MY GRANDMOTHER'S GUESTS AND THEIR TALES. was at that period about forty years of age, and bore the charac ter of one of the most honest and good-tempered men of his district. He had been married early; but his wife had died, leaving him one son, who, after vexing his father with all the wickedness of a wayward boy, had quitted his home; and, no tidings having been heard of him for some years, it was sup HAVING expressed my opinion of the merits of these exquisite Tales in my last Gazette,' it only remains for me now to justify my commendations by an extract. The task of selecting would be rather a difficult one, were I not compelled to adopt a tale suited to the limited nature of my pages; and though Sir Roger de Calver-posed he was dead. Pierre, after ley,' Hours of Peril,' The Ma- living unmarried for a considerable gic Mirror,' or The Feast of time, was captivated by the charms Lanterns,' are of a higher lite- of the youthful daughter of a pearary character, yet I doubt not sant of Balme; and, although his but the reader will be well pleased age was no recommendation to his with the simple sweetness and insuit, yet his reputation for a kind structive moral of and manly disposition gave his pretensions the advantage over wooers of greater personal attractions; and, notwithstanding the disparity between eighteen and forty, he made the blooming Catharine his wife. Le Mort a tué les Vivans.* The Curate, who is the narrator, having ascended a mountain in Switzerland with his friend the Curé, is struck with a small meadow of about four acres, part of which was planted as an orchard. A small, "Immediately before his marbut extremely neat, wooden chalet riage, having obtained a grant of rose at the end, the rock forming the land upon which this dwelling one side of the building. As we is situated, he built it for the reapproached, a matronly looking ception of his bride. After the woman, of a countenance which performance of the nuptial cerehad once been beautiful, approach-mony he conveyed her hither; and ed us, bearing a child in her arms. The Curé introduced me as a stranger who was travelling to see the country. She welcomed me with a warmth and frankness common to this people; and, inviting us into her house, the table was immediately spread with bread, cheese, grapes, cream, and wine of a most excellent kind and delicious flavour. After praying us to partake of this repast, for which our walk up the mountain had admirably prepared us, she retired to attend her domestic employments. When we had satisfied our thirst and hunger, I claimed M. le Curé's promise to tell me the origin of the name of the path which had led us to this singular place; and he complied thus: "The chalet, under the roof of which we are now sitting, was built by Pierre Boisset, a peasant of the neighbouring valley. He The dead has killed the living. here he dwelt in a state of tranquil happiness, which is equally beyond the reach and the comprehension of the rich and proud. One daughter was the only fruit of this marriage; and the beauty of her person, and the amiability of her temper, rendered her the pride of her parents, and more than counterbalanced the pain which the misconduct of his son had occasioned to Pierre. "Time rolled on unmarked by any other occurrences than the change of the seasons, and the progression of the lovely Marie to blooming womanhood. She was now nearly eighteen years old; and, although the place of her abode was so remote, she was celebrated for beauty and goodness throughout the valley. Those bad passions, which flourish so luxuriantly in the rank soil of cities, find no place, or at least no encouragement, in these simple regions. In the little church, which I pointed out at the foot of the mountain, Marie was the most beautiful of the young peasants; and I believe that, notwithstanding all the common-place sayings about female envy, not one of them could have been found to dispute her title to that distinction. Her hand had been sought by Jacques, the son of the richest man in the commune: you may smile when I tell you that he was the Croesus of the neighbourhood, because he possessed a comfortable chalet and half a score of cows. In point of wealth, Marie, too, was by no means a contemptible match the heiress of old Pierre, who, although he had no cows, had an extensive stock of goatsand whose chalet, though not remarkable for the facility of its access, was sheltered and substantial might, without any great advantages of person, have looked among the best of her neighbours for a husband. The attachment of the lovers was approved of by their parents, and they waited only for the arrival of the spring to consummate their happiness. "During the winter, however, Pierre, who had enjoyed that uninterrupted health which is ever the consequence of temperance, happened, in descending the mountain, to slip and fracture one of his legs. This accident, though by no means so serious in itself as to have endangered his life, yet, owing to the difficulty of obtaining surgical assistance, soon put on alarming appearances; and upon the arrival of the medical practitioner, three days afterwards, he pronounced his patient to be in considerable danger. "My services," continued the good priest, "were then required; and I was summoned to administer those consolations which are most eagerly sought when human remedies appear to fail. Previous to my setting out, I was surprised by a visit from a soldier in the uniform of the Austrian service. He was in a state of considerable intoxication; but he informed me, as intelligibly as he member that integrity and piety "He sank upon his pillow as he could, that he was the son of "The good old man, who was perfectly aware that his dissolution was about to take place, signified a wish that he should approach. He reached out his hands to give him his blessing, which the son received with an air of stupid insensibility. "In a sad hour are you returned, my son,' said the expiring parent; and yet it is a consola tion to me to see you once more before I die. I trust that time and experience have eradicated those faults which were the cause of your misery and of mine; and while my last prayer is, that your death-bed, though far distant, may be as tranquil as mine, re. The good Curé spoke of the Continental soldiery.' dimmed the brightness without diminishing the beauty of her eyes, rendered her still more engaging. They waited, as I understood, for the son, who had intimated his intention of bearing his father's coffin to the grave. "At length he arrived, bringing with him a companion. This was a man who lived in the neighbouring town of Cluse, of notoriously bad character: every one shunned him, and, although their dealings sometimes led them into contact with him, it was with reluctance they spake together. He was a cheat and a liar; and generally believed to have some indirect methods of acquiring money. He had long previously proposed himself as a suitor to the fair Marie, but had been indignantly rejected. "The son soon manifested symp. toms of drunkenness; and, looking round him with a rude stare, he at length went up to the widow, and, accosting her, said I am come to bury my father; but, before we set out, you must know that you cannot return to this chalet. It is mine; that is to say, it was; and I have sold it to my honest friend here,' pointing to his companion. "The widow looked up, but seemed incapable of speaking. At length she said You will not, surely, have the cruelty to turn me out of my house.' "Your house!' he replied with a sneer; I tell you it's mine! "It is the custom in this country It was my father's: he died, and I to bury the dead very shortly after am his heir. As to turning you their decease, and I learned that out, that is not my affair; if you the next day but one was fixed for can persuade this gentleman,' pointthe interment of the remains of olding again to the man who stood bePierre. I attended, as was my side him, to let you stay, I'm sure duty, to accompany the corpse, I have no objection.' and found the little chalet filled "At this moment I thought proper to interfere. Young man,' I said, 'I charge you, by the respect which you owe to the memory of him whose mortal remains lie before you, and whose spirit is at this moment witnessing your deeds, to forbear your wicked purposc. If you are entitled, as you say, and as I fear is true, to this house, at least postpone your claim until your father's widow and his daughter have some other dwelling. Would you at this season turn them upon the desolate mountain, homeless, and without the means of sustenance?—At this season, when the very beasts of the field cannot bide the inclemency of the weather?' "I tell you again,' said the apathetic ruffian, whom drunkenness had made still more brutal, that I have no voice in the business: the house was mine, and I have sold it, with all that belongs to it. You had better try to persuade the man who has bought them.' back abashed at the rebuke of the and the procession had reached a not rather be this houseless and "The person to whom he al-wicked designs, which of you would Juded stepped forward as he spoke. He was about fifty years old; thin with a hook nose and small eyes; and of a most forbidding aspect. The people in the neighbourhood said he was a Jew, and I believe they were right in their conjecture. He approached the distressed widow. 666 Madam,' ,' said he, there is a very ready method by which you may retain possession of your dwelling if the offer which I made to Marie, your fair daughter, and which I now repeat, shall be received with less scorn' "The gentle Marie, who, upon ordinary occasions, had seemed of so mild a temper that the slightest exertion was foreign to her na ture, started from her seat, her eyes glancing with indignation. "Monster!' she cried, 'you shall find that the base and cruel plan you have laid shall be defeated. Not for worlds would I marry you; begging and starvation would be happiness compared to the disgrace of being united to a shameless and unmanly wretch, who has thus sought to increase the load of a widow's affliction in her most trying agony.' She flung her arms round her mother's neck. We may be poor and desolate, my dear mother; but we shall, at least, have the satisfaction of not deserving our misfortunes.' "The hardened villain shrank "They were calmed :-some of the elder villagers, who had known the son, had now gathered round him, and were endeavouring to persuade him to undo the disgraceful contract he had made. It was in vain; he listened at first indif. ferently, and at length impatiently, to their representations, till, with a volley of imprecations, he asked why they did not proceed with the funeral. "Finding that all remonstrance was useless, they at length set out. The only road to the churchyard lay down that path by which we arrived here to-day. The alleged purchaser of the chalet went off some yards before; and the son and three of the deceased's relatives bore the coffin. The widow, leaning on her daughter's arm, and accompanied by those friends aud neighbours who had assembled on the occasion, followed at some dis. "The impulse thus given to the coffin was so great that it turned over on one side, and continued to roll towards the intruder, who had preceded the company, and who had now gained a lower portion of the rock. He saw it coming, and earnestly, but vainly, tried to escape; the coffin struck him on the legs, and he was hurled over into the deep abyss! when the trunk of a pine-tree prevented the further descent of the corpse. A cry of surprise and horror burst from the following mourners. The body of the son was picked up totally lifeless; but that of the other man was not found until the next dayso mutilated and disfigured, that it would have been impossible to have recognised it but by his dress. "When the consternation caused by this event had in some measure subsided, the coffin was recovered, and was borne without further ac cident to the churchyard, where it LONDON:-J. Robins and Co. Ivy Lane, AN illustrious duke has, more than once, made himself a conspicuous object of public attention; and it would puzzle his most ardent admirers to say on which of three several occasions his conduct reflects the highest honour on himself. His royal highness's first noble exploit was at Dunkirk, where he found his feet more useful than his arms. His martial achievements are too well known to need any commendation: and, indeed, an old soldier, who used to perambulate the streets of Dublin, comprised the hero's fame and his own misfortune in the following couplet: however, is eclipsed by his late candid display in the House of Lords, where, So help me God! he declared that the Papists never could be emancipated; for the Coronation oath*, said he, is the thing Wherein to catch the conscience of the King,' THE SPEECH PRESUMPTIVE! The next time his royal highness attracted observation was in conjunction with the name of a lady not over and above distinguished for virtue or modesty. Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke, however, is now forgotten; but not so her once ardent admirer, whose tailor alone is said to have twelve thousand reasons for remembering him; and others, no doubt, have equal cause to hold his memory dear.' I know not whether it was this, or some other, branch of the royal tree that had his coach and horses seized the other day on a racecourse by some impatient creditor, as these illustrious princes seem, in Twas at the battle of Dunkirk poor Pad-general, pretty fond of running, dy lost his leg, were it only in debt. And the brave Duke of York sent him hrome for to beg.' All our hero's former glory, And sure his royal highness must be right, since he is the only man in the empire who thinks so; and he is a most honourable man.' His speech on this occasion having been printed in letters of gold, by his royal highness's bookseller, I will do still more for it by printing it in my Gazette,' rendered into immortal verse 6 Lord Liverpool, however, has declared a very contrary opinion. See the Bishop of Osnaburg's celebrated Epistle missive to the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, in Parliament assembled wherein the Royal and Right Reverend Prelate pledged that valuable commoditya Prince's honour-touching one Mistress Mary Anne Clarke-a person whom Mr. Croker pronounced a Parsonalthough we believe the lady never actually took orders, notwithstanding her acknowledged influence in ecclesiastical affairs. We rather fancy that the honourable Secretary, upon reinvestigating the matter (and it is worthy his penetrating research), will discover that she was no more than one of the lay sisterhood in immediate communion with the illustrious and pious dignitary. How drooping our crests, and how pon derous our moans were! Our Monarch fell sick (here the speaker sobbed audibly, And Eldon's tears moistened the woolsack as laudably) Our Monarch fell sick, and the new state prescriber,+ So famed by his friend th' Anti-Jacobin giber, Pronounced his illustrious patient's condition A typhus, produced by the Popish petition. In conclusion, my Lords, when your crown shall entwine A forehead so noble and lofty as mineThough others may gulp down your oath coronation, By merely maintaining the laws of the nation ency, I have, in the fullness of my gratitude, employed Mr. Robert Cruikshank to add further to his royal highness's fame, by executing a drawing, from which the present engraving is taken. The likenesses are so striking that they cannot fail to be recognised. To enable the people of Ireland to evince their respect and loyalty to the heir presumptive. the speech thus rendered into im. mortal verse, and the above en. graving, are printed on a single sheet, and can be had, either coloured or plain, of all persons who sell my Gazette;' and, if framed and glazed, would make a very pretty ornament to hang in the state parlour of shibbeen houses; or Paddy, if he likes better, may stick it, as it is, against the wall over the kitchen table. IRELAND. O'KAVANAGH TO ROCK. Rockglen, June 1st, 1825. MY DEAR CAPTAIN,—I arrived here yesterday, and found your locum tenens and his family in right good health, though by no means in the best spirits. The reason is obvious, for they participate in the chagrin now universally felt, from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear, at the obstinacy of the legislature, in refusing to redress the Catholic grievances. "Curses not loud, but deep,' are heard in every corner of the island ; and your son is apprehensive, notwithstanding the influence of your 'Gazette,' that tranquillity can scarcely he preserved while the Orangemen are allowed to insult the people in every village and town with their indecent demonstrations of gladness at the triumph of Protestant ascendency. I never witnessed such a fixedness of despair in the countenances of my countrymen before; they look upon the government as obstinately unjust, and will not believe that emancipation will ever be granted, since it has been refused at this |