the bags, and as there was no one within ten miles who would have lent the gauger a needle to save his life, he found himself without the means of removing the malt now that he had got the horses. His only alternative was to destroy what he could not remove, but even that he could not do effectually owing to the ground being frozen. He scattered it about as well as he could, but he had not gone far from the place before the most of it was collected again; for where not a soul had hitherto been seen, at least a score of men, women and children turned out to assist in the work of saving the malt as soon as Peter O'Malley's back was turned.

Morning was just breaking when the party left the hamlet. As far as it was possible to distinguish the features of the country, nothing could be more wild and desolate. No road was to be seen, not a tree, nor a house except the miserable cabins where the seizure had been made; dreary peat bogs and moor land extended in every direction. As the party advanced, a sturdy peasant passed by, habited in the swallow-tailed homespun coat, usually worn by the Irish cotters, without any neckcloth, with his shirt collar open as well as the buttons at the knees of his breeches; his legs were bare from the knee down, but stained quite black with the pitchy moisture which exudes from a turf bog. The sudden appearance of this figure at such a place, and at this early hour in the morning, was no mystery to the gauger and his men. He had been warned by the blowing of the cow-horn, and had given the gauger the slip, and was now returning from the bog where he had safely deposited the still, the great prize which the gauger had made sure of finding. "Ah, Pat," said one of the gauger's men to him as he passed, "you have got your black Stawkuns' on this morning.' Pat gave a look at the prisoners, and hastened on to the hamlet to learn what had taken place in his absence. As the morning advanced and the party progressed, a road became visible in the distance, and about nine o'clock the sight of a house, distant about three miles was hailed with much satisfaction, particularly by the Lieutenant, who recognized the residence of some young ladies with whom he had danced at the Soireés at Ballymahony, which he thought might be the means of procuring him some breakfast, a subject which occupied much more of his attention at that moment than either the sale of his "Harse," or his marriage to Miss Lavinia. This land of hope on the borders of the wilderness was called the "Grove," and was the residence of a widow lady, Mrs. Pauldoodie, whose ancestors had greatly distinguished themselves at the battle of Clontarf; her family consisted of two sons and three daughters. Breakfast was nearly over at the Grove, when the eldest son, Corcoran Pauldoodie said to his sister Catherine, who presided over the tea pot, "There's Captain Le Marchant and his men coming down over the hill, no doubt they have been out all night with the gauger, just make some fresh tay, and order another rasher, Katty -the Captain was very purlite to ye the last time ye was at the

Kurnel's Soirée-don't ye remember ? and got ye yer shawl when ye were laving. Faith, and ye might have worse luck than to be Mrs. Giniral Le Marchant." "Arrah whist now, Corcoran, wid yer making fun of me; may be its yourself that wan inquire tots about Mrs. Major McSaunders, after that second waltz that ye danced wid her! All the same, Captain Le Marchant shant want a cup of tay."

Mr. Peter O'Malley was so sulky about the holes in the bags, that he remonstrated against any delay, but his objections were very speedily overruled, and the men were supplied with some read and cheese in the stable-yard at the Grove, while the Captain went in to refresh himself with the tay and the rasher with which Miss Katty was waiting to receive him.

The cheerful fire of turf and bog-wood which blazed in the breakfast-room, and the tea and fresh eggs, were a pleasing change from the toil, and the gloom, and the cold experienced during the preceding twelve hours, and when the Captain looked at the beautiful bloom which the clear frosty air of the morning had spread on the cheeks of Miss Katty and her sisters, he could not help thinking how useful the "Harse might still prove, as it was only a nice afternoon's ride from Ballymahony to the Grove.

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"So you did not render the guager all necessary assistance, Master Le Marchant," said Lord Charles Spencer to Le Marchant, as he was taking some luncheon in the mess-room after his return.

"I had not a needle and thread to lend him when he wanted one, if that is what he calls necessary assistance, but I think he will take one with him the next time he goes out on his abominable excursions."

"You must have passed by the Grove on your return,” said Lord Charles.

"Yes, I dropped into breakfast with Miss Katty and her sisters, and it was quite a treat to see three pretty girls nicely dressed at that time in the morning. What a pity they cannot get rid of those awful brothers of theirs. They should persuade those fellows to enlist, or emigrate, or do something, or their own prospects will be ruined. Fancy having Corcoran for a brother-in-law."

"Well," said Lord Charles, "it certainly is a pity that those fellows were not drowned when they were nine days old, but I think of the two, Dermot is decidedly the worst. I shall never forget the fright he gave me at the dinner party they got up. He had the smallest hare I ever saw in my life on a dish before him, and the largest knife that ever was made to cut it with, a thing like a Highland claymore. Seeing him bandishing such a tool, I naturally came up to the inside guard with the first knife I could find, until he proclaimed peace instead of war by saying in his richest tone, Will I hilp your lardship to sum liviritt ?"

"By the way," said Captain Fitzwygram, "any of you gentlemen who have any little matrimonial affairs to settle, had better

make haste, for there is a report of a move, the men have got it that we are going some where, and they are generally right; and I was at the Colonel's house this morning when that droll fellow, the Mayor, came in and said, 'What's this I hear, Kurnell, about you laving us? How am I ivir to keep the pace in Ballymahony if you go off in this way, after killing the hearts of all the girls with them soirees every week in your mess-room? I'm tould they're wanting ye down Tipperary way. There's Archdeacon Trinch's son come up from there this morning, and he says there's powther and ball, and the divil knows what all going on there.""

Just at this moment, the mess waiter announced "The Reverend Phalim O'Driscoll," the garrison chaplain, or, at least, the ecclesiastic employed on a weekly stipend to minister to the spiritual wants of the troops.

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Ah, how d'ye do, my lard? How are you, Captain Le Marchant? Jintlemin all, I hope I see you well; and I must just run away as fast as I came, but I could not go without saaing you before I go, for who knows but what you might be gone before I got back. You see I have been very ailing for some time with a quair kind of a lumbago, first in my knee, then in my elbow, and the doctor, like all of his thrade when he did not know what to do, at last he tould me it was all change of air I wanted, which it's all mighty aisy to say when it's yourself that's going to stay at home; however, he pressed me so that at last I sat down and wrote to the bishop, and says I, now, your grace, there's something happened to my jaunting car, and I am grately inconvanienced for want of some repairs to it that there's no man in Ballymahony skhilful enough to make, for the pole and the perch has got wrong, and they tell me there is no man nearer than Morristown that's fit to repair them; and so wid that, you see, his grace, who likes a bit of the figure of spache, writes back and tells me to go and get my car repaired as quick as I can, and that's just what I am going to do, and I hope I shall see you all quite well when I come back, but if not, I'll lave you my blissing." Exit the Reverend Phalim.

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Well," said Major McSaunders, "I suppose he could not write to the bishop, or to any one else, without the figure of spache,' as he calls it; I am sure we get enough of it in his sermons. were not there last Sunday, Fitzwygram, when he broke out about intemperance. Ye saa,' he said, you min of the 149th-and officers, too-you are none of you fit for the kingdom of heaven. It's no place for you, for there's naather whishkey nor port wine there.''

"Ah," said Lord Charles to Captain Maclean, who entered at this moment, you are the man we want to see. What can you tell us about Tipperary? They say we are to move in that di rection."

Oh, when I was there we were very much distributed in detachments in all sorts of queer places, but there is a great deal of

hospitality. Near Kilcarrick there is Lord Queenstown's placethe shell of a fine castle standing in a princely park; but he had hardly enough money left after he got the walls up to pay for the roof, and now, although he is living there, the passages and staircase are not even plaistered, very few of the rooms are furnished, and in the drawing-room, where they receive visitors, an old carpet, brought from their former house, covers about a quarter of the room, and the chairs, like the plums in a midshipman's pudding, are not within hail of each other. With all this, nothing can surpass the splendour of the gold and plush in which the lacqueys are cased. An old Scotch lieutenant we had, after dining at the castle, said his epaulettes were quite cut oot.' What seemed to puzzle him was, that a man in plain clothes superintended the whole.' I suppose he thought a fellow like a drum-major would have been more in keeping. Then there is a capital fellow near Kilballymuck -Sir Denis O'Brabazon. I was sent once upon duty for three days to Kilballymuck, and the Colonel, when I was starting, told me to make a point of calling on Sir Denis, instead of going to an inn, and he would be sure to make me comfortable during my stay. Of course, I took his advice, and was very much surprised at receiving no invitation to stay, either from Sir Denis or any of his retainers, for he always had a number of visitors in his house who seemed to stay just as long as they liked, and do as they pleased. At last I found out that my staying was considered so much a matter-of-course, that no one ever dreamed of going through the ceremony of asking me. Sir Denis lived in good style; a thoroughly comfortable house, a good cook, and some excellent claret, of which he was very liberal. About ten o'clock at night the baronet seemed to resign the management of everything for the rest of the evening to one of his friends, who, at the time I was there, had been two years on a visit to him, and was a great favourite, as he was an excellent performer on the Irish pipes, and the worthy baronet always liked to see the evening finish with a tune on the pipes and an Irish jig. The real name of this character was Murtagh McDonough, but he always went by the name of Big Joe. As soon as the baronet had finished his magnum of claret, and handed over the command to Big Joe for the rest of the evening, the latter ordered in what he called the timblers and matarials,' and after discussing a pretty good allowance of the veritable potheen, he conducted the party into the drawing-room and brought out his pipes. The baronet, although a bachelor, was no anchorite, and some of his female relatives, and some young ladies, were always staying in his house, and to describe the rollicking fun which went on after Joe brought out the pipes, until two or three in the morning, would far surpass my poor ability.

Captain Maclean was here interrupted by the arrival of the mail bringing a route for the regiment to proceed to Cashel Fethard and half-a-dozen other places. This timely change of quarters enabled

Le Marchant to pay a farewell visit at the rectory, as it was impossible for Mrs. Apsley to urge the sale of the "Harse" just as he was about to commence a march. Miss Lavinia had been on the point of being engaged more than once before; her feelings, therefore, did not completely overpower her senses on this occasion. The disappointment in the present instance she very justly attributed to her mamma's attempt to pull the pear before it was ripe, and it was not until after her sixth flirtation that she finally subsided into a matron, as the wife of Ensign and Quartermaster Michael Geraghty, of the Royal Irish Light Infantry. As for Le Marchant, by a strange combination of events, he, some years afterwards, married Miss Katty Pauldoodie. The means used to spirit away Corcoran before the marriage have never transpired, but it is reported that he removed to the United States, and that he is now a distinguished officer of high rank in the Federal army.

TOPOGRAPHY OF THE SEAT OF WAR IN AMERICA, AND PRESENT POSITION OF THE BELLIGERENTS.

The principal theatre of the present war in America may be roughly described as a vast quadrilateral, bounded on the north by the Potomac, the Chesapeak and Ohio Canal, and the Ohio River; on the west by the Mississipi, and on the south and east by the ocean. This area comprises the following states: Virginia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississipi, and parts of Florida and Louisiana. Beyond the boundaries above defined, in the states to the west of the Mississipi, hostilities have been carried on to a certain extent ever since the war began, and still prevail; and it is quite possible that the war may hereafter assume an important form in those provinces, but as the present operations in those regions are of a desultory character, and only exercise a trifling and incidental influence on the great campaign within the quadrilateral above described, the following observations will be limited to the states which have been enumerated on the east of the Mississipi.

The total superficial extent of these states is about 400,000 square miles, an extent which would be represented on the map of Europe by a similar quadrilateral figure bounded on the north by the English Channel and German Ocean; on the west by the Bay of Biscay; by the Pyrenees and Alps on the south; and the line of the fifteenth meridian of east longitude on the east. Such a quadrilateral, comprising France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, West Prussia, and some of the German States, and part of Austria, would contain about 400,000 square miles: it is therefore evident, that vast as are the present operations in America, they are not upon such an extended scale as those of Napoleon, when he dictated U. S. MAG. No. 436, MARCH, 1865.

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