Rock, Oh! you beast. O'Kavanagh. Not at all, Captain. I awoke next morning in the watch-house, as fresh as a daisy. Whiskey is the only thing to get drunk on. It promotes, instead of obstructing, the circulation of-spirits.

Rock. That's a lame Norbury. But how goes on the new association ?

O'Kavanagh. Not yet established. The Catholics are big with expectation; but a few discontented spirits are struggling to sow the seeds of disunion. Counsellor Bellew, the Castle hack, has publish- | ed an opinion, as Paddy would say, free gratis, against the new formation of the Rent; and Jack Lawless is beginning to get more angry than ever.

Rock. O'Connell will control them all.

O'Kavanagh. His influence now may do much; but, between ourselves, his popularity has been affected by his late conduct. Great and extensive displeasure has been excited by the wings, and in my opinion the country has a right to demand a public abandonment on the part of the Catholic leaders of such unpatriotic measures.

Rock. A wise people will never choose the unnecessary humiliation of their friends. The wings have, in effect, been condemned by the members of the deputation, and where would be the use in compelling them to proclaim more openly to the world that they were fools? O'Connell has his faults; what man has not? but where can Ireland find a more efficient leader? No man disapproves more than I do of the personal insults he has offered Law. less; and I must say that Jack's cowardice, in declining to speak out openly and manfully, deserves nothing but the epithet undergrowl.' He must, and does, hate O'Connell, and abstractedly has truth on his side; but his temporising policy has only made him ridiculous. Believe me, Dennis,

that no childish consideration of

etiquette should now be allowed to distract Catholic counsels; and though a literary association, like that hinted at by the Dublin and London Magazine,' might be the wiser plan, yet my advice to my countrymen is- follow your leaders!'

O'Kavanagh. Ay, but they want a military leader, since Anglesea is going to cut them down by wholesale. A new version of Shan Van Vough is published. Rock. Let us have it? O' Kavanagh. You shall.(Sings.)—

Oh! I'm told that Anglesea,

Says the Shan Van Vough-
Oh! I'm told that Anglesea,
In the House of Lords one day,
Said the Papists all he'd slay,

Says the Shan Van Vough.
But faith at Waterloo,

Says the Shan Van Vough-
But faith at Waterloo
He'd have look'd rather blue,
Hadn't Paddy been there too,

Says the Shan Van Vough.
Yet if he needs must fight,

Says the Shan Van Vough--
Yet, if he needs must fight
Oh! he's always in the right,
To keep Erin still in sight,

Says the Shan Van Vough.
For Patt is fond of fun,

Says the Shan Van Vough--
For Patt is fond of fun
And was never known to run
From cannon, sword, or gun,

Says the Shan Van Vough-
And though Rock, alas! is gone,

Says the Shan Van Vough.
And though Rock, alas! is gone,
I'd hold you ten to one
He'd be with us here anon,

Says the Shan Van Vough.
But no Hussar we'll see,

Says the Shan Van Vough-
But no Hussar we'll see,
For Ould Erin' shall be free,
And so HELP ME GOD!' says she-
The Shan Van Vough.

Omnes. Bravo!

PRIVATE MEMOIRS OF

CAPTAIN ROCK.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS.

THOSE who understand the meaning of Ride and tie,'* will be at no loss to discover the manner in which Owen and I travelled to Maryborough, a town in the Queen's County, where I took leave of my foster brother, with many expressions of regret on both sides, and proceeded on foot to Dublin, which city I entered next day, about eight o'clock in the evening. After turning to the right and to the left about half a dozen times, an old woman informed me that I was in the Coombe; and, on inquiring for the house of Peter M'Loughlin, was shown up a dirty alley, where I found the domicile of my uncle. As I stood before the door a continual whiz-z-z came from the upper apartments, which at first surprised me; but, on recollecting that he followed the trade of a clothier, I was soon reconciled to the singular noise. On entering, my aunt tenderly em. braced me, inquired after my mo. ther, her sister, and, finally, welcomed me to Dublin. Her husband and sons were called down from their work, and the evening was spent very happily over a bowl of good whiskey punch.

Next morning one of my cousins took me out to see the city. We visited, successively, every object calculated to excite wonder in a novice like me; and, as we were proceeding down Dame Street, we heard the sounds of martial music

That is, one rides a mile or two, and then ties the horse to something on the road side, and proceeds on foot. When bis fellow-traveller comes up, he mounts and proceeds one or two miles a-head of his comrade, and then ties. By this means their progress is facilitated.

SATURDAY, JULY 16, 1825.

at a distance. The volunteers,' said my cousin. 'Indeed!' said I. Where are they?' for I had long wished to behold those patriotic bands who redeemed the character of Ireland from the charge of disloyalty and disunion. In a few minutes the wish was gratified. The venerable Earl of Charlemont, on horseback, was preceded by an advance guard, and immediately following him were several corps of volunteers in their uniforms, colours flying, bayonets fixed, &c. There is something in military array to gratify youth, and, as the enrolled citizens marched by us, I wished that I had been one of them. It being a field day, we followed the drum out to the neighbourhood of Rathfarnham, and saw the corps go through their different evolutions.

As my memoir is in fact the history of Ireland, I shall here detail the origin of the Irish volunteers -an institution totally unprece dented in the annals of the world. Their appearance forms one of the few green spots-if not the only one-which the gloomy desert of Irish history presents; and is that epoch, above all others, which my countrymen should be well acquainted with.

The American war having exhausted England both of money and men, Ireland was left, in 1778, completely defenceless, there not being more than a thousand soldiers in the whole island. In this emergency a French invasion was threatened; and the people of Belfast, whose town had been, eighteen years before, visited by a hostile fleet, applied to government for protection. The answer was candid, for a fool was secretary of state,+-government could afford

none.

+ Sir Richard Heron, originally an attorney of Grey's Inu.

PRICE TWO PENCE.

To the many idle suggestions (idle, as they only produced unnecessary irritation,) of the illegality of the volunteer army, this letter might, perhaps, be opposed as a substantial answer. Government was, as to national defence, abdicated, and the people left to take care of themselves. But, if thus abandoned, their spirit soon supplied the defects and imbecility of administration. Belfast, Antrim, the adjacent counties, poured forth their armed citizens. The town of Armagh raised a body of men, at the head of whom Lord Charlemont placed himself. Every day beheld the institution expand; a noble ardour was almost every where diffused; and, where it was not felt, was at least imitated. Several, who had at first stood aloof,

now became volunteers from necessity-from fashion. No landlord could meet his tenants, no member of parliament his constituents, who was not willing to serve and act with his armed countrymen. The spirit-stirring drum was heard through every province; not to "fright the isle from its propriety," but to animate its inhabitants to the most sacred of all duties the defence of their liberties and their country.

'Government stood astounded. With unavailing regret, it now beheld the effects of its own immediate work indeed; but, to look more retrospectively, the work of its predecessors, and of England. To disunite or disarray the volunteers was beyond their power, though the secret object of their wishes. Disunion, without money, was impracticable; and the volunteers well knew that the contractors and manufacturers at the other side of the Channel, who had impoverished the Exchequer, and the courtiers who had robbed it here, could not rob them of their

arms and privileges. The former would give nothing; and the latter had nothing to give. But money, if to be had, could then have effected little, or rather nothing whatever. As a body, the volunteers, in that hour of generous enthusiasm, were as unassailable by gold as by fear. As to disarraying them, supposing its accomplishment, to such a state had ministers brought matters, it could not have been effected without dan ger. Contending terrors agitated administration. An army, acting without any authority from the crown, was a subject of great alarm; but French invasion was a cause of alarm still more immediate; and yet, no other troops had ministers to oppose to invasion, than this formidable volunteer army, with whom, or without whom, they now did not know how to live. America had drained both kingdoms of their forces; and, for the raising of a militia, government had no money, and the volunteers no inclination. Ministers looked around for succour, but in vain. | One notable expedient they, or some of their emissaries, had recourse to, in order to divide the volunteers, which I had almost forgotten, but it deserves to be mentioned. It was proposed to some of their officers (this took place in the South) to get commissions from the crown, or take them out at first as for form sake merely. "In case of an invasion," said those forlorn logicians, and that you are taken prisoners, such commissions will, alone, entitle you to an exchange." At that very moment was a noble English army captive in America! So strangely forgetful are some intemperate politicians, of the most alarming events, even of yesterday, and so unable or so resolutely determined are they to draw no beneficial inference from them whatever. The volunteers were, at last, no longer teased nor tormented. Those who were most attached to administration fell into their ranks

as well as its opponents. In little more than a year, their numbers amounted to forty-two thousand men. The Duke of Leinster, the Earl of Clanricarde, Lord Charlemont, not to mention other noblemen and gentlemen of the highest stations, commanded them in different districts.

Generosity, frankness, and, above all, a disposition in Irishmen to regard each other with looks of kindness, were then most apparent, It was impossible to contemplate and enjoy the cheerful dawn of unsuspicious intercourse, which then diffused its reviving light over this island, without an abhorrence of that debasing policy, which, when the sword was sheathed, and the statute book slumbered, sullenly filled the place of both, turned aside the national character from its natural course, counteracted its best propensities, and, under the denomination of religion, fiercely opposed itself to the celestial precept of Christianity,-love one another. The content, the satisfaction that sat on every face, and, I may add, the moral improvement, that formed one of the purest sources of that satisfaction, cannot be effaced from the memory. Let those who sneer at the volunteer institution point out the days, not merely in the Irish, but any history, when decorous manners kept more even pace with the best charities of life, when crime found less countenance, and law more reverence. This state of affairs lasted, it is true, but a short period. It has passed away like a dream. The mutability of all in. stitutions every one feels; but few will acknowledge their own follies, which so often produce, or accelerate, such sad vicissitudes; and from folly we were not more exempt than others.

'An investigation of some of the causes which contributed to the celebrity and success of the volunteer army, till the year 1783, may not be without its utility. It was fortunate for Ireland that there

should have been at that time a growth of men, capable of restraining popular excesses; to whose understanding the people wisely committed themselves, and by whose prudence they triumphed. Livy mentions, that Roman virtue never shone so much as in the second Punic war. "Never," says he,

were the people more disposed to revere the wisdom of their supe riors, nor their superiors more disposed to favour the people." The success which attended the period I have now touched upon should he a lesson to both;-to the people, to be on their guard against vanity, and the higher orders against pride. Had the example of the French revolution taken place at that day, Ireland would, it is more than probable, have totally failed in her efforts. But there was then no rivalry of orders in the state; one thing professed, another thing concealed. The union that subsisted between men of superior endowments, and those of home-spun integrity and good sense, was for the sole purpose of mutual triumph. Lord Charlemont, and the truly good and wise men who acted with him, took care to confine the pub. lic mind to two great principles, the defence of the empire, and the restoration of our constitution. In their steps to the latter they were peculiarly cautious to limit the national claim to such a point only as Ireland herself could not divide upon. This was a grant of a free trade. As to the constitution, Protestants and Catholics had agreed to a declaration of right, in 1641; the Protestant House of Commons, when it had expelled the Catholics, would not listen to any measure which gave countenance to the authority of the English parliament; and the Catholics, in all their propositions and treaties, had insisted on the great point of parliamentary independence. In this measure, therefore, the principal men, who now came forward, again united Ireland; and, by their statements and publications, divided England