lis, he partook of a lunch, which,
even to his voluptuous palate, was one that he could not but admit to be
excellent. He received four hundred pounds from the proctor, for which
he merely gave him a note of hand, and in a short time was on his way to
the metropolis.

CHAPTER VI.--Unexpected Generosity--A False Alarm.

At this period, notwithstanding the circumstances which we have just
related--and they were severe enough--the distress of the Protestant
clergy of Ireland was just only beginning to set in. It had not, as
yet, however, assumed anything like that formidable shape in which
it subsequently appeared. To any scourge so dreadful, no class in the
educated and higher ranks of society had been, within the records of
historical recollection, ever before subjected. Still, like a malignant
malady, even its first symptoms were severe, and indicative of the
sufferings by which, with such dreadful certainty, they were followed.

On that day, and at the very moment when the mysterious attempt at
assassination,which we have recorded, was made, Dr. Turbot's worthy
curate, on returning home from the neighboring village of Lisnagola,
was, notwithstanding great reluctance on his part, forced into the
following conversation with his lovely but dejected wife:

"Charles," said she, fixing her large, tearful eyes upon him, with a
look in which love, anxiety, and sorrow were all blended, "I fear you
have not been successful in the village. Has Moloney refused us?"

"Only conditionally, my dear Maria--that is, until our account is paid
up--but for the present, and perhaps for a little longer, we must deny
ourselves these 'little luxuries,'" and he accompanied the words with
a melancholy smile. "Tea and sugar and white bread are now beyond our
reach, and we must be content with a simpler fare."

Mrs. Temple, on looking at their children, could scarcely refrain from
tears; but she knew her husband's patience and resignation, and felt
that it was her duty to submit with humility to the dispensation of God.

"You and I, my dear Charles, could bear up under anything--but these
poor things, how will they do?"

"That reflection is only natural, my dear Maria; but it is spoken,
dearest, only like a parent, who probably loves too much and with
an excess of tenderness. Just reflect, darling, upon the hundreds of
thousands of children in our native land, who live healthily and happily
without ever having tasted either tea or