In the heart of a county esteemed the most romantic in Ireland is situated the interesting Valley of GLENDALOUGH; stupendous and almost perpendicular mountains, lost in a magnificence of clouds, enclose it on all sides but the east, where alone it opens like a vast temple of nature to the rising day.

Of these eminences some appear glowing with the liveliest verdure, while others wave but with brown heath, or blacken with moss and peat; yet through such gigantic impediments the Glen forces its way until it terminates at last in the expanse of a calm and peaceful lake, from which the river Avonmore glides down through steep and beautifully wooded banks to that Vale of Ovoca so sweetly celebrated by the Irish Melodist.

The secluded and melancholy appearance of Glendalough early marked it as the more peculiar retreat of holiness, and at this day the scattered but venerable remains of the abbeys that repose in its depths, the gloomy scenes of ancient and religious grandeur, strike the eye of the traveller with inexpressible reverence, and if not forming the most witching associations of the landscape at least powerfully deepen its interest.

There in the sixth century had the illustrious Kevin, the especial apostle of the Valley, studied; there had he founded an establishment of which himself was the first abbot, and there

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on the third of June, A. D. 619, a day whose anniversary is still observed with all the ceremonies of an Irish " patron," he departed this life, or in the language of the ritual, he was born to the blessings of another state, leaving his memory to consecrate every winding of this lovely valley. There, notwithstanding the frequent ravages of fire and sword, shrouded in a forest of ancient oaks, a city of many people-a seminary of saints once flourished, the light of the western world the shrine of religion and literature the goal of many a holy pilgrimage.

The ruins scattered through the scene are well identified, and satisfactorily described in Mr. Wright's Guide-book to the County Wicklow. Only let me observe that the tourist will here find two specimens of those most ancient monuments of sun-worship in Ireland-the round towers. One is in a very imperfect state; the other, about 110 feet high, seems only to want the usual conical termination. I have confidently assigned them to Pagan times, for in that theory I confess that despite the recent decision of some of my learned brothers of the Royal Irish Academy, who have piously concluded them Christian, I (for the contributor to a "Penny Magazine," has no right to speak in the plural number, nor would I, in this instance, seek to multiply the minority in which I was, on the vital question of the origin of Irish round towers, by the use of the Malthusian pronoun "We"-I then be it ;) I maintain that the said towers were erected long before Christianity was introduced into Ireland, and while I have heretofore supported that hypothesis by external evidences to which alone I was then at liberty to appeal, I here take leave to say that I have a body (if necessary) of internal evidence available to refute the opinion of their being originally constructed for Christian uses, although I freely admit they were so subsequently applied. Happily, however, for your Magazine, the ordinary compass of one of its articles will, I imagine, in due time, suffice for that purpose. I feel it, however, but justice to the very talented gentleman who has obtained the prize from the Academy, to announce to the public that his work will be in the copiousness of the compilation, and, I would say, the innate grace and life of the embellishfered to Irish Topography, alike creditable to the author, and to the learned and liberal body who patronise its publication.But to the records.

908, Cormac Mac Cullenan, the celebrated Archbishop of Cashel, and king of Munster, was a contributor of gold and silver to the abbey of Glendalough.

983, The three sons of Cervaill Mac Lorcan plundered its termon or church lands. Their sacrilege, however, met its merited fate they were all slain on the day it was committed.

1010, O'Toole, one of the ancient princes of the surrounding country, was buried here in the Rhefeart Church.

1020, The city of Glendalough was reduced by fire to a heap of ashes, a visitation to which it was again subjected in the years 1044, 1061, 1071, and 1084.

About the latter year Gilda na Naomh, bishop of Glendalough, resigned his see, and retiring to Germany, became abbot of Wurtzburg, where he died.

1095, The abbot O'Monchan died of the plague, and the same year the abbey was destroyed by fire.

1098, Dervorgilla, the daughter of Fitzpatrick, and mother of O'Brien, died in pilgrimage at Glendalough.

1122, Connal, of Clonard, died in pilgrimage here.

1152, A second bishop of this see of the name of Gilda na Naomh assisted at that synod of Kells where Cardinal Paparo distributed the palls amongst the archbishops, and he is placed in rank next to Gregory, Archbishop of Dublin.

1162, This year is triumphantly noticed in the Irish annals as that in which the holy Lawrence O'Toole, who had been theretofore abbot of Glendalough, received solemn consecration from Gelasius, the archbishop of Armagh, in the cathedral of Christ Church, in Dublin, "many bishops being present and the people returning thanks to God." This event is the more remarkable in the church history of Ireland, as from thenceforth the privilege of consecrating Irish bishops, which had been partially assumed by the archbishops of Canterbury, was no longer asserted. The Irish and English annalists bear the most unlimited testimony to the active virtues of this great man, his charity to the poor, and hospitality to the rich, evincing himself, as his biographer records, with a reproachful antithesis, " rather the minister than the bishop." In all the elevation of his character and rank he still adhered to the strictest abstinence and mortification, frequently retreating from the unwelcome pomp of the prelacy to the scenes of his early piety in these romantic recesses. On the first invasion of the English he adhered firmly to the independence of his country, enthusiastically encouraging the inhabitants of Dublin to a vigorous defence against the invaders, and on the surrender of that city he laboured to animate king Roderick to recover it and his sovereignty. But I am passing my boundary and intruding on the province of my brother "of the biography."

1163, The abbey here was destroyed by fire, and the house

of St. Kevin consumed.

1169, The notorious Dermot Mac Murrough desolated this city, and in the following year guided the forces of Strongbow through its lonely and then wooded defiles, to the siege of Dublin.

1173, Strongbow granted to Thomas his clerk, the parson

an extension of the royal prerogative was considered unjust, and as such opposed by the O'Tooles, who, being hereditary princes of the district, were accustomed to appoint to the see, or estrange its temporalities.

1228, A very important record of this date enumerates the various possessions of the diocese.

1230, Luke, archbishop of Dublin, was fined 300 marks for disafforesting a forest belonging to his see, but afterwards obtained license so to do.

1290, Stephen de Brogan, archdeacon of Glendalough, was elected archbishop of Cashel.

1306, The archdeaconry of Glendalough was taxed to the first fruits, at £8 13s. 4d. on each preferment..

1308, The power of the barons of England having banished the well-known Pierce de Gaveston from the king's presence, he was sent into this kingdom as the dernier resort of royal patronage, in the character of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, soon after which he made an incursion into the district between Dublin and Glendalough, defeated the O'Byrnes, built Newcastle in their country, re-built the castles of Mac Adam and Kevin, cut down the pass between Castle Kevin and this valley in despite of the Irish, and then made his offerings as of atonement at the shrine of its patron.

1398, The English forces burned and destroyed the city of Glendalough.

1399, John Snell having been nominated archdeacon, it was suggested that he being an Irishman bis presentation was, by statute, null and void, whereupon the king substituted John Bermingham. A trial, however, being had on Quare Impedit, the jury determined that Snell was an Englishman.

1479, Friar Denis White, who had long usurped this see, made a formal surrender thereof in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

1500, It does, however, appear that distinct bishops were even after the last date advanced to this see, as e. g. the appointment of Francis de Cordova, by Pope Alexander the 6th, in this year.

1535, Christopher St. Laurence, alias Howth, was nominated by the king to this dignity, which he held at the time of the suppression.

1538, The prior of All-Hallows (the site of the present University) was found seised (inter alia) of the church of St. Saviour and upwards of 300 acres here, and in the same year the archdeaconry of Glendalough was re-valued at £34 9s. Od. 1580, Lord Grey whose administration (as the historian remarks) was an uninterrupted course of the most insatiable cruelty and plunder, having been appointed to the government of Ireland, supposed he could suppress the rebellious spirit of the country by a precipitate prosecution of hostilities; he accordingly presumed to lead his troops against the natives into this valley, which, fortified by nature and defended by the strong nerve of public opinion, could bid defiance to the most experienced of British generals. The result was such as might be expected: surrounded by enemies whom he could not confront, and assailed on all sides by attacks which he could not retaliate, Lord Grey lost his principal officers and returned to the seat of government covered with confusion and dishonour.

1594, Sir Adam Loftus, a layman, possessed himself of the

dignities thereunto belonging.

1176, Glendalough was plundered by the English adventurers. 1177, A remarkable flood swept through this little city, by which the bridge and mills were carried away, and fishes remained in the midst of the town.

1179, The Pope confirmed to the Bishop of Glendalough the whole of that city and its appurtenances.

1185, King John granted this bishoprick, when it should become vacant, to John Comyn, the first Englishman who obtained an Irish prelacy.

1192, John Earl of Morton, afterwards King John, by a very important charter, granted this abbey with its appurtenances, to the abbot; and in the same year, by a still more essential grant, as affecting the temporalities of the see, gave the bishopric with all its detailed appurtenances, to the Archbishop of Dublin and his successors.

1193, A very remarkable patent of this date gives to the Archbishop of Dublin the donation of the bishopric of Glendalough, "so that, however, such bishops shall be but as the chaplains or vicars of said Archbishop."

1216, The union of Glendalough and Dublin was confirmed. The honour, however, so intended to be bestowed upon Glendalough has, as Mr. Bell well observes, like most unequal

chancellorship of Ireland until his death in 1643.

1604, The various landed possessions to which the prior of All-Hallows was entitled here, (see ante at 1538,) were granted to the mayor, &c. of Dublin for ever, at the annual rent of £4 4s. Old.

1639, Some very ancient silver coins were found in digging at Glendalough.

1810, St. Kevin's kitchen was about this time and for some years subsequently used as a Roman Catholic chapel; in 1827, however, it was allowed to relapse into that desolation that seems " to suit the gloomy habit of the soil." Such another desert within twenty-five miles of the capital of a kingdom, where 300 acres may be rented for one guinea annually, is not, perhaps, to be discovered elsewhere in any civilized part of the globe. But the times are, I trust, at hand, when under the government of our gracious King, and the better administration of affairs, our bogs our fens our morasses shall be reclaimed, till not a freckle remains on the face of the "Emerald Isle."Our collieries shall be worked by more than the light of Aladin's lamp, and our mines explored, until the subterraneous agitators "march into the bowels of the land without impediment."

I have refrained from any description of the particular localities of this Palmyra of Ireland. Every guide-book can supply this deficiency. Much less did I wish to encumber these pages with the idle legends with which, much to the prejudice of Irish history, topographists are wont to crowd their narratives, as if they could atone for their ignorance or indolence in exploring the authentic records of Ireland by dragging out the obsolete and imaginative passages of Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum," or "Trias Thaumaturga." Religion and history are alike outraged by such citations.

Only let me add as to the statistics of Glendalough, that it is situated about 22 miles from Dublin, in the barony of Ballinacor, in the poor and picturesque County of Wicklow. It is a curacy in the arch-diocese of Dublin, united from time immemorial with that of Derrylossory, the union being extensive,

almost beyond calculation, but comprising, for the most part, waste or uninhabitable mountain. The church is in the latter parish, but there is a glebe-house, and a glebe of sixty acres at Glendalough, within one mile of the church. The population of the parish has been returned as 1405 persons.

The ancient "Book of Glendalough" is still extant, and copious extracts from it are to be found in various repositories.

The view prefixed to this little memoir represents the singular valley of Glendalough, in all the wild witchery of its natural beauty and picturesque ruins; that which follows is an enlarged sketch of the very curious and isolated archway still standing there. Farewell, yours,

J. D.

AFTER the death of Fochy Feylioch, three princes successively held the monarchy, during the interval of nearly si teen years, until the accession of Conary, surnamed The Great, which occurred in the year of the world, 3949, or about 55 years before the Christian era. Nothing of importance is recorded of the reigns of his three predecessors, nor was his own life distinguished by any great events in the history of his country. His reign, on the contrary, was remarkable for its singular tranquillity and placia happiness, and estimable because it was peaceful. The people were well-governed, their interests consulted, their prosperity promoted, and, in consequence, they were contented, and rendered cheerful obedience to the laws. The turbulent habits created by the ambition of some monarchs, and the causeless dissentions of others having subsided, the blessings of peace became generally diffused in the progress of the arts and sciences peculiarly belonging to that happy state of society; learning was sedulously cultivated, and trade and commerce flourished in an unusual degree. Tacitus, the great Roman historian, states that at this period the sea-ports and landing places in Ireland were much better known than those of Britain, and much more frequented by foreign merchants, though it is well known that some parts of Britain maintained important commercial relations then with the Romans and other nations. Even the elements and powers of nature seem to have been combined to render this a happy era in our history. The seasons are said to have been mild beyond experience for years, and the earth fruitful to excess. Our ancient and pious historians dwell on these circumstances with earnest and grateful

rapture, as appropriate indications of the birth of a REDEEMER. They recognised in the peaceful pursuits and thirst for knowledge of their countrymen, and even in the stillness of the storms, and the fertility of mute nature, the benignant influence of ONE who came, not alone to SAVE, but to teach the nations truth, and to preach to them the precepts of mutual charity, union, and good-will. Christ is supposed to have been born in the year of the world 4004, and the fifty-fifth year of this prince's reign.

It is true that the precise period of this event is undecided, but the best chronologists concur in believing that it occurred about the year I have mentioned. Our Irish historians, like others, differ somewhat on the subject; some of them consider that it is from the reign of Crimthan we should date the occurrence, and, therefore, I have thought fit to conjoin the lives of both monarchs in the present article. During the first year of Conary's reign the palace at Tara was burnt to the ground by accident, but was re-built by him with great splendour, and it is curious that, after a lapse of more than half a century, he lost his life by fire in the same palace. His death was caused by a sudden inroad of certain lawless and reckless desperadoes, under the command of a young Welch prince, who landed in the neighbourhood of Tara, attacked the palace at night, for the sake of plunder, set it on fire, and thus this aged and truly venerable king perished in the flames, after a reign of sixty years. There is not recorded in the Irish annals any reign so long or so happy. Conary was, indeed, one of those men who deserve the name of Great, because without seeking their own aggrandisement they confer benefits and blessings on their fellow-beings. There is but one instance of harshness or injustice charged against his character; it is that of having imposed a heavy penalty on the province of Leinster, and separated from

province) in revenge for the death of his father who was killed by a Leinster prince in a contest for the chief sovereignty.

The death of Conary caused such confusion that five years elapsed beford Lugad, or Louis, a prince of the Heremonian line, was elected to the vacant throne. Of this prince it is related that he formed an alliance with the king of Denmark, and married his daughter Dearvorghuill, whose death afflicted him so much that at length he committed suicide. The fact of this alliance deserves attention as proving the intimate and friendly intercourse that existed at this early period, between Ireland and the more northern nations, as well as the southern and eastern. After Lugad's death the throne was filled for one year by a prince named Connor, who was succeeded by Crimthan. This monarch was signalized by his great military talents and triumphs. He had the good fortune, also, to be beloved by his subjects, perhaps because circumstances turned his arms and his ambition to contest with foreign enemies, and prevented their being employed against the peace and liberty of his native country while they increased its glory. It does not appear that he entered even upon his foreign wars merely from the love of conquest or fame, but that he was urged to pursue them to protect his own authority, and ensure the safety of his realm.

At the period in which he lived, the Romans, still in the possession of the immense military power by which they had extended their government throughout every region of the earth then known, and held captive equally the most civilized and most barbarous nations, had effected the enslavement of the greater and better part of Britain. They were still actuated by the fatal impulse to further conquest, which eventually led to the dismemberment and overthrow of their unwieldy empire, like the bloated frame of the sensual man, sinking beneath the unhealthy gluttony of his depraved appetite. They were, therefore, dangerous neighbours, and formidable antagonists. Agricola was the Roman governor of Britain in the early part of Crimthan's reign, and it being represented to him by some factious refugees from Ireland, that he could easily establish the Roinan power there also, he meditated an expedition for the purpose. Indeed, Tacitus, the Roman historian of that period, states that Agricola was informed he could conquer Ireland with a single legion (about five thousand) of his troops, in addition to the auxiliaries he could raise! This was evidently a delusive trick, resorted to by the enemies of Crimthan, who cared little about the Romans, provided they could gratify their own malice by procuring an invasion of his realm with all its risks and inflictions on any terms. The Roman general was, however, recalled before he could experience the fallacy of the hopes held out to him, and the project was abandoned. But Crimthan did not wait to be invaded at home, and subject his kingdom to the horrors of a war, but, like a politic prince, resolved to attack his enemies while it was still possible to avert the threatened evil. He was married to a Pictish Princess, and was naturally influenced to act in conjunction with those of her nation, who still resisted the Roman power in Scotland and the north of England. It will be recollected that the Picts of Scotland were tributaries of Ireland, and thus another motive existed for co-operation with them against the common enemy. Crimthan carried a body of troops against the Romans; invaded them in person, in their own established provinces in Britain; taught them the terrors of defeat, and after proving the superiority of his arms, by circumscribing their territory, and overawing their power, he returned to his own country, enriched by their spoils, and covered with glory. He brought with him, also, an increased knowledge of military and mechanic arts and refinements; thus making even the rude intercourse of hostility subservient to improvement; and guided by his experience, he introduced many useful changes in the discipline of his army, as well as in the habits of his people. The imperfection of English history is remarkably exemplified in all that relates to Ireland. The historians of England have always taken an unaccountable, but mean and contemptible pleasure in adopting the prejudiced records of their early times, from their enemies, rather than from their friends. The Romans could not be expected to narrate their own reverses very faithfully; in the haughty and unjustified insolence of their power they called all nations, without the pale of their territory, barbarians; and in the case before us deeming the Picts, whether justly or not, barbarians, they could not make a distinction between them and their more valorous and civiliz dallies. The Romans, therefore, give only general descriptions of the events of their wars with the Picts, and do not specify the different characters of their enemies. But the Irish, on the contrary, are peculiorly circumstantial; and yet the English over

There may be as much of ignorance as of sinister design in this; but I hope the enterprising spirit of knowledge will soon turn to the rich stores of Irish history. I have only to add to this notice of Crimthan, the melancholy fact, that he was killed, by a fall from his horse, in the neighbourhood of Howth, a few weeks after his return to Ireland.

THE HUDSON AND THE RHINE.

C.

MR. COOPER, the celebrated American novelist, contrasts the beauties of that splendid river of America, the Hudson, with the attractions of the Rhine, so admired in Europe, for its picturesque and bold scenery. We extract the following passage from a volume of his recent productions :

"I had been familiar with the Hudson from childhood. The great thoroughfare of all who journey from the interior of the state towards the sea, necessity had early made me acquainted with its windings, its promontories, its islands, its cities, and its villages. Even its hidden channels had been professionally examined, and time was when there did not stand an unknown seat on its banks, or a hamlet that had not been visited. Here then was the force of deep impressions to oppose to the influence of objects still visible.

"To me it is quite apparent that the Rhine, while it frequently possesses more of any particular species of scenery, within a given number of miles, than the Hudson, has none of so great excellence. It wants the variety, the noble beauty, and the broad grandeur of the American stream. The latter, within the distance universally admitted to contain the finest parts of the Rhine, is both a large and a small river; it has its bays, its narrow passages among meadows, its frowning gorges, and its reaches resembling Italian lakes; whereas the most that can be said of its European competitor is, that all these wonderful peculiarities are feebly imitated. Ten degrees of a lower latitude, supply richer tints, brighter transitions of light and shadow, and more glorious changes of the atmosphere, to embellish the beauties of our western clime. In islands, too, the advantage is with the Hudson, for, while those of the Rhine are the most numerous, those of the former stream are bolder, better placed, and, in every natural feature, of more account.

When the comparison between these celebrated rivers is extended to their artificial accessories, the result becomes more doubtful. The buildings of the older towns and villages of Europe seem grouped especially for effect, as seen in the distant view, though security was in truth the cause; while the spacious, cleanly, and cheerful villages of America must commonly be entered, to be appreciated. In the other hemisphere, the maze of roofs, the church towers, the irregular faces of wall, and frequently the castle rising to a pinnacle in the rear, give a town the appearance of some vast and antiquated pile devoted to a single object. Perhaps the boroughs of the Rhine have less of this picturesque, or landscape effect, than the villages of France and Italy, for the Germans regard space more than their neighbours, but still are they less common-place than the smiling and thriving little marts that crowd the borders of the Hudson. To this advantage must be added that which is derived from the countless ruins, and a crowd of recollections. Here, the superiority of the artificial auxiliaries of the Rhine ceases, and those of her rival come into the ascendant. In modern abodes, in villas, and even in seats, those of princes alone excepted, the banks of the Hudson have scarcely an equal in any region. There are finer and nobler edifices on the Brenta, and other favoured spots, certainly, but I know no stream that has so many that please and attract the eye. As applied to moving objects, an important feature in this comparison, the Hudson has perhaps no rival in any river that can pretend to a picturesque character. In numbers, in variety of rig, in beauty of form, in swiftness and dexterity of handling, and, in general grace and movement, this extraordinary passage ranks among the first of the world. The yards of tall ships swing among the rocks and forests of the highlands, while sloop. schooner, bright and canopied steam-boat, yacht, perigua, and canoe, are seen in countless numbers, decking its waters. There is one more eloquent point of difference that should not be neglected. Drawings and engravings of the Rhine lend their usual advantages, softening, and frequently rendering beautiful, objects of no striking attractions when seen as they exist, while every similar attempt to represent the Hudson, at once strikes the eye as unworthy of its original.

Nature is fruitful of fine effects in every region, and it is a mis take not to enjoy her gifts, as we move through life, on accom of some fancied superiority in this or that quarter of the world.