mental irritation. On the 2nd of June, Lord Edward became delirious, and the attendance of a keeper from a madhouse was deemed necessary. On the 3rd, reason returned, but his strength had sunk completely. Then, the authorities gave a tardy assent for his brother and sister to visit him; and the last interview between relatives who appear to have been most devotedly attached, is so touchingly detailed in a letter from Lady Louisa Conolly, that we are tempted to give an extract:

"Thanks to the great God! our visit was timed to the moment that the wretched situation allowed of. His mind had been agitated for two days, and the feeling was enough gone, not to be overcome by the sight of his brother and me. We had the consolation of seeing and feeling that it was a pleasure to him. I first approached his bed he looked at me, knew me, kissed me, and said (what will never depart from my ears), It is heaven to me to see you!' and, shortly after, turning to the other side of his bed, he said, 'I can't see you.' I went round, and he soon after kissed my hand, and smiled at me, which I shall never forget, though I saw death in his dear face at the time. I then told him that Henry was come. He said nothing that marked surprise at his being in Ireland, but expressed joy at hearing it, and said, 'Where is he, dear fellow?'

"Henry then took my place, and the two dear brothers frequently embraced each other, to the melting a heart of stone; and yet God enabled both Henry and myself to remain quite composed. As every one left the room, we told him we only were with him. He said, That is very pleasant.' However, he remained silent, and I then brought in the subject of Lady Edward, and told him that I had not left her until I saw her on board; and Henry told him of having met her on the road well. He said, 'And the children, too?-She is a charming woman:' and then became silent again. That expression about Lady Edward proved to me, that his senses were much lulled, and that he did not feel his situation to be what it was; but, thank God! they were enough alive to receive pleasure from seeing his brother and me. Dear Henry, in particular, he looked at continually with an expression of pleasure."

Immediately after Lord Henry and his sister had taken leave, convulsions came on violently-and at two o'clock on the morning of the 4th, a gallant, generous, and enthusiastic spirit-would that it had been better directed!-parted.

After an inquest, the body was interred in the cemetery of St. Werburgh-the funeral being conducted as privately as possible, to prevent any exhibition of popular feeling, which, had it been more public, would have been certain to occur.

As when Orr was executed, the hair cut from him after death, and even shreds of the clothes in which he suffered, were considered sacred relics by the disaffected, so every thing connected with the latter

* Orr was executed for administering unlawful oaths, and it was currently reported that some of the jury, by whom he was convicted, were intoxicated when

actions and the end of this amiable but most dangerous enthusiast, will still be interesting to all, no matter whether they may admire or condemn him. From some valuable information forwarded to me by a friend,* I have selected the following extract :

"It has been observed, that the year 1797 was one rather of preparation than of incident. The exertions of Lord E. Fitzgerald at that period were unceasing, and one of his modes of proceeding was not generally known. Whoever has traversed the county of Kildare, as I have done, must have been struck with the great number of ballcourts, or the remains of them, still to be found in every part of that district. Ball-playing was, at the time, a favourite amusement with the young men of Kildare, as hurling is in other counties. Lord Edward took advantage of this, and found. means to have these ball-courts erected—and here, under pretext of enjoying a harmless amusement, the men of the vicinity assembled without creating any suspicion; the young to play, the elders to deliberate, and promote general organization. Lord Edward was not unfrequently a spectator on these occasions; and though his words and actions were then tolerably guarded, a word or a sign, adroitly conveyed to some ready agent, produced the effect of volumes of orders, and were promptly attended to. Michael Reynolds, who led the attack upon Naas on the night of the 23rd of May, was a celebrated ball-player, and went round these places ostensibly to exhibit his skill, but really, to carry out the views of Lord Edward. This was easily effected-for in those days there was no police to mingle with the persons thus assembled, and note the progress of the conspiracy."

In describing the arrest at Murphy's, Musgrave asserts that Lord Edward snapped a pistolt at Captain Swan. I am inclined to think

they returned their verdict. A leading witness afterwards declared that he had committed perjury; and as the jury had recommended him to mercy, and a respite had been given, it was generally expected that a pardon would have resulted, and Orr have been saved. His execution was therefore considered an act of ruthless severity by his partisans ; and his behaviour when the sentence of law was carried into effect, enhanced the regret of his friends, and, consequently, he died in the odour of martyrdom. Sampson, an Irish fugitive to the United States, at a public dinner given him in Philadelphia, described Orr's last moments thus :—

"Upon the scaffold, nearest to him, and by his side, stood a Roman Catholic domestic, faithful and attached to him. Manacled and pinioned, he directed him to take from his pocket the watch that he had worn till now that time had ceased for him, and hours and minutes were no longer to be measures of his existence. 'You, my friend, and I must now part; our stations here on earth have been a little different, and our modes of worshipping the Almighty Being that we both adore. Before his presence we shall stand both equal; farewell, Remember Orr !" * A retired lieutenant-colonel, who was actively employed with his regiment in suppressing the insurrection.

† When an under-graduate in the Dublin University, I received from a fellowstudent the present of a screw-barrelled pocket-pistol, which had been picked up from the floor after the affray at Murphy's. The handle was inlaid with silver

but it was an old-fashioned and useless weapon. That it was found in the apartment, and probably had been used on the occasion, the near connection of the donor with a principal actor in the scene, leaves me no reason to doubt.

that in this statement Sir Richard is incorrect, and that Moore's version of the affair is more authentic :

"In the desperate resistance which he made, Lord Edward had no other weapon than a dagger, and the number of wounds he is said to have inflicted with it on his two adversaries is such as almost to exceed belief. This dagger was given by Lord Clare, a day or two after the arrest, to Mr. Brown, a gentleman well known and still living in Dublin, who has, by some accident, lost it. He describes it to me, however, as being about the length of a large case knife, with a common buck-handle,-the blade, which was two-edged, being of a waved shape, like that of the sword represented in the hands of the angel in the common prints, prefixed to the last book of Paradise Lost.

"The rebel uniform, belonging to his lordship, which was found at Murphy's, passed afterwards into the hands of Mr. Watson Taylor, in whose possession it remained for some time; but the late Duke of York, who had always been much attached to Lord Edward, and had even offered, when made Commander-in-Chief, to restore him to his rank in the army, having expressed a wish to possess so curious a relic of his noble friend, Mr. Watson Taylor presented it to his Royal Highness, and what has become of it since the Duke's death, I have not been able to ascertain."*

*Moore's Life, &c.

CHAPTER V.

ARREST OF THE SHEARES-OUTBREAK OF THE REBELLION AFFAIRS IN THE VICINITY OF THE METROPOLIS.

THE capture of Lord Edward Fitzgerald was followed up by the arrest of the brothers Sheares; and had the Government required documentary evidence to establish the ruthless spirit with which the ends of the conspiracy would have been carried out, a military memoir found in the writing-desk of the ill-directed young nobleman, and a sanguinary manifesto* in the handwriting of John Sheares, and discovered in the house of his brother Henry, would have been amply sufficient. Lord Edward's document was purely military-and, although highly mischievous, it was defensible; but the proclamation to be issued on the 24th of May, betrayed a ferocity of intention which no circumstances could palliate. Every paragraph seemed traced in blood; and while the sanguinary course of action which it inculcated, deprived the unhappy author of that sympathy which his fate might have otherwise obtained, those who would rescue his memory from the odium of savage purpose, have wisely grounded its defence upon the only pardonable excuse-insanity.t

* "Irishmen, your country is free, and you are about to be avenged. That vile Government, which has so long and so cruelly oppressed you, is no more. Some of its most atrocious monsters have already paid the forfeit of their lives and the rest are in our hands. The national flag, the sacred green, is at this moment flying over the ruins of despotism!

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"As for those degenerate wretches who turn their swords against their native country, the national vengeance awaits them. Let them find no quarter, unless they shall prove their repentance by speedily exchanging the standard of slavery for that of freedom. "Under the conduct of your chosen leaders march with a steady step to victory. Heed not the glare of hired soldiery or aristocratic yeomanry: they cannot stand the vigorous shock of freedom. Their trappings and their arms will soon be yours; and the detested Government of England, to which we vow eternal hatred, shall learn, that the treasures it exhausts on its accoutred slaves, for the purpose of butchering Irishmen, shall but further enable us to turn their swords on its devoted head. Attack them in every direction by day and by night; avail yourselves of the natural advantages of your country, which are innumerable, and with which you are better acquainted than they. Where you cannot oppose them in full force, constantly harass their rear and their flanks; cut off their provisions and magazines, and prevent them as much as possible from uniting their forces; let whatever moments you cannot devote to fighting for your country, be passed in learning how to fight for it, or preparing the means of war-for war, war alone must occupy every mind and every hand in Ireland, until its long-oppressed soil be purged of all its enemies. Vengeance, Irishmen, vengeance on your oppressors. Remember what thousands of your dearest friends have perished by their merciless orders-Remember their burnings, their rackings, their torturings, their military massacres, and their legal murders-Remember Orr !"

"In regard to the proclamation found in his desk, I believe he was the writer of it; though that was never fully proved. At the time when it was supposed to

Many attempts had been made to corrupt the students of Trinity College; some of them had adopted and endeavoured to disseminate the mischievous doctrines of the revolutionary party, but, generally, their loyalty was firm and devoted; and having embodied themselves for self-protection, and to assist the executive at the approaching émeute-no corps was more efficient, and none more formidable to the disaffected, than that of the University. From the construction and position of the College, next to the Castle, it was probably the strongest place d'armes in the metropolis; and although not generally known, the seizure of the College and the destruction of its young, daring, and dreaded garrison, formed another of the insurrectionary objects. From one of the MS. journals, placed kindly at my disposal by a friend, then a young, ardent, and intelligent actor in the passing scenes, the following extract will not be uninteresting:

"The loyalists of the College were in the habit of meeting in my rooms, No. 27, Library-square. An atrocious attempt at maiming some of them was made one evening in the month of February. Between twenty and thirty young men were sitting sociably together, when a loud noise and striking at the windows, as of breaking them in, was heard-and a voice challenged the Orange rascals' to come out if they dare. A partial rush instantly took place; the young man nearest the door and first out was a Mr. Burton, an extremely active young fellow, who fortunately, instead of running downstairs in the ordinary way, seized the banister, and flung himself right to the bottom at once, calling out as he did so for the others to stop. On examination it appeared that a number of the lamplighters' ladders had been collected, and sawed into lengths fitting the breadth of the stairs, and then placed transversely across them; so that a number of persons rushing down hastily, as was anticipated on the alarm being given at the window, must have broken their legs. A more cowardly attempt can hardly be imagined.

"A feather points out the direction of the wind, and this paltry but malignant effort at injury was but the forerunner of one more extensive and diabolical. A plan was laid for the surprise of the College, and the destruction of the students, in which one of the porters, named Ward, was mainly concerned. In those days there was a postern door, leading from the rear of the printing-house into some blind alleys and unfrequented lanes of the lowest description. Through this door, Ward was to have admitted a chosen band of desperate fellows, armed with pikes prepared for the occasion, with handles not more than five feet long, and calculated for in-door work.

"The plan having been discovered by Major Sirr, and information given us, I was one of the party who went in search of the depôt, and in an old cow-house near the postern door we found it sure enough. A large grave-like excavation had been dug immediately behind the

have been written, he appeared so altered, that those who used to delight in listening to him would scarce know him. His mind seemed to have lost its balance."Memoir of the Sheares, by Maria Steel.