therefore, I watched the setting sun illuminating the west with all the majesty of his golden grandeur, and giving every promise of "A goodly day to-morrow." Nor did he prove a faithless barbinger, as the following morning was so favorable as to warrant us in making the attempt; and we accordingly engaged a strong boat, with six able-bodied sailors, to row us to the rock. We left the harbor at nine, and soon after clearing the channel dividing the island from the mainland, saw the object of our enterprise looming to the south like some gigantic obelisk. The Great Skellig does not, however, stand quite alone. Two other rocks, known by the names of the Lemon and Little, or Middle Skellig, are in the vicinity. The first of these is circular, having an elevation considerably above high-water mark, and abounding with various kinds of sea-fowl; and about three miles to the south is the Little Skellig, consisting of a reddish kind of slate, rising abruptly from the sea, and frequented by vast numbers of gannets, or solan and a great variety of other birds, all of which are eagerly sought by the peasantry for their feathers, as also, in seasons of scarcity, for food. geese, About a league farther from the mainland lies the Great Skellig, which we were now fast approaching, after a pretty severe pull of some three hours. Calm as the day was, yet the roll of the waves, as they came sweeping in from the Atlantic, rendered it most difficult to effect a landing, and as the boat rose and fell on the giant swell, her sides occasionally grating against the jagged rocks, I certainly expected every moment to see her impaled on them. I ought to mention that there are but two spots on the rock where a landing is at all practicable, even in the calmest weather, and, notwithstanding every precaution, it has frequently happened that the attempt has been attended by loss of life. We find it recorded in the Irish histories that one of Milesius's sons was lost in endeavoring to land for the purpose of visiting the monastery, and was, according to the same authorities, buried on the island. Our sailors happened, fortunately, to be powerful fellows, and being well accustomed to the management of a boat in these rough seas, assured us, if we would only remain perfectly tranquil, they would speedily land us in safety. Three of the strongest, watch ing their opportunity, leaped on the rock, and securing the end of a stout rope to an iron ring, contrived by dint of perseverance and strength to steady the boat so as to permit us to land. I can hardly express the feelings of awe that overcame me as I gazed upwards at the immense mass of rock which towered above in so threatening a manner, as to give one great reason to doubt its stability. I stood riveted to the spot, spellbound, as it were, and was only roused to activity by my friend, who exclaimed as he pointed upwards "There is our destination." The object to which my attention was thus drawn, appeared, as seen from below, like a small jutting crag, whose dimensions seemed hardly capable of bearing the most diminutive sea-bird, much less the foot of man; and, involuntarily shuddering at the bare contemplation of standing on so giddy a height, I demanded if he really proposed guiding me to such a break-neck place. "You can hardly say you have visited the Great Skellig unless you have kissed the cross on its summit," was his reply. "And although but few have the head to do so, yet almost all make the trial." "Allons donc !" I responded; and bracing my nerves to the task, we commenced the ascent. A rude path led from the rock on which we landed, to a small sloping plain of about a couple of acres in dimension, which forms the middle region of the island, and is bounded on all sides by precipices; from this plain, which is about one hundred and fifty feet from the base, the rock divides into two peaks, the tallest of which has an elevation of about one thousand five hundred feet. To surmount this was the object of our enterprise. Before, however, addressing ourselves to so formidable an undertaking, we proceeded to view the remains of two small wells, which, together with a chapel, are dedicated to St. Michael. In fact, we stood on holy ground; this circumscribed spot having been in the earlier ages of Christianity selected as a place of religious seclusion. In support of this tradition the remains of the abbey of St. Tinian, and the cells of the monks who lived here in most austere solitude, are still to be seen. The chapels, or cells, are built of stone, dovetailed without mortar, similar to those at the Seven Churches in the county of Wicklow, and possess conical roofs of the same material. It was when the abbey flourished that the cross to which we have alluded was erected, with a view, in all probability, of increasing lurking devil in his eye, and a roguish smile playing around his handsome mouth, that would have won the heart of many a sighing maiden, and so impressed was I in his favor, that I at once engaged him; and now beg to introduce Tim Healey, at the reader's very humble service, should he ever find himself at the base of the Great Skellig, and meditate an ascent to the cross; unless, indeed, the said Tim, from his foolish and rash daring, meets with a premature end, which is by no means improbable. the church funds, as it was declared that the circumstance of kissing it absolved the individual from a heavy load of sin; but no one was permitted to attempt the adventure without first paying a sum of money. The scheme, if we may so call it, answered marvellously well, and for many years thousands of both sexes visited the Great Skellig, when the weather permitted, for the sole purpose of kissing the cross, though frequently at the imminent hazard of their life. Indeed, so great a virtue was attached to the performance of this penance, and such was the ex- Well," said I, as we closed an argument traordinary infatuation in the minds of the with a draught of potheen, imbibed in the lower classes of Roman Catholics, that even en most primitive manner from a wicker-cased of late years individuals have been known to flask; "so you really know the shortest and travel barefooted long distances to the coast, safest way to the summit ?" where they had frequently to wait many days, during which time they subsisted entirely on wild berries and sea-weed, (for during the performance of any penance, fasting is strictly enjoined,) until the weather was sufficiently moderate to permit them to cross to the rock. In fact, it was only after the fatal termination of this religious fanaticism in the case of an, unfortunate youth, whose tragical and romantic death we shall probably detail to our readers, that the appalling penance of embracing the cross on the Great Skellig was put an end to by the clergy, who had no wish to carry the zeal for their religion so far as to run the risk of annually immolating some members of their flocks. 66 Know it, yer honor! I think I ought to know it, when I've been going up ever since I was a bit of a gossoon." "And is the ascent very difficult ?” "A thrifling degree, yer honor; though, indeed, I may say it's difficult enough to those who've no breath, or what's worse, no head." "No head, Tim! Why, I think it would puzzle a man without a head to make his way to the top." "Oh! yer honor knows what I mean well enough. Why, sir, some fine gentlemen come here and talk as big of going to the very top, but bless yer honor, the light-house was enough for them, for when they crept to the edge and peeped over, they alter'd their As we were viewing the scattered remains mind all of a sudden, and said they had no of the monastery, a peasant accosted us, and time to go higher, or they were too tired, or demanding if we contemplated ascending to it was too could, or too hot; but atween ourthe crass, as he called it, proffered his ser-selves, yer honor, it's afear'd I think they vices as a guide. He was a true Kerryman, inquisitive and intelligent, and had, moreover, a touch of classical lore, which might have shamed some of his superiors in worldly station. It may be remarked here, how prevalent a knowledge of Latin is amongst the lower classes in Kerry. Few, who have been at the Lakes of Killarney, will fail to remember the frequent outbreak of occasional scraps of Latin amongst the peasantry, and especially those acting as boatmen. I saw at a glance that the specimen of the finest pisantry in the world," now before us, was none of your prattling, parrotlike cicerones, who describe the same thing, in the same words and tone, day after day, until it becomes so habitual, that were they checked, or put out, they would in all probability have to commence again at the beginning. No, our friend never could claim any relationship with the latter; there was a were.' By this time we had ascended some two hundred feet, and stood on the ledge-like terrace, on which the light-house alluded to is erected. It is a strong and compact building, and appears incorporated with the rock, into which, indeed, it is dovetailed. The lantern displays a fixed bright light. The house is tenanted by a family consisting of seven individuals, who reside here throughout the year: their stock of provisions is always calculated to endure six months; a precaution rendered highly necessary, when it is remembered they are sometimes cut off from all communication with the main land for months together, and during the winter it is rarely that a landing can be effected. Few situations can be conceived more dreary than that of these poor light keepers, and when we add to the above the additional misery of a lamentable deficiency of wholesome water, it may well be believed that they occasionally suffer great privations; yet, with all this, they appeared happy and contented, and evinced no desire, in answer to my questions, to leave their sea-girt and rocky home; so true is it "We live to love, whate'er may be around." greater part of which time we had been climbing up a nearly perpendicular face of rock, the ruggedness of which formed the only means of conquering the difficulty. Here we were, then, on the Great Skellig, within a few feet of the cross, standing, or rather balancing on a crag about a couple of feet broad, and some eight or ten long, and at an elevation of nearly fifteen hundred feet. The stones, as they were loosened from the us. which is upwards of ninety fathoms deep around the rock. We sat down with our feet dangling over the precipice in a line, one before the other, the guide being outside, and the apex of the cone immediately above The far-famed cross was constructed in the rudest manner, and was affixed to the extremity of the crag on which we were, by means of a large iron staple encircling the lower limb. The wood was blanched by time and exposure to the weather, and exhibited on that part nearest the rock several specimens of the ingenuity, and at the same time, rashness of various individuals, in the shape of initials, and in some few instances, whole names carved on its surface. We paused here a few minutes; and with recruited strength and braced nerves proceeded to the more adventurous part of our enterprise. The path which I mentioned as lead-giddy height, fell vertically into the sea, ing from the base of the rock, ceased at the light-house; and it was now that the services of our guide became essential. Casting off his frieze coat, and seizing the ever faithful shillelagh, he led us upwards with an alacrity requiring all our strength and activity to emulate; now surmounting the shoulders of huge crags, and then worming his way through fissures occasioned by the strange disposition of the rocks. Path, indeed, there was none, or even the faintest track; and it was literally climbing, by dint of the combined efforts of hands, knees, and, feet, the face of a jagged precipice. Up, up we went, higher and higher still, until we came to the base of the highest peak, which consists principally of immense masses of rotten slaty substance, apparently decomposed by the electric fluid. Our progress now became really difficult, and even dangerous, and I may truly say without exaggeration, that in all my rambles on foot through Switzerland, 1 never encountered anything so formidable as the ascent to the cross on the Great Skellig. Once or twice I felt half inclined to yield, when the voice of our guide, who was still holding on with all the apparent ease of a mountain goat, reassured me. "Now, yer honor," he exclaimed, ever and anon, "give me yer hand, that's it,-now yer fut, there; and don't look down; niver look down. I always till gintlemin so, but some will take a peep over their shouldher; but oh! sir, if ye could only see their faces, as pale as buttermilk, and their knees trimbling under them, when they see the boats and birds below, for all the world like nutshells and flies." I no longer wondered at what I had heard concerning a pilgrimage to the cross on the Great Skellig, and the many difficulties and dangers attendant thereon, for, though blessed with the strength and energy of youth, I more than once quailed when the giving way of some faithless stone occasioned a false step, and all the terrors of the depth below flashed before me. Who is there that has not felt his blood grow cold, as, standing on some giddy height, he has gazed at the deep abyss, whose gloomy terrors fascinate while they appal? There is no situation, perhaps, in which the mind exhibits so great an ascendency over the body as the above; and we have all heard, or read, of the most extraordinary effects from such a cause. I was sitting entranced as it were, my eyes riveted beneath, or following the mazy flight of some sea-bird, that seemed like a flake of snow borne on the breeze, when the voice of our guide, who had been hitherto engaged in the preparation of his dudeen, or short pipe, roused me., "Well, gintlemin, I hope ye like yer quarthers? they're airy enough, anyhow." "You may say that, Tim; and high enough too," responded my companion; "and now suppose we drink her Majesty's health? You are a royal subject, I hope, Mr. Healey ?" "Oh! to be sure, yer honor, and why not? we're all loyal men in Kerry, as the girls will. tell ye." 15 I produced my flask; and we drank the | royal toast, and made it circle again to absent friends, when it was returned to me as empty as the day it first commenced its travels. "And won't you kiss the crass?" said our guide, as he took off his hat to the sacred object. "Presently, Tim," said my friend, "but first tell us the story concerning the poor fellow that you alluded to.' "Oh! certainly, yer honor;" and Tim, who evidently desired nothing better, gave two or three preliminary puffs, and then recited the following tale, which well merits the appellation he gave it, of 66 THE FATAL PILGRIMAGE. "You must know, gintilmen, that some years ago, when I was a bit of a gossoon, that crass before yez was one of the holy crasses of Ireland. Indeed, according to Father O'Toole-who, rest his sowl! is now dead and gone--it was accounted the holiest crass in Kerry, and hundreds used to come from far and near to kiss it. A priest thin lived in one of the cells below, and used to give every one who had made pinance a paper wid absolution for their sins; and, by all accounts, he had a fine busy time of it, anyhow. Now it happened, just thin, whin the crass was in its glory, that one of the tightest and gayest lads in the barony lost his heart to a girl who might have bothered an older head than Barney Dempsey's. She was, indeed, a lovely crathur, wid eyes for all the world like two diamonds; and it would have done your heart good to have seen thim going to mass on a Sunday morning. Well, the coortin' wint on smooth and fair, and it was sittled that they were to be married at the end of the year, by which time Barney would be masther of a snug little farm, when, all of a sudden, Mary-for such was her name-tuk sick, and all the beauty faded from her cheeks, and she grew thin and pale. Or coorse they sint for the docthor, and he gave her some physic, but all to no good, as she grew worse and worse, until poor Barney gave her up for all the same as dead. Well, they at length went to his riverence, Father O'Toole, and asked him to come and see Mary To be sure, he did come, and afther confessing her, he called Barney, and towld him he thought he could do her good, if he would only do what he said. Yez may be sure Barney promised to do anything he could, quick enough. "Well, thin,' said his riverence, 'you must go to the crass on the Great Skellig, and afther kissing it twice, rub a small cru cifix, which I will give you, agin it, and whin you come back, you must give it to Mary to kiss, and thin come to me.' "Away wint Barney that very night, and the following morning he crassed to the island, ascended to the crass, and did all his riverence tould him. Well, when he returned he gave Mary the small crucifix, and she had no sooner kissed it than-glory be to God!she was like a new girl, and at the end of a month was as blooming as if she had niver been ill at all at all. Barney wint to his riverence, and tould him how much better his Mary was, and was going to thank him, whin his riverence bid him hould his tongue -for it was the blessed crass there before yez that had done all. Well, yer honors, time wore on, and the day settled for the marriage was close at hand, whin, ov coorse, Barney went to be confessed, and tould his riverence that he was going to be married. "Fair and aisy,' said Father O'Toole; all in good time, Barney; but you must first do pinance for your sins.' 666 By all means,' said Barney. "Well, thin,' said his riverence, what would you think of a pilgrimage to the Great Skellig, and the more so seeing that you ought to return thanks to the crass for its miraculous cure in regard of Mary, and take care to rimimber the chapel, Barney.' "Barney was but too well pleased to be able to get so clane absolution, and the following morning, after bidding Mary a tinder farewell, he hurried off, and the weather being calm, arrived at the rock early in the afternoon. As the year was in its fall, there was but little light in the evening, so that Barney had to make great haste. On his way up he stopped to talk to the priest for a few minutes, and, promising to return soon, commenced his perilous pinance. The priest watched him as he climbed the precipice with youthful energy, and saw him gain the ledge in safety. His anxiety was so great to embrace the holy object, that he ran hastily forward, whin the priest suddenly missed him, and had barely time to run to the edge of the plain, when a heavy body darted past him, and in a moment more the waters opened to receive poor Barney. He had made a false step, and fell from the spot where yer honor is now sitting." And poor Mary, what became of her?" I asked. Ah, yer honor-poor sowl!-it was the death of her! That night she watched, and watched, and the morning dawned and found her still alone. Unable to bear the agony of suspense, she rushed to the coast, and ere long her straining eyes beheld a boat fast approaching the shore from the island. It drew near, but her lover was not therein. She questioned the crew, wildly, concerning him: they knew her, and endeavored, at first, to conceal the thruth-each shrinking from disclosing the fatal reality. But 'twas of no use; she read it in the looks of all. The dreadful certainty came before her in all its horrors. She died, sir, bereft of reason; and should ye ever visit the village of Killimly, you will see in the churchyard a small tombstone, inscribed to the memory of Barney Dempsey, and his bethrothed Mary." "A fatal pilgrimage, indeed," I exclaimed, as the guide concluded the foregoing tale, which we have given to our readers nearly as we heard it. "And you say it was from this spot he was precipitated ?" "Yes, yer honor, just here; and he fell beyant that big black rock." I cast my eyes below, but quickly withdrew them from the fearful depth. The huge waves, as they broke angrily against the gloomy cliffs, seemed yawning for their prey. "Let us leave this," I said; a proposition which my friend gladly echoed. "Ov coorse yer honors will kiss the crass first ?" exclaimed our guide. An involuntary shudder came over me, and I felt, if my very existence had been depending upon it, I could not have advanced another step on the crag. "Not I, Tim !"-" Nor I !" said my friend. "And you wouldn't be afther going away without touching it even ?" I fear our resolutely declining to make any further acquaintance with the holy relic, tended to alter Mr. Healey's opinion of our courage considerably; at least so I deduced from two or three hints he threw out. "If it was only to say you had touched it, yer honor!" It was, however, out of the question; and we put an end to our guide's entreaties by at once commencing the descent. This occupied even more time than the ascent, but was accomplished in safety. The fact was, Tim's story had a strange effect on our nerves, and I often wished he had indulged us with it when we were in a less perilous position. We found our crew waiting in the boat, and were soon gazing upwards at the cross, which was fast dwindling to a mere speck. The evening was just closing as we pulled into the harbor of Valentia. That night the cross on the Great Skellig was often before me, and more than once I felt as if some irresistible impulse urged me towards it; and, advancing to embrace it, my foot made a false step, and I woke in perfect agony. Never did poor mortal welcome the first rosy streaks of morning more than I did. I jumped up, hurried on my clothes, and rushing to the beach, was soon breasting the waves as they came rolling in from the Atlantic. ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE. THE late Mr. Basil Montague, Q.C., whose, death, at the advanced age of 82, is recorded to have occurred at Boulogne-sur-Mer on the 27th ult., was formerly a Commissioner in Bankruptcy, and was so eminent a practitioner in such matters that for many years he was regarded as an oracle of the bankrupt laws. So little had been heard of him of late years, that many of his quondam friends labored under the impression that he had long ago discharged the debt of nature. It s not generally known that this distinguished awyer was the fourth son of John, fourth Earl of Sandwich, by Miss Margaret Reay, a celebrated beauty of her day. The melancholy fate of this lady inspired the deepest public interest at the time, and the whole affair has been justly styled one of the most romantic and extraordinary love tales ever recorded, so much so that it has often struck us with astonishment that, in these novel manufacturing and ready-reading days, none of the novelists who cater so strangely at times for the public taste have seized upon the ample materials this case affords as the groundwork for a book of lasting and intense |