, he had never met with a solitary
instance even of dishonesty, or a departure from an agreement, the
conditions of which had only been settled by _a verbal_ engagement,
even when the result would evidently be unfavourable to them.

LADY BETTY, THE HANGWOMAN.

[The following curious sketch is from Mr W. R. Wilde's _Irish
Popular Superstitions_, printed in M'Glashan's _Readings in
Popular Literature_. It does not refer to a superstition, but to
one of those facts which exhibit as much of the preternatural as
the wildest excursion of fancy. A portion of the little volume is
reprinted from the _Dublin University Magazine_, and, for aught
we know, Lady Betty may have made her appearance originally in
that work.]

The old jail of Roscommon stood, and, although now converted to other
purposes, still stands in the market-place, in the centre of the town.
It is an exceedingly high, dark, gloomy-looking building, with a
castellated top, like one of the ancient fortresses that tower above
the houses in many of the continental cities. It can be discerned at a
great distance; and, taken in connection with the extensive ruins of
O'Connor's Castle, in the suburbs, and the beautiful abbey upon the
other side of the town, seems to partake of the character of the
middle-age architecture. The fatal drop was, perhaps, the highest in
Ireland. It consisted of a small doorway in the front of the third
storey, with a simple iron beam and pulley above, and the _lapboard_
merely a horizontal door hinged to the wall beneath, and raised or let
fall by means of a sliding-bolt, which shot from the wall when there
was occasion to put the apparatus of death in requisition. Fearful as
this elevated gallows appeared, and unique in its character, it was
not more so than the finisher of the law who then generally officiated
upon it. No decrepit wretch, no crime-hardened ruffian, no secret and
mysterious personage, who was produced occasionally disguised and
masked, plied his dreadful trade here. Who, think you, _gentle_
reader--who now, perhaps, recoils from these unpleasant but truthful
minutiae--officiated upon this gallows high?--a female!--a middle-aged,
stout-made, dark-eyed, swarthy-complexioned, but by no means
forbidding-looking woman--the celebrated Lady Betty--the finisheress
of the law--the unflinching priestess of the executive for the
Connaught circuit, and Roscommon in particular, for many