or vicious. All know this, and feel grateful for it; 'tis an evidence of Omnipotent wisdom; and, amidst cares and perils, reminds us of that beneficent Being who has placed us amidst created wonders, lest we should ever forget, insignificant as we may be, that the eye of superintending Providence is always upon us.

As Charley and Mary looked around them, upon the hills above, and the rippling waves of the lake below, they felt, unknown to themselves, the influence of such a scene and such an hour; they regarded each other with the chastened sentiments of virtuous love, and descending from the ruins upon which they were standing, they strolled carelessly along the bank which immediately overhung the water. In that sweet hour they forgot the business upon which they were sent, and the evening darkening around them, warned them in vain of the anxiety of their friends in the cottage; they surrendered themselves to the witchery of the moment, and all forgetting,' they continued to walk forward, until turning an angle of the strand, the rising moon, which had been hid by an intervening hill, burst suddenly upon them. Reminded of home, they turned round to retrace their steps, and, at that instant, a wild shout, and the loud report of fire-arms, were heard. It was a moment of terror; their fears told them too truly that their friends had been betrayed, but it was no time for reflection; they hastened to a neighbouring eminence, and saw the sky above the cottage red with the flames that now ascended from its roof. Regardless of their personal safety, they made for the scene of terror; but, as they drew near, they became sensible of the danger, if not of the folly, of proceeding further. With much persuasion Charley prevailed upon Mary to remain where she was, while he went cautiously forward to learn what they both feared to ascertain. The firing had ceased; the shouting subsided, and, when he returned, the only answer he made in reply to Mary's inquiries for her parents, was, The Hessians are in search of us.' The mention of these martial ruffians acted like an electrical shock

upon the nerves of the unhappy girl; she trembled violently; and as their treatment of the female peasantry was notorious, she forgot every consideration but a sense of her own insecurity.

Throughout the confusion of the period the insurgents paid manly respect to female honour; there is not a recorded instance of their having forgot the deference due to helplessness or beauty; and, on every occasion, they acted, one and all, like men, conscious of being the husbands and brothers of virtuous wives and sisters. Far different was the conduct of the foreign soldiery; and the horror it excited was a melancholy testimony of the sense in which female purity was held by the Irish peasantry. Amongst the most atrocious in such proceedings were the mercenary troops of Germany; the very mention of their name filled Mary with apprehension; and, in her dread of unmanly violence, she thought of nothing but flight; no time was to be lost-a circuitous path led to the margin of the lake; where, in a narrow inlet, screened from the closest observation, was moored a small boat; and, lying near the mouth of the river which communicated with the sea from the lake, a small skiff was moored, belonging to some fishermen in the neighbourhood; who, along with their usual and professed avocation, carried on contraband trade on every favourable occasion. As an only resource Charley thought of this: but they had to cross the lake ere they reached the stream which would convey them to the sea, where the vessel lay. The night had now completely set in, but the moon on high, hung like a gem on the brow of the sky,' beamed upon their path; the fastenings of the little boat were soon loosed, and they entered in a state of indescribable agitation; every rustling of the wind through the heather on the hill, or the flags and rushes which flourished on the border of the lake, filled them with apprehension.

The boat was at length pushed from the shore; and now secure in having escaped from his pursuers, who, like blood-hounds, would glut their fangs in the gore of any fated victim they might seize on, Charley vigorously tugged the oar, and the boat rowed swiftly

over the waters. The breadth of the lake being more than three miles across, the distance he had to row, unassisted, was considerable; but his situation added new vigour to his frame; nor did he think, for one moment, of fatigue; the innate courage of his Mary began to rekindle upon her lovely countenance, and, for one smile, what would he not undergo? The horror was banished from her mind, but her parents, who were behind, were now the principal objects of her solicitude. What would she not have endured with them? How could she suffer separation? Were they even alive? But, again, there was an all-seeing Power who would protect them, she thought, as she was conveyed farther away from them; under the protection of one who loved her, who, although outlawed from his country, was dearer to her than life. The conflict of these different sensations in her mind was, even in the wan light of the moon, visibly pictured on her face, although she endeavoured to conceal her emotion from her lover, who undauntedly and firmly sought for himself and her a place of safety.

But hopes of happiness are not always realized, and dreams of joy are often dissipated by causes which are the least suspected; they who know the uncertainty of the gusts of wind which occasionally blow on inland lakes are aware of their danger, and unfortunately it was the fate of this faithful pair to encounter one which suddenly arose from the north-east. Its suddenness and its fury quite disconcerted Charley's skill ; the boat twirled about in spite of his utmost efforts, and the plashing of the waves, as they dashed against its frail sides, began to fill it with water. Mary sat fixed like a statue in the stern; she was perfectly paralyzed with alarm; and Charley himself felt too much apprehension to attempt the task of a comforter: he spoke not; he hardly breathed, but he desisted not in his efforts to propel the little bark through the angry surge. Still the storm abated not, and presently the sky was overcast ; the moon hid its pale light behind a dense cloud, and the lightning leaped about' as if in mockery of the elemental strife.

·

There was no time for the interchange of thoughts. Charley laboured with great energy, and he acquired new strength when he heard a prayer, slow, solemn, and impressive, breathed from Mary's lips. One so good, so innocent, was, he thought, like an angel's presence; there could not come harm to anything near her; and this opinion seemed to receive confirmation from the elements; for, on her obtesting heaven, the storm seemed to subside, and the moaning of the wind through the neighbouring hills was distinctly heard. This sound, which at another time would have filled them with melancholy, proved most delightful; it intimated that they were not far from land; but the gladness which suddenly arose within them was as suddenly dashed with fears.

A blast from a bugle burst upon their ears, and the voice of men, as if in reply, was heard indistinctly from various points. Charley, for a moment, suspended his toil; and, looking upwards towards the moon, which was now emerging from the cloud that had obscured it, he perceived that, in the confusion of the darkness and the storm, he had mistaken his course, and was now close upon the shore from which he thought himself receding. There was not a moment to be lost in rectifying his error; and, lest he should give alarm, he pulled his oars cautiously, but forcibly. His fears were but too well grounded: a cheer, long and deafening, struck terror into his soul, and Mary dropped upon her knees in the bottom of the bark.

Charley now saw that there was no chance of safety but by distancing his pursuers, who had already launched a boat, and he exerted all his remaining strength with the energy of a man conscious of being in the mouth of danger. His little skiff, though half filled with water, literally flew over the lake, but his enemies were as determined to capture as he was to escape: the report of a musket was re-echoed from the distant hills, and, by the flash of its pan, he saw that they were no great distance from him; and, on another shot being fired, the bullet rebounded from the water just under

his helm. This did not cause him to relax; he strained every sinew, and reached the opposite shore before they could overtake him. As the prow of his boat ploughed up the strand he gave a triumphant cheer, and extended his arms for Mary to leap into them; but, at that moment, his pursuers fired a volley; a ball struck him; he reeled, groaned, and expired. A wild, an almost supernatural, scream from Mary announced to the pursuers that part of their object had been accomplished, and in an instant the wild Germans were hustling each other, in the general eagerness to seize the poor forsaken creature, who now thought of nothing but her dead-lover, whose spurned corpse was clasped in her

arms.

Azy, boys, azy,' said a voice, which Mary recognized for that of Owney Sullivan, 'you must'nt injure this girl.'

'Save me, Owney,' she cried, wildly abandoning the dead body, as if suddenly awakening to a sense of her situation.

The soldiers gave a loud ironical laugh, and one of them seized her roughly by the arm.

'You shall not,' cried Owney, 'I've sould the pass, 'tis true, but it was bekase I loved this girl-you shall not injure her.'

Another laugh was the only reply he received: and, when he attempted to release Mary from the rude grasp of the Hessian, a blow from one of his comrades stretched him upon the ground, and

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Three days after this a sad procession, with two coffins on men's shoulders, entered the cemetery of the ruined abbey; they contained the remains of Charley and Mary. After the usual form had been gone through they were both committed to the same grave, and their hapless fate, even in this hour of peril, excited more than common sympathy. It was fortunate for Mary that she did not survive the brutal treatment which she experienced at the hands of her lover's murderers; the world no longer contained any one of those who had