[ 3S 1 



enclofures fhould appear to mark the chearful fire-fide of fomc 

 former villager, or the circuit of his little garden ; if embattled 

 walls, or marble piers fhould ftart up amid the fands, fuggefting 

 ideas of ancient elegance and feftivity, he muft have a ftoic's 

 mind, indeed, who will not venture to calculate caufes, and feel 

 interefted in events that come home fo clofely to the human 

 heart. 



On many parts of the coaft of Ireland fcenes, fuch as thefe, may 

 be difcovered. 



At the entrance of the river Bannow, in the celebrated barony 

 of Forth, in the county of Wexford, veftiges of ruins, traced with 

 difiiculty amid heaps of barren fand, ferve to afcertain the fite of 

 a town, whofe ancient refpedability was marked by the royal 

 charter, which endowed it with the privilege of fending reprefen- 

 tatjves to the parliament of the nation, and whofe opulence may 

 be inferred from the ftreets which are regiftered in the revenue 

 records of the laft century *. 



E 2. Amid 



* " So late as the year 1626, Bannow is regiftered in the cuftom-houfe books of 

 Wexford, as having four ftreets which paid quit-rent to the crown ; viz. Lady-ftreet, 

 High-ftreet, Weavers-ftreet, Little-fttreet, and fome buildings furrounding the 

 church. The only remains of Bannow, which ftand viCble at this day (1786), are the 

 •walls of its church. There is not on or near the town but one poor folitary hut. The 

 ele£lion for the reprefentatives of the town is held on the walls of an old chimney, 

 adjoining to the church, which tumbled down piece-meal, and forms the council 

 t^le of that ancient and loyal corporation." 



Private letter of a friend in the county of Wexford. 



