we must leave it to the imagination of our readers to picture to themselves the varied rejoicings of the warm-hearted and enthusiastic citizens. Suffice it to say, that illuminations and fireworks by night, decorated arches and waving banners, bands of music and triumphal processions by day, rendered Dublin the noisiest and gayest of capitals, and its inhabitants the happiest of Irishmen. From the 2,000 ladies and gentlemen who were honoured with admissions to the royal presence at the castle, to the 100,000, of high and low degree, who thronged the Phoenix Park on the day of the review, all were gratified with her Majesty's affable and condescending behaviour; and, we believe, every one returned to his home, not only proud of his Queen and his country, but feeling his own dignity increased by his participation in the national holiday. The presence of royalty in a suffering and divided country like Ireland cannot be without its advantages, and especially so when the favour of its smiles is dispensed with equal kindness and liberality upon both the great parties, whose mutual antagonism has been the base of so many of the struggles and misfortunes, which have hitherto prevented Ireland from receiving her due share of the advantages derived from the presence of the Queen, and a resident nobility. Let us hope that we are now rapidly approaching a brighter and a calmer day, and that ere long Dublin may again take that rank among metropolitan cities, which its natural beauties and artificial advantages so well deserve.

MEATH

The county of Meath is the great grazing ground of Ireland, and consists almost entirely of pasture-land, vying in its external aspect with the richest of the English counties, and perhaps surpassing any of them in fertility. The hedges are remarkably luxuriant; the trees (of which there is an unusual abundance) are of extraordinary growth; and the fields have, at all times and seasons, that brilliant green so refreshing to the eye, and so cheering to the mind when associated with ideas of comfort and prosperity. There is, indeed, no part of Ireland where the Englishman will find himself so completely at home; for, added to great natural beauty, he sees on all sides the beneficial results of careful cultivation, and marks in every direction the ordinary consequences of industry directed by science; while the poverty and wretchedness that are elsewhere forced upon his attention is here seldom perceptible; and "the clamorous voice of woe" rarely" intrudes upon the ear." Much of this apparently prosperous character is, however, hollow and unsubstantial: the large farmers are indeed wealthy, but of small farmers there are few or none; the policy of the "graziers" has been for a long time to devote the produce of the soil to the raising of cattle; and the "clear

ing of estates" in Meath has, therefore, been proceeding at a very disastrous rate. We quote the words of a common labourer with whom we conversed on the subject-" The land is given over to the beasts of the field!" The small plots of ground are "wanted for the cattle;" and as the cabins cannot exist without them, they are in rapid course of removal. The consequence is, that although misery is not to be encountered upon highways, or adjacent to pleasant meadows, the towns into which the poor have been driven are thronged with squalid countenances; starvation stalks at noon-day through their streets; and perhaps in no part of the world could be found so much wretchedness "huddled " together into an equal space, as the tourist may note in the single town of Navan. All about the suburbs, the cabins are filthy to the last degree; a very large proportion of them have no other outlets for smoke but the broken windows; the roofs of many have partially fallen in; and we examined several from which every available piece of wood had been taken for firing, at periods when the pressure of immediate want had rendered the unhappy inmates indifferent to the future. We entered some of these hovelswithin a dozen steps, be it remembered, of the centre of a town, and not hidden by distance and obscurity from the sight of sympathising humanity-and were shocked to find their condition wretched almost beyond conception, and certainly beyond credibility. The scene appalled us the more because of the lovely and plentiful land we

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had previously passed through; the fat cattle feeding upon pastures so fresh and green; the huge stacks; the full barns; the comfortable houses, midway between mansions and farmsteads the air of luxury, indeed, that pervaded every object within our ken! It was a sad contrast; to be witnessed without heartache only by those who have become familiar with it, and have learned indifference from habit.

The county adjoins that of Dublin-its boundary, with the Irish sea, on the east; on the south it is bounded by Kildare and the King's County; on the west by Westmeath; and on the north by Louth, Monaghan, and Cavan. It comprises, according to the Ordnance Survey, an area of 567,127 statute acres, of which 5,600 only are unimproved mountain and bog. In 1821, the population amounted to 159,183; in 1831, to 176826; in 1841, to 183,828. Its principal towns are Trim, Navan, Kells, Slane, and Athboy. It is divided into the Baronies of Upper Deece, Lower Deece, Demifore, Upper Duleek, Lower Duleek, Dunboyne, Upper Kells, Lower Kells, Lune, Morgallion, Upper Moyfenrath, Lower Moyfenrath, Upper Navan, Lower Navan, Ratoath, Skreen, Upper Slane and Lower Slane.

We shall place the tourist, first, in the town of Trim, distant twenty-two miles from Dublin, situate in the south-west division of the county, of which it is the assize town, although inferior to Navan in extent and population. It borders the "pleasant Boyne "-as the river was called by Spenser; but to which aftertimes gave the still