trial of feeling, and a
painful test of moral courage. The sight, however, and the reflections
connected with it, rendered a long contemplation of it impossible, and,
besides, I had other objects to engage my attention. I now began to
observe the friends and immediate connections of the deceased. In all,
there were only seven or eight women, including his wife. There were
four boys and no daughters; for, alas! I forgot to inform the reader
that his fallen daughter was his only one; a fact which, notwithstanding
his guilt, must surely stir up the elements of our humanity in
mitigation of his madness.

This house of mourning was, indeed, a strange, a solemn, and a peculiar
one. The women sat near the bed upon stools, and such other seats as
they had prepared. The wife and his two sisters were rocking themselves
to and fro, as is the custom when manifesting profound sorrow in
Irish wake-houses; the other women talked to each other in a low tone,
amounting almost to a whisper. Their conduct was marked, in fact, by a
grave and mysterious monotony; but after a little reflection, it soon
became painfully intelligible. Here was shame, as well as guilt and
sorrow--here was shame endeavoring to restrain sorrow; and hence the
silence, and the struggle between them which it occasioned. The wife
from time to time turned her heavy eyes upon the countenance of the
corpse; and after the first sensations of awe had departed from me, I
ventured to look upon it with a purpose of discovering in its features
the lineaments of guilt. Owing to the nature of his death, that collapse
which causes the flesh to shrink almost immediately after the spirit has
departed was not visible here. The face was rather full and livid, but
the expression was not such as penitence or a conviction of crime
could be supposed to have left behind it. On the contrary, the whole
countenance had somewhat of a placid look, and the general contour was
unquestionably that of affection and benevolence.

It was easy, however, to perceive that this agonizing restraint upon
the feelings of that loving wife could not last long, and that the task
which the poor woman was endeavoring to perform in deference to the
conventional opinions of society was beyond her strength. Hers, indeed,
was not a common nor an undivided sorrow; for, alas, she had not only
the loss of her kind husband and his ignominious death to distract her,
but the shame and degradation of their only daughter