short time however he retired from his friend and counsellor, and was not heard of for many months. When his necessities once more drew him from that mean obscurity in which he too often delighted, his first application was to Mr. Tighe; who sent him some immediate relief accompanied with the following note, the last he was ever favoured with from that gentleman.

To Mr. Dermody.

"NOTWITHSTANDING your ungrateful conduct to Mr. Owenson, Mr. Austin, and that universally honoured and esteemed lady the countess of Moira, I am endeavouring to form schemes for your living and advantage. You must, I conclude, become an author by profession, or an actor, or both. In either of these characters one can assist you.

"The stage is open to

you, if you have

talents; and the press is equally so.

"I have two grand and favourite objects

for this country: 1. the diminution of drams of all sorts, which destroy the people in every sense; 2. the rearing, and employing in industry, orphan children of both sexes, in order to produce an uncontaminated race. If you can by your pen assist these great objects in prose or verse, you will do great credit to yourself, benefit the public, and create the means of living. Byrne or Moore * shall purchase your works: and the first may be entitled The Devil's Gift for 1793; consisting of Epigrams, Ballads, and comical Essays.'

6

"EDWARD TIGHE."

Mr. Walker also, in the following letter, pointed out the lake of Killarney as a fit subject for his muse; but it cannot now be ascertained whether he ever exercised his fancy on that scene of romantic enchantment.

* Two respectable booksellers.

To Mr. Dermody.

"DEAR SIR,

"I NEVER read Mary de Clifford, nor was I ever taught to think highly of it. It was forced upon me by my bookseller. I am really at a loss for a subject to recommend to you. If you are fond of indulging in description, I think you might make the lake of Killarney the scene of a novel or romance, borrowing a subject from the early history of Ireland. A bard occasionally introduced, would give you an opportunity of exercising your lyric powers. Historic novels are fashionable; besides, the scenes of novels or romances have rarely been laid in Ireland. Have you ever been at Killarney? But you may form an idea of it from the descriptions of Leslie and Dunn.

"I am not so fortunate as to possess Gondibert, but I shall leave out Brooke's works for you.

"Yours,

J. C. W."

It may be not unpleasing to those who feel an interest in contemplating the progress of premature genius, to know the sentiments of a father whose fatal example had tainted the dawning mind of his child with those baneful prejudices, which so often degraded his youthful character, and destroyed the fair prospects of his riper years. The letter here introduced is the only memorial that can be obtained either of his shame or of his paternal affection. The sentiments contained in it are of rather a superficial texture; affectionate but not disinterested, glaring but not profound, He certainly loved the boy; he cannot therefore be condemned on that point: but it is true also that the misfortunes which embittered the son's short and eventful life, were chiefly occasioned by the disreputable propensities, the destructive irregularities, of a father.

"Ennis, August 6th, 1792.

"MY DEAR CHILD,

"THE letter you got from me I intended to have sent by a man who seemed to know you well since you went to Dublin, but I find his business required his setting out before I could conveniently write. His account corresponds with your own. He told me you were in the first place of estimation with your former great friends, till overset through the industrious perfidy of the Dublin teachers. I am happy to think it was for no misconduct; as even men of experience are too often deluded, and why not unprotected youth far from sincere counsel? However, be not chagrined at early disappointments; as they may, upon due recollection, serve as a lesson and monitor to guard against future, the wiles of the designing, and the profuse promises of the exalted.

"As to my situation, if not better it is