May the most ornamental kind of hard fortune pursue you every day you rise, you desarvin' villain, that would have me turn informer, bekase your brother-in-law, rackrantin' Moore's stable and horses were burnt; but I'd see you and all your breed in the flames of hell first.' Such was Mat's soliloquy as he entered the school on his return.' This is sketched by a master hand, and, admirably graphic, it is true to the manners of the country, and to those of its misguided peasantry. Were we to allow ourselves to linger here over this scene of servility and dissimulation, a thousand painful thoughts would crowd upon us. Let us then proceed to the sequel. "One day, soon after the visit of the gentlemen above named, two strange men came into Mat's establishment-rather, as Mat thought, in an unceremonious manner. 666 Is your name Matthew Kavanagh!' said one of them. is "That is indeed the name that upon me,' ,' said Mat, with rather an infirm voice, whilst his face got as pale as ashes. Well,' said the fellow, 'we'll jist trouble you to walk with us a bit.' "How far, with submission, are yees goin' to bring me?' said Mat. "Do you know Johnny Short's hotel? [The county gaol.] My curse upon you, Findramore,' exclaimed Mat, in a paroxysm of anguish, 'every day you rise but your breath's unlucky to a schoolmaster, and it's no lie what was often said, that no schoolmaster ever thruv in you, but something ill came over him.' "Don't curse the town, man alive,' said the constable, but curse your own ignorance and folly; any way I wouldn't stand in your coat for the wealth of the three kingdoms. You'll undoubtedly swing, unless you turn king's evidence. It's about Moore's business, Misther Kavanagh.' "Dn the that I'd do, even if I knew anything about it; but, God be praised for it, I can set them all at defiance-that I'm sure of, gintlemen-innocence is a jewel.' "But Barney Brady, that keeps the shebeen house-you know him is of another opinion; you and some of the Findramore boys took a sup in Barney's on a sartin night? "Ay did we, on many a nightand will agin, plase providenceno harm in takin' a sup, any how, by the same token, that may be you and yer friend here would have a drop of the rale stuff as a thrate from me.' "I know a trick worth two of that,' said the man. 'I thank ye kindly, Mr. Kavanagh.' "One Tuesday morning, about six weeks after this event, the largest crowd ever remembered in that neighborhood, was assembled on Findramore hill, whereon had been erected a certain wooden machine, yclept a gallows. A little after the hour of eleven o'clock, two carts were descried winding slowly down a slope on the southern side of the town and church which I have already mentioned, as terminating the view along the level road north of the hill. As soon as they were observed, a low, suppressed ejaculation of horror ran through the crowd, painfully perceptible to the ear-in the expression of ten thousand murmurs, all blending into one deep groan-and to the eye, by a simultaneous motion that ran through the crowd like an electric shock. "The place of execution was surrounded by a strong detachment of military; and the carts that contained the convicts were also strongly guarded. the fatal spot, which was within sight of the place where the outrage had been perpetrated, the shrieks and lamentations of their relations and acquaintances were appalling indeed. Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, cousins, and all persons in the most remote degree of kindred and acquaintanceship, were present-all excited by the alternate expression of grief, and low-breathed vows of retaliation; not only relations, but all who were connected with them by the bonds of their desperate and illegal oaths. Every eye, in fact, coruscated with a wild and savage fire, that shot from under brows knit in a spirit that seemed to cry out-blood, vengeance blood, vengeance! The expression was truly awful; and, what rendered it more terrific, was the writhing reflection, that numbers and physical force were unavailing against a comparatively small body of armed troops. This condensed the fiery impulse of the moment into an expression of subdued rage, that really shot like livid gleams from their visages. "As the prisoners approached take to address you, before I depart to that world where Euclid, De Carte, and many other larned men, are gone before me. There is nothing in all philosophy more true than that, as the multiplication table says, two and two make four;' but it is equally veracious and worthy of credit, that, if you do not abrogate the system that you work the common rules of your proceedings by-if you don't become loyal men, and give up burnin' and murderin', the solution of it will be found on the gallows. I acknowledge myself to be guilty for not separatin' myself clane from yees; we have been all guilty, and may God forgive thim that jist now departed wid a lie in their mouth.' Here he was interrupted by a volley of execrations and curses, mingled with 'stag, informer, traithor to the thrue cause!' which, for some time, compelled him to be silent. You may curse,' continued Mat, but it's too late now to abscond the truth; the sum of my wickedness and folly is worked out, and you see the answer. God forgive me, many a young crathur I enticed into the ribbon business, and now it's to ind in hemp! Obey the law, or if you don't, you'll find it a ler talionis-the construction of which is, that if a man burns or murdhers, he won't miss hanging; take warning by me-by us all; for, although I take God to witness that I was not at the perpetration of the crime that I'm to be suspinded for, yet I often connived, when I might have superseded the carrying of such intintions into effectuality. I die in peace wid all the world, save an' except the Findramore people, whom may the maledictionary execration of a dying man follow into eternal infinity! My manuscription of conic sections Here an extraordinary buzz commenced among the crowd, which rose gradually into a shout of wild astounding exultation. The sheriff followed the eyes of the multitude, and perceived a horseman "At length the carts stopped under the gallows; and, after a short interval spent in devotional exercise, three of the culprits ascended the platform, who, after recommending themselves to God, and avowing their innocence-although the clearest possible evidence of guilt had been brought against them-were launched into another life, among the shrieks and groans of the multitude. The other three then ascended; two of whom either declined or had not strength to address the assembly. The third advanced to the edge of the boards; it was Mat. "After two or three efforts to speak, in which he was unsuccessful, from bodily weakness, he at length addressed them as follows: 666 My friends and good people; in hopes that you may be all able to demonstrate the last proposition laid down by a dying man, I under21 ATHENEUM VOL. 5, 3d series. dashing with breathless fury up to wards the scene of execution. He arrived, and brought a full pardon for Mat, and a commutation of sentence to transportation for life, for the other two. What became of Mat I know not, but in Findramore he never dared to appear, as certain death would have been the consequence of his not dying game. With respect to Barney Brady, who kept the shebeen, and was the principal evidence against those who were concerned in this outrage, he was compelled to enact an ex tempore death, in less than a month afterwards; having been found dead, with a slip of paper in his mouth, inscribed 'this is the fate of all informers!"" Truly lamentable is it, that there should be such a state of society. Ireland is a fine country, and has prodigious natural advantages, but to what purpose have those capabilities been applied? None; the curse of the Church of Rome is upon her, and the dark cloud of superstition hangs over her as an incubus, which prevents her rising among the nations. Education, rational and moral education, will alone dispel the mental gloom of the Irish peasantry. In the above scene there is full illustration of our assertion. The danger, to an ignorant mind, of the doctrine of absolution from a fellow creature, is established by the guilty wretches who make their exit from this life, and enter upon another and a fearful state of existence, uttering that with their lips, which their hearts know to be untruth. In Ireland, not one criminal in ten, although convicted upon the clearest and most unquestionable evidence, acknowledges his guilt. On the contrary, nine out of ten repeat uncalled for declarations of their innocence, even at the fatal tree, and in the full conviction that such protestations can avail them nothing. And to what is this to be ascribed, but to the absolution given by the priest? Where the horror and misery of crime can be so easily effaced from the conscience, it is not to be wondered at that the commission should be frequent. Darkly hung th' oppressor's hand Thrilling all the silent snows; Where the young breeze ne'er was known; Wildly and how mournfully! Are none but the Wind and the Lammer-Geyer And another power is moving All sweet scents of childhood's flowers! Even the last, ere all be mute. But a loftier soul was seen In the orphan sister's mien, From that hour when chains defiled Him, the high Alps' noble child. Tones in her quivering voice awoke, As if a harp of battle spoke ; Light, that seem'd born of an eagle's nest, Flash'd from her soft eyes, unrepress'd; And her form, like a spreading water-flower, When its frail cup swells with a sudden shower, Seem'd all dilated with love and pride, And grief for that brother, her young heart's guide. The silence of the Alpine sky The turf, o'er their dead mother laid, Their deep thoughts by one touch had blent, Now is their hearth a forsaken spot, The vine waves unpruned o'er their mountain-cot; Away, in that holy affection's might, The maiden is gone, like a breeze of the night;- Hath a dower from heaven, and a gift of sway, She hath wander'd through many a hamlet-vale, "Thou'rt not where wild flowers wave Thou'rt not where pines are sounding, Or joyous torrents bounding Alas, my brother! |