se on trial, and not immediately as
regarded Crofts. And then Darby began a recital, of which I had never
heard a syllable before, nor had I conceived the slightest suspicion.

The story, partly told in narrative form, partly elicited by
questioning, was briefly this.

Daniel Fortescue was the son of a Roscommon gentleman of large fortune,
of whom also Crofts was the illegitimate child. The father, a man
of high Tory politics, had taken a most determined part against the
patriotic party in Ireland, to which his son Daniel had shown himself,
on more than one occasion, favorable. The consequence was, a breach of
affection between them; widened into an actual rupture, by the old man,
who was a widower, taking home to his house the illegitimate son, and
announcing to his household that he would leave him everything he could
in the world.

To Daniel, the blow was all that he needed to precipitate his ruin. He
abandoned the university, where already he had distinguished himself,
and threw himself heart and soul into the movement of the "United
Irish" party. At first, high hopes of an independent nation,--a separate
kingdom, with its own train of interests, and its own sphere of power
and influence,--was the dream of those with whom he associated. But
as events rolled on it was found, that to mature their plans it was
necessary to connect themselves with the masses, by whose agency the
insurrectionary movement was to be effected; and in doing so, they
discovered, that although theories of liberty and independence, high
notions of pure government, may have charms for men of intellect and
intelligence, to the mob the price of a rebellion must be paid down
in the sterling coin of pillage and plunder,--or even, worse, the
triumphant dominion of the depraved and the base over the educated and
the worthy.

Many who favored the patriotic cause, as it was called, became so
disgusted at the low associates and base intercourse the game of party
required, that they abandoned the field at once, leaving to others, less
scrupulous or more ardent, the path they could not stoop to follow. It
was probable that young Fortescue might have been among these, had he
been left to the guidance of his own judgment and inclination; for, as a
man of honor and intelligence, he could not help feeling shocked at the
demands made by those who were the spokesmen of the people. But this
course he was not permitted to take, owing to the influence of a man