belonging to Lord Breadalbane, situated at the point where the river Tay flows out of the loch of the same name in Perthshire. Lord Breadalbane is a descendant of the chiefs of the clan Campbell, one of the most powerful in the Highlands. His domains extend one hundred English miles, or forty leagues, in length, and reach nearly from sea to sea. The same means of clearance were employed here as elsewhere, and the clan, properly speaking, no longer exists; and in place of the old mansion a regular palace has been built, the splendour of which astonished even the Queen when she paid a visit to Lord Breadalbane. The finely timbered park, through which the bounding waters of the young Tay flow, well stocked with hares, partridges, and pheasants, and studded with plots of flowers, combines with the natural beauties of these wild glens those charms which the most exquisite art alone can give, incompatible as they may seem. It must have required a considerable sum of money thus to have conquered the soil and climate. This the pasturages have supplied, for they are inhabited only by sheep.

I arrived at Taymouth upon a long summer evening by the left shore of Loch Tay, which cannot be less than six leagues in length. Several farms appeared here and there on the banks of this little sea, with their fields of turnips and oats; but on the mountains themselves no trace of man or house was to be seen. Black-faced sheep were grazing on the hill-sides without any one to look after them, and as we passed they gazed at us with their little frightened black faces; West Highland cows, whose shadows were thrown upon the rocks with the last rays of the sun, filled the air with their bellowings at our approach; and just as we reached Kenmore Bridge, we saw under the lofty larches, planted by the father of the present Marquess, some stags, under cover of evening, coming down to

drink in the loch. These peaceful pictures are far preferable to the scenes of blood described by Sir Walter Scott in his Fair Maid of Perth, as having taken place on this very spot.

The Shetlands, Hebrides, and other islands which lie scattered along the Highland coasts, have not been visited by civilisation to the same extent; but regular steam communication has now been established with them, and in a few years we may expect to see similar proceedings effect the same results. The island of Lewis, the largest of the Hebrides, containing about three hundred and fifty thousand acres, has been purchased by an enterprising Englishman-Sir James Matheson-who has commenced a series of improvements there, the starting-point of which is the emigration, more or less voluntary, of a large portion of the inhabitants.

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CHAPTER XXIII.

IRELAND.

THE agricultural history of Ireland, until within the last few years at least, is as lamentable as those of England and Scotland are brilliant. What was to be the ultimate fate of this unfortunate island was long an unanswered question; now, however, the problem begins to be elucidated, but at what a cost!

Ireland is not wanting in natural resources. Even the English admit that Ireland, in point of soil, is superior to England. The conformation of the country is peculiar; mountains range along nearly the whole extent of its coasts, the interior being a vast plain, and for the most part highly fertile. Ireland contains eight millions of hectares. Rocks, lakes, and bogs occupy about two millions of these, and two millions more are indifferent land. The remainder-that is to say, about half the country-is rich land, with calcareous subsoil. What better could be conceived? "It is the richest soil I ever saw," says Arthur Young, speaking of counties Limerick and Tipperary; “and such as is applicable to every pur

The acreage of Ireland is reckoned at 19,944,209, exclusive of lakes, divided as follows:

pose you can wish." The climate being damper and milder than in England, extremes of heat and cold are there almost unknown, at least as regards three-fourths of the island. Herbaceous vegetation is luxuriant, and it is not without reason that the clover or shamrock has been adopted as the heraldic emblem of the Emerald Isle, as it is called. The south-west coast enjoys a perpetual spring, owing to the ocean-currents which set in from the tropics. Myrtles there grow in the open air, and the arbutus or strawberry tree is one of the commonest of shrubs.

No country has more natural facilities for water-carriage, interior as well as exterior. Immense inland lakes -as Lough Neagh, with an area of one hundred thousand acres; Lough Corrib, of fifty thousand, and others profusely scattered over the country,-afford unexampled means for transport. The Shannon, the finest river in the British Isles-half river, half lake-extends nearly across the country from east to west, for a distance of two hundred miles, and possesses this great advantage, that, saving a few obstacles which might easily be removed, it is navigable to its source. Other rivers, equally navigable, flow in all directions from different lakes, and form branches of a vast system, which short canals might easily complete. The coast also is everywhere indented with bays and harbours, one of which-Cork-could shelter all the fleets of Europe. The nature of the country is no less favourable to road communication. Ordinary roads and railways are capable of being constructed with less labour and at less expense than in Great Britain.

Notwithstanding these natural advantages, the misery of the Irish has long been proverbial. Four large cities -Dublin, containing 250,000 inhabitants, Cork 100,000, Belfast 80,000, and Limerick 60,000, and situated in

the centre, as it were, of the four faces of the island-constitute the capitals. Dublin especially may justly be considered as one of the finest cities of Europe; its magnificence astonishes a stranger; but the rest of the country contains few large towns, and the fields exhibit a heartrending poverty, which extends to the suburbs of the large cities. Those harbours, lakes, and rivers, which might carry life into every part of the country, are almost destitute of trade. The gross agricultural production, at least previously to 1847, amounted scarcely to one-half that of England upon an equal surface, and the state of the rural population was even worse than could be charged to this difference in production. Let us pause, in the first place, at this period of her history, which is more important here than for the rest of the United Kingdom. Let us ascertain what was the condition at that time both of her agriculture and her rural population, and what were the causes producing it; after that, I shall proceed to notice what has occurred since.

Of the four large provinces which once formed separate kingdoms, Leinster is the richest in point of agriculture, and in this division Dublin is situated; next comes about onehalf of Ulster, in which is Belfast; then Munster, where we find Cork and Limerick; and lastly Connaught, with part of Ulster, one of the poorest and most barren tracts of country in the world. In 1847, the relative productiveness of county Meath in Leinster, and county Mayo in Connaught, was as ten to one; in the former, rents were 30s. per acre, which is equal to the best of the English counties; and in the latter the rate was 3s. In Ulster, counties Armagh, Down, and Antrim, surrounding Belfast, and in Munster, counties Limerick and Tipperary, the most fertile in Ireland, rival Leinster in productiveness; but even in the richest districts the