Mourne Mountains, in the county of Down; then the mountains of Antrim, the Sperrin, on the borders of Tyrone and Londonderry, and the mountains of Donegal, on the north-west.

4. 'We may pass quickly over it, for nearly all the beauty lies on the sea-coast. The river Bann rises in the Mourne mountains, and runs first into a great sheet of water called Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the British Islands.'

5. How ugly it is!' says Johnny.

'Here and there, there are pretty bits, Johnny. But, on the whole, you are right; and you can see why it is not prettier than it is: there are no mountains round it, and very few trees.'

6. 'Then, why does the water lodge here, and form a lake?' asks Green. 'You told us once that it was mountains, like the Cumbrian group, that shut in the waters of lakes.'

'Very often it is so; but here, as you may see, the country is so flat, that a very little hollow will keep the water from flowing onwards; and then it spreads out, so as to cover a great deal of ground.'

7. 'After leaving Lough Neagh, the Bann flows steadily northward, falling into the sea (as we saw), between the Giant's Causeway and Lough Foyle.

8. Before we leave the county of Antrim, come and look at this Round Tower. It is a good speci

men of the Round Towers of Ireland. They are very curious. No one quite knows what they were meant for; but, most likely, if a search were made under the floor, it would be found to have been used as a burial-place.1

9. 'The Foyle rises in the Sperrin mountains, and receives a number of small tributaries from the mountains of Donegal.

'Last comes the Erne, which rises in the Central Plain, in the Province of Leinster, spreads out into two large lakes, the Upper and Lower Lough Erne, and falls into the Bay of Donegal.'

10. 'I've been talking to some of these Ulster people,' says Johnny; 'but I can't make out all they say. I had come to understand the Leinster talk; but this is quite different-more like what we heard near Edinburgh and Glasgow.'

'True, Johnny! The people of Ulster are, in their ways as well as in their talk, more like the Scotch than the people of the southern parts of Ireland. For, about 300 years ago, a number of Scotchmen settled here; and that is why there is more trade here than elsewhere, and the land is better cultivated, and tradesmen, farmers, and labourers are all much better off.'

11. 'I like the Leinster people better,' says Hall's Ireland, vol. iii. p, 100.

Johnny; 'they have more fun, and make you laugh with their tales.'

'That is quite true. Their tales often make you laugh, and sometimes make you cry. The southern Irish have much more winning ways; but you would find the Ulster men better neighbours, and better able to provide for themselves and their families. Leinster and, perhaps, still more, Connaught and Munster are more amusing; but Ulster is a better place to live in.'

VIII. IRISH STORIES.

I. I HAVE been trying to think of some stories to amuse you; but the best of them are too long. Here are two little ones, showing how quick the Irish are with a ready answer.

2. First comes an Irish waiter at a small inn : 'What can we have for dinner?' asked the travellers.

'There's everything in the house, that you'd please to think of.'

'Well, then, let us have chickens and bacon, and some lamb chops.'

3. The chickens and bacon made their appearance; with a dish of potatoes-laughing, as

Neddy (the waiter) said, ready to break their hearts; but there were no lamb chops!

'Oh!' said he, 'the quality runs entirely on chickens and bacon.'

'But you said you had lamb, and I ordered it.' 4. And I said the truth, sir,' answered Neddy. 'I said we had lambs, let alone lamb, and thought it mighty kind of your honour to enquire; and sure there they are, if ye'll be satisfied to look out of the window-little waggle-tail innocent craythurs! Sure it was mighty lucky of the old ewe to give us twins these hard times! '1

5. Another story, of a car-driver, telling how he got his first situation as a gentleman's coachman.2

'The master had two beautiful English horses, and he wanted a careful man to drive them: he was a mighty pleasant gentleman, and loved a joke.

'Well, there were as many as fifteen after the place; and the first that went up to him,

"Now, my man," says he, "how near the edge of a precipice would you undertake to drive my carriage?"

'So the boy considered, and he says, "Within a foot, please your honour, and no harm." "Very well," says he, "go down, and I'll give you your answer by-and-by."

Hall's Ireland, vol. i. p. 323.

2 Ibid. p. 68.

6. 'So the next came up, and he said he'd be bound to carry it within half a foot; and the next said five inches; and another was so mighty nice, that he would drive it within three inches and a half.

7. 'Well, at last, my turn came; and, when he asked me the same question, I said, "Please your honour, I'd keep as far off the precipice as I could.” "Very well," said he, "you're my coachman!" Oh! the roar there was in the kitchen, when I went down and told the joke!'

IX. GENERAL VIEW OF IRELAND.

CONNAUGHT.

I. ONLY five counties in Connaught!' says Green.

'Yes! But two of them are very large, though they do not contain many people. We have seen four of them-Leitrim (which just touches the coast), Sligo, Mayo, Galway. The one inland county is Roscommon.

2. 'Here, again, the mountains lie near the coast, so that the rocky promontories we saw in Connemara, and opposite Achil Island, are really spurs of the mountains, running out into the sea,