death. The Irishmen were fighting for King James, the same for whom Lord Dundee fought and died at Killiecrankie; the citizens were for King William, who had taken his place; and the ships were coming to help them, and bring them food.

5. 'It was a hard fight! The Irish had stretched a great chain, or boom, across the river Foyle; and this had to be broken, before the ships could reach the town. But at last they did reach it; and you may think what joy there was in the city that night! The famous siege of Londonderry will never be forgotten!'

IV. COAST-LINE OF IRELAND (continued).

I. 'FROM Lough Foyle, we shall have to sail a long way round the Irish coast, before we come to anything you will care about. There is Malin Head, in the county of Donegal, the most northern point of Ireland; Lough Swilly, another deep inlet, and then, for many miles, there is nothing striking.'

2. 'Why, this is as bad as Cape Wrath!' says Johnny, holding on his cap. 'How the wind blows! And what great waves come rolling to meet us!'

3. 'Yes! Johnny, you are in the open Atlantic now-there is no land between you and America. But we must turn away to the south-westward, and run quickly along the west coast of Ireland.

4. All along the coast of Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, and Galway, we must keep well out at sea. It is a fine coast with bold rocks-some of them hard granite, like those in Aberdeenshire, or on Dartmoor-and plenty of inlets; but it is dangerous in a gale from the westward. There is Sligo Bay, to our left; and, farther still to the eastward Donegal Bay, with the mouth of the river Erne. But we cannot go to examine them.'

5. 'Erne!' says Green: 'have we not seen a river of the same name in Scotland?'

'The same sound, but not spelt exactly in the same way. The Scotch river is E-a-r-n, the Irish E-r-n-e-another example showing how like the old Irish language and the Gaelic are to each other, without being quite the same.

6. 'We hasten on to the north-west corner of Mayo, and then turn and sail due south. Past Achil Island, and Clew Bay, and the wild district of Connemara, in the county of Galway; past Galway Bay, and along the coast of Clare, till, at last, we turn aside to see a little of the mouth of the Shannon,'

6

7. 'I suppose,' says Green, this would be called a Firth, if it were in Scotland.'

'Hardly it is not quite wide enough. But it is a fine river-mouth, dividing the county of Clare from Kerry and Limerick. We will follow it as

far as the city of Limerick, leaving the river itselt for another visit.'

8. Limerick is an important city, one of the few large towns of Ireland-with some manufactures, and some foreign trade. It is best known for the long siege, about the same time as that of

Londonderry-only, here, the troops of King William were the besiegers, and the friends of King James held the city. It was taken at last, after a long and brave defence.

9. As we drop quietly down the estuary, I will tell you a pretty story, connected with the bells of the cathedral. They were made by a young Italian, and were first set up in the convent of his native village, where he could hear them chime every day. Wars came-the convent was destroyed, and the bells carried off into a foreign country. The artist, who had been so proud of them, was broken-hearted, left his home, and wandered about. At last, he sailed for Ireland, and reached the harbour of Limerick. He was sitting in the stern of a little boat, in which he was to be rowed to the shore. It was a calm and beautiful evening, the broad stream was clear and still as a mirror, when on a sudden the bells-his own bells!-sounded from the cathedral! The Italian looked towards the city, and lay back in his seat. Home, happiness, early friends, all were in the sound, and went with it to his heart. When the rowers looked at him, his eyes were closed; and when they landed, he was dead!1

1 See Hall's Ireland, vol. i. p. 338.

V. COAST-LINE OF IRELAND

(continued).

I. STILL steering southward from the mouth of the Shannon, we cross the mouths of Tralee Bay and Dingle Bay, and stop for a little while at the little island of Valentia.'

2. 'How different this island looks,' says Green, 'from the rest of this coast! The country round those bays is so wild and rocky; but here, there seems to be plenty of corn.'

3. 'Yes! Valentia used to be called the granary of the county; and it has also some very good slate quarries. But it was not for the quarries or the corn-fields, that I brought you here. Do you see a little building, close to the shore? That is the Telegraph Office. For this is nearly the most westerly point of Ireland, and here is the British end of the great cables, containing telegraph wires, by which messages are sent every day to and from America.

4. Thirty years ago, no one had thought of telegraphs at all, and, even when they were used on land, it seemed impossible to lay a cable at the bottom of the great ocean. But it was laid, though not at the first trial; and there it is, safe and