in the triumphs of the fortunate, and the helplessness of the captive, while suffering under the misery that bold bad men inflicted in troubled times. When the M'Quillan's of the Rout, and the M'Donnel's of the Glyns, either gained or lost this debateable strong hold. Landing in this cavern, we passed up through its landsside entrance towards the ruin; the day had become exceeding warm, and going forth from the coolness of the cave into the sultry atmosphere, we felt doubly the force of the sun's power:-the seabirds had retreated to their distant rocks-the goats were panting under the shaded ledges of the cliffs-the rooks and choughs with open beaks and drooping wings were scattered over the downs, from whose surface the air arose with a quivering undulating motion-we were all glad for a time to retire to where, under the shade of the projected cliff, a cold clear spring offered its refreshing

waters.

Reader, surely you cannot be at a loss for a drawing or print of Dunluce Castle-take it now I pray you in hand, and observe with me the narrow wall that connects the ruined fortress with the mainland; see how this wall is perforated, and without any support from beneath, how it hangs there, braving time and tempest, and still needing no power of arch, simply by the strength of its own cemented material-the art of man could not make such another self-supported thing, it is about eighteen inches broad, just the path of a man, dont fear to cross it, rest assured it wont tumble with you, it has borne many a better man, so come on, who's afraid"I really cannot bring myself to venture," was the reply of both my companions. "Sit ye down then ye giddy-headed cockneys, and bask your day in the sun, Alick and I will step across and visit the Banshee." So with the greatest ease we tripped acrossCarrick-a-rede is seventy times more fearful. And now Mr. M'Mullen, as you and I have this old place to ourselves, "come shew me every thing, and tell me all about it"-" with the greatest pleasure in life, Sir, (says Alick) for it gave me joy to see a gentleman like you hopping like a jack-daw over that bit of a wall, and indeed many a good one comes here like yon gentleman and lady, who I believe have their skulls full of what they call nerve, instead of sensible steady brains." "Well Alick, beyond a doubt this is a fine old place"-"Why then, Sir, its you that may say that, for many a battle and bloody head was about it in good old fighting times, when fighting and fun were all one in merry Ireland.". "Come then, Alick, tell me some of this fighting fun that the good old happy people you speak of enjoyed here in Dunluce."-" And does it become me to tell your honour of the wars of Dunlucewhy, I thought as how, with your black coat and spatterdashes, you might be a scholar-besides, as you intend to see the Causeway and the cave, and Pleaskin, it may be your honour won't have time to hear all I have to tell you about the M'Quillans, and M'Donnels, and Surly boy, and Captain Merriman-but at any rate I'll tell you, in short, about the boat-race, whereby this Castle was won and lost, when the M'Quillans and M'Donnels contended for it in the presence of the king of Scotland, and agreed to leave their right to

the issue of a row from Isla to Dunluce-he who first touched the land was to have the Castle as his prize. So they started on just such a day as this, wind and wave agreed to sit still and let the oarsmen have fair play-and to be sure it was they who rowed for honour and glory as for life-and the M'Quillans prayed enough to St. Patrick, and the M'Donnels to Columkill of the Isles, and neither, you may be sure, spared the spirits for it's hard to say, whether John Highlandman, or Pat of the Green hills, is better at that work; but at any rate on they came, beautiful and abreast, like two swans cutting, with white bosoms, the green waters; and now it was pull Paddy, and now it was pull Sandy, and none on the shore could tell for their lives which was foremost-but at any rate, the Irish boys shouted enough and prayed enough for the M'Quillans; and now, Sir, they were within stone's throw, and now almost within oars length, when what do you think my Scotchman did?-For never put it past canny Sawney, all the world over for getting the better of others; and if he fails at fair beating, he'll not pass by cheating; so it was here. The two chiefs were each at their boat's bow, and M'Quillan had his long arm outstretched, and M'Donnel held his lochaber ax in his hand, and all at once laying his left wrist on the gunwale before him, he slashed at it with his hatchet, severed it at a blow, and while it was spinning out blood, he flung it with all his force against the rock; and do you see where that sea-parrot is now perched, on that bird's-nest ledge, there the bleeding hand lay, and the red mark is said to be there, though I have never seen it, unto this very day.

Huzza for M'Donnel, Dunluce is our own,

In spite of M'Quillan the Castle is won.

Such was the cry of the Scotchmen as they landed, and so it was that even the Irish gave it in favour of the foreigner, who at the expense of his limb won the prize, and long and many a day the Scotchman held it, until he became a good Irishman, and to this hour you may see a bloody hand painted in the middle of Lord Antrim's coat of arms."

"Well, and Alick, how long is it since this castle was inhabited ?" "Come along, till I'm after showing you what was once the kitchen, and then I'll tell you." So he led me through the long weeds and rank grass of a small court-yard, to the extreme north point of the ruins, where the walls and battlements had given way, and a yawning chasm exposed the precipice over the cave's mouth, some hundred feet below. It appeared that the greater part of the apartment we were now standing in had, by some sudden crash, fallen at once into the sea below. It seemed to have been the castle kitchen ;there remained the mantle-piece of a huge fire-place and doubtless many a sirloin and baron of beef, many a fat pig and curdy salmon, sent their savoury steam up that wide-mouthed chimney.

"What happened to this poor old kitchen, Alick ?"—" Why, Sir, some sixty or eighty years ago-myself is not sure, but it was long before even my grandfather's day-the Lady Margaret M'Donnell, who during her widowhood kept the castle for her young son,

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according to the old hospitable usage of the family, and in honour of Christmas times, gave a grand entertainment; and the Chichesters of Belfast, and the O'Neils of Shane's Castle, and the Hamiltons of Tyrone, with Stewarts and Montgomerys, and what not-I may say all the grandees of the North-were here; and a dinner fit for King George and all his Parliament was a-dressing for them, and while all was fun and fuss within, it was rather rough work outside. That smooth, green, silky sea, there now before you, on a December night, when the north-west gale sets in, has another guess appearance, beating and lashing the coast in a terrible passion, and rattling about these old walls. But who cared for all that; its grey stones sure were accustomed to such peltings, all was quite natural to them; so no one minded what was a-going on without-it might be a sea-boat's business, but what was it to the castle of Dunluce. So the piper was merry in the hall, and the cook stewing away in the kitchen; and as there were as many dishes to be dressed as there are days in the year, why a tinker was sitting in yonder window, mending the kettles and sawdering the pots and pans, when all of a sudden a roll of the tempest came on, and then a crack, as if all the cannons in Coleraine were firing-and, without a moment's notice, kitchen and cook, dresser and table, all the meat and all the maids in the place went down awfully into the howling ocean, and not a soul or a thing remained, but the poor tinker, who sat in yonder window, and it is called the tinker's window to this day. I need not tell your honor how the grandees tucked their skirts, and got on firm land as fast as possible, lest they should follow the poor cook to feed the fishes: and so the Lady Margaret moved off with all haste, and fixed herself at Glenarm; and after a time the roofs here fell in, and the place has remained the ruin that you see it, ever since. But to be sure your honour won't quit the place until you see the Banshee's tower, the place where red Meg sits, and weeps, and sings." "No, indeed, Alick; far be it from me to treat with such inattention a Banshee's parlour. I suppose in the broad day, and in the shining of the sun, there would be no chance of hearing, let alone seeing her." "Ah, no, heaven forbid that you or I, or any other mortal man, saw or heard her. If we did but hear one keen from her sorrowful throat, as sure as the tide, we would hear next day of the death of a M'Donnell. She used, they say, to keen for the M'Quillan, but ever since they lost this castle and the Rout, she gave herself to the M'Donnells; and as she is never seen for good, and never sings but for death, I believe the Lady Antrim herself would as lieve she'd stay away, and let her singing alone; for it strikes me, that her ballad must be just as melancholy as that of 'Death and the Lady.' Here Alick ushered me into a little round apartment in the eastern tower, the floor of which was quite smooth-just such a floor as a boy would like to play marbles on; not a nettle, or dock-leaf, or blade of grass was there: it seemed newly swept and garnished for some purpose."And this was done last night, and every night, by the Banshee," said Alick, "for she is a clean little body, and it's a thousand pities that she is such a sad thing, ever and always in the dumps."

It was now high time, if we wanted to make the most of a fine day, to leave Dunluce; so I returned over the narrow wall to seek my companions, who were sitting under the shade of the cliff.→ We immediately proceeded to take boat again, and row across the bay, for the Causeway. The intense heat of the day made the operation of rowing very distressing to the boatmen, and as they all seemed to have partaken largely of the Orange festivities of the preceding day, and were therefore suffering under a double cause of thirst, of course the whiskey bottle we brought with us, as part of our bargain, was in very constant demand; at the same time, though these men seemed to have a most voracious desire for this burning liquid, to make them cool, it seemed to take no effect on their heads, so accustomed were they to its excitement. They were all fine, strong, well-dressed men, and spoke with that habitual freedom and unconstrained self-respect, that characterize the Protestant population of the North; at the same time it was quite evident that there was no intention to be uncivil. While pushing off from shore, and evidently contending against a strong setting current of the tide, Mr. McMullen, our guide, as in duty bound, continued to entertain the crew and company with his songs and stories; and certainly the quaint, comical, absurd manner and countenance of the man, more than either his songs or his stories, made not only the boat

men, but my fellow-travellers and me, laugh not a little. While we were thus expressing our good-humour, one of the boatmen, who seemed to have the superiority over the rest, and who, I believe, owned the boat, observed, Well, of all the Methodist Preachers ever I saw, you, Gentlemen, are the merriest. "And pray, my good fellow, why is it that you take my friend here and me for Methodist Preachers ?" "Oh, be quiet now, don't I know the like of you well enough; I knew you at once to be Methodists, when, before starting from the pier at Ballintrae, you made a bargain with us not to swear while we were in the boat with you.""And pray, friend, do Methodists alone object to the useless as well as wicked practice of blasphemy ?" Why, master, as to that, I will not answer, but what I say is, that I have been boating at the Causeway many a long year, and it was never before made part of my day's bargain and business that I should not swear.""Well, friend, and as you all on this occasion, except in a very few instances, have kept to your bargain, why not continue to abstain from a practice that no man who fears God can follow; or if in this instance you can have such command over yourself as to keep to a bargained compact with a fellow sinner, how can you presume to continue a practice that is against the command of the holy and allseeing God, and which leads to no profit and supplies no pleasure." The men bore with our remarks, and listened with great attention; and we took occasion to speak a few words on the wide difference there existed between the external profession of a religion, and its believing influence on the heart and on the practice; and we endeavoured to impress on their minds, that though it might be very easy to go great lengths as advocates of opinions, as party-men, as staunch Protestants, yet it was another thing to be a servant of righteous

ness, and to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.I cannot say, though listened to with patience, that any impression was made on these men.. Indeed we had reason to conclude the reverse, and to lament that men who seemed to have the possession of sound and shrewd intellect, should be so blinded by the god of this world, as to consider that religion was only an appendage upon politics, and that loyalty to king William or king George could be accounted as a substitute for the faithfulness and fealty due to the God of Heaven.

We had now got into the centre of the bay, and could observe the whole bending of the shore from Bengore promontory to Portrush point, and while, as naturally, our eyes were principally directed towards the Causeway, to which we were approaching, and asking concerning this place and that, one of the men said, "Look, gentlemen, there are the merry dancers on Portrush point;" and on looking in that direction we all observed this most extraordinary phenomenon. Portrush point, which a few moments before presented a very unmeaning appearance, and was certainly the least interesting object on the coast, now assumed a most commanding aspect. A lofty mountain arose instead of a long flat-a conical peak like Croagh Patrick, rugged rocks, with their serrated points pierced the clouds; and instantly all this vanished, and a beautiful softly swelling wooded hill presented itself, a lofty embattled castle, a broad belt of full-grown wood, green lawns, and all the decorations of a nobleman's domain. You might conceive yourself at once transported to Plymouth harbour, and that you saw Mount Edgecombe before you; and again, as by talismanic touch, all this disappeared; and on a plain two embattled armies seemed to oppose one another, and dense masses of troops, horse and foot, stood motionless as if in suspense for the battle-signal, and now they rushed together, and the opposing batallions closed on each other, and a loose shapeless cloud rose up, as if it were the mingled dust and smoke ascending from the conflict: and all at once the whole vision dissolved away, and nothing was seen but the low uninteresting peninsula of Portrush. I had never before heard of this phenomenon appearing on the coast of Ireland. I had read of something like it as occurring in the Straits of Messina, and on the present occasion, particularly as taken by surprise, my astonishment and delight cannot be expressed. So vivid was the delusion, so strange, so beautiful, so magnificent was the optical representation, that were I in the remotest part of Ireland, and assured that I would see it again, I should without hesitation put my foot in the coach, and at almost any sacrifice of time or trouble attend to witness it again. The boatmen assured me it was by no means of frequent occurrence; some of them declared they never saw it before; he who was best acquainted with its appearance said that it required a concurrence of wind, tide, and weather, that did not often coincide, to produce it. I have since read Dr. Drummond's poem on the Giant's Causeway, and by the by, the worthy Doctor seems better fitted for a rhymer than a theologian-He thus describes what I had the pleasure to witness: