Mr. Philomath O'Flanagan, and Mrs. O'More, the good lady imagined that Mr. Varjuice, as she called Virgil, had gone a shooting.

«‹Why, ma'am,' replied the philomath, as for goin' shootin', he did notand for various raisons: guns was scarce in thim times, and gunpowdher was not in vogue, but was, by all accounts, atthributed to Friar Bacon posteriorly.'

"Oh, the dirty divils!' said the wi-. dow, to fry their bacon with gunpowdher!-that bates all I ever heerd.""

The following piece of "philosophy" we are pretty sure is Mr. Lover's own. "I could not help thinking it rather queer to see Phelim bearing this great bucket of water, with a countenance indicative of the utmost pride and importance, following the priest, who advanced through the crowd, that opened and bowed before him as his reverence ever and anon turned round, popped his sprinkling-brush into the water, and slashed it about right and left over his flock, that courted the shower, and were the happier the more they were wet.-Poor people! if it made them happy, where was the harm of it? A man is not considered unworthy of the blessings of the constitution of Great Britain by getting wet to the skin in the pelting rain of the equinox; and I cannot, nor ever could see, why a few drops of holy water should exclude him. But hang philosophy! what has it to do with a novel?"

We fear our readers will complain that we are bestowing far too much space and time upon this silly production. We promised, however, not to conclude without examining a few of Mr. Lover's historical speculations.

In one chapter we are introduced on board the flag-ship of Admiral De Winter, commanding a fleet in the Texel, destined for the invasion of Ireland. The armament, Mr. Lover informs us, was

"Destined for the invasion of the kingdom of Great Britain; [in which new designation Ireland is included,] though at what point that invasion might take place was not as yet decided ;-it being matter of dispute whether the expedition should land on the English coast, or in Ireland; whether it should strike at the vitals of Great Britain, or assail her from the extremities."

We shall see presently that there was no dispute about the matter; but we must continue our quotation

"General Hoche, who was only second in fame to Buonaparte, was anxious to do

something brilliant, while the fame of his rival's Italian campaigns made Europe ring with wonder; and, as the prevalence of contrary winds had prevented the exland, he made the daring proposal of pedition sailing for some weeks for Irelanding in Lincolnshire and marching direct on London. A year before, his expedition which sailed from Brest for Ireland was utterly defeated by contrary winds; and, as the same element seemed, as usual, to interpose a providential barrier between England and her foes, he, with that impatient thought so characteristic of genius, suggested the idea that, as the wind did not blow in favour of the course they wanted to steer, they should make it subservient to another purpose, descend on the most open quarter, and trust to the fortune of war; for he burned that some great achievement of his should prevent his name being overshadowed by the freshly-springing laurels of Napoleon Bonaparte.

"Against this preposterous notion of carrying Eugland by a coup de main, Tone found such a singular ignorance of the had also argued strenuously; but he state of England, as well as Ireland, to exist amongst the French, that it was with great difficulty he could make General Hoche listen to a word against his newly-conceived expedition."

Our readers will hardly credit us when we say that General Hoche had never anything to do with this armament at all. He never was on board the fleet in the Texel, which was a Dutch one-the naval command belonging to De Winter-the military to General Daendells.

General Daendells, not Hoche, did indeed propose that they should make a descent upon Lincolnshire; and on another occasion upon Yarmouth, in the expectation that the Irish might cross scheme Tone regarded as flat nonthe country and join them; this sense; but he himself proposed that they should "march direct upon London." The two opposing plans are strangely jumbled together, and fathered upon poor General Hoche. But there was no dispute at all, whether the armament should be directed When against England or Ireland. contrary winds had so long detained them as to render their original scheme of invading Ireland impracticable, they agreed to make a descent upon England. General Daendells proposed Lincolnshire, or Yarmouth, as the place of their descent-Wolfe Tone's opinion we will give in his Own words

"I said, that if, unfortunately, we were detained so far in the season as to render the Irish expedition utterly impracticable; it was undoubtedly desirable to do something in England, as well for the glory of the Dutch arms, as that all the expense hitherto incurred in the affair, might not be lost. That, in that case, my idea was, to run over to the English coast, and debark the army, not at Yarmouth but at Harwick, or nearer London if possible; to carry nothing with us but bread for six days, and ammunition; to make a desperate plunge, by forced marches, for the capital, where I did not consider it impossible to arrive before the enemy could be in sufficient force to oppose us, supposing the eastern coast to be as unfurnished of troops as Lowry and Tennant had represented. That, if we were once there, we might defy all the force of England; for, if they were assembled to the number of 100,000, in Hyde Park, we could, at all times, make conditions by threatening, in case they drove us to extremity, to set fire to the city at the four corners, and defend ourselves afterwards to the last man; that I had no doubt but, with such a pledge in our hands, we might make our own terms, and I dwelt a good deal, I cannot say with any great success, on the glory of such a desperate enterprise, if we had the good fortune to succeed, which seemed to me, though very far from certain, yet at least so possible as to deserve serious consideration. I mentioned likewise, as a subordinate circumstance, that, if we once reached London, we should, to a certainty, find a strong reinforcement, inasmuch as a large portion of the mob, and these very desperate fellows, consisted of Irishmen to the amount of many thousands, who, I was sure, would desire nothing more than to have their will of the English. All these arguments seemed, however, to make no great impression on Daendells, who still recurred to his Yarmouth scheme. He seems to me to expect some co-operation there; on what grounds I know not, but I fancy he will find himself egregiously deceived. If any thing can be done in England it must be, in my mind, by a coup de main, whereas he talks of maintaining himself for some time in the country, which, with 14,000 men, is flat nonsense."- Life of Tone, Vol. 2, pp. 430-1. Journal of August, 1797.

"If anything can be done in England it must be done by a coup de main," says Tone, stating the opinion he expressed at the time. Against this preposterous notion of carrying Euglaud by a coup de main, Tone had

66

always argued strenuously," says Mr. Lover. Yet we are satisfied that Mr. Lover had glanced his eye over the memoirs of Wolfe Tone-he saw the words "coup de main" in one line, and the words "flat nonsense" in the next.

The following is, if possible, still more ludicrously inaccurate.

"When Tone and Lewines entered the cabin of the admiral, General Hoche and Daendells were looking over a map of England; and Admiral De Winter, with his second-in-hand, Admiral Storey, were examining charts of the British Channel and the North Sea.

"You see I've not given it up yet,' said Hoche vivaciously to Tone.

"I perceive you have not, general,' said the latter; but I think this will decide you;' and he presented to him the letter of De Lacy.

"Hoche pounced upon it, and began to devour its contents. He passed rapidly on, till, stopping suddenly, he asked, Who is this from?"

"Tone informed him it was from an agent of General Clark, who had been commissioned to inquire into the truth of all the statements Tone had made to the Directory.

"Hoche continued the reading of the letter, and as he proceeded, his face became more thoughtful, he read with deeper attention; and when he had finished the perusal, he laid down the letter in silence, as if he had not the heart to say, I must give up my expedition,' although he felt it was hopeless.

"You see, general,' said Tone, the expedition to Ireland is the only thing.' "Whenever it can sail there,' said Hoche.

"That may be a month,' said Daendells.

"Or to-morrow,' said Tone.

"This south-westerly wind is blowing as if it had set in for it,' said the admiral, shaking his head, as if he doubted Tone's hopeful anticipation.

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The troops have been now embarked nearly a month,' said General Daendolls, and though amply provisioned for the probable necessities of the expedition, it is impossible their stores can last much longer; and whenever they become exhausted, I doubt how far our government would deem it prudent to advance further supplies.'

the expedition might prevent this noble undertaking altogether. Now, I would not for the glory of Cæsar that my personal fame should interfere with the great cause of universal freedom; and if you think that your legislative assembly would be more willing to pursue this enterprise if it were under the command of one of its own generals, I will withdraw my pretensions to the command, and give all the chance of the glory to you.'

"You are a noble fellow,' said Daendells, extending his hand to Hoche; there may be some truth in what you say, and I shall never forget this act of generosity on your part, for none can deny that you, from your efforts made, and disappointments endured in this cause, deserve to reap all the laurels that may be mine in the result. This is the greatest of your conquests,-you have triumphed over your ambition !'"

Now we must tell, in a few words, the real history of the affair, and of the part which Hoche acted. The Dutch had assembled in the Texel, a fleet destined for the invasion of Ireland, and, on the 28th of June, Hoche and Tone were at the Hague to arrange with the committee of Foreign Affairs, (the directory of the Batavian republic,) for the cooperation of the French. The French government demanded that 5000 French troops should embark in the Dutch armament, instead of a like number of Dutch, in which case Hoche should command. The Batavian republic, who had, in the words of Hoche, "risked their last ship and shilling" in the expedition, were naturally anxious that the whole glory of the expedition should belong to themselves, and Hoche, determined that he would get rid of this difficulty. Accordingly, when Tone, Lewines, and Hoche met the committee of Foreign Affairs, and the Dutch strongly objected to the embarkation of the French troops, alleging, among other reasons, that they would not submit to the severer discipline of the Dutch navy, Hoche at once withdrew the demand of the French directory, and consented that the entire expedition should be left in the hands of the Dutch. General Daendells accordingly took the command; and it was arranged that Tone should accompany him. General Hoche was never on board the fleet in the Texel at all, but returned to Paris with Lewines, where, as he had anticipated, he found the French directory stimulated by the surrender of the Texel

expedition to the Dutch, and was desired to go down to Brest to be in readiness to join a separate French expedition. The magnanimous act of Hoche took place at the Hague on the 28th of June, before one of the party had been on board the Texel fleetthe looking over the map of England, and the Lincolnshire proposition, in which General Daendells was concerned, did not take place until the middle of August.

Until our experience of Mr. Lover's powers of blundering, we could not have believed it possible for any person to cram so many mistakes into so short a space. First, there was no dispute

at all as to the destination of the fleetall agreed that it should invade Ireland-when that was impracticable, all agreed that they should make a descent upon England. Secondly, General Hoche is represented as surrendering a command which he never had. We must stop our attempt at enumeration. General Hoche is confounded with General Daendells-Wolfe Tone is made to argue stoutly against his own proposition. "General Hoche," says Mr. Lover, "made the daring proposition of landing in Lincolnshire, and marching direct to London," against which "preposterous notion" Tone argued strongly. The truth was thisGeneral Daendells proposed to land in Lincolnshire, and Tone proposed, instead of it, to land at Harwich and march direct to London. Mr. Lover, with wonderful ingenuity, jumbles up both plans together, fathers them upon poor Hoche, and then sets Tone to argue stoutly against the mixture of his own and the rival plan. There is a most glorious confusion of time, place, person, and nation, that would be worthy of Rory O'More himself.

It is perfectly evident that Mr. Lover had seen the journal of Wolfe Tone, from which we have taken our ac

count.

an

In some cases he has copied the very words. How with it before his eyes he contrived to make the blunders we have quoted, was enigma that, we confess, puzzled us not a little; but a closer inspection has solved the difficulty. Up to the day of his embarking on board the Texel fleet, Tone calls Hoche, under whose command he then was, "THE GENERAL;" after he is transferred to the Dutch commander, he gives the same title to Daendells. Mr. Lover took it for granted that "the General" must be one and the same person; and, accord

ingly, with a singular felicity in blundering, attributed all the acts of Daendells to Hoche; and we have no doubt that if Wolfe Tone had the next month been in the service of the king of Morrocco, and called a Moor "the General," Mr. Lover would have represented Hoche as the colour of Othello.

Such passages as the following, might, it is true, have made him consider his opinion as to the identity of

the General and Hoche. Wolfe Tone

writes, on the second of September "This day the General gave me instructions to set off to join General Hoche at Wetzlar;" where, accordingly, he met him on the 13th, and found him with all the symptoms of a rapid consumption, of which he died on the 18th. Even his death Mr. Lover cannot let pass without fastening on it a gross misstatement.

"Thus ended the second expedition undertaken for the invasion of Ireland: and the gallant Hoche, within a month after, was no more-cut off in his prime of manhood and career of glory by the hand of the assassin!"

"September 15, 16, 17.-The General's health is in a most alarming state, and nobody here seems to suspect it, at least to the extent that I do. I look on

it

as a moral impossibility that he should hold out long, if he persists to remain at Urgent as the affair is on which I am the army, as he seems determined to do. here, I have found it impossible to speak

to him about it, and God knows when or

whether ever I may find an opportunity, which, in addition to my personal regard and love for him, is a circumstance which very much aggravates my uneasiness. To-day he has been removed by four grenadiers from one chamber to another, for he is unable to walk. It is terrible flower of his youth and strength, so reto see a fine, handsome fellow, in the very duced. My heart bleeds for him; I am told that the late attacks made upon him

"Hoche's life was attempted more than ence. His death was attributed to slow poison."

That a man taken off by slow poison sbould be said to die by the hand of the assassin, is an innovation upon language, of which Mr. Lover may claim all the credit. We half suspect that this is an insinuation that his death should be attributed to the agents of the English government, although Mr. Lover has not the courage to state plainly the slander. When an attempt was made upon the life of Hoche, and the assassin seized, such a falsehood was circulated, Wolfe Tone, who belonged to a party that had regard for truth and honour, indignantly repels the accusation, and attributes the attempt to the French royalist party. But the story of slow poison is utter nonsense; indeed we thought that the figment of slow poisons was now on a par with the tales of witchcraft. Hoche died of a rapid consumption, which some attributed to excess in sensual pleasures. The following extracts are from Tone's jour

nal:

September 13.-This day I saw General Hoche, who is just returned from Frankfort. He has been very ill with a

the journalists in their way, preyed exceedingly on his spirits, and are the probable cause of his present illness. [This, perhaps is the slow poison of Mr. Lover.] Is it not strange that a man who has faced death a thousand times with in

trepedity in the field, should sink under the calumny of a rabble of miscreants?"

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