"Then confide him to me. I will sit here, surrounded by my flock, and hide him from the soldier's eye. In the meantime, do you go, and fearlessly meet the man, as if you were descending towards Rocca-rossa. He will suspect nothing, and let you pass." This contrivance promised better success; and the fugitive, having delivered her little treasure to the goatherd's nursing care, advanced towards the soldier. Whether he recognised Judith or not, is uncertain he did not offer to detain her; and my informants, in the true Christian spirit of hoping all things, and believing all things in charity, were of opinion, that the man, inwardly abhorring his errand, was readily inclined to consider that he had nothing to do but with the infant, and therefore contented himself with a slight search of Judith's person, and went on his way. The suspense in which the anxious mother was held, was of no long continuance;—as soon as the Carabineer was out of sight, the boy overtook her, and delivered up his tender charge in safety. Many more were the adventures of the poor fugitive during her flight; but why need I prolong the melancholy relation? The heroic lad, of whom I have just spoken, succeeded in conducting her to a grotto, which was known to a few only, and to which there was no approach but through many an entangled brake and intricate labyrinth of path. Here she remained, subsisting upon such supplies as the boy's persevering kindness and ingenuity succeeded in providing for her, until her persecutors became ashamed of pursuing her any longer. Her uncommon fortitude, extraordinary escapes, and determination to encounter any thing rather than surrender her infant to the Curé and the Directors of the Foundling Hospital, became matter of such notoriety and admiration, that persons of influence among the Roman Catholic population of the province, made strong representations in her behalf. In consequence of these, a mandate came from Court, that the order for the child's seizure should be 'suspended,' and that the unhappy mother should not be further molested. The lad, who had been Judith's preserver, was the first to announce the intelligence, and to invite her to return to her home. "the "I will remain where I am," said Judith; order is only suspended, and the mandate brings no security to me. Should my boy survive, they will institute their proceedings again at some future period; and when he is dearer to me than ever, then they will take me by surprise, and tear him from my bosom. I am a dishonoured woman, and a divorced wife. Let them revoke the cruel sentence which has imprisoned my husband, annulled my marriage, and pronounced the illegitimacy of my son, and then I will return home, but not before. But what avails their tardy mercy? My own days are numbered, and my child is drawing to his end!" Her presages were but too well founded. The little innocent had been drooping for many days. He died in the grotto, and Judith then consented to leave her dismal asylum. She herself was the bearer of his remains to the Protestant burial-ground of Rocca-rossa, and no hands but her own laid him in his grave. The tearless eye and the flushed cheek of the wretched mother, told the pangs of a heart which could not be comforted. But they were of short duration. She was laid beside her infant, before the sods that covered him were level in their place! Though Judith is removed beyond reach of the sympathies and kind offices of those, who might have been disposed to interpose in her behalf, other disconsolate mothers and separated wives may be found, in the same region, to whom intercession might be availing. The system which divides husbands and wives, parents and children, is still in force; and Rachels, weeping for their children, are crying aloud to Heaven for vengeance against a baneful influence, which stains the history of the nineteenth century with barbarities, which would have blackened even the dark ages. The emancipated Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland could not make a more gracious return for the boon which has been granted to them, than by interceding for oppressed communities, which are groaning under the yoke imposed at the instigation of the Triple Mitre. JUDAS RETURNING THE THIRTY PIECES. BY THE REV. THOMAS DALE, M.A. I. STILL echoed through the dark divan The shouts that hailed the doom of blood; Before the stern tribunal stood! Nor aught those hollow sounds express— II. Yet in his wildly-glaring eye Such fierce unnatural brightness shone ; Even the High Priest, in mute amaze, As if a Spectre near him stood That chained his eye and chilled his blood! |