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violated it in every particular, as was even admitted by the English ambassador. Gregory XVI. granted no liberty, no guarantee, no reform, whilst he exhausted all the resources of the theocratic power. He promised the

envoys to root out the revolution by reform, and he suppressed it by volleys of musketry; he promised to his subjects a new era, and he goaded them on to civil war. The pontifical government, reduced to a mere monopoly of prelates, compelled to tamper with the currency, and supported in turn by the bayonets of Austria, the Swiss mercenaries, and the free corps, keeps up a revolutionary spirit in the very centre of Italy, and compromises the security of all the Italian princes. The violation of the memorandum of, 1831 is the Italian question which diplomacy has to deal with, and this question, thus regarded, seems to admit of no probable solution. Carry out the memorandum and reform the pontifical government, and you secularize it, you destroy it. Is there any government that proposes to secularize the papacy? Can two chambers and responsible ministers be forced on the pope? No; with the

present political data a solution of the Italian problem is utterly impossible. It is necessary that we should go higher, and ask not if it be possible to extinguish a focus of agitation in the Romagna, but whether there is any means of escape for Italy from a state of violence, which is prolonged only by the force of terror? Attempts must not be made to put down the revolution; it must be yielded to so far as its demands are legitimate, and this task can be accomplished neither by France nor by Austria: it must be done by Italy herself. The liberal party beyond the Alps has shed enough of its blood to be entitled to demand a place in the onward movement of Europe. Whatever may be the future history of the peninsula, it is easy even at present to see that the victory ought to belong to the principles which it has defended at the cost of so many sacrifices. This is the conclusion to which the history of the various revolutionary attempts beyond the Alps has conducted us; and to this conclusion we shall again be led when, on another occasion, we shall interrogate the political literature of Italy.

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THE Succeeding week found us 66 once more upon the waters." Few individuals are proof against the charming witchery of sundry soft eyes, sweet lips, and sweeter smiles. It matters little how independent the majority of mankind may esteem themselves-how completely rolled up within that inextricable maze-Self-how stern and impressionless the angles and corners formed by habit, beneath the mighty magic of the innumerous graces alluded to, the most rigid becomes softened down, and the giant, in his own huge estimate of things, begins to play the dwarf!

We can lay claim to no immunity for our friends, from this very lachrymose fate of the residuary allowance of mankind. A few mornings after, accordingly, skimming along up the river, our little bark might be perceived; while mystic visions of a picnic at Bunratty, and a fox-hunt next day, helped, if possible, to add wings to our fairy craft. How we shot from bank to bank, our snowy sails rattling in the breeze, and our little pink streamer trailing gracefully in our wake! We had often before, through the ingenuity of Watt, passed up and down this part of the river, without being particularly struck with its beauties; yet the sunny hours of that morning, as we tacked across from point to point, are still treasured up in our deepest memory.

How many charms did the imagination weave round each nook and inlet-how familiar every isle and rock, castle and tower reflected in the rippling waterssweet Clanderalaw and Tarbert, Foynes and Bunratty.

How often since have we beat across from one to the other, our little jib

BEATTIE.

and foresail" filled to bursting," and the salt spray dashing merrily along our quarter; or again crept along, "whistling" for a breeze in a state of dreamy delightfulness, gazing on the silver current, and those lovely glimpses of sylvan beauty scattered every where around.

The scenery of the Shannon from Tarbert to Limerick has been described as somewhat tame. Though not so wild and magnificent as the wide stretch of "sea and sky" near Loop Head, it possesses charms of a more subdued but not less beautiful character; abounds with woods and slopes in the highest state of cultivation; hills and sweetest valleys, waving with the richest treasures of the summer; and elegant residences, perched on the water's edge, or "high in tufted trees," looking proudly down.

66

Pursuing our course along the river, after leaving Tarbert, the most interesting spot, perhaps, is Glin. Near this, in all probability, poor Eily O'Connor was sacrificed by her inhuman murderers, though the tale of the Collegians" leaves us in doubt on the point; indeed the original occurrence was more tragical than the author was pleased to render his instructive story. Yet is that one great and pervading moral of the novel the danger of giving way to the slightest sin-worth all the Harrison Ainsworth horrors that might have been grafted on it.

A dead body was found washed ashore at a spot called " Money Point," between Tarbert and Kilrush, by two poor fishermen. It had no clothing

of any kind by which it might be recognised, except a small bodice

"Who or what she had been"-we

quote from an account of the matter at the period-" could not be conjectured; but how she came by her death was manifest. They found a rope tied at one end as tightly as possible round the neck, and at the other presenting a large loop, to which they supposed a stone had been attached. From the general state of the body, it must have been under the water for several weeks. The magistrates of the neighbourhood set immediate inquiries on foot, and, by their exertions, a considerable mass of circumstantial evidence was obtained. The most important piece of information was furnished by a young woman from the opposite side of the river. A few weeks before, being at Kilrush, she went down to the river side in search of a passage across to Glin, where she resided with a lady. On arriving, she found a small pleasure-boat on the point of putting off for Tarbert. Six persons were in the boat-three boatmen, two other persons and a young female. Being acquainted with one of the party, she was permitted to go along with them. They immediately got under weigh; but were kept out upon the water the whole of the night from the severity of the weather. Towards morning, they succeeded, however, in reaching a small place below Tarbert, called Carrickfoyle. Here they landed; and, taking a trunk with them, proceeded to a small public-house in the village to dry themselves and obtain some little rofreshment. After breakfast, the boatmen, who had been hired for the single occasion of rowing the boat across the river, were dismissed, and returned towards their homes. The other two of the party also went out, and were absent about an hour, leaving the witness and the other young woman together in the public-house.

"And here some particulars observed by the former, when subsequently recalled to her recollection, became of vital moment as matters of circumstantial evidence. She had forgotten the colour of the dress the young woman wore when they landed at Carrickfoyle. But she well remembered she had on a gray cloth mantle, lined with light blue silk. She also wore a pink-coloured silk handkerchief round her neck, and had on her finger two gold rings-one plain, the other carved. During the absence of the rest of the party also, she had opened her trunk, and with the natural and artless vanity (poor Eily!) of a young female, exhibited several new articles of dress which it contained. Among other things, there were two trimmed spencers, two thin muslin frocks-one plain, the other workedand a green velvet reticule, trimmed with gold lace.

"On the return of the two men to the public-house, they proposed again to get under weigh, evincing considerable opposition, however, to witness accompanying them and the young woman. Seeing this, witness begin to cry at being left behind. They consulted together, put back the boat, and taking her in, conveyed her across a creek, and landed her about three miles below the town of Glin. They then sailed away in the direction of the opposite shore, and she proceeded homewards.

"Next day she was somewhat surprised to see her friend of the day before standing at the door of his mother's house in Glin. She entered the house somewhat casually, and the first thing she perceived was the trunk upon the floor. She asked for the owner, when he stated 'they had shipped her off with the captain of an American vessel.' Two or three days after she saw upon one of his sisters a gray mantle, which she instantly recognised as the one worn by her fellow-passenger. She subsequently saw the silk handkerchief, one of the spencers, and the two muslin frocks. And, finally, about a fortnight after, going into a lodging-house in the small street where she was well known, she found the two men so often alluded to. They were both under the influence of liquor, and one, she happened to perceive, had on the identical gold carved ring she had seen before."

These circumstances, though very strong, were not sufficient as matters of identification, till she recollected a peculiarity of the front teeth of the person alluded to. An examination was forthwith made of the disinterred body, of which every human lineament had escaped, and the sockets of the teeth were found to project as she had mentioned. Upon these extraordinary facts a warrant was issued for the apprehension of the parties. Providence had raised up this young woman to "confound their wisdom." They were both found guilty; and not, as in the novel, allowed still to stain the breath of heaven with their presence, but offered up to the extreme penalty of the law.

Few travellers passing this part of the river but must recollect this thrilling tale, and drop a tear, at least in imagination, o'er those waters which once contained so much of excellence and worth as Eily O'Connor. For us, at least, they possessed the most irrepressible interest.

Not far distant is Knockpatrick,

generally esteemed the highest hill at this side of the Shannon, and commanding by far the most extensive view of this majestic river. On one side winding its silent way towards Limerick on the other spread like an "infant sea" as far as the eye can traverse. Being called after St. Patrick, the hill is held in no little veneration; and on the summit the crumbling remains of an old church, once consecrated to the great saint, are looked upon with feelings of pious awe. an adjoining field his "chair," fashioned of five rude stones, is also preserved ; and, a little way off, his "well," the religious resort of the surrounding peasantry.

In

The ruins of Shanid Castle (one of the strongholds along the Shannon, besieged and taken by the troops of the Lord President Carew, in the time of Elizabeth) are also pointed out in this vicinity. Pieces of the wall still standing, but falling fast to decay, are all that have escaped the devouring edge of time, and serving but indistinctly to shadow forth the once lofty towers of the Desmonds.

The castle is not without

its legendary lore. And sad and moving stories are told of the Geraldine and his lovely countess: the treachery practised to deprive him of his fortress-the siege, and the wild cry of "Shanid-a-bo," echoing through the walls at deepest midnight-the dread slaughter in the castle, and ultimate surrender of land and power by this noble victim of treachery and fraud. Nor can we forget his terrific flight with the partner of his joys and his sorrows-the murder of his beautiful countess, and his final exile. surely poetic justice must have been done, some one will say, and the brave Geraldine must have been restored to his inheritance. It is even so. But let the poet tell the rest. We repeat, somewhat from memory, a few of the sweet verses of dear Gerald Griffin :

"On Shannon side the day is closing fair,

But

The kern sits musing by his shieling low, And marks, beyond the lonely hills of Clare, Blue, rimmed with gold, the clouds of sunset glow.

Hush, in that sun the wide spread waters flow, Returning warm the day's departing smile; Along the sunny highland pacing slow, The keyriaght lingers with his herd the while, And bells are tolling faint from far Saint Sinan's isle."

"Oh, lovely shore! with softest memories twined, Sweet fall the summer on thy margin fair!

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The residence of the "Knight of Glin" presents a somewhat formidable front to the river. The manor, it seems, though forfeited for a short time, was restored in 1603, since which it has descended to its present possessor. The river at Glin is narrow, and, tacking across our starboard quarter, we caught a glimpse of the Knight, in his very pretty boat. The good people here are particularly hospitable; and if we had not many opportunities of testing the fact, the fault was less theirs than ours.

Standing away now for the opposite shore, we got along under Mount Shannon Wood, passing Labasheeda Bay; and, having been once wrecked in this particular locality, let us acquaint thee, O reader! that such a consummation, as Sancho says, was any thing but "tarts and cheesecakes:" three mortal days having been spent

The

by us in this lonely territory. wind lessening a little as we got to this point, sundry fears were felt that some fatality might doom us to such another calamity. However, creeping on, our little craft fell off from the wind in a different direction to that to which it had previously pointed; and the little after-sails again swelling to the breeze, wé glided on by Mount Trenchard and Foynes. Opposite Foynes the picturesque woods of Cahircon strike the eye; and a little farther on the magnificent estuary of the FERGUS, with its numerous isles meets the Shannon. This river arises in Clare, in the barony of Corcomroe. Though small, it presents many interesting points; and, from its source to the place where it here empties itself into the mighty waters of the Shannon, is capable of great improvement. Pursuing its infant course for a short time, it falls into the " Lake of Inchiquin”. the most beautiful spot in Ireland, perhaps, after Killarney-and then passes on to the chief town of the countyENNIS. Vessels of five hundred tons burthen are capable of coming within two miles of Ennis, and very considerable trade is carried on; but, like many other of our Irish rivers, its banks are very imperfect; and, in spite of every thing the resident gentry can accomplish, the low lands are frequently flooded, and the anxious savings of the poor farmer swept away into the Shannon. What an opportunity here is afforded for government aid and employment, we need scarcely intimate. Private enterprise, we fear, can do very little, without some such assistance. Not far from the river are the ruins of Clare Abbey, one of the most perfect and picturesque relics of the past, in this part of Ireland.

Opposite the estuary of the Fergus, the river branches along up for some miles to Askeaton, taking the name of DEEL-the "Beeves" tower standing proudly between each, in the middle. The Shannon here is about ten miles wide, and of a roughish day, presents a magnificent sheet of water. After passing Aughnish, the breeze stiffened a little, and we got right into the middle. Our anxiety to know something about the opposite bank of the river being quite equal to our interest about the Clare side, we discovered that at Askeaton several beautiful relics

are still to be seen. The church at present used was founded in 1298, and belonged to those glorious but persecuted men, the KNIGHTS TEMPLARS, whose banner for nearly two centuries had been unfurled in defence of the Cross. At one side is a transept in ruins at another, the remains of an old tower, and on the opposite side those of a castle, situated on a rock overhanging the river. Here it requires, perhaps, little stretch of fancy to conceive those zealous champions at one time thinking over their deeds of arms the White and Red Cross in opposition to the Paynim flag-the disastrous sieges of Acre and Ascalonthen Godfrey and Saladin-Coeur-deLion and Philip-and that last sad scene of desolation and bloodshed in which their valiant hosts were slaughtered by the merciless Saracens! Looking back at such scenes, to us they appear like fictions of some fervid imagination, and were utterly incredible, did not every day furnish us with fresh instances of the intolerance and cruelty practised in the name of religion—in the name of that meek and lowly Being who wept over Jerusalem-whose sternest reproof was "Go, and sin no more." In this point of view, indeed, these crumbling ruins are full of interest-landmarks in that wide and troubled current which has come down through the "depths and shoals of time" to the present-lessons of deepest pathos in that "philosophy which teaches by example.'

The castle once belonged to the Desmonds, but one of them garrisoning it against Elizabeth, it was blown up, and taken possession of.

Not far from the church, and in view of the river, the ruins of an ancient abbey form an additional feature in the antique scenery of this spot. The cloisters are nearly perfect, bat the walls of the chapel, falling fast to decay, present little else but the eastern gable, remarkable for its beautiful architectural tracery.

Another of those old buildingsBEAGH CASTLE-on the border of the Shannon, appears a little farther up, and carries back the mind to a somewhat different era, when war and rapine assisted to lay bare some of nature's most favoured retreats, and men met to expel an invading enemy with all the rancour and hostility in their power.

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