| Lord Conyngham's seat, Slane Castle, on the Boyne, is one of the most beautiful places I have seen; the grounds are very bold and various, rising around the castle in noble hills or beautiful inequalities of surface, with an outline of flourishing plantations. Under the castle flows the Boyne, in a reach broken by islands, with a very fine shore of rock on one fide, and wood on the other. Through the lower plantations are ridings, which look upon several beautiful scenes, formed by the river, and take in the distant country, exhibiting the noblest views of waving Cultinald Hills, with the castle finely situated in the midst of the planted domain, through which the Boyne winds its beautiful course. Under Mr Lambert's house, on the fame river, is a moil romantic and beautiful spot; rocks on one fide, rising in peculiar forms very boldly; the other steep wood, the river bending short between them like a land-locked bason. Lord Conyngham's keeping up Slaine Castle, and spending great sums, though he rarely resides there, is an instance of magnificence not often met with; while it is so common for absentees to drain the kingdom of every shilling they can; so contrary a conduct ought to be held in the estimation which it justly deserves. [pp. 30-31] |
