estminster Abbey is that which was taken from
Scone by King Edward, and that on which the Scottish monarchs were
crowned, having been originally brought from Ireland, the cradle of the
Gaelic race. The tradition is still, as it happens, borne out by the
fact that Westminster is _now_ the seat of Government.

Now two of John Ryan's Fenian friends, Irish-American officers, stranded
in London--a not unusual circumstance--just when affairs looked very
black indeed, conceived the brilliant idea of _stealing the stone_,
bringing it over to Ireland, and, once for all, settling the Irish
question. This, notwithstanding their oath to "The Irish _Republic_ now
virtually (virtuously some of our friends used to say) established," for
it did not seem to strike them that they were proposing to bring to
Ireland an emblem of royalty.

I never heard if they took any actual steps to accomplish their object.
Perhaps they were impressed by the mechanical difficulties, as I was
myself one day, when standing with David Barrett, an Irish National
League organiser, in Edward the Confessor's Chapel, in front of the
famous "_Lia Fail_." It is a rough-hewn stone, about two feet each way,
and ten inches deep. I was telling my friend the story of the plot to
carry off the "Stone of Destiny," and was making a calculation, based on
the weight of a cubic foot of stone, of what might be its weight.

"We'll soon see," said David, and, in a moment, he had vaulted over the
railing, and taken hold of a corner of the stone.

But, so closely is this national treasure watched, that instantaneously
a couple of attendants appeared, and broke up peremptorily our proposed
committee of enquiry. An archaeological friend of mine suggests that,
one day, when Ireland is making her own laws and able to enter on equal
terms into a contract with England, a reasonable stipulation would be
the restoration of that stone--unless the Scottish Gaels can prove a
stronger claim to it.

From John Ryan I heard of the mode of living of many of the Fenian
organisers and of the Irish-American officers,--very different from the
slanderous statements of their "living in luxury upon the wages of Irish
servant girls in America." John was of a cheery disposition, never
complaining, but always sanguine, and loving to look at the bright side
of things. Yet I could see for myself, each time I saw him, how the life
of hardship he was leading was telling upon his once splendid
constitutio