o matter, thought I, the hotel at least looks
well. This consolatory reflection of mine was elicited by the prospect
of a large stone building of some storeys high, whose granite portico
and wide steps stood in strange contrast to the miserable mud hovels
that flanked it on either side. It was a strange thought to have placed
such a building in such a situation. I dismissed the ungrateful notion,
as I remembered my own position, and how happy I felt to accept its
hospitality.

A solitary jaunting-car stood on the canal side--the poorest specimen
of its class I had ever seen. The car--a few boards cobbled up by some
country carpenter--seemed to threaten disunion even with the coughing of
the wretched beast that wheezed between its shafts; while the driver, an
emaciated creature of any age from sixteen to sixty, sat shivering upon
the seat, striking from time to time with his whip at the flies that
played about the animal's ears, as though anticipating their prey.

'Banagher, yer honour? Loughrea, sir? Bowl ye over in an hour and a
half. Is it Portumna, sir?'

'No, my good friend,' replied I, 'I stop at the hotel.'

Had I proposed to take a sail down the Shannon on my portmanteau, I
don't think the astonishment could have been greater. The bystanders,
and they were numerous enough by this time, looked from one to the other
with expressions of mingled surprise and dread; and indeed had I, like
some sturdy knight-errant of old, announced my determination to pass
the night in a haunted chamber, more unequivocal evidences of their
admiration and fear could not have been evoked.

'In the hotel!' said one.

'He is going to stop at the hotel!' cried another.

'Blessed hour!' said a third, 'wonders will never cease!'

Short as had been my residence in Ireland, it had at least taught me one
lesson--never to be surprised at anything I met with. So many views
of life peculiar to the land met me at every turn, so many strange
prejudices, so many singular notions, that were I to apply my previous
knowledge of the world, such as it was, to my guidance here, I should
be like a man endeavouring to sound the depths of the sea with an
instrument intended to ascertain the distance of a star. Leaving,
therefore, to time the explanation of the mysterious astonishment around
me, I gathered together my baggage, and left the boat.

The first impressions of a traveller are not uncommonly his best. The
finer and more distinctive features