warned.me to my home. 'There was a stillness in all nature that I was unwilling to disturb by the least motion. From this reverie I was suddenly startled by the sight of a tall slender female, who was standing by me, looking sorrowfully and steadily in my face. She was dressed in white, from head to foot, in a fashion I had never seen before: her garments were unusually long and flowing, and rustled as she glided through the low shrubs near me as if they were made of the richest silk. My heart beat as if I was dying, and I knew not that I could have stirred from the spot; but she seemed so very mild and beautiful, I did not attempt it. Her pale brown hair was braided round her head, but there were some locks that strayed upon her neck ; and altogether she looked like a lovely picture, but not like a living woman. I closed my eyes forcibly with my hands, and when I looked again she had vanished.

I cannot exactly say why I did not on my return speak of this beautiful appearance, nor why, with a strange mixture of hope and fear, I went again and again to the same spot that I might see her. She always came, and often in the storm and plashing rain, that never seemed to touch or to annoy her, and looked sweetly at me, and silently passed on; and though she was so near to me, that once the wind lifted those light straying locks, and I felt them against my cheek, yet I never could move or speak to her. I fell ill; and when I recovered, my mother closely questioned me of the tall lady, of whom, in the height of my fever, I had so often spoken.

I cannot tell you what a weight was taken from my boyish spirits, when I learnt that this was no apparition, but a most lovely woman; not young, though she had kept her young looks, for the grief which had broken her heart seemed to have spared her beauty.

When the rebel troops were retreating after their total defeat, in that very wood I was so fond of, a young officer, unable any longer to endure the anguish of his wounds, sunk from his horse, and laid himself down to die. He was found there by the daughter of

VOL. II.

M

sir Henry R, and conveyed by a trusty domestic to her father's mansion. Sir Henry was a loyalist; but the officer's desperate condition excited his compassion, and his many wounds spoke a language a brave man could not misunderstand. Sir Henry's daughter with many tears pleaded for him, and pronounced that he should be carefully and secretly attended. And well she kept that promise, for she waited upon him (her mother being long dead) for many weeks, and anxiously watched for the first opening of his eyes, that, languid as he was, looked brightly and gratefully upon his young nurse.

You may fancy better than I can tell you, as he slowly recovered, all the moments that were spent in reading, and low-voiced singing, and gentle playing on the lute, and how many fresh flowers were brought to one whose wounded limbs would not bear him to gather them for himself, and how calmly the days glided on in the blessedness of returning health, and in that sweet silence so carefully enjoined him. I will pass by this to speak of one day, which, brighter and pleasanter than others, did not seem more bright or more lovely than the looks of the young maiden, as she gaily spoke of a "little festival which (though it must bear an unworthier name) she meant really to give in honour of her guest's recovery:"-" And it is time, lady,” said he, "for that guest, so tended and so honoured, to tell you his whole story, and speak to you of one who will help him to thank you. May I ask you, fair lady, to write a little billet for me, which even in these times of danger I may find some means to forward?" To his mother, no doubt, she thought, as with light steps and a lighter heart she seated herself by his couch, and smilingly bade him dictate; but, when he said " my dear wife," and lifted up his eyes to be asked for more, he saw before him a pale statue, that gave him one look of utter despair, and fell, for he had no power to help her, heavily at his feet. Those eyes never truly reflected the pure soul again, or by answering the fond inquiries of her poor old father. She lived to be as I saw

her-sweet and gentle, and delicate always; but reason returned no more. She visited till the day of her death the spot where she first saw the young soldier, and dressed herself in the very clothes that he said so well became her.

LEGAL RISIBILITIES.

THRICE TRIED.

THE late counsellor E- chairman of the quarter sessions for Dublin, was so remarkable for his lenity to female culprits, that a woman was seldom convicted when he presided. On one occasion, when this humane barrister was not in the chair, a prim-looking woman was put to the bar of the Commission Court, at which presided the equally humane, though perhaps not so gallant, baron S She was indicted for uttering forged bank notes. According to usual form of law, the clerk of the crown asked the prisoner if she was ready to take her trial? With becoming disdain, she answered, "No!" She was told by the clerk, she must give her reasons why. As if scorning to hold conversation with the fellow, she thus addressed his lordship : 'My lord, I won't be tried here at all. I'll be tried by my lord E-." The simplicity of the woman, coupled with the well-known character of E caused a roar of laughter in the court, which even the bench could not resist. Baron S- with his usual mildness, was about to explain the impossibility of her being tried by the popular judge, and said, "He can't try you-" when the woman stopped him short, and with an inimitable sneer, exclaimed," Can't try me ! I beg your pardon, my lord; he tried me twice before." She was tried, however; and, for the third time, acquitted!

,

THE CHANCELLOR AND CURRAN.

One day, when it was known that Curran was to make an elaborate argument in Chancery, lord Clare,

(the title of Fitzgibbon), brought a large Newfoundland dog upon the bench with him; and during the progress of the argument, he lent his ear much more to the dog than to the barrister. At last the chancellor seemed to lose all regard to decency; he turned himself quite aside, in the most material part of the case, and began in full court to fondle the animal. Curran stopped short. "Go on, go on, Mr. Curran," said lord Clare. "Oh!" replied Mr. Curran, "I beg a thousand pardons, my lord; I really took it for granted that your lordship was employed in consultation.

COOL IMPUDENCE.

During a trial at the Carlow assizes, in 1819, on an indictment against Dennis Nowlan and Edward Furlong, for stealing thirty pounds of tobacco, the following confession was extracted from James Ferris, an accomplice in the robbery, who was admitted king's evidence. He was cross-examined by Mr. Green.

Q. Witness, how many gaols have you been in ? A. Only two, and not more than once in each. Q. How many robberies have you been at altogether?

A.

Together!-(Laughing.)—why, sure I could not be at more than one at a time.

Q. You certainly have knocked me down by that answer.-(Loud laughing in court.)-Come, now, tell us how many you have been at.

A. I never put them down; for I never thought it would come to my turn to give an account of them. Q. By virtue of your oath, sir, will you swear you have not been at fifteen?

4. I would not!--(Witness laughing.)

Q. Would you swear that you have not been at twenty?

A. I would not!—(Still laughing.)

Q. Do you recollect robbing the widow Byrne, in the county of Wicklow ?

A. The widow Byrne? who is she? May be it is big

Nell you mean.

Oh! I only took a trifle of whiskey

from her, that's all.

Q. Was it day or night?

A. (Laughing) Why it was night, to be sure.

Q. Did you not rob the poor woman of every article in the house; even her bed-clothes, and the clothes off her back?

A. I took clothes, but they were not on her back. Q. Do you recollect stealing two flitches of bacon from Doran, the Wexford carman?

A. Faith I do, and a pig's head beside !—(Loud laughing in court.)

Q. Do you recollect robbing John Keogh, in the county of Wicklow, and taking every article in his house?

A. You're wrong there; I did not take every thing; I only took his money, and a few other things!-(Witness and the auditory laughing immoderately.)

Q. Why, you're a mighty good-humoured fellow!

A. There is not a better humoured fellow in the county-there may be honester !

THE JURY PUZZLED.

A lawyer, who some years ago was distinguished by the epithet of the extraordinary special pleader, and was afterwards raised to the peerage, is said to have received the sum of 20,000l. in one single cause, the defence of a young lady of rank, who was indicted for child murder. The principal evidence was a female accoucheur, who had been forcibly carried to the lady's house blind-folded. She swore that her guide forded a river twice in going to the house where her assistance was wanted; when, said the lawyer, it was known that there was but one straight river between the houses: and supposing the guide, in order to deceive the midwife, should have made a wheel round to pass it again, she must then have forded a third time. The ingenuity of this remark so completely puzzled the jury, that they acquitted the prisoner without going out of court,