and, above all, that wide uncertainty as to what is to
come, which is, to an Irishman's nature, the most irresistible of
all seductions. The Major had established committees--in other words,
recruiting-depots--in several county towns; had named a considerable
number of petty officers; and was only waiting Maitland's orders whether
or not he should propose the expedition to adventurous but out-at-elbows
young fellows of a superior station,--the class from which officers
might be taken. We have now said enough of him and the project that
engaged him to admit of our presenting him to our readers in one of his
brief epistles. It was dated,--

"Castle Dubbow, August--, 18--.

"Sir,--I have the honor to report for your information that I yesterday
enrolled in this town and neighborhood eighteen fine fellows for H. N.
M. Two of them are returned convicts, and three more are bound over to
come up for sentence at a future assizes, and one, whom I have named a
corporal, is the notorious Hayes, who shot Captain Macon on the fair
green at Ballinasloe. So you see there's little fear that they'll want
to come back here when once they have attained to the style and dignity
of Neapolitan citizens. Bounty is higher here by from sixteen to twenty
shillings than in Meath; indeed, fellows who can handle a gun, or are
anyways ready with a weapon, can always command a job from one of the
secret clubs; and my experiences (wide as most men's) lead me entirely
to the selection of those who have shown any aptitude for active
service. I want your permission and instruction to engage some young
gentlemen of family and station, for the which I must necessarily be
provided with means of entertainment. _Tafel Gelt ist nicht Teufel's
Gelt_, says the Austrian adage; and I believe a very moderate outlay,
assisted by my own humble gifts of persuasion, will suffice. _Seduction
de M'Casky_, was a proverb in the 8th Voltigeurs. You may ask a certain
high personage in France who it was that told him not to despair on a
particular evening at Strasbourg. A hundred pounds--better if a hundred
and fifty--would be useful. The medals of his Holiness have done well,
but I only distribute them in the lower ranks. Some titles would be very
advisable if I am to deal with the higher class. Herewith you have a
muster-roll of what has been done in two counties; and I say it without
fear, not a man in the three kingdoms could have accomplished it but
Miles M'Marmont coul