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| A VIEW IN PHOENIX PARK. -When we consider that the renowned "Phoenix" is seven miles in circumference, and has a corresponding number of gates, it is not wonderful that it should possess so many, and such beautiful, points of attraction. Dublin is indebted to Charles II., England's "Merry Monarch," for the foundation of this noble pleasure ground. If he did nothing else for Ireland, he, at least, gave her capital one of the grandest popular resorts in the world, when, in 1662, he formed a deer park, "partly out of the lands of Kilmainham, which had been surrendered to the crown on the suppression of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and partly from the purchase of neighboring townlands." The Lodge in the park, occupied by the Lord Lieutenant, when he does not reside in the Castle of Dublin, was built in 1751, by the Hon. Nathaniel Clements, ancestor of the notorious Earl of Leitrim, whose tragical death at the hands of unknown persons some years ago will be remembered; and was purchased from him by the Irish government in 1784. This, however, must not be confounded with the building shown in the background of the sketch, which is devoted to an entirely different purpose. In the picture we see happy groups of children-some accompanied by their parents-at the water's edge, and the graceful figures of ladies promenading in the leafy shade. Near the group in the foreground may be observed a flock of ducks making bids for a banquet, and recalling the pet water fowl in our own beautiful public parks. |
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