popular
Lord Cumber might become, and what a blessing to his tenantry and his
country he might be in a short time."

"I feel that, Mr. Hickman," said Easel, "I feel it now, because I know
it. In this instance, too, I trust that knowledge will be power. Lord
Cumber, sir, like other Irish Lords, has nothing to detain him in his
native country but his own virtue. His absence, however, and the absence
of his class in general, is, I fear "--and he smiled as he spoke--a
proof that his virtue, as an Irish nobleman, and theirs, is not
sufficiently strong to resist the temptations of an English court, and
all its frivolous, expensive, and fashionable habits. He has now no
duty as an Irish peer to render his residence in Ireland, at least for a
considerable portion of the year, a matter of necessity to his class and
his country. However, let us not despair--I have reason to think that
his brother has nearly succeeded in bringing him to a sense of his duty;
and it is not impossible that the aspect of affairs may be soon changed
upon his estate."

"The sooner, the better, for the sake of the people," said Harman. "By
the by, Mr. Clement, are you to be one of the Reverend gladiators in
this controversial tournay, which is about to take place in Castle
Cumber?"

"No," said Mr. Clement; "I look upon such exhibitions as manifestations
of fanaticism, or bigotry, and generally of both. They are, in fact,
productive of no earthly good, but of much lamentable evil; for instead
of inculcating brotherly love, kindness, and charity--they inflame the
worst passions of adverse creeds--engender hatred, ill-will, and fill
the public mind with those narrow principles which disturb social
harmony, and poison our moral feelings in the very fountain of the
heart. I believe there is no instance on record of a sincere convert
being made by such discussions."

"But is there not an extensive system of conversion proceeding, called
the New Reformation?" asked Easel. "It appears to me by the papers, that
the Roman Catholic population are embracing Protestantism by hundreds."

"How little are the true causes of great events known," said Hickman,
laughing; "who, for instance, would suppose that the great spiritual
principle by which this important movement has been sustained is the
failure of the potato crop in the country, where this gracious work is
proceeding. One would think, if everything said were true, that there
are epidemics in religion as wel