scornful impatience; but as the ceremony proceeded, he began to gaze with a gradually subdued wonder upon the earnest and solemn countenance of the priest. Then awe succeeded to wonder, and his eyes, he knew not why, filled with tears, as the pious man, looking upward, pronounced, amid mysterious words, those names which he had often heard his mother call on under sorrow and pain. He suffered the consecrated water to be sprinkled on his head, and the sacred symbol to be signed upon his forehead by the finger of the priest, without murmur or motion; and, after the benediction was completed and all the ceremony of his baptism over, he stood gazing on the countenance of his initiator in breathless and awestruck silence, till his delighted mother, casting her arms about his neck, covered his glistening face with kisses, and welcomed him with a thousand blessings into the church of his fathers. Owen Grumagh had looked on with equal wonder, but not with equal reverence. He took his foster-son by the hand, when his mother had ceased to cover him with her caresses, and shaking off the drops that still hung among his thick hair, he asked him: "Harry a vic machree, what was it they were doing to you? Was your fair head not wet enough with the rain this morning, when you were walking the dews before the lazy Gilly was out of his bed, that he should throw cold water in your face now, as if you were a woman in a faint ?"

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Hush, Owen," said the boy, speaking low; "it did not hurt me."

"It were not well for him if it had," said Owen; "but come now, avic, it is time to go and shoot at the target."

At the same moment the lady was summoned to attend Mac Gillmore, and the monk, promising to remain within call, in case his services should be needed, accompanied his catechumen, with his tutor, to the field. The shooting ground was a smooth stripe of green sward, stretching along the

foot of the rocks to one of those fantastic knolls which have been described as rising like the waves of an agitated sea, around the base of the cliff. This verdant hillock formed the butt, and the target of wood was erected about midway up its green

acclivity. The youths of the clan were divided into companies according to their age; and when brother Virgil came forth, those among whom Harry Oge was to be included, were just taking their position a little nearer the mark than the elder band who had preceded them. Whether it was by chance, or that he was more emulous in the presence of a stranger, or that the boy's mind was really elevated by the consciousness of some high privilege conferred upon him in the mysterious ceremony he had undergone, Harry Oge not only surpassed all bis fellows in archery, but bore himself with so eminently graceful and elate an air, as attracted the attention of all present. "By the broad stone," cried Hugh Calvagh, “I thought my Harry was half a head taller than the Tierna Oge; but, somehow, the son of Hugh More looks as tall as he when they are asunder; though when they stand together you can easily see the difference."

"I never saw a vouchaleen of his age make such shooting as he is making today," said Hugh Beg; "my Harry, Baccagh though he be, shot ring for ring with him yesterday; but you see he cannot touch his worst mark today."

him," said a third speaker, as the boys, Something has surely come over started in the footrace that followed: after finishing their bow exercise, "See how he heads the whole flight. Tieg Gasta, that we thought the fastest behind him. of his company is half a pike's length There, foot of Finn! how he cleared the ditch; and, see, he runs as light as a fawn, and the rest are panting like slot-hounds on a summer day. Surely some one has put a have you been doing to the Tierna charm upon him. Son of Rory, what Oge?"

"Ask the Gilly Francisagh," said Owen; "for, by the hand of my body, I think it was an incantation he put upon him, after all.”

"Servant of Francis," said the clansman, going up to brother Virgil, where he stood gazing with quiet pleasure on the animated scene, "have you a spell for the palsy? I would give you a milking goat, with her two kids, if you would put the charm upon my father:

he has been bedrid since last Lammas floods."

"Friend," replied the Franciscan; "I have neither spell nor charm; I leave such sorceries to dealers in the black art."

"And what is it that you have done to the Tierna Oge?" demanded the clansman, "for he is not like the same boy he was; though a comely and an active vouchaleen he has been ever and always."

"Ay, Gilly Francisagh, what did you do to him?" asked another, and the same question was repeated by several standing round, so that brother Virgil suddenly found himself the centre of a group prepared to receive all that he had desired to tell them, but which he had half despaired of their attending to. Much pleased by so favourable an opportunity, he took his stand upon a detached mass of rock that lay beside, and, thus elevated in the midst of his auditory, he addressed them: "My friends and brethren, for all men are brothers in the sight of God, you have asked me whether I have dealt with your chieftain's son by such enchantments as are commonly used by sorcerers and wizards-God forbid. The people of my faith abhor all dealing in magic. The success of spells and incantations cometh of the devil, who is the father of the black art: him we reject, and all his works we abominate; but, brethren, if the sacrament which I have administered to the son of your chieftain make him stronger of hand, or fleeter of foot, or fairer of face, as ye seem to think that it hath done, the success thereof most manifestly cometh of God, in whose name I have baptized him. In his name I am ready to baptize you all; but look not that a like wonder shall be shown on each as hath been manifested in this lovely and chosen boy; for, by baptizing you, I but prepare you for the knowledge of these things, which if you believe not, that baptism is of no avail. Behold in what a condition ye are for want of that knowledge which I would thus prepare you to receive. Other kindreds of men possess fixed dwellings on their own lands, each one his home secured him by law, which none dare violate; but you are wanderers and outcasts, houseless and lawless, dwelling only where the weakness of enemies stands

you instead of the good will of friends. Where other men enjoy that security of protection which gives them time and confidence to till the earth for its fruits, to have white bread and sweet wine at will, to clothe themselves in warm and seemly garments, to travel for pleasure or on their necessary occasions through fair countries, and beautiful cities, seeing all the wonders and delights of the world without danger and without hardship, you, my hapless brothers, knowing not the moment when you must fly from before your enemies have to leave the earth untilled, the arts of industry unpractised, the sweets of life untasted: clad in the skins of beasts you must hide your heads in desert and inhospitable forests; afraid to venture beyond the bounds of a dismal wilderness, you sigh to hear of the blossoming orchards; the yellow waving corn fields; the stately cities; the luxurious palaces and delicious gardens which lie in the forbidden land without. You are separated from mankind; a single kindred in the midst of innumerable nations, all in the enjoyment of blessings which you can never share but by returning to the world that you have abandoned. But how can you return? Brethren, I will tell you. The same bond which keeps the numberless kindreds of men who compose this great and goodly world whereof I speak, from sundering from one another, and falling into even such wildness as your own, can also bind you with the rest. That bond is neither the relationship of blood, for the kindred of whom I speak draw their descent from far distant continents; nor the tie of common country, for they inhabit various lands; nor the likeness of their countenances, for they are of divers feature and colour; nor the understanding of one another's language, for they speak in a hundred different tongues; nor the resemblance of the laws by which they are governed, for some are ruled by senates, and some by kings, and some by elected chieftains; and yet the bond is strong enough to bind them all, and without it no other tie could bind them. It is their belief in one God, my brethren, that unites the nations; their worship of that God, as prescribed by one church, that gives the unchanging stability to that union; and the

enactment of laws in accordance with the holy precepts of one Gospel by which that God has revealed himself and established that church, which completes the mystic bond of their society, and the glorious work of their salvation. It is this knowledge of God that ye want; it is this knowledge of God that I offer to you; but to know God as he has revealed himself to his children, you must hearken to the church whose messenger I am; and to prepare you for receiving her instructions aright, I am ready, under God, to administer this holy sacrament of baptism to as many of you as are willing, with honest hearts, to receive it."

When brother Virgil concluded, there was a stir among the crowd, and considerable interest seemed to have been excited by his discourse, for the people whispered earnestly together, and there was no motion made by any to depart. At length one clansman stood forward, and asked-" Gilly Francisagh, if we do this, are you sure that Mac Gillmore will not be displeased?"

"It was to teach you these things that he invited me hither," replied brother Virgil.

“And if we do all as you desire," asked another, "how soon might we look to be settled in the country of the gardens and corn fields? Could we get down do you think before the harvest ?"

“Alas, my friend," said the good monk, "sheep who have strayed so far can scarce hope to be taken back at once into the fold; but if thou wilt believe in God as I shall tell thee, I will promise thee a better reward than ever human husbandmen reaped off

the face of earth."

him," said a third, "but I would be satisfied with what he offered first."

"I see my error," exclaimed brother Virgil; "I have told you only of the worldly ills you suffer, I have painted only the worldly blessings you have lost; but there are blessings to be sought and evils to be dreaded in another world of which I have not yet told you; but, if ye have ears to hear, listen to me proclaiming them before you now;" and with the fervor of a sincere heart the pious man proceeded, after announcing to them the immortality of the soul, to pourtray in vivid colours the opposite condition of the faithful and of the unbelieving after death. The pagans stood astonished, incredulity yielding to hope on the one hand, and to alarm on the other. The preacher saw his success; he heightened his pictures to the excited imaginations of his hearers; he made every man the spectator of his own possible condition through eternity; then returning to themselves, he represented, as it were by the reflection of that su

pernatural light, the earthly heaven and hell of virtuous or sinful bosoms; all felt the truth brought home to their own hearts; some stared like detected and confounded criminals; others, resenting the allusions which each considered separately directed to himself, stood with looks of indignation and irresolute defiance; one or two were melted into tears, and there were none, however young, indifferent. Even Owen Grumagh was touched, but far from satisfied: "How do you know all this, Gilly Francisagh," he said, in a pause of the good monk's

discourse.

"God has empowered the church to teach us his will, and the church declares it," replied brother Virgil; "the church declares it, and the very ground we stand upon bears witness to the signs and wonders that accompanied her message of it to this ungrateful land."

"How is that ?" demanded several voices.

Brother Virgil, in reply, pointed out the localities of many of the miraculous events related in the lives of Patrick, Bridget, and Columba, all visible from the spot where they stood. This appeal had more than its effect. It is true, it is true," cried Hugh

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Calvagh, when the monk related to them how Patrick raised the tide to wash away the sabbath-breaker's building on the hill of Drumbo. "It is true," cried the too enthusiastic believer; "for Fin Mac Coule built up the same fort in one night after, and you may see his finger-stone hard by in the ring of Ballylessan to this day." "Nay, nay," said the Franciscan; "thou art confounding thy profane legends with the acts of the saints"and, extricating himself as quickly as he could from the unprofitable question, he proceeded as has been said, notwithstanding many interruptions equally frivolous, to inculcate the grand truths which found their evidence in every heart, till at the conclusion of his address such an impression had been made on the whole multitude, that, when two women and a man pressed forward and offered themselves for baptism, there was a general hum of approval among all present. The triumphant monk, with tears of joy in his eyes, prepared to celebrate the ceremony without delay, for he was well aware of the effect of example, and he already indulged no ill-founded expectations that if he could effect the baptism of one or two, he might ultimately succeed in making converts of the whole clan. "Bring me water in a pure vessel," he cried, "and let those who aspire to the knowledge of the true God stand forth!" The three who had offered themselves immediately advanced into the circle which the crowd now formed before him: their example was contagious; first one, and then another, stepped forth, amid loud acclamations, and took their places by their sides; then there was a confused movement among the mass of the crowd, the people impelled backwards and forwards with an irresolute motion, like the eddying swell and retreat of waves upon the shore, until at last, breaking their ranks in a tumultuous burst of enthusiasm, the whole muinter Gillmore rushed forward to the feet of their exhorter, and, with one voice, cried aloud to be baptized. Never did the bosom of an apostle glow with more intense and pure delight than now, in the first joy of his unexpected success, thrilled through the heart of the pious Virgil. Glory be to God!" he exclaimed, extending

his hands to heaven over the heads of the multitude; "blessed be the day and hour that sees this glorious and heavenly sight! blessed be the eyes that behold it, and the tongue that tells it, and the feet that bear the tidings of it, and blessed for ever be He who hath formed those hands to do his holy will in perfecting and proving the bliss it promises! Nay, nay," he said, as a pitcher of water was placed before him on the rock; "out of no vessel made by hands will I celebrate this sublime sacrament of a nation's redemption. Come to the running waters, where the fountain will not weary in giving us its clear element, that faint yet still that best earthly image of the purity of God's nature and of the inexhaustible abundance of God's love."

He descended from the rock as he spoke, and, taking Harry Oge, who stood beside, by the hand, bade him lead him to the spring. The boy obeyed, with silent reverence, the crowd thronging round or rushing forward, and eagerly contending who should be first to gain a place upon the brink of the little well. All the booths, save that of the chieftain, were deserted; old and young, seized with an equal enthusiasm, poured down the face of the hill, and, but for the interference of Owen Grumach, who either regarded the Franciscan with contempt, as the propounder of unintelligible mysteries, or with resentment, as having indulged in some denunciations which seemed to have been levelled peculiarly at him, the very sentinels and outposts would have left their stations and joined the general concourse. To contemplate such a scene without emotions of pride was not to be expected from the human heart of the good Virgil. It could not be but that some fragments of the dispersed visions of the morning would fit involuntarily before his eyes as he viewed the approaching completion of this, the greatest and most important act in his imaginary drama. The chapel and altars, and the page of the redlettered calendar, bearing Virgilius de Rupe conspicuous among the names of saints and martyrs, did, it is true, occasionally intervene between the mind's eye of the worthy man and his loftier objects of contemplation;