The guides tell you a number of wonderful superstitious tales about this same yew tree, the recital of which you must listen to whether you will or no, as they consider it a part of the value they are to give for their day's hire. Many of the views of the lake and its shores from different parts of the demesne of Mueness, are exquisitely beautiful, and would be very interesting if one were not pestered with a guide who does not fail to observe that "here is a mighty nate skitch of the wather-isn't thim rocks purty?" In sum, the view was fine, the arbutus was in full fruit, and in full flower-the fruit presented every variety of tint, from the erude green of first formation, to the red ripeness of maturity. The holly, too, and the mountain ash, were covered with berries of a different shade of red, and the service tree with others of a lighter tint; while the sere and changing leaves of the oak, ash, beech, and alder, formed a foliage which presented an endless variety of hues. The fantastic shapes of most of the limestone cliffs, which form the water-worn shores, are very curious, and are named by the natives after various things to which they are conceived to bear a rude resemblance; they indicate a violent action of the water, very different from the smooth and placid stillness of the lake while I looked upon it, and told of former commotion, like a battered and shattered fortress, in the midst of a country smiling in peace and tranquillity.

Leaving Mucness, I began the ascent of Mangerton by a mountain path from a little village called Clogh

ereen.

As you ascend, you leave the lakes behind; but from several points, when one turns about and looks down, the prospect is extremely beautiful. The lakes, studded with little wooded islands, and bounded by huge mountains, whose ample sides are clothed with trees, lie like a delicious picture beneath your feet, while the wreaths of curling smoke mark the town of Killarney in the distance, and new vistas open in the mountains to the right, disclosing glens, whose gloomy sides are contrasted with the glittering surface of the little lakes that lie deep in their bosoms. At the height of nearly two thousand feet, on turning the shoulder of a slight and abrupt cininence, more perpendicular than

the general line of the ascent, you come suddenly upon a still lake of very considerable extent, awfully deep and cold-this is called the "Devil's Punch Bowl." The name embodies in it a pithy moral; for if Satan can boast no better liquor than this, it is an awful warning not to travel his way, nor put up in his quarters. I have heard, over the Border, that he had need o' a lang-shankit spune that sups kail wi' the deil; and I can testify that he had need of a flask of aquavitæ, that means to take a glass of grog with him after supper. A Glasgow man, who was here once on a fine summer's evening, after tasting of the cool and crystal flood, exclaimed to his guide, "God-sake, man, what a glorious bowl of punch you would mak, if a buddy could turn intil't, for about half an hour, a stream of rum, like that that runs beneath the New Brig o' Glasgow after a Lammas flood; wi' the juice o' a' the leemons that grew since the creation; and twa. lumps o' sugar, the taen as big as the High Kirk, and the tither the size o' the Infirmary!" "Anan?" said the guide, astonished at this speech, of which he hardly understood one word; but the man from the Gorbals, wrapped in the magnificence of his thoughts, heeded him not, and, musing, took his way down the hill-side. On the side of this lake, which you first reach, the hill is barely high enough to keep in the waters, while, on the opposite side, it shoots up in a steep ascent to the summit of the mountain. climbing here is rather terrific, as the least slip would send you rolling backwards into the deep lake below; but my head was so full of a little experiment I had in view, that I thought not of the danger. I had been mightily taken with that notable new discovery of the celebrated sixpenny philosopher, Brougham, which overturns the antiquated systems of such fellows as Kepler and Newton (whose discoveries formed a part of that "wisdom of our ancestors," which has been lately discovered to be all fudge), and oversets the "ould" law of gravity, to the incalculable spread of useful knowledge, and the signal honour and glory of the new Cockaigne University. Now, in ascending Mangerton, I had been dreadfully pestered by a set of fellows, each of whom insisted on acting as guide to my ho

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nour, and, after many ineffectual efforts to dismiss them, I had changed my plan, and told them, that since no entreaties of mine could induce them to desist, as many might accompany as chose. Meanwhile, I secretly pleased myself with the thought of how cleverly I should outwit them. "Gravity," said I, extracting Brougham's treatise from my pocket, and reading therefrom, gravity varies with the distance exactly in the proportion of the squares, lessening as the distance increases: at two miles from the earth, it is four times less than at one mile; at three miles, nine times less, and so forth." Very well, I continued, if, at one hundred yards high, these men weigh ten stone each (and I'm sure they were not more, for they were small light-limbed fellows), when we get up two hundred yards, that weight will be diminished in the ratio of one to four; and when we shall get eight hundred yards up the hill, which is near the top, their weight will be to ten stone each, but as one square is to eight square, that is, one to sixty-four; in short, they will be little more than two pounds a-piece. Here then was my scheme the fresh mountain breeze made me feel as vigorous as ever I did in my life-So, thought I, I shall, on some pretence, range my guides in a row along the top of the mountain, at intervals of twelve paces, which will allow room for a tidy little run between each; then, taking my race, I shall give each, in succession, a kick in the breech so vigorous, that, as they will he then little heavier than so many blown bladders, I shall see them severally wafted down the hill, to at least half a mile from the point of impact, and I can get clear off at my leisure. On the brow of the hill then, over Satan's bowl of toddy as aforesaid, I ranged my men in order, and commenced operations; but, judge of my astonishment and dismay, when the first man, instead of floating swiftly down the hill-side, with an initial velocity proportionate to the impetus communicated by the lever power of my dexter toe, exhibited such an unphilosophical vis inertia, as actually to withstand the shock, and collar me in an instant, demanding, with a volley of oaths, and in language somewhat of the plainest, what the devil I meant. The altercation soon turned the rest, who

hastily inquired what was the matter. "The matter!" said he of the wounded seat, "by Jasus, I never got such a kick in the in my life; an' I'll take the law of him, so I will."

I never felt so convinced of the excellence of the metaphysical definition of solidity-it is, that resistance which we find in a body to the entrance of any other body into its place, until the former one has been removed. This resistance I had experienced to my cost; and it so completely overset my centre of gravity, that had not the fellow collared me so quickly, I should have been laid sprawling on my mother earth, floored by the equality of re-action to action; whereas I had expected but to beat the air, I looked as blank as a friar at a feast on a Friday; but as a man cannot have everything his own way in this world, like a bull in a china shop, I was fain to ascribe my proceeding to an occasional flightiness to which I was subject, and got off by tendering a golden remedy of sovereign efficacy for the sore place, and a full day's pay to all the rest. Then, muttering an anathema as mild as Doctor Slop's malediction on Obadiah, against all Jews, Whigs, atheists, lying philosophers, and other atrocious persons, I crept to the topmost summit of Mangerton.

As

Pardon, as Mr Locke says, this little excursion into physics. The failure of my first essay in natural philosophy, left me in that frame of heavenly pensive contemplation best suited for relishing and appreciating the beauties of external nature; and now, indeed, a scene of inimitable grandeur burst upon my astonished sight, I faced towards the east, I beheld a wide reach of the Atlantic, with the little islands, called the Blasquets, in the distance; farthest to my right the bays of Castlemaine and Dingle, with the hills above them, were visible on the southern horizon; while far upon my left, Bantry Bay was distinctly discernible; and more near me, in the same direction, the bay and river of Kenmare. Right beneath lay all the glories of Killarney-groups of mountains, richly wooded, dwindled into conical, or fantastically shaped hills from the height at which I stood, while sections of the different lakes stealing in amongst them in every direction, and reflecting the dancing sunbeams, gave light and effect down to

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the very base of every group. whole scene more resembled one of "those painted clouds that beautify our days," and deck the sunny skies of imagination, than anything one is accustomed to in nature and reality. Then came a change a thick mist suddenly spread itself over the valley, and soon, in volumed masses, came rolling up the mountain's side, with a fearful and astonishing rapidity, and then sweeping across the whole line of view, shut the scene, as though it were a curtain drawn by the hand of God across the face of his most glorious creation. One minute all was sparkling in the sun, the next enveloped everything in a cold wet cloud, which I distinctly saw rushing towards me, till it struck me in the face, and clothed me like a wet garment. Shortly afterwards came on a shower of sharp, hard, little hailstones, that penetrated like needle points, and soon it turned to a mixture of snow and sleet. Under this I wended my way along a mountain path that overhangs the Punch-Bowl and Gleana Cappul, or the Horse's Glyn. When the shower began to clear away, and the mist occasionally broke up, so as to transmit a gleam of light, it was almost fearful to look down the precipitous steep upon the sullen water, or the huge void of the deep glyn; while, from every jagged eminence, depended a fleece of fog, streaming like the torn banners from some castle's height, after the rush of the battle is over.

By the time I had slowly descended, with the assistance of the guide, to the bottom of the slippery and almost perpendicular bank, to the level of the loch, the mist had passed away, and left only the fleecy rack careering with the wind; so that, after I had addressed myself with earnest diligence to my sandwiches, and repeated draughts of neat Hollands, I bounded down the mountain to Turk waterfall, with the vigour and agility of a native red deer; took the water at Glenah, and rowed across to Ross Castle, touching only at the island of Innisfallen, a delicious, quiet, little spot of soft green, and full of trees of Nature's

own planting. The Abbey here has nothing to offend one, nor truly anything very much to interest either, though it be I know not how many ages older than that of Mucness. I must except one spot, to which the fair-haired gilly who showed the lions directed my attention in a manner rather to be imagined than described. The stone-wall was there stripped of its ivy covering, and seared, evidently with the traces of recent fire; the scattered wood-ashes, too, on which the pensive eye of the lad rested, as his lip moistened, and his whole countenance assumed the pleasing melancholy cast of well-remembered pleasure-all, all betokened "that man had been here." "That, sir," said the lad, at length breaking silence, with a sigh of deep emotion, "that is the place where they brile the salmon wid branches of arbutus-just as they takes it out of the wather, they splits it, sir, and fixes it up wid arbutus skivers." "And is it excellent?" "Devil a bether in the nayshins."-(Nations.) Here was food for meditation! How idly do philosophers dispute whether man should be defined a rational, or a cooking animal! There needs but half an eye to see that the terms are synonymous.

When I reached the Kenmare Arms, and had changed my travel-stained habiliments-for next to the dinner itself, the greatest terrestrial enjoyment is the preparation for it-I stretched my legs beneath Mr Finn's mahogany; and as Dennis uncovered a salmon full of curd, "and a red and smoking round, of which the base was planted out," as foresters express it, by a screen of mellow foliage, I acknowledged that Killarney did abound in objects at once sublime and beautiful. Toil and hunger gave zest to food and rest. The pleasant fire-the steam of rich perfumes which rose from the dinner-table-the good old wine that followed,-gradually soothed me into incipient slumber, and sinking back into my easy-chair, as I muttered after honest Jack Falstaff, "Shall I not take mine case in mine inn ?" I sunk into balmy repose.

A FRIEND of mine, with whom I lately compared churchyard "experiences," gave me a little narrative of one which had recently fallen to his share, during an angling excursion in one of our northern counties. It will be best and easiest to let the narrator speak in his own person, so, without further preamble, "I tell the tale as it was told to me."

Arriving about dark one evening at a large village, where I proposed taking up my quarters for the night, I observed a general stir and agitation, as if a bee-hive were pouring forth its swarming colonists; and as I proceeded down the long straggling street, towards the sign of "The Jolly Miller," the whole population of the place seemed streaming in the opposite direction of the churchyard, which I had passed at the entrance of the village. Men, women, and children, were hurrying along, with an appearance of eager trepidation; and there was a general hum of voices, though every one seemed to speak below his natural key, except a few blustering youngsters, who were whetting their own courage, by boasting of it with valiant oaths and asseverations, and ridiculing the cowardice of the women and children. The latter were running along close by their mothers, holding fast by their gowns or aprons, and every minute pressing nearer, and looking up in their faces, with eyes of fearful inquiry. As the different groups scudded swiftly by me, I caught here and there a few disjointed words about " a ghost," and "the churchyard," and "all in white," and "Old Andrew," and "ten-foot high," and "very awful!" Half-tempered was I to turn with the stream, and wind up my day's sport with a Ghost hunt, but the sign of the Jolly Miller waving before me, and the brown loaf, and

foaming can, so naturally depicted thereon, were irresistible attractions to a poor Piscator, who had fasted since early morning from all but the delights of angling; and who, as day declined, had followed the windings of the stream for many a weary mile, to seek rest and refreshment at the

village hostelrie. It was well for me that I arrived not in equestrian equipage, for neither landlord, hostler, nor male biped of any denomination, was visible about the large old house and its adjacent stable-yard. But I needed no attendance; so stooping with my shoulder-load of rod, basket, and landing-net, as I stept down one step into the low heavy old porch, I passed straight on into the kitchen, where a blazing fire in the huge gaping chimney, gave me a cheerful welcome, though neither there, nor in the adjoining tap-room, could I espy signs or tokens of any living creature. I could have been well contented to take silent possession of one of the high-backed settles within the ingle-nook, had there been wherewithal within reach to appease "the rage of hunger," whose importunate calls were rather incited than

suppressed by the feeling of warmth and comfort which circulated through my whole frame, as I stood beside the So I called companionable hearth. lustily, and thumped the end of my fishing-rod against the heavy oaktable and dark wooden partition, till at last came hurrying forth from an inner-chamber, a little old woman, whose sharp shrivelled face betokened no mood of sweet complacency. But a few words, intimating my intentions of sojourning in her house that night, and my voracious designs upon her larder and ale-butt, smoothed, as if by magic, half the wrinkles in her face, and put her in such good-humour, with me at least, that she would fain have installed me into the chilling magnificence of the parlour, whose sanded and boarded floor, and dismal fireless grate, nodding with plumes of fennel, like the Enchanted Helmet in the Castle of Otranto, I was obliged to glance at, though the first glimpse sent me back with shivering eagerness to the comforts of the kitchen hearth,

where at last I was permitted to settle myself, while mine hostess spread for me a little claw-table, with a snowwhite cloth, and set about preparing my savoury supper of fried eggs and

rashers.

It was not till I had dispatched two

courses of those, with a proportionate quantum of "jolly good ale and old," that I found leisure, while attacking the picturesque ruins of a fine old Cheshire cheese, to question mine ancient hostess respecting those signs of popular agitation which had excited my curiosity as I came through the village. My inquiry set wide open the floodgates of her eloquence and indignation. "Well I might ask," she said, "but, for her part, she was almost ashamed to tell me what fools the folks made of themselves,-her master among 'em,-who was old enough to know better, Lord help him than to set off, night after night, galloping after a ghost,-with Bob Östler at his heels, and that idle hussy Beckey, leaving her to mind the house, and look to everything, and be robbed and murdered for what they knew, and all for what quotha? She wished, when their time came, they might lie half as quiet in their graves as old Andrew did in his, for all their nonsensical crazy talk about his walking o' nights." I waited patiently till the 'larum had unwound itself, then taking up that part of the desultory invective which more immediately related to the haunted churchyard, and its unquiet tenant, I got the old lady fairly into the mood of story-telling; and from what she then related to me, and from after gleanings among other inhabitants of the village, succeeded in stringing together a tolerably connected narrative.

Andrew Cleave, whose remains had been interred the preceding week in Redburn Churchyard, was the oldest man in its large and populous parish, and had been one of the most prosperous among its numerous class of thriving and industrious husbandmen.

His little property, which had descended from father to son for many generations, consisted of a large and comfortable cottage, situated on the remote verge of the village common, a productive garden, and a few fields, which he cultivated so successfully, rising up early, and late taking rest, that by the time he had attained the middle period of life, he was enabled to rent a score more acres had got together a pretty stock of cattle-had built a barn and enclosed a rickyard-and drove as fine a team as any in the parish-was altogether accounted a man "well to do in the world,"

and was generally addressed by the style and title of "Farmer Cleave." Then-and not till then, and still with most phlegmatic deliberation, he began to look about him for a partner -a help meet-in the true homely sense of the word, was the wife he desired to take unto himself; and it was all in vain-"Love's Labour Lost"-that many a wealthy farmer's flaunting daughter-and many a gay damsel of the second table, from my lord's, and the squire's-and divers other fair ones set their caps at wary Andrew, and spake sweet words to him when chance threw them in his path, and looked sweet looks at him, when he sat within eyeshot at church, in his own old oaken pew, hard by the clerk's desk, with his tall, bony, athletic person, erect as a poker, and his coal-black hair (glossy as the raven's wing) combed smooth down over his forehead, till it met the intersecting line of two straight jetty eyebrows, almost meeting over the high curved nose, and overhanging a pair of eyes, dark, keen, and lustrous; but withal, of a severe and saturnine expression, well in keeping with that of the closely compressed lips, and angular jaw. Those lips. were not made to utter tender nonsense -nor those eyes for ogling, verily; but the latter were sharp and discerning enough, to find out such qualifications as he had laid down to himself, as indispensable in his destined spouse, among which (though Andrew Cleave was justly accounted a close, penurious man) money was not a paramcunt consideration, as he wisely argued within himself, a prudent wife might save him a fortune, though she did not bring one. A small matter by way of portion could not come amiss, however, and Andrew naturally treighed in with her other perfections the twenty years' savings of the vicar's housekeeper, whose age did not greatly exceed his own who was acknowleged to be the best housewife in the parish, and the most skilful dairy-woman, having come from a famous cheese country, whose fashions she had successfully introduced at Redburn Vicarage. Beside which, Mrs Dinah was a staid, quiet person-not given to gadding and gossiping and idle conversation; and, "moreover," quoth Andrew, "I have a respect unto the damsel, and, verily, I might go farther and fare worse.' "Marry in