atrolling the country; an ambuscade had been laid for them by a large
force of the insurgents, in one of the narrow roads which bordered the
demesne, and where, from its vicinity, they had imagined themselves
secure. As they moved down this defile with their noble commandant at
their head, a heavy fire of musketry assailed them from both sides;
and as the assailants were unapproachable, they had no resource but to
gallop on. But they had no sooner reached the wider part of the road,
than they found themselves fired on again from behind a barricade of
carts and waggons drawn across the road. The affair now seemed
desperate; the muzzles of the muskets almost touched their breasts,
and every shot told. Their pistols could only keep up a random fire,
and their sabres were wholly useless. They were now falling helplessly
and fast, when the earl ordered them to charge the insurgents in
front, and force their way over the barricade at all risks. He bravely
led the way, and they burst through under a volley from the rebels. A
ball fatally struck him as he was in the act of cheering on his men,
and he dropped dead from his horse without a groan. The troop, furious
at their loss, had taken a desperate revenge, cleared the road, and
had now brought the dead body of their lord to that mansion, where he
had so long presided as the example of every high-toned quality, and
which his fate was now to turn into a scene of terror and woe.

The melancholy tidings could not now be suppressed, and the ball-room
was filled with screams and faintings. The corpse was brought in,
borne on the arms of the yeomanry, most of them wounded, and looking
ghastly from loss of blood and the agitation of the encounter. The
guests crowded round the sofa on which the body was laid, with all the
varieties of sorrow and strong emotion conceivable, under the loss of
a common and honoured friend. Tears fell down many a manly cheek; sobs
were heard on every side, mingled with outcries of indignation against
the rebellious spirit by which so deep a calamity had been produced.
But all other considerations were quickly absorbed in the sense of
general danger. A tremendous shout was heard round the mansion,
followed by the discharge of musketry and the clashing of pikes. All
rushed to the windows, and we saw the hills in a blaze with fires, and
the demesne crowded with the armed thousands of the insurrection.

JANUS;

THE GOD OF NEW-YEAR'S DAY, FROM THE FAST