ABBEY OF MOUNT MELLERAY. 33 ward to the settlement of her helpless little onesthe fond, the tender mother. A brother! the help of his parents, dutiful and diligent. The son! heir to vast possessions, long expected-long hoped for. The lovely daughter! and "though last not least," the friend! Who has died? It may be at this instant that amid the tumult of war and din of arms an hundred cannons are bellowing forth death from an hundred throats, and, despite the anxious prayers offered for their safety, the sturdy patriots are falling in their country's cause on the crimsoned field. Who has died? Perhaps the fishes feed on the carcase of a shipwrecked seaman, who, tost by the raging ocean, found within the coral depths a watery grave. Long did he hope for succour from his comrades, but they heard him not; the wild blast drove them on, and left him to perish alone. This brings me from reflection to reality. I have over-drawn no thread, for of such is the web of mortality wrought. As the funeral approached I inquired, "Who has died?" What a melancholy instance of the brevity of this life was the reply: "The second son of a respectable family, both of whom were carried off within a week!" The funeral passed on, and I returned to my home. CHAPTER III. New year's day.A word to the past and address to the present year.-Old customs. Regret for their disuse. My farewell fox hunt.-A hint to horse owners. - My native town. The covert Side.Drawing for a fox.-The find.-A well-bred hunter. - Breaking covert.-Check at Lisnegar-The chase renewed. The finish.-Love of sport among the Irish.-Approach to the B- course. Difference between steeple-chasing in England and Ireland.--Rival horses.-The start-The race- -A dialogue on national music.-Rev. Dr. C-parting. - Friday, January 1, 1836. THOU art scarce emerged from the womb of time, and bear traces of purity on thy infant countenance; alas! how soon to be banished by the malignity of sin, and thy morning of life will be clouded by the aspect of sorrow. Where has thy senior fled? By whose omnipotent command hath thy parent vanished? To what unknown land has the old year gone? Are its destinies fulfilled and the objects it was to bring about NEW YEAR'S DAY. 35 ccomplished? Or has it set in anguish at the reckless unthrift of mankind, in the abuse of precious hours, which, alas! can never be recalled ! nd does it stand recorded as a witness against me for the waste I have made in the many opportunities I have had for improvement? Oh! infant year! infant year! Ere thou hast passed thy childhood hours, how often will my tired spirit yearn for the wings of a dove, like the prophet of old to flee away and be at rest!-What mysteries will not thy seasons unfold?-What new inventions?-What undreamt of changes?— Rise and fall of cities and men!-What strange accidents?-Calamitous sorrows! and unforeseen joys! I know not if I may live to endure unto thy close; nay, time itself may cease to exist, ere thou hast rolled thy course. Formerly, and doubtless in many places where old customs are still kept up, with what festive solemnity was this day kept : I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, was the nursery address we learned in our childish days. Before immersed in the bustle of a worldly life, we were estranged from the home-religion, as it is well called, which brings families connected with each other by the endearing ties of kindred to meet together at this festive season. The Christmas-holidays, always included Christ 36 NEW YEAR'S DAY. mas-day, New-Year-day, and Twelfth-day: the The wren, the wren, the king of all birds, Get up landlady, and give us a treat. Then the hounds were out, and if we could purvey any kind of a horse, we were hors-de-combat. Our parents and elders were wont to enjoy those times, as much, perhaps, as ourselves; they reminded them of the days when they too were young, and recalled emotions at once of a soothing and en. livening nature. The cares and turmoils of the year had been passed over, smoothly perhaps, or leaving behind some furrowed tracks of time's ploughshare; but now at the close they cast care away, and nestled in the bosom of their families, to spend that joyous season in exhilarating society. Even those on whom the cold, calculating, guarded, sordidness of the mammon for whom they toiled had crept ; whose thoughts were engrossed by interest, and NEW YEAR'S DAY. 37 whom the weary selfishness of worldly industry succeeded in estranging, for the greater portion of their lives, from the quiet scenes of home; whose feet wandered not in the wonted household path, and whose hearts love not to commune with the playmates of their school-boy times, at this particular season felt under the influence of some preternatural spell, which caused them to yearn for the pristine-fellowships of home. They abandoned their pursuits for the nonce, and once more trod on the hills they had roamed in their youth: sons visited the mansions of their parents; relations congregated again under the old roof; the childish pranks are re-acted by a generation of youngsters -long forgotten associations are recalled, and dear old familiar faces of nurses, and kin, remembered as of yore. These were the good old times, "when I was young and free." But may we not say with Banim, lamenting the departure of olden scenes and scenery, A wiser head I have I know, But in my wisdom there is woe, What a pity it is, that these good customs are declining, and that we are grown too sensible to be influenced by the sympathies of natural emotions. I went to chapel and heard prayers, visited the Agricultural Bank, and heard long conversations |