endearment, passed between them. Now, gentlemen, if this be proved to you, here I take my stand, and I say, under no earthly circumstances, can a justification of the adulterer be adduced. No matter with what delinquent sophistry he may blaspheme through its palliation, God ordained, nature cemented, happiness consecrated that celestial union, and it is complicated treason against God, and man, and society, to intend its violation. The social compact, through every fibre trembles at its consequences; not only policy, but law, not only law, but nature, not only nature, but religion deprecate and denounce it,-parent and offspring,-youth and age,-the dead from the tombs,-the child from its cradle, creatures scarce alive, and creatures still unborn; the grandsire shivering on the verge of death; the infant quickening in the mother's womb; all with one assent re-echo God, and execrate adultery! I say, then, where it is once provIs ed that husband and wife live together in a state of happiness, no contingency on which the sun can shine, can warrant any man in attempting their separation. Did they do so? This is imperatively your first consideration. I only hope that all the hearts religion has joined together, may have enjoyed the happiness they did. Their married state was one continued honey moon; and if ever cloud arose to dim it, before love's sigh it fled, and left its orb the brighter. Prosperous and wealthy, fortune had no charms for Mr. Browne, but as it blessed the object of his affections. She made success delightful; she gave his wealth its value. The most splendid equipages-the most costly luxuries, the richest retinue-all that vanity could invent to dazzle -all that affection could devise to gratify, were her's, and thought too vile for her enjoyment. Great as his fortune was, his love outshone it, and it seemed as if fortune was jealous of the performance. Proverbially capricious, she withdrew her smile, and left him shorn almost of every thing except his love, and the fidelity that crowned it.

The hour of adversity is woman's hour-in the full blaze of fortune's rich meridian, her modest beam retires from vulgar notice; but when the clouds of wo collect around us, and shades and darkness dim the wanderer's path, that chaste and lovely light shines forth to cheer him, an emblem and an emanation of the heavens!—It was then her love, her value, and her power was visible. No, it is not for the cheerfulness with which she

bore the change I prize her-it is not that without a sigh she surrendered all the baubles of prosperity-but that she pillowed her poor husband's heart, welcomed adversity to make him happy, held up her little children as the wealth that no adversity could take away; and when she found his spirit broken and his soul dejected, with a more than masculine understanding, retrieved, in some degree, his desperate fortunes, and saved the little wreck that solaced their retirement. What was such a woman worth, I ask you? If you can stoop to estimate by dross the worth of such a creature, give me even a notary's calculation, and tell me then what was she worth to him to whom she had consecrated the bloom of her youth, the charm of her innocence, the splendour of her beauty, the wealth of her tenderness, the power of her genius, the treasure of her fidelity? She, the mother of his children, the pulse of his heart, the joy of his prosperity, the solace of his misfortunes-what was she worth to him? Fallen as she is, you may still estimate her; you may see her value, even in her ruin. The gem is sullied, the diamond is shivered; but even in its dust you may see the magnificence of its material. After this, they retired to Rockville, their seat in the county of Galway, where they resided in the most domestic manner, on the remnant of their once splendid establishment. The butterflies, that in their noon tide fluttered round them, vanished at the first breath of their adversity; but one early friend still remained faithful and affectionate, and that was the defendant. Mr. Blake is a young gentleman of about eight and twenty; of splendid fortune, polished in his manners, interesting in his appearance, with many qualities to attach a friend, and every quality to fascinate a female. Most willingly do I the tribute which nature claims for him; most bitterly do I lament that he has been so ungrateful to so prodigal a benefactress. The more Mr. Browne's fortunes accumulated, the more disinterestedly attached did Mr. Blake appear to him. He shared with him his purse, he assisted him with his counsel; in an affair of honour he placed his life and character in his hands-he introduced his innocent sister, just arrived from an English nunnery, into the family of his friend-he encouraged every reciprocity of intercourse between the females; and, to crown all, that no possible suspicion might attach to him, he seldom travelled without his domestic chaplain! Now, if it shall appear that

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all this was only a screen for his adultery-that he took advantage of his friend's misfortune to seduce the wife of his bosomthat he affected confidence only to betray it-that he perfected the wretchedness he pretended to console, and that in the midst of poverty he has left his victim, friendless, hopeless, companionless; a husband without a wife, and a father without a child-Gracious God! is it not enough to turn Mercy herself into an executioner! You convict for murder-here is the hand that murdered innocence! You convict for treason-here is the vilest disloyalty to friendship! You convict for robbery-here is one who plundered virtue of her dearest pearl, and dissolved it—even in the bowl that hospitality held out to him! They pretend that he is innocent! Oh effrontery the most unblushing! Oh vilest insult, added to the deadliest injury! Oh base, detestable, and damnable hypocrisy! Of the final testimony it is true enough their cunning has deprived us; but under Providence, I shall pour upon this baseness such a flood of light, that I will defy, not the most honourable man merely, but the most charitable sceptic, to touch the Holy Evangelists, and say, by their sanctity, it has not been committed, Attend upon me, now, Gentlemen, step by step, and with me rejoice, that, no matter how cautious may be the conspiracies of guilt, there is a Power above to confound and to discover them.

On the 27th of last January, Mary Hines, one of the domestics, received directions from Mrs. Browne, to have breakfast ready very early on the ensuing morning, as the defendant, then on a visit at the house, expressed an inclination to go out to hunt. She was accordingly brushing down the stairs at a very early hour, when she observed the handle of the door stir, and fearing the noise had disturbed her, she ran hastily down stairs to avoid her displeasure. She remained below about three quarters of an hour, when her master's bell ringing violently she hastened to answer it. He asked her in some alarm where her mistress was? naturally enough astonished at such a question at such an hour, she said she knew not, but would go down and see whether or not she was in the parlour. Mr. Browne, however, had good reason to be alarmed, for she was so extremely indisposed going to bed at night, that an express stood actually prepared to bring medical aid from Galway, unless she appeared better. An unusual depression both of mind and body preyed upon Mrs. Browne on the preceding evening. She frequently burst into tears, threw

her arms around her husband's neck, saying that she was sure another month would separate her for ever from him and her dear children. It was no accidental omen. Too surely the warning of Providence was upon her. When the maid was going down, Mr. Blake appeared at his door totally undressed, and in a tone of much confusion desired that his servant should be sent up to him. She went down as she was about to return from her ineffectual search, she heard her master's voice in the most violent indignation, and almost immediately after Mrs. Browne rushed past her into the parlour, and hastily seizing her writing desk, desired her instantly to quit the apartment. Gentlemen, I request you will bear every syllable of this scene in your recollection, but most particularly the anxiety about the writing desk. You will soon find that there was a cogent reason for it. Little was the wonder that Mr. Browne's tone should be that of violence and indignation. He had discovered his wife and friend totally undressed, just as they had escaped from the guilty bed-side where they stood in all the shame and horror of their situation! He shouted for her brother, and that miserable brother had the agony of witnessing his guilty sister in the bed-room of her paramour, both almost literally in a state of nudity. Blake! Blake! exclaimed the heart-struck husband, is this the return you have made for my hospitality? Oh, heavens! what a reproach was there! It was not merely, you have dishonoured my bed—it was not merely, you have sacrificed my happiness—it was not merely, you have widowed me in my youth, and left me the father of an orphan family—it was not merely, you have violated a compact to which all the world swore a tacit veneration-but, you-you have done it, my friend, my guest, under the very roof barbarians reverence; where you enjoyed my table, where you pledged my happiness; where you saw her in all the loveliness of her virtue, and at the very hour when our little helpless children were wrapt in that repose of which you have for ever robbed their miserable parents! I do confess when I paused here in the perusal of these instructions, the very life-blood froze within my veins. What! said I, must I not only reveal this guilt! must I not only expose his perfidy! must I not only brand the infidelity of a wife and a mother, but must I, amidst the agonies of outraged nature, make the brother the proof of the sister's prostitution! Thank God, Gentlemen, I may not be

obliged to torture you and him and myself, by such instrumentality. I think the proof is full without it, though it must add another pang to the soul of the poor plaintiff, because it must render it almost impossible that his little infants are not the brood of this adulterous depravity. It will be distinctly proved to you by Honoria Brennan, another of the servants, that one night, so far back as the May previous to the last-mentioned occurrence, when she was in the act of arranging the beds, she saw Mr. Blake come up stairs, look cautiously about him, go to Mrs. Browne's bed-room door, and tap at it; that immediately after Mrs. Browne went, with no other covering but her shift, to Mr. Blake's bed-chamber, where the guilty parties locked themselves up together. Terrified and astonished, the maid retired to the servants' apartments, and in about a quarter of an hour after she saw Mrs. Browne in the same habiliments return from the bed-room of Blake into her husband's. Gentlemen, it was by one of those accidents which so often accompany and occasion the developement of guilt, that we have arrived at this evidence. It was very natural that she did not wish to reveal it; very natural that she did not wish either to expose her mistress, or afflict her unconscious master with the recital; very natural that she did not desire to be the instrument of so frightful a discovery. However, when she found that concealment was out of the question; that this action was actually in progress, and that the guilty delinquent was publicly triumphing in the absence of proof, and through an herd of slanderous dependants, cruelly vilifying the character of his victim; she sent a friend to Mr. Browne, and in his presence, and that of two others, solemnly discovered her melancholy information. Gentlemen, I do entreat of you to examine this woman, though she is an uneducated peasant, with all severity; because, if she speaks the truth, I think you will agree with me, that so horrible a complication of iniqui ty never disgraced the annals of a court of justice. He had just risen from the table of his friend-he left his own brother and that friend behind him, and even from the very board of his hos pitality he proceeded to the defilement of his bed! Of mere adultery I had heard before. It was bad enough-a breach of all law, religion and morality-but, what shall I call this?that seduced innocence-insulted misfortune-betrayed friend ship-violated hospitality-tore up the foundations of human na