n associated
with its use. It was not a school language, to acquire which was
considered an imperative duty; no, no; nor was it a drawing-room
language, drawled out occasionally, in shreds and patches, by the ladies
of generals and other great dignitaries, to the ineffable dismay of poor
officers' wives. Nothing of the kind; but a speech spoken in
out-of-the-way desolate places, and in cut-throat kens, where thirty
ruffians, at the sight of the king's minions, would spring up with
brandished sticks and an "ubbubboo, like the blowing up of a
powder-magazine." Such were the points connected with the Irish, which
first awakened in my mind the desire of acquiring it; and by acquiring it
I became, as I have already said, enamoured of languages. Having learnt
one by chance, I speedily, as the reader will perceive, learnt others,
some of which were widely different from Irish.

Ah, that Irish! I am much indebted to it in more ways than one. But I
am afraid I have followed the way of the world, which is very much wont
to neglect original friends and benefactors. I frequently find myself,
at present, turning up my nose at Irish, when I hear it in the street;
yet I have still a kind of regard for it, the fine old language:

"A labhair Padruic n'insefail nan riogh."

One of the most peculiar features of this part of Ireland is the ruined
castles, which are so thick and numerous that the face of the country
appears studded with them, it being difficult to choose any situation
from which one, at least, may not be descried. They are of various ages
and styles of architecture, some of great antiquity, like the stately
remains which crown the Crag of Cashel; others built by the early English
conquerors; others, and probably the greater part, erections of the times
of Elizabeth and Cromwell. The whole speaking monuments of the troubled
and insecure state of the country, from the most remote periods to a
comparatively modern time.

From the windows of the room where I slept I had a view of one of these
old places--an indistinct one, it is true, the distance being too great
to permit me to distinguish more than the general outline. I had an
anxious desire to explore it. It stood to the south-east; in which
direction, however, a black bog intervened, which had more than once
baffled all my attempts to cross it. One morning, however, when the sun
shone brightly upon the old building, it appeared so near, that I felt
asha