nothing; for a benevolent lady, who happened to be one
of the company, presented me with one which was of far more value than
the one I had lost.

Every one appeared to enjoy the holiday which the Royal visit had
caused. But the Irish are indeed a strange people. How varied their
aspect--how contradictory their character. Ireland, the land of genius
and degradation--of great resources and unparalleled poverty--noble
deeds and the most revolting crimes--the land of distinguished poets,
splendid orators, and the bravest of soldiers--the land of ignorance and
beggary! Dublin is a splendid city, but its splendour is that of
chiselled marble rather than real life. One cannot behold these
architectural monuments without thinking of the great men that Ireland
has produced. The names of Burke, Sheridan, Flood, Grattan, O'Connell,
and Shiel, have become as familiar to the Americans as household words.
Burke is known as the statesman; Sheridan for his great speech on the
trial of Warren Hastings; Grattan for his eloquence; O'Connell as the
agitator; and Shiel as the accomplished orator.

But of Ireland's sons, none stands higher in America than Thomas Moore,
the Poet. The vigour of his sarcasm, the glow of his enthusiasm, the
coruscations of his fancy, and the flashing of his wit, seem to be as
well understood in the new world as the old; and the support which his
pen has given to civil and religious liberty throughout the world,
entitled the Minstrel of Erin to this elevated position.

Before leaving America I had heard much of the friends of my enslaved
countrymen residing in Ireland; and the reception I met with on all
hands while in public, satisfied me that what I had heard had not been
exaggerated. To the Webbs, Allens, and Haughtons, of Dublin, the cause
of the American slave is much indebted.

I quitted Dublin with a feeling akin to leaving my native land.

LETTER III.

_Departure from Ireland--London--Trip to Paris--Paris--The Peace
Congress: first day--Church of the Madeleine--Column Vendome--the
French._

PARIS, _August 23_.

After a pleasant sojourn of three weeks in Ireland, I took passage in
one of the mail steamers for Liverpool, and arriving there was soon on
the road to the metropolis. The passage from Dublin to Liverpool was an
agreeable one. The rough sea that we passed through on going to Ireland
had given way to a dead calm, and our noble little steamer, on quitting
the