and of military glory were strangely associ- "The noble families of the Gieremei and The papal clergy, in all ages, have been ambitious of power, and some of them have possessed great influence; such was the case with a Dominican friar in the thirteenth century: endowing twelve maidens with marriage portions. In the morning gondolas elegantly ornamented assembled from all quarters of the city at the episcopal church of Olivolo. The affianced pairs disembarked amidst the sound of music; their relations and friends, in their most splendid habiliments, swelled their retinue; the rich presents made to the brides, their jewels and ornaments, were proudly borne for display; and the body of the people, unarmed, and thoughtless of danger, followed the glad procession. The Istrian pirates, acquainted with the existence of this annual festival, had the boldness to prepare an ambush for the nuptial train in the city itself. They secretly arrived over night at an uninhabited islet, near the church of Olivolo, and lay hidden behind it with their barks until the procession had entered the church, when, darting from their concealment, they rushed into the sacred edifice through all its doors, tore the shrieking brides from the arms of their defenceless lovers possessed themselves of the jewels which had been displayed in the festal pomp, and immediately put to sea with their fair captives and their booty. But a deadly revenge overtook them. The doge, Pietro Candiano II. had been present at the ceremony; he shared in the fury and indignation of the affi-blished order of Dominican friars employed anced youths, they flew to arms, and, throwing all the powers of eloquence over a half civithemselves under his conduct into their ves- lized age in exhortations of universal peace; sels, came up with the spoilers in the lagunes and the preaching of one of these brethren of Caorto. A frightful massacre ensued; had an astonishing but transient influence not a life among the pirates was spared; and upon the ardent temperament of the Italian the victors returned in triumph with their people. At Bologna, Padua, Verona, and brides to the church of Olivolo. A proces- the surrounding cities, Giovanni di Vicenza sion of the maidens of Venice revived for began, three years after the pacification of many centuries the recollection of this deli- 1230, to denounce the iniquity of war and verance on the eve of the Purification. But to inculcate the general forgiveness of injuthe doge was not satisfied with the punish- ries. He was heard with veneration and ment which he had inflicted on the Istriots humility. At his voice the feuds of generaHe entered vigorously upon the resolution of tions were hushed, vows of reconciliation In Florence the nobles displayed a very clearing the Adriatic of all the pirates who were poured forth by the bitterest enemies, lawless spirit in the thirteenth century:infested it; he conquered part of Dalmatia; and he was entreated by contending cities and 'The insolence and tyranny of the nobility and he transmitted to his successors, with the factions to reform their governments and at length excited the violent indignation of ducal crown, the duty of consummating his compose their differences. So absolute be- an individual of their own order, who had design.' came his influence, that a general assembly associated himself in one of the commercial was convened on the plain of Paquara, upon companies. During his short period of office the banks of the Adige, for the establishment as a prior, Giano della Bella seized the of perpetual peace; and the Guelf and Ghi- moment when the people were assembled in belin cities and castles of Lombardy were parliament to suggest and carry some remarkemptied of their population at the summonsable enactments for reducing the nobles to of the preacher. By this immense concourse obedience to the laws. The most effectual an universal amnesty and oblivion of mutual and praiseworthy of these was the creation of wrongs were declared at his suggestion, and a gonfalonier of justice with a permanent Giovanni became the arbitrary master of guard of one thousand citizens, which was political consciences. But he had not virtue shortly increased to four times that number. and disinterestedness to support the office The duty of this officer-the sword of the which he had assumed-if indeed it had civil power-was to execute the commands ever been possible to support it. He aspired of the magistracy and the sentences of the at becoming the temporal as well as the spi- law. His guard was selected from the difritual director of his flock: he grossly abused ferent divisions of the city, and distributed his authority, and the people of Vicenza, into companies, the commanders of which, awaking from the dreams of enthusiasm, termed also gonfaloniers, were resolved upon. shook off his strange yoke, and consigned the particular occasions into a college or corpopseudo-apostle of peace to a captivity from rate body, which shared in the public delibewhence he escaped only with the entire loss rations. When the gonfalonier of justice of his ephemeral reputation.' hung out his gonfalon or banner from the windows of the public palace, the commanders of companies immediately repaired to him. with their followers; and he marched at the head of this national militia against the power The tameness with which the Italians now brook slavery forms a singular and degrading contrast to the fierce spirit of their ancestors, when an individual insult to a plebeian by a nobleman roused the people to a commotion, which ended with the demolition of the houses of the nobles, and their expulsion from the city. In an account of the military system of the Lombards, Mr. Perceval minutely describes the carroccio, or standard car of the state, first used by Eribert, archbishop of Milan, in the war of 1035: It was a car upon four wheels, painted red, and so heavy that it was drawn by four pairs of oxen, with splendid trappings of scarlet. In the centre, raised upon a mast, which was crowned by a golden orb, floated the banner of the republic, and, beneath it, the Saviour, extended on the cross, appeared to pour benediction on the surrounding host. Two platforms occupied the car in front and behind the mast, the first filled with a few of the most valiant soldiers of the army, the chosen guard of the standard, the latter with a band of martial music. Feelings of religion The feuds of the Guelfs and the Ghibelins were long the bane of Italy, and in the thirteenth century an event occurred which deluged the city of Romagna with blood: ful or refractory offender. The gonfalonier | bound to each other in a species of associaof justice was at first subordinate to the sig- tion; and, as the White Company mustered a niory of priors; but the importance of his thousand lances, besides two thousand infanfunctions shortly occasioned his elevation to try, their whole force was five thousand men. an equality with that body, and terminated Their cavaliers made little other use of their in placing him at their head. Like them he horses than to bear them in their heavy was elected every two months, and resided in armour to the field of battle, where they the public palace; with them he completed usually dismounted and formed an impenethe signiory; and he was in effect the first trable and resistless phalanx; and in this magistrate of the state.* close order, with their ponderous lances lowered at the charge and each held by two men, they slowly advanced with loud cheers towards their enemy. Their defensive arms were of the mixed character of plate and mail, which was still retained in England and France, after the full casing of steel had been adopted in Italy. Over their mail-coats of interlaced chain they wore cuirasses of iron; their brasses, their cuisses, and boots, were of the same material; and their array shone with dazzling splendour, for each cavalier was attended by a page, whose constant occupation was to burnish his armour. Wars between the rival republics and internal revolutions succeed each other with such rapidity in Italian history, that the country appears one scene of broil and warfare : One circumstance in the war between Pisa and Florence may possess some attraction for the British reader. Among the foreign condottieri who served in these campaigns, by far the most celebrated captain was an Englishman; and the palm of martial excellence is conceded by contemporary writers to the bands of our nation who followed his standard. After the peace of Bretigni, which our Edward III. and John of France concluded in 1358, their disbanded soldiery had formed themselves into companies of adventare, several of which, after horribly ravaging the exhausted provinces of northern France, carried their devastations into Provence; and from thence one of them, the White, or English company passed + into the service of the Marquis of Montferrat, who was still at war with the Visconti. But, with the charac teristic inconstancy of such adventurers, the company shortly delivered the marquis from their onerous maintenance, by entering the Pisan pay on the expiration of their engagement with him. They had been trained in the wars of Edward III. and the Italian historians speak with admiration both of their valour and of their ability in surprises and stratagems, the partisan warfare of the times. Their cavalry introduced two new military practices into Italy: the custom of reckoning their numbers by lances, and of dismounting to combat on foot. Each lance, as it was termed, was, at least at this time, composed of three cavaliers, who were "Mr. Roscoe has fallen into a strange inaccuracy in speaking as if the gonfalonier of justice was at a later period subordinate to the college of priors (Life of Lorenzo de Medici, vol. ii. p. 51.); and Mr. Hallam, on the other hand, omitting to notice the steps of this use. ful magistrate's ascent to the presidency of the signiory, would leave the reader to suppose that the original constitution of his office placed him in that station.' Our countrymen themselves, no desirable acquisition for Italy, introduced with them a still more appalling evil. They hoped, by shifting their quarters across the Alps, to avoid the frightful pestilence which was then extending its ravages from the north into the south of France: but, instead of escaping this scourge, they carried it with them into the Lombard platns, whence it was communicated to the rest of Italy." In some, however, of the bands of German mercenaries serving in Italy at this period, every cavalier was attended by a man-at-arms, mounted and equipped like himself. As these German bands were called barbuti, from the flowing horse-hair which ornamented their 'These hardy English bands, habituated to their own bracing climate, braved with indifference the utmost rigour of an Italian winter; the severity of no season was a protection against their enterprises; and the light scaling ladders, which they carried in detached pieces, facilitated the war of surprises wherein they excelled. The talents of their leader added to the reputation which these qualities of soldiership obtained for them. This eminent captain, who is called by the Italians, Acuto, or Auguto, was Sir John Hawkwood, an adventurer of mean extraction, for he is said to have been originally a tailor, who had been knighted by Edward III. for his distinguished services in the French wars. The Pisans entrusted him with the supreme command of their forces in the contest with Florence; and from this period we shall find him passing the long remainder of his life in the incessant troubles of Italy, and deservedly regarded as the most accomplished commander of his times. (To be concluded in our next.) Selections from the Various Authors who have written concerning Brazil; more particula ly respecting the Captaincy of Minas Geraes and the Gold Mines of that Province. By BARCLAY MOUNTENEY, author of "The Historical Inquiry relative to the late Emperor Napoleon.' 8vo. pp. 182. London, 1825. E. Wilson ALTHOUGH Mr. Mounteney can write well and ably on more subjects than one, yet in the work before us he avows himself what old Wotton would call a gatherer and dis casques, this became the general term for cavalry composed, like them, of lances of two horses. This custom of computing cavalry by lances was of feudal origin, when the knight himself, the lancer, was attended by several mounted retainers, more lightly armed, who composed with him the full equipment of his lance. But it does not appear that, in the White Company and other mercenary bands, the men of the same lance were anything more than comrades and equals who chose to serve inseparably to gether.' poser of other men's stuff.' He might, however, claim the merit of collecting from various sources a mass of information on a subject of great interest at the present time, and of arranging it in a systematic manner. Mr. Mounteney commences with a brief history of Brazil, from its discovery by Pinzon, in 1499, to the establishment of a constitutional and imperial government, under the Emperor Don Pedro the First. The author then treats of the navigation, general geography, natural history, geology, mineralory, &c. of Brazil; the work also contains medical hints and suggestions to travellers, and a variety of useful information to persons visiting this. part of the new world; but it is to the mining districts and the mines that Mr. Mounteney principally directs his attention, and, in this mining and undermining age, as Mathews calls it, his account of the subject will be read with interest. Unconnected as we are with the Anglo, or United Mexican, Anglo-Chilian, or Chilian and Peruvian, Pasco Peruvian, or Peruvian or other mining companies, by whatever names they may be called, and being less anxious for the precious metals than some persons, we feel no particular inclination to discover what country is the richest in ore, or which mine is likely to be the most productive to the possessors. On this point no doubt much difference of opinion prevails, and perhaps the question is only to be accurately determined by experience. Mr. Mounteney contends, and we believe with much truth, that Brazil is particularly rich in mines; and indeed this is pretty clear from the circumstance that, injudiciously as the art of mining is conducted, Brazil has produced, and continues to produce, the greater part of the gold which circulates at this time in Europe. The following is the account of the mines in the district of Minas Geraës, and the method of working them':-- The first gold which is certainly known to have been produced in Minas Geraës, was a sample of three oitavas, presented in 1695 to the Capitain Mor, of Espirito Santo, by Antonio Rodriguez Arzain, a native of the town of Tuboate, since which period it has, been discovered in all the districts of which, the captaincy is composed. The news of gold having been found in Minas Geraës soon attracted there a great number of Paulistas and Europeans. It was, however, in 1703, that the principal influence of adventurers to the mines took place: meanwhile, discoveries of gold continued to be made. In 1714, one piece of native gold was found, which was worth 700 milreis (nearly £200.) Three others of nearly the same size, and one of the value of 3030 crusados (£300.) were also about this period dug from the earth, although the latter had the disadvantage of lying deep. 'At the commencement of the mining system in the Brazils, the common method of proceeding was to open a square pit, which the workmen called cata, till they came to the cascalho: this they broke up with pickaxes, and, placing it in a baten, a wooden vessel, broad at the top and narrow at the bottom, exposed it to the action of running water, shaking it from side to side till the earth was washed away, and the metallic particles had all subsided. Lumps of native gold were often found from twenty to one hundred oitavas in weight; a few which weighed from two to three hundred, and one, it is asserted, of thirteen pounds; but these were insulated pieces, and the ground where they were discovered was not rich. All the first workings were in the beds of rivers, or in the taboleiros, the table-ground on their sides. 'In 1724, the method of mining had undergone a considerable alteration, introduced by some natives of the northern country; instead of opening catus, or searching-places, by hand, and carrying the cascalho thence to the water, the miners conducted water to the mining ground, and, washing away the mould, broke up the cascalho in pits under a fall of the water, or exposed it to the same action in wooden troughs; and thus a great expense of human labour was spared. At the commencement of the present century, there was a general complaint in Minas Geraes, that the ground was exhausted of its gold; yet it was the opinion of all scientific men, and still continues to be so, that hitherto only the surface of the earth had been scratched, and that the veins are for the most part untouched. The mining was either in the beds of the streams or in the mountains; in process of time the rivers had changed their beds; the miners discovered that the primary beds were above the present level, and these they called guapiaras; the next step is the taboleiro, which seems to be close by the side of the veio, or present body of the stream. All these are mining-grounds: the first is easily worked, because little or no waters remain there; the surface had only to be removed, and then the cascalho was found. In the second step, wheels were often required to draw off the water; the present bed could only be worked by making a new cut, which is called valo, and diverting the stream, and, even when this is done, the wheel is still wanting. The wheel was a clumsy machine, which it was frequently necessary to remove, and fifty slaves or more were employed a whole day in removing it. This was the only means in use for saving human labour, for not even a cart or handbarrow was to be seen; the rubbish and the cascalho were all carried in troughs upon the heads of slaves, who in many instances had to climb up steep ascents, where inclined planes might have been formed with very little trouble, and employed with great advantage. talho alberto, the open cut,-laying the vein bare by clearing away the surface. This labour is immense, if water cannot be brought to act upon the spot; and, when even there is water, it is not always easy to direct it, nor will the nature of the cut allow always of its use. When the miners found no cascalho in the mountains, they suspected that the stones might contain gold, and they were not deceived in the supposition. This is the most difficult mode of extraction: the stones were broken by manual labour, with iron mallets; in a few instances only, one machine was worked by slaves, instead of cattle. 'The modes of mining having been so imperfect, it has not unreasonably been concluded, that now, when more scientific means are about being adopted, Bazil is likely to yield a greater quantity of gold than at any former time.' We have no room for an account of the other mines in Brazil, but, as we presume every person who can speculate a thousand pounds in mining shares can give a few shillings for a good work on the subject, we shall refer them to the volume before us. Two brief extracts we shall make; the first shows the progress of improvement in the Brazils: "The post-office at Rio Janeiro has extended its connections to every part of Brazil. In the capital, booksellers have established themselves, and gazettes are published both here and at Bahia. These changes, though many of them more immediately affect the metropolis, have, and will continue to have, a considerable influence over the whole country other improvements, belonging more immediately to the interior, have added to the general prosperity. Forts have been built on the frontiers, and detachments stationed wherever it was thought they would be beneficial. Telegraphs have been erected along the coast. Men eminent for their knowledge have been ordered to the provinces as governors, and a strict charge has been given them to proceed upon the principles adopted in the capital, for the benefit of the state. Finally, a company has been formed, under royal patronage, for improvement in the art of mining, and another for effecting maritime assurances.' As the Brazilians often play tricks upon travellers relative to ore, and file up the brass pans and kettles we send them, which they pass off as gold-dust, we shall quote Mr. Mounteney's test for detecting gold-dust that has been adulterated: Place a little gold-dust in a glass tube or River mining, however, was the easiest earthenware saucer, and pour nitric acid and most effectually performed; it was, upon it; then hold the glass or saucer over a therefore, the commonest. But the greater flame, or upon a few embers, until red flames part of those streams which were known to (nitric vapours) arise: if it be pure gold, the be auriferous had been wrought. The moun- liquid will not become discoloured, but if tains were more tempting, but required much pyrites or brass filings should have been greater labour; a few braças, if the veins were mixed with it, the acid will become turbid, good, enriched the adventurers for ever, and, green, and black, discharging bubbles of air. in the early days of the mines, the high After the ebullition has ceased, the residue grounds attracted men who were more enter- should be washed with water, and acid again prising and persevering than their descend-poured upon it, when the same effect may be ants. The mode of working in such ground is not by excavation, but by what is called observed, but in a less degree; and if the experiment be repeated till all effervescence ceases, it will, finally, leave the gold-dustpure.' We must repeat this work contains a great deal of useful information relating to Brazil, which was hitherto scattered over numerous heavy and expensive works. Tales, by the O'Hara Family: containing Crohoore of the Bill-Hook, the Fetches, and John Doe. 3 vols. 12mo. pp. 1163. London, 1825. Simpkin and Marshall. THESE tales are three in number, and are entitled Crohoore of the Bill-Hook, the Fetches, and John Doe. They combine an admirable picture of the manners and superstitions of the Irish, and the state of society, with welltold and interesting narratives; and, although they are avowedly tales of fiction, many of the incidents have been realized, and there is no instance of either crime or virtue related that has not a counterpart in Irish history. Many of the characters, which are admirably drawn, have all the fidelity of portraits, and are to be found in real life, while others lay claim to great originality, and are painted with a vigorous hand. The author is a man of decided talent, who is intimately acquainted with Ireland and the Irish character. The first tale we shall notice is Crohoore of the Bill-Hook. The scene of this tale is laid in Kilkenny, at the commencement of whiteboyism, and the author gives a melancholy picture of the state of society at that time, when the persecutions of the Roman Catholics had made them consider the Protestants as their natural enemies. The tale commences with an Irish wake, which is well described, and at which an old man relates how Anthony Dooling and his wife Carth (whose wake they were keeping) had been murdered, and their only daughter, Alley, carried away the same night. Anthony, or Tony, Dooling was a substantial farmer, kind-hearted and hospitable, but of a violent temper; the servants of his house sat with the family, and, one Christmas eve, Pierce Shea, who courted Alley, called as usual, and a dance was struck up, while Tony indulged in a can of ale: 'There was but one individual present, the quick and resolute glance of whose red eye, as it shot from one to another of the dancers, showed no sympathy with the happy scene. This was a young man, in the prime of life. as to years, but with little else of the charm. of youth about him. An exuberance of bristling fiery-red hair stared around a head of unusual size; his knobby forehead projected much, and terminated in strongly-marked simuses, with brows of bushy thickness, the colour of his hair; his eyes fell far into their sockets, and his cheek-bones pushed out proportionably with his forehead, so that the eyes glared as from a recess; then his cheeks were pale, hollow, and retiring; his nose, of the old Milesian mould, long, broad-backed, and hooked; his jaws came unusually forward, which caused his teeth to start out from his face; and his lips, that, without much ef fort, never closed on those disagreeable teeth, were large, fleshy, and bloodless, the upper one wearing, in common with his chin, 2. red beard, just changed from the down of youth to the bristliness of manhood, and as yet unshaven. These features, all large to disproportion, conveyed, along with the unpleasantness deformity inspires, the expression of a bold and decided character; and something else besides, which was malignity or mystery, according to the observation or mood of the curious observer. Had they, together with the enormous head, been placed on the shoulders of a man of large size, they would not, perhaps, have created much extraordinary remark; but attached, in the present instance, to a trunk considerably under the height of even men of low staarre, their unnatural disproportion probably heightened their unfavourable expression, and, joined to another cause we shall have eccasion to notice, created, among his rustic compeers, a feeling of dislike and dread for their possessor; repelling all freedom, which, by the way, he did not seem anxious to encourage. Having said this young person was very short in stature, it should be added, that he was not at all deformed. Across his shoulders and breast, indeed, was a breadth that sold more for strength than proportion, and Fris arms were long, and of Herculean sinew; but the lower part of the figure, hips, thighs, and legs, bespoke vigour and elasticity, rather than clumsiness, and it was known that, strange-looking as the creature might be, he could run, leap, or wrestle, with a swiftness and dexterity seldom matched among men of more perfect shape and more promising appearance.' This was Crohoore, the hero of the tale, who was sharpening a rusty bill-hook on a whetstone, the grating of which offended Tony Dooling. He bade him leave off, and was answered by sullen looks. Tony, who was rather intoxicated, called Crahoore many scurvy names, ordered him off to bed, and struck him, when he fell down and cut his head; he turned round his ghastly face on his master, and, banging the door after him, left the room. Pierce had promised to call early and conduct Alley to church next morning; but, on entering the house, found Tony and Cauth Dooling, with their servants, dead, and weltering in blood, Alley gone, the bill-hook stained with human gore, and Crohoore missing. The murder of the Doolings and their female servant, together with the abduction of the daughter, were at once fixed on Crohoore, particularly as the best horse in the stall was missing. The neighbours, who had always regarded Crohoore as something more than human, and under the protection of fairies, now recollected how their cattle had died, when they quarrelled with him, and numberless proofs that he was→ Not like the inhabitants o' the earth, And yet was on't.' True it was that Crohoore had forcibly carried off Alley Dooling, and lodged her safely in a retreat not easily discoverable. Pierce Shea, eager to recover the girl to whom he was betrothed, as well as to avenge the murder of her parents, labours incessantly to discover the man who had carried her off, in the course of which some singular incidents oc cur. On one occasion, he comes nearly up with him, plunges into a river after Crohoore, and owes his preservation from drowning to the very man he was in quest of. At another time, while in pursuit of Crohoore, accompanied by Rhia Doran, one of the secret leaders of the Whiteboys, who had been rejected by Alley (whom he had once carried off, until rescued by Pierce Shea), and professed a false friendship for his rival, a man attempted to shoot Pierce, but his gun snapped fire, and at this moment the assassin received a shot in the arm. In one of his adventures, Pierce Shea thought he had found Crohoore; but it was the wrong man, and he earnestly asked pardon: "Dieu-a-uth," said the astonished stranger. ་་ "Dieu-as-mayu-uth †," answered Pierce: scarce able to articulate, overcome by exertion, and the nervousness that generally succeeds the sudden excitation of hope or fear when as suddenly disappointed. "Savin' manners," continued the man, "will you let a body be askin' you the name that's on you?-May be you'd be Master Pierce Shea?" 6 "The very man," said Pierce. "Why, then, you're only the very man I tuck you for, an' the very one I was wishin' to see, into the bargain." "Here you see me, then; and what after?" bottom of his breeches-pocket, and, with great sobriety of face, buttoning them up. At last he thought of going on. "Why, then, I'll tell you every word' about id. You must know, Master Pierce, myself is none o' you common counthry spalpeens (not for to say so by way of disparagement o' the country where I was bred an' born); but I knows more nor a dozen o' them cratures, that does nothin' only dig an' plough from year's end to year's end; I have a sort of a call to the law, d'ye see me, an' I goes to the neighbours wid a bit o' paper, or maybe a bit o' calf-skhin, just as the thing happens to be;" winking cunningly. We may venture to mention here, begging pardon for the digression, that in all probability it was a happy circumstance for the process-server, that Andy Houloan heard not this intelligence, as, from his cradle, he mortally hated all "bums," and might have felt little repugnance in knocking a chip from his skull, just out of general antipathy to the race. ""What have I to do with this?" asked Pierce. 6.66 Why, I'm only lettin' you into id fur to larn you that I'm not the gourloch to be frightened wid your sheeog stories, or the likes, an' fur that raison, to the ould duoul myself bobs 'em. Well, à-roon. I overhard them sayin' id, that had a good right to know all about id, as how there was a lob o' money fur the man that 'ud lay hould o' this “I hard iv your story, an' could make a Crohoore; an' so I went here, an' axin' sort iv a guess to what you're about, I'm there, an' maybe I didn't make out the ups thinkin'; may be you're not huntin' Cro-an' downs o' the thing; hopin' I'd cum hoore-na-bil-hoge ?"across him in some o' my thravels; an' sure enough I have him cotched this loocky an' blessed morning." "But where is he, man?" impatiently interrupted Pierce; "what do you keep me here for?" "Your guess is as true as the daylight." "Musha, then, as good loock ud have id, I have a sort of a notion that maybe I'd be the very boy could tell you where to find him." 6.66 Where, where?" exclaimed Pierce. "An' I'll be bould to say, you'd be for offerin' somethin' that 'ud be handsome, for the news." give." "Or all I have in the world!" "An' that's a purty penny, too, by all accounts that I could hear. But, somehow, myself, ever an' always, had a likin' an' love for araguthchise; an' if there was sich a thing as a guinea-orrh§, or a thing that away, an' if we war to see the face iv id, who knows." ""Och, a-bouchal, there's two words to a bargain: if you war the omadhaun to give your money beforehand, that's no raison in life myself 'ud be over soon wid my speech." "Rascal! do you mean to trifle with "I'd give the wide world!” "That's a good dale, if it was your's to me?" rejoined Pierce, clutching his pistol. "Be pacable, now, a-vich," said the limb of the law, drawing a brace of them from his bosom ; you see, if you're for that work, I'm not the fool to venture out where rib-breakin,' done wid a sledge is often our best treatment; an' so, here's two good shots for your one; but where's the use o' that when we can settle the matther in a more lawful manner. Just listen to me I was goin' to sthrike a bit of a bargain wid you: you must as good as take your buke oath-an' its puttin' unheerd of thrust in you, when I haven't the buke to hand--but I hear you come of as honest a stock as myself-well, you must swear that every skhilling o' the reward, fur the cribbin o' this bouchal, 'ill come into my pocket, an' no other body as mooch as sneeze Pierce ran his hand into his pocket, and drew out a brace of guineas; bank-notes were then a scarcity. "Here, then," he said, "and now your information, quick; oh, quick, quick, and Heaven bless you?" "They're the right sort, to a sartainty," observed the man, stooping down, jingling the guineas separately on a flat-stone rear him, and then folding them up in a dirty piece of paper, thrusting them into the very at it." "I swear by my father's soul, you must get every farthing of it." ""See, now; sure that's more asy nor to waste our powther for nothin'; an' tell me; duv you see no sort of a place you'd be for *Bailiffs.' 666 hiding yourself in, supposin' a body was pur- darkness of this gaping orifice, repelling 6.66 Do you mean the cave?" That's the very spot, a-vich; keep your tongue to yourself; keep your toe in your brogue; tell no livin' sowl what we're about; I'm just going a start o' the road, to shuv this to a neighbour," showing a latitat, "an I'll be wid you again while you can shake yourself; stop in the mouth o' the cave, an' watch till I come; an' I'm the divil's rougue or we'll ketch a hould o' the bouchal, plaise God." This fellow intimates that Crohoore is secreted in the cave of Dunmore, of which we have the following animated description: suggesting a region to be traversed so differ- 'After entering the mouth of the cavern, 'The cave of Dunmore is regarded as the great natural wonder of this district; so much so, that travellers come out of their road to see and explore it. At the time of our narration, it was believed by the surrounding peasantry to be the residence of every description of supernatural beings; nay, to this day, there are shrewd notions on the point; but, at a remoter one, the conviction reigned in its glory. Here, on great occasions, did the good people hold their revels; and it was also the chosen abode of the Leprechauns, or fairy mechanics, who, from all quarters of the island, assembled in it (the cavern being suspected to ramify, under ground, to every point of the kingdom), for the purpose of manufacturing footgear for the little race to which they were appended. This could not be doubted, as many had heard the din of their hammers, and caught odd glimpses of their green sherkeens, or of their caps with red feathers in them, what time the stars grew white before It was the dwelling, too, of more horrid sprites, of whose nature there existed no clear notion, but who, in the very distant abodes of the cavern, roamed along the off brink of a little subterranean rivulet, the boundary of their dark abode, and who took "The other passage winds an equal disvast delight in exterminating any unfortunate tance, and leads to the subterranean rill that being fool-hardy enough to cross the forbid- bubbles, as before mentioned, over scraps of den stream, and so encroach on their charm- human bones; and over some entire ones, ed domain; and this was also fully shown too, we having, when led to the cavern for by the splintered human bones that (really, scenic illustration of the facts of this history, however) strewed the bed of the rill. Wild adventurously plunged our hand into the clear shrieks were often heard to pierce the dark-water, and taken therefrom a tibia of unusual ness through the gaping mouth of the ca- length; and, indeed, the fact that such huvern; but oftener the merry fairy-laugh, and man relics are there to be seen, almost a the small fairy music, tingled to the night quarter of a mile from the light of the earth, breeze. must, if we reject the peasant's fine superstition, show us the misery of some former time of civil conflict, that could compel any wretched fugitive to seek, in the recesses and horrors of such a place, just as much pause as might serve him to starve, die, and rot.' the sun. The absolute physiognomy of the place was calculated to excite superstitious notions In the midst of a level field, a precipitate inclined plane led down to a sudden pit, across which, like a vast blind arch, the entrance yawned, about eighty feet perpendicular, and from thirty to forty wide; overhung and festooned with ivy, lichen, bramble, and a variety of wild shrubs, and tenanted by the owl, the daw, and the carrion crow, that made rustling and screaming exit into the daylight as soon as disturbed by an exploring foot; and when, all at once, you stood on the verge of the descent, and locked from the cheery day into the pitch We have already alluded to the forcible picture it gives of the miseries of some of the Irish, from the oppressions of the proctors, and other causes. Pierce is introduced by Doran to an assemblage of Whiteboys; it is an admirable scene; we have, however, only room for the harangue of one poor wretch, Terence Delany, who was stripped of his all, when his wife was on her death-bed. A previous orator, a schoolmaster, hal spoken of the good they might do, when the ""Who talks of the good we can do?→→→ we look not to do good; we are not able nor fit to do good; we only want our revenge!— And that, while we are men, and have strong hands, and broken hearts, and brains on fire with the memory of our sufferings-that we can take. Your father, young man, never writhed in the proctor's gripe; he has riches, and they bring peace and plenty, so that the robber's visit was not felt or heeded; but look at me!"-With the fingers of one hand he pressed violently his sallow and withered cheek, and with the other tore open the scanty vesture, that, leaving him uncovered from the shoulders to the ribs, exhibited a gaunt skeleton of the human form"I have nothing to eat, no house to sleep in; my starved body is without covering, and those I loved, and that loved me, the pulses of my heart, are gone; how gone? and how am I as you see me?-Twelve months ago I had a home, and covering, and food, and the young wife, the mother of my children, with me, at our fire-side; but the plunderer came on a sudden: I was in his debt; he has a public-house, and he saw me sitting in another in the village; he took my cow, and he took my horse; he took them to himself; I saw them and may all ill-luck attend his ill-got riches!—I saw them grazing on his own lands; I was mad; every thing went wrong with me; my landlord came, and swept the walls and the floor of my cabin; my wife died in her labour;who was to stand up for me?-where had I a friend, or a great one to help me?-No one; no where; there is no friend, no help, no mercy, no law for the poor Irishman; he may be robbed-stripped insulted-set mad-but he has no earthly friend but himself!" 'The wretch sprung from his seat, seized his vessel, and, with the look and manner of maniac, indeed, added a "And here let every MAN here pledge me! May his heart wither, and his children and name perish !-May the grass grow on his hearth-stone, and no kin follow his corpse to the grave, who will refuse to wreak on the hard-hearted proctors the revenge they provoke by the sorrows they inflict!" In a moment of frenzy, Pierce took the Whiteboy's oath, and was appointed by Doran lieutenant of the parish of Clarah; nay, he even went so far as to promise to attend them, on a future evening, in a nocturnal visit to Peery Clancy, the tithe-proctor, who had so cruelly treated Terence Delany: the proctor is visited, carried off, buried chindeep in the ground, and deprived of his ears. Terence Delany is ordered to be the sentinel, and release him in an hour. Terence would have killed him, had not Pierce Shea feared as much, and returned to save the tithe-proetor, who had the ingratitude to denounce Pierce as a Whiteboy, and give him in custody. Pierce and Terence are rescued, in their way to prison, by a party who are seemingly conveying a corpse to church; the sergeant of the party, however, acts trea |