And sing thy pleasant fancies
   Like bird in summer bower?
Speak up, clear-forth, loud-voiced,
   To nobler rhymes than these,
Till the music of thine anger
   Shall roll like billowy seas
Swollen with the wrath of God
   On men's idolatries."

XIII.
And I said, "O lovely spirits!
   Kindred in thought and will,
Hover around me ever,
   And guide and teach me still.
Ye are not two, but one—
   Two in the form and speech,
But one in the inner purpose
   And the holy truths ye teach,
That fuse your hearts together,
   And link you each to each.

XIV.
"Ye bid me love the right,
   And scorn and hate the wrong;
The love and the hate are human,
   And both are in my song.
Dark spirit, forsake me not!
   But thou of the sunny hair,
Keep nearer and be dearer,
   And through my voice declare
The good beyond the evil,
   The Hope above Despair,"

IRISH CONSTABULARY
CONSTITUTION.

THE Irish constabulary force is entirely
recruited from amongst the peasantry of the
country—chiefly from the farming classes. If
a small farmer have three or four sons, too
many ever to make a comfortable living off the
few acres of land—one or more of them arranges
to enter the constabulary. Many features
connected with the force tend to make it exceedingly
popular. There is always at least one
married man at each rural station, or barrack,
whose wife and family, mixing with the peasantry,
in reality form a portion of it. The younger
men are general favourites with the farmers'
daughters of the district, and to marry a
constabulary private is no sinking of caste. The
life of a constable is, on the whole, attractive.
There is all the military paraphernalia which
turns the heads of many of both sexes, and
none of the drawbacks attending a soldier's life.
There is no fixed term of service—every man
can resign on giving one calendar month's
notice; there is no absence from home and
country; no mixing with the scum of society.

I joined the force when I was but nineteen
years of age. At the time I was private tutor
in a magistrate's family in the west of Ireland,
and had before me prospects of doing much
better than any profession of arms could offer.
But drilled I must be, and enlist as a private
soldier I would not. Without the knowledge
of my parents or of the gentleman whose sons I
was instructing, I proceeded to the county
town, armed with testimonials as to character
and respectability from the parish clergyman
and a deputy-lieutenant of the county. I
repaired with these necessary documents to the
office of the county inspector of the constabulary
in my native county. I was not long delayed
in the office. I was asked to read and write,
and only a few words were required of me in
either case—though my handwriting would not
now pass muster in a solicitor's office. But the
only ordeal which I dreaded came at length.
It was necessary that I should be five feet
eight inches in height, and, although I had
measured myself repeatedly before I left for the
county town, yet I feared I would fall short.
I knew that a walk that day of one-and-twenty
Irish miles would not tend to improve my stature
much. I divested myself of my shoes and stockings
at the bidding of a sergeant, who acted as
clerk to the county inspector, and I then stepped
lightly under the standard. What with stretching
my neck and straightening myself up as well
as I could, the standard ran up to five feet
eight and a quarter inches. The inspector good
humouredly remarked that I had "a whole
quarter of an inch to spare, and a young man
who had just gone out would gladly buy it from
me, if it could be readily disposed of." My
predecessor had proved a quarter of an inch
short, and was sent home to "grow it." Having
thus got over these preliminaries, which were
all satisfactory, I was examined by the doctors
of a Highland regiment then quartered in the
town , and reported a "a first-class life."

On the first of the ensuing month I presented
myself at the Phœnix Park, Dublin, to undergo
four or five months' drill, with the following
regulation outfit: two suits of plain clothes,
with a sufficiency of shirts, socks, boots, and
other garments. I was duly sworn in as a
sub-constable, or "full private," engaging to
belong to no secret society, except the society of
Freemasons. This latter clause is as a special
protection against Orangeism, Ribbonism,
Fenianism, and all illegal secret organisations.

The depôt in the Phœnix Park is a large
military institution. It is under the supreme
command of a colonel from the army. One of
the sub-inspectors ranks as major, and another
as adjutant, on whom devolves the responsibility
of drill, as in the army. The depôt is
beautifully situated in the vicinity of the
viceregal lodge in the park; which forms one of
the most splendid drill-grounds in Europe or
perhaps in the world. The cavalry and infantry
depôts are in the same barrack. All the
proceedings in connexion with the depôt are exactly
the same as in any large military barrack.
There are the same drillings daily, the same
"awkward squads," "snapping caps," blank
firing and ball practice; the same bugle soundings,
mounting and relieving of guards; the
same system of mess for privates, non-commissioned
officers, and officers; and even the same
routine and blue gowns in the hospital. There
is only this difference between the constabulary
depôt and the military depôt, that the greatest
stranger to Ireland will be the first to observe,
that while the occupants of the barrack in
Phoenix Park look like the 60th Rifles in dress