guard, was removed from the castle, and placed at the bar.

As the carriage in which the prisoner was seated passed slowly through the dense mass which thronged the streets, every head was respectfully uncovered-every tongue cried, "God bless him!" and the females in the windows, with streaming eyes and upraised hands, called on Heaven to protect him. On reaching the court-house, the distant crowd, endeavouring to catch a view of the carriage, caused a pressure on the military, which, for a moment, threatened to break their line; and, to repel the multitude, they brought their firelocks to the charge. The imposing movement of the soldiers alarmed some women who were foremost in the mob, and who, in attempting to escape, fell down, and were in danger of being trodden over. O'Hara paused on the carriage step, and waving his hand to the populace, desired them to fall back and make way for the fugitives; and, addressing the military in a mild voice, he implored them to bear patiently with the people; for "one drop of woman's blood would stain the brightest steel

for ever." The soldiers heard him with respect, and many a blessing burst from the crowd as he descended the steps, and was conducted to the bar of Justice.

The court was already thronged to excess, and as the weather was sultry and the building badly ventilated, the Judge peremptorily commanded the Sheriff that none but such as were essentially engaged in the proceedings should be admitted. When arraigned in the accustomed form, every eye turned to the dock; the prisoner rose calmly from the chair with which he had been accommodated, and after listening attentively to the recital of the numerous counts, he bowed, and replied "Not Guilty." The plea having been recorded, the counsel for the crown opened the case.

It is not our intention, nor would it gratify the reader, to follow the trial through the detail. We shall mention, however, the most important incidents. The calm, unruffled bearing of O'Hara changed but once during six hours of agitating interest. It was when the principal witness for the prosecution was sworn. His name was Travers. Many years since,

when O'Hara, then High Sheriff for the county, was passing this man's house, a stranger placed a paper in his hand, and told him at his peril to enforce it. On examination it proved to be an execution for two hundred pounds, and O'Hara, having no alternative, followed the creditor to perform his unpleasant duty. Within the parlour sat an interesting young woman, surrounded by six lovely children, the youngest of whom was on its knees, endeavouring to lisp a prayer which its mother was repeating. O'Hara paused for a moment, desired the creditor to accompany him to the next shop, drew a cheque upon his Banker, and dismissed the claimant. He then returned to Travers's house, threw the writing into the fire, and having cancelled the debt for ever, retired amid the blessings of a family rescued from certain ruin. Travers subsequently prospered in the world, and being naturally of an enterprising turn, entered into the politics of the times, and was elected a Provincial Treasurer by the United Irishmen. Having thus obtained a considerable portion of their funds into his hands, he determined to secure the money by

betraying the party to the government-and now the first act of his apostasy was appearing against his generous benefactor. He deposed as to O'Hara's being a member of the secret society-that he was acknowledged as a leader -that he was active in forwarding the conspiracy-that he held communication with the French Republic, and lastly, that he was president of a committee, who, among other projects, contemplated the assassination of the principal persons of his Majesty's government. Although the witness underwent a long and ingenious cross-examination, such was the guarded and able testimony he gave, that the counsel failed in impeaching it. The case closed for the Crown, and the prisoner's chief defence rested on want of corroboration in the principal evidence, and his character. The Judge recapitulated the evidence, and with many strained compliments to the informer, whose conduct he placed in a heroic light, entitling him the saviour of his country, he consigned the question to the jury, who, after some trifling delay, returned a verdict of Guilty, but recommended the prisoner to mercy.

A groan of indescribable horror filled the Court, when the verdict of the jury was announced. The crowd, who waited anxiously without to catch the earliest intimation of the result, answered it with a yell of despair which was heard in the remotest extremity of Newbridge. Never will that dreadful cry-that fearful hour be forgotten! Every attempt to restore order was for a time unavailing; at last, the noise in the street gradually subsided, and the Clerk of the Crown demanding, in the usual form, why sentence of death should not be passed, and the Judge apparently much affected, putting on the fatal cap, preparatory to the discharge of his awful duty, silence was again restored.

When the dreadful question was heard by the prisoner, he rose from the chair he had for a little rested on, and stood in the front of the dock. "I looked at him," says the writer of this memoir; "and a dark shade for a moment crossed his brow-he raised his open hand to his face, and when his arm fell, a countenance lighted up with the calm determined courage of a martyr was disclosed; his steady eye