deep and irreparable wrong--and as a Frenchman you are ready to
avenge it.'

Although I had no very precise notion, either as to the extent of the
hardships done me, nor in what way I was to demand the reparation, I
gave the assent he seemed to expect.

'You are well acquainted with the language, I believe?' continued he.

'I can read and speak English tolerably well, sir.'

'But I speak of Irish, boy--of the language which is spoken by your
fellow-countrymen,' said he rebukingly.

'I have always heard, sir, that this has fallen into disuse, and is
little known save among the peasantry in a few secluded districts.'

He seemed impatient as I said this, and referred once more to the paper
before him, from whose minutes he appeared to have been speaking.

'You must be in error, boy. I find here that the nation is devotedly
attached to its traditions and literature, and feels no injury deeper
than the insulting substitution of a foreign tongue for their own noble
language.'

'Of myself I know nothing, sir; the little I have learned was acquired
when a mere child.'

'Ah, then, you probably forget, or may never have heard the fact; but
it is as I tell you. This, which I hold here, is the report of a highly
distinguished and most influential personage, who lays great stress
upon the circumstance. I am sorry, Tiernay, very sorry, that you are
unacquainted with the language.'

He continued for some minutes to brood over this disappointment, and at
last returned to the paper before him.

'The geography of the country--what knowledge have you on that subject?'

'No more, sir, than I may possess of other countries, and merely learned
from maps.'

'Bad again,' muttered he to himself. 'Madgett calls these "essentials";
but we shall see.' Then addressing me, he said, 'Tiernay, the object of
my present interrogatory is to inform you that the Directory is about
to send an expedition to Ireland to assist in the liberation of that
enslaved people. It has been suggested that young officers and soldiers
of Irish descent might render peculiar service to the cause, and I
have selected you for an opportunity which will convert these worsted
epaulettes into bullion.'

This at least was intelligible news, and now I began to listen with more
attention.

'There is a report,' said he, laying down before me a very capacious
manuscript, 'which you will carefully peruse. Here are the latest
pamphlets setting forth the state of publ