tor remarked
that he was not surprised at Lord Chesterfield's having called her "a
dangerous Papist," the patriot relapsed into the woman, and she looked up
at the picture with a melancholy smile.

The subject of society in Ireland during the eighteenth century would be
singularly incomplete without some notice of the disabilities under which
so large a portion of the nation lay. The penal laws were designed to
transfer all the property of the country to the hands of Protestants, and
they were effectual to a great extent, but in many instances they were
evaded by the friendship and good feeling of Protestants themselves.
Intermarriages often took place, and individuals of the favored party in
several cases held property secretly in trust for the real owners. By this
and other devices a portion of their estates was saved for Catholic
families. It may not be amiss to relate two or three illustrations of the
working of these laws, and also of the way in which they were evaded.

In the year 1776, Mr. Thomas Stephen Coppinger lived on his family estate
of Carhue in the county of Cork. His ancestors had eschewed politics, and
had retained their property and their religion for a century and a half
without molestation. Now, however, his first cousin, Thomas John
Coppinger, laid claim to half the estate on the plea that it should have
been "gaveled," or divided between the sons, when his grandfather died
without leaving a Protestant heir, such being the law at the time. In
order to force his cousin to consent, Thomas John became a Protestant and
threatened to file a bill of discovery; which meant that he would give
formal notice that his cousin was "discovered" to be a Catholic. By going
through this form he could claim the whole estate. Thomas Stephen was
advised to _go through the ceremony of conforming_, but refused on
principle. The case was tried, but in the existing state of the law there
was no redress, and half the estate, with the family residence, was given
up to Thomas John. It tells well for the family affection and forgiving
disposition of the Irish that far from this transaction originating a feud
between the Protestant and Catholic branches of the Coppingers, they were
always on the best terms. The year after this occurrence the law was
altered and some of the severest restrictions on the Catholics removed.

A few years before this change in the law a Mr. Duggan resided at the
"Park," near Killarney, a property w