From the INTRODUCTION. In presenting this little volume to the patronage of my countrymen, I have only to state, that it was written after the exhaustive labors of the day, by the light of the lamp, as a means to divert the mind from the sterner trials of every-day life. Under more favorable circumstances it might have been less unworthy. As it is, I am in hopes that many, who, like me, are debarred from visiting in person the far-off hills of holy Ireland, will accompany me, in imagination, to the rude but hospitable hearth of our native glens. To those familiar with the locality of the story, I hope they will deal gently with the inexperienced and untutored hand, that has thus attempted to portray from the tablets of memory - scenes worthy the pencil and genius of an artist, who could contemplate in person the grandeur of the landscape - "Till from the wondrous wild around, The soul her inspiration found."