strength of character, as if formed amidst turbulent scenes, and a raciness of manner, which interested me profoundly, and impressed themselves on my recollection.

In our road to Mayo, we were often upon ground rendered memorable not only by historical events, but more recently by the disastrous scenes of the rebellion, by its horrors or its calamities. On reaching W— House, we found ourselves in situations and a neighborhood which had become the very centre of the final military operations, which had succeeded to the main rebellion, and which, to the people of England, and still more to the people of the Continent, had offered a character of interest wanting to the inartificial movements of Father Roche and Bagenal Harvey. About two months after the great defeat and subsequent dispersion of the rebel army, amounting, perhaps, to 25,000 men, with a considerable though small artillery, at Vinegar Hill, a French force of about 900 men had landed on the western coast, and again stirred up the Irish to insurrection. Had the descent been in time to co-operate with the insurgents of Wexford, Kildare, and Wicklow, it would have organized the powerful materials of revolt, in a way calculated to distress the Government, and to perplex it in a memorable degree. There cannot be a doubt, considering the misconduct of the royal army, in all its branches, at that period of imperfect discipline, that Ireland would have been lost for a time. Whether the French Government, considering the feebleness and insufficiency of the Directory, would have improved the opportunity, is doubtful. It is also doubtful whether, under a government of greater energy, our naval vigilance would not have intercepted or overtaken any expedition upon a sufficient scale. But it is certain that, had the same opening presented itself to

the energy of Napoleon, it would have been followed up at whatever sacrifice of men, shipping, or stores.

I was naturally led, by hearing on every side the conversation reverting to the dangers and tragic incidents of the era, separated from us by not quite two years, to make inquiries of everybody who had personally participated in the commotions. Records there were on every side, and memorials even in our bed-rooms, of the visit of the French; for they had occupied W- House in some strength. The largest town in our neighborhood was Castlebar, distant about eleven Irish miles. To this it was that the French addressed their very earliest efforts. Advancing rapidly, and with their usual style of affected confidence, they had obtained at first a degree of success which was almost surprising to their own insolent vanity, and which was long afterwards a subject of bitter mortification to our own army. Had there been at this point any energy at all corresponding to that of the enemy, or commensurate to the intrinsic superiority of our own troops as to real courage, the French would have been compelled to lay down their arms. The experience of those days, however, showed how deficient is the finest composition of an army, unless when its martial qualities have been developed by practice; and how liable is all courage, when utterly inexperienced, to sudden panics. This gasconading advance, which would have foundered entirely against a single battalion of the troops which fought in 1812-13 amongst the Pyrenees, was here completely successful.

The Bishop of this See, Dr. Stock, with his whole household, and, indeed, his whole pastoral charge, became on this occasion prisoners to the French. The headquarters were fixed for a time in the Episcopal Palace : the French Commander-in-chief, General Humbert, and

his staff, lived in the house, and maintained a daily intercourse with the Bishop; who thus became well fitted to record (which he soon afterwards did in an anonymous pamphlet) the leading circumstances of the French incursion, and the consequent insurrection in Connaught, as well as the most striking features in the character and deportment of the Republican officers. Riding over the scene of these transactions daily for some months, in company with the Dean of F- —, whose sacred character had not prevented him from taking that military part which seemed, in those difficult moments, a duty of elementary patriotism laid upon all alike, — I enjoyed many. opportunities for correcting or verifying the statements of the worthy Bishop, and of collecting anecdotes of interest. The small body of French troops, which undertook this remote service, had been detached in one-half from the army of the Rhine; the other half had served under Napoleon in his first foreign campaign-the brilliant one of 1796, which accomplished the conquest of northern Italy. Those from Germany showed, by their looks and their meagre condition, how much they had suffered; and some of them, in describing their hardships, told their Irish acquaintance that, during the siege of Mentz, which had occurred in the previous winter of 1797, they had slept in holes made four feet below the surface of the snow. One officer declared solemnly that he had not once undressed, further than by taking off his coat, for a period of twelve months. The private soldiers had all the essential qualities fitting them for a difficult and trying service intelligence, activity, temperance, patience to a surprising degree, together with the exactest discipline.' This is the statement of their truly candid and upright enemy. Yet,' says the Bishop, with all these martial qualities, if you except the grenadiers, they had nothing

:

to catch the eye. Their stature, for the most part, was low, their complexion pale and yellow, their clothes much the worse for wear; to a superficial observer, they would have appeared incapable of enduring any hardship. These were the men, however, of whom it was presently observed, that they could be well content to live on bread or potatoes, to drink water, to make the stones of the street their bed, and to sleep in their clothes, with no covering but the canopy of heaven.'

It may well be imagined in what terror the families of Killala heard of a French invasion, and the necessity of immediately receiving a republican army. Sansculottes, as these men were, all over Europe they had the reputation of pursuing a ferocious marauding policy; in fact they were held little better than sanguinary brigands. In candor, it must be admitted that their conduct at Killala belied these reports; though, on the other hand, an obvious interest obliged them to a more pacific demeanor in a land which they saluted as friendly and designed to raise into extensive insurrection. The French army, so much dreaded, at length arrived. The General and his staff entered the palace; and the first act of one officer, on coming into the dining-room, was to advance to the sideboard, sweep all the plate into a basket, and deliver it to the Bishop's butler, with a charge to carry it off to a place of security.

The French officers, with the detachment left under their orders by the Commander-in-chief, stayed about one month at Killala. This period allowed opportunities enough for observing individual differences of character, and the general tone of their manners. These opportunities were not thrown away upon the Bishop; he noticed with a critical eye, and he recorded on the spot, whatever fell within his own experience. Had he, however, hap

pened to be a political or courtier Bishop, his record would, perhaps, have been suppressed; and at any rate it would have been colored by prejudice. As it was, I believe it to have been the perfectly honest testimony of an honest man; and, considering the minute circumstantiality of its delineations, I do not believe that, throughout the whole revolutionary war, any one document was made public which throws so much light on the quality and composition of the French Republican armies. On this consideration I shall extract a few passages from the Bishop's personal sketches; a thing which I should not have done but for two reasons; first, that the original pamphlet is now forgotten, though so well worthy of preservation; secondly, that my own information from the Hon. D- B- and from the Dean of Fwho both rode with his Majesty's cavalry during that service, and personally witnessed many of the most important scenes in that local insurrection of Connaught, as well as in the furious and more national insurrection which had terminated in effect at Vinegar Hill, enabled me to check the Bishop's statements. It was upon the very estates of these gentlemen, or of their nearest relatives, that the French had planted their garrisons; and the Deanery of F- was not above six miles from Enniscorthy, close to which was the encampment of Vinegar Hill so that both enjoyed unexampled opportunities for observing the most circumstantial features in each field of these two local wars.

The Commander-in-chief of the French armament is thus delineated by the Bishop :

Humbert, the leader of this singular body of men, was himself as extraordinary a personage as any in his army. Of a good height and shape, in the full vigor of life, prompt to decide, quick in execution, apparently