The body was disinterred and examined.
Three bullets and a brace of slugs were
found behind the heart. This at once settled
the matter. The prisoners were all sentenced to be
hanged, and their heads to be exposed on spikes
round the market-house—MacCarthy, the gamekeeper,
as the man who fired the shot, was to
have his hand struck off and affixed above his
head.

The prisoners were to be executed at Macroom,
and they were conveyed from Cork in
an open cart: the hangman—a hideous person —
clothed for the occasion in bright green, with
a belt on which was printed, in large letters,
"Erin go Bragh"—to show what Erin go Bragh
principles led to.

The priests were removed from the criminals
when they had performed about half the journey,
in order that the people, seeing them die without
the consolation of religion, might be struck
with greater awe. One of the criminals was
quite a young boy, cousin to the gamekeeper.
He protested he was innocent, and that the
worst thing he had ever done was stealing some
hens' eggs from his mother. It was the general
impression that he was innocent, but that
Duggan had sworn against him, in order not to
leave one of the family alive, who might take
revenge upon him. When the cart and the
wretched men arrived at a grove of trees at
the entrance of Macroom, they were halted. A
beam was laid between two trees, and two of
the men were hanged, one at each end: their
companions looking on, and the people standing
by in silence. When all had suffered, the
hangman proceeded to carry out the remainder
of the sentence, though even his callous feelings
revolted against it, and he required copious
draughts of whisky to carry him through it.
The sight of eight heads struck a great deal
more terror into the people than the execution.

As for Malachi Duggan, the captain of the
gang, and treacherous informer, he received the
three hundred pounds promised, and returned to
his farm. The neighbouring gentry endeavoured
to countenance him, but he was quite brutalised,
and had no feelings of shame. The first day on
which he appeared in Macroom, he looked up to
the heads and said, "Ho! ho! some of my
soldiers are up there, set in array. It is the best
place for the rascals."

He survived the trial many years, and died in
his bed at last; but his memory is held, even yet,
in the deepest execration, in that part of the
country. Of this there was a curious instance
not more than twelve or fourteen years ago. A
gentleman living in the neighbourhood, some
distance from Cork, had several servants. One
of them was a very nice young girl, named Duggan,
a far-away cousin of the horrible Malachi.
There was a dispute about some trifling matter,
and one of the other servants said to Duggan,
"We shall really, miss, be obliged to call you
Malachi." The poor girl did not answer a word,
but that very evening left her place and set off
to walk home to Cork, a distance of five-and-twenty
miles, so disgraceful was the imputation
of belonging ever remotely to the treacherous
informer.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS.

TALISMANS have been made familiar to most
English readers through the Arabian Nights.
By the occult virtue of these mysterious charms,
you may keep a Genie corked up for ages in a
brass casket, or carry him about with you in a
ring, or bind him to your service in any enterprise
on which you may think fit to embark.
All Oriental races have a great notion of the
power thus acquired, and the belief lasts to this
day among the nations of Asia. But the superstition
has prevailed in the West also, and it is
hardly extinct among ourselves even at the present
moment. The cramp-bone which old women
keep in their pockets as a preservative
against muscular spasms—the horse-shoe which
agriculturists nail over the doors of houses
and barns, to keep out the devil—the child's
caul which some suppose will save them from
shipwreck—the coin with a hole in it which is
thought to bring luck—these are all versions of
the ancient idea of talismans and amulets; and so
are the relics of saints, consecrated Agnus Deis,
crosses, &c., of the Roman Catholics. Like
other absurdities of misdirected faith, the belief
has at length fallen (at least in Europe) to a
mere extravagance of the vulgar and ignorant;
but at one time it was reckoned among the most
abstruse speculations of the learned; and many
books have been written to expound the mystery
to uninitiated minds.

A talisman, according to the definition given
by the author of an old book called The Talismans
Justified, is the seal, figure, character, or
image, of a celestial sign, constellation, or planet,
engraved on a sympathetic stone, or on a metal
correspondent to the star, in a time convenient
for receiving the influences of that star. Thus,
the figure of a scorpion, made under the sign
Scorpio, secures the possessor from the bite of
that animal. The similitude of Venus, engraved
on the first face of Libra, Pisces, or Taurus,
imparts joy, beauty, and strength of body, to
the lucky owner. Honours and dignities may
be easily won by him who carries about his
person an image of Jupiter with the head of a
ram, on silver, or on a white stone. To be successful
in merchandise or in gambling (a very
invidious linking together of two different pursuits),
you must have a figure on silver of Mercury:
perhaps, because he was the God of thieves.
If you wish to be brave and victorious, engrave
the effigy of Mars on the first face of Scorpio:
highly recommended to Volunteers. And to
procure the favour of kings—which is certainly
a difficult matter without some help—you have
nothing to do but to represent the sun in the
likeness of a king sitting on a throne, with a
lion at his side; taking care to make the engraving
on very fine gold on the first face of Leo.
By these simple means, it is wonderful how
much a man may do for himself, without ability,