They are of various ages and styles of architecture, some of great antiquity, like the stately remains which crown the Crag of Cashel; others built by the early English conquerors; others, and probably the greater part, erections of the times of Elizabeth and Cromwell.

The whole speaking monuments of the troubled and insecure state of the country, from the most remote periods to a comparatively modern time.
From the windows of the room where I slept I had a view of one of these old places--an indistinct one, it is true, the distance being too great to permit me to distinguish more than the general outline.

I had an anxious desire to explore it.

It stood to the south-east; in which direction, however, a black bog intervened, which had more than once baffled all my attempts to cross it.

One morning, however, when the sun shone brightly upon the old building, it appeared so near, that I felt ashamed at not being able to accomplish a feat seemingly so easy; I determined, therefore, upon another trial.