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for the love of the sweet Jesus to be quiet, and not to destroy the credit of her tent, which was always under a good character-the supplications and even tears of this fair vender of whisky, had no effect in softening their hard hearts. We therefore joined our strength to her eloquence, and shoved them into the field, where they boxed it very fairly out-"Didn't I tip it to him neatly in the bread basket?" said the successful combatant, to a friend who was congratulating him on his victory. "I could have shut up his peepers an hour before, but wanted to try what sort of game he was; and, by the Blessed Virgin, he is nothing but dunghill."-I was anxious to see the kitchen from whence the roast mutton and rice pudding were to issue; the landlady, who was full of curtsies and blessings for the service we had rendered her, shewed us it :-it was a large hole made in the ground, directly behind the tent-there was a blazing turf fire large enough to roast an ox, covered with pots, and several spits before it.-I am assured, had we stayed, we should have got an excellent dinner; but as there is often in the evening a course of fighting, the dessert might not have been so agreeable. The custom of fighting, however, is not near so universal as it was-it is now pretty much confined to single combats with the fist, and does not, as formerly, involve the whole field in a general battle with Shillalahs, made of their native oak; which, in an Irishman's hand, is not a very gentle weapon, and has no pretensions to one property of a joke-namely, breaking no bones. I am told in proportion as the influence of Mars has diminished, Venus has become the favourite divinity; an Irishman's love, like his appetite, is satisfied with plain food, and does not stand in need of piquante-sauce to make it relishing-he is as careless about place as about person; he requires no couch of state, or costly

bed of down; the sky is his canopy-the verdant mead, or daisied bank, the scene of his joys; where, in the sweet delirium of love, he forgets his labours and his cares---his sorrows and his wants-by a happy dispensation of nature."The cordial drop which makes the bitter cup of life go down," is found in most exquisite concentration, in the cup of him who stands the most in need of it. Returning home we looked into the hospital-fields burying ground-this is the burial place of the lower class: of the poor, the artizan, and the stranger; of the unfortunate who ends his days in an hospital, the wretch who perishes on the highway, and the criminal who dies by the execu tioner; the outcast who had no friend, the wanderer who had no habitation,

"Who found no spot of all the world his own;"

here find at length an everlasting abode. We walked over their mouldering remains, which a little earth loosely scattered hardly concealed from our view: in some places it did not conceal them. Whether from the carelessness of interment, or the ravages of animals, the graves of several were open, and the coffins exposed; through the broken boards of which we saw their decaying bodies in every progressive state of putrefaction; in some the knees were falling from their sockets, and the eyes melting in their eye-balls, the worms crept along their fingers, and the body and face was one great mass of corruption: in others an unshapen heap of bones and ashes only remained. We turned in horror from a spectacle so hideous and revolting; from a sight so dreadful and disgusting, so mortifying and shocking to mortality; nor can I conceive how such a violation of decency and humanity could be permitted. I did not even stop to look at the tomb of Brian Barome, monarch of all Ireland, who was killed by the Danes at the battle of Clontarf, and is said to be buried here. I fled with precipitation from this

Golgotha, where the air is contaminated with the exhalations of death, nor did I seem to myself to breathe freely till I was some distance from it. A little further we met the lord and lady lieutenant, with their attendants and some other company.

Imagination could hardly form a greater contrast than this gay and gallant party, to the quiet and silent group we just had quitted; yet they once were active and animated, though not so splendid as these are; who in a few years, perhaps a few months, will be mute likewise in their turn. Oh! could the wand of enchantment touch the slumbering bones, and raise before them these inhabitants of the grave; could they gaze on their fleshless arms, their putrid lips, their hollow cheeks, their eye-less sockets, where the worm has now taken its abode; could they behold as in a magic glass, the reflection of what all that lives must be, how would they start affrighted and dismayed; how would their mirth and gaiety vanish, their pomp and consequence subside; how would the frivolous pursuits, the transient pleasures, the restless wishes, and busy cares, of this fleeting scene sink into the insignificance they deserve.

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Await alike th' inevitable hour ;

The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

These are melancholy reflections, and little in unison with other parts of this chapter: I have only to say, I did not seek them they lay in my way, and I stumbled over them. The odd coincidence of encountering splendour and equipage as I issued from the mansions of the dead, forced them from me with impulse irresistible-nor are such reflections without their use-they teach us to think and to enter into ourselves. "They are no flatterers but feelingly persuade us

-They teach us how to live, when they tell

CHAP. VII.

DUBLIN.

THE Lord Lieutenant of Ireland is one of the greatest officers under the crown. He is the only viceroy in the king's dominions, and has the privilege of conferring knighthood and other lesser vice-regal ones. He is always

now an English nobleman of high rank: there are no instances of a Scotchman being appointed, and I believe but one or two of an Irishman. Yet the exalted virtues, and incorruptible integrity of one of these, might have warranted a repetition of the experiment. Every person acquainted with Irish history, will know I allude to the great Marquis of Ormond, as he was generally called: with inflexible fidelity he supported, for several years, the falling fortunes of his unhappy master: after his execution he shared in like manner the misfortunes of his son, and lived abroad in poverty and exile along with him. He was so much at times straitened in his circumstances, that it is reported on having occasion to send his peruke to the peruke-maker, he was obliged to borrow, and appear in public, with a large and unseemly one, until his own was repaired. On the restoration of King Charles, he was created a Duke, and sent over Lord Lieutenant of this kingdom; where he was as much distinguished for the uprightness of his conduct as the splendour of his government. He was doomed, however, to share the fate of

E

all the faithful and virtuous servants of the royal libertine.--In turn, in favour and disgrace, flattered and neglected, he never lost the equanimity of his temper. Discoursing once of the ingratitude of king Charles, he jocularly added, "Well, nothing of this shall yet break my heart-for, however it may fare with me at court, I am resolved to be well in the chronicle." A gentleman who had solicited some favour of the king, implored the duke's assistance,---" All my dependence," said he, "is on God and your Grace."-"Then I fear your case is desperate;" said the other, laughing, "Iknow no two who have less interest at court at present." He outlived his son, the gallant Earl of Ossery, who was killed in the engagement with the Dutch fleet in the 46th year of his age: "I would not exchange my dead son," exclaimed the duke, with exultation, "for ever a living son in Christendom." Notwithstanding the tempered mildness of his latter years, he was in early life remarkable for the impetuosity of his disposition. In 1634, Earl Stafford, then deputy of Ireland, gave an order, that no person should enter either House of Parliament with a sword: this order was universally complied with both by Peers and Commoners.-The Usher of the Black Rod attending at the door of the House of Lords, insisted on Lord Ormond's compliance likewise-this he positively refused, adding, with a threatening air, if he must deliver his sword, the usher must receive it in his body.-He was summoned before the council to answer for this breach of order-he boldly defended himself, saying, he had received the investiture of his earldom, per cincturam gladii, and was bound by the royal patent to attend his duty in parliament, gladio cinctus: lord Stafford, awed by the dignity and spirit he evinced, did not think it prudent to carry the matter further. This unfortunate nobleman was characterized by great inflexibility himself, which, carried often to head-long obstinacy, was in a great measure the cause of his melan