following day, which he certainly must have undergone, had not Mr. Leeson made interest to save him, a favor which he with difficulty obtained. Though the bringing of the letter touching the subject of my trial, was the pretext for this infamous deed, yet the farther object appeared during the execution: for, as often as the torture was suspended, the young man was exhorted to save himself by some denunciation of his master. Such was the end of that famous notice of trial, of which, from that day forward, I could never hear a word.

From this faithful servant himself, I never should have heard of this transaction, so generously anxious was he to spare me such vexation in the then dangerous state of my health. But I had a doctor who was not so tender, and who seemed to take pleasure in announcing it to me. As this doctor made part of the system, it is right I should say a few words of him.

Being deeply affected in my lungs, I had requested to see some physician in whom I could confide. But, instead of that indulgence, there was sent me a certain Mr. Trevor, from the military hospital, a surgeon and apothecary, but whose chief practice, one would suppose, had been to stand by at military executions, to prescribe how much a patient could be made to suffer short of the crime of murder. Amongst civilised men, a doctor is a friend, bringing to suffering humanity the consolations it requires, and comforting even when he cannot cure. But such a person would have ill suited the views of

the governing faction. This man's first care was not for my health. His first ordonance was, that another bolt should be added to those already sufficiently massive on my door, and to threaten the turnkey with flogging if he did not keep me close. How far the turnkey deserved to be whipped for his too much tenderness, you will judge from his history, which I had from his own mouth. As he was another part of the system, it may be worth relating.

His name was John M'Dougall. He was a native of the county of Down, and having been formerly, during the time of the hearts of steel, charged with various crimes, amongst which was the burning of Mr. Waddel Cunningham's house; and his name proclaimed in the news-papers with a reward for his arrest; he took advantage of his religion to save him from the fate that threatened him. For, about that time, Mr. George Robert Fitzgerald had advertised for Protestants to replace the Papist tenantry on his lands, as these latter being proscribed for their religion's sake, and deprived of the privilege of voting for members of Parliament, were unserviceable to his ambition, and as such to be turned off his estate. Every body knows by what crime that unhappy man, endowed with the joint advantages of birth, talents, and education, forfeited his life; and of the fate that he, with his principal accomplice, Breaknoch, were sentenced to undergo. John M'Dougall, who had been too near a witness of the death of Mr. Patrick Randall M'Donnell, was however reserved for other destinies. He once more found it

not imprudent to emigrate, and for this time took refuge in Scotland, where having unfortunately knocked out the eye of a man, he, in order to wash out this offence, in his zeal for his king and country, and to merit the rewards given to those who forward the recruiting service, swore two of his prosecutors to be deserters from the army, and himself enlisted in the Dumbarton Fencibles, to fight in the great cause of the throne and the altar.

On his return from Guernsey, where he had been some years in garrison, he found, in Ireland, in a congenial administration, the road to new promotion, and was selected from his corps as the fittest for the office he now held.

You will, perhaps, be curious to know how so finished a politician could have been so much off his guard, as to make these confessions to a prisoner under his care. I, myself, was much surprised at it; but it seems wisely ordained, that some fatality should ever hang upon the rear of enormity, and detection almost ever follow guilt, though often too late for this world's justice. What led to these discoveries, was as follows:

Colonel Maxwell, of the same militia regiment, in whose barracks, and by whose soldiers my servant had been tortured; and one of whose officers (Mr. Colclough) had affirmed, that he had found, amongst my papers, a French General's commission: this Colonel, son of a Right Reverend Bishop, had, about this time, made a motion in the House of Commons, that the prisoners in civil custody should

be taken out and dealt with militarily. I believe, without exaggeration, that this was no less than to say, that we should all me murdered. And it was given to understand, that my life, with that of the rest of the prisoners, should be answerable for the approach of any insurgents towards the prison.

The manner in which the terrorists of the House of Commons had received this motion, made it plain how many ready instruments there were for such a crime: I therefore attempted to engage Mr. M'Dougall, by his interest, not to take part in such a murder; and I was fortunate enough to surmount every scruple, save the sense of danger to himself, and the additional difficulty of his escaping after being so long proclaimed with a reward for his arrest, and a description published of his person. Thus it was, that balancing between avarice and fear, he deigned to make me this revelation, and favor me with his cónfidence.

I will, however, before I pass this man of confidence by, give you another characteristic anecdote of him: One day, after a long and rigorous seclusion, he proposed to let me, through special iudulgence, go down to amuse myself with another prisoner in the court-yard. So new, and so gratifying a permission, was not to be refused. He turned the key in the outer door to prevent surprise, and a day or two afterwards I missed a number of guineas from a sack which I had always left loose. Upon missing this money, I applied to Doctor Trevor, who, instead of Doctor, was now in the character of a mi

litary inspector of these strong places, and a countercheck upon the humanity of the gaolers. A search was promptly and peremptorily decreed.John M'Dougall was taken by surprise; and, in his first flurry, discovered that he had twelve guineas stitched up in the waistband of his breeches; but he said it would soon appear clear to every body that they were not my guineas, but his own, as they would be found mildewed, being the same he had carried with him over the seas to the island of Guernsey, and from thence home again. This assertion, whatever pretentions he might have as an alchemist, proved him but a bad chymist. But there was another stumbling block. Besides that, the guineas were all bright and shining, many of them were coined after the time of his sailing for Guernsey: and besides, they were wrapped up in a morsel of a Dublin Journal, which he had brought for me the very day on which he had so kindly let me into the court to take the air. However, he now had time to rally his ingenuity, and deliberately accounted for the whole, by saying that his wife had some days ago sold a web of linen to a captain in the regiment, now absent upon duty: that upon the receipt of the price of it, they had counted their common stock together, made a new repartition, and that he had stiched up what fell to his share, as was his military custom, in the waistband of his breeches. I proposed, for common satisfaction, that the captain should be written to; but it was not done, and Mr. M'Dougall, furbishing up his musket, told one of the pri