his favour, while seed is issued to him on loan, to be repaid on the sale of his crop.

The quantity of corn has increased fourfold, since the property came into the possession of the society, a period of only four years, during which time, the returns of corn alone, have risen from 20 to 80 tons." It appears, from the little work before quoted, this society have, with an outlay of only £25,000, reclaimed 18,000 acres of waste land; and the only estate of the society, which has been entirely let, yields 7 per cent. on the capital expended. It further appears, from a statement of the outlay and returns for three years on a plantation acre of bog land, on the Kilkieran estate, besides paying the original outlay, an annual profit £3. 18s. 1d. was afforded.

I had intended to enlarge much more on the subject of the Irish waste lands, from a conviction of its immense importance, but my space warns me that I must now take leave of the subject. I had also wished to make some remarks on the numerous valuable marble quarries so abundant in this dis

trict, but which, unhappily, like its other numerous resources, remain unworked. In fact, to do the subject justice, "it would fill up twenty volumes, and I have only a few small pages left of this, to crowd it into." In conclusion, I cannot do better, than give the following extract from a letter of Sir Humphrey Davy, on Ireland, as it peculiarly applies to this district.

He says, "Its natural advantages are preeminent, it contains an untouched fund of wealth, admirably situated for commercial intercourse with the whole world,-intersected by navigable rivers and lakes,—supplied abundantly with fuel,―possessing limestone, prepared for the fire, in every district, -abounding in mineral treasures, coal and iron below, and an inexhaustible source of manure upon the surface; it needs only an enterprising spirit, directed by science, calling forth and awakening the industry of the people, to render it, in proportion to its extent, the most productive,-the richest part of the empire."

K

APPENDIX. ·

JAMES LYNCH FITZSTEPHEN.

I am indebted to Mr. Hardiman for the following

account of this upright Magistrate, who condemned and hanged his own son for the crime of murder.

JAMES LYNCH FITZSTEPHEN, an opulent merchant, and one of the principal inhabitants of Galway, was elected Mayor in 1493, at which time a regular and friendly intercourse subsisted between the town and several parts of Spain; and in order the more firmly to establish this connexion, he himself went on a voyage to Spain, and was received, when at Cadiz, at the house of a rich and respectable merchant of the name of Gomez, who treated him with the utmost hospitality. Upon his departure for his own country, from a wish to make some grateful return for the civilities he had received from the Spaniard, he

requested of him as a particular favour to allow his son, a youth of nineteen, to accompany him to Ireland, promising to take paternal care of him during his stay. Young Gomez was delighted at this agreeable opportunity of seeing the world, and the merchant's request was gratefully complied with by his father. They embarked accordingly, and after an easy passage arrived in the bay of Galway.

Lynch introduced the young stranger to his family, by whom he was received with that openness of heart and hospitality which has ever characterized the Irish. He also recommended him as a companion to his eldest son, who was a year or two older than Gomez, and who was considered one of the finest youths of his time: the beauty of his person, and the winning softness of his manners, rendered him a favourite with the fair sex; he was the idol of the people for his affability and spirit, and respected by all ranks for his abilities. In course of time he fell in love, and paid his addresses to a beautiful and accomplished girl, the daughter of one of his richest and most respectable neighbours.

The young men lived together in perfect harmony, and frequent entertainments were given at the Mayor's house, as well in honour of the

stranger as for the sake of advancing the suit of his son Walter to the beautiful Agnes.

At one of those festivals, which, as usual, she adorned with her presence, it happened that her lover either saw, or, which with lovers is the same, imagined that he saw, the eyes of the lovely maid beam with rapture on the young Spaniard. Wild with astonishment, the fairy spell was broken; his ardent and unruly passions took fire at the thought, and he seized an opportunity, not of asking his mistress if his suspicions were founded in fancy or reality, but of upbraiding her for her infidelity in terms of haughty anger. She, in her turn, astonished and irritated by such unexpected injustice, and that, too, from the chosen of her heart, affected disdain to conceal her fondness, and refused to deny the charge. Though mutually enamoured, one obeyed the dictates of jealousythe other of pride. They parted in violence, and while the forlorn Agnes may be supposed retiring to weep over her wrongs, her admirer, racked by the fiends and furies that possessed his bosom, withdrew to revolve the direful project of revenge.

Accident contributed to strengthen his determination, and facilitate his purpose. The following night, as he passed by the residence of the fair one, he perceived a man come from the