IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND, IN THE SUMMER OF 1827. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY, IN 1689. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY BALDWIN AND CRADOCK, AND SOLD BY WAKEMAN AND CUMMING, DUBLIN; HEMPTON MDCCCXXVIII. Gough Add: Ireland 8342. PREFACE. THE apology of yielding to the solicitation of friends has of late become so hackneyed a vehicle for obtruding crude or sentimental ideas upon the notice of society at large, that the Writer of the following pages is almost ashamed to resort to so commonplace an introduction of them, particularly when she considers that a similar designation may await her production in passing the "fiery ordeal" of a judicious and enlightened public. In the outset of her tour, she undertook to keep a diary of its events, in compliance with the wishes of a dear Connexioncertainly not to please herself; for, however tourists may pretend to the contrary, such an interruption to the small portion of ease afforded upon a rapid excursion is troublesome and undesirable. There were a few friends, she thought, that would be amused with those little events, and that motive stimulated her to persevere, even when suffering from great bodily and mental weariness. But when it was proposed that those events should appear in print, it produced an immediate alteration in the face of affairs: the tide of ideas, which had hitherto flowed so currently, now ebbed to her very heart. Time and persuasion, however, have in some degree |