ot to leave them behind. I instantly disentangled myself from
the coffin, and left it standing exactly in the middle of the road, for
the next passenger to give it a lift as far as Denis Kelly's, if he felt
so disposed. I lost no time in making the best of my way home; and on
passing poor Denis's house I perceived, by the bustle and noise within,
that he was dead.

I had given my friends no notice of this visit; my reception was
consequently the warmer, as I was not expected. That evening was a happy
one, which I shall long remember. At supper I alluded to Kelly, and
received from my brother a full account, as given in the following
narrative, of the circumstances which caused his death.

"I need not remind you, Toby, of our schoolboy days, nor of the
principles usually imbibed at such schools as that in which the two tiny
factions of the Caseys and the Murphys qualified themselves, among
the latter of whom you cut so distinguished a figure. You will not,
therefore, be surprised to hear that these two factions are as bitter
as ever, and that the boys who at Pat Mulligan's school belabored each
other, in imitation of their brothers and fathers, continue to set the
same iniquitous example to their children; so that this groundless and
hereditary enmity is likely to descend to future generations; unless,
indeed, the influence of a more enlightened system of education may
check it. But, unhappily, there is a strong suspicion of the object
proposed by such a system; so that the advantages likely to result from
it to the lower orders of the people will be slow and distant."

"But, John," said I, "now that we are upon that subject, let me ask what
really is the bone of contention between Irish factions?"

"I assure you," he replied, "I am almost as much at a loss, Toby, to
give you a satisfactory answer, as if you asked me the elevation of
the highest mountain on the moon; and I believe you would find equal
difficulty in ascertaining the cause of their feuds from the factions
themselves. I really am convinced they know not, nor, if I rightly
understand them, do they much care. Their object is to fight, and the
turning of a straw will at any time furnish them with sufficient grounds
for that. I do not think, after all, that the enmity between them is
purery personal: they do not hate each other individually; but having
originally had one quarrel upon some trifling occasion, the beaten party
cannot bear the stigma of defeat w