e in the country! How often, too, in their
bright career, when I have heard the warm praise of the world bestowed
upon their triumphs and their successes, has my memory carried me back
to that glorious night, when with hearts untrammelled by care, high in
hope, and higher in ambition, these bright spirits sported in all the
wanton exuberance of their genius, scattering with profusion the rich
ore of their talent, careless of the depths to which the mine should
be shafted hereafter! Yes, it is true there were giants in those days.
However much one may be disposed to look upon the eulogist of the past,
as one whose fancy is more ardent than his memory is tenacious, yet with
respect to this, there is no denial of the fact, that great convivial
gifts, great conversational power, no longer exist as they did some
thirty or forty years ago. I speak more particularly of the country
where I passed my youth--of Ireland. And who that remembers those names
I have mentioned; who that can recall the fascination, and charm, which
almost every dinner-party of the day could boast; who that can bring to
mind the brilliancy of Curran, the impetuous power of Plunket, or the
elegance of manner and classical perfection of wit that made Burke
the Cicero of his nation; who, I say, with all these things before
his memory, can venture to compare the society of that period with the
present? No, no; the grey hairs that mingle with our brown may convict
us of being a prejudiced witness, but we would call into court every one
whose testimony is available, and confidently await the verdict.

'And so they ran away!' said the prior, turning towards a tall,
gaunt-looking monk, who with a hollow voice and solemn manner was
recording the singular disappearance of the militia regiment he
commanded on the morning they were to embark for England. 'The story
we heard,' resumed the prior, 'was, that when drawn up in the Fifteen
Acres, one of the light company caught sight of a hare, and flung his
musket at it; that the grenadiers followed the example, and that then
the whole battalion broke loose, with a loud yell, and set off in
pursuit----'

'No, sir,' said the gaunt man, waving his hand to suppress the laughter
around him. 'They were assembled on the lighthouse wall, as it might
be here, and we told them off by tallies as they marched on board, not
perceiving, however, that as fast as they entered the packet on one side
they left it on the opposite, there