traverse three streets ere the castle was reached, and, from its defenceless state, probably taken. The carriage of one of the judges, Lord Kilwarden, encountered them by the way; and in the delay of the perpetration of a cold-blooded murder (from which their chief vainly sought to keep them), the whole enterprise was blasted. A small body of military coming up, dispersed the tumultuous crowd with a few discharges of musketry; and the émeute was at an end almost as soon as it had commenced.

Emmet fled to the Wicklow hills, and found safe concealment there with the disaffected peasantry. He might have embarked in some of the fishing-smacks, and thus have reached the French shores in safety; but a romantic passion, enkindled in more tranquil hours, urged him to return to the metropolis, that he might bid a final farewell to his Betrothed. He retraced his steps accordingly; and while sojourning at Harold's Cross, in the vicinity of Dublin, he was arrested on the 25th of August; was tried by Special Commission on the 19th of September, and was executed on the following day.

The unhappy object of this fatal attachment-fatal to hima, and no less fatal to herself-was the lady whose name heads our paper, the youngest daughter of CURRAN. "In happier days and fairer fortunes," writes Irving, "Emmet had won the affections of a beautiful and interesting girl, the daughter of a late celebrated Irish barrister. She loved him with the disinterested fervour of a woman's first and early love. When every worldly maxim arrayed itself against him; when blasted in fortune; when disgrace and danger darkened around his name, she loved him the more ardently for his very sufferings. To render her widowed situation more desolate, she had incurred her father's displeasure by her unfortunate attachment, and was an

exile from the paternal roof. But could the sympati.v and kind offices of friends have reached a spirit shocked and driven-in by horror, she would have exerienced no want of consolation, for the Irish are a people of quick and generous sensibilities. The most delicate and cherishing attentions were paid her by families of wealth and distinction. She was led into society, and they tried by all kinds of occupation and amusement to dissipate her grief, and wean her from the tragical story of her love. But it was all in vain. There are some strokes of calamity that scathe and scorch the soulthat penetrate to the vital seat of happiness-and blas it, never again to put forth bud or blossom. She di not object to frequent the haunts of pleasure, but she was as much alone there as in the depths of solitud. She walked about in a sad reverie, apparently unconscious of the world around her. She carried with her an inward woe, that mocked at all the blandishments of friendship, and heeded not the song of the charmer. charm he never so wisely.'

"The person who told me her story had seen her at a masquerade (at the Rotunda, Dublin). There can le no exhibition of far-gone wretchedness inore strikingly painful than to meet it in such a scene. To find it wandering like a spectre, lonely and joyless, where all around is gay-to see it dressed out in the trappings of mirth, and looking so wan and woe-begone, as if it had tried in vain to cheat the poor heart into a momentary forgetfulness of sorrow. After strolling through the splendid rooms and giddy crowd with an air of utter abstraction, she sat herself down on the steps of an orchestra, and looking about for some time with a vacant air, that showed her insensibility to the garish scene, she begat, with the capriciousness of a sickly heart, to warble a little plaintive air. She had an exquisite voice; but on

this occasion it was so simple, so touching-it breathed forth such a soul of wretchedness, that she drew a crowd, mute and silent, around her, and melted every one into

tears.

"The story of one so true and tender could not but excite great interest in a country remarkable for enthusiasm. It completely won the heart of a brave officer, who paid his addresses to her, and thought that one so true to the dead could not but prove affectionate to the living. She declined his attentions, for her thoughts were irrevocably engrossed by the memory of her former lover. He, however, persisted in his suit. He solicited not her tenderness, but her esteem. He was assisted by her conviction of his worth, and her sense of her own destitute and dependent situation; for she was existing on the kindness of her friends. In a word, he at length succeeded in gaining her hand, though with the solemn assurance that her heart was unalterably another's.

"He took her with him to Sicily, hoping that a change of scene might wear out the remembrance of early woes. She was an amiable and exemplary wife, and made an effort to be a happy one; but nothing could cure the silent and devouring melancholy that had entered into her very soul. She wasted away in a slow but hopeless decline, and at length sank into the grave, the victim of a broken heart."

All these particulars are correct, as we have had them confirmed to us by a valued friend, who was personally cognizant of the whole. The officer alluded to was Captain Henry Sturgeon, of the Royal Engineers. He was quartered in Cork at the time he made Miss Curran's acquaintance; and the marriage took place, in 1805, at Woodhill, a beautiful seat of the Penrose family, on the Lee, near that city. Captain Sturgeon shortly afterwards went on foreign service, and was

accompanied by his bride. In the spring of 1808 they returned to England; and, on the 5th of May in that year, Mrs. Sturgeon expired at Hythe, Kent, her disease being, as is stated above, consumption. She was buried in the Curran vault, at Newmarket, in the county of Cork, where a monumental tablet was placed over her by her husband. In September, 1847, this vault was opened to receive the remains of James, son of William Curran, nephew of Mrs. Sturgeon's illustrious father, when a leaden coffin was discovered (the outer wooden shell having decayed), bearing this inscription on a brass plate:

Mrs.

Sarah Sturgeon,

fifth daughter

of the

Right Hon. John Philpot Curran.

Died May 5th, 1808,

Aged 26 years.

It only remains for us to add, that Mr. Sturgeon rejoined his regiment in the Peninsula, and, having distinguished himself in many a field, was promoted to the rank of Colonel. He fell at Toulouse.

The reader will doubtless remember Moore's verses on this hapless lover of Emmet's, and will understand the allusion contained in the second stanza, from the preceding notice :

She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps,

And lovers are round her, sighing:

But coldly she turns from their gaze and weeps,
For her heart in his grave is lying.

She sings the wild songs of her dear native plains,
Every note which he loved awaking;

Ah! little they think who delight in her strains,
How the heart of the Minstrel is breaking.

• Irish Melodies.

He had lived for his love, for his country, he died,
They were all that to life had entwined him;
Nor soon shall the tears of his country be dried,

Nor long will his love stay behind him.

Oh! make her a grave where the sunbeams rest,
When they promise a glorious morrow;

They'll shine o'er her sleep, like a smile from the West,
From her own loved island of sorrow."

A NOTABLE WRESTLER.

SIR THOMAS PARKINS, Bart., who lived in the early part of the last century, was remarkable for his skill in, and fondness for, the art of wrestling. By the inscription on his monument, we are informed that "he was a great wrestler, and justice of the peace for the Notts and Leicestershire." Also that he new-roofed the chancel, built the vault below, and erected this monu ment, wrought out of a fine piece of marble by his chaplain, in a barn; that he studied physic for the benefit of his neighbours; wrote the Wrestler;' and died in 1751, aged 73." three stone coffins made for himself, that he might take his choice. Notwithstanding, however, some eccentricity of character, he was upright and intelligent, and wellversed in the learning of his day; and, at his decease, was universally lamented as a most excellent magistrate.

Cornish Hug He had two or

On his monument in the church he is represented in a posture ready for wrestling; and on another part of it he appears thrown by Time, accompanied with