ss. Bitter and insulting expressions have escaped,
unheeded at the time, and forgotten by the offending party; but,
although forgiven, never to be forgotten by the other. Like barbed
arrows, they have entered into the heart of her whom he had promised
before God to love and to cherish, and remain there they must, for they
cannot be extracted. Affection may pour balm into the wounds and soothe
them for a time, and, while love fans them with his soft wings, the heat
and pain may be unperceived; but passion again asserts his empire, and
upon his rude attack these ministering angels are forced from their
office of charity, and woman--kind, devoted woman--looks inwardly with
despair upon her wounded and festering heart.

Hurried as she was to an early tomb, the unfortunate wife of Captain De
Courcy had still time to present him with two fine boys, whose infantine
endearments soothed his violence; and, as long as they showed no spirit
of resistance, they were alternately fondled and frightened. But
children are not blind, and the scenes which continually occurred
between their parents, the tears of their mother, and the remarks made
in their presence by the domestics,--soon taught them to view their
father with dread. Captain De Courcy perceived that he was shunned by
his children, the only beings whom he had endeavoured (as far as his
temper would permit) to attach to him. They were dismissed to school at
a very early age, and were soon treated by their father in the same
harsh manner as all those who had the misfortune to be under his baneful
protection. They returned home at holiday time with regret, and the
recommencement of their scholastic duties was a source of delight. The
mother died, and all at home was desolate. The violence of their father
seemed to increase from indulgence; and the youths, who were verging
into manhood, proved that no small portion of the parent's fiery
disposition had been transmitted to them, and showed a spirit of
resistance which ended in their ruin.

William, the eldest of the boys, was, as it were, by birthright, the
first to fall a victim to his father's temper. Struck senseless and
bleeding to the ground for some trifling indiscretion, as he lay
confined to his bed for many subsequent days, he formed the resolution
of seeking his own fortune rather than submit to hourly degradation. At
the period at which this occurred, many years previously to the one of
which we are now writ