illustrates the present state of manners in Ireland, I shall mention the heads of it. Mr. Colclough was a young and amiable man, a relation of the Colclough I mentioned in a former chapter; he was in a delicate state of health, and strongly attached to a life of rural retirement; his friends, however, overcame the reluctance he felt at becoming a public man, and compelled him, by their importunities, to stand candidate for the county of Wexford, at the last general election. As he was of a catholic family, and whatever his outward professions might be, supposed to be in his heart and prejudices one himself, he was supported by the catholic interest. -Mr. Allcock was the protestant member. When religious and party spirit was thus added to the irritation of election, the contest, as may be supposed, was violent, and carried on with great bitterness on both sides; there was an estate of a Mrs. Chimeny, generally resident in England, of which Mr. Allcock was certain, as she had given directions to her agent to make all her tenants vote for him; they were mostly Catholics, and the influence of party was stronger than the fears of a landlord: at the instigation of their priests, who were the most active partizans of Mr. Colclough, they all gave their votes to him; this Mr. Allcock considered a dishonourable interference of Mr. Colclough, and spoke to him with great asperity about it;-the other denied, with the utmost solemnity, having ever tampered with any of his voters. Mr. Allcock said he considered him accountable for the conduct of his agents, and becoming more outrageous, appointed a meeting in half an hour, to decide the quarrel. His committee, however, when he reported what had happened, disapproved highly of his behaviour, and insisted on his sending an apology: this part of the business is involved in darkness, but it would appear that he did comply to a certain extent, and that Lord Valentia was sent with an apology: he was refused all access to Mr. Colclough, by the friends who managed his election: his lordship repeatedly said, “ I am the bearer of an apology, which I think ought to satisfy."-The gentleman, who was afterwards Mr. Colclough's second, pulling out his watch, said, “No; Mr. Allcock gave Mr. Colclough half an hour, and we will keep him to his time.”—They met exactly at the time appointed, in a field near the town. The business had now become known, and several thousands of both sexes, and all descriptions, assembled to see it. Doctor Pthinks there were no less than fourteen or fifteen magistrates present, who stood unmoved spectators of this open violation of law.-When the ground was measuring, Mr. Colclough's friend objected to Mr. Allcock's wearing glasses, and requested him to take them off: this he refused, saying, "I am known to be very short-sighted, and even now am not on a footing with other men." It had been previously agreed that in case of either party being killed, the other should not prosecute; Mr. Colclough's friend, in a loud tone of voice, then said, "In that case, sir, I beg of you to understand, I consider the agreement lately made as broken." Mr. Allcock bowed his head as if in token of assent, but said nothing. The parties now took their places at twelve paces asunder. Mr. Colclough's second placed him-squared him was the expression my friend made use of, in the attitude in which he should stand, and putting a pistol in one hand, bade him adieu by shaking the other-an eternal adieu-for the next instant Mr. Allcock fired, and Mr. Colclough fell lifeless; he fell on one side, and then rolled round on the face. Doctor P 66 ran forward; with difficulty he got off a tight high-crowned hat; he felt all over the head, thinking, from its instantaneous effect, that the wound was there: finding it unhurt, he ran his hand under the shirt, and got hold of the ball under the left breast; at that moment the blood came rushing like a torrent even from the tops of his boots, staining the earth on which he lay, making the green one red."-The ball had passed through the body, wounding some of the great bloodvessels, probably the aorta, or the heart itself; which, in a few seconds, poured forth all its crimson contents. An awful silence and stillness for some moments pervaded the immense multitude; they were overwhelmed with the suddenness of the shock: when they recovered their recollection, there was an almost universal cry of anguish and sorrow. He had no longer any enemies, and the spirit of party faded before this melancholy scene; the Protestant now acknowledged his virtues ; the Catholic bewailed his advocate, patron, and friend; and the poor, with clamorous sorrow, their humane and generous benefactor. Mr. Allcock was removed from the ground by his friends; they feared the rage of the people; but there was no reason-sorrow had subdued and softened their hearts; nor did sweeter incense ever embalm departed worth than the tears which bedewed the body of this virtuous man, from hearts which perhaps had never softened, and from eyes which had never wept before. He was carried to his own house, and the body laid on a marble slab in the parlour, which was preparing for a grand entertainment, to be given on his election, of which he was assured. By a singular coincidence he was carried there in his own gig, gracefully decorated with flowers and oak-leaves, for a far different purpose; "Flowers meant to deck his triumph, Mr. Allcock was afterwards tried and acquitted: the judge conceived the rashness of the original provocation in a great degree expiated by the subsequent apology; while he commented with the greatest severity on the conduct of Mr. Colclough's second, whom he considered as in reality the murderer of his friend, by the obstinacy with which he resisted all accommodation. Sir Jonah Barrington, as counsel for the prosecution, after alluding to Mr. Allcock's well-known excellence as a shot, reprobated in the strongest manner his putting on glasses. "Gentlemen of the jury," said he, “ he levelled his pistol with murderous exactness against the bosom of my unfortunate friend, who, until that fatal hour, had never raised his arm in enmity against man, bird, or beast." It is reported that Mr. Allcock is now in a private mad-house in London. We passed through Chapelizod, a large handsome village, two miles from the Castle of Dublin, on the banks of the Liffey, with a barrack, formerly occupied by the artillery, but now by a regiment of infantry. We now recognised the wisdom of our choice in taking the park rather than the great road: we got here into the very thick of the throng, and were surrounded by an immense number of people, mostly of the lower class, proceeding in carts, cars, and gingles, on horseback, and on foot, to the happy spot. We were very much annoyed by the dust, and still more. by the beggars, who were seated on the road side, and exhibited the most disgusting sores to excite compassion. The address of an Irish beggar is much more poetical and animated than that of an English one; his phraseology is as peculiar as the recitative in which it is delivered: he conjures you, for the love and honour of God, to throw something to the poor famishing sinner,-by your father and mother's soul, to cast an eye upon his sufferings;-he is equally liberal in his good wishes, whether you give him any thing or not; may you live a hundred years, may you pass unhurt through fire and water, may the gates of Paradise be ever open to receive you;" are common modes of expression, which he utters with a volubility that is inconceivable. 66 Palmerston is a small village of a mean appearance, which, however, is amply compensated by the beauty of the surrounding scenery: the fair is held in the town, and some surrounding fields. The people on the ground were mostly of the lower class; yet the tents were laid out with a neatness, and even elegance, that bespoke the expectation of better company: long tables were covered with cloths of the most perfect whiteness, and plates, knives, and forks, were laid out with all the regularity of a tavern. Beef, ham, and fowls, were exposed in a little larder in front; wine and spirits, in goodly decanters, were ranged by their side, presenting a very tempting spectacle to the hungry and thirsty traveller. I was not of the former description; I had swallowed too much dust on the road: |