MR. GRANT'S IMPRESSIONS OF IRELAND AND THE IRISH.

" I COULD have spared a better man," says Prince Hal on seeing the counterfeit corpse of Falstaff on the field of Shrewsbury ; and many, like the Prince, looking only to "the fun of the thing," might say the same of Mr. GRANT were be to withdraw from the field of authorship. Who like him can be so reckoned on for giving novelty to the old, freshness to the stale, and drollery to dulness ? As the company, however flat, never fails to brighten on the entrance of some approved professor of pleasantry, so we always hail the appearance of the author of the Random Recollections, pretty certain that there will be amusement in him if not by him. Yet we might have known that human faculties are not always the same. " Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus," and GILLXT himself may be sometimes drowsy. If we speak candidly, his lit- pressions of Ireland and the Irish are rather fade. Ambition seems to have caused his flatness ; he has fallen by trying to rise. Not content with the humble but matter-of-fact style of reporter's de- scription, Mr. GRANT seems determined to try his hand at a broader wanner; and loses in a common generality, that peculiar effect which he often produced. Then, too, he must quit his congenial home the town, and go travelling through the country, whose extent overwhelms him—" Nature puts him out," especially as he had no time to take her to bits ; so that much of the narrative is something like a report on the moving diorama of a pantomime. Neither is Mr. GRANT so good as usual in his grave disquisitions ; which may probably arise from their want of originality. We should say that neither his matter nor his views were altogether his own. He visited "the Martyrs" during their incarceration in Richmond Peniten- tiary; and so impressed both " Young " and "Old Ireland," that he went again to "spend the day" and dine : and we surmise that whilst Irish hospitality filled his mouth, Irish management was not altogether neglectful of his ears. The tempting blandishments of O'CONNELL in the garden, crowned by the introduction of little DANIEL "my grandson "—the honest hilarity of Tom STEELE- the friendly communications of "my dear RAY "—" the gentle- manly appearance and pleasing manners of Dr. GRAY "—" the long flowing flaxen hair" of Mr. Dora-v--together with the smiles of the ladies, have bound Mr. GRANT heart and soul to the Repealers. He is more Irish than the Irish themselves. All that he is worth they have ; and, to speak truth, he goes the "whole hog" for them. No man living can have a larger experience in blarney than Mr. O'CONNELL, yet we question whether he ever received such interest before—in kind. See, as they say in town, "how he comes it!"

GRANT ON O'CONNELL.

In private Mr. O'Connell is one of the most pleasant men I ever met with. No one can be many seconds in his company without feeling at the most per- fect ease. He converses, as may be inferred from what I have already stated, in the most free and familiar manner with all who are admitted to his society. There is nothing stiff or distant in his manner; nothing in look or tone or word or action which indicates any sense of superiority to those around him. There is a simplicity and artlessness about him which are perfectly child-like, and which are exceedingly winning to strangers. You ask yourself, Can you be actually conversing in this easy and familiar manner with one who for the last thirty years has filled so large a space not only in England's and Ireland's eye but in the eye of the world? You ask yourself, Can this he the man who has played so prominent a part on the stage of political life? who is at this moment, in some respects, the most important man of his age? who is, in short, In a moral sense, the monarch of Ireland Yet so it is.

POWER OF O'CONNELL.

In connexion with the progress of Repeal, I ought not to omit making some reference to the power and popularity of Mr. O'Connell. Never in the his- tory of the world did any individual possess greater influence over their fellow- men than does this extraordinary man over seven millions of his countrymen. His name is is household word in every part of Ireland. It is lisped by infant lips in every cabin in the country. O'Connell is not only admired—be is adored in Ireland. He is not merely esteemed and loved—the feelings with which he is regarded are those of absolute idolatry. He is the moral monarch of his country. The motion of his finger, the gentlest whispering of his voice, or the slightest intimation of his will, in any way, has all the obligations of law to them. Nay, ills clothed with the authority of gospel.

Mr. GRANT'S Impressions of Ireland and the Irish consist of two distinct sections,—an account of his tour ; and his disquisitions on Irish politics, Irish prospects, Irish character, and many other matters. His travels embrace Dublin, a journey in the track-boat along the Grand Canal to its junction with the Shannon at Shannon Harbour ; which Mr. GRANT pronounces "a misnomer," as there is "no sea." The next day, however, he sailed across an inland "ocean," (Lough Derb,) where land (on one side) is out of sight, and people are sometimes sick.

"The day," says he, "on which I traversed its trackless bosom was not so windy as to produce the unpleasant sensation so often felt at sea; but the waters dashed with sufficient force against the prow of the steamer to send the spray over the deck, and repeatedly to sprinkle, to an unpleasant extent, those passengers who were stationed in that part of the vessel."

Having escaped the perils of this inland sea —which in a gale would render Shannon Harbour of use, upon ;he principle of any port in a storm,—our tourist descended the stream to Limerick, and thence journeyed back to Dublin by the usual way of Kil- larney, Cork, and Kilkenny ; having on his return to the capital made a day's excursion to Drogheda by railway, that he might view and reflect upon the field of the battle of the Boyne. The greater part of this journey is, as we have said, poor. The beauties, beggars, cabins, rags, and miseries of Ireland, have been so often and so well described, that Mr. GRANT can add nothing new ; and his literal style, unrelieved by his peculiar qualities, only conveys the idea of a bad portrait, feebly recalling the origi- nal. In Dublin and its approaches he is something better ; though we think his grateful wish to paint every thing en beau induces him to give a more favourable picture of external appearances than any other traveller. We do not recognize the Irish character of the houses, the vehicles, and other externals, as delineated by TIT- MARSH and KOHL. But there is, perhaps, something of the old spirit of small accuracy of the prince of penny-a-liners in these -two sketches.

FIRST VIEW OF THE FIRST FLOWER OF THE EARTIL

The first sight which a stranger obtains of Ireland, on his passage from Liverpool to Dublin, is not calculated to inspire him with any very high ex- pectations from the country. He sees in the distance, along the coast, a range of irregular hills, none of them of any great altitude; and, as far as he can ludge, they present a naked and barren aspect. As he nears the coast, the Impression he bad formed is found to be in the main correct. He sees, here and there, a little farther inland, verdant patches of considerable extent, sparingly interspersed with trees of moderate size; but still the eye chiefly -rests on the bleak and barren hills which line the coast.

THE IRISH SEA.

In the immediate neighbourhood of Kingston, an the West *side, are many excellent bathing-places. They are, I believe, the property of the Dublin and Kingston Railway Company. The sea here is singularly adapted for bathing. The sands are perfectly level; at least, the eye cannot discern any declivity for a full mile. When the tide is fall, all these sands are covered to the depth of from two to three feet. When it is ebb-tide, there is no water at all. The aspect of this part of the coast appears curious, when the tide is off, to those who have never seen the sea ebbing and flowing so great a distance. It is in- teresting, too, when there is full tide. Just let the reader imagine that he could wade out into the sea, a distance of more than a mile, without going be- yond his depth. I do not know any place on the English, Scotch, or Con- tinental coasts, in which the same thing could be done

HONOUR OF THE BEGGAR-BOYS.

These little fellows, though a perfect nuisance from their clamorous en- treaties to be allowed to earn a halfpenny or penny—for they would not ask or expect more, even were they to show you over the whole of Dublin—these little fellows are, nevertheless, not only remarkably civil, but highly honour- able in their conduct. I observed a gentleman give one of them a penny, merely because of the happy answer he gave to a remark which be made ; and on seeing the gentleman shortly afterwards at a loss to know where to find the place for procuring railway-tickets, the little fellow at once abandoned his calling of importuning other gentlemen to be allowed to carry something for them, and directed the bewildered gentleman to the place he wanted. This was a pleasing proof of gratitude ; there was a kindliness and unselfishness in it which we would in vain look for in England.

Mr. GRANT'S anecdotes of Irish humour are mostly poor, and do not always illustrate his object ; but this is passable.

" One day, in the county of Limerick, a gentleman of humane feeling and religious principles saw a man lashing his horse at a most furious rate, and at the same time uttering oaths and curses at the poor animal with each fresh

application of the whip. lily good friend,' said the gentleman, stepping up to him, my good friend, do you not know that it is not only very cruel to be lashing your horse in that way, but very absurd to be making use of those oaths to him, for the poor animal does not understand a single word of that sort of language ? '

"'An' sure then, yer honour, it's his own fault if he doesn't, for he hears enough of it every day.' "

The disquisitions on "Injustice to Ireland," "Repeal," "O'Con- nell," and so forth, are in the main dull, from being so much like an echo. But probably these portions may seem flatter from the elevation of the original. The genuine Repale oratory upon separation, &c. is so very rich, that Mr. GRANT'S unconscious bur- lesque and twaddle often look sensibly commonplace in comparison. Yet even here and there he picks up a thought or a fact—obvious probably, but not noticed before in his particular way.

REPEAL READINGS.

There is not a carman nor carboy who is not ready with his reason for Re- peal, and who will not point out what the advocates of an independent Legis- lature contend would be the main advantages which Ireland would derive from the restoration of her own Parliament.

It may be asked, in what way have persons who can neither read nor write acquired this information ? To those who have not been in Ireland, the question may seem to be one which is calculated to puzzle the person to whom it is put. It is calculated to do nothing of the kind. It admits of an easy and satis- factory answer. You will scarcely meet with a peasant in Ireland who has not heard Mr. O'Connell speak, with greater or less frequency, on the subject of Repeal From his lips, therefore, they have acquired a portion of their know- ledge. But the great sources of their instruction are Repeal newspapers, and Repeal tracts and pamphlets. These are read to such of them as are them- selves unable to read. In many of the Southern towns there are Repeal reading- rooms, where the most zealous Repeal papers are regularly read aloud to listen- ing groups unable to read for themselves. In those rural districts where the population is too thinly scattered to admit of establishing Repeal reading. rooms, the practice is for the peasantry in each parish to assemble every Sun- day afternoon in the most convenient place in the parish, to hear the Repeal weekly journals read. In summer, they usually assemble in the open air; in winter, they meet in the school-room or some other commodious place. One individual, on such occasions, reads to all the rest. The numbers who meet together every Sunday for the purpose of learning in the way I have described the progress of the Repeal question, vary, according to the populousness or otherwise of the district, from fifty to one hundred and fifty.

MR. GRANT'S "so BE IT."

If the Premier forthwith announced his intention of doing immediate and ample justice to Ireland, not according to the English view of justice, but ac- cording to the views which Irishmen themselves entertain on the subject, the connexion between the two countries may yet be preserved; but if it be the intention of Ministers still to persevere in their Anti-Irish policy, then I, for one, say " Amen " to O'Connell's "Hurrah for Repeal."