32 THE FURZE-BUSH. 



her husband : and that the priest was too unremit- 

 ting in his attentions to be ignorant of an invasion 

 in that quarter, which he would surely repel, by 

 stirring up yet more the bigot zeal of some among 

 his Irish flock, who had shewn a disposition to re- 

 sent my occasional interference with their false 

 faith. 



1 Nothing venture, nothing have,' was here appli- 

 cable, in its very best and highest sense ; and in 

 the spirit of prayer, I betook myself to the task. 

 Into a bush, of which every leaf was a thorn, I cer- 

 tainly did thrust my hand, to gather out from among 

 them this flower. Opposition I fully expected, from 

 her own strong attachment to the errors of po- 

 pery : but I found her far more willing to listen than 

 I had dared to hope. Indeed, such was the love 

 wherewith the Lord mercifully taught her to regard 

 me, that she could not quarrel with any word or 

 action of mine : the flower itself offered no thorny 

 resistance. Opposition from her husband was 

 unexpectedly prevented, by the removal of Mary 

 from her home, to a place under parochial man 

 agement, which also brought her much nearer to 

 my abode. Opposition from the priest, I encount- 

 ered to the full extent of his power, even to per- 

 sonal resistance, and the exercise of an influence 

 that I did not expect to find so powerful, in far 

 other quarters than the cottages of those who fre- 

 quented his altar. The great enemy of poor Mary's 



