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Her false oaths prevail, and he is condemned to the gallows. Rejoicing in his martyred innocence, he exhorts his parents to pursue their pilgrimage, and pray for the peace of his soul. Sorrowing, they proceed, and returning, find their son hanging by the neck alive, and singing psalms-in no actual pain-but naturally desirous to be freed from his extraordinary state of suspended animation. They repair to the chief magistrate of the town, by whose authority the youth was executed-find his worship at dinner -relate the wonderful preservation or their son and request that he may be restored. The magistrate is incredulous, and declares that he would sooner believe that the fowls on which he was dining would rise again in full feather. The miracle is performed. The cock and hen spring from the ocean of their own gravy, clacking and crowing, with all appurtenances of spur, comb, and feather. Pierre, of course, is liberated, and declared innocent.

The cock and hen become objects of veneration-live in a state of chastity

and are finally translated-leaving just two eggs, from which arise another immaculate cock and hen. The breed is perhaps still in existence, and time hath been, that a lucrative trade was carried on in their feathers!!!

Was this story ever propounded for the belief of Christians? Mr Southey says it was, and, perhaps, the man lives not that can confute him. Be that as it may, it is pleasant to be admitted to the recreation of such a man. We thank him, for giving to the firesides of the public a trifle, originally intended for his own; and glad we are, that after so long a course of arduous and useful labours, pursued through good report and ill report, after trials neither few nor light, and amid meditations that concern the welfare of nations here, and of man hereafter, he still retains the life and vivacity of his youthful heart, and the merry versatility of his boyish fancy.

SKETCHES ON THE ROAD IN IRELAND.

No. IV.

I CRAVE your patience, most gentle reader, while I ask you to carry back your thoughts to where we parted last month, in order that we may again start fairly together upon our journey, and connect the incidents which are yet before us, with those which have already been narrated. I wish I might flatter myself, that, like Desdemona with the story of Othello, "whereof by parcels she had something heard,"

"You'd come again, and with a greedy ear Devour up my discourse."

But though I may not expect so much, seeing that I cannot recount accidents so moving as those with the relation of which the sable hero won that gentle maiden, yet with Munster for our field of adventure, and truth alone for our tether therein, I have a lively hope that if you will still continue to journey with me, you shall not be left wholly without entertainment on

the way.

I left you to repose, as it was just and natural I should, at the end of my last sketch, when I had just entered upon the enjoyment of that

luxury myself, in Jim Barry's cabin, after a day's active exertion, fruitless as to the immediate object of that exertion, but not so as to the procurement of a huge appetite for rest and sleep. Even the image of Miss Evelyn, which during the day had been seldom absent from my thoughts, soon became confused with a strange incongruous crowd of dim and shadowy forms, and with a very unsentimental brevity of preparation, I was what they in Ireland most expressively call "dead asleep."

It was not without some difficulty that the sergeant of police, at an hour which, from the darkness, and my disinclination to be disturbed, I took for the middle of the night, aroused my sleep-benumbed recollections.

"How-what's that ?" said I, as the repeated knock at the door, mingled with the deep brogue of the sergeant's voice outside, first met my startled ear, and before my bewildered thoughts could trace back the events which had brought me where I was.

"I don't b'lieve," replied the sergeant," but what it's time, sir, we wor thinkin' of startin' av you plaze,

an' in the regard that the day-light that's in it's not much, though it won't be so long, plaze God; there's a rish-light here, sir, for fraid you're not used to puttin' an your clothes in the dark."

The length of this morning salutation gave me time to recollect where I was, and for a moment to repent of my thief- taking knight-errantry, which led to such an early summonsbut it was only for a moment: the recollection of the previous morning's adventure banished at once the feeling of laziness, which was at the bottom of the prudential reflection I had momentarily indulged in, and I sprung to my feet, upon the floor, which by its clayey coldness reminded me I was in an Irish cabin. This led to a few more brief, but very sage reflections, upon the relative nature of man's enjoyments, and I determined for the future to esteem more highly the comforts of a boarded floor, and to be thankful for the blessing of a carpet. The sergeant now entered with the rush-light, which was indeed nothing more than a peeled rush, saturated with grease, the glimmer of which gave an imperfect view of the apart ment, which the night before I had been too tired to examine. The walls were of mud, according to the Irish phrase, but I rather think that in England we should call them claybare they were, and black; as smooth as a mud-wall may be, and of no inconsiderable thickness, as might be seen from the depth of the two small orifices, filled at the outer extremity by a single pane of glass, which were dignified with the name of windows. The roof was merely the interior of the thatch, less dingy than that of the outer apartment, because the inner room was less often filled with smoke: on one side a kind of chimney bulged out from the wall, a few feet from the ground; beneath which a flag-stone, without a grate, marked the place where fire was to be lighted. I said the walls were bare, but as my eye became more accustomed to the glimmering light, I discovered the rude decoration of huge pieces of coarse paper, daubed with red and yellow paint, intended for representations of the human form; beneath which were certain legends, in the coarsest kind of print, which, with prudent consideration, indicated what the red

and yellow stains above were intended to represent, together with the story thereof, written at large. These figured, or were supposed to figure, Death and the Lady, and the physician" standin' by;" and various saints and martyrs of the olden time, with pious carols, underneath whereof the verse occasionally halted not a little; but whether the blame lay on the shoulders of the poet, or the painter, it would take a more skilful critic than myself to determine. Against the wall there also hung a piece of looking-glass, of a shape so fancifully irregular as to defy the nomenclature of the mathematicians, fixed in a frame of dirty wood, which had most faithfully followed the picturesque wanderings of the edge of the glass. This, with a three-legged stool, and a little deal table, also with three legs, each supporting a corner, while a fourth corner trusted to the support of a black-thorn stick, which had doubtless done good head-breaking service in its time, constituted the whole furniture of the room, with the exception of the bed, which, though placed on a low miserable bedstead, without roof or curtain, was, in truth, a good bed, as I had ample right to testify.

"This is a snoog place, sir, that Jim Barry has," said the sergeant, as he saw me surveying the apartment with an air of curiosity.

"Snug! do you call it ?" said I"I would have been apt to have given it another name;-why, there are no comforts here, even for an ordinary peasant."

"Lord bless your soul, sir," replied the sergeant, it's little you know about it, an' how the poor people live

an inside room, sir, an' a whole thatch, an' a feather bed, is what few o' them has; an' sure if they had it, they'd think they were made up for ever an' ever."

"The feather bed is rather a luxury, no doubt," said I; " and I am greatly surprised to find such a thing, while every thing else appears so poor."

"I often heerd the same remark from gintlemin afore," replied the sergeant; "an' the raison why, is bekase they don't know the ways of the people;-it's what they take more pride out of a feather bed than any thing else, an' like to die on it dacent, and be waked comfortable ;-but now

you're ready, sir, I'll go out and see if they have the horses saddled."

This recalled me to the business before us, which I had, for the moment, almost forgotten, and I was very soon out and on horseback at Jim Barry's door. It was as yet little more than the peep of dawn; a bright silvery streak all along the eastern horizon, shewed that day was not far distant, while the rawness of the air, and the darkness in every other direction, gave the scene all the appearance of being still wrapped in the gloom of night., A slight, chilly breeze, murmured with a hoarse sound through some trees by the road side, and many of the leaves, laden with the heavy dews of an October night, fell before the tiny blast, and struck the ground with a rustling melancholy noise.

"Take care of the woman, remember 1 tell you, Jim Barry," said the sergeant, as he left the door followed by his two men. "And now, sir," he continued briskly, addressing me, "let us ride on, for I think it's likely we'll get somethin' to do this mornin', not all as one as yisterday."

"Have you got further information then?" I asked.

"I had some more talk with the woman within," he replied, "an' I think I gother (gathered) from her, that he's somewhere hereabout; but betune you an' I, sir, we'll have enough to do to take him, even though we knew where he was, for he's a desperate fellow, that won't stop at a trifle." "What do you mean by a trifle ?" said I.

"Blowin' a man's brains out, or the like, sir," he answered.

"There's but small blarney there, sergeant; but the more trifling a man's quantity of brains may be, the

worse he can afford to part with any of them."

"True for you, sir; but it wasn't what I was makin' bould to joke at all, only to prepare you, sir, for a bit of a scrimmage, if we happen to come up wit' him.'

"Thank you, sergeant," said I; "I'll promise not to run away at all events; but what's that noise I hear in the road before us?"

"Some one singin', I think, sir, to keep up his heart this could mornin'," he replied; and, as we proceeded, I soon found he guessed correctly, for we distinguished a loud rough voice "vexing with mirth the drowsy ear" of the morning, in the following precious ditty:*

It's myself, to be sure, that's a nate Irish
boy,

An' kissin' the girls is all my joy;
While I've cash, sure, I'll spend it on

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• It is impossible to conceive any trash more despicable than the slang songs which are current amongst the common people in Ireland; and this is the more to be lamented, as the extreme susceptibility of the people makes them liable to be easily moved to either good or evil by their songs. Even the native Irish songs, as we are informed in Miss Brooke's "Reliques of Irish Poetry," are sadly interpolated with nonsensical passages, which have been introduced to supply the place of lost or for gotten lines; and of humorous lyrical poetry, she says there was none in the language worth translating. Moore has given to the beautiful airs of Ireland beautiful words; but Moore is a poet for ladies and gentlemen, not for mankind. It may be, that there are not materials in Ireland, for a kindred spirit to that of Burns to work upon; but the fact is but too true, that the poor Irishman has no song of even decent ability, to cheer his hours of merriment, or soothe the period of his sadness. Honour and undying praise be upon the memory of Burns, who has left to us those songs which, like the breath of nature, from whose fresh inspiration they were caught, are alike refreshing to the monarch and the clown!

ing with strict evenness to the line of his march. His figure, which must have reached the altitude of nearly six feet, was enwrapped in a long, loose, dark grey jock of freize, beneath which there shone a waistcoat of bright yellow; his throat, which disdained the encumbrance of a cravat, was left open, and the white shirt-neck fastened merely with a bit of black ribbon; his hat, of new felt, was fixed on the side of his head, and in his right hand he flourished a shillelagh, in time to the air he was singing, or, as they say in Ireland, he "humoured the tune" with his stick.

"God save you, Mick," shouted the sergeant.

"God save you," replied the young man shortly; and began to cut another caper, looking down at his feet, and evidently wrapped up in attention to the "step" he was practising.

"Is that the way, Mick, you pass your friends in a mornin'?" resumed the sergeant.

"Oh, Mr Waddy, I ax your pardon," said the young man, now recognizing his interrogator; "what are you after upon the road so arely this mornin'?"

"What are you after yoursilf, Mick? Is it goin' to turn dancin' masther you are, that you practise your jigs out afore people on the road?”

"No, in troth," replied Mick, "I'm only makin' my way home, fair an' asy, from Ned Murphy's wake, an' a power o' fun we had; there was tobakky in plinty, an' lashins of pipes, an' I believe the tobakky got into my head a bit, an' I was just practisin' my steps, agin a dance there's to be to night, doun here below at the barn, an' we're all to go to the berrin in the mornin'."

"Was there no whisky at all at all?" asked the sergeant dryly.

"Oh, to be sure there was a little weeny dthrop, just to keep us from fallin' asleep. But who are you afther this mornin', tell me?"

"Come here thin close, an' spake asy, Mick," said the sergeant; and bending down, he added in a whisper, "We're after the ould soger, this mornin', an' I don't think he's far off; you didn't see anythin' of him this way, as you come along, did you?"

No, be me soul if I seen him, I'd make him feel me."

"Why?" said the sergeant with the appearance of some surprise.

ply.

I owe him a gridge," was the re

What about? he didn't rob you, did he ?”

"No, bad luck to him, but he pisoned (poisoned) my dog Dan, when I was over at Mr Bagnall's, an' he wanted to stale the sheep. He gave the poor cratur a piece of pisoned liver, so he did; an' I heerd it from one that knew it; an' so the nixt mornin' whin I called Dan t'me, he come craulin' up, an' put his head atune my two knees, and he gev a sorrowful whine, just lek a christian, for all the worlt; an' thin he tumbled doun an' died at my feet."

I could see tears come in Mick's eyes, as he recounted the fate of his dog. The sergeant smiled rather, for he knew well enough the story of the dog, and had brought it round for a purpose of his own-and now

He smiled to see
That hate was in the next degree.

"Hadn't you better come with us thin, Mick," he said, "and help to get a hould of the fellow, that he may be given up to law and justice?"

"Axin' your pardon, Mr Waddy," replied Mick, "the devil a much I care for either law or justice, as you call it; but in the regard that he kill ed Dan, an' I swore to be even with him for the same, I'll give you all the help I can, if you want it.'

"That's a tight fellow, Mick," said the sergeant; "I don't doubt but we might be the better o' the help of a smart chap like yourself, for I tell you he, that's the ould soger I mane, is somewhere viry near this, wit a couple of bastes-I've sartain information that he's to start about this hour o' the mornin', an' it might be an active fellow's work to take him if the ould rogue is obstropolous." The sergeant spoke this speech with an authoritative yet confidential air, and laid particular emphasis on the last word, as if the use of it did no inconsiderable credit to his parts of speech.

"Be the powers," said Mick, slapping his knee, "I'll engage I know where he is, for it's what I heerd cows looin' up a lane, about a hayf a mile off from this, as if they wanted to be

milked, an' I know none o' the neighbors that has cattle abroad just now. -Aha! my ould boy," he continued, thinking aloud, "I'll have my revinge o' ye yit."

"The very place, Mick, I'll engage," said the sergeant; "lade on asy, my boy, an' we'll follow-none o' your singin' now, bad look t'ye, but be as quite (quiet) as a cat goin' to Etale crame."

I had some doubts of the prudence of enlisting a man not perfectly sober in our expedition, but the sergeant assured me, "that a drop of liquor, when there wasn't too much of it, only help'd a man's courage, without doing him any harm in life," and we proceeded onward, at a smart walk, towards the lane which had been mentioned. Our halt with Mick, though it has taken some time to describe, only occupied a few minutes, and the sun was yet scarcely visible above the horizon, when we reached the corner of the lane, and heard distinctly the lowing of the cattle as had been described. Here the two policemen who accompanied the sergeant dismounted, and fastening their horses to the stem of a bush, walked cautiously forward with Mick Rooney, while we followed behind on horseback. The lane appeared to be an old passage for bringing in manure, and carrying away produce from the interior lands; the deep ruts in the clay shewed that nothing had ever been done to form the road, while the high mud banks on either side, covered with trailing brambles, smoking with the heavy morning dew, gave the passage the appearance of a wide dry ditch. As we proceeded, we perceived that we were gradually approaching the cattle, and, at length, - while getting through a sharp bend of the passage, at the end of which we expected to get in sight of them, a rustling of the brambles on one side caused our advanced guard to rush forward. A difference of opinion happening among them as to the place from which the rustling noise came, one of the policemen, with his drawn cutlass in his hand, went forward about ten yards; and, as he afterwards related to me what befell him, I may as well bring it in here in its regu lar place. The brambles, which had their roots in the bank at the other side from that which faced the lane, grew over the top of it, forming a

kind of arch, which partly rested on the top of the bank, and hung down over it, as has been said. Thrust in beneath this bramble arch, and extended along the top of the bank, on the broad of his back, the sharp eyes of the policeman discovered the person, whom he had no doubt was the man we were in search of. It was but the work of an instant to dart his hand through the brambles, collar the man, and call upon him to surrender; but ere the policeman's companions could come up, the man, tearing through the bramble covering, had sprung to his feet, and, pulling a pistol from his breast, discharged it at his antagonist. Happily, the perturbation of the moment a little unsteadied his aim, and the heavy shot with which the pistol was loaded, did no more serious damage than that of carrying off an entire whisker, a very small portion of ear, and a rather larger portion of hatleaf from the policeman.

The game was now fairly started, and the "ould soger," for it was the man we were in search of, who had been discovered, seemed determined that it should not be so easily secured. Finding that his shot had failed of its effect, he sprung over the bank into the adjoining field, quickly followed by the policeman, in whom all the fury of combat had now been roused. The excitement of the moment had, I suppose, given additional strength to the muscles of the two men, for those behind, as well as the sergeant and myself, who immediately threw ourselves from our horses, took some little time to get over the bank, which they had passed in an instant. When we reached the field on the other side, there was a kind of breathless excitement in the appearance of the chase, which almost chained us to the spot. The robber was about five or six yards in advance, flecing towards the boundary of the field, while his pursuer followed, with his cutlass uplifted, ready to cut him down, as soon as he should get near enough to strike. The flying man no doubt expected to find an ordinary hedge, or ditch, at the side of the field to which he was running, over which he would have leaped, and continued his race; but it happened that that boundary of the field was fenced by a narrow belt of young trees-beech, and ash, and sycamore, and wild apple, crowded together-through which,

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