s character which went abroad
was such as might be expected--many thought him better than the old man.
He was the youngest son and a favorite--two circumstances which probably
occasioned his education to be neglected, as it had been. All his
sisters and brothers having been for some years married and settled in
life, he, and his father, who was a widower, kept a bachelor's house,
where we regret to say the parental surveillance over his morals was
not so strict as it ought to have been. Young Dick was handsome, and
so exceedingly vain of his person, that any one wishing to gain a favor
either from himself or his worthy sire, had little more to do than
dexterously apply a strong dose of flattery to this his weakest point,
and the favor was sure to be granted, for his influence over old Dick
was boundless.

In this family, then, it was that Hanlon held the situation we have
described--that is, partly a gardener, and partly a steward, and partly
a laboring man. There was a rude and riotous character in and about
Dick's whole place, which marked it at once as the property of a person
below the character of a gentleman. Abundance there was, and great
wealth; but neither elegance nor neatness marked the house or furniture.
His servants partook of the same equivocal appearance, as did the father
and son, and the "Grange" in general; but, above all and everything in
his establishment, must we place, in originality and importance, Jemmy
Branigan, who, in point of fact, ought to receive credit for the greater
portion of old Dick's reputation, or at least for all that was good of
it. Jemmy was his old, confidential--enemy--for more than forty years,
during the greater portion of which period it could scarcely be said
with truth that, in Jemmy's hands, Dick o' the Grange ought to be looked
to as a responsible person. When we say "enemy," we know perfectly well
what we mean; for if half a dozen battles between Jemmy and his master
every day during the period above mentioned constituted friendship,
then, indeed, the reader may substitute the word friend, if he pleases.

In fact, Dick and Jemmy had become notorious throughout the whole
country; and we are certain that many of our readers will, at first
glance, recognize these two remarkable individuals. Truly, the
ascendancy which Jemmy had gained over the magistrate, was surprising;
and nothing could be more amusing than the interminable series of
communications, both written and or