ry.

'Well then, look here,' said the hangman. 'If these Papists gets into
power, and begins to boil and roast instead of hang, what becomes of my
work! If they touch my work that's a part of so many laws, what becomes
of the laws in general, what becomes of the religion, what becomes of
the country!--Did you ever go to church, Muster Gashford?'

'Ever!' repeated the secretary with some indignation; 'of course.'

'Well,' said the ruffian, 'I've been once--twice, counting the time I
was christened--and when I heard the Parliament prayed for, and thought
how many new hanging laws they made every sessions, I considered that I
was prayed for. Now mind, Muster Gashford,' said the fellow, taking
up his stick and shaking it with a ferocious air, 'I mustn't have
my Protestant work touched, nor this here Protestant state of things
altered in no degree, if I can help it; I mustn't have no Papists
interfering with me, unless they come to be worked off in course of law;
I mustn't have no biling, no roasting, no frying--nothing but hanging.
My lord may well call me an earnest fellow. In support of the great
Protestant principle of having plenty of that, I'll,' and here he beat
his club upon the ground, 'burn, fight, kill--do anything you bid me, so
that it's bold and devilish--though the end of it was, that I got hung
myself.--There, Muster Gashford!'

He appropriately followed up this frequent prostitution of a noble word
to the vilest purposes, by pouring out in a kind of ecstasy at least
a score of most tremendous oaths; then wiped his heated face upon his
neckerchief, and cried, 'No Popery! I'm a religious man, by G--!'

Gashford had leant back in his chair, regarding him with eyes so sunken,
and so shadowed by his heavy brows, that for aught the hangman saw of
them, he might have been stone blind. He remained smiling in silence for
a short time longer, and then said, slowly and distinctly:

'You are indeed an earnest fellow, Dennis--a most valuable fellow--the
staunchest man I know of in our ranks. But you must calm yourself;
you must be peaceful, lawful, mild as any lamb. I am sure you will be
though.'

'Ay, ay, we shall see, Muster Gashford, we shall see. You won't have to
complain of me,' returned the other, shaking his head.

'I am sure I shall not,' said the secretary in the same mild tone, and
with the same emphasis. 'We shall have, we think, about next month, or
May, when this Papist relief bill comes before the