flinging his arms two or three times round, he gave a jump off the ground, and exclaimed in an accent half pain, half joy, "Hurrah! for the could mornins!"—and away he went scampering up the street before me, keeping up the life within him by that innate natural power of endurance I have described, evidently with a determination to make the best of his suffering, and not sink under misfortune. What a noble trait of character—but how little appreciated!

With such a ground-work to act upon, what might not these people be made? and that they have intellect of almost a superior order, cannot be questioned. Their ready replies alone prove it; and their usual success any where but in their own country, tells it truly. Some years ago I stood talking to an English gentleman on particular business at a ferry slip in Dublin, waiting for the boat. A boy, also waiting for it, several times came up to shew some books he had for sale, and really annoyed my friend by importunity, who suddenly turned round and exclaimed, "Get away, you scamp, or I shall give you a kick that will send you across the river." In an instant the reply came—"Whi-thin thank yur hanur fur thit same—fur 'twill just save me a ha-pinny." They are quick to a degree—and have great activity and capability for labour and effort, if but fed, which may be seen by every Englishman who looks and thinks. The coal-whippers of the Thames, the hod-men, or mason's labourers of London, the paver's labourers, and such like, almost all are Irishmen. But they must be fed, or they cannot labour as they do here. Treat them kindly, confide in them, and be it for good or evil; I mean to reward or punish, never break a promise, and you may do as you please with them. My own experience is extensive; but one who is now no more, my nearest relative, had forty years of trial, and he accomplished by Irish hands alone, in the midst of the outbreak of '97 and '98, as Inspector-General of the Light-houses of Ireland, the building of a work, which perhaps more than rivals the far-famed Eddystone,—namely, the South Rock Light-house three miles from the land, on the north-east coast of Ireland,—every stone of which was laid by Irish workmen. And to the honour of the people be it spoken, when the rebellion broke out it was known that a large stock of blasting powder and lead lay at the works on the shore; yet not a single ounce of one or the other was taken. It was known, too, that their employer was then engaged in the command of a yeomanry brigade, formed for the defence of the east side of Dublin; still his lead and powder lay safely in the north of Ireland. But more extraordinary still, after the battle of Ballinahinch, where the rebels were routed, his yacht was taken by a party of them to make their escape to England; and lest any ill should befall it, when they arrived at Whitehaven they drew lots for three to deliver it up to the collector of the port, and state to whom it belonged. They were immediately arrested, as indeed they must have expected, and with great difficulty were their lives afterwards saved.

I could relate several similar instances which occurred to others; but I shall only state one more, as occurring to a defenceless woman. My maternal grandmother occupied at the time of that rebellion the castle of Dungulph, in the county Wexford, the family residence. It was an old stronghold regularly fortified and surrounded by a moat, with a drawbridge; and when she left it to take refuge in the fort of Duncannon, with the other gentry of the county, it was immediately taken possession of by a force of rebels from the county Kilkenny, as a most valuable place of defence, &c. They remained in possession for about a fortnight, and during that time killed twenty of the sheep found in the demesne. At the expiration of the period, the rebels of the neighbourhood, who had been in the interim engaged at the battle of Ross, returned, forced the others to leave the castle, and when my relative came back to her residence, she found that twenty sheep had been brought from another part of the country, and placed with her own in the demesne; which on being traced by their marks, were discovered to belong to a county Kilkenny grazier, the county from whence the rebel party had come; thus the sheep were brought from the same place the rebels had come from,—it was supposed, as an act of retaliation. I should add, too, that while these occurrences took place, the heir to the property was engaged in the defence of Ross, where many of his own tenantry were slain or wounded, as rebels, by the military under his command.

Naturally the mind of the Irish peasant is good, honourable, and grateful—but it has been deteriorated by miseries and neglect; and is being so, more and more daily at home; while, when they go abroad they seem to inherit all their original good qualities.

It is a fact too, known to all who know them, that when they settle in England as labourers, they almost invariably share their earnings with their relations at home. The remittances from London alone to Ireland amount to many thousands yearly. There is no possible means of ascertaining the sum; but I know numerous instances myself, and it may be judged of from the facts which appear in the following statements, recently published in the Times and Morning Chronicle, shewing the amount which comes yearly from America.