THE CARRICKFERGUS. FOR the view of Carrickfergus castle which we have given above, we are indebted to Alexander Johns, Esq. Ordnance store-keeper of the castle, and in giving a few particulars respecting the history of the place, we must express our acknowledgments to Mr. S. M'Skimin, whose history of Carrickfergus is allowed to be one of the best local works which has ever appeared in Ireland. Placed on a rock, and in a convenient position for commanding the best harbour on the north-east coast of our country, it is a very natural supposition that this place should have been early selected as the site of a fortress, which is said to have been a strong hold of the Dalaradians, and distinguished by the name of Carraig-Feargusa, or the rock of Fergus, after a king of that name, who was drowned near the place. John de Courcy, having received from Henry II. a grant Aperture above the gate in the inner yard. of all the land he might conquer in Ulster, set out from Dublin with a small band of seven hundred followers to secure his prize. Observing the convenient position of the strong fort, he erected here, according to the Norman practice, a castle, which with subsequent additions, now remains, and may justly be considered as one of the noblest fortresses of the time now existing in Ireland. De Courcy having fallen into disgrace with the succeeding English monarchs, his castles and possessions fell into the hands of the De Lacy family, who becoming oppressive and tyrannous, were in their turn ejected by King John-fled to France--were restored-again became obnoxious to the English monarch, and the Lord Justice Mortimer being sent against them, they fled a second time, and passing over into Scotland, invited Edward Bruce, the brother of the famous Robert Bruce, to invade their country, and become their king. In May 1315, Lord Edward Bruce, having obtained the consent of the Scotch parliament, embarked six thousand men at Ayr, and accompanied by the De Lacy's, and many nobles of the Scotch nation, landed at Olderfleet, for the purpose of conquering Ireland from the English. Numbers of the Irish chiefs flocked to his standard; and having in a battle totally routed the Earl of Ulster, and slain and taken prisoners various of the Anglo-Norman nobles, he laid siege to Carrickfergus. During the progress of the siege, he had well nigh been discomfited by the courage and desperation of the garrison. Thomas, lord Mandeville, who commanded, made a sally upon the Scotch army who were apprehending no danger, their only guard being sixty men under Neill Fleming, a man of great courage and address. He perceiving that the Scotch army would be surprised and probably routed, despatched a messenger to inform Bruce of his danger, and then with his sixty men, threw himself in the way of the advancing English, crying out, "Now of a truth they will see how we can die for our lord!" His first onset checked the progress of the enemy, but receiving a mortal wound, he and his little party were cut to pieces. Mandeville, dividing his troops, endeavoured to surround the Scotch army; but was met in person by Bruce who with his guards was hurrying forward. In front of Bruce's party was one Gilbert Harper, a man famed in the Scotch army for valour and strength, and he knowing Mandeville by the richness of his armour, rushed on him,, and felled him to the ground with his battle-axe, and then Bruce despatched him with a knife. The loss of the English commander so disheartened the soldiers that they fled back towards the castle; but those who remained in the garrison, seeing the Scots close behind, drew up the draw bridge, leaving their comrades to the mercy of enemies. Soon after the garrison agreed to surrender within a limited time, and on the appointed day, thirty Scots advanced to take the possession of the place. But instead of surrendering, the garrison seized them as prisoners, declaring they would defend the place to the last extremity! And to a deplorable extremity they were at last reduced, for before they did surrender, it is said that the want of provisions made them devour the thirty Scotchmen whom they had treacherously taken prisoners! Bruce having secured Carrickfergus, advanced to Dublin and came so near as Castlenock, within four miles of the city. But finding the citizens prepared for his reception, he entered the county of Kildare, and advanced near Limerick, laying waste the country by fire and sword. But having again to retreat northwards, he was attacked near Dundalk by Sir John Birmingham, was slain, and his army totally routed. King Robert Bruce arrived with a large army; but on learning the fate of his brother, he returned to Scotland, and thus this unfortunate expedition, which had been originally undertaken, not for the good of Ireland, but to gratify the pride and rebellious spirit of an Anglo-Norman chieftain, left the country in a state of greater desolation than any former period of history records. Carrickfergus continued for many long years to be a stronghold of the English; and even when their power was confined and limited, and the revenues of the Pale so low as that the Irish government thought it too much to maintain a standing army of 140 horse, the lofty and securely built castle remained in their possession. In the year 1503, Con O'Neill, chief of south or upper Clandeboy, whose Castle was that of Castlereagh, was confined here, on account of the following affair. Having about Christmas, 1602, a "grand debauch" at Castlereagh, with his "brothers, friends, and followers," he sent his servants to Belfast for more wine. They, in returning, quarrelled with some English soldiers, near the Knock church and they lost the wine. Con was doubtless not a little vexed; and having learned from them that their number exceeded the English soldiers, he swore by "his father, and souls of his ancestors," that they should never be servants of his until they had beaten the "buddagh Sassenagh soldiers.” This threat roused their courage-they returned, attacked the soldiers, several of whom were killed in the affray. Con was soon after seized as an abettor, and confined for some time. But though he was permitted, after a time, to walk out through the town attended by a soldier, Con did not relish his limited liberty. But one Thomas Montgomery, the master of a barque which traded to Carrickfergus with meal for the garrison, being employed by his relation Hugh Montgomery, to effect Con's escape, and letters having been conveyed to the prisoner that measures were planning, he made love to Annas Dobbin, the daughter of the provost-marshal, and marrying her, she (and small blame to her) got O'Niell conveyed on board her husband's vessel, and set sail for Ayrshire. Con was afterwards pardoned by James the First, but in the meantime he had been simple enough to make over the greater part of his estate of Clandeboy to the cunning Hugh Montgomery, who procured a new patent, and entered on the possession. During the wars of 1641, and following years, Carrickfergus became an object of interest to the contending parties, being alternately in the keeping of the Scoth, English and Irish. The year 1760 is memorable as being the year in which the French, under the command of Commodore Thourot, landed in Carrickfergus, and attacked the town. Though the castle was in a most delapidated state, a breach being in the wall next the sea fifty feet wide, no cannon mounted, and the garrison few in number, yet Colonel Jennings, encouraged by the mayor and other inhabitants, bravely met the invaders, and when driven back by the superior strength of their assailants. they retreated into the castle, and repulsed the French even though they forced the upper gate. But all the ammunition being expended, a parley was beaten, and the garrison capitulated on honorable terms. During the attack several singular circumstances occurred. When the French were advancing up High-street, and engaged with the English, a little child ran out playfully into the street between the contending parties. The French officer, to his honour be it recorded, observing the danger in which the little boy was in, took him up in his arms, ran with him to a house, which proved to be his father's, the sheriff, and having left him safe, returned to the engagement. This really brave and humane man was killed at Carrickfergus castle gate. During the plundering which took place, two French soldiers entered the house of an old woman named Mave Dempsey, and one of them took her silk handkerchief. Mave, who was a pious Roman Catholic, presented her beads, doubtless expecting that he would be struck with compunction at so forcible an appeal to his conscience. "Ah," said the soldier, with a significant shrug, "dat be good for your soul; dis be good for my body!" The French kept possession of Carrickfergus for some time; but the alarm having been carried all over the country, and troops gathering fast to attack them, they were constrained to embark on board their vessels and set sail; and two days afterwards were attacked off the isle of Man by an English squadron, when Commodore Thourot was killed, and the French ships captured, and so ended an expedition which was better executed than planned, cost the French money, men, and ships, without one single advantage to be derived which any man of experience and military discernment could possibly look for. When we return to Carrickfergus, we will introduce many remarkable and singular things connected with its history, which Mr. M'Skimin has so ably and so industriously collected. WHISKEY. Every country has a spirituous liquor peculiar to itself. In England gin is the spirit in general use; it is flavoured with turpentine. In Holland, the spirit is called Jeneva Brandewyn, is flavoured with juniper berries.-Both these are corn spirits, and are strongly diuretic. Brandy Eaû de Vie is the spirit of France; it is produced from wine; and the flavor peculiar to it, is derived from an essential oil, called the Oil of Wine: it is considered more cordial than other spirituous liquors, and is frequently prescribed as a stomachic. Pure brandy is colourless, but that most used in England is browned by burned sugar. Arrack is produced from rice, and is the favourite spirit in India. Kirch Wasser, or Cherry Water, is the local spirit of Ger many and Switzerland; it is distilled from cherries, and holds in combination the prussic acid derived from the kernels. Rum is produced in the West Indies from the uncrystallizable liquor, which remains after the manufacture of sugar; it has a very disagreeable and empyreumatic flavour, when new; and requires age before it can be used. Whiskey is the favourite spirit of Ireland and Scotland; it is distilled from malt in Ireland, but in Scotland from oats or oats and malt combined. The whiskey generally preferred, is that which has no particular flavour; but there are many who esteem that which has the smell of smoke or peat. All the above spirits are highly stimulant, and when taken medicinally either to relieve spasm in the stomach, to act as a carminative, to increase the action of the heart and arteries, and to restore the energy of the nervous system, as is sometimes indicated in low fevers and other diseases, they may be resorted to with good and beneficial results; but the practice of drinking them, either ardent or diluted, daily, and to the frightful excess which is too often witnessed in these countries, is most injurious to the constitution of the individual,—prejudicial to the well-being and good order of society, and cannot be too strongly reprobated. We have not space to point out the varied acts of moral delinquency arising from it, suffice it therefore to enumerate some few of the destructive consequences upon the mind and body, which we trust may have the effect of deterring those who have as yet avoided it, from commencing; and causing those who have habituated themselves to the baneful practice, to pause ere it is too late. One of the primary effects, is loss of appetite, and inability on the part of the stomach to digest the food which is received into it; the frame is so debilitated, as a consequence of past excitement, and want of its natural support, that it is again felt necessary to seek temporary relief, from a repetition of the stimulus; this being frequently repeated lays the foundation of billiary derangement, and ultimately destroys the structure of the liver. Debility, emaciation, and dropsy succeed, and the constitution, once healthy and robust, and which might have endured for a long life, vigorous by temperance, is broken down, and is only relieved by a lingering death. Many other effects might be enumerated, such as that state of disease, known by the name of delirium tremens, in which the nervous system is so completely upset, that the martyr of it can exist under a state of intoxication. The countenance becomes cadaverous, the mind looses its powers, and every muscle (if mere fibre can be called muscle) is perpetually in a tremulous state, and the being becomes rather a subject of disgust than sympathy.-Butler. DOMESTIC ECONOMY. Cheap Beer.-Sir, I send you some receipts for cheap beer, to which, I hope, you will give general publicity. I observe, first, that West Indian molasses is the best for the purpose. It is a kind of treacle, which is sold as it comes from the West Indies, and is known by a gritty substance at the bottom of the cask, more or less like sand, which substance is, in truth, an imperfect sugar. Common treacle will do as well, if the quantity be a little increased, say one pound in six or seven; but the best article of all is the coarsest brown sugar you can get; it is better than the higher-priced for this purpose; and you may use one pound in six less of it than the West Indian molasses. It is, however, dearer upon the whole, though still much cheaper than malt. In making beer from unmalted barley, it is necessary to take good care not to use the water too hot, as, if it be, the barley will set, that is, become pasty, and not allow the water to drain off. Be very particular about this; a little oat chaff well mixed with the barley will go agreat way to prevent this accident. Raw Barley and Molasses.-The use of raw grain with molasses, for making beer, is a most valuable discovery for the middle classes. Put a peck of barley or oats into an oven after the bread is drawn, or into a frying-pan, and steam the moisture from them. Then gird or bruise the grain roughly (not fine,) and pour on it 2 gallons of water, so hot as to pain the finger smartly. Mash it well, and let it stand three hours. Then draw it off, and pour on every two gallons nine of water rather hotter than the last; but not boiling (say not above 180°). Mash the liquor well, and let it stand two hours before you draw it off. Pour on afterwards 2 gallons of cold water; mash well and draw off. You will have about 5 gallons. Mix 7 pounds of West Indian molasses in 5 gallons of water; mix it with the wort from the barley; then add 4 oz. of hops, and boil one hour and a half. When cooled to blood-heat, add a teacupful of yeast; cover it with a sack, and let it ferment eighteen hours. In fourteen days it will be good sound fine beer, quite equal in strength to London porter or good ale. The 9 gallons of beer will cost:-1 peck of barley, 1s. 3d. ; 7 lbs. of molasses, 1s. 6d. to 2s. ; 4oz. of hops, 3d. ; in all 3s., or, at most, 3s. 6d. 2. Malt and Molasses.-Pour 8 gallons of water at 175°, on a bushel of malt. Mash well; let it stand three hours; draw it off, and add 8 gallons more water at 196°. Mash, and let it stand two hours: add 8 gallons of cold water to the grain, and let it stand three hours and a half. Mix 28 pounds of west Indian molasses in 20 gallons of water, and boil the whole with 2 pounds of hops for two hours. When the liquor is cooled down to 85°, add half a pint of yeast; cover it with a sack, stir it well, and let it ferment twenty-four hours. In proper time you will have 36 gallons of good ale for-1 bushel of malt, 9s. ; 28lbs. of molasses, 6s. to 8s. 2lbs. of hops, 2s.: in all 17s., or at most, 19s. ad 3. West Indian Molasses only.-Mix 14 pounds of West dian molasses with 11 gallons of water; boil it for two rs with 6 ounces of hops. Let it become quite cool; teacupful of yeast, stir it up, and cover it over with a s to keep it warm. Let it ferment sixteen hours, puti int a cask, and keep it well filled up; bung it down in two days and in seven days it will be fit to drink, and ger beer than London porter. This is the simplest of all; washing copper and a tub, or even a large teakettle, only being requisite. Thus 9 gallons of beer can be made_14lbs. of molasses, 3s., or, at most, 4s. ; 6 oz. of hops, 4 d. in all, 3s. 44d., or, at most, 4s. 44d. be stro A small quantity of copperas, or vitriol of Iron, about as much as will lie on the point of a small knife, is in general use, to give boer a head, and make it drink pleasant and lively. It is not necessary, but it is not unwholesome in any respect.-Gardiner's Magazine. HEROISM. A corporal of the 17th Dragoons, named O'Lavery, serving under Lord Rawdon in South Carolina, during the American war, being appointed to escort an important despatch through a country possessed by the enemy, was a short time after their departure wounded in the side by a shot, which also laid his companion dead at his feet. Insensible to every thing but duty, he seized the despatch, and continued his route till he sunk from loss of blood. Unable to proceed farther and yet anxious for his charge, to which he knew death would be no security against the enemy, he then "Within his wound the fatal paper plac'd, Which proved his death, nor by that death disgrac'd. A British patrol discovered him on the following day, before life was quite extinct; he pointed out to his comrade the dreadful depository he had chosen, and then satisfactorily breathed his last. The Earl of Moira has erected a monument to the hero in the church of his native parish. THE WICKLOW GOLD MINES. In Ireland, county of Wicklow, seven miles west of Arklow, about the year 1770, there was an old schoolmaster, who used frequently to entertain his neighbours with accounts of the richness of their valley in gold: and his practice was to go out in the night to search for the treasure. For this he was generally accounted insane. But in some years after, bits of gold were found in a mountain stream, by various persons; and, in 1796, a The news of this piece weighing about half an ounce. having circulated amongst the peasantry, such an infatuation took possession of the minds of the people, that every sort of employment, save that of acquiring wealth by the short process of picking it up out out of the streams, was abandoned; and hundreds of human figures were to be seen bending over the waters, and scrutinizing every object there to be seen. In this way, during six weeks, no less than 800 ounces of gold were found, which sold for £3 15s. per ounce, or £3,000. Most of the gold was found in grains; many pieces weighed between two and three ounces; there was one of five ounces, and one of twenty-two. It contained about 6 per cent. of silver. Government soon undertook the works; but the amount of gold found, while superintended by the appointed directors, was only £3,671. It then appeared that there was no regular vein in the mountain, and that these fragments had probably existed in a part of the mountain which time had mouldered away, and left its more permanent treasure as the only monument of its ancient existThe works were at length discontinued.-Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia. ence. THE SKY. The sky! the sky! I love the sky, Ever present, though reachless, its splendour on high awa I love the sky in its garb of grey, I love to look on the clear blue sky, When the fleecy white clouds are flitting by I think of its lures as I list to its roar, And I love the treacherous sea no more. But look on yon holy etherial sky, And the mind's eye delights to see there a place O tell me not of the marble dome, The glory of ancient Greece or Rome; Let me the great Jehovah adore In his temples of vastness, the firmament high,- When the hour shall come of my mortal doom, Manchester Guardian. IMPROVEMENTS IN IRELAND. We have more than once called the attention of our readers to the capabilities of Ireland-we now again call their attention to it, in the description of a neglected tract of country which we take from Mr. Bryan's Practical View of Ireland. "A circle of twenty miles diameter, having Abbeyfeale for its centre, forms a portion of the great group of hills between the Shannon and the Blackwater, which are situated on the confines of the counties of Cork, Limerick, and Kerry; which group occupies 640 square miles Irish, and are all nearly of the same character. 66 Abbeyfeale, in the centre of this tract, is a village in the county of Limerick, on the east bank of the river Feale. It has 440 inhabitants. This village being six miles north of the junction of three counties, the circle would extend four miles southward into Cork; and being close to the boundary of Kerry, extends ten miles westward into that county, and ten miles eastward into Limerick. Near its circumference are situated the towns of Castleisland, Newcastle, Shanagolden, Glin, Tarbert, and Listowel; this last is eight miles distant, the others from ten to twelve; and there is no resident gentlemen, except a few in the immediate vicinity of the towns above mentioned, and below the basis of the hills. "The mineral productions, so far as they have been dis covered, do not excite much interest; the hills are of the "coal formation;" highly indurated sandstone and black slate clay, of various degrees of hardness. On the rocks, .several beds of culm have been discovered, and some of them worked; but those already wrought seldom exceed twelve inches in thickness, and dip at a steep angle, These circumstances, together with the unskilful mode of working, render the expense of raising the culm considerable, and the demand is not great, on account of an abundant supply of turf in all parts. Limestone is the rock on which all those hills rest, and it is found all round them, at the base of the group, and in many places towards the south in the interior. The outline of the hills within the circle is tame and uninteresting. The rock is covered with a coat of clay from three to thirty feet in thickness formed of the course of the decomposed debris of the rocks, which lie beneath, and contain the two ingredients, argil and silex, with scarcely any mixture of lime; towards the summits of the hills, and even a good way down their sides, the clay is covered with peat or hogs, generally from six inches to three feet in thickness, which produces heath, and a few species of coarse grass. ther down, approaching the valleys, there is no bog, but a vegetable soil, part of which is tilled, and produces good crops of oats and potatoes; where lime has been applied, the produce is three or four fold, and in some instances ten times the quantity has been obtained. Fur "More than three-fourths of this tract has never been cultivated, and the whole affords great natural advantages to the improver, whether his object is agriculture or manufacture. "The average height of these hills being about 1000 feet above the level of the sea, they are not too high for luxuriant vegetation. The bog, however, which forms the surface at present, if left alone and unmixed with any other substance, is nearly barren; the clay which lies beneath is entirely so; but if the light bog were drained and dug up, and some of the clay substratum got up and mixed with it, along with a proper proportion of lime, a very superior vegetable soil may be made on every perch of the whole surface, and acres of barren heath may be made to produce the finest oats, potatoes, or hay; so the agricul turalist having the substratum to form a basis for his soil, and the peat for vegetable manure, on the spot, wants only to bring lime to decompose that manure, and to employ labour, in order to convert the wild haunts of the grouse into a productive field for human sustenance. "A circle of twenty miles diameter is 201,062 Irish acres. It is allowed that a well cultivated acre will support five persons; in the present instance admit it will support them; and if three-fourths of the above quantity be in the state of nature, the land now waste could by industry be made capable of maintaining 452,390 persons, or nearly half a million. Here might the labour of emigrants be well directed at home, which is now in active operation clearing the wastes of America, if advantage were taken of resources which our own country possesses. "The manufacturers will here find advantages not less interesting: a constant supply of water in the Feale, the Smerla, the Ullahaw, the Clyda, the Brina, and several other rivers, with from 40 to 50 feet of fall, upon an average, on every mile of their length, offer a boundless field for their operations. "The area of a circle 20 miles in diameter is 314 square miles, and allowing 36 inches deep of rain water to fall on the whole surface in a year, which is under the average for the last three years at Newcastle, there fall 1,186,920,000 tons: divide this into twenty parts, and allow 15 of these parts to go off in evaporation; 3 parts to be lost by a redundancy in floods; and 1 part to go to waste about the dams and rivers made to conduct it to machinery, there still remains 1-20th which might be used. This is 59,346,000 tons of water, which could be made to act upon a number of falls, amounting, in the aggregate, to 100 feet perpendicular, at least. "Again, allow the effect produced only equal to one-third of the power employed, and we have nearly twenty millions of tons for the effective quantity, and this in operation on 100 feet fall, is equal to 11,428 steam engines, of 25 horse power each. Mr. Webster, in his lectures at the Dublin Institution in 1819, said that there was then 12,000 steam engines in Great Britain: therefore, we have, in our circle of twenty miles diameter, nearly as much water power available for mechanical purposes, as all the steam engines in Great Britain at that period were capable of producing. The "Hitherto the want of passable roads was an insuperable bar to the improvement of this neglected district. new roads lately made at the expense of Government, of which there are thirty-five miles within this circle, are the first step towards a very desirable change which, indeed, they have already produced, both on the comfort and morals of the population, as well as creating habits of industry not existing before, to an extent truly surprising." GLENGARIFF. GLENGARIFF! who has not heard of this most enchanting spot? The author of "Sketches in the North and South of Ireland," has pointed out to us the following passages from his work, and we are sure our readers will easily excuse us for preferring it to any thing of our own. Travelling from Bantry to Glengariff, he says, "And now, having coasted along the bay for four or five miles, we ascended up a clear mountain stream, and entered, by a defile into a mountain valley. The stream here turned to the right, and we could see it writhing like a silver eel through a green valley, that extended under the mountain of the Priest's Leap, and lost itself in the eastern hills, towards Muskerry. My friends excited my curiosity, and caused me to lament that press of time would not allow a visit to a lovely lake in this eastern direction, which lies there in all the retirement of sublime seclusion. But I had Glengariff before me. An ugly hill, an uninteresting view of Bantry Bay, a bad road over a dreary moor-a scene where chatty companions may abstract themselves into talk of other places and other times. In the midst of our chat I became dumb-dispute and argument all fled. "There's Glengariff!" I believe my friends actually contrived to abstract me thus, and engage the mind in other trains of thought, in order to produce effect. They certainly succeeded. I had heard much of this Glengariff-the Rough Glen-Vallis Aspera, as O'Sullivan in his Catholic History calls it. As I passed along from east to west of the county of Cork, every one expressed the hope that I should not leave the county until I had seen Glengariff. I would as soon have gone through Italy, and passed by Rome:--and now I was there-had it all under my eye! And was I disappointed? Not in the least. Nothing in Ireland is equal to it, or can be brought into comparison; it is singular, it is unique. It is a scene that winter has less effect on than could be imagined. I may say it was winter when I saw it—at least winter lingered on the lap of spring-the 25th of March; yet all was grand, and at the same time beautiful, because verdant." "A bay runs in at right angles from the east and west direction of Bantry Bay. This bay is sheltered entirely at its entrance by an island, on which a Martello tower is erected. Thus the landlocked estuary looks to be a lake. In no respect it differs from a lake, save that it is superior. Here no ugly strand, muddy and foetid, left bare by the receding tide: here no deposit of filth and ooze. No; the only thing that marks the ebb, is a line of dark demarkation that surrounds the bay, and gives a curious sort of relief, (somewhat like the black frame of a brilliant picture) to the green translucent waters of this gem of the ocean. No fresh water lake can be at all compared to it; not even the upper lake of Killarney can stand the competition. Here is the sea-the green, variable, ever changing sea-without any of its defects or deformities |