Richard Keane, the greater part of which was a mere waste, covered with heath and furze. They are said to be fine young men, quiet and wellbehaved, and their number to exceed forty.

We passed on our road several gentlemen's seats, but the finest-looking place is Drumana, the domain of Mr. Villiers Stuart, near Cappoquin, exhibiting a succession of noble clumps of wood sloping down to the banks of the Blackwater. Here we took leave of this fine river, which flows through one of the richest and most beautiful parts of Ireland, and proceeded on to Dungarvon, where there is little to attract the notice of the traveller, except a view of the sea, which opens out after driving through the town. A small river, called the Collegan, falls into the harbour, which appears to be mostly choked up with sand-banks. I saw no vessels of any kind.

You will no doubt have heard of the result of the recent election for Dungarvon, when Serjeant O'Loughlin was returned, and Mr. Galwey thrown out. To give you some idea how folks are allowed to exercise their elective franchise in these parts since the passing of the Reform Bill, which has had the effect of converting Catholic priests into political partisans, I will relate to you a little anecdote communicated to me by the guard of the mail-coach, and confirmed immediately after he had told it. Mr. Galwey was one day travelling in the mailcoach with another passenger inside, and on passing through the toll-gate not far from Dungarvon, he

requested the good woman to remind her husband, the keeper of the gate, of the approaching election, observing, as the coach passed through, "Now, my good woman, don't forget to tell your husband to give me his vote." "And if he does," called out the other person, popping his head out of the window," you may tell him he may put his coffin under his arm when he goes to the polling-booth;" an expression in Ireland well understood to mean assassination. This person was a Popish priest ! -it might be Father Fogharty himself. While the guard was telling me this, the man of the toll-gate was accidentally walking before us; the coach stopped to give him a lift; he seated himself next to me on the roof, and on being questioned as to the fact, he admitted that his wife had received and conveyed to him the friendly admonition; and he added, "I thought it prudent to vote for Mr. Serjeant O'Loughlin." Mr. Galwey, if able, should have thrown the fellow out of the window, as he could hardly consider himself safe in such company.

At a short distance from Dungarvon there is a curious rent in the mountain, where the advancing angle on one side seems as if it would fit into the retiring angle on the other with great nicety.

Our road now passed through Kilmaothomas, a small town, to the right of which, near the sea-coast, at the distance of about five miles, some coppermines are worked. I was informed that there were

not less than 600 men there employed, and that they are now working them at a depth of 800 feet below the level of the sea. These mines, it appears, are the property of a company in England, and are said to pay pretty well. Several English miners are employed; indeed, I am told that all who work underground are from England, chiefly from Cornwall, the Irish having no great taste for it. This is the more remarkable, as I have heard engineers say that most of the masons who work in diving-bells are Irish, and that they prefer it; but the probable reason of their doing so is the increased pay for such work. Soon after passing Kilmaothomas we met a great concourse of people, who seemed to have assembled to witness a sort of crosscountry race, something resembling a steeple-chace; and on proceeding a few yards farther, I observed in the distance another large assemblage occupying the whole road as they approached towards us. The latter turned out to be a funeral procession. How different the pursuits!

This was probably the funeral of some wealthy farmer. It was the most numerously attended, and, from the number of horsemen who brought up the rear, of whom we had a full view as they descended a height, the most respectable of any I have seen in Ireland: there was an appearance too of state about it. The coffin was under a canopy displayed to view, and huddled up at each end of it sat two old women, whom I suppose to have been