here the solemnity of the law usually represses every semblance
of popular emotion; nor was it till after several seconds had elapsed
that the judges were enabled to recall the Court to the observance of
the rigid propriety of the justice-seat.

"Himself exhausted by his efforts, and really overborne by feeling, the
counsel was unable to continue his address, and the Court, willingly
granting an indulgence that his exertions amply deserved, adjourned till
to-morrow, when at ten o'clock this remarkable case will be resumed;
though it is believed, from the number of witnesses to be examined,
and the necessary length of 'the reply,' the trial cannot be completed
before Saturday evening."

CHAPTER L. A TRIAL--CONCLUSION

The second day was chiefly occupied in examining witnesses,--old
acquaintances of my father's, for the most part, who had known him on
his return to Ireland, and who could bear their testimony as to the
manner in which he lived, and the acceptance he and my mother had met
with in the best society of the capital. Though their evidence really
went no further than a mere impression on their part, it was easy to
perceive that its effect was most favorable on the jury; nor could
cross-examination elicit the slightest flaw in the belief that they
lived amongst their equals, without the shadow of aspersion on their
honor.

An uninterested spectator of the scene might have felt amusement in
contrasting the description of manners and habits with the customs of
the present time; for although the evidence referred to a period so
recent, yet were all the details mixed up with usages, opinions,
and ways that seemed those of a long-past epoch. Men were just then
awakening after that long and splendid orgie which had formed the life
of Ireland before the Union. With bankrupt fortunes and ruined
estates, they saw themselves the successors of a race whose princely
hospitalities had never known a limit, and who had really imparted a
character of barbaric splendor to lives of reckless extravagance.

A certain Mr. Archdall was examined as to his recollection of Castle
Carew and the company who frequented there. He had been my father's
guest when the Viceroy visited him; and certainly his account of the
festivities might well have startled the credulity of his hearers.
It was not at first apparent with what object these revelations were
elicited by the cross-examination; but at length it came out that they
were inte