ed, and thought,
and wove such visions of glory, would shun and scorn, and curse us. But
had that bitter cup, which afterwards we were forced to empty to the
dregs, been then presented to us, there was not one of us who would not
have drunk it to the last drop; drunk it willingly and cheerfully,
without further hope or purpose than our own deep conviction that we
owed the sacrifice to truth.

Those who took immediate part in the proceedings of our circle before
the State Trials, were Thomas Davis, John Dillon, Thomas MacNevin,
Michael Joseph Barry, Charles Duffy, David Cangley, John O'Hagan, Denis
F. MacCarthy, Denny Lane, Richard Dalton Williams, with one or two
others whose names I cannot mention. To this list was afterwards added
Thomas Francis Meagher, Richard O'Gorman, John Mitchel, Thomas Devin
Reilly, and Thomas Darcy M'Gee. I do not include several distinguished
men who lived in the provinces with whom we communicated, and from whom
we received sympathy and sustainment; and I omit others who took a
leading part, in deference to the position they are now placed in.

[Illustration: John Blake Dillon]

With the first section above named, originated the idea of publishing
the _Library of Ireland_. It was proposed, discussed, and determined on
one evening, at the house of Thomas MacNevin, while some one sat at the
piano, playing the lovely Irish airs, of which the soft strains of Davis
suggested the conception to William Elliot Hudson. The music was as
true to the Celtic genius as the lays of Davis to its character and
hopes; and amidst the entrancing seductiveness of their association, was
born the generous resolution of rescuing the country's literature from
the darkness in which it had long lain. The _Library of Ireland_ was
proposed as a beginning, and so diffident did its promoters feel, that
they deemed it indispensable to engage the recognised genius of William
Carleton, whose name and abilities they pledged to the public, as an
assurance for the undertaking. Mr. Carleton promptly undertook his share
of the task, and James Duffy, the enterprising bookseller, assumed all
the risk and responsibility of the enterprise.

John Mitchel, then known to few, and appreciated only by Thomas Davis,
was by him associated with those who were willing to engage in the new
and difficult labour. He pledged himself for him, and selected his
subject. Most nobly was that pledge redeemed; but its fulfilment dawned
on the fresh