tate, he found, to his astonishment, that he had long since liquidated his own. The discovery was fatal. The loss of his credit with the world he might have survived, but the loss of his credit with the whiskey merchant drove him to despair. He died in the year 1798, a melancholy monument of an ill-spent life. Of his mother, Mr. Odoherty was ever in the habit of talking with gratitude and respect; and the manner in which she discharged the duties of her situation to himself and his three sisters, I have every reason to believe was highly exemplary. And with the exception of the circumstance of a posthumous child making its appearance about fourteen months after the death of her husband, there occurred nothing which could raise a doubt of her being the most virtuous of her sex. Being endowed with a considerable taste for letters, Mrs. Odoherty determined that her son should receive a liberal education, and accordingly sent him to a charity school in the neighborhood. At this school, I have reason to believe, he remained about four years, when, by the interest of his uncle, Mr. Dennis Odoherty, butler to the Right Honorable Lord Muskerry,* he was received into his lordship's family as an under-domestic. In this noble family Ensign and Adjutant Odoherty soon became an universal favorite. The sweetness of his temper, the grace and vigor of his form, which certainly belonged more to the class of Hercules than the Apollo, rendered him the object of the fervent admiration of the whole female part of the family. Nor did he long remain in a menial situation. By the intercession of Lady Muskerry, he was appointed under-steward on the estate, and on his lordship's being appointed colonel of the Limerick militia in 1808, his first care was to bestow a pair of colors on Mr. Odoherty. Never surely did a gift bestow more honor on the giver, and Lord Muskerry had the satisfaction of raising, to his proper sta * Baron Muskerry, of Springfield Castle, in the county of Limerick, Ireland, is the representative of a Mr. Deane, settled in Dromore, in the county of Cork, in the time of James I. A baronetcy was conferred on the then head of the family, in 1709, during the reign of Queen Anne, and an Irish peerage, in 1781, “when George III. was king." The first Lord Muskerry obtained his Limerick property by marriage with the heiress of the Fitzmaurice family.-M. tion in society, a youth whose talents were destined, not only to do honor to the Limerick militia, but to his country and the world. In this situation, it is scarcely necessary to state, he was the very life and soul of society wherever he was quartered. Not a tea-party could be formed, not an excursion could be planned in the neighborhood, without Mr. Odoherty being included in it. In short he was like the verb in a sentence, quite impossible to be wanted. I have been informed by several officers of the regiment, that he was the greatest promoter of conviviality at the mess. His wine, to use their own expression, was never lost on him, and, toward the conclusion of the third bottle, he was always excessively amusing. When quartered with his regiment at Ballinasloe, in the year 1809, he became smitten with the charms of a young lady of that city, who, from what I have heard of her person and temper, was all "That youthful poets fancy when they love." Her father was a man of considerable wealth, and what is called middle-man, or agent to several of the noblemen and gentlemen of the country. Her name was Miss Augusta M'Craw, and her family were believed to be descended from the M'Craws of Inverness-shire, a house which yields to none in the pride of its descent, or the purity of its blood. Mr. M'Craw, indeed, used to dwell, with great complacency, on the exploits of an ancestor of the family, Sir John M'Craw, who flourished in the reign of James III., who not only defeated a Sir James M'Gregor, in a pitched battle, but actually kicked him round the lists, to the great amusement of the king and all his court. In this exercise, however, there is a tradition of his having dislocated his great toe, which ended in a whitlow, of which he died about three years afterward, leaving his fate as a lesson to his successors, of the consequences attending such unknightly behavior. To this lady, as I already mentioned, Mr. Odoherty formed a most devoted attachment, and he accordingly made her an offer of his heart and hand. The young lady returned his attachment with sincerity, but her father and mother were most unaccountably averse to the connection. On stating to them the affection he entertained for their daughter, and soliciting their consent to its legal consummation, he was treated with the utmost indignity, and desired to quit the house immediately. On his remonstrating against this improper treatment, the brother of the lady attempted to pull him by the nose, and Mr. Odoherty retreated with the very proper resolution of demanding the satisfaction of a gentleman. He accordingly sent him a message the next day, and a meeting was the consequence. On this occasion Ensign Odoherty behaved with all the coolness of the most experienced veteran. They fired nine shots each without effect, but, in the tenth round, Mr. Odoherty received a wound in the cheek, which carried off three of his jaw teeth, and entirely demolished one of his whiskers. On receiving the wound, he raised his hand to his face, and exclaimed with the greatest coolness, "a douce in the chops, egad." By this wound he was unfortunately ever afterward much disfigured, and was afflicted with a stiffness in the neck, from which he never recovered. Miss Augusta M'Craw was married, a short time afterward, to a lieutenant of artillery, and Mr. Odoherty very feelingly expressed his regret and sorrow on the occasion, by two odes on the inconstancy of women, which appeared in the Irish newspapers, and were afterward recorded in the Lady's Magazine for October, 1811. Let it not be supposed, however, that, in the progress of the events which I have been relating, his poetical talents had remained dormant. Although we do not find, in his pieces of this period, the same lofty degree of excellence which was afterward so prominent in his more mature productions, yet they are all imbued with very considerable spirit and imagination. They had hitherto been generally rather of a light and amatory nature; but of his talents for satire, I believe the following epigram, on a certain amorous dowager, will afford not an unfavorable specimen :— If a lover, sweet creature, should foolishly seek On thy face for the bloom of the rose, Oh tell him, although it has died on thy cheek, He will find it at least on thy nose. Sweet emblem of virtue! rely upon this, I also find, among his papers, an unfinished tragedy, which I conjecture, must have been composed about this time. It is entitled Euphemia, and, in my opinion, displays an uncommon degree of genius. I shall only extract part of one scene, which strikes me as being executed in the most masterly manner. The Princess Euphemia is represented as passing a sleepless night, in consequence of the imprisonment of her lover Don Carlos. Toward morning, she breaks out into the following impassioned reflections: Euphemia. Ah, 'tis a weary night! Alas, will sleep Capricorn, Orion, Venus, and the Bear: I saw them each and all. And they are gone, Has journeyed through the sky: I saw her rise Decline beneath the waters. My poor head aches Beyond endurance. I'll call on Beatrice, And bid her bring me the all-potent draught Left by Fernando the apothecary, At his last visit. Beatrice! She sleeps As sound as a top. What, ho, Beatrice! Thou art indeed the laziest waiting maid That ever cursed a princess. Beatrice! Beatrice. Coming, your highness; give me time to throw My flannel dicky on; 'tis mighty cold At these hours of the morning. Euphem. Beatrice. have me Beat. I'm groping for my slippers; would you Euphem. And must thy mistress, then, I say, must she Art groping for thy slippers! Selfish wretch! Beat. Oh, my lady, forgive me that I was so slow And kind a mistress. Oh, forgive me! Euphem. Well, well; I fear I was too hasty: But want of sleep, and the fever of my blood, Upon the dressing-table, close by the rouge Euphem. (sola.) Alas, Don Carlos, mine own Enter Beatrice. Beat. Laudanum on the label; right: Here, my lady, is the physic you require. Euphem. Then pour me out one hundred drops and fifty, With water in the glass, that I may quaff Oblivion to my misery. Beat. 'Tis done. [exit. Euphem. (drinks.) My head turns round; it mounts into my brain. If Hellespont and Greece! Alas, I faint. [faints. The heart of Mr. Odoherty was of the tenderest and most inflammable description, and he now formed an attachment to a lady Gilhooly, the rich widow of Sir Thomas Gilhooly, knight, who, on account of some private services to the state, was knighted during the lieutenancy of Lord Hardwicke. His love to ** *The third Earl of Hardwicke, grandson of the great Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, was born in 1757, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1801 to 1806, and died in 1834. His son, the present Earl (1854) has been a member of the British government (Tory) as postmaster general. During the viceroyalty of Lord Hardwicke (in May, 1804) Cobbett was tried for a libel in his Register, tending to bring the Viceroy and several Irish officials into contempt. For this he was fined five hundred pounds sterling. In the same month he was also tried and convicted for a libel on Mr. (the late Lord) Plunket, and had to pay another five hundred pounds damages. Up to that period Cobbett had |