24 SPORTING LODGE. 



size and colour of the bird, and concluded that a grouse had 

 been the eagle's victim. 



When we had cleared the islands, the breeze blew fresh 

 and steadily ; the boatmen shook out the reefs, which had 

 hitherto confined their canvass ; the galley, with increased 

 velocity, rushed through the rippling water, till, doubling a 

 neck of land surmounted by a ruined castle, and running up 

 a sheltered creek, I found myself at the termination of my 

 voyage, and warmly welcomed by my Irish kinsman, from 

 whom for fifteen years I had been separated. 



I have oeen here three days, and am as much domesticated 

 in the mansion as my cousin's Newfoundland clog. I know 

 the names and " sobriquet" of the establishment ; can discri- 

 minate between " Hamisk-a-neilan" (James of the island) and 

 Andy-bawn (Fair Andy); I hold converse with the cook, 

 and am hand-and-glove with the housemaid. Really I am 

 delighted with the place, for every thing is wild, new, and 

 out-of-the-way ; but I must describe the locale of my kinsman's 

 domicile. 



At the bottom of a narrow creek, you must imagine " a 

 low snug dwelling, and in good repair." The foam of the 

 Atlantic breaks sometimes against the windows, while a huge 

 cliff, -seaward, defends it from the storm, and, on the land 

 side, a sudden hill shelters it from the north wind. Here, 

 when the tempest roars abroad, your friend Laura might 

 venture forth and not endanger a papillotte. The bent* roof 

 is impervious to the rain ; the rooms are neat, well arranged, 

 and comfortable. In the parlour, if the evening be chilly, a 

 turf fire sparkles on the hearth ; and when dried bog- deal is 

 added to the embers, it emits a fragrant and delightful glow, 

 superseding the necessity of candles. The long and measured 

 swell of the Atlantic would almost lull a troubled conscience 

 to repose ; and that rural hum, which attends upon the farm- 

 yard, rouses the refreshed sleeper in the morning. In the 

 cairn of evening I hear the shrill cry of the sand-lark ; and in 



edges of puttified timber, shippes, oars, anchor-holders, and such like, 

 which in processe, taking lively heate of the sunne, become water-fowles, 

 and, at their time of ripenesse, either fall jnto the sea, or fly abroad into 

 the ayre." Campion's Historic. * " i\p, 

 * The customary thatch in parts of Erris. 



