THE PURCELLS-A MEMORY OF '98. The snowy ermine of Justice, covered with blood, trailed in loathsome length through the mourning towns and villages of Ireland. Close beside the patriot arose the viperous informer, ready to sell those with whom he had frater-nance. nized so long, for the traitor's price, the Stephen, the younger son, was a mere blood-encrusted "thirty pieces." Men, youth; a tall, slender boy, of not more

William, the elder son, had just entered into the glory of manhood; and, as he stood there in open court, unhesitatingly glancing at his judges, one could not fail to read patriotism upon every lineament of his noble counte

women and children were hunted down like dogs; were tried, like common malefactors, simply because of their love for dear old Ireland.

than fourteen or fifteen years. But the court deemed his name worthy to be added to the list-now swelled to uncountable numbers-of those who had died for fatherland.

Near the prisoners, on the left, was

Among the most remarkable of all the farces, denominated "trials," by English law, was that of the Purcells. Kyran a tall, handsome woman, dressed in dark Purcell and his two sons were arraigned for treason-felony. Fire-arms had been found in a tumble-down cabin on the outskirts of Dublin. A document concealed in the thatch implicated one of the Purcells, and straightway a body of constabulary were detailed to search the house where the family resided. There several papers, containing poetical effusions, and two or three names of men suspected of Irish feeling, led to their

arrest.

On the day of trial the neighboring country for miles around was represented in the court-room, so great was the interest of all in this trial.

As the prisoners took their places a buzz of sympathy was heard from the galleries, where the ladies were seated. But this was soon quelled, and all eyes were fastened upon the prisoners, whom every one surveyed with a mournful interest. The fact that they were sure to be found guilty, added to the circumstances surrounding them, contributed to the thrilling interest with which every glance and motion was studied.

The father, a fine type of the well-todo farmer, was a handsome man, elegantly attired in the costume of the day.

rich robes, with sombre plumes almost touching her intellectual forehead. This was the wife of Kyran Purcell; the stepmother of the two boys. Her heart's loud beating could be heard, and her eyes glanced wildly at the stolid faces of the "packed jury" as they came into the room, prepared to deliver their "cut and dried" verdict.

The prisoners were found guilty; and then this horrible sentence was pronounced, that "two out of the three must die !"

What a concentration of cruelty was presented in those simple words. Even the frequenters of that polluted courtroom, hardened though they were by the continued contemplation of suffering and agony, could not help sympathizing with the affliction of the wretched family. Their loud murmurs of indignation were silenced, however, and the condemned taken back to their cells.

The most diabolical part of the outrage was, that the wife and mother should select the two who must die.

There she sat during the trial; that proud woman, whose heart was breaking. Her face was set and hard as she listened to the testimony given by perjured witnesses. The quivering lip,

and a certain agonized glance of her expressive eye, showed quite plainly what her heart told her, that there was no hope for those she loved best on earth.

The next morning the court was again in session. The prisoners were at the bar, and "the woman Purcell was sent for." Sternly and indifferently the judge asked for her decision.

Few families anywhere had been so happy as the Purcells. Mrs. Purcell She arose quietly, and with a strength, was only a step-mother it is true, but given only in answer to her fervent she loved those noble boys as if they prayer, she addressed the court. The had been her own; and her mater- sweet, clear accents thrilled and vibrated nal heart was harrowed up with torture at the thought of parting with either of them.

And their father!-her husband. He had been the first love of her happy girlhood; now, in the holiness of her womanhood, she could almost adore the man who was ready to die, if need be, for the land of his love and home.

Surely she could not doom her husband to death! No one would expect it of her. And now quick spasms passed over her horror-stricken face; and her pale lips were seen to move, though they uttered no sound.

The prisoners returned to their dreary cells. The agonized woman was soon with them. The father, as he gazed fondly upon the woman he loved so tenderly, seemed taking a long last farewell of the familiar features, for he had resolved to die with one of his sons.

The two boys, with their arms close around each other, begged to die together. "For," said the elder, " mother, dear, 'tis a glorious thing to die for Ireland!"

in that foul atmosphere, and penetrated
to many hearts. Only the cruel fount
of English justice was unstirred. In
well-bred tones she said, with evident
effort: "My husband will die with the
fortitude of a Christian and a patriot.
One of my dear boys must live. Wil-
liam is the oldest. Stephen's young life
has barely begun.
His death would
overflow the cup of English cruelty.
William will proudly die with his father.
Let Stephen Purcell live!"

Shrieking frantically for death; hold-
ing out his trembling hands to the judge,
and imploring for mercy, they bore the
fainting boy from the room.
The con-
demned, hand in hand, closely followed;
while quietly, firmly, this more than
Spartan woman passed out the great
doors of the court-room, and went to her
own room in an adjacent hotel.

There the unnatural composure gave way, and she was no longer the proud, bitter woman, but the heart-broken wife and mother.

In the meantime the singularity of this truly English verdict had created no In stern accents, yet with trembling little comment, and parties in many high lips, the father declared his firm inten-places were discussing its probable retion to die with one of his children. And sult. "Step-mother's mercy!" was then a harrowing scene ensued. freely spoken of; and some of the lierati The miserable woman comprehended jested freely about the romance of Irish the horror of her position. Upon her agony. The Lord-Lieutenant, who, it devolved the terrible task of dooming was whispered, had much to do with one of her own to death. Shrieking the preparation of so strange a sentence, wildly, she rushed from that wretched cell, neither knowing nor caring what became of her.

was carefully kept advised of all its phases. It was productive of so much amusement to that powerful dignitary,

that, at a select entertainment given at the castle about this time, he rehearsed, with much straining after effect, "a new episode in the Irish rebellion," to the manifest amusement of his numerous hearers.

Among those who did not applaud was a titled lady, one of the most distinguished of the guests. Elegantly attired, the innumerable diamonds she wore flashed back a peculiar light from her eyes, as she said, with one of her sweetest smiles: "I will tell you how to finish this Irish romance with an eclat, which generation after generation will look upon with wonder!"

"Speak, fair lady! Your advice shall be my command!" said the gratified dispenser of justice.

"Grant a full pardon to the prisoners, my lord! It will be a noble act of clemency!" spoke this woman, who, although English, had the heart of a mother.

Strange as it may seem, the lady's request was granted, and the Purcells lived.

FAIRIES.

Fairy elves,

Whose midnight revels by a forest side
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,

Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth
Wheels her pale course.-MILTON.

tage fireside, along the banks of the Rhine, bear a close analogy to those of the Emerald Isle and Auld Scotia. The people of Northern Europe picture the fairies as hideous dwarfs who bear illwill to the human race, and who do all in their power to torment the luckless wights who chance to meet with them. The Irish, English and Scotch fairies were generally of a mild and domestic nature, and disposed to bestow benefits on the children of men. Yet it was not considered wise to anger the good people, for they had the power-though reluctant to use it-of punishing severely those who were so thoughtless as to offend them. These spirits were believed to have been inmates of heaven, and to have engaged in the revolt against the Almighty; but, not being as guilty as the fallen angels, were only condemned to dwell on earth until the day of judgment, when they will again enter Paradise.

Rustic imagination pictured the fairies as merry little fellows, about two or three inches high, clothed in suits of green or of brown, surmounted by tiny red caps. Their pastimes consisted in gamboling blithely by the light of the moon to the music made by the jingling bells of their tiny head-gear. The fairy palaces were situated beneath the crystal waters of some romantic lake, in the heart of some great mountain, or beneath the waves of the ocean. The mortals who were in

In the legends of all the countries of troduced into these abodes were pethe Old World may be traced a belief culiarly favored, and received, in consein the existence of a diminutive race of quence, power beyond that ordinarily supernatural beings, who generally vouchsafed to men. The elves usually dwell near the habitations of men, and passed their time upon the surface of exercise an influence over their happi- the earth, disporting themselves upon ness and fortunes. The phlegmatic the green sward of some sequestered Teuton and the sanguine Celt equally dell. Shakespeare, whose genius degive credence to the veritable existence spised the threadbare models of classic of fairies; and the tales of the pranks of mythology, and sought the types of new the elves which are related by the cot- creations in the legends of Merrie Eng

land, thus images forth the haunts and eyes by some stratagem, so that he al

doings of the elves:

ways succeeded in escaping from his tormentors. Troups of fairies mounted upon blades of grass, straws or rushes, flew through the air with marvelous rapidity, passing in one evening from country to country, and visiting the wine-vaults of great kings. In Ireland, an eddy of wind, raising the dust along a country roadside, was supposed to be caused by the passing of fairy horsemen, and the wayfarer often paused to give his benediction to the unseen travelers. The elves are ever present while mortals are being ushered into the world, and frequently steal the new-born babes as they lie at the mother's side. This practice was very common, and many were the children who were translated to Fairyland in consequence. Spenser thus poetizes this fancy :

"A fairy thee unweeting reft; There as thou sleep'st in tender swaddling band, And her base elfin brood there for thee left; Such men do changelings call, so changed by fairies' theft."

"Meet we on hill, in dale, forest or mead, By paved fountain or rushing brook, Or on the beaches margined by the sea, To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind." Sometimes the fairies would enter a house, and, partaking of the owner's hospitality, would keep watch and ward over the household when all other guardians were slumbering. However, many persons were averse to these nocturnal visitors, and sought to rid themselves of their unbidden guests. If the individual so visited could move his house or property across a running stream, he would be free from his fairy attendants for evermore. A species of domestic fairies, called brownies, were said to live in the mansions of some families, and at the midnight hour to sweep the floors, dust the chairs, and arrange the furniture. Everything was neat and clean after the brownies had gone their rounds; and all that was required in return was that the curiosity of the inmates should be restrained, and that no one should remain up after a certain hour of night. A mischievous little fellow, known in the south of Ireland as the Cluricaune, infested well-stocked cellars, and drained them of their ruby contents. This character might have been invented by pilfering butlers of And wend us laughing, Ho! ho! ho!" ancient times to account to their masters In these cases the elfish usurper was for the abstraction of choice vintages. made by irate mothers to suffer a great This personage was also supposed to be many inconveniences. Such gentle treatthe guardian of buried treasures, and ment as placing it on a red-hot shovel, when met in some place distant from whipping it with rods, or immersing it the haunts of man, the fact indicated the in cold water, was employed to procure presence of hoarded wealth. If he could the return of the infant and the banishbe secretly approached and seized, he ment of its supernatural substitute. might be compelled to disclose the hid- When these measures were taken the ing-place of his moneys; the charm would, fairy would disappear suddenly, and, however, be broken if one did not con- after a few moments, the overjoyed stantly look upon the sprite. The Cluri- mother would find her child safely nestcaune was cunning enough to divert the led in its cradle. Sylvan fountains have

In one old masking song, attributed to Ben Johnson, Robin Good Fellow thus tells of fairy pranks:

"When larks gin sing

Away we fling,

And babes new-born steal as we go,
An elf in bed

We leave instead,