which Horne Tooke has proved to be a corruption of the Latin filius. Giraldus Cambrensis latinizes the name of the King of Leinster, Dermot Mac Murchadh, Dermitius Murchardides, from which it may be clearly perceived that he regarded the prefix Mac as equivalent to the Greek patronymic termination ides. The only difference therefore to be observed between O and Mac in surnames is, that the family who took the prefix of Mac called themselves after their father, and those who took the prefix O formed their surname from the name of their grandfather. Ni, meaning daughter, was always prefixed to names of women, as O and Mac meant male descendants; but this usage is now obsolete. It may be here also remarked, that the O was never prefixed to names beginning with the word Giolla. I see no reason for this either, but I am positive that it is a fact, for throughout the Annals of the Four Masters only one O'Giolla, namely, O'Giolla Phadruig, occurs, and that only in one instance, and I have no doubt that this is a mere error of transcription. Another strange error prevails in the north of Ireland respecting O and Mac, viz. that every name in the north of Ireland of which Mac forms the first part, is of Scotch origin, while those to which the O is prefixed is of Irish origin; for example, that O'Neill and O'Kane are of Irish origin, but Mac Loughlin and Mac Closkey of Scotch origin. But it happens in these instances that Mac Loughlin is the senior branch of the family of O'Neill, and Mac Closkey a most distinguished offshoot from that of O'Kane. This error had its origin in the fact that the Scotch families very rarely prefixed the O (there being only three instances of their having used it at all on record), while the Irish used O tenfold more than the Mac. This appears from an index to the genealogical books of Lecan, and of Duald Mac Firbis, in the MS. library of the Royal Irish Academy, in which mention is made of only three Scotch surnames beginning with O, while there are upwards of two thousand distinct Irish surnames beginning with O, and only two hundred beginning with Mac. Another strange error is popular among the Irish, and those not of the lowest class, nainely, that only five Irish families are entitled to have the O prefixed; but what names these five are is by no means agreed upon, some asserting that they are O'Neill, O'Donnell, O'Conor, O'Brien, and O'Flaherty; others that they are O'Neill, O'Donnell, O'Kane, O'Dowd, and O'Kelly; a third party insisting that they are O'Brien, O'Sullivan, O'Connell, O'Mahony, and O'Driscoll; while others make up the list in quite a different manner from all these, and this according to the part of Ireland in which they are located; and each party is positive that no family but the five of their own list has any title to the O. None of them would acknowledge that even the O'Melaghlins, the heads of the southern Hy Niall race, have any claims to this prefix, nor other very distinguished families, who invaother hand, it is universally admitted that any Irish family from Mac Carthy and Mac Murrough, down to Mac Gucken and Mac Phaudeen, has full title to the prefix Mac; and for no other reason than because it is believed to have been a mark of no distinction whatever among the ancient Irish. This error originated in the fact that five families of Irish blood were excepted by the English laws from being held as mere Irishmen. But of this hereafter. It is not perhaps an unlikely conjecture that at the period when surnames were first ordered to be made hereditary, some families went back several generations to select an illustrious ancestor on whom to build themselves a name. A most extraordinary instance of this mode of forming names occurred in our own time in Connaught, where John Mageoghegan, Esq. of Bunowen Castle, in the west of the county of Galway, applied to his Majesty King George IV. for licence to reject the name which his ancestors had borne for eight hundred years from their ancestor Eochagan, chief of Kinel Fiacha, in the now county of Westmeath, in the tenth century, and to take a new name from his more ancient and more illustrious ancestor Niall of the Nine Hostages, monarch of Ireland in the fourth century. His majesty granted this licence, and the son of John Mageoghegan is now called John Augustus O'Neill, that is, John Augustus, DESCENDANT of Niall of the Nine Hostages. The other branches of the family of Mageoghegan, how ever, still retain the surname which was established in the reign of Brian Boru as the distinguishing appellative of the race of Fiacha, the son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and the ancestor from whom the Mageoghegans had taken their tribe name. From the similarity and almost complete identity of the meanings affixed to the words O and Mac in surnames, it might be expected that they should be popularly considered as conferring each the same respectability on the bearer; yet this is far from being the case, for it is popularly believed in every part of Ireland that the prefix O was a kind of title among the Irish, while Mac is a mark of no distinction what-riably bore it down to a comparatively late period. On the ever, and that any common Irishman may bear the prefix Mac, while he must have some claims to gentility of birth before he can presume to prefix O to his name. This is universally the feeling in the province of Connaught, where the gentry of Milesian descent are called O'Conor, O'Flahertie, O'Malley, &c; and the peasantry, their collateral relatives, Connor, Flaherty, Mailey. All this, however, is a popular error, for the prefix O is in no wise whatever more respectable than Mac, nor is either the one or the other an index to any respectability whatever, inasmuch as every single family of Firbolgic, Milesian, or Danish origin in Ireland, is entitled to bear either O or Mac as the first part of their surname. It is popularly known that O'Neill was King of Ulster, and O'Conor King of Connaught, and hence it is assumed that the prefix O is a title of great distinction; but it is never taken into consideration that O'Hallion was the name of the Irish Geocach or beggar who murdered O'Mulloy of Feara-Keall in the year 1110, or that Mac Carthy was King of Desmond or Mac Murrough was King of Leinster! It is therefore a positive fact that the prefixes O and Mac are of equal import, both meaning male descendant, and that neither is an indication of any respectability whatever, except where the pedigree is proved and the history of the family known. To illustrate this by an example: The O prefixed to my own name is an index of my descent from Donovan, the son of Cathal, Chief of the Hy-Figeinte, who was killed by Brian Boru in the year 977; but the Mac prefixed in the surname Mac Carthy is an indication of higher descent, namely, from Carrthach, the great-grandson of Callaghan Cashel, King of Munster, whose descendants held the highest rank in Desmond till the civil wars of 1641. It would be now difficult to show how this popular error originated, as the meanings of the two prefixes O and Mac are so nearly alike. It may, however, have originated in a custom which prevailed among the ancient Irish, namely, that, for some reason which we cannot now discover, the O was never prefixed in any surname derived from art, trade, or science, O'Gowan only excepted, the prefix Mac having been always used in such instances, for we never meet O'Saoir, O'Baird; and surnames thus formed, of course never ranked as high among the Irish as those which were formed from the names of chieftains. Lut There is another error prevalent among the Irish gentry of Milesian blood in Ireland (which is the less to be excused, as they have ample opportunities of correcting it), namely, that the chief or head of the family only was entitled to have the O prefixed to his name. This is the grossest error of all, for there is not a single passage in the authentic annals or genealogical books which even suggests that such a custom ever existed amongst the ancient Irish chieftain families, for it is an indubitable fact that every member of the family had tho O prefixed to his surname, as well as the chief himself. a distinction was made between the chief and the members of his family, in the following manner :-In all official documents the chief used the surname only, as O'Neill, O'Donnell, &c. In conversation also the surname only was used, but the defi-: nite article was frequently prefixed, as the O'Neill, the O'Brien,: &c., while in annals and other historical documents in which it was found necessary to distinguish a chief from his predecessors or successors, the chief of a family was designated by giving him the family name first, and the christian or baptism name after it in parenthesis. But the different members of the chief's family had their christian names always prefixed as at the present day. I have thus dwelt upon the errors respecting surnames in Ireland, from an anxious wish that they should be removed, and I trust that it will be believed henceforward that the Mac in Irish surnames is fully as respectable as the O, and that, instead of five, there are at least two thousand Irish families who have full title to have the O prefixed to their surnames. Many men would have more wisdom if they had less wit. nought was visible in the morning but empty space, the wasted grain and the then valuable hay being scattered over the adjacent fields and roads, often to a considerable distance. Tirawley, the northern barony of Mayo, was at this period infested with a gang of thrashers of peculiar daring and activity, the most prominent of whom was Murtagh Lavan, usually termed "Murty the Shaker," a soubriquet which he derived from his remarkable dexterity in scattering the contents of the various haggards; and for a considerable period this reckless gang was a terror to the entire barony. But there is, fortunately, neither union nor faith among the wicked. After having been the principal in numberless acts of destruction and lawlessness, Murty became a private informer against guilty and innocent, in consequence of the large rewards offered by government for the detection of the offenders, and had given in the names of a large number of accomplices, as well as of those who he knew were likely to be suspected, when his career was cut short by a violent death. Secretly as his informations were given, it appears it was discovered that he had become an informer; and in consequence, a band of the most desperate of his former accomplices planned and accomplished his murder in a singularly daring manner. His wife and himself were guests at a christening when he was called out: she followed him, and in her presence he was assailed by a number of blackened and partly armed men, one of whom felled him with a hatchet like an ox in the slaughter-house. He was never allowed to rise, for the others trampled on him when down, and struck him with various weapons. The wretched woman fled into a corner, and remained there an unharmed spectatress of the whole murderous scene, and, what has rarely occurred in similar circumstances, without making any attempt to fling herself between her husband and the murderers. Immediately on information being forwarded to the government of the audacious murder of the informer, proclamations offering large rewards for the discovery and conviction of the perpetrators were issued; great activity was exhibited by the magistrates and the yeomanry, put under permanent pay, as is well remembered in the localities where they were stationed, the inhabitants of which were soon left minus their geese and hens with miraculous rapidity, after the arrival of their defenders. The yeomen! God forgive us : dark as is our theme, so strangely does levity mingle with gloom and even with sorrow in our national temperament, that a host of humorous recollections come rushing on us, called up by the name, as we recal our boyish enjoyment in witnessing some of their inspections. Their motley dresstheir arms the suggaun often binding a dislocated gun-and their discipline-oh, their discipline! Why, reader, believe us or not as you please, we knew of a captain of yeomanry standing in front of his corps, during an inspection of all the yeomen in the district by a distinguished general officer, with his drawn sword held with great gallantry in his left hand, till his serjeant-major besought him in a whisper to change it to the other hand, until the general should have passed him. But we say avaunt to the evil temptation that has beset us at so awkward a time, to descant on yeomaury frolics, though we promise the readers of the Journal a laugh at them on some more fitting occasion. Five of the murderers were apprehended and executed together in 1806; and, some years afterwards, one of them, named M'Ginty, whose troubled conscience would not permit SCARCELY the most youthful reader needs now to be informed that for an indefinite period our country has unfortunately seldom been without bands of misguided men, more or less numerous, combined for illegal purposes, and who have from time to time wrought much ruin and misery to themselves and others, whether they went under the denomination of rapparees, defenders, peep-o'-day-boys, steelboys, whiteboys, united Irishmen, carders, houghers, thrashers or ribbonmen, the last of the species-may they prove the last indeed! The manifold causes that produced those lawless and destructive combinations the nature of this Journal wisely precludes us from meddling with; their objects were perfectly appa-him to remain in England, whither he had fled after the comrent. We therefore pass both by with a single remark, mission of the crime, and who was apprehended the very night namely, that since the disastrous and desolating insurrection after his return to this country, died a fearful death. Indeed, and invasion of '98, there has been no person of weight or pro- in our experience of public executions we never witnessed a perty connected with any of the numerous confederacies that more terrible one. He was a man of a large, athletic frame, have continued unceasingly to distract the country, with the and when on the lapboard ramped about with frightful vioexception of that which involved the fate of the wild but lence, got his fingers several times between the rope and his amiable visionary Robert Emmett-certainly not in Con- neck, and attempted to pull down the temporary beam, and naught; nor would it appear that in any one of them since drag out the executioner with him, the latter of which objects was any serious opposition to government contemplated. In he nearly effected. In he nearly effected. He spurned at all exertions to induce fact, the conspirators being, with but few exceptions, invaria-him to forgive his prosecutors and captors, and was in the bly of the very lowest class, their object, however guilty, was act of denouncing vengeance against them, dead or alive, when limited to the obtainment of personal advantage, the gratifi- he was flung off. cation of private revenge, or petty opposition to tithes and the local authorities. We remember a curious point was saved in this man's favour after conviction, when an arrest of judgment was In 1806, the combinators were designated in Connaught, moved on the ground that the principal evidence against him thrashers. Their vengeance seemed to be chiefly wreaked on (an accomplice) was himself, after having been tried, and senthe haggards of such gentlemen or middlemen as excited the tenced to capital punishment, and, therefore, being dead in wrath or suspicions of the brotherhood; and frequently, where law, could not be received as a competent witness. The obat evening had been seen a large and well-filled haggard,jection was, however, overruled by the judges in Dublin, on the ground that the man had received a pardon, and could be, therefore, considered a living witness again. It was twenty-four years after the murder of Murty, namely, in the spring of 1830, that a woman was making her way across a stream running through a gentleman's grounds in the county of Sligo, when she was prevented by a caretaker, who obliged her to turn back. “Skirria snivurth," exclaimed the woman with bitter earnestness, but don't think, durneen sollagh (dirty Cuffe) but I know you well; an,' thank God, any way ye can't murther us, as ye did Murty Lavan long ago. Her words were heard by a policeman who chanced to be angling along the stream, and who promptly brought her into the presence of a magistrate, where, after the policeman had stated what he heard, she attempted at first to draw in her horns and retract her words. "In onough, I dunno what I sed when the spalpeen gev us the round, and the vexation was upon us. "You must speak to the point, woman. "Wethen sure yer honour wouldn't be after mindin' what an oul' hag sed when she was in the passion.' Policeman, repeat the expressions exactly." The policeman repeated his former statement. 'Now swear the hag, and I warn her if she doesn't tell the whole truth, I will myself see her transported." The woman, now thoroughly frightened, admitted that she knew the person who prevented her from crossing the stream to be Cuffe or Durneen, who was charged with having been the principal in the murder of Murty the Shaker. Cuffe was accordingly apprehended, and having been fully identified by Murty's wife, who was still in existence, having continued a pensioner of the Mayo grand jury since her husband's murder, was committed to the Mayo jail, to the astonishment and regret of his employer. The extraordinary part of Cuffe's case seems to us not by any means that he should have been detected after the lapse of twenty-four years, but it does seem a singular fact indeed, that, notwithstanding a description of him in the Hue and Cry as the person who had struck the mortal blow with the hatchet, and the large rewards offered for his apprehension, he should have remained undiscovered for such a protracted period, so immediately adjacent to the scene of his crime. Most of our readers are aware that Sligo adjoins Mayo-nay, the barony of Tirawley, in which the murder was perpetrated, is only separated by the river Moy from the county of Sligo, so that one portion of the town of Ballina is in Mayo, and the other in Sligo; and yet, in all probability, were it not that Providence directed the steps of the woman to that stream for the first and last time in her life, he might have remained there undiscovered to the end of his natural life, which could not then be far distant, his head being completely silvered at the time of his apprehension. While in prison, both before and after conviction, Cuffe's conduct, as it had been all along prior to his detection, was peaceful, obliging, and amenable, comporting much better with a pleasant and rather benevolent countenance, in which there did not seem to be a single line indicative of an evil disposition, than with the terrible crime he had been the principal in committing. On the morning after M'Gennis had committed the extraordinary suicide detailed in a former number, in the same cell with him, Cuffe's gaze continued to be fastened, as if by fascination, on the body while it remained in the cell, and his countenance wore an expression resembling a smile of gratified wonder, as he frequently exclaimed in an under tone, "didn't he do it clever ?" He strongly denied, however, as was before stated, having witnessed the suicide, or known anything of its being intended. His own death was calm and easy: in fact he seemed to have died without a struggle; and so little did his punishment after such a lapse of years seem to be considered as a necessary atonement to justice, that we heard, during his execution, Murty's 's own brother, who was among the spectators, use the expression, that it was a pity so many lives should be lost for such a rascal. We should have remarked that on the morning of his execution he requested of the benevolent and intelligent inspector to allow him a tea breakfast. Indeed, it is a curious consider ation that animal gratification seems to be the predominant object with a large proportion of persons on the eve of execution, when hope becomes as nearly extinct as it can become while life remains. In general, in such cases among the lower class, there is a petition for a meat dinner, or a tea breakfast, or both a petition which, we need scarcely say, is in Ireland generally granted. We recollect an instance where two persons under sentence were breakfasting together, just previous to their execution, having, among other materials, three eggs between them, when one of them, having swallowed his first egg rapidly, seized upon the other with the utmost greediness, while his companion eyed him with a sickly smile that seemed to say you have outdone me to the last. EVIL INFLUENCE OF FASHION.-Never yet was a woman really improved in attraction by mingling with the motley throng of the fashionable world. She may learn to dress better, to step more gracefully; her head may assume a more elegant turn, her conversation become more polished, her air more distinguished; but in point of attraction she acquires nothing. Her simplicity of mind departs; her generous confiding impulses of character are lost; she is no longer inclined to interpret favourably of men and things; she listens without believing, sees without admiring; has suffered persecution' without learning mercy; and been taught to mistrust the candour of others by the forfeiture of her own. The freshness of her disposition has vanished with the freshness of her complexion; hard lines are perceptible in her very soul, and crowsfeet contract her very fancy. No longer pure and fair as the statue of alabaster, her beauty, like that of some painted waxen effigy, is tawdry and meretricious. It is not alone the rouge upon the cheek and the false tresses adorning the forehead which repel the ardour of admiration; it is the artificiality of mind with which such efforts are connected that breaks the spell of beauty.—Mrs Gore. IMPOSSIBILITY OF FORGETTING.- In these opium ecstacies, the minutest incidents of childhood, or forgotten scenes of later years, were often revived. I could not be said to recollect them; for if I had been told of them when waking, I should not have been able to acknowledge them as parts of my past experience. But, placed as they were before me, in dreams like intuitions, and clothed in all their evanescent circumstances and accompanying feelings, I recognised them instantaneously. I was once told by a near relative of mine, that having in her childhood fallen into a river, and being on the very verge of death but for the critical assistance which reached her, she saw in a moment her whole life, in its minutest incidents, arrayed before her simultaneously, as in a mirror, and she had a faculty developed as suddenly, for comprehending the whole and every part. This, from some opium experiences of mine, I can believe. I have indeed seen the same thing asserted twice in modern books, and accompanied by a remark which I am convinced is true, viz, that the dread book of account which the Scriptures speak of, is in fact the mind of each individual. the mind of each individual. Of this at least I feel assured, that there is no such thing as forgetting possible to the mind; a thousand accidents may and will interpose a veil between our present consciousness and the secret inscriptions on the mind; accidents of the same sort will also rend away this veil; but alike, whether veiled or unveiled, the inscription remains for ever; just as the stars seem to withdraw before the common light of day, whereas, in fact, we all know that it is the light which is drawn over them as a veil, and that they are waiting to be revealed when the obscuring daylight shall have withdrawn.--Confessions of an Opium Eater. that hides not some sorrow in its secret depths ? There are few roses without thorns, and where is the heart Printed and published very Saturday by GUNN and CAMERON, at the Office of the General Advertiser, No. 6, Church Lane, College Green, Dublin.— Agents:-R. GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row, London; SIMMS and DINHAM, Exchange Street, Manchester; C. DAVIES, North John Street, Liverpool; JOHN MENZIES, Prince's Street, Edinburgh; and David RoBRTSON, Trongate, Glasgow. " JIMMY DELANY, OR THE ASCENDANT IDEA. "A MERRY morning to Father Connellan ! Well, I dare north, south, east, and west, of our sweet county of Wexford, to produce such another comfortable domicile as this of your reverence; and the proof that it is so in every respect, is, that master, man, dog, cat, cow, and horse, have the same sleek sides and sleek looks. I wish I could say as much for some of the poor parsons. "Alack! alack!" sighed Father Connellan in a lachrymose tone, "you speak of what we were rather than what we are. Poor things! neither biped nor quadruped here carries the same port as formerly. Now, how can you speak of sleek sides and sleek cheeks to me?-to me? Take another glance at me: fancy me with a pink jacket and black cap, and am I not just the cut, weight, and girth for a jockey? Ah! what a falling off is here," pointing to a paunch that he asserted, with serio-comic phiz, was lamentably diminished. "Oh, most lamentably!" cried I, entering into his humour. "Bless me! what is the matter? Oh, thou poor, poor disciple of holy mother church! black was the fast indeed that hath reduced thee to this pickle!" strict Lent has been for the sins and follies of others, and not for my own. But you shall know all." Then raising his voice, he called, "Jimmy! Jimmy Delany !” Thrice he shouted, and was still unanswered. " Ay," continued his reverence, shaking his head and turning up his "this is the cut! Job's boils and blisters were nothing eyes, to this! I may call and call, and have nothing but the echo of my own voice for my pains. Once more I'll try, and if he does'nt come then". and, placing his mouth close to the wall, he sang out, "Jimmy Delany!" so tremendously loud, that the delinquent must have heard it at half a mile's distance. At this fourth summons, shuffling, lagging steps faltered up the hall, the parlour door opened, and the anatomy of a man presented itself— So faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dead in look, so woe begone. While gazing on him, I thought that if such a man were to "draw my curtains in the dead of night," he need not cry fire!" to appal me. out "Well, Misther Delany," began Father Connellan, "since "Black it has been more than once, sure enough," returned you have condescended to appear (why don't you make the priest, laughing; “and as I am a christianable man, this | your obeisance, sirrah ?—draw back your shovel foot, bob forward your great mop-head, and bow to the lady-soh, that will do)-be plaised to explain how and why I, your spiritual pastor and lawful master, am reduced to half my natural dimensions," clipt of my fair proportions.' As some one says". But ere the priest could proceed with his quotation, I broke in with an exclamation of amazement. "That spectre-plump, grinning, mutton-headed Jimmy Delany! who used to wish for a gold chain but long enough to encircle the disc of his face twice, and it would be as long as the chain of my lord mayor of Dublin? Impossible! No, no! Reverend father, you may make me believe much; you are a man of mystery and mirth, potent and pleasant; but you will hardly bring me to believe that that shadow represents my plump and good-humoured old acquaintance Jimmy Delany." I have my doubts too," said his reverence. All this time the ghost-like subject of our observations stood mute and motionless, gazing at me with lack-lustre eyes, in which there was no beam of recognition. Indeed, he seemed dubious of his own identity; for when I refused to acknowledge him, he passed his hand deliberately and cautiously over his face and person, much in the way a blind man would do; and it was a considerable time before he ventured to assert "that he was Jimmy Delany still-if not in flesh and blood, at laist in skin and bone." "Alas and has it come to this with thee, Jimmy? I recognise thy voice, though somewhat tremulous and less stentorian than of old, and I would fain inquire for what unheard of crime has this severe penance been imposed upon thee?— the direst that the dire church can inflict, it must have been Hast thou made a pilgrimage with unboiled peas in your shoes, my poor, poor Jimmy ?" Speak, sirrah !" cried the priest. "Must I tell the thruth, sur?" asked the spectre, reddening, and scratching his head in a dilemma. At this juncture I perceived that the person appealed to could hardly command gravity to answer the important query addressed to him, and, but that a fit of coughing came to his aid, alas for the decorum of Father Connellan ! "You are a good boy, Jimmy," said his reverence with becoming sedateness, when the teasing cough had subsided; a very good boy to apply to me ere you answered a question under circumstances which induce you to conceal the truth if you could. you could. But, my poor, poor fellow, as I have said and thundered forth a hundred times from the pulpit, TRUTH should be spoken at all times, however painful to us; and it is especially necessary on this occasion, as I perceive a something like a fling at the discipline of our church; because, forsooth, you have dwindled from a mould four to a farthing candle! Tell the truth and shame the devil." Thus admonished, with a desperate effort poor Jimmy proceeded to inform me that the cause of all his woe and waste of flesh was "Betsy Kelly, an' the urchint❞— Here he stuck fast, and I waited in vain for the finishing of the sentence. I next looked to the merry priest for an explanation, but I found that it was equally fruitless to expect one from him then. He had fallen back in his chair, in a fit of (to me inexplicable) laughter; and the confused Delany, still more confounded, took the opportunity to escape from the room, saying, as he retreated, "I'll lave it all to his rivirince !-let him tell what he will-I won't deny it." "A fair stage for a fertile imagination, Father Connellan ?" said I. cluded priest, dead to the world these twenty years, minding "Love! Ha! ha! ha! Pray tell me, reverend Father, was the heroine-for heroine she must have been, to have achieved such a victory over dullness-a living woman? or did she smite him through the pages of a book? for I recollect his reading mania at one time." "Arm yourself with the seven-fold fence of patience for half an hour, and I shall tell you all I know of the matter. But I must begin with the beginning, according to the method of all story-tellers. Now, a pinch of Lundy, a preliminary hem! and here goes: "About five years come Michaelmas, I buried my old housekeeper Nell Gray-I was going to say with military honours, for she was quite a trooper of a woman-but with the honours due to a faithful deserving servant which she was, and a treasure in a family, especially for dressing beef-steaks. But as I saw even in her a good deal of the tricks of the sex (excuse me), I was determined to have no more womenkind about me. I therefore set about searching for a good, quiet lad, who would be tractable enough to learn to do all the ordinary work of the house; and my wishes being made known to my flock, boys of all ages and sizes soon clustered about me like sparrows round a wheat stack. Out of twentyfive 'cute-looking chaps, I chose our friend Jimmy Delany, to the rapturous delight of his mother, a widow, who, as she brought her precious son to me, with a shining Sunday face, and a clean shirt- —or at least a collar-assured me that though 'her Jimmy was the laist taste slow at takin' up the larnin', yit wanst he got a hoult ov it, it was he that would take the hoult in airnest!' 'Very well,' said I, 'he is slow, but sure; the very sort I want. Your quick people forget as soon as they learn.' Well, Jimmy entered on his service, and, egad, ere the first day closed, I found that his mother had told truth to the letter! He was 'slow,' sure enough, and it was equally true that the hoult he took was a 'hoult in airnest;' but the pertinacious hoult' was a hold of any eatable that fell in his way, for he was a furious eater-God bless us! By and bye, I found out more of Jimmy's perfections, and I lauded my sagacity in having discovered and appropriated such a treasure. Happy old parish priest !' ejaculated I in an ecstacy, thou hast but one servitor in this teeming world, and the head of that chosen attendant admits but of one isolated idea for a time, which 'idea,' be it never so extravagant, rules his brains, words, and actions, as certainly and despotically as the moon rules the tides !' Egad, there is no occasion for a fertile imagination in this case," he replied. "Too true it is that the drama of every-day life surpasses that exhibited on the stage. Now, here is my poor Jimmy-fiddle-string, I may call him, because I play upon him daily, and he is almost reduced to one. If an actor ever so clever were to show off his blunders and ab-he. surdities on the stage, he'd be pelted to a mummy, or hooted into a coal-hole for the rest of his days, for attempting (mind) to impose on a discerning public with an outrageous carica ture of nature. Baithershin! let them come to Father Connellan's cabin for a week, and I'll promise them more amusement for nothing than they could get at the theatre in a year, and pay dearly for it. But the farce is drawing to a conclusion now. Farce, call you it? My good sir, to look at poor Jimmy, I should suppose he has been enacting a very deep tragedy indeed, and that the bowl or dagger must end it." "Or a marl-hole, or his garters," said his reverence laugh"But is it possible," continued he, "that you have not dived into the mystery yet? Is it possible that I, a poor se ng! Into that head, by dint of hammering at it day and night, his mother had instilled the 'idea' that he was to renounce his old habits, playmates, and plays, as surely as he was to fling away his old clothes, and henceforth to think of nothing but of being a faithful diligent man-of-all-works to his reverence the priest. In fine, in words suited to his capacity, he was told that he was to forget the idle gorsoon, and to put on the sarvint boy. For a week this song was sung to him in a variety of tones, without producing any other effect on Jimmy than causing a grin. At last, Ov all works, mother?' quoth Bedad I thinks I'll have somethin' to do. Howsomdever, since I must be a sarvint, why it's best to begin.' And thenceforward he laid his whole soul to the task; and so earnest and anxious was he, that in little more than three months he could do a few things decently without having me perpetually pinned to his tail, and in a year he went through the routine of household affairs without a blunder, not one thought or wish interfering with his business. Like the churning-horse of my neighbour Giles, he plodded over the dull ground allotted for him without grumbling, and without being conscious that any other mode of life might produce equal happiness. Happy being! contented, stolid Jimmy Delany! Things were going on thus smoothly with master and man, while the mother was inwardly and outwardly fretting. She expected by this time that her boy was taking a short cut 1 |