as my business was
but of short duration, I was left, after an early dinner, to amuse
myself. Now, in such a situation, to take a walk is all the brightest
man can do, and the dullest always does the same. There is a kind of
gratification in seeing what one has never seen before, be it ever
so little worth seeing; and the gratification is the greater if the
chances be that one will never see it again. Now Drumsna stands on a
bend in the Shannon; the street leads down to a bridge, passing over
which one finds oneself in the County Roscommon; and the road runs
by the well-wooded demesne of Sir G---- K----; moreover there is a
beautiful little hill, from which the demesne, river, bridge, and
village can all be seen; and what farther _agremens_ than these could
be wanted to make a pretty walk? But, alas! I knew not of their
existence then. One cannot ask the maid at an inn to show one where
to find the beauties of nature. So, trusting to myself, I went
directly away from river, woods, and all,--along as dusty, ugly, and
disagreeable a road as is to be found in any county in Ireland.

After proceeding a mile or so, taking two or three turns to look for
improvement, I began to perceive evident signs on the part of the
road of retrograding into lane-ism; the county had evidently deserted
it, and though made for cars and coaches, its traffic appeared to be
now confined to donkeys carrying turf home from the bog, in double
kishes on their back. Presently the fragments of a bridge presented
themselves, but they too were utterly fallen away from their
palmy days, and in their present state afforded but indifferent
stepping-stones over a bog stream which ran, or rather crept, across
the road. These, however, I luckily traversed, and was rewarded
by finding a broken down entrance to a kind of wood on the right
hand. In Ireland, particularly in the poorer parts--to rank among
which, County Leitrim has a right which will not be disputed--a
few trees together are always the recognised sign of a demesne,
of a gentleman's seat, or the place where a gentleman's seat has
been; and I directly knew that this must be a demesne. But ah! how
impoverished, if one might judge from outward appearances. Two brick
pillars, from which the outside plaster had peeled off and the coping
fallen, gave evidence of former gates; the space was closed up with
a loose built wall, but on the outer side of each post was a little
well worn footpath, made of soft