"You-you are a false liar. I have not signed, nor ever shall." The stranger suddenly turned, and handed me an ancient parchment, secured by black seals. "To you, Sir, as a man of honor, I confide this deed. Open it not while I am here; but guard it for the welfare of his injured nephew. Barry, look me in the face if you can. Villain, it has come home to you." "You are baffled; I-have-not-signed." There was a deep groan, and all was over. When we turned our view from the features of the dead, distorted by the last violence we can endure, the room was empty-the stranger was gone. STANZAS ON THE DEATH OF YOUNG NAPOLEON. 1. Hark to that moaning chime, whose sound Whose dismal echoes linger round Those consecrated walls, Fit emblem of the mortal whom Each dying cadence falls, Unlike that hour, when Paris hung Upon th' announcing peal that rung, Now may'st thou leave in peace, young boy, 111. The eagle's gold or jetty plume, That gleam'd or flapp'd above The toil-worn soldier's friendless tomb, It ne'er was thine to lure away To pour their kindred blood, for thee IV. No epitaph to tell his fame Above thy sire we trace; It needeth not the mould'ring name, Nor monument need speak of thee, While other nations mourn the brave, REMINISCENCES OF A SILENT AGITATOR-No. III. "He thinks too much-such men are dangerous.”—SHAKSPEARE, WITHIN a few yards of the house wherein I passed the early part of my life, there lived an individual, to whose instruction I am as much indebted for my political education, as Norval was to the hermit who first inspired him with an ardour for the trade of war. Не was the descendant of a Milesian family, which had withstood, with a desperate fidelity, all the persecutions of the penal code. Down to himself not one of the family had "turned" from the Papistical path to the Protestant causeway; but when the act of 1793 was passed, as if to prove the perversity of human nature, he, the last of the ancient line, apostatised from the faith of his forefathers. It would be difficult to find any very urgent necessity to extenuate this deviation from an hereditary fidelity-the laws which excluded a Catholic from professional rank and emolument were then no longer in operation to disqualify him; and he was in the full enjoyment of his family estate, without such a drawback as the law of gavel, or the discovering statutes of Anne, to disturb his possession. He was a man of some ambition, and aimed at a station in public life beyond the aspirings of the plain country squires who had preceded him. He had a soul above fox-hunting, and a turn for literature; but, as I was in riper life able to determine, he possessed more taste than talent. He passed the season of his maturity in the unprofitable dissipation of the western county where his family and connexions resided, so that when his legal probation was ended (he was destined for the Irish bar), he had arrived at that period of life which proved that he was about ten years longer on the road than the majority of candidates for the same profession. During his studies in the Middle Temple, he formed the acquaintance of two men, who were almost equally distinguished, yet essentially different in the qualities and feelings which rendered them remarkable in the time in which they lived. My early friend O'M- was then impressed with as much self-esteem as enabled him to conclude that he was a promising young man, and was possessed of sufficient rank to insure a favorable introduction to Edmond Burke and Horne Tooke. He had the tact to attract their notice sufficiently to preserve a continuation of their acquaintance, during his residence in London. Edmond Burke was at that time in the full heat of the aristocratic fever which afflicted him in his latter days he who had dignified the cause of republican America, in the year 1775, with spirit and eloquence, was then the testy defender of noble delinquency, and the advocate for privileged abuse. My old friend O'M- regarded him as one of the wonders of the age, and imbibed a preposterous estimate of hereditary honours and nominal greatness, when he found such a man dazzled by VOL. 1. NO. V. 2 R the tinsel that adorned them. From the conversations of Burke he passed to the democratic circle which surrounded Horne Tooke; but the influence of the former was too strongly impressed upon a weak mind to be dispelled by the philosophy of the latter, and the general effect of the conflicting principles was to turn him out at last a blind disciple of aristocratic belief. He returned to Ireland and was called to the bar-not as one of the first Roman Catholics who availed themselves of the repeal of the penal disabilities, but as a member of the ascendant church. The only reason I could ever discover for his having taken this step was, that he imagined, although the doors of the Four Courts were thrown open to the Catholics, still it was apprehended they would not be able for a long time to get farther than the hall. He had not much time to lose, so he made up his mind to swear that the sacrifice of the Mass was damnable and idolatrous, and having done so, he was admitted a true orthodox believer a member of the Irish bar. It has been often remarked, that the most intolerant Protestants were what was vulgarly called "kiln-dried Papists," and certainly my friend O'M― did not falsify the saying during his career. He was a political camelion. His ascendency friends numbered him amongst the right sort, and his Papistical relations were persuaded that he was one of their well-meaning friends. He wrote pamphlets on the Catholic question, which had the extraordinary effect of pleasing both parties. The ascendants perused them as ingenious and clever productions in support of the Protestant interest, while the unsuspicious Catholic allowed them to go forth unstamped with his deserved condemnation. The title page was generally the only part of the composition which would entitle the author to be enrolled amongst the advocates of emancipation, for the body of the work quickly undeceived those who had patience enough to wade through its pages. In the autumn of his life his eyes grew weak, and he endured this privation with great resignation, notwithstanding that in consequence he was obliged to retire from his professional pursuits, and even to abandon his favorite occupation in political controversy. Thus he grew dependant upon the good nature of his young friends, to perform the office of reader, whenever a new pamphlet made its appearance, or an animated debate upon the Catholic question occurred. The mere news of the day he derived from the political quid nuncs he met in the literary clubs of Dublin, amongst whom he was reputed as a person of some undefined importance. He had many convivial qualities, and his society was courted by the first circle in the metropolis. Previously to making his appearance at a dinner party, where political subjects were likely to form the essential topic of conversation, he used to send for me to read to him for a couple of hours, so that he should come into the colloquial conflict primed and loaded with the best arguments his side of the question would admit of. Thus, if it were probable that Catholic emancipation would be argued, he prepared himself with some refreshments from articles in the Quarterly Review; and if in the social contention the subject of religious controversy might be connected with political matters, I was generally called upon to read some pages of "Burnet on the thirty-nine articles." From the character of those authorities, it may easily be imagined how his sentiments inclined towards the liberties of those who professed that faith which he had deserted. He was particularly attentive to the periodicals, but the Tory Magazines seemed to have the greatest share of his notice. I remember now with what pleasure he used to listen to some jeu d'esprit aimed at the Catholic cause, or some attempted ridicule directed against its leaders. I once transcribed for him a few lines from a Magazine, whose title I cannot now recollect, which were intended to satirize Phillips's poem, THE EMERALD ISLE. I made two copies of them, and the process of inditing impressed them on my memory for a long time after. All I can remember at the present time is the following: "Green is the Catholic coach of O'Connell, This witty and elegant brace of couplets was waited upon by two annotations; the purport of the first was to announce that Mr. O'Connell had a barouche which was painted green, and that his servants and his hall door were decorated with the same seditious livery! The second note referred to the name of the then Secretary to the Catholics, Mr. Hay, lest the pun should be lost which the poet intended should be conveyed in the allusion to his connexion with the obnoxious colour. Such was the individual to whom I am indebted for the perfection of my political education, and notwithstanding he took as much pains, that I should only know the arguments on one side of the question, as the Abbe O'Brien did that I should be profoundly ignorant of those belonging to either, yet I escaped the contagion of partiality, and all his exertions were unable to make me a Tory Catholic. My respect for his memory, however, compels me to admit, that notwithstanding he cherished strong anti-national prejudices, and clung with an obstinate pertinacity to hyperbolical notions of loyalty, and a superstitious reliance upon the infallibility of what are called GREAT MEN, yet he was both social and amiable; and when he was called from this world, the harmless violence of his political feelings was quickly forgotten for the enduring virtues which were recorded of his private life. Although the foregoing description is applied to a single individual, still he was not a rara avis in the profession to which he belonged; and if he deemed it necessary to make a parade of his political feelings, in order to prove the sincerity of his religious conversion, still there were others of that profession who remained nominally faithful to the ancient religion, and yet, by their silence and submission, were equally injurious to the cause of their Catholic countrymen. These were, generally speaking, those gentlemen who for the first few years subsequent to the act of 1793 were called to the bar as Roman Catholics. They were never to be seen at a public meeting, and seldom ventured to appear "at Mass" with their families; but, as I once heard them described, they used to steal out at an early hour on the Sabbath mornings, and in the disguise of a shabby coat, a time-worn hat, cotton stockings, and strong shoes, they mingled amongst the variegated crowds that filled the galleries of the Popish temples, and there, secluded from the observation of those belonging to their own rank, they joined in the ceremonies of their secretly-cherished religion. With the opinions of those counsellors I have no inclination to quarrel, but for their method of practice I have always entertained the utmost contempt. The fastidious Catholic magnates, humiliated by the failure of their campaign, retired to quarters, and left the Catholic Board to carry on the war with the Government. The latter accordingly commenced the attack on the morning of the 3d of June, 1814, and covered the walls of the city with a magnanimous proclamation, which set forth the astonishing discovery, that-" WHEREAS an assembly, under the denomination of the Catholic Board, has for a considerable time existed in this part of the United Kingdom." This pithy paragraph was followed by another, which referred to an act passed in the 32d year of Geo. III., under which the assembly was declared illegal. The meetings of the Catholic Board were thus forbidden, pursuant to the authority of the Convention Act, and the application of that act to the Catholic Board, which disclaimed any delegated character, led to a long legal controversy between the two sides. An aggregate meeting assembled on the 11th of the same month, at which several very indignant speeches were made, and many dignified and determined resolutions passed, respecting the conduct of the Government in issuing the proclamation, and in reference to what was conceived to be a forced construction of the Act of Parliament. The proceedings of the Board were sanctioned and applauded, and the motives which were attributed to it were repudiated in the strongest language, by the unanimous voice of the assembly, in the following declarations: "That in the acts of the Catholic Board we recognise unwearied diligence, distinguished talent, and inviolate fidelity in the performance of its arduous duties. "The Catholic people have found in it a pure and legitimate organ of their opinions and feelings. Their rights have been advocated, and their wrongs proclaimed with truth and eloquent earnestness. The results have proved eminently beneficial; for whilst the friends of religious freedom have augmented in numbers and triumphed in argument, the votaries of intolerance have been humbled, abashed, and nearly silenced. "General calumnies against our moral principles have been exploded, and our opponents are now compelled to resort to the despicable substitute of personal defamation. "Much has been done by the Catholic Board towards cheering and cementing the Catholic people-guiding them by constitutional principles-protecting them, in many instances, from local oppression-checking Magisterial delinquency in others-warning them seasonably against the snares of insidious foes-and, with a presiding spirit of benevolent patriotism, the wants of the native artisan and neglected manufacturer have been affectionately consulted, and their interests cherished with parental solicitude. "The very existence of such a Board has frustrated the intrigues and crushed the profane speculations of such as would traffic upon a venal misrepresentation of Catholic sentiments. "Its candour and publicity have baffled all unworthy attempts upon our honour and in. terests. Ample freedom of discussion has proved our most effectual ally-eliciting the talents, upholding the virtues, and advancing the fame of our country. Finally, the great cause of our rightful petitions has been judiciously placed upon the firm basis of universal good-THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM OF ALL MANKIND. "Resolved-That for these and many other valuable services rendered to Ireland and to religious freedom, we sincerely thank the Members of the Catholic Board, and recommend them to the respect and gratitude of their country." The above resolutions were passed; the wonted displays of talent were exhibited by those who prefaced and supported them, and the meeting passed off with the same pomp and circumstance as the previous conventions, with the difference of one circumstance which marked that day indelibly on my memory. At the commencement of |