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CHAPTER X.

And still she goes, at midnight-hour,
To weep alone in that high tower,
And watch and look, along the deep,
For him whose smiles first made her weep.

Lalla Rookh.

When will the measure of my grief be full?
When will the silent asp of hopeless love
Withdraw his fang of torment from my heart?
Hermione.

SINCE his introduction, at Mount Amaranth, to the antiquary, Mr. O'Carolan, as related in the first volume, Mr. Pendennis had cultivated a strict intimacy with that gentleman, who, in order to pursue some objects of research, which, at that period, engaged his attention, had taken up his abode in a small house in the same village. A few years before, Mr. O'Carolan, who was then arrived at a very mature time of

life, had united himself to a young woman, the daughter of a petty farmer in a very remote part of Ireland, wisely preferring, like many men of erudition and genius, a very fine figure, and great sweetness of temper, to that refinement of taste, or cultivation of mind, which some visionary enthusiasts reckon one essential ingredient in domestic happiness. The antiquary never had reason to repent his choice. Mrs. O'Carolan rather worshipped than loved her husband. All his works on Irish antiquities she read with avidity, as they came out, though she did not understand one word of them; and, to let the reader into a secret, these and her prayers formed the sum-total of Mrs. O'Carolan's studies. At their house, or rather cottage, Pendennis had often been hospitably entertained; and a painful shock was given to the feelings of this really good-natured man, by the receipt of the following letter, edged and sealed with black, which was delivered to him almost immediately

ovanient speed, at

with me, for am insador and sinds the

Srvice to Mr.

He and Miss Lino more at prisint

and and sarvent, ZELEN O'CAROLAN.”

scoamed a catalogin

& the handwriting resons in the eyes o wisting a simost to take of I melancholy even: Savaumation originatedFagrant of the Brehon Laws Psalter of Cashel, in th Cormac Macuillenan.

King Cormac's effects. his rich sideboard of plate,

[graphic]

"Ground plan and elevation of Emania, the palace of the Ulthonian Kings.

"Genuine correspondence between Saint Malachy, primate and legate in Ireland, in 1140, and Saint Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux.

"Historical doubts, in the manner of Horace Walpole, concerning the excessive ugliness of Saint Bernard, as affirmed by Dante* and others.-N.B. Communicated to Mr. O'Carolan by an ingenious friend.

"A M.S. Grammar of the Irish Tongue, compiled, and almost finished, by Mr. O'Carolan." &c. &c. &c.

But what most fixed the enraptured attention of our connoisseur was a very scarce map of Ireland, which he had often seen and envied in his friend's house, and on which were marked the names of the original proprietors of land in every county and barony. He began reading aloud the title, with various expressions of satisfaction" A map of Ireland, on which

VOL. II.

I

* Paradiso, c. 11.

the

see you, sur, with all convanient speed, at Glenartrey, to advise with me, for am indeed a bereaved widow; and sinds the catalog, and likewise my sarvice to Mr. Cobham, and Miss Bridget, and Miss Livy, and Miss Di; and no more at prisint from,

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"Your mutch afflicted frind and sarvent, 66 EVELEEN O'CAROLAN."

To the letter was subjoined a catalogue of books and effects, in the handwriting of the deceased, so precious in the eyes of a brother virtuoso, as almost to take off his attention from the melancholy event in which the communication originated.

"Genuine fragment of the Brehon Laws. "Part of the Psalter of Cashel, in the handwriting of Cormac Macuillenan.

66

y

Catalogue of King Cormac's effects. Inventory of his rich sideboard of plate, &c. &c. &c.

"Ground

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