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diff --git a/old/67720-0.txt b/old/67720-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f8c9468..0000000 --- a/old/67720-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10816 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Women of 'Ninety-Eight, by Helena -Concannon - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Women of 'Ninety-Eight - -Author: Helena Concannon - -Release Date: March 26, 2022 [eBook #67720] - -Language: English - -Produced by: MWS, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF 'NINETY-EIGHT *** - - - - - - WOMEN OF ’NINETY-EIGHT - - - - - - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration: - - PAMELA - The Wife of Lord Edward Fitzgerald -] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - WOMEN OF - ’NINETY-EIGHT - - BY MRS. THOMAS CONCANNON, M.A. - -Author of “The Life of St. Columba,” “A Garden of Girls,” “The Sorrow of -Lycadoon,” Etc. - - - - - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - - - - - M. H. GILL AND SON :: LTD. - 50 UPPER O’CONNELL STREET, DUBLIN - 1919 - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - PRINTED AND BOUND - -[Illustration] - - - BY - - M. H. GILL & SON, LTD. - - DUBLIN - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - In Memory - - - OF - - - All the Dead Women - - - AND - - - In Homage - - - TO - - - All the Living Women - - - WHO HAVE GIVEN - - - Their Dear Ones - - - TO - - - Ireland - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS - - - PAGE - INTRODUCTION ix - THE MOTHERS OF ’NINETY-EIGHT 3 - _The Mother of the Emmets_ 6 - _The Mother of Lord Edward Fitzgerald_ 28 - _The Mother of the Sheareses_ 53 - _The Mother of the Teelings_ 68 - THE WIVES OF ’NINETY-EIGHT: - _The Wife of Theobald Wolfe Tone_ 103 - _The Wife of Thomas Addis Emmet_ 146 - _The Wife of Samuel Neilson_ 165 - _The Wife of Lord Edward Fitzgerald_ 186 - THE SISTER OF HENRY JOY MCCRACKEN 215 - SOME OTHER SISTERS OF ’NINETY-EIGHT: - _Mary Anne Emmet_ 243 - _Mary Tone_ 247 - _Lady Lucy Fitzgerald_ 249 - _Julia Sheares_ 253 - _Miss Byrne_ 257 - _Miss Teeling_ 259 - _Miss Hazlett_ 259 - SARAH CURRAN AND ANNE DEVLIN 267 - SOME OTHER ROMANCES OF ’NINETY-EIGHT 297 - SOME OBSCURE HEROINES OF ’NINETY-EIGHT 311 - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - - Alas! how sad by Shannon’s flood, - The blush of morning sun appears! - To men who gave for us their blood, - Ah! what can women give but tears! - —DRENNAN: _Lament of the Women after the Battle_. - -“THEY tell a beautiful and poetical story about the croppies’ graves in -Wexford. Many of them carried in their coat pockets wheat seed gathered -in the fields to satisfy their hunger. When they were buried in their -shallow graves the seed sprouted and pushed its way up to the light, and -the peasants, seeing the patches of waving grain here and there by field -or wayside, knew that there a poor croppy slumbered. Was not the waving -grain an emblem that the blood they shed for Ireland would yet nurture -the harvest of Freedom?” - -Twenty years ago, when in the pages of the _Shan Van Vocht_, that moving -and lovely tale was told to the faithful few whom the centenary of -’Ninety-Eight had rallied around the croppies’ graves, it needed a -poet’s vision, a patriot’s heart, to see in - - “The grain that was fed on the dust of the dead” - -a promise of the mighty harvest of freedom. To-day, we look around us, -and, lo!—even to the blindest and coldest of us—the fields are white. - -Ere we go forth to the reaping, shall we not consider with ourselves -what culture the buried seeds of freedom received to ensure a yield so -rich? It is not alone the blood of the men who died for Ireland that has -nurtured the harvest of her freedom. The seed has been abundantly -watered by the tears of heartbroken women: mothers and wives, -sweethearts and sisters, daughters and comrades. Some of these grieving -women I have tried, in the following pages, to make better known to -their country-women of to-day, whose joy has been purchased, in such -large part, by their sorrow. - -And not with their tears alone did our sisters of ’Ninety-Eight sprinkle -the red furrows of that tragic seed-time. In many a forgotten grave, -from Antrim to Wexford, lies the dust of the women who died victims of -the brutality of the yeomanry and military, let loose on the country to -goad its manhood into a rising. Beneath the unmarked site of many a -vanished cabin lie the charred bones of countless women who were burnt -to death when the drunken soldiery fired their homes. Among the outrages -tabulated by Cloney as having been perpetrated by the military in the -county of Wexford alone, we find record of seven young women violated -and murdered near Ballaghkeene by the Homperg Dragoons, after the -retreat from Vinegar Hill; of four women shot after the flight from -Wexford; and of three women bayonetted in Enniscorthy; of nine women and -six children slain by the yeomanry between Vinegar Hill and Gorey, on -the high road; of three women shot by the yeomanry in the village of -Aughrim; of four women murdered by “the supplementary yeomen” between -Gorey and Arklow. - -Anne Devlin was not the only woman of those times who bore to the day of -her death on her tender skin the cicatrized marks of the wounds -inflicted by the bayonets of the soldiers in the design of extorting -from her information. Some of the atrocities suffered by women had not -even the excuse of any purpose—save that of satisfying a monstrous lust -of cruelty. A dreadful case is that of Mrs. O’Neill, whose son, a -clerical student, had been taken up and confined in New Geneva barracks, -preparatory to being shipped off to work in the salt-mines of the King -of Prussia. The poor woman had come all the way from Antrim, a distance -of one hundred and fifty miles, to take a last farewell of him. When she -reached her destination she was refused access to him, and only -succeeded in seeing him after she had bribed his guards. Unfortunately, -she yielded to the violence of her grief when the time to leave him -came, and the anguished cries of the poor mother betrayed her forbidden -presence in her boy’s cell. She was torn from his arms, hurried into the -presence of the colonel, and by him delivered to the tender mercies of -the soldiers, who dragged her into the courtyard, and proceeded to toss -her in a blanket. When the savage pastime of the soldiers ceased, a few -rags were thrown to the unfortunate woman; she crawled to a neighbouring -cabin, and there she died. - -Those who are best entitled to speak of the causes of the Rising of -’Ninety-Eight are singularly unanimous in their exposition of them. -During Thomas Addis Emmet’s examination before the Secret Committee of -the House of Lords (August 10th, 1798) he stated in reply to Lord -Clare’s query as to what caused the late insurrection: “the free -quarters, the house-burnings, the tortures, the military executions in -the counties of Kildare, Carlow and Wicklow.” Mary McCracken used to -quote her brother, Henry Joy’s opinion that “if it had not been for the -free quarters and the flogging, there would have been no rebellion after -all, for it is not easy to get the people to turn out of their -comfortable homes, if they _have_ any comfort in them.” It was the sight -of his burning chapel and the blazing homesteads of his flock which -turned Father John Murphy from a man of peace into the intrepid leader -of fighting men. When his people fled to him in the woods from the -flames of their farmhouses and the outrages of the yeomanry, he told -them that “they had better die courageously in the field than be -butchered in their houses; that, for his own part, if he had any brave -men to join him, he was resolved to sell his life dearly and prove to -these cruel monsters that they should not continue their murders and -devastations with impunity.” - -The same motives which urged the priest to become the soldier animated -many of the women. Better, it seemed to them, to die fighting side by -side with their men in the field than to be violated and butchered in -their houses. And so we find among the Women of ’Ninety-Eight more than -one Irish Joan of Arc. There was Molly Weston who fought at Tara, Betsy -Grey at Ballynahinch, Mary Doyle at New Ross and many a brave woman who -died fighting on Vinegar Hill. - -Another _rôle_ filled by the Women of ’Ninety-Eight was that of -inspiring their men to patriotic action, aiding them by their counsels, -putting their women’s wit at the service of the patriots as messengers -and intelligence officers. Charles H. Teeling informs us that “the -enthusiasm of the females exceeded the ardour of the men; in many of the -higher circles, and in all the rustic festivities, _that_ youth met a -cold and forbidding reception from the partner of his choice, who, -either from apathy or timidity, had not yet subscribed to the test of -union.” “A green velvet stock, or a silk robe with a shamrock device, -were the emblems of national feeling; and the former was not -unfrequently presented to the youthful patriot by the fair daughter of -Erin, as the pledge of a more tender regard.” We see Pamela and Lady -Lucy Fitzgerald shedding the bright influence of their beauty over the -circle of patriotic and romantic young Irishmen whom Lord Edward -gathered around him in Kildare Lodge. Numerous women were so deep in the -secrets of the United Irishmen that it was considered necessary for them -to take the oath. Of these, the most notable, Miss Moore, will receive -more extended notice in subsequent pages of this book. Among others we -find mention of Mrs. Risk, whose husband having fallen a victim to his -patriotic principles in ’Ninety-Eight, devoted herself and all she had -in the world to the Cause for which he died. It was to her house in -Sandymount that Lord Edward was to have been removed the night of the -day on which he was arrested. We subsequently find her visiting the -prisoners at Fort George and carrying back messages from them to their -friends in Ireland. Rose McGladdery, wife of William McCracken, was “a -sworn United man,” and did good service to the cause for which her -husband was imprisoned and for which her brother-in-law, Harry, died, as -she passed out and in of Kilmainham jail to visit her captive husband. -It is very probable that Mrs. Oliver Bond was also “a sworn United man.” -Her name lives in their records for a clever device by which she enabled -the State prisoners of 1796 to keep in touch with the outside world. The -story is told by Charles Teeling, who was one of them: - -“On that great festival, which is respected in every quarter of the -Christian world, this excellent lady, having addressed a polite message -to the first authority of the prison, requested through him to furnish a -dish for the table of the prisoners of State.... This dish was -accompanied by one of smaller dimensions, but of similar appearance, -which was presented to the good lady, the governor’s spouse. Never did -the governor or his gentle rib partake of a dish more agreeable to their -palates. It was a pasty of exquisite flavour, and seasoned by no -parsimonious hand. Dainties of this kind were novel to the captives, but -still more novel the design; choice, indeed, were the materials of which -our dish was composed, and most acceptable to those for whose -entertainment it was prepared. With the full permission of the governor, -the pie was placed on our table, the turnkey received his Christmas-box, -smiled as he turned the money in his hand, and retired. Under cover of -the encrustment, which was artfully, but with apparent simplicity, -arranged, the dish was filled with writing materials, foreign and -domestic newspapers, communications with friends.” Writing his -recollections thirty years later, Charles Teeling recalls, in all their -vivid freshness, the sensations to which this discovery gave birth, and -the happiness which the poor prisoners felt when they were thus made -acquainted with the true sentiments of their fellow-countrymen in their -regard. - -One more pious duty the Women of ’Ninety-Eight took upon themselves, and -that was to guard the memory of the fallen, and to keep bright their -names. Again and again, Dr. Madden has found occasion to pay tribute to -the faithful women to whom his researches owe so much. “With few -exceptions,” he writes, “the materials collected for the memoirs of the -United Irishmen would in all probability have perished, had they not -fallen into the hands of women, who clung to the memories of their -departed friends with feelings of attachment commensurate with the -calamities which had overtaken the objects of their affection or regard. -It would seem that in man’s adversity, when his fellow-men fall away -from his sinking fortunes, or detach their thoughts from his maltreated -memory, there is a steadfastness in the nature of woman’s love, a -fidelity in her friendship, which gives to the misfortunes of her -kindred a new claim to her solicitude for everything that concerns their -interests or their fame.” Very touching instances are those of Mary -McCracken, the daughters of Samuel Neilson, the daughter of Dr. -MacNevin. - - * * * * * - -Finally, it is not to be forgotten that to a woman of ’Ninety-Eight we -are indebted for the first and, when all is said, perhaps, the best—the -most authentic, and vivid and enlightening—story of the Rising which -takes its name from that year. Charles Hamilton Teeling’s “Personal -Narrative,” published in 1828, three years before Moore’s “Life of Lord -Edward Fitzgerald,” was dedicated by the author in words, as touching as -they are noble, to “My wife and my children at whose request solely, it -has been undertaken.... Respected and beloved, they are entitled to this -mark of my remembrance, the only inheritance which the enemies of my -country have left me to bequeathe.” We are allowed to catch, in the -final page of the “Narrative,” a fleeting whisper of the romance of -Charles H. Teeling and Catherine Carolan. We know that when the -Insurrection was suppressed, young Charles Teeling, for true love’s -sake, preferred to take anew the outlaw’s track on the mountain rather -than to seek safety beyond the seas. We would fain know a little more of -the girl who won her place side by side with “the Little Black Rose” in -that most knightly and constant heart. We sense in her story one of the -most tender, and sweet, and pure of the romances of ’Ninety-Eight. - - * * * * * - -I cannot but feel proud of the fact that, in writing this book, I have -received the constant help of two of the grandsons of Charles Teeling, -and Catherine Carolan: Charles T. Waters, Esq., B.L., and Charles H. -Teeling, Esq., K.C. I wish I could acknowledge adequately, the -obligations under which I have been put by their kindness in lending me -the precious Teeling letters in their possession, and allowing me to use -them as I desired. I have been privileged also to consult Mr. Waters -constantly in many doubts and difficulties, to draw on his knowledge of -the period, to use his library, and to call on his help in a thousand -ways which it would be impossible to enumerate. - -I am also under an obligation to F. J. Bigger, Esq., Belfast, and Denis -Carolan Rushe, Monaghan (another kinsman of Catherine Carolan) for their -patient answering of my many questions concerning a period on which they -are among the greatest of living authorities. - -To Mrs. Patrick Semple, LL.D., and her sister, Mrs. MacCarthy, I owe -most warm thanks for their help in making extracts from books otherwise -inaccessible to me, and to Professor Mrs. Macken for the trouble she -took to procure certain books for me. I am also indebted to George -Taaffe, Esq., of Smarmore Castle, Ardee, for information furnished me -from the Taaffe family papers. - - HELENA CONCANNON. - -Lios na Mara, - - Salthill, Galway, - - _September, 1918_. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - THE MOTHERS OF ’NINETY-EIGHT - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - THE - MOTHERS OF ’NINETY-EIGHT - - “Hush, O Mother, and be not sorrowful, - The women of My keening are yet unborn, little Mother.” - —_The Keening of Mary._ - - -TRULY it was of the Mothers of Ireland that Mary’s Son was thinking, -when from the Tree of His Passion He comforted His own Mother with -prophecy of the “keeners” yet unborn who, through the centuries, were to -bear her company in her anguish, and weep with her for her sorrow and -His most bitter death. - -That knowledge—with so much else—we owe to the teaching of Padraic Mac -Piarais. He gave us the first part of the lesson when he gathered us -with him into the cottage of Mary Clancy, in Iar Chonnacht,[1] and bade -us listen to her “keening” with Mary for her dying, crucified Son, and -shuddering at the instruments of His Passion, and shedding floods of -tears at the thought of His gaping wounds. He made us realise what “a -precious thing it is for the world that in the homes of Ireland there -are still men and women who can shed tears for the sorrows of Mary and -her Son.” But did the teacher, himself, know then at what a price had -been won for the mothers of the Gael their “terrible and splendid -trust”? Or was it only revealed to him in the blinding flash of the -illumination which showed him that his own mother’s soul must be pierced -by the same sword which transfixed Mary’s? Certain it is that we had to -wait for the completion of the lesson, begun in Mary Clancy’s cottage, -till that most holy and solemn night when, as he waited, like King -Cellach in his prison cell, for “his love, the morning fair”—and the -flame-like gift it was to bring him—he wrote for his mother the -exquisite prayer, with which he would have her, on the morrow, lay his -own broken body in Mary’s outstretched arms. Then was it made plain to -us that the mothers of Ireland have won the right to stand thus close to -Mary, beneath the Cross, and to claim as their hereditary office, the -task to minister to her in her desolation, because they, above all the -other women of the world, have so often “seen their first-born sons go -forth,” even like Mary’s, “to die amid the scorn of men—For whom they -died.” - -Footnote 1: - - “Caoineadh Mhuire” (The Keening of Mary) was taken down by P. H. - Pearse from the singing of Mary Clancy in Moycullen, and first - published by him in the _Claidheamh Soluis_, October 24th, 1904. - -Thus the Desolate Mother, even in a world which has so largely forgotten -the sorrows of her and of her Son, has always found, and will find, in -the homes of Ireland, her faithful company of keeners. And who shall say -that their ministering is less grateful to her, because while they weep -for her Son, they are weeping for their own, and the voice they raise in -woe is that of Rachel, who will not be comforted? - -These poor mothers of our Irish martyrs! These poor Rachels! There is -something in their grief which makes it a thing apart. Wives, and -sisters, and sweethearts, who have given their dear ones to Ireland have -felt, even in their most anguished hour, something of that exaltation -which makes “the hard service _they_ take, who help the Poor Old Woman,” -a yoke more sweet and precious than any liberty. Like the men, of whose -sufferings it was their splendid privilege to partake, the women who -have shared their husband’s prison cell, like Jane Emmet, or who have -walked with their brothers, even to the foot of the scaffold, like Mary -Anne McCracken, or who have found death by their lover’s side on the -battlefield, like Betsy Gray, “think themselves well paid.” But not even -Ireland could pay the mother of the Emmets, or the mother of the -Shearses, or heal the hidden wound that bled until her death-night in -the heart of Bartholomew Teeling’s mother, or comfort Lord Edward’s poor -mother when the roses of each recurring June were redly tragic with the -memory of his blood-stained prison deathbed, and its sunshine was -darkened by the memory of her boy’s agony. For the greatness of their -sorrow, then, shall we not place them first, these broken-hearted -mothers, in our tale of the “Women of ’Ninety-Eight”? - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The Mother of the Emmets - - ELIZABETH MASON EMMET—(1740-1803)[2] - - “My life was he, - My death his taking.” - —_Lament of Mothers of Bethlehem._ - -Footnote 2: - - Authorities: Madden’s “United Irishmen,” Third Series, Second Ed. - (London and Dublin, 1860); Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet’s “The Emmet Family” - (New York, 1898); J. J. Reynolds’s “Footprints of Emmet” (Dublin, - 1903); Smith’s “County and City of Cork,” edited by Day and Copinger - (Cork, 1893). - - -“ON Tuesday, September 20th (1803), the day of the execution of Robert -Emmet, he was visited at ten o’clock in the morning, by Mr. Leonard -McNally, the barrister, who, on entering the room where Emmet had the -indulgence of remaining all that morning in the company of the Rev. Dr. -Gamble, the ordinary of Newgate, found him reading the litany of the -service of the Church of England. Permission was given to him to retire -with McNally into an adjoining room, and on entering it, his first -enquiry was after his mother, whose health had been in a declining -state, and had wholly broken down under the recent afflictions which had -fallen on her. McNally, hesitating to answer the enquiry, Robert Emmet -repeated the question, ‘How is my mother?’ McNally, without replying -directly, said, ‘I know, Robert, you would like to see your mother.’ The -answer was, ‘Oh! what would I not give to see her?’ McNally, pointing -upwards, said, ‘Then, Robert, you will see her this day!’ and then gave -him an account of his mother’s death, which had taken place some days -previously. Emmet made no reply; he stood motionless and silent for some -moments, and said, ‘It is better so.’ He was evidently struggling hard -with his feelings, and endeavouring to suppress them. He made no further -allusion to the subject but by expressing ‘a confident hope that he and -his mother would meet in heaven.’”[3] - -Footnote 3: - - Madden, _op. cit._ p. 461. Madden’s account of this touching incident - was furnished him by John Patten, brother of Mrs. Thos. Addis Emmet, - and the devoted friend of the whole Emmet family, who was a prisoner - in Kilmainham at the time of Robert Emmet’s trial and execution. - -I have known one woman who, having been able to read, with dry eyes, the -melting tale of Sarah Curran’s “Broken Heart,” and to listen, without a -sob, to the voice of Sarah’s young lover, so soon to be stilled for -ever, pleading from the brink of “the cold and silent grave,” for the -last charity of the world’s silence, broke into a passion of weeping as -the tragedy, which was Robert Emmet’s life-story, swept through every -stage of gathering pathos to the almost intolerable poignancy of its -climax—the picture, conjured up by Madden, of the mother who lay dead, -of a broken heart, in her widowed home in Donnybrook, while her -last-born son, her Benjamin, stood in the dock in Green Street on trial -for his life. - -And yet is there not comfort to be found in the thought that the -mother’s loving spirit was liberated in time from the prison of the -suffering flesh, to be made free of all the places out of which her -boy’s anguish called to her? If, as was Robert Emmet’s fond hope, “the -dear shade of his venerated father” looked down upon him, where he stood -in the dock, ready to die for the principles which that father had first -taught him, surely the soul of the mother was not far away. Surely it -bore him company during the long nerve-wrecking, exhausting hours of the -trial,[4] giving him the refreshment which the brutality of his captors -and judges denied; surely it was close at hand when his poor body, on -which the fetters of death were so soon to be laid, had to submit for -the last time to the more galling fetters of the abominable gaoler of -Newgate. Could we bear to think of what Robert Emmet was made to suffer -during his last night on earth, if the conviction that his mother’s -spirit hovered near him, did not bring us comfort? Brought to Newgate -from Green Street about eleven o’clock at night, he was heavily ironed -by Gregg, the gaoler, and placed in one of the condemned cells. About an -hour after midnight an order came from the Secretary at the Castle that -the prisoner must be at once conveyed to Kilmainham. What a journey was -that through the darkness of the autumn night! What a journey back from -Kilmainham to Thomas Street the next day, when through the seething -crowds, the carriage which bore the young martyr to the place of his -execution moved in the midst of its strong guard of horse and foot! Even -his enemies, looking upon him, were fain to confess that never had they -seen a man go forth “to die like this”—with such “unostentatious -fortitude,” such marvellous absence of all signs of fear, such a -conviction of the glory of dying “for Ireland.” Did the dear Lord make -it easy for him “to die like this,” by permitting his mother to leave -her place in heaven for a time to be with her boy in the supreme hours? - -Footnote 4: - - The trial of Robert Emmet lasted from 9.30 _a.m._ until 10.30 _p.m._ - During “these thirteen hours of mortal anxiety, of exertion, of - attention, constantly engaged, he had no interval of repose, no - refreshment.” - - * * * * * - -Set side by side two pictures. One is that drawn, in such tragic -intensity of black and white, by Madden, of a woman of sixty-three, who -having drained to the dregs the cup of life’s sorrows, lay down in the -home of her widowhood, from which all her children save one were absent, -to die of the malady, for which science has found no cure: a broken -heart. Nine months earlier her husband had been taken from her and now -she, “like the mother of the Shearses, was hurried to her grave by the -calamity which had fallen on her youngest son; who, it was vainly hoped, -was to have occupied one of the vacant places in the house, and in the -heart of his afflicted parents. Vainly had they looked up to Thomas -Addis Emmet to supply that place which had been left a void by the death -of their eldest and most gifted son, Christopher Temple Emmet. And when -Thomas Addis was taken away from them and banished, to whom had they to -look but to the younger son; and of that last life-hope of theirs they -might have spoken with the feelings which animated the Lacedemonian -mother, when one of her sons had fallen fighting for his country, and -looking on the last of them then living she said ‘_Ejus locum expleat -frater_.’ And that son was taken from them, incarcerated for four years, -and doomed to civil death. Thomas Addis Emmet was then a proscribed man -in exile. The father had sunk under the trial, although he was a man of -courage and equanimity of mind; but the mother’s last hope in her -youngest son sustained in some degree her broken strength and spirit; -and that one hope was dashed down never to rise again, when her -favourite child, the prop of her old age, was taken from her, and the -terrible idea of his frightful fate became her one fixed thought—from -the instant the dreadful tidings of his apprehension reached her till -the approaching term of the crowning catastrophe, when, in mercy to her, -she was taken away from her great misery.” - -“Orangemen of Ireland ... these are your triumphs; the desolation of the -home of an aged, virtuous couple—the ruin in which all belonging to them -were involved, the ignominious death of their youngest and gifted -child.”[5] - -Footnote 5: - - Madden, _op. cit._ pp. 463-464. - -The other picture is one we paint for ourselves of a fair young girl, -very slim and graceful in her riding habit, with a charming face, -usually a little too serious for its twenty summers, showing now a -dainty flush of excitement under the piquant riding hood, and clear -eyes, usually somewhat too grave for their youth, shining now with an -unwonted light. For background a stately eighteenth-century country -seat, set in a landscape of exquisite beauty—(What need to describe the -entrancing loveliness of woodland, lake and mountain, when it is -sufficiently summed up by the magic word, Killarney?) Over it all a sky -aflush with the colours of the summer dawn! The haze of summer over the -bird-filled, fragrant woods, that sway lightly to the breezes of the -virginal new day! - -So we picture for ourselves Elizabeth Mason on that summer morning of -the year 1760 when she set forth, a charming and accomplished girl of -twenty, from the home of her father, James Mason, Esq., of Ballydowney, -Killarney, for the memorable visit to Cork, which was to prove an event -of such transcendent importance in her life. - -We guess something of the hopes and dreams, which lay in James and -Catherine Mason’s mind when they yielded to the desires of their son, -James (who was a successful business man in Cork), and allowed their -only daughter, Elizabeth, to accompany him, on his return to Cork from -one of his visits home, for “a season” in the gay, little Southern -Capital. Among the country gentlemen of the neighbourhood there was -small likelihood of finding a suitable _parti_ for their beautiful girl. -Arthur O’Neill’s description of Lord Kenmare’s “Milesian Assembly,” -which took place in this identical year,[6] seems to point to a society -around Killarney of hard-riding, hard-drinking, jolly squires with few -of whom Elizabeth’s cultured and thoughtful mind would have enough in -common for the prospects of a very happy marriage. Amid the young -professional and business men in Cork, with their more intellectual -interests, the wider knowledge of life which their close and frequent -intercourse with the Continent fostered, their greater accessibility to -new ideas, she was, as her prudent, loving parents probably realised, -much more likely to find a husband calculated to make her happy. -Extraordinarily gifted by nature, her education had been such as to -foster her birthgifts. Her great-grandson, Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, of -New York, who in his book, “The Emmet Family,” has done us the great -service of making us acquainted with the _choses intimes_ of his -illustrious stock, has published many of her letters, and they bear out -Dr. Madden’s verdict on her “as an amiable, exemplary, high-minded lady, -whose understanding was as vigorous as her maternal feelings were strong -and ardent.” In another place Madden speaks of her “noble disposition -and vigorous understanding,” and in conversation with Dr. Thos. Addis -Emmet in 1880 he stated that he considered that she, her husband, her -three sons, Christopher Temple, Thomas Addis, Robert, and her daughter, -Mary Anne (wife of Robert Holmes) “were the most talented family in -every respect he had ever known of.” It was felt, indeed, and not alone -by those who hold that “all distinguished men inherit their -characteristics rather from the mother than from the father,” that the -extraordinary brilliancy of the three sons of Dr. and Mrs. Emmet was -largely an inheritance from their mother. And it is impossible to read -her letters, with their exquisite precision and felicity of phrase, -their ease, and candour and absence of all straining after effect, their -expression of a philosophy of life, the noblest, and soundest (because -founded on the truest Christian principles) without feeling that they -have been penned by a woman rarely gifted in heart and mind. - -Footnote 6: - - Mrs. Milligan Fox’s “Annals of the Irish Harpers,” p. 147. It was on - this occasion that Arthur O’Neill, in reply to an apologetic remark of - Lord Kenmare’s concerning the place that the blind harper had found - near the foot of the table, made the famous assertion: “Where an - O’Neill sits, _there_ is the head of the table.” - -With these rare gifts of heart and mind, and in all the freshness, and -charm, and beauty of her twenty summers, Miss Elizabeth Mason made -something of a sensation when she appeared in Cork society. She had -numerous relatives in the pleasant little city by the Lee, and each and -every one of them was determined that their beautiful visitor should -have “a good time.” So once or twice a week some kindly matron would -call at James Mason’s house, and carry off his sister to the concerts -and “assemblies” which were regular bi-weekly events in the Assembly -House near Hamond’s Marsh. Or a party of young people would beg her to -join them for a boating excursion on the river, or “a promenade” on the -Mall where the _beau monde_ loved to display its gay silk and satins, -its feathers and furbelows; or on the Bowling Green, where it took the -air under the quaintly cut trees, and listened to the band discoursing -sweet music for its delectation; or in Mr. Edward Webber’s gardens near -the Mardyke where it ate strawberries and cream, and all the other -delectable fruits of the earth, each in its proper season. In the -evenings there were theatre-parties, or “drums” at the Assembly House, -or in the hospitable and elegant homes of some of Cork’s merchant -princes, whose culture was not surpassed by their wealth. Here while the -young folk danced their minuets and country-dances, their elders played -cards; but both young and old were ready to leave dancing floor, and -card table, to take part in the delightful concerts of “Italic airs,” -which made one visitor to Cork imagine “the god of music had taken a -large stride from the Continent, over England to this island,” and -attribute “the humane and gentle disposition of the inhabitants, in some -measure, to the refinement of this divine art.” At supper one heard -supremely good conversation, for the men of Cork were, according to the -same witness, “well versed in public affairs,” fond of news and -politics, and diligent readers of the newest French and English books, -and the periodicals of the day—and their pretty partners made a -charmingly appreciative audience while the men talked over the foreign -and domestic news they had found in the Dublin and London newspapers, -which the two coffee-houses near the Exchange supplied for their -customers.[7] - -Footnote 7: - - Smith’s “County and City of Cork,” I., 388. - -It began to be noticed by the observant matrons, who chaperoned these -delightful gatherings, that one brilliant talker seemed particularly -anxious to observe the effect his conversation made on clever Elizabeth -Mason, and how persistently he sought her out as a partner in ball and -supper rooms, or at pic-nic or promenade, whenever his professional -occupations allowed him to take part in these functions. They noticed, -with approval, that Elizabeth was not indifferent to the attentions of -the rising young physician, Dr. Robert Emmet,[8] who having studied -medicine and taken his degree with great _éclat_ at one of the most -famous medical schools in Europe, that of the University of -Montpelier,[9] had taken up practice in Cork some years previously. - -Footnote 8: - - Born in Tipperary in 1729, he was just thirty-one years old at the - date of his marriage. - -Footnote 9: - - His great-grandson, Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet of New York, himself a - distinguished specialist, records the publication of a book by Dr. - Robert Emmet, in 1753, on some of the diseases of women. It was - originally published in Latin and was afterwards translated into - French, with two editions printed in Paris (_op. cit._ p. 47). - -In due course the good-natured gossips of Cork learned that Dr. Emmet -had sent proposals, through James Mason, jun., to Mr. and Mrs. James -Mason of Ballydowney, for the hand of their daughter, Elizabeth, and -that the parents, having satisfied themselves, after due enquiry, that -the connection was a suitable one, had given their consent to the -marriage. Dr. Emmet was the son of a physician, Dr. Christopher Emmet, -in Tipperary, and in addition to his professional earnings had inherited -a considerable fortune from his father. Through his mother, Rebecca -Temple, he was connected with one of the most aristocratic families in -England. Satisfactory marriage settlements were speedily arranged, and -preparations were pushed on for the wedding, which took place in Cork on -November 16th, 1760. - -Dr. Madden informs us, on the authority of Elizabeth Mason’s nephew, Mr. -J. St. John Mason, that the doctor built a large house for his bride in -George’s Street. It seems probable that the _ménage_ included from the -beginning the doctor’s widowed mother, Mrs. Rebecca Temple Emmet, and -his widowed and childless sister-in-law, Mrs. Grace Russell Emmet, -relict of his brother Thomas, who died in 1754. At all events these two -ladies died under the doctor’s roof, after the family had moved to -Dublin; the elder in 1774, the younger in 1788. A bequest of the latter -to her “dear sister-in-law” of a gold watch, and ample legacies to the -children seem to betoken that Elizabeth Emmet had the secret of gaining -the hearts of her husband’s kin, and that as mistress of a large and -wealthy household she knew how to make all who sat by her hearth, or -gathered round her table, happy. - -She was soon busy in her nursery. In 1761, her first-born son, -Christopher Temple Emmet, made his entry into it. The boy was destined, -like Cuchullin, to “a great name and a short life.” He was only -twenty-eight when he died, but he had already impressed his -contemporaries as one of the most brilliant men of his time. Grattan, -who disliked the Emmets intensely (because they had the courage of their -convictions, and he, in spite of his fiery rhetoric, was all for -compromise and security), has left on record his opinion of Temple -Emmet, and it is worth quoting at length:— - -“Temple Emmet, before he came to the Bar, knew more law than any of the -judges on the bench; and if he had been placed on one side, and the -whole bench opposed to him, he could have been examined against them, -and would have surpassed them all; he would have answered better both in -law and divinity than any judge or any bishop in the land. He had a -wonderful memory—he recollected everything—it stuck to him with singular -tenacity. He showed this in his early youth, and on one occasion he gave -a strong instance of it. There existed at that time in Dublin College, -an institution called the Historical Society; there were subjects -selected for discussion, and prior to the debate there was an -examination in history. On one occasion the books happened to be -mislaid, and it was thought no examination could have taken place; but -Emmet, whose turn it was to be in the chair, and who had read the -course, recollected the entire, and examined in every part of it, and -with surprising ability.”[10] - -Footnote 10: - - Grattan’s “Life and Times.” By Henry Grattan, the younger. IV. 356. - -In reading the records of eighteenth-century families, we are equally -astonished at the size of them, and the small proportion of their -members to survive infancy. Dr. and Mrs. Emmet had seventeen children in -seventeen years, and of these there only grew to manhood and womanhood -three sons, Christopher Temple, Thomas Addis (born 1764), Robert (born -1778), and one daughter, Mary Anne (born 1773). Of the other thirteen, -there remained only their names in Aunt Grace’s family bible, followed -by the pitiable record, “died young.” - -One circumstance moves us strangely: four little Robert Emmets (the -first born in 1771, the others in 1774, 1776, 1777) came, and finding -the burden of life too heavy, laid it quickly down, until _he_ came, the -fifth, the destined one, who was to take it up and carry it, until his -hero-fate bade him lay it down—for Ireland. - -Perhaps the little graves that multiplied so fast in the Cork cemetery -made that city a depressing place for Elizabeth Emmet; or perhaps her -husband was attracted to Dublin, by the promises of professional -advancement offered by the appointment to the Viceroyalty of his -kinsman, the Marquis of Buckingham. At all events it is a matter of -history that Dr. and Mrs. Emmet came to Dublin in 1771 and took up their -residence in Molesworth Street.[11] Here a number of their children were -born, including Mary Anne (1773) and Robert (1778). - -Footnote 11: - - The identification of the house is of much interest, as it was that in - which Robert Emmet was born. A writer in _Georgian Society Record_ - (IV. 94) states that it is now numbered 22, and forms portion of - Kilworth House. - -In this same year, 1771, Dr. Emmet was appointed State Physician, and -owing to his character and capacity, was soon in possession also, of a -large private practice. He was a charming, genial man, and a great -favourite with his patients. His wife’s nephew, St. John Mason, -described him to Dr. Madden as “a man of easy and gentlemanly manners, -remarkable for vivacity and pleasantry, but free from coarseness or that -exaggeration of expression in moments of hilarity called grimace. He -possessed humour but not of a caustic nature. In discourse he was fluent -and happy in the choice of words, and in the use of classical -quotations. He was remarkably punctual and precise in business and -professional affairs.” By his professional skill and business prudence -Dr. Emmet amassed a considerable fortune, and lived in a manner -commensurate with it, entertaining much good company, and taking a -leading part in the brilliant society of the day. - -After the birth of their youngest child, Robert, in 1778, the Emmets -moved from their house in Molesworth Street, to a splendid new mansion -in Stephen’s Green. Those were the days of the Volunteers, and Ireland, -stirred to the depths by the example of America’s struggle for freedom, -was gathering her forces to make the same demand, which America had -already secured—and to back it by the same arguments. Less fortunate -than America—or less wisely and nobly led—Ireland did not force the -question to the decision of the field of battle, but accepted in full -settlement of her claim a something which only Grattan and his friends, -blinded by their own verbal fire-works, could have mistaken for liberty. -Dr. Robert Emmet was one of those who saw, from the beginning, the -inadequacy of the Settlement of 1782; and there is no doubt but that it -was from him that his sons learned that political creed—the doctrine of -“Absolute Independence”—for which one of them was to suffer the “white -martyrdom” of exile, and the other the “red martyrdom” of blood. Grattan -and Curran and others of their ilk who could never forgive those who had -the pluck and honesty to draw their logical conclusion from the premises -which they themselves had instituted, have tried to discredit Dr. Emmet -by throwing ridicule on him. Grattan’s son quotes his father as saying -that “Dr. Emmet had his pill and his plan, and he mixed so much politics -with his prescription, that he would kill the patient who took the one, -and ruin the country that listened to the other.” And Curran loved to -raise a laugh among his friends—Sir Jonah Barrington and other -high-minded gentlemen—by “taking off” the Doctor administering “their -morning draught” to his sons. “Well, Temple, what would you do for your -country? Addis, would you kill your brother for your country? Would you -kill your sister for your country? Would you kill me?” We can listen -with equanimity to the bitter epigrams of Grattan, or the monkey-like -buffoonery of Curran when we remember what his own sons thought of Dr. -Emmet: “Dear shade of my venerated father,” cried Robert as he stood in -the dock facing his iniquitous judges and accusers, “look down on your -suffering son, and see has he for one moment deviated from those moral -and patriotic principles which you so early instilled into his youthful -mind, and for which he has now to offer up his life.” And Thomas Addis -Emmet, writing to his mother from Brussels, on the receipt of the news -of his father’s death (December, 1802), has drawn for his own, and his -mother’s consolation, a noble portrait of him whom they had lost: “The -first comfort you can know must spring up from within yourself, from -your reflection and religion, from your recalling to memory that my -father’s active and vigorous mind was always occupied in doing good to -others. That his seventy-five years were unostentatiously but -inestimably filled with perpetual services to his fellow-creatures. That -although he was tried, and that severely, with some of those calamities -from which we cannot be exempt, yet he enjoyed an uncommon portion of -tranquillity and happiness, for, by his firmness and understanding, he -was enabled to bear like a man the visitations of external misfortunes, -and from within no troubled conscience or compunction of self-reproach -ever disturbed his peace.” - -The years from 1778 to 1789 were, doubtless, the happiest years in -Elizabeth Emmet’s life. The elder boys, Christopher Temple and -Thomas Addis, were at the University, and a mother even less tender -than she, could not but be filled with pride and happiness at the -brilliant records they were making for themselves. In one of these -years there arrived from America kinsfolk of her husband’s, Sir John -and Robert Temple, and the latter’s family, and in the hospitable -eighteenth-century manner which its big houses and generous style of -living fostered, they became inmates of Dr. and Mrs. Emmet’s house. -The tie which bound the Emmets to the Temples was strengthened, when -in 1784 Christopher Temple Emmet married his cousin, Miss Anne -Western Temple, daughter of Robert. He had been called to the Bar a -short time previously and was in extensive practice. I have already -quoted Grattan’s opinion of his gifts. Even more significant was the -testimony—spoken of all places in the world—in the very Court -wherein Christopher’s youngest brother was awaiting the -death-sentence—and by the lips that were so soon to pronounce it, -the cruel lips of “Hanging Judge” Norbury. “You had an eldest -brother whom death snatched away, and who when living was one of the -greatest ornaments of the Bar. The laws of his country were the -study of his youth, and the study of his maturer years was to -cultivate and support them.” With Christopher marked out, by the -judgment of all the competent men of his time for high advancement; -with a charming and amiable new daughter added to her household in -the shape of Christopher’s wife; with her second son, Thomas Addis, -winning all sorts of distinctions for himself in the University of -Edinburgh, whither he had gone to study medicine; with Mary Anne, -growing into lovely womanhood, and showing a strength of character -and a breadth of intellect, which stamped her as a true Emmet; with -young Robert, earning praise from his masters and regard from his -comrades; with the spectacle of her husband’s delight in all this to -double her own—Elizabeth Emmet might well count herself, for one -golden moment at least, that rare thing: a perfectly happy woman. - -Alas! Alas! how short the moment to which we may cry with Faust, “tarry -awhile, thou art so fair.” Very speedily, Elizabeth Emmet’s “fair -moment” passed. In February, 1789, her son, Christopher Temple, went -“circuit” in Munster—and one day to those who waited his return in the -pleasant home in Stephen’s Green there came the tragic news of his death -from smallpox. The blow was too severe for Christopher’s young wife. She -died a few months after her husband, leaving their little daughter, -Kitty, to the care of her grandparents. Elizabeth Emmet had to live -on—to face the sorrows that yet awaited her. - -At the desire of Dr. Emmet, the second son, Thomas Addis, anxious “to -fill” as far as in him lay, “the place of his brother,” turned aside -from the profession of medicine, in which he had already graduated, and -took up that of law. He was called to the Bar in 1790. In 1791, he -married Miss Jane Patten, daughter of Rev. John Patten of Clonmel, his -choice of a bride giving the greatest satisfaction to his father and -mother. - -At first the young couple lived with the old Doctor and his wife, as -part of the one household; but as the little grandchildren began to fill -the nursery, it was found desirable to provide separate establishments. -The Doctor, with this end in view, divided his house in Stephen’s Green, -West, into two portions. It stood (and still stands, divided as the -Doctor left it into two residences) at the corner of Lamb’s Lane and -Stephen’s Green, West,[12] and the Doctor kept the corner portion for -himself and assigned the inner to his son’s family. Thomas Addis Emmet -had, also, as we know from Tone’s “Autobiography,” “a charming villa” at -Rathfarnham, and doubtless the whole family were made welcome in it, -whenever the call of the countryside overbid the attractions of the -town, in the years previous to Dr. Emmet’s purchase of Casino—the -country residence where he spent his last years. - -Footnote 12: - - Mr. Reynolds identifies them as 124 and 125 Stephen’s Green, West. In - Dr. Emmet’s time the house was numbered 109. - -The mention of Tone fitly introduces the years of Thomas Addis Emmet’s -public life—his efforts for Catholic Emancipation, his connection with -the United Irishmen. But, as we shall speak more fully of these years -when we come to tell the story of Thomas Addis Emmet’s wife, we shall -content ourselves here with a thought of the anxieties, which must have -been the constant companions of a woman so clever and far-sighted as his -mother. Where was all this leading to? Her son, himself with his clear -grave eyes and resolute heart, knew perfectly well—like the majority of -the leaders of the United Irishmen—that the course in which he was -embarked was one which would, most probably, call for the sacrifice of -all that men hold dear. Brilliant professional prospects; the elegance -and comfort of a home adorned by a charming wife and a band of lovely -children; property and position and the interest in a settled order of -things which they bring with them; life itself—all these Thomas Addis -Emmet saw himself called upon at any moment to renounce for the loyal -service of Ireland. “It is a hard service they take,” indeed, “who serve -the _Poor Old Woman_”! “But, for all that, they think themselves well -paid.” - -On March the 12th, 1798, when the Government, acting on the information -of Thomas Reynolds, swooped down on the Leinster Directory of United -Irishmen, assembled in Oliver Bond’s house, Emmet was arrested in his -home in Stephen’s Green and committed to Newgate, from whence he was -afterwards conveyed to Kilmainham. Of his wife’s heroic conduct on that -occasion we shall have an inspiring tale to tell. While her -daughter-in-law shared her husband’s imprisonment, Elizabeth Emmet found -merciful occupation in the care of the five little grandchildren whom -they had confided to her: Robert, Margaret, Elizabeth, John Patten, -Thomas Addis. - -In April, the authorities, alarmed by the spirit of patriotism which was -manifesting itself among the students of Trinity College, ordered the -“Visitation,” of which Moore gives an account in his “Memoirs.” - -In anticipation of the verdict of Lord Chancellor Fitzgibbon, Robert -Emmet, who was looked on as the leader of the patriot youths, requested -the Board of Fellows to take his name off the books of the college. -During the wild excitement of the next few months: the bloody weeks of -“the Rising” in May and June; the executions and court-martials of July; -the French landing in August; the new executions which followed it, in -September; the capture of Tone in October; his court-martial and death -in November, all through the tragic calendar of the year 1798, Dr. Emmet -and his wife Elizabeth had, at least, the comfort of their younger son’s -constant presence with them. - -In this year Dr. Emmet set the houses in Stephen’s Green, and took up -his residence with his family (which now included his grandchildren) in -a country house he had recently purchased for himself, Casino, Milltown. -This historic house still stands, and Mr. Reynolds’s indications make it -easy to locate: “at the corner of Bird Avenue on the eastern side of the -Dundrum Road, midway between Milltown and Windy Arbour.” - -Two events of much importance mark the following year (1799) in -Elizabeth Emmet’s maternal calendar. The first was the removal of Thomas -Addis and the other State prisoners to Fort George in the North of -Scotland; the second was the marriage of her daughter, Mary Anne, to the -distinguished barrister, Robert Holmes. - -Early in 1800, Robert Emmet visited his brother in Fort George, passing -from thence to the Continent where he remained until after the signing -of the Peace of Amiens in 1802. - -Later in the year, Jane Emmet made good the design which her conjugal -affection had long inspired, and which no governmental rebuff could -weaken—that of joining her husband in Fort George. She went there in -July, escorted by her brother, John Patten, and accompanied by her three -elder children, Robert, Margaret, and Elizabeth. With the grandparents -at Casino were left John Patten, Thomas Addis, and a sturdy little chap -called Christopher Emmet, who had joined the goodly company since we -last made the enumeration of them. - -During the years Thomas Addis and his wife spent in Fort George there -was a constant interchange of letters between Casino and the grim -northern keep in which the Irish State prisoners were so long interned. -Sometimes the Casino news is conveyed by Dr. Emmet—whose letters remind -us of St. John Mason’s description of his conversation; sometimes it is -Mary Anne Holmes who holds the pen; sometimes it is Kitty, the orphan -daughter of Christopher Temple and Anne Western Temple. But most -frequently it is the mother and in these letters we get our best picture -of the sort of woman Elizabeth Emmet was.[13] There are pleasant -glimpses, too, of the home-life in Casino. We see the father, seeking -solace for his anxieties in his labours in beautifying the house he -fondly hoped was to be the home of his children, and his children’s -children. The thirteen acres around Casino serve the purpose of -Penelope’s web, and the loving wife finds comfort in watching the -amusement he gets from his tree-planting and landscape gardening, his -industry in gravelling the walks and raking them when they have been -gravelled. Convinced that “the promises of hope are better than the -gifts of fortune,” he has built a fine nursery ’gainst the happy day -when all his grandchildren (and their parents) shall be gathered -together under his patriarchal roof; and a certain cherry tree in full -blossom makes him and his wife long to see Jane and her charming -children gathered under it. The Doctor’s craze for transplanting trees -which, to the rest of the family, seem to be perfectly well placed where -they are, has grown into a family joke; but his wife is too well pleased -to see the good effect the interest and occupation have on his health to -protest now, as she was wont to do, even “tho’ from the earliness of the -season and the age of the trees she despairs of ever seeing a leaf upon -any of them.” “As we have a great demand for pea-rods,” she remarks -jestingly, “they will not be useless.” She gathers up all the news she -can about their friends, knowing how welcome such items are to exiles. -Dr. Drennan, who has attended Mary Anne at the birth of her first-born -baby, is happily “married to a very amiable, pretty young woman”; “he -has waited to some good purpose.” We have a pretty etching of the author -of the “Wake of William Orr,” and the famous “Orellana Letters,” -“leaning over the cradle of his little heir, so anxious about it lest it -should die.” Other friends, like Lady Anne Fitzgerald, Ally Spring, the -Temples—and, above all, the Pattens and the Colvilles—find frequent -mention. She does not hesitate to inculcate certain “musty precepts” as -to health, which her knowledge of her son’s and her daughter-in-law’s -dispositions seems to her to call for. Jane must refrain from “the great -efforts of which she is so fond,” for “system is better than swiftness,” -and though “we may admire the speed and power of a racehorse, a steady -draft horse will in general be found as useful and much more durable.” -Both Thomas Addis and Jane are fond, she knows, of heated rooms and late -hours, and their prudent mother reminds them of the necessity of fresh -air in their bed-chamber and living room, and preaches the doctrine of -“early to bed and early to rise.” - -Footnote 13: - - They are published at length by Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet in his “Emmet - Family” (pp. 71-101). They are models of grace and style, and one - wishes they were in the hands of our women who have so largely lost - the old-world accomplishment of letter-writing. - -But what most people will think the most delightful thing in the letters -are the pictures they give of the children. As has been already -mentioned, the three elder were with their parents in Fort George, and -almost all the State prisoners were lending a hand, each in his own -speciality, to their education. The accounts of their progress interests -their grandmother keenly, and she helps with comments on their -dispositions as she had studied them. She is proud of Elizabeth’s beauty -and goodness of disposition, of Margaret’s shrewdness of observation, -and liberality and directness in dealing; but “the tenderness of -Robert’s tones and the brightness of his countenance give him the -advantage over all the other children whatever.” It is easy to see that -Robert is his grandmother’s favourite, dear as all the children are to -her. A letter from him gives her “great pleasure, for it is a true -picture of his heart, overflowing with innocence, honesty, and good -nature.” She begs for “minute accounts of the three children ...,” she -and her husband “being glad to feed upon crumbs that fall from her son’s -table.” In return she is almost as minute as her son and daughter-in-law -could wish about the three from whom they are separated. She draws a -funny little sketch of the “little fellow,” two-year-old Christopher -Temple, “fighting hard in dumb show for his share in his grandfather’s -claret,” and a little later on “engaging in his elder brother’s plays, -and forcing himself into notice more than the others.” John is the other -grandmother’s favourite, and Tom is pronounced by Ally Spring “the -finest child you have,” but “the little fellow,” as Elizabeth always -calls the baby namesake of her dead first-born, is of all the three -confided to her care the nearest to her heart. We must, however, reserve -further quotations from the letters, as far as they regard her -grandchildren, until we come to discuss their education, at some length, -in our memoir of their mother. - -The letters paint the writer as a grave and somewhat reserved nature. -She feels that she has not her husband’s “gracious manner,” which -perhaps prevents her daughter-in-law judging of the strength of her love -for her. She is inclined by nature to melancholy. “Solitude has through -life stuck to me like an inner garment, and I find that it exceeds even -those of the children of Israel; it is a habit that instead of wearing -by time, grows stronger by constant use.” But she has the great anchors -of Faith and Charity. She feels her blessings with a grateful heart, and -wishes to discern and adore the healing hand which has been held out to -her in the midst of trials and distresses, and without which her natural -infirmities must have sunk under the scenes she has gone through. The -most persistent note in this correspondence is that of deep and true -religious feeling and, as we catch it, we seem to understand how it came -about that in the midst of the corrupt society which was that of -eighteenth century Dublin, this woman’s sons were kept chaste and -undefiled—Moore’s tribute to the unspotted youth of Robert comes back to -us, bringing with it unconscious tribute to the pure and exalting -influence of Robert’s mother. - -The letters end in 1802, when Thomas Addis Emmet was released from Fort -George and awaited in Brussels certain developments which were to -determine his future movements. Here the news of his father’s death -reached him, and his own letter on that occasion to his mother, which I -have already quoted, brought forth one from her which, apart from its -intrinsic interest, must have ever borne in the eyes of her son a -priceless value, for when he received it, the hand that had penned it -was long mouldering into dust. It was addressed to the _Poste Restante_, -New York, and only reached its addressee on his arrival in that city in -November 11th, 1804. - -In the interval the race of Emmet had been practically exterminated in -the land for which they had given so much. The death of Elizabeth Emmet -on September 9th, 1803, was followed by her youngest son’s execution a -few weeks later. In 1804 Mary Anne Holmes died most tragically in the -arms of her husband, newly liberated from prison. One guesses that the -little children, John, and Tom, and Temple, were then taken care of by -their Grandmother Patten, until an opportunity could be found of sending -them across the Atlantic to their parents. They had gone with -Grandmother Emmet, when she left Casino, after her husband’s death, to -take up her residence in Blomfield, Donnybrook. And, no doubt, Mary Anne -Holmes and poor cousin Kitty did what they could to care for them and -comfort them. But if the pathos of the scene drawn by Madden of the -death chamber of Elizabeth Emmet could have borne any heightening, -doubtless he would have introduced in it the tiny figures of three -little frightened, sable-clad boys, standing hand in hand for comfort, -and weeping—though they knew it not—for the tragedy of the passing of -their house from Irish soil. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The Mother of Lord Edward Fitzgerald - - EMILIA MARY, DUCHESS OF LEINSTER (1731-1814)[14] - - “And the flower I held brightest of all that grew in soil or shall ever - grow - Is rotting in the ground, and will spring no more to lift up my heart.” - —_A Father’s Keen_, by Patrick O’Hegarty. - -Footnote 14: - - _Authorities_: Moore’s “Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald”; Campbell’s - “Edward and Pamela Fitzgerald,” “Letters of Horace Walpole,” works of - Mrs. Delaney, etc. - - -“GREATER love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for -his friends.”—(_John_ xv. 13). Ever since that June dawn, when its first -sweet rays, stealing through the bars of the prison window in Newgate, -fell on the form that lay rigid and still on the prison bed, we know -what was “the greatest love” in Lord Edward’s life. For on that sad bed, -still disordered from the tossings of his fever-racked limbs, still -stained with his life-blood, there lay one _who had died for Ireland_. - -By the supreme test, therefore, vouched for by the Supreme Lover, we -know that the love of Ireland was Lord Edward’s “greatest love,” and -that all other loves of his had to yield to its supremacy. But we can -only measure the magnitude of his love for Ireland, if we have the -measure of his other loves to set beside it. And so it falls out, that -we have a particular need, if we would estimate Lord Edward aright, and -would understand what he had to offer to Ireland, to know something of -his other loves, and of those who inspired them. Above all we must know -something of his extraordinary love for his mother. - -His letters are full of it: “I am never so happy as when with you, -dearest mother, you seem to make every distress lighter, and I bear -everything better, and enjoy everything more when with you.” And again: -“You cannot think how I feel to want you here. I dined and slept at -Frescati the other day, Ogilvie and I, _tête-à-tête_. We talked a great -deal of you. Though the place makes me melancholy, yet it gives one -pleasant feelings. To be sure, the going to bed without wishing you a -good night; the coming down in a morning, and not seeing you; the -sauntering about in the fine sunshine, looking at your flowers and -shrubs without you to lean upon one, was all very bad indeed. In -settling my journey that evening, I determined to see you in my way, -supposing you were even a thousand miles out of it.” - -There is one letter to the “dearest of mothers,” in which he places his -love for her above all else: “I assure you I miss you very, very much. I -am not half so merry as I should be if you were here. I get tired of -everything, and want to have you to go and talk to. _You are, after all, -what I love best in the world._ I love you more than I think I do; but I -will not give way to such thoughts, for it always makes me grave. I -really made myself miserable for two days since I left you, by this sort -of reflections; and in thinking over with myself what misfortunes I -_could_ bear, I found there was one I _could not_; but God bless you.” - -Was it Lord Edward’s surpassing love for his mother, that made her, on -her side, single him out among all her children to lavish her tenderness -on; or did she recognise in his great capacity for love a heritage from -her own nature which drew this son closer to her than any other child -she had ever borne? It is certain that of her numerous children—they -counted twenty-one in all—Lord Edward was his mother’s favourite, and -was accepted as such by the rest of the family. Mr. Gerald Campbell -thinks her very frankness in avowing her preference for him prevented -any jealousy among the others. Among the seventy or eighty letters of -the Duchess to her daughters and others which Mr. Campbell examined -before writing his charming book, “Edward and Pamela Fitzgerald,” there -is hardly one, he tells us, “in which she does not express her exceeding -love for him above all the rest.” He quotes: “Dear, dear Eddy! How -constantly he is in my thoughts!” “In Edward nothing surprises me, dear -angel; he has always loved me in an uncommon degree from childhood.” “I -do not pretend to say that Dearest Angel Edward is not the first object: -you have all been used to allow me that indulgence of partiality to him, -and none of you, I believe, blame me for it, or see my excessive -attachment to that Dear Angel with a jealous eye.” The truth is that -Lord Edward had to an extraordinary degree, the gift, so often accorded -as a birthright to persons with a great work to do in the world, of -winning hearts. And probably his own brothers and sisters were as ready -to succumb to his magnetism as the rest of the world. - -It would not be surprising if Lord Edward inherited his power of winning -hearts, as well as his capacity for love, from his fascinating mother, -and she, in her turn, wielded it in virtue of her Stuart blood. For she -was the great-granddaughter of Charles II and the beautiful Louise de -Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. Of the numerous daughters of her -father and mother, the Duke and Duchess of Richmond, four grew to -womanhood, and of these Lady Emilia Mary was the second. All four were -famous for their great beauty and charm; and all four have played a -notable part in history. Lady Caroline, who married Stephen Fox, -afterwards Lord Holland, was the mother of the brilliant statesman, -Charles James Fox. Lady Louisa married Mr. Connolly, of Castletown. Lady -Sarah, some years after the unfortunate termination of her first -marriage with Sir Charles Bunbury, married Colonel Napier and became the -mother of many distinguished soldier sons, including Sir William Napier, -the historian of the Peninsular Wars, and Sir Charles Napier, the -conqueror of Scinde. - -I do not know why the novelists who have found in the life romance of -the four beautiful Lennox girls such a wealth of material should have -passed over the love-story of their parents. It is, if possible, more -romantic than any of them. The story is told by their grandson, Mr. -Henry Napier, and published in the introduction to the “Life and Letters -of Lady Sarah Lennox” (pp. 85-87), his mother: - -“My grandfather, the second Duke of Richmond, was one of the Lords of -the Bedchamber to King George the Second, who then resided at Kensington -Palace. He had been, as was the custom in those days, married while yet -a boy to Lady Sarah Cadogan.... This marriage was made to cancel a -gambling debt, the young people’s consent having been the last thing -thought of; the Earl of March[15] was sent for from school, and the -young lady from her nursery, a clergyman was in attendance, and they -were told they were immediately to become man and wife! The young lady -is not reported to have uttered a word; the gentleman exclaimed, ‘They -surely are not going to marry me to that dowdy!’ The ceremony, however, -took place; a postchaise was ready at the door, and Lord March was -instantly packed off with his tutor to make the ‘_grand tour_,’ while -his young wife was returned to the care of her mother, a Dutch woman, -daughter of William Munster, Counsellor of Holland. After some years -spent abroad Lord March returned, a well-educated handsome young man, -but with no very agreeable recollections of his wife. Wherefore, instead -of at once seeking his own home, he went directly to the Opera or -Theatre, where he amused himself between the acts in examining the -company. He had not long been occupied in this manner when a very young -and beautiful woman more especially struck his fancy, and turning to a -gentleman beside him he asked who she was. ‘You must be a stranger in -London,’ replied the gentleman, ‘not to know the toast of the town, the -beautiful Lady March.’ Agreeably surprised at this intelligence, Lord -March proceeded to the box, announced himself, and claimed his bride—the -very dowdy whom he had so scornfully rejected some years before, but -with whom he afterwards lived so happily that she died of a broken heart -within the year of his decease, which took place in Godalming, in -Surrey, in August, 1750, when my mother was only five years and a few -months old.” - -Footnote 15: - - The title borne by the hero of the story while his father, the first - Duke of Richmond, was still alive. - -[Illustration: - - EMILY, COUNTESS OF KILDARE - The Mother of Lord Edward Fitzgerald -] - -The conjugal affection which ever afterwards united the hero and heroine -of this pretty romance receives emphatic testimony from Horace Walpole. -In the gossip he gathers up for his correspondents their names figure -frequently; and while he jests maliciously about the Duke’s “pride and -Stuartism,” and the Duchess’s “grandeur,” he is an enthusiastic admirer -of her Grace’s beauty, and his cynicism is not proof against the -spectacle of her love for her husband, and her devotion to her children. -Like her daughter, the Duchess of Leinster, she had an extraordinarily -large family—twenty-six, as we learn from Horace Walpole[16]—but as was -so often the case in these enormous eighteenth-century families—but a -small proportion of them survived their infancy. We have a pretty -picture of the Duchess and her husband (“who sat by his wife all night -kissing her hand”) at the ball given by “long Sir Thomas Robinson” for -“the Duke’s little girl,” Lady Caroline Lennox, in October, 1741. “The -beauties,” he informs his Florentine correspondent, Sir Horace Mann, -“were the Duke of Richmond’s two daughters,[17] and their mother, still -handsomer than they.” At the Duchess of Norfolk’s great “masquerade” of -February 17th, 1742, to which Royalty went, ablaze with diamonds, and -where “quantities of pretty Vandykes, and all kinds of old pictures -walked out of their frames,” the “two finest and most charming masks,” -in Mr. Walpole’s opinion, “were their Graces of Richmond, like Henry the -Eighth and Jane Seymour, excessively rich, and both so handsome!”[18] - -Footnote 16: - - “Letters,” II., 221. - -Footnote 17: - - “Letters,” I., 85. The editor of the Walpole “Letters,” identifies the - second of these girls as Lady Emily, our heroine, but it seems very - unlikely, as she was only ten years old at the date of this ball. - -Footnote 18: - - _Ibid._, p. 146. - -Owing to their father’s position at Court, the little Lennox girls were -well known to the old king, George II, and prime favourites with him. He -was Lady Emily’s godfather, and the christening cup he gave her is still -preserved at Carton. He was delighted, beyond measure, when one day, -taking his constitutional on the broad walk at Kensington, he saw a -charming little maid rush from her French _bonne_ and come bounding up -to him with a saucy “_Comment vous portez vous Monsieur le Roi, vous -avez une grande et belle maison ici, n’est ce pas?_” It was little Lady -Sarah Lennox, and the king, having discovered her identity, invited her -_bonne_ to carry her often to see his “_grande et belle maison_.” The -children learned to speak French before they spoke English, and Lady -Emily, in particular, showed herself all through life an enthusiastic -admirer of French literature, and very accessible to the new ideas of -which that literature made itself the vehicle. Horace Walpole tells us -of the delight he experienced, on one occasion when he had invited her -and her sister, Lady Caroline, with their husbands, Lord Kildare and Mr. -Fox, to Strawberry Hill, and the weather turned out too wet to show his -company the wonders of his castle and grounds, to find that Lady Kildare -was “_a true Sévignist_.” “You know,” he remarks to his correspondent, -Richard Bentley, “what pleasure I have in any increase in our sect” -(_i.e._ the cult of Madame de Sévigné). “I thought she looked handsomer -than ever, as she talked of _Notre Dame des Rochers_.”[19] Later on, we -hear from Mrs. Delany of her admiration for Rousseau, and his theories -of education; and we know from one of her daughters that her great -interest in education made her a diligent reader of Madame de Genlis. -She seems to have spent much time in her girlhood with her mother’s -relations in Holland, and this fact, together with the French influences -which presided over her education, gave her a European point of view, -which was in striking contrast with the insularity of the majority of -English-women of her class and generation. Doubtless, this -cosmopolitanism of his mother’s was, also, not without its effect on -Lord Edward. - -Footnote 19: - - A name given by Horace Walpole to Madame de Sévigné, of whose - “Letters” he was a devoted enthusiast. He sometimes calls her “_Notre - Dame de Livry_”—_Les Rochers_ and _Livry_ were the names of her - country seats. - -In 1744, her elder sister, Lady Caroline, eloped with Mr. Henry Fox, to -the great displeasure of the Richmonds. “The town,” writes Horace -Walpole to his namesake in Florence (May 27th, 1744) “has been in a -great bustle about a private match; but which by the ingenuity of the -ministry, has been made politics. Mr. Fox fell in love with Lady -Caroline Lennox, asked her, was refused, and stole her. His father was a -footman;[20] her great grandfather, a king: _hinc illae lacrymae_.” - -Footnote 20: - - Sir Stephen Fox was said originally to have been a choir-boy in - Salisbury Cathedral. He died, after a romantic career, and having held - office under four sovereigns—Charles II, James II, King William, and - Queen Anne—one of the wealthiest men in England. - -It was only after some years, and when the birth of Lady Caroline’s -eldest little boy made the struggle between tenderness and pride in her -parents’ hearts incline overwhelmingly towards the former, that they -consented to a reconciliation. The touching letter which the Duke -addresses to his daughter on this occasion has been published by the -Princess Liechtenstein in her book on “Holland House” (pp. 68-72), and -will be read with interest by all who have learned to like Lord Edward’s -maternal grandfather and grandmother, from Horace Walpole’s account of -them. - -One consequence of Lady Caroline’s runaway marriage was to make the Duke -and Duchess of Richmond extra careful about the chaperonage of their -second daughter, Lady Emily. Horace Walpole has an amusing story to tell -in this connection of a little “set-to” between the Duchess of Richmond -and the witty but eccentric Duchess of Queensberry. “There is a very -good quarrel on foot between two duchesses: she of Queensberry sent to -invite Lady Emily Lennox to a ball: her Grace of Richmond, who is -wonderfully cautious since Lady Caroline’s elopement, sent word ‘she -could not determine.’ The other sent again the same night: the same -answer. The Queensberry then sent word, that she had made up her -company, and desired to be excused from having Lady Emily’s; but at the -bottom of the card wrote, ‘Too great a trust.’”[21] - -Footnote 21: - - Letter to Sir Horace Mann, March 29, 1745. - -Carefully guarded as Lady Emily might be, the town was soon busy with -her name. When Prince Lobkowitz arrived in England in the beginning of -1745 and was observed to pay great attention to the Duke of Richmond’s -charming daughter, it was immediately reported that they would make a -match of it. The gossip even reached Mrs. Dewes, deep in the provinces, -and in reply to a question she puts her sister, Mrs. Delany, about it, -the latter gives the accepted version of the story:[22] “You were not -quite misinformed about Lady Emily Lennox and Prince Lobkowitz; he _was_ -in love with her and made proposals of marriage, but the Emperor would -not consent on some foolish reason of State. I never heard that Lady -Emily was in any way engaged to him, and everything is agreed on between -her and Lord Kildare, and my Lady Kildare is come over for the wedding. -Prince Lob. was in England last year.” - -Footnote 22: - - Letter to Mrs. Dewes, November 7, 1746. - -Well informed as Mrs. Delany prided herself on being, it is not to be -expected that she would know as much about the matter as Lady Emily -herself; and fortunately we have in a letter of the latter’s addressed -to her friend, Hon. Anne Hamilton,[23] her version of the incident. As -the letter gives a vivid idea of our heroine as a lively girl, of -fourteen or fifteen, and of the sort of society in which she moved, it -is worth reproducing. - -Footnote 23: - - Afterwards Countess of Roden. The letters of Lady Emily to Miss - Hamilton are in the possession of the Earl of Roden and have been - published by the Marquis of Kildare in his “Earls of Kildare,” Second - Addenda, 1866, p. 76 _et seq._ - -“Prince Lobkowitz, who I believe you remember a giddy, good-natured wild -young man, as any in the world, was coming to Goodwood, and has had a -fall off his horse, so that I fancy he won’t be here this good while; _a -propos_ to him I must make you laugh and tell you what the Town says, -_he is in love with me_, I very much so with him, but his relatives -don’t care he should marry a Protestant, though as he is his own master -that would be no objection, but that Papa and Mamma, great as he is, -won’t part with me, and besides have other views for me; is not this a -pretty story. I assure you ’tis told for certain all over the Town, and -several of my friends have told me of it. The truth of the matter is, he -is vastly fashionable, and as I happen to speak French and to know most -of his acquaintances in Holland, he takes it into his head to talk a -good deal to me, and you know in London two people can never talk -together a quarter of an hour but they must immediately either be in -love or to be married. They say also that the Venetian ambassadrice is -in love with him and with rather more truth, for she really behaves very -ridiculously about him.[24] As you love these sort of things I must tell -you a ridiculous thing enough. Prince Lobkowitz was one night at supper -at the Venetian ambassadrice’s and the Prince of Wales sent for him, -upon which he went and she was excessively angry with him for leaving -her to go; in joking she said since he would go she would keep his hat. -Accordingly the next morning she cut the hat into a million of little -pieces and sent it to him with her compliments. About a week after he -told her a pye which he had promised her had come from Germany, upon -which she invited a vast deal of company to dinner, and when she came to -open the pye, behold it was the bits of hat which she had sent him. I -think it gives one a very good notion of them both.” - -Footnote 24: - - Some of the pranks of this lady, which created a sensation, even in - the irresponsible society of the period, are related with great - _verve_ by Horace Walpole. - -Very soon after, “the Town” had given her a new suitor—and this time -with more reason. As early as April 15th, 1746, Mr. Horace Walpole was -able to report to Sir Horace Mann that the Duke of Richmond “has refused -his beautiful Lady Emily to Lord Kildare, the richest and first peer of -Ireland, on a ridiculous notion of the King’s evil being in the family.” -The Earl persisted in his suit, and the Duke’s objections were finally -overcome so that by the end of the year we find Lady Emily writing to -her friend “Nancy” Hamilton to announce her betrothal. “In short, in -order that the whole town of London should not tell a lye, Lord Kildare -desires to make them speak truth, and as Papa and Mamma have no -objection to it. I am willing to save them from this and heartily wish -they would tell no more.” A little after the announcement of the -engagement, Mrs. Delany met the beautiful bride-elect at the Prince of -Wales’s “Birthday” in Leicester House, and waxes enthusiastic in a -letter to her sister, Mrs. Dewes (January 21, 1747), over her -loveliness. Even the hideous dress of the moment (“hoops of enormous -size and most people wear vast winkers to their heads”), which make -other women look like “blown bladders,” could not destroy Lady Emily’s -exquisite beauty. “The reigning beauty I think among the young things is -Miss Carpenter, Lord Carpenter’s daughter, and since Lady Dysart was -fifteen I have never seen anything so handsome; but the prize of beauty -is disputed with her by Lady Emily Lennox. She is indeed ‘like some tall -stately tower’; the other is ‘some Virgin Queen’s delicious bower!’” - -The marriage took place on February 7th, 1747, when the bride was a -little over sixteen. Horace Walpole has the record of the event in the -chronicle he sends his friend in Florence on February 23rd, 1747. “Lord -Kildare is married to the charming Lady Emily Lennox, who went the very -next day to see her sister, Lady Caroline Fox, to the great -mortification of the haughty Duchess-mother. They have not given her a -shilling, but the King endows her by making Lord Kildare a -Viscount-Sterling[25] and they talk of giving him a pinchbeck dukedom, -too, to keep him always first peer of Ireland.” - -Footnote 25: - - That is an _English_ viscount, in contrast to the “pinchbeck” of an - Irish title. - -It was quite true that Lady Kildare (who, in common with the rest of the -family, had been forbidden all intercourse with Lady Caroline since the -latter had married Mr. Fox in opposition to their parents’ wishes) made -immediate use of the liberty conferred by her new position to visit her -sister. Lord Kildare and she urged a reconciliation, with more zeal -perhaps than discretion. In the letter of the Duke to Lady Caroline to -which I have already referred, he complains very bitterly of the tone -adopted by the Kildares, “who instead of makeing entreatys, were pleas’d -to tell your mother that wee _ought_ to forgive you, and were blamed by -the world, and by themselves for not doing it, which is a language I -would hear from nobody, and indeed when they saw how it was received, -they did not think fit to repeat it. And I assure you my reconcilement -to you has been defer’d upon this account, for I will have both them and -yourselves know that it proceeds from the tenderness arising in our own -breasts for you, and not from their misjudg’d aplication.” - -The first few months after the marriage were spent by Lord and Lady -Kildare in England and the young wife’s letters to her girl friend are -full of bridal happiness. But her “dearest Nanny” is not to think that -when she says she is happy, “it is from being her own mistress, doing -just what she please, and all the fuss and racket.” “No, believe me, -that my happiness, thank God, is upon a better foundation. It is from -being marry’d to the person I love best in the world, and who is the -best and kindest of husbands.” - -James, twentieth Earl of Kildare, was just twenty-five at the time of -his marriage, and had succeeded his father, Robert, nineteenth Earl, -three years previously. His young Countess might well find him “the best -and kindest of husbands,” for he was one of the best and kindest of men, -much concerned for the welfare of his people and his country, and taking -a serious view of the duties and responsibilities of his great position. -He was the leader of the popular party in the Irish House of Lords, and -when the corrupt administration under the Duke of Dorset and Primate -Stone had become intolerable to the people he took the bold step of -presenting a memorial against them to King George II. His brave fight -with tyranny and corruption made him the idol of the populace, and on -one occasion “he was an entire hour passing through the crowd from -Parliament House to Kildare House, and a medal was struck to commemorate -the memorial, representing the Earl, sword in hand, guarding a heap of -money on a table from a hand which attempted to take it, with the motto, -‘Touch not, says Kildare.’” - -By July, 1747, the young Earl and Countess were back in Ireland settled -for the moment at Dollardstown. The Dowager Countess and Lady Margot, -the Earl’s sister, came on a visit to them, and these with Miss -Brudenell, the young Countess’s companion, and a couple of men friends -of the Earl’s, make up a party very much to the bride’s taste. “We read, -work, write and walk,” she informs her confidante Miss “Nanny.” They are -presently to take up residence in Carton, which the Dowager Lady Kildare -has given over to her son and his bride, having completed it after her -husband’s death and furnished it for the young people from top to -bottom—even to “the table linen.” It would be ungrateful of the new -Countess—after this generosity on the part of her mother-in-law—to seem -indifferent about Carton, but in truth she leaves the simplicity of -Dollardstown for the grandeur of Carton with much regret. - -A few weeks later we find our young people in residence at Carton, with -the elder Lady Kildare and her daughter, Lady Margot, as their guests. -The young wife, one gathers, stands a little in awe of her grave, -reserved mother-in-law, whose manner “until ye are well acquainted with -it, is not very taking.” But she is quite in love with Lady Margot, -“whom she [_i.e._ the Dowager] is very strict with.” She is “really -charming, and I find I shall grow vastly fond of her. She is vastly -lively, very sensible and a very open heart, for she always speaks her -mind, and has a very open heart.” In a later letter she makes merry over -the compassion she received from those friends who thought it “a very -dismal thing for her” to have to leave London—the new London house the -Earl had bought for her in Whitehall—“to come with the person in the -world I love best, who studies how to please me and make me happy more -and more every day, to a very pretty country where I meet with nothing -but civilities from everybody, to a whole family who are agreeable and -cheerful and vastly fond of me, and to a country where I have a charming -house building [Leinster House], a sweet place [Leinster Lodge] which -you know I always delight in, and another pretty place [Carton]. -Certainly I deserve great compassion for all this.” - -While “her charming great house” was a-building, the Earl took a town -house for his bride’s first winter in Dublin in Stephen’s Green, and she -did the honours of her great position by giving some large parties in -it. She enters with great zest into her Lord’s building and improvement -schemes. Beautiful Leinster House, perhaps the most perfect creation of -Richard Castle’s architectural genius, was nearing its completion, and -although her health does not permit her to share her Lord’s weekly visit -to Carton, she keeps _au courant_ with all that is being done there. -“Lord Kildare has cut down the avenue, which I am sure makes it -charming, and has made a very fine lawn before the House, which I think -is the greatest beauty a place can have.” - -A few weeks after the date of this letter, her first child George, Lord -Offaly, was born (January 15th, 1748) and the young mother’s cup of -happiness seemed full to overflowing. She was one of those women who -have the genius and the passion of maternity, and much of her sweetness -was due to this characteristic. During the following years her letters -to her friend are full of the pretty children who have followed George -into her nursery at quick intervals. William, her second son, afterwards -Duke of Leinster, was born in March, 1749, and the Countess’s first -little girl arrived in August of the following year. Her friend receives -an entertaining account of the small bundle of femininity: “in the first -place her name is Caroline Elizabeth Mabel. Caroline after my sister, -Elizabeth after the old Lady Kildare in London, and Mabel to please Mr. -Fox, who had entertained himself while he was here in reading over old -manuscripts and letters belonging to the Kildare family, in which he -found there had been a great many Mabels, and therefore begged we would -tack it on to the other two, which was done accordingly. And now ye have -the history of her name. I will tell you she is in the first place fat -and plump, has very fine dark long eyes which I think a great beauty, -don’t you? and her nose and mouth like my mother’s, with a peaked chin -like me. As for her complexion she is so full of red gum that there is -no judging of it, but what is best of all is that she is in perfect -health and has been so ever since she was born. But it’s not fair to her -brothers to entertain you only about her without mentioning them.” And -so we get a charming picture of the two little boys, and incidentally a -glimpse of their pretty young nineteen year-old mother in the midst of -them: “To begin with George. He is in the first place much improved as -to his beauty, but the most entertaining, comical arch little rogue that -ever was, chatters incessantly, is immensely fond of me, and coaxes me -not a little, for he is cunning enough, very sweet tempered and easily -governed by gentle means, in short if I was to sit down and wish for a -child it would be just such a sort of boy as he is now. William is a -sweet child, too, in a different way, he is not so lively or active as -George is by a good deal, but is forward enough both as to his walking -and talking, for he says several words and walks quite alone. As for his -little person it is fat, round and white as he was when you saw him, and -does not improve as to that; he is the best-natured creature that can -be, and excessively passionate already, but puts up his mouth to kiss -and be friends the very next moment. He is vastly fond of his nurse and -does not care twopence for me, so you may imagine I cannot for my life -be as fond of him (though in reality I love him as well) as of George, -who is always coaxing and kissing me, and does not care for anybody -else.” - -The poor young mother was to have the great grief of seeing two of these -pretty children die young. Lord Offaly died in 1765 at the age of -seventeen, and was succeeded as heir, by William. Little Caroline died -in 1754 at the age of four. The fatality which, as has been already -observed, pursued the large eighteenth-century families, did not spare -our beautiful Countess’s. Of the nineteen children (nine sons and ten -daughters) she bore her lord during the twenty-six years of their -married life there only survived the years of childhood six sons: -William, Charles, Henry, Edward, Robert, Gerald; and four daughters: -Emily (afterwards Countess of Bellamont), Charlotte (afterwards Baroness -Rayleigh), Sophia, and Lucy. - -In the meantime, knowing nothing of what the future has in store for -her, the Countess is a very happy woman. The improvements at Carton, in -which she is so interested, have been a great success, and no wonder she -longs to go there and see how “her spotted cows” look on the new lawn -from which the Earl has cleared some hedges since she was there last. -Did she ever tell her friend of her passion for spotted cows? She -believes not: “You have no notion what a delightful beautiful collection -of them I have got in a very short time, which indeed is owing to my -dear Lord Kildare, who ever since I took this fancy into my head has -bought me every pretty cow he saw. It’s really charming to see them -grazing on the lawn.” - -So, with her children, the part she took in her husband’s plans for the -improvement of his estate, and his tenantry, her social duties, her -frequent visits to England, the years of the Countess’s married life -passed swiftly and happily. Mrs. Delany meets her occasionally in Dublin -society, but one gets the impression that Lady Kildare keeps the Dean of -Down’s lady at some little distance, and that may account for the rather -bitter tone in which the latter speaks of the Countess. The Dowager -Countess was a great friend of Mrs. Delany’s, by whom she was frequently -visited in London, and whom she visited at Delville. But it is -significant enough that the mistress of Delville, having invited to -breakfast Mrs. Vesey and Lady Kildare, “Lord Kildare would not let his -lady venture so far.” On another occasion Mrs. Delany went with Mrs. -Vesey and their friend Letitia Basle to visit Carton, and call on Lady -Kildare and Lady Caroline Fox. But they found nobody but the Dowager “at -home,” and were not even invited to dinner. These experiences are -probably at the bottom of Mrs. Delany’s evident acrimony against the -Countess. Writing to her sister, Mrs. Dewes about Rousseau, who, during -a sojourn of his in England, was the guest of their brother, Bernard -Grenville, Mrs. Delany warns her of the danger he may be “to young and -unstable minds ... as under the guise of pomp and virtue he does advance -very erroneous and unorthodox sentiments. It is not the _bon ton_ who -say this, but I am too near _the day of trial_ to disturb my mind with -fashionable whims. Lady Kildare said she would ‘offer Rousseau an -elegant retreat, if he would educate her children.’ I own I differ -widely with her ladyship, and would rather commit that charge to a -downright honest person. I mean as far as religious principles; but -perhaps that was a part that did not enter into her schemes at all.” -When the Duchess, as she then was, startled her friends by her second -marriage to Mr. Ogilvie, Mrs. Delany’s observations on the event were in -the worst possible taste. After a little tilt at her as “one of the -proudest and most expensive women in the world,” this typical Mrs. John -Bull, with all the unctuous priggishness and fondness for innuendo of -her class, quotes a horrid jest of Lady Brown’s, and proceeds to bestow -her quite uncalled-for pity on the Duchess’s “poor children.” It is easy -to suppose that our charming and clever Lady Kildare found herself bored -to death with Mrs. Delany, and her hideous shell-work, and the other -atrocities on which she lavished her time (with the profound conviction -that she was setting an example for all womanhood), and that she -committed the unforgivable offence of avoiding her as much as she could. - -At the Coronation of King George III, in September, 1761, our Countess, -then the mother of ten children, walked in the procession of the -peeresses and, according to Horace Walpole’s account of the proceedings -to Hon. H. S. Conway, was with her sister-in-law, the Duchess of -Richmond, and Lady Pembroke, “the chief beauties.” To the Countess of -Ailesbury he compares this trio to “the Graces.” To George Montagu he -speaks of “Lady Kildare, still beauty itself, if not a little too -large.” It is clear that her Ladyship’s beauty was not the transient -thing which passed with the passing of youth. She was forty-eight when -Sir Joshua Reynolds painted the portrait of her, which is still in -Kilkee Castle. “What a beautiful head!” cried Edmund Burke in a rapture -of admiration, when he saw the portrait in his friend’s studio. “Sir -Joshua with much feeling replied: ‘It does not please me yet; there is a -sweetness of expression in the original which I have not been able to -give to the portrait, and therefore cannot think it finished.’” - -In 1766 the Earl, who had been made to suffer as much as the -administration dared for the bold stand he had taken in Irish politics, -received at last the “_pinchbeck dukedom_” which had been promised him -nearly twenty years ago. Government was as kind to him now, as it had -been averse to him before; and lucrative offices were offered him in -quick succession. But death took him from the midst of his splendour, -and one November day in the year 1773 he was carried from the beautiful -home he had built for himself in Leinster House to the family vault in -Christ Church, where his ashes await the resurrection. - -The Duchess, after a short widowhood, married, to the consternation of -most of her friends, and the scandal of the Mrs. Delanys, her sons’ -Scotch tutor, Mr. Ogilvie. The marriage, contrary to expectation, turned -out extremely well. Under a rather dry and unattractive exterior Mr. -Ogilvie had a kind heart, and was most devoted to his step-children, -who, on their side (and this is true of Lord Edward in a special -degree), were very fond of him. Lady Sarah Bunbury,[26] writing from her -brother-in-law, Mr. Connolly’s place at Castletown, to her friend, Lady -Susan O’Brien, shortly after the marriage took place, hints that the -Duchess had been forced to the step she had taken, by “the impertinence” -of her daughter, Lady Emily, who had recently married the dissipated -Earl of Bellamont, to her mother’s intense displeasure. It further -appears, she told her son (William, Duke of Leinster), her -mother-in-law, and her sister (Lady Louise Connolly) that she thought it -very possible she should marry Mr. Ogilvie. They all agreed in the same -thing for answer, that they could not _wish it_, but if she was happy it -was all they wished; and that she could not choose a person she had a -better opinion of and had more regard for. With such a sanction, you -would perhaps think there was nothing for her to do, but to inform her -brother (the Duke of Richmond) of her marriage _tout simplement_, but I -wish you had seen the affectionate, the reasonable manner in which she -wrote to my brother, and indeed to all her friends. One of her -expressions to him is, ‘I am content that you should call me a fool, and -an _old fool_, that you should blame me, and say you did not think me -capable of such a folly; talk me over, say what you please, but remember -that all I ask of you is your affection and tenderness.’ My brother says -there is no resisting her owning herself in the wrong, and begging so -hard to be loved, so you see the good effect of meekness; I assure you -my sister _gains_ friends instead of losing any by her manner. - -Footnote 26: - - Letter of July 29th, 1775, “Letters,” I., pp. 240-241. - -After her second marriage the Duchess and her husband, Mr. Ogilvie, -taking the younger children with them, went to live in France, where her -grace’s brother, the Duke of Richmond, had put his house at Aubigny at -their service. Here the two little Ogilvie girls were born, Cecilia and -Emily, and were made heartily welcome to the family circle by their -kind-hearted half-brothers and sisters, the Fitzgeralds. In the meantime -these boys and girls were going on with their studies under Mr. -Ogilvie’s direction, and the successful careers of Lord Charles and Lord -Gerald in the navy, Lord Edward in the army, Lord Henry in politics, and -Lord Robert in diplomacy were largely due to the skill and prudence with -which Mr. Ogilvie directed their preparatory studies. - -In 1780 the family returned to Ireland, and the Duchess saw her brood of -boys scatter for their first flight. For the next six or seven years -she, with her girls, divided her time between Ireland and England. But -from 1785 to 1787 she was settled in Dublin with Lord Edward, back for a -portion of the time, under her wing, and her girls going out a good deal -under the chaperonage of the young Duchess of Leinster, and their aunt, -Lady Louisa Connolly. In the summer of 1787 we learn from Lady Sarah -Napier that the Duchess was in Barège for the sake of Lady Lucy’s -health, and she was looking forward to the pleasure of being joined by -three of her sons, when news of Lord Gerald’s death at sea reached her. -From 1788 the Duchess took up her permanent abode in London, probably -with the idea of getting her daughters suitably settled. As regards Lady -Charlotte these expectations were fulfilled the following year when she -married Mr. Strutt. - -In 1788 and 1789 Lord Edward was in Canada and his letters to his mother -describing his adventures, “deep in Canadian woods” and on the banks of -Canadian lakes and rivers, were looked forward to with great eagerness -by the Duchess, and passed from hand to hand among the family circle, -even finding their way from London to Castletown, for Lady Louisa -Connolly’s and Lady Sarah Napier’s delectation. “He writes,” the latter -informs her friend, “the most natural and pretty account of his journey -you ever read, comments on the spirit of the chase, the melancholy end -of it, the inferior passions of hunger driving away pity, his low -spirits when he thinks of all his friends, and ends: ‘My dear mother, I -fear we are all beasts and love ourselves best.’” Lord Edward was a -special favourite of his aunt, Lady Sarah, and nothing that befel “this -dear spirited boy” left her cold. One of the most delightful spectacles -in the world was to see how he brought his love-troubles to her and to -“his dearest mother” with the full certainty of their sympathy and help, -and understanding. - -He had been for some time deeply in love with his cousin, Georgina, -daughter of Lord George Lennox, but the young lady’s father would not -consent to the match and married the girl to Henry Bathurst, Lord -Apsley. By an unfortunate chance Lord Edward, arriving in England, -unexpectedly from Canada, drove up to his mother’s house in Harley -Street at the very moment she was giving a dinner-party in honour of the -bridal pair. - -Disappointed in love, Lord Edward threw himself eagerly into politics, -and devoted his time to his duties in the Irish Parliament. On the -outbreak of the French Revolution he hurried to Paris, and in the -enthusiasm with which he adopted revolutionary principles, he took the -extreme step of “renouncing” his title, and in consequence of this he -was dismissed from the English army. - -In December, 1792, Lord Edward married Pamela, who was generally -believed to be the daughter of the Duke of Orleans and Madame de Genlis. -The marriage cannot have been much to the liking of the Duchess. But, -like the wise woman she was, she offered no opposition to her son’s -choice, once she saw his heart was set on it, and when he came to her a -few weeks later to present his bride to her, she opened wide her heart -and arms to “the dear, little, pale, pretty wife.” - - * * * * * - -During the five years that followed, Lord Edward and Pamela kept in the -closest possible touch with the Duchess through a constant -correspondence and frequent visits. But it was only one portion of his -existence which her son revealed to his loving mother. There is no hint -of politics, of the stern business which was to be wound up in the -bloody liquidation of “’Ninety-Eight,” in the letters which “Eddy” -writes in the open bay window of the little book-room in Frescati, with -the birds pouring out their song and the perfumed garden its fragrance -all around him. It is of her flowers and shrubs he tells the Duchess, “I -believe there never was a person who understood planting and making a -place as you do. The more one sees of Carton and this place [Frescati] -the more one admires them; the mixture of plants and the succession of -them are so well arranged.” He gladdens her heart with a description of -Frescati and the shrubs she had planted, in all their June loveliness. -“All the shrubs are out, lilac, laburnum, syringa, spring roses, and -lily of the valley”—in short the whole is heavenly. He seeks her -approval for his own gardening plans and labours: he has had the little -green full mowed and rolled, the little mound of earth that is round the -bays and myrtle before the house planted with tufts of gentianellas and -primroses, and lily of the valley, and they look beautiful, peeping out -of the dark evergreen; close to the root of the great elm he has put a -patch of lily of the valley. A fine February morning finds him “digging -round roots of trees, raking ground and planting laurels,” and planning -to have hyacinths, jonquils, pinks, cloves, narcissi in little beds -before the house and in the rosery. If his mother will trust him to -prune the trees, in the long round, he thinks he can do it prudently. - -Later on he tries very hard to make his mother see the home he has made -for his wife in Kildare—the little white house with bay windows, all -covered with climbing roses and honeysuckle—the “dear wife” herself in -her little American jacket planting sweet peas and mignonette—her -work-box with the little one’s caps on the table in the open window. - -The expected “little one,” “the little young plant that was coming,” -filling its young father with proud joy, arrived in October, 1794, in -the shape of another little Eddy, and the Duchess was very glad to -accede to her big Eddy’s request, and to be its godmother. The little -Eddy was subsequently left with his grandmother for good, after his -parents’ visit to Hamburg in 1796, which was to have such momentous -political consequences. Little did the poor Duchess know for what his -father was preparing when “the precious Babe” was left with her! She is -full of gratitude for the gift, and full of appreciation of the -sacrifice the “dear Edwards” have made in parting with it—they “who -adore it and delight in its pretty ways.” We get charming glimpses of -the Duchess and the pretty boy in some letters to Lady Lucy. Now he is -at play among the sheep on the green hill beneath her window; now at her -elbow while she is writing, and full of messages for her to give to Papa -and Mamma. “Eddy, dood boy, Eddy, happy boy. Papa ride horseback, Mama -dance.” which shows, the Duchess remarks, “that he remembers them.” -Again, the Duchess is showing him a lock of Papa’s hair which Lady Lucy -has sent her mother, and Eddy is kissing it a thousand times: “Papa’s -hair, Eddy’s own Papa’s hair!” She loves to gather up his comical -remarks. “I told him something he was eating was _enough_ and that more -was _too much_. ‘But Eddy don’t like _enough_, Eddy like _too much_.’” - -In October, 1797, Lord Edward saw his mother for the last time. After -that, events moved with tragical swiftness to the catastrophe of May -19th, 1798. - -It was ten days after Lord Edward had got his fatal wound in the -altercation with Major Ryan that his mother was told of his condition. -As soon as the news was broken to her, she declared that she must go to -her boy at once. They kept her in London, persuading her that it was -there she might serve his cause, seeing great people, using all the -influence she could command to have his trial put off. Only poor Lucy, -more closely in sympathy with Lord Edward than any of the others, feels -how useless all this is. “All that human foresight could point out they -are doing, but alas! Edward is dying and alone!” - -It was only on June 6—when Lord Edward had been two days dead—that the -Duchess, Mr. Ogilvie, Lady Sophia, Lady Lucy, and “Mimi” Ogilvie set out -at length for Ireland. They were met on the road by the messenger -bearing the fatal news. - - * * * * * - -Lord Edward’s daughter, Pamela, shall tell us the end of the story: “The -Fourth of June, when the guns fired for the King’s birthday, was always -a dark day in the house; poor Grandmamma appeared in deeper mourning, -and somehow there was a sort of stillness; we spoke with bated breath, -and went softly ... it was the anniversary of my father’s death. -Grandmamma wore his coloured handkerchief next her heart, and it was put -into the coffin with her.” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The Mother of the Sheareses - - JANE ANNE SHEARES, _née_ BETTESWORTH (-1803)[27] - - “Come to me, O Christ, - Take swiftly my soul - Alike with my sons.” - —_Lament of Mothers of Bethlehem._ - -Footnote 27: - - _Authorities_: Madden’s “United Irishmen,” Fourth Series, Second - Edition. - - -ON Saturday, May 19th, 1798, Lord Edward, desperately wounded in the -gallant fight he had put up—one man against the multitude of his -assailants—was taken prisoner and lodged in Newgate. Wounded and alone -he lay in his gloomy cell, and on his hard prison bed through the long -hours of the hot May Sunday that followed, and none of those who loved -him was near at hand to bring healing to his fevered body, or comfort to -his tortured heart. - -On that same May Sabbath, when, from every open space that the -retreating country had left behind her, in her flight before the city’s -advance, there came the smell of the lilac and hawthorn, the honeyed -fragrance of lime trees and chestnut blossoms—“all the sweetness of the -May”—a different scene was taking place in another part of the city. In -a handsome house at the corner of Baggot Street and Pembroke Street, a -dinner-party was in progress. The _cuisine_ was irreproachable, the wine -excellent, the conversation of a high order. The master of the house, a -tall finely-built man of about forty-five, with something of the soldier -in his bearing, sat at one end of the table. His countenance, usually -somewhat stern and forbidding, owing to the haughty glance of his dark -eyes, and the curious blood-red birth-mark which stained the lower part -of his face, was softened now into geniality as his eyes swept the -little circle of relatives and guests gathered around his hospitable -board. His brother, a man of about thirty-two, of a singularly open and -pleasing countenance, blue-eyed, clear-complexioned, with well-formed -features and a clever mobile mouth, that showed, as the frequent smile -parted it, a row of perfect teeth—sat opposite. An old lady—their -mother—very stately and handsome in her rich dark dress and priceless -lace, sat near her eldest son. Beside her was that son’s beautiful wife. -On the opposite side of the table was the host’s sister, and beside her -his daughter by an earlier marriage. By the side of the younger brother -sat a tall man in the uniform of a Captain in the King’s County Militia. - -Presently, dinner being ended, the ladies left the men of the party to -their wine, and retired to the drawing-room. A knock at the front door, -followed by the _frou-frou_ of silks and the murmur of feminine voices -in the hall, announced the advent of after-dinner visitors. At the -proposal of the younger brother of the host, the political discussion -which the three men had inaugurated over their port was postponed, and a -dish of tea with the ladies in the drawing-room was suggested. The dark -eyes of the master of the house were full of merriment, while he -explained to the guest what the magnet was that drew John from his -politics. As the voices floated past them in the hall there had been -clearly discernible the silvery tones of their beautiful neighbour, Miss -Maria Steele. “You should hear some of the poetry he addresses to his -Stella, Captain Armstrong!” said the host in laughing tones. - -Captain Armstrong! Captain Warneford Armstrong! We know now, with that -name ringing in our ears, that darker than the tragedy of Lord Edward, -lying wounded to death in his prison cell at Newgate, is the tragedy -that is being enacted before our eyes in this pleasant hospitable house. -In this handsome dining-room, around the gleaming mahogany with its -genial burden of fruit and wine, there sit—the informer, Captain John -Warneford Armstrong, and his victims, Henry and John Sheares! And -presently, if we have the courage to face it, and will follow the three -men in their passage to the ladies in the drawing-room, we shall see an -even more harrowing spectacle. For in that charming eighteenth-century -room, all full of May sweetness from the tall open windows, all full of -lovely ladies and beautiful children in their picturesque -eighteenth-century costume, we shall presently see the traitor gather -the two little children of Henry Sheares upon his knee, while their -mother tunes her harp, and sings in her glorious voice, some exquisite, -moving strain for his delectation.[28] It is the picture which the -genius of Curran has made immortal: “I am disposed to believe, shocking -as it is,” he cried, while he turned to the Jury, in the dim light of -the ghastly midnight court where the Sheareses stood, two months later, -on trial for their lives, “that this witness had the heart, when he was -surrounded by the little progeny of my client—when he was sitting in the -mansion in which he was hospitably entertained—when he saw the old -mother, supported by the piety of her son, and the children basking in -the parental fondness of the father—that he saw the scene, and smiled at -it—contemplated the havoc he was to make, consigning them to the storms -of a miserable world, without having an anchorage in the kindness of a -father. Can such horror exist, and not waken the rooted vengeance of an -eternal God?” - -Footnote 28: - - The incident of Mrs. Henry Sheares singing to her harp for the - entertainment of Armstrong was related to Madden by Miss Maria Steele, - the friend of John Sheares. In Curran’s “Life,” written by his son, it - is stated on the authority of a gentleman who had dined with the - Sheareses, on the day in question that “he observed Armstrong, who was - one of the guests, taking his entertainer’s little children upon his - knee, and as it was then thought, affectionately caressing them.” - Armstrong denied to Madden the truth of these statements, but his - denials were not considered convincing. - - * * * * * - -The poor old lady, on whom the diabolical treachery of the guest of that -Sunday dinner-party was to bring such suffering that the whole annals of -“’Ninety-Eight” have nothing to surpass it, had already tasted in a -fuller measure, than is the lot of common women, the joys and the -sorrows of life. The near kinswoman of the distinguished lawyer, -Sergeant Bettesworth, and a relation of the Earl of Shannon, she had -been married, while still very young, to a wealthy Cork banker, Mr. -Henry Sheares, son of Henry Sheares, Esq., M.P., of Goldenbush. At -Goldenbush, by the pleasant Bandon river, the young couple resided for -some time, and here a number of their children were born. But at a later -date the family lived at Glasheen, about a mile and a half from Cork, -and their abundant means allowed them to keep up another establishment -in the city—a house which has been identified by Dr. Madden as situated -at the corner of Moore Street and Nile Street. - -The young wife was highly accomplished, and it is rare to find a couple -so perfectly matched, as were she and her husband, in every noble -quality of heart and mind. She entered into his philanthropic schemes -with the greatest zeal. Out of the abundance with which God had blessed -them it was their joy to help all those in need. One of the spectacles -which moved their compassion most keenly was that of decent poor people -who, having fallen into debt, were by the barbarous law of the time, -liable to be hauled off to prison for it, and to be herded with -criminals, by whom they were too frequently contaminated. To help these -unfortunates, whose only crime was poverty, Mr. Sheares instituted “the -Society for the Relief of Persons Confined for Small Debts,” and in -about nine months the secretary, Rev. Dr. Pigott, was able to report -that “more than seventy poor wretches have been relieved by this -institution from the depths of misery, and all the horrors of loathsome -confinement—by which, at the same time, above 240 children (besides -wives and other poor dependent relations) have had those restored to -them from whose labour they derive their bread, and the community has -been enriched by the replacing of many useful and industrious members.” - -We have already spoken of the culture which marked the merchant princes -of Cork in the eighteenth century. Even in their cultured ranks Mr. -Henry Sheares stood prominently forth. He was a clever writer, and his -contributions over the pen-name “Agricola,” to the Cork periodicals of -his day were keenly appreciated by their readers. It was held by some of -them that “no moralist—not even Mr. Addison—excelled him in the -composition” of the little moral essay, which was his favourite vehicle -of instruction. Two of his essays, one “On Forgiveness,” the other “On -Man in Society, and at His Final Separation from it,” are reproduced by -Madden; and they show, beneath the somewhat stilted and formal style -which was so much to the taste of their day—and so little to that of -ours—a depth of religion, feeling, a noble philosophy of life which can -never be out of date. He was the founder of a Club, somewhat in “the -Spectator” style, “where popular and literary subjects were debated, and -his speeches at this Club were long remembered by his friends as -pleasing memorials of great historical knowledge, a fine taste and -graceful elocution.” He sat as member of Parliament for the borough of -Clonakilty—which was in the patronage of his wife’s kinsman, the Earl of -Shannon—in the Irish House of Commons from 1761 to 1767; and the -_Parliamentary Debates_ for these years show that he took an active part -in the proceedings of the House. - -Mr. Sheares died in 1776, leaving his widow and family in very -comfortable circumstances. Nine children are mentioned in his will: -Henry, Robert Bettesworth, Richard, John, and Christopher Humphrey; -Letitia, Mary, Jane Anne Bettesworth, and Julia. Of these it was their -mother’s tragic fate to survive all but the youngest, Julia. - -The greatest pains had been taken with their education, and for their -settlement. Of the four daughters, all were married except Julia: one to -Mr. Gubbins, of Limerick, another to Mr. Henry Westropp, another to Dr. -Payne of Upton. “The sons,” writes one who knew the family, “had the -best masters to attend them in their father’s house, under their -father’s eye; he narrowly inspected what company they kept, and at a -proper age they were sent to the University, where, being young men of -good natural parts, they acquired a considerable degree of reputation.” - -The high hopes that had been built on these boys were overturned, in the -case of three of them, by very early deaths. One day Robert and John -were out bathing together, when John got into difficulties, in saving -him poor Robert was drowned. A little later, Christopher, who had chosen -the army for his profession, went out to the West Indies, on John’s -advice. A few months later there came to his loving mother in Ireland -the news of his death by yellow fever. Richard, who had entered the -navy, perished on the _Thunderer_, which went down, with all hands, off -the West Indies, in the great hurricane of October, 1779. - -The eldest son, Henry, who inherited his father’s real and personal -property, estimated at about £1,200 a year, was educated at Trinity -College, Dublin, and first chose the army for his profession. In 1782, -when he was scarcely twenty years of age, he eloped with Miss Swete, of -Cork, whose father, Alderman Swete, was considered one of the wealthiest -men in the City. Young Councillor Fitzgibbon (afterwards Lord Clare) had -been among Miss Swete’s suitors, and it is said that he never forgave -the man whom she preferred to him—and that thoughts of this early -rivalry in love were at the bottom of the implacable hostility which -drove Henry Sheares to his doom. Shortly after the marriage, Alderman -Swete became bankrupt, and his daughter’s fortune having vanished with -the rest of his assets, Henry Sheares was obliged to give up the army -and take up the study of law. He was called to the Bar in 1790, his -brother John, thirteen years younger than he (born 1766) having been -called the preceding year. The brothers began practice together, taking -up their residence in Dublin—at first in a house on Ormond Quay, and -from 1796 in Baggot Street (now 128). - -A little after the move to Dublin the young wife of Henry Sheares died -(December 11th, 1791) leaving her husband four little children. Three of -the children were taken by the grandparents, the Swetes, and educated by -them in France. The youngest child, Jane, appears to have been put in -charge of Grandmother Sheares and Aunt Julia. - -In 1792 Henry Sheares, accompanied by his brother, John, went to France -to visit his children. The stirring events which were taking place in -Paris drew the brothers to the capital, and here they made the -acquaintance of some of the most prominent men of the Revolution; -notably Roland and Brissot. The influences under which they found -themselves in this atmosphere were to give the most decisive direction -to their political philosophy, and ultimately to seal their fate. The -ardent spirit of John was irresistibly attracted to the new doctrines, -and where John led, Henry, who loved him with a love surpassing the love -of ordinary brothers, was fain to follow. Left to himself, poor Henry -would have felt little call to republicanism; he liked dignified -splendour; a fine house, a good table, a choice library. He loved -society in which from his conversational powers, and his charming -deferential way with women, he was a great favourite. He was a devoted -family man—a loving son, and husband and father—and his happiest hours -were spent in his own beautiful home in Baggot Street in the years which -followed his second marriage with Miss Sarah Neville, a lady of good -family in the County Kilkenny. In this home, with its rich furniture and -fine library, he was soon joined by his mother and Julia and little -Jane; and Sarah Sheares, who was a woman of character, as well as of -accomplishments and charm, lived on the happiest footing with her -people-in-law. John was also a permanent member of the household. - -Shortly after their return from France the brothers became members of -the newly instituted Society of United Irishmen, which at that time, had -perfectly “constitutional” objects: Catholic Emancipation and -Parliamentary Reform. But in the eyes of the Lord Clares and others of -the Ascendancy the advocating of the most moderate measures of reform -was “treason.” During all the brothers’ professional career, the enmity -of Lord Clare, which was first that of an unsuccessful rival in love of -Henry’s, pursued them, and as they, in their turn, put no restraint on -the language they used with regard to the Lord Chancellor, every day -that passed fanned the flame. - -It was only after the arrest of the chief leaders of the United Irishmen -on March 12th, 1798, that the Sheareses became prominent in the -organisation. John Sheares was appointed to the Directory, and given -special charge of operations in Cork. In April the brothers went circuit -in the South-West, and were present at a memorable dinner-party in the -house of Bagnal Harvey, Bargey Castle. Another guest was (unfortunately -for the majority of those present) Sir Jonah Barrington. By some curious -presentiment—which he took good care should be verified by immediately -communicating with Mr. Secretary Cooke—he _knew_ that a tragic fate was -reserved for most of the guests. An excellent prophet was Sir Jonah—of -the same “authentic class” as Major Sirr[29]—every member of that jovial -dinner-party (with the exception of himself, a certain barrister and Mr. -Hatton) was executed within three months! - -Footnote 29: - - “There are two sorts of prophets—one that derives its source from real - or fancied inspiration, yet are sometimes mistaken; the other class - composed of persons who prophesy what they are determined to bring - about themselves; of this second, and by far the most authentic class - was Major Sirr.”—Curran’s “Speech in Hevey’s Trial.” - -With Sir Jonah Barrington and other “honourable” gentlemen of his class -drawing up “for their own amusement,” lists of those among their fellow -guests at friendly dinner parties “whom they considered likely to fall -victims” to the coming disaster, and these lists finding themselves -wafted by some marvellous agency from Wexford Bridge to the office of -Mr. Secretary Cooke in Dublin Castle—it is not to be supposed that -Government was in ignorance of the movements and designs of the -Sheareses. They were carefully watched and “set,” but they were left at -large for some time, according to Madden, “to allow the premature -explosion of the rebellion to take place, for the same reason that Lord -Edward was left at large after the arrests at Bond’s for several weeks, -during which time Messrs. Hughes and Reynolds (the informers) visited -him in his places of concealment, at Cormick’s in Thomas Street, and at -Dr. Kennedy’s in Aungier Street.” - -At length the time was ripe for their destruction. Government had found -the proper tool. - -On Thursday, May 10th, Captain John Warneford Armstrong took a little -jaunt to town from his camp at Lehaunstown and called—as he was in the -habit of doing—at Byrne’s, the bookseller’s, in Grafton Street. Though -Captain Armstrong wore the king’s uniform, he was, if his conversation -was any indication, by no means a fanatical adherent of a militarist and -royalist government. He talked republicanism; and was a diligent reader -of republican and deistical books, like Paine’s “Age of Reason” and -“Common Sense.” - -During one of his many conversations with Byrne the names of the -Sheareses cropped up, and Byrne, completely deceived by the Captain’s -specious professions, proposed to make them known to each other. In the -afternoon of May the 10th, Captain Armstrong was seated in Byrne’s shop -when Henry Sheares came in, and Byrne immediately made the introduction. -Henry, however, was unwilling to enter into any conversation with the -Captain and shortly afterwards made an excuse to leave him. - -Presently entered John, with his head full of plans for the Rising, -which was fixed for the 23rd of the month. One of his greatest objects -was to gain over the soldiers, and when Captain Armstrong was made known -to him by the unsuspecting Byrne “as a true brother on whom he might -depend,” it is not to be wondered at, if John looked on this meeting as -the direct answer to his ardent prayers. The Captain professed to be as -eager as John to secure the soldiers for the good cause, and after some -preliminary discussion it was arranged to meet at the brother’s house in -Baggot Street the following Sunday. - -At eleven o’clock on Sunday, May 13th, Captain Armstrong saw the -brothers as arranged; at this interview he got from them the names of -some soldiers in his regiment who were known to be United Irishmen. - -On Wednesday, May 16th, Captain Armstrong called once more at the house -of his victims but found neither of them at home. A second call about -six o’clock in the evening was more fruitful. He was shown in to John in -the library, and learned from him that he was on the eve of his -departure for Cork to organise the Rising there, and that his friend, -Surgeon Lawless, would take his place in Dublin and consult and advise -with Armstrong as to the matters they had in hand. It would appear that -poor Henry Sheares was on his guard against Armstrong for at this -interview he did not appear. - -On the morning of the following day Armstrong was again in Baggot -Street, and made the acquaintance of Surgeon Lawless, who according to -the Captain, “informed him that he had lately attended a meeting of -deputies from almost all the militia regiments in Ireland, at which -meeting there were two of his (the Captain’s men).” At this interview -Captain Armstrong found, what he had hitherto sought in vain, evidence -to implicate Henry Sheares “in the knowledge of the military -organisation” of the United men. - -After each interview with his victims Armstrong, according to his own -evidence, “returned to the camp and communicated the business that -passed to Colonel L’Estrange and Captain Clibborn.” Sometimes he -communicated it to Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Cooke. It was Lord -Castlereagh who persuaded him to go to the house of the Sheareses. “He -would not,” he told Dr. Madden himself, “have gone there if he had not -been thus urged to do so. It was wrong, he believed—indeed, he felt it -was wrong to have gone there and to have dined with them. _It was the -only part of the business he had any reason to regret._” - - * * * * * - -Early in the morning of Monday, May 21st, the day following the pleasant -dinner-party at which Armstrong had been so hospitably entertained, the -inhabitants of Baggot and Pembroke Streets, and the neighbouring -Squares, were startled by seeing a party of military take possession of -the front and rear entries to the house of Mr. Henry Sheares. A loud -rapping at the door roused the inmates, and procured for the police -magistrate in charge of the party, Alderman Alexander, and the Chief -Constable, Mr. Atkinson, the entrance they demanded “in the king’s -name.” Alexander made his way to the library, where he was presently -joined by Mr. Henry Sheares. The master of the house was immediately -made cognisant of the object of this early visit, and informed that his -papers must be searched. Henry Sheares, who was perfectly easy in mind -as to this, in the consciousness of having no treasonable papers in his -possession, acquiesced without protest. The search was nearly ended, -without anything incriminating having been found, when Henry Sheares -directed the Alderman’s attention to a small writing box, belonging to -his brother, which lay unlocked on the study table. - -In this box was found a scrawled production, all blots and erasures, -which John Sheares, who had the dramatic temperament developed in the -highest possible degree, had passed the time in writing, after the rest -of the household had gone to bed the previous night. It was written in -the character of one addressing the Irish people after a successful -rising, and on its evidence, supported by the perjured “parole” of -Armstrong, not only John Sheares who wrote it, but Henry, who was asleep -when it was written, and as innocent of its contents as his little -child, whom Armstrong had fondled the evening before, were launched into -eternity. - -“Can such things be, and not awaken the vengeance of an eternal God?” - -What were the feelings of the poor ladies, old Mrs. Sheares and her -daughters when all this was going on? Was their privacy respected while -the house was being searched for John and more “incriminating” -documents? Was Henry allowed to bid them farewell before he was marched -off to the Castle, and to whisper to them that there was no need for -anxiety? Did any dim foreboding warn them as they saw him leave the home -he loved so well, and where they had all been so happy that _never, -never more_ should he enter it again? - -Later in the same day John Sheares was arrested by Major Sirr at the -home of Surgeon Lawless. Lawless, himself, having received timely -warning from Surgeon General Stuart, had made his escape on the previous -Saturday. - -The two brothers, after examination at the Castle, were committed to -Kilmainham and here they lay in close confinement until they came up for -trial on July the 4th. A postponement was secured until July the 12th. -Then the trial was hurried on with the most indecent haste. - -The truth was that Lord Clare was in terror of his enemies escaping from -his hands—for the most powerful influences were at work for their -rescue, and the evidence against Henry Sheares was not sufficient, as -the common phrase goes, “to hang a dog on.” Miss Maria Steele used her -influence with her devoted admirer, Captain Horatio Cornwallis, nephew -of the Lord Lieutenant, to secure the brothers’ pardon; and to his -nephew’s pleading, supported by that of Julia Sheares, Lord Cornwallis, -“anxious that his first act in Ireland should not be a sanguinary one,” -was about to yield, when Lord Clare, who was present, intervened. All -day long on July 13th, while the trial dragged its weary length through -the hot and crowded court, Sarah Sheares, poor Henry’s wife, sat in a -sedan-chair at Lord Clare’s hall door; when at length she saw him, she -fell at his feet on the steps of his door, clasping his knees and -begging her husband’s life from his hands. It was all in vain. - -And what of the mother all these dreadful weeks? They had not dared to -tell her that Henry was in any danger. They told her that he had been -advised to keep away, and would return when all was safe again. For -John’s fate she was in some measure prepared, but she hoped, with all -her mother’s heart, that it might be averted. A heart-breaking incident -was related to Dr. Madden by a relation of the Sheareses: - -“The Earl of Shannon was a relation and intimate friend of old Mrs. -Sheares, and the day of her sons’ execution, of which she was then -ignorant, his lordship went to see her. A most melancholy scene, as may -be supposed, occurred between them. She threw herself on her knees to -implore his mediation for her younger son, at the time not knowing that -her son Harry was implicated, or had been imprisoned, having been told -that he had been advised to keep out of the way for some time, and was -actually expecting him home that evening. The Earl left the house, not -being able to tell her that they had _been both executed that morning_.” - -When poor heart-broken Julia, poor widowed “Sally” could bear no longer -to hear her ask, “_When_ will Harry come back,” they burst into a storm -of weeping and then the desolate mother knew that no son had been spared -to her out of the calamity that had swept them all away. For a time they -feared her reason would give way before the shock of that knowledge. - -Her two daughters—for Sarah’s devotion was not less ardent than that of -Julia—took the poor old mother far away from the scene of her -sufferings, and made a new home for her in Clifton, England. Here she -passed the short and sad remainder of her days—grieving ever for those -she had lost, having no joy but in the thought of death which would give -them back to her once more. Some time in 1803, the same year which -witnessed the death of her fellow mourner, Elizabeth Emmet, she passed -through “the strait and narrow gate”—and stood with her beloved amid the -multitude “clothed with white robes, and (having) palms in their hands, -before the throne and in the sight of the Lamb.” For she and the sons, -who welcomed her, had indeed “come out of great tribulation, and _had_ -washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The Mother of the Teelings - - MARY TEELING (_née_ TAAFFE—1753[?]-1830[?])[30] - - “He will not be seen on a swift young horse - Clearing a road over fosse and fence, - His comeliness is forever changed, - On his majesty has fallen a mist.” - —_Lament for Oliver Grace._ - -Footnote 30: - - _Authorities_: “Memoir of Bartholomew Teeling,” by (his nephew) - Bartholomew Teeling, Jun., B.L. in Madden’s “United Irishmen,” Third - Series, Vol. I. (Dublin, 1846); Charles Hamilton Teeling’s “History of - the Irish Rebellion of 1798,” “A Personal Narrative,” and Sequel to - same; Unpublished Correspondence of the Teeling Family; “The - Teelings,” by Albi Norman (article in _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for - October, 1905). - - -“I MUST now say a word or two of the excellent mother of Bartholomew -Teeling—not so much because of the well-formed opinion that almost all -distinguished men inherit their characteristics rather from the mother -than from the father, as because I myself have the liveliest -recollection of the amiable and endearing qualities of this venerated -being; of her ardent piety; of her active benevolence; of her cheerful -spirit; and her most graceful presence. - -“Whilst she was still a child, she had been seen by him who was to be -her husband, and who, struck with her girlish beauty, had resolved ‘to -wait for her.’ She, consequently, at the very earliest age, united her -fate to his; and at the end of fifty years, during which they journeyed -together through all the vicissitudes of life— - - “‘In all their wanderings round this world of care, - In all their griefs, and they had had their share.’ - -The romance of this early attachment continued fresh and unabated. The -contrast, perhaps, of her bright and buoyant spirit with the stern and -unbending one of the haughty politician ... was more calculated to give -endurance to their love than the most perfect similarity could have -done; and to the last hour of her existence, she was the pride and idol -of her family. - -“It was matter of astonishment how she contrived, after the severe -trials she had met with, to push the badge of grief away from her, in -the society of those she loved, and to enter into the sports of her -grandchildren, as mirthful as the youngest of them. She was proud of her -high birth, and used to recount to her grandchildren the bright deeds of -her ancestors—the loyal efforts of the noble commander of the Irish -forces; of the unhappy Charles; and the heroic defence of her castle, by -the Lady Cathleen, against the ruthless Cromwell and his adventurers. - -“But she scarcely ever touched upon the untimely fate of her own sons, -slaughtered or scattered over the world. Once only did I hear her -mention her gallant son, or allude to his dark fate, and then came a -gush of anguish, which showed, indeed, the sources of her grief were far -from being dried up, and, under a bright exterior, how much of -heart-rending suffering she had put up within her bosom; but, as I have -already said, she turned from her own woes to alleviate those of others, -and to spread joy around. - -“By rich and poor, she was admired and she was loved. I have been told, -by those whom I myself saw adorn the most brilliant circles of the -metropolis of the empire, that in childhood they were taught to regard -her as a model of grace and excellence; and I speak a fact, which will -be testified by thousands, when I say, that in the hearts of all the -poor of the neighbourhood, in which she resided, her memory remains -enshrined, and that children born since her death have been taught to -love it, and in their dear petitions to give her name a place.”[31] - -Footnote 31: - - Extract from “Memoir of Bartholomew Teeling,” by his nephew, and - namesake, in Madden’s “United Irishmen,” Third Series, Vol. I. (First - Edition, 1846). - -Is it true, as men say, that the woman by whose cradle the kind, -gift-bearing fairies have laid that most rare and precious gift called -“charm,” is immortally dowered? Mary Teeling was an old woman, and one -who had drained to its dregs the cup of life’s bitterest sorrows—when -(knowing it not) she sat for the portrait which her grandson has left us -of her; and she had been many years in her grave, when it was finished -and hung in its place in the gallery of portraits collected by Dr. -Madden of the men and women who gave their all for Ireland in ’98. But -from the canvas there comes forth, stealing into the heart of each of -us, the same charm which, in her radiant girlhood, won the devotion of -her stately young lover, and in her beautiful old age made captive his -little grandson. Neither age had power to wither, nor death to destroy, -the gift which was hers to draw all hearts under her sweet sway. - -We would fain know something of the training and education which, -fostering her innate charm, made the mother of Bartholomew and Charles -Teeling such an exquisite type of the Irish Catholic gentlewoman. “A -nation is what its women make its men”; and if we want boys in the -Ireland of the future like the gallant boy, who on his noble grey -charger galloped alone against the cannon of Park’s Hill, and saved the -fortunes of the day at Carricknagat, or like that other gallant boy, his -younger brother, who rode forth—a lad of seventeen—on a yet more -perilous quest: to slay unaided the dragon of Orangeism, we must take -care to provide “mothers of men” like her who bore these young heroes. -And not alone for the men they will make, will Ireland need such women. -She will want them for their own dear selves; and she will want them, -whatever be her destiny—whether she is to enter at last on the reward of -her long sorrows, or whether she must tread the roadway of thorns yet a -little longer. If the future of our land is to be one of peace and -prosperity she will need in her homes women to “look well to the paths -of their house,” as Mary Teeling did in the days of her prosperity amid -the elegance and comforts of the home in Lisburn which her husband’s -wealth had enabled him to provide for his family, exercising the sweet -and lovely rule of the mistress of a Catholic home, training her -children to the noblest ideals of life and conduct, directing her -servants with gentle authority, practising a gracious hospitality, -“opening her hands to the needy, and stretching out her hands to the -poor.” And if, on the other hand, the whole price is not paid yet, and -the era of persecution is to open again—ah! then it is that Ireland will -need her Mary Teelings to stand by their husbands’ side while “they -suffer persecution for justice’ sake,” as she did by Luke Teeling’s -during the long years of his martyrdom; keeping in the midst of all -misfortunes, loss of home and children, of wealth and ease, the same -exquisite sweetness of nature and charm of manner which made her in -happier days the delight of her friends, “the pride and idol of her -family.” - - * * * * * - -It has seemed worth while to go to some pains to discover, if possible, -the details of an education which “in the dead vast and middle” of the -Penal night, produced a type of womanhood, presenting nothing less than -the “fine flower” of Catholic culture. “Who shall find a valiant woman?” -Have we not found her—with every exquisite trait of her immortal -prototype reproduced—in this dear Irish lady, whose radiant personality, -and high-bred grace, no less than her sweetness, and saintliness, and -charity, survive, through her grandson’s portrait of her, even the -destruction of the tomb? “Far and from the uttermost coast would be the -price of her,” whatever land produced her. If it were France during the -age when the education of girls was considered a subject of sufficient -importance for the grave debates of a King’s Council Chamber, or a -brilliant treatise from a learned and saintly prelate’s pen;[32] or -Italy, in the days when wealthy and powerful princes like those of -Mantua co-operated with great teachers and scholars like Vittorino da -Feltre in the foundation of the schools, where the Cecilia Gonzagas won -their culture; or Germany in the years when illustrious humanists like -Celtes and Reuchlin were proud of the share they had taken in forming -the minds of women like Caritas Pirckheimer—if it were any of these -lands or these ages that claimed the “price of her” it would be a matter -of small wonder. But let us try to realise that it was Ireland in the -middle of the eighteenth century, when education was, for Catholics, a -thing banned and barred by statute. In other countries little Catholic -boys and girls were enticed to their books by every loving and ingenious -device. Great statesmen, great churchmen, great scholars gave their best -thought to the subject of their education. In the Ireland into which -little Mary Taaffe was born about 1753, “statesmen” also _had_ given -their thought to the subject of education for Catholic children—but the -legislation which was the result amounted simply in Lecky’s famous -phrase, to “universal, unqualified and unlimited proscription.” - -Footnote 32: - - Witness the interest of Louis XIV in Madame de Maintenon’s foundation - of St. Cyr, and Fénélon’s treatise on “L’Education des Filles.” - -Nevertheless Catholic parents managed to get their children educated, -and the nation which its lawgivers doomed to ignorance and degradation -produced, by some miracle, scholars like Charles O’Connor of Belanagare -and high-bred, charming women like her whose life-story we are now -studying. How was it accomplished? What a stirring and splendid chapter -the full answer to that question would add to the history of human -endeavour! How one longs for the coming of the long-delayed historian of -the Irish people who shall tell, in all its fullness, the story of how -they educated their children during the Penal Days. - -For the boys we know in part how it was done. They were smuggled off to -the Continent with other forbidden “cargoes,” and at the great colleges -in Spain, and France and the Low Countries found “bourses” provided by -the pious generosity of their wealthier countrymen, or were supported by -remittances from home which no threatened penalty could prevent their -devoted parents from sending.[33] Or a tutor was provided for them in -some hunted bishop, perhaps, or friar, who found safety in the lowly -disguise of a gardener or farm-servant working on their father’s -place,[34] or who came there for a time, as one of the Bishops of -Clogher is recorded to have made the rounds of his diocese, in the -character of a wandering harper. Or they would get a course of lessons -from some of the numerous scribes, who perambulated the country, -stopping for a season at the houses of the gentry of the old race, and -copying out manuscripts for them—Keating’s History of Ireland,[35] tales -of the Red Branch and the Fenians, pseudo-historical accounts of the old -families—as Sean MaGauran did for Brian Maguire.[36] - -Footnote 33: - - The statute dealing with their case runs thus: “In case any of his - Majesty’s subjects of Ireland shall _go_ or send any person to any - public or private Popish school, in parts beyond the seas, in order to - be educated in the Popish religion, and there be trained in the Popish - religion, or shall send money or other thing towards the maintenance - of such person gone or sent, and trained as aforesaid, or as a charity - for relief of a religious house, every person so going, sending or - sent, shall, on conviction, be disabled to sue, in law or in equity, - or to be guardian, executor, or administrator, or take a legacy or - deed of gift, or bear any office, and shall forfeit goods and chattels - for ever, and lands for life.”—7th William III, ch. 4, s.), 1694. - -Footnote 34: - - See “Religious Songs of Connacht,” _passim_. - -Footnote 35: - - It is instructive to note the dates of the MSS. of Keating in the - British Museum. The larger number were written during the Penal Days. - -Footnote 36: - - See “Maguires of Fermanagh,” edited by Fr. Dinneen, p. 140. - -The girls in some instances shared the lessons of their brothers. Dr. -Costello of Tuam tells me that his great-grandmother was taught Latin by -a man working on her father’s farm—a disguised friar. The scribes put -aside their copying for a time to form the little maidens’ hands to the -delicate Italian script which was the admiration of the time. The -wandering harper, who honoured their father’s house with a visit, could -sometimes be induced to give the daughters of the family a course of -lessons on his sweet instrument. Arthur O’Neill tells us of teaching the -harp to two young ladies in Longford, Miss Farrell and Miss Plunkett. -“Miss Farrell played handsomely; Miss Plunkett middling.”[37] Most of -the old Catholic families had members settled abroad, and intercourse -with the Continent was therefore so close and intimate that the outlook -of the Irish at home was far less insular than it is at present. -Occasionally uncles and cousins, who had won fame as soldiers in foreign -services, came home to visit their people, and as they liked to have -their nephews and nieces able to converse with them in French, or -Spanish, or German, as the case might be, the little ones were -stimulated to learn as much as they could in expectation of their -kinsmen’s coming. Little Mary Ann McCracken had to learn her French from -an old weaver, but little Mary Taaffe and her sisters had all around -them priests, who had studied abroad, and were only too anxious to keep -up their practice of foreign languages by speaking them with their -little parishioners. And so when the Taaffe uncle who had fought at -Fontenoy, or his son, who witnessed the dispersal of the Brigade, came -home to Ireland, their fastidious ears were not tortured by the halting -French or vile accents of their young kinswomen. In many a country -house, as in that of the O’Connors of Belanagare, were living ladies, -like Madame O’Rorke, Charles O’Connor’s grandmother, widows of -distinguished Irish officers in the French, or Spanish or Imperial -service, who had spent their youth in the most brilliant circle in -Europe, had been the friends and _confidantes_ of Queens, and who now -took delight in forming their little grandchildren and nieces to the -exquisite manners and gracious bearing which, in their own case, had won -the admiration of the most polished society on the Continent. In other -houses were other ladies who under the secular garb which the -necessities of the time imposed on them, carried out as well as they -could, in their kinsmen’s homes, the religious rule of life to which -they had bound themselves in their suppressed convents. When the -convents were closed, and the nuns scattered, those who, instead of -going abroad, found refuge with their relatives and friends, devoted -themselves largely to the education of the little girls of the -household. They trained them to their own exquisite skill in needlework, -they taught them something of the art of healing, and above all they -filled their minds with sweet and lovely images through their stories of -the girl saints who had been their own unseen but constant companions in -cell, and garden, and church; they turned them steadily to the imitation -of the virtues by which the Elizabeths, the Cecilias, the Catherines, -the Agneses had won their place as hand-maidens of the Heavenly Queen. - -Footnote 37: - - “Annals of Irish Harpers,” p. 179. - -There is no story more beautiful in our national annals than the -story—yet untold in its completeness—of the Irish nuns during the ages -of persecution. We see them avail themselves of the slightest lull in -the storm to found their convents, and carry out the _Magnum Opus_ to -which they had vowed their life. The days of the Confederation of -Kilkenny saw the foundation of the Dominican Convent at Galway,[38] the -days of James II saw its restoration, and the establishment of the -Benedictines in Dublin. To such institutions the Catholic gentry sent -their daughters to be educated, and we have only to turn to the pages of -O’Heyne[39] to learn what manner of women these were who had the -training of their young compatriots. - -Footnote 38: - - O’Heyne states that the convent was established at the end of the - reign of James I. but it was only in 1644 that the church was built - and a house arranged in conventural style. The foundation was - confirmed by Rinuccini in 1647. - -Footnote 39: - - Admirably edited by Rev. Ambrose Coleman, O.P., who has contributed an - Appendix full of the most valuable historical information (Dundalk, - 1902). - -We see the heroic and saintly Prioress of the Dominican Nuns in Galway, -Juliana Nolan, “a woman of heroic fortitude in bearing every kind of -adversity, and very firm in observance and the gaining of virtues”; her -successor, Mary Lynch, who taught school in Spain before her return to -Galway, “a most religious woman and of great capacity for ruling and -instructing”; and above all Mary O’Halloran, than whom, O’Heyne -declares, he had never known a woman of stronger intellect. “She had a -more accurate acquaintance with the Spanish tongue than the Spaniards -themselves, and was well versed in sacred and profane history.” - -It was not alone the young girls of the “Tribes” or the chieftainly -families of the West who were sent to the Convent in Galway to be -trained by the women we have described. Even right across the country -from Drogheda pupils came to them. One of these, Catherine Plunkett, -daughter of Thomas Plunkett, of Drogheda, and a relation of the martyred -Archbishop, Oliver Plunkett, passed from the school room, at an early -age, to the novitiate and received her religious training under Mary -Lynch. “She shared in all the vicissitudes of that Community, who were -several times compelled by religious persecution to quit their convent. -Some sought shelter in the homes of their relations or friends, whilst -not a few experienced the utmost vigours of poverty. Father Hugh -O’Callaghan, who was Prior Provincial of the Dominicans from 1709 to -1718, having during the course of his Visitation, found the Sisters in -this lamentable condition, and without any hope of their being permitted -to return to their Convent, obtained for them from the Archbishop of -Dublin, Most Rev. Dr. Edmund Byrne, permission to settle in his diocese; -accordingly in March, 1717, eight of them (of whom Catherine Plunkett -was one) arrived in the Metropolis and took up their abode first in -Fisher’s Lane, from which they soon afterwards removed to the ancient -Benedictine Convent, Chancel Row (now North Brunswick Street).”[40] - -Footnote 40: - - Memoir of Mother M. Catherine Plunkett, compiled from the Archives of - Sienna Convent, Drogheda, very kindly furnished me by Mother Prioress - and Community. - -After a little time, Catherine Plunkett obtained the permission of her -Superiors to go to Belgium, where she was received into the Convent of -the English Dominican Sisters, called the _Spillikens_, from its -proximity to a pin factory. Here she remained about three years until at -the urgent request of the Primate Hugh MacMahon, she was recalled in -1721, by the Provincial, Dr. Stephen MacEgan, to found a convent in her -native town of Drogheda. - -It reads like a chapter of the _Fioretti_—the record of the early days -of Catherine Plunkett’s foundation in Drogheda. The first home of the -nuns was a little mud cabin on the Meath side of the Boyne. Long before -day broke over the shining sands and thin line of Eastern sea, the -Dominican Father who ministered to their spiritual wants, used to row -himself over in a little boat to say Mass and give them holy Communion. -Dressed in secular garb, with their real character known only to a few -discreet friends, the ladies from Brussels obtained, without much -difficulty, leave from the Protestant Primate to open a school, and the -Drogheda merchants were very glad to send their daughters to them. -Later, they moved to a house in Dyer Street, and opened a boarding -school, and an establishment for lady boarders. All the _noblesse_ of -the Pale, the Plunketts, the Bellews, the Balfes, the Dillons, the -O’Reillys, the Drakes, the Fortescues, the Taaffes are represented among -the first pupils—and it is not at all unlikely that our heroine, Mary -Taaffe, received her education in this Dyer Street Convent, which -welcomed so many of her kinswomen. The nuns of Sienna very kindly -searched their old account books for her name, but unfortunately the -books were missing for the years 1762 to 1765, which are the very years -when we might expect to find her there—if we are right in assuming that -she was born about 1753.[41] - -Footnote 41: - - The date has only been arrived at by inference. She was married in - 1771, and we know from her grandson’s narrative that she was - considered to have married early, say about eighteen. Her mother died - in 1753, which set a posterior limit to her conjectured birth year. - -So while it is not improbable that Catherine Plunkett’s Convent in -Drogheda had the credit of the education which produced so charming a -result, we cannot attain any certainty in the matter. Nor do we know -much about Mary Taaffe’s childhood. Her father, Mr. George Taaffe, -representative of that branch of the Taaffes who held the Earldom of -Carlingford under the Stuarts, lived in Ardee on the remnant of the -ancestral estates which was all the family’s devotion to the “Lost -Cause” of the Stuarts had left them, and within sight of the ancestral -castle of Smarmore, which his son was to purchase back for the family. -His young wife, Elizabeth Keappock, died in 1753 at the early age of -thirty, leaving him with one son, John, and four daughters. Of these, -one married Terence Kiernan; another, a member of the Scurly family, a -third, Alice, James Lynch of Drogheda. John, the only son, was twice -married, first to Anne Plunkett of Portmarnock, and after her death in -1786 to Catherine Taaffe. - -The ease with which Mr. George Taaffe got his girls married (an ease -which anxious parents of the present day might well envy) to young men -who in respect of fortune and family were among the most eligible -_partis_ in the Pale, suggests that the Taaffe girls were very -attractive. Doubtless their father’s house, when his four charming -daughters still graced it, was an extremely pleasant place; and it is -not to be wondered at that the girls’ clever young kinsman, Mr. Luke -Teeling, found himself often taking in Ardee[42] on his journeys between -his father’s place near Balbriggan and the establishment of the linen -merchant in Lisburn with whom he was serving his apprenticeship. - -Footnote 42: - - It would be quite in his way if we are justified in assuming that the - route taken by Thomas Molyneux in 1707 was the ordinary one. - -As is so often the case with serious-minded young men, there was a -strong, if hidden, vein of romance in Luke Teeling’s nature, and he soon -discovered that he had lost his heart irrevocably, to his pretty cousin, -Mary. She was young, hardly more than a child at the time, and her -father was loth to part with his little maid so soon; but he recognised -the sterling qualities of her suitor and gave his consent to an -engagement, which terminated in the marriage of the young couple at -Ardee on April 6th, 1771. - -There had been an old connection between the Taaffes and the Teelings, -and we learn from Bartholomew Teeling’s Memoir of his uncle that Luke -Teeling’s mother was of the house of Taaffe. After the record of the -marriage of Luke and Mary (still kept at Smarmore Castle) the words are -inserted, “obtenta dispensatione in consanguinitate.” - -Like the Taaffes, the Teelings had suffered much during the long wars -which devastated Ireland in the seventeenth century, and of the broad -acres which their forefathers had held in Meath for over five hundred -years there remained after the “Third Breaking” of Aughrim, in the -pathetic phrase of one of the family’s present-day representatives, -little more than “the semi-circular arched vault in the churchyard of -Rathkenny.” But even before Father Teeling, who came back from his -College on the Continent about the beginning of the eighteenth century, -to endure the life of suffering, and labour, and peril of a missionary -priest in Ireland under the Penal Régime, was gathered to his fathers in -that vault, the fortunes of the family were already in the ascent. In -truth there was something in the Teelings which forced them to the front -in whatever walk of life they might choose for themselves, whether as -soldiers, like the old knightly Teelings of the Middle Ages, whose names -survive in many an ancient deed of gift to religious houses; or -churchmen, like Father Ignatius Teeling, S. J., or scholars like -Theobald Teeling, the correspondent of Justus Lipsius, and that other -Teeling, who has been described by Archbishop Peter Talbot as “_urbis et -orbis miraculum_.”[43] And this something—call it personality, force of -character, or what you will—was peculiarly evident in Bartholomew -Teeling whom we find settled in the neighbourhood of Balbriggan about -the middle of the eighteenth century. - -Footnote 43: - - These particulars concerning the Teeling family are taken from an - excellent article in _The Gentleman’s Magazine_ (October, 1905), by a - writer signing himself “Albi Norman.” - -It was in the days when Balbriggan, under the fostering care of its -landlord, Baron Hamilton, of Hampton Hall,[44] was developing from a -miserable little fishing hamlet into a prosperous trading town. With the -assistance of a small grant from the Irish Parliament, the Baron built -the pier, in the sixties of the eighteenth century, and thus fostered a -lively carrying trade with Wales. Ships of two hundred tons could unload -in the new harbour, and such craft crowded the quay, unloading cargoes -of slates, coal and culm, as well as rock salt and bark, and carrying -back corn and cattle. In 1780 the Baron established extensive cotton -works here, for the promotion of which parliament granted the sum of -£1,250, but this manufacture was subsequently almost abandoned for that -of hosiery.[45] When Arthur Young visited Ireland in 1776, he spent a -few days with the Baron, and we learn from him[46] much of the latter’s -improvements; of the one hundred and fifty acres of mountain land he -reclaimed; of the agricultural methods he adopted, and of their -financial results; of the local fishing industry and how he worked it. -It seems the Baron had boat-building works, and out of these came his -fleet of “23 boats each carrying seven men, who were not paid wages, but -divided the produce of the fishery. The vessel took one share, and the -hands one each, which amounts on an average to 16s. a week. A boat costs -from £130 to £200, fitted out ready for the fishery; they make their own -nets.” - -Footnote 44: - - He was M.P. for Belfast, Solicitor General and Baron of the Exchequer - (D’Alton’s “History of County Dublin,” p. 477). - -Footnote 45: - - D’Alton, _op. cit._, p. 468. - -Footnote 46: - - “Tour in Ireland,” Vol. I. - -With the agricultural experiments of the Baron, and his industrial and -trading enterprises, Bartholomew Teeling was closely identified. He held -the lands in Walshetown, Gardiner’s Hill, Kilbrickstown, etc., and some -family documents, which I have been privileged to examine, have -reference to business transactions with Baron Hamilton, which would seem -to indicate that Bartholomew Teeling helped to finance the Baron’s -schemes. - -At all events Bartholomew prospered, and when he died the provisions he -was able to make for his sons and the education he gave them, show that -he had accumulated a comfortable fortune. He was married twice, it would -appear, his first wife being of the Taaffe family, and his second a Miss -Grace. By these he had a numerous family of sons. In addition to Luke, -the eldest son, we find mention in the family papers of Christopher, a -well-known doctor in Dublin; James, who seems to have remained in his -father’s place near Balbriggan and combined manufacturing and farming; -Joseph, and Robert, afterwards merchants in Dublin; and Bartholomew. -There was also a Patrick, but if he was one of these brothers, he must -have died soon, as his name early falls out of the family record. - -Luke had been early apprenticed to the linen trade—and that fact in -itself indicates that his father was a man of means. For in the -endeavour to keep the trade “exclusive,” a high fee was charged, and a -fairly long apprenticeship insisted on. - -After the repeal of the Edict of Nantes many French Protestant refugees -settled in Ireland. Some of these were highly skilled in the linen -manufacture and a settlement of them under Louis Crommelin in Lisburn, a -town on the Marquis of Hertford’s estate, made that place a thriving -centre of the industry. After Luke Teeling had completed his -apprenticeship, he stayed on in Lisburn, got a lease from the Marquis of -Hertford, and started a bleachyard of his own; and he was so successful, -that Mr. George Taaffe needed to have no misgiving about the future when -he gave his beloved daughter to him. - -The early years of the married life of Luke and Mary Teeling were years -of unclouded happiness. A little Elizabeth, called perhaps after the -mother Mary Teeling had never known, came to them the following year. -She was followed by a goodly train of brothers and sisters: Bartholomew, -George, Charles, Luke and John were the boys. The girls, in addition to -Elizabeth, were Mary, Alice (called after Alice Taaffe who had married -James Lynch, of Drogheda), and Millicent. - -Fortunate families, like fortunate nations, “have no history,” and there -is little to record of Mary Teeling during the years when her boys and -girls were growing up. In 1782 her husband acquired the lease of some -building ground on Church Hill and built a residence for his family in -keeping with his wealth and position; and a decade and a half of happy -years passed swiftly under its dignified roof. The large family party -which gathered permanently round the Teelings’ board was seldom without -a reinforcement of guests: business correspondents like Mr. Sam Wall, of -Worcester, or merchants from Dublin and Belfast, were sure of a hearty -welcome there. Old Mr. George Taaffe loved to come from Ardee, and spend -a month or two with his beloved grandchildren. Aunt “Ally” Lynch from -Drogheda, and kind Uncle James were frequent visitors. The elder boys, -Bartle and George and Charles, who were attending Mr. Saumarez -Dubourdieu’s famous classical school in the town, had frequent -permission to bring home their schoolfellows to dinner or supper, and -Mrs. Teeling’s “parties” were voted the most delightful in Lisburn. As -the boys grew older other guests were much in evidence—young officers -from the camp at Blaris-Moor with whom the Teeling lads fenced, or went -fishing or shooting, or rode to hounds, liked to be asked when the day’s -sport was over to accompany them to the hospitable mansion on Church -Hill, where a pleasant supper and a dance would wind up many a -delightful evening. The Teelings were noted horsemen—an hereditary -trait. The writer in _The Gentlemen’s Magazine_, having quoted the -younger Bartholomew Teeling’s description of his father and uncles as -“the best horsemen and the most accomplished swordsmen in the province,” -tells us that the Teelings “were proverbial for their love of small, -perfectly shaped, high-bred horses,” and refers to stories, still -current in the County of Meath, of the incredibly short time in which -they used to ride from their home to Dublin, on their beautiful little -horses. - - “White with green facings their retainers did wear - And the young cavaliers were beloved of the fair.”[47] - -Footnote 47: - - Luke Teeling was looked on as a remarkably good judge of a horse, and - I find among the family papers not a few in which his friends seek his - advice on that all important subject. - -The young men were born soldiers, and more than one effort was made by -officers and others of the highest rank to induce them to enter the -English army. The Marquis of Hertford, dining one day with Mr. Teeling, -promised his influence to get Charles into the Guards, and pledged his -powerful support towards his advancement. Luke Teeling replied that, as -far as he was concerned, his son was free to accept the flattering -offer—but to the surprise of the Marquis, it was declined by Charles -himself. - -In truth, the boy, who though younger in years than Bartholomew or -George, had ripened earlier than they, had turned his thoughts in a -direction not very likely to end in a Commission in the English Army. -While Bartle still dallied in the pleasant ways of youth, and George was -away in Dublin,[48] Charles was thrown largely into his father’s -company, and imbibed the political views which the circumstances of the -time forced on a man of Mr. Teeling’s logical and just mind. Though it -is not said in so many words, we gather that Bartle and his father did -not quite understand each other. The younger Bartle tells us that his -namesake “scarcely brooked the restraint which the stoical and somewhat -severe principles of his father imposed upon him; but to his mother, -whose idol he was, and to his sisters, he was warmly and tenderly -attached. There was no youthful adventure too daring or even extravagant -for him; but nothing which inflicted pain, or which trifled with human -misery ever had his countenance.” He was fond of books, too, a diligent -student of the Classics, and a devotee of Shakespeare and perhaps these -tastes helped to keep him for a longer time than his brother a sojourner -in those regions of the Ideal where the call of the Real resoundeth not. -The day was to come, indeed, and speedily, too, when the cry of his -suffering country was to ring as loudly in Bartle’s ear as it had long -rung in that of Charles. And how he was to answer it all men know. - -Footnote 48: - - They were both apprenticed in the linen trade. Bartle with his father, - and George with the MacDonnells in Dublin. - -In 1790 Mr. Teeling gave very active support to the parliamentary -candidature of Hon. Robert Stewart—afterwards Lord Castlereagh—who stood -in the Reform interest against the Downshire _clique_. Being a Catholic, -Mr. Teeling had no vote himself, but he spared neither his money nor his -personal exertions in favour of one who advocated so eloquently the -causes dear to Mr. Teeling’s heart: Catholic Emancipation and -Parliamentary Reform. The Teeling boys were enthusiastic admirers of the -young candidate, who indeed had been the idol of every patriotic heart -in the north since the day he rode—a lad of thirteen—at the head of a -company of boy Volunteers in the Review in Belfast, and made men think -of Cuchullin and the boy troop of Emain Macha, by the martial skill and -daring of their exploits. We know from Charles’s own assurance that the -tenderest ties bound him to his father: “He was to me,” he says, in one -of the most moving passages of his narrative, “not only the affectionate -parent, but also the companion and friend.” And doubtless, in the long -rides which father and son delighted to take in each other’s company, -Charles imbibed his father’s political opinions and learned to feel the -wrongs which the Catholics of Ireland were suffering as intolerable. - -The Catholic Convention of 1792, in which Mr. Teeling took a leading -part, was a turning point in the history of the family. We know from -Tone’s account of the proceedings that Luke Teeling was _the_ man of the -Convention. When the counsels of the more pusillanimous seemed likely to -prevail, his commanding spirit and ability won the day for the bolder -measures advocated by Tone, and it was due to him that there went forth -from the great assembly a Petition to the King demanding (instead of the -partial relief for Catholic disabilities to which the Sub-Committee that -drew up the Petition had originally limited their request) Total -Emancipation. “My instructions from my constituents,” said Mr. Luke -Teeling in a speech which produced the most profound impression on his -audience, “are to require nothing short of total emancipation; and it is -not consistent with the dignity of this meeting and much less of the -great body which it represents, to sanction by anything which could be -construed into acquiescence on their part, one fragment of that unjust -and abominable system, the penal code. It lies with the paternal wisdom -of the Sovereign to ascertain what he thinks fit to be granted, but it -is the duty of this meeting to put him fully and unequivocally in -possession of the wants and wishes of his people.” The effect of Mr. -Teeling’s attitude was to win to his views even the most cautious—not to -say timid—members of the assembly, and his amendment was passed -unanimously. We cannot help feeling, as we read Tone’s “Diary,” and -follow the events subsequent to the return from London of the Delegate -who had gone from the Convention with the Petition to the King, that if -Mr. Teeling had been living in Dublin, instead of in distant Antrim, -things would have taken a different course for the Catholic Cause, and -the whole Cause of Ireland. His influence would have prevented the -spirit of compromise which had such disastrous results. - -The years that followed the Catholic Convention were marked by a great -increase in bigotry—fomented with nefarious designs by the Irish -Government of the day. The new activities of the new men at the head of -the Catholic movement—wealthy and progressive merchants, like John Keogh -and E. Byrne; young professional men, fresh from Continental -Universities, like Dr. MacNevin—were countered by increased activities -on the part of the bigots. The Grand Juries sent in to Parliament -Petitions against the Catholic claims, and when these fell flat owing to -the clever pamphleteers like Tone and Emmet, other methods were resorted -to. The chief was the fostering of party spirit, which was first -evidenced in the enormous increase in sectarian associations. Against -the aggressions of the “Peep o’ Day Boys” (who got their name from their -custom of repairing at that hour to the houses of their Catholic -neighbours, dragging them from their bed and otherwise maltreating them, -while they searched their houses for arms) the Catholics, who not only -had no protection from the law or the armed forces of the crown, but -saw, on the contrary, both these mights used against them, formed -themselves into an association called “Defenders.” In those quarters -where the contending parties were nearly balanced, the peace was kept by -their wholesome fear of each other, but where the Catholics were in the -minority they were obliged to adopt a system of nightly patrols, each -townland or parish furnishing its proportion of armed men. But this -system was intolerably burdensome, and at length some of the young men -decided that there was nothing for it but to meet their opponents in the -open field, and have done with the matter there and then. - -News of this impending conflict came to the ears of young Charles -Teeling, and although he was only a lad of seventeen at the time, he -determined to try and prevent it. He was well aware, he tells us in his -pamphlet on “The Battle of the Diamond,” that whether the Catholics won -or lost in the fight the result would be equally disastrous for them; if -they lost, they would be still more at the mercy of their savage -opponents than before; if they won, Government, which was undisguisedly -in favour of their enemies, would exact the severest penalties from -them. He hoped that the influence which his family enjoyed both with the -Catholics and the Protestants would make the opposing parties ready to -listen to his proposals for peace between them. Without saying a word to -anyone he set out therefore from Lisburn to the disturbed districts, but -he had not gone far when he saw that the task was too serious and -responsible for his seventeen years. He sent, therefore, to Belfast for -Samuel Neilson, then editor of the _Northern Star_, who for many years -had been the warm friend of his father in the causes of Reform and -Catholic Emancipation. - -Before Neilson could reach him, the Battle of the Diamond had been -fought and won by the Protestants, and the Catholics were, as he -anticipated, in a worse condition than before. - -The “Peep o’ Day Boys,” on the very day of the Battle of the Diamond -(September 21st, 1795) formed themselves into the famous association of -“Orangemen,”[49] and these immediately set themselves to exterminate the -Catholics. “They would no longer permit a Catholic to exist in the -county.[50] They posted up on the cabins of these unfortunate victims -this pithy notice, ‘To Hell or Connaught,’ and appointed a limited time -in which the necessary removal of persons and property was to be made. -If after the expiration of that period, the notice had not been complied -with, the Orangemen assembled, destroyed the furniture, burned the -habitations and forced the ruined families to fly elsewhere for -shelter.... While these outrages were going on, the resident magistrates -were not found to resist them, and in some instances were even more than -inactive spectators.” Many fearful murders were committed on the -unresisting Catholics, and it is estimated that seven thousand Catholics -were either killed or driven from their homes by the Orangemen in the -County Armagh alone. But the unhappy outcasts, even when they escaped -with their lives, had no shelter to fly to. In most cases they could -only wander on the mountains until either death relieved them, or they -were arrested and imprisoned; while the younger men were sent without -ceremony to one of the “tenders” then lying in various seaports, and -thence transferred on board British men-of-war. During the years 1796 -and ’97 the Orange magistrates, aided by troops, established a reign of -terror over the greater part of Leinster and portions of Ulster and -Munster. They arrested and imprisoned, without any charge, multitudes of -innocent persons, and many of these were only removed from prison to be -sent to serve in the navy. - -Footnote 49: - - The first Orange lodge was formed on September 21, 1795, at the house - of a man called Sloan, in the village of Loughgall, Co. Armagh. - -Footnote 50: - - James Hope says that in reality what the Orangemen aimed at was to get - the farms of the Catholics who had recently, by their industry in the - linen trade, acquired the means of renting desirable farms. - -Parliament—the famous Irish Parliament, Grattan’s Parliament, came to -the rescue of the oppressed by passing the Insurrection Acts and the -Indemnity Acts—the objects of which were to give the magistrates a free -hand to commit the most illegal outrages against the people without fear -of any unpleasant consequences for themselves. It is true that Grattan -fought gallantly against these measures, and to his splendid speech in -opposition to them we owe much of our information concerning the -outrages perpetrated by the “banditti of persecution.” - -It was felt by the most far-seeing and patriotic of the Irishmen who -deplored this appalling state of affairs that the one hope of the -country lay in the system of the United Irishmen, which aimed at a real -union of Irishmen of all denominations in the bonds of love and loyalty -to their common country. In the North, especially, the urgency of this -union of hearts was keenly felt, and hence we find the younger men of -the advanced party like Henry Joy MacCracken and Lowry, working -strenuously with Charles H. Teeling and his brother-in-law, John -Magennis, to get “the Defenders” into the ranks of the United Irishmen. - -Government showed its appreciation of their labours by an unexpected -_coup_. The most active protagonists of the policy were suddenly -arrested on a charge of high treason and clapped into prison in Dublin. - - * * * * * - -On a delightful September morning of the year 1796, Mary Teeling stood -on the doorstep of her beautiful home in Lisburn waving a farewell -greeting to her husband and her son Charles ere they rode off together -on one of those business expeditions—of which the extraordinary -affection uniting this father and son always made a pleasure excursion. -As she gazed on her stately husband, now in the pride of his years and -his honourable prosperity, making a superbly gallant figure, as he -always did on horseback, and saw how fine a pendant Charles’s dashing -youth and fresh good looks, offered to his father’s, can we wonder if -her heart swelled with wifely and maternal pride, and she turned to her -home duties with a prayer of thankfulness to God for all the good things -that were hers. - -Alas! Alas! Sorrows and crosses beyond all telling were to follow that -radiant moment, and ere the day was over, the fair structure of her -life’s peace was to be laid in ruins. - -Not very long afterwards she was startled by seeing the old groom who -had ridden out with Luke and Charles return with Charles’s riderless -horse. What dreadful thing had happened? - -It was not _the worst_ at all events. No fatal accident had taken her -boy from her—but what really had happened it was difficult enough to -make out from the servant’s narrative. She could hardly believe that -Lord Castlereagh, an old friend of the Teeling family, who was under the -most real obligations to Mr. Teeling for his help and support on many -occasions, could really have her boy now under arrest in the house of -his father-in-law, the Marquis of Hertford. Lord Castlereagh, according -to the groom, had with his usual appearance of cordiality and friendship -joined the master and Master Charles as they rode up the main street of -the town, but when they came to the Marquis’s gates, Master Charles had -been asked by his lordship to accompany him. As soon as he had entered -the gates, these were closed and an armed guard had suddenly appeared. -The master had demanded admission, and this, after a time, was granted. -He was only allowed a few minutes with his son. Then he had come out, -and leaving orders with the groom to lead home Master Charles’s horse, -he had continued his journey alone. - -She was not left long in doubt of the truth of the old servant’s -extraordinary tale. Very shortly afterwards she saw Lord Castlereagh -himself enter her house, accompanied by a military guard. Her youngest -son, John, a boy of fourteen, daring to demand by what authority the -house was thus forcibly entered, saw a pistol presented at his breast, -and himself compelled to accompany Castlereagh and his minions in their -search through the house for treasonable (?) papers. “My brother,” -Charles tells us in his “Narrative,” “conducted himself on this occasion -with a firmness and composure that could hardly have been expected from -a lad of his years.” It is regrettable that he does not mention the name -of the sister “who evinced the most heroic courage; she was my junior, -and, with the gentlest, possessed the noblest soul; she has been the -solace of her family in all subsequent afflictions, and seemed to have -been given as a blessing by Heaven, to counterpoise the ills they were -doomed to suffer.” One guesses, however, from the deep affection -entertained for her by Charles all through the after years, that this -heroic sister was her mother’s namesake, Mary. - -As for the mother herself, she was “totally overpowered by the scene. -She had just been informed of my arrest, and now saw our peaceful home -in possession of a military force. Maternal affection created imaginary -dangers, and in the most energetic language she prayed Lord Castlereagh -to permit her to visit my prison, and to grant even a momentary -interview with her son. This he had the good sense and firmness to -decline, and in communicating the matter to me in the course of our -evening’s conversation, I expressed my approval of his decision. But my -mother felt otherwise; the afflicted state of her mind precluded that -reflection which should have rendered her sensible of the propriety of -Lord Castlereagh’s refusal. Agitated and disappointed, her gentle but -lofty spirit was roused, and burying maternal grief in the indignant -feeling of her soul, ‘I was wrong,’ she exclaimed, ‘to appeal to a heart -that never felt the tie of parental affection—your Lordship _is not a -father_.’ She pronounced these words with a tone and an emphasis so -feeling and so powerful, that even the mind of Castlereagh was not -insensible to its force, and he immediately retired with his guard.” -That night, Charles and the other prisoners, arrested on the same day in -Belfast, (including Neilson and Russell) were taken in coaches, under an -armed escort, to Dublin, and thrown into prison, where he remained for -about two years, without trial, until the breakdown of his health -procured his release. - -In the meantime all sorts of misfortunes had befallen the happy -household on Church Hill. Some months after the arrest of Charles, the -Orangemen, in broad daylight, had entered Mr. Teeling’s premises, -wrecked his bleach-yard, looted his house, and in the course of a few -hours’ deliberate devastation left the entire establishment “a desolate -ruin.” And all this, as Charles points out in his narrative, “in the -blush of open day, within the immediate vicinity of two garrisoned -towns, an active magistrate, and an armed police.” It is quite clear -that the Orangemen were the agents of vengeance of the Government, who -thus designed to punish Mr. Teeling’s temerity in acting as Secretary of -a meeting of the Freeholders of Co. Antrim, convened by public notice at -Ballymena on May 8th, 1797, from which had gone forth a Petition to the -King setting forth the intolerable grievances under which the Irish -people were suffering, and praying his Majesty to dismiss the ministers -responsible for them. - -As their lives were no longer safe in Lisburn, Mr. Teeling moved his -family to Union Lodge, near Dundalk, which had been previously used by -Bartle as his headquarters, But even here they were not safe. He got -private notice from a well-wisher that he was about to be arrested. He, -therefore, found an asylum for Mrs. Teeling and the girls with her -brother, Mr. John Taaffe, at Smarmore Castle, Ardee, while he looked -around him to make fresh provision for them. - -It is not very clear at what date Bartle began to identify himself with -the United Irishmen; but it seems to have been about the same time as -Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Arthur O’Connor joined them, that is to say -early in 1796. He became the fast friend of Lord Edward, and before -Charles’s arrest on September 16th, 1796, the two brothers were frequent -guests at Kildare Lodge. It was here that Bartle met and loved the fair -Lady Lucy Fitzgerald, Lord Edward’s favourite sister, and who shall say -that he loved Ireland the less, because his vision of Kathleen Ni -Houlihan borrowed the lovely ardent face, and the bright eyes, veiled -with long dark drooping lashes of “Lucia.” While Lord Edward and -O’Connor were on the Continent negotiating with the French Government, -Bartle Teeling, under a plausible plea of a business journey, made a -complete tour of Ireland on foot. His object, according to his nephew, -was to make himself “perfectly acquainted with Ireland’s resources, with -her capabilities of entering upon, and maintaining an internal war, with -the intellectual and physical qualities, the habits and the manners of -her people, with their wants and their endurance, their hopes and their -resolves; as well as with the natural features of the country—her -rivers, her coasts, and her harbours.” The fact shows that Bartle -Teeling, for all his youth, was amongst the most far-sighted of the -leaders. - -After his return from this journey he took up his residence in Union -Lodge, with his friend, John Byrne, of Worcester, who having served his -apprenticeship to the linen trade in Lisburn had established extensive -bleaching mills on the banks of the river at Dundalk. - -It is from the evidence of the informers, John Hughes and Samuel Turner, -that we gather our scanty information as to Bartle’s activities about -this period. Hughes, a Belfast bookseller, arrested in October, 1797, -turned king’s evidence in order to secure liberation. Being brought -before the Lords’ Committee in 1798, he stated amongst other things, -that in November, 1796, he had been sent by Bartle Teeling (then settled -as a linen merchant in Dundalk) to Dublin to extend the United Irishmen -societies there. Hughes seems to have been a sort of organiser for the -Society, for again in June, 1797, he was sent for to come to Dublin. -Before he left the north, John Magennis (Betty Teeling’s husband) -administered an oath to him that he would not communicate the names of -those to whom he should be introduced. In Dublin he was present at a -breakfast given by Bartle Teeling, at his lodgings in Aungier Street, -where the other guests were John Magennis, Anthony MacCann, of Dundalk; -Samuel Turner; Messrs. John and Patrick Byrne, of Dundalk; Colonel James -Plunkett; A. Lowry; Mr. Cumming, of Galway; and Dr. MacNevin. The object -of the conference was to discuss the fitness of the country for an -immediate rising. Teeling, Lowry and MacCann were in favour of an -immediate effort; the others were afraid the people were not -sufficiently prepared for it. - -Shortly afterwards, before the month of June was up, Bartle Teeling, -Turner, MacCann, Tennant, Lowry, etc., seeing the “Rising” postponed, -fled to Hamburg; and some of the others, including John Magennis, found -refuge in Scotland. - -Bartle Teeling must have remained in Hamburg a very short time, for his -brother states that he joined the French army under the name of -Biron[51] and served a campaign under Hoche, whose death occurred on -September 8th of that year. He may have returned to Hamburg after the -death of Hoche, for in October of 1797 Turner reports to his friend, -Lord Downshire, a letter Teeling was sending from that place to Arthur -O’Connor. In November, Turner’s information shows Bartle in Paris. At a -date of the same year which it is difficult to determine, he paid a -stolen visit to Ireland, bearing messages from the Irish leaders on the -Continent to those at home. It is said that on this occasion Lady Lucy -gave him the ring which is still treasured in the Teeling family—and -which he wore until the eve of his execution, when he sent it to his -brother “as the dearest pledge he had to leave, of fraternal love.” - -Footnote 51: - - In the Castlereagh papers the assumed name of B. Teeling is stated to - have been Byrne. - - * * * * * - -All this time Mary Teeling was without news of him, and to the burden -which she already had to bear was added that of intolerable anxiety for -her eldest son, and great uneasiness about Charles, of whose health his -father brought back discouraging reports from his visits to Kilmainham. -The kindness of her brother John and his wife Catherine, and the -hospitality they so gladly offered her and her girls, could not make her -forget the wreck of her own beautiful home, and the irreparable damage -done to her husband’s fortune. Moreover, his health was much affected by -the condition of his affairs, and the fatigues he had undergone to -re-establish them. A trip to a Donegal Spa, followed by a horseback -journey to Connacht (where he hoped to establish a new bleach-green) had -exhausted him, and in the spring of ’98, he had been sent by his doctor -to Cushendall for sea-bathing. His frequent changes of abode were -represented to Government as connected with treasonable activities, and -accordingly on June 16th, 1798, he was arrested, and committed to prison -in Belfast, no charge being made against him. - -For four years Luke Teeling was kept in prison, and was only liberated -in 1802. And during all that time no charge was brought against him, nor -did his repeated requests to be brought to trial bring any result. From -the provost prison in Belfast, he was moved to the _Postlethwaite_ -tender, lying in Belfast Lough, one of the prison ships which were among -the horrors of the day; from that to Carrickfergus Castle, and finally -back to the prison in Belfast. It has been my privilege to read many of -the letters addressed by Luke Teeling from his various prisons to -members of his family, and truly it was with a great stirring of the -heart that one held them in one’s hands, and read the story they tell of -sufferings heroically borne; of a devotion to honour and principle which -counted no cost too great; of a Faith and Hope, and love of God and -God’s Church intense enough to make the writer free of the ardent and -heroic company of the saints. There is one letter written from the -_Postlethwaite_, where the firm hand trembles, and the strong heart -shows nigh to breaking—which it is impossible to read without tears. It -is the letter in which the father writes to Bartle’s old friend, Sam -Wall, the news of Bartle’s execution. - -For in the days when Luke Teeling was enduring the horrors of the prison -ship in the sweltering summer heat,[52] Bartle’s brief but glorious day -had come to its heroic close on the “martyr’s mound” at Arbour Hill, -Dublin. It is not here that may be fully told the gallant story of -Bartle Teeling and the part he played in the Humbert Expedition. On his -white charger he rides for ever amid the “fair chivalry” of the -boy-heroes of Ireland amid the - - “White horsemen with Christ their Captain—forever he.” - -Footnote 52: - - “The _Postlethwaite Tender_, on which my father was confined, - contained within the limits of one small apartment, thirty-four - gentlemen, of respectable rank in life and independent circumstances. - In this miserable prison-house, its inmates could never stand erect, - and crowded together in a circumscribed space not fourteen feet - square, they could only enjoy a partial and unrefreshing slumber in - succession. Here, entombed on the ocean, during the sultry heat of a - summer the most oppressive that has been remembered for thirty years, - they inhaled the pestiferous atmosphere of a tender; in the depth of - winter, when their numbers were reduced to a few, they were exposed - with open port-holes to all the inclemency of the chilling blast. Nor - were they permitted to receive a supply of wholesome food from their - friends; nothing was allowed them beyond what the parsimonious bounty - of Government afforded. At four o’clock in the evening the hatches - were locked down, and the prisoners remained in darkness until nine on - the following morning. Sometimes, forgetful of his situation, the - prisoner would raise his form to stand erect ... when the hard - repelling beam, in contact with his head, reminded him that the hand - of man had prescribed his limits. My father, whose fine-formed head - and silver locks are still present to my imagination, presented on his - removal from this prison, a perfect encrustment of festered wounds - from forehead to nape.”—C. H. Teeling’s “Narrative.” - -And the day shall come, please God, when no Irish boy shall be ignorant -of the lines he wrote in the Golden Annals of their knightly company. - - * * * * * - -Was it given to his mother to see her idolised son once more before he -mounted the scaffold on Arbour Hill on September the 24th, 1798? To this -question we can find no answer. We know, from her husband’s letter to -Sam Wall, that for a time it was feared Mary Teeling would die, so -completely did she break down under the agonising load of her conjugal -and maternal sorrows. Bartle was not the only son whom Ireland claimed -from her. Charles and John were now on their keeping. A few months after -the consummation of Bartle’s sacrifice, John, her youngest son, her -Benjamin, was taken from her—and of him, as truly as of Bartle, she -might say, he gave his life for Ireland. - -During her husband’s continued imprisonment, she tried to keep as close -to him as she could, and for a time, it would appear she was permitted -to share it in Carrickfergus Castle. Stifling her own sorrows she found -strength to comfort him, and to lend him courage. His affairs had been -reduced to ruin, by the vindictive action of Government, and to all his -other woes was now added that which must have been of a peculiarly -galling character to a man of his fastidious sense of honour: his -inability to pay his creditors in full. - -In 1802 Mr. Teeling was liberated, and after a time spent with Charles, -now married to Catherine Carolan, and settled at the Naul, near -Balbriggan, he made a home for his wife and girls in Belfast. Though an -elderly man—older than his years, indeed, from the hardships of his -imprisonment—he made a characteristically gallant effort to make a new -start in life. His sons, George and Charles and Luke, helped as far as -they could to re-establish the family fortunes, but the times were -against them. George and Luke went finally to America and died there. - -On a certain day in 1822 a letter arrived, re-directed from Belfast to -Castlecomer, where Mr. and Mrs. Teeling and their unmarried daughters, -Mary and Milly, had gone on a visit to Charles and his family. It was in -an unknown hand-writing, and was signed by an unknown correspondent, -William Cullen, from the City of Natchez, State of Mississippi. It -contained the sad tidings of the death of George, and enclosed a ring -which had been given to Bartle by Hoche, and to George by Bartle on the -eve of his execution. It was Mary Teeling’s destiny to read the letter -containing the news of her son’s death, by the coffin which contained -the mortal remains of her husband. In the bitterness of her grief her -wifely devotion could find comfort in the knowledge that this last -earthly sorrow had been spared her beloved Luke—and that from the -heavenly vantage ground whence he now looked, it was turned for him into -a joy. - -The few remaining years of Mary Teeling’s life were spent with Charles -and his wife and little ones. And it is to the loving memories of these -years, cherished by her grandson Bartholomew, that we owe the vivid -portrait of her which I have borrowed to adorn my pages. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - THE WIVES OF ’NINETY-EIGHT - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The Wife of Theobald Wolfe Tone - - MATILDA TONE _née_ WITHERINGTON (1769-1849)[53] - - “I thought, O my Love! you were so— - As the moon is, or sun on a fountain. - And I thought after that you were snow, - The cold snow on top of a mountain; - And I thought after that, you were more - Like God’s grace shining to find me, - Or the bright star of knowledge before, - And the star of knowledge behind me.” - —Hyde’s “Love Songs of Connacht.” - -Footnote 53: - - _Authorities_: “Autobiography of Wolfe Tone,” edited by R. Barry - O’Brien; Madden’s “United Irishmen,” Second Series, Second Edition, - 1848. - - -IT was where a man should always find the Ladye of his Dreams that -Theobald Wolfe Tone found his sky-woman—above the crowded ways of life, -and yet not so far above them but that a man might, by raising his eyes, -see her leaning towards him, bending upon his path the star-like -radiance of her beauty, or that by climbing to her, a man might reach -her side. - -On a certain day, early in the year 1785, young Tone, then in his -twenty-second year, and a scholar of the University of Dublin, went out, -as his custom was after commons, with a fellow student for a stroll in -Grafton Street. They were on the way to Byrne’s, the bookseller’s—a -favourite _rendezvous_ of intellectual and political Dublin—when, -happening to glance up, they saw leaning from the window of a house near -Byrne’s, as once “the Blessed Damozel leaned out from the gold bar of -Heaven”—an exquisite young girl. - -It was a case of mutual love “at first sight.” The passionate adoration -which the romantic young student of Trinity—with his head full of love -poetry from his rehearsals for private theatricals, and dreams of -military glory from his constant attendances at parades and field days -in Phoenix Park—brought to the young loveliness of sixteen-year-old -Matilda Witherington, was fully returned. Every day he passed her window -and every day he found her there watching for his coming; and so it fell -out that these two, who were to endure so much together, whose -love-story was to be remembered, as long as Ireland keeps a place in her -faithful heart for the constancy, and heroism and gallantry of her sons -and daughters, had given their hearts irrevocably to each other before -ever they knew the sound of each other’s voices. - -He might be a dreamer, this slightly built, pock-marked young man with -the keen eyes, and resolute, soldierly gait, who haunted Grafton Street -so persistently through the spring and early summer of 1785. But he had -an astonishingly practical turn for making his dreams come true. The -time was to come when the dream of French aid for Ireland was to -materialise through his instrumentality, in an expedition composed of -fifteen thousand of the finest troops of the Republic, incomparably -equipped, and commanded by one of the foremost generals in Europe. The -secret of his success was that he always knew perfectly what he wanted, -and having decided on the best road to reach his goal, walked it with -that light but resolute soldier’s step of his, humming a gay tune, and -allowing nothing to turn him aside. Having ascertained, now, that the -house where his lady dwelt, and to which he desired an introduction, -belonged to a rich old clergyman, called Fanning, and that the lady -herself was the Rev. Mr. Fanning’s grandaughter, he contrived to make -the acquaintance of her brother, and “as _he_ played well on the violin, -and I was myself a musical man, we grew intimate, the more so as it may -well be supposed I neglected no fair means to recommend myself to him -and the rest of the family with whom I soon grew a favourite. My affairs -now advanced prosperously; my wife and I grew more passionately fond of -each other; and in a short time I proposed to her to marry me without -asking consent of any one, knowing well that it would be in vain to -expect it; she accepted the proposal as frankly as I made it, and one -beautiful morning in the month of July we ran off together and were -married. I carried her out of town to Maynooth for a few days, and when -the first _éclat_ of passion had subsided, we were forgiven on all -sides, and settled in lodgings near my wife’s grandfather.” - -It non-plussed the Duke of Wellington at a later date, to think of Tone -arriving in Paris “with a hundred guineas in his pocket, unknown and -unrecommended,” and, by mere force of personality, obtaining from the -French Government the wherewithal to overturn the British Government in -Ireland. But I doubt if that achievement was any more remarkable in its -own way than to find him, as we do now, winning the pearl of all -women—and a happiness such as it is given to few mortals to taste—with -nothing better to back up his suit than his flute—on which, we are given -to understand, he was an indifferent, if enthusiastic performer! - -For a time all went well with the young couple. The husband resumed for -a short time his studies at the University, from which he graduated in -February, 1786, and the girl-wife was happy not only in his love but in -the restored favour of her relatives. “But,” as Tone himself says, “it -was too good to last.” The Fannings and Witheringtons suddenly began to -make themselves as disagreeable as possible, and to escape from them it -was necessary for the young _ménage_ to take refuge with old Mr. and -Mrs. Tone, who were, for the moment, farming near Clane in Co. Kildare. - -The Tones received their new daughter with open arms. Peter Tone, the -father, idolised his clever eldest son, and if Matthew was the mother’s -favourite, she, too, was proud of brilliant, fascinating Theobald. Mary -Tone, the only girl of the family, lost her heart at once to her -charming sister-in-law, and henceforth the bond that united them was -only to grow closer with every danger and sorrow shared together through -all the passing years. Unfortunately old Peter Tone’s finances were not -in a very flourishing condition at this time—but, whatever was going, -his son and his daughter-in-law were perfectly welcome to share. - -It was in her father-in-law’s place at Clane that Matilda Tone’s first -baby was born, a lovely little girl, whom they called Maria. Little -Maria was but a few months old when her seventeen-year-old mother gave -evidence of that marvellous courage and heroic devotion to her husband, -which were so often to be displayed during her married life. - -One October night a band of six robbers burst into the home of Peter -Tone, armed with pistols and having their faces blackened. “Having tied -the whole family, they proceeded to plunder and demolish every article -they could find, even to the unprofitable villainy of breaking the -china, looking-glasses, etc. At length, after two hours, a maid-servant -whom they had tied negligently, having made her escape, they took the -alarm, and fled with precipitation, leaving the house such a scene of -horror and confusion as can hardly be imagined. With regard to myself, -it is impossible to conceive what I suffered. As it was early in the -night I happened to be in the courtyard, where I was seized and tied by -the gang, who then proceeded to break into the house, leaving a ruffian -sentinel over me, with a case of pistols cocked in his hand. In this -situation I lay for two hours, and could hear distinctly the devastation -which was going on within. I expected death every instant, and I can -safely and with great truth declare that my apprehension for my wife had -so totally absorbed the whole of my mind that my own existence was then -the least of my concerns. When the villains, including my sentry, ran -off, I scrambled to my feet with some difficulty, and made my way to a -window where I called, but received no answer. My heart died within me. -I proceeded to another and another, but still no answer. It was -horrible. I set myself to gnaw the cords with which I was tied, in a -transport of agony and rage, for I verily believed that my whole family -lay murdered within, when I was relieved from my unspeakable terror and -anguish by my wife’s voice, which I heard calling on my name at the end -of the house. It seems that, as soon as the robbers fled, those within -had untied each other with some difficulty, and made their escape -through a back window; they had got a considerable distance from the -house, before, in their fright, they recollected me, of whose fate they -were utterly ignorant as I was of theirs. Under these circumstances, my -wife had the courage to return alone, and, in the dark, to find me out, -not knowing but she might again fall in to the hands of the enemy, from -whom she had scarcely escaped, or that I might be lying a lifeless -carcase at the threshold. I can imagine no greater act of courage; but -of what is not a woman capable for him she truly loves? She cut the -cords which bound me, and at length we joined the rest of the family at -a little hamlet within half a mile of the house, where they had fled for -shelter.”[54] - -Footnote 54: - - “Autobiography of Wolfe Tone,” pp. 14, 15. - -It will easily be believed that during the rest of that dreary winter -none of Peter Tone’s household—except perhaps Baby Maria—slept sound o’ -nights. “I slept,” says Theobald, “continually with a case of pistols at -my pillow, and a mouse could not stir that I was not on my feet and -through the house from top to bottom. If any one knocked at the door -after nightfall we flew to our arms, and in this manner, we kept a most -painful garrison through the winter.” - -Fear of external enemies was not the only trouble the little garrison -suffered. Within there was an ever-growing poverty, an ever increasing -load of financial troubles. Theobald could bear no longer to be a -useless “mouth” in the hunger-besieged citadel of his father’s home—and -so he scraped together in some way a little money and went off to London -to keep his terms as a law student of the Middle Temple. - -During the period of his absence in London (January, 1787, to December, -1788) Matilda Tone and her little girl remained with her father-in-law -in Clane. Her husband tells us that she and little Maria were treated by -his father with great affection. But the situation was very painful. Old -Peter Tone’s affairs grew every day more involved, and the letters she -got from her husband in London brought little comfort. She knew how he -hated Law, and how unwillingly he drudged at the study of it. If, as was -his habit in later years, he made her at this period the _confidante_ of -all his schemes and dreams, it is certain that she must have had many an -anxious moment at the prospects they presented to her. Now it was a -project for establishing a colony on a military plan, in one of Captain -Cook’s newly-discovered islands in the South Sea. Fascinating as Captain -Cook’s description of these islands might be, it was not to be expected -that a young mother of eighteen could picture herself and her little one -exiled to one of them from the fair hills of Ireland without dismay. But -at least if that project materialised she should have her husband with -her. Not so with the second project—conceived in a fit of black -despondency when everything else seemed hopeless. It was to “list” as a -soldier in the East India Company’s service: “to quit Europe for ever, -and to leave my wife and child to the mercy of her family who might, I -hoped, be kinder to her when I was removed.”[55] Brave as Matilda Tone -was, it is not surprising to learn that her health broke down under the -strain of her anxieties. - -Footnote 55: - - “Autobiography,” p. 19. - -At length a friend, touched by the hapless condition of the young pair, -made intercession for them with old Mr. Fanning. The grandfather was -induced to give Matilda £500 of the dower he had promised her—and on the -strength of this advance, Theobald returned to Ireland. - -There was a joyful re-union in his father’s house at Blackhall on -Christmas Day, 1788. Matilda’s wan countenance brightened into its old -beauty when she had her husband by her side again, and the pride of the -young father in his charming little daughter was a subject of great -delight to her. Now the world was a delightful place once more. - -They left Blackhall after New Year’s Day, 1789, and after a short stay -with Mr. Fanning in Grafton Street, took up their residence in Clarendon -Street. Theobald was soon after called to the Bar, and went circuit in -Leinster. His success was surprising—especially to himself who -considered that he knew exactly as much of law as he did of necromancy. -“I was, modestly speaking,” he confesses in his pleasant way, “one of -the most ignorant barristers in the Four Courts.” But it is plain that -if he had cared to succeed he could have succeeded brilliantly. - -As it was, he soon gave up law for politics—his first venture in which -was a pamphlet in the interests of the Whig Club. This procured for him -the favour of Grattan, Forbes and Ponsonby, and put a little profitable -law business in his way. But the prospects which were held out to him of -a seat in Parliament did not materialise; and very soon, Tone, whose -opinions matured rapidly under an “intensive” method of political -culture, found he had so far outgrown “Whig” principles that he could -enter into no alliance with them. Briefly put, the points of difference -were these: Tone held that “the influence of England was the radical -vice of the Irish Government, and consequently that Ireland would never -be either free, prosperous or happy until she was independent, and that -independence was unobtainable whilst the connection with England -existed.” Grattan and those who thought with him were attached to the -connection with England, and considered that if certain grievances -(which they could not see were inherent in the system) were removed, all -would be for the best, in the best of all possible worlds. In the -illumination of his discovery Tone “began to look on the little politics -of the Whig Club with great contempt: _their peddling about petty -grievances instead of going to the root of the evil_,” and he rejoiced -that with his poverty he had kept his independence and could develop his -political creed without being bound by the tenets of the Whigs. - -One afternoon Theobald brought home to dinner a new acquaintance whom he -had met the previous day in the gallery of the House of Commons. Mrs. -Tone was as much taken as her husband by the fascinating address of this -tall soldierly man with the dark eyes, coal black silky hair, and olive -complexion, whom Theobald introduced to her as Thomas Russell. Long -afterwards these three who dined together then for the first time, -remembering the date of their first re-union, felt inclined to keep its -anniversary as a festival. As Tone, on the eve of the most momentous -crisis of his life, the departure of the Bantry Bay expedition, sat in a -quiet corner of Paris reviewing his past, he counted the day he made -Russell’s acquaintance as one of the most fortunate in his life. He -joins the name of the passionately loved wife with that of the beloved -friend. “I frame no system of happiness for my future life on which the -enjoyment of his society does not constitute a most distinguishing -feature, and if I am ever inclined to murmur at the difficulties -wherewith I have so long struggled, I think on the inestimable treasure -I possess in the affection of my wife, and the friendship of Russell, -and I acknowledge that all my labours and sufferings are overpaid. I may -truly say, that, even at this hour when I am separated from both of -them, and uncertain whether I may ever be so happy as to see them again, -there is no action of my life, which has not a remote reference to their -opinion which I equally prize. When I think I have acted well, and that -I am likely to succeed in the important business wherein I am engaged, I -say often to myself: ‘My dearest love and my friend Russell will be glad -of this.’”[56] - -Footnote 56: - - “Autobiography,” p. 29. - -A short time after they had made the acquaintance of Russell, the Tones -went to spend the summer by the seaside at Irishtown, the doctor having -prescribed sea-bathing as a cure for Mrs. Tone’s continued delicacy. -Thither came Russell every day to visit them, and thither came also very -frequently in his company Russell’s venerable father and his delightful -brother, Captain John. Room was found, too, in “the little box of a -house” for Mary Tone, and for William whenever he could spare a week -from Matthew’s cotton factory at Prosperous. As Tone writes of these -happy days he grows lyrical in his praise of them. “I recall with -transport the happy days we spent during that period; the delicious -dinners, in the preparation of which my wife, Russell and myself were -all engaged; the afternoon walks, the discussions we had, as we lay -stretched on the grass.... If I may judge we were none of us destitute -of the humour indigenous in the soil of Ireland; ... add to this I was -the only one who was not a poet, or at least a maker of verses, so that -every day produced a ballad, or some poetical squib, which amused us -after dinner; and as our conversation turned upon no ribaldry, or -indecency, my wife and sister never left the table. These were delicious -days. The rich and great, who sit down every day to the monotony of a -splendid entertainment, can form no idea of the happiness of our frugal -meal, nor of the infinite pleasure we found in taking each his part in -the preparation and attendance. My wife was the centre and the soul of -all. I scarcely knew which of us loved her best; her courteous manners, -her never-failing cheerfulness, her affection for me and for our -children, rendered her the object of our common admiration and delight. -She loved Russell as well as I did. In short, a more interesting society -of individuals, connected by purer motives, and animated by a more -ardent attachment and friendship for each other, cannot be -imagined.”[57] - -Footnote 57: - - “Autobiography,” pp. 29, 30. - -During these long days of summer leisure and talk, Tone’s old project of -a military colony in the South Sea was revived, and a memorial on the -subject was drawn up by him and Russell and sent to the Duke of -Richmond. Both the Duke and Lord Grenville, Secretary of State for -Foreign Affairs, showed an interest in the scheme, and it is possible -that it might have led to something had not the threatened wars between -England and Spain been averted by “a kind of peace called a convention.” - -Shortly after this disappointment Russell was appointed to an Ensigncy -on full pay in the 64th Regiment of foot and sent to Belfast where his -regiment was then quartered. The last day he dined at Irishtown he -arrived in a “very fine suit of laced regimentals,” and was set by his -irreverent friends to cook the dinner in this attire. - -The Tones did not remain long in their seaside cottage after Russell’s -departure for Belfast. They returned to town for the winter, and here -their eldest son William was born. - -The winter found Theobald pursuing his political studies and founding a -political club, consisting of literary friends of his who had already -attained eminence; they included Dr. Drennan, the poet; Whitley Stokes -and John Stack, Fellows of Trinity College; Joseph Pollock, Peter -Burrowes and Thomas Addis Emmet. In spite of the distinguished talents -each member brought to the re-union, the Club was anything but a success -and it was soon dissolved. - -At this time all Ireland was in a ferment owing to the influence of the -French Revolution. The partisans of a settled order of things, including -Grattan and his Whig friends, had followed Edmund Burke in their -opposition to the new principles on which the French had set out to -remodel the world. But those in Ireland who felt themselves “an -oppressed, insulted and plundered nation” were heart and soul with the -French people in their struggle for freedom. “In a little time the -French Revolution became the test of every man’s political creed, and -the nation was fairly divided into two great parties, the Aristocrats -and the Democrats.” - -Tone, of course, was an ardent Democrat, and these views of his, being -speedily known, injured beyond any possibility of repair his prospects -of success at the Bar—but brought him into close touch with two bodies -of men who were each in their own way, struggling to be free—and nerved -by the fight in France “to do or die” for liberty. These were the -Catholics of Ireland, and the Dissenters of the North. - -Russell’s stay in Belfast had brought him into close touch with the -leaders of advanced thought in the northern city, whose programme of -freedom embraced freedom not for themselves only but for the Catholics -still enslaved by the Penal Laws. On the occasion of some Volunteer -celebration in Belfast a resolution in favour of Catholic Emancipation -was to be put forward, and Russell undertook to get Tone to draw it up. -The commission was willingly accepted, and though the resolution was -eventually not put to the meeting in the form Tone had given it, the -circumstance had the result of setting him thinking more seriously than -he had yet done on the state of Ireland. “I soon formed my theory, and -on that theory I have invariably acted ever since!” - -What was that theory which was to give a new impetus to Irish -nationality, which was to be upheld at the cost of so much bloodshed and -suffering, which was to be a dogma as living and peremptory in 1916 as -in 1798—and in defence of which Patrick Pearse and his men were to face -the guns of General Maxwell, as proudly as Wolfe Tone took command of -the battery of the _Hoche_, in the glorious fight she put up, one little -vessel against a whole fleet, on an October morning one hundred and -eighteen years earlier. Here it is in Wolfe Tone’s own words: “To -subvert the tyranny of our execrable Government, to break the connection -with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, and -to assert the independence of my country—these were my objects. To unite -the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past -dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of -the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter—these were my -means.”[58] - -Footnote 58: - - “Autobiography,” pp. 50, 51. Pearse held “all Irish Nationalism to be - explicit in these words. Davis was to make explicit certain things - here implicit, Lalor certain other things; Mitchel was to thunder the - whole in words of apocalyptic wrath and splendour. But the Credo is - here: ‘I believe in One Irish Nation and that Free.’”—(“Ghosts,” p. - 16.) - -Considering the Protestants hopeless, Tone first directed his efforts to -an attempt to unite the Catholics and Dissenters. He accordingly sat -down and wrote a pamphlet,[59] over the signature of a “Northern Whig,” -in which he sought “to convince the Dissenters that they and the -Catholics had but one common interest and one common enemy; that the -depression and slavery of Ireland was produced and perpetuated by the -divisions existing between them, and that, consequently, to assert the -independence of their country, and their own individual liberties, it -was necessary to forget all former feuds, to consolidate the entire -strength of the whole nation, and to form for the future but one -people.”[60] - -Footnote 59: - - “Argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland.” - -Footnote 60: - - “Autobiography,” p. 50. - -The pamphlet had an immense success and its results a very decisive -influence on the Tones’ fortunes. On the one hand, the Catholics, who -under the capable leadership of John Keogh, were developing a new -“forward” policy, sought out this champion of theirs and loaded him with -attentions. Through John Keogh, Tone made the acquaintance of the -principal Catholic leaders in Dublin, Richard MacCormick, John Sweetman, -Edward Byrne, Thomas Braughall. During the winter of 1791 the Catholic -leaders, who were for the most part men of great wealth, got into the -fashion of giving splendid dinners to their political friends, and Tone -was invariably a guest at these functions. Eventually he was offered, -through the influence of Keogh, the position of assistant secretary to -the Catholic Committee, with a salary of £200 a year. In those days one -could live very comfortably on £200 a year, and poor Matilda Tone, who -must have known many an anxious moment up to this, must have looked on -it as affluence. Tone earned his salary well; and the astonishing -success of the Catholic Convention was largely due to his energy and -splendid power of organisation. In his efforts on behalf of the -Catholics, and in his fidelity to their cause, Tone was greatly -stimulated by his wife’s sympathy. He pays her, in this connection, one -of the noblest compliments a wife ever received: “In these sentiments I -was encouraged and confirmed by the incomparable spirit of my wife, to -whose patient suffering under adversity, for we had often been reduced, -and were now well accustomed to difficulties, I know not how to render -justice. Women, in general, I am sorry to say, are mercenary, and, -especially if they have children, they are ready to make all sacrifices -to their establishment. But my dearest love had bolder and juster views. -On every occasion of my life I consulted her; we had no secrets one from -the other, and I unvaryingly found her think and act with energy and -courage, combined with the greatest courage and discretion. If ever I -succeed in life or arrive at anything like station or eminence I shall -consider it as due to her counsels and her example.”[61] - -Footnote 61: - - “Autobiography,” p. 66. - -The pamphlet had made an equally favourable impression on the Dissenters -of the North, and especially on the advanced thinkers of Belfast. Its -author was elected an honorary member of the first “or green” company of -the Belfast Volunteers (an honour never before accorded to any one -except Henry Flood) and invited to spend a few days in Belfast to make -the personal acquaintance of the republican leaders there. He set off -for the North about the beginning of October, accompanied by his friend -Russell, who had left the army and happened to be in Dublin on his -private affairs. - -Of this trip Tone kept for his wife’s amusement a diary, a practice -which he continued, when he was absent from her, to the end of his life. -He and she were diligent readers of Swift, and he invokes the memory of -Swift and Stella when he writes to tell her of all the news he has -“journalised” for her, and which he looks forward to reading over with -her when he gets home. He has christened his friend, Russell, “P.P. or -Clerk of this Parish”—another reminiscence of Swift,[62] and he promises -his wife she will be much amused by said P.P.’s “exploits in my journal, -which is a thousand times wittier than Swift’s, as in justice it ought, -for it is written for the amusement of one a thousand times more amiable -than Stella.” - -Footnote 62: - - In the “Memoirs of the Clerk of the Parish,” Swift parodied Bishop - Burton’s “History of His Own Times.” - -Little, perhaps, did this dear lady, “a thousand times more amiable than -Stella,” think, as her charming face dimpled over her husband’s -ludicrous account of his own and his friend’s adventures, that she was -reading one of the most important chapters in Irish history. For the -business afoot in Belfast—the aim and object of Tone’s and Russell’s -embassy was nothing less than the establishment of the United -Irishmen—the union of Irish Catholics, Irish Protestants and Irish -Dissenters under the common name of Irish _men_ against the common -enemy. But perhaps she did, for nobody can have known better than she -what a serious aim, what strength of will and tenacity of purpose, what -a steel-like grip of principles and logical fidelity to their -consequences lay under the light surface of her husband’s wit and -drollery. The best minds in Ireland were the quickest to grasp Tone’s -greatness and genius: Thomas Addis Emmet, John Keogh, Plunkett—to take -three, out of three very different types. The best minds in France -showed, afterwards, a like readiness of appreciation: Carnot, the -Organiser of Victory, and General Hoche. - -One thing, however, it is certain, Matilda Tone never dreamed of: the -way in which the Journal’s family jokes—bad, if you like, as family -jokes always are, except to the “family” itself, to whom they seem -irresistibly funny—were to be interpreted against the diarist and his -friend. It was one of the favourite jests of the merry little party of -holiday-makers at Irishtown to represent “Tom” Russell, who was dignity -and solemnity itself, something like a Spanish Don, in his courtesy and -punctilio,[63] as a desperate character, a regular Jonah Barrington type -of “Irishman.” It tickled their sense of the ludicrous, something in the -same way as when they found Tone setting his dignified friend to cook -the dinner in his “fine suit of laced regimentals.” “If you do not know -who P.P. was, the joke will be lost on you,” writes Tone _à propos_ to -the incidents in which solemn “P.P.” is made to figure as a regular -“hell of a fellow.” - -Footnote 63: - - We have, among a host of other witnesses on this point, Charles - Hamilton Teeling, himself a man of the finest courtesy, most - fastidious sense of honour and highest breeding. When Lord - Castlereagh, on the day of his own arrest, informed him that Russell - was also among those arrested, Charles exclaimed: “Russell! then the - soul of honour is captive.” (“Personal Narrative,” p. 19). He tells - further on how Russell, when the prisoners were brought to Judge - Boyd’s house for their committment, was pained by Neilson’s levity. - “No man regarded etiquette and the punctilios of politeness more. He - looked solemn, stroked up his fine black hair, and with a sweetness of - countenance peculiarly his own, and in a gently modulated but - sufficiently audible tone of voice he begged of his friend Neilson to - respect the dignity of the Bench.” Russell was a deeply religious - character, with that combined humility, consciousness of his own - weakness, and striving after perfection which is the foundation of - saintliness. There is nothing nobler, more touching, or more edifying - in our history than the story of how he went to his death. - -Unfortunately, later readers of the Journal, not knowing “P.P.,” nor the -incorrigible practical joker who was his friend, have missed the point -of the jokes and have taken the Journal’s accusations of excessive -drinking and other peccadilloes as literal transcripts of facts. I do -not here merely speak of Froude, who treats the Journal with his usual -absence of all honesty in handling documents, detaches all the -references to hard drinking, omits, _as a matter of course_, all -reference to the fact that this Journal was written by Tone for his -wife’s amusement, and on the strength of the diarist’s jokes against -himself and his friend, makes out Russell and Tone as a pair of -“ne’er-do-wells,” who, on a drunken spree, set out “to measure swords -against the British Empire.”[64] We expect nothing better from Froude; -but it is disconcerting to find Lecky and Barry O’Brien equally misled -by Tone’s flippancy. - -Footnote 64: - - Froude, “English in Ireland,” III., 19. - - * * * * * - -We pass over a year or two, during which Tone was fully occupied by his -work for the Catholic Committee, and the organisation of the first -branches of the United Irishmen, and come to the year 1795, which was to -be a turning point in his own life and in that of his dear ones—the -beloved wife, their little nine-year-old daughter, and the two small -sons, William, now aged four, and three-year-old Frank. - -Tone was spending a pleasant musical evening with a friend of his in -Merrion Square, when a servant was introduced bearing a letter which he -had strict orders to deliver only into Mr. Tone’s hands. The latter read -the letter and then said quietly to his friend, “Phil, we must finish -this duet; I must go when it is done.” It transpired afterwards that the -letter had come from Tone’s good friend of the old Temple days in -London, Hon. George Knox, Lord Northland’s son, and its purport was to -warn Tone that the Government had information of his connection with -Jackson, the emissary of the French Government, and that it would be -advisable for him to get out of the country as quickly as possible. - -We know, now (what poor Tone went to his grave without suspecting) that -the horrible treachery of Cockayne, the spy who had been set by Pitt to -lead Jackson to destruction, was being outmatched by the treachery of -Leonard MacNally, who had spared no trouble to implicate Tone and others -with Jackson. Urged on by MacNally, though, as it appears, against his -own instincts, Tone drew up a paper on the state of Ireland, “the -inference from which was, that circumstances in Ireland were favourable -to a French invasion.” Of this paper MacNally obtained possession, and -there is no doubt at all that through him it fell into the hands of -Government. - -The friendship of two persons, with considerable influence in Government -circles, saved Tone. These were George Knox—and of all persons in the -world—Marcus Beresford! Through the powerful machinery which they were -able to put in motion Tone escaped the consequences of his indiscretion, -on the condition that he should leave the country. - -He determined to go to America. But he had no intention of remaining -there. Before he left Dublin, Russell and he walked out to see Thomas -Addis Emmet in his charming villa at Rathfarnham. The master of the -house showed his guests “a little study of an elliptical shape which he -said he would consecrate to their meetings, if ever they lived to see -their country emancipated.” Even in that solemn moment, Tone could not -resist the temptation to rally poor Russell, who was doubtless looking -more solemn than usual, in his grief at the near parting. But, though -Emmet entered into the spirit of the jest, they all felt as much as -Russell the seriousness of the moment, and it was a very thoughtful trio -who walked back to town together, listening to Tone’s plans. Both -Russell and Emmet agreed with the latter that his promise to Government -was fulfilled by his going into exile. As to his future conduct after -his landing in America he had given no guarantee. His intention was -“immediately on his arrival in Philadelphia to wait on the French -Minister, to detail to him fully, the situation of affairs in Ireland, -to endeavour to obtain a recommendation to the French Government, and if -he succeeded so far, to leave his family in America, and to set off -instantly for Paris, and apply in the name of his country for the -assistance of France in order to assert Ireland’s independence.”[65] The -three friends were standing in a little triangular field while this -conversation took place, and when they had shaken hands over the -resolution that was implied in it, Emmet pointed out that “it was in one -exactly like it in Switzerland, William Tell and his associates planned -the downfall of the tyranny of Austria.” - -Footnote 65: - - “Autobiography,” p. 212. - -When public excitement was at its height in consequence of Jackson’s -trial and his tragic death in the dock, Tone, unwilling to incriminate -any of his friends, abstained from paying any visits. But his friends -sought him out, and for the short time Mrs. Tone and he were in Dublin -after that they were never an instant alone. John Keogh and Richard -MacCormick were among the kindest and most assiduous. Tone told these -men of his plans, and received from them the most emphatic assurances of -their approval. - -On May the 20th, 1795, the Tones left Dublin. Matilda Tone and her -children were never to see that city again, and Theobald was to enter it -again only in the irons of the arch-enemy. - -Mary Tone, who was devotedly attached to her beautiful sister-in-law and -her charming children, made up her mind to leave Ireland with Theobald’s -family. Her departure left old Peter Tone and his wife very desolate, as -all their other children, William, Matthew, and Arthur were far away. -The grief of the old couple was the hardest thing the emigrants had to -endure. With his little property of 600 books, and £700 in money, -Theobald felt himself sufficiently equipped “to make good”—and Matilda -was not the woman to weaken his courage with any undue display of her -own feelings. “We kept our spirits admirably. The great attention -manifested to us, the conviction that we were suffering in the best of -causes, the hurry attending so great a change, and perhaps a little -vanity in showing ourselves superior to fortune, supported us under what -was certainly a trial of the severest kind.” - -The attentions of the kind friends in Dublin, great as they were, were -far surpassed by those they found awaiting them in Belfast. The -MacCrackens, the Simmses, the Neilsons, Dr. MacDonnell, and a host of -others vied with each other in getting up entertainments for them; -parties and excursions were the order of the day. Tone tells us of some -of these in his Journal. He remembers particularly two days passed on -Cave Hill. On the first, Russell, Neilson, Simms, MacCracken, and he -climbed to McArt’s fort and took a solemn obligation never to desist in -their efforts until they had subverted the authority of England, over -their country, and asserted their independence. Another day they had a -pic-nic in the Deer Park, for which the Belfast ladies, Mary Anne and -Margaret MacCracken, Mrs. Neilson, Miss Simms, etc., exerted all their -culinary talents; another day, even more delicious yet, was spent in a -pic-nic party to beautiful Ram’s Island in Lough Neagh. After their -return to town there were suppers and dances and a little music in these -friends’ houses. Many, many years after, Mary Anne MacCracken, then a -very old woman, told Dr. Madden of what she felt when she heard little -Maria Tone sing in her clear voice, to the air of “The Cruiskeen Lawn,” -her father’s spirited words: “When Rome by dividing had conquered the -world.” - -The last evening of their stay came all too quickly. They were spending -it at the MacCracken’s home, of which Bunting was an inmate. The talk -turned, as it was bound to do among such ardent lovers of music, as -these were, on Bunting’s collection of Irish Melodies which was well on -its way to completion, and Bunting was asked to play some air from it. - -He chose that called “The Parting of Friends,” and as the poignant grief -of the old air sought out all their hearts, Matilda Tone’s fortitude, -for the first time, gave way. She burst into tears and left the room. - -The next morning they went aboard the _Cincinnatus_, accompanied by -their kind friends who had come to take the last farewell of them. When -Matilda Tone went down to see her quarters she found the little -state-room her husband had taken for his family full of the good things -these friends had provided for their comfort: sea-stores, wine, porter -and spirits, fresh provisions, sweetmeats, and so on. The foresight of -Dr. MacDonnell had also provided a small medicine chest with written -directions. This was to be of the greatest service, not for the Tones -alone, but for their unfortunate fellow-passengers during the trying -weeks ahead of them. - -A voyage across the Atlantic in those days, in a small sailing vessel of -230 tons, was a most horrible experience. There were three hundred -passengers on board this boat and they were “crowded to a degree not to -be conceived by those who had never been aboard a passenger ship.” “The -slaves who are carried from Africa,” Tone writes, “have much more room -allowed them than the miserable emigrants who pass from Ireland to -America.” The captains were out to make as much money as possible and -they loaded their vessels with as little care for the accommodation of -their passengers as of any other lumber aboard. The Tones had a small -state-room eight feet by six. In this Tone fitted up three berths. One -was occupied by Matilda and little Frank; the second by the two Maries; -the third by Tone himself and the elder boy William. Tone took on -himself the “policing” of the ship, and tried to introduce some -cleanliness. Moreover, with the aid of Dr. MacDonnell’s medicine chest -and “written directions,” he doctored the passengers—his prescriptions -drawing also on his own sea-stores, and the wines and spirits provided -by his Belfast friends. He had the satisfaction of landing all his -patients safe and sound; and his own family, wonderfully fortunate, had -not known one hour’s sickness. - -But strait quarters, overcrowding and all the other horrors we have -described did not exhaust the sufferings endured by Irish emigrants in -the eighteenth century. “About the 20th July ... we were stopped by -three British frigates, the _Thetis_, Captain Lord Cochrane; the -_Hussar_, Captain Rose, and the _Esperance_, Captain Wood, who boarded -us, and after treating us with the greatest insolence, both officers and -sailors, they _pressed_ every one of our hands, save one, and near fifty -of my unfortunate fellow-passengers, who were most of them flying to -America to avoid the tyranny of a bad government at home, and who thus, -most unexpectedly, fell under the severest tyranny, one of them at least -which exists. As I was in a jacket and trousers, one of the lieutenants -ordered me into the boat, as a fit man to serve the king, and it was -only the screams of my wife and sister which induced him to desist. It -would have been a pretty termination to my adventure if I had been -pressed and sent on board a man-of-war. The insolence of these tyrants, -as well to myself as to my poor fellow-passengers, in whose fate a -fellowship in misfortune had interested me, I have not since forgotten, -and I never will.”[66] - -Footnote 66: - - “Autobiography,” p. 217. - -With such gracious sway did great Britannia “rule the waves” in the good -old days! - -On August the 1st the Tones landed in Wilmington, their voyage having -lasted from June the 13th. They found the principal tavern of the place -kept by an Irishman, Captain O’Byrne O’Flynn, a veteran of the American -War of Independence. Here they rested for a few days, and made a useful -and agreeable acquaintance in the person of General Humpton, an old -Englishman, of the best type (“a beautiful, hale, stout old man of near -seventy, perfectly the soldier and the gentleman”) who had fought on the -American side in the late war. He took a great liking to Tone, and his -charming wife, and sister and pretty children, and showed himself very -eager to serve them. - -The Tones left Wilmington, as soon as the ladies and children had -recruited from the fatigue of the sea-voyage and reached Philadelphia on -August the 8th. Here Tone met two old friends—Hamilton Rowan and Dr. -Reynolds, both of whom had, like himself, got into trouble with the -Irish Government over the “_affaire Jackson_.” They had a great time -telling each other their adventures since they had last met in Hamilton -Rowan’s cell in Newgate fourteen months previously. Reynolds and Rowan -were athirst for news from Ireland, and eagerly listened to all Tone had -to tell them. - -Tone lost no time in approaching the French Minister, Adet, in -Philadelphia. Bearing a letter of introduction from Rowan, he waited the -very day after his arrival on Adet, and signified in as clear a way as -was possible under the circumstances (“_he_ spoke English very -imperfectly, and I French a great deal worse”) the desires of himself -and his friends in Ireland for French aid to shake off the English yoke. -Adet requested him to draw up a memorial, and promised to transmit this -to his Government. He also promised to use his influence to procure the -enlargement of Matthew Tone, who was a prisoner at Guise. But this was -as far as he would go. - -Poor Tone, much disheartened by the Minister’s attitude, found little -ground for hope that the French Government would pay any attention to -his memorial. It seemed to him that the only result of his exertions was -the satisfaction of having discharged his conscience to his country. But -as for anything being likely to come of them, he could see no prospects -at all. - -This being so, he bent his mind to making some provision for his family. -Living in Philadelphia being enormously dear, he moved his family to -Donningstown, near General Humpton’s place, and leaving them there under -the General’s kind supervision, he roamed the country in search of a -suitable farm. After some disappointments he found one about two miles -from Princeton. He took a small house in that town, furnished it -frugally and decently, moved his family into it, and having fitted up -his study, determined to settle down, as contentedly as he could, to the -life of an American farmer. - -Then suddenly all was changed. One day Matilda came into the little -study, where her husband dreamed his time away, waiting for the legal -formalities attending the purchase of his plantation to be completed, -and in her hand was a bundle of letters from Ireland. John Keogh had -written; Tom Russell had written; the two Simmses had written—and each -of them in the same strain, telling Tone that the public mind in Ireland -was advancing towards republicanism faster than even he could believe, -and pressing him in the strongest manner to fulfil the engagement he had -made with them at his departure, and to move heaven and earth to force -his way to the French Government in order to supplicate their -assistance. Wm. Simms, at the end of a most friendly and affectionate -letter, desired Tone to draw upon him for £200 sterling. - -Tone immediately handed the letters to his wife and sister and desired -their opinion which he foresaw would be that he should immediately, if -possible, set out for France. “My wife, especially, whose courage and -whose zeal for my honour and interests were not in the least abated by -all her past sufferings, supplicated me to let no consideration of her -or our children stand for a moment in the way of my engagements to our -friends and my duty to my country, adding, that she would answer for our -family during my absence, and that the same Providence which had so -often, as it were, miraculously preserved us would, she was confident, -not desert us now. My sister joined her in those entreaties, and it may -well be supposed I required no great supplication to induce me to make -one more attempt in a cause to which I had been so long devoted.” - -It was Tone’s way never to lose time about any business he might have on -hand; and accordingly, the very next morning he set off from Princeton -for Philadelphia to see Minister Adet. He now found Adet as eager to -forward his design, as he had formerly found him lukewarm. The Minister -promised him letters for the French Government recommending him in the -strongest manner, and offered him money for his expenses. Tone -gratefully accepted the letters but declined the monetary assistance. He -next sent a messenger to Ireland in the person of the young brother, -Arthur, who had in the meantime turned up at Princeton, and charged him -to tell only Neilson, Simms and Russell in Belfast, and Keogh and -MacCormick in Dublin, that he was sailing for France as soon as he could -get a vessel. Everybody else in Ireland—especially his father and -mother—was to be left under the impression that he was farming in -Princeton. Tone then settled up his financial affairs; allowed himself -one day’s holiday in Philadelphia with his old friends Reynolds, -Hamilton Rowan and Napper Tandy (who had recently arrived there). By -December the 13th—that is to say exactly within a fortnight from his -departure—he was back in Princeton with Hamilton Rowan to take leave of -his family. - -He has given us a graphic account of the last night in the American -home. “We supped together in high spirits, and Rowan retiring -immediately after, my wife, sister and I sat together till very late, -engaged in that kind of animated and enthusiastic conversation which our -characters and the nature of the enterprise I was embarked in may be -supposed to give rise to. The courage and firmness of the women -supported me, and them, too, beyond my expectations; we had neither -tears nor lamentations, but, on the contrary, the most ardent hope, and -the most steady resolution. At length, at four the next morning, I -embraced them for the last time, and we parted with a steadiness that -astonished me.” - -But Tone had not yet gauged the depths of his wife’s heroic devotion to -him—and to Ireland. It was only when he had reached New York and was on -the eve of embarkation—too late to have his determination weakened by -any anxiety for her condition—that she told him of the little life that -stirred beneath her heart. - - * * * * * - -We have but a scanty record of the life of Matilda and Mary Tone and the -children during the months when Theobald (having landed at Havre de -Grace on February 1st, 1796) was making his way by the mere force of his -will and personality to the cabinets of the most powerful ministers in -France. But our thoughts are turned to them constantly. We know how as -Tone came home from interviews with De La Croix, the Minister of Foreign -Affairs, or the American Minister, Monroe, or Carnot, or Hoche, he was -concerned above all for what his “dearest love” would think of how he -had comported himself. “I mention these little circumstances because I -know they will be interesting to her whom I prize above my life ten -thousand times. There are about six persons in the world who will read -these detached memorandums with pleasure; to every one else they would -appear sad stuff. But they are only for the women of my family, for the -boys if ever we meet again, and for my friend, P.P.” When he sees -Lodoïska, wife of J. B. Loubet, and records her heroism when her husband -was a fugitive from the vengeance of Robespierre, he wishes his dearest -love could see her, too. “I think she would behave as well in similar -circumstances. Her courage and her affection have been tried in some, -very nearly as critical.” When in a fit of self-examination he seeks out -his own motives, he finds it difficult to decide whether it is his -country or his wife he must put first. “I hope (but I am not sure) my -country is my first object, at least she is my second. If there be one -before her, as I rather believe there is, it is my dearest life and -love, the light of my eyes and spirit of my existence. I wish more than -for anything on earth to place her in a splendid situation. There is -none so elevated that she would not adorn, and that she does not -deserve, and I believe that not I only, but every one who knows her, -will agree as to that. Truth is truth! She is my first object. But would -I sacrifice the interests of Ireland to her elevation? No, that I would -not, and if I would, she would despise me, and if she were to despise -me, I would go hang myself like Judas. Well there is no regulator for -the human heart like the certainty of possessing the affections of an -amiable woman, and, if so, what unspeakable good fortune is mine.” - -He compares French women and English women in point of charm and -attractiveness—and awards the palm to the French. But both of them must -yield to Irish women. “Give me Ireland for women to make wives and -mothers of.... The more I see of this wide world, the more I prize the -inestimable blessing I possess in my wife’s affection, her virtues, her -courage, her goodness of heart, her sweetness of temper, and besides she -is very pretty, a circumstance which does not lessen her value in my -eyes. What is she doing just now, and what would I give to be with her, -and the little _fanfans_ for half-an-hour.” But one would need a whole -book for Tone’s charming love-making to his wife. - -In May, 1796, Tone wrote to Matilda desiring her to come to France. She -sold out their little property in America, turned the proceeds into -_louis d’or_, and set off with Mary and the children. On the voyage they -met two men who were to be intimately connected with their fate. One was -a Scotchman, Mr. Wilson, of Dullatur; the other, a young Swiss merchant -called Giacque. M. Giacque fell deeply in love with Mary Tone, and his -love being returned, the first letter Theobald received from his wife, -announcing their safe arrival in Hamburg, contained also a request for -his consent to Mary’s marriage. - -Tone received that letter after his return from the unfortunate -expedition to Bantry Bay. The prospect of seeing his dear ones again -consoled him for the terrible disappointment of the expedition. But -alas! There was news in the letter which disturbed him deeply. Mrs. -Tone’s health had suffered gravely from all she had undergone. For this -reason her husband considered it unwise for her to undertake the journey -from Hamburg in the depth of winter. He, therefore, instructed her to -stay in Hamburg for the present, more especially as Mary and her husband -were likely to set up house there, pending the arrangements he would be -able to make for her. - -To some of Matilda Tone’s letters written from Hamburg while her husband -was serving under Hoche in the Army of _Sambre et Meuse_ were attached -postscripts from Maria. The first line he had ever seen of his little -daughter’s writing moved Tone strangely, and there were tears in his -eyes as he sat down to write her the following answer: - - “Dearest Baby,—You are a darling little thing for writing to me, - and I doat upon you, and when I read your pretty letter, it - brought the tears into my eyes, I was so glad. I am delighted - with the account you give me of your brothers; I think it is - high time that William should begin to cultivate his - understanding,[67] and therefore I beg you may teach him his - letters, if he does not know them already, that he may be able - to write to me by and by. I am not surprised that Frank is a - bully, and I suppose he and I will have fifty battles when we - meet. Has he got into a jacket and trousers yet? Tell your mamma - from me, ‘_we do defer it most shamefully, Mr. Shandy_.’[68] I - hope you will take great care of your poor mamma, who, I am - afraid, is not well; but I need not say that, for I am sure you - do, because you are a darling good child, and I love you more - than all the world. Kiss your mamma and your two little - brothers, for me, ten thousand times, and love me, as you - promise, as long as you live. - - “Your affectionate _Fadoff_, - J. Smith.”[69] - -Footnote 67: - - William had then reached the mature age of six, and Frank was a year - younger. - -Footnote 68: - - One of the favourite games in the family circle was matching and - identifying quotations. Tone’s Journal is full of them. - -Footnote 69: - - This was the name under which Tone served in the French army. - -It was not until May 7th, 1797, that Tone and his family were re-united. -He got leave of absence from his regiment, and wrote to them to meet him -at Gröningen. He arrived here on May the 2nd and for the next five days -he haunted the canal—“tormented with the most terrible apprehensions on -account of the absence of my dearest love, about whom I hear nothing; -walked out every day to the canal, two or three times a day to meet the -boats coming from Nieuschans when she will arrive. No love! No love! I -never was so unhappy in my life.... At last, this day (May 7th), in the -evening, as I was taking my usual walk along the canal, I had the -unspeakable satisfaction to see my dearest love and our little babies, -my sister and her husband, all arrive safe and well; it is impossible to -describe the pleasure I felt.” - -A fortnight was spent very delightfully travelling through Holland and -Belgium. After that Tone went to Germany, and Matilda and her charge -proceeded to Paris under the escort of M. Giacque. - -In the new home in Paris, to which Theobald returned as often as his -military duties permitted, Matilda Tone devoted herself to the education -of her children while the fateful months from the end of May, 1797, to -the beginning of September, 1798, sped by. During that “crowded hour” of -her husband’s glorious life much history was a-making; and now, as -always, his wife performed her woman’s part: to watch and wait, and -suffer and sacrifice herself to her husband’s—a splendidly tragic -destiny—with incomparable and heroic devotion. - -She had need of all her woman’s resources to comfort him as one after -another his dearest hopes were blighted. There was first the death of -Hoche; then the defeat of the Dutch fleet at Camperdown, and the -consequent abandonment of the Dutch expedition to Ireland. Then there -was the rise to supreme military power in France of Bonaparte, whom -Thomas Addis Emmet later pronounced to be “the greatest enemy the Irish -people ever had.” - -When Bonaparte, on the eve of the Irish Insurrection, sailed to Egypt -with the army which had been ostensibly collected for an attack on -England through Ireland, Tone gave up all hope. It was in this frame of -mind he joined Hardy’s expedition which sailed (in the wake of Humbert’s -failure, and the fiasco of Napper Tandy’s descent on Rutland Island) -from the Bay of Cameret on September 20th, 1798. William Tone relates -that “at the period of this expedition he was hopeless of its success, -and in the deepest despondency at the prospect of Irish affairs. Such -was the wretched indiscretion of the [French] Government, that before -his departure he read himself, in the _Bien Informé_, a Paris newspaper, -a detailed account of the whole armament, where his own name was -mentioned in full letters with the circumstance of his being on board -the _Hoche_. There was therefore no hope of secrecy. He had all along -deprecated the idea of these attempts on a small scale. But he had also -declared repeatedly that if the Government sent only a corporal’s guard, -he felt it his duty to go along with them.... His resolution was, -however, deliberately and inflexibly taken, in case he fell into the -hands of the enemy, never to suffer the indignity of a public -execution.” Of this resolution of her husband’s, Matilda Tone was fully -informed. For he spoke of it quite plainly in her presence on the -occasion of a dinner-party given at their house in Paris a few days -before the departure of the expedition. - -And so she let him go from her—knowing full well that she would never -see him again. How truly had he judged of her—and of himself—when he -wrote the words: “She is my first object. But would I sacrifice the -interest of Ireland to her elevation? No that I would not, and if I -would, she would despise me, and if she were to despise me I would go -hang myself like Judas.” - - * * * * * - -His body was lying under the green sod in Bodenstown Churchyard when his -last message to her was delivered. How did she ever bear to read the -lines he penned in his prison cell, when even now at this distance of -time, we who knew him not at all can hardly see them for our tears? - - “Provost Prison—Dublin Barracks, - “_Le 20 Brumaire, an 7_ (10 Nov.’98). - - “Dearest Love,—The hour is at last come when we must part. As no - words can express what I feel for you and our children, I shall - not attempt it; complaint of any kind would be beneath your - courage and mine; be assured I will die as I have lived, and - that you will have no cause to blush for me.” - - “I have written on your behalf to the French Government, to the - Minister of Marine, to General Kilmaine and to Mr. Shee. With - the latter I wish you especially to advise. In Ireland I have - written to your brother Harry, and to those of my friends who - are about to go into exile, and who, I am sure, will not abandon - you. - - “Adieu, dearest love: I find it impossible to finish this - letter. Give my love to Mary; and above all things, remember - that you are now the only parent of our dearest children, and - that the best proof you can give of your affection for me will - be to preserve yourself for their education. God Almighty bless - you all. - - “Yours ever, - “T. W. TONE.” - - “P.S.—I think you have found a friend in Wilson who will not - desert you.” - - SECOND LETTER - - “Dearest Love,—I write just one line to acquaint you that I have - received assurance from your brother Edward of his determination - to render every assistance and protection in his power; for - which I have written to thank him most sincerely. Your sister - has likewise sent me assurances of the same nature, and - expressed a desire to see me, which I have refused, having - determined to speak to no one of my friends, not even my father, - from motives of humanity to them and myself. It is a very great - consolation to me that your family are determined to support - you; as to the manner of that assistance, I leave it to their - affection for you, and your own excellent good sense, to settle - what manner will be most respectable for all parties. - - “Adieu, dearest love. Keep your courage as I have kept mine; my - mind is as tranquil at this period as at any period of my life. - Cherish my memory; and especially preserve your health and - spirits for the sake of our dearest children. - - “Yours ever affectionately.” - - * * * * * - -There still remained to Matilda Tone more than fifty years of painful -pilgrimage on this earth, before she was re-united to the husband—who -had never ceased to be the lover—of her youth. The story of twenty-eight -of these years has been told by her son William, and we may fittingly -leave the tale to his telling, only taking it up again when his voice, -too, was silenced—and to use her own pathetic phrase, his mother was -left widowed and childless for twenty years more, - - “=Lonely and desolate to mourn her dead.=” - - * * * * * - - “At the close of this last expedition [_i.e._ Hardy’s], a strict - embargo reigned on the coasts of England, and no news could - reach to France but through the distant and indirect channel of - Hamburg. It was not till the close of November that the report - of the action of October 11th, of the capture, trial, defence - and condemnation of Tone, and of the wound which he was reported - to have inflicted upon himself, reached all at once to Paris. It - was also stated at first that this wound which he was reported - to have inflicted upon himself was slight, that the law courts - had claimed him, that all proceedings were therefore stopped, - and that there were strong hopes of his recovery. My mother, - then in the most delicate and precarious state of health, a - stranger in the land (of which she scarcely spoke the language) - and without a friend and adviser (for she had ever lived in the - most retired privacy) rallied, however, a courage and spirits - worthy of the name she bore. Surmounting all timidity and - weakness of body as well as of mind, she threw herself instantly - into a carriage, and drove to the minister of foreign affairs - (Tallyrand Perigord). She knew that he spoke English and had - been acquainted with my father both in America and in France. He - received her with the most lively interest. Cases of this kind - did not belong to his department, but he promised all the - support of his credit with the Government, and gave her an - introduction to the Directory. She immediately called on La - Reveilliere Lepaux, then president of the Directory, and met - with a reception equally favourable and respectful. He gave the - most solemn assurances that my father should be instantly - claimed; and mentioned in the demand by the name of Tone, by - that of Smith, and individually as a French officer, lest his - assumed name should occasion any diplomatic delay; he added that - the English officers then in the French prisons should be - confined as hostages to answer for his safety; and that, if none - were equal to him in rank, the difference should be made up in - numbers. It was unfortunate that Sir Sidney Smith had then - escaped from the Temple. As soon as these papers were drawn, La - Reveilliere Lepaux addressed her with them to the minister of - marine, Bruix, who assured her that preliminary steps had - already been taken, and that these despatches should be - forwarded in the course of the same day. From thence she called - on Schimmelpennick, the Dutch ambassador, who gave her similar - assurances that my father should be claimed in the name of the - Batavian republic, in whose service he bore the same rank as in - the French. She wrote for the same purpose to his friend, - Admiral Dewinter, and to General Kilmaine, commander-in-chief of - the army in which he served; they both gave the same promises in - return. - - “To the French ministers, my mother expressed, at the same time, - her determination to join and nurse her husband in his prison, - taking my young sister along with her, and leaving my brother - and myself to the care of my aunt [_i.e._ Mary Tone, now Madame - Giacque]. For she did not expect that even these efforts would - obtain his release, but probably a commutation of his fate to a - confinement which she wished to share. It may well be believed - that these reclamations excited the most lively and universal - interest. All the credentials and all the means which she could - wish, were furnished to her, and she was already on her way to - embark for Ireland, when the news of his death arrived and put a - stop to all further proceedings. It would be needless to dilate - upon, and impossible to express, her feelings on the occasion. - - * * * * * - - “In the first moments after the death of my father the interest - excited by his fate, and by the state of his family was - universal. The Directory instantly passed a decree by which an - immediate aid of 1,200 francs, from the funds of the navy, and - three month’s pay from the war department, were assigned to his - widow, and she was requested to produce her titles to a regular - pension. At the same time, Bruix and Tallyrand (to the latter of - whom, whatever character be assigned him in history, we - certainly owe gratitude for the lively and disinterested part he - took in our fate, on the few but important occasions on which we - addressed him) proposed, the first, to take charge of my - brother, and the other of me. Kilmaine, who had no children, - proposed to adopt us both. But, grateful as my mother felt for - those offers, she declined them, determined never to part from - her children; and to fulfil, to the last, the solemn engagement - under which she considered herself bound, to superintend their - education; she did not wish them to be bred as favourites and - dependants in great families; and trusted rather to the - gratitude of the nation to give them a public, simple and manly - education, as an homage to their father’s services. These - gentlemen entered into her views; and on their demand, the - Directory decreed that the sons of Theobald Wolfe Tone, adopted - by the French republic, should be educated at the national - expense, in the Prytaneum. - - “The pensions which the executive had, constitutionally, a power - to grant to the widows and families of officers killed on the - field of battle, were limited by law according to the rank of - these officers, and to the length of time during which they had - served. According to this law, the pension to which my mother - was entitled, amounted only to 300 francs, or little more than - £12 sterling a year. This she refused either to demand or - accept. But in special cases the legislature had reserved to - itself the right of granting pensions to any amount. Ours was a - very special case; but it was necessary to address the council - of four hundred on the subject. Official delays intervened; it - was difficult to collect at once all the legal proofs required; - the business was therefore dropped for the present; and indeed - in the varying and shifting movement of that most unstable of - governments, no single object, however interesting at first, - could fix the public attention for a period of any duration. In - a few months three of the directors were expelled by their - colleagues, and replaced by others; the affairs of Ireland, Tone - and his family, and the fatal indiscretion of Humbert, who now - returned from captivity, were all forgotten in the disasters of - Italy and Germany, and the victories of Suwarrow and Prince - Charles of Austria. - - “In the meantime, withdrawing from the interest she had excited, - my mother retired almost in the precincts of the university, to - be near her children, and superintend their education. This was - the most quiet and distant quarter of Paris, and farthest from - the bustle of the great and fashionable world. On the style in - which we lived, I will only observe, that we saw no company, - English nor French; and that my mother, attending exclusively to - the education of her daughter, and to the superintendence of her - two boys, who dwelt in the college beneath her eyes, was under - the protection of that body as much as if she had been a member - of it. Such was the esteem, confidence and, I would almost say, - veneration with which she inspired its director and professors, - that contrary to the severe regulations of French discipline, - they trusted us entirely to her care. Indeed, we were all so - young and so helpless, that we were general favourites, and the - whole of our little family seemed adopted by the establishment. - - “It was nearly a year from my father’s fate; our permanent - provision was yet unsettled, and our slender means could not - last many months longer; when my mother, reading some old papers - in her solitude, fell on a beautiful speech pronounced some - months before in the council of five hundred, by Lucien - Buonaparte. He proposed to simplify the forms of paying the - pensions of the widows and children of military and naval - officers; he represented in the most noble and feeling terms the - hardship of high-spirited females and mothers of families, whose - claims were clear and undoubted, obliged, in the affliction and - desolation of their hearts, to solicit and go through numberless - delays in the public offices. He also proposed to augment these - pensions, which were too small. The sons of warriors killed on - the field of battle ceased to receive them when they reached - their fourteenth year; he proposed to extend this period to the - age when they might, in their turn, enter the service. - - “Several months had been necessary, to collect the proofs, - certificates and documents required by law, for making an - application to the legislature; or, indeed, before my mother was - able to attend to it. Nor did she know one member of the Council - of five hundred, to present them to when they were ready. In - reading this speech of Lucien, she felt that he was the person - she ought to address. My father had been known to his brother, - when he commanded the army of England; and he was one of the - representatives. She immediately wrote a note to him, to know - when she might have the honour of waiting upon him on particular - business? He answered that his public duties left only the hours - of ten in the morning or seven in the evening, unemployed; but - that at either of these, he would be happy to receive her. In - consequence, next morning, taking with her, her children, her - papers and the report of his speech, she called upon him and - presented to him that speech as her letter of introduction. He - was highly touched and flattered. She gave him all her papers - and showed him her children. He was much moved, and said he knew - the story well, and had been deeply affected by it, which - sentiment he only shared in common with every one who had heard - of it; that it was the duty of the French legislature to provide - for the family of Tone honourably; and thanked her for the - distinction conferred upon him, by choosing him to report on the - case. My mother mentioned the difficulties she lay under, an - unconnected stranger, scarcely understanding the language. He - stopped her by requesting her to take no more trouble; that he - would charge himself with it entirely, and get the permission of - the executive which would be necessary; and if he wanted any - particulars from her, would write to her for them. Nothing could - be more delicate or generous than his whole manner. - - “Next morning, Madame Lucien Buonaparte called upon my mother, - and introduced herself.... An acquaintance commenced which only - terminated at her death a few months afterwards. - - “The report of Lucien Buonaparte was still delayed for some - time. He had some papers to collect to prove my father’s - services. Carnot was in banishment; Hoche was dead; poor - Kilmaine, who ever since my father’s death had expressed a warm - interest in our fate, was dying. In the ravings of fever he - would insist on putting horses to his carriage, and driving with - us to the Directory and council of five hundred, to reproach - them with their delays in providing for the widow and children - of Tone. General Simon ... gave the necessary attestations. The - permission of the Directory was obtained; but Lucien, in order - to produce a greater effect, still delayed till the period of - his own Presidency.... - - “On the 9th of Brumaire, only nine days before the revolution - which put an end to the Directory and placed his brother at the - head of affairs, Lucien, then president of the council of five - hundred, pronounced at length a beautiful speech, which may be - called the funeral oration of my father. At the close of which a - committee was immediately appointed, to report on the subject of - a pension and permanent provision for the widow and family of - General Tone.” - - We will interrupt William Tone’s narrative, for a moment, in - order to reproduce, in part, Lucien Buonaparte’s oration, and to - show the reverence the name of Tone inspired in France, and the - enthusiasm the lofty spirit and heroism, the conjugal and - maternal devotion of Matilda aroused in generous Gallic breasts. - - “Representatives of the People,—I rise to call your attention to - the widow and children of a man whose memory is dear and - venerable to Ireland and to France—the Adjutant-General Theobald - Wolfe Tone, founder of the United Irish Society, who, betrayed - and taken in the expedition to Ireland, perished in Dublin, - murdered by the illegal sentence of a court-martial. - - “Wolfe Tone only breathed for the liberty of his country. After - attempting every means to break the chains of British oppression - at home, he was invited by our Government to France, where from - the beginning of the fifth year of the Republic, he bore arms - under our colours. His talent and his courage announced him as - the future Washington of Ireland; his arm, whilst assisting in - our battles, was preparing to fight for his own country.... - - “It is precisely one year ago to the very day of the month that - a court-martial was assembled in Dublin to try a general officer - in the service of our Republic. Let us examine the papers of - that day.” [Here the orator read the account of the trial and - defence of General Tone. He then resumed.] - - “You have heard the last word of this illustrious martyr of - liberty. What could I add to them? You see him, dressed in your - own uniform, in the presence of this murderous tribunal, in the - midst of this awe-struck and affected assembly. You hear him - exclaim: ‘After such sacrifices in the cause of liberty it is no - great effort, at this day, to add the sacrifice of my life. I - have courted poverty; I have left a beloved wife unprotected, - and children whom I adored, fatherless.’ Pardon him, if he - forgot, in those last moments that you were to be the fathers - and protectors of his Matilda and his children. - - “Sentenced amidst the tears and groans of his country, Wolfe - Tone would not leave to her tyrants the satisfaction of seeing - him expire by a death which the prejudices of the world call - ignominious.... The day will yet, doubtless, come, when, in that - same city of Dublin, and on the spot where the satellites of - Britain were rearing that scaffold where they expected to wreak - their vengeance on Theobald the free people of Ireland will - erect a trophy to his memory, and celebrate, yearly, on the - anniversary of his trial, the festival of their union, around - his funeral monument. For the first time this anniversary is now - celebrated within these walls. Shade of a hero! I offer to thee, - in our name, the homage of our deep, of our universal emotion. - - “A few words more—on the widow of Theobald, on his children. - Calamity would have overwhelmed a weaker soul. The death of her - husband was not the only one she had to deplore. His brother was - condemned to the same fate, and perished on the scaffold. - - “If the services of Tone were not sufficient of themselves to - rouse your feelings, I might mention the independent spirit and - firmness of that noble woman, who, on the tomb of her husband - and of his brother, mingles with her sighs aspirations for the - deliverance of Ireland. I would attempt to give you an idea of - that Irish spirit which is blended in her countenance with the - expression of her grief. Such were those women of Sparta, who on - the return of their countrymen from battle when, with anxious - looks, they ran over the ranks, and missed amongst them their - sons, their husbands, and their brothers, exclaimed: ‘He died - for his country; he died for the republic.’” - - * * * * * - -Strangely enough, the revolution which placed Napoleon in power as First -Consul, instead of helping the fortunes of Matilda Tone and her -children, had an adverse effect on them. Lucien broke with his brother, -as soon as he saw the true direction of the latter’s aims, and in -consequence a cause to which he lent his support had little chance of -finding favour with the First Consul. For the next five years Tone’s -widow and orphans might have died of starvation had it not been for the -generosity of Mr. Wilson, of Dullatur. “He was,” says William Tone, “to -my mother a brother, an admirer and a friend; he managed her slender -funds; and when sickness and death hovered over our little family, he -was our sole support.” Lucien Buonaparte also did what he could out of -his personal resources—and Theobald’s brother, William, who had cut a -way for himself with his sword in India, sent his sister-in-law and -nephews and niece a generous draft. He would have provided for them had -not his death prevented the accomplishment of his plans. - -The arrival of some of the Fort George prisoners in France, including -Tom Russell, Thomas Addis Emmet, and Dr. MacNevin—all Tone’s dear -friends—reminded Napoleon of the existence of Tone’s wife and children. -As if in answer to Emmet’s reproachful question: “how could they trust -that government when they saw the widow of Tone unprovided for?” -Napoleon (who was anxious to use the Irish in his new war with England -and was organising his Irish Brigade) granted Matilda a pension of 1,200 -livres, and 400 to each of her three children until their twentieth -year. In this same year a subscription was got up for the family in -Ireland—to which John Keogh and the Earl of Moira, among others of -Tone’s old friends, ostentatiously refused to subscribe. - -So starvation was kept off a little longer. But the privations of the -preceding years had told heavily on poor Maria Tone, now a beautiful -girl of sixteen. In 1804, her mother had the great grief of losing her -through consumption. - -In 1806 poor little Frank died—and now no one was left to console his -mother but William. - -Mother and son were all in all to each other. As he moved from the -Lyceum to the Imperial Cavalry School of Saint Germains, she moved her -lodgings at the same time to be near him. All his academic successes -were valued by him only in so far as they gave pleasure to his mother. -In the essay with which, in leaving the Lyceum, he competed for the -“Prize of the Institute,” he pays a noble and touching tribute to all he -owes to her, to all she has done for him. On her part, her thoughts were -occupied entirely by his advancement and his interests. For his sake she -surmounted her natural timidity, and sought out an interview with the -Emperor, in order to recommend her son to his favour. - -Young Tone served under the Imperial Colours during three campaigns. On -the fall of Napoleon he resigned his commission, and in the following -year, passed over to America. - -Before he left Paris he induced his mother to accept the offer of -marriage made her by their faithful friend and benefactor of so many -years, Mr. Wilson, of Dullatur. On August the 19th, 1816, they were -married in the chapel of the British Ambassador at Paris; and shortly -after set sail, _via_ Scotland, for America. - -Mr. Wilson bought an estate at Georgetown, near Washington, and here -there was always a home for William when the duties of his military -career allowed it—for he had been appointed to a captaincy in the United -States Army. In 1825 he married the daughter of William Sampson, and -after retiring from the army, his wife and he took up their abode with -his mother in Georgetown. Mr. Wilson had died a little before. - -Alas! Sorrow had not yet done with Matilda Tone, on October the 10th, -1828, she lost her son. - -We know little of her for the twenty-one years of life that still -remained to her. We learn from Madden that every year her -daughter-in-law and grand-daughter paid her a visit; and we know that up -to extreme old age she retained that strength and energy of mind, that -vigour of intellect, that passionate devotion to the husband of her -youth which had characterised her in the long ago. A letter she wrote to -the _Truth-Teller_, on the appearance of the first edition of Madden’s -_United Irishmen_ (1842) gives evidence of this. - -She died in Georgetown on March 18th, 1849. - -Shall the day ever come when Ireland a Nation, remembering this woman -and all she suffered for her, shall claim her remains from America, and -lay them to rest in the place where her husband lies lonely: in his -green grave in Bodenstown Churchyard? - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The Wife of Thomas Addis Emmet - - JANE EMMET, _née_ PATTEN (1771-1846)[70] - - “And the track of my true love’s feet is the track that my heart - would follow.”—_Old Irish Love Song._ - -Footnote 70: - - _Authorities_: Madden’s “United Irishmen” (Third Series, Second - Edition); Dr. T. A. Emmet’s “Emmet Family.” - - -SO exquisitely has the story of “the Broken Heart” been told, to such -haunting strains of melodious sorrow has it been sung, that the whole -world has wept over the tragic loves of Robert Emmet and Sarah Curran, -But even in Ireland, it is rare to find anyone familiar with the romance -of Thomas Addis Emmet; and—to our shame be it told!—the heroic devotion -and self-sacrifice of his wife, Jane Emmet, which ought to be a -household tale, a constant inspiration to our womanhood, is less known -than the tale of some alien queen—Philippa or another. What’s Philippa -to us, or we to Philippa? Or why should the heroism of our own women be -forgotten, while our voices swell the chorus that praises the heroism of -the stranger? - -We have already learned in our memoir of Elizabeth Emmet, that her son, -Thomas Addis, shortly after having been called to the Bar, married, in -1791, Miss Jane Patten, the twenty-year-old daughter of Rev. John -Patten, of Annerville (near Clonmel), and his wife Margaret Colville. -After Rev. Mr. Patten’s death in 1787, his widow, with her children, -Jane and John, came to live in Dublin where her brother, Mr. Colville -was a wealthy merchant, and in this city Thomas Addis Emmet met Miss -Patten. It is probable enough that the intimacy between the -families—which was very affectionate—was of longer standing; for both -the Colvilles and the Emmets were Tipperary folk. - -In a letter to his daughter Elizabeth, written on the eve of the -latter’s marriage to Mr. Le Roy, Thomas Addis Emmet recalls the -happiness it gave him when, as a young husband, he witnessed the -tenderness with which his father and mother took to their hearts, as a -veritable new daughter, the bride he had brought home to them: “To this -day,” he writes (and “this day” was forty years after the event to which -his memory goes back) “I remember I never loved your Mother so much, or -looked at her with so much delight, as when I saw from my father’s and -mother’s actions that they cherished her as their own daughter.” - -The tender little phrase throws a pleasing light on the relations that -existed between the two _ménages_, which shared between them Dr. Emmet’s -fine mansion on Stephen’s Green. Shortly after his son’s marriage the -doctor divided his house (No. 109 Stephen’s Green, West) into two -separate dwellings, keeping the corner house for himself, and assigning -the other to the young couple. In this inner house Jane Emmet’s elder -children, Robert (September 8th, 1792), Margaret (September 21st, 1793), -Elizabeth (December 4th, 1794), John Patten (April 8th, 1796), Thomas -Addis (May 29th, 1797) were born. - -During the years when her nursery was thus rapidly filling, Jane Emmet’s -husband was making his mark at the Bar. He was engaged as counsel (with -Hon. Simon Butler and Leonard MacNally) in the celebrated case of Napper -Tandy against the Lord Lieutenant, the Lord Chancellor and some members -of the privy council, who had signed a proclamation offering a reward -for the apprehension of Tandy. The object of the whole proceedings on -the part of Tandy’s advisers was “to contest the validity of the Lord -Lieutenant’s patent, as having been granted under the great seal of -England, instead of that of the Chancellor of Ireland.” In the course of -Emmet’s address he caused a sensation by boldly asserting that there had -been “no legal viceroy in Ireland for the last ten years, and not only -the counsel for Lord Westmoreland will not deny that fact, but they will -not dare to let his patent come under a train of legal investigation.” - -Other notable cases in which Emmet was engaged included the trial at -Tralee in 1793 of Lieutenant Carr who had shot a Mr. O’Connell in a -duel, and the trial of a Mr. O’Driscoll, at Cork assizes in the same -year, on a charge of seditious libel. In this case Emmet was associated -with the Sheareses and Leonard MacNally. So successful was he, according -to his cousin, St. John Mason’s statement to Dr. Madden, that the first -year of his practice he realised £700. - -In 1795 he took the oath of the _United Irishmen_ under very sensational -circumstances, thus detailed by Madden: “A case occurred before Prime -Serjeant Fitzgerald, in which a conviction was obtained on a charge of -administering the United Irishmen’s oath, then a capital offence. Emmet -appeared for the prisoners on a motion in arrest of judgment. He took up -the pleadings in which the words of the oath were recited, and he read -them in a very deliberate manner, and with all the gravity of a man who -felt that he was binding his soul by the obligations of a solemn oath. -‘I, Thomas Addis Emmet, in the presence of God, do pledge myself to my -country that I will use all my abilities and influence in the attainment -of an impartial and adequate representation of the Irish nation in -parliament; and as a means and absolute and immediate necessity in the -establishment of this chief good of Ireland, I will endeavour, as much -as lies in my ability, to forward a brotherhood of affection, an -identity of interests, a communion of rights and an union of power, -among Irishmen of all religious persuasions, without which, every reform -in parliament must be partial, not national, inadequate to the wants, -delusive to the wishes, and insufficient to the freedom and happiness of -this country.’ - -“Having read the text, and defended its obligations with a power of -reasoning and a display of legal knowledge, in reference to the subject -of the distinction between legal and illegal oaths, which the counsel -for the prosecution described as producing an extraordinary impression, -he said: - -“‘My lords, here in the presence of this legal court, this crowded -auditory, in the presence of the Being that sees, and witnesses, and -directs this judicial tribunal—here, my lords, I, myself, in the -presence of God, declare I take the oath.’ He then took the book, kissed -it, and sat down. No steps were taken by the court against the -newly-sworn United Irishman; the amazement of its functionaries left -them in no fit state of mind either for remonstrance or reproval. The -prisoners received a very lenient sentence.” - -Though Emmet took the oath thus publicly, he was not publicly identified -with the United Irishmen until a period considerably later. He was -rarely engaged as their counsel in the trials of 1797 and 1798—acting -rather as chamber lawyer to their committees. He became a member of the -directory in 1797 after the arrest of Arthur O’Connor. - -But long before that date he had worked for the objects for which the -United Irishmen were founded, Reform and Emancipation; and he had been -associated, in the closest manner with their founder. He was a member of -the political club which Tone formed in the winter of 1790, and Tone -found him a man completely after his own heart: “of a great and -comprehensive mind, of the warmest and sincerest affection for his -friends, and of a steady adherence to his principles, to which he has -sacrificed much, as I know, and would, I am sure, if necessary, -sacrifice his life. His opinions and mine square exactly.” - -In the autumn of 1792 when Tone was working strenuously for the Catholic -cause, Emmet gave him invaluable help. His pen was ever ready to assist -Tone’s in preparing replies on the Catholic side to the bigotry of the -Grand Juries, or drawing up addresses in which the Catholic position was -admirably stated. But he did all this work in the shade, so to speak, -neither seeking nor desiring any reward for it. - -We have already learned from Tone how fully Emmet entered into the -scheme for enlisting French aid towards Irish independence, which Tone -carried with him on his departure for America in the early summer of -1795. The “charming villa” which Emmet occupied then at Rathfarnham and -“the little study of an elliptical form” which he was building at the -bottom of his lawn, and the “little triangular field” on the way between -Rathfarnham and Dublin became, from the meeting of the three friends, -Emmet and Russell and Tone, and the solemn pledge wherewith they bound -themselves to each other, among the “holy places” of Irish history. - -On March 12th, 1798, Government which had already been long in complete -possession of the plans of the United Irishmen, through the treachery of -Thomas Reynolds and others, and had allowed them to develop as suited -its own purposes, suddenly swooped down on the leaders. The arrest of -the country deputies at the house of Oliver Bond was followed the same -day by the apprehension of Emmet, Dr. MacNevin, Jackson (Bond’s -father-in-law) and John Sweetman at their several abodes. - -Jane Emmet had just tucked her little ones into their cots and given -them their good-night kiss, when Alderman Carletown and his escort of -soldiers invaded the quiet house in Stephen’s Green to carry off her -children’s father. The loud knocking at the door, the peremptory demand -for admission “in the king’s name” which heralded the entrance of those -unbidden guests heralded also the closing of the peaceful happy years of -Jane Emmet’s young wifehood and maternity. A new life was opening up -before her, full of sorrows, and hardships and privations, and the -gently nurtured lady was to discover in the reserves of her character -the unsuspected materials of a heroine. - -The call which roused the heroine in her was brutal enough. In the -search which the soldiers immediately instituted all through the house -in quest of documents the nursery was not spared. The children were -roughly roused from their sleep, and we may judge of the impression -produced in them by the fact that as long as they lived they never -forgot it. Thomas Addis Emmet, jun., was only a year-old baby when his -father was arrested; he was an old man when Dr. Madden knew him, but he -remembered, as if it had been but yesterday, how, waking suddenly, he -saw a number of soldiers standing at the window with fixed bayonets -presented at him and the little brother who was his bed fellow. Nor was -this the only occasion on which the nursery was invaded by the gallant -yeomanry. John Patten Emmet told his son, the present Dr. Thomas Addis -Emmet, that after his father’s arrest, the house was frequently searched -by the military for the seal of the United Irishmen. During one of these -searches he and his little brothers were wakened by a bright light in -the nursery, and became greatly frightened on seeing a soldier stand -guard within the door. “As soon as the man saw the child was awake, with -the instinct of a brute he pointed his musket at him as if about to -shoot. The children naturally got under the bed-clothing as quickly as -possible, and in their terror did not dare to move, being more dead than -alive, until the soldiers had left the house and their grandmother could -come to them.”[71] - -Footnote 71: - - “The Emmet Family,” pp. 64-65. The seal, which was designed by Robert - Emmet, and is still in the possession of the Emmet family, was carried - by Mrs. T. A. Emmet on her person during the whole time Government was - in search of it. - -The poor grandmother had to take for the frightened children the place -of both father and mother. The father after being brought to the Castle, -was committed to Newgate where about twenty of the other leaders were -confined. Here his wife managed to gain admission to him—“by stealth,” -and “against the most positive orders,” as Lord Castlereagh told Lady -Louisa Connolly when, a couple of months later, she sought permission -for Pamela to see Lord Edward. “The cell in which Thomas Addis Emmet was -confined,” we learn from Dr. Madden, was about twelve feet square. Jane -Emmet managed to secrete herself in this wretched abode for some days, -one of the turnkeys who had charge of Emmet’s cell being privy to her -concealment. Her husband shared his scanty allowance with her; and there -a lady, bred in the lap of luxury, accustomed to all the accommodations -that are possessed by one in her sphere in life, used to all the -comforts of a happy home, familiarised to the affectionate care and kind -attentions of an amiable family, daily blessed with the smiling faces of -her dear children—“one who had slept with full content about her bed, -and never waked but to a joyful morning”—shared the dungeon of her -husband: its gloom, its dreary walls, its narrow limits, its dismal -aspect—things and subjects for contemplation which her imagination a few -weeks before would have sickened at the thought of—were now endured as -if they affected her not; her husband was there, and everything else in -this world, except her fears for his safety and for separation from him, -were forgotten; her acts said to him: - - “Thou to me - Art all things under heaven, all places thou.” - -“The gaoler at length discovered that Mrs. Emmet was an inmate of her -husband’s cell. She was immediately ordered to quit the place; but to -the astonishment of the officers of the prison who were not accustomed -to have their orders disobeyed, she told them ‘_her mind was made up_’ -to remain with her husband, and she would not leave the prison. The -gaoler, whom Emmet speaks of as a man of unfeeling and ruffianly -deportment, stood _awestricken_ before a feeble, helpless creature whom -he had only to order one of his myrmidons to tear from the arms of her -husband, and his bidding would have been obeyed. The power of a -brave-spirited woman is seldom put forth that it does not triumph.... -The gaoler retired; and Emmet was given to understand that the man had -orders from his superiors not to employ force, but the first time that -Mrs. Emmet left the prison she was not to be permitted to return. No -such opportunity for her exclusion was afforded by that lady. She -continued to share her husband’s captivity for many months. But once in -that time she left the prison and then only to visit her sick child, -when she appealed to the wife of the gaoler ‘as the mother of a family’ -to take pity on her wretchedness, struggling as she was between her duty -to her husband and the yearnings of nature towards her sick child.... It -cheers one to find that this appeal was not made in vain. At midnight -this woman conducted Mrs. Emmet through the apartments of the gaoler to -the street. The following night, after remaining with her child at the -house of Dr. Emmet during the day, she returned to the gaol, gained -admittance by the same means, and “was on the point of entering her -husband’s cell when one of the keepers discovered her; but too late to -exclude her from prison. From that time she availed herself no more of -the same facility for leaving or entering prison. During her absence her -room had been visited by one of the keepers, a not infrequent -occurrence; the curtains had been drawn round the bed, some bundles of -clothing placed under the coverlid, and the keeper was requested to -tread lightly, as Mrs. Emmet was suffering from headache. Shortly after -this occurrence Emmet and MacNevin were removed to Kilmainham, and Mrs. -Emmet found means to gain access to her husband, and the authorities -connived at her sojourn in his dungeon.”[72] - -Footnote 72: - - Madden’s “United Irishmen” (Second Edition), Third Series, pp. 51-53. - Madden learned these particulars from Jane Emmet’s children in - America, and her brother John Patten. - -In October, 1798, Jane Emmet’s sixth child, Christopher, was born, and -it seems probable that having returned to her home for the occasion, it -was not considered prudent for her to go back to the hardships of -Kilmainham. Moreover, ever since the State Prisoners had, in order to -save effusion of blood, entered into terms with Government in July, -1798, it was expected that Emmet and his fellow-prisoners would soon be -allowed to go to America. Rufus King, however, the resident minister of -the United States in London, interfered to prevent the execution of -these designs—and one more “scrap of paper” was torn into fragments. -Instead of being set at liberty and allowed to emigrate to the United -States, in accordance with Government’s formal pledge, the Irish State -Prisoners were kept in gaol for no less than four years longer. - -On March 18th, 1799, the prisoners were notified to prepare for -embarkation to an unknown destination the following morning. When the -news reached the Emmet household Mary Anne Emmet, acting with that -spirit which showed her the true sister of Thomas Addis and Robert, -hastened to the Castle and obtained an interview with Lord Cornwallis. -The viceroy was touched by her pleading, and assured her that no harm -should come to her brother, but he would give her no information as to -“the place of security” whither Government’s apprehension of a foreign -invasion impelled them to send the State Prisoners. With the scanty -comfort conveyed in Cornwallis’s promise that her brother’s treatment, -as well as that of his companions, should be all his friends and theirs -could desire, Mary Anne Emmet returned to her parents. She was allowed -to visit her brother for a short time in Kilmainham that evening to take -the farewell of him which was destined to be her last. - -In another place we shall learn something of the adventures of the -twenty State prisoners who sailed from Dublin Bay on March the 19th and -reached their destination, Fort George, in the extreme north of -Scotland, on April 9th, 1799, and of their life in that fortress during -the years of their confinement in it. - -As may be expected, Jane Emmet made every effort to obtain permission to -join her husband in Fort George, and her hopes of success were -stimulated by the fact that others of the State prisoners, especially -Roger O’Connor, were allowed to have their families with them. The Irish -Government, however—in other words, Lord Castlereagh—put every obstacle -in her way, and it was only when she made personal application to the -Duke of Portland that she obtained the consent she sought. In August, -1800, escorted by her brother, John Patten, and accompanied by her three -elder children, Robert, Margaret and Elizabeth, she arrived in Fort -George. She left her three younger children, John Patten, Thomas Addis -and baby Christopher, in the charge of their grandfather and -grandmother, Dr. and Mrs. Emmet, at Casino, Milltown. - -The son of one of the little boys thus left behind has culled for us -from the family correspondence the letters written by old Mrs. Emmet to -her son and daughter-in-law in Fort George, and though the regrettable -loss of the letters of Thomas Addis to his parents and those of Jane -Emmet to her mother, Mrs. Patten, leaves the correspondence incomplete, -nevertheless sufficient remains to help us to make a connected story. - -It was not her husband only whom the arrival at Fort George of Mrs. -Emmet and her charming children made happy. All the prisoners were -delightfully excited by the event, and every man of them became their -devoted slave from the beginning. Each one was anxious to lend a hand in -the education of the children. Dr. MacNevin, whose Continental education -had rendered him an accomplished linguist, taught them French; Hudson -and Cormick gave them music lessons. When little William Neilson joined -the children some months later, Fort George became a regular academy. -Thomas Addis Emmet, himself, was the head-master, and his mother -jokingly refers to Jane as his usher—but all the prisoners were eager to -secure a post in the school—Dr. Dixon, M. Dowdall, Tennant. There were -charming theatrical entertainments, too, wherein the children acted, and -concerts at which Robert Emmet and William Neilson displayed their skill -on the flute. Samuel Neilson’s letters to his wife never omit a -reference to Mrs. Emmet and her “delightful children.” It was probably -Mrs. Emmet who suggested to him to send for his little son, and when the -boy arrived she mothered him exactly like one of her own children. Once -the lad fell ill, and Mrs. Emmet’s attentions to him won the fervent -gratitude of the poor father: “her kindness went beyond what could -possibly be expected. Fruits, sweetmeats, jellies—everything she could -think of were sent, and her own personal attendance and advice were -superadded.” - -The Governor of the Fort, the chivalrous old Scottish nobleman and -soldier, Colonel Stuart, was won over by the sweet womanliness, and the -maternal and conjugal devotion of Mrs. Emmet. Very shortly after her -arrival he signified to her husband that, for the sake of her health, to -which proper exercise was necessary, he would take it upon himself to -allow her husband to accompany her on walks outside the enclosure of the -fortress. When Roger O’Connor and his wife and family left Fort George, -the Governor turned over their suite of rooms to Mrs. Emmet. Once a fire -broke out at night. The Governor was called up, and on ascertaining that -no danger was to be apprehended, he instantly ran to Emmet’s apartment -to remove his apprehension for himself and his family; and the next day -the following note was addressed to Emmet: - -“The lieutenant-governor’s compliments to Mr. Emmet. He hopes Mrs. Emmet -suffered no inconvenience from the alarm of fire which was given last -night. As the idea of being locked in may occasion a disagreeable -sensation to a lady’s mind, in case of any sudden occurrence (though the -lieutenant-governor flatters himself that none in future will arise), he -will give directions that the passage door leading to Mr. Emmet’s -apartments shall not in future be locked, being convinced Mr. Emmet -would make no improper use of all the doors being left open.” - -The letters which came from Casino were eagerly welcomed by Jane Emmet -and her husband, telling, as they did, so much that they longed to know -of the little ones left behind. John is Grandmother Patten’s favourite, -and when he goes to visit her he comes back the proud possessor of “new -clothes and a great number of Buttons.” “He felt very visibly the -importance he had acquired by his visit to town, for as soon as he -returned he desired John Delany should be brought in to play with him, -as his grandmamma had always a boy on purpose to play with him.” John’s -slowness, to which there are frequent allusions in the letters, seems to -have caused a little anxiety to his father, so his grandmother is eager -to do him justice. “He does not, I assure you, want either observation -or intellect, he has great natural justice and a very open good-natured -temper.” We learn from his grandfather that he is at “a crown and a -quarter school, where he tells me he makes great proficiency, four or -five lessons a day in his A, B, C, but as yet he does not couple them -very accurately. John, however, is a very well-disposed, well-tempered -child, and if he does not mount into the Empyrean galaxy, he will always -keep the Milky Way of life, and never tread on thorns.” On another -occasion John is at his grandmother’s elbow while she is writing to -father and mother and he expressly desires her to tell them that “he is -a very good boy; that he has gotten a new spelling book from his -grandmamma Patten, and that he will take care and get his lessons well.” -All this Grandmamma Emmet is sure “he has sincere intentions of -performing, tho’ I must confess that in his old spelling-book he is not -very brilliant. He, however, I am told, performs the part of an usher in -the school, and acquits himself with great propriety.... John, I think, -is much better at school, it helps to enliven him and in some measure -open his ideas; he does not learn any bad habits, and he is very fond of -it; at home he would be apt to grow sluggish.” As John had not completed -his _fifth_ year at the time these letters were written, we need not -share too acutely his absent father’s anxiety about him—especially as -_we_ from our point of vantage, some six score years later, discern in -John one of the most brilliant men of his time. When he died—in the -prime of his manhood, at the age of forty-six, his colleagues of the -University of Virginia, where he was Professor of Chemistry and Materia -Medica, paid tribute to him as “the inventive and learned, the ingenuous -and high-souled John Patten Emmet, one of the earliest supports and one -of the brightest ornaments of this University.” - -If it is curious to find the future distinguished scientist causing -anxiety to his father for the slow opening of his intellect, it is still -more curious to find his little brother Tom causing him anxiety because -some incident related by his grandparents seemed to indicate in the tiny -boy a selfish disposition. So concerned was the father at some trait of -childish prudence related by the grandparents for his amusement that he -had thoughts of taking little Tom to Fort George to educate him under -his own eyes. Grandmother Emmet has to assure him that what Mary Anne -and she said “imported nothing more than to convey to you an idea of the -strength of his intellect, for surely you did not suppose that the -disposition of a child, not four years old, would do more than to divert -you instead of giving you sincere alarm. The share of understanding -which he promises to have will be fully sufficient to overcome his -little childish dispositions, and without severity he will do what is -right by only pointing it out to him.” How groundless were his father’s -fears—and how well justified his grandmother’s confidence, the life of -Thomas Addis Emmet, junior, sufficiently proves. His nephew and -namesake, recalling the happy days he and the other young people of his -generation spent in Mr. Emmet’s lovely home, Mount Vernon, New York, -tells us that it would not be possible to find a more genial, kindly and -charitable couple than Mr. and Mrs. Emmet. “The term charitable could be -applied to him in every sense, as it was difficult for him even to -suspect a bad motive, and he frequently suffered for his faith in -others. Later in life Mr. Emmet became embarrassed on account of the -frequent assistance he had rendered supposed friends and from placing -too much reliance on their promises.” - -It is plain that of the three children confided to their care the -favourite of Grandfather and Grandmother Emmet is the youngest, little -Christopher Temple. In this delightful little boy whom everybody in -kitchen and parlour idolises, is there given back to them the brilliant -son they had lost by a premature death? The grandfather clearly thinks -so: “Little Temple, should he live for the germs to open, blossom and -ripen into fruit, will equal, I think, his namesake uncle.” His -grandmother is afraid her partiality for him will be reckoned as due to -his name: “I assure you he is as great a favourite with everyone in the -family as with me.” “This little Brat is, to be sure, the chief -favourite through the house; we, however, do not spoil him, and I assure -you that I fondle him less than the others. Mary Anne caresses him more -than I do, but at the same time treats him with steadiness; in the -kitchen he would be commander-in-chief if we did not prevent it. He is -quite a miniature of our dear little Robert, especially when he holds up -his hands and says he won’t be bold any more.” Pictures like that of the -dear little grandson occur in the grandmother’s letters again and again: -now we see him at table, “fighting in dumb show for his share in his -grandfather’s claret,” now sturdily claiming his place in his elder -brother’s games, now climbing on chairs and prating enough for two, now -riding on Mr. Holmes’s back, and asking to be taken on grandmother’s. “I -told him that my back was old, but in a little time I offered to take -him, he would not, he replied in a tone of great tenderness, ‘because -you have a pain.’ The next night I again asked him if he would come on -my back, and he at once said he would if I had not a pain.” - -Poor little Temple! Like his namesake uncle he was destined to live but -a short life. He died of yellow fever, at sea, at the age of -twenty-four, being a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. - -It was at Fort George that Jane Emmet’s seventh child, a little girl -called Jane Erin, was born. Some months after her birth the State -prisoners were released,[73] and dispatched on the Government frigate -the _Ariadne_, to Cuxhaven, the port for Hamburg. At Hamburg the -prisoners separated, some to go to America, others to Paris, others to -Holland, and Dr. MacNevin to Dresden. The Emmets first settled at -Brussels where Thomas Addis devoted himself to the education of his -children. At Brussels he heard of his father’s death, and was visited by -his brother Robert. - -Footnote 73: - - After peace was signed at Amiens in March, 1802. Their imprisonment - was changed for banishment. - -We know that it was not brotherly affection alone, deep and true as this -was, that brought Robert Emmet to Brussels at this juncture. The fact -was that all men saw that the peace between England and France was a -very “sick” peace indeed, and liable to expire at any moment. The United -Irishmen, whose organisation had survived the disasters of ’98, were -waiting their chance of a rupture between the two countries to shake off -the yoke of England, which the Union had made more intolerable. They had -encouragement from some of the most influential men in Ireland. Though -not enamoured of France, which they rightly considered had treated them -most scandalously,[74] they were ready to bargain for French aid “on -conditions.” France, on the other hand, was willing to make these terms, -her only interest in Ireland being to get in a blow at England through -her. - -Footnote 74: - - Thomas Addis Emmet told Colonel Dalton who had been sent to open up - negotiations with him on behalf of the French Government in May, 1803, - that “France had lost the confidence of Ireland, and the treatment the - Irish had received in France, ever since the peace ... had excited - even an aversion.” It is well known that Emmet described Bonaparte “as - the worst enemy Ireland ever had.” So much for French friendship for - Ireland, about which certain people would have us so enthusiastic! - -It is not the place to tell here how once more France failed Ireland; -how Robert Emmet was suffered to go to his death without a finger being -raised to save him; how the Irishmen, who had enlisted in an Irish -legion in the service of France, on the distinct promise that Augereau -was to command a great expedition to Ireland, were wantonly deceived. - -In the autumn of 1804, Thomas Addis Emmet, whose clear eyes even -Bonaparte could not long deceive, shook the dust of France from his feet -and set sail with his wife and the children who had shared their -imprisonment and exile, for New York. - -On November the 11th, 1804, Jane Emmet first set foot on American soil -on which forty-two years of her life were yet to be spent, and in which -she was to find a grave. Her health, which had suffered much during her -sojourn in Fort George, and through the agitations and anxieties which -attended her life in Brussels and Paris, improved. Her husband whose -reputation and talents had secured for him the most distinguished -reception at the hands of the noblest men in America, made his way -rapidly at the American Bar. The little children from whom she had been -separated so long: John, and Tom, and Temple, were restored to her. The -little band of seven was subsequently reinforced by two new arrivals: -Mary Anne, born in New York in March, 1805, and William Colville, born -in the same city in April, 1807. - -The family correspondence, published by her grandson, Dr. Thomas Addis -Emmet, gives us a delightful picture of the home-life of Jane Emmet -during these years. She saw her husband honoured among the noblest of -the land. She saw her children grow up about her, her girls beautiful -and accomplished and altogether charming: her sons clever and -successful, heirs to their father’s unstained integrity, as to his -commanding abilities. The family had a summer residence on the old -Middle Road, New York, and a winter abode in town—but the “Middle Road” -was so attractive that the whole year was not infrequently passed there. -All sorts of frolics enlivened their stay there, fancy dress balls and -musical entertainments not to speak of practical jokes, in which the -humour of the family took intense delight. As the sons and daughters got -married, the new daughters, and sons thus added served but to widen the -charming family circle, not to break it up. - -In November, 1827, Jane Emmet had the supreme grief of losing her -husband—a grief which was shared by all America—which “paid his love by -reverencing his genius.” - -Jane Emmet survived her husband nineteen years, dying at the house of -her son-in-law on November 10th, 1846. - -The noble words of Dr. Madden are the fittest tribute to her memory: - -“The widow of Thomas Addis Emmet survived her husband nineteen years. -She had shared in his sorrows and his sufferings—had been his companion -in prisonment in Kilmainham gaol, and in captivity in Fort George—not -for days, or weeks, or months, but for years. She had accompanied him in -exile to the Continent and to the land of his adoption, and there she -shared in his honours and the felicity of his later years. - -“The woman who encountered so many privations and trials as she had -done—who had been accustomed to all the enjoyments of a happy home, and - - ‘Had slept with full content about _her_ bed, - And never waked but to a joyful morning.’ - -When deprived of all ordinary comforts, of the commonest appliances of -these to the humblest state of life, during the imprisonment of her -husband in Dublin; and was subjected necessarily to many restraints -during the dreary imprisonments at Fort George—seemed ever to those who -were the companions of her husband’s captivity as ‘one who, in suffering -all things, suffered nothing.’ She fulfilled with heroic fortitude the -duties of a devoted wife towards her husband in all his trials in his -own country; was the joy and comfort of his life in a foreign land, -where the exiled patriot, honoured and revered, in course of time rose -to the first distinction in his profession; she died far away from her -native land—but her memory should not be forgotten in Ireland. - -“This excellent woman, full of years, rich in virtue, surrounded by -affectionate children—prosperous, happily circumstanced, dutiful and -loving children to her, worthy of their inheritance of a great name, and -of the honour that descended to them from the revered memory of her -truly noble husband—thus terminated in a foreign land a long career, -chequered by many trials, over which a virtuous woman’s self-sacrificing -devotion, the courage and constancy of a faithful wife, the force of a -mother’s love eventually prevailed. The portrait of this lady is in the -possession of Mr. John Patten.[75] The time may come when this -intimation may be of some avail. Ireland has its Cornelias, its -Portias—matrons worthy of association in our thoughts with Cato’s -daughter, the mother of the children who were the jewels of her -heart—with the wife of Russell, of Lavalette—but Ireland has no national -gallery for the pictures and busts of her illustrious children—no -literature for a record of the ‘noble deeds of women’ of her own land.” - -Footnote 75: - - Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet informs us that “nothing is now known of this - portrait.” The two portraits reproduced in his own book were by her - daughter Elizabeth, Mrs. Le Roy. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The Wife of Samuel Neilson - - ANNE NEILSON _née_ _Bryson_ (1763-1811)[76] - - “I love you the more, Love, because of their hate.” - —ETHNA CARBERY. - -Footnote 76: - - _Authorities_: Madden’s “United Irishmen,” Fourth Series, Second - Edition. - - -NO woman, of all those whose stories we are recalling to the memory of a -people in danger of forgetting them, has suffered so much as Mrs. -Neilson. Not alone had she to see her happy home broken up, the ease and -comfort to which she had been accustomed both in her father’s and her -husband’s house, taken from her, her children deprived of their father -and herself of a helpmate, the turning away from her necessities of -former friends—but worse than all this she had to endure the intolerable -pain of knowing that the reward her husband had won even from his own -countrymen, even from those for whose sake he had sacrificed his all—was -to be branded as a traitor, and to have his name whispered from mouth to -mouth as that of one who had betrayed Lord Edward, and sold the secrets -of his associates to Government to purchase his own safety. - -It is with hearts very full, then, that we turn to the appealing and -lonely figure of this “dear dead woman,” and standing in spirit by her -grave in Newtownbreda Cemetery we frame passionate prayers that she may -know her sufferings have not been in vain. - -Anne Bryson was born in Belfast in 1763. Her father, William Bryson, was -a wealthy and highly esteemed merchant of that town, and his daughter -had all the educational and social advantages which an assured position, -a refined home and considerable means could give her. In 1785, when she -had reached her twenty-second year, she married Samuel Neilson, the son -of a dissenting minister, of Ballyroney in Co. Down. Neilson had been -resident in Belfast for some time, having been at an early age -apprenticed to his brother John, a woollen-draper—and doubtless the -young people had often met at the social functions which enlivened -Belfast at this period, and of which Mrs. McTier’s letters to her -brother, Dr. Drennan, give us the most delightful glimpses.[77] - -Footnote 77: - - Published in Young’s “Historical Notices of Old Belfast,” p. 169, _et - seq._ - -After their marriage the young couple set up in business for themselves, -and Samuel Neilson’s great ability commanded an immediate success. His -establishment, called “The Irish Woollen Warehouse,” became, we are -informed, “the most extensive and respectable house in that line in -Belfast.” Before he had been seven years in business he had amassed a -considerable fortune, being reckoned in 1792 as worth about £8,000—which -would be equivalent to nearly £20,000 in our days. - -Not with worldly prosperity alone did a kind Providence bless Anne -Neilson and her husband. Five fair children, four girls and a boy, came -to grace their fireside. The girls were Anne, Sophia, Jane, and Mary. -Very dear were they to their father, and very touching the letters he -was to address to them from prison when the “hard service” of the Poor -Old Woman was to sever him from them during sorrowful years. Anne and -Sophia were old enough to bear their heroic part among the “Women of -’Ninety-Eight,” and many of the most thrilling and interesting incidents -which Dr. Madden gathered into his precious books were actually -witnessed, and related to him by them. They spent much time during the -troubled period with the wife of Oliver Bond in Dublin, and were by that -means right in the centre of things, so to speak. Dr. Madden was deeply -touched by the passionate devotion they showed to their father’s memory, -when about half a century after his death, he sought from them the -materials for his memoir. - -But dear as the girls were, the boy was the light of his life. William -Bryson Neilson, the only son of Samuel and Anne Neilson, was born in -1794 and, by all accounts, was an extraordinarily gifted boy. We shall -hear much of him in the following pages, and find no little interest in -the story of the days he spent with his father in the stern old northern -fortress of Fort George, which his presence made for poor Sam Neilson -almost a place of delight. - -The “good years,” as perhaps Anne Neilson was inclined to call them, -from their contrast with the years which followed, came to an end—with -so much else—at the outbreak of the French Revolution. Neilson had -retained from his old “volunteer” days a strong attachment to Liberty, -which he then interpreted in the terms of the English Revolution of -1689. The French Revolution gave the word a new meaning for him, and the -other dissenters of Belfast who shared his views. The “Rights of Man” -became the Koran of Belfast, as Tone pleasantly observes, and Sam -Neilson set himself with that logical sequence, which, with him, made -energetic action follow principle, to secure these “Rights” for his own -oppressed countrymen. - -From 1791, politics absorbed Neilson, and his business was much -neglected, and finally had to be abandoned. Many anxious moments must -have been poor Anne Neilson’s during those stirring days when her -husband, with Tone and Russell and Henry Joy MacCracken, was making -history. We Irish Catholics ought to cherish a special reverence for her -memory, and pay her at least a posthumous gratitude, for it was at her -expense that her husband worked for us. He was the first man in Belfast -to put Catholic Emancipation in the forefront of the Republican party’s -programme, and to make of it, with Parliamentary Reform, the principal -plank in the platform of the _United Irishmen_—the honour of whose -foundation he shares with Tone. - -In 1792 there was established in Belfast to preach the doctrines of the -new society a memorable paper, _The Northern Star_. Of this paper, to -the finances of which he had liberally contributed, Neilson was -appointed the editor. Eventually he became the sole proprietor—with -disastrous results to his financial position. The paper was repeatedly -the object of legal proceedings, and apparently to escape the -consequences of these, the other shareholders got rid of their interest -in it. Madden tells us that “the various prosecutions carried on against -it had obliged Neilson to dispose of all his property, and to relinquish -his business in order to meet the enormous expenses attendant on these -proceedings, and the unexpected demands arising from them. The other -proprietors, shortly after the prosecutions, disposed of their shares to -Neilson, and thus encompassed with peril he became the sole proprietor -of the paper. In 1792 the printer and proprietors had been prosecuted -and acquitted. In January, 1793, six informations were filed in King’s -Bench against them for seditious libels, and in November, 1794, they -were prosecuted for publishing the address of the United Irishmen to the -Volunteers.” - -It was not alone through the medium of the _Northern Star_ that Neilson -served the cause of the Catholics. He was active in his efforts to -compose the differences between the Catholics and the Presbyterians, and -to lay the feuds of the Peep o’ Day Boys and the Defenders. We learn -from Tone’s diary that both Neilson and his wife were of the party which -accompanied John Keogh and the other Catholic delegates, on their return -from Belfast in July, 1732, to Rathfriland in order to meet some -gentlemen of the neighbourhood with a view to restoring peace between -the rival religious parties. He took part, with Tone and Keogh, in a -similar expedition a month later. He was intensely interested in the -work of the Catholic Committee and the plans for the Catholic -Convention. - -It was probably in this connection that he became so intimate with Luke -Teeling, of Lisburn, and his family, though their relations dated from a -still earlier period when both men were working heart and soul to return -to Parliament, as representative of the Co. Down, that ardent Reform -candidate, the Hon. Robert Stewart—better known to history as Lord -Castlereagh. - -In 1795 the terrible condition of affairs in the County Armagh, where -the Catholics had been subjected to a barbarous persecution at the hands -of the Peep o’ Day Boys without the slightest attempt on the part of the -authorities, either to protect them or to restrain their savage -aggressors, was rapidly reaching a tragic climax. Young Charles Teeling, -then a lad of seventeen, got information that the Catholics, convinced -that they could not be worse off than they were, were preparing to take -the field openly against their intolerant foes. Relying on the influence -which his family, from its standing, enjoyed among the Catholics of -Armagh, he set off from Lisburn, without informing any one, in the hope -of inducing the Defenders to desist from their disastrous purpose. - -He had not gone far, however, when he felt the need of some more mature -and experienced head than that which sat on his own seventeen-year-old -shoulders. His mind could suggest “none more desirable for the purpose -than Samuel Neilson. He was the ardent patriot, the decided enemy to -oppression in every shape and in every form; and the strenuous advocate, -at all times and seasons, for the unqualified admission of his excluded -fellow-countrymen, to their full participation in the blessings of civil -and religious liberty. He was at the head of the, then, only liberal -Press in Ulster; and his political influence however extended, was not -more than commensurate with his labours in the public cause.” - -Teeling wrote to Neilson begging him to meet him in Portadown and thence -to accompany him to the scene of the disturbances. Neilson complied -without delay, but before he reached Portadown he was met by Teeling -with the news that the Battle of Diamond had been fought, and that their -intervention was too late. - -In September, 1796, both Teeling and Neilson with Russell and others -were arrested, conveyed to Dublin and lodged in Newgate and Kilmainham. -A few weeks afterwards the two McCrackens were added to the company of -Northern prisoners. - -After a few months Lord O’Neill obtained from Government permission for -the prisoners to see their wives. Charles Teeling informs us of his -surprise at finding that Neilson was not disposed to avail himself of -this permission. “Neilson had a tender affection for his wife, and she -merited all the respect and attachment he could feel; yet he positively -prohibited her visiting his prison. ‘I cannot,’ said he, ‘suffer you to -undertake a long and fatiguing journey at this season of the year to -visit me in my cell. Here your nerves will be shocked by the brutality -of a turnkey, and at the Castle your pride will be wounded by the -insolence of a minion in office.’ His prohibition, however, did not -avail. He addressed his letter through the usual channel, the office of -the Secretary of State; but the faithful partner of his affections had -already procured an order of admission to the prison.”[78] - -Footnote 78: - - Teeling’s “Personal Narrative,” pp. 29, 30. - -During the seventeen months for which her husband’s captivity lasted, -Mrs. Neilson and her elder daughters spent much time in Dublin, where -the hospitable homes of James Dixon, of Kilmainham, and Mr. and Mrs. -Oliver Bond, were ever ready to receive them. - -It is sad to relate that the nervous strain to which the prisoners in -Kilmainham were subjected told on the temper of most of them, and in the -irritation of their spirits they quarrelled with each other. A serious -estrangement broke out, in particular, between Neilson and Henry Joy -McCracken. But Margaret and Mary McCracken and Mrs. Neilson, using their -gentle womanly influence, succeeded in effecting a reconciliation. - -On February 22nd, 1798, Neilson was liberated on bail on condition “that -he should not belong to any treasonable committee.” - -The long confinement, the anxiety about his family, the grief and rage -he felt at the news of the ruin of his property, and the suppression of -his paper had told heavily on Neilson’s bodily and mental health. He -came out of prison a wreck of his former self. His kind friend, Mr. John -Sweetman, took him to his country house and lavished on him every care -which might restore him. But the times were unpropitious for the “rest -cure” which poor Neilson’s shattered nerves demanded. - -Three weeks after his release, on March the 12th, 1798, the Government -swooped down on the leaders of the United Irishmen and by midnight of -that memorable day had all of them, practically, with the single -exception of Lord Edward, safe under lock and key. John Sweetman was -arrested at his brewery in Francis Street—and it became known to Neilson -that his own re-arrest was merely a matter of time. - -Neilson considered that the Government’s breach of faith towards him -absolved him from his engagement to them—and from this time forth he -threw himself, with a feverish energy his debilitated frame could ill -support, into the service of the Union. According to his own statement, -“he was very active in procuring that the vacancies caused by the arrest -at Bond’s should be filled up, attended several committees belonging to -the union, delivered some messages from Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and -together with his Lordship, was stopped by a patrol near Palmerstown, -and liberated after being a short time in custody, owing to the -ignorance of the officer respecting our persons.” A Northern delegate -reported at a provincial meeting in Belfast that Neilson “was riding -almost night and day, organising the people; and scarcely any person -knew where he slept.” - -During the time between March the 12th and Lord Edward’s arrest on May -the 19th, Neilson constantly visited his Lordship at his various places -of concealment. Miss Moore long afterwards told Dr. Madden that “no -matter how depressed Lord Edward was, the appearance of Neilson always -brightened him up.” - -On the day Lord Edward was arrested at Murphy’s, Neilson visited him and -told him that he had seen a party of soldiers pass up the street. He -dined with Lord Edward and, according to Murphy, as soon as the dinner -was over hurried away, as if a sudden recollection had occurred to him, -leaving the door open behind him. Through this door an hour later -entered Major Sirr and his party. “Lord Edward’s arrest following so -immediately Neilson’s exit, his restlessness during dinner, his -‘fidgety’ demeanour at the moment of leaving the house, and the strange -circumstance of the door being found open by Major Sirr, were -circumstances that caused Neilson’s conduct to be freely canvassed; and -those who were in the secret of the treachery which really led to the -capture of the prisoner took care to let suspicion light and rest on -those whom it was thought desirable to bring into odium with their own -party. Neilson and Murphy were made the scape-goats of the infamy of the -memorable F. H. whose initials have finally been identified with the -name of Francis Higgins, one of the worst men of the worst period of our -history.” - -It makes our heart bleed for poor Anne Neilson and her children when we -think of this terrible imputation being cast on him whose only fault was -that he loved his country before all else! - -On the night of May the 23rd, that fixed for the general rising, Neilson -was re-arrested outside Newgate, where he was reconnoitring, with a view -to leading an attack on this Irish Bastille, and inaugurating the -projected Irish Revolution after the French model, by the liberation of -Lord Edward and the other chiefs imprisoned in it. Unfortunately Neilson -was too well known to the prison authorities for his presence in the -neighbourhood not to excite suspicion. He was taken prisoner by a file -of soldiers after a desperate resistance and lodged in gaol in a -pitiable condition of body, but his mind more determined to resist -tyranny than ever. Grattan told his son that when Neilson was taken, his -clothes were torn off him, his body wounded all over by the soldiers -hacking at him, he was cut and scarred in upwards of fifty places, and -was only saved by the number of his assailants. - -On June the 26th, bills of indictment were sent up for high treason -against Samuel Neilson, the two Sheareses, John McCann, William Michael -Byrne, and Oliver Bond. Counsel were named by all the prisoners except -Neilson, who refused to name any. We find in the Life of Grattan by his -son a graphic description of the scene in court to which Neilson was -brought heavily ironed. “When brought into court the noise of his -entrance was like the march of men in irons. He was called on to plead, -and asked if he had anything to say; he replied in a stentorian voice, -‘No! I have been robbed of everything—I could not fee counsel; my -property—everything has been taken from me,’ and he turned away. But he -came again to the front of the dock, and said, ‘For myself I have -nothing to say; _I scorn your power, and despise that authority that it -shall ever be my pride to have opposed_; but I may say—not that I value -it—why am I kept with these weighty irons on me, so heavy that three -ordinary men could scarcely carry them? Is it your law that I should be -placed in irons, and in such irons?’” - -The execution of the Sheareses took place on July 14th, that of McCann -on the 19th. In order to save the lives of Byrne and Bond, Neilson with -some others of the State prisoners consented to enter into terms with -Government. Byrne, in spite of these negotiations, was executed on July -28th, and Oliver Bond died, under very suspicious circumstances, after -having been respited. - -The circumstances attending Bond’s death, and the chagrin caused by the -Government’s perfidy with regard to the compact (which they not only -broke in the most flagrant manner, but represented, in their account of -it to the public, in a way most injurious to the prisoners’ honour) had -a very bad effect on poor Neilson. He was literally at death’s door when -the word came from the Castle on March the 18th, 1799, that the State -prisoners were to be deported to an unknown destination on the following -morning. - -John Sweetman’s diary gives a most harrowing account of Neilson’s -condition during the journey to Fort George. He got delirious on the -very night the _Ashton Smith_, with the prisoners aboard, sailed from -Dublin Bay. The prisoners had to take two hours’ watches by his bedside -to restrain his violence. Dr. MacNevin, as a medical man, warned the -Captain of the likely consequences if something were not done for the -unfortunate patient, and a petition was sent for leave to have him -landed at Belfast, where the boat put in to take more prisoners. But it -was all in vain. - -Fortunately Neilson’s condition improved after a day or two, and his -unfortunate companions were spared at least acute anxiety on his -account. They had plenty of discomforts to put up with, without that. A -heavy gale came on as they approached Ailsa, and presently it increased -to a rank storm. “The sea broke clear over us, and poured into the hold; -several of the berths were drenched with water. Mine was completely -flooded by the bilge-water, which came up between the timbers and -through the ceiling. All the trunks were knocked about, and most of the -crockery broken. The hold exhibited a most confused scene.” Later on -they were nearly ship-wrecked. - -From Greenock the prisoners were conveyed by coach to Fort George, which -they reached on April 9th, having been eleven days on the sea-journey -and ten days on the land journey. - -Dr. Dickson’s narrative gives us a graphic description of the first -impressions of Fort George. “Our entrance might be called solemn. The -very aspect of the place made it so to me, who had never before seen a -regular fortification. A numerous guard was drawn out, and a multitude -assembled—which included a great part of the rank and fashion of the -country. Through them and the guards our coaches drove to a stair, up -which we were conducted to the rampart, and thence along a wooden -bridge, thrown across the street on our account, to the third floor of -the garrison, and shown into a spacious room where we found an -uncommonly large grate filled with a blazing coal fire. - -“We had not enjoyed this many minutes, when Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart -(the lieutenant-governor), the fort-major, and some other officers made -their appearance. Panting as we were with anxiety to know our fates, -their minds did not seem to be much more at ease than ours. After a few -polite inquiries concerning our journey, health, accommodations, etc., -the lieutenant-governor, taking a paper from his pocket, said: -‘Gentlemen, it is necessary that I should read to you the orders I have -received from Government; though I assure you to me a very painful -task.’ That he felt it such was evident from the tremulous voice and -interrupted breath with which he performed it. On perceiving the -indignation which these orders excited, expressed by every countenance, -and hearing it from one tongue: ‘Gentlemen,’ said he, ‘as a _servant of -government_ I cannot hear reflections on _government_. I own I cannot -reconcile your appearance and these orders—yet I must obey them. -However, it shall be your own fault if ever they are executed with -severity.’ On this, he and the other gentlemen retired seemingly, and as -I believe really, affected with our situation. - -“Soon after, our table was handsomely laid out and a good dinner of -_five dishes_ served up. We had two servants to attend us. Our allowance -of drink was one dozen of porter, one of ale, and ten bottles of port. -And we were informed that we might have tea in the evening, or a cold -supper with a bottle of porter or ale for each, as we should choose. - -“After dinner, twenty rooms, between sixteen and eighteen feet square -each, were allotted to us by ballot, sixteen of which were laid with -brick over the boarden floor. On taking possession we found them clean, -airy, dry, well plastered and ceiled, with windows sufficiently large, -well glazed and secured on the outside with iron bars. In each room was -a neat four-posted bed with good curtains, palliasse, mattress, sheets, -one under and three upper blankets, a cotton coverlet, bolster, pillow, -a rush-bottomed chair, and small oaken table; a bottle and basin, -fire-irons, coal-box, candlestick, snuffers and extinguisher—all -entirely new and good in their kind. To these were afterwards added a -bell on the outside of each door, with two pulls on the inside, one at -the fireplace and one at the bed, that in case of sickness, fire, or -alarm, our keepers might be roused, and assistance procured. Four -invalids were exempted from duty, for our service, and allowed double -pay; two to make our beds, keep our rooms clean, and do other services; -and the other two to keep our knives, forks, spoons, etc., as they ought -to be, bring our provisions from the inn and attend at table. Each of us -had a captain’s allowance of coal and candle, nor did we burn a dipped -candle except for one fortnight during my residence in the fort. For our -health equal provision was made.” - -The prisoners were allowed to exercise on the ramparts, and from that -point of vantage they were entertained “with a widely extended scenery, -as variegated, wildly great and rudely picturesque, as water, moor, -mountain cultivated fields, one large handsome town, several villages, a -few gentlemen’s seats, some good farm-houses, thriving plantations of -great extent, Culloden _with all its recollections_, a considerable -succession of trading and other vessels, a constant paddling of ferry -and fishing boats, and a long and lofty ridge of the Scottish Alps at a -distance, exposing their bare heads and naked shoulders to the pitiless -storms, could present to an eye accustomed to tame and temperate -regions.” - -The Governor, who was of royal Stuart blood, treated his prisoners with -every consideration. On his own responsibility he allowed the -relaxation, or removal of the several restrictions imposed on them by -the Duke of Portland, at the instigation of Castlereagh, and obtained on -his own initiative various privileges and comforts for them. Thus when -the fine weather came in May they were allowed to bathe. Permission to -subscribe to certain newspapers was accorded them, and they were also -permitted to buy books. Gradually the restraints that were placed on -their intercourse were removed, and they had the liberty of each other’s -apartments, and permission to amuse themselves as they pleased, within -the bounds prescribed, from eight in the morning till nearly nine in the -evening. - -But the most precious privilege accorded them was the permission to have -some of their family with them. Roger O’Connor was the first to enjoy -this privilege, and it was next availed of by Thomas Addis Emmet. It was -probably kind Mrs. Emmet, who suggested to Samuel Neilson that he should -apply for leave to have his little son with him, promising to “mother -him like one of her own children.” An opportunity was found when the -wife and niece of Mr. Cuthbert, one of the other prisoners, travelled to -Fort George, and William Neilson arrived, in their charge, some time in -July, 1801. - -The letters addressed by Samuel Neilson to his wife and children from -Fort George, and carefully preserved by the tender piety of his -daughters, exhibit him, as a husband and father, in a very favourable -light. He is deeply concerned about his children’s education, of which -he would make religion the foundation, and a certain stoicism and the -unflinching acceptance of life’s sternest realities, the backbone. Even -when he was in Newgate, awaiting his fate, which seemed then likely to -be that of the Sheareses, McCann and Bond, the direction of the -children’s education is of supreme interest to him. “Oh, let me entreat -you once more to rear them hardily, to do everything in the house in -turn. To William, reading, writing, English well—no other language nor -dancing; to the girls the same, with knitting and sewing, but no tambour -nonsense. Let their dresses be plain and homely, befitting their state; -and of all things labour to form their minds by curbing pride and -inciting to virtue and industry, not by scolding and whipping or -cajoling, but by _emulation_, which is by far the safest and surest -incentive to exertion.” He warns his wife to guard them against foolish -fears, whether of “ghost and fairies and hobgoblins,” or of fever. The -remedy he proposes against either is the inculcation of a perfect trust -in God. “Let then the children learn that God alone is present -everywhere, and that darkness is subjected to his power.” And again: -“impress upon them without ceasing this great truth—that Providence -cares for all its creatures.” One loves to quote the educational maxims -he lays down for his children for their soundness, and universal -applicability: - -“There is no part of education more essential than that which gives an -early knowledge of the world; but above all it is necessary to keep the -young mind _employed_, not to forced tasks or unreasonable attention, -but to something (either of utility or amusement, and these can easily -be united) so that the mind be not left to wander, and to become -familiarised with the frivolity that is the fashion of the age; for that -will certainly cause it to take a wrong direction. I hope you are also -fully sensible that the only useful control is that over _the feelings_, -not that which arises from _personal dread_.” - -“With respect to the spiritual direction of our children, I hope you -will bear in mind this important lesson, that you will yourself educate -our children in the true principles of Christianity, which believe me -are not to be acquired by a mere _Sunday show_. No! they are to be -instilled in the life and conversation, and that only by precept and -example.... Continue to teach them a love of _truth_ and _Christianity_, -with an utter abhorrence of falsehood and hypocrisy. There is a maxim of -an ancient heathen author, which my father recommended to me when I was -a boy; it had a great effect on my mind at the time, and is worth your -teaching them; it is thus translated: - - “Be this your wall of brass, no _guilt_ to know - Nor let one _crime_ sit blushing on your brow.” - -His letters to his children are charming in their simplicity and -tenderness. Here is one of them: - - “My dear Children,—I am extremely delighted with your very great - progress in writing, and am only anxious on that subject that - you will not forget what you have been taught. But my great and - increasing care is about your progress in the acquisition of - industrious habits. It should be a first principle with people - that they should actually _earn_ whatever they _enjoy_. Writing - is good and reading is good, but no learning should entitle a - person to live by the fruit of another’s industry. Your mother - will help you to apply this principle. State your objections to - it, if you have any, in your next letter; and show me, if you - can, why one part of the community should live by the labours of - another.” - -The longing for his children which had tried to satisfy itself with the -sight of their framed likenesses above his mantelpiece, the record of -their ages and heights on his wall, was stilled at last on the joyful -day which brought him William. The boy’s presence was not procured -without sacrifice on his father’s part. The prisoners were allowed a -certain amount of wine every day at dinner. This, Neilson saved, and -sold privately to some of the prisoners at 3_s._ 6_d._ per bottle which -paid for William’s diet, “having agreed for it at £15 per annum.” “I -don’t feel the slightest inconvenience from this privation,” he assures -his wife, “and though it looks a little awkward to sit at table while -others are taking their glass, yet my fellow-prisoners cannot but esteem -me the more for the motive; indeed I feel a good deal pinched about the -usual expenses of mending, washing, paper, quills, etc., _not having at -present a crown in the world_. But then I do not owe a farthing to -anyone, and I have learned to make a little go a long way.” From a -letter addressed by Neilson to the Governor we learn that he covered the -expense of washing, etc., by going without supper. When we remember that -Neilson had become addicted, during the convivial days of his political -life and the weary days of his imprisonment in Kilmainham and Newgate, -to spirituous drink, we realise the extent of the sacrifice he made to -secure the presence of his little son. - -That little lad’s story of the days spent by him with his father in Fort -George can be told by no one so well as himself. We must bear in mind -that the writer of the following letters was only eight years old. - -The first letter is to his mother and announces his safe arrival in Fort -George: - - “My dear Mother.—I like this place very well. My father is very - well, as are the rest of the prisoners. - - “I had the pleasure of seeing a little dog and a hare. Mr. - Wilson had the hare, and Mr. Cormick the dog. We had a very - pleasant voyage, only Monday, which was a little stormy. Mrs. - Cuthbert and Miss Park took great care of me. Mrs. Emmet will be - as kind to me as if I was her own child. My father had a pretty - little bed and arm-chair ready for me.” - -The next letter is dated a week later: - - “My dear Mother—I am sorry to tell you that Mrs. Cuthbert has - been very ill ever since the day I came here. My arm is almost - stout, and Dr. MacNevin says it will be as well as ever. I bathe - a little every morning, at first I was afraid to dive, but now I - am growing bolder. I am counting with Mr. Dowling in the - morning, reading and grammar with Doctor Dickson, in the middle - of the day, and writing and reading with my father, who is also - beginning to teach me geography, in the afternoon. I play in the - evening with Robert Emmet and his sisters; sometimes I sup at - their mother’s, and sometimes in our own room, on bread and - milk. I go to bed at nine, and rise before eight o’clock. Father - sits an hour later than me. My love to my sisters.” - -A letter to his sister Anne who was with Sophia in Dublin (probably at -Mrs. Bond’s), comes next in order of time, and we learn from it that he -knew his father from his picture, and that he bathes every morning at -eight o’clock. He conveys a message from John Sweetman to Sophia who was -evidently an old favourite of the genial brewer. - -By the middle of September William is quite settled down in his new -quarters, and extremely happy in them. “Everything here is agreeable, -and my father takes great care of me. The little Emmets are fine -play-fellows, but I am ten hours at my education, and I think it not -long. I sleep very sound all night, and in the morning my father awakes -me to my lessons. He says I am in a fair way of being a good scholar.... -I get my copies from Mr. Dowdall, who sends his best respects to you. -Tell John we have got no bag-pipes yet, nor any errand-going dogs.” - -We next hear of William’s performance on the flute at a concert given by -the children in Mrs. Emmet’s room, with Mr. and Mrs. Emmet, Neilson, -John Sweetman, Dr. MacNevin and the boy’s self-appointed music-master, -Cormick, as the appreciative audience:— - - “My dear Mother. We had a concert on Friday evening, when Robert - Emmet and I played several tunes together, and we had the - approbation of the whole company. I am reading Erasmus in Latin - with Dr. Dickson, and I am in the rule of five of fractions and - tare and tret with Mr. Dowling. My father assists me in - everything.” - -Poor William fell ill towards the New Year, but sickness had its -alleviations in Fort George for a little boy whom everybody idolised. It -meant all kinds of petting from Jane Park and Mrs. Cuthbert, and gifts -of jellies and fruit and sweetmeats from Mrs. Emmet. Nor was that all, -as witness the following letter from the convalescent to his sisters:— - - “My dear Sisters.—I suppose you have heard that I was sick; but - I am sure you will be happy to hear that I am perfectly - recovered. When I was ill my little pigeon used to play about me - like my little cat; it is very fond of me. Dr. Dickson who was - so kind as to teach me Latin, has left us; but Mr. Dowling is - good enough to supply his place, and to continue my arithmetic - also. I can now play twenty-one tunes on the flute, and Mr. - Cormick gives me those which will be most agreeable to my - mother. I have just begun trigonometry with Mr. Russell. I read - history and biography in English with Mr. Emmet. With my father - geography, and a little of everything except writing, which he - thinks will be best deferred for some time. Robert Emmet is my - schoolfellow in all classes.” - -Some of the State prisoners were liberated about this time, including as -we learn from William’s letter above, Dr. Dickson. A subsequent letter -to his mother indicates his regret, even in the midst of the fine -sliding the long-continued frost afforded him, for Mr. Simms (another of -those liberated) with whom he used to play “tig.” His father tries to -supply the loss of Mr. Simms by playing “shinney” with his little son, -and the latter makes himself useful to the prisoners by keeping a weekly -account of the washing sent out, and checking it when it comes back. And -so the days pass. - -Anxious days they are for the father whose future is so uncertain. It is -clear that with the coming of the long-expected peace the remainder of -the prisoners will be sent away from Fort George. But whither? And what -is best to be done with William? - -Finally, on the last day of May, 1802, word comes that the prisoners are -to be sent to Hamburg. Thence it is Neilson’s intention to depart for -America. But will he bring William with him, or send him home to his -mother? The boy himself cannot bear the idea of parting with his father: -“he has been in tears this hour past because I won’t promise to take him -with me.” - -The final decision is to send back William to his mother, and the son of -one of the prisoners, Mr. Chambers, returning, one of these days, to -Belfast, poor William was torn from his father and sent back to his -mother and sisters. - -He was to see his father once more. Braving all dangers, Samuel Neilson -stole back to Ireland, for one last glimpse of its dear shores, and -accompanied by faithful Jamie Hope, rode from Dublin to Belfast, to see -his beloved wife and children, ere he bade them farewell for ever. - -Less than nine months after his arrival in America, poor Neilson died, -his giant frame worn out by all he had endured during his long -imprisonment, as truly a martyr for Ireland as if he had perished, with -so many others of his comrades, on the scaffold of ’98 or ’03. - -Mrs. Neilson, soon after the break up of the _Star_, embarked in a small -line of business, and God prospered her little enterprise. “She was -enabled,” says Madden, “by the fruit of her industry, to bring up her -children respectably, to give them education, and to leave them—such as -it would have been her husband’s pride to have found them, had he lived -to have seen them in their ripe years—trained to virtue and matured in -useful knowledge. - -“Miss McCracken, speaking of her, says: ‘Mrs. Neilson was a very -superior woman, a most exemplary wife and mother, for whom I had the -highest esteem, and continued on terms of intimacy and friendship, from -1795, when I first became acquainted with her, until her death. I never -saw a family so well regulated, such order and neatness, on such a -limited income; and such well-trained children, most amiable and -affectionate to each other, and so respectful to their mother, and all -so happy together—it was quite a treat to spend an evening with them.’ -This excellent woman, esteemed and respected by all who knew her, even -by those to whom her husband’s political principles were most obnoxious, -struggled for her family during her husband’s imprisonment and exile and -subsequently to his death, and died in November, 1811, in her -forty-eighth year. Her remains were interred at Newtownbreda. The -inscription on her tomb truly describes her to have been, ‘A woman who -was an ornament to her sex; who fulfilled in the most exemplary manner, -the duties of a daughter, wife and mother.’” - -There remains only to tell, as briefly as may be, the story of her -children, for of this woman, in a special degree it is true to say, that -she has no history but the history of her husband and family. Poor -William, whom we have learned to love as dearly as any of his masters in -Fort George, lived long enough to show the fruits of the remarkable -education he had received there—but alas! not long enough to confer on -his country the benefits which all those who knew him expected from him. -After a brilliant course at the Academical Institution, Belfast, he -embraced a commercial career, where his splendid talents ensured for him -a speedy success. His employers described him as “a young man of the -most splendid talents we have ever known; there was no subject in -mercantile affairs that he could not make himself master of. In public -affairs he soon became conspicuous, and had he lived he would have been -an ornament to his country.” - -Alas! his career was cut by his death from yellow fever in Jamaica on -February 7th, 1817. - -Of the four daughters of Samuel and Anne Neilson, Anne (who lived much -with Mrs. Oliver Bond) married a Mr. Magennis, in New York, and died -there at an advanced age. Sophia and Jane married gentlemen of the name -of McAdam, and one lived in Belfast, the other in New York. Mary, the -youngest, married William Hancock of Lurgan, and was the mother of the -distinguished statistician, William Neilson Hancock, LL.D. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The Wife of Lord Edward Fitzgerald - - PAMELA (1776?-1831)[79] - - “Would God thou wert among the Gael! - Thou wouldst not then from day to day - Weep thus alone.”—MANGAN. - -Footnote 79: - - _Authorities_: Madden’s “United Irishmen” (Second Series, Second - Edition;) Moore’s “Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald”; Gerald Campbell’s - “Edward and Pamela Fitzgerald”; Harmand’s “Madame de Genlis”; various - works of Madame de Genlis, including “Mèmoires,” “Adèle et Théodore,” - “Leçons d’une Gouvernante à ses Élèves,” etc. - - -IT is not Romney, ravishing as his portrait of her is, nor Giroust, who -in his _Leçon de Harpe_ has painted her for us in all the virginal -charm, and sweet, and fresh, and innocent loveliness of her early -girlhood, nor Mieris, whose miniature of her shows an exquisite Diana, -with little white buskined feet, as light and swift as the wind on which -they seem to be borne—it is none of these that has given us the picture -of Pamela we Irish people love best. It is as Lord Edward, himself, -pictured her in a letter to his mother that we think of her most -willingly—with her baby in her arms, the little son, the first-born, of -whom the young husband and father was so proud: “I wish I could show the -baby to you all—dear mother, how you would love it! Nothing is so -delightful as to see it in its dear mother’s arms, with her sweet, pale, -delicate face, and the pretty looks she gives it.” For the sake of the -five years of perfect happiness she gave Lord Edward we, the Irish -nation, to whom he has given so much, have taken “the dear little, pale, -pretty wife” into our hearts for all time. - -Poor Pamela! We have need to keep her place in our hearts very safe and -warm; for the rest of the world has dealt pitilessly with her fame -during life, and her memory after death—and fate has spared her no -unkindness, no humiliation, from the shadows that surrounded her cradle -to the sordid and _macabres_ details of her incoffining. - -As we read the sad story of Pamela, and contrast “what might have been” -(“if the dear little, pale, pretty wife” had been suffered by destiny to -ripen, in the sweet, and simple and wholesome atmosphere of Irish family -life, to her gracious maturity, and lovely old age) with the sordid -actuality, our love for Pamela becomes doubled with a great pity, and an -infinite regret. We feel how right Madden was in ascribing what was -unlovely in her to the education she received at the hands of Madame de -Genlis, and the blame which some of her critics have lavished on her -levity, her errors and her frailties we join with him in apportioning to -those who failed in their duty towards her in the most critical and -trying moment of her life. - - * * * * * - -Into the disputed question of the parentage of Pamela it is not our -business to enter. Suffice it to say that in the common belief she was -regarded as the daughter of the Duke of Orleans, the notorious -_Egalité_, and Madame de Genlis, the Governess of the Orleans children. -On the other hand, Madame de Genlis asserted that Pamela was the -daughter of a poor English woman named Mary Simms, who had married a -gentleman of good family called Seymour,[80] and fled with him, from the -displeasure of his family, to Fogo in Newfoundland. Here their little -daughter Nancy was born, and here shortly after the young husband died. -His widow returned to England, and settled down in Christ Church, where -the extraordinary beauty and fascination of her little girl attracted -the attention of a Mr. Forth. Mr. Forth was accustomed to buy horses in -England for his Grace of Orleans, but recently he had received another -commission: to look out for a little English girl, to be educated with -the Orleans children, and to speak English with them. Mary Simms was -very poor, and her desire to keep her child with her was not strong -enough to stand in the way of the brilliant provision thus promised her. -Accordingly, Mr. Forth was soon able to announce to his royal patron -that he was sending him “the handsomest mare and the prettiest little -girl in all England.” - -Footnote 80: - - It has been pointed out by Madden that in the civil marriage contract - of Pamela and Lord Edward, the bride’s father is stated to have been a - William Berkley, while in the religious contract of the same date - (Tournai, December 17th, 1792) Pamela is entered as the daughter of - William de Brixey. - -All we know with certainty of Pamela’s[81] “origin” is that at a very -early age she made her appearance in the Convent of Bellechasse, whither -Madame de Genlis had retired to devote herself to the education of the -children of the Duke and Duchess of Orleans, and that until her marriage -with Lord Edward in December, 1792, she was the constant companion of -the young princes and their sister, and shared that remarkable and -original system of education, which Madame de Genlis—one of the most -gifted educationists of France, the country of educationists—had devised -for her pupils. - -Footnote 81: - - The name Pamela was borrowed by Madame de Genlis, who was an - enthusiastic admirer of the novels of Samuel Richardson, from the - heroine of the most famous of them. - -M. Emile Faguet has discovered in the pedagogy of Madame de Genlis the -origin of all modern education—in its theories, its practices, its -tendencies. “With some of its defects,” he admits, but “wanting most of -these defects,” as he also claims: “an education, directed towards the -true, as well as to the beautiful, paying much attention to history, -modern languages, _Realien_, the study of the most important new -discoveries, as well as the literary masterpieces of ancient and modern -times.” - -It seems to us, as we study this education in its results—that is to say -in the character of the pupils who were formed by it—that some of the -defects of our modern education were more inherent in Madame de Genlis’s -system than M. Faguet is willing to admit. Lady Sarah Napier, with her -shrewd woman’s wit, has perhaps formed a truer estimate of it. In a -letter written to her friend, Lady Susan O’Brien, shortly after Lord -Edward’s marriage to Pamela, she says: “Your account of M. Sillery -(_i.e._ Madame de Genlis) and her _élèves_ answers my idea of her, all -pleasing to appearance, and nothing _sound_ within _her_ heart, whatever -may be so in the young minds whom she _can_ and does of course easily -deceive. I hope we have got our lovely little niece time enough out of -her care to have acquired all the _perfections_ of her education, which -are certainly great, as she has a _very uncommon_, clever, active mind -and turns it to the most useful purposes, and I trust our pretty little -_Sylph_ (for she is not like other mortals) has not a tincture of all -the double-dealing, cunning, false reasoning, and lies with which M. S. -is forced to gloss over a very common ill-conduct, because she _will_ -set herself _above_ others in virtue, and she happens to be no better -than her neighbours.” - -The great fault we seem to find in Madame de Genlis as an educationist -is that she failed to make true religion the foundation of it. Though -she insisted on devoting a large portion of her pupils’ time-table to -the study of the Catechism, and reserved for herself, as the most -important of her duties, their preparation for First Communion, and -their religious instruction, she failed signally to make them realise -that they were created and placed in this world for one end and aim -only: “to know God, to love Him, and serve Him, and by that means to -gain everlasting life.” The system of morality which she taught them was -founded less on the knowledge and love and service of God than on that -curious code of external ethics called _Les Convenances_. The strange -thing about this was that she, herself, was an ardent, not to say a -noisy, protagonist of religion, and enjoyed nothing more than a tilt -with the _Philosophes_. But, somehow, one thinks of religion as an -element a little fortuitous in the heterogeneous collection of -ingredients which went to the making of her character—and when she -failed to make it the foundation of her own conception of life, it is -not to be wondered at that she failed equally in respect of her pupils. -Louis Philippe and Madame Adélaïde were worse than indifferent in the -matter of religion. And it is sufficient to say of Pamela that though -she was reconciled to the Church before her death, and died, as one has -reason to believe, truly penitent, she seems to have given up the -practice of her religion immediately after her marriage with Lord -Edward, without the slightest qualm of conscience. - -“_Les Convenances_,” external appearances, it was these Madame de Genlis -kept steadily in view in educating her pupils. The consequence was that -she made them think of life as an act played on a stage for the benefit -of spectators, whose applause determined the success of the actor, -rather than a solemn business between God and each lonely human soul. To -have their bodies trained to the highest degree of strength, and grace, -agility and efficiency; to have their minds adorned with all useful and -agreeable knowledge, to be adepts and connoisseurs of the fine arts: -painting, and music, poetry and literature—this was the educational -ideal she set before herself. If the hearts of her pupils withered a -little under the neglect which they necessarily suffered—if the lessons -of “love, and pain and death” were missing from this positive and -modernist education, who can wonder that the results in poor Pamela’s -case at least were disastrous? - - * * * * * - -Nevertheless, there were in Madame de Genlis’s system, as Lady Sarah -Napier admits, sufficient “perfections” to make it worth our while to -study it in a certain detail, in the hope of finding something in it to -suit our own educational needs. The books in which she expounds her -system (_Adèle et Théodore_, _Leçons d’une Gouvernante_, etc.) exercised -a tremendous influence on a generation of parents much more interested -in the education of their children than their present-day successors. We -learn from Lady Sophia Fitzgerald that her mother, the Duchess of -Leinster, admired “all the writings of Madame de Genlis to the greatest -degree,” and was often bantered by Lord Edward (who little suspected in -what a relation he was one day to stand to the educationist) over her -_engouement_. (He, for his part, pronounced her _Plans d’Education_ all -perfect nonsense). Lady Sophia, herself, began to re-read _Adèle et -Théodore_ (which she had first read about eight or nine years -previously) after her brother, Lord Edward, brought home Pamela as his -bride. She pays a pretty compliment to Pamela while she makes a record -of this intention of hers in her diary: “Knowing what a charming, -engaging little creature Lady Edward is, I think I shall be more -interested than ever, and give more attention to all she [_i.e._ Madame -de Genlis] says upon Education.” - -In 1777 Madame de Genlis, who had been attached since 1770 to the Court -of the Duchess of Chartres, at the _Palais Royal_, as Lady in Waiting, -was appointed Governess of the little twin Princesses, who had recently -been born to the Duke and Duchess. She insisted on taking charge of them -practically from their birth—contrary to the usual custom which left the -care of baby princesses to a _Sous-Gouvernante_, and in order that she -might develop unhampered the system of education which she had devised -for them she stipulated that they should be removed from the _Palais -Royal_, and a special pavilion built for them in the garden of the -Convent of Bellechasse, on plans drawn up by herself. - -In designing these plans the Countess kept steadily in view the -destination of the pavilion as a place of education. Her first care was -to secure the possibility of exercising her _surveillance_ over the -little princesses by day, and by night. A glass door separated her room -from their nursery, and it was so arranged that even from her bed she -could see what was going on in their room. The decorations of the place -had all an educational aim. The walls of the Princesses’ room were -adorned with frescoes, representing the seven kings of Rome and the -emperors and empresses up to the time of Constantine, each with the date -and name beneath it. Above the doors were depicted scenes taken also -from Roman history. “Two large screens bore representations of the Kings -of France, the hand screens depicted incidents taken from mythology.” -The staircase was hung with maps. A long gallery was devoted to Grecian -history, and certain other rooms were frescoed with scenes taken from -the history of France. - -Into this peaceable retreat Madame de Genlis was accompanied by her -mother and her two daughters, Caroline and Pulchérie de Genlis, the -completion of whose education she thus found an opportunity of -directing, before their early marriages to the Marquis de La Woestine -and the Viscount de Valence respectively. - -In 1782 one of the little twin princesses died of smallpox, and in the -same year Madame de Genlis was appointed “Governor” to the young -princes, their brothers—the first woman to hold such a post of honour -and responsibility. - -From this moment Bellechasse became a regular academy. In addition to -the three princes, the Duke de Valois (afterwards Louis Philippe, King -of the French), the Duke de Montpensier, the small Duke de Beaujolais, -and their sister Mlle. d’Orléans (afterwards known to history as Madame -Adélaïde), the Countess had also, under her care her nephew, César de -Crest, her niece, Henrietta de Sercey, and the two mysterious little -girls, Pamela and Hermione. Of Hermione’s parentage nothing is known; -but she was thought by some people to be a sister of Pamela. - -The education given by Madame de Genlis in this academy has been -chronicled by her in considerable detail in her _Mèmoires_, and in her -celebrated pedagogical novel, _Adèle et Théodore_, and its spirit very -finely analysed by her latest biographer, Jean Harmand. M. Harmand -traces the main body of her educational doctrines to the great -educationists of the seventeenth century, Fénélon and Madame de -Maintenon, but finds them profoundly modified by the influence of -Rousseau. - -In order to have a free hand to carry them out Madame de Genlis got rid -of the Princes’ tutor, M. de Bonnard, and substituted M. Lebrun, a -former secretary of her husband. Their second master, M. l’Abbé Guyot, -was allowed to remain, though he and the Countess were anything but -kindred spirits. - -The princes lived at the _Palais Royal_ and came to Bellechasse every -day at eleven. In the earlier portion of the day they had their -religious instruction, and their Latin Course from the Abbé, and M. -Lebrun was asked to keep a record of each morning’s work for the -“Governor’s” information. The rest of the day Madame herself took -charge, the masters being merely expected to dine with their pupils at -two, and after supper at nine, to escort them back to the _Palais -Royal_. - -The Countess, according to herself, had her work cut out for her to -correct the defects of the little boys’ previous education. They knew -nothing at all, and the eldest, in particular, was wanting in -application to an unheard-of degree. Their new teacher began by reading -history for them. “M. le duc de Valois paid no attention, yawned, -stretched himself and finally lay back on the sofa with his heels on the -table.” The Countess put him “in penance” immediately. But the good -sense of the little boy, which even at that period of his development, -was easily appealed to, made him take it in good part. He was very much -addicted to slang, and had some very peculiar foibles: he was in terror -of dogs, and could not endure the smell of vinegar. The Countess -succeeded in ridding him of these peculiarities. - -Modern languages, taught on the direct method, were a strong point in -the Bellechasse system. There was a German Valet de Chambre to speak -German to the children; an Italian to speak Italian; an Englishman to -help them to a conversational knowledge of English. It was ostensibly to -speak English with Mademoiselle that Pamela, as we have seen, was added -to the establishment. - -The children’s father, who spared no money to carry out the “Governor’s” -ideas, bought for them a country place, Saint Leu, and there they passed -the summer each year. In the beautiful park the Countess had assigned to -each the ground for a little garden, which they dug and planted for -themselves—with the help of a German gardener, who gave his gardening -instruction in German. During their afternoon walks nothing was spoken -but English, and this was the language of the dinner table. At supper -Italian was spoken. - -A clever chemist and a good botanist, M. Alyon, was also engaged for -Bellechasse. He accompanied the children on their walks, and gave them -practical lessons in botany while under his direction they gathered the -wayside flowers and plants. He gave them a course of Chemistry every -summer at which the Countess delighted to assist. - -For their training in the fine arts a Pole, named Merys, was employed, -and under his presidency an “Academy” of industrious little artists met -every evening in the Salon. At the request of the Countess, M. Merys -painted a series of slides for an educational magic lantern. Each series -furnished illustrations for a lecture on Scripture History, Ancient -History, Roman History, and the History of China and Japan—and the -youngsters took turns, once a week, in showing the magic lantern and -giving a little lecture with the aid of it. Can anything be more modern -and up-to-date? - -In order to teach her pupils geography, Madame de Genlis invented for -them a game in which they took the keenest delight. She made them -dramatise, and act, all the celebrated voyages of discovery. Everybody -in the establishment had a share in these representations. They used -wooden horses for cavalcades, the river in the park stood for the sea -and a fleet of pretty little boats took the place of ships. Their -theatrical wardrobe was as complete as possible. The “voyages” they -staged with the greatest success were those of Vasco da Gama, and -Snelgrave. They had, moreover, a moveable theatre which was first housed -in the large dining room, and on which they staged historical -_tableaux_. M. Merys grouped the actors behind the curtains, and the -spectators guessed what each _tableau_ represented. A dozen _tableaux_ -were thus often staged in the course of one evening. The great painter, -David, took the greatest delight in this amusement, and often grouped -the little actors. After some time the Countess had a regular theatre -built at Saint Leu and here all her own pieces were staged—as well as a -series of _tableaux vivants_. One of these represented Psyche persecuted -by Venus, and the _rôles_ were taken by Caroline and Pulchérie de Genlis -and Pamela—a ravishing little god of love. No wonder David in his -enthusiasm pronounced the picture “le perfection du beau idéal.” - -There were many who thought that the theatre played too great a _rôle_ -in the system of Bellechasse, and that the education given to the -children was too theatrical. The Marquise de Laroche-Jaquelin relates in -her Memoirs how, being taken one day, as a little girl, by her -grandmother, for a private view of the new pictures in the Louvre, she -saw there Madame de Genlis with all her _élèves_. The Marquise’s -grandmother and the Countess were old friends, and their delight at -meeting each other was mutual—and the little girl who had read so many -of the Countess’s books for children, and acted in so many of her pieces -was enchanted to see the author of them in the flesh. She thought the -little princes, who were all dressed in the English fashion, with their -hair in ringlets and unpowdered, very odd looking. While the royal -children were viewing the pictures Madame de Genlis presented to her old -friend her daughter Pulchérie—but said nothing of an exquisite looking -little girl of about seven years, who was on her other side, until her -friend enquired who she was. “Ah!” replied Madame de Genlis in a low -tone, “it is a very touching and interesting story—which I must reserve -for another occasion.” Then turning to the little girl she said, -“Pamela, act Héloise.” Immediately Pamela took out her comb; her fine -hair, without powder, fell in disorder upon her shoulders. She threw -herself to the ground on her knees, raised her eyes to Heaven, as also -one of her arms, and her whole figure expressed an ecstasy of passion.” - -For days afterwards the Marquise’s grandmother entertained her friends -with a humorous account of Madame de Genlis, and the sort of education -she was giving her pupils. - -Nevertheless, it is doubtful if any of those who made a joke of the -Countess’s system, had an idea of how eminently practical it was in -certain respects. During the winter season, which was passed at Paris, -she aimed at utilising for her pupils every moment of their time—above -all, that devoted to recreation. She had got a lathe installed in one of -the ante-chambers, and at recreation time all her pupils, as well as -herself, learned to turn it. She had them taught all the handicrafts -that did not require much bodily force: leather-work, basket-making, the -manufacture of bootlaces, ribbons, gauze, cardboard boxes, raised maps, -artificial flowers, wire-netting, marbled paper, gilding, all sorts of -hair work that it is possible to imagine, even to the making of wigs. -The boys in addition were taught carpentry—and they succeeded so well in -this that the two elder, quite unassisted, made a large wardrobe and a -table with drawers in it for a poor woman of St. Leu in whom they were -interested, and these articles are said to have been as well made as if -they had come from the workshop of a first-class joiner. All their -play-things had an educational scope—and all their walks and excursions -had a similar end in view. At Paris they only went out to see the -picture galleries (it was in one of these expeditions the future -Marquise de Laroche-Jaquelin encountered them) or museums. They visited -workshops and saw the various manufactures of Paris in different stages -of their production. Previous to these excursions they read together the -article in the _Encyclopedia_ dealing with the particular manufacture -they were going to inspect. - -For the “_corpus sanum_” in which she wished the “_mens sana_” of each -pupil to develop, Madame de Genlis had invented a whole system of -gymnastics, which demanded an elaborate installation of pulleys, -horizontal bars, etc. In addition she made her pupils walk with weighted -shoes; carry graduated loads on their backs, or heads, or in their arms, -etc. In addition dancing was taught with the greatest care, and the -famous _danseur_ of the Opera, d’Auberval, gave lessons to Mademoiselle, -Pamela and Henrietta—whose dancing was something exquisite. They were -also taught riding and swimming, and Madame, herself, one of the finest -performers of her time, taught them the harp. - -At a certain hour every evening the children assembled for their reading -lesson. Each pupil read aloud for a quarter of an hour, Madame -correcting their pronunciation when necessary, and making suitable -comments on the subject matter which was always of an improving nature. -At the end of the lesson the Countess read aloud for a few minutes -herself, just to give the correct model. - -When the children were a little older their “Governor” hired a box at -the theatre for them, and thither they went about once a week to see the -masterpieces of the French stage played by the greatest actors of the -age. - -Every Saturday the Princes and their sister held a reception at -Bellechasse, so as to form them early to habits of polite conversation. - -At the end of her account of her “academy,” Madame de Genlis sketches a -series of portraits of her _élèves_. We are only interested in that of -Pamela: “Pamela was loveliness itself; candour and sensibility were the -chief traits of her character. She never told a falsehood, or employed -the slightest deceit. She was a fascinating talker. Her chief fault was -want of application. She had a very bad memory, and was thoughtless and -impulsive. In person she was very active and light of foot. She ran like -a wood nymph.” - - * * * * * - -It was part of the system of Bellechasse to interest its pupils in the -great currents of thought which agitated the day. As early as 1786 the -Countess had shown the popular and democratic direction she gave to the -education of the princes of Orleans when the young Duke of Chartres, -acting under her influence, destroyed the famous iron cage of Saint -Michel. - -When the States General met in May, 1789, Madame de Genlis threw open -the salon of Bellechasse to some of the more noted deputies. Among the -names of its _habitués_ figure Barère and Brissot, Pétion, Tallyrand, -Alexandre Lameth, and even Volney, Barneve, Alguié, the painter -David—and Camille Desmoulins. - -The outbreak of the Revolution found the young princes and their father -on the popular side, and their choice has been traced to the influence -of Madame de Genlis. - -We get brief but very vivid glimpses of Pamela amid the gossip, -enshrined in contemporary memoirs, which the Countess’s political action -inspired. When the Duke of Orleans settled an annuity on her, she is -said to have chosen Barère, then present at one of the Bellechasse -Sunday receptions, as her guardian. She was seen, a striking figure on -horseback, in riding habit and large black hat laden with black plumes, -followed by two grooms in the Orleans livery of blue and red riding up -and down between two lines of shrieking populace who proclaimed: -“there’s the queen we want.” And on the day of the fall of the Bastille -she was said to have been seen moving among the people all dressed in -red, destined to draw all eyes to her. - -It seems much more probable that she assisted at this historic spectacle -with the rest of Madame de Genlis’s pupils from the terrace of the new -gardens of Beaumarchais which the latter had put at their disposition. - - * * * * * - -The indignation of the Duchess of Orleans at the direction given to her -children’s political education by their “Governor” led to the latter’s -dismissal in 1791. But the separation from her teacher had such a -disastrous effect on the health of Mademoiselle d’Orléans that Madame de -Genlis had to be recalled. - -In October, 1791, the Countess escorted Mademoiselle to England, -accompanied by Pamela, Henriette de Sercey, and her little -grand-daughter, Eglantine de Lawoestine. During this visit the Countess -made the acquaintance of Sheridan, who had recently lost his beautiful -wife. The resemblance of Pamela to his lost love (which is said to have -later attracted Lord Edward) gained the heart of Sheridan, and he begged -for her hand. His offer, it is said was accepted, and when the Duke of -Orleans recalled his daughter to France, in order to avoid the penalties -designed for “_émigrés_,” Pamela left England as the affianced bride of -the distinguished dramatist. - -But there was waiting in Paris another lover than Sheridan—and it was -he, though they had never seen each other up to this, with whom Pamela’s -lot was to be bound up. - -One night at the theatre in Paris Lord Edward Fitzgerald saw in a _loge -grillée_ an exquisite looking girl. He made inquiries, and having -learned her identity, had himself presented to Madame de Genlis and her -beautiful charge. The following day Madame de Genlis and Pamela, acting -on the instructions of the Duke of Orleans, set out for Flanders, with -Mademoiselle d’Orléans. They were followed by that ardent and impetuous -wooer, Lord Edward Fitzgerald. - -At Tournay Lord Edward made formal proposals for Pamela’s hand, and his -suit was accepted, on the condition of him receiving his family’s -consent to the marriage. - -This consent the Duchess of Leinster, wise mother that she was, gave -very readily, and within a fortnight, Lord Edward was back in London -with his bride. - -The “good family” gave the warmest of welcomes to its new member. The -diary of Lady Sophia Fitzgerald records the impression made on them by -“Eddy’s dear little wife.” “We all took a prodigious fancy to her, and I -do hope and trust Dearest Edward has met with a woman that will fix him -at last, and likely to make him happy the remainder of his life. Besides -being very handsome she is uncommonly sensible and agreeable, very -pretty, with the most engaging pleasing manner I ever saw, and very much -accomplished. They spent a fortnight with us in London before they went -to Ireland where they are now.” Lady Sarah Napier, who was to be -Pamela’s true friend to the end, fell in love with her at first sight. -“I never saw,” she wrote to Lady Susan O’Brien, “such a sweet little, -engaging, bewitching creature as Ly. Edward is, and childish to a degree -with the greatest sense. The upper part of her face is like poor Mrs. -Sheridan, the lower part like my beloved child Louise; of course I am -disposed to dote upon her. I am _sure_ she is not _vile Egalité’s_ -child; it is impossible.” - -That letter of Lady Sarah’s is dated from Celbridge, February, 1793, and -showed that by that time Pamela and her husband had arrived in Ireland. -Into the gay social round of the Irish capital, the beautiful French -girl entered _con brio_. “Dublin has been very gay,” Lord Edward writes -to his mother in April, 1793, “a great number of balls, of which the -lady misses none. Dancing is a great passion with her; I wish you could -see her dance, you would delight in it, she dances so with all her heart -and soul. Everybody seems to like her, and behave civilly and kindly to -her. There was a kind of something about visiting with Lady Leitrim, but -it is all over now. We dined there on Sunday, and she was quite -pleasant, and Pamela likes her very much.” - -Unfortunately for Pamela’s happiness, her husband was wrong in thinking -everybody seemed to like her. The ladies of the Ascendancy party hated -her with all their hearts, and behaved with inconceivable rudeness to -her. Her husband, ever since his return from Paris (whence the stories -of his “revolutionary” doings had preceded him), had been a marked man -for the “Old Gang,” and his bride’s supposed relationship to Egalité -(who had recently been guilty of the infamy of voting for Louis XVI’s -death) was not calculated to re-establish him with them. The vilest -stories were set in circulation about poor Pamela. One lady is supposed -to have seen her in the streets of Dublin “with a handkerchief on her -neck spotted with Louis XVI’s blood; that some of her friends had sent -from Paris.” When everybody else was in mourning for Louis, she is said -to have worn red ribbons “which she said were _couleur du sang des -Aristocrats_.” - -On one occasion the whim took her to go to a ball, dressed all in black -with nothing to relieve the sombre effect, except the pink upon her -head. The _Doblin Lidies_, according to her sister-in-law, Lady Lucy, -“stared her out of countenance” and sent her home in a rage to Eddy. - -Her sisters-in-law, and specially Lady Sophia, were quick to see that it -was jealousy of Pamela’s beauty and charm, her exquisite dancing, her -French toilettes, her husband’s undisguised admiration—far more than -their hatred of her and Lord Edward’s politics which made Dublin society -so hostile to her. Other sections of Irish society worshipped her. We -have a pretty picture of Lord Edward and her driving in a very high -phaeton one day through College Green and Dame Street, amid the -enthusiastic cheers of the multitude, who were raised to congenial -heights of enthusiasm as much by her beauty as Lord Edward’s conspicuous -green neck-cloth. Lord Edward’s boyish delight at the reception accorded -them, and the impression produced by his bride’s beauty, was very -delightful to witness. - -Nor was it the populace alone whom Pamela won by her beauty. Lord -Charlemont, whose authority in all matters of taste was regarded as -second to none in Europe, was charmed by her. Jepham was with him one -day in 1793 in Charlemont house, when Pamela and Lord Edward came to -view its treasures, and he wrote to his uncle describing the visit. “She -is elegant and engaging in the highest degree, and showed the most -judicious taste in her remarks about the library and curiosities. The -Dublin ladies wish to put her down. She promised Lord Charlemont with -great good humour to assist him in keeping her husband in order.... She -was dressed in a plain riding habit, and they came to the door in a -curricle.”[82] - -Footnote 82: - - Moore tells us that Lord Edward first introduced this style of vehicle - into Ireland. - -The attitude of the women of her class whom she met in society, probably -spoiled her party-going for her, and doubtless she was eager enough, -before long, to share with her husband the quiet country life, which he -loved so well. After a few months in the Duchess of Leinster’s charming -seaside residence, Frescati, Blackrock (where Pamela had plenty of -opportunity, in conjunction with the enthusiastic gardener, who was her -husband, to put into practice the gardening lore she had acquired at -Saint Leu) the young couple settled in a lodge belonging to Mr. Connolly -(husband of Lady Louisa Connolly, Lord Edward’s aunt), in Kildare. Lord -Edward has left in a letter to his mother, dated June 23rd, 1794, a -charming description of the place, which was to be the setting for their -lives during the short years that were destined for them to spend -together. In that little cottage a good deal of Irish history was to be -made in the short space of four years. Let us then look in it as Lord -Edward has painted it for us—for, alas! no trace of it now remains. - -“After going up a little lane, and in at a close gate, you come on a -little white house, with a small gravel court before it. You see but -three small windows, the court surrounded by large old elms; one side of -the house covered with shrubs, on the other side a tolerable large ash; -upon the stairs going up to the house, two wicker cages, in which there -are at this moment two thrushes, singing _à gorge déployée_. In coming -into the house you find a small passage-hall very clean, the floor -tiled; upon your left a small room; on the right, the staircase. In -front you come into the parlour, a good room, with a bay window looking -into the garden, which is a small green plot, surrounded by good trees, -and in it three of the finest thorns I ever saw, and all the trees so -placed that you may shade yourself from the sun all hours of the day; -the bay window covered with honeysuckle, and up to the window some -roses. - -“Going upstairs you find another bay-room, the honeysuckle almost up to -it, and a little room the same size as that below; this, with a kitchen -or servants’ hall below, is the whole house. There is, on the left, in -the courtyard another building which makes a kitchen; it is covered by -trees, so as to look pretty; at the back of it there is a yard, which -looks into a lane. On the side of the house opposite the grass-plot, -there is ground enough for a flower-garden, communicating with the front -garden by a little walk. - -“The whole place is situated in a kind of rampart, of a circular form -surrounded by a wall; which wall, towards the village, and lane is high, -but covered with trees and shrubs—the trees old and large, giving a -great deal of shade. Towards the country the wall is not higher than -your knee, and this covered with bushes; from these open parts you have -a view of a pretty cultivated country, till your eye is stopped by the -Curragh. From our place there is a back way to these fields, so as to go -out and walk without having to do with the town. - -“This, dearest mother, is the spot as well as I can give it to you, but -it don’t describe well; one must see it and feel it; it is all the -little peeps and ideas that go with it that make the beauty of it to me. -My dear wife dotes on it, and becomes it. She is busy in her little -American jacket, planting sweet peas and mignonette. Her table and -workbox, with the little one’s caps, are on the table. I wish my dearest -mother was here, and the scene to me would be complete.” - -The “little one,” portion of whose _layette_, with Pamela’s exquisite -stitching, was then lying on the table, was born in Leinster House in -October, 1794, and was christened Edward Fox Fitzgerald. While his wife -and little son are gaining strength to travel, Lord Edward has been down -at Kildare, two or three times, making all things “snug” for the -delightful winter he promises himself there. He has laid in a generous -provision of turf—two fine big clumps which look both “comfortable and -pretty.” He has paled in his little flower garden before the hall door -with a lath paling like the cottage, and filled it with roses and sweet -briar, honeysuckle and Spanish broom. He has got his flower-beds all -ready for their destined occupants. “The little fellow,” the proud -father thinks, “will be a great addition to the party.” “I think,” he -goes on, giving us a glimpse of his ideal of a happy life (and making us -realise how hard a sacrifice his own fate demanded of him), “that when I -am down there with Pam. and the child, of a blustery evening, with a -good turf fire and a pleasant book, coming in, after seeing my poultry -put up, my garden settled—flower-beds and plants covered for fear of -frost—the place looking comfortable, and taken care of, I shall be as -happy as possible; and sure I am I shall regret nothing but not being -nearer my dearest mother, and her not being of our party.” - -In 1796 Lord Edward became a “United Man,” and from that period the -little cottage in Kildare was seldom without guests. Chief among these -was Lord Edward’s parliamentary colleague, Arthur O’Connor, but Lady -Lucy Fitzgerald who spent a considerable time with her brother and -sister-in-law after their return from Hamburg in October, 1796, mentions -many others: Jackson, Oliver Bond, MacNevin, Father Connolly—and the -sinister figure of Hughes, who, unknown to them all, was a government -spy. - -The visit to Hamburg to which we have alluded, took place in May, 1796, -and its supposed object was to give Pamela an opportunity of visiting -Madame de Genlis, who was then living in Hamburg, as a guest of M. -Matthiessen, who had married her niece, and Pamela’s schoolmate, -Henrietta de Sercey. Lord Edward and Arthur O’Connor went really as -agents of the United Irishmen to negotiate with the French Government -for a French expedition to assist the Irish in freeing themselves from -the yoke of England. The Matthiessens’ house in Hamburg became a centre -of Irish political activities, and we learn from Froude and Fitzpatrick -that the long unsuspected spy, Samuel Turner, got much of the -information, for which he was pensioned by the English Government, by -his frequentation of that house. - -It was at Hamburg, Pamela’s second child, her little daughter, Pamela, -was born. She had left her boy with his grandmother in London, and when -Lord Edward’s business was done, and they were in the English capital -again on their way home to Ireland, little Eddie was given to the -Duchess “for her very own.” - -Was his father clearing the decks for action? It would seem so. Two -months after his return to Ireland the French were in Bantry Bay. - -In February of 1797, Arthur O’Connor was arrested for his address to the -Electors of Antrim, and was lodged in Newgate. From this time Lord -Edward was indefatigable in his activities. He was one of those who -believed—as did the greater number of the Northern leaders—that the time -had come “to rise,” without waiting any longer for the French aid, which -had been such a rotten crutch to them. But the Dublin leaders, -influenced by the more cautious counsel of men like John Keogh and -MacCormick, were dead against the attempt. The moment passed—and affairs -hastened to their tragic end. - -In February, 1798, Arthur O’Connor who had been liberated from his -captivity in Birmingham Tower, Dublin Castle, after six months stay -there, was again arrested with Father Quigley at Margate, on his way to -France, on a political mission. Among O’Connor’s papers were found -documents incriminating Lord Edward. But the Government were loth from -his family and political connections to proceed against him. Even Lord -Castlereagh entreated his aunt, Lady Louisa Connolly, to get him to -leave the country, and much pressure was put on Pamela to influence him -to seek safety in flight. - -It was in vain. Lord Edward refused to desert his post; and whatever -remained to be endured he would endure it even to the end. - -We must leave him for a time, passing from hiding place to hiding place -between the fatal March 12th when the other leaders were captured, until -May the 19th, when he himself was run to earth at Murphy’s, while we -turn to the poor little frightened wife, who with no kind friend near at -hand to console her, lonely and desolate in a foreign land, with her -little helpless child, must bear her woman’s burden, and go through her -woman’s hour of mortal anguish all alone. After Lord Edward went “on his -keeping” she found it desirable to leave Leinster House for a less -conspicuous lodging in Denzille Street, whither she went with no other -companion than her maid and Lord Edward’s black servant, the faithful -Tony. Once or twice Lord Edward managed to see her. Once the maid, going -into Lady Edward’s room, found him sitting in the firelight with her, -and both of them weeping over little two-year-old Pamela who had been -roused from her cot that her father might see her. - -In April, Pamela’s third child, a little girl called Lucy, was -born—prematurely, as Moore informs us, owing to a fright caused the poor -mother by the risk run by her husband in order to see her again. It has -been asserted, somewhere, that so high was the political feeling of the -period that no doctor could be found to attend Lady Edward. For the -honour of Ireland it is pleasing to be able to contradict this -assertion, on the unassailable authority of Lady Sarah Napier. Lady -Moira “mothered” the desolate creature, and saw that as far as nurse and -doctor went, there was nothing to be desired. - -When Pamela recovered, her kind friend took her to Moira House, and it -was there the news of Lord Edward’s capture on May the 18th reached her. - -Three days later, Government ordered Lady Edward to leave Ireland. The -order, which it was not possible for her to disobey, caused her the most -heartbreaking distress. But she was spared, then at least, the grief of -knowing that Lord Edward’s wounds were fatal. - -We know from Charles H. Teeling that she made her way into Newgate, in -spite of Lord Castlereagh’s refusal—and we know that it was the same -chivalrous, romantic boy who took on himself the perilous duty of -escorting her. He had known Lady Edward in the happy days when the eager -young band of patriots gathered in Kildare Lodge, and his brother, poor -Bartle, saw in Lady Lucy (as so many have seen her in the loved form of -some fair, living woman) the realisation of his dreams of Kathleen Ni -Houlihan. The sense of chivalry and romance which was for so much in the -heart of young Charles Teeling made the lad one of the most devoted -knights whom Pamela’s fascination enlisted in her service. “Formed to -charm every heart, and command every arm that had not been enlisted in -the cause of Ireland”—it is thus, thirty years after, he remembers her. -“Ireland was her constant theme, and Edward’s glory the darling object -of her ambition. She entered into all his views; she had a noble and -heroic soul, but the softer feelings of her sex would sometimes betray -the anxiety with which she anticipated the approaching contest, and as -hopes and fears alternately influenced her mind, she expressed them with -all the sensibility characteristic of her country. In the most sweet and -impressive tone of voice, rendered still more interesting by her foreign -accent, and imperfect English, she would, with unaffected simplicity, -implore us to protect her Edward. ‘You are all good Irish,’ she would -say; ‘Irish are all good and brave, and _Edward is Irish_—your Edward -and my Edward,’ while her dark brilliant eye, rivetted on the manly -countenance of her lord, borrowed fresh lustre from the tear which she -vainly endeavoured to conceal. These were to me some of the most -interesting moments I have experienced, and memory still retraces them -with a mingled feeling of pleasure and pain.” - - * * * * * - -It was the kind-hearted Duke of Richmond, the uncle of Lord Edward, who -had the sad office of breaking to Pamela the news of her husband’s death -in Newgate on June the 4th. “I went immediately to Harley Street,” he -writes to Mr. Ogilvie, “and brought Lady Edward here (to Whitehall) -trying to prepare her in the coach for the bad news, which I repeatedly -said I dreaded by the next post. She, however, did not take my meaning. -When she got here, we had Dr. Moseley present, and by degrees we broke -to her the sad event. Her agonies of grief were very great, and violent -hysterics soon came on. When the Duke of Leinster came in, she took him -for Edward, and you may imagine how cruel a scene it was. But by -degrees, though very slow ones, she grew more calm at times; and -although she has had little sleep, and still less food, and has nervous -spasms, yet I hope and trust her health is not materially affected.... -She is as reasonable as possible, and shows great goodness of heart in -the constant enquiries she is making about my sister, Lady Lucy, and -Mrs. Lock.”[83] - -Footnote 83: - - _Née_ Cecilia Ogilvie, daughter of the Duchess of Leinster by her - second marriage. - -After some months under the Duke of Richmond’s hospitable roof at -Goodwood, it was decided, after a family consultation, that Pamela -should join the Matthiesens at Hamburg. Leaving her son with the Duchess -of Leinster, and baby Lucy with Lady Sophia at Thames Ditton, she set -off with her little daughter Pamela and reached Hamburg on August 13th, -1798. The action of Government, in passing the posthumous Act of -Attainder against her husband had left her penniless, and a small sum, -to which each member of the Fitzgerald family was to contribute his or -her mite was promised her by her people-in-law for her own and little -Pamela’s support. This sum was, it would appear, not very punctually -paid (the Duchess explained that at the time they could barely keep -themselves), and, perhaps, it was owing to her financial embarrassment -that Pamela took the unfortunate resolution of marrying Mr. Pitcairn, -the American Consul at Hamburg. The marriage turned out unhappily, and -the parties soon separated. - -After that Pamela, leaving Hamburg, spent a year in Vienna. Finally she -settled in France, first at Montaubon and afterwards in Paris, where she -died in great poverty, but amidst the most consoling manifestations of -Our Dear Lord’s tenderness, for this poor little wandering lamb of His -flock, who after her straying, had come back to its sheltering fold. - -The niece of Madame de Genlis, Madame Ducrest, then a struggling music -teacher in Paris, to whom Pamela out of her own slender resources had -found means to be kind, came to nurse the poor sick woman. Her first -care, when she saw the danger, was to send for a holy priest, M. L’Abbé -de la Madeleine. “He came. His zeal, his persuasive eloquence, the -simple unction of his exhortations did far more for her peace of soul -than we had dared to hope. He inspired our dear invalid with a true joy -at quitting this world, where she had suffered so much.” - -The numbered moments of her life passed rapidly and now _the_ hour had -come. Sister Ursula, the Sister of Charity, who shared with Madame -Ducrest the office of nurse, began to recite the prayers for the -departing soul. “The sufferer even then replied aloud: insensibly her -voice became broken and feeble, and at length the words became -unintelligible, though her lips still moved in prayer. Very soon her -eyes, which were raised to Heaven, grew dull, her hands grasped -convulsively the crucifix which she held, and in a few moments she was -no more.” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - THE SISTER OF HENRY JOY McCRACKEN - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - The Sister of Henry Joy McCracken - - MARY ANNE MCCRACKEN (1770-1866)[84] - - “I have been coming all the night long - Like a little lamb in the midst of a great flock of sheep - And how should I find my little brother but he dead before me.” - —_The Keen for Fair-Haired Donough._ - -Footnote 84: - - _Authorities_: Madden’s “United Irishmen” (Vol. II., Second Series, - First Edition, 1843); Robert M. Young, “Historical Notices of Old - Belfast,” 1896. - - -“I THINK of all human loves that of a Sister is the most abiding and -unselfish. In a mother’s love there is a kind of identification with her -child, his triumphs, his defeats, which by the reflection on herself -takes away the absolute disinterestedness. Conjugal love is more -intense, but for that reason more intermittent. But there’s not a trace -of self in that earnest wistful gaze which a beloved sister casts after -the poor young fellow who has just gone out from the sanctity of -home-life into the world’s arena; nor a thought of self in the way the -silent heart broods over shattered hopes, and takes back to its -sanctuary the broken relics of the idol, once worshipped, now, alas! -only to be protected from the gaze of a scornful world.”[85] - -Footnote 85: - - “Under the Cedars and the Stars,” p. 192. - -Alas! Alas! That it should have been of two French women Canon Sheehan -was thinking, and not of our own Mary Anne McCracken, when he paid -tribute, thus nobly, to a sister’s love as “of all human loves, the most -abiding and unselfish.” It might have been her story, and not that of -some alien Laura Balzac or Madame Perrier, that was told in those moving -words. It is _her_ image, at all events, that comes before _our_ eyes -when Canon Sheehan pictures “the earnest wistful gaze” with which a -loving sister follows the brother of her heart, as he passes from the -holy shelter of the home to the “world’s arena.” How often did that gaze -follow young Henry Joy McCracken as he rode forth from the door of the -old house in Rosemary Street on his perilous journeys with Charles -Teeling among “the Defenders”! What sister ever loved a brother like -this heroic country-woman of ours? When the Cause was lost at Antrim and -the broken remnants of the Spartan band were making a last stand on “the -hallowed hills,” it was she who braved all dangers to steal forth to him -and bring him succour of comfort and hope. It was she who walked with -him to the scaffold; who received his poor mangled form into her arms; -whose woman’s resourceful bravery held, as it were, the gates of death -apart, while the surgeons tried to snatch back his soul from beyond -them. It was she who accompanied his body to the grave, and heard the -first shovelful of earth fall on his coffin—before she turned back to -take up new duties and new sacrifices. Then in the dark days when men -veritably “feared to speak of ’Ninety-Eight, and blushed at the name,” -it was she who treasured the memory of the dead, and held fast to the -hopes and ideals for which they had laid down their lives. And at last -when, in the fullness of time, one came who made it his life-work to -tell their story truly to the world, she was there with her rich store -of memories to help in that great work. Again and again Dr. Madden -quotes Mary Anne McCracken as his authority for some of the facts he -states, or incidents he relates, and his tribute to her personality is -that of one who was brought into most intimate relations with her. “The -name of Mary McCracken,” he writes, “has become associated in the north -with that of her beloved brother. The recollection of every act of his -seems to have been stored up in her mind, as if she felt the charge of -his reputation had been committed to her especial care.... In that -attachment there are traits to be noticed indicative not only of -singleness of heart, and benevolence of disposition; but of a noble -spirit of heroism, strikingly displayed in the performance of perilous -duties, of services rendered at the hazard of life, at great pecuniary -sacrifices, not only to that dear brother, but at a later period to his -faithful friend, the unfortunate Thomas Russell. Perhaps to those who -move in the busy haunts of life, and become familiarised with the -circumscribed views and actions of worldly-minded people, the rare -occurrence of qualities of another kind, which seem to realise the -day-dreams of one’s early years, an excellence of disposition devoid of -all selfishness, devoted to all goodness, capable of all sacrifices, and -constant in all trials—that shakes not in adversity, and becomes -insensible to fear where the safety of friends and kindred is in -question, in one who seems to be utterly unconscious of her own -nobleness of mind, may appear worthy of admiration.” - -The little maid, whose long life of ninety-six years was to witness such -strange happenings, was born in High Street, Belfast, on July the 8th, -1770. Her father, John McCracken, was captain and part owner of a vessel -trading between Belfast and the West Indies. He was of Scottish descent, -his family having settled in Ireland when the Covenanters were fleeing -from Claverhouse. They settled at Hill Hall near Lisburn, and here John -McCracken was born. At an early age he formed a strong attachment to a -charming young girl of Huguenot descent called Anne Joy, only daughter -of Francis Joy, a conveyancer, and notary public, who, a pioneer in many -things, is perhaps best remembered as the founder of the _Belfast -Newsletter_ in 1737. Captain McCracken is described by Madden as “a man -of polished manners, whose sincerity of disposition and integrity of -principles caused him to be generally respected and esteemed.” It was -noted of him by his daughter, as a proof of his integrity, that in the -days when smuggling was regarded as a very venial offence, Captain -McCracken would not smuggle nor allow his sailors to do so, “as he -considered a custom-house oath as binding on conscience as any other.” A -still more striking instance of his integrity and his children’s -reliance on it, was furnished on the occasion of Harry’s trial when he -was offered his son’s life on condition that he induced the latter to -disclose the name of the leader, whose place the prisoner had taken in -the Rising. He told the tempter, Pollock, that “he would rather his son -died than that he should do a dishonourable action.” - -That steadfast character of John McCracken’s, which he transmitted to -his children, was, it may be, a heritage from his mother—a stern old -Covenanting lady, very strict in her religious beliefs, and most -uncompromising in her principles. Her grandchildren, who had a keen -sense of humour, used to relate with much zest, the damper put on their -youthful enjoyment of Christmas by seeing their venerable grandmother -seated ostentatiously at her spinning-wheel, her whole being one -vehement protest against the Christmas observances and festivities. They -were all in considerable awe of her, and when she uttered maledictions -they felt certain they would come to pass. On one occasion, in 1763, -Captain McCracken, having occasion to spend some time in Liverpool, to -superintend the construction of a new vessel, brought his young wife -with him, leaving their two children, Francis and Margaret, in the care -of Grandmother McCracken. The venerable lady, who did not approve of -“gadding about,” fervently prayed that her flighty daughter-in-law -“might get a scare before coming back.” “And in truth I did, my dears,” -the latter would say, as she told the story to her children afterwards, -“my husband not wishing me to return on the new and untried vessel, sent -me home before him. The ship was wrecked on the South Rock near -Ballywalter, and we were only saved by getting into the boat; and I had -to wade a long distance in shallow water, with a weight of two hundred -guineas in my pocket.” - -If the grandmother was stern and forbidding, and inspired more fear than -love in the children of the household, their sweet mother was quite the -reverse. She was “remarkable for a uniform cheerfulness of temper, and -benevolence of mind that endeared her to young people as well as to the -aged.” With this sweetness of disposition she passed on to her children -as a further portion of their heritage from the Joys, an alert and -enterprising habit of mind, keen to see, and seize new opportunities; -and that steadfastness of the Joys, which, for all its Gallic urbanity, -was at least the equal of the McCracken’s. Anne Joy’s father, in -addition to his pioneer work in the newspaper world, was also a pioneer -in the linen manufacture. In 1749 he established at Randalstown “a -complete new mill for dressing flax ... which will dress 14℔. of flax in -an hour, fit for the heckle.” He was keenly interested in politics, and, -when an old man, confined to his couch by a disease in his leg, had -himself conveyed to Antrim, on the occasion of an election, to vote for -Rowley and O’Neill, the popular candidates. His son, Robert, meeting him -there, said: “What brought you here, Sir?” “The good of my country,” was -the reply. The side for which he voted was triumphant, but the day that -the members were chaired he died. - -His two sons, Robert and Henry, were remarkable men. It was they, who, -with Captain John McCracken and Thomas MacCabe (“the Irish Slave”) -introduced the cotton industry into Belfast—and with it laid the -foundations of the present prosperity of that city. Young Henry Joy -McCracken, who had an extraordinary gift for mechanics and was as clever -with his hands as any prestidigitator, was sent to England and Scotland -to ferret out the carefully guarded mechanical secrets of the British -cotton manufacturers—and accomplished his mission in a manner which will -furnish an exciting chapter in Irish industrial history—when it comes to -be written. Belfast of to-day has little thought to spare for the -“United Men”—but it should not forget what it owes to Henry Joy -McCracken—to him who died for the cause which so many in Belfast to-day -are sworn to destroy: “a brotherhood of affection, an identity of -interests, a communion of rights, and a union of power among Irishmen of -all religious persuasions.” - -To Henry and Robert Joy, Belfast owed likewise the “Old Poorhouse,” the -first shelter devised for Belfast’s poor. The little Joys and McCrackens -were early interested in the poor old men and women, and especially in -the children; and, as they grew up, they were active workers in their -behalf—getting up dances, and concerts and collections for the -institution. It was partly in the design of procuring funds for the Poor -House (as well as to give employment to the linen weavers during periods -of depression in their own trade) that the Joys first turned their -attention to the cotton trade. The managers of the Poor House rejected -the offer made by Robert Joy to instal the new machinery (which Harry -McCracken’s cleverness had made it possible to erect in Ireland), and to -carry on the manufacture of cotton as a regular part of their routine, -and a means of making the institution self-supporting. They allowed, -however, the children to go to work in the mill which the firm of Joy, -MacCabe and McCracken presently established. - -Come of such strains as has been indicated, both on the paternal and -maternal side, is it any wonder that the children of John and Anne -McCracken should have been endowed with uncommon gifts both of body and -mind and soul? They were a numerous tribe—but, as was so usual with -these large eighteenth-century families, only a certain proportion of -them survived the ordeals of childhood. Of these, four were boys: -Francis, William, Henry Joy, and John; and two were girls: Margaret and -Mary Anne. The latter was the youngest but one, of the family, and was -ten years the junior of her sister. - -Mary Anne was considered delicate in her youth, and it was feared she -was in consumption. On this account she was kept on a low diet—an -astonishing treatment, to our modern notions. But the treatment seems to -have been successful; for in her hale and hearty old age she could -remark in her humorous way: “I have been a long time consuming away.” -She was an active child, and she used to tell her grandnieces with much -pride how she accomplished the feat of hopping on one leg right across -High Street three times without stopping. - -The school routine of a little Belfast maiden in the latter decades of -the eighteenth century was not unlike that with which the entertaining -journal of Anna Greene Winslow, a small Boston schoolgirl contemporary, -makes us familiar. There was a separate school for English, another for -writing; in addition girls had to attend a sewing and knitting school. -In all these branches Mary became very proficient. Her needlework was -exquisite. She was fond of reading, and read only the best authors. Her -letters, some of which will be quoted in due course, are admirable. One -wishes, as one reads them and those of Elizabeth and Jane Emmet and -Matilda Tone, that the delightful art were revived by the teachers of -the girls of to-day. - -Captain John McCracken, being a travelled man and an admirer of the -French nation, wished to have his children taught French. Belfast of -that day supplied, it would appear, no better teacher than an old French -weaver who had picked up his knowledge of English on the banks of the -Lagan, and thought it the correct thing to translate his native tongue -into the idiom of that classic region. Mary Anne used to relate -afterwards, with great enjoyment that his translation of _il faut_ -always took the form, “_it be to be_.” - -When Mary was in her teens the family left the house in High Street and -went to a larger one in Rosemary Street. Two of the boys, William and -John, married, but the family circle was not thus broken up for they -brought their brides to live under the paternal roof in the patriarchal -fashion of the period. So numerous were the inmates of the McCracken -home, after a time, that their friends referred to it as “Noah’s Ark,” -the appropriateness of the name being emphasised by the number of dogs, -and cats, and other pet animals, who shared with the humans, the -domicile. - -One young man who was destined to leave an honoured name for his labours -in the cause of Irish music was for many years a member of the McCracken -household: Edward Bunting. He came to them in 1785 a young lad of -eleven, sent by his brother, Anthony, from Drogheda to become apprentice -to Mr. Ware, the organist of St. Anne’s Church, Belfast, and he remained -with them for upwards of forty years. This frank hospitality gives us a -pleasant insight into the spirit of the McCracken household. They were -all intensely musical, and many a delightful evening was spent around -“Atty’s” pianoforte when the McCrackens and Joys were reinforced by a -numerous troop of Neilsons, Simmses, McTiers, and so on. - -Much as Mary loved all her brothers and sisters, she loved Harry best of -all. Was it to be wondered at? For the tall lad with his handsome, -high-bred face, his graceful person, his charm of manner, exercised a -remarkable fascination over all who came in contact with him. While yet -a schoolboy his companions adored him for his courage and spirit of -adventure, and admired his steadfastness and his unrivalled quickness of -perception. As he grew up he became a great favourite in society, for -which he possessed a very remarkable equipment of accomplishments. He -was a clever mimic, but while delighting his friends with his skill in -this direction, never allowed himself to wound the most sensitive -feelings. The same considerations governed the exercise of his rich gift -of humour. - -The first break in “Noah’s Ark” took place when Harry left home to take -up his quarters on the Falls Road near the cotton factory. About the -same time the female members of the family, Mrs. McCracken, Margaret and -Mary Anne, commenced, on a somewhat more extended scale, the business of -muslin manufacturers, in which John McCracken had already been -interested since 1779.[86] Her grandniece informs us that “Mary was the -moving spirit of the business, and worked early and late. She has said -that so closely confined was she at times that, when going to the -post-office before breakfast, she felt inclined to leap and dance with -delight in the fresh morning air. Her chief object in trying to make -money was that she might have some of her own to give away as she -wished. She was of a very sanguine temperament and did not spare -herself, and to some extent she succeeded in her object; but, perhaps -the times were against her. She had much struggling and anxiety, and the -ultimate result was disappointing.” - -Footnote 86: - - An affidavit preserved in the McCracken MSS. proves that “the first - piece of muslin ever woven” in Belfast or its vicinage was woven by - Thos. Burnside for John McCracken in January, 1779. - -Those were stirring times in which Mary McCracken grew to womanhood; and -even a duller mind, than that which was housed in the fragile form of -this little Belfast girl, must have been stimulated in the atmosphere of -great ideas, which was her daily breathing. She was five years old when -the Battle of Lexington was fought, and eleven when Cornwallis -surrendered at Yorktown; and the great battles for liberty that marked -the years from 1775 to 1781 were distant in space only from the rising -city on the Lagan, which followed their fortunes with an interest so -passionate. It was the war of liberation of their own flesh and blood -which the Belfast men knew was being waged across the dividing Atlantic. -It was the doctrines of civil and political freedom which had been borne -in the emigrant ships from Ireland that were vindicated at Bunker’s -Hill, at Trenton, at Princeton, at Saratoga. Is it to be wondered at, -that, young as she was, Mary McCracken followed the story of the -American War with a sympathy and understanding beyond her years? She was -nine years old when the “armed men” who had sprung forth on Ireland’s -soil from the sowed “dragon’s teeth” of England’s laws, formed in their -splendid ranks on the Falls Road—the first Volunteers of Ireland. Her -brother Frank was one of those who wore their gallant uniform. She was -twelve years old when the Volunteer Convention at Dungannon made certain -the granting of Grattan’s demands for the liberty of the Irish -Parliament. She was ripe enough to apprehend the lessons contained in -the failure of that Parliament and to trace it to its true origin. She -was nineteen when the great news came from Paris, and Liberty sprang -forth full armed to claim the world, from the mighty ruins of the -Bastille. - - “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive— - But to be young was very _heaven_!” - -[Illustration: - - THE CUP TOSSERS - Mary McCracken, as the old Gipsy, and one of the Teeling girls are - said to have sat for this picture by Crowley. -] - -In 1790 there came to Belfast, as an officer in the 64th Regiment, a -young man who was destined to exercise a memorable influence on the fate -of Mary McCracken, and the brother who was so dear to her. She had just -completed her teens when Thomas Russell made his appearance in her -native city—and won for ever her faithful heart. Alas! that he never -suspected the treasure that was his! He himself was eating out his own -heart for the beautiful Bess Goddard; and when Miss Goddard married Mr. -Kington, Russell fell in love with Miss Simms. When he came to Belfast -in 1803 it was Miss Simms of whom he dreamt. Mary McCracken was for him -as a sister infinitely dear, a comrade infinitely staunch and true in -the great Cause. But she was nothing more; and with an unconscious -cruelty which only the blindness caused by his absorption in his own -hopeless passion for another can excuse, he made her the _confidante_ of -his love for Miss Simms. - -It is through the eyes of Mary McCracken that we of to-day are permitted -to see Thomas Russell. So living and breathing is the portrait, for -which a woman’s love has mixed the colours, that though Russell has been -lying for one hundred and fifteen years in the grave which she made for -him in Downpatrick, it seems to us as if we might have passed him in the -streets to-day. - -“A model of manly beauty, he was one of those favoured individuals whom -one cannot pass in the street without being guilty of the rudeness of -staring in the face while passing, and turning round to look at the -receding figure. Though more than six feet high, his majestic stature -was scarcely observed owing to the exquisite symmetry of his form. -Martial in gait and demeanour, his appearance was not altogether that of -a soldier. His dark and steady eye, compressed lip, and somewhat haughty -bearing were occasionally strongly indicative of the camp; but in -general the classic contour of his finely formed head, the expression of -almost infantile sweetness which characterised his smile, and the -benevolence that beamed in his fine countenance seemed to mark him out -as one who was destined to be the ornament, grace and blessing of -private life. His voice was deep-toned and melodious and though his -conversational powers were not of the first order, yet, when roused to -enthusiasm, he was sometimes more than eloquent. His manners were those -of the finished gentleman, combined with that native grace which nothing -but superiority of intellect can give. There was a reserved and somewhat -haughty stateliness in his mien, which to those who did not know him had -at first the appearance of pride; but as it gave way before the warmth -and benevolence of his disposition, it soon became evident that the -defect, if it were one, was caused by the too sensitive delicacy of a -noble soul; and those who knew him loved him the more for his reserve, -and thought they saw something attractive in the very repellingness of -his manner.” - -We have already related in other _Memoirs_ of this series[87] some of -the memorable events which followed the arrival of Russell in Belfast: -the visit of Tone, which led to the foundation of the United Irishmen -(1791); the establishment of the _Northern Star_ (1792); the military -raids of 1793, etc.; the reception accorded to Tone and his family on -their way to America in 1795. In all these events the McCrackens, and -Mary in particular, were keenly interested. She was a diligent reader of -the _Star_, and it is recorded that after her recovery from a fever her -first exclamation was: “Oh! I have missed so many _Stars_!” - -Footnote 87: - - Principally those of Matilda Tone and Anne Neilson. - -In September, 1796, Government, which had already marked with intense -displeasure the efforts made by young Protestant patriots like H. J. -McCracken, Lowry and Tennant, on the one hand, and Young Catholic -patriots like C. H. Teeling and his brother-in-law, John Magennis, on -the other, to allay the religious feuds then devastating Ulster, swooped -down on the most active agents of this policy of reconciliation. On the -same day as C. H. Teeling was arrested in Lisburn, Russell and Neilson -were arrested in Belfast. A month later Henry Joy McCracken was taken -up; and in the spring of the following year, his brother, William. - -As soon as the prisoners received (through the efforts of Lord O’Neill) -permission to see their relatives, the McCracken girls, accompanied by -William’s wife, paid a visit to Dublin, to be near the brothers. We find -them again in Dublin the following year, when their influence, combined -with that of Mrs. Neilson, brought about a reconciliation between Harry -and Samuel Neilson, both whose tempers had suffered considerably from -the wear and tear of prison _régime_ and close confinement. - -In the autumn of 1797 the McCrackens were released from Kilmainham. -Harry’s health was so much shaken by what he had undergone during his -imprisonment, that for some time his life was despaired of. But early in -the fatal year ’98, we find him as active as ever in organising the -Union. In February he went to Dublin on business connected with it, and -he remained there until the eve of the Rising in May. - -It is a matter of history now that Henry Joy McCracken became -Commander-in-Chief of the Insurgent forces in the north only three or -four days before the outbreak, and only in consequence of the arrest of -Dickson, the original commander-in-chief, and the cowardice of the -gentleman appointed to replace him. All that one man could do to make -the most of a situation, even then desperate, was done by McCracken. But -it was of no avail. On June the 7th the battle of Antrim was fought and -lost; and Harry McCracken, and Jamie Hope and the faithful few who had -refused to lower the Banner of Green were on the hills “on their -keeping.” - -And now it will be our privilege to hear Mary McCracken herself, tell -the end of Henry’s story in her own most moving words: - - “Some days after the battle of Antrim, not having received any - intelligence of my brother, I set out in pursuit of him, - accompanied by Mrs. M.——, sister of John Shaw, of Belfast, who - wished to get some information respecting her husband and also a - brother of Mrs. Shaw. We went towards the White House and made - some enquiries in the neighbourhood. In the evening we joined J. - McG. at the country residence of Mr. John Brown, a banker, then - in England, whose gardener, Cunningham, had given shelter - occasionally to the wanderers. At nightfall this man took us to - a house near the Cave Hill, belonging to John Brier, whom I knew - a little, where we got a bed that night. In the morning I urged - Mrs. M. to return home, which she generously refused, although - she had gained the information she required. She insisted on - accompanying me. Her husband had got safe into Belfast, - disguised as a countryman with a basket of eggs, and was then - safe in Mr. Shaw’s house; he had been at the battle of Antrim - also. The next day we continued our search, and at last met with - Gawin Watt and another person, who promised to take us in the - evening to a place where we would get intelligence. The latter - took us to a smith’s house, on the lime-stone road to Antrim.... - - “In the back room of this man’s house we found about eight of - the fugitives in consultation as to what should be done. I - recommended them strongly to separate and return to their homes, - if they could with safety. They replied that there was something - in view, but in the event of its not taking place, they would - follow my advice. Three of the party undertook to escort us; we - travelled up hill, across fields, drains and ditches, for two - hours ... when we arrived at the Bowhill, where my dear brother - and six others (James Hope, one of the number) were sitting on - the brow of the hill, Henry seemed surprised and rejoiced at the - meeting, and after sitting with the party for a long time, - talking over their adventures and escapes, he conducted us to a - house where we were received in darkness, the woman of the house - not daring to light a candle, or make the fire blaze. I insisted - on Mrs. M. occupying the only chair for the remainder of the - night, while I took a low stool and rested my head on her lap. - My brother was to be with us at seven in the morning; we thought - that night very long, but when seven o’clock came, and no Harry - appeared, we became very uneasy.... He came at last, having - waited for the others till after two o’clock. We then set out on - our way home, and he accompanied us a little way, wishing to see - McG., whom we sent out to him.” - -About ten days afterwards, Mary received a letter from Harry, and a -little later she had another meeting with him at the house of a poor -labourer, called David Bodle, near Cave Hill. Arrangements were made to -get the fugitive off to America under an assumed name, but on his way to -the coast he was captured. - - “It was on Sunday afternoon, July 8th, my birthday, that we got - intelligence of Harry’s capture.... My father and I set off - immediately for Carrickfergus, and with difficulty obtained - permission to visit him; the officer, who accompanied us - politely standing at a distance, not to prevent our - conversation. Having desired me not to use any solicitations on - his account; and after expressing to me his wishes on many - matters, he desired me to tell my brother John to come to him. - My mother had sent him a favourite book of his, Young’s ‘Night - Thoughts,’ and I observed a line from it written on the wall of - his cell: - - “‘A friend’s worth all the hazard we can run.’ - - “We remained all night in Carrickfergus, and tried the next - morning to see him again; but were not admitted. We saw him, - however, through the window of his cell, when he gave me a ring, - with a green shamrock engraved on the outside, and the words, - ‘Remember Orr,’ on the inside, which he desired me to give to - his mother. Since her death it has remained with me. On the - 16th, he was brought in a prisoner to Belfast, in the evening. - My sister and I immediately set out to try if we could see him. - He was then standing, with a strong escort of soldiers who were - drawn up on the middle of Castle place. We could not speak to - him there. He was then taken to the artillery barracks in Ann - Street.” - -After a brutal refusal from Colonel Durham, the sisters at length -obtained, from the humanity of Colonel Barber, admission to their -brother. At this interview Harry requested that his cousins, Mrs. Holmes -and Miss Mary Toomb, should be called as witnesses on his behalf. - - “I arose at six, and set out in a carriage for the place where - Miss Toomb was then staying with a lady, near Lisburn. I - endeavoured to keep up her spirits as well as I could, fearing - from the state of grief and anxiety she was in, she would be - unable to give evidence. She came with me, and on arriving in - town, July the 17th, I proceeded to the Exchange, where the - trial was just commenced. The moment I set my eyes on him I was - struck with the extraordinary serenity and composure of his - look. This was no time to think about such things, but yet I - could not help gazing on him; it seemed to me that I had never - seen him look so well, so full of healthful bloom, so free from - the slightest trace of care or trouble, as at that moment, when - he was perfectly aware of his approaching fate. - - “I sat very near the table when the trial was going on. Colonel - Montgomery was President. The first witness called was Minis. - The other witness, James Beck, a poor miserable-looking - creature, swore that he had seen him at Antrim, and knew him by - a mark on his throat, which mark was not seen until his - neckerchief was taken off.” - -James Hope learned afterwards from a soldier on guard that morning that -neither of the witnesses had ever set eyes on McCracken until that day, -when he was pointed out to them by an officer, who also told them of the -mark on his throat. - - “Immediately preceding the examination of the witnesses, my - father, who was just recovering from a severe and tedious fit of - sickness, and who appeared to be sinking beneath the weight of - old age and affliction, was called aside by Pollock, who told - him that he had such evidence against his son as would certainly - hang him; that his life was in his hands, and that he would save - it, if my father would persuade him to give such information as - Pollock knew it was in his power to do, namely, who the person - was who had been appointed to command the people at Antrim, in - whose place he (McCracken) had acted. My father replied, that - ‘he knew nothing, and could do nothing in the matter: he would - rather his son died than do a dishonourable action.’ The tyrant, - however, not content with the trial of his virtue, would torture - him still farther by calling Harry to the conference, and - repeated the same offer to himself, who, well knowing his - father’s sentiments, answered that ‘he would do anything which - his father knew it would be right for him to do.’ Pollock - repeated the offer, in which my father said, ‘Harry, my dear, I - know nothing of the business, but you know best what you ought - to do.’ Harry then said, ‘Farewell, father,’ and returned to the - table to abide the issue of the trial. After I left him, I was - told that Major Fox went up to him and asked him for the last - time if he would give information, at which he smiled, and said, - ‘he wondered how Major Fox could suppose him to be such a - villain.’... - - “After the examination of the witnesses, I rose and went forward - to the table; I stated what appeared to me to be unlike truth in - the evidence that had been given by the witnesses for the - prosecution, expressing a hope that they would not consider such - evidence sufficient to take away life; the testimony of one - witness impeaching the character and credit of the approver, on - whose statements the charge was mainly dependent for support. - - “Harry had taken notes of the trial, and before its termination - said to me in a whisper, ‘You must be prepared for my - conviction’; all his friends could then do for him was to - endeavour to get his sentence commuted to banishment. Before the - close of the proceedings I hastened home with this intelligence, - and my mother went instantly to General Nugent’s house, and - requested an interview, but he refused to be seen. I returned to - the Exchange before my mother came back, but found that Harry - had been removed. I little expected that any efforts to save him - would be successful; but I felt I had a duty to perform—to - prevent misrepresentation, and to put it out of the power of his - enemies to injure his character while living, or his memory when - dead. I followed him to the artillery barracks, where I saw - Major Fox just going in, and asked his permission to see my - brother; he desired me to wait a little, but I followed him, and - when he came to the door of my brother’s cell, I remained behind - him at a few paces distance; the door of the cell was opened, - and I heard him say, ‘You are ordered for immediate execution.’ - My poor brother seemed to be astonished at this announcement; - indeed he well might be, at the shortness of time allotted to - him; but seeing me falling to the ground, he sprang forward and - caught me. I did not, however, lose consciousness for a - single instant, but felt a strange sort of composure and - self-possession; and in this frame of mind I continued during - the whole day. I knew it was incumbent on me to avoid disturbing - the last moments of my brother’s life, and I endeavoured to - contribute to render them worthy of his whole career. We - conversed as calmly as we had ever done. I asked him if there - was anything in particular he desired to have done. He said, ‘I - wish you to write to Russell, inform him of my death, and tell - him that I have done my duty....’ He said he would like to see - Mr. Kelburne, who was our clergyman. I told him I feared that - Mr. Kelburne would be unable to come, but that if he wished to - see a clergyman, Dr. Dickson was then under the same roof, and - would come to him. He replied he would rather have Mr. Kelburne, - as it would gratify his father and mother. He, of course, was - sent for, but being confined to his bed by illness, it was a - considerable time before he made his appearance. In the meantime - Dr. Dickson was brought to him; they retired to the far end of - the room, when I observed Dr. Dickson take out his pocket book - and write something in it; he afterwards said that he never met - with any person whose mind was better prepared to meet death. - Mr. Kelburne soon after arrived, and when he did, he burst out - crying, and said, ‘Oh! Harry, you did not know how much I loved - you.’ Mr. Kelburne, after some time, endeavoured to assume - composure.... Harry, perceiving the effort at appearing more - concerned than he really was, looked at Dr. Dickson and smiled. - Mr. Kelburne knelt down, as I believe did all present, and - joined in prayer; he soon after retired, and wished me to - accompany him, which I refused. - - “During the early part of the day Harry and I had conversed with - tranquillity on the subject of his death. We had been brought up - in a firm conviction of an all-wise and overruling Providence, - and of the duty of entire resignation to the Divine Will. I - remarked that his death was as much a dispensation of Providence - as if it had happened in the common course of nature, to which - he assented. He told me there had been much perjury on his - trial, but that the truth would have answered the same purpose. - After the clergymen were gone, I asked for a pair of scissors, - that I might take off some of his hair. A young officer who was - on guard went out of the room and brought a pair of scissors but - hesitated to trust them into my hand, when I asked him - indignantly if he thought I meant to hurt my brother. He then - gave them to me, and I cut off some of Harry’s hair which curled - round his neck, and folded it up in paper, and put it into my - bosom. Fox at that moment entered the room, and desired me to - give it to him, ‘as too much use had already been made of such - things.’ I refused, saying I would only part with it in death; - when my dear brother said, ‘Oh! Mary, give it to him; of what - value is it?’ I felt that its possession would be a mere - gratification to me, and not wishing to discompose him by the - contest, I gave it up. - - “The time allowed him was now expired: he had hoped for a few - days, that he might give his friends an account of all the later - events in which he had taken a part. About five _p.m._ he was - ordered to the place of execution, the old market-house, the - ground of which had been given to the town by his great great - grandfather. I took his arm, and we walked together to the place - of execution, where I was told it was the general’s orders that - I should leave him, which I peremptorily refused. Harry begged I - would go. Clasping my hands around him (I did not weep till - then) I said I could bear anything but leaving him. Three times - he kissed me, and entreated I would go; and looking round to - recognise some friend to put me in charge of, he beckoned to a - Mr. Boyd, and said, ‘He will take charge of you.’ Mr. Boyd - stepped forward; and fearing any further refusal would disturb - the last moments of my dearest brother, I suffered myself to be - led away.... A Mr. Armstrong, a friend of our family, came - forward and took me from Mr. Boyd, and conducted me home. I - immediately sent a message to Dr. McDonnell and Mr. McCluney, - our apothecary, to come directly to our house. The latter came, - and Dr. McDonnell sent his brother, Alexander, a skilful - surgeon. The body was given up to his family unmutilated; so far - our entreaties and those of our friends prevailed. - - “From the moment I parted with Harry, the idea which occurred to - me in the morning that it might be possible to restore - animation, took full possession of my mind, and that hope buoyed - up my strength, and supported me at the moment of parting with - him. Every effort that art could devise was made, and at one - time hopes of success were entertained, but the favourable - symptoms disappeared, and the attempt was at length given up. I - was present when the medical men entered the room where the body - was laid, and then retired and joined the rest of the family, - awaiting the result with indescribable anxiety. My heart sank - within me when we were told all hope was over, and that a - message had been brought from the General that the funeral must - take place immediately, or that the body would be taken from us. - Preparations were made for immediate burial. I learned that no - relative of his was likely to attend his funeral. I could not - bear to think that no member of his family should accompany his - remains, so I set out to follow them to the grave. - - “A kind-hearted man, an enthusiast in the cause for which poor - Harry died, drew my arm within his, but my brother John soon - followed, and took his place. I heard the sound of the first - shovelful of earth that was thrown on the coffin, and I remember - little else of what passed on that sad occasion. I was told - afterwards that poor Harry stood when I left him at the place of - execution, and watched me until I was out of sight; that he then - attempted to speak to the people, but that the noise of the - trampling of the horses was so great that it was impossible he - should be heard; that he then resigned himself to his fate, and - the multitude who were present at that moment uttered cries - which seemed more like one loud and long-continued shriek than - the expression of grief or terror on similar occasions. He was - buried in the old churchyard where St. George’s church now - stands, and close to the corner of the school-house, where the - door is.” - - * * * * * - -A weaker nature than Mary McCracken’s would have surely broken down -after the strain of those tragic hours. But she came forth from them, -only with fresh ardour to serve God, and country and friends. - -Early in the new century she received a pitiable account of the state of -destitution to which poor Russell’s sister, Margaret, had been reduced. -He himself after his arrest in September, 1796, had been kept until -March, 1799, in Kilmainham, whence he was conveyed with the other State -prisoners to Fort George. More than three years’ internment in Fort -George was followed by deportation to the Continent in 1802. During -these years Miss Russell had been deprived of his support, and she was -in a pitiable condition. Mary Anne McCracken got up a subscription for -her among Russell’s friends in Belfast, but there were a great many -claims on their resources just at that time and the response to her -appeal was not very gratifying. Her charity nearly cost her dear; for a -person who saw the list of subscribers reported to Government that she -was raising money for arms. - -The autumn of 1803 marked the close of Mary McCracken’s pathetic -romance. In October of that year Russell, who had come over from France, -in the early summer to assist Robert Emmet, and who had undertaken, with -the faithful Jamie Hope, to rouse the North to a new stand for freedom, -was taken prisoner in Dublin, and carried back in chains to Downpatrick -to be tried for his life. Once more Mary McCracken, stifling the pain of -her wounded heart, made superhuman efforts to save her doomed friend. -During the weeks when he was in hiding she and her sister had already -visited him, and provided him with funds for his journey to Dublin. When -he was taken, the two sisters pledged their credit to the last penny, to -raise the necessary money for his defence. It was Mary’s earnest desire -to go to Downpatrick to be present at the trial, and only the -representations of her family prevented her. On the eve of the trial she -received a letter from Russell. It was all the reward her faithful heart -obtained for the years of silent love it had lavished on the writer—but -perhaps those words of farewell from the condemned cell in Downpatrick -seemed to her better worth treasuring than the love letters of happier -women. - -It is to Mary McCracken that we owe the record of Russell’s most noble -and touching “Speech from the Dock.” For she and her sister sent Hughes, -a clerk of their brother John’s, to take notes in court of his address. -And when the scaffold had done its work, and the gallant form lay -mangled in its shadow, it was she who gave it, in the sacred soil of -Downpatrick, the tomb, where with the “Three Wonder Working Saints of -Erin,” Patrick, Brigid and Columcille, it awaits the Resurrection: - - “The grave of Russell.” - - * * * * * - -Among the witnesses at the Russell trial there figured prominently a -certain Patrick Lynch, and the mention of his name will serve as an -introduction to our account of some of the various interests with which -Mary McCracken filled her life. There still remained the long span of -sixty-three years, before she was summoned to join the dear ones, to -whose love the years of her youth had been dedicated. These sixty-three -years were full of service to the country for which _they_ had given -their lives. - -We have already mentioned that Edward Bunting was, for some forty years, -an inmate of the McCracken household. It was under their roof that his -celebrated collections of “Ancient Irish Music” were made, and all the -McCrackens, but especially Mary, took the very keenest interest in the -work. In 1802, Patrick Lynch, a native Irish speaker (who had given -lessons in the language to Russell during the latter’s sojourn in -Belfast in the early ’Nineties), was sent by Bunting on a tour to -Connacht to collect airs. Of his progress he writes (during Bunting’s -absence in London) detailed reports to John McCracken and “Miss -Mary”—and it is clear from these letters that they were as much -interested in the mission as Bunting himself.[88] - -Footnote 88: - - See “Annals of the Irish Harpers,” _passim_. - -In 1803, John McCracken, Senior, died, and in 1814 Mrs. McCracken and -her son, William, were both called to their reward. Shortly after their -mother’s death the McCracken sisters gave up business and went to live -with their brother Frank (who had remained a bachelor) in Donegal -Street. The talent of Miss Margaret McCracken for housekeeping left Mary -with a great many free hours on her hands—and these she devoted to -active works of charity. The picture her grandniece has left us of her -avocations is a true one for many years of her life. Her mornings were -spent in out-of-door occupations—collecting for some charity, attending -meetings, or visiting the poor in their homes, or the poor children in -the Lancastrian School. Of the charitable institutions in which she took -an active interest her grandniece mentions an industrial school for -girls, established in the Famine year; the Belfast Ladies’ Clothing -Society; the Destitute Sick Society; an anti-slavery society, and an -association to prevent the employment of climbing-boys in chimney -sweeping. In the afternoon she rested, and her evenings were largely -devoted to letter-writing (for she had a large correspondence) or to -that social intercourse in which, even to extreme old age, her genial -spirit delighted. - -Of her personality her grandniece gives some very attractive glimpses: - -“In personal habits she was scrupulously clean, but indifferent about -her dress, unwilling to spend money on it, and giving it little thought. - -“She liked to read the newspapers, and always spent some time in doing -so, but for other reading she had little leisure. When she did read a -novel or hear one read, it was to others as great a treat as the book to -hear her comments, how she entered into the story, and discussed the -characters with such thorough enjoyment, such child-like feeling of -reality. In her later years she used to relate anecdotes of family and -local incidents, and reminiscences of her youthful days; these told in -her lively and pleasant manner, were listened to with pleasure. -Sometimes, but more rarely, and usually when she had only one hearer, -she would speak of the graver and sadder events in which she had been -concerned, but evidently with such sorrowful remembrance that a listener -had not the heart to urge her to continue the theme, intensely -interesting though it might be. - -“She was accustomed to say that people ought not to pride themselves on -their ancestors, and should not be valued for what their forefathers had -been or done, but only for what they themselves are, and would quote the -lines on the moon— - - ‘I with borrowed lustre shine, - What you see is none of mine.’ - -Nevertheless, she took most unmistakable pride and pleasure in some of -the doings of her ancestors. The way in which she used to relate -anything which gave evidence of a generous and unselfish description was -not to be forgotten by those who heard her. - -“She had naturally a quick and hasty temper, though evidence of this was -rarely seen; but even when at an advanced age, if a helpless person were -wronged, or an animal cruelly treated, it was startling to see how her -eye would flash, and to hear her hot, indignant words. - -“Her decay was very gradual. She was compelled by degrees to give up her -accustomed occupations, till at last she was confined to the house. Walk -for walking’s sake she would not. As she became unable for other work -she took up the occupation of knitting. Her sight was wonderfully good; -her hearing was so much impaired as to prevent her taking part in -ordinary conversation; but she was always able to converse with one -person comfortably for both. She delighted in seeing a large party round -the table, and when a laugh went round, she with beaming face and happy -smile would join in the mirth, and sometimes say—‘Well, I don’t know -what you are laughing at, but I like to see you enjoying yourselves.’ - -“In the autumn of 1865 she had an attack of bronchitis from which she -recovered, but mind and body had become weak. She faded peacefully and -gently away, apparently contented and happy, without weariness or pain, -until, after some hours of unconsciousness, she breathed her last on -July the 26th (the feast of her own namesake, Saint Ann), 1866, having -completed her ninety-sixth year on the 8th of the month.” - - * * * * * - -Within our own time pious and reverent hands have laid the remains of -Henry Joy McCracken in the grave of his devoted sister. And what Mary -McCracken did for Russell, has been done in turn for herself by a -patriotic townsman.[89] Beneath the slab he has laid upon the grave in -Old Clifton Cemetery brother and sister, once more re-united, await the -Resurrection. “In death they are not divided.” - -Footnote 89: - - F. J. Bigger, Esq. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - SOME OTHER SISTERS OF ’NINETY-EIGHT - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Some Other Sisters of ’Ninety-Eight - - “O fair-haired Donough, dear little brother, - Well do I know what has taken you from me.” - —_Lament for Fair-Haired Donough._ - - -MARY MCCRACKEN is not the only sister whose name is coupled with her -brother’s in “the glorious pride and sorrow” of ’Ninety-Eight. We have -already, in the preceding memoirs, met other heroic sisters and we shall -now give a somewhat further account of some of these. - - - MARY ANNE EMMET - -Mary Anne Emmet, sister of Thomas Addis and Robert, was worthy, both in -character and brains, of her family. Born in 1773 she showed herself -from her earliest years dowered with her full share of the remarkable -Emmet intellect. She was carefully educated, mostly by her father, and -acquired a knowledge of Classics of which many a University Don might -well be vain. She was a vigorous writer; and her grand-nephew, Dr. -Thomas Addis Emmet, tells us that he has in his possession several -political pamphlets from her pen. “These clearly show that she must have -possessed a profound knowledge of political economy, a familiarity with -history and the body politic, gained only after careful reading and to -an extent few public men of her day possessed.” Her most celebrated -pamphlet was “An Address to the People of Ireland, showing them why they -ought to submit to an Union.” Its method of _advocating_ an Union is, as -Dr. Madden points out, sufficiently indicated by its title: - - “Of comfort no man speak; - Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs.” - —_Shakespeare._ - -Such scorn as is poured from it in the new-born “patriotism” of the -Beresfords, the Fosters, the Whaleys, the Saurins, the Verekers, who had -already alienated every right through which an Irishman could call -himself a free man! “You are called on to oppose this Union, to preserve -your rights. Now I ask the men who call on you what rights you have to -support? I ask parliament what right _they_ have not wrested from you? -They adjure you to support the constitution. Alas! for that -constitution, originally a shadow, now embodied a substance of -corruption. You are called on to resist—_what_? Not _oppression_, it has -been _protected_. Not _injustice_, it has been _legalised_. Not -_cruelty_, it has been _indemnified_.... Is it for the _Convention_, the -_Insurrection_, the _Indemnity Acts_, that you are to resist the -annihilation of the parliament that passed them? While these Bills stand -recorded on their Journals parliament ought to know that the country -cannot dread their extinction. And if the minister of England wishes to -use any argument but military force for the accomplishment of this -measure, let him present that statute-book to the people, and ask -them—‘Why should you wish the duration of this parliament? do you not -feel that I am omnipotent in it? are not my mandates written here in -blood?...’ - -“I shall not dwell more on the advantages than I have done on the -justice of this measure. I do not believe that one advantage will result -from it, or from any other convention between Ireland and Great Britain -which the English minister proposes, and which the English mercantile -interest approves of: no convention or community of interests ever will -be equitably conducted where both parties are not equally able to assert -their own rights, and to resist the innovations or injustice of the -other.... _I know that our part of the treaty will be signed and most -strictly performed, and that the English part of it will be filled up -how and when it suits the interests of the minister._” - -When the order came from the Castle to the State prisoners in Kilmainham -on March 18th, 1799, instructing them to be ready for embarkation the -following morning, Mary Anne Emmet, “at a late hour the same evening, on -hearing of the order, proceeded immediately to the Castle, and demanded -an interview with the viceroy for the purpose of ascertaining the fate -that was destined for her brother. She presented herself to the viceroy -with the spirit that seemed to be characteristic of her race. Lord -Cornwallis was moved even to tears at the earnestness of her -supplication, the anxiety exhibited in her looks, the strength of -feeling, the energy of character displayed in the effort she had made. -He treated her with kindness, and assured her that ‘no harm should occur -to her brother.’... Miss Emmet returned to her family, and the -intelligence she brought, little as it was, relieved the minds of her -parents of much of their alarm.”[90] - -Footnote 90: - - Madden’s “United Irishmen,” Third Series (Second Edition). p. 91. - -Sometime in 1799 she married Robert Holmes, a rising barrister. The -young couple took up their residence with old Dr. and Mrs. Emmet, first -in Stephen’s Green, and later in Casino; and the correspondence of her -mother with Thomas Addis in Fort George, makes frequent mention of Mary -Anne. In a letter dated April 10th, Elizabeth Emmet informs her son of -the comfort she and her husband found in “Mary Anne’s happiness in -consequence of having married a very worthy man, of whom she is very -fond, and he equally so of her. She has grown so stout that scarcely a -day passes without her walking to town, about town, and out again. The -pleasure of her husband’s company has, I believe, wrought this change, -and her health is greatly benefitted by the exertion.” In July, 1800, -her first baby, a little boy, was born, but the many and great anxieties -its mother had undergone before its birth told on it, and it only lived -one week. Poor Mary Anne was long in recovering, and perhaps her mother -did not make sufficient allowance for the drain made on her delicate -constitution by the intensity of her feelings. The indolence, the -disinclination to make any exertion except on a great occasion of which -her mother frequently complained, were due to physical weakness, and of -this her mother did not seem to take account. “Mary Anne is very much -better, but you know of old that she has one complaint of which I have -no hope she will be cured: indolence has still, and always will have, -domination over her, except when exertion becomes necessary; then, -indeed, no person can exceed her in efforts. I wish, however, for her -own sake that her exertions were brought more into the practice of every -day, and not reserved for great occasions. She has a very strong mind, -and I think it would operate more upon the body if more frequently -called forth.” - - * * * * * - -Six days after the outbreak of Robert Emmet’s Insurrection, Robert -Holmes, who had been in England on business, and knew nothing of his -brother-in-law’s plans, was arrested in the streets of Dublin, on his -way home. About the same time John Patten, Jane Emmet’s brother, was -arrested, and the wildest rumours of Robert’s fate were brought to the -ladies of the Emmet family, who were now in residence at Donnybrook. The -anxiety proved too much for Elizabeth Emmet, and while her youngest son -lay in prison awaiting his tragic destiny, she died in her daughter’s -arms. - -Think of what Mary Anne Holmes had to endure during those terrible -weeks. One brother was in exile, another in the prison from which the -only egress was up the steps to the scaffold; her husband a prisoner -with an uncertain fate. Truly “the strong mind” had heavy drains on it -when she followed her mother’s coffin to the churchyard of St. Peter’s -in Aungier Street, whither Dr. Emmet’s had only a little time preceded -it. Small wonder that the end of her sad story came with tragic -swiftness, and in tragic circumstances. - -Mr. Holmes was kept for a whole year a prisoner in Dublin Castle, and -then suddenly released. He walked directly home. “In response to his -ring his wife unfortunately opened the door, only to drop dead into his -arms from the suddenness of the shock and the excess of her joy at -seeing him. It is said that Mr. Holmes never recovered from the shock he -thus received, and to the day of his death he was seldom seen to -smile.”[91] He lived to be a very old man—to see the men of ’48 stand in -the same dock as the men of ’98 and ’03—and for the same crime. In his -eightieth year he acted as counsel for Duffy in the _Nation_ prosecution -of 1846; in his eighty-second year he defended John Mitchel. “We thought -we heard the blood of Emmet crying aloud from the ground,” said Mitchel, -of the great speech made by Holmes on the former occasion. But in the -ears of the old man, himself, as he made his immortal indictment of -England, there was ringing the voice of his dead love—the woman whom -England’s cruelty had murdered in his very arms two-and-forty years -before! - -Footnote 91: - - “The Emmet Family,” p. 54. The circumstances of Mary Anne Holmes’s - death were communicated to Dr. T. A. Emmet by Sir Bernard Burke. - - - MARY TONE - -Of Mary Tone, the sister of Theobald Wolfe Tone, we have already spoken -at some length in the Memoir of her sister-in-law. Her brother has -described her for us in his _Autobiography_: “My sister, whose name is -Mary, is a fine young woman; she has all the peculiarity of our -disposition with all the delicacy of her own sex. If she were a man, she -would be exactly like one of us [_i.e._ her brothers, whose ‘portraits’ -he has just sketched], and, as it is, being brought up amongst boys, for -we never had but one more sister, who died a child, she has contracted a -masculine habit of thinking, without, however, in any degree, derogating -from that feminine softness of manner which is suited to her sex and -age.” - -When Tone and his wife and family were obliged to leave Ireland for -America, Mary Tone accompanied them, sharing the dangers and hardships -of the journey, and the anxieties and deprivations of life in an unknown -land. When the summons came for Theobald to leave them, and start off on -his hazardous mission to France, Mary Tone joined her sister-in-law in -urging him to answer the call. When the moment of parting came her -firmness and courage were as great as Matilda’s: “We had neither tears -nor lamentations, but on the contrary, the most ardent hope and the most -steady resolution.” - -On the voyage across the Atlantic which she made with Matilda Tone and -her children towards the end of 1796, in order to rejoin Theobald, Mary -Tone made the acquaintance of a young Swiss merchant named Giacque, who, -though “just beginning the world with little or no property, thought -proper to fall in love with her.” The first letter Tone received from -his wife after their arrival in Hamburg, was accompanied, we learn from -the _Autobiography_, by one from Giacque “informing me of his situation -and circumstances, of his love for my sister, and hers for him, and -praying my consent. There was an air of candour and honesty in his -letter which gave me a good opinion of him, nor did I consider myself at -liberty to stand in the way of her happiness, which my wife mentioned to -me was deeply interested. I wrote therefore, giving my full consent to -the marriage, and trust in God they may be as happy as I wish them. It -is certainly a hazardous step in favour of a man whom I do not know; -but, as she is passionately fond of him, and he of her, as he perfectly -knows her situation, and has by no means endeavoured to disguise or -exaggerate his own, I am in hopes they may do well.” - -After their marriage, the Giacques appear to have continued to live with -Mrs. Tone and her children, first at Hamburg, and afterwards at Paris. -After the death of Theobald, Mary and her husband went to St. Domingo; -and, according to her nephew, she met her death there, of yellow fever, -contracted through nursing a sick friend, who had been abandoned by her -family and servants. Another account, quoted by Madden, states that she -and her husband were killed by the negroes in the insurrection of that -island, about the year 1799. At all events she shared the tragic fate of -her immediate family—Theobald, William, Matthew, and Arthur—none of whom -reached thirty-six years of age. - - - LADY LUCY FITZGERALD - -One of Lord Edward’s sisters, Lady Lucy Fitzgerald, was deep in the -plans of the United Irishmen. Mr. Gerald Campbell describes her as “just -Lord Edward dressed in woman’s clothes. She was to the full as patriotic -as her brother, perhaps even more so—for she loved the cause because he -loved it, whom she loved above all things: she was possessed like him of -a strong sense of humour, so that she shared with him the family epithet -‘comical,’ she had a warm, loving susceptible Irish heart, and, in -short, both in character and aims, was as like him as possible.” - -She spent much time with Lord Edward and Pamela at Kildare Lodge, and -her Journal, from which Mr. Campbell has published some extracts, gives -us vivid glimpses of the habitués of that hospitable home. Among these, -Arthur O’Connor figures prominently, and one cannot help feeling that -Lady Lucy had a romantic interest in that most aristocratic of all -“democrats.” The winter days were devoted to long walks on the Curragh, -or if the weather prevented out-door excursions, to sticking -pocket-books with emblems, or hearing Arthur O’Connor read “Julius -Cæsar,” or Volney’s “Ruins”; the winter evenings were delightfully -divided between dancing and singing patriotic songs. Once she records “a -large patriotic dinner,” at which were present, “Dr. MacNevin, Connolly, -Mr. Hughes (a Northern, and Edward says a very sensible man), a Mr. -Jackson, an iron manufacturer, a Mr. Bond, a great merchant, one of the -handsomest and most delightful men to all appearance that ever was, and -a Presbyterian clergyman, called Barber, a venerable old man who had -been forced by persecution to fly his Diocese where he had lived 30 -years.” - -Lady Lucy little suspected that the Northern Mr. Hughes, whom Edward -considered so “sensible,” was a Government spy—any more than she -suspected that all her own correspondence after her return to London was -carefully watched by Government. The mysterious “friend” of her cousin, -Lord Downshire (whom Fitzpatrick finally succeeded in identifying with -Samuel Turner, of Lurgan), told his patron that the communications of -the Irish in Hamburg (who were negotiating there for French aid), with -their friends at home were established through the medium of Mme. -Matthiesen (Pamela’s cousin, Henriette de Sercey), Lady Sarah and -Pamela. The letters were sent by Madame Matthiesen from Hamburg, to Lady -Lucy in London—and by Lady Lucy conveyed to Pamela. “All letters to or -from Lady Lucy Fitzgerald,” wrote the spy to Lord Downshire, “ought to -be inspected.” No doubt this advice was acted upon, and poor -unsuspecting Lady Lucy’s correspondence received due attention. - -One of the items of “Lucia’s” diary, quoted by Mr. Campbell, makes brief -reference to “Two Northern gentlemen who dined with us.” One wonders if -one of these could be Bartle Teeling. We know from his nephew’s memoir -that in Lady Lucy that gallant and knightly heart had found its ideal. -Once she gave him a ring with the words, “_Erin go Bragh_” inscribed on -it, and this ring is still treasured in the Teeling family. - -Some letters of Lady Lucy published by Mr. Campbell will give a more -vivid idea of her ardent and impulsive nature than any elaborate -description of her. The first is addressed to “The Irish Nation,” and -the occasion seems to have been the threatening advent of the Union: - - “Irishmen, Countrymen, it is Edward Fitzgerald’s sister who - addresses you: it is a woman, but that woman is his sister: she - would therefore die for you as he did. I don’t mean to remind - you of what he did for you. ’Twas no more than his duty. Without - ambition he resigned every blessing this world could afford, to - be of use to you, his countrymen whom he loved better than - himself, but in this he did no more than his _duty_; he was _a - Paddy and no more_; he desired no other title than this. He - never deserted you—will you desert yourselves? This was his only - ambition, and will you ever forget yourselves? Will _you_ forget - this title, which it is still in your power to ennoble? Will you - disgrace it? Will you make it the scoff of your triumphant - Enemies, while ’tis in your power to raise it beyond all other - glory to immortality? Yes, this is the moment, the precious - moment which must either stamp with Infamy the name of Irishmen - and denote you for ever wretched, enslaved to the power of - England, or raise the Paddies to the consequence which they - deserve and which England shall no longer withhold, to - _happiness_, _freedom_, _glory_. These are but names as yet to - you, my Countrymen. As yet you are strangers to the _reality_ - with the power in your hands to realise them. One noble - struggle, and you will gain, you will enjoy them for ever.—Your - devoted Country-woman—L. F.” - -A second to Lady Bute, deals largely with Moore’s “Life of Lord Edward”: - - “Did you read Mr. Moore’s Memoir of my loved Edward? If you did, - you will have thought it strange perhaps to see it dedicated to - Mrs. Beauclerck.[92] It was all _her_ plan, arranged with Mr. - Moore. They let me know of it when partly completed in case I - had anything to communicate. Dear Lady Bute, _you_ who know the - depth of affection with which his memory is engraven on my - heart! you can best judge how such a message must have struck - me. I returned for answer I had nothing to say. A thousand - motives made this intended publication by Mr. Moore appear to me - utterly improper. I will own to you that the one which - displeased me was the trifling ... with his memory, which so - long has lain enshrined and sacred in the grateful breasts of - the Irish people! to have it brought out from thence and his - glorious name made the subject of English investigation—to serve - Party purposes—for when were Englishmen ever just judges of - Irish character?... Mr. Moore was in complete ignorance of my - Brother’s views, and of his opinions, plans, and actions - _beyond_ what the newspapers of the day could furnish him with; - and thus the delineation of his character as enlightened - Statesman and Heroic Patriot is entirely _missing_ in the - publication.... - -Footnote 92: - - Mrs. Beauclerck was Lord Edward’s half-sister, “Mimi” (Emily - Charlotte) Ogilvie, daughter of the Duchess of Leinster and - Mr. Ogilvie. - - “There _are_ men in Ireland, men only Irish, to whom it belonged - to tell his story if ever Ireland should be what my Brother - meant it to be.... At the time when he was self-elected to free - his country or die for Her, he met a soul, ‘twin to his own,’ - because each breathed and loved alike and their object Ireland! - Ireland, where each had first drawn breath—Ireland more great in - her misfortunes, in her wrongs than the most favoured Country of - the Earth,—Ireland, so true to God, to the early unchanged faith - of the Gospel,—Ireland whom neither falsehood could entice nor - interest bribe to apostacy, suffering through successive ages - from the oppression of a Nation inferior to Herself in all but - in one of the adventitious circumstances of fortune. It was the - heart that felt all this as he himself did, and would have - preferred death with the chance of redeeming these wrongs to a - life of ease and security without that hope—it was that person - who could have told how Edward once loved.” - - - JULIA SHEARES - -Julia Sheares was another devoted “Sister of ’Ninety-Eight.” All that -she was to her brothers is best told by the letter which John addressed -to her from his prison cell on the eve of his trial: - - “The troublesome scene of life, my ever dear Julia, is nearly - closed, and the hand that now traces these lines will, in a day - or two, be no longer capable of communicating, to a beloved and - affectionate family, the sentiments of his heart. A painful task - yet awaits me—I do not allude to my trial, nor to my execution. - These, were it not for the consciousness I feel of the misery - you will all suffer on my account, would be trivial in - comparison with the pain I endure at addressing you for the last - time. You have been kind to me, Julia, beyond example. Your - solicitude for my welfare has been unremitting; nor did it leave - you a moment’s happiness, as a wayward fate seems from the - earliest moment of my life to have presided over my days. I will - not now recapitulate the instances of a perverse destiny that - seems to have marked me out as the instrument of destruction to - all I loved. - - “Robert and Christopher! I shall shortly join you, and learn for - what wise purpose heaven thought fit to select me as your - destroyer.[93] My mother, too! O God! my tender, my revered - mother! I see her torn locks—her broken heart—her corpse! - Heavenly Author of the universe, what have I done to deserve - this misery? - -Footnote 93: - - Mrs. Smith (Miss Maria Steele) told Dr. Madden that she had - often heard John Sheares say with great emotion “that he had - caused the death of two of his brothers—Robert, who was - drowned in saving him when a boy, and Christopher, who, being - reluctant to go to the West Indies, he persuaded to go there, - “only to perish of yellow fever.” - - “I must forbear these thoughts as much as possible or I must - forbear to write. My time comes on the day after to-morrow, and - the event is unequivocal. You must summon up all the resolution - of your soul, my dear, dear Julia. If there be a chance of - snatching my afflicted mother from the grave, that chance must - arise from your exertions. My darling Sally,[94] too will aid - you; she will for a while suspend her joy at the restoration of - her husband to her arms—for of his escape I have no more doubt - than I have of my own conviction and its consequences. All, all - of you forget your individual griefs and joys, and unite to save - that best of parents from the grave. Stand between her and - despair. If she will speak of me, soothe her with every - assurance calculated to carry conviction to her heart. Tell her - that my death, though nominally ignominious, should not light up - a blush in her face; that she knew me incapable of a - dishonourable action or thought; that I died in full possession - of the esteem of all those who knew me intimately; that justice - will yet be done to my memory, and my fate be mentioned rather - with pride than shame by my friends and relations. Yes, my dear - sister, if I did not expect the arrival of this justice to my - memory, I should be indeed afflicted at the nominal ignominy of - my death, lest it may injure your welfare and wound the feelings - of my family. But, above all things, tell her that at my own - request I was attended in my latest moments by that excellent - and pious man, Dr. Dobbin, and that my last prayer was offered - up for her. While I feared for Harry’s life, hell itself could - have no tortures for the guilty beyond what I endured. - -Footnote 94: - - Sarah, the wife of Henry Sheares. When John wrote he had no - suspicion that his brother’s fate was sealed as well as his - own. - - “I picture you all, a helpless, unprotected group of females, - left to the miseries of your own feelings and to the insults of - a callous, insensible world. Sally, too, stripped of a husband - on whom she so tenderly doats, and his children of their father, - and all by my cursed intervention, by my residence with them. - Yet, he even is my witness how assiduously I sought to keep - aloof in any of my political concerns from him, and would have - entirely succeeded in doing so if it had not been for the art of - that villain, Armstrong, and Harry’s own incaution. My efforts, - however, have kept him clear of any of those matters that have - involved me in destruction. When Sally has got him back in her - arms, and that I, who caused his danger and her unhappiness, - shall be no more, she will cease to think of me with reproach. - This I trust she will do; she ought—for she herself could never - have done more for his salvation than I endeavoured to do. But - the scene is changed—I am no longer that frantic thing I was - while his danger appeared imminent. A calm sorrow for the - sufferings that await you on my account, and a heartfelt regret - at being obliged to quit your loved society for ever, has - succeeded. Yet, all this will soon have an end; and with comfort - I already anticipate the moment when your subsiding grief gives - you back to the enjoyment of each other. Still, my dearest - Julia, even when I shall be no more, your plagues on my account - are not likely to cease. You remember—I am sure you do—your kind - promise of protection to my poor, unfortunate little Louisa?[95] - I make no doubt but her mother will give her up to your care - without reluctance; yet, how to impose this new anxiety on you I - know not. But of this I will say nothing; I know your heart, and - never could resist the goodness with which it insisted on easing - mine by burdening itself. What to recommend relative to her I - cannot resolve. Harry did once desire me to take her into his - house, but I had a thousand objections to that plan then, some - of which still remain; one material one is, that she would soon - learn from servants and others how different her situation there - was from that of the other children, and her young mind would - very early feel that chilling inferiority and degradation, that - lead to a debasement of principle, and ultimately to mean and - unworthy actions. No; a great many reasons concur to decide me - against that measure. She should be put to some school where - more care is taken of her health than education, and where the - attention to morals consists in good, honest example. Apropos, - she was at a Mrs. Duggan’s, at Bray, to whom I yet owe ten - guineas for her, and which I request of my dear mother to pay - for me, when convenient; I likewise owe a note of hand for about - thirteen pounds or guineas to a man in Capel Street whom the - Flemings know. I cannot mention the name of these friends - without emotions of gratitude and tenderness not to be - expressed. Never cease to assure them that I preserve the - recollection of their goodness, though the instances of it are - so many, and I shall feel it to the last moment. This debt they - will be obliged to pay if not discharged by my mother, as they - passed their word for it—you will therefore mention it to my - poor afflicted mother. Great God! how have I stripped her and - you; but I have stripped you of happiness, and should not talk - of money.... - -Footnote 95: - - His daughter. - - “Good night, Julia; I am going to rest with a heart, thank God, - free from the consciousness of intentional offence, and from any - wish tainted with personal resentment. I seek my bed with - pleasure, because in it I often fancy myself in the full - possession of that domestic happiness which I always regarded as - the first of human enjoyments. Pray heaven I dream of you all - night.... - - “Adieu, Julia, my light is just out; the approach of darkness is - like that of death, since both alike require I should say - farewell for ever. Oh, my dear family, farewell for ever!” - - - MISS BYRNE - -Miles Byrne in his _Memoirs_ makes frequent mention of a brave sister of -his, and incidentally throws much light on the way the women of Wexford -helped their men during these soul-testing times. When the atrocities of -the Orange magistrates and the Ancient Britons had forced the men to the -hills, the women undertook to act as intelligence officers and keep them -informed of the progress of the preparations for the Rising. Miss Byrne -was one of the most active of these fearless girls. On one occasion -Miles returned to his mother’s house and found his sister alone in it, -for their mother had gone to Gorey to try and get their step-brother -Hugh, out of prison. “We arrived a little before daybreak. I approached -the house with great precaution (lest there should be soldiers placed -there), and I must add overwhelmed with anxiety, fearing to learn -everything for the worst. However, finding all silent, I went at once -and knocked. My poor sister came to the window, trembling and alarmed, -until she saw it was I.... Before I had time to answer any questions my -sister told me she hoped to have good news to tell me in the morning; -that it was certain the people were rising in every direction, and had -already defeated the troops. She could not then give me the details, but -in an hour or two she was sure to be able to satisfy me in every -particular.” - -Miles and his companions concealed themselves in the fields until his -sister could procure the tidings she expected. “When it was broad -daylight we saw my sister running to look for us to give us the cheerful -tidings with all the joyful enthusiasm so characteristic of a young -Irish girl of eighteen. She told us that the troops had run away from -Gorey, and that all the prisoners were at liberty to go where they -pleased; but still the people, or the Insurgent army, as we must now -call them, did not march that way, but were in great force in the -neighbourhood of Camolin and Ferns. We instantly prepared to go and join -them.... - - “It was only now I heard for the first time of all the barbarous - murders that had been committed whilst I was away; the massacre - of Carnew, the murder of poor Garrett Fennell, Darcy, and a list - of others who had shared the same fate. My dear sister thought - she could never tell me enough about all that had happened - during my absence; how our horses were taken, and that three men - mounted my mare and sprained her back, etc. But if I had not - remarked a long scar on her neck she would not have mentioned - anything about herself. A yeoman of the name of Wheatley, on the - day that poor Hugh was arrested, threatened to cut her throat - with his sabre if she did not instantly tell the place where I - was hiding; the cowardly villain no doubt would have put his - threat into execution had not some of his comrades interfered to - prevent him. - - “Being joined by a few of our former workmen and tenants’ sons, - who heard I had returned, I prepared again to take leave of my - sister, knowing that my dear mother would soon be home to keep - her company. This time she saw me depart with joy and delight, - for she had set her heart and soul on the success of our - undertaking; her courage and spirit was surprising under such - circumstances for a girl of her age, and she never despaired. I - bid her farewell, and marched off with my faithful friends on - the road to Camolin.” - - - MISS TEELING - -Charles Teeling in his “Personal Narrative” pays tribute to “the heroic -courage” of one of his own sisters. “She was my junior”—he was only in -his eighteenth year himself—“and with the gentlest possessed the noblest -soul; she has been the solace of her family in all subsequent -afflictions, and seemed to have been given as a blessing by Heaven, to -counterpoise the ills we were doomed to suffer.” When the first letters -“from home” were delivered to the poor prisoners in Kilmainham he -records the sensation he experienced on getting one from his father -“which also bore the signature of the sister whom I loved.” - - - MISS HAZLETT - -Another sister commemorated by Teeling is Miss Hazlett, the sister of -Henry Hazlett, of Belfast. She had come to Dublin, with Henry’s little -son, to comfort their brother by their visits to his prison. “It was -impossible to exclude her visits from the prison, for, from the surly -turnkey to the cold and impenetrable man of office, her voice acted as a -talisman on the most obdurate heart. Her presence dispelled every gloom, -as the cheering messenger of Heaven.” The little boy caught a contagious -disease, and his beautiful young aunt, nursing him, contracted it also, -and one day to the sorrowing prisoners in Kilmainham, who had all -learned to love her, there came the news of her death. Her funeral from -Dublin to the North was made a national demonstration. “The daughters of -Erin strewed garlands in the way—thousands of youthful patriots -surrounded the bier—and in the mournful procession of an hundred miles, -every town and hamlet paid homage to the virtues of the dead.” - - * * * * * - -The tender and beautiful Irish usage extends the use of the words -_dearbrathair_ (brother), and _deirbhshiur_ (sister) to other bonds than -those of blood. And many of the gentle and pitying women who ministered -to the sufferers of those times are truly deserving of the lovely title. -The girls from the hotel in Newry who pressed forward under the very -hoofs of the cavalry horses to bring refreshments to the carriages of -the prisoners of ’96, Charles Teeling, Russell, Neilson, etc., were -surely worthy of it. The women who forced their way into the prisons -“with bread, and comfort, and grace” were worthy of it. The women whom -Holt so frequently shows us at their works of mercy were worthy of it. -On one occasion he came to a farmhouse whose only occupants were an old -woman and her pretty daughter. “They brought me hot water to bathe my -feet, and clean stockings and linen, and took my own and washed them. -They then gave me oatcakes and butter-milk, which after I had eaten, -they shewed me a comfortable bed, where I slept for several hours....” -Finding that the news of his death had been reported to them, and caused -them overwhelming sorrow, he informed them of his identity. Their joy at -his safety, and their pride at having him for their guest was beyond all -telling. Presently “twenty-four poor unfortunates came into the house, -who were all desired to sit down, and oaten cakes were placed before -them, and the young woman was busily employed in baking more cakes on -the griddle; she afterwards told me they had been so employed for some -days past.” - -And talking of “Sisters” reminds us of the striking fact that it was in -the prisons of the United Irishmen, our Irish Sisters of Charity had, in -a certain sense, their origin. In the letters of Mr. Luke Teeling to his -wife, we find frequent mention of a Miss Alicia Walsh, who came with her -aunt, Ally Lynch, of Drogheda (Mrs. Teeling’s sister) to visit him in -his prison at Carrickfergus. “Ally Walsh is an uncommonly fine girl,” he -notes of her approvingly. Many a tongue was to echo Mr. Teeling’s praise -in the after-days when “Ally Walsh,” the first companion of Mary -Aikenhead, had become the celebrated Mother Catherine of the Gardiner -Street Convent. To learn more of her I must refer my readers to Mrs. -Atkinson’s “Mary Aikenhead.” I shall content myself here with borrowing -Mrs. Atkinson’s account of her experiences in ’Ninety-Eight. - - “During the rebellion of 1798, she went from prison to prison at - much personal risk, to carry messages from friends, or to - console the inmates who were the objects of her deepest - sympathy. Some of her nearest and dearest relatives[96] suffered - greatly, not only from the confiscation and unjust oppression, - but also from barbarous bodily tortures which at that period - were commonly inflicted at the will of a licentious soldiery. - One of her friends, a young man of exemplary life, was stripped - to the waist, tied to a cart, and dragged through the streets of - Drogheda, his inhuman executioners flogging him all the way, - until at last he fainted under their hands, and was consigned to - a prison cell. The first intimation his mother received of the - occurrence that had taken place was a demand for old linen to - dress her son’s back which was one hideous wound. - -Footnote 96: - - The Teelings conspicuously. Her own father, Mr. Walsh, of the - Naul, though like Mr. Teeling he had taken no part in the - Rising, was ruined by the pillaging and burning tactics of the - Orangemen and the Yeomanry. - - “In the family of a near neighbour at Naul, a circumstance - occurred equally characteristic of the time. A young lady was - engaged to be married to a gentleman, who having been connected - with the insurgents in ’98, was obliged to fly from his home. He - took refuge in the house of his intended brother-in-law, who had - been forced to join a corps of yeomanry. The fugitive’s track - was discovered, the yeomanry were called out, and he, having - again taken to flight, was overtaken at a village near Dublin, - and hanged from a post in the street by the young man from whose - house he had just escaped and who dared not shirk the duty. The - poor rebel’s mother never learned the fate that had befallen her - son. She was persuaded that he had gone abroad; and up to her - death she continued making shirts and knitting stockings, which - were sent, as she supposed, in parcels to the refugee in a - distant land.” - -Mary Aikenhead, herself, was, perhaps, too young—only eleven—to have any -very active share in the charities the Cork ladies exercised towards the -sufferers of ’98—but her father was an ardent sympathiser with “the -Cause,” and Lord Edward Fitzgerald was concealed, on one occasion, at -their house. Perhaps it was in memory of this—or perhaps it was because -she felt what I have tried to express: that the Sisterhood Mary -Aikenhead founded, proceeded so largely from ’Ninety-Eight and all it -stood for—that Lady Lucy Fitzgerald (or as she then was, Lady Lucy -Foley) left at her death, a generous legacy to the Sisters of Charity. -One cannot help thinking that the list of the first companions of Mary -Aikenhead must have sounded to Lady Lucy like a roll-call of names made -immortal in the ranks of the United Irishmen. There were Teelings, -Sweetmans, Clinches, O’Reillys, Bellews, and many others. - -Mrs. Coleman (Mother Mary de Chantal) was born amid the troubles that -preceded ’98. “Her father, a gentleman farmer in Meath or Louth, ... was -suspected of disaffection. On the very night his little daughter was to -come into the world, the house was surrounded by a troop of armed men, -whose heavy footsteps, presently heard on the stairs, gave the alarm to -the inmates, who hurried away ‘the poor mistress’ under cover of the -darkness to an uninhabited hut sometimes used by the herd. She gave up -all for lost, and resigned herself to die, knowing well that no human -assistance awaited her in the hour of her utmost need. Her piety was -sincere, her faith was strong, and she had an ardent devotion to the -Blessed Virgin. As her husband forced open the door and led her into the -dark hut, she heard a voice distinctly say: ‘Do not fear, Mary, I will -protect you and your child’; while at the same time a bright light -filled the place. Then and there under its influence the child was -born.” - -So, too, we may say, in the darkness of Ireland’s Agony in -’Ninety-Eight, illumined miraculously by the Faith and Hope and Charity -of Ireland’s womanhood, there was born the great Congregation to which -that little child was destined to belong. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - SARAH CURRAN AND ANNE DEVLIN - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Sarah Curran and Anne Devlin - - “The rose left her cheek, the brave eyes grew dim, - She drained the bitter cup of sorrow to the brim— - When that sad September noon saw your young heart low, - And the dawn of Ireland shrouded in a bleak cloud of woe. - - “I had died for you gladly, my courage never quailed, - When their swords pierced my bosom, their wild threats assailed; - Nor did their prison torture win from me a single tear— - _That_ memory of grief and pain would die if you were here.” - —Ethna Carbery: _Anne Devlin’s Lament for Emmet_. - - -SHALL we not join together the two women, whom love for Robert Emmet has -dowered with a common immortality, and whom a common agony of loss has -bound, one to the other, in the eternal sisterhood of sorrow? So best -shall our love and pity reach them both—the fragile girl who died of a -broken heart for _his_ sake, and the strong girl whose brave heart -faced—for _his_ sake likewise—tortures that were worse than death. And -let it not weaken our sympathy with Sarah Curran to remember that the -sentimental generation which wept for her (in the rose-tinted shades of -its Whig drawing-rooms, the while Tommy Moore set her sorrows to the -sweetest and saddest of music) _allowed Anne Devlin to die of -starvation_. - - - SARAH CURRAN - -In thinking of Sarah Curran we paraphrase unconsciously the pitiful -lines of one of our Irish poets and say of her: - - “There was a _maid_ whom Sorrow named his friend, - And _she_ of her high comrade Sorrow dreaming, - Went walking with slow steps.” - -From her earliest years sorrow had walked with her as friend with -friend; and the sadness of her death was but in keeping with the sadness -of her birth, of her disposition, of her home-life, of her love story. - -We know from the confidences of John Philpot Curran’s most intimate -friends that the brilliant gaiety of his convivial hours alternated with -fits of the blackest depression. His friend, Charles Phillips, writes of -him: “It was with him as it is with every person whose spirits are apt -to be occasionally excited—the depression is at intervals in exact -proportion.... He was naturally sensitive—domestic misfortunes rendered -his home unhappy—he flew for a kind of refuge into public life; and the -political ruin of his country, leaving him without an object of private -enjoyment or of patriotic hope, flung him upon his own heart-devouring -reflections.... It was a deplorable thing to see him, in the decline of -life, when visited by this constitutional melancholy. I have not -unfrequently accompanied him in his walks upon such occasions, almost at -the hour of midnight. He had gardens attached to the Priory, of which he -was particularly fond; and into these gardens, when so affected, no -matter at what hour, he used to ramble. It was then almost impossible to -divert his mind from themes of sadness. The gloom of his own thoughts -discoloured everything, and from calamity to calamity he would wander -on—seeing in the future nothing for hope, and in the past nothing but -disappointment.” - -The home of such a man cannot have been a very happy one for his -children; and the sufferings imposed on his family by Curran’s attacks -of _melancholia_ must have been aggravated in the case of his youngest -daughter Sarah, who inherited, with her father’s genius and her father’s -artistic and musical sensibility, more than her share of her father’s -disposition to sadness. In the large dark mournful eyes of her, which -had also come to her from her father, was mirrored the hereditary -sadness of her soul. - -This hereditary sadness, fostered by an unhappy home-life, was further -strengthened by two events which darkened her childhood. The one was the -death of her favourite sister, Gertrude, who died at the age of twelve, -when Sarah herself was a girl of eleven. Gertrude was a musical prodigy, -and the whole family, and especially Sarah and her father, who were -passionately fond of music, worshipped her. Curran insisted on the dead -girl being buried in the Priory grounds, and she was laid to rest under -a large tree on the lawn, directly opposite the window of the children’s -nursery. “Under its shade they [_i.e._ Gertrude and Sarah] had often sat -together, pulled the first primroses at its roots, and watched in its -leaves the earliest verdure of the spring. Many an hour, for many a -year, did the sorrowful survivor take her silent stand at the melancholy -window, gazing on the well-known spot, which constituted all her little -world of joys and sorrows. To this circumstance she attributed the -tendency to melancholy which formed so marked a feature of her character -through life.”[97] - -Footnote 97: - - Quoted by Madden from article entitled “Some Passages in the History - of Sarah Curran,” in “Literary Souvenir” of 1831. The writer is - believed to have been a lady of the Crawford family, who were intimate - friends of Sarah and her people. - -Two years after Gertrude’s death, a grief even more intolerable befel -our poor Sarah. She lost her mother, whose favourite daughter she -was—and it was worse than death which caused the separation. Sarah was -fourteen at the time—old enough to feel the shame, and to suffer the -agony of it in every fibre of her pure and noble nature. So overwhelmed -was she with grief that it was thought advisable for her to leave the -Priory for some time. She therefore accepted the offer of hospitality -made her by an early college friend of her father, Rev. Thomas Crawford, -of Lismore, and remained with his family “until better thoughts at home -led to her return to it.” - -At what time she learned to know Robert Emmet we are not definitely -informed. The Emmets and the Currans were old acquaintances—if not -friends—and for a time at least Thomas Addis Emmet and John Philpot -Curran were neighbours in Rathfarnham. They must have often met, -likewise, in the law-courts. Richard Curran, Sarah’s eldest brother, was -a fellow-student of Robert Emmet’s at Trinity, and it was ostensibly to -see him, and to enjoy the witty conversation of his father that Robert -Emmet, after his return from Paris in 1802, paid his frequent visits to -the Priory. Curran loved to see youth around him, and made the young men -heartily welcome. - -And all the time it was Sarah that drew the young patriot to the house -her presence glorified for him—Sarah with her pale and delicate -loveliness, the soft cloud of her black hair, the haunting sadness of -her great dark eyes, the exquisite voice of her that moved him to the -very depths of his soul, singing some of the tender old Irish airs he -loved so well! Sarah with her fatal dower of loveliness, and genius, and -music, and passion—and sorrow. - - * * * * * - -It is quite certain that after the failure of the Insurrection of July -23rd, 1803, Emmet could have escaped to America, had not he risked his -all for the sake of one last meeting with his love. He came back to an -old lodging of his at the house of Mrs. Palmer at Harold’s Cross, and -from this place he sent a letter through Anne Devlin to Sarah Curran. - -A few days later, Government received information that Emmet was at Mrs. -Palmer’s. On August 25, Major Sirr rode out there and captured him, -bringing him back handcuffed, to Dublin Castle, whence he was committed -to Kilmainham Gaol on the charge of High Treason. - -When he was arrested, two letters[98] in a lady’s hand-writing were -found in his possession. As these letters clearly showed that their -writer was fully acquainted with Emmet’s plans, the authorities were -most anxious to discover from whom they came. They half suspected that -they had been written by his sister, Mrs. Holmes, and that the language -of a love affair was adopted as a means of averting suspicion. Emmet, in -an agony of mind, lest the writer should be discovered, offered at his -Examination before the Privy Council to accept any consequences for -himself if the lady’s name should not appear. - -Footnote 98: - - MacDonagh: “Viceroy’s Post-Bag,” p. 342 _et seq._ - -Alas! it was his own mistaken trust in the turnkey of Kilmainham, George -Dunn, which put Government in possession of the knowledge they had -hitherto vainly sought. Dunn had been bribed by St. John Mason, Emmet’s -cousin, to facilitate his escape, but while pretending to fall in with -Mason’s plans he had in reality betrayed them to the Castle. Knowing -nothing of this, Emmet entrusted to George Dunn, a letter openly -addressed to “Miss Sarah Curran”—and this letter (which clearly -indicated her as the writer of the others) was, within an hour, in the -hands of the Chief Secretary. - -Amid the other grim documents of the Home Office Secret Papers this love -letter of Emmet’s keeps strange company. It has been published, for the -first time, in “The Viceroy’s Post-Bag” (p. 358):— - - “My dearest Love, - - “I don’t know how to write to you. I never felt so oppressed in - my life as at the cruel injury I have done to you. I was seized - and searched with a pistol over me before I could destroy your - letters. They have been compared with those found before. I was - threatened with having them brought forward against me in Court. - I offered to plead guilty if they would suppress them. This was - refused. Information (without mentioning names) was required. I - refused, but offered since if I would be permitted to consult - others, and that they would consent to enter into any - accommodation of that nature to save the lives of those - condemned, that I would only require for my part of it to have - those letters suppressed, and that I would stand my trial. It - has been refused. My love, can you forgive me? - - “I wanted to know whether anything had been done respecting the - person who wrote the letters, for I feared you might have been - arrested. They refused to tell me for a long time. At length, - when I said that it was but fair if they expected I should enter - into any accommodation that I should know for what I was to do - it, they then asked me whether bringing you into the room to me - would answer my purpose, upon which I got up and told them that - it might answer theirs better. I was sure you were arrested, and - I could not stand the idea of seeing you in that situation. When - I found, however, that this was not the case, I began to think - that they only meant to alarm me; but their refusal has only - come this moment and my fears are renewed. Not that they can do - anything to you even if they would be base enough to attempt it, - for they can have no proof who wrote them, nor did I let your - name escape me once, nor even acknowledge that they were written - directly to myself. But I fear they may suspect from the stile, - and from the hair, for they took the stock[99] from me, and I - have not been able to get it back from them, and that they may - think of bringing you forward. - -Footnote 99: - - Is this the black velvet stock with the lock of hair, marked - Miss C., attached to it which Madden says was sold at - Russborough’s auction in “the thirties”? - - “I have written to your father to come to me to-morrow. Had you - not better speak to himself to-night. Destroy my letters that - there may be nothing against yourself, and deny having any - knowledge of me further than seeing me once or twice. For God’s - sake, write to me by the bearer one line to tell me how you are - in spirits. I have no anxiety, no care, about myself; but I am - terribly oppressed about you. My dearest love, I would with joy - lay down my life, but ought I to do more? Do not be alarmed; - they may try to frighten you, but they cannot do more. God bless - you, my dearest love. - - “I must send this off at once; I have written it in the dark. My - dearest Sarah, forgive me.” - - * * * * * - -The next morning Major Sirr and a party of yeomanry presented themselves -at the Priory with warrants to search the house for papers, and arrest -Sarah Curran. The events of that morning are graphically described by -the Chief Secretary, Mr. Wickham, to the Home Secretary. - - “_Secret_ - “Dublin Castle, _Sept. 9, 1803_. - - “My dear Sir, - - “The writer of the letter found in Mr. Emmet’s pocket is - discovered. She proves to be Mr. Curran’s youngest daughter. - This discovery has given rise to some very unpleasant and - distressing scenes. It became indispensably necessary to search - the apartment of the lady for papers. She resided at her - father’s house in the country near Rathfarnham, within a short - distance of Butterfield Lane. Major Sirr was sent there this - morning with a letter addressed to Mr. Curran, of which I send a - copy inclosed. Unfortunately, Mr. Curran was not at home, and - still more unfortunately the young lady was not up, tho’ the - rest of the family (two other daughters and a son) were - assembled at breakfast, so that the Major entered the room where - she was still in bed. This circumstance occasioned a scene of - great confusion and distress, and was also productive of some - inconvenience, for whilst the Major and the other daughter were - giving assistance to Mr. Emmet’s correspondent—who was thrown - into violent convulsions—the eldest Miss Curran continued to - destroy some papers, the few scraps of which that were saved - were in Mr. Emmet’s hand-writing. - - “I have the satisfaction to add that Mr. Curran is satisfied - that Government has acted throughout with great personal - delicacy towards him, and that on his part he has acted fairly - towards Government, and that he was unquestionably ignorant of - the connection between his daughter and Mr. Emmet. - - “The Lord Lieutenant particularly requests that Miss Curran’s - name may not be mentioned. It is difficult that it should be - long concealed, but it is desirable that it should not be first - mentioned by any member of Government in either country. - - “The Attorney-General, who has had the kindness to go himself to - Mr. Curran’s house at Rathfarnham, gives the most melancholy and - affecting account of the state in which he left the whole - family.” - - * * * * * - -Curran had been engaged by Emmet as his Counsel, but he immediately -threw up his brief. He had never liked the Emmets; but now when Robert’s -action had brought danger to his own family, and obstacles to his own -advancement, his feeling towards him—and towards his own daughter—became -a hatred, with elements of madness in it. Of his treatment of the latter -we shall speak later. - -To the curt letter in which Curran announced to the prisoner his refusal -to act as his Counsel, Robert replied as follows:— - - “I did not expect you to be my counsel: I nominated you because - not to have done so might have appeared remarkable. Had Mr. - ——[100] been in town I did not even wish to have seen you, but - as he was not I wrote to you to come to me at once. I know that - I have done you very severe injury, much greater than I can - atone for with my life. That atonement I did offer to make - before the Privy Council, by pleading guilty if those documents - were suppressed. I offered more. I offered if I was permitted to - consult some persons, and if they would consent to an - accommodation for saving the lives of others, that I would only - require for my part of it the suppression of those documents, - and that I would abide the event of my own trial. This was also - rejected, and nothing but individual information (with the - exception of names) would be taken. My intention was not to - leave the suppression of these documents to possibility, but to - render it unnecessary for anyone to plead for me, by pleading - guilty to the charge myself. - -Footnote 100: - - Madden believes that the name indicated by the blank was that - of his brother-in-law, Robert Holmes. But it seems from other - references more likely to have been Councillor Burton—Curran’s - clerk. - - “The circumstances that I am now going to mention I do not - state in my own justification. When I first addressed your - daughter I expected that in another week my own fate would be - decided. I knew that in case of success many others might look - on me differently from what they did at that moment, but I - speak with sincerity when I say that I never was anxious for - situation or distinction myself, and I did not wish to be - united to one who was. I spoke to your daughter neither - expecting, nor, in fact, under those circumstances, wishing, - that there should be a return of attachment, but wishing to - judge of her dispositions—to know how far they might not be - unfavourable or disengaged, and to know what foundation I - might afterwards have to count on. I received no encouragement - whatever. She told me she had no attachment for any person, - nor did she seem likely to have any that could make her wish - to quit you. - - “I staid away till the time had elapsed when I found that the - event to which I have alluded was to be postponed indefinitely. - I returned by a kind of infatuation, thinking that to myself - only was I giving pleasure or pain. I perceived no progress of - attachment on her part, nor anything in her conduct to - distinguish me from a common acquaintance. - - “Afterwards I had reason to suppose that discoveries were made, - and that I should be obliged to quit the Kingdom immediately; - and I came to make a renunciation of any approach to friendship - that might have been formed. On that very day she herself spoke - to me to discontinue my visits. I told her that it was my - intention, and I mentioned the reason. I then for the first time - found, when I was unfortunate, by the manner in which she was - affected, that there was a return of affection, and that it was - too late to retreat. My own apprehensions, also I found - afterwards were without cause, and I remained. - - “There has been much culpability on my part in all this; but - there has also been a great deal of that misfortune which seems - uniformly to have accompanied me. - - “That I have written to your daughter since an unfortunate event - has taken place was an additional breach of propriety, for which - I have suffered well. But I will candidly confess that I not - only do not feel it to have been of the same extent, but that I - consider it to have been unavoidable after what has passed; for - though I will not attempt to justify in the smallest degree my - former conduct, yet, when an attachment was once formed between - us—and a sincerer one never did exist—I feel that, peculiarly - circumstanced as I then was, to have left her uncertain of my - situation would neither have weaned her affections nor lessened - her anxiety; and looking upon her as one, whom, if I had lived, - I hoped to have had my partner for life, I did hold the removing - of her anxiety above every other consideration. I would rather - have had the affections of your daughter in the back settlements - of America, than the first situation this country could afford - without them. - - “I know not whether this will be any extenuation of my offence. - I know not whether it will be any extenuation of it to know that - if I had that situation in my power at this moment I would - relinquish it to devote my life to her happiness. I know not - whether success would have blotted out the recollection of what - I have done. But I know that a man with the coldness of death on - him need not be made to feel any other coldness, and that he may - be spared any addition to the misery he feels, not for himself, - but for those to whom he has left nothing but sorrow.” - - * * * * * - -There were all the elements of the cad in John Philpot Curran’s -character, and these came to the surface after his return to his house -on September 9th, when he presented himself in the darkened chamber -where his daughter lay in her agony. After one terrible interview, he -refused to see her, or to speak to her, ever again. - -He had perforce to shelter her for a little time longer under his -roof—for brain fever, followed by a temporary loss of reason, brought -her to death’s door. She was thus mercifully spared, as her friend said, -“the misery of travelling step by step, through the wilderness of woe -which Emmet’s trial and execution would have proved to her.” - -On the night before his execution (while his love tossed in the delirium -of fever, and the sister who watched by her bed had her heart torn by -the way she called his name) Robert Emmet wrote two letters which are -eloquent of the thoughts of her which filled his heart until it ceased -to beat. One is addressed to her brother, Richard, who had found means -to send his friend a message of kindness, which might almost atone for -his father’s caddish cruelty: - - “My dearest Richard, - - “I find I have but a few hours to live; but if it was the last - moment, and that the power of utterance was leaving me, I would - thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generous - expressions of affection and forgiveness to me. If there was - anyone in the world in whose breast my death might be supposed - not to stifle every spark of resentment, it might be you. I have - deeply injured you—I have injured the happiness of a sister that - you love, and who was formed to give happiness to everyone about - her, instead of having her mind a prey to affliction. Oh! - Richard, I have no excuse to offer, but that I meant the - reverse. I intended as much happiness for Sarah as the most - ardent love could have given her. I never did tell you how much - I idolised her. It was not with a wild or unfounded passion, but - it was an attachment increasing every hour, from an admiration - of the purity of her mind and respect for her talents. I did - dwell in secret upon the prospect of our union. I did hope that - success, while it afforded the opportunity of our union, might - be a means of confirming an attachment which misfortune had - called forth. I did not look to honours for myself—praise I - would have asked from the lips of no man; but I would have - wished to read in the glow of Sarah’s countenance that her - husband was respected. - - “My love, Sarah! it was not thus that I thought to have requited - your affection. I did hope to be a prop round which your - affections might have clung, and which would never have been - shaken; but a rude blast has snapped it, and they have fallen - over a grave. - - “This is no time for affliction. I have had public motives to - sustain my mind, and I have not suffered it to sink; but there - have been moments in my imprisonment when my mind was so sunk by - grief on her account that death would have been a refuge. God - bless you, my dearest Richard. I am obliged to leave off - immediately.” - -The second was addressed to Thomas Addis Emmet and his wife. It was -suppressed by the Lord Lieutenant’s orders, and found its final -destination in the Home Office Secret Papers, whence Mr. MacDonagh first -exhumed it: - - “My dearest Tom and Jane, - - “I am just going to do my last duty to my country. It can be - done as well on the scaffold as on the field. Do not give way to - any weak feeling on my account, but rather encourage proud ones - that I have possessed fortitude and tranquillity of mind to the - last. - - “God bless you and the young hopes that are growing up about - you. May they be more fortunate than their uncle; but may they - preserve as pure and ardent an attachment to their country as he - has done. Give the watch to little Robert. He will not prize it - the less for having been in the possession of two Roberts before - him. I have one dying request to make to you. I was attached to - Sarah Curran, the youngest daughter of your friend. I did hope - to have had her my companion for life. I did hope that she would - not only have constituted my happiness, but that her heart and - understanding would have made her one of Jane’s dearest friends. - I know that Jane would have loved her on my account and I feel - also that had they been acquainted she must have loved her on - her own. No one knew of the attachment until now, nor is it now - generally known, therefore do not speak of it to others. She is - living with her father and brother, but if these protectors - should fall off and that no other should replace them, treat her - as my wife and love her as a sister. God Almighty bless you all. - Give my love to all my friends.” - - * * * * * - -As soon as his daughter was able to travel, Curran drove her from his -house. She first found shelter with her kind friends the Crawfords, of -Lismore, and subsequently with a Quaker family called Penrose at -Woodhill, Cork, whose kindness to the broken-hearted, homeless girl -helped to restore her to some degree of strength. On one occasion, -during her stay with them, they persuaded her to go to a masked ball in -Cork. The “mask” selected for her was that of a wandering ballad-singer, -and in this character she sang, in the exquisite voice, which had so -often charmed her dead young lover, some of the beautiful, plaintive -Irish airs of Owenson. - -A romantic young officer, Captain Sturgeon, lost his heart to the -singer—and when he heard her story his affections were but the more -deeply engaged. Himself, the offspring of a most romantic marriage,[101] -he found in the halo of poetry, with which Sarah’s sad love-story -invested her, but an added attraction. He, therefore, proposed for her -hand; and the Penroses who saw in this marriage, the one hope of their -friend’s future settlement, urged his suit with much ardour. At this -time consumption had declared itself in her fragile form, and the -doctors stated that residence in a warm climate was necessary to save -her life. Captain Sturgeon was ordered to Sicily in the winter of 1805, -and this fact seemed to Miss Curran’s friends, the Penroses, an -additional reason for urging her to accept his proposal. - -Footnote 101: - - His mother, Lady Harriet Wentworth, sister to the Marquis of - Rockingham, had married her footman. - -At last she yielded to the united entreaties of her friends and gave her -hand to Captain Sturgeon, with his full knowledge that her heart was -buried in Emmet’s unknown grave. - -In the spring of 1808 the English had to abandon Sicily, when Captain -Sturgeon and his wife returned to England in a crowded transport, in -very tempestuous weather. An unfinished letter of Sarah’s to one of her -friends, will tell in all the pathos of its simplicity the end of her -sorrowful story: - - “Hythe, _April 17, 1808_. - - “My dear M——, I suppose you do not know of my arrival from - Sicily, or I should have heard from you. I must be very brief in - the details of events which have been so fatal to me, and which - followed our departure from that country. A most dreadful and - perilous passage occasioned me many frights. I was, on our - entrance into the channel, prematurely delivered of a boy, - without any assistance, save that of one of the soldier’s wives, - the only woman on board but myself. The storm being so high that - no boat could stand out to sea, I was in imminent danger till - twelve the next day, when, at the risk of his life, a physician - came on board from one of the ships and relieved me. The storm - continued, and I got brain fever, which, however, passed off. To - be short, on landing at Portsmouth, the precious creature for - whom I suffered so much, God took to Himself. The inexpressible - anguish I felt at this event, preying on me, has occasioned the - delay of my health. For the last month the contest between life - and death has seemed doubtful; but this day having called in a - very clever man, he seems not to think me in danger. My disorder - is a total derangement of the nervous system, and its most - dreadful effects I find in an attack on my mind and spirits. _I - suffer misery you cannot conceive._ I am often seized with heavy - perspirations, trembling and that indescribable horror which you - must know if ever you had fever. Write instantly to me. Alas! I - want everything to soothe my mind, O my friend, would to heaven - you were with me! nothing so much as the presence of a dear - female friend would tend to my recovery. But in England you know - how I am situated—not one I know intimately. To make up for this - my beloved husband is everything to me; his conduct throughout - all my troubles surpasses all praise. Write to me, dear M., and - tell me how to bear all these things. I have, truly speaking, - cast all my care on the Lord; but oh! how our weak natures fail - every day, every hour I may say. _On board the ship, when all - seemed adverse to hope, it is strange how an overstrained trust - in certain words of our Saviour gave me such perfect faith in - His help, that, though my baby was visibly pining away, I never - doubted his life for a moment. ‘He who gathers the lambs in His - arms,’ I thought, would look on mine if I had faith in Him. This - has often troubled me since._” - - * * * * * - -Extract from _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for 1808: “May 5th, 1808, at Hythe, -in Kent, of a rapid decline, aged 26, Sarah, wife of Captain Henry -Sturgeon, youngest daughter of the Right Hon. J. P. Curran, Master of -the Rolls in Ireland.” - - - ANNE DEVLIN - -In 1842 when Dr. Madden was engaged in his researches for his memoir of -Robert Emmet, he was directed to a certain old washerwoman, called -Campbell, then living in great poverty and obscurity in a stable-yard -off John’s Lane. This old woman, he was told, was the only one then -living, in all probability, who could give an authentic account of what -happened on the night of July the 23rd, 1803, after the flight of the -leaders and the rout of their followers. - -How did she come to have this information? For the reason that she had -helped Rosie Hope to cook and keep house for Robert Emmet and his -companions in the establishment he had leased (in the name of Robert -Ellis) in Butterfield Lane, Rathfarnham, during the months of active -preparation for the Rising. Her father was a well-to-do dairyman, of the -neighbourhood, and both he and his sons, as well as their kinsmen, -Michael Dwyer, the Wicklow “outlaw,” and Arthur Devlin, were deep in -Robert Emmet’s plans. His daughter’s housewifely skill had been devoted -to the Cause in the same spirit as her male relatives’ soldier-service. -Her maiden name, which Dr. Madden’s informant had previously omitted to -mention, was—Anne Devlin. - -Anne Devlin! Can anyone living to-day, with a drop of Irish blood in his -or her veins, hear that name without a great stirring of the heart? It -stands for a heroism, a fortitude, a devotion, a fidelity, a loyalty, -which even to have conceived, honours all human nature—and which to have -produced, ennobles Irish womanhood for all time. Anne Devlin! Amid the -great names of our race which thrill each Irish heart as with a trumpet -note, what name has power to move us as does that? - -We owe it to Dr. Madden that the name means so much to us. Had he not -sought her out, and drawn her story from her lips, and raised her body -from its pauper burial place to lay it, in its rightful place amid the -noblest in Glasnevin, that name might have meant as little to us as it -did to the generation, which Dr. Madden’s appeal for her (in the first -edition of his “United Irishmen”) left unmoved, and which, during his -absence, from Ireland, left her to die of cold and hunger in a tenement -house, and be buried in a pauper’s grave. - - * * * * * - - “In the summer of 1843,” writes Dr. Madden, “accompanied by Anne - Devlin, I proceeded to Butterfield Lane, to ascertain the fact - of the existence or non-existence of the house in which Robert - Emmet had resided in 1803. For a length of time our search was - fruitless. The recollection of a locality at the expiration of - forty years is a very dim sort of reminiscence. There was no - house in the lane the exterior of which reminded my conductress - of her old scene of suffering. At length her eye caught an old - range of buildings at some distance, like the offices of a - farmhouse. This she at once recognised as part of the premises - of her father, and she was soon able to point out the well-known - fields around it, which had once been in her father’s - possession. The house, alongside of which we were standing, on - the right-hand side of the lane going from Rathfarnham road, she - said must be the house of Mr. Emmet, though the entrance was - entirely altered; however, the position of an adjoining house - left little doubt in her mind. We knocked at the door, and I - found the house was inhabited by a lady of my acquaintance, the - daughter of a Protestant clergyman, who had been, strange to - say, the college friend and most intimate acquaintance of Robert - Emmet, the late Dr. Hayden, of Rathcoole. - - “The lady of the house, in whom I discovered an acquaintance, - left us in no doubt on the subject of the locality—we were in - the house that had been tenanted by Robert Emmet. The scene that - ensued is one more easily conceived than described. We were - conducted over the house—my aged companion at first in silence, - and then as if slowly awakening from a dream, rubbing her dim - eyes, and here and there pausing for some moments when she came - to some recognised spot. On the ground floor she pointed out a - small room, on the left-hand of the entrance—‘That’s the room - where Mr. Dowdall and Mr. Hamilton used to sleep.’ The entrance - has been changed from about the centre to the right-hand end; - the window of a small room there has been converted into the - door-way, and the room itself into the hall. ‘This,’ said Anne - Devlin, ‘was my room; I know it well—my mattress used to be in - that corner.’ There was one place, every corner and cranny of - which she seemed to have a familiar acquaintance with, and that - was the kitchen. On the upper floor, the principal bed-room at - the present time attracted her particular attention; she stood - for some time gazing into the room from the door-way; I asked - her whose room it had been. It was a good while before I got an - answer in words, but her trembling hands, and the few tears - which came from a deep source, and spoke of sorrow of an old - date, left no necessity to repeat that question—it was the room - of Robert Emmet. - - “Another on the same floor was that of Russell. They slept on - mattresses on the floor—there was scarcely any furniture in the - house; they often went out after dark, seldom or never in the - day-time. They were always in good spirits, and Mr. Hamilton - used often to sing—he was a very good singer; Mr. Robert - sometimes hummed a tune, but he was no great singer, but he was - the best and kindest-hearted of all the persons she had ever - known; he was too good for many of those who were about him. Of - Russell she spoke in terms hardly less favourable than those in - which she expressed her opinions of Emmet.... At the rear of the - house, in the courtyard, she pointed out the spot where she had - undergone the punishment of half-hanging, and while she did so - there was no appearance of emotions, such at least as one might - expect recalled terror might produce, but there were very - evident manifestations of another kind, of as lively a - remembrance of the wrongs and outrages that had been inflicted - on her, as if they had been endured but the day before, and of - as keen a sense of those indignities and cruelties, as if her - cowardly assailants had been before her, and those withered - hands of hers had power to grapple with them.” - -And then, amidst the very scenes which had been hallowed by Robert -Emmet’s presence and Anne Devlin’s sufferings Dr. Madden heard from her -lips the high, heroic tale once more. - - * * * * * - - “On July the 23rd at about eleven o’clock at night,” Anne Devlin - told Dr. Madden, “Robert Emmet, Nicholas Stafford, Michael - Quigley, Thomas Wylde, John Mahon, John Hevey, and the two - Perrotts from Naas came to the house at Butterfield Lane. She - first saw them outside of the house, in the yard; she was at - that moment sending off a man on horseback with ammunition in a - sack, and bottles filled with powder. She called out, ‘Who’s - there?’ Robert answered, ‘It’s me, Anne.’ She said, ‘Oh, bad - welcome to you, is the world lost by you, you cowards that you - are, to lead the people to destruction, and then to leave them.’ - Robert Emmet said, ‘Don’t blame me, the fault is not mine.’ They - then came in; Quigley was present, but they did not upbraid him. - Emmet and the others told her afterwards that Quigley was the - cause of the failure.... - - “They stopped at Butterfield lane that night and next day, and - at night about ten o’clock, fled to the mountains, when they got - information that the house was to be searched. Her father, who - kept a dairy close by, got horses for three of them, and went - with them. - - “Rose Hope, the wife of James Hope, had been there keeping the - house also. The reason of their stopping there that night was, - that Emmet expected Dwyer and the mountaineers down in the - morning by break of day, but Dwyer had not got Emmet’s previous - letter, and had heard of Emmet’s defeat only the next day, and - therefore did not come. Mr. Emmet and his companions first went - to Doyle’s in the mountains, and thence to the widow Bagenell’s. - Anne Devlin and Miss Wylde, the sister of Mrs. Mahon, two or - three days after, went up to the mountains in a jingle with - letters for them. They found Robert Emmet and his associates at - the Widow Bagenell’s, sitting on the side of the hill; some of - them were in their uniform, for they had no other clothes. - - “Robert Emmet insisted on coming back with her and her - companion, he parted with them before they came to Rathfarnham, - but she knows not where he went that night, but in a day or two - after he sent her to take a letter to Miss Curran; he was then - staying at Mrs. Palmer’s, at Harold’s Cross. - - “The day after ... a troop of yeomen came with a magistrate, and - searched the house. Every place was ransacked from top to - bottom. As for herself she was seized on when they first rushed - in, as if they were going to tear down the house. She was kept - below by three or four of the yeomen with their fixed bayonets - pointed at her, and so close to her body that she could feel - their points. When the others came down she was examined. She - said she knew nothing in the world about the gentlemen, except - that she was the servant maid; where they came from, where they - went to, she knew nothing about; and so long as her wages were - paid she cared to know nothing else about them. - - “The magistrate pressed her to tell the truth—he threatened her - with death if she did not tell; she persisted in asserting her - total ignorance of _Mr. Ellis’s_ acts and movements, and of - those of the other gentlemen. At length the magistrate gave the - word to hang her, and she was dragged into the courtyard to be - executed. There was a common car there—they tilted up the shafts - and fixed a rope from the backband that goes across the shafts, - and while these preparations were making for her execution, the - yeomen kept her standing against the wall of the house, prodding - her with their bayonets in the arms and shoulders till she was - all covered with blood, and saying to her at every thrust of the - bayonet, ‘Will you confess now; will you tell now where is Mr. - Ellis?’ Her constant answer was, ‘I have nothing to tell, I will - tell nothing.’ - - “The rope was at length put about her neck; she was dragged to - the place where the car was converted into a gallows; she was - placed under it, and the end of the rope was passed over the - backband. The question was put to her for the last time, ‘Will - you confess where Mr. Ellis is?’ Her answer was, ‘You may murder - me, you villains, but not one word about him will you ever get - from me.’ She had just time to say, ‘The Lord Jesus have mercy - on my soul,’ when a tremendous shout was raised by the yeomen; - the rope was pulled by all of them except those who held down - the back part of the car, and in an instant she was suspended by - the neck. After she had been thus suspended for two or three - minutes her feet touched the ground, and a savage yell of - laughter recalled her to her senses. The rope round her neck was - loosened, and her life was spared—she was let off with - half-hanging. She was then sent to town, and brought before - Major Sirr. - - “No sooner was she brought before Major Sirr, than he, in the - most civil and coaxing manner, endeavoured to prevail on her to - give information respecting Robert Emmet’s place of concealment. - The question continually put to her was, ‘Well, Anne, all we - want to know is, where did he go to from Butterfield lane?’ He - said he would undertake to obtain for her the sum (he did not - call it reward) of £500, which he added, ‘was a fine fortune for - a young woman,’ only to tell against persons who were not her - relations; that all the others had confessed the truth—which was - not true—and that they were sent home liberated, which was also - a lie.” - - Dr. Madden said to her with pretended seriousness, “You took the - money, of course.” Her indignant answer, accompanied by a look - to which Dr. Madden felt only a painter could do justice—was “Me - take the money—the price of Mr. Robert’s blood! No; I spurned - the rascal’s offer.” - - “The major went on coaxing, trying to persuade her to confess. - He said everything had been told him by one of her associates. - Nay, what’s more, he repeated word for word, what she had said - to Mr. Robert the night of the 23rd, when he came back to - Butterfield lane—‘Bad welcome to you, etc.’ One of the persons - present with him then must have undoubtedly been an informer. - After she had been some time in Kilmainham, Mr. Emmet was - arrested and sent to that prison. Dr. Trevor had frequently - talked to her about him, but she never ‘let on’ that she had any - acquaintance with him. At this time she was kept in solitary - confinement for refusing to give information. One day the doctor - came and spoke to her in a very good-natured way, and said she - must have some indulgence, she must be permitted to take - exercise in the yard. The turnkey was ordered to take her to the - yard, and he accordingly did so; but when the yard-door was - open, who should she see walking very fast up and down the yard, - but Mr. Robert. She thought she would have dropped. She saw the - faces of people watching her at a grated window that looked into - the yard, and her only dread was that Mr. Robert on recognising - her would speak to her; but she kept her face away, and walked - up and down on the other side; and when they had crossed one - another several times, at last they met at the end. She took - care, when his eyes met hers, to have a frown on her face, and - her finger raised to her lips. He passed on as if he had never - seen her—but he knew her well; and the half smile that came over - his face, and passed off in a moment, could hardly have been - observed except by one who knew every turn of his countenance. - The doctor’s plot failed, she was taken back to her cell, and - there was no more taking of air or exercise then for her. - - “She was in Kilmainham, a close prisoner, when Robert Emmet was - executed. She was kept locked up in a solitary cell, and indeed - always, with a few exceptions, was kept so during her - confinement the first year. The day after his execution she was - taken from gaol to the Castle, to be examined, through Thomas - Street. The gaoler had given orders to stop the coach at the - scaffold where Robert Emmet was executed. It was stopped there, - and she was forced to look at his blood, which was still plain - enough to be seen sprinkled over the deal boards. - - “At the latter end of her confinement, some gentlemen belonging - to the Castle had come to the gaol and seen her in her cell. She - told them her sad story, and it was told by them to the lord - lieutenant. From that time her treatment was altogether - different; she was not only allowed the range of the woman’s - ward, but was permitted to go outside the prison, and three or - four times, accompanied by her sister and Mrs. Dwyer and one of - the turnkeys, was taken to the Spa at Lucan for the benefit of - her health; for she was then crippled in her limbs, more dead - than alive, hardly able to move hand or foot. - - “At length Mr. Pitt died; it was a joyful day for Ireland. The - prisons were thrown open where many an honest person had lain - since the month of July, 1803.” - - * * * * * - -Anne Devlin’s narrative to Dr. Madden did not exhaust the full tale of -her sufferings. There is no mention in it of the fact that the whole of -her family, except one sister and a brother who were mere children, had -been thrown into prison, and their property ruined. As there was no -place for the little brother to go he found refuge in his father’s cell -in gaol. But the consolation of his boy’s company was not left long to -old Brian Devlin. Some communication having been discovered between him -and his daughter, the latter was removed from the new to the old gaol. -Some time after, the boy, then sick of a fever, was taken in the night -from his father’s cell and made to walk the mile which separated the new -from the old gaol. Here he died in circumstances which were looked on as -very suspicious. - -So atrocious was the treatment meted out to Anne Devlin by Dr. Trevor -that the other prisoners made special mention of it in a Memorial they -presented to Lord Hardwicke: “His treatment,” they stated, “of all, but -especially of one unfortunate State prisoner, a female, is shocking to -humanity, and exceeds credibility. He drives, through exasperation, the -mind to madness, of which instances have already occurred.” - -Of what befel Anne Devlin when, broken in health and crippled in limb, -she was at length liberated from Kilmainham we have no record. We must -fill in for ourselves the main features of the forty years that elapsed -before Dr. Madden discovered her in the old washerwoman, married to a -poor labourer in “a stable yard” off John’s Lane. Poverty, sickness, -grinding toil, hunger often, and want of every kind: these were her -portion through those long years of misery. - -She might have had a different portion. She might have said the one -little word her captors wanted her to say. She might have stretched out -her hands for their five hundred golden guineas, and walked forth that -moment a free woman. She might have seen her father’s fields restored to -him and his business flourishing; and she, herself, the well-dowered -daughter of the prosperous dairyman, would surely have found a -husband—not too squeamish about the origin of his wife’s fortune—to keep -her in comfort all the days of her life. She might have had all that -most men hold most dear—as the price of a single word. - -She chose instead—what seemed certain death, and then torture of every -description, both corporal and mental, until in the vile prison cell, -the strong mind snapped, and the vigorous body broke. But the will, -faithful to the end, never faltered. - - * * * * * - -The end of her story is told in a letter published by Dr. Madden in the -_Nation_ of September 27th, 1851:— - - “Four years ago an appeal was made in the _Nation_ on behalf of - Anne Devlin, which was in some small degree responded to—very, - very inadequately, however. Afterwards we lost sight of her - entirely. So it seems did others of her friends until it was too - late. But last week, a gentleman who always took the warmest - interest in this noble creature, was informed that she was still - living in a miserable garret of No. 2 Little Elbow Lane, a - squalid alley running from the Coombe to Pimlico. On this day - week he sought that wretched abode, but she had died two days - previously, and had been buried in Glasnevin on the preceding - day. A young woman with an ill-fed infant in her arms, - apparently steeped in poverty, but kindly-looking and - well-mannered, in whose room Anne Devlin had lodged, said: ‘The - poor creature, God help her, it was well for her she was dead. - There was a coffin got from the Society for her, and she was - buried the day before.’ To the enquiry, what complaint she had - died of, the answer was—‘She was old and weak indeed, but she - died mostly of want. She had a son, but he was not able to do - much for her, except now and then to pay her lodging, which was - fivepence a week. He lived away from her, and so did her - daughter, who was a poor widow, and was hard enough set to get a - living for herself. About ten or twelve days ago a gentleman - (she believed of the name of Meehan) called there, and gave the - old woman something. Only for this she would not have lived as - long as she did. _She was very badly off, not only for food, but - for bed-clothes. Nearly all the rags she had went at one time or - another, to get her a morsel of bread._’”[102] - -Footnote 102: - - Dr. Madden has with delicate reticence veiled his own charity - to Anne Devlin. It was during one of his absences abroad that - she was lost sight of immediately before her death. The - gentleman “of the name of Meehan” referred to in poor Anne’s - landlady’s statement was Rev. C. P. Meehan, the historian. - Father Meehan, Edward Kennedy (Miles Byrne’s half-brother), - and Dr. Madden—let us remember their three names with - gratitude, because out of their own scanty means, they tried - to save the Irish nation from the disgrace of allowing Anne - Devlin to die of hunger. - - * * * * * - - “It is a hard service they take, who help the Poor Old Woman.... - But for all that they think themselves well paid.” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - SOME OTHER ROMANCES OF ’NINETY-EIGHT - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Some Other Romances of ’Ninety-Eight - - “A pity beyond all telling - Is hid in the heart of love.”—_Yeats._ - - -“LOVE and pain and death”—these, in the final analysis, are the -substructure of life, and when some great force tears apart the -concealing surface, the revelation which makes plain one of them, -discovers the inevitable comradeship of the others. So when the mighty -cataclysm of ’Ninety-Eight revealed the Pain and Death which are two of -the foundations of life, there was revealed also, with a clearness which -ordinary times know not, the third foundation, Love. - - * * * * * - -When we think of Betsy Grey, it is as the heroine of a very tender and -sorrowful love-story. She was the daughter of a well-to-do farmer called -Hans Grey, and was born near Granshaw, a few miles from Bangor, Co. -Down. Her mother died when she was young, and her father, anxious to -make up the loss as far as in him lay, sent his beautiful girl to one of -the best boarding schools of the time. She returned, a lovely, -high-spirited, clever, thoughtful girl, extremely well-educated and -accomplished, and ardently interested in the burning questions of the -day. Willie Boal, a young farmer of the district, speedily lost his -heart to his charming neighbour, and when he found that his patriotic -dreams for Ireland were shared by her, his love quickened and deepened. -Willie Boal and Betsy’s brother, George Grey, were sworn United Men, and -it is believed that Betsy, like so many other women of those times, had -also taken the test. - -When the men of Down took the field in June, ’98, Betsy sought a place -in their embattled ranks. Father and brother and lover set themselves to -oppose her, and, as the best means of escaping her importunities, George -and Willie stole away to the muster at Ballynahinch, without letting her -know of their departure. When she discovered it, she went out into the -yard, yoked her mare to a cart, filled the latter, with bread, butter -and cheese, and gallantly set off unaccompanied. She arrived at the hill -of Ednavady on the night of June the 12th, and the next day took part in -the battle. The popular memory has preserved a vision of her, a -bright-faced, beautiful girl, dressed in green silk, mounted on her -gallant mare, and brandishing her burnished sword above her head, while -side by side with Munroe she led one victorious charge after another. - -Unfortunately the success attained by the contingents on her side of the -field was not general, and the close of the battle saw the patriots -routed from the field. - -Betsy, in company with her brother, and her sweetheart, gained a rough -tract of country, all broken with rocks and furze. Here they were -overtaken by a party of Annahilt yeomen, and all three ruthlessly -butchered. - -The bodies lay there all day, but at nightfall, the wife of the farmer -on whose land the tragedy had occurred, stole out with her little -son—and kind and reverent hands laid Betsy with her brother and lover in -their grave “in the vale of Ballycreen,” which even to-day is a place of -patriotic pilgrimage. - - * * * * * - -Both Dr. Madden and W. J. Fitzpatrick make frequent mention of Miss -Moore (afterwards Mrs. MacCready), and often quote her authority for -some of the most interesting episodes they relate. She was the daughter -of James Moore, a wealthy merchant, with two large establishments in -Thomas Street. She was educated in a convent at Tours, France, and -before the outbreak of the French Revolution had made her return to -Ireland necessary, had acquired an unusual mastery of the French -language. In Dublin her beauty, set off by her French toilettes, and her -cleverness, set off by her French education, made something of a -sensation, and she had many suitors. The favoured one was Dr. MacNevin. -Madden says that it was she who administered the United Irishmen’s oath -to him, and in this connection he reveals her romance. “There can be now -no impropriety in stating that the attachment which subsisted between -MacNevin and Miss Moore was not solely a political one, and that there -was a very ardent desire on the part of the former to make the fair -Roland of her day, an Irishwoman legally _united_ to him.” Miss Moore -herself had taken the oath from John Cormick, of Thomas Street, and she -informed Dr. Madden that, to her own knowledge, several women were sworn -members of the Society. - -She was often employed in bringing messages to the societies from Lord -Edward, and not unfrequently passed through the streets in Dr. Adrien’s -carriage, as a patient, with her arm bandaged and blood on her clothes. -Lord Edward was a great friend of her father’s, and stayed at their -house more than once, during the time he was in hiding, passing as her -French tutor. - -About May the 16th, Lord Edward being then under their roof (while the -Government Proclamation offered £1,000 reward for his arrest), a -carpenter called Tuite happened to be doing some repairs in Dublin -Castle. He heard the Under-Secretary, Cooke, say that James Moore’s -house was to be searched, and he made an excuse to leave the Castle and -warn Mr. Moore. As the latter had not only Lord Edward—but a -commissariat for about 500 men on his premises—he thought the further he -could get away from Dublin the better; so he fled to the banks of the -Boyne, leaving his wife and daughter to provide for the -Commander-in-Chief. Miss Moore, who, of course, had no reason to -distrust Francis Magan, thought that there could be no safer place for -the fugitive than in Magan’s house on Usher’s Island. She accordingly -arranged with Magan for his reception there, and “for safety sake” it -was suggested by Magan that, instead of coming in by his front door, the -party accompanying Lord Edward were to seek admittance through his -stables in Island Street. On the evening determined on, Mrs. and Miss -Moore, accompanied by the latter’s “French tutor” (Lord Edward), and -escorted by Mr. Moore’s confidential clerk, Gallagher, and his friend, -Palmer (in reality Lord Edward’s bodyguard), set off for an evening -stroll. They were met by Major Sirr and his men, who had (as, of course, -we know now) got the word from Magan. A conflict ensued, in which Sirr -fell to the ground and Gallagher was wounded, but Lord Edward and Miss -Moore got off. She conveyed him to Murphy’s, the feather merchant’s, and -returned home satisfied of his safety for the present. - -The next day Magan called on her, ostensibly to enquire why his expected -guest had not turned up, and professing the most genuine concern for -him. Miss Moore told him the whole story of their encounter of the night -before, and, still, of course, suspecting nothing, informed Magan that -Lord Edward was at Murphy’s. Magan at once communicated the tidings to -his employers—and that evening Lord Edward was taken up. - -On one occasion during these troubled times, Dr. Gahan, the Augustinian, -was visiting the Moores. Miss Moore had accompanied him to the hall, and -was seeing him out when a great double knock came to the door. When it -was opened, a body of soldiers marched in. Dr. Gahan stood politely -aside to let them pass, but the brutes seized the poor old man and -suspended him by the _queue_ to a hook in the warehouse, while they -proceeded to search the house. Miss Moore cut him down, and then made -off as swiftly as she could to warn the Directory, who were holding a -meeting in James’s Gate. They escaped by a window opening into a -neighbouring tanyard. As she returned, a soldier saw her, called her a -vile name, and made a lunge at her with his bayonet. She stooped and -thus saved herself, but the bayonet cut her shoulder. At that moment a -shot rang out, and her assailant fell dead. A bullet from the gun of one -of the best snipers the United Irishmen had in their ranks, had laid him -low. Subsequently her father was arrested, and lodged in Birmingham -Tower in the Castle. Miss Moore gave £500 to the doctor attending the -prisoners to certify that her father was insane. Major Sirr was rather -sceptical as to James Moore’s insanity, but the latter acted his part so -convincingly that he was released. - -Owing perhaps to the circumstance that the particulars of the lives of -Dr. MacNevin and Mrs. MacCready were furnished to Madden and Fitzpatrick -respectively, by a daughter in the one case, and a son in the other, no -mention of this romance of their early life occurs in either narrative. -We are left to conjecture the reasons why it ended as it did. On March -12th, 1798, Dr. MacNevin was arrested with the other leaders, and for -the next four years he was kept a prisoner, first in Dublin and -afterwards in Fort George. Did old James Moore, who, for all his -attachment to the Cause, had the bump of prudence and caution well -developed, take the opportunity of the doctor’s long exile to marry his -daughter to Mr. MacCready? That might well be. In 1810 Dr. MacNevin, -then in successful practice in America, married Mrs. Jane Margaret Tom, -widow of a New York merchant, and sister of his intimate friend, Mr. -Richard Riker. - - * * * * * - -Another heroine of a ’98 romance is Maria Steele, the “Stella” of John -Sheares’s love verses. It was from her that Dr. Madden learned much of -the information he has embodied in his memoir of the ill-fated brothers. -The question of using or withholding her name in connection with the sad -story was left by the lady to Dr. Madden’s own discretion. “Exercising,” -as he states, “that judgment to the best of my ability, and with all the -consideration that would be due to the feelings of that most estimable -lady were she living, and that I owe to her memory now that she is no -more, I give her name without reserve; because I feel in all sincerity -that the name of Maria Steele will be associated with that of John -Sheares, as that of Sarah Curran is with Robert Emmet’s; and that these -names will be remembered with tenderness and pity.” - -It was in 1794 that John Sheares first became acquainted with Maria -Steele, the elder daughter of the deceased Sir R. Parker Steele. The -widowed Lady Steele and her girls were then living in Merrion Square, -not very far from the Baggot Street residence of the Sheareses. In the -early part of 1798 John Sheares made formal proposals to Lady Steele for -her daughter’s hand, but though Maria’s mother was very fond of the -young man, and he was on the most affectionate and familiar footing with -her, the impression she had gathered of his religious sentiments made -her refuse to entrust her child’s future to him. This decision is held -responsible for having thrown John more violently into politics, than -had hitherto been the case. - -As for Maria’s own feelings there is no doubt but that they were deeply -engaged. Up to her latest hour she never mentioned his name “without -tenderness and sorrow”; she treasured the piteous little relics which -were associated with her brief romance. He had been lying for nearly -forty years in the tragic vaults of St. Michan’s, when she sketched the -portrait of him which adorns Madden’s pages. That picture is so lifelike -because love guided the artist’s hand. Mary McCracken’s portrait of -Thomas Russell, and Maria Steele’s of John Sheares, these two, are -painted under the same inspiration. I find infinite pathos in the lines -with which Maria, then an old woman, accompanied the copies of the -papers in her possession which she had promised to Dr. Madden: “I should -have sent the originals of these sad memorials to you had I suspected -that I could still feel as I felt while copying them. I thought age and -infirmity had made me a better philosopher. Three of these have never -been opened except when you saw them, for more than thirty-four years.” - -The romance of Surgeon Lawless, the friend of John Sheares, and Miss -Evans does not, strictly speaking, belong to ’98. But it is connected -with it by sufficiently close ties to justify its inclusion here. - -William Lawless, a distinguished Dublin surgeon, and a relative of Lord -Cloncurry’s, was a close friend of Lord Edward’s, and like the -Sheareses, whose neighbour and intimate he was, became very active in -the Cause after the arrest of the leaders at Bond’s on March 12th. On -the Saturday on which Lord Edward was arrested (May 19) Surgeon Lawless -received information at the College of Surgeons from his colleague, -Surgeon Dease, that he was about to be taken up. He accordingly made -arrangements to escape to France. He is said to have made his way on -board a vessel in the disguise of a butcher’s man carrying a side of -beef, and in this capacity met Major Sirr himself on the quays! - -Arrived in France, he entered the Army and made a great career for -himself in the Napoleonic campaigns. Miles Byrne makes frequent mention -of him, and it is to Byrne we owe our knowledge of the pretty romance of -his marriage. - -Among the Irish exiles then resident in Paris the family of Hampden -Evans[103] was very prominent. As Mr. Evans had a large fortune, and was -hospitality itself, he loved to gather his fellow-countrymen around him; -and among those who visited his house frequently was William Lawless. -With him Mary Evans fell in love; but so well did she keep her secret -that neither he nor any of her family suspected it, and he marched away -with his regiment without a word of affection on either side. Shortly -after came the news of the siege of Flushing by the English, with the -destruction of the Irish battalion defending it, and the death of its -Commander, William Lawless. “Mary Evans fell ill, and for more than six -weeks her life was despaired of.... Mrs. Tone being in the habit of -going to Mr. Hampden Evans’s house, and being on the most intimate terms -with his daughters, might have suspected something of Miss Evans’s -secret, but this secret was only divulged when she heard the man she -loved was no more. She then told her mother, saying life to her now was -not worth preserving, and wondering how Mrs. Tone could have survived -the death of her heroic husband....” - -Footnote 103: - - Hampden Evans was an exile of ’98. - -But Commandant Lawless was not dead; and one day the gallant tale of how -he had saved, at Walcheren, the French colours and the Eagle entrusted -by the Emperor to the Irish Brigade, reached Paris. He had wrapped the -flag round his body, plunged into the waves, and swam to an open boat a -considerable distance from the shore; “then proudly exhibiting the -standard of France amid a shower of bullets from the beach he bore it -off in triumph.” For this exploit Lawless was named by the Emperor, -knight of the Legion of Honour, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Irish -regiment, and the year after, full Colonel of it. - -On receipt of the news, “Mr. Evans begged his friend, John Sweetman, to -come to the house to prepare his daughter by degrees to learn the joyful -news, lest a sudden communication of it might be injurious to her.... -That evening at tea, Mr. Sweetman, as usual, was asked the news of the -day, Miss Evans lying on the sofa, and listening to the conversation. He -said that it was reported in some of the newspapers that officers -believed to have been killed at Flushing had escaped to Antwerp, their -names not being given. On the following day he was more explicit, and -then the conversation was turned to some other topic. The next evening -Sweetman came to tell them that a Lieutenant O’Reilly, of the Irish -regiment, was one of those who had arrived at Antwerp. ‘Then,’ said Miss -Evans, ‘perhaps Mr. Lawless is not dead.’ The whole family expressed -their opinion that as he and Lieutenant O’Reilly were great friends, -they probably escaped together.” - -The rest of the charming story is soon told. The following day Mr. -Hampden Evans learned from John Sweetman that Commandant Lawless had -arrived in Paris, but was confined to bed with an attack of Flushing -fever. Mr. Evans lost no time in calling on him, and making him -acquainted with his daughter’s sentiments. Matters were soon arranged -for a speedy marriage, “and then Miss Evans was allowed to read all the -newspapers containing the orders of the day of the army at Antwerp, -giving an account of Commandant Lawless’s arrival there, with the -colours and eagle of the Irish regiment; of his brilliant conduct during -the siege of Flushing, his miraculous escape from thence, etc., etc.” - -In those days among the Irish in France it was difficult to think of -Lawless without thinking of his bosom friend, John Tennant. These two -were true brothers-in-arms. “They were named captains the same day in -1803 at the organisation of the Irish Legion. In 1813, at Sonenberg, in -Silesia, when Lawless was colonel, commanding the Irish regiment, -Tennant was _chef de bataillon_. On August the 19th, 1813, Tennant was -killed in our hollow square, literally cut in two by a cannon ball, and -on August 21st, the second day after, Colonel Lawless, at the passage of -the Bober, at the town of Sonenberg, and in the presence of Napoleon, -had his leg shot off by a cannon ball. “It was my painful and melancholy -duty,” writes Miles Byrne, “to get the grenadiers to dig a grave for -poor Tennant, after we had retaken our position and beaten the enemy off -the field of battle.... Whilst the men were preparing the grave, Colonel -Lawless never ceased weeping, and indeed both the officers and men who -were present were much affected, and shed tears of sorrow over poor -Tennant’s grave.” - -Poor Tennant’s romance had been of a less happy character than his -friend’s. In the early days of the _United Irishmen_ he had become -devotedly attached to the beautiful Miss Hazlett, the story of whose -early death has been already narrated in the chapter on the Sisters of -’Ninety-Eight. Writing of her thirty years after, Charles Teeling feels -the tears starting to his eyes at the memory of the “youth, innocence, -beauty” consigned thus untimely to the tomb.... Never shall I forget the -impression which this mournful event [_i.e._ the death of Miss Hazlett] -caused in the circle of our little commonwealth. The lovely subject of -our distress had been endeared to us all, not less by the sweetness of -her disposition than the fascinating powers of a cultivated mind. Her -brother’s happiness was the object of her most anxious concern, but the -benevolent feelings of her heart extended to every soul in distress.” - -Charles Teeling, with a delicate reticence which is characteristic, has -merely hinted at his own romance, and said nothing of his brother’s. The -object of Charles’s devotion was Miss Catherine Carolan, daughter of Dr. -James Carolan, of Carrickmacross. The glimpses we get of the Carolans -are interesting, and make us long to know more of them. The celebrated -harper, Arthur O’Neill, tells us of a visit he paid to Dr. Carolan’s -hospitable house in Carrickmacross, when he was on his bardic rounds; -and Mr. Denis Carolan Rushe, the doctor’s descendant, has in his -possession a copy of a religious rule of life, drawn up for her own -observance by another daughter of the Doctor’s, a sister of Catherine’s. -These two facts indicate a household where all the best characteristics -of true Irish Catholic gentlefolk—their hospitality, their love for, and -generous patronage of art, their deep sense of religion—were carefully -cultivated. - -Of Bartle Teeling’s devotion to Lady Lucy Fitzgerald, and of the ring -she gave him, we have already spoken elsewhere. - -Mary Anne McCracken’s unreturned love for Thomas Russell is among the -most pathetic romances of ’Ninety-Eight. He may have loved another -better; but it is her name we join with his, when we stand in -Downpatrick, beside the tomb she made for him; and perhaps it is because -her love has written itself in them that the words she has chosen for -the inscription move us so strangely, in their austere simplicity: - - “The Grave of Russell.” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - SOME OBSCURE HEROINES OF ’NINETY-EIGHT - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Some Obscure Heroines of ’Ninety-Eight - - “All Ulster over, the weemen cried - For the stanin’ crops in the lan’. - Many a sweetheart an’ many a bride - Wud liefer ha’ gone till where _he_ died, - An’ murned her lone by her man.”—FLORENCE WILSON. - - -AFTER the defeat of the insurgent army at Antrim, the yeomen were let -loose in the country, and the most terrible outrages committed. Cannon -were trained on the houses situated in what is known as “the Scotch -quarter,” in Antrim town, and a shot having struck one of them, the -inmates of the neighbouring house, a man called Quin, and his lovely -sixteen-year-old daughter, made their escape from their home, and -crossing the garden, made towards Belmount. They were pursued by the -yeomen, shot dead, and buried where they fell. So shallow was the grave -made for them that for several days after, the long beautiful hair of -the girl, which was only partially covered, was seen waving in the wind. - -The gentleman who related this incident to Dr. Madden noted that it -excited more sympathy among the poor people than many horrid barbarities -of the time. I think we can understand why it should be so. Even, at -this distance of time, one cannot think of the long golden hair of the -murdered girl, tossing in the wind above her shallow grave, without -being gripped by the sense of pity and tragedy in a most poignant -way—and feeling that here we have found the very heart of the sorrow of -’Ninety-Eight. - -In the same way, it seems to me, that it is in the story of the more -obscure heroines that sentiment is most inherent. The stories of the -other women with which we have dealt have left us, after all, with an -overwhelming feeling of “the glorious pride” of ’Ninety-Eight. But for -the “sorrow” which also fills its name, we must go to the “short and -simple annals of the poor.” - -Very pitiful is the story, told by Cloney, of the fate of a woman called -Fitzpatrick and her husband in Kilcomney. Like the other defenceless -inhabitants of Kilcomney, a hundred and forty of whom were murdered that -day by the yeomanry under Sir Charles Asgill, their sole “offence” was -that the insurgent army had passed through their district on its retreat -from Scollagh Gap. When the butchering “yeos” entered the cabin of -Patrick Fitzpatrick, the poor wife, with her baby in her arms, ran to -her husband’s side, and while she was endeavouring to protect him, a -volley was poured into them, and they fell dead at the same moment. “The -cabin was then set fire to as a matter of course over the heads of the -children of this unfortunate couple—six in number; and five of them, -‘poor innocent creatures,’ ran into the house of a neighbour, who had -escaped the massacre, one of them crying out, ‘My daddy is killed—my -mammy is killed—and the pigs are drinking their blood.’ A poor woman of -the name of Kealy, an aunt of theirs, took the children home, and when -her scanty means were exhausted for their support, she became a beggar -to get them bread; the neighbours helped her, they gave her assistance, -and God, in His mercy to her, enabled her to bring them up.” “There may -be no space,” writes Madden with that quick sentiment of his for heroic -deeds which gives to his work an atmosphere so inspiring, “in the -records of the noble deeds of women for the goodness of this poor -creature; but her conduct will not be forgotten, at all events, on that -day when virtue is destined to receive its own exceeding great -reward—the awful recompense of all its sufferings and sacrifices here -below, and when the man of blood will find no act of indemnity available -for his sanguinary and inhuman deeds.” - -On June the 3rd, 1798, occurred the massacre of Gibbet Rath—“the place -of slaughter”—on the Curragh of Kildare. There the insurgents, who had -entered into terms with General Dundas, assembled, according to -stipulation, to lay down their arms and receive the “protections” which -were to enable them to return to their homes without further -molestation. Suddenly on their unarmed ranks fell Sir James Duff with -his cavalry, and Lord Roden’s “Fox-Hunters,” and the slaughter began. -“Three hundred and fifty men, admitted into the king’s peace, and -promised his protection, were mowed down in cold blood.” - -Let us turn our eyes for a moment from that bloody “Place of Slaughter,” -where the gory corpses of their men lay all through that bright June -day, to the cabins where the women vainly awaited them through its -slowly passing hours. To help us to realise the scenes that must have -taken place in many of them, we have the story, related by Fitzpatrick, -of Mrs. Denis Downey, the grandmother of Canon O’Hanlon, the -distinguished hagiologist. - -She was a young wife, with two little children, when the “word” came -which called her husband to the fight. As their home in Grey Abbey near -Kildare was attacked by the soldiers, she and her babies took refuge at -her parents’ house near the River Barrow. The day before that fixed for -the surrender of the insurgents, it was said that Lord Roden’s -“Fencibles” (or “Fox-Hunters”) paraded the streets of Kildare, mad with -drink, and carrying articles of apparel on the end of their bayonets, -shouted “we are the boys who will slaughter the croppies to-morrow at -the Curragh.” On this account a great many of the insurgents wisely -stayed away. Unfortunately Denis Downey was not one of them. Mounted on -a fine horse he presented himself with his comrades. When the massacre -began he leaped on his horse, and in all probability would have made -good his escape, had he not stopped to take up a relative. A bullet -found him, and he fell dead from the saddle. His riderless horse, which -had been stabled at his father-in-law’s place, galloped thither, mad -with terror. - -That night his wife, who had felt all day the most harrowing -presentiment of impending woe, had a dream of her husband lying -weltering in his blood. Her wild cries roused the household, and her -father, finding his efforts at comfort unavailing, finally determined to -go out and seek for news. At the end of the lane leading from his house -to the highway he met his son-in-law’s riderless horse, saddled and -bridled and covered with foam—and the early June dawn discovered groups -of country people passing along the highway with faces and gestures and -voices, all eloquent of some dreadful tragedy. “What news from the -Curragh?” he asked a group which passed. “Bad news, bad news,” came the -answer like some tragic chorus, “our friends were all slaughtered on the -Curragh, to-day.” - -When her father came home with his tidings, Mrs. Downey insisted on -getting out one of the carts, and proceeding to the place of the -slaughter to search for her husband’s body—for she was quite convinced -that her dream was true, and she would find him among the slain. She -came at last to the bloody plain, and found it littered with corpses. -She turned over two hundred dead bodies before she discovered her -husband’s. She laid him in the cart, covered him with straw and a quilt, -and proceeded to the house of a relative to wake him. But the word had -gone round that wherever a rebel corpse should be found the house -sheltering it would be burned by the “yeos.” Without waiting even for a -coffin, the broken-hearted young widow had to wrap her man in a sheet, -and so see him laid in the hastily made grave. When quieter days came -and she was able to return to the home he had made for her, she found it -a wreck. She sold her farm and went to live in Monasterevan. - -Her story presents to our imagination the tragedy of the “Widows of the -Massacres” in concrete form. But it is the story of only one woman. -Think of it as multiplied by the number of all the women who were left -desolate on that day—and estimate the sum of woman’s misery caused by -that one day alone—if our hearts dare! - -Think of the women left desolate by the wholesale massacre of Carnew, of -Gorey, of New Ross, of Enniscorthy, of Carrigrew, of Killoughrim -Woods—and estimate these contributions to the sum of woman’s misery—if -our hearts dare! - - * * * * * - -To renew our courage, it is time to tell a tale with a happier ending, -though it, too, has to do with one of the most horrible massacres which -disgraced the period—the Massacre of Dunlavin. - -One day, Captain Saunders of Saunders’ Grove, reviewing his yeomanry, -suddenly announced that he knew those who were United Irishmen among -them, and ordered them to fall out. About thirty-six of them did; but -the others, imitating the example of one Pat Doyle (who had had word of -what was forward from the Captain’s brother) stayed in their places. The -thirty-six who had “given themselves away,” were locked up in the -market-house of Dunlavin, and on the Fair Day of Dunlavin, they were -marched out to a hollow near the Catholic Church, while a number of -Ancient Britons were posted on a height at some little distance. The -word was given; the Ancient Britons fired—and the men fell in their -blood, amid the shrieks and groans of the bystanders, among whom were -their widows and relatives. - -Among the victims was a man named Prendergast. In his case the ball made -two orifices, but he had sufficient presence of mind before he lost -consciousness, to detach his cravat and stop the blood of one orifice -with it, while his clenched hand acted as a styptic for the other. A -brave girl happened to see the motion, and she found an opportunity to -staunch the wounds with her shawl, while she went off to Prendergast’s -house, whence she presently returned with his brother, leading a horse -and cart. They put the wounded man into the cart, covered him with -bloody straw and carried him back to his widowed mother’s home. News -reached Saunders that “some of the croppies were getting alive again,” -so he sent back the Ancient Britons to finish their work, and hack and -gash any of the bodies which might possibly harbour a spark of life. He -then proceeded to Prendergast’s house, and genially addressed the widow. -“Well, widow, I hear that that croppy scoundrel of a son of yours is -living still.” “Yes, your honour,” said the poor woman, “the Lord has -been pleased to grant the poor boy a longer day.” “Come on now,” said -his Honour, forcing his way into the house, “I will put him out of pain; -he can’t possibly recover, and your time can’t be taken up by attending -on him.” The poor mother found strength to hold the great brute back, -while the wounded man was conveyed out of the house by some of the -neighbours. An angry crowd gathered round the Captain, and he thought it -better to get away. At nightfall Michael Dwyer came down from the hills -and carried off young Prendergast to his eyrie. And here during many -months the wounded boy was nursed by Michael Dwyer and his “Mountain -Mary”—and he lived to marry the brave girl who had saved his life. - -And this, did space permit, would be the appropriate place to tell the -story of one of the bravest women of ’Ninety-Eight—Mrs. Michael Dwyer -(we have already met her name in connection with Anne Devlin, her -husband’s niece). She was a beautiful Wicklow girl, the daughter of a -“strong” farmer named Doyle; but she left all the comforts of her -father’s well-stocked farm to share the outlaw’s “wild and uncertain -life in hill and vale, in mountain cave and fastness.” The story of her -romantic marriage is the subject of a well-known and very stirring -ballad which tells how:— - - As the torrent bounds down from the mountain - Of cloud-helméd stormy Kaigeen - And tosses, all tawny and foaming, - Through the still glen of lone Carragean; - So dashed a bold rider of Wicklow, - With forty stout men in his train, - From the heart of the hills, where the spirit - Of Freedom had dared to remain. - - Thou leader of horsemen! Why hasten - So fleetly to Brusselstown hill? - What foemen, what yeomen await thee - To question in Wicklow thy will? - -But though armed to the teeth, the grey-friezed horsemen were on no -business of blood to-day: - - Their leader he loves a young maiden - And he’s speeding to make her his bride. - -They come to the home of the bride, and presently - - Mary came out in her beauty - The loveliest maid in Imale; - The loveliest flower that blossomed - In all the wild haunts of the vale. - Arrayed in an emerald habit - And the green and the white in her hair. - - * * * * * - - They led out a horse on the heather; - She patted his neck with her hand, - Then sprang on his back like a feather, - And stood in the midst of the band. - -Then to the priest’s house for the wedding— - - Away dashed the cavalcade fleetly, - By beauty and chivalry led, - With their carbines aflash in the sunlight - And the saucy cockades on their head! - -No braver tale could be told of any woman than the story of Mary Dwyer -during the years that followed. She stood by her husband, ready to -endure to the end in the struggles of ’98 and ’03; she shared the -horrors of the prison ship that bore him into exile. She stood by his -deathbed in 1805, and lived on, herself, to rear his children in a -manner such that their father and their native land might be proud of -them—though, alas! it was not Ireland that was to enjoy the finished -work. When she died in 1861, the touching obituary notice of her in the -Sydney _Freeman’s Journal_ could say of her with truth: “All her wishes -in life were accomplished before her eyes closed in death. When she -lived to see her two grandchildren sheltered under the guardianship of -Mother Church—one a holy young priest, the other a dweller in the -peaceful shadow of the cloister, she sang her hymn of resignation, ‘Now -Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord.’” - -Another brave woman whose _Nunc Dimittis_ was sung in a foreign land was -Mrs. Gallagher. Her husband was a confidential clerk of James Moore’s, -and he often acted as one of Lord Edward’s bodyguard when the Chief went -abroad for any purpose during the weeks he was “on his keeping.” On the -night on which Lord Edward was going to Magan’s and was met by Major -Sirr, Gallagher was wounded in the encounter, which ensued with the -Major’s men. He was afterwards identified through this wound, and -ordered for execution. He managed, it is said, to save his life at the -foot of the scaffold by his possession of the Masonic signal. He was -then taken back to prison. During all this time the executions were -proceeding in Thomas Street, and the blood from the block on which “the -rebels” were beheaded and quartered flowed in such quantities that it -clogged the sewers, and was licked up by the dogs. The Lady Lieutenant, -passing one day, fainted at the horrible sight; and at her urgent -entreaties the executions were stopped. Transportation to one of the -Penal Colonies was substituted for the death-sentence. Gallagher was -conveyed from his prison to one of the convict ships, heavily ironed. -But by a special grace the irons were taken off him while he bade -farewell to his wife, who had made her way on board to see him for the -last time. She stayed on until nightfall, and before she took her -departure she managed to convey to her husband one end of a coil of rope -she had concealed under her cloak. The other end she carried ashore with -her, as she rowed back. After her departure Gallagher was about to be -ironed again, but he pleaded so eloquently for “one minute more” that it -was granted him. That minute was sufficient for him to leap into the -dark waters—and be towed ashore by his faithful wife. He subsequently -made his escape to France in a lugger of smuggled salt—and died, in -1813, a wealthy ship-broker of Bordeaux. - -Miles Byrne knew the Gallaghers very well. He tells us of meeting Mrs. -Gallagher, who was then on a visit with Mrs. Thomas Addis Emmet, when he -called to take leave of the latter before joining his regiment in 1803. -Mrs. Gallagher he found “handsome and highly accomplished, and worthy of -her patriotic husband. I had the pleasure of dining with them at -Bordeaux, in 1812, when I was returning from Spain; and I was happy -indeed to see them so prosperous; he was in the shipbroking trade, and -he was carrying on a vast business with the Americans. Their children -were growing up very handsome. Poor Gallagher’s health was then -delicate. He died at Bordeaux the following year, much regretted by his -countrymen and friends. To his last moment, he spoke of Lord Edward -Fitzgerald with the greatest veneration.” - -No story of the Women of ’Ninety-Eight would be complete without some -mention, at least, of Rosie Hope, the heroic wife of James Hope. But in -truth her life deserves a fuller account than the plan of this work now -allows for her. - -It was while he worked in her father’s house as a journeyman linen -weaver that James Hope first met and loved Rosie Mullen. He himself has -described her for us both in prose (“a young woman gifted with noble -qualities, with every advantage of mind and person, she was everything -in this world to me, and when I lost her, my happiness went to the grave -with her. She died in 1831”); and in very tender and dainty verse, with -a pretty play of words on her name:— - - - THE ROSE-BUD - - In life’s sprightly morning, how pleasant the hours, - When roaming the fields, and surveying the flowers, - I picked up a rose-bud, select from the rest, - And divested of thorns, it remained in my breast. - Its fragrance refreshed me, inspiring with love, - Till that fragrance was drawn to the regions above. - And now every wish of my heart’s to repose, - In that region of love with my own little rose. - -In the _Shan Van Vocht_ of March, 1896, _à propos_ of a letter of James -Hope’s therein first published, we find an interesting editorial note: -“James Hope brought his wife and younger children up from Belfast to -Dublin as soon as he undertook the work of organising under Emmet, this -not without a reason. Rose Hope was a valuable and courageous ally in -her patriot husband’s work, and before the northern rising had helped to -provide the United Men with arms and ammunition, carrying them backwards -and forwards through the country as she went a marketing. The same good -work she daringly undertook in Dublin, and had some narrow escapes as -she threaded her way through the streets with the arms carefully hidden -under her cloak along with her baby. This younger child was called -Robert Emmet, after the patriot.” Another child was called after Henry -Joy McCracken, and another Luke, after Mr. Luke Teeling. For Jamie Hope -was much attached to the McCrackens and the Teelings, for both of which -families he had worked. - -Some of Rosie’s adventures are related by her husband. They occurred -during Jamie’s absence in the North with Russell when they were trying -to get Ulster to rise in support of Emmet: - -“In 1803, a short time after Henry Howley’s arrest, and the death of -Hanlon, who was shot by him, while the soldiers were bringing Hanlon’s -body on a door, through a street in the Liberty, my wife was passing, -with her youngest child in her arms, having under her cloak, a -blunderbuss and a case of pistols, which she was taking to the house of -Denis Lambert Redmond, who suffered afterwards. She stepped into a shop, -and when the crowd had passed, she went on, and executed her orders. On -another occasion, she was sent to a house in the Liberty, where a -quantity of ball-cartridges had been lodged, to carry them away, to -prevent ruin being brought on the house and its inhabitants. She went to -the house, put them in a pillow-case, and emptied the contents into the -canal, at that part of it which supplies the basin.” - -“At the death of Pitt, the system underwent a change. The Castle spies -were discharged, and the State prisoners set at liberty. My wife sent in -a memorial to the Duke of Bedford, in her own name, acknowledging that I -had fought on the side of the people, and had been driven like -thousands, unwillingly to do so.” As a consequence, Hope and his family -were allowed to return to the North. - -Rosie Hope had been lying for more than fifteen years in her last bed in -Mallusk graveyard when Dr. Madden first met Jamie Hope in the flesh. And -yet he noted that when Hope spoke of his wife it seemed “as if he felt -her spirit was hovering over him, and that it was not permitted to him -to give expression to the praise which rises to his lips when her name -is mentioned. There is something of refinement—rare as it is pleasing to -contemplate, in the nature of his attachment—in the ties which bound him -to that amiable, exemplary, and enthusiastic creature; for such she is -represented to have been by those who knew her, amongst whom was Miss -McCracken, of Belfast.” - -The name of Rosie Hope reminds us of her friend, Miss Biddy Palmer, who -with Rosie and Anne Devlin, were associated in what we of to-day should -call _Cumann na mBan_ work in the Rising of 1803. Madden says of her: -“Miss Biddy Palmer, daughter of old John Palmer of Cutpurse Row, was a -confidential agent both of Emmet and Russell. She was a sister of young -Palmer who took a prominent part in the affairs of 1798. Biddy Palmer -was a sort of Irish Madame Roland; she went about when it was dangerous -for others to be seen abroad, conveying messages from Emmet, Long, -Hevey, Russell, and Fitzgerald to different parties.” - -One half suspects, from the way Miles Byrne speaks of Miss Palmer, that -he was in love with her. Having mentioned Emmet’s “implicit confidence” -in her, he adds, “and indeed no one was ever more worthy of such trust -than this young lady, who had suffered severely in 1798 by her father’s -imprisonment and the ruin of his affairs, her brother’s exile and death -on the Continent. Still she bore up under all her misfortunes like a -heroine of the olden times, and was a comfort and a consolation to her -family and friends.” On the eve of Miles Byrne’s romantic escape to -France he called to take farewell of Miss Palmer and her father, and she -gave him a present of some French money for his _viaticum_. - -Poor Biddy Palmer had a sad old age. Dr. Madden discovered her (she was -then a Mrs. Horan) “in very reduced circumstances, far advanced in -years, in the neighbourhood of Finsbury Square, London, earning a -miserable livelihood by keeping a little school for the female children -of the poor, in a neighbourhood where indigence and want abounds.” - -For some reason (perhaps it was in part the long life and faithful heart -of Mary McCracken and the influence she radiated around her) the North -has kept a richer record of the sufferings and heroism of its obscurer -women in ’98 and ’03, than other parts of the country. Some very -precious _reliques_ have been gathered up in the pages of the _Shan Van -Vocht_, and make of them a most valuable repository of patriotic -memories. - -One of these tells of a sister, whose brother, with another lad, had -undertaken the dangerous office of posting up Robert Emmet’s -proclamation around Carnmoney, a few miles to the north of Belfast. For -this they were subsequently hanged, drawn and quartered on the Gallow’s -Green at Carrickfergus. At dead of night the sister, who had walked all -the way from Carnmoney, was led by pitying friends to the spot where the -poor mangled bodies lay. “She knelt down and with stifled sobs and much -difficulty removed the clay that had been hastily piled above them. Her -hand first came upon a head which by the feel of the features she -thought was that of her brother. She wrapped it in her apron and carried -it back to her home, so absorbed in her grief that she felt not the -miles her speeding feet covered. When she arrived home, she discovered -that the head she had borne on that sorrowful journey was not her -brother’s, but that of the other poor lad. She retraced her steps, -running between the hedgerows in her anxiety to reach the Gallow’s Green -before the people should be afoot, stumbling on the uneven stones, and -praying with all her tortured heart that her strength might last until -her purpose should be accomplished.... She arrived at the grave, -reverentially deposited the head back in its place, and taking up the -one she had come to seek departed again for Carnmoney.” - -It is to Mary McCracken that we owe our knowledge of the story of young -Willie Neilson, of Ballycarry, and his poor mother. Willie, who was only -fifteen years of age, had on the eve of the Antrim Rising formed one of -a party which made a prisoner of a Carrickfergus pensioner called -Cuthbert, and conveyed him to the Insurgent’s place of muster at -Donegore Hill. For this he was arrested, court-martialled and sent to -prison, where his two elder brothers were already lodged. But on account -of his extreme youth neither he nor his friends anticipated any danger -to his life. - -At midnight he was taken from prison, and offered his freedom on -condition that he should give information against the leaders at Antrim. -He refused; and no amount of pressure could make him yield one inch. -They told him he must die; his only request was that he might see his -minister, and be allowed to say farewell to his brother, Sam. Sam -Neilson expected to share Willie’s fate, but that fact did not prevent -him from encouraging Willie to die rather than “inform.” Soon after -daybreak the boy was taken to his native village of Ballycarry, there to -die. On the way he met his poor mother, who had set out to visit the -prison. When she saw him in the midst of the soldiery, she rushed -towards him, and while the soldiers tried to separate them he caught her -hand, and exclaimed “Oh! my mother!” But they dragged him from her arms. -She threw herself at her landlord’s feet, as he rode past, in the midst -of the cavalry, begging him to intercede for her boy. His only answer -was, “Get out of my way, or I’ll ride over you.” They brought Willie to -his mother’s door to execute him there. But, brutes as they were, they -saw this would be too iniquitous, and they yielded to the boy’s prayer -and took him away to the end of the village. Even then the undaunted boy -had leisure of heart to think of his dear ones. He begged that the -sacrifice of his life might expiate the offences of his brothers, and -that his body should be given to his mother. The soldiers tried to make -him use the bandage for his eyes. But he refused with the proud word -“that he had done nothing to make him screen his face.” Then, looking as -his mother always remembered him afterwards, “very handsome and fair and -blooming, with his light hair tossing in the wind, and the open -shirt-neck, emphasising the youth of him,” Willie Neilson went forth to -his death—for Ireland. - - * * * * * - -Even in the most tragic moments of our history, a certain sense of -humour has never deserted us Irish. It has helped, perhaps, to keep us -sane in the midst of our woes; and it has certainly saved us from the -deplorable sentimentality, which we find so trying in our Teutonic -neighbours (including the Anglo-Saxon) and the emphatic bombast which -tinges with insincerity our Latin cousins. We may be sure there was many -a ludicrous incident in ’98, as in ’16—and the men and women of ’98 had -the same faculty as their descendants of to-day of seeing the humour of -the situation. Some of the jokes of ’98 are current to-day—and since -laughter is as characteristic of life as weeping, I will end my book -with one of them. It comes from the village of Ballyclare, and was first -told in print in the _Shan Van Vocht_. - -On the morning of the fight in Antrim the wife of Billy Morrison rose -early and spread the table with the best in the house for her man’s -breakfast. There were fine home-cured bacon, and eggs, and tea, and -potato cake and oaten bread. When Billy had done justice to these good -things, and had his wife’s assurance that his pockets were full of more -of them, for the day’s provisions, he grasped his pike, and rose to go. -Then did his _guid wife_, “in lieu of sentimental, or patriotic, or -pious admonition,” thus address him in valediction: - -“Ye hae got as guid a brekfust as ony mon in Ballyclare; sae kill -naebody till they kill you, and then doe for yerself, Billy Morrison.” - -One fancies that Billy Morrison gave a good account of himself that day -in Antrim town, and did credit, with his strong pike arm, to his wife’s -good feeding. And so it has not seemed unfitting to evoke, from the -past, her homely sturdy form, and set her even by the side of the tragic -figure of Willie Neilson’s widowed mother. For from the sturdiness of -the one, no less than from the heroism of the other, proceeds the -unconquerable spirit of Ireland. - - - Finis. - - - - - _Printed by_ M. H. GILL & SON, LTD., _Dublin_. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ● Transcriber’s Notes: - ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. - ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. - ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only - when a predominant form was found in this book. - ○ Text that: - was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_); - was in bold by is enclosed by “equal” signs (=bold=). - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF 'NINETY-EIGHT *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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