SLIGO.

THE maritime county of Sligo, in the province of Connaught, is bounded on the east by the county of Leitrim, on the north by the Atlantic ocean, on the west and south by Mayo county, and on the south-east by the county of Roscommon. It comprises an area of 434,188 statute acres; 257,217 of which are cultivated; 168,711 are unimproved mountain and bog; and 8260 are under water. Its population was in 1821, 146,229; and in 1831, amounted to 171,508. It is divided into six baronies-Carbery, Coolavin, Corran, Leney, Tiraghrill, and Tyreragh. Its principal towns are the assize town of Sligo, Ballymote, and Collooney.

The town of Sligo is a sea-port, but its trade is very limited, although it is the only port of much importance upon the western coast between London

derry and Galway.

Its abbey has been long famous; and its ruins are classed among the most remarkable in Ireland. The abbey was founded in 1257, by Maurice Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare and Lord Justice. In 1270,

however, it was destroyed by fire, but was soon afterwards re-erected; again it underwent a similar fate in 1415; but during the following year a bull was issued granting indulgences to all who contributed to its restoration; it was speedily rebuilt; and from this era we are to date the foundation of the present structure. The remains of this edifice attest its former splendour. "The steeple or dome is still entire, supported upon a carved arch or cupola, the inside of which is also carved; adjoining this are three sides of a square of beautifully carved little arches, of about four feet in height, which seem to have been anciently separated from each other, and probably formed cells for confession and penance. Almost all the little pillars are differently ornamented, and one in particular is very unlike the rest, having a human head cut on the inside of the arch. There are several vaults throughout the ruins, containing the remains of skulls, bones, and coffins. The abbey and yard are still used as a burying-place."

The county of Sligo is rich in the picturesque; it abounds in wild mountains, surrounding fertile fields; and though not much irrigated by rivers, it is full of lakes. Its scenery and character, however, so nearly resemble that of the adjoining county of Mayo-a county with which we are better acquainted, and which offers far stronger temptations to the tourist-that we pass over Sligo, designing to describe at length its more primitive, interesting, and attractive neighbour, which supplies us with nearly the same prominent. features, in addition to matters that demand more minute comment.

The reader will, therefore, permit us here to illustrate Irish character, by bringing out some of its darker shadows. The outline of the following story was supplied to us by a friend by whom we were accompanied on a visit to one of the wildest districts in the northern boundary of the county; as wild and savage a looking district, indeed, as may be found in all Ireland. We had been conversing upon topics connected with the illicit trade in whiskey formerly conducted to such an immense extent, and which for centuries formed the great barrier to the improvement of Ireland.

Far away in the mountains, and of a wild and lawless race, dwelt a family who, without any visible employment, lived better than the industrious dwellers in the glens who laboured to cultivate small patches of ground for their daily food. When the exciteable nature of an Irishman is taken into account-when it is remembered that in a time of dearth and famine he is frequently turned adrift to starve, the only wonder, to the unprejudiced, will be that he does so little mischief. "Hill Murphy," as he was called, never wanted food or clothes; he was rude, but not ragged; wild, careless, and of an uncouth and ferocious aspect-a tall man, of gigantic proportions; and when

the children who resided in a little straggling village at the foot of the chain of mountains where he was known to prowl, heard the sharp, sudden report of a gun, or if a huge mass of stone came crashing down a precipice, they would crowd and whisper together, saying that "Hill Murphy" was at his old ways. What those " old ways" were, could hardly be matter of conjecture; and yet, though formerly there were few "natural-native" Irishmen who would have hesitated to "cheat the law," and none who considered illicit distillation as a crime, Hill Murphy had, in addition to his blots of character, a very un-Irish propensity of keeping his affairs to himself: this reserved disposition made him more foes than his evil reputation.

Few of the glensmen mounted so high as Hill Murphy's house; but those who did described him as living in a long straggling dwelling, built of stone and shingle, smelling of potteen,-having a numerous progeny of sons, and one daughter, of singular beauty, but of weak intellect, who would sit arranging

her hair and smiling at her shadow in a tub of water all day long; this natural lookingglass being the only looking-glass that had found its way to her mountain-home.

Violent, and rude, and brutal in his voice and bearing as Hill Murphy was, he was much attached to this child; nor was his attachment diminished by her drooping gradually into ill health. After some parrying with the disease, he resolved to abandon his sheeling to his sons for a time, and try to conquer "the sickness" that had "come over" her, by descending into the valley. Mounting her on one of the sure-footed horses of the district, he descended the mountain with her, taking their way to a holy well some miles distant, which enjoyed the reputation of curing all manner of diseases. Hill Murphy and his child progressed slowly, and the man's wild and reckless habits were so well known to many of the pilgrims who sought the "healing waters" from the same cause, that they whispered as he approached, and were astonished at his zeal in performing the various acts of devotion which the poor girl was unable to go through for herself. In the mean time, his sons, freed from a brutality to which they had crouched for mercy, frequently, in vain, exulted and revelled in their new-found liberty, which the eldest immediately asserted by marrying a young virago, whose sole womanly feeling had been a love for young Phade. She had five or six brothers, wild mountain boys, whose occupations varied according to the