I remember to have heard, in some epilogue to a tragedy, that the tide
of pity and of love, whilst it overwhelms, fertilizes the soul. That it
may deposit the seeds of future fertilization, I believe; but some time
must elapse before they germinate: on the first retiring of the tide,
the prospect is barren and desolate. I was absolutely inert, and almost
imbecile for a considerable time, after the extraordinary stimulus, by
which I had been actuated, was withdrawn. I was in this state of apathy
when the rebellion broke out in Ireland; nor was I roused in the least
by the first news of the disturbances. The intelligence, however, so
much alarmed my English servants, that, with one accord, they left me;
nothing could persuade them to remain longer in Ireland. The parting
with my English gentleman affected my lethargic selfishness a little.
His loss would have been grievous to such a helpless being as I was, had
not his place been immediately supplied by that half-witted Irishman,
Joe Kelly, who had ingratiated himself with me by a mixture of
drollery and simplicity, and by suffering himself to be continually
my laughing-stock; for, in imitation of Lady Geraldine, I thought it
necessary to have a butt. I remember he first caught my notice by a
strange answer to a very simple question. I asked, “What noise is that
I hear?” “My lard,” said he, “it is only the singing in my ears; I have
had it these six months.” Another time, when I reproached him for having
told me a lie, he answered, “Why, now indeed, and plase your honour, my
lard, I tell as few lies as possibly I can.” This fellow, the son of a
bricklayer, had originally been intended for a priest, and he went, as
he told me, to the College of Maynooth to study his _humanities_; but,
unluckily, the charms of some Irish Heloise came between him and the
altar. He lived in a cabin of love, till he was weary of his smoke-dried
Heloise, and then thought it _convanient_ to turn _sarving_ man, as
he could play on the flute, and brush a coat remarkably well, which he
_larned_ at Maynooth, by brushing the coats of the superiors. Though he
was willing to be laughed at, Joe Kelly could in his turn laugh; and
he now ridiculed, without mercy, the pusillanimity of the English
_renegadoes_, as he called the servants who had just left my service;
He assured me that, to his knowledge, there was no manner of danger,
_excepted a man prefarred being afraid of his own shadow, which some
did, rather than have nothing to talk of, or enter into resolutions
about, with some of the spirited men in the chair_.
Unwilling to be disturbed, I readily believed all that lulled me in my
security. I would not be at the trouble of reading the public papers;
and when they were read to me, I did not credit any paragraph that
militated against my own opinion. Nothing could awaken me. I remember,
one day, lying yawning on my sofa, repeating to Mr. M’Leod, who
endeavoured to open my eyes to the situation of the country, “Pshaw, my
dear sir; there is no danger, be assured--none at all--none at all. For
mercy’s sake! talk to me of something more diverting, if you would keep
me awake; time enough to think of these things when they come nearer to
us.”
Evils that were not immediately near me had no power to affect my
imagination. My tenantry had not yet been contaminated by the epidemic
infection, which broke out soon after with such violence as to threaten
the total destruction of all civil order. I had lived in England--I was
unacquainted with the causes and the progress of the disease, and I had
no notion of my danger; all I knew was, that some houses had been
robbed of arms, and that there was a set of desperate wretches called
_defenders_; but I was _annoyed_ only by the rout that was now made
about them. Having been used to the regular course of justice which
prevailed in England, I was more shocked at the summary proceedings of
my neighbours than alarmed at the symptoms of insurrection. Whilst my
mind was in this mood, I was provoked by the conduct of some of the
violent party, which wounded my personal pride, and infringed upon my
imagined consequence. My foster-brother’s forge was searched for pikes,
his house ransacked, his bed and _bellows_, as possible hiding places,
were cut open; by accident, or from private malice, he received a shot
in his arm; and, though not the slightest cause of suspicion could
be found against him, the party left him with a broken arm, and the
consolation of not being sent to jail as a defender. Without making any
allowance for the peculiar circumstances of the country, my indignation
was excited in the extreme, by the injury done to my foster-brother; his
sufferings, the tears of his mother, the taunts of Mr. (now _Captain_)
Hardcastle, and the opposition made by his party, called forth all the
faculties of my mind and body. The poor fellow, who was the subject of
this contest, showed the best disposition imaginable: he was excessively
grateful to me for interesting myself to _get_ him justice; but as soon
as he found that parties ran high against me, he earnestly dissuaded me
from persisting.
“Let it drop, and _plase_ your honour; my lord, let it drop, and
don’t be making of yourself _inimies_ for the likes of me. Sure, what
signifies my arm? and, before the next assizes, sha’n’t I be as well
as ever, arm and all?” continued he, trying to appear to move the arm
without pain. “And there’s the new bellows your honour has _give_ me; it
does my heart good to look at ‘em, and it won’t be long before I will
be blowing them again as stout as ever; and so God bless your honour,
my lord, and think no more about it--let it drop entirely, and don’t be
bringing yourself into trouble.”
“Ay, don’t be bringing yourself into trouble, dear,” added Ellinor, who
seemed half distracted between her feelings for her son and her fears
for me; “it’s a shame to think of the way they’ve treated Christy--but
there’s no help now, and it’s best not to be making bad worse; and
so, as Christy says, let the thing drop, jewel, and don’t be bringing
yourself into trouble; you don’t know the _natur_ of them people,
dear--you are too _innocent_ for them entirely, and myself does not know
the mischief they might do _yees_.”
“True for ye,” pursued Christy; “I wouldn’t for the best cow ever I see
that your honour ever larnt a sentence about me or my arm; and it is not
for such as we to be minding every little accident--so God lend you long
life, and don’t be plaguing yourself to death! Let it drop, and I’ll
sleep well the night, which I did not do the week, for thinking of all
the trouble you got, and would get, God presarve ye!”
This generous fellow’s eloquence produced an effect directly contrary
to what was intended; both my feelings and my pride were now more warmly
interested in his cause. I insisted upon his swearing examinations
before Mr. M’Leod, who was a justice of the peace. Mr. M’Leod behaved
with the utmost steadiness and impartiality; and in this trying moment,
when “it was infamy to seem my friend,” he defended my conduct calmly,
but resolutely, in private and in public, and gave his unequivocal
testimony, in few but decided words, in favour of my injured tenant.
I should have respected Mr. M’Leod more, if I had not attributed this
conduct to his desire of being returned for one of my boroughs at the
approaching election. He endeavoured, with persevering goodness, to
convince me of the reality of the danger in the country. My eyes were
with much difficulty forced open so far as to perceive that it was
necessary to take an active part in public affairs to vindicate my
loyalty, and to do away the prejudices that were entertained against
me; nor did my incredulity, as to the magnitude of the peril, prevent me
from making exertions essential to the defence of my own character,
if not to that of the nation. How few act from purely patriotic and
rational motives! At all events I acted, and acted with energy; and
certainly at this period of my life I felt no ennui. Party spirit is an
effectual cure for ennui; and perhaps it is for this reason that so many
are addicted to its intemperance. All my passions were roused, and my
mind and body kept in continual activity. I was either galloping, or
haranguing, or fearing, or hoping, or fighting; and so long as it was
said that I could not sleep in my bed, I slept remarkably well, and
never had so good an appetite as when I was in hourly danger of having
nothing to eat. _The rebels were up_, and _the rebels were down_--and
Lord Glenthorn’s spirited conduct in the chair, and indefatigable
exertions in the field, were the theme of daily eulogium amongst my
convivial companions and immediate dependants. But, unfortunately, my
sudden activity gained me no credit amongst the violent party of my
neighbours, who persisted in their suspicions; and my reputation was
now still more injured, by the alternate charge of being a trimmer or a
traitor. Nay, I was further exposed to another danger, of which, from my
ignorance of the country, I could not possibly be aware. The disaffected
themselves, as I afterwards found, really believed, that, as I had not
begun by persecuting the poor, I must be a favourer of the rebels; and
all that I did to bring the guilty to justice, they thought was only to
give a _colour to the thing_, till the proper moment should come for my
declaring myself. Of this absurd and perverse mode of judging I had not
the slightest conception; and I only laughed when it was hinted to me.
My treating the matter so lightly confirmed suspicion on both sides.
At this time all objects were so magnified and distorted by the mist
of prejudice, that no inexperienced eye could judge of their real
proportions. Neither party could believe the simple truth, that my
tardiness to act arose from the habitual _inertia_ of my mind and body.
Whilst prepossessions were thus strong, the time, the important time, in
Ireland the most important season of the year, the assizes, arrived.
My foster-brother’s cause, or, as it was now generally called, _Lord
Glenthorn’s_ cause, came on to be tried. I spared no expense, I spared
no exertions; I fee’d the ablest counsel; and not content with leaving
them to be instructed by my attorney, I explained the affair to them
myself with indefatigable zeal. One of the lawyers, whom I had seen, or
by whom I had been seen, in my former inert state of existence, at
some watering-place in England, could not refrain from expressing his
astonishment at my change of character; he could scarcely believe that
I was the same Lord Glenthorn, of whose indolence and ennui he had
formerly heard and seen so much.
Alas! all my activity, all my energy, on the present occasion, proved
ineffectual. After a dreadful quantity of false swearing, the jury
professed themselves satisfied; and, without retiring from the
box, acquitted the persons who had assaulted my foster-brother. The
mortification of this legal defeat was not all that I had to endure; the
victorious party mobbed me, as I passed some time afterwards through
a neighbouring town, where Captain Hardcastle and his friends had
been carousing. I was hooted, and pelted, and narrowly escaped with my
life--_I_ who, but a few months ago, had imagined myself possessed of
nearly despotic power: but opinions had changed; and on opinion
almost all power is founded. No individual, unless he possess uncommon
eloquence, joined to personal intrepidity, can withstand the combination
of numbers, and the force of prejudice.
Such was the result of my first public exertions! Yet I was now happier
and better satisfied with myself than I had ever been before. I was not
only conscious of having acted in a manly and generous manner, but the
alarms of the rebels, and of the French, and of the loyalists, and the
parading, and the galloping, and the quarrelling, and the continual
agitation in which I was kept, whilst my character and life were at
stake, relieved me effectually from the intolerable burden of ennui.