A STORY OF HOLLANTIDE.

"Upon that night, when fancies light

On Cassilis Downans dance,

Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,

On sprightly coursers prance."-Burns.

an open house, and the bachelor and his sister dispensed the rights of hospitality in a manner which, to our refined notions, might seem boorish and extravagant; but which, nevertheless, indicates a warmness of heart and generosity of disposition.

Mr. D'Cusack and his sister, having had occasion to go to the continent, returned at Christmas, after an absence of nine months. The flag was hoisted on the tower of the old arched portal of the antiquated baronial residence; fires blazed on the hearths, and good fare and hilarity cheered the hearts of the numerous guests and visitors who thronged to welcome home their old friends, and to participate in the festivities that were going forward. Christmas morning was ushered in with the accompaniment of a heavy fall of snow, which, added to that already accumulated on the ground, deprived the revellers of any opportunity of field sports. Early prayers having the breakfast parlour, and, having partaken of a been attended, the family and visitors repaired to breakfast such as was usual in those times, separated in knots to amuse themselves as well as they could under the circumstances, being deprived, as we have just said, of out-door amusements by the unfavourable

The conversation at Ravensdale, on Hallowe'en, 18. having, as might have been expected, turned on the subject of dreams, visions, incantations, and things of that nature, our little circle drew close to the fire, for the purpose, I suppose, of heightening our sense of conviviality; though I cannot but confess that the movement had something like the appearance of the effects of fear; however, as we all professed to be sçavans of the first order, that idea must be repudiated. Stories suitable to the festival circulated, and Mr. Barry, one of the most serious of our company, took an opportunity to observe, in a quaintness of manner peculiar to himself" Who knows but dreams may be visions sent from above to forewarn us of what is to happen here below?" Whereupon another gentleman, Mr. O'Leary, told a story which seemed to support strongly, if not confirm, the hypothesis. Of its authenticity he did not speak very positively; but he mentioned as his authority a great grand-aunt by his mother's side, who, though not altogether infallible, yet deserves a good deal of credit in narrations of this kind, as being one of the ancient and respect-peared the never-failing and substantial roast beef able Anglo-Irish house of Cusack, who were noted as being under the tutelary guardianship of at least onehalf of the sisterhood of banshees of the county of Meath.

In the castle of Ratholdren lived, some eighty years ago, Thomas D'Cusack and his sister, Maud; they were the lineal descendants of Sir Thomas D'Cusack, who was speaker of the Irish House of Commons in 1541, when the title of King of Ireland was granted to Henry the Eighth-all the preceding monarchs of England, from the time of Henry the Second, having been merely called "Lords of Ireland," and "who, in that capacity, made a right good proposition in laud and praise of his Majesty, most worthily deserved; and also declared what benefit came of obedience to princes and observance of laws."

During the revolutions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the family had adhered to their ancient principles, by which they lost considerable portions of their patrimonial estates. Their support of James the Second had nearly deprived them of the remnant; and their possessions, at the time of which we write, had dwindled to the castle of Ratholdren and the lands attached thereto, within the circuit of about two miles in one direction, and not quite halfa-mile in the other. Since that time even this portion has passed from the hands of the Cusacks, and in a few years the very name may be forgotten in the county where it once was so important. Families are petty types of whole races and nations, which, having supplanted their predecessors, flourish for a time, perhaps a long one, and then yield to some more powerful intruders, who take their place. The de. scendants of the Anglo-Irish now generally hold the possessions which the Melesians wrested from the carlier occupiers of the soil, and it would be worse than useless to speculate who may be their successors. To return to our story.-Thomas D'Cusack was a bachelor, and his sister a spinster, and, for reasons not recorded in history, determined to remain so. For many months in the year Ratholdren Castle was

state of the weather.

How the day was spent is not our province to say, as we do not pretend to describe the manners and customs of the time; our object being merely to tell a tale as it was told to us.

The large bell that usually summoned the guests and domestics of Ratholdren tolled for dinner, at which, amongst other delicacies of the season, ap

and plum-pudding. Justice was done to these, and the evening was spent in agreeable and mirthful conversation. Maud D'Cusack was in high and happy spirits that evening; she saw before her “ old fami liar faces" that told of years gone by, and recalled early recollections with the memory of childhood's happy home; she saw young faces, and was gladdened at the prospects of happiness that she hoped awaited them in future years, for her mind was of that mould which wished to look at the forthcoming time as fraught with happiness, and hopes of better things, whilst she locked back with interest, sometimes painful, sometimes pleasing, on the period that had elapsed.

How sweet is hope? What a waste would life be without it! It leads us into life-accompanies us in our youth and manhood-and reserves its sweets for old age and, even after death, to the Christian it abounds with comfort.

The hour of midnight had long passed ere the company separated for the night, and Maud, having then performed her usual devotions in the family oratory, retired to her chamber. She disposed herself for sleep, but the bright visions of her day-dreams were changed into troubled anticipations and foreshadowings of the future. In her dream she beheld a man, whose face she thought was not altogether unknown to her, glide stealthily along the corridor that led to her brother's sleeping-room. She saw the door slowly and silently opened, the strange visitant enter, and draw from his bosom a dagger, at which he gazed for a few moments, as if hesitating to perpetrate the horrid deed; and then, with one desperate effort, he plunged it in the heart of his sleeping victim, her brother. The murdered man started convulsivelyopened his eyes with a horrible expression of terrorclosed them again, and died with a half-suppressed groan. The murderer wiped the weapon in the hangings of the old fashioned bed, and glided across the room to the escritoir of Mr. D'Cusack, which he forced open with the same instrument, and ransacked its contents, taking away with him a large sum of money, and documents, which he

at the residence of the Abbé Powell, who was now chaplain to the French Ambassador, to say that a culprit, whose death was fixed for the following morning, wished to speak with him. The old priest hastened off, and was introduced to the condemned cell; the criminal fell at his feet and bathed them with tears; with difficulty the priest raised him from the earthen floor, and catching a glimpse of his features, discovered the son of a former friend.

This life was now closing, and the next at hand for the wretched man. With care and fervour did the clergyman labour for the conversion of that being who stood upon the brink of a dreadful eternity. But conversion and repentance for an ill-spent life. these to be obtained in a few hours? the task! Let us hope it was accomplished by Almighty grace.

were

How difficult

The following morning brought crowds to witness the exit of the criminal. Did they come to receive a moral lesson ?—No. Did they come to be deterred from guilt ?—No. They came to gratify a savage curiosity, which is almost universal.

The culprit ascended slowly the place of execution, accompanied by the Abbé alone; his step was unsteady, and he whispered a few words in the ear of his confessor. He then delivered himself into the hands of the executioner, and in a few moments he ceased to live!

Far from the rills,

Where the western sunbeams smile;
Flowers may rise,

Varied in dyes,

But none like those of Erin's Isle.

F.

DIAMOND CEMENT.-This cement is much used for uniting broken china, glass, and the like, and is sold at an absurdly high price. It is simply composed of isinglass soaked in water, and then dissolved in

He had confessed the whole of his sinful career to the Abbé Powel, and, amongst other things, that he was the murderer of Thomas D'Cusack. The latter confession he had written and signed with his own hand, and empowered the priest to make it known to the D'Cusack family, to set all further suspicion at rest. This declaration was full and explicit, and corresponded, it was said, fully with the circum-spirit, to which a little gum-resin, ammoniac or galbastances of Maud D'Cusack's dream. He murdered Thomas, and then with the same dagger forced open his desk, from which he took some papers, the exact nature of which he did wish should transpire, neither was it important that it should, and a sum of money which he needed for the payment of debts he had accumulated by his profligacy.

His subsequent life and fate has been told; the circumstances of the murder and of the life of its perpetrator are facts; the reader may give what credit or construction he pleases to the dream.

num and resin mastic are added, each previously dissolved in a minimum of alcohol. When it is applied, it is gently heated to liquefy it; and it should be kept for use in a well-corked phial. A glass stopper should not be used, as it may become fixed. This is the cement used by the Armenian jewellers in Turkey for gluing the ornamental stones to trinkets. When well made, it resists moisture.

ANIMAL ELECTRICITY.— -To receive an electrical shock from a cat, place the left hand under the throat, with the middle finger and the thumb slightly pressing the bones of the animal's shoulder; then gently pressing the right hand along the back, sensible electrical shocks will be felt in the left hand

MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH BY FELTING.-In this CAOUTCHOUCINE. This is a highly inflammable new species of manufacture, the process of bowing liquid, obtained from caoutchouc by distructive distiland planking are performed by a carding machine, lation. Mr. Barnard obtained a patent for its manuand a machine termed a hardener. The bat of wool facture in 1833, and it has since excited considerable is formed by means of a travelling apron, which interest among chemists from two very extraordinary receives from the doffer of the card the slivers, or thin characteristics which it is found to possess viz., that in layers of wool, the process being continued until the a liquid state it has less specific gravity than any other slivers accumulated upon one another throughout the liquid known, being considerably lighter than sulwhole length of the apron, are sufficient in number to phuric ether, and in a state of vapour it is heavier than give the required substance. The bat is then cut the most ponderous of the gases. When mixed with and referred to the hardner, in which it is forced alcohol, it is a solvent of all the resins and particularly through and compressed by a series of rollers, the copal, which it dissolves at the ordinary temperature felting action being performed by the top rollers, of the atmosphere a property possessed by no other which have a slight alternating motion, while the cloth solvent known. It is thus particularly useful for makreceives heat and moisture from perforated steam-ing varnishes in general. It also mixes readily with pipes. After further compression in a third machine, which is immersed in a bath of soap and water, the cloth is transferred to the fulling-mill, and after being beaten a short time, is susceptible of the same degrees of finish as woollen cloth. The manufacture appears to be peculiarly fitted for carpets, horse-cloths, outer wearing apparel, &c., for which purposes it can be manufactured, it is said, for the mere cost of the oil used in preparing the wool for spinning the thread of woven cloth of the same description.

oil, and has been found particularly valuable for liquefying oil paints, which it does without in the slightest degree affecting the most delicate colours ; for it speedily evaporates, and the paint is then dry and firin as before solution. Mackintosh's solution of Caoutchouc is treated with hot naphtha-either that distilled from native petroleum, or from coal-tar, then triturated with a pestle, and pressed through a sieve. Caoutchoucine is, however, the best solvent of caoutchouc.

NAUTICAL RECOLLECTIONS.

No one can admire the character of a true-hearted sailor more than I do; and, yet, I can never see one attired in the garb of his profession, manly and graceful as it is, without a slight shudder. It matters not whether the individual be either, what Dana calls, "a salt," " a thorough-bred sea dog," or the more harmless specimen of yachting young gentlemen, in all the glory of broad cloth and gilt buttons--the feelings are still the same; and the sensations recalled to my mind are equally of an unpleasant complexion. I can account for this nervous peculiarity but in one way, and that, probably, will be best understood by my relating the circumstance from which I date its origin.

Many years ago (alas! how many!) I found myself, at the age of eighteen, a hopeful student of Old Trinity." Fresh from the country, buoyant, full of health and hope, I had very little to fret me, and never let the shadow of the approaching morrow darken the sunshine of to-day-a temperament that was shared by my chosen companions and class-fellows, Robert Esmond, (commonly called "Spouting Bob," from an inveterate propensity to quote Shakspeare on all occasions,) and Frank Lonergan. Frank's taste lay more in the sentimental line; he was rather addicted to walking by the canal, at moonlight; and, of course, perpetrated poetry. With regard to myself, although

"On their own merits, modest men are dumb!"

yet, like all heroes in genteel comedy, I do not think that I was remarkable for any distinguishing attribute; or, if I was, like Sir Callaghan O'Brallaghan's

brogue, I am sure I never could perceive it.

Gardens. By some kind of talismanic freemasonry sion, the exact hour they would be visible in the we were enabled to calculate, with wonderful preci neighbourhood of Mountjoy-square; and, equally astonishing, whenever they went shopping, was the correctness with which, "quite by chance," we hapthese evolutions, as I made it a rule never to believe pened to meet them on their return home during all a word they said on the subject. How my friends progressed I know not, but, with regard to myself, I bowed and blushed,

"But never talked of love!"

At times I experienced a sensation, as if my fair companion was laughing at me in secret, and, although my vanity spurned the idea, yet there was a comical expression in her eye and a slight curl on her pretty lip, that boded anything but success to the hopes of the stripling on whose arm she leaned, and whom, I dreaded to think, she considered in the light of a walking-stick. However, these were passing spasms, and her good-natured familarity and my own self-conceit soon effaced the painful impressions they left behind them.

"If I could tell her what oakum was made of ?"

It happened that on one occasion a week had elapsed since we last saw the objects of our devotion; and when we again met, which happened to be in the promenade at the Rotundo Gardens, we at once perceived a decided change in the manner of our fair friends. They had, a few days previous, been on and politeness of the blue-jackets had made such board a man-of-war at Dunleary, and the gallantry impression on their imaginations, that they could talk of nothing else; this, and a careful perusal of Cooper's "Pilot" the preceding day, had so completely filled their minds with nautical notions, that their entire conversation ran on the one subject, intermixed with a strange medley of sea phrases and quotations, about "the deep waters,"" the dark I need scarcely say, it was necessary for three blue sea," and "the foaming billows," enough to so hopeful specimens of the rising generation to be make a landsman jealous. To such a pitch was this in love, and in love we were. Frank had two carried, that my "faithless Bella" interrupted a longcousins residing in the neighbourhood of Blessington-winded compliment to her eyes, which took me half an street, very pretty and interesting girls; and with hour the previous night in composing, by askingthem, on a visit, was a third young lady, (I shall spare you her description,) who, in my eyes, was more than equally attractive. The number was therefore complete, and Voila, une affaire fini!" we had soon, all the symptoms of the tender passion (as described in novels) strongly developed, although expressed in a distinct manner in each individual case. Thus, while Romeo and Juliet was rehearsed by Bob, until the echoes of his chamber rang again; the parts of Juliet and Tybalt being sustained by his academical gown and great coat, hung up against the door, and invariably pinned to the pannel with a sword-cane in the fencing scene-Frank was seated in his room, regarding a spider on the ceiling with a stern look, in the vain hope of extracting from its cobwebs a sonnet to his "ladye love;" while I, even I, with my arms folded on my breast, my body balanced on my chair, and my legs disposed on each side of the fire-place, sat sighing like a paviour," reflecting on the many accomplishments of the fair visitor, Arabella Thompson.

The ladies in question were not long in discovering the conquests they had made; and, as Frank visited their house in right of relationship, and I was intro. duced as a particular friend of Miss T.'s father, and Bob came as a mutual acquaintance, matters went on swimmingly. The elastic connection of "cousinship" (there is no knowing to what lengths it may be stretched) effectually silenced all inquisitive inquiries, and, secure in its protection, we attended our fair friends in sundry walks to the country; and, sometimes, though seldom, escorted them to the Rotundo

fusion towards my companions, I had the melanThis was a quencher; but when I looked in my concholy pleasure of perceiving matters were equally gloomy with them. Frank wore an expression of countenance between a Werter and a Don Quixote : and Bob was slapping the crown of his hat, and buttoning his coat-both symptoms, I knew well, preparatory to his either bolting instanter, or knocking a man down. In this state we saw the ladies home, nor at parting was our good humour restored. by their hinting their anxiety "to see us in naval costume, as they were sure the jackets would become our figures so much," and to our rather brief "good night," they, with great sweetness, responded, by singing the last bars of" All's well!" We parted in high dudgeon, and returned to college-a journey not without its difficulties, arising, chiefly, from Bob's asking every second man he met "did he mean to insult him?" However, we at last arrived there, and repairing to my room, we all sat, some minutes, looking in silence at the fire. I then arose and went to the cupboard, and, as was

"Our custom always of an afternoon," mixed (forgive me, Mr. Editor) some punch in a teapot, and, glasses being an unknown luxury, poured each of the indignant lovers a cup full; and helping myself in an equally equitable manner, and flinging some cigars on the table, sat down again to consider "this here most fatal go." Our debate at first was rather stormy-Bob swearing he would cut the con nection, and Frank insisting" he would never speak