credit to the Irish character, all Papist as it is, sweetly, primitively, and amiably.

"I remember, too, an old story of our mother's, of a gaunt stone-cutter, killing a slight, delicate young man in a fight, brought on by a quarrel in a church-yard about the right of interment in a certain spot; you must recollect the occurrence, as it was described to us one cold evening as we sat close together round the fire. There was a man once in affluence, who had been a tithe proctor, if I remember rightly. After having spent a long life in acts of petty tyranny, the ban fell upon his hoard, to this day supposed to be inevitable. You and I have often heard that ban pronounced 'A proctor's money never can have luck' -so it fell out with this man; he became very poor, there was no sympathy for him, and he committed suicide-an act, in those days, of rare occurrence; he died too unrepentant and unshriven. No one can be got to inter the body; nor will any of those, whose 'people's bones' rest in consecrated ground, permit the corpse of the hardened self-murderer to rest in contact with the relics of their kindred. The coffin is laid on the public street, none will tolerate it near their dwellings, and it is cruelly dragged along the pavement from place to place, and finally brought back to the door of the house wherein the act of suicide had been committed. A compassionate young man enlists three of his associates-they take off the outcast remains and bear it to a neighbouring graveyard. It is night, and by the light of a single candle, fixed in a lump of churchyard clay, and resting on a tombstone, the three young men are hastily digging a receptacle for the begrimed coffin that lies near them. A gaunt stone

cutter surprises them at their stealthy work. His father's remains are buried close to the spot where they are delving, and he sternly interdicts further progress. The charitable young man who had induced the others to assist him, opposes the mandate; he and the stone-cutter contend fiercely over the graves; the stone-cutter is a strong and powerful man, the other is young and slight; he is struck down by his opponent, and blood gushes from his mouth; recovered a little, he assists to inter the suicide elsewhere. He has been hurt internally, and when he reaches home he is obliged to keep his bed; then the sequel of our mother's tale. Sarah, the proctor's daughter, had been, during the days of her father's prosperity, carefully brought up, and educated for a rank beyond that she could now pretend to in her poverty. While yet lamenting over the appalling termination of her parent's life, she was compelled to witness the cruel indignity practised towards his corpse; and her gratitude was overflowing to him who had charitably borne it away and placed it beneath the clay. She visited him in his illness, and nursed him to convalescence; she taught him to love her, and she married him.. But consumption, had fastened on the young man, and his days were numbered. His young wife imbibed the fatal malady from him, they wasted away together day by day; she was the first to die, and he followed her very quietly to the same grave."

Referring to this letter, Michael Banim writes to us thus:

"From the first of the hints given in this letter by my brother, the tale of 'The Ghost Hunter and his

Family' had origin-the personages he indicates had been more than once graphically drawn for us by our mother. They were her own immediate parents, her brothers and sister. They, as well as herself, are faithfully depicted in the tale under the above title. The Ghost Hunter and his Family' was originally written by me framed by my brother, and published in 1833, in The Library of Romance,' edited by Leitch Ritchie. No use was made of the second sketch. I did not like the subject. I left it in the suggester's hands, but he never wrought upon it."

In the autumn of 1828, Banim commenced writing a new series of "The Tales by the O'Hara Family"the title adopted by him for the work was "The Denounced."

It was written amidst pain, and the dread of still greater suffering. He left his cottage at Seven Oaks, and removed for change of air to Blackheath; and from his new residence, he thus, in 1829, wrote sorrowingly to Michael :—

"BLACKHEATH, April 3d, 1829.

"MY DEAR MICHAEL,-I have been obliged to remove hither. Seven Oaks was too far from London for business, and I longed for change of air. For the last five months scarcely three weeks' work in me, and in consequence, my tale has flagged. Had it been God's will to give me health, it would have been ready before now."

The volumes passed, as usual, through Michael's hands, and appeared in July, 1829, and are not worthy the author of "The Nowlans." One does not, however, Zo the

wonder that the tales are below the standard of Banim's reputation, when we recollect that they were put together hurriedly; while sickness was a frequent visitant, while the working mental power was available only at frequent and desultory intervals, and while compulsive inactivity, and the inevitable heavy outlay consequent on illness, together with the constant change of resi dence, in search of the health that was not to return, were causing at the same time a necessity for funds, and an incapacity to create them.

After the completion of the work, Banim's health became more feeble, and in change of air and scene lay his only hope of restoration. On the 20th of August, 1829, he wrote thus, from Blackheath, to Michael :—

“MY DEAR MICHAEL,-We shall be obliged to remove farther from you; I am ordered to the French coast to a milder climate, and where constant baths can be had at a cheap rate-these I am advised to use freely. I must shift my place when there is a necessity. Anywhere in pursuit of health, for without that precious blessing-I need not conclude the sentence."

This resolution of removing to France was forthwith carried out.

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CHAPTER VI.

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PUB

LIFE IN FRANCE-ILLNESS-LETTERS-DISPUTES WITH LISHERS-COMPOSITION OF THE SMUGGLER," AND OF THE DWARF BRIDE WRITES DRAMATIC PIECES FOR THOMAS ARNOLD" THE DEATH FETCH; OR, THE STUDENT OF GOTTINGEN," REPRESENTED AT THE ENGLISH OPERA HOUSE: STRICTURES OF THE TIMES ON ITS PLOT-LETTERS-ILLNESS OF BANIM'S MOTHER: BEAUTIFUL TRAITS OF HER LOVE FOR JOHN -LETTERS-DEATH OF OLD MRS. BANIM-LETTERS-KINDNESS OF FRIENDS IN BOULOGNE-TROUBLES OF AUTHORSHIP-DISPUTES WITH, AND LOSSES BY, PUBLISHERS-WRITES FOR THE "ANNUALS"-LETTERS-ILL HEALTH AND PECUNIARY EMBARRASSMENTS-A SON BORN-SICK OF THE CHOLERA; A RELAPSE -PUBLICATION OF THE CHAUNT OF THE CHOLERA"-PUBLICATION OF THE MAYOR OF WINDGAP," AND OF MISS MARTIN'S "CANVASSING," IN NEW SERIES OF TALES BY THE O'HARA FAMILY"-LETTERS-VISIT OF MRS. BANIM TO LONDON-DEBT AND EMBARRASSMENT-AFFECTING LETTER-APPEAL ON BANIM'S BEHALF IN "THE SPECTATOR,"AND BY STERLING, "THE THUNDERER,” THE TIMES"-LETTER FROM BANIM TO "THE TIMES"-MEETINGS IN DUBLIN, CORK, KILKENNY, AND LIMERICK, IN AID OF BANIM-REPORT OF THE DUBLIN MEETING: MORRISON'S LARGE ROOM GIVEN FREE OF CHARGE FOR THE MEETING: THE LORD MAYOR PRESIDES: SHEIL'S SPEECH: THE RESOLUTIONS AND NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS AND COMMITTEE-COMMITTEE ROOM OPENED AT MORRISON'S HOTEL: P. COSTELLOE AND SAMUEL LOVER APPOINTED HONORARY SECRETARIES-LIBERALITY OF THE LATE SIR ROBERT PEEL-LETTERS-A SECOND SON BORN-REMOVAL TO PARIS-LETTERS-LINES "TO THE COLOSSAL ELEPHANT ON THE SITE OF THE BASTILLE"- -ILL HEALTH; COPY OF OPINION ON

IN

HIS CASE BY FRENCH AND ENGLISH SURGEONS-VIOLENT REMEDIES: THEIR UNHAPPY RESULT-LETTERS-ANXIETY TO RETURN TO KILKENNY-THE JOURNEY FROM PARIS TO BOULOGNE; MISHAPS BY THE WAY-LINES, THE CALL FROM HOME."

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"WHETHER Hope and I shall ever become intimate again in this world, except on the pilgrimage to the