260 MEMOIR OF A GENTLEMAN. 



" In my eyes, the value of the purchase was not enhanced 

 by a personal investigation. It had its capabilities, it is 

 true ; the house being a ruin, might be repaired ; and as 

 the lands were in their primeval state, it was possible to 

 reclaim them. Still, when one looked at a huge dismantled 

 building of that mixed class in architecture between a 

 fortalice and a dwelling-house, with grey-flagged roof, lofty 

 chimneys, embattled parapets, and glassless windows, it was 

 ill-calculated to encourage an English speculator in Irish 

 estates. On every side a boundless expanse of barren 

 moorland was visible, with an insulated portion of green 

 surface on which the castle stood, and a few straggling trees 

 remained from what had once been a noble oak wood. That 

 some savage beauty did exist in the wild highlands, a fine 

 river, and an extensive lake, is certain ; but to me, the 

 scenery and the place were dreary and disheartening. In 

 vain, therefore, did my friend Mark Antony dilate upon its 

 advantages. The river boasted the best salmon fishing in 

 the country What was it to me, who had never angled for 

 a gudgeon ? The mountains abounded with grouse Who 

 but a native could escalade them ? The bogs were cele- 

 brated for game And would I devote myself like another 

 Decius, to be engulfed, for all the wild ducks that ever wore 

 a wing? But then The Blazers were only a few miles 

 distant, and their favourite fixture was on the estate. 

 Really the proximity of that redoubted body produced a 

 cold perspiration when I heard it. The Blazers \ the most 

 sanguinary fox-club in Connaught a gang who would literally 

 devastate the country, if it did not please Heaven to thin their 

 numbers annually by broken necks and accidents from pistol 

 bullets. Yet, with me, the Rubicon was crossed Castle 

 Toole was mine with all its imperfections, and I determined 

 to exert my philosophy to endure what it was impossible to 

 undo. 



"To restore the decayed glories of the mansion, you 

 may well imagine was a work of trouble and expense. It 

 was done, and Brasilia slept again under the roof-tree of 

 her progenitors. Hitherto I had indulged her fancies 

 without murmuring, and some of them were superlatively 

 absurd. I hoped and believed that when the hurry of re- 

 establishing the ruin I had been fool enough to purchase 



