK LASSES AND LANCASHIRE WITCHES-PAWNBROKERS-SATURDAY IN IRELAND-REPEAL-BAGPIPE-PLAYERS-GALWAY-GERMAN COLONISTS IN IRELAND.

Limerick, the third city of Ireland, now contains nearly 75,000 inhabitants. Dublin is the first, with 270,000; and Cork the second, with 110,000 inhabitants. The trade of Limerick, like that of all Irish cities, has increased astonishingly during the last twenty years. The export trade is said to have trebled since 1820. In the year 1822 the exports amounted to 479,000l., in 1830 to 720,0007., in 1832 to 1,005,0007.; and in 1841, according to the official returns, the duties alone, paid on imported commodities, amounted to 246,000l., or about 1,700,000 Prussian thalers. The inhabitants are therefore full of hope that they will soon see their port, hitherto a third-class one, raised to the second rank. In the more modern part of the city the effect of these millions is extremely visible; for it is beautifully built, has fine, nay, one may say, with regard to their breadth, and the size of the houses, imposing streets, which are not equalled in the capital itself. St. George's-street may be compared with Sackville-street in Dublin. St. George is an English saint, and the whole of this modern part of the town is called "The English Town," and forms a most agreeable contrast with that portion which is known as "The Irish Town." Galway and other Irish cities are similarly divided into English and Irish towns. The Irish portions are full of dirt, disorder, and ruin; the English, on the contrary, are built entirely after the models of the best parts of London. The population of these two divisions live in a kind of opposition to each other.

As the English have furnished all Irish cities with a clean and comfortable quarter, so the Irish, (who number 60,000 in Manchester, 50,000 in Glasgow, 40,000 in Liverpool, 25,000 in Birmingham, and 12,000 in Leeds, and of whom there are probably more than 100,000 in London,) have furnished most English towns with an appendix of a filthy and disorderly Helot-quarter. Such an Irish quarter as St. Giles's, in London, is to be found in every large English town. It is, therefore, no wonder that the English often complain of the Irish. The Irish, on the other hand, in all their complaints against the English, ought to