Ill 



AN AUTUMN VISIT TO THE LIPAEI 

 ISLES 



r I 1HE ruined volcanos of Carlingford had for a long 

 JL time engrossed my attention, and I had undertaken 

 to prepare an account of them for the Hoyal Irish 

 Academy. The task proved one of continually increasing 

 difficulty ; fresh problems started up day by day, till, 

 driven by desperation, I determined to visit some still 

 active volcanos, in hopes, which proved not too sanguine, 

 that their living fires might shed some stray gleams of 

 light on the history of their ancient Irish prototypes. So 

 on September the 3rd I left Dublin for Messina, en route 

 for Lipari, accompanied by my friend Mr. T. H. Thomas, 

 special artist of the Graphic. It took us over a fortnight 

 to get there, so many were the temptations that assailed 

 us by the way Paris, with its Exhibition and Eiffel 

 Tower, snowing post-cards from its summit all over the 

 civilised world ; Lucerne, which we left pale and beauti- 

 ful in the early morning for the imposing grandeur of the 

 St. Gothard Pass ; and the dreamlike beauty of Como, 

 lying voluptuously tranquil beneath the passionate warmth 

 of the Italian sun. Very amusing was it to watch the 

 court about the prima donna of the previous evening as 

 we took an al-fresco lunch in the gardens of a cafe 

 chantant lying on the borders of the lake. Then on to 



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