It was Sunday morning, and there was not a cloud darkening the azure sky.  Below us slept the waters of the bay, reflecting, in their crystal depths, the superincumbent mountains and overarching sky.  The sun rose majestically, broad, unclouded, full of effulgence, and shed his yellow beams, on a scene as lovely as ever met his burning eye.  The mountains around the bay form very nearly a complete circle; the numerous peaks, from south to north, range at an average height of about 500 feet above the water’s level, while a few ascend as high as 1,000.  We stood on the loftiest of all.  Immediately below us, a little to the right, embosomed in the mountains, lay the unmatched beauties of Glengarriff.  There are few spots on earth of wilder attractions.  The hills around form a complete amphitheatre.  On an island in the centre of the valley is the cottage of the noble proprietor, accessible only by one narrow pathway which winds through hillocks and passes various rivulets on rustic bridges.  The grounds about the cottages are tastefully laid out in shrubberies, flower-knots, green pastures, and artificial lakes.  That which constitutes the chief feature of beauty in other landscapes, namely, an extensive prospect, is wanting here.  From the cottage, or any part of the grounds, you can only command a view of the limited demesne, and the craggy and bleak mountain rising almost perpendicularly from its outskirts.  But the view is unique, and the contrast exquisite between the rich green of the arbutus, amidst clumps of which sparkle the impeded mountain waters, and the barren hill-sides whose blue summits seem blended with the skies giving to the scene such an air of calm serenity and soft repose as to leave the beholder almost without a wish to look beyond.

[Illustration:  Market Day in Thurles, August, 1848]

By this time we had learned to lose all consciousness of our own fate in contemplating lines of beauty such as then marked the outline and radiated through every minor detail of mountain, ocean, and cosy lawn.  We dwelt on the scene with enraptured eye and heart, and scarcely felt the time glide by, which was to bring us our promised deliverer.  He was with us at the appointed moment, and only preceded his sisters by about half an hour.  They came, three in number, and toiled up to the summit under a hot sun, bringing each a basket with abundant and delicate provisions for a picnic.  They were joined soon after by two other brothers, who kept watch while we enjoyed the delicacies of our meal, which we finished with some bottles of excellent claret.  While we were thus engaged, Lord Bantry was at the cabin we had left, gnashing his teeth at the misfortune of missing such a prey.  My comrade sang the newly-composed verses and others of more exquisite melody and far higher sentiment, within less than half a mile of the frowning and fuming lord.  At four o’clock we took leave of our kind entertainers, the student promising to use the coming night in efforts to secure our flight,