On the table! SHEPHERD. (The SHEPHERD and TICKLER offer to help NORTH to mount the table.) NORTH. Hands off, gentlemen. I gcorn assistance. Look here! (NORTH, by a dexterous movement, swings himself off his crutch erect on the table, and gives a helping hand first to the SHEPHERD and then to TICKLER.) SHEPHERD. That feat beats the snorin' a' to sticks! Faith, Tickler, we maun sing sma'. In a' things he's our maister. Alloo me, sir, to gang doon for your chair? NORTH, (flinging his crutch to the roof.) OLD ELDON! (Tremendous cheering amidst the breakage by the descending crutch.) BRONTE. Bow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-Wow. (Enter PICARDY and Tail in general consternation.) SHEPHERD. Luk at him noo, Picardy-luk at him noo! TICKLER. Firm on his pins as a pillar of the Parthenon. SHEPHERD. Saw ye ever a pair o' straughter, mair sinewy legs, noo that he leans the hale weght o' his body on them; ay, wi' that outstretched arm he stauns like a statue o' Demosthenes, about to utter the first word o' ane o' his Philippics. (BRONTE leaps on the table, and stands by NORTH's knee with a determined aspect.) NORTH. Take the time from Bronte-OLD COLCHESTER! Picardy-your fiddle. (Mr AMBROSE takes Neil Gow from the peg, and plays.) Hadna we better clear decks SHEPHERD. NORTH. No-James. In my youth I could dance the ancient German sword-dance, as described by Tacitus. Sir David, remove the Dolphin. I care not a jot for the rest of the crystal. (NORTH, TICKLER, and the SHEPHERD thrid a threesome reelBRONTE careering round the table in a Solo-PICARDY's bowhand in high condition.)· ́ SHEPHERD. Set to me, sir, set to me-never mind Tickler. Oh! but you're matchless at the Heelan' fling, sir.-Luk at him, Mr Ambrose! I'll match him against a' the Heelans-either in breeks or out o' themluk, luk-see him cuttin'! (Mr NORTH motions to PICARDY, who stops playing, and with one bound leaps from the centre of the circular, over the Ivy-Tower to the floor.) (SHEPHERD and TICKLER, in attempting to imitate the great original,-fall on the floor, but recover their feet with considerable alacrity.) NORTH, (resuming his chair.) The Catholic Question is not carried yet, gentlemen. Should it be, let it be ours to defend the Constitution. SHEPHERD. Speak awa', sir, till I recover my breath. I'm sair blawn. Hear Tickler's bellows. TICKLER, (stretching his weary length on a sofa.) Whew-whew-whew. NORTH. (Exit PICARDY with his Tail.) Mr Peel seems to have made a hit in the chief character of Shiel's playThe Apostate. Whew-whew-whew. TICKLER. NORTH. I confess I had no expectations of seeing that play revived; still less of such a star as Robert Peel being prevailed upon to accept such a miserable part. SHEPHERD. It'll no gang doon lang-they'll be hissing him, some day, aff the stage. NORTH. From the commencement of his career, have I regarded Robert Peel with pleasure and with pride; and when it does happen that an old man's heart has warmed towards a young one, it is not easy to chill the kindly glow-it is more difficult, it would seem, to change sentiments than opinions. SHEPHERD. I heard twa three whalps the ither day braggin', "Noo, we'll see Blackwood's Magazine makin' a wheel ;” but I gied them the lee dereck in their teeth, and they were mum. NORTH. Blackwood's Magazine may make a wheel, when the sun makes a wheel in heaven-and from his meridian tower runs back eastward. SHEPHERD. The chariot o' Apollo reistin on the hill! NORTH. Oxford must not-must not re-elect Robert Peel. Let her pity-forgiveif she can, respect-nay, admire him still-but let her not trust the betrayer. SHEPHERD. And must we say gude nicht-without haen ance mentioned that name that wont to set the table in a roar-a roar o' glorying gratitude-to him wha NORTH. THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON! What! in solemn silence? Solemn-but not sullen-North. TICKLER. NORTH. May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth-or wag in mumbling palsy -if ever my breath seek to stain the lustre of that glorious name. He saved England. SHEPHERD. Dinna put on that kind o' face, I beseech you, sir. The expression o't is sae incomprehensible, that I know not whether to houp or fear for my country. NORTH. We who never feared must hope. Oh! I could prophesy! SHEPHERD. So could I, for that matter; but I hate to look into clouds and darkness. TICKLER. Let us swear to meet this day month-Shall the Popish Association put down the Government? And may not the Protestant Association restore the State? NORTH. It might-it may. SHEPHERD. Oh! My dear sir, my imagination kindles when I look on your bald forehead. It would be as easy to turn you round as an auld oak-tree.-Na, not VOL. XXV. 2 T so easy, for Sir Henry Steuart o' Allanton, wi' his machinery, could turn roun' an auld oak-tree, but no a' the powers o' earth, wi' a' their machinery, could skrew you ae hair's-breadth roun' frae the position on which you hae taken your staun; as sune turn roun' a rock-built tower, to face the settin, instead o' the risin' sun. NORTH. My dear James, you are too partial to the old man. SHEPHERD. I speak the sense o' the nation. You are Abdiel grown auld, but faithful as in youth-still the dauntless angel. One bumper at parting. NORTH. THE KING! AND MAY HE NEVER FORGET THOSE PRINCIPLES WHICH SEATED HIS FAMILY ON THE THRONE OF THESE REALMS! (Endless cheering, and then Exeunt Omnes. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PAUL'S WORK, CANONGATE. NOTHING can exceed the gloom in which the Protestants of Ireland have been wrapped since the disclosure of the Duke's intentions. Their confidence in him and in Mr Peel was lofty and unbounded. They trusted in their wisdom, their principles, and their consistency, with an enthusiasm of credulity which resented even a suspicion that these sterling guardians of their rights could betray the cause to which they were so deeply pledged, and had been so long devoted. The late manifestations of Popish violence, and developement of Popish views, were but little calculated to lull their suspicions or win their confidence. It was therefore with an alarm which cannot be described, they learned that his Majesty's Government had come to the resolution of granting the demands of the Papists; of conceding to violence what had been denied to entreaty, and suffering the Legislature to be bullied by a Mob! The time, too, seemed peculiarly unfavourable for the policy about to be pursued. The Papists had never. been so turbulent or intractable. They had not, since ninety-eight, so fully exhibited their ultimate intentions. The Church was denounced-British connexion was menaced-Popish objects were avowed-a connexion was openly formed with the expatriated Irish rebels who had found an asylum in America, and who, true to their old calling, were willing to compass earth and sea to make one proselyte, in the hope that, when they had so made him, he would become even more the child of sedition than themVOL. XXV. selves. Every thing was done, short of levying war against the King's authority, and commencing an actual extirpation of the Protestant name and religion from Ireland. To the astonishment of every loyal man, this abominable system was suffered from day to day, and from year to year, to increase in violence and audacity. The incendiaries waxed wanton with encouragement. The loyal were almost driven to despair. At length, however, they aroused themselves;-they met and consulted for mutual protection and defence. Protestants of all denominations, forgetful of their several differences, felt that they had a common interest in opposing the daring aggressions of Popery, and accordingly lost sight of every feeling of mutual jealousy or distrust, in the cordial zeal with which they rallied under the standard of the constitution. Their numbers, their spirit, their union, their principles, were thus unequivocally ascertained. Although at first, in their despondency, they were disposed to consider their enemies "as giants, while they' were as grasshoppers," it was impossible for them to meet and associate in the multitude who now assembled in every county and city, and almost village, through the country, without reversing the comparison, and feeling that they were more than a match for the insolent adversary, who had so long breathed threatenings and vengeance against them, and looked with so much savage cagerness for the appointed signal of massacre and blood. That adversary, too, felt that a mar< 2 U tial spirit had been aroused, and shrunk back into his lair, sullen and disconcerted. A species of dismal and hungry howling succeeded the ferocious yells which used to precede every project for Protestant extirpation. The beast evidently loved the prey, but disliked the danger. Provided he * might steal upon his unwary victim, and seize him by a tiger pounce, it was all very well; but not so when actual danger was to be incurred, and a resolute antagonist confronted. Accordingly, from the moment the Lion of Protestantism stood aroused, and shook the dew-drops from his mane, Popery became abashed and confounded. She felt rebuked in her abominations;-her counsels were controlled, and her career was arrested, by a power which she could not withstand. She was made to feel that it was not given her to curse those "whom God had not cursed;" and that the numbers to which she trusted for the furtherance of her cause, were likely to prove a greater impedi ment to her designs, than any which could be created by the exertions of her enemies. Thus baffled, thus flouted, were the Papists, at the moment when it seemed good to our rulers to re-assure their drooping spirits by a speedy prospect of Emancipation! We believe the resolution to have been formed before the Protestant spirit arose to the height which it afterwards attained, and that when it assumed the decided character which would have given confidence and support to any Ministry determined upon bold and vigorous measures, our rulers felt themselves pledged to an opposite course, to a degree that admitted not of retractation. Well. The Papists have triumphed. They have triumphed, at all events, over the honesty and consistency of those who were looked up to as the most incorruptible champions of the Protestant cause. They have triumphed in the moment of defeat. They have triumphed when they themselves despaired of the victory. It now remains to be scen how they will use their success, and to what purposes they will turn the power that is to be conferred upon them. One thing is certain, that the Protestants of Ireland feel themselves abandoned. It were now an easy mat ter for the Papists to become, almost upon their own terms, repossessed of the forfeited estates. Ireland is not a country in which a Protestant can now feel it comfortable to dwell. He must be anxious to move to some more congenial atmosphere, and to escape those commotions which will eventually render his native land a scene of strife and bloodshed. The Duke has purchased a truce with the assailants, in virtue of which he may experience a temporary relief during the period of his administration. But who, except the most credulous, would build and take up their abode upon the petrified lava that lay scattered around them, only because the crater from which it had come forth had remitted for a season its devouring eruptions? It was not the less certain, that the process must go on by which they would be again repeated, when those who had reposed in blind security that they had for ever ceased, would be terribly admonished of their infatuation. We are not, however, certain, that the Duke will experience even the truce to which he naturally looks forward. It too much resembles the truces which were occasionally purchased by weak and vacillating Emperors, from the barbarian invaders of the Roman empire, not to resemble them also in the impatience by which they were abridged, and the treachery with which they were violated, as it suited the whim or the interest of the capricious and unprincipled banditti with whom they had been contracted. O'Connell may have his price ;a fellow such as he is may, without much difficulty, be propitiated. We believe that he was anxious, upon almost any terms, to escape from the polluting connexion which he had formed, and of which he was beginning to be as weary as ever Hercules was of his poisoned shirt. But what is to be done with the priests? Will they be satisfied with things as they are? Can they look upon the reve nues of the Church establishment without desiring to participate in them? It is not in human nature that they should; and the man who stood upon the sea-shore, armed with a pitchfork to keep out the tide, was not more frantic than those who imagine that there is any security which can ex |