prac pitality of the natives, or at any rate by the easy jollity of the well-peopled mess-room. But soon the head-quarters are transferred to some petty town in the interior, and three fourths of the regiment perhaps billeted throughout the villages of a large disturbed county or barony; seldom more than two officers together-and always several of the juniors dominating over very small detachments -each gentleman condemned to utter solitude at every meal, unless when by chance there is some considerable squire or clergyman of the established church in his immediate neighborhood. No one who has travelled through Ireland but must have often been moved to pity at the apparition of the poor stripling in his foraging-cap and tight surtout, lounging desolately on the bridge, cigar in mouth of course, or disturbed in the laborious flute tice of his little dim companionless parlor by the arrival of the coach at the inn-door. Of late we all know, or may pretty well guess, what very serious and harassing business has occupied sufficiently the quondam leisure of these forlorn epaulettes. In the earlier days of our author's experience, nightly still-hunting came occasionallynightly Whiteboy-hunting not rarely combined with it; but unless for such interludes in the way of duty, with now and then a bachelor landlord's festivity in some ruinous tower among the bogs, or the grand scene of a fair or a race, with its inevitable row and necessary attendance of "the army,' ,, a more wearisome, objectless, diversionless, humdrum dreariness of existence could hardly have been pictured by a fanciful deviser of secondary punishments. No wonder that the rare interruptions of the dulness should find an eager welcome, and after the lapse even of many years, as in this case, be chronicled with the life-like accuracy of memorial gusto. We have been well entered as to the great business of head-breaking-let us indulge ourselves in a little more on that subject from one of the later chapters : "An Irishman may be called par excellence the bone-breaker amongst men, the homo ossifragus of the human family; and in the indulgence of this their natural propensity there is a total and systematic disregard of fair play: there is no such thing known, whether at a race or a fight. Let an unfortunate stranger-a man not known in the town or village-get into a scrape, and the whole population are ready to fall upon him, right or wrong, and beat him to the ground; when his life depends upon the strength of his skull or the interference of the police. There is no ring, no scratch, no bottle-holder. To set a man upon his legs after a fall is a weakness never thought of-Faith, we were hard set to get him down, and why should we let him up again? Sure, it's a Moynehan!' was repeated by fifty voices in a row at Killarney, where all who could come near enough were employed in hitting, with their long blackthorn sticks, at an unfortunate wretch lying prostrate and disabled amongst them. Fortunately, the eagerness of his enemies proved the salvation of the man, for they crowded so furiously together that their blows scarcely ever reached their intended victim. It was ridiculous to see the wild way in which they hit one another; but so infuriated were they, that no confusion the hurts were ascribed to the agency of heed was taken of the blows, or probably in their the man on the ground. It was no uncommon thing to see columns, of many hundreds strong, march into Killarney from opposite points, for the sole purpose of fighting, on a market-day. Why they fought nobody could tell-they did not know themselves; but the quarrel was a very pretty quarrel, and no people in the best of causes could go to work more heartily. The screams, and yells, and of Blackfeet or New Zealanders, whilst the dancing savage fury would have done credit to an onslaught madness was peculiarly their own. But in spite of the vocal efforts of the combatants, and the constant accompaniment of the sticks, you could hear the dull thud which told when a blackthorn fell upon an undefended skull."-Vol. i., p. 223. Even wilder were the scenes at the races near Clonakilty-the very name is redolent of rowwhere there were no rival factions whatever, unless those originating in the grand old principle of living across the book, or in national politics, as mixed up (mirabile dictu) with horseflesh : 66 'Painfully ludicrous to see a man rush from a tent, flourishing his stick, dancing about, and screaming High for Cloney!' He is speedily accommodated with a man who objects to the exaltation of Cloney, and pronounces a 'High' for some other place. A scuffle ensues, and many hard blows given and taken by those who know nothing of the cause of the row. But in this case the fight is soon over. The women rush in, in spite of the blackthorns-tender Irish epithets are lavished-every man finds himself encircled with at least one pair of fair but powerful arms; dishevelled hair is flying, pretty faces in tears, caps awry, handkerchiefs disarranged. Pat is a soft-hearted fellow-he can't lowers his stick, and is led away captive to some stand it at all—they still squeeze him close; so he distant booth, where in a few minutes more he is on the floore' in a jig, as if nothing had happened. "The jockey who rides against a popular horse undertakes a service of some danger, for there are no means, however unfair, which they will not adopt to cause him to lose the race. They will hustle him-throw sticks and hats in his way, in the hope of throwing over horse and rider. I had once an opportunity of seeing a little summary justice done. The rider of a steeple-chase was struck heavily by some of the mob as he rode over a fence, and the circumstance reported to the priest, who properly required that the offender should be pointed out to him. His reverence was a hearty, powerful fellow, mounted on a strong horse, who, report said, was much given to run away with his master on hunting-days, and could seldom be pulled up till the fox was killed. Riding calmly up to the offender, he inquired if the report were true, and, taking the sulky shuffling of his parishioner as an affirmative, he proceeded to lash him heartily over the head and shoulders with a heavy hunting-whip. The culprit writhed and roared in vain; his reverence, warming with the exercise, laid on thicker and faster, now whacking him heavily with handle and lash together, then double-thonging him upon the salient points as he wriggled and twisted; and when the man bounded for a moment as he thought out of reach, he was caught with such an accurate and stinging cast of the whip-cord under the ear, as there was a head to break, and the opportunity was not to be neglected. On entering the tent to see after the dead man, I found only the piper and the proprietors of the booth, calmly awaiting the return of their customers."-Vol. i., p. 230. argued in the worthy pastor a keen eye for throw-|-nay, his mother or sister. What cared he?ing a line. At last he fairly bolted, trying to dodge the priest amongst the crowd; but his reverence had a fine hand on his well-broken horse, besides a pair of sharp hunting-spurs over the black boots. and was up with him in a moment. Accustomed as one is to the delays and evasions of courts in this our artificial state, it was positively delicious to witness such a piece of hearty, prompt, unquibbling justice. The alpeen, we understand, is less in fashion now than it used to be. The rage has been of late years for the heavy stone in the foot of a long worsted stocking. This is portable, and puzzles the police; and in reference to a monster meeting, the priest can safely attest that his parishioners attended unarmed; "he did not see one blackthorn” -not he. "But when the popular horse wins, then indeed the scene is fine. No sooner did a certain chestnut get ahead of the rest, than there arose a cry from ten thousand people, of The doctor's harse! the foxey harse the doctor's harse!' accompanied by such a rush as fairly swept the winner off the course towards the weighing stand; and when, after the One very good chapter sets before us something weighing, the favorite was walked to a distant part of the life of our literary subaltern, when at an of the ground, he was accompanied by the same outpost of the better order-that is where there thousands, shouting "The doctor's harse! the foxey was an elder officer as well. The younger spark harse!' Never, except on this occasion, have has gone for a day's grouse-shooting in the bog I seen five hundred persons trying to rub down one horse at one time, with ten times that number of Allen-the senior meanwhile was to keep all anxious to assist, and only prevented by the evident right at head-quarters. It was a glorious Sepimpossibility of getting near enough. Hats, hand- tember day, and the sporting lieutenant encounkerchiefs, coats, handfuls of grass-all were in req-tered an adventure which he narrates capitally; uisition, while the vast mass of excited people and as part thereof listened to a love-story-for roared, screeched, vociferated the endless virtues of the horse and master, though probably not one in a hundred knew anything of either, only that the horse opposed to him was owned by an antirepealer."-Vol. i., p. 228. This is good-but there is a love of headbreaking in the abstract-in the total absence of even a pretence of parish or party feud. He is again on a race-course : which he must not be held responsible more than Herodotus is when he diversifies his evidence in chief by a report of what some Egyptian verger or Thracian slave-dealer told him about the funds available for the Rhodopean pyramid, or the flirtations between Scythian and Amazonian vi dettes : "Choosing a dry spot, carpeted with young heather, interspersed with huge bosses of fine gray "I was walking among the long drinking-tents moss, while the air was scented with the delicious or booths, which occupied a considerable portion of odor of the bog myrtle, he threw his gun and gamethe central part of the ground, round which the bag on the ground, and stretched himself_along to course was marked out. In one of the large tents enjoy the tranquil beauty of the scene. There are filled with people, the floor being occupied by jig- times when the spirits boil over, and our sense of dancers, and the rest of the company disposed of on happiness can only find relief in some overt act. benches all round, these, being close to the canvass We would give the world for a gallop, or a game walls, showed to the spectators outside the bulging at leapfrog, or the power to throw a summerset, or indications of heads, shoulders, elbows, &c. One the license to shout aloud; and happy are they who leaned more backward than the rest, and his head can train the outbreak into the semblance of music. protruded beyond the others. A man who hap-In his ecstasy the sportsman mangled several Italian pened to be passing eyed the tempting occiput, and paused. He was provided with a tremendous alpeen.' He looked again at the head-a destructive feeling was evidently rising within him. He raised the stick a bit; surely he is not going to hit the man! No; he puts the stick under his left arm, and rubs his hands. He smiles; some happy thought has crossed him. Suddenly he looks upwards to the sky, with an expression of wild joywheels quietly round-makes a short prance of three steps-utters a screech-whips the stick from under his arm, and giving it a flourish in the air, brings Oh! these were the joys of our dancing days. down the heavy knob with all his force upon the skull protruding from the canvass-whack! The Bedad, ye may say that!' said a voice within ten heavy sound was awful; surely no human bones yards of him; that's the way I coorted Kitty. If could stand this?-the man must be killed! Mean-ye'd been consaled on the premises ye couldn't time the skull-breaker dances about, screaming and flourishing the stick. A hubbub of noises arose from the interior of the booth, and men and women poured out tumultuously together. As the crowd thickened, so did the confusion as to the identity of the offender; and in a few minutes it became a wild -hubbub, fighting together without aim or object. "Now, this might have been his father, brother melodies of the day, ruthlessly tortured a gay little have tould it better!' If a thunderbolt, or a meteoric stone, or a man of the moon, had fallen into the bog beside the grouse-shooter, he could not have been more astonished than at this greeting; and the object from whence the voice proceeded was not of a kind to diminish his wonder. Between two large bunches, or tussucks, of the gray moss, there peered forth the good-humored face of a man about thirty, darlint!" says I, "but a couple o' boys goan home from the fair o' Mullingar, wid their harses, and they'll stop for me till I go 'long wid em." 666 Well, with that Kitty goes in and slips on her cloak; and, says she, "I'll jist step across to Biddy Fay's for the haarbes." "Well," says Lanty," do so; and while ye'r gone I'll jist take a supo' Oolahan's sperrits. Faith, it's great stuff," says he, raw stuff, his," says Lanty. (Th' ould villain, and better never came out of a still!) "Well," says he, "Kitty, I'm poorly to-night, and I'll take it warm; make me a tumbler o' punch,' says he, "Kitty. Musha, bad luck to me," says he, "but I'd rather see ye married to a steady man, that's got a license to sell good sperrits, like Oolahan, than any one, barrin a distiller itself, and that would be looking rather high," says he, "for they 're mostly of the quality, them sort. Anyhow," says Lanty, stirring the punch, while Kitty was holding the doore ready to come-" Anyhow, Kitty," says he, "ye must think no more o' Mike (that 's me ;) what 'll he do for ye," says he, " down in the bog? Sure his spirrits is but quare stuff; and what's the thrifle o' turf he sent ? lying flat upon the bog, while the moss nearly meeting above his head, and coming down in a flowing, pear-like shape on either side of his face, gave him much the appearance of wearing a judge's wig, though the countenance showed nothing of the judge's gravity. The first impulse of the shooter was to start up and seize his gun, the second to burst out into loud laughter"Faith, it's true for you!' said the man, get-" and agrees wid me better than Mike Cronin's. It's ting up and taking a seat near him; but how the divle ye came to know it, sorrow know I know. It's shy enough she was at first, but it's meself that stuck to her. I'll tell yer honor all about it while we sit aisy here. Divle a much I cared for Lanty (that's her father.) Let her be," says he; "wait awhile, sure the heifer's young. Any how, ye'r rough in yer ways," says he. "Faith, Mr. Hickey," says I, "it's becase I'm in airnest." "Divle a doubt of it," says he; "but that 's no rason why ye'd be crushing my choild wid yer hugs. Any how," says Lanty, "I I'll not consint to it yet; sure I can't spare her till we've got in the praties. So hands aff's fair play," says he. "Besides," says Lanty, (sure he's a cute ould chap, that one,) "where would ye take her if ye were married itself? its most the top cutting, and mighty light." Ye'd bury her underground," says he, "in the (The lying ould rap!) "Well, go 'long wid ye, quare place ye have down along the canal. Faith Kitty," says he, taking a dhrink; go 'long to it's no place to take me daughter to, and she bred Biddy Fay's, and mind yerself," says he; "sure th' up in a slate house, and every convanience in Kill-officers do be smoking their cigars upon the bridge, beggan. If she did consint, it's not for want of says he, and they're mighty blackguards afther better offers at home, never fear. There's Burke dark. And make haste back, for it's toired I'm of Athy says he's proud to discoorse wid her when getting." he comes this way; and it's not a week ago," says he, "that Oolahan the grocer sent me the half-gallon of Parliament; it's long since ye did the like o' that, or even poteen itself. Faith," says he, "the laste ye could do would be to fill the keg in th' other room, and build me up a stack o' turf for the winter," says he. "Och, murther!" says I; "Mr. Hickey, ye'r hard upon me," says I, "wid yer Burkes and yer Oolahans. Is it Oolahan? Sure ye would n't marry yer daughter to an ould man like him? The divel a taste of a grandfather ever ye'd be, barrin what I'd be shamed to mention. Come," says I, "Mr. Hickey, ye'll give me ye'r daughter-she's fond o' me. Clap hands upon that," says I," and I'll fill the keg with the first runnings-the raal stuff," says I; "oncet ye taste it ye 'll put Oolahans Parliament in a jar, and throw stones at it. And I'll build ye the stack if ye 'll wait till the turf's dhry; I've a rare lot o' the deep cutting," says I, "as hard as stones." 666 "Well, faith, I tuck him the sperrits and the turf, but the divle a Kitty I got; and I heerd it's aften they went to tay wid ould Oolahan, and made game o' me sperrits and me. Faith, thinks I, the next thing 'll be I'll have the gauger (sure he's Oolahan's brother-in-law) and th' army destroying me still, and meself in Phillipstown jail. But, any how, says I, I'll be up to ould Lanty, as cute as ye are. So when the next dark night come, I tuck some of the boys wid me, and their harses, and went to Lanty's, and soon I brought the sweet crathur outside wid a small whistle I have. "Now," says I, Kitty, sure I want to talk to ye; maybe I won't discoorse so fine as Mr. Oolahan," says I, 66 but, any how, bring out the key o' the doore, and we'll turn it upon Mr. Hickey the whilst we're talking. Sure he might be angry if he found me wid ye unknownst, and I'd like to keep him safe," says I. "What's that?" says Kitty; "sure I thought I heerd voices beyant," says she. "Oh, nothin, me 666 66 66 Well, faith, at last I heerd her shut the doore; so I just stepped up, and turned the kay mighty quite, and put my arm round Kitty, and tuck her away towards the harses, and says she, "where ye goan? Can't ye coort me here?" says she; sure the people do be passing in the lane." Well, with that I catched her up, and away wid me, hot fut, and the crathur squealed. "Ah, can't ye stop?" says she, "I'd die before I'd go wid ye! Sure I thought ye an honest boy, Mike. Be aisy wid me, for the honor o' God; sure I'm young as yit!" But, faith, we put her on the harse, and I held her on before me, and cut out o' that full tare; but divle such a pillalooing as Lanty made out o' the windy ye never heerd! Sure we had him safe, for the windy was too small for him; but anyhow he tried it, and stuck fast, half in, half out, and Pat Sheahy stopped wid him a minute to see if he'd aise himself out, but divle a taste. "Let me out o' this!" says Lanty, most choked. "Be quite, Mr. Hickey," says Pat; "don't alarm the town. What would folks say, and see ye stuck in yer own windy? Faith, ye must be swelled with the bad spirrits ye tuck; sure Cronin's sperrits never did that for ye. Betther for ye," says he, "to marry your daughter to an honest boy that does ye no harm," says he, "than an ould spalpeen that blows ye out like a cow in clover. But it's getting late," says Pat, "and I've far to travel; so I wish ye good night, Mr. Hickey. Well, well," says Pat, sure th' airly boat do be passing up soon after daylight, and they'll think it curious to see ye stuck that way in the wall!" "Well, faith, he left him, half out and half in, and away wid us to the bog; and I married Kitty with the first convanience, and it's mighty happy we are, barrin the guager, (that 's Oolahan's brotherin-law,) that do be hunting me out for the still. Sure I expect him to-night, and th' army wid him ; and faith I lay quite, watching yer honor, for I thought ye might spake to me unknownst about | but our particular one escaped from its insigniftheir coming, for ye talked a dale to yerself." Vol. i., p. 93. icance; and to have removed all would have been the work of a week. The old officer, a dry, matterof-fact Englishman, was becoming heartily sick of The lieutenant is by-and-by invited to the home the adventure. He said something about being of Mr. Cronin : "To the sportsman's astonishment, the canal was within a hundred yards, cut deep through the bog, some forty feet below the surface, and so completely out of sight that he had not the most distant notion of its proximity: but where the residence of his new friend was remained a mystery. The bog had been cut down in several levels, like steps, to the canal, but, looking up and down along its straight course, no house, or any sign of one, could be discovered. Sure, it is n't every one I'd bring to my place,' said my companion, let alone the army; for I know yer honor right well; and sure, if ye do come in ye'll see nothing.' On the deep steps or levels of the cutting were a great many heaps of turf piled up, apparently with a view to their convenient shipment in the large turf-boats which carry this admirable fuel even as far as Dublin. Mr. Cro nin, after pausing a minute to enjoy the wondering looks his companion cast about in search of the 'place,' commenced removing one of the heaps upon the level about midway between the surface of the bog and the canal. The stack was about five feet high, and as the upper portion was removed there appeared a hole, or door-way, in the perpendicular face of the cutting against which the heap was raised. "When the passage became practicable, the master beckoned to his guest, and ushered him into a room of fair dimensions, in the centre of which was left standing a column of turf to support the roof, on one side of which was a hole, or window, cut down from the level above, and slightly covered with dry bushes. The walls and floor were perfectly dry and comfortable. There were sundry articles of furniture about the place, several low stools, a small table, and a rude old chest, from which last the owner produced some excellent bread and butter, a bottle of poteen whiskey, and two small glasses * 66 Suddenly the host started, then listened attentively, and, finally, applying his ear close to the turf-wall, commenced making gestures to remain still. After a time there could be distinctly felt a vibration of the springy ground, and it was evident, from its increase, that a party of many persons was approaching. Suddenly a word or two were spoken in a low voice, and immediately followed by the loud word of command, Halt, front: order arms: stand at ease.' The sportsman knew the voice well: it was that of his brother officer, and the party was the detachment to which he himself belonged. Here was a predicament! To issue forth would have been to betray his hospitable entertainer, confiscate his property, and consign him to a prison: to remain hidden in a poteen manufactory, hearing his own men outside, searching, with the revenue officer, for the very place of his concealment, and to be there discovered, would have had an awkward appearance, and, with a fidgety commanding officer, might have subjected him to a court-martial. He knew not what to do; and, as is usual in such cases, did nothing. "Sometimes the party was moved further on; then back again, past the door; then they halted close in front: but the dry turf left no traces of footmarks, and all their attempts were baffled. Several of the large stacks of turf they removed, made a fool of, which Mr. Cronin doubted, mutterbeforehand with the gauger. I shall not allow my ing something to the effect that nature had been men to slave here all night, pulling down and building up stacks of peat after a ten-mile march, and ten miles to return; so fall in, men, and unpile arms. Show us the place, sir, and we 'll make the seizure.” Inside.)—'Well done, old boy, stick to that !’ As the night advanced, the difficulty of finding the still increased, and at last the gauger was fain to moved off. give up the pursuit in despair, and the party was "The intruder lost no time in slipping out of his hiding-place, and reached home before the party. Till a late hour that night he was edified with a they had been hoaxed, and dragged over twenty full and particular account of the adventure; how Irish miles to a place where there never was an il licit still-where there never could have been the smallest reason for suspecting the existence of one. I looked pretty sharp,' said the old officer, and I can see as far into a mill-stone as most people.' "There was one thing the junior had to complain of, which was, that on several market-days a jar of he laid a trap for the bringer, and at last caught whiskey was mysteriously left at his quarters; but Mike Cronin in the fact, and the harmony of their acquaintance was a little disturbed by his being and penalties. Confound the fellow! he then sent made to take it away, under a threat of certain pains his wife, even Kitty, so that the sportsman was obliged to compromise by accepting a bottle or two, or else shut the gates against all the gray cloaks on a market-day."-Vol i., p. 111. We regret to say this book does not afford many clerical portraits, and still more that it affords no None at all, we think, bevery agreeable ones. long to the period of the maturer officer; and we are very willing to suppose that in his youthful days he listened to exaggerated tales of the priests among his jovial acquaintance of the Orange persuasion. One Episcopal sketch, however, is from his own observation : "A Protestant will find it difficult to believe the degree of slavish reverence which is paid by the inferior Irish Catholic clergy to those of high rank in their church. Whether such is the case in other countries I am not in a condition to say, but I was a witness of it in Ireland. "At the house of a gentleman with whom I was intimate, and who, though a Protestant, was equally respected by all sects and classes, there was staying a Roman Catholic bishop. This gentleman, whom I met more than once, was one of the most agreeable persons I ever encountered; indeed, it is enough to say that he was a well-educated Irish gentleman of the old school, who had resided much abroad. Many of my readers must have had the good fortune to meet such a person, and will at once understand the kind of man he was: his Irish assurance making him a perfect master of all the polite observances of life, his native humor sharpened by collision with the world, his buoyant animal spirits chastened into the happiest tone by a long admixture with the best society, and his thorough good-nature breaking out, as it were, in spite of the restraints of modern conventionalities. There was no ascetic nonsense about him; indeed, a pleasanter companion, even on a fast-day, I never met, no downcast looks, half sly, half sheepish, which characterize the Irish priest of these days. Neither had he the blue and congested look which marks their complexions, and which I never see without feeling my benevolence moved to recommend them a prescription, if I thought there would be a chance of their taking it at my hands. My gaillard of a bishop had nothing of all this, though I believe him to have been at least as good a man as those who have. 66 a smart favor he 's got; but anyhow," says Kisbey, "I think this will do him, for it's a febbrifewdge," says he, "and will rouse him in the bowels," says Kisbey; " and besides, there's a touch of the saline in it," says he, stirring the cup again, and making a face; "it's my favorite medicine," says he, "in a crisis." "Ochhone!" says poor Biddy, crying out, "what would I do if I lost his rivirence? Ah, Mr. Kisbey, you see the state I'm in," says she; "it's a poor case that you can't relave him," says she, "wid your crisis, and he hearty o' Thursday." "Ah, be aisy, Miss Biddy," says the codjutor, stipping up behind her mighty quite, (sure it's To wait upon his lordship of course came the him that got the parish after Shea ;)" be aisy, Miss whole neighboring clergy, and at their first presen- Biddy," says he, laying the heel of his hand upon tation it was their hint' to fall upon their knees her shoulther, "be aisy, Miss Biddy,' says he, and ask his blessing. Young and old, fat and slen-for, by the blessing o' God, it will all be right wid der, threw themselves on their marrow-bones before him. Sure, if human manes can do it," says he, their spiritual superior, and humbled themselves in "Mr. Kisbey can do it; he's a man of skill," says the dust before a man. Is this seemly and what he," and his practice extensive. So keep up your greater personal homage can they pay to the Deity? heart, Biddy," says the codjutor; "but it's well to We certainly bow the knee to kings, but we don't, be prepared for the worst. We're frail creatures, even to them, prostrate ourselves, in grovelling and life's but a span," says he, drawing her towards abasement, as these men did. him, mighty kind; "sure I feel for him," says he, greatly.' And while the codjutor was offering the consolation to Miss Biddy, I seen Kisbey houlding his rivirence by the nose, and trying to put the febbrifewdge into him; but divle a taste he 'd have of it at all, but kicked and struggled like mad. "Ah! hould still, Mr. Shea, and take it," says Kisbey; "it's the cooling draught," says he, "that will aise you. Sure it 's mighty pleasant when you get it down," says Kisbey, forcing it an him. Faith, "Whether the bishop, a gentleman and a man of the world, did not feel a little ashamed of all this before Protestants, is not for me to say; but he was uncommonly active in picking them up before they fell, and after a while received them in a separate room."-lbid., p. 283. 66 For this death-bed scene of a parish priest the author does not give any authority but that of a Paddy in livery, evidently a relation of Miss Edge-I did not like to see his rivirence treated so rough. worth's famous letter-writer; but take it, valeat quantum. Mr. Kisbey is a doctor of all-work, for whom this Paddy has no respect :— in," "Well, Mr. Finn," says the codjutor, "you 'd better go down wid your hare, and give it to Kitty,' says he, for the soup. Maybe my poor friend will like it," says he, "when the draught has aised him." But the divle any aising did Father Shea get, barrin death, for he died that night." "-Vol. i., p. 61. We should be very sorry to indorse Father Shea's exit; but the gallant author is directly responsible for one death-scene in his book, and we must quote it, for no page therein throws stronger light on life in Ireland : "Father Shea was confined to the house, and the master tould me to run down to the town and inquire for him, and take him a hare, "for," says he, he's fand of hare soup," says he, "and perhaps a drop will do him good." And with that I went, and the door was open, and divle any one in it that I seen; so I walks into the kitchen, and there was Kit Flynn hating water. So I axed for Miss Biddy, (that's t' housekeeper,) and says Kit, says she, "Sure she's up with the master, and Mr. Kisbey's attinding him, and the codjutor 's in it, (coadjutor or "I have seen many executions, civil and military, curate;) so," says she, "go up, Pat, for he 's mighty in various countries, including the beheading of fand of hare and the sight of it maybe 'll revive him, Fieschi and his associates, and I never saw a man says she. So with that I goes gently up stairs, and come forth to be put to death who did not appear the door was open, and I walks in with a "God save already more dead than alive, excepting one crimiall here!" says I. "You 're kindly welcome-come nal at Naas. He had murdered his wife, and the in," says Mr. Ryan, (that's the codjutor ;) "come fact was proved undeniably. He came out with a says he, "Mr. Finn; that's a fine hare you've placid smile and a healthy complexion, and, I fangot," says he, feeling it; "that will make a great cied, familiarly acknowledged some acquaintances soup," says he, "for our poor friend: but I'm think- in the crowd. Perhaps he was nerved with the ing he's most past it," says he. And with that poor hope of reprieve-an expectation certainly indulged Biddy began to ery again, for I seen that her eyes in by the priest who attended him, and whose cold, were red, and it 's full of trouble she was, the cra- and as it appeared irreverent praying, extended to tur. And I looked to the bed, and his rivirence full twenty minutes. It was dreadful to see a man was lying, taking no notice at all, but looking stand smiling and nodding on the very brink of the mighty flushed, and brathing hard, and Kisbey was grave, and the more so as again and again he mixing some stuff at the table in a tay-cup, and a calmly asserted his inncence of the crime for which quare face he made, sure enough. And Biddy he was about to suffer, though he admitted that he could n't stop crying and sobbing fit to break her had been a murderer before. That such examples, heart, poor cratur! and she lifted her apron to her I fear, are of little use, may be inferred from the eyes, and faith I seen it's very stout she was. And fact of how readily the spectators are moved to joke Kisbey was moving an to the bed, stirring the stuff, and laugh at any ludicrous occurrence, even at the and looking hard at the patient." Whisht, Biddy, most solemn moment. In this case the priest had says Kisbey, you 'Il disturb his rivirence, and inadvertently placed himself beside the man upon maybe it's not long he 'll be spared to you; sure it's ❘ the drop itself, just previous to the bolt being drawn, 66 |