"  I  am  reading  the  'Essays'  a  second  time,"  she  wrote.  "  I
think  tliat  one  such  Ptx)testant  might  blot  from  the  mind  of
OaUiolio  Ireland  the  memoiy  of  the  Penal  Laws !  The  '  Essays '
li^vi-Tnade  mf  eager  in  IrLsh  studies;  gviiprally  ;  they  have  tiiuf^f-ht
me  (what  after  your  letter  1  did  not  want  to  learn)  to  love  him
ven-  much.  Often  in  reading  them  I  am  suddenly  aiTeste<l  by  I
do  Dot  know  what  of  sympathy  or  strength  in  a  thought — [lerhaps
it  IE  at  these  eame  passages  you  hear  hia  voice.  .  .  .  Thanks  for
ilie' Ballad  Poetry';  the  introduction  has  explained  everything  I
most  wanted  to  know.  I  will  give  up  Shelley,  Byron,  and  even
Hia  for  a  while.  It  shall  not  be  my  fault  if  I  am  not  Irish ;
but  I  shall  suffer  in  giving  up  these  dear  English  writers,  as  you
*i!l  know,  if  you  look  at  the  verses  on  the  next  page,  written
OD  the  '  Essaya  of  Elia.'  Is  it  not  strange  that  do  what  I  will,
I  cannot  write  an  Irish  poem.  I  rack  my  brain  night  and  day,
all  to  no  purpose.  But  I  will  persevere;  you  would  not  invite  me
to  persevere  if  there  was  no  chance  of  succeeding.  I  am  always
afraid  of  dying  before  I  am  able  to  show  that  you  did  right  in
eooouraging  me.  ...  I  am  studying  the  Ballads;  Ferguson
because  you  told  me,  hut  Davis,  Callanan,  and  Drennan  were  my
own  favourites;  above  all  Davis.     Davis  is  sad  reading  now;


92  FOUR  YEARS  OF  IEI8S  HISTORY.
