treachery afterwards, his conduct, on the night he reconnoitred Newgate, proves him to have been quite unfitted for command. That a man known to every turnkey, should have personally examined a building in which he had been so long confined, appeared, from its extreme rashness, almost to indicate indifference to the consequences of discovery. The Sheares, when the hour of action came, appeared to have literally done nothing-and yet both were men of overweening vanity as to their own abilities, and blind to the superior qualifications of their confederates. They forgot that the pen may pave the way for revolutionary action; but the hand which effects the final movement must grasp the sword.* Hence, the private papers of Lord Edward and John Shears stand out in powerful contrast. One ably pointed to his followers the means by which the object could be achieved; the other, leaving more active spirits to effect it, proved amply that, by whomsoever gained, success would be unscrupulously employed.

On the morning of the 24th, two Proclamations were issued, the one from General Lake, the other from Alderman Fleming-both were stringent-but the circumstances of the times admitted of no temporizing measures :

"Lieutenant-General Lake, commanding his Majesty's forces in this kingdom, having received from his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant full powers to put down the rebellion, and to punish rebels in the most summary manner, according to martial law, does hereby give notice to all his Majesty's subjects, that he is determined to exert the powers intrusted to him in the most vigorous manner for the immediate suppression of the same; and that all persons acting in the present repellion, or in anywise aiding or assisting therein, will be treated by him. as rebels, and punished accordingly.

"And Lieutenant-General Lake hereby requires all the inhabitants of the city of Dublin (the great officers of state, members of the houses of parliament, privy councillors, magistrates, and military persons in uniform excepted) to remain within their respective dwellings from nine o'clock at night, till five in the morning, under pain of punishment. The Lord Mayor's Proclamation was equally strong, and equally judicious:

"Whereas, the circumstances of the present crisis demand every possible precaution: these are therefore to desire all persons who have registered arms, forthwith to give in, in writing, an exact list or inventory of such arms at the town clerk's office, who will file and enter the same in a book to be kept for that purpose. And all persons who have not registered their arms are hereby required forthwith to deliver up to me, or some other of the magistrates of this city, all arms and ammunition of every kind in their possession. And if, after this Pro

* "Lord Edward Fitzgerald and John were not intimately acquainted. He thought Lord Edward's talents were only military. I doubt if either of the brothers was highly in the confidence of Lord Edward. They thought him ardent and sincere; but both spoke impatiently on the subject of his talents as a leader-and more than impatiently!"— Notices of the Sheares, by Miss Steel.

clamation, any person having registered arms shall be found not ta have given in a true list or inventory of such arms; or if any person who has not registered, shall be found to have in their power or possession any arms or ammunition whatever, such person or persons will, on such arms being discovered, be forthwith sent on board his Majesty's navy, as by law directed.

And I do hereby desire, that all housekeepers do place upon the outside of their doors, a list of all persons in their respective houses, distinguishing such as are strangers from those who actually make part of their family; but as there may happen to be persons who, from pecuniary embarrassments, are obliged to conceal themselves, I do not require such names to be placed on the outside of the door, provided their names are sent to me. And I hereby call upon his Majesty's subjects, within the county of the city of Dublin, immediately to comply with this regulation, as calculated for the public security; as those persons who shall wilfully neglect a regulation so easy and salutary, as well as persons giving false statements of the inmates of their houses, must, in the present crisis, abide the consequences of such neglect."

We now turn to the outbreak in the immediate vicinity of the capital. Slight affairs occurred on the night of the 23rd, and upon the following day. At Rathfarnham, Lucan, Lusk, Collon, and Baltinglass, the royalists and rebels came in contact, and the latter were repulsed. At Dunboyne and Barretstown the escorts of some baggage (Reay and Suffolk Fencibles) were surprised. On the succeeding day Clane, Naas, Ballymore Eustace, Kilcullen, and Prosperous were attacked-and with the exception of the latter, in every effort the rebels were unsuccessful.

Prosperous, a small but thriving town, then generally inhabited by persons employed in manufacturing cottons, is seventeen miles from Dublin. It was garrisoned by a detachment of the North Cork Militia, some forty men under Captain Swayne, with a lieutenant and twenty of the Ancient British cavalry. The infantry occupied a temporary barrack; half the cavalry were quartered in an opposite house, and the remainder in single billets. On the Sunday (20th) previous to the outbreak, Swayne arrived in Prosperous with his detachment. He attended at the chapel with Dr. Esmond-a man of great local influence-and then implored the people there assembled, to deliver up any arms which might be concealed, return to their allegiance, and receive the protection he was authorized to grant them. This exhortation proved ineffectual: some coercive measures-such as the seizure of cattle, then warranted by martial law-were resorted to; and on the 23rd, it was intimated that fear had hitherto prevented the peasantry from bringing the concealed arms to the town; and that should they be permitted to enter after dark, unchallenged and unmolested, on the following night, pikes and fire-arms would be brought in and deposited in the streets.

It is difficult to decide whether the stupidity of Swayne, or the treachery of Esmond, were most to be condemned." A man, individually, may trifle with himself-but for him who turns right or left from the

plain path which duty points to, and compromises the safety of those committed to his charge, there can be no extenuation. For Swayne's folly there can be no apology-his pickets should have been doubleda cart-a ladder-drawn across the street would have marked sufficiently where those who came to surrender arms might approach with full security. A step beyond it, if the challenge failed, the advanced sentry shot the intruder, and the garrison was at once alarmed. So much for Swayne-his weakness was inexcusable- he died its victimignobly, certainly, but still by the weapon of a foeman: Esmond met the doom he merited—a halter.

Musgrave's account of the surprise is, I believe, perfectly authentic. "About two o'clock on Thursday morning, the 24th of May, the two sentinels were surprised and killed; and both the barracks were assaulted while the soldiers were fast asleep. The barracks of the Cork company consisted of a hall, an apartment on each side, the same in the next story, and under-ground offices. A party of the rebels rushed into Captain Swayne's apartment, which was on the ground-floor, and murdered, him. Some soldiers, who slept in the opposite apartment, alarmed at the noise, came forth with their firelocks and expelled those ruffians from the barrack after having killed two or three of them.

"The house was at that time surrounded with a great number of rebels variously armed. A fierce conflict ensued between the assailants and the besieged; but it was soon put an end to by the following malignant device of the former. There was a great quantity of straw in the underground office, to which the rebels set fire-and to increase the flame, introduced some faggots into it. The soldiers were soon in a state of suffocation; and the heat being so great that they could not endure it, they retreated to their comrades in the upper story-but the flames and smoke soon reached them there, as the rebels continued to introduce lighted faggots into the apartments under them. Enveloped with thick smoke, and overcome with heat, some of them leaped out of the windows, but were immediately received on the pikes of the assailants, who gave a dreadful yell whenever that occurred.

"At last, the barrack being in a state of conflagration, the soldiers resolved to rush forward and fight their way through their assailants; but they, who were very numerous, formed a half-moon round the front of the barrack, and received them on their pikes, so that but few of them escaped."

Nothing could have been more detestable than Esmond's treachery. He wore the royal uniform, and yet was false to the monarch to whom he had sworn allegiance. When men of desperate fortunes swerve from the paths of honour, poverty may be pleaded to extenuate, though not excuse. Esmond had no plea to offer he was wealthy, well born, and respected. He might have proved a rebel, but why play the traitor? When in the house of God, loyalty was on his lips, while the heart was contemplating bloodshed. Even the tie a savage venerates could not turn him from his truculent design-and while he had devoted him to death, he shared his victim's hospitality-dined with Captain Swayne "at an inn on the 23rd day of May, and continued