'Don't stop, my dear fellow,' said the doctor; 'that's the best song I have heard a long time, and you must indulge me by finishing it-that's a gem.'

'Why, you see, doctor, they have all gone to supper.'

'Yes, and the devil choke them with it,' said Growling, 'for their want of taste; but never mind that; one judicious listener is worth a crowd of such fools, you'll admit; so sit down again, and sing for me.'

The doctor seated himself as he spoke, and there he kept Reddy, whom he knew to be very fond of a good supper, singing away for the bare life, with only one person for audience, and that one humbugging him. The scene was rich; the gravity with which the doctor carried on the quiz was admirable, and the gullibility of the coxcomb who was held captive by his affected admiration, exquisitely absurd, and almost past belief; even Growling himself was amazed, as he threw in a rapturous 'charming' or 'bravissimo,' at the egregious folly of his dupe, who still continued singing, while the laughter of the supper-room, and the inviting clatter of its knives and forks, were ringing in his ear. When Reddy concluded, the doctor asked, might he venture to request the last verse again; 'for,' continued he, 'there is a singular beauty of thought and felicity of expression in its numbers, leaving the mind unsatisfied with but one hearing;-once more if you please.'

Poor Reddy repeated the last verse.

'Very charming, indeed!' said the doctor.

'You really like it?' said Reddy.

'Like?' said the doctor-'sir, like is a faint expression of what I think of that song. Moore had better look to his laurels, sir!'

'Oh, doctor!'

'Ah, you know yourself,' said Growling.

'Then that last, doctor- ?' said Reddy, inquiringly.

'Is your most successful achievement, sir; there is a mysterious shadowing forth of something in it which is very fine.'

'You like it better than the "Black Stone"?"

Pooh! sir; the "Black Stone" is, if I may be allowed an image, but ordinary paving, while that "Rose of Silence' of yours might strew the path to Parnassus.

'And is it not strange, doctor,' said Reddy, in a reproachful tone, 'that them people should be insensible to that song, and leave the room while I was singing it?'

'Too good for them, sir-above their comprehensions.'
'Besides, so rude!' said Reddy.

'Oh, my dear friend,' said the doctor, 'when you know more of the world, you'll find out that an appeal from the lower house to the upper,' and he changed his hand from the region of his waistcoat to his head as he spoke, 'is most influential.'

6

'True, doctor,' said Reddy, with a smile; and suppose we go to supper now.'

'Wait a moment,' said Growling, holding his button. 'Did you ever try your hand at an epic?'

'No, I can't say that I did.'

'I wish you would.'

'You flatter me, doctor; but don't you think we had better go to supper?'

'Ha!' said the doctor, 'your own house of commons is sending up an appeal-eh ?'

'Decidedly, doctor.'

'Then you see, my dear friend, you can't wonder at those poor inferior beings hurrying off to indulge their gross appetites, when a man of genius like you is not insensible to the same call. Never wonder again at people leaving your song for supper, Master James,' said the doctor, resting his arm on Reddy, and sauntering from the room. 'Never wonder again at the triumph of supper over song, for the Swan of Avon himself would have no chance against roast ducks.'

Reddy smacked his lips at the word ducks, and the savoury odour of the supper-room which they approached heightened his anticipation of an onslaught on one of the aforesaid tempting birds; but, ah! when he entered the room, skeletons of ducks there were, but nothing more; the work of demolition had been in able hands, and the doctor's lachrymose exclamation of the devil a duck!' found a hollow echo under Reddy's waistcoat. Round the room that deluded minstrel went, seeking what he might devour, but his voyage of discovery for any hot fowl was profitless; and Growling in silent delight witnessed his disappointment.

'Come, sir,' said the doctor, 'there's plenty of punch left,

however I'll take a glass with you, and drink success to your next song, for the last is all I could wish'; and so indeed it was, for it enabled him to laugh at the poetaster, and cheat him out of his supper.

'Ho, ho!' said Murtough Murphy, who approached the door; 'you have found out the punch is good, eh? 'faith it is that same, and I'll take another glass of it with you before I go, for the night is cold.'

'Are you going so soon?' asked Growling, as he clinked his glass against the attorney's.

'Whisht!' said Murphy; 'not a word-I'm slipping away after Dick the Divil; we have a trifle of work in hand, quite in his line, and it is time to set about it. Good-bye, you'll hear more of it to-morrow-snug's the word!'

Murphy stole away, for the open departure of so merry a blade would not have been permitted, and in the hall he found Dick mounting a large topcoat, and muffling up.

'Good people are scarce, you think, Dick,' said Murphy. 'I'd recommend you to follow the example, for the night is bitter cold, I can tell you.'

'And as dark as a coal-hole,' said Murphy, as he opened the door and looked out.

'No matter, I have got a dark lanthorn,' said Dick, 'which we can use when required; make haste, the gig is round the corner, and the little black mare will roll us over in no time.'

They left the house quietly, as he spoke, and started on a bit of mischief which demands a separate chapter.

CHAPTER XXII

THE night was pitch dark, and on rounding the adjacent corner, no vehicle could be seen; but a peculiar whistle from Dick was answered by the sound of approaching wheels, and the rapid footfalls of a horse, mingled with the light rattle of a smart gig. On the vehicle coming up, Dick took the little mare, that was blacker than the night, by the head, the apron of the gig was thrown down, and out jumped a smart servant boy.

'You have the horse ready too, Billy?'
'Yis, sir,' said Billy, touching his hat.

'Then follow; and keep up with me, remember.'

Yis, sir.'

'Come to her head, here,' and he patted the little mare's neck as he spoke with a caressing "whoa," which was answered by a low neigh of satisfaction, while the impatient pawing of her forefoot showed the animal's desire to start. 'What an impatient little devil she is,' said Dick, as he mounted the gig; 'I'll get in first, Murphy, as I'm going to drive,-now up with you-hook on the apron-that's it-are you all right?'

'Quite,' said Murphy.

'Then you be into your saddle and after us, Billy, said Dick; and now let her go.'

Billy gave the little black mare her head, and away she went, at a slapping pace, the fire from the road answering the rapid strokes of her nimble feet. The servant then mounted a horse, which was tied to a neighbouring palisade, and had to gallop for it to come up with his master, who was driving with a swiftness almost fearful, considering the darkness of the night and the narrowness of the roads he had to traverse, for he was making the best of his course by cross ways to an adjacent road-side inn, where some non-resident electors were expected to arrive that night by a coach from Dublin; for the county town had every nook and cranny occupied, and this inn was the nearest point where they could get any accommodation.

Now don't suppose that they were electors whom Murphy and Dick, in their zeal for their party, were going over to greet with hearty welcomes, and bring up to the poll the next day. By no means. They were the friends of the opposite party, and it was with the design of retarding their movements that this night's excursion was undertaken. These electors were a batch of plain citizens from Dublin, whom the Scatterbrain interest had induced to leave the peace and quiet of the city to tempt the wilds of the country at that wildest of times-during a contested election: and a night coach was freighted inside and out with the worthy cits, whose aggregate voices would be of immense importance the next day; for the contest was close, the county nearly polled out, and but two days more for the struggle. Now, to interrupt these plain unsuspecting men