"Oh, holy Moses! we were nivir fairly murdered until now. The wheel aff, the shaft smashed, and us at the back of God speed into the bargain. Oh, my heavy curse upon you, Morteeine beg!* and may ye want luck ivry day ye see a pavin'-stone, and ivry day that ye don't!" "Who are you cursing so liberally, Ulick?"

"Arrah! who but that gallows-bird, old Morteeine's son! Troth; the same youth will dance upon nothing, and spoil a market before he's twenty. But I might have mistristed things when his father sent for me to drink; as I know that he loves me about as well as the divil likes holy water."

"But what did the boy do, Ulick?"

"Feakes! he jist did quite enough," replied the driver. "He slipped the litch-pin out, and here we are, nine miles from the next town, and snug and warm at the side of a bog-hole. Och! af I had but a rope wid me at self——”

"If that is all you want, uncord these portmanteaus."

"God bliss yer honor for that same; but, mona sin diaoul; the arm of the axle-tree is bint wid the shock, and sorra a use to do any thing widout Christy Lyons the smith, and he's a good four mile from this."

"Well, Ulick, what's to be done?"

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'Why there's nothing for it, but for yer honor to return to Morteeine's —send a man off for Christy—and I'll stick to the car and baggage till help comes."

Ülick had proposed the only alternative to my remaining on the highway, and mounting guard over my effects; and, as despatch was most desirable, I countermarched the mile we had driven, and once more entered Red Martin's hostelry.

Never was a reception more different than that which I experienced from the host and his handsome helpmate.

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"Yer

Arragh! ceade millia felteaugh!" exclaimed Morteeine. welcome as the flowers in May. Give me a grip of yer honour's

fist."

"His wife, on the contrary, changed colour; and, in any terms but those which hospitality would use, asked what had caused me to come back.

I explained to her the accident that had occurred; and, while her brows contracted at the statement, I fancied that a smile was interchanged between the owner of the hostelry, and the amiable youth, who no doubt, would inherit Morteeine's virtues and estates.

"And wherefore did you not push on ?" inquired the hostess, brusquely; 66 Are you a soldier, and regard a walk of ten miles, even though the evening lowers a little ?"

66

Certainly not," I replied; "but the truth is, I should not like to abandon my arms and baggage in these wild mountains.”

"Better lose them than life, however," said the lady.

"Bah! nonsense, Mary," returned her liege lord, in a voice that betrayed rage suppressed with difficulty. "I'll insure the captain safe to town for a glass of poteeine, and that's not much. If you take my advice, sir, you'll keep yourself where you are, get your car repaired at day

Little Martin.

light, and start as early afterwards as you please. See, was that a flash of lightning ?" By Saint Patrick! the storm is about to burst!"

"And if you take my advice," rejoined Morteeine's fair helpmate, "you will proceed without delay; and though you should be drenched to the skin, leave these mountains behind you.'

In

Halting between two opinions-and so contradictory too-necessity obliged me to decide at once. A loud and sustained crash, as if the roar of a numerous artillery was heard booming through the mountains; big drops smote the casement heavily; and then, as if the sluices of the heavens had been suddenly unclosed, down came the rain in torrents. a few minutes every rill and water-course was filled with discoloured water, that came rushing to the low grounds, and the river, not ankledeep ten minutes since, now tumbled down a dark volume of inky fluid, intermingled with masses of turf and heather, disrupted from its banks. Fortunately, and just as the tempest broke, Ulick, who had taken alarm at the threatening aspect of the sky, arrived with two or three passing peasants, whom he had judiciously pressed into the service, carrying my whole matériel, and leaving nothing to the despoiler but a broken jaunting-car, about as portable a prize as a six-pounder with the trun

nions off.

I seized an opportunity, when Morteeine was engaged with a couple of horsemen who had taken shelter from the storm, to join Ulick in the stable. After a hurried lament over our misfortune, the car-driver hinted that " may be every thing was for the best." The bridge at Keil was broken; and, no doubt, as the storm broke in that direction, the river would have been far too high to allow the car to pass.

In

"It's the will of the Lord," added the old man. "For God's sake, sir, join in no talk with any body, nor take offence at any thing ye see. his own house, Morteeine will hardly venture on any villany. Return boldly to the kitchen, and go to bed as early as you can."

I obeyed this Mentor of the whip, re-entered the kitchen of Morteeine's caravanserai, and advanced to the fire, where the hostess was engaged in some culinary preparation. My reception was any thing but civil.

"We shall be crowded to-night," she said, "and I wish you had taken your custom to the next inn. This kitchen is small enough for what it has to do; and I pray you, sir, to retire into the inner-room. It has inconvenienced me to give it up, but-"

"No

"No matter, jewel," exclaimed the worthy host, who had entered the kitchen from some nook into which he had inducted the horsemen. matter, Moleeine astore,* ye'll make him snug, and I'll have him on the road at daylight. Fetch the candle, and show his honor in; Lord! what a thunder-clap! The storm is not yet at the worst."

66

The hostess produced a rude taper, made from goat's tallow, and which, while affording excellent light, did not, I must admit, exude an odour of Araby the blest ;" and, while she inducted me to the great room of the establishment, Morteeine revisited the horsemen to determine the state of the weather over a fresh supply of mountain dew. The moment that the pretty hostess and I were left together, the look so discourteous and repulsive before, gave place to one of kindness and compassion, and she inquired,

* Mary dear.

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Why had I been rash enough to return ?” I explained the nature of the accident.

"Oh! yes, I comprehend it. Imperfectly as I understand Irish, I overhead enough pass between that ruffian, to whom the destiny of Heaven has sacrificed me, and the ill-featured boy he is preparing for the hangman, not to feel assured that your journey would be interrupted. I know not exactly what his designs are, but you exhibit sufficient temptation in the valuables you imprudently carry on your person, and the firearms you are provided with, to induce Morteeine to plunder you through other agencies than his own. To-night's delay here will enable him to arrange a safe plan for having you stopped and robbed in the mountains. Fear nothing while you remain; I can protect you, and I will.”

"Strange that one so young can exercise the power you do on a savage spirit such as Red Morteeine's," I replied. "With the brave and the noble-minded, loveliness reigns paramount: but what influence beauty could obtain over a sordid, drunken, truculent scoundrel like the wretch who has blighted your fortunes almost in infancy, I cannot even guess." I can," she said: "my power arises from his cupidity and my mad

66

ness.

"Madness!" I exclaimed.

Our

"Yes, madness. Mad I am, although the mood is such as conceals it from the world. What brain could bear what I have endured during the long, long year I have been the victim of that vulgar and ferocious scoundrel? And, oh, God! how little was I prepared for the deep misery that was impending. Hear, sir, and judge. I loved-this young heart was bestowed upon one who well deserved it, and, in turn, I was faithfully beloved. William Adderley was the vicar's only son, and the gentlest and most amiable of beings; circumstances brought us constantly together. The parsonage was near the farm-house where I boarded; the vicar took a lively interest in my fate; he was a good man, but a proud one; and, while my unprotected orphanage secured his warmest sympathy, and I was constantly a visiter at his house, the thought that I should ever hold a nearer claim upon him than that of compassion for a desolate girl, would have wounded him to the soul. Pride yields to love; and William flung every consideration, touching the superiority that birth and position gave him, to the winds, and wooed and won me. vows were plighted in the sight of Heaven; and, on reaching his majority, in three months I was to have been made a bride. The night I was carried off by the ruffian band, I had met him in a neighbouring glen. We had talked as lovers talk, until the rising moon warned us to separate. He brought me to the garden-gate, he held me to his bosom, pressed kisses on my lips, and invoked Heaven to bless and shield me. Alas! that prayer was unheard and unheeded; and, when in my dreams I was seated on the heather-bank beside him, my head resting on his bosom, his arms around me, his lips touching mine, I was torn from the dreamy embraces of first love, to fill the arms of the truculent monster who made me the wretch I am-lowered to receive the cold pity of the world; and, in my own estimation, degraded below the veriest wretch who cumbers the earth with an existence, which the last prayer she breathes to Heaven, ere sleep seals her aching eyes, is that no morrow's sun shall rise upon a living mass of misery. Why then should I not be mad?-why do I beard the lion ?-why mar his schemes?—why frown defiance

when he threatens ?-why express contempt and disgust when he would conciliate one who regards him with the intensity of undying hatred ? Because the only wish I have on earth is to perish by his hand, and my prayers are that the wretch who robbed me of my honour, should also deprive me of that existence which his villany has rendered too miserable for endurance. Hark! was not that the sound of wheels? Yes; I hear voices without rise in the pauses of storm. How chilly the evening feels! Come to the fire in the outer room, until I have one lighted in this chamber," she said, led the way out, and I followed her.

Before a minute had elapsed the door opened; and the travellers, whose carriage-wheels had already announced their advent, entered the kitchen of the hostelrie.

Never did two guests present themselves more unexpectedly on a tempestuous evening, to claim wayfaring hospitality at the establishment of Morteeine Crassaugh than the strangers. The elder traveller was a man well stricken in years, whose appearance and demeanour happily described his profession. At a glance, I set him down to be a churchman of superior rank; and the mild and unassuming style of his address was in happy keeping with the vocation he had selected. Advancing to the hostess, he announced himself an Englishman, and told her that, anxious to visit the sister island, he had been for a few days a tourist in the neighbourhood. He had taken the mountain route, induced by a flattering description of its scenery; and, overtaken by an unexpected storm, he must solicit for himself, his daughter, and attendants, refreshment and shelter for the night.

Had innkeepers been even more flinty-hearted than parents are said to be, the most savage host who ever "wielded spigot" could not have refused a claim so mildly and modestly preferred. The stranger's voice seemed to have a magical effect on Morteeine's helpmate, and the shrewish manner she adopted, when addressing others, underwent an instant change. She apologised for the indifferent accommodation her house afforded; from the severity of the night it was crowded; but such refreshment as could be had was freely at their service. She must remind them that they were not in an English inn, but an Irish cabin; and they must balance indifferent fare against a hearty welcome. Would not the young lady come forward to the fire? The evening was damp and chilly.

As if alarmed at finding herself among strangers, and the inmate of a wild and isolated dwelling, the old man's daughter had remained standing behind her father while he had addressed the hostess of the inn. Modestly and gracefully she bowed her thanks, and accepted the invitation ; and, lifting the veil which had hitherto concealed her from observation, Holy Senanus! frigid as Tom Moore is pleased to represent you, she exhibited a face which would have made you curse the hour you ever took the oaths of celibacy.

Reader! you must be patient until next chapter, and be contented with an intimation that, in presenting to you the pretty tourist, I shall have introduced you to MRS. O'SULLIVAN !

A SKETCH OF THE LIVES OF THE LORDS STOWELL AND

ELDON.

TOGETHER WITH SOME CORRECTIONS, AND ADDITIONS, TO MR. TWISS'S

LIFE OF THE LATTER.

PART VII.

Nihil igitur afferunt, qui in re gerendâ versari senectutem negant.

Cicero de Senectute.

LORD ELDON has at length ceased to be Chancellor: the protracted reign of "King John the Second," as he was sometimes called, is finally close.

*

Of the distribution of his patronage, though Sir Samuel Romilly has remarked that Lord Eldon, in making the higher legal appointments, would allow neither private feelings, nor even public interests, to prevail over party motives, yet his Masters in Chancery present two instances of promotions arising from mere personal considerations. These exceptions are afforded by Masters Francis Cross and James William Farrer; the history of whose appointments we shall now relate.

Mr. Cross, in the year 1800, was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn, where, in 1807, he had kept a few terms only. At this period he relinquished all notion of following the legal profession, and withdrew his name from the books of his Inn of Court. He next figured in the Somersetshire militia, in which he attained the rank of captain. And then, exemplifying the French song,

On revient toujours
A ses premiers amours,

was at the commencement of 1811, at the age of twenty-nine, re-admitted at Lincoln's Inn, in order to keep his remaining terms. During his second studentship, he was introduced to Lord Eldon at the table of one of Lady Eldon's brothers; and, having had, in the mean time, the good fortune to amuse and please both the Chancellor and his lady by the sprightly ease of a manner and address formed in the intercourse of military society, was, in 1813, called to the bar.

It will be recollected, that in the spring of 1815, during the brief interval of peace which preceded the return of Napoleon from Elba, a bill was passed, which increased the restrictions on the introduction of foreign corn. So unpopular was this measure with the poorest classes, that its progress through parliament was accompanied by riots. It hap pened that on the evening of the 6th of March, Mr. Cross was passing near the residence of Lord Eldon, then the centre house on the east side of Bedford-square, when the mob was beginning to attack it, under the supposition that its occupant was a supporter of the bill. Mindful of the preservation of one, whom he already regarded as his patron, Mr. Cross, with a boldness and alacrity which reflected credit upon the Somersetshire militia, determined to relieve the garrison; and, passing the

* Memoirs, Vol. iii., pp. 102-103.