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"your daughter's safety should excite feelings of gratitude, not expressions of revenge. Shew yourself superior to the rascal who has endeavoured to wrong you, by a proper elevation of sentiment, and banish all traces of harsh feeling from your mind. His own conscience will be a sufficient punishment, without your harbouring ideas of revenge. Remember, also, that you are commanded to forgive; and as you have sustained no real injury, it cannot be a very great effort to dismiss your angry feelings."

"True," rejoined the farmer; "but is a rich profligate to insult a poor cottager? I mean harm to no one, but must protect my daughter."

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"Protect and cherish her, but forget not that invaluable precept which forms the brightest jewel in the Christian diadem, Return good for evil;' a recurrence of this appears improbable at least, and it would be better to dismiss all thoughts of it at once."

"I will, then," said the farmer, "and soon put it out of Sir Edward's power to attempt her injury, by giving her a better protector in William Somers."

The worthy Rector left the cottage praising his intentions, and bearing with him the thanks of its inmates.

A few days past over and Sir Edward was forgotten by all, except Miss Thrif ty; who, unable to endure the mortitication of her ill success, left the village for a time on a visit to an aunt in the neighbouring county.

Every day now approached nearer to the confirmation of my wishes. On a consultation with Mr. Manning, Mr. Plausible was retained to draw up the necessary papers, and prepare every thing that was expedient. The day was fixed, and the arrival of a few remaining friends anxiously expected.

Our society was soon enlivened by the addition of one of them-George Manning, who not only congratulated me as his brother-in-law, but addressed me as the suitor to my cousin Louisa. This union I had long contemplated; and, from a knowledge of their respective disposition, augured well of their happiness. The double tie about to be formed, still more endeared our families to each other; and in the mutual interchange of friendship and affection, I could not help depicting to my imagination as happy a series of years as mortality could hope for.

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The sun rose in its accustomed splendor, and Nature was arrayed in her liveliest garment, when the triple unions of George Manning and my cousin Maria Heartly and William Somerswith my own, were solemnized in the parish church. Need I recount the smiles and blushes usual on these occasions. Suffice it to say, that the accus. tomed ceremonies were observed; and setting aside Mr. Plausible's attempts at wit, we faced the ordeal as well as could be expected.

Three years have now elapsed, and the transports natural to youth are mellowed into those endearing enjoyments which increase with age and strengthen with connexion; our several choices are justified by their anxiety, and regard for our happiness. It is our mutual endeavour to promote the happiness of each other, by occasionally sacrificing our own inclinations to preserve unimpaired those little tributes of affection which, forming the chief attraction of the wooer, are too often neglected in the husband. The will of one is the will of the other; nor are trifles ever made the subject of dispute. The true end of matrimony is to smooth, not increase, the difficulties of life; and while its votaries will but remem ber how much they gain by a mutual attention to each other's wishes, they divest it of the forbidding appearance it assumes, and renders its yoke once easy and delightful.

But I have already trespassed beyond the bounds of your partiality, and in bidding you adieu, hope the recital of my memoirs previous to marriage may not be entirely uninteresting. One view I have had in it is, to uphold the inte rests of virtue and destroy those of vice

experience having already taught me that nothing but shame attends the footsteps of the one, while honour and self-approbation follow the other. And though deceit may amuse us for a while, and be the means of securing us temporary advantages, there is nothing like a course of consistency to render us happy in our commerce with the world.

It may not be amiss to add, that little Peter, my first-born, is at this instant smiling before me; and though he cannot speak for himself (if you will allow me to put a construction on his smile), thanks you, my readers, for the attention and kindness you have shewn their friend, PETER PLIANT.

IRISH EXTRACTS.

CONTAINING A CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL PLACES IN

IRELAND; WITH THE ANTIQUITIES, CUSTOMS, CHARACTER, AND MANNERS OF THAT COUNTRY.

BY THOMAS STRINGER, M.D.

(Concluded from page 407.)

CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURE.

HE climate of Ireland is humid, yet agues and dropsies are not very common; one of the first physicians informed me, that he knew of no disease peculiar to Ireland. This moisture of climate is attributed to the exposure of Ireland to the Atlantic ocean, in which state it operates as a screen to England-The earliest notice in Roman writers of the name of Ireland (Hibernia) is in Julius Cæsar, and was given probably by him or his countrymen from its supposed coldness-The verdure is vivid-the climate salubrious. The climate of Ireland does not seem to have altered much since the days of Giraldus, who in the twelfth century, describes it as subject to continual rains and clouds. Dr. Beaufort observes, that it is rather more variable, and perhaps milder, than in England; the summer less hot, the winter less severe. The air is certainly damper, but this quality is not to be attributed entirely to the bogs which are scattered all over the kingdom, but chiefly to its insular situation, and to the great quantity of moist particles that are wafted from the ocean by the westerly winds which most frequently prevail. This moisture however, is not prejudicial to health, neither is the neighbourhood of bogs unwholesome. The bog waters, far from emitting putrid exhalations, like stagnant pools and marshes, are of antiseptic quality, as appears from their preserving for ages, and even adding to the durability of timber, which we find universally buried beneath their surfaces, and from their converting to a sort of leather, the skins of men, animals, &c. that have been lost, or remaining in them for any length of time. The bogs in Ireland present in general, an extended surface of dry heath, nor after that the turf has been cut to a considerable depth for fuel, are they to be considered as useless; for nature has been so liberal of her gifts in fertilizing this country, that even the bog can be Europ. Mag. Vol. LXXIII. June, 1818.

made doubly productive, first in fuel, and afterwards in corn. There is great reason to suspect, that turf bogs in many instances, have been found by the ruins of forests overwhelmed by floods, or prostrated by hurricanes; between the branches of whose trees a nidus was afforded for the accumulated growth of fibrous plants, of which, with the admixture of a small proportion of earthly particles, the turf or peat of the country is almost uniformly formed. The solid stems of trees less subject to decay, are commonly found in bogs at a great depth, and sometimes in such excellent preservation, that they are esteemed equal to any other timber for substanstial buildings. I have seen some very beautiful and expensive pieces of furniture made of solid bog yew. The pine and fir woods, though inapplicable to such valuable purposes, are not devoid of use; amongst others being highly inflammable, splinters of them are substituted for candles among the poor. The bogs and their neighbourhood, instead of being insalubrious are healthy; they are antisceptic and preservative. Some of them are very extensive. The Bog of Allen, resembles at a distance, a vast brown lake, was once covered with the finest forest trees, now buried under its dreary surface; this bog crosses several counties, and contains three hundred thou sand acres, and is the largest in Ireland.

In a country, where, owing to a want of capital and a contracted system of agriculture, employment cannot be found for the peasant, his idleness is in some degree palliated, and becomes an act of necessity. Until a new and more advantageous system of letting estates is adopted; and until the class of middle-men is annihilated; and until the land holder condescends to look with his own, and not his agent's eyes, over the plans of his estates; the agriculture of the country can never be improved to that degree which the great fertility of its soil demands; nor can the wretched situation of the labouring poor be materially amended.

There are several persons to be supported between the land proprietor and the worker of the land; hence the extreme poverty of these miserable people. Even the clergy farm their tythes to middle men, called proctors, whose infamous extortions were the original cause of the insurrections among the white boys.

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It is much to be regretted, that more attention is not paid to the planting system; the more important as the whole island is so peculiarly destitute of wood. I am surprized, that it has not been more generally attended to, as there is a most excellent regulation established by parliament; both to encourage and benefit the planter. I never saw a country better adapted to the growth of timber, both in climate and soil.

In travelling unvaried monotony prevails, for want of hedge-rows, trees, and woods; which would so much improve and beautify the country, in the room of the disfiguring small plots and earthen fences. They are generally confined to the immediate neighbour hood of gentlemen's seats.

In surveying the state of agriculture, and the different crops with which the soil is titled, we shall find that the oat and potatoe prevail over every other grain; here also a large species of barley, that ripens the first of all grain, is cultivated. The mode of planting potatoes is as follows. The potatoe is cut into several pieces, each of which has an eye these are spread on ridges of about four or five feet wide, which are covered with the mould at different times, dug from the furrows on each side, which are, when completed, about half the breadth of the ridge, this completely lets off the water, and they are alwas sufficiently dry.

"While bleak December hears the mowers blythe,

In new born meadows whet the shining scythe."

The agricultural world is much indebted to the Rector of Clonfeckle, Dr. Richardson, for the celebrity he has given to the Fiorin grass, Agrostis Stolonifera. This grass is found in every climate, it is more capable of resisting the injuries of the weather than any other grass, and has been found eminently useful in reclaiming bogs. In quantity of produce and in quality it has no rival; an Irish acre will produce eight or nine tons. The flavour of the milk produced from fiorin grass, or from cows fed upon fiorin hay, is very remarkable, the result of the abundance of saccharine matter with which this vegetable is loaded. The quantity too is much increased by the superior succulence of fiorin hay, as it can be used in a greener state than any other hay; and

if left uncut, fiorin affords excellent green food, through the whole winter. At Rathfarnham house, resides George' Grierson, Esq. one of the first experimental farmers in Ireland. I visited one of his farms called Woodlands. The success of this gentleman holds out the strongest invitation to agriculture in Ireland. Nature, as if pleased with attentions, never fails to remunerate by her bounties those who pay court to her. Mr. Grierson, by pursuing the improved system of agriculture, has brought a rude farm of two hundred acres originally occupied by whins, into a state of high cultivation. This farm lies on the side of a hill, a north east aspect, and is an inclined plain from top to bottom, about two miles from the village of Rathfarnham, and five from Dublin.

The soil of Ireland in general is fruitful, perhaps equal to that of Eng land itself when properly cultivated. Pasturage, tillage, and meadow ground abound in this kingdom. Their meadow grounds are fine and prolific from the great and frequent moisture of this climate. Till of late, tillage has been too much discouraged, though the ground is excellent for the culture of all grains; and in some of the northern parts of the kidgdom abundance of hemp and flax are raised, a cultivation of infinite advantage to the linen manufacture. Ireland rears vast numbers of black cattle and sheep, whose wool is good, the trade and improvement of which would bear encouragement. The prodigious, and indeed, incredible supplies of salt provisions shipped at Cork, and carried to all parts of the world, are proofs scarcely to be exhibited in any other country, of the natural fertility of the Irish soil.

The earliest notice in Roman writers of the name of Ireland (Hibernia) is in Julius Cæsar, and was given probably from him or his countrymen from its supposed coldness. Another writer observes, that more conjectures as to the latin Hibernia, Irish Erin, as well as the English name of this island, have been formed than the subject deserves. It propably takes its rise from a Phoenician or Gaulic term, signifying the farthest babitation westward.

The topography of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis is perhaps as curious a literary monument as any where to

be found; displaying the natural history and philosophy of the age, in which was written Giraldus Cambrensis; or, Gerald Barry was a Welsh ecclesiastic, who twice visited this isle; first, with his brother Philip Barry, and his uncle Fitz Stephen; and secondly, with King John, A. D. 1185. He was a man of genius, ambition, and vanity; these urged him to the pursuit of literature, and to such superiority in its various departments, as would leave him with out a rival. He added to his topography another work, which he entitled the Conquest of Ireland by the first Adventurers, and important chapters on the government of the nation, and how it was to be retained in subjection. This he designed to do for John, then Earl of Poictou, Duke of Normandy, and future King of England. Considering the novelty and difficulty of the commission with which he was charged, he accomplished his object with uncom mon ability. He has been accused by Irish antiquaries with gross falsehoods and fictions, and represented as totally undeserving of credit. I desire to appear neither his apologist or panegyrist, but candour certainly demands of us not rashly to condemn a man, who solemnly addressed a work to a wise Sovereign, and who for three days, read it before the University of Oxford. Such a one must be regardless of every moral sense and attention to character, premeditately to be guilty of forgery and lies: this would hardly apply to an ignorant, bigoted, and cloistered monk, much less to an ecclesiastic of distinguished liberality and eminence, the favourite and confidant of an enlight ened court. Cambrensis tolls us, that he came to Ireland in 1182, with his relations and other Welsh adventurers, and that being of a literary turn, he set about making collections. He continued in the island for two years, and on his return to England communicated his observations to King Henry, who esteemed them so highly, that he, 1185, sent our author with his son John to the isle. Cambrensis carried back with him, and completed what he had before sketched out, and dedicated his topography to the King -Lechoich.

The Irish nation may be divided into two classes; one consisting of the descendants of the unfortunate aborigines, the other of their barbarous conquerors, the mixed race of Saxons and Normans. The former have hitherto been

the constant objects of the tyranny and contempt of the latter. Hence they differ little from a horde of Hottentots; their cabins or huts present the most hideous picture of misery and filthiness, they are extremely superstitious, and subject to their priests; and their indolence is extreme. Such is the natural consequence of poverty, ignorance, and depression. These inhabit, or rather exist upon, the interior and western parts. The conquerors, the descendants of the English; the superior class, are refined by the introduction of arts, commerce, science, English education, and English connections, are superior to their teachers in energy and eloquence. These inhabit the northern, eastern, and southern coasts in the larger towns, and are distinguished by romantic gallantry towards the fair sex, and the spirit of chivalry, by convivial hospitality, and a spirit of refinement. The gentry and better sort of the Irish nation in general, differ little in language, dress, manners, and customs, from those of the same rank in England. Notwithstanding the polished minority of the nation is one century behind England, and the rude majority of it at least five. Our brethren on the other side of the water, will not, we fear, be satisfied with this description; yet, let them reflect, that the blemishes in their character arose from temporary and unavoidable circumstances; and their merits must not be omitted. I do not know of any country where the character of the people is more fitted by nature, than is that of the Irish, for the highest attainments in moral or intellectual excellence.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND.

Under

a good government, the middle ranks of the people always most abound; and under a government well administered, it is always difficult to ascertain to which of the three simple forms of government the constitution most approximates. Tried by these rules, the govern ment of Ireland is found to be very defi cient; there is scarcely any middie rank in the country; and though there was the appearance of the English constitution, it was a phantom, not a reality; neither the King nor the Commons had any real share of the public authoritybut a tyrannizing junto, formed by a coalition amongst certain members of both Houses, constituted an odious aristocracy. The effect of this aristocracy is to be seen at Dublin, in the

face of beggary, misery, and starvation, which every where presents itself, and in the magnificence of the public buildings, and the splendor of the palaces of the wealthy.

Religious distinctions increase the wretchedness of the country. The stigma of religion is attached to more than three million of catholics, and to nearly one million of dissenters. Not more than five hundred thousand protestants can be said fully to enjoy the benefits of civil government. So glaring an inconsistency produced its natural fruits, jealousy and oppression on the part of the minority, and hatred on the part of the majority-effects which it is to be hoped, may yet be subverted by an act of universal toleration.

The immediate causes of the rebellion are to be seen in the preceding state of religion and government; the proximate causes in the two factions, created during the administration of Lord Westmoreland. The Orange party was formed to perpetuate the abuses and the oppressions of the government, by discountenancing every innovation. The United Irishmen marshalled themselves on the other hand, not merely to reform all abuses, but also to carry innovation to the extent of separating the country from Great Britain, and of making it a free, integral, and independent republic.

Notwithstanding the political union of Ireland with England, little has yet been done to ameliorate the condition of that country, but we will entertain the pleasing hopes, that the union of the Sister Isles will in time be of advantage to both countries.

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memoir forms an exception to this ob servation on the general tenor of the lives of literary men, for Mr. Gifford's embraced a very wide and variegated field, chiefly in the character of a political writer and an active magistrate. In the introduction of this gentleman to the notice of our readers, we bring forward a man not more distinguished by the eminence of his learning and talents, than by the goodness of his heart. At a time when the kingdom was so seriously divided with anarchy, republicanism, and treason, he most zealously aided those whose opinions and principles were truly loyal and constitutional, displaying his talents in developing and counteracting the plans and machinations of levellers against the government of his native isle, which has so long been the envy of the world.

Mr. Gifford was principally educated at Repton, under the late Dr. Prior, to whose care he was consigned by his grandfather, his father dying when he was only a few months old. He was afterwards sent to Oxford, where his mind, naturally vigorous, was much augmented in its powers, and much enlar ged in its capacities, by the very ample range which his studies embraced in that renowned seat of academical learning. He inherited a very large patrimonial estate, but his grandfather dying in 1772, when he himself was only fourteen years of age, bis property was left in the hands of guardians during his minority. Mr. Gifford was intended for the bar, and the liberal nature of his studies, together with the strong bent of his natural genius, eminently qualified him for obtaining the highest honours in that noble profession, which his father had embraced before him; but, although in 1781 he took chambers in Lincoln's-lun, he was diverted, soon after, from the continued and regular prosecution of his professional pursuits, by circumstances of a private and domestic nature, which it is immaterial to detail, but which, in a short time, operating on his ardent aud

susceptible mind, determined him upon

returning to France, where those high powers with which he was gifted were still further matured, and where, profiting alike from the conversations of the learned, and the cultivation of letters, his character assumed that commanding energy which distinguished him so much amongst his contemporaries.

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