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division, with equal taste and judgment: but the sounds, prolonged for a minute or two, were as abruptly dropped as begun, and all was silence. The rude war-cry of the Fitzȧdelms, or the howl of the long extirpated Irish wolf, would have excited less amazement in the minds of the auditors, than these sweet and most musical strains. By their expressive looks, they seemed almost to doubt their own senses; and they remained for a considerable time silent, and in the attitude of eager and expecting attention. Nearly a quarter of an hour thus elapsed, yet all remained silent.

"Did ever mortal mixture of earth's mould breathe forth such sweet enchanting harmony?" asked De Vere, entranced.

"It seemed to come in a direct line behind that fragment of tapestry," observed the Commodore; and he immediately raised the remains of what

once had been a handsome specimen of the Gobelin manufacture. It had, concealed, a small iron door, above which was written, "Evidence chamber." The strangers both looked alternately, and for a considerable time, through the spacious key-hole, and discovered a small rude chamber, dimly lighted by a loop-hole, and perfectly empty. After some time, they looked out of the window, which Mrs. Magillicuddy had called King James's, and found that this Evidence Chamber formed part of the original building called Desmond's tower. Their joint thought was to leap out of the window, and to examine this tower, which appeared to lie open, and to be partly in ruins. But the steepness of the rocks rendered such an attempt impossible.

The shortest and surest way to dis cover the mystery (for a mystery of the most romantic nature it was asserted to be by De Vere), was to make inquiries

of the old housekeeper relative to the songstress of these ruined towers. But Mrs. Magillicuddy, though twenty minutes had elapsed, had not returned; and when they went to seek her, to their amazement and consternation, they found the door locked or bolted, and beyond their power to open or force. De Vere threw himself on the broken chair lately occupied by the housekeeper, in an ecstasy of emotion; his companion, on the contrary, displeased, annoyed, and irritated, as much as astonished, sought round the room for some mode of egress, in impatience and perturbation. A door on one side opened into a dark closet: two windows opposite to the king's casement he tried with considerable strength; but they were nailed down. A third, more manageable, was opened with difficulty; for the pullies were broken. It was, however, opened, and supported by a broken picture-frame. It communicated with one

of the ruined terraces hanging over the river, and cut out of the rock. The hight, which was inconsiderable, was easily cleared; but the way to the front of the house was intricate, and not easily found. The narrow irregular path was choaked with briars, with the stumps of old trees recently cut down, and lying at full length, and with fragments of the original ruined building, which had fallen in abundance.

As they proceeded through the entangled screen of underwood and briers, they caught a view of a man seated in a cot (6), on the river near a salmon weir; whose curious construction, with the picturesque appearance of the patient fisherman himself, would at any other time have attracted their attention. It was now, however, chiefly given to their obstructed and difficult path-way, by which they at last reached the front of this irregular and stupendous mansion.

To their increased amazement, they found the hall-door again barred up. Every mode of ingress seemed closed, as when they had first approached it. Their chaise and its driver had alike disappeared; and the little Kerry horse, with the Commodore's valise strapped on his back, was fastened to a tree, and stood peaceably grazing within the length of his bridle; while the port ́manteau of De Vere was placed near it, on a clump of rock.

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The travellers remained for a moment looking at each other in silence; till De Vere burst into a fit of laughter, nothing less than the ebullition of gaiety. was almost hysterical, and the pure effect of over-excitement: when it had in some degree subsided, he said

"So, this is indeed the delightful 'land of faery,' which Spencer has described, in which he wrote, in which he was inspired.-Here his Gloriana seems still to fling about her spells; and

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