124 



an individual whose acquaintance is a real acqui- 

 sition, there are all the probabilities against you 

 that you shall never meet that valued character 

 more ?" 



This amiable man regrets his separation from the 

 friends he so greatly honoured with his regard, in 

 terms not unlike those in which Mr. Davall ex- 

 presses himself. " Often," says Mr. Caldwell, " do 

 I lament being deprived of more frequent enjoy- 

 ment of your presence and conversation ; but such 

 is the condition of life, that variety of advantages 

 cannot be had at once ; we must learn to be content 

 with them separate and occasionally." 



The first letter in this correspondence, from 

 A. B. Lambert, Esq., is inserted among Mr. Cald- 

 well's, in consequence of its relating, like a few 

 others in this selection, to Ireland only. 



Mr. Lambert to Sir J. E. Smith. 



Dear Sir, Castle Bourke, near Tuam, May 1790. 



I hope you received the letter I wrote just before 

 my leaving England. Ever since my arrival here 

 I have been taken up with business, so that I have 

 not been able to pay that attention to the natural 

 history of this country I could wish. I have been 

 this last month in the county of Mayo, at West- 

 port, the seat of Lord Altamont, surrounded by the 

 Hibernian Alps, — the most mountainous country I 

 ever saw ; near it is the famous mountain of Croagh 

 Patrick, reckoned one of the highest in Ireland, 



