SINCE this Work went to Press, under the name of IERNE, another similarly entitled has been published, the Editor has therefore superadded that now appearing on the title-page, which will account for the discrepancy between it and that heading the pages. IERNE. CHAPTER I. "And, this twenty years, my world: This rock, and these demesnes, have been But, up to the mountains: The venison first, shall be the lord o' the feast; SHAKSPEARE. On the following Monday, Lord Warminster and the Binghams set off for Ballyvoola, the limited accommodation to be met with on the mountain not permitting an extension of the party; Mr. Bingham received his distinguished guest with the utmost hospitality. The Dominie was deputed to conduct him to the various places of note in the locality, amusing him much with the account of his propulsion from the Gun Cave into the interior cavern, which his lordship said was a reversal of all the principles of gunnery, the charge having been shot from the breeching instead of the mouth of this natural piece of ordnance. He was much struck with the wonderful works of nature manifested on this iron-bound coast, where she is seen in some of her most magnificent and sublime features; but with none of her productions more, than with the construction, both physical and moral, of the exhibitor himself. On the morning of the succeeding day, the party set off in one of the rustic conveyances of the country for Cariganore Lodge; they had upwards of twenty miles to go, through a wild country, over a rough road, in many places rendered nearly impassable by deep ruts, over which they had, by their joint exertions, to propel the vehicle. They at length entered on a large irregular plain, extending from the shore up to the base of a range of mountains sweeping round it in a semicircular form, in the midst of which rose up the lofty peak of Cariganore; they entered this range through a narrow pass, and wound round the base of several steep mountains, descending deeper at every turn through a wild ravine, at the bottom of which rushed a rapid river that issued from one of the mountain lakes a couple of thousand feet above. The road soon dwindled into a mere trackway for goats and mountain cattle; they had frequently to cross the river over rough and dangerous passes, the prospect getting wilder and more savage-looking as they advanced; in some places there were large black morasses, from which the bog myrtle sent forth its refreshing perfume, while large clusters of heath and broom of various kinds, flowered among the rocks. After a couple of hours traversing this rough and not very agreeable passage, they entered a circular area surrounded by lofty and precipitous rocks, above which the breasts and summits of the surrounding mountains appeared, Cariganore towering above the whole. There was a considerable extent of rich and grassy land within this natural enclosure, in the centre of which, surrounded by clusters of evergreens, and sheltered by clumps of firs on those sides where the blast swept down the sides of the mountain most violently, stood Cariganore Lodge; it was a long low building of but one story, strongly and substantially built of rough mountain stone, and covered with a heavy coat of thatch; the materials being the contribution of the mountain farmers for miles round, who, on hearing that the recluse intended to settle permanently among them, sent nearly the whole of which it was constructed. Here in that deep gorge between the mountains, through which rushed the impetuous Doonaveena, dark and gloomy-looking from the |