held on the Moat — John Millar, Esq., presiding. Thirteen ordi- 

 nary members were elected, and Mr. A. C. Welsh, of Dromore, 

 was unanimously elected a corresponding member. After visiting 

 the Church, and another Rath, the party returned to town. 



On 1 6th and 17th June, to 



NEWCASTLE. 



The trip to this delightful locality was looked forward to with 

 pleasure, and was expected to be one of the most successful of the 

 session, as to attendance and results. The weather, however, for 

 the two days previous to Wednesday — the day appointed for the 

 excursion — was so like November, stormy, cold, and wet, that few 

 could think of undertaking a trip over heather, bog, and mountains, 

 except the members of this society, whose practice is to carry out 

 their programme independent of all weathers, and accordingly 

 Wednesday morning found a party of ladies and gentlemen at the 

 County Down Railway Station, bound for the summit of Slieve 

 Donard. Leaving the station, this party left behind them the 

 storm and rain of the previous days, the heavy clouds that still 

 hung about Divis and Cave Hill, the smoke of factory chimneys, 

 and the vapours of the Blackstaff, and, having passed Scrabo, and 

 Comber, and Inch Abbey, and Downpatrick, previously visited, 

 the party in less than two hours were safely landed at Newcastle, 

 which, like a suppliant at a monarch's feet, lies modestly at the foot 

 of proud old Slieve Donard, and receives from that noble mountain 

 all that is beautiful, picturesque, and grand. More like an English 

 than an Irish town, it skirts the sea for about a mile along the 

 margin of the water, over which the breeze coming from off the 

 sea, or rolling down from the mountain, swelling off fir cones and 

 heather hills, sweeps with refreshing freedom, and glides welcome, 

 though unbidden, through every open door and window. Calling 

 at the Annesley Arms Hotel, all superfluous baggage was deposited, 



