for the pencil, being without islands, the margin swampy, and the adjacent trees planted with two much attention to regularity. It is a very generally believed tradition that, before Blarney surrendered to King William's forces, Lord Clancarty's plate was made up in an oaken chest, which was thrown into this lake, and has not since been recovered; nor does this appear improbable, as I understand repeated attempts have in vain been made to drain it. In 1814, the late Mr. Milliken, whose well-known song of "the Groves of Blarney" has identified his memory with the place, gave me a clumsy silver ring for the finger, which had been taken out of the lake by a boy who was fishing in it. About the same time, the signet ring of Donogh Mac Carty More was sold by a peasant to a watchmaker in Cork named Brooks, from whom I obtained an impression, and which is copied double the size of the original.

Since I am on the subject of discoveries, it may be worth notice that, in a quarry close to the castle, where some men were working, we picked up several human

bones, and that one of the labourers informed us so many as twenty horse loads of these bones had been thrown into the lake; he also spoke of two or three spear-heads being found with them. Groats and pennies of the Edwards and Henries have frequently been dug up here; but I believe never in any quantity.

The interior of the castle contains little worth notice except a full length portrait of Charles XII. of Sweden, said to be an original, and brought here by one of the Jeffreys family who was envoy to that monarch.

At Killowen, near Blarney, the Rev. James De la Cour was born, whose " Prospect of Poetry," unfortunately for him, was much admired. It is reported that some complimentary lines addressed

to him on this publication, by Thomson, the author of the Seasons, commencing with

affected his reason, so as to render him guilty of many irregularities, for which he was deprived of his gown.

The Prospect of Poetry (evidently an imitation of Pope) was first published in 1733, and has since been reprinted in Cork more than once, with some of De la Cour's other poems, the beauties and faults of which closely resemble those of the compositions on which they were modelled.

Many epigrams by Dr. De la Cour are exquisitely satirical: but few are to be seen in print owing to their being founded chiefly on temporary and local circumstances, and most of them consequently requiring a long prosaic introduction. Many are known to me, and, as a fair example, I select one, the history of which has been orally preserved.

De la Cour frequented a coffee-house kept by a man named Connor, who had been servant to Mr. Carleton, a merchant distinguished in Cork by the nickname of "King Carleton," on account of his wealth and influence, and who patronised his old servant.

Connor, soon after he had commenced business, married a daughter of the city jailor, and the poet, having accumulated a long bill, was refused further credit by the prudent landlady. When De la Cour inquired indignantly for Jack Connor, he was haughtily answered by his spouse with "Is it Mr. Connor you ask for, sir? Upon my honour I don't know where he is, unless with Frank Carleton!" This was about the time of the breaking out of the American war, and on that occasion civic politics ran high. Two addresses were drawn up to the government, called the Pro and Con; the one principally signed by the corporation, expressive of their willingness to support the cause of England with their lives and fortunes; the other was

from the merchants, praying for pacific measures, and stating how injurious war would be to the commercial prosperity of the nation. Mr. Connor, to make himself popular, signed both, and was of course despised by both sides of the question. Soon after, severe losses on extensive speculations caused the failure of Mr. Carleton; and Connor, finding himself involved with his patron, became also a bankrupt, when De la Cour is said to have chalked the following lines on a window-shutter of his coffee-house :

"So now, Dame Jail,

Your pride must fail,
Likewise your boasted honour,
For Frank' is gone,

And Pro and Con'

Are signed by Mr. Connor.'"

Another epigram of De la Cour's I copy from a Cork newspaper of the time: occasioned by the capture of the Bellona, a French frigate of thirty-two guns, by the Vestal of the same force:

ALTHOUGH it does not come within the design of this work to treat on the geology of the south of Ireland, yet I feel satisfied that a brief account of its mines and minerals will not be misplaced, and may tend to direct some attention to an important though neglected pursuit. There are few countries richer in mineral deposits; out of the thirty-two counties, nineteen are known to contain iron; seventeen copper; eighteen lead, and sixteen coal; and from what has been done and is at present doing, it will, I think, appear evident that Ireland still holds out the hand of invitation for the further operations of the miner.

The most ancient work in the country probably is that on Ross

Island, bordering on the lower Lake of Killarney. It is situated on the south side of the island, in limestone, of which this, as well as all the other islands in the Lower Lake, are entirely composed. The remote antiquity of Ross Mine is established by a discovery made on clearing out the old shafts when it was re-opened a few years since, at which time several rude implements of stone were found buried under decayed vegetable matter and rubbish, the accumulation of many centuries: two or three of these relics are in my possession, but their construction is so barbarous that it is evident, with such tools, the process of mining must have been very slow as well as laborious. From appearances, however, it may be inferred, that the workmen endeavoured to facilitate their operations by kindling large fires on the limestone, thereby reducing it to a caustic state; and the timber from the immediate vicinity was, most probably, the fuel used for this purpose. Marks of the fires were distinctly to be seen when the rock was exposed to view, which, with the discovery of the stone implements, affords satisfactory evidence of the mine having been originally worked at a period prior to the knowledge of either iron or gunpowder, and hence local tradition has attributed these operations to the Danes.

There is reason to think that this work was again opened in the reign of James I., as some coins of that monarch were found in another and a distinct part of the mine; but why it was relinquished, if then worked, must remain a subject for conjecture.

About the year 1804, Colonel Hall, who had been some time quartered at Killarney, conceiving a favourable opinion of Ross Mine, induced one or two gentlemen in the vicinity to join him in re-opening it. Having succeeded in clearing out the water and rubbish, the little company were encouraged by the flattering appearance to proceed to work it, which they did on rather an extensive scale, notwithstanding the unfavourable circumstance of its situation-nearly close to the lake, the ground not rising much