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mischief is wrought in a more quict, methodical fashion, he merely concludes that it is the hapless victim of the law-in a word, that it has died by the visitation of Chancery!

The sun had just dropped behind Primrose Hill-on whose classic summit a solitary individual, looking uncommonly like a poet, was standingwhen Puddicombe entered upon the road that leads directly up to this dilapidated village. Though he walked fast, being anxious to dissipate uneasy reflections, yet it was nearly dark when he got to the ruins, which in the thick grey haze of evening wore quite a Balclutha-like forlornness of aspect. He was regarding them, as he hurried by, with no little curiosity, wondering who could be their owner, and why he allowed his property to remain in such a state, when suddenly his attention was diverted by the sound of whispers near him, and looking back, he fancied he could discern through the gloom a man's head peering above the garden wall of one of the houses he had just passed. At this moment not a soul was in sight along the road, either before or behind him. Though he could distinctly hear the cheerful ringing of St Pancras' evening chimes, and see the bright rows of lamps glittering on the terraces in the Regent's Park, yet all was silent and gloomy about him. Fear-stricken by a sense of his defenceless condition, in case of an assault, Giles just halted to tuck his chain and seals into his fob, and then started off into a brisk run, thinking what an awful wind-up it would be to his week of pleasure, if he were first to be robbed then murdered and buried-and a fortnight afterwards have his body dug up in a state of perplexing decomposition, and deliberately sat upon by twelve fat jurymen and a coroner ! Recollections of all the "shocking murders" he had devoured in the Sunday papers for the last ten years flashed across his brain. called vividly to mind the story of the old woman whose head, wrapped up in a towel, was carried in an omnibus to Stepney, while her legs were left behind in a brick-field near Camberwell; and of that still more revolting case of the poor Scottish idiot who was burked-pickled-taken in a hamper to a surgeon's-and sold for twelve shillings-and goaded to his utmost speed by these harrowing reminiscen

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ces, he shot along his road with the impetus of a steam-engine on a railway.

Hardly had he lost sight of the last house, when he heard footsteps coming quick after him, and voices exclaiming, That's him! I know him by his run."

Poor fellow! All his past sufferings were nothing to what he endured on hearing these words. His heart beat like a sledge-hammer, and he flew rather than ran; but, being somewhat short of wind, his pursuers gained momently on him, and he could even hear them panting but a few yards behind him. Still he toiled on, but at last his knees shook under him to such a degree, that he could no longer maintain the vigour of his course; and stumbling against some bricks that lay in the middle of the road, he dropped-a dull, lumpish weight-to earth, like Virgil's ox, or Corporal Trim's hat.

At this instant his pursuers-three men dressed as journeyman bakers— came up, and, despite his screams which he gave forth at the very top of his voice, and the astonishingly energetic kicks and cuffs to which he resorted, in his desperation, seized hold of him, and dragging him across a field in the rear of the village I have just described, and in the centre of which was a small, gravelly pond from two to three feet deep, baptized him therein with a heartiness that left him not a dry rag on his body, reminding him the while, in half-laughing tones, of the promise they had made, to "sarve him out" the first opportunity.

Having performed this operation to their full and entire satisfaction, they quitted their hold of him, and were preparing for a retreat, when Giles, who was by this time satisfied that, whatever else they might be, the fellows were neither robbers nor murderers, summoned up all the physical and moral courage that had not already, like Bob Acres's valour, oozed out at his fingers' ends, and exclaimed, in his sternest and most emphatic manner,

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you rascals, you shall all swing for this, as sure as my name's Puddicombe !"

"Puddicombe! Why, that ain't he, Jam," said one of the fellows with a strong Irish accent; "by the powers, we've ducked the wrong man!"

"Never mind," replied another, with all the calmness of a philosopher; "it's just as well as it is ;" and straightway indulged in a sly titter.

The third man, who seemed to be of a more considerate nature than his companions, was no sooner aware of his mistake, than he went up to Giles, who stood about a yard off, dripping like a river-god and shivering with cold and rage; and, after pouring forth a profusion of rough apologies for the unlucky blunder, explained how it had arisen. From his statement it appeared that the party were journey men bakers of Holloway, who, on the preceding day, had struck for higher wages-it was the famous year of the strikes and one of their fellow-workmen having refused to join in their illegal combination, they had determined to have their revenge on him as he returned to his house at Holloway, the exact hour of which they had taken care to ascertain beforehand; but unfortunately, in the gloom of the evening they had mistaken their man, and ducked an oilman instead of a baker. These matters having been duly explained, the fellows offered to make Giles amends by treating him to a "drop" at the nearest public house; but finding him too sullen and refractory to enter into a compromise, and fearful that he might get them into trouble, which he hinted at in very significant terms, they scampered off across the field in the direction of the village, while Puddicombe pursued his way to his friend's house at Holloway.

Bitter were his reflections as he resumed his solitary walk. What a week had been his last! He had confidently anticipated it would have been a week of pleasure-it had been the most harassing one he had ever spent. Hardly a day but had been marked by some unforeseen calamity. First, he had lost his carpet-bag; secondly, he had been robbed of the very clothes off his back; thirdly, he had writ himself down an ass at a public ball-room; fourthly, he had been deceived by his confidential apprentice; and, finally, to crown all, he had been mistaken for a journeyman

baker, and subjected, as such, to a process of ablution that had entailed on him the perilous necessity of swallowing at least half-a-pint of gravel water!

With these thoughts sweeping drearily across his brain, he reached his friend's house, who, having heard his story of the ducking, which afforded him abundant diversion, hastened to get Giles a change of clothes, after which he set him down to a substantial supper; and when this, together with a hot tumbler of brandy punch, had toned down my hero's excitement, his host, who was a man of good common sense, bade him recount his week's adventures; and, when the recital was concluded, addressed him as follows:"It is plain, Puddicombe, from your account of matters, that you have been looking for pleasure in the wrong quarter. You should have sought after it not in the dissipation of a watering-place, but-behind your counter, when you would have been sure to have found it; for it is always to be had cheap, and good, and lasting, if we apply to the right merchant for it. Had I, like you, allowed my thoughts to be diverted from their proper object, by running riot for months beforehand in the anticipation of a week's pleasure at Margate, I should not now have been receiving you as my guest in this snug bachelor's dwelling. But I laboured hard in my youth, and, in consequence, I enjoy in my age, not weeks only, but months of happiness. Go you home and do the same, leaving dandyism to those who are better qualified to play the fool; and the time is not far distant when you will acknowledge that the week you now dwell on with such abhorrence, has been of inestimable service, by teaching you to be slow in giving your confidence to those who have an interest in keeping up appearances before you."

So ends the WEEK OF PLEASURE! Gentle reader, who has not, like Giles Puddicombe, looked forward with eagerness to such a week, and, like him, been bitterly disappointed in his anticipations?

IRELAND UNDER THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE-THE POPULAR PARTY, THE
ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS, AND THE QUEEN'S MINISTERS.

LET us continue and conclude, for the present, our proofs of the pacification of Ireland under a Whig Government.

At the Spring Assizes in Castlebar, Baron Richards, a Whig-Radical, advanced to the bench by the present Ministry, in passing sentence on a female convict, spoke to the following effect :-*

"It grieves me to say, after you had left the place of prayer, and on your road from the house of God, where you had been a few minutes before invoking the blessing and forgiveness of your Maker, and on your way from the house dedicated to Him, and after you had appealed on your bended knees to His mercy, you embrued your hands, under circumstances of much atrocity, in the blood of your fellow creature," &c. &c. "I am certain that the people could be humanized; and, without any thing like reproach, I do say that a heavy responsibility rests on those who met those people in the house of God: I mean the spiritual instructors of the people," &c. &c. "Many of the reverend gentlemen I allude to are excellent men, and for them I have a high respect; but, in the discharge of my duty, I must say, that I conceive the people of this country as susceptible of receiving benefits from the instruction their pastors should bestow, as the people of any other. It is by the efforts of their clergymen, more than by law, the people can be humanized and rendered amenable to the voice of justice and peace. Feeling that such is the case, it strikes me with amazement that the people should still exhibit such savage conduct. Very many cases of murder that have come before me were committed on the return of those concerned from the house of God, and that murderous habit I cannot reconcile with the moral and religious instruction that ought to be unceasingly impressed upon the people. I hope, if there are not any of the pastors of the peasantry listening to me, that they will hear what I have said, and devote themselves zealously to reform the conduct of those who disgrace the name of Christians."

The learned judge, in undertaking to lecture Roman Catholic priests

upon their duty, and in hoping that his exhortations may have a good effect upon them, shows that he has been betrayed into the ordinary mistake which has led every honest Liberal astray. He dwells upon the surprise with which he has heard of crimes committed by persons coming from what he assumes to be a house of God, -viz. a Roman Catholic chapel; and he earnestly exhorts the priests to educate their people in principles which may make them, what he is sure they can be made, good men and good Christians. We cannot understand the surprise expressed by the learned baron at the post-missal enormities. Surely he must have heard of such offices of zeal as denunciations from the altar, and he must have heard, also, of their consequences. Even in the specimens which we have given, the reader may see how frequently the chapel curses have taken effect. We venture upon one more instance. occurred in Longford, and is vouched on our correspondent's authority. We have no language to describe the shuddering sense of horror with which we read it. Let us, however, not be misunderstood. We are far from think

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ing that, among the Roman Catholic priests in Ireland, there are peaceful and well disposed. On the contrary, we think there are many who detest, as we do, the mischievous practices of their (as well as the people's) spiritual tyrants. But those whom the times favour and set on high are too much of the class described in our extract:

"A certain incendiary priest, of this county, some few weeks past, denounced from his altar on Sunday several respectable Protestant gentlemen, living in the parish, together with a Roman Catholic servant, who happened to be at mass. The unfortunate man was so terrified at the denunciations of the minister of peace, that, in a fit of despondency, he attempted to put a period to his existence by blowing out his brains. Fortunately he only partially succeeded, and now lies in a danger

Ryan's Disclosure, &c. &c., p. 108.

ous state. After committing the deed he confessed the cause. The priest, hearing of the occurrence, called at his master's house to administer the last rites of the Church to the poor man. The gentleman happened to be at home at the time, and told him he was the author of the misfortune. The following Sunday this same priest again denounced the gentleman from the altar, and, in furious language demanded of his flock, 'would they allow their priest to be insulted by a heretic,' mentioning the gentleman's name.

"Since then, the most frightful persecution, accompanied with threats of assassination, has been in execution; so much so

that the gentleman is afraid to go out of

doors, lest he should meet the fate of Mr Ellis or Mr Cooper, and is consequently resolved to quit the country. The above facts are true, and illustrate the state to which the Protestants of Ireland, residing in Roman Catholic districts, are now reduced."

Who can say

Is it from the teaching of priests like this the learned baron expects blessed consequences? Who can say how many such there are? that, with the exception of those who are Protestants at heart, all are not such? It is too much to expect that a Roman Catholic priest shall allow Baron Richards to be his spiritual director, and shall receive from him the commands by which his sacerdotal activities shall be directed. Does the learned baron know what are the obligations of a Romish priest? or the rules and authorities by which he is determined in his doctrine as to "human sins and virtues?" We believe not. We wish he and his would strive to make themselves acquainted with such things before they speak of them, and that they would not take it for granted that the morals which Romanism teaches are the morals of Scripture, and that the laws they enforce are those of the British Constitution. Still, were the learned Judge "twenty times" a Radical, he spoke a great truth. Religion is stronger than law. Legislators, therefore, in contriving how their laws shall be carried into execution, are bound to see how the priests stand affected. What is the case in Ireland? It might be thought enough to answer, that the conscience of a Roman Catholic does not seem engaged in the obedience he renders to the laws of a Protestant state. He has sworn, and broken his oath-he has violated a law, and felt

no compunction for the transgression he has walked forth from the services of his Church to commit murder

he has mingled with the congregation which witnessed his act of blood, to be screened by their sure and cordial protection-he has murdered the executioners of the law-he has harboured the murderers of the merciful and pure of life, and he has conspired to destroy whole generations, because there was among them some one who had discharged the most painful duty of a citizen and subject. Is not this enough to prove that his priests must have sympathized with him in hostility

to the civil law?

The answer, in our judgment, is obvious. We shall, however, determine by acts-not inferences; and, accordingly, will proceed to show that, in all those principles which we have shown to be in authority with the Roman Catholic people of Ireland, the priests have a common faith with them. To prove this, we shall follow

the same order as we observed in our

classification of the principles of law and ethics received by the "popular party," without entering, however, so minutely into details.

And

1st, For the "Landlord's crime"enforcement of the rights of property-the judgment of priest coincides with that of people; and more, the priests are their " precursors" in the A plain tale will prove this.

matter.

For example,

The county of Tipperary has long had an undisputed and an unenviable supremacy in crime, above all other The note we have parts of Ireland.

already made of two hundred and twenty-four coroners' inquests, and fifty-nine presentments for malicious injuries to property, fiated by the Grand Jury within the last year, will sufficiently prove that it has not degenerated. The county has, however, found an advocate in the person of a dignitary of the Romish Church, the

At a

venerable Archdeacon Laffan. meeting of the Precursor Society, held at the Corn Exchange, Dublin, in the course (we believe on the 11th) of last December, the venerable gentleman is reported to have handed in 1063 names, and £53, 3s. from the Unions of Fethard and Killenski, Tipperary, and to have spoken to the following effect:

"He said it was quite the fashion to

say that the people of Tipperary were It was the habit of Lord Dosavages.

noughmore, and his associate Lord Glengal,
down to the lowest scrivener writing for
the Orange press of that county, to state that
crimes were committed without a cause.

He said that the cause lay in deep and foul
oppression. If he went through almost
every parish of Tipperary, he would find
there the footsteps of tyrant landlords, and
their presence might be traced by the
landmarks of desolation that every where
There was not a
presented themselves.
parish in Ireland in which the visible
proofs of oppression were not to be dis-
covered. In some parishes, whole villages
were swept away, and the villagers cast,
without a house, a shelter, or a potato, on
the world; and let him ask any man pos-
sessing the feelings of human nature
whose heart was not made of marble-was
it a wonderful thing to hear of crime in
Tipperary? No; a brave people were
rendered ferocious by the deeds of cruelty
perpetrated upon them," &c. &c.

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"As sure as the lightning came from the thunder-cloud, so sure effects would follow from their causes. Let the landlords of Tipperary cease their oppressions-let them be only one-half as kind to their poor tenantry as they were to their horses or dogs, and the finger of the assassin would be paralysed upon the trigger. He was sure he had no hopes of softening the hard hearts of the landlords of the county by his observations, but he wished to rescue from calumny and oppression as fine a county as any in her Majesty's doand as brave, as generous, minions-ay, and, he would add, as RELIGIOUS a people.' This, no doubt, was very consoling to the pious felons of Tipperary, persecuted, as they were, into the commission of crime, and into the necessity of hiring and harbouring assassins. Whole days have passed over on which they have abstained from indulgence in a single murder-instances of restraint and self-denial which abundantly vindicate their title to the eulogy in which their pastor describes them as pre-eminently religious. They will, we can well imagine, listen to the exhortations of this faithful preacher. The refractory landlords, he affirms, will not; they are incorrigible. If they would only cease their oppressions," the devout assassins would not shoot them; but as the landlords will

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be hard-hearted still, notwithstanding
the winning expostulation of the cha-
ritable divine, it only remains for him
to preserve the peace and comfort of
a good conscience, by discharging the
duty he owes to himself and his pa-
rishioners in his edifying explanation
of the Tipperary principle of murder.
The archdeacon was communicative
at the Precursor meeting, and made
statements respecting landlords which
created, the report says, a great sen-
sation;" but, inasmuch as they wanted
the notes of time, or place, or person,
by which their accuracy could be
tested, they did not produce, in us,
any
"sensation" creditable to the
narrator, or any wish to copy them
into our pages. We do not, however,
mean to be equally rigid towards other
performances of this venerable divine.
He told one story (it was perhaps after
dinner) in a more daring style than
he had adopted among the Precursors,
with a fulness of detail, indeed, which
enabled parties interested to make
enquiries respecting its truth. We
shall venture upon a brief history of
this instructive transaction.

During the month of November
last, very shortly after the murder
of Mr O'Keefe in the streets of
Thurles, a dinner was given in that
town to Mr O'Connell. Several of
the Roman Catholic gentry, in con-
sequence of the too recent enormi-
ty, declined attending, but there was
an abundant muster of the Roman
Catholic, clergy, eighty, out of two
hundred persons who sat down to din-
ner, being priests, one of them the
Archdeacon Laffan. It was on this
occasion, we apprehend, he made the
speech from which an extract, pur-
porting to be taken from Mr O'Con-
neil's favourite paper, the Pilot, has
The Arch-
been forwarded to us.
deacon had, it appears, at one time
been guilty of the sin of moderation;
at least he once thought it necessary
to do penance for such a crime; and
when proposing Mr Shiel as a candi-
date for the county Tipperary, in the
month of February last, thus excused
himself:-*

"When last I addressed you in this court, I was charged with being too mode

Ryan's Disclosure of the Principles, Designs, &c. &c. London: Edwards. Dublin: Bleakly. Page 165. This is a valuable work, containing much and important docuIf the industrious and able author continue his collectanea," we would recommend the adoption of an arrangement of testimonies under distinct heads,-classification is always serviceable.

mentary evidence. It ought to be in general use.

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