forms a workman's institution for mutual improvment, and directs his attention to the smelting of iron. He was consulted about a defect in a blast furnace, situated at a distance from the blowing engine, which was found not to work so well as others which were situated close to it. He concluded, that as air increases in volume according to temperature, if he were to heat the air by passing it through a red hot vessel, its volume would be increased according to the well-known law, and that thus the blast might do more duty in the distant furnace. He tried the experiment in a common smith's fire by blowing the fire with heated air, and the effect was as he expected; the fire was more brilliant and the heat more intense. Being only a gas man, he had difficulty in persuading even ironmasters to allow him to make the necessary experiments upon blast furnaces actually at work. The invention was very simple, and consisted in the principle of heating the blast between the engine and the furnace, and was not connected with any particular construction of the intermediate heating apparatus. His theory was at direct variance with the established practice, which was to supply air as cold as possible, the preceding idea being, that the coldness of the air in winter was the cause of the best iron being then produced. So acting on these erroneous principles, the efforts of the iron masters had always been directed to the cooling of the blast. The invention of the hot blast, in conjunction with the discovery of the Black-band brimstone, has had an extraordinary effect upon the development of the iron trade in Scotland. The coals of that country are generally unfit for cooking, and lose fifty-five per cent. by the process; but by using hot blast, the coal could be sent to the blast furnace in its raw state, by which a large saving of fuel was effected. Black-band brimstone was found to have this peculiar quality, that in many cases it contained sufficient coaly matter for pur

poses of calcination, without any admixture of coal whatever. Clay-band, without hot blast, had brought the manufactures in many places to a low ebb. In 1829, the year after Neilson's patent was taken out, the total make of Scotland was 29,000 tons. In 1845, as fresh discoveries of the mineral were made, new works were erected; and we find the production of pig iron had increased to four hundred and seventy-five thousand tons. It has since increased to upwards of a million of tons. As in Scotland, in 1845, every furnace, save one, used the hot blast, the saving in the produce of 400,000 tons of pig iron was 2,000,000 tons of coal, 200,000 tons of limestone, and £650,000 11s per annum; but, as the Scotch produce is now above a million tons of pig iron a year, the above figures will have to be multiplied by two and a-half to give the present annual saving. This employment was extended to numbers of an industrial population, and the wealth and resources of Scotland vastly increased.

This is one instance out of a number of the marvels wrought by the inventive industry of mechanics. The Irish intellect is certainly not of an inferior organization to the Scotch. The youth of our University are surely equal to the youth of the Scottish Universities, and they have proved it. But the Scotch have a perseverance—an energy in toil— a clear-headedness-and an inventive industry—which are no less deserving of praise, than of imitation. You have often observed how energetic and how successful are the Scotchmen in our own city; yet, let them not presume too much on their greater wealth at home, and say to us, "Why are you not as successful as we are?" I take the liberty of telling them, that it is not their poetry, nor their chivalry, nor their skill, that have made them what they are-but their coal and their iron. They have, no doubt, availed

themselves fully of these at their command. Give us coal

and iron as close to Dublin as they are to Glasgow, and I venture to say, that there will be men found in this city to accomplish for Ireland the same great things which the Scotch have cleverly, judiciously, and perseveringly done for Scotland. I do not believe, that in latter times, Scotland has excelled Ireland in the higher branches of learning, eloquence, or science; although in material prosperity, industry, and wealth, she has indeed far surpassed us.

Lastly, have we no illustration in Ireland of our argument, that industry can redeem the wilderness, and civilize a kingdom? We have not the coal or the iron; but is there nothing in this country to inspire us with hope? Are we to dwell merely upon Holland, Switzerland, Scotland, or England? I answer, no. We cannot discuss the whole condition of Ireland; but we may notice with some particularity the province of Ulster. I do so for the purpose of showing what can be done even in Ireland, by means of industry, when it isI am not afraid to say, as in Switzerland-united with religion. Now, in what state was Ireland at the close of the reign of Henry VIII.? Tranquil; because that monarch had a peculiar way of governing Ireland. He said to the Irish chiefs-"If you choose to be quiet, I will deal generously with you; but if you rebel, you shall all be hanged." Occasionally he carried out that threat: so the chiefs thought he was in earnest, and they resolved to remain as quiet as possible, and were so during the last seven years of his reign. But he was scarcely dead, when, as you know, the great question of the Reformation, began in the days of Elizabeth ; and then our notorious countryman, Shane O'Neill, determined to try (since his forefathers had been rulers of Ulster) whether he might not be crowned on Tara Hill. Queen Elizabeth invited Shane to England, that he and she might agree on terms of peace; and he said he would go, if her

majesty gave him safe conduct, and paid his expenses, otherwise he would stay at home. Her majesty, to soothe him, agreed to his terms, and accordingly he visited her majesty in London, with a magnificent train of Irish followers. "He appeared in London, attended by a guard of gallow-glasses, arrayed in the richest habiliments of their country-armed with the battle-axe, their heads bare, their hair flowing on their shoulders, their linen vests dyed with saffron, with long open sleeves, and surcharged with their short military harness-a spectacle astonishing the people, who imagined that they beheld the inhabitants of some distant quarter of the globe." Another late writer, Froude, has written the following account of the interview:-" O'Neill strutted in his saffron mantle sweeping round and round him, his hair curling on his back, and clipped short below the eyes, which gleamed from under it with a grey lustre, frowning fierce and cruel. Behind him followed his gallow-glasses, bareheaded and fair-haired, with shirts of mail, which reached to their knees, a wolf-skin across their shoulders, and short broad battle-axes in their hands." Shane's title was very modest. "O'Neill, the great cousin to St. Patrick, friend to the Queen of England, enemy to all the world beside." Cecil, the minister of Elizabeth, is supposed to have written Shane's speech for him, which he insisted on delivering in Irish. Those who heard him, said the sound of his voice was as the howling of a dog, not a very complimentary comparison for the chieftain of Ulster.

Having made an outward submission to the Queen, he returned to Ireland, and said "I am monarch of all I survey; every chief and clan must bow down before me.' The Maguires of Fermanagh resisted him; and he killed three hundred of them—men, women, and children-in one day. Then, for a while, he was quiet. Soon he quarrelled with Elizabeth,

resolving to become master of all Ireland, if he could. Every effort was made, by conferring on him titles and distinctions, to induce him to be loyal; but in vain.

Here is a summary of his life :-He intrigued with Philip of Spain, with the Pope of Rome, with Mary Queen of Scots, with every disaffected nobleman, against the Queen whom he pretended to acknowledge as his lawful sovereign. He lived merrily; built a tower on an island in Lough Neagh, which he called "Foogh-ni-gall." I do not know whether I am right in this name, but it began with "Foogh,” which, being translated, means, "Hate to Englishmen." He was the only strong man in Ireland: he had two hundred pipes of wine in his cellar, and six hundred men-at-arms at dinner. His wife was the Countess of Argyle, whom he had carried away from her husband; and when he went out to hunt, he buckled her to a horse-boy, lest she might, during his absence, return to her legitimate partner; and when he came home again, he unbuckled her, in order that she might dress for dinner.

While the North of Ireland was in the state I have described, the Ormondes and the Desmonds were waging a terrific civil war in the south; and I have here an account of the state of that part of Ireland at the time, which thrills the reader with horror :

"Even now the picture drawn by Sir Henry Sidney, and repeated by Spencer, can scarcely be contemplated without emotion. The rich limestone pastures were burnt into a sterile wilderness; through Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Cork, a man might ride twenty or thirty miles, nor ever find a house standing; and the miserable poor were brought to such wretchedness, that any stony heart would have rued the same. Out of every corner of the woods and glens they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could