1829.] in the Irish Rebellion. 379 
his body to his mother and us, though the distance was twenty miles, 
and we had him laid in his own burial-ground, as he earnestly desired. 
On the day after we returned, my aunt said to me, “ I shall tell your 
mother of your father’s death; for it is better she should be in sorrow 
than in her present state of stupefaction.” She did so, and I cannot bear 
even now to think of how my mother behaved when she heard it; yet the 
thoughts of his body lying unburied seemed to give her (even in the 
midst of her extreme grief) the greatest anguish. My aunt, who was 
a woman of great strength of mind, and who loved my father as if he 
had been her own brother, now proposed that I should accompany her 
the next day (Friday) to the town, to seek for the body, which we 
agreed to lay in one of those pits in which we buried our potatoes, but 
which was now empty, and open. We went in much apprehension, 
and on reaching the town, and passing though the Market-place, we 
could hardly tell which way to go, the appearance of every place was so 
much altered by the number of houses that lay in ruins. No one 
molested us, and with some difficulty we found the place where I had 
seen my father lying, but, on reaching it, the body was no longer there. 
All the others had also been removed ; yet the smell of putridity was so 
strong that my aunt fainted. I brought her home again, and we found 
Martin there ; and he seeing my mother’s anguish, told her he had laid 
his master’s body in a gravel pit, but this I knew was merely to soothe 
her; and I was afterwards told, that it and the others had been thrown 
into the Slaney, which ran close beside the spot, but a few hours before 
we went to seek for it. 
We lived thus for some weeks, in constant dread both of the rebels 
and even of the straggling parties of the military sent out to apprehend 
them ; from the first we were protected by the female beggar and Mar- 
tin’s mother, who lived with us, but the last, either not knowing we 
were loyalists, or not caring, frequently behaved with much insolence ; 
the smaller the party was, the more we dreaded them ; and more than 
once myself and a few more young girls, fearing to pass the night in the 
house, slept in the centre of a large holly bush, at some distance from 
it. But after the rebels were repulsed at Newtown Barry, and finally 
routed at Vinegar Hill, a regular camp was formed within a quarter of 
a mile of my uncle’s house: we were then in safety, for the soldiers were 
under better discipline, and we found an excellent market for our milk 
and butter, which enabled us to purchase a few indispensable articles of 
furniture and clothing, and to fit up the barn as a dwelling-house. 
About this time, Grimes, who saved not only his life but his mill, and 
the greater part of his property, restored a good part of our oatmeal. 
The latter end of J uly, a field of barley, which had escaped trampling, 
became ripe, our new potatoes became fit for use, and we never after- 
wards knew want. We could not, however, rebuild our house till the 
next summer ; and the blackened walls of our little factory (which we 
could never afford to build) are yet to be seen. 
A few nights after Vinegar Hill was taken by the King’s forces, I 
went with a lanthorn to an unfrequented outhouse to bring in some 
straw for our beds ; Martin’s mother, who did not at first know where I 
was going, followed me in much agitation ; but I had already reached 
the little building, and, as I removed the sheaves, I was dreadfully 
shocked at seeing that they concealed four or five pallid ghastly-looking 
creatures, who, on seeing me, intreated me in the most piteous manner 
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