sweeter haven, where, in contemplating the frivolities of the past, he might prepare for the solemnity of the future.

The family of Lord Doneraile-St. Leger-is of great antiquity in Ireland; and its members have filled the highest offices in the Irish Government. The first of the family of whom we find mention, Sir Anthony Sentleger, A.D. 1540, was Lord Deputy of Ireland, Knight of the Garter, and Privy Councillor. He assembled a Parliament at Dublin, 33rd Henry VIII., which changed the royal style and title from Lord to King of Ireland, and his manners and address were so winning, that many of the disaffected Irish chieftains made their submission to the English rule. In Mr. O'Flanaghan's "Origin and Progress of the English Law in Ireland," he thus notices this exemplary Governor: "Sent Leger was a very politic man. He determined to adopt a different course from his predecessors in office; and, instead of seeking to exterminate the Irish, or breaking truce with them, to conciliate and protect them, as fellow subjects. The effect was magical on the Irish chieftains, their hearts were softened by kindly treatment, the reverse of that they had formerly experienced; and, if it had not been for causes which speedily infused poison into the cup of joy, peace, civilization, and national prosperity would have marked the wisdom of Sent Leger's government."

The son and grandson of this enlightened man, successively filled the office of Lord President of Munster; the latter of whom had a magnificent Presidency Court at Doneraile, and built the parish church, as appears from the following inscription in black marble over the east door :

"This Church was first built by the Right Hon. Sir William St. Leger, then Lord President of Munster, Ann. Dom. 1633, and afterwards was rebuilt by the Right Hon. Arthur, Lord Viscount Doneraile, Ann. Dom. 1726,"

The family of St. Leger were raised to the Peerage in 1703, and this branch of the family gave four possessors to the title, but having expired in 1767, the present race became ennobled by the creation of Baron Doneraile, of the Peerage of Ireland, 1776; advanced to Viscount in 1785. The present Lord was born in 1786, and succeeded his father in 1819. He was elected a representative Peer for Ireland in 1830.

Caher House, co. Tipperary,

THE SEAT OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF GLENGALL.

"Towers and battlements it sees,
Bosomed high in tufted trees."

ALTHOUGH the mail-coach passenger, whirling through the town of Caher, may not consider there is anything peculiarly attractive in the long range of ordinary building, which, he is informed, is "the Lord's house," to entitle it to a place in our picturesque Castles and Mansions, we beg leave to lead him to the front, as the town side is the rear of

the edifice, and ere long he will correct his mistake. spreads the Suir,

"The gentle Suir, that making way By sweet Clonmell, adorns rich Waterford.""

Before him

A spacious domain spreads for two miles in front of Caher House, embracing both sides of the river, and affording a variety of exquisite scenery. The visitor will feel greatly pleased with the taste displayed in laying out the demesne, and the pretty cottage in the secluded dell, so generously given for the use of pic-nic parties by the noble owner. The scenery is bold and romantic. The river is a fine deep stream, gliding through a rich and fertile land. It comes flowing and gushing from the Shains of Cashel and Holy Cross, and the castled steep of Ardfinnan. On its high and beautiful banks have events taken place, that stand prominent in the Annals of Ireland. Its waters, in days of old, floated to the beach of Waterford the English ships bearing the allies of MacMurrough, to seize Ireland as the reward of their adventurous valour. At Cashel was the Synod assembled that adopted the English rule

"When the emerald gem of the western world,
Was set in the crown of the stranger."

It glides past the ruins of lordly hall and hallowed fane, and the waves were red with the tide of war where now the busy mills with their ceaseless wheels disturb the placid water. Caher House is a spacious wellbuilt mansion, and contains numerous rooms of elegant proportions. The ancient Castle of Caber is close to the lawn, and of great antiquity. It is of singular appearance but considerable extent, and is built on an island, having the river flowing round. It consists of a square keep, with an outer and inner ballium, a small court-yard lying between. There are seven towers flanking the outworks; of these four are circular and three square. Some few years ago, the entire castle was put in complete repair by Lord Glengall, who caused particular attention to be paid to the style of the building, so that uniformity with the old foundation might be preserved; and never was a restoration more successful, for the new portion harmonizes exactly with the original structure.

Caber Castle has had its share of blows in the various conflicts that have agitated this land. In Elizabeth's reign, A.D. 1599, the Earl of Essex besieged it with his whole army, when the garrison, encouraged by the hostilities to which the English army were exposed from the attacks of the Earl of Desmond, and, doubtless, incited by the want of military skill in the general of the besieging army, held out for a considerable time, but at last was compelled to surrender. Again, in 1617, the trumpet of war called the inmates to the walls. It was then invested by Lord Inchiquin, who, unlike his predecessor in attacking, gave the garrison nothing to hope for from supineness; but proceeded to storm at once, took the outworks by assault, on which the Castle was speedily surrendered. The dread of a still more formidable enemy than ever appeared before the walls, banished even a show of resistance, when on the 24th February, 1649, a note thus directed, and in the following terms, was received in the Castle.

For the Governor of Caher Castle. These.

SIR, Before Caher, 24th February, 1649. Having brought the Army and my Cannon near this place, according to my usual manner in summoning places, I thought fit to offer you Terms honorable for soldiers. That you may march away with your baggage, arms, and colours, free from injury or violence. But if I be necessitated to bend my cannon upon you, you must expect the extremity usual in such cases. To avoid blood this is offered you by

Your servant,

OLIVER CROMWELL.

The terror of Cromwell's name was so great, that the garrison instantly evacuated the fortress. The Parliamentary leader seemed proud of his success, for he instantly wrote a dispatch to England announcing it.

To Hon. John Bradshaw, Esq., President of the Council of State. These.
SIR,
Cashel, 5th March, 1649.

It pleaseth God still to enlarge your interest here. The Castle of Caher, very considerable built upon a rock, and seated on an island placed in the midst of the Suir, was lately surrendered to me. It cost the Earl of Essex, as I am informed, about 8 weeks' siege with his army and artillery. It is now yours without the loss of a man.

The family of Butler, Earls of Glengall, are a branch of the great House of Ormond, tracing descent from the third Earl. They claim their title of nobility far back; the Butlers having been Barons Caher since Queen Elizabeth's reign, anno 1583, of the Irish peerage. The Earldom is recent, 1816. The present is the second Earl; he succeeded his father in 1819, and was elected a representative peer in 1830.

GENEALOGY OF THE POET DANTE.*

Ar this moment when, if ever, Italy seems likely, headed by a wise and benevolent Pontiff, to vindicate in the scale of nations, a position suitable to her antique fame and her central position in the world of civilization and commerce, it is still curious to remark, how true she continues to the two great sentiments that have swayed her frame to and fro during the last five centuries of her existence, Ghibellinism and Guelfism. In our apprehension, it matters little whether a native or a foreign, a military, a civil, or a spiritual prince controls the political destinies of Italy, so long as she has secured to her national institutions, in accordance with the progress of human intelligence, and the civilization of the present day.

Napoleon said, that he asked twenty years to inake Italy a nation, a remark, no doubt, implying that it was to rise from its ashes in a new birth; that it was the coming, and not the existing generation; future, and not past education, to which he would look for the elements of national regeneration, and the hopes of future prosperity. That potent spirit that swept over the world, entailing ruin and destruction in his progress, but cleansing and purifying the political and social atmosphere, past away, nor survived to see, except in fancy, the consequences of his own acts. The seed that he had sown was destined to germinate in its fitting season, and whether that season has arrived, the events of the next score of years must determine.

The name of the sovereign Poet of Italy suggested the thoughts to which we have just given way, for who more than Dante had the cause of national regeneration at heart? Who better than he saw the peculiar evils to which Italy was then a prey? Who more than he deplored her fall from her ancient pre-eminence, her sacrifice of great and noble to paltry and selfish interests?

"Dante (says a writer in an Italian periodical, cited by Mr. Mazzinghi) sought to realize in Italy, a unity of civil and military force, and let the Italian who thinks not with him upon this point, after having had before his eyes that most fearful experiment of the five subsequent centuries, cast the first stone at him."

"" '0 wretched, wretched country," writes Dante, in one of his treatises (Convito, Trattato iv. c. 28) "how irresistibly I am impelled to commisserate thy condition, whenever I read or write anything pertaining to civil government."

We confess that we have for some time regarded the enthusiasm of Italians of all classes for their philosophical Poet, as one of the most promising features of the national sentiment. And if as every Italian has felt, and Guizot (Discourse on Civilization) has expressed, Italy resembles a beautiful flower, which some rude grasp prevents from expanding, and if he have, even in his Quixotic anticipations, somewhat realized the epigrammatic saying of De Stael †, and mistaken memories

A brief Notice of some recent Researches respecting Dante Alighieri, by Thomas John Mazzinghi, M.A.

+"Ils ont pris les souvenirs pour les ésperances."

of the past for prophecies of the future, still enough remains in the womb of time, awaiting only, it may be, the obstetric aid of prudent patriotism, to mature into a blooming promise of national prosperity. With a country blessed with havens of great capacity, an extensive seaboard, and a position in the very centre of the world's converse, what but the "rude grasp" of foreign violence has prevented her from growing into a great and influential European power? What has she hitherto been but war's playground, a theatre on which the madness of Austrian, or Gallic ambition, has strutted its little hour upon the stage?

But the subject with which we have to do is rather family than national, antiquarian than historical, literary than political. We propose to consider some curious features of Italian civilization, as connected with the annals of the family of the greatest Poet of Italy.

Hume, in commenting upon a household book of an Earl of Northumberland, temp. Henry VII., containing the items of expenditure which he sanctioned in his house, than which no baron's was on a nobler or more splendid footing, alludes to the rudeness of manners and gross want of polish and refinement which the whole scheme indicated. And he adds, "If we consider the magnificent and elegant manner in which the Venetian and other Italian noblemen then lived, with the progress made by the Italians in literature and the fine arts, we shall not wonder that they considered the ultramontane nations as barbarous." Sentiments are, however, an even less fallible indication of progress in civilization than manners. And where in England, or elsewhere in the world than in Italy, shall we, during the thirteenth or fourteenth century (the date of the composition is not critically fixed), find a juster definition of the constituent characteristics of a "gentleman,"* than in the following description:

For prudence, justice, liberality;
And in itself enjoys

To hear and talk of others' valorous deeds.t
Last in the fourth and closing scene of life,
To God is re-espoused,

Contemplating the end which is at hand,
And thanks returning for departed years;
Reflect now how the many are deceived.” ‡

That Dante was " gentle," in this, the highest sense of the word, will

So should be translated the word "nobile," so often confounded with the English word "noble," to which quite a different sense is by us attached.

+ This, says Mr. Mazzinghi, is a generous but not a faithful translation of the line.

"D' udire e ragionar dell' altrui prode." Dante's Canzoniere, translation of Mr. Lyell, p. 117.