nishment, prepare to revisit the abodes of his forefathers! but here his daughter flattered herself he was most likely to regain that peace of mind of which cruel retrospections robbed him, and here she expected her own fate to be fixed; for lord O'Melvyl was to follow her to those shades, and there to receive her vows.

Here I might describe the gloomy appearance of the vast, long-deserted mansion; the exclamations of mingled grief and joy of Katherine Lawless, who had followed her old master into the country; and the fine field that the irregular magnificence of the park and grounds seemed to promise for the future exercise of Geraldine's taste: but "'tis mine to tell an onward tale;" and those trifling particulars, that may be very well at the commencement of the action, are absolutely tiresome and provoking when the curtain is about to fall, and the principal characters have grouped themselves in front of the stage.

One

One great amusement to Mr. Fitz-Clare was, to point out to his daughter's notice every striking object in their demesne and neighbourhood; another of his pleasures was, to hear her voice and taste exerted on those native strains which he had long despaired ever to hear in his own country again: but this, both from the resemblance her voice bore to that of her adored mother, and the heart-wringing recollections our national melodies are so painfully calculated to excite, was an overcoming pleasure, and the only one in which the duteous Geraldine was ever unwilling to indulge him.

She saw, with the deepest regret, that her father was not happy. that all her attentions were insufficient to make him so; in this frame of mind she gladly welcomed a letter from lord O'Melvyl, announcing that he was hastening to her, and in her answer expressed the reviving confidence she experienced in the cheering addition of his society." Come, dear O'Melvyl," she said; "and may your presence

D 2

presence be the means of dissipating the cloud that now hangs on my father's brow! Nothing will then be wanting to my happiness."

On the evening of the day that lord O'Melvyl was expected, Geraldine was singing, for her father, some of those touching native airs in which he took such a dangerous delight; she accompanied them with that simple harp which we have already once described. FitzClare had pointed out the song, and she was obliged to give utterance to the strain.

"Yes, weep; and however my foes may condemn,
THY tears shall efface their decree;

For Heaven can witness, though guilty to them,
I have been but too faithful to thee."

Fitz-Clare had overrated his own firmness in selecting these dangerous words; all the past rolled back, tinged in blood and tears, and presented his wasted life in saddest colours to his view. He hastily turned from the book, reclined his head .on Geraldine's shoulder, and giving vent

to

to the uncontrollable emotions of the moment, sobbed audibly.

66

My dear father," said Geraldine, rising, in great agitation,

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you should shun these subjects; they destroy you. Too fatally they recall the brave but fruitless struggle."

"No flattery," replied Fitz-Clare, recovering himself, and in a solemn tone. "Geraldine, it was the madness of the hour. Meaning to be my country's friend, I joined her bitterest foes. The idea of separating Ireland from her sister country, to place her under the jurisdiction of France, if it had not been wicked, was preposterous and foolish in the extreme. No, my child!" he continued, relapsing into softness and feeling; "far be it from me to represent myself as an injured victim-a martyr in the cause of liberty! Long, long have I stood self-condemned; but when the time shall come that I shall be no more-when, as our touching bard expresses it, I have left but the name of

6

my fault and my sorrow,' then, only then, can I hope for pardon from myself, the world, and Heaven-then, my beloved child, you will live to happiness, and I shall have found repose."

Much agitated, he quitted the room. His daughter soon afterwards saw him walking, with rapid and hurried strides, in the dismal yew plantation that adjoined to the shrubbery. She experienced a strong desire to follow him, but, in his present disposition of mind, durst not attempt it.

Oppressed with an indescribable sensation of wretchedness, such as she had never known since her final éclaircissement with O'Melvyl, Geraldine sent for her faithful Lawless to bear her company; and Katherine soon succeeded in relieving her mind, by cheerful anticipations of the future, and interesting stories of the old mansion and its former inhabitants.

How often, when the heart is oppressed with solicitude or sorrow, do the most cultivated