down over his forehead; his eyes were small and sharp, but his mouth spread entirely across his face: he was labouring away at a little shoe that he had nearly finished; he seemed as merry as a kitten, for he was singing as he worked. — Mrs. Doran remembers only one

verse

Oh! the days are coming fast, And we'll all be snug at last. He at length raised his head, and, seeing Mrs. Doran before him, he made a desperate jump towards a hole in the hedge, but she had him fast before he could say Thank ye:' she laid hold of the shoe, held up the stranger by the back of the neck, turned him round three times, and then kept him with his face to the east. This is the sure way to manage your Leprachauns; hold them tight, and they must do what you please. He cried like a child- What d'ye want, Mrs. Doran?' said he. I want a little money,' said Mrs. Doran, if you please, for I know ye good people have lots of it.' How much will do? said the Leprachaun, striving still to get loose. Just enough to make me snug in my old days,' said Mrs. Doran, and to make Mary easy after I die;' as she spoke she held him still tighter. 'Bring me over that ditch,' said he, into the little green field there.' She dragged him over. Come to the middle of the field,' said the Leprachaun. Here, continued the fairy, as they reached the centre of the field, here is enough to make you and all belonging to you happy-come here at sunrise, dig straight down, and you'll find a crock of gold that has been hid for a hundred years and more :give me the shoe now, and let me away.' Are you telling me the truth?' said Mrs. Doran. On the honour of a Leprachaun, the gold is here,' replied the stranger. Well,' said she, I'll keep the shoe, at any rate, as a pledge; go away then, and join your people.' She loosened her grasp, and he was out of sight in a moment. 'How,' said Mrs. Doran to herself, will I know this spot at sun-rise? how will I find it? Ay! ay! I'll drop my red pincushion here; it will be a good mark.'-She laid down her red pincushion and returned

6

home, taking care not to tell Mary a word of what had passed. At sun-rise she was sure to be up: she took a small spade with her and went to the green field; it was no longer a green field-it was covered all over with red pincushions. Oh! the murdering thief of the world,' cried Mrs. Doran, and has he tricked me in this manner? Well, wait till I catch him again! May-be I wont hold him fast: but I've the little shoe at any rate; he must come for that.' She returned from the field. Mary questioned her, but she was quite sulky; she went at once to bed, and lay there until the next day!' 'Well, but what became of the pincushions?' said I. There are many stories about them; some say that a storm carried them off, and others declare that about noon they all crumbled into dust; the field, at any rate, is not the same since. As to the shoe, Mrs. Doran left it at the News-office : numbers saw it; it was the talk of the town, and all wanted to know what was meant by the Leprachaun's visit, for old people say—

When the Leprachauns appear, Times of trouble still are near. It was quite clear that some harm would come on us, but no one knew what it would be. The Ribandmen were quite thick in the county Kildare, but Doctor Doyle kept them out of our county: the Orangemen were too feeble; we did'nt dread them. We were still puzzled, when at last. the coming of the Bible-men explained all."— How?' said I. Why, the moment Mrs. Doran laid her eyes upon them, she singled out Mr. Pope, and said aloud that he was one of the black Swaddling-looking men she had seen in her dream on the evening that she caught the Luperchaun. I believe this was remarkable enough.'

6

Very remarkable,' said I; but, about these Bible-battles, what harm did they do?'

'A great deal of harm,' answered my companion. I can't say what may have taken place in Cork or in Kilkenny, but I know for certain that here they did do mischief. From the moment that these men entered the town, there was a visible separation of Catholic and Protestant;

people began to look on each other with suspicion; some, who never thought of controversy before, now began to cross-question each other men who met every day, without once thinking of religious differences, now laid a great stress on every little point. Do you approve of circulating the Scriptures indiscriminately?" "No!"" Then you are opposed to God and his word." This was the bone of contention, and here began many a serious quarrel.'

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Were you present,' said I, at any part of the discussion ?'

I was present for a short time on the first day, but the little meeting-house was so thronged that I couldn't bear it. I must own to you that I trembled for the poor old church, when I saw the contending parties. On the one side there were three practised preachers, two of them of great eminence from the metropolis, and the other a person who had obtained great celebrity as a controversialist in Cork; opposed to them there were three plain country priests, all very young, and all apparently knowing very little of the world. I say nothing of the other speakers, but I didn't think the match at all fair. Doctor Doyle, from the first, refused to take any part in the dispute.'

The people, no doubt, were greatly excited? I may say they were half mad while the affair was going on; all inquiry, all eagerness, all anxiety, but by no means disposed to violence.' You maintain, I suppose, that the priests had the victory? I know the other party claim it for themselves.'

Let the public decide on that: I believe the chairman, a very worthy Protestant, gave it against the Saints. there is another proof of their being vanquished, which is their getting angry: they spread stories abroad that they had a narrow escape from being murdered. One of the speakers, it is said, had to leap over a wall near the meeting-house; this is really a bounce, for the wall happens to be nearly eighteen feet high; but have you seen any of their late letters? They are still striving to keep it up still struggling, like old women, for

the last word: but here am I safe at home; go you at once to your lodging.'-Thus, for the night, we separated.

Some of my friend's remarks on the Bible folks were, as I thought, reasonable enough; in a country like Ireland they can do no good; they want, in the first place, the confidence of the people; those that listen to them, or appear to be converted, are generally interested hypocrites. How can the bulk of the populace think any thing good which comes from a body of men who not only revile that old religion which they love, but stand constantly opposed to their claims as subjects of a free state? The Saints, as politicians, are illiberal; as members of private life, their charity has, generally, a view to proselytism; and, as a religious sect, there is too much of gloom about them to suit the gay and volatile temper of the Irish. Their plan of forcing or smuggling the sacred volume into circulation will ultimately produce an injurious effect; it is calculated to render the book an object of suspicion among the ignorant; it goes almost to bring it into contempt. They are not dealing fairly with the priests when they accuse them of withholding the Scriptures altogether. Numbers of the Catholic laity are expert enough at controversy. Mr. Pope, the black surly gentleman already alluded to, was baffled at the last Kildare Street meeting by a poor popish layman. The latter quoted Scripture from memory, while the divine had to call for a Bible! So much for popish darkness.

Doctor Doyle was away in another part of his diocese when I left Carlow; but his hand and his care are visible in the schools and other institutions of the place. I visited the chapel during what is called the children's mass; and such a mass of children I have not seen since. In this I do not speak profanely; upwards of a thousand boys and girls attended, all whom, I am told, are educated by the clergymen, assisted by some religions, ladies who devote their time to that object almost exclusively.

MY DEAR EDITOR-Since you found Le Maire's story an amusing one, it has occurred to me that another of our hospital tales might not be disagreeable, and I therefore send it you. We had taken among our prisoners the Baron Waleski, a Polish officer, who commanded a hussar regiment, and who had been badly wounded in an early part of the action. His rank and his reputation as a soldier caused him to be treated by our people with all possible attention: he was lodged in the same hospital with us, and his bed happened to be next to mine. I found him a perfect soldier, and one of the most agreeable men I ever knew. He had been in the army from a boy; but he had been also in the best society, and had mixed with the most accomplished as well as the bravest men of his time. Our being of different parties in the war then waging did not prevent our being excellent friends in the hospital; and I am sure the Baron was as much liked by the Frenchmen as any officer of their own nation. He was very happy at telling anecdotes of his campaigns, and of the chances he had encountered. His first service had been in the year 1787, in the war against the Turks, when he was a lieutenant in the Czekler Hussars, one of the most distinguished regiments in the service. He related the following circumstance, which happened to him in his first campaign:

In the spring of 1788 I set off from Miclos Var, in Transylvania, with a party of recruits which I had been raising to join my regiment, then quartered in the neighbourhood of Orsowa. An old gipsy woman, who had been long hanging about the camp, and acting as a sutler occasionally, came to see my recruits. She was an useful person to us, often supplying us with wines and other delicacies, which it was not easy for us to procure, but which she had some means, unknown to us, of getting at. My new soldiers, who were most of them peasants, and of course very superstitious, wanted to try her skill in another way, and to have their fortunes told. She readily complied; and, as I stood by, laughVOL. I.-No. 5.

ing at the scene, and joking the men for their folly in placing any credit in what this beldame told them, she turned round upon me with a spiteful grin, which only made me laugh the more, and asked if I would have my fate foretold.

"Oh, willingly," I said, putting out my hand, and giving her at the same time the customary piece of silver.

'She looked at the lines in my hand very attentively for some moments, and then, putting up her finger as she fixed her dark eyes upon mine, she said, slowly and solemnly, "The twentieth of August!"

'I asked her to explain what was to happen on the twentieth of August; but she stood shaking her head, and Í could not get another word out of her. I was soon tired of this farce, and walked away. When I had got about two paces from her, she called out again, in her shrill voice, "The twentieth of August!" and, although I did not place the least faith in her prediction, and believed her to be a good-for-nothing hag, I confess that I found myself recalling her words, and the tone of her voice, several times afterwards in the course of the day.

We soon joined the army; and, having got my recruits into a little order, they and I came in for a full share of all the dangers and fatigues of the campaign. It is well known that in this war the Turks did not give themselves the trouble of making prisoners. Their commanding officers had offered a reward of a ducat for every enemy's head that was brought into the camp; and the janissaries and spahis lost no opportunity of earning their ducats. The consequence was very fatal to our outposts. Not a night passed but the Turks came down in considerable numbers to look for heads; and their attacks were made with so much secrecy and promptitude, that they seldom missed carrying away several at their saddle-bows. It often happened, that, at day-break, one part of the camp would be guarded only by bodies without heads. The Prince de Cobourg, for the purpose of putting a stop to this traffic, used to send out

2 E

strong piquets of cavalry beyond the line of the videttes, to protect them. These piquets, which consisted of from one to two hundred men, only protected the videttes for a short time, because the Turkish guards sent down stronger bodies of their men, and so carried away more heads of ours, although they occasionally left behind some of their own. These accidents made the piquet service of such a nature, that no one went out upon it without settling his little affairs beforehand.

"Things were in this state when the month of August arrived. We had had some fighting, and the position of the army was not changed. About a week before the twentieth I saw the old gipsy again, who came into my tent to offer me some provisions. While I was making my bargain with her, she reminded me of what she had said when we last met.

"And now," said she, "will you leave me a legacy, in case you die on that day?"

"Not I, indeed," I replied; "I shall choose a younger and a prettier girl for my heiress."

"What will you stake with me, against a hamper of Tokai, that you die on that day?"

'I thought that, although I was likely enough to die before that day, at least the odds were greatly in my favour that it would not be on that day; and Tokai was a wine I was very fond of, and one which was extremely scarce at this time. So I answered, "I'll bet you two horses and fifty ducats that I do not die on the twentieth of August."

"Done!" said the old woman; and I called in my quartermaster-sergeant to make a memorandum of our wager; which he did, and not without some jokes against the old woman.

The twentieth of August arrived. There was not the least prospect of an engagement; and, although it was the turn of our regiment to supply the piquet, yet two of our officers were before me in rotation to accom

pany it. In the evening, as the hussars were getting ready, the surgeon came to announce to the colonel, with whom I was standing, that the officer who ought to have commanded the piquet had been taken suddenly

ill. The officer who followed him, and who preceded me, was ordered to take his place, and immediately went to his quarters to dress. He had just got upon his horse to ride after his men, when the animal, which was one of the best-tempered and gentlest in the world, seemed on a sudden as if the devil had taken possession of it; it reared, kicked, and plunged in such a manner, that at length it unhorsed the officer, who broke his leg in the fall. It was then my turn, and of course I set off; but, I must confess, not in as good spirits as usual, and with a firm conviction that I should not come back to drink any of the old gipsy's Tokai.

I had eighty men in my troop, and was joined by one hundred and twenty of another regiment, which made altogether two hundred men. I posted them about half a mile beyond the line of the left wing of our army, and we were flanked by a marsh covered with high rushes. We placed no sentinels in advance, but the men remained mounted, with their swords drawn and their carbines cocked. Every thing was quiet until about two o'clock, when we heard a loud noise, and soon afterwards shouts of "Allah!" Before we had time to see whence the noise proceeded, the whole of our first rank was thrown down by the fire, or by the charge, of 800 Turks. They did not fare much better; and at least as many fell on their side, either by their own impetuosity or by our fire. They, however, knew the localities; we were utterly ignorant of them; surrounded on all sides, and, in short, defeated. We laid about us as well as we could; struck friend or foe, as chance and the darkness would have it; and, for my own part, I received eight sabre wounds. A shot struck my horse, and wounded him mortally; he fell upon my right leg in such a manner that I could not extricate myself.

'I saw by the flashes of the Arearms that our people were defending themselves bravely; but it was wholly in vain to contend against such numbers of the Turks, who were, besides, drunk with opium. They made a horrible slaughter of my poor hussars. When they found the resist

ance was over, they set about plundering first, and then cutting off the heads of my comrades. Most of us had learnt a little Turkish; and I heard them urging one another to finish before succours could arrive. They promised not to leave a single ducat's worth behind, and added, there must be exactly two hundred; by which I perceived they must have been very accurately informed. A random shot struck my horse, who, in a convulsive movement, freed my leg. Immediately I thought I might escape by throwing myself into the marsh, which was not above twenty paces from me. I had seen others try it, and they had all been caught; but it was the only chance that presented itself, and Í resolved to essay it at all events. I sprung over men and horses as they lay on the bloody ground before me. The Turks saw me, and some tried to stop me; others aimed blows at me; but, thanks to my good fortune and my agility, I escaped them all, and reached the marsh. At the very first step I sunk up to the knees; but I persevered, and, notwithstanding the difficulty, I proceeded twenty paces in it, when I stopped, wholly worn out. I heard a Turk cry out, "An infidel has escaped! let him be pursued!" and another voice replied, "It is impossible to enter the marsh." I know not what took place after this, for the faintness from the blood I had lost deprived me of all consciousness; and, when I recovered my senses, some hours must have elapsed, for the sun was high in the heavens.

'I was up to my hips in the marsh; my hair stood on end as I recollected the events of the night; and the twentieth of August was one of my first thoughts. I counted my wounds to the number of eight, but none of them were dangerous; they were all sabre cuts, and on the arms, the chest, and the back. Thanks to the coldness of the nights in that country, I had worn a very thick pelisse, which had prevented the blows from taking effect. I was, nevertheless, very weak. I listened, but heard nothing save the groans of the wounded horses; as for the men, the Turks had effectually prevented their groaning.

'At the end of an hour's hard work

I succeeded in extricating myself from the marsh. I cautiously put my head out from the high reeds; and, although a war against the Turks blunts one's sensibility a good deal, I could not look at the scene of carnage before me without shuddering. My sympathy was, however, abruptly terminated, when I found myself seized by the arm, and, turning round, saw myself in the grasp of an Arnaout, six feet high, who had returned to the field in the hope of finding something which had been overlooked in the darkness of the night. I immediately addressed him in the bestTurkish I could muster.

"Take my watch, my purse, my uniform," I said, "but do not kill me."

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They are mine already," he replied coolly, "and your head besides." He then proceeded to unfasten the strap of my shacko and my stock. I had no arms; and, at the first movement I should make, I knew he would plunge the sword he held in his hand into my heart. I continued to supplicate him; and I threw my arms about his body to move his compassion, while he, with the greatest sang froid, was baring my neck. him that my family was rich; and that, if he would make me his prisoner, he would ensure a considerable ransom.

I told

"That would take too long a time," he replied; "and, before your ransom arrives, it may be my turn, as it now is yours, to lose my head," and he took the brooch from my shirt. He did not attempt to loosen the hold I had of his body; perhaps because he relied upon his own strength and his arms, and because he saw that I was exhausted. It might be, too, that he felt something like compassion for me, but not enough to outweigh the gain of a ducat. As he was taking out my brooch 1 felt something hard in his girdle: it was an iron hammer.

"Now hold yourself still," he said; and these would, perhaps, have been the last words I should ever have heard, if the horror of the death which I saw before me had not inspired me with the idea of seizing his hammer. He was so busied in the work he was about to perform that