When the water recedes from this cavity, which is in the rock, it becomes filled with air, and the next wave dashing into it with violence, compresses the air till its elastic force becomes so great as to drive the water back, and sometimes force it up in the form of mist or spray.* CORK. Cork is a maritime county of great size, being the largest in the island, and containing 2990 English square miles. As it comprehends a wide range of sea coast, with an extensive tract of country, it affords great abundance and variety of scenery. The whole of the south-west part is formed by a ridge of mountains, which rises to a considerable height, and runs out into the sea. Few parts of the county can be properly called flat, and though most of the western side is rough and uneven, it is not so rugged as to prevent the use of the plow, or impede cultivation. The Blackwater, so much celebrated for the delightful scenery on its banks, and which has its source within the boundaries of this county, intersects it, and though the finest views attending it are in the county of Waterford, the prospects in the neighbourhood of Mallow and Castle Hyde are truly delightful. The river Lee runs through the city of Cork, and I have been informed that it exhibits most agreeable and pleasing views between that city and Passage; but as I went from Cork to Mr. Newenham's at Coolmore, and thence through Passage and the Great Island to Castle Martyr, I missed the views to which I have alluded. The Bandon also, according to Dr. Beaufort,+ in its course from Inishonan to Kinsale, flows between winding banks covered with the most beautiful woods. In this large county there is a great number of seats, belonging to noblemen and gentlemen of fortune, many of which are ornamented with plantations of thriving timber, and the whole of Cork Harbour is surrounded by places commanding beau- ́ tiful and diversified prospects. As you sail into the harbour, Rostellan, the seat of the Marquis of Thomond, is the most striking. That of Mrs. Connor forms also a delightful spot. In a word, every side of the harbour affords aquatic views magnificent and grand, and the scenery of the mountains beyond Bantry is, perhaps, exceeded by none in Ireland, except that of Killarney. On the 26th of Octobor, 1808, I went to Bantry, proceeding through Kenmare, * A phenomenon of the same kind is observed near some of the Feroe Islands, "Where there are holes or fissures in the rocks, the water is driven into them; and the air contained in these cavities being compressed, forces its way out with a loud report, like that of a cannon, carrying with it the water in the form of smoke or vapour, in which the rays of the sun produces sometimes a beautiful rainbow." Landt's Description of the Feroe Islands, p. 120. † Memoir of a Map of Ireland, p. 95. across the mountains, and bidding farewel to Killarney, Mucross, and its various unrivalled beauties. The views among these mountains are bold, wild, and romantic, but as I had seen them in their most majestic appearance from the top of Mangerton, if I except the nearer sight of the channel between the two lakes, which afforded me great satisfaction, I was not so much struck as I expected. At Kenmare I crossed the river of that name, and passed through a country equally mountainous, abounding with scenes as rude and wild as the imagination can paint, to the head of Bantry Bay. On approaching towards it, but before it comes in sight, the road proceeds quite to the top of a mountain, between which and another of great height, is a glen, where the scenery is much heightened by the peculiarly barren and rugged appearance of the opposite mountain. Here the eye is sometimes attracted by a solitary herd of goats browsing among the heath below; while cultivation, gradually extending up the sides of the hills, forms a pleasing contrast with the desert and more prominent features of the prospect. In this neighbourhood is a place called the "Priest's Leap," but on what account I was not able to learn. From Bantry to Glangarriff, the road passes through mountains. Mr. White's house is an excellent mansion, built in the modern taste, and surrounded by woods rather the production of nature than of art. It stands at the edge of the harbour, which is one of the finest indentations of Bantry Bay, so perfect in its form, and so depressed at the bottom of the lofty and extensive mountains by which it is surrounded, that it looks like a bason beneath you, and though it appears small to the eye at some distance, it is not so in reality. The mountains are separated, rough, and craggy; though inferior in height to M'Gillycuddy's Reeks in Kerry, which hang over the upper lake of Killarney, they possess, in a considerable degree, a terrific grandeur of the same kind. This place is beautiful in the true sense of the word, as it is not indebted to art for any of its embellishments. The eastern side of the harbour, on which this house is built, is well planted with arbutus, holly, and birch, growing in the most luxuriant manner: at every turn you perceive a glen, and each step presents new, varied, and enchanting scenery, the beauty of which is set off to great advantage by the sight of the immense mountains above, and those which surround you on the opposite side of the harbour, and which being barren and untenanted, have in their aspect something uncommonly wild. The oak and the birch do not attain here a large size, but the different tints produced by their foliage add greatly to the richness and variety of the scene. Geraniums, myrtles, and many of the most tender plants, remain out of doors the whole year, under the shelter of a rock, which protects them from the cutting sharpness of the north-easterly winds. The mildness of the climate has no small influence on the scenery of this delightful spot, as the deciduous trees remain stripped of their leaves only during a very short period of the year. The most captivating features of the prospect immediately round the harbour, where the woody glens are seen to the greatest advantage, are by this genial temperature much improved, and a sort of almost perpetual bloom and verdure are maintained. There are here no straight highways, presenting one open view before you. The road winds round the harbour, a new mountain or a new view every moment bursting into sight, which renders the ride to Coolranny Bridge, in particular, one of the most delightful that can be conceived. From this place I ascended the Gowl Mountains, at the gap of which I saw the Bay of Bantry in its full extent, with the mountains on the opposite shore, and in the distant prospect Cape Clear rising above them all. Hungra Hill, which was now in full view, appears to me to be wrongly placed in all the maps which I had an opportunity of examining, previously to the publication of that by Mr. Arrowsmith. I regret much that my time would not allow me to ascend it, as I am told that it commands the most extensive prospects any where to be seen. The fall of water down its sides, during rainy seasons, is exceedingly grand. When at Bantry I had the pleasure of viewing it, although twenty miles distant. I cannot quit this neighbourhood without recommending to every traveller whose object may be to see the romantic, beautiful, or sublime scenes of nature, to pay `particular attention to this part of Ireland. Killarney is spoken of as the ultimatum of every thing worth visiting in the United Empire; but highly as I think of it, though gratified and delighted by its enchanting and extraordinary scenery, I can. not help saying, that I consider Glangarriff, and the adjacent country, if not exactly its rival, at any rate a place of uncommon beauty; interesting in no small degree; possessing charms various and striking; embracing scenes suited to almost every taste; and, upon the whole, such as must always arrest the notice and excite the admiration of those who seek for nature in her most favoured retreats. The mountains exhibit as much of the terrific in their character and shapes, and want nothing but a greater height to render them as celebrated as those of Kerry. But though these mountains have less elevation, the wide expanse of water, and the views connected with so noble a bay as that of Bantry, make up for this defect, and create an interest, which those who feel it cannot well describe. For my part, Glangarriff and its numerous beauties made such a deep impression on my mind, that the picture is still lively, and will not easily be effaced. The grounds immediately adjoining to Mr. White's house are highly dressed and ornamented, like those around the best kept seats in England, owing, I believe, to the elegant taste of his lady. This decoration, as far as it goes, deserves to be admired; but its effect is in some measure lost, when compared and contrasted with the adjacent grand scenery of nature, which, disdaining the shackles of art, scatters her fantastic beauties with an irregularity that never satiates the eye, and with an endless variety which, always presenting some new object, excites fresh delight. In taking leave of the south-west part of Ireland, I think it necessary to call the attention of the reader to the bays and harbours, almost without number, by which its shores are broken and indented, and which are all sheltered by mountains of very considerable height. I must mention also the immense masses of rock which, stretching out into the Atlantic, form prominent head-lands, such as Dursey Head, and others of the like nature, to defend the bays, roadsteds, and harbours, from the violence of that mighty ocean, which rolls its foaming waves towards them with impetuous force. The terrific effects, produced by the immense surges, swelled to the size of mountains, dashing against the gigantic sides of these tremendous bulwarks, exposed for ages to many a rude shock, cannot be conceived by those who have never beheld them; and even when seen, can with difficulty be described. The scenes they produce are uncommonly striking and grand. The philosophic observer who, extending his view beyond the stretch of ordinary minds, penetrates into the economy of nature, and sees how means are best adapted to promote certain ends, will here find his ideas exalted in no small degree, and his thoughts naturally directed to the wisdom and power of HIM who has set bounds to the raging ocean, and so providentially provided for the security of insular situations, by placing them on the most solid basis, and fencing them with massy mounds, capable of resisting the inroads which that immense body of water, in consequence of its continued agitation and violence, might otherwise make. I have somewhere read of an extraordinary genius who, being at sea in the time of a violent storm, caused himself to be lashed to the mast of the vessel, that he might enjoy; in all its terrific grandeur, the sublime spectacle exhibited by the contending elements. But, to those fond of such scenes, I would recommend a station on the summit of some of these cliffs, where, during stormy weather, they might view, without danger, one of the most awful sights that nature can exhibit, for, as has been well expressed by a Roman poet, a great part of the pleasure in such cases arises from the spectator being conscious that he himself is in safety. Suave, mari magno turbantibus æquora ventise E terrâ magnum alterius spectare laborem : Sed, quibus ipse malis careas, quia cernere suave est. Lucretius de Rerum Nat. lib. ii. How sweet to stand, when tempests tear the main, Good's Translation. On the 12th of November I reached Castlemartyr, standing on a domain of 1200 acres covered with beautiful plantations. The land is flat, and I must remark, that so large an extent of this kind is uncommon for Ireland. The evergreens were grow ing with Irish luxuriance, and every thing bore the appearance of being preserved in a state of great neatness. The substratum is limestone, so that the ground becomes immediately dry after the heaviest rain. The mansion is old, but commodious, and the tout ensemble renders this one of the finest places in the kingdom: the mouldering remains of an ancient castle, peeping through the foliage of the ivy under which they are buried, at a small distance from the house, and a considerable sheet of water, kept exceedingly clean, give a more picturesque appearance to the scenery, and add to its beauty. Lady Shannon's flower-garden displays great elegance, and her green-houses advantageously placed, and stocked with a variety of curious plants and exotics, make the spectator imagine that he is transported to a perfect fairy land, encircled by a magnificent bank, covered by arbutus, holly, laurel, mountain-ash, and other trees and shrubs. The whole does great honour to the judgment of the distinguished personage after whose plan these different objects were arranged and disposed, and shows in a striking manner, that there are Irish ladies who possess a fine and correct taste in the modern art of landscape gardening. it November 23, 1808, I paid a visit to Castle Hyde, which is surrounded by a domain of 1100 acres; it fronts the south, and stands immediately beneath a rock, close to it, which rises nearly to the same height. The Blackwater intersects this most beautiful park, rolling its waters along with that rapidity so common to the rivers in the south of Ireland, and which gives them so lively an appearance. At this place passes between very high land, clothed on each side with wood, approaching within a stone's throw of the house. The domain of Crag, forming part of the Hyde property, and adjoining that of Castle Hyde, adds, by its plantations, to the scenery of the latter. The pleasure-grounds are kept in excellent order, and the whole forms a most agreeable residence, which, with great propriety, may be classed among the firstrate places in the kingdom. On the 25th of November I reached Mallow, a town and large estate belonging to Mr. Jephson, within the precincts of which, on the edge of the Blackwater, stand the ruins of Mallow Castle. Crossing the river by a bridge of twelve arches, I went to the seat of the Honourable R. Hare, at Ballyellis, a modern edifice, built with considerable taste in a well-ornamented domain, which a few years ago was only mountain-land. It is not more than a mile from the town, of which it commands an advantageous view, including the river and bridge. I next paid a visit to Lowhart Castle, belonging to Lord Arden, which, like many other mansions in this country, was built by his Lordship's ancestors, probably in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as a place of refuge for the inhabitants during times of trouble. It is still entire, and inhabited by his steward. On the top it has a terrace, upon which a defence could be made on every side, and is surrounded by a moat. It stands on a rising ground, embosomed within a circular screen of firs and other |