vening whose events we have just mentioned, and when fresh
from the scenes of which he speaks.

The name or circumstances of the Abbe's confidant have no interest for
us; nor need we allude to him more particularly than by stating that he
was one who took a prominent part in his country's politics, and was
a well-known agitator, both in print and on the platform. The present
moment might not be inopportune to show the injustice of that sneer so
often passed upon men of this stamp, and which assumes that their whole
lives are spent in the agitation of small and irritating questions of
mere local interest,--the petty intrigues of a village or a hamlet,--and
without knowledge or interest for those greater themes which stir the
heart of all Europe. We must not, however, be led away from our purpose,
but, leaving these inferences to our reader's appreciation, keep to the
sober business of our task.

We have only to premise that D'Esmonde and his friend had been
schoolfellows and college companions, and that the revelations made were
in all the confidence of unbounded trust and security. Neither was the
hazard of a post-office incurred, for the document was forwarded, with
several letters from Rome, by a private hand,--a priest, who twice each
year performed the journey on a similar errand, and--shall we startle
our reader if we add, in a spirit apart from all the caprices of
fiction----still travels on the same mission.

After some apology for the time the epistle would be on the road, seeing
that it should first return to Rome ere it began its journey northward,
D'Esmonde next alludes to some private and personal matters, and some
individuals of their acquaintance, and then proceeds:----

"It is not without much inconvenience that I am here at this
moment, but my presence was necessary to neutralize the
influence of this troublesome old Countess, and who would
fain stop, if she could, all these liberal movements ere
they have developed their true meaning. You can have no idea
how difficult is this task, nor with what persistent folly
people go on repeating each other's 'platitudes' about
'timely checks,' 'scotching the snake,' and so forth. It is
now upwards of half a century since Europe has seen a real
political convulsion.

A new lesson is wanting. I often used to hope that you of
the West might be able to give it. I had great expectations
of Chartism