to want a roof to render the building as perfect, or nearly so, as it had ever been.

From the neighbourhood of Muckross Mangerton is generally ascended, and the wild mountain tarn called the "Devil's Punch Bowl," and the still more romantic Glen of the Horse, visited. Only alpine climbers will attempt the ascent of Carran Tual, Ireland's highest

land (three thousand four hundred feet), as such an essay is considered somewhat dangerous by ordinary tourists, on account of the looseness of the rocks and stones which form the covering of its upper portions.

Tralee.

The tourist who has revelled in the various enchanting scenes at Killarney, and would wish to prolong his tour through a less-visited region of the wild and romantic, should proceed by train to Tralee, the chief town of the county of Kerry. This is a very neat thriving place, situate near the point of a small inlet of the sea, generally called Tralee

Bay, with which it is connected by a ship canal about one mile in length. It contains a number of structures of the class usually found in county towns; several places of worship for various denominations, an infantry barrack, &c.: these, though goodly structures of their kind, need not be here described. In the time of Elizabeth the district in which Tralee stands formed portion of the territory of the great, but unfortunate, Earl of Desmond. Upon the overthrow and death of that chieftain the town of Tralee, and a large tract of the surrounding land, were granted to the ancestor of the Denny family, whose descendants have ever since held the place. The scenery around Tralee is very fine; though to many who have recently visited Killarney it may possibly appear somewhat tame. In front of the town is the beautiful Bay, stretching towards the mighty Atlantic; lofty mountains rising from its shores, and fading away to the westward in a succession of picturesque elevations as far as Brandon Head. In one respect the nearer scene is widely different from almost anything that is found in the wilder district of Killarney, inasmuch as a good deal of the ground has been brought under cultivation. On the Dingle road, about one mile from the town, is the little port of Blennerville, where at times considerable business is transacted in the loading and unloading of commodities of various descriptions. Attached to the castle, the residence of the lord of the soil, are extensive pleasure grounds, which have been generously thrown open to the public. About four Irish miles to the north-west of Tralee are the ruins of Ardfert Abbey, which the artist, or still more the architectural antiquary, should make a point of visiting. Of the decayed town, or rather city, adjoining little may be said, though in former days it was considered a place of some importance, and possessed a castle, erected about 1312 by Nicholas Fitzmaurice. In the year 1599 the city was destroyed by Maurice Stack, commanding a party of the royal forces; and in the following year the castle, after a vigorous defence, which lasted for nine days, was surrendered by its garrison to Sir Charles Wilmot, who from an English vessel had brought cannon to play upon its walls. On this occasion the constable who had so bravely defended the hold was hanged by order of Sir Charles, the rest of the garrison having their lives spared.

The cathedral, of which considerable portions, exhibiting features of high archæological interest yet remain, if not founded by, was dedicated to, St. Brandon or Brendon, who seems to have been a great navigator,

and has been styled the "Mariner Saint of Ireland." In this Guide some mention has already been made of St. Brendon, as the alleged discoverer of the great American Continent. He flourished in the sixth century, and took high rank amongst the pioneers of Christianity whom about that period, and for a couple of centuries succeeding it, seems to have been the mission of Erin to produce. It is not likely that any portion of the sixth-century edifices remains, at least above ground; and when we read of constant burnings and destructions of the place during the middle ages, the wonder arises that any portion of the cathedral structures should have been permitted to descend to our own time. Yet, happily, many of the walls which were erected anterior to the AngloNorman invasion, and which are essentially native in character, still stand to excite the wonder and admiration of the visitor who is in any degree acquainted with the varieties of architectural art, as exemplified in monuments still extant, not only in the British Islands, but, it may be said, in Western Europe generally.

It would be tedious and unnecessary to the general reader to be here presented with a detailed description of the wonderful remains at Ardfert. It may be said, however, that the principal structure is represented by the walls of a nearly perfect nave and choir, the windows and other opes of which are richly decorated and enriched by clustered columns, displaying a wealth of artistic feeling and a wonderful power of execution. Much of the work of the buildings generally may be considered at least as old as the beginning of the twelfth century; but there are portions evidently more ancient, and which, as in "Temple na Hoighe," or the Virgin's Church, may be considered to date from about the early part of the eleventh. "It is," writes Miss Stokes, "in some ways the most interesting example of Romanesque we have met with in that country. This style, which seems to have reached Ireland through France about the year 1000, while as it were assimilating some native forms of art that had prevailed there long centuries before, seems to have received renewed life from its original source in the lifetime of St. Malachy, the friend of Bernard of Clairvaux, and Cormac, king of Cashel. After his stay at Cashel, Malachy and his followers retired to the heights of Iveragh, and traces of his labours seem to us still visible there."

At Ardfert, as at nearly every other monastery of importance erected previously to the twelfth century, there stood a round tower of which