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between them than any arising out of their political opinions. From his being called up, however, on this day, when, as it appeared afterwards, all the most important evidence was brought forward, there could be little doubt that, in addition to his intimacy with Emmet, the college authorities must have possessed some information which led them to suspect him of being an accomplice in the conspiracy. In the course of his examination, some question were put to him which he refused to answer-most probably from their tendency to involve and inculpate others; and he was accordingly dismissed with the melancholy certainty that his future prospects in life were blasted; it being already known that the punishment for such contumacy was not merely expulsion from the University, but exclusion from all the learned professions.

The proceedings, indeed, of this whole day had been such as to send me to my home in the evening with no very agreeable feelings or prospects. I had heard evidence given affecting even the lives of three friends whom I had long regarded with admiration as well as affection, and what was still worse than even their danger - a danger ennobled, I thought, by the cause in which they sufferedwas the shameful spectacle exhibited by those who had appeared in evidence against them. Of these witnesses, the greater number had been themselves involved in the plot, and now came forward either as voluntary informers, or else were driven, by the fear of the consequences of refusal, to secure their own safety at the expense of companions and friends.

'I well remember the gloom, so universal, that hung over our family circle on that evening, as, talking together over the events of the day, we discussed the likelihood of my being among those who would be called up for examination on the morrow. The deliberate conclusion to which my dear honest advisers came was, that, overwhelming as the consequences were to all their plans and hopes for me, yet, if the questions tending to criminate others, which had been put to almost all examined on that day, and which pooralone had refused to answer, I must, in the same manner and at all risks, return a similar answer. I am not quite certain whether I received any intimation on the following morning that I was to be one of those examined in the course of the morning, but I rather think some such notice had been conveyed to me; and at last my awful turn came, and I stood in the presence of the formidable tribunal. There sat, with severe look, the Vice-Chancellor, and, by his side, the memorable Doctor Duigenan-memorable for his eternal pamphlets against the Catholics.

The oath was proffered to me.

"I have an objection, my lord,» said I, «to taking the oath.» What is your objection?» he asked sternly.

I have no fears, my lord, that any thing I might say would cri

minate myself; but it might tend to involve others, and I despise the character of the person who would be led, under any circumstances to inform against his associates. »

This was aimed at some of the revelations of the preceding day, and, as I learned afterwards, was so understood.

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How old are you, sir?» he then asked.

«Between seventeen and eighteen, my lord.»

He then turned to his assessor, Duigenan, and exchanged a few with in an under tone of voice.

"We cannot," he resumed, again addressing me, «suffer any one to remain in our University who refuses to take this oath.»

I shall then, my lord," I replied, «take the oath, reserving to myself the power of refusing to answer any such questions as I have just described. »

"We do not sit here to argue with you, sir, » he rejoined sharply; upon which I took the oath, and seated myself in the witness's chair.

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The following are the questions and answers that then ensued. After adverting to the proved existence of United Irish societies in the University, he asked, "Have you ever belonged to any of these societies? »

'No, my lord. »

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Have you ever known of any of the proceedings that took place in them?»

No, my lord. »

'Did you ever hear of a proposal at any of their meetings for the purchase of arms and ammunition? »

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«Never, my lord.»

Did you ever hear of a proposal made in one of these societies with regard to the expediency of assassination? »

«Oh no, my lord.»

"He then turned again to Duigenan, and, after a few words with him, said to me, «When such are the answers you are able to give, pray, what was the cause of your great repugnance to taking the oath? »

'I have already told your lordship my chief reason; in addition to which, it was the first oath I ever took, and the hesitation was, I think, natural. »

It was now dismissed without any further questioning, and, however trying had been this short operation, was amply repaid for it by the kind zeal with which my youngs friends and companions flocked to congratulate me-not so much, I was inclined to hope, on my acquittal by the court, as upon the manner in which I had acquitted myself Of my reception on returning home, after the fears entertained of so very different a result, I will not attempt any description; it was all that such a home alone could furnish.*

We might have enriched this article with many more of the biographical and other notices scattered through these volumes, and by so doing, would have rendered it undoubtedly of far higher interest than by the critical enquiries in which' we have indulged; but we were anxious to pay a debt long due to one, the character and tendency of whose powers we, in common with many others, misconstrued at his outset ;-one whose mode of life, and habits of mind and thinking, ever involving him actively in the vortex of the existing world, and in the controversies as well as gaieties of the day, have made many unwilling to recognize his real position in the rank of poets from hostility or prejudice, and many more from real inability to conceive the power of genius to live on the agitated surface of society, as well as on the most tranquil lake which ever was haunted by the Muses ; one whom many pronounced at first too trifling to succeed, and then too successful in his own day to abide the test of another; but whose position in the brilliant band of the poets of this age, (now so rapidly vanishing from us one by one, and unreplaced,) is already fixed beyond the power of criticism or of Timeunrivalled in one exquisite department of his art, delightful in many.

(EDINBURGH REVIEW.)

THE SCHOOLMISTRESS ABROAD:

AN EXTRAVAGANZA.

СНАР. І

She tawght 'hem to sew and marke,
All maner of sylkyn werke,

Of her they were ful fayne.

ROMANCE OF EMARE.

A schoolmistress ought not to travel

except on the map.

There indeed she may

No, sir! No, madam skip from a blue continent to a green one-cross a pink isthmus -traverse a Red, Black, or Yellow Sea, land in a purple island, or roam in an orange desert, without danger or indecorum.-There she may ascend dotted rivers, sojourn at capital cities, scale alps, and wade through bogs, without soiling her shoe, rumpling her satin, or showing her ankle. But as to practical travelling, real journeying and voyaging—oh, never, never, never!

How, sir! Would you deny to a Preceptress all the excursive pleasures of locomotion ?

By no means, miss. In the midsummer holidays, when the days are long, and the evenings are light, there is no objection to a little trip by the railway say to Weybridge or Slough provided always

Well, sir?

That she goes by a special train, and in a first-class carriage.

Ridiculous!

Nay, madam-consider her pretensions. She is little short

of a Divinity. Diana, without the hunting! A modernized Minerva! The Representative of Womanhood in all its purity! Eve, in full dress, with a finished education! A Model of Morility a Pattern of Propriety the Fugle-woman of her Sex! As such she must be perfect. No medium performance -no ordinary good-going, like that of an eight-day clock or a Dutch dial-will suffice for the character: she must be as correct as a prize chronometer. She must be her own Prospectus personified. Spotless in reputation, immaculate in her dress, regular in her habits, refined in her manners, elegant in her carriage, nice in her taste, faultless in her phraseology, and in her mind-like-like

Pray what, sir?

Why, like your own chimney-ornament, madam — a pure crystal fountain, sipped by little doves of alabaster.

A sweet pretty comparison! Well, go on, sir.

Now look at travelling. At the best it is a rambling, scrambling, shift-making, strange-bedding, irregular-mealing, foreign-habiting, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy sort of process. At the very least, a female must expect to be rumpled and dusted; perhaps draggled, drenched, torn, and roughcasted and if not bodily capsized or thrown a summerset, she is likely to have her straitest-laced prejudices upset, and some of her most orthodox opinions turned topsyturvy. An accident of little moment to other women, but to a schoolmistress productive of a professional lameness for life. Then she is certain to be stared at, jabbered at, may be jeered at, and poked, pushed and hauled at, by curious or officious foreigners-to be accosted by perfect and imperfect strangersin short, she is liable to be revolted in her taste-shocked in her religious principles, disturbed in her temper, disordered in her dress, and deranged in her decorum. But you shall hear the sentiments of a Schoolmistress on the subject. Oh! a made-up letter!

No, miss, a genuine epistle, upon my literary honour. Just look at the writing the real copybook running-handnot at uncrossed not an i undotted not an illegitimate flourish of a letter, but each j and g and y turning up it

VOL. III.

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