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His growing limbs, that from unceasing care
Spread out and thrive and tell the silent tale
Of health and tenderness.

When thus the king
"I know that thou wilt guard him and display,
A mother's fondness.", Close he clasp'd the boy
And bless'd him, and to the God of Heaven
Preferr❜d a prayer: when ALFRED left the door,
And urg'd his way to Selwood's forest shade.

WE

PROSPECTS IN MUCRUSS LAKE.

- (From Holmes's Tour in Ireland.)

entered Mucruss lake, between Brickeen and Dinas island, under a single gothic arch, which is thrown across to connect them. This lake is small, but very marked in its charactér, which indeed they all are.

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The north and eastern sides are broken into the most grotesque forms; the rocks are stupendous, crowned with the most picturesque foliage, unassisted by soil. The waving groves of Mucruss lend their cool and grateful shade, in contrast with their opposite neighbour, the rugged woodless Turk; beyond which, in transcendent magnitude rises Mangerton..

Over head up grow

Insuperable height of loftiest shade,

Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan scene; and as the ranks ascend
Shade above shade, a woody theatre

Of stateliest view

Luxuriant: meanwhile murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills dispers'd, or in a lake,
-Unite their streams.

Its known altitude is 1020 yards above the surface of the lake, which lies considerably higher than the sea. It abounds with extraordinary ob'jects, well worth (to the curious naturalist) the trouble of exploring. On its western side is a small

circular lake, or bafon, about fix hundred yards in diameter, across the top; from the brink, looking downwards, it forms a fearful depth of nearly three hundred yards; its sides are almost perpendicular, and of an equal degree of declivity; this the natives call the Devil's punch bowl, from its similar regular concavity. On the fide next Mucruss, there is an immense perpendicular chasm, equal in depth to the height of the sides of the bowl, through which the overflowing of this lake empties itself, tumbling down the sides of the hill, nearly two hundred feet into Mucruss lake, forming a grand and broken fall.

On our return, along Glenaá, we discovered in numerable echoes, prodigiously grand and solemn, particularly from the cannon, which burst like the most dreadful thunder rolling from side to side; frequently dying away, they would re-commence, and approach us slowly; sometimes interrupted by a sudden sound like a single clap of thunder, answered by two or three distinctly, then mingle into one continued sound, seeming as if the mountains groaned in dreadful labour, such as precedes the most horrible commotion of nature.

The sad and awful impressions made upon the mind by this terrible sublime effect, are delightfully displaced by the echoes from the horn, which are exquisite, and the very soul of harmony. Before

*There are certain letters which no echo will return, or express, particularly an S; of which lord Bacon gives a pleasant instance, in a celebrated echo formed by the walls of a ruined church, at Pont Charenton, near Paris; where there was an old Parisian who took it to be the work of spirits, and of good spirits; for,' said he, if you call Satan, the echo will not deliver back the Devil's name, but will say vat'en, which signifies avoid;' by which circumstance his lordship discovered that an echo would not return an S.

we reached the island of Innisfallen, the face of the lake became totally changed; the sky began to lower, and darkened the surface of the water, as suming an alarming aspect, particularly to us who were unused to the sudden changes that are frequently experienced during this and the ensuing month. The boatmen declaring it would be squally, pressed forward with all their might. Thick mists hung down the hills and hid them entirely. By degrees a general gloom involved the whole, while the wind swept down the sides of Glenaá and Tomish; lifting the waves to an alarming height, giving it all the appearance of the angry Atlantic. This was followed by heavy rain, which, with the waves breaking over us, soaked us entirely through; even the thick coats which the boatmen lent us proved insufficient to protect us from the spray. At length we gained the island, but not without some difficulty. A good fire at the fisherman's cottage, where our dinner was dressing, proved a seasonable relief; and we seated ourselves round it with no small degree of pleasure, I assure you. About four o'clock the evening calmed, and the surface of the lake resumed its wonted serenity; this opportunity we availed ourselves of, and, embarking, crossed over to the woody shores of Glenaa, where we were instantly struck with the distant roaring of O'Sullivan's cascade, which encreased like tremendous thunder, as we ascended the rocky glen. With excessive toil we forced our way through thick entangled woods and pathless steeps, till at once it burst upon our view.

Smooth to the shelving brink the copious flood
Rolls fair and placid; where collected all,
In one impetuous torrent, down the steep

It thundering shoots, and shakes the country round.
At first, an azure street, it ushers broad;

Then whitening by degrees as prone it falls;
And from the loud-resounding rocks below
Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft
A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower.
Nor can the tortured wave here find repose:
But, raging still among the shaggy rocks,
Now flashes o'er the scatter'd fragments, now
Aslant the hollowed channel rapid darts;
And falling fast from gradual slope to slope,
With wild infracted course snd lessened roar,
It gains a safer bed.

These lines of Thomson so truly depict the scene, that I could not resist describing it with his words. Here we met with some girls gathering nuts, lightly attired, in all the simplicity of primeval innocence, pretty, and exceedingly modest.

After returning to Innisfallen, we re-embarked, and proceeded homewards; the shades of evening spread over the hills, and wrapt their forests in one deep undistinguishable gloom; the islands appearing but as black specks upon the faintly glowing surface of the waters. All was still, except where the distant wave unceasing lashed against the broken shore, producing a solitary sound, which rendered silence still more perceptible and impres

sive.

When within a quarter of a mile of Ross Castle, the boatmen rested on their oars, while the horn sounded four notes; these were returned once from the castle, after a lapse of about six seconds, amazingly perfect, and rather louder than the horn. After about thirty seconds more, a low and regular chord composed of the four notes, was heard among the hills; one note for a short space continuing whilst two would rise and fall; displacing each other irregularly, but still forming harmony, and seemingly endeavouring to liberate themselves from

the hills, which at length they apparently effect, and move around upon the surface of the water.

This has all the effect of magic upon the musical mind, and lifts it above the ordinary feelings of its

nature.

THE CHACE IN IRELAND.

We propose leaving Killarny to-morrow morning, and shall direct our course towards Cork; I, however, cannot quit it without speaking of the novelties of the chace, which here is enjoyed in a manner peculiar to the spot. The echoes caused by this sport reverberate the sounds in a manner not to be believed by any but those who have heard them; the duration of a single sound being near a minute, and yet the repercussions are innumerable, and the variety inconceivable. The deer are roused from the deep woods which skirt the lake by hunters used to the sport on foot, as horses are use less, not being able to make their way through the bottoms, nor rise the steep declivities. The hills are lined with hardy peasants, who encounter the most imminent danger and extreme fatigue to assist and enjoy the chace; while on the lake are scattered numerous boats, full of anxious spectators. The animal darting from his covert, makes towards the soft lawns, which sometimes verge upon the lake; and bounding along the shore, he is hotly, pursued by his long-tongued enemies, whose various notes, and the cheering shouts of the men along the hills, joined with the sounding horns through the woods and on the lake, cause one continual roll of harmonic thunder among the hills and hanging fo

rests.

He now looks upwards, and panting seeks the rocky eminence, but in vain; his lofty antlers, once his pride, are now, alas, his ruin !-He presses

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