CHAPTER VIII.

CONFESSION AND END OF GRIPE-DEATH OF BLIND TIM.

"I WAS," said Gripe, "the son of a village apothecary, was originally intended for that profession, and was accordingly sent to the school of one of those fugitive priests who then lurked in the country, endeavouring to support themselves by clandestinely instructing those who wished to acquire classical learning at a nominal expense, or in many cases for nothing, as those who were fraudulent enough to take advantage of the circumstances in which those persecuted men were placed, need not pay them any thing; for if it were known to the public authorities that they dared to keep a school or instruct youth, they would be transported; and I am sorry to say that my father was one of those who availed themselves of this advantage; for although I was about three years off and on at school with this priest, he was never paid a penny. The poor man lived at the house of a Protestant in humble circumstances, who interested himself in getting pupils for him, and under his protection he was enabled to escape the fangs of the priest hunters.' I remember him well: he was a venerable looking old man, with long white hair, and in the mud-wall hut where he had his school, he appeared as happy with a few ragged urchins about him, as if he were in the enjoyment of wealth and every earthly comfort. Notwithstanding his truly benevolent character, I took a dislike to him because he frequently expressed his fears that some evil end would come of me, I was so mischievous and incorrigible. The poor man was unwilling to correct any of his pupils, lest their parents should be offended, or attention drawn in any way to his little school; in a word, he felt that he was living on sufferance, and indebted to his neighbours, many of them Protestants, for his existence, and this, added to his kindness of disposition, prevented him from exercising the authority or enforcing the obedience necessary for conducting a school with profit to the pupils. I was one of those who took advantage of the unfortunate man's circumstances, and was always doing something to torment him. One day I mounted the hut in which the school was kept, and, through a hole in the roof that answered the double purpose of chimney and window, I let fall a stone on his bare head that stunned him so much that he fell bleeding on the floor. He was carried to the house of his benefactor, and there confined to his bed till he died of a fracture in his skull caused by that infamous act. The poor man was privately buried near

the ruins of an old abbey a short distance from where he kept his school. It may be worthy of remark, that Edgeworth, which was the name of his Protestant benefactor, had in a short time after been informed against for harbouring a Popish priest, and had to fly the country to escape a government prosecution. With regard to myself, it is right to say that I was, after the commission of the diabolical deed just stated, held in utter execration by every one. My old school-fellows, Protestant and Catholic, shunned me as they would a plague; yet no one would speak of the matter publicly, lest attention might be directed towards Edgeworth, who, notwithstanding, was unable to escape the informers of the day. I felt that I was an outcast to society, that every man was my enemy; and I in return was determined that, whilst I kept a fair face to all, I should never miss an opportunity of doing all the injury in my power to my fellowman: in a word, I was at war with the world, and the world was at war with me. My father, who, in common with all country apothecaries, was dignified with the title of doctor, took me as an apprentice, to instruct me in making boluses and compounding his own prescriptions. He was a tolerable chemist, and having a small laboratory on his premises, I took great delight in making those common experiments which are so amusing and mysterious to the uninitiated, and in attempting new ones that I fancied might lead to some discovery that would make my fortune. My father had Latin translations of the writings of some of the German magi and philosophers who spent so much of their time in seeking for the philosophers' stone, or vitae elixir, which, thanks to the poor priest whose death I caused, I was able to read with tolerable facility. Some two or three years thus passed away at my favourite pursuit. I was seldom seen in the shop, and when my father's absence made it indispensable that I should be there, I saw that the people regarded me with aversion, which I paid back with compound interest whenever an opportunity suited; but a circumstance occurred which broke up our establishment, and sent me to act my part in scenes of a different character. My father was absent one day when the servant of a neighbouring farmer came for him in great haste to attend his son, a young lad of fifteen or sixteen, who had a violent bleeding from the nose. Not finding him at home, the messenger insisted that I should go and administer to him all the relief in my power. I at first refused peremptorily, for this boy, who was one of my former school-fellows, had, from the time of the priest affair, treated me with the greatest contempt and scorn. On one occasion when there were some strolling showmen in the village I went to the exhibition, and this lad, with the boys of a school at which he then was, came in, but when he saw me on a seat near them, he induced them all to leave the place and re

main outside as long as I remained inside. I vowed vengeance in my own mind, although I never seemed to notice the circumstance. My mother-who I may here say was a religious but weak woman, to whom I was the cause of perpetual grief-induced me to go with the messenger, if I did no more than bring back word to my father, who was expected home in a few hours, what the condition of the boy was. I mounted the horse that the messenger brought, and when I arrived at my destination, I met the father of the boy at the door, who seemed utterly surprised at seeing me. What brought you here ?' said he,' you graceless ruffian. I thought you had quit the country long ago. Begone! I would as soon let Beelzebub near my child.' I did not make a reply; and when I returned home I said nothing of the reception I had got, but merely observed to my mother that I was deemed too young and inexperienced to prescribe on such an occasion. My father arrived in a few minutes after me, and without waiting for any refreshment he hurried off to see the patient. He returned quickly, and wrote a prescription for the lad which I was to compound. I set about the task assigned to me, and contrived to mix with the materials a deadly poison, then but recently discovered, the effects of which it would be very difficult to detect upon an analysis of the stomach. I need hardly say what the result was; but a proceeding followed which ended in the ruin of my father and my banishment from the country. He was prosecuted for having administered poison to the child, and was acquitted; but his establishment was broken up, and the poor man died in the course of a year afterwards, a victim to my infamy and crime. The infamous notoriety I had acquired did not, however, extend beyond the town where we lived and its immediate vicinity, and I resolved to proceed to Dublin to seek my fortune; and in case I did not succeed there, I determined to cross the Atlantic to America, which had at that time but recently established its independence. My mother was in receipt of the rent of a couple of small houses in the town, which removed her beyond absolute want, and she allowed me to dispose of the shop fixtures and bottles in the best way I could, and take the proceeds with me. The produce of the sale amounted to twenty pounds and some odd shillings, and with this sum in my pocket, and a small valisse under my arm, I left home before daylight on an autumn morning and walked out of the town before the fly-van, as it was called, although it travelled only at the rate of about three miles an hour, and in which I had previously engaged a seat under another name. When I got into the vehicle I found in it two shopkeepers of the town who were proceeding to Dublin to purchase goods, and such was their horror at seeing me, that they insisted upon my being put out of it; the matter was, however, accommodated by

my taking my seat outside with the driver. I said nothing in reply to the aspersions they had then cast upon me, but took out my memorandum book, and coolly wrote down their names, with a nota bene at the bottom, I will one day or other be revenged.' I arrived in Dublin on the evening of the second day after my departure from home, and put up at a very expensive hotel in James's Street, which was chiefly frequented by country merchants who came to Dublin to purchase goods from the manufacturers of the liberty. I fell in that night with some of those persons, and assumed an air of simplicity and candour which I was always well able to assume, at the same time I took the opportunity of displaying my learning and general knowledge of men and things. Many of the company were astonished at my acquirements, and began to express a desire to know who I was, where I was going, or for what business I was intended. I told them that my father, who was of a high family, and had given me a most expensive education, had recently died in embarrassed circumstances; that I could not bear to be a burthen to my mother, who had a little jointure to support her; and that, trusting to Providence, I had set out to seek my fortune. 'You are deserving of support and encouragement,' said a warm, comfortable-looking old fellow, who had come up from Limerick, and who was finishing a large bowl of whisky punch, which had evidently made him mellow, and you must get both. There is Tarrant the cloth manufacturer, whom I leave some thousands of pounds with in the course of the year, and I think it would be a great acquisition to his trade to have such a young lad as you, who would know how to speak to the people and keep accounts properly. He has two stupid fellows, who don't know the rule of three, not to talk of book-keeping, and who cannot write a scroll that a countryman can read. They are always making mistakes in our accounts, but I err much, or you are just the lad that would do every thing right. You have the larnin', what every man ought to have; and, if you have no objection, I will introduce you to Tarrant to-morrow.' To be brief with this part of my recital, it may be sufficient to say, that I got an engagement with this manufacturer as corresponding clerk and overseer of a certain department of his trade. I found that the concern was most prosperous, and the receipts of money were enormous, and I was resolved to conduct myself with the greatest propriety until I could get into the office of cashier of the establishment. I saw that my employer, although immensely rich, was of the most niggardly and parsimonious habits, and I pursued a course which I was certain would at once win his confidence. If I saw a second-hand pen being swept out of the office by the porter, I would take it up, observing, that it would bear another mending, and that there was no use in waste. On

Sundays there was always wine on the table, with which the rest of the clerks generally made very free, but I declined to taste it, on the ground that it was not fit for a young lad who was cast upon the world to seek his fortune to accustom himself to such expensive things. My master was highly delighted at this conduct, and frequently observed to his wife that he always knew his customer old Roach of Limerick, who had recommended me to him, to be a man of discernment. He called me one day into his private office, and submitted to me the cashier's account, in which I detected two errors, and although they were afterwards cleared up, he seemed not to be satisfied, and frequently told me that he only waited for an opportunity to raise me to the office which I secretly coveted. The cashier was a man of discernment, and saw at once into my character, but I was such a favourite with my master he did not venture to state his opinion of me, more particularly as he was aware that it was I who discovered the errors in his accounts, and that if he threw out any insinuations against me they would be attributed to malicious motives. He seemed every day to feel more and more uneasy with his situation, or I might rather say with being in such close proximity to me, and upon his marriage, which took place in about a year after I had entered on the duties of my office, an excuse for quitting the service of our employer being afforded him, he took advantage of it. He was no sooner gone than I was raised to his situation, and for the first three or four months I filled it, nothing could exceed my caution and, I might add, my honesty. I found, however, that a golden prospect was opened to me. The free trade of Ireland, which had been some years established, caused a daily increase of business both for home consumption and export to England and America. Money poured in so abundantly, and orders were so numerous, that our exertions could hardly keep pace with our trade. I began to filch, and took, as occasion might offer, from fifty to two hundred pounds a week out of the receipts of the house. During this period there was an attorney named Rap, who used to do business for us, and frequently dined with my master, took great notice of me. He said to me one day that my time and talents were thrown away pinned to a desk in a counting-house, and that if I wished to raise myself in the world I should become a member of his profession. He added, he thought I was born an attorney, and that if I wished to be authorised to practise a profession for which I was so well suited, he would take me without a fee. He also added, that he had several complicated cases in his office, in the conducting of which my services would be most valuable, and requested that I would consider the offer he had made me. I told him that I was so attached to the interests of my master that I did not wish to leave him, and that consideration alone