ton, and two gentlemen, members of the legislature; who, on
his appearance, entered into a friendly altercation to determine with
which of them O'Leary should, on the next day, share the splendid
hospitality which reigned in the metropolis during the sessions of
parliament. It was at length decided that the prize of his unrivalled
wit and sociability should be determined by lot. O'Leary was an amused
and silent spectator of the contest. The fortunate winner was
congratulated on his success; and the rivals separated to meet on the
morrow.

When the hour of dinner was come, O'Leary forgot which of his three
friends was to be his host.

It was too late to make formal inquiries; and, as he was the honored
guest, he dared not absent himself. In this difficulty, his ready
imagination suggested an expedient. His friends, he recollected, lived
in the same square, and he therefore, some short time after the usual
dinner hour, sent a servant to inquire at each of the houses--'if Father
O'Leary was there?' At the two first, where application was made, the
reply was in the negative; but at the last, the porter answered, that
'he was not there; but that dinner was ordered to be kept back, as he
was every moment expected.' Thus directed, 'Father Arthur's' apology for
delay was a humorous and detailed account of his expedient--the evening
flew quickly away on the wings of eloquence and wit, and the laughable
incident was long remembered and frequently repeated.

* * * * *

Father O'Leary's great intimacy with the leading Protestants of London,
gave rise to a rumor that he, like Lord Dunboyne and Mr. Kirwin, had
read his recantation. He contradicts it in the following letter:--

"_London, June_ 5, 1790.

"Sir--A confusion of names gave rise, some months ago, to a
mistake copied from the _Dublin Evening Post_ into the _Bath Chronicle_,
and other papers in this kingdom, viz., that 'I had read my recantation
in St. Werburgh's church in Dublin.' Thus a mistake has changed me into
a conformist, though I never changed my creed.

"If in reality the tenets of my Church were such as prejudice and
ignorance proclaim them:--if they taught me that a papal dispensation
could sanctify guilt, sanction conspiracies, murders, the extirpation of
my fellow-creatures on account of difference of religious opinions,
perjury to promote the Catholic cause, by pious breaches of allegiance
to Protestant kings, or rebellion