at a Rosary for the same purpose. Again, you might see an unhappy
woman beside a newly-made grave, giving way to lamentation and sorrow
for the loss of a husband, or of some beloved child. Here, you might
observe the "last bed" ornamented with hoops, decked in white paper,
emblematic of the virgin innocence of the individual who slept
below;--there, a little board-cross informing you that "this monument
was erected by a disconsolate husband to the memory of his beloved
wife." But that which excited greatest curiosity was a sycamore-tree,
which grow in the middle of the burying-ground.

It is necessary to inform the reader, that in Ireland many of the
church-yards are exclusively appropriated to the interment of Roman
Catholics, and, consequently, the corpse of no one who had been a
Protestant would be permitted to pollute or desecrate them. This was
one of them: but it appears that by some means or other, the body of a
Protestant had been interred in it--and hear the consequence! The next
morning heaven marked its disapprobation of this awful visitation by a
miracle; for, ere the sun rose from the east, a full-grown sycamore
had shot up out of the heretical grave, and stands there to this day,
a monument at once of the profanation and its consequence. Crowds wore
looking at this tree, feeling a kind of awe, mingled with wonder, at
the deed which drew down such a visible and lasting mark of God's
displeasure. On the tombstones near Kelly's grave, men and women were
seated, smoking tobacco to their very heart's content; for, with that
profusion which characterizes the Irish in everything, they had brought
out large quantities of tobacco, whiskey, and bunches of pipes. On such
occasions it is the custom for those who attend the wake or the funeral
to bring a full pipe home with them; and it is expected that, as often
as it is used, they will remember to say "God be merciful to the soul of
him that this pipe was over."

The crowd, however, now began to disperse; and the immediate friends of
the deceased sent the priest, accompanied by Kelly's brother, to request
that we would come in, as the last mark of respect to poor Denis's
memory, and take a glass of wine and a cake.

"Come, Toby," said my brother, "we may as well go in, as it will gratify
them; we need not make much delay, and we will still be at home in
sufficient time for dinner."

"Certainly you will," said the Priest; "for you shall both come and dine
with me