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hardly ever been in a company in which I was not asked whether I was acquainted with him; and had I availed myself of a traveller's privilege, and answered in the affirmative, I have little doubt but that, like a needle rubbed upon a loadstone, I should have been myself a magnet of attraction.

An ardent love of liberty is, indeed, the strongest feature in the character of the Presbyterians of the North of Ireland. It is like the bone Luz of the Hebrews, which no accident can impair or destroy, and remains in life and in death-It was the irregular expansion of this spirit which, in a great measure, caused the late unfortunate rebellion. As far as they were concerned, I must add, the late most unnatural rebellion. For whatever might be the conduct of government to others, to them it was ever a tender one. It is the same unperishable spirit which makes them now adhere to the party in England, I will not say the most revolutionary, but the most innovating. I must confess, though I am" native here and to the matter born," it is a spirit in which I am in no degree a participator. I think mankind in general have fully as much freedom as they know how to make a good use of; and I dislike untried and untrodden ways. Like Hardcastle in the play, I love every thing that is old-old customs, old religions, old constitutions, and old governments.

And should my head at times detect this as a delusion, my heart ever recognizes it as a legitimate one. For what can novelty or new created greatness command of respect or veneration, compared to that which has its origin in past ages! and I do not hesitate to declare, that I should prefer the decaying frame of ancient greatness, when viewed in the yellow light thrown on it through the stained casement of the sanctuary of the Gothic Cathedral, in which it has lain so long, to a constitution just issued from the head of the goddess of wisdom, did it even come into the world as perfect and full grown as she did herself,

Of no people as of no man can every thing be praise Having thus reluctantly given the shade of the northern character, or what appears to me to be the shade, I turn with cheerfulness to its bright side. I know no where more sedate or virtuous men-nor any men who estimate human life, perhaps, by a more rational, though not by an exalted standard-high-sounding titles, greatness that rolled in its chariot were unattended to and uninvited, while humble merit, or what they were pleased to consider as merit, experi enced, attention that never remitted, and kindness that never decreased.

*

I LEFT Belfast this morning at seven o'clock I was detained two or three days by the rain.Į found this delay very irksome, for Belfast had lost much of its charms by losing its novelty-my heart bounded, therefore, to be once more in the green fields; and, like the madman, & I thought there was nothing good but fresh air and liberty. I stopt to breakfast at a pretty house about two miles from Belfast, the property of a Mr. Simms -probably the same who was confined in Fort St. George with Arthur O'Connor, and other mis guided heads of the United Irish-this house com→ mands an extensive view of Carrickfergus Bay, and the opposite shore of Down. The latter ap peared to me to be a barren mountain; but on examining it through a telescope that stood in the parlour window, I found it was a highly fertile country. I had a glimpse likewise of the castle of Carrickfergus, with its ash-coloured walls and time-worn sturrets, rising, as it were, out of the

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I have often had occasion to mention an Irish breakfast-I shall notice it again for the last time. I had to-day a most delicious one-rich cream

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and butter, cakes of various descriptions--honey, too, an invaluable sweet, of which it is astonishing that use is not more frequently made-pre served strawberries, and, in short, every article f of a Scotch breakfast, except marmalade. How preferable was this innocent and pastoral meal to the 27 (I must say) brutal custom now so prevalent in} England, of bringing flesh meat to the breakfast }> table: a custom equally offensive and unfeeling, cl which mingles the effluvia of a dead animal with the odours of tea, which compels us when rising from the death of sleep, and raising our eyes to the! sun and sky, to throw them on the lacerated flesh and disjointed limbs of an animal, which i had sensations, and instincts, and affections, like ourselves. But waving these objections, which to! many will appear absurd, there are, in my mind, many others against the use of flesh meat in the lo morning. It injures essentially, and almost imax of mediately, the breath and teeth. The Persians are so sensible of this, that in conversing theyd always, as is remarked by Chardin, hold their o hands to their mouths. It likewise considerably quickens the pulse, rekindling instantly the fever d which sleep has extinguished, and when the frame, soft, relaxed, opening in the morning of day, as in the morning of life, demands milde and bland food, it wears and irritates it by the strength of its stimulus.

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The instant I swallowed my breakfast I proceeded on my journey, and to say the truth I required a little exercise to digest it. I found the road equally beautiful with the one which led to Belfast. The neat little villas were even, if possible, more numerous, I suppose on account of the neighbourhood of the sea, the blue waves. of which rolled in long succession close to where I walked a striking illustration, as has often been remarked, of the passing generations of men, which swell an instant in 1 wide-spreading circle, then break, and for ever disappear:

About half a mile from Carrickfergus, I stepped into a house-it was in a very ominous situation -just opposite the gallows. It was for that reason I stopt at it. I wished to know the particulars of the conduct of an unfortunate Scotch captain of a vessel, of the name of Brown, who had been executed the evening before. There was one woman only at home-nor could I desire a better informant than a woman, when a tale of sorrow was to be told. Before she had proceeded far in her narration, several of her neighbours, who had likewise been spectators of the execution, came in. They had not been uninterested spectators, though the unfortune sufferer was an entire stranger to them. The starting tear, the stifled sob, and tale continued by one, when another, overcome by emotion, had suddenly left