" utmost of their power, every seed of sedition and rebellion, and "being ready at all times to venture their lives for the security both " of the Prince and of his government.—Wicked wretches, when got together, not only perpetually take the name of God in vain, " but blaspheme and deny him: whereas the Freemasons punish very severely, not only swearers, but also such as make use of obscene "words; and expel from their Society all persons hardened in their "vices.-Wicked wretches contemn religion of every kind, turn "them into ridicule, and speak in terms unworthy of the Deity worshipped in them. But the Freemasons, on the contrary, observing a respectful silence on this occasion, never quarrel with the religious principles of any person; but live together in fraternal love, "which a difference in opinion can never lessen." I closed my defence with the four following lines, composed by a Freemason: Thro' trackless paths each Brother strays,

And nought sinister can entice :
Now Temples we to Virtue raise;

Now dungeons sink, fit place for Vice.

To which I added, in my own mind:
But here the contrary is found;
Injustice reigns, and killing Dread:
In rankling chains bright Virtue's bound,
And Vice with triumph lifts its head.

"Such, my Lords," continued I, are our true and genuine se"crets. I now wait with all possible resignation whatever you shall "think proper to decree; but shall hope, from your equity and justice, that you will not pass sentence upon me as though I was guilty of the crimes mentioned in the indictment, upon the vain pretence that inviolable secrecy can be observed in such things only as are of a criminal nature."

66

[To be concluded in our next.
t.]

EXTRACT OF A CIRCULAR LETTER

FROM THE

GRAND MASTER

OF THE RELIGIOUS AND MILITARY ORDER OF

KNIGHTS TEMPLARS IN ENGLAND,

TO THE CHAPTERS OF THAT CONFRATERNITY.

DEAR BROTHER AND KNIGHT COMPANION,

S the nation is preparing to guard against an invasion from our

A enemies, if they should have the temerity to make an attempt,

it is become my duty, at this important crisis, to request and require that such of you as can, without prejudice to your families, do hold yourselves in readiness (as Knights Templars) to unite with and be under the command of the officers of the military corps stationed in

your respective counties, as may be most convenient, taking the name of Prince Edward's Royal Volunteers." When the important moment arrives, I shall offer my service in the navy or army; and whenever I have the honour to be received, shall inform you of my address; and although we are prevented, by adverse circumstances, from assembling together where I might have had the honour and happiness of commanding in person, yet our hearts will be united in the glorious cause, in conformity to the sacred obligations we are under. Let our prayers be addressed to the Throne of Grace; that as Christ's faithful soldiers and servants we may be enabled to defend the Christian religion, our gracious Sovereign, our laws, liberties, and properties, against a rapacious enemy. Let the word of the day be The Will of God: and let us remember, that a day, an hour of virtuous liberty, is worth a whole eternity of bondage.

The Knights Companions are required to wear the uniform of the corps in which they serve as volunteers, with the Cross of the Order of the Knights Templars on a black riband between two button-holes on the breast of the waistcoat.

Your faithful Brother and Knight Companion,

Southampton, April 11th,

THOMAS DUNCKERLEY, (G. M.)

A. D. 1794, A.O. 676.

The following is the Cory of a LETTER from REDRUTH in CORNWALL, in answer to the preceding.

MOST EMINENT AND SUPREME GRAND MASTER,

AGREEABLE to your desire, signified to me by your esteemed favour of the 11th ultimo, I held a conclave of the Order of Knights Templars in our field of encampment at this place, on Monday the 28th ultimo; where I laid your letter before the Knights Companions.I have the happiness to inform you that I found them stedfast in their religious principles, and unanimous in their loyalty and patriotism to their King and Country. Two of the Knights Companions are officers in the Penryn Volunteers corps, and will follow your directions in wearing the Cross of the Order, &c.-The rest of the Companions residing at a distance from any established corps, will be ready on any emergent occasion to unite with them; and they have entered into a subscription (as Knights Templars), to be applied towards the defence of the country; and as there is a general subscription at Bodmin, for the county, and several volunteer corps on the coast for local defence, we beg your opinion and advice how to apply the money we have subscribed. I am (M. E. & S. G. M.),

Your faithful and affect. Brother and Knight Companion,
JK-

Redruth, 3d May, 1794.

THOS. DUNCKERLEY, Esq. Hampton-Court Palace."

ACCOUNT OF A TOUR TO KILLARNEY, &c.
IN A LETTER TO J. AND E. FRY.

BY CAPPER LLOYD, ESQ

[Continued from Page 288.]

WE landed at Derisk Island, and in a short time walked round it,

when resuming our voyage we passed Brickun-bridge, built for the purpose of making a communication between the lands of Mucrus and the northern shore of the lake; it is a new building with one arch in the Gothic stile.

About three o'clock we dined in our barge, nearly opposite to a rock situated in the lake called the Horse, from having the appearance of that animal in a drinking attitude, when viewed at a distance. Our men made a kind of table, by laying some boards across from seat to seat, which answered our purpose very well; in short, our dinner was attended with all the elegance which circumstances rendered possible, and had it been much less so, would not have been otherwise than pleasing. Dining al fresco on the Lake of Killarney was a new thing, and novelty and variety have yet their charms for the human

mind.

After dinner we landed at Mucrus, the seat and gardens of Edward Herbert, Esq. son-in-law to the late Lord George Germaine.

We had not long arrived on the grounds of Mucrus before a person who is appointed to conduct strangers over that charming spot offered his assistance. The house is a good modern structure, and situated so as to command several pleasing and picturesque views. On the lawn I saw a telescope inscribed " Dollond, London," and could not help contemplating the vast difference between its present and former station : between the gloom of solitude and St. Paul's Church-yard there is surely a striking contrast. Our guide informed us that the gardens and shrubbery contained 48 acres, and that in a part of the latter (covered with thick brush-wood) shelter is given to the hare, the fox, the martin, and the badger.

We were next shewn thirty-one different kinds of trees and shrubs growing out of the crevices of a broken rock, among which we noticed Lauristinus, Pyrecanthus, and Scorpion Senna, and although both this and the former relation may seem to require the aid of credulity to pass current, yet, according to my opinion, both may be literally true, The animals here mentioned are not similar in their choice of residence, yet, when brought together, may remain, and even be attached to a spot where their wants are easily supplied, and of which they have always experienced an undisturbed possession.

As to the vegetable curiosities, it can hardly be supposed that their growing o contiguous to each other is entirely the production of chance; for though some of them may, perhaps, have been indigenous, yet, it must be allowed, that where the wonderful of nature is found, art VOL. II.

Tt

.

often becomes an officious handmaid, until the first objects of admiration, being blended with the many succeeding ones, form but a small part of the collection.

After viewing every thing curious in the gardens and shrubbery, we walked to an abbey founded in 1440, and dedicated to Saint Finian; it is still in pretty good repair, the steeple excepted. A large stone window, considerably embellished with Gothic art, exhibits a curious piece of antient architecture.

There are twenty-two cells round a cloyster of thirty feet square, in the middle of which stands a very large and lofty yew-tree, whose widespreading branches nearly cover the whole of this venerable pile; this we found to be a place of common sepulture, for both within the walls as well as in the ground adjoining, the dead are now promiscuously mingled, without the least attention to rank or precedence. Amongst several other monumental inscriptions, some of which have only "their names and year, spelt by th' unletter'd muse," we noticed one to the memory of Daniel Kerry, whom we understood had been a famous freebooter, the Robin Hood of these parts. Ascending about twenty stone steps, we were shewn a place called Captain Drake's Hermitage, where a person of that name a few years since took up his abode. He taught the children of credulity to believe that he was brought here by a vow of eternal seclusion from the world; a declaration that readily claimed (what it was intended to claim) admiration at his fortitude, and pity for his fate.

To the astonished crowds whom curiosity brought to the abbey, this voluntary exile from the haunts of men was generally seen at the window of his hermitage, but the farce did not last long, for an inquisitive wight, at once faithless and meddling, put an end to the imposition by a report founded on positive proof. After watching him narrowly for some time, he found that instead of Drake's being a nocturnal inhabitant of the abbey of St. Finian, he stole privately every evening to the town of Killarney, and from thence returned to his cell, much more under the influence of jolly Bacchus, than even that of his own tutelary Fabula *.

From a terrace which forms a shore for the lake, we had a fine prospect of the mountains of Glena, Tomish, and the Turk, appearing in majestic grandeur, and the lower lake as a beautiful sheet of water. But I regret my want of ability to be more minute in the description of this place, as it claims the admiration of some visitors, more than any other part of this surprising mass of natural beauty. After viewing both the upper and lower lakes it was the sight of Mucrus which drew from the celebrated Berkely, Bishop of Cloyne, this far-famed exclamation: "Another Lewis Quatorze may indeed make another Versailles, but nothing short of Omnipotence can ever make another Killarney." The upper lake is about six miles long, and in most places narrow; it discharges itself into the lower lake, which has a communication with a small winding river called the Lane, that empties itself

into the ocean.

*The Goddess of Lies.

September 12.

This morning (as a disciple of Ossian would say) the sun rose in unclouded beauty, and a fine morning encouraged our departure on a journey of seven miles, to the top of the noted mountain Mangerton.

About nine o'clock we left Killarney on horseback, and rode up the side as far as the ascent rendered riding easy, which I think was about three miles, then, consigning the horses to the care of our attendants, we pursued the journey on foot at a pace sufficiently slow and wearisome. When about half way up we halted for the double purpose of rest and pleasure, and one of the finest views that can be conceived afforded us the latter. The two lakes, containing thirty-eight islands, the grounds of Mucrus, and the town of Killarney, were under us, whilst a fine country, abounding in meadows of beautiful verdure; formed the boundary of a diversified and extensive landscape.

Near the top we came to a round hole, or lake of water, called the Devil's Punch Bowl, which is about a quarter of a mile in circumference; from this place a deep channel of two miles in length has been lately cut down the mountain, and which in rainy seasons, being filled with the overflow of the Punch Bowl, forms a pleasing and distant waterfall. Our guide told us a foolish story about a drummer who was some time ago drowned here, having been often heard in the night beating his drum on the top of Mangerton; but, observing that we did not give credit to his account, he added that the common people insisted they had often heard him. Apparitions and witches, I believe, are full as common in Ireland as in England, and are the same kind of shy and diffident gentry, visiting none but the very poor or the very ignorant. After spending near three hours in the ascent, we at last experienced the benefit of our perseverance by arriving at the top, where we found the surface exceedingly swampy, and in most places covered with a kind of red moss.

The objects which before courted our notice were now lost to the view, but they were succeeded by others in which the contemplation of marine and rural beauty was enjoyed alternately. We had a very extensive view into the counties of Kerry, Cork, and Limerick, and could likewise clearly discern the great Atlantic Ocean, the mouth of the river Kenmare, and the Skelig Isles, the largest of which seemed about eight miles from the shore.

a

A gentleman with whose company we had been favoured in this excursion, informed us that a bird called the Ganet was very common to the coast of Kerry, and about which a very singular dispute happened few years ago, between the poor Roman Catholics and their clerical governors. -The flesh of the ganet, from its living entirely on fish, has a very fishy taste, on which account the poor people insisted that they ought not to be restricted from eating them in Lent, for that things of similar taste would to the mind be of similar consequence, This doctrine, however, though very feasible, their pastors would not allow to be orthodox, but threatened to punish with all the severity of ecclesiastical rigour every future instance of delinquency,