grove, not many yards from the lake: it is not advantageously situated to command the surrounding prospect; but a more elevated position would perhaps have deprived it of that shelter so necessary to domestic comfort, and exposed it to the hurricanes which descend from the mountains, particularly during the winter season. The fabric is old, and seems to require the aid of the architect; but the attention of the proprietor is, at present, chiefly directed towards the improvement of the borders of the middle lake, in the vicinity of a small house or cottage lately built at the foot of the mountain. Extensive plantations of forest trees have been made at this place, stretching from the water nearly half way up the mountain; which improvements are annually continued by the proprietor with skill and enterprise. Of the grand effect they will produce at a future day, if they are allowed by the succeeding possessors to arrive at maturity, some notion may be formed from the prospect of the antient hanging woods on Glena mountain, which appear above the islands at the extremity of the lake.

It is painful to reflect how much the beauty of the lake has been impaired by the destruction of the forests; and still more so to think that most of the venerable trees at present remaining have been devoted to the axe. By their removal, the scenery is likely to sustain an injury irreparable during the present generation; but the vigorous efforts of Colonel Herbert to form new plantations afford a ray of hope, that, at a future day, it may recover many of its former charms. Every person who visits Killarney must feel indebted to that spirit of improvement which displays itself amidst so extended a system of devastation.

Though the landscape has, on the whole, been improved by the alterations which have been effected in the vicinity of Turk

cottage; yet it will, perhaps, with respect to some of them, be objected that sufficient attention has not been paid to the general character of the scenery. The trim smooth surface of meadows between the cottage and the lake, far from harmonizing with the ruggedness of the contiguous mountain, affords too glaring an instance of the compulsory powers of art. The ground abounded with rocks, which were removed from it with much labour and expense. Where man resides, nature must be conquered by his perseverance and ingenuity. "It is only the ostentation of the triumph," as a professor of landscape gardening observes," and not the victory, that ought to offend the eye of taste." The proprietor, I have been informed, is well aware of the ground in its present state being too smooth; and to repair this error, which is to be imputed to the over-zealous exertions of the agents who were employed during his absence to clear the ground, it has been proposed to replace some of the rocks in their antient beds. But the difficulty of this task would far exceed that of their removal; and to reclothe them with moss, and restore the picturesque attire of nature, would probably be a vain attempt. It was well observed formerly, by the ingenious Bishop Berkeley, "that the King of France might lay out another Versailles, but that with all his revenue he could not lay out another Mucruss."

The cottage is built after the antient English style, and is entered by a porch with a flat pointed arch. The architecture is simple and pleasing. Not far distant, a spacious Gothic bridge crosses the stream which flows from Turk waterfall. As this bridge seems to have been built for the mere purpose of affording an easy passage to the cottage, for beyond it the mountain at present is inaccessible to horsemen, a stranger would be inclined to pronounce it unsuitable to its situation; but until the

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whole of the improvements which Colonel Herbert has projected be carried into execution, it would be unjust to censure what has already been done. A new road has been planned, it is said, from the domain of Mucruss to the upper lake, across this bridge, whose dimensions in that case would no longer appear disproportionate. After traversing the delightful glades of the domain, this road would stretch for two miles along the foot of Turk, close to the margin of the lake; then suddenly winding round the mountain, it would follow the meandering course of the river which flows through the defile, and finally reach the retired confines of the upper lake. It would be scarcely possible to project a road more diversified and beautiful. The most picturesque scenes of Killarney would be disclosed to view, and the shores of the upper lake rendered easy of access, to which the passage is, at present, impeded by a thousand difficulties and delays. How many anxious and curious visitors would then enjoy the varied scenery of the upper lake, who now retire from Killarney, lamenting its troubled waters and its stormy skies!

The view from Turk cottage is grand and solemn. On the left appears the mountain rising seemingly to the clouds. At its base the lake unfolds itself, in an expansive sheet of an oval form, nearly two miles in length. The rocks and thick woods of the peninsula bound the lake on the side opposite to the mountain, and cast a dark shade over its surface. Glena rising in the distance displays the full glories of its forests, and terminates the prospect.

The cascade of Turk is situated at a short distance from the cottage, at the bottom of a deep chasm in the side of the mountain. It is supplied by a river, from the valley between Turk and Mangerton mountains, which is augmented occasionally by the stream which flows from the Devil's Punch-bowl.

After heavy rains, a vast body of water descends down the precipice, which covers the face of the rock with a sheet of white foam. The chief beauty of the fall consists in its winding course! The sides of the chasm are thickly planted with larch trees, which it might be supposed, from the rapidity of their growth, had found a soil as congenial to their nature as that of the Alps and Apennines. As yet, these trees have not acquired the picturesque attire of age; but when they arrive at maturity, and are bowed down by the storm, their appearance must heighten the enchantment of the scene. The eye of fancy will perhaps imagine that it already beholds their withered arms, gray with lichens, extended athwart the dark rocks, whilst the parent stem, prostrated in the flood, lies contending with the impetuosity of the current. Below the cascade, the water loses itself in a deep ravine; but it soon emerges, and, after passing under the bridge, is seen, at a distance, gliding smoothly into the lake.

Between Turk cottage and the mansion-house of Mucruss, the domain possesses fewer attractions than in any other part; part; which rather proceeds from the neglected state in which it is suffered to remain, than from any deficiency in its natural beauty. The surface is pleasingly varied and well wooded; but too many of the trees stand in even rows and formal clumps; and several stone fences offend, by their artificial formality, the eye which takes delight in the wild irregularity of nature. Roughness and negligence were not wanting here to increase the interest which the more improved parts of the domain inspire, as the peninsula between the two lakes, still in a state of native wildness, affords them the best relief imaginable. So sudden a transition, indeed, from the embellished scenes of art to the wildness of the forest, is rarely paralleled.

The peninsula commences at the house, and extends as far as Brickeen bridge, a distance of two miles. It consists of a series of rocks slightly covered with earth, which, notwithstanding the seeming poverty of the soil, are clothed with trees of considerable growth. In the vicinity of the house, at the isthmus or commencement of the peninsula, the branches of the trees are so closely interwoven, and the rocks are so rugged, that a barrier is presented which forbids the approach of persons on horseback, in that direction: on passing, however, through the court-yard of the mansion-house, a commodious road is discovered, which extends the whole length of the peninsula. The road is continued across Brickeen bridge to the island of the same name, and formerly reached as far as the island of Dinis; but the way at present is not passable for carriages, beyond the bridge; and between Dinis and Brickeen islands there is no longer any communication.

In passing along this road, the eye is gratified with the most delightful views of the lake and distant hills, opening at intervals between the breaks in the woods; but the prospect would be attended with greater interest, if the vistas were more numerous on each side. In several parts, the trees bordering upon the road grow so closely together, that they form a skreen almost impervious, which does not admit even a glimpse of the water, for the space of half a mile. Had the views which the peninsula affords been nearly the same from the house to its extremity, it would have been judicious, perhaps, to keep the road secluded, as it is at present; for the same view would excite fresh interest, if the eye returned to it after having been confined for a time to the narrow limits of a thick wood: but the scenery here is so much diversified, that, were the whole coast exposed, not a single