place is mentioned at a very early period under the name of Cill-Ingen-Leiniu, the Church of Leiniu's Daughters. The gate leading to this very early relic of days when Erin was the "Island of Saints" is now usually kept locked, but the key can be had on application to the caretaker of the graveyard, who lives not far from the spot.

We shall now proceed to Shanganah, a charming vale, situate at a little distance from the church. This is still on the road to Bray. In so rich a district it is not surprising to find the ruins of an ancient castle. Here are the picturesque remains of a once grand tower-house, formerly a stronghold of the Walshes, a family which came from Wales, and settled in Ireland at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion under Henry II. Here, too, we meet with a grand example of one of those wonderful relics of antiquity, for the possession of which Ireland, above all countries of the world, is pre-eminently famous—a cromleac. As in the course of our journeyings many examples of this interesting class will be met with, and as they usually attract the interest of strangers, it may be well here to explain exactly the character of a monument which, until lately, was universally looked upon as an altar used by the Druids for the purpose of human sacrifice. The cromleac usually consists of three, or a greater number of unhewn stones, so placed as to form a small enclosure. Over these a large stone or flag is laid; the whole constituting a rude chamber. The position of the table or covering stone is generally found sloping; but its degree of inclination does not appear to have been regulated by any design, and, in not a few instances, we find it perfectly horizontal. Cromleacs are frequently found within the area of stone circles, as at Carrowmore, Co. Sligo, the Broadstone, Co. Antrim, and elsewhere. They have also frequently been discovered embedded in tunnels and carns, or cairns, as our Scottish friends would write. Without pausing to enumerate the manifold theories brought forward by antiquaries of this and other countries relative to the mode and purpose of this erection, it will be enough to state that, from the fact of sepulchral urns containing portions of calcined human bones, and, in some instances, of entire human skeletons having been discovered within the enclosure of several, not only in this country, but also in Britain, in the Channel Islands, and in portions of the northern and western European continent, these monuments appear to have been sepulchres. As to their probable era, it can only be said that they belong to a period prior to the introduction of Christianity into this kingdom. From Shanganagh to Bray the scenery remains unchanged in its character of richness and variety. We are approaching what may be

styled the frontier town between the counties of Dublin and Wicklow, through a district which for centuries after Strongbow's invasion was a kind of debatable land between the newcomers and the hardy mountain clans of Byrnes, Tooles, and Cavanaghs, who more or less, even dowr to the days of our grandfathers, remained not wholly unsubdued.

Bray.

This now fashionable watering-place, even more so than Kingstown, is a creation of but a few years' standing. It owes its growth and prosperity to the genius and fostering care of the late William Dargan (the founder of the Exhibition of 1853, already alluded to), who, seeing the natural advantages of the site, at an enormous expense, raised the beautiful and commodious structures which the richer class of Dublin citizens, and even strangers from a distance, are now so eager to occupy during the season. Where extended a lonely desolate shore, inhabited by a few poor fishermen, the grand esplanade now stands; and the primitive cabin with its thinly thatched roof, only kept in place by a network of cordage, or the imposition of flag-stones, has given place to palatial residences which would do credit to Scarborough or Brighton, There is an old prophecy current in the west that "Athenry was, Galway is, and Aran will be the best of the three." A change of these names into Dalkey, Kingstown, and Bray may possibly, at some time not long future, verify a saying (which, by-the-bye, is not confined to the three Connaught localities) in favour of the last-mentioned evergrowing town. Here is splendid hotel accommodation, as fine sea and mountain air as can be found in any watering-place in the three kingdoms, and the site may be considered as a centre from which all the attractions of the county of Wicklow, and many of those of the county of Dublin, may be most readily visited, either by rail or car, or by walking or bicycle. For strangers making but a short stay, the favourite walk is by a path leading round The Head, or promontory, which gives its name to the place, Bray being simply a corrup ed form of the Gaelic word Bri—a rising ground. This path commands most lovely views of the coast, which is here extremely rocky and wild, broken into picturesque inlets, and here and there presenting levations which might well be styled cliffs, but that they are somewhat dwarfed by the heathing slopes which rise about them. Nevertheless, the stroll by the sounding sea, here presented, must be a delightful one to many, and, as the route is smooth and well kept, especially so to per ons who may not feel equal to ordinary cliff or mountain climbing. By this path most comprehensive views of Dublin Bay and of over sixty miles

Bray and the Dargle.

89

of the north-eastern coast of Ireland may be obtained. On the southward extend the headlands, of which that of Wicklow is chief. Just beneath the Head, somewhat to the south, during some future great volcanic rising of the sea-bed, our descendants, should any then exist, may have an opportunity of exhuming, from rocks of stratified sand, a fossil ironclad-the ill-fated Vanguard! From Bray easy excursions may be had to several of the most admired scenes of Wicklow. One trip, which is here particularly pointed out, is to the Dargle, Enniskerry, Powerscourt, and the far-famed Waterfall. This, for parties who have started early from Dublin, and have visited Kingstown and Dalkey will finish a grand day, always presuming pleasant weather.

The Dargle.*

This romantic glen (its name signifies "the glen of oaks") has, "time out of mind," been regarded as the most delightfully picturesque and truly sylvan solitude to be found even in Wicklow. It is a ravine about one mile in length, and evidently owes its formation to glacial agency, while yet nature with her various forces was sculpturing the earth's crust into something like its present configuration. As ages rolled on the ravine thus formed became a wooded glen, the trees being principally oak; and was styled by the early Celt Daur Glin, or vale of oaks, from which appellation the present name can be easily derived. The scene it presents is full of varied beauty, and in some places is so wierdly exquisite that the wonder is that the evil one who has associated his name with so many scenes of the grand and beautiful had, as it appears, forgotten this unrivalled glen. There is here something to gratify almost every or any taste usually found appertaining to the genus tourist; the glen is, and has long been almost the home of artist, geologist, botanist, naturalist, and lover, and appears to have been fatal only to one of the latter calling or description. Those for whom the beauties of nature have less attraction will view the scenery of this wizard glen with wonder; those most sentimental and refined will dwell upon its concentrated charms with rapture and admiration. Of the latter class must have been that youth whose nerves were so unequal to the chains of love and the "horrors of untamed nature" that when he gazed upon her wondrous works and thought of all the trials that love is subject to, he threw himself from the summit of a beetling rock, into the gulf below, and left a world of fears and disappointments behind him. Had he but a little of the Moorish spirit "he would have hugged the horrors to his heart."

*According to Dr. Joyce, the name is derived from the Celtic Deargail, a little red spot, from the prevailing rock in the glen, which is of reddish tint.

The rock alluded to is certainly bold and beetling, and the short, dry grass and lichen with which it is in many parts covered is extremely slippery. Perhaps after all the end of the unhappy youth may no have been wholly suicidal, it may have been that

"Partly he was overcome with love,

And partly, he was drunk."

But it is at all events a glorious nook wherein, on a fine summer evening, to halt and muse. The word painting of Scott will be here best

realised

"How broad the shadows of the oak,

How clung the rowan to the rock,

And through the foliage showed its head

With narrow leaves and berries red."

The brown troutful stream below is nearly shaded from view by the glorious masses of luxuriant trees springing from either side of the glen, and yet a sound is ever murmured,

"The voice as of a hidden brook,

In the leafy month of June,

That to the sleeping woods all night

Singeth a quiet tune."

To many tourists, it is, after all, an agreeable change to leave the almost twilight chasm, and its native midges, for the sunshine, butterflies, and grasshoppers of the beautiful patch of meadow through which they will pass to gain their car, and thus, after a very short drive, find themselves in

Enniskerry,*

A very neat and picturesquely situated village, which owes its present condition to the fostering care of the noble family of Powerscourt. Here, on application to his lordship's agent, Mr. Posnett, an order for admission to the neighbouring demesne will be readily granted. The mansion or "castle" is a fine structure, classic in tone, and encompassed with beautifully laid out grounds and gardens. It commands some splendid views, and occupies the site of an ancient fortalice, which, in the time of Elizabeth, was a stronghold of the Cavanagh sept, from whom it was captured by Marshal Wingfield, the direct ancestor of the present lord. For this, and other doughty deeds, the Marshal received a grant of the place, and, in 1618, was created Viscount Powerscourt.

A drive of about four miles through this most beautiful demesne brings us to

*Ath-na-Scairbhe-Annascany, the Ford of the Scariff, or rough river crossing.

A scene which should be visited by all tourists who would know something of the rich and varied charms of the County Wicklow. It must, however, be confessed that after a season of prolonged drought the volume of water, which here tumbles over a cliff and descends to a distance of 300 feet, is often disappointingly scanty. At other times the scene is almost indescribably grand; a foaming torrent falling like

POWERSCOURT WATERFALL, CO. WICKLOW.

light from crag to crag, in frantic leaps, now in solid compact fore. now broken and scattered into a hundred miniature cascades, until among spray and cloud-like mist the abyss below is reached-such is the winter, and not unfrequently the summer, performance of this famous but inconstant Fall.

When, in 1821, George IV. paid a visit to Powerscourt where he dined (by-the-bye, he appears to have been always dining), to prevent