on you; but before I do so, let me entreat you to
turn your heart to that Being who will never refuse mercy to a repentant
sinner; and I press this upon you the more because you need not
entertain the slightest expectation of finding it in this world. In
order, therefore, that you may collect and compose your mind for the
great event that is before you, I will allow you four days, in order
that you may make a Christian use of your time, and prepare your spirit
for a greater tribunal than this. The sentence of the Court is that,
on the fifth day after this, you be, etc., etc., etc.; and may God have
mercy on your soul!"

At first there was a dead silence in the Court, and a portion of the
audience was taken completely by surprise on hearing both the verdict'
and the sentence. At length a deep, condensed murmur, which arose by
degrees into a yell of execration, burst forth from his friends, whilst,
on the other hand, a peal of cheers and acclamations rang so
loudly through the court that they completely drowned the indignant
vociferations of the others. In the meantime silence was restored, and
it was found that the convict had been removed during the confusion
to one of the condemned cells. What now were his friends to do? Was it
possible to take any steps by which he might yet be saved from such
a disgraceful death? Pressed as they were for time, they came to
the conclusion that the only chance existing in his favor was for a
deputation of as many of the leading Protestants of the county, as could
be prevailed upon to join in the measure, to proceed to Dublin without
delay. Immediately, therefore, after the trial, a meeting of the
baronet's friends was held in the head inn of Sligo, where the matter
was earnestly discussed. Whitecraft had been a man of private and
solitary enjoyments--in social and domestic life, as cold, selfish,
inhospitable, and repulsive as he was cruel and unscrupulous in his
public career.

The consequence was that he had few personal friends of either rank or
influence, and if the matter had rested upon his own personal character
and merits alone, he would have been left, without an effort, to the
fate which had that day been pronounced upon him. The consideration of
the matter, however, was not confined to himself as an individual, but
to the Protestant party at large, and his conviction was looked upon as
a Popish triumph. On this account many persons of rank and influence,
who would not othe