It HE tourist may enter Ireland by several ports, the chief of which are-Dublin, via Kingstown, Cork, Waterford, Belfast, and Londonderry. The favourite route, and every way the most convenient, is the line from Holyhead to Kingstown. The Irish Mail, from London, is conveyed to Dublin in 11 hours, and the service from Holyhead is considered to be one of the best, if not the very best, in the world. is performed by the City of Dublin Company's Royal Mail Steam Packets, Leinster, Ulster, Munster, and Connaught; magnificent vessels, admirably appointed in every respect, and so well managed that they arrive at their destination almost to the minute, and accidents, even of a trivial nature, very rarely occur. Punctuality is enforced however, by a fine of 34s. for every minute the packet is behind time, except in cases of a fog. Each of the steamers is of 2,000 tons burden and 700 horse-power. The packet with the night mail leaves Holyhead at 5 minutes past 3 A.M., English time, and arrives at Kingstown at 25 minutes past 7. The day mail leaves Holyhead at 15 minutes past I p.m., and is due at Kingstown at 10 minutes past 6. There are besides, daily packets from Liverpool as well as from Holyhead, to the North Wall, the latter being popularly known as 'River Steamers.' The train runs down to the pier at Holyhead, so that the passenger has nothing to do but step on board and secure his berth, without troubling himself about his luggage, which will be safely transferred to the steamer and placed in the train at Kingstown, without any charge, by the Company's porters. The channel is noted for its roughness, and it was a very serious matter to cross it in the old sailing packets, or in the original steamers; but so powerful are the present mail-boats, so smooth and rapid in their movements, that the passenger, after a short sleep, is surprised to find himself sighting the Irish coast without having had a qualm of sea-sickness, unless in very boisterous weather. 6 The beauties of Dublin Bay have been celebrated by poets, and lauded in rapturous strains by travellers and writers of Guide Books who are no poets. One of them speaks of its gorgeously beautiful shores.' Let the radius of the environs be extended to twelve miles, and we cordially concur with Cæsar Otway in saying, 'We do not know any city in the British Empire whose environs afford more various and attractive scenery than the metropolis of Ireland.' The people of Dublin are justly proud of their Bay, and fond of comparing it with the Bay of Naples, confident that it would carry off the prize of beauty. One of the most gifted and patriotic of our own poets' has a poem on this subject, of which the first stanza is : My native bay, for many a year I have loved thee with a trembling fear, Some matchless wonder of a bay, The last time we crossed from Holyhead we happened to be in company with the poet himself, and he declared, that though he had visited Naples a second time, and made the comparison, he stood by all that he had said or sung. It was in vain we suggested the want of grand mountain scenery, lofty escarpments, bold rocks, deep gorges, high embattling cliffs, &c. To a person cruising under the Hill of Howth the rocks appear certainly bold and precipitous, 1 Mr. D. F. Macarthy. and the same remark applies to Bray Head, when, from a near point of view, one looks up at the railway train rattling over the cliffs. But from a point about two miles out in the Channel, whence the best view of the Bay and its surrounding panoramic scenery is obtained, Howth appears to emerge gradually from the sea, Dalkey and Killiney Hills seem rather tame, and Bray Head has not a very striking elevation, while the two Sugar-loaf Mountains are partly hid by the high grounds in front. Is not the whole effect, therefore,' we said, 'rather disappointing to the stranger who sails into Dublin Bay for the first time with his mind full of the florid descriptions of Guide Books?' Just then the sun broke out through the heavy clouds and shone brilliantly on the scene, revealing all its beauties, giving prominence to hills and rocks, reflected by the buildings and towers of Kingstown, by the white-walled villas, and glistening foliage of the trees which, like a great irregular border, adorn the Killiney Hills and stretch along the shore to the town of Bray, while the double-headed Little Sugar-loaf rose near, and the summit of the Great Sugar-loaf towered more remote, with a tapering point, like a pyramid, all screened by the vague and vast outline of the Wicklow Mountains. 'Behold,' exclaimed the poet; 'look around and be convinced that, though it cannot boast of a Vesuvius and may be wanting in the sublimity of mountain scenery, Dublin Bay is not surpassed in beauty and loveliness even by the Bay of Naples.' However that may be, every stranger must admit that Kingstown Harbour is as nearly perfect as anything of the kind can be. Persons not very old can remember seeing Dunleary, as it was formerly called, when it was little more than a fishing village, when the hills were bare and rugged, or covered only by heather and furze, and the richly cultivated land, now producing exuberant crops, or covered with blooming gardens, was poor and barren, apparently able to support nothing but goats and donkeys. The visit of George IV. in 1820 introduced the era of improvement and made suburbs fashionable. In compliment to him the name was changed to Kingstown, and a small obelisk, surmounted by a crown, was erected to commemorate the event. The 'Royal Harbour,' however, had been commenced in 1816, from designs of the late Mr. Rennie, by direction of the Lords of the Admiralty. It was finished in 1859 at a cost of £825,000. Two piers, the east and the west, run out into the sea, the former being 3,500 feet in length, and the latter 4,950, leaving at the mouth an open of 760 feet, the enclosed harbour forming an area of 250 acres, and varying in depth from 15 to 27 feet. The quay along the piers is 40 feet wide. Breasting the harbour is a wharf 500 feet in length, where vessels drawing 24 feet of water may load and unload at any state of the tide. On the extremity of the east pier is a revolving light, which may be seen every half-minute 9 miles at sea in clear weather; and on the west pier-head is a red light, defining the entrance to the harbour. The west pier is a fashionable promenade, much frequented during the summer season, and enlivened sometimes by bands of music. Within the harbour has been constructed a small new pier, partly covered, called the Carlisle Pier, for the convenience of the mail packets, which lie at either side, and to which a branch of the Dublin and Kingstown railway brings the mail train for the reception of the passengers, conveying them rapidly to Dublin. Kingstown is now an extensive township, containing 22,000 inhabitants, covering an area of 900 acres, including Monkstown and Glasthule. The public buildings which will attract the attention of the visitor are the two yacht clubs, the Royal St. George and the Royal Irish, the Town Hall, the Mariners' Church, and several other handsome places of worship, the railway terminus, and the hotels. The houses in the terraces and others fronting the harbour are generally fine buildings. The main street runs parallel to the sea with smaller streets at right angles on either side, the whole presenting a very pleasing picture, indicating refinement and prosperity. Indeed there is along the railway line from Kingstown to Dublin a stronger and brisker current of life and progress than in any other part of Ireland. This railway was the first constructed in this country, having been opened in 1834. It cost the enormous sum of £63,000 a mile. The length is only six miles. It is leased to the Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford Railway Company, which run trains upon it every half hour. On special occasions the traffic is immense, and it is the best paying line in the United Kingdom. There is a branch which runs along the coast through the most picturesque scenery, connecting Kingstown with Bray, the main line from Wexford and Wicklow running from that town inland, under the Dublin mountains, through Stillorgan, Dundrum, and Milltown, to Harcourt Street, near the South Circular Road, where there is a handsome terminus. Very few tourists, however, will be disposed to stop at Kingstown in the first instance. They will step from the steamer into the train and hurry on to Westland Row, which they will reach in about twenty minutes, and where, for the first time they will have any trouble about their luggage. But the trouble consists merely in a little delay and crushing. Cabs are at hand on the Company's premises, by which they will be quickly conveyed to their hotels. This In a description of Dublin published exactly one hundred years ago, the writer says:-'It has been a matter of surprise that with all this spirit of national improvement few or no good inns are to be met with in Ireland. In the capital, which may be classed among the second order of cities in Europe, there is not one in it that deserves that name. may in some measure be accounted for by the long and sometimes dangerous passage from Chester or Holyhead to Ireland, which prevents the gentry of England with their families from visiting that island, but as it is now proposed to make turnpike roads to Portpatrick, in Scotland, from whence the passage is short and safe, the roads of Ireland may by this means become more frequented, especially when the rural beauties of that kingdom are more generally known.' How marvellous are the changes in matters of locomotion since Guthrie wrote! As to inns or hotels there is no lack of them in Ireland now. In Dublin they are numerous enough, and some of them can compare with the best in England. But the queen of Dublin hotels is THE SHELBOURNE, in Stephen's Green [see Illustration.] It is very differ |