Improper Deportment to Inferiors. 269

on the whole, possesses much character, and is really beautiful. Mr. Young has a very pretty place at the foot of the mountain bordering on the lake. Char are taken here, and the water is reported to be of great depth. We understood that the red deer are found as inhabitants of the mountains. From this engaging spot we had the same distance to travel as through the pass of Barnmoor; but the undulations of our road, and cheerful richness of the scene, formed a most complete contrast to that melancholy drive.

It is from trifling incidents, that conclusions may not less frequently than justly be drawn of the general character of a people. As we approached the town of Donegal, we had a specimen of the deportment of individuals, somewhat elevated above the level of the commonalty, to their supposed inferiors. A person of the former description was supplicated by a poor man who attended him for several hundred yards, urging his petition with his hat in his hand, and so he continued, though a number of people were passing, as long as they remained in our sight. The feelings with which I witnessed such conduct to a fellow creature were with great difficulty suppressed

270 Salubrity and Mildness of the Climate.

I could scarce réfrain from expressing my indignation and anger.

Donegal is a small town; the market-place is spacious at one extremity of it is the ancient castle, the residence of the O'Donnells, now the property of Lord Arran. By the favor of Mr. Young we obtained a sight of its interior. The chimney-piece in one of the public rooms is very perfect, and from the appearance of the arms upon it, which are still entire, it should seem to be of modern date; on ascending to the battlement, we had a fine view of Donegal Bay.

Near the town is a mineral spring, which, with the convenience of sea-bathing, draws much company to the place. There are great indications of wealth among the inhabitants. The salubrity and mildness of the climate have counterbalanced the numerous privations the people here have had to encounter from the earliest times. There is a tradition preserved in one of their ancient chronicles respecting longevity. The Irish report, and will swear it, that towards the west, they have an island where the inhabitants live so long, that when they are weary and burthened with

Longevity of the Inhabitants.

271

life, their children in charity bring them to die on the shore of Ireland, as if the island would not permit them to die upon it. In modern times the Countess of Desmond, who lived to the age of about one hundred and forty years, is said to have been able to go on foot, four or five miles to the market town, and was accustomed weekly so to do in her last years. Not many years before she died, she had all her teeth renewed.

The port is accessible to vessels of two hundred tons burden; and in the bay, there is a considerable herring fishery. Within half a mile of the town are the ruins of a Franciscan monastery, founded in 1474, by Odokoe O'Donnell and Penelope his wife; it is a favorite burial place of the catholics. The site of the building is very beautiful. The quarries in this neighbourhood yield the best millstones of any procured in Ireland, and a considerable number of them are annually exported. We understood there were a great number of protestants in this neighbourhood, whence to: Bally Shannon being ten miles-I must bid you farewell.

J. C. C.

LETTER XXII.

Bally Shannon, August 31, 1813.

THE road for the first four miles afforded neither a view of the country nor any thing worthy of remark, excepting some fine quarries of white free stone, which we were informed were the roof to coal that had recently been discovered. Generally speaking, the stratification of Ireland, in those places where the lime-stone does not prevail, is too much broken to afford a reasonable hope of finding any extensive field of this valuable mineral.

We had a long and tiresome ascent to Scotch Thomond, without any indication of our labors being requited on gaining the summit; when, however, a most surprising view burst suddenly on us, resembling in effect that of a panorama. The sublime, the beautiful, and picturesque, all contributed, with a descending sun and clear atmosphere, to exhibit a distinct prospect of no common or usual description. The first object that attracted our attention, and indeed the

Beautiful View of Mountains in Miniature. 273

most singular one, was the foreground; this consisted of a double row of hills below us: in

the upper range, I could distinguish eleven of beautiful rotundity, covered with ripening grain and potatoes; and in some instances, where they were enclosed with a few trees, they had more the appearance of Fairy Land than a portion of Ireland. The length occupied by these hills might be about two miles, the breadth something less. There appeared to be little interval or separation between the two rows: the hills of the outward row gradually sloped down to the sea. The irregular strips of grain and potatoes, the crops of which were exuberant, had a singular effect; giving some of the hills the appearance of a harlequin's dress. I cannot express the sensation produced on my mind by this group of mountains in miniature, which would form a most unique and beautiful landscape. To our right, about two miles below the station we had taken, was seen the spacious bay of Donegal; probably not less than six miles from shore to shore, and fifteen from its termination to the ocean, where the magnificent mountains of Ross end in a promontory, and form the entrance on one side, while the Sligo hills form on the other the opposite and more distant boundary of the